Sirius felt his knees grow weak as her memory took over more and more of his mind. She was trying to hold in a scream, she had never felt anything so painful or wonderful in her life. He felt her fight against her muscles, trying to relax them, to make it easier for him to slid in and out of her, only to lose control as her muscles tightened with each thrust. He felt the burning sensation begin in her abdomen, he felt the tingling spread out across her body like tentacles of pure energy until she simply could not hold it in any more…..he heard her scream out his name as the energy released. He felt his own arms wrap tightly around her, comforting and caressing her as her first true orgasm rocked through her body. Sirius panted breathlessly as he felt the aftermath of her first release, he had had no idea, no comprehension of what it had been like for her. He closed his eyes and offered a silent pray of thanks that he had taken his time and been so very gentle with her. It had made all the difference in the world to her, it was true she had been frightened, she had never done anything like this before. But she felt safe with him, she trusted him, . . .he was her hero.

Sirius hung his head as he remembered how much her faith and love had meant to him, how it had sustained him through the death of his father, the scare of her being with child, even the night James had been abducted, it had been her faith in him that had given him the strength to do whatever he had to, to bring James back safely. Looking back up, Sirius saw the image growing hazy, he reached out to try and hold on, he didn’t want to leave this memory, he didn’t want to leave her. But he knew it was pointless, these were nothing more than memories, ghosts of days gone by.

Sirius felt his grip on her memory slip as he once again floated through Cash’s mind, it was the closest thing to oblivion he had ever experienced. He was at once completely aware of every thought and memory around him, but part of nothing. He startled as a memory ran headlong into him, it was one of Harry’s. Sirius touched the memory, expecting to feel Harry’s warmth and love, but instead he felt only loneliness and pain. Harry was in a dark closet of some sort, crying silently as he heard the loud, harsh voices around him. The voices were berating him, telling him how useless he was, how abnormal, how pathetic. Sirius could feel the anger swelling within him, how dare anyone speak about his Harry like that. He balled his fists as he heard a particularly brutish voice wishing that Harry had died with his parents, or better yet, that he had never been born.

Yelling insanely, Sirius leaped into the memory and attempted to tear at the voices that were saying such cruel and horrible things. It just wasn’t right, Harry was a good boy, he was smart and clever, just like his father. Sirius felt his tears streaming down his face as he realized he was helpless to help Harry, there was nothing he could do to stop the memory from playing out again and again.

“Don’t do it Harry, don’t let them torment you like that.” Sirius prayed “You’re worth a hundred of them. I love you, Cat loves you, you will never have to go back to them Harry, I swear it. Even if I have to help Cat kidnap you, you won’t ever have to go back there.” Sirius looked up to see thousands upon thousands of shimmering threads, intersecting and converging, almost like a giant web. Looking back to where he had seen Cat’s memory he followed it to where Harry’s connected with hers. Sirius willed himself to be there, to go to their joint memories, hoping to see them together and happy.

Sirius smiled with relief and joy when he saw the memories that lingered here. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he watched as filthy Harry and blood-stained Cat sat in one of the high towers, talking softly with one another, apparently unharmed. He heard Cat tell Harry about her family, about his family. He looked deeper and saw Cat and Harry playing Quidditch together, and saw Cat causing her usual mayhem and chaos with the bludgers. He stood back and looked at all the happy memories that Cat and Harry had shared. It warmed his heart to know how much they cared for each other and hoped that soon he would be able to join them as both husband and father.

Sirius was about to turn away and attempt to find his way back to his own mind when something caught his eye. It was a man, a man with eyes just like Sirius, only he was older and had curling brown hair. Sirius paused as he saw the man smile and wink at him. . . .

Sirius looked at all of Harry’s and Cat’s shared memories, the man was in each and everyone of them, not part of the scene, but watching it just as Sirius was. “Who are you?” Sirius asked as the man approached him. “What are you doing in their memories?”

Smiling mischievously, the man winked at Sirius and replied “I could ask you the same thing my boy. More to the point, what are you doing in Cash’s mind? I do hope you’re not here to harm him. He tends to frenzy quite easily when attacked, and I assume your physical body must be near his for you to be here.”

