Chapter 10: A New Danger 1/4

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: This is probably the fastest I have ever updated this fic, even if the chapter is a little shorter than usual. Les than a month! That's pretty good for anyone, let alone me of all people. I'm not sure why, I've just had a spurt of creativity lately, or maybe stress has spurred me on. Fanfiction is chiefly a diversion, so I would say it has fulfilled its purpose.

I hope this doesn't read like it was rushed, because it didn't feel that way as I was writing it. But it will be interesting to hear if that's delusion or truth.

This fic is reaching its climax soon, only a few chapter away now. To misquote a popular series: 'Spring is coming.'

Please enjoy, read, review, and recycle.

You can probably ignore that last one if you need more time to do the first three things.

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

(Last Time)

He considered using his wand, but somehow pointing his wand at his own neck set off his honed survival instincts. The other option would be showing the bow to someone else like Draco…

So, it was going to being staying for a while.

He tied his Hitai-ate around his neck and got fully dressed. On his way to the Great Hall for breakfast, he destroyed a number of suits of armour and hastily evacuated paintings, and Draco noted that Gaara seemed to be in a particularly foul mood that morning, though he couldn't guess why. Then again, it was anybody's guess what Gaara did on the many nights he went missing but usually it seemed to alleviate stress.

Gaara noticed that Luna seemed to have been crying when she showed up in the Great Hall. Ginny went and comforted to the grief stricken girl, which meant Gaara had no compulsion to be anywhere near his kidnapper.

That evening, as Gaara was getting ready for bed and coughing his larynx up, and Draco was finishing up his Potions homework, he thought, just for a moment, that he heard an almost inaudible "Ow" come from the other side of the room. He turned but it was only Gaara there, looking wide eyed as he sometimes tended to and miming words.

He must have been hearing things.

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

"Ow."

Wait, what?

Gaara's throat had been hurting all morning, and just now he had tried to cough up some imaginary phlegm and a spike of pain had lanced through his throat and in that moment he had tried to exclaim his pain and his voice had made a sound.

It had lasted for a second, but he had most definitely said the word 'ow'.

He ignored as Draco looked back at his quizzically, before shaking his head and going back to what he was doing. Gaara tried to say more words, anything, gritting his teeth metaphorically through the pain, but he couldn't repeat the miraculous feat no matter what he tried to say.

It was disappointing, but he supposed it stood to reason if you shook a broken whistle long enough, it was bound to make a noise eventually. However short it might be.

He considered taking this unusual occurrence to their resident healer, but his previous experiences led Gaara to doubt that should he check himself in to the infirmary, he wouldn't be able to check out again.

Madam Pomfrey had made such threats before and Gaara was in no doubt that she was the type of person to follow through on such promises. Plus, it was unsettling having to so closely skirt the truth of his demonic prisoner when his medical peculiarities came up.

He had a lot of secrets from the people in this world, but truthfully the ones he was most concerned about were the truths of who and what he was: murderer and host of a great demon.

Granted, it wasn't likely that they would come out over a physical, but it was a good enough rationale to stay away from that crazy medic. Good enough for him, anyway.

He got a glass of water from the bathroom and wondered if he could manage sneaking into Madam Pomfrey's medicine stores of Snape's now carefully guarded potion's closet. They were some of the most heavily warded places in the school, for good reason, but Gaara really could have done with getting some sort of pain relief; and his evasion of the Medical Wing aside, he knew better than take any potion give to him by his Head of House.

Seeing that he wouldn't be getting any relief from the annoyance under his chin, Gaara went for a stroll. He had nine hours to kill before breakfast and he had finished his last book earlier in the day and the library was a favourite hangout for some of the ghosts this year. He had discovered that a few months back when he had snuck in to get a few books and borrow a few from the restricted section.

He had come perilously close to being found by the Bloody Baron as he had stuffed the fifth book in his bag, and the on his way out he had seen at least four other ghosts milling around the place. Later, Luna had told him that the ghosts' old haunt had been beset by mice and they had been upset over the 'unhygienic' conditions. An affront to their dignity, Gaara supposed. Luna had said that they would be in the library until the House Elves had finished their pest control.

In the morning, after spending the night play cat and mouse with the professors on patrol, using his cloak to disguise himself, he was in very high spirits after his work out. Snape, McGonagall, Lupin and Filch did not look as well rested, even after they had retired before dawn for a couple hours of rest. Three of the four seemed to know who they had been chasing, but Lupin just looked grumpy and the others didn't have any proof.

