Capítulo 55: 7/9
Hermione was fighting back tears of relief that Pettigrew had been caught, and Harry was trying to get past Snape who was keeping all three on the platform.
Gaara's plan had relied on only one person being present today, and he wormed his way to the front of the crowd with an impressive dexterity for his age. Dumbledore was the only person present who could reliably identify Pettigrew, in front of the papers as well.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, is this Pettigrew?" The reporters all stopped shouting questions or demanding the Aurors let them past to hear the answer.
Albus had not been entirely sure of what to believe these past few days. He wanted to believe Remus and Sirius, his old comrades and students, and his current students. But Sirius had always had a silver tongue and could have led them all astray, and he was terrified his actions might release the wrong man. But that was preferable to condemning the wrong one.
Now, here was Gaara of all people, with the living Peter in tow. It was hard to swallow.
He looked long and hard at the bloodied face and while he was not 100% certain, he was close enough that he could risk it. "That is Peter Pettigrew."
The reporters went crazy at the announcement, now bustling for Dumbledore's comment as well as Gaara's. A few even broke off to get Fudge's comment as he stood on an abandoned podium looking dumbstruck.
There was nothing he could do to cover this up now! He hadn't honestly bought the story Harry Potter had spouted on Black's behalf, but now there was a more pressing issue. Did he deny it so that Black was Kissed and half of his problem went away? After all, a dead man couldn't sue you.
Well, actually there had been the case of Alexander Saxis' ghost in the fifteenth-century… but a soulless man couldn't sue him, that was for sure.
But when it became clear he had been told multiple times of the possibility of Black's innocence, and even after another culprit had been brought forward he ignored it, he would never be able to appease the bloodhounds in the press.
Which left only one choice: "Sirius Black's sentence will be postponed until the veracity of this claim can be verified. If this man is, as he claims, the long-dead Peter Pettigrew, he will take Black's place in Azkaban and providing Mr Black has not committed any crimes since his… escape from Azkaban, he will be freed."
Gaara knelt down and instantly had Peter's eyes on him. "Tell the truth, or I will come back."
Peter would rather go to that hellish prison than stay with this insane, sadistic, demonic, little monster. He'd been caught two days ago and it had only taken twelve hours to get to the Ministry from there.
After that, Pettigrew was taken away to be interrogated while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Severus were questioned again now that their stories weren't dismissed offhand. The Aurors, still wary of him, doubly so after he had collected his wand, tried to usher Gaara to a back room to question him (in the room next to Pettigrew's) but Dumbledore stepped in before Gaara had to 'assert himself'.
"I think Gaara here has had enough excitement for one week. He'll be returning to Hogwarts with his classmates and Head of House. If you wish to take his statement, the Ministry is always welcome to come and visit him at the castle. Now, if you will excuse us, I would like to return to the school before my old knees give out." He smiled at the Aurors and walked past them to guide Gaara away, back to where Snape had the other three corralled. The reporters were all now being moved slowly away from the main hall of the atrium, back towards the exit. For once, Fudge had enough attention.
Draco rushed through the lingering politicians and dignitaries, away from his mother and father who were still processing, to Gaara. He tried to hug his friend, who he had truly though might be dead, only to be dodged by the redhead. Said Jinchūriki cursed that his sand only automatically blocked harmful approaches.
"I cannot believe you have been hunting a murderer for the last couple of days while I was in the hospital." Draco's good will had evaporated and now he was back to indignity.
Gaara looked at him blankly, as he usually did.
"Hold on, I know you can talk now. Don't just ignore me!" Draco yelled. He looked around and went red when he realised the MINISTER FOR MAGIC was watching him, along with the Headmaster, Snape, and Potter and his cronies. "I expect you to explain everything when we get back." He said under his breath.
Lucius strolled over with Narcissa in tow. "Well, Headmaster; never a dull moment, eh? With children as wilful as these around, it's a wonder you are still volunteering to take charge of them all."
"They keep me youthful, Lucius. Will young Draco be joining us or would you rather take him back to the castle yourself?"
Draco looked up at his father but refrained from asking to go with Gaara. If father wanted him to travel separately, he would say so. It would only embarrass the family if he spoke up.
"I don't see why not, I will be taking him home tomorrow in any case." Draco then thought about how he was going to convince his parents to let him stay the remaining week of school after playing up his injuries since he woke up. His mother was usually the soft touch, but she would want to coddle him at home. He would have to petition father.
It wouldn't be too difficult since his father had not-so-subtly mentioned further allying them with Gaara since his power was evidently worth acquiring.
The Golden Trio scowled at Draco but stayed expressionless with Gaara. Harry still disliked the boy, Ron felt the same way, and Hermione was more scared than she felt it proper for a Gryffindor to be. All while they wrestled with the fact that not only had this contemptuous Slytherin saved their lives that night, but now he had effectively freed Harry's godfather singlehandedly.
Harry settled for not insulting him verbally. Hermione flashed a nervous smile. Ron still frowned, but didn't look at Gaara while he did it.
Gaara saw the odd faces they were all making and wondered whether he should have sent Pettigrew in through the post.
Snape still audibly snarled at Gaara. The consistency was nice.