Sirius froze, “No, I would never harm Cash.” looking past the man, Sirius stared at Harry and Cat sleeping together in her bed after her near fatal episode. “Harry is with us, if he frenzies. . .” before he realized what had happened, he felt the man’s hand on his shoulder.

“I shouldn’t worry about it my boy. If what I’ve seen is accurate, Cash would no more harm you and Harry than he would harm Catri.” Leaning towards Sirius, the man continued in a conspiratory whisper “You know, he is notoriously protective of the people he loves, sometimes to a fault.” the man explained as he winked at Sirius.

Standing straight once more the man gave Sirius a quick, appraising look. “So, what ‘are’ you doing here? And why the desperate interest in Catri and her son? Surely you realize they aren’t lost to you, at least not yet.” the man said as he folded his arms over his chest and gave Sirius a crooked smile. “All you have ever needed to do was talk to her. Surely you must have realized this by now. Although why you refuse to do so is quite beyond my understanding, don’t you love her anymore?”

“Of course I love her” Sirius stated immediately “I love them both, but its just not that easy to tell the woman you love that you’ve been imprisoned for twelve years and are now living in the shadows, hoping desperately not to be caught and have your soul stolen away.”

The man raised one eyebrow as he stared deeply into Sirius’s eyes “Oh yes, you’re quite right. It’s much better to let her assume you’re married and let her run off with a man her son despises, her family abhors and you personally would just as soon see dead as let him lay a hand on her. Your friend Remus Lupin was right Mr. Black, when did you become such a coward?”

“Who in blazes do you think you are?” Sirius responded angrily “And what business of yours is it how I handle my personal life?”

“Who I am is not important at the moment.” the man responded “As for it being my business? More so than you could ever understand my boy.” The man walked over to one of the shimmering thread and sat upon it, making himself comfortable. He tapped the spot next to him and motioned for Sirius to do the same. He chuckled when he saw the wizard sigh, resigning himself to do as he was instructed.

“First of all” the man began “understand I am intricately involved in all of this.” he explained, motioning to the threads of memories woven through Cash’s mind. “I and Maharet have an understanding. We both realize that the prophecy must come to pass, so I take care of my descendants, and she takes care of hers, until the day when our bloodlines become one again.”

“Maharet? Cat’s aunt?” Sirius asked, his brow knit in concentration and thoughtfulness “I remember her showing me a huge book, she keeps track of every member of her clan. It was positively amazing…”

“Isn’t it though” the man agreed, “That woman is the single most determined creature I have ever met in my life. She puts the mages to shame.” he shook his head and laughed good-naturedly. “Of course, from time to time, we will cross over to aid one another’s descendants when the need arises. And I must admit, I have always held a fondness for Catri. She’s such a sweet girl, and such a talent” the man raised his hands, splaying his fingers for emphasis. “If only she would use her abilities more often, she drives Maharet absolutely mad with her resistance to her own blood borne abilities.”

Sirius shook his head “That’s because it hurts her to use them. I’ve seen the look on her face when she’s caught a stray thought, you can literally see it hit her heart.” he looked over to see her face in Harry’s memory of the Yule Ball. “She’s far too sensitive for such power, and there is nothing I can do to help her through that.” he added painfully.

The man smiled slyly as he watched the look in Sirius’s eyes “So you say, but you are wrong. All you need to do is be there for her, love her, support her. She is an amazing creature, more so than anyone realizes. And with love, or perhaps for love, she can do almost anything. Something this Tremere Gustavas will find out soon enough.”

Sirius turned on the man, his eyes sparkling with anger “What do you know about Gustavas? So help me if he goes anywhere near Cat or Harry. . . .”

“Calm down my boy” the man replied as he held up his hands “I am not your enemy. You would do well to remember that.”

“Well seeing as how I have no idea who or what you are, that might be difficult to do.” Sirius retorted.

“You honestly have no clue who I am do you?” the man said sadly as he hung his head “That father of yours, he should have told you who you are, what you are. I told him he should just be honest with you, stubborn man that he was, he never listened to me.”

Sirius gasped at the man “What does my father have to do with any of this? He’s been dead almost twenty years. And what should he have told me? And would you stop calling me “my boy.” Sirius added, the annoyance obvious in his voice.

