disclaimer: HP and it's characters are not mine, just Kaysa, Chitral, and a few others out of necessity (well, you can't just have a school of thirteen students, now, can you?)
A/N: here's the next chapter! enjoy! again, feel free to ask questions, give feed back, anything ^_^
Duel
"You have to win, you know."
Sirius rolled his eyes. They were in the library for morning break catching up on some homework before Care of Magical Creatures. Sirius was trying to make a start on the essay Professor Flitwick had assigned them that morning, but he was finding it difficult to concentrate; Remus just wouldn't let it go.
"You ought to get some practice in," the boy was saying, "maybe look for some new spells… I mean, this is the library, I bet we could find loads of —"
"Would you just relax already?" James interrupted him exasperatedly. "It's just a duel! Anyway, she said herself she doesn't know much about dueling. I'll be fine."
"That was two weeks ago," said Remus, meaning the Hogsmeade weekend when Kaysa had made her original challenge. "For all we know, she's been getting someone to teach her since then."
"Oh, so what?" said James. "It's just a duel. What are you so worked up about?"
Remus looked around at all of them, a strange look on his face.
"Don't you want to know?" he asked.
"Know what?" said Sirius, trading blank looks with James and Peter.
"About them!" Remus exclaimed. "About those girls! They're strange — there's something wrong about them."
"What do you mean?" said Sirius before he could stop himself. "There's nothing wrong with them."
James sniggered but Remus was shaking his head.
"I said 'wrong about them' not 'wrong with them,'" he said. "I just meant there's something off . . . something they're keeping a secret."
"Aah," said James, "I see. You don't care about my reputation, you just want a chance to ask questions."
"Your reputation is entirely your business," Remus told him flatly. "But if you win, they have to answer three questions truthfully. I want to know what —" he gestured vaguely with a hand, "— you know, what's really up with them."
It wasn't a very elegant way of putting it, but Sirius did know what he meant. However much he admired Kaysa, there was no denying that she and her cousin were odd. It wasn't blatantly obvious, or anything, but if you were paying attention you started to notice things, little things, which alone might not have meant anything but which all together hinted at something Sirius couldn't even begin to fathom. It was like a riddle; the answer, once pointed out to you, was really quite simple, but until someone did, you just couldn't quite get your brain around it because it would mean coming at something so crookedly. The answer, the explanation, was there, he was sure of it. He just couldn't see it.
He sighed.
"Look," he said to James. "Maybe he's got a point. And, even if you turn out not to need it for this one, wouldn't it be fun to have some new tricks to pull on old Snivellus?" He was rather proud of this little bit of inspiration; James would do just about anything if it meant getting yet another one up on Snape. True to form, James's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, alright," he said, sounding far more enthusiastic now. "But not now; I've got to finish this Potions essay."
Remus flashed Sirius a grateful look across the table. Sirius gave him a shrug and a quick smile in return, then turned back to his homework. It was much easier to concentrate now, and by the time the bell rang to signal the end of break he was nearly halfway done. Rolling up his parchment and shoving it into his bag, he stood and walked with his friends down the stairs to the first floor where their Care of Magical Creatures class was held.
Kaysa and Chitral were already there when they entered, sitting at a table with Lily and Heather. James grinned slightly evilly and led Sirius and the others to a table right next to them. As the rest of the class filed in, Lily looked sidelong at them. James grinned broadly at her and she wrinkled her nose and looked away. Sirius considered trying to catch Kaysa's eye, but he wasn't sure how she would react. Things had seemed fairly friendly between their two groups last night, but neither Kaysa nor her cousin had so much as spared any of them a look all morning. Then Professor Kettleburn walked in.
"Right," he said briskly, marching to the front of the room, "show of hands; who did their homework? Ah, most of you, I see. Good. Now, hold it up, please. Accio!"
Homework flew to him from every corner of the room and landed neatly on his desk in a pile.
"Excellent," said Professor Kettleburn. "Now, anyone who hasn't finished it yet will have till the end of the day to complete it and get it to me. Anyone who fails to do so will be assigned a make-up essay twice the original length."
