“Where have you been? We really could have used you.” Cash asked, trying not to sound accusing, but then again, the Nosferatu had their own agenda, one which ’may’ not coincide with his own, and someone was spying on them.

“Again, I apologize, but I was with Minerva, gathering what students were left into their houses. I was left with the impression that everything was under control.”

“Great, what a wonderful time for people to decide to keep their noses OUT of my business.” Cash groused as Hamish laughed loudly, ruffling Cash’s hair with his hand.

Cat sighed softly as she ran her fingers through Harry’s unruly hair, she couldn’t believe she had come so close to losing him. She traced the outline of his face with her finger as she imagined him as an infant, he must have been adorable. She made a mental note to ask Sirius about Harry’s childhood, all she had were the letters Lily had sent her and a few photographs. Looking over to Sirius, she felt her heart catch in her throat as she looked at his bare chest. It wasn’t the strong, muscular chest she remembered, he was so thin, so damaged, even with her healing it was obvious he had been neglected for a very, very long time. “Sirius Black, I swear, if I ever get my hands on that wife of yours, I’ll wring her neck for letting you waste away like this.” ….

. Remus grimaced as he stood behind Cat, she still thought he was married, of course, what else would she think. Although it did his heart good to see she still cared enough about him to threaten to injure someone over him. Remus remained quiet as he watched her tend to Harry and Sirius, he needed to think over what he would say to her very, very carefully, the last thing he wanted was to cause her anymore tears, or worse yet, push her over the edge. As Remus contemplated his next step in getting Sirius and Cat reunited, his thoughts were distracted by the sound of Cat singing sweetly to Harry as she continued to heal him.

Remus smiled as he heard her sing in her native language, it had been so long since he had heard that. He found himself wondering if Harry would know what she was singing to him. Sitting down on the bed Cash had brought over for Cat, Remus closed his eyes as he listened to her voice and translated the words in his mind:

Can you fix this, it’s a broken heart,
it was fine but it just fell apart;
it was mine but know I give it to you,
because you can fix it, you know what to do;
Let your love cover me, like a pair of angel wings
you are my family,
we stood outside in the summer rain,
different people with a common pain;
A child who played with the moon and stars,
catching magic to keep in jars
let you love cover me, like a pair of angel wings
you are my family,
you are my family……

Sirius was vaguely aware of his surroundings as he came to. The first thing he was aware of was a voice, it was singing so sweetly, wrapping him in layer after layer of comfort and warmth. He felt as if he could stay there forever, he never needed to know pain or loneliness again, all he needed was the sound of the voice.

As he floated on the soothing waters of the voice, something in the back of his mind began to nag at him. He knew this voice, he had heard it before, he heard it when the pain and loss of his father had hung heavy in his heart. He heard it at his father’s graveside, he had also heard it as soft and gentle fingers wove their way through his hair as he wept shamelessly on her lap like a lost child.

‘Cat’ Sirius thought pleasantly as memories of her warmth and love flooded his mind. How could he have ever let her go, how could he keep such secrets from her. He wanted to sit up and hold her, tell her everything, beg her to come back to him. But he was too weak to even speak, let alone move. All he could do was lay there, listening to the soothing sound of her voice….

“I remember that song well Kitty” Remus said softly “you sung it the night I was hurt so badly. I can’t even begin to tell you how comforting it was to hear your voice, to know you were there.” he told her as he held out his hand to her. He smiled sadly as she took his hand in hers, joining him on the bed and nuzzling against his chest.

“I wanted to talk to you before I left Lupy, but you were so angry with me.” Cat began, only to be hushed immediately by her friend.

“I had no right to speak to you like that Kitty. I’m sorry.” Remus said sincerely “I was just so upset, you don’t belong with Severus. I know you feel differently, but I don’t think you have the whole story just yet.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve been having dreams again, dreams about Sirius, and then someone left me a note about him, they said he was alone, he had no one and I needed to talk to him, to make him talk to me, that I needed to know the truth.” Cat said softly “I went to see him in Albus’s office, but then I saw Esmeralda going to see him and I knew it must have been one of her horrible jokes.” she explained as she wiped away a tear. “She always took so much pleasure in hurting me, she must have been delighted to know I actually believed the note. But I should have known better, why would Sirius still be single after all these years.”

