A Birth day

Aria and Ruby watched as Angus took off towards the main office and opened the foor Ruby flowed him inside and chuckled hearing the painting talk to him " they can go above the fire place." she said smiling " not like theres anything on it right now other than Caprices sonogram" Ruby added as Aria snapped a picture of the damaged door of the office and some smoke damage to the office its self.

" This rooms fared better than the rest of the place , just a clean up and it should be good as new" she added as she ran her finger ovr the desk and showing the black soot that sat on it. Ruby smiled and noded as she looked around.

" we can help with that come the time" she said and chuckled as Marcus said Angus should have calld them to help with the painting.

"Are we finished here for now?" Marcus asked, wanting to keep everyone on task. He checked his watch. Are you done with your pictures, Ruby? If so, let's not waste time. Let's get straight home because we're almost entirely out of time before Robert believed the window in our storm was closing. We need to hurry back. Angus, I'll take the painting. Girls, you grab hold, Angus, get us home."

Angus took his portkey to the duplex to port them home. They ran full into the storm on the crossing, and it was some of the roughest porting Angus had ever done. He took a tighter hold on Ruby, and he knew that Marcus had a firm hold on him and on Aria.

"Hold on," Angus told them sharply, knowing this was going to be rough. He felt them being blown a bit off from where they needed to be, and he fought for control to try to not have them blown too far away. And then they were landing. Angus landed in a deep snowbank, with at least one person, maybe more, on top of him. He tried to clear the snow away, and he saw that the wind was up again, full force. He thought perhaps he saw the duplex not very far away, but there was so little visibility that he wasn't certain.

"Are we anywhere close to home? What about the rope? Can we get to it?"

"Um...yeah, I think we're in the yard," Marcus said. "Can't see the rope. It might be gone. I don't know. Aria? Ruby? You okay?"

Aria and Ruby held on to Angus while Aria held on to Marcus as well but as the porting got rough Rubby hid her head against Angus Aria held tight to Marcus as she felt them drop into a snow bank she landed ontop of Marcus as Ruby fell ontop of Angus. After a moment she caught her breath "rough landing there" she said " but any you can walk away from is good , at least we didn't get spliced" she added with a chuckle as she looked around " I can see a porch , I think its a porch I see lights, that way" she pointed to her left.

Ruby pulled her head out from angus's chest and looked around at the white out infront of her she pulled her coller up around her to keep the chill of the wind out of her jacket. " Im fine" she said and looked down at Angus under her " sorry your just a soft landing spot" she said smiling down at him then hearing Marcus she looked around and slid off Angus into the snow bank with a slight squeek as the cold slid into her boots.

"No problem," Angus said. He pulled himself up to his feet and he helped everyone else up to their feet, and he and Marcus picked up the painting again. "Hold on tight," he told Ruby, reaching for her hand with his free hand.

"You too," Marcus told Aria. "It's gonna be a fight to get into the house." He didn't know if they realized yet that getting to the house was going to feel like trying to walk through a tornado or not, but he believed that if they hung onto each other, they'd all make it.

It was sheer will power, one small step at a time, against the wind, but Angus finally tripped on something and fell down in the snow, hitting his bad shoulder against something as he fell. He felt around and decided that he had hit his shoulder against the stringer that went to the front porch steps He got up and made his way to the front door and opened it, and reached for Ruby to make sure she got in. Edward was suddenly there. He took the painting and slid it inside.

"The storm was back here about ten minutes ago," Edward told them as they came in. "Come in and get your winter gear off. Simone's made a late supper. It'll warm you up."

"Good. I'm starving," Marcus said. "And the heat feels good in here. That wind goes right through the winter coats, that's for sure."

"I'll dish up the soup," Simone said. "I made a cheesy potato leek soup and sprinkled some bacon in it for flavor. And there is a big platter of crusty sourdough bread and Irish butter on the table."

"Perfect," Angus said. "Nothing quite like a hearty soup to warm away the winter chill. How are the kids?"

"The boys are still on that puzzle. They would have been farther, but clearly their knowledge of dragon anatomy leaves a lot to be desired. They were trying to attach things that have never been attached to each other otherwise," Edward said. "And it took me about ten minutes to convince Sam that the lizard's kidney did not go in the brain stem. Once he took that out of the skull and stopped putting the brain in the stomach, it went easier for them. Come sit down at the table, and we'll dish up the soup."

Ruby reatched for Angus hand but was taken aback by the forc of the wind and cold against her skin Aria held Marcus hand tight as she pushed against the force of the wind that seem to cut threw her jacket when Angus went down Ruby almost fell ontop of him but was glad he got back up she folowed him when she saw the door open she forced herself inside ad over to the fire " i.it was so cold" she said her teeth almost chattering from being chilled , Aria walked in and beat off the snow from her boots and shook her hair out sending small snow flakes skattering.

"oops " she said and looked to Marcus seeing snow in his hair too and on his jacket she quickly brushed off his shoulders before taking off her boots and Jacket to hang them up before joining Ruby by the fire and heling hr off with her jacket and boots. " I think a hot showers called for to warm us up before the soup" Aria sugested.

"I'm fine," Marcus said. "Go ahead if you want to shower."

"I'm okay too," Angus said. "Go shower if you want, Ru." He and Marcus slipped off their winter boots and their coats, and then they went over and warmed their hands in front of the fire for a moment. Then Marcus poured Angus and himself a brandy in order to warm up just a bit.

"How about I make a batch of hot buttered rum for anyone who wants it?" Edward asked.

"Now that sounds like a winner," Angus said as he and Marcus sat down at the table. Edward made quick work out of making a batch of hot buttered rum and poured the drinks into crystal coffee mugs and handed one to anyone who wanted one, as Simone set the sourdough bread on the table and put bowls of soup at each place. Edward called the boys from their room, and they both came downstairs.

