“So I’ve noticed” Cash sighed “I was hoping spending some time with you and Harry would help her, but you two hardly ever seem to get together unless she’s half dead. .....” Cash paused as he thought for a moment “You know she’s taking Harry to Caledonia for the holidays, right?” he waited as Sirius nodded “I want you to go with them, I don’t want you or her to be alone for the holidays. I want both of you to be happy, I want you both to be parents... and not only to Harry” he winked as Sirius grinned.

Cat woke up to the sound of two men’s voices talking and laughing softly outside her bedroom door. Groggily she rose from her bed and walked towards her bedroom door, she peered through the opening and saw Cash and Sirius chatting happily. A warm smile crossed her face, until she remembered seeing Esmeralda earlier that evening “done already Sirius” she whispered to herself “I seem to remember you going until the wee hours of the morn.” She sighed heavily as she walked back to her bed.

Cash suddenly bolted upright “Angel?” he asked as he got up from the sofa and walked to her bedroom. Quietly opening the door Cash peered in and saw Angel snuggling back under her covers. “Angel?” he asked softly “What’s wrong? Why were you crying baby?” Cash asked her as he sat next to her on her bed. Rubbing her back through the blanket he waited for her reply, all he heard was her sniffling softly in the darkness “Angel.... talk to me honey” he said as he kissed her gently on her cheek “I hate it when you get like this.... you need to stop worrying about everyone else.” he said tenderly as he looked up to see Sirius walking towards them. “Look who’s here Angel... its your future husband...” he joked, only to feel her body become tense as Sirius approached.

“I don’t want company” Cat said softly as she pulled the quilt tightly around her. “Let me be Cash... and take him with you” she replied numbly as she felt Sirius’s hand on her cheek. She didn’t want him near her, it hurt too much to feel his touch and know she would never be able to be with him. She had made her decision, she would never be the other woman, not even for Sirius. She would make a life with Severus, he loved her, .... hell, he practically worshiped her, he would be a good husband, a good provider..... She would be a good wife to him, and a good mother for their children.

Sirius pulled his hand back as if it had been burned “take *him* with you? Kitty what is it? What’s happened? …….. What did I do?! ” he asked her. Only to have her turn her back to him and pull the blankets up around her ears. Sirius turned to Cash, his face a mask of complete confusion. “Cat??”.........

Olia sighed softly as she felt Fangs warm body against her own. She nuzzled against his head, deeply inhaling the scent of him, she wanted to remember this forever, it may well be his last night as a mortal. She thought back to the night she had first met him, Angel had just been attacked and she had been in the middle of attacking one of the Slytherin brats when he had startled her from behind. That had been the first thing to arouse her interest; very few people could evade her senses, her mental defenses, yet this Garou childe had simply walked up behind her. No tricks, no amazing power..... nothing... just the desire to make their enemies pay for harming Angel. It hadn’t taken her long to search him out at every opportunity. She had noticed how badly Gaz treated him, not at all the way a Grangel Primogen would treat their second, much less their lover, but she assumed it was the Garou way.

She rubbed her cool hands down the masculine curve of his back as she allowed the shudder of warmth to pass through her. He was inexperience in many things, but oooohhh so eager to learn. She remembered clearly the day she had cornered him in the solarium of the school, she had tried to read his mind, only to find he was immune to her powers. It only intrigued her more; she wanted to know about this man-child, this wild creature who showed equal amounts of pride verging on arrogance, and child-like wonder. He had been a bit frightened the first time she touched him, it had only been on his neck, but she could feel the way his body tensed under her caress. She was prepared to walk away at that point, but she noticed him watching her, following her, everyday he would inch a little closer. She smiled happily as she recalled the evening she had risen from her sleep, only to see Fang’s crystal clear eyes staring down at her. He had been sniffing curiously at her, he had certainly never expected her to wake up at that moment, much less reach up and wrap her hand around his throat.

Luckily she had realized in time who it was, although he seemed quite embarrassed to explain exactly what he *thought* he was doing. Olia laughed softly as she recalled seeing him blush under his beautiful platinum fur. She absent-mindedly ran her fingers across his broad shoulders, thoroughly enjoying the texture of his fine, soft fur. She felt herself flush as he instinctively cuddled against her, nearly intoxicating her with his warmth “I’m going to miss your heat once you’ve been embraced my love” she sighed softly “but I don’t ever want to lose you again. I felt as if my heart was being torn out when I saw Angel carrying you down the corridor. I can’t imagine going through the rest of eternity without being able to kiss you ever again.”

