Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to J.K. Rowling.

"Why am I crying so much?" Cassius asked miserably. "I never cry."

"Because as Harry Potter, you felt you couldn't," Poppy said gently. "It's also an effect of being given that aging potion as well as your treatment by the Dursley's. You can expect to be emotional for awhile. It's normal. You've been through a lot."

"It's stupid," Cassius wiped at his eyes. "Ron hates me," he whispered.

"Weasley's a git," Draco said bluntly.

"He's been my friend for years!" Cassius snapped. "While you were my enemy!"

Pain flashed through Draco's eyes briefly. "Well, that is not the case anymore is it?"

Cassius's face crumpled and he turned around, burying his face in his pillow. He heard a sigh and felt a hand begin to gently rub his back. "I'm sorry, Cass. I'm sorry Weasley acted that way and I'm sorry for how I treated you over the years. If I had known..." Draco trailed off. "I wish I had known. I would have taken care of you. I will take care of you now."

"I can take care of myself. I always have," Cassius said, his voice muffled.

"Not anymore." Draco said firmly. "I'm your older brother, I am also now your guardian."

"I'm seventeen."

"You're twelve," Draco said softly. "Let yourself finally be your real age. It's okay to let go, Cass. I'm here."

It was too much, finding out the truth, finding out that Dumbledore had betrayed him, Ron turning on him, defeating Voldemort, it was just too much. Cassius sat up and flung himself at Draco, crying into the older boy's shoulder. He felt strong arms wrap around him and hold him protectively, securely.

"It's going to be okay, Cass." Draco whispered. "I'm here now."

/

"I want to take him home for the weekend," Draco said as he watched his sleeping brother. Cassius had fallen asleep from pure emotional exhaustion, his crying had broken Draco's heart. "He'll need new clothes and he needs a few days away from prying eyes." Word had already gotten out about who Cassius used to be, most likely thanks to Weasley, and many students had been trying to sneak into the infirmary to get a look.

"Take him home until Monday or Tuesday," Snape agreed. "He can be re-sorted when you return. He will be able to catch up on his classes, it's not that far into the year. He'll need the second year textbooks as well."

Draco nodded. "I'll take him to Diagon Alley, make a day of it. He'll need new school robes too and maybe I'll take him to get ice cream...what?" he asked when he noticed Snape chuckling.

"Already planning to spoil him?" Snape teased. Merlin knew Cassius deserved some spoiling.

"Well, yes," Draco huffed. "Why shouldn't I? He's my cub."

"Ah, yes. I forgot you used to call him that," Snape murmured with a small smile. He was feeling pretty good, considering. Voldemort was finally gone and his youngest godson was alive and well. Hopefully Cassius would accept him as a part of his life and forgive him for being so cruel over the years. If only he had known...

/

Cassius hadn't been sure if he wanted to go with Draco to his manor but he didn't want to stay in the infirmary and he definitely didn't want to go to the Gryffindor Tower right now. Students kept trying to peek in on him and Cassius decided he did want to get away, even if that meant with Draco. Actually, Draco was being pretty decent, considering their past history. He'd been comforting, something Cassius wasn't really used to from anyone.

Draco appareated them from the train station and Cassius stared at Malfoy Manor in awe. He had heard about it but to see it in person...it was huge! It was surrounded by elaborate gardens and there was even a fountain in the front yard. There were exceptionally large windows set into the creamy colored stone exterior. The front doors opened when he and Draco walked up, although there was no one Cassius could see that opened it for them. "Does the door open for anyone who comes to the door?" he asked curiously.

"No, only for us," Draco answered. "It responds to our magical signatures."

"Oh, brilliant," Cassius said as he followed him in. He gaped as they entered the foyer. There was lush carpet on the floor, a table, several pieces of wall art and a large very expensive looking vase. He couldn't believe this was just the foyer.

Draco noticed him looking around and said, "Let me show you around."

Cassius nodded absently as he followed Draco further inside. It was shocking to think he could have grown up here instead of in a cupboard!

