「012. witch trials 」

HISTORY OF magic, which happened to be honey's least favourite subject, had only one section honey could distinctly recall: the salem witch trials of 1692.

the salem witch trials, simply put, was the prosecution of people accused of witchcraft in america. common ways of punishment were simply hanging- but the idea of witches went further back the played down version in the late 1600s (even if it was horrific and no witch had actually been killed in the trials- just innocent people who could've lived).

witch accusations had floated around for a longer time than that- burnings, hangings and court trials. throwing an accused 'witch' into a body of water (usually a river) and seeing if she floated was apparently also a very accurate way to see the 'guilty' women convicted. to dye by the pyre or to drown in the lake.

that was the way they went.

there is no reason for honey to necessarily be spewing this knowledge (she does, afterall, have a year-ish until her OWLs).

the dream she was currently having didn't seem to give 'no reason' to her spewing of information when she woke up the next morning. in fact, the dream seemed to just worry her even more.

it was all simple flashes at the start. roaring flames felt sour in the air- waves of violence hissed in her mind as all she could see was scarlet and gold. there was a face in the flames, but all she could think was: run.

so she did, right into the blackened doom- eyes burning and body stinging. this was a nightmare, a dream.

that was all it could be.

then, murky green filled her eyes in her dreams. it was the type that makes your skin crawl just a bit because you simply have no idea what is in front of you and what is to the left of you. the water crawled around, prodding at skin that honey couldn't see with something tangling at hands she couldn't look for either. everything seemed numb, like nothing was happening.

she was motionless.

she was numb.

she was drowning.

there was a sluggish blink, and then everything seemed to come back to her. water in her throat, salt clawed at her veins and the particles stung her eyes. as bubbles escaped her mouth with the last piece of air leaving to the surface, a brown hand shot to her shoulder, and honey woke up.

she spat out what she thought was water, only to find herself hacking out air violently.

"bloody seer," she hissed to herself.

the world outside was still dark and gloomy, tired like all the students were from a night of dancing. with feet hurting and dam of thoughts that came with everything that happened at the yule ball breaking, honey closed her eyes.

seer be damned, she would not be dealing with her problems tonight.

honey woke up the next morning and decided she wasn't going to deal with her problems just yet. a funny thing, really. because next she knew- everybody else was doing the same as her. emmery and kai? the two of them blatantly ignored that they'd even come within centimetres of the others lips. hermione and ron? well, she had no idea what happened with them... but they were ignoring the thing (which was unusual of them); they were oddly polite, actually. and honey?

a dream is just a dream, no prophecy in the making.

(that was the lie she told herself).

there was, however, one blinding problem that honey could not avoid.

"why isn't hagrid here?" she frowned, looking at the new professor in front of them, surrounded by a courteous pair (ron and hermione, oddly), hannah abbott and harry potter (who still looked bleary-eyed from the yule ball). "what happened to him?"

"he is indisposed," said professor grubbly-plank shortly.

behind her, she heard the soft and unpleasant laughter of draco malfoy and a few of the others surrounding him. they all looked so gleeful, like they'd actually been expecting professor grubbly-plank. if anything it seemed like they were involved in professor grubbly-plank being there as their temporary teacher.

"this way, please," said professor grubbly-plank, and she strode off around the paddock where the beauxbatons horses were shivering.

the group followed her, but not without a few of them turning back to look at hagrid's cabin. a frown placed itself stubbornly on honey's face when she saw the curtains closed. she hadn't heard a word from hagrid- and even if she had, she'd been to busy with nightmares and whatnot they'd hardly spoken a word to each other at breakfast (in fact, they hadn't even sat at the same table).

"come on, honey." hermione called, tugging her along with hannah to catch up with ron and harry.

"what's wrong with hagrid?" she heard harry to professor grubbly-plank as they caught up to him.

"never you mind," she said as though she thought he was being nosy.

"i do mind, though," said harry hotly. "what's up with him?"

professor grubbly-plank acted as though she couldn't hear him.

harry turned around, a sour look on his face and a speck of glitter on his cheek.

"you have glitter on your cheek," honey said, rubbing it away with her jumper. "since when did you wear glitter?"

"it's probably from the patil twins," he grumbled. "they had glitter all over their eyes whilst helping me get ready."

"no need to sound so sour, harry." hermione replied back, though she sounded a bit weary about her statement. "i'm sure hagrid is fine."

"why wouldn't he be?" honey shrugged, "i'm sure he's just sick. there's no point of worrying about it now. i'm going to visit him after dinner. maybe we should all go together?"

"sounds like a plan," shrugged ron before adding, "though- if i see hagrid sneeze once, i will not return until it's gone."

"uh... why?" asked honey.

"weak immune system," shrugged ron. "all pureblood families have them. it's because of all the inbreeding."

silence.

hannah coughed, "he's not particularly wrong, you know. most wizarding families- especially pureblood families are terribly inbred."

