One of the things that 3rd years always looked forward to was the Hogsmeade trip that they would be allowed to go to for the first time. Gaia was no exception to that excitement.

"Permission slip?" Argus Filch asked as he stood like a gateway to get to Hogsmeade.

Gaia fished out a neatly folded piece of parchment from her pocket and handed it over to the caretaker. He eyed the paper for a few seconds before begrudgingly letting her pass.

"Gaia!"

Gaia yelped as a body tackled her from behind and they fell onto the grass. Whoever it was scrambled off of her and she turned on my back to see Malia smiling sheepishly while Ryker and Aisha walked up behind her.

"Told you you'd fall if you did that," Aisha said, shaking her head while Ryker laughed loudly beside her.

"Sorry Birdie. Just excited, is all" Malia grinned as she held a hand out to help Gaia up. She grasped her hand offered out to her and pulled herself up, dusting off her pants and falling into step beside the Slytherin.

"You're lucky I wore pants today. I was this close to wearing a skirt," Gaia commented, putting together her thumb and her pointer finger to jokingly imitate what she was saying.

Malia pulled a face at her as they walked into the ever-famous Hogsmeade Village.

"I don't know why you insist on wearing skirts. Honestly, I'd give anything to transfigure my school skirt into pants," she complained while the other three looked at the multiple shops in awe.

"I've never been to an all-wizard village," Ryker whispered out.

"It's beautiful. Is this what all-wizarding villages all look like?" Aisha gasped out, doing a small spin in the middle of the street.

"It's the only all-wizarding village in Britain," Gaia explained to her making Ryker look to her in confusion.

"What about Godric's Hollow? I thought they had a wizard community there," he asked.

"It's mixed there. Same thing with Ottery St. Catchpole, where the Weasleys live. Hogsmeade's the only village where there are no muggle families at all," Malia answered before Gaia could open her mouth.

"How do you even know where the Weasleys live?" Gaia asked, turning to walk backwards so that she could face them.

"Family friend. Believe it or not, Fred and I get along quite well," Malia shrugged.

"Only Fred?" Ryker teased, bumping Malia's shoulder.

Gaia's eyes subconsciously widened at Ryker's teasing, sucking in a sharp breath that went unnoticed by the rest of her friends.

"Yes, only Fred. But don't get any ideas Lion. I don't like Fred like that," Malia said, pushing Ryker making him stumble in his steps as she glanced towards Gaia.

Gaia released the breath she was holding, shaking her head slightly to shake herself out of her thoughts.

"But why not George?" Aisha asked with furrowed eyebrows. Malia just rolled her eyes and blew a piece of her hair away.

"George is a git. He's annoying," she said in a clipped voice.

Gaia wondered what could have possibly happened between the two, but the look on the Slytherin's face made her hesitate to ask questions.

"Uhm, Gaia-" Aisha started warning her but it was too late.

Gaia yelped a bit as she felt her back hit another body, making her stumble quite a bit. She felt hands grab her arms to hold her up while a familiar laugh filled her ears. She turned around and saw just the pair of twins that they were talking about.

"Didn't know you liked Freddie like that, Gaia," George snickered.

"Yeah if you wanted me to hold you, you could've just said so," Fred grinned making her hair turn violet as she slapped his arm.

"Shut up Fred," Gaia mumbled. Nonetheless, a wide smile was present on her face as she straightened up and smoothed her clothes slightly.

"Hello Lia." Fred grinned as he ruffled Malia's hair making her swat his hand away.

"You know how I feel about my hair Gid," Malia sneered making Fred frown.

"And you know I hate when you call me that," Fred grumbled, crossing his arms as Malia smirked.

"I know. That's why I do it" she grinned triumphantly as Fred continued to sulk.

Gaia made a mental note to ask Fred later about what Malia called him.

"You lot don't mind if we borrow Gaia for a while, right? We'll give her back later," George grinned albeit strained.

Malia's expression completely changed when her eyes landed on George.

