Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to J.K. Rowling.
Cassius woke up and stretched. He felt rested and opened his eyes. Suddenly he remembered what had happened the night before and sat up. He lifted one leg and then the other. Good as new, he thought with relief. He got up and showered and dressed for the day. Grabbing his book bag, he went in search of Draco.
"Good morning," Draco said from where he read a potions journal on the sofa. "How are you feeling?"
"Good," Cassius said. "Are we going to the Great Hall for breakfast?"
"Yes. You ready?" When Cassius nodded, Draco stood up. He was wearing dark robes similar to the ones Snape wore.
"Ready for teaching dunderheads?" Cassius asked cheekily.
"Of course. I'm ready for crying Hufflepuffs, know it all Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors who haven't done their reading," Draco smirked.
"What about us Slytherins?"
"You guys are usually good about doing your readings," Draco said as they walked to the Great Hall. "Of course, I'll know for sure when I call on you in class."
"Uh," Cassius paused. "You know, it's better to call on those who raise their hands."
"Is it? I think it's more fun to call on those who aren't raising their hands," Draco smirked as he continued walking to the Head Table after seeing Cass to the Slytherin table. "Serafina will be escorting you to your first class." he told him before walking away.
"Okay," Cassius sighed. He wasn't thrilled about it but there was no point in arguing.
"Escorts again, huh?" Jason asked sympathetically.
"Yeah."
"Are you okay?" Sadie asked.
"I'm fine now," Cassius assured her.
"You know, we are third years now. We can act as bodyguards for you," Enzo said.
"Yeah. Especially on the Hogsmeade trips," Jason nodded.
Cassius blinked. He'd totally forgotten about the Hogsmeade trips! Would he even be allowed to go? Had Draco signed the permission slip? What if his brother forbid him from going? He wouldn't be able to sneak there, it wouldn't be worth the trouble he would get into. Plus he didn't have his cloak or map, Draco still had them. "I don't know if I'll be allowed to go," he said slowly, his heart sinking.
"What? You have to go! It's the fun of finally being a third year," Enzo said.
"Tell me about it. I wasn't allowed to go my first time as a third year either," Cassius said unhappily. "I'll have to ask Draco."
"Tell him we are prepared to keep you safe," Enzo insisted.
"Yeah, we know a lot of jinxes," Jason said.
"If Draco doesn't allow him to go, it's for his own safety," Sadie said primly. "I'll skip going if you can't go," she offered Cassius. "Enzo and Jason can bring us back sweets."
"Thanks, Sadie," Cassius smiled. He really was blessed with good friends. Again. He briefly wondered what Ron was doing now that he had graduated. He had to admit he still missed him sometimes. And Neville and Luna...them he could write to. He wasn't brave enough to write to Ron, not after how Ron had treated him last year. He supposed he could write and ask Mrs. Weasley what Ron was doing now...he wondered if he had become an Auror like they had talked about.
/
"Good morning, class," Professor McKinnon addressed her class of third year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. "I hope you had a pleasant summer. Please hand forward your summer essays." She waited while students got out their essays and then handed them to the front. She collected them and glanced through them. "Hmm. I see some spelling errors..." she murmured as she looked through them. She paused as she read through one of them. "Please make sure that you are all doing your own work, no letting others do it for you. You don't want to take advantage if you happen to have family on staff," she added, giving Cassius a piercing look.
Cassius frowned. Yeah, Draco had looked over his work and and marked areas he could improve but he had done his own essay. Was McKinnon implying he hadn't?
"Does she mean you?" Enzo whispered.
"I don't know," Cassius murmured. "I did my own work."
"No talking, please," Professor McKinnon said loudly. "Five points from Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy."
Cassius stiffened. He was certain he wasn't imagining it, McKinnon didn't like him. Was it just because he was a Slytherin? He made sure to stay quiet as she lectured, giving the class a overview of what they would be learning in the coming weeks. She then had them read a chapter and write a summery of it. She walked around the room as they wrote, peering over students shoulders.
"You're writing that well, Miss Dale." Professor McKinnon said approvingly. "Five points to Hufflepuff." She continued her walk and paused behind Cassius. "Hmm. I think you can write a little clearer, don't you Mr. Malfoy?"
Cassius gritted his teeth. He was writing clearly! "Yes Ma'am." he said.
"It's important to give your very best," Professor McKinnon said before moving on.
Cassius glared at her back. Wonderful. A professor that didn't like him. Well, at least he had experience with that, didn't he?
