"Why did you take me to the Astronomy tower? We could've talked somewhere else," Gaia asked Malia as they made their way to the Great Hall.

"The view was nice," Malia answered.

Gaia continued to stare ate her, expecting a continuation.

"That's literally the only reason why." Malia laughed.

As they rounded the corner, they spotted a Slytherin girl, seemed to be in their year, towering over a Hufflepuff girl. Gaia and Malia looked at each other before walking towards them.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Gaia called out making the unknown Slytherin turn to her. She turned her gaze to Malia and narrowed her eyes.

"Frias," she sneered.

Malia frowned.

"Avery, what are you doing?" Malia asked.

'Avery' glanced at Gaia, her eyes raking over the Ravenclaw's figure for a few moments.

"Question is, what're you doing with someone not from our families?" Avery said.

"None of your business," Malia huffed, "What are you doing?"

"Just having a little fun. Try it sometime," Avery said as she crossed her arms.

Gaia looked back at the Hufflepuff girl, sucking in a sharp breath when she recognized her as Aisha Spreight. Her eyes seemed teary and confused, and her head was slightly titled towards the ground.

"What happened?" Gaia asked her quietly as she wrapped an arm around her.

"I was just walking towards the Great Hall. I bumped into her accidentally and she pushed me to the wall and started saying things. Called me a muddy- wait no. Mug- no that's not it" Aisha whispered back as she tried to remember what Avery called her.

Gaia's brows furrowed, a dark red seeping into her hair as she made sense of Aisha's words and what she was trying to say.

"Mudblood?" Gaia asked tentatively.

Gaia's heart dropped as Aisha's eyes lit up in recognition at the word and nodded.

"Yeah that. I don't know what it means though," Aisha mumbled.

"Wait here," Gaia said before walking towards the two Slytherins who were now almost face to face with each other as they bickered.

"Avery," Gaia called as she pulled on her arm.

As Avery turned towards her, she raised her hand and hit her across the face. Avery remained still for a while, a look of bewilderment on her face.

"Did you just-" Avery said slowly as she faced Gaia again, "You slapped me," she muttered.

Gaia shouted in surprise as Avery pulled harshly on her hair.

"How dare you! Do you know who I am?" Avery asked angrily as she kept her grip on Gaia's hair tight.

"What's this?" a drawling voice said.

Avery immediately let go of Gaia's hair, the former turning around to see Professor Snape staring down at them in disdain. His eyes shifted between the two students.

"Well?" he drawled.

"Avery called Spreight a mudblood, sir," Malia spoke up.

The next thing that happened was something that Gaia never would've expected from her Potions professor.

Professor Snape's usual expression shifted into one of anger so quickly that even Gaia flinched, though it wasn't directed towards her. No, it was directed towards Avery, who seemed to shrink under her head of house's look.

"What."

No one made a move or a sound as anger radiated from the professor. He turned his head sharply towards Aisha.

"Is this true, Spreight?" he asked in a clipped voice. Aisha flinched before nodding her head.

Professor Snape looked back at Avery and grabbed her arm, dragging her away.

"What will you do?" Malia asked suddenly, making Gaia hit her.

"Are you insane? We're lucky we didn't get in trouble. No need to question him further," Gaia whispered through gritted teeth.

"None of your concern. Continue to the Great Hall," he answered without even looking back.

✧✧✧

"I'm going to the Slytherin table. Are you sure you're alright Spreight?" Malia asked.

Aisha smiled slightly in response.

"You can call me Aisha, you know," she said softly making Malia smile at her, "And yeah, I'm fine" Aisha continued.

Malia nodded before walking to her own table.

"Come on. You wanna look for Ryker?" Gaia asked, grabbing Aisha's hand, and dragged her to the Gryffindor table. Aisha only nodded as they approached Ryker, who was laughing with the Weasley twins.

"Holler!" Gaia called.

The Gryffindor in question turned to her voice with a grin, which quickly dropped when he recognized her and saw her gripping Aisha's hand. He stood quickly and pulled Aisha away from Gaia, putting her behind him. He stepped close to Gaia, making sure that he was towering her – though it had no effect seeing as they were the same height.

"Woah hey. Back down Ryker," Fred warned as he stood up from his seat.

"What'ya playing at, birdie? I know your friends with the snake. She put you up to this? Don't bring Aisha into our little fight," Ryker sneered.

Gaia raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"The only one in a fight is you, Holler. Not me, not Malia." Gaia shook her head with a scoff, "What's wrong with you? People are trying to be nice and you just pounce at them first chance you get."

