Small Packages

"They'll be safe," he promised. The estate was one of the safest places he knew anywhere. "As long as you're out of London, you'll be fine. These guys operate here in London. Take a holiday outside the city, and you'll be alright. I know who started this, but I'm going to finish it. We'll clean your house of their artifacts before we go, but I'd advise you to set new security spells after that."

He went back to the living room. Robert was making a quick check of Rose.

"Is she able to be moved?" Angus asked.

"If we don't do anything extreme like hang her upside down or splinch her or something," Robert shrugged. "Certainly."

"I haven't ever splinched," Angus said. "And I'll wait til tomorrow to hang her upside down." He felt eyes glaring at him, and he cast a sideways glance towards one of the guards who clearly didn't have a sense of humor. "What?" he asked. "I said I'd wait til tomorrow." He looked at Bella. "Are you able to take her home?"

"Marcus," Khaat said, "Take Bella and Rose home. I'll help my mother with the cleansing." Marcus glanced at Robert. That was totally against Marcus's existing orders. Robert nodded.

"I'll take you home and come back for Khaat if you want, Bella," Marcus said.

"We'll head to Scotland," He said then looked at Angus seriously when he said that he was going to finish it. He lowered his voice to where only Angus could hear him, "Make sure there were only them. I don't want to have to go hunting with you." He leaned back and looked at his wife. "Go ahead and start packing up some clothes I'll be up in a minute." Jennifer nodded and walked past them towards the stairs. Bella's father looked at him and nodded in thanks then headed for the stairs but stopped before he left the dining room. Looking back at Angus he said, "You have my blessing." He looked at his daughter and smiled. "I saw the ring when I walked in." He turned back around and headed up the stairs after his wife.

Bella looked up when Angus walked back into the living room. She listened to what Robert said about spliching her or hanging her upside down. She laughed when Angus said he'd wait till tomorrow to hang her upside down. "Relax Felix he's kidding." She said to the guard who had glared at Angus. "Yeah I can take her home."

"That's fine Marcus." She said standing before picking up Rose though she went over to Angus and hugged him. "Be careful." She said softly kissing his lips then walking back over to Rose. She gently lifted her daughter in her arms and held onto her tightly. "I'm ready when you are Marcus."

Great, he thought. He was relieved that he had the Watson's blessings, but he was so consumed with making sure Rose and everyone else was safe and secure that he hadn't even brought it up.

"You have my word," he told Bella's father. Angus had no intention of stopping until he had them.

He was glad to see Bella taking Rose home. Marcus took his own coat and wrapped it around Rose.

"It'll be entirely too cold for her without it," he told Bella.

"Tell Brian to tighten the guard," Robert told Marcus. "Lock it down."

"Permission to come back, then, Sir?" Marcus asked Robert.

"As you wish," Robert said.

Marcus looked at Angus, "Don't go without me, Mate. There's three of them and one of you."

"I won't," Angus lied. He had no intention of losing any time once Bella and Rose were safe. Robert paused only slightly in his work. If there was one thing he knew, he knew his men. And Angus was angry. He was acting like an angry father. It wasn't an emotion Robert was unfamiliar with. He knew it all too well. And he also knew that Angus was the only father figure Rose knew.

"He'll be here," Robert said to Marcus. Marcus nodded. He put his arm around Bella.

"Shall we?" he asked, clutching the portkey to the estate.

((OOC: I'm sorry this one sucks))

"Thank you Marcus." She said with a smile making sure that she was wrapped tight in it. She shifted Rose's weight to where the coat covered her from shoulder to feet completely which was easy. She wanted to get Rose into a bed so that she could sleep then Bella would probably pace the entire house waiting for Angus to return.

She listened to Robert tell Marcus that the guard needed to tighten and everything needed locked down. She looked at Angus hoping that he would be fine with the three men. She was worried about him leaving before Marcus got back, because of when she showed him the pictures of them. She didn't know what she would do to make him stay but he was stubborn. She looked over at Robert hoping he would make sure that Angus stayed here until Marcus returned from getting her and rose to safety.

She looked at Angus before looking over at Marcus, "Yes I'm ready." She said with a small smile. She looked down at Rose who was still sleeping peacefully.

James came into the living room having heard all of the conversation. "I'll go with you to go take care of these guys." He said seeing the look in Angus' eyes and remembering having that look in his own once or twice.

