A Birth day

"I'm glad you like it," Angus said. "I've been encouraging Lizzie to take more culinary risks. We'll never know what Sparks can truly do until we take some risks and try. She's been doing a few custom cakes and birthday parties, some catering, that sort of thing, and she's debating on maybe putting a catering kitchen in the basement and hiring on another chef and another team to take on some of that work. If the pizza thing works, that'll be another location, another chef and yet another team. I may have to take on some management of some of that for awhile until it sorts itself out, but I think in time it could run itself, if we find a good team."

"That's really ambitious," Marcus said. 

"Which is why I really want to keep a tight hand on that for a bit. I don't want her to expand so fast that she burns out or that the quality of the food suffers."

"Well, nobody wants that. Sparks has a big following, and you don't want to buggar that up."

"Exactly," Angus said. Sam got up and went back to the sideboard to fill up his plate again. Marcus and Angus both looked at each other, both of them remembering days when they could eat huge amounts of food like that, and it made them laugh. Neither of them dared to eat like that anymore. Sam piled his plate high again, grabbed a second beer, and he came back and tucked in again.

"I wish I could eat like that again," Marcus laughed.

"Me too," Angus said.

"You actually rarely ever ate like that, truth be told," Edward told Angus. "Only for a few foods did you even try it. You usually had places to go and things to do. You were too busy to eat big meals."

"Where did you think you were going to go?" Marcus asked.

"Climbing somewhere or sailing or girl watching," Edward said.

"Girl watching?" Marcus asked.

"Watching. He never seemed to get very many of them," Edward laughed.

"I was not a catch," Angus replied, and Marcus laughed out loud.

Ruby looked at Sam who had another pile of food and chuckled at Edwards words " well he does have something , because I fell for him and still am" she said smiling at their words " but I agree , I know Jessie never ate that much ether , he was a fussy eater" she said " but a good apatite is good for growth" she added seeing Caprice's bowl empty and her chewing on her last piece of Pizza. She reached down and handed Caprice a Sippy cup with juice in it.

Jess glanced at Anise and Ginger and smiled " yes they do" she added as Jack finished the dance and they walked to some chairs so she could sit down and have something to drink. Jack moved to the refreshment table and returned with two drinks of a fruit punch, non alcoholic she noted and smiled. " that's not going to last long if any of the older students have anything to do with it" she said softly to Jack.

"Thank you," Angus smiled at Ruby. "I appreciate that.

"Angus," there was a voice through the floo. Marcus and Angus both frowned, not knowing the floo was open. It sounded to Angus like Owens, and he sounded out of breath and desperate.

"Owens?" Angus asked.

"Sorry to call you, Mate, but we have trouble. There's an auction here--and its going down right now. I don't know how we didn't know ahead of time so we could get to the kids, but we need all the back up we can get to get to these kids before they get shipped off to muggles and we can't get them back. I've already called Brian and Lucian in, and every agent I know. But there's been a big skirmish, and several of our agents are wounded. I've been hit, and I don't know how much longer I can run this operation tonight. Can you come run it?"

"I'll be there," Angus said, knowing there weren't many who knew that job. 

"And bring any extra wand power you can..." Owens said, and then the floo connection was lost.

"Damnit," Angus said. "Ruby, can you go quickly over to Jessie's and see if Yu is free to come along. He's not on the disabled list."

"We can all go," Edward said. "If Jessie and Cris could come over and watch the babies and keep their eyes open for the girls and Victor."

"Do you guys want to go?" Angus asked Aria and Ruby. "We've never lost a kid, and I don't want to start now."

Ruby glanced at the floo when Owens voice came threw talking about an auction she sighed and looked at Angus " I'll go right now" she said placing down her food and heading to the back door . Stepping out she headed over to the cottage where she saw the lights still on . Just as she reached the door Yu opened it and looked at her worried face as she explained.

Now with the full explanation Yu kissed Jessie and told them to go with him to Angus , together with Ruby they walked back to the duplex so Jessie and Chris could stay with him . " okay where do I need to go?" Yu asked knowing Owens was Paris but not where the fight or the auction was.

Simone shoved the leftover pizza in the fridge and she was just finishing with that when Jessie and Cris arrived. Edward had gone to his place to lock up, and Marcus was running, full speed to make sure Angus's and Ruby's side was secure.

