Goodnight." Snape said scathingly before closing the door and storming back to his own quarters to brood over the ridiculous treatment of his time by the headmaster as well as the fact that an unsorted, uneducated and possibly unhinged teenager had been admitted to the noble and sacred quarters of Slytherin. Worse yet, he was going to be joining the school because of Dumbledore's latest whim.
Said unhinged-teenager was tired enough that he didn't even consider exploring the castle, so he decided to undress and climb into the surprisingly warm and comfortable bed. He set his gourd down next to the bed in case someone decided that he would be vulnerable in his sleep and attacked him, as had been known to happen.
Usually the minor trek from the earlier excursion he had been on would not have fazed him but after several weeks of inactivity he seemed to have lost some muscle mass despite his small efforts.
The sand-nin went to sleep that night with one thought that quite often occurred to him as he was drifting off, how good it feels to be able to sleep.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Gaara wasn't a sound sleeper, possibly because of the many years he had gone without sleep, possibly the stark ninja training he had endured as a child, possibly the multiple attempts against his life over the years, or possibly because of the screeching demon still trying to consume Gaara's mind and conquer his soul. But whatever was the cause, Gaara was now awake.
He could hear someone trying to be stealthy and sneak up on him but they obviously had not undergone training. The heavy footed man, judging from the volume of the footfalls, had entered the room and was slowly making his way over to the left side of his bed. Gaara didn't even bother opening his eyes. It didn't matter who they were, the sand would protect him without fail.
The man walked up to within a metre of the bed and with a fluttering of a cloak the quiet sound of "Stupefy" was spoken. As soon as the red light had started out of the wand, the cork of the gourd had popped out and the entire bed Gaara was lying in was encased in a shield of sand at least an inch thick.
Soon enough the intruder left understanding that any further attempts would be futile.
Gaara recalled his sand back into its storing place before turning over on the bed and going back to sleep.
So used to assassination attempts during the night, it hadn't occurred to the off-worlder to pursue his unknown attacker, assuming with his sleep-addled mind that it was just another angry villager.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Gaara awoke in the morning without prompting and rose to sit on the king-size bed.
The perpetually-tired teenager didn't take long to exit the warmth of the bed and make his way out of the room to look for the closest shower. Luckily it appeared that after every few bedroom doors there was a clearly marked bathroom door. It seemed as if the communal showers were each for the different year groups, if the plaques on the doors were to be believed.
After a quick shower, Gaara dried himself off and redressed in his clothes before strapping the giant gourd on his back and walking towards the exit of the dormitories that led back into the dingy dungeons. He was silently thankful that he didn't need to know the password to exit it again, otherwise he would have had to wait for that bat impersonator to let him out, and he didn't like his chances living by the mercies of the clearly scornful man.
He kept walking until he came upon the stairs that would lead back up to the main body of the castle. By the trip it took to get up, he guessed that the bowels of the school he had stayed in for the night were quite far underground, and from the decay on the roof, he used his keen ninja prowess to deduce that the entire House had been situated under the lake… his keen ninja prowess and that the windows in his room had showed darkened water in the morning.
But mostly the prowess thing.
He finally came into a part of the vast castle that he recognised, which wasn't overly helpful as it might have just looked similar. All of the hallways looked more or less the same to the foreign teenager.
Gaara was hoping he could make it out of the castle to see Sirius again, to tell him that he would be staying at the school for the time being. Unfortunately, he couldn't find the exit, nor could he find the headmaster's office. He only found the first of the hundreds of identical corridors lined with paintings, suits of armour and the occasional wooden door.
By the time he had been insulted by the fiftieth or so moving painting, he was beginning to get angry. He was really lost.
Tired of aimlessly wandering, he trudged over to the nearest door and opened it to reveal… a broom closet... Sighing, he went to the next one along and opened it to reveal a large classroom with many ancient looking desks and benches. At the end of the room there was a set of stair leading to an office at the back.
Gaara walked forwards, hoping that the room beyond might hold someone capable of steering him towards the exit.
He walked up the small set of steps and knocked on the backdoor lightly. The answer came in the form of a soft voice calling through the door, "Come in," in a curious manner, justifiable by the fact that the only people supposed to be in Hogwarts that week were a few teachers and support staff, and none of which were usually up that early or had any business with him.
The red-head opened the creaking door and practically stumbled into the cluttered office to find a very haggard-looking man sitting behind a small desk littered with papers, trying desperately to finish all of his preparatory work before the first of September. Unbeknownst to most, for two reasons: the incoming students and another, celestial deadline.
Lupin looked up from his desk and smiled wearily at the apparently forever angry-looking teen standing in the doorway with his giant gourd on his back and bandanna covering his neck.