The class groaned. Sirius grinned. Professor Kettleburn was one of the strangest teachers he'd ever had. Short and burly, with curly but thinning orangey-red hair and bright blue eyes, you expected the accent. The man practically had 'Scotland' written on his face. What you didn't expect was how fast he was; as if his enthusiasm wouldn't allow him to slow down and take a breath. He was already missing three fingers (two on his left hand and one on his right) and (he claimed) several toes as well, and fully expected to lose a few more, but that hadn't stopped him working with the magical creatures he clearly loved. Sirius loved his classes; his fascination with and enthusiasm for the subject was catching, making sure that classes were never dull. He also never seemed to get angry with students and didn't believe in detentions. Detention, he said, didn't teach a person anything; he'd far rather his students did something productive with their time. Oddly, in spite of this — or, perhaps because of it — almost no one ever misbehaved in his classes, or failed to do their work. It was damn magic!
"Right then," said Kettleburn, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet, "today we're starting —" He stopped. Sirius looked around to see what had distracted him. Kaysa had her hand in the air.
"Excuse me," she said, "I'm sorry. I wouldn't interrupt, except, well, it's sort of urgent."
"Go on," said Professor Kettleburn sounding more curious than anything else.
"It's," Kaysa began, then stopped and pursed her lips. "It's . . . well, actually I don't really know what it is — what he is. But he's just a baby, see." She pulled her hands out of her lap and placed the little, two-tailed fox kit from the night before on her desk. "I was hoping you could tell me how to care for him. And maybe what he is. I thought he was a fox kit, but, well, you'll see."
Lily and Heather both squealed when Kaysa set the little fluffball on the desk and immediately tried to pet him. Kaysa winced and opened her mouth, but Professor Kettleburn got there first.
"Yes, yes," he said, hurrying over and picking up the kit. "Very cute, but don't shriek like that. I imagine it hurts his ears worse than mine."
Rebuked, the girls pulled their hands back looking disappointed.
"Now, let's see here." He inspected the small creature in his hand. "What are you, laddie?"
"It is male, then?" said Kaysa, watching him. "I did look but it's a little hard to tell with all the baby fuzz."
"Oh, yes," said Kettleburn distractedly as he gently prized open the kit's jaws and peered inside. "Hmm . . . milk teeth, so still quite young, but the eyes are open…" he mused letting go of the kit's mouth. It snapped at him. Easily evading the bite, Professor Ketteburn deftly turned the kit in his hands to look at its rear. He had to uncurl the two tails to see them, and Sirius saw his eyes widen slightly as he did so. Then the professor turned a sharp eye on Kaysa.
"And where did you come by this little fellow, I wonder," he said. Sirius felt James tense beside him; he needn't have worried, however.
"I was out walking after dinner last night," Kaysa lied smoothly. "I probably wouldn't have found him, but he was hungry and crying."
"Walking where?" Kettleburn pressed.
"Around the lake," came the calm reply. Sirius was impressed; technically, it wasn't even really a lie. Professor Kettleburn regarded her suspiciously for a moment, but it wasn't really in his nature to care what his students got up to so long as they it was informative and safe (well, mostly, anyway).
"Well, you are quite fortunate, Mistress Kaysa," he said finally, holding the kit out to her, which yipped and squirmed in his hand, trying to get back to the girl. Kaysa took hold of him quick before the little thing could fall. "That there is a kitsune."
"A what?" said Kaysa, looking up at the teacher blankly.
"A kitsune. The name originates from old Japanese folklore. Kitsune are to foxes what kneazles are to cats," Professor Kettleburn explained, now speaking to the class at large. "They are clever and trainable and, though fairly hard to get your hands on, tending to be quite shy of humans, they are incredibly loyal. Now, caring for a young kitsu—"
"Sir," Chitral suddenly broke in, "please, sir, couldn't you take the care of this one? It'll be too much for us."
"I said I'll manage!" Kaysa snapped at her. Then she looked at Professor Kettleburn. "Er, no offense meant, sir."
"None taken," said Kettleburn lightly. Turning to Chitral he said seriously, "I suppose I could try to take him, but, your cousin's attachment aside, I doubt he'd stay with me."
"Why not?" Chitral asked.
"You said he was hungry when you found him?" Kaysa nodded confirmation and he continued, "Then I'd also assume you fed him?"
"Of course," said Kaysa indignantly.
"Then he will have attached himself to you," said the professor. "I suspected as much when he tried to bite me. They're usually more docile at that age."
Chitral groaned. Kaysa just smiled and cuddled the kit close to her chest.
"Well," said Professor Kettleburn, looking around, "I guess we'd better put off knarls for later. Right: Kitsune," and, recognizing the sound of him starting a lecture, the class pulled out quills and parchment to take notes on kitsune with.
