LONDON CALLING

"Thanks," Angus told her. Andrew helped himself to a plate, and Angus was glad to get some food too. It had been a long night and even longer since supper. He was hungry. As he was finishing breakfast, Robert arrived to check on Victor.

"Good morning," Robert said. "How did things go?"

"Fine," Angus said.

"And how's Sam?"

"He did just fine," Angus said. "He's up having breakfast with Victor."

"How is his attitude?"

"No problem," Angus said. "I think he's learned his lesson now."

"Fair enough," Robert said. "I wasn't going to let him off the hook til lunch, but if you think we've made our point, then there's no point in prolonging it. I'll go see Victor, and we'll see where it goes. Oh. And Nigel and I have done some tinkering with your tonic and changed the formula for what you need to be doing now. Stop taking the old one, and take this one instead. At every meal and at bedtime. And, no, it doesn't taste nasty. I tinkered with that bit too. The best I could do was espresso flavor."

"I like espresso. That works," Angus said. "I appreciate it."

"You're welcome." He went upstairs to go see Sam and Victor.

"Ru, Jack was going to bring me some fennel yesterday, and if he still wants me to cook the fish, I'm going to need fennel, leeks, shallots, fish stock and phyllo dough if there is any over at the main house. Can you lot do the sides and the dessert for lunch if Andrew and I do the main course?"

Sam came dashing downstairs, full sized again.

"Ruby! I'm me!" he said, excited. "I'm me again!"

"Were you ever not you?" Angus teased him. Sam looked at Angus and rolled his eyes.

"Dude," Sam said, "I'm not a dollhouse thingy anymore. I'm me."

"Do things look different?"

"Your house is a lot smaller now," Sam said.

Ruby smiled as she saw Robert enter the house " morning" she said and listened to Angus fennel, leeks, shallots, fish stock and phyllo pastry. She made a mental note and nodded "I think there is some in the pantry and walk in, I'll fetch it.." she was interupted by Sam running down from upstairs. smiling she ran and hugged him " this is great bro." she said smiling hugging him.

"oh its just our size " she said chukaling " plus we can make it bigger if we need, and do you like the room?" she asked "Angus did most of the work..okay all the work" she said smiling at him . "it is good to have you nornal sized again, now you get to stay with your brother in your bed." she smiled at him.

"Yeah. The room is great," Sam said. He looked at Angus. "We've seen inside. What's outside?"

"Wanna see?" Angus asked.

"Can we?"

"Well, your sister has to go to work, and I think Andrew is going to be with Victor this morning, so I think it's you and me, Mate."

"Can you go outside in that thing?" Sam asked.

"Well, this is the inside 'thing.' There is an outside thing, and it's outside," Angus said. Sam looked out the window and saw the main house.

"So, where do you work?" he asked Ruby. "You work at the hotel over there?"

"Hote..." Angus began. "Oh. I get it." It dawned on Angus. The main house was so enormous that Sam though it was a hotel. "It's not a hotel, Sam. That house is where Minister Lupin's daughter lives with her husband and their daughter. When Minister Lupin and his wife come to stay, they stay in one of the guest rooms. Right now they have a few guests, so it sort of operates like a hotel, but it really is a private home."

"That thing is as big as Hogwarts!"

"Not quite," Angus laughed.

"Yeah, but is that where you work, Ruby?" Sam asked. "You work for Minister Lupin? What do you do?"

Ruby chuckled and smiled as Sam asked to go outside with Angus " yep thats where I work, I did go on other things but I can't for obvios reasons" she said smiling " Oh and I work in paris sometimes too" she said " that reminds me I need to check on Tom , see if hes over his fever yet." she said and headed up the stairs to dress " but not before I get the fennel, leeks, shallots, fish stock and phyllo pastry from the main house " she said ducking into their room. Returning quickly she was dressed in jeans , tee shirt and ankle boots.

With a quick kiss on Angus's cheek she headed over to the main house. Once inside she saw Rowan and Michael in the kitchen " morning, Michael do we have any fennel, leeks, shallots, fish stock and phyllo pastry?" she asked opening the pantry ." oh and if you see a teen boy walking around don't shoot him thats Sam, Robert turned him reglar size again." she said and looked at theboard " been playing ?" she asked as Rowan walked over and took down a pot of stock off the top shelf for her." Thanks Rowan." she said and searched for the rest.

"Let's go before they come up with something they think I gotta do," Angus told Sam. Sam pushed the wheelchair outside where Angus showed him the all terrain chair and he transferred to it. Sam was happy to push the chair and Angus took him to see the things on the grounds around the house--the cabins, the play yard, the gardens, the pond, the patio, the pool, the barn and the corral. Angus had Sam take them through the barn, and he introduced Sam to the hippogriff, the unicorns, the horses, and then took him through Kate's smaller animal section. About that time, Archangel flew over to the rail of the corral.

"That's...that's...an eagle!" Sam was astounded.

"Yeah. He belongs to Khaat. That's what she used in Hogwarts as an owl," Angus said. "Robert's wife speaks to birds of prey. His name is Archangel, and he's trained. He's exceptionally sharp."

"Can I pet him?"

"Sure," Angus said. "I'll introduce you." He took Sam over to meet Archangel, introduced them to each other, and taught Sam how to pet him.

"He's amazing!" Sam was completely taken with him.

"Yeah, he is," Angus smiled.

"So, what happened to you? Why are you in a wheelchair?" Sam asked. Angus explained it.

"So, if my dad was basically responsible for this, why don't you hate Ruby? And Victor and me?"

"I was already in love with Ruby when this happened," Angus said. "Your dad never had enough power to come between her and me. And, I wouldn't blame you for something you didn't do."

"Well, you're about the only one. Everybody else does," Sam said. "They blame Victor and me both."

