03| ENCOUNTERS THROUGH DELINQUENTS
Gemini strolled between camps and people, all of whom glanced her way at least once. Most stared. But Gemini could care less; in fact, she liked the attention to some extent.
She was a powerful presence amongst Muggles and wizards alike, and it was much more than her beauty that dominated over them.
She was a mystery to them, which made it hard for people to snatch their eyes away from her. This did not help the smirk that was relentlessly tugging at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were filled with conceit, and her movements were naturally graceful. While she trailed aimlessly through the crowds, Twig chose to hop between the grass blades and wander beside her.
He was more than content in his natural habitat — he was ecstatic.
Gemini looked down to make sure he was around and sniggered at the figure of two leaves bobbing up and down, weaving between and circling around her feet. This was mainly the reason she had brought him with her, even if she carried him along almost all the time. She knew he had been yearning to be in a familiar environment for a long time. He needed fresh air, and so did she.
Going to the Quidditch World Cup hadn't been a random decision. Gemini longed to escape the confinement of her house and Twig was the only one who could empathize with her.
Fizzy would often go out for getting essentials, and Galleon was his own master, quite like herself. He couldn't bear to stay in one place, he had to always run around and look for treasure. Several times, he had tagged along with Gemini when she went out to tour places using the Knight Bus. He was a perfect nuisance, always running into stores and trying to steal shining, shimmering things.
It was precisely why she hadn't allowed him to come this time. Merlin knew how much trouble she would get into if he was seen; especially with all his spangles and jewels.
Even so, she adored Galleon and missed him dearly already. It really was a shame to lock him up in a cage. He could be such good entertainment. An excellent example of this was the mock concerts she, Twig and Galleon would have. They would go absolutely crazy while singing along to the records and Fizzy would go hide somewhere to escape the madness.
Galleon was the most active participant in those events. Merlin knew, he had a pair of sunglasses he had grabbed off some Muggle and wore with his glitters and a small golden crown Gemini had gotten crafted especially for him. Twig was content with the flowers Fizzy would exclusively pluck for him, and Gemini wore the most ridiculous outfits she had made out of some of her dresses to fit in with her fellow singers.
A ludicrous image of Glittery Galleon danced into her thoughts and she shook her head as if to shake the thought out of her head. She was certain that people would think she was a nutter if she started laughing out of the blue.
But they all seemed equally insane. This was evident in the way they were using magic so clumsily, not caring a hang whether the Muggles would witness them. Another dead giveaway was the tents which had been decorated in the colours of Bulgaria and Ireland — well, Bulgaria had more of Victor Krum than their flag, really — but Gemini could hardly differentiate.
Yet, while the colours suggested that a war was to take place, the salesmen who were selling merchandise and souvenirs were a stark contrast. Their products ranged from rosettes, hats and Omnioculars to little figurines of the Quidditch players themselves.
All this spectacular array of things had Gemini wondering what team she was going to support.
Now, Gemini knew next to nothing about Quidditch and this made it even harder for her to choose from the two teams. She gave some reflection to the teams and alas, came up with nothing. As a last resort, she ended up asking Twig, who had sneakily crawled up to her shoulder. He responded by pointing to his arm, and Gemini interpreted it as green for Ireland. Obviously, he chose green. But Gemini singlehandedly wasn't capable of making such an unfamiliar choice, so she went with Twig's.
They also ended up buying a random Irish player's figurine from a salesman as Twig was so taken with all the merchandise. For him, it was like having a friend of his size and colour, owing to the green clothes the player was sporting.
So Twig, carrying his figurine, hopped alongside Gemini again, and she could do little but roll her eyes at him.
They walked in silence, quite unlike the people around them, who were buzzing with excitement. But this serenity of theirs remained for only a while, for it was broken by Twig's scream. The next thing Gemini comprehended was something rushing through the grass beside her and going at an enormous speed to a random place. It took her half a second to realise what had happened, and when she did, she started sprinting after the creature, following the trail it had created.
Twig flung himself onto her leg at the right time and got carried along.
People gave her odd looks as she pushed through them, but she had no time to manage herself. It was a good thing that she exercised regularly, or she was sure that she wouldn't have been able to run to the edge of the woods after the creature.
As the movement in the grass stopped, Gemini breathed a sigh of relief, hoping it would stop there. But, of course, it didn't. It went straight into one of the two tents situated at the edge of the forest. Gemini knew now that she could do little but wait. And oh, she didn't have to wait too long! Less than a minute later, a tremendous yell penetrated through the walls of the tent, and she winced unconsciously.
