A Birth day

Ruby sent the food to the tabel then sent over the plates and cutlry so people could help them selves to teh food. Halfway threw sending over a jug of lemonade and several sodas she heard Caprice cry out. turning she was about to go fetch her but smiled seing Anise grabb the bottles and make one for her then sit and with Angus instruction she fed her ." thank you Anise and hes right your very good with her." she said smiling as she placed down the last of the food and drinks.

Ruby sat and dished up some food for Anise placing it beside her on the small table next to her with a fork and knife along with a can of soda for her to drink, gently she cast a warming spell that would keep the food warm for her. " there you go , let me know once shes done and I'll take her so you can eat" she said and smiled.

"Thanks, but I think I've got it," Anise said. "Thanks for the plate though. I think I can manage to do both. I've seen him do it, so I think I can manage."

Angus had no desire to try to rescue her. He decided to simply let her decide for herself if she could manage, and she did just fine. When they finished eating, Anise put the baby down in her Moses basket because the meeting would be soon, and the baby would have to go somewhere. David just naturally stepped in and refreshed the baby bag so it would be ready. Simone and Edward cleared the table and set cleaning spells in place. As Angus got up from the table, he saw outdoor folding canvas chairs being placed around the firepit, and one of the outdoor crew was building a fire in the firepit and lighting it so it had time to catch.

Angus was not stupid. He knew exactly what this was about, and he did not want to go. Edward already knew Angus would go, but he would not like it. Angus put his cigarettes in his shirt pocket. He wasn't going without them. He already believed he knew how it was going to go. He believed they were going to sit around the fire, try to forbid him from going to deal with her on his own, and then tell him in 400 ways that he couldn't do it by himself because they were all in it together. Angus knew all the lines. And he wasn't interested in hearing them. If that was all they had, then Angus wasn't interested in going at all, and he didn't intend to stay if that was their agenda tonight.

As it neared seven, Simone looked at Ruby. "Shall we take Caprice to Nicky and Shannon? We can meet Edward and Angus at the fire." David and Anise had made up their minds they were going as well. They weren't being left behind.

"Come on," Edward told Angus quietly, "let's you and I go get our seats, and Anise and David can come with us." Angus didn't reply but just followed Edward out, dreading every single moment that he believed would come.

Robert knew all too well that if they gave Angus too much resistance, he would absolutely leave. Robert had to squelch that right from the outset. They had to simply acknowledge that Angus's idea was as valid as any other, but they had to look at all the other strategies they could come up with. Robert already knew he had to be quick and ready to shut anyone up that started in with saying they weren't going to let Angus go off alone because they all loved him so much, blah, blah, blah. Angus was beyond being ready or able to hear that without anger, resentment and rejection. If they wanted him to stay and to hear them out, they had to have a whole different approach, and Robert was preparing to send anyone out of the meeting that thought they could come in and tell Angus what he could and couldn't do.

Ruby looked at Anise and smiled " of course and your welcome." she said and moved to the table. Once she'd finished she placed her plate in th washer and sent all others that were finished to it as well. Noting the time she nodded to Simone as she spoke " if you wouldn't mind , thank you simone" she said and looked to Edward who was with Angus he sould tell by the look on his face he didn't want to go but she also knew he might be in for a plesant suprise .

Watching them head to the firepit she walked quickly to be at his side taking his hand in her own as they walked.

Jess and Jack made there way out to the fire pit as did Jessie and Yu Long all sat down and waited for Robert to start talking about what was to unfold and they all hoped it would finish Suzzanes antics forever.

Simone had thought perhaps Ruby would be taking the baby to Shannon and Nicky but Ruby didn't understand, so Simone took the baby to Shannon herself.

