A Birth day

Aria placed her sausage over the fire and let it cook happily eating it once it was cooked he ate more than one and smiled as she listened to Marcus "Well I've never skied, but cosying up by a warm fire after making snowmen or having a snowball fight sounds good too" she said then listened to him continue and explain " well, don't change that, grand parents need to see their grandkids and I can find something else to do around then if you want Christmas with just your family" she said smiling as she took a bite from her third sausage. She was not sure if Marcus would want her there for christmas since they just started seeing each other.

Ruby smiled and poured two glasses as she sat down watching him dish up the food. Taking one on her fork she marvelled at the flavour and smiled "Perfect" she said simply as she ate another and sipped her wine.

"You might like cross country skiing," Zane told her.

"It's like sliding down the hallway in your socks," Ezra told her. That made Marcus laugh.

"I've never thought of it like that, but the boy's right," Marcus said. "Do you skate at all?"

"Poppy's the best of all of us at skating," Daria said.

"She's not much into competitive sports, but she really does like ice skating and rollerskating," Marcus said. "Have you done much skating this summer, Poppy?"

"Nah. Skates broke," she said.

"Oh, you should have told me," he frowned. "If you need new skates, I'll get you new skates."

"I didn't want to bother you," she said.

"Poppy, I'm your dad. You're not a bother. If you need something you let me know. Does Granddad or Gran know?"

"Nah. They've been working extra hours, so I didn't want to bother them either."

"I'll get you a new pair. Do you know what you want?"

"Yes," she said.

"Write it down, along with the size you want, and I'll get them for you," he told her. "Let me guess. They're purple."

"Of course," she said, unable to hide a smile.

"I'm glad you like it," Angus told Ruby. "We haven't had lobster in awhile, and I found the pasta sheets when I found the lobster tails in the freezer. You know, we're going to be going home to a housefull again. We'll go home tomorrow, and the very next morning our kids will be coming back from training. I hope they did well on their survival training. That's sometimes some of the toughest of the whole thing."

Aria heard Zane mention cross cuntry sking and smile when skating was mentioned she bit her lip and looked at Marcus " I went ice skating once, it was at our local and well proptly fell on my butt as soon as my skates hit the ice." she admited to him. Hearing Poppy mention her skates broke she smiled "Well maybe we can all go together and you can help me find a pair of skates that I won't go falling on my butt in" she said " as for sking I've herd too may horor stories of broken bits to even try to learn" she said " but..maybe one day with the right instructor."

Ruby smiled and nodded when he spoke of a full house again she nodded "yes we ill but for a good reaon they care about us as much as we do them, besides they can help Jack and the others around the grounds so won't be with us all the time." she said and sipped her wine as she finished the lobster ravioli.

"Dont start with inline skates," Poppy suggested. "Start with regular skates."

"Falling is part of learning," Marcus told Aria. "These four have gotten a lot better but that's because they've been learning from Poppy.

"I only fell once the last time we were out."

"Well, that's because you were tripped," Poppy said, "by that Slytherin kid."

"He did it deliberately," Ezra said. "I saw him do it."

"And I told you I'd get him," Zane said, "And I will. He's a little third year twerp."

"Don't go crazy defending her," Marcus told Zane.

"I won't. I'm just gonna pound him into the ground like a tent stake when nobody's watching. Either that or I'm going to transfigure him into a cockroach." That made Marcus laugh.

"That might be crossing the line of going crazy to defend her," Marcus said.

"Oh, I don't mind them coming home," Angus said. "By the way, before I forget. Evan reminded me that their girls do homeschooling with a tutor. He suggested we send Anise and Ginger daily to Tuscany to study with their girls and their tutor this school year. I don't think its a bad idea. There are lots of us that could take them, or I'm sure that Carlo or Rosaria would come and get them, either one. Or--perhaps they could stay either with Evan or at Edward's from time to time, especially when the weather's bad. But that would put them with a qualified educator that could maybe get them up to snuff with their magic and their other academics. I think its' worth a thought."

Aria hard Poppy and smiled " It was at one of those public rinks so he might have just given me the wrong skates, but I agree next time Im at a rink I'll try again." she said with a smile to them all , when she heard of the revenge Zane and Ezra were cooking up she laughed as well and nodded at Marcus's words. " some times the best action is inaction, make them sweat and never know when its coming" she said smiling " its kinda the worst, they will sweat nevr knowing when you will strike, i think it makes it oh so much sweeter when you do finaly get revenge." she finished as she bite into a smore she'd made while talking to them.

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled " I agree and think they would love that, but we'd have to talk to them first about it, there old enough to decide, right?" she asked him leaning back in her chair as she finished her glass and placed it on the table next to her empty plate

"Well, that's why I haven't done anything yet," Zane said. "No point in doing it if I get caught."

"I might have already taken care of it," Kai reluctantly admitted.

"What? You did? What did you do?"

"Remember how we saw them in at Sparks a couple days ago?" Kai asked Zane.

"Yeah. They were shopping for his school things and stopped for lunch, and he was starting a squabble with Ezra. I remember," Zane replied.

"I might have happened to add a potion to his pumpkin juice. Got it from one of Granddad's books."

"Oh no. What does it do?"

"Changes his voice from a human voice to dolphin sounds," Kai admitted. Marcus knew he should have kept a stern face, but he couldn't help it. He burst into laughter. Marcus knew at that moment the exact book that Kai had used. It had been a gag gift that Jonathan had gotten for Christmas one year from a buddy. Jonathan had kept the book but had never brewed any of the potions in it. Clearly, Kai had had other ideas.

