Marriage is Murder

"The washing up isn't an issue," Angus said. "A quick spell will handle that, but thank you anyway. I appreciate it."

"You make the best pasta, Angus," Khaat said.

"Comes from living in Italy, my dear," he smiled. "I"m glad you like it. I'm makiing seafood tonight."

"Good," Robert said.

"Well, I don't know how healthy it is, but I'm making fish and chips. Just some old fashioned comfort food."

"You're making extra right?" Robert asked. Kate pretended to scowl at him. Angus laughed.

"There will be more than enough. I promise."

"Can I help you with the fish?" Kate asked.

"Not unless you want to clean it," He laughed.

"I can certainly do that," she said, not squeamish about that a bit

"Well I'll take you up on it then. If you'll try my new dessert recipe."

"Deal," Kate laughed.

Jim chuckled and ate his food , Jess looked at them " can I help I don't mind gutting and filleting fish " she said smiling as she ate her pasta and took a drink of juice.At the sound of fish and chips he grinned " ah the comfort food of English men " he said and chuckled as he ate more loving hos Angus did the pasta. Jack and Steven ate in quiet feeling no need to talk but to eat Angus's food soon both felt full and sat back smiling.

" That was excellent " they said together and jack drank his cup of coffee, Steven his tea Jess and cassidy both ate quietly.

" so whats the desert you need Kate's help for?" Jess asked as she ate looking at Angus as she did.

"I only need her as part of the tasting crew," Angus laughed. "I just figured if she was going to clean fish, I'd pay her with a little extra. But I know this bunch. They can seriously pack away the fish. We're going to need a lot of fish. So I'll take all the fish cleaners I can get. This was in the water in the Mediterranean this morning, Guys. Its amazingly fresh."

"I'll help," Brian said. "I can clean."

"I could,..." Robert began.

"No," Brian said. "We'll manage. If you behave, you should be back to normal by bedtime or morning. One or the other. If you screw it up, you'll double that. You know that."

"So take the day off, 'Grandpa,'" Kate ribbed him.

"Oh, you have no idea what I could manage on a day off," Robert laughed.

"Yes I can. Ive seen you on a day off," Kate said. "Behave. I mean it. Behave."

"You are such a killjoy" Robert said.

jack, Jess , cassidy and Steven all laughed at Kate and Robert " we'll all help, ow except Jack hes got a delicate tummy around fish." said Jess and patted it to jack amused face.

" hay, not my fault if I don't like gutting fish." he said and pouted Jess chuckled but Jack put his arm around her smiling. Steven just smiled and nodded to Angus he'd help as did cassidy.

" I've done my fair share of gutting and not just fish " she said not going into too much detail about her time on the streets.

Robert said to the others, "Khaat, Kieran, Fi, you lot come with me."

"Where are we going?" Khaat said.

"Its a secret." he grinned.

"Do we need coats?" She asked.

"Nope. Not really," he said.

"Then I think we're ready," Kieran said. They all got up, and joined together. Robert drew his wand and waved goodbye to the rest of them and ported the four of them out.

"I think I"m going to be jealous," Brian laughed.

"Oh, count on that," Kate laughed. "But it will be good for the Quinn kids to get out a bit together."

"Hey! I"m a Quinn kid," he scrowled.

"No," Kate smiled, kissing his cheek. "You''re a Lupin, Son. Don't be jealous. You have a family. They don't. Not like you do. Come help us clean fish."

"You can all have a truffle before you start," Angus said, passing around a plate of beautiful truffles for them to try.

Jess watched Kieran and Fiona leave with Robert and smiled as Kate tole Brian he was more a Lupin than a Quinn and Jess smiled at the banter more so when the truffles came out every one took one. " delicious again" said Steven. Jess ate hers and felt the smooth texture and sweetness of the chocolate as she ate it and smiled cassidy on the other hand found it a bit too rich for her taste.

" you eat this, sorry its just a bit too rich for me, now maybe if it was in white chocolate, maybe " she said softly as she smiled at Angus. " couldn't hurt to try that one, hum " she said looking at the pile of fish that lay on the counter waiting for them to gut , standing up she took a small knife and began gutting them taking off ther4e head and slitting down there tummy's washing them out as she did , she was quick at it and smiled as she worked.

Angus wasn't offended because he was well aware of Cassidy's overly finicky tastes. The quality of the truffles was good. He knew that. He knew it wasn't his cooking. It was her limited palate. He had stopped trying to please her a long time ago because it wasnt really possible. He merely continued his duties. He cleared the table and put the leftovers away and set a spell in place to wash the dishes.

Brian and Kate took a bowl of fish and set up a cleaning station on the table. Brian was quick with a knife, but Kate was quicker. She seemed to just zip through them at ridiculously fast speeds. Angus soon joined them and was meeting Kate knife stroke for knife stroke. And periodically, Brian would flick his finger at a truffle. It would float over to him and he would catch it in his mouth. After about the third one he caught in his mouth, Kate burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you can still do that," she laughed, remembering him doing it as a kid.

"Yeah," he grinned "The jellybeans were a lot harder, though. Truffles are easy."

Jess chuckled as she continued gutting the fish cassidy was well head of them buy now but she stopped when she saw the truffle floating past her to Brian she watched as after a moment a second would float past and she looked over at him shaking her head but smiling at Kate's words. " jelly beans?" she said and chuckled " god not had those in ages, well since I was ten I think" she said " those I do like " she looked at the plate of truffles and picked one up again this time she placed it in her mouth though the chocolate was dark chocolate she actually began to like it this time" hum not bad " she said and looked at Kate " won't know if I don't like some thing if I don't try it right" she said smiling at both of them.

"Who taught you how to do that, anyway?" Kate asked Brian.

"Um..." Brian had to think. "A housemate in Gryffindor in my first year. He got a few boxes of Bertie Botts, and I'm not sure he paid for all of the ones he had. He was pretty good at shoplifting. Anyway, us first years spent an evening in the bedroom tossing jellybeans through the air and catching them. Back then we just didn't care if we dropped them or not. We just picked them up and threw them again and again until we caught them all. The art was to deliberately miss the gross ones. Until he promised to get a chocolate bar for whoever caught all the gross ones."

"Did you get the chocolate?" Kate asked.

"Not that time," he laughed. "I did eventually." He did notice Cassidy had tried a second truffle and had begun to like the chocolate better.

"I bet you can't still catch jellybeans," Angus dared him.

"Wanna bet?" Brian laughed.

"Actually, yes. How about a jellybean toss?"

"And what do I get when I win?" he asked.

"When?" Angus laughed. "You mean, if. Name it."

"Filet Mignon. Medium. with all thee trimmings."

"You're on," Angus said. "When we get home, I'll get the Bertie Botts."

"Deal," Brian grinned. "Easiest steak I ever won."

"Yeah, well, we'll see," Angus grinned.

Jess chuckled as she filleted " was he always like this " she asked looking between Angus and Brian " and Angus isn't any better there like pair of kids" she said but felt Jack chuckle beside her.

" so says the girl who snuck into the boys dorm after dark" he said and she could not help but blush.

" hay all the girls dared me to, besides it was to see you " she said smiling as he now blushed "we met in the last year of school it was at the end of term dance he proposed" she said and jack nodded.

" yeah then you ran off on me " he said kissing her cheek a little, cassidy chuckled and felt a little out of place she had no good memories of school but she was not going to spoil the day buy thinking about it. She kept filleting.