2/2

Draco looked over to where Gaara was still sitting, and he couldn't tell if Gaara was happy, sad or confused. He had an excellent poker face. The blond certainly couldn't discern any upturn in his demeanour. If anything Gaara looked dour this morning.

"You might be right." Draco said noncommittally.

"Of course, he usually looks happier the mornings after." Luna continued.

"Wait, by morning after…"

"His transformations." Luna said it like Draco had simply forgotten the word.

"You know about those?"

"Yes, I found out a few months ago. I take it you learned about it last night?"

"How did you know I knew?"

"Well, you made up last night didn't you? It's written all over Gaara's face." Again, he snuck a glance and still couldn't tell if Gaara was really conscious or if he was sleeping with his eyes open at the table. His face was totally blank to his eyes.

Luna could apparently see a number of things that nobody else could, so it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that she could also discern Gaara's facial expression when no one else was able.

Draco's wonderment aside, he soon picked up on that one fact, "Wait, so Gaara let you in on his secret months ago and I only found out last night?"

"Well, I wouldn't say he let me in on his secret. It was more like I discovered it on my own."

"I remember those posters you made with the sketches now. They looked just like him when he was…" He trailed off rather than risk exposing the truth to any eavesdroppers. It'd be bad enough if anyone knew he was talking to a second year Ravenclaw girl, he didn't need them hearing their (apparently shared) secrets too.

They walked together away from the Great Hall and Draco wondered if Luna's first class was near his own or if she hadn't noticed they were walking.

Along the way, they both discussed Gaara's fluffy-form to their hearts content as they had been unable to do with the only other person who knew the secret. Luna was very excitable when it came to Gaara's transformations, whereas Draco was more curious as to why his friend transformed in the first place. There were a number of oddities surrounding the red head, and they were starting to bug him.

It was like there was some huge part of the mystery he was missing that would help him make sense of the foreigner.

The pair also came to the same conclusion: it was strange that everyone still feared Gaara despite his saving everyone on the Quidditch pitch from dementors months ago and had toned down his aggressive and misanthropic tendencies too. If the school could see him during a full moon they would definitely change their minds about him, that was for sure.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

As the month rolled into June, the last of the school year, a new worry etched itself into Draco's mind: where was Gaara staying during the break. The thought had of course occurred to him before then, but now it was becoming a pressing matter. He wasn't sure if he could invite Gaara to stay at the Malfoy estate for the full summer after he had stayed for Christmas, either. And he didn't know if he could ask Gaara to come to his home again without inadvertently making his parents responsible for him by default.

With Gaara's temperament and behaviour, that was quite the burden to thrust upon his mother and father.

He was also terribly afraid to ask his father for permission to bring Gaara home again because it would necessitate a frank discussion between his father and he regarding Gaara. Both of his parents had been willing to indulge his friendship so far without any gains to be seen from it, but that would only last so long as they were willing to turn a blind eye.

They had taken Gaara at his word that he was from a suitable pureblood family, and forgiven his lack of proper manners as being a foreigner. Eventually they would want to know exactly who and where he had come from.

For that matter, Draco wouldn't mind knowing as well.

Dumbledore had his own plans for Gaara this summer. The boy had landed in his lap entirely unexpectedly, but Albus was nothing if not adept at adapting to changing circumstances. He would never have guessed young Sirius would somehow escape from Azkaban but the rest of what followed had sadly been quite predictable.

Gaara was a strange child, one of the strangest he had ever met, but knowing the boy now as he thought he did, he wasn't all that difficult to understand and anticipate.

He would have liked to leave Gaara in Remus' care over the break, seeing how close they had become over the course of the year. It was a curious bond, but one born from shared hardship and experiences, he thought. However, the law was the law and Lupin couldn't look after a child being what he was. It was only because none of the parents knew about him, that Remus was allowed to teach in the school. And it was chiefly because of the regard the Ministry still held Albus in that they had listened to his request and kept Remus' secret to themselves.

