August 30 1892 - Padmore Park

Raining. Out of all the times, where he finally had a chance to step outside without a care in the world, it was raining.

England was normally lovely this time of year, but then again he loved the sweltering hot days, but the storms that rolled in were often quick, but powerful. Gus was sitting crossed-legged on a bench in Padmore Park with a chocolate ice cream cone in his hand as he watched the ducks shooting across the lake toward the bread someone was feeding them.

He hadn’t noticed as the sun slowly faded and the grey clouds gathered above him until they began to quietly drip, and by the time Gus tilted his head upward to determine if it was actually raining he felt it burst into a torrential downpour. He squeaked as he moved to cover the cone with his hand as if that would do anything, before eyeing one of the larger trees across the way; it wouldn’t offer much reprieve, but it was better than nothing. The people in the park scattered quickly, some summoning umbrellas while others rushed toward the house, others taking an opportune moment to apparate. Gus took a few steps forward, his shoes squelching against the grass, eyes narrowing toward the tree that was hard to see in the rain. The limbs swayed in the rain.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone slipping against the went across. “Are you okay?” Gus called out, and even against the storm, his voice resounded. He shifted to move toward the person. “We might actually drown out here.” He joked with a slight laugh before he shook his head.

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Winnie was not one who was prone to being melancholy, but things were weird between her and Dory once again, but she was pretty sure this time it was vastly different than how it had been last time. She had leaned on him a lot after the attack, something he seemed willing to accept and handle, but she still felt like she was smothering him. It had taken her a little while to get back to herself and seek comfort elsewhere, but she was mostly back to normal these days. Still she had to wonder just what she and Dory were doing and just exactly what it all meant.

Going back to her empty flat this time of day was not something she was in the mood for today. Some days it was all she wanted. She wanted nothing more than to wash up, put on some comfortable pajamas and curl up with a good book, but as the sky turned as dark as her mood and the droplets began to fall, Win realized she was in the mood for something, or somebody else and she wasn't entirely sure that was allowed at the moment.

As the rain turned into a downpour, she hardly noticed, a little rain was not something that would stop her, not when it matched her mood so perfectly. A she crossed the park, down on the banks of the lake, she started getting a little slippery. Hiking up her skirts, Winnie was about to reach into her trusty carpet bag to apparate out when a familiar voice reached her ears. "There are boats just over there." She chuckled motioning down towards the nearby docks.

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“Winnie!” Gus laughed as he finally reached her and saddled up beside her; he followed her line of vision toward the boats that bobbed in the water, and being inside a boat seemed like a good idea if the rain wasn’t going to let; he reached up to gently take her arm to keep either of them from falling, grimacing as his feet squelched against the wet grass - he was going to need a hot shower and a hot chocolate after this summer storm.

Gus squinted as he stepped forward; he was already getting wet and a drying spell shouldn’t be too much of an issue when the rain finally let up. “Okay. Boats sound like a plan. I was going for the tree, but -” He took a glance at it, to find that the space he’d been considering was occupied by a woman and a gaggle of children she’d brought to the park, “I’m not sure I’d fit anymore.” He laughed quietly and shook his head.

He didn’t drop his hand from her arm - what kind of gentleman would be if he didn’t help her? “Ladies first, Win. I’ll catch you if you fall.” And probably drag her down if he slipped.

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Bronwyn Moony

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The intensity of the rain was making conversation more difficult as she could barely keep her eyes open against it, let alone speak. "I think we're sort of out of luck on all the fronts." Win was already thoroughly soaked, down to the bone, and thank Merlin for Gus' hold on her arm otherwise she may have slipped simply trying to stay upright.

She needed more solid ground to try and apparate out, so she tried to make her way up the short hill, but between her skirts and her carpet bag and now trying to be conscientious of Gus, Winnie lost her balance. It naturally happened in the least graceful way possible, then downhill. Winnie slid, pretty sure she'd taken Gus down with her as she slid her way down the wet, grassy knoll, toward the pond.

Thankfully she came to a halt before hitting the water and nothing from her bag spilled out, but her skirts were up around her knees and she was laughing her ass off. "Gus take me home, please!" She laughed, thinking she could use the distraction and the company on this dreary day.

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Gus’ laugh was drowned out by the hammering of the rain, and he held Winnie as he followed her up the hill toward the top; hopefully they could apparate from there and change into dry clothes. Gus felt like he deserved a hot cocoa for all the trouble, despite it only being August.

