Chapter 10

Mystery Solved

There was a knock at the door. Harry hurried out to the landing. Aunt Petunia opened the door.

"Hello, Mrs. Dursley, I am here to take Harry." A cool voice floated up the stairs. Harry froze…it sounded like…

A tall blond man in a black coat stepped into the entry way. Aunt Petunia turned and looked up the stairs. "Well, get a move on." She yelled up to Harry, who stood motionless at the top of the stairs.

Cassius Malfoy looked up at Harry. "Hello, Harry." He smiled.

Harry smiled back. All at once, he knew why Cassius had always seemed so familiar. It was his eyes. They were green, green like Harry's eyes, green like Harry's mother's eyes.

"Please come down here, Harry." Cassius' voice was smooth but warm. Harry rushed down the stairs but stopped short of throwing his arms around Cassius. He thought if he seemed too happy that Aunt Petunia might not cooperate out of spite.

"You and I need to take care of something, then Harry and I will be on our way." Cassius addressed Aunt Petunia in his smooth Malfoy voice. "Place your hand on Harry's shoulder."

Aunt Petunia did so without a word.

"Repeat after me: Protecto Transferus."

Aunt Petunia repeated in a whisper "Protecto Transferus."

Cassius placed his hand on Harry's other shoulder. "Protecto Presentum" Harry felt a warmth envelope him.

"Remove your hand." Cassius commanded. Aunt Petunia did. Cassius squeezed Harry's shoulder. "Well, then, let's go get your things."

Harry raced up the stairs with Cassius right behind him. Cassius shrunk the trunk and put it in his pocket as Harry grabbed Hedwig's cage. "That everything?" Cassius asked. Harry nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak just yet.

They walked down the stairs. Aunt Petunia still stood where they had left her.

"It was nice to meet you, cousin." Cassius said coolly.

Aunt Petunia only nodded as Cassius passed her.

"Goodbye!" Harry yelled, nearly bursting with joy as he walked out the door.

"I told Dumbledore I wanted it to be a surprise – I hope you don't mind that it's me." Cassius said once they had pulled out of the driveway in Cassius' sleek red car. Uncle Vernon would have been impressed.

"It was a big surprise, and I don't mind at all." Harry said happily.

"You'll be living with Remus and me at Windy Corner, that's all right, isn't it?" Cassius' voice had a tinge of worry. "I mean, you don't mind, about him and me…some people…"

"Oh, no." Harry said hurriedly. "I don't mind in the least." He looked out the window at the passing scenery. He couldn't believe he was leaving Privet Drive forever AND going to live with Cassius and Lupin – Remus, he would have to get used to that, at Windy Corner.

"Anyone in your direction?" Cassius asked.

Harry looked down the street. "Nope"

"Good" Cassius pushed a button on the dashboard, then pushed another one and the car started up into the air.

"Now, it's not really legal, but…I had a flying motorcycle for a while, like Sirius, but Remus always refused to ride it so I had to get a car instead." Cassius smiled over at Harry. Harry returned the smile, feeling almost giddy.

Cassius turned and reached in the back. "It's a long trip, about 4 hours, so Tabby packed us a lunch." He retrieved a couple sandwiches and two thermoses with pumpkin juice in them. "Remus wanted to come too but I thought this would give us a chance to get to know each other better. And I didn't know how your aunt would react to two wizards showing up…"

"So, how exactly are we related?" Harry asked curiously before biting into the sandwich.

"My mother, Emma, was your mother's aunt. She was a witch too, a pureblood. Her older sister, your grandmother, was a squib who married a muggle, then they had your mum and aunt. I don't remember her, she died when I was three years old." Cassius paused and took a drink. "Father and Lucius rarely talked about her. I didn't even know her name until I was 24. Moody thought I should find out about her. I was able to ask Father about her before he died." Cassius paused again and took a bite of his sandwich. "With one thing and another, it took about 3 years to trace her family, Father hadn't known anything about her except her first name and that she was pure-blood. So, I've only known a few years that we were related…I wasn't sure if you would want to know, considering…everything... I am a Malfoy..."

"Only half." Harry interrupted.

"That's the half people see." Cassius said quietly.

Harry thought back to when he had first met Cassius. Sirius and some of the others had held his Malfoy blood against him…but Harry hadn't.

"I noticed your eyes were different than the other Malfoys. But I didn't recognize them until today. They're green like mine and my mum's." Harry said. There was a moment of silence and Cassius looked like he was deliberating hard on some matter. Then he looked at himself in the rear view mirror and then over at Harry. "They are, aren't they. I guess I didn't remember." He smiled ruefully.

"You don't remember what color your eyes are?" Harry was astounded.

"I haven't looked in a mirror since I was 11." Cassius shrugged.

