Closed Family Ties

[Chloe Thompson]

There she was. Back at school. Chloë felt like the break had passed by way to quick for her liking, if only it had lasted a little bit longer she could've had so much more fun. Hang out with more friends, or with her family, or someone she had always considered both. Paige. The youngster hadn't seen much of her cousin over the break, or pretty much the entirety of her first year. Sure, she had seen her in class but it had felt like the Slytherin had been avoiding her slightly. Maybe she just didn't want to hang out with her because she had made other friends. Maybe Paige didn't see Chloë as a friend. Just a cousin. There was only one way to find out, so the young Gryffindor had set out to find Paige after the feast. She had walked along the entirety of the Slytherin table without luck. Next place on her list: their common room. So she had made her way down into the dungeons, towards the common room. The only problem was that she wouldn't be able to get in. But that didn't matter. Determined as she was Chloë asked every Slytherin that passed her to either enter or leave the room if they had seen her cousing. Her name is Paige. She's a second year. Red hair. She hoped that one of them might ask for Paige inside. Or get so annoyed that they'd snap and yell out for Paige to go outside so that the little Gryffindor would shut up. Even if most of them looked like they couldn't care less and she was starting to feel like her efforts weren't going to pay off. With a little sigh the Gryffindor sat down on the floor and crossed her arms, determined to wait just a little bit longer before she'd retreat back to her own common room.

 

[Paige Thompson]

She enjoyed being back at the castle, happy that she did no longer have to listen to her annoying siblings and their boring and rather unfunny stories of what they had been up to at their schools. Nothing compared to Hogwarts and Paige had let them know that throughout the entire break. She was looking forward to classes again and watching the inter-house Quidditch tournament. The only thing she wasn't particularly looking forward to was that she would be sharing classes and such with her cousin again. She'd liked Chloë way before they went to school together but when it was announced that she would be going to Hogwarts also, she suddenly couldn't care less about her. Why did she have to come to this school out of every other one she could choose from? Paige was so glad to be the only one going here, finally somewhere her brother and sister wouldn't go to, and Chloë had ruined it all for her - she wouldn't be special now, not now there was another family member going to Hogwarts. After being notified that someone with red hair was asking for her outside of the common room, Paige let a sigh out of annoyance. She stepped out of the common room and glanced up and down the dungeon corridor, only to find her cousin down on the ground with her arms crossed. ''What are you doing here? And what are you doing on the ground?'' Paige asked.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë was about to give up and head towards her own common room when she noticed another student leaving the Slytherin common room. Ready to ask them if they had seen her cousing she jumped up when she saw that it was Paige. "Hi!" She beamed at her cousin, glad that somehow her tactic worked and one of the other students had got her to go outside. Or maybe her cousin was headed somewhere and she just got lucky. "I was looking for you, but I've been here for a while so I decided to sit down." The Gryffindor shrugged, not really seeing the problem with her having been on the ground. "Do you wanna hang out?" She had always enjoyed hanging out with her cousin, but she felt like something had changed the minute they were both at Hogwarts. Realizing that things might not be the like they were Chloë pushed a little further. "I mean I haven't really seen you over the break, or much of last year, and I thought we were friends.. " She started, before deciding that she might as well just ask Paige straight out. "Are we..? Friends?"

 

[Paige Thompson]

''Yeah, alright, but you do know that it's kind of weird, right?'' she replied, really hoping that the girl hadn't indirectly embarrassed her by sitting on the ground while she could've just leaned against a wall or something. ''It's kind of hard to see much of each other when one of us has spent most of her break in Greece,'' Paige told the other girl, a bit harsher than she would've liked. She did like her cousin, really, she did, but she couldn't help to also hate her for going to the same school as Paige. It was almost as if she was jealous in some way... She shrugged at the question and said, ''We're cousins, doesn't that say enough?'' While she did not feel like hanging out with Chloë at all at the moment, or ever if she could avoid it, she was pretty sure that her father would have her head if she wouldn't be nice to her, Chloë was his lovely niece after all. ''Did you want to do something together?''

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë shrugged again at her cousin's remark. "I don't think it's weird and if it is I don't care." Weird wasn't something she was worried about. Who cared if other people thought it was weird? Pretty much 80% of the things that happened at this school were weird, so if sitting on the ground was one of those things than so be it. "Right.. I might have forgotten about that." The Gryffindor confessed honestly, feeling a bit silly. She had been so busy with other things over the break that she might have forgotten the reason she couldn't hang out with Paige was because her family was away. "No, it doesn't." Chloë frowned at her and shook hear head. "Sure, it pretty much means we have to put up with each other but it doesn't mean you have to be my friend." She continued, a bit annoyed by her cousin's answer. If Paige didn't want to be her friend she could just say it. She'd be disappointed for sure, perhaps even a little hurt, but she much more appreciated the truth above lies. "I did, but now I'm not so sure I want to anymore." Chloë replied, wondering what was going on in her cousin's head. Maybe she had just always hung out with her because she felt obliged to, because they were family. Or maybe she had enjoyed hanging out with Chloë when they were younger but for some reason that changed when they went to school together. She just didn't understand.