/
Draco finished writing instruction on his blackboard. "Shrinking Solution. A potion that causes the drinker to shrink to a smaller form." He said, turning around to face his class of Slytherins and Gryffindors. "If brewed incorrectly it can be poisonous."
"That's what Malfoy must have taken. He shrunk down in size, right?" Alfie Cooper snickered. "He must have taken too much of it."
Cassius threw him a dirty look. So what if he was a little smaller than most of the other third years? It wasn't his fault he had spent his childhood malnourished.
Draco slammed a hand down on Alfie's desk. "Did you have a comment you wished to share with class?" he hissed.
"Uh, no sir," Alfie said quickly.
"Then unless I call on you, keep your mouth shut!" Draco snapped. "But since you like to talk, what color is a correctly brewed shrinking solution supposed to be?"
"Uh," Alfie looked around frantically. "Um, blue?"
"Five points for stupidity," Draco glared at him. "Miss Dalbert, do you know the answer?"
"Bright green, Mr. Malfoy," Sadie answered.
"Correct. Five point to Slytherin." Draco walked around, eyeing the students sternly. "Cassius, name two ingredients needed for this potion."
"Daisy roots and leech juice," Cassius answered.
"Correct. Five more points to Slytherin."
Cassius could feel glares from Alfie and Emrys but he ignored them. He was determined not to let them bother him this year. Their nasty comments had caused enough trouble for him last year.
"Ingredients are on the board, get started." Draco said, watching as everyone went to the cabinet to gather the ingredients they needed.
Cassius read the instructions carefully. He remembered this potion, he and Ron had had to brew Draco's potion for him since he had claimed that Buckbeak had hurt his arm. He snickered to himself at the memory. It was amazing how much Draco had changed, actually at how much everything had changed. At one time he had hated Draco and now he couldn't imagine his life without his big brother. Cassius peeled the Shrivelfig and added it to his cauldron until it turned yellow. He turned his burner on a little higher and waited for the color to turn turquoise. Suddenly something sailed by him and almost landed in his cauldron. He saw leaches and turned to glare at Alfie and Emrys.
"Problem Potter? Oh, I mean Malfoy?" Emrys smirked.
Cassius rolled his eyes and turned back to his potion. He continued working, ignoring the snickering behind them. Suddenly more ingredients were tossed his way and some landed in his potion. "No!" he exclaimed as he tried to salvage it.
"Mr. Wright and Mr. Cooper," Draco swooped in on them. "Do you idiots have any idea how dangerous it is to throw random ingredients into a cauldron? Someone could get seriously hurt," he snapped.
Cassius had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. It was kind of ironic, since Draco had been known to throw ingredients into his cauldron during his Harry Potter years.
"Ten points from each of you and detention after dinner tonight," Draco said before inspecting Cassius's potion. "Here, add a little thyme and it should help neutralize what they thew in. The color of your potion may be a little off but you wont be counted down for that."
"Thanks Professor," Cassius said.
"Maybe I should have them sit further back," Draco said, sending a glare at the two Gryffindor boys.
"I can handle it," Cassius insisted. He didn't want to look like a baby who couldn't deal with two bullies.
"Hmm. Remind to teach you the Scutum Murum spell," Draco said. "It will shield your potion and only allow you to put ingredients in."
Cassius brightened. "That would be great, thanks Dra – err, Professor Malfoy."
Draco smirked and walked away to observe the other students.
"I can't believe those two did that," Sadie griped twenty minutes later as they cleaned up their stations. "I mean, how stupid are they?"
"Pretty stupid," Cassius shrugged.
"Do you think they are the ones who vanished your bones?" Enzo asked.
"I don't think so," Cassius said thoughtfully. "They would have probably taunted me about it."
"True," Jason agreed. "Plus I doubt either of them are adept at that level of a spell."
Enzo and Cassius snickered.
/
Cassius was laughing with his friends over breakfast when the owls arrived to deliver mail. He received a box and two letters from Hedwig. He pet her and gave her a bit of bacon before she gave a hoot and flew off. He opened the box first, which turned out to be full of biscuits. "It's from Mrs. Weasley," he said happily. He offered his friends a biscuit which a variety of chocolate, peanut butter, and gingerbread.
"Yum," Enzo said, munching on biscuit. "It's nice that she sends you treats."
Cassius nodded as he closed the box. "She's really nice. It's only been Ron and Ginny who turned on me." he said as he opened the first letter. He grinned as he read the letter from Hermione, asking how his year was starting out and how he liked his classes. He opened the second letter.
He frowned as he read it. You will pay, traitor. There was no name or return address on it or the envelope. Who would send him this?
