Vacation to Tuscany

Isobella took a deep breath and finished packing all of her things up in her suitcase. She went into the bathroom with a smaller case that would fit in her bigger suitcase. She grabbed everything that she would need to take with her on the vacation. Walking into her daughter's bedroom and checked to see how her packing was going. She tried to hide her giggles as she saw Rose laying on her bed sleeping but her daughter's suitcase was packed with stuffed animals. Shaking her head she walked into the room and started packing her daughter's clothes after taking out all the stuffed animals. They weren't leaving until tomorrow morning but she couldn't help make sure that everything was packed.

Bella couldn't help but feel excited that she was leaving the country and going somewhere beautiful. She wondered though if she would really see Angus when Rose and her arrived at the airport. She finished packing her daughter's bag and went back to packing her own. Double checking everything and knew that everything was done she walked to the kitchen.

Her doorbell took that moment to ring so she wiped her hands on a dish towel and walked to answer it. Opening the door she said, "Hello?" She wasn't expecting who she saw on the other side.

She began making dinner for Rose and herself but of course there was always leftovers in her house. Her mind began wondering as she cooked but she still was in the present, she couldn't help what things would be like. She wondered if Angus liked her but she immediately kicked that thought to the curb as she shook her head. Bella felt like she was a teenager again but she knew that she would have to calm herself down and focus on everything in front of her.

Angus wasn't typically out at this time of day, not away from the estate. He was usually fixing dinner for the residents of the huge estate. Any family meal at the Lupin estate meant a minimum of two dozen people, and usually more.

Tonight, though, he'd had to leave those duties to others. Khaat's mother had stepped in and fixed two oversized, industrial stockpots of soups, emormous bowls of salads, and platters of sandwiches. For dessert there was Angus's freshly baked raspberry cheesecake poundcake with a fresh berry coulie. He had left plenty of berries for the kids if they chose to not eat cake. They would be fine for one meal.

He had gone out on a special mission for Robert. A former auror, there were times when Robert trusted people that he knew because of their skills. Such was this evening. Angus had gone out because of a young woman who had come in to St. Mungos with a werewolf bite.

Angus ached for the young woman that he didn't know. From his time serving with the Lupins, he did understand the terrible curse the young woman would now have to live with. Khaat had promised him that she would make sure the newest werewolf would be provided with wolfsbane and be taught how to have a normal life.

Dressed in his black leather duster and black leather hat--his nighttime mission gear--Angus had gone looking to see if one of the werewolves that normally got on well with the Ministry had gone rogue. The other alternative was that the rogue werewolves had stirred up again. He had prowled the streets in the dark and had found nothing. Nothing at all. It was, well, too quiet. Angus didn't like it.

He had found Bella's house, and it was only a couple of blocks from where the young woman had been attacked earlier. That was more disconcerting. He didn't want Bella and Rose anywhere near any harm.

Feeling a bit awkward, he felt like he needed a decent reason to be there tonight instead of tomorrow. So, he apparated to Sparks, filled a couple of bags with some exquisite ingredients for a wonderful dessert from the bistro's pantry and refrigerator, and then apparated back to Bella's.

He drew his wand. He wasn't going to ask her permission to shield her. He cast a protection shield around her house. It wasn't foolproof but it might be a deterrent.

Better yet, he thought, he was hoping to redirect her and Rose from the house tonight. By the time they got back from Tuscany the neighborhood would have calmed down a bit.

He knocked on the door. When Bella answered, he gave her a warm smile.

"Sorry to intrude tonight," he said. "I hope I'm not too presumptuous, but I was going to ask you to dinner. I really wasn't in the mood for a crowd, though, so, I thought I'd invite myself to come and make you and Rose a Tuscan dessert to give you a surprise taste of Tuscany a bit early. Mind if I come in?"

