Sirius paused and chuckled softly “Siri, that still sounds like a girls name. You do realize you are the ONLY person who gets away with calling me that. Not even Lily dared to call me Siri.”

“Do you want me to stop calling you that?” Cat asked, “I always thought it was kind of cute, but if it really bothers you….”

“No, …gra, you can call me anything you like.” he smiled, kissing the tip of her nose, “in fact, strangely enough, I missed hearing that. I missed hearing your voice, seeing your smile….and other things.” he added as he began kissing her once more, leaning into her until she was flat on the bed, staring up at him.

His hands caressed her as she wove her fingers through his damp, curling hair. “You still need to get out of those wet things” Cat reminded him, “and we need to stop before this goes any further.” she added, sighing deeply as she did so.

“Why do we need to stop?” Sirius whined as he continued to enjoy the softness of her skin. “I’ve been waiting to have you truly alone for weeks, and I can see it in your eyes gra, you want to every bit as much as I do.” he added, kissing her neck provocatively.

Closing her eyes, Cat fought against her own desires, “Because I said we need to.” she whispered “I’m not ready for this, not now, not yet.”

“But I love you Cat, you know I do.” Sirius insisted, “I want to marry you, to have a family with you. I swear I have never in my life cared for anyone the way I care for you….you are everything to me, my heart, my soul… my life. I want us to spend the rest of our lives together gra, I never want us to be apart ever again.” Sirius felt the tears in his eyes as he continued. “I still remember the look in your eyes when I hurt you mo ionúin, it is a look I will take with me to my grave….And then instead of finding you and begging you to forgive me, I only made it worse by being angry with you, angry enough to make you run away from me.”

“I swear Catrianna, I never, ever meant to hurt you. It felt as if my heart was being torn into shreds every time I saw the tears in your eyes.” he insisted as he kissed her softly. “I wanted things to be the way they had been, I wanted to take you in my arms and hold you until all the anger and tears were gone, …. until you loved me again.” he admitted, his tears now rolling down his cheek.

“Siri, shhhh, please, don’t do this,” Cat whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she remembered that day. “I don’t want to think about the past any more, I want to think about the future. I want Harry to have a family, and I need to make arrangements for him should anything happen to us.”

“To us?”

Cat sighed deeply, she hadn’t wanted to discuss this with Sirius yet, and most certainly not in his current condition. “Siri, its obvious Harry considers you his father, so do I, so does my clan. And I know if anything would happen to me, you would make sure Harry was brought here to Fernglennis and kept safe, and I would hope you would stay with him and raise him as any good father would.” she paused, smiling softly as Sirius nodded his head, “My concern is if something happened to you and I. What would happen to Harry? Where would he go? Who would protect him from the MoM and Voldemort?”

“And your suggestion would be?” Sirius asked, having a feeling he already knew.

“Duncan and Mandy” she blurted out quickly, “Harry already adores his Uncle Duncan, and Duncan would kill anyone who so much as looked strangely at our son. I know I can trust him, and you seem fond of him as well.”

“When he isn’t trying to beat me into pulp? Yes, very fond of him” Sirius teased, just as Cat made a face at him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and rolled over so she was now on top of him. “And I’d like to draw your attention to something you just said. I know I’ve had a bit more than I should have, but I know what I heard.”

Giggling softly, Cat rolled her eyes. “Alright Siri, what is it you think you heard?”

Sirius shook his head, “I ’know’ I heard it, … I distinctly heard you call Harry ’our son’, not mine or yours, ’ours’. I have to believe that means you’re not totally opposed to having a family with me gra.” Sirius’s smile turned wistful as he saw her blush deeply, “If we have a daughter, what do you want to name her? Because you ‘know‘ we have to name our next son after my father, right?” he asked as his mouth searched out hers…..

Tris laughed and fell through the open door as Remus tried to catch her, but failed and landed on top of her, startling Sirius and Cat who seemed to have been sharing an intimate moment. “Sorry Padfoot, but this one is a giggler.” Remus teased as he stood up and attempted to help Tris to her feet.

