“Do NOT speak unkindly of him, Raul” Cash warned. “And he doesn’t always look like that. He’s upset over something, and I promise you, an upset Daedelus is a deadly Daedelus.”

“Deadelus…” Raul whispered, “I’ve heard of him but...”

“Most people have, but very few have met him and lived to tell the tale. I take it he wasn’t here to introduce himself to you.”

“No, he seems to think I am a threat to Angel. You wouldn’t happen to have any idea where he got ‘that’ idea, would you?” Raul asked, his voice suddenly full of anger.

“Back down, Raul. That was completely uncalled for.” Angus warned, “Cash is the one who insisted we find you and make sure you where safe when Rick and Hamish told us he was here. If it was up to me, I would have left you to fend for yourself, as you seem so eager to do things ‘your’ way.”

“Talk about uncalled for, brother.” Rick said softly as he placed his hand on Angus’s arm.

But Cash wasn’t paying attention to any of them, his mind was reeling as he started putting all the pieces together. “He’s here to make sure she stays safe.” He said absently as he slowly stood up and walked around the room. “Next to his clan, she is the most important thing in the world to him. She shows him kindness and trust, he and I nearly battled when I thought he killed her..”

“What?!”

“He didn’t….he just made it look that way. He actually drained just enough blood to make her pass out, then slipped her some potion to keep her out. I could barely hear her heart, even with my ear pressed against her chest. He told me later he thought I was going to tear his heart out” he laughed mirthlessly, “he never thought a Gangrel could be so strong or so ….”

“Insane?” Dimitri suggested. “I’ve heard of the Nosferatu, they are not a clan I would willingly take on. But I’m confused, if this Daedelus cares so much for her, why would he want you to think her dead?”

“Because a novice prince had been tricked into calling a blood hunt for her. The only way to end it was for her to die. I did my best to protect her, but even my clan has its limits. And when you have slightly over one hundred vampyres trying to kill a mortal…..” Cash shivered as he recalled the dread that had filled him that night. “It seems he managed to sneak in; she went with him willingly I’m told, more than likely to keep us safe. We were challenging the prince’s authority by allowing her to live, much less protecting her. Daedelus told me she knew that he had come to kill her, and that she didn’t resist, she knew he would be merciful…make it quick and painless..”

“Cash?” Raul whispered, “She was going to sacrifice herself?”

“Yes. She knew we would die before allowing anyone to harm her. The only way she could see to save us was to die, stubborn brat that she is.”

“Cash?” Dimitri whispered, “What happened when the prince realized she wasn’t dead? That it had all been a lie?”

Cash smirked, “Julian? He wept for joy. He realized within hours that he had been lied to; trapped into calling the hunt for her, making an enemy of our clan, and of me. And to be honest, he liked her too. She helped him pass for mortal on several occasions both before and after the hunt. Passed herself off as his niece, accompanied him to meetings and dinners, covering for him during the day, and she sure loved to dance with him.” he added, his laughter a little brighter now.

“The woman does enjoy dancing.” Raul agreed, a wide smile on his face as he remembered the ‘competition’ between he and Remus the night they all met. He looked up into Cash’s eyes, wincing as he saw the worry and grief in them. “I miss this, Cash, I miss feeling like a clan…”…..

“Please tell me that little display of yours in Deo’s study was all for show.” Sirius whispered as they made their way to their rooms. “That poor old man looked like his life was passing in front of him.”

“Considering the reputation of that ‘poor old man’, I expect seeing his life would terrify anyone. And no, it wasn’t planned if that’s what you’re hinting at.” she sighed. “I can’t believe I lost control of myself like that..”

“I can, you’ve been through a lot over the past few months. And you do have this horrible habit of trying to manage everything by yourself,” he squeezed her hand as they paused, leaning against one of the cool marble walls. “you do realize that you’re not alone. That you have all of us to rely on, to help you.” He insisted as he gave her a long, soft kiss.

“I know, Siri. But I don’t want anyone else to have to bear my burden. And look at what happened to you for trying.” She added meekly. “Sirius, Harry and I almost lost you.”

He smiled softly as he felt her warm hands caressing his face. “Never, you’ll never lose me, gra. I won’t allow it.” He paused to kiss her palm before continuing. “And I did promise that I would never leave you again, and as you reminded me, I specifically stated death would ‘not’ be an obstacle.”

“Don’t remind me,” Cat sighed as she placed her head against his chest, listening to the beating of his heart. “I can’t remember ever being so frightened in my life.”…..

