A Birth day

"I honestly didn't," Marcus said. "My focus had to be on Angus. He was in really bad shape when we found him. So far as I know, unless the aurors have been there, it should be pretty much still untouched from when we were there late last night. You should see the knives that she tried to say Angus used to kill some of us with. Oh, and some of them are imbedded in the wall. I'm afraid Angus's gran hurled them at that wench. You'll see some pictures on the wall meant to convince him of the ones he supposedly killed and the ones that he had yet to kill. And a boatload of miscellaneous medical devices that I am quite sure she never intended to use for healing purposes."

"Before I wake Angus, let me show you something, Lucian. You and Aria have had enough advanced training to know what 'procedures' make some of these shaped marks. Angus isn't going to tell you what he experienced in that regard because he is exceptionally closed about some things, but his body is screaming about it."

"You three," Marcus looked at Victor, Anise and Ginger. "You're finished eating, so get lost. Go help Edward and Simone with the babies or something. This is not something you should be involved in. Go." They sighed and went to pick up the dirty dishes. "Leave those. We'll get them. Go." They put the dishes back on the table and went over to Edward's.

Robert motioned to Aria and Lucian, and went over to the bed and drew the blankets off Angus and pointed out the bruises and cuts and what made those shapes and colors of marks. He showed them front and back and then gently replaced Angus back on his back and drew the covers over him.

"Barbaric," Robert said. "He's been through similar at Suzanne's hands, but she didn't do the psychological games this woman did. Get the picture? My work is cut out for me with him this time." He put the new potions from his bag on the med cart and poured a dose of one of them. "Marcus? Do you mind? Just half. We'll give him the first half as soon as we can, and then he can work on the rest. It does have a bit of a sweet taste, so let's not buggar up his coffee too much. Buggaring up that man's first cup of coffee can cause a justifiable foul mood."

"Of course," Marcus said. He poured a half a mug of coffee and stirred in half the dose of potion. He brought the mug back and handed Robert the rest of the dose of potion. Marcus sat on the bed on the good side, and Robert stood on the bad side. Robert laid his hand on Angus's forehead and removed the sleep spell. Angus started to wake, and before he could even get his eyes open, Robert gave him the half dose of potion and set the empty cup aside.

"Good morning," Marcus told Angus softly when Angus could open his eyes. "Here. Coffee's hot." Angus' stomach wasn't the best. He wasn't sure he wanted coffee just yet.

"Give it a moment," Robert said, barely above a whisper, not wanting to rattle Angus. "It'll clear." When it cleared, Marcus gave him a few sips of coffee in silence. "Good. Very good." He looked at Lucian. "I'm surprised he's doing this well," he told Lucian and Aria quietly. "You can try to talk to him, but be very gentle. Don't push him too hard. Marcus will try to get a general statement from him for you. and then you can ask for clarification. Very, very gentle, Marcus."

"Angus," Marcus said softly. "We have that bitch. We have her. She's secure in a cell in Azkaban right now. You're home." Angus frowned, confused as Robert's potion began to set in, making him somewhat groggy. "Look. You're really home. You've been out for several hours..."

"Ru..."

"She's fine. She wasn't harmed. She's upstairs asleep. We left her sleep in because she was knackered when we got home, I can tell you," Marcus smiled. Angus nodded slightly. "Angus, we do not want this woman to get away with what she did. She can't be allowed to do this to anyone else. We need your help. Can you tell us what happened to you? Take your time."

Marcus slowly and painstakingly helped Angus recount what had happened, and as Angus's friend, it was upsetting to hear that Angus believed he had been there for endless days, instead of a few hours. Angus believed he'd been kept without food or water, and had been used to kill as many as ten or eleven people from the people who were the most important in his life. Angus was extremely upset that they had brought him home at all when he believed they should have just let him die in the catacombs as opposed to having now to spend the last years of his life in Azkaban. Marcus kept feeding the coffee to Angus to help calm him.

"Angus," Marcus said, "this is going to take time to grasp, but let me explain just one thing for now. She bewitched you. Most of what you saw and experienced wasn't real. It was cruel beyond all reason. You were horribly bewitched." Angus tried, but he couldn't wrap his mind around it. "You need rest for now, but we want to make sure she can't ever bewitch anyone again."

