Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter stuff, J.K. Rowling does. Too bad, so sad for me.  Okay, on to Chapter Two where the action starts!!!

Chapter Two: Enter Fuzzball

Draco lay awake in his bed in the Slytherin 5th-year boys dorm room. He rested the back of his head on his hands as he let his eyes wander over the folds in the thick green velvet curtains of his four-poster bed. They were partly opened so that he had a view of the arched moonlit window. A small smile rested on his lips. This was the first year his dorm had a window. The 5th-year dorm room was on the first floor of the castle overlooking the rocky shore of the lake below. A long, spiraling stone stairwell lead to the Slytherin common room in the dungeons.

Draco was restless. He was so pleased to be back in his home hunting grounds that he couldn't think of sleeping. Suddenly a great "SNORK!" resonated from the bed across the room and Draco knew that Goyle had fallen into a deep sleep. Crabbe had been murmuring in his sleep for quite some time. Draco rolled his eyes and sat up, quickly and silently. He hadn't even undressed. He set his feet quietly on the floor, and his dragon hide boots made a soft squeaking noise as he stood up. His thick black robes made soft shuffling noises in the dark as Draco made his way stealthily to the door. Draco was hesitant to leave the presence of the soft moonlight for the dark stairwell, but he consoled himself with the thought that he would see it again in a few minutes.

Draco slowly opened the creaking wooden door and made his way down the winding stairs. The Slytherin common room was empty, but enchanted green flames still leapt about silently in the great stone fireplace. Draco stepped silently over the thick floor rugs across the room to the door. He caught sight of himself in a mirror and was startled to see that his eyes appeared to be glowing green. His silver irises were always quick to pick up sharp colors, and the flames danced in his eyes. His hair was shining silver as though the moonlight had been trapped in it. Silver and Green, a true Slytherin, Draco thought with a smirk.

Draco tore his stare from the ornate mirror and pulled up the hood of his cloak. Draco opened the heavy wooden door that lead to the dungeons of Hogwarts castle and leaned into the empty hallway. He strode with cat-like grace towards the front of the castle and out the doors.

* * *

Draco took a deep breath of the crisp night air. The dew on the grass sparkled with moonlight and gave the grounds an enchanted appearance. Draco shuffled across the yard towards the edge of the lake. He wanted to see the moonbeams dance across the surface of the water. As he reached the edge of the lake he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He felt like someone was watching him. He turned back towards the castle, but all the windows were dark. He figured it was nothing and turned to make his way to the lake. Just then a movement caught his eye on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Something about the size of a cantaloupe was bouncing and rolling across the lawn in Draco's direction. Draco was frozen in place with curiosity. As the bouncing/rolling object came nearer Draco could hear a strange squeaking noise. It sounded like rubber shoes squeaking on a wooden floor. Suddenly the little round object stopped bouncing and seemed to turn around and face the forest. That is, if it did have a face at all. It sat for a few seconds, apparently listening for something, and then gave an almighty shriek and leapt off of the ground. In three great leaps it smacked right into a thoroughly confused Draco. Draco was so shocked he fell backwards and tripped over his robes. The little round object landed on Draco's chest and trembled.

Upon closer inspection Draco noticed that this thing was indeed some sort of animal, and a very frightened one at that. It was round and furry with four tiny little round feet. Its ears were pointy like a cat's but had inch-long tufts of soft fur hanging off of the ends. The creature had a small pointed nose just below its large shining eyes.

Draco's eyes widened and he began to scoot backwards across the grass. The creature let out a frightened squeak and tried to burrow itself under Draco's robes.

Draco finally managed to speak: "What the hell are you?!"

The animal stopped moving and peered up into Draco's eyes. The strange silence was suddenly broken by a low growling noise coming from the Forest. The creature emitted a low whining noise and began trembling again. Draco leapt to his feet, dropping the miserable animal the to ground. The stunned fuzzball squeaked in terror and started jumping at Draco, but only managed to make it to his thighs. Draco scanned the edge of the Forest with his eyes and suddenly caught sight of a flash of movement. A pair of red eyes peered out at him through the dark branches. The creature's squeaks were getting louder and it was jumping with more and more insistence.

Oh shit…

The beast in the forest growled again deeply and started to prowl onto the lawn. Draco turned tail and began to run full speed at the castle. Draco realized in terror that something had grabbed onto the back of his robe. With a quick glance he saw that the cantaloupe-creature had sunk its teeth into the hem of his robe and was hanging on for dear life.