"i can't believe you say this all so casually," muttered hermione, who looked like she wanted to continue, but was however unfortunately (or fortunately if that was your view on it) interrupted by their new care of magical teachers professor.

she led them past the paddock where the huge beauxbatons horses were standing, huddled against the cold, and toward a tree on the edge of the forest, where a large and beautiful unicorn was tethered.

honey was amongst those who looked like their childhood dream was coming true. beside her, hannah looked absolutely elated with a large grin stuck to her face. hermione, who honey was sure had most likely read ahead, seemed to analyse the movements of the unicorns. she was caught somewhere between awestruck and fascinated (as hermione usually was).

"they're..." began harry, clearly struck for words.

"ethereal." decided honey simply, grinning as she looked at the unicorn's liquid-silver mane. the animal seemed to have a silver glow around it, oozing its dainty and celestial aura around them. "god, i love this subject."

harry, who's sour demeanour dissolved as he looked at honey, shook his head. "i've never seen you this calm, or... not trying to flirt or make a joke."

"my personality isn't flirting, harry." she sighed, eyes still locked on the unicorn. "it's our banter."

"banter."

"i told you this from the beginning, didn't i? this type of stuff is our banter. i'd never properly flirt with you. "

"ouch."

"banter, harry. just banter."

"right."

she hummed in response, watching the movement of the unicorn in front of them as professor grubbly-plank began to speak.

"boys, keep back!" she barked. "they prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. girls to the front and the rest of you..." she eyed the boys and the other students. "stay back. i'm not sure how they'd even react to anybody who doesn't identify as a girl."

hermione, hannah and honey took glances at each other before stepping forward leaving the rest of the students behind at the paddock fence. professor grubbly-plank began to prattle on about unicorns- seemingly reciting what must've been the whole chapter on unicorns from their book off by heart.

hermione looked like she was crying of joy- enraptured by the professors words and listening intently as her hand moved at the speed of light to jot down practically every word, breath and sigh that escaped their cover teachers mouth.

honey was terribly conflicted whilst this all happened, and had yet to even move her hand to write down notes (which was rather unusual for her when it came to care of magical creatures).

professor grubbly-plank was a good teacher, that was the problem. she knew how to explain every single detail honey had memorised about unicorns (and probably any magical creature by the looks of it) and regurgitate them in a way that made sense to them all. she made little jokes and mixed practical and traditional learning into one ball of 'fun' (or as 'fun' as school can be for some).

she was a good teacher, but somewhere in the back of her mind, all honey could hear was 'she's not hagrid'.

hagrid had always been kind to honey, and in return she had been the same to him. he'd given her research material, notes, old editions and new editions of countless care of magical creature books. he may not have been able to regurgitate a whole chapter off by heart, but he still managed to explain things to people in a way that just made sense.

his way of teaching wasn't about buzz-words for exams, it was about truly knowing what the creatures were like. afterall, they had their own thoughts and feelings. and whilst most wouldn't see that, hagrid did and he treated them as though they were just his friends.

it was endearing, really.

so when the lesson ended, and honey's parchment was as blank as it would be if she'd been in transfiguration (however, there probably would have been a lot more audible complaining to hannah about how she didn't understand anything), she didn't really need much else to set her into a earth shattering headache.

but, alas, there's always something.

"are you two okay?" honey asked, squinting at ron and harry who looked like a poisonous mixture of rage and sadness. "what's got you upset, glitter-head?"

"not now, honey." harry replied, sounding enraged. "rita skeeter is a foul bitch."

"my god," mumbled honey, looking back to see hermione avidly chatting with hannah far behind her. "don't let hermione hear you say that- she may start her rant of annoyance for the woman again."

"she's right, though." harry fired back.

"alright- alright, i didn't say anything else about it, harry. don't attack me for it," she quipped back. "stop acting like a prick and tell me what's bothering you two so badly."

"at the yule ball, i found out that hagrid was half-giant," harry explained.

"which-" interrupted ron, "isn't much of a big deal. besides the fact hagrid is insanely tall, there's not much else to it. nobody should care..." he trailed off, staring sourly at the newspaper hary gripped tightly in his hands.

"right..." honey began, slowly putting the pieces together. "and rita skeeter has something to do with this...?"

harry huffed, shoving the newspaper into honey's face, "see for yourself."

'DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE'
~RITA SKEETER'S LATEST SCOOP!

honey had to remind herself that although hagrid had nothing to be ashamed about for being a half-giant (because it was hardly that big of deal in fairness. he was still hagrid, wasn't he?), that he probably thought he did. he as probably hurt, hence why he hadn't (and still hadn't) allowed any of them to see him or even talk to him.

that, however, did not stop the four of them going down to hagrid's hut and simply just checking if the curtains were closed every day.

it also did not stop honey from enjoying hogsmeade. because yes, rita skeeter was indeed a big cow, but she wouldn't let that woman ruin her hogsmeade trip- especially when it was her first hogsmeade trip with kai and emmery.

what honey had gathered from their 'situation' was that neither party was willing to speak on the matter of the kiss, and had decided to ignore it completely. however- it left honey in a difficult spot.

