Closed Catching Up

[Gabrielle Perrault]

Fifth year had been hard and there was no denying that. Exams had proven to be a more stressful situation than Gaby had anticipated and it didn't help that after losing she didn't have quidditch to fall back on so much. Sure, they still had trainings during the remainder of the year but training without a match in sight still felt different. All in all, she had to admit she was kind of glad the year was over. Especially since it meant the opening of her mom's shop closing in, which would mean she'd stay in France for half of the break rather than spending it all in Norway. A plus of staying in France longer than normal was that this time she'd have way more time to hang out with Kiara. Even though she was doing fine at school, she had to admit she still missed having her friend around and after clearing things up last year she was excited to have that friendship back.

Gaby made her way through the appartment, taking some snacks and drinks and setting them down in the living room so she could catch up with her friend once she arrived. Her dad was at work and with her mom busier than ever getting the shop ready for its grand opening she had the whole space to herself, which was nice. At least it meant her mom wouldn't overload Kiara with questions the second she stepped through the door, which was such a typical thing to do. Once she had gotten everything ready Gaby settled down on the couch, looking out the window for a little while as she waited for her friend to arrive.

 

[Kiara Wood]

If Kiara was honest, her biggest trouble this year wasn't exams, they weren't THAT difficult, except for DADA as it was something she took just because she needed it not because she wanted it. She was absolutely alright and she would use every chance to not meet professor Styx if it wasn't required for her job choice. He was the only professor who was able to scare her, except the transfiguration professor with her vanishing animals. However, her biggest trouble was her love life, how could it show up after so many years of just not existing? How she was going to tell Gaby that it was absolutely not the same person she was into last year? Well, at least they both were Gryffindors, at least something similar, but their personalities were absolutely opposite. Well, and she hoped that after they graduate, Kiara will be able to introduce Arthur to Gaby. They were going to last for that long, right? She didn't want for it to end. However, Kiara was extremely happy that it was summer in France, she was able to catch up with all the garden work at home, she was able to clean up the house without being dressed up like she was going to Antarctica. It was calming and more logical to have a long break in the summer.

But what she was the most excited about being in France, was meeting Gaby. She loved all her new friends but it wasn't the same to not have someone who was around her since she was just a little kid. Someone who knew her before she hit her not the biggest glow up but still had seen and accepted her with all the troubles, cause all the other people in the new school knew her only two years, it wasn't the same. So she was extremely happy that their friendship hadn't ended after her moving away. And she drove over to Gaby's home and knocked on the door to finally meet her.

 

[Gabrielle Perrault]

Gaby had been getting a little lost in her own thoughts as she stared out the window and watched people and cars move around outside. With her dad being a muggle she was mostly used to all things muggle and somehow watching the tiny little cars zoom around from up in the apartment always managed to get her to relax. Maybe because she was up high, or maybe just because it somehow indicated the balance between magical and non-magical things in her life. Either way, she enjoyed it. She was abruptly ripped away from her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door though, jumping up and rushing to the hallway to open it. "Kee!" She smiled at her friend after she had swung the door open with way too much enthusiasm, happily opening her arms for the hug that was bound to come. "Come in, come in, come in!"

 

[Kiara Wood]

As the door was opened, Kiara immediately hugged Gaby tightly, after all, it was their first hug after a long time and she was not going to make it easier for any of them. "Gabbs! Gabbs! Gabbs!" she wheezed into the girl's shoulder and after that came in. "OH MY GOD!!! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH," she literally screamed and closed the door after her and let her bag slip down her arm, overly excited to start to babble. "Are we going to your room now? Or living room? Lead the way," she giggled and put her bag back on her shoulders.

