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EIGHT PANSY IS NOT PLEASED

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       THE NEXT FEW WEEKS hurtle past; one minute, Holly's walking out of her first Potions lesson of the year, and the next, she's passing wizards and witches in the Ministry of Magic, making her way to an empty fireplace to travel back to school. Her dad always used to say that time speeds up the older you are, and Holly wonders if this has something to do with it. That, and the fact that the start of the school year always bolts past. You're having your first lesson of the year, you blink, and you're rushing back to school so you can still go to Hogsmeade.

       Which is exactly what Holly's doing. The Wizengamot trial lasted from nine to eleven that morning — normally they're in the weekdays, but since there's been an influx of terror, the trials are done as quickly as possible, to lock up as many Death Eaters as possible — and now it's ten past eleven. Normally it takes a few minutes to get back to school, so hopefully things will work out and she'll be back for half-eleven, when she told Harry she'd meet him.

       So she makes her way through the Ministry of Magic, which is oddly busy for the weekend, thanks to the amount of Death Eaters lurking in the shadows. Holly passes a number of signs warning passers-by of numerous 'dark' creatures: one of them alerts the masses about the dangers of werewolves, plastering a photograph of Fenrir Greyback right in the middle. For a minute she thinks of Professor Lupin, the guy that had been the Defence teacher the year before she started at Hogwarts, and she feels like the poster's incredibly misleading.

       There are also pamphlets everywhere, in little stands like you'd see in hotel receptions. It's odd, she thinks, when she forgets the time and stops walking for a minute to take a look. Next to a leaflet advertising some wizarding tourist attraction in St. Ives, there's a leaflet about the most dangerous Death Eaters, dead and alive. So obviously Holly takes one of them, opening the thing and reading it as she walks towards the fireplaces.

       She sees the section on her mother, and skims it quickly. Found dead in her cell last Christmas... Joined the Death Eaters at sixteen... Daughter is Holliday Lippincott, known for having close ties with the Boy Who Lived—

       Holly stops, frowns, and puts the leaflet in the nearest bin.

       This is so stupid, isn't it? A war is going on, but the Ministry — the government — just has to quickly mention that Holly's going out with Harry. She thinks it's ridiculous. It's like those old World War Two propaganda reels quickly switching the topic from how to survive in the fucking Blitz to oh, you guys, I heard that these two are going out! It's laughable... It's also incredibly worrying, because it makes Holly wonder how seriously they're taking a lot of this.

       Like the thing with Karkaroff. He was killed minutes after his trial, by a Death Eater. But the Ministry stopped investigating who killed him almost instantaneously. And she gets it's because they're busy with all of these werewolves inspired by Greyback and Death Eaters targeting muggleborns, but still. If she were to die, right now, and they struggled to find the killer, would they just move on? It freaks her out.

       Holly weaves her way through the crowds of witches and wizards making their way to and from the Ministry, finally approaching one of the fireplaces to get back to Hogwarts. She grabs a handful of Floo Powder and jumps into the green flames, loudly exclaiming, "Dumbledore's office, Hogwarts!"

       She blinks; the sleek tiles decorating the Ministry's walls disappear, and instead, she's looking at walls covered with old portraits, along with cabinets filled to the brim with magical instruments. She remembers the night Cedric died, and how she looked at all of the different objects inside the glass cabinets. They reminded her of the scientific instruments from the Renaissance era, what with the markings in the gold, silver, and bronze.

      "Hello, Holly," says Dumbledore, who smiles politely at her. Holly doesn't think she's ever spoken to him privately. The closest she's been was when he visited her home, the summer before fourth year, but her dad largely spoke on her behalf, she just sat with them in the kitchen and piped in when she needed to. So this feels strange. "I liked the cake you left, I'm rather fond of strawberry jam."

