THE WALKER RANCH

Katherine drew forth her wand and cast a spell that dried Steven off. "Why didn't you just apparate back inside the kitchen instead of going out in that?" she frowned. She poured him a cup of tea and poured a potion into it. "Drink that. It will ward off a chill and a cold. By the way, I could use you or Robert to clean Andrew's fish. We'll have them for dinner tonight. Andrew caught 8 excellent sized fish. He's quite the skilled outdoorsman for his age. The fish should not have been biting today, but the fish are huge. More than enough to feed us for dinner. Are you up to cleaning his fish for us?"

Steven felt better once he was dry "sorry I don't like entering like that never know whats been moved" he said taking the drink from her as he sneezed again "I am betting your too late " he said feeling himself grow warmer from the drink but he still felt chilled to his bone, reatching into his pocket he brought out the drenched fluff bal " got anything for this poor feller" he asked watching the fluff ball shiver in front of him just as he did.

"Of course." Katherine said. She took the puff and wrapped it in a towel and dried it off. She heated up a little bit of the quiche. Just a bite, and gave it to the puff to warm it. It stopped its shivering and seemed to be better.

"Now, back to my question. The huge batch of fish Andrew caught. If you're not into cleaning fish, I'll set Robert about it. You just need to let me know The quicker they're cleaned, the better for me."

Steven smiled " sure might take my mind off this cold " he said sneezeing again " I need a bowl and a sharp knfe" he said "ow and some news paper" he sneezzed once more then held up his cup "and more tea I think too" he smiled to her he rubbed the puff as it seem to fall asleep not it was warm "I couldn't keave him hes Johns and he was so scared" he finshed his tea and sat back waiting for the things he'd asked for.

"Well, I'll get the things together to clean the fish. Why don't you go give the puff to John to put him in his pocket. Otherwise the thing will be all over the house," Katherine said. "And when they're that small, they can fit in just about anyplace." She refilled his tea mug and put another small dose of potion in it. It was intended to ward off colds and flu. "I'll have the stuff ready when you get back."

Steven nodded waiting till she had refilled his mug before heading up to the attic, "John I brough fred with me2 he said finishing his tea now feeling much better. John ran over and took him placng him on a counter infront of him "ow hes all scared" he said brushing his multi colored coat.

"I like that your all worried about the puff and not your dad" he said chuckling ,"well i ahve to head back down to clean those fish you caoght Andrew , buy the wqay nice job" he said smiling as he walked back to the kitchen

Katherine had Steven's equipment laid out on one of the counters for him, and she was working on making some homemade bread. She was starting the ingredients to measure themselves and pour themselves into a large mixing bowl. This was a hearty 7 grain bread that was heavy and made good toast. The base was whole wheat flour, and once that was started, she set a spell to have the breakfast dishes clean themselves up. "So I take it that the boys are having a good ttime upstairs?" Katherine asked. "That may keep them busy for awhile. If not, I'll set them about just exploring the house. There are so many rooms here, that could take them awhile."

Steven chuckled "yeap Johns happy frank is fine and andrews playing pool" he said siting down "ow and your tea did its job no more snezzing" he sid picking up the knife and began gutting and cleaning the fish. Once gurtted her cut off the head as and lay them flat on the news paper "that bread smells wonderful" he said smiling up at her as he cleaned away the things .

"I prefer homemade bread rather than that cheap muggle store stuff," she said. "I bought one loaf once not long after we moved here, before Khaat was born. Dreadful stuff. Now I make my own. I like bread that is thick and heavy and hearty with a good crunchy crust. The bread should be ready for dinner tonight. I haven't decided on lunch yet. I guess I still have plenty of time for that. Once the bread is ready to rise, I might stop over and check on Khaat. Its just a mom thing, you know."

Steven nodded and smiled "yeah I know what you mean , Janet did the same but since that day I've have to go back to store bought , maybe I should learn to making my self , what do you think" he asid as he cleaned the last of the fish way , walking over to the sink and washed the fish clean. "say what about fish for dinner?" he said loking at the fish he held in his hands.