There was a lot to know about kitsune, it turned out. They could have anything from one to nine tails, tended to be lighter in color than normal foxes — often the more tails a kitsune had, the lighter its fur was — and had exceptionally good hearing. They were also highly intelligent, capable of understanding human language and of problem-solving, at least to a point. Less was know about their magical properties since they were so hard to find and study, but it was suspected that they could become, if not invisible, then at least unnoticeable somehow. Sirius supposed that made sense; it would certainly explain why so few people ever saw them.
The last ten minutes of class were given over to a brief lesson on how to care for young kitsune while everyone was allowed to come forward one at a time and get a good look at the kit.
"What's his name?" Sirius asked when it was his turn. He'd already seen the kit, but it had been dark then; now he could see the white tufts on each tail and the strange markings on its fur; the ears and paws were solid black while the rest of the body was dark brown with streaks of black running through it.
"That's an odd color," he commented.
"It's called brindle," Kaysa told him. "And his name's Cahiran."
"Ah, the little warrior," said Professor Kettleburn, who had clearly overheard. "I didn't know you knew Gaelic." He sounded approving.
"I don't, sir," said Kaysa, almost apologetically, "not really. I've just been reading some of the legends and things and I've taken to looking up some of the names to see what they meant, is all. Sorry."
"Whatever for?" exclaimed Professor Kettleburn, looking startled. "It's wonderful to see such curiosity in my pupils."
"Why do you know Gaelic, sir?" asked Cameron Walsh. "You're Scottish, not Irish."
"True," Kettleburn told the boy, "but our two peoples share a heritage, after all. And I like knowing things."
Cam blinked then frowned, considering this.
"Now," said Professor Kettleburn, addressing Kaysa directly, "you'll need to feed him often at first — every three to four hours I'd say. Milk is good, I've got a formula you can use, but he'll need more than that. Foxes are weaned when they open their eyes. Try giving him small pieces of meat. Raw or cooked is fine, but not too heavily seasoned. You can also try bits of egg. When he gets older you can give him small amounts of fruit as well."
Kaysa listened carefully, nodding every now and then. The rest of the class, realizing they had effectively been dismissed, packed up and left for lunch.
"A kitsune," said James to Sirius and the others as they made their way to the Great Hall. "Who'd've thought?"
"Yeah," said Sirius dropping into a seat at the Gryffindor table and reaching for food. "Too bad we didn't find more though, I wouldn't mind having one."
"You're joking, right?" said Chitral, sliding in beside Peter on the opposite side of the table. "Did you know that at this age they don't know how to go to the bathroom by themselves? You have to rub their rears with a wet tissue to get them to go. That's were Kaysa is right now."
Sirius grimaced; he hadn't known that.
"Lucky her," he said dryly. "Why aren't you with Lily?"
Chitral raised an eyebrow at him.
"I suppose I wanted a change," she said coolly. "I can leave, though, if you'd like."
"No, it's fine," said Sirius hurriedly. If Chitral was sitting with them, maybe Kaysa would too. "I was just surprised, that's all."
Chitral grinned at him and began loading her plate. Sirius watched, wondering if she was being ambitious or was just really hungry. Either way, she had taken more food than anyone but Peter. After a minute or so, Kaysa joined them, taking a seat next to James.
"What?" she demanded as the boys all stared; she too was piling her plate high. "I'm hungry!"
"I guess so," said James, sounding impressed.
"Where's the baby?" Chitral asked.
"Asleep in my hood," said Kaysa, jerking a thumb at the back of her robes.
"He must be exhausted to fall asleep there," Sirius commented, thinking about how much motion that would require sleeping through.
"And so he should be," said Kaysa, ladling liberal amounts of gravy onto her mashed potatoes. "He's had quite the exciting morning."
"I don't know how no one noticed him in Herbology," said Chitral, swallowing a mouthful of food.
"I never thought I'd be thankful for those unruly Tentacula of Professor Sprout's," said Kaysa, "but I sure was today. They kept everyone else busy and him quiet."
"Really?" said Sirius curiously. "I'd have thought he'd have wanted to chase them."
"Maybe when he's older," said Kaysa, "but for now he's still too young to be that adventurous."
"I've read about kitsune," said Remus suddenly. "Folklore says they're shapeshifters."
"Yeah, well, folklore says witches are evil and all own black cats, too," said Kaysa.
"I didn't say I believed it," said Remus, "I just wonder where the legends come from, that's all."