she wouldn't say she was 'close' to kai. sure, they talked now (without her insulting him) in divinations and any other classes they shared (and especially about quidditch), and yes they'd talked on the train, but she barely knew him.

all she knew was he was a muggle born by the name of kai sasuki who lived in scotland (and, insanely enough, drove down to kings cross station every year only to be brought back up to scotland when he could've easily flooded in).

in her mind, there was still a barrier between them. he was emmery's friend (or more? she had no idea) and that was all. just emmery's friend and a person she talked to sometimes. they'd never even had a conversation with each other alone without emmery- how was she supposed to properly consider him a good friend when they hardly talked without emmery's presence?

technically, that was fine. honey didn't need to be close to kai- after all, she had a good set of friends right now and that was more than enough for her. but the thing was, if emmery was friends with him then she needed to be too. not for a controlling reason, it just so happened that any friend of emmery's eventually landed up being yours as well if you too were close friends with her.

honey wasn't an idiot either, she knew that emmery wouldn't be in the middle to dissolve the eventual awkwardness (even if it was only a pinch of awkwardness) all the time, she'd want to go into shops they wouldn't want to go in and vice versa. she couldn't stop the future (not that she knew of, anyway).

so when the time came for the three to trot on over to hogsmeade, honey prepared herself for the worse.

"you'll be fine," assured freya as she pushed honey out of the hufflepuff common room, "stop being stubborn. and make sure the jumper stays on. god only knows why you chose to wear a leather jacket when it is this cold, honey."

"fashion," she tartly replied. "maeve could stalk around in six inch heels through the snow, i've got nothing on her."

freya shook her head, "your cousin is a maniac."

"as am i."

"well, maniac." freya teased, "you don't have to be her." she rolled her eyes and added in the same teasing tone, "don't come crying to me when you freeze your tits off out there."

"i'd never cry."

freya hummed, clearly not buying it at all. in all fairness, neither did honey.

well, freya wasn't right about the crying. she was, however, right about honey finding it unbearably cold.

"i should've worn a thicker jumper," she complained as she stuck her hands into the pockets of the black leather jacket- the already thick white woolly jumper and skirt she had on underneath along with thick leggings under her black tights doing absolutely nothing to combat the cold. "i should've worn a fucking heater. stupid scottish weather."

kai let out a wounded sound, like he was personally offended by the statement.

"sorry," she replied, side-eyeing him awkwardly. "i'm-"

"she isn't used to it like you are, kai." emmery cut in, saving honey from what would've been a continuation of an already awkward apology. she was dressed more sensibly with a large green scarf over a cream long and thick jacket which hid even more wool underneath. "neither am i, to be fair."

"i don't think any of us are," he shrugged as they continued to walk until emmery let out a squeal.

"they have more quills!" she yelled in utter delight as she ran up to a store, pressing her face against the glass. "and they're the green ones!" she turned around to them, eyes wide.

"no," honey immediately said. "the lady in there hates me. i send hermione in there to buy all my necessities."

"kai-?"

"uh.." kai winced, like it physically hurt him to say no to emmery. "sorry ems, but i already went last trip for my things. nearly got kicked out because of dean and seamus and... well, it was quite the ordeal-"

something glinted in emmery's eyes that made honey wonder why the green-cladded girl hadn't been sorted into slytherin.

no, honey pleaded, looking directly into emmery's eyes.

the red-head grinned, yes.

honey suddenly didn't appreciate the fact that they were patching up their friendship as an uncomfortable feeling shot to points in her body like emmery had aimed and fired at them with a bow.

"why don't you two head down to the three broomsticks?" emmery suggested, "i'll only be a little while." lie. honey knew by the look she would take ages. "i'll come find you when i'm done!"

"um... okay?" kai began.

"emmery, a word?" honey said instead, tugging her off to the side. she let out a quiet hiss, "i am not comfortable with this."

emmery frowned, "just try?"

"ems, we've hardly patched up our burning pyre of a friendship- you expect me to do this as well?"

"this might help," argued emmery. "you've missed a whole year of me. and didn't you say a while ago when you patched kai and i up that he was a good friend?"

"yes, but emmery he is your best friend."

"and so are you! just talk to him, honey. i'm not being unreasonable. and i actually do need to go into the shop... please?" she gave honey a look that made her face go blank.

"emmery, you owe me so much." honey grumbled. she stared at her seriously and added, "i appreciate that a whole year went by of us hating each other and all the fucking shit we had and that he was there for you, but i don't like the forcing of this. i'm doing it because i genuinely would rather drown than go into the quills and parchment shop." then, she sighed. "don't make me do stuff like this again, please?"

emmery stared at her simply absorbing everything she said before she nodded. "i'm sorry, really. i just thought it would be a good way-"

"i get what you were trying to do," honey interrupted. "if it were anybody else i'd probably hate this."

"so you admit you think kai is nice?"

"he's hopeless in divinations."

"that didn't sound like a no, honey."

