Small Packages

He was scribbling a few notes on his piece of paper about the desserts, noting that his first favorite was the shortbread but that he felt it needed to be served with espresso. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the server coming to the table. He really didn't think anything about it, and then the waiter handed Bella a note. He looked up, finishing his comments about the desserts. He could see already it wasn't good.

Trouble at her mother's? That wasn't good. Especially with Rose there visiting.

"Let's go," he told her. He still remembered the address and could apparate there. He stood up, laying his napkin on the table. He pulled his coat around him, drawing his wand. "With me, then. Stay close and keep your wand at the ready," he said to her. "Take my hand."

He reached for her hand, and then he apparated them to Bella's parents house. He looked for trouble but didn't see anything amiss outside, but that didn't tell him much.

"Let's go," he told her, heading for the front door.

She pulled on her coat securing it with the tie that would hold it closed. She pulled her wand out holding it firm in her hand as she walked over to Angus listening to him. She nodded at his words before taking his hand firmly in hers scared for what they may be going into.

They arrived at her mother's house and she looked around for any sign of trouble trying to figure out what may have happened. She let go of Angus' hand as she began walking through the gates of that would lead them to her mothers side door of the house. That when one of the security team saw them and waved them quickly towards the house. At that point she ran for it, she pushed open her mother's side door of the house to see her mother pacing in the kitchen.

"Bella!" She shouted as she ran over and took Bella's hand. "Come quick, it's rose." She lead her daughter into the living room where Rose was laying on the couch. The head of the security team was over her with his wand trying to do something.

Bella pushed past the man to see what was wrong with her daughter. "Rose?" She said softly but saw that there was no response at all. "What happened?" She said looking at her mother with big eyes.

"I don't know. We were about to go on a walk to the park when I saw three men running towards us as soon as the gates opened. I was hit with a stun and when I came to Rose was like this and the men were gone. They hit her with something but abandoned anything because she stopped breathing." Her mother said in a rush with tears streaming down her face.

The head of the security team crouched down next to Bella, "They knew non verbal magic. So we have no idea what spell they used.They threw so many spells that we were trying so hard to block them all that we missed two of them. I've already called in my whole squad which is roughly about twenty-five men to guard the house. We've tried everything in our Arsenal to try and get her out of this but nothing has worked." He said then looked up at Angus. "Do you know of anyone who can help? She won't last much longer in this state. She needs help now."

"I do," Angus said.  He always wore a cluster of small jeweled tie tack sorts of pins on his shoulder, whether it was on his shirt or on his coat. They were always there, like the gold chain with the gold doubloon that he always wore. A companion piece to the ones that each of Robert's own personal fighters wore.  He reached up and turned the doubloon in its setting--just a quarter of a turn. And then he pressed the set on two of the tie tacks on his shirt.  The jewels began to glow softly.  

At St. Mungos, Robert felt the coin around his neck begin to vibrate. The alarms on his suitcoat began to shine. Multiple alarms had been sounded.  He rose quickly from his desk, drawing his wand, and went next door, where he met Marcus at the door, apparently coming his direction.

"Its not Khaat," Marcus said, "Its not you either?"

"No," Robert said. Khaat stood up, with her wand. "Let's not figure it out. Lets simply go answer it." She got her coat, and Marcus and Robert did the same, picking up his leather messenger bag and slinging it onto his shoulder.  Marcus wrapped a firm arm around Khaat and they ported out to the sound of the alarm. Robert followed a moment later.

"Where the hell are we?" Robert asked, apparating outside the house.  Robert was scanning and assessing what he saw around the house.  It wasn't good.

"Bella's moms," Marcus said, having been here before.  He noticed the triple in security, and the silent chaos in the guards. "They've had a security breech."

"Angus," Khaat said, understanding who sounded the alarm.  They went up to the house, and Robert saw the security guards.

"Minister of Magic," Robert announced, "Move out of my way."  He was surprised they didn't question him, they just moved. Something was definitely wrong.  The three of them went into the house and found people clustered in the living room with Bella on the couch.

"She's been bewitched," Angus told Robert. "We need your help."

"Move," he told everyone. "Give her to me."  Khaat went with her father to Rose. It only took them a moment to see she wasn't breathing. Khaat saw her father beginning to cast the life support spell. She stopped him.  He looked at her.

