A Birth day

They kept firing until the training dummies were all defeated. They looked at Jessie.

"Clearly, yes. I think that was supposed to simulate perhaps a fairly easy ambush," Marcus said. "And, since we got them all fairly quickly, my bet is that Robert won't have a lot to complain about."

"Joseph," Angus called. "It's a weapon, not a lifeline. You keep that deathgrip on it, and you won't have the wrist movement you need to stay accurate. If you keep using that grip, you'll find you're actually firing from your elbow and your forearm and not from your hand and your wrist. It throws your accuracy off. Light grip, flexible wrist. just like the leviosa spell we learned as our first spell."

Jessie paused in his casting and turned to look at Angus and nodded relaxing his grip on his wand now held lightly he managed to cast quicker and a combination of Levioso and protago. " nice , thanks Angus, um Mr Donohue, Ill keep practicing and not death griping. " he said chuckling as he continued to hit the dummies in front of him.

Jessie chuckled and looked to Angus " he'll get it , hes almost got it" Jessie said and smiled turning back to the course " well it might mean he'll make it harder if we try again" Jessie said " hes not like that, is he?" he asked hoping Robert was not that bad.

"Angus is fine," Angus told him. "None of us here are that formal.

"Of course he's like that," Marcus laughed. "He's exactly like that. His job is to make us better and better fighters." Angus laughed.

"Mate, he might have wanted you to lie to him just this once," Angus teased Marcus.

"Oh, well, then, No. He's not like that at all," Marcus told Jessie. Angus laughed.

"Well done, Boys!" Kate called, coming out from the main house kitchen. "All three of your scores are better than your last, and, so far, you lot have the lead score on the new section of the course. Good job. Robert's going to be very pleased. Your scores are coming along too, Joseph. Keep working. You should keep partnering with the first stringers. Their skills will rub off if you keep working at it."

Angus was noticing some sparks fluttering out of the kitchen window.

"Kate, are things alright in there?" Angus frowned. "I see sparks."

"What?" she turned and looked and then looked back at Angus. "Oh, yes. Fine. It's fine, Dear. Just Michael. He's just doing a little toymaking. You know how he gets."

Toymaking. Marcus and Angus knew what that meant. Michael was making gadgets. And Marcus and Angus both loved Michael's gadgets. They looked at each other and giggled mischievously, like schoolboys.

"Now, don't you boys get any ideas," Kate frowned.

"Too late," Angus laughed.

"Dear God, what am I going to do with the lot of you? Well, just see to it you don't tinker with any of them, then." She looked at them and saw the fact that they had absolutely no intention of listening to that. "I mean it, Boys. Leave them alone."

"Of course we will," Angus said.

"Lying little bastard," she muttered under her breath, going back inside. That only made Marcus and Angus laugh that much harder.

Jessie heard Angus and nodded " thank for the advice it helped 2 Joseph said and Jessie nodded to him.

" practice with a partner that ay they see your mistakes and can tell you about them" he said Joseph nodded he agreed " hey I could duel with you or maybe Marcus hes an excellent duelist." he said smiling as Joseph looked to them both " I'd like that but I know your all very busy" he added but paused seeing and hearing Kate and small sparks from the window she spoke out of. Hearing Kate explain the sparks he chuckled and looked to Angus and Marcus .

Jessie looked at both and smirked " oh I know that look" he said and chuckled " they're scheming something " he said to Joseph with a chuckle " what ever it is I'm staying out of it" he said and turned to Joseph " well there's a few hours left I could spar with you" he said and Joseph looked at Marcus and Angus " don't worry about them they can take care of themselves." Joseph chuckled and nodded .

"sure if your not busy?" he asked and Jessie shook his head that he wasn't .

"besides looks like those two have a fun time planed for Michael ." he said making Joseph nodded.

"We'll see you later," Angus and Marcus said, running up the steps and into the main house. They plunked down at the kitchen table on either side of him. He had a small toolbox on the table, a pile of old keys, and some other bits and bobs, but at the moment, he was using a saw and a file to ruin the surface of the blade of a otherwise gorgeously beautiful dagger.

"Whatcha doin', Michael?" Angus asked.

"Working. What do you two little boys want?" Michael asked, knowing this could go off the rails at any moment.

"You make the coolest toys. Whatcha makin' now?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Michael said. "This is a goblin made dagger from almost 400 years ago. Don't ask me how I got it, and I won't have to lie to you."

"But it looks like you're ruining it," Angus frowned.

"Yep," Michael said. "It was in pristine condition. Now it isn't."

"Why?"

"Because, Dear Boy, goblins do not distract easily--except for the things they are honestly interested in--one of which being old, beautifully made goblin weapons--which this is. They'll have a damned conniption over this one. And while they're having a moose about it, I'll be able to use it to get the drop on them so I can get to the vault."

"That wont' distract them long enough to take of all the time you need," Angus said.

"Oh, certainly not. This is just step one. I have the rest of it under control," Michael replied. "Now, go away. if you want to do something helpful, go outside, look under the red tablecloth on the deck. Take that box, and whatever you do, do not--under any circumstance--let any newbies near what you find underneath. If anybody buggars this up, I swear I will put Walburga in their bedroom so they can listen to the old bat screech and scream at them all night long. Shes been on a wild tear lately, so spending a night with Walburga is a special torture all its own. You understand me?"

"Um. Yeah. Sure," Angus frowned.

"Go get it before someone else does," Michael pointed them at the back door. Angus and Michael went outside and saw a red tablecloth covering some sort of a cube. They went to it and took the tablecloth off and found a niffler in a magical cage to prevent him from escaping.

