A new member,

Jess sat and watched Abby swimming in the pool. " of course I'll watch her" she said smiling as Kate went back inside. Jess watched Abby swim around then she saw Kate return with a towel and chuckled at her remark " yeah that would not be good" she said " especially for whom ever gets the job."

Jess stood up and moved to the pool side " I don't think today would be good for me to swim." she said not going into too much detail. " but you go ahead I'll watch from the sidelines." she chuckled watching a now splashing Abby

Kate was considering a swim but before she could decide, she heard someone arriving. She turned to see Robert coming out to the pool.

"I didn't expect you for awhile yet," she stood and kissed him.

"Neither did I, but it seems I am between things, so I have a little time to spare."

"That never happens," she smiled.

"I know," he said, glad for the unusual break. He looked in the pool and saw Abbey there. "Well, that's one way to keep her busy."

"It wasn't our suggestion," she said.

"No, I know," he patted her hand. He went over to the pool. "Abbey, come see me." He called her cheerfully, wanting only to get her out of the pool. She swam over to the side, and Robert knelt and fished her out, wrapping her in the big fluffy towel. He laid his hand on her forehead and cast a transfiguration spell and changed her back from a puppy to a baby. He picked her up and sat in a poolside chair with her, and he felt her start to get tired almost at once.

"Did she miss her morning nap?" Robert asked quietly. Kate nodded. "Give me a bit then." He sat and simply held her quietly, letting her curl into his chest. It wasn't fifteen minutes before the child was asleep wrapped only in the warm white towel. "I'll be back," he told them quietly. He picked Abbey up and took her up to the nursery and put her in the crib, deciding not to mess with a diaper or clothes for fear he'd uproot her. He simply put her in the crib and covered her with a blanket to let her sleep.

"Well, I'm glad we have a baby again and not a dog," Kate told Jess when Robert took Abbey upstairs. "And, if he manage to get her to bed without waking her up, she'll probably sleep through lunch, so things should be peaceful, I think."

Jess was relived when Robert walked out to the pool she sat and watched as he picked Abby out of the pool and wrap her in a towel. she watched how he soothed her to sleep in his arms. " I'll have to remember your technique for next time she changes " Jess said quietly.

Once Robert had left with Abby Jess heard Kate and nodded " agreed, I could help Angus in the kitchen prepare lunch for us all but something tells me hes highly protective over his recipes." she could not help chuckle

"He's only protective of a few things, really," Kate said. "His cinnamon rolls are probably on that list, I'd wager, but Asian chicken salad? No. I hardly think so. I suppose I could either go pour some iced tea for us or set the table. It might be nice to eat out here for lunch. We could set the patio table for a change." Robert came downstairs and outside.

"She's asleep," Robert said. "I didn't bother with clothes or a diaper. I just put her in her crib. It's not a big problem to change crib sheets if we need to. By the way, we will have to look for wherever her clothes ended up. She'll gain more control over that too as she grows up, but for now, her clothes could end up anywhere when she changes into her Animagus form. Keep an eye out for them, would you?"

"How do you change her back?" Kate asked.

"It's a matter of a restoration spell. It's a healing spell," Robert explained.

"So I couldn't do it," Kate said.

"Not that spell, no. Or its unlikely, at any rate. Jess can probably do it," Robert replied. "You could try a simple restore incantation, though, Restituo. That might do it."

"I think I will resist the temptation to experiment on my granddaughter," Kate scowled at him, deciding to go get things to set the table on the patio.

"Probably wise," Robert agreed. "Jess, for you to do it, you need to focus on restoring her to her original form when you cast the spell. That should make the spell more effective for you."

Jess chuckled at the thought of Abbys clothes being around someplace. " I'm sure we'll come across them as you say" she said then listened to Robert and nodded.

"I'll try that next time, hopefully with another person knowing how to change her back it will leave you free to focus on your work." she said " I'll dress her when she wakes." Jess watched Kate leave. "Restituo" she said softly to her self etching it into her mind so she would not ever forget it.

"That would be nice," Robert smiled. "It could be a long time before she learns to change herself back. Developing control is a skill she really would be learning in Hogwarts, but we might need to teach her a bit of that before then. Otherwise she'll have to have one of us with her all the time, I'm afraid, and if she keeps going all Labrador in the bath, she's going to be very frustrated at taking a bath long before she gets to Hogwarts. It will be problematic for her. I presume I will need to work with her before then and try to help her learn at least some basic skills so she doesn't suffer daily embarrassment in the shower."

