Sirius dabbed at his eyes as he watched Christian and Satine declared their undying love for each other. When did he become such a softy, he was the invincible and nearly insane Sirius Black, the first one to take or make a dare, the one everyone else could count on to back them up in a fight, the one to survive Azkaban. His thoughts were disturbed by the sound of someone sniffling quietly. Looking down, he saw Cat against his chest, wiping at her eyes with a napkin as her lower lip quivered. Well at least he wasn’t alone in his tears today, instinctively, his fingers weaved their way through her hair, caressing her silken tendrils as they wrapped around his fingers.

Feeling her nuzzle closer against him, Sirius hid his tears in her soft hair as he kissed her auburn tresses. “You alright gra?” he whispered softly, “do you want to take a little walk or something?” he watched as she wiped at her eyes and sniffled once more. “Never mind, I think that answers that, come on, we’ll tell them you want chocolate or ice cream if they ask.” he tease, laughing softly as she swatted his chest.

“Sure, blame it on me.” she sighed, only to pause as she saw his eyes, reaching up she gently wiped a stray tear from his cheek. “Who needs ice cream and chocolate?” she asked, smiling knowingly.

“WE, …. we need ice cream and chocolate” Siri sighed, shaking his head as he thought of how much his life had changed, both for better and for worse. “Does that make you happy?”

“Ecstatic” Cat teased as she kissed him quickly, Let’s go, hopefully Harry and Calli are out there snacking too. To be perfectly honest, if I didn’t know how watchful Maurice was of Harry, I would have gone looking for him quite a while ago.”

Knitting his brow, Sirius pulled out his pocket watch, “Damn, I told him five minutes. I should have paid more attention to the time.”

“Relax, Killer, he’s fine as long as he stays inside the theatre, and Maurice will see to it that he does. Harry’s a curious sort of boy, he likes to explore, …much like someone else.”

“Killer” Sirius repeated, rolling his eyes and chuckling, “gra, I know you are referring to my little display against the Slytherins after a certain Quidditch match, but considering what they sent me to Azkaban for, you might want to re-think ’that’ particular nickname.”

Wincing at her thoughtlessness, Cat nodded, taking their conversation on a different road. “Yes, that was the closest I ever got to playing in a ‘real’ game, wasn’t it?”

“If you consider being saved from a thirty foot drop by James as he goes on to score yet another goal playing, then yes, it was.” he replied, smirking as Cat sighed and shook her head. “Come on, I want to find that son of ours, it makes me nervous when he’s gone so long.”……

“Oh Thanky, thanky, thanky” Harry heard a small voice squeak as he watched Monty slither off, the paper sack full of crickets firmly in her mouth. “Thanky for saving Luch, I is much in debt to you.”

Harry’s eyes grew wide as he looked down into his shirt pocket, sure enough, it was the mouse speaking to him. “Uhm… you’re welcome… I hope Monty didn’t hurt you.” he stated as he lifted the mouse out of his pocket.

“No, just scared Luch, no hurt.” the mouse responded as its nose sniffed at Harry’s palm, as if to make sure it was a safe place to be. “But loud girls scared me first, they yell and throw things at each other, I ran away, but snake was waiting for me.” Luch said, shivering as he remembered seeing the glassy eyes of the huge python staring back at him as he rounded the corner.

“What girls, Luch? And what were they fighting about?” Harry asked, feeling he already knew which girls the mouse was referring to.

“I not see small one before, but tall one, she MacLeod, I hear the others talk to her before. Pay her great respect they do, like the Rion herself they treat her.”

“The tall MacLeod, what colour was her hair? Was it dark red like a fire, or light red lik…” Harry began to ask.

“Hair like clover honey, golden and red” Luch replied, “she is kind to us, leaves popcorn for us on the shelf.”

“That sounds like Moira” Harry stated, “What were they fighting about? Do you know?”

Luch nodded his head vigorously “Kissing, the small one yelling and crying about kissing or not kissing, very angry her.”

