“Looking for something my boy?”

Harry jumped as he saw a brown haired man with eyes like Sirius suddenly standing before him. He could have sworn he was alone, he certainly never heard anyone approach him. “Uhm, hi, ….I’m looking for my mum and.. Uhm…”

Merlin knelt down and took a deep look into Harry’s eyes. “You must be Kitty’s little boy. Its so nice to finally meet you, she’s very proud of you, you know.” he commented as he laid a fatherly hand on Harry’s shoulder. “The last I saw my god daughter, she and Sirius were talking….” Merlin looked confused for a moment as he looked up and down the hall. “Ah yes, now I remember, its that door right there. The one that’s just open a crack.”

“They’re talking? Talking, talking?” Harry asked, almost afraid to believe it, could Sirius have finally gotten the courage to tell Cat everything.

“Hmmm, well, they’re talking, and I believe he’s finally realized he must have faith in her love for him if he ever want to be with her again.” Merlin replied softly “But he had been through and awful lot Harry. More than you or I or even Kitty will ever be able to understand. I know its hard, but try to be patient with him.”

Harry’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the brown haired man. “Do you know about Sirius? Who he is, what happened?” Harry asked breathlessly “Do you know about Azkaban?”

Merlin nodded “I’m afraid I do Harry, I only wish Albus and I could have done more to save him. But he’s here with us now, as are you, safe from anyone that would think to harm you. Free to roam the land in the light of day or the pale glow of the moon”

“You know Professor Dumbledore as well? And you said you were my mum’s god father?” Harry asked, becoming more and more awestruck of the man “Who are you? Are you related to Sirius, you two have the same eyes, just like mum and I do.”

Merlin smiled kindly at Harry “Who I am isn’t important, and yes, Sirius is related to me, he has my eyes.” he winked “As for Albus and I, well, I’ll tell you about that some other time, right now, I think it’s best if you look in on your parents and make sure they ‘re still fine.” he said as he stood up and gently steered Harry towards the door, smiling and encouraging the boy as he kept turning around to make sure he was on the right path.

Harry walked in the direction the man had sent him, and turned around as he walked, only to see the brown haired man smiling after him. He didn’t know who he was, but he reminded Harry more and more of Sirius every time he looked at him. The eyes, the smile, the friendly way about him that just seemed to put you at ease. Harry paused as he reached the door and placed his hand on the knob, he turned on last time to say goodbye to the man only to see an empty hall where the man had been standing only seconds before.

Shaking his head slowly as he wondered what else he could expect from this evening. They had only been here a few hours and already he had met more different kinds beings and creatures than he had come across in five years at Hogwarts. Add to that, the fact that he was somehow related to almost all of them only seemed to be making life more interesting.

Harry wondered what Snape would think about the people he had met here, he could easily picture the potion master standing in a corner, scowling at Bruid and Merigwen and even Aunt Orpha. ‘His loss’ Harry thought as he carefully pushed the door open a bit further and peeked in. He felt his heart in his throat as he saw the image before him.

Sirius was laying on the sofa, his head resting on Cat’s lap as he held one of her hands, kissing it softly as Cat played with his hair with her other hand. Harry observed the obvious tenderness in the way Cat sat there, stroking Sirius’s hair, a bitter sweet smile on her lips. It would have been a picture perfect moment, if only they weren’t both crying.

As Harry stood there, wondering what he should do, he heard someone calling his name. He hesitated as he tried to decide if he should find the person calling him or go in and talk to his Mum and Sirius. Realizing there was nothing he could do to help them, Harry silently closed the door and quickly headed off towards the voice before Sirius and Cat were disturbed…..

“HAAaaarrrryyyy” LJ bellowed as the other cousins searched for him room by room. “Man, where could he have wandered off to?” he groused “I mean the house isn’t ‘that’ big”

“Want to bet?” Harry replied as he stumbled out of a side passage, bumping into Callista who took one look at him and turned bright red. “I’m completely lost, what part of the house is this anyway?”

“Its the North Wing of the house, it faces Morrigan’s land” Callista explained as she tried to compose herself. “Were you in one of the rooms? We’ve been looking for you for almost half an hour. Its time for bed.”

“Bed? Already?” Harry asked, even after everything he had been through today, he really didn’t feel tired, the excitement of meeting everyone, of being part of a family had carried him on a crest of exhilaration that had yet to falter.

“Yes, already” Sara replied, rolling her eyes as she popped the last piece of food into her mouth. “Mum’s been yelling at us for over an hour now. We’ve been putting her off by telling her we had to find you so you didn’t get lost and end up in the tunnels by accident.” she added as she casually grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the top of the house, pointedly ignoring Callista’s glare as she did so.

“The tunnels?” Harry asked as LJ fell in step next to him. “What are they? Is there something dangerous in them?”

LJ laughed as he clapped Harry on the back “No, just some more clan, Gangrel and a few Caitiff we’ve taken in. They just don’t like to be waken up, that’s all.”