 

[Gabrielle Perrault]

Gaby laughed when Kiara hugged her, not even surprised by it since it was exactly what she had expected from her friend. She was glad to know her friend was as happy to see her as the other way around though, stepping to the side so Kiara could come in. "I missed you too!" She laughed when her friend screamed before walking into the hallway and beckoning for her to follow. "Living room." Gaby smiled in response to Kiara's question as she led her into said room. "My dad's at work and mom's busy getting her new shop ready for opening, so they're both out." She explained as she let herself drop down on the couch, taking one of the cookies she had set out and happily biting into it. "You can drop your bag anywhere, by the way." She said, making a vague waving gesture with her hand to indicate that it didn't really matter where Kiara put her bag. "So," She grinned, patting the couch next to her as a sign for her friend to sit down. "Did you make more friends? What about that guy you liked, did anything happen there? Tell me everything!"

 

[Kiara Wood]

Kiara followed Gaby to the living room and put her bag next to the couch and sat next to Gaby and turned to her with an excited smile. "Yess, right! The shop! How is it? When it will open? How's your mom? And you? Your dad? How are you all?" Kiara had always liked to be sure that not only Gaby was alright but her family too. "Already done," she laughed and pointed at her bag that was already put away to not keep it in her lap. If she didn't know her that well, she would still keep it in her hands but there, she was absolutely aware that she didn't have to be bothered by her own bag. "So... with Jatin, it didn't lead anywhere, this year we didn't even really talk BUT! We are not losing hope yet," she excitedly giggled and took out her necklace that was under her t-shirt and showed it to Gaby before starting to talk about her love life. It was clear to see that it was only one part of the whole cause the other one was at someone else, Arthur had the other part of it. "So there is one boy in our year... Arthurian, Arthur. I may or may not be the one who called him to the Yule Ball, and he agreed. In the same conversation, we literally fell together cause I was teaching him how to dance and we started to joke around, and we didn't keep our balance. I was exactly that dumb and right after we fell, I said that now he has to marry me since we have been this close already and he said that he is not accepting proposals until graduation," she took a deep breath as she was saying that only in a few breaths and pretty fastly, and after taking that breath, she started to laugh. "Let's part this or I will be out of my breath really fastly," she still laughed lightly and put the necklace away.

 

[Gabrielle Perrault]

Gaby excitedly bounced up and down as she tried her best to quickly swallow the bite she had just taken of the cookie so she could answer Kiara's questions. "It's good! It's going to open in like two weeks and it's sooo much bigger than the one in Norway, which means my mom has been super busy but I reckon she'll be super happy once it's open." She rattled on, answering in a single breath. "Oh and she said hi. So did dad. He's good, still doing doctor stuff." She added with a small chuckle, knowing her parent would like to know how her friend had been as much as she did. "And I'm good too. Just glad fifth year is over." She smiled, giving a little shrug.

Gaby was about to respond to Kiara mentioning it hadn't worked out with the one boy when she took out her necklace, one that looked like it clearly was one half of a whole. She listened curiously as Kiara started telling her about another boy, almost feeling a little proud her friend had the guts to ask him to one of their school's dances. "No way!" She exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together. "Oh my god, I'm so proud of you. And happy! He sounds nice." Gaby smiled, before letting out a giggle when Kiara ran out of breath. "Don't you dare get engaged to anyone before you're graduated though. Or before I've met the person." She joked.

 

[Kiara Wood]

Kiara excitedly smiled while listening about how it was going for Gaby and her parents. "O! M! G! YES! I promise I will be at the opening!" she almost screamed again, no chance that she was going to miss that important for Gaby's mom and their whole family. "Awh, I miss them! By the way, do you think there is any chance that I can meet your dad? I wanted to talk about that whole healer or doctor thing, you know I have to become a healer but Jack's wife is pregnant and the other part of the family is currently paying attention to everything except my dilemma on choosing subjects for next years." Gaby probably was the only person who actually knew that Kiara had always wanted to work with kids without having to heal them, that was the reason why she didn't say that she wanted to become one but that she had to. "Yes, this year was such a mess. How did you do on your exams by the way? And how is the Quidditch going? I was so disappointed to see Ilvermony instead of you, I was mentally prepared to meet all of you again," the fact that she left the game so early was right because she had no interest in seeing how Ilvermony played, she wanted to see her friends.