“This coming from a man who can barely stand up straight at the moment” Tris countered, but smiled widely all the same.

Feigning shock, Remus replied, “Do you hear this Kitty, she’s the one falling all over the floor and ‘I’m’ the one accused of being less than…uhm…” Remus knit his brow and turned to Tris. “What is it you’re accusing me of, I’ve forgotten.”

“I rest my case” Tris smirked, pulling Remus over to his bed and shoving him down. “Just sit still and behave” she warned as she knelt down and removed his shoes. “Kitty, you better help him as well.” she added, motioning towards Sirius.

“You heard the Lady, Cat….help me” he grinned, pulling her on top of him once more.

“I’m pretty sure ‘that’s’ not what Tris meant.” Cat retorted as she pushed herself away from him and followed Tris’s lead. “Come on Siri, lets get these boots off, and then you need to get some sleep.”

Tris leaned against the wall, watching as Kitty and Sirius said goodnight to one another. Remus was right, they were very happy together, even the constant sadness in Kitty’s eyes seemed to disappear when they were together. Perhaps she was being unduly harsh were Sirius was concerned, especially if Kitty never even told him about her situation. She looked to see if Remus was watching them as well, and smiled from ear to ear as she watched him sleeping, a soft smile on his lips and he faded into dreams. Just as Tris was about to slip away and give Kitty and Sirius a few private moments, she saw something that changed her mind.

“Well that was uncalled for” Tris said sarcastically, crossing the space between herself and Kitty in mere moments.

“What... what do you mean” Cat stammered as she began to blush ..

“Don’t try playing innocent with me Kitty Cat” Tris replied as she stuck out her tongue “I saw what you did... trying to let your fingers do the talking are you?” …….

Raul grinned widely as Des and Coco stood on either side of him, each waiting for a New Year’s kiss. He had no idea where that particular custom had come from, but he was enjoying it completely. “So, this is a ‘clan’ tradition you say? Any rules or customs I should know about?”

“Just do it like you mean it” Coco purred, smiling wickedly as she licked her lips. “It doesn’t count if your hearts not in it.”

“Far be it from me to flounce anyone’s traditions” Raul purred back as he wrapped his arm tightly around Coco’s waist, kissing her deeply as Des smiled, waiting her turn patiently. Just as Raul was about to release Coco, he felt her deepen the kiss as a fount of blood passed over his tongue. Groaning softly, he felt his head swimming as the nectar of her blood filled his mouth. He was beginning to understand why Cash and the other MacLeod’s were so faithful to their mortal clan, after all, if this was the sort of ‘family’ sharing that went on, he himself would gladly forget the laws and traditions of the Kindred to join their clan.

Cash smiled as he watched Des roll her eyes, Coco’s trick of biting her own lip was well known through out the clan, although she did tend to use it only on the men she was truly interested in. “Hey Joshua, why don’t you go over there and keep Des warm until Raul’s done.” he suggested to the Ventrue, “I’m sure he’ll be glad to switch in a minute or two.” he added, knowing the young Ventrue’s growing fondness for Coco. “Oh, by the way, if you want to get her attention, try a cowboy hat, she seems to have some strange fascination with American Cowboys.” he added, winking as Joshua snorted at the idea.

Looking around the room, Cash smiled as he watched his clan mix and mingle with the Caitiffs and Garou. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and even Rick had agreed to relinquish his nursemaid duties for a few hours and just relax and unwind. And judging by the attention he was getting, it was just what he needed, in fact, it was the first time in days that Rick looked like himself, although Cash was pretty sure the little nips he had taken from some of the guests had a lot to do with that, and the others seemed to enjoy allowing Rick to feed from them, after all many of them owed the Gangrel their lives, if not souls.

At the moment, the only things concerning Cash were Orpha’s reports of unrest amongst the crones, the safety of Professor Snape, and the state of Angel’s womb, and the last two were intertwined to a point that almost made him sick to his stomach. But what was done was done, and he knew the moment he saw the child, any child of Angel’s he wouldn’t care who the father was. It was the same when Angel and Shane were born, it just didn’t matter that Magnus wasn’t their father, they were Deirdre’s children, at that was all that mattered.

