A new member,

"Khaat, show Jack your necklace," Robert said quietly. Khaat unbuttoned the collar button on her white dress blouse and showed Jack the green emerald pendant around her neck. It only had a very tiny green glow to the stone right now.

"My brother had that made for Khaat when we knew Kate was pregnant," Robert told Jack. "It was made by Nicolas Flamel before he died. Remus put it around her neck the night she was born and charmed it that only he could take it off. And of course he's gone now, so it appears she's stuck with it. I don't know that we know all that it does, but what we do know is that it keeps her from being able to be turned by a werewolf. As far as I know, it protects her from being bitten. It doesn't protect her from scratches, but it is said to protect her from bites.

"I suspect it wards off a werewolf with ill intent," Robert continued. "I think the tiny green glow you see right now is the stone detecting you're nearby, but clearly you are not a threat to it. The necklace will help to protect her to some extent, but she is going to have to be more vigilant in using her doubloon if she is in trouble."

"I can hire an extra guard for her, since we're all being pulled in different directions," Brian said. "We all do need to work."

"I can take care of myself," Khaat said. "And please don't talk about me as if I am not here."

"My apologies, my dear," Robert said. "However, you might be in far more danger than you realize. Jack would not be concerned if this were something to take lightly. He is correct that if a werewolf becomes fixated upon a female for a mate, the drive to get that female can appear to increase. as is with many animal species. How this will affect James is something we have yet to discover, but if Jack is correct, we might not want to take it lightly."

"Then I'll be careful," she said.

"At the very least, you'll be careful, but I will increase the shields to the house and the guard, just to be certain. Not to change the subject, but Angus, I'm starving."

"The Asian chicken salads I made for lunch should still be available, if we just reheat the chicken a little," Angus said. "Anyone else hungry?"

"I thought I told you to watch out for that type," Khaat teased Jess. "Looks like it's too late, though."

"I'll help you reheat that chicken," Kate told Angus, and they headed to the kitchen.

"Uncle Remus was never sure he was safe to be around, and, at the time, he believed he would never have a child of his own. So he wanted me protected from him. He didn't envision me being in danger from other werewolves. He was protecting me from himself," Khaat told Jack. "He believed I would not be sufficiently afraid of him, and I wasn't ever afraid when I was with him."

"A selfless gift, for certain," Robert said, "which was why we allowed him to give it to you.

"Still, I won't take any chances with my family," Brian said. "I want everyone in this house to be safe from any threat, and it seems James just placed himself at the top of my list."

"Maybe I should give up missions work," Khaat sighed.

"That seems a bit premature," Brian said. "It's work you enjoy, and there are times when we need every hand we can get. We might want to be a little selective, though, on what you go out on. Jack, I presume that if James is preoccupied with his thoughts of Khaat that he won't pay quite the same attention to other women? Say, Kate or Jess, for example? Not that you wouldn't defend them, because I'm sure you would. But it sounds like he's going to be pretty focused just on her. Is that right?"

"You really aren't making me feel any safer, you know," Khaat sighed, annoyed a bit with Brian. "I think I'm going to see if Abbey is awake and wants a late lunch with the rest of us." She headed upstairs.

"Oh believe me," Robert said, "I am not the least bit offended that James will not be hunting for my wife. No offense taken at all. And I am glad we don't have to worry about them so much."

"But surely Khaat has my scent, then," Brian said.

"Yes, that would be logical. However, I believe Jack's entire point is that right now, James is not entirely logical where Khaat is concerned."

"Of course he isn't," Brian sighed, frustrated.

"We are not about to let him have her, so have no fear," Robert said.

"Come and eat," Kate called them. "These salads are too beautiful to waste."

"Come," Robert told them. "it's been a busy morning. Let's get some lunch."
Khaat brought Abbey downstairs, and Robert took her from Khaat and took her into the dining room, talking to her about chicken, hoping to get her hungry enough to eat something besides berries for a change.

"Jack," Khaat said quietly to Jack on the way to the dining room, "if it ever comes to making a choice, promise me you'll save Abbey before you save me."

"Khaat," Brian scowled.

"I need to know," she frowned at Brian.

"Thank you," Khaat told Jack. Khaat and Brian both understood Jack's choice to rescue innocents first. It was the same sort of choice that they themselves would make. They went into the dining room, and Robert put Abbey into her high chair, as Angus put a toddler plate in front of Abbey with little bites of chicken, some pieces of roasted carrots and a red raspberry pudding. Abbey appeared delighted. She started dipping her chicken and carrots in the pudding and eating it.

Khaat was pleased that she wouldn't have to beg Abbey to eat. She didn't care that Abbey was eating pudding. She was just delighted that Abbey was eating her lunch.

"How did you come up with this?" she asked Angus about the pudding.

"We feed a lot of children," he smiled at her. "They normally prefer applesauce or chocolate pudding, but I know that isn't what Abbey likes."

"Thank you," she said. "Its the first I haven't had to beg her to eat."

"Well, let's hope the meals always go this way, but I wouldn't count on it. I'll have to be thinking of what else I can do when she tires of pudding."

"I'll be back," Brian said, seeing his bloody clothes. "I really need to change first."

"Let me handle that for you," Kate said. She flicked her wand at Brian, casting a cleaning spell on his clothes to remove the bloodstains. "That's better. Come and eat. We'd much rather have you at the table." She put her arm around his waist and gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks," he said, glad he was still around to get Kate's motherly affections. They sat down at the table and tucked into the chicken salads. Khaat loved Angus's Asian salads, especially his choice to make a warm Asian dressing instead of just any ordinary Asian dressing.

"I really love the warm dressing for a change," Robert told Angus. "Well done. It's a nice change."

"In America, they do a warm bacon dressing on spinach salad, and that was my inspiration for a warm Asian dressing," Angus said.

"I have a feeling this house is going to eat very well from now on," Kate laughed. "I might never need to cook again."

As they were eating, an owl arrived for Brian. He opened it, and sighed.

"You'll have to excuse me, Everyone," he said, laying his napkin aside. "I lost track of time. I'm late to teach a class to new aurors at the Ministry."

"No," Robert said firmly. It was firm enough that it made Brian pause.

"What?"

"You heard me," he said. "You aren't fit to teach a class this afternoon. Those spider bites aren't anything to take lightly." Robert snatched the message and wrote a quick note on it and sent it back with the owl. "Class dismissed," he told Brian. "They'll excuse you today. You can teach tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, I might take them into the catacombs and we can chase those spiders back out again," Brian said. "We do not need acromantulas running around below Diagon Alley. What if they came up to the surface?"

"I haven't forgotten," Robert said. "We needed to take time to tend to ourselves and make sure we were secure here first. Now that everyone is alright, I might take Jack and Angus and go spider hunting tonight. If you're both up for it, that is." He looked at Jack and Angus. "Brian's right. We need to drive them back towards Hogsmeade and seal up whatever passage allowed them to get from the Forbidden Forest down into the catacombs in the first place. I presume that James created a way for them, so I think we need to seal it back up again."