A Birth day

Ruby sat and listened to Angus smiling when he thanked her for the whisky she turned to look at Kate when she spoke then back to Angus " yeah " she said smiling and chuckled " but I think Kate might be from what I cansmell, humm delishious" she said.

"true" Aria said as Jack walked up behind her and looked at the scratches " what do you think?" she asked him stepping to one side so he could take a closer look. Jack lent down and lifted his wand that now glowed with light .

" not children but not adults bigger than a teen , young adults teo of them" he said then looked up " ah, and an adult see" he pointed to sebveral scratches abouve them. " trainning " he said simply as Aria then moved to look around the room she saw several peices of rotting wood still poking out of the holes that once held shelves and old peices of paper scattered around the floor some being burnt on their edges.

"im thinking theres nothing here and Puddlemere is the right place after all" she said kicking a botle than smashed and its black contents spilled into a puddle on the ground. " maybe we should leave here ." she looked up at Marcus.

"I agree. Besides, I think that since none of us have been to Puddlemere, we might want to go and get back before it gets dark. It's definitely going to be harder to see, and I doubt that we're going into any sort of affluent neighborhood. The last thing I want to do, if we don't need to, is to be going into a strange slum area in the dark," Marcus said. "Any objections, Jack?"

He drew a map of Puddlemere and the area around it out of his pocket and checked it.

"Bezoar Boulivard," Marcus said. "Not sounding like a lovely place, is it? Plumstone lives on Bezoar, and Littletree lives on Rusty Cauldron Lane, right around the corner from Plumstone. I'm ready when you are. Shall we?"

"I think I've got it," he said. "Looks like the street we want is here." He pinpointed the streets where the boys lived.

Aria moved towards Marcus and stood with him as he looked at the Puddlemere map her torch giving a bit more light so he could see as Jack walked over " none from me, those marks are years old" he said Aria could not help chuckle at the names of the streets " who names streets like that, might have just called one Junk it all lane." she said as she took hold of Marcus so he could port them to Puddlemere.

Jack chuckled and nodded at Arias words " yeah but theres nothing here " he said and placed his arm around Arias so not to be left behind since he didn know where Puddlemere was and had never been there " sounds like a super fun place though" he said with a chuckle " okay Marcus let go we're ready" he said.

Marcus laughed at her street name idea.

"I like yours better," Marcus said. He flicked his wand and apparated them to Puddlemere to the corner of Bezoar Boulevard and Rusty Cauldron Lane. There was, actually, a boulevard of sorts down the center of Bezoar Boulevard, but now, it featured dead trees, knee high weeds, and a plethora of broken down furniture and some rubbish bins. "Lovely, isn't it?" Marcus said. Both sides of Bezoar had old brick row houses that had seen better days, likely, before Edward VII had even been born. He was guessing that the bricks were held, one on top of the other, by luck more than mortar now. But they were still here, nonetheless. And Rusty Cauldron didn't look a whole lot different. The biggest difference that Marcus saw was the Rusty Cauldron didn't have a boulevard.

"So, I think we go this way," Marcus pointed to his right, down Bezoar. "We're looking for number 11." He turned and headed down Bezoar and found that the odd houses were on his left and the evens were on his right. Number 11 was the sixth house on the left. There was a rusty bicycle sitting outside, leaned against the brick, and it had a flat tire. Marcus went up to the door and knocked. He heard a large dog's deep throated bark from inside, and he smelled stale cooking oil as he stood on the stoop. Why did all slum houses smell the same? As if the washing up hadn't been done in a month or four. It stunk.

A woman in dirty jeans and a mustard yellow knit sweater that was unraveling answered the door. She had the stump of a lit cigarette in her mouth.

"Yeah, whatcha want?" she asked.

"We're here to see Hugo," he said.

"Don't know anybody by that name," she said.

