A Birth day

"Apparently, yes," Marcus said. "I don't think burning herbs is all that rare a phenomenon in magic. I mean, its been used in all sorts of folk magic, its used in our own spells, and it's even used in potions making in different ways. I presume its the spell itself that makes it dark or rare or whatever."

"I'm sure you're right," Angus said. "I've seen Minos do some similar things with Fae magic. Maybe if we take Minos with us, he can give us a clue about the spell that this bowl is most often used for."


"Or..." Sam said, thinking out loud. "Maybe Dad's old pocketwatch has something to do with it."

"Shhh." Victor hushed Sam quickly.

"He's dead. He can't have an opinion about it now, Vic," Sam scowled. 

"What?" Angus looked at the boys.

"One summer when we were home from Hogwarts," Sam said. "Dad was gone every night til about sunrise and would come home bombed out of his brains. It was a summer when Ruby was out of a job, and she was working as a cashier a few hours a week at the neighborhood shop. Wasn't making enough money for groceries even. Ruby and Vic and I were freaking hungry. So I broke into Dad's jewelry box and took his pocketwatch and pawned it."

"I told him to buy a cheap brass pocketwatch that looked enough like it that it would fool Dad," Victor said. "And I put the brass watch in his jewelry box so he didn't beat the daylights out of us. And Sam bought groceries for us. He told Ruby he got some groceries at a food bank. We never went to any food bank. Sam would buy the groceries, and then he and i would either sell some of Mom and Dad's junk or we'd do odd jobs to buy the watch back. That scam kept us fed all summer."

"I never did switch the cheap watch back for the good one. I've still got the good one. Its got scratches on the inside of the case. If you open the watch, its on the inside of that little front door thingy," Sam said.

"Could we see it, please?" Angus asked. "Could we show it to Minos?"

"I dont see why not," Victor said. "It's just sitting there in that box of yours, buried under all your chocolate frog cards." 

"Yeah, okay," Sam said, going up to get it.

Ruby set the roast cooking and the veg then walked around to the living room and listened " I remember, you scamps " she said and chuckled " and I doughty he has any use for a watch right now, hey be thankful its not his sock draw." she said and chuckled at the mention of chocolate frogs. " Sam could you fetch it so Angus can show Minos please" she asked knowing she didn't want to enter the boys room and go rummaging as she feared what she would find there.

Aria listened and looked at Marcus " could it be a pensive of sorts?" she asked now curious to what the watch was as she moved to stand next to him as they waited for Sam to return with the watch in hand

"Well, maybe," Angus said. "I'm not ruling anything out at this point. You never quite know what you're going to get into with odd bits of magic at work."

Sam brought the watch down, and Angus opened the watch and saw there were indeed rune marks on the inside of the watch case. He went out and showed it to Minos. It was a few minutes before Angus returned.

"Minos says it's a Fae opening spell," Angus said. "I'm not sure what Reginald would be doing with a Fae spell, but Minos tells me there are dark Fae just like there are dark wizards. He says its hard telling what the spell opens. He suggests we take him along if we intend to go there because he believes he will have far better results in doing the opening spell than we would, and he says he believes he will have better results if we unleash something that needs to be quickly contained. Ru, if you lot are going to serve your roast for lunch, you should get on it. Its nearly half past one as it is. Can I help you with something?"

"I think you distracted them," Victor told Angus. "They got all preoccupied with the stuff in Dad's old pointless books. 

"Well, they may not be pointless," Angus said. "We'll just have to wait and see. Your dad's diary seemed to suggest that there was maybe some money that he and your mom and my dad and Tom were all trying to scramble to get, and it was more or less a race to see who would get there first. I'm not so sure anyone's gotten there, and everyone's dead now from those people but Tom and your mom. And they're crazy enough that I'd like to finish the race and see if that stops some of that desperation they have."

"Nah. They'll just be onto someone else. Dad hid all kinds of crap in all kinds of little hidey holes," Sam shrugged, not convinced. "You watch my words. My grandkids will still be digging some of his junk up."

"God, I hope not," Angus said. "I wasn't counting on you and Anise having any kids until you both turned at least 65." Sam looked at him scowling.

"And here we were thinking next year," Sam said sarcastically, teasing Angus.

Ruby chuckled hearing the mention of the roast she jumped and took it out of the fridge placing it and the veg into the oven and turning it open to start cooking " okay its on" she said smiling " and Sams right , it was like playing hide and seek with our dad " she said then chuckled as Angus said Sam would not have kids until he was sixty five. " that's too generous Angus" she said and smirked at Sam and victor.

Aria nodded to Marcus and listened to Sam and Victor " ether way best to get it off the board in regards Tom" she said as she sat letting Dimond hold her finger so she could try and pull her self to her feet like Caprice was doing but standing before falling down again.

"So, let me ask you something," Angus said to Sam and Victor. "You said this area where this rock is, is a restricted area. If its restricted, how did both of you get in when you hadn't been to Hogwarts yet.


