Chapter 32: The one with the 3 layered people cake

Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers.

A/N: So, I know it's taking time, but this story does have a plot, I promise. I just want to take time building the foundation of her life in the magical world – I hope you're enjoying it so far!

Chapter 31

I paced outside the door, listening to the sounds of the night, which in the castle basement was nothingness.

"Thanks for coming."

I turned and looked at Apple but saw nothing. I couldn't see his face in the dark, I heard him mutter a spell and we entered the small room. I went to my corner and sat down, and just like last time he had already conjured a pillow. He didn't sit though, he remained standing. His hair was a mess, and he was in his pyjamas, as was I. I laughed at his 'what would Merlin do' shirt.

"So, I guess you know. About the dragons. Harry told me today."

I looked at him confused…dragons?

"I didn't owl you here to tell me about what he's doing, don't get the wrong idea."

So that's the first task. Man, talk about a spoiler alert.

"I actually didn't even call you here for help or anything."

I looked at him, his face pale. He started pacing, shaking his head, muttering. I stood and put a hand to his chest to stop him, I didn't exert any pressure, but he stopped dead. I could feel his heart thumping in his chest.

"Breathe. It's OK. You have a way to do what needs to be done."

It wasn't a question. I knew Apple, he was smart, more than just a pretty face.

"I haven't perfected it. The task is tomorrow Ky, its hours away. I don't think-"

"That's your problem. You think too much. Stop."

"You think too little."

"Ignorance is bliss."

He snorted. "If you're ignorant I'm a Canons supporter." I looked at him confused, "I hate the Canons."

"Ahhh, that makes sense. I hate carrots."

"They're good for your eyesight."

"So are ants. You don't see me eating them do you."

"Hey, to each his own. Did you see some of those French dishes? Call me old fashioned, but a simple steak should be a universal pallet pleaser."

"Did you just say pallet pleaser?"

"I believe I did. I can think of a few more pallet pleasers actually…"

He was staring down at me, a hungry look in his dark grey eyes. He picked up his hand and it hovered at my head, hesitant to touch my hair. His eyes spoke of an inner war, and the side that was anti-Ky seemed to have won. He slowly put his hand down and smiled awkwardly at the realisation at what he almost did.

"Thanks. I knew you'd calm me down…I'll see you tomorrow then." He turned before exiting the room, biting his bottom lip, eyes sincere, "Please don't be late."

"…. And then the barman says-"

"Ky?"

Lee Jordan turned and laughed at Harry, "No Harry, he says Hi."

I shook my head at him and followed Harry. He led me to the little alcove near the boy's staircase in the common room, we were at his celebratory party for the First Task. He sat down and I followed suit.

"So, about the whole dragon thing…"

I sighed; I knew what this was about. When I got back from my…therapy session with Apple, Mi was sitting on my bed waiting for me. She was feeling all kinds of horrible and even cried a bit. I think the stress of helping Harry with his first task and having to share her time between the boys and apparently, she thought she was being some kind of horrible friend to me, collapsed on her.

She felt bad about not spending enough time with me but she felt helping Harry was her priority but that didn't mean she's choosing him over me. I of course laughed at the whole thing; she was being ridiculous. I knew she had to help Harry; I mean he was facing a dragon…awesome but it had its dangers.

Then she started crying when she found out that I found out from Apple, who is a stranger, about the dragons, yet my own friends couldn't tell me. Then I filled her in about how Apple wasn't exactly a stranger. I didn't tell her about how we came about being friends just that we were and that things might be going in a different direction. We had a long talk about Viktor Krum, and it took a lot of convincing on my part that I was telling the truth. That he did like her and then more convincing that there was so much of her to like.

I held my hand up and stopped Harry.

"Look Potter, I'm not some silly girl that needs to know everything about everyone's life just to be called their friend. I know there are things that you lot don't tell me, and I don't need to know them because if I did I would already. So, if this is about you feeling guilty that you didn't confide in me about the dragons, don't bother, I'm not cut up about it. Some people give and some people guard their secrets; the latter is so not without reason. So don't start feeling like you have to start giving it up to me just to make me feel part of the team…I already do."

He nodded at me and scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I guess that's that." He stood and walked a few steps, stopped, and turned around. "Oh, and thanks. They were delicious…as always."

"I was planning ahead for your funeral." He laughed and walked away, taking a bite out of the treacle tart that I had prepared for the party. I think it was now my signature dish…who am I kidding. It was my only dish. I watched as he started up a conversation with Ron, and I felt the seat next to me go down.

"Please do not burst out in tears again."

She laughed, "Well not all of us are made of stone…speaking of stone. Did you get to congratulate a certain champion?"

"Stone?"

"Rock hard abs!"

"Oh Mi, I'm so proud."

She mocked bowed, "I learn from the best."

"Somebody called?"

We looked up at Fred, who waltzed over to our alcove and squeezed between the two of us.

"I said best, not pest."

"Oooh good one Granger." George squeezed onto her other side.

"I don't think this alcove is big enough for all of us."

Just as it left Mi's mouth, I knew it was trouble. The boys gave each other evil genius looks and screamed out, 'challenge accepted.'

Fred started screaming out for random people to join us. We managed to fit 13 people into that little alcove, 3 layers of one person sitting on another sitting on another and a very frightened Neville squeezed horizontally at the top. Say what you will about the twins, but no matter how small the space, they always brought the party to it. After we heaved ourselves off of each other, red faced from laughing, there was a light tap on my shoulder.

