Marriage is Murder

Steven spotted Andrew and decided to follow him he watched him closely he would normally have gone and stopped him but as he rounded the corner he saw Andrew and a man talking then quick as Andrew he drew his wand he stepped out just as Andrew fired and the man flew back against the wall. Steven was surprised but relived. " nice shot " hes aid and walked over to the man with a sigh he pulled out a bundle of letters from his inside pocket and walked back to him." these are yours I presume, you might note that the earliest starts two weeks after you got into Hogwarts, my guess is he intercepted everything I sent to you. " he saw the look on his face and smiled slightly " look, it was him or you Andrew" he said softly his hand moving to rest on his shoulder as he slipped his away then took Andrews placing it back in Andrews pocket.

"My father told me years ago he always thought this guy was responsible for killing my mother. I...never got the chance to ask him," Andrew said. "He had her necklace." Andrew shuffled through the envelopes and in the midst of them was a slightly different colored parchment. He opened it. It was the number for Andrew's old Gringotts vault number and how to get into it. Andrew was angry. "All of this? Over money? Really?" he said. "And who's going to believe me that I didn't ask for it? I'm just a kid, no matter how you look at it. Loo, whatever you all thought about me, you have to let me go. I'm better off on my own. I can take care of myself. I'm not going to get anyone else into this mess with me."

Steven listened to him and folded his arms across his chest. " They might not believe you but they will a seasoned Auror, I saw the whole thing he drew first you were defending your self, as for being on your own it gets you know where trust me I have been there so has cassidy and she was in it longer than me, thinking about it not one of the men or women under Robert started off right " he sighed " nobody gave up on you don't give up on them " he said softly hoping he was doing the right thing " you've become a strong, self reliant young man that any Auror would be proud to call his son I'm sure if you mother were here she would be proud too" he said

Andrew wanted to protest, but instead, he was silent a moment and then said, "Yeah. Okay. Do we do something with him or do we leave him here? Personally, I really would like to go down to the pub and get something to warm up with. Its cold here too. Not quite as cold as back there...but its still cold."

Michael was feeling stupid. Khaat had managed to get up today and dress. jeans and a baby pink colored sweater. When she and Brian went downstairs to refill their usual morning coffee, a staff member asked Brian if he would see to Michaels deep cut. Khaat and Brian found Michael sitting in the dining room, with a cup of tea and a thick bandage over his hand.

"What did you do?" Khaat asked, sitting with her godfather.

"I was an idiot. Thats what I did," he said. "I argued with a butcher knife."

"Let me see," she said. She took his hand gently in hers and unwrapped Jess's dressings. Jess had managed to keep him from bleeding to death but it needed more tending. She knew that was why she had bandaged it--to support the wound. Brian handed her her wand, and Khaat cast a powerful healing spell on his hand. Michael felt a brief but sharp pain in his hand and then it died away. She rebandaged his hand. "We'll get you a bit of pain potion to add to your tea. By tomorrow, there won't even be a scar."

"Thank you, my sweetheart," he smiled, kissing her cheek.

"Its no trouble at all," she said. "Lets hope breakfast comes soon. We don't want to postpone getting you that potion."

Steven looked back at the body and chuckled " leave it its Grinwalds problem " he said and smiled " there's one over there, lets go" he said and walked him over to it " they won't say anything coz I'm with you " he opened the door and let Andrew go in first. Finding a table he sat down at it as the bar man walked over to them " the usual Mr Walker " he asked and Steven nodded then looked at Andrew.

" small fire whiskey too" he said and smiled at Andrew " you did say you wanted to warm up " he looked at the bar man and sighed " its all right hes with me" he said and the man smiled leaving to fetch their order.

Andrew largely ignored most of the people in the pub. Seemed like the typical pub lot to him. He was glad when the delivered the food because he was hungry. Despite how he felt about the death of his family's enemy he hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours, and he was very hungry. And he still loved the crunch of the batter on the fish and the malt vinegar that he sprinkled on the fish and the chips. He was very aware of whether anyone was paying any attention to him or not. And, as far as he could tell, nobody seemed to pay attention to a man and a boy who had, by all appearances, come in from the cold for soem food and a warm up.

"We have to go back, dont we?" he finally asked heavily, dreading what Michael and Robert were going to do to him for all of this.

Steven looked up at him as he ate his dinner " not right now " he said softly " but yeah if your worried about Robert , Brian and Michael don't be, I'll explain and like I said it was self defense, and I'd say you did pretty good " he said and smiled at him " you know I didn't forget about you " he said softly as he moved some fish back and forth on the plate " I sent you things every time I sent to John, I would not forget you Andrew, I think of you like my own son even if you do live with Robert" he said and finished his plate pushing it to one side he picked up his drink.

"Well, it makes sense now," Andrew admitted. "I've never seen Robert truly angry. Not like my dad could get. I don't know if Robert ever gets that way or not. I don't want this to be when I find out what that looks like. Kate says he gets angry, but she said he doesn't get like...what my dad was like. I don't know. Everybody has their breaking point, I suppose. My father always said I was his breaking point. Actually, he said I pushed him one step beyond. Said I drove him to drink just to get away from me. I think that was why I spent so much time in the woods with the animals. My dad just never wanted me around. He used to get ticked if I came home at night to go to bed, and he got ticked if I didn't. It didn't much matter."

Steven sighed listening to Andrew " Andrew, Robert isn't like that hes a kind caring man and yes we all do have our braking points, but as we grow we learn to control it, well those of us who are decent do, the ones who don't are not worth thinking about, all Robert and the others think , including my self would be that your not hurt and are safe, I do with John, Jaylen , James and Fallon even Khaats babies there like my own, that's how close we are, we all think of you as some one we care about." he sat and took another sip " I got you a Christmas present back under the tree " he said and looked at him over the rim of his glass.

"For me? You didn't have to do that," he said. "But I appreciate it. I..wasn't allowed out to do any shopping. I have money. I suppose i'll give that, unless I get a chance to do some last minute shopping when I get back. But since muggles only give money anymore or some form of it, from what I hear, maybe I'm just in style."

The bartender came over and put down a little plate with four Christmas cookies on it for Andrew and Steven to share. "They're on the house," he smiled.

"Thank you," Andrew said, picking up a star that was dusted with cinnamon and sugar. He took a bite and told Steven, "Try one. They're pretty good. They remind me of a cinnamon cookie my mom used to make. But that was a long time ago. She conjured them. She didn't know how to cook by hand. I do like that the Lupins dont conjure their food. It makes a difference."