The Debriefing

The skirmish was over.  They had managed to get James to take the pack and go--for now. They found themselves standing outside the school gates, all wanting to unwind.  Belby now picked Khaat up.  She had no more to give.  Michael saw she couldnt stand up any longer.  

"My place is just a couple blocks away," he told them all.  "Lets go over there and get our heads together a bit over what just happened and what we need to do.  Belby, Khaat can rest there as long as she needs."

"Its fine, " Brian said.  "Good idea. The sun will be coming up soon. It would be nice to warm up." Edward and Robert and Kate were all in agreement.

Michael pointed out his stone cottage on the street behind Honeydukes.  He apparated to the house and unlocked the door and turned on the lights.  Michael's enchanted furniture all appeared eager to greet him.  

"Hello," he greeted theme.  "Now, look sharp.  We have guests coming.  Treat them well.  Make tea and scones and French roast. Quickly now! And bring a pillow and a blanket for Khaat."  He started a fire in the fireplace and took his jacket off.  He looked at the kelptomaniac hatrack.   "Not tonight, Snidley.  You can take mine later.  Behave.  Where are the dogs?"  The two footstools came running and barking.  "Stay close to me and behave, you two."

After making sure the students were safe, Thaor Jr. Apparated to outside Michael's house. His face was pale, cloths burnt, and mind was less than stable after what he had seen.

He drew his wand in one hand, and knocked on the door with the other.

(Sorry for the bad post, just wanted to get it rolling)

The others were coming, but before they could come up the walk, the door of the cottage was opened--by a hatrack. The hatrack appeared to peer around the door at the man on the doorstep, as if it wanted to know who it as.

"Answer the door, Snidely!" Michael called from the kitchen. The hatrack seemed to cast an annoyed look towards the kitchen and then looked back at Thaor.

"The hatrack doesn't bite," Edward said to Thaor, coming up the sidewalk. "Go on in and make yourself at home." He could see things floating from upstairs down to the living room. "Its a bit of a quirky place. Just so you know."

Kate apparated into Michael's cottage, and the dogs ran to her, barking and circling her. She laughed and petted them, glad to see a cheerful face. Well, as much face as a footstool had. She opened a large jar on a shelf and drew out two brand new black socks. The dogs sat up on their hind legs and barked expectantly.

"Here you go," she laughed. "Have a treat." She dropped each one of them a sock, and the footstools sucked them up much like spaghetti noodles. "Come in and be comfortable, Thaor. I'm sure Michael is making tea or something."

Thaor entered after giving the hat rack that answered the door a weird look. He decided to write it off as an oddity of Michael.

As he entered the room a sudden, sharp pain hit his stomach. Shit he thought to himself as he remembered his abdomen was torn open by his father's sectumsembra.

Kate he whispered as he collapsed on the floor clutching his still bleeding stomach.

"Robert!" Kate called sharply. The others were coming into the cottage behind Thaor when he fell, including Marcus, who was carrying Khaat.

"Put me down, Marcus," Khaat commanded. While she was trying to get Marcus to put her down, Brian and Edward and Robert all came around her and went to Thaor.

Khaat saw the determination in her father's eyes. He was not going to let one of Thaor's last actions be to kill his own son. Not one more person was going to die because of Thaor.

"I've got it, Robert," Brian said. He knew Robert's hesitation about touching anyone, so he hurried to step in. He hadn't gotten to finish the spell the first time. He drew his wand and cast the Vulnera Sanentur while Snidely began dropping Michael's clean dishtowels on Thaor's stomach to mop up the blood.

"Thank you, Snidely," Edward said politely, finding the overly helpful hat rack to be not so helpful at the moment. He knelt and moved the little pile of towels watching the wound close up at Brian's command. "Get a bit of brandy for him, Kate. He's going to want it."

Marcus carried Khaat out of the way and put her in a wing chair by the fireplace. One of the footstools ran to her and waited for her to rest her feet on it. Marcus made her comfortable there while the others closed Thaor's wounds. He looked at Khaat and asked softly, to avoid disturbing Thaor's chaos. "How does one pet a footstool?"

Kate poured a glass of brandy for Thaor and waited quietly.

Thaor clutched his stomach as Marcus began to heal him again, the pain dulled to a small ache and he sat up. Well, that was fun, now wasn't it? he said to defuse the tension. He took the glass from Kate and downed it in one huge gulp. He exhaled as he felt it burn on the way down.

Thaor stood and attempted to walk to an armchair next to Khaat, only to stumble from the pain in his stomach, he grabbed onto Marcus' arm to catch himself. Maybe a hand would be nice. he said as he motioned to the armchair next to Khaat.

Once he was seated he turned to Robert. I believe there are some things that I don't know, that I probably should.

