Jasper raised his finger to the buzzer and dropped it again. He on Will's front step. It was rare that he even hesitated long enough to knock or ring the bell; Will was the rare person who really meant it when he said 'my door is always open.' In this case he thought it might actually be appropriate to act like civilized people. A bottle of very expensive wine was in his other hand. Jasper wasn't sure if that was the best thing he could bring, given the circumstances, but he wasn't sure what one brought as an apology gift if not expensive alcohol. He'd told himself several times during the drive over that the wine needed to remain unopened for the duration of the visit.

He'd driven rather than Apparating, hoping to find something to say that would act as a suitable apology as he sat in London's evening traffic, but his mind had remained blank the entire time, and was still blank as he stood on Will's doorstep. Maybe something would come to him when he actually saw his friend. It wasn't a gamble he felt very good about taking, but he couldn't lurk about the Minister of Magic's door all night either.

That had been the deciding factor, really. Jasper had been planning on letting things blow over a bit more with Will before they spoke again. But then there had been the utterly surprising announcement that Will had been chosen as the new Minister. Thinking about it logically, it wasn't so surprising. Will was so terribly likable and helpful and levelheaded. It had only taken a few seconds for Jasper to realize the near-boundless potential of having a friend in such a position. He could practically hear the lost Galleons clinking together every second that he didn't take advantage of the situation. Some people (ie. everyone else) might have considered that a rather cold hearted motivation, but Jasper preferred to think of it as good business.

Okay, maybe he shouldn't start with that point. The more traditional "we've been friends for ages and I'd hate to see that end over something so stupid" might be a better choice. And that was true. He did miss Will's...sanity. And his ability to tamper with Ministry records. Eventually he'd have the broach the subject of exactly how much access Will had as Minister. (He suspected, gleefully, that the answer was 'endless.')

That thought bolstering him, he finally rang the bell.

Will was sitting in his living room. It was dimly lit by only one lamp, and all the curtains were drawn, but Will liked that kind of calm, almost sleepy atmosphere. It was relaxing, especially when one was sitting at home, alone, reading Jane Austen. Tonight's dose of Jane came from Mansfield Park, which was Will's favorite because he identified so much with dear Fanny. It was nice to come home after a normal (read "stressful and ridiculous") day at work and know that you weren't alone in your struggles.

Will knew he wasn't alone, of course. He had Ross, after all. Tonight had been very nice, actually; he'd come home to find that Ross had made him a very tasty dinner, which was a particularly wonderful surprise since Will was used to take-out or not eating. Ross wasn't home at the moment; after dinner he'd run out to pick up "something special" to celebrate Will's recent break-through with the Muggle Prime Minister. They had hit something of a roadblock in Muggle-magic negotiations and policy when talking about the economy.

Though the Muggle world's economy was barely hanging on, the wizarding world was still doing as well as it ever had. When the Prime Minister had learned this (and that the wizarding world still used precious metals for its currency) he had demanded to see the numbers of places like Diagon Alley and any other "hidden" wizarding shops. Will had refused; after all, it was wizard money going in, wizard money coming out and wizard money running everything, so there was no need for wizarding shops to start paying Muggle taxes. Today, Will had finally had a chance to discuss this in the presence of the Prime Minister's economic advisers, who agreed that if the shops weren't using Muggle money to run they couldn't force them to pay Muggle taxes.

It was difficult, trying to convince a desperate man that he couldn't subject an autonomous economy to taxation to bolster his own steadily declining one, but the Prime Minister had finally conceded when Will reminded him that there were other ways for the wizarding community to help the Muggles financially. Will was eager to start the discussions for that soon, since he knew it was only a matter of time before the wizarding economy was affected as well--it operated separately, yes, but many wizards still held Muggle jobs and lived in Muggle housing and that was where things got blended.

