A Birth day

"I think I'll go talk to Elwood," Angus said. "Maybe he knows something that could help." He went in, refreshed his coffee and went upstairs, taking a bit to clean up, dress, and shave before he went to see Elwood. By then, Andrew had helped Elwood do the same. Elwood was up and in a pair of tan french terry jogging trousers and a white french terry shirt. He was sitting up in the comfortable chair in his room, and he had a book on his lap.

"Now that looks comfortable," Angus smiled.

"It is. I can't tell you how good it feels to be up in a decent chair. I can't thank you enough for all you and your family has done for me," Elwood said.

"Don't thank us. Its what family does," Angus said.

"Well, it certainly wasn't what Pearl did. She surrounded me by what she thought was high class, not with what I wanted at all," Elwood sighed. "When i got sick, she really changed. She got so dark, I didn't even know her anymore."

"That had to be pretty miserable," Angus said.

"It was," he admitted. "To be honest, I stopped loving her after she had kept me alive for about ten years after my diagnosis. She wasn't doing anything for me. It was all about herself. Her inability to not have me in her life. It wasn't love. It was selfishness."

"Didn't anyone try to stop her?"

"Oh, God, yes," Elwood said. "That's how Gideon died. He was trying to protect Charlotte, and Pearl killed him. Then she finally managed to kill Charlotte, our only child, three years later. Charlotte had gone on the run by then, trying to outrun Pearl, but well, that never worked for anyone. Pearl always found whoever she was after. You clearly have exceptional skills or you'd have never been able to stop her."

"Elwood, do you know any of Suzanne's history?"

"Charlotte's child? Barely. Only enough to know that Pearl swiped her energies before the child barely reached the age to go to Hogwarts. When I figured out what she had done, I sent a letter to Dumbledore asking him to protect her so that Pearl couldn't finish the job, and, he wrote me telling me that he had obliviated that part of Suzanne's memory so she couldn't remember the murder of her parents or of Pearl sabotaging her magic. I don't know where Suzanne went so dark, but, alas, she certainly did."

"Well, for all we know it could have had a good deal to do with her husband."

"Oh, Tyler? Well, he was riffraff long before he met Suzanne, that's for sure. He was involved in a lot of dark dealings and knew just about everybody in Knockturn Alley. I didn't like him at all, but Pearl believed Tyler could be bought, and so she had some sort of shifty business that resulted in Suzanne marrying Tyler, but what that was exactly, I never knew. Pearl had sequestered me in my tower by then."

"Do you know much about Pearl's will?"

"Some. Pearl had never ever expected me to outlive her, and I know there is a clause in there giving me everything we owned if she passed first, but it was only left in there because the attorney insisted she leave it."

"And you preceeded her? That's the bit I'm interested in. Who was that to go to?"

"Um...I'm not entirely sure I remember. Might have been Suzanne. I just don't know."

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled nodding as he said he was headed up to talk to Elwood about how he was doing and maybe something about where their money came from. Ruby cleaned up the babies as she set them in the play pen after they had eaten. their fill.

Aria looked to Ruby and motioned to the back door "Go for your run" she said and Ruby nodded and transfigured her clothing to running gear. Turning to the back door he headed out while Aria sat and watched the babies playing happily and Finn running around outside.

Ruby ran to the track and began running to relive her tension and calm her mind down with everything to do with Elwood she found she had already run three laps when Joseph passed by her. " hey Joseph " she said and he smiled waving to her as he then spoke to a groundsman then carried on walking pausing hen he reached the assault course start point .

"Do you have a copy of the will someplace, Elwood?"

"I do," Elwood said, "but it's in my vault in Gringotts, and I have no earthly idea where the key is. Haven't seen it in years."

"That isn't necessarily a problem if you remember the vault number," Angus said.

"You going to just waltz in and get them to open it?" Elwood teased.

"Almost," Angus replied.

"Are you daft, Lad?" he frowned. "Goblins don't play."

"Neither do my friends," Angus said.

"It's vault 317. Why do you need to see the will?" Elwood asked. Angus told him about Suzanne, and about her escaping from the asylum and trying to make a beeline either to try to get rid of Angus or of Elwood in order to inherit what was left. Elwood laughed for a long moment, like it was hilariously funny.

"Okay, so what's so funny?"

"Pearl didn't own a damned farthing," Elwood laughed. "Not a red cent. Suzanne's running for nothing."

"You were broke?"

"Oh, I didn't say that," Elwood said in a wry tone. "I said she was broke. I had most of the money squirreled away the moment I figured out that she would run through it like water. I knew how she was, needing to have the best of everything, and she spent it like we were billionaires. So I squirreled away almost all our money, and I never told her I had it."

"You shifty buggar," Angus grinned.