"You know countercurses better than I," she said. "I'll do this."  He didn't like her using the life support spell because of the risk it always, always presented for the healer.  In her case, it presented risk for her and for him both. He nodded, knowing there was not much time to waste.  She cast the spell while Robert looked up at Bella's mother, drawing a small tin from his bag. He was calm, steady, and commanding. The greater the danger, the calmer and steadier he always became.

"I'll need you to brew some tea," he told her calmly. He understood a parent's and a grandparent's panic, but he needed them to anchor into acting and not into the fear he knew they were feeling. "We're going to need it. Use this," he said, putting the small tea tin on an end table.  He went back to diagnosing exactly what sort of dark curse had been used on Rose while Khaat laid her hand on Rose over her heart and put her life support spell in place.  

"I've got her," Khaat finally told her father quietly.  He nodded and simply went to work quietly.

"Khaat's buying time," Angus told Bella softly. "If anyone can do this, I believe its these two."

Bella saw him do something with the coin around his neck and something on his shirt before she turned her attention back to Rose. She could see glowing out of the corner of her eye and looked her brain not quite comprehending what was happening. She was worried about her little girl whom they had no idea what was happening with her.

She waited at her daughters side until help came and knew that once they came she would have leave her side. She felt like it had been forever until she heard the door to the house open and saw Robert enter the living room with Khaat and Marcus behind him. She got up off the couch giving the minister and moving to Angus' side her arms wrapped around herself.

She watched them work her brain going through all the people who could have done this but was coming up blank.

Bella's mother Jennifer, grabbed the tea tin and went into the kitchen to start brewing the tea for Robert. She had been quiet after telling her daughter what happened.

Bella looked at the both Robert and Khaat work over her daughter she shivered slightly. She nodded at Angus' words then it dawned on her when she shivered again. "Stay here and watch over Rose I'll be right back." She said to Angus kissing his cheek softly. Going to the head of security she pulled him into the hallway, "Do you still have the camera's set up outside the house?" she asked softly.

"Yes of course Miss Watson. Come with me and I'll take you to the security room." He said as he started leading the way to the basement. She followed him hoping to find anything about who did it, her mother was always one who used both muggle ways and magic to protect her house. She entered the security room and was impressed by everything that was in there. One of the men manning the camera's went through the footage and printed out a picture of the three men. He then printed out another picture of a distraction they created to get the man to look at that monitor instead of the one at the gate.

She recognized the man in the middle as her old apartment manager and cursed him seven way till sunday in her head. She walked back up the stairs with both pictures and walked into the living room. Walking up to Angus she showed him the pictures of the three men who attacked the house. "These guys look familiar?" She asked already knowing the answer to the question.

He looked at the pictures and tucked them into the inside pocket of his coat, not saying a word. His blood boiled. They'd gone too far the last time when they had gone after Bella, but this time they'd gone after Rose. They'd gone way beyond too far.  What he felt was different. He didn't quite get it, but it was different. He wanted to go after them.

"Thank you," he managed very quietly to tell her that she needn't worry about them from that point. He'd take care of it. Right now, his place was here. He looked at Khaat who clearly was making sure that her magic was enabling Rose to breathe.

"How long can you do that?" he asked her.

"As long as it takes," she said. "Don't worry. He'll have it before I run out." She watched her father as he flipped through the crisp, thin pages of a small ancient potions book that he carried in his bag.  He used it to make on-the-spot potions for things he didn't see every day.  Some potions needed to be absolutely painstakingly meticulous, and she knew he was rigidly precise. He checked his bag for ingredients, put some things in a small marble mortar and pestle and ground them up finely together.

Angus got a bit of the scent of the potion powder. It was certainly going to be foul tasting. He glanced out towards the kitchen. He could see a bowl of fruit on the table.  He accio'd an orange from the bowl.  He wasn't happy when his simple accio didn't hold the orange. He was it fall to the floor and roll to him. Robert glanced up and frowned momentarily at the orange as Angus picked it up from the floor. Angus was more than capable of such an elementary spell. It was a spell he used every day for something or another. Neither of them believed it would have failed because of any misfire on Angus's part.

"There must be some negative energy items in the house," Robert said. "Bella, have the staff check for any unusual stones or items that weren't here before. Don't touch them. Just let me know where they are. Angus, send back to the estate for your grandfather. He's very good at such things." Angus went over to the fireplace and began to cast a spell into the hearth.

