Author's Note: This chapter and the next are going to span a year, more or less. Some of it will take place concurrent with the events of Book Two (Chamber of Secrets). It's just a series of scenes. Enjoy!

Chapter 13 - A Year in the Life – Part One

Remus had been working for two weeks when he ran into Cassius in the lift at the Ministry. He and Aspasia were going to a meeting with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department. Aspasia greeted Cassius and introduced him to Remus. Cassius nodded coolly but didn't speak or extend his hand in greeting. Remus could barely contain the urge to throw himself at his mate, but Cassius didn't seem affected at all.

"We've met, actually." Remus said with a smile. Cassius raised an eyebrow but didn't speak. "At Alastor Moody's, years ago, I think you were still training to be an auror."

Cassius didn't say a word in reply. Remus felt the vague urge to kick him to see if that would get a response.

After Cassius got off the lift a few floors later, Aspasia turned to Remus. "Don't be insulted, dear, he never shakes anyone's hand…hardly talks either."

"Really?" Remus asked, curious to know more about how his mate acted at work. "You know him well?"

"No, not well…As you know, Gandalf is an auror, so I've been to the department parties every year for the past…oh…27 years. Of course, Auror Malfoy's only been an auror for…let me think…eight years, plus three years in training. But I think in all that time the only words he's ever said to me are 'nice to meet you' and 'excuse me.'"

"That's it?" Remus looked surprised. The auror department had two parties a year, one at Halloween and the other in January for Moody's birthday. The Christmas party had slowly been moved back every year until it had happened on the same day as Moody's birthday about 15 years ago.

"He only said excuse me because I was standing in his way, he was trying to get to the door to leave. You can't Apparate in or out of the location of department parties. I rather got the impression he was anxious to get home." Aspasia leaned closer, "He has a lover hidden away somewhere."

"Oh?" Remus didn't have to pretend to be interested. "Who is it?"

"No one knows who." Aspasia shrugged. "It's a rumor, of course. He's never admitted he has one, but I think it must be true, as handsome as he is. And Sam says he was quite popular at school, they were in the same year." Sam was Aspasia's son who worked at Saint Mungo's as a healer. "Lucky wizard, if you ask me. Gandalf's quite fond of him, and I know Alastor thinks of him as a son. Malfoy must be a fine wizard to have their good opinions."

"He must be." Remus nodded. Aspasia thought very highly of her husband and Moody.

"Many people thought it was an act, when he joined the department, couldn't believe a Malfoy would really want to be an auror. He proved them all wrong. Best auror in over a century, except Gandalf and Alastor, of course." Aspasia smiled. "Ah, here's our floor at last."

Remus had barely gotten home when he was engulfed in a crushing hug.

"You speaking to me now?" Remus asked in a teasing tone.

"I'm never riding the lift at work again. That was horrible." Cassius nuzzled his neck.

"Horrible?"

"I was hard all afternoon." Cassius kissed him until Remus was breathless. When Remus had pulled away to get a breath he noticed they were in their bedroom. Remus pulled off Cassius' shirt.

"Were you really? Maybe we could arrange afternoon trysts in the broom closet on the 5th floor." Remus smiled up at Cassius.

"Don't tease me." Cassius picked up Remus and threw him on the bed.

For Remus' 32rd birthday in August, Aspasia took him out to lunch on Diagon Alley. They were enjoying their main course when Remus noticed Cassius' scent.

"Aspasia, lovely to see you." Kingsley smiled. Cassius stood next to him – not smiling.

"Kingsley! I thought they were keeping you too busy to enjoy lunches out of the office." Aspasia said with a smile. "Do you know Remus Lupin? It's his birthday today."

"Aspasia…" Remus felt himself blushing, she was telling everyone that it was his birthday. He hadn't had such a fuss made over him since he had turned 17 and his mother had told everyone they had seen that day.

"Happy birthday! It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you, from Alastor Moody." Kingsley said as he shook Remus' hand, letting his hand linger on Remus'. Remus felt himself blush more, neither Moody nor Cassius had mentioned how handsome Kingsley was. He glanced at Cassius and noticed one of Cassius' hands flex before being shoved into his pocket.

"I've heard about you as well. Moody thinks very highly of you." Remus had heard about Kingsley from both Moody and Cassius for years.

"Nice to hear that, it's hard to tell with him. I can't believe you and I haven't met before. Does Aspasia keep you hidden?" Kingsley pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Oh, I've only worked at the Ministry a couple months." Remus said quickly.

"I'm sure you're an asset to the department, isn't he, Aspasia?" Kingsley smiled over at her.

"That he is." She nodded her head emphatically.

"Cass, sit down." Kingsley gestured to the chair on the other side of Remus. "We have time."

