02| SILVERTONGUE AND THE STOLEN RING
The man wearing the tweed coat was the first to get over his initial shock. The one wearing the kilt and poncho, however, was still gaping at her.
"Something to see...?" she asked.
He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes almost immediately. The man wearing the tweed coat took the Portkey from her and threw it in a basket filled with all sorts of inanimate, useless bric-a-brac which were really Portkeys.
"Delmar?" said the man in the tweed coat. His brow was elevated in suspicion and he was shuffling on his feet. The kilted man had a look that clearly said that he didn't believe her.
"The one and only," she assured.
"And... you are here alone?" said the kilted man.
"Do you see anyone else around me?" she replied smartly, watching and waiting for their temper to rise. She noticed the kilted man give her a small glare but neither said anything. "Well then, I'm quite alone."
"Listen here, Miss, we're exhausted and we don't have time to play your little game. So please, if you have a guardian with you, ask them to show themself and we'll tell you the way. If not, I'm afraid we can be of little help." said the man in the tweed coat solemnly.
She sighed. "I'm not playing any sort of game. I'm Gemini Delmar and I have reserved a campsite for the Quidditch World Cup. Now if you could kindly point me in the direction of my campsite —"
Numerous loud thuds behind Gemini disrupted her. She locked her jaw impatiently. Several voices followed the commotion, and the attention of the two Ministry workers in front of her was captivated. Footsteps approached rapidly and an unacquainted voice sounded behind her a minute later.
"Morning, Basil,"
But the voices that sounded next made her eyes narrow.
"Gemini!"
"I swear —" she spun around and came face-to-face with the famous Weasley twins. Twig let out a silent squeak as his hands barely managed to clasp a flower that was about to fall down due to the sudden movement.
The twins weren't the only ones present. Along with them was their brother Ron Weasley, his friends Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, the Weasley girl Ginerva, Cedric Diggory, a man with red hair (who she assumed to be Arthur Weasley) and another man she didn't know. The one thing they all had in common at the moment was their astonishment.
Twig buried himself further into Gemini's hair as the intense attention turned to her.
"Gemini, we didn't expect you to be here!" said Fred enthusiastically.
"We thought you didn't like Quidditch!" said George, as if she were on friendly terms with both of them (she wasn't).
"Sorry to disappoint you both," she replied evenly, "but I'll be staying here — and not because I like Quidditch — but because I want to. Now, if I'm correct, you have something of mine that you are supposed to return."
The twins grinned and shook their heads. "Not so easily, you'll have to say 'please'," said Fred.
She sent them an icy cold look, and as her mind fished for decorous words, the red-haired man spoke up.
"Fred, George, where are your manners? Won't you introduce us?" he said deferentially.
Gemini turned to him with her shoulders squared, posture straightened, head held high and spoke in a tone coloured with characteristic charm, "Gemini Delmar." She held out a hand for him to shake and he took it politely.
Fred and George gaped at their interaction.
"Arthur Weasley," introduced the red-haired man.
Gemini gave him a reserved smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Weasley," she said and turned to the other man. He gave her a jovial smile and simultaneously, they extended their hands.
He, however, bent down and kissed the back of her hand in a cultured manner. "Amos Diggory," he said.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Diggory," said Gemini, a bit whelmed by the formal gesture.
"Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Miss Delmar. I must say, in all my life I have never met someone quite as beautiful as you," said Mr Diggory. And his words were true, for Gemini really was a person of celestial beauty.
"You must have good eyes for eminent charm then," she said, and he laughed loudly and merrily at her clever response.
"Charming you are, my dear!" he laughed. "And witty as they come."
If possible, everyone except the adults and Gemini was left even more stunned. Seeing her there wasn't the first thing they had expected, let alone her making a smooth conversation with Mr Weasley and Mr Diggory. Fred and George were caught between letting their jaws drop in surprise, or glaring at Gemini's biased tactics. Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron were stumped by her confidence and Harry was trying hard not to swoon each time she batted her eyelashes.
All the same, Ginny was glaring at Gemini, eyes flickering between Harry and her. Alas, Cedric looked highly abashed by the exchange between Gemini and his father.
Passing Mr Diggory a smile, Gemini turned to Mr Weasley. "Mr Weasley," she addressed him, "If I'm not being too bold, might I ask you for a favour?"
Fred and George settled at a glare.
Mr Weasley looked moderately surprised at being asked such a forward question but nodded nonetheless. "Of course,"
"Well, these two gentlemen —" she started, spinning on her heel, gesturing to the two Ministry workers. "won't tell me the location of my campsite."
Mr Weasley raised his eyebrows questioningly and glanced at the kilted wizard. "And have you a reservation, Miss Delmar?" he asked Gemini.
"Certainly," she said, "You can ask Mr Basil to check his list." 'Mr Basil' glared at her and reluctantly read the names on his list until he reached the name 'Delmar' and supplied his answer.
"Yes, it's there."
"Well then, by all means, tell her the location Basil," said Mr Weasley.
Mr Basil looked like he wanted to say something to Gemini, but thought better of it and did what was asked of him. "About a quarter of a mile's walk over there.... fourth field. Consult Mr Warren for payment details."
"I have paid in advance," she interjected.
At her words, Mr Weasley and Mr Diggory were very impressed. Hermione was equally stunned, if not more, by all of what she had heard from Gemini so far. Ron, on the other hand, had acquired a known glare he reserved for only some people.
