A Birth day

Ruby handed Caprice to Angus then moved to pick up Diamond hearing Angus leave the nursary. She changed her diper and clothing into one of Caprices old trouser sets that had become too small for her. " there now you look much better" she said and smiled as she picked her up and carried her down to the table she saw the bowl ready for Diamond and smiled to Angus " thank you" she said then watched as Sam showed him something as she picked up a spoon and began to feed Diamond small amounts , which she was happy to find she ate.

" Im sure the girls will love it, they care about you guys just as much as you care about them." she said smiling to Sam and Victor che could not help but chuckle as Angus said he was not going any where " nope not unless you have a dog sled and I don't think Finn is that kind of dog" she said seeing Finn laid on his back belly up by the fire.

"In this snow, I dont think a sled would get through it right now," Marcus said. "I wonder if Robert has any snowshoes lying about."

"Yeah. There are. There are several pair at the very back of the store room in the cellar--if he remembers they're there. And there actually is one pair of them over here, I believe. I tucked them away in a crate in the cellar, way back in the back."

"Oh, is that the crate you labeled 'Useless Shit'?" Marcus laughed.

"Yup. That's the one. I was sick of packing up stuff when I packed that crate, as I recall, and I'd had probably one too many glasses of firewhiskey that night. But, really, even sober, I would not have guessed we'd need those stinking snowshoes."

"Yeah, well, you need to rethink that," Marcus laughed.

"Well, I'll go find the crowbar and go pry the lid of that thing," Angus said.

"I'll get it," Marcus said. "Enjoy your coffee."

"I'm coming with you," Sam laughed. "I want to see what else he thought was useless shit."

"When he was drunk? That could have been anything," Marcus laughed, as they went down to the basement together.

"I'm going to develop a reputation," Angus sighed.

"Reputation for what?" Victor asked, coming back in from Edward's side with a platter of pastries. "Simone sent over some "Simone sent these over. She told me the name but I'll never pronounce it." He showed them to Angus.

"Oh. Pan au chocolate," Angus said. "They look beautiful."

"What reputation were you talking about?" Victor asked him.

"As a bloke who is frequently sozzled," Angus replied.

"You? When? I've never seen you sozzled ever," Victor frowned. "The times I've seen you drink at all I could count on one hand, and I've never seen you sozzled. If you want that sort of reputation, you have a lot of work to do. Reginald, on the other hand, was never sober. I think he'd have you beat any day of the week."

Ruby listened and laughed as he spoke of a crate he labled usless shit in the basement " I wondered why it was labled that" she said as she fed Dimond another spoon. Now hearing Marcus Aria chuckled too as she watched him head to the basement. Ruby chuckled at Victors words " me nether and when he is hes a happy drunk" she said then when Victor mentioned her father she frowned nodding her agreement.

" that I agree with Victor, he was a mean drunk" she said Aria looked at Ruby and smiled as she patted Rubys shoulder.

"well, I haven't seen Marcus drunk yet, whats he like?" she asked Angus hoping he was a good drunk and not any of the others. " or does he not drink?" she asked puzzled then she stood up " Im going to see whats in that crate" she said and headed down to the basement where Marcus and Sam where.

" hey guys found anything intresting?" she asked walking over to them and the large crate with teh words written on its side.

"Marcus is always, always very functional," Angus said. "I've only seen him actually drunk when he's been playing poker with Khaat and maybe a couple of others. He's one of the few men I've ever seen that can out drink Khaat, and even when he's had a lot of whiskey, he still is very alert and still able to do his job. I've never seen him drink beyond his ability to be functional because he is afraid he would drink too much and not be able to be up to task if something suddenly happened. I have seen the whiskey loosen him up, and he does seem to laugh and have a good time. But that only lasts until something serious happens, and then he will look completely sober and he'll be absolutely on point. Robert believes it is due to the extreme training that Marcus has had over the years. Will you ever see him drunk out of his skull? Never."