Taking a deep breath and preparing for the worse, Remus said “Maybe because he is.” He added quickly “He’s been alone for a very, very long time kitty, years. That’s why I wanted to get you two back together. He’s never been the same since the day you left, he’s lost his zest for life, his sense of joy. He lost you.” Remus told her as gently as possible. “Right now the only thing that has kept him going over the years is Harry He couldn’t love Harry more if he was his own son. They mean the world to each other. But I think you already know that, don’t you?”

Cat nodded numbly as what Remus had just said sunk in. “But he was always talking about getting married and having a family, Lupy. He always spoke of it, it was his heart’s desire. And I saw Esmeralda go into Albus‘s office.” Cat said still too shocked to believe Sirius was unattached. Her dreams had been true, all of them, it hadn’t just been wishful thinking, she wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry.

Remus looked at her, as he squeezed her hand “He always talked to YOU about marriage and children, I can tell you right now, with all honesty and fullness of heart, that I never heard him talk about things like that with any other woman.” Cat looked over to Remus, her eyes full of tears........

Harry felt his body floating, weightless and painless as he drifted in the warm water. He smiled as he opened his eyes and saw the clear blue sky and fluffy white clouds passing overhead. It would have been a perfect day to play Quidditch if he could just move his body. Surprisingly, the fact that his body wasn’t responding to him wasn’t really upsetting him, he was enjoying the gentle rocking of the waves and the beautiful song he heard in the distance.

He knew he should try to get up now, try to force his body to do what he wanted it to, but he just didn’t want to feel the pain again. Harry winced as he recalled the horrible burning that coursed through his veins when Gustavas’s poison touched him, it hurt more that anything else Harry had experience in his young life. Deciding it just wasn’t that important to move at the moment, Harry relaxed and allowed the waves to carry him towards the voice.

As he floated along watching the clouds and dozing lightly until he heard another sound. Opening his eyes, he saw what appeared to be a warrior wearing chain mail and a plumed headdress, she was standing on the waves as bright flames danced around her on the cool green water. He felt an overwhelming urge to go to her, he instinctively knew she could help him, heal him, but try as he might, he simply could not move.

Harry looked into the woman’s eyes, pleading silently for her help as he continued to struggle against his own body. He saw the woman smile serenely as she drew her sword and pointed it at him. Harry gasped as he saw the sword burst into flames, the warrior still holding onto it as if there was nothing unusual about it at all. He felt a tingling in his chest as the water boiled around him, he felt himself sinking beneath the waves, only to be levitated above them by the warrior’s fiery blade.

Harry winced as he felt his muscles finally obeying his mind and moving, it was one of those pains that no matter how much it hurt, it felt good to know you could feel it at all. He looked back to the warrior who was smiling softly at him. Harry watched in utter amazement as the clothes of the warrior faded away to reveal a long green and gold gown. The warriors headdress had also faded away, leaving only ringlets of red hair and deep green eyes in its place. Harry grinned widely as he ran to her, barely even noticing the large white and peach wings as she wrapped her arms around him and whispered in his ear “you are my family.”

….. Lucius Malfoy ranted as he tumbled through the forbidden forest, “How dare he?” he gnashed “That reckless Tremere just ruined everything, him and that Sidhe bitch.” He spat as he stomped his way through the forests growth on his way to get outside of the protective charms and apparate back to his home. “Someone will pay for this, and rest assured, it will not be me.”

Lucius kicked hard at the ground, all of his hard work, months of chiseling away at Fudge, convincing that idiot that the only was to save his own skin and keep any sense of order was to join with the Dark Lord. It had all gone so well, that idiot Fudge had no idea how many members of his cabinet were already in league with Voldemort, and when he finally did, he had little choice but to fall in line. “I had them all!” he screamed “Dumbledore, Potter, MacLeod, and as an added bonus, that thorn in my side Black. I should have had him murdered just like the rest of his family. But of course that Tremere had to do it his way, he had to make a production of it.”

