A Birth day

"Fair enough," Marcus said, knowing they hadn't moved in yet. When Aria asked about decorating their rooms, Marcus shrugged. "They know we're building the house. That's not a secret. I've sent them a few pictures, so they at least know what the outside and some of the 'before's' look like. I haven't sent htem any recent pics, though. I say I should write them and ask them what they want. I can tell you right now that all three boys have a one track mind about quidditch. Quidditch everything. So that would be a good them for them--until they get a one track mind about girls Zane and Kai like girls but they don't have a one track mind about them--not yet."

"Poppy and Daria have somewhat similar tastes. Daria likes plants and books and makeup, and boys--already. Poppy is my gypsy child. She's very bohemian about everything in her tastes. She's a moon child, a night owl. She loves owls, and dragonflies, and stained glass, bright colors. She writes fiction and poetry, and she draws. I think she's quite good,. She likes crystals and dreamcatchers and all of that sort of thing, and she collects vintage and antique paper dolls, of all things to like. Daria hadnt' actually yet figure out what she liked until she met Poppy. Now they seem to have very similar tastes. I know what Poppy wants more than anything, is a room that has a big cushy windowseat with big leaded glass windows, bookcases in each end, and she wants to be able to lay there and look up at the moon. And she's very attached to her owl. He's a big bloke named Nyx. I think if we did something very feminine and bohemian, maybe in purple, since they both like purple, they would be really good with it."

Aria listened to him talk of his kids and what they liked and smiled nodding "I agree and I think Daria and Poppy will get along great with Kate" she said " and the boys will most likely get on with Victor and Sam" she added " but I agree we'll let them decorate their rooms" she said hearing there would be an owl she smiled " oh we can get a perch for her room so he can be next to her or close by for her" she added "I'll ask Jack to keep an eye out for a suitable branch that can be fashioned into a simple perch that she can decorate." she said

Walking over to him she wrapped her arms around his waist " we're close to Angus and Ruby that we can go over in a heart beat , but being here means reconnecting with your family and kids" she said " it will help you destress after missions or bodyguarding Angus" she said looking up at him.

"Yeah," he replied to Aria. "Now that I see it, I want to add space somewhere for a couple pieces of exercise equipment, at least for a treadmill and a weight machine for short term workouts. No point in a huge workout room because, first, there's a good sized one in the cellar at the main house, and we all have memberships to St. Mungos' gym. I should have thought of that earlier, I suppose."

"There you are," a woman's voice said. Marcus looked up to see the decorator there in the doorway. "Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all, Patrice," Marcus said. "It's our first walk through in quite awhile. It's great. Well done. But, a couple things."

"What can I do for you?"

"My kids are coming for the summer. There are five of them. I want to put the three boys in that great big guest room, and the two daughters in the other large guest room right across the hall from the master."

"Absolutely. Sounds great. Shouldn't be a problem," she nodded.

"And is there any place to put a couple pieces of exercise equipment?"

"What about that small empty room off your office?"

"Wait. What office and what empty room?"

"You didn't find it?"

"Um...no?"

"Figures, doesn't it?" Patrice laughed, looking at Aria. "He's specific to give you a huge sewing room, and he misses his office and his gun room altogether. It's right off the library. The door is on the same wall as the llibrary fireplace, at the far end, by the long windows."

"We'll check it out."

"The gun room is on the other side of your office, and there's a room beyond that. And we haven't decided what to do with that yet. Might be a good place for your home gym."

"Let's go see it," Marcus told Aria.

He went downstairs, followed Patrice's directions, and there is was. His office.  It had nice floor to ceiling paneling, built in bookcases on one wall, with some of Marcus's awards, medals and recognition pieces. Marcus had a great deal more than he hadn't brought from a closet in his London flat. The furnishings in this room were the bright red plaid pieces he had so admired. They brightened the room. Marcus tried one of the club chairs. It was heavenly. One of the most comfortable furniture pieces he'd ever tried. And then, beyond that, was a secure room for all his weapons. Beyond that was a completely empty room. 

