A Birth day

Marcus was fine with her picking up her cloak, and he went with her to the cloak room.

"Thank you," he smiled. "You look lovely yourself. Sorry I couldn't be with you tonight, but I'm sure that we will have our chance to go out. Khaat does not go to any more of these than she has to. She has to do at least a couple every year because she has to do a lot of fundraising for the hospital, but it certainly isn't as often as it used to be. It's getting to the point where she's been doing this for so long now that when she asks for money, she pretty much gets it. So, maybe that will give us more opportunities to go out. Maybe." He drew his wand and he reached for her hand. "Let's go home."

He was glad to get home but he was surprised to see the lights still on in the duplex.

"Oh, yes. I bet Angus and Ruby have been dealing with the kids. I'm sure their little curfew stunt did not sit well with Angus or Ruby either one." He opened the door so he and Aria could go in, but he was a little surprised to see that the house was quiet.

"I almost expected to hear arguing between you and the kids," Marcus told them.

"Oh, there wasn't arguing, as such," Angus said. "I told the boys what was going to happen and sent them to bed. The girls knew I wasn't going to be able to follow them downstairs to their room, and I am definitely not happy that they took advantage of that. I will be dealing with them in the morning."

"Understood. Well, it seems that its safe for us to go to bed then. I'll check things to make sure they're secure, and then I'll head to bed myself. You want me to take the girls to Evan's in the morning?"

"I could get Evan to come get them, I suppose," Angus said. "I don't know if I could do that yet myself, but I could try."

"Let's not do that yet when there are a lot of others here who could do that," Marcus said.

Aria listened to Marcus and smiled when he said she looked lovely she took his hand " I will look forward to that" she said with a smile as he ported them back to the duplex front " oh I bet there was earlier" she said and chuckled as he opened the door. She thanked him as they walked inside she took off her cloak and lay it over her arm a she headed up to their room.

Ruby looked up as she heard porting and saw Marcus and Aria return " oh he was super diplomatic" Ruby said " there not allowed to go off grounds and he fined them too." she told Marcus as she saw Aria head up to change " good night Aria," she said and Aria smiled and.

"good night Ruby, Angus , Marcus I'll see you upstairs, and I'll check the upstairs." she told him. Ruby looked back to Marcus as he continued.

" we'll deal with the the morning" she said to Angus, " you need rest" she added as she sat down on the sofa " I'll be up for a while yet, so you can go change." she said to Marcus

"Thank you," Marcus said to Ruby. He let Finn out one more time, made a check of Edward's and also of the downstairs on Angus and Ruby's side and then let Finn back in. "We're clear, Guys," he told Angus and Ruby. "I'm heading to bed but I'll be up in plenty of time in the morning. Goodnight."

"'Night, Marcus," Angus said, watching Marcus go upstairs. "You have to be tired, Ru. You should get some sleep too. Ru, you do what you want, but if these kids want to be treated like adults, maybe tomorrow needs to be one of those mornings when we let the kids come up with their own breakfasts. You do what you feel is best, though." He yawned, finishing the last of his coffee. "You know you're a confirmed coffee addict when you can drink a cup of coffee and not have it interfere with your sleep. I think I'm tired." He flicked his fingers to turn down the lights. "Night, Ru."

Ruby watched Marcus make his checks and let Finn back in from being outside. Nodding her acknowledgment to Marcus as he confirmed all was secure she smiled " good night and sleep well Marcus." she said then heard Angus and chuckled again " I guess so and you know what, your right if they think they are old enough to do what they want, then they can take on some responsibility's of cooking for them selves" she said " both the boys and girls." she saw him yawn and smiled walking over she kissed his cheek and pulled up his blanket to his chest " sleep well" she said softly before she too headed up to the bed room.

Next morning Ruby cooked for only Marcus Aria and Angus sending his fresh cup of coffee to the table beside the bed ready for when he woke. She smiled seeing how she was up not too early but earlier than the others.