"Who are they from?" Jason asked through a mouthful of eggs.
"Oh, um, Hermione and...Neville. Just asking how my first day back was," Cassius lied, folding the note and putting it in his bag. No need to worry his friends. And he wouldn't tell Draco or Uncle Sev, they were already worried about whoever had attacked him. He would just ignore it. He doubted it would amount to anything, anyway.
/
"Why does she want to see us?" Cassius asked as he and Draco made their way to the Headmistress's office.
"I don't know," Draco said. "Are you sure you haven't gotten into any trouble?"
"I haven't!" Cassius protested. "Maybe you're in trouble!" he smirked.
Draco chuckled. "Maybe I've taken too many points from Gryffindor."
Cassius laughed.
"I saw you got some mail at breakfast," Draco said.
"Yeah, Mrs. Weasley sent some biscuits," Cassius said. "I saved you some peanut butter ones."
"Thanks cub." Draco put his arm around Cass. "Who wrote to you? Hermione?"
"Yeah, she wanted to hear about my classes." Cassius paused. He should tell his brother about the other note but... "And Neville wrote too, just to check in with me." He felt guilty for lying, but he didn't want Draco to be more worried about him than he already was. Of course, now he had to really make sure Draco didn't find out about the traitor message. If he found out that Cass had lied to him, he would really be in for it.
"That's nice of them," Draco nodded.
"Ah, hello gentlemen," McGonagall greeted as they walked into her office. "Take a seat. Next week will the one year anniversary of Voldemort's demise."
Draco gave a glance at Cassius. "Hard to believe it's been a year," he murmured. That mean it would be a year since he had found out who his brother was.
"Yes," McGonagall agreed. "Now, of course we will be having a celebratory dinner. Some Ministry officials will be attending, as well as those in the Order of the Phoenix. The press will be there as well, they will probably want to as Mr. Malfoy some questions, have him make a speech -"
"What?" Cassius interrupted. "Do I have to?"
"It doesn't have to be a full speech, just a few words," McGonagall said quickly. "We'll have a grand feast and afterwards some fireworks."
Cassius perked up at that.
"I don't know," Draco said uncertainly. "I don't trust the press."
"I know, but Mr. Malfoy can just take two or three questions," McGonagall said. "You can be standing with him, of course." She smiled at Cassius. "We are grateful to you for defeating that monster."
"I didn't really do anything though," Cassius said softly. "Voldemort cast the killing curse at me and I put up a shield but it shouldn't have been able to block it, let alone have the curse rebound on him."
Draco grabbed his brother's hand tightly.
"I guess I did distract him though," Cassius said thoughtfully.
"How?" Draco asked hoarsely. He and Cass had never really talked about it before, how he had defeated Voldemort. They had both been too distracted with finding out who Cass was and getting to know each other as brothers.
"Well, Dumbledore told me once that Voldemort's weakness was love," Cassius explained. "So I filled my thoughts with how much I loved my friends and wanted them to be safe. I thought about how much I wished for a family of my own." he flushed slightly when McGonagall's eyes grew damp. "Anyway, it was too much for him." he shrugged.
"Well," McGonagall cleared her throat. "That would definitely weaken him." She smiled at him. "You are a remarkable boy, Mr. Malfoy."
"I agree," Draco spoke up, still holding Cassius's hand.
Once they left McGonagall's office, Draco stopped walking and wrapped his arms around Cass. "Merlin, I never really thought about what you faced that day," he said, resting his chin on Cassius's head.
"It's no big deal," Cassius said.
"Yes it is."
"Dray? It was more than just me wanting a family that I was thinking of that day," he admitted.
"Oh?" Draco pulled back and looked at him curiously.
"I thought about being kissed goodnight and tucked into bed, held after a nightmare, even of getting help with homework," Cassius said, feeling embarrassed. "Stupid, I guess but -"
"It's not stupid at all, Cass," Draco said, running his hand through Cassius's hair. "You were thinking about things you never got to have before. Stuff most kids take for granted."
"I have it now," Cassius grinned.
"Indeed you do," Draco said with a warm smile. "You'll always have it."
Cassius snickered. "So when I'm thirty, you'll still tuck me in at night?"
"Absolutely."
Cassius laughed. "I can see it now, you flooing over to my home to make sure I'm eating my vegetables." he teased.
"That's a given." Draco smirked. "I'm sure your wife won't mind me checking up on you everyday."
Cassius made a face as they went downstairs. Merlin, he hoped his brother was kidding.
TBC:
