You’re my Candle

Kayda didn't participate in the conversation that the students around her were having until a small girl with dirty blonde hair, that touched the floor when she knelt, appeared behind her suddenly, speaking hurriedly to Daphne across the table as if she feared some consequence of talking slowly.

Only when Harry Potter's name fell from her lips did Kayda speak up.

"Lillian? What-?" She sat up a little straighter, turning and placing a hand on Lillian's shoulder gently.

"Merlin— pay attention, Black." Daphne laughed softly, nodding to Lillian to repeat it.

"We had divination on Friday, right," Lillian was looking straight at her now, Kayda nodded, "well, it's all houses mixed together — which means that Potter was in our class and he has got to be cursed!"

Kayda's eyebrows furrowed, Freya started laughing beside her.

"Cursed how?"

"He got the Grim in his tea leaves." Daphne whispered eerily. "It's an omen..."

"...of death, yes — terrifying." Draco rolled his eyes.

Kayda's gaze flickered between her friends, just before she turned around fully and locked eyes with the Chosen One on the Gryffindor table. He smiled for a moment before his lips fell into a taut line — the others must have been staring too.

"McGonagall didn't seem bothered by it though." Freya chuckled. "Shame."

"The Grim." Kayda repeated slowly, her eyes blurring to focus on nothing. "It's just a big black dog, right?"

"Anyway, I was just out in the forest gathering herbs with Aslan," Lillian continued, ignoring Kayda's question and looking at each of them in turn, "and I saw these huge paw prints in the dirt, identical to my Aunt's german shepard, just ten times bigger."

Kayda couldn't stop what her brain thought of. Next thing she knew, Lillian's eyes flashed wider, her jaw dropping and her balance faltering.

In a second, Kayda was on her feet – one hand clasped over Lillian's mouth, the other gripping the girl's shoulder tightly. She shook her head. Kayda may not have been a Legilimens, like Lillian – but she didn't need it to be able to read the girl's expression.

"Please." She mimed, her back to the Slytherin table. Lillian nodded to the best of her ability with Kayda's hand pressed against the entire bottom half of her face.

Her grasp left the blonde girl, who was still staring in shock at Kayda. The rest of the group were all watching them with expectant expressions.

"Well? Do we get to know the secret you just indirectly told Jones?" Theo chuckled, already knowing the answer.

"No."

"Awe...pretty please." Begged Freya.

"No, Malfoy."

"Bitch."

"Oi!"

─ « ⋅ » ─

"Silence." Snape's voice echoed loudly when he spoke in the small dungeon room. He wasted no time in ordering them into a line against the cold stone wall the second they entered the classroom. "You will be in pairs for this year and I will be deciding on these arrangements, failure to comply will be met with punishment."

"Oh, brilliant." Kayda muttered sarcastically to Freya, who was smiling widely beside her.

The blonde girl had easily grown to be one of Snape's more preferred students – the fact that she was the equivalent of a Slytherin 'Princess' and had a slight knack for Potions being the only reasons.

People muttered to one another – it was only Slytherin and Gryffindor in the classroom, someone was bound to be stuck with the opposing house. A foolish hatred between the two, that had existed long before their time, making even the notion of such a thing a disaster.

"Mr Nott and Miss Malfoy." Snape announced, staring at each of them with an expression that didn't look like complete hatred. Freya and Theo smiled at one another and took a seat at the desk.

"Miss Parkinson and Mr Malfoy." Pansy squealed happily, grabbing hold of Draco's hand and pulling him to a desk further in the shadows near Freya and Theodore.

"Mr Potter and Mr Thomas. Miss Granger and Miss Brown."

Kayda had expected him to stick her with a Gryffindor, but he left her to last to announce. It was just her and Seamus Finnigan against the wall. He didn't even bother announcing it.

Seamus' head was pressed back against the wall behind them, and when he turned to face her, grinning from ear to ear.

Kayda couldn't help but smile back at the boy.

When they sat down, she noticed the Slytherins giving her sympathetic looks, and the Gryffindors doing the same to Seamus – little did any of them know; the pair had been friends since Seamus somehow blew up a feather in their Charms class and she'd been cleaning soot off his face after every incident since.

Snape cleared his throat to get the class quiet again. "We will be learning the Antidote to Common Poisons today. So, pay attention."

He explained each of the instructions incredibly fast to prevent them from completing the Potion while he was talking – he liked to make it as unnecessarily difficult for them as possible.

They were halfway through when Seamus sighed heavily, leaning with his forearms pressed against the table.

"Alright, we need powdered Unicorn Horn now, just a pinch." Kayda said, scraping her mind for the step. She wasn't facing her partner, but she could hear his breathing and the fact that he didn't move an inch. "Finn–"

At that moment, Seamus stood up and leaned closer to her in order to whisper into her ear, his voice lowering significantly. "I feel like pissing Snape off. You in?"

After a deep breath, her eyes locked onto Snape, who was wandering the dim classroom judging each of their cauldrons. The corner of her mouth rose slowly.

