Chapter 7: A New Trespass 1/5

Disclaimer: I do not own either Harry Potter (rightfully owned by J.K Rowling) or Naruto (rightfully owned by Masashi Kishimoto) nor do I make any money out of this fiction.

A/N: God this chapter didn't want to be written. I've taken longer before, I think, but this was just plain difficult. Perhaps more to do with stuff in the real world rather than the content of the chapter. A soul crushing amount of work can drag the fun out of even fanfiction. As always I hope I can bring myself to speed up the writing for the next chapter.

On a brighter note, I reached another landmark; the file for this story has finally reached one megabyte. I laugh when friends mention that their hard drives have dozens of gigabytes dedicated to films and games, and all of my word files make up about four or five megabytes.

This chapter hasn't been beta read yet, but will be in the near future.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

(Last Time)

Gaara wasn't sure what was happening or why a dog wanted to get into Gryffindor (either that or the Fat Lady's singing had done number on the poor creature's ears) but the familiarity of the dog persuaded Gaara to chase after it to see if he could find some answers.

As he ran after it, Gaara considered where he could have seen it before. He'd only spent time with one dog that came to mind, and this one was quite a bit different. This big but nonetheless normal black dog with one head... hadn't he seen a dog before he got to Hogwarts, back in Hogsmeade village? Why was it here now?

He continued to chase after the beast as the students were beginning to converge on the empty portrait of the Fat Lady.

It was going to be another long night, this time not only for insomniacs and part-time wolves.

Gaara's feet tapped against the polished stone floor in a steady drum as the frequency removed any distinction in his footfalls. The air in the castle was noticeably cooler after he'd spent the day in the amply heated Gryffindor common room, but his growing discomfort was pretty inconsequential seeing as he now apparently had a shy canine stalker to investigate.

The dog, no matter why it was there or who it belonged to, was definitely trying to evade him as every few minutes it would turn its head to glance back at him and then dart around another corner, as if it was trying to outmanoeuvre him. Gaara would have sent his sand out to snatch the dog off the ground, but experience told him that that often didn't end well for smaller organisms with weaker bones.

He might have been able to catch up a lot quicker were it not for the labyrinthine design of the castle giving the nimble hound the advantage with its tight turns. Every time Gaara came close to the thing's tail, it would disappear around a corner and Gaara would have to skirt around after it.

A subtle satisfied smirk eased its way onto Gaara's face after he turned another corner and saw the long stretch of corridor in front of him and the dog, ending in what appeared to be a stairwell. Gaara had never had a dog before, Yashamaru having intended to buy him a puppy if he was still sane in a few years, but he was pretty sure that a dog this size needed to slow down before they went down stairs. This chase was over.

Giving one last push, Gaara burst forward and leapt at the still fleeing dog. The pooch had turned its head again, to check if Gaara was still following it, and this time it saw the looming figure of Gaara as he fell down on top of it.

The pair of them tumbled onwards a few more feet until Gaara was holding the dog's midsection tightly, hoping it would calm down soon before he succumbed to the smell. This wasn't wet dog; this was more like the stink of rotting dog. Even strays shouldn't smell this bad. Even fluffy, three-headed monstrosity that he was, didn't smell at all bad compared to this smelly mutt.

The big black dog continued to struggle and thrash about in Gaara's arms for a little while before slowing to stillness. Gaara sighed a little, until the dog began to shift again, but it wasn't panicky like before. The warm mass he was kneeling against, arms around the middle, moved in a fluid way that didn't seem at all organic until he felt something circle his own abdomen. Confused, wondering how the emaciated beast had twisted itself into such a grapple, Gaara looked down to see not the bent ears and furry snout he had been chasing, but the long hair and smiling, earnest face of Sirius Black, infamous mass-murderer and inventor of the world's most effective hangover potion (patent pending).

Before he'd known what was happening, he was being hugged back by Sirius and Gaara was more than a little surprised to see Sirius here... in his arms. The pause Gaara had taken to stare down at Sirius' beaming face ended when he realised that surprise wasn't the right reaction for this situation, indignity was what he should be experiencing. With that in mind, he let go of Sirius and stood up abruptly, letting his friend fall to the ground with a thud and an 'oomph'.

"Nice to see you too, Gaara."

Gaara waited until Sirius had righted himself and stalked off to the nearest empty store room to have a little chat. He had a few questions.

Safely sequestered, Gaara watched the frail man hold himself against the cold in the castle and considered him. He hadn't known that wizards could transform into animals, but now that he thought about it, it made sense that magic could do something like transformations. Then Gaara wondered how Sirius had known that he was hiding in Gryffindor while everyone was away. It was bizarre.

Biting back against the cold that his meagre rags did little to protect him against, Sirius smiled and said "I'm glad to see you, how are you doing, Gaara?"

