4/5

"You what? You tried to hug him?!" Harry was rightfully incredulous, even Hermione looked a little embarrassed in hindsight.

"Well… he was a new and he was so withdrawn, he reminded me of some of the special needs students at my old primary."

"So you thought you would cuddle him?" Ron didn't know whether to find this funny or give in to the deep sense of jealous fury within him that he wouldn't have been able to make sense of until an eventful Christmas Ball the following year.

Hermione for her part was fully embarrassed by this point, seeing that her attempt to hug a strange teenager had been naïve to put it mildly.

"My point is," She said forcefully, trying to set that silly moment of hers firmly in the past, "is that Gaara wasn't to blame and that his fighting you was just the result of a misunderstanding."

"What about him trying to kill Snape?" Harry argued back.

"Well, you can hardly blame him there, it's not like no one else has thought about it." Ron said, his hand sneaking to the side to find the nearly empty box of Berty-Botts he been emptying for Harry all afternoon.

"Snape did antagonise him." Hermione said.

"Well he's still a prat." Harry concluded, whether or not he ceded to his bookworm friend's point about Gaara. "But Sirius Black is still out there looking for a way to get to me."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean that you should go out looking for him, Harry. I mean, he is a convicted murderer, you don't honestly think you could fight him, do you?"

Ron, for a change, was speechless as he awaited Harry's answer.

"Well, of course- I don't know…maybe. Who knows, but if I meet him I will do what my father should have done when he first met that dark bas-"

"Harry!" Murderers and betrayals aside, Hermione wouldn't abide swearing.

Sulking a little from being out-argued, Harry stayed quiet as Hermione started on about some rare gossip about a Hufflepuff seventh year who was 'in trouble.' As she continued on about how silly the girl was and about the ramifications of it all, he thought back to the best part of his otherwise morose winter break.

He had spoken to Lupin a few times in passing since the beginning of the school year, the surprisingly awkward man had seemed to avoid him up to that point, but Harry had persevered and managed to corner Lupin using the map.

He had gotten Remus talking eventually after a fair amount of pestering, about his parents and about their group of friends. It visibly pained the professor to talk about not only James and Lily, but about Peter and Sirius also.

Harry asked how angry he was at Sirius but he had been woefully disappointed by the answer he had received.

"I was angry. I was really angry, for a long time. Once or twice, when it got really bad, when I got really bad, I thought about breaking into Azkaban by myself and doing… something. I don't even know what I would have done had I managed to confront Sirius, but I imagine it would have ended with both of us dead.

"After a few years had passed, I came to a new understanding, Harry. I hated Sirius still, but it was ludicrous. There I was hating everything about him, I refused to use his name, I just referred to him by his hated surname, but then I realised that I- By hating him and denying him, I was further destroying what I had lost."

"I don't understand." Harry said, wondering where this digression was heading.

Lupin laughed at that, "No, I don't suppose you do. I'm not explaining myself very clearly am I. Hardly an admirable quality in a professor, I fear. My point, Harry, was that I have so many happy memories of your parents, and Peter, and of Sirius too, and that by blocking out Sirius, I lost a large part of those happy memories. And those were all I had for a long time, for one reason or another."

Lupin was telling the truth, something he regrettably was unable to do a large amount of the time when Harry was concerned. He had lobbied for telling Harry everything from the start, wanting to build bridges between the boy and his godfather from the moment they met, but oddly Sirius had been the voice of reason. He had argued that there was no proof that he was innocent, and any words to the contrary from one of his old school friends would simply leave them with no tangible link to Harry.

"But Professor, I don't have any memories. Thanks to him and to Voldemort," Lupin was ashamed to admit he flinched a little, "so I don't think I can forgive him or not hate him every bit as much as he deserves."

"No, I suppose not," The older man sighed. "No matter how much I cherish the memories I have from school, I don't know that I can ever forgive your parents' killer either." Pettigrew would pay, that was for sure.

"Now, enough of all of this dark talk." Lupin said, forcing down his own dark impulses for the impressionable youth's benefit. "I have some rather tasty cakes from the kitchens and I might even have a few photos of your parents you might like to see." He would have to have some copies made up of them since he couldn't bring himself to part with the precious few pictures he had of his friends, even for Harry.

"That sounds nice." Harry had said, eager for any more morsels of experience he might garner about his mum and dad. And cake. Cake was good too.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

It was Monday and Slytherin had only a couple of weeks left until their scheduled rematch against the Gryffindorks, so tensions were high and the pressure on Draco as Seeker was at an all time high. He contented himself with the knowledge that Potter was receiving even more from his Quidditch obsessed House.

