Augustus Pye (mozart_effect) wrote in whatprice, @ 2009-09-16 12:02:00 |
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Current mood: | indescribable |
Who: Augustus Pye and Christopher Warrington
What: Gus and Chris talk business over lunch
When: Wednesday lunchtime, September 16, 2009
Where: Chris' office in Ministry Annex One
Warnings: None.
Status: Complege, log.
Gus entered Ministry Annex One with the bags of food for lunch. He was a bit nervous about this lunch meeting as he always was in regards to dealing with Warrington. He knew it was a bit stupid to feel that way, but he couldn't help it, especially because who knew what Pucey was telling his best friend. Making his way to Warrington's office, he knocked on the door. "Hello, it's Augustus Pye. Are you ready for lunch?" he called out.
Chris looked up from his work and checked his timepiece. "Oh. Right. That was today, wasn't it.... Come in!" He called out without getting up and set about straightening his desk. When Gus had entered he stood to welcome him.
Gus opened the door and entered the office, shifting the bags so that his hand was free to shake Chris' in greeting. "Again, thanks for seeing me. Is today still a good time? If you're too busy, I can always come back for lunch another day."
Chris smiled. "No, it's quite all right, I'd forgotten that my assistant had said you were going to come by... And I was just wrapped up in some other work, research mostly. Please, come in, come in..." He cleared off some space on the desk for them both.
"I know how that can be," Gus said with a chuckle as he put the bags carefully on the cleared off space of the desk. "I hope you don't mind take away. It's a bit of a habit."
"Take away's fine... I appreciate you bringing it. And yes, if I had a decent assistant, one I didn't share with half the Wizengamot.... Anyway, probably my own fault, I'm usually so organized but with everything lately... I'm trying to be better about letting go of the little things. But enough about me." He opened a bag and investigated it's contents.
"It's a busy time for all," Gus said with a nod as he pulled a few containers out of the other bag. "You might be able to rope Adrian's sister into some work if he hasn't structured out all her free time yet. How are things at home with Astoria and Vida?" Which wasn't really bringing the subject back to the matter of the meeting, but he figured that might be easier to bring up once he had a little bit of food in his stomach.
"If there was a budget... I'm not even sure if I have the authority to hire people. There's probably a 20 foot long scroll of parchment that needs to be filled out in triplicate... It's no wonder they never used to get anything done around here." He sat back, looking thoughtful. "Things are good, about as good as can be expected I suppose."
"If there isn't a budget, you could likely pull employees in another way. With experience," Gus suggested and then made a bit of a face. "Or a reserved spot on the Wizengamot for when they've reached a proper age." Opening a container, he scooped a forkful of rice into his mouth before studying Chris a bit worriedly. "No repercussions from the interview session then?"
Chris gave him a look and started spooning food out onto a plate he'd conjured up. "None that I've noticed. So no repercussions that stand out against any other repercussions we're dealing with."
Gus blew out a sigh of relief before taking another bite of food. That was good, if just for the chance of possibly getting more interviews. If she had reacted badly after the first... After taking another few mouthfuls of food, he took a deep breath as he leaned back a bit into his chair. "What sort of experience do you have in regards to wills?" he asked softly.
He ate thoughtfully enjoying the silence until Gus asked his questions. "Well... inherited a few things in my time. I mean, we covered the basics in school and my apprenticeship. And a lot of magical law involves the rather ridiculous and binding contracts we enter into and that's what a will boils down to... Why? Feeling mortal, Gus?"
Gus chuckled in amusement before smirking wryly at Chris. "I've always had a good sense on my mortality, Chris," he joked before puffing out a breath. "I'm not sure how much Adrian's told you, but... my muggle identity isn't on the sturdiest ground and considering what the muggle media has been doing in regards to Hermione, whatever I set up in the muggle world would likely be ignored if something were to happen to me. So, I've been moving assets over to Gringotts, but it's not as if I have anything set up or next of kin that could take care of the matters there if I was unable to."
"Right. Well. A will's a good thing to have, regardless. Any document I draw up will have the full backing of a magical agreement with all the penalties normally associated, so it's pretty damn well near unbreakable and totally binding." Well, as long as there was some sort of Wizarding government or legal system to back it, but best not to dwell upon that unhappy possibility. "Need to know who your executor's going to be, of course. Adrian, I assume."
Gus' jaw tightened as he mentally flinched at that assumption. "Does the executor of a Wizarding will have duties different than an executor of a Muggle will? And if so, would you be able to provide guidance to the executor if there is Wizarding law that they'd need to follow that they may not be familiar with?"
"There would need to be a provision in your will that my fees would be paid, but yes I can be available or I'm sure if I am unavailable I can point your executor towards someone who is able to assist them."
Gus nodded as he relaxed a bit, glad that he wouldn't be forced into picking someone with more knowledge of 'proper' wizarding customs for the sake of making sure this went properly. "I'd like Penelope Clearwater as executor then."
"Right then. Penelope it is." He pulled a quill from an inkpot and scratched her name down on a sheet of parchment.
Breathing out a sigh, Gus ran a hand through his hair. "I imagine collecting my possessions will be easy. The majority of it will be in my Gringott's vault. Everything else would likely be in my flat, but... depending on my- demise, it probably wouldn't be completely safe to go retrieving anything from there."
"Fortunately all that is up to your executor. Penelope has proven her self resourceful thus far. I wouldn't put much past her."
"Everything of importance will be in the vault anyways," Gus said with a smirk before raising an eyebrow. "What other information do you need?
"Well, if you have any other specific wishes you need or want Penelope to fulfill. Otherwise it'll be mostly up to her. Any last words? Those are always fun." He had his quill at the ready.
"She knows me well enough to know how I'd want it all divided up," Gus said before smirking wryly. "Not that I'll really be around to yell at her if she decides to act crazy with it all." Laughing, he shook his head slightly. "Oh? Last words? That's tough as there's so many good ones to mooch off of. There's of course the popular statements of 'I'm fine' as well as stating the obvious of 'I'm dying'. Could always go with 'He's dead, Jim', but only so many will get that." Frowning slightly in thought, he went through a few of the last words he knew before smiling wistfully. "We'll go with a classic then. 'Acta est fabula, plaudite!'," he said softly, knowing his father would get the reference.
"Fine then. Fairly simple and straight forward." He scratched that down. "I'll have the documents drawn up immediately and then you and Penelope will have to be present to finalize them. And then that will be that."
Gus nodded before making a face. "What if something is to happen to one of us before the papers are finalized?"
Chris paused. "Well, if it's me.. You get a new lawyer. If it's Penelope, you get a new executor... if it's you... Then, well..." He shrugged. "I bill your estate for time spent, I suppose."
"Could you still get everything into Penny's possession in the case of me?" Gus asked worriedly. "Getting it to my family may be problematic as depending on the circumstances, it's very likely that my Muggle assets will be frozen."
"Not... really my responsibility but... If I'm sure I could see what I could do." If nothing else, it would get him paid.
Gus nodded as he smiled gratefully. "Thanks. Hopefully everything can get sorted before the next disaster happens." He crossed his fingers and held them up. "Fingers crossed that it works out that way and all."
Chris sighed. "Hopefully there won't be a next disaster. But yes, I'm sure we'll get everything sorted."