A Birth day

Suzanne started to rock herself and started to chant something. It sharply drew Robert's attention immediately. It had so much dark energy behind it, that it nearly made his hair stand on end. And he knew Suzanne's usual ineptitude with magic. This was not a spell she should tinker with, he was absolutely positive, especially when she mumbled Angus's name in the chant. This was old, dark magic, something he'd read in one of his thousands of books at one time or another. He wasn't sure why he remembered this random piece of trivia, but he was glad it came to mind. What he was sure about this dark spell was that this one had dire consequences for, potentially, hundreds of years to come. This dark chant was a spell. A powerful one.

He drew his wand swiftly, with a snap, and fired before she could get more than a few words out, and he fired as powerful a silencing spell as he had ever cast, causing her to loose her voice immediately.

"What did you do?" Jeffrey demanded, furious with Robert, feeling Robert's fierce actions looked very much like he had just attacked a patient. 

"Be glad I did," Robert said, completely unapologetic, not taking his eyes off of Suzanne who was straining, trying desperately to get some sort of sound out to finish her spell. "That spell she was casting was an old dark arts generational killing curse. She was trying to put a generational curse on the entire Donohue family. She was intending to curse Angus so that he would die a miserable death of intense suffering and then so would every underage Donohue child die the exact same way thereafter. She was trying to commit murder right here in this room, right in front of our eyes. I silenced her so she couldn't finish the incantation. Did you not bind her magic?"

"I'm sure someone must have..."

"Damnit, I'll do it, then," Robert was beyond livid. It wasn't like Jeffrey's facility to make this sort of screw up, but he would remedy it himself. He used a nonverbal spell, and he worked carefully and quickly to create a binding spell that, unless someone was able to command more power than he had, the spell would hold in the long term. And then he fired it. He knew by the way she got weak and fell backwards on the bed that this drained all the magical energy out of her body. She was screeching as if she were suffering, and Robert knew that, first of all, she wasn't suffering. She was defeated, and her agony was about her disappointment that she was trapped here, in this place, without the least little bit of magic, and her murderous revenge was, at least for any foreseeable future had come to a humiliating and bitter end. She was seeing for herself that she had badly underestimated Robert Lupin, and she was realizing for the very first time that when he took on a contest, he did it in a way that would guarantee him a win. She saw, for the very first time, that he was far more knowledgeable that she had realized. She had taken him for just a pitiful old man. Now she saw he was anything but. But she was now as helpless now as a squib, without even the slightest ability to utter even so much as a squeak. And he wasn't ever going to reverse it. Jeffrey checked her briefly and looked at Robert, not very happy that he had bound her with a long term spell, a spell that Jeffrey, for all his skills at rehabilitation and healing, had no idea how to undo.

"Did you have to..." Jeffrey began, watching Suzanne regain herself and sit back up.

"Yes," Robert said with a fierce, iron firmness. "She will not kill any more." He walked towards her and looked directly into her eyes. "Now, you listen to me, you nasty old bat, if you so much as twitch a finger in the direction of your five children or their families, I will be back here faster than you can possibly imagine, and I will bind you with a petrificus totalus and leave you that way, nothing more than a vegetable, stiff as a damned board, unable to so much as scratch your nose, for the rest of your miserable days. And if you want to see if I could actually manage it, then eff with me one more time and find out." She sprang up, intending to scratch his eyes out with her fingernails. He grasped her wrists and threw her back down onto the bed. "Behave yourself, you shrew. Your children are with me because they choose to be--all five of them. They're far better off with me, and I absolutely will protect them with every cell of my being. You really want to continue this contest with me?"  She shook her head quickly. She was done. Still seething, he stepped away from her, now a defeated and a broken woman. And then, for the very first time in years and years, she began to cry, to honestly start to grieve for all the losses she'd had in the last two years. Now, Robert hoped, Jeffrey might be able to help her. 

"I think we're done here, Jessie, unless you have anything you want to say to her," Robert said quietly. He did not enjoy the thought that he had had to utterly break her. He hated that he'd had to do it, but she had given him no choice He had spared her from the veil, but he had had to keep her from any more attacks, any more torture, and any more killing. Enough. He'd had enough of watching the Tylers and the Donohues suffer. Now, maybe he could help them heal.

Jessie stood in silence as Robert spoke to Suzzanne he heard her chanting and quickly looked to Robert but he had it under control as he silenced her quickly. Turning back he said nothing but glared at her knowing she was going to harm his family. He watched as Robert walked over to where she now lay on the bed and spoke to her his ears catching every word he said to her . Hearing Jeffery he looked at him. " be glad you haven't seen what she did and what she was going to do to Angus , I have and this is minor compared to what I want to do to her Jeffery, Roberts being ..nice for lack of a better word" he told him as Robert then explained what she was mumbling and chanting.