"Good morning Draco." Luna had a very disconcerting way of appearing when people least expected her, which was sadly all of the time. Nonetheless, Draco wasn't about to snub a pureblood who was, unaccountably, a friend of a friend.

"Good morning, Luna." Draco thought his obligation was fulfilled and walked briskly away, heading in the general direction of the Quidditch field since his practice was supposed to start in twenty minutes.

"Do you have any plans for Gaara's birthday yet?" Luna asked, again surprising Draco as she spoke from his blind spot.

"Where did you hear about his that?" It wasn't as if Draco had been going around spreading the news.

"He told me about it." Her shorter legs kept pace admirably with Draco's stride.

"Wait, when did Gaara tell you about his birthday?" His gait had almost faltered, but instead it just slowed to regular walking speed since he obviously wasn't going to lose her.

"Oh, a couple of months ago, I think. I hadn't known him for very long so I asked him when it was." The simplicity of it stung a bit. For the umpteenth time, his truly British neuroses stood in the way of discovery.

Thinking for a second, Draco eventually overcame his incredulity and booted up again, "Um, yes, I was thinking about booking one of the back rooms in the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade. Gaara will need a teacher to accompany him since he doesn't have permission from any parents, so we would invite Professor Lupin. That's all really."

Needless to say, Draco hadn't gotten very far in his party plans. He apparently didn't have his mother's flare for the task.

"That sounds lovely, I think Gaara will like that very much. Hopefully, with Professor Lupin there as well, they won't mind me going either."

"Pardon?"

"I'm only a second year, so I'm not allowed to go to Hogsmeade yet. And it's a Wednesday, so I think I don't know if they will let me come."

Draco wanted to slap himself for the obvious oversight. "Of course, right, yes. I'm sure Lupin will be able to swing it. Just to be safe, though, try to clear it with Professor Flitwick first. Tell him that it is the first Birthday Gaara's celebrating away from his family." A little guilt trip couldn't hurt.

"Are you going to ask Professor Snape for Gaara?"

"No! Everyone in Slytherin knows better than to mention Gaara's name to Snape. He'll never know about any of it. Lupin will go straight to Dumbledore, I expect."

"It's quite curious, that Snape seems to hate Gaara so much. Do you know why?"

"No one is quite sure," Draco said, recalling a number of fruitless conversations, "Gaara least of all. One of the upper years said it was probably because Snape's been in a particularly bad mood this year for some reason and that Gaara just got caught in the crosshairs. Plus Gaara can be very frustrating."

"I did notice a strong concentration of Wrackspurts around his head this year, Professor Snape's I mean, but they have been stirred up into a frenzy ever since the dementors surrounded the school this summer so I didn't think much of it." Luna seemed even more quizzical than she usually did as she mulled over this connection.

Draco almost fell into the trap of asking what Wrackspurts were, but remembered in time what he had heard of Luna 'Looney' Lovegood. Namely: she believed in a number of nonsensical and imaginary creatures. Not wanting to be drawn into either a pointless debate or some ridiculous explanation, he let it drop and soon enough he had arrived at the Quidditch field.

While Luna seemed to play by different general rules than the rest of humanity, even she wasn't likely to follow him into the boy's changing room.

In place of a farewell, Luna said, "I'm glad Gaara is friends with you. He has sad eyes and I think you're helping him. He's a nice person and you are too, even if you both don't realise it."

Then she turned on her heels and began skipping back up the corridor they had just walked down. Draco didn't bother shouting anything after her, instead thinking over what she had said. It had been strange as most things she said were, but also oddly insightful.

Still, for a pureblood she was far too scatty and clingy, but at least her interests or affections weren't directed at him. Gaara had the blissful virtue of obliviousness.

The red-head in question, who had come to hope that Draco had dropped the subject of his birthday celebrations after his total lack of interest and other friends became apparent, was on one of his all too frequent trips through the woods to see Sirius.

Gaara longed for the warm summer days where Sirius could hunt and scavenge for his own food instead of having it supplied via surly ninja. Well, there was also the fact that Gaara hated and would always hate the snow and all cold weather. Sirius was in the Shack as he always was, acting like a dog in the most inappropriate way when Gaara walked in.

In short order, Padfoot transformed back into Sirius, presumably so that he could actively give Gaara the silent treatment. What the immature escaped convict always failed to appreciate was that Gaara was perfectly happy sitting in silence with his friends (a very recent pluralism).