Marcus was up early, showered and dressed and he came downstairs, and poured himself coffee. He didn't make much noise, knowing Angus was still sleeping. He opened the door and brought in the papers.

"Morning," he told Ruby quietly. "I know the boys are up. I heard them moving about in their room. I presume the girls are up too by now." He opened the papers and saw images of a mammothly inflated Rita Skeeter, tethered to Robert by a rope. "Well, well. Look here." He showed Ruby the images. "Well done, Angus," Marcus laughed softly. "There's a note from the editor of the Daily Prophet that he hopes that just like Rita is much less inflated this morning, maybe her inflated journalism will go with it. So some people got the gist anyway. Looks like it was worth the effort. Oh, and as a follow up, the Ministry has examine the medical reports from St. Mungos, has examined the drink Rita had at the event and all of her belongings and find absolutely nothing amiss. They're chalking it up to someone's spell gone awry. So well played, it looks like."

Angus woke slowly and he saw the fresh coffee on the table beside him. He reached for it, trying to get his eyes open. He was just taking his first sip of coffee when the girls came upstairs quietly. They weren't expecting to see Ruby and Angus and Marcus all awake. Angus motioned to them.

"We might as well get this overwith," Angus yawned, barely awake. They went over slowly.

"Before you say anything, we're sorry.." Anise began.

"Stop," Angus cut her short. "I'm not angry. I'm really disappointed. You know this is against the law. We talked about it. So you openly and willingly broke the law. Sam and Victor came up with it, and you both went along with it...."

"They didn't want to take us home..." Ginger began.

"Then you should have come straight to me, and you both know that," Angus said, not cutting them any slack. "I'd have gotten someone to take you home or I'd have taken you home myself. And then, to make matters worse, you knew I wasn't physically able to come talk to you in your room last night when you came home. You actually took advantage of my injury to go downstairs. I didnt think you'd be that insensitive, but clearly you can be. So here's what you're going to do." Without raising his voice, he repeated the consequences just as he had laid it out for the boys. Unlike the boys, though, the girls had absolutely nothing to say. They were shocked into silence.

He told the girls that since they believed they were adults, they could prepare their own breakfast. They headed silently to the kitchen.

"Can Sam and Victor take us to Evan's this morning?" Anise asked quietly.

"No. They cannot," Angus said.

Ruby chuckled at the news headline " morning Marcus and that's very good " she said hearing the girls walk up she paused in what she was doing and watched cleaning up her breakfast cooking she handed Marcus a plate and smiled " your breakfast, The girls will be making their own" she said to him " one of Angus punishments" she spoke softly so not to disturb Angus.

Aria woke showered and headed down stairs pausing as she heard Angus talking to the girls, she slipped into the kitchen beside Marcus " morning" she said and kissed Marcus cheek. " smells good" she said seeing the breakfast Ruby had made as she placed the plate In front of Aria .

" enjoy" she said and finished cleaning up as Aria pored a cup of coffee for herself siting back and taking in the sight of Angus talking to the girls before they walked into the kitchen as Ruby left. " nice going Angus" she said smiling.

"Thank you, Ruby," Marcus said. "I'm starving. Thanks for cooking."

"I'll take the girls this morning," Marcus said to Angus. "You want me to say anything to Evan?"

"Just one thing. They are not to go anywhere with Sam or Victor--period," Angus said, as the boys came downstairs. They were as silent as the girls were. "And they are not to spend time with Sam or Victor except here on the grounds when they have our say so."

"Understood," Marcus nodded. "Girls, we need to leave in ten minutes, so get it together."

"We'll be ready," Ginger said stuffing some food into a bag to take with her.

"We made the papers," Marcus told Angus handing him the newspapers. Angus read the headlines and started reading the stories, unable to stop himself from smiling. "Well done," Marcus told him. "Some people got your point. And they expect Rita to perhaps be released from St. Mungos today. Xenophillius Lovegood isn't happy, but he's a bit strange anyway."

