LONDON CALLING

Andrew transformed Angus's clothes from his jeans and his casual linen shirt to a very trim, elegant black three piece tweed suit with a black shirt, left open at the neck. Even without a tie, it exuded power and money. Andrew cast a glamor spell to freshen up Angus' look to make him look like he was a very rich and powerful man. At Angus' direction, Andrew went over to Edwards and asked to borrow a couple of elegant rings for Angus. Edward got a good laugh out of Angus buying Reginald's house and the fact that Suzanne had come to see him. He sent over a couple of gold rings with large diamonds and a very expensive man's watch, along with some onyx and diamond cuff links. With a bit of tweaking, Angus looked exceptionally powerful--just the image he wanted. Andrew and the inside guards also changed their appearances, changing their clothes to black suits. Angus asked Andrew to transform his recliner into a leather wing chair. When the image was complete, Angus told Andrew to let Suzanne in.

Suzanne was clearly where Ruby had gotten her looks. Suzanne wasn't unattractive, but she was trying too hard to look alluring. She had been, at some point, a willowy blonde. Her hair was still blonde, but the color had dulled a bit with age. She had put on a few pounds, but not excessively so, and some of her formerly good looks had started to go south a bit. Body parts weren't as toned and perky as they once had been. She was wearing a red, formfitting mini dress with high heels, a diamond bracelet, and carrying a little gold clutch purse. She had a sashay in her walk that, Angus was sure, was designed to gain a man's attention. Angus didn't find it attractive, though. And the guard was right. She did wear too much perfume.

She studied him, as if she hadn't payed any attention to him really the first time they had seen each other--when he had turned them into swine.

"So, you're Mr. Donohue," she said, sizing him up.

"I am," he replied calmly.

"And you know my little Ruby?"

"I'm her husband," Angus said.

"You're...married?" she asked.

"What brings you here, Mrs. Tyler?" Angus asked.

"Call me Suzanne," she smiled. "Mrs. Tyler is so formal. I thought I should get to know who my only daughter is...married to, and, oh, my my--I didn't expect you to be so dishy. How did she land someone like you?"

"Sit down, Mrs. Tyler, and tell me what brings you here," he told her. Instead of sitting, she walked around the room, looking at the southwestern art pieces.

"You have expensive tastes, Mr. Donohue. I've been doing some checking on you," she told him. "Surprised?"

"No," he told her.

"I've found you're an investor of sorts. You're a man of means, from a family of means. You could have just about anything you want. So tell me--why would a man like you want a junior leaguer like my Ruby when you really could have so much more?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, knowing very well what she was talking about. She came over and perched herself on his lap and started flirting with him, taking his face in her hands and kissing him, then trailing kisses down his neck. "I'm not giving you the house," he told her quietly but coldly.

"But why would you need the house, my dear Angus--can i call you Angus--when you could have a real woman like me. I could show you the world..."

"I've seen it," he replied. "Let me tell you a secret." He whispered into her ear. "Your perfume's gone sour. My gran used to call that scent Eau De Bordello." She jerked up and stared at him. "And I'll tell you something else. Look out the window behind me. You see that man in the woods?" She looked out the window. "That's your husband, and from where he's standing, he's watching every little move you make."

"You...you know he's there?" she asked.

"Of course," he laughed. "He sent you here to try to convince me to give you back your house, but you can tell him I'm not interested."

"Maybe we should go upstairs and discuss it further," she made one last ditch attempted to seduce him.

"Maybe you should just stop. You really aren't very good at this. Go home to your husband, and perhaps start packing your things because in 30 days, I'm changing the locks on that house," he told her.

"Mr. Donohue," Andrew said quietly, clearing his throat. He had an envelope in his hand. Angus motioned to Andrew, who handed him the envelope. Angus opened the envelope and read the letter inside.

"Mr. Donohue, you surely wouldn't put me and my little boys out on the streets..." she said, still trying to be alluring.

"Your boys are sixteen. They aren't so little. And, by the way, they're not yours anymore. They're mine. I have legal custody of both of them because of the neglect that you and your husband have committed." He showed her the document, and she screeched like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"My boys! My little boys!" she wailed.

"My boys," he corrected her. "Both of them."

"I'll kill you, you sonofa..." she said, reaching to claw his face with her fingernails. The two inside guards snatched her and lifted her straight off of Angus before she could touch him.

"Show Mrs. Tyler out, please," Angus said to them. "And Andrew, do say goodnight to Mr. Tyler, would you?"

