The curtain at the upstairs window twitched. Monty was sure of it. Stood on the gravel outside Edwin’s house, hands on hips, he was absolutely sure his old friend and the now Minister for Magic was ignoring him on purpose. He had ignored his letters since April, not answered the door in May either.

Monty had given him two months of nothing to see what happened. He’d been rather preoccupied with the business in America, and most importantly, his brother’s wedding, which Edwin had also been invited. Instead Level One had politely declined the invitation on behalf of the Minister. This ignorance of Monty had now extended to his whole family. If Francis had just married Aisling Knight it’d be different, but it was Gabrielle, and Edwin had never shown any signs in being interested in Gabrielle past her being a witch.

He marched to the door and hammered on it again and leaned down to open the letterbox.
“Edwin! I know you’re in. Come on, open the door, or the Muggles will start looking.” He paced back onto the gravel drive, surrounded by tall bushes, and looked up at the windows again. Nothing.

“Right, you leave me no choice!” Monty cried, drawing his wand, he approached Edwin’s prized car...

Edwin was appreciating the time he had at home, away from people. Every waking hour outside of his home he was with people, expected to make decisions and judgements, give commands and hold opinions and it was exhausting. He had of course wanted to be Minister, and he’d never expected it to be easy by any stretch, but even for his capable abilities, it was beginning to wear him thin. Friends and family had fallen by the wayside, most of them gracious in realising that as Minister he had hardly any time to call his own. Some were more persistent than others.

He had taken advantage of an impromptu nap, sleep a limited commodity some days, when someone knocked on his front door. If it was anyone official they’d have owled or come to the back. Level 2 had been by when he’d become Minister and applied rigorous wards on his home, not only because he’d had unwanted visitors and suspected it was an 'old friend’.

Octavius Pepper was on his driveway. Edwin could see him through the crack in the curtains. He kept the front of the house closed up because it was a Muggle house and he didn’t want them to think he was anything but a Muggle either.

“Edwin! I know you’re in…” the artist’s voice cried through his letterbox into the hallway downstairs. Edwin let out a soft sigh and heard it click shut again and footsteps in the gravel. The white-haired wizard was back out on the gravel before the house.

“… leave me no choice!”

“Pepper!” Edwin threw open the front door hastily, a dark look on his face at the outstretched arm brandishing a wand at his car. The last time he’d let Octavius Pepper touch his car he’d flown it over the village and got them both fined. He gestured roughly to come inside and threw the door shut behind his rebellious friend.

“So you do open the door to the public,” Monty teased, squeezing past Edwin into the hallway of the house. It had taken letters, and then a threat on Edwin’s car to get him to open the door. That sort of behaviour could make a wizard feel he wasn’t wanted.

He glanced about the hallway, noting a few difference since he’d last been past. There was still the familiar mirror, this time revealing the bald patch on the back of Edwin’s head was growing. Given Octavius had effectively aged twenty years overnight to his family, he took some pleasure. Despite it only being 44 years Monty’s birth, he was 64, and a few years older than Edwin was. His full head of hair with brown and grey curls showed no signs of retreat. If anything it was more untameable a mane in his later years than it had been.

“Didn’t you get my letters? I even came by but you didn’t open the door,” the artist and car maker protested, arms out to either side. “What is it, too busy to remember your friends now, Minister?”

Edwin sighed quietly, his lips flattening into a thin line in irritation. Twenty years of ageing in America hadn’t made Octavius Pepper any wiser - nor the name change to Monty. Had opening the door today done nothing more than have his agony prolonged? If Pepper had charmed his car he could have just summoned aurors here in seconds. But that was how they’d fallen out last time, and if Edwin was brutally honest, he did miss a little of his older, simpler life, when he and Pepper could have gone for a drive or a drink.

“Been a bit busy to say the least, Octavius,” Edwin placated, “without your interruptions.” He was tired, and even he could hear that this reply wasn’t going to go down well with the other wizard. He gave another sigh and gestured into the body of the house, rather than shooing his old friend out again.

“Interruptions?” Octavius hooted, “Is that how you greet an old friend worried for your well being?” He followed Edwin’s gesture and wandered down the hallway and into the living room of the house. Being summer, no fire was lit in the grate, and Edwin’s taste in minimalism prevailed apart from a detritus of paperwork. It appeared that work did not stay in the office on Level 1. There were a stack of leather-bound dossiers on the dining table, two empty bottles of wine on the coffee table, and a dinner plate with a mouthful of cold lasagne.

What had been a joke about well-being was turning into an actual concern. Monty turned on the spot and gave the room a confident once over before looking back to Edwin. “Ministers never get a break?” He asked.

“No.” Edwin replied softly, “I mean. I’m sorry. I did get your letters, but as you can understand I’m a little stressed.” He felt like he had no energy in comparison to the youthful wizard filling his living room. He’d been like that in February… March.. hadn’t he? Before he’d taken office? With enough wine and good company he could still feel like that. Put on a face, pretend as best he could. It was easier around people at work and those he met in the public eye. People who knew him saw through it.

“Coffee?” He offered, indicating further that Octavius could stay and talk a little while, get his fill of friendship from Edwin and then maybe leave him alone for another six months without doing something stupid. No, who was he kidding. This was the chap who had painted Minister Bagnold naked and displayed it in Diagon Alley for her to see. If he decided to paint Edwin naked, then he’d have him put in Azkaban, friend or not.

He headed to the kitchen end of the open plan living space that made up his house, and drew his wand to assemble coffee. It would wake him up too, even if he very much wanted to return to the nap he’d been indulging in when his visitor had turned up. Deciding he didn’t have the energy to beat around the bush, Edwin asked:

“What is it that you want?”

