6/7

"Sure, but what did you mean when you said you joined the fight?" Draco wanted the details his father had been too upset to share. Gaara had clearly done something he shouldn't have and it was only because he had prevented to Death Eaters from being captured that he had been allowed back in the house.

"It's not important. I can protect myself."

In the library, Draco quietly asked how Gaara's animagus training had been going.

"Well. I will be able to control my transformations by the next full moon." Gaara replied, skimming through one of the interesting books Lucius had bought at auction.

"Luna's going to be heartbroken to hear that. I think half the reason she's your friend is because of how much she adores your other form." He laughed. He had exchanged a single letter with her this summer and it had been largely on this topic, which he had indulged her in.

At that moment they heard a light knocking on the door and Narcissa let herself in. "I'm sorry to say that Lucius has been called into work for a few hours. Some crisis or another has demanded his immediate attention, so it will just be the three of us for lunch."

"It's nothing too serious, I trust, mother?"

"Nothing more than the usual incompetence, I'm sure." She bemoaned, drawing them both out and towards the dining room. Gaara was reluctant to leave the interesting book there but Draco whispered that they would come back later.

"It's lovely that you could join us today, Gaara. I do get so lonely when Lucius is called away and it's only Draco and I here." She smiled down at Gaara.

Draco stifled his embarrassment from his mother and looked down at his friend too. Gaara was quite a bit shorter than him so it felt strange knowing this height-impaired boy was strong enough to fight his father's men.

The table was set more modestly than Gaara had seen it at previous luncheons, though this was a strictly relative observation. Whether this was because Lucius was gone or because of some unknowable seasonal shift, Gaara did not know, but he could guess where he was expected to sit so he took his seat.

Draco pulled the chair out for his mother which Gaara had seen Lucius do many times before. It was part of 'chivalry' or 'chauvinism', different people used different words, evidently. Gaara imagined trying to pull out the chair for his sister, the only woman he knew well, but he figured she would be as perplexed as he was, with added hostility.

It was a light lunch of cold meats and pâté with more small talk. Narcissa asked about Gaara's other friends from school (the plural form was an exaggeration). She politely engaged them both on the subject of Luna Lovegood, which Draco did his best to keep positive. It was difficult to avoid any insults or funny stories regarding the scatterbrain. The hostess also asked after any friends Gaara had back home, which he dodged with practised ease.

Despite Draco's well-founded fears that his mother was taking over for his father in their continued attempts to sway Gaara over to the Dark Lord's service, she made no mention of politics or 'taking sides' or anything like that. As far as he could tell, she had totally forgotten how father had been insisting they treat Gaara.

For all of Draco's inherent Slytherin prowess, he was still young and some nuances slipped by above his head. Gaara had been anticipating the same attempts at brainwashing, even with Lucius out of the house, so he had spotted a common thread in Narcissa's comments and threads of conversation: she kept bringing up the past and tradition, how his family had been when he was younger, what he thought of Hogwarts' founders, what his favourite history book was, his favourite period of history, the importance of different modes of passing down knowledge through the generations, the different lessons they had placed Draco in as a child to acclimate him to their world, what Narcissa's and Lucius' courtship had been like and their parents…

It was a fast paced chat that seemed breezy until Gaara had noticed this trend, that she was espousing the virtue of traditions and old values in spite of modern sensibilities. Also she kept the focus on friends and family and how one should prioritise such people over strangers.

It was brilliant, Gaara thought. He had witnessed a number of high level negotiations in the last few months he spent in his own world, and of what little Gaara noticed, Narcissa Malfoy née Black would have put a number of those ambassadors to shame with her tact and circumspection. It looked like Draco had not noticed at all, which was for the best.

Sadly, having discovered the scheme by some miracle, it was much less effective in persuading Gaara of anything but of the debating skills of the hostess.

He enjoyed the lunch, though.

After they had finished and Narcissa allowed the boys to leave again for a few hours, Gaara told Draco, "Your mother is very clever."

"I know, I'm sorry about that. She was at the top of her class in Hogwarts, knows lots about Magical History." He said. "I think she likes having someone to discuss it with. Father isn't much for academics, unless it's directly applicable to work."

"And you use Magical History lessons to catch up on sleep or do homework for other lessons." Gaara said.

Draco laughed but looked behind them to make sure his mother had not heard it.