"Uh, yes? We just got here," Malia answered.

It made Gaia's curiosity about what exactly happened between the two grow even more. George even seemed to actively avoid her gaze while he grinned at Ryker and Aisha, who looked at each other before shrugging.

"If Gaia wants to go with you it's fine," Aisha answered while Ryker only nodded in agreement.

"Did no one hear what I just said?" Malia scoffed but George either didn't hear it or just pretended not to because he started dragging me away, leaving Fred behind to talk to Malia.

"What's with you and Malia? Her and Fred seem to get along just fine," Gaia asked, confused as George let go of her arm.

"Like he said, he's been trying to make us get along since were little." George frowned making me even more curious.

"So, what happened?" Gaia said softly, making George look at her.

The look on George's face was one that Gia could only describe as hesitant. His eyes seemed to lose focus as he went into his own thoughts. Just as he opened his mouth to answer, Fred cut him off by appearing beside them, swinging an arm around Gaia.

"Can't believe you two just left me there. What are you, on a date?" Fred joked making George laugh slightly and shake his head.

"You were too busy catching up with Malia. I may not like her but I'm not stopping you from talking to your friends" George answered with a grin.

"Speaking of which," Gaia said before smacking Fred's arm, making him yelp and rub the spot, "Since when were you two friends?"

"Did you not hear me tell you how I've been trying to get George to be nice to her?" Fred asked incredulously.

"I thought you were joking!" Gaia said.

"Or perhaps you're just jealous?" Fred teased.

"I-"

"I'm kidding. But honestly, I'm gonna get bruises from you one of these days," Fred complained.

"I already got them," George sighed jokingly, making Gaia roll her eyes at their antics.

"You still haven't answered the question. And for the record, I am not jealous," Gaia said, her face slightly flushed.

"If you must know, both our parents work at the ministry. She used to come around a lot when we were kids, but her parents eventually forbid her from coming. Mum never really said the reason why, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with being 'bloodtraitors', or something like that," Fred explained, frowning as he did so.

Gaia matched his frown. From the way he explained it, it seemed as though he wasn't entirely familiar with the word 'bloodtraitor'. Gaia, on the other hand, was quite familiar with the term.

"Enough about her! Come on, we wanna go check out Zonko's," George said as he nudged Gaia and Fred towards the direction of the shop.

"Why'd you even 'borrow' me from the others if you were just gonna check out the joke shop? I don't exactly join you two in your pranks," Gaia wondered as they entered the student-packed shop.

"Is it so bad that we want to spend time with our favorite Ravenclaw?" Fred grinned at her, making Gaia shake her head with a similar grin.

"I'm the only Ravenclaw you two are actually friends with," she mused.

"Exactly," George answered with his own grin.

They spent nearly 2 hours in the shop, looking around and joking with each other. At certain times, the twins had to explain to Gaia what the items did or what they could be used for.

"You two are in so much trouble when your mum finds out how much you've bought," Gaia laughed as they made their way back to the castle, the twins both holding an array of items from the joke shop.

"You might be forgetting-"

"-you're at fault here too!"

"Me!? Why'd you drag me into that?" Gaia asked in disbelief.

"You bought some of these for us," Fred retorted.

"Which you still shouldn't have," George added.

"And yet you still accepted," Gaia said sarcastically.

"It's free stuff! Who-"

"-in their right mind-"

"-wouldn't-"

"-accept?"

✧✧✧

"Why does it have to be History of Magic first thing in the morning? And double period at that!" Gaia whined to Malia as they walked out of the classroom.

"Right? It's like they want us to fall asleep before classes even start," Malia agreed as she blinked a few times to get rid of the sleep, "Anyway, I've got Muggle Studies next. I'll see you at lunch?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there." Gaia waved goodbye at Malia as she took a different turn.

"Look here, George."

"What is it, Fred?"

"It's our little birdie."