"Good morning Lily, how may I help you?" Lupin couldn't resist joining in on his friend's joke, plus the look on the indignant red-head's face was more amusing than an upside down Severus.
Gaara reached behind himself to remove the cork from his storage device, debating whether to answer him or give him a desert funeral. He chose the former as the sand floated out and formed the words 'Need to see Sirius,' before it dissolved and reformed as 'Tell him what's happening.' The tanuki host was seriously glad that he could use his sand like this; it would have been far too bothersome writing everything out all of the time.
"I'm afraid you can't go to see him at the moment, Gaara," Remus said with a sigh at the look of confusion on the younger's face. "I've been asked to escort you to Diagon Alley to buy your supplies for the school year. Then you'll be staying in an inn on the Alley until you come back here," He explained. "By that time, the rest of the dementors will be guarding the grounds of Hogwarts and it will be impossible to sneak out to the Shack, especially for a student like you."
'I need to tell him about what has happened.'
"How about this; before we go to buy your supplies, I'll go and meet with Sirius and tell him. I'll say I'm picking up some ingredients for a potion." Lupin smiled at his own ingenuity and the look of relief on the boy's face despite his efforts to remain stoic.
'Ok,' He was about to call his sand back when a couple of thoughts crossed his mind. 'Food?'
"'Food'?" Lupin questioned the mute teen, "Oh! Breakfast! You're hungry." He exclaimed realising the boy probably hadn't eaten anything since the morning before, and from what he remembered, Sirius was never a great cook. "Just go out the door, turn left and walk to the end of the hallway, turn right and then walk until you reach the stairs. Go down two floors and then walk to the third hallway on your left and that should lead you to the Great Hall where you can get some food."
It made Lupin smile when he realised how complicated the directions were. He had not been in the school for so long and yet he instinctively knew his way around better here than he did his own home.
Gaara replied with a curt nod as he set off. Luckily for him, he had a great memory, being a ninja and all, so finding the Great Hall shouldn't be too difficult.
As the sand shinobi was about to walk out of the office's door, he turned back and let his sand change into words that made Remus laugh uproariously. 'Call me Lily again and I'll make you eat all of the sand in this gourd.'
Gaara didn't dawdle on his way to the so-called 'Great Hall', being too hungry to take time to glare at the rude paintings. That being said, when he arrived he did take a moment to admire the splendour of the hall itself. He had to admit the name fit it quite aptly.
Inside of the expansive room were several long dining tables that ran side by side, and a shorter one that ran horizontally at the other end of the hall. The roof, the little that could be seen, showed many elaborate crossbeams that were, for the most part, hidden by what looked like the sky. It was, for lack of a better term, enchanting.
On the walls on either side of him, Gaara looked at the banners that were hung from the ceiling to a few metres above the floor, that displayed what he guessed were symbols that represented the four houses of Hogwarts.
The only other people in the hall looked almost surprised to see him enter. There was an aged, stern-looking woman in green robes and a stereotypical witch hat, who he recognised from the night before; a giant, messy looking man with a black bushy beard and hair that seemed to encompass most of his head and face, who seemed to recognise him from somewhere; finally in the centre of the table, in the fanciest chair, sat the headmaster of the school.
Unlike the other two, Dumbledore seemed to awaken from his surprise within seconds as he gestured for the smallish teen to come towards them. Gaara came forwards until he was standing only a few meters in front the dark wood table.
"Good morning, Gaara." Dumbledore chimed as he looked at the boy before him with his ever calculating blue eyes.
Gaara nodded in return, not bothering to use his sand to reply.
"This is the boy I was telling you about earlier, Minerva," Albus said to the stern woman. "Gaara, this is the deputy-headmistress and head of Transfiguration and Gryffindor House, Professor McGonagall." Gesturing to his right, and to his left, "This is Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts and, starting this year, will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures." The large man smiled warmly at Gaara.
"I imagine you must be hungry," The elderly wizard commented, as he raised his hands and clapped them together, causing a variety of breakfast foods to appear on the nearest table, close to the front.
Gaara happily sat and ate the delicious food, being cautious when he first tried pumpkin juice to check for poisons. Although the food was good, so very good compared to the 'food' Sirius prepared for him, it couldn't hold a candle to his sister, Temari's cooking back in Sunagakure.
The entire meal was eaten in silence, after which the sickly Professor Lupin walked in through the back entrance with a nervous smile on his face and sweat on his brow. Gaara assumed Lupin had gone as quickly as he could to explain Gaara's situation to Sirius and had, just as quickly, rushed back.
