Marriage is Murder

John looked up at Brian she didn't know I had it " he said " I took it last time I was here, its Christmas eve and dad still hadn't come for me,the boys told me it would be alright since I was going home" he gave a deep sigh" I was a fool and dad's more interested in her now and the babies, his family, he wants that more than me, that's why I did it. " he said burying his head in the blanket to hide his tears. looking up John wiped his tears from his cheeks and spoke again " I'm sorry I ruined your Christmas, I just...I just wanted my dad to be proud of me." he looked back down at the floor " If I had know it would cause this much trouble I'd have stayed in Hogwarts."

If Cassidy had let the portkey to his home go missing for a year and not kept track of something that important, then Brian was not a happy man. For now, though, he had to sideline that thought.

"You were thinking and behaving like a git, you know that?" Brian scowled. "You have truly no idea what your father does. You don't have any idea what Cassidy is like. You've never given her a fair chance. Your father takes his own life into his hands to protect the wizarding world so it will still be there when you grow up. Sometimes, he's not in a safe place, and bringing you into it isn't a wise thing to do. If he could have gotten you sooner, he'd have done so. I thought you knew that if your father was delayed anytime in coming for you that it was not because he didn't give a rat's. I thought you knew that if he was late, it was because it wasn't safe for you. While you were safe in the school, we've been hopping from one place to another trying to stay alive. Did you ever, for one second, think that perhaps we weren't in England for Christmas for some logical reason? Or did you somehow get too busy feeling sorry for yourself?

"As for your friends, if I were your father, I'd ban you from seeing them again if I were him. First of all, the only one capable of apparating or porting into or out of Hogwarts is the headmaster and I know Headmaster Shacklebolt. He'd never ever have lifted those restrictions for you. You knew it was wrong. You had to slip out of Hogwarts through the tunnel to Honeydukes to even get out from under the protections to be able to use magic. There was no other way out of the school. When all of this adds up in your father's thinking, he is not going to be at all happy with you. Right now, I'm betting he's still too shellshocked at what you've done to consider what you had to do to actually accomplish it."

John looked at Brain as he spoke to him " I heard older boys saying they were going to use it and I followed them out" he spoke softly as he hung his head as Brian continued " yes sir " he said softly his thoughts now he'd let every one he knew down buy one stunt that had back fired. He sighed and rested his head on his knees as he listened again " yes sir " he said again " I won't do this ever again " he said meaning every word he had said " I'll stick to my books and the library and only do magic when the teacher says and in a class room" he said mostly to himself .

"Alright, then. I'l go see what I can do. I can't promise anything, but I will try. You put a toe out of line before you're legal age, and I will personally feed you to Charlie Weasley's dragons. You got that? And, if you get out of here, the first thing I expect you to do is to do written and verbal apologies to both your father and Cassidy. No excuses. I expect you to take the time to get to know them. I know Cassidy isn't your mother. But neither is she any of the other women your dad married. You don't have to like them--they're gone now. You do, however, have to be respectful of her. If you can't do that, I'll just leave you here. And if you don't think I won't, you try me." He summoned the jail guard and turned back to look at John again. "You'd better seriously rethink your friends, because they suck. They are not your friends. They're not here tonight--you are." The guard opened the door to let Brian out. "I don't know when I'm going to be back. All I can say is that I'll do what I can." He heard the cell door shut again behind him, and he left to go talk to Lee.

John sighed and listened to him nodding his head. " yes sir " he watched him go feeling some what colder now he was alone in the cell his mind now made up he would not do anything with out checking first. Steven decided to return back to the main house when he saw Cassidy walking out to the green house wrapped in a thick coat and woolen hat he chuckled and headed out to meet her .

" lets get back " he said wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they both walked back to the house and warmed them selves by the fire

Brian met with Lee, who had had a few owls back and forth with Robert in the meantime. Lee and Robert had come to a consensus and had figured out that the portkey had been one Brian had made at some point and had been stolen. They'd put the rest together in much the same manner that Brian had. They had made a decision about John, and they had decided that perhaps spending the rest of the night in a cell might teach John a lesson. Lee related the choice he had made and that in the morning, he would release jurisdiction about John's offense to Robert. He told Brian that Robert already had a plan from there about how John needed to make things right. For the night, now that things were decided, they wanted John to merely have some time to think.

Brian ported back to the house. It had become bitterly cold between Lee's office and the Colorado estate. Michael happened to be passing through after hanging a kettle of Kate's hot cocoa over the fire in the Great Hall when Brian ported back into the foyer of the house.

