hold me like the river jordan

When she and Lyle were first pulled out of school, Gabby was convinced that that was it - she was never going back to Hogwarts again and would forever be home schooled with Lyle. Granted, she might have been a bit dramatic when she first figured she wasn't coming back, but the way that her father looked when they'd seen him in Dumbledore's office - she didn't think she had ever seen him this angry, and he didn't even have to say it to know that Gideon had carried out his threat about telling her father everything. She supposed her skipping classes for the whole day had been the straw that broke the camel's back, and she honestly wasn't upset with Gideon for doing it. It was the right thing to do, and she would have done the same for him. He'd obviously been concerned for her - completely understandable, naturally - and thought that telling her father would be best. She should have told him herself, really, when she first started making silly mistakes, and as soon as they were home they had a long talk about everything that happened to her. And then he gave her a long hug, assured her that she wasn't stupid, she'd just made a couple of mistakes, but that was okay because the best thing about making mistakes is that you learn from them. Gabby sincerely hoped she would learn from these mistakes, at least. No more doing anyone's homework. No more going into the Forbidden Forest. No more meetings in the Hog's Head with men whom Fabian had warned her about. None of that anymore. And she would be a good girl and not get into any more trouble. Except...well, except that she and Lyle really wanted to get her Papi and his mother together because they were so adorable together and, well, to do that they figured they had to get into big trouble. So they did. To be honest, Gabby had never thought she’d see the day where she’d actually be grounded. She’d never been much of a trouble child at all, and her father hardly ever yelled at her. But after what she’d done with Lyle had obviously been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Really, they had thought it be harmless; a plot to get Elisebeta and Cesar together, because Lyle and her were convinced that they were perfect for each other. She understood why they got in trouble, certainly, and knew she deserved it, but it didn’t make it any less odd. Now, she was only allowed to see Lyle during homeschooling sessions, and even then she wasn’t really allowed to talk to him. But it worked anyway, because her father was talking to Lyle’s mother and gosh weren’t Lyle and Gabby just the best match makers ever?

Admittedly, she hadn’t expected them to send them back so soon, either. She supposed that was happened when you got into big trouble. They figured they were better off in school, and thus back to school Lyle and Gabby went only after a week of so of being MIA. Honestly? Gabby didn’t mind, not one bit. She had missed Hogwarts, and everyone in it, a lot more than she had thought she would. Oh sure, it had been nice when Fabian came to visit a few times, and they’d gotten to cuddle and bicker playfully over whether she’d grown or not, and then she made him biscuits and he scarfed down half of them before she could tell him to save some for later, too. But even though she got to see Fabian a lot more, she missed classes, and she missed her friends, and she especially missed Gideon. She wasn’t used to not seeing him for days on end; oh, there had been times when he’d been with Emmeline and they hardly saw each other as often as she liked, but even then she at least caught a glimpse of him in the Great Hall, and managed to get a goodnight hug before bed. And during the summer, they saw each other often seeing as they were neighbors and all, and thus even then, hardly a day went by without her at least going over to say hello, or greeting him through the windows. It was especially difficult to deal with the nightmares now that she couldn’t crawl into his bed at night; her father wasn’t really an adequate replacement because, as comforting as he was, he snored really loudly and she found that she couldn't sleep at all. And it wasn't like she could Floo to Fabian's house at any time because he was always busy and who knows if his work kept him up late hours? It wasn’t just that, though; Gideon meant a lot more to her than just being her comfort during sleep. She just missed him; just him. Gideon, her pillar of strength, her security net, her best friend, the one person she could turn to for anything and everything, and who would listen to her regardless of whether it was silly or not. He was the one she'd sought out when she'd been attacked by the werewolf, and when she'd broken her arm, and - well, it was always him that she looked for whenever she needed anything. So, when her father told her he was sending her back to Hogwarts, all she could think about was finally seeing Gideon again, and swearing to herself she wouldn’t make anymore stupid mistakes or get in any more trouble because, honestly, she wouldn’t be able to handle the distance - especially during the days when she was grounded, where she couldn’t be around Lyle. No, it was obvious that Gabby just couldn’t live without her best friend for longer than a week.

Gabby was practically vibrating with enthusiasm starting from the morning, starting from when she was pulling on a white sweater, her navy blue skirt and her brand new multi-colored coat (a present from Lyle's wonderful mother), up to when she and Lyle took the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts, and, as soon as they were on the way to Hogwarts by foot, she took to tugging on Lyle’s hand to get him to go faster, because it seemed that they weren’t moving fast enough. She knew she couldn’t leave him behind, since that would make her a very crappy friend, but thankfully, he seemed to agree that the faster they got there, the better (and not just to see the people they missed, because it was snowing and her coat wasn’t doing much to warm her up; walking fast helped). It seemed to take ages for them to reach the castle, but finally they were let in and Gabby let go of Lyle’s hand, telling him she was going to go ahead to the common room; he was probably going to want to go and find Stefan first, she figured. Without waiting for much of a response, she hurried down the familiar corridors, and gasped the password, almost tripping over the entrance hole in her haste to get in. It wasn’t terribly difficult to spot him; he was taller than almost all of the people inside. For a moment, she simply stood, absorbing the fact that she was actually here and so was he, a smile threatening to split her face in half, and - “GIDEON!” she squealed, rushing forward as he turned around from a conversation with someone she didn’t even care to see. She had time to see his expression, a combination of surprise and glee, before she threw herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his shoulder. “I missed you,” she whispered, holding him tighter. She held the hug for a few more minutes and then pulled back to beam up at him. Unable to help herself, she found herself babbling. “Dios, I did miss you. I can’t believe I’m back! God, it’s so good to be back. You know I grew over the past year? Yes, it's true! I measured myself when I went home - I grew a whole inch! Isn’t that fantastic? That makes me 4’11! Just one more inch and I’ll hit five feet! I’m sure I can do it, even though Fabian insists I don’t look taller. Do you think I look taller, Gideon?”