Cash motioned Sirius to wait for him in the sitting room; he wanted to talk to Angel alone. Cash could see the hurt and confusion in Sirius’s eyes, but he could feel the pain and grief in Angel even more keenly. “Come on Angel, tell me what’s wrong…. You’ve never kept anything from me in the past.” he asked as Sirius closed the door behind him. “Angel, this isn’t like you….. Talk to me baby doll.”

“I’m tired Cash. I feel like hell, I want to sleep” Cat answered abruptly, she couldn’t talk to anyone at the moment, not without bursting into tears. She could feel the heat of her own tears behind her eyes as Cash gently stroked her hair, she knew he only wanted to help, but the pain was still too fresh. “Please Cash,” she begged, “I just need some time to myself.”

Cash winced as he touched Angel, her pain was palpable to him, and he hated not being able to make it all better for her. When she would be upset as a child, it had been as simple as giving her a hug and maybe a toy, but now that she was a grown woman, …. He had no idea what to do. “I wish Tris were here Angel…. She would know what to do for you.” he sighed as he heard her sniffle softly. He paused for a moment, she may longer be a child, but she would always be his little girl. He climbed into her bed and wrapped his arms around her; squeezing her tightly “I know I don’t have the first clue as to a woman’s mind or how it works. But I do know you, and I know you’re in pain. So is Sirius…” he felt her flinch at the mention of his name. “Angel…. Is there something I should know? Did someone hurt you?” he whispered as he hugged her even tighter, rubbing his cheek against her silky tresses.

“Yes… but I just can’t talk about it right now. I‘m not physically harmed, just upset and tired.” she replied weakly, as she wiped away her tears. As angry and hurt as she was, she knew she could never put Sirius in danger. And telling Cash would be tantamount to murdering Sirius herself. She knew how much hope Cash had placed in Sirius marrying her and fathering children. She had hoped for the same thing herself. “I’ll talk to you before the ball tomorrow evening Cash, I promise. I just want to sleep now. . . Alright?”

Cash sighed heavily “If you promise . . .” he hugged her once more and kissed her softly on her cheek as he rose from her bed. Cash hung his head as he walked from her bedroom to the sitting room. He knew Sirius would be waiting for him, wanting answers he just didn’t have. “Sit down Sirius” Cash said softly “something’s wrong. . . She won’t tell me what it is though, and I really don’t want to push, she’s had a rough few days.” Cash flopped heavily in one of her large, comfortable chairs as Sirius walked toward Cat’s bedroom “No.” Cash insisted “I know you want to stay with her, and in all truth I feel in my heart that would probably be the best thing for her. But she wants to be alone, we have to respect that . . . At least for now. I intend to sent Olia to *talk* with her tomorrow.”

“Olia?” Sirius questioned, “Cash, I don’t want Olia going through Cat’s mind, I’ve seen what she does to people”

“Not to Angel she won’t, trust me . . Angel could kill her with little more than a thought, Olia is well aware of that.” Cash smirked at the look of shock on Sirius’s face “I’m not saying she *would*, she tends to be far to kind-hearted to do things like that. I’m just saying she *could* if she chose to.”

Sirius shook his head, he knew Cat had powers he knew nothing about, but did she really have that much power? “What about her safety? I thought you wanted us all to stay together. . “

“True, I would prefer that. But whatever is lurking in the forest hasn’t moved at all, Harry is well protected in the tower, Raul is watching over Albus, I’m watching over you” he grinned widely as Sirius rolled his eyes. “Hey. . . I’ve got to protect my family, present and future.” Cash winked. “I’m going to leave Shashe here to keep her eye on Angel. She can handle herself in pretty near any situation. . . I’m telling you Sirius, I cannot *wait* for that stupid curse to be over. . . “ Cash paused when he saw the confused look on Sirius’s face “You didn’t know?”

Sirius shook his head “I thought she was just an amazingly smart cougar. . . Who is she and what happened?”

Cash shook his head “It’s a long story, her name is Shashe, but she’s not a cougar, not really. She’s a distant cousin of Angel’s; she has some Sidhe blood in her, but not enough to be more than a good witch. She searched out Angel and asked her to train her. Angel agreed and Shashe learned quickly, maybe too quickly, she became over confident in her abilities. She started doing some pretty stupid things, Angel did her best to steer her in the right direction, but you know how that goes.” Cash sighed.

“Apparently Shashe had several issues with life in general, one of which was low self-esteem, she seemed to think she needed to have a man to prove she was worth something. According to Angel, pretty near any man would do, she made some bad choices in that department. One of her *choices* tried to convince her she didn’t need Angel anymore. . . . So she picked up and left her, not so much as a note, but Angel knew what had happened, and what they had stolen.”