“Oiy, well now, that explains a lot” Harry sighed, finally figuring out why Callista was so angry with him. “But she shouldn’t be mad at Moira, I mean when Calli kissed me, she just ran away. I thought I did it wrong or something.”

Harry watched as the little mouse looked up at him and shrugged his shoulders. “I no understanding them, they no mice.”

“Don’t feel bad, I don’t understand them either, and we’re ‘supposed’ to be the same species, but I’m beginning to wonder. Hey, wait a minute, how come I can understand you????” ……..

Percy was still smiling when Molly came to rouse him from his nap. “Good heavens Percy, did you even close your eyes at all?” she asked, her eyes narrowing to take a closer look at her son, something seemed different about him today, not wrong per se, just different.

“Uh,.. I don’t know,… I guess so.” Percy replied, his mind still filled with thoughts of Diana. “Mum, did Charlie owl you back yet? Meg really wants to meet him, and wait until he hears she can play the fiddle even better than he can. And I think the twins…”

“Don’t mention them to me Percy” Molly fumed, “I wanted to make a good impression on the MacLeod family, and ‘what‘ do they do?” she growled as her face grew dark with the memories of her son’s antics of the night before.

“Mum, its alright, according to Meg and Diana, it’s a custom to kiss at midnight.” Percy said softly, a wistful smile on his lips as he recalled the kiss he and Diana shared. “They didn’t do anything wrong, honest.”

“Kissing is one thing, what they were doing is quite another. And to answer your question, no Charlie hasn’t owled me back yet, but I’m expecting an answer any time now.” Molly raised an eyebrow as she studied her normally fastidious son. “Percy, is there something you’d like to tell me, something about last night?” …..

“So there are my two love birds” Maurice sang out as he saw Sirius and Cat at the little café, ordering an ice cream sundae to share. He nodded approvingly as he saw Sirius’s arm around Cat’s waist, protective and loving as they tried to decide what to order.

“Hello Maurice” Sirius grinned back, “I don’t suppose you’ve seen our son? Cat insists as long as he’s inside he’s safe…”

“Quite true, quite true. I am bound to her clan, indentured as it were” Maurice explained. “Your dear wife-to-be saved my life and the lives of my family, I owe her everything. But instead of payment, she asked only for my loyalty,..” he looked at Cat and reverently took her hand, “I freely give her that, and my devotion to her and her clan. Nothing can harm Clan MacLeod within these walls, and Harry would never be able to exit this theatre without his mother at his side, the same goes for the other children as well. Besides being a cinema, this is also a safe house of sorts.”

Sirius rolled his eye as he shot Cat a ‘look’. “No wonder you were so calm about him being gone for so long. You knew about this, didn’t you?”

“Of course. Do you honestly think I would take him or any of the children anywhere I was uncertain about?” she teased as she leaned into him, smiling as he tightened his hold around her waist. “And you still haven’t decided which one you want.” she added, looking up at the shimmering, water-filled marquee with its tiny, ever moving fish, displaying the menu items as they changed from one formation to the next..

Sirius smirked at her, a soft laugh escaping his lips, “Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate” he teased as he gave her a quick kiss. …….

Harry rubbed the torque around his neck, no wonder his Mum had insisted he wear it, it really did allow him to speak to animals. Harry grinned as he thought how much Hagrid would love to try it out, he’d probably have tea with a dragon, or worse knowing him. Smiling broadly at the mere thought of Hagrid serving tea to a grown up Norbert, Harry whistled softly as he made his way back towards the movie, his eyes roving from one side to the other as he admired the paintings and mosaics on the walls. It wasn’t until he passed the washroom that he realized Callista was still there in the shadows, she still seemed upset, but at least she wasn’t crying anymore.

“Hi Calli” he said softly, remembering Luch‘s story about her fight with Moira, “are you feeling any better?

“I’m fine. Just go back and watch the movie” she replied softly, not bothering to look up at him.

Harry edged a little closer to her, trying to decide if it was a good idea to push her a little or just to leave her alone. “Don’t you want to see the movie? Sara says its really good.” he sighed as Calli simply shrugged her shoulders, half turning away from him. “Calli, why are you angry with me?”

