Sirius laughed "Good point Miss MacLeod" he could see Magnus doing just that. "And yes, I was the decoy and Peter was the secret keeper. It lasted for a little while, I would check up on him every few days to make sure he was safe, and then go back to drawing Voldemort’s attention. Except for one night... I went to check on Peter, but he wasn’t there.... I got such a bad feeling about it." Sirius blinked his eyes as his tears threatened to spill again, he felt Cat’s hand on his reassuring him that she would understand. "I went over to James’s immediately, I knew something was wrong" the tears were rolling down his cheeks "I was too late ... by the time I got there... Oh god, Kitty..." he was staring into space, reliving the moment over again, just as he had in Azkaban. "The first thing I saw was the open door, I just ran in.. I practically fell over James’s body, he was laying there staring into the night... I wanted to find Lily and Harry, but I heard someone.. I thought it was Voldemort.."

Cat stared at Sirius, she couldn’t imagine how much pain he must have gone through, or perhaps still going through would be a better way to explain it, she could see him reliving every moment of it. She got up and knelt next to Sirius, but he hadn’t even noticed ......

"I had my wand out, I was going to kill him and his deatheaters... but they were all gone, it was Hagrid. Dumbledore had sent him to get Harry, he told me Lily was upstairs, dead,..... just like James. I tried to take Harry.. I was his godfather after all, but Hagrid refused, he told me Albus had given him strict instructions to take him to Lily’s sister.... at first I thought he meant you.... but when I realize he meant Petunia...... I had no choice, Voldemort had tried to kill Harry too, but something had happened, Harry had survived....."

Cat was holding on to Sirius’s hand tightly, he was shaking so badly she was afraid he would fall apart in front of her. She had begun to wipe away his tears, but he still didn’t seem to notice she was there, his mind was still trapped years away......

"I told Hagrid to take the bike, .. I wasn’t going to need it anymore, I knew what had happened. I had seen Peter hiding along the hedge line as I landed. He was the spy we had been looking for.. He told Voldemort how to find James, Lily and Harry. And I had been the one to suggest him, I might just as well have killed James myself." Sirius was snapped out of the nightmare by Cat’s striking him soundly across the face.....

"Sirius?!" Cat was nearly frantic "Sirius... are you back?" she asked as she quickly wiped away his tears again. She gave a relieve smile when she saw him blink furiously at her and bring his hand up to his face "Sirius.. I’m so sorry, but you .... something happened, you were in a trace of some sort. I think you were reliving it... you’ve done that a lot haven’t you?" she asked softly.

He sat there, unsure of what to do or say. He looked at her and opened his arms, she quickly allowed him to hold her, as she kissed him softly on his cheek. Sirius couldn’t stand it anymore, she was just to close not to take the chance. Gently but quickly Sirius pulled Cat onto his lap and pressed her head to his shoulder. He wasn’t going to try to do anything to her, he just needed to feel her against him, to know she didn’t hate him for his part in Lily’s death. "Please don’t hate me Cat... I had no idea it was Peter. Who would have thought that rat could even get near Voldemort without passing out." he whispered as he rocked back and forth, one hand over her hip and the other slowly weaving its way through her long soft hair.

"Sirius... I could never truly hate you for anything" she whispered into his ear as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself into the crook of his neck. "But please, stop blaming yourself for this. Do you need someone to forgive you?" she asked "Surely Remus holds you as blameless as I do. And you know I can speak for Lily... she in no way would hold you responsible, in fact she would probably thank you for watching over Harry. She heard Sirius sigh as she nuzzled against him.... how could this feel so right.... she shouldn’t be touching him like this, and she certainly should not be on his lap. "Sirius.. You are absolved" she whispered as she kissed him softly on his neck.

Sirius felt as if a large weight had been removed from him, he still felt responsible for everything that had happened, but at least Cat had forgiven him, at that meant so much to him. He embraced her tightly, loving the feel of her weight on his body, the warmth radiating off of her, the scent of her hair as he buried his face in it. "Cat... there is more......

Lucius smiled when the servant brought the woman into his study "Well, well it has been a while, hasn’t it?" he asked as he walked up to her, she was nothing more than piece of flesh to him, worth less than the air that kept her alive, but he needed her to do something for him. "Tell me, Miss Filch, .. It *is* still Miss isn’t it?" he asked condescendingly.

"Of course Lucius, what else would it be" she responded, the counterfeit sweetness doing nothing to hide the venom in her voice.

