白虎 ロキ


Chapter Three:

ホグワーツの我愛羅先生

Professor Gaara of Hogwarts


Gaara stood in front of the High Table, populated by the professors of Hogwarts, with Dumbledore beside him.

"My name is Sabaku no Gaara. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Afterward, he enunciated his words with a short, polite bow.

"Polite, isn't he?" commented Professor Sprout, leaning over to Professor Flitwick beside her.

"Bit young though, isn't he?" whispered Prof. Flitwick back, turning to face her.

Professor McGonagall however, was having a bit of a different reaction. "Just how old is he," she demanded, positively appalled.

"I believe he can speak for himself." Dumbledore simply replied, turning towards Gaara, "Mr. Gaara?"

Gaara stared her down. "I am nineteen years old."

"Nineteen?!" McGonagall shrieked, "He could practically be a student!"

"Now, now, Minerva," Dumbledore hushed, "He is more than competent enough for this job, I assure you."

"But, but—he is just a child, Albus!"

"In my country," Gaara interrupted quietly, "I am legally an adult, and have been so for many years now. As Dumbledore-sensei said, I can handle myself."

"Well, that does not exactly reassure me," she lectured. "And just where is it that you are from, where—apparently—children are considered to be adults?!"

"I think that is enough for now, Minerva," Dumbledore quickly intercepted, "We can discuss this in more detail later on. For now, I give you my word that you have nothing to worry about. Mr. Gaara here," he said, gesturing to said redhead, "is very mature for his age, and has even had experience in teaching. Not to mention that he is completely fluent in the language that he will be teaching."

This seemed to appease her for now, at least. Nevertheless, with his age now out of the way, the professors were free to further take in his appearance. He was rather on the short side, they noted, only about five and a half feet tall, maybe less, and he didn't look like he weighed more than eight stones*! He had on a dark burgundy button-down with matching trousers and wore black sandals, and attached to a belt on his hips was what looked to be a small canteen.

His skin was rather on the pale side—even more so than Severus—and he had red hair—not Weasley red, but actual red. Charmed, perhaps? Or maybe he was a metamorphmagus? No, charmed was much more likely. Or transfigured, maybe? No matter...

It was hard to tell from where the new professor was standing away from them all, but he appeared to have light blue-green eyes that were framed by slightly-heavier-than-could-be-considered-appropriate eyeliner. Some of them reserved judgment on this...fashion choice of his, but others sneered at the idea of this boy—this boy who was going to be teaching at their school—wearing flashy-looking makeup. The most alarming thing, however, was the glaringly large tattoo that he blatantly displayed on his forehead.

This made-up, tattooed child was going to be teaching at their school, at the greatest wizarding school in the world?

Suddenly, they thought, his age wasn't their only concern.

"Now," Dumbledore continued, "the students will all be arriving tomorrow evening. Let us tuck in, and then we shall retire to bed. Is everyone alright with this?"

The majority of the professors grudgingly agreed whilst Gaara made no comment.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore exclaimed, placing his hand on Gaara's shoulder and leading him up towards the High Table. "Come, Mr. Gaara, there's a seat empty right beside Filius and I."

Flitwick was one of the few professors who didn't seem to mind Gaara's appearance or age, and so when the young, odd-looking redheaded boy sat down beside him, Filius was more than happy to engage him in conversation.

"Filius Flitwick, Professor of Charms and Head of Ravenclaw—it's a pleasure to meet you! Sabakuno Gaara, was it?"

"Yes, that is correct," Gaara nodded. He had a suspicion that the small man had misunderstood his name, but Gaara decidedly made no effort to correct him.

"Tell me, Sabakuno, what language is it that you will be teaching?"

Okay, that's enough of that. "I will be teaching my native language, Japanese...And by the way, it's three parts: Sabaku. No. Gaara. Gaara is my first name."

"Oh," exclaimed Filius. "My apologies, Gaara—is it alright if I call you Gaara?"

"Yes, it is fine."