Finally reached the edge of the protection charm, Lucius turned and snarled at the school “I won’t be gone long MacLeod, and next time Voldemort will not be swayed by some undead psychopath, it will be you and me, and I have no qualms about killing quickly, without any productions or grand designs.” …..

“Kitty? Achushla? Are you still here?” Remus asked gently as he hugged Cat tightly “Come on, don’t scare me now. Talk to me, yell at me if you like, just please stop crying and say something.” in response he felt her head snuggle against his chest as she sobbed quietly. “Oh Kitty” he sighed as he kissed her hair “you can’t go on like this. Life has not been kind to any of us lately, but its time to take matters into our own hands. First and foremost, Harry is alive and soon to be well, and I ‘know’ you can do the same for Sirius, it might take a little longer, but I’ve already seen the improvement in him from the first day he set his eyes on you.”

Remus paused as he felt Cat lift her head to look at him, he gazed down at her large, tear-filled eyes and smiled sadly at her. “Yes Kitty, he was even worse than this before you came back. He …he’s been through a lot over the past couple of years, none of it very good I’m afraid.”

“What happened to him Lupy?” Cat asked, her voice little more than a whisper as she gazed on the sleeping form of her former lover “What aren’t you telling me?”

Remus sighed “An awful lot I’m afraid, I honestly don’t know where to begin, and to be perfectly honest, I would rather you and Sirius discuss this.” he explained delicately “There are simply too many questions I won’t have the answers to.” He pressed her head against his chest as he continued. “As for the past day or two, ‘that’ is something I ‘need’ to talk to you about. Kitty, I know this is going to be very hard for you, but I need you to be brutally honest with me. Are you in love with Severus Snape?” ……

Sirius held his breath as he listened to every word Remus and Cat were saying, {oh Remus, I know it needs to be asked, but why now. And what if she says yes?} Sirius thought as he waited to hear her response….

“Remus” Cat sighed softly, “Do we honestly need to discuss this ‘now’, I want to make sure Harry and Sirius are….”

“They are just fine, and we both know you can’t do much more yourself until you’ve rested. Now Miss MacLeod” he said feigning anger “about my question.”

“You’re an absolute brat Remus Lupin, and an incredibly large pain in my arse.” she replied tersely, not wanting to even think about the state of her heart at the moment. “And while we’re at it, who appointed you inquisitor?”

Remus smiled broadly, “Why Cash, of course.” he fibbed, hoping she would rather deal with him here and now than Cash later. “And you must realize Severus is more than likely on his way back to the school right now. What are you going to do when he gets here?”

“Stay with my son until he’s well enough to travel, then take him home with me immediately.” Cat said forcefully “I won’t risk him again, not ever.”

“And if Severus insists on going with the two of you?” Remus prodded.

“He hates my family Remus, I doubt he would ‘ask’ to spend a whole month with us.” Cat said flatly “And before you start poking at him, don’t. Sev’s had it much harder than anyone can realize. He’s suffered nearly everyday of his life, so please, please, don’t attack him, not now.” she pleaded as she recalled the pain and regret that filled Sev’s heart, the constant beatings he endured as a child, the loveless marriage, the empty, wasted years.

“Suffered, in what way?” Remus asked, genuinely concerned.

Cat shook her head. “Its not my secret to share. But you heard a little of it, about his wife and daughter. Do you know he still keeps his daughter’s picture in his watch?”

Remus nodded as he looked at his friends in their make shift hospital. “Alright Kitty,” he conceded, “I won’t speak ill of him, but don’t you confused sympathy with love. Because I can tell you right now Kitty, that Severus Snape is not the man for you” Remus said seriously

“Oh and I suppose that has nothing to do with your friend Sirius Black, does it” Cat said half teasing. “I know how much you’d love to marry us off.”

“No actually it doesn’t, not this time. Cat, I have no doubt in my mind that Severus loves you. I can see it every time he looks at you.” Remus said sincerely “And I know that you would do every thing in your power to be a good wife to him, and I’m sure children would enter the picture quickly.”

Sirius lay there, completely numb, {Remus, what are you doing, you’re supposed to be on my side} he thought. {How can you say that, what if she…, Remus please just stop now.}

“And the problem is?..... You seem to be making the case for him.” Cat answered sounding confused.