Marriage is Murder

Steven looked at Brian and Khaat now worried " He is a street smart young man, but he would not leave Hogwarts with out permission, I'm sure Robert's told him about that." he said and looked at Cassidy who smiled at him.

" I'm sure Johns fine" she said and Jess nodded to him along with Jack as he finished his second plate of food. Jess looked over in the direction of the library where she knew Michael would be the one to go looking for him and bring him back.

" so when's John coming?" she asked Steven who looked up at her.

" tomorrow " he said " should be just in time for the wedding too"he said happy that he could include John this time so he would know everything was different and better.

"Daddy's been training him," Khaat said. "He and Michael have been teaching him a great many skills he's not supposed to know yet, by wizarding laws. He's recruited Andrew into espionage inside the school, which means he had to take a different role this year. Andrew had to look like he wasn't such a goody two shoes so that Grindlewald would not make the connection that Andrew has any relationship with us. If Grindlewald were to find that out, Andrew's days would be numbered. And--Michael has been looking out for him. I am presuming that Andrew's role of not being such a good lad might have caused him to need to run off to play his part well. If anybody has any clue of where to find him now, I'm guessing it will be Michael. And Michael won't go without talking to Daddy first. Let's not worry about Andrew unless Daddy or Michael can't find him. If there was some reason Andrew left to protect himself, he'd most likely slither into the underworld in the streets, and nobody can penetrate that circle of irreputables like Michael can."

"Am I supposed to be flattered by that?" Michael asked, entering with his coat on, and his wand in his hand.

"Yes, actually," she replied. He went over and kissed her cheek.

"Just kidding," he said. "Actually, it flatters me to have you have such faith that I can penetrate both worlds. I have talked to Robert. We do have some ideas. It is not safe for your father to come with me. I will make far better time alone....Unless..Angus, you are starting to penetrate those circles. If I need some assistance..."

"Just send the word," Angus said quickly. "I'll go gear up, just in case. Can you ladies handle the clean up of lunch? If I am not needed, I'll continue working on my other cooking duties."

Jess and cassidy both nodded and smiled " of course we can " Cassidy said and chuckled standing so she could pick up hers and Stevens plate then the others and moved them to the kitchen Jess staid clearing the table to its clean state she sent the center piece back to the cupboard where it had come from. along with the unused things from the table soon it was clean and she moved back to the living room and sat with Jack with her tea cassidy joined them a moment later once all the dishes were in the washer.

Robert returned a few moments later, minus Dakota, as a staff member picked up Abbey and began bonding with her very quickly and talking affectionately to her, taking her upstairs for her afternoon nap.

"Where is my daughter?" Khaa asked her father.

"MY granddaughter is asleep and taking her nap," he laughed. "Her sister will join her soon."

"How'd you get Dakota to sleep so soon?" she asked.

"He bored her to sleep," Kate said. Robert scowled.

"Is that an editorial, my dear, supportive wife?" he asked.

"Would I do that?" she asked gracefully.

"What exactly do you want?" he said. "You're baiting me for something."

"You know exactly what I want," she said.

"Oh. That," he replied. "You shall have to wait until Christmas and see if that appears under the tree for you or not."

"Christmas? We never talked about Christmas!" she said. "You can't buy things for me except at Christmas? You are incorrigible!" She huffed, aggravated by him and got up and left. He repressed his laughter until after she was well out of earshot.

"What is it she wants?" Khaat asked.

"Oh, she is tail over teakettle over a ring she saw in the jewelers shop when we were at the safehouse," he laughed. "She thinks I forgot."

Jess smiled " and let me guess you got it for her?" she asked " we got her a painting of a Tuscan sunrise " she said smiling as Jack nodded with her " I just hope she likes it " she said. Cassidy looked Steven who chuckled and kissed her cheek.

" I managed to fined a ballet figure in bronze " he said and smiled at Cassidy who sat back leaning relaxed against him feeling like everything was going to be alright but she could not help get a feeling of tension from Steven and sat up.

" ok whats wrong?" she asked him and faced him slightly. Steven looked at her and nodded then sighed.

" Andrew and his running away " he said and cassidy sighed .

" Michael will deal with him , leave it" she said as he pulled her to him and sighed smiling at her.

"Of course I did," Robert said. "And it sounds like she's going to love your gifts. Don't worry about Andrew. Its not every day that a 13 year old gets personally recruited by the minister of magic for espionage. Its stressful for him. He's having to alienate himself from his friends to try to help us unwind whatever Grindlewald is up to. Andrew is not all that different from Brian. Andrew is a good lad. He is doing his best to try to figure out what he wants in his life and where he belongs. He knows how to find Michael and me and a few others who are back in England that have promised me to always provide him a safehaven that would be unlikely to Grindlewald. I have others who are supposed to be keeping an eye on him--at least as well as anyone who can keep an eye on a street kid like that. When Brian was his age, he dealt with his anger through rebellion and a smartalecky attitude. Andrew isn't any different. He just has yet to figure out what I will and wont' tolerate coming out of his mouth and out of his behaviors. I promise you it won't take very long."

Steven looked at Robert and nodded " I can't help wonder if this is something to do with him thinking I abandoned him some how, I did not " he said looking at Robert cassidy sighed and moved from Steven to sit next to him still holding his hand. Jess gave her some hot tea and a coffee for Steven as he sat. Jack stood up and stood in front of the fire to warm himself as he still felt a little chilled. Jess moved to give him a second hot toddy with the potion in and he felt better.

" thank you dear " he said and kissed her gently.

"Perhaps," Robert said, "Perhaps not. I know you didn't, and if that is something that is bothering him, I'll deal with it. Brian had a hard time with the holidays too, though. For a lot of years after he lived with us."

"Yes," Brian admitted, "I did. It always reminded me of what I felt I should have had and I felt cheated out of it, no matter how much I loved the Lupins. I was a Quinn."

"We offered you to become a Lupin," Robert reminded him.

"I know. Countless times. It felt like I was cheating on my family. In Andrew's case, my guess is that he never felt worthy to become anyone else's child but Diamond's."

"But...the Order is mobilizing to move against Grindlewald. That means that anyone who knows me is in more danger than when we left England. It may well simply be that the boy had to hide. I believe we need to stop speculating until I have a chance to talk to him. Alright? So all of you, stop letting your imaginations run away with you."

Steven nodded and Cassidy poked him to make him smile a little "there that's better " she said to him and looked at Jack who drank his hot toddy down in one and coughed " your supposed to sip it not down it like a cheap brandy" Cassidy said and chuckled Jess stood up and moved to Jack patting his back.

"Sorry needed to finish it whiskey isn't my favorite drink" he said and handed Jess the empty glass talking a deep breath in slowly. It ws then the sound of aperation was heard and a thump.

" great nice landing " came a young boys voice and Steven stood up smiling.

" john's here?" he said and moved to the hall way door to be greeted buy the blond boy he stopped on seeing Robert and stared for a moment.

" sorry sir, I'm john walker sir" he said and held out his hand wiping off some dirt from his palm first as he smiled at him." your a lot different than what we're told at school " he added

"I remember you, John," Robert said. "Good to see you again. The staff member who brought you will show you to your room. Do you prefer to be with us? Or if you like, you can hang out with the aurors in the barracks. Sometimes the young men I've worked with would rather hang out with some of the 'tough guys' and if I thought there was any real danger by staying there, I would ask your father to choose, but since we're all family here, I would guess he wouldn't care whether you're with us here or whether you're with the same number of people in the building just a short bit down the trail from us. If you like, perhaps you'd like your dad to take you on a short tour and then you can decide. You really probably do need a bit of private time with him anyway."