“I’m…. I’m not angry with you.” Callista stammered, feeling her face grow hot with embarrassment.

“Yes, you are. I heard you and Moira yelling” he lied, not feeling it necessary to tell her about Luch, as it was Calli probably thought he was crazy for insisting he heard screaming earlier. “I think you were fighting about me. Were you?”

“Maybe” Calli whispered as she suddenly took great interest in her shoes. “What exactly did you hear, anyway?”…..

Rick paced the floor like an expectant father as Severus stared at him, it had been nearly an hour and the normally talkative Gangrel had barely said a thing to him. “Shall I add the scullcap and galangal root to the potion now and blow us to kingdom come, or just wait until it boils over and eats the flesh from our bones?”

“Hmm. … What?” Rick mumbled, his mind obviously anywhere but there.

“Rick,…..RICK!!” Severus roared, causing the vampyre to finally stop pacing and stare at him with confused eyes. “Finally, I have your attention.” Sev sighed as he extinguished the flamed under the cauldron, crossing the length of the room to stand by Rick’s side. “What has you so preoccupied? You normally are a very attentive student, but today I can barely manage to get your attention.”

Rick just shook his head, “I have a lot on my mind Sev. There are things happening right now….. I don’t feel right not being there with them.” he sighed.

Severus turned his face away as he winced. “With Catri you mean, with your ‘clan’ like Hamish?” he asked, trying not to sound hurt.

“Yes with my clan, but not the mortal one.” Rick explained, his blue eyes full of worry as he stared out of the tall, narrow window of the old potions lab. “They have gone after Gustavas, without me, without Hamish…. I don’t like it Sev. We should all be doing this together…” he closed his eyes and balled his hands into tight fists as he tried to force the sense of impending doom out of his mind.

“Then why don’t you join them Rick? You obviously want to…” Severus began, only to be cut off by Rick’s sharp reply.

“Because Cash insists Raul and I stay here to watch over the school. Raul has all the students in the great hall as we speak, Minerva is with him and she has charmed the doors to make sure no one goes in or out.” he explained quickly. “Albus and Arthur Weasley are in London at the Ministry Head Quarters trying to sort things out.”

“Then why are you here with me? Why aren’t we with the other teachers, protecting the students?” Sev asked as he picked up his cloak, preparing to leave the make-shift classroom and join the others. Only to stop when Rick’s hand reach out and grabbed his arm.

Rick shook his head slowly, “You can’t Sev, he’s gone after you once. If he comes back he’s either going to take a victim out of opportunity, or he’s coming for you.” he explained softly. “We’ve accounted for all the students, so there is no opportunity left for him there……”

“I didn’t run away because I didn’t like the way you kissed, I ran because,…because..” she looked up at Harry with tear filled eyes. “I was embarrassed and I thought you would be angry with me, especially after what Clara had done to you earlier and then the boys teasing you about it, and, ….and….”

“I wasn’t angry at all Calli, I just don’t understand why girls keep running away when they kiss me.” Harry sighed, “So far the only one who hasn’t was Moira, and you shouldn’t have yelled at her for that, it was my fault. She was in a bad way, she had a vision like Mum’s. The sort were you can’t even stand on your own, and you keep shivering, I was afraid Moira was going to claw her eyes out for a few minutes last night.” he explained, a haunted look on his face as he recalled how helpless he felt to stop Moira‘s pain. He wondered if this was what Sirius felt like when Cat has her visions “To be honest, I thought it was because I don’t know how to kiss.”

“Oh no,” Calli insisted, “it’s nothing like that at all, you kiss fine. I just, well…. I don’t know.” she said as she sighed deeply and leaned against the wall.

“Have you kissed a lot of boys?” Harry asked, more out of curiosity as to how he compared to others than anything else. “Do they all feel the same? When you kiss them, I mean.”

Calli felt her cheeks blush crimson as she heard Harry’s questions. Of course she hadn’t kissed lots of other boys, what did he think she was? But on the other hand, she had told him he kissed just fine, and how did she expect him to believe her if she told him the truth, that she had only ever kissed one other boy, ever. “Not lots of them, nothing like Clara.” She watched as Harry walked over to her and leaned against the wall, almost mimicking her posture. “How many girls have you kissed?” she asked meekly.