After Gaara had waited for the man to finish his breakfast, he was asked to follow him to the headmaster's office along with the current owner of the office.
When they had stepped into the office, the two professors walked to the unlit fire place and looked expectantly at Gaara. Gaara in turn, walked towards them apprehensively, prompting an explanation from Lupin.
"Today we will be travelling by floo. I assume you haven't used floo before, Gaara?" He said "All you need to do is pick up some of the floo-powder in the pot and clearly say-" that was when Lupin stopped dead in his tracks, realising that the boy lacked the ability to speak, thus couldn't use floo-powder.
"Oh; headmaster, Gaara here can't speak, so what should we do? He can't just write the address," Lupin said, hoping for a quicker solution than taking the Hogwarts express to London.
"It's perfectly simple, Gaara here can just take your hand and he will be transported along with you."
Lupin took the look on Gaara's already-sullen face to mean that he shouldn't expect any cooperation. Clearly Gaara wasn't sold on the idea of walking into a fireplace, much less while holding someone's hand. The nervous professor looked to his employer for more guidance.
"Don't worry, Remus; just walk to the outskirts of the grounds and Apparate the both of you straight to London, but be careful of the Dementors."
"Thank you, headmaster."
After a few parting words between the professor and the headmaster, the pair exited the office and walked to the Slytherin dormitory area, where Gaara deposited his sand after much coercion and reassurance from the teacher. The next stop was a grassy clearing quite a ways away from the castle; where, upon arrival, (a pitifully winded) Lupin took a hold of the Jinchūriki's shoulder.
Gaara didn't know what to expect, or what 'Apparating' was, but nothing anyone could have said could have quite prepared him for the disagreeable sensation of travelling by Apparition. It was in no way even close to as bad as the technique that had brought him to this world, but it still wasn't pleasant. The feeling of being pulled in every direction whilst simultaneously being squeezed in all of the same directions. Needless to say, Gaara barely landed on his feet.
"Very impressive, most don't land so elegantly after their first time," Lupin chuckled as he led the peeved teen into a grotty pub called 'The Leaky Cauldron'.
Inside of the dingy bar were a multitude of robed men and women that the trained teen immediately identified as wizards and witches by their attire and the sensation they emitted, like chakra but more focussed and controlled, though unknowingly it would appear.
He hadn't noticed the sensation in just Sirius' presence, Gaara wasn't a sensor after all, but where there were so many magical people crowded together it was difficult to miss. Similarly, when he had been in Hogwarts he had first been made aware of this uncanny feeling. It had been very informative when he had sensed the headmaster's power, clearly the most powerful of the wizards he had met thus far. Although where this magical power ranked against any chakra level Gaara could mention, he couldn't say.
Lupin didn't stop for pleasantries as he walked straight through the crowded pub, not earning so much as a second glance, which was more than could be said for the red-haired, tattooed, ninja garb wearing, scowling, scary teenager following him. Gaara was well versed in the art of ignoring the judging masses, but it was refreshing to be judged for what he looked like and not for what he had inside of him.
Or who he had killed in the last week.
Just outside the back door was a narrow area with a tall, red brick wall that seemed to be about the most interesting thing there.
Remus removed his wand from his robes and tapped one of the bricks, causing them to make a grinding noise. Gaara wasn't expecting a large gateway to form as the bricks moved and turned out, revealing a bustling high-street that put Hogsmeade to shame in most ways.
"Please, follow me and stick close. Can't have you getting lost here, can we? I hear there's a mass murderer on the loose." The scarred man laughed as he proceeded onwards into the crowd; every few moments he would look back to check if his charge was still following him. Diagon Alley always got busy in the last few days before the start of the school term. It just so happened that that very day was the busiest day of the year.
'Luck shines on us all.' Gaara thought after Remus had shared that fun fact.
Lupin waded through the crowd until he reached a conspicuous marble building, covered in pillars that seemed to bulge outwards in the middle from the weight of the roof. The inside of the bank was quieter than outside but that didn't make it any less interesting for Gaara as he first saw the strange creatures walking across the floor with scowls almost as prominent as his own. The pink skinned, pointy eared, squat creatures all wore a kind of surreal banker's uniform.
Remus, after waiting in line with Gaara, led him towards the towering desk manned by one of the odd midgets. Lupin, like any learned wizard, usually would have warned the boy about the Goblin's viscous temperaments but as the chance of the boy saying something insulting was fairly low, he didn't bother. He just wanted to get the money and leave as soon as possible.
They removed some funds from one of Hogwarts' many vaults with a signed letter from Dumbledore, to pay for Gaara's various expenses. By the looks of sack of gold that had been removed, Gaara surmised that it wasn't going to be cheap.
