Gaia was starting to regret her decision of coming to the house her cousin grew up in. Looking up at the fat man blocking the door, she held back a grimace and forced her face into a respectful expression.
"Good morning, Mr. Dursley. Is Harry in there?" Gaia asked with as even of a voice she could make.
"Who're you?" Mr. Dursley questioned, his words venomous.
"My name's Gaia Eruditus, I'm a friend of Harry's," Gaia answered. Mr. Dursley seemed to glare right through her as his eyes roamed her whole appearance.
"You're one of those freaks then?" Mr. Dursley concluded, disgust clear in his voice. Gaia's expression faltered as she leaned back slightly out of shock.
"Freaks? I hope you're not pertaining to us magical folk when you say freaks," Gaia said, her eyes narrowing as she felt her composure start to slip.
"And if I am?" Mr. Dursley sneered.
"Why I-" Gaia paused, taking a deep breath in attempt to calm her steadily growing irritation, "Look, I'm only here to take Harry."
A woman, tall and thin, came up behind Mr. Dursley. She looked as if she were about to leave the house.
"Who's at the door, dear?" the woman asked as she placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.
"A friend of the boy's, she says," Mr. Dursley answered. Mrs. Dursley inhaled sharply as her eyes snapped to Gaia. She stared down the younger girl for a moment before leaning into her husband's ear and whispering something before walking off.
"Alright, take him. We were leaving anyway, and we don't trust the little bastard to keep the house in one piece if we leave him alone," Mr. Dursley said. Gaia made no attempt to answer the muggle, worried that she might not be able to hold her temper like earlier and lash out.
A few minutes of Gaia and Mr. Dursley staring each other down passed before Harry appeared from a thin space between Mr. Dursley and the door frame.
"Gaia?" Harry said, surprised.
"Hey Harry." Gaia smiled at the boy. Her smile quickly dropped as Mr. Dursley shoved the boy out of the door, the boy stumbling to regain his balance.
"Have him back before sundown. You'll end up disturbing our peace if you come at a later time," Mr. Dursley spat out before slamming the door shut.
"Do they always treat you like that?" Gaia huffed out as she took Harry by the shoulders and gave him a once over.
"No. That's them being nicer than usual," Harry joked, wincing as Gaia squeezed his shoulders painfully.
"Sorry," Gaia said, noticing how Harry flinched and let go of his shoulders, "We should get going."
✧✧✧
The café they entered in Diagon Alley was a small business run by a wizarding family that the Eruditus' were close with. As expected, there was just enough people to fill the space, but not too much that it would feel too crowded.
"Why'd you come to Privet Drive?" Harry asked as he held the steaming cup of tea in his hands.
"Can't I come to visit you?" One of Gaia's eyebrows was raised as she sipped on the hot chocolate she ordered.
"Well yeah, but I'm getting the feel that you need something," Harry said, shrugging as he placed down his cup on the table. Gaia continued sipping on her drink nonchalantly before finally giving in to her cousin's steely gaze.
"Alright, fine. I wanted to ask you something. But I thought it'd be better to come get you personally instead of just sending an owl. You always talked as if you wanted to leave the place," Gaia said, ignoring the smug look on Harry's face. "It took me a while to convince my dad to let me come since he always insisted that the Dursleys were the part of his family that he'd rather keep away from ours."
"Well, your dad's right in keeping your family away from theirs. They're awful," Harry commented.
"You know you could refer to my dad as your uncle, right?" Gaia asked. Harry shrugged in response.
"It feels weird. I've never really met him."
"Anyways, I wanted to ask you about Sirius Black," Gaia said, making Harry choke on his tea.
"Uh," Harry's eyes shifted from side to side. "Why would you ask me about him?"
"He told me to."
"He talked to you!? When!?" Harry asked, his voice slightly rising above the noise of the rest of the café.
"When I got off the Hogwarts Express, he tried to apologize for obliviating me. He told me what apparently happened, but I don't believe him, so he told me to ask you."
"Well, what did he tell you, exactly?" Harry said.
"He told me the dementors saw me with him, so he had to obliviate me to drive them away from me," Gaia answered.
"That's what he told me as well. He crossed paths with you that night and you tried to run away from him to tell the teachers. He said he explained everything, how he wasn't guilty of what he was accused of. You started believing him but the dementors found the two of you. When hey saw you talking to him, they attacked you as well. Sirius obliviated you so there'd be nothing to tie you with him and ran off because he knew they'd follow him," Harry said, but Gaia remained doubtful of the tale.
"Why do you believe him?" Gaia asked.
"It's a long story," Harry answered, bringing his drink back up to his mouth.
"We've got plenty of time."
✧✧✧
"It's like the trouble that finds you keep getting crazier and crazier every year." Gaia shook her head exasperatedly.
After Harry retold what happened during the full moon, Gaia's hesitation to believe Sirius disappeared, leaving her quite guilty about how she reacted to Sirius the last time they saw each other.
"Believe me, I know. But I don't think anything can quite beat meeting Vold-" Gaia shushed him frantically before he could finish the name, covering his mouth with both her hands.
"You know we don't normally say his name. You'll make the people in here uncomfortable," Gaia whispered harshly, looking around to see if anyone had heard what he was about to say.
Harry said a muffled apology before Gaia removed her hands. She sighed before leaning back against her chair, shaking her head with a slight smile.
"You'd think after 3 years in the wizarding world, you'd get used to things like that," Gaia said.
"S'not that scary when you've beaten the person with the name," Harry joked, making Gaia laugh loudly.
"Alright, I'll give you that." Gaia grinned, finishing the last of her drink. She glanced at Harry's and noticed that he already finished his. "Is there somewhere you'd want to go? It's still pretty early."
"We could go to Quality Quidditch Supplies?" Harry asked, a sheepish grin on his face.
"Of course you'd say that. C'mon," Gaia said, standing up and fixing her clothes slightly. Harry followed suit and they left the café after Gaia had bid goodbye to the owners. As they walked through the streets of Diagon Alley, a thought passed her mind.
"Y'know what? Sirius also mentioned something about you saying that I was... temperamental," Gaia comment offhandedly. Harry faltered in his steps and sucked in a breath as he glanced warily at his cousin.
"Uh, I didn't mean it?"
✧✧✧
"Did you..." Sirius trailed off, "Did you have any good family with you?"
Harry remained silent for a moment.
"Not for a long time, no," Harry finally answered.
"Oh, Ha-"
"But I do now," Harry continued, "Gaia."
"Ah, Eruditus? William's daughter, right?" Sirius asked.
"You know her?" Harry asked, surprised.
"I knew her when she was still young," Sirius said, "And, well... I encountered her in the castle."
"In the cast- The dementor attack! So, it wasn't a dementor attack then?" Harry said.
"No, there were dementors. But her memory was my fault. I had to obliviate her so if they brought her into questioning, she wouldn't be dragged into the mess," Sirius explained.
"Oh," Harry said, "Does she know?"
"Not yet, but I plan on apologizing when I can."
"Careful. She's quite temperamental." Harry grinned.
Sirius barked out a laugh.
"I've got enough experience with you mother about dealing with temperamental women."
"That's ironic."
"Why's that?"
"Well, when I think of a mother, all I see is Gaia."
...
"Sounds like she's a very important person to you, Harry."
"She's the first real, blood-related family I had in a while. She's the most important person in my life right now."
"Best to remember to keep those kinds of people close, then. Life can be short."