Harry questioned Remus “what’s going on with Sirius, first he seems all upset that Miss MacLeod is here, then he doesn’t want her to leave, then he’s in a fist fight with Snape over her? I don’t get it, do he and mum love each other or not?”

“Well Harry, I know it sounds like I’m trying to avoid answering you, but it really is a long story.” sighed Remus “But seeing as how we’re going to be *stuck* in here for a while, I guess it will help pass the time.” he answered glumly as he flicked a piece of fuzz off of his robes. He walked around the room and saw a tray of hot tea and biscuits. Remus hung his head and sighed “It looks like Snape is making sure we can’t run to your mother and complain too much” he grinned as he picked up the tray and walked over to Harry. “He’s made sure to cover his bases very nicely it seems..... care for a tea party.” Remus asked as he crossed his eyes, making a crooked face which caused Harry to laugh.

“I have a better idea” Harry said, when he realized Remus really didn’t want to discuss Sirius and Cat, and a tea party was *definitely* out of the question “Why don’t you tell me how you and my parents met Cat. Dumbledore hinted you two hit it off right away.”

Remus smiled brightly “oh.. He did, did he? And did he tell you how much *he* had to do with that?”

Harry grinned as he settled himself on the floor, eagerly awaiting Remus’s story.....

“As you know Miss Catri MacLeod at one time attended Hogwarts, as an exchange student in our 6th year. She had transferred in from a Northern school, one not associated with the Ministry of Magic, it was run by a very powerful Wizard named Magnus, her father in fact. The ministry was not exactly happy to have her here, but Prof Dumbledore and her father were good friends and I am under the belief that Dumbledore himself requested that she attend Hogwarts. The magic she had learnt that far was unlike the magic taught here and apparently Dumbledore thought it very important, despite the MoM, that she experience our way of doing things.

She came to the school in November, right after the Halloween celebration, I remember it pretty well, I got into trouble almost the minute she walked through the door.” he said laughing deeply. “She was brought in by Prof McGonagall, to our DADA class, which Dumbledore was teaching at the time.

Dumbledore looked up, saw it was her, and smiled from ear to ear saying how glad he was she would be able to spend some time with us and asking her how she liked visiting the school in Saudi Arabia, and so on. At as it was time to end class, he asked Severus to show her around a little, then bring her back to his office, as she needed to be sorted into a house.”

“Snape” Harry started “he asked Snape, why him?”

“Well Harry you have to understand, Severus wasn’t the same person he is now, and perhaps Prof Dumbledore thought it might do him some good.”

“Not likely”

“Harry, that’s not very kind.” Remus said as he winked “Anyway, Sirius and I couldn’t believe what we saw, Harry she could have been you mother’s twin sister, it was amazing, same long auburn hair, same green eyes, we almost dropped over. And since we knew Dumbledore was going to have her sorted that night, we decided she needed to be in Gryffindor so Sirius went to find Snape and I went to borrow your father’s invisibility cloak. As it tuned out Sirius didn’t have any luck, he ran into Peter on the way and couldn’t manage to catch up to the two of them. So I snuck into Dumbledore’s office using the cloak, and tried to talk to the sorting hat, a complete waste of time may I add, when suddenly I hear Dumbledore and Cat at the door. I put the cloak back on and hide behind the desk and hold my breath.”. . .

“I told you I would have her son ready for you, and I do” Gaz insisted as she licked her teeth “he and MacLeod’s *friend* are locked in the dungeon, without their wands.”

“I am impressed Garou” replied the tall, muscular man as he stepped out of the shadows, his long red hair and goatee blazing brightly against his chalk white skin. His face had an eerie calmness to it and would have seemed all but dead if it were not for the flashing of his deep blue eyes. The glowing tip of his cigarette burned brightly against the darkness of the forest as he spoke to the Garou. “You are sure the MacLeod woman is no where near her son? I want to take my time and enjoy his death. I have special plans for him, I want his death to scar her for what little time is left of her existence.”

