A Birth day

Ruby looked at Edward and smiled as he cathered Caprices things and brought them back to their side of the duplex she heard Angus come down the stairs and saw the lack of sleep on his face. " you okay?" she asked him as she pored a strong cup of coffee for him. She said nothing when he spoke to Sam and frowned at what he said but could not argue with his lodgic.

Hearing Sam and Victor had had dreams about their mother she slambed down her cleaning cloth and looked at them all " she's going to far this time" she told him " invading dreams , depriving those I love of much needed sleep." she said now rustrated she could not help them. " its not right" she said when we go to the ally we might have to ask Jack or Marcus to come with us for protection" she told Sam and Victor " but Im not stoping us doing things as a family, that woman is nothing but a parasite that does need stopping." she looked to Angus hoping he could see she ment for him and the others to stop her.

She watched as he crossed to the floo and stoped the sale of their old house , she relaxed just a little hearing the estate agent finally stop the viewing for that afternoon. " we'll burn the damn this to the ground before letting her hand it back." It was now Caprice started to cry and Ruby moved to pick her up and sooth her gently.

"Calm," Angus told her steadily. "I will take care of it. There is a proper order to this, and I am not going to get the steps out of order. First things first. We told the boys we would take them to Hogsmeade to Honeydukes, and that's what we're going to do. We keep our word. That's our first step. Then, I will talk to Robert about some means of blocking her when we sleep.

"I've already put a stop to her getting the house, but, frankly, it would serve her no good purpose to have it. Think, Ru. Tom Gelding is not going to live in a middle class house. That is just not his style. Nor is he could to put up with her spending his money on that sort of a house. She's just got some weird, half-baked, impulsive ideas, and Tom Gelding will not let her keep a house like that.

"She's completely fixated on trying to get the boys, and getting some sort of revenge at me, and I'm not going to let her have any satisfaction at either one. Gelding has wanted revenge at me for years because of how many auctions I've ruined for him over the years, and I'm not running from him either. I'm not going to run from either of them, and I will protect my family, whatever it takes. Alright?"

"Sam," he said, looking at him. "Go fetch Vic, and tell him to come back so we can go to Honeydukes."

"Okay," Sam said, leaving to go find Victor.

"Shall Simone and I come with you?" Edward asked.

"No," Angus said. "I've got this. We'll be fine."

Ruby looked at Angus and took a long slow deep breath in as he spoke. " Yeah I know" she said calmer to him " and no we don't break our promises" she said smiling at him "I just don't like her messing with us, be it pysicaly or mentaly" she said softly as Caprice calmed down in her arms. When he spoke of getting Robert to enchant something to stop her getting into their dreams she nodded " agreed" she said .

Seeing Victor return she smiled at him " okay grab your jackets , I'll grab Caprices travel bag and we will head to diagon alley for those chockolate frong, if you need anything else let us know" she said smiling as she took a sip of some coffee. " I still think we should burn down the house" she said softly while cooing to Caprice who was now in her sling.

"We're not going to London," Angus told Ruby. "That would be looking for trouble. The real estate office is in London, and she's going to head there as soon as she gets word that I'm not selling the house. Hogsmeade is safer. She won't think of that. Its too far from the house she wants and the real state agent. We're going to let her head south to London to chase her own tail for a little while we go have some fun up north in Scotland at Hogsmeade. Distraction works really well for getting rid of her and Tom Gelding, I've found. She goes south, so we go north."

"And don't linger," Edward said. "Go to Hogsmeade, make your stop, and get back. It reduces any time you might be targets. Keep your wits about you, and if each of you keep one boy with you, if you have to suddenly port back, you can each grab one of the boys and your portkey and port straight back. That would put you there and back before Hogwarts would release the students to go to Hogsmeade for their weekend outing, so even if Suzanne did think of trying to contact them on a Hogsmeade weekend, she won't find them."

"That's exactly my plan," Angus said. "You read my mind."

"Stick to it, and you should be fine," Edward said. Sam came back with Victor and Finn.

"Stupid dog," Victor mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Angus asked.

"Idjit dog saw a mama duck with a whole herd of babies, and this knucklehead takes off after them, chasing them in every bloody direction and barking, and the mama duck goes after the dog, and it's like a freaking free-for-all." Edward and Angus both burst out laughing.

"Victor," Edward said, amused. "Finn is a border collie. They're herding dogs. It's just what they do. Your dog was herding those little ducklings, and I'm sure the mama was not very happy, but he was doing what he believes his job is."

"He's a dope," Victor said.

