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"That may suffice. I will consider that request, but if I do grant it, I will have to stipulate that any latitude you are granted in roaming after hours will not extend to trespassing into areas you should not venture as you have last year. I understand a number of Ravenclaws still refuse to allow their windows to be opened at night for fear of you walking along the walls into their rooms."

"Understood." Gaara said, trying to avoid eye contact without broadcasting his discomfort.

"Now, I think that is all of the unpleasantness dealt with. Would you mind telling me a little more about your world and how you came here? I am ever so curious about what another world, similar to our own, might be like."

"Not now." Gaara said.

"I understand, this has all been a lot to take in. As I have offered before, if you ever have any problems or anything I can help with, I hope you will not hesitate to come and speak with me, even if all you want is to talk to someone and share a nice cup of tea."

Gaara could not bring himself to thank the man who was essentially blackmailing him, so he settled for nodding and leaving.

"Thank you, Gaara. I really mean that. I hope you can forgive me my inadequacies in time."

Gaara did not turn to address the man again, simply walking out of the office and trying not to let the shock show on his face as he went to find Draco. He couldn't share what had just been said but he did not wish to be alone with his thoughts right now. Draco was a good distraction at times like these, or else he could track down Luna.

It did not take long to locate Draco, his being one of the most recognisable faces in their House so receiving directions was simple. Gaara, still overcoming his stupor, was starting to get tired of the sight before him: Draco and a number of Slytherin backers squaring off against Weasley and his friends. He thought Draco had outgrown these childish squabbles but every time Gaara turned around lately his blond friend seemed to be trying to start a fight.

"Everyone knows you don't even really care about blood purity anymore, so why are you still always such an arse, Malfoy?" Ron baited him. This might have caused a stir with Draco's Slytherin compatriots but Draco's change of heart was widely believed these days and those Slytherins with him happened to be his moderate friends.

"Regardless of purity, you're still a dirt-poor pleb who doesn't understand his place."

"You're a ponce who cries to daddy every time he stubs his toe!"

"At least my parents don't make me wear hand-me-down robes or need lottery money to go on holiday."

"Git!"

"Squib!"

And then the spells started flying.

Gaara was in no rush at this point to stop the fight, calmly walking across the courtyard to collect his stupid friend. He watched the two groups stop the fight after only a couple of poorly-aimed spells had been cast, with the Slytherins pulling Draco back and the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio standing between Ron and his quarry.

The two combatants seemed to calm immediately but where Ron followed his friends' advice and began to walk away, Draco waited until his fellow Slytherins released him and then sneekily re-raised his wand and cast a last spell at Weasley's back.

This brightly coloured light was deflected by none other than Professor Moody, who looked furious and immediately sent a spell back at the deathly pale Malfoy standing gormless in front of him. "Curse someone behind their back, will you?!"

This spell, whatever it was, was blocked by Gaara's sand which had sped out just in time, while Gaara continued his steady approach, not wishing to start another fight and feud with a teacher.

"I'm sorry for my friend." Gaara said humbly, now standing in front of Draco, his sand still floating loosely in the air.

"I've known people like him, cowards through and through. Mark my words, if I see him trying anything like that again, I'll treat him like I did his father during the war!" Moody shouted. "Malfoy, detention with me all next week!"

With that, Moody limped away and Draco looked about ready to collapse with the prospect of spending a week in detentions with Alastor Moody. The Gryffindors had already vacated and the Slytherins were beginning to disperse so Gaara dragged Draco away to give him a scolding, despite being the younger of the two.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Albus listened to the mix of angry complaints and waited until a few of them ran out of steam. Clearly every one of his staff members had axes to grind and had been storing up their frustrations until the start of term meeting so they could all scream their grievances at him simultaneously. He could hardly make heads or tails of what they were saying at him. So here he waited for a lull.

The complaints were mostly split between outrage over the implementation of the Triwizard Tournament, and the lack of warning they received before the big unveiling, only being told moments before the feast. He had explained earlier in the meeting and after the announcement that he had no choice in the matter, but still he had to listen to the irate professors remind him of the mortal peril he was allowing the children to be put in.

