A Birth day

"I have a better idea," Angus told Ruby. "I have an abundance of the pastries I made for lunch. How about I add some quick frosting and some sprinkles to them to make them look like birthday pastries. I have an idea for a simple enchantment for them too Then everyone can have a magical birthday pastry."

He mixed up some quick buttercream frosting and made small batches of several colors. Then he made a different colored flower and some leaves for each pastry. At the center of each flower he made a small clear bubble made of sugar. He took an extra sugar bubble and he cast an enchantment inside. It made the bubble sparkle and glow.

"Now, let's see if this works," he said. "Vasil, would you gently squeeze the bubble to pop it?"

"Pop it?" Vasil echoed. Angus nodded, and Vasil popped the bubble. From that burst sugar bubble rose up a little glittering form of a brightly colored pink pygmy puff, and he was blowing a little party horn that was sending glittering confetti up over the pastry. "That's wonderful!" Vasil was delighted. The little image lasted for about 15 seconds and then faded away. "Those are brilliant. I can't imagine any child not loving them."

"Well, then, give me just a few minutes, and I'll have these ready. Robert's daughter's restaurant does these same enchantments for kids, but they're a lot bigger and more involved than these are. These are just little things," Angus said.

"I have to find a way to take this enchantment home with me," Vasil said.

"We'll give you the spell," Angus said. "What do you think, Ruby? Will that do? Instead of us shopping for three, we can treat everyone."

Ruby heard Angus and smiled " oh sounds perfect" she said as she watched him make them then watched as Vasil popped one and this made her giggle as the pygmy puff sprinkled confetti every where and blew its horn " oh that's fantastic" she said smiling to Angus. " those whose birthday it is will absolutely love it" she added and nodded to Vasil. " I think these will be perfect for the children" she said as she moved to find a colorful bisect tin that she lined with crape paper placing the bisects in gently " there now there ready" she said looking to Angus " as am I"

Aria watched as she saw Jack walking back with Vasil's children and smiled " well best go now as the kids are coming back" she said smiling as Jack seem to be carrying one of them as he walked towards them.

Entering Jack smiled " she got tired" he said and placed the girl on the couch next to Aria and Elwood. " I'll stay for a bit as I want to continue our game" he said with a smile to Elwood " if your up for it?" he added.

"Certainly," Elwood nodded.

"Would you like some tea or coffee, Elwood or Jack?" Andrew asked. As he headed to the kitchen, he heard a bump outside, like something being left on the porch. Angus opened the door and saw a large basket with packages. Three presents, and three brightly colored drawstring bags of candy from Honeydukes.

"Ah, there they are. Birthday presents from Robert," Angus said, bringing in the basket.

"I can carry those if you like," Vasil said.

"If you don't mind," Angus said.

"Not at all," Vasil replied, and Angus handed him the basket.

"I think we should go," Angus said, getting out his portkey. "Grab hold." When Ruby and Vasil grabbed on, Angus ported them to Paris. They landed outside the headquarters. Vasil said nothing, but Angus motioned to him to come along. Angus went up the walk and opened the door and went in.

The kids were delighted to see him, and they flew to him and flung themselves around him. One of the kids, a four year old boy looked up at Ruby and Vasil.

"Who are you?" he asked boldly.

"I am Vasil, and this is my friend, Ruby," Vasil said. "Who are you?"

"Joe. And I'm this many!" he held up four fingers.

"Four? You're growing so fast. You're a tall boy for four."

"I'm growed now," Joe said.

"You certainlly are," Vasil smiled. "Is it your birthday today?"

"Nah. My sissy's. She's six now. And Rhys--he's nine. And Toby. Toby's only seven today. Is the Captain coming today?"

"The Captain isn't going to make it today. Maybe tomorrow. But he wanted the birthday presents to be on time, so I brought them for him."

"Aggie's here!" Joe shouted, dashing off.

"Aggie?" Vasil asked.

"The kids who can't say Angus called me Aggie, and now, I'm afraid it's stuck," Angus said.

"What is this place?" Vasil asked.

"Well, there's a bit of a story. For now, suffice it to say that this is a safehaven for kids."

"Really! Robert is a man of many secrets, then," Vasil said.

"You don't know the half of it," Angus laughed. Owens came out from the office.

