Cat fought against her instincts, she wanted to reach up, grab the tramp by her hair and whack her head into the table until her skull shattered into hundreds of pieces. "If this place was only for decent people ‘you’ wouldn’t be here Esmeralda." Cat replied coolly, as her eyes immediately locked onto Severus. Luckily he hadn’t noticed Esmeralda yet, although Cat had a very good idea of what would happen when he did. She had heard several stories regarding Severus’s retribution against Esmeralda and her friends for making her cry.

Esmeralda followed MacLeod’s eyes and smirked "What? You’re here with ‘him’. My but how the mighty have fallen. Not quite on level with your precious Sirius, is he?"

"Sirius hasn’t been ‘mine’ in well over a decade, I thought you of all people would know that." Cat said evenly. Sensing the tramp wasn’t going to leave, Cat turned to face her, and almost laughed in her face. She looked like five miles of bad road, potholes and all. Cat felt a smile cross her face as she realized how much better she looked than Esmeralda, granted that wasn’t saying much, but still, it did her heart good to see how badly the tramp looked. "Is there something else you wanted? Or are you waiting to try and steal this boyfriend too?" Cat asked cockily.

Esmeralda gritted her teeth when she saw MacLeod smile, how dare she be happy. She should be miserable, crying over life, not smiling happily at it. Taking a long look at MacLeod, Esmeralda could feel herself becoming angrier by the minute. That Sidhe bi*** looked as if she had just walked out of school, how could she still look so young? And she was here with Severus Snape, he wasn’t the man she had loved, granted he was well respected and very rich, but she had been so head over heels in love with Sirius Black, . . . . "As if I would want that slimy Slytherin git.," she hissed, "slumming are you? I thought nothing less than a Gryffindor noble would do for you."

Cat rolled her eyes "How long have you been out of school? Gryffindor, Slytherin. . . Please, try to grow up. And as for your comments regarding Sev, I strongly suggest you keep them to yourself." Cat turned to look for Severus again, and was a bit concerned when she couldn’t find him with the Ministry members any longer. "In fact I suggest you leave, now."

"Yes, Esmeralda is it?" Severus growled dangerously "If I were you, I would take Miss MacLeod’s advice and go away, quickly." he said as he glowered over her. Sev held up his hand to quiet Catri "No my dear, I remember this creature from school. I do not want her near you," taking a large step towards Esmeralda, Sev forced her to step away from Catri as he continued to glare at her. "In fact, she should not even be here, she should be in some alley, or house of ill repute. .."

"How dare you" Esmeralda hissed as she brought up her hand to strike Severus. She winced as he blocked her blow and wrapped his strong fingers around her wrist.

"Severus please," Catri asked softly "I don’t want a scene. I just want to enjoy my evening with you, . . .please"

Sev looked surprised at Catri’s request, turning to her, he smiled softly as he saw the tender look in her eyes. "Of course Catri, if that is truly what you wish." he purred at Catri, all the while tightening his grip on Esmeralda’s wrist, feeling the bones grind against each other under the pressure of his hand.

"Yes Sev, it is what I want" Catri replied softly, seeing the protective look in Sev’s eyes as he looked at her. "But thank you for coming to my rescue, its very sweet of you." she added as she felt her cheeks turn pink. She wasn’t used to having him defend her, it felt strangely thrilling to know he would so willingly jump to her aid.

Severus nodded to Catri, then drug Esmeralda off a few feet away from the table "I am giving you fair warning now. If I see you anywhere near her, I will kill you. And before you open that filthy mouth of yours, remember what I did to you last time you hurt her. That was only a small taste of what will happen to you if you so much as look at her."

Esmeralda cringed fearfully as she winced, she remembered very well what he and Evans had done to her. "I think your friend Lucius might have something to say on that matter, he doesn’t particularly care for her either." she stammered, hoping to turn Snape’s anger towards someone else.

"I would be very careful about playing that game." Severus warned her "Malfoy has no loyalties, I though you would have realized that by now." he added as he grinned nastily at her "and I am far more useful to him than you could ever hope to be." . . .

Corrinski threw a handful of Floo powder on the fire and waited until the flames turned purple, "Cissi, are you home?" she asked the flames. She smiled brightly when she heard her friends voice reply. "Cissi, you have to come here right away. You know your husband’s friend; Professor Snape? Well I think he’s going to be engaged tonight. Al’s seen the ring."

