April 26th, 1890 - High Street
Elias Grimstone

Though Winnie never technically had a day off, things were slightly slower as of right now and unless any babe's had the notion to come a little early or unexpectedly, Win rather thought she could take the afternoon to herself after her appointments were taken care of. Her last had been in Wellingtonshire and now she was free to peruse the High Street, half a mind to stop at the Broomsticks for a pint and some dinner. It would be far better than what she'd get at home in the row house.

A stop at Honeydukes had been in order of course, the sweetshop a critical pause in her wanderings. It had been a long while since she'd indulged in something on the sweeter side and that some chocolate could at least satiate one craving as it were. Sometimes you just had to make do with what was available.

Winnie continued her meandering up the street, thinking the bookshop may be another worthwhile stop on the way the pub, but she paused outside the quidditch store and it brought up the memory of Gus making the team. No doubt this summer they'd find themselves inundated with newcomers to watch the Cup and things would certainly be interesting. Win hoped she could make a game or two, even from the nosebleed section, just to watch her friend play in such a historic event!

On a sigh she turned to her wandering, but instead found herself staring a the chest of gentleman- no way she could ever be face-to-face as he had to have at least a foot on her, but in her surprise, she dropped her bag from Honeydukes and subsequently lost her treats to a puddle. "Oh no!" She chirped, jumping back. Staring longingly at her lost chocolate Win pouted for a moment, knowing that splurge didn't have the funds for a repeat. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you." She sighed, finally acknowledging that she'd very nearly plowed right though someone.

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He’d just come out of the quidditch supply shop, with the Three Broomsticks his next intended destination - but his thoughts were a skip and a hop ahead of his feet, because Elias clearly hadn’t been paying the least attention to where he was going.

It was lucky enough he’d not been moving fast enough to bowl her over, but the short brunette had still gotten the brunt of it - and as they both stepped back in haste, Elias heard the splash. The trajectory of his gaze followed hers, the Honeyduke’s lettering still visible against the spreading splotches of damp. Wincing, Elias stooped down to scoop her bag up, watching muddy water drip from the corner and not expecting much for whatever was left inside it.

“Not at all,” Elias said apologetically, holding it awkwardly and trying to decide whether he ought to be offering back her bag of sweets or calling it a lost cause and giving it up to the nearest bin. “I’m more sorry about your treats. I’m not sure that you take your chocolates, er, soggy.”

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Pouting comically, Winnie was only mildly irked, it was her fault after all for not looking where she was going, but there would be no replacing them and that was just a travesty. "Ach, a girl gets herself a treat and the puddle gets to enjoy them! What's the world coming to?" She lamented with a chuckle.

Win reached out to take back the soggy brown bag, intent on peeking inside to see if anything could be rescued, when the bottom gave way and everything came spilling out right back. Another splash in the puddle and now not only were her treats well and truly gone, her skirt and the gentleman's shoes were covered in flecks of muddy water. "Oh delightful," She sighed with a little less amusement this time.

"Well there's no saving them now. What a tragedy." Alright it wasn't really but it felt like it at the moment! "I do apologize for your shoes as well. Clearly I'm just a mess today!" If it wasn't one thing, it was another! The poor chap was probably wondering just what else she could throw at him in a matter of mere moments. "Best escape before I can do something else."

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He knew he probably oughtn’t laugh - especially not when the bottom of the bag gave way and really ruined her treats (and splashed up puddle-water in the process) - but her exclamations were almost entertaining enough to make up for the tragedy.

Not that he could say that, of course, so Elias merely suppressed his smile until he had made it suitably sympathetic. “Oh, never mind, I’m sure my shoes will survive it,” he assured her, brushing off her apology and made a show of shaking off his shoes to illustrate that they were now a little damp, but not too much worse for wear.

His brow did furrow in slight consternation though when it seemed she had given up on her day altogether, and had talked of escaping! “You’re not heading back to Honeydukes, then?” Elias asked in surprise, glancing again at the sad lost chocolates before he peered back at her. Not going to risk a repeat? That seemed a shame.

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Disgruntled at the loss of her treats as she was, at least she'd run into- literally, a genial gentleman. He'd taken her teasing and her predicament in stride, which Win could appreciate. "Ack, afraid not. The first purchase put a bit of a stretch on the funds for the week, afraid I haven't got the spare change anymore." Busy as she was, and good money as she did make, Winnie was not in possession of an overabundance of money. Sure she had her savings, and the treats hadn't actually put her over her budget, but she would have to wait again until next week to roll around for the money to be available and by then the craving for something sweet would have surely passed.

Of course if she brought the soaked bag, or what was left of it, back to Mr. Honeyduke, he'd probably graciously replace them. That was an option she supposed, but she didn't really have the desire to pester him about it either. Ah well, lesson learned; watch where you walked, simple enough. Winnie was not an easily flustered person, there was no room in life to let the little things get her down and this would be no different. "That'll teach me to look where I'm going." She shrugged, a little chuckle escaping.

