4/6

"I was invited." Gaara realised he was in an argument, but he wasn't at all emotionally invested in it so the best he could do was just wait until Harry started a fight or something.

Gaara didn't credit the other teen with the ability to upset him enough to start the violence.

"You weren't invited! Sirius just feels sorry for you because you're a weird mute foreigner who wears too much eyeliner, who everyone's afraid of."

Now Gaara did take offence. He did not wear eyeliner, no matter how many people accused him of it.

"We're quite similar, you and I." Gaara said, thinking of how a snake maniac had killed his father (a debatable title to attribute to the Kazekage), and how an uncle had 'hated' him.

"How are we similar?" Harry refused to think they had anything in common except that they were both (presumably) orphans.

"We both know loneliness. And our families hated us."

Harry hadn't expected that, but he couldn't deny it made sense for someone like Gaara to come from an unhappy household.

"I was forced to kill my uncle when I was a child to protect myself." Gaara didn't like this sort of disclosure but the animosity between them had to stop or else it would just be Sirius that would suffer. They didn't need to be friends, but if he and Harry could sit through a meal with their guardian, it would be an improvement.

And besides that, Gaara had never made any effort to understand Harry or help the bespectacled boy understand him.

The admission of murder, even in self-defence caught Harry off guard. Surely when Gaara had said "child" he meant when he was eleven or twelve. Like how old Harry had been when he had killed Quirrel. Professor Dumbledore had gone to great lengths to explain that Quirrel had already been long dead and his body had just still be walking around with a corrupted soul, but Harry had nightmares all through that summer.

"How old… how old were you?"

Unless he was like Harry and had somehow been blamed all his life for something he did as a baby, the Boy-Who-Lived considered.

"Around six." Gaara answered.

That was the best he could remember. His previous birthday had been a long while before the attack, but he didn't know if Yashamaru had stopped celebrating them in those final months or if the attack had just come before the next. After his uncle had died, there had been no one to celebrate Gaara being alive so he had started keeping track later in life by the cycle of the seasons and a throwaway comment by the Kazekage about how old he was when he graduated the Academy formally.

Harry was stunned into silence, a rare occurrence.

"Six? You were six?" Harry just had to repeat it aloud.

"I think. I may have been seven." Gaara understood that this clarification wasn't helpful, but as before, he was still hopeless at these sorts of conversations.

The wind had effectively been taken out of Harry's sails and any impulse he might have held to accost Gaara was gone. As soon as he took a moment to stop hating Gaara and regard him in an unbiased light, it was incredibly difficult to go right back to despising him. He was at least six inches shorter than Harry and just as skinny, and seemed to be constantly perplexed by what people did around him.

In other words, Harry pitied the little psycho too much to hate him. He knew it wouldn't last long, but it was still frustrating.

Gaara still wasn't interested so he proceeded to the library, hoping his disclosure would suffice to shut up the temporary house guest until he left again. He had run out things to say anyway, and it was usually about this time in conversations that he tended to say the wrong thing.

Best to quit while he seemed to be ahead.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"Happy birthday!" Ron yelled as Harry walked into the dining room that morning.

The Boy-Who-Lived paused in shock, reached up and plucked the glasses off his face, gave them a clean on his night shirt, and the replaced them to double-check he had indeed seen a Weasley at Sirius' table.

"Happy birthday, Harry." Sirius said, rather more sedately, as he sipped his coffee.

Ron had been invited to spend the day at Grimmauld Place, as had Hermione, who was due to arrive via floo in an hour. Apparently she had notions of acceptable times to visit a person. Notions Ron did not share. He had been there for twenty minutes already.

Once Hermione arrived, and after five minutes of clearing the ash from her hair, the reunited trio had caught up at length and explored the house. It had come as a shock when Hermione strode right into the library only to see Gaara's tired eyes peering up at her from the floor, clearly having not expected the intrusion.

Ron followed closely with Harry who had thought Gaara was in his room.

"Oh, hello Gaara. How are you?" Hermione amicably said.

"I am fine." Gaara didn't turn back to his book quite yet, but nor did he ask the polite follow-up reciprocal question.

"Well, it's nice to see you again, and I hope you can come down and join us later." She was far too friendly, Ron thought. The ginger didn't say a word, instead he just glowered at Gaara like always.

