Pink || Fred Weasley [discontinued]

09 || family

Gaia was starting to regret her decision of coming to the house her cousin grew up in. Looking up at the fat man blocking the door, she held back a grimace and forced her face into a respectful expression.

"Good morning, Mr. Dursley. Is Harry in there?" Gaia asked with as even of a voice she could make.

"Who're you?" Mr. Dursley questioned, his words venomous.

"My name's Gaia Eruditus, I'm a friend of Harry's," Gaia answered. Mr. Dursley seemed to glare right through her as his eyes roamed her whole appearance.

"You're one of those freaks then?" Mr. Dursley concluded, disgust clear in his voice. Gaia's expression faltered as she leaned back slightly out of shock.

"Freaks? I hope you're not pertaining to us magical folk when you say freaks," Gaia said, her eyes narrowing as she felt her composure start to slip.

"And if I am?" Mr. Dursley sneered.

"Why I-" Gaia paused, taking a deep breath in attempt to calm her steadily growing irritation, "Look, I'm only here to take Harry."

A woman, tall and thin, came up behind Mr. Dursley. She looked as if she were about to leave the house.

"Who's at the door, dear?" the woman asked as she placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.

"A friend of the boy's, she says," Mr. Dursley answered. Mrs. Dursley inhaled sharply as her eyes snapped to Gaia. She stared down the younger girl for a moment before leaning into her husband's ear and whispering something before walking off.

"Alright, take him. We were leaving anyway, and we don't trust the little bastard to keep the house in one piece if we leave him alone," Mr. Dursley said. Gaia made no attempt to answer the muggle, worried that she might not be able to hold her temper like earlier and lash out.

A few minutes of Gaia and Mr. Dursley staring each other down passed before Harry appeared from a thin space between Mr. Dursley and the door frame.

"Gaia?" Harry said, surprised.

"Hey Harry." Gaia smiled at the boy. Her smile quickly dropped as Mr. Dursley shoved the boy out of the door, the boy stumbling to regain his balance.

"Have him back before sundown. You'll end up disturbing our peace if you come at a later time," Mr. Dursley spat out before slamming the door shut.

"Do they always treat you like that?" Gaia huffed out as she took Harry by the shoulders and gave him a once over.

"No. That's them being nicer than usual," Harry joked, wincing as Gaia squeezed his shoulders painfully.

"Sorry," Gaia said, noticing how Harry flinched and let go of his shoulders, "We should get going."

✧✧✧

The café they entered in Diagon Alley was a small business run by a wizarding family that the Eruditus' were close with. As expected, there was just enough people to fill the space, but not too much that it would feel too crowded.

"Why'd you come to Privet Drive?" Harry asked as he held the steaming cup of tea in his hands.

"Can't I come to visit you?" One of Gaia's eyebrows was raised as she sipped on the hot chocolate she ordered.

"Well yeah, but I'm getting the feel that you need something," Harry said, shrugging as he placed down his cup on the table. Gaia continued sipping on her drink nonchalantly before finally giving in to her cousin's steely gaze.

"Alright, fine. I wanted to ask you something. But I thought it'd be better to come get you personally instead of just sending an owl. You always talked as if you wanted to leave the place," Gaia said, ignoring the smug look on Harry's face. "It took me a while to convince my dad to let me come since he always insisted that the Dursleys were the part of his family that he'd rather keep away from ours."