Saturday morning, Professor Dumbledore looked across the dining hall, checking up on all the Slytherins. Students were tucked into their sleeping bags, snoring softly (and some not so softly...). The headmaster smiled happily. His eyes passed over another sleeping bag. It was empty! Surprised, he thought over who could be up this early. Professor Dumbledore eyed the heads, checking for a silver haired boy. None. No silver head among the crowd. Ah...so it's Killua Zaoldyeck, is it? Yes, the headmaster felt great things would come from the little assassin. Maybe I should go take a stroll around the grounds? Professor Dumbledore thought mysteriously to himself.

The boy, whom the headmaster was now seeking, was currently sitting near the edge of the Forbidden Forest. For a moment, he had thought about breaking the rules and running into the dark forest. But, he decided against it and sat on the outer edge, watching thestrals slipping in and out of the trees, taking sneaky peeks at him. These things, Killua mused, are such strange creatures. He watched them sniff the air and quietly trot back in. They were horse-like in appearance, except for the fact that they were as black as a void and much more hideous looking than regular horses. Their red eyes darted over to the assassin from time to time, but then ignored him afterwards. I wonder what Gon would think when he saw them. Suddenly, he felt a familiar aura from the Hogwarts castle. Gon?

No, it was the headmaster. Professor Dumbledore.

The brownish gray haired man smiled at Killua and strolled over in a cheerful manner. A few minutes later, the headmaster sat beside the little assassin, staring at the scenery. He noticed the thestrals peeking from behind the trees.

"Ah yes...the thestrals. Strange creatures, aren't they?"

"…"

Killua said nothing. Professor Dumbledore smiled gently and continued,

"They say that only the people who have witnessed death can see them."

Killua scowled and looked away from the thestrals.

"Very mysterious creatures they are. No one knows much about them. What they eat, how they live, if they're tamable..." The boy looked up abruptly and asked,

"Why would anyone want to tame them? They're hideous."

Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"Why should all the other animals have attention while the thestrals are left ignored? Just because they are different from others."

Killua eyed the headmaster.

"What are you trying to say..." the boy asked him warily. The elder man shrugged. A moment of silence passed and they stared out across the fields. Professor Dumbledore looked up at the clouds. The sun was halfway up, splashing the sky with a light orange and yellow.

"So...why are you up so early?" The headmaster broke the silence.

"I can ask you the same question. Why are you here?" Killua replied, not bothering with the fact that it was the headmaster he was talking to.

"Well, I was checking up on the students until I found one sleeping bag empty." Professor Dumbledore said with a bouncy air. Killua raised an eyebrow. Never thought he'd actually answer me... the assassin thought.

"And you? Why were you up so early?"

Killua sighed, deciding to tell the elder man.

"My family trained me to wake up at this time. Or else they'd probably send my brothers and sisters into my room to wake me up. It was always too bothersome to deal with them in the morning, so I wake up at these times."He remembered the time when his fat ass brother had run into the room with a bomb in his hand. The silver-haired boy sighed dejectedly.

"Oh, I see." The headmaster smiled, urging him to go on.

"Mother would probably be forcing me to do those push-ups right about now."

"Oh? Is that so?" the elder man got up and laid down, his chest flat against the grass. Killua stared at his headmaster.

"...What are you—"

Dumbledore cut him off with a groan. He was trying to push himself off the ground with his arms.

"—doing...?" Killua blinked.

"Trying...to...ugh—" his headmaster groaned again, lifting himself an inch off the ground, "...to...to...oomph!" He collapsed on his face. Killua bursted out laughing. The headmaster moaned but nevertheless smiled happily at the silver-haired boy.

"That was pathetic! You wouldn't last a day at my house." Killua grinned, "Actually, you wouldn't even be able to get into my house."

Professor Dumbledore rubbed his arms.

"I haven't done that in quite some time..." he muttered. He looked at the boy next to him mischievously, "Well...? Let's see you try it then."