"With pleasure," one of the guards said. They escorted her to the door, while she was still screeching death threats at Angus. Two outside guards came over and took her, one on each side of her, and escorted her back to the gate. Andrew looked out the door and waved at the figure in the woods.

"Goodnight, Mr. Tyler," Andrew called, and then he went back inside, closed the door, and locked it. Andrew and Angus looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Well played, Angus," Andrew grinned.

"One moment," Angus told Ruby. He looked at Andrew. "We need to send a message to Hogwarts immediately."

"I'm already composing it," Andrew nodded. "You want a meeting with the headmaster?"

"Yes. Asap," Angus said. "I'll take the documents when I go."

"Fine," Andrew said. He finished the letter and sent it at once.

"Sorry, Ru. I needed to take care of that before either of your parents can get to the school. There wasn't anything for either of your parents to fall for. I told your mother the truth," Angus shrugged. "I told her she smelled like a bordello. She really is a tart, you know that? I don't know if you ever saw that side of her, but she is a dirty old woman. Your father sent her here to try to get me to give them back the house. She knows I have no intention of it. Someone's done their homework b/c she knows I have money. She tried to put the moves on me, and I told her she wasn't good at it and I wanted her to stop. And, I got the paperwork from the wizengamot. Robert works fast. We got temporary custody of the boys due to your parents' neglect of them. Andrew just sent notification of that to the headmaster, and I asked for a meeting with the headmaster as soon as possible so that I can take a copy of the custody papers with me and make sure the school is ready an able to protect them. If they're not, I'll bring them here, straight off.

"So, we have a couple projects we have to do now. We have three guest rooms in this house. Andrew is using one, and the other two are being used for storage. Edward has three guest rooms too. One of us needs to ask Edward if we can temporarily store some of this baby stuff upstairs in one of his guest rooms. I have enough stuff to take care of a daycare center. do take some time and go through it and sort out whatever you think you want and set that aside. We have plenty of time, but we need to separate out what we're keeping and what we're not, I'll offer Brian whatever we're not keeping before I start returning things. And I wont return anything until we're sure your parents are out of the way.

"The next thing we need to do is to set up a room for your brothers. I'll order the furniture and things for it, and we can get that set up in a hurry. I want that done asap because we don't know when we might have to bring them here to keep them safe. I'll order those things tonight so that, maybe, we can get the furniture as soon as tomorrow. Once we get it, we'll have to see if Jack can get us some muscle to help us set those things up. I'm obviously not going to be any help with that. Could you send a letter to your brothers to explain what's happened and to make sure they do not, under any circumstances, go with your parents? Make sure they know they have a home with us. If they don't feel safe at the school or if there is something they need, they need to let us know. Now--can you think of anything I'm forgetting?"

"He's entirely knackered," Andrew told her. He got up and got a warm, wet washcloth and handed it to Ruby. "I've been trying to get him to stop for hours, but he keeps telling me 'just one more thing.' And he's been 'just-one-more-thing'-ing me for hours now. I told him three hours ago if he didn't stop, he was going to cause himself a setback, but he doesn't listen."

"This can't wait, though," Angus said. "It's important."

"Edward and Lee both told you that you could leave all this in their hands til tomorrow," Andrew said. "I think you should have taken them up on it hours ago. I'm sure Lee will be back, Ruby. He's gone through all of Angus's notes and paperwork, so he would probably be the best to pick the operation up overnight--if you can get this one here to get a bite of supper and then to let this mission go for awhile." Andrew wasn't entirely sure he was going to be able to keep Angus awake through supper unless he had Angus focused on the mission. Andrew's feeling was that if Angus set the mission aside, his fatigue was going to cause him to slip into a deep, sound sleep, and probably for hours.

"Do you need the suit or the wing chair anymore?" Andrew asked him.

"No, I'm done with it for now, thanks," Angus said. Andrew flicked his wand--once at the chair and once at Angus's clothes. He changed the chair back to the recliner and changed his clothes back to his sweat trousers and tee shirt.

"Well, I didn't figure on going until the headmaster actually agreed to see us at some point," he smiled.

"I think we'll wash off the bordello in the morning," Andrew laughed.

"I don't want that woman's skanky perfume in my bed," Angus frowned. Andrew laughed out loud, finding his remark hilarious.

"I don't think your mother is going to get within a country mile of your wedding or of her grandchildren," Andrew told Ruby.

"Not until she showers, brings up her dress necklines and lowers her hemline. I don't want to see those views ever again. They're not attractive," Angus said. He kissed her. "Thank you for supper. I'm sure it's delicious. Now, go get some supper yourself, would you?"

"I'll take care of him, Ruby. He'll be fine," Andrew said.

