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chapter forty one | pure euphoria

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AFTER CHRISTMAS LUNCH, the Weasleys, as well as Harry and Hermione, left to go and see Arthur, leaving Kaya and her friends in the living room, muggle Christmas songs blasting off a phonograph, again, thanks to Kaya's ability to manage to keep herself in control of the music. She will fight if someone tries to turn it off.

"Yeah! Keep playing those muggle songs, K," Sirius had said happily, striding into the room, to which Kaya greeted him with a grin. "Hopefully Kreacher might stay out of the way, if he hears them. We don't want his mistress knowing he's been listening to the horrifying tunes of non-magic folk," he added, sarcastically.

The four laughed, and the man sat himself down in one of the comfy armchairs, smiling.

"How're all you, then?" he said. "Having a good Christmas?"

"Yeah," said Jaeden, through a mouthful of chocolate. "Especially being away from Umbridge,"

Sirius chuckled. "I bet. I wouldn't have been able to put up with her as a teacher either, from what I've heard. But hey, at least you'll only have her for a year. It's your last year, isn't it?"

The four murmured a 'yeah'.

"Not quite sure how," said Cher, lightheartedly, as she strode in with her husband. "I don't think they've grown up enough, quite yet, to leave school,"

"Neither have I," said Sirius. Kaya let out a laugh. "Got any idea of what you want to do, when you leave?"

Ah, there it was. The dreaded question. Yes, Kaya knew she wanted to pursue music further, but shit, didn't she feel embarrassed to say it. It felt like such a childish dream.

"I'm thinking about becoming a Magizoologist," said Jaeden, thoughtfully. "I'm good at Care of Magical Creatures. And it'd be an interesting job, I reckon,"

"Ah, yeah," Sirius nodded. "And then write a book, like Newt Scamander?"

"Er... maybe," said Jaeden. "I'm not the best writer... Kaya's the poet here,"

"What about you, Miles?" asked Cher.

"To be fair, I don't really know," the blonde shrugged. "McGonagall told me she reckons I'd be a good Healer, because I'm apparently so committed... and I do alright in school, I s'pose,"

"'Alright'," Kaya mocked. "Coming from Mr. Brain. I reckon you'd be a good Healer, though, Miles, if you wanted to. You're really empathetic - and you're good at calming people, which would be handy."

Milo nodded, resting his chin on his hand, in thought. "What about you, Mais?"

Maisie shrugged. "Professor Sprout said I'd be a good Potioneer, because I get high marks in Potions. But then, an Obliviator seems quite cool... I dunno, I'm still deciding,"

Sirius nodded with interest, before his eyes landed on Kaya. Maisie gave her a knowing look, because she absolutely knew Kaya was about to say, "I dunno,", even though she kind of did.

"Mines a bit stupid," the girl said with a chuckle. "But I mean... I dunno. I'm better at playing instruments than I am with all the academic stuff. I mean, I'm not too bad... just not brilliant, you know? And some people say I can sing, but... I dunno..."

"So you want to go into music?"

"I- Yeah... do you think it's stupid?"

"Not if you're talented enough," said Sirius. "If people say you can sing, then you're on the right track,"

"Oh, believe me," Cher said. "She can sing, alright. Must've gotten it from my side of the family," she said with a playful grin, glancing Jack's way. "My Dad was in a muggle band."

"Yeah, she can sing," said Maisie, as Kaya pulled a funny face. "Sweet as sugar! And she's like a poet, she's great at songwriting - all the qualities are there, she just needs to woman up and do it,"

"I agree, Mais," said Cher, before turning to her daughter. "Plus, logically wise, it's not a bad idea. Because yeah, you can sing, you can play instruments, you can write songs - but, how many Wizarding bands and singers do you know well?"

Kaya hadn't thought of this, before.

"How many different bands and singers do they play on the Wizarding Wireless Network? Not many. Four to six, at the most? It's not like the muggle world, with all kinds of new artists on the rise, everyday. Everywhere is overloaded with the Weird Sisters, Spellbound and Blodwyn Bludd. Even Celestina Warbeck is beginning to become less popular - don't tell Molly I said that, she'll go off on one," Cher added, lightheartedly.

