Author's Notes: Again, I own nothing related to Harry Potter, and I made Cassius Malfoy up.

Oh, and this chapter happens during the Christmas holiday that Harry and the rest of the Weasleys spend at Grimmauld Place – currently Mr. Weasley is still recovering from the snake bite. I'm not going to retell everything that happens in OOTP, so just assume that everything that happens in the book, also happens in my story. So, Remus and Cassius are a couple, but Remus still stays at Grimmauld Place a lot of the time, to keep Sirius company.

Chapter 8 

Christmas at Grimmauld Place

Mr. Weasley was getting better every day.  Harry still felt weird about having witnessed – or rather been inside of the snake – during the attack.  But everyday that Mr. Weasley improved, Harry felt a little better about it.  He and Sirius were sitting in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. He heard Kreacher run to the door and open it.  It had to be Cassius, he was the only person who Kreacher opened the door for.

Cassius walked into the kitchen. 

"Where have you been?  Remus has been worried sick!" Sirius said accusingly. Cassius hadn't been heard from in over 10 days, and had been gone for nearly a month.

"I can't tell you… Where's Remus?" Cassius answered civilly.

"He's in his room, it's the full moon." Sirius growled. A howl echoed through the house, as if on cue.

"Where exactly is his room?" Cassius asked. "I came to see him."

"It's on the third floor, second door on the left." Sirius answered. Another howl came from upstairs.  Cassius turned and started to leave the kitchen.

"But it's not safe for you – he's a werewolf." Harry said with alarm.

"If he'd had the wolfsbane, I'll be safe, and I have my wand just in case." A third howl echoed through the house, followed by a series of thumps. "Don't worry, Harry." Yet another howl echoed down the stairs followed by a loud crack. "He'll break through the door soon, I'll be back in a moment." Cassius spoke casually but Harry noticed him pulling his wand out of his pocket as he strode out of the kitchen. Harry could hear the front door opening and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Moody entered the kitchen a few moments later. Mrs. Weasley gave Harry and Sirius the update about Mr. Weasley's condition, he was doing better but the bite was still bleeding when the bandages came off.  The healers were sure they would find something to stop the bleeding soon.

"So, you're finally back." Moody glared over at Cassius as he walked into the kitchen.

"Remus has hardly eaten for over a week." Sirius glared accusingly at Cassius. "You shouldn't worry him like that."

"I don't have a choice." Cassius responded curtly. "I need to get back to the Ministry and file a report."

"Can't you stay for dinner?" Harry asked.  He hadn't seen Cassius since summer, and suddenly Harry felt like he wanted to spend a little more time with him.

"You need to eat." Moody agreed. Harry noticed then that Cassius looked thinner than he had during the summer.

"Well…I suppose it won't hurt if I stayed for a little while… if it's all right with you, Molly?" Cassius smiled.

"Of course! We're happy to have you join us. We were all worried about you." Mrs. Weasley said kindly.

"Never worry about a Malfoy, Molly, we're like cats, we always land on our feet… I heard about Arthur, I'm very glad to hear he'll be all right."

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Dinner will be just a moment." She continued bustling about the kitchen and in a moment food was on the table.

"So, Cassius, we can call you Cassius, can't we?" Fred inquired.

"You've done it already and nothing bad has happened, has it?" Cassius replied, arching his eyebrow at them. Encouraged by that, the twins grinned at each other.

"We were just wondering - we've heard from Dad about you getting suspended." George started. "We know the reason for one, and we'd like to know why, and when, and how for the other two." Fred finished.

"Boys! That is a very rude question. I am sure…." Mrs. Weasley sounded aggravated.

"It's all right, I don't mind…." Cassius paused and had a bite to eat. "The first time I was suspended - I don't remember the exact date…it was the day after Sirius attacked the portrait of the Fat Lady at Hogwarts."

Sirius looked surprised. 

"I lost my temper when Kingsley told me I couldn't go to Hogwarts. I can't remember what hex I used -  he could probably tell you.  We're friends so he understood but there were witnesses so I had to be suspended."

"And you wanted to go to Hogwarts to catch Sirius?" Ginny asked.

"No, not exactly. Remus was there, and I thought…I thought Sirius had betrayed his other friends…I mean, that's what everyone thought at the time…so I thought he would hurt Remus." Cassius finished in a rush.

"I would never hurt Remus." Sirius said indignantly.

"I'm not a mind-reader, I didn't know." Cassius replied evenly. "All I knew was …everyone thought you were a murderer…. Now I know otherwise." Sirius looked thoughtful, but not angry.

"So, when was the second time?" Fred asked quickly.

"In a staff meeting, it was the night Sirius was caught at Hogwarts. We'd gotten an owl explaining Snape's story that Sirius and Remus had been collaborating and that they'd captured Sirius but Remus was in the Forbidden Forest. Fudge Apparated back and told us that he wanted Remus sent to Azkaban once he was human again…" Cassius trailed off.

"And??" George prompted after a moment's silence.

"The table in the staff room flew across the floor and smashed against the wall."

"Because you…?" Ron asked.

"Used a charm – I guess… I had my wand in my hand and I said something and twirled my wand.  I don't know how I did it really." Cassius shrugged. Moody laughed – it was an odd, rusty, coughing cackle. Harry wondered why that was funny.

"Fortunately, Fudge had also just told us Sirius had escaped so I tried to make it seem like I was angry that Sirius had gotten away… Dumbledore wrote later and vouched for Remus' character and that seemed to satisfy Fudge, so he dropped the idea. Anyway, after that, I couldn't have my wand in meetings anymore. Which is really hard because of rule number 2."

"What's that?" Hermione asked

"Always have your wand." Cassius answered. "Kingsley's nice about it though, he keeps it on him so if something happened I could have it back quickly.  Fudge wanted Security to confiscate it whenever I was at the Ministry, but Kingsley convinced him that wasn't a good idea. He was trained by Moody so he understands the rules."

"But you were able to blow up Fudge this summer without your wand." Harry said slowly.

"Well, some wizards, and witches, can do wandless magic when they lose their tempers or when they're feeling any particularly strong emotion. You've done it, Harry, when you blew up your aunt." Cassius grinned. "I heard about that from Kingsley after I did the same thing to Fudge. You've probably done wandless magic other times too." Cassius said. "With practice, you can learn to control it and actually do some spells without your wand.  I can usually summon something without my wand, which is useful, let me tell you when you're in a fight and the other person has got your wand."

The rest of dinner passed with idle conversation.  Harry and the other children got up from the table and started to head upstairs.

"Harry, I know I don't know you very well but…" He paused and looked over at Sirius, then seemed to reconsider what he was going to say. "Take care, Harry. Good bye." He nodded to the rest of them and he strode out of the kitchen.  Harry wondered what he had been going to say.

Author's Note: it's just a little scene, nothing really happens but I just wanted to build some character stuff – so…stay tuned for Chapter 9!