Baby Magic

Khaat finished dressing and took the last sip of french roast coffee from the mug on her vanity.  She had promised Abbey they could go to Flourish and Blotts today for more storybooks. Her oldest child, now six, was a voracious lover of all storybooks. To Abbey there was no such thing as too many storybooks. The six year old was finding out that there were some wonderful stories in "chapter books" but she still missed the pictures. Khaat was finding that Abbey found more challenge in chapter books but still liked buying storybooks too. The expense at the bookstore was ever growing. Brian didn't mind. He seemed to be full of parental pride that Abbey was hungry for learning. Khaat mentioned to Brian she figured Abbey was going to be a Ravenclaw. Brian merely had glared at her and had said it was far too early to tell.

Khaat wasn't sure where she'd find the 6 year old this morning. Breakfast had been earlier, but Khaat had slept in and missed it.  She left the bedroom and heard her mother's voice in their bedroom across the hall.  She paused a moment and then heard Abbey's voice in reply.  Khaat saw the door ajar and pushed it open quietly.

Abbey and Kate were sitting on the bed, and her mother had a large picture card in her hand. It was a game Khaat remembered so very well. This picture had a simple drawing  of a yellow duck on it.

"Oh, very good, my darling!" Kate smiled. "Well done." She put the card down and drew another, face down.  Out of habit, Khaat honed in on the card with her own seer's energies. It was a big vibrant red apple.

"Its an apple," Khaat said. Kate frowned at her.  

"This game isn't for you," Kate scowled. "She's doing very well, actually."

"You know she's not allowed to use her magic before she goes to Hogwarts," Khaat said.

"Oh, codswallop," Kate sighed. "Or else what?"

"The Ministry will know, and...."

"Your father already knows, Dear," Kate said. "And besides, they don't send six year olds to Azkaban for reading cards."

"Shh!" Khaat reprimanded her mother quickly. "Don't talk about that!"

"About what, Dear? Azkaban? Oh, come now. Abbey, what's Azkaban?"

"Jail," Abbey replied calmly.

"You're not going to hide it from her. Not in this house. Couldn't hide a thing from you either. Might as well embrace it. She's not three anymore."

"And she's not school age either," Khaat was angry. "We'll talk about this later. Abbey, you still want to go to get books?"

"Yeah!" Abbey's eyes sparkled excitedly.

"Then, come on. We'll have to find Marcus."

"He go-ed downstairs," Abbey said

"Went, dear. It's went," Kate corrected the child.

"Went," Abbey replied.

"Let's go find him, shall we?" Khaat said. Abbey jumped off her grandmother's bed and dashed ahead of her downstairs to find Marcus.

Jess walked out of Jack and her room at the estate as she was putting up her hair as it had grown some what long, now she kept it up in a bun so it would not get in the way. She chuckled as she dodged Abby heading down the stairs.

"be careful Abby." She called out and headed to where she saw Kate and Khaat "So hows she doing?" she asked " did she get them all right?" she could tell by how relaxed Kate was she had and smiled " Jacks on patrol but will be back in ten minuets, Brant...well, hes in the lab." she shook her head gently "That man needs to get out in the air more, any way did you both sleep well?" she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she looked at them both. " oh I hear Angus is making cookies down stairs too."

"She's a brilliant child," Kate beamed. "She's got them quicker than her mother did."

"And just how long have you been doing this to her?" Khaat frowned.

"Doing to her?" Kate echoed. "You played this game when you were three. You really are a bit overprotective. She's not going to be less of a seer because you're hiding her from it..."

"Hiding her from it? I'm obeying the law!"

"Oh, since when did you give a jot about that?" her mother narrowed her gaze at her. "Don't give me that. Nice try, but its hardly a treasonous offense against the crown. Do get over yourself. Its not becoming." Turning to Jess she said, "We slept very well, thank you. My guess is the lab business is Robert's fault. The Department of Mysteries found some very weird potion last night, and Robert just doesn't have the time to analyze it. I heard him ask Brant to take a careful look at it to see if he can determine what the devil it is. He's excused from the morning workout, but he'll need to show up for evening workout, that's for certain."