"just go get your bloody quills," honey grumbled as a smile stubbornly fought its way onto her face.

emmery laughed, "i will. and i promise i'll buy you some chocolate as an apology for me doing this."

"better be the high quality stuff."

"only the best for you."

surprisingly, it wasn't as awkward as it had been on the train ride to hogwarts, or any other time kai and honey had communicated together (obviously not counting classes. that was hardly awkward, mainly because honey was practically teaching kai everything all the time so there was simply no room for awkwardness).

it started off quite meaningless, with honey asking questions about kai in general. it took her only about ten minutes to find out his favourite colour was coincidentally red ("very gryffindor, kai. very on brand." to which he simply shrugged and asked for hers), he was in fact older than emmery ("that also makes sense, to be fair." "how so?" "you seem quite sensible." to which he snorted) and had only recently learned how much of an irrational fellow he really was.

"so you've simply just went swimming with the giant squid?" she frowned, looking up at him disbelievingly. "i wouldn't think that's something you would do."

"i thought you'd be all gung-ho for being extroverted, but then i find out from emmery you apparently would rather shit in your hands and clap then be in a room full of strangers." then, he added as an after thought, "was it nerve-wracking to open the ball?"

"truly terrifying," she nodded, trapezing around the topic of the yule ball carefully. "it was fine in the end- but i'm not the best in front of loads of people, even if i'm talkative."

"hm," he replied, taking a sip out of his butter beer.

silence.

"is it weird that i'm friends with your childhood best friend?" kai asked after a profound burst of silence.

honey made a face, and chose to mull the question over with a few gulps of butter beer. "it's not necessarily weird, in fairness." she winced, "i'm a very territorial person- which.... er, i've been trying to work on. i really did mean it though when i told you that you're a good friend to emmery." she scoffed and looked at the foam at the butter of her mug, "better than i ever was."

"that's stupid," he retorted, and honey glanced up at him in confusion. "there's no better or terrible friend. right- maybe what you both did last year was deemed terrible, but you're both trying now, right?"

she nodded, confused as to where kai was going with what he was saying.

"all i'm saying is we shouldn't be comparing ourselves, really." he glanced at her and shook his head, "i was terribly jealous when i first became friends with emmery- because you seemed to know her so much better than i did. and maybe i was a bit put off when you two became friends again- but it's hardly bad for any of us. we bring out different sides of emmery."

"i gues so," she mused. she glanced at him, "tell me she isn't as distracted by the littlest detail with you."

"oh," he laughed, "nope. even more so." he shrugged and continued, "i dunno though, i kind of like it. it's like she absorbs every detail- it's kind of strange and impressive. like, we could sit for hours and she'd just nod and listen and i'd do the same with her." he grinned, "she's a good friend."

good friend, didn't really seem like it was what kai was describing.

"well, she's a right annoying sod." decided honey, "but her older brother is fit."

"RIGHT?!" kai agreed, shocking honey with his enthusiasm. she'd meant it just as a side-comment. but apparently, according to kai, it was his gospel of truth. "'mery gets mad at me when i say it though, i think it's because she thinks i'll go off and try elope with him. but- in fairness, as an inspiring healer, him being the head of potions and poisons." he looked her dead in the eye with all seriousness and finished, "tell me that's not the most attractive thing ever."

"erm... well-"

he laughed, "i'm just kidding." then, he added. "not about her brother being fit. because he is."

"oh, definitely."

"i'm glad you and i agree on how fit our mutual friend's brother is." honey laughed, an easy grin stretching onto her face.

"what are you talking about? we're friends now too, obviously."

he said it with such certainty that honey nearly choked on the remainder of her butterbeer just from surprise. she didn't know it was that easy to make a friend.

or, maybe it was just kai sasuki's doing.

he was always just a little bit too lovable, even when honey was scheming by herself from the very start on how she would dramatically lead him (and possibly emmery at times) to his demise.

"alright then," she said. "we're friends."

apparently emmery's plans always worked out. one way or another, that is.

(however, she would not be forced into a situation like this ever again if she ever had a say in it).

kai and honey ended up pleasantly chatting after their business deal of friendship for about half an hour before emmery decided to finally show up with a large bag (probably full of chocolate and quills or perhaps a combination of the two).

barely five minutes had passed and harry, ron and hermione had bustled in only for things to get too interesting rather quickly.

honey had spotted rita skeeter edging around the three broomsticks, nattering with her stupid quill floating around and whizzing at godspeed beside her and had chose to not get herself involved (because she really couldn't be bothered with the woman's antics, actually). that was normal for her, believe it or not.

honey never usually got herself involved in things until she was truly bothered to. was rita skeeter nattering to somebody she knew? not particularly. hence, from that anser, would honey try to start something with the middle-aged woman? absolutely not, the answer was a definite 'no'.

she'd seen her mum reading her columns before, and after one little glance at them she realised how much rubbished was truly capable of spewing out of people's mouths. but of course, rita skeeter was a try-hard and seemed to set the bar even higher for the amount of shit she wrote with every new 'scoop', 'edition' and 'exclusive interview'.

