Cat finally began to realize what had happened, <another one of those dreams> she thought as she willed herself to wake up. It would be so easy just to forget about the world and sleep for a few days, but she had to, she had Harry to worry about. She felt the first rays of the sun against her eyelids, she felt warm and safe again as if the sun itself had wrapped its arms around her. Taking one last deep breath Cat forced her eyes opened. At first blinded by the sunlight, her eyes quickly adjusted until she could see clearly, and when she did , she let out a loud gasp. In front of her eyes was nothing but grey.... he mind flashed back to the grey figure in her dreams. Only this time he was much closer to her, she was sure she felt his arms around her. Instinctively she brought her hands up and pressed them against his chest, she didn’t want him to pull her any closer...

That’s when she heard a familiar voice "Grá , hush...." the voice practically caressed her as its owner began to kiss her gently. She sighed as she felt the press of his lips against her flesh, allowing her eyes to flutter open Cat was expecting to see the figure from her dream, but instead it was a man from her past.

"Sirius?" she questioned softly, as she tried to remember where she was. "Sirius...is that you? Where am I" she asked as she tried to sit up, only to have Sirius pull her back down onto the bed and squeeze her gently.

"Your at Hogwarts grá, and you’ve had a bad night" he whispered softly as he pressed her against his chest "you need to rest. I don’t want you to get any worse.."

Cat’s mind was reeling.... Sirius, here with her....but he hated her, he had spurned her for another woman. Was *that* all just a dream, or was *this* the dream. She was becoming confused and frightened, she didn’t know what was real anymore. "Sirius, . .. what happened.. where am I, ..when am I?" she sobbed as she grabbed onto his robes, holding the fabric in her fists as she pulled herself closer to him. "Sirius.. ...I’m scared.."

All thoughts of romance immediately left his mind "Catri? What is it muirneach aon, why are you trembling?" he asked as he held her tightly, trying to calm her fears. "Cat.. Please, talk to me." he pleaded as he tilted her face towards his own. Surely it wasn’t him that she was afraid of, she must know he would never harm her, he would sooner die than see her harmed.

Cat felt herself shaking, she had no idea what was happening. Sirius had said she was at Hogwarts, but why was he in bed with her? Was he her husband, did he truly betray her or was that simply a bad dream, and what about Harry? "I don’t know what’s real... why am I here.... why are you here?" She looked up into his endless blue eyes "Mo ceile?" she whispered as she saw the tears forming in his eyes.

"Not yet mo ionúin" he sighed as he once again pulled her against his chest, "not yet..."

Cat felt her heart ache as Sirius held her, it felt so wonderful to feel his protective arms around her, she knew she was safe with him there. He would never let anything harm her...<not yet he said, I wonder if we are engaged... it must have been a nightmare> she thought as she sighed and nuzzled even closer against him. Cat smiled softly as she drifted back to sleep, she loved to hear the beating of his heart, it was just as strong and true as its owner "gráim thú" she sighed as she fell asleep in his arms.

"And I love you" he replied as tears of happiness streamed down his cheeks, he pressed his faced into her soft hair as he inhaled deeply, <she always smelled like flowers>, he thought as he too fell asleep in the early light of dawn. .......

Harry dashed out of the tower and headed straight to Cat’s rooms, he wanted to make sure she was feeling better. He hoped he would meet Dobby on the way, he was going to bring Cat and Sirius breakfast. Harry’s breath caught in his throat for a moment, he sincerely hoped Sirius had staid with her, the thought of Snape alone with Cat all night simply gave him the shivers. He wasn’t naive enough to think Sirius was an angel, but he would never do anything to hurt Cat. All you had to do was look into Sirius’s eyes to see how much he adored her.

Harry stopped at the end of Cat’s hallway, taking several deep breaths he tried to flatten his hair and straighten out his robes, the last thing he wanted was for Cat to start worrying about him. Harry softly knocked on her door, he was surprised as it swung open easily for him. Quietly he crept into Cat’s room and opened her bedroom door. He stood there stunned for a few moments as he saw Sirius in the bed with Cat. Harry suddenly felt uneasy as all sorts of thoughts ran through his head, it wasn’t until he realized Sirius was fully dressed that he began to breath again. Actually the more Harry looked at them, the sweeter it all seemed, Sirius must have finally fallen asleep after taking care of Cat the whole night. Creeping closer Harry took a close look at his mother, she was still pale, but she certainly didn’t seem to mind Sirius being so close, in fact they both looked very comfortable. Harry smiled happily as a though occurred to him, they were his family, and they were all together.

Harry was about to relax in the large armchair that was sitting by the bed when he heard a noise from the other room. Praying it was anyone but Snape, Harry silently opened Cat’s bedroom door and peered into the room. "Dobby" Harry sighed "you frightened me.." he whispered.

"Dobby is sorry, he did not mean to frighten Harry Potter." the house elf said immediately "Dobby is only doing as he was asked. I is bringing more food for Harry Potter’s mother."

"I know, thank you Dobby" Harry grinned, feeling foolish for being so worried. What if Professor Snape had walked in? What would he have done with Cat right there? "Dobby, did they eat last night?"

"Oh yes, Harry Potter Sir, they ate just as you told them to." Dobby beamed as he saw Harry’s smile "Dobby has done well?"

Harry smiled as he held open the bedroom door for Dobby who was carrying in two large trays of food for Cat and Sirius. "Yes Dobby has done very well." Harry walked over to the bed as Dobby placed the trays on the table.

