Author's Notes: It seems I am about halfway through my storyline so never fear, the adventures of Remus and Cassius will be continuing for a while! :-)

Chapter 11 – Three Scenes

A few days before Halloween there was a rash of banshee sightings in Ireland. Kingsley had owled that Cassius needed to leave the next day to capture the banshee before any muggles were harmed. Remus was nervous about Cassius going because it meant he would have to perform a Patronus charm which Cassius couldn't do.  And Halloween was the anniversary of James and Lily's death and Sirius' betrayal which always meant that Remus was on edge. Remus fiddled with some papers on his desk. He'd been doing a special research project for Moody the past few weeks. Since his retirement, Moody had been able to become the powerful shadow Head Auror, but occasionally needed help to find out information on current activities within the department and the ministry. Moody would give Remus papers from the senior aurors and then Remus would compare and find the patterns within them. Moody paid Remus for the work so Remus was glad to do it. And it also gave him a challenge and something to do while Cassius was at work.

"But…you can't do a Patronus charm. " Remus' voice had a distinctly worried tone to it.

"Yes, I can." Cassius looked up from where he was adjusting the picture of his mother and him above his desk. Remus had found a lovely frame for it.

"Since when?" Remus whirled around.

"Since I caught The Banshee Moira…a few years ago - right after you turned 27. I'd been tracking her for 2 days and then she turned on me, shrieking, and I did a Patronus so I could drive her far enough away to stun her."

"You didn't tell me that!" Remus was astounded.

"Yes, I did."

"I'm sure I'd remember that."

"Well…I meant to tell you. I must have forgotten to tell you when I got home." Cassius walked over to Remus and gathered him into his arms. "Are you proud of me?"

"Yes." Remus gave his mate a slow kiss. "So…your patronus…what was it?"

"A…a wolf." Cassius flushed slightly.

"Really?" Remus smiled lovingly at his mate.

"Uh huh…can't imagine why." Cassius grinned back.

"And you had a memory that was happy enough to produce it?" Remus knew that had been the main stumbling block for Cassius doing a Patronus during auror training.

"Well…I thought about fucking you."

"Oh!" Remus felt shocked.

"Can't I think about sex when I do a charm? Is that something Flitwick would have mentioned because I don't remember a lot of his lectures." Cassius looked very earnest.

"No…I mean, yes, you can think about sex when you do a charm…I just…" Remus felt his face get hot.

"Oh, you're such a prude sometimes." Cassius laughed.

"I am not." Remus protested, although he knew it was true.

"Then have sex with me now, right here."

"We're in the library!" Remus' eyes grew wide.

"Of our house." Cassius stated matter of factly.

Remus searched for another excuse. "It's the middle of the day."

"So?" Cassius didn't look concerned.

"Tabby's…"

"Out visiting an old friend, you know that."

"She's due back for dinner."

"In four hours."

"Oh…"

"My desk or yours?"

"I…" Remus could feel his face flaming.

"Mine then. I don't care if the papers get messed up." Before Remus could respond, Cassius moved back over to his desk and swept the papers, books and scrolls onto the floor. "There." Cassius reached out and grabbed Remus' waist. He swiftly lifted Remus and set him on top of his desk. "Now. Take your sweater off."

"I…" Remus looked past Cassius, the sun was streaming in the window. He suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. They had been mated almost 6 years now but Remus still wasn't that comfortable being naked in front of Cassius – not unless it was dark or he was already in a haze of desire.

"Come on, lovely wife of mine." Cassius teased lightly before taking off his own t-shirt. He unbuttoned the button on his jeans. "Remus, I can't have sex with you if you have your clothes on." Cassius gave him a quick kiss. "Please?"

Remus forced his hands to move and pulled off his sweater and shirt at the same time. He held the clothes in his hands for a moment and then looked up into Cassius' eyes. They were already dilated with desire. Remus suddenly felt breathless. He threw the clothes to the floor and wrapped his arms around Cassius.

"I love you." He said fervently before pressing his lips to Cassius'. There was a muffled groan in reply as Cassius pulled Remus tightly to him. Their tongues twined together. Remus felt hands at his waistband, unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. Remus pulled himself slightly off the table so Cassius could pull off the rest of his clothes.  Cassius tore his mouth away from Remus'.

"I love you." Cassius' eyes glided over Remus' body. "You're so beautiful." His fingers stroked over the bite mark on Remus' shoulder. Remus drew in a sharp breath as a jolt of arousal ran through his body.

~~

"Happy Christmas." Cassius whispered into Remus' ear before kissing his neck.

"Mmm…" Remus snuggled into his mate's warmth. Suddenly his eyes snapped open. "When did you get home?"

"Just now."

"Oh, sweetheart. I missed you. Happy belated birthday" Cassius had been gone for several days and missed celebrating his 28th birthday at home as well as their 6th anniversary. "And happy anniversary."

"Damn dark wizards never take a holiday." Cassius tightened his arms around Remus.

"Did you find him?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"He resisted being taken in. He's dead." Cassius answered in a smooth cool voice.

"Did he hurt you?" Remus asked with concern. Cassius hated going to Saint Mungo's Hospital and often came home injured rather than going there.

"Just a bit."

"Let me see." Remus sat up quickly and lit the lamp next to the bed. Cassius always downplayed his injuries, so 'just a bit' was likely to be more than that. He turned and started unbuttoning Cassius' coat which he was still wearing.

