The Life and Love of Gaspar Oter and Tori Bunbury


Ranmore Common is set in beautiful rural surroundings, commanding an elevated position in the heart of the Surrey Hills. The property is bordered on two sides by National Trust land and the area is designated as an Area of Natural Beauty. Surrounded by its own landscaped grounds, parkland and paddocks, there are far-reaching views, which stretch to take in a dramatic panoramic view of the London skyline.

A classically designed new country house with reception hall, dining room, drawing room, study, family kitchen and breakfast room, Ranmore Common features 6 bedroom suites as well as extensive secondary accommodation, an indoor swimming pool, and a spa. Barns, stabling, garaging and tennis court round out the property's 97 acres.

The Oter family consists of six children and two parents. Four of the six children still live at home in Surrey, England, but not all go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Instead, two of the children, Gaspar and Artemis, attend Beauxbatons Academy in France, as they wanted to be exposed to a foreign culture.

Noah, Gaspar's oldest brother, out of the kindness of his heart has mentioned a girl that he met in Diagon Alley by the name of Tori Bunbury. Thus, Gaspar began a correspondence with the girl, and the two became pen pals. As Christmas time is upon them, and everyone is meant to be at home, Gaspar has invited Tori to his house in Surrey for a bit of a post-Christmas celebration in the hopes that he'll get to talk to her in person finally.

This is a closed RP, unless invited please do not reply in here.


Characters
Gaspar Oter - Jack Mannequin
Noah Oter - Jack Mannequin
"Princess" Tori Bunbury - BanaBatGirl

Tori was rather nervous as she got onto the train that would take her not home for winter break but rather to the Ramone...er...Ravone....Ramond? Ramonde? Ranmord? Ranmore! Ranmore Estate of the Oter family.

Sure, Noah had been friendly enough at Florean's.... and he was awfully cute, and so was his brother... but they were still virtual strangers! She'd never actually met the brother, and yet here she was, lying to her parents about when break started so that she could go visit a pen pal.

A very cute, presumably rich pen pal. Ah well, what was life without taking a few risks here and there? Tori cheered herself up with this thought and popped in a piece of invisible gum as she settled into her seat. She leaned her head against the window and watched the Scottish countryside rush by as the train headed south to its destination.

Where the heck was Noah?! That big git was probably off with his girlfriend and leaving Gaspar to be all stupidly nervous. He stared at himself in the mirror, trying to make his face not looked so pained or awkward, finally relaxing to his normal stone-face with a hint of amusement.

Satisfied with his expression, the 14-year-old began to dress and coif his hair to perfection. He grinned, and clenched and unclenched his hands in anticipation as he turned on his heel and headed downstairs.

Luckily, his parents were out for the day, dealing with the presents situation for Christmas. Gaspar pulled on a coat and wrapped a scarf around his neck, preferring not to be freezing as he was going to wait for Tori's cab at the end of the very long drive.

He headed out into the brisk air, taking in the sharp smells around him. Oddly, Gaspar was one of those people who didn't mind cold weather because it made him feel more alive while everything around him was going into a deathlike slumber. He made his way down the drive, hands shoved in his jacket pockets and wondered if Tori was as pretty as her pictures.

Tori had a heck of a time getting her stuff all loaded into the back of the cab once she got off the train. For one thing, the cabbie was staring at her pymgy puff like it was a furry baseball, and for another, she was almost out of Muggle money. Such weird notes they had. The cabbie was also very talkative, almost to a point of annoyance. She would have much preferred to just apparate to Ranmore Common but having never been there, and being a thirteen-year-old, she didn't have many transportation options.

At last, the cab turned down a lane lined with icicle-laden trees. It was beautiful, and Tori almost had her nose pressed to the window glass as the cab stopped at the end of a driveway.

Tori took a breath and bit her lip, looking out nervously at the boy standing at the end of the drive. She opened her door and peeked her head out.

"Gaspar?" No d, she remembered.

'Gaspar?'

The young boy smiled a little and nodded, coming forward to help with her things. "Hello Tori, it's nice to finally meet you." he said, offering his hand so that she could step out of the cab and not fall on any ice.

"Was your train ride okay?"

Oh good, it was him! Tori nodded and took his hand, stepping carefully out of the cab and onto crunchy snow. "It was nice. You have a lovely place here, simply beautiful."

Once she was out of the cab, she looked around with a secret smile and turned back to Gaspar, giving him an abrupt hug. "I'm so happy to finally meet you too!"

Then it was time to gather her things out of the cab and try to convince the cabby that, once again, the pygmy puff was a real, live creature. Hopefully if they tipped him enough he would stop asking stupid questions.

"Thanks, it's my parents obviously, but it's the only home I've known other than school." Gaspar replied, glancing back at Ranmore Common before turning to look at the gorgeous redhead.

He was a bit taken aback by Tori's hug but accepted it openly and hugged her back. "I know, it all seems a bit strange, don't you think?" Like an imaginary friend coming to life.

Gaspar leaned over to the cabby, giving him a generous tip and then closing the boot, grabbing Tori's suitcase and offering her her pygmy puff. Hopefully his dog wouldn't terrorise the poor thing to death.