She placed her hand on his chest softly after he tucked the photos away. She looked at him with worry in her eyes but knew that he would always take care of her and Rose. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him, it calmed her a little but she was still terrified for her daughter. After a few moments she let go and went to a chair that was across from where Khaat and Robert were sitting down.

Jennifer came back out of the kitchen with the tea that she was asked to brew and set it on the table near Robert. "Here you are minister." She said as she went over to her Bella keeping a hand on her shoulder.

Bella began picking at an invisible spot on her clothes trying to keep herself calm but it wasn't working. She watched Robert mix things together in a mortar then caught a whiff of it. She got up and walked a little bit away from the smell but kept Rose in her sights. She caught sight of an orange rolling towards Angus and was confused, she looked at Angus then at Robert.

"Okay," She said deciding to help find any items that may be out of place. She found the cook in the kitchen cupboard and got her involved in the search. Then the butler was looking as well in the basement, Bella took the upstairs, and the cook was in the first floor looking.

She looked around up stairs the first item was a picture on the wall that was too close to the others. It was a picture of her and Rose at the beach one year. The second item was a jewelry box in her mother's room that had a picture of a wolf howling on it. She didn't find anything else on the second floor so, she opened the door to the attic and climbed the stairs slowly. She looked around on the stairs in case there was something on them. She entered the attic and immediately noticed what wasn't supposed to be there. It was a doll that was holding a stuffed dragon that looked like it was breathing fire. Noting down where everything was and what the items looked like she walked back down stairs as the cook finished writing hers down as well. The butler came up with a note with what he found. In total there were seven items, the orange and a wooden pail from the kitchen. From the basement there was a metal box on the floor next to the water heater room and a small wooden horse in the supply closet.

"Robert there's seven in total that don't belong in the house." She said handing him the pieces of paper to him. "Each seem like ordinary items but no one has seen them before and the ones I've found I've never seen before upstairs." She wondered what those items were doing in there and how they got there in the first place. She walked over to Angus and whispered, "How did they get into the house?"

Angus saw Bella joined the search through the house. Good. It would give her something to focus on. He saw the spell finally open a portal in the fireplace. He called to the hearth in the living room at the estate.

"Angus," Kate's face showed in the fireplace. "What's wrong?"

"Kate, in my room, there's an old shaving mug up on a shelf in my bathroom. There's a small key in there. Its a portkey. Give it to my grandfather. I need a seer here now."

"Brat. Did you forget I'm a bloody seer?" she was indignant. "Besides, Edward made a trip home to go get seafood from your brothers for our dinner tonight. You'll have to settle with me." He saw her end the portal spell.

"Um..." Angus started to try to explain to Robert that he hadn't reached Edward.

"Its alright," Robert said automatically. "You won't change her. Let her come." Angus took out his pocketknife and cut the orange into wedges. He began to flavor the tea with some juice from the orange and a little of the zest and a little sugar. Robert finally finished his powder and added a careful amount to the tea and stirred it and then set the tea aside.

Bella returned and said there were seven new objects in the house.

"There are a lot of ways that could have happened," Angus told her. "We'll figure it out. We'll get them out first once Kate gets here."

"You must let go before I finish the spell," he told Khaat. She nodded.

Robert took out his wand and began to carefully weave a very complicated spell. In the midst of it, Angus heard Kate's footsteps. She was going to speak but saw Robert weaving what she knew was an advanced, complicated spell. She said nothing for the moment, not wanting to distract him.

Khaat waited for the signal from her father to let go. It was just a very slight nod. She broke her life support spell as her father finished his spell and fired it directly at Rose. She saw a thread of white magic fly towards Rose, penetrate her chest and then wrap around the child like a web. it glistened and then seemed to absorb into her. They waited, and then Khaat saw Rose start to breathe again on her own. Robert cast a second spell on her before she could wake.

"I want her very sleepy," Robert said. "She will need to rest. Bella, feed her the tea. It will help. Then I want her to sleep as soon as possible. She'll be alright, but we'll keep an eye on her for awhile. Kate, there are negative energy objects that aren't supposed to be here. Can you remove them safely?"

"Depends on what they are," she said, taking off her coat. She looked at one of the guards. "You look big enough. Not a seer, are you?"

"No, Ma'am," he replied.

"You'll do, then. Come with me. Show me where these nasty bits are," she said. He seemed to just fall into stride with her and took her to get the negative items.

"Yeah." She said softly. "Kate's coming?" She looked at him confused as to when he contacted her.

