LONDON CALLING

A figure lay in a damp alley his clothes disheveled and dried blood coated its hands as cold rain washed away more into a nerarby drain. With a deep growl it moved and sat up leaning heavinly against the cold stone wall that loombed over him.

"shit that did not go as planed" he cursed rubbing his jaw clean of the dirt that clung to it. Running his hands threw his brown hair he tried to make it as decent as he could before standing and looking around at his perdicament. " another drunken brawl gone wrong" he said to himself as he tried to straighten out his clothing eventually taking off his now shredded jacket to toss it in a dumpster next to him. " that was a fitted jacket, ow well."

Now looking up he took a slow breath in his ears picking up the sounds around him, footsteps echoing and voices that bounced around him. "Damn, long gone." That made him strike the dumpster putting in a large dint in one side. It was now he smelt him and heard him. Soft footsteps, exspencive but not over powering aftershave. He took a deep sigh and stood up straight.

"you can say it I fucked up....again." he said now leaning back on the very same dumpster he had hit.

The alerts had gone off, saying that magic had been used in a section of London not far from the Leaky. That was not such a rare occurrence, all in all. If someone were going to buggar things up, that was one of the most likely places for that nonsense to happen. Robert had just arrived at the Leaky, hoping for a late night pint before heading home, and then the alarm had gone off. It wasn't so much an effort for him to go check on it since he was really already there.

So, when he came around the corner into the alley, he really should have been surprised, but he hadn't been. Tyler was a lad who hadn't gotten himself under proper control yet. Not that he wasn't trying. He was, and Robert knew it. It wasn't an easy thing to try to master the knack of taking one's wolfbane on proper schedule, and until Tyler got it right, he was apt to have these snafu's. A difference of opinion could result in an unintentional mangling or slaying.

Robert intended to save the lecture for a moment, and he drew his wand and flicked it in the alley, casing a cleanup spell to rid the alley of the traces of the mayhem that had happened here.

"Clean yourself up, will you?" Robert said to Tyler, "Before some muggle sees you. We'll discuss it later. For now, I'd prefer to clean up the mess and get you out of here before the rest of the auror squad arrives and ask questions that are none of their business, not until I decide it's their business."

Jesse heard the mans voice and nodded even if his head did feel like it had been threw a blender and back. Taking out his wand he cast a repairo spell to mend his shirt and waist coat.

"Jackets beyond repair, even for me" He said glancing quickly at the dumpster. Its was only now he wondered how the man who stood infront of him didn't ask about his accent as London was not his intended destination, but he was glad he asked little questions.

"Sir, my names Jessie, I guess you read my dossier?" He paused " I was ...am a transpher from the states."Guess I pissed off the wrong person last time." he spoke with a sigh as the last thread on his trousers finally slipped back into place making him seem as if he'd just stepped off the plane.

"I did," Robert said. "Lee sent it ahead of you."

Well, that wasn't precisely true, was it? The reality of it was that Lee Shepherd had brought it, and the two of them had fish and chips and a pint over a somewhat belated lunch. It was dinner for Lee because of the time change between Washington and London, but it was merely a late lunch for Robert. Late lunches were more the norm. Having lunch on time was the rarity. Lee had warned Robert of Tyler's issues with adaption, and Robert surmised that was really part of the reason Tyler had been transferred to London. Robert had more experience with werewolves than Lee did.

"I don't know that was entirely the issue," Robert told Tyler. "Let's just say you're not the first one with a sensitivity to moonlight that I've ever met, and that was attractive to your superiors. Should I presume you've had time to get a flat here?" He hoped that, if Tyler had a flat it wasn't in a muggle section of town.

Jessie shifted on his feet as the older man spoke of his superior. " um..yeah? he questioned. " thought I was the only one." he said his head tipped in a quisical way, like a dog that has heard a sound for the furst time and is unsure of what to do about it.

Listening more he shook his head "Not yet sir, I only just got here as you saw" he motioned to the alley they stood in. He blew out a puff of air as he spoke again, " and its not, I am not trying sir, realy." his hands went threw his hair once more as he looked at his feet. "its hard to find something...quiet shall we say, away from temptation and anything that i would hurt...unintenshonally of course." He knew he'd know excly what he meant.

Now he took a step closeer to the older man to stand under the street light. "you..you had another werewolf?"He asked "Tell me, sir, how they coped, how did they live?" he asked now curiouse.

"Well, let's back up a step, shall we?" Robert said, remembering that Tyler didn't know him from Adam's housecat. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Robert Lupin, and although I'm not your immediate supervisor, you will probably get to know me, as I do with all the aurors. Let's get out of here to someplace more private, and I'll answer all your questions."

