reputation - (h.p.)

1.8 . i'll shove it right up his arse

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

GAIA WAS NOT BOTHERED IN the slightest by the fact that she was missing Potions class, nor by the fact that she had earned herself an, admittedly, well deserved detention. At the moment, her sights were set solely on finding Hermione.

       She started by peaking inside the Hospital Wing, but saw only a fifth year boy with a three missing fingers and a second year girl crying on a mattress, likely due to the green pigmentation of her skin. Madame Pomfrey stood to the side, hurriedly collecting a plethora of materials from the cabinets mounting the walls. Gaia excused herself and continued searching for several minutes. She had nearly given up when she crossed the doorway of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Stifled cries came from within. Anyone who had been at Hogwarts as long as she had knew what Myrtle's sob sounded like, and this was not it.

       She quickened her pace to a job and entered the bathroom.

       "Hermione," she called once she arrived at the stalls. The crying stopped quickly - too quickly for her to distinguish from which stall they had come from.

       "Pst!" Gaia turned quickly on her heal to find a giggling Myrtle rising from the inside of a sink.

       "Hi Myrtle," the girl sighed. She was quite familiar with the annoying habits the ghost had. Her constant mood swings and guilt trips were exhausting to go through, particularly for Gaia. Myrtle had always seemed to dislike her more than other students, for reasons unbeknownst to her. Gaia sighed and reminded herself of the reason she was there. "Did you see anyone come in here?"

       Once again, the ghost laughed both sweetly and condescendingly. "Oh, the girl with the terrible teeth, you mean? Hermione, isn't it? No, I didn't see her. I just heard her whining about them through the pipe. Thought I'd come see how bad it was."

       At this, a particular whimper came from one of the stalls behind Gaia. She flicked her head around rapidly and placed the noise to have come from somewhere towards the end of the stalls on her right.

       "Hermione," she said cautiously as she approached the stall she believed the cry came from. "Don't listen to her. She's got worse teeth than you, to be honest."

       A chuckle came from the behind the door in question while a scoff escaped Myrtle's mouth. The ghost's lip quivered for a moment before letting out a defined wail, as always, and plunging back into the sink from which she came.

       Was it a mean comment? Yes. However Gaia had never had much sympathy for Myrtle. And given the circumstances, she'd say it to anyone if it helped her friend feel better. She finally faced the door she now knew Hermione was behind.

       "Hermione Jean Granger, you are so far above crying in a bathroom stall," the younger girl started. "Don't get me wrong, I've been there. But you deserve better... And God, the next time I see Malfoy, I swear I'll stick his wand so far up his-"

       Before she could clarify where she intended to place his wand, the door creaked slowly open and stopped halfway. Hermione was sitting on the toilet, arms wrapped around her knees but wide smile filling her face. It took Gaia a moment to get past the teeth, which were now just past her chin and appeared to have stopped growing, but when she did her mouth broke into a wide grin as well.

       A pause was shared between the two, it was comforting and expectant, as if they both knew what they were feeling but didn't feel the need to express it.