Lucian listened to Marcus and nodded " okay so the scene is a go for me" he said then heard Robert talk of Angus when Aria joined them he walked over to the bed and as Angus was moved he inspected each mark and made notes " hum , vicious." he said as they rolled Angus back onto his back. He stood quiet as Angus told Marcus what had actually happened and Marcus explain it was all an illusion. Lucians pen moved quickly as it noted down what Angus had been threw, effectively taking his statement as he spoke. Now the more Lucian heard the more determined to put this woman away for life.

Aria looked at the marks on Angus and winced seeing them on his skin " I'd say down right evil" she said and Lucian nodded he agreed. Watching Marcus with Angus she admired how gentel he was with him. Aria stayed back knowing the witch had used her image and she didn't want Angus distressed. " I'm assuming we'll need to keep a close eye on those marks or are you going to use the bruising salve? " she asked Robert softly

Robert had seen the look on Aria's face, and he spoke to her.

"Don't get this one detail wrong," he told her. "She appeared as you to Ruby. She appeared to him as Jess. She had polyjuice for both of you. He has no reason to be rattled by you." When Aria asked about the bruises, Robert said. "I have treated them already. I can't just ignore them, but marks and bruises this severe do take time to heal. Even with bruise remedies, they take time to heal."

"You have to let me go," Angus was telling Marcus very softly. "I know what I did. I remember. I killed nearly a dozen people...."

"You didn't kill anybody," Marcus said gently but firmly. "Focus for one moment. Stop. Stop talking. Breathe. Breathe and listen. That is precisely what you were bewitched for. She only wanted you to think you killed all those people. It was a horrible dark arts trick. You never killed anybody. Everybody's fine. I don't know why she bewitched you yet, but we're going to find out. We're going to find out that and where she got all that equipment...."

"St. Mungos. St Mungos," Angus insisted. "Look at it."

"You're kidding me!" Robert's eyes were wide. "She somehow got our old surplus stuff from the upgrade?"

"Bought it. Jess bought it from...Jess?" Angus frowned, remembering what she had said. "Jess...hates Jess. Hates her."

"What else did she say, Angus?" Robert asked. "Did she tell you why she did all this? Does she work for Suzanne?"

"Not yet. She wants to sell things to her."

"Things? What things?"

"Me...Me...Selling me..."

"Calm," Marcus said softly, trying to stop it all to calm him. "You're safe. I'm right here. Nobody's going to touch you, and nobody's going to take you anywhere, I swear. Calm. Just breathe a moment." Robert touched Angus's forehead to add an additional calming spell, and Angus slipped into a light sleep.

"Give him just a moment, and he'll be able to finish, I think," Robert said. "It strikes with a little bit of a punch and then evens out."

"Its a damned good thing I didn't transport her," Marcus said. "'Someone' would surely have gone overboard into the North Sea on the transport over. I'd have killed her myself."

Aria heard Robert and nodded taking a calming deep Breath she refocused her self and nodded " I'm good" she told him" makes perfect sense." she said as Lucian listened to what Angus was saying .

"should be a record of what was sold from the upgrade of St Mungo's and whom bought it" he said and nodded to Robert " there is no rush" he added " we'll go at his speed." he sent another note out and received one " okay my guys are at St Mungo's and are checking Jess's office , she is cooperating fully." he told Robert as a file then flew threw the floo landing in front of him " ah this is for you, a list of all those fired or let go and the reasons behind there dismissal" he said handing it to Robert to look at first.

Ruby woke feeling much better she showered and dressed in a light pair of slacks and one of Angus shirts with a light pair of slip on shoes. Walking down she saw Angus and the others in the living room. Aria started to walk over to her but was stopped when Ruby raised her hand " I'm fine" she said and walked over to Robert. as she looked at Angus sleeping peacefully in his bed. " what do you need me to do?" she asked.

Marcus's ears perked up when he heard one of the babies over at Edward's suddenly seeming to be trying to tell someone off good and proper but in baby babble.

"Hm. One of the minions is having a temper tantrum."

"18 months going on adolescence," Robert shook his head. "Of course we have a record, Lucian. It's in Khaat's office in her archives. I'll have Portia get it for you. I could send a note with you, and you can give it to her. You know Khaat's secretary and mine, Portia, don't you, Aria?

