Chapter 12

A New Day

The next morning, Harry ate breakfast in the sunny kitchen. He had awoken to the smell of food wafting up the stairs. He could definitely get used to this.  Tabby had fixed toast, sausage, eggs, potatoes. There was pumpkin juice, milk and tea to drink. Tabby kept filling Harry's plate until he groaned and admitted he was full. Cassius got up and gulped the rest of his tea.

"I'm off then." Setting the cup down, he threaded his fingers through Remus' hair, leaned down and gave him a kiss, Tabby coughed and Cassius abruptly pulled back.  "Oh, sorry, Harry."

"I don't mind, I think it's sweet." Harry smiled.

"Aurors don't like to be called sweet." Cassius arched his eyebrow at Harry and tried to look threatening.  A year ago, that would have had an effect, now Cassius was his cousin, more than that, he was his guardian.

"Is there a rule against it, then?" Harry asked innocently.

Remus and Tabby started to laugh.

"I'll ask Moody to add it, I'm sure he'd agree." Cassius said between laughs as he pulled on his coat.

"Remember, you're having lunch at work because Harry and I are going to Hogsmeade. Play nice with the other aurors." Remus handed Cassius a lunchbox, and pushed him towards the fireplace.

"Do you need money, wife?" Cassius started reaching in his pocket.

"I already took it all, husband, you'll have to go to Gringotts and get more out today." Remus beamed ingenuously at Cassius.

"Tabby, could you go too?"  Cassius turned to Tabby who nodded silently.

"I love you." Remus gave him a quick kiss

"I love you." Cassius said as he grabbed some floo powder and threw it in the fire. "The Ministry" He shouted out and disappeared.

"Hogsmeade?" Harry asked

"Well, we were talking last night and we thought you needed to get some clothes that actually fit you. A new muggle clothing shop just opened in Hogsmeade – the clothes have spells on them, like self-cleaning spells and such. I thought we could have lunch there, too." Remus paused.  "You didn't have anything planned, did you?"

"No, that sounds wonderful." Harry said. He always enjoyed going to Hogsmeade and a shopping excursion sounded fun.

A few hours later, Remus, Harry and Tabby were sitting in the Three Broomsticks having lunch.  Remus and Tabby had been thrilled to spend Cassius' money on Harry.  Harry had six bags by his chair.  He'd never had so many new clothes in his life. Plus he had gotten a few posters for his room, as well as a lantern for his desk, and a few books to read. Tabby had decided Harry needed some chairs in his room as well so two upholstered rockers, or, as Tabby called them, comfy chairs were going to be delivered later that day.  "For when your friends come over." She had explained. "They sit in the chairs, you can sit on your bed, it's just not a big enough room for three chairs. You can always sit in the sitting room, but we thought you might want more privacy sometimes." Harry had agreed that two chairs was plenty. He'd never had any furniture bought for him before.

"Ah, Alastor, how nice to run into you." Remus looked up as Moody walked up to their table. 

"Remus, Harry, Bettina." Moody said gruffy as he sat down in the empty fourth chair.

"Mad-Eye." Tabby greeted Moody with a curt nod. "And how did you know we would be here?"

"I have my methods." Moody wiggled his brows at Tabby.

"Would that method be tall and blond?" Tabby replied tartly.

"I couldn't say." Moody responded with a smile.  It twisted his scarred face. Harry privately thought he looked better when he didn't smile. Harry looked over at Tabby and noticed a faint blush on her cheeks.

"They keep this place too warm for my liking." Tabby grumbled as she noticed Harry looking at her.  Harry looked at Remus who winked. Harry suddenly remembered a year ago at Grimmauld Place – Remus had said Cassius was matchmaking for Moody and the woman's name was Bettina. He must have meant Tabby. Harry winked back at Remus, letting him know he knew what was going on.

After lunch, Harry, Tabby and Remus returned to Windy Corner. Harry borrowed Remus' owl, Orlie, and sent Ron a message.

Ron,

You won't believe it!  Guess who my relative is: Cassius Malfoy! He's my cousin!  I'm living at Windy Corner now with him and Remus and Tabby – she's an animagus, remember the cat we saw? She's actually Professor Sprout's sister!  Remus says you can come over and visit, could you come for lunch tomorrow?  Send Hedwig back with Remus' owl and your answer! I'm going to see if Hermione can come too.

Harry

In a few hours, Hedwig and Orlie flew in the kitchen window with a letter from Ron. He couldn't believe the news and was coming for lunch tomorrow and wrote that Hermione had been staying at the Burrow so she would come as well. They were both very excited by Harry's news and couldn't wait to hear more.

It was a little past 11 o'clock on a Thursday morning, it was the start of Harry's fourth day at Windy Corner. Harry was lying in bed, planning what he would do for the day. Cassius had been gone since the morning of his second day. He was one of the aurors assigned to find Voldemort and Fudge was trying to make up for lost time by sending the best aurors after every tip that came in.  As he was trying to decide if he'd swim or take Buckbeak, who was now living at Windy Corner, for a ride, he heard heavy footsteps running up the stairs.

"Cassius Malfoy, don't clomp, you'll wake Remus and Harry!"  Harry could hear Tabby yelling crossly up the stairs.  He laughed, if they hadn't been awakened by the clomping, they both would have heard Tabby. The footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs, Harry figured Cassius went into Remus' and his bedroom. It was the day after the full moon and Remus was obviously still sleeping. Harry decided to get up.  He'd shower and by then it would be time for lunch, then he would take Buckbeak for a ride. After showering and getting dressed, Harry started down the hallway. He heard muffled moans coming from the bedroom on the right, the door wasn't closed all the way. He heard Cassius' voice float into the hallway.