Kiara excitedly giggled when Gaby started to support her unconditionally. And started to laugh when her friend tried to jokingly threaten her. "Wait, wait, with that I have something to tell you but we have to come to this!" Kia honestly wanted to introduce Arthur and Gaby to each other, these were two of the most important people in her life and she really wanted for them to meet. "We went to Yule Ball as friends and on Valentine's Day I sent him a pink rose, you know, it means that I like him but I got too scared to write a note so it was anonymous BUT he sent a pink rose too and with a note! When you will visit me, I will show you all the notes we have wrote! And on the same day, we went to dances, he tried to kiss me but someone bumped into us so we didn't kiss. We decided to go a bit away from people and he told about anonymous rose and I put my answer note in his pocket and told him to take a look at it and he literally wrote an answer-back! And we went for a little walk," Kiara excitedly talked about her love life, happy that she finally had a chance to tell it to someone in the smallest details, she usually tried to not share about her and Arthur's relationship but in the end, it was Gaby! She deserved to know! "And oh my God! On the same day, before I got the rose from Arthur, I had to deliver the rose to his cousin Lillian and she literally knew about me! And his sister Ava asked Lily to talk to me and Lily told me that Arthur has never been to dances like to actually dance before me! He has been to dances actually but he didn't dance, he was punched in the face," she broke into a laugh about that. If he didn't get punched in the face that year ago, he wouldn't have to apologize to Rose and their getting together would probably be really different from that.

 

[Gabrielle Perrault]

Gaby chuckled at Kiara's enthusiasm, appreciative of the fact that her friend was so supportive of her mom as well. She was about to invite her, but she also knew it wasn't exactly necessary. Even if she didn't invite her she was sure Kiara would still come. She was also sure that her mom would send her one of the official invites anyway, almost hearing her say that it didn't really happen if people didn't have an invite to keep. "I'm sure she'd love that!" She smiled in response, trying to do the math in her head when her friend asked if she could talk to her dad. "Yeah, he should be home in an hour or two I think. I mean he obviously wouldn't be able to tell you about healers or which classes to take, but I reckon he'd be happy to discuss muggle doctor things and all that." Gaby nodded. Her dad was quite passionate about his work so any chance to talk about the pros and cons he'd happily grasp with both hands. "Pretty good!" She smiled proudly when Kiara asked about her exams. "Almost aced all of them." She added, quite content with how she had done. Even if it would've been nice to ace them all, she knew she still did a solid job. She was about to return the question when Kiara mentioned quidditch and Gaby rested her chin in her hands for a second. "Right? Honestly, it sucked. We didn't even score, which y'know is basically the only thing we chasers have to do. And then we lost, which was obviously a disappointment." She continued with a shrug. "I'm sure we'll get it next year, though. Even if one of the other chasers, one of my friends, graduated this year so it'll be a bit weird to have to play on without her." She ended with a small smile, wondering if her teamwork with the other chasers would be as good as it had been with Édelie.

Gaby curiously cocked her head when Kiara said there was more to be said about whatever had lead to her boyfriend becoming her boyfriend in the first place. She listened as her friend started to tell the entire story, jokingly shaking her head in fake-disappointment when she mentioned getting too scared to send a note with the pink rose she had sent. "Oh my god, I can't believe you're living this whole exciting life without me!" She eventually exclaimed when Kiara finished her story, although she was happy her friend seemed to be doing so well. It was just a little sad she wasn't there to experience all of it with her. "Maybe I should just transfer. Any cute girls there?" Gaby joked. No matter how tempting it sometimes seemed she wouldn't actually think of leaving beauxbatons, giving up on the team. No way. She let herself fall back onto the couch with a sigh. "How do you even remember all of this? Did you like write it down during the year and study it before coming here?" She giggled, leaning on her elbows as she looked up at the other girl.

yes i have now given up on the colouring let's ignore that thnx

 

[Kiara Wood]

