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TEN MISTLETOE AND HOLLY

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       HOLLY ALMOST MAKES IT out of her dorm room before Pansy gets a hold of her, firmly wrapping her hand around Holly's wrist. Holly turns around, mentally preparing herself to defend her side. She likes to think she has a damned good reason for being pissed off — and she likes to think she can argue, she spent all of yesterday in the Wizengamot listening to professional arguers speak.

       "Holly, I'm sorry—"

       "Are you?" says Holly.

       Pansy frowns. "I really am," she tells her, and Holly nods, but she isn't convinced. Something feels off. "Look, I've really missed you, and something happened with Flo, and—"

       "I don't believe you," says Holly.

       "You don't believe me?" says Pansy, her eyes widening.

       Holly shakes her head. "I don't think you know why I'm angry with you," she replies. Pansy looks confused, and Holly shrugs. "This whole thing with Suze — I get it, it's not that big of a deal. But the reason you told Flo about her wasn't because you trusted her — which is why I told you, and why I told Harry — but because you didn't want someone to think you were crazy for talking to seemingly nothing. You told someone my secret because you wanted to save your own skin — and again, OK, whatever, it's not the biggest secret, but you know what is?"

       Pansy doesn't respond, waiting for Holly to answer.

       "Who my dad is," says Holly. She snatches her wrist away from Pansy, and she begins to pace up and down their dorm room, grateful that the other girls are still in the common room. "You've seen the way the world's changing. Soon, that secret could kill me — it could kill my dad. And—And I can't have that... I love you, Pansy, but I can't risk my dad for you—"

       "I bet you'd say otherwise for Potter, though," says Pansy.

       Holly feels her heart jolt, like Pansy physically shoved a knife into her chest. She stops pacing, and she turns to her, trying her hardest not to shout.

       "That's different," says Holly.

       "Is it?" says Pansy.

       "He's the one that's going to stop Voldemort," says Holly, her hands shaking with anger. "I don't see you making any contribution."

       And, with that, Holly turns on her heel and leaves the dorm room before Pansy can say anything else. The door closes behind her.

       She can feel her hands shaking still as she leaves the dungeons, trying to calm herself down. This was supposed to be a nice evening, where Holly could spend time with her boyfriend, poke fun at the Slug Club, and eat fancy Christmas food. Her dad used to have Christmas parties at the clinic he worked at, and since they were open to every employee's family, Holly always got to join him and Eugene. And she and Eugene would try all the posh food from the expensive caterers whilst her dad talked about plastic surgery stuff, stuffing themselves silly with a strange rendition of pigs in blankets, or mince pies.

       So Holly's looking forward to this, even if she isn't going to be spending the evening eating far too much food with her step-dad... Well, she was excited for it, but now, she feels like shit. She guesses she'll feel better after a little while, once she's eaten enough mince pies and joked enough about the stupidity of the Slug Club that the thought of my dad could be in danger, and the world is falling apart at the seams is nothing but a lingering worry in the back of her head.

       "Sorry I'm late," says Holly, as she walks up to Harry. "Pansy cornered me about the whole thing with Suze and—" She stops, narrowing her eyes at him. "You're staring."

       Harry finally blinks, and he smiles at him. "You look really pretty," he says. Slowly, a massive smile creeps onto Holly's face and she takes a hold of his hand, as they start making their way to Slughorn's office. "You said Parkinson—?"

       "She tried to apologise, but she didn't know why I was upset in the first place," says Holly, and quickly, she explains to him the rest of the conversation. "... And that's when I left the dungeons."

       "You'd risk your dad's safety for me?" he says.

       "OK, well, not exactly," says Holly, and she glances at him. He looks confused. "You wouldn't tell the Death Eaters about my dad, would you? But I know Pansy, and I know that if she needs to save herself, she'll do whatever it takes... And that's what I was like at Durmstrang, and that's how most people are, but it's just that — if she does tell someone... I—You know what they'll do to him."

       "Yeah," says Harry. "What about Malfoy?" 

       "What about him?" says Holly.

       "Do you think he'd—?" he begins, but Holly's quick to respond:

       "No, he will not — and he's not a Death Eater, before you bring that up again."

       "I didn't say—"

       "You were thinking it."

       There's silence for a minute. Holly feels like shit again.

       They walk into Slughorn's office, which to Holly's surprise, is a lot larger than what she expected. She thought they'd spill out into one of the Potions classrooms, and that there'd be an issue with drinks and potions getting all mixed up, and by eleven things would become incredibly messy. Holly glances around at everyone else in the room, from the vampire to some Gryffindor boy with a smug smile on his face, and she thinks to her cousin, You're missing out.