"No, no, no. Finn is exceptionally smart, but now that we know we have a hatching of ducklings down at the pond, we might want to keep him on leash if we don't want him herding them every time he goes outside. He can stay with me and Simone while you lot go out."

Ruby was about to ask where else they could get the chocolate frogs from when they awnser ed her with Hogsmead " ah got you" she said smiling " yes we'll be very careful while were there " she reasured Edward then turned as Sam and Victo returned from the pond and explained about Finn. Ruby could not help but smirk then awe at the mention of ducklings " there so cute" she said and chuckled " but Edwards right we should stop him from herding the animals we don't want him to." she added.

"okay grab you coats and we'll head to Hogsmead" she said writing anote to Marcus explaining what was going on and if it would be possible he could follow them from a distance incaes anything shoud go wrong. She sent the note via floo and went to grab her own coat and put Caprice into a thick baby suit to keep warm.

Angus got his tan suede bomber jacket while the boys each got out a hoodie to wear. Angus saw Ruby send a note to Marcus, and he said nothing. He did not believe that they would be in enough danger that they needed a bodyguard beyond what he could handle, but if Ruby was frightened enough that she wanted some extra help, then he wasn't going to offer an opinion on it.

"Ready?" he asked them, drawing out a portkey to Hogsmeade. It actually would port them to Michael's but since Michael was just across the street from the rear of Hogsmeade, they couldn't get much closer. "Grab hold, and let's go."

He ported them to Michael's front yard, and the boys looked around to see where they were.

"Hey, this isn't Honeydukes," Victor scowled.

"No, but that is," Angus pointed to the back entrance of Honeydukes. "We'll go around to the front.

"Did you bring your money, Dude?" Sam asked Victor. Victor rolled his eyes at Sam and reached in his pocket, only to find it empty. He immediately panicked.

"Calm," Angus stopped Victor immediately, putting his hand on Victor's shoulder. "I am not skint. I'll spot you what you need but you'll pay me back. Fair enough?"

"Yeah. Okay," Victor said. "Sorry. I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," Angus reassured him. As they walked up to the main street in Hogsmeade and the front entrance of Honeydukes, Angus saw Marcus sitting on a bench not far from the Three Broomsticks, and he was reading--or pretending to read--a newspaper.

"What's he doing here?" Sam asked Angus.

"Ruby asked him to come in case we run into trouble that we can't handle," Angus said.

"Really?" Sam scowled at her.

"Now, now," Angus said. "It's just a precaution. It's fine." He took them to the shop, but it wasn't quite time to open yet. They had a few minutes before it was time for the shop to open their doors, but Jonathan Belby saw them and hurried over to the door and opened it.

"Angus! How good to see you!" Jonathan gave him a big hug. "And I know these lads. Good to see you, Boys. Introduce me to the rest."

"This is Ruby," Angus said, "and this is our new daughter, Caprice."

"A baby? You're a father? Congratulations to you both," Jonathan was all smiles, and he peeked into the sling. "She's gorgeous, and she's gong to be a beautiful girl. I can see it already. So what brings you here today?"

"We have a serious chocolate frog shortage," Angus said. "The boys bet each other a dozen chocolate frogs, and Victor lost. So now he needs to pay up."

"I can help you there," Jonathan laughed, motioning them to come in. "Come on in. I was about to unlock the door a bit early today anyway."

Ruby looked at Angus before they left and smiled " I know you can handle her and anything that comes along but...for my peice of mind " she said placing her hand on his cheek then let him port them to Michaels place and smiled "I rember here , the hatrack and foot stools" she said and chuckled as they walked to honeydukes " I also rember this place , the smell inside is divine" she spoke fondly of the sweet shop.

Smiling at the man who obviously knew Angus she lent closer and opened the sling so he could see Caprice " thankyou, she was a pleesant suprise to all of us, including me" she said and chukled. Hearing about the frogs she stepped insde and took in the sweet smell that sem to fill the whole room and make her feel like a little kid once more. "okay go get those frogs"she said smiling at Sam and Victor " and if Angus can't pay I will so your covered" she smiled at both boys.

Turning to Angus she smiled " I loved coming her when I was younger" she told him " and thankyou for not mentioning Marcus, I guess Im actious what with this being Caprices first trip away from the complex" she said looking down into her sling. " I know you an handle her and so can the boys but it dosn't harm to have a back up plan right." she said softly to him." besides if nothing happens he gets a nice day out, as do we" she smiled warmy at him.