"Legends come from all over," said Kaysa shrugging. "And they rarely make sense. This one probably got blended with western trickster mythology or something."
"Or someone was just really hairy and totally crazy," said Chitral with a laugh. "Anyway, I thought boggarts were the only real shapeshifters."
"What about werewolves and animagi?" asked Remus; his voice was mild but Sirius could see a flicker of worry in his friend's eyes at bringing up werewolves, a topic he usually avoided even within their group.
"I mean ones with an innate and controllable ability," said Chitral.
"Innate?" echoed Peter, confused.
"It means to be born with something," Kaysa explained. "A natural ability, like."
"Whatever," said James. He sounded impatient all of a sudden. "Ask one of the teachers. Look, I'm not complaining here, but I don't get it. Why are you hanging out with us if you want to fight me?"
Kaysa stared at him.
"I told you," she said, "I like you lot well enough. Some things just need to be dealt with, that's all."
"What does that even mean?"
"That you need a lesson in manners."
"I have parents for that," said James rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, but they're not here, are they?" retorted Kaysa. "Anyway, I doubt they're aware of what all you get up to here."
James opened his mouth to reply, then jumped slightly and yelped.
"Don't bother arguing with her," said Chitral. "If I can't make her see sense what makes you think you can?"
"That hurt!" James complained, reaching down to rub his shin where she must have kicked him.
"Good," said Kaysa reaching for a roast chicken. Sirius stared. Somehow, in the last ten minutes, she had cleared her plate.
"You're not still hungry?" he said, watching as she carved small slices of chicken breast and placed them on her plate.
"What? Oh, no. No, this is for Cahi." She began to cut up the slices of meat into even smaller pieces and Sirius realized that by 'Cahi' she must have meant the kitsune kit. She pulled out a small bag from inside her robes and placed the chopped up chicken in it, then she stood up and stretched.
"Right," she said, "Time to see about a basket or cage of some sort. There's no way I'm taking the little guy to Potions — not till he's learned the word 'no' anyway. Chi, come help. I think this might turn out to be a two-person job."
Chitral sighed patiently and polished off the last of her own meal before standing.
"I hate Potions," she complained as she got to her feet. "A double period with the Slytherins and Lily always ends up talking to that twitchy boy."
"What, you mean old Snivellus?" said James, grinning up at her.
"Is that what you call him?" asked Chitral, giggling. "I like it."
"I don't know," said Kaysa slowly, "I mean, she must be friends with him for some reason."
"Well, if you can spot it, then that's more than any of us can manage," James told her. "He's an odd one; way into the Dark Arts."
"Still," said Kaysa, shrugging. "Anyway, we'll see you in class. Come on, Chi, let's go."
"Wait!" Sirius called after them. "I'm confused; are we all friends now or what?"
Kaysa turned back to look at him, her emerald eyes playful, but also serious as they flicked from him to each of his friends in turn.
"Well, I guess that's up to you now, isn't it?" she said. Then she turned and left.
"She is so weird!" exclaimed James after a moment. "I honestly don't know what you see in her, mate."
Sirius shrugged helplessly at him; truth be told, he wasn't really sure himself.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
"We missed you at lunch today," said Lily as Kaysa and Chitral set up their cauldrons at a table next to her and Heather. Her voice was light but Kaysa thought she detected a faint chilliness. She blinked, startled; she had thought it would be okay but maybe she'd been wrong. She was getting better at knowing the unspoken social rules here, but you could never tell.
"Sorry," she said, "I didn't know we had a standing arrangement."
"Oh, no, no we don't," said Lily, who knew Kaysa well enough by now to realize that she thought she'd made a social error. "It's not that, it's just —"
"Just what?" asked Kaysa when Lily paused. The other girl hesitated.
"What were you doing hanging with Potter's crowd?" asked Heather bluntly.
"Ah," said Kaysa, understanding dawning on her. "He owes me a duel. I wanted to make sure he wouldn't skip out on me." It wasn't precisely a lie, she told herself, not really.
"Besides, they're not all that bad," said Chitral fairly. Kaysa had to stifle a giggle; you'd never guess that, only days ago, Chitral had been trying to convince her to stay away from the boys.
"You're kidding, right?" said Heather. "They're a bunch of arrogant prats!"
"Well, they are thirteen year-old boys," Kaysa pointed out. "You can't possibly expect them to be perfect."
"No, I suppose not, but a little humility wouldn't kill them," said Lily.
