A Birth day

Ruby smiled seeing Angus come down but could not help but chuckle at his response " here you go hun" she said and placed a cup in front of him with fresh coffee in it. " hers like all of us in the morning, we can't function until we've had our first cup." she said with a smile to sam and Victor. she held Caprice and listened as the spoke about the paper they had to finish.

"Sam was talking about not finishing school but coming to train instead, I was trying to persuade him to stay in school," she told Angus " what do you think?" she looked at Angus as he started to talk to Sam and then mentioned the holiday " it's true" she reassured them both " its suposed to have the more beautiful views and historical ruins around," she said " it would be perfect for you to think about what you want to do in your future too" She sat back down and accioed a plate of waffles for Angus.

"Thank you," he told Ruby when she served him a plate of waffles. He accio'd the untouched copy of this morning's Daily Prophet and opened the paper to read it, and he was flabbergasted to see the morning headlines.

"Fenrir Grayback Arrested & Charged with Murder of Hogwarts' Professor"

When Angus read the headline, he nearly choked on his waffle. He dropped his fork and began to read very quickly. The news said that the school had found their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor dead in a farm field outside the Forbidden Forest, and the marks were telltale werewolf claw marks and were particularly brutal. Ministry officials were notified, and since Greyback was known to have lived in the forest, the aurors searched the woods for Fenrir. When they found Greyback, he was arrested but his pack appeared to have abandoned him, and he was quite alone. Ministry officials believed that the pack abandoned him out of fear because of  Greyback's murderous behavior and the committing of the murder.

Angus knew, with every bone in his body that they'd gotten it 110% wrong. He bounced up from the table and ran over to Edward's side, shouting for Edward. Edward met him in the kitchen, still only partly dressed himself. He had hurriedly put his jeans on but had only gotten as far as a white tee shirt and he was still barefoot.

"They've got it all wrong!" Angus said.

"I know," Edward said seriously. "I'm going to go see what I can do to find the pack. The last I knew, they were almost entirely young ones. If they still are, they will be scatterbrained and frightened without him."

"And at risk for being hunted and killed by every witch and wizard that believes they're nothing but savages. I'm going with you," Angus said.

"I know that Jack and Jessie will want to go, but this is one time they shouldn't, unless they realize that it is a massive risk to them. The ministry will still be prowling through the woods, and it is very possible that they would take Jack and Jessie into custody just because they're werewolves and for no other reason," Edward said. "If you're right about civilians hunting the pack, then by noon, that woods will be busier than Victoria Station. And we're coming up on a full moon. That could be an extraordinarily bad combination or both Jessie and Jack.

Sam picked up the newspaper that Angus had dropped and looked at the headlines.

"Didn't we pass this old dude in the forest the other night?" Sam asked Victor, showing him the front page with Fenrir's picture on the front.

"Yeah, that's him," Victor said.

"Apparently he murdered some...no, wait. They think he killed the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Idjits," Sam scowled. "It was that witch, not this old duffer."

"So that's what Dad's on about," Victor said.

"If he's right about all kinds of people going to the forest today, then he could well be right about the werewolves. They could be in incredible danger," Sam said.

"What are we gonna do?" Victor asked him.

"What can we do?" Sam sighed. "We're still underage. We just started our apparating class. We're not going to get too far by ourselves."

"This was entirely about us, though!" Victor was frustrated. "If Suzanne hadn't stuck her nose in where it didn't belong, none of this would be happening. It's our fault that old dude is being blamed for something that he didn't do. Well, something that Dad doesn't think he did anyway." Victor got up and went over to talk to Edward and Angus, and Sam hurried after him.

"This is all our fault," Sam interrupted Edward and Angus. "If Suzanne hadn't gone all stupid...." Angus looked at them and then he laid his one hand on each boys' shoulder and looked at them square in the eyes.

"No, now, steady, Guys. This was not your fault, not for a fraction of a second. Suzanne's stupidity and her own greed did all this," Angus said.

"She's so jealous," Victor said. Then he looked straight at Angus. "But, you should know. If all of this disappeared tomorrow and we were given back to her? I wouldn't go. I have a real family now. She can't have us, and you're just stuck with us." Angus laughed out loud.