The Ministry were already curious about the boy, so there was no way they would continue to stay quiet if Lupin tried taking him in. Severus was out of the question for both the obvious reasons and because of his record. Hagrid had a record too, sadly, and Albus thought it would be a real hardship for his friend to try and look after a teenager.

The Wealseys would have been a good choice, but they had so many mouths to feed already, and Gaara did need a little more attention that they could reasonably be expected to provide. Plus, there was every chance Harry would be staying with them by the end of the summer too, so the Burrow was out.

He was far too busy (and old) to do it himself and Minerva was similarly busy and unsuited.

He had worked through his entire address book (tearfully crossing out a few old names since the last time he had looked through it) trying to find a suitable guardian. He needed someone he could trust to look after the boy, otherwise he would presumably be left in the Malfoys' hands for the whole summer. He had been wary enough of the Christmas visit, but too long around those sorts of people might reverse the good work Gaara had done on Draco.

From the dwindling list of Order members still alive and capable, he had ended up with two names: Emmeline and Sturgis. He had asked both without divulging too much information (not because he didn't trust them, but because it was a lot to ask) and Sturgis had outright refused. A little guilt applied here and there and Emmeline reluctantly agreed.

It would be a good set up as the Ministry would have little recourse since she was a respected witch of impeccable character who wouldn't be overburdened by the job (probably).

He didn't want to upset Gaara by telling him too early, but on the other hand he didn't want to wait and risk losing the boy to the Malfoys. He had decided he would tell him after his exams had finished, with the two week respite before they went home for the break.

Difficult and at times tear jerking, by and large the job of finding Gaara a home had actually been something of a fun task for the Headmaster, a distraction from the darker issues he was facing at the moment.

Unbeknownst to the bearded man, Remus had already planned to invite Gaara to stay with him at the end of the year. He knew the Ministry wouldn't like it, but he would ask Dumbledore to intercede on his behalf. It might cost a little political capital, but he was sure Dumbledore could manage it.

Sirius had never been much of a forward thinker, so his plans really just revolved around catching Peter and how that would solve all of their problems. He would take custody of Harry and take in Gaara too, he could help support Lupin as well. Then he usually devolved into imagining his peaceful life together with his friends and 'family.'

All the while, Gaara figured he would just hang out in the Forrest for a couple of months and go into town to get supplies every now and then. Spend some time with Fluffy and maybe Sirius if he wasn't bugging him too much. Keep an eye out for the rat if he didn't leave the school with Weasley.

And, needless to say, the Ministry had plans too.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Draco walked through the corridor with a book open, safe in the knowledge that almost nobody else would be taking this route to get the Astronomy Tower. Gaara had said he would meet him outside of the Abandoned Tower before they went to their Astronomy exam that evening. He didn't bother asking why Gaara was meeting him there or what business his roommate had in that particular tower, he had too much to think about as it was.

Gaara was waiting there conspicuously as expected so Draco finished checking one last fact before storing the book in his satchel and continuing along. As the first of the exams, it held a special place in Draco's contempt but it was certainly not the most worrisome test he was soon going to be taking. Astronomy happened to be one of his stronger subjects since he had been introduced to all of the major constellations when he was just a child, whenever his mother would talk about her family history.

As they ascended the spiral staircase with their classmates to take their tests and perform the practical Astronomical observations, Draco once again worried about Gaara's grades. Astronomy wasn't his worst subject, and he clearly did study a lot, but he was so far behind their year when he arrived…

Gaara on the other hand was worried about Draco's stress levels. He seemed to be worrying about a lot at the moment. He was probably…What was that word again? Neurotic.

Gaara had gone to see a psychiatrist shortly after the Konoha-Suna conflict after his sister had asked him (and made sure he wasn't going to kill the man for talking to him). He hadn't really been analysed because he had just asked lots of questions of the understandably nervous therapist and left when he was finished. Suna decided to declare him fit for duty despite the failed attempt at gauging his state of mind.