I turned around and found nobody behind me, I looked down and a timid first year stared up at me. He was a chubby little thing, and he reminded me of Winnie the Pooh.

"What's up doc? Wait…wrong cartoon, right?"

He didn't say anything and shoved a paper in my hand and rushed off. I opened the note, and it was blank. That was strange, but then I thought, I'm a witch, aren't I? I tapped the parchment with my wand.

Give yourself a cookie for guessing the trick; give yourself another if the right place you pick.

I smiled. I whispered to Mi that I would be out for a bit and walked out the portrait and two flights down. I turned left and then saw it. I walked up to the portrait of the hounds playing exploding snap and looked at the one called Choc Chip. He wagged his tail at me and pointed to the frame with his nose. I smiled at him and pulled out the parchment stuffed in the frame and tapped it with my wand.

Found the picture of my hounds, dare you to go out of bounds…maybe so far as the…"

I stood, shivering in the cold, cursing that I didn't carry a jacket. I saw Apple standing at the basement staircase. I snuck over to him and whispered,

"Couldn't you have just told me to come down to the grounds."

"Firstly, you wouldn't have been able to get through the front doors, secondly I thought you would find it more fun to play a game and thirdly…we don't have to whisper. I'm a prefect."

"Well, I'll give you the last two but not the first."

"Ohhh is that so…well…lead the way."

I gave him an annoyed look and marched towards the front doors. Before I reached it though, he stopped me, "I may be a prefect but I'm not immune to expulsion. Do you plan on just waltzing out the front doors?"

"Yes."

He shook his head in exasperation and pulled me with him. We walked down in the direction of the basement and went further than I have been in this section before. After walking for a few minutes, he finally opened a door. We walked down another corridor and then up a flight of stairs.

"You know I would have worn my sweats if you told me you were going to take me for a midnight jog."

"Stop being such a girl. If you can't handle a little walking, I could carry you."

He smirked down at me, and I rolled my eyes,

"Like you're man enough to handle all of this."

"Oh yes, your fourteen years of wisdom in all things womanly intimidates me so."

"Better than your seventeen years of misinformation on all things womanly."

We finally stopped walking and he muttered a password and opened the door. I walked into a…courtyard. It wasn't big, a few meters either way. And it was derelict, with a broken water fountain and a broken bench and ivy and all sorts of plants growing around. I realised this wasn't outside.

"It's somewhere between the grounds and the basement. I think it's part of Hufflepuff quarters so not a lot of people know about it. My cousin showed it to me when I was in my third year."

"Bring all the girls up here, do we?"

He laughed and shook his head, "Only the smart ones, I'll make an exception for you."

I walked over to the waterfall and looked at the stagnant water at the bottom. It was ugly and dirty, but it spoke of depth and age. I sat on the bench,

"Be careful there…this place is ancient. It'll probably fall apart at a touch. This whole place is-"

"Beautiful."

I looked all around; there was something so mesmerizing about old places. These walls saw life, they were cracked and peeling, but once they gleamed. They were the standing testaments to the delicacy of time.

"I thought you might appreciate it."

"Am I that predictable?"

He chuckled at me, "I'll call you a lot of things Kid, whimsical and irresponsible and sarcastic and mischievous, reckless and crazy…but never predictable."

"Is that why you like me?"

I don't know what made me so daring, maybe it was the way he was staring down at me, all intense and no smiles. He took a step forward.

"No…that would be your boobs. Everything else is just collateral."

"Is that so? Well sorry to break it to you…but their fake."

"Oh well, you know where the door is, don't get lost on the way out, I won't come looking."

I laughed at him, not once blushing at the fact that we were talking about my breasts. My laughter echoed in the small room. "That was a decent bit of transfiguration you pulled off earlier on. "I looked at his face, "I see you're still pretty, no scar?"

"Don't look so sad, I've got a decent scratch on my hip and whiplash is a bitch. Wish I would have thought of flying. I mean…it worked well enough. I think Harry got us all feeling like idiots after his little stunt. I guess the trick was to keep it simple."

I shrugged, "Well everybody has their strong points and their weaknesses. Harry's just good on his feet, I think it's more his territory."

He frowned at that and started fiddling with a crack in the wall, "I guess. Viktor did a good bit of magic with his conjunctivitis spell. It worked out in the end though."

"So, tell me, and be honest. How flipping radical was it staring down a dragon."

He shook his head, "About as radical as going head-to-head with a fire breathing monster mother can be."

"So… off the charts! I wish I could have had a go."

"You should have asked Harry to put your name in for you."

"Harry didn't put his name in."

He laughed and shook his head, "Oh come on Ky. The cup just magically conjured his name then."

"I don't know why people who grew up with the impossible happening all around them keep relying on logic to dictate reality. I'm not saying the cup conjured his name, it's just that Harry didn't put his name in."

He opened his mouth to say something and then looked like he decided against it. "It's getting late; I should take you back to your common room."

He held his hand for me to follow him and I took it, letting go only when we reached the fat lady.

A/N: oooooo Ky and Cedric sitting on a tree...and then he fell on her...lol lame but it did happen. Anyway, reviews are always appreciated:)

Kalina