The sole reason Angus hadn't said a word to Ruby about her choice to enlist additional protection was that he was furious with her, and he had no intention of displaying it in front of the boys or in front of Jonathan Belby. She hadn't told him she was going to do request an additional guard, she had just done it, even after she surely must have heard him tell Edward that he did not believe he needed anyone else to go because he had their little short errand to the candy shop under control. It wasn't a day trip. It was just one quick errand. With her words, Ruby had said that she trusted him, but her actions betrayed her. Her actions nearly shouted that she did not trust him, and for the first time, Angus did not believe her words. To add to it, her apparent desire to try to discuss it right here and now in the candy shop within eyesight and earshot of Jonathan Belby only made him angrier. The entire matter did not sit well with him at all for a whole list of reasons, and he had absolutely no intention of ever discussing it further with her. As far as he was concerned, the matter was permanently completely off limits.

Adding further insult to injury, what was her remark to the boys about when she had told them that if Angus couldn't pay, she would pick up the tab? When had Angus ever not had money with him? When had she ever known of him to walk around skint? And when would he ever take his family out shopping without so much as a sickle in his pocket? When had she started doubting him as a protector or a provider enough that she believed she needed alternatives for both? What had given her reason to not trust him? Was this a new thing, or had she felt like this all along? He momentarily racked his brain trying to think of when he had let her down, and he could come up with nothing that she or the boys had ever mentioned. On any other occasion, he probably would have not thought twice about the money remark. Today, though, it had come after her not believing he was able to keep them safe long enough to go to the candy store. That was the biggest issue for him. He had decided on a solution to that, though, and he would take care of it when he got home. As for saying anything to her, she hadn't said anything to him when she had called upon Marcus, so at the moment, Angus did not have anything to say to her.

He said nothing to her at all mainly because he was entirely too angry with her. Instead, he turned his attentions towards the boys and picked up a basket and filled it with some of Edward's favorites--the chocolate truffles, and some of Simone's--the chocolate coated orange peel. Then he added some of the boys' favorites, a couple little things for Abbey and purchased it all. Jonathan packaged it up for him, and, at Angus's request, he added cost of the boys' chocolate frogs to Angus' tab, and Angus paid for them too. Then he handed Sam and Victor both five galleons in case they wanted something for themselves and told them he had taken care of the frogs already. Sam and Victor broke into wide grins, seeing the galleons in their hands, and they eagerly got baskets and started filling them with a little bit of everything.

Ruby could see Angus's demeanour that he was not happy about what she had done but she she chose to stay quiet and enjoy being with Sam, Victor and Caprice in the sweet shop. She said nothing more to Angus and chose to stay a little away from him watching the boys have fun choosing their sweets. Glancing over she did nothing but continued to walk around herself looking at the sweets and chocolates around her.

She saw him hand the boys some galleons and run off to get what they wanted again she said nothing knowing he'd have the money on him to do that as did she. She moved to a seat and sat down cradling Caprice as she now fed her a bottle from the bag she'd carried with her and waited for them to finish. She now had started to feel maybe she should have stayed back at the house and left the boys to come on their own. She also started to feel she could not trust her judgement and had made a bad mistake by asking Marcus to stand guard to protect her family, which included Angus.

When the boys finished shopping and had paid for their purchases, they motioned to Ruby and they left the shop, going out to the street. Angus followed, and he motioned to Marcus. There was no point in them being separate now. Marcus now had two extra large take-out food bags, and he walked over and chatted with the boys for a moment about the candy. The boys had all sorts of questions for Marcus since Jonathan was his dad, and Marcus answered them all, feeling in a pleasant mood. The boys knew of Marcus's children his daughter Poppy, and his other children Zane and Kai who were fifth years, Daria was a second year, and Ezra who was another first year. It gave them something to chat about.

"I'm going to have Marcus take you all home," Angus told Ruby and the boys. "I will be home in a few minutes. I have something I need to stop off and take care of, and then I'll be back. Are you two finished with your papers?"

"Almost," Sam said.

"Good. Go home and help with the chores first. Your room looks like a cyclone hit it. Take care of that, and get your laundry downstairs to the hamper so I can do it when I get home. I'm sure that isn't the end of the chores, so pitch in and to whatever Ruby needs you to do. If I'm not home by then, then finish your papers." He looked at Ruby and Marcus. "I really won't be long and I won't be far."

"They'll be fine, Mate," Marcus said. Then he looked at Ruby and the boys "Abbey and Kate got a craving for Sparks' steakburgers and American style fries for lunch, so Kate paid for burgers and fries for everyone including you lot. I'll take you home, sort out your lunches from the rest and then take the rest of them to the main house. Sound like a plan?"

"Burgers!" Victor said, excited. "Yum! Let's go."

"I'll see you all in just a few minutes," Angus said, porting out.

"If we're ready, let's head home," Marcus told them.