"I have to finish a report." Cassius said in a cool voice, looking at Kingsley.

"What report?" Kingsley asked, giving Remus a sly wink that Aspasia couldn't see. Cassius didn't answer and just walked off. "Hmm…I suppose I need to get back to the office as well. The senior aurors are meeting with Fudge in less than an hour. Must be prepared."

"Well, it was lovely to see you, Kingsley." Aspasia said. "I'll see you at the Halloween party."

"Absolutely. And I'm glad I got to meet you, Remus." Kingsley stood, "Sorry, I couldn't stay for the cake."

"How was your day?" Remus asked as he set the table. Tabby had cooked his birthday meal and then retired to her room.

"Fine." Cassius muttered.

"What happened?"

"Kingsley flirted with you!" Cassius burst out as he set the carafe of raspberry cordial on the table with a loud thump. "And you blushed!"

"Well…I…I didn't mean to." Remus felt his face getting hot again. "You never said how handsome he was."

"What?" Cassius glared over at him and Remus knew that wasn't the right thing to have said.

"I think I was blushing most of the day. Aspasia was telling everyone it was my birthday."

"He teased me about you all afternoon." Cassius growled as he sat down.

"Did he?" Remus tried not to smile.

"Asking me if I thought you were single, if I thought you'd go out with him, how he thought he might not be straight after all."

"I'm sorry." Remus laughed as he leaned down to kiss Cassius' cheek.

"It's not funny. Now he's met you, he'll be doing it all the time. He'll try to bump into you so he can tell me about it."

"You could have flirted with me too." Remus said with a smile as he served them both the pasta salad Tabby had made.

"I can't flirt with you." Cassius picked up his fork as Remus set the plate in front of him

"Why not?" Remus sat down across from his mate.

"Because…" Cassius trailed off and started to eat.

"Because why?" Remus prompted.

"I…it's…it's hard to talk to you." Cassius mumbled. "When I can't touch you."

"Really?"

"I know I was rude today, you just…I couldn't."

"Couldn't what?" Remus asked after a moment. Cassius pushed his plate across the table and got up, sitting down next to Remus. "Couldn't what?" Remus bumped his shoulder against his mate's.

"I couldn't sit next to you without doing this." Cassius circled Remus with both his arms and kissed him.

"Oh." Remus said when he had gotten his breath back.

Remus had had to work late and when he arrived in the kitchen he saw Stevens and Cassius sitting at the table eating.

"I'm telling you, Cassie, you have no idea what it's like to date a woman." Stevens shook his head as he took a bite of salad.

"What's she done now?" Cassius asked as Remus walked over and sat down, quickly serving himself some food. Cassius leaned over and kissed Remus on the cheek, whispering in his ear "I missed you."

"Well, for starters, she says I flirt with other witches constantly. She's insanely jealous."

"You do flirt with other witches constantly." Cassius tilted his head at Stevens.

"You're my best friend, remember?" Stevens glared at Cassius.

"That bitch!" Cassius said calmly.

"That's right! And she's completely balmy. She says I never give her flowers anymore. I never did give her flowers. I think it's that time of the month, really."

"It's not the full moon." Cassius looked confused. Remus almost choked on his bite of potato as he fought to keep from laughing. Thanks to his friendship with Lily, he knew all about PMS.

"No…you know…the female time of the month." Stevens sighed as Cassius looked more bewildered. "I thought Luke gave you the whole sex talk?"

"He gave me a book, I just skipped to the interesting parts." Cassius shrugged, then he leaned forward. "So what's this female time of the month? Do they change?"

"Change into irrational creatures who are wicked cranky when crossed, they do." Stevens made a face.

"And I don't know anything about that?" Cassius asked slowly.

"Uh uh." Stevens shook his head emphatically.

"Remus is a werewolf."

"So?" Stevens asked with a shrug. Remus was warmed by the gesture.

"So, every month, the day before the full moon, he turns into an irrational creature who gets wicked cranky."

"You do?" Stevens looked over at Remus with an interested expression.

"Mmm." Remus nodded, his mouth full. He hadn't eaten since lunch and was famished. He swallowed quickly. "Although I don't think I'm that irrational…and Cassius gets crankier than I do when he hasn't slept well." Remus added a tad defensively.

"Boy, does he ever… So I guess you know what it's like too, then." Stevens smiled at Remus.

Remus wandered down to the sitting room. It was past midnight, but he couldn't sleep. Cassius had been gone for five days, and he hadn't had any news about him. It was a couple weeks from Halloween. Remus always started to get anxious around Halloween, remembering the deaths of his friends. He pulled a photo album from the shelf and began to look through it. There were happy pictures of James and Lily on their wedding day, a picture of them with Harry. He'd sent copies to Hagrid when Hagrid had owled to request them. Harry hadn't had any pictures of his parents.

