“Severus? Do you trust me enough to talk to her for you?” Rick asked, truly wondering what his response would be. “I know how Cash feels, but you are right, if she is to make a choice, it must be with all of the facts, not simply the ones the clan wishes her to know.” Seeing the light begin to shine once more in Sev’s dark eyes, Rick grinned, “If you still have the letters, I’ll give them to her as well. But you’ll need to cover for me if my clan comes looking for me, I was told not to let you alone for any great length of time. Agreed?”

Severus agreed quickly and completely, although part of him feared for Rick’s safety if Cash or Hamish ever found out what he was doing. But before he had time to feel guilt for what he was encouraging Rick to do, the vampyre disappeared in front of his eyes. “My dear and only friend” Sev whispered, “please be safe, I need you every bit as much as I need her.”….

Harry smiled and nodded as one noble after another was presented to him, either bowing or curtsying before him. He felt out of place and exceptionally self conscious as he felt every eye upon him. The only thing making this bearable was his Mum and Leumadair standing right behind him, a hand on each of his shoulders, reassuring him they were there for him.

“Don’t worry, sweetie, you’re almost finished.” Cat whispered in his ear as Leuma gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze.

“Promise?” Harry whispered back in between nobles, “I want to know how Sirius is doing. And I didn’t get the chance to talk to Calli like I wanted to either.”

“How sweet, he’s concerned over his father.” Leuma grinned, “Sounds like a very affectionate relationship between them, I personally can’t wait to meet him.”…….

“Mohrg, there you are” Minerva sighed as she caught a glimpse of the Nosferatu from the corner of her eye. “Have you seen Raul? We need to get Rick away from Severus for a little while so we can get this over and done with.”

“Are you positive you want to do this Professor McGonagall, it will be extremely dangerous, you may not survive.” Mohrg reminded her gently.

“I beg your pardon, but I have every intention of living. I may not look like much, but I’m part of Clan MacLeod, a distant cousin perhaps, but certainly able to do my share in protecting my family, AND my students.” Minerva insisted.

“I meant no disrespect.” Mohrg replied softly.

“And none was taken, I just don’t like waiting, not now, we only have so long to do this. Come on, maybe he’s at Severus’s already.”

“More than likely, …..but if he’s not?”

“Then WE need to find something to occupy Rick’s time and mind until we’ve completed the….task…at hand.” Minerva stated in her matter-of-fact voice. “I know my niece Mohrg, she’s tired and I’m certain she’s still injured from her little temper tantrum regarding the abduction and torture of her son. But mark my words, she’ll heal soon enough, and when she does, even Cash and Orpha working together won’t be able to stop her. She’s got a stubborn streak in her, trust me, I’ve had to deal with her as a student.”

Mohrg bowed his head to hide the wide smile on his face. “Of that I have no doubt, no doubt at all.”……..

“Sirius, please, I’ve told you at least a dozen times they may not come back tonight.” Luke sighed as he watched the wizard pacing across the room yet again. “I really think you should get something in your stomach and get some sleep. Kitty is going to pitch a fit if she comes home and sees you looking like this.”

“If you were ‘really’ that concerned you’d tell her to come back now.” Sirius quipped, giving Luke a half-hearted smile. “Do you really think they’ll stay there all night? I mean with Roel being hurt and all…..”

Before Luke had the chance to answer, the roaring of flames was clearly heard coming from the next room. “Uhm…NO….no I think she’ll be back…….” his sentence ended in a laugh as Sirius dashed out of the library, overturning a table in his haste to see Harry and Cat. Luke’s face lit up with a warm smile as he watched Sirius greet Harry and Kitty. A large, fatherly hug for ‘his son’ and a quick ‘visual inspection’ as Cat laughed at him, and then a long, heart-felt hug as he greeted her.

Harry laughed as he watched Sirius and Cat, he had thought his godfather’s strong hug and quick looking over was a bit over the top considering they had only been gone for the day. But that was nothing compared to what he was doing to Cat. The moment he heard her laughing and teasing him for being such a worrier, he turned, caught her in his arms and hugged her tightly, so tightly he had lifted her off the floor, swinging her slightly in the process. It reminded Harry of the day he had watched Hagrid carrying the large bells that decorated the great hall during Christmas.

Harry and Luke smiled brightly as they watched the happiness returning to Sirius’s face, listening to him laughing deeply as Cat insisted he put her down and stop behaving like a loon, which of course, only made him laugh more. Luke felt a huge wave of both relief and happiness as he saw the look in Cat’s eyes. It was obvious she really didn’t mind his carrying on like this, in fact, if the sparkle in her eyes was any brighter, they wouldn’t be needing candles soon. “Alright now Sirius, be a good lad and set my sister down, she seems to be looking a bit green. I suggest you stop swinging her around like that and let her get her feet back on the ground.”

“Cat? Gra, what’s wrong? Since when has a little spinning made you ……sit down” Sirius barked as he saw the colour suddenly draining from her face. “Luke, get Siobhan or Orpha..”

“Oh please, can’t a girl get a little dizzy without everyone being called to witness it?” Cat teased, giving Sirius’s hand a tight squeeze. “Besides, I’ve either been riding or under Armagh all day, I don’t think its that surprising I’m not used to solid land yet.”

“Speaking of riding” Harry interjected, “What happened to Viggo and Shoshi?”

“They’ve been back a few hours now.” Duncan’s voice chimed as he entered the room. “I’ve been waiting for the two of you to get back, actually, I’ve been hiding out, waiting for you to get back. Last thing I needed was this fellow learning the steeds came back and you didn’t.”

“Thanks a lot, Duncan, I thought you were on my side.” Sirius quipped as he joined Cat on the sofa, slipping his arm around her waist and pulling her to his side. “You should have told me.” He felt a surge of warmth as Cat rested her head on his shoulder, snuggling up to him and sighing softly at his concern.

“Yeah, right. Do you want me to tell her what a pain you’ve been all day?” Duncan retorted, “Not eating, not sleeping, getting mouthy with the old girls.”

The next sound heard was Duncan yelping as Siobhan smacked his behind with the back of a wooden spoon. “Refer to me as an ‘old girl’ once more, and you’ll see why Bruid has a healthy fear of me.” she stated “Now, everyone into the kitchen and eat, no more arguing, no more excuses. That includes you Sirius.”

“Someone’s in trouble” Cat teased as she felt Sirius pull her to her feet. “Please don’t over do it Sirius, you’re still so thin. Please tell me you’ve been eating, Duncan and Siobhan are teasing, right?”

The guilty look on his face told her all she needed to know. “Oh Sirius, you can’t do this. I want you to get well, I want you to be strong again.” then softly she added “I miss my Sirius, I miss a lot of things. Promise me you‘ll take better care of yourself, I don‘t like seeing you this, it hurts me to know I wasn‘t there for you when you needed me most.”

The wave of emotions that swept over Sirius was impossible to describe, as was the realization that suddenly hit him. She would have come if she had known, she had faith in him, even after what he had done to her, she still considered him ‘her’ Sirius. Not being able to put his emotions into words, he did the only thing he could think of, he kissed her……

Harry stopped short as he saw Sirius pull Cat into a tender and rather cosy kiss. Pulling on Luke’s sleeve, Harry whispered, “Do you think he asked her to marry him? Do you think she said yes?”

Luke looked at the two and smiled softly, “I understand he’s asked her several times since they’ve arrived, but without Father’s blessing, she won’t give him an answer. Although I have to say things are certainly looking good for him. But for now, lets get them to eat and then sleep. Your Da has been a right mess today, worried sick about both of you, Duncan and I took turns watching over him today, we were afraid he’d try following you.”

Harry nodded “That sounds exactly like something he would do, and when is grandpa coming home?”

Luke smirked as he tussled Harry’s hair “That impatient are you? You know I think you may be worse than Sirius.”

Harry simply grinned at Luke as they sat at the table, amazingly enough, even after all the food he had eaten in Armagh, one whiff of Siobhan’s cooking and Harry felt as if he were starving. He sat back and watched as Luke ensured Sirius and Cat ended up sitting next to each other, while Siobhan kept chastising his godfather for his ‘bad behaviour’ during their absence.

“Honestly, Siobhan,” Sirius sighed, “you make it sound like I was stomping around the house like a troll or something.”

“Oh, no, not at all…..just moody, uncooperative, distracted….if you were my daughter, Sara, I would know exactly what your problem was, but seeing as you’re a man…..”

“And therein lies the problem,” Duncan interjected as he entered the room and took a seat next to Harry. “you know us men, can’t live with us, get in trouble if ya hex us…. So, what’s for dinner?” he asked, grinning widely as Siobhan rolled her eyes at him.

“Hey, Duncan, what’s the deal?” Luke teased, “Are you eating Sirius’s share too? Or are you and Mandy finally eating for two?”

“Hey, I’m a growing boy….just like Harry here.” Duncan shot back, winning a smile from Harry and Sirius, and a loud groan from the rest of the table. “Ah come on now, Siobhan, you’d think there was something wrong with me if I didn’t come when I knew you had been cooking.”

“Flatter will get you everywhere” Siobhan laughed as she banged the corner of the table with a wooden spoon, causing all the food she had been preparing to appear on the table. “just mind you let the others get some, especially that one there. Kitty and I are going to have a talk about him, especially if he’s going to stay here with us.”

