Marriage is Murder

Jack listened and grabbed a rain coat this time " i'm coming " he said and stood firm Jim looked at Jack and nodded.

" I'll stay here " he said Steven walked in jacket on and umbrella hale in his hand ready and waiting.

"Two people are better than one and I know how to track in the rain " he said walking over to stand with Jack while they waited for Kate to draw the map and Brian to get his jacket and clothes on. Both heard the storm out side thundering and they both knew it would get worse before it would get better.

Brian accio'd a spare rain jacket and shrunk it and put it in his pocket. If the child was wet, the rain jacket would help. Kate hastily summoned parchment, as the lightning crackled again, this time, splitting on of the large bolders on the property in half.

"Hurry up with that map, Kate," Robert said quietly, looking out the window.

"He's in a cave on the east edge of the property...," she said.

"In that tan rockface, I bet," Brian said. She nodded, still writing.

"He's behind some stalagtite that has the shape..." she began

"Of an arrow," Brian finished.

"Yes," she said.

"I know right where he is. Been there many times. Jack, you probably won't fit into the cave unless you shrink yourself, but there are places to hide at the entrance."

"Or I could make you into a bug. Then you'd fit," Robert laughed.

"You're just entirely too eager to be helpful with that," Michael laughed.

"I'm ready whenever you are. I don't think we'll need the map," Brian said.

Jim chuckled and nodded " that would be good " he said and Jack rolled his eyes at them all.

" ok I'll wait out side , in the rain" he said slipping on his coat as Jim and he headed out into the storm the rain soaking him threw instantly but he just sigh ed and waited following Brian and Robert and hoping to help the young boy. He hoped he was not like James but simply lost in that case they could reunite him with his parents and get him home safe. Jack hated the thought of any child being out in this storm.

" Jack, focus on the search." Jim told him knowing his thoughts mirrored Jacks own worries.

Brian recommended to Robert that he remain behind because he knew Robert already had some very beginning symptoms of the illness and they couldnt risk his being sick. As a last minute thought, he stuffed some of Angus's beautifully frosted cookies into the pocket of his rain slicker. He led Jim and Jack outside through the rain to the east side of the property to a tall rocky outcropping and pointed to a small crawlspace sized opening.

"That's what she was talking about," he said, shouting above the wind and the rain. He saw some logs lying about and flicked his wand at them to have them transfigure into a lean-to shelter for Jack. "There. Get out of the rain but keep your eyes open. I would prefer we talk this boy into coming with us willingly. I don't know how long it will take." He presumed Jim would just come with him.

He crawled into the wet opening of the cave, and the minute he did, he smelled a strong scent of wet, stinky, dirty dog. "Hello!" Brian called. "We're friends. We mean you no harm. We have food for you. Come let us help you. My name's Brian. And my friend's name is Jim." He lit his wand. There were two tunnels a wide one, and a very narrow one with a low ceiling. Brian pointed to the narrow one. Jack certainly would have gotten stuck here, but if they were careful, Brian knew that he and Jim could get through. He started carefully and slowly through the small opening to go to the rock formation Kate had described.

Jack stayed under the shelter Jim went with Brian into the small cave he ducked several times and then looked at Brian as they came to a fork in the cave. " ok witch way?" he asked but Brian knew just where to go and again he followed not liking this one bit." now would be a bad time to be claustrophobic " he said and looked at Brian as they finally found the boy or so he hoped. He sat back and watched Brian taking long slow deep breaths he could feel the breeze from out side and hear the thunder. " your ok we can take you some place dry and warm, where you can get hot food , all you can eat" he said softly.

Brian saw the boy. Well, sort of a boy. He was rather stuck, mid animagus transformation. He was part dog and part boy. He felt sorry for him, but it wasn't like they hadn't run into that in St. Mungos before.

"Got yourself stuck, have you?" Brian said gently. "I can fix that." He flicked his wand and undid the accidental magic that had the boy stuck between dog and boy. In a moment, there was, before him, a sandy haired young boy. He reminded Brian of how he had looked when he had first gone to live with Robert. He drew a cookie from his pocket and handed it to the boy who tried to shove nearly all of it in his mouth at once. "Slow down. I have more," Brian said. He waited until the boy had eaten the cookie and then he asked. "What's your name?"