The food appeared on the table then, abruptly as always, and Filius had to admit that he was impressed when Gaara seemed to show no reaction at all, only waiting a moment before beginning to move small amounts of food onto his plate.

Speaking of the food...

"I say," Filius blurted out, "what is that?"

In front of where Gaara was seated was a wide array of food that which he had never seen before in his entire life. Dumbledore responded before Gaara could, explaining, "I asked the House Elves to prepare some food native to Mr. Gaara's home country—although I must say that I am not quite sure what the majority of it is...though I am certainly eager to try it." Dumbledore smiled, "it is always nice to try new things, isn't it?"

Several of the professors agreed, looking on curiously at the display. It was Filius who eventually asked the question that was on everyone's mind...

"Gaara," he began, "if they're from your home country, then surely you must know what they are?"

Gaara paused in his eating to nod briefly, and went about setting his chopsticks—where had those come from?—down gently, before beginning to gesture at the different dishes each individually, one at a time**. "This is tenpura...udon...soba...and these are dango...and sakuramochi..."

"Fascinating! And what are these made of," Filius asked, intrigued, pointing at the dango first.

Gaara glanced at it briefly before slurping another noodle. "Dango is a dumpling made from mochiko."

"And what about this?" Filius queried, pointing at another dessert dish.

Gaara swallowed before glancing at it just as briefly as he had the last one. He answered, "Sakuramochi is sweet mochi with an anko center, wrapped in a pickled sakura leaf."

"Mochi? Anko? Sakura?" Filius asked, bewildered by the foreign terms. Dumbledore was paying rapt attention, apparently also compelled by the sweets, and Professor Sprout was not-so-subtly leaning in as well. Even Madame Hooch looked like she was watching out of the corner of her eye, inching closer bit by bit.

They do always say that the fastest way to a person's heart is through food...

Gaara took note of Filius's confused expression, and the other professors' apparent interest as well. "Mochi means rice cake," he explained, "and anko is red bean paste. Sakura means cherry blossom." Gaara picked up one of the sakuramochi and passed it on to Filius who took it tenderly, fully enthralled in the tiny foreign dessert. "So, sakuramochi is a sweet rice cake with a red bean paste center, wrapped in a pickled leaf from a cherry blossom tree."

Filius gingerly took a bite as Dumbledore and Sprout watched in rapt anticipation. "It's…it's delicious!" He hastily turned to Gaara, clarifying, "you called this…sakuramochi, yes?"

Ignoring the slight mispronunciation of the name, Gaara nodded briskly.

"Why, we should serve these every night! I'm sure the students will positively love them," he exclaimed as Dumbledore and Sprout each reached eagerly for one, and then another, and a third...

Soon the house-elves had to refill the plate, as the three of them moved on to try the dango next, which of course garnered a similar reaction of extreme enthusiasm.

As they continued blissfully eating the tiny foreign desserts, Filius started up on his questions once more, while the other professors, like before, tried their best to act as if they weren't listening in.

"So tell me, Gaara—if you don't mind—what in Merlin does that symbol on your forehead mean?"

Gaara paused, before very briefly glancing up and then away again. "It's ai written in kanji," he answered finally. A pause. "...It means love, or affection."

"Love!" Filius wheezed, choking a bit, "I never would have guessed!"

"How sweet," Sprout said, smiling wide while trying not to laugh.

"Ah, I never introduced myself," she noted, leaning over Filius to better see the young new professor, "Pomona Sprout, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you, Gaara."

Gaara dipped his head in response, "Likewise, Sprout-sensei."

"Please, just Pomona is fine," she insisted. "And I must ask—if you don't mind—what is sensei?"

Gaara started, abruptly realizing that he'd been saying it this whole time and no one had called him out on it. I'll have to watch myself better, he thought, or I'm going to be causing a lot of confusion...

"It can mean teacher," he explained, "as well as doctor."

"Oh," Pomona waved, "well you don't have to worry about calling me professor all the time! None of us teachers do, not really, not to each other."

