A Birth day

Aria stood quiet as Marcus explained to the boys what as hapening she stood in her jeans tee shirt and converse shoes to look casual so not to stand out if he wanted her to bland in while watching the cafe. " here , breakfast and Edward I will surely rember that if and when I drink again" she said with a smirk as she placed down a plate for both Marcus and a small one with bacon on for finn " your a good boy" she said and rubbed behind his ear while chukaling,

Ruby finished her food and pored some coffee again this time she moved to the couch and sat down " so a long day ahead and I agree with Sam , she definatly has a problem in that department" she said while sipping her coffee and watching Caprice in her play pen " but be careful okay" she said and loked at both Aria and Marcus " you know how devious she can be."

Angus came downstairs, dressed, shaved and still yawning a little.

"Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Marcus teased him. "So much for our plan to run this morning."

"'Morning," Angus said. "We weren't running this morning."

"We should have been," Marcus laughed. "Tuck into some coffee, and then I'll go with you."

"You're welcome to come, but I think Edward would be a better choice."

"Where are you going?" Anise asked.

"I'm going to go talk to Fenrir," Angus said. "I won't be long. We have some surplus food, and I'd like to carefully approach him about donating it to the pack."

"Oh, could I go? Please?" Anise asked.

"What about work?"

"Jack won't care," she said.

"And what about Jack's boss? He might care."

"Wait. Who is Jack's boss?" she frowned.

"Me," Angus laughed. "I'll talk to Jack and see if he's good with you coming along for a quick trip but if he says you work, you work. Flat out. He has the right to determine that."

"Okay," she sighed.

"I suppose you want to come too?" Angus asked Ginger.

"No, I dont think so. There are some owl eggs that are due to hatch. I'd like to check on them and see if we have owlets yet," Ginger smiled, excited about the idea of seeing newborn owl chicks.

"They're cute. Little fluffy puffballs at that stage. Do not bring any home, or Ruby will want to keep them all," Angus told Ginger, making Ginger laugh.

Ruby smiled seeing Angus walk down the stairs poring mug of coffee she walked over to him " here hun" she said softly as she placed it in his hand then listened to them talk with a smile at the mention of owlets she awed and nodded " too true, he knows me well." she said and kissed his cheek gently before returning to the kitchen to help Aria finish the last of the cooking.

Aria walked out and placed a large plate on the counter just as Jack walked in "it's ready" she said pointing as he smiled widely at her.

"Nice" he said and moved to sit and eat. " been out in the barn, six owlets hatched, five female and one male" he said eating like he hadn't been fed in a week.

"hey slow down I do not want to pick your ass up off the floor" Aria said and Jack slowed down his eating. Ruby just chuckled as she listened.

"awe bet there cute" she said and saw Jack look at her.

"they have a fee that could slice threw your skin like paper" he told her and she chuckled nodding.

"I know" she told him as she watched him return to eating. " oh Anice would like to go with Angus this morning to deliver some food to Fenrir you okay with that?" she asked him as he looked at Angus.

"sure she can catch up when she gets back" he said and looked to Anise " the owlets need cleaning out and they will need feeding too" he added " I'll get the rest of the animals, oh and good luck with the old bat" he said looking at Marcus with a smirk.

"I'm not delivering food this morning," Angus clarified for Jack. "I haven't made up any boxes yet. I am only going to see Fenrir to see if he will accept some fresh foods without feeling insulted. I don't want him to suffer any loss of respect in his pack because of anything we might donate. I don't want them to presume he can't provide well for them. By the same token, if there are other things they need that are hard for them to get, if I can be helpful and provide them, I will. It was actually Robert's suggestion that we take some of our surplus harvest and donate it to the pack if they can benefit from it. if they accept it, I'd like to send them a box of fresh foods every month, but I don't want Fenrir to be insulted by it either. Anise suggested that perhaps we give the box to her father instead and let him share it with the pack, but I'd rather try to talk to Fenrir so he doesn't feel that we're trying to do anything shifty."

"I think being honest is generally always a decent policy," Marcus said. "And hasn't it always worked well for you with Fenrir that you have been candid with him and kept your word?"