They had used him before, and he was improving so it was decided he was 'safe' to return to active duty along with his siblings.

Yes, Draco was definitely neurotic, but he didn't bother mentioning this helpful piece of psychological wisdom to his friend since it was both a muggle science and from another world. Who knew which sciences had progressed here? He still couldn't believe some of their machines.

But then, he also couldn't believe some of their prejudices in this world. Advanced in some areas and primitive in others.

That entire week was filled with exam after exam for every student in the school. The career students, primarily in Ravenclaw, treated it like a religious holiday and would hardly say a word to anyone the entire time from their first exam to the last.

And after every test, the students would run over their answers in their heads and try to figure out where they went wrong so they could panic for the next month or two until their results were released. Those lucky enough to be in close-knit friendships would experience a mutual concern over each other's performances. Although, for a certain pair of Slytherins, it was a little one-sided.

What little emotional investment Gaara could muster for these useless tests, he trusted in Draco's ability to pass all of his classes. He was bright, powerful enough, and had been studying more than anyone else in their House for the past month, except perhaps Gaara.

Draco wasn't so confident in Gaara's grades. Granted, the improvement the foreigner had undergone since September was immense, he hadn't even blown anything up during his practical demonstrations for a while. That alone spoke volumes. Draco told himself that the exams had all gone smoothly, so Gaara couldn't have done that bad. He had even shown up to their Potions finals, to everyone's collective surprise.

Snape looked about ready to call the whole thing off when Gaara stepped back into his laboratory for the first time in months.

By the time last test had come and gone, the school was feeling the annual strain fall from their shoulders. There was another two weeks before the train would come to take them home but it was paid little heed that weekend as most treated their work as finished for the summer.

To celebrate and reward Draco for his hard work, Gaara gave him a large bag of Honyduke's sweets.

Since the cancellation of Hogsmeade trips, luxuries like sweets and the like had become precious commodities to the imprisoned student body. The fact that Gaara had broken the embargo didn't raise as much as an eyebrow when those told were confronted by the sight of the bulging bag of tooth-rotting goodness.

Even Draco didn't bother asking where or how Gaara had gotten hold of the loot. The students were allowed a small amount of sweets through the post, and those with enough money could buy these kinds of items from the enterprising Weasley Twins. Rumour had it that the pair were still able to get out into the village, but most dismissed this as a myth.

If it were that easy to sneak in and out of the school grounds, Sirius Black would have murdered Harry Potter by now.

The Weasley Twins were expensive and Gaara was entirely too poor to have afforded a bag this large, and no one was sending him candy, so Draco would have been left to wonder if he weren't suddenly so popular amongst the gluttons of his House.

And the envy of the gluttons in other Houses.

Once again the Weasley Twins, hearing about the impressive procurement, wondered whether Gaara was trying to compete with them again.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

After the exams had passed and the classes had moved onto the next years syllabi for every class (except the seventh years who were almost universally lazing about the castle), Gaara was called to Dumbledore's office for a short meeting. He went without any delay since he hadn't been called to see the old man in a while and to his knowledge he hadn't done anything wrong lately.

Unless his practical scores had that bad…

He waved off Draco's concern and walked there on his own, skipping the next class and going straight to the concealed spiral staircase instead. It was only Care of Magical Creatures anyway. Draco would tell Professor Hagrid where he was and he probably wouldn't even be marked absent. The half-giant was an agreeable teacher that way.

On his way, he had passed by a number of departing students who were exerting very little effort to conceal their rampant, round-the-clock partying. Most of the eighteen year olds he was passing by were either recovering from last night's hangover or working their way to tomorrows.

It was quite refreshing to be around an adult atmosphere again, shame it wasn't a mature one.

He knocked on the sturdy wooden door and was beckoned in immediately. Evidently the old man had expected him to come straight away and cut class. He was learning.