An arm found its place on top of Gaia's shoulders, making her look up at the owner. Fred was the one who put his arm around her while George stood at her other side and ruffled her hair. She swatted his hand away with a grumble.

"Don't do that," Gaia mumbled as she raised her hands to fix her hair.

"Don't be so grumpy, Gaia," Fred cooed just as she finished fixing her hair.

"Yeah at least you don't have Divination. I've got it next and people have already been telling me that it's a load of rubbish," George sighed, regretting his decision of taking Divination.

"Oh, you'll be fine, Georgie," Gaia comforted with a sympathetic grin.

"Besides, it's not complete rubbish. It depends on how you do and who you're with," Aisha's voice joined them as she fell into step beside George.

"Hey Aisha. How was Herbology?" Gaia greeted.

"First chance I get, I'm dropping that subject," she deadpanned making the three laugh.

"Herbology's fine though," George commented.

"That's because you're actually good at it, George," Fred answered.

"Anyway, come on George. I've got Divination too. I'm showing you how great Divination is," Aisha said as she pulled on George's arm making him stumble towards her.

"For a small girl, you've got a lot of arm strength," George laughed, moving to the side as Aisha made a move to hit his arm. The pair walked away with Aisha still sulking beside the tall Gryffindor. Gaia smiled at the sight and faced up to Fred.

"D'you think those two will end up together?" Gaia asked making Fred snort.

"No. Georgie's already got his eyes set on someone," Fred answered.

Gaia's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she tugged on Fred's arm. He yelped as he lost his balance for a moment.

"Who? Tell me!" she grinned excitedly. Fred laughed and shook his head.

"No, he'll tell you if he wants to," he said making Gaia pout pathetically beside him.

She stayed silent for a moment before an idea popped into her head. She started grinning as her hair turned a light orange.

"Come on, Gid," she tested out, remembering how annoyed Fred got when Malia called him that. Fred froze for a while before groaning.

"Don't call me that! It's because you heard Malia do it, isn't it?" Fred whined like a child making her laugh.

"What's that about anyway?" Gaia asked between laughs.

Fred mumbled something in reply. Gaia stood on her tiptoes and moved closer to his mouth.

"What was that?" she teased.

"It's my second name. Gideon" Fred mumbled louder this time.

Gaia burst out laughing once again, clutching her stomach as she bent down.

"Oh, you're one to laugh. Galadria."

Yes, that certainly shut her up rather quickly.

✧✧✧

"-9 inches of parchment on the difference between Arithmancy and Divination by tomorrow. You're all dismissed," Professor Vector said before the students started filing out of the classroom.

Arithmancy was Gaia's last class of today and, much to her pleasure, it was the only class that gave homework.

She carefully rolled up the parchment she used for taking notes and placed it inside her bag before stepping outside.

"Gaia, wait!" Kaleb's familiar voice made her slow down as he caught up with her.

In contrast to Gaia's, his bag seemed messy as bits of parchment peeked out from the top, seemingly a bit crushed. Gaia rolled my eyes with a smile and took out her wand. She flicked it slightly to the left and Kaleb made a sound of surprise as the parchment in his bag started rolling themselves up and fixing themselves. He stared at his bag for a while before his eyes snapped to her.

"Did you just do wordless magic?" he asked as they descended down the steps together.

"Huh. I guess I did. Dad taught me a while back since I'm usually so messy," Gaia shrugged.

"Why are you so nonchalant about this? That's amazing!" Kaleb exclaimed.

"What, d'you want me to teach you?" Gaia joked, making Kaleb smile sheepishly.

"Would you laugh if I said yes?" Kaleb said jokingly.

Gaia laughed out loud as they entered the Great Hall, making a few heads turn to them since there weren't too many students in the hall yet.

"I'm heading to Gryffindor. See you at the common room," Gaia bid to Kaleb as they went their separate ways.

She dropped her bag on the bench and plopped down beside it, in front of Harry and Ron. The two first years looked surprised before realizing that it was just her.