Gaz smiled wickedly “Positive, a love sick professor is making sure she stays *completely* occupied.”

“Really? Another man in love with her, she seems to be collecting them.” He smirked as he stroked his goatee “This could become fun, I wonder how much she cares for him, maybe I can leave his corpse somewhere sentimental.... like her bed” an evil smile danced across his lips as he imagined MacLeod’s tear-filled reaction to yet another lover viciously murdered, simply because she chose to return his affections. “The personal ones are always much more enjoyable, they always ask *why* as I kill them” his cold, dark laughter filled the night, sending shivers down Gaz’s spine. “Well?! What are you waiting for Garou..... time to party.” He growled as he motioned for Gaz to take him to Harry and Remus.

With some backtracking to avoid the Garou searching the forest and the Gangrel the school, the two finally made their way to the dungeon. “They are down this hall” Gaz motioned “in the last room on the right hand side.” She stopped as she felt his strong hand clamp around her neck.

“I thought you said there were only two of them” he snarled “I can smell at least three... if you think you can set me up...” he pulled back his other hand and made a fist as Gaz cringed.

“NO!! The other one is Fang, he turned my clan against me... he is drugged and injured, he can’t harm anyone.” Gaz insisted as she tried to squirm out of his death-like grip. “I left him there as bait for them, they are every bit as soft and foolish as she is.” She stared at him as if he were a madman as he started laughing.

“So... you think she is soft do you? My, but aren’t you an idiot.” he sneered as he tossed her effortlessly against the wall “I’ve spent the last five years wearing her and that blasted clan of her’s down. That’s why I need her son” he explained as he flexed his fingers as they turned into talons “her clan’s greatest weakness are their children.... you would think by now they would learn not to become so attached to anything so weak and fragile.” completely ignoring Gaz, he strode down the hall to where Harry and Remus were laughing.

Gustavas licked his lips hungrily as he approached them, only three doors away and the foolish mortals had no idea he was even there. “I think I’ll kill the old one first, slowly, and make her son watch, his screams ought to be delightful.” he mumbled as he inched closer to the room. Suddenly a wall of flames appeared in front of him, just singeing the hair of his goatee. “What IS THIS!!” he yelled as he turned to face the Garou. “I thought you said they were without their wands?!”

Gaz coward up against the wall “They are, I saw him take them myself. They are defenseless just as you ordered.” she brought her hands up to her face as she saw Gustavas’s talon-like claws come towards her.

Piercing the tender flesh of her upper arms with his talons he pulled Gaz to within inches of his face, and calmly asked “Then how are they doing this? *Someone* must be protecting them, and I know MacLeod, she likes flames, but this isn’t her style. If this were her magic it wouldn’t have stopped at a simple flare, it would have become sentient and chased me down....”

“The wizard” Gaz cried out painfully “the one who helped me, he must have done this,... but they’re magic is nothing, MacLeod has no fear of them... surely with your knowledge you can undo it.”

Gustavas tightened his grip, smiling as he heard her flesh tearing under his dagger-like talons “Of course I could undo it... with a great deal of effort, which would bring MacLeod down here in an instant. I have taken my time to ensure that the Sidhe and her clan of pet Gangrel would NOT be able to sense me. I am not about to fritter that all away now.” He paced the hall aggressively for a few moments before his cold blue eyes settled back on Gaz. “I don’t intend to leave here empty handed. I’m bored, I need amusement... ..and since the reason I can’t get to her son is because *you* screwed up... I guess you will have to take his place.”

“NO.. You can’t..” Gaz said as the realization of what he meant hit her.

“Can’t?” he repeated as he approached her menacingly, his talons and fangs bared.

Gaz could feel the terror settling in upon her, “I will summon the others, they will find you and stop you” she threatened in a panic filled voice. “They will defend me.... they will......”

