A Birth day

"For fish and chips and a pint, I'd lock her out of the house," Edward teased. Simone laughed.

"Well, I might as well go with you since I'm about to be locked out anyway. See how I rate?" Simone asked. "Give me one moment. I think I'll change my tee shirt to a sweater." She went upstairs and changed to a burnt orange colored pullover sweater and grabbed a suede car coat. She came downstairs. "Do you need help getting the baby bag ready?" she asked Ruby. "Oh, and we bought a stroller for twins while we were out. One of the stroller we had was nicked when we were in Paris last with the babies. Thank goodness the babies weren't in the strollers at the moment. So we replaced it with a stroller for twins. If that's easier, we can take that. You do what you like, though."

"I suggested that to him this morning," Kate laughed. "There are a couple of muggle parks that have a lot for little ones to do, and one of them has added some Halloween things, so I thought perhaps the babies might like the outing. And Nicky made some homemade pumpkin fruit leather that Abbey and Molly dearly love. I'm sure we could take some with us for the babies--or some for us.  Or both. I presume the boys are good with it? If I know Robert's he's already planning on abandoning any healthy eating plan I want for him in favor of lots of fish and chips with malt vinegar and plenty of beer."

"Marcus? What the hell is Amari eating?" Angus frowned, trying to look into the playpen.

"Um..." Marcus frowned. "Not sure."

"That," Robert said, "would be one of Ruby's shoes."

"Great," Angus sighed. "How did she get that?"

"I don't know but her sister has the other one," Robert said.

"Is she eating it too?"

"Well, it looks more like she'd rather eat the laces."

"See what I mean? Can't trust them for a nanosecond."

Ruby smiled hearing Simone as she agreed to go with them. " All right, sounds perfect, I'm on it" she said about the girls bag. As she walked back in and saw the girls " wow hey those aren't food, you can't eat them." she said walking over to the play pen and retrieving her now shoes with soggy laces " shesh" she said placing them into a cupboard.

Aria saw the girls chewing and what they were chewing on as Ruby retrieved her shoes " wow how'd they get those" she asked checking there was nothing else in the play pen. Aria chook her head but found nothing more. " we waiting on Kate?" Aria asked and Ruby nodded.

"yep Simone's just changing her shirt and I have to get the changing bag ready" she said heading up and making up a bag for the girls with two pairs of changes of clothing and tons of diapers. Returning down she placed it beside the sofa and headed to the kitchen finding two fruit boxes she slipped them into the side of the bag " I think we have everything." she said and looked to Angus.

"We thought perhaps you accidently chucked them in there," Marcus told Ruby. "It honestly wasn't us."

"No, if I had pranked you, I'd have made both the minions pocket sized and put them in your shirt pockets," Angus told Ruby..

"And she would have killed you shortly after," Robert laughed.

"We'd have changed them back--eventually."

"No. You'd have brought them to me to put them back to rights," Robert said. "Actually, I once did have a woman who made her toddlers the size of teacup poodles so they would fit in her purse. She was afraid they'd get lost while she was porting to the continent on holiday, so she shrank them and then couldn't change them back."

"That never once occurred to me when my kids were small," Marcus said.

"Probably because you didn't flunk your apparating classes," Robert laughed. "That was her problem. She was a nightmare when she apparated and worse when she ported."

"So what did you do?"

"Changed the kids back to normal size, and then I found a bloke who was out of work, and I got her to hire him, sort of like a cabbie, to apparate and port her around for a fee, so she wouldn't shrink the kids again."

"That's actually a good idea. We should have apparators and porters for things like that," Marcus said.

"My office at the ministry now has a running list of odd jobs folks who will do that if someone needs it," Robert replied.

"We are not going to tell our girls about that," Angus said. "Or we'll never find them again."

Kate arrived, with a shoulder bag that she had tucked some autumn treats into for everyone.

"I'm ready. I'm sorry," Kate said. "Now, Robert, do not go overboard on that deep fried fish or the chips either one."