       I doubt it, he replies. 

       Oh, no, you really are, she says. 

       She doesn't know where to look, everything is their own sort of bizarre. Emerald, crimson, and gold decorations hung from the walls and the ceilings, moving in an dancing fashion that made her presume they were enchanted in some way. Fairies were floating around the chandelier, adding to the way the chandelier's jewels sparkled. She doesn't know how she feels about that, about fairies being forced into being decorations.

       "Harry, m'boy!" says Slughorn, the second that he spotted Harry. "Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!"

       Slughorn grasps Harry's arm, about to lead him around. Not lead him around, Holly thinks to herself. Show him off.

       Harry holds onto Holly's hand so she doesn't leave him. They exchange a look briefly; she doesn't know which of them dislikes this the most.

       "Harry, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires — and, of course, his friend Sanguini," says Slughorn. The man called Worple extends his hand to shake Harry's. Holly isn't looked at.

       "Harry Potter, I am simply delighted!" says Worple. Holly doesn't want to look around, in case anyone can see her reaction to this. He is famous, she reminds herself. Obviously this will happen... It's not his fault... It's fine... "I was saying to Professor Slughorn only the other day, 'Where is the biography of Harry Potter for which we have all been waiting?'"

       "Er, were you?" says Harry.

       "Just as modest as Horace described! But, seriously," says Worple, and he looks a lot less cheerful than before. Holly raises an eyebrow. "I would be delighted to write it myself — people are craving to know more about you, dear boy, craving! If you were prepared to grant me a few interviews, say in four or five hour sessions, why, we could have the book finished within months. And with all very little effort on your part, I assure you — ask Sanguini here if it isn't quite — Sanguini, stay here!" And he grabs onto the vampire by the collar, to stop him going after the group of girls staring at Harry. He turns back to Harry, and Holly feels sorry the vampire has to spend the evening with this prat. "My dear boy, the gold you could make, you have no idea—"

       "I'm definitely not interested," says Harry.

       "Oh," says Worple. He looks like he's trying to hide his disappointment, and he looks around for a moment, before he finally casts his eyes onto Holly. "Who's this, then?"

       "This is Holly," says Harry. "She's my girlfriend."

       "Oh!" says Worple, and he smiles warmly at Holly for a second, before he turns back to Holly. She isn't too sure if she's a part of this conversation. "She's very pretty—"

       "She's also in the Wizengamot," says Harry.

       Worple looks at Holly, who smiles awkwardly.

       "I'm the British Youth Representative," she says.

       "That's it!" he says, and Holly frowns at him. She holds tighter onto Harry's hand, feeling uncomfortable. Worple gives her the creeps. "I recognised you — you must have been in the papers at some point—"

       Holly frowns. "Not since the Triwizard Tournament."

       "You were a champion?" says Worple.

       "She won," says Harry, before Holly can say the same. She looks at him in surprise. She half-expected him to say she came joint-first, like what she was going to tell Worple.

       "It couldn't have been that," says Worple. "What's your surname, girl?"

       "Lippincott."

       "Lippincott... Lippincott...?"

       "Margo Valen's my mother," says Holly.

       She watches his eyes widen, half in shock, half in horror. Holly can see Worple's expression go from that of sophistication and obnoxiousness, to the realisation that he's standing in front of something dangerous. He looks at her like she's her mother. He looks at her like she's smirking back at him, the blood of innocent witches and wizards and muggles staining her lace dress.

       "Let's go," says Harry quietly, pulling Holly away from Worple. As soon as they're far enough from the older wizard that he can't overhear, Harry quietly says to her, "Are you all right?"

       "Not really," she replies.

✧

       PANSY SITS IN THE COMMON room, on a sofa next to the windows. She can see the little town the mermaids inhabit, and she remembers the Triwizard Tournament, when she was Holly's thing to save in the second task; she remembers waking from the enchanted sleep halfway to the surface, and she had looked down at the mermaids' town with widened eyes, thinking to herself, nothing's gonna top how strange that is.

       But oh, things have. She feels as if the entirety of last year topped the town of mermaids, topped the lawns made of... well, whatever those plants at the bottom of the lake are called. Last year topped the freshly-cut lawns on the lake-bed, topped the little plants sitting on the windowsills, topped the mermaids setting up stalls in the marketplace. Last year had Umbridge, and although Pansy was on the Inquisitorial Squad, she can still see the ridiculousness of the situation. She always did. She didn't act upon it, why would she do that?