Kiara fastly got excited about the chance to talk to Gaby's dad. "I haven't even told it to Jackson yet but I think that I will become a muggle doctor. I will see how it goes tho, but so far I was thinking about a muggle pediatrician, so he could help me better than anyone else," and also, it was an amazing chance to chit-chat also with Gaby's dad and it wasn't a secret that Kia adored him, he was one of her favorite adults. "Yes, I never doubted in your knowledge! Proud of you!" she excitedly hugged Gaby, Kiara herself did pretty much the same but from Gaby's point, it sounded way more impressive. "Noooo! That's sad! But you will win next year, I wanna see you in Hogwarts," she excitedly winked at Gaby. "One of the chasers? The captain one?" sadly Kiara didn't remember or know everyone at the ex school.

Kiara excitedly giggled at Gaby's reaction to her story. "It would be way more exciting if you were there! But you haven't heard the best part of it!" she wanted to already start one of the last parts of her story but she started to laugh at what Gaby said. "There are! A lot of pretty girls! I know I should say this but in out year, the cutest girl in our year surely is Nicole. Trust me, you'd like her a lot, she's fun, smart and beautiful. The full package, yet, I liked Jenna last year. She is pretty cool too," Kiara was pretty sure that if she didn't meet Arthur, she would have fell for Nicole really badly. Who wouldn't tho? Kiara was sure that everyone would like Nicole at some point of their life. "I mean, it was pretty important for me. Oh, back to how we finally got together! So he had some disagreements with his cousin Rose and asked me to go with him to cover him up when he apologizes, and I agreed. Then Rose asked who we are to each other, since we hadn't decided anything yet, I said that we are friends. Rose left then and he literally pinned me to the wall and like kissed me! And oh my God, it was so perfect!" she dreamily sighed, it was clear to see that Kiara was over the moon about her relationship. "And now it's your turn! No way anything interesting happened! You have to tell me everything!" now Kiara was absolutely ready to hear everything about her friend's school year.

 

[Gabrielle Perrault]

Gaby nodded along when Kiara said she was leaning more towards becoming a muggle doctor. She had known her friend wanted to work with kids but had never been sure whether she was thinking about a wizarding job or not. "I'm sure he'd be more than happy to try and give you some valid advice! Although we should just give him a little breather before asking in case his day was busy." She smiled at her friend. After years around her dad she had been especially good in observing his body language when he came home from work, so it wouldn't be too had to figure out whether they could just shoot the question at him immediately or give him a second to just sit down first. Gaby chuckled when Kiara seemed excited about her exam grades. "What about you? How did you do?" She asked, curious if her friend was content with her results as well. "Yeah, the captain. Édelie." She nodded, trying her best not to sound disappointed about another friend leaving school.

"Obviously." Gaby laughed when Kiara said things would be more interesting if she was there, flipping her hair over her shoulder in an exaggerated manner. She was sure her friend had plenty of fun without her from the stories she had, but at the same time she wondered how much more fun it would be for the both of them if they were back together again. "Well, you know I could almost come to New Zealand during the next break and then you could just introduce me to all of them." Gaby jokingly responded, although she was honestly keen to visit Kiara in New Zealand as well. She listened as Kiara continued to tell her about the story of her boyfriend and how they eventually got together, a little surprised there was even more to it than she had told her so far. "Sounds like a dream." She chuckled when her friend finished her story, wiggling her eyebrows at her. Kiara seemed happy about her relationship though, so that instantly made her happy for her friend as well. "I mean my life's way less interesting than yours apparently." Gaby shrugged at Kiara's question. "I mean I crushed on a friend for a little while but since she'd be graduating this year and I still have two years to go it didn't seem like a smart for us to like, get together. And then one of the younger girls admitted she liked me and I kind of had to turn her down and I haven't talked to her since, so I feel kind of bad about that." She explained, trying to think of the most interesting things that had happened to her this year. "And- Oh!" Gaby explained, placing her her hand against her forehead when she realized she was forgetting the most important thing. "I probably should've mentioned this earlier when we were actually discussing quiddich but.. you're looking at the new team captain!" She squealed excitedly.