"Morning, Ruby," Marcus said. "Get yourself some coffee and some breakfast. The kids are over at Edwards. We're trying to get just a little information from Angus so they can go process last night's crime scene, and i didn't think the kids needed to be involved in all the details of it. Besides, they can help Simone take care of the minions.

"We may be almost finished here, Ruby," Robert said, looking over the list. "Jess gave me a folder with all this list information last night. I just haven't had a chance to go through it yet. I've been preoccupied here. And, I am not surprised to see that no one gave their reasons for leaving St Mungos as their hatred of Jess. What a big surprise. Aria, go over to my workroom upstairs in the main house. I accidently left it there this morning when I was brewing Angus's potions. You and Lucian would help me greatly by doing the detective work on that yourselves. I need to be right here. When I get a chance, if you need me to, I can go have a 'conversation' with that hag myself in Azkaban."

"That might depend on whether you both want her to live," Marcus teased Aria and Lucian.

"Oh, I'll let her live," Robert said. "I want her to live long enough for me to send her across the veil in the death chamber."

Angus woke, startled, but not violently so. Even so, Robert frowned slightly, feeling that the potion and the calming spell should have controlled that. Marcus stepped in quickly but was soothingly calm.

"Gently," Marcus said to Angus. "I'm right here. You just dozed off for a moment. You're still at home in your own bed. Here. A little more coffee might do you good." He fed him another sip or two slowly, not speaking. "Lucian? Aria? Do you have any questions for him?"

"My wand," Angus said. "My gran's wand. She took it..."

"If you find his wand," Marcus looked at Aria and Lucian. "You know the one, Aria. It has his gran's pendant in the handle of it. It means a lot to him. If you could return it to him, that would be great.'

Ruby nodded to Marcus " Morning" she heard Robert and headed to the kitchen to grab some food and coffee. The coffee made her feel more awake and focused. She heard one of the babies and placed down her cup walking over to Edward and Simone's side of the duplex.

Aria and Lucian both listened , Lucian nodded as he held onto the folder he had received from his mans investigation. Hearing and seeing Angus sit up quickly they heard him mention the Wand " I'll have one of my men look for it if not I'll go have a look myself" he said Aria nodded

"yes I know Portia." she said " you send her notice and I'll head over to fetch it" she said as she looked to Lucian " then you can compare it to the one you have" she added Lucian nodded his head. Hearing Robert describe Angus wand Aria nodded " I know it" she said ad looked to Marcus " shouldn't be long" she said then looked to Robert as she ported to Khaats office.

Once there she found Portia and smiled to her " morning you got that file Robert requested?" she asked seeing her pick it up and hold it out to her. Aria could not help but glance at the names and sigh before closing it over again. Lucian ported to the entrance of the catacombs and slipped inside he walked the course following the now lit hand prints to the room he paused looking inside , several of his men guarded the entrance and some were processing the scene . " hey any one come across a wand?" he asked and every one shook their heads. Stepping in he carefully looked around the room spotting something under a metal table , kneeling down he picked up a wand and smiled " well Angus will be happy to have you back" he said then caught sight of the knives in the wall and chuckled " protector much Caprice" he said softly" nice work" he quickly headed out of the catacombs and ported back to the duplex .

As the team was in the catacombs, one of the men saw a glass beaker rise up from the lab table and fly through the air and smash against one of the cabinets. Another was thrown and hit the floor at the bottom of the cabinet several inches away.

"What the flying fig...." one of the aurors began.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say Peeves was here starting something," another said as a third one was thrown to the same area on the cabinet.

"Maybe 'Peeves" is trying to tell you something," the first auror said.

The second auror went to look. He looked up at Aria and Lucian. "You two might want to see this. Looks like somehow a replacement blade from a scalpel somehow got wedged under the corner of this cabinet and someone has been down here using their fingernails to try to claw it out. They'd have had to be lying on the floor just to see it, much less to try to claw it out. S'pose it was her?"

The minute he asked whether it might have been her, a bedpan flew through the air and clocked the auror in the back of the head.

"'Peeves thinks you're stupid," the first auror laughed.

