Marriage is Murder

Steven chuckled " that's ok Andrew, its the giving that matters not getting" he thanked the bar man and took one from him smiling as he tasted them " just like Janet use to make , she was good with her hands" he said and smiled finishing his cookie " yeah it does,it tastes better because your getting the full flavor and not some artificial thing" he said and finished his drink but the bar man poured another. " when your ready we can head back or we can do some shopping if you want I'm in no rush to get back yet but I do have to sen word back I found you and your safe " he took out a piece of paper and an owl landed on his shoulder he slipped it into its claw and it flew off .

"I sort of have some ideas, and i think I can get everything in one shop. You all tend to shop in the same handful of stores," Andrew said. "You know--that designer place in muggle London that Khaat's got everyone going to. I heard some Ravenclaws saying they really expanded their store. They bought the 5 story building next door and doubled their selection. They have good designer jewelry now, and all sorts of things. I'd like to go there, if we could. And I hear they gift wrap. I really stink at gift wrapping--even with a spell." He got out a wallet stuffed with a large wad of muggle cash. "Do you think this is enough? I had some galleons changed to muggle cash. I still have some galleons with me too, though."

Steven listened and chuckled " yea me to " he said and listened more " sure we could go " he saw the wallet and moved quickly to make him put it away " don't do that, yeah that's plenty, half the men in here would not think twice at taking that from you. " he said and sat back down to finish his drink. " well once you eat up we can go." he said and smiled but glanced around glad to see nobody had noticed Andrews wallet. Soon he opened the door for Andrew and walked down to the store in question.

Andrew started to look through the store. It didn't take him long to start to find gifts he wanted to buy. The clerk tried to diss Andrew, not believing he had cash. He got irked quickly at being discounted because he was a kid. He picked up the opal ring he'd selected for Kate and set it on the counter. "I'll take it," he ordered. The clerk, hiding a smirk, rattled off the price to him, and he produced the proper cash and laid it on the counter, trying to hide his desire to be arrogant with her. She stammered a bit and rang up his purchase.

"Will there be anything else?" she asked, more politely.

"Yes," he ordered boldly. "A different clerk please. Someone who truly wants to assist me. " She huffed away from the counter and a tall, young dark haired man walked up to Andrew.

"Nicely done," he said to Andrew softly. "I've been wanting to do something like that all day. Now--lets see if we can whittle that gift list of yours down a bit, shall we?"

"Please," Andrew said.

Steven watched Andrew and smiled as he stood behind him his arms crossed over his chest he looked at the tall, young dark haired man as he spoke to Andrew and walked over " forgive me for asking, but who are you?" he asked looking the young man up and down. " Andrew, do you have many more to get ?" he asked looking at Him and the pile of packages that sat on the counter taking them he held them tight as he waited for Andrew to move for the rest of his things. As he stood an owl dropped a letter in front of him and he breathed out " ok they say its fine and there relived your ok and weren't hurt " he said smiling at him.

"I'm Edward. I'm a clerk here. Just earning more spending money for school. I'm in my 7th year," the young man said. "May I?" he asked Andrew, taking the list. He took Andrew through the store and gave him several suggestions for each person on his list until the list was completed. Edward was very handy with his wand and cast a spell for the gifts to all wrap themselves, and then shrink and bag themselves. He exchanged the packages for Andrew's money and counted out the change. Then he place a brightly wrapped package into the bag that Andrew had not purchased. "Its a giveaway," he told Andrew. "Its a store promotion. They're mystery gifts. Some folks get one item, and I heard someone got as many as 5 things in their box. And they're all different. They're a lot of fun."

"Thank you," Andrew said.

"Merry Christmas," the clerk smiled as Andrew picked up his bag and left the store, stepping back out into the winter cold.

Steven smiled and nodded breathing out " ow ok sorry about that this years been kinda rough " he said and looked at Andrew . He followed behind them as Andrew gathered his things on his list. He walked out with Andrew and smiled " you ready to go home?" he asked doing up his coat to keep out the cold around him " I know Robert and Kate will be happy to see you back" he said offering his hand so he could port them back to the safe house. He knew Cassidy would be worried about him and he rolled his finger over his new ring.

"Yeah," Andrew said. "That's fine. I think I'm good with my shopping now. Whenever you want."

Robert had found Michael off in a small sitting room. It had been an odd corner in the design that seemed to have no purpose, so Kieran had made it a warm, masculine sitting room as an afterthought. There was one like it that he'd allowed Fi to do in feminine tastes on the second floor right above it. Michael had lit a fire in the fireplace and had opened a book. It was a first edition Moby Dick--nearly priceless. He had dozed off while reading though. Robert had left him sleep and had managed to silently unwrap Michael's hand and was merely finetuning the healing efforts that Jess and Khaat had done. Largely, he was pleased with their work. He was just making sure it didn't scar for Michael and doing his best to speed up the healing. To be sure, it was a painful wound. He wanted that relieved for his nearly lifelong friend.

Steven took Andrews hand and ported them back to the safe house felling the sudden rush of warmth as they arrived " ok you go put your gifts under the tree I'll let every one know were back " he said and walked to find Robert but it was cassidy who he found first as she smiled walking over to him " everything ok?" she asked with a smile.

" yep no problems at all " he said and gave her a kiss it was then he spotted Robert " Robert need to talk to you a second, Cassie I'll come to the kitchen in a sec this is important." he said and quickly kissed cassidy and moved from her over to Robert leading him into an office. " did you get my message?" he said looking at him.

Robert stepped away from Michael and said, "Yes. I did. Alright. Report. What made him bugger off? That's not like him, and I'm surprised he would risk Grindlewald finding out through the ministry's trace on magic used by students. He knows they do that. It must have been important or he wouldn't have gone. I know he's an easy kid for people to doubt because he had a rough start in life. But...I just see a really good kid who wants a chance." He paused and glanced back at Michael. "Michael will be deeply relieved that Andrew is alright. Michael likes people to believe he doesn't give a damn, but we all know that's not true."