"Angus, Ruby. Good to see you," Owens said. He shook hands with Vasil. "I'm Owens. I'm the site manager."

"Vasil Nikolov. I'm a friend of Robert's," Vasil said.

"Come in, Everyone, and make yourselves at home."

Ruby heard the thud and saw Angus collect what was dropped off she smiled when he said it was the birthday gifts from Robert. Now with Angus hand in her own they ported to the Paris office and she smiled at how all the children ran to Angus but a small girl ran to her and hugged her " hey flora" she said smiling as she picked her up " that's right The captain got busy but he will be here tomorrow" she said smiling " I i'm guessing hes got some really nice gifts for the birthday boys and girls" she said still holding the tin with cookies in.

Setting the girl down Ruby looked to Angus " I'll put these in the kitchen are" she said smiling " and I'll get everything set up" she added. Moving to the gally she smiled seeing some of the crew still there " hey um could you guys help me set something up" she asked and they all smiled and nodded.

"of course Mrs Donohue" the said and she took out a large bag from under her coat with party decorations in and they smiled and began setting up and blowing up colorful balloons with streamers.

"oh, nobodies is allowed in until the time, okay" she said and they closed the doors posting a man outside who was grinning at playing bouncer for the kids.

While Ruby was busy in the dining room, Angus took Vasil on the tour and told him about the organization and the history of it. Vasil had always been a man of honor and a fiercely protective and loving father. The very idea of someone taking wizarding children enraged him, and he made a solid promise of iron strong support for the organization including whatever materials or support the organization needed.

When Owens and Angus told Vasil the real history of the Geldings and how Angus was now actually technically related to them, Vasil pledged even more fierce support and he understood entirely why Robert had trained his own fighter force. He understood the sickbay, the huge unplottable estate, the obstacle course and running course, all of it. This was not a pipedream of Robert's. This was a fierce, well managed mission staffed by the best fighters Robert could find, fighters who had come together as one big, tightknit family.

"This," Vasil told Angus, "all of this. It makes my adventurer's heart ache. I want to be such a part of something--something that matters. Perhaps. Perhaps someday, when I'm finished in politics, Robert will let me see if my skills can be useful."

"Robert always leaves his door open for friends," Angus said. "And so do we."

"Deni and I would very much like to be part of what you do, and we would very much like to be friends with all of you."

"Well, too late. You already are friends with us," Angus grinned. Vasil laughed.

"Good to know," Vasil said. "I must say, we were heartbroken when Marcus left us, but this--this has opened the door to so much more than we could have ever dreamed. I am grateful that Marcus picks his friends so very well."

"We're very grateful too. Shall we see if Ruby's going to let us into the dining room by now? Unless she's remodeling in there, she surely has to be ready by now," Angus said. The two of them headed for the dining room.

Ruby watched as the last balloon was placed and the last streamer was added and she smiled " perfect" she said as a the last plate was set down along with a plate of the cookies for the birthday boys and girls. Hearing Angus and Vasil 's voice out side she headed to the door and stepped out closing it behind her " okay I'm ready but we should get the kids" she said but saw them gather behind him okay" she said smiling as she opened the doors to reveal a colorful room with balloons and a happy birthday sign up on the wall " Happy birthday guys and Angus has made something very special for those having a birthday" she said stepping to one side as they boys and girls walked in to find a seat.

Now Ruby stepped back to let Angus take over the celebration while she watched. " I thought because Robert couldn't;'t be here today we'd do something special for them in his stead" she said smiling as she watched the kids smiling and chatting among themselves.

"That's fine," Angus said. One of the women brought in a huge sheet cake decorated with frosting balloons and lettering that said simply Happy Birthday. There were candles on the cake on three sides--one side with six red candles, one side with seven green candles and another side with nine blue candles. Each child got to blow out the candles for the right number of candles for their own birthday, and then the candles were removed and everyone was served a rather conservate sized slice of cake and a scoop of ice cream. Everyone seemed as delighted today as they had been frightened and devastated to lose their families on the night when the first stringers had rescued them.

Angus was glad to see it. For him, now that he didn't live in Paris anymore, he didn't get to see a lot of these moments. He knew that people would harshly criticize Robert for not returning kids home, but he was in full agreement with Robert that some parents didn't deserve to have children if they were going to bring harm to them. And, it was moments like this, when he saw kids healing, that it reminded him that what they were doing was right. Kids were going to have full, healthy, happy lives because of the actions they took to put Gelding to a halt. And Vasil, for his part, seemed to be seeing the same thing.

