Chapter 6
The next morning Gaëlle felt really bad about not making up with her friends. She stopped Wufei before he left the Great Hall.
"Can I talk to you?" she asked.
"Certainly. We have no classes to hurry to." Wufei said his expression a bit soft. He of all the others felt very protective of Gaëlle. He hated seeing her sad and most of all in disputes with her friends.
They walked through the corridors to the library where they could talk undisturbed.
"See I have this secret that Duo and I have to keep. It's nothing bad though," Gaëlle started. "And the others know we have it and they keep trying to get the truth out. Well I bet you already know what happened…" She looked up into his eyes expectantly. He nodded so she continued, "So I needed someone to talk to."
"Is this secret going to hurt anyone?" he asked.
She shook her head, "No."
"Will you get in trouble if you tell?" he inquired.
She looked thoughtful, then slowly replied, "No, not really."
"Well then, there you go. Your secret is just as harmless as one of Duo's jokes…" then he thought better of it, "On second thought," he smirked.
Gaëlle giggled and replied, "Oh his jokes are harmless. I've helped him with a couple of them, I should know."
Wufei arched an eyebrow and studied her like an adult would, "Oh really. Maybe I should inform Professor McGonagall."
"Oh come on!" Gaëlle protested.
"Well anyway," Wufei sobered, "you should make up with them. Especially since they are your best friends and also because they're in your House." He said truthfully. "So you know, I will not ask you to ever reveal you secrets."
"Thank you. I knew I could talk to you." Gaëlle looked relieved.
"Anytime. Now why don't you go find Trowa before you go to Hogsmeade." He said.
Gaëlle flushed slightly and quickly left, saying goodbye over her shoulder. She ran outside and felt an October breeze run into her full force. She staggered but soon walked normally to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She was just walking, occasionally looking around when all of a sudden she was grabbed and hauled deeper into the forest. She struggled to get away, and though it didn't work, she continued anyway.
"Let me go! Let me…" a hand was clamped over her mouth.
"Shh…Silver is near with Belke and Sojon." Trowa said in her ear. He stopped as she ceased moving all together. She stared at the fifteen-year-old, waiting for an explanation. She was tapping her foot with her arms crossed over her chest.
"You look cute when you're mad." He smirked.
"Hmph!" Gaëlle stamped her foot. They stood like that for a few minutes more until Trowa chuckled. That got Gaëlle giggling and she flung her arms around him.
"Why did you do that for?" she asked.
"I didn't want to be seen or caught." He replied, hugging her close. He kissed her forehead and she smiled up at him.
"So where are they?" she asked, releasing him to look around at the trees and bushes.
Trowa looked at two trees that grew next to each other and whistled.
Silver stepped out and was accompanied by a unicorn stallion and Belke, who pranced up to the teenagers. Gaëlle knelt down to pet the golden foal when butted her hand eagerly.
"Hi Belke." The girl said, as she ran her hands over the young unicorn.
:Hello Greeneyes, Gaëlle: Silver said into the human's minds.
Trowa hugged Silver and responded while Gaëlle looked up and smiled.
"Gaëlle, this is Sojon, Silver's mate." Trowa said, introducing the stallion.
Gaëlle stood and turned to the stallion. He looked at her and said:Hello Brightsmile.:
Gaëlle grinned at her new nickname. She stood still as Sojon walked to her and she put a hand to his cheek. She delicately rubbed his cheek and he leaned slightly into her hand.
:Vanity isn't always a bad thing.: a soft masculine voice said into her mind. It was Sojon. She hugged him around the neck and then looked back down at Belke. The little foal pranced around Trowa and then over to the girl.
:Belke is growing very attached to you Brightsmile.: Sojon said to Gaëlle, too watching his son.
She knelt down to the golden unicorn and laughed when she heard Belke say,
:Let's play: He also obviously directed that thought at Trowa because Trowa smiled and replied,
"We can't stay long. We're going to Hogsmeade soon."
"But we do have just a couple of minutes," Gaëlle grinned. She leaned toward Belke and poked him, "Tag, you're it!" she cried. She took off running as Belke's first impulse was of surprise. But then he scrambled after her.
For ten minutes Belke and Gaëlle ran after each other. Then Silver said,
:Stop now you two. Greeneyes is anxious to leave now.:
Gaëlle stopped beside Belke's mother as the foal stopped next to his father. Gaëlle caught her breath, hugged Silver and the other two and walked with Trowa back out of the forest.
