A Birth day

Aria started supper cooking and saw Angus make the broth for Poppy she continued to cook when she saw the now empty bowl on a tray float up. Grabbing it she placed everything back or in the washer.Hearing Marcus she smiled " sleeps good for her to heal" she said putting the finishing touches to her salad before taking it out to the side board. " okay ten minutes for the pies and supper will be ready" she said.

Ruby listened to Marcus and Angus talking about contacting Ana and how Poppy doesn't see her as her mother since abandoning her. " I'd go with what Poppy wants, she is old enough to decide" she said as she turned from Caprice who was making a doll dance about by holding it.

"Well, that's pretty much how I've always treated my kids, at least as often as I can," Marcus said. "I've always wanted them to know that their thoughts and feelings are important to me, even when what they wanted was not something I could allow. Evelyn used to think I was easy on them, but if you ask the kids, they'll be the first to tell you that I am not nearly as easy as their mom thinks."

"Well, that just rather proves the point that Evelyn's cheese is gone for good off her cracker," Angus said.

"She hasn't had any cheese to put on her cracker for a long, long time," Marcus laughed. At that moment, the boys came home, and Sam had a rather bedraggled looking bird with him.

"What is that?" Marcus frowned.

"Dunno. Some raggedy old bird I found on the far west part of the grounds," he said. "Don't think he's much longer for this world. Looks like he's more done for than not."

"Let me see," Angus said. He went over and looked at the bird and its rather ratty greenish black feathers. "Oh. Oh, dear. You don't know what this is? Really? Tell you what. Go and get Kate, would you? This is more up her alley than any of ours."

"Kate?"

"Yes," Angus said. Sam took off like a shot, running for the main house.

"So, don't hold us all in suspense. What is it?" Marcus asked.

"It's an augurey. Looks like he's either an old one or one that's in dire need of some sound nutrition. Either way, Kate will be utterly delighted. Augureys have an uncanny ability to predict rain, but he can't remain here."

"Why not?" Marcus asked.

"Their favorite food just happens to be fairies," Angus said.

"Oh. No, you're right. That won't work," Marcus said. "I like our neighbors. What do you suppose she'll do with him?"

"I dunno. Maybe she'll give him to that gypsy woman that lives near Hogsmeade. She seems to like all sorts of magical creatures too," Angus said.

Ruby siled to Marcus as he spoke and she nodded " good , and she knows where her boundary's are with you. " Ruby added but paused seeing Sam and Victor return with something resembling a bird but looking like it had been threw a war. " oh poor thing" she said then heard what it ate " wow okay he can't stay, I like our neighbours too" she said with a chuckle.

Aria finished dishing up and placed a large pie in the middle of the table " okay come get the food when your done." she said walking over to take a look at the augury. " looks like hes been in a fight, could he be what Arch was after the other day?" she asked remembering how he had flown away two days ago rather fast.

"Might well have been," Angus said. "I forgot all about that." Angus sat and gently worked at trying to straigten out a few tangle feathers. Marcus watched how gentle Angus was with the bird. 

"How long do you think he's been in the wild?" Marcus asked.

"Longer than he should have," Angus said. "He's entirely too gentle for a wild augury. This one has been someone's pet. Well cared for most of its life, probably. I have a theory about this place--and the farm. I think people get to know things--like the fact that Kate has a license to keep magical creatures, and I think when they don't know what to do with one, they chuck them off out here, knowing Kate will find them sooner or later and figure out what to do with them. I think that's how we end up with everything from A-Z out here."

"People who dump creatures should do jail time. That's my not so humble opinion anyway."

"I agree with you. I mean, we all know Kate would take pretty much any creature anyway, but they should at least have the cojones to ask her and bring them to her outright, not just dumping them off out here."

Sam came back, bringing Kate with him. 

"Let's see what you've got, then," Kate said. She went over to Angus and looked at the bird he was trying to help. "It's an augury," she said. "Poor old fella. I know this one. You remember old Mr. Plum?"

"Can't say that I do," Angus said.

"He ran that little tiny shop in the village. You know. wasn't much bigger than a couple of phone booths. Sold thread and buttons and that sort of thing."

"Oh yeah. Him. Kept humbugs in a jar on the counter to give to the kids."

