A Birth day

Marcus was already up, and he had left Finn out and fed him. He had showered and changed after he had helped Angus wash and shave last night. They'd stayed awake talking.

"Keep your eyes open when you go into Diagon Alley today," Angus told Aria and Ruby. "Be watchful. I think it's very unlikely that, even if Priscilla and Dominick are back in the Knockturn or Diagon Alley area, they won't recognize you. Do be watchful, though."

"Angus believes that the thugs that beat up Anise last night are more of Gelding's thugs," Marcus said.

"Her description was spot on for four of the thugs that most often are assigned to Suzanne for whatever dirty work she has up her sleeve," Angus said. "The kids were damned lucky that they must not have recognized the boys because if they had, those kids would not have been able to come home at all. I'm sure that they caught hell for letting our kids slip through their fingers when they got back to Suzanne last night. I'll talk to the kids when they get up this morning so they know I don't want them leaving the grounds without one of us or one of the first stringers under any circumstances. I didn't want to alarm them last night, so I deliberately didn't talk to them then. I will be talking to Robert about it this morning."

as Marcus entered with Finn Aria sent over a fresh cup of coffee to him with a smile " Morning" she said smiling to him. Ruby moved to Angus and kissed him gently.

"morning" she said to him and listened to what he said. Aria walked over with her cup and listened pulling back her long coat she had on she showed her holster with her wand in it " I never go near that alley with out this" she said patting her wand Ruby chuckled .

"wish I could , but I have to get a new one" she said with a deep sigh. " we'll keep an eye out and please stress they watch them selves" she said to Angus but she relaxed when she said he would talk to Robert too " good idea." then looked to the duplex door as she saw Rosaria and Carlos walk in smiling , she smiled back " good morning" she said moving to sit on the sofa.

"Thank you," Marcus said. "I think Angus is right. I think its unlikely that Gelding's goons would recognize you. Obviously Suzanne would recognize Ruby, but I think she would likely find shopping in Diagon Alley to be beneath her dignity now, and she has no reason to go to Hogsmeade. If you see anything questionable, just apparate straight back and don't get into it."

"Don't underestimate Carlo and Rosaria, though," Angus said. "Being older does not make them inept in any way. They won't hesitate to jump in if they're needed, but as long as you're out, stop in at Ollivanders and get a new wand, Ru."

"I'll go with you to get a replacement one when you can get up to do it," Marcus told Angus.

"I'm not concerned," Angus said. "I'm not planning on going anywhere, and I've got Caprice's if I absolutely have to have one. I don't think she'd have minded my using it."

"Don't worry about the kids," Marcus said. "We'll cover it when we see them." When Carlo and Rosaria arrived back at the duplex, they looked rested, fresh, and ready for whatever the day would bring them.

Rosaria hurried to drop their things off in the guest room they were using at Edwards while Carlo brought in a cardboard box and brought it over to Angus and set it on the overbed table, telling Angus that Michael and Rosaria had thoroughly enjoyed making an early breakfast together. They had enough to bring back for Angus and Marcus. There were two large, perfectly cooked puff pastries with perfectly cooked sunnyside up eggs and cheese and crumbled crispy bacon on top. There were also two fabulous chocolate raspberry danish too.

"Grazie," Angus said. He talked for a moment with Carlo, as Marcus got a cup of coffee for Angus.

"Carlo is telling Angus he needs a trip to the tobacconists in Diagon Alley. He likes the kind of tobacco that Angus has in his cigarettes and the kind that Edward uses in his pipes," Marcus told Aria and Ruby. "If you get into that shop, the tobacconist should be able to get you exactly what he wants if you tell him to give you a pound or two of each, I should think."

Ruby hears Angus and nodded " that was going to be my first stop , well it is now" she said with a smile to him. listening more she nodded " we'll watch our backs anything looks off we'll come right back" she told him Aria looked at Marcus and smiled.