"Your Mum's right," said Jack. "There hasn't been any new well-known wizard artists for years. New blood will definitely spark the attention of wizards and witches, everywhere. Because, I can assure you, everyone is bored to death with the radio playing 'Do The Hippogriff' . Not to mention, if your style of music is similar to the muggle style, that's barely been done before, if it even has. It's new, it's fresh, and that'll be good."

"Also," Sirius added. "The times we're living in might even make it easier for you. Because, they may not know it yet, but when the public finally are introduced to the fact that there is, most likely, a war on the rise, new music might be their source of hope. Their source of happiness - and it'll be needed,"

Shit. This got deep.

"...And you really think I could do it?" Kaya said quietly, turning to her mum, who merely beamed and nodded.

"Of course you can,"

Kaya grinned. Amongst all the chaos going on at the moment - this actually seemed to make sense.

Fuck yeah, let's do it.

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Harry, Hermione and the Weasley clan returned shortly after, and Kaya was greeted with a kiss from her boyfriend and an explanation about how Arthur had apparently tried using muggle stitches to heal his snake bites.

"I've never had those," Kaya said, thoughtfully. "I've heard of them, though - they probably don't work on magical wounds,"

The rest of Christmas Day was spent with almost the entire household together in one room, chatting happily, eating food that Molly had prepared, similar to of which she'd done for the party before they left for school in September. Kaya and her friends were on the drink - although, they had the willpower not to overdo it, knowing perfectly well Molly Weasley might not approve of six drunk teenagers amongst their little gathering.

Besides - getting pissed was a New Years Eve tradition, for Kaya and her friends. Boy, Fred and George had no idea what was coming their way...

Especially since Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet had organised a party to see the new year in - and Kaya was ecstatic, as was her friends.

And so, the two Hufflepuff girls were busy getting ready in their bedroom, all kinds of dresses sprawled out on their beds for them to examine and decide which they would be finishing the year of 1995 in. Sadly, Kaya and Maisie had always had completely different body types - and so they'd never been able to share outfits, which Kaya greatly resented, considering Maisie had a beautiful taste in fashion and always found stunning clothes - even in shops that seemed catastrophic.

But still, Kaya supposed her style wasn't bad, either. She eventually picked out a rose pink, satin cold shoulder mini dress that practically had her name written all over it. Maisie did her hair - because, here was the thing - as much as she wished she could, Kaya could not do pretty hairstyles to save her life. Sure, she can do the basics like ponytails or plaits, and she can use muggle straighteners pretty well. But, if she had to style it all fancy for a party or a special event, she would be screwed, on her own. Maisie, however, could win an award for best hairdresser of the year. She used muggle curlers on Kaya's hair that created pretty ringlets that dangled over her shoulders, and pinned back half a layer to create a dazzling half up, half down style. What Kaya would do without Maisie, she had no idea.

However, Kaya might be a disaster at hair, but she was amazing at makeup. And so, after putting on her own bubblegum pink glittering eyeshadow, some mascara to overlay her lashes and rose coloured lipstick, it was her turn to play beautician. Maisie had ended up with a golden smokey eye and red lipstick, and Kaya had to admit, she was rather proud of her creation.

And so, after receiving many complaints from the boys that they were taking too long, Kaya left her room, feeling like a real life Barbie doll.

"I told you they'd come out looking like they're on the cover of Vogue," Milo was the first to speak, as they all watched the girls head downstairs.

"Go on, fall," said Jaeden with a grin, as he watched Kaya hobble down the stairs in her pink heels.

"Don't be so horrible," she said, flipping him off, before she reached the bottom and turned to Fred, who, up until now, had some kind of disfunction, as he'd stared at his girlfriend walking downstairs completely frozen with a kind of in-awe expression.

"You're so gorgeous," he said, breaking into a wide grin as Kaya wandered over to him. She beamed.

"Oh, shut up, you, you'll make me blush," she said with a teasing glance, as he grabbed her hand.

"Mum!" George called. "We're off now!"

Molly emerged from the kitchen and into the hallway.

"Alright," she said. "Oh - you two look stunning!" she smiled at Kaya and Maisie. "You all have fun, and look after each other,"

"We will,"

Kaya's Mum joined Molly shortly afterwards, as did a few other parents.

"You look beautiful, K!" Cher had grinned. "She must get it from me," she added, turning to Jack with a wink. Kaya's Dad playfully rolled his eyes.

"We'll wait up for you," he said, nodding to his daughter.

"I know you will," said Kaya. "Don't worry, I'll be fine!"