The first stop on their tour of Diagon Alley was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, which, as the name suggested, was where the ninja was going to purchase his new clothes. If he was honest, Gaara didn't really want to give up his normal attire, but as he had been told by Lupin that the uniform was absolutely mandatory, if he didn't wear it he couldn't attend the school.
They both entered into the shop but Lupin hung back by the entrance and let Gaara get on with it, knowing that the cold boy wouldn't appreciate someone looking over his shoulder or holding his hand.
Gaara walked through the cluttered shop whilst he tried to gain a worker's attention. It wasn't easy as they seemed preoccupied with cutting the various fabrics and cloths around the store or walking into the back of the shop for whatever reason.
Eventually, due to his attempts at waving and tapping gently on the desks, one of the older workers looked around and saw him standing there. It was then he realised the fault in his plan, the fact that he couldn't talk. It seemed he had underestimated how troublesome the 'mute' thing would be. As she looked and waited for Gaara to ask for something, the woman started to look annoyed, judging by the glower forming on her face.
"Yes? What do you want?" She was getting steadily more annoyed by Gaara's impudent silence. "Look, if you're just going to waste-"
"I'm very sorry, my young friend here can't speak," Lupin interjected, feeling terribly guilty that he'd forgotten to help the disabled Gaara. "He's here to purchase a full set of third year robes for school."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." The woman flustered whilst trying to change the subject, "Hogwarts?"
"Yes, please."
"Please step this way," She gestured to behind a curtain that led to the back of the store, presumably where they would do the measuring and/or fittings. He was right, by the looks of the podiums standing in the middle of the room and the few workers who buzzed around, one or two of them attending to the boy currently standing on one of the podiums.
He looked even more displeased with his current situation than Gaara did. Every few moments he would snap at one of the workers for the most miniscule infraction or mistake. Gaara couldn't help but agree, he hated clothes shopping as well.
The woman moved over to another podium and gestured for Gaara to step onto it so his measurements could be taken. The mute wasn't too thrilled but he did not make much of a fuss. When he was at the proper height the woman walked over to one of the various tables and picked up a measuring tape. She moved in front of Gaara and dropped one end of the measuring device so that it was fully stretched out before she removed her wand and flicked it at the tape. Soon after, the instrument flew in the air and began to slither and wave like a snake, before it started to measure the peeved teen.
As the tape measure worked and the woman walked around the store searching for the materials needed, Gaara looked over to the only other current customer. The (other) moody teen was about Gaara's height, a little taller, with slicked back platinum-blonde hair.
The upper-class teen looked over to the even stranger red-head and was duty-bound to introduce himself, in case the boy was someone important or someone-important's son.
"Hello, my name is Draco Malfoy. And you are?" He said, trying to look down his nose at someone his own height.
Gaara immediately understood the key difference between him and the other: he wasn't a brat… anymore.
Malfoy continued to look over at the newcomer expectantly, waiting for a reply, hoping for someone with powerful connections and not another mudblood, half-blood or blood-traitor. Soon after the question was posed, Draco was becoming agitated by the other's silence.
"I asked what your name was," He said trying his best not to shout or lose his composure.
Gaara looked just as annoyed as him but didn't shout or even talk; he just reached up to the strange bandanna thing around his neck and pulled it down to reveal a large recently-healed scar over his throat.
"Oh, I apologise," Draco said graciously, for him, "Are you from a pure-blooded family?" He needed to know whether it was even worth his time talking to someone who might be as worthless as Granger (the only muggle-born's name he'd bothered to learn) or the Weasleys, and by the looks of his clothes, he might not be far off the mark.
Gaara had to think for a minute about the question. Pure blood? Could he be referring to his class? In which case he would definitely be pure-blooded, coming from a long line of prominent shinobi and a Kage for a father. After he had taken his time thinking about his non-verbal answer he nodded his head slowly.
If Draco was honest with himself he would have had to admit that he wouldn't have guessed the other teenager's status but was glad nonetheless. The resting expression on the stranger's face was scarier than his father's had ever been, and looked like it could get much worse, so the chances were good that he wouldn't be as annoying as some of the supposed pure-bloods he knew.
"You're all done, Mr. Malfoy; you can go now. We'll send your robes to your home address. Thank you again." The seamstress said as she helped him down from the podium and went to one of the tables and started writing notes of some description.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later," Malfoy said before exiting the shop, completely ignoring Lupin who was more than happy to continue to wait and daydream.
"What House are you, dear?" The woman, who had since returned and removed the measuring tape, asked.
Gaara shrugged.