"Of course, how silly of me" Lucius sneered as he remembered their time in Hogwarts together, their was hardly a boy in school who hadn’t *known* Esmeralda, why would anyone bother to marry her. "I have a surprise for you." He said as he walked over to his desk to big up a large envelope "Do you know who is back at Hogwarts, as a teacher none the less? I seem to remember you having *unfinished business* with Cat MacLeod, or am I mistaken?".........

Sirius shook his head and laughed "No I am not joking... he really did, I thought he was going to kill me. He takes after his father, I swear... it was a timed spell, he levitated the rug right out from under me and then had me land in a giant plate of cold spaghetti... it was disgusting."... He screwed up his face as he remembered the feeling of cold pasta on his skin.

Cat threw her head back as she laughed and almost fell off of Sirius’s lap "I still can’t believe my little boy would be so tricky. I think he gets it from you... I don’t ever remember James doing stuff like that." she insisted as Sirius mocked a look of shock.

"You don’t believe me? Cat MacLeod.... I don’t think I’m speaking to you anymore" Sirius teased.

"You quiet... well now that would be a first" she teased back "Hey.. What happened to that *serious*, and don’t you dare make a pun... Conversation we were supposed to be having?" she asked as her eyes sparkled with happiness.

Sirius looked at her and beamed "That’s it.. Take away my own personal joke." he rolled his eyes as she giggled "I’m sorry Cat, I know I need to get through this with you. But I’m so tired of feeling depressed and hopeless... when I’m with you... it’s like I’m alive again." he told her as he squeezed her tightly. "But if you want to continue.. I am at your disposal."

Cat sighed "As much as I love to play with you Sirius, at the very least we need to talk about Harry, and especially Clan Tremere.... the letter said after the new year, but I would not be surprised to find out some of them are already here." she gave and involuntary shiver as she thought about Gustavas "I just know in my heart of hearts, they will go after Harry first. Its his style, Harry is the one chink in my armour, I would do anything to keep him safe."

Sirius nodded, he knew Cat too well, and she would kill or die to protect Harry. Sirius looked at the table and smiled, between the two of them and their talking they had both managed to eat a respectable amount. Harry would be happy, Sirius had the distinct impression Harry would be checking with Dobby to make sure they had eaten. He smiled tenderly at Cat, remembering how this whole little conversation had started, after he had pulled her onto his lap and he had finally stopped crying, she yelled at him for not taking care of himself and promptly stuffed a large piece of broccoli into his mouth. She was going to force feed him if he didn’t stop behaving like and idiot and blaming himself for the sins of the world. He squeezed her again as he thought of what a wonderful mother she was, and hopefully would be to their own children.

But first, they had to make sure Harry would be safe "Is there anyway to stop Gustavas that you are aware of? Does he have any weaknesses, any chinks in his armour?" the look on Cat’s face said it all. It was an expression of sheer terror "Kitty, ... come on now" Sirius said gently as he brought her head against his shoulder "I have seen you take on men twice your size and not even bat an eye. How bad can he be? Between you, I , Remus, Albus and every other teacher in this school, surely he doesn’t stand a chance."

"He’s not stupid Sirius, he would never risk a full on attack... he’ll sneak in and grab Harry." Cat voice caught in her throat, "by the time any of us realize it, Harry could already be dead..." she pulled herself closer to him, she needed to feel his strength, his warmth. The thought of losing Harry scared her to death, it would kill her, and she would take a lot of people with her before she went. ......

"Soooo" Esmeralda said "you want me to pay my dear uncle a visit and see how deeply I can turn the knife in that b**** back before I leave.... Not a problem." She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the pictures of MacLeod, time had certainly been kind to *her*, "I still owe her for what her boyfriend and sister did to me...."

"I thought you might feel that way" Lucius grinned, he remembered all to well the tears MacLeod had shed every time Esmeralda had gotten done with her. "I want to see that sidhe b**** broken and weeping, I want her gone......

Sirius was beginning to worry about Cat "Darling... muirneach aon" he said softly as he ran his fingers through her hair. He smiled as she jolted "Your getting much to tired to carry on a conversation." He hushed her as she began to argue "Now Cat" he said firmly "this is your first day out of the hospital, and I heard all about Remus having to carry you here. It’s already close to midnight and you need to rest."

"I can rest all day tomorrow" Cat insisted "You promised me we would talk... I still have no idea what happened to Peter, why you don’t carry your own wand, how to stop Gustavas... I don’t even know what you’ve done for the past 16 years. So far the only thing we have gotten settled is you want me to adopt Harry, and if necessary take him to Caledonia if it is the only way to keep him safe." Cat pouted, sticking out her lower lip "That’s hardly scratching the surface"

Sirius grinned at her, he loved it when she pouted and acted like a little girl, it was just too cute to him. "Alright Miss MacLeod, we can still talk, but *you* will be talking from your bed... in the reclining position. Understand?" he insisted as he stood up, carrying Cat in his arms.....

