Entry tags:

! log, 1998-june, character: gwendolyn montgomery, character: william rosier

Who: Will Rosier and Gwen Montgomery
What: Brunch (and Izzie present planning)
Where: Will’s flat then their favourite restaurant
When: Saturday afternoon; 27th of June
Rating: PGish
Status: GDoc; complete

Gwendolyn quite liked surprising her brother. Brunch was generally a good time to have a proper catch up with Will and he was generally in a good mood mid-morning. Granted, she had to be careful about just popping over in the mornings to see him because he hardly spent his evenings alone, but then Gwendolyn wasn’t about to wake up early either. This time, however, Gwendolyn had given William a early enough warning that there would be no excuse, of that much she was certain.

Arriving just outside her brother’s building shortly after 11, Gwendolyn headed to his front door, knocking on it before taking a step back to wait for him to answer. It was probably the third or fourth time that week that they’d seen each other, but even so there wasn’t much time that they’d actually spent alone together yet, and she rather relished those moments.

She didn't have to wait long for the door to open to her, Will was quite prompt about these things. He was mostly dressed and ready, just adjusting his shirt as he answered the door with a smile. A real smile of course, not his usual charming (and seemingly genuine) ones everyone else got, Gwennie was probably the one who got to see him at his least guarded.

"Gwennie! Good timing there," William grinned and gave his sister a one armed hug and steered her inside as he used the other to shut the door behind her. It was a weekend, he had the day off technically, but it also meant he was more likely to have company to get rid of in the mornings, and this morning had been such a case. He'd managed to get the apartment emptied of bedmates about an hour before, luckily, because he had his priorities. Sure he'd seen plenty of his sisters this past week, but he wasn't going to skip out on individual brunch for any reason. "Have fun last night?"

“I’ve always been fantastic with timing.” Gwen smiled as she happily greeted her brother with her usual hug and kiss. “Did she leave then?” She added with a teasing smile pretending to lance around the flat suspiciously heading further inside as her brother saw to the door. It was the weekend, she was fairly certain that he hadn’t spent the night alone and whilst she knew there was nothing serious, and she certainly hoped there wouldn’t be, she liked to tease him about it regardless.

“I did. Came home around four? I think, I don’t remember, it was nearly light out.” Gwen laughed as she headed for the living room. “Did you? Where did you go? Or should I say, not go?
”

Will chuckled and rolled his eyes slightly. “Yes, I’ve made sure to evacuate the flat just for you, Gwennie.” He was used to the teasing of course, they’d been doing it since Hogwarts days and nothing had changed since then. He didn’t generally have anything serious going on, regular things maybe, but serious was another matter. What he’d told Bole once was right, he wasn’t serious about anyone romantically.

“Sounds like a good night, who was lucky enough to get a night out partying with you?” Will grinned as he followed behind her, not minding at all that she was the one leading the way in his own flat, he wanted his sisters to feel at home wherever he was living. “As for me, went out for a bit but did stay in for most of the night.” Cue a bit of a devilish smirk.

“Of course you do, darling. Because Salazar knows if you had to introduce her to your very lovely sister, she might think that there’s something serious underfoot and we can’t very well have that, now can we?” Gwendolyn asked grinning broadly at her brother. “Besides, we both know that i am just dying to tell mother about that very lovely, completely suitable pureblooded girl with whom you are playing house.”

“Some of the girls, you know the usual crowd, was lively actually. I got to see some of the ladies from last year. It’s been ages since we’ve had a chance to see each other.” Gwen explained, smiling pleasantly, as Will explained his evening, she laughed. “No details, please but i am glad that you had a good night yourself!”

That got another laugh out of Will as he got his blazer on. "Don't give mum ideas, she has enough as is and none of them would be any use to us." Of course he'd have to tell her soon about the marriage plan that would be beneficial to them, though he wouldn't necessarily call it 'suitable' in some ways. But not at brunch, this was just going to be a nice brunch between them with perhaps talking over their sister's birthday present being the closest they got to plotting.

"Glad you had fun too Gwennie, nothing like a bit of freedom to really let loose with. Usual place for brunch? I've got a few ideas for Izzie's present to go over. Plus I think I haven't pestered you about boys in a while so I need to get on that."

“Me? Never!” Gwen said seriously before laughing. She didn’t really like bringing up the idea to her mother anyway because sooner or later despite the fact that she was nearly four years younger, it would eventually turn around to be about her own marriage.

“Yes, absolutely. I am starving.” Gwendolyn said pleasantly with a nod. She wasn’t hungry, not really, but it was what one normally said, wasn’t it? “No need to pester about boys though, really.” Gwen added as she paused and turned back toward the door so that they could leave. “I’m glad you have some ideas though, I’ve been struggling a bit, to be honest.”