"What a stupid question," she turned her head slightly and looked at Seamus, "invariably."

Without any hesitation, Seamus began grabbing any and all ingredients he could reach and dumped them into the cauldron as Kayda placed her hands on either side of it. He knelt behind the desk, pretending he was grabbing something from the lower shelf when really he was taking cover.

It was easy to see the glow running down through her veins in the dark dungeon as the fire travelled to her hands and burst into flame with a bright flash – upon contact, the cauldron exploded.

The deafening sound of it hitting the ceiling and crashing back on the floor was enough to make even Snape cover his face with his forearms. There were a few screams and several gasps. Kayda opened her eyes slowly to see massive scorch marks littering the table, along with the book and several other flammable things burning. She coughed, wiping her face and brushing the soot off her sleeves.

"MISS BLACK AND MR FINNIGAN!" Snape yelled, walking towards their table so fast he was a mere blur until he halted with the cauldron rolling at his feet. "DETENTION."

"That's two in the first two weeks." Kayda laughed, leaning against the scorching table once Snape had walked back to his desk to rip two detention slips out of a book and scribble on them hurriedly.

"Go for three, I dare you." Seamus stood up, smiling at the mess they made and cackling with her.

"I'm pretty sure my Uncle would slaughter me."

"Worth it."

Snape shoved the two slips into their hands and gave a short, disgusted look before he dismissed the class. Kayda and Seamus muttered a goodbye to one another, knowing they wouldn't even look in the other's direction until the next lesson – it was how they'd gotten this far without anyone knowing they were actually friends.

"I cannot believe you messed up that potion, Kayda." Daphne scolded her as they walked leisurely to the Great Hall. Pansy was using her cloak sleeve to wipe the rest of the black soot off her face. Freya's arm was linked with Kayda's so that the girl didn't walk into someone as she tried to read the slip in her hand. "You're better than all of us at potions–"

"That and the rest of our classes." Draco chuckled.

Kayda looked up to give Draco a grateful nod. "I don't know what to tell you, Daph. It just didn't work." She shrugged, looking past Pansy at the girl all the while trying to suppress a laugh herself. "See this? He ticked every box, and he wrote his own reason."

"What'd he say?" Theo asked, walking on the other side of Freya.

"'Conspiring with Mr Finnigan to blow up the classroom and injure their peers.'" She laughed, showing it to the boy when his mouth fell open. "Maybe I should have, just for the accusation."

"Your Uncle is definitely going to talk with you about your detentions, there's no hiding from him this year, Black. He's in the castle." Pansy's lips closed into a firm line, her hand finally lowering.

"Look, if my Uncle is going to lecture me later this week; I don't need you lot giving me a taste of it now. Do I?" She unlinked her arm from Freya's and walked ahead of them all, turning back to smile at them as she did.

─ « ⋅ » ─

Two days later, she returned to the dungeons and Seamus was already leaning against the door frame waiting for her.

"Hi, Guy Fawkes."

"Partner," he smiled, but it soon faded away, "you've heard, haven't you?"

She stopped in her tracks, her eyes narrowing. "Heard what?"

"Someone doesn't get the Daily Prophet in the mornings." He chuckled. "I meant to talk to you about it in class, but I figured Malfoy would've told you, seen as he was there when I told Harry."

"Heard what, Seamus?" Her heart was starting to beat faster.

"It's your dad."

Her heart stopped. "They caught him?"

"No, Merlin no." He sniffed and looked at the floor. "He was sighted by a Muggle, not too far from here. Some people are saying he's on his way here."

Kayda shook the feeling away when Seamus gave her a small smile and pushed the door to the dungeons open, his hand lingering on the door to keep it open for Kayda to follow. In his other hand, sat the crumbled Detention slip that he'd have dug out of his trouser pocket two hours ago – Kayda knew, because that's exactly what she did.

Neither of them had to say a word, Snape had looked up and he immediately ordered them to sit without any prompting whatsoever.

Seamus fell into a chair instantly, giving a quick nod to the other boy in the classroom that Kayda vaguely knew as Cormac McLaggen.

"Take a seat, Miss Black." Snape repeated loudly, it drew Kayda's eyes off Cormac's smug grin.

"Perhaps I'll stand?" Kayda smiled quickly.

"You'll sit." His eyes didn't leave hers. Seamus laughed quietly, looking up at her hiding his mouth with his hand.

"Merlin, I really do piss you off. Don't I?" She chuckled, sitting down beside Seamus and purposely knocking the boy's arm while stifling her own amusement.

Snape took a deep breath before continuing, ignoring her question as he did.

"If I remember correctly, it was you who came up with the brilliant idea of blowing up a cauldron in my class, Miss Black." He didn't look at her for even a second.

"Oh Godric...no, Snivillus — I cannot take credit for that." She leant forward, tilting her head as she spoke, "that one was all Seamus."

"Sure was." Seamus laughed, leaning back in his chair with a grin. Kayda looked back at him and he mimed 'Snivillus' at her with furrowed brows and a confused expression.

