Chapter 19 – Love, Memories and Malfoys

As the portrait swung shut behind Harry, Ron and Hermione, Remus took Cassius' hand and started towards the bedroom.  Cassius quickly encircled Remus with his other arm. "Finally, alone." He whispered as he kissed Remus' neck.

"Don't try that with me, Dad, you need to sleep." Remus tried to keep his voice firm which was difficult as Cassius slipped his warm hands under Remus' shirt.

"I can sleep later, Papa." Cassius murmured against his neck. Now they were in the bedroom. Cassius pulled away and took off his shirt, his muscles rippling as his arms raised over his head. Remus felt his mouth go dry. Cassius started unbuttoning his jeans.

"Take your clothes off, please, Remus."  Cassius arched his eyebrow at Remus.

Remus couldn't speak, he just nodded and started to jerk off his own clothes starting with his sweater. Cassius pulled his jeans off along with his boxers. He stepped towards Remus "You're so slow." He teased. Remus wrapped his arms  around Cassius' neck. Cassius straightened and lifted Remus up off the floor, Remus waited for the inevitable comment about how easy he was to pick up, Cassius was always trying to get Remus to eat more. "I love you." Cassius rubbed his nose against Remus'. Remus smiled.

"No comment about my weight?"

"No…I…"

"What?"

"I'm just glad you're here." Cassius tilted his head to the side and kissed Remus briefly.

"I'm glad I'm here too." Remus smiled. Cassius lowered him back to the floor.

"Now, get the rest of your clothes off and get into bed, before you freeze." Cassius hopped into bed and snuggled down under the covers. Remus took off his pants and joined his mate under the thick quilt. He laid down on his back and Cassius quickly moved to rest his head on Remus' chest, his hand traced a pattern over Remus' heart before resting his hand on it. Remus ran his hand through Cassius' hair, they laid there for a few moments, Remus began to think that Cassius had fallen asleep.

"Do you think it's more stress for Harry for me to be here?" Cassius asked softly.

"What? Because of Draco, you mean?"

Cassius raised his head up. "Because I have to pretend not to know him – I mean we only had a few months together this summer, and he still has so much to deal with, I don't want to make it harder. I shouldn't have said yes."

"Why did you say yes?" Remus smoothed Cassius' hair away from his forehead.

"Audra flooed over to the ministry and we were talking and I wasn't paying attention and next thing I knew she was hugging me, thanking me for teaching her class so she could visit her sick aunt." Cassius made a face. Remus tried not to laugh, Cassius looked so miserable.

"Well – try to not channel your father anymore….just act like you do at work. If you do that and we're able to see Harry in the evenings, I think he'll be fine." Remus threaded his hand through Cassius' hair. "It's not for long, is it?"

"No, should be just a week, maybe a little longer." Cassius said, "Fudge did it as a favor to Audra, she was one of his favorites, but he doesn't want me gone too long. We still don't know where Voldemort is, or what he's up to."

"And this is good because I can visit at night, so you can sleep. I worry about all these long assignments you're on lately." Remus pulled Cassius' face closer and kissed him.

"Hmm...if you're here I don't know that I'll want to sleep." Cassius said slyly as he broke the kiss.

"I suppose waiting to sleep for a little longer wouldn't hurt you." Remus stroked his other hand down Cassius' chest, pulling at the ring that pierced Cassius' nipple.  Cassius gasped then crushed his mouth against Remus'. His tongue twined with Remus'. Remus could feel Cassius' hard length against his thigh, he pushed his hips up. Cassius groaned. Remus pushed at Cassius' shoulder.  "Roll over" He whispered.

Cassius obeyed quickly.  Remus kissed Cassius and then moved down, kissing his neck, his shoulder, kissing and licking over the bite mark, causing Cassius to shudder and gasp. He moved down to capture the ring in his mouth. Cassius' hand grabbed the back of Remus' head, clutching his hair. Remus could hear Cassius panting, muttering something incoherently. Remus moved one hand up to trace around the bite mark on Cassius' shoulder while his other hand moved down Cassius' side, stroking down to his groin. Cassius bucked up into Remus' hand. Remus continued to suck at the ring while his fingers stroked the bite mark. Cassius moaned his name. Remus released the ring and trailed wet kisses down Cassius' stomach, finally reaching his goal. It took just a few minutes before Cassius came.  Remus moved back up Cassius' body, snuggling close to him, burying his face in Cassius' neck.

"I love you." Cassius turned and kissed Remus tenderly.

"I love you." Remus kissed him again.  A few minutes later they were both asleep.

The next morning at breakfast, Cassius sat next to McGonagall at the staff table.  He was wearing muggle clothing, all black as usual, which set off his pale blond hair. Harry thought he looked much more comfortable. He smiled at something she said and Harry could hear the comments ripple down the Gryffindor table.  "He's so good looking." "Look at that smile!"  "Wow! I thought Professor Lockhart was cute, but he's nothing compared to Auror Malfoy!" "And he's single!" "My mum works at the Ministry and says he never smiles." "Maybe he likes McGonagall."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry who was trying not to laugh.  He would have to remember these comments to tease his Dad with. With the promise of being able to see his parents every night, having Auror Malfoy as a teacher didn't seem so bad now.

The 6th years didn't have DADA that day but Harry went to Cassius' rooms at 8 alone to see his Dad and Papa.  He couldn't wait to tell Dad that all the girls (except Hermione and Ginny) at Hogwarts had crushes on him and a fair number of boys as well. Predictably, Cassius turned beet red and Remus laughed.