And then Angus saw something he hadn't seen. Vasil was obviously a metamorph, like Abbey. Vasil was able to change his appearance at will, like Khaat had said Remus's wife could do. The children were delighted and laughing at Vasil's metamorph tricks.

Then Angus passed out his enchanted pastries, and everyone--kids and adults were delighted. No two pastries had the same conjuring spell inside. And they popped their bubbles one at a time so that everyone could appreciate the little enchantments inside.

When that was finished, they gave the birthday kids their candy and presents, and they saw that each kid had a new stuffed toy as well as a game that they could play with other kids. That took all the kids off, delighted to be able to be part of a new game.

The women who worked there, cleared up the dining room as Angus and Ruby and Vasil sat with some cups of warn, delicious French coffee.

"That was wonderful," Vasil said. "You do much good work here. You rescue them, and that is noble enough, but you house them, clothe them, feed them, comfort them. teach them, and heal them. They have a chance at good lives now instead of what Gelding had in store for them."

"Well, we need to take you to the other location. This is only the home base. There is another property where we house children--in Colorado. It is massively bigger than this. It definitely is something to see," Angus said.

"Might we take Deni there when we go?" Vasil asked. "I want her to see this too. This and whatever you have in Colorado. Ruby, your party for the children was perfect. I wouldn't have changed a thing. Well done."

"Certainly," Angus said.

Ruby enjoyed seeing the children smiling and giggling at Angus bubble surprise for the birthday children. She smiled when Angus suggested to Vasil they should see the Colorado ranch and nodded. When Vasil complimented her on the decorations she smiled "Thank you, these children are just as important as my own biological daughter and sometimes its just as important for them to know they have some one who cares for them, some of these children don't have families, some have families who just don't want them any more so we all make this place and the ranch feel like one big family for them, makes them feel safe again." she said with a smile as the same little girl walked over to her and she picked her up again. Now the girl hugged her.

"tank you" she said smiling as she held Ruby by her cheeks " your welcome" she said softly then placed the girl down who ran off to play with some of the other children.

"Nothing wrong with showing them a little extra from time to time," Vasil told Ruby.

"Robert always, always comes for Christmas and for birthdays. If Nigel hadn't grounded him today, he'd be here," Angus told Vasil.

"I gathered that because the children seemed genuinely disappointed that the Captain wasn't coming today."

"He'll make it up to them," Angus said. "I expect Kate and Robert will come and make up for it as soon as Nigel says he can travel."

When their coffee was finished, Angus checked his watch.

"I hate to break this up, but I need to get back," Angus said. "It's time for me to take the moussaka and the cake out of the oven."

"I have been smelling that all afternoon," Vasil grinned. "It would not do for us to let the supper burn. Will your children be hungry?"

"The older ones will practically be eating the furniture."

"How are yours home instead of in school?" Vasil asked.

"The boys are graduated. They work on the estate and they still live with us. The girls go to Beauxbatons during the day by special arrangement. They go to my brothers where they meet with a private tutor and then they come home at night."

"We were offered that as well by Beauxbatons when I was made minister, but both Deni's family and mine have gone to Durmstrang for generations. However, I am sure Deni and I will be rethinking that now," Vasil said.

"Our girls have been quite happy with it.," Angus said. "In fact, one of my daughters is participating in the International Dueling Competition this weekend as Beauxbation's champion."

"I will watch for her, then," Vasil said. "We have a champion going from Durmstrang, I'm sure. We always do. It should be an interesting competition then."

"Before then, though, we need to rescue the supper," Angus laughed, pulling out the portkey. "Shall we?"

Ruby smiled and chuckled as Vasil said there was nothing wrong with giving a little extra to the kids " yeah some times they need it" she added as she drank he drink . Once Angus finished his and she hers she let the staff take her cup and she thanked them for it. Hearing Angus mention supper she nodded. " We should get back" she said then heard them talk about schooling and she watched the kids playing.

Now hearing Angus mention getting home she stood up and nodded " I think we should" she said taking his hand in her own as she waited for him to port them back to the duplex.