Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling

Chapter Twenty Two: Dealing with the Devil

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

"Thanks for coming."

She turned, recognizing Cedric's voice but seeing nothing, his face cloaked in darkness. He muttered a spell and entered the small room. She went to her corner, and just like the last time, before she settled down there was already a conjured cushion for her comfort.

Cedric didn't sit though, he remained standing. His dark hair was a mess, and he was in his pyjamas, as was she. She laughed at his 'what would Merlin do' shirt.

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

Ky 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.

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

Ky looked at him, his face pale. He started pacing, shaking his head, muttering. She stood and lay a hand on his chest to stop his anxious activity. She didn't exert any pressure, but he stopped dead. She could feel his heart thumping.

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

It wasn't a question. Ky knew Cedric, 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." She 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 their 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 her, a hungry look in his dark grey eyes. He picked up his hand and it hovered at her head, hesitant to touch her 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 of 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, "Ky, please… don't be late."

-x-x-x-

"…. And then the barman says-"

"Ky?"

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

Ky shook her head at Lee and followed Harry. He led her to the little alcove near the boys staircase in the common room, they were at his celebratory party for the First Task. He sat down and she followed suit.

"So, about the whole dragon thing…"

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

Then she started crying when she found out that Ky learnt about the dragons from Apple, who is a practical stranger, rather than her closest friends…. then Ky filled her in about how he wasn't exactly a stranger. She didn't tell her about how they came about being friends, just that they were and that things might be going in a different direction…

They had a long talk about Viktor Krum, and it took a lot of convincing on Ky's part that she was telling the truth. That he did like Mi and then more convincing that there was so much of her to like.

Ky held her hand up and stopped Harry before he continued.

"Look Potter, 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 her 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 she prepared specially for the party. It was now her signature dish…who was she kidding. It was her only dish.

Ky watched as he started up a conversation with Ron, they finally made up. She leaned her head against the wall, enjoying the carefree smile on his face, aware that it somehow evoked the same on hers.

She felt the seat next to her sink, and she distracted herself with drinking her butterbeer, knowing she had been staring at him for too long.

"Please do not burst out into tears again."

Mi 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 mock bowed, "I learn from the best."

"Somebody called?"

They looked up at Fred, who waltzed over to their alcove and squeezed between the two of them.

"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, Ky knew it was trouble. The boys gave each other evil grins and screamed out, 'challenge accepted.'

Fred started screaming out for random people to join them. They 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 they heaved themselves off of each other, red faced from laughing, there was a light tap on Ky's shoulder. She turned around and was surprised to find nobody stood behind her, she looked down and a timid first year stared up at her. He was a chubby little thing, and he reminded her of Winnie the Pooh.

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

He didn't say anything and shoved a paper in Ky's hand and rushed off. She opened the note, and it was blank. That was strange, but then she thought, she's a witch, and tapped the parchment with her wand.

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

Ky smiled. She whispered to Mi that she would be out for a bit and walked out the portrait and two flights down. She turned left and then spotted what she was looking for.

She walked up to the painting of the hounds playing exploding snap and stared thoughtfully at the one called Choc Chip. He wagged his tail at her and pointed to the frame with his nose. She grinned at him and pulled out the parchment stuffed in the frame and tapped it with her wand.

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

She stood, shivering in the cold, cursing that she didn't carry her cloak. She spotted Apple standing at the basement staircase. She 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."

She gave him an annoyed look and marched towards the front doors. Before she reached it though, he stopped her, "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 her with him in the direction of the basement and went further than she has ever been in that section. After walking for a few minutes, he finally opened a door. They 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 her, and she rolled her 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."

They finally stopped at a door that Ky swore wasn't there five seconds ago, he muttered a password and held the door open for her. Ky walked into a…courtyard. It wasn't big, a few meters either way. And it was derelict, with an old water fountain and a broken bench and ivy and all sorts of plants growing about. She 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."

She walked over to the fountain and looked at the stagnant water at the bottom. It was dirty and ugly, but it spoke of depth and age. Ky sat on the bench, "Be careful there…this place is ancient. It'll probably fall apart at a touch. This whole place is-"

"Beautiful."

Ky looked around; there was something so mesmerising 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?"

Apple chuckled at her, "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?"

She didn't know what made her so daring, maybe it was the way he was staring down at her, smile-less intensity. 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 they're fake."

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

Ky laughed at him, not once blushing at the fact that they were joking about her breasts, the light hearted sound echoing in the small room. "That was a decent bit of transfiguration you pulled off earlier on. "She could tell that he enjoyed the compliment, watching it traverse his body, broadening his shoulders, widening his smile, "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."