Khaat left her mother to talk with Jess and she headed downstairs to find Abbey and Marcus. Downstairs, Marcus was standing in the kitchen bandaging Brian's elbow with an elastic brace while he told him he needed to let someone look at it.

"No, no, no," Brian said. "Its not a big thing."

"What did you do?" Khaat asked.

"Nothing," Brian waved her off. "Just a bruise."

"Marcus doesn't tape up bruises."

"He was pitching hay in the barn down from the loft and lost his footing and fell from the loft to the concrete barn floor. His elbow took most of the blow. It needs checked. It's not moving like it should. Your father should see it and check to make sure the bones are properly aligned," Marcus said.

Khaat went over to Brian.

"My bones are just fine," Brian sighed, annoyed. Khaat laid her hand on the joint. It wasn't quite right, she could tell. The bone felt like it was basically right, but it wasn't 100% correct. It needed someone with the touch to look at the tiny points. She agreed--it needed her father.

"Angus," she looked at him. "Find someone to make certain that Brian gets to St. Mungos to have my father check this joint, would you? Despite the fact that Brian thinks he knows everything. This joint isn't right."

"Brian's not right in a lot of ways," Angus teased. "But, yeah, we'll get him there."

Jess sighed hearing Khaat and Kate talking rather loudly she smiled at Kate and nodded at her response to Brant " yes hes become quiet the potioneer thanks to Roberts tutoring."She sighed as she saw Khaat leave and head downstairs. " has she really been doing that since she was three? I was I think ten when they tested me." she chuckled softly "Think I only got about six right so they thought me a muggle at the time, but I can understand how she feels what with the attacks its unnerving all this quiet." she said as Steven appeared at the doorway behind her.

"Kate" he said and nodded " It is strange but were quiet secure here Jess." he told her "Jacks got several men patrolling and enforcing the wards around the estate, hes putting some through the assault course this afternoon to test their stamina."

"I didn't intentionally start it that young," Kate told Jess. "She got a birthday card from Remus when she was three, and when I got the mail from our owl, she got all excited about Uncle Ree Ree sending her a kitty. I had no idea what she was talking about. She snatched an envelope from the mail and ripped it open. I was livid b/c I had no way of knowing that envelope really was for her. And inside was a birthday card for her with a picture of a kitten on the front. That's when I got out the cards for her for the first time. She didn't have a stellar score, of course, but the fact that she could do it at all was mindblowing for me. Robert cast it off by doing some sort of elaborate statistics to try to say it was just chance. He's always been full of it. Now, of course, we're sure he was full of it."

Angus scribbled a note and handed it to Archangel. "Take this to Jack," he said quietly, sending the huge bird out the window.

"I hope you fed him first," Brian said.

"Jack or the bird?" Angus teased.

"Both, but in this case I was talking about that big bird. You know how he likes to pick on Jack when he's hungry," Brian said.

"Ice this until you see Robert," Marcus said quietly, finishing his taping. Angus got an ice pack out of the freezer and laid it on Brian's elbow.

"Can I draw on your shell when you get home, Daddy?" Abbey asked, picking up a warm cookie from the cooling rack. Marcus looked at her and laughed, understanding the child seemed to already know her daddy would end up in a cast.

"You put her up to that," Brian scowled at Khaat.

"Me?" Khaat looked at him. "I just got here. How did I do that?"

"That weird voodoo stuff you seers do," Brian said. "You do that stuff because it makes the rest of us crazy."

"Oh, so I'm sending telepathic sarcasm to my six year old, am I? Nice trick, if it would work," Khaat laughed. "Don't let Jess hear you spouting that nonsense. She'll set you straight for sure."

Jess nodded at Kate's words then sighed " He has to accept it sooner or later shes a seer and as such needs encouragement." She moved to the cards and sighed brushing her hand over them gently. With a smile she looked back at Kate "Do you feel she will be a great seer one day?" she asked having a feeling she knew Kate's answer as she had felt Abby's magic grow as she too grew both in size and ability.

"well we'd better get down stairs before Jack returns and takes most of the cookies." she said " but if you want to stay here I'll have a tray sent up with some tea and cookies." She glanced back at the stirs as she heard the front door go and Jacks deep voice sound out as he headed to the kitchen.

