Oops, I forgot to thank more than half the reviewers last time…I apologize. I'll do it now. Thanks to: Shukoru, Originalatorian,suberXxXduperXxXfun machine, Haku's No. 1 Girl, Sweet July, Multi Guy, Shashuko the Paisley Maiden, somebody, Shukoru (again), Kai (I responded at the end. You didn't give me anyway to answer you!), suberXxXduperXxXfun machine, Shashuko the Paisley Maiden, Favrite of Chaos, The Crazy Evil Akatsuki Neko, Mood-chan, Lavendar-lilly, Shrimps of Mass Destruction, sheenio, multi guy, and Kikyo Uchiha.

There are a lot of y'all.

Okay, a couple of people have mentioned that Ollivander is not dead, or at least he wasn't killed by Voldemort. You're right—in the books, this did not happen…I checked later, and I was like…oops. But, I have an excuse…I am Voldemort reincarnated…and I killed Ollivander. –Cackles evilly- So quit bringing it up. Or I'll kill you too…I'm serious.

About my OC. If you dislike her because she's so aloof, or if you think she's…well, female doggish from other's points of view, deal with it. There are plenty of reasons for this, which we'll get to later. 'K? Thanks.

After the feast, everyone headed to their houses.

"First-years follow me, please!" the head boy, who was, once again, in Gryffindor. First-years dutifully lined up. Someone tapped Meg's shoulder, and she turned to look at whoever it was.

"Ummm…Could y-you t-take me t-to where I need to g-go?" It was Hinata, the shy girl from the train.

Meg nodded, and said, "Come on."

Hinata dutifully followed behind her. Her so-called friends who had been sorted into Gryffindor had already run off with Harry and his friends.

Except for Gaara. He was calmly walking towards the teacher's table, towards the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.

Whatever, was Meg's only thought.

Hinata caught up and walked next to Meg when there was more room. They soon caught up to the first-years, and walked behind them. They arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?"

The Head Boy, whom I should mention was not Ron, spoke. "Embers."

The Fat Lady nodded, and her portrait swung open. Due to the number of 'Little Ones' they had to wait a while. Finally, they were able to get into the common room.

"Here, I'll help you find your room." Meg led Hinata up the stairs before the First-years would crowd the walkway, as the Head Boy was explaining what was happening—where they were going and such.

They walked up the stairs and down a hallway. Meg glanced at the names on the doors as they passed, also looking for her own.

"Oh, here it is. How lucky. We're rooming together."

She opened the door, and stepped aside, letting the indigo-haired girl enter first. Sakura, Hermione, and Ginny were already in the room, and had claimed beds. There were two unoccupied beds on the left side of the room. Meg took the one to the very far left, farthest away from everyone else. Hinata took the other one, sitting down self-consciously. Hermione and Ginny were talking animatedly to Sakura and she was nodding happily. Meg rolled her eyes, and pulled out some ear plugs, sticking them into her ears. She calmly walked to her trunk in front of her bed, pulling out a quill, a piece of parchment, and a book to write on.

She started to write:

Mum,
The school year has started again, and all the new teachers are here. Hagrid left for Romania, to study dragons. It's always been his dream…He told me last year, when Harry and his friends were off fighting the dark lord. I guess…we both needed a friend. Even his post was filled. They all look Asian, just like the exchange students.
Oh, right. The exchange students. They seem okay, I guess. Hinata is really nice, but she's really shy.
I guess we'll see about them.
I miss you mum. I miss you so much.
All my love…

She didn't sign her name; the letter wouldn't be postmarked, there was no point. It was just a habit she had picked up, writing to her late mum, and then burning the letter. It helped ease the pain of loneliness that had started in her fifth year. She had gone home to visit her parents over Christmas vacation, and had found her mother dying in the hospital because she'd had a heart attack. She was recovering, but then she had another one, while she was still in St. Mungo's, and had…gone. Meg had been there, holding her hand, and her father was holding her mum's other hand. The last things she had said…

"Meg and Tom, please believe Harry. I know he's back—Voldemort. And never be afraid to say his name… Darlings, always know that I love you…"

Her brain shut down, refusing to relive the horrid moments of her mother's final heart attack. When she had returned to school, she had been withdrawn, and depressed. Unfortunately, she had been in Harry's way at the wrong time, or rather, she had been on the receiving end of one of his tantrums. They had had quite a row, and since then, they had been cold to each other. She shook her head, clearing it of the memory, and then waved her wand at the parchment, causing it to burst into flame.

Hinata jumped. Meg gave her a small smile. Hinata looked so uncomfortable and lonely, lonelier than she had ever felt, and so she wanted to help her.

"Where are you from, Hinata?"

"J-Japan."

"I thought so. Gaara's tattoo is Japanese, right? What's it mean?"