When everyone stopped for breath, Albus pounced on the opportunity, "Please, everyone, calm for a moment. I understand your anger, I assure you I feel the same. However, we must now decide how best to deal with the problem we have been presented with. There is nothing we can do to stop the Tournament now and we have been expressly forbidden from telling the children not to enter, so I must ask that all of you do so quietly."

"Surely you understand there will nothing we can say that will stop every pupil from entering, Albus!" Minerva argued.

"Regrettably that is true, so any words you speak on the subject should focus on discouraging those who would be most at risk from entering, particularly the younger years."

"Fourteen-year-olds participating in the Triwizard Tournament! I've a good mind to march down to the Ministry right now!" Madam Pomfrey huffed from her chair. She needed to sit after being the most vocal dissenter moments ago.

"That is why we must inform the students of the dangers that these Tasks will present and trust that they will understand the folly of seeking glory and gold when they might die." Dumbledore said.

"I know that my House can be trusted to exercise a modicum of self-preservation but I'm not so certain about others." Snape quipped, causing McGonagall to bristle.

"I didn't see much common sense when I caught Malfoy trying to hex that Weasley boy behind his back earlier." Moody spoke for the first time in the meeting.

"That I blame on bad influences." Severus said, settling back against the wall. He was sulking about being forced to take Gaara back into his class.

"I will do what I can to ensure the safety of the children as best I can, but I can only do so much. We must all exert whatever influence we hold in the coming weeks, and after that we will have to help the unfortunate Champion to prepare for the Tasks ahead." Dumbledore said.

"Before that, we have to begin work on this foolish Opening Ceremony…" Pomona chirped.

"Yes, I would like to see if there are any volunteers for organising the presentation…?" Albus asked.

No one raised their hands so Albus sighed, "Pomona, would you be willing to take the burden? Each task will need to be overseen by a member of staff so try to consider it as getting your turn out of the way, as it were."

"Very well, I will accept." Sprout said.

"Thank you. I have been given a list of instructions for how Minister Fudge wishes the ceremony to proceed, I will give it to you later and we can discuss what you will need to get started."

"Wonderful…" Pomona said.

From there they continued spending most of the session discussing the Tournament and the upcoming events. They all divided up the other supplementary events, with Pomona handling the opening, Flitwick in charge of the duelling tourney (after Severus refused to be a part of any of it), Minerva reluctantly agreed to prepare the Yule Ball, Madam Hooch was to take care of the inter-school Quidditch matches, and Albus would work with the Ministry as Fudge wanted his people to handle the closing ceremony.

No one was happy with the situation, especially those who resented Snape's exemption.

The rest of the meeting went simply enough, with each professor discussing any major changes they were making to their curriculum this year, and any students they had particular concerns about. To the relief of few, Gaara's name was mentioned only once or twice, which was less than Luna Lovegood's and Mafalda Lavado's name were raised as concerns.

"Lavado, isn't she an offshoot of the Weasley clan?" McGonagall said.

"She acts about as far from it as could be imagined, by the grace of Merlin." Severus said.

In the back of the room, Sinistra was trying to set up another little betting pool to commemorate the start of the year, giving odds on which notable students might be selected and who would rack up the most detentions, and who would earn the most points for their House.

The meeting ended with Albus trying to slip his allowance of Gaara's nightly wandering under everyone's notice and having to spend five minutes defusing Severus' temper to everyone's amusement.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

On Monday, as Gaara and Draco approached their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year, Draco's teeth were practically chattering and his skin reverting back to the paleness it had taken when he last encountered Moody. Evidently his near-cursing at the hands of their professor and the knowledge that he would be spending a week of detention with him was causing him to have something approaching a panic attack.

Gaara had assured Draco, when it became clear how frightened he was of the prejudiced Dark wizard hunter yesterday, that should any harm come to him by Professor Moody's hands, there would be no body to find.

Draco failed to properly appreciate the death threat.

The lesson was informative enough, Gaara thought, if a tad aggressive. Moody spent half of their first session together espousing his dogma of 'constant vigilance' and how to deal with the 'wrong sorts' of wizards in the most punishing manner. He clearly disliked the Slytherins, but he displayed a special level of snark for Draco and Gaara throughout the lesson.

The second part of the lesson moved on from the identification and treatment of Dark wizards to the basics of duelling, particularly mobility. Already Gaara was begrudgingly liking the man. Remus had been a good enough teacher but he clearly lacked Moody's wealth of experience and skill in combat.