Harry gave her a half-hearted smile, “Not many, There was this one girl at my school. Cho, I really fancied her, I tried to kiss her once but I don’t think she liked it. And after the way she treated Mum, I doubt it matters anymore anyway.”

“What did she do to Aunt Kitty?” Calli asked, her voice demanding and full of anger. “If she did anything to hurt her or make her cry..”

“No, actually, I think I was the one who was crying, not Mum.” Harry sighed, “I was so upset, I just couldn’t believe Cho had been so mean, so…well… nasty to Mum. It was like she didn’t think Mum was good enough or trustworthy or something, just because she wasn’t a wizard or witch like we….they are.”

“So she’s a bigot then? Echhh” Calli grimaced, shuddering at the thought. “People like that really gall me, its like they don’t care who you are, just what. Idiots.”

Harry simply nodded, not wanting to carry on this particular topic any longer, after all that had been the beginning of one of the worst nights of his life. First Cho went and did something like that, then his Mum left with Snape, and then he, Sirius and Cash were nearly killed by that other vampyre, the one his Mum had been warning them about for weeks. “What about you Calli, anyone you remember kissing? You know, first kiss and stuff.”

Calli nodded, she remembered her first kiss very clearly, Alexander had pulled her into the shade of the forest that ran along side of their house. They had been laughing and talking as they entered, discussing what life would be like in Fernglennis. He had been so jealous of her and her family, he had been raised on stories about the glory and wonder of Fernglennis, and now, because of all of the attacks, her family was returning to their ancestral home, but he and his family would be staying behind, their blood just wasn’t strong enough to survive on the other side of the veil like she could. He had finally admitted how much he wanted her to stay, after all, they had been best friends since his family moved into the cottage down the lane five years ago.

Just as her mother called her, insisting she hurry up so they could leave, Alexander grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper into the forest and leaned her against one of the large, ancient oaks. She clearly remembered they way his eyes had locked with hers, almost drinking in her soul as he dipped his head towards hers and ever so gently kissed her on the lips. It had been the most magical moment of her young life, and now he, his family and her parents were all gone, and she would never see any of them again. “I remember one, you remind me of him.” she sniffled softly, quickly blinking her eyes to stop the tears she knew were going to fall.

Harry raised his eyebrow as he looked at Callista, “Are you alright Calli? You don’t seem to be yourself today.” he prodded, wanting to help her, but not wanting to force her to talk about anything she wasn’t ready to discuss. “Do you want to talk or take a walk or something? Sirius always suggest my Mum eat chocolate when she gets upset.” he added, grinning slightly as Calli gave him a sad smile.

“No, but thanks anyway Harry.” she replied softly, “I’ve made mess enough of things, maybe I should just leave before I do anything else stupid.”

“You haven’t done anything stupid, Calli” Harry protested, only to be cut off by Callista.

“Yes I have. I’ve made Moira angry with me, because I threw my shoes at her when we were arguing. And Sara will be angry with me for that too, especially since Moira had one of her visions just last night. And now you’re angry at me for kissing you the other night and for yelling at Moira ‘cuz you would rather kiss her than me..” she sniffled as she wiped at her eyes and tried to hide her face.

“Its not that I’d rather kiss her….” Harry paused, sighing deeply as his insides twisted with confusion. DID he want to kiss Moira again? He could already feel himself blushing at the mere thought of it, “Its just the way you and Ginny …. Well, it’s like you couldn’t wait to run away from me, I figured I just didn‘t know how to do it right or something.” Harry paused as he saw Calli’s shoulders shaking, “Callista, no,..please, don’t start crying again.”

“I’m so sorry” Callista cried as she threw herself against Harry’s chest, sobbing deeply as she let the grief, pain and uncertainty of the past few months flow out of her. She wanted so badly to explain everything to him, she knew Harry would understand, he lost his parent’s too, he was the only one she could really talk to about it, but she was scared to death to even try. He was so brave about everything, he didn’t cry when he talked about his other parent’s, he never ran away and hid from things he didn’t want to know or talk about.