"I'll relive you when I get back for sure" she said then heard Angus mention Carlos and the tobacco shop " we can do that" she said and nodded as she moving over to Angus " okay well when they are ready we will head out , oh and I'll bring back some fudge for you guys too" Aria said with a chuckle. Ruby moved and grabbed a coat and slipped it on before moving to Angus and kissing him gently .

"we won't be too long" she said smiling as she moved to Carlos and Rosaria , Aria patted Angus on his chest and chuckled .

"be back in a bit" she said and moved to stand on the other side of Carlos and Rosaria taking Rosaria's hand as Ruby took Carlos's they ported to the alley and smiled hearing the hustle and bustle around them.

Just after they left, Angus and Marcus heard the babies start to fuss upstairs. Angus sighed, feeling frustrated. Both Ruby and Aria had gone for the day and not bothered to tend the babies before they left. He tossed back the covers and sat up on the edge of the bed, knowing he had to try.

"Just wait," Marcus told him. "Let me. I can manage. They won't die if they have to be unhappy for a moment." At that moment, Ginger and Anise came upstairs.

"We'll get it," Ginger said. "Marcus, can you make a couple cereal bottles?"

"Certainly," Marcus said. The girls headed up to the nursery, and Marcus made two cereal bottles, adding some applesauce to them to add a little sweetness. He had just finished making them and warming them when Ginger and Anise came downstairs with two very noisy, fussy babies. Marcus handed over the bottles, and the girls started to feed them.

"Where are..." Simone came over. She looked at the girls feeding the babies. "Oh, well done," she beamed. "Good job, Girls. When they've eaten, can you bring them over? Edward and I bought a playpen for our side, and we've put some of their toys in it, so i daresay that should keep them occupied for awhile this morning. Wait. Anise, what happened to you? Have you been in a fight?"

"She was," Angus said. "Last night in Knockturn Alley."

"Knockturn!" Simone exclaimed. "Your grandfather is not going to be happy with you at all for being there, either of you girls."

"The boys were there too," Angus said. "I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but I will."

"Edward would ground all for of them for a good long while, I'm sure," Simone said.

"Yeah, that might be one of the options," Angus said.

"What the devil is this folderol?" Edward called, bringing over the morning papers.

"What?" Angus asked. Edward took him over the papers, and Angus looked at the headlines.

"Jilted Wife of Lupin's Secret Lover Engaged to Danish Prince," the headlines read. It showed a picture of Khaat and Marcus, and Evelyn.

"Oh for the love of.." Angus began.

"I'm gonna kill her," Marcus scowled. He was furious. "Rita Skeeter. Why am I not surprised?"

Ruby and Aria walked around Diagon alley Ruby went to Olivander's and replaced her wand with a new one white oak with a hippogriff feather core that felt much better than her old one. Once done they walked down to the tobacco shop. Aria glanced around and saw a head line that caught her eye and bought a paper " I knew she was bat shit crazy" she said and showed Ruby who shook her head at it " I know Marcus will know about it already but she must be crazy" Aria said slipping the paper into her pocket as she shrunk it down.

Ruby moved with Rosaria to Sparks and went inside " order what you want , our treat" she said s Aria and Carlos sat down with them facing them. Aria stood at the end of the table glancing at two men who were looking over at them and then talking between each other.

" I think we should finish up and head back" Aria said but Ruby shook her head .

"no why should we, let carry on , besides we need to show Rosaria and Carlos Michaels house" she said and Aria nodded.

Jack walked in but paused knocking on the door as he heard Marcus talking about Rita Skeeter" okay what she do now?" he asked " and are the boys ready for their run?"

"Take a look," Angus said, floating the paper over to Jack. "A complete lie on the front page, saying that Marcus left Evelyn because he's actually having an affair with Khaat, which is why she has a new bodyguard, according to Rita. And that Evelyn is newly engaged to a Danish prince."

