Disclaimer - Own nothing.

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A/N

PC will be up Saturday night, I promise. It's almost done. Enjoy this whilst waiting. ;)

- Creatress

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Holly at Hogwarts Chapter 1

Holly tried to look nonchalent as she stood behind a long line of eleven-year-old children. However, she could feel the stares of two hundred pairs of eyes on her and conciously had to stop herself from fidgetting like the rest of these children. It didn't help that she was a head taller (this never happened to her) than her companions on the stage.

Some background history might be a little useful at this point...

Cultures all over the world have their own systems of exchange students. Swapping students with those from other countries allows them and their families to experience a taste of different customs and practices. Magical beings have exchange students as well. However, because of the ways by which certain magical beings regarded other magical beings, precautions had to be taken.

So, this exchange program consisted of Holly being sent to a wizarding school in England, and one of their elves being taken to Haven so that Argon and Cummulus could try to convice him that elves were not meant to be slaves.

Foaly had talked about the horrors of the English while he'd administered the magic and science necessary to make her human for the next semester. Because of most of Wizarding England's beliefs about elves, she had to undergo a little temporary genetic make-over before her trip. "They treat some elves as servants!" he'd exclaimed over and over again. "Servants! You think our mud men are cruel..."

Holly really wished she'd paid more attention to Foaly then. She wasn't clueless about the practices of wizards and witches, but the fairy folk of But most of his rant had taken place after the transformation, during which time she'd been staring at herself in the mirror.

As a human witch, Holly still had caramel coloured skin, but her ears were rounded. Her eyes were still large, hazel and so deceivingly innocent-looking. Her hair, dark red and shiny, was straight until it reached her shoulders where it curled a little at the tips. Her lips were still cherry-red and bow shaped. Holly was in her late teens, by fairy age. Because she was meant to look a third year, her lean body had simply elongated. All in all, she looked like an attractive, typical, blossoming thirteen year old girl.

On the stage, Holly tried not to look to the audience of students, who were all sitting in the dimly lit hall. Candles and candelabras. Which century was this? Holly couldn't help but spare them a glance before her eyes travelled to the line of first years ahead of her. She wasn't greatly impressed by their house system either. She was all for team building and whatnot, but these people seemed to put way too much emphasis on all of it.

The line was shortening with only a few students left. The hat was announcing names, sending them scurrying to the cheering tables. Finally, Holly was left.

The deputy headmaster, Merryworth, was clearing his throat on stage, and Holly felt the student body's eyes on her, making her turn a little red. 'Seriously?' she thought, grumpily. 'You can't sort me, let me sit down and then explain?'

Merryworth gestured at Holly. "This charming young lady is Holly Short. She has been homeschooled until recently, and is now joining our school. She is third year, and I trust you'll all make her feel at home. Miss Short, if you would come to stool now?"

Holly gracefully walked up to the stool and perched on it, placing her entwined fingers in her lap. 'This ought to be interesting...' she mused as the hat's rim came down over her eyes. Some students had been sorted quickly; others had taken a while.

'Well, well, well. Elf?' the hat asked, not unkindly.

Holly rolled her eyes under it, wondering if she should respond. 'Yes,' she finally thought. 'Where are you going to put me?'

'I'm thinking Slytherin or Gryffindor. Gryffindor would suit you very well, I think. You're brave and kind. Lots of other redheads there, too - they'll make you feel right at home.'

'Umm...okay.'

'Hmm. Slytherin would probably traumatize you, but I doubt you'd let anyone take you down without a fight. There's a desire to prove yourself, and you're quite resourceful. I also see a degree of... Disregard for the rules.'

Holly's eyes were widening. 'Isn't that the one with all the pedigree-crazed maniacs?'

The hat was chuckling. 'Oh, yes, that's the one. And aren't you a proud descendent of Eros?'

'...Yes.'

'Out-pedigree them!'

Holly suddenly saw an image of herself attacking one of the Slytherins with a rolled up tapestry with her family tree on it. "In the name of love! And sex!" '...Nah.'

The hat sighed. 'Yes, yes, I see your point. Fine, I'll just you put you in with the other redheads.' "Gryffindor!"

Merryworth lifted the hat and Holly joined the cheering Gryffindors at their table. They seemed friendly enough, as they smiled and greeted her warmly as she sat down. The hat was right - there were a lot of redheads here. One of them shook her hand. "Mathias Weasley," he said, softly, just before the headmaster stood up.

