An Unexpected Friend ((Mack))

[Kennedy Valak S6]

Where in the world did she disappear to this time? Kennedy thought to himself. He and Mack were scheduled for prefect duty that night, and he hadn't seen her since they left the common room together. Likely, she had found Alex, and they were off doing who knows what who knows where. Kennedy didn't care that much though. He just wondered where she had been the whole night. It had been a boring one at that. Kennedy didn't even get to bust any students for being out past curfew. He might has well have just went back to the dungeons and called it a night. He needed his sleep anyways.

As he walked through the darkened and quite corridors, the only sound was that of his feet on the stone floor. The torches on the walls cast an orange haze on everything, and the lack of light was beginning to make Kennedy sleepy. He suppressed a yawn before turning an corner and suddenly hearing the sound of clanking metal. Stopping dead in his tracks, Kennedy's eyes darted from one side of the hall to the other as he stared into the space before him. There was a suit of armor just ahead, and Kennedy wondered if it was just the animated suit moving to get more comfortable. The suits of armor all around the castle were known to be animated. "Hello?" he questioned, reaching for his wand.

"Lumos," Kennedy spoke, casting a orb-like haze of light around the area closest to him. Then, taking a few hesitant steps closer to the armor, he pointed the light at it, noticing two large eyes glowing back at him from behind the metal figure. It shocked Kennedy at first, as he couldn't see what it was that was staring back at him. Too large to be human eyes, Kennedy wondered if it was perhaps a house elf. Still, why would the elf be hiding from him. Deciding that whatever it was, it must not be dangerous as it seemed to fear Kennedy, he stepped even closer, almost to the point where he could touch whatever it was.

Once the light from his wand was close enough for Kennedy to get a proper look, he realized that it was just a cat. Then, taking a closer stare, he knew that it wasn't just a normal cat, but in fact it was a kneazle! Kennedy knew a little about kneazles from working with his father. Footsteps from behind him caught Kennedy's attention, and he turned to see who it was, shining his light at the approaching sound. "Mack?" he questioned. When he saw that it really was her, he turned back to where the kneazle had been. "Look what I've found!" he exclaimed. "Wait... it was just here a second ago. Within the few moments that Kennedy averted his gaze, the kneazle had abandoned its hiding place. "It was a kneazle," he explained, "we've got to find it!"

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack had argued, well no – not really argued because she and Alex never argued – with Alex about letting her go do her Prefect duties for the night, but there had been a compromise. She had to eat dinner with him. That was perfectly alright with Mack, she loved spending dinners with Alex. They were hardly ever apart during meal times anyway; it wasn’t like they ate in the Great Hall. No, they grabbed food and made their way to an empty classroom or outside if the day was nice and ate there. It was just easier to do that because they were segregated by house and people weren’t allowed to sit at other tables with their friends or boyfriend/girlfriends unless they were in the same house. Regardless, Mack and Alex ate together every day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and so when she told him she had Prefect duties that night; Alex had whined a bit and tried to persuade her to stay. Mack had won, though, because she still had some responsibility in her head even when she was with her boyfriend, and so after dinner they had kissed goodbye and promised to meet up when she was done with Prefect duties, and she had headed off to find Kennedy. She and Kennedy hardly ever patrolled together, but then again Mack didn’t do much patrolling anyway. That was Alex’s fault, though, not hers. Anyway, because she never really patrolled with Kennedy she didn’t know where she was to meet him (after she had dashed away for a moment to get something from Alex after they had exited the common room together) and so now she was wandering aimlessly looking for the other Slytherin Prefect.

Finally, she reached a corridor that was fairly dark and caused her to have to lift her wand and light it as she walked through it and kept her eyes pealed for Kennedy. She hated Hogwarts at night because it was always so creepy looking. How could it not be with the animated armour, paintings, ghosts, and creatures that scurried in the dark? Mack shuddered and turned her eyes to a suit of armour that shifted its stance as she passed, hurriedly, by. She really needed to find Kennedy, and soon. It was then she spotted Kennedy’s back to her as he looked at something. Quickly, Mack hurried up behind him and touched his shoulder, “Hey.” Kennedy turned around, his wand nearly hitting her face she was certain, and then turned back around telling her to look at what he had found. Mack peered curiously at the vast darkness he had been looking at and then looked at Kennedy with a raised eyebrow, “Erm, you feeling alright there, Kennedy? You sure you aren’t seeing things? Do you hear any voices in your head? I think we should talk to Professor Dumbledore if you are.” She was smiling as she spoke, telling him that she was completely joking, but looked around at the ground anyway – looking for the kneazle he had mentioned seeing.

