Pink || Fred Weasley [discontinued]

06 || home sweet home

When December rolled in, it seemed like the whole Sirius Black fiasco and the Dementors were the last thing on everyone's mind. Students were either excited about going home, having no classes, or both. Personally, Gaia was more excited about going home. It wasn't that she wanted to leave Hogwarts but with all that's happened already, she just wanted to have a break from the school.

The day before the students who were going home were set to leave was a Hogsmeade weekend. Since Gaia was leaving, Malia and the others had convinced her to go with them to Hogsmeade - although, she was planning to spend the day holed up in the library to try and catch up with History of Magic since she still sleeps through it even after 5 years.

"I might head back now. I still want to try and catch up with History," Gaia said as they sat in a booth in The Three Broomsticks.

"You have all of winter break to catch up!" Ryker complained.

"I actually want to enjoy the holidays without having to think about lessons, thank you," Gaia retorted, "And besides, you three are going home as well. We could meet up."

"Well, that is true. We could get together during the holidays," Malia said as she considered the thought.

"See! Now if you'll excuse me," Gaia said, pushing out her seat and standing up, "I have to go get some studying in. I'll see you three at the castle."

"Okay! Be careful going back!" Aisha called after her as she made her way to the exit.

Gaia stopped abruptly to avoid bumping into a 3rd Year, carrying three butterbeers, who just so happened to be Ron.

"Oh, hey Ron! You here with Hermione?" Gaia asked.

"Uh, yeah! We figured here would be a good place to get a break from the cold," Ron answered.

Gaia eyed the butterbeer in his hands and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hey, why do you have 3? Did Harry come with you? Did he somehow get permission?" Gaia said, suddenly feeling suspicious.

As much as Gaia would hate to rat out Harry if he ever did sneak out of the castle, it was still her duty as prefect to make sure that the students follow the rules - Harry included.

"Nope! The extra one's for me! You know how big my appetite is." Ron laughed sheepishly.

"Is that right?" Gaia hummed, looking around to try and spot Hermione and, Rowena forbid, Harry.

She turned back to him and raised an eyebrow, staring at him with a hard gaze. The boy seemed to visibly cower under her gaze.

"If I find out that Harry did somehow sneak into Hogsmeade and you two are hiding him, I'm going to have to give you detention. You know that, right?" Gaia sighed.

"Don't find out then?" Ron said sheepishly.

Gaia blinked back at him before laughing out loud, "You're a lot more like your brothers than you think. Well, I'm off! Make sure I don't figure anything out. yeah?" she winked before walking out into the cold.

Gaia shivered slightly and stuffed her hands into my pocket as the chilly winter air hit her as soon as she exited the warm inn. Snow crunched underneath her feet as she walked back towards the direction of the castle, catching glimpses of some Hogwarts students along the way. As she passed a bakery of sorts, she noticed something black peeking out from behind the building out of the corner of her eye. She stopped walking and turned sharply to the building, but there was nothing there except for a group of students huddling near the window to glimpse at the pastries. Shrugging to herself, she continued on her way back to the castle.