       And things are getting weirder. Every day there's a new addition to the strange occurrences all across the U.K., the sort of stuff that probably trickles back to the Death Eaters, the people her uncle's involved with. Just this morning, Pansy looked at the Prophet and saw that people are beginning to claim Margo Valen is alive still, and not dead, like everyone believed... Like the Ministry told everyone.

       Countless people had seen Holly's mother all around the country, but of course, the Ministry denies all of this. Pansy knows the tactics of the Death Eaters well enough to know that they won't tell anyone the truth. If people are on edge, believing that Voldemort's most trusted Death Eater is still alive, and on the loose, that's good for them. It'll keep people scared, and scared people are easy to hurt.

       "You look happy," says Flo, smirking.

       Pansy looks up at her, just as she sits on the coffee table, the one a couple feet away from the sofa she's on. Flo raises an eyebrow at her.

       "I shouldn't have told you about the ghost," says Pansy.

       Flo frowns. "OK...?"

       "I really shouldn't have told you," says Pansy, shaking her head. She keeps on seeing the look of hurt on Holly's face, when she said, 'The reason you told Flo about her wasn't because you trusted her — which is why I told you, and why I told Harry — but because you didn't want someone to think you were crazy for talking to seemingly nothing.' She fucked up, big time. "It wasn't my secret to tell... I didn't want you to think I was crazy."

       Flo looks at her oddly. 

       "Why did that worry you?" she asks

       Pansy frowns. "What?"

       "You didn't want me to think you were crazy," says Flo, a strange look on her face. Pansy's heart is pounding; it always is when Flo's near, she's realised. "Why were you worried about what I thought of you?" Flo raises an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't like me...?"

       Pansy's eyes widen. FUCK.

✧

       HOLLY GRITS HER TEETH together as she stands to the side of Slughorn's office, having drifted away from Harry and Hermione upon spotting Blaise, and feeling so starved of interaction with other Slytherins that she slips through the amount of people in the office to speak to him. He looks just as pleased to be there as she is, which is saying something. Holly doesn't think she'll ever forget the look on Worple's face when he realised he was talking to the daughter of a murderer, a torturer, a Death Eater.

       "Was it too much being Potter's arm ca—?"

       "Don't you start," says Holly, rolling her eyes. "Draco's bad enough with what he says about the whole thing."

       Blaise smirks at her, swiftly taking two of the miniature pork pies from a serving platter being carried around by a younger student, an impromptu waiter for the night. "You know, I really hope that you marry Potter one day, because I would love to see how your wedding will go down," he says. Holly gives him a look. "I'm joking, I'm joking... It will be funny, though."

       "Yeah, for you... And also me, just a little," she says, and a massive smile breaks onto her face. "Could you imagine how he'd react to the whole thing? They'd be related."

       "Practically brothers — oh, come off it," says Blaise, looking down at her questioningly. This is the one issue with their friendship; he's so fucking tall that Holly spends the entire time looking up. "You're like Draco's sister, especially nowadays — from what I've seen, he sees you as his sister." Holly never thought about that before. "You know, sometimes I think you can read each other's minds..."

       Holly scoffs. "That's crazy, Blaise!"

       Blaise smiles at her. There's a pause, and Holly looks around, finding the vampire from earlier hungrily looking at a boy standing a little too close to him — but then Worple grabs him and pulls him away, before he can do any harm.

       "I was meaning to ask," says Blaise, and he looks around, before he stands a little closer to Holly. "Do you know what he's been up to?"

       "What... What do you mean?" she says.

       "He keeps on sneaking off," says Blaise, his brows furrowing at her. Like he's surprised she doesn't know about it. "You know he wasn't at the Quidditch match? He was somewhere in the school still, but he didn't say where... And he keeps on sneaking out at night, to go Salazar knows where..."

       "I don't know," she says quietly.

       "Oh," he says.

       "I'll—I'll do some digging," she says. "I should go back to Harry."

       "Yeah," says Blaise.

       Holly walks away, the word oh ringing in her head. Blaise expected her to know — and why wouldn't she? It's not like Draco's her cousin, it's not like they're connected through the Unbreakable Vow, it's not like she agreed to the damned vow without asking why it was so vital they stayed close. She should've questioned it properly, she should've refused to agree until her family told her what was going on. But she didn't.

       "Hi," says Holly, as she walks back up to Harry and Hermione.

       "Oh, no," says Hermione quietly, her eyes on something behind them. Holly frowns. She leaves for five minutes and already something's happened. "Here he comes!"

