Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling
Chapter Twenty-One: Kinky with Ron
"Hey Monica." Ky smiled up at the Fat Lady who squinted down at her.
"Password?"
"Why so serious, Dorris. Let's have us a little chat. I fear we've started our friendship on the left foot."
"Left foot?"
"Yes, you see my left foot is my wrong foot."
"Have you been drinking?"
"Oh Elizabeth, look how little you know of me. But don't worry, that will change. So, tell me, what is the most exciting thing that you saw today?"
"It's late, you should be asleep."
"And you should be off flirting it up with Sir Hawthorne."
The portrait gave Ky a sly look, "You're coming from your grandfather's office, aren't you?"
"Like you don't already know that Ms Omnipresence. Not that it's any of my business but Melinda the Scrawny Skank for brains-"
"Say no more Miss Thornton. Her portrait, or his?"
"Bodrock the Bold, seems to be a party of some sort. Sir Keates has no shirt…and no pants…"
"Password Ky, password."
"Knob gobbling."
"What!"
She laughed, "Hobgoblin."
The Fat Lady swung open and Ky heard her shout out as she rushed away, "I'll be letting McGonagall know about that one Ky!"
She jumped over the threshold and spun around and collapsed into her armchair. She quickly jumped off as for the second time today, she felt something that she could not see.
Ky sighed when she saw the mop of ginger hair as Ron stretched out, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"Ky?"
"No, it's Mi. I'm waiting for you to confess your undying love for me."
"Huh?"
"I want to have your babies."
"What?"
"I said what are you doing down here?"
"Oh…just dosed off. Was wondering where you and…was wondering where you were all night. Didn't see you after your detention."
"Oh, my detention is postponed but now I have another one because I jumped in the lake. You don't want to know. I was upstairs having hot chocolate with Nonno. He says hi."
Ron frowned at her, "Really?"
"Of course, yeah. I mean its normal for a friend's grandparent to send their regards, right?"
"Yes. Not when it's Dumbledore though." Ky sat on the arm of his chair. There was a dull red mark on his forehead, and she applied a healing and a cool compress spell to it.
"Ran into the doorway on the Second again?"
"No…is it bad?"
"Sorry, it won't scar. It'll be gone by the morning." He turned to her, blotchy with fury.
"And why the bloody hell do you think I would want it to scar?"
Ky shrugged, ignoring his little bitch-fit, "Because you're a boy and boys like scars."
He looked down abashed and Ky accepted his unspoken apology.
Ron and she had an easy-going friendship. It wasn't one of soul sharing like Mi's, or one doused in intense moments like Harry's.
After the boys' little tiff over this Triwizard Champion debacle, Mi took it upon herself to split herself at the seams trying to cater to them both, running from one to the other and sometimes dragging Ky along with her. Attemptimg to get them to reconcile and see the error of their ways.
Ky on the other hand didn't care. She had brothers. She knew how this worked, they needed time to come to their senses, there was no hurrying the process along. So, she'd hang out with Ron, Dean and Seamus sometimes, and Mi and Harry at others.
Judging by the look on Ron's face, something happened tonight, something that made him not want to go to his dorm just yet. She'll take the bait.
"Want to play a game?"
"I don't want to play Truth or Dare Ky; I'm still traumatised from the other day."
"That wasn't my fault. Dean was the one that dared you to climb out the window and wait on the ledge for thirty seconds."
"Well, you were the one that kept screaming 'there's a spider on your ankle' and tickling me."
"Well, you were the one that dared me to enlarge all of Parvati's and Bobby's underwear into granny panties. And put my anti-adjustment charm on it. They didn't speak to me for a week. Unfortunately, they managed to get a hold of some new ones and that calmed them down a bit because apparently they needed an excuse for a wardrobe change and was actually grateful to me in the end but I'm pretty sure Bobby tried smothering me in my sleep initially."
"Seamus made me do that because you dared him to kiss Dean on the cheek!"
"Only because he dared me to kiss Dean on the mouth!"
"And I didn't let that happen, did I? That's how I instated the 'No Daring Ky to Kiss' rule.
She laughed. "I like how you made it just me. Hoping I dared you to kiss that little French number you got going on?"