"I don’t remember that table being here last night" Harry said as Dobby sat down the trays of fruit, toast, bacon, sausage, kippers, cream cheese, bagels and almost anything else anyone could want. Harry paused when he saw the look on Dobby’s face. "Is something wrong Dobby?"

"This is Harry Potter’s mother, yes?" Dobby asked

Harry nodded "Yes, she is my mother, why?"

Dobby smiled brightly "Then this is Harry Potter’s father, yes?" the happy elf said excitedly as he danced next to the bed, jumping up and down as Harry tried to make him be quiet.

Sirius stirred as he heard strange noises, he didn’t want to wake up, he was having a wonderful dream. He was with Cat again and she loved him more than ever, he distinctly remembered the love shining in her eyes as she looked up at him, their baby boy sleeping in her arms as Sirius wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They were at Harry’s graduation he and Hermione were top in their year. Sirius was so proud of them, and Cat was crying with joy as Harry accepted his parchment and an award for outstanding scholastic achievements. Sirius felt a tugging at his robe, it was one of the twins, Lily, she wanted to be held, picking her up and setting her on his lap, he looked for her sister. Iris was sitting on Remus’s lap, smiling and waving at her big brother. Albus was grinning down at them, winking at the girls who laughed happily at uncle Alby, while Tanta Minerva shook her head reproachfully, but smiling all the same. Sirius had never felt so happy or so content in his entire life, this is what he had fought for, this is why struggled to survive when it would have been so much easier to simply give up.

Harry grinned when he saw Sirius smiling in his sleep, he could only imagine what was going through his head. Harry looked at the clock on the mantle, classes would begin in less than an hour, Remus and Snape would probably be here soon. Harry placed his hand on his godfather’s shoulder and gently shook him "Sirius..... Sirius, wake up." Harry rolled his eyes as Sirius groaned softly and proceeded to pull Cat closer to him. "Oh brother" Harry sighed, this might be harder than he thought. Harry shook Sirius again, a bit more forcefully this time "Sirius... come on" he insisted, his godfather blinked several times before truly opening his eyes and smiling at Harry.

"Harry?" Sirius said "you wouldn’t believe the dream I just had. It was beautiful...."

"Yeah.... Can’t imagine why" Harry smirked, trying very hard not to laugh out loud. Sirius gave him a strange look, as if he had gone mad, it was obvious that Sirius was confused about where he was. "Uhm... Sirius... look down." Harry said as he grinned widely.

Sirius gave Harry one last look of concern as he looked down, the sight nearly took his breath away. No wonder he had such a wonderful dream, Cat was lying in his arms, sleeping soundly against his chest. Sirius closed his eyes, he sighed deeply as the memory of last night came back to him. "Oh Harry...." Sirius said softly as he tenderly stroked Cat’s face "I can’t believe she still cares, after all of this time....."

Harry was grinning from ear to ear "So does that mean you’re back together?" he asked excitedly "Are we going to be a family?"

Still gazing at Cat, Sirius replied "I don’t think she and I are back together yet Harry. After what I did.... well that is going to take some time. But as for being a family?" Sirius smiled "I think we already are.." he said as he turned to face his godson.

"You see Harry Potter, Dobby was right." the house elf said brightly as his smile grew "they is your mother and father. Will they be eating for you again if you tell them to?"

Harry and Sirius looked at each other and smiled, they were a family, not in the traditional sense of the word. But they loved each other, and they would be there for each other no matter what. Harry thanked Dobby who was still dancing around Cat’s room, Sirius rolled his eyes and motioned towards Cat. "Dobby ... maybe you should help the others in the kitchen.... my mum still seems tired" Dobby happily agreed and quietly left the room. As Sirius pulled back the covers ......

Sirius carefully slid out of Cat’s bed, taking great care not to wake her, she still needed her rest and she had had a very long, rough night. Sirius shook his head and laughed when he saw all the food "Harry.. What are you thinking? Do you honestly think we could eat that much?" he grinned at Harry, who seemed to be laughing at some thing. Sirius knitted his brow "What’s so funny Harry?"

Harry blushed slightly "Uhmm.... have you taken a good look at yourself?" if Harry didn’t know better, he probably would have thought the worse of Sirius.

Sirius raised one eyebrow as he walked over to Cat’s dresser "gheez.... no wonder you were staring at me" Sirius chuckled. He was an absolute mess, it was obvious he had been crying not that long ago, his thick hair was completely dishevelled, more like one large tangle than anything else, and his robe was twisted around terribly with several buttons undone. "My hair actually looks worse than yours for a change" Sirius grinned as Harry smirked back at him.

"Thanks Sirius" Harry replied "just be glad it was me that showed up and not Snape." Harry could only have imagined how well *that* would have gone over. He pictured Snape scowling menacingly over a sleeping Cat and Sirius, he could practically hear the roaring of Snape’s voice already.

Sirius snorted at the thought "To be honest Harry, part of me wishes he would have. I don’t want him near her, I don’t trust him. He was always trying to steal her away from me, every dance, every project." Sirius looked in the mirror again, <well at least I’m presentable now> he thought "and you should have seen him the day we did love potions in class. I could have strangled him with my bare hands." Making sure his robes were straight and everything was buttoned he continued "The only thing that stopped me was your father and Remus, they were both holding me back. One on each arm ... and Lily stood there laughing at us...appears *she* thought it was funny."

Harry laughed, he could easily see Sirius doing something like that "So did Snape get her as a potion partner?" Harry asked as he and Sirius sat down to eat.