Gaara shrugged.

Sirius' sunken cheeks stretched further upwards, seeing that Gaara's demeanour hadn't changed one iota, even after the fugitive had snuck into the castle in the middle of the day and had revealed that he was an animagus.

'What are you doing here?' Sirius hadn't missed having to read through his conversations with Gaara. In his memories, Gaara seemed to speak without moving his lips.

At this particular question, Sirius deflated a little, his already listless shoulders drooped even further and he admitted to Gaara that had grown tired of waiting for Lupin to find the rat and had decided to do something for himself, for a change.

Gaara's eyes widened a fraction and he realised that he had just happened to be in the wrong common room when Sirius broke in. Talk about coincidences... 'So, how did you turn into a dog? You don't have a wand.'

"Oh, that... do you know what animagi are?" Gaara shook his head and Sirius marvelled at the red-head's ability to remain so stoic when confronted with the inexplicable and strange, even by wizarding standards. "Well, an animagus is a witch or wizard who has learnt a special sort of magic to turn into an animal. Once they know how to do it, they can transform even without a wand. To tell you the truth, that's how I got out of Azkaban."

'Are you the same dog I met in Hogsmeade?'

Sirius wished Gaara's face was made out of flesh and bone rather than stone and withering glares, because telling if he was angry about that whole episode or not was impossible. The only thing for it was the truth, and the hope that Gaara was willing to overlook whatever rudeness Sirius hadn't bothered to notice. Even Sirius knew he was lying to himself, he was aware he'd obviously crossed the line, but any chance Sirius got he took to get out of that shack.

If he had to spend much longer in that creaky damned house, the shrieking it was famous for might just resume.

"Yeah, I, uh, wanted to get some fresh air and didn't see any harm... I... you really know the right spot to scratch behind my ear." The tick mark was actually reassuring to see on Gaara, since the boy usually externalised his anger in only one of two ways, physical violence and emotional displays of anger. The latter were rarer but oh so sweet. Forgiveness.

It wouldn't occur to Sirius for a few months that his dynamic with Gaara would often flip to where he was the child and Gaara was the angry adults scolding him.

Gaara asked a little about how he was doing, out there in the cold, and then about tonight. Sirius explained how he'd been cold and hungry and had snuck into the school through one of the hidden passages with a plan to find Peter and finish this arc of his life. He'd be acquitted and he could set himself up in society again and buy a dozen steaks. Gaara was following him up until the point where Sirius admitted to stopping by the kitchens on the way to Gryffindor to get a bite to eat. He wouldn't have believed anybody else if they said that.

"Now that I think about it, why were you in the Gryffindor common room today?"

Gaara blanked him for a few moments, coming up with a story, unbeknownst to Sirius, and then wrote out 'I was there for the same reason as you. Searching for Pettigrew. While the students were in Hogsmeade.'

"Oh, good thinking! Just what I'd expect!" Sirius bellowed, clapping his hands. "I know it must be difficult, what Remus told me about, about your home, but thank you for thinking about my situation. Did you have any luck?" Sirius didn't sound too hopeful, knowing that Gaara probably wouldn't have let him carry on without mentioning finding Peter.

The ragged convict was about to ask about Gaara, how he'd been doing, but Gaara held up his hands for silence and Sirius was still in admonished-child mode and hushed up immediately.

'They're coming.' Sirius was disappointed and afraid, but Gaara opened the door and motioned for him to follow. Sirius wasted no time and jogged behind Gaara as they made their way to the nearest exit. Sirius could find a way out of the school's perimeter soon enough.

When they reached the ground floor, Gaara opened a window and stepped back for Sirius to go through. He was about to, but he saw Gaara fiddling with something and then Gaara's outermost layers came loose and were held out to Sirius, who wasn't shivering but shaking in gratitude, and... maybe a little cold.

"Gaara... for me...? Thank-" Gaara pushed the cloaks at him and pointed out the window, already walking away, towards the voices that he'd heard and that had apparently followed him.

"I'll see you again, Lily, soon!" Sirius jumped out into the snow and started off running towards the Whomping Willow and back to his temporary... home. He'd rather sit down for tea with that portrait his mother had commissioned.

Gaara meanwhile was walking back towards the voices of Lupin, McGonagall and a collection of student voices that he didn't recognise. When they came into sight, both the adults and a couple of the mature students were pointing their wands right at him. Lupin called out for everyone to hold their fire, but his raised voice caused a particularly jittery seventh year to fire off whatever curse he'd been muttering, right at Gaara.