Angus normally looked forward to being with these people, but tonight, he would have rather had his teeth pulled out, one by one, with blacksmith tongs. His anxiety was amping up. He saw Robert, dressed in jeans, with a flannel shirt and a jeans jacket, going out to the firepit. Kate and Michael were already there, and they had a large kettle of hot spiced apple raspberry cider heating over the firepit, with a table outside the circle, stacked with mugs, napkins, some fresh made cake donuts, and some popcorn, in case somebody wanted something to snack on. On the other end of the table were stacks of camp blankets in case it got chilly. As people were arriving, Michael and Kate were taking ladles of the cider, filling the mugs and handing them out to people.

People were taking mugs of cider, maybe a donut, and finding their way to their seats. Michael and Kate handed cider to Edward, David, Angus, and Anise. They took their mugs and began to find seats.

"I know you don't like cider, but you might like this apple raspberry cider," Kate told Ruby. "Or there's tea in the house. I'm sure its still hot. You could accio some for yourself if you'd prefer that."

Ruby looked at Kate and smiled " I think tonight I'll give it a go, trying not to stick to old rotines and habbits" she said smiling still as she sat down and took some popcorn from the bowl she had seen simone take Caprice to Shannon and Nicky and was greatful. She made a note to make something special for her as a thankyou later.

Jack and Jess took the cider and were happy to see Ruby joining them in one too. " its quite nice" Jess told her and sipped her own" with freinds and being out side it makes it a whole lot better" she said with a smile as Jack took a sip of his own.

"Do you think you could look any more like Dumbledore is sending you in the dark into the Forbidden Forest for detention?" Edward hissed softly sarcastically into Angus's ear.

"I'd have enjoyed that," Angus replied dryly, as he took his seat. Robert came up from behind him and laid his hand on his shoulder, making Angus jump.

"Calm, Lad," Robert said. "There will be no beheadings tonight, I promise. How's the shoulder?"

"It's touchy," Angus replied.

"I suppose I should have given you a full dose when I saw you earlier then. Here," Robert said, adding potion into Angus's cider mug. "Make sure you drink that. It'll take the edge off, and you'll feel better."

"Thanks," Angus said quietly.

"Can we all come together and get started?" Robert asked. "Take your seats please. I've asked you to all come together because we have long been dealing with Tom Gelding and his family. Now we have this new little wrinkle with Suzanne, who has her own agenda. If she were simply falling in line with the rest of the Gelding family and doing what the Geldings have always done, we could continue to proceed keeping kids safe as we have always done. However, this little tart apparently isn't involved in the family business, at least not so far as we can find. It honestly is a pretty sad day when your arch enemy comes to you for mercy against his new wife because she's completely crackers. That really does say something, and I do rather think his household must be far more chaotic than things are here.

"Angus met with Tom not long ago, and thank you, Angus, for doing that, but the only thing we really learned is that Suzanne is running unchecked. Clearly, Tom hasn't been able to contain her, and I don't know if he's honestly tried. But she's dividing his household, and she's dividing us. When she's out running amuck she pulls us away from protecting kids.

"We need to discuss strategies--all strategies. None will be taken off the table here tonight. Am I clear about that? We will gather these ideas, and then we will decide, probably not tonight, about what we should try next. Angus has an idea that since Suzanne wants him eliminated, that he could offer himself up as bait to lure her into a trap. There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to doing hunting expeditions like that, and we all know what those are. So, lets keep that on the table and look at some other ideas. What else do we know, or what else can we do?"

Ruby sat and listened to Robert agreeing that the idea was sound but for the future not right now " well, I'm off to Paris in the morning I could bring back reports about Gelding operations, plus inform them about Suzanne so they can watch her too, not engage just recon" Ruby said sipping her cider " or I could arrange to meet her and ask her to stop for the time being, not sure how though" she added looking at Jess and Jack who just shrugged and looked to Robert.

"We got nothing right now," Jess said as Jack shrugged " I can keep an ear open in st Mungos for anything that's happening around injuries and such," she said Jessie spoke up now after downing his mug of cider.

"I could scout out diagon alleys Hogs head and see what the gospel is " he said " people don't know me so might be easier to stay in the shadows, plus I could ask Michael to train me on espionage " he sat back eating a doughnut now.

