LONDON CALLING

Marcus apparated in with Angus, and then he looked at him.

"You alright, Mate?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks," Angus said. "I knew he'd strike. I knew it. I will get him."

"I know," Marcus patted him on the shoulder. He looked out the window and then apparated straight back. Angus didn't say a syllable, watching out the window helplessly as the grounds crew joined the fight. A part of Angus felt like he ached to be able to join the fight, and he couldn't. He saw Simone joining Edward and they appeared to be outside joining the others, trying to drive off the broom riders while some of the ground crew were using Aguamente spells to try to put out the fire.

"You alright?" Angus asked the boys.

"Yeah. We're fine," Sam said. "Who's doing that?"

"I think your stepfather ordered that attack," Angus said.

"He's not our stepfather," Victor said hotly. "We're not claiming him. Is he doing this because of us?"

"Well, legally, you're entirely correct that he's not your stepfather," Angus replied. "Now you both listen to me." He looked at them square in the eyes. "I am not one tiny little bit sorry that we ended his influence and your mother's before it even got started. I am not one tiny bit sorry that you're Donohues now. I will always, always do whatever it takes to keep you both and Ruby safe--always. This is just the sort of whackadoodle Tom Gelding really is. This is exactly why we did what we did yesterday. You didn't make him this way. He was a nutter before yesterday, believe you me. He is only using you two as an excuse to attack."

Ruby wanted to move to Angus but staid with the boys for the moment while she saw the fight going on out side. She also said nothing while Angus explained who and why this was happening when Victor said Gelding wasn't heir step father she smiled and ruffled his hair a little. Sh watched out the window as one of the fliers flew cross the yard smashing the window but was not dead he stood up and went for the boys , Ruby took out her wand and cast Depulso sending the man back out the window where she cast repairo to repair it to new once again as she saw Jack take hold of the man who did fight back knocking ajack to the ground but he bounced back onto his feet and chased after the man who ran towards the grouns bourder.

"I hate unwated guests" she said " they make such a mess" she moved to Angus and looked at him " we have to let him know he can't get away with this and how did he find us?." she said softly to him her hand now holding his. " who has Abby?" she asked standing and moving to the nursary to get hold of Abby bringing her safly into the same room as they were.

"Lupin," one of the flyers shouted. "You can stop all this. Just give us what we want!"

"What's that?" Robert shouted.

"Give us Donohue, or we will take him!" the man shouted, firing a warning blast at Robert's feet.

"I'll show you what I will give you," Robert shouted back. "Incendio!" He fired a fireball at the flyer, and it caught the flyer and his broom both in massive ball of flame. The flyer screamed in agony. He fired multiple other fireball blasts at the other flyers, purposely making them very near misses, in order to try to warn them off. "My next shots won't be warnings. Leave now, or we will kill you."

"You aren't going to go out there, are you?" Sam asked Angus, genuinely afraid for him now.

"If I could do my magic, I'd already be out there," Angus said quietly, "but as it stands, my going out there right now would only put everyone else in danger and it would be a really crappy way to show my gratitude for them risking themselves for me."

"So...that's a no, then?" Sam asked. Victor headslapped Sam.

"Doofus," Victor scowled. "Yeah, that's a no." Sam glanced the other direction and saw an enemy fighter sneaking up on the porch. He fired the only spell he could think of at the moment, a bat bogey spell, causing bats to fly out of the fighter's nose.

"What the hell good is that?" Victor looked at the fighter. He fired a confundo charm, causing the fighter to be come completely confused and disoriented, staring blankly into space, all while Sam's bats were still flying out of the poor man's nose.

"Well, that's original, anyway," Angus said, looking at the strange scene on the porch. "That'll amuse Jack for a moment."

Ruby watched as she held Abby close to her as Jack ran over then stopped confused he glanced in the window and motioned to Ruby who pointed to the boys and he laughed then put a thumbs up in aproval to them, as he picked up the man and carried him away. Ruby moved closer to Angus " its a good try guys but you shouldn't be using magic outside school" she said then looked out the repaired window " loks like they got magority of them, or did that, look" she said pointing to the left of Robert by teh woods.