       "Me too," says Holly hesitantly, not quite sure what to respond with. She does like strawberry jam, but she just feels this is a little odd. She's talking to her headteacher about strawberry jam. What on earth? "I'm glad you liked the cake... I've been trying to improve the Slytherin Quidditch team's reputation amongst the students, so we had a cake stall in our common room to fundraise new brooms for every team, and they were loads left over, so we gave them out for free to the other houses later on."

       "That's thoughtful of you," says Dumbledore.

       Holly feels very uncomfortable and very weird. 

       "Um, I best be off," says Holly, glancing at the numerous clocks around the room. In three minutes she'll be late to meeting Harry. "I bet you've got work to do, and I told Harry I'd meet him at half-past..."

      "Ah, yes," says Dumbledore, and he smiles at her still, looking at her through his half-moon glasses. Holly tries her best to smile politely — gotta stay on his good side if she wants to be head girl next year — but she feels a little weirded out. She wants to go. "I had my first lesson with Harry the other day — he said he will tell you what happened, along with Miss Granger and Mr Weasley."

       Holly nods. This is gonna be a fun date, talking about saving the damned world.

       "Well, I've been a little busy, what with Quidditch," says Holly. "And the Wizengamot — especially when they're in the week, it takes a while catching up on lessons I've missed..."

       Dumbledore nods. "I suppose, if you know about the contents of the lessons, you may end up helping Harry in the future," he says. Holly opens her mouth to ask what he means, but before she can question it, he continues, "I shall let you get on. Enjoy Hogsmeade."

       Holly looks at him in confusion for a minute, dumb-founded. She doesn't know how to take that. You may end up helping Harry in the future. Help him with what? Her immediate reaction to the thought of this is, my mother would not allow that, and instantly her stomach fills with dread. She leaves Dumbledore's office, feeling nervous of something she doesn't even know about.

      She makes her way through the school towards the entrance, trying to take her mind off of what Dumbledore had said. She should be walking to meet Harry feeling excited, not dreading someone's ambiguous message! She remembers earlier that week, when Harry took her to the side during lunch and asked if they could go to Hogsmeade together.

      "Like, on a date?" she had asked, feeling hopeful.

       "Well, yeah," he had replied. "If that's OK..."

       "Of course it is!" she had said, grinning brightly as he went off on a tangent about how they haven't been able to go together since now. It's special for them. They can actually walk around together without Holly being scared shitless. And they can go to one of the places on the actual high street, not some dodgy pub down the beaten track.

       Essentially, this is important for both of them. It's their first real date, basically, and although Holly's excited, she's also weirdly nervous. Not so much about what they're doing, because she's fine with whatever, but her main issue is the same issue she has every single time she meets them in Hogsmeade — what is she meant to wear?

       Now, it's known by now that Holly Lippincott loves to look presentable and well-dressed at all times. It's October now, so obviously the black jumpers are back in circulation, along with her boots and dark-wash jeans. She's chosen black jeans and a cream jumper under a green coat, figuring she can be a little casual considering her boyfriend wears jeans and the same two t-shirts and hoodies. It's like he wants her to go and buy him clothes... And by this she means she'll completely get him clothes that she thinks would look good on him, most likely making him look like Draco. (She believes an affinity for suits is something both she and Draco have inherited somehow.)

       She had gotten changed back at the Ministry, wanting to get out of the Wizengamot robes as quickly as possible. Thankfully they've let her keep her robes at the Ministry in a locker room with the other witches a part of the Wizengamot, meaning she doesn't have to carry the robes around when she goes into Hogsmeade... Or make a detour and dump the robes back in her dorm room, which would make her even later than she already is.

       "Sorry I'm late!" she says as she walks up to Harry, quickly kissing him on the cheek. "I was running a little late after the Wizengamot, and then I spoke to Dumbledore..."

       "It's fine," says Harry, and the two start to walk up to McGonagall, who's checking permission slips. They hand them over and walk out of school, along the path to Hogsmeade. "You don't have to be back for a certain time, right?"

       "No," says Holly. She raises an eyebrow. "Why? Planning something?"