(she was also still fuming about what she'd written about hagrid. hagrid of all people!)

then harry opened his mouth, and honey couldn't tell if she wanted to save him from another news column reimagining his life or join in his bad-mouthing to the woman.

"excuse me," she mumbled to emmery and kai. "i'm about to do something so stupidly gryffindor that i might vomit after doing so."

"oh," kai said, rather confused by her outburst. "well- er, good luck?"

"bless you, kai sasuki. you complete fool," she mumbled, walking over to harry, ron and hermione as harry continued to lecture rita skeeter.

"who cares if he's half-giant?" harry continued, nearly shouting. "there's nothing wrong with him!"

honey tapped his shoulder, "harry, love. might want to calm down a bit."

"oh? love?" rita skeeter repeated, practically wetting herself with glee. "harry, tell me- is this-"

"oh dear god," she grumbled, trying desperately to ignore the questions being fired at her and harry. "stop making a fool of yourself. let her wear herself to death, harry. are you seriously thinking that dignifying her with a response will do much?"

"i don't know, honey."

"honey-?!"

"well, don't do it." she instructed simply. "the whole pub doesn't need this. they have the latest scandal sheet they can comment on- i hardly think they need a new one acting out in front of them."

"harry, tell me. who is this girl in front of you?"

harry mulled it over, turning so he was only staring at honey. he'd grown (apparently) even more since the summer, and was now most certainly taller than her.

"alright then," he nodded. "d'you want to come back with us to the castle?"

"any romance for our fourth champion? how long have you two been-"

"well, i came here with kai and ems, so-"

"tell me, harry. was it love at first sight-"

"DEAR BLOODY MERLIN!" honey snapped, twisting to look at rita skeeter. "why don't you just mind your own business? harry and i are friends. surely you have better things to be doing than commenting on people's personal lives. perhaps- i don't know- doing your job as a journalist and reporting on the tasks? last i checked there was no column out about any of the placings for the first task- not a proper one, anyways."

rita skeeter's crack-addicted whizzing quill clattered to the floor.

she turned to look at kai and emmery as she said, "i don't think we'd mind walking back now, would we?" they shrugged and she turned back to harry, "we'll join you then."

she looked back at rita skeeter, who was currently doing her best at trying to threaten her.

"my mum is a big fan of your writing, miss skeeter. she loves the way you can't actually report the truth, it's very on-brand for a ministry employed journalist, isn't it?" she smiled sweetly as she linked arms with harry. "tara, now!"

as they walked out, ron shook his head.

"bad things happen to people who mess with rita skeeter."

"if she really has nothing better to do than try to ruin a teenager's life, then i applaud her for being a desperate person. not all of us are made for it, after all."

honey didn't know when her lessons with trelawney turned into her spewing how annoyed she was that hagrid had yet to show up and teach any lessons (which then went hand in hand with honey and hermione's shared hatred of rita skeeter), but it soon just became that. it wasn't a bad thing, but it wasn't necessarily the best thing either. she was meant to be trying to control her visions- or at least make sure they didn't make her wake up screaming- she wasn't meant to be using her divination teacher's special lessons for helping her as a therapy session.

"he hasn't come out of his cabin yet, professor." she complained for the twentieth time in the single session. "we don't care that he's a half-giant. who would? he's still hagrid, and he's still the best bloody teacher i've had for care of magical creatures."

trelawney hummed, then added, "miss skeeter... i remember her. she's a horrid woman, no? all this pish posh about hagrid is frankly confusing, my dear." she sighed, tapping eh crystal ball in front of her on her desk with her nails, "i see nothing but fog for her. she is simply unreadable."

"it's because she's rubbish, professor." honey said in a stubborn voice. she sighed, looking away. "sorry, professor."

"whatever for, my child?" the divinations professor replied, looking simply baffled at honey's apology.

"for wasting your time with this sort of stuff," she mumbled, "i did want to speak to you about other things, but..." she glanced at the clock on trelawney's wall. "it's a bit late."

"nonsense," trelanwey said, moving her hand like she was waving away honey's words. "we have time until dinner, yes? you may speak for as long as you like. perhaps share your woe of your eyes..." she looked a bit misty eyed, grabbing for a biscuit and chewing on it thoughtfully as honey stared at her with confusion.

trelawney, as it turned out, was slowly becoming one of honey's favourite teachers.

she still hated divinations (she thought it was an excuse to nap, really. had she not been a seer, she guessed trelawney and her would've clashed heads a lot more). she still thought the art of divinations that trelawney taught in lessons was stupid.

but, she liked trelawney as a person. the professor was more... senile when away from lessons, so much so you could have a normal conversation for quite a while before she started blabbered about planets conjuncted and whatever rubbish her textbook spoke about.

"well, honour? are you to continue?"

her eyes snapped back to her divinations professor as she quickly said, "er- yes, of course. i've been having a bit of a problem."

