LONDON CALLING

Ruby listened to him and ran beside him " well, from what I've see already hes a realy good man who took in anothers child and saw her as his own, not many would do that and you mean what I do other than run, I like to cook, I read up on animals and tequecues I might use and about the new laws, i know boring" she said " I like traveling, been to France, germany love to go tuscany one day, I learned the langage." she said as they ran " I don't have any pets, but I do like animals." she said " my dad saw to that with the menagary we had, its where Jessie got his dislike for horses or horse like creatures." she told him with a chuckle. " and you, you said you have an owl?" she said " what kind tawny or barn?" she asked him

"You're right. Brian is a good man, through and through." He told her the story of how Brian had been orphaned by his parents' deaths and how he had been raised by Kate and Robert. He told her how Brian and Robert had delivered Abbey together under emergency conditions, and how Rob had taken one look at Abbey and had collapsed entirely in a dead faint. Angus found it hard to have any redeeming qualities in Rob whatsoever, except that it had produced Abbey and had insured Khaat's finances for life."

"Well, since my family's home is in Tuscany, I might be able to oblige you there someday. Edward's villa is right on the coast, and the views over the Mediterranean are spectacular. He farms there. Olives, grapes, make a little olive oil, a little wine. It's the one place he truly feels free from hunting werewolves that have gone completely off the rails.

"Oh," he laughed. "Luigi. Yeah. He's a grouchy old soul. Got him some years ago for next to nothing because he bit everybody. Nobody could do anything with him. Even Kate, for all their discussions, has only gotten him to agree to not biting. Still, he's a darned good flyer, and he's a reliable owl. But he's a crappy companion. Prefers the barn as to me or anyone else. I'll have Kate introduce you if you like. She's far better with him than I am. I really do think he likes her in his old curmudgeonly ways. She isn't so sure.

"Still, you'd probably like meeting Archangel, maybe the hippogryffs and the unicorns. And over at the farm, Kate has a veritable zoo. A very lonely bowtruckle that cries if he doesn't get to ride all day in someone's pocket, an ocean full of multicolored pygmy puffs, and a whole host of other beasties. She's sold a lot of those puffs, and they're re-sold to a lot of Hogwarts students, and she's sold a lot of her pottery and her art work in London too."

Ruby ran next to Angus and smiled " might take you up on that." she said listening to him discribe his owl. " I think I'd like him" she said then chuckled as he went on to tell her about teh other animals " wow, I can't wait to meet them all, especialy Archangel, but most of all Luigi maybe hes just not found the right partner she said as they continued to run.

"I know you like to cook and now I know you have an owl called luigi who Im dying to meet, you've had shit thrown at you, I might add I want to string up by his balls or shrink him down to the size of a nat and squish him." she said using her fingers as if squashing something." no one does that to you." she said then heard him talk of Kates pottery and smiled "Oh, I belive so, I heard a few members talking about it, saw a peice once, realy good, practical too."

"I appreciate that," he said, as she spoke of how much he didn't deserve having things thrown at him, "but I have all sorts of shit thrown at me. I come from a big family. I have two brothers and two sisters, and a ton of nieces and nephews.

"I'll introduce you to the beasties at our place and Robert's. You're welcome to try to win over Luigi, but he's a hard case. If Kate doesn't get out to the barn today I'll have to go for sure, or the bowtruckle will cry all day, and he's just pitiful when he does that.

"You've already been seeing Kate's art. The dishes we've been eating from are all Kate's work. She loves doing big chunk pottery mugs because they hold the heat so well--a lot better than all that fussy Royal Doulton that the muggles loves so much. She started with the mugs and then added the plates, the bowls, the saucers, the dressier cups and saucers, and all the other pieces that we use here on a daily basis. The big pitchers we serve drinks in? Those are her work. Someone asked Khaat what her wedding china was going to be, and she said she didn't want any. What she and Brian both wanted was Kate's pottery in a complete dinner service. So, that's what they got from Kate and Robert. And we use it every single time we eat here

"And if you've seen that big textured fiber wall hanging in the upstairs hallway, that's hers too. The big painting above the fireplace in the living room is her work. Brian had his eye on the wall hanging and the painting when he saw them in an art show Kate displayed them at, but there were a lot of other people who wanted them too, so he had to actually outbid everyone else to get them. She didn't know who bought them until she saw them both hanging here."

