A Birth day

Ruby and Aria listened to Marcus and Angus Aria chukaling as they spoke of a boy being scared by Kate " must be standard practice for trainers" she said and chuckled nodding again as Angus spoke of the boys and the fine print.

"oh don't worry I'll be right at your side Angus if they do anything like that" Ruby said smiling as she knew they would not every leave or do something so stupid. It was now the floo opened again and Lucien spoke threw it.

"Mr Quinn, we got a lead, one of my men heard mention of Gelding and Dimonds name, it was mentioned by a Katrina Lancaster, she works on level fourin the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, not sure how shes involved with Gelding but my man did hear she loves to gamble and there having issues with magical creatures disapearing." he said "I have her doisier if you want to read it yourself, and I also took the liberty to send it to Mr Lupin too, along with a note explaining my findings but I thought you should know, sort of face to face, my man is gathering evidence as we speack that she is in bed with Gelding or one of his goons." he sent the folder threw to the other side of the Floo where Aria caught it and handed it to Angus. " hope this helps , we'll keep on it, don't worry , oh I brought Franklin Stewart (Frank) into this too as I need eyes and ears around the ministry, don't worry I told him this is top priority hush hush." he added just as a knock came at his door " listen I got to go I'll keep you informed, Lucien out" he said and closed the floo.

" Hes moving fast" Aria said " ushaly it takes a while to get information, guess she thinks shes untouchable." Aria looked to Angus and watched as he held the file in his hands.

"Department of Magical Creatures, you say," Angus said. "That is very interesting indeed. I'll bet you a trip to the chippy that Miss Lancaster is working with the werewolf unit. If you have the means to dig deeper, do check and see who she says her informants are. I can just about guarantee you that her informants are young werewolves that live in James Blood's pack, and I bet you she says they're working with her to get James shut down and into the nick for good. I'd check that carefully if you can because James is doing some jobs for Gelding these days. If you can connect her to werewolves, I'd say there's your missing link."

"In fact," Edward said, "you might do well to track her movements, particularly at the full moon, which starts just two nights from now. Keep your eyes on her. You might be surprised."

When Lucien closed the floo, Angus looked at Edward.

"You think that Lancaster may have already been turned," Angus said to Edward.

"It is certainly possible," Edward nodded. "There has to be a reason she's up to her eyeballs in dealing with Gelding. And working in Magical Creatures? Sure sounds like werewolves to me too."

"Well, if that's a possibility, hopefully Lucien is smart enough to put some protections in place so she doesn't become werewolf food," Angus said.

"We can try to get him a message if there could be any danger of that," Marcus said. The clock struck eleven at night as Angus yawned. He was just about to sit down in his chair with Diamond when she let out a screech. Angus sighed and stood up, thinking that she was either hungry or didn't want him to sit down.

"Every father with a baby under a year old should receive about four pair of track shoes," Angus grumbled tiredly, heading to the kitchen to find something for Diamond to eat.

Lucien had heard Angus and nodded befor he closed the floo he sent a message to his operative to watch her closely and to take precautions of werewolf bites. He sat back in his chair and looked at the calander noting several days were indeed before a full moon hit. He made his mind up that he personay would tail her once the moon was full.

Aria watched Angus and chuckled as he tried to sit down only to stand back up again " so true" she said smiling " you think she's hungry?" Aria asked as she moved to teh kitchen " warm milk might help her fall asleep" she added making up two bottles , one for Caprice and one for Diamond " I don't mind making them" she said passing one to Ruby while handing the second to Angus as he stood with Di.

Ruby picked up Caprice and set her on her knee while she gave her the bottle that she took and drank " well Caprice is ready for bed" she said seeing hr tug at her ear tiredly." Once shes finished I'll change her and put her in her crib, you still want Diamond in our room?" she asked " becuse its fine with me if you do"

"Thank you," Angus said to Aria. "She could be hungry, and even if she isn't, if i fill her stomach, she might get sleepy from all that tryptophan in her milk and might actually go to sleep. It's worth a try." When Ruby asked him if he still wanted Diamond in their room, Angus shrugged. "I guess I don't care where she sleeps tonight so long as she actually sleeps."