"what might the problem be, child?"

honey winced, unsure where and how to begin.

just blurt it out, she thought to herself, it worked when telling lee about all this.

"i woke up drowning."

"sorry?"

"no- ..." she huffed, "i had a dream... or- whatever you want to call it. a prophecy, a vision- whatever. but in the dream, i was drowning. and i woke up trying to cough up water. only, of course, there wasn't any. it's no big deal, it could've just been a nightmare. i get those a good bit..."

but what about the face in the fire? hissed the other voices in her head. to die by the pyre, or to drown in a lake.

shut up, she snapped, somehow you're more annoying then when i first realised you existed.

they didn't shut up, unfortunately.

trelawney once more hummed thoughtfully, one hand tangled in her hair as she combed through it. "you haven't had one of those in a while, no?"

"no, i haven't."

"imperius curses will do that," trelawney replied- a bit glassy eyes as she said the words. "any work we've done has probably unravelled."

"unravelled?"

"i told you of... the curse's affects," trelawney said slowly. honey nodded, the pained look trelawney had shown flashing across her eyes. she hadn't expected that reaction, but it stuck with her like glue. "you went to a muggle primary school, yes? half-blood?"

honey nodded, unsure where it was all leading.

"i myself am a half-blood as well." she sighed, "i do wish that hogwarts would try to teach some muggle lessons- the sciences and such. i got a degree in degree in neurology, you know. at the time, i thought it would be useful since i'm a seer."

honey blinked. she hadn't know that.

"we had to study the body and the immune system and that sort of thing. why, it was a while ago..." she trailed off before she seemed to focus once more after a few seconds passed by. "when something foreign enters your body, how does it react?"

"it..." honeyed frowned. she had muggle cousins, she'd seen what they'd learnt and trie dot recall it. "it defends itself, right? it sends out something to make the bad thing get out of your body."

"in simple terms, yes. the inner eye is a bit like that, in a way."

"but how does it unravel itself, then? surely if it's defending from something then nothing else is damaged."

"the inner eye isn't like muggle biology, honour. it has no defensive layers- it simply is. all that control you built is the defensive layer. when the voices enter- they aren't yours, and so as the defensive layer unravels itself. the foregign voices are gone, but you are left as you were in the beginning: no control with all the voices as they once were, running around your mind and driving you to insanity."

"so... because of what professor moody did..."

"your control has weakened, yes."

honey huffed, "well that's not good."

trelawney laughed (but it was quite an awkward one, really). "yes, rather terrible really."

"so what do you suggest i do? more lessons? more studying of seers?" she shuddered as she added, "meditating?"

trelawney paused for a moment, as if she was mulling over honey's words. "meditating wouldn't be bad. though, i sense you wouldn't appreciate it. as for more lessons- why you are busy with other things. but if you wish, you may pop in here at any time."

"and studying seers?"

"if you wish to, you can. but i don't think it will help in your endeavours as much as you want it to."

"so then what do i do?"

professor trelawney shrugged and replied simply, "gain back your control, of course."

she said it as if it was the easiest thing in the world, when in fact it was quite the opposite.

hermione practically dragged her away after she finished her last bite of dessert.

"what the-" hissed honey in outrage. "hermione? i wanted seconds of that! they haven't done lemon cheesecake in ages-"

"seconds?" ron interrupted mournfully. "i wanted those too."

"shut up," ordered hermione.

they both shut their mouths as harry followed along without a word out of his mouth just yet.

"what are we doing, hermione?" honey finally asked after a few moments of silence.

"we're visiting hagrid."

"shouldn't we give him space, 'mione?" ron asked, sounding like he'd said this more than once. "it's no big deal that he's a half-giant, but he probably thinks it is- maybe we should let him collect his thoughts and then-?"

"don't finish that, ron." harry said (oddly wise), "hermione might kill you."

"i've simply had enough," hermione declared.

"we all have, hermione. but couldn't you have waited until i had another slice of cheesecake?" honey said.

hermione shot her a glare and honey sobered up from her lemon cheesecake fantasies.

"alright... to be fair we probably should get it done sooner or later. he's been like this for a week. i think he just needs our support," honey finally admitted.

hermione nodded, and honey's shoulders relaxed.

the curtains of hagrid's hut were still drawn, and they could hear fang barking as they approached.

"hagrid!" hermione shouted, pounding on his front door. "hagrid, that's enough! we know you're in there! nobody cares if your mum was a giantess, hagrid! you can't let that foul skeeter woman do this to you! hagrid, get out here, you're just being-"

the door opened.

hermione said, "about it-!" and then stopped, very suddenly, because she had found herself face-to-face, not with hagrid, but with albus dumbledore.

"good afternoon," he said pleasantly, smiling down at them.

creepy git, she thought to herself.

"we.. er we wanted to see hagrid," said hermione in a rather small voice.

"yes, i surmised as much," said dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "why don't you come in?"