The woman wrote something down in her notebook before asking "Is there any particular type of robe you need or would you like a full set?" As she went back to her little notepad she seemed to remember something before raising her head again, "I'm so sorry!"
She seemed flustered, "Do you need a full set?"
Gaara nodded, thankful she realised he was limited to yes or no questions.
"Okay, I have all of your measurements. Please come back in about-" At this, the woman looked over at a clock in the corner of the room, "four hours."
Gaara once again nodded before he walked towards the door and waited for Remus to realise that he was about to leave, the man meanwhile dreaming idly of steak. It wasn't too long before Lupin finished his inner musings and stood up, "Thank you very much. We'll come back at four." He said, giving the robe makers ample time.
"Shall we continue?" He asked rhetorically as they walked on, into the crowds with Gaara walking besides him.
Instead of the comfortable silence that Gaara had enjoyed before, this time Lupin insisted on making one-sided conversation about his past at the disinterested teenager. He kept talking about his group of friends, the 'Marauders' and how one of them got married to a girl called Lily, from which Gaara got his despised nickname.
He went on, how only one had had a son and he had become famous for killing a dark wizard, a boy named Harry who Sirius had been trying to meet with. Over the course of the walk, Lupin had even revealed his and his friend's nicknames. From what Sirius had told Lupin, he could definitely trust Gaara and it felt so great to relive and retell some of the adventures he and his friends had in their youth.
By the time the pair had reached their next destination, Gaara wished he could reply to some of the tales that had been woven along the way. His reply would be "Shut up."
They visited Pottage's Cauldrons before they stopped off at Slug & Jiggers Apothecary for Gaara's Potions supplies. What made that leg of the journey unbearable was the smell in the potion supply shop. It was comparable to rotting eggs and some other mystery smells that made Gaara wish he'd eaten a bigger breakfast to throw up in order to stronger make the point that the shop was unbearably pungent.
Luckily for Gaara, it seemed as if Lupin was having an even more difficult time in the shop as he quickly zoomed around the smelly store before purchasing the correct ingredients and zooming back out. Gaara was happy enough to zoom out along with him.
The next stop was a book shop by the name of Florish & Blotts, which had been a more enjoyable trip as the shop keeper's assistant had looked close to tears when Lupin had read out the last book on the list, 'The Monster Book of Monsters.'
The stop that both Gaara and Lupin had been anticipating the most was upon them as Gaara looked up at the sign above the door saying 'Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.'
They stepped into the empty shop; the only things in there that Gaara could see were the endless boxes that seemed to comprise the walls. Before either had time to inspect the boxes more closely, an old man peered from behind the counter and said, "Remus Lupin, it has been some time since I last saw you here. And…" At this the old white haired man flattered, "I'm sorry; may I ask what your name is?"
Lupin also looked confused. It was a well known and accepted fact that Ollivander always knew peoples' names and never forgot any wand he made or sold, but the fact that the boy in front of him had the man stumped was odd.
"His name is Lil-Gaara," Remus managed to catch himself before he called Gaara a girl's name again, however funny his reactions were.
"If you would, please raise you wand arm." It didn't take a genius to realise Ollivander meant his dominant arm, so Gaara did and for the second time that day a tape measure took his measurements without anyone holding it.
The old man known went into the back of the shop and came back out carrying a small purple box. He pulled away the measuring tape and opened the box and presented the wand inside to the redhead. The foreigner took the long slender stick and gave it a wave. Absolutely nothing happened. The old man took the wand back with a frown on his face before going back into the many stacks of wand boxes and came back with four more boxes. Gaara tried each of the wands inside of the boxes and the same happened each time, nothing.
"Mr. Lupin, are you sure this boy isn't a squib?" The perplexed shop owner asked.
"Quite sure."
With a "Hmm," he went back and brought a massive range of different coloured boxes, most of which were different shapes and or sizes. Gaara tried each of the wands he was presented with, not sure what to expect, if anything.
"Very strange, it's exceedingly rare that I encounter such a difficult young wizard." The old man was honestly stumped.
"Really? I could've sworn I tried twice as many wands before I got the right one." Lupin said, remembering the number of broken windows and singed eyebrows he had produced.
"Very true, I specifically remember a number of destroyed chairs that day," The man seemed to reminisce, "but in almost every one of the wands you tried, you produced a reaction, even if it was a little adverse. With young mister Gaara here, there hasn't been a single reaction."
Ollivander sighed and walked back into the piles and came back with as many wands he could carry, not long after. Gaara gave each of the little sticks a wave before more were presented to him.