He gasped at her, "Ky! How can you even think of doing that! Don't even think of doing that on Monday in the second period free we have when she sunbathes near the Greenhouses."
Ky laughed, "If I dared you, you still wouldn't do it Ron."
He smiled, "Yeah I know. I'm too much of a gentleman."
"Or a coward…"
"Hey...A little bit I guess."
"Nothing wrong with that. I have a soft spot for cowards and chocolates. Speaking of which, Kinky?"
Ron gave her a quizzical look but a second later a house elf appeared. She was a small little thing and Ky met her in her first week here. She had huge blue eyes and a normal shaped, albeit big, nose. She was about to curtsy and then remembered what Ky had taught her, she timidly held her closed fist out and Ky bumped it.
"Yes, Miss Dumbledore's granddaughter miss."
"Kinky, we've been through this. Ky, just Ky."
"Yes…Ky Miss Dumbledore's granddaughter miss Ky."
She shook her head and Ron laughed. She wasn't her personal house elf of course, but she always came whenever Ky called. When she found out her name was Kinky, Ky knew the friendship must be fate. She looked up at Ky with her saucer sized eyes knowing she was summoned for the usual but being a good elf meant waiting for the command.
"Kinky this is my friend, Ron. He is also from the kingdom where fist bumping is like curtsying. We would really appreciate three hot fudge sundaes if there are any?"
She timidly fist bumped Ron and squeaked, "Of course Miss Ky Dumbledore's granddaughter miss Ky." She disappeared with a blink.
"Mione' is going to have your head if she finds out."
"And that's why you won't tell her. I cannot live without my hot fudge sundaes and this arrangement was the only way I could stop Kinky from banging her head on my dresser. I walked in on her cleaning, which is apparently bad for house elves. I calmed her down by agreeing to ask for her help when I needed it."
With a click Kinky was back, three sundaes floating alongside her. She curtsied and Ky let it slide, old habits die hard. She handed Ron his and took hers, the third Ky gave to the elf, like she always did. Kinky took it as usual but Ky had doubts if she consumed it. She was gone in a flash. Ron had already downed half of his.
"It's ice cream, you don't drink it!"
He shrugged, "Spoons slow me down."
She tossed her spoon and tried it Ron's way.
Ten minutes later she was lying in her bed with brain freeze but a smile on her face.
-x-x-x-
Cold hands, ice cold hands…drift up her stomach…her ribs…ascending. Suddenly the hands get warmer. Everything is warmer, everywhere is warmer, all sensations on fire. That mind numbing fear is replaced with a calming sensation of trust as she opened her eyes.
She stared deep into a pair of mismatched orbs. One bright green, the other dark grey, but both set her soul alight with intensity. A screech above snapped her away from the stare, and her heart sped up. The blue sky disappeared into scales of black, the sun became a fiery glow that emerged from an opened mouth, heading straight at them.
It took her exactly 452 seconds and 987 steps to find Mi once she woke from...whatever that was.
Those eyes were easily recognisable, but it made sense. She practically spent all day with one and then thought about the other before she went to sleep. Not that she always thought about Harry before she slept but that was Ron's fault really!
She spent all that time with him, and he is Harry's best friend, so it only makes sense to think of one when thinking of the other…right?
But what the heck with the dragon?
She turned into the library and Madam Pince stopped her.
"Miss Thornton?"
Ky turned and looked at the Vulture. "Madam Pince?"
"You're in your pyjamas."
"And you're in yours."
She looked at her affronted. What, it's not an insult. She can dress as haggard as she wants, no judgements here. She turned and stalked off. Ky ignored the group of sniggering third years and ducked between two bookshelves and found her target.
Unfortunately, Mi was not alone. Harry and she were whispering furiously, he must have seen her shadow because his eyes met hers. He quickly gave her the once over, shaking his head at her attire and snapping whatever book he had shut.
Mi turned around, "Ky! What are you-"
"We need to talk."
Ky grabbed her and began walking to a shelf, but she held her ground.
"This isn't a good time, Ky; I have to help-"
"Listen here princess. Whatever girly drama you have going on can wait for later. Hermione is busy."