When Winnie lost her balance he wasn’t able to keep her upright, and she grabbed him as he tried to pull her up, and Gus landed straight on his butt and slid down the hill with her, now covered in wet grass and dirt. He wrinkled his noise before he was laughing and shaking his head, his shoes grazing the top of the pond that he was thankful neither of them had slid into. That would have been a terrible situation. As he flicked his gaze toward her, Gus couldn’t help but laugh with her.

His fingers clutched a handful of mud and he tossed it at Winnie, just for fun, as he grinned at her. They were already filthy. “Thought you’d never ask.” But he was already standing and moving to scoop his dear friend up bridal style from the ground, his hands tucking underneath her knees and then he apparated, figuring her place was better than going back to his parents house. (Or Irvingly. Introducing her to Algernon would be…weird.)

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Bronwyn Moony

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Fortunately Gus understood her mid-laugh request and was able to follow through even though she was still scrambling to even right herself, he was able to scoop her up and apparate out. The dizzying sensation was fortunately brief and then they were standing in her room at the boarding house. It wasn't where she would have thought they would have ended up, but it worked just fine.

She was dripping and still laughing, but she had her wits about her again and so she pulled her wand from her soaked bag and in a few flicks of her wrist, had a fire going, her bad drying out and some of the puddle on the floor cleaned up. "Thank you." She added as she started to kick off her shoes and shrug out of the layers she could. Soaked skirts and the one petticoat she did wear were weighing her down and she wanted out. "I have spare gents clothes in a drawer somewhere." They were Dory's but that was neither here nor there. Gus could probably figure out how to dry himself off if he wanted or he didn't have to deal with it if he didn't want to.

Winnie was stripping without one thought as to what Gus would think about that, pulling at buttons and hooks to get out of her wet things all the way down to her chemise which was also soaked through. That rainstorm was wild! She assumed it was different here in London and her fire didn't make much sense, but in the moment, she felt it necessary; she was freezing! "There's fixings for tea or cocoa and booze is in the cabinet!" She tossed over her shoulder before pulling the drenched final layer over her head, giving Gus a show she knew he wouldn't appreciate, but she also didn't care.

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Grinning at her as set his dear friend on her feet, Gus stepped away from her before he was running his fingers through his hair, orange locks stuck to his forehead. He instantly stepped toward the fire once it was roaring (the cold was his worst enemy) before he raised his hands to warm them, a soft hum escaping him as he felt the warmth against his skin. There was no doubt Gus would sit in front of a fire even if it was a hundred degrees out simply because he liked being warm.

His eyes turned toward Winnie as she spoke and he shook his head. “Yeah, that’d be great, thank you.” He considered fishing his wand out of his pocket to use the hot air charm to dry his clothing, but it’d been finicky lately and his spells were backfiring; he might have cracked it sometime ago goofing off with Endymion and well… he hadn’t had the chance to go to Ollivander’s to get it looked at.

Turning to ask her which one he might look through, because dry clothes and hot cocoa sounded like heaven on earth, Gus yelped quietly. “Winnie!” Instantly his hands were across his eyes to block the view, a warm blush against his cheeks. It wasn’t as if Gus hadn’t ever seen her naked before, but he hadn’t been expecting to see it again. Plus they both knew he didn’t have any interest in her but it didn’t mean he wanted to invade her privacy by seeing her in the nude! “I promise you don’t need to charm me with your body to get me to come over to see you.”

His fingers spread so he could see her decency status and he instantly pressed them back together to find she’d lost even more clothing than she had before. Goodness, how many layers did women wear? At least she wasn't like some of the girls who needed a lady's maid to get ready in the morning. His face burnt and he felt like a beckon of embarrassment standing here, but what else was he going to do?

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Winnie was comfortable in her own skin, enough so that she hadn't any qualms about stripping down naked in front of one of her best friends, even if didn't want to see it. She was already pulling a new chemise over her head when his exclamation hit hear ears and she couldn't help but to laugh. She then pulled the spare clothes for him from her armoire before sliding into her slippers and grabbing her dressing gown. The fire was already doing wonders to warm up her cold extremities, but as he agreed to cocoa, she rather thought that would do the trick completely.