She turned at the sound of Robert's voice and waited to see what was going to happen. She watched a thread of white fly at her daughter then wrap around her. She watched it as it absorbed in then saw Rose start breathing again. She started crying when she realized they did it and felt her shoulders start shaking, then saw another him cast another spell.

She listened to Robert speak about having Rose sleep so she could rest. "Will she remember any of this?" She asked her voice slightly shaky as she walked over to the couch. She carefully picked up Rose placing her on her lap before picking up the tea cup. She got her to start drinking out of the cup slowly but steadily, soon it was empty. She placed it back down then laid Rose back down on the couch so that she could sleep. She was worried so she stayed close to Rose not wanting to leave her sight for a moment.

She looked over when she heard Kate's voice and saw her choose Rinchi who was the biggest guard her parents had. She watched at how Kate handled getting him to take her to where the items were and smiled at how he seemed to fall into step. Looking down at Rose, she brushed a piece of hair out of her face then looked over at Angus.

The side door opened on the house, she saw the guards immediately turn with their hands on their wands just in case. Seeing who it was they went back to a relaxed state but you could tell they were very much on guard. Her father entered the room and went to her mother for an explanation of the people in the room. She saw her father take her mom into the dining room in the back and having a heated hushed conversation. She shook her head because it wasn't something new.

Angus had merely nodded when Bella had asked if Kate was coming.  When Kate had a task, she was often, surprisingly, the more stubborn of the Lupins. He knew Robert was right. She wouldn't be dissuaded from coming.

"No," Robert said, "I made sure of that. Rose isn't going to remember any part of it." There were times for children to learn about the dangers of the wizarding world, but not at Rose's young age. "My best guess is that tomorrow morning, she'll be right as rain and won't remember today even happened at all. She'll sleep most of the rest of today, but she should be back to normal by morning."

"Thank you," Angus said, grateful.

"Our pleasure," Robert replied, putting the leftover potion powder in a vial and putting a small cork in the vial. He put his things back in his bag.

Angus noticed the return of Bella's father and could hear the attempt at suppressing their unhappy conversation.

"Are they seriously fighting again?" he asked Bella softly. He knew Bella's father thought the security anxieties were merely figments of his wife's mind. This was certainly no figment. Angus, frankly, didn't want it around Bella or Rose either one. Nor did he want them in any location that wasn't entirely safe.  If nothing else, he wanted to stop her parents from their nonstop bickering.  "Excuse me a moment," he said to Bella. "I'm going to go and probably blow any chance I have to be their ideal son-in-law. Be right back."

He went, uninvited, into the dining room, figuring Bella's parents were about to blow a gasket. So be it. He figured Bella might not be entirely happy either, but he figured she'd let him know if it wasn't alright.

"Excuse me," he said, interrupting Bella's parents. "I'm with the Ministry of Magic. Department of Aurors. Your granddaughter is going to be alright, but because your security is still compromised, I need to move her to a more secure location."  He looked at each of the individually. "Rose is a very lucky young lady that you were able to get her help so quickly. This could have ended very differently."

"Thank you Robert." She said glad that her daughter wouldn't remember that someone hurt her. "That's good she doesn't need remember something as horrible as this. She'll get the sleep she needs for the rest of today. Tomorrow I'm gonna spend some time with her but we won't be going out." She said touching her daughters hair again for comfort.

She was so very grateful that she had the Lupins on her side and that she had Angus. She never would have thought something like this would happen and definitely didn't know what she would have done without them.

"Yes, it had to been something that one of them did wrong otherwise they would have stayed in this room." She said softly looking towards to where her parents were. Her father looked more angry than normal though, so she figured her mother did something against his wishes once more. Bella looked at him when he said excuse me, "What?" She said then tried to suppress a laugh. "Be careful my father has a quick tongue.

Bella's father, James, stopped talking and looked at Angus. "I know who you are Mr. Donohue. I agree with you moving my granddaughter to a more secure location. I knew my wife's security was sound about two months ago when I caught footage of someone that had been across the street staring at the house for a few hours. The image on the camera couldn't see the face of the man. I had a bad feeling when I left today and advised my wife not to leave the house." He said then nodded at Angus' words about how Rose was lucky that his wife acted as quickly as she did. "Protect my daughter and my granddaughter please, they mean a lot to me today." He looked towards where they sat and sighed softly. "We will be moving locations until this matter of security is handled. I'll give you the address as soon as we are settled in the new place."