Ruby steadied her pace as she spoke again " those were hers, they were beautiful." she head him talk about the barn and the animals in it, you like the animals don't you" she asked

"I saw it hanging there, its quite unique" she kept pace with him . "wow that is a big family, I have just twin brothers and Jessie, and he was a handful growing up." she told him " mom had complications with Jessie so she couldn't have any more. but I was teh first to go to Hogwarts then I left to work at the ministry was there for a while when Robert was in office, but I moved from one department to the other." she told him

"I do like them," Angus said, "but I admit, I like them a lot more since Kate has helped me understand them and their unique personalities. There's something to be said about the unconditional acceptance one gets from an animal too. They don't care if you haven't had a chance to shower before you feed them, don't care if you've had a spat with your best mate, don't care if you've lost 5 p at the race track. They just depend on you to take care of them, and in return they love you just the way you are."

"Kate has a studio here, by the way, A gift from Khaat and Brian a few years ago. if you look sometime across the back yard and you find the big tree house Brian built for Abbey, look just a little to your right and you'll see the top of the glass roof. the place is entirely glass, almost like a greenhouse, so that it gives her the maximum amount of light. If you can't find her, nine chances out of ten, that's where she is. And she takes Abbey there. She's got fingerpaints for Abbey and some other stuff that Khaat thinks Abbey is too young for. Kate and Brian don't sweat that stuff like Khaat does. Kate and Brian allow Abbey to be messy and they just flick it away with their wands after. Khaat tries to hard to do everything right. And Robert, he wants her to learn what the right way of something is so that if he makes an exception, she understands it's an exception."

"You know, we ought to get back. I'm sure Jess is probably serving up breakfast by now," he laughed. "And if we don't get back, Jack will make off with all the cinnamon rolls. He particularly likes them because when they're ready to be served, each one is the size of a dinner plate. And, yes, he can eat a whole one without much effort. I did try making them smaller, but they like the novelty of them being over sized. So, I've left them ginormous."

Ruby listened to him and marveled at what he told her " its uncondishonal love with animals " she said she listened more as he continued and chuckled " wow, this familys very creative, and a kid should be aloud to express them selves, it alows for individuality too." she said then sighed when he spoke of returning " and I was enjoying the company too" she said smirking at him as she ran " but I agree, that guy is hugh." she said " but thats good as a body guard, and realy over sized?" she ran next to him and smiled " you know I liked this, ushaly I run alone but...its been fun running with you I'd like to do it again, if you want to." she said keeping to his side as they heading back to the house.

"I'd like that," he said with a smile, "but right now, I think I'd also like some breakfast."

Marcus hadn't been able to sleep overnight, and while Robert had offered him a dose of sleeping potion, Marcus had refused. Robert had met with him overnight and had gotten him to give him the details of what they had been through. He had been exceptionally reluctant to talk about his own ordeal, but Robert had more or less strongarmed him into talking. Robert had offered Marcus a paid recuperative holiday, and Marcus had blatantly refused, refusing  now to leave Khaat under any circumstances, feeling the danger to her was exceptionally high. And, with some of his own battle scars not just from last night but from assignments gone sideways before he had met Robert and his family, he understood all too well what she was feeling, and it compelled him to stay with her. It was a commitment that Robert understood and had appreciated and allowed.

After Robert had gone, Marcus had refreshed himself, and, opting out of the morning run, he had gone to the kitchen after Angus and Ruby had gone on their run and found the kitchen empty. It had given him a quiet 60 seconds to grab a mug of tea and disappear up to his room again to decompress a bit in the silence.

When Robert had finished with Marcus, he had dressed for his trip to Paris and had gone to Khaat's room to check her and had seen the drugs were wearing off, and she was getting restless. He could see she was not aware she was home, and she was still hypervigilant, believing she was still with Gelding. He had awakened her and gave her a strong dose of a calming potion. He purposely wanted her to be a bit numb and to stop all the thinking and remembering. He had asked Kaden to bring her a mug of tea and had told Kaden she needed things to be as quiet as possible around her for today and that she should do no more than she felt like doing. Robert believed she would need his calming potion perhaps for today and might be more like herself tomorrow.

When Marcus had seen she was awake, he had a remedy of his own he wanted to try. He had gotten her robe out of her closet and had helped her with it and then had taken her out onto the balcony of her bedroom so she could see sunshine and trees and grass and smell the fresh air. He wanted her to see she was as far away from the darkness as she could be. She hadn't fought him on going outside, but when he had wanted to go back and get her tea mug, she had latched onto his hand and had clutched to it like iron. And so he had given up on fetching her tea and simply sat with her.

Kate made it finally to get a breakfast plate of her own, and she joined the others in the dining room.

