A Birth day

Ruby and Aria when Orin said they could sit up did just so and looked around as he drove them to a house in the middle of no where. Slipping from the truck she followed every one inside and marveled at what she saw Aria went to check the area making sure it was secure while she went to the conservatory and looked at the plants growing there. When she heard him offer tea she nodded and smiled " butterscotch please" she asked then moved to sit and listened to him talk about the strange graves and how there were no records of them. " exactly what we found , no records of anyone with my family's name ether." she said and took out the map and papers she had found placing them with the large map that was already on the table and sat back down.

Yu and Aria both stood in the background and watched Yu had placed his bag down beside the couch with in reach if they were to rush out. Yu folded his arms as he listened quietly to what was going on in the room Radagast just sat in a chair his head down as if dozing but actually listening to each and every word but saying nothing as he chose to follow Michaels directions.

The kettle sounded when the water boiled, but instead of the normal shrill whistle, it whistled a jaunty little sea shanty instead.

"Now, that's clever," Michael laughed. 

"That shrill high pitched whistle got on my nerves, so I put a little charm on the kettle," Orin said. "Now that the water's hot, you lot can...oh, wait a minute. I completely forgot." He went out to his desk in the conservatory, opened the roll top on it, and picked up a tea tin and brought it in and set it on the counter beside his oother tea tins. "I completely forgot. My mum sent me a tin of chocolate mint tea that she bought at that big department store in London.  The famous one. Damn, I can never remember the name. Harold's, is it?"

"Harrod's," Michael said. "Close enough." 

"Well, so there's that too. And the big flour tin? That has biscuits if you fancy some. Help yourselves to whatever you like." He took a seat at the worktable to let the others help themselves to tea.

"So, you were saying to me that you thought we were going to be up against it."

"Yes. I do," Orin said seriously. "I can tell you this. Someone who is somehow remaining unnamed is making a huge, high priced bid to buy that plot of land. From what I hear, the muggle who owns the land is planning on selling because the money is just about four times the price of what its worth, and when you live out here, every little bit of cash you can get is essential. So, if these remains really are on this land, we'd best get to them tonight. If we don't, you may not get another chance."

"I hope the buyer is muggle," Michael said, making himself a mug of Earl Grey and then going back to sit down at the worktable.

"No. Definitely not," Orin said. "I don't have irrefutable proof, but, I can tell you for certain that there was an old muggle family estate just south of Haroldswick that experienced a fire early this past winter. Completely ravaged the land and all the buildings on it. The family sold out just to get out of Shetland and, I believe, moved back to Edinburgh. I took a drive up to that area a month ago, and there are new magical protections around that property. Muggles would see nothing but the burned out ruins of the fire that happened this winter. However, there is a brand new house on that land, and it isn't such a small one. Its got to be five or six bedrooms at least. It's made to look, on the outside, like its just another whitewashed cottage. But the place oozes dark energies. And its being well protected by a whole collection of damned dangerous magical creatures that I believe have been hexed into doing the bidding of whoever owns that house. And I believe that the purchase of the land you're interested in and the recent addition of this house have to be connected."

"I think you very well might be right," Michael said,

Aria moved to make a tray of tea for every one, once done she picked it up and handed out cups to every one including Radagast and then sent the tray back to the kitchen as she stood and sipped the tea savoring the taste and smiling ass she continued. She listened as Orin spoke of a place that was bought by a wizard and she sighed " can't be simple for once " she said softly to herself then sat next to Radagast watching the talk between Michael and Orin.

Ruby sighed as she hard it was bought by a wizard " you don't think Suzzanne or Gelding would have bought it, couldn't be Angus has almost drained their resources and funds" she said then shook her head " has to be some one else we've not met yet" she added as Yu placed his hand on her shoulder.

"the more you ponder the further away you are from the truth." Yu told her and she calmed her thoughts and smiled to him.

"thank you Yu" she said sipping her tea again knowing that it was some one unknown to them so she sat in her chair and just listened.