       Hermione disappears, wedging herself between two women to disappear out of sight. Holly's about to ask who he is, but a Gryffindor boy walks up to her and Harry, and she supposes that Hermione meant him.

       "Seen Hermione?" he asks.

       "No, sorry," says Harry.

       "Earlier, though, she said she wasn't feeling the best," says Holly quickly. She looks at Harry, hoping he'll catch on and nod. To her surprise, he does, and she turns back to the boy. "I mean, we haven't seen her, but maybe if you can't find her... She might've left earlier because she isn't feeling well...?"

       "Oh," says the boy, and before he can say anything else, Harry holds onto Holly's hand again, and leads her to another part of the office.

       "Who's he?" she asks.

       "Cormac McLaggen," says Harry.

       "Cor-who Mc-what?" says Holly.

       "He tried out for Keeper this year, but Ron beat him... And I think he fancies Hermione, too," says Harry. Holly nods, frowning as she glances over her shoulder, where McLaggen's now talking to Worple. "Sorry about this... People keep on asking about me and they're all ignoring you... I—"

       Holly smiles weakly. "It's fine."

       "I wasn't finished," he says.

       She raises an eyebrow. "Oh, weren't you?"

       "No," he says, and he cheekily grins at her, before he continues. "I was going to say — I invited you because I wanted to spend more time with you. I didn't think everyone would be talking to me and leaving you out."

      "You're Slughorn's new trophy," says Holly. "Not your fault."

       "We can leave early, if you'd like," says Harry, and she nods. He squeezes her hand, and she realises that he's trying his hardest to make this whole thing up to her, and she feels terrible. She doesn't want him to feel miserable.

       Holly looks up at him. "I don't want to ruin it for you..."

       "What? I'm not enjoying this!" he says, loud enough that an old man near them overhears and makes an unimpressed noise into his butterbeer. Harry and Holly look at him, before exchanging a glance, and she starts to laugh. "Honestly. We can sneak out in a bit and go to the kitchens instead."

       "And take Hermione," says Holly. She stands closer to him, to point him in the direction that Hermione's currently hiding from McLaggen. "Look at her. We can't leave her here." Holly nods at Hermione, who's miserably hiding between a bookcase and an old witch in bright purple robes. She hears Harry snort, and she laughs.

       "Harry Potter!" says Trelawney. "And Holliday Lippincott!"

       "Oh no," says Harry, under his breath.

       "We stood still for too long," Holly whispers back.

       "My dears!" says Trelawney, her voice a hushed whisper. Holly realises that she's the slightest bit tipsy, and Holly leans closer to Harry. Trelawney gives Harry a lofty smile. "The rumours! The stories! 'The Chosen One!' Of course, I have known for a very long time... The omens were never good, Harry... But why have you not returned to Divination?" Holly bites on her lip, stopping herself from smirking. "For you, of all people, the subject is of the utmost importance!"

       Holly looks behind her at Harry, and gives him an agreeing nod, grinning at him.

       "Ah, Sybill, we all think our subject's most important!" says Slughorn, appearing out of nowhere. Holly moves so she's standing to the side of Harry, not in front of him. "But I don't think I've ever known such a natural at Potions!"

       "Natural at reading someone's annotations," Holly mumbles.

       Harry looks at her, and she smiles.

       "Instinctive, you know — like his mother! I've only ever taught a few with this kind of ability, I can tell you that, Sybill — why even Severus—" and Slughorn cuts off to extend his arm, somehow summoning Snape and pulling him towards them. "Stop skulking and come and join us, Severus! I was just talking about Harry's exceptional potion-making! Some credit must go to you, of course, you taught him for five years!"

       Snape narrows his eyes at Harry. Slughorn's arm is still around him, and Holly's trying her best not to smirk at it. "Funny, I never had the impression that I managed to teach Potter anything at all," he says, and he turns his gaze from Harry to Holly. "I always thought Lippincott had far more potential than Potter... She was only five marks off of full-marks in her O.W.L."

       This is a strange turn of events. Snape's hatred for Harry's turned into praising Holly? She never thought she'd see this day, because she never thought this would happen.

       "Ah, well," says Slughorn. "Some students don't grasp onto N.E.W.T.s like they did with their O.W.L.s."

       Holly, without thinking, gives Slughorn the nastiest look she can.

       "Remind me what other subjects you're taking, Harry?" says Slughorn.

       Harry lists his subjects. Holly glances around, spotting Filch walking into the room. Her eyes narrow in confusion, at the anger on his face.

       "All the subjects required, in short, for an Auror," says Snape.