Snape glared at them both before clearing his throat loudly when Kayda opened her mouth to respond and shaking some parchment as he prepared to read it. "'You are both in detention with me for purposefully exploding an unfinished potion and consequently sending a cauldron into the ceiling.' Do you deny any part of this?"

"No, Snivellus."

"No, Professor."

"And why did you both decide to explode the potion?" His teeth grounded together as he spoke.

"I wanted to piss you off." Seamus beamed.

"I also wanted that." Kayda spoke almost proudly.

Snape sighed heavily, but the corner of his mouth lifted when he looked down at the parchment in his hands. "As punishment, you will both be banished from participating in Quidditch for this school year."

Kayda grinned. Snape sunk down into his seat. Seamus shrugged.

Snape simply stared at her for a moment, his eyes completely blank – the smirk gone before he turned and spoke to Cormac.

"Mr McLaggen, you are in detention for 'fooling around in the potion ingredients cupboard'. Correct?"

"Y-yes, Sir." Cormac croaked.

"Next potion might go wrong 'cause of a strange substance in the ingredients." Seamus whispered to Kayda, who wheezed loudly before looking past the boy to watch Cormac's face shift to a deep red. "C'mon – let's go."

Kayda followed Seamus' lead when he stood up, Snape said nothing to either of them when they left the dingy classroom.

"I'll see you next time, then?"

"That's if my Uncle hasn't killed me."

They parted and Kayda made her way to the Great Hall for dinner – Daphne jumped when she reached over the blonde girl to grab a yorkshire pudding.

"You're back already!?" Pansy asked as Kayda sat down.

Kayda nodded, thanking Blaise after he passed her a full plate that they'd clearly dished up for her.

"Wasn't too bad, actually." She smiled, stabbing at the chicken on her plate with a fork. "I'm banished from the Quidditch team for this year though."

Draco didn't bother swallowing his mouthful before expressing his opinion. "He can't do that!"

"Of course he can – what are you on about?" Daphne tilted her head at the blond boy across the table. "He's our Head of House."

Kayda laughed at them. "I don't care. He's given me an excuse to give Flint."

"Speaking of – the Captain isn't looking too good." Pansy shrugged, her voice lowered significantly and she leaned forward, with her eyes watching something behind Kayda.

"I mean...did he ever?"

"Frey!" Kayda laughed.

"If you got a problem wit' my face, Malfoy – take it up wit' the asshole who ruined it." Flint's voice was loud above her.

"And how can I get in contact with your mother?" Freya seemed unfazed by his sudden appearance.

"You goddamn bitch–"

Freya blew him a kiss, smirking.

When Kayda turned to look up at Flint, she failed to control her reaction to his face – her jaw dropped and a shocked laugh escaped her lips.

Flint's eyelid was drooping so much it looked like his eye was closed and the inner part of the bruise was a deep purple, which spread out to his temple and cheek. The rest of it, around and in between, was somewhat swollen and a greenish-yellow colour.

He had to have been hit several times for that drastic of a result.

"What the fuck happened to your face?" She couldn't help, either, that her words were joined by a very obvious laugh when she said them.

Kayda stood up and took a step towards him in order to get a better look at the battering – she wasn't used to having such a distance between them both. As if calculated, his own feet carried him away from her.

"Don' act like you had no part in this." His hand lifted to touch the giant bruise very carefully. His eyes were wild – piercing – like a predator staring at prey.

"Me? I didn't do shit to you, Flint." Kayda's voice was firm.

He scoffed. "Loverboy fuckin' did."

Kayda's face dropped, so did her stomach. She could feel her friends staring at her. There was a sudden lump in her throat that she just couldn't seem to swallow down.

"'Loverboy'?" Freya repeated from across the table, Kayda turned to look at the girl with wide eyes. "Who's Loverbo– oh...shit."

Daphne rose slowly from the bench, her hand grabbing Kayda's and squeezing.

"He did all of this...shit!" Flint glanced at the others, waving his hand to his wounded complexion. "Just because I sat next to her."

"You have a boyfriend, Black?" Theo laughed, grinning at her from where he sat.

Kayda faced the bruised boy in front of her again when he started laughing roughly. "Flint. Don't."

He cackled. "They don't know!"

"Marcus."

He ignored her, his eyes meeting the several staring at him. "It's no surprise she hasn't told you – you probably wouldn't like it."

"If he did all that just for Black – I like him already." Theo gave Kayda a short nod.

"Tell us his name." Draco stood up as he spoke, his face blank – apart from his eyes. They didn't leave Flint's face for even a second. Kayda didn't think he bothered to blink either.

"Oliver – fuckin' – Wood."

It was a surprise Daphne's neck didn't snap, considering how fast she turned to look at the girl beside her. Kayda shut her eyes tightly, blocking out the onslaught of her friends speaking behind her.

Her eyes hardened. "Fuck you, Marcus."

"C'mon, Black. Loverboy wouldn't like that, now." Flint leaned closer to her face. "Would he?"

"I think that's about the first thing you've ever said that I've actually agreed with."