A Birth day

"It wasn't for very long, but yes, that's one Jack remembers very well," Angus said. The secretary came in bringing the morning papers and also bringing cups of hot, fresh French roast for the three of them.

"Thank you," Khaat told her secretary. She looked at Angus and Ruby. "Come get some coffee while it's fresh and hot, you two."

"Thank you," Angus said, thanking the secretary. He took one of the paper cups of coffee.

"One moment," the realtor said. "I'll get your copy of the paperwork." He picked up the paperwork and left the room for a moment to make a copy.

"In a hurry, are you?" Marcus asked her. "We can go as soon as he brings our copy of the sales agreement. I did tell you we'd go to breakfast, though. You still want to do that when we leave here? I know we don't have all morning because of last night's incident but we would have time for breakfast, I would think."

Ruby saw the assistant walk in with the paper work and plac it on Khaats desk then stop and talk to them about coffee being ready if they wanted some " I'll fetch some you stay here" Ruby said and stood up walking with the assistant out to where the coffee machine was sat and made three cups one for Khaat and one for Angus and one for herself, with each on a tray she carried them back into the office and closed the door behind her "okay coffee's here" she said and placed the tray on a coffee table handing Khaat her cup and Angus his before picking up her own.

Aria looked at Marcus and was about to say something when her tummy rumbled and she blushed " sorry, just hungry I guess. " she said then heard him say they could go once they had the documents " oh right those are important things to have and I guess I just got use to Khaats routine." she said and chuckled as she waited for the reliter to return.

"So, are you with me all day?" Khaat asked them.

"No, that's not the plan, really," Angus said. "Marcus is coming in a bit. He and Aria are signing the papers for that stone cottage they're buying. Then Marcus will take our place. We're planning on trying to take a look at the area where the potions thieves were."

"Well, I sealed off the one treatment room in A&E where they took potions from, and I did try to seal off the stairway where they fought with my father last night, but I don't know if you'll find much there. It honestly might have been contaminated by now. That can be a busy area," she told them.

"Just the same, I think we should take a look. Do you know what potions were taken?"

"Pain potions, sleeping potions, pepper upper potions, the usual sorts of things that are taken."

"You have this happen often?"

"Not like this," she said. "We sometimes end up with a bottle of something missing after someone is in A&E, but generally not anyone trying to actually take a significant amount of things."

"Do you have a theory about what might have happened?"

"Oh, there are a lot of possibilities," she sighed. "People that are trying to make some money, most likely. If I were really smart, I'd go check the catacombs to make sure someone hasn't set up Rob's old labs again."

"Well, I don't think that's for you to do," Angus said. "Can't the aurors do that?"

"Those idiots. They dont' know where to look. I've tried to tell them. I even took them there once, and, quite honestly, they don't know their from a hole in the ground. If my father and I don't take them, they'll never find it. So, under the circumstances, yes. It is for me to do."

"I know how to get there, I believe," Angus said. "It's been a long time, but I was with Robert a few times when he went, so I think I could find it on my own."

"Be careful if you do go," she warned him. "There's frequently some enterprising thugs who try to set up shop again there."

"Point taken," he nodded.

"So where would you like to go for breakfast?" Marcus asked Aria while they waited on the realtor to return. "There's Sparks, there's Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, and I know that the Leaky and Three Broomsticks both serve breakfast now too. And there are probably a million muggle places."

Ruby listened to Khaat and Angus talking and nodded to her that was what was planned then she heard Angus say he would investigate "Well I an stay with Haat while you take a look if you want, I know about certain rooms that we use in case of anything happening" she said and smiled to him as she sipped her coffee " just go if you want to, I know your curious." she said " but as Khaat said be careful , don't need you in here again" she said standing as she placed down her cup and walked over to him and kissed his cheek " some one needs to find some sort of clue or its going to be something playing on your mind for the rest of the day." she told him.

Aria smiled and listened to Marcus then smiled " I was thinking three broomsticks , I haven't been there for a while and their home cooked foods are always good" she said knowing it was simple but good food to her and had a warm homly feeling just like their cottage would once it was in place by the lake " oh and I was thinking the interior of the cottage , homly and warm like its alays been by the lake" she said " warm colors and woods with natral tones oh and some plants from the herbarden in the kitchen, hows that sound?" she said hoping it was what he wanted too.

"I'll wait til Marcus gets here," Angus said, sipping his coffee. "I'm only trying to get my thoughts together so that I have an idea of maybe where to look, that's all. And I figured I might as well get what information I can from Khaat while I can. I really don't want to miss anything and have someone else end up hurt."

"Well, do keep me posted, would you? I do have to make a statement to the press at some time this morning, but I thought I would do it later, after you've had a chance to prowl around a little," Khaat said.

"Certainly," Angus replied.

"Okay. Three Broomsticks it is," Marcus said. "As I recall, some of the kitchen is whitewashed, and some is stone. And almost every room has a fireplace. As I recall, the kitchen rather looks like that already, so you might not need to do much to it. I was hoping to leave it as original as we could. I realize that might not be entirely practical and we might have to make some changes, but I rather like the old rustic look it has. And I don't want it to lose that. You do realize it really isn't going to be by a lake. It's more like just a small farm pond. Still, it'll be nice, I think." The realtor brought back the paperwork and bid them goodbye. Then Marcus apparated him and Aria to Hogsmeade to the Three Broomsticks for a bite to eat before he had to go to work.