Andrew had to encourage Angus to finish at least half his tray because once Ruby left, Angus's fatigue kicked in. Once Andrew quit nudging him to eat, Angus fell into a deep sleep in the recliner. Andrew just decided to let him sleep where he was. Lee and Edward came over and they worked on the mission for a couple of hours, and, feeling that Angus had it handled well, they both decided they were safe enough to go to bed.

In the early morning, Angus woke to the sound of a persistent tapping sound. One of the security men went to the window and opened it and took an envelope from an owl.

"For you, Mr. Donohue," the man said. "Coffee's fresh. Would you like some?"

"Please?" Angus yawned. He opened the envelope. It was a note from the headmaster, saying that he understood the seriousness of the situation. and he would be available to discuss the boys at ten am this morning. Angus looked at the guard. "How difficult is it for me to travel with my chair?"

"None," the guard said. "Andrew ordered you a featherweight chair. It weighs all of 13 pounds. We should be able to apparate it and you without a problem. Where would we be going?"

"Hogwarts," Angus said.

"Well, since I'm American, I don't have the specifics on that, but generally the schools do take some doing to get to."

"Yes. They do," he said. If anyone had any shortcuts to the process, Angus felt it might be Robert. "Have you seen Robert this morning?

"I saw him out in the barn earlier, and, shortly after, I saw some sort of a new little horse in the corral."

"A new foal?"

"Is that what they're called?" the man asked. "Looked like a newborn. Was all stumbly."

"Nice!" Angus was excited. He loved seeing the new foals when they were born. He was taking it that Robert had perhaps gone out to help with the birth of the foal. "What color was it?"

"I couldn't tell for sure. My eyes were playing tricks on me. It looked like the thing was made from solid gold."

"Gold!" Angus was excited. "That was a unicorn foal! Our unicorns were expecting! They had their foal! Take me to the window so I can see?" The guard helped him into his chair and took him to the window, and sure enough, there was a brand new spanking unicorn foal, and Kate and Robert were there, leaning on the fence rail around the corral, watching the unicorn mare with her new foal. "Oh, he's a handsome fella, he is. He's going to be magnificent. God, I want to see him." He sighed heavily, knowing it was too dangerous for im to go over to the corral. "Would you see if Robert could come see me so we could plan a trip to Hogwarts? And then see if Andrew is up? I need to get cleaned up and get one of my suits freshened and pressed. This meeting is important. I'm going to dress well for it. Send a note over to Ruby and tell her I"m going to the school this morning and ask her if she still wants to go. Tell her, if she does, there is a gift I meant to give her but I hadn't gotten the chance. It's hanging in my closet."

He had bought her a beautiful raw silk shirtdress that he had thought would be a good versatile piece for her. He had seen how Khaat and Kate had found ways to either dress them up to be quite elegant, or they had used rustic chunky jewelry and scarves and wedge heels to make them casual. They were essentials for Kate and Khaat for travel, and the tailors in Venice had chosen the color and had sent her the dress, along with a lovely belt and with a long sash scarf she could use instead of the belt if she chose. He thought, for some reason, that it was a style that she would look amazing in, and so he had meant to give it to her as a just-because gift, but he hadn't gotten the chance. He hoped she liked it.

"I've seen him from a distance," Angus said. "Maybe, if I can get this case resolved, I'll be able to see him up close before he's full grown." Andrew came downstairs and warmed up Angus's coffee for him, and Angus told him he had to go to Hogwarts to meet about the boys. Angus said he wanted to wear a suit and look presentable. Andrew knew he would have to go along to see to Angus's needs while they were out, and the men were already notifying Lee that Angus needed to go out. Lee immediately assigned four additional men to go as armed guards and attendants--whatever they were needed to do.

Andrew helped Angus freshen up, and he helped him dress in a very sharply tailored linen three piece summer suit in a beautiful tan color, with a tan and white striped oxford shirt, with a pair of light brown knit slip on loafers. Andrew made sure Angus had his sunglasses and a straw panama hat. Andrew made sure Angus looked very sharply turned out indeed, and he took him downstairs again.

"I'll be straight back. I'll go change and then we can go," Andrew said.

"I love the dress, Ru," Angus told her. "It looks great. Khaat and Kate have several shirtdresses, with slightly different styles, and in all sorts of colors. They've become real pros at taking a classic style like that and making it work for something as simple as a trip to the farmers market or as formal as a cocktail party. I'm not sure how they do it, but I thought if you had a few classic pieces, then, if we get to travel again, you'd have the start on a good travel wardrobe. So, will my linen suit do, do you think?"