A Birth day

Marcus went out with Angus and when he was standing beside him, he took his coffee cup and looked in it and then handed it back to him. "Your drink all that and you're going to pass out entirely. YOu won't be able to be there for her tonight."

"I don't need to be. Ruby's more effective at that," Angus said coldly.

"You're so full of utter manure right now," Marcus scowled. "This is not your fault. Accidents happen. How many have you seen happen with new fighters? More than a few, I'm sure, because I know how many I've seen."

"I am not a qualified trainer. I should have never taken it on..."

"Look. She didn't want someone else. She wanted you. She wants so badly to learn to do what you do..."

"Maybe what I do isn't such a good technique, and maybe it isn't one anyone else should try to learn..."

"And it is precisely the stuff she's learned right here on the estate from all the first stringers here that got her into that championship tournament. It's put her head and shoulders over the other students. Hell, most adult fighters don't do what we do. Of course it isn't in Beauxbaton's curriculum, but it got her ahead of her entire school. Now, I think you should take a breath, pull yourself together for the moment and then put yourself aside, like you know how to do, and take care of your family."

"You're an asshat, you know that?"

"Thank you for noticing. I've worked hard for it," Marcus replied, unfazed. "Get the damn dog and get in the house."

"Where is the damn dog anyway?"

"Took off for the pond. Last time he did that, I had to pry his mouth open to get rid of a bullfrog he'd caught and killed in his teeth. Little monster."

"A frog. Why a frog?"

"Dunno. Ask Jack. I don't speak dog."

"Jack doesn't believe he speaks to dogs," Angus said.

"He says that even while he's doing it, so he needs to get a grip about that," Marcus replied. "He clearly can speak not just to wolves but to canines. Finn, get your furry bum back here this instant. Don't you go in that..." he saw Finn make a big flying leap and then end up splashing right into the pond. "...pond," Marcus sighed, frustrated.

"Accio Dumbass," Angus flicked his fingers at the dog.

"Accio Dumbass?" Marcus echoed, laughing as the dog levitated up into the air and started floating back to them.

Aria helped clear away Anises tray once she had eaten clearing off the plates but leaving her with her tray as Aria sent over the desert " enjoy" she said smiling a she moved to the table to enjoy her own desert while the toddlers ate theirs and enjoyed it.

Aria watched out the window as Marcus spoke to Angus and then she saw the dog jump into the pond accioing a towel and leaving it on the railing outside ready for them to use. Standing as she heard Angus she could not help but laugh at his spell words " okay could use that for more than the dog" she called to them both " deserts being dished, come and get it"

When Finn landed, Marcus reached down, grabbed the dog, pried his mouth open and fished out a snake.

"How did..."

"Head was sticking out one side, tail out the other. He's a menace," Marcus said. "Snake's dead, by the way."

"It does not bother me that we have one less snake," Angus said. Marcus levitated the dog and pulled him up onto the porch, opened the door and floated the dog inside. Angus followed.

"Samuel," Angus called, irritated, "give the dog a bath. He stinks. Victor, find his leash. He does not go outside without his leash until we can trust him not to use the pond to go bin diving in."

"He's getting bad about that, I agree," Victor sighed. "I'll take him. My dessert can wait. He reeks."

"I'll give you a hand," Ginger said, heading upstairs with Victor and Finn.

"Something Remus once said in Defense Against the Dark Arts makes sense," Marcus said. "It is the intent more than the words sometimes. Your 'Accio Dumbass' should not have worked."

"Accio..what?" Nigel frowned. Robert began to laugh, truly amused. Anise and Sam began to laugh, finding it funny.

"Making it up as you went, weren't you?" Robert laughed. He looked at Anise and Sam. "I advise you two not to try that. As new as you are at spellcasting, it might not go quite as well for you as it apparently did for your dad. Great meal, great dessert, but I really do need to get home. I have things to do before midnight. I need to find Jess and see if she can get in touch with the surgery staff on third shift and get this set up for us."

"And that's my cue to go with him so I can see to it they actually leave him alone long enough to sleep. If anything comes up between now and midnight, you call me, not him," Nigel said.

