Cat looked at him as if he were mad “HusbandSSSS?” she questioned. “I think one would be quite enough thank you.” she laughed, then added “though now that you mention it.. .. A harem might be nice.”

Sirius’s eyes grew wide “A harem... do you think you could handle that?” He knew the answer as soon as he saw the look on her face. “My but aren’t *we* confident?”

Cat smirked “Well I don’t know about you sweetie.... but I have faith in my abilities..” she said with a straight face. Secretly thrilled at the reaction she was getting from Sirius. Cat smiled sweetly as she watched Sirius start a sentence only to choke on the words. She had him completely flustered. “Something wrong??? You seem, disturbed.”

“Disturbed... CAT.. Do you .. .. I mean.... you..” Sirius could feel himself turning scarlet as his thoughts ran wild. “You can’t be serious... you ... you don’t honestly.. ..you wouldn’t.” he was about to pass out cold at the thought, not his sweet, trusting Cat. She could never do anything like that, could she? He stared at her, mouth agape in a complete state of disbelief, and then he saw her biting her lip. “Caaaaat??!!” He asked as he playfully grabbed her wrists, only to hear her laugh loudly. “Catri MacLeod you brat . . . that’s it. Remus was bluffing, but now you’re going to get it.” he said as he pinned her down and began tickling her, delighting in the feel of her squirming underneath him.

“Sirius, .. No... please, stop.... no” Cat laughed as Sirius held her wrists down with one hand and tickled her with the other. “Come on.. Please... I’ll be good, I promise” she took several deep breathes as Sirius finally stopped and stared at her, smiling widely. Cat looked up and grinned back at him, “and you call me a brat” she said breathlessly.

“I’m not the one with the harem.” he reminded her “you are and yes, you are a brat.” He couldn’t believe how much fun he was having, he hadn’t been able to laugh and play like this in years. Granted he and Remus had their fun pulling pranks on each other, and on Snape when they could manage it. But it was nothing like this, to be able to hold her again, touch her, play with her. He honestly never thought it would be possible “Cat, can I ask you something?” Sirius asked as he released her wrists and sat back up. “I don’t want you to get upset, but I really do need to get an answer to this.”

Cat stared at him, fearing in her heart he was about to tell her that he was married and start showing pictures of his children and wife. “Sure, you know you can ask me anything. I’ve never been able to stop you in the past.” she joked weakly. As she let herself flopped down onto the pillows, she could feel herself shaking, waiting for him to break the news to her....

“Cat.. Do you know anything about a place called Azkaban?” he asked hesitantly “Or anything about dementors?” He watched as she shook her head no.

“I’ve heard of dementors, but I'm not sure I’ve heard of Azkaban before... isn’t it some sort of prison?” she asked completely confused as to what this had to do with anything. “I’ve heard some terrible things about Ministry run prisons. They say the prisoners never leave alive” she whispered, still shaking.

Sirius was about to tell her he was in fact one of those prisoners, but he could feel her trembling as it was, and she was looking pale again. “Cat? A ghrá mo chroí you’re shivering. Are you cold again?” he asked as he covered her again. “I’m sorry, I was too rough, I didn’t mean...”

“Sirius, you worry too much” Cat sighed “I’m not going to break. And why were you asking me about Azkaban?” She reached out for his hand “Is there something I should know?...... Is that where Peter is?” she asked softly.

Sirius closed his eyes and sighed “No, but its were he should be...”

“Is he dead?” Cat took a deep breath “Sirius... did you kill him?” she practically whispered as she squeezed his hand tightly, he looked as though he were about to cry. “I understand if you did,.... I would.”

Sirius’s head popped up “Kitty, don’t even say that, you could never..” he stopped when he felt her fingers pressing against his lips.

Cat looked deeply into Sirius’s eyes “Sirius, I’ve been gone a very long time. I’ve had to do things to protect myself and my clan.” She took a deep breath “I have had to make difficult decisions, and do things I would rather have not. But I have learned a lot as well, mostly I’ve learned about myself. And I can tell you honestly, if Peter betrayed Lily and James, left Harry orphaned and vulnerable to Voldemort, ... yes, I would kill him” Cat explained “I don’t trust the Ministry to keep him from doing more harm. Many of them probably knew about it to begin with. I would only feel comfortable if I knew he could never threaten my son in any way ever again.”

Sirius wasn’t sure if he should smile or not, at least she would understand why he went after Peter, but the rest... “My, but aren’t we the Momma Lion?” he said softly, he grinned as she rolled her eyes “I know... it’s a clan thing” he joked as he smoothed down her quilt. “I want you to rest and be quiet. I need you to know what happened after I saw Peter hiding at James’s.”

Cat nodded as she laid back down, Sirius sat next to her on her bed, one hand across her stomach the other holding her hand. She could tell by the look on his face, he was hurting terribly.

“Peter is not in prison, and he is alive. I tried going after him, I gave Hagrid my bike, and I started tracking Peter that very night. It took me a few days to find him, but I finally did. He was still as cowardly as ever, but now he was sneaky, and he knew I was coming for him. . .

Cash raced through the halls, smiling widely at the little scene in Angel’s room. It made his heart glad to see she and Sirius playing like that, although seeing Sirius laying across her, albeit tickling her, did make him feel a bit odd. Their bodies entwined and moving together like that, it just reminded him too much of making love. As much as he was pushing for her to marry and get on with her life, he still saw her as a child, he probably always would. She was Diedre’s baby, and Diedre was Shannon’s baby, and of course Shannon had been Tris’s baby.

Cash quickly stuck his head inside one of the dungeons many dank rooms “Yo Josh... Joshua.” he waited silently “come on you lazy Ventrue.. I can hear you shuffling your feet.” Cash leaned back against the wall and smiled wickedly.