"Well, that's too bad. See, I bought some of those knicked potions from him, and I still owe him six galleons and 2 knuts," Marcus said, reaching in his pocket and fetching out seven galleons. She went to snatch them out of his hand, and he closed his fist. "Oh, no, not for you. You said you never heard of him...."

"Hugo, get your stinking arse down here this minute," she turned and shouted up the stairs. "Bloke's got your money, he does." Hugo ran down the stairs, but when he got to the door and saw Marcus, he was going to turn and dash off in the other direction. Marcus, though, snatched him by the collar and dragged him outside and backed him up against the wall. "While we have a little chat with Hugo, do try to make sure that Mummy Dearest doesn't dash away, would you?" he looked at Aria.

Aria and Jack both looked up and down the road they has apperated to Aria shivered " Im expeting nearly headless nick to float our way" she said moving a might closer to Marcus as they walked up to a door and he knocked . Jack hung back in the shadows ready to chase should it be needed. Aria watched as the door opened and tried not to gag as the smell hit her. She stood beside Marcus as he spoke to the woman then as she called the boy she watched him grab the boy as she moved to watch her. " on it" she said " so how long you lived here?" she asked with her arms folded but just got a glare from the woman befoe she spoke " get yuor ands off me boy" she holloered to Marcus.

Jack seeing the woman stepped out between the two partys and growled at her making her become silent " as I thought" he said making Aria smirk at him.

"don't worry about him hes a big softy" she teased to Jack who rolled his eyes at her but she didn't tke her eyes off the mum.

"Who'd you nick the potions for, Hugo?" Marcus asked the boy.

"What potions?"

"Look," Marcus said. "My tall friend there has patience. Me, not so much. You have five seconds to tell me who you work for, or I'm going to turn you into a muggle coin and chuck you into a parking meter and leave you there--forever...."

"I don't know nothin'!" Hugo shouted.

"Yes, you do. Who do you work for?"

"She's some crazy old bat, she is. She offered me and Archer nigh onto 30 galleon if we went in, took whatever potions we could find, and one of those green tanks and bring 'em back to her."

"What old bat? What's her name?"

"Dunno! She never gave it."

"So where'd you give her the potions?"

"Archer and I met her at that natty looking coffee shop downtown near the quidditch stadium. She took the goods and gave us only half pay for the job. Said we didn't nick enough for her."

"What's she look like?"

"Old woman. Blonde hair. Dressed to the nines. Looked bloody outrageous for the coffee shop, I' tell ya. And she had some bloke with her that looked nigh onto a gorilla. Not very bright, that one. He carried the tank and she took the bag. Told us we'd get the rest of the pay when we finished the job."

"And what's the rest of the job?"

"Get more of 'em, Genius," Hugo rolled his eyes at Marcus like Marcus was a moron.

"So why not just nick a potions shop?"

"Nah. Won't work. Says they gotta come from the hospital, they do. Can just be from anywhere."

"Why?"

"Didn't say. But we don't get paid anything if they're not from the hospital."

"When do you meet her again?"

"Tomorrow night. Late. Just before the coffee shop closes."

"What'd ya get messed up in this time, Hugo? Told you not to trust that floozy. Bad news, didnt I tell ya?" the woman said.

"How do you know?"

"She's wearing a mink, she was. What woman with a mink needs some little street rat to nick potions for her?" the woman asked. Marcus thought a moment, and then he got out his wallet and pulled out a picture and showed it to her. "Yeah! That's her! How'd you know?"

"Wild guess," Marcus said, showing the picture to Jack and Aria. It was a copy of a photograph of Suzanne.

Aria listened to the mother and son talking and gave a long sigh knowing from the discription who it was and she hated that face " shesh doesn't she ever give up" she said as Jack looked at her and shook his head. Aria thought for amoment and chuckled " hey why not give the boy his other half and we meet her at the coffee shop , or he could sit aiting while we watch once she shows we confrunt her?" she sugested thn shrugged , your choice" she added.