"Certainly not, Dear," Robert said, not paying a bit of attention. "Have a good time."

"That's Robert-code for he's going to do what he wants," Kate sighed. "Shall we go?"

Ruby and Aria both laughed at the boys " oh I'm aware" she aid and chuckled at the banter of the boys. Seeing Kate arrive Ruby chuckled and nodded as she walked over to Angus gently kissing him she smiled "Just relax and enjoy yourself" she said softly to him before she moved to Kate.

Aria walked the girls over to the stroller and clipped them both in each giggling as they knew they were going out and will have fun. " okay both strapped in " she said grabbing her jacket and slipping it on " okay lets go" she said and held onto the handle of the stroller with Simone and Kate and Ruby .

Porting to the fair they smiled seeing the lights and smelling popcorn and hot dogs all around them the girls marvelled at the lights that flashed around them. " okay so where first?" Ruby asked slipping the girls bag over the handle bars and pushing them.

"The signs say the toddler area is this way," Kate pointed. "Perhaps we should check that out first while they're awake and alert and able to enjoy it. A lot of what that area is geared to is sensory stimulation--things to hear and see and smell and touch and investigate. I think they'll have a good time. And I'm equally sure they'll slow down at some point and want to nap. And according to this brochure of special events, there is a special pop up tea shop for Halloween. It's called Pandora Pumpkin's Pastries. It supposedly has autumn beverages and pastries. I think we should go find that tea shop later when that happens and have some tea and cakes while the babies nap."

"Good idea," Simone said.

With the house quiet, it didn't take long for Robert's potions and Angus's own fatique to take over. He slipped off to sleep before he even realized he'd done it. Robert and Elwood were discussing something about potions that made no sense to Marcus, and Marcus didn't even try. Evan showed up, checking on Angus, and when he saw Angus was asleep, he went outside with Edward, who was harvesting what he could find in the little garden that the Fae lived in.

"He looks like hell, Edward," Evan said as Edward picked some squash.

"Your brother?" Edward asked. "Well, yes, he does. However, I'm rather used to seeing him covered in bruises, and, frankly, I'm just glad he and Ruby are alive."

"How many broken bones this time?"

"Well, there's his shoulder, his arm and three ribs," Edward said.

"Why is he out of St. Mungos?"

"Only because the estate is running amuck in healers, between Robert, Jess, Khaat, and Brian. And then there's Andrew, and he's a good nurse and a good rehab man...."

"And then whats-his-name--that old stiff codger that lives in New York," Evan said.

"Oh, Nigel," Edward laughed. "Yes, he is a rigid fellow, that's for sure. You staying for lunch?"

"You cooking?"

"Us? Hell, no. Fish and chips from the Leaky."

"Say no more. I'm in," Evan laughed.

Ruby listened to Kate and nodded " sounds like they will enjoy that" she said turning the stroller towards the toddler play area " oh that sounds wonderful" she said talking about the pop up tea shop Kate mentioned " I could go for some tea and maybe a scone right soon" .

Aria chuckled as she walked slightly behind them watching the area around her she knew they probably would be safe but she was taking no chances. Marcus had taught her that when out and bout never let down your guard, and she wasn't. Drawing close to the area they found a nice sensory area with lights and bubbling tanks with fish that bobbed up and down each girl was giggling as Ruby let them out the stroller to run around inside once they had paid the entrance fee. " I'll wait outside" Aria said there snot a lot of room inside for all of us." she added and stayed by the entrance as she smiled hearing Caprice screech in delight at a rope light she could move and touch.

When it got close to noon, Robert ordered fish and chips for everyone, along with four growlers of ale. The lunch was delivered just seven minutes til twelve. Almost right on time. By then, Angus was waking up from his morning snooze. Victor stopped home for lunch simply because he forgot to pack something. And he was surprised that the women had all gone out. He was doubly surprised to find that there was fish and chips for lunch, with ale from the Leaky, and that there was a lunch for him too. He was pleased and grateful.

