A Birth day

Jack looked at Michael and raised an eye brow at him when he said he'd not made the brownies before " would explain it" he said settling the cub down in his holder . He walked over and looked at the coco " thats realy dark" he said " but I bet mixed right tastes magnificent" he looked at Michael as he said he was going to call them Krampus cookies then he chuckled " that sounds perfect and I think theres some sheet metal in the basement I culd cut something out for you to use." he added " I need to keep moving with this little one anyway.

Moving down to the basement he found the thin metal sheet , taking the cutter he snipped off a strip , big enough to fold into a shape , taking the metal and some plyers he began benting it into the shape of Krampus once done he welded the open side and then flattened it down adding a small handel so it could be lifted off the cookie dough once cut.

"Jack, that's absolutely perfect," Michael smiled, impressed. "I didn't have any sort of Krampus cutter, so I was hoping to maybe try to cut each one by hand with a paring knife, but I knew that was going to be a pain in the butt. And, this one isn't so scary that small children would be afraid of them. That's great, and it will save me hours of work. Thank you so much. I'll let you all know when the first batch of something will be ready for critiquing."

He set back to his recipe of making the brownie batter first, tinkering, tweaking, making copious notes, until, finally, he had them ready to pour into a pan and put into the oven. Then he took that same basic recipe, tweaked it more, and by the time he had some Krampus cookies rolled out and ready to put into the oven, he had some Midnight Brownies out of the oven and cooling. He had cut these into star shapes and sprinkled them with magical glistening sugars until they twinkled and sparkled. Each star was filled with a gooey deep chocolate cheesecake filling that would stay warm and would roll out, like a chocolate lava cake. The filling had sparkling sugars in it, so it sparkled much like a black midnight sky with tiny twinkling stars.

Michael put the test stars on little dessert plates and served each one with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream to offset the chocolate, in case there was anyone who wasn't as enamored of chocolate like the Honeydukes regulars were.

He floated the tray ahead of him, and then he took them around and offered everyone in the main house a Midnight Brownie to taste. The Krampus cookies were still cooling but he planned on decorating those before he served them.

Jack chuckled as Michael thanked him for the cutter "No problems, oh so many years ago I worked with a blacksmith, he taught me a lot of the trade, it was nice doing something with my hands since I can't be outside, with the weather" he smiled at him then sat and watched as he made the cookies he noted the smell wafting from the cooker that made his stomach grumble a little. It was now that Jess returned and took a deep breath in as she smelt cookies.

"oh now that's a smell I could get used to coming home to." she said walking over to the kitchen as she slipped off her shoes. " strange to see you in the kitchen, but good too," she said with Micahel as she pored a glass of water for herself.

"It's a long story, but I'm trying to make a new holiday pastry for Honeydukes. These are called Midnight Brownies--or I hope they will be. Here. Try one. I hope to have a sort of a cookie version too, called Krampus cookies. Jack was kind enough to make me a Krampus cookie cutter, and that saves me from having to cut out each cookie by hand with a knife."

Kate came into the kitchen with an empty dessert plate.

"That brownie is worth every single calorie, Jess. Michael, those are great," she said. "Oh, and would you be so kind to put another one on Robert's plate. He tried to tell me that the kids took his brownie but the black crumbs on his shirt told me that he's telling porkies tonight." Michael laughed out loud.

"He tells porkies on a regular basis," Michael laughed, putting another brownie on the plate.

"So get on with the Krampus cookies. I can't wait to see them," Kate told Michael.

Jess smiled and sat down to watch him once there was a tray cooled she took one and ate it " yum, darker than Im use to and a bit bitter becuse of the coco count too , perfect for them name too" she said and smiled " but very delishious michael, these will do realy well" she said then heard Kate return sking on behalf of Robert for another and she chuckled as did Jack from behind her. " oh Kate if you need me to check Roberts ankle Im here if needed, hes not been keeping off it has he?" she asked knowing full well he hadn't.

Jack moved back to the couch by the fire and placed the cub in a fluffy dog bed he'd found in the basement. Now with his tummy full it fell back to sleep. " awe hes cute" Jess said and looked to Jack and smiled " don't wory he won't sleep on the end of the bed when hes older." Jack smiled knowing she ahd unknowingly aproved of him keeping the pup.

"I'm glad you like them," Michael said to Jess.

"He was off his ankle until Nigel buggared out," Kate said. "Nigel told him he could start some gentle flexing and motion exercises. He did not tell Robert he could do a lot of weight bearing yet. Robert, however, has ditched his crutches in favor of a sturdy walking stick, and he's been doing some of his own rehab. I sent for Andrew, and Andrew did try to slow him down a little and suggested Robert elevate it and ice it. Michael's taken him some ice packs, and Robert's behaving at the moment. I left him just a few minutes ago, and he was sitting in the living room with a briefcase full of paperwork from the Ministry to work on. That should keep him sitting for a bit."

"He's bought himself two extra large briefcases," Michael said. "They're heavy duty, made of dragonskin so they're damned near indestructable, and they'll each hold a mountain of paperwork if he shrinks the paper. So, when I saw him, he had one sitting beside his easy chair on the left side and the other on the right. He rather looks to me like he's planning on doing paperwork for the duration of the blizzard."

"Well, of course that's his plan," Kate said. "You didn't really think he'd have a different plan, did you?"