Severus rubbed his eyes, the lessons for tomorrow were finally done, as were the corrections on the end of term essays. He had fallen dreadfully behind since Cat’s episode, but now, that aside, he was free to spend the rest of the night with her. Sev nearly jumped when he realized what time it was, midnight, well at the very least the students would be gone. And with any luck Lupin would have the good sense to stay with Catri and *not* allow Black near her. Knowing how slim those chances were, Severus quickly got up to leave, taking care to lock his desk drawer before heading for his door. He desperately wanted to get to Catri before Black seduced her all over again, his blood boiled whenever he thought of the was Black had treated her. He had had the finest woman to ever enter into Hogwarts, and he threw her away for a tramp, it left Severus completely disgusted by the very thought.

He grabbed the doorknob and pulled open the door, only to walk into it... His door was not opening. He tried the knob a few more times without luck, growling he pulled his wand out of his robes and spoke RESERARE nothing happened, he took a deep breath and tried another spell RECLUDERE, still nothing... his lip curled as he growled out a string of obscenities. He had the distinct impression Black had something to do with this. Taking a deep breath and concentrating his energy he yelled EXPEDIRE. The sparks were truly amazing in fact the had begun to melt the knob right off the door, but still the door remanded locked.

Noticing a shadow, Severus pressed his face up against the smoky glass of his door, expecting to see Black or Lupin,... the potion master nearly fell backwards when he saw the young face of Cat's supposed cousin Cash staring back at him. Severus scowled at him as the Gangrel laughed loudly.

"Now Professor don’t go getting yourself in a tizzy.." he laughed as he saw the look of pure outrage on Snape’s face. "It’s really not become to someone of your standing"

"Let me out of here now!" Snape yelled, furious at having been trapped.

"Aauuuhhh Whats the matter?" Cash teased "Your wand broken? Or maybe you don’t know how to undo *real* magic... Yep, that must be it." he was grinning like a madman now "Poor wittle baby, .... oh no.. and who is going to stay with my Angel???" Cash almost choked from laughing, the look on Snape’s face was priceless. "Oh, that’s right, her future husband is going to watch over her... aallll night long"

Suddenly becoming serious Cash added "And YOU Professor are in *there* for the duration, and unless you’ve suddenly become fluid in Gaelic, or can manage to get Tris or Angel to undo it.... well, get comfy." he gave Snape a friendly wave as he walked away laughing at the language coming from the Professors lips.

Severus banged on the door, he even tried to break the glass, but that filthy vampire had managed to make the door completely invulnerable to any spells he could think of. Severus slid down against the door and placed his head in his hands. < Why must this happen now? Couldn’t that fool see what Black was doing? He was just going to use Catri and then throw her away again, at least I love her. I’m the one that want to marry her, Black just wants to have his *fun* with her, he will never love her enough to spend the rest of his life with her, much less raise a family.> Severus felt the tears rolling down his face, his poor dear Catri, she was defenceless against Black, she was far to weak to protect herself from anyone. He let out a painful groan as he imagined what Black must be doing to her at this very moment......

Sirius smiled down at Cat as he brought the quilt under her chin "Now, if I promise to keep explaining, do *you* promise to lay her quietly? I don’t want Harry or Moony giving me fire and brimstone tomorrow..."

"I promise, although I doubt you’ll have to worry about that.. You do know Sev is coming back to watch over me tonight, don’t you?" Cat said softly, she noticed the way Sirius winced when she said Sev’s name.

"Yeah.... about that, ... you said earlier that you didn’t have a boyfriend." Sirius said very slowly and carefully "Does *he* know that? I notice you’re wearing his gift"

"First of all... I *am* allowed to accept gifts from men. Secondly I like it, I think its pretty, and lastly... well," she looked slightly embarrassed "I don’t have the heart to tell him the clasp is broken, I know he paid a small fortune for it. So as long as it doesn’t cause a problem... I guess I’ll just keep wearing it."

Sirius gave her a half-hearted smile, he had some serious doubts as to the clasp being broken, more than likely Snape had done something to make sure she wouldn’t be able to take it off. Just like an animal marking its territory. "Well it is unusual, I’ll give you that much." Sirius took a closer look at it "uhm.. Cat? Do you know what this is?"....

Cat shook her head "No idea. ...And why are you suddenly concerned about my love life?" she added, knitting her brow.