He seemed so perfect; kind, gentle, smart and so very patient, even with her. And then there was Aunt Kitty and Uncle Sirius, it was so obvious how much they adored him, it was as if their entire lives were centred around Harry, just like her parent’s had been around her. But now she just felt lost and alone, and she didn’t know what to do.

Harry was at a complete lost, he simply didn’t know what to do when she threw herself against him like that. It wasn’t until he heard the heartbreaking sobs that he began to understand that she was just as unsure and frightened about all of this as he was. Hugging her gently, Harry tried to calm her, stroking her hair and speaking softly to her, assuring her everything would be alright……

Sirius shook his head, his long, dark hair cascading over his shoulders as he and Cat continued to argue playfully over the best prank of their sixth year, much to the amusement of Maurice and a few other customers who couldn’t seem to help themselves from watching the couple as they held hands and shared an ice cream, laughing and smiling with one another.

Sirius finally gave up when Cat shoved a large spoonful of ice cream and fudge into his mouth, grinning wickedly as he glared at her. He knew he wasn’t fooling her for a moment, he could feel the corners of his eyes crinkling as he fought to control the smile he knew was spreading across his face. “You’re not playing fair, gra,” he teased as he wiped his mouth off, “shame on you.”

“All is fair in love and war” Cat countered, smiling widely as she stared into his blue eyes.

“Really, and what would this be? Love, or war?” he taunted, leaning against her as he kissed her nose and then her forehead. “I’ll be right back, gra. Promise you‘ll wait for me.” seeing her nod, he smiled lovingly at her, kissing her hand as he walked away. Looking around for someone in particular, he jogged over to were Maurice had just rounded the corner, hoping to find the old man before he got too far ahead of him. “Maurice, wait a minute.”

“Yes, my dear fellow, what can I do for you.”

“I know you and Cat insist that Harry is safe here, but is there anyway I can see him for myself? I’ve been the only… he’s the closest thing to…”

“There, there my boy, it’s alright, I understand completely” Maurice assured him as he gently patted Sirius’s hand. “Come with me, I’ll find him in a jiffy, and don’t worry, she’ll never need to know about it. I remember all too well what it was like raising teenage boys.”

“Thank you” Sirius replied, his eyes lighting up as he realized how sincere the old man was, he did truly seem to understand how important this was to him. Sirius followed the elder gentleman into a small alcove just a few feet away. Maurice whispered something unintelligible to Sirius, causing a large glass panel to slide silently in front of them. Squinting his eyes, Sirius saw the layout of the entire theatre, every floor, every screening room, the offices, everything. “Its like the Marauder’s map.” he grinned.

“Ah.. Here he is, here he is” Maurice chimed as he pointed to a green symbol on the glass wall before them. “and he’s with clan it seems, right outside of the room the rest of your clan is in. It’s right down this hall and to the left if you want to talk to him, but I would hurry if I were you, I’m sure the ice cream has melted by now.” he winked.

“Do you honestly think she would let good ice cream go to waste, and chocolate none the less?” Sirius questioned, barely containing his laughter as Maurice smiled brightly and nodded,

“Good point, dear fellow, very good point.”…….

Before Harry knew what had happened, Callista was in his arms, staring up at him, here eyes full of unspoken needs and hopes. He knew what was coming next, he just wasn’t sure if it was a good idea considering how upset she had been all day. He fully intended to stop her, to gently push her away, but no sooner had he made up his mind than Callista’s lips were pressed against his. At first all Harry felt was concern and a mild sense of shock, but he was surprised how quickly those feelings faded when he realized she had no intentions of running away this time……

Sirius peered down the hall he had just left, Cat was still at the table waiting for him as she had promised, and it seemed several patrons were taking advantage of her ‘abandonment’ to discuss things with her. Hoping they would keep her busy long enough to allow him to take a quick peek at Harry to settle his nerves, Sirius quickly darted down the correct hall, sticking close to the wall just in case Cat decided to come looking for him.