"Severus Snape?" Cissi replied, obviously shocked "Are you sure? I haven’t seen him with anyone in years." she added, smiling happily at the thought of the Professor finally finding someone to love.

"I’m positive," Cori replied, "and you should see her Cissi, she’s very pretty. Can you believe Al has closed the entire grove tonight? He wants them to have all the privacy they need. Knowing him, he’ll probably be the one to serve them, just so he can be the first to know." she laughed, knowing how excited her husband was about the whole idea.

"And Al talks about us" Cissi laughed. "Do you think he’d mind if I came over. If I can’t talk to her tonight, I at least want to see her." she found it hard to believe that after all these years Severus was planning on remarrying. She remembered all to well the pain in his eyes the night he had lost his wife and daughter. Among her husbands associates, he alone stood out in her mind, he had a sense of injured dignity about him, and he seemed to be the only one of Lucius’s friends who still had a soul.

"I think he would be disappointed if you didn’t" Cori laughed "hurry up, maybe we can see them before they go to the grove." She smiled brightly as she watched the flames turn from purple to bright green as her friend stepped out of the flames and into the kitchen.

Cissi immediately hugged her friend and smiled happily, "I can’t wait to see her, you say she’s pretty?" Cissi asked as the two women made their way through the kitchen. They arrived just in time to see an angry Severus Snape dragging Esmeralda away from his girlfriend.

"Not that idiot again" Cori sighed "what did she do this time" she snarled as she made her way towards the table, signaling her brother-in-law to help her as she crossed the floor. Within seconds Cori and Bob were at Professor Snape’s side "Is something wrong Professor?" Cori asked, sincerely concerned by the look of rage in his dark eyes.

"Mrs. Puck, a pleasure to see you again." Severus replied politely "Although I wish it were under better circ.umstances, it appears your husband needs to rethink his choice of staff." he added as he continued to glare at Esmeralda as she nursed her fractured wrist.

"I agree Professor" Bob said softly "we have discussed this before. Apparently he was doing a friend a favor by hiring her." Turning to Esmeralda, Bob narrowed his eyes as he approached her, he was tired of her trashy behavior and constant attempts to seduce him, as if he would ever do anything with something like her. "Time you leave" he whispered menacingly in her ear as he grabbed her arm and escorted her off the dais as Cori apologized once more to the Professor.

"Get your hands off of me" Esmeralda whined as Bob half drug her across the floor "or are you that anxious to get me alone." she suggested lewdly.

Bob froze as his stomach turned at the mere suggestion. "Don’t flatter yourself, you dried up smeg. In case you haven’t noticed I have a wife, one that I love dearly, and you will not do anything to cause harm to her, or to our family." he said as he tossed her across the lawn "I know what you did to Al’s friend, I know why Al hired you. You live to hurt people, to wreck homes and lives. Well it won’t happen here. Get out now." Bob hissed as he glared at her. . .

Catri smiled at Severus when she saw him coming back to their table. "Wow, she’s looking rough life must have been hard on her" Catri commented off-handedly as Severus joined her "and thank you for that" she added as she smiled tenderly at him.

Severus looked at her with surprise "Catri MacLeod, I am impressed, I though I would have to stop you from beating her senseless when I realized who she was. It is not like you to let such rude treatment go unpunished" he said as he placed his hand on hers.

Cat smiled and winked at him, "Not that it didn’t cross my mind dear, but I think Karma bet me to the punch on that one..... I mean, look at her." she shuddered visibly as she thought of her past run ins with Esmeralda. poor Sirius no wonder he looks so bad, look what he’s living with she thought sadly.

"Are you sure you are fine?" Sev asked, concern filling his voice "You seem distracted. Did she do or say something to you?"

Catri smiled and waved her hand "Nothing she hasn’t said to me a hundred times before." Cat’s eyes became suddenly soft and full of emotion as she looked at Sev "But I must say, I like it when you become so protective. Its very sweet." she added as she rose from her seat and kissed his cheek tenderly. "I’ll be right back Sev, I want to go wash off the wine she spilt on me." She paused as she felt his hand on her cheek, his eyes seemed moist, as if he were going to cry. She watched as he quickly blinked them, and nodded to her as she walked away. . .

