Author's Note: Okay, well I was in the zone tonight so I decided to keep writing. I hope you guys like it! I know the whole romance thing is taking a while, but I prefer slow building romances when I read fanfiction, so that's what I'm writing. Also, I know that they all wear dress robes to the Yule Ball in the book, but I decided I wanted the boys to wear dress robes, and the girls to wear dresses. Anyways, like always, much love! 3
Chapter 8: Instinct
The next day was hectic, to say the least. Kaylee got dressed in her jeans and sweatshirt, and went down to breakfast. Mr. Weasley was bent over the fire talking to Amos Diggory's head. It looked like urgent business, and tension was in the air. "I better leave. You have a good term you lot," said Mr. Weasley hurriedly, standing up. "Molly are you going to be alright taking the kids to Kings Cross?"
"Of course I will. You just look after Mad Eye. We'll be fine," replied Mrs. Weasley. Mr. Weasley kissed her on the cheek, and then Disapparated.
"Did someone say Mad Eye? What's he been up to?" asked Bill, who was munching on a piece of toast.
"He says someone tried to break into his house last night," explained Mrs. Weasley.
"Mad Eye Moody? The Auror?" asked Kaylee.
"Isn't he that nutter…" began George.
"Your father thinks very highly of Mad Eye Moody," interrupted Mrs. Weasley, her voice stern.
"Yeah well, Dad collects plugs," George mumbled to Kaylee.
"Moody was a great wizard in his time," said Bill.
"Yeah, he's an old friend of Dumbledore's," Kaylee said. Her mother had told her many impressive stories of the eccentric Auror.
"Dumbledore's not exactly what you would call normal though is he? I mean I know he's a genius and everything but…" said Fred.
"Hurry up you lot! It's nearly time to leave!" Mrs. Weasley called from the sitting room.
Mrs. Weasley ordered three Muggle taxis to take them all to Kings Cross. It was raining heavily, and they were all very wet by the time they arrived on Platform 9 ¾.
Kaylee rolled her trunk towards the train with Fred and George, found an empty compartment, and stored their things in the luggage rack before heading back onto the platform to say farewell to Mrs. Weasley.
"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," said Charlie with a wink towards Kaylee.
"Why?" asked Ginny, hugging Bill goodbye.
"You'll see. It's classified information after all," said Charlie, slyly.
Kaylee looked at the twins and they shared a knowing smile. Ron, Harry, and Ginny continued questioning Bill and Charlie as they all climbed the steps onto the train.
"Thanks so much for letting us stay, Mrs. Weasley," said Kaylee warmly, leaning out the window to talk to her.
"Oh it my pleasure dears. I'd invite you for Christmas, but I expect you'll want to stay at Hogwarts with one thing and another," she said.
"Mum! What do you three know that we don't?" asked Ron irritably.
"You'll find out this evening I expect. It's going to be very exciting, mind you. I'm very glad they've decided to change the rules though."
"What rules?" asked Ron and Harry together.
"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you tonight. Now behave yourselves. Fred, George, I'm talking to you. Kaylee dear, you'll keep an eye on them for me won't you dear?" said Mrs. Weasley.
"Of course. I always keep them out of trouble," Kaylee said with a grin, looking at the twins.
The train began to move, and with a final wave from Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie, they were on their way back to school.
"Let's grab our compartment before someone else decides to take it," said Fred.
"You coming?" George asked Kaylee.
Though Fred and George were her absolute best friends, she had made other friends in Ravenclaw house. After all, a good deal of the time she was away from the twins, forced to interact with her own house. Luckily, Kaylee had found a way to balance time spent with her Ravenclaw friends and time spent with her Gryffindors. The past few years aboard the Hogwarts express, she spent the first half of the journey with her fellow Ravenclaws, and spent the second half with the twins.
"I'm gonna go find Heather. I haven't seen her all summer. I'll catch up with you in a bit," Kaylee told the twins.
"Come on George. She's too good to sit with us lowly Gryffindors," said Fred, teasingly.
"Oh you know damned well I'll end up ditching them and coming to sit with you in a couple of hours," Kaylee said rolling her eyes.