"Hey Harry, Ron," Gaia greeted them with a smile.

"Hi Gaia!" Harry greeted brightly while Ron tried to say hi as well. Emphasis on tried. His mouth was too stuffed with food to understand a word he said.

"Try swallowing first, Ron." Gaia laughed. The ginger blushed in embarrassment before doing as told, "We haven't really talked properly, have we?"

"Feels like we have though. Fred and George won't stop talking about you at home," Ron answered making her raise an eyebrow.

"Oh really? And what do they say?" Gaia asked, propping up her head on her hand.

"Just that you would like this or that. Mum gushes about you because she claims that you're the only reason that they do well in school," Ron explained. Gaia laughed before pulling out a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink.

"You're not eating yet?" Harry asked as he swallowed whatever he was eating.

"I'm waiting for Fred and George," Gaia said before dipping her quill in the ink. She dragged it on the parchment to write 'Arithmancy'.

"What's Arithmancy?" Harry asked as he leaned to look at what she was writing on the paper.

"It's a study of numbers. It's like predicting the future with numbers and the likes," a different voice explained making the three of them look over to where it came from. Hermione sat there eating her own meal.

"Hello Hermione." Gaia grinned at the clever little witch before nodding, "She's right. It's like Divination really but I don't think I have the skill for legitimate Divination."

Just then, Fred and George entered the Great Hall and made a beeline to where the three were.

"Well done, Harry." George said in a quiet voice, his eyes darting around as if to see who's listening, "Wood's just told us. We're on the team as well: Beaters."

Gaia looked at him curiously as the pair of gingers sat down on either side of her.

"I'm lost. What's happening?" Gaia asked, looking between the two of them.

"Harry here's been appointed Seeker," Fred answered.

"What!?" Gaia shouted out, making the twins shush her.

"Quiet! It's supposed to be under wraps for now," Fred whispered.

"You're not even supposed to know. But we're sure you won't tell anyone," George continued after his brother.

"Are you forgetting I'm on Ravenclaw's quidditch team? How are you sure that I won't tell our captain the second I enter the common room?" Gaia asked with a grin, already over the shock.

"Because-"

"-you love us too much."

Fred then faced back to Harry while George reached out to grab some pastries off the table.

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," Fred said to Harry with his own wide grin, "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."

Gaia snorted at the mental image of Oliver Wood skipping down the halls.

"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school. Coming, Gaia?" George said as he stood up, arms filled with pastries from the table.

"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you," Fred continued as he stood up as well, his hand grasping Gaia's arm and pulling her up, making her yelp. The bottle of ink on the desk spun a bit making her scramble to stabilize it as not to ruin the homework she'd already started on. She glared up at Fred who grinned sheepishly.

"Whoops. Sorry," he said, not sounding in the slightest.

"Yeah, yeah," Gaia said, pulling out her wand and flicking it to the left. The things she had laid out on the table flew up into her bag as she slung it over her shoulder.

Gaia could hear Hermione gasp softy from her spot while Harry followed the items flying into the bag with his eyes.

"Wicked," Harry said, amazed by what just happened. Gaia laughed and winked at him.

"Convenient, isn't it? I'll see you two around. Congrats on the quidditch thing," Gaia said, whispering the last part. She patted Hermione's shoulder as they passed her.

"Oi! This is mine!" George said, angling himself away as Fred moved to grab a puff pastry from the pile George had in his arms, "You should've gotten your own!"

"I thought we were sharing that! You took so much you could feed our dormitory with that!" Fred said, managing to swipe one from his brother's arms, the latter grumbling in defeat.

"Oh stop it, you two. We'll go by the kitchens later, Freddie. I haven't eaten dinner as well," Gaia commented.

"Really? You should've told us."

"We wouldn't have dragged you with us if we'd known."

"But seeing me do my homework is not enough of an excuse not to drag me away?" Gaia asked, amused.

"Course not!"

✧✧✧

Edited 09/06/2020