Bella was stunned to see Angus at her door but quickly snapped out of her surprise. "No it's fine, I just wasn't expecting to see you before Tuscany." She said smiling softly. "Please come in," stepping to the side to allow him to enter when she heard her daughter wake up. She took the bag that Angus was carrying and she took it to the kitchen. Since she was in there she checked on dinner and added a few things here and there. "Are you hungry? I was just making dinner and I usually tend to make too much for both Rose and myself. You don't have to if you don't want to though." She said as she walked to check on Rose who came bolting out of the room crying. Her crying stopped however when she saw Angus.

"Ggie, ider pwease ake it go away.." She said pointing to her room as she walked to him and hugged one of his legs. "It scwary icky ider."

Bella watched her daughter with amusement and looked at him. "I guess she wants you to be the one who gets it out of her room." She said the amusement in her voice. "That if you don't mind doing that, I can do it otherwise."

"Dinner sounds..." he was going to say wonderful--because his stomach was very, very empty. But he now had Rose cling to his leg because of a spider crisis.

"A spider?" he said, picking her up. "Well, he doesn't belong in your room, does he? Spiders have important work to do in the garden. Sounds like he's lost. How about I go get him and put him out in the garden where he belongs? You know, I bet you can help your mom in the kitchen while I go find the spider. Sometimes the most important job is to keep Mom company while she cooks."

He handed Rose to Bella and went down the hall to the bedrooms. He found Bella's room and went in. He had done a lot of spider wrangling at the estate, so finding spiders was something he was used to.

"Accio, Spider," he finally flicked his wand, holding out his other hand. The spell caused a large Granddaddy Longlegs spider to fly into his open hand. "Well," Angus said quietly, "You would be enough to scare a two year old. You're in the wrong place, Mate. Immobilus!" He cast the spell to keep the spider from running off.

He carried the spider through the house. "I've got him, Rose. He's under a spell. He can't move. If you want, you can come and curl under my coat and come outside with me. We can put him out in the garden together."

He had found that the kids at home had more confidence in dealing with bugs if they were a part of the solution, so it seemed to him that if Roe could help him release the spider outside, she might not be so afraid. And there was plenty of room for Rose to curl up and be warm inside his black leather duster with him, if she wanted.

Bella had Rose helping her stir something in one of the pots to keep herself busy while Angus went and found the spider. Rose was intent on looking for Angus to come out than seeing what Bella was doing. She started laughing when Rose was craning her little neck for him. Seeing him Rose wiggled until she was put down and ran over to Angus.

"Is he scwary ooking?" Rose said looking up at Angus then went to the door to grab her boots to put on. Walking back over to him she smiled big at him waiting for anything else she needed to do. "I go."

Bella saw the interaction and smiled as she continued to cook. Taking out a baking dish from the top cupboard and started making her famous lasagna from scratch. Then took out the prepared ingredients from the fridge and made sure that oven was on. She finished then slid the pan into the oven and the pans she used that were cooled down into the soapy water sitting in the sink.

"He's not scary now," Angus said. "Come with me." He picked her up and wrapped her inside his leather coat to keep her warm and then took her outside to the back garden. "In the spring, he'll take help take care of the garden. He just doesn't belong in the house, that's all." He put the spider in the hollow of a tree. "That will keep him warm through the winter." He looked at Rose. "We did a good thing," he smiled. "We don't always have to kill a bug because he made a mistake and ended up where he didn't belong. Sometimes its a good thing to just give him a helping hand. But make sure you ask Mom before you do that, okay? Let's go back in where its warm."

He took her back into the house and put her down. He looked at Bella. "Smells good," he said. "Have you two ever had a real Italian chocolate cream cake? Or maybe you two don't like chocolate."

"Bye ider, be ood ider." Rose said waving bye at the spider when Angus put it in the tree. She looked up at him and smiled, "ggie do you wike mommy?" She asked innocently. "Mommy wikes you, I eard her talking to herself." Her voice was innocent and sweet when she reached up and took his hand. "Oktay ggie," She hugged him tight around the neck. Once put down in the house she took off her shoes and walked over to the couch to cuddle with one of the cats that were laying there.