Kaylee said goodbye, and set off down the train in search of her other friends. She didn't have to search long.
"Kaylee! In here!" called a pretty 6th year Ravenclaw.
Kaylee turned and found a compartment filled with her favorite people in Ravenclaw. There were three of her fellow Quidditch team members: Jason Samuels, Heather Grant, and Roger Davies.
"Heather!" cried Kaylee, pulling the girl into an embrace.
"What? We don't get a hug?" asked Roger in an falsely offended tone.
"Nope. I didn't receive a single letter from either of you over the summer. You get nothing," Kaylee said haughtily, sitting across from Roger.
"Well you didn't send us anything either," Jason argued.
"I didn't? Oh well I guess we're even."
"What did you do this summer?" Heather asked.
"I saw the World Cup with the Weasley's. We were in the top box!" Kaylee began.
They soon got into a discussion about the World Cup. Roger and Jason went to the World Cup as well. As they talked, Kaylee noticed Jason kept staring at her when he thought she wasn't looking. Jason was tall 7th year boy, with dark hair and vivid blue eyes. He had a kind smile, and had taken Kaylee under his wing when she had joined the team. The majority of her Chaser skills were learned from Jason.
"I'm surprised you're not sitting with the Weasley's. You're usually attached at the hip," said Heather.
"I just spent the last week and a half with them. They can handle themselves for a couple of hours without me. Besides, I missed my Ravenclaw buddies," Kaylee said quickly.
It was unusual for a Ravenclaw to spend a great deal of time with someone outside of their house. Usually, students were best friends with other students in their house. Many Ravenclaws thought Kaylee was odd for breaking this tradition, but Kaylee felt separation from the other houses was even more eccentric.
"Where's Danny?" Kaylee asked Heather.
"Down the train a bit, talking to some of his friends," Heather said fondly.
Danny was Heather's boyfriend. The two had started seeing each other last year.
"Things going well then?" Roger asked.
"Very well. We went on holiday with his parents this summer," Heather said happily.
"Wish my parents would let me go on holiday with a girl," Roger said glumly.
"Roger, you're only 15. And you'd have to have a girlfriend to go on holiday with," Kaylee teased.
Jason and Heather laughed.
"Speak for yourself. I noticed you still don't have a boyfriend, or have you started dating a Weasley yet?" Roger said, smirking.
"Of course not. We're just friends," Kaylee said for the millionth time.
"Then why don't you have a boyfriend?" Jason asked.
"Because I don't want one? I may be a 16 year old girl, but unlike the rest of my age group, I'm not ruled by my hormones," Kaylee said smartly. This of course was not true, but her Ravenclaw friends didn't need to know that.
"He did the same thing to my Dad, only he gave my dad leprechaun gold which, you know, vanishes after a while. My dad was livid, but what can he do? Bagman works for the ministry," Lee Jordan was saying.
"If only we had some kind of dirt on him, something we could blackmail him with," said Fred angrily.
"Whoa there Fred. You don't want to go blackmailing Ludo Bagman. He's got a lot of friends in a lot of places," George said warningly.
"How are we supposed to get our money then?" Fred asked.
"Keep harassing him? Maybe he'll give in," George suggested.
In the twin's compartment, Lee Jordan had been explaining to the twins how his dad had bet Ludo Bagman 10 Galleons that Ireland would win at the World Cup. Ludo had paid Mr. Jordan, but several hours later when Mr. Jordan had tried to empty the money sack Ludo had given him, Mr. Jordan had found it empty. They had realized that Ludo Bagman had paid them in leprechaun gold.
"Has Kaylee tried talking to him?" Lee asked.
"She's not very close to him, and she doesn't want to get her Mum in trouble at work," George explained.
"Ah, I forgot her Mum works at the Ministry. I noticed Kaylee got on the train with you. Where was her Mum?" Lee asked.
"Kaylee stayed with us after the World Cup. Her Mum's busy right now doing, er, classified work for the Ministry."
"She finished the order forms for us. Look, Lee," said Fred excitedly, pulling out a stack of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes order forms.
"This is excellent! We'll sell plenty this year for sure!" Lee said excitedly, looking at the forms.
