A Birth day

"Well, that was my thought exactly," Angus said. "I might discuss the design with him, though, in case he would like a different look. I want to add a balcony to his room too, on the front side of the house so he can look out over the yard. He'll be able to see the woods from there, the pond, the main house, the big pool, the new shelter house, the running course and obstacle course, the barn, the corral, all of it. The height on it might enable him to see some of the fields. I don't know. I just don't want him to feel closed in."

"All done?" Marcus asked Aria. "If you're finished, we'll turn the shift over to Minos so we can head home for the night. Minos will let Angus and Ruby know that we're off duty for the night if they're still awake up there. I think we're good otherwise though maybe." As he was speaking, he heard thunder outside. "We might want to hurry up and get home because evidently a storm is coming. We might not want to be out in it."

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " oh that would be perfect , open up his room a bit more and give him some fresh air as he can watch the others train" she said with a chuckle.

Aria smiled down to Marcus and nodded " yeah, babies love the new beds" she said smiling ." but I think Finn doesn't know what to do hes laid between them." she said walking to Angus and Ruby's room. Hearing them talking she knocked on the door " all right your all secure, so Marcus and I are on our way back to the cottage , and there's a storm coming so we'd better hurry" she said smiling as she them closed the door and headed down to Marcus . Taking his hand she smiled " lets go , we do not want to be caught in a down pore." she said as they stepped out of the duplex and made their way over to the cottage. Aria opened the door just as she felt rain start to hit her.

Ruby smiled to Aria and nodded " okay , night" she said as Aria closed the door she heard her foots steps disappear and the back door close as she assumed Aria and Marcus left. " we should sleep too" she said

"Yeah. I'm going to be busy tomorrow," Angus yawned, closing his book and turning out the light. "Goodnight, Ru."

He got up in the morning, and he changed and went downstairs, feeling that the house was cold. He let Finn out and when he opened the front door some brisk, cold air hit him in the face. Clearly the rain last night had brought in a temporary dip in the temperature outside. It was definitely chilly. He went back inside, put the coffee on, and then started a fire in the fireplace to take the chill off the downstairs. He was definitely going to have to talk to Elwood about a fireplace in his room. He went upstairs and changed his tee shirt for a waffle weave hooded pullover sweater that was in a blue gray color. He went back downstairs and started working on some butterbeer flavored buckwheat pancakes and he made a caramel-maple syrup for them. He made a skillet of fried apples--fried in butter and muscovado sugar, and a sheet pan of bacon and decided that some hearty pancakes and bacon was a decent comfort food breakfast. He planned, for himself on adding the apples on top of his pancakes and then drizzling the caramel maple syrup over the whole works.

While everything was cooking, he let Finn back in and gave him fresh food and water, and he fetched the newspapers and poured himself his first cup of coffee for the day.

Ruby smiled and nodded " yep, night Angus" she said leaning up to kiss his cheek as they both settled down to sleep.

Aria woke and made breakfast for everyone in the Cottage along with coffee and tea. Soon she sat in a chair sipping her tea waiting for Marcus to appear enjoying the quiet and the feeling of home that surrounded her now. Ruby woke and showered, walking to the nursery she saw both girls awake but Caprice was fussy , walking in she picked her gently up and looked at her nose smiling a she slipped gently on the sunglasses , this made her settle before Ruby picked up Amari in her other arm as she then walked down to the living room smiling " morning " she said smiling as the babies we're placed in the playpen to play before breakfast. " seems the storm last night made the air clear again" she said smiling then smelling the pancakes cooking " oh those smell great too" she added looking up from the play pen.

"It's cold out today," Angus told her when she came down with the babies. "I started a fire in the fireplace to take the chill off the house. Why are those two up so early? They always sleep in. Can you set up the sideboard for me please? I need to tend my skillets. Thanks. Breakfast will be ready shortly."

Andrew arrived, and today he had a big basket of fall fruits--Granny Smith apples, pomegranates, cranberries, and some spectacular looking French butter pears.

"I went out to the farm market in Covent Garden before I came," he said. "There was a fruit seller with some lovely fall fruit, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the weird looking pears."

"Oh, no, not at all!" Angus said, "Those are my favorite pears."

"They're weird colored and weird shaped."

"Well, they're not Bartletts, like you're probably used to. Those, my friend, are some of the finest French butter pears I've ever seen. They're gorgeous. Butter pears have a beautiful creamy, buttery texture, and their taste is just ever so slightly lemony. They're not grainy in the least. I like to blend them with other kinds of pears or other fruits or use them in all kinds of cooking. And as for snacking, I don't think there's a better pear available for that. You did exceptionally well at the market. Well done indeed."

"Well, I'm glad you're happy then," Andrew said. He got a mug of coffee. "Pancakes?"

"Butterbeer buckwheat pancakes, with fried apples, and a caramel-maple syrup, and some bacon."

"Lordy, I'm going to weigh about 30 stone by the time Elwood doesn't need me anymore," Andrew teased.

Ruby looked at Angus and smiled and she nodded " of course " she said with a smile " oh morning Andre" she said smiling as she set out the side board with plates bowls and glasses for fruit juice should any one wanted some. She headed to the fridge and took out a jug of fresh orange juice placing it on the sideboard.

