Bollixed

Angus was running again.  Why were things things always in the wee hours of the morning, and why was it always raining?  It had started out well enough. Simple surveillance, nothing more. Well, until he was made. Then it all went sideways. It had started with a bit of a street brawl and when his wand was broken, he'd decided runnin was a better option.

He learned something about werewolves.  Even if the full moon became obscured with storm clouds, it didn't change the fact that once they were turned, they were turned.  Didn't seem to slow them down a bit. Buggar. His grandfather would surely expect better of him for such a mistake.  He had a choice--run or be eaten.  He didn't favor the latter.  His boots seemed to splash through puddles that were forming in the brick pavement of the alleyways, and he decided that perhaps Diagon Alley might have enough traffic left in it that it might ward off the two small-ish werewolves that were on his trail.  

He decided to lose them, and he dashed through the narrow alley that ran behind the Leaky.  The next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain across his right shin and heard a distinctive cracking sound.  He felt himself start to fall, and knew enough to tuck into a roll to keep from hitting his head.  When he came up, he saw both of the werewolves were almost right on him.  One of them had managed to stop him by tripping him.  Elementary, but amazingly effective.He fired a fireball with wandless magic, catching one of the on fire.  Fur burned fairly well, he found. The two werewolves ran screeching from the alley.

Relieved, he leaned back against the brick wall, and took a moment to catch his breath.  He glanced down at the black jeans he wore. They were torn and bloody.  Fabulous.  And it hurt like the devil.  He didnt see himself walking on it any time soon.  He reached into his pocket for the portkey to get home and found it wasnt there. Great. Just great.  No wand, no portkey, pouring down rain, ...batting 1000.

He heard the clock chiming in the distance.  It was time for the Leaky to close for the night. If he was lucky, someone would leave by the back kitchen door and, without scaring them, he'd be able to get their attention.

Isobella wiped down the last of the kitchen counters and made sure the floors were swept. She flicked her wand at the mop as she picked up the trash bags near the kitchen door. She walked towards the back door with the bags and opened it cautiously. She made her way to the dumpster and groaned at the mess on the ground around it. "Ugh those darn strays, why can't they keep the trash in the dumpster." She muttered to herself as she threw the trash in. Then she flicked her wand at the mess clearing it back into the dumpster. Shaking her head as she turned around to go back inside. The rain was soaking her when she saw someone standing near the brick wall.

"Lumos," She said as the end of her wand lit up revealing Angus. "Angus? What are you...?" She trailed off seeing his injury, her eyes widened at the sight. "Merlin's beard Angus what happened to you?" She walked up to him after putting out her light on her wand. "Come on let's get you inside and get you fixed up. As well as dry, how long have you been standing here? You know you could have knocked on the back door to let me know you were out here." She went over to the back door holding it open to for him. She didn't know if he would accept her help considering most of the time men didn't like it when you tried.

"Oh, hi," he managed a lame smile, trying to look casual about the whole business. "Fancy meeting you here. I would have just come in, but...well, I think I've hurt my leg. I don't know if its broken or not, but I can't walk on it. Come help me in, would you?" It wasn't his smoothest look, but he wasn't exactly asking her to put her arm around him for romantic reasons right now either. He figured he had time to polish himself when he was patched up.


He motioned to her to come back and give him a hand to get inside.  As for explanations, he honestly figured she had a fairly good idea what he'd most likely been up to, so he didn't really need to fill in that many of the blanks for her. She knew he couldn't resist any chance to try to put James out of commission, and hopefully permanently.  Tonight just wasn't going to be that night. He was glad to see her again, though. It had been awhile.


"Hairy buggar broke my wand, too," he sighed, frustrated.  "But I set him on fire.  Served him right. It was a darned good wand.  The last I heard of him, he sounded like he was several blocks away. Werewolf fur stinks when it burns, did you know that? Found that out. Yuck.  I didn't have much of a plan after that. I was sort of winging it. Not my best effort, I guess."

