LONDON CALLING

"Sounds like we have a lot to learn, Jack," Victor said. "I don't mind. It's still the best place either of us have ever been." Sam pushed Victor's chair out of the house and back to the main house.

Sam brought the things inside and took them to Angus. Angus was going to take the things from him when he immediately saw the burn on Sam's forehead.

"Sam? What happened?" Angus reached up and brushed the hair off Sam's forehead.

"Meh. Spell went sideways," Sam shrugged.

"Only an idjit accios everything in the house," Victor said. "Good thing Jack was there. Doofus there got lobbed in the face with one of Ruby's necklaces."

"But that's a burn," Angus frowned.

"Yeah, the thing's lost it's mind. It's gotten all creepy," Sam said. "Glows this bizarre green, and when it hit me, it burned like fire."

"That's dark magic," Angus said. "And you say it was one of Ruby's necklaces?"

"Yeah. it was some gold thing that was teardrop shaped multilcolored stone."

"Oh, yeah," Angus said, remembering seeing the necklace before. But it had always looked like an ordinary necklace to him. "Where is it now?"

"Gave it to Jack. He was gonna have somebody look at it, so I'm guessing they put it away someplace," Sam said.

"Ruby, could you get the little white jar with the black lid out of the cabinet to the left of the sink?" Angus asked. "That's the jar of burn ointment. There is a little red glass jar on the counter back in the corner. That has cotton balls and cotton swabs in it, if you want one of those. It's not a big burn, but we don't want it to scar either. If that doesn't do it, we'll have Robert check it to make sure there isn't some dark magic effect on the burn itself."

Ruby listened to Sam and Victor then Angus she nodded and moved to fetch the burn cream and then walked over to Angus " here you go" she said. " I think Jessie took it to the lab for Gabe to look at when he gets back." Ruby told him asshe walked back to him with the cream. " I think it was the one my mother gave me before I left, thought she did it to be kind , guess I was wrong." she said shking her head at teh thought.

Jessie looked up and nodded his mouth full with the casserolle. " black box in the lab" he said finishing his food " if you want to check it out, but it gave off some serious bad vibes" he pulled aface at the thought and feeling he'd hand holding it.

"Well, maybe she did at one time," Angus said. "Or maybe she didn't know it was hexed. Hard to say. Maybe Gabe will tell us more." Angus tended Sam's minor burn. "Better?" he asked Sam.

"Hey, it doesn't sting anymore," Sam said. "Works better than the butter Mom used or the muggle crap Dad liked."

"Butter! No, no, no," Angus said. "Don't ever use butter on a burn. It keeps in the heat on the burn so the burn just keeps burning. Your mom was an idiot. Can't answer about the muggle stuff, but we have much better stuff here. We'll show you what to use if you need something for minor stuff but until we do, just ask if you need something. Now, lets see what we can make use of and what stuff we need to replace." Angus and Sam and Victor went through the stuff Sam had found. "YOU did great. You found it all," Angus said. "And there are only three molds to replace. The rest of it will be fine. We'll have to wash it all again, but then it'll be fine."

"And we got the new icing?"

"Fondant? Yes. Thanks to Ruby--she put a rush on it."

"So, we just need to wash it up and then we can start again?"

"That, and we need a place to work."

"Um...I'll come up with something," Sam said, as Robert came in from interrogating the last of the broom riders. He was dirty from the fire but he was hungry. He smelled the food and decided to wash his hands and get a plate and then take a shower.

"Robert, were they sent by Gelding?" Angus asked.

"Oh, definitely," Robert said. "You and I will need to talk a little later. I'm having Andrew and some of Lee's men gather up some clothes for all of you, and we'll wash them up when they get over here. The bedroom across the hall from Marcus is empty. The boys can use that. It has 2 twin beds in it, so they should be fine in there temporarily."

"Thank you. Is anyone using the old work table that's down in the weapons room?"

"No. It's just being stored down there. Why?"

"Mind if I borrow it for a couple weeks and bring it up to my office?"

"I'll go down and shrink it and bring it up. I presume you want a chair too?

"Yes, please. And tall shelving unit, and then down in the storage room, I have a large cardboard box marked totes. I need that box too."

"I'll see if Jack and Jessie will lend me a hand. Mind if i ask what it's all for?"

"Wedding cake assembly," Angus said.

"Oh, well, then of course. I'll see if we can do it right away."

"I'll help," Sam said.

"Robert, when you get done eating, take just a quick look at the burn on Sam's forehead. Evidently he found a dark arts object the hard way." Robert got up and went over and looked at the mark.

"Necklace. Where is it now?"

"Locked up in the workroom. Was a necklace of Ruby's," Angus said.

"Well, that's not good," Robert frowned. "I'll go get Gabe and get him on it. He found some wild herbs in the woods and he's been gathering herbs and some wild mushrooms. I'll try to get his attention and get him back inside."

Ruby was taken aback when Sam said her mother use to put butter on burns and looked at Angus " I don't think she was trying to heal it" she said and looked worried at Sam than to Angus. she heard Angus mention her rush order of the fondant and nodded " I knew you needed it fast." she said and smiled at them both. She saw Robert walk in and heard Angus talk to him Jessie stood up and looked at them both.