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Elias kept his expression neutral at the mention of her stretched funds, not having intended to make her explain herself and not altogether unfamiliar with how that felt, though he didn’t think wincing at it would properly convey the nuance there. Still, it made the loss of her Honeydukes purchase doubly a shame.

“Hard lessons, huh,” he just said, smiling lightly, and admiring of her fleet-footed progress forwards from it. All the same... “It’s not a patch on Honeydukes, I’ll admit, but the chocolate cake at the Three Broomsticks isn’t half bad,” he suggested cheerfully. “Or a consolation Butterbeer, if you like?” He meant to be the one buying, of course; he didn’t know whether she would take him up on the offer, but it felt less like overstepping at the Broomsticks than ambling down to wheedle a free replacement bag out of Quin.

Besides, he had been heading there anyway.

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"Hard lessons indeed." Winnie could only shake her head and sigh. What was unexpected was an invitation to a conciliatory prize at the Broomsticks. Perhaps her luck was not so poor after all? It wasn't every afternoon you ran into a handsome gent who offered to patch up a lost treat for you.

"I do suppose a butterbeer wouldn't be too far out of reach. That would be delightful." And oh, did she enjoy them when she had them. Win could certainly afford one on her own, but she was more interested now in the company she'd found herself in. A genuine gentleman was hard to come by these days, which could be the reason Winnie found herself in the company of her fellow ladies more often than not, but that was neither here nor there at the moment.

With a little nod of her head, she turned toward the pub itself and started off down the street. "I'm Winnie, by the way, well Bronwyn actually- Moony, but my friends call me Winnie." Not the smoothest of introductions, but alas, one could not always be completely charming.

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Not too far out of reach, she said, and though she obviously hadn’t meant it like that, he still glanced again at her diminutive figure, amused again at their collision.

Hard lessons, maybe, but at least there were no hard feelings; she had agreed quite easily to the Butterbeer, and so Elias meandered along beside her towards the Broomsticks.

“Now, hold on, let me be sure I have that straight,” Elias interjected, entirely teasing but fashioning a look of concentrated seriousness on his face at her muddled introduction. “You said your name was Mary, Mary Brown?”

He couldn’t hold the expression for all that long before cracking a smile, and relenting. “Pleased to meet you, Winnie ‘Bronwyn actually’ Moony. Elias Grimstone. Here,” he said, swinging open the door of the pub for her when they reached it.

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Falling into step beside him had been easy, keeping up with his long stride hadn't been. By the time they'd reached the pub itself she was very nearly out of breath! "Very funny Mr. Grimstone. You make a girl feel special with an invite to the pub then poke fun at her blunders. Tsk tsk." Winnie was teasing obviously, just returning the favor.

Stepping into the warmth of the pub, Winnie sighed contentedly. "So Grimstone as in the broom maker? My niece and nephew are quite enamored with your work." Ned, though he didn't play on the house team, did enjoy quidditch and she was almost certain he was on the club team. Anne was too young, but off to school in September and she would no doubt, follow in her brother's footsteps. Shifting her carpet bag from one hand to the other, she waited to see if Mr. Grimstone had a preference on where to sit.

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Elias suppressed the better part of a laugh at her response. “I let the first blunder go without a word, didn’t I?” he protested with a grin, because he had held his tongue rather well throughout her walking into him and losing her bag of sweets to the puddle. If one counted in blunders, by this point they may as well be old friends.

The pub was more crowded than expected, and he surveyed the place for a moment with her from the door before pointing out a free table over by the bar. “That’s right,” he admitted as they squeezed past tables of patrons to reach it, any pride turning to sheepishness as Miss Moony brought up some relatives who presumably liked flying. Nice to know he was popular with the young’uns, then. “Guess I should have invited out your niece and nephew instead, then,” Elias shot over his shoulder, and in the next step - perhaps justice for his teasing - nearly tripped over a chair leg.

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Winnie led the way to the table Mr. Grimstone had gesture to, even her small form not enough to prevent her from making her way through the crowded pub. Small as she may be, Winnie was no stranger to forcing a path for herself. She let the reminder of his generosity slip by with a sly smile, taking a seat at the table easily enough,  setting her carpet bag down right beside her.

Casually she leaned both elbows on the table, leaning comfortably upon them, though she knew it wasn't exactly proper. She gave Mr. Grimstone a study, appreciating both his handsome face and the sheepishness she saw when she brought up his life's work. Another little smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as he teased her yet again. She was already over the loss of the sweets in favor of his company.

"They would have been elated, but I fear you would regret that one." She chuckled. "Edison most certainly would have been able to contain himself, but Anne would not, she'll be off to Hogwarts soon and she would have loved to take one of your brooms with her." It had, most unfortunately, between the rest of her supplies, been an impossibility. Even between their pooled resources, she Kit and Emilia had been stretched thing to get the children what they needed for school. If only they would stop growing and needing new robes! "Just wait until I tell them." She hummed out, trying to catch the barkeep's eye to see if they could get their butterbeers. 