"Well, I guess you're stuck with Ruby and me too."

"She's always been stuck with us, but you? You're just gonna have to suck it up," Sam said.

"I'll do my best to suffer through it," Angus teased.

"The point about this Fenrir Greybeard or whatever his name is,..." Sam said.  Edward laughed out loud, amused. "We want to help somehow," Sam finished.

"Well," Edward frowned, "if we consider that the witch was supposedly impersonating your professor, maybe there's a way to prove that, and that might help."

"How?"

"Think," Angus told them. "Stay here and think back across the last few weeks, from the time your professor changed your class to a lecture format. Think. Think hard.  Make a note about anything that we might be able to prove. Who knows? You two might have the key to free Fenrir Greyback--not Greybeard--by some little thing that seems trivial to you. Write it down. We'll go over it when I get back." They nodded. "And stay here with Ruby and Caprice. Look after them while Edward and I are gone. If you want to be fighters, you might as well start right here at home. Stay here, and keep them safe."

Ruby smiled to Angus as he thanked her for the plate of waffles and she smiled sitting down next to him. She looked up at him when he said they had got it wrong and showed her the headline abut Greyback being arrested. " wow , isn't that what happened with Sam and Victor though, he had nothing to do with.." she started but he stood up and left to find Edward leaving her with the boys.

Jack walked down the stairs to the kitchen he pored some cofee and sat down, picking up the paper he turned it to page one and paused blinking at what he read. Placing down his cup he with paper in hand headed across the yard to Angus's place and knocked. Ruby opened the door and pointed to Edwards side of the duplex where Jack headed " did you read this trash, blambing us weres for a witches dooing?" he asked showing them both the headline.

"Yes," Edward said. "We saw it. Angus and I are going to go see if we can find Fenrir's pack. The forbidden forest isn't safe for them anymore. They'll have to move elsewhere, at least temporarily." Edward glanced out the kitchen window and saw Robert, Michael, and Brian walking across the yard towards the duplex. Edward could only surmise that they had seen the papers too, and they had some ideas of their own.

"Looks like our fearless leader has something in mind," Edward said, gesturing to Jack to look behind him. When they all reached the porch, Edward invited them in.

"So, you've all seen the papers, I take it," Robert said.

"Indeed," Edward said. "Fenrir's pack is predominantly young--really young. They won't survive something like this without him and without help. Fenrir has committed his share of crimes, but, in this case, he's innocent. I'm not about to let him be forced across the veil for something he didn't do."

"Agreed," Robert said. "I thought about going to see Greyback, but I don't think any of us should do that until we've insured the safety of the pack first."

"Good thought," Edward said. "The problem is going to be finding a place to put them for now."

"Well, since time is of the essence, I can offer them one of two temporary places," Brian said.

"Three," Robert replied. "Brian and I have discussed us temporarily binding off a small sector of either this estate, or the Colorado ranch, or a small plot at Robert's farm. They're already unplottable. We can hide them for now."

"Colorado has a few very distinct advantages. The estate is bigger there, with a lot of mountain areas, woods, creeks, and the like. There are a lot of dry caves that would work as temporary shelters. There is wildlife they could hunt temporarily. Wherever we put them, we'll have to supply them with some barebones supplies so they can survive. Colorado also puts them well out of the reach of the Ministry aurors, so they can't be apprehended just because they're associated with Fenrir. The disadvantage is that they're out of England and some things over there are dramatically different."

"Agreed," Angus said, "but if they're hiding in the woods, they're not going to be exposed to much muggle culture anyway. I think they would be okay. If they're here or at Robert's we're closer to them to help them, but, if the Ministry finds out they're here, we could all be jailed as accessories. With a brand new baby, I'm not real excited about the possibility of jail. What do you all think?"

Jack stood and listened as he heard Robert and the others arive he nodded to them all and stayed listening as they dicused opetions " the west side of this estate has forests and caves they could stay in" he said " the wolves wouldn't bother them as they are east of them" he threw the paper in the bin as he moved to take a map of the estae and lay it on the table infront of them. " her and here this one has plenty of fishing holes and the other has caves they can live in until they decide."

