𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
GAIA ALLOWED HER FEET TO lead her, not paying attention to where as she focused instead on the prior events. Finally looking up after several anxious minutes of walking, she found herself stopped at the Fat Lady, who was filing her nails within her portrait.
"Password?" she asked.
Unable to hold it any longer, Gaia's walls - the ones she had been so carefully constructing for years - broke under the pressure of her flooding emotions. Tears began to stream her face pathetically, and on top of the heartbreak and fury that she was feeling from the events in the Great Hall, she felt shame for her weakness. She had spent so long making sure no one could see her cry, and here she was bawling. It didn't matter that the only witness was a portrait - she had still broken. Only at this did the Fat Lady look up and see the young girl in front of her, sobbing and awkwardly attempting to minimize it by running her hands through her hair and tugging at her sleeves.
"Well what's wrong?" she asked in a strange tone between kind and sharp.
Gaia spluttered out nonsense as she tried to find her voice.
"They- they're... talking about m- my mum," she managed to spit out.
The Fat Lady's expression softened significantly. "Why don't you just go inside dear."
"I don't... I don't know the p- password."
The lady in the portrait sighed. "That's okay. I can see your robes, and... well just don't tell any professors."
At this, the frame swung open, revealing the vacant tunnel into the welcoming Common Room.
"Thank you," Gaia spluttered out, stepping inside. She had always known she was an ugly crier, and could only be thankful that no one but the portrait had seen her tears.
She didn't have the energy to make it up the stairs to her dorm, and instead draped herself on to the couch nearest to her.
Stop crying, she scolded herself. What would anyone think if they came in here and saw you in tears?
She did as the voice said, as she always did, and pulled herself together. After several minutes of reflecting on the events of the night, she found herself walking up the stairs and to her bed, where her trunk had already been delivered. She walked in to the bathroom and removed her robe, staring at herself in the mirror in only her uniform.
"You don't cry," she reminded her reflection, adjusting her tie which had come loose. "Crying does nothing. Just keep looking... strong."
When she looked back years later, she would see how impactful of a problem this was for her young self. How the belief that crying made you weak was a flaw she would need to fix. But at the moment she believed only what she was taught; that tears were a weakness and weaknesses were to be eliminated.
It took longer than she suspected for the students to return to the Common Room that night, and at the sound of chatter below her, Gaia readied herself for the bombardment to come. She wasn't sure if it would come in the form of stares, questions, maybe laughs, but she had no doubt it would occur.
She opened the door connecting the bathroom to the dormitory and was surprised to see Hermione unpacking her things on her bed. Hearing the door squeak, she gasped upon seeing Gaia, who stared, face set in subtle fury.
YOU ARE READING
reputation - (h.p.)
Fanfictionin which gaia lestrange and harry potter overlook the reputations which precede them. 𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧 ❛ She was convinced that even if she had already lived a thousand lives, she had never met anyone who compared to him ❜ ❛ He felt as if her thought...