       Holly sees Filch pulling Draco by the ear. What?

       "Yeah, well," says Harry. "That's what I'd like to do—"

       "And a great one you'll make too!" says Slughorn.

       "Professor Slughorn!" says Filch. Holly looks at Draco, who's desperately avoiding looking back at her. "I discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him with an invitation?"

       Draco pulls himself free.

       "All right, I wasn't invited!" he snaps. "I was trying to gate-crash, happy?"

       "No, I'm not!" says Filch, even though he's grinning with delight. He probably thinks he can use some of those medieval torture devices Umbridge let him get when she was around. "You're in trouble, you are! Didn't the headmaster say that night-time prowling's out, unless you've got permission, didn't he, eh?"

       "That's all right, Argus, that's all right," says Slughorn. "It's Christmas, and it's not a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once, we'll forget any punishment; you may stay, Draco."

       Filch, incredibly disappointed, shuffles away. Holly watches as her cousin quickly composes himself and smiles politely at Slughorn, thanking him for his generosity. She exchanges a look with Harry, both of them looking suspicious.

       What were you doing? she says.

       Draco ignores her. Holly continues to think to him, What were you doing? He continues to ignore her, choosing to speak — no, suck up — to Slughorn. The more the minutes pass, the more Holly wants to grab her cousin by the collar and pull him out of this party, and demand to know what's going on with him. Even now, she can tell something is wrong. His skin isn't just pale, it looks pure white, the darkness under his eyes even more pronounced.

       "I'd like a word with you, Draco," says Snape.

       "Oh, now, Severus," says Slughorn. "It's Christmas, don't be too hard—"

       "I'm his Head of House, and I shall decide how hard, or otherwise, to be," says Snape. "Follow me, Draco."

       Draco still doesn't look at Holly, as he walks past her, following Snape. Holly exchanges a look with Harry, and just as Slughorn's in his own little world, she quietly asks Harry, "Have you got your Invisibility Cloak?"

       He nods.

       "Let's go," says Holly, pulling him by the hand before Slughorn can start another conversation with Harry. She knows that his interest in this is far different to hers, and she hates the fact that her boyfriend's convinced her cousin is a monster, but for now, she needs to see past that. She needs to follow her cousin, Harry wants to do the same, and he has an Invisibility Cloak.

       It's called resourcefulness.

✧

       HOLLY DOESN'T THINK she's ever been under the Invisibility Cloak with someone else, the only time she's used it was when Susannah grabbed it, hiding her from Barty Crouch Jr., who had already cursed Viktor. So, although she's worried sick about her cousin and whatever is going on with him, she's also struggling to stay under this thing, considering Harry's a lot taller than her.

       "They're here!" she hears Susannah exclaim, before drifting off elsewhere. Holly pulls Harry through the corridor to the classroom Susannah pointed out, the one at the very end of the hallway.

       Holly presses her ear against the door, as does Harry.

       "I didn't have anything to do with it, all right?" she hears Draco say.

       "I hope you are telling the truth," says Snape. "Because it was both clumsy and foolish. Already you are suspected of having a hand in it."

       "Who suspects me?" her cousin snaps at him, his voice dripping in anger. Holly can't help but glance at Harry. "For the last time, I didn't do it, OK?" Harry and Holly exchange a look, and she looks at him, as if to say, told you so. "That Hertz girl must've had an enemy no one knows about — don't look at me like that! I know what you're doing. I'm not stupid, but it won't work — I can stop you!"

       "What—What won't work?" she whispers to Harry, her brows furrowing. She can feel her stomach twisting into knots, as she thinks, why won't he tell me? Why has he been keeping this all from me?

       Harry doesn't know; he frowns at her, noticing the increasing amount of distress appearing on her face. The more she stands here, waiting for her cousin to speak again, she keeps on thinking about what Blaise said. How Blaise expected her to know what was up with Draco, because she's his cousin, you're like his sister, surely she'd know what was going on. But she doesn't. She can't even begin to guess what's happening with her cousin, and every time she asks, he refuses to tell her. She just wants to know why he looks so pale all of the time, why he isn't eating enough, why he isn't sleeping enough. She wants to know what's happening to him, because she wants to know why he's changing so terribly.

       "Ah... Aunt Bellatrix has been teaching you Occlumency, I see," says Snape. "What thoughts are you trying to conceal from your master, Draco?"

       "I'm not trying to conceal anything from him, I just don't want you butting in!"