"It's 'ai', or l-love." For a second, she hesitated, and then decided to question Meg in return. "What about you? Where are you from? America?"

Meg noted that as Hinata relaxed, her stutter vanished. "No. I was born and raised here. I have a cousin who lives in Alberta and one who lives in Pennsylvania. They're muggles, and their parents, who're also muggles, have never seen fit to tell them that they have a wizard for a brother. My mum was an only child, from a family of magic. Her family tree goes way back. Grand-da was a bit disappointed when she married what he called a 'mud-blood'--that's what he'd call my dad. Actually, her first husband died. He was a muggle, supposedly...We don't go see my grandparents on her side, anymore."

Hinata was hesitant, but asked anyway. "Why not?"

"They disliked the fact that mum married a muggle. They disowned her, even...her second marriage, to a mud-blood, didn't help. But the main reason is because my mum died from a heart attack. She was really young for it to happen, but…it did." Meg sighed, and turned away.

"I'm sorry…I…never knew my mother, and my father never liked me too much."

"Why?"

"I…wasn't very talented. He always favored my little sister Hanabi, and lately, even my cousin, Neji."

"Talented? As a witch?"

"Yes…Something like that."

Sakura chose this time to barge into the conversation. "Hinata! She probably wouldn't understand Japanese life!" There was a look in her eyes that told Hinata to just shut up.

Thus, Meg got a little pissed off. But, she remained silent.

Hinata lowered her head, and her long, indigo hair fell into her face. "S-sorry."

She looked back up, and Meg suddenly noticed that Hinata looked a lot like her. True enough, her hair wasn't inky blue, but it was inky in its own way. Their eyes matched in size and shape, though not color…white and brown don't exactly compare. Hinata's skin was snow white, just like her own.

They might have been twins…miscolored twins.

"Hinata, can I fix your hair? With hair that length, you'll get a bed head. I know from experience." Meg smiled reassuringly.

Hinata flushed slightly. "Umm…Okay."

Hinata crossed the room and sat on Meg's bed. As she pulled a brush through Hinata's silky hair, she felt the first stirrings of friendship and happiness.

"So how old are you, Hinata? Seventeen?" Hinata nodded. "I'm eighteen. Can you believe I'm the only mistake Hogwarts has ever made? Somehow, I didn't get my acceptance letter until I was twelve...

The next morning, Gaara sat in the common room, reading over his schedule. Hinata and Meg walked down the stairs quietly. They didn't talk much, but he could see the bond between them. It seemed that Meg had changed a lot since the night before, and really opened up to Hinata.

"Hey."

"Hey, Gaara," Meg said with a small smile. She pulled out her own schedule. "Let's compare them, Hinata."

Wordlessly, Hinata handed hers over. Meg scanned the paper. "Oh, good. We have Potions, Defense against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures together!"

"Where's N-naruto, Gaara?" Hinata asked shyly.

"Sleeping in. He says since Kakashi is teaching Potions, he can be late."

"Th-that's probably true…" Hinata admitted.

Gaara nodded. "I'll be late, too."

Meg raised an eyebrow. "You mean Professor Hatake? Do you guys know him or something?"

"Actually, we know all of them," Hinata explained.

Gaara raised the patch of skin where his eyebrow should have been, but was for some reason truant. He couldn't help but notice how at ease Hinata was with Meg. He figured it was a good thing. Hinata was a great person, if a little self-conscious. Actually, it was because of that that she was so kind. She was always forgiving—she had been the first to forgive him, he now knew, for what he had been before. He hadn't known then, because she wasn't exactly and open book. Nor was she secretive, but she was so shy that she never stood up for anything—except Naruto.

Of course, this was to be expected. Naruto was her true love—even he knew this, though Naruto remained blissfully unaware, obsessed with Sakura.

But, back to Hinata and Meg—he knew that their friendship would be a good thing, for Hinata was glowing with excitement, talking with Meg about their classes.

It was also good for Meg, he mused. She was different from the girl they had met on the train, he thought again. She was opening, smiling with Hinata.

They needed each other.

Meg offered Hinata her arm. "Let's go get something to eat. You can come, too, Gaara."

"No, I'll just—"

"Oh, come on," Hinata begged, surprising them all, least of all herself. She shrugged. "You'll be all lonely up here. Come with us." She smiled.

"Yeah! Come on, Gaara!" Meg smiled at him prettily, begging him with her eyes.

He stared, a little surprised at the drastic change he was seeing. He sighed. "Okay."

As they walked in silence, just enjoying each other's company, Gaara noticed that Meg was zoning out. Who knew what she was thinking about…Not he, but he saw the look of misery that reappeared on her face. She looked down, but her steps remained unaltered. He didn't say anything, nor did Hinata, though she noticed as well.

