A Birth day

Ruby smiled relived he had slept well and that he too realized he needed a hair cut " I'm sure if we ask Marcus could cut it for you." she asked looking at Marcus as he went to fetch a plate for Angus. Once returned she heard Angus say he was not ready for a normal plate and she took his hand in her own " eat what you can, a small amount is better than none" she said smiling to him. Ruby heard him ask about Sam and smiled " he's behaved himself and is now with Victor doing work in the barn i believe." she said as she sent a note to Jack that Angus wanted to see him.

A few minuets later Jack walked in holding a large oak stump in his arms and a smile " was this what you wanted to talk about?" he asked as he showed him the stump partly carved but mostly left alone for the Fae to make their own. " its from a felled tree from that last storm out on the west pasture." he explained.

"Okay," Angus replied to Ruby as a note fluttered in through the floo. "Good advice. Thanks." Marcus caught the note, recognizing the light blue envelope, and he opened the envelope, handing the note inside to Angus. Angus read the note.

"Hm," he looked at Ruby, "The girls are showing particular promise in their apparition classes. Madame Maxime wants us to help them practice apparition regularly. She thinks they can finish well ahead of schedule with some practice, and if we will help them, she'll sign a waver so that it doesn't alert the Unauthorized Magic department. I'd appreciate that, except that I'm pretty sure Robert could take care of that just as easily. Any issue with allowing our teens do to some 'driving practice'?"

Jack arrived with the stump, and Angus nodded. "Yes, thank you. As a matter of fact, it is. The fae took the alchemist home to the village a bit ago, and he does look a good deal better. I'm glad he's headed for home---well, or somewhere in his village. It's a very good looking one. I think it'll make a fine home. And it's a bit taller than most of the others. Maybe he can put his alchemy lab up on an upper floor for better ventilation. I'll leave that to them to figure out, though. None of my business. Could you see if they need you to help move the old stump out too, please, Jack?"

Ruby saw the envelope and saw Marcus hand it to Angus who read it she smiled glad they were doing well in apparition too " none from me dear" she said " but e could arrange that some one goes with them in case they panic or go off some place they don't know" she added " no that they would I'm thinking they probably most likely end up at Evans place" she said with a chuckle.

Aria looked up seeing the stump Jack had brought and nodded when Angus said it was slightly higher than the old one. Jack listened and nodded " Sam's helping with the removal of the old stump ." he said with a smile " he offered, nothing to do with me." Jack looked at Angus as he asked his next question " how was his first night back, all good?" he asked shifting the stump to the other arm as he held it.

"I'll spread the word to see if, when someone goes out, if they would grab either Anise or Ginger and let them apparate to let them get in some practice," Angus said. "And I'll ask Robert if he prefers to give the permissions or if he wants Beauxbatons to do it." He listened to Jack tell him that Sam was helping to remove the old stump.

"I'm glad he's helping," Angus said. "Last night went fine. All the kids were relatively quiet last night, and I suppose I'm glad of that. I didn't really get a chance to talk to anyone. Sam simply asked if he could come home, and I told him the same thing I've always said. So long as he follows the rules we've always had, he's welcome here. He got his bag and brought it in and went to wash up for supper. I nearly missed them altogether this morning because I actually overslept. The kids were all on their way out when I was just waking up. I hate to say this but, in a way, I think Sam's break away was good for the other kids because they seem to have done a lot of maturing while Sam was gone, especially Victor. Victor is almost a little too mature for where I think he should be right now. He has started taking everything really seriously. I mean, I suppose that's good, but he's too young to be as consumed with the dangers in the wizarding world like we have to be."

"Jack," Marcus said, "before Angus forgets to mention it, we just got a message from Madame Maxime. The girls are apparently gifted when it comes to apparating. She believes they could get their certificates ahead of schedule if we help them practice apparating. She's prepared to get them a waiver to practice apparating if someone who has their apparating accompanies them, rather like a muggle driver with a learning permit. If you or any other people from the main house are going somewhere, would you mind letting the girls get a little practice in, please?"

Jack listened to Angus chuckled but nodded " happy Sams behaving himself " he said with a smile then nodded as Angus spoke of Victor and how mature he was becoming. "We are agreed on that " Jack said with a smile glancing to Marcus he listened and nodded as he told him about the girls being able to aperate and if any one wanted to go anywhere they could do it for practice " I'll get the word around , might have several men asking, but I'll make sure they behave around the girls" he added and chuckled.

Ruby helped clear the table and wiped it down laying it again for dinner that day. Moving to the kitchen she started to make cookies with chocolate chip and white chocolate chips in them, she even decided to add cherry's to one quarter of cookie dough and leave one quarter plain.