As Thaor got to his feet and made his way to a chair, Robert made a sign to Michael, using the sign language he and the other had developed to pass information in class so many years ago.

Robert took a seat, as did the others. Kate's handmade stoneware mugs, filled with freshly brewed tea, floated out and took places beside everyone there. Michael was getting rather proficient at the charm that had animated pretty much everything in the cottage.

The polyjuice wore off, leaving Robert undisguised. Without the masquerade as Michael, the deep fatigue and the thinning that were part of Robert's own form also came back. The curse had taken a toll, at least for now. Michael was a bigger man anyway, but now his clothes were uncomfortably big.

"Allow me," Michael said to Robert. He looked at Thaor. "He said you don't have enough time for the long version of the story. The short version is overwhelming as it is. What Robert might not so readily tell you is that he wanted to protect you from your father and what he had become. We were hoping we could catch him before he killed again, but none of us wanted it to end like this. We wanted to believe that somewhere inside he was still our friend. We just didn't get the chance to try to help him like we had hoped we would."

Thaor stared at Robert as Michael spoke for him. That's just the problem, now isn't it? He said angrily. Everyone is always trying to protect me. He said as he turned to Michael.

I DONT NEED PROTECTING. I can handle my own. Did it ever cross your brilliant mind that I could have been the one thing that brought him back. I would rather have put myself in harms way to protect other innocent lives than have to work twice as hard to get them to safety when he lost it. he added angrily.

Loud thunder seemed to suddenly fill the house. Everything seemed to rattle on the walls and on the tabletops. Michael felt an icy wind begin to blow, and saw the drapes beginning to billow. Robert. The curse was at work, making his temper go instantly into rage. And Michael was one of the few who had, so far, been halfways successful at dealing with Robert when he had gotten like this.

"Robert," Michael said, deliberately wanting him to take a time out for himself, "There's a change of clothes for you upstairs. Mine are obviously too big for you. Why not take a moment for yourself and get into something that fits? We can carry on for a moment, I'm sure."

Michael knew Robert hated the curse and the lack of control that came with it. This wasn't how he wanted to be seen, and they both knew that if he stayed and Thaor continued to blow off, Robert would become quite destructive. No one who had seen it wanted it to go that far. Robert's magic on evil steroids was just not pretty. Nor was it easy to diffuse. It was easier to diffuse Robert before it got to overload. He watched Robert sit for a moment, his eyes, glancing to Edward. Edward merely nodded slightly as a bit of encouragement to Robert. Robert got up and went upstairs in a violent cyclone of his own white magic and the curse's black corruption.

"Shall I go with him?" Marcus asked Michael.

"You should find the bottom of the nightstand in the master bedroom to be, perhaps, helpful," Michael said, thinking of the rare bottle of firewhiskey that Michael had stashed there for his own enjoyment. Marcus nodded and went upstairs to see if he could be of assistance.

Michael turned back to Thaor. The young man had a right to be angry. His father had just died. Michael understood that, but Michael didn't believe Thaor quite understood what he was dealing with.

"Let's get on the same page, shall we?" Michael asked. "We had no idea your father was alive. If we had, Robert would not have been able to declare him dead and hand his estate to you. We found out about him tonight just about the same time you did. Despite the fact that he was your father, he was also a mass murderer. And that made the decision about how he was dealt with Robert's call tonight entirely.

"So--I suggest we move forward. We all want to know how Thaor ended up with this curse. If your father's memory wasn't tinkered with, and we all know there are a lot of things that can change how we remember things, it suggests he was a victim of foul play. It seems to me we should focus on solving that.

"Even before he was cursed, your father had some friends but also a great many enemies--on all sides of the law. He had been shifting his loyalties back and forth for some time--from white magic to dark magic. And there were more and more witches and wizards that were growing to not trust him. Making a list of people who might have had a motive for casting a curse on him will be a difficult job. There were many who did not like him and considered him to be a risk to what they believed in.

"Normally, I would be checking someone's home and their things. But you inherited all that we knew about a long time ago. Since we didn't know he was alive, we have no way of knowing where he was staying. His old pattern, when he was on the run, was to keep moving. He didn't keep many personal belongings with him when he was running, but what he was doing lately would be hard to say. He didn't trust anyone towards the last."

Thaor stared at Robert as he went upstairs. He wouldn't apologize for speaking his mind. He deserved to know the whole truth, from the beginning. The last meeting he had with Robert in his office, he learned some things, but he couldn't help shake the feeling that there were some things Robert wasn't telling him.

THE SAME PAGE, WE'RE NOT EVEN READING THE SAME BLOODY BOOK! Thaor yelled as he stood and walked to the door.

Rule 46 Michael, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Thaor said as he opened the door, then he suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to face Michael. Rule 35 Michael, what was my fathers animagus, a golden retriever right? he asked hurriedly.