A Birth day

"Thanks, Jack," Ginger smiled. "It felt good to run again. Its been just way too long."

She'll take clothes," Angus said to Ruby. "don't worry. She was just teasing Jack a little. How far did you go, Ginger?"

"Down to the third house on the left. The one that h ad all the drapes drawn," she said.

"Good job," Angus smiled. "That's quite a distance for someone who hasn't been running at all. Well done. I'm proud of you."

"Really? Nigel didn't want me going much farther than that," she said.

"And he's right. That's far enough," he agreed. "You should rest a little now."

"I will," she said. "I have some readings to catch up on for my studies anyway."

"Good girl," he smiled. When Ruby asked about his weapons, he nodded. "Most of them are locked in Edward's weapons cabinet in his office."

Ruby smiled and nodded " thats what I ment" she said smiling " so are we ready to be pampered today girls?" she asked " we're getting our hair and nails done ready for tomorrow" she said knowing it wasn't somthing to celebrate but it was time spent together with Simone. She lightly tickled Caprice making her laugh " have you seen Simone yet?" she asked Angus as Jack returned wearing one of the sweatshirts he'd been given and a light pair of slacks and canvas shoes to stay cool.

"If its okay with you Angus I might go to the beach to do some swimming this afternoon" Jack asked Angus knowing since he was a guest it was only polite to ask just incase he ahd something planned.

"Simone went shopping for a dress for tomorrow," Marcus told Ruby. "We saw her going into one of the ladies' shops in the village. I thought you all were going with Simone before breakfast early tomorrow morning. She was going tomorrow morning so that her hair style would be fresh from the stylists at the funeral, and that's the same time that Edward's man is coming to the house to trim him up and evidently see to his and Angus's fingernails so they don't look too barbaric. So, you're going today instead? I can't keep up."' He laughed, and Angus laughed too.

"Its a woman thing. I can't keep up either. Nor do I plan on trying As long as they have it figured out, then I don't need to be involved in it," Angus said. "Feel free, Jack. You're welcome to use the beach or the pool or whatever you like. If you're going to be down at the beach over lunch, Rosaria packs a terrific cooler to take along, and Carlo can make sure you get a beach chair or a towel or a umbrella or anything else you think you'd like."

"I'd better get back," Andrew said. "Thanks again for the great breakfast. See you all later." He got up and ported back home.

Ruby chuckled and shook her ehad "Ah right, no your right its tomorow , I am losing track of days here." she said and chuckled hearing Angus then she heard Andrew say he was heading back and she smiled " it was good to see you again Andrew , thank for beinging the parcle" she said to him " we'll see you when we get back home, one th whole fiasco is over" she added and chukled to Caprice.

Jack noded to Angus " I'll remeber that but Im good, just a quick swim and sunbathe I'll be back before dinner" he said and smiled seeng Caprice blowing bubbles to Angus. Ruby looked at Angus and frowned " do you have any idea who put the foot prints on the rug?" she asked " or how they got there , becuse Im sure rosaria and carlo both locked up tight last night, other thn the wndow in our room...you don't think they came in therw that do you" she asked shivering at the thought of an intruder in the same room as them as they slept.

He watched Andrew leave, and at the same time, Ginger excused herself to go do her homework. That left Angus and Ruby in the kitchen with Marcus.

"We definitely had an intruder," Angus said. "Thank you, Marcus, for thinking to check the potions bottles because I don't know that I would have thought of all the precautions you did."

"That's why it's my job and not yours," Marcus grinned.

"And we're all grateful of that," Edward said, coming into the kitchen. "Marcus brought me your potions bottles after he removed them from your room, Angus. They were definitely tainted. I am glad you didn't take either of them this morning, and I alerted Robert just now of the tainting and what I found in it. So you know, I've already sent for the local aurors, and they'll be here shortly."

"Aurors? Can't we safely assume it was a fellow Donohue?" Angus frowned.

"Oh, we can indeed," Edward said. "And I'm following what any sane person would do if their home was broken into and if there were an attempted murder. Whichever Donohue did it is going to be found, arrested, and jailed. And, they won't be living on my land ever again. That much I can promise you."


"Aren't you overreacting?"

"No. Not at all. They meant business, and so do I," Edward said. "They broke into my house, which is bad enough, but then they tainted your potion with a powerful poison. If you hadn't had Marcus here, we wouldn't be talking about it or anything else right now. If they think I'm going to be a pushover about it, then they have another thing coming. I want the investigation of this launched immediately, before I go to Romania."

"Do you want me to pull back on going to the funeral tomorrow?" Angus asked.

"No, not necessarily," Edward said. "We'll wait and see what the aurors say, but if you want to go, then, at least for now, I think you should go."

"I'm not going to deal with this any longer," Angus sighed, frustrated and fed up. "I have things to do." He got up and went to find Anise, knowing Marcus was surely only a couple steps away. He wanted to work with her on her defense spells. He wanted Anise to be able to cast some accurate basic spells that might protect her, like an expelliarmus, and a protego and a stupify. He knew it meant she was going to have a lot of learning to do all at once, but he wanted her to know them.