"Seems to, anyway," Angus said.

"Then I think that continuing to follow that might serve you well this time too," Marcus said.

"I hope," Angus said. "Ill let you know what Fenrir says when I get back, Jack."

"And I'll come to work the minute I get back," Anise told Jack. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

Jack listened to Angus and Marcus and nodded as he ate the bacon that Aria had placed in front of him. " okay well I'll be in the barn waiting" he said " becuse I don't think he'l turn down free food for the pack, pack comes first, healthy pack means a strong pack" he added as he finished the bacon and stood up to move back out the door pausing he lookd at Anise nd spoke " see you in a bit" he said and headed out the door and across to the barn leaving Aria chukaling.

" okay so whats our next move? " she asked moving to finally sit nd eat her own food at the table with a cup of coffee as well. she refreshed Marcus and Angus mugs with fresh coffee while Ruby headed to fecth Caprice from her room where she could hear her chattering away in her crib.

"Thanks, Jack," Angus said. "Get your jacket, Anise, and we'll go." He got up and got his black duster and his hat and got ready to go. Anise had bought herself, with some of her savings, a black leather Brando jacket that was form fitting and a black leather newsboy cap. She put them on while Angus was putting on his duster.

"Now that looks like a father daughter duo if I've ever seen one," Marcus laughed. "New jacket, Anise?"

"it is. Sam helped me pick it out. I used some of my savings from my summer job for it. My first big purchase ever," Anise said.

"It's a great investment, and it looks really sharp on you. Well done," Marcus said.

"Thanks," she smiled.

"Ready?" Angus asked her. She nodded, reaching for his hand. "We'll be straight back, Ru. We won't be long. You know Fenrir--a man of very few words." He drew his wand and apparated the two of them out.

"We don't have any moves til tonight, unless one of your surveillance crews have bailed or something," Marcus said. "Or unless Robert fetches us for something..." Marcus was interrupted by the sound of a loud carriage, and some very noisy horses. Marcus got up and apparated out onto the lawn just in time to see a white Beauxbatons' carriage driven by a pair of gigantic, pristine white Abraxans. They were already swooping down to the yard and very nearly ran over him in the process. Marcus had to hit the ground and roll out of the way to avoid being run over by the abraxans and the carriage. They landed in the back yard of the estate, and when they did, the door of the carriage opened and two enormous crates were magically moved from inside the carriage to outside on the grass as the carriage driver shouted impatiently to Marcus.

"Observez les chevaux, Imbécile !" he shouted at Marcus. Marcus leaped to his feet and aimed his wand at the driver, tempted to turn him into a pile of horse manure in that moment. The doors of the carriage snapped shut and the carriage took to the skies, driving away in the same flurry they'd arrived in. Marcus went over to the crates and looked at the address labels. Then he went back inside.

"School supplies for the girls," he said to Ruby, now feeling cranky about the whole business.

Ruby watched as Angus and Anise readyied themselves to see Fenrir she smiled to Anise as Marcus spoke " with I had my camera" she said smiling as she walked with Caprice in her arms " be carful..both of you" she said kissing Angus on his cheek as Caprice grabbed at his coat. Aria looked at both of them then to Marcus and noded.

"Not that I know of, I would have been sent a note about their desershion" she said and she loked round the room " and no note so they are still watching the house." she chuckled but it was now she ehard the sound of a coach " wow whats that?" she asked moving behind Marcus outside to se two creats being placed on the ground. Jack had heard the noise and ran over to see the coach in the middle of the yard. Seeing the creats and what they were for he walked over and picked both up one under each arm.

" I'll take them inside, the kids can open them when there able" he said and started to move to the duplex " now get off my lawn" he growled as the door closed on the coach.

"Thanks, Jack," Marcus said. He went down to the basement and got a crowbar and pried open both crates. The moment the crates were opened, they unpacked themselves. Beautiful gold robes for Anise and white robes for Ginger floated up from the crates and put themselves on hangers. Those were followed by lovely standard blue Beauxbatons' uniforms floating up and putting themselves on hangers. Shoes and stockings and hats followed to complete the blue dress uniforms, along with heavy tea length winter wool coats in Beauxbatons blue floated up and hung themselves on hangers while winter boots, hats and scarves and gloves joined the shoes and stockings for the dress uniforms.