"Good morning Gaara." He said, taking a sip of his tea. "Or, rather, good afternoon. Tea?"

Gaara nodded, knowing the man kept his tea set stocked with some of the more palatable tea blends he had been forced to endure in this world.

Gaara nodded again after the elderly teacher handed him the cup, and Albus replied, "You're welcome."

"Now, you are probably wondering why I have invited you here this morning." He started, offering a biscuit for courtesy's sake. "You do not have any living relatives in this country and cannot return to your home over the summer, as I understand it. Is this correct?"

Gaara paused for a few seconds but nodded.

"Normally your case, unusual though it is, would be left to the Ministry to handle. However, that would be… difficult to navigate. The Ministry is overburdened so I have elected to act in my role of custodian of Hogwarts' students and find you a suitable place to stay until school reconvenes in September."

Gaara didn't like where this way going. It was bad enough Draco was losing sleep over the letter he had been trying to write for the last four days, addressed to his parents and most likely concerning Gaara's living situation. He knew people saw him as a child in this world, but was there really a need for all of this controlling behaviour?

'Where?' He didn't care for the infantilisation, but if he was going to be put somewhere suitable for the months off anyway, he didn't want to fight it out of principle. Plus it might ease Draco's put-upon shoulders.

"An old colleague of mine has agreed to take you in as a favour to me. Her name is Emmeline Vance, she used to be an Auror for the Ministry but now she is a professional duellist. One of the finest spellcasters I have even seen, I would say. She has the skill of a witch twice her age."

Gaara mulled this over in his head. She would certainly he helpful in his learning wizardry, but on the other hand he didn't like the sound of her doing it as a favour. Dumbledore was involving himself in Gaara's life just a little too much. Plus, he got the distinct impression his movements would be heavily restricted if he were to agree to this.

'No, thank you.' Gaara stated simply.

"I'm sorry, my boy, I don't quite follow."

'No, I will not be staying with Miss Vance over the summer.' Gaara didn't add anything else, readying himself to leave and skip the rest of the current lesson.

"No, my boy, I'm afraid you don't quite fully understand the situation. We cannot release you at the end of term without a suitable home for you. Now, Emmeline is a lovely woman, I'm sure you two will get on swimmingly."

'You cannot release me? I am not a prisoner.'

"No, of course you're not a prisoner, but every school has a duty of care to their students. Hogwarts is no different."

'I will find myself suitable accommodation until September. Thank you.' With that, Gaara stood to leave but Dumbledore quickly waved him back to his seat.

"No, that won't do. You aren't old enough to make that decision yet. If you have another suggestion, I could perhaps look into it, but otherwise I have to hand you over to Miss Vance."

'I am not from this country. I am an adult in my own.'

"I am sorry to say that the laws of this country are what govern here, and in them you are still a child."

Gaara might have liked to argue how he hadn't been a child since he was knee-high. When he had taken his first life and been told he was a monster who had killed his own mother…

He might have liked to argue the point, but it would serve little purpose here when all they regarded were ages when determining adulthood. No sense in needlessly disclosing the more sordid parts of his personal history.

Still, he would now need to come up with an 'acceptable' living situation for the summer since he could guess the Headmaster wouldn't go for his plan to camp in the woods for three months. He would have gone straight to Remus with this problem, but the way Werewolves were treated in this world, he didn't see much point.

As far as Gaara's could see, Remus was only employed by the grace of Professor Dumbledore. There was no way the Headmaster wouldn't have suggested the most involved teacher in the school unless there was a reason for it.

The Malfoys?

No.

He didn't know any other (legally free) adults. He would need to give it some thought, or else he might just escape. The mass of children and lack of supervision had allowed Gaara to transform every month without anyone noticing (with two annoying exceptions.) With a single adult keeping an eye on him, a close eye if his suspicions about Dumbledore's motives were correct, he would be in grave danger if he went where he was supposed to.