Cori and Cissi were watching Catri and Severus intently. "Oh, look." Cori sighed when she saw the woman get up and kiss the Professor. "that’s so sweet."

"Where do you think she’s off to?" Cissi asked as they watched the woman walk away from the table "I hope that wench didn’t ruin anything for Severus."

"If she did, I don’t want to be around when Al finds out, he didn’t want to hire her as it was." Cori told her friend. "He only hired her to keep her away from one of his friends who had the ultimate lack of judgment. Can you believe anyone would actually sleep with that?"

Cissi made a disgusted face "ewww, men. Whatever goes through their minds." she joked as she pulled her friends arm. "Come on, I think she’s going to the washroom. We can talk to her there."

"Talk to her? Cissi, you said you wanted to see her, not talk to her." Cori gasped.

Cissi turned to her friend "I know, I know. But I’ve known Severus since the day I married Lucius, he’s one of the few people my husband associates with that I can stand. He’s been a good friend to me, and he keeps a close eye on Draco at school. If he cares this much about that woman, I want to know more about her." She turned to her friend "Coming?" she asked as she made her way to the washroom to meet Severus’s girlfriend.

The two friends walk in together and quickly focused on the woman. "You’re right, she is pretty." Cissi whispered to her friend as they smiled and nodded at the woman, who smiled back at them.

"You must be Professor Snape’s date" Corrinski blurted out as she approached the woman. "I’m Al’s wife, and I simply could not wait to meet you." she said as she smiled widely.

"Thank you, I think…" Cat grinned "although I have to warn you, I’m getting quite paranoid. It seems everyone here is anxious to meet me" she said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with all the attention.

Corrinski waved her hand dismissively "Don’t let Al get to you, he’s just excitable. Professor Snape was his favorite teacher back at Hogwarts. Apparently Al owes him big time for something or another."

"Several of his students do" Cissi added "and since my friend here seems to have forgotten about me." she teased "I’ll have to introduce myself. I’m Cissi, and you are?"

"Just call me Cat, its much easier that way" she replied as she smiled widely at the two women. "But would someone please tell me why its such a big deal that Sev has a date? I expect he’s had several."

Cissi smiled warmly at her "Not particularly, he’s been alone for quite some time now. It’s very nice to see him with someone who makes him so happy. It‘s been years since I‘ve seen him smile like this" . . . .

Harry and his friend raced through the halls, frantically searching for anyone that could stop Cat from leaving with Snape. "Come on" Harry yelled as the girls fell behind "we have to find someone, I know Cash is on patrol, he’s got to be around somewhere."

Ginny scowled at him "You try running in heels and a long gown" she shot back "and why don’t we just ask Professor Lupin, isn’t the light on in his classroom?"

Harry skidded to a halt, she was right there was light shining out from under the door. Wasting no time, Harry burst through the door, startling the DADA teacher. "Remus, come on, we need you to talk to Cat. She can’t leave with Snape, she doesn’t know the whole truth." Harry blurted out.

"Calm down Harry." Remus sighed "I’ve already talked to her, she’s made her mind up I’m afraid" he told him as he shook his head sadly "I can’t seem to make her listen to me about this at all."

Harry shook his head "No Remus you don’t understand. She doesn’t understand…she doesn’t know anything about Azkaban, she thinks he’s still with Esmeralda."

Remus’s eyes grew wide "What!!! Harry are you sure?"

"Positive" Hermione answered for him "Ginny and I talked to her today, she mentioned the name, but we had no idea who she was. She told me she still loves Sirius, she told Ginny the same thing."

Remus practically jumped over his desk as he joined the students and raced back to the ball. . . .

"So you teach at Hogwarts with Severus" Cissi repeated as her eyes shined with warmth. "My son goes there, he’s in Severus’s house of course. I can’t tell you how much it comforts me to know Severus is there to watch over him. I’m afraid he takes after his father a bit too much for my tastes."

Cat watched as Cori patted Cissi’s hand, apparently it was not a good situation. Deciding to do the polite thing, Catri brushed over the comment. "Severus is very protective, although I feel he’s a bit strict with the students. But then I come from a large family, discipline wasn’t high on the list of priorities when you’re trying to feed, cloth, educate and bath a baker’s dozen" she laughed as Cori’s eyes grew large.

"You’re joking, right?" she asked as her hand went to her stomach "thirteen children? What are you, a Weasley?"