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The other twin picked up where his brother left off, "And we mean any time. We've stayed up late and we've seen him walking through the halls at all hours, and for a while he slept in the classrooms, we think."

"Yeah, we think he might have had a fight with that junior Malfoy prig. We'd love to know what that was about."

Harry had guessed as much. Well, Hermione had guessed as much, but Harry would have noticed it for himself sooner or later if she hadn't pointed it out. Ron might not have. "Thank you, guys. This really will help, but can it show me a way out of the castle?"

The taller of the two twins, by about half a millimetre, said, "We recommend that you take the One-Eyed Witch passage. It will take you straight to Honeyduke's cellar. Just say 'Dissendium' to the statue of the One-Eyed Witch on the third floor and take the path to Hogsmeade."

"Make sure you take your invisibility cloak with you, though. It's hard enough to sneak through the back of the shop-"

"And the place will be filled with students so they'll be on their guard for anyone sneaking around or causing trouble." That they had run into this problem in the past went unsaid.

"Thank you, again."

Harry didn't want to lose any of his precious time to be spent wandering around the surely wondrous village his friends had walked on ahead to, so he donned his invisibility cloak and climbed the various staircases to the third floor, seeking out the well-known, hideous statue.

He spoke the word and sped through the passageway and encountered little trouble navigating his way up through the basement and into the store. On his way out, he even took the liberty of stealing a lollipop from Neville, in his invisible state. It only took him a few minutes more to locate Hermione and Ron out by the Shrieking Shack that Ron had said he wanted to visit. Hogwarts had dozens of ghosts of its own so Harry dreaded to think what sort of entities could be inhabiting the shack to make it the most haunted house in Britain. At least when he spotted the pair of Gryffindors they were behind the fence, a good distance away from the ominous building.

With a vicious grin, he slowly padded up behind Ron and Hermione and, seeing that Hermione had spotted his footsteps in the snow, pounced on Ron, grabbing his shoulders and eliciting a veritable shriek from the courageous lion. Hermione gave him a sound scolding afterwards, but he knew her heart wasn't in it, seeing as she was still giggling about Ron's reaction as well.

The trio, now reunited, headed back into Hogsmeade to look around whilst ducking to avoid the gazes of several of the accompanying teachers who would undoubtedly drag Harry back to the castle and punish him for sneaking out. If it was one of stricter ones, he might also have to think up a lie about how he got out in the first place as well, and the only method he could seem to think of at the moment was walking through the Forbidden Forrest to get there. Only, Harry didn't think his teachers would believe that he had been able to safely walk through the infamous woods on his own. Even Gaara probably couldn't make it into the deeper areas of the forest without being in danger. And he surely couldn't walk all the way through to Hogsmeade, especially with the dementors floating about.

Harry took the precaution of keeping his invisibility cloak in his hands after he had to dive under it to avoid being seen by Draco Malofy and his Slytherin hoard, who seemed to have flocked back around him. Although, before the schism that had happened, Draco always appeared to be in the centre of his groups whereas now he was walking at the edge. Gryffindors would never be privy to the internal power struggles between Slytherins but Malfoy jr. had certainly shifted in the hierarchy.

It was as they were milling about that Harry quickly had to pull his invisibility cloak back on when he spotted both McGonagall and Hagrid over by the Three Broomsticks pub, along with what looked like the Minister for Magic. He didn't imagine that this pub had any particularly good vintages of wine or astounding local ails so whatever the reason Fudge was there for, daytime drinking didn't appear to be it. Although, if any politician had reason to drink, it was the incompetent wizard that had almost walked through a humongous pile of horse manure on his way to the door.

Curiosity overruling higher-reasoning, Harry ran into the drinking establishment after the politician and two teachers who had been beckoned in by the owner, Madam Rosemerta. He noticed that his friends had been stopped at the door but figured he would just fill them in later on, once he'd found out whatever Fudge wanted to tell the deputy headmistress.

In the back room, he overheard the distressing discussion between the pub landlady, Minister for Magic and his Head of House. About how Sirius Black was not only a mass murdering right-hand-man of Voldemort, but he had also betrayed his parents to Voldemort and, perhaps worst of all, was his Godfather as well.