Oh for God's sake…

Draco turned around and grabbed the little fuzzball, keeping his eyes on the edge of the Forest. The growling beast was nowhere in sight, but Draco wasn't going to take any chances. He tucked the round creature under his arm the same way a chaser would grip a quaffle in a game of Quidditch. It squeaked again, but this time Draco was sure there was a bit of delight in the noise.

Draco slammed through the doors into the castle and turned sharply down the stairs. He raced down the dungeon hallway and suddenly caught site of a creature pacing in the middle of it. A creature with red eyes. A relatively small creature with red eyes. When the animal let out a small hiss Draco realized that it was just Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's evil cat.

Draco hadn't stopped running and he took a running leap over Mrs. Norris and turned the last corner at the end of the hall. He shouted "Cunning!" at the metal suit of armor that stood at the wall at the end of the corridor. At the sound of the password, the suit of armor came to life and reached out and pulled a heavy metal ring that hung from the stone wall. The door to the Slytherin common room appeared and was slowly opened. Draco dashed through it and pulled it quickly shut behind him. He could hear the suit of armor grunt indignantly outside as it was pulled sharply into the door.

Now feeling entirely safe, Draco leaned panting against the door. When he had caught some of his breath he paced quickly across the room, up the stairs, and into his dorm room.

The room was as he left it, except that Goyle was now snoring loudly. Draco rushed to his bed, flopped down and pulled the curtains shut in one quick motion. He threw the cantaloupe-creature away from his body, and it rolled squeaking into the pile of pillows. Draco sat back against the footrest of his bed, watching the pillows intently, waiting for the creature to appear again. It suddenly stuck out its pointy little snout and opened its mouth, letting out a sharp squeal that sounded uncannily like a high-pitched cheer of "Yaaaay!".

Draco flinched and pushed his back into the footboard. The creature wobbled out onto the bed, batting it's long eyelashes at Draco. Draco pulled his wand out of his pocket and muttered, "Lumos". The space of his bed inside the curtains filled with light and Draco set the wand down next to him.

Draco and the fuzzball regarded eachother with obvious curiosity. Draco observed that the creature's fur was a deep violet color, and what showed of its skin was more of a lavender color. It blinked its immense violet eyes at him and cocked its head to one side. Draco realized that the little animal somewhat resembled a hedgehog, but it was much softer and more colorful.

"Hmmm," Draco sighed.

"Hmmm," the little creature squeaked. Draco let out a short laugh and the creature wiggled with delight. It quickly bobbled its way across the bed into Draco's lap. It snuggled in, making soft, squeaky purring noises.

"Oh, so I guess you think you're staying with me now, hm?"

The animal snuggled deeper into Draco's robes and closed its eyes.

"Hey fuzzball, I'm not a pillow, that is," Draco said, pointing to the pile of silver and green pillows at the head of the bed. The animal raised its sleepy head and peered suspiciously at the pillows for a few seconds, turned its face towards Draco, and then snuggled back down to nap.

"No, no, n-n-n-no. You're not sleeping there."

Draco hopped up and flung the creature towards the pillows. It stared at him for a second, the hurt obvious in its large eyes. But the animal quickly got over the insult and curled up on a large green pillow, shoving its nose under a tuft of fur.

"Good fuzzball," Draco told it.

Draco yawned and stripped out of his clothes, throwing them carelessly on the floor. He pulled back the thick green comforter of his bed and revealed the shiny silver silk sheets underneath. Wearing only a pair of black cotton boxers, Draco slid into bed. He rolled over onto his side and studied the furry ball that lay on his pillow.

"Tomorrow I'm going to find out what the hell you are," he murmured.

The only answer Draco received was the soft purring that must have been the little creature's snores.

* * *

Hermione Granger had been peering out of the window of her 5th-year girls dorm room in the Gryffindor Tower. She had been gazing at the moonlit grounds when she caught sight of a black hooded figure heading across the yard towards the lake. She watched curiously as the figure halted near the Forbidden Forest.

Better not be a Gryffindor student out after curfew! she had thought. Imagine losing points on the first day back!

 She had become even more curious when the hooded figure was suddenly joined by a small, round bouncing figure. As the hooded person fell backwards, his hood fell off to reveal a full head of gleaming platinum hair.

Malfoy! I should have known!

Hermione toyed with the idea of alerting Flich to the fact that a student was out of bed, but she became worried when Malfoy suddenly dashed towards the castle like demons from the pit of hell were on his tail. Hermione could see nothing that would have frightened Malfoy. What confused Hermione the most was when Malfoy turned around and grabbed the small bouncing object from the ground and tucked it under his arm, taking it into the castle with him.

That's curious…

* * *

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But Siriusly