Ky looked at Harry, opening her mouth to bellow at him that she did not have girly dramas…then stopped. Realisation then hit her that she was in fact having a girly drama! She was not some idiotic girl that dreams about boys and runs off to her best friend to dissect the hidden meaning in the illusion.
She was not the girl that dreams about boys! Period.
She was becoming Lavender Brown!
With that thought she turned to walk away, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. It was a flitting action; one second there was slight pressure and the next nothing.
Ky turned and looked at Harry, taking him in for the first time this morning. He looked tired and stressed and like he ran his hands through his hair a hundred times. His mouth was creased in a frown and his eyes where circled by heavy bags.
"Look …sorry. I'm just a little…weird this morning. Hermione is as available as she wants to be to speak to you. That's her choice; I was being a complete-"
Harry didn't finish his sentence as Ky wrapped her arms around his torso. He looked like he needed the hug and she acted without thinking, but it seemed like it was working. She could hear his heartbeat slow down and the air around them get lighter, even if he didn't reciprocate the embrace.
She let go and turned her back on what she thought must be his look of befuddlement, speeding away, not wanting to, or in fact knowing how to explain her actions.
Ky didn't get far though when a very unfamiliar, deep voice grunted her name. She looked to her left, and there in the shadows of shelves stood the unlikeliest of people beckoning her forward.
Ky of course complied.
"What's up Hawk?" The Durmstrang student's dark, bird-like features creased together in confusion.
"Maybe you confusion. I am not this Hawk. I am Victor Krum. I am Durmstrang Champion."
"Yes, yes, I know. And the seeker of the Bulgarian team and my friend's dream boyfriend."
He straightened, his black eyes alight with excitement. "Dream boyfriend. I like that. This friend maybe same friend I dream of too."
Ky looked at him, confused. Krum liked Ron too? Was The Victor Krum coming out to her in between the Zit Zapper: one wand movement away from perfect skin and Wizards Wardrobe: match your magic to your mitten's books. Actually, it kind of made sense… what better place to come out? The confusing part was the fact that Krum was coming out to Ky…a complete stranger. She put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Hawk…erm…let's see. Just go with the feelings, move with the motion you know? If it feels right, don't deny it. Erm…there's nothing to be ashamed of."
He shoved his hand from his shoulder with an irate look on his face.
"Of course, there is nothing to be ashamed ov. Vy vould I be ashamed! It is you who should be ashamed. You and your pretending to be her vriend. I haf right mind to go tell her. She is untamed beauty, smart and kind and pretty smile. Only von fault with her is bad choice in friends. I am no shamed to be liking her. She is-"
"Woah woah woah stop bucking off your broom Hawk. You were talking about Mi…. Hermione?"
"Yes, and I am-"
"You like Mi!"
Ky started jumping up and down clapping her hands together and for the second time today she felt like Lavender Brown.
This had her frozen, conflicted between excitement and disgust in herself.
Krum was scuffing his shoe on the floor, a surly look on his face, muttering something about 'not knowing if you call it like'. Ky grabbed him by the shoulders and made him look her in the eye.
"Ignore whatever was said before. So how long have you been crushing on our brunette beauty."
He shook his head with a smile on his face. "Brunette and so bushy. Vonderful. So untamed. Free. Like a bird. Like an eagle. Like a-"
"Hawk? Snap out of it, more answers, less daydreaming."
He did snap out of it, and quickly too. He grabbed her hand and pulled her further down the aisle and behind another shelf.
He shushed her and Ky saw why. Six reasons why actually. Two blonde, three brunettes and one ginger, but all nattering at the top of their voices, their beady eyes darting here and there in search for their prey. Krum whispered to her, "I haff important question to ask. Ky, Hermowninny, Herminonny…her-"
"Eagle. Code name."
"Yes, yes. Eagle. Does my eagle haff another?"
"No, she doesn't, her nest is empty. And she can do with a little feather plucking if you know what I mean."
"No, I do not…this Harry Potter alvays seems to be in her nest though."
"Oh, don't worry he doesn't pluck her feathers." He gave her a confused look, the innuendo just flying over his head. "They're not together. Eagle is single."