His sand blocked it with ease, but the fear evident of the seventh year's face made it clear that he dearly wanted to raise his wand again to defend against this imminent threat. Fortunately, Gaara saved himself any further curses by avoiding the weary glare he wanted to send at the fearful student, and instead walked slowly forward, knowing that most of the students considered him little better than Sirius Black (which he would argue against for very different reasons). Among the group he noticed most of the students crowding around him and the teachers as he had approached were Slytherins, and among them was Draco looking concerned and relieved. Honestly, even if Sirius was a reputed mass-murderer, Gaara was WAY more infamous where he came from.

Thirteen people... please...

"Gaara, where have you been?" McGonagall crossed her arms and he realised that whatever inquisition he'd be getting would happen right here.

His sand went as slowly as he could manage it, as to not instigate any more accidental magic or pants-wetting. 'I was chasing someone. I think it was Sirius Black. He got away.' A gasp went around the crowd, including Minerva who covered her mouth.

"You chased after Sirius Black? What on Earth could have prompted you to do something so foolish?! Do you know how dangerous that man is?" McGonagall looked more angry than worried, so Gaara got a little confused about why she was shouting at him.

An older student stepped forwards, with a calculating look in his eye that was terribly misleading because he was actually a Gryffindor prefect, not a Slytherin. "Professor, apparently Gaara was seen running away from the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Are we sure it wasn't him that slashed the painting?"

All eyes turned to Gaara, even Remus's, which looked more tired than even he was prone to. 'I was already in the common room. I sat by the fire all day.'

There were a few scattered gasps and one of the minority of Gryffindors in the crowd exclaimed "Wait, that was him?!" It soon became clear that Gaara had indeed spent the better part of the day in the opposing House's private area, since he'd been seen and he could account for some of the day's foot traffic. It was finally McGonagall who asked why he had been in there in the first place and Gaara looked around quickly, wondering either what to say or how to escape.

Visibly annoyed to have to answer, he wrote out 'I was cold. It's warmer in there.' More than a few among the crowd, especially those who had actually dealt with Gaara before, face-palmed.

Draco finally piped up "If Gaara really had anything to do with Black, surely he would have just let him in and stopped him from alerting everyone in the castle. Besides, Gaara would have known that Potter wasn't there anyway." If was precisely for times like these that Gaara's friendship with Draco became worthwhile.

"I think that should allay everyone's suspicions regarding Gaara's whereabouts today." Lupin said with a nervous little smile, a cold sweat making its way down the side of his face. The full-moon had been only yesterday and he really didn't need this sort of drain. Stupid Sirius!

"Be that as it may, it is still against the rules to trespass in other Houses and so I will be taking fifty points from Slytherin." A chorus of groans rose from the Slytherin students gathered. "But I hardly think it's the right time to be standing around debating, when there could still be a wanted criminal roaming the halls. I think we'd best continue onwards to the Great Hall."

No one argued against the aged lioness, and followed quietly behind her, with Professor Lupin walking at the back of the crowd. Gaara fell into step with Draco and his small band of friends, not engaging or taking notice of the conversations around him. All of the students present were laden with bags of varying sizes, having come straight from Hogsmeade when they were intercepted on their way down to the dungeons by the professors. The combined group had taken a longer route through the castle to pick up any stragglers still unaware of the dangers.

Draco glanced over to the red-headed bane of his peaceful school year and he marvelled at the audacity it took to brazenly stroll into their rival House and spend the day reading in front of their fire. It was beyond his logic, that's what it was. However, as much as Draco wanted to be angry at the betrayal of his House, or incredulous at the simplicity it took to blindly seek out the warmest spots in the castle, the platinum-blond struggled to hold onto any of it. For one, Gaara was just that kind of boy, and Draco could also guess that his roommate might have been feeling a little homesick, with the weather conditions so alien to a desert dweller like him.

Maybe he could talk to the maintenance staff about warming up their bedroom, or getting one of the higher years to perform a long-lasting, powerful warming charm. Hell, in the summer holidays he could always splurge and send Gaara to Egypt for a couple of weeks. It was dirt cheap for wizards to stay in the desert country. Still, he'd have to look into organising something like that. Hell, while he was at it, maybe he could find out where Gaara came from, maybe take him back there for a visit or something.

Draco walked along, embarrassed by his surprisingly dim friend and making summer plans instead of quivering in fear at the mass murderer. He would have told anyone that cared to ask, which was no one at the moment, that this was just because he was perfectly unaffected by such menial troubles. Of course, anyone who actually knew Draco would have seen through that lie. The truth was that he wasn't afraid of Sirius Black, and not just because Gaara was the most convenient bodyguard a friend could ask for; either Black was guilty of his crimes and he was loyal to the Dark Lord, in which case he'd be an ally of the Malfoy family, or he was innocent and didn't kill people. Plus Black was a relative of his mother's, he believed, so he had that going for him. He was pretty certain that as long as he gave Potter a wide birth, about the radius of a good-sized explosion spell, then he was pretty safe.

