As he arrived in the Great Hall he scanned the Hufflepuff table for Gaara. Considering how Gaara had spent the summer he hoped that the other Hufflepuffs had managed to get him to wake up for breakfast. He wanted to speak to him before classes began. Finally seeing him, he quickly made his way over to where he was sitting. He sat down next to him on the bench since it happened to be free for the moment. He kept his back to the rest of the table because he had no intentions of staying longer than it would take for him to say what he wanted to.
"Good morning, Gaara," he greeted with a small smile.
"Good morning," Gaara yawned as he spoke.
It brought a smile to his face, "I wanted to figure out a time we can talk in private."
He was drawing curious looks from the other students because he wasn't sitting at his house table. He did his best to ignore the stares he was receiving but couldn't help noticing that several gazes were filled with suspicion. Gaara pulled out his schedule from his bag. He wondered briefly when it had been given to him and when he would be getting his own schedule.
"We have afternoon classes with Slytherin today. We can meet after lunch before classes begin," Gaara told him.
"Perfect. I have some things I would like to discuss with you," he lowered his voice aware of the curious listening ears being directed their way.
"Are you happy with your house? I have heard some things," Gaara asked concerned.
"You shouldn't take what you heard as truth but I wouldn't completely discount it either," he smiled, "We'll talk after lunch."
With a soft sigh he got up from the bench. He waved to Gaara as he made his way toward the Slytherin table taking the open seat next to Draco. He smiled at the other first years as he began putting food onto his plate.
"Why were you talking to a Hufflepuff?" Daphne asked disdainfully from next to Pansy.
He shrugged, "I needed to ask him something."
"Really? How do you know each other?" she pushed.
"I don't see why that matters," he snapped starting to get a little angry.
He knew they were fishing for information. The conversation he had heard earlier made it clear they didn't trust him. He also knew they hated being in the dark about his past. But if they thought for even one moment he would give up all of his secrets just because they pushed at him then they would soon learn how mistaken they were. If there was one thing he considered himself a natural talent at it was lying. Sensing that he was getting ready to walk out Draco stepped in to salvage the situation.
"What did Professor Snape want to talk to you about?" Draco asked between bites of his own breakfast, "We heard he called you to his office this morning."
"Nothing important," he waved his hand as though swatting the question aside then smiled as he changed the subject again, "Are you ready for the first day of classes?"
A shadow fell on the group as Snape arrived. He handed out their schedules silently making it clear he was not open to being asked questions or making polite conversation. His face was perfectly smooth until he got to him, them it turned into a slight sneer. He took his schedule quickly hoping no one else noticed. He didn't sneer or scowl at anyone else but he didn't smile at any of them either. They all took their schedules with muttered thank-yous. Once Snape had left the area he turned his attention to his schedule. After reading over the timetable he couldn't help but groan at the first class.
"Herbology, I don't want to dig in the dirt," Pansy said looking horrified at the prospect.
Her eyes sought Daphne's as they shared a look of complete empathy and loathing. They didn't have time between classes to wash up before charms either so they would have to go to class sweaty and dirty. The only comfort was that the Ravenclaws were also in their charms class so they would be in the exact same situation. He wondered if he could send a shadow clone to the morning classes in his place. It would mean he didn't have to waste a portion of his lunch on a second shower because the dirt would vanish with the clone. It was definitely something for him to consider.
"We'll have to miss part of lunch," Gregory said unhappily adding a little more food to his plate.
"I don't care if I'm covered in dirt all day. I'm going to eat lunch first," Vincent said also adding a bit more food to his plate.
"I bet the Gryffindors get Herbology at the end of the day," Daphne sniffed, "It's a fact that he always favours them because he was a Gryffindor while he was in school."
"Dumbledore should just retire before he drags the school down any further," Pansy agreed with venom in her voice.
"How do you know he favours them, we're only first years and this is the first day of classes," he said watching as the windows were darkened by mail owls.
"Oh, Dumbledore's prejudice is well known. He's been Headmaster since before most of our parents went to Hogwarts. Trust me, my Father told me all about it," Draco advised.
"I think I will form my own conclusions based on the evidence I find myself," he told them, "But your opinions are noted."
He had been let down by everyone he had ever known. There was truly no way to get around that fact easily. He knew that he would always have trouble trusting others. After the conversation he had overheard earlier in the common room he wasn't willing to trust the other Slytherins not to lead him astray. He figured they were probably right but he couldn't afford to get stuck only seeing one side of the full picture. He had to draw his conclusions from the actions he himself witnessed or he could end up being led around like a dog by the whims of others.