Harry was still reeling from their frank discussion the other day, but had come to quietly dislike Gaara again after their following encounter, so he swiftly and politely beckoned his friends to leave Gaara in peace and they left without further ado.

Gaara would not show his face downstairs willingly but Harry didn't plan to tell Hermione that. If the insomniac was smart, he would find somewhere to hide before she came looking for him.

Sirius had insisted that he be allowed to throw a party for his godson so Harry had simply requested that it be a small affair. Knowing Sirius, if he hadn't stipulated that, the head of the Black family would have rented a hall and invited everyone.

Literally everyone.

So, in accordance with the birthday boy's wishes, Ron and Hermione were spending the day and in the evening the rest of the resident Weasley's were coming over, and so were Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Professor Lupin. Mrs Weasley had demanded that she be allowed to cook, which both Sirius and Harry had wanted to object to since there would be over a dozen mouths to feed, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. She even threatened to visit more often to bring Sirius back up to a healthy weight.

Then she had started off on Harry still being as skinny as a rake and that Gaara was clearly malnourished and would never grow unless he got some wholesome meals in him. Sirius had tried to explain that they did eat at Grimmauld Place, since they had an angry house elf preparing the food for them, but Molly didn't care.

In all, as the day progressed and his reunion with his two best friends turned into a full party with most of the precious people to him attending, Harry thought this was the best birthday he had ever had, and possibly the best he was likely to ever have.

Ron had been ecstatic to hear that Harry was going to the World Cup, explaining that he had been planning to invite Harry with his family as they had an extra ticket. Hermione would also be attending and now, with the spare ticket, Mrs Weasley was being dragged along.

Hermione, as much as she enjoyed the sport, had to work hard to change the topic before her entire day descended into her listening to her two companions heatedly discuss Quidditch.

Boys!

Remus had showed up after lunch, having been assured by Sirius that his presence would be permissible due to it being a large gathering rather than a more intimate visit. Less chance of the big bad wolf corrupting the saviour.

By mid afternoon, most of the rest of the Weasley clan had flooed in, including Mr and Mrs Weasley, the twins, Percy and Ginny. The twins were probably even more excited than Ron to be there, in the home of their idol (and Gaara!), and had proceeded to try and pull Sirius or Remus away to discuss their future prank and business plans at every opportunity.

Remus was less agreeable than Sirius to it. Lupin liked to pretend that he was too grown up for pranks and such these days.

Sirius was not, though he couldn't spend too long talking to the funny pair as he was supposed to be hosting. If he left for too long, Molly seemed to end up shouldering the burden of keeping order.

Eventually with so many people in the house, Hermione took pity on Ginny and tried to spend a while talking to the only other girl there. Otherwise the poor younger girl ended up standing with her parents all day.

Percy was perfectly content to stay with the adults, although he seemed to have a bit of a small bladder as every time a certain known werewolf came near, he seemed to have to make a speedy exit, presumably to the bathroom. Molly, all-knowing mother that she was, scowled each and every time.

Mrs Weasley disappeared for a while and only after she returned did they discover that she had gone to find Gaara and ended up chatting with him all that time. She had been delighted to hear him speak, albeit sparingly, and had gone to uncomfortable lengths to express her gratitude for Gaara's protecting her children from the dementors.

During the course of the party, a number ascended to 'check on' Gaara and invite him to join the festivities downstairs. First had been Molly, then Hermione had taken her turn. She was most insistent despite Ron and Harry having warned her not to waste her time and the other younger guests all shooting her fearful looks when she announced her intentions.

Then came Sirius who was actually going up to make sure Gaara was okay and wasn't in need of any food or drink. Sirius had long since disabused himself of the notion that Gaara needed social interactions like other ("normal") people, but he still felt the compulsion to offer the boy something from the party.

The Weasley Twins hunted him down after that, having claimed they were going up to the bathroom (no one wanted to question why they were both going together), and bugged him until he threatened them in a similar manner to Kreacher and they backed off. Later in the day, they covertly asked Sirius if they could return another day to chat (and try bugging Gaara) again.