When they arrived at the Great Hall, they walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Sakura was already there with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. She was taking the mission seriously, he supposed, since she wasn't mooning over Sasuke. She was talking to them casually, and after a few minutes, Naruto came down and joined the other five. He noticed that Hinata was unable to take her eyes off Naruto. Naturally. It didn't bug him, because he had never liked Hinata in any other way than as a sister.

But then, it did bug him, because with this brotherly feeling, he hated seeing Naruto hurt her everyday by not seeing her as anything other than a friend.

It irked him.

But there wasn't much he could do about it, other then spelling out for him, which he wouldn't do to Hinata.

"Hina, you gotta crush?" The teasing words came from Meg.

Hinata flushed and meeped. Like this: "Meep!"

Meg grinned, but didn't say anything else.

Gaara decided to push her back for Hinata. "Who do you like, Meg?"

She looked at him seriously, and said, "The boogeyman."

Hinata started to giggle, and he couldn't help but chuckle. She frowned. "Why are you laughing at me? I'm serious."

"…Right."

She let her mask slip and laughed along with them.

They had gone back to the common room after breakfast, although most students headed to class. They didn't bother to, yet, because they knew Kakashi would be late. Meg had gone to her room, and brought out her book.

Hinata asked a question Gaara had been wondering about himself. "Why are you the only one reading a book? Other than a textbook?"

Meg glanced up, and seemed to ponder this question. "They're sort of…taboo, I guess. Wizards find muggle books a waste of time. A book written for entertainment? Ridiculous. Why waste paper on that? Especially when one could be learning how to…I don't know, breed pigmy puffs."

They stared at her blankly. "Pigmy…puffs?"

"They're kind of like…hamsters, I think."

They feigned understanding. After awhile, Hinata stood. "Let's go. He might decide to be on time, for once."

Gaara and Meg nodded, and stood, following Hinata out the portrait hole.

"C'mon. I'll show you where it is." Meg led them down the hall, down many staircases, to the dungeons of the school. "Here we are."

They opened the door and walked in. Sure enough, Kakashi wasn't there. A lot of people were talking, including Sasuke and Draco Malfoy. Naruto and a couple other people were sleeping. Hermione was glancing through the potions book. Ginny was casually talking to Harry about the Hogsmeade trip, and how they should 'spend time together', hint, hint. They all sat down at a table in the back. At this point, Kakashi ninja poofed into the room.

His face was buried in a book. "Open your books...do the first exercise." Everyone stared at him blankly, but nevertheless, did as they were told. When it became apparent he wasn't going to do anything but read, everyone but Hermione and Sakura, who were working feverishly on the potion...because they cared, returned to what they had been doing. Meg laid her head down and went to sleep.

Welcome to high school...apparently wizards/witches have the same problems we do...sleeping in class, not caring about work...good times, good times...

I chose for her mother to die from a heart attack because that was the way my aunt died. She was also very young. I've never really gotten over it, just like Meg. Unlike Meg, I didn't totally withdraw myself. My aunt and I weren't close, but I loved her very much, and I feel like my biggest shortcoming in my life was not expressing that love well enough. Another part of that is that I don't feel like I knew her very well, so it made me really miserable for a long time. I doubt that any of my friends even knew that I was sad; I hid it well. I guess I'm kind of like Naruto, in that respect. I would cover up my sadness with a smile and I never cried.

So there you go—my deepest secret out on the internet. Weird. Well…not my deepest secret. Ha, definitely not telling that one. lol

Okay. If you think Hinata is OoC, I'm sorry. This is a story where everyone, sorry to use a cliché, 'finds themselves'. Please don't be upset. This is just how I see Meg and Hinata. If you think it's going to fast, sorry. This story isn't going to be 40 plus chapters or anything, I'm hoping it will be more like 20. So it really isn't. Going fast, I mean.

And I got bored. So I ended it here.

Kai: Hi. I'm always glad to accept constructive criticism; it helps me improve. –smiles- Okay. Let me try to explain: I didn't include the whole conversation between McGonagall and Kabuto. There was a bit of convincing, but I didn't think it was that interesting, so I cut it out. However, I may go back and change this, if it causes very much confusion. About Naruto's reaction to Sasuke, remember, Tsunade already sort of told everyone they would see someone they knew, and although he didn't acknowledge this very well, it was at the back of his mind. Also, please remember, Naruto has, like, ADHD, so when his name was called, he totally forgot about Sasuke. Everyone else was a lot calmer, first because they are calmer, and they did remember Tsunade's warning. Kakashi may have known that Sasuke was going to be there, because…he's Kakashi, and he knows all. I think we'll get to the other's reaction, such as Sakura's mental struggle, and Gaara's impassiveness.

I hope that clears it up a bit for you.