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

Apple 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 thought for a moment, and then let out a long breath, "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, shaking his head in disbelief, "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."

Apple 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 her to follow him and she took it, letting go only when they reached the Fat Lady.

-x-x-x-

"So… you guys are going out?"

Ky looked at her best friend in the mirror whilst she brushed her hair. "What, no. We're just friends that flirt occasionally."

"But you've been seeing him all over the castle."

"Coincidences. Just random acts of…randomness. Look, I enjoy his company and he is a boy and a good friend, I despise the term boyfriend, it's demeaning and trivial and he's not. I mean boyfriend, he can be demeaning when he wants to be, I kind of like that. Anyway, I'm not keen on labels and I actually don't mind putting off the whole 'what are we' talk permanently. I kind of like not knowing what we are."

"You like not knowing where you stand?"

"It keeps me on my toes."

"You're deranged."

"Why thank you. Anyway, Sev will flip and so will Minnie. Apparently seventeen is equivalent to paedophile in their eyes."

She laughed, "Well you keep denying that you want anything more from Cedric."

"I don't Mi. There's no denial, just the cold truth."

"Oh yes. That's why you've been brushing your hair for ten minutes."

"Hey, the state of my hair is mutually exclusive to the status of my relationship and lack thereof."

Ky walked out of the room, trying to ignore her friend's teasing laughter. She reached the Entrance Hall and saw the familiar profile near the basement steps, his back turned to her. She was just about to pounce for the sneak attack when,

"Bane, you're late. I guess I'd never have to wonder if your identity has been stolen, I'd just have to kill you if you showed up on time knowing it can only be an imposter."

Ky turned to the dungeon entrance, "So nice to know that you would kill for me Sensei."

"Take the 'for' out, the sentence is better without it. Follow me; you won't be brewing potions this time, Filch has asked for your assistance."

"Oh, come on Sensei, he'll have me doing manual labour."

"Rewarding you with making potions is not a punishment."

"Speaks like Severus, sounds like Minerva. The New Professor Doll now in stores. First hundred comes with free 'stab in the back' knife." Ky said in a mocking advertisement voice.

"You sound like an idiot when you try impersonating a man."

"So do you." He snapped around as the response just slipped out of Ky's mouth like word vomit. She quickly opted for a change of subject, "So what kind of manual labour does Filch have me signed up for?"

He glared at her and continued down the dungeons silently for a few moments, contemplating if he would let that slide, "I don't know, but I'm sure it's nothing kind."

Phew, that was a lot of grace Sev was showing her considering her retort so she rewarded him with a few minutes of uninterrupted silence.

They rounded a corner and saw Filch standing in the dark with a lamp hovering at his shoulder. As they approached, Ky realised that the lamp slowly took on human form, and it was in fact a mop of silver blonde hair. It wasn't the mane that offended her; it was the face beneath it.

Draco Malfoy lazily turned around, his features slack with boredom. He had one hand casually in his designer slacks pocket and the other picking at imaginary lint on his dark cashmere sweater.

Someone didn't own pyjamas.

He straightened up when he saw them approach, ignored Ky completely, which they very pleasantly did ever since that one time his face walked into her hand.

"Professor Snape, fancy seeing you down here."

"I was about to say the same Draco. What's the meaning of this Filch?"

"I just caught Mr Malfoy breaking curfew. I brought him down here for you to issue his punishment."

Malfoy rolled his eyes as if Filch was lying but didn't protest. He was relaxed about the whole situation.

"Right. Fine, Mr Malfoy will serve his detention with Miss Thornton. I'll leave it to you Filch."

Malfoy looked aghast at Sev; Ky thought he was expecting some kind of pardon. Filch had a huge grin on his face, Sev nodded to them and walked away. She rounded on Malfoy with a smirk, who composed himself and turned to Filch.

"May I at least go and change?"

Filch didn't even acknowledge the request and instead started walking down the corridor. He eventually came to a flight of steps which he descended and then took a left, and then a right. It was freezing down here, and Ky hadn't carried a sweater, clad in her black sweatpants and Beatles tee.

Filch stopped in the middle of the long passage and opened a door, but he didn't enter, just gave them a gloating glance, nodding them in.

Ky looked at Malfoy, who in turn looked at her.

She rolled her eyes; he was such a coward. Her gesture seemed to have triggered something though and he walked through the door first.

"You're to clean this up. Separate it into three piles, one for usable items, one for garbage, and one for junk that can be repaired. I'll come back for you in two hours. Have fun…oh, and don't put your fingers in any holes if you like them the way they are."

And with that Filch shut the door.

