13 | Ships Aren't Made For Only Surface Travels

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13| SHIPS AREN'T MADE FOR ONLY SURFACE TRAVELS

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13| SHIPS AREN'T MADE FOR ONLY SURFACE TRAVELS

The thirtieth of October arrived quicker than sleep did to Gemini. The Great Hall had been decorated with enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large letter 'H'.

Every ornament in the castle had been scrubbed clean till it shone (much to the displeasure of the subjects of several portraits). The suits of armours reflected a clear image of their surroundings, none of them creaking and squeaking due to their hinges being newly oiled.

All the school staff members seemed oddly tensed, hoping, no doubt, to make a lasting impression on the delegations of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

But that had been the least of Gemini's concerns. She had noticed that all her Sickles had, quite suddenly, gone missing. This turn of events did not help the fact that Gemini was yet to pay Hermione for the badge she had taken. She had wandered around her dorm and the Slytherin common room to find them but came up empty-handed.

She even resorted to Fred and George at some point, and though they were exhilarated to talk to her, they told her that they didn't have anything to do with what they deemed to be "a mysterious disappearance of her money." They, however, did offer her a dainty, delectable-looking sweet they called 'canary cream' which Gemini reluctantly refused.

Had anyone else proposed to her the dish, she would have eagerly taken it. But this was Fred and George — their lopsided grins and twinkling eyes screamed 'DANGER'.

The afternoon of the thirtieth of October, common sense hit Gemini like a bus. She rushed to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to find Galleon as soon as the bell rang to signal the early end of lessons for that day. It couldn't be anyone but him — the niffler was mad for her money like no one else.

She coaxed him out of his underground cave with more patience than a normal human was capable of forcing out in a situation such as this. After a heated discussion which consisted of Galleon speaking sign language and squeaks, Gemini managed to get back all her Sickles and rushed to the entrance hall as quickly as her feet could take her.

"Gemini!" Draco hissed as soon as she squeezed in between him and Blaise. "Where were you —?"

"Near the forest." Gemini huffed out, casting a few charms on herself to fix her uniform. She hastily slipped on her hat as Draco gave her an incredulous look.

"What were you doing there? Recruiting an army of magical beasts to attack Weasley?" he said.

"No dunderhead, I was getting back my money." Gemini sighed.

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