Marriage is Murder

John watched and nodded he understood about the spell then he sighed " no problems about that back in school I got no friends anyway to tell " he said and looked at the ground as he tried the spell as he walked along so far it was in-tacked and he moved further down. Steven had found several small holes but repaired them all as he moved with Cassidy along his assigned area holding her hand tight so she would not lose him in the snow.

"Well, I had one, but I blew that this year trying to do what Robert asked me to do," Andrew sighed. "Friends aren't all that. I can live without 'em. Girls too. Don't need them either. Don't really need anybody." He flicked his wand across an area of the net and saw a spot that looked thin. "See that? That's not a hole. Its just a weak spot. My magic isn't strong enough to fix it. But Robert did show me how to mark it so he can find it and fix it. Watch." He took his wand and made it create a teal colored circle around the weak spot. "Any of the grownups can fix those." He taught John the spell. "If its a hole, I just make the teal color brighter. If we find another one, you can try it."

John looked at it and chuckled as he tried it now grinning " this is so cool " he said and walked till he found a weak spot and marked it both on the clip board and on the barrier. " yeah I know how you feel that girl earlier blew me off " he said and sighed marking another weak spot " so hows frog?" he asked " that pond is teaming with them from what dad says " he said.

"He's been bugging me for a girl," Andrew sighed. "He gave me some nonsense about his biological clock ticking. How the devil does a frog know what a biological clock is anyway? I suppose if we get a warm day, I'll go look for one. If I can't find one of his species that he likes, I'll bugger off back home where I found him. There were loads of them in the pond on our estate. " He frowned, looking at the ground. "What the heck is that?" He walked a few paces in towards a bush. He flicked his wand at it and saw eerie black mist rising from a strange stone with an even stranger mark carved in it. "Don't touch that," Andrew said. "I don't know what that is." He fired just a few red sparks up in the air.

Michael arrived in a fraction of a second. "What'd you find?" he asked, trapsing through the snow.

"What the heck is that?" Andrew asked.

"Move back from it," Michael said seriously. "Let me look." He drew his wand and looked at it. "You can both come up next to me but no closer. I want you to see this. " He showed them both the rock in the ground. "Look at that very carefully. That, boys, is a trap. There's no telling how long thats been in the ground. You're on the new edges of the property in the new portion. That is a dark arts enchantment on that rock. The mark is an old archaic rune. It could have been there for hundreds of years. But we do need to get it out. Brian or Robert either one can rid us of it. And if its very old, Brian will get Robert to do it. Those things are touchy sometimes. Good catch, Guys. That's exactly the sort of thing we're looking for. We'll leave your mark up, but..." He flicked his wand at the mark to change its color to shimmering black sparks. They did look a bit odd. "Brian and Robert will understand that. You can both keep going if you'd like, or you can wait until Brian or Robert come and you can watch them dispose of it. Your choice."

John chuckled and nodded "yeah good idea " hes aid and smiled as Andrew sent the red flare into the sky. he saw Robert and stood with john watching it as he changed color " neat " he said and smiled he looked at Andrew as he spoke " wanna watch them get rid of it? " he asked knowing if it was anything it would be entertaining to say the least. Steven saw the red flare and saw Brian and Robert move off he continued checking and repairing holes soon he finished signed his clipboard and sighed moving to where he saw Robert John and Andrew standing.

Robert apparated over to the spot where they were gathered and Brian apparated in almost simultaneously. He looked at Michael. "What have you got, Michael?"

"Look for yourself. Careful," he warned.

"Keep the boys back," Robert said. Brian approached it with Robert. "Well, well. Nice job, Boys. That's exactly what you don't want. Its the enchantment on it that makes it dangerous and the rune that binds it into the rock. Brian..."

"Yeah," Brian sighed, now suddenly very serious. "Michael, back the boys up. Steven, shield yourselves with a contego spell. I don't want this backfireing onto the boys or either of you. This is dangerous to dispose of." When Brian knew Steven had his shield covering himself and Michael and the boys at a safe distance away, Brian and Robert took a firm stance. They aimed their wands together at the rock.

"On three," Robert said to Brian quietly. "One...two...three." And on three, they fired a powerful spell to break the rune and the binding enchantment. A huge black fog started to rise and swirl from the rock. "Now!" Robert commanded. "Quickly!" They both recited a spell in a strong, commanding tone, and they fired their wands. The rock disintegrated and every trace disapparted. The black fog was sucked into the disapparating spell with the dust of the rock. And in just a few seconds, every bit of it was gone. Robert turned to Brian. "You alright?"

"Fine," Brian said. "You?"

"I'm good," Robert said. He looked back at the others. "You all alright?"

Steven nodded and cast his spell around them all watching himself as Robert and Michael fired turning the rune to dust and the binding enchantment dissipate into nothing once it was gone Steven took down his shield and looked at the boys with a smile. " ok finish up and head in for some hot chocolate" he said and moved back to Cassidy who had stood watching them all glad she was away from it as she moved along her section.Finding nothing she moved to the place she had to hand her clip board in. Signed and delivered she aperated back to the main house feeling some what tired from walking through all that heavy snow.

"Thank you," Robert said to Steven. He was glad that Steven had provided the shield for the boys and then had been so matter-of-fact about it. He watched Andrew and John move on, not giving a lot of emotion to it, which was exactly what needed to happen.

He continued his own search and watched the team, one by one, finish their own searches, turn in their reports and apparate back to the house. He made sure everyone was inside except himself and Brian and that they had all the reports in their hands before they went back inside.

He found everyone gathered in the dining hall, warming up with hot beverages and some warm cookies. They had done a good job. He made a very brief announcement about the fact that he was pleased at how well they had done and thanked them for what was a difficult job in even tougher weather conditions. He told them he would give them the results of the sweep once he and Brian had had time to process it all. He and Brian then took hot drinks for themselves and went upstairs to his office.

Steven sat with Cassidy by the open fire both holding each other close to warm up. Steven glanced over at John who sat not far from him. " he did well tonight " he said softly and cassidy nodded as she drank her hot chocolate smiling " hes also growing up fast " he added and again she nodded with a "mu hum" noise and Steven chuckled " is that all you can say " he asked and she did it again turning to rest her head on his chest as she looked up at him.

" ow quite pining, you have James and jaylen and Fallon to bring up now" she said and brushed his chest lightly as if telling him she wanted to so to their room . Taking the hint he chuckled and stood up but before he moved to he door he moved to Andrew.

" Were going to bed now Andrew john, thought I'd say night to you both , don't stay up late " he said and smiled seeing john roll his eyes and Steven chuckled and held cassidy close to him. " Anyway night guys " he took hr out of the main hall.

Andrew bid them goodnight and watched them leave.

"I hate being snowed in," Andrew sighed. "Its boring."

"Is it, now?" Kate laughed, coming up behind them and laying her hands on their shoulders. "I think we could fix that. Come with me." She led them through the corridors, downstairs to the huge pool. She looked at them. "Watch this." She uttered a few words and fired her wand at the pool. The water frozed and changed to a solid mass of ice. She added skating blades to their shoes. "You big lads do know how to ice skate, don't you?" she asked. "Surely you won't let a little ice intimidate you or bore you, will you?"