บท 95: 2/6
Draco sighed and turned back to his lunch. This was what he got for eating lunch alone. Gaara was off hiding somewhere, avoiding his much-deserved and equally lamented fame, and Draco did not feel like sitting with the others just now. The moderates were out somewhere, and Draco did not care enough to chase them down right now.
The rest of Slytherin were still doing their best to ingratiate themselves with him, to get to Gaara, but luckily his housemates were refined enough to give him some peace while he was in the middle of eating.
And then there was Lavado…
He took a small bite of his cucumber sandwich and considered the best way to get her to go away. Being rude, as he might be to a Weasley, had not worked previously. Tactfully implying that he would appreciate if she left him alone, as he would to any other Slytherin, had not worked. This unholy mixture of Weasley stock and Slytherin had yielded horrible results
So, what was he to do?
He couldn't curse her. There were too many witnesses. Gaara was nowhere to be seen, so there would be no scaring her off.
With a heavier sigh, as she started to circle around to sit next to him, he wondered if he would just be better off just giving in and going out with her for a while. It would silence some of those slanderous rumours about Gaara and he.
He glanced at Lavado again as she tried to enter his line of sight with her widest smile. He knew even the pretence of affection for her would be a mistake the moment he noticed she was trying to slip something into his pumpkin juice. Great… there went his drink. In case she was a more capable sneak than this attempt indicated, Draco set aside his sandwich as well.
If he wasn't going to eat, he might as well leave. He had found an interesting book on the links between Potions and Alchemy in the library last week and he wanted to finish it before his next Potions lesson.
"Where are we going?" Lavado said next to him.
"Nowhere. I am leaving and you are either staying or leaving in another direction."
"Now, now, Draco, that's hardly a gentlemanly way to talk to a lady." She admonished him with a smile.
Draco smiled back. "That would only apply if I were talking to a lady. You are far from a lady. I have tried to rid myself of you politely but you have either ignored or been ignorant to these attempts. In any case, now I am left with only one way to stop you from following me."
"Oh, and what would that be?" She smiled at him, confident that she could safely continue her campaign of harassment.
"It's quite simple, really. All I need to do is wander somewhere where there's no one else around and then I can curse you to my heart's content." When she stopped in her tracks and looked at him with deep offense written all over her pinched face, he continued, "Surely you know, accidents happen all the time in this castle."
"You wouldn't…" She said, frowning. Her unsettled expression smoothed into confidence again, "If you tried anything, I could tell Professor Snape and you'd get expelled."
"While I doubt Professor Snape would believe you, my father would see to it that I would be fine. You on the other hand…" Draco's imperious look had the desired effect and Lavado took a step back.
"This isn't over, Draco." She said, backing off and finally leaving him in peace.
Draco tried to ignore what was almost certainly bluster but, after threatening the girl's safety, her continued determination to acquire him seemed a lot more predatory. He would have to doubly careful of her and any further attempts to dose him with either sedatives or love potions.
Maybe if he hooked up with someone else, it would serve to scare Lavado off and quell those scandalous rumours. But who?
He was just out of the Great Hall but he didn't want to risk turning to look back in at any prospective pursuits, lest he catch the eye of his own pursuer.
He had not been the most active in seeking out a romantic partner but with this recent unwelcome attention and some other factors in his personal life, maybe it was time he started looking in earnest.
In the meantime, however, he had a book to finish.
"Look at him swanning out." Goyle said with utter scorn.
"Let him. Soon he'll be the one skulking around." Crabbe said, matching his partner's tone.
The pair were sat at the end of the table, past the first years and other undesirables. Their open opposition to Malfoy and to Gaara had left them with very few allies in Slytherin and their only route to survival had been obscurity for the time being.
There were still those in the House who silently supported the two, who were some of the only ones still championing the blood purity cause. Nearly everybody else had turned blood traitor by ignoring blood purity or turning a blind eye to those who did.
It was all Gaara's fault. The freak was powerful, popular and didn't like people exercising their right as purebloods over the half bloods and mud bloods, so no one wanted to say anything against them. No one but Crabbe and Goyle. They hadn't forgotten what their parents told them, nor what was expected of them. They wouldn't pretend and make nice with the scum, they would stay true to their culture and their heritage!