"Kaylee suggested we start a line of products for girls. You know like love potions and acne vanishers. She thinks we need to appeal to all audiences," Fred told Lee.
"Not a bad idea. Couldn't hurt to expand our target audience," Lee said.
"She's also working on something big, or so she says, but she won't tell us what it is," George said rolling his eyes.
"Better watch out George. She may be working on a special love potion just for you," Lee said grinning at him.
"Shut it. Kaylee wouldn't poison me, at least not with something as silly as Love Potion," George said defensively.
"Your right, you don't need it. Your already in loooooove with her," Lee said batting his eyes and swooning. Fred laughed.
"Am not!" George said defensively.
"Come on Georgie. You can lie to everyone else. Hell, you can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me. Things have been awkward between you two for a while now," Fred said with a knowing grin at his brother.
"I don't blame you, mate. She's gorgeous, especially now she's gotten older. I'm not saying I fancy her!" Lee said quickly, seeing the look on George's face. "But I'll warn you now, I'm not the only bloke who's going to notice how good-looking she is. If you don't start dating her, someone else will."
"He's right Georgie. Better lay your claims now, before you get major competition," Fred said.
"Kaylee is one of our best friends, Fred. How awkward would it be for you if we started dating? What if we broke up? She would hate me and things could get way too complicated," George said, blushing slightly.
"Don't worry about me. I like having her around, whether she's snogging you or not. And like you said, she's one of our best friends. I don't think she could ever hate you," Fred said.
"Think about it, mate. But don't wait too long. I saw Jason Samuels eyeing her on the platform," Lee said.
Suddenly, the compartment door opened, and the three boys jumped guiltily.
"You three look like Mrs. Weasley just caught you making Canary Creams," Kaylee said, entering the compartment. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Fred said quickly. "I was just showing Lee the order forms."
They began discussing Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Lee was very invested in the joke shop idea as well.
"I still don't understand why you aren't going to work with us when you get out of school," Lee said to Kaylee.
"As much fun as that would be, I want to be a wandmaker. I've always had this curious fascination with how wands are made, and why wands seem to choose their owners," Kaylee told him.
"And this is why she's in Ravenclaw," Fred joked. Kaylee stuck her tongue out at him.
"Hey did you guys have formal wear on your list as well?" Kaylee asked, suddenly remembering her midnight blue dress.
"Yeah we did. I had to get dress robes," Lee said.
"Luckily, Bill and Charlie loaned us their old dress robes. Mum had to buy Ron some from a secondhand shop. Wait till you see what his dress robes look like! They're all frilly and lacey!" Fred started laughing maniacally.
"Mum bought me a formal dress. I wonder why we have to have them," Kaylee said.
"You in a dress?! I can't wait to see that!," George chuckled.
"What's so funny about me dressed in formal attire?" Kaylee asked, annoyed by George's mocking laughter.
"You're just so short. I bet you'll look like Mummy's little angel all dressed up in her Sunday best," George said, laughing again at the mental image.
"We'll see," Kaylee replied shrewdly.
Suddenly, Jason Samuels stuck his head in the compartment door.
"Hey Kaylee, we're almost there. Heather said to come get you so we can get changed into our school robes," Jason said.
"Yeah, okay. I'm coming," Kaylee said with a sigh. "I'll see you three later then."
"See you," Lee said.
"Later Osmund," Fred grinned at her.
George remained silent. He was too busy glaring at Jason, who George had noticed was staring at Kaylee with more interest than he liked. It didn't help matters when Kaylee smiled warmly at Jason while he held the compartment door open for her.
Lee and Fred looked at George pointedly when the two Ravenclaws had left.
"I know, I know," George said angrily.
Well, he finally knew for certain how he felt about Kaylee. The fact that he felt this angry was proof enough for him that he was indeed harboring feelings for his best friend. However, the thought of her with anyone else fueled a rage inside him that George had never known before. It was a very primal instinct, to defend what was his. It was almost a childish rage, the feeling that someone else was taking away his most prized possession. He knew Kaylee was not a possession of course, and that she was not his, but he felt these primal instincts nonetheless.
George sighed heavily and began to pull his own dress robes on. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew he had to do something.