It was a shame Draco was so terrified as he might have learned a few valuable lessons from the man.

The lesson was concluded with what Gaara was beginning to suspect was the retired Auror's catchphrase, "And remember all of you… constant vigilance!" The students all packed up their things and exited the classroom, already speaking favourably about their latest DADA professor.

"And Malfoy, I'll be seeing you this evening." Moody shouted over the crowd, making Draco flinch.

Potions followed Defence Against the Dark Arts that day and true to the headmaster's word, Snape was no longer as openly hostile to Gaara. He had resumed ignoring the redhead, to the extent that he had to work in a three with Draco and Theodore Nott as he had been excluded from the pairings. Still, spending his time in a Potions lesson would likely help him learn the material easier.

Later in the week in Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall warned her class that they would sit their O.W.L.s next year and that they should not let themselves be distracted by 'extra-curricular frivolities'. They were there to learn so any activities beyond that should be disregarded.

Other teachers were more subtle about their warnings and commands, though Snape went the other way, gathering groups of Slytherins in their common room and telling them outright not to enter under any circumstances. By some strange coincidence, the meeting that was to include his year group came at a time when Gaara was in the Library, meaning he had to be caught up by Draco later.

The absolute forbidding of the Tournament to Slytherins did not bode well for Gaara's relationship with his Head of House after he did in fact enter, not that there was much chance of an improvement in their interactions anyway. Dumbledore had presumably told the staff of Gaara's had special dispensation to roam the hallways at night due to his insomnia and Snape did not care for special treatment at all.

As was becoming an unwelcome tradition following his Arithmancy classes, Hermione struck up yet another conversation with him as he tried to subtly walk faster and faster away. This week she had progressed her new pet project regarding House Elf rights to form a new organisation called S.P.E.W. (an unfortunate acronym if ever there was one), standing for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.

She tried indoctrinating him into her group, whose only members were her and her two best friends it seemed, but while Gaara appreciated the virtue of ensuring the welfare of sentient creatures, he did not feel a vested interest in making those changes himself. Of course, this apathy together with his repeated argument that the elves seemed content in their roles swiftly led to a one-sided argument on the necessity of liberty and self-determination for all living creatures.

Hermione cooled off relatively quickly when she realised Gaara was not passionately involved in the debate nor would anything she said be likely to change his mind since he was not a bleeding heart, clearly. After that, she tried to move back to safe ground and lighten the topic by discussing the Weasley Twins' latest insanity.

"Of course they insist that at least one of them has to be chosen as Hogwarts' Champion and then it's inevitable they'll win the prize money. Honestly, they must be the only people silly enough to actually consider entering anymore. It's not as if they've been preparing to take part, either! They just keep coming up with new practical joke ideas for their shop.

"Of course, their mother has told them they can't enter, and she's even got Ron and Ginny spying on them. I think she blames Mr Black and Professor Lupin for corrupting them, but if you ask me they were always reckless like that. Oh, we're here. Do you want to eat lunch at the Gryffindor table today? There isn't any rule that says you can't-"

"No, thank you." Gaara said, walking away to the comparably quiet Slytherin table.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Draco set aside the second Saturday of the term to force Gaara to spend time with Lovegood, since as far as he could understand those two were friends but Luna had cripplingly low self-esteem and Gaara was rubbish at reaching out. With the two introverts being utterly incapable of maintaining a healthy social life, it was up to Draco to make sure that Gaara did not…

Why did he care if Gaara had other friends? More to the point, why was he encouraging an acquaintance with a girl he openly disliked?

Regardless of why he was doing it, he had organised the 'play-date' for the two boring swots to take place in the Library. He ditched them as Gaara showed Luna into the Restricted Section with his pass (which was almost certainly not supposed to extend to his friends).

Maybe he was selflessly trying to encourage Gaara to build more close bonds, or perhaps he was just trying to quash the last of those absurd rumours of an improperly close friendship between Gaara and he. Maybe he wanted an afternoon to himself in his room to have a nap because Gaara had mentioned resuming their ill-fated exercise routine and he was determined to put off that horror for as long as he could.

In any case, he was free to sleep, or talk with his non-Gaara friends, for an entire morning while the nerds discussed some esoteric magical theory so obscure even the title escaped his memory.

