Snape was becoming frantic, he has searched everywhere he could think of for Catri, including sending a Gryffindor student into the common room and boys dorm to look for her on the pretense of an important meeting with Dumbledore. She was no where to be found, standing outside the door to her rooms, Snape took out the metal compact again and sighed loudly “Please, at least be helpful this time. Find the bracelet” he commanded as the liquid metal took shape. Severus blinked his eyes several times to be sure of what he was seeing. According to the locator, Catri was not even in England, she was in Scotland, in the Highlands none the less. He snapped the lid closed on the locator and slumped against the wall. “How can this be, surely she is not strong enough to fly there, and the security spells make it impossible to apparate anywhere within the boundaries of the shcool.” . . .

Cat smiled, she understood completely “I talked with Albus this morning, I am allowed to bring ten to twelve students back with me. The only stipulation is they must be sorted into houses just like all the other students. He won’t allow me to put them all into Gryffindor.” they talked for a while before they finally headed upstairs to see what the girls where up to.

Cat couldn’t help but smile when she peeked in, Sara and Ginny were giggling as they tried on different shoes to go with the dress Ginny had picked out. It reminded Cat of a butterfly’s wings, the gown shimmered with blues and greens as iridescent pinks blended them together. It was almost liquid, a living watercolor and the colors brought out the blue of Ginny’s eyes. Cat wondered if Ginny’s mother would approve of the less than modest neckline, but it added length to her neck, making her seem very graceful and willowy.

“Ginny.. You look beautiful” Cat told her as Ginny blushed “wait until they see you at school. You’ll have to beat the boys off with a stick” Cat walked over and quickly twisted Ginny’s hair up and fastened it with a few of the clips Sara had lying about. “There, what do you think?” Cat asked as she turned Ginny to face the full length mirror “I think you should definitely go with the updo...”

Ginny gasped as she looked in the mirror, she couldn’t believe it was her. In between Sara’s dress and Cat’s quickly managed hairdo, “I love it” Ginny said breathlessly “Do you think Harry will like it?”

“Harry?!” Cat repeated as she looked at Ginny’s blushing reflection in the mirror. Cat smiled as she realized Ginny had a crush on her son “I’m sure he’ll be *more* than impressed, in fact he’ll probably ask you to dance with him.” she said as she winked.

“I doubt it” Ginny replied “he’s going with Cho.”

“Whom *I* have yet to meet” Cat said tersely “I don’t like the idea of him going out with someone I haven’t been introduced to.” Cat became quiet as she heard the laughter behind her.

“Only a mother a grand total of what??? A few weeks.. And listen to her” Siobhan laughed loudly “Just wait until you have a few more, you’ll see.” she teased as she walked out of the room and back to her baking.

“Oh lovely... so glad I have something to look forward to” Cat yelled down the hall at Siobhan. “So, are you girls done? Do you want me to take you back to school now, or do you want to stay here while I do some quick shopping?” Cat asked as she helped Ginny out of the dress.

“Shopping?!” Sara chimed “Can we go with you? I need to finish up too, I still have to pick something up for mum and baba.” she said as she batted her eyes.

The girls watched as Cat rolled her eyes and sighed, Sara cheered as soon as she saw her aunt smile at them. “Come on Ginny, we’re going shopping.” she grinned as she grabbed Ginny’s hand and raced down the stairs to grab some jackets.

“Well they have you figured out already, don’t they?” Siobhan laughed as Cat walked down the stairs, she followed the girls and helped them with finding warm jackets for the freezing night air.

Ginny, Cat and Sara held hands as the flames swirled around them again, within moments they arrived in Edinburgh, in a dark alley just off of a busy street, lined with all sorts of shops, selling everything from muggle clothes to the latest in magical appliances. “Where are we?” Ginny asked “This doesn’t look like anywhere I’ve ever seen before.”

“Welcome to Edinburgh-sa’ mheadhon. Its one of the many doorways between our world and theirs” Sara explained as she pointed towards a hazy fog-like curtain a few hundred feet away, behind it Ginny could almost make out the shapes of automobiles and people “That is the veil, it hides us from the outside world. It keeps us safe, while still allowing us to see what the humans are up to.” Sara winked as Ginny’s jaw dropped.

Cat laughed as she wrapped her arms around the girls shoulders. “Come on you two, we can’t spend all night here. I’ve got to get Ginny back to school before her brothers start worrying about her.” They began walking down the street, Ginny was surprised by the amount of people Cat and Sara seemed to know by name. She didn’t mean to be rude, but she couldn’t help staring at some of them, wings, pointed ears, fur, tails.... she didn’t know what to make of any of it.

Ginny watched as one of the creatures stopped to talk to Miss MacLeod, he was almost six feet tall, with long white hair, he was wearing a bright blue kimono and carried a sword. Ginny gasped when he turned to look at she and Sara, the man’s eyes were as blue as his kimono, but he had no pupils, and he had furry cat-like ears growing out of the top of his head. The man nodded politely to them, and then turned back to Miss MacLeod and bowed deeply before continuing on his way.