Glancing at the bed as Robert walked over to him he shook his head " I have no words left." he said simply " lets get home" pausing he turned to look at Suzzanne on the bed " good bye …mother" the last word spat like a bad taste from his mouth as he knew that was and will be the last time he would call her that.

Back at the duplex Jessie walked over to let Ruby and Angus know what had happened at Jeffery's clinic.

As they stepped out of Suzanne's room, Jeffrey followed them.

"It's a good thing we're already friends, Robert," Jeffrey said, a bit of an icy tone to his voice, "Because if we weren't, I might not like you. You're a bastard."

"Thank you for noticing," Robert said, unfazed. It wasn't the first time someone had called him that, and it certainly wouldn't be the last if he was doing his job. "I've worked hard at that. You're welcome, by the way."

"For what?" Jeffrey frowned.

"Because now you know how criminal she really is and you're going to be notifying your staff not to take even a fraction of a chance with her. And, because of what you've seen today, and the spell I cast, none of your family and none of our staff will die at her hands," Robert told him. Jeffrey sighed. He knew, at his core, that Robert was right.

"I expect you will keep me posted. Because of her crimes, Suzanne Gelding now belongs to the Ministry, which means she now belongs to me," Robert said. "I expect you will know, at all times, where she is, who she interacts with, and anything and everything that is in her reach. If you cannot control her, she goes back to Azkaban, back on Death Row, and they will execute her. This is her last chance at life."

"Understood," Jeffrey said. 

"Have a good evening," Robert said, "Let's go home, Jessie." He ported them home. "Make sure you tell Marcus to keep his guard up for now until I say we can relax. I'll talk to them a little later. I'm starving. Goodnight, Jessie." He turned and went back to the main house. He felt angry and spent. It had been a long day, and right now, he wanted a meal of Sunday night comfort food, a tall glass of firewhiskey, a cigarette and then a couple of hours with a good book.

Angus listened to Jessie's recounting of the meeting with Suzanne. He listened to how Suzanne's magic had not been bound in the last 24 hours, and his mind was already racing. In 24 hours, she could have already set a lot of new things in motion that had not yet taken place and that, now, without magic, she couldn't call back. Were there more secret torture chambers that she had set in place? More thugs with murder contracts? More arrangements with Priscilla? His mind would not let it rest yet. His guard was up about as high as it could go, and his priority was in keeping Ruby and his kids safe, no matter what it cost him. 

Marcus looked at him, and his eyes met Angus's. And in that few seconds before Angus looked away, still listening to Jessie, Marcus had clearly seen. Angus was probably his best mate, and he understood him far too well. Angus was a Gryffindor through and through, and Marcus had seen the decision Angus had made without even realizing it. Angus had decided that protecting Ruby and the kids and Edward absolutely came before anything else, even before himself. Even though Marcus was a Ravenclaw, as a bodyguard, he understood the commitment to self sacrifice, and he knew his job. So, while Angus had his mind on his family, Marcus knew that if push came to shove, he would be the force that stood between Angus and Suzanne. 

"I just saw Robert heading for home," Kate told Ruby. "Your family's supper is ready, so now I need to head for home and feed my own family. If you need anything at all, you let us know, alright? We'll see you tomorrow, I'm sure. Goodnight." She took her leave to go home and see if she could soothe Robert's fatigue and help him to recharge just a little bit.

"Thank you, Jessie," Angus said. "Thanks for going. I'm sure that wasn't easy to see her like that. She's been bat-shit for quite a long time. I really am sorry it came to this, and I'm sorry for the toll it took on your entire family. She blames me, and in truth, she's right. But there was no other choice than the path I took. I regret it, but, more than that, I regret that she kept pushing me to it. I wish none of it had happened, but here we all are."

Jessie heard Robert and nodded " yes sir" he said and walked into the duplex. Once he was done talking he heard Angus talk and sighed " well shes not my mother any more, that woman was evil, and I'm glad Robert did what he had to, if Jeffery had asked if family gave permission I would have said with out a heart beat , yes, because I was her family" he heard Angus talk about what he did and how she forced him to do it in her own twisted way. " I don't blame you nor do any of your family, she made you do it in her own twisted way but you helped me, Ruby and the boys and Dimond get away from her , we're happier and secure for it, if anything we owe you our lives for what you did." Jessie said.