"Lumos." They muttered at the same time. They were standing in a room about a third the size of their Potions classroom. There was junk everywhere, it was like a Hogwarts attic.

Ky couldn't make out a thing, except for dust and spider webs. Those reigned supreme in this room. She walked to the first pile and reached for an object, "Are you deaf as well as stupid? Didn't you hear the squib; he said not to touch anything."

"No Malfoy, he said don't put your fingers into any holes. Does this look like a hole to you? "She picked up the object, and skurged it, it appeared to be a mortar. At least that's what she thought it was, it was a relic.

Malfoy moved closer and observed the tool, without touching it. "Well technically that is a hole. You put the pestle in it."

"And technically you're an idiot. You put the D in it."

He ignored her retort and walked to the edge of the room. He scourgified an object that turned out to be a stool. Ky was quite surprised; she thought he wouldn't help considering he had the silver spoon shoved so far up his mouth it stuck out of his butt.

She guess that explained what was shoved up his butt then. She made a mental note to let Ron in on that joke.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ky suddenly snapped as he adjusted himself into a comfortable position on the stool.

"I see your sorry state of language hasn't improved. Well Thornton, let me teach you. This is a stool; it is used for sitting."

"Just for sitting?" She asked innocently, a faux teasing look in her eye.

A flicker of surprise crossed his silver orbs, and then he smirked, "Well, they are other more fun things that it can be used for…you could come over here and I'll show you."

He must have had a heart attack when she started walking forward with a flirty smirk on her face. He was stock still when she reached him.

Ky quickly whipped out her wand and vanished the stool out from underneath him, he fell onto the floor with a deafening crash…unfortunately Draco seemed to have upset the pile that was on the left of her, and she was too busy laughing to notice until the last second as the tower of junk fell towards her.

Moments later Ky opened her eyes and met confused silver ones. Malfoy's palms were on either side of her face, propping his body up. There was junk lying all over them and a dull pain radiating from her back. His look of perplexity morphed into fear and he quickly jumped off her, pulling her to her feet.

"Fuck, you're bleeding." Draco touched her forehead which she just registered was quite sore. She felt the sticky substance at her injury and rubbed the unfamiliar liquid between her fingers, then sniffed at it.

"It's not blood."

Ky started digging in the junk in excitement, ignoring her dizziness. She turned to Malfoy, who was frozen in indecision, "Well don't just stand there. Look for the container. It looks like blood."

Ky dug through the junk nearest them, throwing potion instruments here and there.

"I found it…I think."

She turned quickly and saw Malfoy holding a jar of something blood red. She clambered over to him and made to grab it, but he held it out of her reach. Oh, why does he have to be such an annoying prat?

"What is it?" He said.

"Just a potion ingredient."

"Doesn't sound like it's just a potion ingredient. Sounds like a bit more than that to me. Sounds like it's something rare. That means expensive."

Ky growled up at him, why does he have to be such a Malfoy about this. "Fine don't give it to me, I don't care."

She turned and walked away, folding her arms to stop herself from attacking Malfoy which may cause him to drop the jar.

"Sounded like you cared an awful lot five minutes ago."

"Things change. You take that side; I'll take this side."

"OK. I'll just toss this back in the junk."

She turned quickly but already heard the glass shatter. Ky ran towards him, but it was too late. Tears of anger burned in her eyes, "You insufferable idiot, how can you-"

She stopped her rendition as she saw Malfoy standing there with a smirk on his face, holding the blood-red jar in his hand, clearly fooling her by breaking an empty bottle. Ky was so angry she felt like head butting him, but then he might actually drop the jar this time.

"So are you going to tell me what it is or do I have to send a sample to my labs and have them find out."

She sighed. He wouldn't let this go. "Its Lamian leave sap. Now, can I have it?"

"What's it used for?"

"Nothing at the moment. So technically it's useless."

"If it isn't being used for anything it must not be well researched, and that must be because it is hard to come by. It's probably the cure for some illness or something like that."

"Maybe. Or maybe it's useless. Daddy won't be too impressed for wasting his time experimenting on a useless potion ingredient."

He shook his head, "I'm not going to give this to my father Thornton. If I wanted to find out what it does, I'll do so by myself. Fortunately for you I have better things to do with my time than play with ancient potion ingredients. There."

He held it out to her, and she hesitantly reached for it, just like she expected he would, he pulled back just before she could grab it.

"Just remember, you owe me one. A Malfoy always collects on his debts."

She wanted to slap him again but held herself back. Seems today was a good day for restraint. She took the jar, shrunk it, and carefully placed it in her pocket.

"Thank you." She muttered.

He laughed, a hollow laugh, "Don't thank me just yet Thornton."

A/N: Thank you for reading !