"Anybody that blames you for your dad's crap isn't worth having in your life," Angus said. Sam just looked at him. "I'm serious."

"I hate him. I hate dark magic. It's all about selfishness."

"Well, yes. it is."

"But there aren't any jobs for people who don't like dark magic."

"The heck there aren't!" Angus said. "Now, that's just not true. There are all kinds of jobs for lightworkers."

"For what?"

"Lightworkers. Those of us that use light magic instead of dark arts."

"Like what?"

"Morning, Ruby," Michael said, cleaning up the breakfast dishes. "Phyllo is in the freezer. So is the fish stock. The rest is in the fridge. Help yourself." When Ruby asked if they'd been playing, Michael turned to see what she was looking at. "Oh, yeah. Rowan and I started a game but we haven't fin..."

"Michael Alan Tremaine!" Robert shouted in anger from upstairs.

"Ah," Michael smiled broadly. He looked at Rowan. "And that, my boy, is the sweet sound of Robert Lupin being punked successfully yet one more time. Worth every second of it."

Ruby heard Michael and nodded as Rowan paused to hear Robert shout out Michaels full name then he laughed "he found it, he found the Boggart" he said still laughing at Robert and the Boggart. Ruby looked at them both. She smiled and shook her head.

"you and your pranks" she said to Michael " and your dragging poor Rowan in to it now too." Rowan turned to look at her and smiled.

"oh no this way too much fun to miss out on" he said and looked to Michael " best watch you back now , hey Dad" he asi chukaling as he sat abck down.

"I will," Michael said, "but that's part of the fun, knowing that it's coming, and hoping I can find it before it gets me. Did you find everything, Ruby?"

Sam was taking his time to get to know Angus. He was asking him endless questions about Angus' life and his work, and he seemed to be taking it in, thinking deeply about his own life and what he might like to do with it. And then he saw Edward coming across the yard towards the big house.

"Who's that?" Sam asked.

"My grandfather. You need to meet him. Take us over towards him?"

"Sure," Sam said. Sam pushed the chair part way, and Edward met them halfway.

"Who's your friend?" Edward asked Angus.

"One of Ruby's younger brothers. Edward, this is Sam Tyler. Sam, this is my grandfather, Edward Donohue."

"Edwar..hey. You have the same name as that werewolf guy," Sam said. Edward laughed.

"Funny how that works," Edward smiled. "Nice to meet you, Sam. Welcome to the family."

"He is that werewolf guy," Angus told Sam.

"What? Wait. He is?" He looked at Angus. Then he looked at Edward. "You are? Really? THE werewolf guy?"

"'Fraid so," Edward said.

"Cool! You have any werewolf heads or anything?" Sam asked. Angus and Edward burst into laughter.

"Um. No. No heads," Edward laughed.

Ruby looked at michael as he asked if she had everythign " I hink so other than the fennel from Jack " she sid and looked at the stuff infront of her " I could use some help getting this over to our kitchen " she said andRowan chuckled and stood back up and gathered everything in his arms. " welp lets go" he said and togthe they both walked abck to te duplex " got everythign but the fennel" she said as Jack rounded the courner with a large bunch in his hands " oh okay forget that hes got more than enough." she siad and chuckled.

Jack had picked the fennel and walked over to the duplex with a bunch. " hey guys got that fennel." he said and walked with her into the kitchen and placed them in a bowl. He watched Angus with sam and Edward out side the duplex.

"Thanks, Jack," Andrew said. "I know he's fixing the fish, but I have no idea what he's going to do with it. He didn't tell me. Thanks, Ruby. I'll make sure he has it." He finished putting ice cubes in a glass and then poured iced tea into the glass. He took the tea glass out to the back porch, stayed a moment and then returned. "Victor's had enough of being kept away from other humanoids, so I got him moving on his crutches and I took him out to the deck in the sunshine. The fresh air and sun will be good for him. Simone's in the garden pulling weeds, and it gives Victor someone to talk to. They're getting to know each other a little."

Sam had a million questions for Edward because Edward was the first famous person he'd ever met, and Sam had a heart for adventure. He wanted to hear Edward's stories. Angus told Sam not to stay go any further than the places he had already showed him because the property was large and dangerous. Angus went back to the duplex to start on lunch. Edward told Sam to stay with him, and they delivered the basket of fresh produce to the main house to share with them there. Sam met Michael and Kate and Abbey, and Edward took him on a tour of the main house before taking him back to the duplex.

Angus was working on the fish dish. It was a recipe for, basically, a pot pie, like a chicken pot pie, but with fish instead, and the vegetables in the pie were leeks, fennel, potatoes, and celery, with a lovely little cream sauce with the addition of a homemade mustard sauce, some tarragon, some lemon, with a phyllo crust, brushed with egg, and sprinkled with some flaked salt to look pretty and add some additional flavor. Every person would get their own pot pie in an individual sized casserole dish. Angus made them up, and Andrew baked them off.

While they were baking, Angus made a blackberry sherbet for dessert and some fresh shortbread biscuits.

Sam arrived back with Edward just in time to smell the shortbread. Edward went over to the counter and helped himself and Sam and Victor and Simone, each, to a shortbread biscuit, and he and Sam went out on the deck so that Sam could meet Simone, and the could join Victor.

Jack looked at Andrew and nodded " that's good sunshine and good company always helps" he said as he placed the bowl with the fennel on the counter so Angus could se it . Ruby unpacked all the things she'd brought over and smiled.


"We got everything that Angus asked for, and Vincents up on his feet, thats great." she said smiling " I might go and say hi to him before I head back to the main house" she moved to the garden and smile seeing her other brother helping " hey bro, how you feeling now your on your feet?" she asked giving him a quick hug.