He shielded his plate just in time as several owls landed on the table around him bringing letters and the morning paper to several students. Hedwig was not among the owls but he hadn't really expected a response to his letter so soon. He saw Draco toss his paper aside in favour of a letter.
"Can I borrow this?" he asked gesturing toward the discarded paper.
"Draco glanced at him briefly before shrugging, "I don't care."
"Looking for anything specific?" Pansy fished for information.
He raised his eyebrow before responding, "Not particularly."
He skimmed through most of the paper getting a feel for where the wizarding world stood as far as what information they deemed important enough to write about. Books gave him an excellent overview of the culture but the paper would help him to figure out the more subtle nuances the books couldn't provide.
He turned to the section of the paper that covered crimes curious to see what the worst of the wizarding world population got up to. It was important to know who might cause trouble for him one day. He also was curious about how auror's solved crimes given he knew of at least one investigation that they completely screwed up. The case of his Father was not a sore point as he had never even known he had a living Father until he arrived in the wizarding world, but it was a large source of useless 'what ifs' that he wished he could stop thinking about.
He skimmed a small number of articles concerning petty theft and minor infractions of the law. The only thing vaguely interesting was an attempted, and failed, break in at Gringotts which was several months old with apparently no progress being made at all toward figuring out who the thief was. Just from one section of the paper he could draw the conclusion that law enforcement in the magical community was inept probably because they didn't really have much serious crime, unless a Dark Lord showed up, but even then they were so inept that the general public was left to defend themselves through the creation of vigilante groups. It was truly pathetic but would be to his advantage if he ever put his shinobi skills to use.
"Is Gringotts the only bank wizards have?" he asked the table at large.
"Why?" Draco replied confused.
"It says they were broken into. It doesn't seem very secure to me, plus my trust fund is there," he said with a concerned tone.
"Yeah, it was pretty big news over the summer that they got broken into. Most people wouldn't dare, I heard some of the deeper vaults are guarded by Dragons," Theodore said.
Pansy laughed, "It wasn't interesting at all, there wasn't even anything in the vault they tried to rob."
"What's interesting to them is who the vault belonged to," Theodore snapped back.
"Oh, who did it belong to?" he asked curious why anyone who was important would have a vault without any money in it.
"Nicolas Flamel," Theodore puffed up importantly.
He recalled that the vault Hagrid visited had been emptied over the summer. People didn't just keep money in Gringotts. He felt that Flamel could be a lead but the vault number wasn't mentioned in the little blurb of an article. He supposed there could be a large number of empty vaults in Gringotts waiting for new clients as well. He didn't want to appear too curious about the article as it would only highlight how ignorant he still was about somethings as everyone else seemed to know who Flamel was already. He also didn't want to raise anyone's suspicions if it did turn out to be the vault Hagrid had emptied. Being overly curious might draw attention he didn't want especially because he refused to have his trunk searched.
He was saved from having to continue the conversation by Hedwig landing next to his plate. She snatched a couple pieces of bacon as he pulled the letter from her foot. He absently pet her feathers as he read over the response to his letter. A smirk growing on his face the longer he read. The response to his enquiry regarding stories written about him without his knowledge was favourable. It looked like he was about to make himself a nice sum of galleons that weren't tied up in a trust controlled by his mother's will.
Since Hedwig was here anyway, he decided to write a new letter. This time he decided to write to his Father. The prophet had reminded him that he had yet to make contact with the man. He sent a politely worded interrogation to his Father with a spare quill and ink secured inside the parchment so he could write back if he could. It was important for him to determine if James Potter was worth the risk. He knew where Pettigrew was but not whether he should turn him in. After all, it was quite likely that his Father would hold the same prejudices against Slytherin as his best friend did. He didn't want to risk being disowned twice.
"Who'd you write to?" Daphne asked him.
"My guardian, I needed to let him know where Gaara and I were sorted," he lied flawlessly.
She hummed thoughtfully but didn't ask any more questions.
"I'm going to go to the washroom before it's time for class. I'll meet you in the entrance hall?" he stood and waited until Draco nodded before leaving.
He made his way to the boys' washroom on the first floor where he locked himself in a stall. He decided to create a shadow clone that would go to his morning classes in his stead. Hopefully, he could save time not having to take a shower before eating lunch. He could use the time he saved to get to History of Magic early so he would have time to speak to Gaara before the class started.
He gave his shadow clone his bag in case he needed to take notes. His wand was in his pocket so the clone should have a duplicate wand with him. He would have felt weird without it while he waited for his classes to end. He sent his clone away while he stayed in the stall to wait for the bell that classes were starting. Once the halls were empty he would be free to make his way back to the dorms and take a nap or something.