"Have you been practicing on your broom this summer?" Gaara asked. He did not care about Quidditch (this he could not stress enough), but flying was the only exercise Draco could be counted on to perform without prompting.

"Yeah, I've been out most afternoons when the weather is fair. I would be out the other days too but Mother is afraid of me getting struck by lightning. Even when there's no lightning or thunder. A rain cloud is too risky!" He complained.

Gaara considered this to be a sensible amount of caution since the only benefit would be an afternoon flying. It might be the only exercise Draco got but it was not worth slipping off a wet broom or getting struck by lightning.

As promised, they returned to the library so Draco could spend an hour of his valuable Saturday watching his best friend flicking through his father's new books. He resorted to coughing loudly into his hand to get Gaara attention, to express his abject boredom and that they needed to find a new activity. This procedure had to be repeated four or five times before Gaara got the message, which before the redhead thought was only indicative of Draco coming down with a cold.

Draco showed Gaara the manor dungeon which he had been prohibited from showing Gaara before, when his father was there, since it was a terribly distasteful place and best left forgotten (until it was needed). Gaara was not as enthused as Draco thought he might be, perhaps because their House was in Hogwarts' dungeons, or because Gaara had seen much worse dungeons back in Suna and they tended to have captives and prisoners in varying states of torture still hanging from the chains.

He did not share these thoughts with Draco, instead he opted to observe that this dungeon was pleasantly clean.

When evening came around and the pair were summoned downstairs by the dinner gong, Lucius had returned looking grim. Dinner was a less tactful repeat of lunch, with most of the conversation flowing by Gaara, though not from him. Lucius was less adept at pretending he did not dislike dealing with children than his wife, so he made more direct attempts at gauging his son's guest's positions without all of the clever misdirection and varied topics.

He asked, near the end of the third course (of four), whether Gaara would like to join Draco and he at a social gathering of Lucius' old friends. It was posed entirely as a choice, with Lucius speaking of important contacts and connections he might gain and the many things otherwise he might learn, not obligating Gaara to come and thus not obfuscating any of the clear ramifications of attendance implied.

If Gaara agreed, he would be going to a Death Eater introductory meeting, but if he refused, he would be solidly rejecting the cause. Draco had definitely caught on to this one, but no matter how much sweat poured down his face, he could not speak up against his father's plans here and now. Never in front of company, and hardly ever out of sight either.

"I am afraid I'm incredibly busy preparing for the coming school year this week so I cannot attend. I hope you both have a pleasant evening." Gaara's answer turned Draco's skin white and muted Lucius for the remainder of the main course and the whole of dessert.

No one wished to add a further cheese course onto the meal so they retired to the drawing room with the adults planning to smoke.

"Mother told me last year that she would curse my tongue out if she ever caught me smoking. Said I would have to learn to live without speaking like you." Draco whispered as they walked out of the dining room.

Draco smiled at that. Narcissa was an amusing woman.

"You two go on in, I think Gaara and I could use some fresh air before the after dinner lethargy takes hold." Lucius said, smiling and ushering Narcissa and a reluctant son into the room.

"I thought we were being rather clear at dinner." Gaara said. He felt no need to supplicate or show such British respect for the host now that Draco was out of earshot. They were both adults (in one way or another) and would talk as equals.

"Quite," Lucius sneered. "However, I do not believe you are aware of the full ramifications of your refusal here and now. Soon, you will need to make your choice and pick a side in this war. You may either join the Dark Lord and achieve greatness you had never dreamed of and fight alongside Draco, or you can face him and join those muggle-loving fools. Or else you can run away and abandon your friend. The choice will be yours, and the deadline for deciding is fast approaching, you know that."

"I gathered as much."

"If you choose incorrectly, there will be no more mercy. I can only extend my hand in friendship so many times only to suffer having it slapped away, before I will assume where you stand. And if you chose to fight against us again, the Dark Lord will kill you, enchanted sand or none."

Lucius seemed to have said his piece but before he could conclude their talk and leave, Gaara stopped him and reciprocated the sentiment. "Draco is not you. He sees things differently and will be allowed to make his own choices. If you stop him, if you do anything to harm Draco, I will kill you, Dark Lord or none."

The vicious glare on Gaara's face, similar to the one he had worn on the battlefield after the World Cup finals, drove home the message adequately.