(no it doesn't. its fine)

Marcus passed the word to Brian that the house needed to go into lockdown.  Brian immediately set the lockdown into motion, passing orders to the estate and grounds staff.  

"Keep a healer's eye on Rose, would you?" Marcus asked him. "She's been through a bit of a skirmish. Robert said she'll probably sleep, but I'm sure Bella would appreciate the reassurance." Brian looked at Bella with a slight frown.

"Certainly," Brian said. "I'll send Suki upstairs to stay with Rose and then I'll check in periodically." Suki was a gifted house elf who did know at least a bit about healing.  And, so far as Brian knew, the kids all liked the house elves. "You going back, Marcus?"

"Yes," Marcus said, picking up his coat.  "Khaat is still there, and Angus, I think, has all intention of hunting down the Grundge brothers."

"By himself, I take it?" Brian asked.

"He's angry, and he wants them," Marcus said. "He's involved."

"He certainly is," Brian said. "Go, then. Stay with him and try to keep him out of trouble. Khaat's safe with Robert. It'll be fine."

Angus was gearing up to slip off by himself, with all intents of making sure the Grundge brothers never came back into Bella's life again, and then he heard Bella's father say he was going with him. He looked at him and saw all too clearly the look of a father who wanted to insure the safety of his family.  Fathers weren't generally dissuaded.

He paused a second, preparing to give him a very diplomatic and well rehearsed response about not taking a civilian along on a Ministry auror mission. However, he heard Robert clear his throat--with intention.  Unfortunately, Angus understood Robert's unspoken orders all too clearly--accept the offer.

"You will read him in before you go both go, Angus, won't you?" Robert said.  

"Of course," Angus said.  He drew the photos from his pocket and handed them to James Watson.  He was about to tell him about the brothers when Kate came upstairs, the guard behind her carrying a wooden crate. He thought about James Watson, wondering if the man had much of any sort of dealings with criminals. Then a new thought entered his head. Watson was acting like a father. And, he realized, so was he. Who exactly was looking out for whom?

She saw Brian's slight frown, "I'll explain everything to you soon Brian. I just wanna get Rose settled in first." She said softly with worry written on her face.

She listened as Brian said that he'd send Suki upstairs to stay with Rose. She looked at Marcus when he said he was going back. "I'm gonna take Rose upstairs." She said softly. She walked up the stairs to the kids room placing Rose in the bed. She took off her shoes and covered her with a blanket tucking her in softly. She made sure that she was comfortable before she picked up her shoes then walked downstairs.

"Marcus make sure that Angus doesn't cause too much damage." She said softly worried because she saw how angry Angus was.

James looked at the photo and recognized one of them from a few weeks ago. He had saw the man walking past their house at the same time every day which had concerned him before.

He looked up when he saw a woman come down with one of his most trusted men. He looked at some of the items and didn't understand how they could have ended up in his house. His man looked at him with a look he recognized and nodded at him letting him know they'd talk soon.

He looked at Angus when he asked the minister to blow the things up. He walked closer to look at the objects and saw the picture of his daughter with Rose at the beach.

He smiled when Robert asked Angus if it would make him feel better about it. He remembered the same thing when he had been working with an ex-auror on his skills with a wand. "The what boys?" He said thinking about the name. He thought he heard it before but he wasn't sure so he wanted them to repeat it.

"Yes of course. I know the perfect spot to use to blow these up." He said as he lead the way out of the house and towards a shed. He opened it and ushered Angus inside, it looked like it wasn't big on the outside but the inside was very large and open. There were dummies on one side that were used for target practice then there was a long area where there were black marks everywhere. There were mats on the ground on another side with protective gear if you were practicing hand to hand combat. He lead Angus to the target practice area, "Here we are. Oh and you can't tell my wife what is in this shed exactly. Her father helped me build it but it was a secret between me and him." He said with a laugh.

"I don't think anyone is going to let him simply do all the things we know he'd like to do right now," Marcus said. "We'll take care of him. Not to worry." He gave her a reassuring smile and ported back to help wind things up at Bella's parents'.

Angus picked up the crate and followed her father out to the back yard to a shed. Clearly it was enchanted to provide more space inside than outside. And clearly, it had been used for training.