"Don't lie. He's a likeable fellow but he's a lot strange," Angus said. "I didn't expect everyone to be happy. I'm sure Rita's not very happy either but I didn't ask her opinion. And look, the Quibbler and the Prophet both spent the money to print full color pictures of you and Khaat."

"What?" Marcus asked. Angus showed him an inside page where there were a couple colored images because they were talking about Khaat's glamorous dress and how she never disappointed in her fashion tastes. "Well, lets be honest. They were taking a picture of her, and I just happened to be beside her where I was supposed to be. By the way, one of Priscilla's New Orleans confederates showed up at the auction last night, according to Michael. He got rid of them, but he said this guy said they're still serious about getting rid of you. So we are not going to take silly chances. We're going to continue to be proactive against her."

"That's fine," Angus said. He was sipping on his coffee when he heard some very loud noises outside. Marcus went to the door and opened it and looked out.

"Well, I'll be," he said, surprised. "The pond isn't complete yet but they're moving our house onto its site. It's here and so are the outbuildings."

"I knew about that. I didn't say anything because I wanted you to be surprised. You'll both have to stay away from there while they get the house onto the building site and onto the foundation and then get it secured. But its a step in the right direction," Angus said.

Aria and Ruby both stayed quiet as Angus spoke to the boys too. Aria finished her food and picked up her cup of coffee and walked into the living room standing next to Ruby. When Angus mentioned the papers she quickly moved to Angus's side and chuckled " she does look beautiful in that dress" she said with a smile sipping the coffee. Hearing Marcus say he would take the girls to Evens and Angus say they were not to be with the boys only on the grounds she nodded. Hearing the noise from outside she put her cup down and moved to the back door gasping at what she saw the then them smiled. " its already looking perfect" she said and looked to Marcus. " soon we'll have the fun of decorating it."

Ruby smiled as she looked at Angus as the girls went to the kitchen and made their breakfast " I want that kitchen as I left it please" she said to them hearing a double "okay" echo back to her from the kitchen. Looking out the window she smiled " soon be a home of your own guys" she said smiling as she glanced at Angus.

Aria looked to Angus and smiled " thank you" she said moving to give him a gentle hug. " this means you'll be two house guests down soon but you know we'll be over her a lot, have to help with the babies." she said and chuckled.

"You're welcome," Angus said. "You're welcome here any time. You both know that. Besides, if Priscilla and Suzanne are still crazy after you move into the cottage, Marcus is still going to be spending a lot of time here anyway."

"It's time to go, Girls," Marcus said. "Coats and books now." They rapidly tried to finish the kitchen chores instead."

"You need to listen if he's going to take you," Angus said. "Coats and books right this minute. Anything you didn't get done in the kitchen is something you'll have to deal with Ruby about later. Get going." The girls ran for their coats, angry and frustrated. They put their coats on, grabbed their backpacks, and prepared to port with Marcus. And Angus was sure he saw Ginger brushing away an angry tear just as Marcus ported them away. Angus didn't say anything, but he was wondering if he was being too hard on them.

Sam and Victor went to the kitchen and silently finished the girls chores and then left, way early, for work, just glad to get out of the house.

"Parenting stinks this morning," Angus said quietly after the boys left. "Should I apologize and roll it all back, do you think? And how normal do you think it is to wonder if you're doing the right thing?"

Aria heard Marcus and saw the girls rush to get their things not finishing their clearing up of the kitchen after they had eaten. Ruby stayed silent as the boys finished and left to work early once they had left she turned to Angus and shook her head " your not" she said to him " when they get out into that big mean world nobodies going to go easy on them, you just showing them how life really is and how good they had it until they messed up, and they messed up nobody else" she said " your doing exactly what they need, don't back down, I know its tough but they will be okay" she said and smiled to him.

Aria nodded and moved to watch as the cottage was slowly being put together by the pond. " there young they will get over it, give it a month just as you said, I promise you this they won't do it again." she said and chuckled.