“I know you’re not happy about him being here, Raul” Cash replied, “but I can promise you she’ll be safe. And seeing as how no one’s contacted him, and ‘he’ brought up the spy, I have the distinct feeling he may know who our elusive spy actually is.” Cash grinned, flashing his fangs as he did so.

“Cash?” Rick interrupted, “I know she’ll be safe, but what about everyone else in the school. As you yourself pointed out, they are nothing but food to him, and obviously not even a fellow primogen is safe from his wrath.”

“Good point.” Cash agreed, “I’ll seek him out, he won’t hide himself from me. But now that you’ve brought it up…. I suggest no one who is not a MacLeod go anywhere alone. He knows we’re blood to her, that we would never harm her; he won’t extend that protection to anyone else. Rick, you’ll need to keep Snape under close eye...maybe even lock and key. Raul, you’ll need to have one of us with you at all times.” Seeing the look on the Primogen’s face, Cash sighed. “Raul, think about it, think what he just did to you. If he hadn’t have heard us coming you might have been waving hello to Roel right now.”

“I am a primogen, I am not afraid to…”

“This has nothing to do with bravery.” Cash insisted, “This has to do with a love sick, overly protective Nosferatu primogen, who also happens to be a Methuselah. And as much as it might gall you, ‘I’ am the only one here who stands so much of a chance against…..what…?”

“A ‘love sick, overly protective Nosferatu’?” Raul repeated. “Care to go into a little more detail?”

“Yeh, Cash. Go on, tell him.” Hamish snickered, doing his best to keep from breaking into a full out belly laugh.

“Shaddap, Hash.” Cash groaned, rolling his eyes as he watched Hamish fall against Rick in a fit of giggles. “Get a hold of yourself, man! It is NOT that funny.”

“Yes it is,” Hamish insisted between laughs, “in fact, its hysterical…poor baby, she had no idea what to do…”

Rick and Angus looked at each other and then at Hamish who was laughing so hard he still needed to lean against Rick for support. They shook their heads as they heard Cash mumbling something under his breath about Hamish’s sense of humour. “I give up” Rick sighed, throwing his hands in the air and walking away as Hamish landed on the floor still laughing.

“Cash?” Raul asked expectantly.

“Its honestly not that funny.” Cash sighed, “It seems our little angel ran into Daedelus when she went to recover a Gangrel’s body from the city morgue. An Assamite assassin sent him to final death and she knew none of us would be able to get to him as it was nearly morning and I was tied up with ‘other’ matters. She used her knowledge of human medicine to talk her way passed the guards while the Medical Examiner was out. She gets there and what does she see, but another vampyre ‘not’ of Gangrel making off with the body. She freaks, he has ‘no’ idea who or what she is and can’t figure out why she isn’t scared stiff and running away.”

“The other vampyre, it was Daedelus?” Raul guessed.

“You got it. He was floored, here is this little, mortal creature reading him the riot act, and it only got worse when she realized he had killed an attendant to get to the body. Apparently she was quoting ‘him’ the traditions and laws when they heard humans approaching. She sends him on his way with body in tow, and ‘she’ acts like she’s waiting for the M.E. to show up. I think she told them she was a forensic anthropologist and that the M.E. had asked her to consult on a case. Well the long and the short of it turned out to be it wasn’t an attendant that was drained, but the M.E. himself. She had a whole world of explaining to do; the one detective followed her around for weeks. Seems he didn’t care for her choice of friends.” He added, his mouth turned up in a wicked grin.

“You killed him?” Raul asked.

“No. Too dangerous, he was a pain in the arse, but he was also well known. There would have been far too many questions if he came up missing or dead. We just kept his life interesting, didn’t we Hamish.” Cash asked, the familiar light sparkling in his eyes once again.

“So, where does this Daedelus come back in? And why do you call him ‘love sick’?”

“Because the next night at the conclave meeting, Prince Julian introduces her as a friend of the kine. She is to remain with the Gangrels, will be allowed to walk unmolested and unchallenged, yada, yada, yada; You know the drill. Anyway the entire time this is going on, Daedelus is just staring at her and turning pink whenever she looks at him. Well Julian and I keep looking at each other with this, ‘what the hell?’ look on our faces. And I’m wondering if she’s done something to him like she did the to Brujah primogen.” Seeing Raul raise an eyebrow, Cash quickly explained. “He uhm… spoke unkindly.. of her and of us. She decided to nip that sort of thing in the bud. So, as he was floating around the ceiling in a baby’s nappy with a hungry teddy bear nipping at him..”

