June 2rd, 1895 — Gallivan Household

It was the summer holidays and Nathaniel had been quick to settle back into being home. Now though, he had an Important Discussion to have with Theo. He had sent a summons to Theo the night before - which was really just a crayon scrawled piece of paper taped to Theo's forehead while the older Gallivan had been sleeping - but even so!

They had important business to discuss. He was thirteen now and therefore now A Man. And as such he felt his brother should share the load of being man of the house. This was perhaps a discussion Theo could take more seriously if Nathaniel did not still require a small stool just to climb up into his own bed but that was neither here nor there in the Hufflepuffs opinion.

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Theodore Gallivan

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   Theodore Gallivan, Veronica Gallivan

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I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me.
coding by cherry!

There was a memo stuck to his forehead when he woke up. Which must have bled into the last dream he had had, because he had still been in Auror training, and had just overslept and missed an important training drill and been kicked out and – oh, right. Theo rolled out of bed, shook off the cold sweats by glancing again at the real Serious Memo, laughed for another minute, then got dressed and trudged blearily downstairs for breakfast.

Nat was already awake – and had no doubt already eaten and had been bouncing around for an hour at least – so Theo thought it would be cruel of him to make his brother wait another ten minutes to get whatever important business this was off his chest. He brandished the scribbled summons in one hand and grabbed a piece of toast in his other. “Good day, Nathaniel,” Theo said, inclining his head formally, as if Nat were a proper gentleman. “Shall we step into my office to talk?” He gestured jokingly across the hall from the dining room, at the door to their father’s old study.

(Theo still thought of it as his father’s study – he went in occasionally to fetch an account book they kept in there or the like, but mostly if there was investment work to do he sat at the dining room table. The sponsor’s office at the Chudley stadium felt comfortably his now, but at home, Theo would never be able to shake the association.)

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Before Hogwarts, Nathaniel had not really been a particularly early riser. But the early mourning routine at Hogwarts had conditioned him to be awake and already on the go quite early. Which was now everyone elses problem. Luckily, he was generally kept distracted enough to not typically go bursting into his family members bedrooms when they were still in bed.

"Good day, Theodore," he greeted in return. "And yes, let us do that." He walked over to the office, waiting for Theo to open the door. It was still a bit heavy for him to personally handle. Maybe he would practice at it.

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I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me.
coding by cherry!

Trying not to crack up at Nat’s parrotting of his tone, Theo busied himself by chewing on his toast and opening the study door for them both. He pulled a chair up for each of them – both on the same side of the desk: Nat sitting opposite him would be simply too hilarious to look at – and sat down, trying to look attentive.

“So,” he said, “how can I help?” (His instinct was that Nat had asked his mother for something already, and been denied, and was trying his luck with the Next Most Adult in the house.)

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Nathaniel clambered up into the seat that had been provided for him and tried to ignore the fact that his feet still could not quite reach the floor when sitting properly in it. His growth spurt would come any day now, he was certain. He waited for his elder brother to be seated before going into it.

"As you know, I turned thirteen this past April," Nathaniel began, making sure his hands were properly clasped in his lap like that dotty etiquette teacher at school kept telling them to do. "You need not shoulder the burden of being man of the household on your own since I am a man now too." He was quite serious and solemn as he said this, even reaching out to put his hand over Theo's in a show of some sort of support.

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The following 1 user Likes Nathaniel Gallivan II's post:1 user Likes Nathaniel Gallivan II's post
   Theodore Gallivan

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I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me.
coding by cherry!

Well, whatever Theo had expected – a visit to Honeyduke’s or to ask a friend to the next quidditch match – Nat was (as usual) operating on a different level entirely. Not how Theo could help at all: but how Nat could help Theo.

Theo pretended to choke on his toast in an effort to disguise his threatening laughter; the choking also ruined the solemnity of the moment just a little, but once he was finished spluttering over his shoulder, he swallowed and bit down on the inside of his cheek to look, now appropriately seriously, back at his little brother. “Oh,” he nodded, looking pensive. “That’s very responsible of you. Out of interest, uh, which bits of being-the-man-of-the-household did you want to take on?”

(He was not convinced he should, say, entrust control of their financial investments to the thirteen-year-old of the house, however entertaining it might be.)

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Nathaniel eyed Theo in concern, wondering if his first Grown Up Task was going to have to be saving Theos life. Theo managed to survive on his own though and continued with the discussion. Nat thought for a moment, having not actually thought this far. "I can help look after Mama and give her an allowance. I don't have money though. Think she'll be okay with 3 lollipops a week?" Never mind that said lollipops were probably bought using money he got from... his mother. "And I can make sure boys don't kiss Cee in the parlour when I'm not in school."

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I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me.
coding by cherry!

It was simply impossible not to be grinning at Nat, in situations like these – so Theo hoped Nat would only read his beaming as gratitude at the thoughtfulness of the offer, and not because he found it hilarious.

“I think two lollipops a week would probably do. After all, we want her to be eating enough vegetables too,” Theo said, because if this was what they were discussing he was going to commit to the bit as far as Nat let him. Except: “Wait a minute –” Theo interrupted himself to ask, “have you seen Cee kissing boys in the parlour?” (Theo hadn’t admittedly ever been much interested in chaperoning her, so he had assumed Veronica would supervise all that... but maybe she was too busy as well, and Cee and her callers had been taking advantage of the privacy? What had Nat seen? (What did he know about kissing, for that matter?)

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"No one needs vegetables. We should ban them to save money," Nat said in utmost seriousness. Fruits he liked just fine though. Apples could be quite sweet and he liked that.

"Well, no. But Roddy says boys kiss his sisters all the time." "Roddy" being a yearmate at school who had six elder sisters and thus must know what he was talking about when it came to girls.

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I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me.
coding by cherry!

Theo snorted at that piece of wisdom about vegetables. And while his instinct was just to laugh at that hearsay from this Roddy as well, Theo couldn’t help but wonder if Cee was... “Well, you’re right, maybe we should try and stop that from happening in the parlour,” he considered aloud, cocking his head at Nat, wondering how he could mobilise his brother in this campaign. “What are we going to do? Although – I s’pose we do want Cee to get married eventually, don’t we?”

Theo obviously didn’t want Cee kissing men – or worse – in the house (and besides, it seemed markedly unfair if she could get away with that, when he wouldn’t dare risk it); but the fact was she was quite an old debutante now, so maybe they shouldn’t police things too fiercely, in case they ruined her chances.

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