Besides, before long, they would be on top again. And this time, they wouldn't have to traipse after Malfoy. He would be so lucky to be allowed to follow them.
The Dark Lord did not suffer blood traitors lightly. Malfoy would join the other freaks, failures, and traitors in enduring the Dark Lord's wrath.
Neither of them could wait to see Malfoy and Gaara crushed under their heels, and the return of the real Slytherin.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Well, Gaara knew Potter would make contact with him eventually, but he wasn't sure how to feel about this method. On the one hand, not having to deal with Potter or his cronies in person was a welcome relief, but sending Luna like she was a carrier pigeon seemed objectionable.
But then, how could he object to the act if he wished to continue avoiding Potter. A logical trap, then, perhaps?
Smart move, Potter.
"What did he want you to tell me?"
"He asked me to tell you that he wants to meet to discuss the Tournament soon. You also need to decide on your shared tickets for the Tasks." Luna said. If nothing else, she didn't seem to take offense at being used as a messenger.
Gaara nodded, accepting the message but holding no intention of doing what Potter wanted. He couldn't think of anything less pressing than discussing the allocation of tickets for spectators to come and watch him compete.
He had expected Luna to depart when she had passed on the message but when she made no move to leave, he did instead. It was a nice day, one of the few fair weather days left before the long, Scottish winter set in fully, and he wanted to take the opportunity to train outside before it got too cold.
As he walked out towards the forest, he noticed Luna was following him. "I'm going to train." He wouldn't be 'hanging out' or chatting with her, so there was no point in her coming.
"Yes, I want to watch." She said easily.
"Oh, okay." He responded, continuing on.
It seemed strange to him, wanting to watch him train, but he didn't understand a lot of what motivated Luna so he went along with it. It wouldn't hurt anybody for Luna to sit and watch, so long as she did nothing to distract him.
He focussed primarily on consciously controlling the movement of his sand. He was perfectly proficient at using a blunt wave of sand to crush people, but he wanted to improve his control over smaller amounts. There was no reason why a tendril of sand as thick as a finger couldn't be used just as effectively to pierce an enemy's defences but he couldn't maintain its shape firmly enough.
So, he needed to practice.
Luna watched him for over an hour as he created slithers of sand and attempted to drive them into a thick tree. He did the same action dozens and dozens of times. His dedicated attention was quite interesting to observe in and of itself, but long before that hour elapsed, Luna had taken to reading from the book she had brought with her.
After a while, he had to switch trees as the precise area he had been targeting with each strike was now a mess of pulped tree bark and sap. Seeing the break in the monotony, Luna decided now might be the best time to speak.
"Gaara, would you like to practice some spells while we're out here as well?"
Gaara looked at her suddenly, as if he had actually forgotten she was sat there. "No, why?"
"Aside from your lessons, would it not be helpful to know some spells for the Tournament?"
"I will use my sand." Gaara said. He did not need to use magic, which was just as well since he was about as skilled in magic as Draco was at physical activity.
"That's a shame." Luna said with a smile, sitting back against the damp tree hollow and resuming her book while Gaara continued working on his sand control.
Not longer after that, Gaara's concentration was interrupted, not by Luna who was still contentedly studying nearby, but by Draco who stormed into the clearing and dropped his book back heavily with a huff.
Gaara, used to his roommates dramatics, didn't stop his movements.
Draco realised Gaara wouldn't stoop to asking what was wrong, so he started, "I knew I'd find you in one spot or another around here. As regularly as I end up following you out here, you'd never think that this is called the Forbidden Forest." He said.
Gaara didn't react but Luna did pipe up, "Actually, Draco, it's called the Dark Forest, or Coille Torc. Students only started calling this the Forbidden Forest since Professor Dumbledore banned students from entering it when he first became the Headmaster in '66."
"Thank you, Ravenclaw." Draco hissed. "And it's not much of a ban. It's easier to come out here than it is to get into our House." He said.
"I've heard most students aren't allowed to come out here. Professor Hagrid is in charge of stopping them."
"Well, that explains it! No wonder it's so easy with that oaf in charge of keeping people out."
"I've heard that it's really very difficult to sneak out. And we aren't very secretive when we come out, as well." Luna said, perplexed. "You don't suppose Professor Hagrid lets us come out here because we're here with Gaara, do you?"