Cash looked up when he felt the hand on his shoulder, “Raul, what is it? I thought the girls had you occupied.”

“They did, but guess who just slinked out of the party?” Raul whispered, a dark and foreboding look on his face, “My guess is he’s heading for Angel’s room, and straight for the teacher.”

“Well then, lets go and see if we can prove his guilt or innocence one way or the other. Hurry, before Rick sees us, he‘ll panic and rush to Severus before we can see what Fang is up to.” Cash replied as he and Raul quickly followed the Garou Alpha down the dark hall…..

Maharet sighed as she stared up at the stars and waxing moon, why did Orpha have to make this so difficult, it just wasn’t like her to put up such a ruckus, not when the clan was at stake. And it was, now more than ever the clan was in danger of crumbling and falling to the wayside, millennia of knowledge and teaching would be lost, the blood of the ages spilled on the earth as the clan weakened and faded from even memory. How could Orpha be so selfish, so arrogant as to think she alone could prevent the inevitable destruction of their clan without help from anyone else.

Maharet shook her head, her long red curls shimmering in the pale moon glow. What was she going to do now, she had always relied on Orpha’s cooperation, her strength, to help the clan, but now…. She wiped away a blood filled tear as she thought back to the first falling out she and Orpha had had. It was all because of what had happened to Violet O’Hara Evans and Deirdre. Granted Orpha had been right, she never should have trusted the wizard to be kind or even gentle, but it had never occurred to her what sort of monster lurked under his handsome exterior. And after all, he had been so obsessed with Deirdre, and Violet looked so much like her, she had simply assumed he would treat her with the same care and tenderness he showered on Deirdre. It was a foolish assumption, one which lead to a great deal of suffering and pain, and she had only herself to blame, Orpha had tried to warn her, she just refused to believe the young man could be so cruel.

But then, Maharet had allowed herself to become too involved with the day to day issues of the clan, and that had been her undoing. She was so sure the wizard was the one mentioned in the prophecy, even down to his green eyes, the same ones both of his daughters had inherited from him. Not that it had protected either of them as it was supposed to, Lily was dead, and her half sister had been all but uncontrollable since the moment of her death. It was as if all of Lily’s power had transferred directly into Catrianna instead of into her son as the prophecy had led her to believe. The prophecy, her own mother’s visions, they had guided her and the clan for centuries, eons, but how accurate were they. Maharet ran her hands over the fragile sheep skin rolls that held her mother’s writings. They had been so accurate for the first fifteen hundred years, and even the next millennia had been eerily accurate, so much so that she thought she had simply misinterpreted the meanings on the few misses. But now, over the past three hundred years it seemed the prophecy had been failing the clan at every turn. Or was it Maharet herself, was she no longer able to decipher her mother’s code? Was it time to hand over the knowledge to someone else? After all, three millennia was a very long time, she had even given up trying to figure out her age, years meant nothing to her, she now measured her lifetime in ages, Bronze, Iron, Victorian, Industrial, Cyber,…

Or perhaps she had just gone mad; Orpha warned her it might happen, after all, she was never meant to be immortal. Her immortality had been thrust upon her, against her will and beyond her understanding. The only was she survived was to bury herself within her clan, her children, after all, everyone of them was descended from her in one way or another. And according to the Nosferatu that Catrianna had made tentative alliances with, she was the only Kindred never to have succumbed to the sleep of ages. The only one not to have wrapped themselves in seclusion and gone underground to sleep for decades, if not centuries.

Maharet looked around herself and chuckled deeply, no, she hadn’t gone ‘underground’ per se, but she lived inside of a mountain, in a cave for all intents and purposes. She had told herself it was for her own protection, to shield her from the sun, but at her age, the sun no longer mattered, neither did blood, she could feed as little as once a year and not feel any hunger.

