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THIRTY BRAND NEW MOVES

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       ALMOST NOTHING IS SEEN of Holly, who's buried her face in every textbook possible in preparation for her O.W.Ls, and to try and battle through the realisation that Dumbledore has been replaced by Umbridge. Holly can't feel the warmth leaving the school, not just yet, apparently that's the first sign of a school descending into evil. Hogwarts isn't there yet. It just has a wicked headmistress, with her own little band of students docking points off of others and sending them into detentions — the Inquisitorial Squad, consisting of Slytherins, with Holly somehow one of the members.

       She isn't quite sure how, but apparently, since she mentioned the D.A. once in October and she 'caught Potter,' she's the reason they exist. Which she finds to be silly, especially since the last one is a terrible lie. She was refusing to go along with 'Potter's' plan but then he had to say You know why I am, and well, it shoved her into a daze and she couldn't quite think straight because she kept on thinking what what what what what.

       Everything is falling apart, though, and Holly's doing what Holly's always done. Pretend the world is fine and keep on walking. Her friends are too excited about this elite group they've all been roped into to realise what they're actually doing. Part of Holly feels as though they're just excited that the headteacher finally likes them. It's wrong, yeah, but they're in a daze. They'll realise eventually. She did. Everyone does.

       But, the most important thing, right now, is her exams. It's helping her get through this without being in a constant spiral of right or easy she won't rebel do you not have the stomach for this, Miss Lippincott? She thinks this is the first time she's ever been thankful for the existence of exams, because they're the perfect excuse to take her mind off of the horror at hand — or the amount of chaos being caused by the entirety of the student body, all inspired by Fred and George's departing spectacle.

       "This is madness," says Holly, as she walks into the kitchens, where Harry's already waiting for her. It's lunchtime, twenty minutes before their Charms exam, but they've both been busy... Well, Holly's been too busy absorbing all the information in every textbook known to man, and by the time midnight strikes, she cannot lift her head off of her pillow. So here they are, finding solutions. "I think I saw someone on the Inquisitorial Squad get pushed into the lake earlier."

       "Aren't you on that Inquisitorial Squad?" asks Harry.

       "Apparently I'm the leader?" says Holly, looking at him incredulously. She shrugs. "I have no idea. I'm trying to distance myself from it... They don't realise how stupid they're being, but they won't listen. So I'm just going to revise."

       She glances down, to where a white cat is hissing at a house-elf.

       "I found out who told Umbridge," says Harry.

       Holly's eyes lit up. "Who?"

       "Marietta Edgecomb," says Harry. Holly nods, although she has no idea whatsoever who that girl is. "She's friends with Cho Chang."

       "So it wasn't because of me," says Holly.

       He shakes his head.

       She found out, later in her dorm room, that Pansy told the others that Holly was aware of their plan to ambush the D.A. meeting and grab as many members as possible. "I knew you'd refuse, or you'd try to help out your other friends — but if you did that, the others would start asking questions, wouldn't they?" she had said. Holly had frowned at her, pissed off, but Pansy continued. "I knew it would be worse if you didn't go along with the plan, or tried to stop it from happening, so I didn't tell you. And I know I should've, but I was looking out for you. I was trying to."

       Pansy thought it was the right thing to do, which Holly gets completely. From Pansy's perspective, Holly has somehow befriended a group of people from a house that has been constantly beating their own, and one of them might be in love with Holly, too? (She isn't too sure about this but she isn't quite sure that twenty minutes before their Charms O.W.L. is the right time to ask.) So Pansy thought she was doing the right thing.

       Right or easy changes from person to person, Holly's realising. Maybe her version of it is skewed, maybe someone else's is. But the thing is — different people have experience different things, haven't they? She's experienced a childhood with a loving father, a muggle primary school, the muggle world in general, but she's also seen Durmstrang, been in the tournament. Her dad used to have practices in school in case a nuclear bomb went off. Her step-dad Eugene is a pilot, meets new people every day. Pansy lived in a pretty house in the countryside where purebloods are good and that is that. People are different...

       It doesn't make it any easier, though, when people do things that they think are right, but you do not. Holly can't help but be annoyed that her best friend didn't tell her — but that's because Holly can see the scab on Harry's hand, and her own memory of bloodquills makes her stomach lurch because of it. Pansy doesn't have the same reaction. She (a) hates Harry, and (b) has never used a bloodquill. Never had to, Holly means.

       "I — uh — thanks," says Holly.

       Harry looks at her oddly. "What for?"

       "For looking out for me," she says. She lets out a sigh, and she avoids looking at him in the eye. "I wish I didn't have to pretend to hate you — I'm getting so sick of this."

