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chapter thirty three | pig in pink

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OKAY, Kaya swears she's not crazy. Yeah, she'll dance until her legs fall off and she'll belt out a favourite song anywhere with no shame, but she's not insane, or anything (although Jaeden would beg to differ).

But, sitting in the Hufflepuff common room before going to bed made her rethink whether she was mental or not - because all she could think about was the lingering feeling that Cedric was present in his old seat by the fireplace.

Yeah, she and Maisie were definitely crazy.

"Cedric, if you're here right now, you're creeping me the fuck out," said Kaya, trying to sound as okay as possible as her eyes began to water and her voice broke. For fuck's sake, when will the crying stop? She was beginning to feel pathetic.

"He's definitely haunting us right now, just for the fun of it," said Maisie, who had streams from droplets already marked on her cheeks.

Kaya let out a sad laugh and a nod, as many tears spilled out from her eyes.

The Hufflepuff common room had a quiet atmosphere to it, which was eerie compared to the usual cheerful bubble of chatter. Cedric's group of friends were sitting in the corner, some with wet streaks down their cheeks, and some without. Yet they all wore the same sorrowful expressions as the group spoke to one another in a gentle mutter.

Kaya felt extremely selfish after noticing them. They'd spent every hour of everyday with him. They were as close with him as she was with Jae, Maisie and Milo, and she couldn't imagine the pain of losing one of them, she couldn't even bring herself to think about it - her whole world would come to a halt and never proceed move forward again. She'd be lost, forever, no doubt about it.

Yet here she was, still crying over Cedric as though she was the only person in the world to have lost him.

The brunette took a deep breath, her nostrils filling with the familiar earthy scent of the Hufflepuff plants scattered around the room. It spread a sense of relaxation through her body, before she exhaled, her eyes darting back to her red-headed friend.

"What are we like, Mais?" she said softly. Maisie shook her head, as the waterworks continued to flood.

"Insane?" she said with a weak smile.

"Yes, I'd say that," said Kaya, her eyes that were still sparkling with tears fixed on Cedric's empty seat, as though she was trying to find some kind of sixth sense that told her he was here and she wasn't going mad.

Perhaps it was the grief, or maybe it was a coping mechanism, but Kaya and Maisie were convinced their friend was here with them. And it was a comforting feeling that gave off the same warmth as a hug - because Cedric wasn't gone. He was very much alive, through memory and through love. They'd never even realised the impact he'd had on their lives, considering he wasn't even apart of their friendship group, and yet they missed him more than words could describe.

"It'll get better, right?" said Maisie, her voice shaking. Kaya gave an unsure nod.

"...It has too..."

There was a short pause.

"I think we need to go to bed," said Maisie suddenly through a croaked voice, pulling herself together and wiping away her tears. She sniffed. "We'll probably feel better in the morning. Everything is always ten times worse when it's night time and you're tired,"

"I agree," Kaya nodded. Her nose had become red and stuffy from the crying.

She and Maisie stood up, glancing back at Cedric's seat, before Kaya said through a whisper,

"Night, Ced,"

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Somehow, on the journey to Kings Cross the previous day, Kaya had managed to get sunburnt by the September sun, and so awoke the next morning with, as well as puffy eyes from crying the night before, a sore, red patch on her chest and shoulders. She groaned.

"I dunno what you expected," said Maisie, who was already getting ready. Both girls seemed to have managed to put their minds to the upcoming day, right at this moment - the events from the night before unspoken of. "It was boiling, you were wearing a strappy top, and you didn't even put suncream on,"

"Yeah alright, mother," said Kaya, reluctantly kicking off the bedcovers and heading over to the mirror to examine her angry, red skin. "Have you got any Burn-Healing Paste?"

"No, who do you think I am, Madame Pomfrey?" said Maisie, who was scrambling around in her trunk to find a clean shirt. "Ask Milo, he's always carrying that weird muggle replacement,"

"Yeah, that's true," Kaya nodded. "He's always got some Aloe Vera on him,"

Milo was always one to make sure he never got sunburnt - and if he did, he'd always carry some Aloe Vera gel to calm the angry burns down. Kaya wishes she was that organised.

