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chapter twenty eight | five colours in her hair

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KAYA AWOKE LAST out of the four in the shared room, which was a big rookie mistake.

She sat up with a stretch and rubbed her eyes, before scanning her surroundings - and what she saw made her extremely uneasy. Because the three boys were sitting with smiles, trying their best to act innocent. They were awful actors.

Fred's expression warmed at the girl's sleepy state.

"What have you done?" she said, her eyes flicking around the room to find evidence for some sort of prank.

"Good morning to you, too," Fred said, with the best cheery tone and expression possible.

"Seriously," said Kaya. "You three are the worst actors in the world - what have you done?"

But all they did was continue to stare at her with cheeky smiles.

"You've done some sort of prank, I can feel it,"

"Haha, nice," said George, before frowning. "Wait, how'd you know?"

"You're very predictable,"

"Well," Fred teased. "Obviously not that predictable, or you would've slept with one eye open,"

Kaya froze.

"What's up with your hair, K?" Jaeden said with a childish grin.

Oh god, they've shaved my head haven't they? Kaya thought, before putting her hand to her head.

Okay, they hadn't.

She relaxed when she felt her soft curls still in place - until she pulled one forward and spotted its colour. Pink.

"Ha, ha," she said. "You already pulled that one on me. Sorry boys,"

They all sniggered.

"Whatever you say," Fred grinned. The three continuing to smirk did not give Kaya a good feeling - she leapt up from under her covers and scowled at them, before heading towards a mirror.

Her jaw dropped.

"What the fuck?!" she yelled.

The twins had obviously taken their hair dyeing project a step further - because instead of just one, Kaya now had five colours in her hair.

"Are you actually joking?" she said, her hand brushing different locks to try and get a glimpse of the different colours.

They all smiled sweetly at her.

"FUCK!" she bellowed, before pausing. "Wait... I kinda like that,"

Fred snorted.

"At least you didn't pick horrid colours," she said. There were many strands of bubblegum pink, gold, turquoise blue, lilac purple and mint green. In fact, they looked quite pretty.

"I'm getting my camera out," said Jaeden, happily. Kaya rolled her eyes playfully.

"We need to think of something else other than dyeing her hair," George said to Fred, watching the girl smile at herself in the mirror.

"...Maybe," said Fred, who, unlike his twin, was still enjoying himself as much as if he'd done a successful prank.

"Just because you fancy her," said George, elbowing him.

"Shut up,"

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"Kaya, I hate to tell you this, but your hair looks like an Easter egg," said Ron, as everyone met up for breakfast.

"Courtesy of Frederic and George Weasley," she said casually. Fred frowned.

"How'd you know my actual name is Frederic?"

Kaya blinked, before raising her eyebrows.

"Is it actually?" she said with surprise. He sighed, realising she'd just been mocking it. "I didn't know that, I was just making it up as I go along!"

"...Yeah," was all Fred said, receiving obnoxious laughs from George and Jae.

"I got pranked, if you haven't caught on," Kaya explained to Harry and Ron, who were still eyeing her hair awkwardly.

"Ah, that makes sense," Ron nodded.

"What, do you not like it?" she teased, putting on a face of fake hurt. "I was thinking of keeping it this way,

"Wha- no- it looks nice-" he stuttered, unsure of what to say in response.

"Back off Ron, she's Fred's!" George called down the table. Kaya scoffed.

"I was teasing," she told Ron, who relaxed his shoulders. She pretended not to hear Harry muttering to his friend, asking if she actually was with Fred, to which Ron shrugged.

"D'you know what I just realised?" said Jaeden.

"What?"

"We'll be back playing Quidditch this year!"

All faces of the teenagers sitting at the table lit up.

"I completely forgot about that!" Kaya grinned. "Even better - I'll smash you all out of sight,"

"Reckon we should be the ones saying that," said Fred. "We are beaters after all,"

"You won't be able to catch me, I'm speedy," Kaya said proudly. They turned to Jae for confirmation, who reluctantly nodded.

"As much as I hate to admit it, she is. She's like the snitch," the brunette boy said. "But, Slytherin'll still beat both your houses!"

"No way!" said George. "We're the best, everyone knows it,"

"Nah," Kaya said with a grin. "Hufflepuff has me and Ced-"

She froze, before sighing.

"For fuck's sake," she muttered, her bright expression dimming slightly and the familiar stabbing feeling in her heart returned at the reminder of Cedric. Fred reached under the table and gave her hand a comforting squeeze, and she smiled at him weakly.

"Hufflepuff has me," she carried on. "And I'm better than all you three combined,"

Everyone sighed with relief at the girl continuing to joke with them.

