5/6

While Sirius was keeping a stiff upper lip, Harry was making no effort to hide his heartbreak as he was dropped off at the end of Privet Drive. What Harry did not know was that Sirius was concealing his feelings as much as he could, otherwise he would be openly bawling and looking for someone to punch. Instead his eyes watered at last and he hugged Harry and sent him on his way after reaffirming when they would next see each other.

When Sirius got back, he looked for his quill so he could send an owl right away. A couple days later, after he had calmed down a little, he broached the topic of Gaara's mysterious surname with the boy.

"Gaara, does the name 'Shukaku' mean anything to you?" Sirius asked, expecting a dismissal or a simple truth. Instead, he watched as Gaara's eyes went wide. The foreign boy had an exceptional poker face most of the time but when his mask cracked it was glaringly obvious.

"Where did you hear that?"

"A magical map listed it with your name. We thought it must be your last name."

"We? Who else knows?"

"Me, Remus, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Oh, and possibly the Weasley twins." Sirius counted them off in his head.

"It's not my name. It doesn't matter."

Sirius stared Gaara for a moment or two, wondering if this was an issue he should press. It was clearly a sore subject, but would it help to pry or just make matters worse?

"I can see it on your face; it does matter. What or who is Shukaku?"

"It's not something you need to know about. Ever. Don't mention him again." Gaara muttered and walked away.

Sirius thought Gaara was storming off in anger, instead Gaara was leaving so that Sirius didn't see his fear. He had not known magic would be able to sense Shukaku inside of him, or certainly not that it would be able to identify and name the beast.

Of all people, Gaara did not want Sirius to know about Shukaku. The darkness in his soul, both the demon and the resulting evils committed in his childhood, were not something any rational man could forgive or abide. Gaara did not ever want to suffer his friend's unavoidable scorn, and to keep that happening he could never reveal the truth of Shukaku. Not unless there was a dire need.

Sirius, thinking he had terribly upset his ward, resolved to never bring up the uncomfortable subject ever again.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Luckily for the pair, Remus showed up soon after, having finished his latest bender and wanting some company. Gaara and Sirius had suffered under an awkward air since the brief but frank incident, so the buffer was appreciated. It might be said to have been appreciated more by Sirius than Gaara who had simply gone back to holing himself up in the library, though he had emerged to say hello when the werewolf arrived. Things went back to normal as soon as Lupin settled in, it seemed.

Then, soon after that, it was time for the Malfoys to come over for tea. Knowing that Lucius and Naricssa would never deign to use a bathroom in his house, Sirius only had to ensure that the drawing room was neat and tidy for their arrival. They would floo in, have tea, politely refuse any suggestion they stay for dinner, and then leave through the same fireplace again. If he offered to show them around the house, they would accept, but no such invitation would be extended.

By the time Lucius stepped through the fire into the room, the drawing room had been cleaned so thoroughly and entirely it was almost as if Orion was going to walk in any minute and give Sirius a beating for inviting friends over without asking permission. When Gaara was back at school, Sirius planned to have some decorators come and renovate the place. Make it unrecognisable.

Sirius had been pretending to read at that moment, acting a tad startled when Lucius flamed through, as if he had forgotten all about the Malfoys' visit. The feigned nonchalance was aimed at bothering Lucius, but Sirius wasn't rewarded with any reaction. He quickly got up so that he could look the platinum-blond in eye. Any notion that these two men were anything close to friends would have died quickly when they saw the sneers set onto their faces.

"Lucius."

"Sirius."

"Welcome to my home. Please, come in." Sirius beckoned the man to one of the plush chairs he had purchased just for the occasion. The moth-bitten ones that had stood there for the last thirty years would have only served to make Sirius look lesser. It wasn't that he was trying to impress Lucius, only ever belittle him.

The fire flared and out came Narcissa, not a speck of ash sticking to her fine dress.

"Narcissa."

