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chapter 4 | the downfall

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"WHY THIS CAR IS AUTOMATIC," Maisie yelled, standing on top of her bed.

"It's systematic!" Milo chimed in.

"It's hydromatic!" Kaya jumped onto her bed, of which Jaeden was already standing on.

"Why it's greased lightnin'!" Jaeden finished.

"Greased lightin'!" The other three cheered, before the group broke into a routine of extremely bad freestyle dancing as they continued to sing along to yet another soundtrack from Kaya's favourite muggle film.

Their parents were in the other room, clearly used to their children's singing and dancing as they let them get on with it, attempting to ignore the thumping and chanting coming from their room.

Kaya and Maisie had picked up their hairbrushes and pranced around using them as microphones. Jaeden had picked up one of Kaya's scented sprays and decided to use that instead, whereas Milo just danced happily as he sang, not bothering to find a replacement for a microphone.

"We'll get some overhead lifters, and four-barrel quads, oh yeah," Jaeden sang, shaking his hips and putting on a deeper voice to try and match John Travolta's.

"Keep talkin'! Oh, keep talkin'!" Kaya yelled.

Maisie and Milo had managed to create some kind of routine as they shook their shoulders leaning in and out, as Jaeden and Kaya hopped around the room, trying to overpower the other as they sang, shoving each other as they did so.

But as they reached the final verse, Milo noticed what seemed to be a terrified scream sounding outside of their tent. The others carried on singing assuming it to be someone playing around outside, until several more came from the opposite direction. Maisie stopped dancing, also now realising that something unusual was going on. Jaeden and Kaya continued play-fighting.

"Hey, Kaya," Milo said. "Can - can you stop the music?"

But Kaya could not hear the boy, as she and Jaeden were singing and jumping as loudly and aggressively as they could.

"Jaeden-!" Maisie spoke up a bit louder, but didn't need any other way to alert the pair before a large crash echoed, causing the four to jump, Jaeden being so shocked he stumbled back onto the bed. Kaya's eyebrows creased, as she paused to exchange glances with her friends.

"What the fuck was that?"

More screams sounded and many crashes erupted around the area, before Maisie and Milo's fathers rushed into the room.

"Quickly, quickly, we're getting out of here." Their voices were shaky and faces pale, clearly presenting a fear of such Kaya had never seen on an adults face before. The group headed into the main section of the tent, where Maisie and Milo's mothers were standing anxiously.

"Where's my mum? What's going on?" Jaeden said quietly, now becoming frightened after realising both his and Kaya's parents were missing, along with their younger siblings.

"We're under attack," Milo's dad informed them, leading them to the door of the tent. "And we're getting out of here. You have to, and I mean it, have to stick together. No running off, no trying to help anyone, even if you know them."

Kaya suddenly thought about the Weasley's, and the sick feeling that was already in her stomach grew. If they were in trouble, she was just supposed to run past as if she didn't know them?

"Where's mum?" asked Jaeden, and Kaya began to acknowledge the absence of her own mother and her little brother.

"Yours and Kaya's parents took off earlier, as they have Alfie and Jeremy. The little ones are more likely to slow them down, so we thought it best if they had a head start,"

Kaya began to feel really sick.

"We're headed to the same place, we'll reunite with them before we leave." Jaeden's dad added, as he saw the teenagers' expressions beginning to grow terrified as they started to acknowledge what was going on.

"Right, we need to-"

He was interrupted by another loud crash that seemed so close it practically shook the tent itself. Maisie screamed out of fright, and a bright blaze could be seen through the tents fabric.

"Fuck," Jaeden whispered. Kaya shivered.

The group was rushed to the back entrance instead to avoid racing into the fire growing outside the front. "Everyone stick together, do not look at anything else, eyes on me or another adult. We'll be out sooner than you think, just stay calm."

Kaya looked up and exchanged a frightened glance with Jaeden, who squeezed her shoulder trying to be as reassuring as possible. But he too was scared - his expression was pale and gawp as he was attempting to keep a brave face. But everyone could see he was terrified, just like everyone else.

Maisie's mum whisked open the door to the tent and started to run as fast as she could. Everyone joined them, sprinting through the panicked crowds rushing through the area.

If anyone was speaking, it was inaudible. The screams and cries of people who'd either lost their loved ones - whether they'd been killed or separated by the crowd, or had been injured and was in pain. Kaya had never seen anything like it.

The group ended up being pretty lucky - they almost had a completely clear run, with fires or explosions breaking out after they had managed to pass them quickly. Smoke and filth in the air still managed to engulf them though, as they coughed and spluttered as they ran. Kaya wished she'd done more running before - her lungs felt as though they were about to burst. But, despite that, the group had almost made it out of the attack smoothly.

If it wasn't for a certain someone distracting Kaya.