"Have fun!" Cher grinned.

"Yeah, see you next year," Jack added with a grin, and Kaya grimaced. Not the Dad jokes.

"Yep," she nodded, and waved goodbye. "See you,"

They apparated into a kitchen of a huge house in the countryside - which already held several familiar faces all grabbing food and drinks and having a natter. The windows were huge and displayed the starry night sky above them, and the vast field around the back of Angelina's garden that looked as though it would never end, in the darkness.

"Hiya!" Angelina greeted them with a bright grin. She was wearing a black tank top and matching skirt, and was holding some kind of drink in a paper cup.

"You look so pretty!" Kaya told her with a smile, giving her a hug, which she happily returned.

"Awe, thank you! So do you!" Angelina sang, before turning to hug Maisie also. "And you, Mais! That dress is absolutely gorgeous,"

It was nice to see Angelina in such a good mood - not that she was always miserable, or anything, but Kaya had normally only seen her when she was stressing about Quidditch. Carefree Angelina was one she hoped would stick around more often.

Jaeden was definitely rather taken aback by stress-free Angelina, and was even more overwhelmed when she greeted him with a hug. Obviously he returned it, once he'd actually processed what was happening.

Kaya looked around, taking in her surroundings as the girl greeted the rest of her friends. The kitchen counter was holding an abundant amount of food and drinks, with clutters of bottles, paper cups, cupcakes, pizza, crisps with spicy dips, and even some salsa, much to Kaya's delight. Kaya often liked to say she she should've been born in Mexico, due to her love of salsa and the other foods that originate from that particular country. Seriously, Enchiladas are probably the best meal ever to be made.

"Help yourselves to any food or drink," said Angelina, gesturing carelessly to the counter behind her. "We've got all sorts, muggle and wizard - Firewhisky, Thatchers, vodka - coke if you don't want any alcohol... it's all there,"

"Cheers, Ange," said Maisie, and the girl scurried off to greet another group who had just arrived.

Kaya poured some vodka and coke into a cup, and managed to drink it all whilst her friends had a pick of the selection in front of them - so she poured another, as Jaeden cracked open a can of cider.

"Have you ever had one of these?" he said to George. "Go on, have one, they're the best. Can't get better than Thatchers,"

"That's very muggle of you," Kaya grinned, knowing perfectly well she was the one who introduced the muggle drink to the boy.

"Yeah, well, thanks to you, I'm practically half-blood, spiritually,"

Fred opened himself a Firewhisky, just as a voice called over to them from the doorway.

"Oi, oi!" Lee called with a huge grin, staggering over with an empty bottle in hand. "I was wondering when you lot would get here!"

"You're not pissed up already?" Jaeden pulled a face. "Lightweight,"

"Wha-? No! I've been here ages, anyway, I helped set up," he said, putting an arm around George to greet him. "We we're trying to do shots but Angelina didn't have any shot glasses, so we just measured them out in our cups best we could,"

"Yeah... not sure you measured them correctly, Lee," said Milo. "Or you just had loads?"

"Bit of both, I'd imagine,"

"I wanna join!" Kaya said, enthusiastically. "Where is it?"

"Follow me!"

And they headed out of the kitchen into the living room, Kaya giving Jaeden a funny look because Alicia Spinnet had just passed, and he'd merely glanced her way.

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Hours had passed, and Kaya was now dizzy and scatterbrained thanks to her many drinks and Lee's terrible idea of measuring out what should be shots in normal sized paper cups (she was sure she'd seen Jaeden almost fill it to half) before downing them.
A Jenga game had also been found, and so they had decided to play a game of it in which whoever knocked it down had to take a shot of Disaronno - a gross liquor none of Kaya's friends liked apart from Jaeden.

This was probably the first time being crap at something actually worked in his favour.

"I'm sorry, Jae, but how the fuck do you like that stuff?" George had said, grimacing after his own shot. "Lee, pass me that can, I need to take the taste away,"

"It's nice!" Jaeden had retorted.

"No, it's not!" Kaya had said, having the remains of her drink rationed because she'd needed it if she was ever to knock over the Jenga tower and face the disgusting taste of the liqueur. "I'm going for a refill, be back in a mo..."

Luckily, she'd never actually knocked the tower down. And now, she was wearing a grin, inside her own little bubble of joy - currently sitting on Fred's lap with her arms around him as he perched on the arm of the sofa, also admittedly tipsy, as the couple chatted to the rest of the group and whoever was around that decided to join in.

