Raul smiled widely "There is not much my ears do not hear." he walked to the chair Esmeralda had been sitting in and turned up his nose, as if offended by the scent of her. "She smells like an infection, a sickness" he shook his head as he snarled softly "what is this creature?" .........

"I don’t care how dangerous you *think* it is" Sirius yelled back at Cash "there is no way I’m staying here. Not until *I* know that Harry and Cat are safe!"

Cash clenched his jaws, he loved Sirius like a brother, but the man could be *so* stubborn at times "I told you *I* will check on Harry and Angel, just promise me you won’t leave. I can’t watch all three of you at once, Raul is guarding Albus, Olia is with Cash, Angus, Roel, Hamish and Rick are patrolling and the Garou are in complete disaray. Right now the twins are the only ones who seem to understand what happened, and *they* are trying to calm the rest of their clan."

Sirius narrowed his eyes "That is *exactly* my point, you can’t do this alone. And it will save time if we both check on them. I’ll can get to Gryffindor tower quickly enough while you locate Cat. With any luck she’ll be sleeping in her room."

Cash rolled his eyes "You’re NOT listening, it’s too dangerous for mortals to be roaming around right now. And don’t start with me about me getting nervous in the forest and you being a big, bad wizard..... And as for Angel, its only midnight, what in Mannanan’s name makes you think she would have enough sense to be sleeping." he replied tersely.

The two stared each other down as they faced off, neither willing to back down from his position.

Olia and Fang, who had been watching silently, turned to each other and smirked. Olia gently helped Fang onto one of the many beds scattered about the haven, and then proceeded to quietly approach Cash and Sirius. Placing her hands on each of them, causing them to jump, she quickly scanned their minds and began laughing. "I don’t know who’s worse" she lamented "You’re both stubborn, short-tempered, loyal and loving. You are both fighting each other because you don’t want to risk the other’s life, yet you want to protect Angel and her son....." Olia studied them closely before slapping them both on the back of their heads. "Get over it both of you! We have bigger problems." she glared back at Cash as he growled at her "Not tonight Cash... I’ve had enough of everyone and everything. Why don’t *both* of you find *both* of them and everyone comes back here to sleep." she suggested as she kept her eyes on Cash "I’m quite certain Sirius wouldn’t mind sharing a bed with Angel, you know how she hates to be cold."

Sirius became suddenly red as both Cash and Olia smiled knowingly "In a room full of people?! Don’t think so.." he responded as they laughed at his embarrassment "Ha ha ha... very funny.." he sighed "What about it Cash, who do you want... Harry or Kitty?"

"Neither.. You’re not going alone." Cash held up his hands to stop Sirius from arguing again "We are both going together. Harry first, then Angel... we’ll see how safe they are staying in their rooms, I don’t want to frighten either of them if I don’t have to." he explained.

"Harry’s in the dorm surrounded by his house... shouldn’t we check on Cat first?" Sirius suggested.

"Not a chance" Cash smirked "Angel can handled an awful lot, besides, if anything happened to Harry while I was out looking for her.." Cash shook his head as he smiled wryly "she would in all honestly kill me in a fit of motherly rage."

"Cash.." Sirius sighed as he rolled his eyes "you know as well as I do she would NEVER harm you. You’re family, clannad... besides, you’re a vamp... so unless she’s *really* good with a stake"

"Stakes don’t work on our kind wizard" Cash shot back and he shook his finger at Sirius "And she’s one of the very few people on this world living, dead or otherwise that can actually kill me. And if I ever let anything happen to her son" Cash simply gave a low whistle as he thought of Angel’s rage.

"Well you both better make a decision and hurry" Olia said as she made Fang comfortable on her bed "because if that Slytherin has his way, she won’t be catching a chill tonight..." She watched as Cash and Sirius stared wide eyed at her, and then each other before tearing out of the room.

"You really enjoyed doing that didn’t you?" Fang asked weakly as Olia laid down next to him and pulled up the covers.

"Of course I did" Olia teased "they’re acting like a bunch of fools. Cash wants her to marry the wizard Sirius, Sirius is more than happy to oblige, but won’t talk to her about it himself. The Slytherin nobody really wants to join the clan, but *he’s* the *only* one willing to press forward with Angel. He’s already bought the ring and planned the honeymoon she said as she pulled Fang closer to herself "The rest of my clan won’t be back for a few hours. I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep. You don’t mind sleeping with us.... do you?"

Fang looked up into Olia’s deep eyes, watching the sparkle of eternal life and mortal love dance within them "As long as I get to sleep next to you Olia" he said softly as he kissed her "I don’t ever want to come this close to losing you again."

