Fee Fi Fo Fum

Jack heard Marcus and pulled himself out of his thoughts " Yes about a month ago, I kinda fell into meeting Khaat after my brother so kindly... nope, no hobbies, protection and prevention is enough for me" he said " I know what your going to say all work and no play, yada yada." he motioned with his hand.

"I prefer the outdoors, that way I get to know my surroundings and my opposition, Jess is the only thing I have that's not part of that." he said looking around him at his surroundings, the tree canopy and leaf littered floor.

"they got deer here and a pack of wolves, no not were wolves, regular wolves, they will be a good deterrent and warning system too." he added turning his horse to follow a narrow path through the trees.

"I wasn't going to say it but you're right, you know," Marcus said. "Depends on where I am as to what I do with my off time. Since I'm closer to home for the first time in a long time, I'll try to spend some time with my kids when they're not at Hogwarts. They're all there right now. My job has me all over the world, so when the kids aren't in school, they're with my parents. My dad owns Honeydukes, and they have a house in the village. My dad saw Honeydukes as a good retirement thing, and so far, they seem to enjoy making the candies and selling them. This will give me a lot more time to spend with all of them, or at least I hope so. Robert said he didn't have issue with me bringing the kids here from time to time and I can see why.

"The one kid I need to get to know is my youngest daughter--Poppy. She just turned eleven. Her mom and I were involved years ago but never married and lost track of each other. She never bothered telling me I had another daughter. Now she's leaving--so like her. The wind blows, and she buggars off. And she's leaving Poppy to me. And when did I find this out, a week before the beginning of Hogwarts' fall term."

Jack listened to Marcus and sighed " wow not good mate." he said as they moved deeper into the woods. I don't have any kids and Im not sure if Jess wants any just yet, hey we've only just agree to go on our second date." he said with a dreamy smile on his face.

"oh I think little Abby would love to have some kids she could play with around here" he said pushing a branch out of the way and hearing it snap back behind him wondering if it had his Marcus or not. " mind the branch." he teased as they moved.

Jess had slept most of the day but when she woke she felt better even if her back ached and was stiff as she moved to dress. Heading down to the kitchen she made some coffee and moved to the living room hoping Robert would be there.

" Hey any one around?" she called out as she sat down on the couch to drink her coffee, leaning slightly forward so not to put too much pressure on her sore back.

"Got it," Marcus replied, catching the branch and moving it out of his way.

"Poppy is just a tiny thing. She's got it up against her at the moment. Her mother started her in Hogwarts a few days before Poppy's eleventh, so not only is she the youngest kid there, she's also the tiniest. I worry about whether her mother didn't rush things, but she didn't contact me until after it was all arranged. Poppy's naive in defending herself. She just wrote me saying some big kid put some potion in her pumpkin juice and gave her house elf ears. The divination teacher thought Poppy did it to herself. She's a metamorph, you see. Got that from me. Runs in the Belby line, not her mother's at all. Poppy got sent to the Deputy Headmaster but she said he sorted it all out, and she seems to like him. She said he's planning on teaching her to defend herself, so I hope he's capable enough. You know, I think she'd like being the older kid for a change. I don't know how she would be around toddlers, but I'm betting she's alright with it."

He felt like they had been riding for quite awhile, and so far, everything looked good.

"One thing I'll say for them is that they really do keep up with it. It has to be hard to keep a place this big looking as clean and sharp as this does. And aside from the bloke in the barn and the one in the tower, I haven't seen anyone. Have you?"

"Good morning," Kate smiled, coming in from outside. "I heard you call. I just took Khaat a cup of french roast. She's outside in a lounge by the pool. Angus found Brian's old crutches and he sized the for her so she can get around if she wants, but Robert said he'd rather her not be on her leg if she can help it. Feeling any better?"

Jack chuckled and listened to him talk about his daughter " sometimes the smallest fight the hardest" he said glancing back at Marcus. " my brother calls me the runt because I'm smaller than him but I would fight til my dying breath, I bet your Poppy will be great at defending her self and she'll make a lot of friends there." he told him remembering his own time at Hogwarts.

"You know, I wasn't always like I am now, I was quite the shy boy when I was at Hogwarts." he said " But I came out of myself, well sort of I'm still weary of people preferring to weigh them up first but I'm sure she'll do fine." he tried to reassure him.

"oh there out there I can smell them even if we can't see them , hes got plenty of men around." Jack said his keen sense of smell picking up the Oder of sweat and BO from the men "Phew, they really need to wash."

"One of the up sides of having werewolf blood, I suppose," Marcus laughed. "Looks like our trail is going to take us away from the woods. Suppose we should stop back at the house for lunch and give our horses a bit of a break?" He could go a good long while without food, but his own stomach was starting to growl for some reason, and he was thirsty and also in need of a cigarette.

"So, by the way the kitchen smelled this morning, Angus must be a good cook. What's your favorite?"

At the house, Angus was just putting the finishing touches on lunch. He'd prepared a large platter of southern fried chicken, potato salad, corn on the cob, a caprese salad, and a large peach cobbler with homemade ice cream.

He thought eating outside would be a good thing since the weather was perfect. They might not have many that looked so glorious before it got too cold to enjoy it. Kate set the table for him, and she helped him bring out the food. She expected Brian home for lunch, but she never knew if Robert could free himself or not. He did try, but it sometimes didn't work out.

Jack looked at Marcus " I guess." he said then nodded " I agree" he added and turned his horse back to the direction of the stables.

He could not help but laugh when Marcus called Angus a good cook. " hes a brilliant chef, hum..mine has to be the steaks , oh and the cookies, he makes big ones so I don't over eat." he added as he dismounted his horse as they reached the stables to hand the groom the rains. " but if your eating here you'll find out for your self soon enough."