"And I hope to teach them some," said Kaysa. She glanced around the room, but they'd come a bit early and Professor Slughorn wasn't there yet. Even so, she lowered her voice as she asked, "Can you teach me how to duel? I've only got until Saturday to learn."
"You were serious about that?" Lily hissed, her eyes widening. "Are you crazy? If the teachers catch you you'll be in so much trouble."
"I know that," said Kaysa, "but he said girls can't fight. I can't just let that go. Besides, it'd be worth it to knock him down a peg."
Lily bit her lip then finally, as the rest of the class started to trickle in, she said, "Alright, fine, I'll help. But if we get caught —"
"Let me worry about that," said Kaysa firmly; this was her endeavor after all, any trouble it caused should fall solely on her. Lily nodded then turned to the incoming students.
"Sev!" she called, waving over a pale Slytherin boy with greasy black hair and eyes so dark you couldn't. "Hey, Sev, come here."
"What?" he asked, rather shortly, eyeing Kaysa, Chitral, and Heather.
"I need to teach Kaysa how to duel," Lily explained, gesturing to Kaysa. She didn't seem at all put off by his tone. "Will you help? You know more about dueling than I do." The boy frowned at her.
"Why would I teach a Gryffindor to duel?"
"You taught me some," said Lily.
"That's different," the boy protested. "I trust you. Why do you need to teach her, anyway?"
"Because she—"
"Wait!" Kaysa interrupted. She had been worried about this since Lily had called him over. Severus Snape hated James Potter, everyone knew it; telling him that she wanted to know how to duel because she was going to duel with James felt wrong. Not that it wasn't true, exactly, but while she didn't feel any need to explain to Lily or Snape that she was actually starting to like James and his rowdy crew, she also didn't want Snape to teach her dueling because she'd let him believe she hated James too and wanted to cream him or something. It was too easy and it wasn't fair.
"Look, I just need to know the basics," she said, speaking directly to Snape. "If you don't feel comfortable teaching me, then you don't have to do it."
"Why do you want to know?" Snape repeated, his black eyes sharp with suspicion.
"Because I don't know how," said Kaysa carefully, looking straight back at him, "and I don't like being at a disadvantage."
Snape considered her for a moment.
"Just the basics?" he checked.
"Just the basics," said Kaysa levelly. "I doubt I'd be able to do anything more than that just now, anyway." This was not, strictly speaking, true; she was a good learner and tended to pick things up pretty quick (outside of Transfiguration, anyway), but still, she didn't think she'd be able to learn anything fancy by Saturday. And besides, people were always more willing to do things when you made it seem like they were doing you a favor. She might refuse to trick him into teaching her, but she wasn't beneath making him feel a bit better about it now that he'd basically agreed.
"Fine," said Snape. "I'll do it. Meet me in the library after class."
Kaysa hesitated.
"Wouldn't it be better to do this outside?" she suggested tentatively. She didn't want him to get angry and change his mind, but she couldn't help thinking of what Madame Pince, Hogwarts' remarkably crotchety librarian, would say if she caught them practicing dueling anywhere near her precious books. Actually, Kaysa liked books too, but Madame Pince was far more worrying.
"Of course," said Snape, sneering at her slightly. "But the grounds are too big to set a meeting point at. It'll be easier if we all just meet somewhere in the castle, and there's a book I need to check out."
"Oh," said Kaysa. "Alright."
"We'll be there," said Lily, smiling at him. "Thanks, Sev."
Snape nodded to her, then hauled his things away to sit with the Slytherins without a word.
"Well, he sure is friendly," said Chitral sarcastically. "I can't think how I could have not noticed before."
Heather sniggered but Lily frowned.
"Leave him alone," she said reproachfully. "He's my best friend. He's just not very good with people, that's all."
Heather pursed her lips but said nothing. Kaysa exchanged a glance with Chitral; neither one of them was buying that. Lily might think he was just bad with people, but that wasn't it. It was simply that the only person he really cared about being good with was Lily.
Still, Kaysa thought, as Professor Slughorn finally made an appearance, apologizing jovially for being late (he'd gotten held up chatting, what'd'ya know — as if anyone was surprised), he probably did know his stuff. She didn't have to like him any more than he did her to learn from him.
"Why didn't you tell him you're going to duel with Potter?" Lily asked, as they all got to work on their assignment (brew a potion to stave off illness). "He'd love to help with that."