And she still chuckled to herself, as she clipped, not only her Prefect's badge, but her Head Girl badge on over her uniform. It was at times like these she wishes she was, or was friends with, a Legilimens. They'd be able to work out why on earth she was chosen as Head Girl.

Then again, Dumbledore'd had enough on his mind without having to choose school positions - perhaps he'd decided on Milo and then just thought to pick one of Milo's friends. Or maybe he gotten Kaya and Maisie mixed up and though Kaya would be able to control her troublesome friends a bit. Or maybe he'd done some stalking last year and noticed Kaya's sudden friendship with the Weasley twins and Lee, and thought she might be able to keep them in place. He'd be wrong, if that was the plan.

Oh well, she'll never know, now. She'd been given it for some odd reason - so she'd just have to go along with it, like she did with everything else, at the moment.

Kaya and Maisie walked to the Great Hall, where they met the boys at Gryffindor table - there was no point sitting at Hufflepuff table now, for two main reasons: One, the twins and Lee were Gryffindor, as well as Milo, so the amount of red coloured ties in the group outweighed the rest, so it only made sense to meet up where the majority were. And two, the absence of Cedric would be most present in places like Hufflepuff table, so Kaya and Maisie tried their best to stay away as much as they could.

"Morning," said Maisie with a yawn, sitting next to George.

"You two look knackered," said Jaeden, raising an eyebrow.

"You know it," said Kaya, sitting next to Fred and giving his hand a squeeze. He looked relieved - he wasn't sure how the girl was going to be today, after the first night back at school without her friend. He flashed her a warm smile, and gave her a casual kiss on the cheek.

Jaeden made wretching noises, so Kaya threatened to stick her butter knife in his eye.

"It's tradition," said Maisie. "It's not the first day back if Kaya and I aren't already exhausted first thing in the morning,"

"Before I forget," said Kaya, glancing Milo's way and picking up a piece of toast. "Miles, can I use some of your Aloe Vera-?"

"Aloe Vera!" Jaeden chirped with a wide grin.

"-I got burned to a crisp yesterday, and I didn't even realise,"

"Uh, yeah," Milo said slowly. "I kind of ran out..."

"What?!" Kaya leaned forward. "Are you taking the piss?"

"No..."

"Oh for god's sake, typical. The one time I actually need your endless supply of Aloe Vera and you don't have it,"

"How'd you even use it up, anyway?" Maisie asked. "You never burn,"

Milo shrugged.

"Aria needed some, last night..." he said quietly.

"Ooh, Aria!" Jaeden teased, exchanging a mischievous glance with Kaya.

"I never burn, either," said Fred, to which Kaya turned and gave him a weird look. "I only tan,"

"But you're ginger," she said.

"So?"

"I swear gingers get burned more easily than everyone else,"

"Well, I don't," said Fred.

"I reckon he's lying," said Jaeden. "George, we need confirmation, you are his twin, after all,"

"You're asking George for confirmation?" Maisie pulled a face.

"I dunno," George shrugged. "I guess... I've never really thought about it. What lessons have you lot got today, anyway? I wanna know if I've got any of you in anything,"

Kaya scanned her timetable quickly.

"Erm..." she hummed, as her friends went over theirs. Her heart dropped at the first two hours. "Double Transfiguration first and second..."

She'd sat through Cedric all last year in Transfiguration.

"...Herbology third,"

"Hey, same!" said George brightly. "You've got me in your class, this year!"

"Lucky me. Then I've got Muggle Studies,"

"You took Muggle Studies?" Fred pulled a face.

"Right!" Jaeden nodded at Fred, before turning to Kaya. "You literally grew up practically half muggle, since your mum's muggleborn and apparently wanted to raise you the same way she was. The only muggle thing you didn't do was have to go to one of their weird schools for little kids,"

"Exactly, knob-heads," Kaya nodded, as though it was obvious. "That's why I took it - I'll ace the subject. You lot are so thick sometimes,"

"What N.E.W.T.S are you lot even taking?" George asked. "The way we don't even know surprises me - why haven't we found out before?"