"Shall we?" he said, motioning towards his house.

"Really strange, yeah," Tori agreed, nodding again. "Kind of surreal, but in a good way, you know?" Who would have thought that one could develop such a trust in a mere pen pal? Enough trust to go visit him on a whim, anyway.

Tori accepted Simba's cage and started following Gaspar toward the house. "So how was your Christmas? Did you get anything exciting?"

"I got a new broom." Gaspar said, beaming with delight as he thought about how he would get to show off to all of his friends once he went back to Beauxbatons.

"Mum and Dad got me loads of clothes, which I guess it pretty good, because I started to grow out of mine. I keep getting taller." he explained. Soon he would be just as tall as his older brothers.

"What about you? Anything exciting?"

Oooh a broom. Brooms weren't exactly Tori's thing, but she smiled politely anyway and nodded. "That's...nice. What er, model is it?" She was trying, here, poor thing, even with a semi-developed fear of flying and all.

"I got loads of new clothes too!" Finally, something they could both talk about! "Lots of new shoes and boots and jackets and sweaters and dresses and skirts..." She took a breath, thinking that perhaps she shouldn't scare Gaspar away just yet. "I kind of like, have a thing for fashion? So yeahhhhh."

Hehee.

"Well my favorite Christmas present was this box of candy from my dad," she informed Gaspar with a sly grin. "It has my favorite treat in it."

Would he know what her favorite was? WOULD HE?

"It's a Firebolt 7." Gaspar said, smiling to think about how he would be able to take it out for a spin once it stopped snowing. They were slowly approaching his front porch, and would be able to have some hot chocolate or cider to warm up.

As Tori began to list all of the items she received he asked, "So did you just get the clothing shoppe delivered to your house or what?" Of course, he was kidding with her, but she must have a MASSIVE closet.

"Oh? And what's your favourite treat?" Gaspar asked. "Because I didn't get kidnapped and wrapped up to be put under your Christmas tree." It might have been a lame line, but Gaspar just gave his suave flip back of the hair, and a grin and he could get away with it.

Tori nodded slowly like she really understood what a Firebolt 7 was. "Nice," she even added in an appreciative tone. Wasn't she a good faker? Heh.

She laughed at his remark about her present. "Noooo, no no no no noooo." The ginger winked at Gaspar and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "But maybe I can get that for my birthday!" Haha...hint hint.

"Aww well now you know what I obviously want next year." Tori smirked and nudged him with her shoulder. "Naw, haha, my favorite treat is invisible gum. And my Dad found me like 5 new flavors!!!"

She was SOOO excited by it.

"I should bring you to Paris for your birthday, you'd have a shopping frenzy." Gaspar said with a bright smile. That could be a fun trip, and Noah could probably get them a Portkey or go with them instead of having lame parents come along.

Invisible gum? "So you won't get into trouble in class? That's smart!" he exclaimed as he opened the door to his house.

"Ladies first." he said, grinning casually, waiting for Tori to step inside first.

"Oh really, you'd do that for me?" Tori gasped, clasping her hands together in front of her heart. "I'd LOOOOOVE that! My birthday is Valentine's Day, by the way." Just so he knew. OOOH Paris would be PERFECT for Valentine's Day! SOooooooooo ROMANTIC TOO!

Hehe. "Yes, exactly. And any other time really. It's great to put in your worst enemy's hair, too." Tori grinned wickedly. "Not that I would ever do such a thing, of course..." Of course she wouldn't..... again. Heh.

Then they were at the front door of the beautiful mansion and Tori looked up in awe. "Thank you," she said a little timidly, stepping inside ahead of Gaspar.

Gaspar liked to see Tori's eyes light up just like that. He smiled and nodded. "Well that makes it easier for me to remember dates, doesn't it?" he said, thinking of all his siblings' birthdays that were a pain to keep track of.

The fourteen-year-old raised a brow. "You've either thought of doing such a thing, or have already done it." he surmised with his critical thinking skills. Thanks Beauxbatons.

"Of course." he said, stepping in and closing the door. "I'm afraid that my parents aren't home yet and Noah is going to be late but my other siblings are off in their rooms." he explained, pointing in a circle motion to the ceiling. "Would you like to get settled in the guest room before I give you a tour?"

"Sure does. There's really no reason why ANYONE should forget my birthday," Tori said thoughtfully. "It's a very important day, after all."

Hmm. "Or both," Tori confessed with a little laugh. "It's a long story though, and I don't really want to get into it." She didn't want to admit that she had well... enemies. Sigh. That was just something that came along with being a Princess.

"Oh Noah! I haven't seen him in ages!" Tori looked up at the ceiling and all around at the place, admiring it with wonder. "What other siblings do you have?" she started toward the banister, not recalling their names other than Noah of course.

Gaspar chuckled. He could see why Noah thought that Tori was charming; she had the same sort of persona that he did. "Mine is just in boring ol' October." he replied. Nothing special during that month except Halloween, that was pretty fun.

The boy arched a brow ready to ask more but saw that she didn't want to. Perhaps another time hm.