When he mentioned going after and looking for the kneazle, Mack looked at him incredulously, “You’re serious? Oh, come on Kennedy, it’s just a kneazle.” Mack looked around the corridor, and then decided that it would be better to go on the search for the kneazle with Kennedy than to go patrolling alone. So, she sighed and nodded, “Alright, let’s find it. But we’re not splitting up! The suits of armour give me the wiggins and…well…I swear one of them wants to kill me. So, we’ll look together.” She plucked the sleeve of his robe and started to walk back down the corridor, wondering where to look first.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

"This isn't a joking matter," Kennedy replied, giving Mack a glare that really wasn't a serious one. He knew she was joking, but if anyone knew Kennedy, they knew that you didn't joke with him when it came to magical creatures. "And... there's no such thing as 'just a kneazle'," he shook his head, indicating his disappointment that Mack would resort to a statement that truly undermined the value of such a creature. "Did you know that they have an uncanny sense of direction, and that they are highly intelligent? Much more sophisticated than muggle cats." Kennedy sometimes seemed to go off on random tangents, sharing his knowledge of magical creatures regardless of whether or not he figured that his audience cared to know. "You're probably afraid that he or she just won't like you," he added with a grin.

When she finally agreed to go after the kneazle, Kennedy gave an approving nod. "We don't have to split up. Just don't go scaring away the kneazle with any girls shrieks if the suits of armour give you a fright. They're just animated heaps of metal anyways," Kennedy said, hiding the fact that he wasn't too fond of them either. With a kneazle on the loose though, suits of armour were the least of his concerns. "You know, all kneazles are required to be licensed by the ministry. That means we either have a stray, or someone in the castle isn't doing a very good job of keeping theirs. If we catch it, I get to keep it," he insisted. Kennedy didn't have a pet, and a kneazle would make good company, assuming it liked Kennedy. He knew that they had particular senses of personality, and if they didn't like their owners, bad things could happen.

The two of them walked, Kennedy's wand out in front to help light their way. It was only minutes into their search that Kennedy thought he heard something. "Shhh," he hushed Mack, even though she hadn't said anything. He figured she would probably speak and so he didn't want her to make any loud noises. He also held his had out to stop her, and then he swept his wand from left to right. Right there, in the middle of the hallway, the large kneazle, with bright cat-eyes, starred at Mack and Kennedy. This particular kneazle was rather large in size, and its speckled fur seemed to be somewhat healthy to be a stray. Then again, they were intelligent, which meant that even if it was a stray it could probably provide for itself in terms of finding sufficient amounts of food.

Nothing was said for a few moments as Kennedy kept his eye on the kneazle. Finally, it averted is view and began walking away from the two prefects. It was a slow walk though, and the kneazle only took a few steps before turning its head and giving another long stare. "Do you think it wants us to follow?" Kennedy whispered, looking at Mack. He didn't want to approach too quickly, for fear of scaring it, but he had a feeling that it was wanting them to come after it, almost like it wanted to show them something.

[Mackenzie Holden]

“Aw, sure it is, Kennedy.” Mack said with a bright smile. It was always amusing to get Kennedy’s feathers ruffled even though she wouldn’t ever do something to really make him mad, though. Not only because he was her boyfriend’s best friend, but also because Mack respected Kennedy and didn’t ever want to be on his bad side. “Okay, okay, I get it. Kneazles are amazing, don’t get your panties in a twist – Merlin, you’re just as bad as Alex sometimes.” Mack smirked at her fellow Prefect. Their love for magical creatures was probably what had sparked the friendship between Kennedy and Alex and Mack often found it amusing how the both of them could sound so alike when they lectured her about magical creatures. Mack didn’t shared the some fascination. Fascination? Border line obsession, maybe. “Oh, yeah, I really care that a kneazle may or may not like me. You’ve found me out, Kennedy.” The sarcasm was quite apparent to her voice, but it wasn’t the mean kind of sarcasm because like earlier said – Mack valued Kennedy’s friendship. Even though they weren’t terribly close, Mack knew Kennedy could be trusted with secrets – and so if there ever came a time when Mack couldn’t tell Alex something, she’d tell Kennedy. She didn’t believe that would ever happen, but she knew it was always good to be prepared.

