A Birth day

Aria chuckled when Angus said Pip liked her "Na just mutual like ness" she said smiling as the owl moved to lean slightly against her "Ow kay, maybe you right," she said and chuckled again" Once he was finished with the broth she picked him up and placed him down in front of the fire leaving the towel wrapped around him to keep his warmth in. " wow formidable indeed to duel Robert Lupin," she said looking up at the two men. " and I have never head of a duelist making their spells before" she sat down and listened as they spoke of a pensive that belonged to dumble door," you think she'd show us it?" Aria asked.

Ruby watched as the snow fell harder and the wind grew stronger outside it was now that the lights began to flicker but stayed on "You think it's interfering with the power" Ruby asked walking over to a draw and taking out several candles and laying them on the counter " can't be too careful" she said just as the lights went out and all she could see was the glow from the fire. " might need to cast that charm again" she said and looked to Angus as he lit her wand then the candles.

"I'm sure she would," Angus said. She had Robert magically enlarge the closet in their room here so it does include a little nook in the closet to hold that big pensieve. It means a lot to her that he would will it to her. There has always been talk that the pensieve that Dumbledore used was not necessarily the school's pensieve."

"Well, if that's the case, then there might be more than one reason that Dumbledore left his pensieve to her," Edward said.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Those memory threads that he poured into that pensieve over all his lifetime are most likely still in his pensieve. After all, it isn't that easy to retrieve a memory out once put into one. And, he would absolutely not have wanted that pensieve to go into the wrong hands if it did hold any of his secrets. Surely he would have known, by the time of his death, that there are few seers that have the same loyalty to him and the intellect that Kate has. I think there's every chance that his move in selecting her was a very calculated thing. I didn't know Dumbledore well, but I don't think he was very much moved by emotion. I think he was very strategic and calculating on most everything."

"I think Robert and Kate would both agree with you on that. Now, if you really want to know the truth about that or not, I honestly think the real authority on that honestly might be Remus's portrait. After all, there are two other copies of that thing. One of them still hangs in Hogwarts, and Robert gave one to Teddy. Khaat still has the original, and its in her bedroom above her fireplace."

Angus saw the lights flicker, and he got up. "I'll take care of it," he told her. "I'll do a walk through to make sure all the heat and light charms are holding, along with some of the other ones as well."

"I'll come with you," Marcus said.

Aria and Ruby sat and listened to the men talking and nodded " who better to give memories to than a seer , she's seen it already" Aria said then chuckled as Pip now warm hopped up onto her shoulder. Ruby looked to Angus and nodded when he said he would take a look at the generator. "Okay but just..be safe okay" Ruby said worried with the weather that it might have affected it some how.

Aria looked at Ruby and chuckled " they will be fine, its probably just not switched over to the magical generator " she ssaid to calm Rubys nerves " you always worry?" she asked and saw Ruby nod " try meditaion or yoga or even deep breathing ." Ruby smiled and huckled to Aria.

"thanks for making me feel calm" she said and Aria chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.

"what are freinds for if not to help each other relax" she smiled at her as Pip gave a hoot next to her " I think he agrees too" this made Ruby laugh and nod.

"Ru," Angus told her, "don't start falling back into all that anxiety again. I'm not going outside. This is entirely about protections charms, and I've been doing those for years. Besides, I'm not going alone. It's fine." He and Marcus went over to Edwards to start their check over there. They checked the doors and windows and the lights. Angus wasn't sure where Ruby had gotten the idea that the windows were magically shatterproof from weather events. Protection for intruders was different from any sort of protection from Mother Nature. Angus had honestly just never considered putting on protections from weather.

"Did you tell her the windows were unbreakable or something?" Marcus looked at Angus as they were upstairs in Edward's master bedroom.

"Well, I meant from intruders--like James. I didn't mean from wind or weather. I might not have been clear about it," Angus said.

"Well, let's just bloody fix it and try to increase the protection spells to keep the glass in one piece," Marcus laughed, amused. He and Angus went around the duplex and cast additional layers of protection charms on the doors and windows in order to try to make sure that the storm wouldn't not break through. When they got to the basement, Angus went into a small, secure back room, and Marcus followed. He saw there was a mysterious looking box on the floor in the corner.