"Cousin." She replied in what appeared to be a cold manner; except her reference to their familial bond implied a small measure of warmth. Sirius didn't notice this concession as his mind had conjured the image of his older cousin calling him names and ganging up on him with her sisters.

Narcissa waited by the fireplace until Draco stumbled through. He kept his footing, as was expected of him, but he did it with considerably less grace than his parents had.

"Hello, Mr Black." Draco greeted.

"Draco, nice to see you again." Sirius smiled a little. He didn't have any real opinion of Draco beyond his comforting friendship with Sirius' ward, but it would irk Lucius if he pretended to like Draco. "I'm terribly sorry but Gaara was in the middle of studying. You know how boys can be. Studying all day."

Narcissa pursed her lips in an almost-smile at the dig. She would let that one slide, but if Sirius tried to score points at Draco's expense again, she would come off the sidelines and join Lucius in ripping Sirius a new one.

In the politest way possible, of course.

"Kreacher!" Sirius bellowed.

The house elf popped into existence but withheld any mutterings he might otherwise have liked to give since Sirius had ordered him not to speak unless spoken to today and to remain on his best behaviour. Normally this would have resulted in him disparaging Sirius as usual since that was the best he could be, but when he recognised who was standing in the drawing room, he couldn't possible say anything rude.

"Master," He bowed, and then to Narcissa, "it is the highest honour to be in the presence of the young mistress again." He then bowed to Lucius and Draco in turn but with less grovelling.

Narcissa remembered the elf but didn't deign to respond. It was still a servant, no matter how long it had been hanging around the Black family.

"Go and fetch Master Gaara, now." Sirius commanded, again inviting the Malfoys to sit.

Accommodating Kreacher's fearful aversion of Gaara was difficult at times like these so Sirius had told Gaara to be ready to come to the drawing room when he heard a knock on his door, and when he gave Kreacher his earlier standing order he also told him to just knock on Gaara's door to summon him.

Quicker than Sirius would have thought possible, Gaara let himself into the lounging room. He was dressed in some smart robes that Sirius had bought specially. That had been another tricky affair since getting Gaara to accompany him out of the house was difficult enough, but to get him to go clothes shopping was impossible. Even persuading the stubborn boy to let him take some measurements so he could send away for clothes had required a bribe.

Sirius had to promise to take Gaara to a blacksmith; the boy wanted some throwing knives or something. As irresponsible as Sirius was (proudly so), he did think twice about buying a teenage boy bladed weapons, but since Gaara was a formidable fighter with or without the knives, he figured he might as well.

Draco looked on at Gaara and had the same impression Potter had, that Gaara was really quite short now. Gaara meanwhile was thinking that Draco looked awful. His hair was impeccable, his robes immaculate, if sporting a few splotches of ash near his feet, and his posture was better than ever; and yet his skin was waxy, his eyes had bags under them (though no one was going to accuse him of using make-up any time soon), and his reactions were sluggish.

"Good afternoon." Gaara greeted them simply. Sirius had mentioned something about shaking and kissing hands but he wasn't going to do that, and bowing in this culture was seen as servile so he settled for staying still and waiting for them to respond.

"Gaara." Lucius evenly said.

"It's lovely to see you again, Gaara. You are looking well. I'm glad we can finally talk properly." Narcissa added.

Unable to determine if she was being sincere, Gaara nodded his head. Sirius smirked at that but quelled it.

"Hello, Gaara." Draco's voice sounded rough.

Gaara thought back to his teachings from Temari and the additional manners Sirius had tried to instil, and said nothing. His first impulse had been to say 'You look awful, Draco.'

They all sat down at last and started on the small talk. Sirius droned on about the troubles of organising his financial resources and getting his estates back into order (both of which he had actually been neglecting). Lucius countered with how his job at the Ministry was particularly fulfilling at the moment as were all of the social events of the past year.

Narcissa stayed out of the sniping, mostly consigning herself to chatting softly with Gaara and trying to get Draco to join in. Draco, for his part, was playing the role of the dutiful heir, keeping quiet and not branching out into any real conversation.