The conversation had lapsed, the only sound being the sipping of tea. When he had finished his, Gaara set it down, nodded his thanks, and left without a word.

Albus let him go and continued thinking on his plans. Gaara had been surprisingly obstinate about his independence. He had played his hand, it was up to Gaara now. He couldn't actually stop Gaara if the boy didn't want to go to stay with Emmeline, but he hoped his guidance would be heeded.

If Gaara struck out on his own this summer when the eyes of the Ministry were still firmly set on him, it would only lead to disaster. He could protect Gaara, but only if the boy didn't sabotage his efforts.

He wondered what was actually worse, Gaara on his own when the Ministry had their unhealthy interest in him, or spending the summer with the Malfoy family. It was testament to his own prejudices or rather grudges that this question had come up in his mind. The Malfoy's had done nothing but help Gaara since making his acquaintance. He had nothing nice to say about Lucius, but as a unit they had not moved to harm the boy so far.

Anticipating a fight with Gaara over his future, he started planning ahead for his meeting at the Ministry in under a week's time, on the twenty-third. The meeting was a strategy meeting between a number of interested and relevant people to discuss the ongoing Black Crisis.

In attendance would be himself, Minister Fudge, Morbidus, Lucius, Minerva, Fillius, the head dementor wrangler currently stationed at Hogwarts, as well as Rufus Scrimgeour, Amelia Bones, and the Head of Magical Punishment, AKA the man in charge of Azkaban and every dementor under the Ministry's purview.

In all, it was set to be a positively excruciating meeting, but with any luck he might have them remove at least some of the dementors from the school next year. Then again, he was arguing against those who were calling for the school to close until the problem had passed, so it would not be an easy discussion.

He would tell all of the remaining staff members to be on high alert that night in case Sirius somehow caught wind of their departures. It would most likely be fine though.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The night of the summit was a big night to be sure. Lupin was preparing for his final transformation of the school year, as was Gaara. For the former it would mark the end of his being expected to show up to breakfast in the morning, he could return to spending the day or two following his changes recovering in bed.

The latter, Gaara, was anxious over his soon to be changing venue because depending on where he ended up he was going to have a lot more difficulty changing in peace. Even if he did stay with Draco, which was not looking too likely considering the letter was still on Draco's desk, and Draco helped conceal his changes, the manor had servants and two very interested parents.

Harry's afternoon hadn't been in preparation as much as recovering from the shocking experience he had at the end of his latest Divination lesson. Professor Trelawney had been pleasantly predictable for the majority of the year, 'foreseeing' a number of students' deaths and generally failing to convince anybody that she could see anything, least of all the future.

The only exception before today had been the first time she had taught Gaara, where she had performed a very different act in predicting Gaara's future. The strange voice, ambiguous content and memory loss afterwards were a departure from any of the other insights she had felt compelled to share in every other lesson since.

She had been very interested in her 'prophecy' directly after the event, but the day after whenever anybody mentioned it she clammed up and pretended it never happened.

That afternoon, Harry had heard another which had him honestly scared. Trelawney had foreseen the return of Voldemort, who would rise to be even worse than he had been during his first reign, and it would all be triggered by some chained servant escaping.

His first thoughts were that Sirius Black was involved, but he had no idea what Trelawney had meant by the 'break free' tonight part. Surely Black had already escaped, that was the whole problem.

He had, after finding that his professor was ignorant of her actions, tried to go and tell Dumbledore since he seemed like the man to tell. When no one was there to let him up into the office, he tried to go and find McGonagall but she was missing too. His next stop was Professor Flitwick, but it looked like all of the senior teachers were missing tonight.

Afraid that these things might be connected, he went back to tell his friends. On his rush back to Gryffindor Tower, he considered what he knew about Black. The friendship and betrayal of his parents, family history of blood-purity and dark magic, imprisonment after killing Peter Pettigrew, twelve years in Azkaban before being the first person to escape, and then he had headed to Hogwarts and broken in.