Lupin tried last, but like Sirius he was actually gauging how Gaara was doing rather than trying to entice him. In his mind, it simply didn't make sense that a teenager would shun a party and hide in a library reading magical theory texts so dull even Remus wouldn't have touched them in school.

Each time somebody conspicuously disappeared up the stairs to talk to the household recluse, Harry watched warily, hoping they would come back alone. He might not hate Gaara as much as before, maybe even pity him now, but the guy was still as much of a buzz-kill as he ever was.

Speaking of buzz-kills, Hermione had demanded to know how much if any of his and Ron's homework had been finished already. Ron lied and said he had done it all, but Harry foresaw Hermione's scepticism and said he had only done about a third. He had done none so far. Hermione believed Harry and accused Ron of lying and having done nothing.

The look of betrayal Ron shot Harry as Hermione whacked him on the arm was priceless.

After the lecture from their bookish friend had finished, they moved onto their predictions for the year ahead.

"Well, first year a teacher was trying to kill you, then in second a big snake, a book and Ginny were trying to kill you," Ron said, ignoring the indignant yell from his little sister who overheard him, "and then last year an escaped lunatic and some dementors came after you." Ron ignored the indignant yell from Sirius this time, mostly because he had been mimicking Ginny. Ron tended to speak loudly. "I think this year Gaara's gonna take a crack at you. Or maybe it's finally Snape's turn."

"Ron, that's not fair." Hermione told him off.

"I don't know, Herm. I think I'll be lucky to make it through the rest of my visit without Gaara coming for me." Harry said fondly. Seeing the look on Hermione's face he added, "Even Sirius says Gaara's only a bad joke away from killing him, and Gaara actually likes him."

Hermione harrumphed.

They talked more about their assignments as well as their class picks. Hermione managed to steer them off the topic of Gryffindor's Quidditch chances next year, she had had enough sport talk already this afternoon.

Dinner was no less impressive than any home cooked feast Molly had prepared and by the time the stuffed revellers were pushing back their chairs from the table to make more room for their bloated bellies, the group were sighing contentedly and a number were wondering if they might just snooze where they sat. The obvious exception being Mrs Weasley who had been getting up to serve all during the meal, even telling a livid Kreacher to leave it to her.

She had also piled a plate high and run it up to Gaara, after asking Kreacher to do that one task and his display of great discomfort bordering on refusal had convinced her to just do it herself. The redhead had tried to complain that it was too much food but she said he was being silly.

It was Seamus who piped up that it was time for Harry to open his presents.

It was awkward for Harry to have to open his presents in front of a crowd eagerly watching his every move but he persevered.

First came Seamus' gift, which he had jumped up and retrieved when his suggestion was taken. Under the colourful muggle wrapping paper was a brand new Nintendo Game Boy and a handful of games.

"They don't work at Hogwarts, mind you, but you can use it when you're at home." He said, very proud of himself. His mother, a witch, had been all for getting the saviour of the wizarding world an expensive gift when Seamus received his invite so she bought a 'handheld gaming device' like the one Seamus had gotten last year, following Seamus' suggestion.

Harry was very impressed, having seen Dudley get one a couple years ago and spending months staring at it. He had cast it off soon after that, being stuck on every one of his many games and deciding it was broken. It had been far too fancy and expensive for Harry to sneak away so it had been left to gather dust until it was thrown away to make room for another abandoned toy.

Mr Weasley, of course, fell in love with the thing immediately and had all sorts of technical and nonsensical questions for Seamus about its operation that he was unable to answer.

The Weasleys brought the usual assortment of gifts, none of which were expensive or fancy, but all quite thoughtful.

Dean had likewise been thriftier than the Irishman, buying Harry a new pair of broom riding gloves. They weren't as nice as his current pair had been, but those were getting old and the holes were getting bigger, so they would still be an improvement.

Hermione had blushed when she presented a present from her parents: an electric toothbrush, which she said they insisted he should have. Apparently she had tried to explain that electricity did not work in their school but they would not take no for an answer and insisted that every young man should care about their dental hygiene. If it were not a gift, Harry would have given it to Arthur, who had moved on from the confusing muggle toy and onto the vibrating tooth cleaning device.

"Delightful!" He declared in the corner, jotting down notes in his little notebook with an equally little pencil. Molly scowled but didn't pull him back just yet, otherwise her husband would spend the rest o the day pouting that he had not been able to fully examine the fascinating muggle technologies.

