Marriage is Murder

Kate smiled. "Robert thought that might appeal to her. He was right. I'll have it ready in a moment." She went to work to finish the cocoa. As she passed Brian, she looked at him. "I'll be needing you to take this up to them," she said, deliberately wanting Brian to have a bit with her now.

Upstairs, Robert handed Khaat paper and a pen. "Write what you know. Step by step, everything you know." It took her quite awhile to write it all out. Brian brought up the cocoa and just sat with her while she wrote. Khaat's memories at first were startlingly good. She didn't see who cast the fiendfyre but she remembered stumbling out of Sparks and collapsing in the streets. She remembered Thaor picked her up and took her to the Death Eaters. She remembered her two death eater friends, Vincent and Ne'Os, trying to keep her safe but also trying to follow the orders from their leaders. They had been forced to use the unforgiveable curses to keep her and themselves alive. She knew how much they hadn't felt like they could cross that line. And then she remembered the warning from the leader of the Death Eaters. They were back. And they intended to present a threat to the wizarding world. They intended to try to overturn everything they knew to fullfill their own desires for power. And this leader seemed to be ambitious. Very ambitious.

It had been Vincent who had brought her back to Diagon Alley and had left her there but had used one more cruciatus there in order to give himself time to leave. And it was adding up with her. The battle with the fiendfyre to try to save lives, the trechery and betrayal and kidnapping of a lifelong friend of the family, the repeated tortures...all of it to send a message to her father.

She felt his anger rising sharply as he read her account. He did sometimes get angry, but this made him feel outraged. After letting Brian read it, Robert folded her statement and put it in his jacket. Brian was just as angry as Robert was. And she had told the Death Eaters nothing. She ha not been capable of speech. That muteness had probably been what saved her life.

Thaor. Thaor betrayed them all. Robert looked up at Brian. Thaor needed to die. Period.

Jess jumped at the sudden feeling of anger that seem to come from no where she glanced across at Kate and sighed shaking her head knowing it had to come from Robert as she having not felt such anger before in him. Jack took her hand in his own and smiled hoping to comfort Jess who looked up the stairs in the direction of Khaat and Brian's room " I think she has told them what happened " she said looking at Kate hoping she felt it too in Robert. " I hope they both calm down quickly" she sipped her tea gently.

Kate also felt the surge of rage, and she knew the energy signature behind it. It was Robert's and Brian's both, but it was serious this time. Robert was outraged. The last she'd felt that sort of rage from him was when Barker nearly killed Khaat. Barker had ended up on trial at the Wizengamot, and if Robert had had his way, Barker would have earned the death sentence. The only thing that had prevented it was Khaat's unexpected lenience.

"He's not going to back down," Kate said softly. "He has already resolved he has to make some sort of a response. Hes not playing anymore with this. He knows what he needs to know for now. Or enough, anyway."

Brian came storming down the stairs, infuriated. He looked at them. "Bring Michael. Now. Robert's orders."

"He just went into Hogsmeade to pick up some herbs for...." Angus began.

"I don't care if he went to rob the Louve. Get him here. Now," Brian ordered, turning quickly and going back upstairs.

"Oh dear," Kate sighed. "This really isn't good, is it?"

Steven stood up and looked at Angus. " I'll get him" he said as he quickly ported to Hogsmead finding the nearest shop that sold herbs he didn't find him there and he moved on to the next finding Michale he sighed " Brian wants you back now, hes more than a bit preterbed " he said folding his arms as she waited "and he was very insistent about getting you back quickly." He could not force him and so he had no choice but to wait for Michael to port back on his own or he would do it for him.

"Brian? Sending for me?" Michael frowned. "Not bloody likely. More likely that it came from Robert. Robert would get that ticky and would send for me. But not unless it was serious." He glanced at the clerk and put a fistful of galleons on the counter. "Credit my account with the change," he said, picking up the herbs without having them wrapped. "Shall we?" he asked Steven.

Michael ported back, an the minute he entered the house, he just knew. He didn't know how he knew--he wasn't a seer. Maybe it was just knowing Robert. But he knew.

"Oh, hell," Michael said, dreading whatever this was. He thrust the herbs at Steven and dahsed upstairs. The next Kate heard was thunder sounding over the house. She looked up scowling. Robert's anger was taking on accidental magic behaviors, and she'd not known of Robert's magic to ever be accidental--not since their beginning years at Hogwarts. What she knew of Robert was that he was more composed even when deciding to go to war. Something about this ran deeper for him this time. And why he'd wanted Michael was something she didn't understand.