The twelve years in Azkaban bit definitely corresponded to the prophecy, if it was actually to be believed, but otherwise it wasn't a whole lot of use. There were other things and theories he recalled, the most recent of which would be the strange animal he had been chasing last month.

It had showed up on the full moon, which wasn't just linked to werewolves but a number of other magical creatures and wizarding rituals, according to his Astronomy text books. It might have been a coincidence, but if it was working for Black, and it was linked to the lunar cycle, then it would be appearing again tonight.

He told all of this to Ron and Hermione and they were both quite shocked. Even Hermione, sceptical about all things Trelawney, had to admit it was a peculiar confluence of events and was worth investigating. She had been quick to quash Harry's notion of looking for Professor Lupin that evening to help, arguing that he would almost certainly have gone with the other missing professors.

Elsewhere, Gaara had changed in his room for the first time in months and had quite enjoyed how relaxed it was without the worry of discovery. Draco had been fascinated by the transformation itself and had started to talk to Gaara excitedly about it before realising that his mute friend couldn't even use sand to reply now.

"So it's true, you change with the setting sun rather than the presence of the moon like werewolves. That must mean you spend more of the night changed, don't you? Although, I suppose that would vary with clouds and the rise and fall of the moon…Can you even understand a word I'm saying?" He said, looking down his nose at the animal his friend had turned into.

Gaara disregarded the question and went back to his bed to read for a little while. He couldn't leave his room until the common room was deserted. Snape would show up at around nine or ten and 'persuade' them to go back to their rooms in a persuasive style quite reminiscent of Gaara's own. Until then, Draco would be freaked out by the unsettling sight of his roommate reading cross-legged on his bed like always, but inside the body of a 'tanuki.'

Gaara had the same plan as last month, complete with treat to get rid of Lupin when he was done 'playing.' Sadly, as he learned about seventy seconds after he left the Slytherin entrance, so did Potter, Granger and Weasley. Of course, he didn't register that it was the same sound and thus same pursuer as last month plus two helpers, instead he went back into the primal mindset and took off running away again.

Draco had been planning on lounging about for the evening, maybe read a little or catch up with his moderate friends since his purist ones had once again drifted away from him when his friendship with Gaara was repaired. Instead, shortly after he had let Gaara out into the Dungeons, he heard the scratching of a four-legged animal scrambling for purchase with its claws as it frantically tried to run away from something. A scant couple of seconds later and he heard a group in shoes run past after.

His breath caught in his throat and he too started running, going to the exit and out after the chase he had heard to try and protect Gaara from whoever was chasing him.

He couldn't help the "Bloody typical!" that slipped out of his mouth as he spotted (who else but) Potter and his cronies chasing after Gaara at the one time of the month the psychotic red-head was incapable of fighting back.

With no other course of action, Draco started off after his peers, unsure of what he would say if he caught up. He supposed it would depend entirely on how much the Gryffindors knew. If they knew it was Gaara, he would probably be fighting to stop Gaara killing the three when the sun rose.

Then again, why fight against a good thing?

If Gaara had just accepted Draco's offer to help during the full moon, to stick by him and keep an eye on him. Instead, he said he was going to go and 'fight a werewolf' or something like that. Ridiculous. And now Draco was running around in the middle of the night, trying to protect Gaara who by all rights was the one that should be doing the protecting in their relationship.

Gaara had glanced back a few times to check if his pursuers were still on his proverbial tail, which sadly cost him the few seconds lead his faster running had built up since the last time he checked. By the time he had reached the exit into the open air, they were still only twenty feet behind him and didn't look like they were ready to give up any time soon, except for Ron who was beginning to look a little winded.

And Ron had been having such a great afternoon, too…

Gaara, looking back one last time as he ran down the hill, swerving away from coming into the attack radius of the Whomping Willow, saw that not only were the three Gryffindors still after him, but so was someone just now exiting the castle who looked an awful lot like Draco.