Sirius had warned Gaara that the meeting would be boring and unsocial. It wasn't so the boys could meet up, but so that the families could formally establish ties. Once the redhead understood it was a purely political function he had made his peace with it, but seeing Draco as he was now was worrying.

The tensions Draco had mentioned in his letters had obviously been the cause to no end of stress for the ideologically changed snob. Lucius' temper was not to be taken lightly, and it had not escaped the man's notice that his son's recent changes were set against his long held beliefs.

Gaara did not see any bruises on Draco, but if he had he might have gone about this meeting with much less civility. By the end, Lucius likely would not have been able to drink tea.

Gaara tried to follow Sirius and Lucius' conversation out of the corner of his eye, but without devoting his entire attention to what the two men were saying, he was pretty sure he was missing some key parts of the dialogue. He was not very skilled at detecting subtext and doing so while also paying attention to Narcissa was impossible.

Draco only spoke up a handful of times during the entire tea, adding details about trips, agreeing with his mother, things of that nature.

Gaara was also not very good at small talk, so it was a real challenge to keep chatting away with the middle-aged woman and his friend. It came as a relief when she allowed the conversation to lapse so she could turn and attend to her husband and cousin's escalating hostility. She interposed herself before the snarky comments could build to a physical confrontation.

Knowing her cousin as she thought she did, Sirius would probably leap over the table at her husband before any wands could be drawn. She loved Lucius as much as she considered appropriate but she honestly doubted he would win in a fist fight with Sirius, even as diminished the man was after his time in prison.

Luckily, Sirius was clearly still intimidated by her and so was quick to back off when she diverted the conversation away from their previous posturing.

Briefly she was able to inspire some camaraderie when she brought up the upcoming World Cup. It wasn't entirely suitable tea time talk, but it did get them talking about something they both liked. For all of three minutes.

Once they had moved past their both going to the match and the teams' chances against each other, Lucius couldn't help but mention all the games he had been to in the last decade, and then Sirius had to bring up Lucius' poor performances in his schooldays on the House team. From there they had gone back to their antagonism.

The tea was drunk and just in time too, Narcissa thought as she interrupted her husband's crass remark about prison food.

The visit had been formal and any benefit Gaara might have gained from the socialising had been negated by the atmosphere.

"Well, thank you so much for stopping by, Lucius, Cissy. Draco, you really must visit Gaara again soon."

"Yes, well, he has so many commitments…" Lucius drawled, pretending to consider the offer at length. "I'm sure we can schedule something. And, of course, Gaara is welcome to return to Malfoy Manor any time."

"Thank you." Gaara said.

"Yes, thank you. I'm sure Gaara would love to come by again. I just hope he has the time with how busy he has been lately." Sirius bemoaned, parodying Lucius' faked consideration. Realistically, Sirius had precious little control over Gaara's movements like that. He wasn't much of a guardian in that sense, he bitterly noted.

Lucius and Narcissa were all smiles as they walked into the drawing room fireplace, Draco followed, but after his parents had disappeared in flames, he turned and said, "Sorry about all of this. I've got to go, I'll see you soon."

Draco couldn't keep his mother and father waiting so he left as well.

Sirius watched until the flames died down and then immediately flopped back into his chair, all of his previous poise and posture long gone. He called out for Kreacher to get him whiskey. Not wishing to come between the man and his hard-earned drink, Gaara left to his room.

He didn't feel like reading right now. He was going to go and train in his room. He couldn't do much but he could keep his body in shape and his mind unfocussed.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The next letter he had received from Draco, the day following the Malfoy visit, spelled out another apology for the usually talkative blond's demeanour. He played off his disaffect as being an expression of etiquette. He did, however, note a desire to visit soon on his own so they could 'hang out', which Gaara hoped included watching him reading for hours upon hours. Otherwise Draco was going to be sorely disappointed.

