Marriage is Murder

"Start looking at things and focusing on how the light shines on things. Or what the texture of things are," Kate said. "If you look at that apple in the fruit bowl from where I am, you'll see not only red, but lighter red, streaks of yellow, white shapes of light from the shine on it. Its noticing what others take for granted that makes painting interesting for me. As a seer, you should well be able to see what others do not. The observation itself is first and foremost From there it is a matter of learning how to translate what you see. I focus on what, of those details interest me."

"And that is why you do so well," Michael said.

"Coming from a lover of great art," Angus said.

"No, coming from an art thief," Robert laughed. He encouraged Khaat, without speaking, to drink a bit more soda, wanting her to not be so dehydrated. She was trying her best to comply with him. "And what would you like to do this afternoon?" he asked her.

"Where is my uncle?" she signed.

"He's dead," Robert replied.

"The painting. The talking painting."

"Put away for now," he replied.

Cassidy nodded and looked again this time she began to draw first the black and white outline forming a face then features finally she began to add shade forming a face of a young man and she smiled as she stepped back to look at it, " ok almost done " she said and Jess smiled.

" that's good Cassidy, I think you caught him just right" she said and cassidy looked at Kate confused at Jess's words.

" caught who?" she asked and looked to Kate for an awnser.

"It is merely an expression," Michael said. "If someone thinks an artist has done justice to a person in a portrait or such, they may well use such an expression. It is meant as a compliment because they can see the resemblance in the work towards the person it portrays. Perhaps an art class would be worth your while. The muggle art gallery in London is going to begin both a sketching class and a watercolor class after the new year begins. It might be worth your while to see if it is a hobby you enjoy. And, if one does art well , they do it by hand so there is no harm in taking a muggle class."

"Indeed," Kate said. "At one time I took several of such classes. They met once or twice a week, for several weeks. It was great fun. And they are usually not very expensive, except perhaps the supplies themselves."

Jess nodded agreeing with Kate Cassidy looked at them both then thought about what Kate had said " ok I'll look into it once the weather breaks, if you think I'm good enough?" she asked looking back at the picture. Steven walked in and chuckled as he looked at the picture,

"Wow, nice picture of Remus, young though but good image" he said and sat down with a cup of coffee. Cassidy chuckled and nodded.

" Guess it does look a little like him" she said smiling " ok now to finish it off" she said and turned back to begin painting and began to add colors to it.

"That was in his younger days," Michael said. "That would have been close to the age when Fenrir infected him. If you want to see resemblance, look at photos of Khaat about that age. The resemblance between Remus and Khaat at that age is unmistakable." Michael picked up one of the photo albums and flipped through it to some school photos from Khaats younger years at Hogwarts. "Some of Khaat's school photos," He said.

He accio'd a pictorial history of Hogwarts and found some class photos of Gryffindors through the years and laid out a photo of Remus at the same age. "Look for yourself. Kate and Robert are in the top photo, Remus is in the bottom. There is no mistaking the Lupin blood in her veins. Check it against your own drawing and see what you think for yourself."

Jess stood up and walked over to the photo album and looked " wow its uncanny" she said as Cassidy walked over she frowned and looked at them both " but I never saw him, not that young " she said softly as she looked at the painting one more " hum guess its how I see him now " she said and continued to paint it. Jess moved to the table and cleaned it ready for the next meal while Jack watched the snow fall out side and shook his head.

" I don't like being shut in," He said and glanced at Kate and Michael as he took a deep breath.

Robert had noticed Khaat had begun fiddling with the fringer on the blanket draped across her legs. It wasnt' something she typically did. And then he saw Jack's restlessness, his cagey behavior and attitude. Robert firmly believed some of her seer's powers were alive and well. When Jack remarked he didn't like being inside, Robert looked at him.

"Go work out downstairs, Jack," Robert said. "And don't come back until you burn all that restlessness off. We don't need that building up in the house. Or did you overlook chapter 7 of that book of mine you read?" That chapter had been particularly difficult. It was a compilation of accounts of werewolves who thought they had their curse under control and tried to blindly suppress the urges and had resulted in tragic consequences. Robert did not want that for any of them. It was his way of telling Jack to stop overestimating his control and do something about it.

Jack looked at Robert and nodded he too had noticed Khaat " I read it, twice" he told him with a sigh " I'll be in the gym" he said and headed down and out of the room. " Jess looked at Robert and smiled.

"Thank you Robert sitting back as he watched Steven make his next move on the board chuckling as she took one of his knights. Holding it up she placed it with several others she had beside her. " lets see how you'll get out of this" she said confidently.

Khaat saw jack go downstairs. She shivered, hard, as she remembered seeing the large bald man fully transfigured as a werewolf. It frightened her. She pulled the blanket around her. She glanced up when Jess made her remark about the chess board. She had seen something of that before. The next thing she knew, Steven's piece on the board slid into a new position on the board, seemingly by itself.

Robert perked up when he saw the piece slide into a new position. It was a very unconventional move, requiring a skilled player to even know about. He saw clearly that Steven had not moved. He looked at Khaat, frowning deeply. He knew he hadn't moved the piece himself, and no one else in the room had moved. Her accidental magic at work again. He wasn't sure how she knew where to move the piece unless she was starting to have more teeny flashes of memory that were, as of yet, too small for her to make sense of.

"Khaat," he frowned. "Did you..." he began. Frightened by it, she shook her head, not knowing for sure if somehow she was doing something without even batting an eyelash or not.

Jess looked at Steven and frowned then looked to Robert some what startled at its new position " well should I put that down to cheating or let it slid , no pun intended" she asked chuckling as Steven raised his hands.

" hey, that was not down to me so don't shoot me" he said and he and Jess chuckled " guess we'll have to get use to surprises as Khaat gets stronger" Steven smiled " its ok were use to it Khaat in one for or another what with Abby's baby magic and now yours " he shrugged his shoulders in a relaxed way. " its fine with all of us"