𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔 - pjo x hp

xlvi. chicken and rats

𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐘, 𝐊𝐀𝐘𝐒𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀. They continued their occasional arguments, and partially friendly relationship. If it weren't for the second-too-long glances they casted at each other, or occasional brush of the fingers that sent a volley of butterflies in Raya's stomach... she could almost pretend nothing had changed.

If either of their friends noticed, they were kind enough not to comment on it.

Footsteps from the end of the corridor had Raya scrambling to look nonchalant. 

It was the day before the visit to Hogsmeade — Raya had just gotten news from Harry that Sirius told them to be past Dervish and Banges at two o'clock, and she was partially terrified. Clearly he'd decided not to listen to any of her strongly worded letters. She was half hoping to see him just so he could tell him off.

But on top of the highly illegal meeting with Sirius, she was on Prefect duty tonight. With Kayse.

While she was alright with joking around in class, acting like she didn't want to forget everything that went wrong with her relationship with Luke and kiss him was going to be a bit of a problem when they were alone.

"Hey," Kayse smiled at her as he approached.

"Hi," she smiled back. She held out a plate, "Cookie?"

They were in the kitchen hallway, right outside the painting of the fruit bowl. Raya had picked a plate of cookies — as she almost always did on watch nights — and had probably ate more of them than she should.

"Uh... sure," he took one. "You make them or what?"

"Nah, I got them from the kitchens," she told him, walking down the hall to start their rounds. "I like grabbing something before going to make my rounds. It's tiring work."

"Ah, but it's very rewarding," Kayse said, doing an impressive imitation of Dumbeldore. "Walking through the empty halls and making sure the children are in bed, Miss Newbrooke. There's nothing more rewarding than that."

Raya straightened up, doing her best impression of Snape, "Who cares about the children? If it were up to me, I'd let the little rascals rot."

Their laughter echoed in the halls, the two of them shushing each other quickly as they heard a hiss.

"I love cats, but I swear to Gods, Filch's is actually insane," Raya muttered. 

"I think you can only spend so much time with Filch before you turn insane," Kayse shrugged.

"Okay, that's fair."

The two of them walked out of the dungeons and around to the other towers. Kayse continued speaking about anything, almost as if he was trying to do everything in his power to make sure this wasn't awkward.

"Excited about Hogsmeade tomorrow?" he asked. 

Raya scrunched her face up at the reminder that Sirius was going to try and be seen in public. Even if she was excited to see him again — in person and not through a fire — she was a little more terrified.

"I take it you're not that excited," Kayse commented, noting her sour expression.

"No, I am," she corrected. "I just — it's nothing. I'm excited to go Hogsmeade tomorrow." She turned to him, "What are you gonna do?"

"I'll probably head to Honeydukes," he answered. "The Three Broomsticks, and I don't know, a few other places. Me and my friends usually go different places every time. Hogsmeade's a big place. We like to explore."