A Birth day

Angus served beer and cake to everyone, and Edward finally wandered back inside, bringing Finn with him. He helped himself to a beer and a slice of cake as the kids settled in for theirs.

"Robert will be by in the morning with the final adoption papers for Diamond," Edward told Angus. "So I wouldn't do a five star breakfast in the morning. You know what a hurry he can be in to get to work on time."

"That's fine," Angus said. "I was just going to do an egg casserole and some sheet pan toast and call it quits. I can do the casserole tonight and put it in the fridge to set up."

"Good plan," Edward said. "Boys, since your dad's going to be busy in the morning with Robert, can you both take Ginger and Anise to Evan's in the morning?"

"If we leave early enough that we're not late to work, sure," Victor said.

"Good. I trust you can handle it, then," Edward said.

"Going early might be good anyway," Ginger said. "Our dualing finals are tomorrow at the school, and we'd like to go. Anise is in the finals."

"You're in the finals?" Angus asked. "For your year?"

"No," Ginger said. "She's in the finals for the entire school. She's beat out all the others in her house, regardless of year, and tomorrow's the finals."

"I don't know what you're excited about," Anise said. "I'm not going to win. My shield never holds. I can cast it, but it never holds up."

"Your protego totalum?" Angus frowned. "Why?"

"I don't know. It just falls apart."

"When you finish your cake, I'll come with you, and we'll figure it out," Marcus said. "We'll figure out your missteps and get it straight."

"You'd do that with me?" she asked.

"Certainly," he smiled.

Ruby finished with Dimond and carried a clean and changed Dimond down to the living room , she heard them talking about the wand finals and how Anise was placed fourth and hos her protego totalum failed every time she cast it. " I think that's a good idea" she said " Marcus is really good at that spell" she said placing Dimond in her play pen to play with her toys while she sat and ate her cake and sipped her beer " thank Angus" she said smiling " she was an absolute mess"

Aria looked at Marcus and smiled " I could help show how I cast it if you want?" she asked knowing that seeing one person using it he might be able to see where she was going wrong but Aria also knew he could do that without her being there. " or I could stay here and drink my beer" she said smiling and chuckling as she took a sip of her drink and ate her cake.It was now she saw Edward and smiled at him " hey Edward " she said sitting back on the couch and marking off another word in her wordsearch.

"Why don't you come out and fire a stun spell at us, Aria, and let me try to figure out why her spell isn't holding?" Marcus asked. "We'll try it without the stun spell first, and then, if we can correct it, you can practice with her so she can fire the spell and hold it."

Marcus motioned to Anise and went out with her, and he had her fire her protego spell. The spell fired initially just fine but then it fizzled and sputtered and died.

"Well, the initial casting is fine," Marcus told her. "Try it again."  She repeated it and got the same results. Angus walked out.

"Her energy drops after she casts it," Angus said. "Anise, you can't drop your intent to protect after you cast the spell. You have to keep the same energy, a desire to protect yourself and your loved ones, and you have to push that energy forward down your arm to your wand until the spell stabilizes. It fires just fine but it takes a moment before the magic actually forms a shield. You have to follow through until the magic forms a shield that's strong enough to hold."

"What? How do I know it's a solid shield when I can't see it?" she frowned.

"You have to feel it. You'll feel the shield take hold because the wand won't feel like it has to work so hard."

"He's right," Marcus said. He wrapped his hand around hers. "Pay attention to what the wand is doing this time." He fired the spell through her hand and her wand, and he held onto the spell. Anise could feel how much of Marcus's energy was being forced through her wand, and then, when the shield stabilized, the power level dropped. 

"Did you do that?" she asked Marcus. 

"No. The wand doesn't need as much now that the shield is in place," Marcus replied. "Try again, and keep firing until you feel it take hold." She fired again, and she kept firing. Marcus felt the shield materialize and he let go of her hand. 

"I did it!" She was excited. "It's still there."

"It certainly is," Marcus said. "Well done. Now, why don't you and Aria spar just a little bit until you feel like you've got it?"

"Good job, Anise. I'm going to go put together the breakfast casserole," Angus said, turning and going back inside. Marcus, though, decided to stay outside and help Anise to refine her stance and her dueling techniques so she could fire faster and with more control.