The doorbell rang and Will looked up. He closed the book and took off his reading glasses, setting both of them on the side table as he got up to answer the door. He couldn't have accurately guessed who would be visiting him; any number of people, he was sure, would want to visit him, but most didn't know where he lived or didn't want to stray into Muggle territory. He figured it was probably Ross coming home with his arms full. Imagine his surprise when he opened the door to find--

"Jasper," Will said, surprised. He stared for a moment, unsure what to think. The last time he'd seen Jasper was when--well, it had been awhile. What had he come for? Jasper didn't usually make visits, he was generally the one being visited; and he'd brought what looked like a bottle of wine. Will's mind immediately leapt to conclusions but he reigned it in; he was sure that Jasper couldn't be thinking of that, it had practically happened on accident last time anyway. So he took a breath and smiled the small, weary smile that was all he could really manage these days.

"It's good to see you. Please, come in. You've just saved me from having to hear all about how wonderful Mary Crawford is," he said, stepping back to give the man room to walk past.

"Jasper."

Well, he didn't seem pleased, exactly, but at least he hadn't shut the door in Jasper's face. Will smiled rather wanly and Jasper noted that his eyes looked puffily tired as they glanced down warily at the bottle in his hand. His arm shifted back reflexively, hiding it a bit. There was a strange, silent moment as they stood on either side of the door frame. It was uncomfortable to be greeted with anything less than bursting enthusiasm at Will's house.

Then again, he supposed that enthusiasm might be in short supply at the moment. One friend presumed dead, another who'd acted like an idiot then not spoken to him for weeks. And being Minister wouldn't be all the fun and games for Will that Jasper would have made of it. He'd make every problem in the Wizarding world his own personal burden; it had been that way at Hogwarts, whether it was helping Jasper get an essay deadline pushed back or talking up Wendell to the pretty transfer student in Arithmancy, Will had time for everyone else. Even now, he was putting on a braver face and gesturing Jasper inside.

"It's good to see you...You've just saved me from having to hear all about how wonderful Mary Crawford is."

Jasper didn't know who Mary Crawford was, but he strongly suspected that she wasn't a real person. Will didn't have the ability to say anything even that glancingly mean about someone who wasn't fictional. He nodded and smiled, which seemed to be the appropriate response, as they made their way down the familiar hall to Will's living room and sat down. The book and dim light suggested a quiet evening in, and Jasper felt a twinge of guilt for interrupting; he wasn't sure how many of those the Minister got these days. He put the wine down on the coffee table and nodded toward it.

"So I brought this to say I'm sorry. I'd rather we didn't drink it, yeah?" He hoped that would earn a smile from Will, at least. "I really am sorry, Will. I acted like a complete prat and you've been a great friend who deserves much better from me. I hope-- well, I actually hope that we can forget how stupidly we acted and get things back to normal, but if not that I'd at least like if we could speak to one another again. It's getting a bit lonely at the Boy's Club with half our members missing."

Jasper was proud of himself for remembering to look sad at that point, as they both ostensibly shared a moment of wistful thought about dearly departed Darrow. Jasper actually thought about a pair of shoes that one of Atlas' mutant plant menagerie had drooled all over in fourth year; he'd found that memory gave him the right mixture of sorrow and reminiscence.

"I also came over because I heard that congratulations were in order, Minister, so you really should celebrate with that once I'm well out of here. It's a rare vintage, I nicked it from this old French count's manor house while we were still at Hogwarts."

Jasper smiled idly at the Mary Crawford comment, which was no more than Will had expected. His elegant friend was not an Austen reader. He probably would have been frustrated with all the ethics and morality, but ah, it wasn't for everyone. When they reached the living room Will resumed his seat, waving a hand to light the brighter floor lamp. There was no need for Jasper to strain his eyes in the soft light. He put the wine bottle down on the coffee table and sat in the other armchair in the room. Will had never previously noticed how far the two chairs were from each other; on completely opposite sides of the room, in fact.

"So I brought this to say I'm sorry. I'd rather we didn't drink it, yeah?"

Will smiled ruefully and looked away for a moment. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about this situation. He had felt wretched about what had happened for a few weeks, but then Astbury had disappeared and Will had been caught up in trying to reorganize the MLE and then the entire Ministry. If the Minister was honest with himself, he hadn't thought about the incident with Jasper in quite awhile. Even if that wasn't the case, Will had never thought to blame Jasper for it. Will was the morally responsible one, and it had been his carelessness that let it happen.

