Just two more chapters left after this! Destiny Bunny, thank you for your reviews! Kelsiface, thanks for your review, all my stories feature my original characters so if you like this, I think you will like my other ones. Mon2, I will contemplate a Hogwarts era story with Cassius, Stevens and Owen…not sure…and I didn't mean James and Lily's gravestones were not nice, just that they didn't have grand tombs or something. I imagined Remus spent all his money (at the time) on them and the rest of the funeral costs and he was worried Sirius wouldn't think they were grand enough.

And now …

Chapter 43 November

The chime struck midnight. Halloween was over for another year. Cassius and Remus were laying on the sofa, Stevens was sprawled in one of the chairs and Sirius was laying on the floor.

"What book?" Sirius asked, sitting up suddenly.

"What?" Cassius asked, twining a lock of Remus's hair around his finger.

"You mentioned a book earlier." Sirius hiccupped.

"Cass has a book." Stevens answered picking up the second bottle of fire whiskey they'd just opened.

"It's a brilliant book." Cassius nodded. "I'll get it." Cassius stumbled up the stairs and returned holding the book.

"How you always manage to remember where that is is truly amazing." Remus smiled at Cassius as he sat down on the floor leaning back against Remus's legs. Remus accio-ed his fifth butter beer.

"Just shows what he can do with the proper motivation." Stevens laughed.

"Here." Cassius gestured for Sirius to move closer and opened the book. "Oh, wait, we're looking at the girl section. I've never looked at it before." He flipped towards the front of the book.

"Why are those pages stuck together?" Sirius pointed at some pages towards the end of the book.

"I wanked on them." Cassius shrugged. Sirius was once again taken aback by his cousin's bluntness. "And I can't remember the cleaning spell." Stevens snickered. "It's Remus's fault." Cassius continued defensively.

"Why is it my fault?"

"You were gone." Cassius explained, looking down on the page where a man and woman were engaged in sex. "You can do it with a girl like that?"

"They have knees too, you know." Stevens laughed. "Some women like it a lot."

"Does Clara?"

"No. She likes us to be facing, to be able to kiss me."

"Huh." Cassius looked at Stevens thoughtfully. "Remus likes that too."

"So do you." Remus leaned forward and put his arms around Cassius's neck, kissing his cheek. "Oh, move over." Remus squeezed in between Stevens and Cassius as Cassius turned the page.

"Merlin, she's flexible." Sirius commented with awe.

"Before you ask, no, Clara's never done that…yet. Could I borrow the book tomorrow?"

"Sure." Cassius shrugged, turning the page. Remus grabbed his hand and muttered a cleaning charm over the book, un-sticking all the pages at the back of the book.

"You can do magic using Cassie's hand?" Stevens asked with amazement.

"Oh, yeah, isn't that cool? When did we discover that?"

"Don't know." Cassius was tilting his head looking at the picture of a woman straddling a man and bouncing up and down.

"I was showing him how to do a levitation charm, a few years ago and I noticed that the book was levitating even though Cass hadn't said the incantation but I had. He's like a big walking wand." Remus said. Sirius snorted.

"Do you suppose that's the werewolf bond or could anyone do that too?" Stevens asked curiously.

"I don't know. I don't think it would be the bond, there's nothing I've read that mentions being able to control the mate's magic ability. I didn't get the ability to do wandless magic after we mated. I think if the wizard has good control of his own magic then -"

"Merlin, Remus, remember you're a Gryffindor – get a grip." Sirius muttered. "Turn the page already, Cousin."

Another hour and they were in the second section, the one Cassius had read many times.

"What are those marks?" Sirius asked.

"When Remus and I started dating he wouldn't have sex with me so we did everything except sex and I started keeping track of what we did, so I knew what we'd done before and what we hadn't."

"You didn't!" Remus lifted a few pages, looking at the corners. "So that means we did this…seventeen times? When did you stop keeping track?"

"No clue."

"What does this mean?" Sirius pointed to the some writing in the corner on the opposite page. Cassius looked at it.

"Oh. That was the first time Remus yelled my name when he came. June 23, 1984."

"How can that word be June? There's no recognizable J in it!" Sirius stared down at the page.

"So you like that, Remus?" Stevens asked, looking down at the wizarding photo of two men laying together.

"Yes." Remus knew he had to be drunk since he wasn't embarrassed at all. "Cass's fingers are my second favorite body part."