       "I was just checking in case you had Quidditch practice," says Harry. Holly nods. She's had practice with her team every day this week, they've got the weekend off. "Don't you think it's going to be weird the first match, because we're playing each other?"

       "It's only weird if we make it weird," says Holly, shrugging. They walk past a trio of Slytherins, who glance over at her and turn back to each other, whispering. Her grip around Harry's hand tightens. "I mean, I love Quidditch and everything, but at the end of the day, it's just a game. I really don't want to argue over it, because one of us is going to have to lose."

       Harry agrees, and they finally reach the end of the path leading from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, an old wooden sign declaring, Welcome to Hogsmeade, a historic wizarding town. In her peripheral vision she sees him glance over at her, just as another group of students look over at the two and start whispering.

       "Well, erm," says Harry. "Three Broomsticks?"

       "Sounds good," says Holly, and she nods. She glances at him, as she overhears someone else talking about them, and she nudges him playfully. "Could you imagine if we went to Madam Puddifoots or something? That would be tragic."

       Harry lets out a laugh. Holly grins back at him, the two making their way into The Three Broomsticks. They stop, and stand to the side of the bar. She begins looking around for a table, preferably out of the way so he can tell her what's going on with Dumbledore.

       "I'll order us Butterbeer and you find a table?" he suggests.

       "Uh — yeah, OK," says Holly, turning to the side to look around the pub. She gives Harry a smile (is it bad she feels genuinely giddy he's buying her a drink?) before she walks off, darting towards a booth in the corner. Madam Rosmerta gives her a smile as she finishes clearing up the table, and Holly takes a seat.

       She keeps on thinking back to what Dumbledore said. She can't wait until Harry gets to the table, because this is confusing her. Hopefully something will make sense once he says what the lesson was actually about.

       Harry sits down next to her, carrying the two glasses of Butterbeer. Holly smiles at him, taking a sip out of one of them. "So," says Harry. "You were right about the lessons."

       "I was?" asks Holly.

       He nods. "Yeah, Dumbledore told me about Voldemort's family," says Harry. Holly raises her eyebrows, and he looks around, wary to speak too loudly. He stands up and sits on the same side of the booth she's sitting at, so he can talk quietly without anyone else overhearing.

       And then Harry begins to explain. How Voldemort's grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, was sent to prison along with his son and Voldemort's uncle, Morfin. How the Gaunts were descendants of Salazar Slytherin (which Holly knew but still, the next part's the interesting bit) and because of this, they had a couple heirlooms and they were cherished by Marvolo. How Voldemort's mother, a woman called Merope, was madly in love with Tom Riddle, a good-looking muggle from the town they lived in.

       "Dumbledore says she most likely used a love potion to make Tom Riddle fall in love with her," says Harry, sitting so close to Holly that she can feel his breath on her neck. "And then they got married and cleared off... Dumbledore doesn't know what happened afterwards, but a few months later, Tom Riddle returned to Little Hangleton saying he had been hoodwinked."

       "Hoodwinked?" says Holly, pulling a face.

       "Dumbledore's words, not mine," says Harry.

       "Right," says Holly, frowning. "But if he left a few months in — did he leave when she was pregnant with Voldemort?" That's a weird thought.

       Harry nods. "Dumbledore said she might've stopped giving him the love potion, because she thought he'd love her regardless, or he'd stay because she was pregnant," he explains. Holly's brows furrow. "That's all he told me."

       "That's still a lot," says Holly. "And a good start." Harry nods in agreement, and Holly continues to frown as she thinks. "I mean, it's disgusting, but hopefully if you know all of this about him you can find something to exploit... Voldemort's got to have some weakness."

       Harry nods. "I hope so."

       "I know so," says Holly, giving him a look.

       "Dumbledore said this has something to do with the prophecy, that's why he was telling me," says Harry. Holly finds that rather odd. Because yeah, that makes some sense, but is no one seeing this the way she is? You find your opponent's weakness and you use it to your advantage. "But you can't tell anyone. Dumbledore says I can only tell you, Ron, and Hermione."