"I thought she was mistaken about a magical generator," Marcus frowned. "I've never heard of such a thing. And why isn't there one at the main house?"

"There is," Angus said. "Over there, its up in the attic. It isn't exactly a generator, not like a muggle generator anyway. Robert had them installed. As he explained it to me, magic is in the air all the time. It's everywhere. That's why we don't need to rely on power lines and batteries and such thing. It doesn't exactly work like that. However, certain weather events, like lighting storms, can cause an unpredictable surge of magical energy because magic is very much like lightning. Certain weather events can cause lights and such to go into a bit of upheaval that either drains things like lights or it can cause them to surge and explode. So, these little boxes are designed to even out the magic that's used to power things. They run on enchanted crystals and stones. I believe, when there is an excess of magic in the air caused by weather, the crystals can hold a bit of it, not an inordinate amount, though."

"So some muggles who believe that if they set their crystals out in the moonlight or the sunlight to charge them might not be entirely wrong," Marcus said.

"Well, not entirely, no. Without realizing it, they're setting them out so that the magic energy in the air might be absorbed by the stones. They believe its charged by moonlight or sunlight, so they're doing the right thing but for the wrong reason." Angus opened a drawer in the box, got out a handful of fresh stones, put them in the main chamber of the box and took a large handful of glowing ones and put them in a drawstring bag and put them in the drawer.

"Changing crystals to have somewhere for the storms magical energy to go," Marcus guessed.

"Exactly," Angus said.

"And what happens to these that are already fully charged?"

"Robert and Edward use them to heat their cauldrons in certain types of spells. Certain lightworker spells require crystal energy, not straight fire. When the crystals are drained, they'll bring them back and we'll do it all over again."

"So it isn't really a generator but it isn't exactly not a generator either," Marcus said.

"More or less, yes. That's right. But calling it a generator is close enough for me."

When they were finished and had come back to where the others were, Angus went to the pantry and started getting out ingredients--peanut oil, popcorn, treacle, muscovado sugar, butter, and Christmas shaped sprinkles, beeswax food wrap, and a huge mixing bowl.

"What is all that for?" Simone asked.

"Wait and see," Angus smiled. "They're delicious." He first cut some of the beeswax paper into wide strips and set them aside. Then he made the popcorn and made a hot, sticky syrup with the treacle, the sugar, and the butter. He mixed the syrup and the sprinkles into the popcorn and stirred it gently but very quickly. Edward got up, washed his hands, and he and Angus buttered their hands to keep the steaming hot syrup from sticking to their hands and burning. Together they worked very quickly and took a handful of the sticky popcorn mixture and made it into balls that were about the size of a cricket ball. They wrapped the balls in the pieces of wax paper and twisted the ends, very much like how humbugs were wrapped.

"And what are these, exactly?" Marcus asked.

"Popcorn balls. I know they're normally made at the Colorado ranch for Halloween, but I thought we'd change the sprinkles and make them for Christmas instead. I think you'll like them. Take one, unwrap it and just bite into it like eating an apple. And I used hulless popcorn, so you won't find any unpopped kernals in it."

"Alright. I'm game. Give me one," Marcus said, taking one, unwrapping it and biting into it. "Where have these been all my life?" He grinned.

"In the states," Angus laughed.

Ruby looked up at Angus and took a long slow deep breath in and calmed herself as he spoke "You right " she said smiling at him as she watched him head to Edwards side of the duplex. It was not long bfore the lights came back on and Aria smiled to her shrugging .

"told you it wouldn't be long" she aid and chukled as Ruby chuckled to. " now lets pay some scrable while the men are busy checking Edwards side of the duplex" she said bringing out a scrable board and peices with letters on. Placing it down she shook the bag of letters and took some for herself as did Ruby but she glanced at Caprice and Diamond still sleeping.

