Disclaimer: It's slash (two men) eventually so if you don't like it, please don't read it! And I don't own any of the characters, except for Cassius Malfoy because I made him all up. And I am making no money from this.

I revised this chapter so it includes some different POVs including Harry's.

Chapter 3 A Terrible Temper

The next week Cassius came for dinner again. Fred and George were off visiting Lee Jordan. So it was just Mr. and Mrs.Weasley, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Sirius, Lupin and Cassius.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny had told Harry that they thought Cassius was intimidating. "Scary" had been Ginny's comment. "He seems so unlike Lupin" Hermione had said after the first dinner. But Harry liked him, he couldn't put a finger on why, but he did.

Dinner was about halfway over and Cassius hadn't really said anything. The conversation had turned to talking about the coming school year.

"You know, Ron, Cass was on the house Quidditch team with Stevens from the Chudley Cannons." Remus said.

"Really?" Ron's face lighted up. "He's brilliant!"

"We won the house cup three years running." Cassius smiled. "Then Stevens graduated. And your brother Charlie became seeker for Gryffindor, that broke our streak, my last two years. He was a great seeker."

"So which house were you in?" Mrs. Weasley asked, glowing with pride at the compliment of Charlie.

"Slytherin, along with all the other Malfoys, right?" Sirius growled, shaking his long black hair back from his face.

"Ravenclaw, actually." Cassius answered calmly. Sirius looked surprised that Cassius hadn't been in Slytherin. "I'm the only Malfoy ever not to be in Slytherin. My father consoled himself that at least it wasn't Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor."

"Careful, you're surrounded by Gryffindors here." Lupin playfully tousled Cassius' hair, Cassius laughed as he brushed Lupin's hand away.

"What position did you play?" Harry asked.

"Chaser." Cassius answered, picking his fork back up as Lupin smoothed down his silver blond hair. "You play seeker, right? I saw you beat Slytherin, last year…or, the year before…I've forgotten. It was a great game." Harry felt his face redden, somehow Harry knew when Cassius gave a compliment that he wasn't just saying it to be nice or polite.

"I don't remember you playing Quidditch." Sirius said sullenly.

"Well, I did." Cassius replied sounding matter of fact.

"So you three were at Hogwarts at the same time?" Hermione asked, looking from Sirius to Lupin to Cassius.

"Only my first three years. Of course, I didn't get on the team until my 2nd year. But we defeated Gryffindor for the cup Sirius and Remus' final year." Cassius answered. Harry thought about it as he looked at Sirius, did he know the first years in the other houses? No, he didn't, but certainly if one had been his cousin, wouldn't he have known? Or cared?

"So you knew Lupin from school then?" Mrs. Weasley asked Cassius.

Cassius shook his head and Lupin answered "No, we never talked at school." He glanced at Sirius. "We met at Moody's. I knew Moody from the Order, in the old days, and Cassius was about a year into his auror training. Back then, Moody was in charge of training the aurors."

"It's a good thing he stopped, the newer aurors aren't as paranoid." Mr. Weasley said. "I remember when just walking up behind an auror in the hallway could get you put in a full body bind."

There was a muffled cough from Cassius. All the heads at the table swiveled to look at him. "I did that to Crane from Accounting yesterday."

"Really? Was he sneaking up on you?" Ginny asked excitedly. Harry noticed how everyone at the table leaned in to hear Cassius's response.

"No…he's just annoying and I knew he was behind me so I just…" Cassius waved his hand.

"Cass!" Lupin' tone sounded very much like Mrs. Weasley's when Fred and George got into trouble. "It's things like that why you don't get to have your wand in meetings! You can't just do that. You have to apologize tomorrow."

Red crept onto Cassius's cheeks. Harry watched as the auror who had seemed so scary changed to look like a chastened schoolboy.

"I can't."

"You can't."

"Not tomorrow."

"Why not tomorrow?"

"Because…I won't be in the office."

"Not in the office?"

"No"

"And where exactly will you be?"

"Home."

"Home."

"Yes"

"Doing what?"

"Cleaning"

"Cleaning."

"Yes. Remus, if you're going to repeat everything I say, this conversation is going to take forever."

"You're taking the day off from work to clean?" Lupin stared incredulously at Cassius. More red crept into Cassius's face but he didn't return the stare.

"Well, it's not so much taking a day off as…"

"As?"

"Being suspended."

"Suspended."

"Yes"

"For doing what?"

"I, um, blew up Minister Fudge…in a meeting"

"I thought you couldn't have your wand in meetings?"

"I didn't have my wand, I lost my temper."

"Lost your temper."

"Yes."

Lupin sighed. "What did you lose your temper about?"

"Fudge refuses to believe that Dumbledore is telling the truth about Voldemort and he's trying to discredit Dumbledore and ….Lucius has been hanging around the Ministry and…It has to be true that Voldemort is back, Lucius would never be so…"

Lupin shook his head but before he could say any more, Harry interjected "So you believe me?"

"Dumbledore believes you, Remus believes you, I believe you." Cassius looked directly at Harry, the statement made Harry feel good. Now that he knew most of the wizarding world thought he was crazy it mattered a lot to him when people believed him.

After dinner, Harry and Ron went up to the sitting room to play chess.

"So I hear you're keeping a hippogriff in Aunt's bedroom?" They could hear Cassius's voice as it passed the door.