Ruby heard Kate and smiled to her nodding as she said she had to get back , with a quick hug she smiled to her " thank you Kate, good night" she said and turned to look at Jessie and Marcus as they talked between each other. Now with supper ready she walked over to them and looked at Aria and Marcus. " Suppers ready," she said then smiled as Aria headed to put it all on the side board for every one to help themselves having the soup in a large taurine with bowls. " Jessie is right, thanks to you Victor and Sam got to go to Hogwarts and become the men they are, Jessie found a place he is accepted and I found a man who made me feel whole and not scared or hurt anymore." she said with a smile as she crossed and kissed his cheek gently. It was now Jessie remembered Roberts words for Marcus.

"oh Robert asked that Marcus keep his guard up for now until he says we can relax" he said verbatim.

Angus glanced up and saw the boys sitting on the upstairs steps, about halfway up. They'd listened to everything.

"I am glad it's worked out well for all of us, believe me," Angus said. "And it's worked out well for Diamond. Hopefully she's never going to have to remember anything about that life she had before us."

"You're all right," Sam said. "She wasn't any sort of a mom to any of us, so don't think we're suffering any love loss. If anything, I'm sure there's more grief because we never had a decent mom, any of us. But we don't miss her or our dad, either one. Vic and I don't regret being born and having lives or anything like that. But--our parents were the sorts of people that both should have been sewn shut before they ever had a chance at having kids."

"I get that," Angus said, understanding. "My parents were out of that same mold in some ways. They should have been sewn shut too. Remember, your parents worked for my parents, and all of them worked for the man we're fighting against."

"I think about that from time to time, and that's just so screwed up," Victor said.

"Yeah. It is," Angus said. "Still, I'd like to see your mother petrificused for about four or five days. Can't so much as scratch an itch, can't chew your food, can't even tell someone you need to use the loo. Can't use the loo for that matter. Lying there, wide awake, and unable to do a bloody thing."

"Robert should put her in one of her own caskets and leave her there while she's petrificused," Sam said. 

"We could port her back to the swamp and leave the box sit out there with the alligators and the snakes. I wouldnt' let them get to her, but I'd let them crawl all over her casket and let her wonder if they could get in," Victor said.

"You have every right to be angry," Angus said.

"We're not angry with her for not being there for us so much as we're angry for the horrendous things she's done in the last couple years," Sam said. "That's what really pisses us both off."

"It's alright," Angus told them. "At the end of the day, I have you guys. And everybody else. That's worth every bit of it. Now, go get your plates fixed."

"I'll fix one for you," Marcus said.

"I'm not terribly hungry. so for now, how about just a mug of soup and half a sandwich for me, please?" Angus asked.

"Certainly. You can always have seconds if you want," Marcus said. He went over and fixed Angus a mug of soup and then fixed his own bowl of soup. He plated himself a sandwich and put another half a sandwich on top for Angus. Then he took it all over to where Angus was. He set the mug of soup on the end table and handed him the half a sandwich and sat down on the sofa to eat close to him.

"Tortellini soup. Great choice, Ruby, and some great sandwiches? I can't think of a better Sunday night supper." Marcus said. 

"Definitely," Victor said. "Speaking of Italian, you know what I've been thinking about? The beach at Edward's and the fact that its summer time. We need to spends a few afternoons over there on the beach this year."

"By all means," Angus said. "You two can port there. You probably have earned some vacation time. You could ask Jack for a few days of knocking off a couple hours early and go meet the girls when their lessons are finished and go to the beach together."

"We'll have July and August off," Ginger said, "So maybe we could go all day for a few days then."

"That would work too," Angus replied, "but lets wait and see to make sure that there are no security concerns then.'

"I am not going to let my summer be ruined by 'her'," Sam nearly spit out the words with so much distaste that Angus could hear his rage at his mother. Angus wasn't touching it. Sam was entitled. 

"I'm with you, Sam," Victor said. "If I want to go swimming, I'm freaking going swimming, and that's the end of it."

Ruby listened and when they complimented supper she chuckled " Kate helped " she said as Marcus went to get Angus some food with Aria. Now with food then all sat and listened as Victor and Sam mentioned a holiday for a few days with the girls " I think we all could use a holiday" Ruby said " but I agree with Angus about waiting for a few days until we know that she's not started something" she heard Angus mention about Petrificus Suzanne and chuckled " oh that sounds like a holiday for her" Ruby said as she ate her food.

Jessie chuckled and looked at Angus " I wanted to rip her limb from limb but , I held it together" he could not help chuckle more when Angus spoke of petrifying Suzzanne " hum I think Robert threatened to do that if she interfered with us again" he said as he stood up " okay I should get back to Yu and Chris" he said then smiled " catch you later" he said and chuckled heading to the back door and back to the cabin.

"Thanks again, Jessie," Angus said.

The kids inhaled their suppers, and the boys went back for more soup and more sandwiches. That did not surprise Angus. Sam and Victor were both at the age where teen boys were often hollow. That would pass in a couple years. 