"What's your favorite?" Cassius asked curiously.

"Your tongue." Remus whispered, his fingers finding their way into Cassius's mouth to stroke over it.

"You two can keep looking at the book, we're going to bed." Cassius jumped to his feet and pulled Remus up with him. "Good night."

"Bed sounds good to me too." Sirius said, a moment after Cassius and Remus had left the room.

"Yeah." Stevens closed the book.

Cassius and Remus barely made it to the bedroom. Twice they stopped on the stairs, Cassius pulling off Remus's shirt somewhere along the way. If it hadn't been for Sirius's shocked yell as he reached the landing, Cassius would have had Remus's pants off and then…but they managed to get into their room. Remus heard the door click shut, he knew Stevens must have done it since he and Cassius had fallen to the floor in a tangle of drunken limbs. Remus struggled out of his pants.

"The room's spinning." Cassius observed from where he laid on his back.

"Yeah." Remus straddled him, sinking down on him (the lubrication charm and the zipper had been dealt with on the seventh stair). He braced himself on Cassius's chest and needed only to rock a few times before they both came. Cassius propped himself up on his elbows as Remus leaned over pressing his forehead against his mate's.

"What's your third favorite body part?" Cassius panted.

"Guess." Remus said breathlessly, glancing down where they were still joined.

"Is it a coincidence that all three favorite body parts can go inside you?"

Remus laughed, still gasping for breath, before kissing Cassius, stroking over his mate's tongue.

"They're not always my favorite three. They change from time to time."

"Really?"

"Mmm…sometimes this is one." Remus traced over the bite mark on Cassius's shoulder, moaning as Cassius thrust upwards suddenly. "And sometimes this." He trailed a finger down to the nipple pierced with his ring. He circled around it. "And sometimes your eyes, or your nose."

"This long Malfoy nose? You like it?" Cassius wrinkled said nose in disdain.

"Yes. I like it." Remus smoothed a finger down the length of it. "I like it when it rubs against mine." He smiled. Cassius smiled back at him. "And sometimes your whole mouth. It just depends."

"Oh."

"But there is one body part that I love above all others. Your heart." Remus pressed his hand firmly on Cassius's chest, feeling the heartbeat speeding up. "Because it's mine." There was a breathless moment as Cassius gazed up at Remus.

"You are so sappy when you're drunk."

"Mmm. And you love me."

"Yeah. I think I have a concussion." Cassius winced. "From when we landed."

"Oh?" Remus felt the back of Cassius's head. "You do have a bump."

"Well, press harder on it, Remus, I don't think it hurts enough."

"Sorry. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three."

"You seem fine. We'll have to stay awake for a bit."

"Really?"

"Let's move to the bed so you don't bang your head again." Remus crawled off Cassius and helped Cassius up. A few moments later, they were safe in bed.

"I love you." Remus whispered.

"Why are you whispering?"

"I don't know."

"I love you too." Cassius rolled them over, whispering more words of love in his ear.

Sirius stumbled downstairs feeling hung-over. He paused at the door to get his bearings and saw Remus sitting on Cassius's lap laughing at something Stevens was saying. Cassius appeared not to be listening at all as he nuzzled Remus's neck. Sirius watched as Cassius's hand slipped under Remus's shirt. He was jealous…not so much that Cassius was touching Remus but that Remus was being touched by someone…Sirius was starting to ache to be touched by something other than his own hand.

"Hey, sleepyhead." Remus noticed Sirius in the doorway. "There's tea here. We decided to have brunch even though it's almost eleven."

"Sounds good."

A week later, Clara, Stevens, Sirius and Remus were in the sitting room at Windy Corner talking and laughing about memories of school. Tabby was curled up in her cat form on the rug in front of the fire. It was a cold mid- November day. Cassius had gotten home a few minutes before and gone up almost immediately to take a shower after saying hello and kissing Remus. He'd been gone for a few days tracking a dark wizard.

Remus looked over at Clara to ask her a question. She was gazing past him, her eyes slightly glazed. He could smell his mate's scent in the air.

"He's naked, isn't he." Remus didn't have to ask. She nodded. Remus glanced over at Sirius who was staring wide-eyed past his shoulder. He turned to see Cassius, still dripping with water, holding a book in his hand. "What's that?"