"Yeah, but we've got Harry," said George, nodding to the other two Gryffindor boys listening in. "And Milo,"

"I think Milo wants to try for Chaser, this year," said Jae. "Think he's bored of having Quaffles thrown in his face - I dunno why, though, because he barely played before anyway. Wood was always the Keeper, he was just a sub,"

"He's probably scared because I'm the one throwing the Quaffles," said Kaya with a cocky grin.

"You could try for Keeper, Ronniekins," Fred said, jokingly. Ron's face brightened for a split second, before he realised his brother was taking the piss, and sat in deep thought.

"Maybe..." he said, slowly. Neither of the twins heard him, though, so Kaya gave him an enthusiastic smile and a nod.

Ginny and Hermione walked in, Ginny still half asleep, but suddenly waking up at the sight of Kaya's hair.

"You been to Fred and George's hairdressers, Kaya?" she asked, sitting down on the other side of George.

"How could you tell?" said Kaya sarcastically.

"Well, they didn't do too bad of a job - it suits you," said Hermione.

"Awe, thanks. Ron told me it looks like an Easter egg,"

"Well, he's not wrong, is he?" said Jae.

"Oh, yeah," Ginny said. "Mum says once you're done, she needs you in the drawing room - there are loads more Doxys than she thought and she's found a nest of Puffskeins under the sofa,"

Jaeden's eyes widened.

"Huh?" The Bennett girl said, pulling a face.

"You didn't think you'd be staying here without helping clean the place, did you?" said George.

Kaya and Jaeden exchanged looks of dread.

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Half an hour later, everyone found themselves standing in the drawing room - a long, high ceilinged room on the first floor with olive green walls covered in dirty tapestries. The carpet exhaled little clouds of dust which had caused Kaya to sneeze a couple of times, and moss green curtains were buzzing - clearly swarmed with Doxys.

Grouped around these was Molly, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, the twins, Kaya and Jaeden, all holding tied cloths to their noses and holding a large bottle of black liquid with a nozzle on the end. Molly quickly scolded the twins after learning what had happened to Kaya's hair, before explaining to the rest of the group what they were doing here.

"It's Doxycide," she said, nodding to the bottles. "I've never seen an infestation this bad - what that house-elf's been doing for the past ten years-"

"Kreacher's really old," said Hermione, quickly. "He probably couldn't manage-"

"You'd be surprised what Kreacher could manage, when he wants to, Hermione," said a voice from the doorway, and everyone turned to see Sirius entering the room.

Kaya had no idea who on earth this 'Kreacher' was.

Sirius was carrying a bloodstained bag of what appeared to be dead rats. Kaya cringed. "I've just been feeding Buckbeak," he added, after noticing the looks everyone was giving him. "I keep him upstairs in my mother's bedroom. Anyway... this writing desk..."

Kaya had no idea who this 'Buckbeak' was either - clearly she had a lot of catching up to do.

Sirius dropped the bag of rats into an armchair, before bending over to examine the cabinet, which was shaking slightly.

"Well, Molly, I'm pretty sure this is a boggart," he said. "But, perhaps we ought to let Mad-Eye have a look before we let it out - knowing my mother, it could be something much worse,"

A horrified expression appeared on Kaya's face.

"Right you are, Sirius," said Molly. They seemed to have forgotten or forgiven the disagreement they'd had the previous night.

A loud clanging bell sounded from downstairs, followed by the cacophony of screams and wails from Walburga. Jaeden scrunched up his face at the dreadful noise.

"I keep telling them not to ring the doorbell!" said Sirius, hurrying out of the room quickly.

"Stains of dishonour, filthy half breeds, blood traitors, children of filth..!"

Molly told Harry to close the door, and the Doxy party unfortunately continued.

"Right, you lot need to be careful, because Doxys bite and their teeth are poisonous - I've got a bottle of antidote here, but I'd rather nobody needed it,"

She then straightened herself up squarely in front of the curtains, and beckoned the group forward.

"When I say the word, start spraying immediately," Molly said.

"I feel like we're in Ghostbusters," Kaya muttered to Jaeden, who chuckled and nodded in agreement. Harry overheard her and gave her a small smile, understanding the reference. The twins looked down at her with confused frowns.

Molly stepped forward out of their line of fire, before raising her own spray.

"Alright - squirt!"

And a load of fully grown Doxys came soaring out of the material, tiny, needle sharp teeth bared and fairy-like fists clenched with fury. They did look a bit funny, Kaya had to admit.