"I don't need Gaara to walk around these woods. They're not frightening at all." Draco said belligerently. He was in a foul mood after his encounter with Lavado earlier and he was spoiling for a fight. The problem was that his only options out here were Lovegood, who was aggravatingly logical and wouldn't be drawn into an actual argument, and Gaara who was ignoring them both.
Of course, he was more or less used to dealing with Lavado after months of rebuffing her unwanted advances, but what had ensured Draco's bitter mood was that Potter had had the gall to walk right up to him and try and get him to do him a favour. Potter had been trying to talk to Gaara for days and it had been funny at first, seeing him fail at every turn, but for his nemesis to approach him (with Granger in tow) and ask where Gaara was… it was unimaginable.
Draco really missed having lackeys. They were great for keeping the riffraff at bay. Potter wouldn't have dared walk up to him if he still had his muscle, and Lavado wouldn't have had half the opportunities to harass him if he always had people around him like he used to. Even if he couldn't stand his previous company, they did have their uses. Gaara wasn't nearly reliable enough to be a lackey, and Draco wasn't actually the centre of attention when he was with the moderates so they probably wouldn't swarm around him either.
The burden of surrounding oneself with equals…
Then again, Draco had rebuffed Lavado quite effectively on his own earlier, and he had entertained himself by directing Potter up to the Astronomy Tower, where he was 'sure' Gaara would be.
Seeing that Luna didn't want to debate and Gaara, who had been patiently putting up with the distractions surrounding him, was still ignoring them, Draco decided to do likewise and make the most of the rare sunny November day. He might as well get some homework done as well, while he was out here.
The three of them stayed out there until the sun began to sink towards the horizon and the already low temperature plummeted. They headed in and parted ways to go to their dormitories, with Luna smiling all the while.
Draco and Gaara sat for dinner after the blond dragged his friend out of the Dungeons. Gaara had 'whined' that he wasn't hungry and that he would only be pestered in the Great Hall. Draco listened to no excuses and told Gaara to suck it up, in a much more polite manner, of course.
"Mother asked me to ensure you eat regularly. Never mind that I've got a hundred other concerns weighing on my mind, no~ I've got to mind you." Draco complained as they sat at the table.
Gaara stared at him and stayed quiet. Even if Draco seemed to be in a bad mood, at least he was talked to Gaara about it. It was annoying but Gaara knew from experience that it was often better to hear harsh words than no words at all.
Still, despite this inadvertent morsel of wisdom that Gaara had stumbled upon, he knew his best move was to stay quiet and leave Draco to it. No matter the personal growth Gaara had undergone, it would be a long while before he knew the right thing to say in any social situations.
"Honestly, I would start to worry if father began asking after you in his letters as well. All he's been asking about lately is who's been visiting the school and such." Draco went on.
Gaara picked at his plate and avoided looking around in case he caught someone's eyes and that somehow implied permission to enter into conversation with him. He would eat what little food he'd added to his plate and leave as soon as Draco would allow him. Draco's family originated in France and they seemed to maintain the French dining tradition of stretching meals into two or three hour social experiences. On the other hand, Gaara would be content with fifteen minutes and something bitter and easy to eat.
Gaara tuned back in to what Draco was talking about now in case he needed to nod. "-and apparently now one of the other peacocks is starting to get ill. Honestly, you wouldn't believe what the upkeep on peacocks costs! It's outrageous. Father started keeping them when he first took over the family and they've been nothing but trouble ever since! But whenever I- Potter, what do you want?"
Gaara looked up slowly. There was Potter, standing as close to the Slytherin table as he was ever likely to have stood.
Harry stood his ground next to the snake pit, ignoring the glares that all of the Slytherins (including Gaara) were sending his way. At least they weren't actually hissing at him, as had been known to happen, particularly since he became the infamous false Champion.
"Did you hear me, Potter? I said, what are you doing here? I thought it was your eyes, not your hearing, that didn't work."
Harry took note that apparently Malfoy hadn't appreciated being approached earlier that day. Well, Harry would be lying if he said he was devastated to think that they would not become closer because of their shared acquaintance with Gaara.
"We need to talk, Gaara." He said, ignoring Malfoy entirely. He didn't think anything he could say to the blonde prig would lead to anything but an argument.