"I'm sure you won't pick anyone the girls would have trouble with, but the werewolf thing does give them an advantage, you know. If someone gets out of line with them, they can just eat them. Problem solved," Angus teased. "Oh and before I forget, when we get the sheep and the goats in, do please tell the crew they need to be very careful what they feed the goats and sheep. Both of them can eat grain and hay, but we need to not try to buy any sort of vitamins or goat feed to give them both. Premade goat feeds can be highly toxic for sheep. If we need supplements, Kate will need to make them or we'll have to buy them from one of the village locals that makes them. It seems the most pre-made goat supplements have copper levels that are poisonous to sheep. I would prefer that we not poison them, if we can manage that. Perhaps for now, we need to give them grain and hay like we give the other animals.

"In that same line of thought, with a herd of almost a dozen animals coming, we might well need more grain fields and maybe another hay field or two. If we need to do that, that could end up being other seven or eight big fields to put in. If we do that, we do need to try to put them in on Robert's farm. He has room for them towards the back of the property. The farthest west corner could absorb them without much issue. They were fields for the last farmer that owned the property before Robert had it, so it wouldn't need a long time yet this season to clear them and get them ready for spring planting. However, I expect by adding that much new harvest, we'll need a couple more farm wagons. I don't know what shape Robert's wagons are in since we haven't used them, so if you get a chance, check their condition. If we need new wagons, I'll send you up to some of the farms up in Scotland, near Hogsmeade for a couple days and you can visit the local wagon makers and you can pick the best ones for us--If you don't mind a couple nights in a nice bed and breakfast, tucking into good Scottish comfort food, that is."

jack chuckled as Angus said the girls would eat any men who gave them trouble " well if they do , they are welcome to them" Jack said chuckling at the thought. At the mention of goats and sheep and what not to feed them Jack nodded and made a mental note to let the guys know about it. " okay, I'll pass the word no feeding the goats or sheep except what is bought." he said starting to smell the cookies that Ruby was making " I think Ruby's making cookies?" he asked Angus as he looked back to the kitchen.

Ruby put the first batch on the cooling wire and slipped in the second batch chuckling when she heard Jack mention Cookies. " Once its cooled you can have one, just one" she said as she looked over at Angus and Marcus.

"We need to feed them our own grain and hay first, though. if we want enough to make sure all the animals have good variety, we need to add more fields. I'd add one barley, one oat, one sorghum, one corn, one rye, and probably one hay and one alfafa. Robert's silos should be empty and so should the loft space in the barn so I should think we can get by without adding more crop storage. I'll get you a list of the wizards who make good organic animal supplements so that you don't need to ask me every time you need something. I trust your judgment on that."

"The good thing about having women like Ruby and Aria around is that they're always baking something," Marcus laughed. "She says take one, but she doesn't mind if you take two. She says take one, and we always take two and she hasn't smacked us yet for taking two."

"Don't give her ideas," Angus said.

"Angus," Robert's voice came through the floo, "you awake?"

"I am," Angus said.

"Dora Hackett is facing a hearing with the Wizengamot, and the prosecution wants to lay out a strong case," he said. "Do you understand where I'm going with this?"

"Yeah. I do," Angus said, seriously. "They can't make a case without me, can they?"

"Not with their side saying it was just a harmless prank."

"Drop it, then and let her go free," Angus said.

"That's exactly what I thought you'd say. Look, I don't think that's wise. I'll buy some time, and you and I can discuss it when I get home tonight."

"Yeah, yeah," Angus said. Marcus looked at Angus, knowing Angus's response was his way of trying, indirectly, to say he wasn't going to talk about it, not tonight, not any other night.

"I hear you. I'll talk to you tonight," Robert sighed, turning the floo off.

Jack chuckled at Marcus and Angus "yeah " he said smiling as Ruby looked at them both from the kitchen as she took out the second white chocolate cookies from the oven and placed them to cool. Jack heard Roberts voice and what he said.

" that's not good, she should be put away for what she has done" Ruby said as she walked from the kitchen drying her hands on a tea towel " and I'm guessing there going to want to see your wounds to confirm it was more than a prank?" she asked her hands now on her hips.

"That would be part of it, I'm guessing, but most of that is obvious. They'll be able to see that, and Robert can give them the St. Mungo's documentation of that," Angus said.

"It's that he is not willing to recount for them what happened to him," Marcus said. "He wants that subject closed and off limited--permanently. Robert isn't ready for Angus to do that yet."

"Too late," Angus said. "It's closed if I say its closed. Besides, its all still scrambled and swiss cheesed. I have no desire to try to recount for them what happened when I'm not entirely sure if I'll ever remember accurately what happened. I know what I remember experiencing but I've been told repeatedly that isn't want happened. So I am not going to put that on display for the wizengamot or anyone else. I'd rather her go free, and perhaps, if she starts her crap again, well,..." he paused, "maybe she'll meet with an accident."

That was one of the few times Marcus had ever known of Angus to seriously consider something like that. Angus looked at Marcus.

"Don't look at me like that. It would be self defense," Angus told Marcus