The man smiled warmly at Sirius, his eyes twinkling mischievously “My boy,” he said deliberately “you are as much my child as you ever were your fathers. I have been trying to get through to you for years. Apparently you inherited Angus’s stubborn nature as well as my eyes. I only hope you inherited my power as well.” So saying the man rose and stood in front of Sirius. “I think you are finally ready to awaken, and more than time I say.”

The man closed his eyes, and raised his hand. Sirius noticed it was surrounded by a soft golden glow that seemed to be pulsating in time with the man’s heart. “Don’t be afraid my boy. I’m here to protect and guide you, now that you have finally opened your eyes to me.” Sirius gasped as the man placed his hand on his chest, only it didn’t stop at his skin, it went straight through to Sirius’s heart.

Sirius felt an overwhelming surge of power as the man touched his heart, it wasn’t what he could call painful as much as unnerving. Sirius looked down to see his entire body glowing with the same golden glow as the man’s hand. “What, what are you doing?” Sirius gasped as he raised his hands, staring at the power that was now shimmering and pulsating with the beat of his own heart.

The man withdrew his hand and smiled contently, he seemed suddenly tired, but his eyes were still as lively as the moment Sirius had spied him. “Awakening the power that was hidden within your very blood my boy.” the man explained as his legs gave out from under him.

Sirius jumped up and grasped the man when he saw him falter, whatever he had done must have been an incredible strain on him. “Are you alright? And what do you mean ‘hidden in my blood’? You’re speaking in riddles.”

“Riddles? A favorite past time of mine” the man responded as he looked up at Sirius, a great fondness shining in his eyes. “As for the blood, surely Cash must have told you, everything goes back to the blood, everything. Why do you think our family was wiped out Sirius? The only way to keep you safe was to let you suffer in that wretched prison.” the man explained painfully “I wanted to take you with me, take you somewhere safe, but it didn’t protect Liam or Shannon. I knew it wouldn’t protect you either. The only chance of survival you had was making them think you were no longer a threat to them.” The man looked deeply into Sirius’s eyes, silently begging for his understanding “I am so terribly sorry we couldn’t find another way. But if we didn’t allow them to take you, both you and Catri would be dead now.”

“Cat?!” Sirius gasped as his mind tried to process everything he had just heard “Why would she be dead? What does this have to do with her.”

“Think about it my boy. Where were you heading off to when all this tragedy struck? Hmmm.. You were going to find her. You had finally found out were she was. How long do you think it would have taken you to convince her to come back to you?” he asked. “My guess would be about twenty minutes. And then what? You would have married her and started a family, probably moving next door to your friends.”

“And what the hell is wrong with that?” Sirius shouted. “Its all I’ve ever wanted. I wanted to marry her, to have a family, to have a future….”

“But that’s the point my boy, there would have been no future.” he paused as he pulled Sirius down next to him. “For a moment, stop, just stop. Think about this. . .if you and Catri had gotten married, started a family, moved next to Lily and James….what would have happened when they came to kill your friends? Would you or Catri have abandoned them?”

“No, of course not, we were like brothers and sisters.” Sirius responded quickly “We would have fought them together, we would have….”

“You would have died along side of them, as would all of your children.” the man stated painfully. “Harry only survived because Catri survived. She and Lily worked some truly powerful magic over that boy, but at a very high price. If they both would have died, so would your godson, it seemed those girls shared more than their blood, they apparently managed to exchange a sliver of their souls as well.” The man winced as he remembered Catri’s pain. “We knew if you two were allowed to marry back then, none of you would be alive today. That’s why I didn’t stop you and that woman, even though I knew the pain it would cause all of you. I am truly sorry for your pain and suffering my boy, and I hope you can forgive me for not preventing it, but please understand, I had very little choice.”

The man rose to his feet and smiled warmly at Sirius, “But now that danger has passed, and in a few months, your godsons fate will no longer be tied directly to Catri’s. As strong as their magic was, it would only last until the end of his fifteenth year, and that is only a few months away. Now its time to continue [u]your[/u] life my child. Go to her, tell her everything, tell her about me if you like” the man winked “she knows me quite well, might I add. I’m her favorite ‘uncle’, I even have Albus Dumbledore beat out on that one, not an easy task might I add.”

“So who are you?” Sirius asked, his mind almost numb from everything that he had learned over the past few minutes “Are you really a relative of hers? Or a family friend, or a ghost?”