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chapter seventeen | task number two
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It was so obvious as Kaya danced that she was in her element. In fact, this was probably the most merry Fred had ever seen her. She was truly having the time of her life, as her best friends danced with her, swaying their hips and twirling around like nobody was watching.
Kaya was knocked forward with a huff as a girl accidentally bumped into her. She turned around to see a blonde girl... in her fourth year, maybe? She wasn't too sure.
"Shit, sorry," the girl said through a thick Irish accent. Kaya smiled.
"You're alright," she replied.
The blonde was obviously focused on something else, and Kaya's eyes followed her as she headed over to someone slouching at one of the tables - Harry Potter.
Good luck getting him up, Kaya thought, turning back to her friends as Harry looked up at the blonde with a confused expression.
As the end of the night neared, the music slowed and many students vanished, the Great Hall growing empty. Kaya figured it would be best to end the night dancing with Fred, especially since he was the one that helped her out and stopped her from turning up dateless.
The two swayed, completely rid of energy, and Kaya still sang the lyrics, but much more quietly as her voice was soft but extremely tired. They both talked as they danced, and it was visibly displayed through their facial expressions and their body language how sleepy they were - but the two weren't willing to give in, for they wanted to stay for as long as they could.
"Thank you, by the way," said Fred, after pausing for a second, avoiding eye contact with Kaya and wondering how he was going to put this into words.
"You say 'thanks' a lot, don't you?" Kaya giggled. "What are you thanking me for now, not trodding on your toes in the past ten minutes?"
"...No," said Fred. The girl noticed how thoughtful he was, and decided not to tease him. She'd never seen him even a little bit serious, before.
"What for, then?" she asked.
"...I know it was ages ago, but... the Quidditch World Cup?"
Kaya started blankly for a few seconds, wondering what he was on about, but it soon hit her.
"Oh!" she said.
"You ran off from your group to try and help me, and well... I just feel guilty because I never thanked you. I never even brought it up, but I should've,"
Kaya gave him a kind smile.
"Awe," she said. "You probably didn't even need the help, I was just overreacting."
"Yeah, but you still tried to help, so I kinda owe you one,"
"You don't owe me anything," she said. "It was only the right thing to do."
"Well," said Fred, a grin creeping back up on his face. "It'll make me feel better knowing I said it, so, thank you. There we go,"
The girl let out a laugh that turned into a yawn, before she tilted her head forward and leant it against the boy's shoulder. She was still trying to sing, but the tiredness took over and it became slurred. Fred smiled to himself.
"You're definitely considering a singing career, aren't you?" he said.
"No! It sounds so unrealistic," she said. "I should probably grow up and think of a real job-"
"-No, becoming a unicorn sounds unrealistic. This is very realistic, especially since you can actually sing."
"Oh, shut up, you're just being nice-"
"-Not really, though. If you were terrible, I wouldn't have brought it up, would I? I would've just not mentioned it again. But I think you should."
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course."
Kaya removed her head from Fred's shoulder, her eyes meeting his yet again.
"I doubt anybody would want to listen to me, though," she said. "Besides, there's more to being a singer than just being able to sing,"
"Well, I'd listen to you," He replied.
Kaya squinted and titled her head to the side, looking for the mischievous glint he usually had in his eye when he teased her. But as he looked back down at her with a face of complete honesty, she learned that he wasn't joking. He was one hundred percent serious, and the surge of confidence the girl had then gained from it was almost frightening.
She broke into a gleeful smile.
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The joyous mood from the Yule Ball stuck with Kaya and her friends days after, everyone a bit down because it was over, but much more grateful for the fact it happened.
Fred seemed, if possible, to be finding even more opportunities to be around Kaya. He still gave her many winks a day, of which she'd still laugh at. But it was on one particular winter's day when she caught him by surprise, and he'd frozen so quickly she thought his heart might've stopped beating for a second.
Because, during lunch at the Great Hall, when the Weasley twins stood up to leave to go and set up some kind of prank, Fred winked at her.
And she winked back.
Fred looked like his soul had left his body for a split second, and George had to give him a whack on the shoulder to bring him out of his weird daze. Kaya looked down with pink cheeks, suddenly coming particularly interested in the variety of food placed in front of her.
When the twins left, Jaeden was the first to speak.
"For fuck's sake, Kaya, how long is it gonna take, with you and him? It's been like this since summer, you wanna get a move on,"
"Leave me alone!" she retorted. "Things take time-"
"Aha!" Maisie interrupted, brightly. "That's a step up - that's the first time you haven't said 'oh we're just friends'."
Kaya's cheeks turned from pink to red as she began gulping some pumpkin juice, thinking of how she can change the subject.
"How're you and Alicia, anyway?" she asked Jaeden. It was his turn to become defensive.
"We're keeping it slow, at the moment. We're gonna get to know each other, a bit more."
"You are such a hypocrite!" Kaya announced. "I actually can't believe you said to me that-"
Maisie cleared her throat.
"I'm going on a date this Saturday," she said.
The three all flicked their heads towards her and Jaeden and Kaya stopped arguing.
"What?" asked Kaya.
"A boy called Stefan - you know him, Kaya, he sat with us when Durmstrang arrived,"
"Ah, yeah, the quiet one," she recalled.
"A Durmstrang?" asked Milo. "Is he nice?"
Maisie smiled. "He's sweet. He asked me, at the ball. I couldn't have said 'no',"
"That's quick," said Jaeden.