/

After showing Cassius around, Draco showed his brother to his room. It had been his nursery and was right across from his room. He had asked the house-elves to redo the room and include a bed, desk, bookcase and a dresser. "So, you only have a few nice outfits," Draco said after he went through Cassius's trunk. "The rest are either school robes or clothes that are far too large."

"Yeah, those are Dudley's cast offs," Cassius said, embarrassed. "I only got his old clothes."

"I see," Draco said stiffly. "And apparently he's the size of a Hippogriff?"

Cassius snickered. "But not as nice as one."

"Tomorrow we will go shopping," Draco told him. He hadn't known his brother didn't have decent clothes. It made him sick with anger. He shrunk the good clothes Cassius had and then banished the old, overly large ones.

Cassius watched with a grin. It felt good to see those rags go. "I'll just have to stop at Gringotts for my vault -" Cassius paused. "Oh. I guess it was never mine." he said slowly.

"About that," Draco said as he hung up the clothes that were acceptable. "It has been decided by the Ministry that the vault remains yours. You can have access to it when you turn seventeen." Apparently that had been the Ministry's peace offering, as they they had informed him they would not be pursuing a kidnapping case against Dumbledore. Cornelius Fudge was back to relying on Dumbledore for advice and clearly didn't want him in Azkaban. The only punishment Dumbledore received was being on house arrest for the foreseeable future. Draco had almost exploded in anger when he had heard the news.

"But how will I pay for things?" Cassius asked, pulling Draco out of his thoughts.

"Hello, you're a Malfoy." Draco said with a smirk. "I'm your brother and guardian, Cass. I will be paying for your clothes and text books and things. You'll have pocket money, of course."

"Like an allowance?"

"Just so." Draco nodded. "Keep your grades up, keep your room here and at the castle clean and you'll get a weekly allowance. Deal?"

"That's all I have to do? No chores?" Cassius asked a little suspiciously.

"That's it." Draco said. His brother done enough chores to last a lifetime, as far as he was concerned.

"Were you expected to keep your room clean?" Cassius asked curiously. "I figured, since you have house-elves..."

"My room I was expected to keep clean," Draco said with a small smile. "Mother insisted. Father didn't care. He cared about my grades being good. The house-elves take care of the rest of the manor, and meals."

"Um," Cassius hesitated. "Are you...nice to them? I mean, Dobby..."

"Mother and Father changed after losing you," Draco said quietly. "They were not abusive to me or anything but Father could be cruel sometimes to the elves. I told you that Twitchy had hit me so Father assumed they were all alike. After his encounter with you and Dobby, he stopped acting that way to the elves."

"He wanted to kill me that day," Cassius remembered.

Draco winced. He had heard about that, his Father had been disgusted with himself that he had come so close to killing a kid. "He regretted it. You probably don't believe me but he did. He and Mother also regretted becoming death eaters but they were afraid of Voldemort. After the Ministry, they finally decided to do something about it. They became spies."

"I know," Cassius said softly. After the end of fifth year, he had noticed a change in Draco. He hadn't taunted him or acted snotty at all during sixth year. "They would have been shocked to find out who I really was."

"Yes," Draco put his arm around Cass. "But they would have been overjoyed to have you back. Of course, Mother probably wouldn't have let you go back to Hogwarts."

"Why?"

"She wouldn't have wanted you out of her sight for a minute," Draco said teasingly. It was true though. He was grateful he still had a year at Hogwarts to be with his brother. He wasn't sure what he would do when Cass started his third year...he'd probably be visiting all the time to check up on Cass. There was no way he would be able to go months without his seeing his brother, that was for sure.

Cassius smiled. It was a nice thought, to have a mother that would love him that much.

Dinnertime rolled around and Cassius sat at the dining table, his eyes widening when the food popped onto the table. "Wow, it's like the food at Hogwarts!" he said excitedly.

Draco chuckled as he poured his brother a glass of pumpkin juice and handed it to him. "I'm glad you approve," he teased.

Cassius looked at all the food. Beef Wellington, mixed vegetables, roasted potatoes, rice pilaf, and fluffy looking rolls. He and Draco filled their plates. "I can't imagine getting to eat like this all the time," he said. "I mean, at the Dursley's -" he paused, looking at Draco uncertainly.