Olia felt her heart melt as she pressed Fang’s head against her, she needed to find Raul and talk to him tonight. She needed permission from the Primogen to embrace anyone into the clan, and after almost losing Fang tonight, she knew what she had to do........

Cat leaned against her door as Severus left, she felt her stomach and heart churning. Add that to the whirling of her mind and she pretty much just wanted to die. She finally allowed herself to cry in earnest as she made her way to her bedroom. As much as she tried to deny it, she had never gotten over Sirius, no matter whom she had dated, or how close they got, she still compared them to him. "Why her, Sirius" Cat croaked as her voice broke under her tears "of all the women you could have ended up with, why her? Your poor father must be rolling in his grave" she said aloud as she thought of Angus.

Angus had always carried with him a deep sense of pride regarding his family. He had told her time and time again how much he appreciated the fact that as wild and crazed as she could be around his son and their school friends, she had the sense and style to act like a lady when it was called for. Cat fell onto her bed, remembering the dinners Angus would take she and Sirius to; he loved to show them off. He always joked about *hoping they could wait until they graduated to bless me with grandchildren*, if he only knew how it had turned out.

Cat remembered Rebekah’s last words to her, it had only been a few weeks before she had died. Rebecca had travelled all the way to New York City, New York in America just to see her. She had heard what a successful business Cat had started up, she had personally come to ask her to buy up her late husband’s business ventures. When Cat had asked her why she didn’t want Sirius, her own son to have them, Rebecca had become suddenly quite. As much as Cat had wanted to push, she could tell Rebecca was close to tears. So instead, they had spent a pleasant afternoon recalling old times and fond memories of Angus. Cat had noticed how Rebecca had steered away the conversation anytime Sirius’s name was even mentioned. By the end of the day, Cat had indeed purchased Angus’s businesses, for far more than she would have, had it been anyone else but Rebekah. Then, not even one month later, she had received the news that Rebekah had been found dead in her home.

"What happened to the world after I left James?" Cat sobbed "You were the one who kept telling me it would all turn out alright in the end. Now you and Lily are dead, Sirius is still lost to me, Peter betrayed the marauders, Voldemort’s puppets run the Ministry. ..... right now the only *alright* part is Harry is alive and still protected by the spells Lily and I cast all those years ago, but even that will wear off soon...." She closed her eyes tightly as the memory of Angus’s funeral played across her mind. "Why couldn’t you have been right about the wedding and grandchildren Angus? That’s all I ever really wanted, to have a loving husband and start my own family."

Cat sighed deeply as she curled up on her bed, clutching her pillow and quilt tightly, as if they were her only links to life. "Severus... I don’t know if you’ll be able to accept my clan. I have serious doubts they will accept you. But I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want to have children, I want to watch them grow and learn. I want to choose who their father will be." Her tears streamed down her face as she realized how limited her options had become. "I don’t want to suffer through an arranged marriage, I want, ... I need to be able to love my husband, not just tolerate him.".......

Sirius and Cash silently entered the common room, all the students seemed to have gone to bed and the common room was eerily silent. Sirius led the way to Harry’s dorm, he could walk the way blindfolded, he James and Remus had made this trip so often under the cover of darkness. He felt the wall for the familiar chipped edge of the corner stone that would tell him they were there. James had accidentally taken a huge chunk out of the stone when he and Sirius were duelling each other in their second year to see who would take Lily to the Forbidden Forest. Sirius smirked as he recalled the brilliant smile that had settled on James’s face when he had won. Even then James and Lily were made for each other, even it they didn’t know it at the time. "Here we are" Sirius whispered as Cash stood by his side.

Sirius opened the door, being careful not to wake anyone. He and Cash quickly crossed over to Harry’s bed and pulled back the curtains. Sirius and Cash smiled widely at each other when they saw Harry sleeping peacefully in his bed, his glasses and wand on the nightstand. They looked for all the world as if they were the proud fathers of the young man sleeping before them.

Cash grinned happily as he nudged Sirius "So, he calling you Da yet?" he whispered softly as Sirius’s grin grew even larger. Sirius bent over to pull up the covers, making sure Harry was safely tucked in before he and Cash searched the dorm for any signs of intruders. When each had signalled "all clear" they both walked out into the hall and silently shut the door behind them. Sirius reached out and placed his palms on the door and mumbled a protection spell, stopping short at making the doorknob disappear.

Cash gave him a toothy grin "Not *too* protective, are ya?" he winked as Sirius smirked back at him. "Let me show you how its done" Cash teased as he cracked his knuckles and placed his hands over Sirius’s.