"Yes. That's him. Well, he passed away about six months ago, just right before Christmas. I had totally forgotten he had an augury. His was named Felix...." At the house of the name the bird fluttered his feathers and tried to right itself.

"I think we know who this one is, then," Angus said.

"Oh, we do indeed," Kate said. "but he can't be allowed to be free because he'll eat our fae. I'll take him and get him in a nice big cage and clean him up and feed him something else that he might not like as well but he'll eat it, I'm sure. And then I'll check around. Maybe Hogwarts would like a well trained augury for their astronomy department. I'm glad you found him, Sam. Well done. Just make sure that next time you find a creature, do let Jack know about it first if you can so he knows what has been maybe left on the grounds or what's found its way over here."

"Will do," Sam said. Kate took the augury from Angus. 

"I know Robert's coming over after supper to check on Simone and on Poppy. He missed lunch today, so he's starving. So we'll let him eat first, and then I'm sure he'll be over."

"Thanks, Kate," Angus said.

"Oh, and Marcus, do let Poppy know, when she's feeling better, than I look forward to meeting her and having her help me as she's able this summer," Kate said.

"She will be relieved. She's been writing me about how excited she is," Marcus said. "Thanks, Kate."

"Thank you. We'll see you later," Kate said, turning and leaving. 

"Speaking of starving, so am I," Marcus said.

Aria listened and saw Kate arrive " Felix huh" she said smiling " well you came to the right place Felix. " she said softly to the Augury as Kate looked at him. hearing Kate Aria smiled " I'm sure Jack has something in that barn of his" she waved bye as Ruby placed both babies into their high chairs " okay foods ready come eat" Aria said and walked back giving a bowl; to each baby before taking her own plate and siting down so she could eat.

Ruby was happy when Kate took Felix back to the main house and sat with the babies. " shame his owner died, but glad he found us and will have a happy reminder of his life at Hogwarts " she said " Kate will have him right as rain" she said with a chuckle. Soon she sat and ate her own foo helping Caprice while Aria helped Amari when they needed it.

Angus called Evan and his family, and they came over, as did Edward and Simone. Angus was glad to have everyone at the table. It seemed like that didn't quite happen often enough to suit him. The talk at supper started with the augury, and then the subject changed to the supper Aria had made and how good it was. 

"Any word on how Rosaria is today?" Evan asked.

"I haven't had a chance to check on her yet today," Angus said.

"I saw her this morning," Edward said. 

"And I went over to see her this afternoon," Simone said. "She's doing alright. She's bored already with being laid up because of her leg. She wants me to send Ginger over with her lace work. Apparently Rosaria makes lace too, and she would like to help Ginger with some of the lace she's making."

"She would?" Ginger asked.

"Rosaria makes beautiful lace," Edward said. "Her mother and her grandmother used to make handmade lace wedding veils and sold them to wealthy women. When Rosaria was young, she wanted to follow in the family line, but when she married Carlo, they needed the money, so she started to work as a housekeeper and eventually joined our household. But you should take your lace and go see her. I think you'll be impressed."

"I'll do it tomorrow," Ginger said.

"She would appreciate the visit, I'm sure. Nothing worse for an Italian woman thats used to being on the go all the time than to be stuck in bed in an English household with nothing to do," Simone laughed.

"I told her I'd go play chess with her tomorrow afternoon," Edward said. "Robert promised her a game but he's been too busy."

"Not many people will play with him anyway because he's so competitive," Angus said. "They think he's undefeatable."

"Is he? Undefeatable, I mean?" Tara asked.

"Well, Kate can beat him," Angus said. "Once in a blue moon, Michael can beat him."

"I've beaten him once," Marcus laughed. "Once--in about a million tries."

"Rosaria will not be daunted," Evan laughed. "If she believes she can beat him, she'll just keep trying til she gets it done."

Aria and Ruby both sat listening and feeding the girls some of the pie. Hearing them talk about Rosaria and lace Ruby spoke " Anise is doing that , shes making lace for her veil when she finally gets married" she said " I think that's a great idea." she said smiling to Anise. Aria smiled a she fed Amari the remembered the gift she had bought for Poppy " oh before I forget " she said and opened it " what do you think, think she'll like it?" she asked " its a fae bubble." she said smiling " I remembered you said she liked fairies and the night sky and thought this would bring both together for her" she said handing it to Marcus so he could see . " I was also thinking about asking Minos if he could enchant it so it would show the night sky too" she said finishing her food.