Bella walked back over to him when he said that he couldn't walk on it. She put his arm around her shoulders and put her free arm around his waist. "You'll have to lean on me and hop on your good leg to make sure that you don't injure this one further." She said as she started moving him inside the door. She shuffled him into the kitchen and let him get settled on the stool she stopped at.

She flicked her wand at the fireplace that was nearest them as she took a look at his leg. "I've almost finished those pants for you, they've been slightly tricky. I'm hoping that they'll give you a little more protection that what these did." She said as she got down on her haunches to see his leg better. "Hmm looks like it was a clean break to it, your lucky there's no bone poking through." Getting back up she flicked her wand mending the bone. She was glad to see him even if it was in this circumstance.

"Broke your wand? How did he do that?" Bella asked as she moved his jeans trying to see if they could be repaired. Seeing there was no missing parts she fixed them and cleared the blood from them. "I'm glad that I missed the smell. I probably wouldn't get it out of my nose for a while." She said with a small smile as she hopped up on the counter across from him. "I'm sure there will be a next time when it comes to him." She didn't know what to say next so she went with a different topic. "How have you been?" Bella asked looking at him with a soft smile.

"Oh, thank you," he said, glad for her help and then even more relieved that she could tend his leg.  "I was chasing him, and I think he hit my leg with a big stick or something. I don't know. Its just freaking dark back there. I'm glad you're still designing those new pants. I seem to go through jeans much too quickly, don't I?"


He hadn't thought the jeans were saveable this time, but sure enough she managed to mend them. And it hadn't gone by him that she hadn't gotten green at the gills at the sight of blood either.  He was glad of that.


"I'm not sure how he got my wand. It happened really fast. I was firing at him and the next I knew, he'd just snapped it in two. I got ticked and set him on fire, and he took off running.  I chased him, he hit me in the leg and then apparently decided he needed to put himself out. I guess he must have taken off to go leap in a fountain or something. I don't know. He just took off, howling."

She mentioned the smell. "Yeah. Nasty. I never liked their smell anyway when they were fully transformed. I can smell them when they're fairly close. They always remind me of a wet dog. And, I found out tonight that when the fur burns, its sorta like trash burning.  That's the best I can describe it. I am glad, though, that what I do doesn't entirely freak you out. I don't think I've met a woman before that doesn't get all weird about it. Sorta has always ended things before I even get to ask her out." 


"Maybe that's a good thing, though." He found himself smiling. It seemed really good to see her. "I'm good. Better now. So, how are you? How's Rose? And tell me, did you get those problems settled with your landlord at your apartment?"

"Your welcome," Bella said smiling at him as she listened to him talk. "Hmm it seems like it was something like a big stick or possibly even a large rock. Yeah without the moon tonight places that don't have street lights are very dark indeed. Yes you do tend to go through a lot of jeans. Occupational hazard though so it's no surprise that you ruin your pants."

"Well at least you can count your lucky stars that he wasn't looking to bite you." She said as she thought about how close he could have come. "I'm shocked that he stayed around long enough to throw something at you. Most of the time when there's a fire no matter if it's on you or not. You tend to run to get to water to put out the flames first. At least you were able to get here and away from him."

Bella listened to him to describe the smell of werewolves to her. "Wet dog smell isn't very pleasant and neither is the smell of burning trash. I probably would have gagged at the smell of the burning fur. I'm really glad that I didn't have to smell that now." She laughed softly and shook her head. "Why would they get weird about your line of work? I don't understand it at all, most women I guess are not quite right in the head. I'm sure you'll find someone who won't be weird about your job."

She smiled more when she saw his smile and said, "I'm good just working a lot. Rose is good she's spending the week with my mother. Who kept complaining that she didn't see enough of her granddaughter. I'm still working on part of it with the landlord but he is being stubborn and won't agree to part of it. It's driving me crazy, it makes me wanna throw a pitcher of water on his head."

"When are you going to let me help you get out of that lease and find something better for you and Rose? You don't deserve to be treated badly by anyone, and certainly not someone you're paying, anyway.