Jess smiled at Kate as she sipped her coffee " bit sore and stiff but other wise glad to be alive, I'll check on Khaat in a second" she held up her cup " as Khaat would say priorities first" she said with a chuckle. "Though if Robert has anything to lessen some of the pain I feel right now that would be great" she asked looking at Kate.

"Looks like Jack made a freind, who is he?" she asked seeing Jack with a man who she'd not seen before.

"Robert left some pain potion if you'd like," Kate told Jess. "I can get it for ou if you want. He said its a new formulation he's been working on that doesn't cause drowsiness. He said he figured the two of you might need it before he got back. But I'm sure Khaat could help you, and we are expecting Brian home for lunch. Robert was going to try, but he just wasn't sure how his day was going to go. You know how that goes for him. He's always so busy trying to be two places at once." She got the bottle of the new pain potion off the fireplace mantel where Robert had set it to be up out of the way of Abbey getting it, and she set it down on the side table beside Jess. "He said the dosage works just like any other pain potion and that you could certainly just add it to your coffee if you wanted.

"The new man? He's a classmate of Khaat's and Brians--but he was a Ravenclaw. He's Marcus Belby. Robert said he's a former auror and a former Unspeakable and that he's been on loan to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic for the last several years as a bodyguard. Robert has hired him to take over protecting Khaat from James so that the rest of us can focus on trying to put some sort of a stop to him. His resume is very impressive, and I'm sure Robert would not have hired him unless he thought his skills were up to the task. He and Jack have been trying to get the lay of the land and have been trying to tour the grounds. You know they're not going to get it all done in one morning, that's for certain." She glanced outside.

"I think that's them coming back in. The horses need a rest by now, I'm sure. And they're probably hungry. They missed breakfast because they went out early. I hope you're going to be hungry. Angus made fried chicken. He's just setting it on the table now. Jack and Marcus have good timing. They're just in time.

Jess nodded that she'd like some pain potion. Watching Kate place it down she opened the top and pored a dose into her coffee and took a drink she relaxed feeling the pain subside " thanks Kate, I feel way better now and non drowsiness is good means I can still work." she said slowly getting to her feet.

She heard Kate tell her about Marcus and smiled " I've heard of a Belby, yeah hes a good guy, glad he's here." she said moving her back to ease the tightness. Walking out she smiled at Khaat.

"so hows the walking wounded" Jack said walking over to them both from the stables.

"well stiff , sore and some what pain free thanks to Roberts pain potion." Jess said " and phew you smell like horse and sweat go wash up" she said and heard Jack laugh.

"yeah guess I should." and he left for her room to wash up again.

Jess sat looking at Marcus " Jessica Dark heart" she said offering her hand for him to shake. " its good to meet you." she said sipping her coffee again.

Marcus sized up of the younger women, picking out who was, obviously, whom. Khaat Lupin--the one on the lounge with pillows under her swollen knee and ankle. His memory of her came back pretty quickly. He definitely remembered her, but when had she gotten to be so completely beautiful? She'd been a freckle faced young woman in school that seemed to do well in classes, but had not been overly popular and didn't seem to need to be. well, hadn't she evolved?

The other woman was beautiful too. Jack had picked well. He'd picked her out because, unlike Khaat, she was up and moving without difficulties to her leg. He knew nothing about her except that Jack had made it more than abundantly clear where he wanted boundaries.

"Hello," Marcus said, shaking hands with Jess. "Nice to meet you too. It isn't every day someone turns their back to a werewolf and lives. Sounds like you had good reason, though. Well done. Without your actions, you and Khaat might not have survived, either of you. I'm sure you're probably plenty stiff and sore today, but, take it from me, it'll start to get better tomorrow. I don't know whether I'm all that excited about when I get to meet Jack's brother or not, after what Jack's been telling me about him."

He looked at Khaat who was sipping on coffee, or presumably coffee.

"I remember you," he said with a smile. "What happened to that girl with all the freckles who always wore her hair in a ponytail?"

"And what happened to that guy that always had his nose in a book?" Khaat asked with a grin.

"Guess we both changed a little," he laughed.

"A little?" she frowned. "Never thought you'd turn into a tough guy. My father says you're used to this sort of thing."

"Yeah. I am," he said. "Not necessarily werewolves, specifically, but protection? Yeah. You and Brian have an impressive estate here. I could get to like it."

"I hope you do," she said, as Abbey came dashing outside, heading straight for the pool. Khaat was hoping to avoid having her hit the water and go all Labrador.

"Stop her, would you, someone?" Khaat asked.

"Hey, you," Marcus swept Abbey up in one move, making Abbey giggle. "Aren't you hungry? It's lunch time."

"I wanna cookie!" she told him.

"You know the rules, Abbey," Kate said. "You can have a cookie after your nap. Angus has a different dessert for lunch, but you'll like that too." Abbey stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

"Do you like fried chicken?" Marcus asked her. She shook her head no.

"Oh, you do too," Khaat said. "Chicken legs. You like chicken legs, right?" Abbey nodded. "Well, that's what you're having."

"With berries?" she asked, hopefully. Marcus frowned slightly. He didn't think he wanted berries on his fried chicken.

"That can't be good," Marcus said to the little girl.

"Uh huh!" Abbey shook her head, contradicting him.

"Well, it doesn't seem like she has any issue with you," Kate said. "Marcus, meet Abbey."

"Hi, Abbey," Marcus said. "I'm Marcus."

"Mark!" she repeated.

"Close enough," he laughed.