Ruby hear them talk about Rosaria and nodded " I'll pop over tomorrow myself " she said smiling " if Aria doesn't mind looking after the babies for an hour " she asked Aria shook her head.

"nope I don't mind, besides gives me time to check on poppy" she said looking at Marcus " if you don't think she'd mine me looking in on her"

"I'm sure she'll love it," Marcus said. "She'll be all about it. Thank you. The issue she could have with it is not wanting to take it off."

"If you want Minos to enchant it," Angus said. "I could ask him for you. I thought that when she starts to feel a bit better, I might make some jam thumbprints for her. I know the Fae will love them. They love cookies and they love jam, so for them it would be the best of both worlds."

"And if she finds out they like her favorite cookie, I'll be taking her bed and putting it out in the garden," Marcus teased.

"Do not give Minos ideas because he'll be conjuring a hanging bed for her, hanging from one of the trees."

"If he does that I'll never get her back indoors, and she'll be one of the youngest drop outs Hogwarts has ever had," Marcus said.

"Yeah, but your house is on the other side of the pond," Angus said.

"And she'll be very happy to wave across the pond at me from her bed in your garden," Marcus said. "I draw the line at her adding tuille fairy wings to her Hogwarts robes."

"That's what I like. Firm expectations," Angus teased.

"She has him firmly wrapped around her little finger," Evan teased.

"Entirely. All five of them," Angus said.

"Are we doing dessert?" Sam asked.

"I suppose I should get that out--before you start to eat the pie pan," Angus said. He went to the kitchen, got out the treacle tart ice cream and dished it up and then added warm caramel sauce, toffee chips and whipped cream. Then he made sure everyone got a sundae.

"This is not vanilla, is it?" Sam asked.

"Taste it and see for yourself," Angus said. Sam tasted it and looked at Angus.

"Its...something...isn't it?" Sam asked.

"Brilliant, Sherlock," Victor scowled. "As opposed to nothing? What does that even mean. Its...sort of like toffee but not...." Victor said.

"Treacle tart," Ginger said brightly. "One of my favorites! There are pieces of real treacle tart in here."

"You're right," Evan said, happily surprised. "That's exactly what it is. Well done, Angus. A great supper and a great dessert."

Aria looked to Angus and nodded " that would make it special and , hey I don't mind" she said smiling then laughed hearing him talk about Poppy having her bed out with the fae hanging in a tree. " with the weather bring as it is I dough she would want to." Aria chuckled " but if it was warm weather I'd join her" she said with a chuckle a she tried the sundae that Angus had made " these are perfect" she said giving a small spoon to Amari who liked her lips and giggled clapping her hands.

Ruby smiled as he focused on feeding Caprice then when the sundae was brought out she fed her some and smiled as Caprice opened hr mouth for more. And so it went one for her one for Ruby until Caprice pushed the spoon away now full and sat back in her chair looking at very one.

When everyone finished eating, Tara and Faith and Evie stepped up to clear the table and do the washing up.

"I think I'll go put the tea on and then I'll go talk to Minos," Angus said. "I won't be long, I don't think." 

"We'll put the tea on and bring some out to you and Minos when it's ready," Marcus said. 

"Thanks," Angus said.

"Could we meet the fairies when we're done in the kitchen?" Faith and Evie asked.

"Of course," Angus said. He went outside, and he and Minos took a walk. He talked w/ Minos and told him about Poppy and her wound. Minos did not feel it was appropriate in the least to have a first year around a graphorn. Angus had to agree. Graphorns could be vicious. Minos was also glad that Angus had gotten Kate to take proper steps to remove the augury from the estate so that the fairies would be safe. When Angus told Minos about the pendant that Aria bought for Poppy, Minos suggested that Poppy be allowed to watch Minos cast the enchantment because he thought that she might enjoy it. 

Minos also thought of the hanging bed so that, if Poppy wanted, she could spend time in the garden making friends with the fairies. But unlike Angus, Minos was serious about it. Angus said he would consider purchasing one if Marcus thought it was a good idea. Minos also wanted Angus to keep him updated about any information Robert learned about Suzanne or Priscilla. Angus agreed to provide it to him. In the meantime, though, Minos was keeping his fae on alert to protect not only their kingdom but Angus's house as well.