Draco kept his expression calm. "You can mention them, Cass. In fact, I want you to tell me about your time there. I think it's important that you talk about it." Plus, he needed to know how his brother had been treated so that he could hopefully help him heal from it. "They didn't let you eat with them?"

Cassius snorted as he cut his steak. "No, never. I made dinner a lot but I was never allowed to eat with them. I usually got whatever was left over. Usually."

"So sometimes they wouldn't let you eat at all?" Draco asked casually as he took a bite of potato.

"It was their favorite punishment," Cassius explained. "They hardly ever hit me or anything, cause they were afraid touching me would contaminate them. So they would lock me in my room with no food whenever I did something wrong."

"What did you do wrong?" Draco asked. Not that anything justified starving and locking a child away...

"Oh, if I accidentally burnt dinner or Dudley would lie and say I broke one of his toys," Cassius shrugged. "Or if I did accidental magic."

"They punished you for..." Draco gritted his teeth, looking down so that Cassius couldn't see his expression. Burning dinner? Accidental magic? Oh, he desperately wanted to confront the Dursley's. And Dumbledore, he wanted to hurt. Badly. But Uncle Sev had made him promise to not do anything that would risk him going to Azkaban. "I'm surprised they let you go to Hogwarts." he finally said.

"They didn't want to," Cassius admitted. "They tried to keep me from getting my letter but Hagrid came and got me. He was my first friend."

Draco winced, remembering when he had tried to get Hagrid's pet killed his third year. He really had been a prat as a kid. "You must have been surprised, to find out magic was real."

"Yeah. And relieved. It meant I wasn't a freak like they told me I was. Only then I was told I was the boy-who-lived and I realized I was a freak in the wizarding world too." Cassius frowned. "If only I'd known that I wasn't the boy-who-lived. Maybe things would have been normal for me. No sorcerer's stone, no basilisks, no death eaters..." he froze, looking apologetically at Draco.

"It's okay, Cass," Draco said gently. "I told you Mother and Father regretted becoming death eaters."

"Were you planning to become one?"

"No. I acted like I was but no, I never wanted to be one. Voldemort was insane, he tortured his own followers. And despite how I acted, I never wanted to see people killed or hurt."

"Even Hermione during the chamber of secrets fiasco?"

"Even then," Draco assured him. He had acted like he thought he was supposed to act but he hadn't meant it. He had been just as scared as the other students when people started becoming petrified.

"So you don't hate her because she's muggle-born?" Cassius bit his lip. "Because I'm hoping she will still be my friend." Hermione hadn't been angry at him like Ron had.

"As long as she is nice to you, I do not have a problem with her," Draco told him. "Well, except she makes me feel competitive since I'm always tying with her for top marks in school." He smirked.

"Yeah, she was already going on about taking our N.E.W.T.'s," Cassius brightened. "At least I don't have to worry about those after all."

"I do," Draco groaned, smiling to himself when Cass giggled. He loved the sound, so innocent and sweet. He wished he could erase the muggles abuse from his brother's mind, wished he could take away all the turmoil he had faced since starting Hogwarts.

"It's going to be weird doing second year again," Cassius sighed. "Doing all the years again. Doing O.W.L.'s again!"

"But it will be different this time," Draco leaned forward. "Don't you think? No worrying about Voldemort?"

"Yeah, and my grades could probably be a little better," Cassius admitted. "If it wasn't for Hermione urging me to study, I probably would have gotten Dreadful's on everything."

I'll have to keep an eye on that, Draco thought with some amusement. Perhaps he could make a study schedule for his brother. Uncle Sev could probably help him with that. Cass may not like it but having a schedule to follow would help him stay on top of his homework and studying.

/

Spending the day with Draco in Diagon Alley was actually a lot of fun. Cassius finally got himself a full wardrobe of nice clothes. Over the years he had bought himself a few things but now everything was new. Draco had even insisted on getting him new school robes. Cassius had told him he didn't mind having his currant robes shrunk down so that they would fit him but Draco had insisted on new ones. They had then gone to Flourish and Blotts to get Cassius second year text books. Cassius had joked that at least this time there was no Lockhart books which made Draco laugh and agree. Cassius had asked if they could go to Eeylops Owl Emporium so he could get some treats for Hedwig and then Draco had offered to treat him to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. On the way to there, they stopped at the Quidditch shop.