"We'll be fine," Marcus replied. Robert and Nigel left, and Angus and Marcus sat down to enjoy dessert.

"You know, if you let us get married, I could sign the consent form..." Sam told Angus, unhappy. Angus whirled on him angrily.

"Stop it," Angus said, trying not to lash out. "She's too young. It's illegal until she's 18. Don't bring it up again. Got that?" He left the last of his dessert sitting and he went upstairs to the bedroom and slammed the door.

"Not a good time for that, Sam," Marcus said. "He's got a lot on his mind."

"Its never a bloody good time for him. He's always at the top of his own damned issues list," Sam said.

"That's not fair, Sam," Anise said. "And it's not true. Everything he does, he does it for the rest of us. Don't you bring it up again to him. You do, and I swear..."

"If you want his time and attention, you find a better way to ask for it than picking a fight," Marcus said. "And don't do it any more tonight. I'm not your dad..."

"My dad's dead," Sam retorted bitterly at Marcus. Marcus sighed, hoping that Sam wouldn't stoop so low as to use that sort of hurtful remark against Angus. Marcus looked at Ruby.

"Tag. You're it. I'm off to start my security check," Marcus said, restraining himself from responding to Sam.

"

Ruby listened to what was going on and nodded to Victor and Ginger "Thank you guys" she said then frowned as Sam spoke to Angus she stood up and walke dover to Angus looking at Sam " hes right shes too young" she said " end of" she added then listened again as Sam went off on Marcus she looked at him and nodded "You go Marcus" she said to him " Sam , Angus had been more of a father to you than our sperm doner, He gave you a roof over your head , food in your belly and a job, he accepted you for who you are and not where you came from, he's been more than once been lenient with you but push him and he will put his foot down and not let you and Anise live toother." she spoke then pointed to the stairs "I have never said this to you before but right now, go to your room, once you have thought about what you said and cooled off, then apologise to Angus." she said sternly.

Aria walked over and gave Ruby a cup of Irish coffee which Ruby took and sat back down with Anise while Aria cleaned up the plates and bowls away to the kitchen for washing ready for the next days meal.Aria nodded to Marcus as she watched him go to do his checks.

"I'll stay and watch over Anise " Aria said to Ruby as she saw Ruby looking at the stairs. Ruby stood up and walked up the stairs to their room. She opened the door and poked her head in. Seeing Angus she walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Sorry, Ru," he sighed, wrapping his arms around her. "She's come so far with her skills that I stopped trying to keep an eye on her in case I needed to protect her from accidental injury while she trained. And this is what happens when I stop trying to shelter her. I should have been still prepared to protect her. And I shouldn't have pushed her so damned hard. Nothing says she's going to be able to compete now. I should have been more careful.

"He's just worried about her," Angus said quietly. "It doesn't mean I have to like how he's handling it. I think he thinks he could do a better job of taking care of her than I've done, and he'd like me to bow out. We can't give him that option right now. He is absolutely not going to St. Mungo's. I don't care what he thinks. She doesn't need that extra stress. Nor do we. We can't risk him acting out like that there. I can't stop him from going on his own, but I absolutely can keep him from seeing her or being with her. And I can tell you right now, he's not going to upset her there. Surgery is enough of a strain itself, and she's never had any sort of surgery. I am not going to let him stir her up there. I suppose I'll have to do my best to stay on Sam. If he goes, I'll have to go in order to keep him away from Anise. If he stays, I may have to stay to make sure he doesn't follow you and Anise there. I don't know what else to do."

"I'll have to notify Madame Maxime early in the morning. Their class work starts there at 8:30 am, and they're two hours ahead of us, so I'll have to be putting in a floo call to her by probably 5:30 or so our time. Anise is not going to be ready to go to class in the morning after having surgery in the middle of the night. She'll need at least tomorrow off. Don't let me forget, will you? I'll try to get her to not immediately take her out of the competition until we know if she has to leave or not. If there's anything I've forgotten, you'd tell me, right?"