Gaara did not seem to mind being told what to do or where to go and Luna seemed thrilled that she had been invited to spend time with Gaara, even if it had not been by Gaara himself.

In the evening at dinner, Professor McGonagall stood to make an announcement and she was granted complete silence as the student body waited to hear of the Triwizard Tournament, which they assumed this would be about. If the deputy headmistress had tried speaking of a revision of the school rules or gave some lesser proclamation, she would have heard herself drowned out by the collective noise of disappointed groans and renewed conversations.

"Good evening. As the Minister for Magic announced at the start of term, preceding the start of the Triwizard Tournament there is to be an opening ceremony and display held by the students of the host school. From tomorrow until the arrival of the two guest schools, Professor Sprout will hold practices for all students who have been selected to participate by their Head of House on Sundays and after classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those students, from years two to six, will be notified by a parchment being left on their beds for when you return after dinner. Attendance is mandatory."

Whispers broke out and besides the few who were excited at the prospect of showing off, the majority were apprehensive at the thought of the added workload and being forced to do it. Draco was chief among the latter groups, indignant at the presumption to disrupt his life for such a trifle.

Upon returning to their room, Draco came the close to swearing outright. On his pillow lay a neatly folded note with the Hogwarts seal on it and his name elegantly scrawled on top. Gaara was glad the note had not been on his pillow as it would have tricky to sneak it on to Draco's bed without him seeing, much less changing the name.

Draco was furious at being asked to give a display for the entertainment of the visiting schools and doubtless the press like a thespian. He wished he could write to his father and sort the mess out but for various reasons he refrained.

He read through the short note, seeing where and when he was supposed to arrive tomorrow and then crumpled it up and threw it onto the floor. Gaara suspected it was already bugging the fastidious boy but Draco probably needed to keep the note and could not resist the urge to throw it somewhere other than the bin.

Gaara sat back in his bed and continued his homework, annotating a copy of the assigned DADA book of the year. Draco's first week back at Hogwarts had been a difficult one, with his detentions with Moody leaving him shaking most nights as he had been forced to scrub the classroom floor and mark first year essays all while the Auror recounted tales of his dealing with Death Eaters in the last war and since.

Gaara had been tempted to keep Draco out of the detentions and deal with the man personally but he was still wary of starting off on the wrong foot with the combat-wizard. Plus, Draco had tried to curse a schoolmate behind his back (and gotten caught doing it) and perhaps stories about what happened to Dark wizards who crossed the paths of Aurors and Light wizards like Moody would keep Draco on the straight and narrow path.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"I'm going to have to completely rebuild the engine at this rate!" Sirius complained, wiping his grease-covered hands on his grimy jeans. He been stripping his bike for a while now, trying to remember what little he ever knew about mechanics. He decided to take a short break and stretch his aching back, and maybe bother Remus a little.

Remus had no interest in his bike whatsoever and was hiding downstairs. Sirius cleaned up his hands a little more and went to find him.

The unemployed werewolf was sat at the kitchen table penning a letter with a harsh look upon his face.

"Are you sending another complaint about the Tournament?" Sirius asked, washing his hands off properly in the sink.

"No, same recipient though. I'm writing a letter of protest against one of the Minister's other brilliant ideas"

"What? He's already having children compete in a deadly contest after nearly allowing their souls to be sucked out by dementors last year, what else can he do?"

"He's got some undersecretary to propose a new anti-werewolf bill to further restrict our rights, especially trying to find work."

"It's probably because of those idiots complaining after they found out a big bad werewolf had been working in a school for a whole year without a single child being bitten."

"So, you're saying it's all my fault?" Remus said.

"I'm saying this is all Snivellus' fault. He's the prick who told everyone, I'd bloody put money on it. Anyway, we can fight this. I'll hire a couple extra lawyers and get them started on blocking this. I bet Fudge won't want to fight both this and the people still contesting the Tournament."

"Thank you for offering, but before you put more lawyers on retainer, did you go to the appointment I set up for you at Gringotts?"

"Of course I did." Sirius said.

"And what did the accountant say?"