       Holly nods. "My lips are sealed."

       "So what did he say to you earlier?" asks Harry.

       "He likes strawberry jam," says Holly. Harry looks at her oddly, and she smiles. "I know... Oh, and he said something about how I might help you in the future?"

       "Help with Voldemort?" says Harry.

       Holly shrugs. "I'm guessing that's what he meant."

       And, of course, this is when she sees Susannah appear, floating above the table next to him, a grin plastered across her face. "You could help him have children," says Susannah, lying on her back mid-air, examining the blood eternally on her fingernails. "Or you know, in case he dies, it might be a good idea to sleep with him. Could you imagine how sad it would be if he died a virgin? C'mon, Hol."

       "Susannah," she hisses, glaring at the ghost.

       "What's she—?"

       "You don't want to know," says Holly, looking at him gravely. Susannah barks out a laugh, and Holly gives him a look. "Well, you might — but not yet, not at school, that's gross."

       "What?" he says. She doesn't look at him, because she's become very incredibly aware how close they actually are, and she keeps on thinking about that. To the side she can see Susannah, who looks very proud at herself for making things worse for Holly... And then, of course, Holly's luck runs out completely and the realisation seems to hit Harry. "Oh."

       "Yeah," she says, shifting in her seat. "Not yet, yeah?"

       "And not at school," he replies.

       Holly nods in agreement. She smiles awkwardly.

       "So this is a fun date," says Holly, pulling a face as she goes to drink more of her Butterbeer. "Voldemort and sex. What else do you need?"

       Harry snorts. Holly smiles.

✧

       PANSY IS NOT PLEASED, as she takes a seat in an empty Transfiguration classroom, the one Montague told her to meet in. For some reason she saw Draco stalking into the one McGonagall normally uses, refusing to tell Pansy why he's lurking around this part of school on the weekend they're allowed to go into Hogsmeade. But Pansy tries to ignore how grumpy he's been acting for the past few weeks, and she waits for Montague to show up.

       "It'll be fine," Holly had told her this morning at breakfast, when Pansy complained about how she's missing Hogsmeade to be tutored. "You getting better grades is more important than Butterbeer."

       "It's still with Montague, though," Pansy had said, pulling a face. The thought makes her want to groan. "I think I'd rather drown myself in Butterbeer than spend time with her."

       Holly had looked at Pansy oddly. "So you hate her?"

       "I hate her," says Pansy. "So, so much."

       Holly continued to look at Pansy oddly, in the sort of inquisitive way that Pansy doesn't look. She has a habit of doing it, of looking at her and hoping she can figure out how her brain works. Like, Pansy loves Holly to pieces, but still. It's a little unnerving, how she can examine her face for a few minutes and just know what she's thinking.

       "Are you sure it's hatred?"

       Pansy had frowned. "What?"

       "You have strong feelings for her," Holly had said, her brows furrowing in thought. "But — don't hate me for this, Pans, I'm just wondering — are you sure it's hatred that you're feeling?"

       And Pansy had frozen at the idea.

✧

       IT'S AROUND HALF-THREE when the two decide to walk back up to school, having spent the last few hours sat in The Three Broomsticks, sitting close enough that people nearby kept on whispering about it. If only they knew that joyous conversation, Holly thinks, knowing full-well she's going to have to mention this to Pansy to complain about the misery that is her life.

       "Ron and Hermione went into Hogsmeade together," says Harry. Ahead of them, Holly can see April and one of her friends walking alongside each other. She frowns and forces herself to look away, ignoring Susannah's grumbles about the girl.

       "Oh," says Holly, nodding. "Um, Harry, do you think they might—?"

       "It's got nothing to do with you, Pippa!" she hears April shout from further on. Holly's eyes narrow in confusion, and as she looks closer, she sees that April's clutching onto something, whilst she argues with her friend.

