3 February 1891 — DMLE, Auror Training Offices

Emrys was terribly unhappy, all of the sudden, and although he thought he knew at least one potential route forward he was not keen to get started. He'd decided that before firmly deciding on anything he ought to solicit advice from at least one person whose name he actually knew, rather than this shadow diviner whom he'd written to under the guise of Rachel Jellytoes-Scots Williams. His options on that front were rather limited, however; he didn't keep many people in his confidences by design, and those who did know a good deal about him were not the sorts of people one should ask for advice about anything, except perhaps on potential sources of opium. Since all of his friends were out of the running, that really only left his brothers.

In considering the possibilities, Emrys had decided that Trystan was both the brother most likely to have something relevant to say and least likely to be an absolute ass about it. If he waited until the evening when his brother was off work, however, he'd have to contend with Ambrosia or possibly one or more children (were there children living at the house or were they all at Hogwarts? No, at least one was ostensibly an adult now, he remembered, so more than just Ambrosia to contend with). So instead, he'd gone directly to the Ministry and asked the Welcome Witch at the front desk for directions to the auror department. He looked slightly haggard since he hadn't shaved, which may have given her the idea he was there to report a crime, a notion which he didn't bother to disillusion her of.

"Oh, good, you're here," he said on finding the right door and walking in. "I've got a question for you." He sat and took a look around; this was the first time he'd been in this entire department of the Ministry, much less Trystan's office. "Hmm," he muttered in a vaguely critical tone. "I always imagined it'd be bigger."

  

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Lou made this! <3

“Emrys?” Trystan exclaimed, having glanced up and needed a double-take to so much as place his brother here, visiting him at the Ministry. Work and family had always been so far apart that Trystan felt almost like different people from one to another, and his brothers had never made a habit of finding him upon Ministry floors.

“I can take you to the training rooms and use you for target practice with the trainees if you’d rather,” he replied carelessly, at the criticism. His brother might own their father’s shipping company, but Emrys had never really worked, had he? Trystan doubted Emrys had even set foot in an office in years.

So this was a remarkable moment, and in spite of the remarks about the size of his office, Trystan’s eyebrows rose, half-convinced it had to be an urgent matter for either of his brothers to have shown up like this. For a question. A question related to the Auror office, presumably? But if Emrys had gotten mixed up in anything criminal, unintentionally or otherwise, he would have hardly wandered in here quite so blasé!

He glanced at the clock and, deciding he had enough time to entertain this, whatever this was, regarded his brother again, somewhere between bemused and suspicious. “Come on then. What do you need from me?”

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"Well, that was needlessly hostile," he said in response to the comment about target practice, pretending to be hurt. He would not have been especially put out even if he thought his brother had been serious, though he would have thought it a dramatic overreaction to such an innocuous comment. He had expected it to be bigger. Trystan had a bigger house than he did; he ought to have had a bigger office. It would have been a small matter to magically enlarge the room, wouldn't it have? But if it was that simple, Trystan probably would have done it by now. Perhaps it would disrupt the integrity of the building and bring the entire Ministry crashing down around his head. Perhaps Trystan simply didn't have enough pride to care. Emrys would have wagered on the former.

He hesitated, considering how to phrase things. Evidently, his hesitation outlasted his brother's patience, but even after Trystan's question he didn't respond immediately. "Need is a strong word. It's just advice. About — well," he hesitated again. "What is the thing you like least about being married, would you say?"

  

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Lou made this! <3

He had been joking, of course, to Emrys - but now that he thought about it, it did sound like a fun activity if he could trick Daniel into coming to the offices one day on a false pretense. He would have to keep that in mind.

He settled back in his chair to pay his brother an acceptable amount of attention, listened to the question, and - broke out into loud, disbelieving laughter. What did he like least about being married? He considered answering - he was not short on possibilities, to be sure; it might have been a quicker list to ask what, indeed, he liked - but his laughter got the better of him, and when it finally faded he sobered up fast.

“Either Ambrosia’s reached new lows of desperation,” Trystan began, his expression fixed in disbelief, “or she’s got something terrible on you, to make you come fishing for her.” Obviously that was not what was happening here, but the idea that Emrys was suddenly interested in discussing marriage was equally ridiculous, no? Better invoke his right to remain silent until he knew what this was really about.

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Emrys supposed he had not really been optimistic about getting a straight answer, but was a little annoyed about exactly how loud and how long Trystan spent laughing at him, all the same. When he finally got around to speaking, it wasn't an answer to Emrys' question at all, and what he did say was fairly confusing. Why would Ambrosia have sent anyone (let alone him) to try and determine Trystan's thoughts on marriage? Shouldn't she already have a fairly good idea of the subject, having been married to him for... fifteen years? (Emrys had no idea how long they had been married, exactly; he thought vaguely that it had probably happened less than twenty years ago but knew they had children at Hogwarts, so; fifteen was as good a guess as any).