Killua smirked and took up the challenge. He laid on the ground and put both hands on the ground. He lifted himself easily and the silver-haired assassin turned his head to grin at his headmaster smugly.

"Usually, I do this with weights on my back too. Without weights, it's just too easy." He did a couple more and pushed off the ground so that he stood next to the headmaster. "He he." Killua grinned. The professor grinned back at him.

"Say, why don't we do this every morning? I wouldn't want to disappoint your mother."

"Huh?" Killua was confused.

"I can conjure weights for you and you can train every morning."

"Woah, really?"

"Why, of course." The elder man smiled.

"…"

"…"

"I'll think about it."

o-o-o

Gon woke up groggily. He was stiff from sleeping on the floor all night. The boy stretched, trying to drive the stiffness away, and he rubbed his arms to stir up some warmth into his muscles. Ow...is this what Killua has to experience? The boy rubbed a particular sore spot. Must be even colder down there too... He headed into the bathroom as quietly as he could so that he didn't wake Leorio up. Gon brushed his teeth and walked softly towards the common room. His eyes widened in surprise when he found all the schedules sitting on the coffee table in alphabetical order. Gon nearly ran towards the table and started looking for his name. He found it in no time at all and opened the envelope, pulling the schedule out so that he could read its contents.

"Woah...we get to study Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Gon whispered in awe, "And Transfiguration too!" He ran up the stairs and shook Leorio awake.

"Huh? Gon? Wha?" Leorio cracked his eyes open. A blurry looking Gon was in front of him. He closed his eyes and decided to ignore the boy.

"Lee-o-ri-ooo..." Gon smiled, pronouncing each syllable of his name longer than needed. The taller man groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head.

"Lee-o-ri-ooo..." the boy called again.

"Leave me be...I wanna sleep, kid..."

"Wake up, Leorio!"

"Ugh...Gon..." the tall man checked the time on an alarm clock near his bed. He groaned again and pulled the covers tighter, "It's too early, Gon. Go back to sleep. It's only 8:14..."

"But, our schedules are all downstairs! We get to learn Transfiguration and Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Gon shouted happily. Leorio covered his head with a pillow and waved the boy off, as if swatting a fly away. Gon sighed and left to take a long shower.

o-o-o

Gon ran down the steps towards the great dining hall, dragging a sleepy Leorio behind. Kurapica followed behind them, rubbing a sore area on his shoulder. Curse the thing that made me sleep on the floor! Kurapica thought bitterly, rubbing his shoulders, Now I'm all stiff and aching. And the Slytherins wouldn't even care anyway. What made me do such a stupid thing? The blonde heard a groan and he looked up. Kurapica suppressed a laugh.

The dining hall had returned back to normal and all the Slytherins were sitting in their seats, drowsy and aching. The blonde could hear them moaning from the other end of the hall.

"Where's Killua?" Gon asked, looking to and fro.

"Who cares! Just stop dragging me! Let me go! Gon!" Leorio tried his best to shout at the boy.

"But, Killua isn't sitting anywhere..."

"Maybe he's a loner. Sitting in some dark crevice you can't see, now let go of me!" Leorio grumbled. Gon stared defiantly at the taller man,

"But, if he's sitting in some dark corner, the more we should go find him! C'mon, Leorio, Kurapica. We have to find him!"

The front doors of the dining hall opened, revealing a silver-haired boy, wearing a bright purple robe with frills along the collar. A scowl crossed over his face when a wrinkly, yet firm, hand patted him on the head. A few students gasped. Professor Dumbledore stood to the left of Killua, a cheery smile pasted on his lips. Killua glared at his headmaster and walked briskly over to the Slytherin table, scowling and glaring menacingly at anyone who dared make a comment on his clothes.

"My my. What an awkward way to start a morning." Professor Dumbledore laughed and smiled at his students before jogging to the front of the room. On the other hand, the students did not express the strange cheeriness their headmaster had. The students stared blankly at Professor Dumbledore, who was returning to his usual seat during breakfast.