Upon prompting (read: nagging) from Sirius, Gaara replied immediately to the letter with an invitation to stay over. Technically Sirius was supposed to extend the invitations to the house but he would send an owl to Lucius later with the offer. It was a blatant afterthought but he could manage only so many formalities in one week.

At least he had gotten his troublesome reunion with Narcissa over and done with already. Now he just had to contact Andromeda and he would be golden.

Perhaps in the Autumn…

It did not occur to the lifelong rebel that no matter how much he claimed to have rejected his parent's teachings, he still held many of their values close to himself even now. For instance, that no matter how much one might hate their family, one had a duty to remain united with them.

How true that might still hold if Bellatrix were free and present was debatable.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"Good morning, Gaara."

Gaara's eyes shot open and he stopped drinking his glass of milk. He at last sighed. "Hello, Luna."

Sirius snickered from behind his bacon sandwich. He had been worried Gaara would stay shut up in his room all day and Sirius would have to lure him out somehow so that Luna was not kept waiting. Luckily Gaara had taken to drinking milk every day for some reason after Harry and Draco's visits, so he was fairly regular with his emergences.

"Luna stopped by for a visit, Gaara."

"I see that. Thank you for notifying me in advance." Gaara was not skilled in detecting sarcasm or judging when to use it, but this seemed like as good a time as any.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, Gaara."

"It's fine. I needed to take a break from my research." Gaara lied unconvincingly, sitting across the table from his friend.

"How has your animagus project been going?" She asked.

"Well. Sirius has been helping me." Gaara could not remember if he had mentioned that to her in his sparse letters.

"Hey, Padfoot, has Gaara come down yet or-" Lupin stopped speaking when he spotted the spiky red across from the shining blonde.

Sirius poured the adults some coffees and then pushed Lupin back out the way he came, "We'll get out of your hair, it's not every day Gaara has a girl friend visit." He had made sure to emphasise the space between 'girl' and 'friend'. He planned to make as many insinuations as he could during this visit and afterwards.

"Mr Black seems like a lot of fun to be around." Luna said after he had gone.

Gaara did not nod at that.

"I'm sorry for surprising you like this. I thought Mr Black would tell you I was coming." She said, pretending to be apologetic despite her having neglected to tell Gaara in her letters also. She had not wanted to risk tipping him off and having him refuse.

They talked for over two hours, mostly with Luna telling Gaara about her father's latest articles and her short trips to mundane locations that held extraordinary secrets. He added bits here and there, sometimes even branching out into comparisons to his own world when she brought up an interesting subject like magical horticulture or deserts.

She was delighted when he shared small anecdotes of living in a sandy desert village. Things like how they stayed sufficiently hydrated around the village without carrying huge amounts of water, and the sorts of animals about the place. He got the impression she had a softer image of Suna life than the reality when she struggled to believe they did not keep pets (with the notable exception of a few prosperous families who knew to keep them out of Gaara's path).

After they had caught up on their comings and goings, Luna insisted on looking at Gaara's research notes. Ever the Ravenclaw, she seemed uncommonly interested in both of his dry research fields. She also wanted to examine the Black family library, a glint in her glassy eye suggesting she might be asking to borrow "a few" before she left.

Gaara sometimes wondered why he had 'friends' since he did not like socialising and most of the people he called his friends annoyed him most of the time (especially the ones in his own world), but when Luna spent the better part of four hours poring over his findings and his progress since they last talked, he remembered.

She was surprisingly insightful on the subject of animagi, having done a research project of her own (primarily so that she could help Gaara). Their conclusion was that he was still a long way off transforming properly and he would be fortunate to be ready by the end of the holiday.

After lunch, which sadly also included Padfoot and Moony, Luna was to be given a short interview with Sirius. Gaara sat in to watch, curiosity compelling him rather than the need to be in the same room as his friend/guest. Lupin had also wanted to stick around but he apparently had to let someone into his flat which Gaara took to mean a repairman or delivery, though Sirius loudly insisted it was probably an estate agent looking to sell the place since the sponger was living with him.