"I thought it was the best room for him." Sirius replied sounding almost friendly.

"Could I see him?"

"Sure. Come on."

"I'll let you two go on." Lupin said as he entered the sitting room and sat down with a cup of tea.

"Trying to get them to be friendly?" Ron asked.

"It'd be nice – of course, maybe I should have made sure neither of them had their wands." Lupin smiled, Harry and Ron smiled back.

"Might have been a good idea." Ron said. "But Harry and I like him, don't we Harry?"

Harry nodded. Lupin's smile got broader. "I'm glad to hear that. Who's winning?"

"Ugh, do you need to ask?" Harry answered. Ron was very good at chess, but at least Harry was putting up a fight this time. Remus sat down to watch the match, sipping his tea.

"He's brilliant. And he was Hagrid's?" Cassius's voice was getting closer to the sitting room. He sounded happy.

"Yeah, he escaped with me. He was sentenced to death for hurting your nephew, Draco Malfoy." Sirius said the name with a sneer. Harry started – he had almost forgotten that Cassius was a Malfoy, he was so different than Draco and Lucius.

"Oh…that hippogriff. Yes…I heard about that." Cassius spoke slowly.

"The loving uncle probably agrees with the court's ruling." Sirius' voice was low and angry.

"Don't assume you know me." Cassius's voice was cool again, like it had been the first night.

"You are a Malfoy, there are some assumptions I feel safe in making." Sirius growled.

"And what would those assumptions be, Black?" There was a dangerous edge in Cassius's voice, as he came in the door and walked over to Lupin's chair.

"Malfoys are notorious for not taking no for an answer." Sirius stalked into the room and looked over at Lupin. "I think you forced Remus to mate with you."

The accusation hung in the air for a long moment. Harry was reminded of the saying 'you could have heard a pin drop,' he'd never had a moment like that until now.

"What?" Cassius and Lupin spoke together. Lupin sounded shocked and hurt but Cassius sounded angry and dangerous.

"Is it just me or did it get colder in here?" Ron whispered to Harry. Harry nodded as he shivered. Harry looked towards the fire but it was blazing larger than before, its flames licking the mantle. He looked around the room and he could see everyone's breath coming out in white puffs, like on a cold winter day. Cassius was looking at Sirius with a wild gleam in eyes that had turned completely black.

"Cass" Lupin jumped up and grabbed Cassius's right arm. Harry could see that Cassius was struggling to get out of Lupin's grip.

"I didn't force Remus to do anything. I am NOT my father." Cassius's voice vibrated with anger and hate. He stepped forward and it seemed as if Sirius was propelled back a step. "You'd like to think Remus pined away for you when you were in Azkaban but he thought you were guilty, a murderer, he hated you."

"Now he knows I'm innocent." Sirius growled but there was a bit of fear mingled with the defiance in his eyes. Cassius took another step, and Sirius was backed up to the wall. Cassius took another step and Sirius was backed up to the wall. Cassius struggled to get loose from Lupin's tight grasp to reach his wand so he could…could something…he'd decide once he had his wand in hand.

"Now it's too late." Cassius replied coldly, still struggling to get out of Lupin's grip. Sirius glared at him and arched an eyebrow, looking over at Remus. There was a faint glow around Cassius and the teacup Lupin had been drinking out of exploded into pieces. The chess pieces rattled on the board in front of Harry. They cried out in fright.

Lupin felt his stomach clench as he realized Sirius was baiting Cassius, trying to imply there was something between them with that look. He could feel energy gathering around Cassius's body. He had to calm down his mate before something drastic happened.

"Cassius, please." Lupin's hand grabbed Cassius's left shoulder. Harry watched as the wild look slowly left Cassius's eyes, replaced by something else, a look Harry couldn't read. There was a long pause as Cassius looked at Lupin.

"All right, Remus." Cassius said softly. Lupin released his arm. There was a loud crack and Cassius Disapparated. As soon as he was gone, the fire returned to normal, as did the room temperature.

"Sirius, I can't believe you would say that to him! That is an awful thing to accuse him of!" Lupin shouted.

"What?" Sirius tried to seem unconcerned.

"That Malfoy who didn't take no for an answer was Cassius's father. He raped Cassius's mother using the Imperious curse. He raped her until she conceived, he wanted another child after his wife died giving birth to Lucius."

"Oh…" Sirius looked uncomfortable.

"How many times were you judged when we were at school just because you were a Black? You hated that! Why can't you give Cassius a chance? He's nothing like the other Malfoys!"

"I…"Sirius started.

"And…now that I think about it, give me a little credit, will you? I wouldn't stay ten years with someone who raped me! I love him, even if he is a Malfoy. I thought you would understand…I thought you were my friend." Lupin sounded angrier than Harry had ever heard him.

Lupin rushed out of the room. Sirius sat down in a chair and put his head in his hands. Harry really wished he and Ron hadn't been in the room for this whole scene. He looked at Ron and they got up quietly and went to their room.

"Wow, remind me never to get Cassius mad at me." Ron said, with a shudder.

"Yeah, me too. I wonder if that's what happens when he's in those meetings at work." Harry tried to imagine a room full of aurors...

"And he didn't have his wand or anything." Ron said. "It was brilliant, I mean…if it hadn't been so scary."