"You know, I've seen the three of you come here every day for three days, and your moods get increasingly worse by day," Gaia commented one day when she walked into the Owlery with a letter in hand, spotting a familiar pair of twins hunched over one of the window sills, with a pale Hufflepuff sitting on it beside them.
"That's one way to describe it," Aisha snorted, barely glancing up at Gaia as she pointed to something on the parchment that George was writing on.
"Who's that for?" Gaia questioned, trying to look over Fred's shoulder at the parchment.
"No need to concern yourself with that, love," Fred replied, nudging her slightly before she could get a glimpse of the writing.
"And why's that?" Gaia raised an eyebrow, opting to ignore the fluttering feeling in her stomach as she looked up to find Nieve.
"Wouldn't want you t'have to worry 'bout it," George answered.
Gaia glanced at them suspiciously as Nieve landed on her forearm with a greeting 'hoot', "If you say so."
Gaia busied herself with attaching her letter for her parents to the owl, letting him fly off afterwards. She turned back to the group of three and saw them sending of their own letter, their faces showing a mix of satisfaction and frustration.
"Well! I'm off to Transfiguration!" Aisha announced, hopping down from the ledge and dusting off her skirt lightly, "You coming with, George?"
"Unfortunately," George sighed playfully before shooting a grin to his brother, "We'll see you two later!"
"Bye!"
Gaia followed the pair with her eyes, walking slowly to the window where Fred was left.
"Don't you have class?" Fred asked.
"Not during this period. You?" Gaia replied, turning to face him.
"Oh, because my three OWLs take up so much of my schedule." Fred rolled his eyes playfully.
Gaia laughed, hitting his arm playfully before hoisting herself up to Aisha's previous spot. She looked out to the grounds, the quietness leaving her mind calm.
"Gaia?"
"Hm?" Gaia turned to face him.
She tilted her head slightly, the look in his eyes one that she wasn't familiar with. They seemed intense, yet they held a certain gentleness that made her heartbeat quicker.
"I..." Fred trailed off before shaking his head, the look in his eyes suddenly replaced with its familiar shine, "Nothing, nothing."
"Tell me!" Gaia grumbled, crossing her arms and huffing, "You know I hate it when you don't finish what you're about to tell me!"
"Then perhaps that was my goal all along?" Fred grinned, his laugh echoing in the empty tower.
How annoying, Gaia thought fondly.
✧✧✧
"You really going to be trying for it, Ryker?"
"Yeah! I'm already 17 anyways." Ryker grinned at Aisha, who looked at him worriedly.
"Won't it be dangerous?" Aisha said, biting her lip slightly.
"That's what makes it fun, Badger!"
"I would've tried too if I were 17," Malia huffed.
"But you're not~" Ryker teased.
"Don't get too cocky yet, Lion," Gaia laughed, "Kaleb and Desiree plan on entering too. I think Yvonne Launge as well. Michael wouldn't shut up about it in the common room."
"I think McGonagall telling him how he did a great job earlier is getting to his head," Malia joked.
"Hey! I'll have you know, I actually DID do a splendid job earlier in class!"
"That's because everyone else was to excited about the other schools arriving today," Malia retorted.
It had been announced that the 2 schools would be arriving that day, and Gaia was definitely excited about their arrival. So, like many other students, she found it hard to focus on the lessons that day. The four of them had agreed to meet at the doors of the Great Hall that evening to stand together when the schools arrived.
"Maybe we should've come here earlier," Gaia commented.
"Tell me about it," Malia groaned, "I think Ryker forgot that he's the only one tall enough to look over a crowd."
"How 'bout some of that veela charm to get us up?" Aisha winked, making Gaia glare half-heartedly. However, it seemed she didn't even have to try.
"I can help you up!" a 7th year Gryffindor grinned from behind Gaia.
"Oh, no th-"
"I'll do it!" another Gryffindor offered, shoving his friend slightly.
"Uh-"
Gaia yelped as she was raised up into the air and set on a pair of shoulders.
"Hey!" she said, immediately fumbling to keep her skirt down.
"Don't worry, lads! We've got her!" Fred's familiar voice sounded, making her look down to the side slightly to see that he had been the one to raise her up in the air, resting her on his and George's shoulder.
"You don't just lift up a girl like that!" Gaia scolded, flicking both boys on the head.
"Would you like us to drop you back down?" George asked teasingly.
"I'd appreciate a more gentle way down, thanks."
"Just stay there. You can't see past the crowd, right?" Fred asked.
"Yes, but everyone can see me like this," Gaia hissed, "You two are already ridiculously tall, and setting my on your shoulders makes me stand out too much."
"Right. Like the veela blood's not enough to have you stand out," George snorted, flinching when Gaia's hand once again met the back of his head.
"Ow, woman! Fine, fine!" he said, letting her off of his and his brother's shoulders.
"We could always just throw you up into the air every now and then so you can see." Fred grinned.
"Don't you dare-" Gaia yelped once more, gripping tightly onto Fred's shoulders as he started lifting her by the waist, "Fred! I swear-"
"Relax! I'm not actually going to throw you," Fred snorted, "Step on my feet. It'll help a little, and I'll support you if you tiptoe."
Gaia grumbled slightly to herself, but did so anyway, her hand resting on his on her waist. She bit her lip, feeling a blush come up on her face as she became more aware of their position. She glanced sideways and shot a look at Malia who was grinning at her widely.
"So, how d'you reckon they'll actually get here?" Aisha asked with her hand on Ryker's shoulder as she stood on her tiptoes, Malia doing the same with George (Yes, Gaia was the shortest out of the three girls).
"Maybe they'll come by broom?" Ryker suggested.
"No, it'll be too far. Perhaps the train?" Gaia answered.
"Then it'll be too boring of an entrance," Malia said.
"A portal then?" Aisha joked, laughing slightly before turning to see the contemplative looks on the others' faces, "What? Don't tell me that's actually possible?"
"Might be," Fred answered with a shrug.
"Aha!" Headmaster Dumbledore called out from the row of teachers, "Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"
"Where?" Aisha gasped, looking all around.
"There!" a sixth year pointed out.
Every student looked over to the direction he was pointing at, a large figure coming up over the forest.
Gaia squinted her eyes, trying to make out what it was in the sky. From what she could see, it was a blur of powder-blue and some sort of gold mixed with white. As it got closer, Gaia only felt wonder when she saw that the large figure was a carriage the size of a house, being pulled by 12 horses with a gold coat and white manes.
"That's got to be Beauxbatons," Malia breathed out in awe.
Some of the students at the front of the crowd drew back as the carriage sped down, landing with a concerning crash. Gaia's eyes widened as she looked up at the large horses, their eyes a brilliant, blazing red. The carriage door opened, a boy in pale blue robes jumping down and unfolding a set of golden steps. He stood back up respectfully as a high-heeled black shoe appeared from inside the carriage.
"Oh Merlin," Gaia breathed out as a large woman, one she could only compare to Hagrid's height, stepped out.
The woman was clad in all-black satin, her hair pulled back into a low bun. Numerous rings decorated her fingers that matched the gems on her neck. Gaia could feel that the mere presence of the woman commanded respect from her students. Despite her somewhat (completely) intimidating aura, the woman wore a gracious and gentle smile on her face as she stepped up to Dumbledore.
"Must be the headmistress," Ryker said.
Headmaster Dumbledore started clapping, the rest of the students joining in after the initial shock of the grand entrance wore off.
"My dear Madame Maxime, welcome to Hogwarts," the headmaster greeted as he kissed the back of her hand.
"Dumbly-dorr," Madame Maxime spoke in a deep, silky voice thick with a French accent, "I hope I find you well?"
"In excellent form, thank you," Dumbledore responded.
"Ah," she waved her hand behind her, "My pupils."
Gaia watched as groups of boys and girls, most likely all old enough to participate in the tournament, stepped out of the carriage. They were dressed in silk robes, the same color as the carriage, standing straight despite most of them shivering seeing as none of them had any sort of clothing to protect them from the chill of October. From what Gaia could see, they were all looking up at Hogwarts apprehensively.
"To think, you would've arrived with them-"
"-if you'd chosen Beauxbatons," Fred and George commented.
"Looks like either way, I would've met you two." Gaia grinned.
She noticed that their eyes were slightly clouded as they looked from the group of Beauxbatons students, to her, then back to them. She could tell that at least 1 or 2 of the girls among the groups were at least ½ veela, a good amount of the rest still having veela blood – she reckoned even some of the boys in the group had veela blood.
After a few words with the Hogwarts headmaster, Madame Maxime motioned for her students to follow her into the castle, which they did so, while the crowd of Hogwarts students split apart to let them pass.
"Wow," Aisha breathed out as her eyes followed the students, her eyes glazed over.
Looking around, Gaia noted that she was the only one in their group of friends that hadn't been charmed by the students (probably because of her own veela blood). She looked over her shoulder, frowning as she observed Fred staring as well – though his eyes seemed less clouded than Malia's and the others'. She huffed, an unpleasant feeling building up in her chest as she purposely put a bit more wait on his feet. That seemed to snap him out as she heard a sound of confusion from Fred.
"Blimey, those are strong veela charms." Fred chuckled, nudging his brother who also snapped out of his daze.
"Yeah..." Gaia muttered.
"Reckon we got used to lookin' at you. Wasn't completely under the charm," George commented.
"Looking at me?" Gaia asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Well, yeah," George shrugged, "Y'think we didn't feel it last year?"
"We just weren't stupid enough to keep staring, we know you don't like it," Fred added.
George muttered something under his breath that was too quiet for Gaia to hear, but Fred shoved him quite roughly after that.