"Well, compared to you and Alicia, anything's speedy," said Milo. "But I'm now the only one without someone to go out with. I can't believe you ditched me, Mais,"
Maisie chuckled. "Sorry,"
"Make the most of it, Miles," said Jaeden. "It's hard bloody work,"
"I second that," Kaya agreed.
Maisie and Milo exchanged smug expressions.
It was a cold, rainy night, of which Kaya spent in the Hufflepuff common room with Cedric and Maisie. She was trying to learn a song on her guitar, much to her two friends' annoyance, as they had to put up with her playing the same five second melody over, and over, until she had it perfect. It was driving them insane, and they were both looking for any type of conversation to get Kaya to stop playing and talk instead.
"Where are you going, on Saturday, Mais?" Cedric asked, now being informed about Maisie's date. "With Stefan?"
"I'm not too sure," Maisie replied. "He said Hogsmeade - I suppose we'll decide where to go when we get there,"
"Awe," Kaya smiled. "I'm so excited for you. Was he nervous when he asked?"
Maisie nodded, letting out a little giggle. Kaya and Cedric both awed.
"Have you figured out what that egg is supposed to do, yet?" The red-head asked Cedric. They were expecting him to shake his head, like he'd done the previous nights. But his lips curved upwards, and the two girls gasped.
"Oh my god!" said Kaya. "You have, haven't you?! Ooh, what is it! Tell me!"
"It's something to do with underwater," he said. "Mermaids, perhaps?"
"Ooh," said Maisie. "How are gonna prep for it?"
"Figure out how to bloody breathe underwater," He said. "Not much luck, so far."
"Don't ask me," said Kaya. "I'm absolutely hopeless with stuff like that,"
"I know," Cedric laughed. "What about you, Mais?"
The girl sighed, deep in thought.
"I'll have a think, but I don't know much myself. I've heard of people turning themselves into sharks- but that sounds a bit risky, I'm sure there are easier ways," she added, seeing Cedric's alarmed expression at the thought of turning himself into a shark.
"Yeah," he said. "I'll have to look it up,"
"Well, I'm going for a shower," said Kaya, standing up. "Before Maisie hogs it for a whole hour. I'll speak later maybe - if not, I'll see you tomorrow,"
"See you," the other two said in sync.
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It wasn't long until the second task approached. Maisie and Kaya had helped Cedric do some research, and eventually the boy settled on the 'bubble head' charm. That was definitely more safe that turning yourself into a shark.
Her red jacket layered on top of a blue jumper was the only thing keeping Kaya warm she walked with her three best friends to the black lake, where the second task was being held.
As they walked, she noticed two twins walking the opposite way to the crowds, and soon learned they were selling bets to anyone who would consider.
"Any bets?!"
"Come on, step up mates, don't be shy!"
"Four lads-!"
"-One lady!"
"Four go down!"
"But do four come up?!"
Their little sister told them to stop being mean and scowled at them, before carrying on walking.
"Alright?!" Jaeden called to them, as they headed towards the group. Fred's eyes landed on Kaya first, who was already staring at him anyway.
"Any of you care to make some bets?" asked George. "It's for a very great cause!"
"I'm sure it is," said Maisie. "What's it for?"
"Two words: We're bloody broke," George said to her.
"That's three," Kaya corrected.
George ignored her, still looking down at the red-headed girl, who shrugged, before giving him a grin.
"Good enough for me," she said. George was delightfully surprised, and happily took Maisie's bet. He flashed her a warm smile as she did so, which she returned.
"What about you, eh, lovely?" said Fred, putting an arm around Kaya. "Fancy betting on anyone?"
"I'm broke as well," she replied. "You've got no chance,"
"I'll let you off," he said. "But only because it's you,"
"We best be off," said George. "Maybe we'll meet you down there?"
"Yeah, alright then," said Jaeden. "If you can find us."
"Oh I'm sure we will," said Fred, giving Kaya a wink. She returned it, and his grin grew wider.
Everyone had to take boats out to get to the middle of the lake, where the viewing of the second task would take place. Kaya ended up sharing a boat with Jaeden - much to her dismay.
"I swear to fuck, if you start rocking this boat on the way over, I will feed you to the merpeople,"
"Do they eat humans?"
"Even if they did, they'd turn Jaeden away," Milo called, as he and Maisie climbed into another boat.
"True," said Kaya. "I'll drown you instead,"
"Charming,"
When they reached the middle of lake, the four champions were shivering on its edge, for they had very little clothing on as they'd soon be swimming. Kaya was sure Cedric was about to get frostbite.
"Welcome to the second task!" Dumbledore announced. "Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts,"
"Lovely, now they're thieving bastards as well," said Kaya. "Wonder what they took?"
"These four treasures, one for each champion, now lie on the bottom of the Black Lake. In order to win, each champion need only find their treasure, and return to the surface."
"They will have but one hour to do so, and one hour only. After that, they'll be on their own. No magic will save them,"
"I'm sorry, what is wrong with this school?" Kaya said to Maisie.
"Literally,"
"You may begin at the start of the canon,"
The fire of the canon sounded almost immediately, and three of the four dived in. Harry looked like he was choking on something - but no need to fear of him getting a late start! Moody pushed the struggling boy in, whether he was ready or not.
"Oh, well that's lovely, that is," said Kaya sarcastically.
"Now, what?" asked Jaeden. "We just wait? How fun,"
Jaeden was right in the fact that waiting for the champions to resurface was going to be boring. It made Kaya feel a little uneasy - not knowing what was happening made her feel a bit sick.
But that was only the beginning, for finding out what was hidden under the black lake was far more horrifying.