"No," Michael said, "Definitely isn't the Geldings. Irene has been on the lookout for any sort of weirdness there. And Daniella has been on the lookout for anyone contacting Priscilla or Dominic. There was a very brief lapse in their magic bindings like there was in Suzanne's, but, unless there was planning done at that time that is just being acted upon now. None of the usual suspects can be on our radar. So if we take them out of the equation, then it has to be someone new. And whoever it is must have some damned immense power to have charms strong enough to bend a number of dangerous wild magical creatures to them as sentries. That makes me think that whoever this is could very well possess the ability to do elemental magic too. And, quite honestly, I'm not interested in meeting them with no more fighters than we are right now."

"So, we need to go dig the caskets out and get the hell out of town, then," Sam said. 

"Yes," Michael said. "And we need to do our very best to not trip any magical spells or alarms or anything else. If they're looking at buying the land, they may have already set alarms there. We need to be extremely careful."

"It won't be fully dark here until after 10 tonight," Orin said. "So I suggest, since we're likely to be out for most of the night, that you lot go find places to nap, and I'll wake you up this evening. We can get a bite to eat and then ready ourselves to go out as soon as its dark."

"Sounds like a good plan," Michael said. 

"Bathroom upstairs is the first on the left," Orin said. "My room is the second on the left. There are two guestrooms up there. One has a full sized bed, and the other has two twins. The bedroom up in the attic has two twins as well. There's a really comfortable sofa in the living room and a bay window with an equally comfortable daybed. Pick whatever suits you. In the meantime, I'll nip out to the garden and see what's ripe for the picking to put towards supper."

Yu looked at the day bed and smiled " I will take the day bed, I'm use to sleeping in cramped places" he said as he moved and sat at the day bed. Aria looked at Ruby and chuckled.

"we can share leaving Michael and Radagast with the two twins." Aria said with a smile seeing the look on Radagast's face as he sighed and nodded,

"hope you don't snore my friend" he said to Michael. then he looked to Orin and smiled " thank you for you hospitality" he said as he finished his tea and set the cup to the kitchen. " good tea by the way." he finished then he looked to Michael " so will it be an early start or late ending?" he asked enquiring about when he wanted to go check out the graves.

"I think we should follow Orin's advice since he knows this place far better than we do. I think we should rest for now, and then get a late supper and head out after dark. My guess is that we'll be going out at about midnight or maybe eleven tonight," Michael said. "And, no. I don't snore. While you lot rest, I may very well go back to the village to our hotel and grab our bags. I know our equipment is in them, and we'll need it for tonight. I believe I can get in and get out without being seen, and I'd be better to just go quickly and do it alone. I won't be half a tick."

Sam and Victor both already knew for themselves how skilled Michael was at such things. 

"Someday I'll get to watch you work," Sam sighed.

"You will, Junior. Just not this afternoon," Michael smiled.

"And I wish Dad were here," Victor sighed.

"He wishes he were here too. I know him too well not to know that," Michael said. "He isn't going to rest until he knows we're safe. And so, to even the odds, all of us needs to be well rested and well fed. None of you have ever gone into any mission that we had any advance notice of without Robert making sure we all had a chance to rest and eat before we went. His guidance applies even though he isn't here. He has the job he does for some very good reasons. So, off with you both. Get some sleep."

"Yeah, okay," Sam sighed, disappointed. The two of them headed upstairs to the attic guest room. 

"You need anything in town as long as I'm going, Orin?"

"I don't think so," Orin said. "I picked up some lovely fresh prawns while I was in town. They're packed in ice in a cooler in my van. I think we'll have more than enough for tonight, and I have fresh vegetables in the garden and some things here in the house. I think we'll manage well enough for one meal. Here. Take one of the two portkeys I have to this house. It can be tricky business to apparate back here even if you know where it is."

"Alright. Thanks. I'll be straight back," Michael said, apparating out.