Malia and the others snapped out of their daze as well, turning to look back up at the sky.
"You'd think after 6 years of knowing you, a part-veela, I wouldn't be so susceptible to it," Malia grumbled, seeming annoyed.
"You think Durmstrang's gonna arrive like that as well?" Ryker asked.
"Possibly," Gaia said.
They waited for a few minutes, the only sound being Beauxbatons' huge horses stamping and whinnying.
"Uh, I don't think they're coming by horses," George said, his eyes having a tinge of excitement as he pointed down at the lake.
Gaia's eyes widened as a whirlpool started forming in the middle of the long, a long, black pole rising slowly from the center, followed by what seemed to be lines and cloths.
"By Godric- it's a ship!" Ryker exclaimed.
He was right. Slowly, a ship rose out of the water, gleaming under the night sky. It looked eerie, but it was definitely a magnificent sight to behold. Eventually, the whole ship rose up from underneath the water, bobbing violently for a while before it started drifting closer to land.
Then, there was a sound of what was probably an anchor dropping while a plank thudded on the land near the ship. Figures started walking off the ship, all of them being tall and bulky.
Huh, all boys, Gaia noted as they got closer. She realized that the bulkiness of the figures wasn't because of the people themselves, but because of the thick cloaks they wore.
"Dumbledore! My dear fellow, how are you!" the man in front of all the figures greeted as he walked up to the said headmaster.
"Blooming! Thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.
✧✧✧
"Look, Beauxbatons is coming over to our table," Jewel commented from beside Gaia.
"Can't believe they won't let me sit with Gryffindor," Gaia huffed, not bothering to turn around to check whether or not the group of foreign students actually were heading their way.
"What? Paranoid that Fred's gonna stare at the veelas and you won't be there to snap him out of it?" Kaleb teased.
"I'm a veela too, Kaleb." Gaia rolled her eyes.
"Not as veela as them," Michael commented.
"She didn't deny it, though," Jewel teased in a sing-song voice.
Just as Gaia was about to snap back, her vision went dark as a pair of hands covered her eyes. She noted that her group of friends had gone silent as well as she raised her hands up to her eyes. She felt a pair of gloved hands on top of her eyes.
"Uh, hello?" Gaia asked cautiously.
It's definitely someone from Beauxbatons, Gaia thought. The gloves felt like silk, like the blue uniform of the students.
"Hello," a smooth voice replied – male, from what Gaia could tell.
Her eyebrows furrowed from underneath the pair of hands.
"Uhm, can I help you?" Gaia asked.
"Louis! C'est impoli de ta part!" a female voice cried out in French, though Gaia had no idea what she said.
"Détendez-vous, Fleur. Je la connais, je le jure," the boy – Louis? Gaia thought – replied.
"Could you, uh, let go please?" Gaia asked.
"You suck at guessing," Louis said once again, this time in Spanish, as he removed his hands from her eyes.
"Do I know y-" Gaia spun around and gasped when she came face to face with him.
'Louis' was tall, but not as tall as the twins, and his hair was a light brown that was slightly darker than Gaia's. His eyes were a bright blue, a grin on his face as he stared down at Gaia.
She squealed, jumping out of her seat and onto him. Louis caught her by the waist, in a hug, as Gaia wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Louis! I didn't know you were coming! Why didn't you tell me?" Gaia exclaimed, her words fast as her hair steadily turned yellow.
Louis let out a laugh and set her down, "We wanted it to be a surprise."
"We?" Gaia raised an eyebrow as she pulled back, "Did mom know?"
"It was her idea not to tell you." Louis grinned.
"Gaia?"
Gaia turned around and saw the bewildered look on Jewel, Kaleb, and Michael's faces as they stared at the pair.
"Oh! Guys, this is Louis Durand. Louis, these are my friends – Jewel, Kaleb, and Michael," Gaia introduced, motioning to each person as she introduced them.
"Hi! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Louis greeted, with a grin as they sat down side by side, "Sorry. I'm not the best at speaking English, but I can understand it!" Louis said with a sheepish smile, switching between English and Spanish.
"Oh, that's fine! We've gotten used to Gaia switching to Spanish every now and then." Kaleb said.
"Je peux parler français, si tu veux." Jewel smiled, speaking in fluent French.
As Jewel entered a conversation with Louis, Kaleb turned to Gaia.
"You know the way you acted when you saw him is suspicious, right?" Kaleb whispered.
"Did you get boyfriend over the summer?" Michael asked.
"What? No!" Gaia answered, cringing slightly at the thought.
"Then why the reaction?" Kaleb asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"He's my cousin!"
But of course, a certain Gryffindor had no knowledge of the fact. So, he was left staring intensely at the Ravenclaw table, specifically a pair of brunettes sitting next to each other, his mouth pulled down into a frown as a burning feeling spread through him.