"Some good ideas, Ruby. Let's check our informants. Get with Owens when you get there, and see if he has time to go with you to talk to some of our informants. Maybe they know something. If they do, great. If not, ask them to nose around. Let's see what they turn up for us. Let's keep the idea of Suzanne meeting with your or Jessie either one on the table but not as a first line strategy. Jess, I like that idea too. Let's see what that brings in. And Jessie, by all means, check Diagon Alley, Sparks, the Leaky, Hogshead, Three Broomsticks. All of it. While you're there, ask Jonathan to keep his ears and eyes open. Jonathan is very observant. He sees a lot where other people can miss things. Take him into your confidence and see if he won't let us know if he sees something."

"There's a special on books going on right now at Flourish and Blotts," Kate said. "Khaat and Abbey and Molly and I could go and keep our ears open while we're there. Those sales bring in a lot of customers."

"That works too. Just be careful. This is all good stuff. Let's keep going. What else."

"Sparks has been asked by the Hogsmeade Merchants Association to do a pop up event with special spring street foods on this coming Saturday when the students have a day out. It would be a great chance for some of us, especially Anise, to go, blend in, and listen up--if that's alright with you, Ruby and Angus."

"Good. Well, if we did that, we certainly wouldn't let her go alone, and the boys would be there, I'm sure. They're nosy little buggars too. We might be surprised what they could find out for us," Robert said.

Jessie and Jess both nodded when Robert said there ideas were good Ruby looked to Angus when Khaat said about going to the pop up and taking Anise and the boys " if its alright with Angus, then its okay with me" she said and looked to Anise " have fun too" she said smiling.

Jessie looked at Robert as he spoke again " I'll take Yu with me we could act like we're on a date" he said this made Yu chuckle.

"yeah just rember wer there to observe, not have fun" he said shaking his head " although I could contact my goverment and ask them if they could send over reports from their end about any of Geldings over seas dealings." he added " we could also contact that shipper Black and see if he is for real he might have contacts that we don't know of that could keep an eye on Gelding and Suzanne." he sipped his cider and was plesantly suprised by its warming effect to his body " this is good" he said making Jessie chuckle.

"Michael, you have a contact or two over in Paris. See what you can find out," Robert said, not mentioning that Michael's steady romantic partner since Alette's death was France's minister of magic. Michael just nodded.

"Good idea, Jessie," Robert said. "We need to know what caused him to turn up now, and why did Suzanne care about him enough to take him, wrap him up and chuck him in our yard? That doesn't make any sense at all."

"Maybe I can find Reginald and talk to him again," Kate said. "He may have some dirt on Suzanne that we don't know about."

"He went with Suzanne,' Angus said quietly. He was starting to feel a lot calmer for no reason he knew of, and it began to dawn on him that it was very likely related to whatever Robert had put in his cider.

"What?" they all looked at him, knowing he wasn't a seer.

"How do you know that?" Kate asked gently.

"He wanted me to see him," Angus replied. "He showed me doing some sort of a leap onto or into Suzanne before they left the last time."

"He's right," Anise said. "I saw it too. He jumped Suzanne on purpose so he could go with her. But I don't think it was to be helpful. He's full of dark energies." Angus didn't respond. He had seen, in his dreams, exactly what Reginald was doing to her, and it wasn't pretty.

"Well, do see if you can raise him, Kate, and see what you can find. I'll check with Lee," Robert said. "He might know something too. Angus, I will suggest to you that your shoulder is going to hurt like sin for the next couple days. Tomorrow is going to be more painful than today because the swelling and bruising will be taking a firm hold by morning. You should plan to simply lounge around your place and try to snooze--if one can ever do that with a baby in the house. You're always welcome to come over to the main house and find a quiet corner over there."

"I appreciate that," Angus said.

"Anything else? Or would you lot prefer to take a couple days, gather some information and come back?"

"Depends if we get more donuts," Michael said.

"You baking?" Robert teased.