Hermione had also gotten him a book, which he thanked her for. He wondered which he would get more enjoyment out of, the book or the toothbrush.

Ron muttered something similar so she slapped him upside the head when nobody was watching.

After blowing up Marge, threatening Vernon with his wand, and then returning with threats of a mass-murdering godfather this summer, the Dursleys didn't even bother sending a sarcastic card with a pound coin in it. Harry didn't consider it much of a loss.

Finally it came to Sirius and Remus' gifts.

Remus had gotten him a couple interesting books, including one about werewolves (making a few in the room blanch at the reminder of their lycanthropic co-guest); one about animagi (which covered a lot of the more general material Gaara had been reading about over the course of several different tomes); and a curious, worn book of essays on the obscure subject of 'transcendental charm work'.

Harry wrinkled his nose at the last book, unable to discern what the theoretical book was actually about by the complicated blurb. It was the sort of thing he saw Gaara reading in the library all the time. He would have to have Hermione translate it into lay terms later so he could work out why Professor Lupin thought this dry book was a suitable present.

Noticing the predictably dissatisfied expression on Harry's face, Remus leaned forward and softly said, "Look at the contents page, Harry."

Harry opened the cracked leather cover, wondering why, again. It was definitely an older book, well used, and on an entirely uninteresting subject. The contents read as a series of even more complicated and specific essay titles. Harry had even less of an idea of what the point was until he came to the last one, '(Dec 1978), 'Fields of Emotional Subjectivity in the Expression of Charms Arrays' by Evans, Lily – pp.541-612'.

"Wait, is that…?"

"Yes, your mother. While James, Sirius and I went on holiday to Australia after finishing Hogwarts, your mother had already begun researching a theory she had suggested in her final year. James thought she was crazy. It didn't help that he managed to get a job as soon as he got back while Lily was still working away on her thesis. Although he got fired after four months and just lived off his parents' money in the end." Remus said, staring fondly at the book in Harry's hands. "She spent months cooped away in libraries and their study. They were already engaged by this point, you see, but she refused to marry your father until she finished."

"James was convinced she was trying to blow him off after the second time she tried explaining her work to him and he didn't understand. He thought she was making it up so he would stop letting Euphemia make wedding plans." Sirius said.

"Euphemia?" Harry asked.

"Your grandmother on your father's side. She passed on during the war." Sirius said sadly, both at the death of the kindly woman and because Harry was fourteen by the time he first heard her name. He would have to tell Harry all about them as well.

"Anyway, she finally finished in November and was published almost immediately. She's the youngest witch in that book by thirty years. It really is no exaggeration to say she was the brightest witch of her age." Remus continued. The room was silent, although Hermione had tears in her eyes and Harry was fighting against following suit.

"I wanted to give you this book at Christmas, but I couldn't find a copy anywhere. It wasn't a best seller."

"Where did you find it in the end, Professor?" Harry looked up at him.

Lupin had given up trying to get the children to stop referring to him as 'Professor', so he let it slide. "This was my copy. She gave copies to all four of us. I think James' went up in flames during that… that night. And Sirius' sadly exploded due an unexpected duel in his flat about three months after she gave it to him."

"A duel?" Ron piped up. He was surely imagining some heroic battle with Death Eaters or other dark wizards.

"Well, duel is a bit-" Sirius started.

"He got drunk at a bar and invited a nice young witch home with him. She took offence to something he said and tried to blow him up. Instead she took out his sparse bookshelf." Lupin smiled.

"She was nuts!"

"Sirius!" Molly admonished.

"She was! And then I got kicked out of the flat and had to sleep on Remus' sofa for two weeks."

"Because Lily wouldn't let James invite you to stay on theirs. And it wasn't two weeks, it was closer to two months." Remus said bitterly.

"Rubbish."

"I know it wasn't two weeks because I wouldn't have had to replace my sofa otherwise."

"You kept your place way too hot. I was shedding."

Remus was rubbing his closed eyes, trying to stave off the headache he got every time they discussed this.

"Stop arguing you two, poor Harry hasn't finished opening his presents." Molly, ever the motherly presence, put a prompt stop to their argument and got the party back on track.