"oh...um...okay," said hermione.

the four of them went into the cabin.

fang launched himself upon harry the moment he entered, barking madly and trying to lick his ears. harry fended off fang whilst honey looked around, her mouth immediately forming a frown.

hagrid was sitting at his table, where there were two large mugs of tea. he looked a real mess. his face was blotchy, his eyes swollen, and he had gone to the other extreme where his hair was concerned; far from trying to make it behave, it now looked like a wig of tangled wire.

"hi, hagrid," said harry.

hagrid looked up. "'lo," he said in a very hoarse voice.

"more tea, i think," said dumbledore, closing the door behind them, drawing out his wand, and twiddling it; a revolving tea tray appeared in midair along with a plate of cakes. dumbledore magicked the tray onto the table, and everybody sat down.

there was a slight pause, and then dumbledore said, "did you by any chance hear what miss granger was shouting, hagrid?"

hermione went slightly pink, but dumbledore smiled at her and continued, "the four of them still seem to want to know you, judging by the way they were attempting to break down the door."

"that was more hermione's doing, to be fair." ron added quietly before harry elbowed him.

"of course we still want to know you!" harry said, staring at hagrid. "you don't think any- thing that skeeter cow - sorry, professor," he added quickly, looking at dumbledore.

"i have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said. harry," said dumbledore, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.

"hagrid, we really don't care." honey simply stated, her voice very firm on the matter. "why would we? this is just like the muggle world with mixed-race lot. who fucking cares? you're no worse than any of us- actually, i'd argue you are probably better."

two fat tears leaked out of hagrid's beetle-black eyes and fell slowly into his tangled beard.

"living proof of what i've been telling you, hagrid," said dumbledore, still looking carefully up at the ceiling. "i have shown you the letters from the countless parents who remember you from their own days here, telling me in no uncertain terms that if i sacked you, they would have something to say about it-"

"not all of 'em," said hagrid hoarsely. "not all of 'em wan me ter stay."

"really, hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, i'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time," said dumbledore, now peering sternly over his half-moon spectacles. "not a week has passed since i became headmaster of this school when i haven't had at least one owl complaining about the way i run it. but what should i do? barricade myself in my study and refuse to talk to anybody?"

"yeh - yeh're not half-giant!" said hagrid croakily.

harry shook his head. "look at the dursleys! the thing honey was talking about, the thing about mixed-race people? hagrid i'm mixed race- you've seen the dursleys and how they act about that. i've got them lot as relatives."

"we get you might think it's shameful, hagrid." honey said kindly. "but it's not- that's who you are. should hermione be ashamed she's a muggleborn, that she didn't know she was magic at a young age like ron because he's a pureblood?"

"no-"

"should i be ashamed i'm a half-blood? or that i live in a town populated by a lot of white muggles when most certainly not being white? should either hermione or i be ashamed of our skin colour?"

"no-"

"should harry be ashamed of who he is? with being both south asian and white?"

"of course not-"

"just come back and teach," hermione pleaded. "we really miss you. you're an excellent teacher... grubbly-plank might be too, but she's no hagrid."

hagrid gulped. more tears leaked out down his cheeks and into his tangled beard.

dumbledore stood up. "i refuse to accept your resignation, hagrid, and i expect you back at work on monday," he said. "you will join me for breakfast at eight-thirty in the great hall. no excuses. good afternoon to you all."

dumbledore left the cabin, pausing only to scratch fangs ears. when the door had shut behind him, hagrid began to sob into his dustbin-lid-sized hands.

hermione kept patting his arm, and at last, hagrid looked up, his eyes very red indeed, and said, "great man, dumbledore...great man...."

"yeah... he is," said ron, side-eying honey. "can i have one of these cakes, hagrid?"

"help yerself," said hagrid, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. "ar, he's righ', o' course - yeh're all righ'...i bin stupid...my ol' dad woulda bin ashamed o' the way i've bin behavin'...." more tears leaked out, but he wiped them away more forcefully, and said, "never shown you a picture of my old dad, have i? here..."

hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a picture of a short wizard with hagrid's crinkled black eyes, beaming as he sat on top of hagrid's shoulder. hagrid was a good seven or eight feet tall, judging by the apple tree beside him, but his face was beardless, young, round, and smooth - he looked hardly older than eleven.

"tha was taken jus' after i got inter hogwarts," hagrid croaked. "dad was dead chuffed...thought i migh' not be a wizard, see, 'cos me mum...well, anyway. 'course, i never was great shakes at magic, really...but at least he never saw me expelled. died, see, in me second year...."

"dumbledore gave me the job... 'course he did. got me to be gamekeeper. dah always used to say... 'never be ashamed' he said 'there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with'. an'... he was right."

the four of them looked at each other, nodding and smiling supportive as they turned back to hagrid.

"i'm not botherin' with her no more, i promise yeh that. big bones..." he grumbled, "i'll give her big bones... yeh know wha, harry?" he said, looking up from the photograph of his father, his eyes very bright, "when i firs' met you, you reminded me o' me a bit. mum an' dah gone, an' you was feelin' like yeh wouldn' fit in at hogwarts, remember?"

they all stared at harry, unsure whether they should open their mouths or not.