       "Yeah, Pippa, you fucking bitch," says Susannah, trying her best to speak in an English accent but instead, sounding Australian. Holly gives her a look.

       Ron and Hermione walk out of one shop and catch up to Harry and Holly, who greet them quickly before making their way back as they make a start on the path back up to school. The rain pouring down is made worse by the gusts of wind, and Holly lets go of Harry's hand to shove her hands into her pockets to keep them warm.

       "So Holly knows about the lesson with Dumbledore," says Harry to Ron and Hermione. Holly nods, her eyes narrowed in a measly attempt to keep rain out of her eyes.

       "Strange, isn't it?" says Hermione.

       "Yeah," says Holly, nodding.

       She spots Pippa ahead, attempting to grab the package from April's hand. The package falls onto the ground and April rushes to grab it — but as soon as she gets a hold of the package again, she rises into the air, her arms stretched outwards. Her ginger hair flies around her face, almost hiding her empty expression.

       The four of them freeze. 

       "What the fu—?"

       April lets out a blood-curdling scream, her eyes snapping open. Her friend begins to scream too, panicked, and she jumps to grab April's ankles.

       The four rush forwards to help. Holly draws her wand and utters the levitating spell, moving the package out of the way as Harry, Ron, and Hermione help to pull April back down. She falls to the ground but Harry and Ron manage to catch her. Holly moves forwards to help get Pippa out of the way, who's burst into tears and keeps her arms tightly wrapped around Holly's waist.

       "I'm going for help!" says Harry, and he runs off in the direction of school. Hermione and Ron look at each other, not sure what to do with April, who's thrashing and writhing on the floor. Holly tries her best to comfort Pippa, who must not know April's feelings towards Holly. She supposes, anyway, since if she did, she probably wouldn't be curled up against Holly. Hesitantly, Holly keeps her arms around her.

       Harry returns with Hagrid, who frowns at the sight.

       "Get back!" Hagrid shouts. "Lemme see her!"

       "Something's happened to her!" sobs Pippa, who raises her head from Holly's chest to speak. "I don't know what—"

       Hagrid scoops up April into his arms, running off towards school. Holly looks up at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, not sure what to do with the girl being cradled in her arms.

       "Um," says Hermione, stepping closer. Holly mouths 'Pippa' to her. "Pippa," she adds, and Pippa raises her head again to look at Hermione. "Did it just happen all of a sudden, or—?"

       "It was when that package tore," says Pippa, pointing a shaking finger towards the package. From where Holly's standing, she can see something green glittering inside of it. Ron moves to pick it up, but before he can touch it, Harry pulls him back.

       "Don't touch it!" he exclaims.

       Holly tries to keep Pippa calm, keeping an arm wrapped around her. She exchanges a look with Hermione, both looking at Pippa warily. They aren't too sure what to do with someone sobbing, other than give them a hug.

       "I've seen that before," says Harry, pointing towards the package. "It was on display in Borgin and Burkes ages ago. The label said it was cursed. April must have touched it." Holly feels Pippa starting to shake, and her eyes widen. What's she supposed to do? "How did April get hold of this?"

       "Well, that's why we were arguing. She came back from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks holding it, said it was a surprise for somebody at Hogwarts and she had to deliver it. She looked all funny when she said it..." says Pippa, her eyes beginning to well up with tears again. "Oh no, oh no, I bet she'd been Imperiused and I didn't realise!"

       She burst into tears again, throwing her arms around Holly, who looks startled.

       "She didn't say who'd given it to her, Pippa?" asks Harry.

       Pippa shakes her head, tears smearing across Holly's coat. "No... she wouldn't tell me... and I said she was being stupid and not to take it up to school, but she wouldn't listen and... and then I tried to grab it from her... and — and—" She cuts off, wailing.

       "We'd better get up to school," says Hermione. "We'll be able to find out how she is. Come on..."