For fear of alerting those in the room, he sped down the stairs and out the door as quickly as possible. He had never been this angry. He didn't even know that he could call what he was feeling 'anger', because it felt so much more toxic and hot than anything he had ever encountered. It was like a physical pain in his chest that wouldn't abate unless he hit something, or cursed someone.

He knew he had promised Arthur Weasley that no matter what he heard he wouldn't seek Sirius Black out, but never in his wildest imaginings could he have foreseen what he had just heard. He wasn't just going to find Sirius Black, he was going to hunt him down and kill him, just like Black had done to Peter Pettigrew. But after Harry was done with him, he didn't want there to even be a finger left of him!

Ron and Hermione found Harry back out by the fence of Shrieking Shack, under his cloak and emitting the unmistakable sound of sobbing.

It was just as Harry was screaming about Sirius being a despicable, traitorous monster that Gaara and Malfoy happened upon them, having been walking around the Shack's perimeter fence. After Draco had ditched his Slytherin associates, he'd spotted his friend near the Shack a little while ago and they'd been 'chatting' and walking back to the village since. He had just been about the ask how Gaara had gotten there and what he was doing, when they had seen Potter & Co., or rather they had heard someone's anguished screams from afar and gone to look and found Potter (and others).

Gaara had been having quite a nice afternoon. He'd killed some stuff in the Dark Forest, he'd met with Sirius and had even managed to avoid spending the hour telling the adult child off, and then he'd met up with Draco and listened to the latest inane gossip going around Slytherin. If it hadn't been so cold, he might have just cracked a smile. And then he'd stumbled upon Harry Potter and his burgeoning good mood had been shot to hell. There was still more than enough sadist in him to enjoy the anguished screams of a betrayed/mourning teenager, but hearing such horrible things being said about kind Sirius did nothing to improve his mood.

Harry had quietened down when he saw the Slytherins passing by, but it didn't escape anybody's notice that his glare at Gaara was returned with equal force. Gaara regularly held a stony countenance but he didn't often glare about people for no (apparent) reason. And that Harry was making such a face as well was enough to keep Malfoy, reformed as he was, from saying anything to defuse either the situation or his oft volatile friend. The pair passed in silence and proceeded onwards to the village, intending to walk back to the school before they missed the deadline for returning and had one of the supervising teachers come looking for them.

Not five minutes later, once Harry had had a little a time to breath, the trio followed after.

The walk back to the castle was tense between Gaara and Draco. Even though Gaara rarely gave any indication of having heard what Draco had said, and of course never verbally answered, Draco still got the distinct and resounding impression that any further attempts at conversation would not be appreciated right now. And Gaara's mood worsened still when he had to listen to Potter's whispering as the students were all led like cattle back to the castle. With each insult and threat towards Sirius coming from Harry, Gaara eyes darkened just ever so slightly. It didn't go unnoticed to those around him and Gaara's usual area of exclusion had seemingly doubled. But he was still close enough to hear Harry's half-baked ideas of what had happened twelve years ago.

On the way back in, no one noticed Gaara walking beside Draco when he supposedly wasn't meant to have gone on the Hogsmeade outing in the first place, nor did they notice that two thirds of the Golden Trio seemed to be listening intently to what a blank patch of space had to say.

When they arrived back at the castle, Draco tried to cheer Gaara up by giving him some expensive things he'd picked up in the village's shops, but Gaara turned them all down, and not just because of his foul mood or that he didn't want them. The offerings reminded him of the ones that small cult that had sprung up around him when he was a child used to give him. Yashamaru had told him that they were playing a dull game and that he should ignore them. Over the years he'd killed almost all of them. He liked to avoid the survivors...

He made one stop when he was in the castle, leaving a note for Lupin, that their 'shared burden' was in desperate need of more food and blankets. After he signed it, he'd slid it under Lupin's door and retreated to one of the abandoned (quiet) towers for some time alone. If he saw Potter again that day he might do something regrettable.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

It had taken the rest of the weekend for Gaara to get over his murderous impulses, and he had spent quite a bit of his time out in the forest trying to work them out in less homicidal ways. He'd also taken the time to play with Fluffy, which seemed to calm him down a little, not that he'd let the overgrown mutt know it.