Sirius whistled lowly “She stole from her own family. Ech” Finally sitting back down he continued “So what did Cat do? She didn’t curse her did she?”

Cash laughed softly “My Angel, not a chance.” Cash continued “Angel simply called back what Shashe had stolen, you can imagine this guys surprise when everything just disappeared around him.” Cash paused as he and Sirius joked over the fellows surprise, then Cash became very sullen “That’s when things got bad, apparently this guy thought Shashe had double crossed him, he started beating her. She tried to run away once or twice, but she kept going back to him. That low self-esteem thing again. Well finally after a year or so of getting her head beat in, she managed to get the courage together to leave that loser, and promptly hook up with some other guy.” Cash watched as Sirius rolled his eyes “Yep. . .that pretty much sums up my feelings on it as well. But at least this guy treated her well, very romantic, very supportive, the whole ball of wax. Unfortunately, what he didn’t bother to tell anyone, is that he was already married, to a rather powerful witch. His wife didn’t take to kindly to Shashe fooling around with her husband.”

“Ouch” Sirius winced “he was married? She didn’t know?”

Cash shrugged his shoulders “Who knows? Maybe she did, maybe she was so happy to find someone who didn’t love her with the back of his hand that she didn’t care. All any of us know is that the wife cursed them both. Shashe lost her human form and the ability to speak for . . . .hmmm think it was until the fourth age of man. Her husband on the other hand didn’t get off so lightly.”

“Lightly? You consider that lightly?!!” Sirius asked, his eyes wide at the very thought “And when exactly is the fourth age of man?”

“Considering what she did with her husband? Yes, Shashe got of lightly.” Cash replied. “As for the fourth age of man. . .” Cash leaned forward and motioned Sirius to do the same “That my friend is what we are here to find out. My little girl in there is part of the prophecy, so is Harry and this Voldemort character. And I am certain that you, Sirius Black, are the next piece of that particular puzzle.” Cash raised his hand to quiet Sirius’s objections “Have you ever heard of the Prophecy neo-thimeil iadh? Also know as the lineage?”

“The lineage, the Roma mentioned that when Dimitri and I were talking. They seemed very excited. . .” Sirius started to explain.

“Yea. . . I bet they were.” Cash said flatly “they probably figured you were involved just like I did. I’m guessing Magda was a whole lot nicer to you after that, am I right?” Cash waited while Sirius nodded “Figured, manipulative wench that Magda is, I still don’t know why Angel wants to include them. We certainly don’t need their help. They’re just another liability to us.”

Sirius smiled he had wondered that himself “I’m betting that has something to do with Fallon, Magda’s daughter. She seems to have some sort of abilities that Magda is unaware of.”

“Well if she managed to survive she must have something special going for her. Magda has managed to kill most of her children, if they survive, she doesn’t. Its and old and brutal path she walks. Magda will live forever, barring any of her children surpass her in strength. It sounds like this Fallon’s days are numbered.”

Sirius was about to ask Cash for more detail when he heard the soft tap on the door. Sirius and Cash both smiled when Hamish and Rick walked in. “So how are my favorite undead pranksters?” Sirius asked Hamish.

Hamish grinned mischievously “No time for fun tonight my friend” he sighed “all work at the moment.” Turning to Cash Hamish continued “The school is peaceful. There are no more deatheaters anywhere near the school, the twins have managed to calm the Garou down. Olia is watching over Fang.”

Rick walked to Cash and whispered in his ear “The presence in the forest is unchanged, the silence is deafening, and the living die.”

Cash turned to Rick and narrowed his eyes “Explain that last part.” he hissed quietly.

Rick nodded and whispered once more “I’ve heard of spells like this that can be used in the water, its called black water, I know what it does to the fish. I found a rabbit and tossed it into the silence. . . .it died horribly, within minutes.”

Cash sighed deeply “Thank you Rick. At least we have some idea of what we’re dealing with. Where are Roel and Angus? Shouldn’t they be with you?”

Hamish snorted “Rick told them about the rabbit; Angus is in the library looking up spells, Roel is reporting to Raul as you ordered.”

Sirius gave them a quizzical look “Rabbit? What rabbit?”

Cash smiled brightly “The one that proved Angel isn’t with child yet. . . I really was expecting more from you my friend.” he joked as Sirius groaned. “Come on everyone, it’s nearly three in the morning, Angel and her son are both well and safe. The Garou are at peace and we need to prepare for tomorrow. By the way, Sirius is crashing with us tonight.” Cash added as Hamish and Rick grinned happily “NO fighting, no tricks. . . .and Hamish, if I so much as see you *thinking* about repeating that stupid flying table trick, I will kill you myself. . . Understood?”