 

[Kiara Wood]

Kiara nodded with a smile. "Of course, that only makes sense!" Kia excitedly smiled. Even if she doesn't get to ask him about that all, she would still be happy to at least meet him. "Actually same! I failed a bit on defence against dark arts tho. By the way, you would literally love our Herbology professor, he's literally the best professor ever!" she reached for her backpack and took out her sketchbook, and handed her it open on the pages with their potions and herbology professors. "Ohh, I loved how she played last year." Kiara sadly didn't know Edelie, as well as Gaby, did but she still gave in to hug Gaby. "You still can chat and meet on the breaks," and maybe she was trying to not look disappointed, Wood just knew how hard it was when friends left.

"OH MY GOD! YES, YES, YES! YOU SHOULD VISIT ME THERE!" Kiara started to wheeze in excitement because she loved the thought of having a chance to introduce Gaby to her friends. She was absolutely sure that all her friends would like Gaby, why wouldn't they? And also, she would love to introduce Gabrielle to Arthur, they were two of her most important people ever. "It even feels like a dream," she wiggled with her eyebrows back at her friend. "Your friend that graduated? Edelie? And oh God, how much younger is she? How did she react?" now it was Kiara's time to become Gaby's hyper man. "And no way! Yes! I'm so proud of you! You deserved this!" Ravenclaw went in to hug Gaby again and then remembered that she had pretty much the same to share with. "Oh my God, right! I'm Queen of Crafts, leader of the arts club! Gabbs, we're matching!" Kia excitedly giggled and tried to keep away from jumping up on her feet.

 

[Gabrielle Perrault]

Gaby wouldn't have expected Kiara to respond any way different than what she did, knowing her friend would be okay with the possibility of waiting a little bit before being able to talk to her dad. Especially since she was sure her dad would be more than happy to talk about everything he knew. She was keen he wasn't supposed to come home for a little while though, as she obviously needed to catch up with her friend herself first. "Not too terrible though, right?" She asked when Kiara mentioned not doing as well in defence against the dark arts. It seemed exactly like the class her friend would do a bit less good in. Not because she wasn't smart or capable, but because it was a little dark. And Kiara was basically a shining ray of sun. "Oh my god, did you draw all of your professors?" She asked curiously as she looked at the drawings, wondering what they would all look like. "But really? Is he that much fun?" She added, wondering what it was about the professor that made her friend like him so much. She chuckled when her friend hugged her though, knowing she wouldn't be able to hide her disappointment with her friend around. "Yeah, it'll be fine." She agreed with a little nod.

"Deal." Gaby laughed at Kiara's excitement about the possibility of her visiting new zealand during one of the upcoming breaks. Sure, she had to ask her parents and all that but she didn't think they'd have too many reasons not to let her go. The only thing would be that she wouldn't be able to help her mom out in one of the shops for like a week or two, which shouldn't really be an issue either. She nodded when Kiara asked if it had been Édelie, before counting in her head to try and figure out how much younger Amelie was. "I think like three years? Like I was a fifth year and she was a second year." Gaby answered, before scrunching her nose. "I'm not sure, not too well I reckon. She just kind of.. ran off after I told her I wasn't interested in her like that." She added with a small shrug, still feeling a little bad about the situation. Surely, there'd be a way to fix that next year. Or maybe after the break Amelie had somehow realized that she wasn't the person for her. Who knew? "Aaaah, thank you!" She squealed, still excited about the prospect of being the team's captain. Even if she was a little nervous about it as well. "No way, that's so cool! And so you." She grinned, clapping her hands together excitedly at the mention of Kiara leading an arts club. Gaby was about to say something else when she heard the door to the appartment open, leaning backwards so she could peak into the hallway to see how her dad was doing. His happy sounding greeting was more than enough to tell her he was in a good mood though, and she waved him over into the living room. "Papa, viens ici!" She called out before motioning to Kiara when he entered. "Kee has some questions for you." She chuckled, happy to see him plop down on one of the armchairs as if he was ready to answer them right then and there.