In fact, Lupin looked pretty haggard, but then Gaara had been surprised to see the man patrolling the night after he had taken the day off from illness. These infrequent absences were starting to give credence to Gaara's theory that Lupin was really a secret alcoholic.

Speaking of unwell people, Gaara watched Luna stumble into the Great Hall looking as sleep deprived as the professors and sporting red ringed eyes. She had clearly been crying a fair amount. She hadn't shown up to breakfast or dinner the day before, but clearly his animal-self's disappearance had been a bit of a blow to her. Shame.

Any more pitying emotions were immediately quieted by the rustle of fabric between his ever-present Hitai-ate and the bow locked around his neck.

Luna had shown up to breakfast in a state before, for a number of tragic reasons, but Draco only shown the vaguest interest now that she was carrying a bundle of paper with her. She passed a few out to the Ravenclaws near her before moving around the Hall. The Ravens seemed to be familiar with whatever was on there as they all laughed amongst themselves and set the papers back on the tabletop, to be subsumed by the breakfast plates and spills.

When she eventually made it over to Slytherin, after visiting all of the other tables beforehand and handing out her flyers, Draco was very interested to see what the commotion had been about. The reactions from the other students had mostly either been mocking laughter or sympathetic glances. Which were the usual polarised reactions the greater population of Hogwarts had to Luna Lovegood.

She came straight to the friendliest face (a description that had never been levelled at Gaara before) at the table and handed Gaara a small stack of papers to distribute around since she didn't feel comfortable approaching all of those Slytherins.

Lo and behold, on the first sheet he saw a rather accurate sketch of his tanuki form. It was a missing pet poster.

If he could speak now, he would have said a few words Temari would have frowned at.

The posters, all identical by some spell or other, had the prominent and embarrassing sketch of his "cute and cuddly" (a description by some nearby seventh-year girls) form in the centre and at the top was indeed the word 'MISSING'. Underneath it listed a couple of his attributes, including the blue bow. So now, if anybody saw it, it wouldn't simply be a humiliating fashion accessory but instead would directly link him to the ridiculous little fuzzball drawn on the dozens of poster handed out in the Great Hall and plastered to walls all over the castle.

The posters even listed a reward of 'Four Galleons and Eleven Sickles', presumably all of Luna's remaining pocket money which stirred only the most desperate for funds in the student body. Draco made a crass comment about the Weasley boy that Gaara didn't pay any mind to.

By and large, most people were convinced that this was just the latest imaginary creature Luna had concocted, but it certainly did spur on conversations around the tables. A lot of scary or troubling things had happened this year at their beloved school, so a hunt for a made-up pet of some description helped to lighten the mood considerably.

This was why, covertly, Dumbledore leaned over and asked Fillius to let Luna off without punishment for littering all over the school. The Head of Ravenclaw agreed since he had seen how upset the girl had been since this pet of hers disappeared, real or not, and he didn't have the heart to tell her off just yet, though he might have to have a word about getting permission before doing these kinds of things.

Most everyone thought Luna was crazy and Gaara agreed, but at least he knew she hadn't made up the animal in question. If only…

Over at the Gryffindor table, Ron was looking at the poster wondering if it was even worth looking into. The money would be tempting, funding his next foray to Honeydukes in full, but he also knew his sister's loony friend and wasn't entirely sure if there was any pet to find.

Speaking of his annoying little sister, she had been the larger source of his recent family woes. Her crazy childhood friend aside, she had stepped up her creepy obsession with his best friend so he had been playing interference all year. Then there were Ginny's gaggle of other contemptible friends who didn't hold the respectable measure of fear second years were supposed to feel towards their upperclassman.

Then there were the twins. Those two, who were usually just insufferable, had been planning something since before Christmas and it was starting to make their youngest brother worry. They're birthday was only two months away and that always yielded unfavourable results for everyone around them.

What Ron had failed to appreciate was that his family issues and the ongoing drama that followed their group year to year had stopped him from flying off the handle at Hermione over the Crookshanks/Scabbers fight.

What might have led to a months long spat between the boy and girl had just become an uncomfortable subject when they had so many other distracting matters to attend to. And in that same vein, Harry had delved into his schoolwork, to Hermione's delight, to avoid lingering on the less glamorous aspects of his life.