"I missed you." Cassius sighed. "I hate being away for full moons." There was a pause, Harry thought they were probably kissing again. "How are you feeling?"

"I can't breathe." Remus sounded like he was suffocating.

"What?" Cassius sounded alarmed. Feeling worried about Remus, Harry looked into the room. Cassius was lying full length, still fully clothed, on top of Remus. Remus had his hands buried in Cassius' hair.

"You're crushing me." Remus started to laugh. Cassius looked relieved. "Other than feeling tired and a little sore, I'm fine." Cassius kissed him again, Harry could see his tongue sweep into Remus' mouth, before pulling away.

"Are you hungry?" Cassius asked energetically.

"Now that you mention it, I'm starving." Remus said arching his eyebrow.

"Me, too, let's go, it's almost Noon." Cassius rolled off Remus and helped him to sit up. Harry knocked on the open door.

"Hiya, Fosterling!" Cassius grinned excitedly at Harry as he got Remus' robe off the hook on the closet door. Remus was still sitting on the bed, looking tired and ill, his pajama top was unbuttoned at the top few buttons and Harry could see a gold necklace around Remus' neck with a gold ring hanging on it.

"Hi." Harry suddenly felt shy. Cassius helped Remus into the robe and then strode over to Harry and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, Harry actually felt his back crack.

"How are ya, Harry?" Cassius held Harry at arm's length and then ruffled Harry's hair.

"Is it me, Harry, or does Cassius seem really hyper?" Remus asked as he slowly stood up.

"Oh…well, I had about 6 cups of tea this morning." Cassius said, yanking off his coat.

"Ah. That explains it." Remus slowly walked towards the door.

"Do you need help?" Cassius was practically bouncing up and down.

"No, not from you, Harry can help me." Remus looked over at Harry who quickly nodded. "You run on ahead." Remus pushed weakly at Cassius. Cassius let himself be pushed out the door.  He clomped down the stairs.

"For goodness sake – Cassius Malfoy Lupin! Take those boots off! You are driving me mad with that clomping!" Tabby's annoyed voice floated up the stairs.

"I hope you don't mind, Harry. I move a little slowly the day after."

"Oh, no." Harry stuck out his arm. "May I?" He grinned.

"Thank you, Mister Potter." Remus looped his arm through Harry's and they slowly started on their way to the kitchen. Harry was about a head shorter than Remus. Tabby had commented that Harry fit right into their household, since Cassius was a head taller than Remus and Tabby was a head shorter than Harry.

"Is your ring like the one Cassius has…you know?" Harry asked, waving his free hand towards his own chest.

"Yes. He doesn't wear it on his hand, because it's a secret. When I transform I can't wear it on my hand either so…" Remus answered, gesturing to the necklace. "During the rest of the month I wear it on my hand. It's a Lupin family ring. It's a tradition in pure-blood families to have family rings, some of them are quite fancy. The Malfoy ones have the family crest engraved on them, like a signet ring.  Cassius' Malfoy ring is up in a trunk somewhere if you ever want to see it. Lupin ones just have the motto engraved around the outside."

"So they aren't just for married people?" Harry asked.

"No, they're for the whole family. They're used as wedding rings to show the new allegiance to the family the woman, or man, has married into. And they're given to the children when they come of age – to show their place in the family."

Harry and Remus entered the kitchen. Tabby bustled about the table, setting platters with sandwiches, pasta salad and fruit in the center of the table.  Cassius already was sitting on one bench, facing the fireplace.

"Remus and Harry, sit on this side, otherwise Cassius will be shaking you all over the place." Tabby said, glaring over at Cassius. Harry noticed that Cassius' leg was bouncing up and down.

"How was the shopping trip to Hogsmeade?" Cassius asked as he grabbed a sandwich and started eating.

"It was great! I got so many new clothes, and posters, and books, and two chairs for my room, and we had lunch with Moody at the Three Broomsticks."  Harry said excitedly

"You'll have to show me, I wish I could have gone too – I spent the past couple days in a rainy forest in Poland – not much fun."

"You didn't find anything?" Remus asked as he sipped his tea.

"Nothing really." Cassius took another bite of sandwich. "What else did I miss, Harry?"

"Ron and Hermione came over for lunch yesterday. It was a lot of fun. We played in the swimming hole. And we played wizard chess. And Hermione can play the piano! They're coming for Sunday dinner."

"I thought we would eat in the dining room, we could start having formal Sunday dinners." Remus said.

"Sounds fine…I'll owl Moody and see if he wants to join us." Cassius said casually as he reached for his tea. Harry looked at Remus and Cassius who were both looking at their plates, eating deliberately. Harry noticed Remus' mouth twitch. Harry risked a glance at Tabby, there was a slight pink tinge to her cheeks but she didn't say a word.

"I thought Stevens and Clara could come as well." Remus said.

"Good idea. It'd be a nice family tradition to start, right, Harry?" Cassius smiled warmly over at Harry.

Author's Notes: I haven't done a disclaimer in a while so here it is: JK Rowling owns everything Harry Potter.  I made up Cassius Malfoy, Windy Corner, Tabby, the muggle clothing shop in Hogsmeade and the wizard family rings. And I am making NO money (just a poor college student, that's me!)