December 17th, 1892 - Winnie's room, London
Gus Lissington

Winnie had written to Gus later that night, after everything had happened with Dory. She knew she needed to let him know she was alright, but she also wanted to explain, so had written again to coax him into a visit with cocoa once more. This time she had gone all out, gotten the good cocoa from Honeydukes, splurged on some milk instead of water and even gotten a couple of his peppermint chocolate frogs and candy canes to go with it. Mr. Honeyduke was pretty easy to sweet talk to get what she'd needed.

It was already ready for the time he'd agreed to show up and Winnie was curled up in her bed, the cocoa on the table next to her. She was half asleep from being up all night for a delivery, but this was important so she needed to keep herself focused. Mostly she needed Gus to help her get her brain together. She wasn't even sure if she could, but she was hoping he might at least help her put things into perspective.

The floo lit up green announcing his arrival and Win put her book down, leaning forward with a tired sort of smile. "Hello Handsome," She hadn't really been reading, she'd mostly been toying with her necklace and staring out the window, but whatever she could do to keep herself awake. "I made the good stuff this time, to make up for last time." She passed him a more sheepish smile and patted the bed next to her.

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Gus had left out a breath of relief when Win had written to him, and although she claimed she was fine, he wasn’t sure about this whole… Dory fellow. He hadn’t been mean or rude or anything, maybe a bit hostile for reasons that seemed ridiculous, but maybe he’d be the same way if the tables were turned and it’d been Basil walking through with someone else. He knew what it felt like to get your heart broken over something so small. It hadn’t taken much to convince him to come over – one he wanted to make sure Winnie was actually okay with his own eyes, and two… he’d never turn down hot cocoa that the cocoa queen herself had made.

He’d watched the time on the pocket watch Basil had given him for his birthday (who knew they could be so handy to walk around with?) and flood into her room on the agreed upon time. Turning his eyes toward her, Gus grinned. “Hi Beautiful.” He never had to be told twice to get into bed with Winnie, and he plopped down next to her, tossing his legs across hers. “You don’t have anything to make up for Win, but if you’ve already made it —” Like he didn’t notice the cocoa on the table next to her. “I won’t say no.” Gus could smell chocolate like a shark could smell blood in the water.

She didn’t owe him any sort of explanation despite how odd the entire thing was, although he’d be lying if he wasn’t curious. Laying back on the bed, Gus crossed his arms behind his head. “I did miss you though. Your bed is more comfortable than the medieval torture device Hogwarts calls a bed.” His nose wrinkled. Basil’s was better than his, but it wasn’t like he could sleep on it.

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Winnie hadn't truly been worried about Gus' reaction, but she did still feel bad about unceremoniously throwing him out of her room last week. The ease at which he found himself in her room and in her bed amused her, but she wouldn't change it. It was nice having a friend who she could cozy up with and have zero expectations. Win found she didn't actually have many of those these days.

"It is quite comfortable. Do they not give professors better beds?" She chuckled, passing him a peppermint chocolate frog. Hogwarts felt like a lifetime ago, but she never remembered the beds being all that uncomfortable. And Win had spent quite a bit of time in her bed, come to think of it. Her education had been far more social and life experience than academic at some points.

Taking a sip of her cocoa, she did have to admit, it was pretty tasty. He liked to brag about her capabilities, but she never thought her output quite lived up to the hype. Still, it hit the spot and she leaned toward him, getting comfortable in their tangle of limbs and sheets. "Hogwarts leaves me with such narrow access to you, it's quite obnoxious." She teased lightly, not quite ready to dive into the real conversation yet.

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The peppermint frog: the embodiment of the best chocolate flavor in the entire world, and Gus had tried a lot of chocolate over the last decade. He grinned at her before he leaned forward to press a kiss against her nose — Winnie knew him well, and he loved her for it. Then he leaned back and his nose wrinkled. Maybe he just thought the bed was uncomfortable because he only found faults at Hogwarts as a feeble attempt to convince himself to leave. “I’m sure I can make it more comfortable. There’s probably a spell for it.”