Angus went in to start prepping his ingredients for his multi-layered breakfast casserole. Like any other chef, he prepared his mise en place first, cleaning and chopping his vegetables, measuring out his cheese, his sour cream, his milk, and the rest of it, before he assembled the casserole.

Aria chuckled and placed down her drink then walked to the back door standing close she watched as Marcus explained what as going wrong with Anise's protego. Once she saw She had it she stepped down to stand beside Marcus and smiled to him slipping her wand from its holder she held it up " you ready?" she asked " I won't fire until you give the nod that you have your shield up" she told her and waited the tip of her wand pulsating with her spell.

Once she saw Anise nod she raised her wand and looked at Anise, Quickly she moved her wand in an S shape and called out "Stupify" she said sending the spell right at her shield. Aria hoped she would hold her shield once it hit. Ruby stepped down one step but paused reminding her self it was training nothing more.

Anise nodded when she had her shield in place, and she felt Aria's stupify hit her shield but not go through.

"Well done," Marcus said. "That's it. you've got it. Now, you have to have a good recovery too. Get it straight in your head about the differences. Protego is a short lived shield. It's good for protecting you in battle. Its the one you're going to use most in your duelling. Protego totalum is different. It's part of what we use in the protection grids we do because it lasts an extended period of time. It isn't something you generally will want in a combat situation. And then there is Protego Maxima. It's the core of our protection shield here because it is longer lasting and covers a large area. Not good for dueling. There is also Protego Horribilis. Its a mammothly powerful version of a protego maxima that intends to block any and all dark magic. Again, not useful in duels. And then there is also a Protego Diabolica. It's a dark arts protection spell that incinerates ones enemies, and leaves allies unharmed. it isn't one that someone on a beginning level, like yourself, should ever try to use. Got it?"

"Got it. I need to just focus, for the purpose of tomorrow's duels, on the protego spell, then."

"Right," he nodded. "You should be casting your spell, protecting yourself but then immediately shifting to firing your offensive spells in your dualing."

"That's a lot harder than it looks."

"Have you watched your dad? He's a master of rapid wand firing. You should watch his technique."

"Yeah, but he's gone again, back to the kitchen," she sighed.

"Well, yes, that's true," he smiled. "Aria, let's show her maybe sixty seconds worth of rapid fire dueling so she gets the idea that one can fire a shield and then go right back to offensive spells without a lot of lag time. Let's maybe focus on just an expelliarmus to disarm each other and a protego to cast a shield. Maybe just those two so she can watch what we do. What do you say?"

Aria smiled as she saw Anise's spell bounce her spell off it and she chuckled "nicely done" she said then heard her talk of Angus being back in the kitchen. She glanced over and nodded but looked at Marcus as he asked her to duel him and she smiled again nodding " sure, think you can take it?" she said chuckling to Marcus as she moved to stand facing him but where Anise once stood. " so who goes first?" she asked holding her wand at her side again the tip sparked as she faced him raised her wand in a solute of respect then lowered it back to her side.

Ruby motioned to Anise to come stand with her " you'll get a better look up here " she said smiling as Anise moved to stand next to her.

Aria watched Marcus before she cast expelliarmus knowing he was quick enough to cast protego to counter it.

"You fire first," Marcus told Aria. She fired, he blocked her and then immediately shifted to fire an expelliarmus of his own. 

"He makes a little shift in his grip on his wand," Anise told Ruby. "Its just a little thing but for some reason, he uses and overhand grip when he fires his expelliarmus, and when he fires his shield, he uses and underhanded grip."

"Angus," Edward called. "Go out and spar a moment."

"What?" Angus called back. "I'm chopping onions."

"Screw the onions for one minute. Go do some rapid fire stuff with Marcus and Aria. You against both of them."

"Two against one?" Angus asked.

"Just go try it," Edward said. "Anise, watch what your dad does. You'll learn something, I think."

"I'm supposed to defeat you two," Angus said to Aria and Marcus going back out.