"Also not true," Marcus said. "She thinks she's going to sue me for custody of all my kids, even Poppy, which she is not related to at all. And, this supposed nitwit she says she's going to marry is some guy she's met who is in the same lockdown unit she's in. Evelyn says he is a Danish prince with a summer castle in the Swiss Alps. He's deluded and so is Evelyn. Robert and Brian will have Rita Skeeter for lunch, I'm quite sure. I'll need to contact Jeffrey this morning and let him know that Evlyn's making a damned big mess of things somehow."

"I'll get the boys," Ginger said, looking mischievous. She got out two big glasses and filled them with ice and went upstairs.

"The girl has a naughty streak," Marcus said.

"I knew I liked her right from the start," Angus laughed. An instant later there were two high pitched shrieks from upstairs. Anise laughed, knowing exactly where Ginger had dropped the ice.

"They'll be downstairs in about ten seconds, I'd wager," Anise told Jack. When the boys arrived downstairs, Edward was standing, arms folded, looking like he meant business.

"Think you're grown up enough to wander into Knockturn at midnight, do you?" Edward said. "Well, if that's so, you'd best get in condition fast if you're going to survive. At the end of your shift, I expect all four of you to go run the obstacle course. Not the running course. The obstacle course. I'll have it set for all of you for a 5 pm run. Got it?"

All four of them just nodded, not saying a word. Simone took the babies from the girls and took them over to Edward's side.

"Get going, you three," Angus said to Ginger and the boys. "Anise, you go give Simone a hand today with the babies, please." She just nodded and went over to give Simone a hand.

Jack took the paper and shook his head " she's a nutter" he said simply then chuckled at what Marcus said about him and Khaat " oh that's news to me and I guess Brian too and best not let Aria know " he said with a teasing tone then chuckled handing it back " I'd ignore it or get Rita here and lay down some truths to her." he saw the girls stand up and hand Simone the babies as they then took two glasses up stairs.

Hearing the screams he could not help but laugh as the girls returned. Moments later the boys appeared dressed and he stood arms crossed over his chest " I told you we'd be going for a run" he said but heard Edward say obstacle course and smiled " oh nice idea" he said and stepped to one side letting them all pass by him " want I should go easy?" he asked knowing Edward would probably say nope to that.

Angus could tell by the way the boys fidgeted about for a couple moments exactly where Ginger had poured the ice. Angus tried hard not to laugh.

"No, I don't want you to go easy," Edward said. "I'm going to ask Robert to set it at the first stringers' settings. If they think they can take on professional criminals without backup, then they need to know what they're up against. If they can handle the course at that setting, then I'll put in a good word for them with Robert."

"Aria heard about the damned Danish prince business last night," Marcus said. "I guess I didn't really expect Evelyn to really quit after our divorce, but it made the kids feel freer. Those kids wouldn't go with her under any circumstances. It just would never happen. I feel for Brian. Someone has been trying to make a link between Khaat and me for years. I just hoped that, after David took on the task, that they'd give her some peace, especially since I haven't gone to any effort to hide that I'm seeing Aria. You'd have figured that if Rita was any good at her job, she'd have figured that out too."

"I might have an idea," Angus said, with a bit of a cheeky grin.

"I don't like your look."

"You shouldn't," Edward said. "That's his 'I'm going to cause complete chaos and enjoy every moment' look. Something is about to go not just off the rails, it's going to go off the rails and obliterate everything in radius. While he sits back and laughs his arse off."

"Yup," Angus grinned.

Jack chuckled and nodded " guessed as much " he said listening to Marcus talk if Rita skeeter then he looked at Angus " oh boy, I know you Angus and I'm out " he said and chuckled " I'll sent back what's left of the girls and boys once their done." he said with a chuckle as he left for the obstacle course to run it.

Ruby and Aria finished eating with Carlos and Rosaria, Aria paid the bill and they walked down to flourish and blots to get the fudge and any sweets Rosaria and Carlos wanted. Aria could se Michaels house from where they were and made that the next stop.

Once done Aria walked over to Michel's cottage and greeted Snidely introducing Carlos and Rosaria and stepping back as the foot stool pups ran out to greet them.