       Holly moves to the side to keep an arm around Pippa, as Hermione walks next to them on the way back up to school. She glances over her shoulder, to find Harry carefully wrapping the package inside his scarf to carry it up to school.

       Her stomach's tying into knots. She has a bad feeling about this — out of nowhere someone gets cursed, with something meant for someone at school. This is reminding her of Durmstrang, how everything seemed to be fine and then someone got hurt.

       She hates it.

✧

       PANSY HATES THIS, it makes her feel stupid. According to Montague, it's normal for people to struggle with their N.E.W.T.s, at least at the start. But not everyone is me, Pansy had thought, her brows furrowing as Montague opens the Transfiguration textbook.

       "A lot of this is pretty simple, once you've grasped the principles," says Montague, completely ignoring Pansy's expression. For the past few minutes Pansy has been frowning at Montague, remembering what Holly had suggested earlier. Are you sure it's hatred that you're feeling? Again. She loves her best friend but also, fuck her, she's making Pansy think. "It's just that the principles are a little difficult to get your head around..."

       "Speaking of head," says a voice out of nowhere. Pansy turns to the front of the classroom, where she can see Susannah, Holly's ghostly friend, floating mid-air. She gives her an odd look. "I got bored in the Ministry. I put the necklace on you — yeah, Holly knows, she nodded when I asked..." Susannah grins cheekily. "So anyway. Do you think she's a top or a bottom?"

       "Piss off," she grumbles in response.

       Montague raises an eyebrow. "What?"

       "Not you!" says Pansy. "Someone — else."

       "We're alone," says Montague slowly.

       Pansy begins to panic. "Holly has a ghost, that's who I was talking to—" She cuts herself off, her eyes widening. Oh shit oh shit oh shit! "You can't tell anyone that."

       "She has a ghost?" says Montague, raising an eyebrow. "OK."

       "I'm not lying," says Pansy. Why is she doing this?  She didn't tell Draco, or anyone, any of Holly's secrets last year, and now within seconds she's here like, look, let me tell you everything! "Honest!" And she pulls the necklace out from underneath her jumper, feeling incredibly weird that she's wearing Holly's necklace, and shows it to Flo. "See? Hold the diamond, I'll show you."

       Flo looks at her strangely, and slowly moves closer, grasping onto the diamond hanging from the silver chain. Pansy sincerely hopes Holly won't get pissed off about this, because shit, Pansy needs to prove she was telling Susannah to go away, not Flo.

       She hears Holly's voice in her head again: are you sure it's hatred that you're feeling? Because she's beginning to doubt herself, slowly and surely. She's beginning to doubt herself, in the way she smiles when she sees Flo's light up with excitement, seeing Susannah appear out of nowhere. She's beginning to doubt herself, in the way Flo smiles, like all of the stars in the sky are shining down on her. She's beginning to doubt herself, in the way Flo's hair falls in her face and she absent-mindedly tucks it behind her ear, a cartilage piercing glittering in the classroom's light.

       Pansy feels like her insides are warming. Is this how Holly felt last year? Because Pansy doesn't know if she can stand it — she feels like her heart's swelling, her insides feeling warm, like the sun's finally broke through the clouds constantly in the sky. Because she realises now; she doesn't think she ever hated Flo, she just had such strong feelings towards her, she didn't know what else to make of it.

       Because Pansy doesn't get crushes, not like this. She liked Draco, yeah, but not this much... She thinks she just liked having some attention, she never gets that at home... And even then, he didn't give her much attention, did he? Half the time he was too preoccupied with the Inquisitorial Squad or making the life of Holly's boyfriend worse that he barely gave Pansy the time of day. But Flo...

       Pansy tucks the necklace back into her jumper, trying to take her mind off of Flo, and Flo's pretty face, and Flo's pretty pink lips...

       She needs to tell Holly about this revelation before she goes mad.

✧

       THE FIVE OF THEM stand in McGonagall's office. Holly stands next to Hermione, her arms no longer wrapped around Pippa, who's now curled up on a chair, sobbing.