Then scurried out the creature, being followed closely by a disarrayed redhead boy older than herself — it was none other than Percy Weasley. The creature rolled out like a ball, and Gemini crouched and caught it expertly in her arms, being knocked back a bit due to the force.
It was a rodent-like creature with a long snout similar to that of a platypus and a coat of black, fluffy fur. In simpler words — it was a Niffler.
The outrageous Percy Weasley stopped short at the sight of a struggling Gemini with an absurd creature in her arms. Percy's brothers, Fred and George Weasley arrived promptly at the scene, always ready to find a reason to tease their brother. They were followed by a few more redheads — the Weasley siblings — and they all looked, astounded, at Gemini.
"Hello," said Gemini, "...again...."
The Niffler gave a jerk to escape and she reprimanded him sharply, "Galleon!"
"Gem!" Fred and George replied amiably and came over to her. They crouched beside her and looked intently at Galleon the Glittery Niffler.
"Wow, what is that?" blurted Fred.
"I don't care what that is, but it stole my glasses!" interjected Percy with indignation. Fred and George started laughing at this. "Stop it! This isn't amusing!"
"Well... it sort of is...." Gemini whispered under her breath, but the twins caught it and laughed harder. It was the highlight of their day. Gemini then turned her heavy gaze to Galleon. "Galleon, where are the glasses?"
Galleon shook his head.
"I will not repeat myself," she said sternly. He shook his head again and gave a futile attempt to escape, but her arms tightened around him. With some effort, she pushed herself up from the ground and hung Galleon upside down by his feet. He gave a loud, desperate cry as she shook him and all sorts of shiny things fell out of his curious pocket.
The Weasleys looked wide-eyed at the preposterous scene. Gemini herself was surprised, but her anger overpowered it. "What have you been up to?" she hissed.
Lying on the ground were some coins, necklaces and glitters — fake and real. At some point, Twig's new Quidditch figurine also fell down. Then came a pair of glasses, and before they could fall to the ground and break, she bent and caught the rim between two fingers, all the while holding onto Galleon. She held up the glasses in front of the Niffler and gave him a harsh glare. Keeping the glasses out of his reach, she walked over to Percy and carefully handed them to him.
Several of the Weasleys looked quite stunned by her — probably because they were meeting her for the first time.
"Who are you?" asked the one with a fang earring. "And what is that Niffler doing with you?"
Gemini's entire demeanour seemed to brighten up at this. "You know about Nifflers?"
"Well, yes, I work as a curse breaker for Gringotts," he replied easily, walking over and scratching Galleon under his chin.
Gemini grinned. "He's called Galleon. And I'm Gemini Delmar."
"It's nice to meet you Gemini, and your Niffler," he grinned back. "And did I mention how beautiful you are?"
"Ah, there's no need to mention that. Everyone knows." Gemini waved her hand casually.
He laughed and introduced himself, "Bill, Bill Weasley."
"Hey, how does he get a nice, happy greeting and all we both ever get is a frown?" complained George. Fred looked equally displeased as his brother.
"I would have thought the answer would be obvious," said Gemini, turning to face them, and absentmindedly petting Galleon, making him swoon at the sensation.
"Oh, yeah?" prompted Fred.
"What?" impelled George.
"He's charming, you're not," she answered with a shrug.
They all immediately broke into laughter as the redhead with scars shouted, "Someone got them!" Fred and George's faces adorned a sullen look. The scarred redhead then turned to Gemini with a wide, wolfish grin. "Charlie Weasley. I work with dragons in Romania."
Gemini looked like he had lit up her whole world. "You work with dragons?" she asked, trying to hide her awe.
"Yup," he confirmed.
"Wow," she whispered. "What kind do you have in Romania?"
Charlie seemed more than ready to speak about the dragons. "Well, it is a sanctuary, so we have several. There's the Romanian Longhorn which is native, Swedish Short-Snout, the Norwegian Ridgeback —"
Gemini interrupted him before he could go any further. "The Ukrainian Ironbelly?" she proposed.
"Yes!" he said eagerly.
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant," said Gemini, amazed, and the twins frowned at their interaction. Bill looked quite amused at their sudden enthusiasm. "And do you have the Chinese Fireball?" Gemini continued.
"We do! And we have Hungarian Horntails —"
"No way! And the Common Welsh Green?"
"Yes! Yes!"
"Marvellous," said Gemini. She had a sort of dreamy look on her face and so did Charlie.
"You two seem to have bonded quite expeditiously," commented Bill.
"Exactly, we've been trying for three years and she still doesn't like us. It's denial, I tell you. We're way cooler than any of you." said Fred.
"Oh, that last I could argue with," Charlie joined in. Hearing all this commotion, Mr Weasley emerged from the tent. He cast questioning looks at all his children, and Charlie decided to explain. "Dad, meet Gemini —"
"Miss Delmar?" he asked.
"Yeah, you know her?" asked Bill.
"Why, we just met this morning. Hello again, Miss Delmar," said Mr Weasley with a polite smile. "I must ask, what are you doing here? You should be exploring the glorious souvenirs. Ron and his friends are out too. And — what is that you have there?" He pointed at Galleon.
"That's a Niffler, Dad," answered Bill. "The Gringotts Goblins use them to find underground treasures. We've been assigned a few sometimes when they need to hunt for treasure in cursed sites."
"They are quite harmless. Except when they go looking for jewels. That is exactly why I locked him up and left him behind... but I don't know how he got out and what he is doing here." Gemini elaborated. Galleon snuggled up to her and purred.
Mr Weasley seemed unconvinced. "I don't think it could wreak enough havoc for you to lock him up."
Gemini sighed. "Look for yourself, Mr Weasley," she said and stepped aside to reveal a small mountain of fortune and glitters. His eyes widened at the collection of things that were sparkling brightly under the sun's light.
"This — this Niffler found all of that?" he expressed his wonder.
"Apparently," said Bill. "How did he get out?"
Gemini thought about it. She had asked Fizzy to care for him, but Fizzy knew the consequences of letting him free. She was the one who had to clean the mess every time. Gemini herself was sure that she had put the lock securely, and he had been in the cage till before breakfast. After that, she hadn't checked on him. Maybe he had gotten out then?
She suddenly felt Twig's soft presence in her hair and knew that she had found the culprit. She reached her hand up and pulled him from there, holding him in front of her.
"And what is that?" asked Percy.
"That, Weatherby —" started George. Percy went very red at this, especially in the presence of an outsider. Gemini bit her lip to control her laughter.
"— is a Bowtruckle." finished Fred with an air of superiority. Both looked quite proud that they knew at least one of Gemini's creatures.
"Glad you remember," said Gemini, and then focused all her attention on Twig. Galleon tried to reach up and take him, but Gemini forced him to stay still. "Twig," she gave him an accusing glare, "Did you let Galleon out?"
Twig curled up in fear and gave a small nod.
Gemini closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. She should have known. Galleon and Twig were very close, the best of friends. They did basically everything together and didn't like being separated. Often, Galleon could be seen running around with Twig on his back or in his pocket while Twig would help Galleon find hidden treasures.
Opening her eyes after much deliberation, Gemini knew what she had to do. Clearly, Galleon couldn't go back, so she came to the conclusion that she was going to keep him for the rest of the trip.
She then turned to the Weasleys. "I am... extremely sorry for the inconvenience Galleon has caused you," she said, mainly to Percy. He pursed his lips and nodded in response. "These two are always getting up to mischief...."
"And that is exactly why we love them!" the twins exclaimed. "Can we keep them?"
"No," said Gemini, without hesitation.
"Come on! We'll pay you," bargained Fred.
"With what?" asked a female voice, and following the sound, Gemini's eyes landed on little Weasley. "You gave all your money to Ludo Bagman."
"Ah, she's right," Bill concurred with Ginny. Observing Gemini's quizzical look, he elucidated. "Bagman had come across our tent and wanted to make a bet with someone. So Fred and George bet all their savings —"
"And a fake wand," the twins cut in.
"And a fake wand," continued Bill, "that Ireland would win, but Krum would get the snitch." Gemini, utterly flustered, nodded nevertheless.
"Which means no Niffler for us," said George sadly.
"You weren't going to get him anyway," said Gemini, raising her eyebrows at the twins, who were dramatically pressing their hands to their chests, as if her words had struck them deeply. "Oh, stop it."
She was just beginning to say her goodbyes when Twig decided to move from her fingers and flung himself up to the top of her head, settling himself comfortably in her hair as if it were a nest made of silk. In the process, he dropped a chamomile and it landed, precariously, on the tip of Gemini's nose. Fred and George awed at her. She scrunched her nose, trying to get rid of the flower. However, Galleon reached up and took it before it could fall down and handed it back to Twig, who fixed it in her hair again.
"So he's the one who put flowers in your hair." Fred grinned cheekily.
Gemini shot him an icy look.
"Don't worry, we won't tell," snickered George.
She jumped as Galleon reached down and pulled her watch from her pocket. He held it in front of him and studied the time for once, instead of its shine (he had been strictly forbidden to steal her watch). With great importance and urgency, he shoved the clock in front of Gemini, pointing hastily at the time.
"Oh!" said Gemini, "It's almost time for the event to start. I think I should be leaving now."
"But you can stay, come with us." pleaded George.
"I really can't, I need to do something about these two," she replied, gesturing to Twig and Galleon. "Especially since Galleon would be staying now."
Galleon was suddenly filled with a sense of euphoria, and he startled her by giving her a fierce hug. His short arms wrapped around her neck and he buried his snout in her hair affectionately.
There was a collective "Awh" from everyone and Gemini blinked her eyes rapidly, feeling overwhelmed.
"Yes, I think that's enough," she said uncomfortably, pushing Galleon away. "Just — go clean up that mess. Quick."
She let Galleon go, and he scampered to his pile of jewels, collecting it all and stuffing it in his pocket in less than a minute.
"How are you going to manage him?" questioned Bill. "You said he was going to stay with you. If people see him, you could get in great trouble."
"Trust me, I have. I've had Muggle police chase after me, all because of him stealing screws from here and there." Gemini huffed. Everyone broke into laughter for the umpteenth time that day. "I'll keep him in my bag. Which means a load to carry around all the time, but it's alright."
"And you have to carry him back to your own tent right now as well, don't you?" he asked. "He'll be seen."
"That... I will have to think about." said Gemini.
"We can help you!" exclaimed Fred and George simultaneously. "We've been working on this invisibility cloak which could hide you temporarily —"
"George! Fred!" Mr Weasley rebuked. "I thought you had thrown away all your prank stuff! Your mother, what would she say if she found out —"
"Mum doesn't need to know!" they begged. "Come on, Dad!"
"No, I will not have any of this nonsense," Mr Weasley said in a conspicuous tone of reproval. "Come inside, both of you, and turn in all these ridiculous things you have been making." With that, he strode into the tent, the twins following him furiously.
Ginny broke the silence that lingered after. "They're going to get another earful."
"Another?" said Gemini incredulously.
"They got one from Mum this morning for giving some dangerous sweets to Harry's cousin." she answered somewhat nicely, enunciating the word 'dangerous'. "Honestly, I think their inventions are brilliant."
Gemini's eyebrows arched high up at that. "I suppose they are. I've seen quite a few. I swear, if they hadn't sent me a toilet seat for Christmas in my second year, I would have actually been nice to them."
"They what —?" sputtered Ginny, and then burst out laughing with her elder brothers. Percy tutted and went inside the tent with a look of disgust.
"They never told you?" asked Gemini. "Funny, I thought Pansy Parkinson had been quite efficient in spreading the word in the castle. She kept running around the school yelling 'Gemini got a toilet seat'."
"So that's why you don't like them," Charlie concluded.
"Well, I have some dignity!" argued Gemini. Bill and Charlie chuckled softly. Galleon tugged at Gemini's arm as a couple of voices sounded near them. "What now?" she said, looking exhausted, and spun around to find out who had joined them.
The famous trio of Hogwarts, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were walking towards them, talking happily and gushing about the souvenirs they had bought. They stopped short at the sight of Gemini.
Ron's eyes narrowed in an instant and he spoke harshly to her, "What are you doing here?"
Gemini didn't waste any time in replying. "Ah, careful Weasley, your hostility level is flaring. Is that smoke coming out of your ears?" she smirked.
Ron marched towards her, fuming. "Answer my question. What are you doing here?"
"Well, I'm certainly not here to see you. So don't flatter yourself." she rolled her eyes.
He gave her a dirty look, scowling deeply. "Are you here to insult us? Probably to convey Malfoy's message, or remind Hermione of her blood status —" he barked audaciously, and received a chorus of gasps at his words.
Gemini's smirk slowly melted and morphed into a glower.
"How dare you?" she hissed through her teeth, walking menacingly closer to him.
But he didn't back down and took equally threatening steps towards her.
"You heard me. Do you really think I would believe it if you told me you weren't here to cause any harm? I know you, and all your friends. You are all the same, with your pureblood mania and prejudiced views." he jabbed an accusing finger at her.
"Ron!" Hermione and Harry exclaimed in a disbelieving tone.
Ron, however, disregarded them completely.
"You don't know me," said Gemini, so coldly that it felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees, "so don't assume things about me." With one last scalding look at him, she beckoned Galleon, "Straight to the tent."
The Niffler obeyed without a sound, knowing not to mess with her when she was vexed. Moving past Ron, Gemini marched back to her tent. Harry and Hermione called fruitlessly after her. Ron's own siblings were too stunned to do anything but watch as he stormed into their tent.