A Birth day

"We won't be gone long," Edward said. "Elwood isn't strong enough for that. I don't want to overtire him. We'll go straight there and come straight back."

"We could do that, Aria. We could order some fish and chips and split them, just for the tasting, of course," Elwood said. "Maybe, if this goes well, I might soon be able to go checkout some of the shops."

"I don't think that's far away, but it is not for this outing. This is strictly about the beer," Edward said. "What do you want to go to the shops for? What do you need?"

"Look, Youngster," Elwood said to Edward, making Edward laugh, "this will be the first Christmas I've celebrated in almost 70 years, and it's the first one ever with my grandchildren and great grandchildren. I have a family I didn't have before. I might want to shop."

"Oh. I see," Edward nodded.

"No. He doesn't see," Simone said. "That's my job."

"And the cooking, and the decorating and the wrapping..." Edward teased.

"Careful, Edward," Marcus laughed. "You're making it sound like all you do is show up."

"That's exactly what he does," Simone laughed.

"And I'm very good at it," Edward said, unapologetically. Marcus got up and cleared the table, putting the dirty dishes in the sink. As he went past the apples, he speared five slices on his index finger and sat down to eat them with a cup of coffee. "I'm ready whenever you lot are."

Ruby and Aria both chuckled at there banter. " take your time , we'll be okay with out you for an hour or two" Ruby said and chuckled as she watched Edward take some cinnamon battered apples. Ruby picked up Caprice and wiped her face clean then placed her into the play pen while Aria did the same to Amari.

"yeah , go have a good time , relax" she said then looked to Marcus " just stay out of trouble, please" she said and chuckled with a smile to them. " I'm sure Robert will join you there once he's finished work." she said knowing Robert would not miss an opportunity to have the fish and chips.

"I think we'll go so we can get back. I shouldn't think we'd be gone more than an hour or so at best," Edward said. Elwood got up, and Angus loaned him his cane so that Elwood had something to help support him in case he needed it. The four of them apparated out for Diagon Alley. Elwood had a rush of excitement at approaching the door of the Leaky. He hadn't been there in so long, but when he went in and smelled the ale and heard the old familiar sounds, it all rushed back to him.

"I can't believe I'm really here," Elwood said. Angus saw Elwood was smiling from ear to ear. They picked a table, and Angus was ordering pints and reached to get some galleons to pay but Elwood stopped him. "No, please? Please let me? I haven't had the pleasure of buying a pint in over 70 years. Please let me have the pleasure? You can get the next round."

"You've got a deal," Angus said. Elwood gave some galleons to the server, and in a moment, they were sitting and laughing and reminiscing, enjoying their ales. Angus recalled that the first time he had come here by himself, to meet some mates, he'd ended up in a brawl and had gotten a big bleeding wound on his forehead and had ended up waking up in St. Mungos.

"And so were you brawling over a woman--again?" Edward asked.

"Actually, no," Angus said. "Some bonehead at the next table got into a row because he owed some thug from Knockturn some money, and he didn't feel like paying. So, he picked up a chair with all intentions of busting it over the head of the thug. But the thug moved, and the chair hit me instead of the thug. I got irked, and I decided I was going to settle it."

"I thought it knocked you out," Edward said.

"Not the first chair. It was the second one that knocked me out," Angus said. The four of them laughed. They emptied their pints, and Edward paid for the second round. They were halfway through the second when Angus suddenly jumped up, without warning, and raced upstairs for all he was worth. Marcus raced upstairs right behind him. He had worked for Khaat for too long not to know when seers' energies were at work. He'd seen it in Angus's face just seconds before Angus had raced up the stairs. He burst into one of the rooms, and he saw a young woman being taken advantage of by a man with long, white hair. He spun and looked at Angus, and Angus saw his skin was as white as any piece of paper he'd ever seen. It didn't have the slightest bit of color in it. And his eyes were actually glowing an eerie shade of green. He had never seen anything like it.

The man flew at him, and he picked up Angus like Angus was a mere feather and hurled him into the wall. Marcus burst in and raced at the white skinned man. Angus had blacked out for a mere moment, but he woke, and the first thing he saw was the young woman cowering in the corner. She was shaking like a leaf, and she was clearly bruised and bloody, her pale, thin pink dress in shreds.

"Get the girl and get out of here, Angus," Marcus shouted at Angus. Angus drew his wand, and the white skinned man snapped his fingers and simply vanished. Angus's shoulder and his arm both hurt, but he was far more concerned about the girl. He went over to her.

"You're safe now. My name's Angus," he said softly. "Are you alright?" It took her a moment to look up at him, and when she did, he saw she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen in his life. She didn't move, didn't answer him. "What's your name?" Angus asked. She finally gestured at her throat.

"She's mute," Marcus said, trying to catch his breath. "And she's hurt. We can't leave her here. We'll take her with us. Whatever the hell that was, we cant take the chance he'd come back for her." He yanked down one of the brown tapestry drapes from the bed and transfigured it into a hooded cloak for her. Angus helped the woman to her feet and draped the cloak around her and led her downstairs. It only took a moment for Edward and Elwood to decide they needed to leave--quickly. The four of them surrounded the woman and apparated, bringing her along, back to the duplex, landing on the front porch.

Ruby and Aria watched the men leave and sat down listening to the quiet except for the soft chatter of the babies and smiled " Simone you can join us if you want" Ruby suggested to her " get some quiet while the men are out" she said and brought out a four person game.