"Not yet," Marcus said, working at prying the lid off the crate. He eventually got the lid off, finding things had just rather been chucked in here and not packed well at all. He found a Gryffindor cardigan with the Gryffindor crest on it from Angus's Hogwarts days. Further down was an old antique toy boat. "Now this is a treasure indeed," Marcus said. "They used to take ships like this to Hyde Park and sail these. This is worth some money, and it would be worth even more if he'd restore it back to sailing condition."

"What's this?" Victor asked. He picked up a picture frame that had been hastily tossed in here. The glass was cracked due to Angus's carelessness. He looked at the picture. It was the picture of a lovely woman with dark hair. "Who's this?"

"Oh. Her," Marcus said seriously. "I wondered what happened to that."

"Who is she?"

"Was. It was before he met Ruby. Angus was engaged to her, but she died. Bit of ugly business. She wasn't what she was supposed to be. She was a shapeshifter and had some dark intentions towards Angus that we didn't find out about until after she died. Trust me, he's definitely better without her. For his part, he did love her, but she was only in it to take advantage of him. Do try not to bring that up to him. That's not a happy chapter for him. He's far happier now."

"There's a pair of tennis racquets over there," Victor pointed.

"Not racquets," Marcus said, picking them up. "Snow shoes. That's what we're looking for." In the meantime, Victor had found a photo album from Angus's Hogwarts days, filled with lots of photos from his childhood, with Brian, Khaat, Harry, Ron, Hermoine and all the rest of them.

"He really knew all of these famous people?" Victor asked.

"Certainly. They were all in the same house," Marcus said.

Aria had listened to Angus and smiled " well thats good to know, I have known a few mean drunks and there one to stay away from" she said as she headed down to the basement smiling as she saw them with the crate. Helping to move the lid once Marcus had jimmied it off she looked inside and chuckled picking up the jumper and setting it to one side. Picking up the photo she looked at the woman in the photo and frowned " maybe it would have been beter burned than left here" she said placing it face down back in the box. " but I agree he's a lot happier now hes with Ruby." she added then chuckled as Marcus found the snow shoes. " why do you need those?" she asked seeing him holding them " but I can see why you mistook them for tennis rackets" she said and chuckled as she walked over and looked at them " and these go on your feet?" she asked.

Ruby finished giving Diamond her breakfast and held her against her shoulder to wind her before etting her down in the playpen with Caprice. " she did good this morning , I think shes getting use to having good food" she said to Angus. " so whats your plan for today since the snow is so deep?" she asked as she moved to refl her mug with hot coffee and pick up the paper she found on the table in front of her.

"She was pretty," Victor commented.

"Well, only on the outside, and that was nothing more than tinsel. There was nothing genuine about her," Marcus said. "She was truly an evil creature. I don't think he actually kept the picture on purpose. This was his version of a junk box, and I think he just tossed stuff in here, thinking he likely wouldn't open this box again."

"Why'd he keep it at all, then?" Victor asked.

"Well, he was drunk, so he was probably nervous that if he tossed stuff while he was drunk he'd throw things he would later regret. As I recall, he packed this box around the same time he met you, Ruby, but before you two even considered getting serious. By the time the two of you were getting serious, this crate's lid had been nailed shut and he had moved on with his life. I don't think he's even thought about her."

"I didn't have any particular plans," Angus said. "What about you? What are your plans for the day? Did you and Marcus and Victor find the snowshoes? They can be helpful in really deep snow. Because of their shape, they distribute your body weight more evenly across the surface of the snow so you can walk on top of the snow rather than sinking down in it. They're very efficient for deep snow. It rather works the same as cross country skiing. So, hopefully, Marcus finds a pair of ski poles to use with them because I have no idea where I might have chucked mine. With my luck, I took put the snow shoes here and took the poles to Tuscany so that now both the snowshoes and the poles are bloody useless. I hope I haven't done that."

Ruby finished feeding Caprice and placed her in the playpen beside Diamond then walked over to the box and picked up the picture. Looking at it she shook her head "You can see in her eyes she wasn't right" she said then placed it back in the box "It's not our place to get rid of it, she's nothing but a phantom now, so I not worried" she said softly with a smile to Aria " I know he loves me and I love him with all my heart." she added making Aria smile.