"I just put some leftover pizza from Sparks in the fridge, Boys," Simone told Jessie and Cris. "Help yourselves. Just make yourselves at home. You know where everything is. 

"I don't know yet," Angus told Yu. "You'll have to just come with us to the headquarters and hold on until I get a look at things. Let's go." Marcus drew out the portkey to the headquarters. 

"Anyone else coming with Angus and me, or are you porting separately?" Marcus asked.

"We'll meet you there," Edward said, taking hold of Simone and porting out. 

When Marcus landed them in Paris, they went inside quickly. It was sheer chaos. There were wounded agents from all over the world, and they had filled the foyer and the living room of the headquarters building. Angus had seen, for all his experience here, very few evenings that had ever gone like this, and Angus already knew what all this meant. One of the first things Angus saw was Michael sitting on the stairs, blood streaming down his face, and one of the women who worked there was trying to mop a large bleeding wound near his hairline. 

"Michael, is Robert here?" Angus asked.

"Yeah," Michael replied, pointing down the hallway towards the office. 

"You alright?" Angus asked him. 

"I'm pissed," Michael scowled. "One of Tom's goons got away with three little kids. I almost had 'em."

"The night's not over. We'll have them. You have my word," Angus told him. He turned and went down the hall, already feeling himself shifting into taking command. That was, after all, why Owens had called. Angus walked into the office, and Owens was a mass of blood. Angus wasn't sure he was even still alive. Marcus flew to him and checked his pulse. 

"He's alive, but he's unconscious," Marcus said. "He's bleeding out." Angus turned and went into the Captain's quarters. Kate was trying to tend a heavy bleeding wound of Robert's that looked like it was right across the side of Robert's neck. And Angus knew Kate had no healing skills at all. 

"Edward!" Angus shouted. Edward came on the run. "We need him. Fix him," Angus told Edward.

"You'd better get better hands than mine for some of these," Edward said. Angus went back into the office. 


"Can you reach Nigel?" Angus asked Marcus. 

"Yes," Marcus said, moving to page Nigel. Angus used his medallion and he paged Victor, Sam, Anise, Ginger, Jack, and Jess, knowing he was taking them from the dance.

"Anise, we have to go," Victor grabbed her. "Date's over." With Ginger's arm around Victor's waist, Victor grabbed tight to Anise's hand, and, Dean, who hadn't let go of Anise yet, got sucked away with the rest of the kids by Victor's porting spell.

Ruby looked at Simone and smiled moving to stand with her " thank you" she said to Edward " Jessie and Chris are hear 2 she said and smiled as Jessie went and heated up four pieces of Pizza two for him and two for Chris ,

"go guys the babies will be fine" he said and smiled at Yu before they all disappeared leaving him with Caprice and Dimond " now please behave" he said and saw a grin on both babies faces " oh no" he chuckled.

Jess and Jack had just stood up when Jess saw Jack medallion light up and vibrate looking at him she looked to Victor and nodded seeing him grab hold of Ginger and Anise along with Dean " oh boy Deans getting an introduction to the organisation" she said as Jack wrapped his arm around her waist and ported them to Paris , once there Jess quickly got to work helping the men around her . She stopped and headed to the office and opened the door snow stood in her dress slight heels and a determined look on her face as she accioed her medical bag and began to stabilize Owens her hands retching for his head and shoulders then hovering over his wounds " he's all over the place" she said but slowly she managed to get the bleeding under control " Jack in my bag gauze and bandages , its old school but it will work for now , wrap the worst wounds I'm getting the lesser ones to heal" she added then as Jack cleaned up Owens she placed him into a sleep " okay he's sleeping and alive, leave him to recover for a while , now I have Robert and the others to deal with. " she said and walked over to Kate placing her hands on Robert throat she focused her thoughts seeing the wound heal soon the blood stopped and she took out a gauze cleaning his neck she placed it over it " you did great Kate" she said smiling reassuringly to her.

Standing she transfigured her dress to scrubs and began moving around the men with Jack helping until she saw another young woman helping and she told Jack to go to Angus and help him.