"Oh, God, is that where that sound came from. I remember hearing some sort of sound that sounded like a dolphin but I thought I was hearing things," Zane shook his head.

"Do not brew one more thing from that book. Do you understand me?" Marcus said. He was guessing that the boy had probably already been taken to St. Mungo to be put right again. He got up and got out a pair of pie irons. They were cast iron. and when a person put two pieces of bread and either pieces of a chocolate bar or some canned pie filling, in between the bread, like a sandwich, and then grilled it over the fire, they ended up with a lovely dessert pasty. Marcus got out a stack of chocolate bars and a can of peach pie filling and he made two of pies, one in each pie iron. He made one that was chocolate and one that was peach. He cut them into pieces so that everyone had a bite to try them. The kids were delighted and they volunteered to make everyone a pie, whichever flavor they wanted.

"They are old enough to decide. That does mean they'll graduate from Beauxbatons in a couple years, but they'd have some good skills under their belts. And, as close as they are to Evie and Faith, it might inspire them to some good grades. Maybe. Oh, I did not make dessert, but I did find some chocolate gelato in the freezer. I could make us each an affogato if you like."

Aria sat and listened then at hearing what Kai had done she tried to stifle her laughter but only turned her cheeks red before bursting out laughing "That's the best yet" she said still laughing " But your dads right Please don't brew any more, some could be dangerous" she said still chuckling thinking about the boy with the dolphin voice hearing Marcus say he'd probably been taken to St Mungo's already she nodded " most likely if his parents had any sense." she said watching as he brought out a cast iron tool. She watched in amazement as he made a chocolate bar and some canned pie filling and placed it between some bread before closing it and placing it over the fire "that's a first for me, never seen one of those before." she told him watching s the bread started to toast.

Ruby smiled "Yeah they grow up so fast," she said and smiled " I agree with those two I sure keep them on the right path." she said and watched him head back to the kitchen as she cleaed the table and sat back down "oh affogato please, don't think I've tried that." she told him with a smile.

"Muggles have had these pie irons around for decades and decades, and they make different shapes of them now too. They make square ones and round ones, rectangles, hearts. All different kinds. I did one at our last survival training b/c i had stuffed some peanut butter in my pack because of all the protein it has, and Michael had managed to put some chocolate bars in his. Kate made some flatbread one night over the fire, so we took her flatbread and put it in the pie iron, spread both pieces of bread generously with peanut butter and put some chocolate in it, and it turned out to be these warm, gooey chocolate peanut butter pasties."

"That sounds incredible," Zane said. "It's odd how the bread in these pies taste just like the crust of a pasty."

"They really were good," Marcus said. "And you're right. I don't know how the pie irons do it, but even the muggle ones seem to make some sort of change in the bread so that the bread tastes like pasty crust. All I know is they're very tasty."

"I bet you could do breakfast in these somehow," Ezra said.

"Kate told us she's done it with leftover scrambled eggs and some shredded cheese and some broken up cooked bacon. I haven't tried it, but Kate said they're good," Marcus said.

"Affogatos sound really exotic," Angus laughed, "but they're not. Not really." He went to the kitchen, made some espresso, and while that was brewing, he put a generous scoop of ice cream into two glass coffee cups. Just for garnish, he added some chocolate syrup, some whipped cream, and some chopped nuts, like an ice cream sundae. Then he poured some espresso into two espresso cups and took the coffee cups and espresso cups to the table. he set a coffee cup and an espresso cup in front of Ruby and one at his own place.

"So, it's really simple. Affogato is the Italian word for drown. Pour the hot espresso over the ice cream. It's just that simple. And that's an affogato. It's a classic in Italy, and its a perfect way to end a day," he told her, sitting down and pouring the cup of espress over his ice cream and watching hte ice cream start to melt into the pool of hot espresso that was now in the glass coffee mug. He took his spoon and caught a bit of the ice cream and some of the coffee and ate it. "Perfect," he said.

Aria listened and smiled "Sounds like a sweet tooth dream," she said biting into her S'more and loving the flavours she tasted "This is dreamy," she said then lent over to use her thumb to wipe off some chocolate from his lips with a smile. " better," she said smiling before taking another bite.

Ruby watched as Angus explained what an Affogato was and she chuckled "Oh I get it" she said watching as he brought over the icecream and cream in a glass and the warm coffee. She watched as he pored it into the glass and smiled following how he had done it Then taking a drink she was surprised at how wonderful it was "It like a creamy hazelnutty coffee,but cooling not warming" she said as she took another sip.

After dessert was over, the kids decided to go into the tent and play gobstones because it was too dark outside to play gobstones outside, and besides, they didn't think the muggles would get it. Marcus cleaned up the supper mess and quickly did up what very few dishes there were and put the food in the car.

"Shall we go take one quick walk around the campground by ourselves? It's not a huge campground, so I'm sure we could probably walk the whole thing in maybe twenty minutes or so," Marcus told Aria.

"I'm glad you like it," Angus said. "I think some people think that Italian food is so compllicated, but it really isn't. It's just about taking simple ingredients and preparing them well. I know this is our last night away for a little, but do you want me to cook in the morning, or would you like to go out for breakfast maybe in Tuscany before we head home? Your choice."