But what was she to do now, it ‘seemed’ as if the prophecy was finally coming to an end, Catrianna seemed to fit all the key points, she was a fraternal twin, and if history was any indication, the sister ALWAYS had twin daughters, just as the prophecy stated. The only thing that made no sense was the fathers, how could they children truly be twins if they had different fathers? At best they could only be half-sisters who shared their mother’s womb….unless there was something between the fathers! Hadn’t Merlin mentions another descendant? Could it be? Was this what she had been missing? And what about this boy? Her ‘son’ Harry, Lily’s child, Catri’s nephew - or was he perhaps more.

Maharet closed her eyes and wondered if Catri even knew that she and Lily had the same father. More than likely not, she was sure she would have heard about it directly from Catri if she had ever figured it out, after all, that girl had the temper of both of her fathers, the real one and Magnus. Now if she could only figure out what part Sirius Black played in all of this, and what had Tris mentioned about a teacher at the wizarding school?……

Cat sighed as she snuggled under the blankets, why shouldn’t she go on with Sirius? It was becoming increasingly obvious that Severus was not as interested in her as she had thought. After all, she had left detailed instructions on how to contact her, and she hadn’t heard so much as a peep from him. She tried to be kind and reminded herself that it may simply be he was upset over the way she left, or the fact that her Clan ‘worried’ him, but then again, if he couldn’t accept her clan, how would their relationship last?

And she had to think about Harry, he loved Sirius as if he were his own father, and he hadn’t been shy about telling her so. But how was she going to protect them now, if what Orpha had told her was true, even Fernglennis may no longer be safe for her ‘little family’ as they had come to be known. So that left Armagh, Samhla, or the veil itself, Cat wished that Tir na nOg was an option, but the crones had far too large an influence on the island for her to truly feel safe there. And what about Sirius, she had almost fallen apart when she saw the scars on his chest, including the wretched mark of Cain that the Tremere had branded him with. Once Siri was truly healed, she would have to make it a point to destroy that scar for good, not just make it fade away.

She had very few options left open to her it seemed, and right now Mac Lir in Armagh was her best hope, and luckily, he was expecting she and Harry the day after next. In fact, he had been very insistent upon it, Harry had certainly impressed Mac Lir during their first meeting. But then again, Harry seemed to be impressing everyone in their clan with his abilities and sweet disposition. “Lily, I hope you and James can see Harry now, you would be every bit as proud of him as I am. And I swear to you, he will NEVER go back to your sister, she doesn’t deserve to have a son as sweet and wonderful as our Harry.” Cat promised to the night as she closed her eyes and settled in for a deep sleep. …..

Percy smiled timidly as his mother stared at him, her mouth hanging open with shock as she looked at all the girls he had brought home with him. “Percival Andrew Weasley, you had better have a very good reason for being out of the house and being with these, …these…these….”

“Happy New Year, Mrs. Weasley” Meg interrupted, hoping to save what was quickly turning into a very bad scene. “I hope we haven’t caught you at a bad time, but since the boys weren’t able to visit us, some of my cousins and I thought we might come meet them.. That is if you don’t mind..oh, and my sister Diana is here as well, she and Percy have already met.” she added, winking slyly at her.

“Diana?! Really” Molly smiled, all anger immediately disappearing from her face as a glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes, “where is she? And who are all these others?”

“Oiy crickey” Fred grinned as he elbowed George. “Miss MacLeod and Meg weren’t kidding were they? Look at them all George, we’ve hit the jackpot.”

“Too right” George smiled back, “Hey, Ron, get yourself over here and look at the birds, not an ugly one in the pack.” George stated as he pulled his youngest brother over to the window.

“So what are we waiting for?” Ron asked as he pressed his face against the window. “Whoa, how many did he bring back with him?”

“Slow down boys,” Arthur warned, “they have to get passed your mother first. And she’s not happy to know Percy wasn’t up in his room like we told her he was.”

“So, how much trouble are we in ‘this’ time?” Fred sighed, “And are you going to be able to …..” His sentence was interrupted by his mother yelling for them to come to the kitchen and meet some guests who had stopped by…….