"I wanted to get you a car but Remus said I shouldn't. So blame him for that." Sirius said petulantly.

"He's only fourteen!" Remus said angrily.

"You can't give him a car, Sirius. You should have seen what he and Ron did to my Anglia a couple years back. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing what they did to it." Arthur said, still angry that he had never seen his car again. Worse still, Molly wouldn't let him get another one.

"It's not nearly as exciting as a car or a new broom, but I think this should last a lifetime." Sirius said, suddenly nervous that his gift was insufficient. Maybe he should have gone with his second impulse and bought Harry some property.

It was huge, needing Sirius to levitate it in through the door. It had been sloppily wrapped, assuredly by the ex-convicts own hands, in moving Quidditch wrapping paper. Harry carefully removed it so he could keep the paper. He didn't know how long the enchantments would last, but he would definitely put some of it up on his wall here.

Later, after he left, it would be joined with half a dozen moving Quidditch posters that Sirius practically covered the walls in. It was disorientating but a considerate thought.

Sirius had given Harry a brand new trunk for school, which would have been far too mundane so he had sent off for the fanciest trunk his family's money could buy. It was stylish, lightweight for the owner only, secure, and enlarged on the inside so much it functioned as a series of rooms. It would be perfect for when, like all fine young gentlemen should, Harry went travelling after his schooling. Until then, it would perhaps give the boy some space away from his dastardly relatives when he returned.

Harry was amazed when he discovered the steps into his trunk. Remus said he had gone overboard and that Harry didn't even have enough possessions to fill it, so Sirius had rebutted that he would just buy Harry enough things to fill it.

He didn't mention it, but Sirius had also bought Gaara one such trunk, feeling bad that Harry had gotten such a fancy gift while Gaara had been given a dead rabbit on his birthday. He told himself it was a retrospective gift and left it at that. He was planning on waiting until Harry had left before giving it to the reclusive foreigner.

He had to steel himself, ready for the total lack of appreciation the redhead was likely to respond with.

The party went on for a few more hours into the evening but too soon all the guests started going home.

Arthur had declared it was time to go back to the Burrow when he saw George and Fred skulking towards the drinks cabinet. Ron didn't want to leave, but thankfully Molly pulled him into the fireplace by the ear. It was impressive because she had both of the twins' ears in her other hand. Sirius was glad for her help because he didn't want to have to admit that he would probably get in trouble with the Ministry if he allowed anybody else to stay the night when Harry was there.

Remus and Hermione were the last to leave after Dean had been picked up by his mum. They lived in London so it had been easier for him than Hermione who lived further afield. Lupin had offered to drop her off via apparition. He planned to go back to his place afterwards and drink alone… heavily.

That night, when things had gone silent downstairs, Gaara had appeared to bring his plate down, having eaten only a quarter of the tasty food on it. It was a shame to waste food like this, but when he looked to put some of it in the fridge, he found mounds of leftovers already sitting in there.

Molly had outdone herself.

As midnight passed, Gaara considered that he had been able to give Harry the gift of not seeing him all day successfully. In fact, since Harry was leaving the next day, unless Sirius was determined to make it otherwise, Gaara might not have to see or interact with Harry until his next planned visit.

Sadly, the next morning Sirius demanded Gaara come down for lunch and to say good bye to Harry. That was exactly what he said before turning right back around and going back to his room, not waiting for Harry's response, if any.

Harry had come to expect something like this so he didn't let it bother him. Instead he focussed on how funny it was and on Sirius, rather the impending separation from his world. Going back to the Dursleys had not been this difficult for him since… well, since he got off the train a month ago, and before that his first train ride back there.

Truth be told, it was never easy to go back there, but now it felt like there was a choice and he was being taken to the worse option.

Still, it was just one more month to go until he went back to Hogwarts, and was to be broken up by a few more visits with Sirius and of course the Quidditch World Cup.

He had made strides in his relationship with Gaara, no longer glaring every time he saw the tiny redhead, but a little part of him still existed that took solace in knowing that Gaara wasn't living the highlife Harry had imagined before this visit.

When Harry was with his relatives, he was locked in a small room with only books for comfort, and Gaara voluntarily did that in Sirius' massive, welcoming house.