She was rather tired - but only temporarily, she told herself. Baggy Trousers by Madness had just been playing, and so she and her friends had been jumping and singing as wildly as possible throughout the whole song, before collapsing back into a chair or onto the floor.

"You know," Jaeden slurred, unintentionally slamming his empty can onto the table. "I'm-I'm not so sure if I like Alicia anymore... like, yeah, I like her as a mate, but... I don't know, maybe she isn't the one..."

He then jumped, because Kaya and her friend cheered loudly - causing several heads to turn their way with confused expressions, as if wondering why they were celebrating.

"Finally!" Kaya whooped. Truth be told, she wasn't sure how long she could've put up with Jaeden wittering on about his futile crush on Alicia. It was beginning to get stupid - especially since she'd already told him she just wanted to be friends.

"What changed your mind?" Lee frowned, though still glad.

"I-I dunno," Jaeden said. "I mean... there's An-" he paused. "I dunno, I guess it just... fizzle-zzled out,"

"Fizzle-zzled," Milo repeated watching the woozy boy with an amused expression.

Kaya was convinced you could not get Milo drunk. No matter how many drinks he had, he barely batted an eyelid. It was like his super power.

"Oh, shit," the blonde boy's expression lit up. "Aria's here!" and with that, he vanished.

Maisie was definitely out of it, by now - sitting on the floor quietly with a smile, slightly leaning on George for support as she watched the conversation in front of her, having her input every now and then.

Kaya was in that phase where you know you're drunk, but you're not completely gone, yet. Like, she'd say stupid things every now and then but would acknowledge them and silently curse herself out for it. And then, the next minute, she'd do it again but not care. The girl had always been told when she was drunk, she talked loads - yet, even when she tried to catch herself out talking quick and not being able to stop, she could never tell if it was different from the normal. Then again, that was probably one of the wonders of alcohol.

Fred was continuously checking she wasn't going over the edge with the drink, which she never did anyway, but it was sweet of him to take care of her - even in the state he was in, considering he wasn't exactly sober. The two were very lovey-dovey at the moment - Kaya was an emotional drunk, she couldn't help it. She'd always poured her affection into her friends, but now she had a boyfriend which increased the amount of endearment she had by at least eighty percent, and so sue her if she wants to shower him with kisses and hug him as if the world was going to end tomorrow...

...there was a war on the rising - for all she knew, it could.

"You're so cute," she said into his shoulder, wrapping him in yet another hug which he gladly accepting.

"...Thanks?" he said with a grin.

"And fit. And hot."

"See K, you don't wanna make me blush now, do you?"

"I don't see the harm in it,"

And then, it was ten minutes to midnight, and practically everyone had gathered in the living room - some completely off their heads, some a little tipsy and some completely fine (or, they seemed it, anyway). Milo had regrouped with his best friends - the countdown was starting shortly after, and Kaya knew she'd look back on it and wish she could've stayed in that moment forever - the moment of pure happiness as she stood with six of her favourite people in the world, all yelling the countdown...

"Three...two...one...!"

And the house erupted in overjoyed cheers of 'Happy New Year!', everyone practically jumping onto their friends to hug them, or onto their significant other. Fred grabbed Kaya by the waist and pulled her into a kiss, and she cupped his face, her cheeks aching from smiling so much.

They broke apart, and she threw her arms around him, giving him a tight squeeze as he clutched onto her waist, lifting her slightly off the floor.

"Happy New Year, lovely!"

"Happy New Year, gorgeous!"

And in those moments of pure euphoria, it was as though those who knew the truth about Voldemort and his return had been temporarily obliviated, and could just be normal teenagers without the knowledge or worry of the upcoming war. All the darkness in the world could not overcome the brightness in Kaya's eyes and the elation in her soul. Even if the world ended tomorrow, it would not take away the gleeful memory of this particular New Years Eve.

Kaya wished she could take a sample of the happiness she was feeling in this moment and savour it forever.

Because there would one day be a time where she'd need it more than anything.

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A/N: This chapter was so fun to write! I had to squeeze in a bit of fun before it all goes to shite when they go back to school and see Umbridge 🤢

But, drunk Kaya and Fred have my heart, like 💓

Anyways, let me know what you thought! I hope you enjoyed!