It was events like this poster, that was soon charmed to read 'WANTED' instead of missing, and called it (Gaara) the 'Fluffy Bandit' instead of a rare breed of tanuki, that helped to liven not just the student body's mood, but the put-upon Golden Trio's too.

It helped keep their minds off of the continuous threats of impending doom, etcetera…

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The rematch between Gryffindor and Slytherin had delayed the official Quidditch season schedule by the better part of a month, so the match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin had only become more anticipated among the fans (students and a select group of dedicated alumni). That said, Sirius wasn't bothered in slightest (actually going to the trouble of decrying it because of that troublesome broom) and Gaara didn't see the reason he would have to attend this match.

Draco had thrown up before the match, something he hadn't done since his first game in his second year. He was beyond nervous, as he naturally would be Gaara supposed considering the combination of his 'failing' in the previous one and Slytherin's only remaining chance to win the cup riding on this match.

It didn't make Draco feel any better that Gaara had oh-so-helpfully pointed this out to him, more for Gaara's own clarification than to inform the stressed blond.

After Draco had stumbled into the Slytherin changing room, Gaara looked around for witnesses and considered walking away for the next hour. He could tell Draco he had been standing in the cheap seats with their Housemates the whole match…

Ah, hell, he'd just end up feeling guilty the whole time anyway, he might as well go and be bored there.

He soon regretted his sentimentality when the first gust of icy wind blew through him and he realised he could have been holed up in Gryffindor's warm tower right now. Half of the House had turned out to cheer against Slytherin, so he probably wouldn't have been noticed there for at least an hour.

But no, here he was watching a game he disliked in weather that made him positively yearn for the arid desert sun he'd seen people burn under.

At least Draco had somehow pushed through the nerves and was flying circles around Ravenclaw's Seeker. He didn't know if he could emotionally support his friend through another tragic loss like last time. He was nowhere close to stable enough to act as a crutch for someone else.

Thanks to his hesitation in coming to watch the match, the nice seats up in the stands had long since filled, so Gaara really did end up in the cheap seats among his fellow Slytherin supporters. And it was the strangest thing, the people surrounding him didn't seem to have the same level fear they used to towards him.

He still had a clear bubble of clear space around him, but where once it was massive, not the clearance was about a foot. Any closer and his sand might have acted, but still it was a curious shift. He had received a terrifyingly dramatic prophecy, he had gotten into fights with Snape and Potter and had killed a number of dementors (but a fraction of the real number he had killed), he had caused the Sorting Hat to have a fit, a high level government Heihfhinspector had spent a day asking questions about him… and those were just the highlights of the things they knew about.

Evidently, showing up to Quidditch matches, being friends with a second-year Ravenclaw girl (one that used to be bullied frequently), spending all of one's time openly studying, going to the party of the year at the Malfoy's and showcasing a shocking lack of guile or aggression, had continued the trend away from everybody fearing Gaara.

There was also the fact he had been an oddity, being a (weird) transfer student coming straight into the middle of his schooling, so that had been eased considerably by simply being seen about the school.

Gaara had been thinking about his surroundings, so once again he had missed the actual moment the Snitch was caught and the match was called. Slytherin had been ten points up before the disproportionate number were added from the Snitch, so with that score, Slytherin were back in the running for the school championship and Draco looked like he knew that fact already, as he flew down to present the Snitch to Madam Hooch.

Slytherin were cheering loudly, belying their usual subtle natures. They would have passed for Gryffindors, though Gaara didn't think it prudent to say that aloud. He had amassed some goodwill in his house and he'd be damned if he was going to waste it on an innocent insult. That sort of improved relations was perfect for when he beat up someone or blew something up.

It was bound to happen.

Now, since they had beaten Ravenclaw, Slytherin would be facing Gryffindor in the finals. They had one more match before then but since it was against Hufflepuff, and the Badgers would have to beat Slytherin by over two hundred points, they were assured of reaching the finals. And unless Ravenclaw beat Gryffindor, the Lions would be there too. Draco said he fully expected there to be a ruling on their Firebolts by next year. They were giving them a disproportionate advantage.