"We still have twenty minutes before we actually leave. But I bet you need to do something before we go." He said. Gaëlle's eyes grew bright. She hugged him and when they went in the castle she ran off to find some people.
She found Heero in the Gryffindor Common room.
"Hee-chan, will you stay here? I'll come right back…" Gaëlle said, walking up the stairs to the bedrooms. She found Ivy reading on her bed and Lie was rummaging through her trunk. Gaëlle led both of them down to where Heero was waiting.
"Elly, are you okay?" Ivy asked, concerned.
"I'm fine. I…I wanted to apologize to you." Gaëlle said.
"We also owe you an apology." Ivy said gravely. Gaëlle looked at her almost puzzled.
"We shouldn't have tried to get the truth. You're entitled to your secrets. We're sorry." Heero said softly.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I shouldn't have said that last thing." Gaëlle said sincerely.
"Friends again?" Lie asked.
Gaëlle smiled, "Friends."
Ivy and Lie hugged her and then quickly left, saying they needed to find Duo so Lie could "punish" him for using the name "Nathalie" again. Gaëlle giggled and told them she'd see them in a few minutes. She turned back to Heero and gave him a hug. He was a little surprised but returned the hug gently.
"Come on. Aren't you still going to Hogsmeade?" he teased lightly.
"Of course! Trowa's waiting for me." She replied with a slight flush.
"Let's go then or they'll leave without us!" Heero said, leaving the Common Room.
Before Gaëlle left, she raced up to her trunk and grabbed her money purse. Then she ran out of the Gryffindor Dormitory and raced to the Hogwarts entrance. Just as she arrived, Professor McGonagall announced that they were now leaving. Gaëlle found Trowa once they were in Hogsmeade and hugged him quickly.
"Where were you?" he asked.
"I got there when everybody was leaving." She replied. "Sorry…Hey where's Hee-chan and the others?" she asked, glancing around.
"They went to the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer. Do you want to go there?" he replied.
"Sure. I heard that Duo called Lie her behated name again. I wanna know if he received any punches." Gaëlle giggled. Trowa smiled down at her, took her hand and together they walked to the pub—The Three Broomsticks.
They found Duo, Heero, Ivy and Lie sitting around a table already drinking the famed butterbeer.
"Hey guys!" Gaëlle said grinning.
"What took you?" Lie asked giggling.
"I was looking for Trowa." Gaëlle said flatly. She gave Trowa's hand a slight squeeze and sat in two of the empty chairs at the large table. Ivy giggled along with Lie for just a few minutes.
Quatre and Wufei soon joined the group and for awhile they stayed together, but then Trowa and Gaëlle wanted to leave to go out on their own. But before they left Gaëlle asked,
"So Duo, did Lie and Ivy find you and "punish" you?" she let out a giggle.
Duo winced visibly and hesitantly replied, "Uh…yeah."
"So what'd Lie do?" Trowa asked, a smirk on his lips.
"She…I got kicked again." He said, averting his gaze, then looked at Gaëlle a pathetic look in his eyes.
She laughed at him and then Trowa led her out of the pub.
"Any where you want to go?" he asked.
"I don't care, but as long as we don't get in trouble." She added.
"Okay, no forbidden places." Trowa smirked.
"Good. I don't want to be labeled troublemaker like Duo is." She added with a grin and giggle.
"Never, you're too innocent." He replied with an innocent face. Gaëlle giggled some more but led the tall Ravenclaw to see the Shrieking Shack.
When it was time to go back, Gaëlle stayed by Trowa's side until they split to go back to their dormitories.
"Hey Elly!" Ivy and Lie caught up with their French friend.
"Hey guys!" she turned to them and replied.
"So how'd it go with Trowa?" Lie asked with a sly grin.
"It went fine." Gaëlle said.
"Did he kiss you?" Ivy asked.
Gaëlle blushed, and didn't reply. Duo walked in with Heero and went to the girls who now sat in some of the armchairs.
"I guess he did." Lie smirked evilly.
"Who did what?" Duo asked.
"Oh nothing." Lie said the same time Gaëlle snapped, "Nothing!"
"Uh huh. So what were you three talking about?" Heero smirked.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing." Gaëlle snapped again, but this time in French.
"Okay, what exactly did you say?" Duo scratched his head.
Lie, who knew French, translated for the others.
"Okay whatever." Duo shrugged. A sofa pillow came flying at him and smacked him in the face. "HEY!" he exclaimed as he stumbled backward. The girls burst into laughter.
Heero refrained from smirking at his best friend and announced, "I'm going to go eat. Is anybody coming?"
TBC