Jack moved to Marcus and looked at him " if its suzzane we need to tell the athorities, she's already on a short leash with them." he said softly to Marcus with one eye on the boy as he stood close. Leaning closer he whispered again " besides the smell from that house is going to knock my nose out if we stay any longer" he looked pleading at Marus for them to leave.

"Look, Hugo," Marcus said, "you buggared it today. The man you assaulted was the Deputy Minister of Magic himself..." The minute Marcus said that, the woman started slapping Hugo on top of his head over and over, shouting cuss words at him, and telling him that she wasn't bailing him out of the nick this time.

"Stop it, ya crazy old cow!" Hugo yelled, and for that, she hit him twice as fast as before.

"Reel her in, would you?" Marcus looked at Jack and Aria. When Jack and Aria had her under control, Marcus looked at Hugo. "You go anywhere near the hospital, and you and Archer will be in Azkaban til you're old and gray. I promise you that. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to do exactly what we tell you. You and Archer and your family members put one toe out of your houses for the next 24 hours, and all of you will be in Azkaban until I say otherwise. Understand me? I will have these houses under constant surveillance. We will come and get you tomorrow night and we will give you a package to give to that old woman, and we'll be going with you. You'll do only what we say, and you'll say only what we let you say. Understand?"

"Or else..."

"You're not going to feck this up, Hugo," his mother shouted. "I ain't doin' no stretch in Azkaban for you, and neither is your father. So shut up and get this straight." She looked at Jack and Aria. "I ain't stayin' in the house either. I need cigarettes and a hell of a lot more beer if I gotta be trapped in the house with this little delinquent."

"Leave the house, and you'll go to Azkaban, same as your boy," Marcus said, not giving her any leverage. The woman looked at Jack and Aria.

"Don't 'spose you'd get 'em for me, wouldja?" she asked them.

Jack saw what the mother was doing and took hold of her collar and lifted her to move her away from the boy then Aria stood between them as he stepped back a bit but kept a tight hold on her as she spoke and Marcus. " we got her" Aria aid then scoffed at her request "I guess if it keeps you inside, we can get it delivered, as Im not returning here." she said folding her arms across her chest as she watched the woman." will that do?" she asked as she looked back at Marcus and spoke softly "Might throw in some food, cleaning materials and air fresheners too" she said making Jack almost drop the woman as he stifled a chuckle.

Aria looked back to the woman as Jack placed her on her feet. " this is a one off, do not and I mean it do not come looking for any more handouts." she told her seeing the husband standing in the doorway watching as Jack held the woman and Marcus held the boy. " we should get back Marcus and report what we found as well as get the care package for Hugo ready" she suggested to him then looked at Huge " make sure your friend gets half  of the food no skimping and remember, do not leave for twenty-four hours" she paused and looked at them all "As my.. colleague already said we will have people watching, so we will know if you left."

The woman started naming what beer brand and cigarette brand she wanted, and Marcus cut her off.

"Shut it," Marcus said tersely. "You'll get what we get you, take it or leave it."

"Bastard," she scowled at Marcus.

"That's right. You might want to remember that," Marcus said. "And remember, if you leave here, we'll know."

"How? Ain't nobody here," she smarted back at him.

"You're not supposed to see my people unless I want you to see them," he laughed darkly at her. She shivered and she dragged Hugo back inside and slammed the door shut.

"You do realize we have to go see the other little fart now, don't you?" Marcus said. "Aria, why don't you let Jack and I do the shakedown on Archer, and you go touch base with Jessie and Yulong. See if they won't send Cris over to our place while Jessie and Yulong get the cigarettes and then get some of the Paris crew to do some surveillance over these two places and the coffee shop for the next 24 hours? They can buy the care package and make sure that the Paris crew has a good plan in place to keep these three addresses locked down. Cris can stay with us at the duplex til Jessie and Yu get back."