Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything Harry Potter, I just own Cassius Malfoy – although I am not making any money!
Chapter 5
It was the day after Harry's hearing. He was just coming down the stairs to go to the kitchen for a snack when Kreacher shoved past him, running towards the door. Harry wondered if Kreacher had finally gone completely mad, there hadn't even been a knock. Kreacher opened the door and bowed low. Cassius entered. Harry waved hello to him, careful not to wake Mrs. Black.
"Hello, Aunt" Cassius peeked behind the curtains in front of Mrs. Black's portrait. There were murmurs of a conversation, Harry didn't get close enough to hear, he didn't want Mrs. Black to start shouting at him. After a few moments, Cassius stepped away from the portrait and made sure the curtains were shut.
"Hi, Harry." Cassius smiled and his eyes smiled into Harry's. Cassius' eyes weren't the same pale grey color as Lucius Malfoy's, Harry supposed that was because they had different mothers.
"Why do you talk to her? She's horrible." Harry asked as they walked down to the kitchen.
"I had to put a spell on her, before this became the Order's headquarters. She's in a portrait at Malfoy Manor and we needed to be sure she couldn't leave to tell Lucius that Black was living here. The spell requires that she listen to the person who enchants her…so I have to remain friendly." Cassius shrugged as he unbuttoned his long black coat, underneath he was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and black pants. Cassius always wore muggle clothing, Harry thought it was probably deliberate since the rest of the Malfoys hated muggles.
"Is that how she knew about you and Lupin?" Harry asked. Ever since overhearing the conversation with the portrait the evening of Cassius' first visit, Harry had been curious to know how Mrs. Black had known about their relationship.
"Yes, he was here after I cast the spell. We had a…discussion that she must have overheard." They walked through the doorway of the kitchen. Sirius and Lupin were sitting at the kitchen table talking. Lupin turned and greeted Harry and Cassius with a smile. Sirius smiled at Harry but didn't look at Cassius. Harry sensed Cassius becoming distant and cool as he stood next to him. "I heard the charges were dismissed against you." Cassius reached into a coat pocket and produced a small wrapped package which he shoved into Harry's hand. "I got this for you."
"Come sit down." Lupin got up from the table and crossed over to Cassius and Harry. Cassius glanced at Sirius and then looked back at Lupin and shook his head.
"You have to stay for the meeting, remember? Dumbledore told you that you needed to attend." Lupin reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the table. Cassius followed reluctantly.
"So what's the present, Harry?" Sirius asked gruffly, not looking at Cassius.
"Should I open it now?" Harry asked Cassius.
Cassius shrugged, his eyes downcast. Lupin still had hold of his left hand. Cassius' thumb rubbed Lupin's hand, Lupin leaned over and whispered something in his ear, then looked over at Sirius, raising one eyebrow and nodding towards Cassius. Sirius gave a slight grimace and then spoke. "I'm sorry, for what I said the other night." Cassius' eyes flew up and looked hard at Sirius. "I didn't mean it, I lost my temper."
Cassius looked over at Lupin, who smiled at him and nodded. Cassius looked back at Sirius without saying a word. The silence stretched longer.
"So… now we can all be friends…or friendly, at least." Lupin looked back and forth between them.
"Black, I will be friendly to you because Remus wishes it. But, understand me, that is the only reason." Cassius' voice was smooth and icy. Sirius nodded, glaring back at him. Lupin looked over at Harry who tried to smile encouragingly. At least it was a start. Harry ripped open the wrapping on the present. He figured that would give them all something else to focus on. It was a small mirror with blurry figures floating in it. Harry tilted the mirror trying to get the figures in focus.
"It's a.." Cassius started. "…A foe glass!" Harry finished. Harry had seen one in Professor Moody's office last school year. "It's brilliant! Thanks!" He jumped up and threw his arms around Cassius. Cassius froze. Harry suddenly realized he was being too familiar, he had only met Cassius twice before, even though it seemed as though he had known him a long time. Harry straightened and sat back down.