Jack had got up early to do his patrols and sort out the rotas for the others. It was part of his new responsibility's. He'd just got through chewing out two new men who had been slacking off when he saw archangel flying towards him. Rubbing the back of his neck he waited until the bird had landed on his shoulder before taking the note from him. "okay let go see Brian and Angus." he turned to the men and spoke as loud as a drill Sargent to them.

" I do not want to catch you both slacking again or you'll be sent back quicker than you can say shit, got that" he said and both jumped and nodded " good now get back to work." he motioned to the security tower they had been stood in front of. Heading back he entered through the main door " okay arch there's your perch now off my shoulder" he spoke softly to the bird and watch as he flew to his perch and settled as he moved to the kitchen " wow ouch." he said looking at Brian's bandaged arm.

"It's not broken," Brian said. "Just stiff."

"And when did you develop the skills to diagnose yourself?" Khaat asked, knowing full well that those healers who worked by touch could never work on themselves. It just never worked. Brian ignored her.

"Jack," Khaat looked at him, "Its not just stiff. Apparently he's holding out on you. He was working in the barn and fell from the loft and landed on that elbow first. That's a four meter fall. It could have killed him. There's something wrong in that joint. I can feel it, but its one of those delicate things that needs my father's much finer touch for. Can you take Mr. I'm-Invincible here to St. Mungos and get my father to look at it?"

"I do know the way myself," Brian said.

"That's not her concern," Marcus said. "She's your wife. She knows you too well. She knows you'll say you'll go and just not promise to go today and then simply avoid going altogether. Jack will make sure you follow through."

"I'll be back," Abbey said, shoving her entire cookie in her mouth and starting to run off.

"Where are you going?"

"To get my markers! I'm wanna be the first to draw on Daddy's shell!" she said, excitedly, running back upstairs.

"This is going to be funny if your 6 year old knows more than you do," Marcus said, fully intending on rubbing it in.

Jack looked at Brian's arm then to Khaat and finally to Abby before he spoke " yeah, its quite the height that, should check out those boards they might need replacing." He said then chuckled as Khaat spoke. "Sure I'll take him, let me just get a message to Greg on the north tower he can take my patrol this afternoon, not that we'd be that long but you never know." He wrote a note and sent it on its way.

He ruffled Abby's hair as she ran past him to get her pens "Oh I'd love to see that Khaat." He said then looked back at Angus " and you did admit your not a fan of the hospitals Brian." Jack said trying not to smirk as he picked up a second cookie off the cooling wire.

"Thank you. I'm going to take Abbey out to get more books again. She's been looking forward to this for a week. I really don't want to disappoint her," Khaat said.

"Khaat, I wish you'd rethink this," Brian said. "I don't have an issue with you taking her out, but why always on a Saturday? You know how busy Diagon Alley is on Saturday mornings."

"We can blend in with the crowd," Khaat said. "We'll be fine. Abbey is very good about staying with us."

"She doesn't dash off to run to the books?"

"No," Marcus said, "Not anymore. She's much better about that. She is rarely out of my sight for even a fraction of a second. We'll be home before lunchtime. Probably home before you get through at St. Mungos, if you have much of a wait in the emergency room."

Abbey came back downstairs with a pink cardboard box that was filled with all sorts of markers in all sorts of colors. She snatched a second cookie from the cooling rack and looked at Marcus.

"Can we go now?" she asked expectantly.

"Just a second," Marcus said. He picked up two cookies and gave one to Khaat. "Now we're ready," he smiled. He reached for her tiny hand. "Grab hold," he told Khaat. Khaat wrapped her arm around his waist and held tightly to him. Marcus flicked his wand and they apparated out to Diagon Alley.

The alley was crowded, that was for certain. It was almost wall to wall people. It always caused Khaat a moment of panic when she saw such crowds. She felt herself tense, still clinging to Marcus.

"Breathe," he told her quietly, knowing her fear of wall to wall people. It was too easy for things to happen in this sort of a crush. The book store was just ahead.

"Don't lose her," Khaat said very softly to him.

"I won't," he said. "I've got her. Let's go this way." He found a clearer path through to the bookstore. It was quieter here. People weren't looking for a great many summer reads today, for some reason. Khaat wanted to be certain that they had plenty of books for Abbey so they could skip the book buying season before the train left again from Kings Cross to Hogwarts in September.