Aria heard Marcus talk about the ski poles and chuckled "Wonder if Robert has any?" she asked but seeing the heavy snow she chuckled again "Never mind you'd get lost in two steps at this rate." she added but it was now she saw something propped up in a corner behind Marcus " oh are these what your looking for, seems you didn't take them to Tuscany" she added looking towards Angus with a chuckle as she pulled out two long poles with metal tips and leather straps attatched.

"Good," Marcus said, seeing that she'd found the ski poles. "I'll take these upstairs so that, if we need them, we have them. Hopefully we won't need to go out til the snow stops, but if we do, we're gonna need these." He kept rooting and found a man's snow suit and snow boots for snowmobiling. They were very helpful for snowshoeing. "Excellent. He's well prepared for one person. I'll take this stuff too. I think this should do it. I'll let you two put the lid back on the crate when you're done rooting around."

Angus was thinking of going and looking through the pantry to see what he could do for lunch that was different, when Owens called him over the floo.

"Angus, we've got a situation here," Owens said. He seemed short of breath and was coughing. We've had a fire here. Arson--I'm sure of it. I'm willing to bet its Gelding's people--whoever isn't still nicked over there. But we're going to have to relocate the kids."

"I'd have you bring them here, but you won't be able to get through," Angus said.

"Yeah. We're being told here that all routes, magical or otherwise into or out of England are shut down," Owens said.

"Doesn't surprise me," Angus said. "Look, how's the weather going south from Paris? Can you get out of France by going south?"

"Yeah, that's clear, but we don't have any bases to the south."

"No, I know that. Try going south. I would go Spain to Morocco, to Florida, and then from Florida to Colorado. Take the kids there."

"Oh, that's right. They could deal, couldn't they?"

"Yes. Is everyone alright?"

"All present and accounted for, and no injuries."

"Thank God. Get everyone to safety, and as soon as I can get out, I'll come and do an estimate on restoration."

"We've got a couple rooms we can still use, so a couple of us will be here and we'll start cleaning up."

"Good man. I'll tell Robert. Keep me posted. Let me know when all the kids are moved," Angus said.

"I will," Owens said, closing the floo. Gelding--again. Angus sighed.

Aria smiled and noded to Marcus " looks like your all set for sking" she said as she placed the lid back on the top of the crate resealing it and magicaly pushing it back against the wall in the farthest courner again. She walked up to the living room to hear Angus on the floo " oh hell no." she said and looked to Marcus as Ruby ast listening intently . when Evan said all were find and unharmed she pysicaly relaxed in her seat.

Ruby stood up and walked to stand beside Angus as he spoke hearing what he said she nodded she agreed. " once this snow storms over we can send some of the grounds men over to help." she sugested to him standing now next to him. Hearing Even sign off she looked to Angus " hes realy gone and done it now Gelding" she said looking annoyed to Angus " he has to be stop, for good"

"Calm down," Angus told everyone. "It isn't the first time Gelding has tried to burn down the headquarters, and it won't be the last. Normally, the protection grid and the unplottable spell keeps him from being able to find it, even if he knows where the hell it is. Doesnt' mean he can actually get to it. Nevertheless, we need to do things in order. First things first. We make sure everyone is alright and that there is a safe roof over those kids asap. Owens will start to sweep up and get some pictures as they're clearing away the ash and the debris and the water. The minute I can get free, I'll go and estimate the damage and call the builders to come and restore the place as fast as possible."

"And then we get to launch mayhem and trickery, right?" Marcus teased, with an amused grin on his face.

"I just might," Angus said.

"Fireballs?"

"Nah. He'll expect that. I have to come up with something else. I'll give it some thought."

"Well, Michael did use a particular spell in Cairo that worked rather well for us," Marcus said. "He increase the size of some dungbombs to about the size of cricket balls and chucked them at our enemy and made one hell of a mess."

"Now that has potential," Angus grinned boyishly. "I'd have to tinker with that idea, but that is very workable indeed."