Then it came to the final full moon of the winter term and he was struck by how little he'd come to care about his monthly transformations. He'd only done it a few times before and it was already no more than a nuisance to him. It was probably something to do with the balance between the inconvenience and embarrassment, and the exhilaration that came with being a tiny tanuki hybrid. And he really was nothing if not adaptable to new situations.

On the night, he knocked Draco out covertly as they were ascending the stairs for dinner and took him to the infirmary, claiming that his friend had fallen down the stairs and hit his head. Madam Pomfrey, despite her dislike of Draco and his hypochondriac hysterics, would never let a student out of the infirmary after a fall like that for at least the night. He left before Pomfrey insisted he stayed as well for some reason or another. He wasn't nearly as unhealthy as his porcelain complexion might indicate, and his stunted growth was nobody's business.

He still hadn't come up with a more long-term solution to getting rid of Draco for the night, obviously, which he realised he would need to do if he was going to be rooming with Draco for the entire school year, not to mention any subsequent semesters. He had no clue how long he would be in this world for (a scary thought to start with) but he had to think ahead for however long it would be.

He popped into the nearest empty classroom and hunkered down with his latest book (detailing the usage of human sacrifice in historical rune forms, a rare dark tome from the restricted section) to wait for the change. He'd wait until everyone had vacated the halls before he would dart into the forest. By the time he, in his animal form, could escape the confines of the room he was sequestered in, he would be climbing the walls again. There had to be a better way.

It was really losing the shock factor, this whole transformation deal, with the bone shifting and snapping, hair receding and fur growing, and that god damned tail. It was all over with soon enough and then he had to wait around reading in a form that really wasn't psychologically adapted to sitting still and reading dull magical theory books. Predictably, this was the real trial of the night and each footfall outside the classroom's door was like a shock to the back of his neck. Not because he was afraid of discovery, he was getting pretty used to that fear by now, it was because he was acutely aware of how trapped he was feeling. It was just as well that he didn't have his sand abilities when he was transformed as he would probably have busted down a wall or two by now.

When he was sure there were no more stragglers milling around the corridors, he moved his clothes and gourd so that any curious trespassers wouldn't spot his possessions from a glance into the room. The last thing he needed was to find himself transformed back and exposed, hunting down whoever had stolen his clothes. He ran through the empty hallways, all four paws patting against the stone floors, with the nearest exit being the only thing on his mind. He might have run past a ghost at some point but he couldn't be sure, and he wasn't interested in turning back to check. He wanted out.

As soon as he hit the grass outside, he stopped his four-legged run and stood up on his back digitigrade legs to enjoy the night air. His human form was used to desert sun and heat, his animal form had cosy fur so the Scottish winter no longer bothered him as totally. It was as he was ambling towards the tree line that he heard running coming towards him. Turning, he saw...

Who else...? Luna Lovegood. Somehow, that girl would find him like this. Unbeknownst to him, and everybody else, Luna had been staying up every few nights and waiting by the edge of the Forbidden Forest in order to catch sight of the fluffy thing she had seen and chased in months gone by. She may not have been able to find definitive proof of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks (yet), but this creature had appeared before her and now she just had to capture it and document it. It also helped that it was too adorable to let alone. She had theorised that it was perhaps some form of magical red panda, though it wasn't red... or maybe a giant squirrel, with a humongous bushy tail.

Sadly, wild animal that it was, it didn't stick around when it saw her approaching slowly and darted into the forest at such a speed that she had no hope of catching up to it. As she lost sight of it, she called out, "It's okay, you know. I don't mean you any harm. I just want to keep you as a pet. I'll take good care of you."

If she shouted any more, Gaara didn't hear it as he sprinted deeper into the (relative) safety of the woods. Gaara honestly didn't know whether Luna would have been as embarrassed as any normal person if she were to find out his human identity, having said all of that. Strange girl.

The night was spent much the same as the first time he had found himself in this form roaming through the forest at night, though this time it was without the Hagrid chase and awkward learning to run parts. A word came to mind that would never pass his mind or find itself written in his sand in a million years: frolicking. There was a certain elation inherent in this basal form whenever he simply ran or jumped. It was entirely disconcerting, but as long as he didn't find it encroaching upon his rational human mind, he would let it runs its course during the one night a month that he spent transformed.