When Carlo saw what Angus was doing, he went to the storage building and found an old training dummy, and he cleaned it and brought it out for them to use. Angus hadn't been aware there even was one here, and he was immensely grateful for it. Anise was willing to put the work in, and she trained hard, working right alongside Angus, stroke for stroke. She admired the speed that had had in his dueling, and she wanted to learn to do what he did. He suggested that she perhaps also train in fencing and also in chess because he found it immensely helpful. Right now, though, she needed to learn a few spells that she could cast well that might help her if she got between a rock and a hard place.

Ruby listened to Marcus and sighed knowing Angus was getting tired of people gunning for him. Sitting listening she saw him walk towards Anise and she walked over to Edward " I think he's feeling it more now, he just wants this all over" she said softly letting Edward take Caprice for a while. She looked to where Angus and Anise stood and saw Carlo bring out a training dummy for her to practice on.

Jack walked up from the beach his towel slung over his shoulder and the cooler in his hand as he drew close he saw Angus and Anise training with their wands . Placing down the cooler he watched for a moment " Okay so what happened?" he asked as he walked over to them both.

"He definitely is tired of it," Edward said. "He's tired of very that, he's tired of this shoulder giving him trouble, and as much as he likes Marcus, he's tired of having a bodyguard. It's a lousy time for me to be gone to Romania, but he'll bear up. I do think that after the funeral you lot need to go home before we go to Romania, and here's the reason I think that. I think that without me here, he's going to feel a good deal more pressure from the extended family. Right now, I serve as a buffer between him and them. When I go to Romania, there will be nothing to keep them from having at him. They won't follow him home because they can't. They can't get access to the estate. Even the ones that came for our wedding won't be able to follow because those protections have been scrambled and reset. Their portkeys won't work anymore. I'll give a portkey to Evan so that someone here has one in case there is an emergency, but Evan won't give the key to anyone else."

"I wouldn't be much of a dad, would I, if I sent her to duke it out with a werewolf if I didn't teach her a defensive spell or two?" Angus said to Jack. "She needs to at least know an expelliarmus and a protego, and she wants to learn a sectumsempra."

"I've watched him use it," Anise told Jack. She had indeed watched Angus's rapidfire use of the sectumsempra, using it to slash at James, and she had seen how effective Angus was with it. "I wanna learn how to do that."

"I've told her that sort of speed and accuracy takes years of practice," Angus told Jack, "but she needs at least more than the beginning spells she's been learning from Robert. She needs something with a little arse kicking ability to it."

Ruby looked to Edward and nodded " definatly, its just a shame they have tainted his childhood home with such evil" she said as Jack walked over to them and spoke to Angus. Jack listened to Angus then frowned a little.

"Your gong to teach her an unforgivable curse" he said " you sure thats wise, I know shes going up against a werewolf, but that spell of all spells?" he enquired " surly there are others she could use like Ascendio or Bombardo," with each name he said he cast it at the dummy infront of him to show him how effective each was.

"Feel free to teach her, then," Angus said. He was pissed. He didn't need someone always questioning his judgment about everything. He used wandless magic and apparated out. Marcus sighed heavily. The last thing he wanted was Angus going anywhere by himself. He understood why he had gone though. Angus had had people questioning his judgment at every turn. The choice to send Anise at all had been questioned. The choice to not lock up her blade had been questioned, and now jack was questioning which spells he should or shouldn't teach his foster daughter. Jack was actually in the wrong. The sectumsempra was not an unforgiveable curse, and just because Anise wanted to learn it didn't mean that he would teach it or that it would be ready in time for her to be able to use it by tomorrow. He was tired of people having a go at him about every freaking little thing he did.

Marcus turned, without saying a syllable to Jack, and he went back in the house.

"Edward, where would he go?" Marcus asked.

"What?" Edward frowned.

"He's apparated out. He got seriously angry and apparated out just now."

"Damn," Edward sighed. "I'll go find him." He handed the baby back to Ruby. He looked at her. "This is just part of all of the list of things he's tired of that we were just talking about. I'll be back."

Jack watched as Angus aperated out and Ruby walk over to him slapping the back of his head "It's not an unforgivable, those are Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus " she corrected him on it and Jack stood looking like a young boy who had been scolded by his mother. " now you made Angus leave to god know where to go to your room " Ruby said with out thinking . Jack looked at her then did as she said leaving Anise with Ruby . " okay where were you and Angus up to, I'll continue your training until Edwrad and Marcus can bring Angus back, best to be prepared for anything. She accioed her wand and looked back at Edward.

According to her wand she fired a Sectumsempra at the dummy and turned to face Anise " I know Angus is faster than I but I can still I hope teach you and get you ready for what you will face, I did work for the ministry before meeting Angus so know how to battle with a wand" she said to Anise " Angus would be the best one to teach you ut thanks to Jack, your left with me, oh and just so your aware one I have talked to Angus we will be headed back to the duplex after the funeral, all right."