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chapter thirty four | quidditch queen
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IT WAS SAFE TO SAY, that Kaya Bennett was a lover of, many, many, things - one of which was playing Quidditch. So, when the day of the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts came (Hufflepuff's slot being just before Gryffindors), she could barely concentrate in her lessons, for the thought of getting back into her canary yellow and black Quidditch gear had her on cloud nine.
Which was a good thing, really, because for the first time this year, she'd managed to get through a Transfiguration lesson without her eyes sparkling with tears at the sight of Cedric's empty seat. Kaya had moved next to Fred in that lesson - since McGonagall would never let him sit next to Lee, and she didn't have a problem with the brunette Hufflepuff, so she couldn't exactly stop them - in fact, she was quite intrigued at the new pairing. She'd eyed them curiously for a moment as she took the register - and Fred looked extremely pleased with himself as he proceeded to give Kaya's small hand a squeeze under the desk.
"You're chirpy," he said, smiling warmly at Kaya's small grin and bright eyes as she scribbled down some notes.
"Yeah!" she replied joyfully. "I can't wait for Quidditch, later. I forgot how much I enjoyed it, I'd have probably played more of it in the summer, if it wasn't for... the move..." her voice lowered, trying to find the best code name for Grimmauld Place, just in case anybody was listening in.
"Yeah, well, ours is straight after yours. You'll have to stay and watch me work my magic, after I've seen yours," he added with a wink.
"Ah yes, the magic of hitting some heavy metal balls,"
"Also known as the magic of showing off my huge muscles," said Fred with a smirk. Kaya let out a laugh.
"Oh, well, I obviously can't wait then, Mr. Muscle," she said, playfully giving his bicep resting on the desk a squeeze.
"I know you can't,"
"And you can't wait to see me speeding around the pitch. I'm a zoomer, I'm practically the Snitch,"
"Yeah, well, you are dressed in yellow. Perhaps if you're as fast as you say, the Seeker'll confuse you with the Snitch," he grinned. "How many positions on your team need filling in?"
"Er..." Kaya said, blinking in deep thought. "Not many, I don't think... we need one new Chaser, that Zacharias is still on the team, as far as I know,"
The red-headed boy cringed. "The cocky one a few years below?"
"Yeah, that's him," Kaya nodded. "He's a twat, but he's an okay Chaser, so... and he's our Captain now, apparently, however that happened. Still, he's not as good as me, obviously," she added, with a playful wink. Fred grinned.
"And... we need a new Seeker... but, if Cedric's ghost doesn't turn up in his stupid oversized robes, then I'll be disappointed," Kaya's voice softened at the mention of Cedric, and she glanced towards his empty seat across the room for a split second, her face falling slightly.
She shook it off, though, soon enough. She'd been able to joke about Cedric's ghost turning up at tryouts, so she must be in a good mood.
Thankfully, today was a day where Kaya could talk about Cedric without the dreaded feeling of wanting to burst into tears. Grief was strange - there were times where she wanted to cry her eyes out over him for hours, and then others where she could talk about him casually without even feeling the prickle at her eyelids. It was so unpredictable, even she wasn't sure when she'd crack, next.
But, she was happy, right at this moment. So she'd cling onto that feeling for as long as possible.
After her last lesson, Kaya had met up with Maisie, and headed back to the Hufflepuff common room quickly, so that Kaya could change into her Quidditch gear. Tryouts would be practically straight after tea, so she wouldn't have time to change afterwards.
She slipped on her black and yellow striped jumper and the rest of her gear, before tying her curls up into a ponytail to keep them out of the way.
"Whew, hottie!" Maisie teased, when Kaya had finally finished. "I haven't seen that uniform in a while,"
Kaya did a little squeal.
"I'm so excited!" she beamed.
"I'm more excited to see you try and put up with Smith without yelling at him," Maisie said with a teasing smirk.
"Yeah, well, as much as I'd like to, I can't yell at him, can I? He's captain, he'll kick me off,"
"Fair point,"
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"You look cute," Fred smiled, once he'd caught sight of Kaya dressed in her Hufflepuff kit, walking with Maisie as they appeared on the pitch to join the boys. Fred, George, and Milo were already in their Gryffindor gear, for their tryouts were straight after, so it only made sense.
Kaya smiled. She would've said something, but she was busy focusing on the fact that, oh shit. Fred does have muscles. Fit.
"So do you," she replied with a grin, and he playfully scoffed, everyone sitting down as they waited for the rest of Hufflepuff team to appear.
"You won't think she's cute when she's playing, Fred," said Jaeden. "She's like a fucking falcon - and she gets major Quidditch rage,"
"No!" Kaya defended. "It's not Quidditch rage..."
"Well, there's Quidditch, and there's rage, isn't there?"
"Oh, shut up,"
"That's what everyone thinks when you're yelling at them. I'm serious," Jaeden added, glancing at the twins and Lee, who had yet to experience Kaya's Quidditch alter ego. "She's got no temper, at all. She doesn't even lose it, it's just not there to begin with."
"Jae, I won't hesitate to shove this broom up your arse-!"
"See!"
"Children!" Lee interrupted. "Children, calm yourselves!"