Draco hadn't taken into account that residents of Azkaban habitually went insane within a few years of incarceration and his first cousin once removed might not be in the right mind to distinguish enemy from allied family and friends.

The doors to the Great Hall were being guarded by Professors Snape and Flitwick, with wands in hand and nervous eyes. Well, Flitwick's eyes were certainly nervous, Snapes were edging towards eager. He was probably praying that Sirius was stupid enough to approach him so he could finish many of his sadistic little fantasies regarding his tormentors. Severus' eyes hardened when he spotted Gaara among the crowd of Slytherins and other assorted students.

"That's the last of them that we could find. I will continue searching the school with Remus, but I think Black has more than likely already fled the castle by now. Lock the doors after us, would you, Severus?" McGonagall shepherded the students into the bustling hall and walked back out of the closing doors, which were then locked with what looked to be a pretty elaborate locking mechanism. A locking mechanism that assuredly wouldn't stand up to Gaara's sand if he found out that the teachers did spot Sirius inside the school again and he had to race the staff to kill the idiot. Stopping for dinner?!

At least Lupin had looked appropriately chagrined by all of this. It seemed few people understood the burden of dealing with Sirius Black. If only Sirius was just a simple mass murderer, it would make his life so much easier. Plus they'd have something in common.

The entire student body looked to be in a quiet panic about this latest trespass by Black, their previously safe haven now appearing scary and foreign to them. They all huddled in little groups and whispered and shook, the first years even occasionally breaking into tears and having to hide it from their friends. A few wary glances were sent to Gaara, but for once he got to experience what it was like not to be the scariest thing on people's minds; though that waned a little as word spread that he'd either been in cahoots with Black, or had been scary enough to ward off the right-hand-man of Voldemort.

The festive floating jack-o'-lanterns had been taken down in light of the sufficiently terrifying events of the night, and the atmosphere of the Halloween feast, which Gaara had totally and completely forgotten about, was ruined for a third year in a row. What were the chances? First a troll in the dungeons, then a bloody message on the wall, and now a mass murdering psychopath breaking into the school. A few of the students began to wonder what could possibly go wrong next year to top this year.

In place of the tables that had been laden with sweet foods and even sweeter confectionaries, now stood row upon row of cots ready for the students to finish off this horrifying night with a horrible night's sleep. Gaara wondered, as he wandered through the rows, why they couldn't have just conjured up some more comfortable beds. Were they running low on magic-juice? Did magic run out? Gaara hadn't really thought about it. All around him the students continued their excited chatter and Gaara lost his train of thought as Draco finished up his quick conversation with his other friends and jogged back over to him, brandishing a sizable bag that he'd pulled out of his rucksack.

"Here, I thought this might cheer you up since you weren't allowed down into Hogsmeade." Gaara was touched by the thought, until he saw it was a large sack of sweets. Not wanting to upset Draco or seem ungrateful, he nodded his insincere thanks, gave him a pat on the shoulder and took his bag of candy in hand and retired to his cot, which he'd selected because it was the furthest cot in the corner and was the least likely to upset the surrounding campers. He was a stoic boy, but most of the others in the hall were scared civilian children and the last thing they needed was the sand-wielding bogeyman sleeping amidst them.

He'd been walking across the hall with only his cot in mind, so that he could set down his bag of unwanted sweets and perhaps 'forget' to take them with him the next morning, but on his way to the drafty corner he ran into a face he thought he recognised somewhat. Apparently Gaara was familiar with her, though he couldn't remember her name as she strode up to him with that same empty-headed smile she'd had the last time.

It was a strange name, something like Moon, or Luke, no that wasn't it...Loon? Oh, wait, it was Luna. That girl who'd been bullied.

"Hello again, Gaara, how are you?" She said. Maybe she thought they were friends? Strange.

Still, blank-faced, he nodded his general acceptance of life and the world around him before nodding at her, asking the same question. Or at least that what she took it to mean. She told of how those girls had since left her alone and how she'd been pleasantly surprised by the amount of work her second year had brought her. All the while, Gaara was totally ignorant as to why this girl, that he met once (to their knowledge), was acting so familiar. It didn't occur to Gaara for a moment that to her he was like an old friend, because he was one of the few people in the school that didn't openly mock or shoot down her ideas/theories and had in fact helped her when others had been routinely bullying her. Gaara was strange and so was she, and so she continued to talk to Gaara, having been wanting to 'catch-up' for a while.

Dazed for a moment, Gaara noticed the weight in his hand and his eyes locked onto the sack of unwanted sweets and then roamed back up to meet with the glassy grey eyes and he figured that this was as good a use as he was going to get out of Draco's gift, so he reached into the sack, grabbed a sizable handful of candies and held them out for Luna to take.