"That is not what he said," Marcus laughed. "Come on, Aria. My money says he won't be disarmed very easily." Angus took a stance on one side of the yard, and Marcus aligned himself with Aria. When the dueling started, Angus was able to defend himself and to fire return expelliarmus spells, and Edward only let it go on for a minute or two before he called it to a stop.

"Learn anything?"

"He's constantly changing the grip on his wand," Anise said.

"Yes. He is. That's his trick for being able to return fire and keep firing. He took some fencing lessons as a boy, and there are at least half a dozen ways to grip a sword, depending on whether you want power or whether you want to maximize control and finess. He shifts his grip automatically, depending on his intent. And it helps him to maximize his speed. Now, you aren't going to learn all this tonight, but, what you can learn tonight is that there is not just one right way to hold a wand and one wrong way. There are a lot of different ways. Learn to relax, get a good relationship with your wand, and be yourself."

"Now, that I can do," she said, starting to feel better about it.

"So, let's give them a minute or two together, then," Angus told her. They took up a contest between them and Aria and Marcus, and within the first 90 seconds, she managed to actually knock Marcus's wand out of his hand.

"Nice! Well done," Angus said. "That's it. I think you'll do fine tomorrow."  

"Good job, Anise," Marcus smiled, picking up his wand. "I think they should watch out for you tomorrow."

"I might be able to do this after all," she said.

"I know you can," Angus said. "Don't focus on winning or losing. Focus on doing your best."

"Thanks for helping me, Aria and Marcus. I appreciate it," Anise said. "I think I have it now."

"I'm sure you do," Marcus smiled.

"I should go shower," she said, excusing herself, and heading inside.

Aria saw him deflect her spell and then cast expelliarmus towards her she shifted her back foot and cast Protego making sure his spell bounced off , when she saw Angus walk out she chuckled and smiled " be a pleasure to learn form a rapid fire wizard" she said with a bow, and chuckled as Marcus stood with her as they both faced Angus. As aria saw Marcus defend himself she cast expelliarmus towards Angus who bucked it quickly,

After a minuet of this Angus stopped the duel and Aria smiled as Anise stepped back up while they watched her cast against Angus. She watched as Anise wend against Marcus and smiled that she managed to knock his wand out of his hand . " nice work Anise" she said smiling to Anise " I've only done that once with Marcus, I think it was when I first met you" she said smirking. She heard Angus words and nodded " the best Aurors and people come from those who have heart for what they do, not being top of the class." she said to Anise.

"I'll remember that, Aria. Thanks," Anise smiled, beaming, feeling a lot better about the contest she was going to do tomorrow. She dashed inside to go get her shower, and Angus headed back to work on his casserole.

"Ruby, you do what you like tomorrow, of course," Marcus told her very quietly, "and I know Anise doesn't have any idea about what might be happening in your life tomorrow, but, just so you know, it would mean a heck of a lot to that girl if you both hung around tomorrow at least long enough to find out how she does at her dueling contest tomorrow. After all, its her first year in school, and only one student can be the dueling champion of the whole school. Whether she wins or not, it would do her good to see that you both cared enough to see how she did. I just think it's worth you two giving it just a moment's thought. And, if you decide you'd rather take off right after your 'breakfast meeting' instead, I can put together a bag for you and keep it hidden in my room until you need it. I can't honestly tell you, though, what he's going to want to do. I have no idea."

Ruby smiled at Anise and then looked over to Marcus as he spoke to her for a moment she had a brain freeze then chuckled and nodded " that would be great and yes I'll stay with Anise , I'd love to see how she does." on the second part she looked at him then it clicked and she nodded " right " she chuckled and watched as Anise headed down to her room.

She then headed down to Speak to Anise and Ginger. " Anise you'll do great , just remember what Angus told you about stance and focus" she said then gave her a hug " and remember its not the winning that matters its that you did your best, but we'll be rooting for you" she said and smiled to them both. Aria chuckled and nodded to them both " now rest and we'll see you in the morning. Heading back up she watched Angus prep the ingredients for the Casserole for breakfast.

Aria sat down and watched Dimond as Ruby headed up to their room finding a simple white summer dress she found in Tuscany she set it aside with some simple flats. for the morning.