Marriage is Murder

"We all make mistakes, Cassidy. Its more important that you learn from them or you're liable to keep repeating the lesson until you do learn it," Kate said.

Robert came back in, looking even more tired. "There. I doubled the unplottable charm and doubled the grid."

"Robert," Kate said, "Enough. Go to bed. You can't continue to do this without some rest."

"I'm waiting on that damned lasagna Angus promised. I'm hungry. Then I'll go to bed," he said.

"Cassidy can you please see how close we are to eating?" Kate laughed. "He's like the rest of us. The hungrier he is, the crankier he becomes."

Cassidy smiled " yeah I learned Kate " she saw Robert walk back in and chuckled " of course Kate" she said and stood up walking to the kitchen she smelt the lasagna cooking " wow that smells good Angus" she said and smiled as she walked in " ow Roberts cranky Kate asked me find out when's the food ready" she said and picked up a piece of apple and eating it as she waited Steven walked in poring a cup of coffee.

" smells good Angus, the food coffee's good to " he said smiling as he looked at Cassidy across from him. As he stood he wondered if fate had brought them together only for them not to realize they were meant to be and that was why their marriages fell apart like they did. He sipped his coffee knowing it didn't matter what was past , wast past , now they had their future to look forward and things could only get better.

"As soon as I get the table set, we can eat," Angus said. "I'll hold dinner for Brian and Jack. They may well eat while they're gone, but just in case..." He flicked his wand to cuase the table to set with the dishes and flatware, along with the food and drinks. "I can't help feeling like Khaat would feel better if Robert would wake her and let her eat. She hasn't eaten almost all day."


Brian ported into the kitchen of the empty farmhouse. He sighed heavily. It looked abandoned and already covered in dust. "It bugs me when its empty. I like it so much better when Kate and Robert are both gone. It makes me feel...I don't know..." He caught himself about to say the word 'abandoned' but didnn't want to put words to how much Robert and Kate had always meant to him since his parents died. "Come on. Let's go check her room."

He went back down the hallway to Khaat's rooms. He opened the door. He was met with a myriad of smells. He could smell Remus's cologne still. It was thick here. Tobacco, firewhiskey, Khaat's perfumes. But even as mixed up as it all was, it was strangely comforting to him. Felt like home. Smelled like home. He looked at the walls lined with books. Yep, almost every one of them were Remus's. Khaat had added a rather small, cheaply constructed bookcase under a window to hold her own separate from Remus's. "Those are hers," Brian pointed. "All the rest of these hundreds of books are his. That great sunny landscape above the fireplace is what Remus had up here when he used these rooms. Khaat had his wizarding portrait there when she used the rooms. She took it with her when she moved in with me, and its in our bedroom now. It took Robert years to get her to agree to put his clothes and other things in the attic. All those bizarre skulls and strange things he seemed to like. Its all upstairs. God, Jack, I don't know where to even start. This could take years. You haven't seen Robert's library yet. That makes this look like one bookshelf."

"Oi!" A voice shouted from the fireplace the burst into magical flames on the hearth. "Junior! Don't forget to check the bloody safe!"

"What stinking safe, Michael?" Brian sighed and shouted back. "She never told me about any safe."

"That's probably because she doesnt' know about it, Me Boy!" the reply was laughter now.

"Well, where the devil is it?"

"How the hell should I know?" Michael's reply came from the hearth. "I just know there was one."

"You old fart. You're a big help, you are! Get your arse here now and find that thing. You're the catburglar, not me," Brian sighed, disgusted.

"Are those all the manners Ozzy taught you?" Michael sounded equally disgusted now.

"Its for Khaat, you old buggar."

"Alright, alright, keep your shirt on. I'll be there." The sparks in the fireplace faded away.

Jack appeared not long after Brian and looked around he smelt fresh cookies and bread " hum smells nice in here " he said following him to Khaats room and smiled " wow another Remus room " he sneezed at the Oder of Turkish cologne that still hung in the air that he could smell he knew if Remus was still around he would not be able to get close to the room he turned sharp to the hearth and shook his head at Michael's tone. " maybe we should try and find it on our own" he said moving to some shelves against one wall to the left of the fireplace. He ran his finger over each book some untouched others well worn as if read and reread numerous times

"Meh," Brian waved it off. "Michael is just being Michael. He's a hell of a lot of bark and no bite whatsoever when it comes to those he loves--unless he's defending them. He's gruff on the outside but he would do aboslutley anything for Khaat. He'll be along directly." He began to search the room, looking for a safe. He began searching behind all the paintings, when Michael strolled in.

"Oh you have seen far too many muggle movies," Michael laughed. "No wizard hides a safe behind a painting. Only muggles do that. I doubt very much that the safe is in this room. If I were Remus I'd have hidden it someplace on one of the floors of Robert's library. Haven't you been in there, Lad?

"Floors?" Brian echoed. "I thought there was only one floor to that."

"You didn't like libraries much, did you?"