Lucian heard the Auror and with Aria returned down to the room he paused by the door and watched the bed pan fly " I don't think that's peeves , Caprice?" he asked softly as he stepped back inside the room. Walking over to where they had indicted he lay down and looked " I see it " he said and gently pulled it out. " I think this was possibly Angus doing" he said now standing he pulled open the cabinet and hummed " okay, document everything in here and send the report to Robert Lupin." he said looking back at Aria

Aria walked around the room and felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked at the devastation and blood around the room. " Angus was in here?" she asked and Lucian nodded " no wonder Ruby is blaming herself for his condition, which we know wasn't her fault" she said. Soon they headed back to the entrance with Aria giving the room one last look before leaving. Now out in the sun they ported back to the duplex and walked in.

" okay found this" Lucian took out Angus wand and placed it next to Angus bed, " we also found another room looked like Angus was trying to close it off by jamming the bottom of it." he said showing him the piece he had pulled from the bottom of the door.

"That isn't what that is," Marcus said, looking at the piece as he set aside a part of a slice of toast that he had been giving Angus. "That is a tiny razor blade. It is replacement blade for a surgical scalpel. It wouldn't jam a door open or shut..."

"Mine," Angus said sleepily, tiring now. "It's mine."

"Yours? Where'd you get it, Mate?" Marcus asked quietly.

"Stuck. It was stuck. I tried. I tried to get it, but it was too thin..." Angus said, upset. "I could have prevented..."

"Calm. Just breathe," Marcus began. And then, as he rolled Angus's words in his head, Marcus suddenly understood. "I'm glad it was stuck, my friend. I am truly glad. Go back to sleep. Close your eyes and go back to sleep." A moment later, Angus had uncontrollably drifted into an exhausted sleep. Marcus looked at Aria and Lucian and motioned them to step away from the bed.

"I get it," Marcus told them. "When we found him last night, he was lying on the floor, not very far from some cabinets. And that blade was stuck under one of them, wasn't it? I think he's saying that when he was lying on that floor, he saw the blade and tried to get it out. You both saw the pictures on the wall there. He was led to believe he had killed some and had more that she was going to make him kill. I think his plan was to use the blade to do away with himself instead so that he wouldn't have the opportunity to kill any of the rest of them. But the damned blade was stuck and he couldn't get to it. If he had managed to get the blade out, we'd be in a whole different position this morning. It looks to me like he used every damned skill he had to try to get out but his injuries got ahead of him."

"Sounds like that's exactly what happened. Those cabinets were old A&E cabinets," Robert said. "I remember them very well. Not sure how that razor blade got down on the floor, but, like you, I am very relieved he couldn't get it unstuck. And that is exactly like Angus to want to protect his family at the cost of his own life if that was what he believed it would take. Surely there has to be a special place in hell for her."

As they were talking they suddenly heard a noise. Marcus and Robert turned to look.

"What was that?" Robert asked.

"Um..baby blocks," Marcus pointed. "They were in the playpen but a couple of them got chucked out on the floor."

"Caprice. Has to be," Robert said. Marcus went over to the blocks. "See anything?"

"Um. The letter D and the letter H," Marcus said. Robert picked up the list and scanned down the page.

"Nothing on the list but the only D and H name I can think of is Dora Hackett. She still works at St. Mungos though. But if I recall correctly, she's been on holiday last week and this week. She's incredibly smart but she can be a tad grouchy from time to time. Jess has always liked Dora's work. Dora's even assisted me in the potions lab if I've needed an assistant in bottling and labeling batches of potions."

"What's she look like?" Marcus asked.

"Auburn hair, hazel eyes. Has a brown skin mole on her cheek," Robert said.

"I wonder what our suspect looks like when the polyjuice wears off," Marcus said. "I'll bet you a batch of fish and chips that you will find Little Miss Dora Hackett spending her holiday in Azkaban."

Lucian looked at Angus as he spoke and covered the blade back up " good thing he couldn't then " Lucian said as he placed it back in his pocket. Hearing Angus talk he nodded he agreed with Robert over how it went down. Suddenly hearing baby blocks land he looked around " wondered when you would show up" he said smiling as Marcus told Robert the letters. Aria looked at them too and then to Robert.

" Dora Hackett, I remember her she was quiet while I was with Jess that time I had to fetch a potion for you" she said as Lucian wrote down the name .

"if it is her we'll soon know , the potion should be wearing off soon." he said looking at his watch then at Robert. " want to come with and see who our prisoner is?" he asked with a cheeky grin.