Harry leaned against Cat, pushing her slightly into Sirius as he listened to the beautiful music coming from their visitors. “Who are they mum? Are they more clan?” he asked breathlessly as the first of the guest walked through the doorway.

“Dia Duit” the young, pale skinned girl spoke as she hugged Duncan tightly, her gossamer wings spreading out behind her as she did so.

“Dia is Muire duit” Duncan replied, hugging her so tightly he lifted her off the floor. “Conas atá tú, Xanthe?”

“Tá mé go maith” Xanthe replied as more of her companions filed into the kitchen. Harry’s eyes grew wide with amazement as he got a closer look at them all. He had never seen such astonishing beings in his life, not even in Diagon Alley. He recognized several elves, who looked amazingly similar to Aunt Orpha, they were tall and slender, with long, flowing, silvery-white hair and fluid aqua-blue eyes, they were dressing in flowing robes of silk like material that pooled around their feet as the crossed the kitchen, going to Orpha who held her arms opened wide to them.

Harry looked up as several of the visitors came over to see his mum, arms open and bright smiles on their faces. “Merry meet Catrianna” a woman with blue-black hair and golden eyes said as she hugged Cat tightly. “May the goddess bless you and yours.” she added as she removed her cloak, revealing a pair of gauzy blue and gray wings which unfurled around her, reaching to the floor.

“Merry meet Merigwen” Cat replied as she helped Merigwen’s children removed their cloaks. “Dafydd, Aethan, Ainslee, I’d like you to meet my son, Harry.”

Harry grinned happily as three pair of excited eyes turned towards him, sparkling with eagerness and mischief. “Harry, the young girl with Uncle Duncan is also one of Merigwen’s children, her name is Xanthe.”

Hey, forgetting someone?” a deep voice said from the back of the visitors.

“Wolfe?” Cat questions “Wolfegang Mooniski, is that you?” she squealed as she ran towards him, hugging him tightly “Why didn’t you let us know you were coming?”

“Don’t worry my dear, we didn’t know either” Merigwen explained as she shook her finger at the tall canine like creature. Who, for his part, had a strange smile on his muzzle and a twinkle in his misty steel eyes as he shook the crystals of snow from his thick gray fur. “But then, Lupos were never known for their sense of time.”

“Time is a human concept Merigwen, I’m surprised you pay attention to it at all.” Wolfe shot back, snarling playfully as young Xanthe swatted at him for teasing her mother. “And this one had better mind herself.” he added as he placed a velvety hand on her head, causing the girl to smile and laugh.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Cat sighed “I don’t want a repeat of last time..”

“Killjoy” Wolfe smirked, then paused, sniffing the air. “What the? You have a werewolf here? But I though Cúmheá died years ago, I remember Tristessa weeping over him.” he became quiet as Cat hushed him with a motion of her hands and the painful wince of her eyes.

As if on cue, Frank walked up to Wolfe and slapped him on the back. “You dirty dog” he grinned “I heard about that run in of yours…what we’re you thinking, taking on a dozen slayers and not even bothering to call me. I’ve been bored senseless.”

“Who are you calling a dog?” Wolfe shot back, punching Frank lightly in the stomach. “And you were too busy with that blonde in the tavern to be bothered with a few slayers, besides, they didn’t last long enough for ‘me’ to play with, let alone share.”….

“Those two never change, do they” Merigwen sighed as she and her children walked with Cat towards Harry and Sirius.

“No, still the same little boys in big bodies” Cat laughed “and I hope they never, ever grow up.” she added as she winked at Merigwen. Cat smiled warmly as she watched Harry and Sirius greeting Merigwen’s children, they both fit into her clan so easily, it was as if they were both born to it. “Merigwen, this is my son Harry, and his father… uhm.. Godfather, Sirius.” she corrected herself.