"Exactly," said Kaysa, chopping up some chervil root. "He hates James. I don't. I just want to beat him. I don't want fancy tricks — that's not fair. I just want the same chance as anyone else here would have."
Lily frowned at her, but shrugged.
"Alright then," she said. "I don't get it, but if that's how you want it…"
Kaysa nodded, and kept chopping.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
When you're waiting for something to happen, time always seems to move strangely. Sometimes very fast, sometimes very slow, but always strangely. This is probably because you are finally paying attention.
To Sirius, waiting for Saturday and James's duel with Kaysa, time moved both too fast and too slow, and always in the opposite of accordance with his wishes. When he was stuck in class wanting to get out to go to the library and learn new spells with his friends, it took forever for the bell to ring. Once they were in the library, however, it always seemed as though they'd only just gotten started when they'd have to leave for dinner, or their next class, or to go do some actual homework.
It was extremely frustrating.
However, by the time Saturday finally rolled around, they had looked up enough spells that Sirius and James were both confident that James would be able to hold his own, even if Kaysa had been practicing. Peter, stanchly loyal, had said that he was sure James would be fine without extra practice, but had happy to help them look through books anyway. Only Remus was still worried; Kaysa was grinning far too much for his liking, he said.
Kaysa's grins didn't seem to bother James though, in fact, Sirius rather thought his friend was looking forward to the duel now. He'd been especially cheerful all day, not even complaining when Peeves the Poltergeist attempted to topple a suit of armor on them on their way to lunch, where he proceeded to eat heartily and then suggest that Sirius and the others come watch the Quidditch practice, even though it was cold and rainy. In the end, only Peter went to see any of it, Sirius and Remus had refused; Sirius on the basis that he didn't want to freeze to death, thank you very much, and Remus said that he had homework. Peter only lasted about half an hour before he gave up and returned, wet, shivering, and sneezing, to the common room. Having foreseen this outcome, Sirius and Remus had saved him a seat by the fire so he was warm and dry by the time James and the rest of the team got back.
"Right," said James, sounding put out about something, "anyone know a good spell for keeping water off things? I can never see when it rains." He pointed to his glasses, which were spotted with water droplets and now fogging over in the sudden warmth.
"You could try impervious," said Frank Longbottom, who was sitting at a table with Merga and a couple other sixth years. "It will make them repel water, although," he added fairly, "I don't know that it will help if it's really raining hard."
"It's worth a try," said James, flopping down in the armchair next to Sirius. "I'm not much use if I can't see where I'm going or what I'm doing. Thanks, Frank."
Frank nodded, smiling, then turned back to his friends. Kynthia moved to join them, but Merga told her to put on something dry first before she dripped all over their essays and ruined them.
"Ah!" Kynthia exclaimed, feigning indignation, "Here I am, your friend, cold and soaked to the core, and all you care about is your homework? I feel so un-loved!"
"Don't worry, Kynth, I still love you!" said Neal, slinging an arm around the tall blonde's shoulders. "Now go put something dry on. You're no good me if you take sick."
Kynthia tried to act offended, but she was laughing too hard. Sirius grinned, glad to see that there was no awkwardness between them over the team captaincy, and turned to James.
"So, apart from the weather, how was it?" he asked.
"Not too bad," said James, stretching his hands out to fire for warmth. "No one ran into anyone else, anyway. And Kynthia could still see to find the Snitch. Still, I hope it doesn't rain for our next match. If we lose then we're out of the running for sure."
"Now that would be a tragedy," said a sarcastic voice. Sirius whipped round to see Kaysa grinning at them, Chitral just behind her. Despite her tone however, she didn't look angry or anything, just mischievous in a general, friendly sort of way. James rolled his eyes at her. Kaysa laughed and leaned sideways against the back of Remus's armchair, facing James and Sirius.
"Maybe you need a spell for seeing heat-signs," she said.
"What?" said James, sounding as confused as Sirius felt.
"To see in the rain," the girl explained. "Muggles have this type of camera that let you see heat signatures. So, like, if you looked at a person, you see a person-shaped spot of red and yellow, because we generate body heat. It would mean you wouldn't have to see through the rain. I think, anyways."
"Somehow," said James, "I don't think there's a spell for that."
"There could be," said Kaysa. "Or you could just invent one."
"Ha! Yeah, right," said James, rolling his eyes again. "Anyway, you ready for tonight?"
"Of course," said Kaysa with one of her grins that showed perhaps more teeth than was strictly necessary. "But can we go outside, instead? I've been thinking and I'd really rather not be responsible for breaking anything in that classroom if it's all the same to you. Plus, I'm not sure there's really enough room."
