Marriage is Murder

"Nice to meet you too. Now stop being so squeemish," Edward said to Jack. "I never killed anyone with the curse unless they were killing things they shouldn't have been. I can still recognize a werewolf when I see one, Boy. You arent the problem. It appears that...you know this werewolf, don't you?"

"By biology only," Robert said. "Not by relationship."

"Its just as well," Edward said. "None of you really have any clue how to deal with this other werewolf, do you?"

"My brother..." Robert began.

"I know who your brother was," Edward cut him off. "Your key is right here." He motioned to Khaat. "She's the reason he's come, and she is the hope for you to be rid of him." Robert didn't speak. Edward spoke in riddles and that didn't help him. Robert just figured in Edward's own time he would clear that up. At Edward's age he just wasn't going to be rushed. He watched Edward very slowly make his way up the steps into the house.

Angus walked over to them. "He's a bit cantakerous at times."

"He's entitled to be," Robet said. "Just wait til I get that age. I am planning on being far worse."

"Oh, heaven help us all," Kate laughed.

When Edward came out, he brought out a dusty glass bottle with a potion in it. He had a gauze pad in his hand. He poured some of the potion onto the gauze pad and sponged Khaat's cheek with the gauze. He held it there for a moment. When he took the pad away he studied her face and then the pad.

"Nothing," He pronounced. "He was not able to pass the curse to her. Whether he tried or not, I cannot tell. But at any rate, it did not happen."

"But the stone..." Angus began.

"Does not keep her from getting the curse," Edward says. "It merely keeps her from transforming. She is as capable of getting it as any of us." Then he looked at Khaat. "He comes because he fears you. He needs you eliminated. You are untouchable to him, and so you are a threat to him like none other he has ever experienced. But, it is that which he fears that is your greatest weapon."

"The stone?" she asked.

"No, Child," Edward said. "Not entirely. You are protected beyond the stone, and you know it."

"Dinner shold be ready in about 30 minutes," Edward said. "Lupin--come talk to me. We need to figure out how to eal with this before he kills someone you love." Robert simply looked at the rest of them and followed Edward obediently.

Angus looked at the rest of them. "He hasn't been interested in the business since the Second War. I'm glad you came today. He needed something to think about that gives him some reason to be alive yet. Thank you for that. Its good to see. It makes it easier not just for him but for all of us to see his mind on something else."

"You didn't tell me your grandfather was Edward Donohue," Brian said to Angus.

"I just dont think of him as a famous wizard. He's just my grandfather," Angus shrugged. "It never entered my mind. Sorry, Mate."

"It's all old, Steven," Angus said. "All except for the portico with the grapevines growing over it. Grandfather built that, oh, maybe 50 years ago. The rest of it goes back to the 15th century. All four houses have belonged to us for perhaps the last 100 years or better. Our family bought the first house as a secondary place in the late 1800's. From what I know, it was my great grandfather who moved us from England as our primary house. We still have a place in England, but its really small and its out in the middle of freaking nowhere. We haven't used it for awhile. I think Grandfather sublets it. But I'm not sure."

When dinner was served, it was a very simple seafood fettucini. The fettucini was in a beautiful white wine sauce and had lovely pieces of the freshest assortment of seafood that Khaat and Brian had ever seen in their lives. There was a simple salad of mixed greens with a dressing of olive oil and basalmic vinegar. There was a platter of lemon profitteroles for dessert. They were fresh and light and delicious, and they were followed by cups of the finest quality espresso that Khaat had ever tasted in her entire life.

Khaat watched her father in heavy conversation with Edward. They did seem to finally reach some sort of accord as night fell and as the family lit candles to make the courtyard seem to be almost magical just because of its beauty. When the evening drew to a close, Robert came over to them all.

"We seem to have done all we need to do here," Robert said. "Its time we went home. We have children who will soon miss us if we don not get home." Brian and Khaat agreed and they expressed their farewells to the Donohue family. Edward merely smiled and said he was sure he would be seeing them soon.

Robert and Brian had everyone hold hands and they apparated them back to the house. The aurors met them at once, and Robert was glad to see security so tight. The aurors stood down and the nannies said they had simply put the kids all to bed in the nurseries. Brian looked at Jack and Jess and steven and Cassidy and said that they were welcome to leave the kids there for the night if they chose. Kate made a pot of cinnamon tea. When it was ready, she poured several mugs and gave them out.

Khaat and Brian sat down with their tea and Brian looked at Robert, "What did you cook up with Edward?"

"Help," Robert replied simply. "I cooked up some help for us with the best hunter in the business. That's what I did."