"Thought you might like that. You get me an appointment with a decent attorney, and I'll resolve that little matter. I do need a will, but now it needs to be for the whole kit and kaboodle. And, no, I refuse to give it to a mad woman, so you don't need to worry about that. But if she thinks she's going to get anything from her Granny Pearl, she is about to be badly disappointed."

"Is the money in the same vault as the will?"

"No. It isn't. Let's do one task at a time, though, shall we? Get the will from the vault, and I'll be able to put her onto her Granny's vault. She can have the damned key to that for all I care. It's going to be empty or damned near it. The key for Pearl's vault is in Vault 317 with the will."

"I'll bring it straight to you when I get it," Angus said.

"Good lad," Elwood said. "Better get cracking if Suzanne's running about unsupervised."

"I will. Thanks," Angus said. Angus came back downstairs.

"Any good?" Marcus asked.

"Yes indeed. Let's see if Michael is handy," Angus said. He sent a paper bird to Michael, asking for a favor. Michael said he'd be over in about 30 minutes.

"That gives Ruby a chance to finish her run and get back and shower," Marcus said. "I'll make some fresh tea. This might merit it."

Ruby ran another two laps and then returned to the duplex she headed up to their room showered and changed before walking down to the living room then to the kitchen to pore herself a mug of coffee she saw the look on Marcus and Angus face and looked puzzled at him " okay so how did the talk with Elwood go?" she asked as Aria looked up to Marcus but stayed quiet.

Joseph once his patrol had finished decided to walk to the main house and see if he could talk to Robert. Knocking he entered and looked at the person in the kitchen " have you seen Robert around?" he asked looking around but not going any further into the house.

"Hold your thoughts just a moment," Angus said. "Michael's on his way. Might as well tell this story all at once." Marcus met Michael at the door with a perfectly brewed mug of Earl Grey.

"And perfect tea? Who am I killing? This must be a big favor," Michael said, coming in and sitting.

"Well, for your skills? No. Not really. I need a robbery," Angus said.

"Who?"

"Gringotts," Angus said.

"Oh, is that all?" Michael laughed. "You know, that's damned tricky business even for me but it can be done. What am I after?"

"This is the first Ruby's hearing some of this too," Angus said, "But I've just been talking with Elwood, asking him about their estate and holdings. And I'm learning that he did some wise management of their belongings without Pearls' knowledge. He told me he knew that Pearl would not be able to resist spending all they had, so he squirreled most of their money and assets away in a separate vault that she knew nothing about."

"Oh, that cheeky buggar. Good for him," Michael grinned. "I knew I liked him."

"So, Elwood's copy of the will is in a vault in Gringotts, and there's a key there for the vault that Pearl knew nothing about. We need to get the will and the key. Elwood said that neither he or Pearl expected he would outlive her, so he doesn't know anymore who is in the will to get their estate if they're both deceased. He thinks it could well be Suzanne. We need that will, and as soon as we get it, I'll bring him an attorney so he can change it as he sees fit. And the sooner the better, before Suzanne finds out where he is. At this point, she doesn't know where he is, so we're in a race against time."

"Okay. I'd prefer not to do this when Gringotts is open, though, for obvious reasons," Michael said. "So I'll do what I can--after hours."

"He's here, but I know he's heading out in a few minutes," Zoe said. "He has a woman in labor at St. Mungos, so you might have to cut to the chase if you hope to catch him. He'll be through here, I'm sure in a moment. You're welcome to have a seat at the table, and I'll try to help you catch him.

It wasn't more than about six or seven minutes, and Robert came through the kitchen, in his black suit, on his way to St. Mungos.

"Robert," Zoe said. "Joseph would like a moment if you could, Sir."

"I can do a moment if it's only a moment. Otherwise, you'll have to follow me to labor and delivery of a woman who is going to deliver triplets very shortly," Robert told Joseph.

Ruby sat and listened to Angus once Michael arrived with his cup of tea. She listened to Angus talk bout Elwood and how he had secretly put money away into another vault in Gringotts and Angus wanted Michael to get in and get a key and Elwood's will. " I'm of the opinion Michael can do it with ease" she said smiling to Michael as Aria nodded and chuckled too.

Joseph looked to Zoe and nodded standing where he was until he saw Robert , walking with him he chuckled " wouldn't be the first time, but anyway I want to ask if I could be on missions officially? or what do I need to do to be considered " he asked " that's it" he looked at Robert as he waited for his response.

"I can do it," Michael said, "but I don't want to pick a rather suicidal time to do it, that's all. We will be adding Sergio and Ana to your security team. They're going to act as house guests so that even if Suzanne can figure out to have someone spy on your house, they won't see anything out of the ordinary. Robert does not want Suzanne to get any leverage on this house at all."

"That's fine. Sergio and Ana are welcome here any time, and that's never been a secret," Angus said.

