#break time from pushing myself to draw stuff so might as well post the unrelated ones i do meanwhile

[matrixaffiliate]

Salient

Chapter Update! FFN and AO3

We're quickly approaching the end of this little novel here. And as we wind down, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have supported this story of mine. I'm so happy you've enjoyed this obscure little ship of mine. I'll post again on May 16th. =)

Chapter 39

Al walked out of class but he hadn't really heard anything in the entire lecture.

He had an idea.

The professor had said something completely unrelated to his experimenting, but it had caused several things to click in Al's head and he'd checked out of the lecture after that, his brain and notebook dedicated to solving the problem that he'd spent the majority of his life trying to rectify.

It was complex, complex in ways that made the current Potterbox look like child's play, but Al thought that just maybe, he was finally on to the solution.

And then his phone rang.

"Jamie? Is everything alright?"

"Aside from how exhausted Allie and I are, yes." Jamie chuckled.

"Oh," Al tried to get his brain back into the realm of social interaction, "Good. So, what's up?"

"I want to have lunch with you. I need to remember there's life outside of children."

Al laughed. "Sure, when?"

"Got plans now? I can pop wherever you want to be."

Al pushed away his annoyance. He'd been planning to skive off classes for the rest of the day to work on actually making Muggle tech and magic play nicely together. But he could put his inventing on hold long enough to have lunch with his brother. He could be bigger than the idea.

"Er, yeah, sure. Just pop over to that alley behind my flat. I'll meet you there and we can go grab something."

"Thanks, mate, I'll see you in a sec."

Al took a deep breath. He could do this. He could be present. He could have control over himself. At the very least, he could try.

Al popped into the alley behind his flat and found Jamie waiting for him.

"Thanks," Jamie smiled, "I know you're busy but I really appreciate you indulging me."

"Little Sarah driving you round the bend then?" Al chuckled.

"Let's get food, then we can talk about it."

"What do you want?"

"Indian, I need comfort food without making Dad cook for us."

Al laughed, "I know just the place. Not quite as good as Dad's but a close second."

"Good," Jamie stepped up next to him, "take us away."

Al popped them over to the Indian place their mum had spotted the night of his and Ellie's 'Muggle celebration.' Once they'd settled in and placed their orders, Al pushed Jamie a bit further as to why exactly he'd pushed for lunch immediately.

"So, having Sarah home is an adjustment?"

"She's brilliant," Jamie smiled. "I mean, she looks like us, I know that when you have kids, that tends to be the majority, but I didn't realize how I'd feel seeing pieces of myself and Allie in her, and she's so small, and she loves to be held, and I just, there's this feeling when I hold her that's, I don't know, it's brilliant..."

"Alright…" Al waited.

"And," Jamie sighed, "and it's a little overwhelming. She needs me and Allie. Legitimately needs us in that she'll die without us, and I just…" He shoved his hand into his hair. "I don't think I was ready for this feeling."

Al blinked. "You do realize that Dad or Ted would have been the better people to have lunch with, right?"

Jamie shook his head, "No. They both would tell me that it gets easier as you go or that I'll be alright. But you don't do stuff like that. You help people fix things. And I need you right now, not reassurance."

Al was stunned. He had no idea how to fix this.

Wait. He helped people fix things?

He thought about it, and the more he did, the more Al realized that Jamie was right. He did like to fix problems. From his family to his friends to his inventing, he'd been helping people fix their problems and fixing things his whole life.

"Alright," Al smiled. "I'll give it my best shot."

Jamie visibly relaxed, "Thanks, mate. I owe you one."

Their server set down their samosas and Al indulged in the start of their order as he asked his first question.

"The problem is feeling overwhelmed then?"

"I guess," Jamie responded through a mouthful of food. "I think the overwhelming feeling might be a conglomerate of a bunch of things."

"Let's talk through those then." Al nodded. "I suppose let's start with what has you so worried that she has a physical need of you and Allie?"

Jamie snorted. "You did grow up with me, right?"

Al chuckled, "Yes, but I think it would do you well to say it out loud."

