Severus tossed in his bed for a few more minutes before finally throwing off his covers and grabbing his robe. He had to know, he had to find out what she was doing, or more importantly, what Black was doing… He knew he had seen several spells for long distance viewing in the restricted section, he decided it would be best to have them on hand, just in case the bracelet proved to be less than useful.

He grimaced as the cold air in the corridor breezed against him as he strode towards the library, he already missed her warmth and the way she would nuzzle against him as she slept. ……..

Arthur placed his arm around Molly as they and the children waved goodbye to the vampyres. “Well Molly, it certainly didn’t take you long to warm up to them, did it?” Arthur tease as Molly swatted him with a tea towel.

“Now Arthur, how was I to know vampyres could be so polite or sweet” she replied. “And to listen to Cash… well its just nice not to have snide comments made about the size of our family is all.”

Arthur laughed softly as he hugged Molly tightly then opened his arms to his children. “Come on now you lot, inside where its warm. We have a lot to get done by tomorrow evening. And Fred, I‘ll need to take you to the doctors, I want to make sure you‘re as well as you think you are.” he told them, hoping they couldn’t hear the strain in his voice or the pain in his eyes. Even on his worst day, he never, ever expected the Ministry to end like this……

“So Edana, what do ‘you’ think of Uncle Sirius? Do you think he’s the right man for her?” Paddy’s face glowed with contentment as his daughter laughed and gurgled happily. “I’ll take that as a yes” he whispered as he nuzzled against the baby, sighing softly as she grabbed a hold of his hair and squealed with joy. “Do you know something? I think I may have found a mother for you, and some brothers and sisters to boot. Would you like that?” he asked “Her youngest is only a year or so older than you are, and they need taking care of every bit as much as you do. I think I’ll be a good daddy to all of you.”

“Now Paddy, don’t go rushing into anything” Frank warned him as he entered the room. “I know how much you want to care for Edana, and I agree Elora’s a very sweet woman.” he added, holding his hands up to stop Paddy from arguing with him “But have you asked her where ‘her’ husband is? I doubt she had all those children on her own, and I’ve never heard Erich or her mention his name or anything about him.”

“Maybe he betrayed them” Paddy suggested, “I know I don’t exactly volunteer I information about….’her’.” he said glumly.

“And that’s understandable, and if the same thing happened to her, I would understand her reluctance to speak of him. But even the children never mention him, its always Uncle Erich or Fallon, never once have I heard mention of a father.” Frank reminded him gently, “I’m not trying to influence you or your decisions, but I do want you to be careful, its not just your future anymore, Edana’s fate is at stake as well.”

Paddy sighed deeply “I know, believe me I do. But after walking in here and seeing Kitty and Sirius with Edana…..they looked like a family, and I want that for Edana, I want her to belong to a family, not just the clan Frank, but a family.”

Frank clapped his hand on Paddy’s shoulder, “I know you do Paddy, and I’m sure you will find the right woman, but please, don’t go leaping into anything.” Frank leaned over to see his niece and kissed her, smiling as she grabbed at his beard. “You teach her that?” he chuckled.

“No, I think Sirius might have, I doubt Siobhan would.” Paddy grinned.

“Sirius?! Wait a minute, Kitty and Sirius? The Sirius Dimitri kept going on about?” Frank asked as it suddenly dawned on him where he had heard that name before.

“The same.”

“Where are they? I didn’t pass them on my way here” Frank said as he quickly looked around, half expecting his baby sister to leap out at him in an attempt to get even with him for some forgotten prank from last summer. Realizing no one else was in the room Frank quickly returned his attention to Paddy. ”So…what is he like? Is he one of us? Was Dimitri right? Did she actually get married without the approval of the clan?” he asked, his eyes growing dark as he thought of the repercussions to such actions.

Paddy looked up at Frank and simply laughed “Not too protective, are you?” he teased. “And no, I don’t think they are married, at least not yet. But I do have the sneaking suspicion she loves him, he obviously loves her. And if you want to get a look at him, they were on their way to the kitchen to find their son.”……

Sirius laughed as Luke grabbed Cat around the waist as she tried to get away from him. “Oh no you don’t Kitty” Luke yelled, “I have to play, you have to play.” he informed her as she continued to try and wriggle out of his grasp.