He shook his head to move on from the conversation before he sat up and moved to take his own mug of cocoa; he groaned softly as he took his first sip. If she opened up a business, Win would definitely put Honeyduke’s out of business. (Which would be sad because then he’d never get his favorite chocolate frogs ever again.) Gus lifted an arm to wrap it around her. Winnie would always have a special spot in his bed, and she was one of the few women he actually could sleep peacefully next to

. “Well, I might, now that I have that house in Bartonburg… move?” Because Fig had won the Ireland cottage, which was what he really wanted. “Stay there for the summer at least, and maybe for the school year. I haven’t really decided.” Gus took another sip of the cocoa. “But I like living in the castle because Basil is a hop, skip, and a jump away. But if I moved to Bartonburg, I’d be closer to you. Though I’d make you come over at least once a week to keep me company, just the two of us —” Which he was sure would make Dory mad but Gus couldn’t care less about his feelings, “So you’ll probably be ready to move me back into Hogwarts after a few months.”

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Ah, yes, Basil. Well it was hard to compete with that. Not that she would want to anyway. She just wanted him to be happy, after all, even if it meant she could only see him every so often and in the summers. "I might be able to afford to move to Pennyworth if I could find a roommate or two." Then they could be much closer and she would be closer to Dory. It would afford her a little bit more freedom as well. It was certainly something to look into.

"Oh I highly doubt that," Winnie chuckled as she took a sip of her own cocoa and passed him another chocolate frog. Winnie was pretty good at satisfying a man, even if he didn't have any interest in sleeping with her They were generally simple creatures once you figured out how to motivate them. "It's been real nice having you home." She sighed contentedly, sinking further into their snuggle puddle. Win still didn't really know how to explain everything with Dory, so she didn't try just yet. "And how is Basil?" She asked instead, pushing off the inevitable for just a little bit longer.

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“I would like that. You’d be closer.” To him, he guessed. If he decided to move to Bartonburg that was, but he really wanted to sell the house and buy a little cottage in Ireland. His floo would be open to her of course, to all of his friends. Gus just liked privacy and the comfort of being a little ways out. “Although I like seeing you without pesky roommates.” He didn’t want anyone to gossip about Win, although he was sure it was a hassle to hide people coming in and out.

He grinned at her and took the chocolate frog, choosing to open it and eat it before it could hop away; Gus chewed on it slowly. It was hard to explain how nice it was to be home while wanting to leave all at the same time. It had been easy slipping into places he’d belonged before, except the one he desperately wanted to be in; he loved Basil more than anything but sometimes he wondered if it’d ever be returned. “He’s good.” It was all Gus could offer, hoping that Win would pick up that he didn’t want to talk about him.

He shifted toward her on the bed and sipped his cocoa. “Are you sure you’re okay from… everything?”

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It would be nice to be closer to everyone. As long as she had a working floo, she could really live anywhere. It was worth investigating at the very least. She wasn't sure it would be any easier, as she would still have roommates, but she would have a little more autonomy. Plus she might get lucky and get some discreet people to live with. Winnie was very much a live and let live sort of person as long as nobody was getting hurt. What people did in their own time was really none of her business.

Conversation waned and Winnie definitely caught the drift that Basil was not up for discussion. And so came the question she'd been expecting, but still not entirely sure how to answer. "Yes?" It wasn't a very convincing answer, she knew, but honestly her head was still reeling a little bit. "Dory and I have... history." She wasn't sure she'd ever told Gus as much, but she didn't want too explain to much, nor did she want to trivialize it either. "It's complicated and messy, which you saw." Poor Gus saw a little too much that night. "But it runs deep and it's changed a lot over the years." A lot.

Win wasn't even sure what exactly had changed, or when, but she was trying to figure it out. "Things hit a head after my birthday this year," that she had told him about, the attack and the aftermath, just hadn't strictly included Dory in the story. "He went one way, he bought me a ring and I backed way off." They were still working out how to meet in the middle. "It's a mess." She reiterated with a sigh.

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Winnie was a shit liar, but Gus wasn’t one to call her out on it. If she wasn’t going to force the conversation of Basil then he wasn’t going to force the conversation of Dory. That’s what he liked most about her. Their friendship had always been an easy one with no expectations, just the gentle ebb and flow that was life. He told her things and she told him others in return, no judgment, just someone to listen and offer advice if it was needed.