"He said something along the lines of I would go broke if I don't start raising funds. My father's debts, my inaction over the past decade and a few sour investments have left the Black accounts in a dire state, apparently. Plus my recent spending… Well, anyway, he said if I don't bolster the family fortune I will run out of gold in about a decade. Maybe less if I keep starting fights with the Ministry."

"You'd best listen to him. Myself and a few other werewolves are writing to the Ministry and then to individual members of the Wizengamot to try and influence them against this bill."

"I'll start writing as well, then, if you won't accept a lawyer or two." Sirius said, falling into the chair opposite Remus. "I have to go back to Gringotts tomorrow to discuss creating a new portfolio with the accountant."

"With enthusiasm like that, have you considered just getting a job?" Remus said.

"None of the fun jobs will hire me. And I'm not sure I would like doing all of that…work. I'm more of a man of leisure, it turns out."

"A lazy bugger, you mean."

"Precisely. I need to make some money, though. I have to be able to support the boys, and a layabout werewolf too."

"…Speaking of dislikeable personality traits, we can add forgettable to Gaara." Remus sighed.

"I never would have pegged Gaara as the forgetful sort. He didn't forget your birthday, did he?"

"My birthday is not for months and you know that, Sirius. No, in fact, it's the opposite. I gave him an expanded bag for Christmas last year and as far I saw, he used it for about a week before he started wearing his gourd again. He said at the time that having to call the sand out of the bag took longer than his gourd, but I found it upstairs in one of his drawers earlier. The little bugger forgot to take it to school with him."

"Well, does he really need it when he's got my magnificent trunk to put all of his things in?"

"Yes, and I greatly appreciated your giving him a gift almost identical to the one I had to scrimp and save to give him for Christmas."

"I'm sure he really did just forget it. Why don't you send it to him?"

"I suppose I will, and I can take another stab at convincing Gaara to steer clear of the Tournament."

"You don't really think Bandit would be crazy enough to enter do you. I've been taking comfort in the thought that both he and Prongslet would think it was all ridiculous and not want to take part."

"They might shy away from trouble but we both know trouble will find then anyway." Remus said.

"It finds all of us." Sirius said, scratching out one swear word and penning another on his letter to the Minister for Magic.

"You say that, but you've been positively dormant since your acquittal."

"I was looking after Gaara and Harry." Sirius fired back.

"Not all the time. I remember when you were supposed to be babysitting Harry, back in the day, and you had girls coming over to your flat at all hours."

"Until someone told on me and Lily said I wasn't allowed to anymore!"

"It wasn't me. Do you think Lily never noticed the girls' underwear all over your place when they came to pick Harry up, or that self-satisfied smirk you always had after a fun night?"

Sirius smirked at the memory before wiping his face. "I just haven't been feeling up to it. Chalk it up to the dementors if you like but I just don't have any energy for that sort of thing right now."

"I suppose it's left its marks, hasn't it."

"I'm just lucky I didn't end up stark-raving mad like Bellatrix. I practically heard her mind snap when I was in there. I've got more important things to worry about now, anyhow."

"The boys."

"The boys. They both grew up too much and too fast so I've got to do what I can so they can experience just a bit of a childhood."

"It's hard to imagine Gaara ever being a child." Remus said.

"I'm not sure he ever got the chance. What with… everything, you know."

"I suppose not. I know my burden made life harder, and that was a secret from almost everybody. The way Gaara tells it, everyone knew he was a monster and his problems did not revolve around the full moon."

"I think we're straying into overly depressing territory and it's too early in the day for a responsible adult to start the heavy drinking." Sirius said.

"Responsible adult?"

"Shut up, Moony."

"You had your first meeting with your solicitor the other day, as well, didn't you? How'd that go?"

"Well, the first with that solicitor, yeah. She said as long as we can keep it quiet, until the last minute, we might get away with it. It's the only way we can hope to manage it, if Fudge doesn't get a chance to prepare any impediments."

"Really?" Remus said.

Sirius smiled, "Yes. If we can sneak it in under the radar while Fudge and his lackeys are busy with that Tournament of his, she says I should have no problems with formally adopting Harry and Gaara in the next six months."

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A/N: I have received some very nice reviews over the past couple of months and of course the continued support of my friends on this site has helped me overcome writers block and the trials of the real world.

Next to be updated is Suna Suna no Naruto, but in the meantime, please take a moment to write a review.