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded "Of course" she said and sipped her coffee as she watched Khaat working at her desk. She listened to what Angus had to say and nodded her head " I agree, with Marcus here I could come with you to help search and look around" she added "It is after all why I came" she added with a smile.

Aria listened to Marcus and chuckled " I like those ideas and yes I know its more a pond but, I can dream right, still going to be nice to sit on the porch and look over the pond in the summers." she said with a smile to him as they ported to the three broomsticks

"Well, I just presumed you were coming with me," Angus laughed. "Khaat, I know this is really none of my business, but is there any chance it could be Rob, after all this time?"

"That thought ran briefly through my mind too," she admitted. "But I really don't think so. Rob wouldn't have had a need to steal potions. He'd have just made his own. I admit, it ran through my head too, though. Besides, as far as we know, he's largely given that up in favor of some countess somewhere that agreed to give him a life of pure leisure in exchange for him merely agreeing to be her boy toy."

"Now that does seem like the egotistical Rob that we all learned to despise--thinking he was God's gift to women," Angus said. She smiled and nodded, agreeing with him.

"Well, yes, of course you can dream," Marcus said, as they went in and sat down in the pub. He read the chalkboard with the breakfast specials and then read the menu. "What are you having? I think I'm going to do the kedgeree and some sourdough toast. It was a toss up between that and the Irish oats, but I really like the way Angus does the oats, so I'm sticking to the kedgeree."

Ruby chuckled and nodded "Of course " When he started speaking of some one called Rob she looked at him " um..Rob?" she asked " Rob as in her ex right?" she wanted to clarify. but as he spoke she relaxed " poor fool for the countess" she added and looked to Angus and Khaat " from what I heard about him hes a right peice of...work" she said pausing in her words wanting to use stronger language but shosing to hold her self back.

Aria smiled and nodded as they walked to the three broom sticks and found a table she looked at the menus and just couldn't decide " I'll let you chose I can't decide" she said placing it down in front of her  as she listened to him explain why he was chosing the kedgeree. " thats a fish dish right, with potatoes and it originates in Scotland?." she asked as she looked around the restaraunt at the peoiple in it all talking laughing and just relaxing.

"Yeah, that's her ex," Angus said. "He fooled us all. He worked really hard to make himself look like the boy-next-door type, devoted husband, the whole bit. But it turned out he really was the biggest illegal potions dealer in England. Long story short, Robert busted him and his potions empire and managed to get hold of all of Rob's very considerable assets in England and got them awarded to Khaat when Khaat's divorce from Rob was final. I agree with Robert, quite honestly. Rob should provide for Abbey, regardless if he's here or not. So all those illegal profits will go for some good and help to provide for his daughter and the mother that's raising her without him."

"The night Abbey was born," Khaat said, "Rob walked out on Abbey and me at St. Mungo's. The last I ever saw of him was when he held Abbey for the first time. He handed her back to the nurse, walked out of my hospital room, and never came back--ever," Khaat said. "He's had absolutely no contact since. Brian adopted Abbey as soon as it was legally possible, so he's her legal dad. Abbey knows she has two dads, but she never asks about Rob. He doesn't matter to her because she has so many people in her life who do love her and who are there for her. I just didn't want to ever cause her any sort of emotional damage by keeping it from her that she actually does have another father. So, she knows but when it comes to Rob, she has, basically, a 'so what?' attitude about it. It's hard for her to care about someone she's never seen. And besides, she loves Brian like crazy, so maybe its all worked out for the best."

"It is indeed a fish dish," Marcus nodded. "I don't know how true this actually is, but I read an article once that said that it came to us, actually, from India and that Scottish troops brought it back home and fixed it when they craved some of the Indian cuisine they had had when they were in the military. I've only had kedgeree made with rice, not potatoes, but I'm sure someone's probably put potatoes in it at some point or another. When I've had it, it had fish, eggs, rice, onion, and a nice blend of spices to give it some warmth. I like it because it isn't really heavy and it's got a lot of protein to it, making it a good breakfast for a high energy day. My mother has made it with brown rice, which I actually like since brown rice is healthier than white rice. Angus has made it once or twice with quinoa instead of rice, and that's actually my personal favorite way to have it since quinoa is actually, itself, a complete protein. And it's higher in fiber, lower in carbs, lower in calories, higher in protein, higher in iron and higher in magnesium. It's higher in antioxidants and potassium, and it has all nine of the amino acids that we need. And, yes, Angus has long preached the benefits of quinoa over rice, enough that the advantages are getting hard to forget.

Ruby sat and listened and both Angus and Khaat spoke of her ex and Ruby could not help but silantly agree this Rob was the biggest duch canoe going in her mind. But she also felt he could be one of the people who would benefit from potion ingredients that had been stolen. " hum, he does sound like someone who could use the ingredients that had been stolen but if he's with this countess he could by his own, unless she doesn't know about his illegal potion business and he's trying to start up again?" she said listening to Khaat talk of Abby and smiled to her as she continued . Once she was finished Ruby nodded " and she is well mannered and polite for it too" she said and smiled to Khaat " she does both you and Brian proud, I didn't know she wasn't Brians." she said and looked to Angus " I know Caprice will be just as love and well manner too for being born with so many people that love her around her."

Aria listened to Marcus and chuckled nodding her head "that's what I heard too, but it's also very tasty" she simply said and chuckled as he spoke of Angus and how he preached the benefits of quinoa over rice. " I for one prefer rice over Quinoa with my food," she said softly.