"hre" she placed Abby on his knee and took out her wand ," boys stay with Angus, please" she said and moved to the doorway. She fired off several fireballs at the new men then quickly moved to Robert. " I couldn't stay inside, there are men coming from the woods" she told him as Jessie made his way over to her.

"I see them" he said and accioed his wand then fired towards teh men knocking several off their feet and into the pond.

"Oooh, look! There's a guy. Let's get him," Sam said to Victor, caught up in the excitement, pointing to a guy that was trying to sneak up on Edward. "He's after our new granddad."

"Nobody gets to off him before we get to know him," Victor said. "Watch this." He fired his wand at the enemy and the man transfigured instantly to a cow who stood frozen and just mooed at Edward. "Well, buggar," Victor sighed.

"What was that supposed to be?" Angus laughed.

"A seal," Victor said.

"Well, okay. So we need some work on spell casting. Right now, he looks more like hamburger on the hoof to me." The boys burst out laughing.

"Wait," Sam said. "So does that mean Jack will eat him?"

"No, he won't eat him," Angus laughed. "Does he look like a werewolf right now to you?"

"Um. no," Sam replied.

"So, he is still human, and although he likes rare meat, he prefers it to not still be moving or mooing on his plate," Angus said. "We need to brush up on werewolves too, don't we? Maybe I need to take a closer look at your grades."

"Nah," Sam said. "You don't really want to do that, trust me."

Ruby headed back inside but skidded to a hault as a man appeared right in front of her she looked to see if any one had seen it but to her dismay they had not raising her wand she took a side step back casting imobilus the then cast Incarcerous wrapping ropes around the man rendering him unable to move so she could get back inside to the others. " you know Roberts not going to like the boys using magic, but in this case it shows their level of skill with it" she said not realy complaining as she took Abby and moved to the couch.

Jessie moved quickly to take down three of the men each trying to hit him but he bounded and jumped out of the way of the spells. He jumped behind a man and knocked him out cold before moving to another then to Jack who held a cow of all things on a lead." um..you hungry?" Jessie said and Jack rolled his eyes.

"the boys" he said and Jessie burst out laughing " and this is one of the men, turned to a cow, here take it to the barn and make sure it dosn't escape" he handed the lead to Jessie who lead it away.

Angus looked at the smoking house, and the thing that made him ache the most, honestly, was the thought of the skylight being gone. He loved that skylight. And when the fire had broken out, he hadn't been able to lift a finger. He had had to be rescued himself. If he was going to be a decent dad, he had to get back to the person he had been. He had to walk. And he had to have his magic. It was moments like this, in the helplessness that he felt the most unworthy of having Ruby and now, their growing family. He didn't say anything because he knew exactly what the people around him were going to say, and although he knew they were right, it wasn't coming soon enough.

On the other hand, though, he was so proud of the boys. They hadn't hesitated for a moment. They saw the danger at hand and they had stepped up. Granted, the magic hadn't gone the way they wanted, but they had leaped right in with everyone else. Polishing their skills could come, but he saw raw courage in both of them, and, he believed, with some training, they could be solid fighters.

"Thank you," he told both boys. "You have no idea how very proud I am of both of you. You were great."

"Great? Our magic tanked!" Sam exclaimed, frustrated.

"That is not a big problem," Angus said. "We can fix that, but you both took a stand for what you believed in. You didn't question it, and you didn't hesitate. You saw a real life attack, and you stepped up. That takes real guts. I am so, so proud of you. Nice job."

"The house is ruined, though," Victor said.

"Look. Take a good look. It still stands. It's damaged, but that can be repaired. We'll fix it..."

"We don't have a place to stay..."

"Yes. Yes you do. Understand me. As long as I'm living and breathing, you will not go without the things you need. You probably won't get everything you want because, honestly, that really isn't good for any of us. You will always, always have the things you need--especially the basic essentials. That's one thing you don't ever have to worry about ever again.

