A Birth day

"One of us needs to talk to Robert," Marcus told Angus after Jack left. "I can go see if he's still home or I can send him a paper bird."

"Send him a bird, why don't you? That's always been pretty efficient."

They waited nearly 20 minutes and then the floo opened.

"Marcus?" It was Robert. "One of you trying to reach me?"

"Yes. We were. Do you have a moment?"

"I do. Kate's been training a few new owlets, and one of them got into a hunting mood and took out your paper bird. When Kate got to him, the little blighter was eating your paper bird." That made Marcus and Angus laugh. "I'll be over in a moment. I wanted to check Angus's shoulder before I went in to work anyway. Keep the coffee on. It's still early, after all."

"Thanks," Marcus said. Robert arrived about ten minutes later, and Marcus poured him coffee while Robert changed the dressing on Angus's shoulder. While Robert worked, Angus explained what had happened with the kids last night.

"I have a file of the known criminals that work for Gelding. Do send Anise over to look at them. I'll have Kate help her with that. Maybe we can identify exactly who she was attacked by last night. That might tell us more about who they were there for, at least. In the meantime, though, tell the kids they are not to go to London without one of us with them. And I really don't want them going to Paris or even wandering the village near Edward's estate without one of us, not until we know where the hell Priscilla really is right now. I think we really do need to be quite careful."

"I agree," Angus said. "I told them no more trips to Diagon Alley for the time being but I'll pass the rest of it on, and I'll talk to Evan so that he and Tara know too."

"I can't blame Anise's instincts. She gets that honestly enough from her contact with you. She saw Priscilla, and she wanted to find out what she was up to. I completely understand that. Any of us would have done the same thing and tailed her to find out more. However, they're young, too young honestly to be considered more than trainees yet. I don't' even rank them in my mind as rookies yet. I don't want them ever acting on their own unless its purely self defense. If they see someone like that, I want them going the other way, not going towards them. I do not want them hurt or killed because of inexperience. For now, they will earn their experience by tagging along with one of us. That's plenty of on the job training for right now."

"Agreed," Angus said.

"Your shoulder is starting to respond to the wizard potions and spells I've been able to switch you to, and it's starting to look a good deal better, and I think you're looking stronger too. Much better. We might be able to get this bed out of your living room a couple days sooner than expected if you continue to heal at this rate. As soon as the stitches are out, I'm going to send Andrew back in a couple times a day to start rehab on it. Do not overdo it like you usually want to do. Its been repeatedly damaged, so we need to keep that in consideration when we start rehab."

"Robert, did you see the papers?" Marcus asked.

"Oh. Rita's piece? I saw it," Robert said dryly. "Don't let it concern you for a moment. Khaat and Brian have already seen it, and they're fine..."

"It was started by Evelyn," Marcus said, handing over the crumpled letter. Robert straightened it and read it.

"Hm. Sounds like you need to talk to Jeffrey," Robert said.

"I will, and my father's calling the attorneys this morning."

"Good."

"I'm going to get her, Robert," Angus said. "She's tinkered with people long enough."

"I know that look. You're up to something already."

"Well, I have an idea anyway, but I'll need a spell to do it, and some extra quick quotes quills to practice with. You in?"

"Depends on what you want to do," Robert said.

"Let me see if I can't put together a spell first."

"Do let me know what you want to do before you do it? We don't need more trouble from her."

"Yes, but it might just work."

"In which case, I might be keenly interested," Robert laughed.

"I was going to get them, but Ginger and Anise took care of them and took them to Simone and Edward," Angus said.

"They followed you from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade?" Marcus frowned. He wasn't certain how anyone could have done that because the trip had been rather impulsively made, and there hadn't been a set itinerary for it. He listened to Aria tell him she'd seen the papers. "I'm not necessarily concerned because most sensible wizards know Rita makes it all up as she goes along. Still, I feel bad for Khaat because she's being accused of being unfaithful, and she's never been that. And, I feel for my kids because they're being dragged all through the press for something that has really nothing to do with them. Most things Rita writes are soon forgotten, so we'll hope this goes that way too."

"Well, I didn't send Anise because of the bruising she took to her face. Ginger and the boys did the running track this morning, not the obstacle course. I'm not going to send Anise out there today. She's uncomfortable enough. I'm not going to add to that for her," Angus said.

"Oh, I did give her a little pain potion this morning when they ate," Marcus said. "I forgot to tell you, Angus."

"No problem. I'm glad you did," Angus said. "We both know what that sort of a beating to the face feels like."

"Yeah. I saw her heading back to her room, so I presume she's resting while her pain reduced for her," Marcus said. "I'll check on her in a bit."

"Marcus does have bright kids," Angus said. "They deserve better that Rita Skeeter tinkering with their family."

"You hold tight to your word, Mate," Marcus said. "Angus told Robert he wants to teach Rita a bit of a lesson. Robert isn't opposed to it, so long as Angus talks to him ahead of time about what he wants to do."

"And that depends on if I can come up with a spell that works," Angus said. "So how'd your trip go otherwise? Did Rosaria and Carlo like Sparks? You know, they've talked about wanting to go sightseeing here for as long as I can remember. Maybe Edward and Simone will take them to do that."

"Sounds like you did well," Angus said. "You got a good looking wand, and you had a good trip to Sparks and did some shopping. I think Asia will love the earrings, and they're tiny enough that she can wear them every day without feeling like she has to save them for those rare special occasions. I want her to feel comfortable enough to wear them, so the fact that they're really tiny will help. Nice choice."

Marcus went to the kitchen and warmed up his coffee and Angus's, and he was coming back to the living room when a letter fluttered out of the floo.

"Snag that, Angus," Marcus called. Angus cast a wandless spell to accio the letter.

"Its' for you, Marcus," Angus told him.

"Open it,' Marcus told him. Angus opened it and read it.

"It's from Jeffrey," Angus said. "He says that Evelyn managed to subvert an orderly and got him to contact her attorney. That orderly is no longer with my organization, but it is clear to me that the damage has already been done. I have contacted my facility's attorney to see if there is any assistance I can provide you. I am told I can reveal to you that we have no blue bloods in our facility at this time, but I told our attorney I was sure you already surmised that. If I were you, though, I would not want to presume that her attempt to take legal action is not valid until or unless you hear that from your own legal advisors. I have also been told that she has sent letters to each of the children, but I have no copies of them or I would send them to you. Do stay in touch, and I will help you as I can. Sincerely, Jeffrey."

"I am not surprised in the least," Marcus said. "She is very good at seducing men to get whatever she wants."

"Well, that's not entirely how it's being handled," Marcus said. "My dad probably has already called my attorney by now, and I would guess that my attorney is on it. He already knows exactly how the kids feel about their mother. Angus, tell them what Robert is doing in this."

"He's getting me an entire case of quick quote quills because I asked him to," Angus said. "And so far, that's it."

"Presumably, he's hoping to jinx her quill," Marcus said. "But if I know him, this won't be any run of the mill jinx, not if he's going to create the spell himself."

"Darned right," Angus said. "Robert wants to know what the spell does once I get it done, but so far that's all he's doing."

"You really are looking to get her, aren't you?" Marcus asked.

"I might have learned a thing or two by watching Michael and Robert pranking each other with that damned boggart for so many years," Angus said with an ornery grin.