"Any word on Khaat this morning?" Michael asked her, tucking into his own breakfast.

"Robert said she was waking up but she was rattled yet, so he's given her a calming potion. When he left, she was up in the chair in her room," Kate said. "I haven't disturbed her yet because i know Kaden is there, and I'm sure Marcus will be."

"Any word yet on what happened to them?" Michael asked.

"Yes," Kate said. "Robert talked at length to Marcus, but he's only given me the barest facts. I think he was in a hurry to get to Paris. You remember what Neo's and James put her through. Well, this was very much the same. Evidently, Gelding has hired some enormous thug. Marcus described him as reminding him rather of an evil jinn from a bad muggle movie, and said he was definitely larger than Jack and who has been specially trained to inflict pain and suffering. Marcus suspects this man has tinkered with not only bodybuilding but also enlarging potions to make himself ridiculously large."

"Swine. Sounds like Gelding tried to hire the devil himself," Michael seethed. "You realize this is 100% about him feeling a need to make Robert suffer."

"I think if Gelding can hire people like this, we ought to be able to find someone far less principled than we are to get rid of Thomas Gelding once and for all. I bet if I went to Knockturn, I'd find someone who was ready, willing, and able to do the job."

"Yes, I'm sure we could, but we're not killers, Kate. That isn't what we do."

"I'm a mother with a child that has been hurt once to often. You'd be surprised what tasks can rightfully fall under motherhood, Michael," she said.

"I don't doubt you, but let's wait and see what Robert has to say when he returns from Paris..." As he spoke, a message flittered out from the floo, and Kate caught it. She recognized Robert's handwriting, and she opened it at once.

It read: "I'm teaming up with the Ministry of Magic here for a full scale raid of Gelding's house and the lodge property. If we want a piece of it, meet me back at the gate we were at last night. R."  

She frowned, and looked at the envelope. It had actually been addressed to Brian, Jack, and R Team.

"R Team? What's that?" Kate frowned.

"Raid team. He's referring to the team that went with him last night," Michael said. "Suppose there's anyone who wants to go?"

"The better question is whether there is anyone who is able to resist and stay behind," Kate said.

Ruby smiled back to him and nodded " agreed, I want to try some of your egg caserole you made." she said as they headed back to the house.

Kaden watched as Marcus walked in and checked on Khaat when he asked him for some tea Kaden nodded and headed to the kitchen where he found Kate " well, she's awake but, Marcus is with her and says to give her some quiet for today." He said to Kate as he made a pot and placed it on a tray with a cup, sugar and milk before returning to the room. " your tea" he said placing it on a small table next to a seat. " I'll leve you be now that I know your awake." he told them and turned to leave the room and return to the kitchen.

On returning to the house Ruby headed to her room and showered redressing in jeans and a tee with Angus's shirt as an over shirt and a pairk of hicking boots. as she walked back out to the kitchen she heard Kate talking to Michael and shook her head. " both of those men should be in Askaban for their crimes." she said moving to prepare two cups of tea one for herself and one for Angus.

"That might be too good for them," Michael replied to Ruby. "On the other hand, escaping an eternity of misery might not be the answer either."

"Thank you," Angus said to Ruby for fetching him a mug of tea. "There's something rewarding about a good mug of tea after a run."

"For those of you who went with Robert last night," Kate announced to them all, "but Robert just sent a message by floo to all of you. He says he's teaming up with the French ministry of magic for an extensive raid of both Gelding's estate and the lodge property. He says that if any of you want to be part of that, you should meet him shortly at the gate. I don't know what gate he's talking about, but I presume you all do. So you know, there has never been any official governmental action against Gelding up to this point, despite all he's done. This is a first, and I presume it means they will search his house, his lodge and the building you were in last night."

"Hallalujah," Angus said, elated to finally see the French ministry of magic stepping up. "If you can spare me, Kate, I'd like to go."

"So would I," Mira said.

"I am definitely going," Brian said, barely able to contain his anger.

"Well, and if you think for one moment I'm staying behind..."

"Well, Michael can't go," Edward said. "And he's not exactly an authority with children, and obviously Marcus and Khaat will be here. So I'll stay, much as I'd like a piece of Gelding or one of his gorillas."

"I'll stay too," Gabe said, "for whatever help I can be here."

Kate took out her wand and transfigured her clothing to jeans and a long sleeved button down blouse, with the sleeves rolled up, done in a subtle floral print, her denim barn jacket, and her work boots.

"Anyone else going?" she asked.