"For now, Brian will let us stay here until we get things repaired. My old room from before the duplex is still here, and Ruby and I still use it from time to time if we end up working late over here and have to get up early. It's just more convenient. There are lots of guest rooms here, and, if we run out of guest rooms, I have an office here that we could put a couple cots into if we needed. There are also worker cabins that we could use for a few days. Or, if everything else failed, we'd get a wizarding tent. We will not be without a place, and you'll be surprised how fast all the repairs will happen."

"I have a question. What about all that icing stuff we made?" Sam asked.

"Well, we'll have to get a whole new batch of fondant because all of that will be ruined. It'll smell like smoke. We'll have to order fresh and start again. And, I'll send to the school to get your books and lessons replaced." They both scowled at him.

"Why'd you have to go and remember that?" Victor asked unhappily. It made him laugh.

Ruby walked in to Angus talkign to the boys she smiled at them and moved to place a hand on Angus's shoulder letting him know she was there. " things and items can be replaced, people can't, and you saved not just me or Edward but others too, as Angus already said I'm proud of you too and yes trainning will help you focus the spells you need" she told them " but for now I guess I should get some food on the go" she said and moved to the kitchen.

Rowan walked back in and sat down on the couch " nice work boys, that cow idea was perfect" he said and laughed " it had Jack in stiches." he chuckled as Jack walked back in.

"okay house is a mess , got a crew coming tomorrow to start repairs all the asssaents are gone or aprehended, I think Roberts interagating them to find out what they know" he said as Jess walked in dushing off soot from her jacket.

"okay whose idea was the bat buggers becuse we now have a full bat colony in the barn." she chuckled " not thats a bad thing will keep the mice down and that was brilliant thinking by the way." Ruby put on a pot of coffee and tea ready for others when they wanted it then made a sasage caserol with new paotatoes and fresh carrots from the garden.


Once finished she put it in the oven and let it cook before moving back to the boys. " okay looks like schools out for the time being" she chuckled,

"The cow was mine," Victor said. "It was supposed to be a seal, not a cow."

"It worked out just fine," Angus said. "I know what you were thinking, I think. Seals don't move very fast, but neither do cows. You were good either way. The confusion spell worked well for you, and the bat bogey spell worked well enough. It stopped that guy in his tracks."

"That was mine," Sam said.

"It all worked out well," Angus said. When Ruby told the boys that school was out temporarily, they shrugged.

"That's alright. We were helping Angus with some icing anyway."

"That reminds me. Would you order all that fondant again, Ruby? We'll have to replace it all because it's all going to smell like smoke. I'll have to go over and see if I can salvage the fondant sculpting tools. If not, I'll have to replace it. And to replace that and all the molds, that will be hundreds of galleons."

"You want me to go over and see if i can gather it all up?"

"Don't go over until we know if you can safely go in. Jack, is it safe for him to go in to the kitchen area? Not upstairs. Just in the kitchen," Angus asked. "I could go with him, but in my chair, all I'm going to do is track water and wet soot all over the place. And, Andrew, can you find me paper and a pen? I need to send a message to the headmaster about our legal changes anyway, so I can ask for new books at the same time."

"Paper, um..."

"In my office, in the top right hand desk drawer. Envelopes will be in the drawer right below."

"Okay. Be right back," Andrew said. Sam got up to trail behind Andrew.

"Where're you going?" Victor asked.

"I haven't seen his office. I wanna see what it's like," Sam said, tagging along with Andrew. Angus just laughed. Sam and Victor had endless curiosity. They wanted to know everything, and that was fine with him.

Ruby smiled and nodded she understood "of course " she said and walked to Angus's office behind the kitchen and took down a note pad writing the exact same order but with an addition of the face they'd had a fire she sent it to the supilers. " done Angus " she said and moved back to him. Jack looked at the boys and chuckled.

Sure as long as they listen to me and fon't go where I say not to" he said and stood up but as he did he saw Sam leave with Andrew. " okay, we'll wait till Sam gets back" he said and sat back down. Jess chuckled and shook her head as Ruby moved to the kitchen to take out the caserole and send the crockery to teh table " okay foods ready, its not a fancy meal but its a heartly one." she said sending over bread rolls and the caserol with new potatoes and the carrots to the side board