"If you lose me in the house, I might be rivetted to this chair," he told Aria. "This is insanely comfortable."

"I didn't even see the door in the library," Marcus told Aria. "Not sure how I missed it.

Aria smiled at him but looked to where a voice had spoken and shook her head as Marcus spoke to her about the kids room and exercise room " oh sounds perfect" she said as then they walked back to the library where Marcus opened the door Patrice had told him of, stepping in Aria looked around and smiled " its perfect for you" she said and chuckled as she saw him sit in one of the chairs then said if she lost him to look right in that chair " well it is your room dear" she said smiling to him, opening the gun room door she peeked in and chuckled " plenty of space hun" she said then walked to open the second door finding it empty she stood inside and chuckled " perfect workout room" she said walking from one room to the other " could get about four machines in here." she called to him so he didn't have to get out the chair before she walked back out and looked to Patrice. " Can you make that room work?" she asked her

"Certainly. What about doing three machines and a small walk in shower?" she asked. "We could put a floor to ceiling teak wood shelving unit that could hold towels, kettleweights, dumb bells, and such. And we could put a couple teak wood benches and maybe a couple hooks for robes? You could work out, and if you needed to freshen up quickly, you'd have a small shower right here instead of going all the way back upstairs to your ensuite off your bedroom. Some people decide to store a folding massage table in here in case you want to call in a massage therapist for some nice full body massages.

"The shower sounds like a good idea. And, look, the workout room faces the running track and the obstacle course. Maybe we need a door to be able to go from here, run the track, come back, finish the workout and shower," Marcus suggested. "I suppose having a massage table available isn't a bad thought. After all, Andrew is qualified for that."

"When are you two thinking of moving in?"

"When is it going to be ready for that?"

"In a two or three days, I suppose. We still have things to work on so if you dont mind us continuing to work, then it could be that soon. If you want us to be completely out before then, then I'd say you should give us a couple more weeks. Whatever works for you. But your pantry and your fridge and freezer could be stocked with non-perishables any time now."

"Good to know. We'll discuss it and let you know," Marcus told her.

'And what do you want to do with the un-used land outside?"

"What unused land?"

"The plot of land you got from Mr. Quinn has some unused land that we didn't decide what to do with. You already have landscaping for the house in your plans. You could add a kitchen garden, perhaps or maybe there's some outdoor activity you'd like to add."

"We'll discuss that too, then," Marcus said.

Aria looked at Marcus and nodded she agreed with what Patrice and then listened to Marcus " hum be good for Angus rehabilitation" she said " the door is a good idea , easy access to Angus place should we need it." she said then listened to her mentioned spare land and looked to Marcus nodding she agreed with Marcus as he said they would talk about it later " yeah , there's plenty of time to talk about what to do with it." she said then listened to him ask about how soon they could move in she was surprise when she said three days maximum.

"that soon" she said and smiled to Marcus but then looked back to Patrice " even with the changes we've asked for?" she asked her hoping it wouldn't changed the finish date for the cottage. " I'm looking forward to cooking in that kitchen and maybe growing some herbs " Aria said smiling. .

"As I said," Patrice smiled, "if you don't mind us still being in here and working during the day, you could be in that soon. The kitchen, the pantry, the laundry room, your master suite, those are all finished. We still have a lot of furniture, decorative items, rugs, drapes, other things coming, but if you dont mind us being here rattling around during the day, then I see no reason why not. Now, if you're thinking we'll be completely done and out of your hair in that short a time, then, no. We won't be completely done at least for another couple weeks at the very soonest."

"It's highly unlikely that I will be able to be here during the day anyway," Marcus told Aria. "So it won't interfere with me if they're still in here, Aria. And if you're still planning on giving Ruby a hand, then I doubt it would interfere with you either."

After the boys left to take the girls to Evan's, Angus rewarmed his coffee and sat down with the papers, his name and picture blazing across the front page.

