Keiran looked up and waved as the third person approached, making Avery swallow back part of her drink, set the glass down, and follow his gaze to see who he had asked to come out with them. He'd invited.... Robin. What? He ended up beside her, his lips brushing over her cheek in greeting. "Hey," she greeted. "Join the club."
"I'm sorry," Keiran cut in, making Avery return her focus to him. "But what the hell is going on?"
Avery's brow furrowed, as she gave a very slow reply. It half sounded like something you would say to someone you were sure had just been knocked over the head, or someone who perhaps didn't speak English very well. "Yeah, really. Why don't you tell us?"
Keiran just blinked, clearly frustrated and lost. "I don't understand. You two... you know each other?"
"Keiran," Avery frowned, reaching a hand towards him to check if he had a temperature. "You introduced us last year. Are you okay?"
Turning to look at Robin, she took her hand back, a wary and upset pout crossing her features. Something was very wrong with their friend. Even though the three had been torn apart due to all of the things that had happened, she knew full well that Robin, too, would be endlessly worried about his best friend of many years. Keiran looked down at his drink like it had betrayed him, but then understanding dawned in his eyes and Avery let herself watch him as he came to terms with whatever was happening.
"Right. That makes sense," he mumbled finally, looking over at the pair of them and seemingly adding them up in his mind. "Um, that's kind of the real reason I asked you here. I mean, I knew you two would get along, and there's the Deputy Headmaster thing, but something happened during the train accident. You heard of that, right?"
"Of course," Avery put in quickly. The hand closest to Robin snuck over to take up his, squeezing it probably a bit too tightly. Something was really not right, and it was freaking her out. They might not have been perfect at home, but she needed that solace he inevitably gave.
"Well, after the Death Eater attack," Keiran's eyes jumped to Robin, checking to see if the other man had been there. Somehow, he just knew that Robin had been, even though Millie hadn't said. "I wasn't feeling up to apparating. So I was on the train, and one of the students said I was helping kids get out, so I must have still been in there when it flipped. Head trauma, among other things, apparently meant that I lost about a year of time. The last thing I remembered upon waking was that I had read about the Marriage Law being printed for the first time in the Prophet. Robin, your cousin - um, I forget the name - helped me and Millie when she, too, was hurt. I'm told he's saved me twice, now. Baldric, too. I guess I owe a lot of people at this point."
"Oh, Keiran," Avery breathed, shoulders falling.