"Not particularly."

"It has four floors, my boy. I would think, knowing Remus, he'd have hidden the safe there because Robert had a massive number of charms on it."

"To guard books?" Brian frowned.

"No. To guard the rest of it. Come along, you two. I can almost swear to you its not here. Remember, Remus was shielding Khaat at the time, and Khaat was a child. He would not have made it easily within her reach. Follow along, if you want to see perhaps one of the more unpleasant sides of Robert." He walked out of the room and down the hallway towards the library.

Jack turned to face Michael rolling his eyes as he talked to them like children though he could understand his thinking he still hated it. Jack moved with Brian and hung back a little he'd never been in Roberts library and he could not help sneeze this time from dust rather than the cologne yet he got a faint whiff off to turned his head to the left and looked at Brian " um I'm getting something that way" he said and pointed towards a wall filled with books and a set of spiral stairs that lead both up and down.

"Good nose," Michael said, heading straight for the stairs. "I think I have some idea where I'd have put it if I had been Remus. Someplace that not even Kate knows exists." He stopped and looked up. "Look up, you two. The house has two floors, a basement and an attic. This library makes use of all that. This floor and two more floors above you and one below you. I'm guessing it will be downstairs--with some of Robert's other secrets." He used the spiral staircase and descended down it fairly quickly, uttering an incantation to turn on the lights as he went down to the cellar.

It was the largest potions lab that Michael had ever seen in his extensive career, with thousands of bottles on the walls. Some held insects and some held potions, and some held potions ingredients. Other shelves held all sorts of potionmaking supplies. "I daresay I don't think you'll see a larger lab anywhere in the world," Michael said. "But let us to go the part that Robert's kept from the women in his life, shall we?" He went to a back wall, flicked his wand at a huge stone bookcase and aimed his wand and fired a spell at it. the bookcase moved easily out of the way to display a thick ancient looking wooden door. Michael went over to the door and the carvings on it and began assembling the odd abstract looking carving, slowly and with much thought. It began to take shape as a landscape carved into the wood. Once completed, the door opened easily to Michael.

"Come in and be very careful. These things are all loaded." He turned on a light and it showed enough muggle weapons to equip a large army. Guns, knives, spears, crossbows, daggers, maces, shields, swords...if it was a weapon, it was here. An cabinet after cabinet of ammunition.

"Robert and Remus liked weapons. They started a collection when they were kids. It...sort of grew a bit. And when Kate got pregnant, Remus and Robert enchanted it to be far too difficult for a child to accidently get into. If I were Remus, I'd have put the safe in here. No one but Robert even knew it existed until fairly recently when he told me about it. And I would trust it would be a wizarding safe and not look like any sort of ordinary muggle safe. Look for anything that looks like a box, a chest, a larger piece of stone block than the others...or an odd crack in the mortar in the regular sized blocks, something rather unusual and very very well hidden. Remember, Robert knows this room like the back of his hand, and he doesn't know where the safe was either. Only that Remus had one somewhere on this planet. I think he'd just given up searching for it."

Jack followed him the scent seeming to grow he chuckled at Michael " don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult " he said as they reached the door he watched Michael open the door he held his nose the smell was faint but still there . He looked around " wow " was all he could say as he moved further into the room his head turned first left them right he could smell something very faint though it was he moved off to the right passing more weapons his hand moved along the wall " Michael would that do?" he said pointing to a lone shelf that sat with still full bottles and jars with there contents long since dead but the potions glistened as if newly placed on it.

"Perhaps," Michael frowned. "Let's have a look." He went over to the shelf and took a very close slow look with his expert eyes. "Ah, ha, ha. Nice job, Mooney," he said, as if he were talking to Remus. "But not good enough. Your brother wasn't paying very good attention. These potions, Jack, are at least the better part of 40 years old. The enchantment on the safe keeps them looking fresh. And they're not Robert's potions either. Look here at the signatures on the labels. That's not Robert's hand. Its Remus's. Remus never make a bloody potion in his life. He probably bought these and used them merely as props." He flicked his wand at the items on the shelf. "Alright, you lot. Move!' The bottles and things hopped off the shelf and marched over to a corner of the room and appeared to be sulking at being tossed off the shelf that had been their home for decades and decades. "Sulking? Really?" Michael frowned at them. "Get over yourselves. Or I'll transfigure you all into jewelry for Khaat." He turned his attention back to the shelf and took the shelf off the wall. Then he began examiining the wall itself. "Its right here," he pointed. "Now--what the devil would Remus have used as a password to open it?" he sighed thoughtfully.

Jack thought for a moment he moved closer to the wall and looked closer he saw a faint scratch in one place. Jack let his finger change and looked at Brian and Michael as he spoke. "This might not work, but then it just might. " he said and faced the spot placing his finger on the top of the scratched he only let his nail drag down as he spoke. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. " he said hoping it would work as he could think of nothing else that it could be, it was so simple it had to work.