Stepping back he looked at Angus , Robert and the others " Jessie and I cant go with you , if we're seen they will attack us." he said as the door to Edrwads Duples opened na dclosed behind him.

"I agree" Yu said walking in with Jessie at his side " They can stay here and guard the estate, I offer to go with you and help Greyback." He offered.

"Again," Angus said, "if we hide them here, that potentially puts everyone here on the estate in danger because we're still under the jurisdiction of the Ministry. If the Ministry comes here and finds the pack, we'll all be accessories to murder. Every single one of us could be tossed in Azkaban before we know what hits us."

"That is a very real possibility," Robert said. "Everyone is safer--them and us--if they're in Colorado."

"I can cloak them," Michael said. "It might hide them here, if we decide to try putting them here first, but that only works for small areas. It won't cover as big an area as you're thinking of, Jack. The spell isn't that powerful, and my magic won't let me stretch it a bigger area."

"Well, the spell just has some size limits, that's all," Robert said. "It has nothing to do with your abilities. If we house them here, we have to keep them supplied and fed. We'll have to have constant watch on the area to make sure the cloaking spell doesn't fail. If it fails, we'll have to re-cast it immediately. Some of you younger folks will perhaps remember it was the same spell Hermione used to conceal the camp that she and Ron and Harry stayed in to hide from Voldemort. I've used it several times over the years to hide some of our operatives in Paris, but Michael's right. It won't cover that large of an area. They'd have to agree to stay within the boundaries of it and to keep absolutely quiet if the Ministry shows up here uninvited."

"We could try them here, on the condition that if it heats up, we'll move them immediately to Colorado," Edward suggested. "They also have the right to refuse us and to try to handle it on their own, but I do think we need to offer them help, with some conditions to keep them all safe."

"I can always ask Lee for some additional guards to help monitor the boundaries of the cloaking spell area in case the spell fails and in case we need to move them quickly, but that means we have to find a way to house them."

"We could move in some caravans to house them near that area temporarily," Angus said.

"If we bring in caravans, we would house them near all the other housing so that if we're raided, the Ministry doesn't suspect something," Brian said. Angus sighed. It was all getting complicated, and the more they debated, the more time they were losing. And they all knew it.

Jack growled but said nothing more , more annoyed at th ministery and the cook who wrote the headline. "I didn't expect them to stay permeinanty, Just as a stop over as Robert said until they can be moved to colorado" he said as Jessie moved to stand with him. " but should we be trying to prove that it wasn't us werewolves that killed the teacher, that it was the witch that took the boys" he added his arms crossed over his chest not in anger but just out of curiosity.

Jess looked at Yu who smiled at him " its okay there trying to protect you and Jack, His idea has merit in safekeeping Greybacks pack" He explained and Jessie nodded.

"Im with Robert on this, a small hidden group will be better to keep hiden in the short time." Yu said "Jack and I can arange the men needed to keep the charm of invisabilkty going untill there are no more of Greybacks pack left."

"Calm, Jack," Robert said. "We will, but first things first. Safety always comes first, you know. Fenrir is about as safe as he can be for the moment, but his pack is in extreme danger. We have to rescue them first or offer them help. Once we take care of that, then the next step becomes trying to clear Fenrir's name so that the heat goes down on all werewolves. We'd have to bring Fenrir to his pack, wherever it is at that point, and then they'd have to stay there for some time while the panic from the public dies down. That's one of those things that always comes when werewolves are blamed for any sort of killing, whether they did it or not."

"Alright, so Angus and I will go and try to find the pack," Edward said.

"Brian, can you go talk to Kieran and Fiona to get them on board?" Robert asked. "I'll go talk to Lee off the record and try to get his help. It'll be touchy for Lee because he'll have to keep it secret from our Minister of Magic any agreement to help us or to turn a blind eye to what we're doing. I don't expect trouble for Lee, but we can't make it tough for him either. Michael, you go lay down a cloaking spell in the general area that Jack showed us on the map. Edward, you're going to need more people than just the two of you to go port people here. I'll send Marcus, Andrew, and Kate with you to help."