He then had to convince Luna, her quill poised above her notebook, that he did support werewolf rights and did not believe they should live on the streets (or 'in the wild').

The interview was interesting for her and dreadfully dull for Gaara who was wishing he had brought a book with him (a common problem that he would look into solving magically at some point). It lasted less than a full hour and she had scribbled down a lot of notes, making the interviewee visibly sweat.

The teenagers sat down to play chess in the afternoon, which Sirius loudly ridiculed. He had been abnormally bothersome today, Gaara thought. For one, he had always been hanging around, as if he suspected they were going to do something (though, what a teenage boy and teenage girl would do together when they were alone escaped the redhead).

Plus Sirius kept saying things in an unusual way that he suspected contained some sort of double meaning he wasn't getting. He drew the line when these intonations started giving Luna a red face. He did not understand what about the question, "Gaara, do you want to sit a little closer to Luna there? She looks cold." might prompt such a physical response in her, but figuring it was a joke of some sort at her expense, he glared at Sirius.

This only made the man chuckle.

When evening drew in, Sirius offered to let Luna stay for dinner as well, but she regretfully said her father was expecting her (and her interview notes) back for one of his roasts. She said that she would love for Gaara to visit sometime, and Sirius was welcome to come too since her father would love to meet him. As she was leaving, she asked if Sirius could pass along a request for an interview to Professor Lupin. She and her father wanted to write an article about werewolves living in harmony with witches and wizards.

Sirius happily agreed, doubting Moony would want to but feeling safe in extending the offer.

Luna said her good byes and gave a little wave before jumping into the fireplace and calling out her home. Gaara did not waste any time in returning to his room to continue his work and to look over the notes he had been taking during their discussion of his work.

The article was released the week after Luna's visit and Sirius had pulled it out at dinner to read to Remus and Gaara.

"You should have seen the queue at the newsstand! When the guy running it figured out who I was, he told me this was the best selling edition of the Quibbler he had ever carried. Normally he doesn't sell all that many and he often has to sell the remainder back to the publisher, but he was going to sell out by noon at the rate they were going."

"What do you expect, Sirius? It's the first interview you've done since you were exonerated. Readers don't care what paper or magazine it's in, they just want to read the inside scoop." Lupin sagely added, sipping his after inner coffee.

"'Sirius Black: Life as a Freed Man by Luna Lovegood and Xenophillius Lovegood'" He started…

'Mr Black sat across the room, his eyes no longer the sunken depths made famous recently by photos taken and distributed after his illegal capture in June. He smiled a lot and made jokes frequently but sobered once we touched upon the subjects for which this article and the larger public interest is based.

He began by telling the story we have all come to know, in his own words, starting with his heroic and voluntary actions during the war against You-Know-Who, his protection of his friends, Lily and James Potter and their newborn, his godson, Harry Potter, and then to the matter that caused so much pain and trouble. He said that the spell hiding the Potters had required a third party to keep them hidden, a 'Secret Keeper', and that as the obvious party he could not fulfil the role. Instead, the least likely to be picked would be, the infamous Mr Pettigrew was selected. The attack of October 31st 1981 that followed is known to every witch and wizard in the world, now known to be instigated by the treacherous Secret Keeper, Peter Pettigrew.

Upon investigation, it transpires that before his trial, Peter Pettigrew was Kissed by one of the dementors of Azkaban and his body moved to the prison to be housed, though the Ministry refuses to specify when or how the dementor escaped their control to dispose of the suspect. They did however reveal a court had since tried him in absentia and found him guilty, he has also been stripped of his Order of Merlin, 2nd Class.

Sirius Black was apprehended whilst seeking justice for his friends and imprisoned without a trial in Azkaban for twelve years. Forgiving man that he is, Mr Black clarified that it was the previous administration that erred and left the mess to be cleaned up by later officials under Minister Fudge.