"How does it work, exactly?" Harry asked as he peered into the glass. Cassius launched into a detailed explanation.
Sirius and Lupin watched while Harry and Cassius talked about the foe glass and other tools aurors use. Cassius was true to his word and was friendly towards Sirius. His voice was always silky and polite, he sounded very much like Lucius Malfoy. Harry liked it better when Cassius let the Malfoy mask slip, like he had on his other two visits. Harry hoped that once more time had passed since the argument that Cassius would grow more comfortable around Sirius.
They heard the front door open, there was a clatter in the hallway and Mrs. Black started her screeching.
"Does she do that often?" Cassius looked towards the doorway.
"If by 'often' you mean anytime someone makes a noise in the hallway, then yes." Sirius said sarcastically.
Cassius stood up and strode out of the kitchen, reaching in his coat pocket.
"What's he going to do?" Harry asked Lupin inquisitively.
"I have no idea." Lupin answered.
The next moment Mrs. Black stopped mid-scream. Mrs. Weasley came into the kitchen a couple minutes later followed by Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny and Cassius. Mrs. Weasley bustled about the kitchen putting away her purchases. They had gone to Diagon Alley for the afternoon. There was a knock at the door, Mrs. Black didn't make a sound, Mrs. Weasley went to open it.
"Use your normal voice in the hallway." Cassius addressed Mrs. Weasley as she left the kitchen, he was standing next to the doorway with his back to the wall. Mrs. Weasley nodded.
They could hear the front door open, and could hear Mrs. Weasley greet the visitors but Mrs. Black didn't yell or scream. There was another knock and the door opened yet again and there were more voices in the hallway and still Mrs. Black stayed silent. Dumbledore, Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Tonks, and Mundingus Fletcher walked into the kitchen followed by Mrs. Weasley.
Sirius looked at him gratefully. "I wish you'd done that months ago."
"I didn't realize she did that, or I would have." Cassius said coolly, not moving closer to the table.
"What did you say to her?" Sirius asked curiously.
"I told her that I would have someone come and restore her if she stopped the yelling."
"That did it?" Sirius looked skeptical.
"Don't you remember how vain she was?" Cassius answered with a shrug. Harry could tell the arrival of the other Order members was having an effect.
"Now, children, upstairs, the meeting is about to begin." Mrs. Weasley herded them out of the kitchen there was another knock on the door. They retreated upstairs, passing Bill and Mr. Weasley on the stairs. Harry showed off his new foe glass. Hermione didn't know much about it, so for once Harry felt like the know it all. An hour later, they could hear that the meeting was over, the front door had already opened and closed once. They went out onto the landing.
"Lovely seeing you, Professor Snape!" Fred called down to where Snape was standing just about to open the front door. He glared up to where they were all standing.
"It's amazing! She still didn't yell!" Ron sounded impressed.
"Now if he can just do something about Kreacher." George said, looking thoughtful.
"Leave Kreacher alone, he's…" Hermione started."We know, Hermione." Ron said impatiently, cutting her off.
"Children, dinner!" Mrs. Weasley called up to them as she walked back down to the kitchen. Harry once again wondered why Dumbledore had left without speaking or even looking at him.
They all trooped into the kitchen. Cassius was standing next to Lupin near the doorway. They were talking in low voices. As Harry walked by he could hear Cassius say "…don't look like you're eating enough." Harry smiled, he could imagine similar conversations happened often, since Lupin often looked ill and weak due to his lycanthropy.
Tonks was already sitting at the table, Ginny and Hermione sat down opposite her, Fred and George sat on either side of her. Ron sat next to Hermione and waved Harry to sit beside him.
"Hello, Tonks!" George said cheerfully. Tonks looked a little stunned."Something happen?" Ginny asked curiously.
"Just something in the meeting." Tonks replied. Sirius sat down at the table next to Harry.
"What happened at the meeting? Anything you can tell us?" Harry asked his godfather hopefully.
"Dumbledore told everyone about Remus and Cassius, that they are mates. No one knew, except Moody and Shacklebolt, most of them didn't even know he was a member of the Order." Sirius replied. "Tonight was the first meeting he's been able to attend."