Earlier that day he had tried to reach out with the strength of the werewolf bond, trying to sense if anything had happened to Cassius. Kingsley hadn't heard from him in three days, which wasn't a good sign. Cassius had been sent to where Voldemort was rumored to be. Remus hoped he hadn't been caught or killed. He heard someone Apparate upstairs. It could only be Cassius, the wards on Windy Corner prevented anyone else from Apparating over at this time of night. He closed the album quickly, setting it next to him on the couch. He stood up and turned around, a moment later he was crushed against Cassius' chest. He could feel his mate's heart pounding rapidly.

"Merlin's beard, I thought…." Cassius kissed Remus passionately. Remus laughed as Cassius' stubble tickled his neck and face.

"I couldn't sleep." Remus kissed him back. "I was worried about you."

"Sorry, I had to be in deep cover, couldn't owl."

"So long as you're all right." Remus looked at his mate closely. "What's wrong with your nose?"

"Broken, I should think." Cassius leaned forward for another kiss.

"Broken!" Remus immediately started to lead Cassius into the kitchen. He picked up his wand from the hall table and waved it at the lanterns in the kitchen, it was bright the next moment. He pushed Cassius onto the bench at the kitchen table. "My…what happened?" Cassius' nose was definitely broken, the long line of it was crooked and there was dried blood around his nostrils.

"I got punched." Cassius shrugged.

"Punched." Remus smoothed his fingers gently down his mate's nose, Cassius didn't wince.

"I got his wand and then he punched me." Cassius reached for Remus, pulling him closer.

"Who's wand?"

"Uh…a dark wizard's, I can't remember his name, wanted for murdering two witches down in Bath. He's in custody now. Kingsley's questioning him."

"This might hurt." Remus said as he raised his wand. "Repare." There was a crunch as Cassius' nose straightened.

"Ouch!" Cassius rubbed his nose. "Next time say it will definitely hurt."

"I'm sorry." Remus said. "Let me kiss it."

"Why?"

"Because…that's what muggles do, they kiss it and make it feel better. Lily told me that once." Remus smiled at the memory.

"Really? Does it work?" Cassius looked at him curiously.

"I don't know. But it can't hurt anything, can it?"

"I suppose not. I like it when you kiss me."

"Remus! You'll never guess what's happened!" Cassius burst into the sitting room. He didn't wait for Remus to respond. "The Chamber of Secrets was opened last night at Hogwarts! Isn't that incredible! They always said it didn't exist, that it was a legend, but Luke told me it was true, that it existed and he was right! It's opened! There was a message written in blood last night! And Filch's cat was petrified!" Cassius said breathlessly, his eyes shining with excitement.

"That's horrible!" Remus was shocked.

"I know!" Cassius looked manic. "It's amazing, isn't it!" He knelt down in front of Remus. "I might get to go investigate it. How cool would that be? The Chamber that Salazar Slytherin created! A thousand years ago! No one knows exactly where it is. But maybe I could find it! I wonder what the beast is that lives inside. Probably a snake, wouldn't you think? He was a parselmouth. Definitely a snake."

"Sweetheart…how much tea have you had today?" Remus stroked his hand through Cassius' hair.

"I don't know…." Cassius thumped Remus' knee. "A big snake, what's the biggest snake in the world?"

"I have no idea." Remus said honestly, setting his report aside.

"I'll have to find out….or maybe it's a dragon…Do you think it would still be alive? After all these years? It would have to hibernate, don't you think? Otherwise Dumbledore would know of its existence. He knows everything." Cassius started to gaze off, deep in thought. His fingers drummed rapidly on Remus' thigh.

"Lucius told you about the Chamber?" Remus said calmly, his curiosity piqued in spite of himself. He laid his hand on top of Cassius' to still the restless fingers.

"Uh huh…he said it was opened 50 years ago…when Voldemort was at school." Cassius said distractedly. Remus knew he was thinking about where he could research snakes.

"Did Voldemort open it?"

"He didn't say. Luke wouldn't have asked, would he? I mean, when you're under Imperious you can't do anything of your own free will." Cassius looked up at him. "You know that, Remus."

"Of course." Remus said calmly, smiling at his mate. Cassius insisted Lucius was only a Death Eater because he was under the Imperious Curse. Remus didn't believe that, but he knew better than to argue with Cassius about it. "There's a book on magical monsters up in the library, it might have information about snakes."

"Brilliant!" Cassius leapt to his feet. "Come on!" He grabbed Remus' hand and dragged him up the stairs.

…To Be Continued!!