Radagast smiled to Michael and nodded " good thing" he said softly as he listened to him say they would leave at eleven that night " good choice" he added and took out his book to continue reading. Ruby heard the boys and nodded.

"You'll see action soon enough, there's no rush" she said to them both " we'll both be proud of you both when you do but , please don't rush into it" she smiled to them when they went to the room to rest. Ruby looked to Michael as she spoke again " I hope they realize there will be plenty of fights in the future but that's not all we do" she said and Aria chuckled.

"there young, they'll understand eventually" Aria said as Radagast looked to her then back to Michael as Orin continued talking about going to town and bringing the bags back making Yu chuckle as he was glad he brought his with him and it now sat at his feet. Hearing about prawns Yu looked at Orin as he spoke.

"please let me make supper, as a thankyou for putting us up for tonight.

"That's fine with me," Orin said. "I think I'll catch a nap myself as soon as Michael gets back." 

Michael wasn't gone more then ten minutes, and he ported right back, carrying his one bag. 

"You all used the same bags?" Orin asked.

"No, no. I shrank the rest and put them in my bag," Michael laughed. "I'll unload them and then go catch a catnap." He went into the living room and quietly got out the rest of the bags and resized them. Orin brought the prawns in and put them in the fridge before he went up to his room, set his alarm, and stretched out on the bed to sleep.

Michael went over the maps one more time, more as his own reassurance as a mission leader that he didn't forget something. He transfigured his bag into a backpack so that it was ready for tonight's work. Then he went upstairs to the room that Radagast was in, and he got out his guidebook and began reading again about Shetland, just to try to bore himself to sleep. As he was reading, Hiss slithered out of his bag, and it saw Radagast and didn't appear to be too sure if Radagast was trustworthy or not. Michael tapped the mattress silently so the vibration would get Hiss's attention. He motioned to the rope, and it slithered up beside him and curled up tightly against his waist. It was one of the last things Michael was aware of before he dozed off.

Yu looked to Orin and stood up giving him a bow " thank you" he said smiling and sat back down. Once every one started to trickle to nap he stood up and went to the kitchen to start supper , he took out the prawns and deshelled them and deveined them. He then made some Gyoza (Japanese dumplings) along with a Creamy Prawn Pasta for when every one was awake.

Ruby and Aria both lay on the bed and were soon sleeping . Radagast was sat in the room when Michael walked in he nodded to him and then saw him take his rope " I don't bite" he said then chuckled " not unless you want me to." he added and moved to lay on his back looking up at the celling staying on his side of the bed. It wasn't long before he closed his eyes to nap but never went to a deep sleep hearing Yu down in the kitchen cooking.

"Nah. Hiss just prefers not to be shut in a pack all the time, so I have to let him out every once in awhile," Michael said to Radagast.

When Michael woke, it was close to seven. He figured most of the others were still sleeping. It was still a bit early to wake them. He got up and took advantage of the empty bathroom and washed up, feeling better for refreshing himself, and then he put his things back in his pack--all except for Hiss, who preferred to wind himself around Michael's waist like a belt. Michael picked up his pack and took it downstairs, setting it out of the way in the kitchen near the conservatory doors. 

"Smells good, Yu," Michael said, looking in the cabinets and finding some coffee. He opened the tin and smelled it. It was still fresh, so he made a pot, knowing the team had learned to be coffee drinkers. He poured himself a mug and stepped outside to look at the night sky. So far, the skies were crystal clear and a crisp deep blue with just a few fluffy clouds. If it stayed clear, then the starlight and moonlight would be helpful. He went back inside and fired a nonverbal spell at his own shoes. Then he looked at Yu. 

"I'll help you set out plates and such in a moment. First, though, mind if I put a handy little charm on your shoes?" Michael asked. "A creation of my own, and bloody helpful for stealth missions. It eliminates any trace of your footprints. Can't be traced, so if I cast it on everyone's shoes, they'll never know we were there, unless we run into trouble or we get stupid."