Cash closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Singing soft and low, he called the magic out of the very air, Sirius watched in amazement as thousands upon thousands of brightly glowing specks seemed to materialize out of the air in front of them. Sirius gasped as he felt a surge of energy coursing through him, setting his nerves on fire as it poured from Cash, through him, and into the very grain of the wood.

"THAT is how you cast a protection spell" Cash said as he removed his hands from Sirius’s "Let’s go, I have a young lady I would like to check on before dawn." Cash grinned as he saw the smile spread across Sirius’s face. "Okay lover boy, calm down. Just promise me you’ll wait until I’m out of the room?" he pleaded

Sirius teased back "I’ll do my best, but no promises." They changed to their animal forms as soon as they passed through the portrait. Cash and Sirius tore through the halls, sniffing for Cat as they headed towards her rooms. Cash skidded to a halt several yards from her door and began to growl, as his dense fur bristled. "What is it?" Sirius asked as he reverted to his human form. "Not the same scent as the forest?" he asked anxiously.

"NO" Cash said nastily as he too returned to human form "Slytherin...." he snarled as he stalked towards the door, "if he’s done anything to her.... I don’t care what I promised Albus, I’ll rip his wretched heart out and wear it as a necklace."

"As much as I would enjoy watching that" Sirius whispered as placed his hand on Cash’s shoulder "I have to think Albus would be upset, and I know Cat would be." he grimaced. "Still have NO idea what she sees in him." Sirius jumped in front of Cash as they reached Cat’s door "Please, Cash, let me. Snape hates us both, but I’ve known him longer. If anyone gets to knock the bugger out, its me." he grinned as he quickly and quietly opened the door.

Sirius quickly crossed through the sitting room and placed his ear against her bedroom door "It’s very quiet" he whispered as all sorts of thoughts passed through his mind regarding what Snape may have done with her "maybe she’s sleeping" he guessed hopefully as he turned the knob, silently opened the door and peered in.

He sighed with relief when he saw Cat, sleeping alone on her bed. He knitted his brow and turned to Cash "Since when does she sleep on *top* of the covers, she always liked to snuggle down into them.."

"Tell me again how you know that." Cash half-teased as he walked up to Cat’s bed and knelt down so he was even with her face. He was planning on scaring her, after scenting the Slytherin outside her room, he thought it only fair. But he paused when he saw the tear stains on her cheeks "Angel?" he said softly as he reached out to wiped at her face.

Sirius heard the tone in his voice and rushed to his side. "What is it? Is she hurt?" Sirius stared down at Cat, she was curled up on top of her blankets, the quilt bunched up and held tightly in her hand, looking closer he also saw the tell-tale marks of her tears. His mind froze in panic for a moment, did Snape do something to her? Did her force her to do something? Sirius felt some of his panic die away when he realized she was still fully dressed, shoes and all.

Cash sighed deeply, "Poor baby. What happened this time?" he cooed softly as he picked her up effortlessly, no matter how old she got, she would always be his little girl. Cash nodded to Sirius as pulled down the covers of her bed. "You really need to separate yourself from the world Angel, you can’t heal everything." He commented as she stirred slightly. Cash smiled fondly as he watched Sirius remove her shoes and straighten out the quilt, they were just so right together, he couldn’t imagine a better husband for Angel.

"Alright Cash, set her down" Sirius whispered as he placed her shoes on the floor "Any idea why she was crying?" he asked as he fussed over her, moving her long hair to the side as Cash gently laid her head on the pillows "Gra? Mo gra?" Sirius called softly as he stroked her face. Sirius looked to Cash "Should I wake her up?" he whispered, his fingers entangling themselves in her hair as he sat on her bed.

"I don’t know" Cash frowned," as much as I want to know what happened to make her cry, she needs her sleep. I’m just relieved the Slytherin isn’t here. His scent stopped at her door." Cash noticed the smile on Sirius’s face "I kinda figured that would make ya happy" he smirked "come on lover boy, let her rest. You and I can talk out here for a little" Cash said as he watched the tender way Sirius treated Angel, it honestly warmed his heart to know how much he loved her. As for Angel, Cash knew her heart better than anyone, she had never hidden herself from him. Not to mention the fire she still held within her very blood for this kind wizard. Cash closed his eyes for a moment as he remembered the sensation of Angel’s blood as it danced through his veins, her emotions had flashed through his mind like a lightening storm. No matter how much she may deny it, Cash had seen her heart, and Sirius was firmly ensconced within its inner most sanctum. "Come on Sirius... you and I need to talk." Cash said again as he placed his hand on Sirius’s shoulder.