"Only do that with people who associate themselves with snakes," Ryker answered, scowling as he shoved Gaia slightly.

"Ryker."

"Oi!" George said as he stood up as well.

Gaia noted that the two redheads were tense, though they made no move to actually come closer to them.

"You really want another detention that bad?" Gaia taunted, black seeping into her hair, "Was only trying to be nice, y'know."

"Ryker."

Ryker narrowed his eyes, pushing Gaia with more force than before. Gaia stumbled back, grunting slightly as she landed against George's chest. She looked up to see Fred gripping Ryker's arm with a scowl.

"I said back off, Holler," Fred growled.

"What? You friends with the snake now too?" Ryker scoffed.

"Ryker!"

All four of them turned towards Aisha, who had stepped towards Ryker and gripped his arm.

"Malia and Gaia saved me from Avery today," she said.

Ryker furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Avery? But Karl's a Gryffindor," he said.

Gaia rolled her eyes as she composed herself.

"The other one, stupid," Gaia said.

Ryker glared at Gaia slightly before closing his eyes and exhaling, tearing his arm away from Fred, who was still glaring at him.

"Malia, the Slytherin that birdie here is usually with, and birdie here? They saved you?" Ryker asked slowly.

Aisha nodded. Ryker turned towards the Slytherin table before shaking his head and leading Aisha away, not once looking back at me.

"You alright?" George asked Gaia, still standing behind her.

Gaia smiled and playfully rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine. You didn't have to step in," Gaia said.

"'Course we did! You're our best friend" Fred chirped as he put an arm around Gaia, the scowl on his face completely gone.

It took a great amount of effort from Gaia to stop her hair from turning pink.

✧✧✧

To make it short, Ryker ended up apologizing to both Gaia and Malia the next day. Since then, the group of four could be seen wandering the castle together all the time. Some of the other students were surprised, to say the least. Why, it's not everyday that they see a friend group with all 4 houses present.

"Hey, remember when you kept shoving me when I went with Aisha to the Gryffindor table?" Gaia asked, a grin on her face as she stared down at her History of Magic homework.

From above her, seated on a tree branch, Ryker groaned.

"You're never letting that go, are you?" Ryker grumbled.

"Well, you're the idiot that picked a fight with us the first time we met," Malia teased.

Ryker gasped playfully as he looked down at Malia.

"Snake," he said with narrowed eyes.

"Lion." Malia stuck out her tongue at him.

Gaia and Aisha shared amused looks as the two continued bantering with each other.

"I guess old habits die hard," Gaia commented, making Aisha laugh.

"Thank you, by the way," Aisha said, "For defending me against Slytherins."

"We're friends, Aisha. It's what we're supposed to do" Gaia said with a smile as she wrapped Aisha in a hug.

"Hey! We want a hug too!" Ryker shouted as he jumped down from the branch.

He and Malia both joined in on the hug and they stayed there for a while.

"I'm gonna miss you guys during summer," Ryker mumbled sheepishly.

"Sap," Malia snorted as she jokingly pushed Ryker.

✧✧✧

Gaia looked through the compartments on the train, looking for a specific set of gingers.

"There you two are!" she said as she plopped in with them.

George closed the door as she laid her head down on Fred's lap.

"I've been looking for the two of you for like 30 minutes," Gaia whined.

"Then you shouldn't have looked for us!" Fred said jokingly.

"Yeah. Wouldn't want our little birdie to get tired," George cooed making Gaia roll her eyes.

"I already have enough of Ryker calling me birdie. Don't push it," she warned making them laugh.

"I still can't believe Ravenclaw won the Quidditch cup," Fred grumbled, slightly bitter.

"What can I say? The team had me on it," Gaia teased the two Gryffindors who continued sulking.

"Yeah, right. And Charlie's leaving next year leaving us with even less of a chance to win!" George whined making Gaia laugh.

"I'm sure you'll find someone to replace Charlie as seeker." Gaia grinned as she patted him on the back, "Hey, where's Lee?"

"Off with Angelina, I think," Fred answered.

"He's got a crush on her," George added.

"Duh, everyone knows about that."

The compartment door opened, revealing Charlie.

"You three alright?" Charlie asked as he stood in the doorway.

"Yeah we're alright," Gaia answered with a smile.

"What'ya doin' here Charlie?" Fred asked.

"Miss us already?" George continued with a grin.

Charlie rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"I already have enough of you two at home. I'm just doing my rounds," Charlie sad with a small grin.