As the headmaster started droning about school rules, she took the opportunity to look around at the students. She knew the history and characteristics of the houses - it had been part of the prep courses she'd taken before being selected for the exchange. The Gryffindors were already starting to fidget, waiting for the headmaster to finish. The Hufflepuffs were sitting quietly, patiently waiting for the old man to finish. More than one of the Ravenclaws had stealthily fingered a book open to read.

The Slytherins were practically bathed in darkness at the other end of the room. The bad-arseness emanating from the table was almost tangible. The few figures she could make out were lounging about lazily, and some were even talking to others, not bothering to disquise their impudence. Holly would have laughed a little if her gaze hadn't caught someone's attention. One of the Slytherins snapped his gaze with hers, narrowing his eyes as he frowned.

Eep. She'd been caught. If Holly had been at the school for longer than a few minutes or if she'd been one of the first years, who were too frightened to look into the eyes of anyone, she would have turned away. But she held the gaze of the young man on the other side of the hall, willing him to look away first.

Somewhere at the back of Holly's teenaged head, she pondered the romance novel cliches of meeting someone's eyes from across a crowded room. The Slytherin was handsome enough, if a little frightening - he had dark blue eyes, pale skin and black hair.

Holly eventually won her independant battle. The headmaster announced that the feast would now begin and one of the other Slytherins dragged the boy's attention away from her.

"Holly?" Mathias asked, prodding her in the arm.

Holly turned and raised her eyebrows at him. Mathias had light red hair, green eyes and a freckled face. "Yes?"

"Getting into the house league spirit already, are we?" he asked. Holly was unexpectedly pleased to hear the accent of the mudmen who lived around Tara coming from him. It was light, but it was there. When she only blinked confusedly at him, he chuckled. "Never mind them. Eat."

Holly selected a vegetable soup and glanced demurely across the hall. "Umm, who... Who was - ?"

"The wizard you were just glaring at?" Mathias asked. "Tom Riddle. Fifth year. He's a prefect. Don't look at him, don't talk to him. If for any reason you must deal with him, do it in a public place with lots of witnesses around." Mathias paused and bit into a chicken leg as he thought. Gulping, he shook his head. "No, actually, the witnesses might not be that helpful. Just have a concealed weapon on you."

Holly blinked. "That bad, hm?"

Mathias nodded, somberly. "It doesn't help that most of the teachers fawn over him, because he's so gosh-darn gifted. That guy could get away with murder. He probably does."

Holly glanced over again and almost asked him why he thought that. However, her own table soon drew her in with their talk of sports, and she entered the discussion, curious to learn more about England's games. Few things in the world topped Crunchball, after all...

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As far as first days go, this one was pretty bad. Which is considerably bad, when one thinks about it. Holly had misread her schedule and taken the wrong books with her, and hadn't realized it until they were already halfway down. Her roommate, Alexa Swann, had offered to go back upstairs with her, but Holly had waved her off, telling her that she was good with directions.

That had been a good half an hour ago. After the stairs shifted for the eleventh time and another door ran, giggling, along the walls, Holly groaned out loud and almost threw her wand (made by Foaly, it was a slender, 8.5 inches, made of juniper, and had a core of technology that would work with her new genes to alter her magic to look like that of a regular witch's) at the door. It didn't help that the walls were quietly jibing her, making suggestions that made no sense.

Deciding to recover and recuperate for a bit, Holly turned into a girls washroom. She ambled to one of the sinks and stared at her reflection in the mirror. This was going to be harder than she thought.

Holly took a few deep breaths and almost left, when the day went from bad to worse.

A noise caught her attention, and Holly turned around and walked into Tom Riddle. She stumbled back a few steps before steadying herself, and stared up at him wide-eyed. What was he doing here?! How had she not heard him come in?

"Why aren't you in class?" Tom snapped, scowling.

Holly blinked a few times. "I - I got lost," she stammered. Mathias' words from the night before came back to her, and she tried to think quickly. However, she was in a secluded area and she had no witnesses nor any concealed weapons. Also, she couldn't as well fly or run away, as she didn't know where to go. She hated to resort to her very final weapon, but what other choice did she have?

"You got lost?" Tom growled.

"Yes." Holly bowed her head and looked up at him through her lashes. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked, sniffling the tiniest bit as she widened her hazel eyes.

"What?!" Tom suddenly paused, and looked thoughtful for a moment as if considering the idea. But then, he shook his head and scowled down at her. "No, I'm not going to kill you."

"Oh." In that case... Holly straighted, inhaling a little. She met his gaze and frowned as she gestured around them. "Look, I know you're a prefect and all that, but why are you in a girls' washroom?"

Tom opened his mouth to respond, but then shut it again. "Follow me," he said, curtly as he turned on his heel and left.