Sirius smiled brightly as he looked at Cat, then without a word, he stood up, grabbed Siobhan around her waist and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek “I love you too, Siobhan, I promise, I’ll be a good boy from now on.”

The room laughed as Siobhan turned bright pink and swatted at Sirius, telling him to sit down and behave himself, but smiling happily the whole time.

“So, Kitty, how did everything go?” Duncan asked when they had all settled down, “And you had better start eating something before your told about it, we don’t need both of you in trouble.” he added as he eyed her plate, watching as she moved her food from one side to the other, but not really eating anything. Duncan looked to Sirius, only to see he too was staring at Cat.

Staring didn’t even come close to what Sirius was doing, it was more like studying her. He had been so excited and relieve to see her when she first came home that he hadn’t noticed the stains on her skirt. His stomach cringed as he took a closer look at the reddish-brown stains, they looked remarkably like blood. “Cat, did your trip go well? Are you sure you and Harry are fine?”

Cat glanced quickly at Harry and smiled, “Yes, we’re both fine.”

“Are you sure, Cat? Neither of you is hurt or anything like that?” he prodded.

“Harry, sweetie, is something wrong? You didn’t say anything about not feeling well.” Cat asked, wondering if Harry had said something about being overwhelmed or ill to Sirius but not to her.

“No, Cat, I’m asking you.” Sirius stated, looking almost harshly at her. “Did anything happen I should know about? Are either you or Harry hurt?”

Cat froze, she knew she should tell them about the boglachs attacking them, but she didn’t want to hear it, not now. She could tell them all about it tomorrow, after she had a decent night of rest and wasn’t feeling so horribly tired. “I just told you Sirius, Harry and I are fine.” she insisted, turning her eyes immediately to her plate of barely touched food.

Sirius could feel his temper flaring as he sat there. She had never done that before, never lied to him, and she must be lying, why else would she avoid eye contact. His eyes narrowed on the stains as his jaw clenched tightly. “Really, then may I ask what these stain are on your skirt?” he asked as he lifted the material of the long, heavy skirt up, only to reveal a long gash that had been hidden by the folds of the material. For a moment he felt as if his heart had stopped, he had thought it was someone else’s blood, but it was now obvious that it was her blood, she had been the one injured. He was trembling visibly as he held the cloth tightly in his fist, “You call this fine?”

Cat closed her eyes, she could feel both her anger and her embarrassment turning her face red. How could he do this? Didn’t he realized she didn’t want to discuss it here, she had had enough emotional outbursts to deal with when Mac Lir and Leumadair found out, she didn’t need it from him and the rest of her clan too. “You asked if we were fine, - we are, it was taken care of.” she all but whispered, as she stared down at the table.

The pain and hurt of her words flashed across Sirius’s face as if she had struck him physically. He just couldn‘t believe she would say something like that, twist his words around to justify her lying to him. And what was worse was the feeling of everyone’s eyes on them, even Harry’s…especially Harry’s. Without so much as a word, Sirius threw his napkin over his plate as he pushed his chair away from the table, fully intending to leave for a long walk to give himself the chance to cool down. But he knew it would do him no good, not when it had been her who had caused this pain.

He stood behind her for close to a minute, knowing she knew he was there, but she refused to look anywhere but down. It was then that he made his decision, - this would end now. Grabbing her by the wrist, he pulled her out of her chair and out of the room, leaving a stunned silence behind him.

Harry was the first to react, jumping quickly to his feet as he attempted to stop Sirius from doing whatever it was he thought he was going to do, but nearly toppled over as Duncan’s hand caught him by the collar.

“Sit down and eat, Harry.” Duncan said evenly as his eyes followed Sirius and his baby sister down the hall.

“But Duncan…” Harry protested, only to feel his uncle force him gently back into his seat.

“I said eat, Harry.” Duncan sighed as he saw Harry looking up at him with the same imploring, green eyes he had seen from his own sister. “Don’t do it, they need to settle this now before it festers.”

Harry stared at his uncle in disbelief “You can’t mean that! Sirius has a bad temper, so does Mum, if he starts yelling at her… Duncan, I want a family, my own family, I want Sirius to be my father, I want to be a big brother. If they break up…” Harry fought to keep the tears from falling as he thought of a family without Sirius in it.

“Harry…..sit.” Duncan repeated sternly. “Cat’s gone over the line this time, and Sirius needs to establish what he will and will not tolerate. Let them work this out…”

“And if they can’t? If they get angry and never want to see each other again?” Harry asked as his own fear and anger suddenly rose to the surface.

“Then it was never meant to be.” Siobhan explained as she came up from behind Harry and hugged him tightly, “But I doubt that is the case, it may be difficult for them, dear. And I’m certain there will be a fair amount of tears and raised voices, but sometimes that happens, no matter how much you love each other. In fact, sometimes it’s a good thing.”………….