"Simon," the boy said. "Simon Newbury." Brian saw the boy eyeing Brian's pocket, and Brian gave him a second cookie.

"How long have you been on your own?" Brian asked.

"I don't know. A long time," the boy said. "Mum's dead. Dad went out one night to find out what the noise was inside the house, and, well,...he just never came back. When I ran out of food, I left. I've been trying to find him, but, well, I ran out of money too. And...the aurors were chasing me, so..."

"What were they chasing you for?" Brian frowned. The boy hesitated, realizing he'd said too much. "I'm not going to turn you in. What did they want?"

"I stole a loaf of bread from a place in Diagon Alley. It was fresh baked. Smelled so good. One of the people having some sort of fancy coffee drink saw me and shouted to a couple aurors at another table..."

"Wait...Did this place have little sparkling animals?"

"Up on the ceiling they did. Butterflies I think it was. Or birds. Why?"

"There'll be no issue over the bread," Brian smiled. "I can get that cleared up for you. Now--how about we get you back and find you a hot bath, some warm and dry clothes and a proper meal?"

"How do I know I can trust you?" the boy narrowed his eyes at Brian.

"Do you have much of a choice?" Brian asked. "You're welcome to stay out here, starve or die of exposure--or you can come with us." The boy scowled at Brian, not liking Brian's candor, but as Brian saw it, honesty appeared to be the best choice for right now.

"Oh, fine," the boy sighed, realizing Brian was right.

Jim smiled seeing the boy then he recognized the place the boy described " isn't that sparks? " he asked looking at Brian he shifted where he sat hearing a loud crash then came Jacks voice " HURRY UP THAT STORMS GETTING OUT OF HAND !!" He heard him and looked at Brian. " buy hr sounds of that we should go " he said looking at Brian again then at the boy " Brian's wife owns the shop you took the bread from, so if he says there's no problem the is none " he said smiling at him " he's only told you the truth" Jim felt a shock wave from another tree falling close by a small trickle of water ran from the back of the cave " I don't think this cave is going to survive this storm" he said

"Yes it will. There is a hole in the ceiling farther back. It drips into a hole in the rock floor when it rains. That's what you're hearing," Brian said. "Simon, its damp and cold in here."

"And dark," Simon sighed.

"At least come to the house for the night. We can discuss more things after breakfast in the morning."

"Breakfast?" Simon's stomach growled loudly. "Do you have bacon?"

"Anything you want, pretty much," Brian smiled.

"How much?" Simon asked.

"Won't cost you a thing but letting us get out of here before this gets too dangerous outside."

Simon paused for a moment and then said, "Okay."

"Good lad," Brian said. He resized the extra jacket and handed it to him. Simon put it on. "Stay right with me. Let's go."

Jim moved back down the passage till he could stand up back out side he pulled his hood up over his head feeling the rain on his face as he stepped out Jack moved over to the looking like a drowned rat brushing the water from his hair , Jack smiled at the boy " Hay good to see you" he said smiling at him as Jim lead the way back to the main house .

" I'll go ahead and let them know we have another visitor" Jim said and aperated away, Slipping off his jacket he hung it back up and looked at Kate " better set another place at the table Angus we have a visitor , hes a bit undernourished, and he likes bacon" he said smiling.

Brian led Simon back, and he watched Simon's eyes grow wide at the sight of the massive main house. He had seen him loking at the other houses and the barn, and by the look on Simon's face, Brian guessed that Simon was presuming he was just passing through a village. But when the boy saw the main house, he was clearly stunned. He followed Brian rather numbly.

When they got in the house, Brian helped Simon take the raincoat off and hung it on the hook. Angus had heard Jim's announcement about the boy's arrival. Angus came into the kitchen.

"Hello," Angus smiled at him. "I'm Angus. I'll fix you something but it will take a couple minutes."

"That's fine," Brian said. "this is Simon. I'm going to find him a hot shower and clean, dry clothes. We'll be right back. Come along, Simon." As they walked through the living room, Brian said, "Those people in there are my family. You'll meet them in a few minutes. First, you have to get out of those wet clothes." Simon followed Brian upstairs like a little shadow.

"Well done," Robert told Jim and Jack. "Thank you. Now--go get into some dry clothes yourselves."