"Because we've got more interesting things to talk about than school," said Lee.

"Kaya's taking..." said Jaeden, frowning in concentration at his best friend. "I wanna get this right..."

"You should know," said Kaya. "We've literally been taking them for the past year,"

"Yeah, shut up," said Jaeden. "Er... Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Muggle Studies..." he paused. "Shit, what's the other two-? Oh! Herbology, and Charms,"

"Jaeden's taking Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration," said Kaya, ticking the five off her fingers as though it was common knowledge.

"How'd you know so easily?" The brunette boy pulled a face.

"Because I don't have the memory of a goldfish,"

"Okay, okay, my go," said Maisie with a grin, her eyes landing on the blonde boy opposite her. "Milo's taking... Arithmancy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Astrology and Potions,"

"Nice," Milo grinned. "And Maisie's taking Potions, Arithmancy, Astrology, Transfiguration, History of Magic and Charms,"

"Six?" George raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Kaya said proudly with a bright face, wrapping her arm around the red-headed girl who tried to be as modest as possible. "Maisie's a little smart-ass, she's got brains bigger than Hagrid's beard!"

"Shut up, I'm not that smart," said Maisie, giving Kaya a nudge. Her cheeks were a little pink, although she was wearing a slightly smug smile.

"Yeah, alright, Miss I-Got-Eight-Owls," said Kaya sardonically. Maisie grinned, and playfully rolled her eyes.

There was a short silence, in which everyone continued to read through their timetables.

"What did you say you had last?" Fred asked Kaya again, comparing his own timetable to hers.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," Kaya repeated, peering over his shoulder. "Yeah, I think it's the same class as last year," she said, after learning she'd have it the same time as Fred. It had turned out both George and Jaeden did, too, so she was definitely correct.

"Let's hope the teacher's not a dick this year," said George.

"Too late for that, have you seen that cardigan?" Jaeden spoke up. "Wearing that ugly thing automatically makes her a dick,"

Kaya let out a laugh.

"...I mean, at least she's not an undercover Death Eater... hopefully,"

And yet, somehow, Kaya ended up preferring an undercover Death Eater for a teacher over that pink toad.

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"Good morning children,"

Kaya, who was currently sitting next to Jaeden, the Weasley twins occupying the desk in front, already found herself cringing at Umbridge's opening sentence. She's seventeen, for goodness' sake (even if Jaeden always says she's got the mentality of a six year old).

"Nastily Exhausting, Wizarding Test," she spoke through her sickeningly high pitched voice, as she flicked her wand at the blackboard, spelling out four letters. "More commonly known as N.E.W.Ts!"

"Here we go," Jaeden muttered to Kaya in a grumble. She rested her hand on her chin with a bored expression. That's one way to start your first lesson off - bore the class with an explanation about their exams. Well done, Dolores.

"Study hard, and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences will be... severe,"

"Oh, well, we better step up our game, Jae," Kaya muttered sardonically to her friend.

She doesn't know what it is, but something about this woman just seems off. Maybe it's the fake smile or the way she spoke to them like they were five - but she definitely wasn't right. Maybe Kaya's just being a bit judgemental. But there was just something about the old woman in the pink-coloured cardigan that made the brunette Hufflepuff feel just a bit uneasy.

By the looks of the faces around her, she didn't seem to be the only one. Jaeden was giving Umbridge a kind of bitter scowl, one that would stereotypically fit his Slytherin tie and the rest of his house perfectly. Kaya couldn't see the twins' faces in front of her, but she could sense how tense they were, even from where she was sitting. Lee was sitting next to somebody she didn't know, though he was grimacing at the woman's immediate introduction to their end of year exams.