"We already knew about Remus and him." Ginny said looking smug. It was rare that they knew something the members of the Order didn't.
"You did??" Tonks looked at them all, they nodded.
"A couple weeks ago, he came over for dinner and we found out." Ron said, leaving out that they had all overheard it by accident.
"You should have seen Snape's face tonight! He blurted out 'How?!'" Sirius imitated how Snape had sounded, causing them all to laugh. "Cassius told him it involved nakedness like all sex, then he stopped and said, in that damn cold voice of his, 'oh Snape, I forgot' - and was about to elaborate when Remus stopped him." Sirius was grinning. "Snape's face was so red. I haven't laughed so hard…" He started to laugh again at the memory.
"He's just so…scary…and Remus is, well, not. I mean, I know he's a werewolf, but he's so kind and smart." Tonks shook her head. "Of course, if Remus loves him…It's just …I've worked two desks over from him for a year and he's never said more than five words to me that whole time! He just looks at me down that long Malfoy nose. I always thought it was 'cause my dad's a muggle - although he's not really chatty to anyone now I think about it - but if he's married to a werewolf…"
"I think he's shy." Harry blurted out. Six pairs of eyes stared at him. "I mean, he's always judged by being a Malfoy, it's not like he can hide how he looks, or who his family is..." He trailed off. After first meeting Cassius, Harry had thought about why Cassius hadn't stared or even looked at his scar. He came to the conclusion that Cassius probably knew how it felt to be judged on appearances.
"He called Fudge a git, and that's good enough for me. I like him." Fred stated, George nodded in agreement.
"He did?" Tonks looked even more surprised. "Of course, I know he loses his temper, I've heard about it, it's supposed to be dead scary."
Harry and Ron looked at each other. They remembered the night the prior week when they had seen Cassius lose his temper at Sirius. They hadn't told anyone about it – choosing to keep it to themselves.
"Well, my boy, you ready?" Moody stood up from his chair where he'd been talking with Mr. Weasley and started to walk to the doorway.
"Alastor, are you sure you won't stay for dinner?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"No, no, Cass and me are having dinner, but thank you." Moody answered.
Tonks' jaw dropped, Harry turned to see what she was looking at and saw Cassius and Lupin in the middle of a deep kiss. Moody thumped Cassius on the back.
"Come along now, I don't have all evening." He said grouchily, not seeming to care what he was interrupting. Cassius broke the kiss reluctantly. Lupin's face was flushed.
"Good night, all." Moody addressed the room and then walked out the doorway. Harry could hear him walking up the stairs, his wooden leg making a clunking sound every other step. Cassius leaned down again, he was almost a head taller than Lupin, and whispered something that made Lupin laugh before turning and leaving the room without saying another word.
Lupin walked over to the table and sat down next to Mrs. Weasley. She turned to him, "I am under strict orders to make sure you eat everything on your plate, so don't get cranky with me, complain to your husband." She loaded Lupin's plate.
"What was so funny?" Harry asked Lupin, he couldn't help asking. It had been nice to see Lupin laugh.
"Oh, Cassius is trying to be a matchmaker." Lupin said with a grin.
"With who? Moody?" Ginny sounded incredulous.
"Moody's like a father to Cass, a father he loves and who loves him – and he's trying to fix something that he thinks Moody messed up." Lupin explained. "He's not as cold as you think he is, Tonks." He added as he noticed Tonks once again had a surprised look on her face.
"So where are they having dinner and with whom?" Fred asked.
"At home, our home – Windy Corner, that's where we live – the lucky woman is meeting them there." Lupin grinned wider.
"And is she as crazy as Moody?" George asked.
"Just about – they make a perfect pair, they just have to admit it.""How long has Cassius been working on this?" Hermione asked.
"Um…a couple years. He forgets every once in a while and his job gets in the way. Moody and Bettina are stubborn – and they've both caught on to Cassius' plotting so now I think they are just being difficult to drive him crazy."