“She didn’t?!” Raul gasped.

“Oh yes, she did. And I’ve got the proof” he grinned, “in vivid Kodak colour. It was truly priceless. In either case, Julian and I are watching Daedelus watching her. And then, at the end of the meeting, Daedelus goes up to her acting like a school boy with a crush. I thought Julian was going to drop right there, and to make matters worse, Angel, being as she is, was completely clueless. She had no idea that this is not what he was normally like and spent the evening teasing him about their run-in at the morgue. Poor kid, she didn’t find out until almost two weeks later that he was a Nosferatu, she had never seen, much less met one before.”

“But your clan, the Nosferatu and Gangrel are well know to one another.” Raul countered.

“Yes, we are. GANGRELS and Nosferatu tend to work together on occasion, but not my mortal clan. They are little more than tender morsels to the Nosferatu, or at least they were.” Cash sighed, “But ever since Daedelus met her…well, lets just say my mortal clan has become something of a holy grail to their clan.” Cash sighed, “Especially to Daedelus. Imagine a creature like him, existing for thousands of years with nothing but his clan to sustain his heart, only to stumble across an angel like her. Julian and I have caught him reading to her, painting her portrait, telling her stories about the past….his past.”

“He was sharing clan secrets with her?” Raul gasped.

“So it seems.” Cash nodded, “They would take long strolls in the Prince’s garden, talking for hours, and to see them read over books together.” He laughed, rolling his eyes. “He was positively entranced by her and it took Julian and I a few days to realize she didn't know 'what’ he was. She just assumed he was just a vamp from another clan.”

“How could she not have known?” Raul asked, only to scowl as he heard Hamish laughing again. “And what is so funny?”

“How she found out,” Hamish replied, “she argued with us for hours. The only thing better than watching Daedelus groaning as she insisted he was NOT Nosferatu was watching the Prince try to talk to her about the …uh...birds and the bees…” Hash yelped as Rick slapped him across the back of the head.

“That was NOT funny, that was just plain wrong.” Rick shivered.

“But long story short, he had a crush on her then, and more than likely still does. He’ll kill anyone or anything that puts her in harms way. That’s the plus side. The negative side is he may well do the same thing to anyone that threatens to monopolize her heart. That being said, Sirius is in major danger should they return. I want ALL of you to make it a point of stating how well he treats her, her son, bring up the whole family thing; but lay off babies and romance, okay? Let’s not push our luck.

Raul felt a smile cross his face, “So you do still favour the wizard Sirius as her husband? The Slytherin hasn’t swayed you?”

“The Slytherin? You don’t honestly think I would let my little girl end up with him do you?” Cash snarled, “He’s gotten better, but there is no way he will pass muster with MY clan. And Rick before you argue with me, I have one word for you….Duncan.”…..

“Harry? Are you here, honey?” Cat called out as she helped Sirius get settled in a chair. “Deo wants to talk to you tomorrow, he’d like you to meet Fabiana, she’s just a bit younger than you and he feels she would be a good study partner for you.”

“Study partner” Harry replied, sticking out his tongue as he entered the room, “I thought we were still on holidays.”

“Yes, and I told you Deo would want to test your skills with the dragons.” Cat reminded him, a tone in her voice that warned him not to press the subject tonight.

“Promise I won’t lose a limb or get anything burnt off?” Harry asked, grinning as Sirius laughed at him.

“Don’t encourage him,” Cat admonished, planting a quick kiss on Siri’s head as she turned to look at Harry. “And what have you been up to, oh son of mine? For some reason, you look a bit guilty.”

“Don’t fall for it, Harry, it’s a trick question. She’s fishing for info.” Sirius teased, only to have Cat toss a pillow at him.

“Actually, any guilty looks would be my fault, I take full blame.” Leumadair stated as he appeared behind Harry, a bright smile on his face. He noticed that the wizard immediately stood as if to defend them, but it was also quite obvious that he wouldn’t stand a chance. “Calm yourself wizard, I would never lift a hand against my own clan.” He assured him, but saw a less than believing look in the man’s eyes.

“Cat, Harry..” Sirius barked, motioning them to get behind him. He had no idea who this man was, but he looked as if he could do a fair amount of damage. He was about to cast a shield spell over them when he felt Cat’s hands on his arm.

“Siri, stop.” She whispered soothingly, “He’s family, my cousin. Mac Lir’s son.” Cat explained.

“Are you sure? After everything that’s happened.” Sirius asked, his eyes focusing on Harry, wishing he would move away from the man.

“Sirius, Mum’s right, Leuma’s fine. He’s been keeping an eye on us the whole time, remember? I saw him when we were on the ship.” Harry explained, “Besides, you’re not looking so good again.” He added, rushing to his godfather’s side to support him.

“He is right, wizard” Leuma agreed, walking towards them to assist his cousin. “Kitty, is this him? How did he survive the Morpheus tree?”

“I think it was Cash’s blood,” Cat sighed as she all but forced Sirius to sit back down and rest. “But if he doesn’t stop trying to protect us and rest, I may well beat him half to death.”

Sirius was about to argue with her, but stopped when he heard the man laughing. “Something funny?” he growled.

“Very. She saves your life, fusses over you like a mother hen, and then threatens to kill you herself. You are either a long lost brother of hers, or you are the wizard Sirius Black.” Seeing the questioning look in the wizard’s eyes, Leuma explained. “Orpha came to father and I, she told us what happened. Father is outraged that you were attacked in Fernglennis and has gladly agreed to protect you while you are here. Deo controls the island, but my father controls the sea that surrounds it, nothing can harm you here, not even Maharet.”

“So, they’ve found out for certain? It was her?” Cat asked, her eyes flashing dangerously.

“No, but that is where we are all looking.” Leumadair explained. “But right now, I am more interested in you, Sirius Black. What makes you so special to be attacked in such a manner. Surely it must be more than winning my cousin’s heart.”

“Leuma, do this another time.” Cat insisted, “He’s not well, its only been a little over a day. Give him a chance to heal before you evaluate him, please.”

“Shhh, Kitty, I’m not even ‘officially’ here. But I know father, he won’t wait. Let me see what he is, what he needs to heal.” He whispered as he took her hands in his and kissed them gently. “I know he is in your heart, and after talking to your son, I must admit to being kindly inclined towards him. Even if he is the jealous sort.” He added, smirking slightly as he saw Sirius glaring at him. “She is my clan. I ‘am’ allowed to touch her you know.”

“NO, I don’t know, I don’t even know you.” Sirius replied as he stood up once more, moving Harry behind him as if to protect him, “What I do know is that my clannad has been in danger for too long; and you, a man I do not know, suddenly shows up out of the blue and starts manhandling my wife.”

“Your ‘wife’ is she?” Leuma grinned, adoring the fact that the man was so protective of Kitty and Harry, “And when, exactly, did that occur? As far as I knew Magnus has only just heard of you via her brothers. Although I grant you he seems quite interested.”

“Is father coming?” Cat gasped. “Leuma, they can’t see him like this. They’ll never approve.. they’ll think he’s not…” she fell quiet when she felt Leuma’s fingertips pressed against her lips as his eyes motioned towards Sirius. It was obvious her words had hurt him, he probably thought she was ashamed of him.

“Shh” Leuma hushed, “why do you think I’m here?” he asked. “I know you cousin, sometimes better than you know yourself. And your son is a wealth of knowledge too.” He added, winking at Harry. “Sirius Black, please listen to you clannad and rest. I swear to you upon my honour and my blood that I will never harm them.” He smiled softly as he saw the uncertainty in the man’s eyes.

Walking up to the wizard, Leuma gently placed his hand on the man’s face, gratified to see he neither flinched nor turned away, but instead looked him squarely in his eyes. “You are a brave man, and the love you hold for them is apparent. But my cousin is right. If either of our fathers see you like this, they will refuse you. And that, dear wizard, would break my cousin’s heart.”

“Am I really that bad?” Sirius asked softly, “Are my chances that slim?”

“At the present? Yes.” Leuma replied just as softly. “But their love can work wonders, just as the waters of Dia can. My cousin brought you here for a reason, to heal you and make you whole. Put your faith in her, even if they refuse to allow you to wed, you will always have her heart.”…

Cat and Harry stared at each other as they watched the strange exchange between Leumadair and Sirius. “What do you think they’re saying?” Harry whispered.

“I have no idea,” Cat replied, “but it looks fairly intense.” That was an understatement, if she didn’t know any better, she would swear that Leuma was searching Sirius’s mind and soul for something. “Stay here, honey, I’m going to go over and make sure everything is alright.”

Cat quietly walked to their side, placing a hand on each of them. “Siri, Leuma? You’re frightening me.” She whispered as her hand quickly found Sirius’s.