"Ru, now that we have a minute alone," he said. "We found millions on that room. It's too much just to donate it all. My initial thought is that we consider taking a big chunk of it, perhaps as much as a third, and carve that up into big investments in the trust funds we have for each kid. And, we could create a trust fund for Cris so that, God forbid something happen to Jessie and Yu, Cris would be provided for just like our other kids, even though we know clearly he isn't ours. He's still part of the family, though. I do want to do a donation to the organization, of course. Is there anything else you'd like to consider? Or, should we sort of squirrel it away until we know for sure what we want to do?"

Aria listened to Patrice and Marcus and nodded to him " agreed , that's fine Patrice, we'll let you have the run of the place during the day so you can finish everything" she said smiling and looked at Marcus as she then looked around the cottage loving the decor " oh and we'll defiantly give a good review at your work, its amazing" she said to Patrice.

Ruby sat reading when she heard Angus talk , folding her paper she placed it down and listened to him talk of the galleons they had found. " well i have to agree with that, a trust fund for the kids would set them up in their future" she said smiling " and as for Chris hes like one of ours anyway" she said and chuckled but nodded " but I do see where your coming from and I agree totally" she added then thought for a moment " but about the trusts would there be restrictions or conditions they would have to meet?" she asked angus

"A few restrictions, yes, but I consider them common sense protections. I would want them to be adults before they could tap into it themselves," Angus said. "I set up trusts for every one of our kids straight away, and I'll set up one for Diamond as soon as I get the final paperwork back from the Wizengamot that makes the custody transfer final. The trusts I set up for the kids all specified that whoever was the legal guardian of the kids were in charge of the trusts until the kids reached legal age. Then control of the trust goes to the kids. I've made a few restrictions so the money can't be all sucked up in taxes, but I don't want the kids to believe they have a ton of money in there and find out that taxes have sucked it all dry. As for other restrictions, the only one I've actually made is that the money can never go for any dark arts purposes. I do have a bit of a limit on them as to how much can be drawn out in any given month because I don't want them taking the whole thing out and giving it to some person they think is going to be the love of their lives. Basically, I just don't want them being taken advantage of. There's a lot of money in each of those trusts, and I want to protect them to some degree. I also know there are a lot of crooks out there, and I don't want them setting their eyes on our kids, that's all."

"Angus?" Robert's voice called.

"Right here. What's up?" Angus asked.

"You asked me if Suzanne knew about Diamond," Robert said. "Jeffrey says yes she does. Apparently, Tom was there and was allowed to visit her before Jessie and I got there. According to Jeffrey, she was pretty upset at first. She sort of blew a fuse about it, but staff said she was better by the time Tom left."

"That is very interesting," Angus said. "I wonder how he was able to calm her since she is so rage filled."

"Well, I have the same question, and so does Jeffrey. He hasn't had a session with her since we were there, but he plans to talk to her this afternoon."

"Her magic also wasn't bound when Tom was there," Angus said.

"Well, that's true. It wasn't. You think they schemed something?"

"I'm saying I'm a fool if I didn't at least consider the possibility," Angus replied.

"Agreed," Robert nodded. "Well, you've got Marcus right there, so hopefully that helps."

"It does," Angus said, covering for Marcus's absence.

"If you hear anything, let me know," Robert said.

"I will. Thanks, Robert," Angus said, turning off the floo. He looked at Ruby. "Marcus better get his ass back here before Robert realizes he's gone."

Ruby listened to Angus talk of the restrictions over the money in the trust she nodded agreeing with all he was saying. When the floo opened she stayed quiet as Angus spoke to Robert . When he finished and closed the floo she chuckled and nodded " yeah." she said .

Aria looked at the sky and realized they had been at the cottage longer than she had anticipated " we should get back, sorry I kept you away for so long." she said to Marcus looking some what worried at keeping him away from Angus for so long. Thanking Patrice she headed to the front door and opened it waiting for Marcus to catch up to her so they could walk back to the duplex.