"I suppose not," Michael laughed, taking a couple extra large sheet pans of Krampus cookies out of the oven and cast a cooling spell on them. Then he flicked his fingers at a different sheet pan, this one holding several different pastry bags on it, all holding different colors of icing, and some little mise-en-place bowls that held various colors and shapes of sprinkles. The icing and sprinkles fluttered over to the first batch of Krampus cookies to magically decorate the cookies for him.

"Those are certainly clever looking cookies," Kate smiled. "I think Jonathan is going to approve."

"Just wait. They're not done yet." He chanted an incantation for a little charm and cast the charm on the cookies. The charm made the cookies give an only somewhat scary growl and then swatted little magical sticks that soon disappeared. Michael managed to snatch of the little sticks, and he ate one. "Yum," he smiled. "Try one," he told Jess and Kate. Kate picked up one of the cookies and found they were still warm. The cookie growled at her, and it tried to swat Kate with a little magical stick. Kate snatched the stick from the cookie and looked at Michael. "Try it," Michael nodded. She ate the little stick and found it was milk chocolate and peppermint.

"I love them," Kate laughed. "Those are going to be a big hit, I think." She called Abbey, and Abbey and Molly came running into the kitchen. "Michael's making Krampus cookies. Want one?"

"Cookies!" the girls were excited. They each took a cookie, listened to it growl, and Abbey very adeptly snatched the little stick from her cookie.

"Eat the stick," Kate nodded. Abbey ate it, and she laughed.

"Yummy!" she said.

"Molly," Michael said, "growl back at your cookie." She growled at it, and the cookie swatted at her again, and she snatched the stick, giggling.

"I like it," she told Michael.

"Not too scary?" he asked.

"Nah. He's funny!" she said, biting the cookie's head off. "There. I fixed him."

Jess listened to Kate and smiled " good he's finally off that leg even if he is working" she said then watched as Michael made cookies she watched as the icing spread itself over them and the sprinkles danced in the air before laying down on them gently finishing the cookie " nice ly done" she said and walked over to take a closer look at them Jack chukled as he watched the two girls take one and how that growled at the cookie before taking the stick it gave them once they growled at them as a bonus treat.

" oh I want to try that it looks fun" he said making Jess chuckle as he walked over to thd kitchen counter. Picking one up he looked at it and growled at it, raising his eyebrows as the stick appeared and he took it, eating it he smiled tasting the sweetness in his mouth as he ate.  " yum" he simply said as he ate the cookie its self.

"Glad you like them, Jack. As soon as this storm is over, I'm going to take these to Jonathan so he can try them himself," Michael said.

"One thing about it, nobody has quite the knack to doing animation charms like you do," Kate said, always delighted at Michaels' abillity to either make some object sentient or to control one that already was sentient. It was something Kate found to be outside of her wheelhouse, but she was glad Michael had come to know how to do it well. "I think Jonathan and Claire will love them. And if they don't, then they just don't bloody deserve them because I think they're wonderful. Can I help you clean up the kitchen?"

"Well, let's make quick work of it," Michael said. He cast a washing up spell. He put some cookies for tasting on a plate and put the rest in a tin to keep them fresh. He tapped the plate with his wand. "Go offer everyone in the house a cookie," Michael told the plate, and it floated off through the house.

"What the heck kind of spell is that?" Kate frowned.

"It worked, didn't it?" Michael asked.

"Yes, but it shouldn't have."

"The only worthwhile thing Tom Riddle ever said in his entire life was when he told Harry 'You have to mean it.' That's the crux of it, after all, isn't it? If you mean it, it should work, shouldn't it?"

"Hadn't thought about it, actually," Kate replied.

Jack looked to Michael and nodded " who wouldn't " he said smiling as he picked up a second cookie and growled at it then ate the stick that popped up from it again but Jess chuckled and shook her head at him.

"Jack,you need to watch your waist dear" she said as she walked over to him just as he finished his second cookie. Jess patted his stomach but chuckled as she felt it still flat nd his muscle hard. It was now Jessie walked in from out side knocking off snow from his boots and warming his hands.

"sorry guys , bene informed the wind has blown down several trees by the barn taking down ont of the corral fences" he said Jack looked to Jess as he lent down and kissed her gently.

"okay time to put our werewolf cold weather proofing to the test, Jessie lets fix that fence." he said and grabbed his jacket " can't let the animals out of the barn once the weather eases if the fence is down" he looked to Michael and Kate " we'll be careful, dont worry, if fenrirs right this sort of weather won't hardly affect us."

Kate watched Jack and Jessie go outside.

"Better them than me," Kate laughed. "I'm not a big fan of being outside in a blizzard unless I have no other choice. Abbey and Molly I think it's time for your baths. Let's go, Dear." She looked at Jess. "Molly is spending the night with Abbey, so I told Nicky and Shannon I would make sure they got a bath and got to bed relatively on time." She excused herself and took the girls upstairs.

At the duplex, Angus was winding down and starting to yawn. It had been a long day, and he was getting sleepy. The warm fire and the book he was reading were combining with the quiet house to make him start to yawn. A clock struck half past ten. Marcus excused himself to go shower while the bathroom was empty. He knew the boys had already showered and had gone back to working on the puzzle they'd borrowed from Edward.

Edward and Simone had gone back to their place, and so that was leaving Angus and Ruby's side of the duplex unusually quiet--so long as Caprice and Diamond were quiet anyway.