When Marcus finished eating, he put a pot of coffee on for anyone would want some with dessert. By then, Ginger was finished, and she collected Angus's supper dishes and his empty tea mug and took them to the sink. When he finished putting the coffee on to brew, he went to the door and brought in the evening paper. And there, spread in blazing headlines was the story of a mass murder scene found by aurors at a fishing cabin where a treasure of untold millions of galleons were found.

"Uh oh," Marcus said out loud before he could catch himself.

"Uh oh what?" Angus asked.

"Lucian's got a leak," Marcus said.

"No. You're kidding me, right?"

"No. I'm serious. Its all over the front page of the Prophet--not the quibbler. People believe what they read in the Prophet. Lucian's got a serious problem that he'd better be nipping really fast. Robert's going to have someone's bum in a sling for this, and Jack's going to have a lot more security men doing overtime tonight."

"For it to have gone to the press this fast, someone would have had to go from the crime scene straight to the papers," Angus said.

"Yes. Exactly." 

"Are they linking anyone to it yet?"

"Well, sorta, but they got it all wrong. They're saying the property is jointly owned by you and by Tom Gelding. So now, there is a presumption that you're in cahoots with Tom Gelding."

"Oh for crying out loud," Angus groaned.

Ruby was happy the kids loved the meal even if it was partly thanks to Kate too. she watched Anise gather the plates and then pick up the paper and read it before handing it to Angus. It was now a knock came at the door.

"Hey sorry guys, we had a leak. " came Lucian's voice as he walked in and over to Angus " we caught a guy at the cave his partner..." his voice trails off "shoot, I knew it" he said and paced " we caught one man taking pictures of the cave and my team escorted him to the ministry, but a second got away, now I know what they were doing there, I came to ask Jack and yourselves to be vigilant for a few days until this blows over, I thought I vetted those men thoroughly, not thoroughly enough" he said angry at himself for the leak..

Aria looked at Marcus and sighed " I'm sure Roberts already on it to calm and correct the information." she said " but not much we can do now, guess we'll double check all charms and spells and make sure all places are locked up tight."

"We know," Marcus said, showing Lucian the blazing headlines. "I think everyone in England knows right about now."

"And most of the wizarding world by now is saying that I'm the biggest criminal since Voldemort," Angus sighed. "Just fabulous. What a great end to a nice relaxing Sunday." He got up, went to the kitchen, got the bottle of firewhiskey. "I'm going to take a soak in the tub. I'll be back next Wednesday, about ten days from now. Or when the whiskey runs out. Whichever happens first." He went upstairs to the bathroom.

"I think he's taking it pretty well, actually," Sam laughed.

"I'm betting Robert is counting to ten a few times," Marcus said. "He looked pretty spent when he got back from Switzerland. Kate needs to check the pantry over there."

"Why?" Anise asked.

"Because if Robert finds the shish kabob skewers, he's going to start skewering people shortly," Marcus replied. "You'll likely be safe, Lucian, but I can't promise anything about your crew. I guess if I see one of them on a spit, turning over an open fire in the yard, I probably should notify you."

"Just call them in sick, Marcus. Their bones will turn up sooner or later," Sam said. Marcus laughed.  

"Have you actually seen Jack yet?" Marcus asked Lucian, "because we can find him if you haven't. Oh, and Robert's been to see Suzanne this afternoon. Be aware, her magic wasn't bound. We don't know if it was ever bound or if someone removed the binding spell before she left Azkaban or when that happened. More importantly, she's had time between them and now to have orchestrated just about anything, so you might want to keep a tight watch on things and tell your informants to keep sharp. Jessie told us that Robert stripped her of all her magic entirely, and that she openly tried to cast a generational killing curse, so he cast a long term muting spell to keep her from being able to ever voice the incantation. But that doesn't mean she hasn't done some other mayhem that we don't yet know anything about."

Lucian looked at the paper and cursed angry at the now blatant leak " I am going to find the guy and roast him myself" he said hearing Marcus he chuckled as he saw Angus walk away with a bottle of fire whisky " he going to be okay?" he asked but heard Sam and chuckled again " oh and if one of mind ends up that way leave him there , he won't be worth saving." he said then shook his head at the question of if he ahd found Jack " not yet he was my next stop, thought Letting Angus know was a wiser option." he added just as Jack walked up be hind him.

"ahem, I saw the paper, Lucian, bad mistake" Jacks voice came from behind him making Lucian jump about a foot in the air.

"please, stop doing that, you'll give me a heart attack" he said as he listened to Marcus as he tried to calm himself down " wasn't my mistake to make, they must have been bribed or not vetted properly or deliberately placed in the department as they are not my choice of men."