Fee Fi Fo Fum

Jack waited while the groom saddled the horse's once done Jack watched as Marcus got on his horse and he followed suit. He looked towards the direction the groom had pointed and nodded " good idea" he said " that way we can check out the perimeter first, I don't think he'd come that way but who knows with my brother, oh you any good with wards?" he asked

"I failed that class, im more an action fella, DADA or herbology " he said chuckling " we might need to strengthen some of the wards to prevent him getting in if he tries." he moved his horse to trot towards the main gate.

"Yes," Marcus said. "They're very helpful for bodyguarding. Lets me set up safe zones. For example, a client's private office at work. I can create a awrd around that to keep the place secure. I don't generally try to cover a large area. I am presuming that for an area this large, it either needs more than one wizard or one very experienced one--like Robert, perhaps."

As they rode towards the guard tower, Marcus looked back and got a better feel for the size of the house and the lay of it.

"Damned big house, isn't it?" he asked. "Not the thing a man builds for himself as a bachelor pad. More the thing that someone builds if he's thinking he wants a large family someday. Right now, it looks like Brian could house all of Hogsmeade on this property and have room left over." He saw the guard tower rising above the trees. His first assessment of this guard tower was that Brian wasn't fooling around. It was starting to look more and more unlikely that anyone who wasn't supposed to be here would, in fact, be here.

"Brian is bloody serious about this, isn't he? That's one of the biggest guard towers for a private estate that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them. Seems like he intends for this place to be iron tight. Nothing wrong with that. That might make your job and mine a lot easier." He pointed out what looked like a tall ladder that went up into the guard tower. "Well, we're either apparating up--if they let us. Or--we're climbing halfway up to the clouds by the looks of it."

Jack chuckled and nodded " yeah, I haven't seen all of the inside yet, just the kitchen , living room and Jess's room but I'm guessing Robert got something hid away too." He said as they rode to the tower. He listened to Marcus and laughed.

"whats the matter scared of a good work out ?" he teased looking up at the tower. " so you want to go up of carry on?" he asked leaning back slightly on his horse. " coz I bet I can get up there before you?"

"Me? Nah. I'm not scared," Marcus said. "But since there's one ladder, one of us will certainly have to get there before the other." He whistled to alert the tower they were looking to come up. A man stepped out on the catwalk that went around the tower.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"Not yet. We're new. We're supposed to get to know the grounds," Marcus called back.

"Well, then, I guess you'd better come up, then," the man motioned to them.

"After you, Speedy," Marcus teased Jack, dismounting and tying his horse. The eagle lighted lightly on the rail around the catwalk and stared down at Jack and Marcus as if to tease them that he'd already won the contest of who was going to get there first.

"The bird's got you beat, Mate," Marcus laughed. "He wins. Shall I time you anyway?"

Jack chuckled and looked up at the man as he spoke, he saw Arrow land and shook his head " ha yeah" he said and started to climb the ladder.

Now at the top he looked around "Nice view up here" he said seeing the woods and the main house. "So how long you known the Lupin's and Quinn?" he asked wanting to know a bit more about him. " you might have guessed but Jess and I were together, so I'll be protecting her, you focus on Khaat" he added and moved to the other side of the tower.

"okay so what are we seeing here?" he asked waiting for Marcus to join them inside the tower.

Marcus climbed up and took a look over the estate. The view was vast. He could see for surely what had to be miles and miles. Jack asked him how long he had known the Lupins.

"Went to school with Brian and Khaat, though we were in different houses--Gryffindors, you know. I'm a Ravenclaw. Interestingly, it was my Uncle Damocles Belby who developed wolfsbane potion. Never really got to know him, though. Bad blood of some sort between him and my dad. Dad doesn't talk about it. Just refers to Damocles as 'him.' I suppose there's a rift in ever family, though. Still, I'm glad the Belbys have contributed something of use," Marcus said.

"Yeah, the fact that you and Jess are together is obvious. I had fully intended to leave her to you, unless at some point you're not around. I presume that, in that case, you'd like me to make sure she doesn't get eaten." He looked at the man in the tower. "How much of this is Brian's?"