"Who are you waiting for?" Maisie asked Kaya, squinting as she looked across at the huddle of yellow uniforms gathered in the middle of the thick mist across the pitch. Kaya also looked, and began to count the figures in the distance.
"We're missing three, not including me," she said. "Smith's over there, I can make out his bad hair... and that's Rickett, next to him, he's a Beater... he's alright, he's a good laugh,"
"He's not a very good Beater, though," said George. Kaya snorted.
"He's alright!" she said.
"No he's not!" Fred agreed with George. "He nearly had Alicia's head off in our game with Hufflepuff, two years ago. Then you lot won anyway, because the ref decided to be unfair,"
"Hey, we wanted a rematch!" said Kaya. "Cedric even offered one, and you two got all assy like it was our fault,"
Fred grinned at her sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. He remembered the match all too well - and the aftermath.
"We were annoyed..!" George said slowly in an attempt of defence.
"Fucking hell, if going off on one like that is 'annoyed' I'd dread to think what you two being actually angry is,"
"It's because they're ginger," said Lee. Jaeden nodded.
"Exactly, ginger people get angry ten times worse than anyone else, it's a scientific fact,"
Maisie raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"Excuse me!" she said. "I never lose my temper, because I actually have a sense of control-"
"-Ooh, a sense of control!" George mocked. She pulled a face at him, which he reflected back.
"Yeah, but Maisie's not ginger, she's strawberry blonde," said Milo.
"Same thing!" said Fred.
"No-"
"Ah shit, Smith's yelling at me," said Kaya. "I'm gonna go,"
She gave Fred a quick kiss on the cheek - ignoring Jaeden and Milo's retching noises - and stood up.
"Have fun, cutie!" Maisie called over to her as she began to walk off, before glancing at Fred with a teasing grin.
"Oi, I'm supposed to say that stuff," he frowned.
"Chicks before dicks, Fred. Chicks before dicks."
Kaya stood next to Anthony Rickett as Zacharias Smith gave a really unnecessarily long speech to those trying out for the free positions. She knew Anthony considerably well, since he'd been a Beater for the same amount of time she'd been a Chaser, and so the two had gotten to know each other through their Quidditch practices, and games. The two got along quite well, since they shared the same sense of humour, and Anthony was one of the few players who wouldn't take it to heart when the lion in Kaya jumped out and she yelled at them during playing.
Yet, the two didn't often speak outside Quidditch, unless it was related to the game. It was a purely sport-based friendship. But Kaya didn't mind - she was just glad she still had somebody to talk to after Cedric... left...
"Bloody hell, can we just get on with it?" Anthony muttered, and Kaya let out a snigger. Merlin, could Zacharias rant - almost as badly as Umbridge could.
Finally, they were set off to help those trying out. Kaya and Zacharias were to work with those trying out to the the third Chaser, flying around and passing the Quaffle to them from different angles, making sure they could catch them and proceed to score. The first to begin was Cadwallader, a stocky boy the year below Kaya, who was surprisingly quite good. He stumbled a bit when catching the Quaffle and proceeding forward, but other than that, he was pretty good at scoring.
She could make out the figures of her friends and her boyfriend sitting and watching her, shouting things over, like,
"Go on, K, you bloody zoomer!" and "I see you, twirling around like a ballet dancer!"
And then, Kaya (though secretly knowing they were right from the beginning) was reminded of the fact that Fred and George had called Rickett a shit Beater when a Bludger came flying towards her - she'd only just ducked in time for it to swoop past where her head had just been.
"Shit," said Smith, stopping, as Kaya peered through the mist at the figure of Anthony, hovering a few metres down the pitch, holding a bat and having looked guilty for where he'd accidentally hit the Bludger.
"Woah, watch where you're hitting the Bludgers, Rickett, you twat!" she yelled at him. "That nearly had my head off!"
"Sorry, Bennett!" He called back.
Apart from nearly being beheaded by a Bludger, Kaya was having the time of her life flying around the Quidditch Pitch with her team again - even if she caught herself of guard a few moments, because she'd expected to see Cedric flying around, looking for the Snitch which had been let loose for practice.
And Fred soon learned that Jaeden was right when it came to her speed, as he watched her with a huge beam zoom around the pitch like she was the Snitch herself.
After a while, Kaya and Zacharias finished working with all of the new potential Chasers, and so began going through them all - after all, there can only be one.
"Who do you reckon?" the blonde asked. "I think we can both rule out Turner, he only scored about two,"
"Yeah," Kaya agreed. "He wasn't very fast either - but Grazer said he's in lots of different clubs, and if a game or tryouts clash with his Herbology Club then he'll pick that over Quidditch, so..."
"Did he?" Zacharias raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know that, I was gonna pick him... ah, that's a shame, he was the best player..."
"I know,"
"So I guess we go with Cadwallader?"
"I guess. He's quite good though," Kaya said. "Fast. More swift than Turner,"
Zacharias nodded in thought.
"Yeah, we'll go with him, then," he said. "I'll see how everyone else is doing, and then we can round the team up, yeah?"
"Yeah, alright, then," said Kaya, giving her arms a stretch after being in the same position on her broom for so long.
Her face fell a little, when he walked off. This time two years ago, she'd been having the same type of conversation with Cedric.
Zacharias might be an alright captain - but Cedric always has been, and always will be, the best. No doubt about it.
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