Gaara didn't see the problem with that. In his world, the people with the better weapons would naturally win, unless someone else's skills made up the gap. He had never fully understood the concept of sportsmanship or fair play.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Gaara was already freezing cold, so he supposed he might as well wait for Draco to finish changing and walk in with him. Plus, he could enjoy his friend's feelings of triumph for a change. Bask in the glow of a Quidditch Hero, as Draco had described his performance in the previous year.

"Gaara! Did you watch?" Draco's mood had taken a U-turn.

Gaara nodded.

"Where were you, I looked in the stands?"

The sand trickled out as Gaara turned towards the castle. He wanted to be warm again. 'They were full. I stood with our House.'

"Oh, right." Draco was trying to remember where he had seen the gap in the spectators, but there hadn't been one. So either Gaara was lying and he'd been hiding somewhere near a fireplace, or the other students had gotten over their fear of his roommate.

"Were you really there?"

Gaara sighed, 'Yes, I was there. I stood next to miss Bulstrode. She cheers very loudly.'

Draco couldn't argue that, but… "Wait, when you say 'next to', do you mean, like, right next to?"

'Yes.'

Draco was surprised, so surprised he almost forgot what he had just been doing and how excited he was supposed to be. That lasted until they crossed paths with the first classmate on their way to the dungeons. Then Draco was back to good cheer, amplified by Gaara's good (?) news.

When Gaara entered the Common Room with his friend, he considered whether he was better off with his mopey blond friend rather than this. He turned straight back around when he saw the raucous party already raging in there and headed to the Library. He could just about deal with the highs and lows of his friend's emotions but he was still a long way away from (real) parties and large celebrations.

The party had lasted into the night, being broken up by an irate Snape who didn't appreciate having to tell off his own House for such a lowly complaint. Gaara showed up shortly after his Head of House had left and went to bed.

And then he threw a book in Draco's general direction when the celebrated Seeker had failed to take the hint and be quiet. It was difficult enough being an insomniac with a roommate, he didn't need anything else keeping him up. The constant screaming in his mind was plenty.

The next weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend but Gaara had decided he would take the day to relax for once.

He wasn't going to play with Fluffy, he wasn't going to see Sirius or Remus, he wasn't going to sneak out to hang out with Draco, and he certainly wasn't going to the Library or visit Luna. Today, he was going to stay in and do nothing.

Well, he couldn't do nothing… that would be worse than doing something. But he was going to relax while doing it. He had saved up a few books lately that promised to be interesting reads, and he didn't plan on leaving the Slytherin chambers. He might get a little peckish towards the evening, but even if Draco wouldn't sneak him some food, he would be fine without.

His first non-task of the day was sharpening his precious weapons. He had searched high and low but had finally managed to procure a whet stone with which to restore his remaining two kunai, three shuriken and the senbon he had borrowed from Kankuro.

As soon as Draco had left, Gaara had started soaking the stone in their basin and setting up a waterproof station on his desk. He had never been nearly as good as his brother at maintaining his weapons, he had never even been much of a weapons user since he had his sand, but he could get his kunai up to standard if he spent a while at it.

That was how he spent the first two and a half hours of his Saturday morning and it was as close to meditation as he could get without dipping into his mindscape and having to confront Shukaku. He had avoided his tenant for a couple of months now and he wasn't in any hurry to visit.

Inevitably, since Gaara had planned to enjoy a day of rest, he quickly grew bored with his slow schedule and ended up trying and failing to pull off the bow from around his neck. After his neck was red and sore, he gave up again and moved onto the next task.

By the time Draco returned in the late afternoon, he found Gaara quite irritable. Obviously Gaara was too driven to enjoy a 'day off', but Draco hadn't wanted to stand in the way of his intense roommate's attempt at slacking off, even for a single day. If Gaara could embrace the dilatants' lifestyle, he would never ask Draco to do one of those Merlin-forsaken marathons or obstacle courses ever again.

The next day, Gaara knew better than stay in, especially since Draco would be there this time, so he went to visit his current favourite dog in the forest. It had been a while since he went specifically to see Fluffy so he figured it was about time. Plus he wanted to put a little distance between Draco and him after there had been a close call that morning when they were getting changed.

The simple and routine action of changing clothes had become trickier now that he had that damnable piece of cloth tied to him.

In any case, having Draco anywhere near the thing put him on edge, so he was going to soothe his nerves in the only way he knew how, by wasting an afternoon on a dumb, slobbering creature (and not Sirius). It didn't occur to the book-smart red-head that he had stressed himself out the day before trying to relax by doing nothing when he could have done one of the many pastimes he had in this world to unwind.