Jamie rested his head in his hands and looked down at his plate while he spoke.

"I'm a shite example for a little girl, Al. I'm impulsive and rude and honestly a bit boorish. What business do I have in raising a little girl?"

Al frowned. "Jamie, you're too hard on yourself. Sure, you have your character defects, we all do, but I think that the fact that you care so much about this is a pretty good indicator that you'll be a fine father."

"I don't know," Jamie shook his head.

"Well," Al thought harder, "what sort of person would be a good father for Sarah?"

Jamie looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"What would you need to change to be the father you want to be? Who do you want to be for Sarah?"

Jamie was silent for a long time before he spoke. "See this is why I came to you."

Al chuckled as their server set down his vegetable biryani. "I'm glad, now stop avoiding the question."

Jamie avoided it longer by digging into his butter chicken.

"I suppose," he started as he took a drink, "I suppose I want her to have a dad that's in control of himself. I want to be able to stop my worst character traits. I want to be someone she can be proud of. I want to be someone who listens to other people. I want to be the man that teaches her what to look for in other men, whether it's romantically or just as a friend. And I want her to always feel like she can depend on me the way she does now."

Al smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere. We should make a list of the things you want to change and then we should order it from easiest to change to hardest to change. As you do each thing, you snowball through the list, and over time you become the dad you want to be."

"You make this sound incredibly easy." Jamie chuckled.

"The planning is always easy," Al huffed as he shoved his hand into his hair, "It's the follow-through and the process that's hard."

"You alright?" Jamie frowned.

"Yeah, I think I might have figured out something to make everything work so that our phones work no matter where we are."

"That's brilliant!" Jamie grinned.

"Assuming it works, yes," Al sighed, "But the testing and the figuring are going to be a nightmare. Especially since George and Ron will need me to make it in a way that can be mass-produced."

"Want to talk through it?" Jamie asked. "I don't need to be back to the office for a while. I could help."

Al almost said no; he almost waved the offer away in preference for continuing to fix Jamie's problem. But then he remembered his realization when they were getting their suits fitted. If anyone in his family could help, it would be Jamie.

So, he swallowed his pride.

"Actually, yeah, if you don't mind, that would be really helpful."

"Great!" Jamie grinned. "That list you want me to make would probably be best to make with Allie anyway. Though I might run it by you once we've finished it."

Al chuckled, "I'm here if you need me."

"Brilliant," Jamie pulled off a chunk of naan, "Now, tell me about this potential next step."

It took some extra explaining, and some repetition, but Al managed to bring Jamie up to speed with exactly where things stood with the current Potterbox and his idea to hopefully break through the wall that he'd been stuck at for over a year.

"I don't know if magic actually is as sporadic as you think it is." Jamie shook his head as he spoke quietly. "Think about how a broom flies, when I'm casting the enchantments on our brooms, I'm telling the broom to pull magic in a way that propels it either forward or backward or sideways. I think magic is a bit more directional like your wi-fi waves are."

Al frowned, "But it worked, a while ago, to pull magic from individual points in space."

"Well, sure, because you were thinking about it on a super tiny scale. But maybe this doesn't have to be thought about on a small scale. Maybe you think about it as magic moving in waves or straight lines or what have you on a larger scale. You basically want the Muggle mesh and the magic mesh to interact together, rather than against each other. So maybe you find a way to get the two to run together or something."

Al looked down at the napkins he'd been drawing on. "Wait, say that again."

Jamie pointed to one of the drawings, "You said the wi-fi and the cell service make a sort of mesh and I think magic does too, so figure out how to make them mesh in the same pattern. Maybe not across the world, but definitely where they hit the technology and where they leave it."

"Merlin, Jamie, you're brighter than you let on."

Jamie grinned, "Don't out my secret."

"Would you want to help me with this at all? Maybe stop by after work and we can look into it. Or we could have you and Allie and Sarah over for lunch or something on a weekend and you and I can try to sort this out."

"Yeah," Jamie nodded. "Let me talk to Allie tonight and then I'll call you. We could definitely figure this out!"

Al looked up at his brother and grinned, "I actually think we can."