"I really am sorry, Will. I acted like a complete prat and you've been a great friend who deserves much better from me."

Well, that's certainly true, Will thought; he immediately wished he could unthink it, but it had already stuck in his head. He was sure Jasper was genuinely sorry for the rift in their friendship, but his motives were...unclear. Being in the thick of the bureaucracy was slowly fostering a cynicism in Will. As much as he would have liked to, he couldn't put the same trust in people that he was used to doing. And hadn't he always known that Jasper wasn't a trustworthy person?

He knew that Jasper would never hurt him in any way, but that didn't mean he wouldn't take advantage of his position. He'd had no hesitations about doing it when Will was an Auror and there was no reason for that to change now that he was Minister. In fact, Jasper had every reason to want to make further use of Will's privileges than he previously had. Will didn't want to put Jasper in a situation that could lead to an investigation or, Merlin forbid, an arrest, but he didn't know if he could continue shredding search warrants and fraud charges. There was a lot more on the line now.

"It's getting a bit lonely at the Boy's Club with half our members missing."

Will looked up at the sorrowful expression on Jasper's face. Wendell. Even after all this time, it was hard to remember that he was dead. Any moment, Will expected him to come through the door from the kitchen with a piece of toast in his hand, having just Apparated in to drag Will off to the pub or ask him about some loophole in any given law or find out what Sofia had been wearing that day. He never did, and Will would look up at any sound expecting to see him there only to be met with Ross, or Constance, or more likely nothing at all. He hated the sinking feeling that always followed the reminder that his best friend of nearly sixteen years was gone forever.

"Apology accepted," Will said with a warm if small smile. It was no use trying to hash out the blame, especially since Jasper wanted to forget it ever happened. "I'd like things to go back to normal again too. As normal as they can be, anyway." He didn't say anything about the Boy's Club. He hadn't been to one since the day Cal had interrupted them, and honestly he wasn't sure how comfortable he'd be without Wendell there.

"I also came over because I heard that congratulations were in order, Minister, so you really should celebrate with that once I'm well out of here. It's a rare vintage, I nicked it from this old French count's manor house while we were still at Hogwarts."

"Well, thank you," Will said, his smile a little larger. "You know French wine is my favorite, especially when it has that extra kick of being illegally obtained. I almost wish you'd come earlier; it would would have been lovely with the lasagna Ross made."

Most difficult part of the evening out of the way, Jasper settled his shoulders back into the chair more comfortably. He picked up on the dubious tone of Will's voice when he mentioned the Boy's Club, and was hurt until he recalled that Will actually thought Wendell was dead. The club probably brought up some rather painful memories; he and Wendell had always been particularly close. Jasper wondered briefly if he should have tried a bit harder to seem sad when Wendell was mentioned. He liked to think he'd taken the stoic approach, but Will was a bit more forthcoming with his emotions and probably thought Jasper was something of a bastard.

Happily they skipped past the awkward pause when Jasper brought up the subject of Will's promotion.

"Well, thank you," Will summoned up the first genuine smile Jasper had seen from him in a while. He was probably thinking of all the extra good he could do now that he was Minister. Jasper hoped to eventually steer him in the direction of thinking about all the extra good he could do for his friends, possibly involving criminal files and a trash can.

"You know French wine is my favorite, especially when it has that extra kick of being illegally obtained."

Jasper nodded in exaggerated agreement to the wine comment. "It has nice undertones of oak, cherry, and larceny. Great paired with a steak, although I prefer a lighter burglary for fish."

"I almost wish you'd come earlier; it would would have been lovely with the lasagna Ross made."

Jasper sniffed the air. He'd noticed something amiss the moment he stepped inside, but specifically what had eluded him until now. Normally Will's house smelled clean in a kind of neutral, barely lived in way. But tonight there was a distinct scent of home cooking about the place, and he knew that Will subscribed pretty firmly to the Christie culinary school, which mostly consisted of supporting one's local takeaways. He turned to look through the door to the kitchen curiously.

"Ross? Is one of the perks of being Minister a personal chef? If so can I borrow him next time I have a dinner party?"