Lucius almost snarled, his nose wrinkled so deeply, "Have it your way! Your guardian will be here to collect in ten minutes." And that was that. Lucius had his answer now, no more mercy. He would maintain the ambiguity with his circle but he knew there would be no turning the redhead from his path.

They walked into the drawing room to find Narcissa holding a lit cigarette between her fingers, and Draco equally trying to appear like he had not simply been waiting for Lucius and Gaara to finish their chat and join them.

Conversation was sparse in those last ten minutes before Sirius was due. He had actually arrived fifteen minutes early to pick Gaara up but he had been turned away at the gate until the appointed time.

As Gaara was leaving, he shook Lucius' hand and had to refrain from trying to crush it. Narcissa offered her hand to be kissed again, while Draco shook like his father. Shaking Draco's hand was an awkward gesture, but it was better than the more familiar/informal hug, in Gaara's eyes.

"I'll see you on the train." Gaara said as his parting words before snapping his eyes back to Lucius. He had every intention of following through on his words if Draco was hurt.

"Did you have a nice time?" Sirius asked when Gaara and he were alone.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

On Tuesday night, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting up late in Ron's room, the female of their trio having come for another sleepover earlier that day and having snuck over from Ginny's room for this private conference. Tomorrow Harry would go back to Sirius for a trip to Diagon Alley (along with Gaara) and then stay at Grimmauld Place for one last night of the summer before catching the train on Thursday morning. Hermione was going with the Weasleys to Diagon tomorrow, but it would be separate from Harry. He loved his friends and the Weasley family as a whole, but he wanted to cherish one last day (almost) alone with his godfather.

He was going to work out, over the coming quiet year, how to stay with Sirius fulltime next summer, or even for winter. Sirius had made claims that Harry would be coming to stay for Christmas, but he was uncertain whether or not they would be allowed.

Harry still had not clue as to why he needed permission to visit his father's best friend as much as he wanted.

"You must be joking." Hermione sighed.

"Come off it, Herm. You know he's capable. You saw him take down those dementors!" Ron whispered, aware that his mother's superhuman hearing would catch them if they spoke above a very particular volume.

"Says the boy who thought Gaara was You-Know-Who's illegitimate child." She retorted.

Ron blushed. "Well, we still have no proof he isn't."

"Face it, he might be a little strange but Gaara is not a monster. He doesn't kill people. He doesn't suck people's blood during the night, no matter what those Ravenclaws were saying."

"Never known a Ravenclaw to be wrong yet." Ron said.

"They thought I was the Heir of Slytherin in second year." Harry chimed in.

"Well, you are a bit more snakey than we might like, but we've come to terms with your impairment, mate." Ron laughed.

"I have to admit, I was wrong about him. I've talked to him a couple time at Sirius' and he's weird but he's never attacked me or anything. He even told me about th…" He trailed off when he realised how much of a gossip he was becoming.

"Told you what? What did he tell you, Harry?" Hermione jumped on the nugget of truth.

"I was right, wasn't I?!" Ron exclaimed, almost breaching the safe speaking volume.

"No, he's not Voldemort's- They're not related, Ron." Harry sputtered out. "He told me something about when he was younger, when he was wherever he comes from, but I don't think I should tell anyone."

"Wait, so has he told you where he comes from?" Hermione had been desperately curious about Gaara's origins, devoting a few afternoons this summer to research his personal clothes and his other distinctive possessions and markings, trying to narrow down what cultures or countries he might come from, but then she realised his was probably a hidden magical community and would not be contained in any of her muggle books.

Sadly magical geography was almost nonexistent so trying her other books would have been fruitless.

"Go on, mate, you have to tell us. We're not just anybody!" Ron said.

"Please, Harry. We'll never find out what's really going on unless you share it with us. We could help." Hermione added.

"Well, I suppose as long as we don't tell anybody else, it would be okay. But you can't let Gaara know I told you." Harry started.

"Because he'd kill you." Ron interjected.

"No, he wouldn't, Ron. Stop saying that!" Hermione said.

"Look, we were talking and I don't remember how it came up," Harry said, "but Gaara told me he killed his uncle when he was young."

"Blimey! Really?" Ron said.

"How young, Harry?"

"I'm not sure, six or seven I think he said. Really young." Harry answered.

"It must have been an accident." Hermione said, brow creased thinking about Gaara blaming himself for an accident like that. It must have been devastating.

"Maybe, I'm not sure. He didn't give me any details, but he said his family hated him and he did it to protect himself. I don't know if he meant to kill him, but he seemed pretty sure he did."