"Fred, what are you doing?!" said Molly sharply. Kaya turned to see him holding a struggling Doxy and let out a laugh. "Spray that at once, and throw it away!"

"Right-o!" said Fred brightly, spraying the Doxy in the face, before it fainted. But when Molly turned away, he pocketed it, giving Kaya a wink.

"We want to experiment with Doxy venom for our Skiving Snackboxes," George said under his breath.

Harry proceeded to ask George quietly what Skiving Snackboxes were, as Kaya and Jaeden playfully pretended they were in some kind of muggle action film, obviously having way too much fun spraying these Doxys.

"Joke shop still on, then?" Harry muttered, pretending to adjust the nozzle on his spray.

"Well, we haven't had a chance to get premises, yet," said Fred, dropping his voice even lower. "So we're running as a mail-order service, at the moment. We put adverts in the Daily Prophet last week,"

"All thanks to you, mate," George said to Harry, and Kaya raised an eyebrow.

Fred explained quietly to her that Harry had given them his winnings from the tournament to start up the shop - to which she'd replied with 'Bless him' quietly.

"But don't worry, Mum hasn't got a clue. She won't read the Daily Prophet anymore, 'cause of it telling lies about you and Dumbledore,"

Harry grinned.

The de-Doxying of the curtains took up most of the morning, and it was way past midday when everyone's arms ached from lifting them to spray the 'bloody things'. The curtains were no longer buzzing, and were now heavy and damp from all the spraying. There were many unconscious Doxys crammed before them, beside a bowl of their black eggs, which Fred and George were eyeing and Crookshanks was sniffing.

"I think we'll tackle those after lunch," said Molly, pointing to the dusty glass-fronted cabinets standing on either side of the mantelpiece.

The clanging doorbell rang again, and everyone turned to Molly, who sighed and said firmly,

"Stay here. I'll bring up some sandwiches,"

She snatched up the bag of rats and closed the door, everyone dashing over to the window quickly to look down on the doorstep. Kaya squinted, and could make out Mundungus next to a stack of cauldrons.

"Mundungus!" said Hermione. "What's he brought all of those cauldrons for?"

"Probably looking for a safe place to keep them," said Harry. "Isn't that what he was doing the night he was supposed to be tailing me? Picking up dodgy cauldrons?"

"Yeah, you're right!" said Fred, as the front door opened and Mundungus heaved his cauldrons inside, disappearing from view. "Blimey, Mum won't like that..."

He and George crossed to the door and stood beside it, listening intently. Kaya and Jaeden slowly followed.

"Mundungus is talking to Sirius and Kingsley," Fred muttered to them, frowning with concentration, before turning to George. "Can't hear properly... d'you reckon we could risk the Extendable Ears?"

"Might be worth it," said George. "I could sneak upstairs and get a pair-"

It was then they were interrupted by an explosion sounding downstairs, causing Kaya to jump. Molly began to bellow from the top of her voice.

"WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!"

"I love hearing Mum yell at at someone else," Fred smiled with satisfaction, opening the door slowly to be able to hear more clearly.

After a short while of Molly's yells of fury being drowned out by Walburga's screams, George decided to close the door - but not before a house elf nudged his way into the room.

It was dressed in a filthy rag and was obviously very old - it's skin was wrinkled, it's ears were bat-like and it's eyes were bloodshot, a watery grey colour.

It took no notice of the group of teens, and shuffled hunchbacked towards the far end of the room, muttering under it's breath in a hoarse voice.

"...Smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my mistress' house, oh my poor mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they've let into her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh the shame of it,"

Oh, so this was Kreacher.

"Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do..."

"Hello, Kreacher!" said Fred loudly, closing the door with a snap. Kaya shot him a grin.

The elf froze, stopped muttering, and gave a very unconvincing tone of surprise, as he spoke more clearly,

"Kreacher did not see young master," he said, turning around and bowing to Fred. Still facing the floor, he added perfectly clearly, "Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is,"

Kaya's jaw dropped in surprise, yet the Weasleys seemed completely unfazed by the elf - they were clearly used to him by now.

"Sorry, what was that?" said George. "Didn't catch that last bit,"

"Kreacher said nothing," said the little elf, with a second bow to George, adding in a clear undertone, "and there's it's twin, unnatural little beasts, they are,"

Kaya covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing, although her grin was still clearly visible.

"It's so lovely to meet you Kreacher!" she said brightly.

"Yes, it really is an honour!" Jaeden added.

"...and there's a new girl and boy, Kreacher doesn't know their names... siblings? What are they doing here? Kreacher doesn't know,"

"We're Kaya and Jae. Jae's pureblood, so you'll probably love him,"

"Another filthy blood traitor, no doubt and it's scummy friend of dirt,"

Jaeden snorted, and Kaya became even more taken aback.