       "I wish you didn't, either," he says, and he takes hold of her hand. Holly looks at him. Over his shoulder she can see the white cat again, this time antagonising another house-elf. "But this is safer for you, isn't it? A lot of people put their lives in danger for me and I don't want you to."

       Holly looks at him. "But what if I want to?" she says, speaking so quietly it's a whisper. He looks worried, and she steps backwards, letting go of his hand. "We've got an exam. C'mon, I guess it's back to hating you..." And hating every damned second of it.

       She gets through the Charms exam easily, having returned to her training for the tournament last year to revise for her exams. The rest of her exams after this go by smoothly, and so they should, she's been burying her head in textbooks every moment she has spare.

       Everything is falling apart, in her mind. Right or easy is making her look at everyone, wondering what they think, what their right or easy would be. A lot of the times, nowadays, she hears her cousin insulting Harry, or any of her friends made through him or the D.A., and she has to restrain herself from snapping back at him. She's starting to hate this. She doesn't think she can last much longer, without turning to her cousin and going, first of all, you fucking bully, you know Potter, the one you're talking about? Yeah, uh, I believe he's in love with me? So, shut the fuck up?

       She tries to bury it down, leave her friends to go revise. Maybe this is just a wave, maybe this will blow over and she can go back to laughing and making up these grand rants about Harry that are actually thinly-veiled streams of isn't he amazing? She tries to ignore the way the school grows silent, the days following McGonagall's accident. She tries to ignore how everything is reminding her of Durmstrang and instead, she thinks of History of Magic. Which isn't exactly the best thing to cheer someone having a moral crisis, but it's fine. It's fine, really!

       She walks into her History of Magic exam, feeling prepared. She's got this. She's got this. She knows she's been through every topic that could possibly come up — and she has enough faith in herself to know she'll be able to scrape a good enough grade to do History of Magic as a N.E.W.T. next year, they require it if you're trying to go into the Wizengamot. But she has nothing to worry about. She knows her stuff.

       She takes her seat and she keeps on thinking the same thing, she can do this, over and over, the same thing she did before the tasks last year. They're instructed to open their exams and she does so, her quill hitting the parchment and running.

       This is easy! She's been revising this stuff for weeks now — just last night she was testing Pansy on the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, she remembers all of this. She can do this, she can do this...

       She writes the final full-stop on the final question—

       And then, behind her, she hears a thud.

       Holly spins around, and already Professor Tofty is gliding through the desks to get to whoever fell of their chair. A second passes and the boy's helped up and Holly spots the familiar mop of messy black hair, and she feels her stomach knot.

       You know what?

       Right. Holly chooses right.

       She raises her hand. One of the other wizards watching over the exam — Marchbanks — walks up to her, and she begins, "I'm finished and I'm not feeling well, may I please leave now?"

       "You cannot leave until the hall until the exam has finished—"

       "My stomach really hurts, Miss, I don't know if it's cramps or if it's food poisoning, but please can I leave now? I'm done, you can take my paper. Please—"

       "No."

       And Marchbanks walks away.

       Holly scowls at the back of her head.

       She can find another way. The exam has a minute left, that's fine, she's still got time to get out of here, to get to Harry. Forget what her friends are going to say. If she loses them, she loses them. But she's not going another day pretending that she's something she's not. She's done with all of this. She's done with pretending to hate the Gryffindors, she's done with pretending to hate him, she's done with pretending to actually believe in Voldemort and his stupid plan to take over the wizarding world.

       The exam ends. Holly tries to get out of the hall quickly, but the seating was in alphabetical order, and as she's just realised, there are lot of people in her year with surnames further down the alphabet to her.

       She gets out, though, and she tries to make a break for it, but Draco grabs onto her. "How did you do, then?" he asks. "I think it went all right, it's a good thing—"

       Holly snatches her hand away from him, and darts through the crowd of students discussing answers with their friends. She hears Pansy try and call after her, but Holly keeps on rushing through the students. She's choosing right. Right not easy.

       She pushes through the crowds, but there's no sign of them. Holly frowns, and she shoves her hands into her pockets, her brows furrowing. Her left hand begins to fiddle with the necklace in the pocket—

       The necklace in the pocket.

       Susannah.

       Holly grabs the necklace and puts it on, and immediately, she can see the familiar ghost dissolve into sight. She tries to contain her excitement, and she sees Susannah jump up and down in the air, letting out, "I found it a couple hours ago — finally! — but it took forever to get the energy to move it — but I'm here! I'm here!"

       "Suze?" says Holly. "Can you help me?"

       "Find your boyfriend?" asks Susannah, wiggling her eyebrows.

       Holly nods.