"Thanks for coming," Angus told Jess and Jack, as Marcus started sorting out location messages and started posting them and updating the light board for Angus. "Jess, no offense, but when you're finished with him, I'm going to need to get him moved out of here. He's in no shape to command, and he's right where I need to be. Jack, if there is an open bed anywhere in the fighters' dorm rooms, can you put him there for now please and thank you?"

Victor looked and blinked, surprised, when they landed on the sidewalk outside the headquarters and not only did he have Anise and Ginger but he had Dean too.

"Where the hell are we?" Dean asked. He turned and looked around and saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance. "What the effing hell...are we really in Paris? As in France?"

"Do you know of another Eiffel Tower?" Victor asked. "You might as well come in."

"Victor!" Ginger was having a conniption at the breech.

"I can't leave him here on the street!" Victor replied sharply. "He's here now. I'll do about a hundred Mea Copas with the powers that be, and they'll either fire me or they won't. Come on, Dean. You're with us." He led the way inside, and the first person they ran into was Sam. 

"Well, shit. This is gonna crash and burn just like the Hindenburg," Sam said. "Angus is gonna have a conniption."

"He's gonna have to take a number. Ginger's ahead of him," Victor said. "Come on. Let's go back and see who's in charge of tonight's shit show." 

"Angus," Sam told him.

"Oh happy day. Just what we wanted," Victor replied. As he was heading down the hall, someone ported in and landed in the hallway right in front of Victor and they walked right smack dab into each other. He looked up to see Nigel Sigworth was who had arrived that he had walked into.

"Are you wounded?" Nigel asked.

"Not yet. Give me about ten seconds," Victor said. "I'll probably need plasters when my dad is done with me."

"Fine. Let me know when you do," Nigel said nonchalantly, heading on past them towards the foyer.

Victor led the way down the hall into the office and saw Angus working on assessing the situation as quickly as he could. "Angus? You sent for us?" Victor asked. Angus looked up and saw Victor, Ginger, Anise and Dean.

"Yes," Angus said. "Dean. I'm not sure why I didn't expect you, but, now that you're here, what are your Defense Against the Dark Arts scores?"

"Straight O's. Why?" 

"Good. That'll do. How fast are you with a wand?"

"Faster than you, I'm sure," Dean said cockily.

"Unlikely, but I'm glad you're confident. Can you keep a secret?"

"Now, how could I prove if I could keep a secret unless I break one?" Dean scowled. "I'm a Gryffindor. Of course I can keep a secret."

"He's a cocky little bastard. I'll give him that," Marcus said dryly.

"Good. I can use all kinds of cocky little bastards right now," Angus said. He looked at Dean. "You're hired. You work for me."

"What am I doing, exactly?"

"We're the good guys," Angus said. "The idjits who will probably be shooting at you? They're the bad guys. Try not to die."

"Die? Peachy," Dean said, and he turned to Anise. "So is this the part where all my mates jump out and say 'Surprise, the joke's on you, Mate'?"

"Um..." Anise stammered awkwardly, not quite knowing what to say. "No?" she said, not sure if that was what Dean wanted to hear or not.

"You four," Angus said to Victor, Sam, Anise and Ginger, "go find some mission wear in dressers in the fighter's dorm rooms, take Dean with you, and get him suited up," Angus told them.

"Wait," Dean said. "Which side of the law are you on?"

"We're work in conjunction with the ministries of several wizarding governments," Angus said. "We're the good guys. You'll just have to trust me on that."

"If I could die, I don't know how far I'm gonna trust you. What are the bad guys doing, and why do you care?"

"They kidnap children," Marcus said.

"Kids? Fine. I'm in," Dean said. 

"You don't want to wear a tux for this," Victor said. "Let's go change." He motioned them all out.

Jess had heard Angus and nodded her head " hey you help Jack move Owens to a bed" she said looking at a young boy of about twenty. " move it or so help me I'll turn you into a toad" she said watching Jack move and pick up Owens walking him away from her as he chuckled. Jess went back to tending the wounded while Jack lay Owens on a bed and covered him so he could rest then returned to the ready room just intime to see Victor and the others plus Dean walk out.

"still alive I see and look at that no marks" he said and chuckled as he entered. " ten men serious five not so much we lost six , I've arrange reparations to go to their families to cover funeral cost and anything else" he told them as he looked at Angus then to Lucian who just had entered behind him.