Monty shrugged off the answer. He didn’t expect being the Minister for Magic to be easy, but everything he’d seen Edwin do in life he made look effortless - apart from finding a wife. The was one thing Monty had found easy enough and Edwin still hadn’t succeeded in. A woman might look after him, but also might not put up with Edwin either at this point in his career. The Minister post never really lended itself to marriage.

“Fair enough,” Monty replied, satisfied he was in the door and had a captive audience for now. “Coffee would be grand, Ed. Ta.” He gave his friend a moment, and summoned the wine bottles and leftover lasagne to the kitchen side without a word. The small gesture might help his friend remember that they were friends, after all.

“What is it that you want?” Edwin asked, busy making coffee. Monty seized the opportunity. His face lit up like a child’s.
“Cars Edwin!” He exclaimed, hopping up onto a stool beside the kitchen. “Flying, beautiful cars!” He grinned and smoothed his beard. “I’ve been really working on the cloaking…”

Edwin internally groaned. Of course it was the cars, that was no surprise at all. Octavius was obsessed. He’d hardly come round offering to paint Edwin’s Ministerial portrait (which would have been politely accepted, truth be told, Edwin admired his friend’s portraiture). No, Octavius was here to bang on about illegal cars again. It had put him in enough difficult positions as Head of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, but as Minister it was worse.

“Cloaking!” Edwin hooted, letting the coffee pour itself. “Hah! because you’ve had a good track record so far with it.” He’d flown Edwin’s car over the village believing he was cloaked but very much wasn’t. It would forever be a sore point between them.

“Granted.” Monty replied graciously, reaching out to take one of the coffees, “But maybe my enthusiasm and perceived inability was actually a publicity stunt…?” He stroked his beard again and waggled his eyebrows at Edwin. He’d never get past the fact he’d charmed Edwin’s car and flown it over the village, summoning Mordecai Hollingbury and Aisling Knight before the humiliation of reporting it to the aurors. It hadn’t entirely been a publicity stunt, given the whacking fine the wizengamot had given him for the act and the obliviator scramble.

“Be it,” Monty added in a more subdued manner, “I didn’t know at the time I was flying the future Minister for Magic’s car.” He blew on the top of his coffee and looked reproachfully to the other wizard. “All I’m asking Ed, is for some time, to come for a drive. To try it out. Don’t let the yanks be ahead of us.”

Edwin gave Octavius a sceptical look. It was unlikely that the act had been a publicity stunt. It had been seizing an opportunity to fettle with his car and then prove a point to Edwin. It was a terrible attempt to get him on side that day, and he’d been hopping mad with Pepper for weeks after. Maybe the publicity around it had done him some good in the long run, and maybe in a small way it had put Edwin’s name in the public eye before his Ministerial campaign, but he was glad he’d not been known long term as the guy with the flying car. Octavius was still very much owning that title.

“I’ve a few more things than worrying whether the Americans are ahead of us in transportation, Octavius…” Edwin cautioned, lifting his coffee to drink it, “but I appreciate this is important to you, as an individual, a business owner.” He had to encourage magical business in Britain, and bringing something over from America was rather attractive. As he understood, the company were pretty well known across the pond.

Merlin, was he really considering this? Flying cars had huge Statute risks. What could he do to placate Pepper in the short term? Fobbing him off with a busy diary wasn’t working.

“How about I ask one of my advisors to come along…?” He suggested, tentatively. Kuester would be into a drive, wouldn’t she? Wasn’t as if she was busy with dementor issues.

In Monty’s opinion Edwin should have been very much worrying how the Americans were getting ahead of them in the game, but he didn’t see the world as Edwin did, and even more now he was Minister. The dossiers behind them could hold all manner of terrible secrets and impositions. Who knew what Ministers were party to at the top? Monty liked living obliviously!

He kept up a stare over the kitchen worktop, as they sipped coffee. He had to say, Edwin could still make good coffee. He’d quite forgotten, spoiled by the American delight in it instead of tea. It endeared the busy wizard to Monty again. He did miss his friend, for terrible rating of women in pubs when they were younger, his practical advice and caution, for always knowing best. He felt more of an affinity to Edwin since his gain in years too, but the lack of contact since April had driven them apart. This was meant to bring them together again!

“But the invitation’s for you, Ed.” He persisted, “The Minister for Magic, in person!”

It was like reasoning with a child at times. Octavius was always the younger mischievous brother to Francis, but always more fun. When had they grown up and got old? When had Edwin last laughed until he’d cried at ridiculous, verging on slapstick, humour? It was a good job that he had patience by the bucket load these days.

“Yes,” Edwin acknowledged, firmly but carefully, “but I’m not going to be your next publicity stunt, Octavius.” He raised his eyebrows, forehead wrinkling into many lines. “Much as we are old friends, this isn’t a game,” he gestured between them with his coffee cup, “I’m actually representing a whole country.” Wasn’t that a scary thought!

“An advisor. That’s more than most people get, Octavius.”

Pepper’s moustache twitched, he was unconvinced at this intermediate step between Edwin flat out refusing, or getting into one of his cars. It sounded a bit like he was stalling. But then again, asking a Minister to step into a car that was effectively illegal in the country, was a Big Deal. He could have been laughed off entirely.

Why did he think that this advisor might just rule it out too? He’d have to do his homework on Edwin’s advisors… perhaps he’d get the nice looking blonde one he’d been seen in the paper with. Though, she looked a bit sharp too. Holmes would be worse though, much worse. He’d never say yes. He could try though - it was progress over ignored letters and unopened doors!

“But if they’re convinced,” Monty asked, encouraged, “you’ll come for a ride?”

“You’ll just have to see,” the Minister said.

End