Aria finished her breakfast and headed to place the cup in the washer before she headed over to the duplex "Morning Andrew, Angus and Ruby." she said smiling " storm certainly cleared the air last night" she added walking over to the couch and sitting to watch the girls for a while as they played.

"Morning," Angus said. "It did clear the air, but it got nippy." Angus put a huge platter of his butterbeer pancakes on the sideboard, with a bowl of his fried apples that he'd fried in butter and added muscovado sugar to. Then he put out a small pitcher with the caramel-maple syrup, and a platter of crispy bacon. "Help yourselves," Angus said. "It's ready."

"Smells good," Andrew said, fixing a plate for Elwood. He put it on a tray, with a mug of coffee and he took it upstairs to him.

Angus fixed his plate with a couple pancakes, topped them with the fried apples and drizzled the syrup over the whole works. Then he added a couple pieces of bacon, and he sat down at the table. The kids came to the kitchen and fixed their plates.

"Anise, you want to work on some dueling polish today?" Angus asked her.

"You'd want to?" she asked.

"Of course I want to," he replied.

"Sure," she grinned.

"I might see if Pascal has any time to work with you this week on your footwork and maybe a little on your stance. After all, Beauxbatons is known for grace. You're developing a good deal of efficiency, which is great for what we do, but I presume Beauxbatons would like to see a bit of that grace in your dueling form. Let's see if we can't give them what they want, shall we? I don't think it'll take much polishing but if you can learn a wee bit more and be comfortable with it, then, I think we can at least give it a try. Above all, I want you to feel comfortable in whatever you take to that competition."

"Me too," she said. "I did get an owl from Madame Maxime. She says that, so long as I keep up on my class assignments this week, she will excuse me from out of class homework assignments, if I use the time for dueling practice."

"Perfect," he smiled.

"Pancakes are amazing!" Sam said, tucking into his pancakes.

"Butterbeer!" Ginger grinned. "These are great. What a good idea, Dad."

"Glad you like them."

"I like the apples on top," Victor said.

'I should have done that. I put my apples separate," Ginger said.

"I'm sure they're good either way," Anise replied.

ria chuckled and nodded to Angus " yeah but I like that nip , makes you feel alive while your walking" she said and saw the pancakes he had made for everyone but stayed sat down " I had breakfast before I came over" she said smiling as she picked up a toy that had been knocked out the play pen and placed it back in. She sat and listened to Angus talk to Anise about her dueling and how she would need to be graceful too " pascal is a wonderful teacher so I have heard" she said smiling.

Ruby walke dover and fixed a plate for herself and smiled as she ate " yum very tasty" she said wiping the sticky caramel-maple syrup from her lips then continued. Once done she sat back " they were fantastic , the apple on top gave it the right crunch along with the sweetness from the syrup." she said as she sipped some tea.

Andrew went upstairs to go check on Elwood, and he came back down with Elwood's empty plate.

"I'll have you know," Andrew said, "we're having a first this morning. Elwood would like another pancake. This is the first time he's felt like seconds."

"Yes!" Angus was excited.

"He'd like a legitimate butterbeer sometime too, but not right away today," Andrew said.

"I think one of us should go see Madam Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade and get an authentic one from her for him," Angus said, as Marcus finally arrived. "I could make one, but if he wants the real thing, then let's get him the real thing."

"Sorry," Marcus said, looking a little rushed and flustered. "I got an owl a bit ago from the office of the Minister of Magic. They've had trouble. I'm going to have to see if Kate will let me make a bit of a trip. Hopefully, I can go quickly, get in and get out. The minister's daughter was attending Durmstrang, which was a choice I personally didn't like, but due to location, that's traditional for Bulgarian witches and wizards. Evidently, they had some violence there, and the Bulgarian minister's office isn't sure what exactly happened, but their daughter has evidently been very seriously injured, and Durmstrang isn't letting her parents take her from the school for treatment. I think they must be on some sort of lockdown. They've asked me to go try to get her out."

"You can't possibly do this alone," Angus said.

"Security is damned near as tight as Gringotts there," Marcus sighed. "And the school is protected now by a virtual army of dangerous magical creatures. It isn't going to be easy."

"I'll go with you," Angus said. "Or, you could ask Michael. After all, he specializes in extractions."

"And Kate might not be able to let Michael go," Marcus said. "Depending on how serious she is, I might bring her back for treatment at St. Mungo's. Maybe. There isn't better medical care anywhere on the continent, so the obvious choice is to bring her back here."

"Then I'll go. You're not going to go alone."

Ruby heard Andrew and smiled as Angus gave him another pancake for Elwood " we could go and get the butter beer" she said and Aria nodded " should be a short trip." she added just as Marcus rushed over . Now she stood up and looked at Angus and Marcus " you could take Joseph with you, he's like Michaels protégé and would I think love the chance to go on a mission with you" she suggested.

Aria looked at Ruby and shook her head " hes still a bit green in regards his wand work, I'm guessing Marcus wants some one who is a bit more seasoned in case of problems" Aria said to her and Ruby thought about it, pausing, then nodding she agreed.

"yeah now you say it , he does still need to practice more" she said seeing Joseph with Digger on his shoulder both walking towards the training grounds.