The Malfoy adults coldly said their farewells to Draco, and spared a moment to wish Snape and Gaara well too, before stepping back, turning away and walking to another floo to go home and make up their next evil plan. That was Ron's loudly whispered conclusion, which Draco didn't appreciate.
The Minister didn't look happy or at ease approaching them, but he wished them the same fond farewell, and then left quickly.
They went through the floo one at a time, with Gaara going by himself at his own insistence.
They arrived at Dumbledore's office, and the Headmaster asked them all to go back to their dormitories for the time being. He would contact them as soon as he had any news about Sirius.
"Could you wait a moment, Gaara?"
Gaara sighed with creased brows. He'd seen this coming. Draco went on ahead, but wasn't happy to do so. "I'll meet you outside." He waited at the bottom of the winding staircase and watching the Gryffindorks and Professor Snape leave.
Dumbledore sat behind his desk heavily. The day, which had promised to be a difficult one at the outset, had still somehow thrown him for a loop.
"When I invited you to join this school, I did so because you were a lost child in need of a safe place to stay and learn. All of the mysteries around you, I put to bed because I told myself they were not important. However, after the stories I have heard not from the Ministry or the newspapers but from witnesses from my own staff, about the attack three nights ago, I have to ask you the questions I have been avoiding all year.
"First of all, who are you?"
Gaara waited and mulled over how he was going to play this. "I am Gaara."
Albus sighed. "What is your surname, Gaara?"
"I do not have one. In my home village, we do not use second names."
"Then where is it that you are from?"
"Far away. It is of no further consequence."
"I am afraid I have to disagree, Gaara. I need to know where your home is. You told me your mother and father had passed away. Is there not anyone there that will miss you, or used to take care of you?"
"There are, but that does not matter right now."
"Are you in hiding?" Dumbledore suspected for a while now that this was the case. It would explain a lot.
"No."
"Why are you in Britain? How did you come to be here?"
"I would rather not say."
"I am afraid I must insist, Gaara. Very soon, men and women will come to ask these same questions, and they can ask them of me, or they can ask them of you. After what happened, it will not be just the Ministry of Magic that will want to speak with you, but a great number of Witches and Wizards with other intentions in mind."
"Where and who I come from are not relevant."
Dumbledore sighed and sagged. "Very well then, I will let that be for the moment. Now, tell me, how do you know Sirius Black?"
Gaara wondered if he was going to be in trouble for his part in Sirius' time on the lamb. "He helped me when I first arrived here and has been my friend since."
"Did you help him gain entry into the castle this year?"
"No, I told him to leave. He was looking for Pettigrew."
"In the castle?"
"He is an animagus, a rat. He has been hiding here for a long time." Gaara didn't feel the need to drag the Weasleys into this just yet. They would be named in the papers before long when Peter got talking.
Dumbledore had heard this from Harry and his friends, but he needed to corroborate as many details as he could from Gaara. "What happened three days ago, when the school was attacked?"
"Draco and I were out for a walk and the dementors attacked. Draco was hurt by them so I killed the dementors."
That was it. Such a climactic night and that was all Gaara had to say on the matter.
"May I ask, just many dementors did you kill?"
"I don't know. All of them, I think."
"All of them? Are you saying you were solely responsible for killing every dementor on the grounds?"
"Yes. They were attacking and I have heard of what they do to people when they attack. I couldn't let them suck the souls out of everyone here."
"I am very glad to hear you say that, Gaara. I take an enormous comfort from knowing that you would use your powers to protect those weaker than yourself. I am sorry to say, however, that there are many that will not find such comfort in your past actions. They will merely see you for your powers, considerable as they are."
"I have known people like that from my home. I am not a weapon, and I will not be used."
"Quite right, too. There are a lot of things I need to ask still, but there will be a time for that. Right now, I would like to ask one more question: when did your voice return?"
"Not long ago. It has taken a long time to heal. It hurts now."
"I am sorry for asking so much, then. Though, I fear you will be asked much more by your peers when you venture into the Great Hall tonight. You may go now. You could probably rest after tracking and capturing that wily rat. I would suggest you rest today." Albus smiled at him. He had heard what he needed to from Gaara, for the moment.
As Gaara reached the door, Dumbledore spoke again, "While I will forever by in your debt for saving the lives of my staff and my students, I must warn you that if you destroy any more towers, I will have to deduct House points." He smiled and watched Gaara leave. Gaara hadn't turned so Albus didn't know if he had received a smile.
Albus' own smile didn't last long. There was a great deal to rejoice at, from the safety of those precious people around him, the impending freedom of Sirius, to the return and confidence of Gaara, and others. But he also had to come to terms with the fact that there had been people he might have helped who had not felt safe to approach him with their secrets. If Gaara or Remus or even Sirius had come to him, he would like to think he would have been able to see past Peter's lies to the truth.
Then again, if Albus couldn't be sure he would have helped Sirius, how could anyone else know?
He called for a cup of tea, and sat back in his chair. It wasn't yet noon, so he had enough time for a short nap. He was needing those more and more often lately.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
That afternoon, Gaara and Draco had a long overdue chat.