At the front of the children's section, there was a large display of books with paper dolls. Abbey stopped to look at the colorful books.

"Mama? What are paper dolls?" she asked. Khaat took one of the books and opened it and explained the dolls and the paper clothes with the paper tabs. Abbey was excited about this new sort of toy. "Can I have some?" she asked.

"Okay," Khaat asked. "Pick a book or two that you like." Abbey picked out about six different books. Khaat told her to pick two of the six. Marcus managed to have a clerk tag along and carry some of the other books that Khaat wasn't going to buy today in order to have that August order set back already to avoid taking Abbey out in August with the school shoppers.

Khaat followed Abbey to the chapter books, and they started looking for stories that would interest a young reader. She kept Abbey right next to her, afraid to let her more than a step or two away, even here. She tried to tell herself that she was just used to living behind the Lupin compound's impregnible walls, too used to living in the security that kept James from getting to her again. And she'd gotten entirely reliant on having bodyguards around her at all times, even in her own home. They never left. It was just what life had become. Perhaps she wasn't normal anymore. Perhaps she was becoming a hermit for no good reason.

She glanced down and saw Abbey wasn't where she had been a moment before. There were several people in the aisle with her, but she didn't see Abbey. She began to look to see where Abbey was, figuring she just wandered a few steps away. Her blood started to run cold when she didn't see her.

"Abbey?" she called. Other witches and wizards looked at her disapprovingly as she broke the quiet of the book store to look for her daughter. "Have you seen a little girl?" she asked them. "She's blond--about so high..." she gestured with her hand. "She's got a pink hair ribbon and a white t shirt with pink butterflies, pink shorts...."

"She went around the corner," an old wizard pointed Khaat around to the next aisle.

"Thank you," Khaat said, quickly skirting around the corner. She stepped on something that crinkled. She took her foot off it quickly. It was the sound of the little pink silk butterfly from Abbey's hair ribbon under her foot. Oddly, it was not just on the floor. It was sticking, like a bookmark, purposely placed, out of the paper doll book Abbey had been carrying.

Abbey could not have gotten the hair ribbon out of her hair by herself. That much Khaat knew immediately. "Marcus!" she panicked. "Abbey!" Marcus spun around the corner and saw what Khaat was looking at. He looked around. There wasn't any sign of Abbey anywhere. And instantly he already knew she wasn't here anymore. The hair ribbon, deliberately removed and placed so carefully in the paper doll book and placed so meticulously on the floor, so straight and careful with a mathematical precision for perfect alignment. Not just dropped. Placed. Abbey was gone. He knew it straight off.

"Khaat,..." he began very gently.

"No, I have to find her," Khaat said, frantic. She started to try to run from him.

"I'm sure she's safe at home," a young student clerk offered, trying to be helpful. "Her grandmother took her not a moment ago."

"Grandmother?" Marcus frowned.

"Yeah. Tall woman, dark hair, dark eyes, silver walking stick. Took her by the hand and told me she was the child's grandmother and simply popped out with her...."

"That's not her grandmother!" Khaat panicked. "I don't know anyone like that! Someone's taken my daughter! Who is she? Surely you've seen her before. Where do I find this woman..."

"I..don't know. I've never seen her..." he began, not knowing what to do with a panicked mother.

"Not good enough!" Khaat said reaching for the young man and grabbing him by the shirt.

"Hey," Marcus was still standing behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back from the young man. "Stop," he whispered in her ear. "We'll find her. I swear. We'll find her." He turned her around to look him in the face. "Look at me," he said quietly. "I'm right here. We will find her. I promise you."

"You can't promise me that," she said, feeling her legs weren't going to hold her at the thought that maybe Abbey was gone forever. He caught her quickly.

"Yes," he said deliberately. He wanted her to hear him. He wanted her to believe. "Yes, I can. I can promise that because I know your family. I know the people we live with in that house. They won't quit until they find her. Nor will I." He pressed the alarm on his jacket and simply held her for a moment. The last thing he wanted was for her to faint. Perhaps if she had a moment to just breathe, she'd regain herself a bit.