"God," Michael said, moving quickly. "You're literally turning blue. Too cold for porting tonight, Boy. Let's get you warmed up." He took Brian's coat. "Come and warm up by the fire. I just put some of cocoa there. Let's get you something hot to drink."

"John..." Brian wanted to report but he was shivering violently.

"Give yourself a minute, Son. Being outside is one thing but porting in it since its gotten so cold is quite another. Come with me." Michael took Brian to the Great Hall, which was almost empty due to the late hour. He found Brian a seat by the fire and poured him a mug of cocoa. "Give yourself a moment. If you think Robert is asleep, then you really don't know him. He's been awake. He's just been shut away in the potions lab next to his bedroom. I have a feeling he already has things in hand." Brian nodded, knowing what Robert's thoughts already were.

"Khaat?" Brian asked.

"Went to bed hours ago," Michael said. "Right after you left. She's fine."

Steven walked down his hair a mess and half asleep he saw Brian back and breathed out as he walked over to him " cold out isn't it" he said sitting close but not too close to him " can't sleep keep wondering what I did wrong with John" he said watching as Michael hand Brian a cup of hot chocolate and he smiled " that will warm you up no end" he said and smiled knowing Brian return meant news on John but he was willing to wait until he told him more. "Brian tell me one thing...is he safe?" he asked knowing that was the one thing praying on his mind.

Brian nodded in answer to Steven. He would not have left him if John had not been safe, and Lee would not have put a child, much less one connected to Robert somehow, in any danger.

Brian heard footsteps and recognized them. It was Robert. Evidently, the plans were as final as they were going to get for tonight. He looked up and saw that Robert was all business.

"There are eleven little ones that will be awake in just a few short hours, and they will be expecting happy parents and lots of sparkling lights and some shiny new toys," Robert said to them. "You'd all best get your happy faces on and not let the behaviors of one child distract you from the needs of the other dozen. I have this. You're all going to have to leave this with me for a few more hours yet. I'm doing all I can, but international law does take time. Now--Cassidy. Show me your portkey."

Cassidy looked at Robert when he asked for her port key "sure, its in my jewelery box " she said " I'll get it" she said and left returning soon after with a frown " its gone, I put it with my necklaces at the bottom of the box and now I can't find it, its gone" Cassidy looked at Robert " you don't think I dropped it some place ," she said then shook her head " no I must have had it when I came here I remember putting it in the box, everything else is there." he looked worried at Steven then to Robert. Steven took Cassidys hand as she spoke more.

" you know where it is don't you?" he asked then seeing the look on Roberts face he had a fair idea where it was now.

"Yes," Robert answered. "I know where it is. It hasn't been in your posession for the last year. Right now, Lee has it. Steven, your son stole from you one of the tightest elements of our security. If that key had fallen into other hands, our deepest enemies could have penetrated here and killed every person here. He's commited such a huge chain of crimes that I can't possibly let him off scot free.

"He stole the portkey last Christmas and took it with him to the school. When he got bitter enough to believe that you didn't give a damn anymore and that you cared for Cassidy and the little ones more than him and simply forgot he was at the school, he took the One Eyed Witch passage to Honeydukes and used it to port here, breaking almost every international law regarding underaged magic. Not to mention that it violates laws of the organization, and for him to use the key to get here, he is technically breaking into Brian's house. You do understand he has not only risked his own life but the lives of everyone else in the organization, including every one of us and all of the kids. I have to deal with this because if I do not, Lee must. I do not intend to toss him into Azkaban for it, but I must send him a message he will never ever forget. He will remain behind bars until at least daylight. It will take me that long to secure a release for him. But--I don't want him to know for awhile what we're going to do with him.

"You have a plan then?" Michael asked.

"Oh, yes. Definitely. If he thinks he is a man, then lets see what kind of a man he is. He will be spending the next week in Romania in Charlie Weasley's dragon camp."

"In this winter weather?" Michael frowned. "Those are primative and dangerous conditions."

"Yes, and Charlie has survived there for many years, and he's not lost a child yet. I could not develop a tougher winter bootcamp unless I ran it myself, and I dont' really have time to whisk myself away to live in the sticks for a week. He thinks he's miserable in a warm cell. Wait til he gets to experience a week in the winter in the Romanian mountains. Then he'll return to us for a long weekend, in which he will need to make whatever restitutions to his family that his father decides. If, in that time, he has not learned his lesson, then I do have the right to ask Hogwarts to expel him. He'll have to go to Durmstrangs then if that happens, but I dont usually have anyone dumb enough to not learn their lesson in Romania."