Still, out in the open like this, especially downhill, Gaara had doubled his lead in seconds and was practically at the forest line, in which he would be able to escape without any trouble, when he heard a scream.

Turning around, he expected to see Granger being attacked by the malicious tree, instead he saw that the girlish scream had come from Weasley who was being dragged towards said tree by a dog he was sickeningly familiar with.

The remaining two thirds of the Golden Trio tried to give chase but the Willow had obviously just woken up after having its knot touched, and so started to attack the two teenagers with extreme prejudice.

Gaara dearly wanted to go after Sirius, find out what he was playing at, or at least stop those two idiotic lions from getting themselves killed by the local flora, but in the form he was, he could barely help himself. There was nothing he could do but watch them struggle and risk their lives.

When Draco, who had given that scene a wide birth, reached him by the tree line, he watched too. And he was even more clueless than Gaara as to what was going on.

"You didn't know that was going to happen, right?" Draco asked, switching his terrified gaze from where Potter and Granger had crawled under the flailing tree, to Gaara whose eyes, unchanged from their intense human versions, were staring at the unfolded scene too.

Draco might have heard a whine come from his canine friend, but he didn't say anything.

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Omake:

The third year was different for a number of reasons, like the start of trips to Hogsmeade village, the moderately relaxed curfew, or the introduction of elective classes. However, the change that Remus was concentrating on, quite hard in fact, was the change in Defence Against the Dark Arts exam procedure. The first two years involved a basic demonstration of spells learned over the course of the year.

The third year was the first that the students were expected to cast their spells at a living target: their professor. Now, for most this present nothing more than an inadequate practice for his shield charms, but there were two exceptions.

There was Harry, who was at least two years advanced in his spellcasting, and thus had a much stronger spelt that took Lupin quite by surprise after having lazily cast the 'Protego' charm for the dozen children before him. Still, he had survived war before becoming a teacher, so stopping the unexpectedly potent disarming hex was nothing more than a jolt to wake him up.

It was pure luck that that adrenaline came in time to ready himself for Gaara whose turn came soon after.

Gaara was no longer the uncontrolled explosive force he had been at the beginning of the year, but he was still unbelievably powerful for his age (or in general). Lupin had seen the boy demolish training dummies, designed to be resistant to magic, using a simple tickling hex.

When Gaara had sidled up to him with his wand drawn, Lupin actually felt sweat form on his brow. Gaara gave him a moment to summon up his shield before he raised his wand and prepared what should have been an entirely harmless spell. The reason the professor in these exams was to shield himself was that it was a test of potency rather than technique. It was in the fourth year that such spells would be fired at the examiner with the intent of actually disarming.

It was for that reason that Remus felt relief, since he didn't know if he could have survived if he weren't allowed any protection.

Gaara pulled his wand up and then without a word levelled it at Gaara, sending out an alarmingly bright flare towards him.

It flew quickly and impacted his shield hard enough to have him bracing his wand with both arms. Fortunately it had been a quick spell, otherwise he would have needed to cast a more powerful protection.

Gaara passed that portion with flying colours, by some miracle, since the point of the exam had indeed been to ensure the students had the requisite raw power to progress to finer technical specifics.

Lupin considered Gaara's chances and hoped the curse of the DADA professorship took him long before he had to start tutoring the boy for that exam.

Heaven forefend.

After Gaara left the testing room, he met Draco who looked altogether too concerned, and Gaara just wrote 'I passed.'

Draco couldn't believe it, but just told himself it was one less subject Gaara would fail in.

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A/N: As I said, the shortest yet, but now the stage is set for the finale. All that is left is for me to write the thing.

Thank you again for taking the time to read my chapter, either just this one or if you have managed to ingest the entire thing up to this point in one long go. Please, if you have any thoughts at all, I would dearly like to hear them.

And with any luck the next chapter will follow shortly. Or else you can look forward to a nice Christmas present, or possibly a happy Easter one…