"Precisely why they got this assignment," Michael said. "Oh, and Marcus and Aria, Robert does not want your house and your kids used as distractions to draw either of you off your posts. So, we've got some of our Paris agents and Sam and Victor working on weeding and cleaning the pond and doing other tasks within eyesight of your place so that if anyone wants to use your place as a distraction, we'll be already on it."

"Good thought. Thank you," Marcus nodded.

"Every single person on the team had to earn it," Robert told Joseph. "They didn't just start working here and earn a spot. There are a number of very skilled second stringers who are waiting to earn their place on the first string. They had to prove themselves, and you're no different. You need to prove yourself. Not just once. I need to know you're going to be the right fighter and the right fit for the team time after time after time. You need to meet the physical requirements on the running course and the obstacle course to my satisfaction, and you need to meet the dueling skills to my satisfaction. I need to know you're going to get along with the senior members of the first string team, and that you have something to bring to the table. Understand, you're not competing with anybody. You're proving yourself that you can be part of a team, make the right damned choices in the fraction of a moment, and follow the instruction of whoever is leading that team, even if they don't make any bloody sense because sometimes they don't. I am not ashamed that my fighters, especially the first string can outmatch any auror any day of the week. You have to bring yourself up to that skill. If you're up for the challenge, then prove it. Make sense? Oh, and one more thing. Do clear up this Tremaine thing with Michael. He's extremely important to the work this organization does. I do not need him divided or distracted. Clear it up. Truth is better than stalling or lying or any other tactic, and, in case you wondered, truth is the only thing I'll accept. Questions?"

Aria heard Michael and nodded " agreed " she said when Marcus thanked him for the extra security around the cottage. " and we all know you could get in and out and have not one goblin know you'd even set foot inside" Aria said chuckling.

Joseph listened to Robert and nodded when he needed but he now understood what was needed of him, work on his stamina and strength and also his dulling skills. When Robert spoke of clearing up things with Michael he nodded then rubbed the back of his head " I would and want to but, he keeps disappearing when its brought up." he said " my fathers name was John he disappeared when I was young, he wasn't the nicest of men that's all I know, oh and he was fond of dark magic and his belt, that I do know , oh he is registered on my birth certificate, I could check that out" he told Robert but other than that I don't know much more " he said then looked at Robert " I will dork with every one and work on my magic skills , I already scoped out the assault course I saw Ruby,I mean Mrs Donohue running it earlier on the trac beside it ." he added then smiled " thank you " he said knowing it would take time but he would train his butt off, to show Robert that he wasn't the little boy from the streets but was true to his word about changing for the beter.

"As a matter of fact, if all goes according to Hoyle, yes. I can," Michael said, "but before any of you decide you want to go with me as backup. Don't. This is one thing I do not need or want help with."

"I wasn't going to offer to go along," Angus laughed.

"Good," Michael said. "Stay home and behave yourself."

"Michael," Marcus said, treading carefully, "this new kid..."

"Yeah, I know," Michael said. "Look. Is it possible or probable he's my brother's kid? Most likely, yes. Even if he is, I don't know him from Adam's housecat."

"Did Adam have a housecat?" Angus asked. Michael looked at him and rolled his eyes.

"Look even if he legitimately is a Tremaine, I don't know him. If I give him a pass simply based on his name, then his lack of experience, of proving himself, of earning his position like everyone else has to will certainly put his life and everyone else's at risk."

"You could be sociable, you know."

"I'm not unsociable," Michael frowned. "I've been bloody busy."

"Michael,..."

"You want the truth? You have no bloody idea how many people, through the years, have figured out that I live exceptionally well. And every so often, I get someone that comes into my life saying they're my long lost cousin or my illegitimate child, or Alette's love child that I owe something to, or some other stupid thing, wanting to get a cut of what I've earned over the years. I've learned to be cautious out of experience. And what happens if he turns out to honestly be a Tremaine but be as nutty as Suzanne is to you lot?"

"God forbid," Angus said.

"I don't see that happening," Marcus said. "I can understand why you're not embracing him with open arms, but at least give him half a chance, and if we need to rescue you, we will."

"Oh fine," Michael sighed.

Ruby and Aria both chuckled as Michael told them not to join him " oh would never think of doing that, cat burglar is your thing so don't worry about us interfering in that." Ruby said smiling as Aria nodded next to Ruby.

Hearing them talk of Joseph Aria stood up and walked to the kitchen to refresh her cup glancing out she saw Joseph leave the main house and head to the assault course with a determined look on his face making her chuckle " well looks like hes taking on the assault course , or going to try" she said watching Joseph head in that direction. Walking back she heard Michael say he'd at least talk to Joseph. " well if he is bat shit crazy I'm sure Jack would know since he's known him longest, unless hes crazy too" she said