“Shhh, you should never be frightened of me, cousin.” Leuma hushed, “Nor should Sirius, I am on your side. As dear as you are to me, Kitty, I cannot see taking you as my wife, we know each other too well for that.” He added, winking playfully at her. “Besides, it would break your son’s heart to lose the only father he has ever known.”…

“So why have you been so accommodating to the Slytherin?” Raul asked as he and Cash walked back to the Roma. He was almost sorry he had spoken, it seemed to have broken the uneasy peace between them.

“Tell you what, Raul. You answer my questions and I’ll answer yours.” Cash replied, his voice calm and even, but his eyes flashing with unspoken thoughts. “Why don’t you tell me what Daedelus said to you this evening, and then explain why you’ve pulled away from the clan.”

“First of all, what makes you think he said anything to me; and secondly I have not abandoned you, you have abandoned me.” Raul stated, trying very hard not to sound angry.

Cash stopped mid step, “We abandoned you?” he repeated. “Fine, lets take this one step at a time. First, Olia sacrifices herself to save us, I don’t see so much as a tear from you. Poor Fang is sobbing hysterically, my boys are doing their level best to comfort him and his clan while keeping themselves together and where were you? Next; we know Gustavas is here, he all but kills Harry, Sirius and myself, I tell you the hunters are coming, are you happy? NO, you are royally ticked that it wasn’t YOU who summoned them. Then you convince me that the Garou are the chink in our armour, one of them is the spy, after all if Gaz was their leader and she couldn’t be trusted… Now that one I might actually give you, it wasn’t that far a stretch, but instead of trying to weed out a spy among them, we simply ignored and abandoned ‘them’, leaving them to flounder with a novice alpha and no direction.”

“You still blame me for that.” Raul snarled, “You are an adult, Cash, you could have made up your own mind on the matter.”

“I did. And then you tell me that I’m over stepping my bounds; that ‘I’ am not primogen. And then, you place MY clan and a protectorate of my clan in danger when YOU decide to go it alone against Gustavas. Minnie and Snape could have died out there, you should have had the entire clan with you. And before you bring up Roel, don’t” Cash hissed. “He died because the Caitiff hunter didn’t know how to move with us, he was used to hunting alone, not as a clan. He didn’t need to die, he chose to.” He hissed, “And that brings us to this morning. Didn’t you realize we were upset? Didn’t you understand that we had lost another member of our clan? My youngest childer, brother to everyone here but you. I would have thought that even you had the sense to let it rest, but no. Even after Angus tried to stop you, you insisted on pushing the matter. You want your ‘own’ Clan of Gangrel, fine, bring them, the more the merrier. But do NOT expect my boys to play your stupid games.”

“Are you finished yet?” Raul asked, his voice low and angry.

“NO, as a matter of fact, I’m not.” Cash snapped, “I want to know why Daedelus went after YOU. I want to know why I keep hearing his voice telling me to beware of Daithi’s dogs, I want to know why he feels my little girl is in so much danger that he has taken it upon himself to come to her aid.” Cash paused his tirade long enough to stare at Raul’s confused and frightened eyes. “Tell me the truth now Raul, because Daedelus is near and growing nearer, I can feel him and he wants to talk to me.”…

“So, what are we going to do about the sleeping arrangements?” Sirius asked after Leumadair had left. “I don’t know about you two, but I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“Well, mum’s bed is big enough for an army.” Harry commented, feeling torn as the words left his mouth. He wanted them to be together, to be a family, but after his little talk with Leuma, and hearing the more ‘detailed’ accounts of what husbands and wives did in bed, he felt more than slightly uneasy. He felt his cheeks flush pink as Cat and Sirius stared at him and then exchanged glances with one another.

“Harry, are you feeling alright?” Cat asked softly, “You look a bit off to me, was the ship a bit much for you?”

“Yeh, Harry, you look almost queasy.” Sirius agreed. “Cat, I’m not sure which one of us needs you more at this point.” He joked.

“Well, at least that solves the problem of who sleeps where.” She smirked, “If this bed is as large as Harry says, I guess you’re all bunking with me tonight. Both of you stay here and relax, I’m going to check things out and turn down the bed. Do you want me to close the balcony doors? Is it too cold for either of you?”

“I’m fine.” Sirius smiled, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as she rose up from the arm of his chair.

“Me too, I like to hear the waves,” Harry agreed, “I think I’m going to like the sea.”

“Harry, are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Sirius asked as Cat left the room. “You really do look…well…odd. That Leumadair didn’t ‘do’ anything to you, did he?” he asked, his eyes flashing dangerously.