“Who was that?” Ginny asked as she watched him walk away “What was that? Is he part of your family too?” She heard Cat laughed softly as her arm went around her shoulder “Ginny, not everyone in the world is related to me, although I admit it does seem that way at times.” Ginny looked up at Cat’s smiling face and grinned happily, no wonder Harry loved her so much. She could make you feel like the only person in the world just by smiling at you.

They spent a pleasant evening shopping and talking amongst themselves, Ginny noticed that Cat took an especially long time in a men’s clothing store, she seemed to be looking for something in particular. When Cat had noticed Sara and Ginny becoming restless she told them they could wander on their own as long as they promised not to go far. Sara smiled widely as she pulled Sara out into the street and immediately over to the Open Ended Circle, a trendy shop full of the latest and strangest things imaginable.

“I love this place” Sara gushed as she drug Ginny through the doors “my da always gets me the neatest stuff from here. I think he’s getting me a peace planet this year.”

Ginny laughed as Sara tugged her about the store, showing her all the clothes, jewelry, and strange objects in the store. Sara had just set down a pair of brightly colored frogs that hung onto your ear lobes like jewelry and was reaching for a headband that allowed you to grow either cat ears or horns when she asked Sara what a peace planet was.

By the time Cat found the girls she had an arm full of presents, she watched as Ginny gazed in awe at the peace planet necklaces as Sara explained what they were “They’re these tiny living planets, when they’re cold they look like gold and silver globes. BUT... when you wear them and they get warm.. Its like the whole planet springs into life, it becomes blue and green, and sometimes if you treat them just right, you can hear them singing. The story goes that if enough people can get them to sing it will bring peace to the entire world, human, wizard, sidhe... all of it.”

Cat placed her hand on Sara’s shoulder “Are you girls hungry? If we hurry we can grab a quick bite before I take you and Ginny home.” Cat waited until the girls had left to find a restaurant before calling the sales clerk over. “May I have two peace planets, and gift wrap them please” she asked as she smiled brightly. After supper Cat quickly apparated back to Fernglennis to drop off Sara and most of her packages. Then taking Ginny, a few small packages, and the dress, Cat held Ginny’s hand as they apparated directly into Ginny’s dorm.

“WOW, I can hardly believe every thing I’ve seen tonight!” Ginny exclaimed as she flopped onto her bed. “What were some of those people... the ones with wings?”

Cat paused and knitted her brow “Would that be feathered wings, leather wings, or gossamer wings? We associate with many different kinds of beings.” she explained as she hung up Ginny’s dress. “Why don’t you and Hermione come to my room to get ready tomorrow? We can have some fun.. ..and I want to fix your hair, do you mind?”

“Mind?” Ginny replied “I’d love it” she smiled as she ran over to Cat and hugged her fiercely. “I love having you around, its like having a big sister or something” she grinned happily “and wait until Harry sees where he’s spending the holidays. He’s going to love it.”

Cat smiled happily as she left Ginny’s room and made her way through the common room, much to the surprise of several students. She was almost positive Sara would be willing to come to Hogwarts now that she had met Ginny, and with any luck, Sara would be sorted into Gryffindor. Cat rolled her eyes as she imagined the two of them as roommates, “and they thought Lily and I caused trouble” she sighed as she tried to fight a huge grin “they haven’t seen anything yet.”

Cat was only a few feet from the portrait when she heard Sev’s voice calling to her. Turning around she began to smile at him, but stopped the moment she saw his face, he looked frantic. “Severus, what ever is wrong? You look horrible, she exclaimed as he rushed to her side. . .

“So what did Cat do when my dad tickled her?” Harry asked anxiously as Remus laughed loudly. His face turning quite red as he wiped a tear from his eye.

She turned around with this look on her face that could have stopped a clock and said in the most indignant voice she could manage, ‘I beg your pardon, what do you think you’re doing?”

James actually fell backwards right on to the floor, landing on his bum, ..... turned almost the same color Sirius did too, now that I’m thinking about it. We couldn’t stand it, we fell out of the wardrobe laughing ourselves to tears, meanwhile James gets up walks over to Cat and just stares at her up and down, walking around her like she’s a statue or something, and says, “Hey, Lily, this is really good, were’dya find this spell?”

So Cat turns to look at him, but before she can say anything , Sirius tells him its one from transfiguration, she’s really a Cat. So your father goes to pet the “cat” and instead, Cat grabs his arm right above the elbow, pulls him towards her, and flips him on the bed. Which she had conveniently turned into a large pile of gelatin, and then proceeds to top him off with whip cream as your mother adds a rather large cherry ”. .

Cat gave Sev a strange look “What do you mean ‘where have I been’ I’ve been with Ginny.” she replied suspiciously “Although I was supposed to have been with Harry and Remus, but they never showed up. You haven’t seen them, have you?”

“Not lately” Severus reply sheepishly as he avoided Catri’s eyes. “Although I believe I know where they are.” Sev’s mind was working a mile a minute, this was not at all the way he had expected this evening to go.