“I do *not* shuffle, I glide” Josh whispered from down the hall. His hair was pulled back and tied immaculately, as always, he knew Cash would make some comment about his grooming, he always did. Josh simply could not understand why Prince Julian placed such stock in the Gangrel, and more particularly this Gangrel.

“Because fancy pants, I’ve saved his life more times than either of us can count” Cash answered, laughing as Josh’s eyes grew large “Yeah, thats right... I know what you're thinking, I am Clan MacLeod after all. Angel is *my* kine.” he reminded the Ventrue “So before you think to look down your nose at someone, make sure you know who they are.” Cash signaled Josh and quickly walked to Remus’s classroom.

“So tell me Cash of Clan Gangrel, why have you summoned me?” Joshua said politely “It is not your normal way to do things”

Cash didn’t bother answering “Do you know who Brutus is? Have you ever heard of him?”

Josh looked shocked “Brutus the hunter, he tracks Clan Tremere, killing them where ever he finds them.... tradition hold he is brother to one of their clan.”

“Yep.. Gustavas’s brother to be exact. Brutus cannot find peace until he stops his brother. Which is why you are going back to Julian. Only a prince can summon Brutus, and unless we want Angel dead, or worse, we need his help.” Cash stared critically at Josh “How quickly can you travel?”

“Much more quickly than Dimitri.. If that is what you are implying.” Joshua said indignantly “I am much older in the blood than he is, and *my* sire taught me what I needed to know.”

Cash smiled “Good. I want a response before Christmas. Go now and let *nothing* stop you.” he warned. . .

Sirius smiled as he touched Cat, she had finally fallen asleep, she had cried when he told her how all those innocent muggles had died and how Peter had faked his own death, he had even gotten so far as to tell her that many people though he was to blame. If only he had been able to tell her about how the Ministry had locked him away for life as James and Lily’s betrayer. But he couldn’t tell her, not now, he could tell how upset she already was, she would probably have tried to apparate to MoM headquarters and demand his acquittal immediately. She was simply wonderful like that, when they had been together, he never worried about the rumors people would start about him, she believed in him, she stood by him no matter what. Sirius sighed deeply, how was he ever going to explain to her why he did it, he couldn’t even make sense of it himself. He loved Cat, he had always loved her, he had been thinking about her the whole time he was with Esmeralda, pretending it was her he was making love to, deluding himself that he hadn't lost her.

Sirius sighed deeply and whispered “If I had only known what she did to you Cat. I swear I would have let Lily kill her. I may have even killed her myself, I swear to you, I didn’t know.” He kissed her gently as he got up off her bed, roaming around her rooms, he looked at her things. He had seen the pictures before of course, in fact he still had the one Cash had *borrowed* from her, although he still had no idea why he had done that. He looked through her books, he smiled widely when he found her binder of manuscript paper, apparently she was still writing music. He grinned as he remembered her teaching him how to play guitar, he loved the way she had to wrap herself around him to show him how to finger the chords correctly. Looked like she still had the same guitar, as well as a few other instruments, and of course her needle point. He picked up the embroidery hoop and nearly cried, it was for Harry, she was making him a family tree of her side of the family, including Lily, Harry was going to love it.

Sirius loved the way she had walked into Harry’s life, he needed a mother. He needed someone to talk to besides he and Remus, someone he could trust and confide in. Cat fit the bill perfectly, and for her part she loved Harry heart and soul. As far as she was concerned, he was her world, it was no wonder she was so frightened of Clan Tremere. If they did anything to harm Harry, it would absolutely kill her. Sirius set her embroidery back down as he walked back to her bed. She was whimpering in her sleep, “Kitty.... hush” he said softly as he caressed her face. It was amazing what a simple touch could do, Diedre had taught him that, Clan MacLeod did not rely on words, but on action. And that included touching, they would constantly place their hands on each other, man, woman, child, it didn’t matter. They loved to hug, to hold, even their playful punches were simply another way of touching. Sirius smiled as he thought of Cash, the very first night he met him, that was exactly what he had done, punching him in the arm, headlocks, even as a wolf Cash had nudged up against him.....

Esmeralda smiled wickedly, “So Miss Cat MacLeod returns... I wonder if you know were your precious boyfriend is, or at least was” she sneered as she looked in the mirror. “I simply cannot wait to tell you, and to show you all the pretty pictures I found” she looked on her dresser table. She had used old photographs and a few spells to make some lovely photos of her and Sirius in many *intimate* situations. “Just like old times, you had no right to be among decent people then, you certainly have no right now” Esmeralda looked back in the mirror, true her beauty was fading, and she didn’t get as much *attention* as she used to, but what did she care. Men were nothing more than toys; they used her, she used them. All except Sirius Black, he was her ticket to social standing, if she could have gotten him to marry her, she would have been set. But of course he was still in love with MacLeod, it had taken all of the knowledge she possessed to create even the weakest of love potions, and that barely lasted a day. But she had certainly done enough damage to make sure he would never have MacLeod again.

Esmeralda finished putting on her make-up, Lucius had be rather generous in his payment for her services. Not that she required the money for this, this was personal. Those red headed bitches had made her life a living nightmare, especially the Evans girl. Even after MacLeod had slunk back under whatever rock she came from, that stupid Evans girl wouldn’t stop bothering her. She had even cornered her in the girls lavatory one day, right after she had *confessed* to Sirius that she was carrying his child. Evans knew she was lying, and told everyone so, she even went so far as to nearly drown her in the toilet. Oh yes, she would enjoy seeing MacLeod suffer, maybe she should make a few photos with Evans and Sirius, just for good measure, let her know how her own sister betrayed her trust.