“The boy’s father is here?!” a hoarse voice said from the midst of the group. “Out of my way boy” it croaked as LJ yelped and dashed quickly to his cousins sides. Out of the thick of the crowd, stepped the oldest man Harry had ever seen, he must have been three hundred years old. The man waved a cane in front of him, clearing his way as he hobbled over to Cat and Merigwen. “Hmpt, ‘bout time you showed up.” he said bruskly to Cat, who simply rolled her eyes. “So were are they? I want to see them…”

“Now father, please, you promised to behave yourself.” a petite and pleasantly plump woman sighed as she followed behind him. Her hair was white like Dumbledore’s, and she had the same mischievous look to her eyes, but one look told you she was very kind and far more pleasant than the old man with her. “Oh Catri, its been so long since we’ve seen you, and look at your son, he’s gorgeous. He takes after his father I see” the woman nodded towards Sirius “But honestly Catri, you should feed them better” the woman admonished her as Cat just rolled her eyes, she had told Sirius the same thing so often.

“I know Mammy Oma, I know, I’ve been telling him that myself” Cat sighed as she narrowed her eyes at Sirius and mouthed “too thin”. To which Sirius could do nothing more than grin sheepishly as he ran his hair through his hair and winked at Cat. “And believe me, I’ve been working on them both, and I have to say, Harry is coming along nicely.” she smiled as she tussled his hair affectionately. “Harry, I want you to meet your great-great-great-uhmmm…”

“Just call me Mammy Oma, darling boy” she said as she kissed Harry on both cheeks and hugged him fiercely, “And who do we have here?” she asked as she turned to Sirius who was now standing next to Cat, one arm around her waist, and the other hand on Harry’s shoulder.

“”Sirius Black, M’am” he said politely offering his hand.

Mammy Oma looked at his hand critically, then looked back up at him “A handshake? Get over here and give Mammy a hug.” she insisted, opening her arms wide as Sirius laughed and hugged her tightly. “Well, there may not be much to you, but what there is, is all muscle.” she laughed as she turned at winked at Cat, “I’m sure our little girl will see to fattening you up, she’s quite the cook.”

“I remember” Sirius replied as he smiled softly “and trust me, she keeps insisting that I eat. She’s always watched out for me.” he added as he touched Cat’s cheek tenderly.

Before Harry knew what had happened, he, Sirius, and Cat were surrounded by a whole new group of people, all the them fussing over him, hugging and kissing him as if they had been waiting to see him all their lives. It made him feel both wonderful and a little uncomfortable, he had never experienced such open displays of affection growing up> In fact it had only been since Sirius had come into his life that he even begun to understand that adults could be something other than teachers or tyrants, like the Dursley’s. Although he had to admit it was nice to be the center of attention for something other than his past with Voldemort, in fact, no one here had even mentioned his scar at all.

And it was obvious that Sirius was enjoying himself immensely, Harry couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for someone like Sirius to be locked alone in a tiny cell for years with no one to talk to, no one to care for, no one to love. Harry pushed down the anger that he felt whenever the thought of Sirius’s imprisonment came up, this wasn’t the time to think about it, after all, Sirius was here with them, safe and happy with Cat at his side.

Harry sighed softly as he found himself thinking about their life together as a family, it would be perfect, after all, he had Cat as his mother and Sirius was the father he always wished he had had growing up. And the whole clan seemed to think Sirius was his father anyway, in fact, so far the only thing bad anyone had said about Sirius was the fact that he looked too thin. Judging by the tables full of food that had appeared and the smell of the delicious meal that Siobhan had been cooking, Harry felt it was safe to say Sirius wouldn’t need to worry about being too thin much longer.

“Pssst, Sirius” Harry whispered as he tugged on his god-father’s robes to get his attention. “They keep calling you my father, and Mum isn’t correcting them”

Sirius’s face fell for a moment as he leaned towards Harry “Do you want me to explain the truth to them?” Sirius asked, his heart breaking because he thought Harry was ashamed of him, or simply had changed his mind about wanting him as a father.

“NO!” Harry replied quickly “I’m just hoping that means she thinks it’s a good idea and you two will actually get married soon.” Harry could almost feel the radiance of Sirius’s smile as his godfather hugged him and whispered “I hope so too.”……

Mammy Oma watched the chemistry between Cat, Harry and Sirius carefully, something simply didn’t seem right, although at the moment she couldn’t tell exactly what. “Siobhan, come here dear.” she said as she waved “Is something wrong here? Or am I getting senile and confused in my twilight years?”

Siobhan smiled slyly and shook her head. “Nope, sharp as a tack. And I’ll have to defer all discussions on Kitty’s love life to Aunt Orpha, it seems the crones are at it again.”