"Easy," Sam replied. "Mom could poke a hole in a bag with her wand. And Dad was good with some spells, but he was horrid with protection spells of any kind. Nobody knew that but Vic and me. And we only found out when we saw him cast a protection spell around that area. He could cast a spell that started at the top, at about seven feet or so, and it went down towards the ground, but he could never figure out how to get the spell to touch the ground. His always stopped at around a foot off the ground. Plenty of room for a kid to belly crawl underneath and get through without triggering it. And, we figured out something else too. His had a flaw. If we took some sort of powder, like flour or powdered sugar or corn flour, we could throw fistfuls of it at his grid and see exactly where his grids stopped and started. They would take on a weird shimmer when we'd throw flour at them."

"You two were clearly left to your own devices much too often," Angus laughed. "In this case, though, we can make use of it. After lunch, maybe we can all go and see what your dad is still hiding. We probably will have to take the babies, though, since Edward and Simone are gone for a few days."

"That'll be handy if the spell opens some area where there are golums or something loaded with dark magic," Marcus said sarcastically.

Ruby heard Sam and Victor and laughed " oh he was totally bad" she said and then heard about the boys being left to their own devices " more times than you know " she said to Angus with a laugh as she made a fresh pot of coffee and tea for every one. " but good thing they were so explorative or we'd never know of the place Benjamin went " she added handing Marcus and Angus both a fresh cup of coffee.

Aria chuckled and smiled hearing Ruby talk about going to the place where the stone was " we can use the carriers there is two of them, ruby and I can carry the babies fresh air will do them good" she added and chuckled as Dimond bounced on her feet as she finished talking to them." if its dark magic Ruby and I can port back here with the babies or Jessie and Yu could baby sit them?" she said

"Well, about that. Both babies are too old for the old baby slings. They're not newborns anymore, that's for sure," Angus said, going over and setting the table with plates, glassware, silverware, trivets for hot dishes, serving spoons, and the rest of it. "We have a couple of backpack style carriers in our baby supplies in the basement. they'll carry the babies and, I think, a diaper or two, maybe a travel pack of disposable baby wipes. Sam and Victor are certainly big enough and strong enough to put the backpacks on and carry the babies in the backpacks. I say we let them do it so that the rest of us and Minos are free to deal with whatever might come at us. I would rather be ready to defend us if it comes to it. The boys know how to apparate and port, so it seems to me that they're the right ones to carry the backpacks. We can borrow one of the girls' insulated lunch bags and tuck some cold drinks into it in case we need them for ourselves or for the babies. We'll have to knock down his protection grid, but I doubt that will be a big problem if it is as weak a shield as the boys say it is." 

"Not a problem," Victor said. "If we can find the backpacks."

"We could accio them," Sam said. Before Angus could slow him down, Sam had cast an accio spell and he had summoned every freaking purse, tote bag, lunch bag, suitcase, that was in the duplex, all flying into the room from every direction.

"Take cover," Angus laughed.

Ruby and Aria listened and both women laughed as all the bags in the duplex flew to the living room " wow I've been looking for that" Aria said picking up her purse from the pile and chuckling " I'm sure some of these are Simone's and Edwards too." she said and accioed two back packs " you have to be specific about what you are wanting, I right?" she asked looking to Angus.

Ruby watched Angus set the table and opened the door to the oven letting out a most delicious smell of roast beef " you think this is ready?" she asked as she slid it out to show Angus as she also checked the veg were roasting evenly on the tray. " I do like the idea of the backpack carriers for the girls, keeps them close to us." she smiled to him " and I promise any sign of trouble we'll get the girls out of there " she said as she kissed his cheek.

"Yeah, accio bags is not the best choice of spells," Angus said. When Ruby took the roast out of the oven, Angus checked it and the vegetables. "It looks perfect. Let it sit for just a little to rest. That will draw the juices back into the meat, and it will me moist and juicy. "I'll cut it in just a few minutes."

Angus looked through the pile of bags and found the baby backpacks. He put a diaper in the storage pouch of each one, and he used a heavy carabiner from his climbing gear to clip a baby toy onto each bag. He used particularly heavy ones so that babies would have no chance of opening the carabiners and pinching themselves. Then he got one of the lunch bags and put some bottles of water in the bag. He left the bag sit near the fridge so he would remember to put a couple ice packs into the bag to keep the water cold. 

Then he cut the meat and made sure the roast dinner was all in order and on the table, and Ginger poured the beverages for everyone.

"Come tuck in," Angus called them. "It's ready, and I think we're all hungry. So, let's eat."

Ruby heard Angus and placed the roast on side to rest while she took out and dished up the veg into serving trays for people to take when they want. " good idea" she said as she saw him clip some toys to the sides of the bags " will keep them occupied while were looking around." she said as she took a drink and moved to help place down the crockery and cutlery on the table.

Aria made some drinks for herself and the others placing them down on the table at each placement. " smells good" she said to Angus as she watched him carve the joint once she had taken her veg and potatoes.

"I did make the cheese cake for desert" Ruby said " might not match your expert culinary skills but it is edible2 she said and chuckled as she looked to Angus.