"Yes I do Gwennie, one was giving you problems and I have to check on you about that," Will smiled and turned towards the door after checking his pockets to make sure he had everything. He put an arm around his sister's shoulder and grinned down at her. "But we're doing that over brunch. Come on, I barely had dinner last night."

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It only took a short time to apparate off to the restaurant, be seated, and order. They'd been here enough times that they knew the menu pretty well after all. Once the waitress had left, Will turned back to Gwennie to pick up the topic he'd said he'd put off until brunch, no he hadn't forgotten. "Okay, whatever boy troubles were bothering you before NEWTs, are they alright now? I want to know if my sugar quills were any help." His tone was light as was his smile, but there was hidden concern behind it. His sisters could handle things on their own but it didn't mean he didn't worry when something or someone was bothering them.

Settling into their usual restaurant, Gwendolyn didn’t take long at all to order her meal. t was the usual sort of thing, egg-whites with a side of fruit and a mimosa to start, just the picture of sophistication, she liked to think. At his question Gwendolyn smiled a little then nodded. “It has, for the most part. We’ve figured out we like each other which is always a great place to start.” he said, thinking about Pansy, it was after all who she’d been thinking about when she’d mentioned the topic to Will. THere was Gabe too, of course, whom she quite liked, but as it stood Gwen wasn’t really certain if she was technically dating either, or maybe both, but then the whole idea of labeling anything made her rather nervous really. “I don’t think I want anything properly serious, but I don’t want to stop seeing him, if that makes sense. Sometime I just think we’re a little too young for all of that.” Monogamy.

There was a slight raise of his eyebrows in mild surprise, but Will gave his sister a smile anyway. Whatever it was sounded a bit more serious than he'd expected, and he wondered if he'd need to start keeping tabs on whoever this was. She said before it wasn't Ollivander she'd been talking, though he couldn't necessarily rule him out either. If there was one thing he lied to his sisters about, it was the topic of girls. He certainly didn't expect her to be entirely honest with him about details like who she was involved with. "It makes sense Gwennie, don't worry. But yes, sometimes it seems that way doesn't it? Even worse when you consider how old our parent's generation was when they were settling down or having kids." To think that at his age his father had already had him. But then again...his father hadn't lived to twenty four. Will sometimes wondered what he'd do for his twenty fourth but, like many things, he chose not to dwell on it too much.

Gwendolyn nodded, frowning a little at the mention of children. That only made her think about Pansy and the baby and all of the complications that it involved. She chewed a little on her lower lip as she tried really hard not to think about Pansy and Draco and - “Salazar, can you imagine? ” She laughed a little, the laugh sounding a bit hollow to her own ears. “That is really not something that I can see myself doing quite yet. At least not for a a few years at a minimum.“ She added with a shake of her head. She’d always imagined that somehow she and Pansy would get married around the same time, be pregnant together and watch them growing up together but everything was just unravelling so very quickly.

William gave his sister a small smile, the topic was clearly uncomfortable for her. To be fair, it was uncomfortable for him too, even more so given that he had plans related to the subject that she didn't know yet. He'd been trying to put off his own marriage for a bit now for practical reasons, but that and children had always been in the cards. Though the latter bit was a part of the plan that was changing given recent plotting. "Don't worry, that's something for another day," he reassured her gently. "But for today we have other important things: Izzie's birthday." Will positively grinned now, both genuinely and to change the tone and the topic, get her mind to a more cheerful place. "She's definitely not as excited as you were for your seventeenth, which made doing your party very easy, so we've got to do something about that. And the present. Ideas for either?"

Making a very big point of sighing in relief, Gwendolyn smiled at Will. “Good.” She said simply before they switched to a much better topic, their lovely sister. “No, I suppose she isn’t, but then it is Izzie. She does excitement in a whole other way.” Gwen said with a smile brushing some hair out of her eyes. “I was thinking something fun, obviously, a bit less wild, haven’t narrowed down the theme yet, but playing with some sort of a tropical theme or maybe just travel in general. And the present, I’m not sure but it should be big. Jewellery is more my thing really, but maybe a scent created just for her? Something tailored to her, if not that maybe something else unique. ”

"That's not a bad idea, theme and scent. Issue is that we'd need to make it, best not to honestly, or commission it. Which might be harder especially with the time we have. We could get something to match the-" Will stopped suddenly and had a look in his eye that suggested something had just hit him and he was letting his mind run a mile a minute to figure out the possibilities. "Gwennie...what if we kept the theme...but it turned out the theme was based off the present? A short vacation, just for her."