"You little fucker!" she said, but he continued walking, muttering to himself.

"...and there's the Mudblood, standing there so bold as brass, oh, if my mistress knew, oh how she'd cry... and another new boy, Kreacher doesn't know why there is so many knew wizards..."

"This is Harry, Kreacher," said Hermione, tentatively. "Harry Potter,"

Kreacher's eyes widened and began to mutter faster, and more furiously than ever.

"The Mudblood is talking to Kreacher as though she is my friend, if Kreacher's mistress saw him in such company, oh, what would she say-"

"Don't call her a Mudblood!" said Ron and Ginny angrily.

"It doesn't matter!" Hermione whispered. "He's not in his right mind, he doesn't know what he's-"

"Don't kid yourself, Hermione, he knows exactly what he's saying," said Fred, scowling at Kreacher with great dislike.

"Is it true?" Kreacher still muttered "Is it Harry Potter? Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's the boy who stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how he did it-"

"Don't we all, Kreacher," said Fred.

"What do you want, anyway?" asked George. Kreacher glanced towards him.

"Kreacher is cleaning,"

"A likely story," said a voice behind Harry, and Kaya turned to see Sirius Black, standing in the doorway. He was glowering at the elf. The noise in the hall was more quiet now - perhaps Molly and Mundungus had taken their argument to the kitchen.

Kreacher flung himself into a ridiculously low bow at the sight of Sirius.

"Stand up straight," the man said impatiently. "Now, what are you up to?"

"Kreacher is cleaning," the elf repeated. "Kreacher lives to serve to Noble House of Black-"

"And it's getting blacker every day, it's filthy," said Sirius. Kaya and Jaeden smirked.

"Master always liked his joke," Kreacher bower again, before muttering to himself. "Master was a nasty, ungrateful swine, who broke his mother's heart,"

"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher," Sirius snapped. "She kept herself alive out of pure spite,"

Kreacher bowed again as he spoke.

"Whatever Master says," he muttered furiously. He added something about whatever his Mistress would say about him serving Sirius.

"I asked what you were up to," said Sirius, coldly. "Every time you show up, you pretend to be cleaning, and you sneak something to your room, so we can't throw it out,"

Kreacher began rambling, and Kaya looked elsewhere, beginning to get extremely bored. Sirius soon ordered him out.

"-comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh my poor mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers, and he's back, they say he's a murderer, too-"

"Keep muttering, and I will be a murderer!" Sirius said irritably, before slamming the door shut on the elf. Kaya laughed.

"Sirius, he's not right in the head!" Hermione pleaded. "I don't think he realises we can hear him,"

"He's been alone too long," said Sirius. "Taking mad orders from my mother's painting, and talking to himself, but he was always a foul little-"

"If you could just free him," Hermione said hopefully. "Maybe-"

"We can't set him free, he knows too much about the Order," said Sirius. "And anyway, the shock would kill him. You suggest to him that he leaves this house, see how he takes it,"

There was a short silence, in which Sirius walked over to the worn out tapestry.

"Oh," he added, turning to Kaya and Jaeden. "I almost forgot - there's some people here to see you,"

Two faint, familiar voices could be heard downstairs, and Kaya and Jaeden exchanged bright glances, before rushing out of the room. The twins followed.

"The two M's!" Jaeden bellowed, as he and Kaya bounded down the stairs, a tall blonde boy and a red headed girl standing at the bottom.

"Jae!" Maisie grinned, giving him a hug, before letting Milo do the same.

"How're you doing?" said Milo, before he caught sight of Kaya walking towards them. "And who's that weirdo with five colours in her hair?"

Kaya giggled, letting Milo wrap her in a tight hug.

"I got pranked!" she said, and the blonde boy let out a laugh. Maisie was in pure shock.

"Oh. My. God!" she said to Kaya, giving her a squeeze. "You cut it? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"...Surprise!" Kaya grinned. "I didn't dye it though, I got bullied by the Three Musketeers. It should be gone by tomorrow,"

As if on queue, the twins apparated into the room to greet Maisie and Milo.

"Yeah, yeah, we see how you work," George teased Maisie as Milo chatted to Fred and Jae. "Come when we finish de-Doxying and you won't have to do it,"

"What?" Maisie frowned, looking to Kaya for help.

"Yeah, you've got a lot to catch up on," she said, grabbing the girl's hand, and beginning to lead her and the rest of the group through the house.

"Let me show you a really lovely painting of a woman called 'Walburga Black'..."

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