"Why would Ambrosia care how you feel about marriage?" he asked, brows furrowed. "It's not as though she could just opt out if you said something she didn't like. Not at this point, anyway. No, I'm asking seriously," he pressed. This statement sounded ridiculous even to his ears, however, and he doubted Trystan would take him at his word. Before his brother could laugh again, Emrys fished a flask out of his interior jacket pocket, screwing off the lid and glancing around to see if Trystan had glasses anywhere. He didn't see any, which was unfortunate. Emrys kept glassware in his office at the trading company — but then, his job didn't exactly depend on quick reflexes, so it was hardly a problem if he drank while at work. He could see why that sort of thing might be frowned upon in the auror department.

"It's occurred to me that I might have to marry someone, someday," he said, taking a shot off the top of the flask to steel himself for this conversation. "And I don't want to end up —" he gestured vaguely at Trystan "— if I can avoid it."

  

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Lou made this! <3

“No, but you know she gets terribly bored if she doesn’t have anything to be angry with me for,” Trystan said, rolling his eyes - and if Emrys did not understand how Trystan’s critical opinion on the subject of marriage might offend the sensibilities of his wife, he must have rather overestimated the state their marriage.

But that gesture about not ending up like him made it quite clear that Emrys knew enough to avoid a marriage like theirs - which, incidentally, was what Trystan had always assumed his brother had already been achieving, all these years, by showing no interest in the institution.

“Someday?” He echoed, nonplussed as to why this would have only occurred to Emrys recently, when realistically he was probably past the peak of his eligibility - he was lucky he’d not lost too much of his hair yet. Maybe someone particular had caught his eye? Trystan hated to admit that he was, in fact, intrigued by this development, and so he went along with the question in hopes of unravelling some explanation. Better to have this conversation at work than anywhere near Ambrosia at home, he supposed; perhaps that was why Emrys had picked his office for it.

“See, that’s the problem, there -” he said, happy to hammer it home as emphatically as possible if it spared his brother the misery “- there’s no escape. So if you’re going to commit, you’d better choose someone you think you’ll still be able to stand in forty years.” Choosing someone he liked - choosing someone at all - was a rather solid start, in Trystan’s opinion, since he hadn’t had the luxury.

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Emrys frowned and took another swig from his flask. "Well, I suppose it is too much to hope I outlive her," he considered, more of an aside than anything he expected Trystan to respond to. The incredibly permanent nature of marriage did not appeal to him in the slightest, but since any bride he chose was likely to be nearly twenty years his junior he would, most likely, still be stuck with her in forty years. Though he supposed there were degrees of being stuck with someone, weren't there? He could buy another house somewhere — Hogsmeade, most likely — and stash her away in it, never to bother him again unless they were forced to attend parties together. That certainly seemed preferable to letting whoever she was live in his house.

"Why must people get married at all?" he complained, setting his flask down on the edge of Trystan's desk and reaching into another interior pocket for something to smoke. "It sounds dreadful. Or is it only your and Daniel's example that makes it look so?" This last comment was intended as a joke, though he was a little too on-edge to laugh after saying it, so it may have fallen a little flat.

  

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Lou made this! <3

Trystan waited until Emrys had set down his flask to lean over and snatch it up. He had intended to put it over in a drawer on his side, so no one walked in and wondered if sitting around drinking with his brother was something he often did during office hours, but the thought in itself was a little too tempting not to take a quick swig first. Emrys could usually be counted on for a quality drink.

But his brother was not someone he had ever counted on seeing married, at least not now their parents were dead and couldn’t prod him into it. Trystan had enough trouble figuring out why Tanwen and Anthea both refused to marry without delving into the presumably sordid details of his brother’s inner life. “I’ll admit I didn’t think you were ever going to,” Trystan offered anyway, his brow furrowed in continued curiosity. Surely he and Ambrosia’s marriage was not radioactive enough to have ruined the institution for everyone in their close vicinity?

Emrys sounded strangely serious about this, though. “But marriage does have its occasional merits,” he pointed out, quirking an eyebrow in suggestion - in the bedroom if nowhere else, and possibly most married people did not have to have raging rows before they found the excuse to get there - “and unless you’re going to hand Seabound Sorcery to one of mine, I suppose you’ll want a son sometime.” Their father’s companies ought to stay in the Selwyn name.

Maybe that was why Emrys was thinking about the future, from a practical view if not a romantic one? Trystan was trying very hard to imagine what Emrys’ wife should be like, but it was proving difficult to even fathom.

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Emrys fished out a cigarette case from an internal jacket pocket, opened it, and placed one between his lips. This completed, he waved a dismissive hand at his brother's last remark. "I don't know why I ought to concern myself with that; I'll be dead," he pointed out, as he retrieved a lighter from a different pocket. He could have lit cigarettes with his wand, but he liked Muggle lighters — particularly this one, with its heavy silver casing and the fancy design on the side. Regarding Seabound Sorcery, he was rather protective of the company's interests and profits at the moment, but that was because it was literally his job. Her legacy (and, by association, the broader Selwyn legacy) wasn't half so important to him as his lifestyle while he was still here. The shipping company needed to do well and be prestigious and everything because it wouldn't have suited his aesthetic to be managing a struggling little collection of freighters or pulling his hair out over trying to keep his business afloat — not because he cared whether it remained solvent and robust after he was gone.