He made it back to the forest's edge in good time, but not before hearing a bone chilling wolf's howl out in the distance. As often as he frequented the forest, he knew there was still a lot of stuff he had yet to see. He recovered his personal effects without any further incidents, and changed back into his uniform promptly once he'd gone through the uncomfortable transformation. He made his way down to the dormitory to get a new change of clothes and wash up before he would go up and check on Draco. More for appearance than any true concern as he knew how to safely render a person unconscious, starkly contrasted to his knowledge of unsafely incapacitating a person. Plus, he did feel a little guilty about his continued abuse of his friend and roommate.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Pulling Draco out of the medical wing had been easier said than done when his friend was entirely convinced that a fall down the stone steps of Hogwarts warranted a proper battery of tests and wouldn't leave without them. Granted, if had actually fallen down stairs that might have held true, but Madam Pomfrey was nothing if not thorough and was willing and eager to kick Draco out, so that meant she knew Draco was fine. Or he was so annoying that she was willing to take the risk. Either way, it was time for breakfast and Gaara's excited running all through the night had left him uncharacteristically hungry.

As they eached chomped on toast and eggs, Draco spied McGonagall moving from student to student, canvassing the pupils for who was staying for Christmas and who was returning home for the holidays. The blond decided it was finally time to ask whether Gaara would stay with his family over the break. He'd long since messaged his parents, telling them that Gaara would be coming back with him. He'd told them that weeks ago sure in the knowledge that he could lie and tell them something to get Gaara of the hook last minute. Like he had come down with some dreadful illness that shouldn't be spread, or he wasn't allowed to stay with them because Dumbledore said so and was probably trying to keep Gaara away from pureblood (Dark) influences. If his sociopath friend said no, he would come up with something.

"Gaara," he said, waiting for Gaara to put down his toast, "I know you don't have anywhere to go over the holidays; my parents have asked me to invite you to stay with us, rather than remaining here. I can tell them no, if you'd rather not."

It was disheartening to see how unconvinced Gaara was at the prospect of staying with his family for a few weeks, taking more than a few moments to visibly process the offer. But then, Gaara probably didn't quite understand what he was offering, as his friend was undeniably strange in all things. He gave mention of the annual Malfoy Yuletide Ball, of the superb food and accommodations at the manor, and about the grounds. Still Gaara looked unconvinced so he gave thought to what his roommate seemed to enjoy (other than vigorous exercise and warm climates) and then mentioned the extensive Malfoy family library, home to quite a number of rare books that even Hogwarts didn't possess. He knew he wouldn't insult Gaara sensibilities by dropping in that his family's collection also boasted a world class selection of Dark magic research materials. He'd often seen Gaara with a suspiciously Dark looking tome perched on his knees, though he knew better than to ask whether he'd been sneaking into the restricted section.

Yes, for someone as atrociously ungifted in practical magic as Gaara, he was a diligent theorist and fast becoming one of the most knowledgeable non-Raveclaws (except Granger) in their year. And with his penchant for obscure and unusual research projects (secretly all in effort to get home), Gaara was definitely going to find some interesting reading material in their library. Personally, it wasn't his thing to wile away the day reading dusty old books, but each to their own. And by the widening of Gaara's eyes, he guessed (hoped?) his compatriot was reconsidering. When they got there, he would make sure the red-head didn't spend all his time sitting still and being boring.

Gaara gave more thought to the offer and continued eating his breakfast, ignoring Draco's expectant gaze until McGonagall was asking after the Slytherin winter plans and came to them. Draco of course replied that he was returning home but both he and McGonagall were shocked when Gaara sand rose and spelt out 'I'm going with him.'

Minerva was shocked that the unnerving transfer student/found magical child wanted to stay with the Malfoy family over Christmas, and tried to reason that they would need the Malfoy's permission to allow it. Draco readily supplied a letter to that effect, apparently having been waiting to hand it over all throughout the breakfast. Still unsure, she noted them both down on her form, and continued her rounds until she could chat with Dumbledore about his plans concerning the boy. They could always try to block Gaara by demanding parental consent if they needed to, but if the sightings of Gaara in Hogsmeade were true, it probably wouldn't actually stop him from leaving.