"You had this body once and you didn't even enjoy it." She reminded him, teasing fondly as she watched his complexion turn as red as a tomato. Honestly he should know better than to be embarrassed about that! "I think that's the only time I can honestly say I've disappointed a man in the bedroom— or a woman for that matter!" Of course it wasn't his fault, nor hers really. Handing him the pile of clothes, she meandered to the cupboard to get her kettle out. It wasn't like she could really cook in her room, but she could make hot water for cocoa over the fire at the very least.

Using her wand to fill it with water, she then levitated it into the fireplace to boil. "I can close my eyes if you want." She continued to tease him. It was just one room in a boarding house that she had available to her. She couldn't exactly leave the room, lest she give away his prohibited presence in her room at the moment.

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Gus lowered his hand from his face upon seeing that she wasn’t completely naked anymore before he accepted the clothing, folding them over his arm as he did. The fire felt nice behind him and he sighed contently from the warmth despite his clothes  sticking against his skin. As much as he liked rainstorms, Gus didn’t like being in them.

“I know Win, and I love you for still loving me after that stellar performance.” He laughed quietly as he shook his head, moving to place the bundle somewhere so he could strip off his waistcoat and then his undershirt. (Blasted, he hated all the layers of clothing that came with living in London – being a curse breaker was so much simpler.) “Plus you weren’t disappointing, just not exactly what I was looking for. Don’t tarnish your perfect record because of me.” He winked at her; it had been a rather jarring moment to realize that he didn’t like Winnie in that sense, or really, any woman, but at least it’d been her. Having someone he trusted to know his secret was nice, especially when she was one of his best friends.

The shirt came off and Gus just grinned at her, wide and shit grinning before he playfully swung his hips side to side. “I think you just want a show so you’d peek anyway.” Of course in that moment he laughed, his face turning a bit brighter because changing in front of someone wasn’t something he ever did. “But that’ll cost you one kiss on the cheek, if you can reach chuckaboo*, and one cup of hot cocoa.” He was a solid nine inches taller than she was, so Gus tapped his cheek for good measure.

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*This descriptive term is used to affectionately describe someone who is a good friend.

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The past was something Win didn't tend to dwell on, she was just thankful that they had remained friends after. It wasn't often she felt this comfortable with someone. There were few people actually, who got this side of her, but she was grateful she had at least a couple of friends who knew her for who she really was. That they had in common too.

Winnie had gone for a towel to start drying off her hair, when she cast a look over her shoulder at him. "It's nothing I haven't seen before." She smirked at him as she ran the towel over her hair, turning to face him and his cheeky challenge. Eyeing him carefully, Winnie continued to dry her hair while formulating her plan. Unfortunately for him, he must have underestimated her competitiveness. Unfortunately for her, he didn't have a shirt on anymore so she didn't have anywhere to grab, but that was not going to stop her.

Tossing the towel aside, she took two long strides and jumped him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his middle. She hoped she caught him before he could really react and smacked a loud kiss right on his lips before smirking triumphantly. "Cocoa now?" She teased.

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Gus just grinned at Winnie as he shrugged because she was right – she had seen him before. But that had been a fifth year him and not an adult him and well… he hoped he looked better now than he did then. (Years of curse breaking would do that.) His fingers brushed through his hair, sending small droplets toward her floor. He cast his eyes downward at the small puddle that was forming around him, just to have them widen as he felt a pair of legs wrap around him and a pair of lips against his own. He squeaked, first.

Then a startled laugh escaped him as he slid his arms underneath her butt to prevent her from falling. Then Gus leaned forward and pressed a kiss against her forehead. “Well my little koala, now it looks like you’re stuck here.” He grinned before he tightened his grip on Winnie to shuffle toward the fireplace where the kettle still sat. It started to whistle and Gus managed to keep hold of her as he dug his wand out to levitate the kettle away from it, settling it on a solid surface.

“Do you want tea or cocoa?” He hummed as he moved with her toward the cabinets; good thing Win was as light as she was! He could carry her all day. Of course karma was always instant when he was being cocky, and his foot slipped on the puddle that had formed beneath him earlier, sending them sprawling.

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Winnie grinned as he kissed her forehead, eyes closed, sighing softly. Their friendship was so precious to her, so steady, that she really wouldn't mind marrying him just so they could do this every once in a while and still keep their other love lives. Things with Dory were always so up and down, so turbulent, it gave her whiplash and though she loved him, of course she did, it was never as easy as this.