"Bloody hell…" Ron breathed out.

"Ron!" Hermione would not abide by Ron's potty mouth. "It must have been an accident or at worst self-defence."

"I don't know about that. He wasn't really defending himself when he took down all those dementors. Looked like he was enjoying it." Ron said.

"Lay off, Ron. He acts strange but he's not a bad guy, really, is he? He saved us, and everyone else, and he caught Pettigrew, and saved Sirius. It must have been self-defence, and if he did hurt someone in the terrorist attack, it was probably because he had to. Remus was in the hospital for a week thanks to the fight. Gaara must have protected him." Harry said.

"I never thought you'd be the one defending him." Ron said.

"I'm with Harry," Hermione said, "He was only a child."

"That's what he says, anyway. He still killed someone, and he probably killed a couple more people at the fight. That makes him a murderer in my books." Ron argued.

"I killed Quirrel in first year. I suppose that makes me a murderer as well, then, doesn't it?" Harry bit out.

"I don't mean it like that, mate. Plus Quirrel had You-Know-Who on the back of his head. It doesn't count."

"You can't keep blaming yourself for Professor Quirrel, Harry. Professor Dumbledore said the unicorn blood and possession would have been fatal for him anyway, remember. It's not your fault!" Hermione laid her hand on Harry's shoulder comfortingly.

"If you hadn't done that hand thing, he would have got the stone and You-Know-Who would be walking around again." Ron said.

"I guess you're right." Harry conceded, still unconvinced there was any difference between him killing Quirrel and Gaara killing his uncle or those Death Eaters. "Thank you for talking some sense into me."

"I think we should call it a night. You're leaving early with Sirius and we have to get ready for Diagon Alley, Ron."

"Yeah, we should go to bed," Ron agreed, "After one more game of chess."

Harry laughed and sat back to let Hermione take a turn. If either of them had a chance at besting Ron, it would be her.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Harry was due to arrive any minute with Sirius so Gaara hid away in his room as tradition dictated. He didn't anticipate any conflict on the trip to come, but nonetheless Gaara wished to keep his interactions with the Boy-Who-Lived to a strict minimum. Plus it would give Sirius more uninterrupted time with his godson, which Gaara was happy to maximise.

It was a couple hours later that he heard a soft knock on his door from the scarce house elf, signalling it was time to set out. Wandering downstairs with his small gourd and not much else since he had no money to bring with him and Sirius seemed to take offence when Gaara brought a book with him on any outings.

Sirius and Harry were waiting for him, with Harry offering a courteous, perhaps even friendly, "Hi, Gaara."

Gaara nodded and then proceeded to ignore him. Sirius noticed this snub but decided it was not an act of outright malice but rather disinterest. From his time as Gaara's guardian, Sirius was becoming something of an expert on the behavioural patterns of the captive Gaaracus Maleficus, otherwise known as the common household Gaara.

"So, are you both ready?" Sirius asked, his excitement mounting. He had not been school shopping since his own final year and the Marauders had often discussed taking Harry and any of their other children to Diagon Alley when they got older. Lily had tried arguing that it should only be the parents accompanying the children but James had quietly assured them they could all come.

No other children had been forthcoming, for which Sirius had mocked Remus freely, but Harry and Gaara was suffice.

"I've been looking forward to this forever!" Sirius cheered, picking up his coin purse.

"You visited Diagon Alley last week." Gaara commented.

"That was just to get a couple potions for Remus and some other stuff." Sirius said. "We're going school shopping!"

Harry's wide smile mirrored Sirius' enthusiasm, both unable to contain their joy at the thought of both Hogwarts and the pre-Hogwarts ritual.

"I remember my first trip to Diagon Alley. My father took me, as was the custom at the time, and I remember being shocked by all of the people not wearing robes. I'd never been allowed to go out in muggle London and of course my parents would never permit me to socialise with anyone less than four generations without 'impurity'. It was wonderful though, even with my father constantly commenting on the scum and the mudbloods. I just thought it was strange that they were allowed to leave the house wearing just trousers, without any robes on." Sirius laughed and Harry recalled his own first encounter with Diagon Alley, an opposite experience, seeing so many wizards.

They all left through the front door, climbing into the expensive car Sirius had pulled around to the front of the house. Sirius had taken Harry out in it a few times already, promising last time they would set aside an afternoon next summer to go to a racetrack somewhere and 'really let her loose.' Harry could not wait!