Albus always had plans when it came to potential dangers and Gaara was certainly something along those lines, having attacked a teacher already and gotten into a fight with Harry Potter. Then there was the boggart killing incident and the rumours of trespassing and slaying dementors. Albus was doing something with Gaara, but he hadn't seen fit to tell her about it.

Draco was immensely happy that his friend would be coming for the extended sleepover, even if they did cohabitate the same room on a daily basis, and even if his parents would formalise half the fun out of it. Gaara, of course, didn't show it but he chose to believe that the stoic foreigner was also glad to be staying with him.

Gaara was still hungry. Who had the bacon?

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Omake:

Fluffy liked Gaara. He liked Hagrid too, Hagrid was nice and gave him food. Gaara gave him food too. Gaara felt like home. Fluffy wished for a scant few things: he wanted more treats and food, somewhere to get out of the rain, for his head on the far right to stop fighting with his centre head, and for Gaara to visit more often.

He sometimes smelled Gaara in the forest even when Gaara hadn't come to see him. He always chased after the scent.

He was hungry.

He was a little cold...

Squirrel!

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Omake #2:

The sun was going to rise soon; it was still strange to be watching the blackened sky brightening from inside of the castle. He hadn't gotten to sleep the night he stayed in the Great Hall and after the lights had gone out and the clouds had hidden the moonlight from the land, reading his book had become a strain. His game of watching the students trying in vain to stay up with him had ended with final hold out at about three in the morning, by his estimates. He was just about to try meditating when he heard a subtle shifting of pyjamas and soft footfalls of a civilian trying to sneak around.

Opening his eyes, Gaara spotted two dark figures moving unmistakably towards him, and only their size (being indicative of their young age) kept him from sitting up and pre-empting another sneak attack like the one he'd received the first night he'd spent in the castle.

When they were a few metres away, the clouds moved and the two incomers were revealed to be those two fifth-year Weasley twins. Of what he knew of them, he reconsidered whether these two might be more of a threat than whoever had attacked him. Pranksters were more trouble than anyone gave them credit for. A particularly unpredictable prankster had been one of the reasons the Suna-Konoha war had ended so swiftly.

They were upon him and began whispering in that infuriating tanden, "Morning, Gaara."

"My brother-"

"And I wanted to present you with a proposition. We want to enter into a joint venture with you, namely pranking the whole school."

"We've seen what you can do and heard some interesting things otherwise, and-"

"Think you would be perfect to aid us."

"On a one-off basis."

"We thought about targeting you."

"Well, he did." One pointed to the other, earning a scowl.

"But you seem like the type of person who might take that sort of thing personally."

"The vengeful sort, you know."

"So, we decided you'd be perfect to join us in a big one." Their whispers trailed off as Gaara continued to stare unblinkingly at them from his reclined position.

Without any movement more profound than a blink, his sand rose into the air between them and spelled out his refusal of their offer of partnership, and instead told them of 'a certain blond friend' of his and a few of the legendary pranks he had pulled. George and Fred privately wondered whether there was a side to Draco Malfoy that no one knew about.

At the end of Gaara's silent storytelling, he ended it with these words: 'You were both right, by the way. I am vengeful.' All spelled out with that same wide-eyed stare on Gaara's otherwise totally blank face.

As the twins scampered off quickly, he smiled to himself as he'd ensured that he wouldn't be the target of their fun any time soon, and had managed to inspire them with a few of his veteran prankster friend's classic shenanigans.

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A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Please don't get to the end and think that your review doesn't matter because I really do obsessively appreciate each and every one of them. Admittedly, I appreciate some more than others...

The scene where Ginny confronts Gaara was originally planned as an Omake for the last chapter but it seemed a little too serious and I wanted to upload the thing last time and get it over with. This omake was just something I threw in spur of the moment. I might revise it later.

With any luck, I might finally get the Christmas chapter to coincide with Christmas this year. Not much chance of releasing it before then, I'm afraid. I've been wanting to publish that one for the past two years. Not because of what happens so much as wanting it to be a genuine Christmas special. Though, I wouldn't go expecting Gaara to put on a Christmas hat or antlers any time soon. Not in this lifetime, and not in any world.

Until next time, have a nice summer wherever you are, or whatever season you're in.