       "So this is why you have been avoiding me this term? You have feared my interference? You realize that, had anybody else failed to come to my office when I had told them repeatedly to be there, Draco—"

       "So put me in detention! Report me to Dumbledore!"

      "You know perfectly well that I do not wish to do either of those things," says Snape, lowering his voice. "Listen to me. I am trying to help you. I swore to your mother I would protect you. I made the Unbreakable Vow, Draco—"

       "Looks like you'll have to break it, then, because I don't need your protection! It's my job, he gave it to me and I'm doing it!" says Draco. What plan? "I've got a plan and it's going to work, it's just taking a bit longer than I thought it would!"

       "What is your plan?" says Snape.

       What is the plan for? she thinks to herself.

       "It's none of your business!"

       "If you tell me what you are trying to do, I can assist you—"

       "I've got all the assistance I need, thanks, I'm not alone!"

       "You were certainly alone tonight, which was foolish in the extreme, wandering the corridors without lookouts or backup, these are elementary mistakes—"

       "I would've had Crabbe and Goyle with me if you hadn't put them in detention!" her cousin shouts at Snape.

       "Keep your voice down! If your friends Crabbe and Goyle intend to pass their Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. this time around, they will need to work a little harder than they are doing at pres—"

       "What does it matter?" says Draco. "Defence Against the Dark Arts — it's all just a joke, isn't it, an act? Like any of us need protecting against the Dark Arts—"

       Holly winces.

       "It is an act that is crucial to success, Draco! Where do you think I would have been all these years, if I had not known how to act?" says Snape. "Now listen to me! You are being incautious, wandering around at night, getting yourself caught, and if you are placing your reliance in assistants like Crabbe and Goyle—"

       "They're not the only ones, I've got other people on my side, better people!" says Draco. Harry looks at Holly, as if she has any of idea, and she's just as stumped as he is. Who else does he have on his side? She'd say maybe Pansy, or maybe even Blaise, but neither of them know anything about this... Blaise has asked her what's going on with Draco, and Pansy would've told her if she knew anything.

       "Then why not confide in me, and I can—"

       "I know what you're up to!" snaps Draco. "You want to steal my glory!"

       "You are speaking like a child," says Snape. "I quite understand that your father's capture and imprisonment has upset you, but—"

       Holly hears footsteps getting louder and louder, and she grabs a hold of Harry, pushing them both away from the classroom door. She accidentally shoves him against the wall, pressed up against him as the door flies open, her cousin storming out of the classroom.

       Snape doesn't leave the classroom immediately, and the door closes by itself. Holly takes her chance and darts out from underneath the Invisibility Cloak, running after her cousin, who's already halfway down the corridor, past Slughorn's office.

       She grabs onto his wrist to turn him around. "What was that about?" she demands. Draco snatches his hand away from her, glaring at her. "What's this 'plan' of yours? Why—Why—?"

       "I'm not telling you," he snaps.

       Holly frowns. "But why—?"

       "Because I can't!"

       "Then what's the use in this stupid Unbreakable Vow, huh, if you won't even tell me what's going on with you?" she argues back at him. She can feel tears gathering in her eyes. "You know Blaise asked me what's going on with you? And—And I know something's up, you've been acting differently for months now — but I don't get it. Why won't you tell me?"

       Draco looks at her nastily, clearly still pissed off about the whole ordeal with Snape. "Because I can't tell you!" he shouts. "You don't understand!"

       "Then explain it to me!" she says.

       "I'm not dragging you into this!" he shouts.

       "Drag me into what?" she asks.

       "It doesn't matter!" he says.

       "But it does! You look worse and worse every single day — you look like you don't sleep properly, like something's worrying you... And I'm worried about you, Draco. Blaise told me you see me like your sister — and—and I see you like my brother, and I just want to know what's upsetting you like this. I don't care what it is, I just want to know what's happening to you — I want to help you."

       The last part, I want to help you, makes Draco freeze. Tears begin to run down her cheeks as she watches him, desperately hoping that he'll finally tell her what's really happening to him. She honestly doesn't care anymore what it is, she just wants to know.

       "Please," she pleads. "Please tell me."

       Draco looks at her. She keeps on trying to will the universe into doing what she wants — she keeps on thinking to herself please make him tell me, please please please. She'll do anything. She just wants to know what's happening to her cousin.

       "No," he says quietly.

       She opens her mouth, but he's already storming off, and the only noise that leaves her lips is a terrible sob. She covers her face with her hands, tears streaming down her face as she cries and cries and cries, thinking to herself, I just want to know what's wrong.