"I'll go now and fetch it, where do you want it?" he asked and heard all the other things that were needed " might as well get them too." he offered as he moved down to the weapons room to get the old work table and chair before he found the large cardboard box marked tote. He shrank it and placed it in his pocket before moving back up stairs to find Angus and the boys. okay got it , can one of you boys show me where to put it?" he asked holding out the now shrunk work table and chairs.

"Dad used to say she was just stupid," Victor shrugged. "He wasn't any brighter, though. It's a wonder any of us have an IQ point between us, if we actually came from them."

"My office, please, Jessie," Angus said. "We might need to enchant the room to make it a tad bigger, though.

"We'll sort it out somehow," Sam said, and Victor agreed, heading for the office. Robert found Gabe, who had a large trug with him of fresh wild mushrooms and herbs and he set it on the kitchen table to head upstairs with Robert to check out the necklace. When Robert returned, he and Angus went into Brian's office to talk.

Robert was concerned, foremost, about the fire and about the information he'd gotten from the broom riders. They had all said, separately, that Tom had upped the stakes on wanting to take out both Robert and Angus. The need to take out Robert was not new news. That had been going on for some time. Robert was now basically just minimizing the time that he was out and about and available for Gelding's people to get access to him, and Khaat had put plain clothes security officers throughout St. Mungo's to allow her and her father to do their duties relatively unhindered. Robert believed that the risk to Angus had skyrocketed since adopting the boys. He did not believe that Suzanne had any real intention of hurting Ruby because Ruby carried Suzanne's first grandchild. Angus, however, was highly disposable to Tom and to Suzanne.

Robert had made a firm decision that there needed to be more men on the grounds and that those men all had to be trained in personal protections skills. James still wanted Khaat, and if he could manage to take out Edward as well, then James would be a lot less hindered, so the increased guards were becoming necessary. He would talk to Jack about that and about perhaps having Jack take on additional training so he and Marcus could head the personal protections unit that Robert was creating. Robert was looking at having Angus decrease some of the Paris missions when he got his mobility back simply because Angus needed to have time to adjust to being a father to two, and eventually three, children. He wasn't going to strip Angus of it altogether because Angus loved the work so much, but there was a completely different and much bigger picture now to be considered.

While they were talking, Robert made a quick assessment of Angus's health. He believed the regeneration was continuing to go very well, but he found the knot on Angus's head. Robert did not accept Angus's quick brush off but instead he forced Angus to tell him what had happened. When Angus did tell him, Robert gave him an exceptionally stern lecture and warning about trying to push the rehabilitation beyond what Andrew was doing with him. He understood Angus's impatience, and he agreed to talk to Andrew to see what could be perhaps increased but Robert wanted absolutely not one more incident of what he called "stupidity" on Angus's part. He agreed not to out him to Ruby because he saw no good coming from it, but he told Angus he absolutely would not hide things from her either. Angus was on his own in that department.

"Oh, and by the way," Robert said, as a means of starting to close the discussion, "If you think that you'll get by me, I should probably tell you that Andrew now works for me. I offered him a permanent position here, and he took it. And he will be instructed to tell me any and all developments, so if you're planning on trying to design your own rehab, you might want to think again."

"I offered him a permanent position too a couple weeks ago," Angus said.

"Yes, I know. I offered him more money and a cabin, and he took it," Robert told him. "Lee's people have agreed to pack his things and just ship them. I think Lee wants Andrew's apartment for a couple new hires anyway so it moves things along for Andrew. By the way, Rowan wants to join us too. Any objections?"

"No, no objections. How is Michael with it?"

"Michael's fine with it. He doesn't know Rowan enough yet to have any objections, and he's always rather thought that as long as someone does the job to the best of their abilities, then there shouldn't be an issue."

"He's never had to contend with having family working at the same place before, though."

"Yes, I know, but I think he'll be fine. Oh, one more thing. Stop dodging your tonic. This one also helps accelerate the regeneration."

"I'm not dodging it. I just forget, and at night time, I've been just accidently falling asleep."

"Then I'll get Andrew on it. I heard about the falling asleep in the recliner. That's because you're not resting during the day and you're still getting overtired. I'll get him on that too. Move the boys' schoolwork to the afternoons so that you can rest while they're studying. That will help you and them.. Your energy will be better to focus on them in the morning and then again in the evening. And the fact that they'll have to keep the house quiet to let you rest a little will give them no other alternative but to study or be bored. And, you'll be able to actually go to bed in your own bed, so Ruby won't feel rather abandoned by you sleeping in the living room. I'm sure that has to be getting a little old for her."

"Yeah, probably."

"So make the change."

"Yeah, okay."

"And pace yourself with these cakes. Ask Kate to help with some of the fondant sculpting. If she can sculpt clay, she can sculpt fondant, I'm sure, and she'd be delighted to even be asked."

"Hadn't thought of that. I have thought, though, how much I'm going to miss that skylight that got destroyed today."