“Oh dear” Mammy sighed “please tell me Orpha is watching out for her? I remember all to well what happened to Wanda. And what does anyone know of this Sirius Black fellow?”

Siobhan smiled happily “I can tell you he’s deeply in love with Kitty, he’s wonderful with children, her son adores him, and so far her brother’s haven’t hurt him…..so far.”

“Well that’s a step in the right direction” Mammy chuckled, “So were is Orpha anyway, I think we need to have a little talk……”

Harry and Sirius ducked and laughed as several phantoms appeared in the room, some hovering above their heads, others rising from the floor playing bagpipes as they floated through the rooms. The spirits hovering above them started to throw handfuls of candy, holly and mistletoe at the clan, causing the younger children to scramble madly as the sweets bounced on the hardwood floors. “Uhm, Sirius” Harry asked in between bouts of laughter “do you think its always like this here?”

Unfortunately, Sirius never had the chance to answer Harry, Xanthe had dashed over and pulled Harry over to his cousins, throwing him into the fray as she laughed merrily and quickly joined herself. Sirius smile broadly, overjoyed that Harry was fitting in so easily, it seemed his godson finally had a family, a real family. Now if only he could get Cat alone for a few hours to talk with her, maybe the three of them could also be a real family as well……..

Severus growled angrily as he slammed yet another dusty book on the library table. “I know it must be here somewhere, I have seen often enough before, why is it not here now?” He pulled out another book and thumbed through it, he knew he should be concentrating more, but all he could think of was Catri. He missed her so badly, he wanted to hold her in his arms again, to kiss her and tell her how much he loved her. He winced as the past day flashed through his mind, why oh why had he waited to propose to her. If he had asked her when they were at Arbor of the Moon’s Enchantment as he originally intended, things would have been so much different now. She never would have taken Black and Lupin with her, at least not without taking him as well.

Sev rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and fingers, trying to relieve the headache he had had since Lucius had taken him to Voldemort. It had been one of the very few times in his life that he had truly been afraid he would not survive, Lucius had been so sure of himself this time. So willing to offer him up to Voldemort, just to try and direct attention away from his own botched attack on the school. Sev had managed to talk his way out of most of it, although he was still feeling the lasting pain of the crucio curse that Voldemort had used on him. “If only you were here Catri, I would be able to make sure you and Harry were safe. And I would so enjoy one of your massages right now.” he sighed as he remembered the night she had come into his office and massaged his back and neck until he had fallen asleep in his chair.

After a few minutes, he finally found the spell he was looking for, with a flash of a smile, Severus quickly snapped the book shut and walked out of the library and straight to his office. He intended to complete this spell immediately, and he decided to brew some more veritaserum just in case he needed to make that Gangrel tell him exactly how to get to Fernglennis and to Catri……..

“Remus, there you are my dear boy” Orpha crooned as the sleepy werewolf rubbed his eyes and maneuvered the last toddler back to her parents. “I have someone I’d like you to meet, several someone’s actually.” she said as she hooked her arm through his and steered him towards Accalia and Tristessa.

“This is Accalia, of Clan Gangrel, she is Ullah and Amber’s great-grandmother, or something to that extent.” Orpha explained as Accalia smiled and hugged Remus.

“I never had the chance to thank you for saving my daughter’s lives” Accalia said as she gently brushed her fingers across Remus’s cheeks. “You are kine to me Remus Lupin, and I welcome you gladly as both a son and a friend.” she explained as blood tears shimmered in her red-brown eyes.

Remus blushed pink as Accalia fussed over him, although he had to admit, it was nice to be accepted, despite his curse. “Thank you Accalia…”

“Call me Lia, or mum if you like.” Accalia said as she pressed her forehead against Remus’s “I owe you more than I can ever repay child. Know that I will always be here for you if you need me.”

Orpha smiled as she watched Remus blush with both embarrassment and delight at Accalia’s offer to him, it was obvious that Remus was in the same state that Cúmheá had been in when he had been found by the clan. Orpha had a sudden flash of brilliance, Tris was the only one who seemed unsure of Sirius as a good match for Kitty, but then she hadn’t been herself since her husband Cúmheá had died, maybe, just maybe, if she could find someone to keep her heart occupied, she would stay out of Kitty’s romantic involvements.