"I just don't know what to say, I'm afraid. The only thing I could suggest would be for Mister Gaara to come into the back and try to find one himself. The wand chooses the wizard, so with any luck he might be able to find the one that has chosen him, and if not… well, if not then he'll have to look somewhere else for a wand because I don't know what else to suggest." Ollivander sighed as he sat down on the chair in the corner of the room and gestured for Gaara to go ahead and look around.
The racoon-monster host walked past the dusty counter and among the endless boxes. He tried to guess, taking down a few random boxes, but still nothing worked. An idea then popped into the ninja's head. He closed his eyes and tried, using his chakra, to search for anything that would correspond. But sadly even this did nothing to aid in his search.
Gaara walked to the very furthest wall of wand boxes in the back of the store and started to remove them without any real aim in mind. He dug through them until he reached the last layer of boxes before the crumbling bricks of the wall, that seemed to be made of old and rotten wood instead of the cardboard the newer ones were made of.
Gaara reached in and picked out one of those ancient boxes. He didn't open it immediately, instead he walked back to the front of the shop to find both the adults were in silence and obviously interested to see how the search turned out.
Gaara wasn't going to spend the next week trying each of these wooden sticks for some magical effect, so if this wand didn't produce some sort of result he would have to try elsewhere, or else question those that said he was magical.
Gaara walked into the customer section of the shop and laid the old box on the counter before carefully opening the fragile lid. Inside was a simple black wand. The boy picked up the wand and the first thing he noticed was the compatibility he felt. The shape of the wand seemed perfect for his hand. Gaara gave the wand a flick like he had been told to before, and to the two adult's surprise, this time something happened. When the wand had been flicked a sudden burst of wind flew through the wand shop like a hurricane, throwing everything into disarray.
After the old man had righted himself and managed to order his thoughts he said, "Well, this is a surprise. That was a powerful reaction, and to that wand no less." He walked around to the back of the counter and picked up his own wand. He then started to use his wand to make the hundreds of boxes and papers fly back into place all around him.
"What is so special about that wand?" The ever-sickly looking professor asked as he also righted his tie and jacket.
"I have no idea. I honestly don't know what is in that wand. The wands in the back of the shop were made a long time before me. Though, from the looks of where young Gaara found that particular wand, it looks like it could be from one of the earlier generations of my family's collections. Back when they first settled in this area in the 1680s." He said as he continued the massive clean-up.
"How much will that be then?" Lupin asked as he reached into the bag ready to pay for the apparently antique wand.
Ollivander raised his hand to steady Lupin, "10 Galleons, please. I have only once sold one of the wands from the very back of the store. To be able to sell one of those is a rare treat indeed, so I'll let you have it for the regular price."
Gaara hadn't been listening to any of the conversation that was going on, as he was fixated on the black wand in his hand. The way it seemed to fit perfectly into the contours of his hand and the way his chakra and the chakra supplied by Shukaku was absorbed into the wood was almost as comforting as his trusted gourd full of sand.
"Thank you very much." Lupin said as he walked towards the door.
Gaara bowed in respect to the strange man before exiting the shop with his new wand safely stored in one of his pockets. On the way to the next stop Lupin continued his endless talk about his past and friends, but for some reason he seemed to leave a few key facts out. Like the reason he was discriminated against and why they were called Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, other than as stupid nicknames.
The rest of the shopping expedition went without incident, for the most part, after which they picked up Gaara's robes. When they arrived back at the Leaky Cauldron, Sabaku no Gaara was more than just a little happy that he didn't have to go school shopping again for a very long time. Ninja shopping was so much simpler, all he had to do was find a single supply shop and pick out things to kill people with.
Although, recently, he had been assigned to more varied missions than the usual assassinations his father had sent him on. A dozen exploding tags to guard someone was not the best use of his money, according to Temari.
"Remus! Could I interest you in a drink?" Tom the bartender and landlord asked while pouring another customer a pint.
Lupin seemed to consider the offer before looking down at the bags in his hands and then at Gaara before turning back to the barman and politely refusing the offer and asking for a room for a few days. The key was given to Lupin before it was passed on to Gaara.
Lupin then took Gaara off to one side and said quietly, "I'm going to leave you here for a few days while I finish preparations for the year. I'll talk to Padfoot for you until you get the chance to see him. I'll be back on the first of September and ride the Hogwarts Express with you."
With a curt nod from Gaara, Lupin said his last good byes and departed out the door and left Gaara to take all of his luggage to his room.
Lupin wouldn't have left any regular student on their own in a pub for the better part of a week, he was far too responsible for that sort of behaviour, but Gaara was far from normal and Lupin was sure that he could take care of himself for a few days.