"Why is it that you can always think of things that none of the rest of us have even thought of yet?" Kate looked at him, disgusted that he was already thinking of how Abbey's Animagus abilities were going to be a problem long before Abbey was ready to learn the skills for herself.

"Because it's true," Robert shrugged.

"We never had any Animagi in our family," Kate sighed, starting to set the patio table for lunch. "This is definitely going to be different."

"And we'll learn as we go," Robert said. "It's a cinch we wouldn't ask Rob Dent even if we could find him."

"Why would you even suggest such a thing?" she glared at him.

"Well, if he and Khaat were still together, presumably he would be taking the lead in teaching her."

"Don't count on it. He wasn't good at any sort of commitment," Kate said. "Surely we can find an Animagus that might tutor her."

"Perhaps," Robert said. "Right now, she has her hands full learning how to be a human baby. We have a few years before we need to think of tutors. So, Jess, what are your thoughts of Angus working here? And what do you think of Jack coming on board with us?"

Jess listened to Robert and Kate talking knowing that looking forward at problems was a good thing as it meant that they as Robert had said could work on them before they became a problem. When she heard him talk to her she smiled " I think both are good fits for around here, Angus is a skilled chef and Jack has strength both in his heart and body, but I do think there will be some showing off between him and Brian though. " She chuckled lightly " he's mentioned the assault course several times now, and taking on Brian's time challenge."  

She stood up and looked at the sky "Looks like rain, and I'd better dress Abby, Oh Jack will be here soon." she said smiling as she entered the house. Heading up to Abby's room she gathered what she needed, some PJ's and a clean diaper to put on her.  She glanced at the door way as she heard aperating and Jacks voice.


Jack walked out to the pool area and looked at Robert. " Looks like the ministry take acceptation to Auror's who were bitten". he said  "bunch of stupid...no good.." he grumbled.

"What do you mean, Jack?" Robert said. "There's no policy about having werewolves as aurors. I told you that if you had an issue, I would settle it. So what's the problem?" As he was speaking, he felt a vibration on the pendant around his neck under the collar of dress shirt. Kate's own pendant began to flash, and in the kitchen, Angus's own doubloon began to flash. Kate looked at her pendant and saw a little yellow light flashing.

"It's Brian," she told them. "His distress signal."

"He never uses it," Robert frowned. Angus came out quickly to the pool area.

"I'll go," he said. "If someone gets the chicken out of the deep fryer. The salads are ready except for the chicken. If someone gets the chicken out and slices it into strips and puts it on the salad, you can eat. The dressing is in the red pottery bowl on the counter."

"Find him, Angus, and bring him home," Robert said. "Jack, are you able to go with him?"

(fyi--we can use James as an npc for us and our own personal plotting but we aren't going to use any site wide villains for awhile. and that's fine with me.)

Jack sighed and looked at Robert, " its not like that there just giving me the missing pets jobs" he said then noticed Kates pendent flashing. Looking to Robert as he spoke Jack nodded as Angus walked out " I'm coming as well , you might need some muscle." he said and moved to Angus's side.

" you'll have to take me I still haven't got the hang of how to use the medallion yet." he explained " I did only just get it this morning and we need to hurry and help Brian."

"It'll take us to wherever he is," Angus said, "when it's flashing, it becomes, in essence, a portkey. Hold on to me with one hand, and the doubloon with the other." Angus drew his wand and took hold of his doubloon, ready to port them both.

When the doubloon let them land, he found they were in the dark. That made no sense. It was noon. It wasn't night. Where the devil were they? Then he smelled damp stale air, and as he listened, he heard water.

"Where the devil is he?" Angus whispered to Jack. "Lumos!" He lit his wand and saw stone walls all around with a wide channel of water running in the center. "So--we're in a sewer? That's where he's brought us? There could be anything down here, so we should be at the ready for just about anything. Brian!" Angus shouted and at first he didn't hear much of anything. But then he heard someone calling in the distance.

"Forward. He's ahead of us by quite a way." Angus said. He took off running, wanting to find Brian as soon as possible. The way was full of twists and turns, and he just hoped they weren't going off the track. But then he saw a figure on the ground. It was Brian, leaning up against the wall. He had a bloodied leg and a bloodied arm.

"What happened?" Angus ran over to him.

"Be careful. It could come back," Brian said, in pain.

"What could come back?" Angus asked.

"I don't know. It was too bloody dark. Something big and hairy--it bit me--twice. I fired at it, but I think I missed," he said. "We got a report that someone had seen a werewolf down here, so they sent me to go check it out, and that was when I got attacked and whatever it was bit me. When I took hold of my amulet, the light drove whatever it was off. I didn't get any sort of a look. And I can't stand up to get out."