"There are lots of nice cottages in Hogsmeade, for example, and the village is normally quiet.  I know its not close to London, but I could make you a portkey for the Leaky or for Diagon Alley.  It would be certainly safer for you and for Rose."


Angus personally didn't relish city life anyway. He'd grown up mostly in Tuscany, and now, working for the Lupins, he spent most of his time on the huge estate.  He liked fresh air and being able to grow fresh fruit and vegetables. He liked open spaces, and he liked knowing the Lupin kids could normally play in their yard without fear.  

The ever present threats that existed in London made Angus a bit more wary of city life, and he didn't want Isobella or Rose to have to watch their backs like a lot of people in the city were doing these days.

Bella chewed her lip and knew that it was time that they moved somewhere better. The landlord had been threatening to kick them out for months now because of certain issues. Knowing that Angus was worried about her and Rose staying there with an evil landlord. Taking a deep breath she decided that it was time finally to leave her place. "Okay Angus help me get out of that lease. The place we move to needs to allow pets because I can't give up our kitties. Rose would be devastated if we couldn't take them with us. She loves the kitties and I love them too." She said looking at him hoping he would understand.

She never thought about going to Hogsmeade because of the distance from Diagon Alley and London. She knew that she should have moved out of her place long before now but she didn't know where to go. She disliked her landlord a lot and couldn't stand to be within three feet of him. "As soon as you can though, I get the feeling something bad is gonna happen. I don't know what it is but it's just a feeling I keep getting every time I come home after work." She admitted to him knowing that he probably would find out sooner than later. She was never really good at keeping most of her emotions off her face.

Bella knew that she could trust Angus with anything and she knew that she was always safe with him. She wanted nothing more than give him a hug but she didn't know how he would react to it. She owed him so much since she met him and she couldn't help but feel grateful for him helping her so much. "I wanna thank you for everything that you've done for me Angus. You are a very sweet person and a very good man. Thank you," She said smiling softly at him.

"Thank you," he smiled. "I should have come around to see how you and Rose were doing. I wanted to. I think I was hoping I wouldn't wear out my welcome."

He did like Isobella. He liked Rose. He just didn't honestly have any real clue as to what he was doing in any relationship once he got past the first date. It just had never gotten that far.  The minute any date found out what he did, or who his grandfather was, they hightailed it for someone more stabled, more likely to come home at the end of the work day in one piece.  The number of women he'd met with Isobella's strength, he could count on one hand, and those were women that either were married or he was already related to. His grandfather had offered him no real advice. He had thought Angus's awkwardness was amusing and had merely said it would force Angus to be himself. Well, that was certainly true. Angus didn't know how to be anyone else.


"I'm a firm believer in following your gut instincts," he told her. "If you feel something bad will happen, let's head that off.  Since Rose isn't there right now, lets' take advantage of it.  Why don't we go and get the cats and some of your things and move you to the estate for now? Its not like they're cramped for space.

"And, then, in your off time, we can check out what might be available in Hogsmeade. The sooner we get you out of London, the better. I'll be happy to deal with your landlord."

Bella looked at him and laughed softly, "You'd never wear out your welcome Angus. Rose asks about you all the time and she's been making something for you. She learned a new trick with her beads." She said as she remembered Rose getting excited about learning her new trick. "Anytime you wanna stop by I don't mind, your welcome at any time. Most of the time I'm up late because I can't sleep, so company would be nice. That's of course if your in the neighborhood."

"Yeah, it just started happening recently so I'm just hoping to get out soon." She said softly as she jumped down from the counter. She listened to his next words and her jaw dropped open. "Angus....won't I be intruding on them? I mean....I..." She was lost for words as she tried to figure out what he was saying. When she went over what he said and stopped at the last part. She walked up to him and shook her head fast, "Please don't, I don't want you to have to be near him. He's horrible man and I don't want you to be near him. Please Angus don't get close to that man, there's something seriously wrong with him. Please, please don't go near him. I don't want you getting hurt or worse." Her eyes searched his face hoping that he would understand her reasoning. She didn't know what it was but she didn't want Angus to get close to that man no matter what.