       Everything feels like it's crashing down on her. Because it isn't just this distressing her — it's the fact that she misses her father, will she ever see him again? It's the fact that she keeps on thinking about the last time they saw each other, and his face is starting to become blurrier. It's been so long since she's even seen a picture of him and slowly, it's becoming harder to remember every detail of his face, of his voice, even of their house. And then there's her mother, who she has to spend two full weeks, relatively alone with...

       Holly's crying gets worse.

       "Hol," says Harry, taking off the Invisibility Cloak. She takes her hands off of her face, her palms stained with eyeshadow and mascara. "What's wrong? What did he say?"

       Holly looks at him, through her blurred vision, and she shakes her head. "You don't care," she says, her voice shaking. "You're—You're only interested because you think he's evil and a Death Eater and—and I don't care! I'm worried sick about him — he's practically my brother — and you don't care! You don't care about him, you don't care that I hate it every single time you try and accuse him! You don't care, you don't care, you don't—!"

       "I care about you!" says Harry, and he tries to put his hands on her arms, to try and steady her. She flinches when he tries to hold her, and she steps backwards, tears still running down her face as she shakes her head, her hands pressed against her head. "Forget about what he said to you — I want to make sure you're OK—"

       Holly continues shaking her head, her eyes squeezed shut. "No, no, no, no, no, no," she says. "You'll keep on snooping on my cousin — you know how much I hate it, you know that I hate how you're so convinced that he's a Death Eater because he isn't and I know that but you won't take my word for it so you keep on trying to prove something that isn't true—"

       "Holly, listen to me—!"

       "But you won't listen to me!" she interjects. She turns to him, her blurry vision covering the expression of hurt and panic on his face. "I get that by going out with you, I've also got to deal with people calling you the chosen one, with people ignoring me because you're the hero going to stop Voldemort, like what all of the people in there were doing — I get that, and I don't care, because I love you enough to know that you're worth all of that—all of that bullshit!

       "But you don't get it. You don't get that the same applies with me, do you? You don't get that you can't say all of this stuff about my cousin when I'm near because you put me in this awful position where I know that both of you hate each other and what am I supposed to do about it? But both of you do it — you complain and complain with no regard whatsoever about how it makes me feel so terrible! And you say that you care about me but you go on and on and on about how you think he's a Death Eater, even though you know that I hate it when you say that! I'm so fed up of it—"

       "Holly—"

       "No!" she cries, stepping backwards so violently that she snatches her arms away from him, since he had been trying to hold her again. She shakes her head again, as she looks at him. "You don't care... You don't, you don't—"

       "Of course I do!" says Harry, and he takes a hold of her. She's practically in hysterics now. "I care about you so much — I love you, Holly, more than I can put into words — and I didn't mean to upset you, I didn't realise—"

       "You didn't realise?" says Holly. "You knew I got angry when you accused Draco of cursing April. That didn't stop you then, did it? That didn't stop you from following my cousin to try and prove a point that isn't true..." She wipes the tears off of her cheeks. "I'm going. Have a good Christmas."

       Holly begins to storm off, in the same direction Draco had gone to get back to the dungeons. She turns the corner and she bursts into tears again, her mind going back to everything that's going wrong. What's going right anymore? She can't remember a day where something wasn't different, wasn't wrong...

       She finds herself sitting on the floor, her legs pushed up to her chest and her arms hugging them tightly. Already she feels guilty for having a go at Harry, and if she wasn't a sobbing mess on the floor, she'd find him and apologise. He didn't realise it, she knows he didn't mean to upset her — and yet she just went on and on, relentlessly arguing at him for it. Deep-down, she knows he wasn't the thing truly upsetting her, he was just there and, since she was already close to hysterics, anything bad became heightened in her mind. She knows it isn't his fault, and sure, he screwed up, but that wasn't why she's this distraught.

       "Holly..." she hears him say.

       "I'm sorry," she says. He slowly moves, like he wants to sit down next to her, but waits until she nods to do so. She's still crying. She doesn't know if she'll ever stop. "I didn't mean to make a big deal out of it... I mean, I'm a little upset about that but not that much... I think—I think I was getting worked up over something else."

       "The thing with Malfoy?" he asks.

       "My family, in general," she says. Slowly, she's stopping crying. She wipes the tears off of her face, as she looks at him. "I think that was set me off, but—but in the back of my mind, there's been something else for a while... I miss my dad, and—and my mother isn't the same as he was. She makes me feel guilty whenever I stand up for you lot, she killed Karkaroff when all she knew about him was what he said to me at the Wizengamot, and that wasn't much..." She can feel her stomach pounding, and she looks around, checks no one else can hear, and even then, her voice becomes incredibly quiet as she says, "I don't think she's good."