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Once he had settled in safely at the table - he had to shift his chair out slightly to begin to sit as comfortably as she already looked - he smiled back at her. “Ah,” Elias admitted, seeing her point. “An excitable age, I imagine.” Excitable all round; the prospect of Hogwarts and getting to finally learn some magic would do that to most children, even the quiet ones.

Following her glance over to the bar, he caught sight of the barkeep - a familiar face, to be sure - and gave a wave to grab their attention long enough to call out their Butterbeer orders.

Just wait until I tell them. He gave a wry grin, still a little sheepish at the thought. “And what are you renowned for, Miss Moony?” He returned jokingly, shifting the butterbeers closer to each of them as they arrived. “ - or is it Mrs -?” Renowned for: who she was, what she did, he mostly meant. She had him at a disadvantage here.

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Bronwyn Moony

  

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"Quite, seems like so long ago, that rush of first year. Of course being muggleborn it's even more exciting." Having Kit go before her had only made the anticipation that much worse, especially when neither of her sisters had shown a single sign of magic. Reliving the experience with Ned and then with Anne was quite amusing, even in the wake of all of Kit's problems.

Appreciative of Mr. Grimstone's solicitation of the barkeep, she sighed contentedly as she was nudged a butterbeer and took a delighted dip. "Oh, that never gets old. Almost as good as the lost sweets." If she were feeling bold, she probably say even better, as now she had some handsome company to go with.

Curling her lips over the rim of her mug, Winnie considered him for a moment. "Midwife and it's still Miss." She had a fairly widespread reputation around Hogsmeade and now Irvingly, though she was still young yet, she was good at what she did. It even flowed into the magical society of London here and there. Though she tended to stick to the smaller towns, she did reside in London after all and she was readily available. Word of mouth often flowed through extended families, which is how she got most of her business.

"Nothing quite as exciting as making brooms I'm sure, but it pays the bills." And she would never be without work. It would be a sad day in which no more babies were born.

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Elias Grimstone

  

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His eyebrows raised at her mention of being muggleborn, but his grin broadened rather than faltered. “I can imagine that too,” he murmured, with a laugh. They’d had one foot in the muggle world, themselves, though at least their mother had given them some idea of what was coming.

He shrugged appreciatively, not sure this did quite make up for the lost Honeydukes, but it might be a start - and, selfishly, he was getting more out of this than he had expected. At still Miss, he lifted his mug to his lips to hide the smile, supposing that he probably should not be extending casual Three Broomsticks stops to unmarried women he didn’t know - especially the sort with piercing blue eyes - but she was a working midwife, and she seemed not to have a problem with it, so. He would chalk it up to a little good luck.

“Oh, I expect it’s a sight more exciting than making brooms,” Elias countered, shaking his head good-naturedly. Not that he wouldn’t much rather be making the brooms (he would much rather stick to brooms), but charming branches to fly was probably less earth-shattering in the scheme of things than helping small screaming humans into the world. He raised his Butterbeer to her before taking another draught. “More impressive, anyway. Bet it keeps you busy.”

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   Bronwyn Moony

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Win had always been pretty cavalier about tossing around her lineage; if somebody didn't want to hire her because of it, she didn't want to work for them anyway. Realistically she didn't have many issues either. Fortunately (another mark in his favor really) Mr. Grimstone did not seem too perturbed by her admission.

"Well, maybe," She acquiesced with a grin. It was exciting and it certainly did keep her busy. "Oh that it does," Winnie chuckled quietly. "If it's not babies, it's appointments and measurements and all of those other things expecting women need while they wait out the pregnancy." The amount of ridiculous owls Winnie answered on a weekly basis was insane.

Raising her glass in response to his, Winnie rather thought he was winning himself brownie points without even meaning to, not that he was even aware they were there to earn either. "Such flattery Mr. Grimstone, do you invite unattached ladies to the pub often? I daresay you're a natural." She was not above a little overt flirting, not in the slightest.

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   Elias Grimstone

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He had guessed she would be busy, but he had not thought as far as all the details of what expecting women expected of their midwife before the birth. His sister had been pregnant often enough for him to have some slight clue, but Rue had a husband whose job it was to actually pay attention, so. At any rate, it sounded like a lot of work.

Miss Moony’s company, on the other hand, wasn’t proving hard work at all - he felt he’d known her longer than he had already, so when she asked him about it, he gave a crooked grin, feeling as though his ears might be going a little red.

“I daresay I don’t,” Elias replied, “so you might call this beginner’s luck, I s’pose. It’s usually just my bachelor friends I see at the pub, so -” he trailed off in a laugh, deciding she was a sight more exciting company than they were, too, but that he probably oughtn’t say it outright.

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