Everyone was watching now, not just the glaring Slytherins but the other Houses and the visitors from the other schools. Conversation didn't die but it did go a bit quieter as people waited to hear Gaara's response.
Gaara considered his response for a few moments before sending his sand out and writing, 'We can talk after dinner.'
Harry read the response and said, "Fine. Wait in an empty classroom and I'll come and find you." Harry would use the Marauder's Map to find Gaara, and this way no one else would know where they were meeting so they wouldn't be disturbed or spied upon.
Gaara nodded, retracted his sand into his small gourd and went back to staring at his plate.
Harry walked away, trying not to show his back to the Slytherins who were only hesitating to jinx him because of the number of witnesses.
Once Potter had departed and people started talking more loudly again, with a great many discussing what this interaction would likely mean in the upcoming Tournament, Draco turned to Gaara and quietly said, "You wrote that out in sand because you forgot you can speak again, didn't you?"
Gaara didn't answer that.
It was not the first time Gaara had forgotten this fact and Draco thought it was ridiculous that it affected Gaara's life so little, to not be able to speak and then to regain that ability. "And why on Earth did you agree to meet up with Potter?"
"I can't avoid him forever." Apparently. "It was becoming tiresome." Gaara said.
"You're a quitter. You could have at least continued avoiding him for another week or two. It's been driving him barmy. That's a worthy cause if ever I've heard one." Draco said.
Again, Gaara rightly avoided pointing out how immature Draco's feud with Potter seemed at their age. Besides, he'd done the right thing in agreeing to meet Potter after dinner. This way, since Potter would presumably want to obey the curfew, which didn't affect Gaara, it would place a time limit on their interaction.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
As Gaara stood waiting in the empty classroom after dinner, he did wonder how Potter intended to find him. He would ask him when he arrived, but Gaara had found that the answer to the majority of his questions seemed to end up being 'magic' and Gaara wasn't really interested in the specifics of that subject.
Draco had asked if Gaara wanted him to attend, as 'back up', or to wait nearby in case Gaara needed any help, but Gaara politely declined. He didn't mention that he doubted Draco wouldn't be much help in an instance where Gaara couldn't handle things himself. Not to mention that he very much doubted that Potter would be the one to push Gaara that far.
The door opened and Harry stepped in, turning and closing the door again without a word to Gaara. When he finally turned to look at Gaara, he looked upset.
Had Gaara done something to annoy him already? Gaara was fairly sure he didn't have any sort of expression on his face, and he was standing still. What could it be?
"At least you actually showed up." Harry said, frowning. Gaara stayed quiet. "I've been trying to talk to you since the selection, why have you been avoiding me?"
Oh, that's what this was about.
"What do you want?" If Potter's bad mood was just more drama and nothing relevant, Gaara would happily skip it. He was impatient to leave.
Harry seemed a little shocked that Gaara was quite so unrepentant but he gathered his wits and continued, "I want to know why you've been avoiding me so much lately." Harry has been beginning to suspect that Gaara was secretly much more competitive than everyone thought.
"You're too loud and intrusive. You annoy me." Gaara said calmly.
Harry wasn't surprised by the blunt insult. Gaara and he didn't like each other, and Gaara lacked the Slytherin tact that might have concealed that distaste, or at least lessened its impact through political language.
"Fine, whatever." Harry sighed. "But why did you enter the Tournament? You obviously don't care about fame and I can't imagine you're trying to get rich."
Gaara looked at Potter and tried to discern whether the irony of asking intrusive questions right after being told off for intruding upon the private lives of others had occurred to him.
Evidently not.
Gaara didn't feel like giving Potter a false answer, and he certainly didn't intend to tell him the real reason, so Gaara instead asked his own question, "How were you entered into the Tournament? Do you have any ideas of who entered you?"
"You don't think I entered?" Harry was so surprised that he didn't notice the evasion.
"No."
"But all those rumours about me and stuff…"
"Yes, I believe Draco has been helping those to spread. I'm not interested in rumours." There were more than enough rumours about Gaara at the school.
"Oh, well, okay then, I suppose. I don't know who put my name in the Goblet of Fire. I half expected it to be Malfoy but I'm not so sure anymore."
"It wasn't Draco, as far as I know."
"It could have been Snape." Harry offered.