So when she opened her mouth and started speaking about Dory, albeit vaguely, Gus shut his mouth by taking a sip of the hot chocolate. She hasn’t told him a lot and he wasn’t going to ask. It wasn’t his place. “Yeah.” He confirmed. There were a lot of questions on the tip of his tongue — did she love him? Did he love her? What in the hell had he even been doing at her place to begin with?

He nodded. Yeah, he knew all about what she’d gone through and he wished that he could go back and stop it. Then Gus sputtered, nearly choking on the liquid before he wheezed a laugh, his toe nudging against her leg. “Two rings Win, look at you.” Not that his meant anything. At least not in the manner of marriage. (There was still a small swell of pride that she’d taken his and not Dory’s; he wasn’t a fan of the man. At all.) “If you don’t want to marry him, then don’t. If he came to pressure you, I know a good spell that’ll stick his tongue to the roof of his mouth so he can’t speak at all. For a little while at least.”

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   Melody Crouch

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"I don't think I want to marry anyone?" Winnie sighed into her cocoa. It wasn't Dory specifically, she didn't think. The thought of being tied down to one person for the rest of her life twisted her insides in a manner that she couldn't quite explain. She had always teased Gus that they would be the perfect married couple, but it was because they simply held nothing but platonic affection for one another. He wasn't attracted to women and she was attracted to too many people. The best part about marrying Gus would have been the freedoms that came with being married, but without any of the emotional entanglement. As much as Dory said she was free to do what she wanted, Win knew it wasn't that easy. He believed in a real marriage and it would get sticky fast. He wanted kids and a little house with a yard and probably a dog; she wanted none of that, so how could it possibly work out?

Dragging one hand over her forehead, Winnie sank further into the pillows. "I hate that it's gotten this messy. It used to be so easy, so simple and now it's all complicated and emotional and ugh." She groaned audibly, wondering if Gus would stop her from smothering herself with a pillow. "He was involved with someone else. It didn't work out, and I feel like he's all in a tizzy coming running back to me because I'm familiar. But I'm not what he wants, not really, I can't give him what he wants out of life." She couldn't. As much as she cared about him, loved him even, on some level, she would never be that person for him.

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   Melody Crouch

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Gus could tell that Winnie was emotionally drained by the entire situation Dory had dragged her into; just another reason why he didn’t like the man, although he wasn’t daft enough to voice it. Not here, at least. He wasn’t going to force her to tell her the details – she would when she was ready, although if that turned out to be never, Gus was okay with it. Marrying her would be easy though, with her free to do as she pleased and him finally out of the limelight while people wondered when he’d settle down. (Never. The answer was never.) “You don't have to do anything you don’t want to, Win.” He murmured quietly, sinking down to curl closer to her once she did.

Shifting on the bed to put his cocoa down, he reached out to gently brush his fingers through her hair. “It’ll unravel itself. And screw him for using you as a safety net.” Gus grumbled softly, his fingers pausing as she groaned, waiting to see if she was going to roll away from him before he continued. “Don’t settle. We both know you won’t be if you do and you deserve the world. It’s easy to fall into old habits, but don’t make yourself unhappy for someone else.” Sure it’d be easy for them to fall back into old habits but he wasn’t trying to make Winnie uproot her entire life to mold into his. Gus couldn’t imagine Winnie living happily with a white picket fence life, although he’d grin and bear it if that’s what she decided.

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   Melody Crouch

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Putting her cocoa aside, Winnie curled up toward Gus and sighed heavily. She knew she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to, but what she wanted was the exact opposite of what Dory wanted and so she felt like this chapter of her life was slowly coming to a close and she hated how it was happening.

It'll unravel itself. That was exactly what was happening and what was making her miserable. It honestly would have been easier if whatever it was he'd had with that other woman had worked out. At least then she could be happy for him and the life he wanted to build. Now it was her causing the upset and as selfish as it was, she didn't want that for either one of them. She couldn't see a way to salvage this gracefully anymore.

"I'm already unhappy," She snorted, which was part of the problem. "But I cannot for the life of me pinpoint why." She groaned, throwing her head back dramatically and wondering if Gus would stop her from smothering herself with the pillow.

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