The twins both gasped jokingly and put their hands over their hearts.

"You hurt us dear brother-"

"-you really do," the twins quipped making Charlie laugh.

"You know, Gaia, I don't know why you hang with these two. They're insufferable," Charlie said jokingly.

Gaia laughed loudly, sitting up as the twins started talking over each other in exasperation.

"Just teasing you two." Charlie grinned before he shut the compartment door.

"We're not insufferable-"

"-right Gaia?" the twins grumbled and looked at Gaia.

Gaia smiled and shook her head, "Of course not, boys."

"Can't believe he's our brother, right Georgie?" Fred said

"Right you are Freddie. Speaking of brothers..."

Gaia looked at them curiously.

"What about brothers?" she asked.

"Ickle Ronniekins is coming to Hogwarts next year," Fred answered.

"Right again, Freddie. Should we tell him it'll be painful?"

"How about a troll?"

"Fight a troll to decide?"

"Yeah!"

Gaia looked between the two of them with furrowed eyebrows.

"What in Rowena's name are you two talking about"? Gaia asked.

"Deciding what to tell Ronald about how the sorting ceremony works," they said in chorus.

A loud slap echoed in the compartment along with a yelp.

"What is with you and hitting?" George asked, rubbing his arm as he frowned exaggeratedly, "And why'd you hit me but not Fred!?"

"Don't tell your younger brother that he has to wrestle a troll to get sorted! That's just mean!" Gaia scolded, ignoring George's second statement.

"It's Ron! He can handle that!" Fred snickered.

"He could handle the spider a few years ago," George added and they laughed loudly.

"I won't even ask anymore," Gaia said with a small smile.

Talking about their little brother made Gaia excited to meet him and reminded her of her own younger sister.

"My little sister's coming next year too," Gaia added.

"You have a sister?" Fred asked.

"Lele! Have I never told you two about her?" Gaia asked as the twins continued to look confused.

"You never mentioned a sibling" George explained.

"I guess I never did," Gaia shrugged, "Well anyway she's coming next year. I feel like she won't get the same house as me."

"Well Ronald will be disowned if he doesn't make Gryffindor" Fred joked making Gaia hit his arm.

"Stop hitting us!" Fred whined.

"She hits me more than you, you baby!"

"Stop being mean to your brother!" Gaia retorted.

"We're kidding! Besides-"

"-you don't even know Ron. Why-"

"-are you so concerned about him?"

"'Cause you two keep bullying him!" Gaia answered.

"It's brotherly love!" George said.

Gaia only smiled and shifted her eyes to the scenery passing by the train window.

"Can you believe it's already been 2 years? We only have 5 years left of Hogwarts," Gaia asked them softly.

Fred snorted, "If you ask me, that's 5 years too long."

Gaia moved to slap his leg, which he blocked, and rolled her eyes.

"Again, what's with you and hitting?" Fred grumbled as Gaia laughed.

"No but seriously. I feel like yesterday was my first day," Gaia said and the twins nodded.

"We get it," George said as he looked out the window as well.

"But there's no reason to be sad! We still have a long way to go!" Fred added.

"I'm not sad. Just thinking about it" Gaia muttered.

"Your hair says otherwise" George said as he pointed to my hair.

Gaia squinted her eyes at the glass of the window and saw that blue had started seeping into her root.

"I guess I'm just wondering what'll happen to the three of us once school is actually over. Well I guess me since you two are stuck forever. But will I still get to talk to the two of you? You two are my best friends and I don't want us to drift apart," Gaia said, playing with the small part of blue in her hair.

"D'you honestly think we'd let you drift away?" Fred asked her as he looked down at her face.

"You're stuck with us forever too, you know," George added with a grin.

"I'm thinking of Malia and the others too. I actually like being friends with them and I don't wanna drift apart from them," Gaia sighed and closed her eyes, letting her head fall onto Fred's shoulders.

(No, her heart was not beating too quickly to be normal.)

She felt hands on her knees, peeking out of one eye to see George smiling at her.

"Friends don't just leave friends Gaia. We'll always be friends. And if your other friends drift away from you, we won't let you be alone," he said.

Gaia stared at him for a moment before pulling him into a hug, along with Fred.

"Thanks you two. Promise we'll always be friends?" Gaia asked.

"You're acting like you're leaving Hogwarts for good," Fred joked.

Gaia pinched his nape in slight annoyance.

"Kidding! Kidding! Of course we'll always be friends"

✧✧✧

Edited 09/06/2020