"We can probably restore that magically. If not, I'll have her get on it."

"Thank you."

"Okay. Meeting adjourned--unless we have to talk again about you not complying with medical advice."

"Okay, okay. Message received," Angus said.

Jessie moved with the box to the office and smiled as Sam joined him " right we're going to magically enlarge the room and add some shelves and a marble top table for Angus to work on, marble is col so the fondant won't get sticky." Jess said as he cast the resizing spell making the room twice the size it had been, then he added three simple metal shelves to one wall and a marble table that had rollers to the center which could be pulled out, He also added several wipes clean stools for the boys to sit at. Plcing down teh toold on the counter he smiled " okay, you think he'll like it?" he asked " start sorting and putting away the tools." he said as he added three mixers to one wall.


Jack walked in and looked at Angus and Robert who were talking once they fiished he spoke. " alls clear. I had the men do a sweep of the grounds, all men reported in and no other markers found." he said brushing dirt from his trousers. " although that hypogriff realy didn't like me going threw the padock, blasted thing chased me half way around the blooming thing." he said turning so tehn could see the impreshion of a hoof print on his...butt."

"We still need to wash up all the tools and the molds before we can put them away," Sam said. "He wants to be sure they're all clean and free of ash and soot and from smoke smell. Then we'll put them away. It's gonna take a bit to wash because he's got a lot of stuff, but Vic and I can get that. I think he's gonna like it. I know this is really important to him. He's sorta warned us he's going to be really picky because he says this has to be perfect. I'm not sure why he's letting us help if he wants perfection. We sure don't know what we're doing. It is fun, though. Bet you never thought we'd be making sugar flowers, did you?"

"And bugs," Victor said. "I've learned how to make ladybugs and bees, and he had some incredible looking dragonflies, mushrooms and flowers. You should have seen his roses. They looked real. And now we have to start all over again. I know he wants to surprise his grandpa and his girlfriend. I think he's nervous, though. He's nervous about the cakes and he's really nervous about being his grandfather's best man in a wheelchair. That bugs the crap out of him. He's been screwing around at the house when he thinks nobody's looking and trying to get up on his feet and walk. I found some blood in the shower yesterday, and he said he showered by himself and fell and hi this head. Idiot."

"There's no way Ruby knows because she'd lay into him, but its not our job to tell her," Sam said. "I did tell Andrew, though."

Jessie listened and chuckled " he is a perfectionist after all and Im sure Robert will talk to him about that, pushing himself is not good, but I do agree telling her would only stress her out, and right now thats not what she needs" Jessie said turned on the sink and filled it with warm soapy water. " there you go, now wash the tools carefully." he said and stood with them as he added the tools to the sink for washing, the ones that could be washed . " I'll wash, Victor you dry and Sam you put them away." he said smiling "it saves time."

Jack loked at both Robert and Angus  " oh come on you can't tell me being kicked by a hippogriff isn't bad or comical." he said using his hand to try and rid himself of the mark on his trouser pants. " certainly ruins the pants, oh a box came from Hogwarts I belive its the boys books as things." he said motioning to a box now sat infront of the fire.

"The hippogriff is a touchy old buggar," Angus laughed. "Kate seems to have a way with him, and she's even taken Abbey to meet him a couple times. I think he gets that Abbey's just a baby because he's really gentle with her. Kate seems to be able to talk to him at times--when he's in the mood to listen. Probably because his head is a bird of prey, so he really is a bird brain. Anyway, next time, take some meat with you. If I don't have a fresh hunt to take, I'll take a piece of pork tenderloin since it has about the same long shape as what a ferret or a rabbit would be. A nice piece of meat before you want him to settle for you seems to butter him up."

"Turn around, Jack," Robert said, seeing Abbey come into the kitchen. He looked at Abbey, giving her a finger to his lips as a signal to not tell. When Jack turned around, rather than just helping him clean up the mark of the hippogriff bird foot mark on Jacks tush, he decided to pull just a tiny prank on Jack. He did clean the mark off Jack's jeans, but he also cast a bit of a jinx making the foot mark actually show up on Jacks' tail end with a bright glowing purple hippogriff foot print. It would wear off eventually. Abbey couldn't contain herself, though. She burst into hysterical laughter, and it make Angus laugh too.

The boys peaked out of Angus office and saw what Abbey and Angus were laughing at.

"Oh my lord," Sam laughed, motioning to Jessie to come look. "Not sure who did it but somebody has better mischief than we do."

Jessie moved to the door and laughed hard at the sight, Jack in the meantime tried to see what was done but when he caught sight burst out laughing too. " okay, now that's funny" Jessie said trying not to laugh as he headed back into the room. But he was glad Jack saw the funny side of it too.

"Okay thats going to need explaining to Jess when she gets home," he said to Angus and Robert still chuckling " and I'm glad Abby got a good laugh," he said smiling at her. " I think after today we all needed a good laugh," Jack said seeing his trousers were now clean. " well thanks for the clean up." he sid to Robert " and the lasting reminder" he rubbed the spot on his butt where teh hoof mark was.