"Hm, good point," said James frowning. "But it'll be too dark by then. We won't be able to see."
"Oh yeah," said Kaysa looking disappointed.
"Why not just do in now?" asked Chitral, who had evidently gotten bored with standing and plunked herself down in front of the fire.
"But it's pouring rain," said James.
"Not for long," said Chitral, pointing to a window. "Look."
They looked; outside the rain was letting up and the sun was coming out.
"Huh," said James grumpily, "Now that's just plain unfair. Why couldn't it have cleared off earlier for practice instead of stopping just after?"
Kaysa laughed.
"Haven't you noticed yet?" she asked. "In life, the joke always turns out to be on you in the end."
Now it was James's turn to laugh.
"Yeah, alright," he said, "let's do this thing. Only, let's give it five minutes to make sure the rain's not coming back, okay? It really would be a bad joke if we got out there only to have it start up again."
"Works for me," said Kaysa. "I have to feed Cahi again anyway."
Cahi, or Gahi — for the way Kaysa managed to pronounce his nickname it could have been either one — was becoming something of a permanent fixture for Kaysa. She brought him to nearly all their classes and all of their meals, partly so she could feed him, but also because she said he should be socialized properly. Just because he'd attached himself to her, she said, didn't mean he could just go and bite anyone else. And in the three days she'd had him, he'd made remarkable progress; he wouldn't let anyone but Kaysa hold him, but he no longer bit everyone who tried to touch him and he also seemed to have learned the word 'no.' Kaysa said it was all thanks to Professor Kettleburn's help, but even Ketlleburn seemed impressed. Sirius had seen Remus watching Kaysa and the kit too, and knew that he, like Sirius himself, had added this to ever-growing the list of little things about Kaysa and her cousin that just weren't quite normal.
Ten minutes later, Kaysa came back down from the girls' dormitories with the little kit in her arms. He was awake and alert, his big dark eyes staring around at everything, his little nose quivering and his ears pricked. Kaysa sighed.
"He won't sleep," she said as she reached them. "I think he knows something's up."
"How would he know that?" asked Peter. "I mean, he can't understand, can he?"
"I don't think so," replied Kaysa. "Not yet, anyway. But animals often just sort of feel things, like when a horse knows its rider is afraid or something. Either way, he wont' settle. We'll have to take him with us."
"But you're dueling," said Chitral, "What will you do with him then? I don't think he should be directly exposed to magic when he's still so young."
"I'll hold him," Sirius offered quickly, seeing the look on Kaysa's face.
"Er…" said Kaysa, glancing at her cousin, who put up her hands.
"Don't look at me," she said shaking her head. "I don't want him."
"It's okay," said Sirius, "I won't hurt him or anything."
"Oh, it's not that," said Kaysa, looking startled. "It's just, well, he's not exactly easy to hold on to. He's really only good for me, and he doesn't know you. I wouldn't want him to bite you or anything."
"It'll be fine," Sirius said again. "Look, you keep saying he needs to be socialized and all. Just explain to him that by not biting me he is being good for you or something."
Something flickered in her eyes for a moment, but it vanished again before Sirius could work out what it had been. Then she said, "I can try, I suppose. I don't know that it'll work, but if you're willing…"
Sirius nodded.
"Come on, let's go then," said James. "If we do this now, we might be done in time for dinner."
They all got their cloaks — it may have stopped raining, but it was still November — and traipsed outside onto the grounds. Finding a place for James and Kaysa's duel was a little tricky; Kaysa wanted to be somewhere where the ground was fairly flat and it would be hard for anyone inside the castle to spot them. James agreed that this would be ideal, but there were only so many places without windows, and even fewer of them were flat or without trees and bushes in the way. Finally, they decided to go over to a tree by the far side of the lake and have their duel behind it. It was flat enough there, and at least the tree's branches would give them some cover from anyone looking out at the grounds from the castle. Then Kaysa handed Cahiran to Sirius.
"Behave!" she told the little kit firmly. "This is Sirius. He helped me find you." Cahi growled softly and snapped at Sirius. Sirius let him do it, wincing slightly as the kit's sharp teeth sank into his index finger.
"I won't put you down just for that," he informed Cahi. "Or did you want me to drop you?" he added, moving his hand so the kit could see how far away the ground was. Cahi seemed to consider for a moment, then he released Sirius's finger, sat up in his palms and began to wash one of his tails as if nothing had ever happened. Sirius laughed.