A large crash erupted to their left as a tent went up in flames and a yell called out through the smoke as a figure toppled over.

"Ginny, keep going!"

Kaya's heart dropped to her stomach immediately as she recognised the voice.

No, not him. She thought, and prayed she was wrong. Please not him.

Kaya knew she wasn't supposed to leave. She knew it was ordered to stick with the group, and it would be stupid to leave. But hey, since when did she have common sense? The girl whisked round, and Jaeden quickly yanked her arm to keep her running.

"What are you doing," he said. "Look we're nearly there."

Kaya never thought she'd act on an impulse, ever. She always thought shit out. But not this time.

The girl broke off from her group and ignored all the sudden bursts of yells as her friends attempted to stop her.

"Kaya what the fuck?!-" Maisie yelled, heading to follow her best friend and bring her back. Jaeden pushed Maisie back to Milo, who stopped her from running off too and held her by the shoulders to carry on. Jaeden took off after the brunette.

The red haired boy was crawling on the floor, coughing and wheezing, trying to get out of the smoke and nearing flames of a tent that had just been exploded. Kaya grabbed him by the arms and used all her strength in getting him up. He also tried standing himself, or else Kaya's weak arms probably wouldn't have managed to lift him.

He rubbed his eyes and coughed again before looking towards the girl. His twin appeared from around the corner calling his name. The two rushed further away from the fire.

"Kaya?-" Fred questioned, but the girl merely nodded at him before quickly turning and running back to her group.

She crashed into Jaeden, who hadn't been long behind.

"Kaya, what the actual fuck was that?!" He said, grabbing the girl and running with her back to the group.

"He could've died-"

"He was getting straight back up, you would've been the one that died, bloody trying to help everyone else out all the time. You're such a Hufflepuff!"

Kaya sighed, giving a quick think over what she'd just done. Maybe Fred hadn't needed her help. But then again maybe he had - either way, he was alive and was on his own way out of the attack. He was okay.

The group reached safety, and Kaya received a good telling off from each parent there. She tuned out half way through, moments from the attack still circling in her brain. Never had she seen anything such as those fires or explosions once. She'd seen many in muggle films, and had always pictured herself in these situations. But Kaya always thought she'd end up not feeling the slightest bit of fear as she fought her way through, coming out with battle scars and a heroic title to her name. But no - they ran. And that was the reality of it, they could only think of their own safety and their parents were focused on their children. Kaya didn't feel too guilty though - about running, anyway - she was sixteen, after all. And life wasn't a film. This was real.

She did feel the slightest bit of guilt though - she put so many people through stress running off to help a boy she'd known a few hours. Kaya hoped nobody would tell her parents when they reunited, but she knew there was no chance.

Jaeden put his arm round her and brought her in for a hug.

"Idiot." he told her.

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Kaya's and Jaeden's parents along with Alfie and Jeremy soon reunited with the group. Jaeden and Kaya gave their siblings the largest hugs ever, before being smothered by their own parents.

"You're okay!" Kaya's mum repeated, as though she was trying to calm her self down the most.

"You have no idea how guilty we felt leaving you," her dad said. "But that was the only structured plan we could come up with. I hated it."

"But it worked!" Milo's Dad said. "My plan worked, eh!"

"It nearly ended up in shambles," Maisie's mum said, exchanging a glance with Kaya's.

It was then Kaya realised her mum was suspecting she'd done something, through some weird ass mother-telepathy with Maisie's. She knew she'd fucked up now, for sure.

"You're in such shit," Maisie said with a small smirk. Kaya's lips became a straight line as she looked towards her friend with a regretful look.

But the secret was - she regretted nothing.

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Kaya's pocket money was reduced to half for one week - but Kaya could tell that her parents only did it to feel like they were doing their job right - yes, it was wrong to leave the group and put both herself and them in danger. But she only had good intentions, and nobody was harsh enough to punish her little golden heart.

The real punishment was Alfie questioning Kaya as they made the journey home, asking why she'd gone to save a boy she'd just met, was it because she had a crush on him, and, if she was lying. Her friends were no help either - they were all taking the piss by making kiss faces or telling Alfie she was lying and that she was in love with him. Kaya had to laugh.

It was now well into the night, well, the clocks stated it was morning, but it was night time to Kaya and her friends, and after being smothered by their parents yet again and emptying Kaya's kitchen of food, the group were finally allowed to go to their beds. They set the room up just as they had before they left for the Quidditch World Cup. After agreeing that they all couldn't sleep at that moment, Kaya and Milo managed to set up a muggle TV in her bedroom, much to Jaeden's fascination, and then the group decided to look through all the available films to watch.

Which was entirely useless because let's face it, Grease was the only real option. Especially after a manic day like this.

And the group managed to forget what a traumatic experience they'd just had, as they all watched in silence as girls with pink jackets and boys covered in leather danced over their TV screen.