The next class, Cassius wasn't quite as horrid. In fact, as the class wore on, the main difference that Harry noted between Auror Malfoy and Dad was that Auror Malfoy was less talkative than Dad, he didn't smile and he didn't acknowledge Harry. The icy cold voice was gone now, instead the voice was smooth and silky. This must be what Cassius was like at work, Harry figured.  They reviewed the steps of the Patronus charm and then they had handed in the memories. Harry had thought about it a long time and decided his happiest memory was his birthday party, specifically when Remus and Cassius had given him his Lupin family ring, which he wore proudly on the index finger of his left hand, just like Papa. Hermione wouldn't let Harry or Ron look at her memory and blushed scarlet when Harry asked if it had something to do with Ron. He wondered when something had happened between the two of them.  Sometimes it seemed as if something was going on, but Harry was never sure. Ron's best memory was his first win as keeper the last school year. When Ron had told them, Hermione had muttered something under her breath that sounded to Harry like "Quidditch, honestly!"

Cassius had assigned a chapter in the book on banshees for the class to read while he reviewed the memories.  Harry watched surreptitiously until he saw Cassius pick up his scroll.  Cassius' eyes scanned across the writing quickly. Harry noticed a muscle in Cassius' jaw clench. Cassius picked up his quill and made a note on the scroll, he'd been writing short notes on other students scrolls' so Harry looked back down at his book. He'd read the first paragraph of the first page when suddenly, messy writing appeared across the pages of his book. He had to look it over several times to be able to read it.

You make me happy too.

Harry smiled down at his book.  The writing faded, replaced by another scrawling message, which looked a little clearer, like Cassius had tried harder to make it so.

Start reading!  Have you read anything yet?

Harry shook his head once. Another word appeared

Gryffindors!!

Harry had to swallow a laugh quickly. Cassius stood up from the desk. 

"I have reviewed all of your memories.  I have some comments which I have written down, please read them and make the appropriate changes. I have asked a few of you to  come and see me, please make arrangements to meet with me individually." Cassius waved his hand and the scrolls flew back to their owners. There were some gasps of amazement because Cassius hadn't used his wand. Cassius sat back down and the students opened their scrolls, some eagerly, some reluctantly.  Hermione gazed down at hers and then looked at Harry.

"I can't even read his writing – can you?" 

Harry looked down at his scroll, there weren't any notes on his.

"Let me see if I can read what he wrote." Harry held his hand out to Hermione. She looked as if she was being tortured but she let Harry look at her scroll in order to read Cassius' comments.  He tried not to read what she had written. "I think…yes, that's 'fine.' Then…'More detail' here.  And…'Focus on the colors.' Ron, can you read yours?"  Ron shook his head. Harry looked at Ron's, there were similar comments to Hermione's.

Harry looked over at Draco and noticed that he was helping the Slytherins decipher Cassius' writing.  Harry felt a surge of anger that Draco was familiar enough with it to be able to read it easily, it took Harry several minutes to decipher the messy writing.

"Harry – do you think you could read what he put on mine?" Neville walked over to their table.  Harry noticed Lavender and Pavarti had gone over to Draco. Seamus and Dean were helping each other.

"Sure." Harry looked at Neville's scroll.  Across the top was Cassius' scrawling writing: Please see me. "He wants to see you."

Neville didn't respond.

"Oh, Go on, Neville, he's not as bad as Snape, is he?" Ron said encouragingly.

"No - it's not that – he's been to dinner a few times, he's nice in a cold way…. He has my dad's old desk at the Ministry…came to visit after he started, found some stuff in the drawers.  I just…I don't think I have a happy memory, that's all." Neville shrugged.

Harry couldn't think of anything to say…he patted Neville on the shoulder awkwardly, he knew Cassius understood, more than Neville knew.

Later in the afternoon, Harry was walking towards the library when he saw two tall blonds talking in the corridor in front of him.  Great, he thought sarcastically to himself, double the Malfoys, double the fun. As he walked up, he could hear their conversation.

"…always gone. Mother doesn't know where." Draco sounded worried.

"He's had a hard time, it's understandable he'd want to be alone." Cassius responded smoothly.

"But I don't think he is alone – I think he goes…" Draco cut off as Harry got closer. "Potter." Draco sneered. "All alone? Where are the mudblood and the weasel?"

"I'm meeting them in the library." Harry replied with a sneer of his own.  Cassius looked down at him and then over to Draco.

"Voldemort is a mudblood – you should think about that, Draco. Your father conveniently likes to forget it." Cassius' voice was cool.

"I…." Draco stared at his uncle. "I…didn't know."

"His father was a muggle. Look it up in the library. And don't use that word, say muggle-born." Cassius's voice had a sharp edge of anger in it, he turned and walked quickly past Harry and down the hall. As he passed Harry could feel a wave of energy roll off his Dad. He glanced over at Draco and knew he had noticed it too. The two boys stood silently in the corridor. Draco stood watching his uncle walk away. Harry stood there too – uncertain of what to do…he wanted to get away from Draco, but he was also curious to see if Draco would say anything else.

"What hypocrites Voldemort and your dad are, huh?" Harry couldn't resist saying something as the silence dragged on.

"Shut it, Potter." The reply came automatically and with none of Draco's usual venom. He walked off quickly towards the library.  Harry slowly followed, party because he was supposed to meet Hermione and Ron in the library anyway but partly because he wanted to know if Draco really would check to see if Cassius was right.

Harry spotted Ginny – Hermione and Ron were nowhere to be seen. Harry quickly told Ginny what had happened in the corridor.

"Where's Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked as they both tried to watch where Draco went.

"They're studying." Ginny said with a smile. "Hermione said to ask you about your potions essay."

"I have it about halfway done." Harry said.

"She said to remind you that it's due tomorrow!" Ginny looked over at Harry, her blue eyes twinkling.