"I would suggest you could put her in our room," Marcus said, "I have no objections but Mr. 'I-Can-Hear-A-Baby at 100 yards over there would still hear Diamond regardless." Angus laughed.

"Well, I did not expect to be attuned to hearing babies so quickly," Angus said.

"But you do. You hear them at the other end of the house almost," Marcus said, "but if it would help either you or Ruby to get a decent night's sleep, by all means, put Diamond in our room. In the meantime, I'm going to go shower and then start my rounds." He headed upstairs to shower before checking the doors and windows.

"Come on, Finn," Edward said, "Let's make a trip outside." Edward found the rope they were using as a leash to take Finn safely outside. "We need to get some more firewood in here in the morning, by the way. We're running low."

"I'll get it right after breakfast," Angus said.

"I'll cook breakfast," Simone said. "I thought I would make some Dutch Baby pancakes in the morning."

"Some what?" Edward frowned.

"You'll like them. Don't worry," she laughed.

"They're like sweet, overgrown Yorkshire puddings," Angus laughed. "You'll love them."

Aria chuckled and nodded as Marcus suggested Diamond sleep in their room "Yeah thats a great idea" she said smiling " means you get sleep and she gets tended during the night and stops you worrying" she said watching as Marcus headed to check the doors and windows. Aria stood up and smiled " I'll move her travel crib to our room" she said and headed upstairs too. Headed to the nursary where once there she picked up the crib and carried it to their room placing it at the foot of their bed.

Ruby chuckled as she held Caprice watching as Aria left and Edward took Finn out for a quick walk in the snow. Soon Caprice finished her botle and Ruby placed her over her shoulder to burp her. " okay time for bed Caprice" she said smiling as she took her to the nursay, now changed into a clean diper and pjs she placed her into her cot and covered her over with a warm blanket the light from the magical lights gently lightling the room as Caprice fell asleep. Leaving Ruby left the door open and headed back down to the living room " well shes asleep." she said

"What are we gonna do when you two move out?" Angus teased.

"Send them over to our place," Marcus laughed, going over and taking Diamond from him. "Get some sleep tonight while things are quiet--in case we have more repercussions from Tom."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll try to make some sort of trouble," Angus said.

"You know, you have had some semi-reasonable conversations with him," Marcus said. "Perhaps it's worth your while to take Diamond to a neutral healer, get a good medical eval done on her, and then take the results to Tom at Azkaban and have a conversation with him. Perhaps he really doesn't know how bad Diamond's care has been. If he's wise, he'll hire on a nanny, and if he does that, you might be able to return her home. That would definitely cut down on the risk to everyone here."

"Well, that's certainly worth a thought. We can't be foolish enough to think we're going to keep her forever. That isn't going to happen. Not while there is a Gelding that still breathes. I do feel sorry for her because she doesn't stand a chance of being raised a Gelding and coming out to be a decent human being, but I can't stop that either."

"No, you can't," Marcus said. "Unfortunately, until the day when dark magic becomes outlawed, they have the right to raise her to be a twit."

"Such a happy thought," Angus said sarcastically.

"Well, maybe someday the politicians in this country will wise up," Marcus said. "I'm going to take her with me on my rounds to check doors and windows and then head up to bed. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

"Night," Angus said. He looked at Ruby. "I say we should try to get a full night's sleep for a change. That is a rarity for us, I know, but wouldnt' it be nice to be able to go to sleep and sleep straight through til morning? I'm going to shower, and I'll see you upstairs." He went upstairs, fetched his pajamas and then, with just a moment's impulse, he cast a quick spell on the bed to gently warm the blankets before they got in and then he headed to the shower.

Ruby sat ad listened to Marcus and Angus agreing with them in rregards getting a nutral assesment of Diamond and then talking to Tom. " its a slim chance, but just a slim one" she said " but I agreewith trying at least" she added watching as Marcus icked up Dimond from Angus and held her. Aria nodded her head as he said about sending her over to them and chuckled a little. But she also knew he was right about getting her back to her bio family and letting Tom know Suzzane wasn't looking after her as she should be.