"You should sometime, a lot of people think you're handsome." Harry said.

What?" Cassius looked at him incredulously.

"Hermione, Ginny, Tonks, even Mrs. Weasley, they all think you're gorgeous." Harry smiled, remembering the conversation.

"Really?" Cassius hesitated then looked in the mirror again. He made a face. "You're joking."

"No, I'm not! I swear! Ask Remus, he was there, he'll tell you what they said. He agreed."

"Remus doesn't think I'm handsome." Cassius shook his head.

"Yes, he does! He said so!" Harry laughed. "Um…if he didn't fall in love with you because you're handsome, you thought he fell in love with you because?"

"Because I'm smart and…nice, damn it." Cassius growled.

"Oh, right! Say that nicely and I'll believe you." Harry laughed again. After a pause he said, "I wonder why Remus or Sirius didn't notice your eyes, they knew my mum at school."

"I don't think it ever occurred to anyone that we could be related, given that she was considered muggle-born and Malfoys, as a rule, hate muggles."

"Well, I'm glad we're related." Harry said firmly.

"Me, too." Cassius smiled.

Harry and Cassius ate in companionable silence for a while.

"Remus is really excited about you coming, it's the first time since…Sirius' death that he's seemed happy." Cassius' face was flushed by the end of the sentence.

"It was all my fault." Harry blurted out.

Cassius turned swiftly and Harry was pinned in place by the intense green gaze. "Remus blames himself too. It wasn't his fault, and it wasn't your fault, Harry. It wasn't Sirius' fault either, for that matter. Sirius was a strong, brave, powerful wizard. He loved you. His death is the fault of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. Not yours. He went to the ministry that night because he loved you. You shouldn't feel any guilt when he was motivated only by love for you. He wouldn't want you to."

For a moment, Harry couldn't move. "Do you really think so?" he whispered, he could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He missed Sirius terribly and had had nightmares ever since Sirius' death.

"Yes. I got to know Sirius pretty well this past year, I think I knew him well enough to say that he wouldn't want you to blame yourself. I know you can't change how you feel just like that, but you shouldn't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault." Cassius spoke with finality. Harry felt like a little of the weight in his heart had lifted. It wasn't his fault. Cassius' conviction in that fact made him feel so much better. He knew Cassius wouldn't lie to him. Cassius broke their eye contact and took another drink of pumpkin juice. He looked over at Harry and smiled. Harry smiled back as he brushed the tears off his cheeks.

After another couple hours, they started their descent. Harry had barely gotten out of the car when he was engulfed in a hug from Lupin.

"Welcome home, Harry!" Lupin was grinning from ear to ear, looking slightly bashful as he let Harry go. His smile made him look years younger than Harry had ever seen him.

"Hi, Professor." Harry grinned.

"Please, Harry, I think you can start calling me Remus now." He turned to Cassius. "Where's Harry's trunk?"

"Oh, here." Cassius pulled it out of his pocket and returned it to full size. He levitated the trunk and started inside. Cassius stopped suddenly and turned to Remus. "Harry says you think I'm handsome."

"Yes – I do, because you are." Remus smiled affectionately at Cassius.

"Huh." Cassius didn't sound convinced and was about to turn back towards the house when Remus stepped towards him and put his arms around him.

"Yes, you are." He leaned up on tiptoe to kiss Cassius.

"I don't see it."

"What do you mean?" asked Remus curiously.

"I looked in the mirror in the car…" Cassius mumbled.

"You actually looked in a mirror?" Remus' face showed his astonishment.

"Twice."

"Wow…I…uh…wow." Remus let Cassius go after giving him another quick kiss. "We knew a week ago that you were coming but we didn't want to do too much to your room, so you could make it your own." Remus told Harry as they followed Cassius inside and up the stairs.

They entered a sunny room at the end of the hallway. There was a large window that looked out onto an apple tree. There was a bed in the corner, a desk opposite, next to a bookcase and a perch for Hedwig stood by the window.

"I made the perch" Cassius said, with some pride.

"Using magic" Remus muttered to Harry. Harry just kept grinning, he felt like he would burst with happiness. If only Sirius were here, it would be perfect…but after the conversation in the car with Cassius, Harry felt Sirius would have been happy to know that Remus and Cassius were taking care of him, and so thinking of him didn't dampen Harry's happiness today. Sirius would be happy for him, he knew it.

Author's Note: I hope the family connection between Harry and Cassius makes sense! I thought it important that his mother be a pure-blood, given the importance Malfoys place on that, I thought Julius Malfoy would never have had a son/daughter with a muggle-born. So I tried to make it so that worked. Also, I made up the spell that transferred the protection charm from Aunt Petunia to Cassius – I don't know, I just wanted something dramatic.