Kaya guessed that many other teachers would be bringing up their N.E.W.Ts - she supposed they were important. Even if a student taking them, for some reason, wasn't going to rely on them in the future, they still reflected back on Hogwarts as a school - of course her teachers would want everyone to do well.

Umbridge flicked her stubby wand, and many books floated forwards down the isles in between the desks, separating out to each student as she continued to ramble. This woman seemed to love rambling.

"Your previous instructions in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But, you'll be pleased to know, that, for your final year, you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry approved course of Defensive Magic,"

Kaya couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, and exchanged a baffled look with Fred, who'd glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Right, well we're failing Defence," said Jaeden, though not loud enough for Umbridge to hear.

Lee, in need of justification of what on earth he was hearing (much like everyone else) questioned Umbridge in asking why they weren't going to be using magic. After all, it was defence - what were they going to do if they came face-to-face with a Death Eater? Bore them with theories?

Kaya then remembered the Ministry refused to believe Harry and Dumbledore in saying the Dark Lord was back, and then the realisation set into place. Of course.

She might be dense, but even she can work this shit out.

Umbridge, and seemingly the rest of the Ministry, were trying to convince everyone there was nothing out there that they would need Defence for. It was all political reasons, and it was fucking up her education. Brilliant.

"So... if we were attacked by anyone, how are we going to know the defensive spells to protect us?" said George sourly.

"Well, I can't imagine anyone that would want to hurt children, like yourselves!"

OK, but we're almost adults?

Nobody seemed to be brave enough, or stupid enough, for that matter, to bring up the fact that Lord bloody Voldemort had returned. And then Kaya raised her hand, to which Umbridge had acknowledged with a high pitched, "Yes, dear?"

"I'm not trying to be disrespectful, Professor," said Kaya. She had to be careful - even she'd be a bit embarrassed if she lost Head Girl on the first day back. Everyone turned their heads her way, some giving her looks as though daring her to mention the Dark Lord's return. She wanted to flip them off. But, she had something (which she thought more clever) in mind, and put on the most innocent voice she could.

"But what about the great mass-murderer on the loose, Sirius Black? Say, what if we were to run into him?"

Fred broke into a smug grin, and Jaeden raised his eyebrows. Kaya shared the same surprise with herself that the boy sitting next to her did, and shifted uneasily, trying to contain her best 'naive-looking' expression. Umbridge seemed stumped, for a split second.

Kaya couldn't help but feel a little proud of herself.

"I can assure you, dear, the Ministry have everything under control in relation to Sirius Black - there is no need for you to worry about such things," Umbridge replied, slightly more unconfident but with the same fake smile and sickly voice.

Kaya's proud bubble had popped, and looked back down, exchanging a sulky glance with Fred, who gave her a look that said 'At least you tried,'. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to Umbridge's reply (as much as she'd liked to, she couldn't just straight out insult the Ministry) and so kept quiet.

Although, the rest of the class seemed alert at her own statement about 'mass-murderer' Sirius. Of course, the majority of the Wizarding World were still under the impression he was on the loose and dangerous - even those who were in denial about Voldemort knew (as far as they were concerned) that he was on the loose, still. Umbridge did not look Kaya's way through the rest of the lesson, though she didn't interact with the class too much, anyway. The pig in pink had instructed the class to read through the textbook.

"That was a 'smart-ass' thing to come out of your mouth," Fred turned around and muttered. Kaya could feel her lips curve up into a grin.

"Sometimes I surprise even myself," she muttered with an arrogant shrug.

"Yeah, aren't you something?" he teased with a wink.

She playfully rolled her eyes, as he turned back around - he and George talking in a hushed whisper to each other. She and Jaeden were playing Noughts and Crosses with each other on the empty page in the back of Jaeden's textbook.

It was safe to say, she'd be failing Defence Against the Dark Arts, this year. Thanks a lot, Dolores.

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A/N: Kaya knows what's up lol

I thought I'd just mention, there is now a code in the 'Introduction' and a link in my bio for a Spotify playlist for this book, if you fancied a listen!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you thought!

<3