ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

-CHAPTER TWENTYTWO-

BETA: Green eyes

INFO: www. /users/draycious

Sirius was slowly but steadily recovering and becoming his old self again as the days passed by, which was unfortunate for some people.

"Black!" Severus screamed so loudly so it echoed throughout the house. Raven looked up from his newspaper when his father came charging into the living room. He looked absolutely furious and it wasn't hard to guess what he was so infuriated about.

"Something wrong?" Draco asked innocently, looking at Severus Snape who had electric blue hair standing straight up on his head.

"Not at all, I'm just peachy," Severus drawled. Raven sniggered openly. His father did kind of look like a blue haired Einstein.

"That mutt has spent his very last day here! He's leaving!" Snape said angrily as he threw himself down in a chair in front of the only other adult in the room.

"Be reasonable Severus. He's not healthy enough to leave," Remus said calmly.

"Does it look like I care?" Severus sneered. "He's certainly well enough to annoy me!"

"Sev, he annoys you, period, even when he's dead," Draco pointed out and Severus glared at him. As it was; everyone was staying at Malfoy manor because everyone wanted to be wherever Raven was. They were also hiding away from the media, and Malfoy manor had some pretty handy wards helping them with keeping unwelcome journalists and photographers out.

"Maybe it's time to move, seeing as everybody is starting to get more or less restless," Dracula said from one corner of the room. No one had noticed him; it was a trait of the vampires to enter a room unnoticed. Raven wondered if Severus had any vampire ancestors after all, despite the mans denial.

"What do you have in mind?" Raven asked him, interested. He knew that his blood father, Dracula, had something exciting planned. Dracula always knew how to make everybody feel better.

"A vacation. We could go to the states."

"Sounds good to me," Raven said wondering if Dracula had some alter motive with going to the states but he wasn't about to question that now, it could wait until later. And perhaps there was no hidden motive at all, you never knew with Dracula. He just thought Dracula would have picked somewhere less crowded, like a hidden beach in Malaysia or something similar.

"Draco, spread the word around, would you?" he asked the blonde.

"Sure," Draco agreed easily.

"I'll go talk to James and Lily," Raven volunteered and went but he paused in the doorway.

"I love your new hair color Sev," he said with a smirk on his lips, and left the room quickly with Severus cursing loudly behind him.

"James, Lily?" he asked and knocked on their door. He really hoped they didn't do something he'd rather not think about in there. He wasn't comfortable with them yet, but it was getting easier to see them each time. He really wanted to form some sort of relationship with them, even if it would just be a friendship.

"Raven?" James asked opening the door and letting him in.

"Yeah, hi," he said. Even if he was still not at ease with his parents he hid it well so he wouldn't hurt anybody, and he thought that Dracula and perhaps Blade were the only ones who knew what he really felt. He tried to act as normal as possible when he was together with James. It wasn't easy, but he was a good actor.

"Who is it James?" his mother's voice asked from inside the bathroom.

"Our son," James responded immediately as if he wanted to make a point of some sort, that perhaps they wanted Raven as their own son like it was first intended or something like that. Raven decided to ignore that input, since he wanted nothing to do with it. Lily came out and joined them. She embraced him in a hug and kissed his forehead gently.. It took all his self control not to stiffen up. He had still a touching issue to deal with.

"Are you here for a visit?" she asked him excitedly.

"Uh, not really", he confessed, immediately feeling a bit bad about it. He had kind of avoided them, because he didn't know what to say and he didn't like forced and stiff conversations anymore than Sirius did.

"Oh," she said and her smile faltered slightly in disappointment before she quickly pulled herself together again. "So what are you up to now then? Are you hiding from Severus? I thought I heard his voice…" she said bravely and tried to bring the conversation on to a more neutral ground.

"Yeah, well," he said with a sigh. "Sirius is responsible for all this madness."

"What did he do?" James asked curiously with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't give him any ideas Harry!" she warned him.

"Who, me? Never!" he said innocently but he frowned slightly at the use of his old name. He didn't like it and he had thought he had been clear on the point that he didn't want people calling him that. Then again he could understand it would take them a while to make the transition. People around him still slipped up sometimes, even if it became more seldom as the days went by. He was very thankful for that. He wanted to leave the "Harry period" behind him, since it hadn't been a good time for him back then.

"So what did he do?" James asked impatiently.