Gaara got into the back seat and let Harry ride shotgun. This was clearly an important day for the two of them and he was content to remain inconspicuous.

"Gaara, you're being too quite. It's a beautiful day and we're going shopping. Smile a little, at least." Sirius admonished, looking back at Gaara through his rear-view mirror. Gaara looked out the window instead, at the rain.

The drive through London was fun but ultimately more trouble than it was worth, according to Sirius, since there were no free parking spaces anywhere near the Leaky Cauldron and he was wearing the wrong shoes to be walking over a mile from where they did end up leaving the car.

Gaara wanted to tell Sirius that it would have been easier to floo there but since he hated magical transport and was fine with walking such a short distance, he kept his mouth shut. At least Harry was not complaining every four minutes about it. Gaara did not enjoy the rain much, though. They were all thoroughly soaked by the time they ducked into the grotty magical pub.

"Hold on!" Tom the barkeep shouted at them before they could leave the entryway. He flicked a heavy switch on the end of the bar, setting Gaara's paranoid instincts on edge, before he felt his chilly clothes warm and the water in his hair instantly evaporate.

Magic did have its uses, even if none of those uses were getting from one place to another.

"So, anybody for a pint?" Sirius asked, smiling. Harry laughed but Gaara suspected Sirius was eagerly awaiting a positive answer to that question one of these years.

They headed straight to the back of the pub, seeing no one at the bar they recognised. Gaara did not remember the Alley very well, having refused all of Sirius' invites to visit this summer. It was as colourful and busy and Gaara was sadly sure they would not be in any rush to get their shopping over and done with.

"So, where to first?" Sirius asked, enjoying the sight before him.

"I need to go to Gringott's first." Harry said, knowing the scarce sum he had left from his last visit would not last long today.

"Nonsense, I'm paying for everything!" Sirius declared.

"I can't let you-"

"You're not letting me. I'm not giving you any choice. I want to pay for your things and I am paying for your things. End of discussion." Sirius was proud of himself for putting his foot down, even if it was so he could treat his godson.

Harry was still looking unsure about the charity but a glance at Gaara, who was also having his supplies purchased with the Black family fortune, helped. Gaara did not appear to be at all ashamed. Of course, one could not count on Gaara to react normally to anything, much less about something as mundane as money and pride, but still Harry felt bolstered by a shared debt.

To Gaara, it did not even occur to him to feel shame in this situation. For one, Sirius wasted money left and right and insisted on buying things for everyone; and for another, Gaara was unused to carrying money. All his life, either Yashamaru or his siblings had dealt with keeping Gaara fed and clothed, with a brief period in between where Rasa had appointed a jounin to have food delivered to Gaara's apartment (who ended up becoming his jounin squad leader). Even after Gaara started going on missions and earning money for himself, his siblings had kept track of his personal finances. Just before he had come to this world, among his other domestic lessons, Kankuro had begun teaching him about money and how to handle it.

As Sirius withdrew enough money for all of them (several times over), he griped that Remus had been pestering him to hire an accountant to manage his significant assets before he managed to blow everything. He had gone on to say something longwinded about irresponsibility but Sirius had tuned out by then. He would talk to the goblins in a couple weeks and get them to make him money somehow.

He should probably ask Remus to repeat some of that conversation since he had no clue as to what an accountant was supposed to do for him.

"Where is Remus today?" Harry asked, more curious about which excuse Sirius would use than what Remus was really doing, since Moony always disappeared when Harry was visiting. He had worked out a while back that it was because of the custody agreement, whatever it stipulated specifically.

"He's at a job interview, actually." Sirius said, unaware that Remus was really painting his cottage to sell since he could save a fortune just moving in to Sirius' house fulltime. Sirius wouldn't notice anyway.

"Where?" Harry asked, now curious.

"Dunno. I'm sure he told me, but I was still a bit spaced out from his lecture about fiscal awareness." Sirius laughed.

After the bank, they headed over to Flourish & Blotts, with Sirius telling Gaara to keep his purchases to a minimum since they would have to carry all of the books for the rest of the day. Gaara still ended up buying at least five books not on his reading list but he was confident he could carry them.

A few time during the following hours, Gaara was pretty sure he spotted a Weasley or three in the crowds, but was glad to have avoided them. Troublesome family, the lot of them.