He held up his hand to indicate to allow him a moment to explain. "Look, she likes this stuff, travelling and planning it out. I've seen how she is when she gets to do it. And I know we worry about her a lot and I don't want her to think that we think she can't handle herself. She'll officially be an adult now so it's the perfect time to show her we know she can handle herself. Something short, a long weekend sort of thing, that way we can afford it far more easily and it's not too long to make mum worry. It's like a taste of adult freedom that maybe she'll get excited about?" Okay yes he might worry about Izzie more than Gwennie did, but he really did want to see his youngest sister get excited about her birthday. Gwennie had been easier because when she really liked something she didn't hold back as much, Izzie he knew was likely to like and agree to things to make other people happy. For this he just wanted to see her plain happy and excited because it was something she wanted, not anyone else.

“Oh no, I was thinking someone else would make it.” Gwen said softly just as her brother paused. She was sure something was coming and so for a moment she said nothing further on the topic. As he started explaining, she nodded slowly, listening. That sounded like a good idea now that he mentioned it. Of course it would take a bit of planning and maybe they’d have to consider the proper destinations, but why not, really?

When Will finished, Gwendolyn nodded excitedly. “I love that idea!” She said brightly. “We could even do I dunno, a tour of Europe for her. I know she wouldn’t really be into all of the glitz and glam but maybe some of the more bohemian cities in Europe, you know Barcelona and Rome and oh, what’s that one in Eastern Europe.. Prague! They’re all sort of artsy and she could have fun and still see multiple places and still be properly safe.” Gwen said happily. “Or I mean maybe we can just let her pick which would probably be better but less of a gift, still, I think she’d rather like that.” She added after a moment, realising that maybe planning the trip for her sister wasn’t exactly in the best of taste.

Will had a bright smile of his own on at his sister's agreement. "You're right, it's hard to gift a trip without planning it. Because it's either plan it out entirely or essentially just give her a portkey and a budget." The latter wasn't the safest plan and he wasn't a fan. "Or, well, they have those tours don't they? Multiple European cities, you're in a group and accommodation and schedule is largely organized but you have free time, as I understand, to do your own exploring too? We can see if we can negotiate with one of the magical travel agencies to buy a voucher for, let's say a week thing, and let her pick which tour? That way we're not planning it but it's planned out, and she'll be among wizards and safer. Especially for a first trip on her own." There were details to figure out since he was coming up with the plan as he was talking but it seemed like something they could pull off and a present Izzie wouldn't forget.

“I did think that too.” Gwen said with a nod. “I’m sure I’ve seen companies advertise that sort of trip, multiple portkeys to various destinations. She might even meet some new people and it would be loads more fun than by herself, or I would hope so at least.” Gwen added, sure Izzie wasn’t nearly as social as Will or herself, but she was hardly antisocial and travelling was likely to be far more fun with other people. “She hasn’t got a job this summer either around which we’d have to work, so getting her a voucher for a tour and a few pamphlets about the various tours to chose from would be a great idea.”

"Exactly, get her out and meeting new people and doing some travelling on her own. It's the perfect summer for it. No summer job, no worrying about career things just yet, we're not going to find a better chance. I'm sure we could get the voucher and pamphlets wrapped up nicely and surprise her with them." Will seemed in an even brighter mood now that they had not just a concrete idea for Iz's birthday, but a great one to boot. "Do mum and Alastair have their own plans for her present? I'm sure they do. It'll be tougher if it's just you and I doing this gift but...it could make it more special and we'd one up them some," he smirked slightly. Money-wise it'd be tougher, but Will had been accumulating savings over the years (hoarding in some ways) and he could spring for this. He'd soon be in a better position for money due to certain plots so he could afford a splurge.

“Agreed. I think it’ll be really good for her and of course I can’t imagine her not liking it.” Gwendolyn said happily as she nodded in agreement. “That should do, and I’ll owl a couple of places when I get home so we can have a look see which company would be best for her. I imagine some will be geared toward the younger witch.” Gwen added, rather pleased with their choice. This was going to be much easier than she’d thought. “They do. Mum said that it was going to be something big, I’m not sure what exactly, but I’m sure she’ll love it. I’ll tell her about our plan though, just in case.” Gwen said, thinking whether she could convince either one of them to maybe help her with her portion, after all, it wasn’t like she was a terribly expensive child, or so she liked to think.

“I’ll try doing some of it while you’re away and see what I can dig up. I’ll talk to mum when I visit next, going to try and time it for when Iz is out. Just so she knows what we’re up to, and I can convince her it’s a good idea if she needs any reassurance,” Will smiled. It was usual of them to make their own plans and plots then come to their mother once it was pretty much done and convince her it was all fine. That was just how they did things, they didn’t want to bother or worry her needlessly.

Will raised his own mimosa, which he usually ordered at brunch just to keep Gwennie company since he preferred his champagne without juice. “Alright, before the food comes, cheers to figuring out a great present idea for Izzie and hopefully one that’ll get her properly excited for the big birthday.”

“Absolutely.” Gwendolyn said smiling brightly as she raised her own glass. “To our sister and the best birthday we can possibly give her.” She added, raising her glass to clink with her brothers. This was going to be brilliant.