       Susannah sets off, like a dog catching a scent, and Holly follows. She's missed Susannah so much, she realises, as she follows her. She doesn't even mind Susannah's cackles and somersaults. But Holly can't celebrate as well, not just yet. She's got things to do.

       "It's been centuries, Hol!" says Susannah, whilst Holly's running alongside her, pushing through crowds of students, chatting and laughing about meaningless things. Things like I heard so-and-so did this, and Did you hear what Snape said? Dickhead! Holly's heart is hammering. This isn't a school thing. This is bigger. She's ecstatic and terrified.

       "I know — but I need to help with this first!" says Holly, completely ignoring the one third year that looks at her oddly, talking to seemingly nothing. You know what? It's fine. She's got more important things to think about than oh I hope that one kid doesn't question this. "Are we close?"

       "Yeah, just down this hall," says Susannah.

       Holly sets off. She reaches the door Susannah was motioning to, and she pushes the door open, hearing Harry shout at the others, "Sirius is being tortured NOW! We haven't got time to waste—"

       "Then we find the quickest way there," says Holly.

       Susannah closes the door behind her, somersaulting and kicking the top of the door with her toes. Her hands are still covered in her own blood. It's nice that it hasn't changed. Holly missed Suze.

       Harry looks at Holly in surprise. She's going to say it's because of amazement.

       "But if this is a trick of V-Voldemort's," says Hermione, looking at him warily. "Harry, we've got to check, we've got to—"

       "How?" says Harry. "How're we going to check?" 

       "We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," says Hermione, although the idea of breaking into her office seems to frighten her. Holly nods. She'll help. Holly can be cunning. Her Patronus isn't a cheetah for nothing. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."

       "I can get you into her office," says Holly, nodding. "Although she's put safety measures on recently — I'll go first, maybe they won't set off if it's me...?"

       She isn't sure of this, but she's has a sliver of hope left. She expects the worst, but she has high hopes. The worst will probably happen, but they'll be fine. They'll come out of it alive — things will clear up soon, but for now, there are things to be done and Holly isn't sitting back, not this time, not again. She's choosing right, not easy.

       "OK," says Harry. He still looks a little frustrated, and Holly supposes he's getting impatient. "OK, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now—"

       "The Department of Mysteries?" says Luna, her eyes widening slightly. "But how are you going to get there?"

       Harry ignores her. Holly thinks she has a point.

       How can they get to London, and quickly? Holly thinks of the Floo Network, but all of the fireplaces in school has been locked up to prevent this — and anyway, they'll be detected by the Ministry, they can't exactly go sneaking in if the Ministry already knows they're there. There's always brooms, but again, that takes forever... Holly could enlarge Vivien, who's sitting in her pocket. Hm.

       "Right, well... One of us has to go and find Umbridge and — and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office..." Hermione's brows furrow. "They could tell her — I don't know — that Peeves is up to something awful as usual..."

       "No," says Holly, shaking her head. "We've got a ghost." Everyone but Harry looks at her in surprise, and she ignores it, turning to Susannah. "Want to destroy a hallway?"

       Susannah eagerly nods.

       "It's a long story — but Susannah can wreck a hallway," says Holly. "Someone has to go with her, though, to show where to go — and to tell Umbridge about it."

       "I'll do it," says Ron.

       Holly nods, and takes off her necklace. "You'll need this to see her," she tells him, and he eyes it oddly. She rolls her eyes. "Just put it in your pocket, hold onto the diamond when you want to see her. She's weird, just to let you know — but keep the necklace safe, will you?"

       Ron nods. Holly smiles at him.

       She doesn't want to give up the necklace, but this is more important. She'll get it back, she know she will. She lost it once and she got it back, the same will happen again. She can't let a little worry get in the way of this.

       "OK," says Hermione. "Now, we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin's bound to go and tip her off..."

       Holly frowns at Hermione.

       "You know what I mean," says Hermione.

       Holly still frowns.

       "You don't have to force entry, anyway," says Holly, crossing her arms. "I'm coming — and it'll open for me... But just in case they see me going into her office and she's clearly not in there... It might be easier if the hallway's cleared, so no one sees?"

       "Luna and I can stand at either side of the corridor," says Ginny. "Warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas... Fred and George were planning to do it before they left."

       "OK," says Hermione, nodding. "Well then, Harry — you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak, and we'll sneak into the office behind Holly and you can talk to Sirius—"

       "He's not there, Hermione!"

       "I mean, you can—can check whether Sirius is at home or not while me and Holly keep watch," says Hermione. Holly nods. "Lee's already proved the window's a weak spot, sending those nifflers through it."

       "I..." Harry pauses, and then he nods. "OK, thanks."

       "Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," says Hermione. She breathes a sigh of relief, thankful Harry's actually agreeing to this. "Not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around."