"not sure yeh were really up to it...an' now look at yeh, harry! school champion!" he looked at harry for a moment and then said, very seriously, "yeh know what i'd love. harry? i'd love yeh ter win, i really would. it'd show 'em all...yeh don' have ter be pureblood ter do it. yeh don have ter be ashamed of what yeh are. it'd show 'em dumbledore's the one who's got it righ', lettin' anyone in as long as they can do magic. how you doin' with that egg, harry?"

harry looked like he'd hit a brick wall.

"great," said harry. "really great."

hagrid's miserable face broke into a wide, watery smile. "tha's my boy...you show 'em, harry, you show 'em. beat 'em all."

honey hadn't heard a lot from hermione, ron or harry about the second task except how the egg had tried to make the entirety of the gryffindor population at hogwarts have bleeding ears. apart from that, the general idea of what they were meant to do was very unknown.

she'd heard from maeve (who heard it from lynn ong, a friend of cedric's) that cedric diggory had found out what the task was about. when asked by honey if she knew the task, maeve nodded- and then didn't say a word.

it seemed, for some odd and absolutely peculiar reason, that none of the champions would budge their mouths about what the task was. she tried to go ask cedric (since the two of them acknowledged each other a bit more- often smiling and waving at each other in the corridors if they saw each other- since the events of the world cup). she even went as far as to try bribe hermione into asking victor krum- an idea which crashed and burned rather quickly.

so on a cold and quiet evening after catching up with hermione (who was on her way to library to meet up with ron and harry to help the certain speckled boy with the second task because he'd apparently lied about the egg going 'great'), the two bid each other goodbye after promising to meet up with each other at some point soon (perhaps after the second task) and then promptly split off with honey dead set on making her way to her common room.

"uh.. honour jordan... morgana almighty- are you honour jordan?" called a feeble first years voice from behind her. it was a young gryffindor student with her brown hair in pigtails. she looked up warily at honey as she stopped.

"i am." confirmed honey, narrowing her eyes, "why?"

"professor mcgonogall wanted to see you," meeped the younger girl.

"i'm not in her house."

"well-" fretted the younger girl before she blurted out, "i just want my five house point, ok?! so will you please come with me? she promised me five points if i found you and took you to the headmaster's office!"

honey stood still for a moment, eyes wide.

"well, erm... okay?"

the girl let out a sigh, "thank merlin! right, come with me."

honey suddenly didn't like the shy turned bossy gryffindor girl, but she wasn't about to voice that (imagine if the girl had a tantrum? honey might just hex the earth to swallow her whole).

after a good ten minutes of trailing a very agile and short gryffindor around, honey came face to face with the entrance to the headmasters office, and began to list in her head anything that might've possibly gotten her in trouble.

was an inch off the required length for her transfiguration essay

was friends with harry potter

was a cousin of fitz and maeve

was the younger sister of lee jordan

was honey jordan

"am i in trouble?" she asked the younger gryffindor girl.

"i don't care. i just want house points."

"greedy," muttered honey quickly.

"what did you say?"

"nothing," muttered honey in reply. "are you going to let me in?"

the gryffindor girl stared up at her with a confused expression, "how can i? i don't know the password. just knock on the griffin's beak, that's what they told me. and tell them jenny finnigan led you here, will you?"

"finnigan? are you seamus' sister?"

"cousin," she replied petulantly.

"er... alright."

"tell her i brought you here."

"merlin! i will!" muttered honey, glaring at the younger girl. "you were much nicer when you were shyer."

"your tie is a putrid colour."

"you're very rude, did you know that?" honey snapped.

the entrance opened without the need to knock on the beak of the griffin.

"ah, miss jordan." came the voice of professor mcgonagall. she stared down at jenny finnigan. "thank you miss finnigan. five points will be rewarded to you."

the younger finnigan hummed and strolled away without a care in the world. honey glanced from the figure becoming smaller and smaller (if that was possible) and turned to the transfigurations professor.

"you wanted to see me?"

"do you accept the terms? you may back out if you wish. your cousin was able to after he expressed his concerns for his mental stability."

she thought of the murky green water and the panic that shot through her mind. simply existing in the murky green.

"i accept. i'll do it."

"if you please, miss, we will now be placing the required spells on you. alistor, would you be so kind and perform it for me?"

there was a grumble. she closed her eyes, a numb and heavy feeling spreading over her body, lulling her to sleep. her witch trial had begun.

to die by fire or to drown in a lake.

only... she hoped her dreams (or nightmares) weren't a reality.

rosie speaks!

i haven't updated this in ages. lol.
hi!!

anyways wow this is a beat of a chapter
to come back with. you're welcome ?

i love kai so much he's like lowk reckless
but also just like 'uh... you go girl ??'
love love love him so much <3

ALSO EHEHEH i love the next chapter.

ok thoughts and things for now my
loves. i'm a bit rusty but i hope you liked
it :))

word count: 8,355 words