"Looks like we found him." Leorio said, staring at Killua's robes.

"What's going on? Why is Killua wearing that?" Gon blinked, also staring at Killua's robes.

"All right you guys..." Kurapica smiled nervously, hoping Killua couldn't hear them talking, "Sit down, breakfast is starting." At least he knew when someone was on the brink of starting a rampage.

Breakfast started. And the atmosphere was...tense. Unpleasant. The students eyed Killua, who was shoveling food into his mouth quickly, glaring at the headmaster from time to time. Three Gryffindors stared at the silver-haired assassin curiously. Why was he so angry? And how did he come across those clothes?

The three of them stared at each other, chewing slowly on their cereal. Gon started to stand up but both Leorio and Kurapica pulled him back down, shaking their heads. The spiky haired boy stared at his assassin friend in concern.

o-o-o

"Hey, Killua!"

"Hmm?" The silver-haired boy turned around in the hallway, his hands stuck in his pockets. He had finally had the chance to change back into his normal clothes and he was now exploring the rest of the grounds. Killua found Gon waving back at him cheerily. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance when he remembered the same cheerful wave the headmaster also had.

"Hi, Gon." He smiled half-heartedly.

"What's wrong, Killua? You don't look okay."

"Ah, it's nothing..."

"…"

"…"
"So..." the spiky haired boy pried, "What were you doing with those clothes this morning?"

Killua tripped over his own feet and stared incredulously at his friend.

This guy just goes straight to the point, doesn't he!

Gon blinked in all honesty, wanting to know what the assassin was doing with a bright purple and frilly robe. Killua sighed,

"The old fart was helping me with my morning practice. Usually my parents force me to jog around home in less than twenty minutes and then they tell me to do push-ups."

Gon nodded, getting the gist of the situation. Killua continued,

"So then, that old fart started adding really heavy weights to my back. I broke quite a sweat with all of them piled on top of me! And then, he told me to run fifteen laps around the castle grounds in less than twenty minutes! I think I've memorized the entire outer fields of Hogwarts by now!"

"Woah..." Gon stared at his friend in awe.

"So then, my clothes were all sweaty and the old fart decided to change them without my permission! On top ofthat, he changed them into weird looking robes!"

"Ah..." Gon nodded.

"Yeah. So that's why."

"Hmm..."

"What?"

"Killua, you must be really strong!"

"Huh?"

"You memorized the castle grounds after fifteen laps! Amazing!"

Killua tripped over his feet again.

"Oh...umm...that's nothing..."

His black-haired friend merely smiled in respect.

o-o-o

"Ow! Leorio, what are you doing?" Kurapica glanced around him, "Hey, are we in...the broom closet?"

"Shh!" The taller man whispered, "I think I've found some evidence about my investigation."

The blonde raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest,

"Oh? Is that so? Then, why do you need to tell me in the broom closet?"

"Because I just thought of it now!"

"Ah, so you're one of those spontaneous types."

Leorio's eyebrow twitched in annoyance,

"That's not the point. The point is, I've found some evidence!"

"And...?"

"I think that the people behind the series of murders in Diagon Alley are in Slytherin House."

Kurapica blinked.

"What?" Leorio stared curiously at the blonde. Kurapica eyed the taller man.

"Did you just think of that...now?"

Leorio stared at him angrily,

"O-of course I didn't!"

"Is that so...?" Kurapica stared at Leorio through half-lidded eyes.

"Yes!" Leorio muttered angrily. Then, his voice seemed to soften,"And I think that they might be responsible for the death of your family members..."

"What?" The blonde's eyes widened.

"Yeah..."

"But...how? Why...?"

"Well..." Leorio stared at one of the brooms in the closet.

o-o-o

Hello minna-san! It's winter break and I'm back! My has it been long...this poor little draft has been sitting at the bottom of my desk for the longest time. I thought I typed it up but it looks like I didn't! Wow...so, here it is. I hope you liked it.XD