"That soup smells great, Simone," Marcus said. "How's the dragon, Boys?"

"Doofus over there was trying to put some of the tail vertebrae on top of the dragon's head," Victor scowled.

"Well, that tailbone looks almost identical to those horn thingys that he has," Sam scowled back.

"Horn thingys," Edward muttered. shaking his head. "Are you sure you boys actually graduated?"

Ruby nodded and headed up to grab a hot shower Aria when the mention of hot buttered rum she smiled " sounds perfect" she said now warm by the fire. " rubys definaly not made for winter weather" she said chukaling. Ruby showered and warmed back up , changing into some warm chothing she walked back down and smelled the soup. Taking two bowls she sat down and handed one to Angus before she ate her own.

Aria moved to grab a bowl and sat back beside the fire to eat her own bowl feeling the warmth of it warm her from the inside " I agree this is the perfect cold weather food" she said then heard the boys talk about the puzzle and chuckled a long with Ruby as Victor said Sam was trying to put peices in the wrong place and at Edwards comment of have they graduated.

"Maybe I should write to Charlie Weasley and see if he'd take these two for a winter sabbatical and teach them a thing or two about dragons," Angus said.

"God, no," Edward laughed. "They'd forget which end has the teeth and get eaten. So what did you think of the dungbombs?"

"I kept one. Robert does like toys, so I kept one for him," Angus laughed. "I expect we'll hear about them soon enough. So, do they just sort of creep around for awhile and then dissolve or what?"

"Well, I thought so, but I had one that I made earlier, and i thought it had dissolved and I rinsed it down the drain," Edward said, "but the damned thing re-formed and crawled up our shower drain and just about scared the life out of Simone."

"I made him put that horrible thing in one of Robert's jars for safe keeping. I am not having any stinking puddle with eyes slogging through my house," Simone said. "I forbid him from making any more of them--ever."

"Well, they were very helpful," Angus told Edward. "So it just came back, huh? Good to know. Maybe they'll keep resurfacing in Tom's house and make them completely miserable over the long term. The stink that keeps right on stinking. I like that thought. Something to remember us by."

"Capital! I'll put a jar of them downstairs in the main house in the armory room," Edward smiled, pleased.

Aria listeed to Edward and Angus and laughed at the mention of the boys not knowing witch end has teeth on a dragon and get eaten Ruby chuckled too then looked at the boys as they sat and ate. she listened to Edward and chuckled as he mentioned droping one down the drain and it crawled back out " nice going with the jar , they will come in super handy" she added chukaling as Ruby pulled a face to stop herself from laughing while she ate her soup.

Now done Ruby took her bowl to the sink and washed it out then placed it into the washer before heading abck to sit down " much better" she said and looked at the window and the build up of snow outside " Im glad we got back in time" she said as Finn walked over and pushed against her thigh looking at him he walked to the play pen and she smiled " I think hes telling us one of the girls needs changing" she said standing and walking over . After a moment she picked up diamond and looked to Angus " its Diamond I'll change hr , don't worry" she said taking her up to the nursary.

"Thank you," Angus said to Ruby.

"Donohue," A voice called from the floo, "are ye there, Lad?" Angus had no idea who the voice was but it sounded vaguely familiar, and very Scottish.

"Yes," Angus said, going to the floo. A moment later, a face appeared in the floo, and Angus recognized it. It was Captain Cutter--the captain who piloted the ferry back and forth to Azkaban. "Cutter? Is that you?"

"It is indeed, Laddie. Listen close because the floo won't stay open long. I ran a fare just a short while ago, and there was a couple fellas on the ship leaving Azkaban, coming back to Scotland, and I heard one telling the other that he was going to go straight to the aurors and file charges against you for property damage and for kidnapping his client's baby. He was prattling on about the whole business, and he mentioned a name--yours. The aurors are going to be comin' again for you, Boy. You'd best take care...." Cutter's voice and image was broken up, surely, because of the storm.

"Thank you, Captain," Angus said. "I'm not overly worried. I have the baby but not because I took it. The wizengamot put her in my care. All the same, though, I thank you for the heads up. I'll take care of it straight off...."

"Who is this bloke?"

"Clearly he must be the attorney for Tom Gelding."

"Gelding? I've heard of him," Cutter said. "They nicked a drunken old sot here a few months back, and he was drunker than a skunk on the trip over, rattling on about a black book he had with a whole list of accounts that belonged to Tom Gelding. Evidently, he nicked the book from Gelding, and he was pilfering the assets from the accounts."

"Who was this guy? Any clue?"

"Um...now, just a minute, let me see if I can remember. It rhymed, it did." There was a pause as Cutter tried to remember. "Ah. Piper. That's it. Swiper Piper. I doubt that's his real name, but maybe someone knows who he really is."

"I bet they do," Angus said. "That is very useful indeed. Thank you."

"I'll keep me ears open for ya, Laddie," Cutter said. "You're a good lad, and I don't want to see you nicked again for some codswallop."

"Thank you. I owe you a pint," Angus said.

"Make it some decent single malt, and you've got a deal."

"You've got it. Next time I get to Scotland, the single malt's on me."

"I look forward to it," Cutter smiled, and he broke the connection.

"So what are you going to do?" Marcus asked Angus.

"Relay it to Robert. I bet you either he or Michael knows who this Piper is. If he's got an account book of Gelding's, we need to have it," Angus said. "And, I'm sure Robert isn't going to let me get hauled off for something that he put into motion himself. So I'm not really worried. It would be nice to make Gelding a bit poorer than he is now, though."

"Indeed it would," Marcus agreed.