"I doubt it." Gaara said. Snape clearly hated them both, but the crooked-nose man rarely let his hatred manifest outside of the Potions laboratory. This would have been a significant escalation.
"Then who?" Harry asked, desperately hoping Gaara might have a convincing theory.
"I don't know." He didn't. Truth be told, he'd had to ask Draco before he could be relatively sure it wasn't him.
Harry spent a moment brainstorming who might have been involved, but all he could come up with was a vague 'dark witch or wizard who wants to do me harm'. He elected to keep that less-than-revelatory information to himself.
"By the way, since we're here, you need to write back to Padfoot." Harry felt uncomfortable stepping into the middle of that matter but his godfather seemed to be losing what little mind the dementors left him because he was so worried about the Tournament. Gaara ignoring his letters was not helping.
Gaara knew he'd forgotten something. He'd gone through his class schedule looking for the assignment he'd neglected to complete and he'd even asked Draco if he could think what it might be. He supposed he ought to write to Sirius tonight, then. Lest he forget again.
"Is that all?" Gaara asked. It was cold and the warming charms on his robes only did so much to stave of the night-time chill. Gaara turned to leave before receiving a response.
"No! Hold on a minute." Harry was getting angry again. "What about the tickets?"
"Tickets?"
"For the first Task. Remember? We have to split the tickets between us. Two family members and four friends in all."
"I don't need any tickets." Gaara was confused. They would both be participating, surely they wouldn't need tickets to get in.
"What about Malfoy, and that Ravenclaw girl you're friends with?"
"What about them?"
"Don't you want them to come and watch?" Harry had been worried this might devolve into an argument because Gaara wanted more than half of their allocation. Instead, Harry was trying to persuade the idiot to take his share, and give one to Malfoy of all people!
Gaara understood now. And while he was not bothered whether those two were there to watch him or not, he knew Draco would be expecting to attend.
"Okay." He said.
Harry sighed. He'd almost thought he would have to fill two more seats. He dreaded to imagine how every Gryffindor would scramble to convince him to give them one of the well-placed seats. He'd have given one to Neville probably...
He was getting distracted and Gaara was liable to disappear if he thought he could.
"What about family? I don't suppose you have anyone that could come, do you?"
"No." Gaara said, no elaboration.
"Then just Sirius." Harry said. In his last letter, Sirius had confessed to asking his oldest friend to marry him so that Remus could attend as a family member as well, but the ex-professor had refused. Sirius has then spent half a page writing in poetic verse about heartbreak. In Harry's reply, he politely asked Sirius not to write to him when he was drunk. It was unsettling.
"Sirius?" Gaara asked. He hadn't realised Potter and Sirius were related.
"Yes, he's my godfather and your caretaker. He qualifies, I checked with Professor McGonagall."
"Oh." Gaara supposed Sirius would want to watch like Draco. Fine.
"Glad we've finally got this sorted." Harry said. "Now there's just the life-threatening Tasks to prepare for, right? Easy."
Gaara stared impassively.
"It's not like it's the first time I'll be risking my life at school but this feels different. Everyone hates me and there's no point to it. I don't want to be famous! It's just not fair that they can force me to take part."
This seemed to be a personal moment so Gaara left without another word.
Harry was so wrapped up in his exposition he didn't notice Gaara's departure until he was already walking out the door. It took the wind out of Harry's sails until it was replaced with anger. How unbelievably rude!
That emotion lasted all of ten seconds before Harry sunk into a dusty chair and conceded, to himself, that he and Gaara weren't friends, despite all the things between them, and he shouldn't be surprised when Gaara continued to act like weren't. In fact, they were really rivals now because of the upcoming Tournament.
Still, Harry thought, there was no need to be an arse about it.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Gaara returned to the room feeling like his time would have been better spent reading, rather meeting to listen to Potter complain and discuss ticket allocations. Draco's head shot up as soon as Gaara entered the room, the homework in front of him forgotten.
Just as Draco was about to say something, he held his tongue and just stared at the red-headed former mute. Draco was finally embracing that appreciable Syltherin quality of minding one's own business. Of course, since Slytherins also thrived on discovering and exploiting secrets, this just meant that they (and Draco, in this instance) knew they would uncover the secrets on their own, without the need to stoop to asking.
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