"I can help," Simone volunteered.

"Good," Robert said. "Let's move, People. The clock is ticking. I'll go send Marcus, Kate and Andrew right now. Good luck, All." He apparate back to the main house.

Jack nodded to Robert and relaxed against the wall with Yu and Jessie who nodded in agreement with Roberts plan. Yu looks at Jessie and smiles once more " you head back to the cottage and stay there until this is over" he said seeing Jessie was about to protest he placed his hand on his cheek " I need to know your safe as you're not back to full strength yet" he said simple and Jessie nodded heading out of the duplex and back home.

Ruby with Caprice in her sling listened quietly from the joining door. "I can help too," she said" I can cast charms and help prep hide the campsite" She looked at Angus " if anything happens we'll come right back here" she hoped he'd let her as she'd have Caprice with her and would not ever put her life at risk.

"That would be great. The boys will be good help too," Angus said. "If the staff takes some wagons of supplies, the boys can help offload them and put them in a couple of the caves. They can also help with the baby if you find you need it. Take them with you. Besides, it's best if they're busy and they don't have time to let their minds wander."

Kate and Marcus and Andrew arrived almost immediately after Robert arrived back at the main house.

"Shannon and Nicky are helping Khaat to gather supplies," Marcus said. "Brian's gone to Colorado, and Robert's gone to see Lee. Are we ready?"

"Yes," Edward said, drawing out the portkey. "Let's go, All." Edward took them and ported to the Forbidden Forest. There was already quite a crowd there on the road, wands drawn and heading into the forest.

"Damn," Angus sighed.

"Well, most of these people will choose the easiest path. If the pack is smart, they will go northwest because the school and the roads are on the southeast edge of the forest. If we're smart, we'll apparate over to the northwest edge and move south," Edward said. "We'll move quietly and quickly."

"You read my mind," Angus said. They apparated over to the other side of the forest and started moving as silently through the forest as they could. After walking nearly an hour, Edward could hear noise. It was the pack, he was sure, and, without Fenrir, they were in a complete panic and they were becoming scattered. That was increasing their panic.

Angus ran into a young female and she had a toddler with her and had a baby in her arms. She was wide eyed with terror.

"Wait, please," Angus said. "We've come to help. We know Fenrir is innocent..."

"Janelle!" a young man was panicking, seeing her with Angus.

"I won't hurt her or you," Angus called. "We've come to help you escape all this. We're the ones that brought you the supplies yesterday." He showed his hands to show he was unarmed.

"You're that...that one that talks with Fenrir," the young man recognized him.

"Yes. Fenrir has helped us, and we've brought you money and supplies," Angus said.

"Fenrir left us the money, but we can't stay here. They're gonna kill us."

"No, we won't let them. Can you call your pack here? We'll get you out, but we have to hurry," Angus said. The young man looked at the young woman.

"We don't a choice," she told him. "If we stay here, we die anyway." He nodded and he used a very quiet, subtle kind of all to call the ones who were close to him. Angus could hear another summoning call being relayed in short distances. Kate, Marcus, Andrew, and Edward all caught up with Angus as the pack members began arriving and gathering together.

"We know Fenrir is innocent," Edward said. "My name is Donohue. Fenrir trusts me, and some of you know that. We're here to get you out of here to someplace safe. How many of you are there?'

"In human terms? 38 adults," a middle aged man said "17 adolescents, 12 children, and 6 babies."

"73," Angus said quickly.

"Each one of us needs to take 12, and one of us will need to take 14 or 15 at a time. We need to move fast," Edward said. He quickly explained that a couple of them needed to grab hold, and the rest needed to grab hold to each other and hold tightly and not let go til they landed.

A number of the children and teens gathered to Kate. She had eight of the children and four of the teens and two young mothers with their babies. When she was sure they were all holding on quickly, she ported them to the back yard of the estate, hoping that the crew there had used the last hour or so and were prepared for the arrivals.