"Then you may inform him and get clearance." said the man in the tweed coat, looking uncomfortable.
Gemini nodded, then looked at Mr Weasley gratefully and thanked him. He merely smiled and said it was nothing. She then turned her predator-like gaze to the twins.
"Ring," she demanded.
"No," they said together.
"Don't test me," she warned, "Give me the ring."
"What ring?" asked Mr Weasley.
"Nothing!" said the twins so obviously that even the Giant Squid could have seen through their lie.
"Fred and George thought it might be fun to take a valued possession of mine and keep it with them for the holidays," Gemini reported.
Mr Weasley's demeanour changed entirely and he shot his sons a glare, ordering them to give Gemini back her ring. "Your mother would be furious if she knew," he said.
Fred and George straight out denied him at first, but upon observing his aggravated expression, cast around in their pockets for the ring. George finally extracted it from his pocket and with a sulky face, handed it over.
Fred frowned equally, looking longingly at the ring, which was exotic. It had the most detailed swirls of gold around its band and had a scarlet gemstone embedded in the middle. The stone sparkled as the sun's golden rays hit its surface, and incredibly, the golden band seemed to glow as if the yellow of the sun itself had fused in it and was illuminating it.
"It must have cost a fortune," murmured Mr Weasley, admiring the ring from afar.
Gemini gave a false smile, which no one but Twig could tell wasn't real. "It was my mother's," she said and Fred and George paid great attention to this fact, knowing that it would be hard to get her to open up about herself again.
With one last smile, which even she couldn't decipher was true or not, Gemini started in direction of her camp.
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"Yay!" deadpanned Gemini, sardonic humour surfacing, looking more exhausted than proud at the tent she had managed to set up all by herself — and maybe with a little help from Twig.
Twig threw his arms up and mimicked her the best he could. He was sitting right on top of her head and was caressing the chamomiles he had so lovingly put in her hair.
"Well, time to get in and unpack," said Gemini, picking up Twig from her head and holding him in her line of sight. He had a chamomile held in his arms. She raised an eyebrow in faint revelation. "Twig, have you been planting flowers in my hair again?"
Twig made a series of enthusiastic clicking noises in quick succession.
"And there goes my reputation...." sighed Gemini dramatically. "Thank you, Twig."
Twig merely smiled, evidently not catching Gemini's sarcasm. She groaned and concealed her face with one hand. It was hard to be stern with him when he was so adorable. She suddenly felt something soft and tiny touch her cheek. She moved her hand away from her face and Twig's smile came into view again. With a roll of her eyes, she realised that he had kissed her as a form of comfort.
"Stop being sweet, it kills me," she told him, frowning. He made a click-clack and kissed her cheek again. She threw her head back and groaned again. "Lord, why do I waste my effort on you?"
Twig hopped down and sauntered his way into the tent. "Wow, I rub off on my creatures as well," Gemini spoke up with complacency. Twig turned back around and gave her a sassy stare. "Annnd... there comes the attitude! Yes, I've definitely rubbed off on you. God, I'm such an influence!"
Twig shook his head, just like Fizzy did when Gemini was being narcissistic, and her jaw dropped in betrayal. "Traitor," she muttered bitterly, folding her arms. She followed after him as he ignored her, and plopped down on the small convenient bed present. Gemini's sharp gaze inspected the tent. "I must say, Fizzy's done a good job on this. Never thought she could make tents in the first place."
And so she had. There was the small comfortable bed Gemini sat on and a few more furnishings along with a bathroom — of course — and a makeshift kitchen. But Gemini didn't mind the simplicity of it. In fact, she loved it.
She deeply inhaled the fresh smell of the grass outside and fell backwards with ease. "Twig?" she asked. Twig squeaked from somewhere inside her bag, which she had subconsciously placed on a table. She craned her neck up to look in the direction of the bag. Two thin, green, branch-like figures were sprouting from somewhere inside the bag. "What the —"
She pushed herself up from the bed in an instant and rushed over to the bag. She took the green projections between her fingers and pulled out her dear bowtruckle from the bag. "What on earth were you doing there?" she asked Twig, who looked a bit wilted. "Twig, you'll spoil your leaves." Gemini scolded him.
Twig, still hanging upside down from her fingers, waved his arms around wildly, making no sense whatsoever. "Stop — stop flailing —" said Gemini, trying not to drop his frail body.
After much struggle, she dropped him on one of the folds of the bag.
He folded his arms angrily.
"Oh, shut up." Gemini chided playfully.
Twig then developed a thinking face, and a moment later jumped on her palm. He started waving his flexible arms and squeaked and clicked in what he meant to be an act of singing. Gemini took a moment to realise that he wanted to listen to music.
"Oh," she said, fetching a record from the bag. "This?" she asked, waving the record in front of him. He chattered with joy and leapt onto the record, wrapping himself around it securely. Gemini let out a small laugh.
"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of a walk right now..." she suggested, and Twig became extremely conflicted. He loved going outside, but he also loved listening to music. The greenery was a delirious home to him, and the music was a serene intoxicant.
Gemini was entertained by his musing. "You can do both. We can first go for a walk, then we can come back and listen to music."
Twig nodded vigorously, his leaves flapping due to the motion. Gemini grinned and put him behind her ear once more. "Excellent, let's go."