Once the babies had settled down to take their nap Aria sat back on the couch as did Ruby but no soon they had they both heard Aperating and Aria brought out her wand walking briskly to the back door . Opening it cautiously she looked out to see the men back " its the men and some one else" she said as Ruby joined her .

"stay with the babies please Aria, I'll go meet them." Ruby said as she headed across the yard to them " your back early and..." she paused seeing the battered young woman with Angus "wow okay , bring her inside and we'll get her cleaned and fixed up." she said as she had seen the marks and blood on the young woman's face and body.

The woman shied a little closer to Angus, without realizing she'd done it. The other people were all strangers to her. Angus led her inside, and Edward helped Elwood inside and back to his chair. As they went inside, Angus was explaining to the woman that she was amongst friends. He was explaining this was his home and he was quietly explaining to her who people were. Marcus moved close to Ruby.

"I don't know entirely how she was...attacked, but I wouldn't take anything for granted," Marcus told Ruby softly. "And, one more thing--she's mute. I'm sure she knows some sort of signing or gestures, sort of like we do with Minos. I think she hears just fine, but she can't speak. She was attacked by some sort of thing upstairs at the Leaky. I don't know what the hell it was, but I think it's scared the life out of the poor thing. For now, I think if we can keep her hidden, everyone will be better off until we know what the hell that creatures was that went after her."

Ruby saw the girl shy away from her and motioned to the duplex as Angus lead her inside. Now inside she listened to Marcus and nodded as he spoke about how they found her " poor thing" she said then looked to Aria " I think some of Anises clothing will fit her, would you mind fetching a pair of trousers and a tee shirt for her" she said poring some sweet camomile tea for her.

Walking over she held it out to her and smiled " here, this will calm your nerves, you don't have to worry, we're here to help you, your safe here." she said softly using her motherly tone she used on the toddlers as she hoped to calm the girl and make her feel safe. Aria returned with some clothes of Anises that she knew Anise would not mind her borrowing.

"here you go" Aria said handing them to Ruby who thanked her and held onto them clothing for the moment as she knew Angus and the others would have questions.

Angus led her to the sofa while Ruby was fixing the tea for the girl, and Marcus accio'd a clean blanket from upstairs. He gestured to Angus that he thought the soft, clean blanket that smelled still so fragrant from being freshly laundered would be far nicer than the dirty drape from the pub. Angus took the blanket from Marcus, and speaking softly to the girl, Angus managed to get the hastily conjured cloak from the girl, and he wrapped the clean blanket around her. That seemed to help comfort her a little. He talked her into sitting on the sofa. She had just gotten seated when Ruby brought her the tea.

"Thanks," Angus told Ruby. Marcus laid a pad of paper and a pen on the coffee table so the girl might write any messages she wanted to get across to them.

"I'll be back in a moment," Marcus said quietly. He went upstairs to the master bedroom and opened the floo and, after a moment, he reached Robert. He explained how they had gone to the Leaky and how Angus's seers' energies had been triggered, causing Angus to race upstairs to find some strange somewhat humanoid creature assaulting a fragile looking mute woman who did appear to perhaps be injured. Marcus told them the entire situation was a bit bizarre. Robert told Marcus to just try to keep her calm and comfortable until he could free himself from duties at the Ministry and come home to see this newcomer. Marcus closed the floo and went back downstairs.

Ruby looked to Angus and placed her hand on his good shoulder " any time2 she said softly with a warm smile to him. " do you know her name yet?" she asked as she saw him place down some paper and a pen for her to write. Turning to look at the woman Ruby smiled softly to her " can you tell us your name?" she asked motioning to the paper and pen in front of the woman.

Aria watched and saw Angus head up the stairs to use the floo. Seeing him return she moved to his side " so whens Robert coming, I assume that's who you went to talk to" she said softly to him as she stood with him as she watched Ruby and the woman. " she looks almost fae like" she said

"Not yet," Angus said very quietly. "We decided to get the heck out of there as soon as we could.

"I did. I think she could be hurt. I'm not sure," Marcus told Aria in a near whisper. "He's coming--when he can get free from his ministry duties, but I don't have an exact time. Whatever that thing was that went after her, I've not seen anything exactly like it. It was a man--I think. Looked male anyway. His skin was literally as white as snow. He had long hair--like armpit length, and it shimmered, like the glow of a moonstone. His eyes were very different. Not human. They glowed, and they were an eerie, evil looking shade of green. He was wearing leggings and a tunic. And he was more powerful than most men I've seen. He was not any ordinary guy, so I don't honestly know if we need to be geared up or not. However, leaving her there on her own for him to come back and find her was not an option."

The girl looked at Ruby, and then at the pad of paper, and shakily, she wrote one word. Jada. And even with her hands shaking violently still, her handwriting was the most elegant script Angus had ever seen.

"Jada," Angus said, looking at the girl. She looked at him and nodded, and he noticed that she had the most stunning turquoise eyes. He'd never seen anyone with turquoise eyes before.

Aria listened to Marcus and nodded she also heard Angus and smiled " Jada, its a nice name, I'm Aria that's Ruby and well you know these two, Marcus and Angus" Aria said as she then looked back at Marcus " hum from that description I would have said vampire, but I know they don't exist" she added with a chuckle.

Ruby smiled softly to Jada and sat down " well Jada , your safe now, whom ever it was that attacked you can't find you here" she explained as Finn ran in with Minos sat atop his head then stopped to sniff the woman " that is Finn with Minos our good friend of the fae." she introduced her. " where are my manners I forgot to ask, are you hungry , we still have some dinner left if your hungry?" she said