"Get yourselves gathered for a briefing," Kate said. "He'll be coming to talk to us as soon as he reels this in a bit. Be ready. I honestly have no idea what he's going to do right now."

Steven held Michael and ported them back taking the herbs from Michael as he left to find Robert . Steven moved to a counter and placed them down. He walked back and nodded to Kate " we all are we expected it with the tension around this place that you could cut with a knife " Steven said as Jack and the others waited for Robert or Brian to explain what was going on Jess rubbed her temple as she felt a headache coming on from the tension.

It took several minutes before anyone knew anything. Kate felt Robert's energies leave the house. He'd ported out. That didn't make sense either. To summon Michael and then leave? She was confused.

It was Michael who finally came back downstairs. And instead of being angry, Michael was quiet. Kate thought he just seemed saddened.

"Brian is upstairs with Khaat," Michael said quietly. "Robert has gone to London. It was necessary. Khaat gave him an extensive statement. It seems that one of our own, one of our trusted inner circle has betrayed us. Kate," Michael looked at her, trying to break the news particularly to her. "It was Thaor. He was the one who took Khaat. And, as near as Robert and I can figure, he was the one who set the fiendfyre. Only a powerful, experienced dark wizard could have done so much damage. And to cause so much death so quickly, it had to be a powerful wizard to cast that powerful of a killing curse."

"Thaor?" Kate asked softly, shocked and feeling virtually heart broken at finding out their childhood friend, one they trusted with their own lives and with Khaat's so many times, had betrayed them all. "Oh, God. Robert--he must be..."

"Pissed off," Michael said. "He's probaly not going to stop until Thaor is dead. Thaor is very likely responsible for every murder that happened in Diagon Alley, every business that was destroyed, not to mention Khaat's kidnapping. I'm really sorry, Kate."

"So what do we do now?"

"We have to change the signatures on all our protection spells for every piece of property we all own. Thaor was the deputy minister of magic. And as such, he had access to title deeds for every piece of real estate in wizarding England. We need to make sure that he can't access those now. As best as we know, he's on the run, and we need to make sure we seal off his ability to either get to us to to use us any further. Thaor will clearly recognize Robert's signatures. He was one of Robert's best and most trusted friends. Either that or layer so many more layers on top of Robert's initial spells that his signature is virtually lost under all of ours. That's the first thing," Michael said.

Steven looked at Jack, Jim and cassidy all said the same thing " were on it and ported to each property adding layer upon layer of spells over Roberts 'until his was covered. each ported back one by one except Steven he'd got to the villa. Steven walked around the villa and checked everything was back as it should be he placed a protection spell over Roberts and then went to his own and Jacks doing the same before returning back to the main farm where Jack had already told the men to cover Roberts spells with layers of their own and his before Steven added his own.

Khaat knew her father's wrath almost better than she understood her own, and she knew where he'd gone. She figured it out. She aslo knew where he'd go to release his anger at this point without hurting anyone. She picked up her shawl and her wand and apparated to the spot Remus had told her that her father went to when he was not wiling to share his emotions with anyone.

He went to the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean and used all the magical energy he could muster in order to make the waves crash against the shore with all the power he could force from them. She hadn't seen hi do this, but so far, it was harmless noise and a lot of water.

She merely sat down on the wet rock and waited in silence, watching.

Kate felt the shift as Khaat left again too and then, a moment later, she felt an odd shift to a bit of security. "I think Khaat is with her father," Kate said. "She's always had a calming influence on him. Perhaps just her being there will help."

Jack nodded " yeah she could always calm him" he said Jess nodded and sighed feeling better not the tension was less in the house. Steven moved to the barn and checked the animals letting them out into the paddock to run as they had been cooped up for a whole day in the barn. Jack walked out and around the main house checking all who sat in the watch towers as he passed by all seemed for now fine each knowing what there assigned task was, to protect Khaat and Robert.

" you want me to go and just watch over them or should we leave them be for now?" Jess asked finishing her tea and gently setting down the empty cup on the table in front of her as she watched Kate closely. " I can see your worried just as we are about all this." she said softly.