"You've got my word. I'm not saying anything," Angus said. "Certainly looks capable of doing the job, though." He put the crate in the middle of the room. "You might want to shield yourself in case it releases anything when I fire at that box. The Grundge boys are seers, and I don't know how much dark energy they've attached." He aimed his wand, made sure it was as accurate as he could make it, and then fired a spell Robert had taught him long ago. The box and all its contents blew to bits. Angus saw a large dark basilisk of smoke rising from the box. It was dark energy looking for a new place to go.

Angus wasn't going to let it take root with anything that even remotely connected to Bella. He fired an Expecto Patronum at the dark magic, and then he watched it disintegrate.

He had honestly thought it would all make him feel better. It didn't. Not yet. There was still work to do.

"I think I know where they went," Angus said to Watson. "But you're not going to like it."

"Thanks Marcus." Bella said with a small smile hoping that everything would be okay.

"She'd freak out if she saw it." James said with smile. "Yeah I figured this will do for what was needed." He watched him place the crate in the middle of the room. "Alright. These boys sound really nasty if they are playing with dark energy." He made sure to shield himself when Angus blew the box up along with the contents. He looked at the large dark basilisk of smoke rising looking for a place to go, he couldn't believe there was so much.

"Really?" He said looking at him then laughed at his next words. "Sometimes we have to do the things we don't like for the ones we love." He said with a small smile.

There was a knock on the door of the shed before Rinchi came walking in and up to him. "What do you have Rinichi?" He said looking at him.

"I know who got those items in the house. He hasn't reported in today, he left as soon as the commotion with Rose happened. He was a new guy but he was on outside perimeter, no one ever caught him inside. I went through the footage on the cameras and pulled this off of it." Rinchi said handing over the photo to James. It was of the man placing the picture on the wall. "I think he may have went to those boys on the other photo Bella printed out."

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Anyone you don't trust get rid of them." He looked at the picture and wanted to punch the guy himself. "I want my wife moved out of the house in one hour. I'm going hunting, once my wife is in Scotland lock down the perimeter." He said with a nod from Rinchi who quickly walked out of the room and back to the house.

Angus listened to the guard talking to Watson. So, one of the brothers had had the actual gall to permeate the family's security, had he? That was interesting indeed.

"When I met Bella, and she still lived in that little apartment, the Grundge brothers had the apartment just below her. I caught them doing some wizarding stalking of her, and when I went downstairs to take care of it, I found their apartment covered in palantirs that they were using to spy on her.  I thought we got it all. We certainly did enough cleansing on it. But, I'm betting that they went back there because they've somehow gotten some personal item of hers or Rose's that they're using as a focus item to continue to try to stalk her.  They haven't been able to get to them because where Bella and Rose live now, in the Minister's daughter's estate, it's as impenetrable as it gets.

"There have been countless attempts on the Minister's daughter.  One thing I can tell you for certain is that Robert Lupin takes absolutely no chance whatsoever with his family, and the place is a fortress. He wants his daughter and his grandkids to be able to go out into the yard if they want without fear.  And, at the estate, that's what they've got, pretty much. I think the reason we've not heard from the Grundge brothers til now is that they couldn't find Bella. When I moved her out, I took her with me where she's been almost completely untouchable."

James sighed and shook his head, "I told her not to get that apartment. I had a bad feeling when it came to that place but of course Bella is a stubborn woman. She likes doing things on her own and doesn't like to ask anything of anyone." He said as he started pacing the floor. "The Grundge brothers have something bad coming to them when I get a hold of them. I wish she would have told me about this and I would have gotten her out of there a while ago." He ran a hand through his hair as he listened to Angus speak. "Well I'm glad that she's in a place where she won't have to constantly wonder if someone's going to get to her."

"I know that my wife can sometimes take security here a little too seriously. Today however I'm glad that she talked me into getting the guards." He said just wanting nothing more than to give those men what they need. "Well I'm glad that she's somewhere they can't get to her. At least I know that she'll always be protected by someone and having you protect her. Now how are we going get these guys and where are they hiding? I wanna make sure that Bella and my granddaughter are out of their view." He said wanting to start this so that his family would be safe. One thing for sure was he was going to sell this house in case those men had more people working with them. He knew where a good place was and he'd buy it just to make sure that his family was safe no matter what. He looked at Angus, "I'm glad that Bella found you. Your a good man Angus." He said softly glad that his daughter was in a good relationship.

((Sorry I know it's another short one.))