There, in the hellish prison, Mr Black languished for over a decade before he made his daring escape to clear his name and protect his beloved godson, the Boy-Who-Lived. What followed, most will have read in other papers during the course of last year, but it has now been revealed that Sirius Black and James Potter's long-time friend, Remus Lupin, a professor of Hogwarts during the period, had been aiding in Mr Black's survival and quest and is in this reporter's opinion no less a hero than Black himself.

When asked about his life since his release, following one of the most publicised trials since the end of the war, Mr Black revealed he had taken in an orphan ward and was working to rebuild his shattered life and reputation. He was also engaged in reconnecting with his godson and expressed a desire to have Mr Potter come and live with him in the years to come, outside of his schooling at Hogwarts. He even revealed that Mr Potter had joined him at his home for a birthday celebration recently.

I also asked what, if any, plans he had for the future, to which he spoke with less of his exuberant confidence. Beyond his family and friends he expressed few ambitions, which is understandable when one considers he has only had a scant few months to create a future for himself after a Good Samaritan caught Pettigrew and cleared his name. One thing was made clear in the course of his answer, that Mr Black would not seek employment with the Ministry of Magic. He refused to clarify his exact reasons but with his mistreatment noted in the public domain, it leaves little to the imagination what that disincentive might be.

Before the end of the interview, I asked what Mr Black felt towards his transgressor, the irredeemable Mr Pettigrew, now that his punishment had been applied (albeit thanks to yet another dementor related mistake). It was a difficult subject for Mr Black to discuss, he confessed, but he expressed no lingering fondness for his childhood friend. He requested that we move on as that was all he had to say on the subject.

Finally, I asked if Mr Black believed there were other innocent witches and wizards being held in Azkaban Prison like he had been, to which he said it was unlikely. He downplayed the terrible injustice perpetrated against him and explained that his were exceptional circumstances and any failings the previous administration visited upon him were unlikely to have been repeated.

On a personal note, this reporter found Mr Black to be a man haunted by his experiences and looking to re-establish himself in respectable wizarding society. I am sure most good citizens of Britain would join me in wishing the best of luck in doing so.'

It had come as a shock to Sirius and then to Remus to hear what had happened to Peter, but neither man could say they were truly saddened by what they considered to be a fair punishment. After the shock subsided, they were not even surprised, knowing the sorts of tactics Fudge tended to employ to avoid further scandal. It was a tad odd that the Lovegoods, of all people, had been the ones to unearth this latest cover-up.

Nonetheless, with his agreement with the Ministry in the back of his mind, Sirius hoped the Minister would not attempt to renege on their deal regarding Gaara's custody over the inevitable embarrassment this article was sure to cause. He had tried to temper his language and avoid accusing the Ministry of any wrongdoing, but Luna had been dogged in her questions and had presumably been encouraged by her father to emphasise the less than flattering facts about their government.

Sirius had asked that any allusions to Gaara specifically be removed or obscured, to give the boy as little attention as possible. Most people had read or heard about Gaara's actions in the Attack on Hogwarts, despite the Ministry attempting to keep him out of it too, but Sirius still believed it was for the best.

Luna had struggled with Mr Black's request since it seemed unethical to purposefully hide an important fact from a story, but she also could not separate her personal feelings on the matter, and she had to consider the ramifications of further publicising his name…

In the end, she had asked her father, who was editing the piece, to keep Gaara out of it, arguing that it had been a stipulation of the interviewee.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"I want them shut down!"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Minister. It will simply give them a louder voice when they come back again and will serve to delegitimize your position."

"Then I want to put out a statement denouncing this rag, their writer, and that troublemaker Black!"

"I would not advise that either, Minister. You ought not to lend your voice to their article, which will fade from memory in a matter of days."

"Then their writer-!"

"Is a fourteen year old girl, if I'm not mistaken; writing with the help of her father in their home."

"Black and I had a deal!"