“No, nothing at all, we just talked.” Harry replied uncomfortably.

“Just talked, huh? About what?”

“Uhm, things.” Harry replied meekly, wishing that Sirius would just drop the matter and change the subject.

Sirius paused as he looked over his godson, for whatever reason, Harry wasn’t able to look him in the eyes. “Harry.” He waited as Harry slowly looked up, his face still pink and his eyes looking everywhere but into his own. “Okay, you can either tell me now, or we can wait for your mother to pump it out of you, and trust me, she will. Don’t forget she and McGonagall are related.” He was taken aback by the look of absolute horror on Harry’s face. “Hey. What is it Harry? This isn’t like you at all, since when haven’t you been able to talk to me?”

“Since Leuma explained what husbands and wives do together.” Harry moaned, his face turning from pink to crimson. “I mean, I ‘knew’-kind of, but I didn’t ‘know’. At least not all the details.” Harry watched as Sirius’s eyes grew large and a strange smile crossed his face.

“Oh boy, I’m half tempted to tell her what her dear cousin was discussing with you.” Sirius smirked, only to take it back when he saw the look of panic on Harry’s face. “Relax, Harry, relax. I know it sounds…uhm..odd.. but its really rather nice. Uhmm, we are talking about sex, right?” he laughed out loud as he saw the look on his godson’s face.

“Yes, and how could you even do something like that? It sounds horrible, it sounds painful,” He added, shaking his head as Leuma’s description replayed in his mind. “and to ‘my’ mother, too.”

“Whoa, settle yourself, Harry.” Sirius insisted. Leaning heavily on his cane, Sirius crossed over to Harry, joining him on the large chaise. “Okay then…lets start from the beginning. Exactly ‘what’ did Leumadair tell you about this, and what part is bothering you? Because I have the feeling that something was left out somewhere.” Seeing Harry’s disbelieving look, he added, “Well either he screwed up something, you misunderstood something or a big part was left out.”

“What makes you so sure?” Harry deadpanned.

“Well, for one thing, speaking as a participant, I can promise you, it isn’t horrible or painful; its wonderful and amazing. And if it was as bad as you think it is, do you really think there would be so many babies around?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as Harry stared at him. “Well you do realize that’s how babies are made, don’t you?”

“Yes! I’m not a complete idiot.” Harry snapped back.

“Hey, no one is saying you are. And to be honest I feel badly that you had to find this out from someone else.” Sirius admitted, “Don’t forget, I’m new at this whole ‘dad’ thing. And I wanted to talk to you about it at the cinema, but I think we were both too embarrassed to say anything.”

“Yeh, that’s kind of what brought this up.” Harry admitted, “And the one time I tried to talk to Mum about it…well, she got all funny and stuff.”

Sirius laughed softly. “I know, I was in the next room listening. Just to let you know; it tends to be easier to talk to other ‘guys’ about this sort of thing. Besides your mother does not understanding things from a man’s point of view. She also has a little bit of a problem seeing you as an adult.” He rolled his eyes as Harry made a snorting sound. “Can you blame her, Harry? She was kept from you for almost your entire childhood, she wants to take care of you, protect you. She’ll let you try almost anything as long as I or one of your uncles are there to back you up. Swords, magic, ….even dragons…but well…this is a little different.”

“I’m not saying I ‘want’ to do anything.” Harry insisted, “I just…well… I mean…”

“Take a deep breath and just say it.” Sirius suggested, “I don’t care how it sounds when it comes out, I just need to know what to explain to you.”

Harry’s shoulders slumped as he sighed, “I don’t know what I want to know. I’ve heard the others talking about doing things and…you know…”

“Yeh, I know” Sirius encouraged.

“And, well, with everything that’s happened this year, and suddenly all these girls are kissing me, and I’m noticing things I never really noticed before.”

“You mean about girls?” Sirius asked knowingly.

“Yeh, girls. I mean I never felt funny around them before…well, maybe Cho, but that was about it. But now.” He shrugged.

“Now you’re noticing them everywhere, and you’re noticing they have soft skin, and curves and they smell nice…”

“Exactly!” Harry stated, relieved to know that Sirius understood.

“Well, you may or may not be happy to know that you are perfectly normal” Sirius grinned. “But I’ll warn you now, it gets worse as you get older. But it isn’t the burden you might think it is. I’m guessing it only bothers you right now because you don’t really understand why its happening. And if I remember my early years, its rather random and uncomfortable and it always happens at the wrong time. Like when a pretty girl is talking to you, or bumps up against you in the hall….”