After Gaara had dumped all of his baggage onto the floor, he decided to start reading some of the easier course books he had been given. He was going to wait to read the Monster Book of Monsters; it had given the shop owner enough trouble to dissuade Gaara from trying to open it without help, or at least without his sand.
It was a little known fact that Gaara liked to read. Many wouldn't believe that the psychopath would have liked to crack open a book, but over the years he had a lot of free time. When he was very young, his father had trained him to be a ninja but after Yashamaru died and the Kazekage sent numerous assassins to kill him, he was left with the limited time he spent doing missions and the miniscule time he spent training, occupied, leaving him with so much free time to fill. He didn't even sleep, so he was left with massive amounts of time. He had taken up reading early on and could easily read a book within a few hours.
The rest of that day was spent reading, until Gaara was feeling hungry, at which point he decided to go down and get some dinner. Fortunately, Lupin had the foresight to ask for meals included with the room; otherwise Gaara might have had to go without eating for the week. He'd done it before and it wasn't fun; like the time Temari had gone on a solo mission and Kankuro had been left to cook.
There were some things that even Shukaku's exalted ultimate defence couldn't protect him from.
Downstairs was predictably and irritatingly noisier than his room, Gaara concluded, as he entered the crowded eating area. The black-eye-rimmed boy walked up to the bar and asked for something simple to eat with a pad of paper and a pencil (considerably less conspicuous than his sand). Tom, the barkeep, said it would be done in a few minutes and just to wait by one of the tables. Easier said than done when the only space available was next to a very rowdy family of gingers, laughing, shouting and joking making the teen shudder in disdain.
The redhead sat down on one of the benches and tried to relax, which wasn't an easy task when the girl next to him kept raving about a newspaper and some boy. It was unbearable. At least, he thought, he didn't have to acknowledge them.
That luxury didn't last long.
"Hello, I'm Ginny Weasley." The younger girl beside him had turned to face him and seemed to be studying him and his odd appearance.
A minute or so passed before the girl started to look unsure of herself and then another minute of Gaara looking back at her with his ever calm face before she blurted out "S-sorry, I didn't mean to b-bother you." The emotional girl seemed to be close to tears by this point.
Before Gaara could do anything to calm the cry-baby girl down, a pair of similarly flame-haired twins walked up to where Gaara and Ginny were sitting and leaned down with dark frowns on their faces.
"Oy! What-" One of the identical boys started aggressively.
"-did you say-" The second boy continued the sentence with just as much aggression in his tone.
"-to our little-"
"-sister?"
"You jerk." The first one finished the tirade.
Gaara realised that he couldn't always use his sand or write down his words, so he would have to repeat this one gesture very often. He raised his hand towards his neck, covered still by his forehead protector, and pulled down the neckwear slightly to reveal the visible scar that stretched across his throat.
"Oh."
"Oh."
"Oh." The three said as they caught up, before they all apologised sheepishly to the mute boy.
Said mute boy had hoped that when the episode was over, he could go back to thinking quietly but it seemed that the event had drawn the attention of the others at the table. They all appeared to be of the same family and there were quite a few of them. Now that he looked closely, he noticed that at least one person wasn't of the same clan, by the looks of the brown bushy-haired girl.
"Ginny, Fred, George, stop bothering the poor boy." The woman, who Gaara assumed to be their mother, scolded.
"I'm sorry, dear," She said as she smiled at him from her seat on the opposite side of the table.
Quickly, Gaara waved off any worries she might have had and then turned back and started to stare into the blank space in front of him. At that point, he was trying to think of any possible clues he had seen or heard to help him get him home, but as of yet he hadn't thought of any that could be of use.
Gaara thoughts were again interrupted when his dinner arrived, which he ate without any deeper thoughts. It was good, but he just wanted to get back to reading. It was a nice distraction from the world and his problems, he supposed.
After he had finished the meal, he deposited the plate on the counter he had been told to and walked back upstairs, dodging a rat and the evil looking cat chasing after it. When he arrived upstairs he could already hear the indignant yelling of a boy and the reply, equally if not louder than the initial shout, from a girl. Not the young girl he had been talking to, or to put it correctly, the one that had been talking to him.
The rest of the night continued much the same as the day had, with him reading through the books he had been given and wishing he had brought some of his sand to the Alley. He managed to get a few hours sleep that first night before resuming his reading the second day; he became so engrossed in it that he skipped breakfast and lunch without realising.
When he finally emerged from his room and went to dinner, he spotted the family of red heads plus the brown haired girl, sitting at the largest table, except this time there was also a black haired boy wearing glasses sitting next to the brown haired girl and the youngest looking red-headed male.