After thirty minutes, in which Sirius had edged over, snatched the sack that Gaara had set down between them, and begun to devour the food that Gaara had brought with him; Sirius finally cracked and shouted: "I can't believe you gave away the broom!"

Gaara sighed and continued stared at him long and hard, having explained his actions half a dozen times since Sirius found out.

"You couldn't have given it to a Gryffindor, you had to give it to a bloody Slytherin Seeker!"

Having gone through this enough times now, Gaara knew his participation was not required, so he let Sirius continue monologuing until he ran out of breath. Of course, the diatribe included liberal uses of his alias 'Lily', and a couple of veiled insults at his placement in Slytherin.

Things took a different turn before Sirius could tire himself out when his angry rant about the House of Snakes turned to a self-pitying one about the upcoming rematch between Gryffindor and Slytherin and how Sirius wasn't going to be able to go and watch.

He whined and sulked and bemoaned his poor luck, not to be able to freely go and see his godson beat Slytherin properly. He wouldn't even be able to cheer Harry on, which was SO UNFAIR since Harry was already disadvantaged by Malfoy's brat having a state of the art broom.

Gaara wanted to ignore Sirius' blatant attempts at manipulation, but he knew that would only lead to the man going on forever. God forbid Draco won the match…

'Fine. I'll help you sneak in.' It was much harder to sneak anything past the dementors since their numbers had been bolstered, so he would need to think of something especially clever… and preferably uncomfortable for the immature mutt.

Predictably, the grown man's mood perked right up in a flash and he was back to his old self, moving straight onto a new subject. Gaara thought, as he constantly did, about causing him some physical harm but decided not to since the matter was closed and he didn't want the man-child becoming grumpy again.

"So, you know how I've been following that strange smell in the forest lately?" Sirius asked. Gaara did not, since he routinely tuned out the man/dog's talk of scents and other animalistic exploits. Some of it struck too close to home.

When Gaara failed to nod or answer he continued regardless, "I finally caught up to it and you'll never guess what I found! It was a bloody great big dog, with three heads!"

Gaara paused in turning the sausages on a spit over the fire, and looked at Sirius.

"I know! Three heads! The worst part is that when I told Moony about it, he said he already knew it was there. One of Hagrid's old pets or something, apparently." Sirius was so excited it was hard to keep the grin off of Gaara's face. He did wonder why Lupin was spending so much time in the forest on his own, but chalked it up to taking frequent strolls on his own, as he liked to do.

"It has to be at least twice the size of the Shack," Which Fluffy wasn't, "and was fiercely territorial when I met it, but I was able to get it to submit easily enough." Somehow Gaara doubted that Fluffy had been anything but annoyingly friendly to a strange dog.

A lot of his visits were whirlwind drop offs when he was mostly stopping by to give Sirius some food or clean drinking water, but that night Gaara spent hours there, being talked at by the man who had gone twelve years without a friendly ear to talk off.

Gaara saw Sirius at least once a week, and he knew that Remus went to visit twice as often as that, which would have more than fulfilled Gaara's quota for social interaction if he were the one stuck out in the crumbling shack in the dead of winter. However, Sirius, despite the time he spent in abject loneliness, was fundamentally a social creature and Gaara could see that he wanted to be around people more.

It helped that Sirius wasn't at all subtle about it, further evidenced by his repeating the offer he had made some time ago to take Gaara in once he was free and cleared of all charges. Gaara was thankful, but he didn't know if either of them would survive living in close proximity again. When Sirius had been looking after his wounded body in the summer, Gaara had been too injured to beat him to death.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

When the morning of the nineteenth dawned, Gaara was dreading what his friend might have planned for him, but even after Draco had woken up he gave no recognition of the date other than that it was a Wednesday. Thankful but no less suspicious, Gaara waited all day for an utterance of 'Happy Birthday' or some such frivolity.

Wednesday's classes ended as they always did, with Gaara slowly ambling out of one of the Herbology greenhouses trying not to touch any of the dangerous looking (or sounding) plants that reminded him of his brother's own toxic greenhouse. Each and every time Gaara found himself in that class surrounded by the myriad of flora, he unerringly asked himself 'What's wrong with a simple cactus garden?'

By this point in the day, after having been with Draco for hours, and having seen Lupin and Luna in DADA and the Great Hall respectively, he still hadn't gotten so much as a mention of the day, so he thought he might be spared the indignity.