"As you wish," Gaara relented, reluctantly, before turning to address Dumbledore. "Sumimasen, Dumbledore-sensei—" ah, I've messed up already— "excuse me. But where will I be staying, if I may ask?"

"Ah," Dumbledore breathed, pulling out a small golden pocket-watch and peering at it, looking flustered. "...has it been that long already? Come along, now, and I'll show you the way—Minerva, if you're not too busy you may come as well—you had some questions you wanted to ask, didn't you? Come along, now."

Filius and Pomona waved cheerfully goodbye as the three of them filed out of the room, with Dumbledore leading the procession; Gaara walked off to the side, slightly behind him, while McGonagall trailed on behind.

"I'll show you where your classroom is later, but for now this is where you'll be staying..."

They came to a stop in front of an ancient-looking painting, no doubt in great shape for its extensive age, and Gaara couldn't help jerking suddenly when he noticed just who was front and center on the canvas, staring back and blinking at him.

"An old friend of mine," Dumbledore related, smiling mournfully.

Meanwhile Gaara was still staring in shock, with the man in the painting curiously tilting his head at him, and McGonagall looking grudgingly concerned. "Senju Hashirama," Gaara said finally, in total awe. The man in the painting smiled then, and waved cheerfully back at him.

"I heard my precious little granddaughter is Hokage now," Hashirama said, grinning ear-to-ear, "is this true, shinobi?"

"Iie, Shodai Hokage-sama," Gaara answered respectfully, bowing deeply before continuing, "Godaime Hokage-sama is retired now."

"Oh, is that so? My precious little granddaughter…she must be so old now." Hashirama smiled sadly while McGonagall watched on in confused interest.

"I still keep in touch," Dumbledore added quellingly, "In fact, that is how I got in touch with Mr. Gaara here!"

"Gaara, huh…" The painted Hokage squinted at him, assessing. "...you don't look like you're from Konoha...which village are you from, exactly?"

"Sunagakure," Gaara acknowledged, bowing once more. "It is a noble honor to meet you, Shodai Hokage-sama. I am Sabaku no Gaara, Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure."

"A Kazekage, huh?" Hashirama raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "At your age? I must admit I'm impressed." Gaara seemed flustered—and Dumbledore deeply amused—meanwhile the Ex-Hokage thought for a moment, "Speaking of young kages, tell me—is that blond jinchūriki Hokage yet?"

Gaara smiled, pleased, for probably the first time since leaving the relative safety of the Barrier. "Not yet, but Hatake-san—the Rokudaime Hokage—is already working on training him to be the next Hokage. It's estimated that he will be named Nanadaime Hokage within the next five years."

"Good," he grinned, "that kid deserves it more than anyone else. Now," Hashirama smiled ruefully, "I've kept you waiting long enough…"

Suddenly the painting moved, extending out from the wall and revealing itself to in actuality be a door. "Have a good night, Kazekage," he dismissed mirthfully.

The three of them filed into the room then, one after another, and once they had all congregated in the sitting room near the fireplace, the painting-door creaked itself shut behind them. But before Gaara could have the time to so much as admire his new room, Dumbledore began speaking to the room at large.

"Now that we are in private, we have some important matters to discuss..."

Minerva looked about ready to implode when Dumbledore interrupted, "Now, now, Minerva, calm down…we are in safe company—Mr. Gaara is only here to help."


*According to the Wiki, Gaara is 166.1 cm tall and weighs 50.9 kg, which I converted to about 5 ft 4 in and 112.2 lbs. According to the internet, the average height and weight for a male in the UK is 5 ft 9 in/175.3 cm and 13.16 stone/83.6 kg. So, Gaara is definitely on the small side.

**I've read that it is considered rude in Japan to point, especially with chopsticks.


EDIT: Revised as of 15 September 2018; added in more details, rephrased things, and kicked Severus out because I forgot he was there and it interfered with later chapters—whoops.


Please notify me if you catch any mistakes, thanks.

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Ja,

- BL.