“I don’t want to play.” Cat insisted “let me go, Luke… I mean it, let me go.” she squealed as her brother continued to drag her into the room. “Sirius, don’t just stand there, help me!” she pleaded in between fits of laughter.

For his part, Sirius was having a hard time standing on his own feet, he was simply laughing too hard to breathe. It was so rare to see Cat this flustered, she was normally so in control of herself, but around her family…well, they definitely had an effect on her. “Sorry Kitty, I intend to stay on your brother’s good side. I’ll need at least one of them to stand as best man at the wedding.” he winked as he grabbed one of her hands.

“At this rate, neither of us will live long enough to worry about a wedding.” Cat yelped as Luke kept a strong grip on her and laughed deeply.

“Wait a minute. …Wedding?” Luke asked, still holding onto Cat who had Sirius’s hand in a death grip. “Are you Sirius?” he asked. When he saw Sirius smile and nod, Luke quickly grabbed Sirius’s free hand and pulled him into the room as well “Hey!!! I’ve got another one.” he shouted as he drug a squirming Cat and a laughing Sirius into the game.

Sirius smiled gleefully as he was playfully pushed to the floor, only to have Cat dumped unceremoniously onto his lap. “Ok, we have our team all ready to go” Luke grinned as he and Leah sat next to Cat and Sirius. “And Sirius, you better be a fast learner.” he winked, smiling good naturedly at the wizard.

“I’ll do my best” Sirius grinned as he wrapped his arms around Cat’s waist, noticing the approving look her brother was giving him. “So, what am I supposed to do in this game?” he asked.

“First and foremost” Luke began “make sure she doesn’t make a dash for the door. Secondly, our team has to beat those miscreants over there.” Luke said, pointing to the couples across from them. “Oh, by the way, this is our brother Duncan and his girlfriend Mandy, and this fellow is our cousin Collin and his girlfriend Katie.” Luke added.

Duncan peeked around Mandy and raised an eyebrow at Sirius “And who the hell is he? And why is Kitty sitting on his lap like that?” he growled, the protectiveness in his voice obvious to everyone in the room.

Luke winked at Sirius as Cat sighed deeply and hung her head “This is our baby sister’s future husband, …..or so I’m told” he teased as Cat moaned and covered her face with her hands.

“Really?” Collin asked as his face lit up, “she’s finally taking the plunge, huh?”

“That’s it, I’m out of here.” Cat said as she tried to stand up to leave, only to have Sirius pull her back down with so much force, they both toppled backwards.

Mandy giggled hysterically “Are you sure she’s a willing bride? She looks a bit nervous to me.”

“Really, and how would you know?” Duncan teased “I’m still trying to get you to marry me.” he added as he gave her a quick kiss on her neck. “Allrighty then… Sirius is it? Let’s begin.” Duncan added, a challenging tone in his voice.

“Oh no.” Cat sighed as she shook her head, “I know that tone, and if you think you’re going to douse me with cold water Duncan, think again. I’m in a mood and a half right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah….” Duncan smirked “More playing less talking. Luke, you start.”

“You just can’t wait to get beaten, can you” Luke teased his brother as the girls all rolled their eyes, knowing full well how this game usually ended. Luke waved his hand in the air between the couples as four large silver bowls of water appeared, along with a shimmering cloud that hovered between the bowls.

“Ok, youngest first, so Kitty, pick a letter.” Luke nudged grinning widely as he paid special attention to the way Sirius was holding her and resting his head against her neck. “And make it a good one, unless you want to get wet.”

Cat stuck out her tongue at her brother and looked into the glimmering haze that was in front of her. “Hmmm, ‘E’” she said, holding her breathe as one of the silver bowls hovered over she and Sirius slowly, before returning to its original position next to the cloud. Within seconds, part of the cloud cleared away to reveal two ‘E’s.

“I’m done, ….. Duncan…. Your turn” Cat winked as Duncan and Mandy spoke quietly before picking the letter ‘T’. Once again one of the silver bowls floated around them slowly, only instead of going back to the cloud, it quickly dumped cold water on Mandy and Duncan, causing them to shriek and the rest of the couples to laugh.