       "Well?" says McGonagall. "What happened?"

       Pippa begins to explain it again; how April went to the toilets in the Three Broomsticks and returned with the package, acting a little odd, and how she had argued with Pippa about the advisability of agreeing to deliver unknown objects, which of course resulted in Pippa trying to try the package, and April touching the contents. Once she had said this, Pippa broke off into tears.

       "All right," says McGonagall. "Go up to the hospital wing, please, Pippa, and get Madam Pomfrey to give you something for shock."

       Pippa nods, and leaves the office. As soon as the door closes, McGonagall turns to the four remaining, and asks, "What happened when April touched the necklace?"

       "She rose up in the air," says Harry. "And then she began to scream, and collapsed. Professor, can I see Professor Dumbledore, please?"

       "The headmaster is away until Monday, Potter," says McGonagall.

       "Away?" says Harry, sounding angry.

       Holly frowns. Why's he angry?

       "Yes, Potter, away!" says McGonagall. She frowns at Harry, creases appearing in her forehead and emphasising her annoyance. "But anything you have to say about this horrible business can be said to me, I'm sure!"

       There's a pause.

       "I think Draco Malfoy gave April that necklace, Professor—"

       "What?" says Holly, spinning her head around to glare at him.

       "That is a very serious accusation, Potter," says McGonagall, her eyes widened slightly. If she wasn't in the room, Holly would start shouting at her stupid fucking boyfriend right now. "Do you have any proof?"

       "No," says Harry. "But... Well, in the summer, Ron, Hermione, and I saw him acting off in Diagon Alley, so we followed him—" He pauses, looking at Holly. Her eyes are narrowed. "And he went to Borgin and Burkes." Holly stops herself from snapping, Malfoy Manor's practically a Borgin and Burkes showroom, how's that anything suspicious? "We overheard him talking to one of them. He said he had something to fix, but he didn't say what."

       McGonagall looks confused. Holly's glad she doesn't believe him.

       "Malfoy took something to Borgin and Burkes for repair?" says McGonagall.

       "No, Professor," says Harry, frowning. Like it's ridiculous they don't believe him. "He just wanted Borgin to tell him how to mend something at the same time, and I think it was that necklace—"

       McGonagall raises her eyebrows. "You saw Malfoy leaving the shop with a similar package?"

       "No, Professor," says Harry. "He told Borgin to keep it in the shop for him—"

       "But Harry," says Hermione. "Borgin asked him if he wanted to take it with him, and Malfoy said no—"

       Harry snaps, "Because he didn't want to touch it, obviously!"

       "What he actually said was, 'How would I look carrying that down the street?'" says Hermione. Holly crosses her arms. Don't shout don't shout don't shout.

       "Well, he would look a bit of a prat carrying a necklace," says Ron.

       Hermione frowns. "Oh, Ron, it would be all wrapped up, so he wouldn't have to touch it, and quite easy to hide inside a cloak, so nobody would see it! I think whatever he reserved at Borgin and Burkes was noisy or bulky, something he knew would draw attention to him if he carried it down the street," says Hermione. "And in any case, I asked Borgin about the necklace, don't you remember? When I went in to try and find out what Malfoy had asked him to keep, I saw it there. And Borgin just told me the price, he didn't say it was already sold or anything—"

       "Well, you were being really obvious, he realized what you were up to within about five seconds, of course he wasn't going to tell you — anyway, Malfoy could've sent off for it since—"

       "Half of Malfoy Manor's furnished with stuff from Borgin and Burkes," says Holly, giving the three a look. "He was probably trying to fix something in his house — I don't know if you remember, but his dad's in Azkaban for life, and my cousin has been trying to help his mother around the house... What makes you think it was his fault, anyway, just because you stalked him and saw him go into a shop?"