       Harry looks surprised, and she takes it that he's known this for a while. Most likely, ever since she said she killed Karkaroff to a kitchen full of people, he realised what she was actually like. But he nods, and he holds onto her hands.

       "But the thing is, Atticus is good, the only reason he was ever on that side was because of her, he never truly wanted to be a Death Eater," says Holly. "And—And I can't do anything, she knows where my dad is..." Her brows furrow. "I'll keep my distance, all of the holidays. I know she's bad, and I'll talk to Atticus, and—and by the summer I'll make sure I can do something else... But she isn't good, Harry, she's horrible... She criticises me and she makes me feel guilty for everything and she threatens me, she says she'll hurt you or my dad or the rest of my friends..."

       "Hol," says Harry.

       "Yes?" says Holly.

       "At least you've realised," says Harry.

       "I can't do anything," she says. "And you already—"

       "I know you — you wouldn't have listened to me if I had told you that I didn't trust her," says Harry. Holly lets out a weak laugh, because that's absolutely true and she knows it. He smiles softly at her, pulling her into a hug. "I'm proud of you."

       "That means a lot," she mutters, smiling softly. "The boy wonder's proud of me."

       He laughs, and her smile begins to grow.

"Things will get better," he says quietly, as she rests her head on his shoulder. They will, she tells herself. Sooner or later...

✧

       "TAKE MY MEMORY, then," says Flo. Pansy looks at her in surprise, her eyes widening slightly, and Flo shrugs her shoulders. Thankfully she didn't press her about why she was so concerned about what she thought about her — she just moved on, saying this. "If that's the issue, then I don't mind. Make me forget about it. That way, you're still friends with Lippincott."

       "Really?" says Pansy.

       "It's a little sad, seeing you like this," says Flo, smirking at Pansy, who raises her eyebrows. "Also bizarre. You haven't been gossiping with anyone for a couple weeks, that's what I'm used to when I look at—"

       "Me?" says Pansy.

       Flo looks at her for a moment, as if she doesn't know what to say. Pansy doesn't think she can believe this. She has made Florence "Flo" Montague stop in her tracks, having accidentally blurted something out.

       "You... look at me?" says Pansy.

       "I—" says Flo, but she stops herself. She looks at Pansy quizzically for a moment, her brows furrowing. Part of Pansy wonders if she's going to snap at her and walk away, or something. She looks like she might. "You know, you never told me earlier — why were you so worried about what I thought of you?"

       Pansy pauses, for a second, before she thinks, Well, I'm taking away one of her memories in a second, if things go wrong I can always take another...

       "Flo?"

       "Yes?"

       "Don't laugh."

       "... OK?"

       "I fancy you."

       Flo doesn't respond for a minute. The whole time Pansy thinks she's going to throw up onto the common room carpet, her heart's pounding so frantically in her chest that she's surprised Flo can't hear it. She waits for Flo to laugh, or say something along the lines of, I don't like girls, and leave Pansy here, feeling like a pathetic mess.

       Pansy begins to stand up, to quickly do this damned memory charm and sort out another consequence of her big mouth, and she tells Flo, "It's fine if you don't feel the same, I get it—"

       "You fucking idiot, of course I fancy you!"

       Flo's stood up, and she looks at Pansy.

       Pansy stares at her, and thinks, holy shit. Flo looks back at her, and from what Pansy remembers from that time she dated Draco (wow) and what Holly's told her about her misadventures with Potter, this is the time people tend to kiss... Unless Filch interrupts.

       So Pansy reaches upwards and pulls Flo's face towards her, kissing her forcefully. Flo kisses back, her senses coming back to her. She puts her hands on Pansy's back, pulling her as close as possible. Their lips move together and Flo doesn't think she wants it to ever end. She feels as if she could spend the rest of her life in this one spot, her lips moving against Pansy fucking Parkinson's.

       They pull apart. Flo gives Pansy the first real smile she's ever seen Flo fucking Montague wear, and breathlessly, she says to Pansy, "Now, let's get your best friend back."

       Pansy's gonna have to kiss her again in a minute, just for that.

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

so a lot happened.

also ok i know that holly went from upset to calm in seconds but like, from personal experience when you've had a breakdown like that, you normally calm down pretty quickly once it's all over. so yeah before anyone makes comments about it, that's where i'm coming from (also this was meant to happen a lot later but this felt like the right time for it to happen, same with flo and pansy) (which by the way!!!!!!!!)

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