Gaara tried to skirt around the table to avoid the noisy irritants, no matter how well-meaning they may have been. Gaara had been trying to become a warmer and kinder person since his fateful encounter with the blonde Hokage-wannabe in his world but he had already made a friend in Sirius and maybe even Lupin so he didn't see why he needed to socialize with these loud people too. Two friends were plenty.
As he was about to sit down at one of the smaller tables in the corner of the room, he was spotted by the mother, who shouted over to ask him to join them for dinner. He tried for a weak smile and a polite silent refusal but she wouldn't hear of it and insisted for him to sit with her family.
He immediately regretted not disappearing when he was assaulted by the woman's questions about his eating habits and how skinny he looked. He suffered through it for ten minutes before she moved on to the even skinnier black haired boy sitting directly across from him.
"Mum, who's he?" The young ginger boy asked with a little food still in his mouth.
"Ronald, don't speak with your mouth full!" She scolded; she seemed to do that a lot.
"So, what's your name? I'm Ron Weasley." He said after swallowing his food and offering his hand out to Gaara to shake. He reluctantly did so, but did not verbally reply. Fortunately, before a repeat of yesterday happened, the bushy brown haired girl spoke up.
"He can't speak Ron. We met him yesterday, remember?" She pointed out. Ron had indeed been there but had apparently been too engrossed in his conversation to notice the small altercation that had occurred.
Whilst he silently ate his food, Gaara couldn't help but take notice the glasses-wearing boy across from him. Something seemed to claw at his memory, other than Shukaku, something important that he should remember. He couldn't have met the boy before so why did he seem to ring a bell? His head snapped up in realisation. The glasses, the black hair, the slightly nerdy look and the almost hidden scar on the forehead. Sirius and Lupin had told him all about Sirius' godson, and their good friend James' son, Harry Potter, called the-boy-who-lived.
That night, Gaara's thoughts were drawn back to Sirius again; worry was at the forefront, closely followed by curiosity regarding the convict's recent activities, and the smallest was the constant resentment for the nickname that he had created for Gaara. The last thing he needed was people patronising him. It was almost as bad as Temari's behaviour towards him, doting on him and hugging him all the time (to 'belatedly socialise' him, apparently). It somehow made him reminisce fondly about his serial killer days when even she wouldn't hug him or pat him on the head and laugh about how short and cute her baby brother was. It had been a simpler time.
The next day was August 31st and the last day he would spend in the Leaky Cauldron. It went much the same as the days that had passed before, except at about six in the evening, there came a tapping, as if someone was gently rapping, rapping at his chamber door. The red-head stood and opened the door, hoping beyond hope it wasn't one of the Weasley party… or a raven. The Weasleys were nice enough, just kind of annoying in their informal and rambunctious ways.
To his relief, there stood Remus Lupin, looking much the same as he had when Gaara had last seen him, if a little paler and more sickly.
"Good morning Lily," He greeted cheerily, walking into the room, currently littered with open books and other items strewn out across the floor. Gaara wasn't a very tidy little ninja. "It's a bit messy in here," He stated, trying his best not to look the mute boy in the eyes for fear of his death glare.
"I thought I would stay here for tonight and then we'd go to the train station early tomorrow." He smiled. "So, have you been reading all of this time?" Lupin asked as he looked over some of the books scattered around the room.
Gaara nodded as he sat back down on the floor and picked up the book he had previously been reading, called 'History of Hogwarts' or something like that.
That night, the pair went down to eat later than usual as Lupin had been filling the tanuki boy in on Sirius' activities. Which had included and were pretty much limited to: eating, hunting, running, sleeping and the one oddity was his trip to see Harry, Sirius' godson, which had ultimately been unsuccessful as he had only gotten a glimpse of the boy before he was taken by the Knight Bus to where they were now. As they went down later, they managed to avoid the loud people that would undoubtedly have been eating there earlier.
That night, Gaara had been kicked out of his bed and had to sleep on the floor. He didn't complain; he couldn't, but he wouldn't have, as he could see how sick the man was, but he still pouted as he turned restlessly on the hard wooden floor. Fortunately he was used to worse but still, he pouted.
In the morning, the sleepy man was awoken by a shake of his shoulder and opened his eyes to see the blazing red of one of his best friend's wife's hair; still not fully awake he said, "Morning Lily, where's James?" It was a few seconds later that his eyes fully focussed and he saw the incredibly peeved teen standing above him. It was an unsettling sight. "Sorry, thought you were someone else," He laughed nervously as he sat up and started getting ready for the long day ahead and the even longer night that it promised.
Little did Lupin know, Gaara also hated full moons, as it was the night when Shukaku was at his strongest. He was able to fend off the demon and keep control