Over thinking was the least of his problems.

He continued his slow attempts at training the great beast interspersed with liberal amounts of playtime in between. And then who should show up but Padfoot, looking particularly pleased with himself for finding not only Fluffy but his favourite (living) scary-eyed redhead.

"Lily!" He he changed back into human form immediately, "What are you doing here with the Cerberus?"

Gaara looked back at the three-headed dog, 'I've known Fluffy for quite some time.'

"Well, why didn't you say so?" He cracked under Gaara's unyielding gaze, and then though "Wait, did you say Fluffy? Did you name him Fluffy?" Sirius looked like he was going to crack up any second.

'No. He was Hagrid's pet.'

Fluffy took that moment to nuzzle Gaara's entire back with one of its noses, pushing the easily irked boy forwards a step or two.

'He's mine now.' Gaara wrote out. Fluffy might as well be his since Hagrid hardly visited the dog anymore.

"He's yours?" Sirius couldn't believe it as he looked from the diminutive boy to the house-sized dog.

Gaara stared for a second more, then click his fingers and pointed in front of his, and Fluffy jumped straight to attention and ran from behind Gaara to stand in front of him. Gaara then held his palm up and Fluffy sat, and then he pointed down and Fluffy laid down.

Sirius was gobsmacked. This was… strange, even for Gaara.

"Well, I have to admit, I'm impressed, Lily."

Gaara turned his hundred-watt glare onto full beam when he heard the demeaning moniker. People weren't afraid of him anymore, he had this stupid bow around his neck, Luna was trying to capture him for a pet, and he didn't need another reminder of his diminishing menace. His dignity was under constant threat.

Wilting further under the evil eyes, Sirius fell back into his dog form. He told himself it wasn't out of fear from a fifteen year-old, it was because a dementor might sense him and bring a full flock of them.

Watching the man turn into a dog properly this time, Fluffy barked excitedly from his position on the forest floor, but didn't stand back up until he got a nod from Gaara. After which, Gaara had to remind himself he wasn't watching two normal dogs romping around in the woods, he was watching an escaped convict in a dog's body playing around with a giant three-headed hellhound.

He dealt with an inordinate amount of strange things in his day to day life, but he liked to state it plainly every now and then for the sake of his strained sanity.

Sighed, he gave up and three sticks for the dogs to chase after. Sirius might have been smarter (though it was a closer call than it should have been), Fluffy had the obvious advantage in size and speed.

When he grew tired of it, he walked away without a nod to the animals, knowing Fluffy understood him by now and not caring what Padfoot would think. When he got back to the castle, he thoroughly washed his hands and went to see Draco.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The castles were always quiet during the evenings, the school's temporary rules calling for students not to wander the corridors after classes in groups less than four unless under third year, in which case they had to be escorted by a professor. The latest measure against attack from the dastardly Mr Black and scarily reminiscent of the threat they had lived under last year.

Naturally, such rules didn't apply to Gaara, so he walked through the empty hallways with impunity until he reached his Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Sadly, that was where he bumped into Potter, quite literally.

Harry had been walking from the other direction, having snuck away from the Gryffindor common since he didn't want to cause a fuss, having multiple people escort him there and then go back to the tower. He had been thinking about all of the powerful magical things he would do if Sirius jumped out of each darkened corner he passed, when he had walked into an unexpected stone wall.

When he looked up from the floor, the stone wall he had walked into quickly broke up and sifted back into Gaara's gourd and his current nemesis didn't seem at all sorry. He had the gall to pretend to be surprised when he saw Harry on the floor, as if he hadn't made it happen.

"What was that for?!"

Gaara looked at Harry and put the pieces together, 'My apologies. It's automatic.'

"What? Don't lie, you just knocked me on my back!"

'It's involuntary. An automatic protection.'

Immediately Harry wished he had something near him to throw at the Slytherin's head to see if he was telling the truth.

"What's going on out here?" Lupin asked, peering out from the door at Harry picking himself up off the ground and Gaara sporting the clueless look he wore whenever he wasn't glaring.

"Nothing." Harry ground out, hiding none of the resentment he felt towards Gaara as he walked into the classroom.

Gaara looked at the retreating figure and then at the professor and shrugged and walked in as well.