Holly fell into stride with him in the hallway. "Well?" she pressed. "Why were you in there?"

Tom didn't look at her. "It's none of your business, Ms. Short - "

"Call me Holly," Holly suggested, brightly.

Tom stopped and stared at her for a second as if she'd grown a second head. "Holly," he breathed after a moment. "I never want to discuss what just happened. Ever again. Is that understood?"

Holly raised her eyebrows. "Or...?" The look on Tom's face immediately made her regret it.

"Or," Tom continued. "I'll leave you to wander these hallways until you die of old age."

Oh, that was a good threat. Holly fearfully glanced back behind her at the labyrinth of hallways, suddenly feeling an immense hatred for castles. "Deal," she said, sheepishly.

Tom narrowed his eyes at her for a second and started walking again. "What class are you supposed to be in?"

"Charms." Growing bored, Holly stared sideways at him. "Why is everyone so afraid of you?"

Contrary to the maniacal chuckle she'd been expecting, Tom raised an eyebrow at her. "The charms classroom is far away from here. How did you get so off track - "

"It's the walls' fault," Holly pouted.

Tom stopped short. "The walls?" he asked, looking at her strangely.

"The walls," Holly confirmed, gesturing toward them. "They kept making suggestions, and it felt like they were really trying to help, but it just made me even more lost."

Tom stared at Holly for a long moment before his gaze shifted to the wall. One of the paintings had overheard her, and the couple in it looked worried. "Oh my, she's lost her mind," the young woman said.

It suddenly occurred to Holly that the walls had stopped talking.

Tom suddenly grabbed Holly's hand and started leading her to the classroom. "Walls don't talk. Someone was either playing a trick on you, or you're going mad."

"Well," Holly scoffed, stumbling behind him. "After the morning I've had..." She trailed off, she ran her eyes over the bricks. She could have sworn she'd heard them. "So the stairs and doors move, but the walls don't talk?"

"The walls are silent as stones," Tom confirmed. He jerked to a stop in front of the charms classroom. "Here you are."

Holly stared at him, confused. "How come you don't have class right now?"

Tom raised a hand to massage his temple. "Spare period," he answered simply. "Go."

Holly chewed on her lower lip for a second. "I can't."

"Why not?" Tom sounded exasperated.

Holly looked sheepish. "I don't have my text or any parchment for notes... I left them in my room, you see, that's why I went back up in the first place..."

Tom ran a hand through his dark hair, muttering beneath his breath. Honestly, this prefect status was too much trouble... He finally opened his own book bag, took out a pile of bound parchment and thrust it into her hands. "Go," he said, again, pointing at the door.

Holly stared at the parchment for a second then looked up at him. "I don't get it," she said. "Mathias said you..." She trailed off and cocked her head. "But you're being so nice."

Tom stared at her again, and his eyebrow twitched a little. "Nice?" he echoed, sounding a little feeble for a second. Suddenly, without warning, his hands were on her shoulders and he pulled her forward as he leant down so that his face was inches away from hers. "Nice?" he hissed again.

Dumbfounded, Holly nodded mutely. "You," she added, for good measure.

Tom scowled. "Holly, when the revolution comes, I will kill you first," he promised.

Holly stared blankly into his eyes. He had nice eyes; such a pretty colour, but he was making no sense. "Umm, Tom? What revolution?"

Tom cleared his throat and straightened, stepping away from her. "Go to class," he snapped again, before turning and leaving.

Holly stared after him for a second, pondering that she hadn't yet thanked him, before shrugging and obediently entering the classroom. The professor, one of the more forgiving ones, invited her to take a seat and she sat down amidst the Gryffindors who were gently ribbing her for missing forty five minutes of class.

The professor continued on with his lesson, and Holly straightened the messy pile of Tom's parchment, getting ready to take notes. Her eyes widened when a small black book, fell out from between the sheets of note parchment. Obviously, Tom hadn't been too careful when he'd blindly pulled out a handful of sheets for her. Holly smiled gleefully when she saw the words on the cover.

End of Ch. 1

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A/N

So ends the short first chapter of Holly At Hogwarts. I wrote it on WordPad and whilst high on Mr. Noodle - hopefully it didn't affect my spelling and grammar as much as I think it did.

I promise that this will get very funny (and very random), starting next chapter. Because, obviously, Holly now has Tom's diary.

Tell me what you think. I know that this isn't like the typical crossover fics.

Bonus Question: What was with the walls giving directions to Holly? Answer this correctly and give me any quote in your review, which I will try to work into the fic.

Review!

luv,

Creatress