"Thanks, it's my famous Lasagna. Well not quite famous but it's really good. I also have homemade garlic bread cut with fresh garlic on top." Bella said with a smile. "Mm you had me at Italian Chocolate Cream, you'll have to teach me how to make it. Rose loves chocolate but we don't eat it a lot though." She grinned as she turned back to the sink to finish rinsing off the last dish.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll just borrow a few things in your kitchen and put it together. Its not difficult. The thing I like about it is that it has a lot of layers, and the cake itself is very light. It has coconut and pecans between the layers in the icing. They're not usually chocolate cakes, but there's something that just seems really unusually decadent about a really rich chocolate cake that is that light."

Bella's kitchen was laid out so well, Angus could see everything he needed without needing to ask. He melted the chocolate in a bowl by flicking his wand at the bowl. He mixed the dry ingredients together, not needing to measure because he'd done the cake so many times he knew the recipe measurements by sight. He mixed the wet ingredients, combined them, showing her how to add even more air and fluffiness to make the cake even lighter, but making it and the icing a deep dark chocolate flavor.

He poured it into cake pans and slid them into the oven with her lasagna. "It won't bake long," he said, "Maybe 30 minutes. I can use a charm to cool it so we don't have to wait the normal time for it to cool before we ice it and enjoy it."

He hadn't said much to her about really how he ended up here. Not really. But he wasn't going to entirely hold back on her either.

"Bella," he said, "I didn't exactly get here by accident. I wasn't far away. I was on a special assignment for the Minister of Magic. But the criminal I was chasing got away. I came here deliberately. I needed to know you and Rose were safe. I put a layer of protection spells around your house--just to be sure. But I'd feel better if you came with me tonight. We can go to Tuscany tomorrow from the estate." Then he tried to lighten things up with a smile. "After dinner. I'm really hungry," he confessed.

"That's fine, help yourself to what you need around the kitchen. If you need something just let me know and I'll point it out to you." Bella said smiling as she starting making a salad to go with dinner. Listening to him explain everything that went with the cake had her wanting her dessert first. "You keep talking that way I'm gonna end up eating dessert first." She said laughing as she finished the salad and put it in three bowls then put them on the table.

She watched him mix all the ingredients with ease and with a rhythm that spoke of experience. She watched everything smiling as it all came together and she could smell it from where it was standing. "Mm it smells so good already," She said inhaling the scent of chocolate.

Bella looked at him when he said her name and listened to him carefully. "I hope that you are able to find him before he causes more harm. I understand you were worried because your a protector and I'm a single mother who lives alone. We'll come with you so you won't have to worry too much about our safety. Thank you for telling me," She said smiling at him. "Of course, I hope your really hungry."

"Flat out," he said, "Its not safe for either of you to be here tonight. I was chasing a murderer, and I got a tip he was in this neighborhood earlier this evening. Its maddening because we've been chasing him for years. And he always just sort of slips away, time after time.

"But, we'll be safe at the estate tonight, and we'll be safe in Italy tomorrow. You haven't met my grandfather yet, but if there is one man this criminal is afraid of, its my grandfather. He's an old man, but don't let that fool you. I still have a lot to learn before I can begin to match his skills. I've learned that its not the young wizards people need to be worried about. Its the old, well practiced fellows that have the real power," he smiled.

Angus had a tight bond with his grandfather, Edward Donohue. Edward had gained his fame and fortune hunting and slaying dangerous, troublesome werewolves. Edward brought, to some werewolves, the same fear that the legendary Van Helsing brought to some vampires. And, because of Edward's reputation, the Donohue family compound in Tuscany had been built to be one of the safest places Angus had ever known. If he wanted Rose and Bella to be safe and to enjoy the Italian life, the Donohue compound was the place to be based out of.

When the cakes were done, he removed them from the oven, flicked his wand at them to cast a cooling spell and then sliced them horizontally into multiple thin layers, put the deep fudgy icing on each layer, along with some toasted coconut and some slivered almonds, and finished it by letting rich dark chocolate ganache drizzle over the top and down the sides, leaving a glossy dark finish to the mile high cake and added some special wizarding sparkling sprinkles to the cake to make it glitter and shine.

"Now--if we can keep Rose out of it until after the main course," he grinned at Bella. "That might be the tough part."