“Girl shrieks?” Mack stammered as she crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m not Mary, Kennedy, I don’t shriek.” She glared, though, it wasn’t as fierce as she would have liked it to be. Sure, the suits of armour gave her the wiggins, but she did know they were just animated heaps of metal. Besides, she knew that she wasn’t the only one afraid of them so she didn’t appreciated his remark about girl shrieks. She walked with him, nonetheless, and listened to him explain that every kneazle was registered by the ministry and that he got to keep if they found it, “Fine by me,” Mack told him as she kept pace with him, “I don’t like animals. There’s a reason I don’t have a pet.” They walked in silence for a bit and Mack hadn’t any intention of saying anything when Kennedy shushed her. They watched the kneazle and Mack shook her head when Kennedy whispered to her, “No!” Mack hissed, “I don’t think it does.”

Nonetheless, the look on Kennedy’s face told her he thought otherwise, “Alright, alright,” she whispered back to him, clearly defeated, “Let’s follow it. But if it starts taking us into unknown corridors, we turn around and leave, alright?” Mack eyed Kennedy, knowing he wouldn’t leave even if she started to drug him away forcefully. Still, Mack pulled on Kennedy’s sleeve and headed toward the kneazle which resumed its slow pace in the direction it had been heading to prior the two human beings halt. Mack had a feeling the kneazle wasn’t leading them to anywhere good and Mack’s feelings were night most of the time, too.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

"All girls shriek," he said, narrowing his eyes to give Mack that 'don't even try to argue this' look. Lucky for him, she didn't, and he looked back to where the kneazle had gone. "Just because you aren't Mary doesn't mean that it's impossible for you to have that innate ability to make the squeakiest noise when something scares you." Kennedy smiled, realizing that maybe Mack wasn't the shrieking type, but it amused him to make her believe that she was and that there was no way of getting out of it. "I'll pretend you didn't just say that, and to keep you safe I won't tell Alex that you would utter such hurtful words." Kennedy knew Alex could care less, well perhaps, if Mack liked animals or magical creatures or anything of the sort. Sure, it'd have been nice for him if they had that in common, but Kennedy could tell that Alex was so in love that something so silly could never interfere with something that strong.

Lucky for him, Kennedy's glare was enough to convince Mack that she was wrong in the kneazle not wanting them to follow it. Right or wrong, he'd have done it anyways, and her knowing that probably assisted in helping her change her mind so fast. That and... well... the fact that they had already established her fear of the suits of armour. Kennedy was sure she'd cling to his side just to avoid having to be alone in the creepiness that night brought to the castle. "We leave when we find it," he insisted, still not backing down on this one. "Kneazles can cause damage if not controlled, and we are the prefects here. It is our responsibility." He could almost imagine her mocking his words inside her own head, and whether he had the right to pull out the responsibility idea was debatable. Nonetheless, nothing was changing his mind at this point.

Having seemed like years passed in the few seconds that they bickered slightly over their next move, Kennedy finally began down the hall, his lit wand serving as their guide. Passing one of the suits, Kennedy purposely jumped, laughing when Mack did shriek. "Told ya," he rubbed in the fact that he was right. Minutes passed as they walked down one corridor and then another; no sign of the kneazle though. Then, a quick meowing sound caught Kennedy off guard, this time causing him to jump for real. He let out a quick laugh before looking at Mack's glaring eyes. It made him laugh at how dramatic she could be. Sweeping his wand from side to side, Kennedy saw the kneazle standing against the one brick wall, it's back arched in a somewhat threatening stance. Behind it there was a brick missing, and Kennedy noticed that the kneazle seemed to be standing in front of the hole in the wall. Perhaps it was the kneazle's home, he thought. Slowly, Kennedy knelt to the ground, moving in a cautious manner as not to spook the kneazle. Just before he was inches from reaching out to grab it, another shriek scared him out of his pants, and he turned, this time he was the one glaring. "What..." he said in a loud whisper... "was that for?!"