Ruby stood with Angus and listened to him talk " Roberts finished checking on her and with rest and this surgery she should be alright to compete even strapped up" she said "You did nothing wrong, in the end its Anises decision if she wants to continue or not." she added softly. She then heard him talk of Sam and sighed with him " I agree about Sam though , he should stay here when she goes, I can ask Jack to give him extra work to keep him busy, maybe arrange for him to shadow him on a night patrol as I do agree she doesn't need working up , especially after surgery she should be focused on healing." she looked up at Angus " besides if he does follow us to St Mungo's hes going to learn quick about the security there and exactly how adult he is and what it means" she finished .

Hearing him talk of notifying the school she nodded " I won't let you forget , and maybe they could put her on last so she has time to ready herself?" she said " oh what about the bodyguards, we need to talk to Robert about okaying this Thorn guy and bringing him back." she added

He listened to her tell him it wasn't his fault, and he listened to her suggestion about asking Jack to put Sam on night patrol.

"We could do that, but we'd have to let Jack know that Sam could get impulsive enough that if he wants to come join Anise, he very well might leave his post to do it. Someone's going to have to keep close tabs on him," Angus said.

"Well, tomorrow is only Tuesday," Angus told her. "The competition isnt' til Saturday. I'm talking about keeping her out of Beauxbaton's classes tomorrow because of tonight's surgery. i'll notify Madame Maxime about her injury but I'll also tell her that Robert believes she might be able to compete still. If I don't tell her about the injury, she's not going to understand why Anise needs to be excused from her regular classes tomorrow. That's my concern. I don't know what Robert's conditions for Anise might be on Saturday. I presume he'll get specific with us after he has seen the knee under surgical conditions.

"Oh, just a thought. You might want to help her change into maybe some sort of loose trousers like a pair of cargos and maybe a button down shirt and some sort of slip on shoes. My thought is that if we help her pick different clothes, her trousers won't bind against her knee and so that if someone needs to help her dress it'll be easily accomplished. Marcus says he often sees outpatient folks leaving St Mungos in their pajamas so they can just go home and go to bed. Whatever works, I suppose, but the least amount of fuss would probably be welcome. Whatever you think. I'll leave that to you."

"Thorn," Angus sighed. "I forgot about him. Yeah. I'll have to ask him about that. Obviously that's going to have to wait until midnight now unless I can reach Michael.

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " yeah that would be a problem , i'm sure Jack has ideas on how to keep an eye on such boys" she said then heard him talk of clothing for Anise for after her operation.

" good idea , loose slacks would work , we can get those from London , I'll pop over tomorrow and pick some up before shes released or I might have a pair I haven't worn yet she might like." she said and looked to Angus " we'll sort it don't worry, I know when to take over and give you a break my love" she said softly to him.

Hearing him mention Thorn and how it would have to wait till he'd spoken to Michael she nodded " I could send over a note for him to call round here when hes available if you want." she asked " then we'd know " she rested her head on his chest and just held him close to her.

"I'm always glad when you step in," Angus said. "I guess I just want so much for this tournament to go right for her. She and Ginger have worked so hard to catch up to the other students at Beauxbatons that I just want her to have a bit of a sense of accomplishment at the tournament. Yeah, winning would be nice, but I really don't want her to not get to compete. And, Sam--he's just off the rails worrying about her. I get that, but I don't think we can let him be a disrespectful little knob either. Can you send Jack a note about Sam, please?" he asked her. "You know, she might very well have some cargo trousers of her own. you could ask her, and if she does, you or Ginger could fetch her an outfit. Anise is going to need them before midnight so she can have them on when she goes to St. Mungos. That way, they'll be at the ready when she comes home. If you tend to Anise, I'll try to reach Michael by floo."

Angus went to the bedroom fireplace and opened the floo. He got Brian and Abbey.

"How did I rate to get you two this evening?" Angus asked. "Hi, Abs!"

"Aggie!" she shrieked with joy. "Your face is all orange!"

"Floo messages do funny things, don't they?" he laughed. She nodded.

"Daddy and I making Mores in the fire!" she said.

"You're making S'Mores? Does he even know how to make those?"

"Nooooo." she sounded disgusted. "He forgotted the peenee butter."

"That's because putting peanut butter on the s'more is our secret. Yours and mine. Shhh," Angus said.