"Almost everything you see from where you're standing, except, of course what's behind you, on the other side of the fence," The man said. "The estate is a bit more than two and a half miles in each direction. It's a big plot of land. From here, its the farthest northwest corner to the rocks and caves. The thickest part of the woods are in the northeast. House and grounds are more in the southeastern sector, and the fields and gardens are in the southwest. Land's more flat there for it, you see. Got riding trails throughout, so you'll want to stick to the trails until you know the place. And don't be shootin' nobody up. You hear me? Brian's got a full crew here between guards and gardeners and farm hands. They got their own layout of cabins, some of 'em. They're all north of the barn, the outbuildings and the stables. Over there." He pointed to a little cluster of cabins that Marcus could barely see through the trees. He saw a larger cabin just south of the barn.

"What's that?"

"Guest house," the man said. "It's a three bedroom place. Pretty nice inside."

"What protections are there? Could a werewolf get in here?"

"Other than this one?" he gestured towards Jack. "Not bloody likely. Robert and Brian have laid layers and layers of wards all over it. And Robert made it unplottable even before Brian started to build here. Dark energy doesn't seem to even recognize that it exists. So, nothing dark is gettin' in unless there's a hole in the wards or something. We keep it locked up tight, we do. No exceptions."

Jack chuckled and nodded " well I guess I have your family to thank for me being here." he took out a small vial and showed him. " yeah please do. she..she means a lot to me." he said then followed him as they were shown the grounds. He noticed the cabins and smiled " hum maybe Jess and I will take one of those eventually, but for now I'm okay with being close to her."

When the man thumbed towards him he frowned " Hey, names Jack and I'm not that bad, well compared to my brother." he said smirking. when the man spoke of the area he hummed silently to himself. " the caves would be Jame's style, dark enclosed, easy to defend and seriously gross." Jack said with a shiver at the memory of the basement.

Jack sighed " and how often does that happen, I hope you guys are on them quicker than James on a steak." he wanted to know how efficient the men were at their job.

"Everything wears out sooner or later," the man said. "We check the wards every shift, and if one starts to look a little weak, we report it straight off to Brian so they can repair it. We haven't been breached, but that's not saying there isn't a first time. We take it seriously, and if we are breached, we'll be responding at least as quick as you do."

"Fair enough," Marcus said, satisfied. "Alright, Jack, we'd better go. Looks like it's going to be a long morning." He thanked the man in the guard tower and then climbed back down, untied his horse and mounted it again and waited on Jack. He really wanted to take a closer look at the northwestern sector, but he was now seeing how very thick the trees were in the north central and northeastern sectors. They would be good hiding places too. Protecting the house, if James ever made it inside, would definitely not be easy.

"You know we're not going to get a good look at everything. It's just too big," Marcus said to Jack. "The best we'll do is a basic outline. Where would you like to go next. Looks like we're here at the very bottom right hand corner of the map, and those caves are in the top left corner. But those woods look really thick. Those would be good cover for someone too. And there's nothing more disorienting and easy to lose someone in than a cornfield. Corn over your head so you can't see where the devil you are? A person can get lost in a big cornfield and never bloody find their way out again."

Jack nodded to Marcus and followed him outside. He stood waiting for him to get to the bottom where he slid down the ladder using his boots to slow himself down. Landing at the bottom he smiled at Marcus.

"hum.." he said and listened to Marcus continue " I think the woods, I can scout the caves another time." he said moving to take the rains of his horse and climbing up onto its back. " oh and James doesn't need to see he can smell where he wants to go, like a blood hound uses scent to track." he told Marcus " good thing about porting the track ends where you port from, so will take a while for him to pick it back up, if at all." Jack said spurning his horse to move towards the woods.

Once at the edge he pulled his horse to a stop remembering the last time he was in a wood, his hands shook as he held the rains. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the memories and screams of that night from his mind.

"Sounds fine to me," Marcus said, since that would let them get the lay of the outbuildings, guest house, worker cabins, etc. They rode towards the woods together.

"So you're fairly new here too, I gather," Marcus said. "What else do you like to do besides work and workout? You must have some hobbies or interests." He had known Robert for awhile, so he had the elder Lupin figured out as much as anyone was likely to do. He was making some observations about people as he had figured his way through the house. Their possessions and their tastes told him a lot, perhaps more than they expected he would see.

He was gathering already that Brian was a lover of the outdoors, and that he loved native american art. His collection was, by Marcus's estimates, worth quite a bit. He also noticed Brian was building a nice sized wine and whiskey collection. And by the look of the nursery, he was quite the doting father. The child was being raised, or so it appeared, to be well provided for but also well grounded. That wasn't always such an easy balance.