"I missed you." Cassius' long fingers traced Remus' jaw.

"I missed you too." Remus let out a gasp as he saw the blood soaked shirt underneath Cassius' coat. "What happened?"

"He hexed me – can't remember what one he used. Hurts like hell though." Remus grabbed his wand and accioed the jar of healing salve from the bathroom cabinet. Cassius' fingers traced down the buttons of Remus' pajama top. "Where's my birthday present?"

"Downstairs…on the piano." Remus answered absently as he tore open Cassius' shirt revealing a nasty looking diagonal gash across his chest.  He waved his wand over it, there wasn't any internal bleeding, it seemed to be superficial – Cassius must have blocked the hex before it could do its worst.

"And my anniversary present?" Cassius slipped his hands around Remus' waist.

"Next to your birthday present." Remus smoothed the salve over the gash watching closely as the gash disappeared.

"Can I open them now?"

"No." Remus did a quick cleaning charm to get rid of the blood on Cassius' chest.

"Why not?"

"Because you're busy." Remus turned off the lamp before unbuttoning his pajama top and slipping out of his pajama pants.

"Doing what?" Remus could hear the smile in Cassius' voice.

"Giving me my anniversary present." Remus unbuttoned Cassius' pants and pulled down the zipper.

"Really? Rather hard to do that now since I hid it in the pantry."

"Then consider this my second anniversary present." Remus said, straddling his mate.

An hour late, Remus laid on top of Cassius, listening to his heartbeat.

"Now can I open my presents?" Cassius stroked Remus' back.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because now you have to snuggle with me."

"How long do I need to snuggle with you?" Cassius shifted his legs so that Remus laid between them.

"Till I say so." Remus tightened his arms around Cassius.

"I love you."

"I love you too…and you're still snuggling."

"Remus…" Cassius pulled Remus up his body so they were nose to nose. "I love you." He kissed Remus slowly. "My wife."

"Still snuggling." Remus said breathlessly when Cassius had broken the kiss.

"If I can't open my presents now…could we have another go?"

~~

Around the Spring Solstice,  Cassius took the day of Remus' transformation to visit the Ministry Records to see if he could find any living relatives of his mother's.  Remus had been bugging him about it, not letting him forget. After checking in with the head record keeper he went back into the archives. A moment later he had a large book of family trees in front of him, Maguire was referenced in over 20 of them. He is looking at the Potter Family tree, when he spotted the Maguire last name.

Lily Maguire Evans married James Potter. He flipped back to the Maguire family tree – there it was. Eleanor Maguire, his mother's sister, had married Harry Evans, a muggle. They had two daughters, Lily and Petunia. He had seen their names but hadn't immediately made the connection to Lily Potter… he had been at school with Lily although he didn't remember her from those years at all. He only knew her as part of 'James and Lily Potter,' the two close friends of Remus who had died during the dark times. And she was his cousin! The footnote stated that Eleanor was a squib. He looked back at the Potter family tree, at the name of Lily's child…he drew in a sharp breath. He is related to Harry Potter! Harry Potter!! Remus' best friend James' son! What would Remus say?

He quickly scanned the other family trees. There were no other living relatives of his mother. He walked slowly to Diagon Alley where he was meeting Stevens for lunch.  He walked into the Dusty Cauldron and spotted Stevens in a booth in a corner. He quickly did a silencing spell around their table and told Stevens his news.

"Small world, that. You being related to one of Remus' best friends." Stevens looked surprised.

"Yeah…I was thinking…that I wouldn't tell him. It'd just remind him of the murders…" Cassius started to chew his fingers.

"Well…you know him best. Would he really be that upset?" Stevens looked at Cassius. "Cassie. Stop." Cassius stopped chewing and put his hands in his lap.

"He always gets upset when they're mentioned…all of them, James, Lily, Sirius, Peter…Harry would just remind him."

"Just because things upset people doesn't mean they should be avoided. We've talked about that a thousand times. Just because you avoid talking about things that upset you doesn't mean other people don't like to discuss them."

"I know." Cassius muttered.

"So, you won't be telling him, then." Stevens arched an eyebrow at Cassius.

"It's not like I would ever tell Harry Potter that I'm related. What would I say? 'Hello, my father raped your mother's aunt and most probably killed her. How are you?' It's ludicrous."

"Mmm." Stevens looked down at his menu.

"And I'm a Malfoy - Harry scorned Draco right away, first day of school, the minute he heard who he was. So…he wouldn't want to be related to me."

"You're not a typical Malfoy." Stevens set his menu down. Cassius always wondered why Stevens even looked at the menu, he always got the same thing.

"But…"

"Look…I'm not going to tell you what to do…you're old enough, or so you tell me. But I will strongly recommend you tell Remus this news." Cassius was silent. "It'll save you a fight later. Mark my words."

"All right."

"So…did I tell you Portia dumped me?"

"Portia?  I thought you were dating Elspeth." Cassius sometimes had a hard time keeping track of Stevens' women, but he'd thought he was doing well lately.

"Oh…Elspeth, yes, well, no…she started dating Gordon, the seeker, a week ago."

"A week ago? Did you owl me about that?"

"Maybe not – I was on the road when it happened, some long Quidditch games." Stevens wasn't the best correspondent when he was on the road with his team.

"So when did you start dating Portia."

"Next day. And don't go all prudish on me. Back in the day, you didn't even let the body get dressed before moving on."

Cassius blushed. "Well…it's different now."