       "Lippincott has a point," says McGonagall, frowning at the other three. Holly's practically fuming now. She feels as if there's steam rising from her ears, she's that angry. "Potter, I appreciate you telling me this, but we cannot point the finger of blame at Mr Malfoy purely because he visited the shop where this necklace might have been purchased. The same is probably true of hundreds of people—"

       "That's what I said," Ron mutters.

       "— and in any case, we have put stringent security measures in place this year. I do not believe that necklace can possibly have entered this school without our knowledge —"

       "But—"

       "— and what is more," says Professor McGonagall finally. "Mr Malfoy was not in Hogsmeade today."

       Holly glances over at Harry, who gapes at McGonagall.

       "How do you know, Professor?" he asks.

       "Because he was doing detention with me," says McGonagall. An awful sinking feeling takes over Holly. He had a detention? "He has now failed to complete his Transfiguration homework twice in a row." But he's been clearing off every night to do homework...? "So, thank you for telling me your suspicions, Potter, but I need to go up to the hospital wing now to check on April Hertz. Good day to you all."

       McGonagall opens the door for them to leave. Holly storms out of the office before the other three can, and she starts in the direction of the dungeons, thinking to her cousin, Where are you? I need to talk to you, right now.

       I'm busy, says Draco.

      Not busy enough for me, says Holly. Where are you?

       I can't tell you, he says.

       Uh, yes you can, she replies.

       What's got you pissed off? he says. Trouble in paradise?

       How was detention, you dick? says Holly.

       Oh, says Draco. You know.

       I do, says Holly. So where have you been going, huh, since you're definitely not going to the library to do your sodding homework because you've gotten a detention for not doing it!

       I can't tell you, says Draco.

       Then I'll ask Aunt Cissy, says Holly. I bet she'd be over the moon to know that ickle Draco's gotten himself a detention.

       Holly—

       Look at Draco, all wrapped up in his Draco world, doing Draco things that obviously no one else can know about because they're not Draco enough to understand and of course only a Draco as Draco as he will get his secret life like he's some fucking superhero—

       Oh, right, it's me that's the issue, says Draco. Holly wholeheartedly agrees. It's got nothing to do with little Holly in Holly world—

       Um? Holly world? she says. You're so caught up in your own deep, dark, secrets that you completely missed the opportunity to use 'Hollywood.'

       Fuck off, says Draco

       You're just fucked off you got a detention—

       "Hol?" says Pansy, tilting her head. "You OK?"

       Holly looks at her best friend, standing next to the common room's entrance. She lets out a sigh and shakes her head, because no, things are not going well in Hollywood... Things are going so terribly that Holly doesn't even have the heart to happily talk about the time she made a city in her bedroom for her dolls when she was little, and her dad called it Hollywood because it was Holly's little kingdom.

       But Holly and Pansy sit down in the common room, grabbing a couple fairy cakes from the free sweets stall next to the bulletin board. Holly quickly fills Pansy in on what happened with April, which goes brilliantly, considering Pansy already hates the girl for daring to have a grudge about something that, to be honest, Holly understands why she's still angry about it. But she finishes explaining, and Pansy nods, frowning.

       Holly raises an eyebrow. "Something's up with you."

       Pansy goes quiet for a minute, and sits closer to Holly. "You can't tell anyone," says Pansy, and Holly nods. "I'm serious. Not even Draco. This has got to stay between us."

       "What's wrong?"

       Pansy looks at Holly, worried.

       "Don't laugh."

       Holly, confused, begins, "Laugh at what—?"

       "I fancy Flo."

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

it would not be a holly lippincott book without someone saying "don't laugh" before they confess their feelings about someone

also: i was getting tired of pansy just acting weird around flo, so she's realised The Truth, and now we're going to deal with pansy having a crush which will be fun. also: i'm very VERY excited for deathly hallows and part of hbp is going to plant the seeds for upcoming plotlines. (also i hope you don't mind i switched katie for april so april has more of a plot than just being "the girl" from durmstrang)

i hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you thought! :-)