"Oh," Marcus said seriously. "This little shit could make big time trouble if someone let him escape. Especially with tonight's plans."

"Yeah. Do we tell Jack or do we swipe him ourselves?" Angus asked.

Joseph and Jessie nodded and watched as Marcus and Angus headed like two boys after a treat to the main house making both chuckle " okay show me your stance2 Jessie said and began correcting him then showing him howe to cast effectively until he managed to consistently cast properly. Jessie smiled and patted Josephs shoulder " you got it now.

" thanks" Joseph said and went back to casting before he decided to pause since it was his patrol time and he saw Jack walk over.

"saw you casting with Jessie " good idea, and your improving" he added with a smile " at least you got rid of those bad habits" he added then motioned for them to walk on patrol around the grounds together and check the barrier and charms Joseph strengthened a charm that was about to cut out and Jack checked the barrier finding it still strong.

"He's mine now," Angus decided. "At least til morning." The two of them picked up the cage and ran off with it, heading home. They came in the door of the duplex with the niffler in the box, and both Angus and Marcus were laughing like eight year olds. They put the box down on the floor.

"What do nifflers eat?" Marcus asked.

"No clue," Angus said.

"Ru, we have a houseguest. Does it say in your book what nifflers eat? He's going to be with us til morning at least," Angus said. "And we dont dare let him out of the box because we won't be able to keep him out of trouble if we do. And if anybody asks, he's mine."

"Now how is that going to work? I'm sure kate must have been expecting him. She's not going to be happy if she finds he isn't where the delivery people say they left him," Marcus frowned.

"No clue yet," Angus said. "Okay. I'm going to head upstairs for a quick shower and then I'll work on making lunch. We have all kinds of greens and fresh produce. I'll make us a big salad and I'll fry up a steak and put some paper thin slices of steak on everyone's salad."

"Sounds perfect," Marcus said. Angus turned and went upstairs as the niffler chattered unhappily at anyone in radius.

Jessie and Jack chuckled seeing both Marcus and Angus ran towards the duplex with something covered in a red cloth. Ruby stood up and looked at Angus and shook her head " no it doesn't say but I'm do know they like milk" she said " oh and do not have anything shiny close or they will snatch it." she said " so I'm guessing they eat pretty much anything" she asked looking at the niffler and seeing the look on Marcus and Angus faces " oh my lord this is your prank?" she asked shaking her head with a smirk.

Jack and Joseph finished their patrol and Joseph headed back to the guard house. In his room he picked up a book and opened it to start reading it while he looked out the window at the grounds below. Ruby and Aria chuckled as Aria grabbed a biscuit from the counter and pushed it threw the bars where the niffler took it and started to eat it.

Angus showered and when he came downstairs, Marcus went up and showered. Angus saw the niffler eating a biscuit, so feeling that the niffler wasn't going to starve, Angus went to the kitchen, put a big flank steak on to grill on the stove, and then made a huge salad with all sorts of various greens and fresh vegetables, turning the steak so it would cook evenly.

When the steak was ready, he sliced it into paper thin slices and then plated up a big salad for everyone with some slices of steak on the top and then added a lovely balsamic vinaigrette on top and some fresh croutons. As he was getting ready to serve it, Edward stopped over.

"I'm supposed to bring this over for you lot," he said, setting the box on the sideboard. It was a box of some fresh cookies. "We bought them in a muggle bakery, but don't let that deter you. They're marvelous. Lemon shortbread, stuffed with, of all things, lemon curd, and with a very light sugar glaze on the top. Eat them while they're fresh." He saw the cage, looked down and saw the niffler inside. "Well," Edward said, crouching. "Hello, Mate. What are you doing in there?" He reached through the bars to pet the niffler. "You're a handsome fellow. Where did you come from?"

"I think he's supposed to go in Kate's rehab program," Angus said. "But Michael asked us if we'd 'deter' him from arriving at the barn until morning. It would interfere with his plans if someone let him out of the box.

"Oh. I see," Edward said.

"Edward, what do nifflers eat? Do you know?"

"They're mostly herbivores," Edward replied. "They will eat small mammals or insects if they're really pushed to it, but they'd much rather have plants." He stood up, saw the leftover salad, and put some in a bowl, without dressing and took it to the niffler. "How's this, then, Buddy?" The niffler took the bowl and sat down and picked up some greens in its paw and began to eat it, seemingly quite pleased. "And he's got good table manners for a niffler. He's a clever boy. There's not very much room in that cage. I'll try to come up with something better. And don't forget to give him some water after he finishes his lunch, will you?"

"I will," Angus said.

"And, mind you, in a cup, not a bowl. He's not a barbarian," Edward said. "They're smart and sensitive. Treat him nicely."

"He drinks from a cup?"

"He certainly does," Edward said. "I think I can rig a collar and a leash for him that is niffler proof, and once we have that, then he won't have to be in that stuffy little box. They can make great pets, you know, so long as you have sufficient hunting games for them."

"Hunting games?"

"Hunting shiny things, I presume," Marcus said.

"Precisely," Edward said. "I'll be back in a bit." He turned and left to go try to create a leash and a collar that the niffler could not free himself from."

Ruby heard and then saw Edward enter the duplex and see the niffler " oh now that's a piece of information I'll remember about nifflers." she said making a note and placing it in her book. Standing she headed to the kitchen returning with a cup with water in it. Once she saw the niffler finish its salad she held the cup and maneuvered it between the bars to hand to him " here you go" she said smiling as he took it and she stepped back.

Aria chuckled and walked over to the cage and smiled " hes got a good coat on him , hes a bit thin but I guess that's why Kate has him " he said smiling to him before she walked back and sat down to watch the girls again as they now played with their toys chatting between themselves.