"Well, your secret is out, my friend. She made me go get the jar. What made you think of adding peanut butter?"

"Muggle chocolate peanut butter candy."

"Oh. Those things. They're addicting. Claire Belby said she's making some little enchanted chocolate peanut butter cauldrons for Halloween and some chocolate caramel ones too. The peanut butter and the caramel will get warm and gooey and the cauldrons will bubble. She said they've put a warming on the wrappers, though because if the eater takes too long to get to them, the cauldrons will bubble over."

"I want lots," Abbey said.

"Me too," Angus laughed. "Brian, are you coming to Dartmoor on Saturday?"

"Absolutely! Khaat and I are both coming to watch Anise compete."

"Me too! And Molly. We sit wich you, Aggie?" Abbey said.

"She really does want to go," Brian laughed.

"Then bring her and Molly if Shannon's good with letting Molly come. I'll add them to the ticket list."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, but listen. Is Michael around by any chance?"

"We make mores for Unca Mikey!" Abbey nodded.

"She's right. We have two hot and gooey s'more for him. He should be here...ah. Here he comes now. Is this a classified call?"

"Not really, I suppose. Not with family."

"What's up, 'Aggie?'" Michael asked, biting into one of the smores Abbey had made. "Good job, Abbey. They're perfect."

"Yay!" Abbey clapped, glad that Michael liked the smore she had made him.

"Michael," Angus said. "Anise is likely to be completely inundated by photographers and reporters on Saturday, and given all our other issues with Suzanne and whatnot, I want her protected so she can focus on the tournament."

"I think that's smart," Michael nodded.

"According to Aria, Lucian is interested in the job, but I want a second man with them."

"Also very wise," Michael said. "What are your thoughts?"

"Well, Lucian sent a dossier of an Eric Thorn as a suggestion."

"Thorn," Michael said with raised eyebrows. "He picks from the top five on the list. Of course he would."

"He's good, then?"

"He's very good," Michael replied.

"Is he available?" Angus asked.

"Well, you've asked two questions there, actually. Is he available? I can pull a couple strings and make him available. The second question is whether or not he's interested in the job."

"I'll pay him and Lucian the same rate that Marcus makes," Angus said.

"Damn, Boy," Michael frowned. "If you're paying that gold-plated price that Belby gets, I might be interested in the job myself. Seriously, though, because its you, I'll see what I can do. Fair enough? Now, are you set to take care of Anise at midnight?"

"We'll manage," Angus said. "I think Aria is going to stay and hold down the fort here while we're gone. I'm sure Edward would lend an extra hand if we needed it."

"I'm going to be up tonight with this ministry debacle while Robert isn't available, so if she needs some backup, she can call me. It'll be fine."

"We'll tell her," Angus said. "You coming to Dartmoor?"

"Daniella asked me to go with her. Her ministry has a box, of course, but I really hate most of those self righteous department heads of hers. Pompous jerks. I am not looking forward to spending a whole day with them."

"Then you should just lose your way and sit with us in our box," Angus said. "They're taking out a divider between our box and the one next to us to give us a double size box."

"Now that is a much better deal," Michael said. "Count us in. I know Robert and Kate are coming. He plans on sitting with you because he absolutely does not want to sit with our nitwit minister."

"If he shows up. Nobody ever sees him," Angus said.

"Exactly. So nobody is going to miss him if he doesn't show up. I'll see what I can do about Thorn, and I'll get back to you."

"Thank you, Michael," Angus said. "Goodnight."

"Night," Michael said, turning off the floo.

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled " its what a wife and partner does, partners for life ." she said smiling hearing him talk of slacks for Anise and that she might have a pair she nodded " okay when we go back down I'll ask her" she said then paused as the floo opened and she smiled seeing Abby, Brian and Khaat in it. With a light kiss on his cheek she headed down to Anise and smiled to her as she entered the living room.

"Anise do you have any lose fitting trousers, Angus thought you might have , for after" she asked as she sat next to her on the couch. " we want you as comfortable as possible once its done and we bring you home" she added. Aria listened waiting for her to tell them where the slacks were so she could get an outfit together for her.