The group continued to laugh and joke as they made their way to the trees which grew from the peak of the house. Harry’s eyes lit with amazement as he saw how the roots of the large oaks and rowans glowed softly, casting the room in a warm, comforting glow. He was so taken by the sight, that he didn’t see the others in the room, some of them already in the hammock like beds suspended within the roots of the trees.

“Hey Bree” LJ said to his twin sister. “Has Puneet shown up yet? Didn’t he promise to tell us another story tonight?”

“You bet he did” Sabrina agreed “Tonight he’s going to tell us about the second battle of Magh Tuiredh. He said Mac Lir’s half brother, Tethra had to fight for his cattle.”

“Cattle? Who would call fish cattle?” Tanja interjected as she rolled her eyes and pet Monty.

“Hey, Armagh and Emain Abhlach are underwater, its not they would actually have cows or sheep or anything.” Bree replied, then, turning to Harry added “So, are you ready for this Spring when you and LJ walk the path?”

“Walk the path? What path?” Harry asked as his cousins smiled knowingly at each other…….

Remus sighed and shook his head, at this rate he would never find Kitty or Sirius, he had forgotten how large her home really was. Actually, it seemed the more people that filled it, the larger it became. “Sirius, I sincerely hope you’ve found her and are telling her everything. I made a promise to her, I swore to her I would never allow her to marry Snape, don’t make a liar out of me.”

“As if he would do such a thing to his oldest and dearest friend” a friendly voice remarked from just behind Remus.

Remus turned quickly to see a familiar face. “You, now this is the fourth time I’ve seen you, and it always involves Kitty.” Remus remarked as he grinned widely at the man with brown hair and blue-gray eyes. Remus shook hands as he commented “Over the past twenty years I’ve watched you watching her, and you haven’t changed a bit.” he teased as he noted the slightly tanned face, easy smile, and blue eyes with the etchings of laugh lines around them, “So, what are you doing here now? And are you ever going to tell me your name?”

Merlin waved a dismissive hand at the wizard “Remus my friend, what is in a name? I know you, and you know me.” he replied, then pulling Remus’s hand, he brought the werewolf in close to him “And we both know my Kitty and Sirius belong together, don’t we?”

“We do, believe me, I’ve personally been trying my best to get them together, to make them talk” he sighed, remembering all the times he thought they had finally gotten to the truth, only to find out Sirius had developed cold feet and failed to tell her everything. “I was hoping to find them and get them under the mistletoe, you know, at least get them to do something that involved their lips.”

Merlin chuckled softly as he wrapped his arm around Remus’s shoulder. “Good idea my friend, but I think mine is working a bit better. When I last saw them, they ‘were’ talking, and crying I’m afraid, but I would think that was to be expected.”

Remus’s feet froze to the floor as he turned to face the man “Has he told her? Has he finally told her the truth about….. I mean… uhm”

“It’s quite alright my dear Remus, I know all about Azkaban.” Merlin explained “Albus and I talked long and hard about it on several occasions. We had both known in our hearts that Sirius would never, in fact ‘could’ never do such a thing. Not to someone he considered a friend, and James had been more than a friend, he was the brother Sirius had always desired.”

“Does that mean Kitty knows about it too?” Remus asked, wondering if all these games and missed chances had been meaningless. “Does she know what happened?”

“No, of course not” Merlin replied quickly, knitting his brow at the very thought. “After what she had had to endure with the passing of the years. It would have been cruel to tell her, she had been exiled from the wizarding world by both the Ministry and her own clan.” he explained. “I though you would have realized that when she didn’t appear for Lily’s wedding or the birth of their son. It would have destroyed her to know Sirius was in Azkaban and she was unable to even go to him, to comfort or to rescue him.” he added as he shook his head. “Although I am interested to know why ‘you’ didn’t believe his innocence, is there something you would like to share with me?” he asked as he directed Remus to a quiet room and closed the door behind them.

“Nothing I’m willing to admit” Remus replied as a ghost of a shadow flitted across his eyes. “I …. We knew someone was a spy, telling Voldemort everything, I knew it wasn’t me, and if Peter was dead and Sirius killed him, …..well you can imagine how it looked.”

Merlin smiled knowingly as he evaluated the man before him. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Remus Lupin, do you think I don’t know the rest of it?” he asked as Remus turned pale and then blushed deeply.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about….” he began to insist, only to be cut off.

“You’ve never forgiven him for it, have you?” Merlin asked, already knowing the answer. “You gave up the woman you loved to him, on the understanding that he would take care of her, love her, be with her forever . All because you were so afraid you would harm her….” Merlin gently pushed Remus onto a deep, soft chair as the wizard tried to deny the claim. “She loved you and you knew it. And as much as you wanted and needed that love, it terrified you. And then your nightmare came true, you nearly killed her.”