 

[Paige Thompson]

She rolled her eyes at her cousin's retort. ''Yeah, well, I do and I do not want people to think that my family, and by association me, is weird,'' Paige replied. Honestly, how could she not see that? But of course, perfect Chloë did not mind being found weird by anyone from Slytherin, she did not know any of them. Glad that she was at least standing now, the girl moved away from the entrance of the common room. ''What do you mean, 'it doesn't'?'' She asked, although a bit disappointed that her politically correct answer hadn't worked as she would've hoped it to. ''Isn't being family more important than being friends? One could even say that they are equal,'' she added, questioning herself why she had to put up with this nonsense. Right, father. ''Why don't we talk about the break for a moment? What did you do while we were in Greece?'' the Slytherin asked.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

"Who cares what people think." Chloë shrugged, before giving her reply a second thought. Obviously Paige did and she didn't want to be the one to make her feel embarrassed. "But if you do then I'll try to think of that next time." She added in the hope that her cousin wouldn't get annoyed with her over her initial answer. Chloë had difficulty understanding how her cousin didn't see that being family and being friends weren't the same thing. Maybe to Paige they were, but to her they weren't even remotely the same. "Ofcourse family is important." She replied a bit louder than she wish she would have. "But it's not the same." The Gryffindor continued in a more acceptable volume for the echoing halls, trying to think of the best way she could make her cousin understand. "I don't want you to hang out with me at school because you feel like you have to, because we're family. I want you to hang out with me because you want to. That's what being friends is." She stated, carefully emphasizing the most important bits. "And if you don't want to that's fine, just tell me." Chloë tried to make the sentence sound casual when it wasn't. It wouldn't be fine. She would respect her cousing being honest, but that didn't mean it wouldn't sting if Paige actually said she didn't want to be her friend. "Not much, just hung out with Archer and some friends." She reluctantly answered the question. Chloë didn't bother to ask Paige what they got up to in Greece. She had been excited to find her cousin and hang out with her, but now she just wanted to get away from this conversation. Even if she was the one who started it. This wasn't fun at all.

 

[Paige Thompson]

She had grown tired of this already. Why couldn't Chloë just be satisfied with the answers Paige was giving her? God forbid she ever got what she wanted. She was at least thankful that her cousin would try not to embarrass her anymore. At least her siblings wouldn't have embarrassed her by sitting on the ground in the Slytherin dungeons had they gone to this school. It almost made her wish that she was with one of them right now - she'd learnt how to deal with them throughout the years. ''Do you really want to know?'' Paige asked, annoyed that her cousin couldn't just be fine with the answers she had given her before. ''I don't want you to be here, I want you gone. Hogwarts was supposed to be MY school, but here I am, sharing it with YOU because you and your stupid family had to come to New Zealand.'' She had not wanted for her cousin to know why she had been so hostile throughout the previous school year, and even moments ago, but there it was, the reason why she had barely talked to Chloë at all since she found out that her cousin would also attend the wizarding school. ''Why do I always have to share EVERYTHING with EVERYONE, it's not fair!'' she added to no one in particular, raising her voice a little.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë frowned and slightly cocked her head when her cousin asked her if she really wanted to know. Her tone implied that maybe she didn't. Maybe she'd be better of if she just walked away and let things be how they were. But she did want to know. Or at least she thought she did, untill Paige actually started. Her words stung. They stung even more than Chloë thought they would. It wasn't that Paige didn't want to be her friend, she just didn't want her to be there.. at all. "My family is not stupid." They were the only words Chloë managed to get out through her gritted teeth. If Paige didn't want her here fine, but she had no right to talk about her family like that. Not after all the times she had been at their house. Not after she had been invited to join them when Chloë's father and brother were teaching her how to fly. The Gryffindor was fighting back her tears as well as her anger. She didn't want to cry. Not now, not in front of her cousin and how she was acting at the moment. "Fine." She stated after a moment of silence. "If you don't want me here then you can just keep on pretending I don't exist. I won't bother you, but I'm also not going anywhere."

 

[Paige Thompson]

Paige smirked when her words left her cousin momentarily speechless. She was relieved that she'd finally told her what had been on her mind for the past year or so. She could see that Chloë was trying to fight back tears and looked away from her, shaking her head disapprovingly. Had she been this oblivious? Paige had hoped that Chloë would catch up on the clues that she left her all throughout the previous years and even over the holidays by ignoring any letters that were sent her way. She jerked her head around when her cousin started to speak and listened carefully to what she said. ''I will gladly keep on pretending that you don't exist. Now, why don't you run along to your little lion friends and leave me alone,'' Paige said, waving her away. She didn't care that she was being so harsh towards her cousin, Hogwarts was her school and perfect Chloë had ruined the experience for her the moment she learnt that her cousin would be attending the school as well. And if ignoring her and pretending that she did not even exist would help the Slytherin to enjoy her time at the castle properly, she would gladly do so. Instead of moving back into the common room, Paige waited for Chloë to leave the dungeon, or at least until she was out of sight. As she waited, she wondered whether the girl in front of her would tell her parents about this. If so, her own parents were bound to find out as well. Let them, Paige thought, briefly forgetting that her father would not be happy about all of this - they were adults, they did not understand any of it and probably never would.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë hadn't expected her cousin to be so cruel. Ever since she had moved to New Zealand she had been so happy to have a family. One of the best things had been to have a cousin that was her age. She'd always thought it would mean she had an instant friend. Things had always seemed like that at least, untill they went to school. Apparently she had been completely wrong about Paige. However she didn't fully miss the hint of jealousy that had laced her cousins voice. Or at least that's what it sounded like. She had always wondered what had made her be sorted into Slytherin, but perhaps this was it. After all, jealousy was a nasty quality to have. She was sure there was something else going on with her cousin, but she also knew that this wasn't the time to investigate. "Your loss." Chloë shrugged after she had pulled herself together. If this was how Paige wanted to go about both of them being at Hogwarts then so be it. After all the year had only just started, which meant they had six more to go. Six years was a long time to try and ignore somebody. It was also plenty of time for people to learn and grow. Perhaps with time Paige would come around on the whole ordeal. And if she didn't than that would be a shame. After all, it wouldn't change the fact that they are family. With that last thought Chloë turned around and left the dungeons.