"I've gotten the impression society might bother me less if I was married," he explained, taking a drag from the cigarette. "Though I suppose," he added pensively, as a thought occurred to him for the first time, "It's really just trading it out, isn't it? Getting rid of the more general bother for a very specific bother."

  

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Lou made this! <3

He would have opened a window, if any Ministry offices had one. He’d have to filter out the tobacco smell when his brother was gone.

For the moment, Trystan was distracted by the intrigue here: so it was not the desire for a heir that had Emrys considering the unthinkable. Hm. Surely heirs were the only thing his brother was lacking in his affairs - and he must still be having casual affairs, if with a better track record or more forethought than Trystan had when it came to not begetting bastards in the process, else what was he doing with all his free time?

But it sounded like Emrys must have gotten himself flirting with scandal of some kind, if he was suddenly wary of society bothering him. If it were Daniel, he might have prodded more callously to figure out what sordid little secrets he was hiding, but he restrained himself a little better here, confined himself to one casual observation. “I didn’t know anything could bother you that much,” - and yes, Emrys had an air of disdain for most everything, but he was not the sort of man one could often push into doing something he did not want to do either, and certainly not by society.

Unfortunately, Trystan had the bother of both judgemental society and a judgemental wife, but if Emrys could manage less bother he supported him wholeheartedly in pursuit of it. “Just pick a wife who’s too laidback to be a bother,” he suggested easily: because that was the ideal, wasn’t it? An attractive young wife who was also too placid and charming and guileless to give him any trouble. Practically any young debutante would do.

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Emrys flicked his cigarette irritably. "I've spent most of my life with no one much caring about my affairs and I've gotten used to it," he explained. Being the middle child and following such a troublesome brother had meant that his parents had never spared a second thought for him, which he was perfectly content with. Trystan had affairs and had marriages arranged for him; Emrys had affairs and no one even knew about it, because no one was paying attention. Had their positions been reversed, Emrys expected he would have been married and miserable long ago. He only got away with as much as he did because no one had any reason to look too closely at his lifestyle. Particularly if they were interested in seeing whether or not he was sleeping with men — he wasn't going to any great lengths to hide it, at this point, and it would have been irritating to have to start. "So if anyone is inclined to start taking an interest, it's bothersome."

Trystan's second point, about a laid back wife, was perhaps not as illustrative as he assumed it would be. Emrys wasn't sure he had ever met a woman who he would describe as laid back — well, maybe Esther, but she wasn't exactly marriage material.

"I was thinking a second house might do it," he mused. "If I can force her to stay out of mine."

  

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Lou made this! <3

Emrys did have that luxury. Maybe if Trystan had not been so much trouble when he was young, Emrys might have gained a little more of the attention - but he suspected it was more the position of being a first son that had ruined him from the start.

And if Emrys had gotten off so easily for so long on the social scene, he supposed that would be coming back around to bite him now, for the mystery of seeming above it all - or getting out the other side a permanent bachelor, quite unscathed.

Trystan pulled an approving face at the thought of a second house, though that he was already imagining such separation did feel a little like Emrys had given up before he had even begun. Well, obviously he was no young romantic. “Yes, that would certainly help,” Trystan said, with a bark of laughter. “Perhaps you could find someone with a - hobby? Something that keeps her occupied and out of your hair,” he threw out, with a shrug, though this sounded less like marriage and more like babysitting. Still, surely there was a girl with a hobby that was not too strange or too expensive, but also not just a proclivity for hosting parties she would then force her husband to fund - or worse, attend beside her.

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Emrys let out a huff of pseudo-laughter at the suggestion. "The spinstress Miss Black, then," he joked, shaking his head and taking another breath of smoke. This was clearly an impossibility, which was the only reason he'd said it in the first place — he didn't want Trystan's opinion on women he might actually be considering. As much as he disdained silly young women, or the idea of flirting with teenagers, however, he wasn't particularly interested in marrying a woman who was older than him. That, and Miss Black had always been odd — not in the glamorous, sexy way that Emrys thought he was considered odd, but in a vaguely sinister fashion. "She can busy herself with taxidermy and — I don't know, terrorizing children, or whatever else she spends her time on." He may have been conflating her with what he had heard about her brother, the Headmaster, but from what he knew of her, he couldn't imagine any children would like her.

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Lou made this! <3

The thought of Emrys marrying Miss Black was so amusing it was worth the whole conversation, Trystan thought. And - much as he liked Phineas Black - he could not imagine Black’s sister was much better-tempered than him, so Emrys probably wasn’t wrong there.

“Well, I can at least promise you’re not likely to find a wife here,” Trystan remarked, waving a hand to say the Ministry in general; because although he had suggested hobbies, he couldn’t think Emrys would stoop to committing to a working woman, especially. Besides, the Auror office in particular was hardly overflowing with attractive marriageable young women, either. (Which was an entirely sensible setup when it came to Trystan’s own self-control, although - well, saying that, he still would never say no to Miss Abernathy...) He cleared his throat, and abruptly registered the time. “So you’d best be off before my next session starts.”

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