He sighed and then the look of relief slid off his face. She turned and saw Mi and Harry walking out of the library. "This alvays happens. She is here, I come, she goes. Deba!" Ky raised her eyebrows at what she assumed was a Bulgarian swear but saw the reason yet again, approaching fast. "I go Ky, these vultures are here. They're everywhere."
He rushed off muttering in Bulgarian, away from the flock of girls. Ky walked out of the library, shaking her head concluding one thing.
Viktor Krum was obsessed with birds.
-x-x-x-
A dragon. A fucking dragon. A beast that can burn, maul, rip, tear, and swallow him whole was on his horizon, but here Harry was. Sitting in the common room, staring at her.
He snapped the useless book shut. He watched Ky as her cheeks went pink and tears trickled down them.
Ky was roaring with laughter, at whatever it was that Fred and George were telling her. Harry thought back to earlier in the day in Charms. He was sitting behind Lavender and Parvati, and they were whispering nonstop as per usual. Harry only started paying attention when he heard Ky's name.
"-and of course, he wasn't under the bed, I even checked under yours. Then I looked back at Ky's bed, and she was gone."
"Lav, what would Brad Pitt be doing under any of our beds?"
"It was obviously a distraction. So, I followed her, but I only managed to see her sneak through the portrait hole…but she wasn't alone!"
"Oh Godric! Who! WHO!"
"Shhhh Parv…it was a red-haired boy. I couldn't really make out his physique from the angle."
"Well, there are lots of red-haired boys in this school."
"Oh, this was definitely Weasley red hair."
"I knew it! She's always with them. Did you see how Ron was carrying her on his back the other day…it's so inappropriate!"
"Well, she also spends loads of time with the Twins. She is such a slag. I mean she's funny and stuff, but she only hangs out with boys…it's not right."
"Well, she does hang out with Hermione too."
"Does Hermione even count as a girl?"
Parvati sniggered at this, "Anyway, we can't tell on her. Remember what she walked in on the other day…"
"Yeah, I know. And this is A grade gossip, and I can't set it alight. I'm dying here. Oh, wait Dean is looking this way, don't turn around now!"
Harry stopped listening at that. This explains why she was both late and flustered at the Feast…so it was one of the Twins…. or Ron…Ron? Last night didn't go well; he didn't even hear Ron come into bed till late. And Hermione told him Ky was in a weird mood in the library this morning because she was sleep deprived. Apparently, she had got back late from detention. Coincidence?
Ron and Ky though… he didn't think his ex-best friend fancied her. But then again, he didn't think he would act like a prat about this tournament either. He guessed he just didn't know Ron the way he thought he did….
It seems like everywhere he turned she was with someone different. Dean, Seamus, Ron, Fred, George, Lee, and that one time Neville! This is why he had to stay away from her. This is why he stayed as far away as he could. She was making him into this creature…this insane jealous being that was all wrong.
Hermione turned to look at the direction Harry was staring in, it was too late to snap his head to another person and pretend that he wasn't looking at Ky. He waited for his friend's brilliant mind to put two and two together and call him out.
"I think you should tell her."
His eyes widened at Hermione. Is she mental? Tell Ky that he fancied her so she can freak out and ruin everything?
What everything was he wasn't sure yet, but he didn't want it to be ruined.
"Are you insane Hermione?"
She shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. "This is so like you Harry. To be so secretive. Just tell her. I mean she's been our friend for ages now. I trust her. And she is brilliant, maybe she read up on something that can help."
He looked at her confused, and she laughed. "OK she probably wouldn't have read anything anywhere. But she is a quick thinker, and we need that now."
Realisation dawned on him. She was talking about telling Ky about the First task. Telling her about the dragon. Hermione was always trying to get him to tell Ky about stuff. Insisting that she was loyal and trustworthy, and she felt bad whispering behind her back about Sirius and the dreams he kept having.
He wasn't ready for that yet, and he told Hermione he didn't want her sharing secrets like that.
Hermione was staring at him, and he shook his head in answer to her request. The less interaction he had with Ky, the better. He couldn't deal with distractions with the impending doom he had over his head. He opened the book once again, not taking in a single thing but the tinkling laughter from the corner of the room.
A/N: Thank you for reading!