"I'll be up behind you" Ruby said to Angus as she watched him walk up the stairs to their room. She followed and closed the door behind her as she changed into her PJ's hoping they would both get a full nights sleep this night. Aria watched as Marcus checked all the windows and doors , she moved to the kitchen and made several bottles lacing a warming charm on them to keep at just the right tem should she need a feed in the night.

"I'll do first change and feed" She aid smiling to him as she waitied for him to finish his rounds.

"Well at her age, she certainly should be sleeping through the night by now," Marcus said. "Hopefully, if she wakes at all, its only once, but having an extra bottle on hand won't hurt."

Edward brought Finn back in, and he locked the door for the night and gave Finn a dog biscuit. Finn followed Edward over to his half, and Edward figured the dog was perhaps looking for a second biscuit.

Marcus made his check of the door and windows and headed upstairs. He changed Diamond for bed, and when he did, he noticed she was developing a rash of some sort that did seem to bother her.

"Hm..." he said. "She's getting a rash on her legs and her arms. When mine had rashes like that, it was caused by food allergies. It certainly is possible that something we're feeding her is something she's allergic to, since we don't know what they were giving her at home." He accio'd a mild potion for itching that Angus had stocked when Caprice was born just in case they needed it, and he put some on Diamond's rashes. It seemed to calm her almost immediately. "Well, one more thing we need to alert Robert to," Marcus said. He changed her diaper and put her into a Christmas sleeper sack someone had found for her. It was red with little baby reindeers on it. He put her into the travel crib.

"I'm not putting a blanket in with her," Marcus told Aria. "It just isn't safe for younger babies. That's why I chose the sleeper sack. She'll be warm but without the danger of suffocating in a blanket. If you think she's still chilly, you can cast just a very slight warming spell on the sleeper sack. That should help." He yawned and crawled into bed. "Hey, I know Christmas is in just a couple days. I'm going to have to finish just a little shopping, but if Robert has me pasted to Angus, I might not get it done. I might have to have your help with that, if you don't mind."

Aria watched as Edwrad returned with Finn and the dog followed him to his side of the duplex she chuckled and walked up to the bedroom where Marcus had just changed Diamond. She heard him mention a warming spell and cast a light one on her sleep sack " That should keep her arm but I agree the sack should keep her warm enough and this room is warm too" she said slipping into bed once she was changed into her pajamas.

Hearing Marcus she chuckled and gently kissed his cheek " Of course you can count on me" she said softly as she lay next to him her head on his chest as she listened to him breathing softly, She saw Diamonds legs move as she tried to kick off the sack and smiled s she heard the silance of the house except for the howling wind out side the house. Slowly she drifted asleep wondering what Lucian would find the next day for Angus.

Angus was up early. He enjoyed getting up by himself every once in awhile. He didn't bother making coffee because someone always threw out the fresh pots he made and made new ones. He figured it would be cheaper if he just let whoever came down next make the coffee. He could smell the dutch babies being made from Simone's kitchen, and he decided not to interfere with that process either.

He made some fresh fruit salad, and made a country egg scramble by getting out a huge skillet and making scrambled eggs and adding sausage crumbles, cheese, chopped onion and bell pepper and some diced cooked potatoes he had left over in the fridge. It would make a nice savory side for the sweet dutch babies.

Then while the eggs were simmering in the skillet, he fastened the rope to Finn and took him outside. He brought him back in, and poured a cup of kibbles in the dog dish. As he did, Simone came over with four large, perfect dutch babies. Angus knew each one could be cut into four servings. By cooking for of them, Simone had insured that everyone, if they wanted, could have two servings. And she had taken some of her elderberry preserves and made an elderberry syrup for the dutch babies and had made some fresh whipped cream.

"Those are beautiful," Angus told her. "I couldn't have done better myself."

"I hope they like them," she said, putting them on the table.

"I think they will. After all, I think they all like Yorkshire pudding, and a dutch baby isn't that different. It's just bigger and sweeter," Angus said, putting the egg scramble in a large serving bowl so everyone could serve themselves. He set the table and set the large bowl of fruit salad out on the table too.

"No coffee or tea this morning?" she frowned. "Are you slipping?"

"Oh, probably," Angus laughed.

"I'll get it," she shook her head, laughing.