As they were eating, an owl that Angus was not familiar with brought a note. Marcus fetched it and read it.

"Ah. We've been expecting this," Marcus said. "Fenrir. We know we told him the pack could come here any time they wanted, but he's thinking he might bring the pack here for the winter as early as next week. Not only does he have that female with the high risk pregnancy, but they've gotten word that some dark arts areholes are planning to do a werewolf hunt for Halloween this year."

"What!" Angus was not happy at all.

"Yeah. Fenrir says that there are muggle guns, old style bear traps and the like that are being scooped up by dark wizards in preparation for it, and he does not want his pack out and about during that event."

"Certainly not," Angus said. "I'll try to word a response to him asking him to bring the pack here to safety at once. And then I'll order food and provisions for the longhouses so its good and fresh for them."

"And if you can be safe long enough, I'll go find Jack and give him a heads up about the werewolf business. And if I see Jessie, I'll warn him so that he and Cris can be here on the estate during that time too," Marcus said.

"And I'll warn the girls when they get home," Angus said.

"I'll sharpen my axe," Edward said.

"What for?" Robert said. "You're the only licensed werewolf slayer in England that I know of."

"I know. If I have to stop innocent werewolves from being killed, I will," Edward said.

"I'll send for Lucian in the meantime," Robert said. He wrote a note and hastily sent it through the floo to Lucian to ask him to stop by the duplex when he got a chance. In the meantime, Marcus headed over to the barn to find Jack, and Angus sent a note by the owl back to Fenrir and then started on a food order for the longhouses to send for immediate delivery to the estate.

Jack was busy feeding the animals there noon feed when he saw Robert walking over " afternoon" he said handing the hippogriff a treat " here you go boy" he said as it took it from his hand. Now finished he placed the feed back back in the store room behind him. Just as he finished Jessie walked over looking like some one stole his favourite toy.

"did you hear about the werewolf hunt?" he asked Jack " um afternoon Robert." he said his arms folded across his chest as he paused in his talking waiting for Robert to talk. Jack shook his head and looked to Robert as he lent on the stall of the hippogriff.

(it was marcus, not robert, fyi)

"Angus just got a note from Fenrir," Marcus said. "The pack wasn't going to come quite this early, but Fenrir says that there is a group of dark arts wizards who are organizing a werewolf hunt around Halloween. Fenrir says that there are guns, traps, and all kinds of weapons and such that are being swept up from the shops already in preparation for it. We absolutely want them here so they're safe, but Robert wants all our own werewolf folks here to be safe on the estate during that hunt. Angus is sending a note back to Fenrir immediately, and he's ordering food from the suppliers for immediate delivery to get the longhouse completely restocked. I presume your guys can take it to the longhouse and put it away? I know Angus would do it himself, but obviously, that's not on his list at the moment. And we're good there already on firewood? In case they come immediately?"

Robert sent a note to Lucian and notified him of the intel they'd gotten on the werewolf hunt to let Lucian be planning to find out where and when the hunt was going to happen so that the aurors could try to raid it and stop it on Halloween.

Angus quickly wrote up a supply list and sent it through the floo to the suppliers for immediate delivery.

Jack ad Jessie both listened to Marcus and nodded " don't worry we'll do that " Jack said " we'll also make sure its clean for them." Jack looked at Jessie who nodded he agreed.

"I'll make sure Chris and Yu stay on the grounds" Jessie said with a smile as he headed towards the cabin he was staying in. Jack shook his head and sighed .

"okay, leave it to us we'll have the long house ready for them." he said seeing Lucian arrive " seems we have a guest" he said and pointed to Lucian who had ported in and was headed to the duplex.

Lucian walked up to the door and knocked on it , pushing it open he popped his head in " wow fish and chips , fancy" he said and chuckled as he walke dover " got your message Robert." he said " thought I'd drop by personal and get that info" he added as he snaffled a chip off of Marcus plate seeing he was out.