Marcus cast a spell to have the clothes go to the side of the room and hang themselves in a line, as they would be doing if they were hung in a proper closet.

"Looks like they will be properly outfitted right from the start," Marcus said. The next that followed were great stacks of textbooks, cauldrons, two basic potions ingredient kits, two lovely looking telescopes, and two leather shoulder bags done in Beauxbatons's blue. Finally, two letter size envelopes, in Beauxbatons' blue paper rose up from the crates and placed themselves on the top of stacks of textbooks. "Must be nice to have your school supplies unpack themselves and neatly arrange themselves. We certainly didn't have any such charms on our things. Professor Flitwick was most insistant that we put our things to rights as soon as we moved in. He wasn't having anyone just chucking their things randomly in their trunks. These Beauxbatons things just do it themselves."

Jack nodded to Marcu and laced them down in teh bedroom of the girls . he stood back as Marcus opend the creates and watchd as they unpacked themselves but moved when Ruby walked down " wow , thats neat, now the girls won't have to unpack." she said chukaling as did Aria s she watched the contents move and place them selves.

" I agree would have been nice though, my room mate wasn't the neatest" she admited and smirked at the memory or hiding a frog in his boot and the food that molded under the bed. Jack shrank the creates and carried them out of the room now that they were empty to break up and put in the recyle pile.

Angus and Anise apparated to the forbidden forest and took the walk in through the woods to where they knew the pack had usually set up camp. When they got there, Angus and Anise both knew something was wrong. The pack's campsite was abandoned. The fire was still smoking but it was largely out. Only a few hot coals remained. They'd been gone for several hours, wherever they went. Angus started to investigate the camp to try to see any traces of where they had gone.

"We had to move," a little voice said. Angus and Anise whirled around and saw a small girl, no more than five or six, standing near the edge of the clearing.

"Where did you go?" Angus asked.

"Deeper into the dark," she said.

"There was trouble," Angus surmised. She nodded.

"We got a donation of meat from someone who said they worked for those people with the fancy house. Where we camped."

"The big log house?" Angus asked. The little girl nodded.

"I think they were bad peoples, though."

"What makes you say that?"

"The meat made us sick," she told Angus. "Fenrir is bad sick. They think he's gonna die. My mama says she don't think it was from the same people. She thinks the meat was maybe from bad peoples."

"I'm from the big log house," Angus said. "I promise you it wasn't from us. Where is the pack? We can help. Can you take us there?"

"Not 'lowed," she said, shaking her head no. Anise took a deep breath and howled as close to a werewolf howl as she could do without being transformed. A moment or two later, Dennis walked out of the woods towards them. He was clearly very sick. He was pale and ashen, and he was holding his stomach, in great pain.

"Where is the pack?" Anise asked.

"Was it you? Did the tainted food come from you?" Dennis asked Angus.

"No. Absolutely not," Angus said. "Someone really said they were with Robert?"

"Yes. Brought us meat from a full cow, but it was tainted somehow. Almost the entire pack has been poisoned somehow. I think it is entirely possible our entire pack will die. Nothing we've tried has helped."

"We can help. You're clearly not safe here," Angus said.

"No. We're not. We moved deeper into the darkest parts of the forest but the pack is too sick to go any farther. I expect we may lose a couple of the old ones by nightfall."

"Not if I can help it. We didn't do this to you. We wouldn't do anything to harm any of you."

"And that's what I told Fenrir," Dennis said.

"Give us five minutes. Wait here for us. We'll go back and get help. We have to get you to a safer place and get you some help."

"Five minutes. Not a minute longer," Dennis said, nodding. Angus took Anise's hand and apparated back to the estate, landing near the barn. He didn't see Jack but he presumed Jack would surely be in earshot.

"Jack! We need your help!' Angus shouted. He figured they were going to need Jessie, Yu, Marcus and anyone else who could help immediately relocate an entire pack of deathly ill werewolves.