       Holly gives Hermione a look.

       "Five minutes'll be enough," says Harry. "C'mon, let's go."

       "Now?" says Hermione.

       "Of course now!" says Harry, his anger growing. Which makes complete sense. "What did you think, we're going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!"

       Holly frowns. "So we stop arguing and get moving then, yeah?"

       Susannah must have gone to grab the Invisibility Cloak, because it appears out of nowhere mid-air, and gets chucked onto Harry's shoulder.

       And they disband; Ron making his way to the other side of the school, to find Umbridge and keep her distracted, Ginny and Luna taking another route as to not raise suspicion, and Holly with Harry and Hermione, hidden under the Invisibility Cloak. She walks quickly, trying to manoeuvre the two through the school without hitting crowds or groups of students, who would obviously question why they were getting pushed to the side by something that supposedly isn't there.

       The hallway is seemingly empty by the time Holly passes Ginny, who smiles softly at her. Harry and Hermione are behind Holly, who picks up her pace to get to Umbridge's door. She stops when she gets there, knocking twice on the door and, pretending she actually wants to speak to Umbridge, politely saying, "Um, Professor, can I speak to you? It's Holly..."

       The door unlocks.

       "There we go," says Holly, under her breath.

       She steps inside, waiting for two sets of footsteps to do the same before closing the door behind them.

       They pull of the cloak the instant the door clicks shut, and Harry darts towards the fireplace, grabbing a handful of Floo Powder and shouting, "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!" before shoving his face into the fire.

       "He had a vision, then?" asks Holly, looking towards Hermione.

       Hermione nods. "Just like at Christmas," she explains, and Holly frowns at the back of Harry's head. Her heart's still beating like a racehorse on a track. "Um, Holly — when I said earlier, about Slytherins, and the Inquisitorial Squad — I didn't mean it like that. Not how you thought, but — I'm sorry if you thought it was anything bad."

       "I don't blame you," says Holly, shrugging her shoulders. "They're not nice to you especially. It's complicated with them — I don't think they mean it, they just believe what their parents have told them — but still. I can't blame you for thinking like that, and I'm sorry for how they treat you, Pansy especially."

       Hermione smiles softly at her.

       But the door bursts open before Holly can say anything else, try to explain what her friends are like, the whole thing with how they hate Gryffindors. Holly stops dead, freezing completely as Umbridge appears out of nowhere, marching towards Harry.

       Millicent grabs Hermione, prying her wand from her hands. Holly, for a second, thinks one of her friends are going to grab her, but she sees Millicent nod at her, and mouth, "You did it."

       You did it? What did she do?

       Do they think she planned this, so they can gather information?

       What is going on?

       "You think that after two nifflers I was going to let one more foul, scavenging little creature enter my office without knowledge? I had Stealth Sensoring Spells placed all around my doorway after the last one got in, you foolish boy. Take his wand," says Umbridge. She looks towards Holly, who's still looking around in surprise. "Lippincott. Take his wand."

       Holly, for a second, forgets she's in Hogwarts and instead, back at Durmstrang. She nods and takes Harry's wand from his pocket, deciding it's better that she has it than one of her friends. Millicent, upon Umbridge's request, hands Hermione's wand to Holly, as does everyone else on the Inquisitorial Squad, when they walk into Umbridge's office holding onto her other friends. Holly leaves on a pile on the desk, and stands to the side. She's still got her wand — she can defend herself, she know she can. She can defend them from Umbridge if need be. She can and she will.

       Draco goes to get Snape, taking Harry's wand with him. Holly keeps on looking at Harry, trying to reassure him. She's going to do what's right.

       "Ah, Professor Snape," says Umbridge, an ugly smile spreading across her face. She stands up, and walks towards him. "Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."

       "You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter," says Snape. Holly breathes a sigh of relief. Everything's going to work out, she tells herself. Everything will be fine, it will it will. "Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient."

       "You can make some more, can't you?" says Umbridge.

       "Certainly. It takes a full moon cycle to mature," says Snape, and Holly hides a smirk. "So I should have it ready for you in around a month."

       "A month? A month?" says Umbridge, her face beginning to turn red in anger. She deserves this. Holly wishes she saw this sort of thing happen to Karkaroff. God, could you imagine? She's trying not to smile, just because of that thought. "But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!"

       "Really?" says Snape. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules."

       Holly can see the steam coming out of Umbridge's ears.

       "I wish to interrogate him!" shouts Umbridge. Holly sees Susannah appear in the corner of the room, pulling faces at Umbridge. She missed this. "I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell me the truth!"

       "I have already told you that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum," says Snape. "Unless you wish to poison Potter — and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did — I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling..."