"That book you wanted to borrow from Tessen. I wanted to give it to you before I forgot."

"Thanks." Remus took the book and dried it off on his shirt. "I thought we talked about wearing towels when company is here."

Clara's cheeks were pink as she started studying at her tea cup.

"Cassie just did it for me, " Stevens grinned. "He knows it gets Clara hot." Clara hurled a pillow at him, laughing.

"Don't make me get all possessive." Remus laughed. "Did you finish your shower?" Remus stood.

"No, not if you're going to help me finish it." Cassius said hopefully, Remus smiled at him.

"Wow, look at that." Clara breathed as Cassius grew harder. "Are you sure you're a half inch longer?" She turned to Stevens as Remus pushed Cassius out of the sitting room.

"Of course I am. We measured."

"You did?" Sirius blurted out.

"The most important thing to know about Ravenclaws is their obsession with having to know absolutely everything, including the length of their friends' penises." Stevens said calmly. "Actually we only did it because Owen said that Cassius had the biggest one he'd ever seen which obviously meant he'd never checked me out in the locker room."

The full moon was a couple weeks later. Remus was pacing in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, watching the clock anxiously. Cassius had said he would be there, he said he would. He'd be there. Remus paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. Less than an hour until moonrise. He turned, maybe Cassius would knock on the door. Maybe Remus should wait there. He'd just started out of the kitchen when someone floo-ed in. He turned and ran over.

"Oh…" Remus halted a few steps away from the person. He'd almost thrown his arms around him and kissed him. He wondered wildly what Snape would have done if that had happened.

"Here." Snape thrust the large goblet of Wolfsbane potion into his hand.

"Thanks." Remus pasted a polite smile on his face and hastily gulped the potion down. "Ugh."

"It's effective. Sorry if it doesn't taste good." Snape sneered.

"No, it's fine. I appreciate you brewing it for me, Severus." Remus handed the goblet back. "How are you?"

"We're not friends, Lupin."

"I know we weren't in the past, but I'd like to be now."

Snape gazed at him silently for a moment. "I don't need your pity."

"It's not pity! Damn it, isn't life precarious enough right now without trying to make it harder?" Remus snapped.

"Fine. We're friends." Snape growled.

"Good." Remus echoed his tone. "So, how are you?"

"All the brats are their normal bratty selves, they don't appreciate the art of potion making, especially Longbottom. The boy is a menace. Umbridge is a bitch but I have to pretend to like her so I can tell Dumbledore what she's doing. Voldemort is calling meetings more often and I have to pretend to be a loyal Death Eater so I can tell Dumbledore what he's doing. And I hate coming here and having to deal with Black and all his shit. So…I'm fine."

"Ah." Remus nodded.

"How are you." Snape grated out between clenched teeth.

"Well, I've been having panic attacks lately, never had them before June, and they're horrible. I'm separated from Cass often which is hard. And I'm terrified that Voldemort is going to kill everyone I care about. So…I'm fine too." Snape gave a small smile, so small that Remus wondered if he'd just imagined it. "See, this friend thing is nice, isn't it?"

"Huh." Snape snorted. "I'll see you-"

Heavy footsteps echoed down the stairs into the kitchen. Remus whirled to the door, his nose picking up his mate's scent.

"There you are." His voice was a mixture of relief and arousal as he ran to embrace Cassius.

"I'm sorry I'm late. And I only have twenty minutes." Cassius's long fingers pulled at the buttons on Remus's robes. He undid the top two, revealing Remus's bare chest. "Mmm…you naked under there?" Remus nodded as his fingers fumbled with Cassius's belt. "Hello, Snape." He greeted Snape politely.

Remus turned, fingers still on Cassius's belt, he'd forgotten Snape was still in the room. He smiled ruefully at Snape who nodded in acknowledgment.

"Malfoy. I'll see you at the next meeting, Remus."

"Bye, Severus. Take care." Snape threw floo powder in the fireplace and returned to Hogwarts.

Cassius unbuttoned the rest of Remus's robe and moving them towards the table. "You're friends now?" He lifted Remus up onto the kitchen table.

"Yes. Can't we go to my room?" Remus pleaded as Cassius's fingers stroked into his body. "Oh! Your fingers are cold."

"Sorry." Cassius kissed Remus tenderly as he unzipped his pants quickly. "There's no time."