Robert didn't want this new auror to have any more trouble getting started here than necessary, and if they didn't get the heck out of here before the rest of the aurors arrived, then there would be a boatload of prying questions and investigating, all of which Robert didn't want and Tyler didn't need. IFor now, since Tyler didn't have a place, it seemed that he and Kate would be having an overnight guest.

"Take hold, and we'll get out of here," Robert said, drawing out his keyring to get the portkey to go home.

Jessie took a deep breath in and nodded , listening to the man introduce himself as Robert Lupin. His eyes went wide and he could not help but gulp at who stood befor him. "Weren't you the minister once?" He asked softly "Oh um.. Jessie Tyler sir, and yeah I guess, I'd probably end up in the clink " He said.

Looking down at the keyring he reached out his hand noting that his hands still shook, why he couldn't remeber but he took hold best he could. He paused as he turned his head and listened as a thunder of foot steps drew closer to them both " um..sir we should go now, before they get here." he could not help but bite his lip as he waited.

"I was," Robert said. He clutched the house key, and it whisked them away from London and into the wizarding countryside to the farm that he and Kate shared. He and Kate sometimes stayed with Khaat and Brian and the kids, but not tonight. Tonight, he had planned on being in his own home, on his own farm. He was sure Kate would be alright with Tyler coming. Kate had learned over the years that they were rarely alone.

The portkey took them straight into the farmhouse kitchen where Kate was taking big, thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies off the baking sheet and putting them on a plate while they were still warm and gooey. Baking was something Kate sometimes did when Robert was running late. She would justify it by saying she liked to bake, but Robert knew it was what she did to keep herself busy if Robert was having a night that ran into the wee hours of the morning. She could worry if he were very late, and that was when the late night cookies showed up. And tonight was no different.

"I wondered when you were finally going to remember to come home," she said, getting three of her handmade pottery mugs out of the cabinet and setting about pouring fresh tea into them.

"Hello, my dear," he said. "Chocolate chippers tonight--nice. Kate, this is Jessie Tyler. He's a new auror. Tyler, this is my wife, Kate." Robert opened the cabinet near the sink and filched through a few potion bottles on the bottom shelf and got one out and poured a dose of it into a medicine cup while Kate put the cookies on the table.

"Well, another auror is always welcome," Kate said to Tyler. "Have a seat. What do you take in your tea?"

"Here," Robert handed the medicine cup to Tyler. "This will keep the beast at bay tonight, and yes, you're going to want the tea. This isn't known for its good taste."

Jessie felt the pull of aperation and breathed out when it stopped for a second he paused taking in the place he stood it was a ranch. This made him relax as it felt like he had gone home. He followed Robert into the ranch house and was met by a woman. Politly he nodded and smiled to her. " Jessie, Jessie Tyler Ma'am" He introduced himself the smell of cooking wafted around him.

"Does it always smell this good in here?" he asked seeing her place cookies down on a table. When offered he moved to sit facing Robert who he saw now had some medicine in a cup.

"I take it this is what the last..um..person used?" he asked unsure if the woman knew or not. Picking it up he looked at her and spoke softly.

"Lemon, just, lemon." he said then looked back at Robert " I usualy just have coffee." His fingures played with the medicine cup looking at what sat in it.

"Glancing up he spoke again " this is gonna taste vial, isn't it?" he asked and pulled a face like a two year old who'd just had a sour sweet for the first time.

"At this time of night? Yes. She's always baking something late at night," Robert said.

"Werewolf, Dear," Kate said to Tyler with a smile to let him know he could speak directly here. "Lemon it is." She was used to Americans in the kitchen, even if they did drink their tea all wrong. She got into the fridge and make quick work of whacking a lemon into wedges, put the wedges into a pinch bowl and put the bowl on the table. "Help yourself to the tea and cookies--before Robert gets them all."

"You still can't talk about werewolves openly in most of the wizarding world, sadly enough," Robert said, "but in this house? It's an open topic. What you drank, nasty as it is, is a wolfsbane solution. Wolfsbane keeps the werewolf at bay. It is not a cure. It only prevents the transformation. Most of the werewolves I treat choose to use a dose every night just in case, but it isn't something you should ever let yourself be out of during the full moon phase, for obvious reasons. I'll get you a bottle of it tomorrow." He sat down at the table, added milk and a wee bit of sugar to his tea and then helped himself to a cookie while Kate did the same.

"Robert is a potionsmaster and a healer," Kate said. "Looks like you're in the right place tonight. Khaat's old room is alright for him tonight, then, Robert?"

"If that bloody portrait doesn't talk him to death for the rest of the night," Robert said.

"Your brother has never been one for loquaciousness," Kate said. "Neither of you are."