Simone and Edward each took a popcorn ball, and Angus remembered Brian telling him that on one Christmas, Fi had hung the popcorn balls on the Christmas tree. That gave Angus an idea. He used a very simple charm and changed the outside of the wax paper to glittery jewel tone colors. Some were sapphire blue, some were emerald green or ruby red, or topaz yellow, etc. Then he used a charm to levitate them and hang them on the tree where they looked like glittery oversized candies.

"Oh, now, that is clever," Edward said. "There's no such thing as a tree with too much sparkle. Well done." As he spoke, Pip flew off Aria's shoulder and landed on a high branch on the tree where he seemed to be nestling in for a snooze.

"Perfect perch for a little bloke like him," Marcus said.

"Yes, but I think we might actually be able to do better," Angus said, having a thought. He went to the basement and rooted around in some stuff that Edward had brought when he moved in, and he found a bird house that was actually a little hanging wicker basket for finches. Angus transfigured the little basket to sturdier willow branches and enlarged it and found some odds and ends of straw, cotton, yarn and other things, and he took it all upstairs. He hung the enlarged wicker finch nest in the tree, close to the trunk, and he took the time to hang the nesting materials around the living room and up the stairs in what he believed would be places Pip would likely look. Then he left Pip to it.

"You're giving him a hobby?"

"No, I'm giving him a place to sleep for the duration," Angus said, "if he wants it. Pygmy owls are secondary nesters. They look for hollow trees or for nests left behind by other birds and they take them over. This hanging finch house should be just the ticket. It should be the best of both worlds for him." It took the bird a few minutes but he eventually started to check out the hanging basket nest.

Ruby and Aria watched as Angus began making something then several glittery balls floated to the tre and settled on it " wow those look wonderful" Aria said as she insected them " smell divine too." she chuckled as Ruby watched Angus head down to the basement to return with something that he said would make Pip happy.

Aria watched as Pip moved to the branch of the tre hoping he wouldn't pull it over but was glad when Angus made an indoor nest for him and he sem to take intrest as it hung not far from him. " Im sure he'll love it while hes inside." Ruby said

"Don't worry, Aria," Angus told her. "A full sized pygmy owl only weighs about two ounces, and he's on the small side, even as pygmy owls go, or so Kate says. He is no threat to that big tree whatsoever."

Marcus broke a little piece off his popcorn ball and handed it to Aria to try.

"Reminds me of a really good treacle toffee," Marcus said. "Dad still gets requests at Honeydukes at Christmas to make some large pieces of treacle toffee, and he sells them in Honeydukes tins that come with little hammers inside to break up the big block of treacle. This reminds me of that in a way. Try it."

Angus watched as Pip started to fly through the duplex bringing back the little bits that Angus had hidden, and Pip took them and began to work at lining the nest.

"I think Pip likes it," Simone smiled.

"I was going to roast a chicken for supper," Angus said, "but I really don't want Pip to think I'm cooking one of his relatives. I guess I'll either do some salmon fillets or some spaghetti, unless someone else has a different idea."

Aria watched and smiled to Marcus as he spoke about pygmy owls and how much the weighed ut then took one of the balls Angus wa working on and broke abit off. She smiled as he handed her a peice and she bit into it " humm this is wonderful" she said smiling as she ate what was left with a smile. " and your right it does remind me of treacle toffee." she chuckled.

Ruby watched as Pip flew around picking up the things Angus had hidden and she smiled " yeah, I think he loves it." she said as Aria finished her popcorn ball. She heard Angus say he was going to cook chicken but didn't want to offend Pip so chose a diferent meal for suppr. " I think etger would be as filling" she said Aria looked at Angus and nodded as she dodged Pip flying back to the perch wwith yet another item to add to it.

"Do the fish so I can talk you into doing a homemade lasagna tomorrow," Edward said, knowing Angus's lasagna did take a bit to make because it was so big and thick.

"Okay," Angus replied. He decided on making salmon that was stuffed with deviled crab and topped with a beautiful lemon sauce. "Ru, would you consider making a nice chopped salad and maybe some sort of dessert to go with it? I'll add just some simple baked potatoes, and we've got a loaf of Simone's homemade bread we can make into some garlic toast points."