She'd been about to hum out a response about him wanting cocoa and her wanting tea, so cocoa it was, but then he slipped and they went spilling to the floor in a tangled mess of limbs and laughter. She hit the floor probably more softly than he did, as she felt mostly on top of him. A loud oof left her lips regardless, mixed with a chuckle as she looked down at him. Winnie adjusted her position so she was straddling him, hands on either side of his head, grinning at him.

"Cocoa it is then," She laughed again, placing another smack of a kiss on him, this time on his cheek before standing up and holding out a hand to help him up.

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There was nothing in this world that could have stopped the blush from spreading across Gus’ cheeks and Winnie straddled him. He’d seen her naked twice now in his life, but it didn’t make the situation any more embarrassing – plus the air had left his lungs the moment he’d hit the ground. It took a moment for the world to come rushing back, and as he kissed his cheek, Gus couldn’t help but grin at her. He sat up and briefly considered tugging her down again, but instead took her head to hoist himself to his feet.

Wiping his hands against his pants, Gus moved to open a few drawers to retrieve a shirt that most certainly wasn’t his, but it would do for now. He straightened the shirt before he approached Winnie and snaked his arms around her waist, his chin resting against the top of her head. “You spoil me, Miss Moony.” The redhead hummed quietly. Sweets were the way to his heart after all. “Tell me about your day. Or your week.” Gus cared about the mundane, especially if someone thought it important enough to bring up. He wasn’t ready to go back to Hogwarts where he couldn’t have random days like this. (Well, he could, but that meant living outside of the castle walls, which was not something he was willing to do because Basil lived in them; he liked seeing the man every day.)

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Winnie set about making the cocoa while Gus changed into Dory's spare things. It was sort of amusing and a little gut-wrenching at the same time. Things with Dory were a little... weird again and she wasn't sure what to do with it. That however, was not for this moment when she and Gus were just having a little lighthearted fun. Her mood had been pretty sour prior to getting caught in the rain, but things were looking up. This was the perfect mood boost. Maybe she could coerce him into staying for a little while and snuggling in for a nap. That would be heavenly.

Chuckling as he wrapped his arms around her, Winnie leaned into it gratefully. "Oh nothing terribly exciting. A set of twins born early, but everybody seems to be doing alright." She wasn't so sure about the little one, but he was hanging on. "Been sort of quiet lately, that'll change in the next couple of months for certain." September and October were always pretty busy. "Ready for the new school year? Shouldn't you be at school by now?" The term started in just a couple of short days. Not that she was complaining, there were few people she would rather spend a day like this with, but he surely had work to do!

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“Twins, that’s always exciting.” Gus hummed quietly as he pressed a chaste kiss to the top of Winnie’s head before he stepped back from her to allow her some space to finish making the cocoa. His track record wasn’t great when it came to not burning things. “I’m sure everyone will be fine because you’re working over them. A true angel, hm?” Laughing quietly, Gus rubbed the back of his neck before he continued. “Sometimes I’m not sure what I’d do without you, you know?” And it was true – Winnie was his best friend and knew everything about him.

Then he laughed quietly and shook his head. “Truth be told Win, I’m avoiding Hogwarts.” Well, that sounded terrible. It wasn’t as if he could blurt out he was ready to turn tail and be a curse breaker again. (It was the truth, but he’d made friends at Hogwarts and enjoyed being in people’s lives permanently, rather than sporadically.) “I mean, not for a single reason. Just not ready for summer to be over and put on those stupid robes. Those are the worst part but I'd rather wear them then a suit." His nose wrinkled. "I have to report sometime today… so right before the barriers go up sound perfect to me.” He’d probably wander off to find Mason to make him eat dinner with him. Or Basil to see how his summer fared since he’d spent much of it ignoring his letters.

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Win could only shrug about the babes. Truthfully there was very little she could do when they came so early, but so far they were holding out. Really she could only be there to support them in whatever capacity was necessary.

She finished up the cocoa and handed him his mug before reaching into her cupboard to pull out some biscuits as well. The tin was fresh from a happy new mother and so she thought they would suit the mood. She moved to crawl into her bed and patted the other side for him to join her. "I mean I love you too, but that doesn't sound like somehow who loves his new position like I was lead to believe?" She quirked an eyebrow at him as she curled up in her blankets comfortably.

This was a delightful twist in her day, even she had to get soaked and naked in the process. At least Gus humored her need for extra human contact, even if all she got out of it was snuggles. Which realistically was all she wanted.

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