"So you knew Sirius Black this whole time, even before you met me?"
"Yes."
"…and you knew Professor Lupin before school started?"
Gaara nodded.
"And you've been working with them all year…"
Gaara didn't bother responding to that one. The fact was, Draco had asked all of these questions ten minutes ago and was going around in circles, massaging his eyes as he tried and failed to process.
"What?!"
Gaara didn't even widen his eyes this time at Draco's exclamation.
"You've been working with a convicted serial killer this whole time, and you never through to mention it to me?!"
"Mass murderer."
"What?"
"He was a convicted mass murderer, not a serial killer."
"I don't care what kind of murderer he is- was!" Draco seemed angry, but more from frustration than any real animosity towards Gaara. "So does that mean that they know where you're from?"
Gaara nodded. In fact, those two knew where he was really from.
"Do they know about your transformations?"
"No. Do not tell them."
Strangely, Draco seemed to take solace in being privy to a secret the adults had been kept away from, even if Gaara was exhibiting his 'killer eyes' he used to scare people away from him. Obviously it meant a great deal to the foreigner to keep this from Sirius Black and Remus Lupin specifically.
Draco settled back onto his bed, running his hand through his previously pristinely slick-backed hair.
Gaara had hoped this would signal the end of Draco's histrionics, but he soon regained his energy and continued. Most of the rest of the cycle was along the lines of "you didn't trust me? Me?!" and "you killed all of those dementors… you can kill dementors?"
Finally, he was running out of energy and could stop himself from calming down. "So, you're were-tanuki, whatever they are. You were in league with a mass murderer and a werewolf behind mine and everyone else's back. You were forcibly sent here from a distant land. Is there anything else?"
Gaara thought long and hard. He didn't have too many secrets left, other than Shukaku which he didn't think he would ever willingly share, unless he needed to. His demonic tenant and his home being on another world. Since Lupin, Sirius and even Luna knew about his world travelling, he didn't see the harm in telling Draco too.
Plus, Draco would be insufferable if he knew Luna found out first again.
"My home is on another world."
Draco eyes shot wide and Gaara knew this conversation wasn't ending any time soon.
It took a while for Draco to let Gaara elaborate on his bombshell, describing some of the main differences between their worlds to start with. Fortunately, Draco was so uninformed about other cultures in his own world, he didn't struggle too much in coming to terms with what Gaara's was like.
He also went about explaining the process of moving from one world to another, though he left out the specific reason his enemy had transported him here. Draco had seemed almost relieved to hear that was where the majority of Gaara's curiously fast-fading scars had come from, as well as his mutism.
With this secret out in the open, he was a little more forthcoming with answers to Draco's many questions, although whenever they strayed into dangerous territory, he clammed up again.
Despite the many stunned lapses in conversation and the state of his hair, Gaara thought Draco had taken all of this remarkably well.
By the time dinner came around, Gaara had spoken more in this one day that he had for the previous year in Suna. It was his punishment for avoiding speech for so long, he supposed.
Before dinner, after Draco had calmed down and had stopped asking him serial questions, Gaara ducked out of their room and snuck past their Housemates as he had when he had returned hours earlier. It was difficult since they all clearly knew he was back and wanted to talk to him. He was no longer the no-name weirdo. He was the next big thing.
Great…
He wanted to go and speak to Remus, catch him up on what happened. He was intercepted by people he wanted to talk to even less than the Slytherins back in the dormitory. Suspiciously close to the hidden entrance to his House he found Potter, Weasley and Granger lying in wait.
"Gaara!" Hermione called as soon as his face peeked out of the entrance.
He wilted a little.
He didn't run away, though, since otherwise they would just keep trying to track him down. He had a week left at the school and he didn't want it to be filled with avoiding these three. It was bad enough he'd had to do it as a tanuki.
"We- I wanted to thank you for what you've done for Sirius." Potter said. He was like a scolded child forced to apologise by an embarrassed parent.
Said parent then nudged Weasley with her elbow and he continued, "I'm sorry about thinking you were evil."
"We shouldn't have jumped to conclusions, so I hope you'll forgive us, Gaara." Hermione finished.
Gaara wondered if they had prepared that or if she was just predisposed to concluding like that.
"Okay."
Ron gritted his teeth at the dismissal but Harry stopped him before the ginger could do anything brash.
"Do you think we could sit down and talk over a few things? I'm sure we would all like to fill in the gaps about what we know. After all, we're all friends of Sirius. We should try to get on, shouldn't we?" Hermione reasoned.
A natural rhetorician, then.
"No." Gaara then walked away, on to Lupin's office. He heard Harry say some things about him as he left, and then he heard Ron agree and continue on.
"I bet he could talk all along, he's just got a stick shoved so far up his-"
"Ronald!"
"-that he couldn't talk around it."
He found Remus packing suitcases in his quarters and didn't bother knocking as he entered. Silent as he walked, he gave the grown man quite the fright when the lycanthrope noticed him.
"Gaara, when did you get here?"
"A minute ago."
"I had heard rumours about your stunt at the Ministry, and I'll admit the part I found hardest to believe was that you could talk."
"It's strange. People keep talking to me."
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