"Well done," said Kaysa, looking impressed. "What made you think of that?"
"Would you want to fall that far if you were his size?" Sirius asked her.
"Point," said the girl, then she turned to James and asked him something about the rules. Sirius was a bit relieved; he was glad to have impressed her again, but he still had a hard time thinking straight when she talked to him sometimes. Trying not to dwell on Kaysa's pretty eyes or on the light, floaty feeling in his chest, he stroked Cahi's soft fur gently and waited for things to get going.
"Right," said Kaysa finally, "Let's go then."
Sirius looked up. Kaysa and James stood facing each other; they took their wands out, saluted each other, then turned and walked five paces away. Then they both whipped around and took a ready stance.
"En garde!" called Remus loudly. He seemed to have taken it upon himself to referee. "Ready? Allez!"
"Impedimenta!" James shouted, pointing his wand at Kaysa. Sirius frowned; an impediment jinx wasn't likely to do much just now, it was sort of like a stunner only less powerful, meant to slow things down or stop them from moving. But Sirius supposed James didn't want things to end to fast. Kaysa's response was interesting; instead of blocking the spell or just dodging, she dove sideways and down, rolling when she hit the ground and leaping to her feet again in seconds, coming up a good five feet away from where she'd started. She shot a jelly-legs curse at James, but James blocked it with a Shield Charm. Then James pointed his wand at her again, but she wasn't there anymore; she'd rolled again, over and forward, bringing herself closer to James.
"Expelliarmus!" she cried, but her accent had come back in her excitement and she must not have gotten it quite right. Red light shot from her wand and hit James in the leg, but it only made him stumble back a few steps.
"Damn!" Kaysa swore, distracted for a moment. James took advantage of this and hit her with the Leg-Locker Curse. Kaysa's legs snapped together beneath her.
"There! No more running around for you!" James shouted triumphantly. Kaysa actually growled at him, then threw herself sideways and used her upper body to log-roll away from him as he shot a tickling charm at her. In Sirius's arms, Cahiran yipped nervously.
"Don't worry," Sirius told him. "He won't hurt her. This is just for play." The kit looked up at him and flicked one of his ears back as if to say, "You'd better be right about that!"
Back on the field, Kaysa had avoided James's spell and rolled to a stop. Sitting up, she pointed her wand at her own legs and said, "Finite."
"Oh, come on!" said James, as her legs came back under her control. "Expelliarmus!"
"Protego!"
So she did know how to block spells. Sirius had wondered about that when she kept dodging.
"What was all that about at the beginning?" he asked Remus as Kaysa and James continued to shoot spells at each other. "All that 'en garde, ready' stuff."
"I borrowed it from Muggle fencing, actually," said Remus, his eyes never leaving the duel. "I couldn't find anything on whether there are words to start a duel traditionally, but fencing matches are like dueling for Muggles so I figured it would be okay."
"Cool," said Peter, who'd been listening.
"Yeah, but why bother?" asked Sirius.
"I guess this felt official, you know? Formal enough that it should have some kind of tradition behind it," said Remus shrugging.
"Relashio!" James shouted, shooting fiery sparks at Kaysa. Sirius blinked; those sparks weren't exactly dangerous, but they did hurt if they hit you. Kaysa, however, ignored them. She had a determined look on her face. Rushing forward, she pointed her wand and the ground and cried, "Glisseo!" The ground between her and James became smooth stone. Kaysa leapt onto the stone path, dropping to her knees and leaning sideways and back to take her weight on her arm and hand. She slid fast all the way to James's feet, then kicked out, sweeping his feet out from under him and he crashed to the ground. In an instant, Kaysa was on her feet, leaping on top of him and putting her wand-tip to his throat. James froze. Kaysa bared her teeth at him in a feral expression of gleeful triumph.
"Not bad for a girl, eh?" she said panting just a bit. James stared up at her for a moment, then he grinned.
"Not bad at all, but you forgot something." Then he brought his wand up fast and shouted, "Stupefy!"
A/N: yes, i know, sort of a really bad place to stop... but if i'd kept going this would have been even longer than the last one. i feel that a chapter over 10000 words long is fine in an actual novel, but gets hard to manage on a website. so i cut myself off. i promise to try and get the next chap up as soon as possible!
really, really!
~SilverKit'sFire
(*makes bambi eyes* please don't hate me... )