       There's a slight pause. Holly can see the amount of anger festering inside Umbridge's body, until she explodes, shrieking, "You are on probation! You are being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!"

       Snape bows and he begins to leave the office. Holly bitterly hopes that he's going to leave and let the Order know about this... He can just leave them in this office, can he? When he knows full-well that a group of children might be in trouble?

       "He's got Padfoot!" says Harry. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

       Holly keeps on looking at Snape, trying to will the universe into making him believe Harry, making him walk back to his office and alerting the rest of the Order. Please help please help, we should've left minutes ago, what if Sirius is already hurt?

       "Padfoot?" says Umbridge. "What is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?"

       Holly can see the desperation on Harry's face. She needs to get him out.

       "I have no idea," says Snape. "Potter, when I want nonsense shouted at me I shall give you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe, loosen your hold a little, if Longbottom suffocates it will mean a lot of tedious paperwork, and I am afraid I shall have to mention it on your reference if ever you apply for a job."

       The door closes behind Snape.

       Umbridge's chest moves up and down in anger. She's fuming, Holly can tell. But they need to get out — Sirius is in danger and Harry needs to rescue him. Holly has her wand, but she needs some way to get them out. Maybe she can Stun Umbridge, she'd deserve that too. Yeah, she can Stun Umbridge, and Confund her friends for long enough that her other friends can grab their wands and get out of here, too. Yeah, that sounds good... She can do this...

       "Very well," says Umbridge, her voice growing cold. Holly can feel the last of the warmth leave the room; the hot air produced from her friends trying to break free goes completely. "I am left with no alternative... This is more than a matter of school discipline... This is an issue of Ministry security... Yes... yes..."

       Holly's heart stops.

       "You are forcing me, Potter... I do not want to, but sometimes circumstances justify the use... I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice..."

       Please don't say it, please please please—

       "The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue."

       Holly, without thinking, grabs her wand from out of her pocket and darts in front of Harry, raising her wand at Umbridge. She can see the shock on the evil fiend's face, but Holly thinks of Karkaroff, thinks of the old Dark Arts professor. She thinks of that last detention, when the nasty warlock looked at her and asked, "Do you not have the stomach for this, Miss Lippincott?"

       And she does. Holly, whether she likes it or not, has the stomach for this. And she is not letting that go to waste, not now, not ever.

       "You've never used Crucio before, have you?" says Holly, ignoring her cousin's confused protests. Her eyes don't move from Umbridge's, but she sees the teacher's lips move a little, about to argue back. Holly beats her to it. "You've been lying about your father for years, haven't you? He wasn't high up, he was a cleaner, right?" Umbridge squeaks, about to protest. "Or, better yet — you lied and pretended you had nothing to do with the Dementor attack in the summer—"

       "It was you?" says Harry. "You sent the dementors after me?"

       "Somebody had to act," says Umbridge. She looks away from Holly and instead at Harry, but Holly's gaze does not shift. Her eyes remain on Umbridge, as unpleasant as it is. "They were all bleating about silencing you somehow — discrediting you — but I was the one who actually did something about it... Only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter?" She looks at Holly. "Move, Lippincott."

        "I wasn't finished," says Holly, sneering. She's been waiting a long time to do this — she can see Karkaroff and the Dark Arts professor in Umbridge. She isn't just standing up to Umbridge, she's standing up to all three. Finally. "You won't be able to curse him, I can tell. You haven't got the stomach for it, but I do — so you better back off from my boyfriend before I use it on you."

       "What?" says Draco. 

       Umbridge looks at Holly in shock.

       "You—You treacherous little—"

       "Treacherous would mean I was on your side in the first place," says Holly, her eyes still on Umbridge's. The rest of her friends are making noises of protest now. She tries to ignore it. "There is a secret weapon, Dumbledore helped with it and as long as you let my friends go, I'll show you it."

       Vivien's in her pocket. Holly can just enlarge her, it'll be fine. She can do this.

       "A secret weapon?" says Umbridge, her eyes bulging. "You have been developing some method of resistance?" Holly thinks back to those Star Wars films her dad's obsessed with. Hell yes. "A weapon you could use against the Ministry? On Professor Dumbledore's orders, of course?"

       Holly nods.

       "What kind of weapon is it?" asks Umbridge.

       Holly gives her a look. "It wouldn't exactly be a secret weapon if we knew," she says. She loves this. This is amazing. "Dumbledore always changed our memories afterwards so we couldn't remember. But we know where it is. And I can take you there, and you can take it to the Ministry or whatever — as long as you let my friends go."

       "Well, go on, then," says Umbridge.