"Flying is the best." Cassius said wistfully.

Draco put his arm around Cassius. "You fly brilliantly."

"So do you. It must run in the family," Cassius said with realization. "Right?"

"Father was on the Quidditch team in his schooldays," Draco smiled. "He was a Beater."

"So we both got his flying skills," Cassius said happily. It was nice to know he shared a skill with his father. It was weird to think of Lucius as his father but still...

"Yes, although you are much better than I am," Draco said honestly. He had always admired how effortlessly Cassius flew.

Cassius's eyes flew to him, beaming. "You really think so?"

"I do," Draco assured him.

Cassius looked back at the window and his mouth dropped open when a new broom was put in the display case. "Wow," he breathed.

"I heard this was coming out soon," Draco admired the sleek, dark broom called the Flameseeker. It was the newest broom on the market. "It's beautiful."

Cassius nodded fervently. He loved his Firebolt but this broom was amazing.

"Well, well, look who is here." A voice simpered.

Cassius and Draco turned around, both groaning when they saw Rita Skeeter grinning at them. "So it is true, isn't it? Your little brother has been found," she looked gleefully at Cassius. "And he used to be Harry Potter."

"He was never Harry Potter," Draco said tensely, positioning himself in front of his brother. "If you will excuse us -"

"Oh, but the public has the right to know," Rita said quickly.

"The right to know about what?"

"About the boy being hailed as the hero of the wizarding world," Rita gave Cassius a feral grin. "He hasn't even given an interview since defeating Voldemort. We deserve to know everything."

"You deserve nothing," Draco said, pulling his brother with as he began to walk away from the reporter. "And that is what you will get."

"I don't give up, Mr. Malfoy!" Rita called after him.

/

Once they returned to Hogwarts, Draco sent Cassius to the infirmary for another check up, telling him he would meet him there. Professor McGonagall had messaged him that she wanted to meet with him. He met with her in her office, curious as to what she had to say.

"I hope you and Cassius had a good weekend together," McGonagall said.

"We did," Draco nodded. "He's still not completely sure about me but it's a start."

"It is a lot of changes for him," McGonagall said. "A lot of changes here at Hogwarts as well. Since I am now Headmistress, I am giving up teaching Transfiguration. Bill Weasley has applied to take over for me."

Draco stiffened slightly. "Do you know how he feels about Cassius now?"

McGonagall smiled reassuringly at him. "He has not turned on your brother."

Draco nodded, relaxing a little.

"I am also having Professor Lupin take over as Head of House for Gryffindor," McGonagall continued. "Also, I thought that perhaps instead of staying in your dorm you might enjoy quarters of your own." McGonagall said. "For you and Cassius, so that you get to know each other and bond. There are extra rooms in the dungeons, near Professor Snape's quarters."

"Really?" Draco stared at her before smiling. "That would be brilliant, thank you." That meant even if Cass wasn't in Slytherin, he would still be with him every day.

"Whatever I can do to help the both of you," McGonagall shook her head. "I am so...disgusted with Albus. So disappointed in him. I just wish we had figured this out much earlier. Harr – I mean, Cassius," she corrected herself. "He needs someone to look out for him. That boy has had too much put on his shoulders for far too long. I'm glad that he will get a chance to just be a kid."

"I just hope I do right by him." Draco sighed.

Minerva smiled. "You will, I have no doubt. That aging potion took a toll on him, as well as the neglect from those muggles. Emotionally, Cassius may be up and down for a while. It will also be hard for him to adjust to being twelve again." she chuckled. "Hopefully this time he doesn't get into any flying cars."

Draco froze, fear rushing over him at the thought. Merlin, he could have lost his brother so many times over the years. He could have lost him and he never would have known who he was! "He won't be getting into trouble like that anymore," he said fiercely.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow, amused. "Good luck with that"

TBC: