A Birth day

Aria and Ruby ported Charlottes body to the Roberts lab and placed her on the table before both ported to the duplex just as they both saw Marcus being assaulted by crockery " wow , Cap[rice please leave some glass wear intact" she said watching as Marcus woke Angus . Hearing Marcus she sighed as Aria moved quickly and cleaned up the broken glass.

"I got it" she said looking at Marcus as Ruby walke dover to Angus " what was it about, maybe it was the content she didn't like" she asked then looked at both men " we found both of them" she said softly.

"yeah , So now were waiting on Roberts autopsy for both of them , and this time thanks to Victors sharp eye we know they are the right charlotte and Gideon." Aria said poring a refreshed coffee and sending it over to Angus and Marcus while poring one for herself and one for Ruby.

Yu ported back to the cabin and found Jessie slumped over a table sleeping Chris was laid on the couch sleeping, picking up Chris he carried him to his room then returned to Jessie and sat down next to him placing his hand over Jessie back as he fell asleep against Jessie.

"Where are the boys?" Angus asked, trying not to let himself stay rattled after being awakened rather rudely.

"They dragged in a few minutes ago. I have a feeling they're both passed out already on their beds. I  doubt either of them even bothered to change into their pajamas," Marcus laughed. "I haven't heard a peep up there."

"They're back. Good," Angus sighed. "And you found Charlotte and Gideon. Good. That's a step in the right direction. Maybe we can get some leads on where Pearl and what-the-hell-was-his-name both are."

"Elwood," Marcus laughed. "We'll have to keep looking for records about where they are. It's odd that we haven't been able to track where they're buried at."

"Someone has to know something."

"Well, the next you dream of Pearl, why don't you ask her?" Marcus said.

"She's not very friendly, that one," Angus yawned. "She keeps saying she's going to kill me. It's getting old now. She needs a new line. She must have died young, though."

"Not according to the birth and death records at the ministry. They said she was born in 1899 and died in 1967. That would have made her 68. Not old by wizarding standards, but not young either. Why do you think she died young?"

"Because she doesn't look any older than Ruby and Aria."

"Well, maybe a ghost can appear any way she wants to appear," Marcus shrugged. 

"Well, she can't be alive because if she were, she'd look like a withered up old prune, not like she's in her upper 20's."

"You do have a point," Marcus replied.

Ruby sat and listened when Marcus said the boys had gone right to bed she relaxed " that's good, they did great tonight" she said smiling as Aria finished her cup then went to the kitchen to put her cup into the washer. Returning she heard them talk about Peral and sighed

" shesh, do we have to strengthen the charms and spells again, maybe one of the brasiers has gone out, I'll check on my rounds." she said as she opened the door for Finn to go out. " hes probably busting about now to get out" she added as Finn came down and paused looking at Marcus then the open door.

"I think the dog thinks my job is to let him out," Marcus laughed. When Finn and Aria went out, Marcus put fresh food and water in Finn's bowls and brought in the papers. Then he headed over to the counter and made a fresh pot of coffee, and he set out a platter of extra large fruit turnovers that Simone had made the night before.

"Breakfast," Marcus announced. "Simone made some double sized fruit turnovers last night before bed," Marcus said. "She says some are strawberry, some are peach, and some are apple. She made them double sized so that, perhaps, Angus and I could get by with a continental breakfast. She promised us she'd make us a nice substantial lunch then later. I think she and Edward were taking the babies to Paris to have breakfast with her daughter and her son in law. I told Angus if we thought we wanted some, I'd manage to make us a couple soft boiled eggs, but obviously, that hasn't happened. So giant turnovers, it is."

Aria chuckled and shook her head " come on daft dog" she said with a chuckle as he finally gathered he was let out and dove outside, Aria moved to the porch and looked out watching as Finn dove off to do his thing. She lent on the rail and sighed feeling the warmish air around her now. " this is so much better than Shetland" she said to herself and looked back inside smiling a she saw Marcus announce breakfast was ready. " should have said I'm sure Ruby would have made some" she said as a much relived Finn ran back in and rolled on the floor before going to his food bowl and eating.

Ruby smiled as she heard Marcus call breakfast was ready and picked up Angus cup taking her own and his to the kitchen returning with two large turnovers one for her and one for Angus. Walking over she sat down placing his next to him. " I'm glad we're done with that part of the mission, it was bleak and so cold there" she said smiling to Angus " its much warmer and nicer here"

"Bleak. Very good word for Shetland," Angus said. "Just because humans have found a way to live there doesn't necessarily mean that they should."

Marcus poured coffee for himself, Ruby and Angus and floated Angus' and Ruby's to them and picked a turnover for himself. 

"It is a rather good place for antisocial introverts," Marcus laughed. He bit into his turnover. "Strawberry. Delicious. What did you get?"

"Peach," Angus said. "Quite nice. Simone is certainly a good baker. What'd you get, Ru?"

Ginger came upstairs by herself. 

"Morning," she said to everyone. 

"Morning," Angus said. Ginger poured three mugs of coffee with flavored creamer, plated up three turnovers, put it all on a tray and disappeared back downstairs again.

"Hm. Seems like the girls' club is going to have their own private breakfast this morning before Anise and Ginger leave for school," Angus said.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see Poppy getting on so well with your girls," Marcus said. "She's had a tough go of it at Hogwarts because she is so much smaller than the other kids. Most of the kids treat her like she's too young to be there because she's so small."

"Well, we'll have to teach her some tricks to even the odds next year," Angus said. "She's a smart girl. She needs to be recognized for something other than being small. There are some real advantages to being small, and we need to teach her how to make the most of that, and maybe some other tricks too. I'll teach her a few things so that the kids will look up to her rather than looking down on her."

"If you have any ideas, I'm certainly open to them," Marcus said.

Robert suddenly apparated onto the front porch, in his pajamas and bathrobe. 

"Morning," he said to Aria. He knocked, opened the door, and walked in.

"Morning," Angus said. "You're up early."

"Nope. Up late. Haven't been to bed," Robert said. "You need to know this. We might have a bigger issue than we thought. I've only done preliminary exams of Charlotte and Gideon, and I did not like what I found. I think Charlotte was born a fully functioning witch, and, from Gideon's school records, he was a fully functioning wizard. But here's the interesting bit. Both of them have devastating wounds, very much like you had, to their magical systems, with a bit of a twist. It looks very much like someone drained both of them of around 97-98% of all the life energies from their magical systems."

"What? What does that mean?" Angus asked.

"Do you know what a succubus and an incubus are?" Robert asked.

"Yeah. Demons that rob a man or a woman of their life energies."

"Correct. I think that someone is basically doing the same thing to witches and wizards. They're robbing them of their energies out of their magical systems and killing them. For what end, I do not know. In Charlotte's case, though, the wounds happened in two or three different attacks. I haven't entirely pinpointed how many yet. But it was more than one. I think the first one struck before she was Hogwarts age. And then there was at least one more, the one that killed her. Gideon suffered the same injuries, but in one very violent attack. They were both, unquestionably, murdered, and by the same person."

Ruby smiled to Angus as she spoke " strawbery2 she said simply but paused as she saw Robert come threw the door in his PJ's making her chuckle for a moment before pausing and listening to him as he spoke " a succubus, those are deadly they usually appear in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity but whom ever it is, is not doing that with you" she said looking at Angus

Aria came in and sat to eat her own breakfast " oh banana" she said and chuckled as she cut it open and then ate it happily " good morning guys" she said smiling to Ginger and Anise. she turned to see Robert when the door burst open and she roiled her eyes " please close the door its letting out the warm air" she said and watched as he closed it as he spoke of what he had found. " how do we counter a succubus?" she asked finishing her turn over and sipping her coffee as she waited for Robert to continue. " and shouldn't you get dressed too" she asked sending over a cup of tea to Robert." I think you need this , badly" she said softly letting the cup set down next to Robert.

"Ruby, you might want to focus," Angus said calmly. "You missed something, I think. He didn't mean a literal succubus. He was using that as an illustration. He said someone was imitating that behavior with Charlotte and Gideon and drained them of all their magical energy and killing them." He looked at Robert. "And at this hour in the morning, you're completely entitled to be here at home in your pajamas. Most Brits aren't even awake yet. Only this estate tends to be up doing breakfast before daylight. I do understand why you're in your pajamas and your robe. You were doing autopsies in the overnight hours, and I'm quite sure that Charlotte and Gideon didn't give a damn what you wore. You can wear whatever you want in this house. Please continue, Robert."

"I intend to," Robert said. "This is, I believe, a very human person who is stealing magical energy. As for how we deal with whoever this is, we have to find out first who it is, and then we'll know how to deal with them. We're still without a name or a motive. Whoever this is, they're obviously capable of very powerful magic as it is. Why they are willing to kill to rob other witches and wizards of theirs is still a mystery."

"Our best lead may be, then my dreams with Pearl," Angus said.

"Well, perhaps, but you should tread very carefully. We still haven't found her yet, so at this point, we don't know if we're dealing with a ghost or someone who is still very much alive, and knowing that will determine what we need to do to deal with her. What we are discovering, though, is that this case is most unusual because nothing is what it seems."

"I do think that we need to pursue Pearl now," Angus said. "I think whatever we learn about Pearl is going to determine a lot."

"Oh, I agree completely. However, that being said, I'll try to talk to Kate and Iya today to see what they suggest is the safest way for you to get information about her. We do not yet know what she is capable of doing, if anything, in your dream state, so do be very conservative in your interactions with her."

"Understood," Angus said.

"Until then, I have Michael and Orin helping to try to find anything at all about Pearl or Elwood, either one. I have to get back. I have to finish the autopsies and get on to work. I'll see you lot later," Robert said, turning and leaving.

Ruby looked at Angus and flushed " oh right, sorry" she said and chuckled as she looked at her cup and sipped it quietly as she listened oh so a succubus impersonator" she said then chuckled and listened to Angus talk of shy Robert was in his PJ's " oh okay" she said the n looked to Aria who chuckled.

"you really are lost today aren't you" she said and Ruby chuckled and nodded " well if their draining magic where are they storing it and why do they need it, if its within them selves surly we could track some one with a very high magic trace, with the exception of those you know about or who are below the right age?" she asked wondering if it was even possible.

Yu walked in with a large quiche in his hands and paused " oh I was hoping you had not risen yet , I made a quiche for every one." he moved and placed it on the side board " its still warm for those who want any." he looked at Robert and smiled "Good morning, I was thinking about the clues we found, the only thing that makes sense is some one impersonating a .Benzaitenno" he said handing Ruby some tea , " chi tea, its good for nerves" he said simple.

"Perhaps," Marcus replied to Yu, "but everything I've read considers her to be a goddess of good fortune. Someone certainly wasn't very lucky for Charlotte and Gideon."

While they were talking, Anise came upstairs, bringing their dirty breakfast dishes from downstairs. she came over to Angus and spoke quietly to avoid interrupting the other conversation.

"I don't know if this is important but I heard a noise in our room in the middle of the night," she told him softly. "And when I woke up, my jewelry box was on the floor."

"I didn't know you had a jewelry box," Angus said.

"Well, I didn't but Sam had an old wooden box. It isn't very big, but he said that it used to be his mom's, and it was empty. He didn't have any use for it, so he gave it to me, and I've been keeping my jewelry in it since I don't have much. Anyway, as I said, I heard a noise and saw my jewelry box was on the floor. I went to pick it up, and I saw that there were two bottoms in the box. And this was in between them." She handed him a brass key. "Do you think its important?"  Angus took the key and looked at it. Marcus looked over and saw the key. He looked at Angus. They both knew at once where the key went to. 

"I'll go get dressed," Angus said quietly. He kissed Anise's forehead. "This could be very helpful. Thank you." He went upstairs quickly.

"This is going to be rather like hunting a needle in a haystack," Marcus sighed. "She just found a key to a muggle bank deposit box. Now, why anyone in the Tyler family would have that, I have no idea, but Reginald and Suzanne did have some odd ideas about just about everything. Still, it could be another lead, and any little thread seems like its worth following at this point. . I'll hang onto this until we know exactly which box it goes to. While he's showering, I'll go get freshened up myself." He headed upstairs to wash and change to get ready to go out.