       Holly looks to her own group of friends. Pansy frowns at her, chewing on her lip. Draco, on the other hand, looks like he's been betrayed, and she supposes, from his perspective, he has been.

       "I'm not showing them," says Holly, nodding towards her friends.

       "It is not for you to set conditions," says Umbridge.

       Holly turns back to her, and gives her the nastiest look she can muster — the sort of the look she wished she could have used on her old Dark Arts professor. "Do you want to see the secret weapon or not?" she snaps.

       "I—I do!"

       "Well, then," says Holly.

       "All right," says Umbridge, her voice shifting back to that dreadful sickly-sweet tone. Holly grimaces at her, her lips curved in disgust. "Let's make it just you and me... and we'll take Potter too, shall we? Get up, now—"

       "Professor," says Draco, moving forwards. "Professor Umbridge, I think some of the squad should come with you to look after—"

       "I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage two wandless teenagers alone?" says Umbridge. Holly looks down at the wand in her hand, a little confused, but before she can react, Umbridge disarms her. Holly's stomach drops. Well now, she is fucked. "In any case, it does not sound as though this weapon is something that schoolchildren should see. You will remain here until I return and make sure none of these escape."

       "All right," says Draco.

       Holly looks at her cousin, and he looks back at her, an obvious hurt look painted across his face. Her stomach sinks. She doesn't want him to hate her. He can be a prat sometimes, but she doesn't want him to hate her. She mouths to him, "I'm sorry," finally finding the opportunity to do so, but he just grimaces back at her.

       "And you two can go ahead of me and show me the way," says Umbridge, pointing her wand at Holly and Harry. Holly's heart is beating faster again. Her only idea was to use Vivien, without her wand she can't enlarge her... "Lead on..."

       Maybe there are werewolves nearby, or maybe vampires, or some sort of creature that Holly can lure out of the forest. Maybe she can use her wit and charm to persuade them into attacking Umbridge. It won't be an issue, surely, if Umbridge dies? Holly thinks it would be a good thing, perhaps. And yeah, she'll try to just get her injured...

       Maybe she could get Umbridge to go into the lake. The mermaids love Slytherins, especially since their last offering — "Please don't kill us in our sleep, have some pretty things and exotic fish" — was the other day. Holly's seen them before, maybe she can smile and bat her lashes and ask for them to pull her awful teacher to the depths of the lake?

       "It's hidden in Hagrid's hut, is it?" says Umbridge, as they pass it. Holly's leading the way, even though she has no idea whatsoever what she's doing. She's been going well this far, maybe something will work out well for her. "Oh of course not, he would've set it off!" she adds, as they walk past his hut. "Yes, he would have done, the great half-breed oaf..."

       Holly feels something a weight appear in her pocket; she glances down, and sees that Susannah's placed her wand in there. She grins.

       "Then... where is it?" says Umbridge.

       "In the forest," says Holly, beaming. The plan's back the plan's back. "Obviously, it had to be somewhere that students weren't going to find it accidentally."

       "Of course..." says Umbridge, nodding eagerly. Holly exchanges a look with Harry, who seems to have no idea what's going on. She smiles at him, trying to reassure him. "Very well, then... you two stay ahead of me."

       "Can we have your wand, then, if we're going first?"

       "No point asking," says Holly, strolling into the Forbidden Forest. "She wants us dead, doesn't she? May as well get a head start, we can get the weapon ready whilst she tiptoes in."

       Harry looks at Holly oddly. She puts her hand in her pocket, once she's ahead enough that Umbridge won't notice, and Vivien flies in the air, as Holly gets out her wand. She waits a minute until Vivien's settled on a large root of a tree before she points her wand at the dragon, and says, "Engorgio!"

       And, like that, Vivien is no longer the tiny little dragon Holly's been used to having in her pocket throughout the day. Instead, Vivien is the same size as the dragon from the first task of the tournament; she heaves out a breath and the grass below turns black, charred from the fire. Vivien, delighted by this, jumps into the air, flying up towards the treetops, settling on a rather strong branch.

       "It's here, Professor—!"

       An arrow whistles through the air.

       Holly turns to Harry, her eyes widening. "Oh, no."

       The ground she's standing on begins to shake. Holly's brain begins to turn into a frenzy, trying to find a way out — how to get Harry out of here before they waste anymore time. If Sirius is in danger, they can't be wasting time here, can they? He could be bleeding out on the Ministry floor. They need to hurry up, they can't stay here and waste more time.

       Centaurs appear, raising their bows at the three wizards. Holly doesn't have to think twice to know that this is going to waste a great deal of time, something that they do not have much of right now. They need to be moving!

       "Who are you?"

       Umbridge whimpers.

       "I asked you who you are, human," says the centaur.