"Yeah, he's been busy at work and with his girlfriend." he explained. Sigrid seemed nice, albeit quiet compared to the rest of the family.

"Let's see, there's Eddie and Mairead who are twins, Mairead's just been in Australia for the year but her and Eddie are out apartment shopping. And then there's Paloma and Brigid." Was that all of them. Gaspar counted out the number of siblings on his hands. "Yes, that's all six of us." he said finally with a nod and smile.

"Which day?" Tori asked kindly, deciding that she would memorize the date so that she could send Gaspar something lovely.... even though October was an otherwise boring month.

Ewwwww Noah had a GIRLFRIEND?! Tori grunted at this comment, a most un-ladylike sound, but said nothing further on the matter. Tut. She still had a small crush on Gaspar's brother but of course, the best way to deal with a crush was to ignore it. Obvs.

She put out her fingers instead and started counting as Gaspar rattled off all of his other siblings. "Merlin!" Tori exclaimed. "How did your parents keep track of you all?" Tori continued on up the stairs, slowly drinking it all in as she walked. "Did they all go to Hogwarts too? Or are half of you Hogwartians and the other half Beauxbatonians?"

"October sixteenth." Gaspar said. "Brigid and I actually share a birthday, but she's two years older." Funny little coincidence, eh?

Gaspar looked a bit alarmed by Tori's grunt. "What was that for?" he asked with an arched brow. "Are you not feeling well?"

The boy chuckled. "They call us by different names every day. I think I've been called the dog's name too even." He walked down the hall towards the guest bedroom, and opening the door. "Noah, Eddie, and Mairead all went to Hogwarts. Paloma went for a year, hated it and transferred to Beauxbatons. She and Brigid are attached at the hip practically, so she went to Beauxbatons as well. And I decided, sure why not, because I thought it'd be pretty cool."

Gaspar looked around the room to make sure that it was tidy as he had left it this morning. "So this is where you'll be staying."

"Aww," Tori grinned, "that's kinda cute! You get to share a birthday with your sister. Bet that was really annoying when you were growing up though."

She cleared her throat, blushing a little that Gaspar had heard that grunt. "Erm, nothing, nothing," she shook her head. "I just uh, swallowed my gum funny. It's okay now." No it would NEVER be okay that Noah had a girlfriend who wasn't her, but WHATEVER.

Tori nodded along as they entered her room and she took a good look around. "Aww, that's no fun, being called by the wrong name." It was kind of a hard thing to call a Princess the wrong name though. "I know what you mean though. When I was little, my parents used to dress my twin brother and I in the EXACT same outfits." Which was pretty awkward, considering that one was a boy and one was a girl.

She smiled at Gaspar though. "I like it! Thanks again for letting me stay." This should be a good holiday.

Gaspar shrugged. "Sometimes, she's a bit more flamboyant than I am so our parties are always REALLY big." he explained and then chuckled thinking about last year with the elephants in their garden.

"That's bad luck that is." the boy said, referring to swallowing gum. "At least that's what my Mum always told me."

Wait, that didn't really make sense. "Wait, so your brother had a wear a dress?" he asked, with a furrowed brow.

"You're welcome." he said with a smile.

Suddenly a girl with a shock of bright yellow hair popped into the room. "Hello Gaspar!" the girl said with a keen smile before noticing the girl.

"Oooooh are you the Princess?!" she asked, waggling her eyebrows at her brother mischeviously. "I'm Brigid Oter." the girl finally introduced herself. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Sounds fun though," Tori stated with an eyebrow wiggle. "And no, no," she laughed about her brother wearing dresses, "we always had like matching overalls or shirts and pants, that sort of thing."

Thankfully her mother had outgrown that fancy by the time they were three. Tori shuddered to think that she might still be wearing the same thing as her brother.

Who knew that swallowing your gum was bad luck? Tori opened her mouth to say just that when Gaspar's sister popped in. "Hello," the ginger said quietly, starting to smile when she realized the girl had called her Princess. EXCELLENT. "I am, actually, but you can just call me Tori.

She stuck out her hand for a shake. "Pleasure to meet you too!"

"Oh good." Gaspar said with a half smirk. The thought of wearing a skirt as a bloke would only be appropriate when it was a kilt, and even then, only on special occasions.

He rolled his eyes when Brigid waggled her eyebrows like that. It only led to trouble really. "I knew you were going to be the first to find us." he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Tori! That's such a pretty name." Brigid said with a big beam on her face.

"And be nice mister." she added, looking to her brother and pinching his arm playfully. "I'm allowed to be friendly towards our house guest."

"Why thank you, Brigid," Tori returned with an equal beam. She laughed at the sibling duo and wondered, briefly, why Gaspar looked so down... hmm.

"How has your holiday been, Brigid?" Tori asked kindly. She seemed nice!

"It's great so far. I went shopping with Mairead in London and I got things from the Muggle side." the girl beamed brilliantly. She looooooved to shop so much! "Do you like Hogwarts? I always wondered what it would have been like if I went there." she pondered.

Gaspar watched the interaction with the girls, thinking that they would get along better than Paloma and Tori would. Paloma like to keep to herself. He smiled softly to show that he was interested in what was going on.