“Oh, lovely” Sirius groaned as he saw how the game was played. “No wonder you didn’t want to play” he whispered into Cat’s ear. “I know how much you love being cold and wet.”

“I know, and they always insist on playing this game” Cat sighed softly as she slipped her arm around Sirius’s neck, quickly falling back into old habits. “I just hope we win, because it gets even worse at the end.” she sighed as she nuzzled against him……

Aunt Orpha smiled joyfully as she watched Harry playing with his cousins, he was fitting in so easily, and it filled her heart with warmth to see the way he instinctively watched over his younger cousins, protecting the little ones from being accidentally knocked over as he and the older children ran about.

Orpha’s eyes flitted over the room and its inhabitants, her family, all nine or so generations packed tightly under one roof, at least for the next few days. She watched as couples began forming here and there, wandering off to corners to talk privately or gathering their children to them, cuddling fondly as they prepared them for bed.

Spying Tris and Accalia in a corner, Orpha made her way over to them. “Merry meet Accalia” Orpha said as she kissed the Gangrel on her cheek. “I see you and Tris are busy scheming” she noted.

“Not scheming, just concerned” Tris countered “I don’t like the fact that Sirius Black is here” she explained “He hurt her so badly, I can’t stand to see her be hurt like that again. She was crying for weeks, it just isn’t right.”

“Now Tris, let’s not bring up painful memories, at least not tonight. Kitty seems to be perfectly content to have things the way they are. And her son has expressed his wishes, clearly and emphatically, that he wishes Sirius to be his father. Surely that means something?” Orpha countered. “And it seems his old friend Remus Lupin is standing firmly beside Harry in this matter, as is Cash.”

Tris snorted “Cash, I still can’t believe the way he’s taken to Sirius. I’ve never seen him just warm to a person not of the clan, ever…”

“That right there should tell us something” Accalia responded, “Personally, I am quite anxious to meet this wizard, and my new grandchild. I’ve heard he has our eyes, just both of his mothers.”

“Yes, its true” Orpha chuckled “Poor Frank was quite taken back by it. I imagine it can be a shock to see such a trait in a fosterling. Although I’m not entirely convinced he is a fosterling, I know in my heart and blood that Kitty and Lily Evans did something. I can sense magic no matter where I am, and I felt a powerful magic between those two. I wouldn’t be surprised if Harry has our blood in his veins.”

Tris looked suddenly uncomfortable as she tried to change the subject. “You said Sirius’s friend is here with them? Do you mean the boy that attacked Angel all those years ago?”

Orpha gave her a sly smile, but allowed the topic of conversation to change “Yes, the very same, but he’s hardly a boy anymore, in fact, he’s become quite a nice looking man.” Orpha replied “And he certainly loves the children, he’s been playing with them all evening.”

“He ‘was’ playing with them all evening” Accalia corrected her. “They wore each other out, last I checked in on them, they were all sleeping soundly, most of them on top of him. He seems very sweet.”

“Now Accalia, please don’t try to fix him up with Amber or Ullah again. He made it quite clear last time that he intends to remain single, and he gave us very good reasons for his decision.” Orpha reminded her.

“So you agree with him?” Accalia asked, shocked that Orpha would agree with anyone wanting to remain single and childless.

“No, I think he’s being a bit over cautious” Orpha replied “but I hardly think we can or should force him to go against his will. If he feels the need to settle down and start a family, I am certain that he will begin with us.” she winked as Accalia grinned widely……

Sirius chased after Cat as she giggled and ran down the hall, her brother Duncan and cousin Collin chasing after them both. Catching up with her, Sirius panted “I can’t believe you did that, what were you thinking?”

“I’m thinking I didn’t want to get cold water dumped on me” Cat grinned as a wicked little laugh escaped her. “And Duncan was asking for it, he was being a complete brat.” she added as she grabbed Sirius’s hand and quickly ducked into a doorway, dragging him along with her.

“Shhhhhh” she said softly, pressing her fingers against his lips. “Not a sound.”