       "I am Dolores Umbridge!" declares Umbridge finally, her lip quivering in fear. "Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic and Headmistress and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts!"

       "You are from the Ministry of Magic?" says the centaur.

       From the distasteful looks on the other cenaturs' faces, Holly figures that this isn't a good thing. But, of course, Umbridge turns her head up, her nose pointing towards the highest trees. Holly keeps on looking at her teacher, trying to will the universe to make her say something downright offensive so that the centaurs will drag her away. As soon as Umbridge is gone, they can get going. She hopes the others can get out of the office, but what if they can't? Holly's already starting to accept that she may have to go to this Ministry with just Harry — but that should be enough. They can still do this. They can and they will, no matter the obstacle.

       "That's right!" says Umbridge, trying to establish herself as the most powerful one here. Holly does not agree, not in the slightest. "So be very careful! By the laws laid down by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, any attack by half-breeds such as yourselves on a human—"

       "What did you call us?"

       Holly tries to hide her excitement. Kill her kill her, we have places to be!

       "What are you doing in our forest?" asks another centaur. The ground begins to shake again, with the amount of hooves slamming into the soil. "Why are you here?"

       "Your forest?" says Umbridge, trying to remain superior, in spite of her obvious fear. "I would remind you that you live here only because the Ministry of Magic permits you certain areas of land—"

       Another arrow is sent whistling through the air, grazing the top of Umbridge's hair.

       "Whose forest is it now, human?" says a centaur.

       Holly looks at the sky, how it's beginning to fade to a darker blue. She's starting to feel restless. They need to go as soon as possible. Who knows what's happening to Sirius?

       "Filthy half-breeds! Beasts! Uncontrolled animals!"" screams Umbridge, her face going a deep shade of pink. Holly can't help but get excited. The more she talks, the quicker the centaurs are going to get angry and drag her away. They can leave soon, they're almost there... "Incarcerous!"

       Ropes appear out of nowhere, tying up one of the centaurs. The thick bands grab and snake around the centaur's torso, restraining his arms. He lets out a roar-like noise that sounds something in-between a horse neighing and a battle cry, and like that, the rest of the centaurs begin to stamp their own hooves again.

       Harry grabs a hold of Holly, pulling both of them to the ground. She hears hundreds of hooves hit the ground around them, miraculously dodging both her and Harry. In the distance she thinks she can hear Umbridge screaming out for help, and if Holly's face wasn't pressed to the ground, she would smile like all of the stars shone for her.

       "Now!"

       Holly's pulled back up by a centaur. She is not enjoying any of this. Those weird Saturday morning cartoons were wrong when they said centaurs were happy magical creatures. They are mean.

       "And these?"

       "They are young," says another. "We do not attack foals."

        "They brought her here, Ronan," says another centaur, the one gripping onto Harry's arms. Holly hates every second of this. She just wants to help find Sirius. "And they are not so young... He is nearing manhood, this one..."

       Holly's questioning that later on.

       "We didn't mean any harm," says Holly, trying her best to look like the scary Slytherin a lot of other students think she is, but instead, a poor, helpless little thing that needs all the help in the world. A real Daisy Buchanan, in her mother's words. "Honestly, we didn't — we are both truly sorry that we disturbed you, and of course we understand that this was disrespectful and we will never do the same in the future. But, my friend's godfather could be dying and we need to save him, and we will be incredibly grateful if you let us leave."

       She tries to look as sincere as possible. She is being sincere.

       The centaur that had seized her lets go, and the same goes for the one holding onto Harry. The one that seems to be the leader gives them a nasty look but nods, and says, "There will be consequences if you do not stick to your promise, human."

       "Of course," says Holly, and she nods.

       The centaurs leave. She glances down, and realises that a couple must've gotten hurt when Umbridge tried to fight back, because now her robes are dotted with blood. Holly waits until the last one is out of sight until she turns to Harry, her brows furrowing.

       "We need to get your wand — there isn't enough time to go back to the castle, maybe I can summon it from here — but then we need a way to get to the Ministry — there isn't enough time to get the others, which isn't the best, but—" He nods, and she takes hold of her wand, raising it into the air. "Accio Harry's wand!"

       It takes less than a second for the wand to fly into her free hand.

       Harry frowns. "That was quick—?"

       "So — got any ideas on how to get to London?"

       Holly turns, finding the group of D.A. members walking towards them. Most of them are covered in blood, and she frowns.

       "How did you get away?" says Harry.

       "Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx," says Ron, looking a little tired, which makes complete sense. But Holly knows in her mind, now is not the time to be overwhelmed by tiredness. They have things to do. He hands the necklace back to Holly, and she smiles, as she puts it back on. "But Ginny was the best, she got Malfoy — Bat-Bogey Hex — it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Anyway, we saw you heading into the forest out of the window and followed. What've you done with Umbridge?"