Sirius felt the hair on his skin stand on end as he finally laid eyes on Harry, this was NOT a good thing, not at all. Why, oh why, of all the girls at Fernglennis, did Harry have to pick Callista? She may well become Harry’s sister if things worked out the way Cat and Orpha thought they would. And this was certainly NOT the way Sirius wanted things to start out, not as long as he would be taking the role of their father.

But how could he stop this without embarrassing or belittling either of them?

Sirius cleared his throat gently, startling the two who immediately jumped back from each other as though bolts of electricity had just shot through them. “Hello kids,” Siri said softly, “Calli, I think the others have been looking for you sweetie, why don’t you go join them?” he suggested gently.

“What about Harry, shouldn’t he come with me too?” she asked, as she tried to pull Harry along. Despite Sirius’s soft voice and gentle words, she knew he was upset over what he had just seen, and the last thing she wanted was for Harry to get in trouble because of her.

“No, Calli, his Mum and I have been looking for him. She has something she needs to show him.” Sirius lied. “Go on Calli, Harry will be back before the movie is over, promise.” he added, smiling at her as she finally turned away and entered the screening room with the rest of her clan. Taking a deep breath, Sirius turned to face Harry who was blushing so badly his face seemed to be a shade of maroon. Placing a fatherly arm around Harry’s shoulders, Sirius shook his head. “First of all Harry, relax, you’re not in trouble, but we do need to talk.”

“You and Mum, or just you?” Harry all but croaked as he looked pointedly at his shoes. He wished he could just sink into the floor, it was bad enough to know that Sirius had seen it all, but add to that the fact that he seemed less than amused was making Harry very uneasy. To be honest, he always thought Sirius would be the first one to congratulate him for kissing a girl, especially considering his godfather’s reputation, but instead, all he heard was an uncomfortable silence.

“Come on, Harry, in here.” Sirius insisted, his voice still soft and even, “I want to make sure no one interrupts us, this is very important.” Sirius held open the door to another screening room, one that was utterly empty and very dimly lit. After they had sat down and gotten as comfortable as possible, Sirius asked the first question. “Care to explain to me what just happened?”

Once again Harry’s eyes dropped to the floor, this hadn’t been the reaction he expected from Sirius, Remus maybe, but not Sirius. “I don’t know, it just kind of happened.” Harry replied weakly, “We were talking about things, and then she started to cry, ….I hugged her and tried to cheer her up, and then, next thing I know we’re …well, you know.” he explained, his voice becoming strained and extremely quiet towards the end. Harry watched as Sirius listened to every word he said, evaluating it for its value and truthfulness before replying. If Harry weren’t so upset, he might actually laugh, Sirius almost seemed a very young Albus Dumbledore at the moment.

“Fair enough Harry, I can easily see how that could happen,” Sirius agreed, “and I know this isn’t the first time she’s tried to kiss you.” he added as he watched Harry carefully, gauging his reaction to their discussion. “I know this isn’t how we should be having this discussion, but to be honest, I don’t know how else to do it, and there are a few things you need to know right now.” Sirius paused, trying not to laugh as he saw Harry’s eyes grow wide and his face go suddenly pale. “Relax Harry, I’m not ready for ‘that’ talk yet, and for both of our sakes, I’m hoping you’re not either.” he finally laughed out loud as he saw Harry sigh with relief, apparently this was no easier for Harry than it was for Sirius.

“Okay Harry, let’s lay a few basics before we start.” Sirius suggested. “If I start talking about anything you don’t understand, stop me and ask me to explain. If you get too uncomfortable about anything I bring up, again, just say so and I’ll try to ease it up a bit. And lastly, …. go easy on me” he joked, a lop-sided grin on his face. “I’ve never had to do this before, and needless to say, my father and I didn’t really get the chance until it was a ‘bit’ too late.” he added, winking as Harry snorted.

“Alright, Sirius” Harry nodded, “as long as you don’t expect me not to blush… or look you in the eyes.” he added, as his cheeks once again flared bright red.