" so far we have a location of the missing kids" he walked over and pointed to a spot on a map " there being kept here. " its well fortified except for a disused tunnel that runs right under it, its ben grated but with some brute force we can open it again" he told them.

"Thank you, Jack. I appreciate it," Angus said.

"I'm confused, then. Owen's intel that he got from Ingrid said there was an auction in progress. That's where these fighters took all their hits....Wait. Just hold on for a minute and let me study this. Marcus, are we all mapped out?"

"Almost. Give me just one more minute," Marcus said, pinning a few more locations on the map. Angus settled in to study the map. Gelding was, if nothing else, fairly predictable. There had to be a pattern, some sort of a clue or a key to this. If Irene said there was an auction in place, then there was a bloody auction somewhere. And now there was intel that there was more. Another warehouse of kids. 

"You want to think through it out loud? It might help to have more than one set of eyes on whatever it is you think you've got," Marcus said.

"Where's that map overlay of the sewers and catacombs?" Angus asked.

"Right here," Marcus said, putting up a large transparent overlay of the sewers and catacombs. That helped Angus to see it all. 

"Did Nigel get here?" Angus asked.

"Yes, I saw him heading into check our Captain," Marcus said. "And then I'm sure he'll see to Owens next or whoever is the most critical by then. Jess has a good head start on the most critical."

"Good," Angus said. "This is more bloody movement from them than we've ever seen. They have stuff going in at least five different locations tonight. They've never done that."

"Six. There's one here too," Marcus said, pointing out another. Angus began studying the locations, and then something started to click with him. 

"Marcus, can you map out the chronology on when they started movement in these locations?" Angus asked.

"Certainly," Marcus said, going back through the notes and marking the chronology on the map. "Looks like they're bouncing from one location to another at random."

"No," Angus said, deep in thought. "They're not. They're not random at all. There's a definitive pattern here. 

"Think it through, Angus," Robert came in, in clean clothes. "Take your time. Getting it right is more important than speed." As he came in, the kids came in behind him--all five of them. Robert turned and looked, and his eyes landed on Dean. "Oh. Hello, Security Breech. Who are you?"

"Hi, Old Man. I'm not Security Breech. I'm Kidnap Victim," Dean replied. "Who are you?"

"I like him," Robert looked at Angus, laughing. "Are we keeping him?"

"I thought we might. I hired him, if he doesn't bugger things up on his first night out," Angus said. He looked up at the kids. They looked like they were ready to work now. "Better. Much better."

"Robert Lupin--your boss," Robert introduce himself to Dean, extending his hand to shake hands with him.

"Dean. Dean Whitlaw," Dean replied, shaking hands. The two of them looked at each other and then laughed. 

"You're the quidditch kid, aren't you? Welcome aboard," Robert said.

"And you're the big cheese at the Ministry," Dean said.

"Ah, well, more like Second Banana, but it's all good. I am the big cheese here."

"Good to know. What exactly is this job?"

"Can you dual?"

"Top marks in Hogwarts right now," Dean nodded.

"Good. That'll help. And are you quick?"

"I'm the Gryffindor seeker. I'm damned quick."

"Good. I'll take you with me, then, unless Jack wants you with him."

Jack just nodded and stood at the back of the room while Lucian stood by the map that every one weas looking at " you think there doing this deliberately" he asked as they waited for the over lay for the map. he turned around to see the girls and boys walk in and a plus one he chuckled as Dean introduced himself. Jack looked over at Robert and shook his head " nope , take him" he said glancing back at Angus as they studied the map.

Lucian looked to Jack who now was in Mission wear having transfigured his clothing, black trousers , tee-shirt and long black over coat with his wand strapped to his thigh , even Jess was now in her mission wear and he barely recognised her. Jack stepped forward and spoke " You think maybe there trying to get a bead on our base so they can do something stupid like last time?" he asked " and from what I heard he only had some of his forces protecting that auction." Jack said he looked at Dean as he spoke again " Jack Blackheart, was your chaperone , now first stringer and some what your boss, I answer to Angus and he in turn Robert, got that?" he said to Dean " you do what he says when he says it." he turned back to the table.