"I…I…oh…" Remus shuddered, his thoughts flying away as Cassius leaned in to kiss him. Lost in the bliss of being together again, neither of them heard another pair of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Sirius stopped, frozen, in the doorway of the kitchen. Remus was laying across the kitchen table, his robe open, exposing his scarred torso. His lower body was covered by Cassius's long coat as Cassius leaned over him.

"Need you. All of you." Remus's husky demand sent a shiver down Sirius's spine. "Hard. Please." Remus had never said such words to him when they had been together. Sirius hadn't been ready to be mated, to be tied down to one person. He'd been too much of a rebel. He'd been an idiot.

He watched as Remus's hands clutched at Cassius's shoulders. He watched as Remus's back arched, watched as Remus's head tossed back and forth. He listened as Remus's voice became a stream of pleas and demands. The table creaked as Cassius sped up, Remus's nails dug into the wood. Cassius leaned over and captured Remus's mouth, swallowing his moans. He straightened, taking one hand off the table and moving it to where Sirius couldn't see.

Sirius realized he was painfully hard. He moved quietly to stand against the wall outside the kitchen. He could still hear the harsh breathing, the moans, the words of love. His hand snaked down to his pants, rubbing himself through the fabric. He matched Cassius's rhythm, judging by the noises that Remus made, and came at the same time.

"Remus, I can't snuggle, I have to go." Cassius tried to loosen Remus's grip on his shirt. "I have five minutes before I have to meet Kingsley at the office."

"When will you be back?" Remus sat up.

"I don't know." Cassius zipped his pants up and buckled his belt. "You had your two doses?"

"Yes." Remus's fingers clenched tighter in Cassius's shirt while Cassius buttoned up Remus's robes quickly. "Why don't you know? This isn't an assignment for work?"

"Yes and no."

"What does that mean?

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Remus felt the ever-present knot in his stomach tighten.

"Because you'll ask me not to go." Cassius's fingers pressed down on Remus's bite mark, calming him. "I'll be all right." He leaned in and kissed Remus gently. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I can't let you go." Remus's fingers refused to obey him and they remained tightly fisted around the fabric of Cassius's shirt. Cassius pressed down harder on the bite mark, turning Remus into a relaxed puddle in Cassius's arms.

"Walk me to the door then."

Sirius swore softly. They'd pass him, he gathered his courage and he walked into the kitchen.

"Thought I heard your voice." He said casually to Cassius. Remus's face was buried in Cassius's neck and Cassius's arms were hugging Remus close. Cassius looked over at him thoughtfully.

"I was just leaving." Remus made a muffled noise of protest. "You're keeping him company tonight?"

"Yes."

"Good." Cassius threaded his hands through Remus's hair, pulling his face up. "Are you still walking me to the door? Or will you be ok here with Sirius?"

"I'll walk you to the door." Remus whispered. He wound his arms tightly around Cassius's chest as he hopped off the table. He knew Cassius was going somewhere very dangerous if he wouldn't tell him. He buried his face in Cassius's neck again. He was going to stay as close to Cassius for as long as he could. Cassius wrapped one arm around Remus's back.

"See you later, cousin." Cassius nodded at Sirius as they walked out of the kitchen. Sirius nodded, slightly embarrassed, seeing in the green eyes gleaming knowledge of Sirius's spent arousal. Sirius grabbed his wand and did a cleaning spell on himself so Remus wouldn't notice. A few minutes later, Remus walked slowly back down the stairs into the kitchen. He absently pressed down on his bite mark, calming himself. The panic attacks had started soon after the news of Voldemort's return, and now Cassius was going somewhere dangerous, for who knew how long. Remus took a deep breath and pressed harder, feeling the calm spread over his body.

"You all right?" Sirius asked, concern shading his gray eyes.

"Yes. I just get more emotional around the full moon and being separated doesn't help." Remus tried to smile reassuringly.

"Does he stay with you when you're transformed?"

"Yes. Ever since the Wolfsbane potion was invented."

Sirius decided he would try to distract Remus from his worries. "You ever done it with him when you're the wolf?"

"No!" Remus gave a shocked laugh.

"You've thought about it though, haven't you?"

"No, I have not. I'm not like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius pretended to be insulted.

"I seem to remember you 'experimenting' with that poodle who lived down the street from Lily and James."

"Ah, Daphne." Sirius sighed. "I never did anything with her, we just flirted."