       "She got carried away," says Harry. "By a herd of centaurs."

       Ginny looks amazed. "And they left you behind?"

       "Holly apologised and talked them out of taking us," says Harry.

       Holly grins. She's so going to be the British Youth rep now.

       The rest of them jump into an argument about who's going and who's not. Holly distances herself from them for a minute, trying to ready herself for whatever's going to come. If Voldemort is behind this, then the Death Eaters will obviously be there, too. Holly tries her best to accept this, knowing that if her step-father's there, she can't stop moving, she can't stop because she knows Atticus is different to the rest of them. She isn't choosing easy again, if it means she has to fight against her step-father, even if she knows he doesn't even want to. She's choosing right, and that is that.

       "There are other ways of flying than with broomsticks," says Luna. Holly agrees with this, but still — how can they find any other means of transportation? The quickest thing is to grab some broomsticks, if they get a detention tomorrow for stealing her cousin's, then so be it. But they need to get a move on.

       "I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?"

       "The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly," says Luna, and Holly's back to having no idea whatsoever as to what Luna Lovegood is talking about. Holly likes to think she has a pretty good knowledge of magical creatures — she had to, for the tournament — but she's never heard of that before. "But they can, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for."

       Harry turns around. Holly pulls a look of confusion, and she exchanges a glance with Ron, who also seems to be clueless. "What, thestrals?" says Holly. She sees Harry reach his hand out, seemingly petting air. So she supposes she's correct.

       "How many?" asks Ron.

       "Just two," says Harry. 

       "Well, we need four," says Hermione.

       "I'm going on Vivien," says Holly, frowning in the general direction of where the thestrals seem to be standing. Beside her, Vivien makes a noise, to indicate, yeah, she is!

      "So we need three," says Hermione.

       "Four, Hermione," says Ginny.

       "I think there are six of us, actually, that will need thestrals," says Luna, a genuine frown on her face. She counts the rest of them, skipping Holly (the dragon moving it's tail in a protective manner around her is enough to declare, Holly is not going on a thestral) as she takes note of the others.

       "Don't be stupid, we can't all go!" says Harry. He turns to Neville, Ginny, and Luna, a grimace on his face. "Look, you three — you're not involved in this, you're not—"

       And the three begin to protest again. For a second Holly's a little honoured — she's involved in this! — but then she looks up at the sky again, at the darkening blue.

       "We need to go!" says Holly. "We don't have time to argue, come on!"

       "It's your choice," says Harry finally to the other three. "But unless we can find more thestrals you're not going to be able—"

       "Oh, more of them will," says Ginny, with a confident look on her face. "Because in case you hadn't noticed, you and Holly are both covered in blood, and we know Hagrid lures thestrals with raw meat, so that's probably why these two turned up in the first place..."

       "OK, then," says Harry. "Ron and I will take these two and go ahead, and Holly and Hermione can stay here with you three and Holly'll attract more thestrals—"

       "Who, out of us, can perform Crucatius?" says Holly, giving Harry the nastiest look she can possibly give. "Or any of the Unforgiveable Curses, for that matter?"

       "You," he says.

       "And who else uses those curses?" says Holly, her eyes narrowing.

       "Death Eaters," he says.

       "Well, then, I'm not staying behind—"

       "There's no need," says Luna. "Look, here come more now... You two must really smell..."

       Harry turns around, where (Holly supposes) he sees a few more thestrals walk into sight. Holly gives Vivien a pat on the head before she walks to the side of the dragon, who crouches down and allows Holly to sit on her. Vivien stands back up, and Holly already feels a little bit uneasy about this. Eugene will not be impressed when she tells him, oh, so I flew... on a dragon... without any safety measures...

       She sees the others trying to get onto the thestrals, and Holly checks that her wand's securely in her pocket before she lightly kicks the side of Vivien's torso, urging her to kick off from the ground. Holly had a couple of horse-riding lessons on holiday once, when she was like eight, and she hopes riding a dragon is the same as that. Maybe there's a little more fire with this one, but still.

       "To the Ministry," she hears someone say, and she touches the side of Vivien again with her foot, finally allowing her to start flying properly. Holly narrows her eyes, looks at the sky around her, the lake below her, and she readies herself for whatever's to come. But you know what? It's going to be fine, she knows it will be. Because from now on, she's done. She's no longer pretending she hates Harry, or Hermione, or Ron, or anyone else she's befriended secretly since joining Hogwarts. She's done with it.

       Holly's got some brand new moves.

       (Thank God!)

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this is 8016 words long please appreciate this it took so long to do the indents