Her words were cut short as Gustavas viciously struck her face, causing her to spin into the stone wall as her blood splattered upon it. Gaz felt her head swimming as she tasted her own blood, she tried frantically to get away, but all she could feel was Gustavas’s fingers as they twisted into her fur and drug her out of the school, across the grounds and back into the woods. . .

Remus shook his head as he laughed softly, “Dumbledore had her sit on the stool and starts talking to her about the school and her father and some of her more recent travels, turns out she’d been to several different countries over the last 2 years, he explains to her what the hat does and the four different houses and so on.... then he put the hat on her, it must have been almost five minutes and the hats still not saying which house she’s going to.

“The hat actually started talking to Dumbledore about what a unique situation this was, how she could fit into any of the houses, although it was leaning towards either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, it just couldn’t decide which. At which point I stupidly whisper “Gryffindor”, she no sooner heard my voice, she jumps off the stool, turns to where I’m standing and pulls out this knife,.... well actually it was more like a small sword,.... and puts her free arm out as if to protect Dumbledore.” Remus explained while acting the scene out.

At this point the hat yells “Gryffindor it is”, poor Cat is looking from where she thinks she heard the voice, to the hat on her head, to Dumbledore and back to the hat. She finally looks back to him and says “ghosts?”

“No my dear, I’m afraid not” as Albus walks over to where *I’m* standing and pulls the cloak down so they could see my face “a fellow Gryffindor it would appear. Well Mr. Lupin since you are already here, would you be kind enough to escort Miss MacLeod to the Gryffindor tower.” So of course I agreed and quickly left before he decided to ask me any questions about what I was doing in his office.”

“On the way to the tower we started talking about school, and I asked her if Severus had caused her any problems, she seemed surprised that I asked, she told me how kind he was, and how he had stopped some of the other boys when they began making comments about her, and how he had made sure to explain the way the school worked, with the moving stairs and false steps.”

Olia howled loudly as she reached the lower hallway, within seconds several more Gangrel had arrived, including Cash and Sirius. “Cash.. Gaz was here, and very recently” Olia looked almost nauseated as she spoke.

“What else Olia? You’re not telling me something....” Cash insisted as he watched Olia hold her hand against her stomach.

“The scent...” she shook her head “there is another scent along with hers... Cash, it’s horrible, it reeks of decay and horror... its... its....” Olia shuddered visibly as she took a deep breath and whispered “it’s unholy.”

Cash quickly dropped to his knees and inhaled the scent deeply. She was right, the scent was putrid, yet somehow familiar. “I don’t like this” Cash said ominously “something is horribly wrong,... Olia, take the twins with you and do your best to find Fang. Hamish... take your brothers and go to Raul, tell him to find Remus. Sirius and I will take the others and find Angel and Harry... as soon as anyone is found, take them to our haven and summon the clan.”. . .

Cat was pacing the halls nervously, waiting for Remus to show up. “Come on Lupy... I feel like I have a belly full of butterflies as it is... don’t make me wait.” she whined as her mind ran wild with thoughts of Sirius and what would happen if the note was right, if he was unmarried, if he was truly free to be with her. She felt herself blush as she thought of their reunion, only to feel her stomach flutter queasily once again.

“I can’t take this...” Cat sighed as she began to walk towards Remus’s rooms, “I’ve got to find him.... the waiting is going to kill me... I can see it now, they’ll find me face down in a corner, nails bitten to the quick with a look of wide-eye anticipation on my face.” she rolled her eyes at her own comments “that is if I don’t get locked up for talking to myself first..”

Cat laughed at herself as she roamed the halls keeping her eyes open for Remus, as she walked past an open classroom she heard someone crying. Cat paused and knit her brow, “hmm almost curfew, this cannot be good” she sighed as she quietly poked her head into the room to see who it was. “Ginny?” Cat asked, surprised to see the young Weasley girl crying in the dark room “Ginny honey, what is it?” Cat said as she rushed to Ginny’s side.