As Draco and he were approaching the Dungeons they ran into Professor Lupin, looking rather more angry than either was used to seeing from the placid teacher.

"Gaara, you need to follow me," He said, addressing only the red-head without the barest hint of joviality in his voice. "Now."

"What is this about, sir?" Draco asked, his impetuous disregard for the man's authority continuing even still.

"This doesn't concern you Draco, the Headmaster needs to talk to Gaara." Lupin turned and walked away back up the stairs without checking if Gaara would follow. The bewildered foreigner did indeed follow his trusted friend and teacher up the steps, wondering all the while what this could be about. He had been pretty good recently, and the things he had done he had been pretty good about hiding.

Maybe they had finally worked out that he was killing the dementors, or that he had been sneaking out of the grounds regularly since the year began. Or, well… there were certainly more than a couple of reasons for calling him to see the principal, but he didn't think they actually knew about any of them.

Maybe he was getting sloppy… but then, in his mind, his gruesome and bloody murders back in his village had been sophisticated assassinations. Gaara had never been as underhanded or subtle as he'd like to believe, according to his siblings.

The journey from the lowest quarters to one of the highest towers of Hogwarts had been entirely silent until Lupin spoke the Gryphon statue's facile password and started on the spiral staircase to the Headmaster's office.

Gaara was in his mind trying to think of as number of strategies centring on denial, evasion, or, if need be, escape. If they had, by some dint of magic or miracle, been clued in on what Gaara was or what he was doing, he would have to clear the way and escape from the tower somehow. Easier said than done when all he had in his pocket was a handful of sand for talking.

Just as his hand was trailing towards the pocket where he carried the one kunai he felt he could reasonably conceal on his person, the heavy wooden door swung open.

"Surprise!" Chorused Luna, Draco, Dumbledore, and Lupin behind him, sending his nerves into overdrive and he performed a very un-shinobi-like flinch instead of throwing the knife at the person directly in front of him. Though, considering that person happened to be Draco, the likely mastermind of this ruse, he would have considered it justifiable homicide.

His eye twitching with pent-up anger, he allowed himself to be guided into the well endowed office by the smirking Lupin.

"I hope you don't mind, but the surprise part of this evening was my brainchild." Lupin muttered, snickering all the while.

"Happy Birthday." Draco cheered, followed in short course by the other blonde and Dumbledore and Lupin.

The withheld stress sagged off of Gaara's put-upon shoulders, and he was ushered into the office, happily noting that at least they hadn't covered the place in gaudy decorations or commissioned some hideously sweet cake.

"I know it's not exactly orthodox, but since I have permission from Ms Lovegood's father, and Professor Lupin is willing to take responsibility for Gaara because of his unique circumstances, I couldn't see any reason to deny Draco's request to hold a birthday party off of school property." Albus said with a wide smile to all present.

Of course, none of that was true. It was entirely against the rules, but since he did have permissions and a responsible (?) teacher accompanying them all, and since Lucius had covertly threatened to start up trouble with the other governors again this year; he had agreed. He had been a little wary of sending three children out with only one minder when there was a mass murderer roaming the area, but if they did nothing else, the presence of the dementors would ensure a short outing would be a safe as possible.

Part of Albus was indignant at the manipulation, especially since it had blatantly come from the fourteen year old Malfoy. However, like most of the changes this year, he saw it as a positive step on Draco's part, to be using his irrevocable Slytherin tendencies for someone else's benefit.

While he wouldn't deny the precedent amongst the Snakes towards the Dark end of the moral spectrum, he did not buy into the prejudice that all of them were Dark Lords in the making, or Death Eaters in training. They just needed that extra bit of encouragement towards the Light. Hence his enthusiastic backing of Gaara, despite all of the associated troubles.

Gaara was wondering what Dumbledore had meant when he mentioned leaving the school. He would have felt dread at the thought of being dragged to some stuffy function at the Malfoy Manor, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Draco wouldn't let him near his parents without fixing his uniform. Gaara's top button was undone, his tie was loose, his shirt was untucked, and if Draco shouted 'Malfoy Manor' in the floo they were lighting, he would undo his fly just to mess with the Malfoy(s).

Instead, to his moderate relief, Draco announced that they would all be going to the Hogshead Pub in Hogsmeade. The blond went first, followed closely by Luna, who looked about as lively and cheerful as Gaara had ever seen her, and last went Lupin with Gaara, holding tightly onto him so that they would not be separated in the floo network.