"Turned da-Severus hair blue," he said and intentionally changed from saying dad to Severus because James always looked so hurt when he called Sev dad.

"Really?" James asked with a huge grin in place.

"Yes."

"You're not going to do one single prank mister!" his mother told James sternly, her hands on her hips.

"Of course not sweetheart," said James hurriedly. Lily frowned and returned to the bathroom to finish her makeup. James blinked to Raven.

"Sirius got away?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes, he's hiding somewhere. I have no clue where though." he said with a shrug.

"What are you two whispering about?" Lily yelled from the bathroom, suspicious of them.

"Nothing sweetheart," James responded dutifully. Raven grinned. Lily really had control over James' childish side. He is so whipped, Raven thought with a mental laugh.

"You said you weren't here just to visit us", James said questioning.

"Indeed, no. I am the bringer of good news; we're going on vacation to USA. Want to come with us?" he asked.

"Who's us?" James asked immediately and crossed his arms. He didn't look mad or anything, just plain curious. Raven knew the Potters would join him no matter where he went and who he went with.

"Everyone I think. All I know for sure is that Draco, Lucius, Remus, Dracula and I are going…" he paused. "And Severus of course," he added, knowing that would do the trick since the men were competing over him and neither wanted the other to be alone with him for more than brief moments, if that.

"I'm going!" James said quickly; he almost didn't let Raven finish the name 'Severus'.

Raven grinned. Bingo, he thought. He really wanted everyone to come with him. He thought everyone could get to know each other better.

"Wonderful!" he said and meant it.

"What's wonderful?" Lily asked when she re-entered.

"We're going to the US," James told her.

"Oh? That's going to be fun! When are we leaving?" she asked upbeat and looked at James. Raven had expected her to at least have something to say in the matter. Lily seemed like a woman who enjoyed control, and now she just went with the flow.

"Er…" James said and realized he didn't know anything about the trip at all. He turned to Raven.

"I don't know. As soon as possible, as to where we're going… I have no idea. Let's go and ask Dracula. It was his idea in the first place," he said almost carelessly. He was surrounded by friends and family which were economically independent, and they were among the richest people in the world. Whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted and however they wanted it, didn't matter. Everything was possible. Raven's growing fame was also a bonus which opened up unique opportunities for him. Yet all he really cared about was his family, and having a good time. If it came on the expense of millions, he didn't care as long as everyone was happy.

"Alright, let's go now. I think it's safe, I can't hear Severus' yelling anymore." Lily said humorously.

Raven noticed Sirius sitting on a chair in the living room as far away as possible from Severus when they came down. By now Severus had managed to reverse the spell and Raven noticed that James looked slightly disappointed at that. Raven carefully made sure not to sit with either of the people conflicting over him so he sat down beside Draco even if there really was no space left for him so he was forced to practically sit in Draco's lap. But Draco didn't protest because he knew what Raven tried to create/do. One again Dracula snorted, but this time Raven ignored his highly irritating blood father.

"Have you guys decided destination yet?" he asked Draco. The blonde shook his head. "Dracula?" Raven asked.

"I think Ancius has an idea," Dracula said calmly. The whole room groaned and Ancius put on an offended look even if everyone knew he was amused deep down. He didn't take offence to what his friends and family did around him.

"I thought we could go to Miami," he announced. Everyone stared.

"You know, that's probably the first time you've ever said something that actually made sense!" Midnight spoke.

"I second that!" Lucius said with astonishment.

"I can see you've got plenty of faith in me," Ancius drawled sarcasm heavily lacing his voice. At that moment everyone could see the clear resemblance between Lucius and him. Raven thought everyone thanked God that Lucius hadn't turned out to be quite the trouble maker as Ancius, even if he wasn't far behind with his death eater past and whatnot.

"Considering everything you've been up to you should be grateful for even the slightest bit of faith we have in you," Fire stated and Ancius glared at him. Dracula decided to step in before a vampire fight broke out.

"Does everyone agree on this suggestion?" he asked and looked around. Everyone nodded. They thought it was a fair enough suggestion, it would even involve beaches and sunbathing, even if they wouldn't end up at any exotic beach in the Caribbean. The good thing about it was that they wouldn't have the trouble with conversing with people, since most of them only spoke English and not… well, whatever the languages could be in exotic spots.

"Then it's settled. We're going to Miami. Tomorrow," Dracula said and the women (Narcissa and Lily) squeaked and ran off to pack.