Harry was busy observing his co-ward, wondering about Ron's, Hermione's and his suspicions. All he saw was how truly uncomfortable Gaara was in such a busy area, constantly looking around and keeping his back to walls whenever he could. It was bizarre, these two figures in his mind: the Gaara that slaughtered dementors and may or may not have killed Death Eaters, and then there was this Gaara who was scared of crowds and was awkward as hell in social situations. Murderous Gaara versus oblivious socially inept Gaara.

Sirius had noticed this difficulty too, painfully aware the fact that Gaara had not been in public since they found out about Gaara's dangerous tenant. At this stage, he wasn't worried that Gaara might flip and kill everyone around them, he was just concerned that Gaara was upset by being surrounded by so many people (almost all of whom were bigger than him) and all the noise. When it looked like Gaara was getting angry, Sirius took them to eat lunch where it was quieter.

After lunch they went to collect Potions ingredients. "Are you sure you even need the ingredients this year? Last year you managed to get by without even going to the lessons, so this year maybe you need another handicap like no ingredients, or maybe you're not allowed to use a cauldron? What do you reckon, Harry?"

"Makes sense to me." Harry laughed, looking at a confused Gaara.

Sirius relented and bought Gaara his supplies and they moved on to Madam Malkins.

"I do not need new clothes." Gaara stated evenly. To his ongoing consternation, he had hardly grown at all this year, as far as he could tell, so his clothes, as long as they were not torn or otherwise damaged, would be suitable for the coming year as well.

"And you are getting them anyway." Sirius said in stride, no giving in to Gaara's indifference. "You're getting new shoes as well."

"My shoes are not worn out."

"One more word, young man, and I'm buying you two new sets of clothes and dress robes too." Sirius was getting really good at putting his foot down.

Harry openly laughed at this as he stepped in to the tailors. Earlier Sirius had tried to replace the Firebolt Gaara had given away to the Slytherin Seeker of all people, but Gaara's totally straight-faced reply had shut Sirius down and left Harry clutching his sides, "But I do not think Draco needs a second broom."

The day's shopping had gone remarkably well, with Sirius not even having to referee a pissing contest between his two favourite teenagers. They weren't buddies by a long shot, but they had at least stayed out of each other's way, so Sirius counted it as a resounding success.

Gaara had acquired all of the necessary supplies, and a few unnecessary ones, so he was satisfied.

Harry had had a great day, so he had no complaints.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Harry was in his sparsely decorated bedroom in Grimmauld Place and had been for half an hour. Sirius had sent Gaara and him upstairs for a few minutes so he could set up some sort of surprise for them. Gaara had mutely followed the instruction and padded upstairs and into his room too, which Harry thought was perfect since this would provide the perfect chance to have a private and frank talk with him about the World Cup at last.

He knocked lightly on Gaara's door, knowing the boy would have his head stuck in a book of some kind and not wanting to startle him. The door swung open and Gaara looked startled to find Harry standing there. He had thought Kreacher was relaying Sirius' call to go downstairs so he had not expected to find Harry standing there.

Gaara looked at Harry and then down the hall to the stairs. Harry followed his gaze and put it together, "No, he hasn't called for us yet. No idea what he's up to. Do you mind if I come in and have a chat?"

Gaara let him pass into the room and then waited a moment, considering whether to follow or just leave Harry in there. He decided he might as well hear the Gryffindor out.

Harry took a seat and Gaara sat on the bed and waited.

"Um, I wanted to ask… about… what happened at the World Cup?" Harry asked.

Gaara stared, as he often did, but did eventually reply. "I helped Sirius and Remus fight."

"I know that much but, it's just… we're stuck in each other's lives and we're going to be for a while, so we should get to know each other better. Something more happened that night and I want to know what it is."

Gaara frowned, "It is not your business. You and your friends tried to sneak into my hospital room once because you wanted answers and now you are demanding more. You're curiosity does not entitle you to answers."

"It's not just curiosity! Crazy things keep happening and we find out what and it's usually bad. Voldemort attacked the school two years ago, and then again a year ago alongside a giant snake, and then last year Sirius was running about and Peter Pettigrew was hiding in my friend's bed. Every time our investigating turns up something, it's a big conspiracy. And then you showed up and we're still trying to work out what's going on."

"I am not Voldemort nor am I affiliated with him." Gaara could think of no better argument.