The landing was not as bumpy as the last time Gaara used a fireplace to travel, but he would never understand the complacency of the average witch or wizard who were willing to abide with these ridiculous modes of travel. Surely someone could have thought of SOMETHING in the long and illustrious line of magic in this world.

When he regained his senses, he found himself in the exact setting he did not want to be in, namely he was in a private room in the Hogshead and there was a banner with his name and celebratory references to his birthday, there were a load of balloons, there were a few birthday hats on the tables along with drinks and party foods. It was ludicrous, especially considering that there were four of them in the room and one of them was a grown man.

Gaara covertly asked Draco why they were at the pub, a setting that surely would have caused no small amount of trouble to organise, but Draco said that they couldn't possibly celebrate properly in the school. What the rich boy didn't say was that he would have liked to hire out a much nicer venue for Gaara, but his resources and time were limited.

No matter the small number, everyone (except the grumpy birthday boy) had a wonderful night, all swiftly taking their places around the table and telling funny stories, often including and ridiculing Gaara. For his part, the red-head stayed to the side, repeatedly getting pulled back towards the joviality when he strayed too close to the door.

It was only as the clock struck nine-thirty that Lupin conspicuously let him wander to the exit. Gaara figured the man had taken mercy on the recluse and was letting him go early without interrupting the otherwise surprisingly rowdy party. What he found outside was not what he had been expecting.

Next to the door, sat Padfoot with a wagging tail and a gift crudely wrapped in old newspaper. He knelt down, knowing that the convict couldn't risk transforming near the village anymore, and took the slobbery gift from Sirius.

He would have felt a tug at his heart, were it not for the fact that when he unwrapped the newspaper he found a dead rabbit and a small note saying:

'Lily,

You can give this one to the Slytherin too, if you want.

Padfoot.'

Grimacing at the thing, he gently flicked Padfoot's nose, ceasing the amused tail wagging momentarily until he tossed the rabbit back for Sirius to run and catch in his jaws. The dog-man would undoubtedly have more use for the thing than Gaara (or Draco, for that matter).

Sirius came back and dropped the rabbit on Gaara's feet, silently requesting a game of catch. Gaara patiently waited for Sirius to drop his ears, stoop down and take the rabbit back off of his shoes, not willing to indulge in a game of catch-the-dead-rabbit just now.

Draco poked his head out of the door into the cold night just as Gaara was kneeling down in front of Padfoot. "Come back in Gaara," He cut himself off when he saw the improbable sight of his stoic, perhaps homicidal, friend, kneeling down in the cold patting a (ripe smelling) stray dog on the head. "And don't forget to wash your hands."

His sneer towards Padfoot earned him a fierce growl from the large dog, which caused the pompous blond to duck right back into the pub. Gaara patted Sirius one more time before going back himself, appreciating the gesture, however mocking, of Sirius giving him one of his precious rabbits.

Sirius barked and then ran off into the night, presumably back to the Shack where he could try and get warm. Gaara walked inside, also enjoying getting out of the freezing cold, and went promptly to the bathroom to wash his hands of the contaminant of smelly dog and dead rabbit.

As he let himself back into the private function room, he found Draco telling a story about the time he had ruined all of the good linen before his sixth birthday party and all of the trouble he had gotten into.

Luna was the first to notice his re-entry, "Oh, we were just telling stories of our past birthdays."

Draco, who had been interrupted before her could finish his own story (cutting out a large portion of physical retribution for his carelessness), was a little put out when she suggested Gaara tell a story now.

Gaara thought for a moment, as anyone who knew him would say he did whenever he was about to share some detail of his past, before he nodded minutely and summoned his sand, 'I have only celebrated one birthday before this, last year. My brother and sister cooked food and told stories, like tonight. It was nice.'

"Hold on a minute there, Gaara, did you say that you've never had a birthday before?" Lupin asked.

'No, no one was thankful I was alive until last year.' The blank, matter of fact expression on Gaara's face would have inspired pity in any group that didn't include a recently self-hating aristocrat, a chronically lonely, closeted werewolf, and a girl who had witnessed her own mother's death and was regularly called Looney to her face.

Nonetheless, it did dampen the mood a tad until madam Rosemerta barged into the room with a tray of drinks that looked far too interesting to be for the school group. Her smile dropped when she looked at the small gathering, "Oh, I am sorry my loves, I thought you were the bachelor party next door. Not to worry."

As she bustled back out of the door, Lupin jumped up and grabbed the rather large glass of Fire Whisky off of the tray without her even noticing, sitting back with a quiet sigh.