AN: So I was at work and this kind of wouldn't leave my head. It's just a short (1,541 words) bit of me having fun with characters I don't really own. So, please enjoy and leave a review if you'd like to see maybe different one shots/continuations of this? :)

Holly Dorea Potter's time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had been, safe to say, complicated. On one hand, she considered the place her true home. On the other, she didn't really care for most of the people in the damn castle. She was either their Savior or some Dark Lady in the making, there was no in between with these people. This year was quite possibly worse than her second as she was chosen as a competitor in the Tri-Wizard Tournament—she never even entered herself in.

Ron, her first friend, was too much of a jealous prat to realize that people have died competing for the stupid thing and she had just been saying how she wanted a quiet year. She thought he might have some brain capacity to connect the dots that it's most likely a plot by Voldemort seeing as how every year there was something related to him afoot. But no. Of course not. Most of the students were whispering how it must be true that she entered herself on the sly since Ron was no longer talking to her. If she survived the first task and the bloody git tried to be her friend again… well then, he'd be in for a nasty shock. She valued loyalty in the few friends she had, and clearly he didn't have it.

A hand in front of her face appeared suddenly and disrupted her brooding. She blinked and looked at the hand, following it up to the owner: Fred Weasley.

"Hey, mate," Fred whispered with a smile. "Leave any books on the shelf?"

Holly looked at her table which was piled with upper level books on Charms, Transfiguration, and anything else she thought might help her then back to Fred with a dead pan face, "No, actually. You're shit out of luck."

"Blimey," he sat down unprompted. "Need any help with this?"

Holly hesitated. Fred and George were great fun, but they weren't that serious about anything other than pranks and quidditch. Then again, even if the two weren't serious about classes or exams they did take her safety seriously. They stole the Ford Angela and rescued her. They tried to catch her a few times in practices when they thought she was doing a dangerous maneuver. And, she reminded herself, she did think that they were secret geniuses playing a major prank on everyone. A genius could certainly help in this situation since Hermione was currently in one of her electives.

"Sure, thanks Fred." Holly smiled softly then chuckled at his look of shock.

"How do you know I'm not George?"

Holly flicked her eyes quickly around his face, the barely noticeable scar on his left eyebrow, his voice, his magic there were quite a few ways of how she knew the difference between the twins. Really it wasn't that hard. Putting the thought of how stupid and careless his family was, she quickly raised a dark brow and smirked, "I have my ways."

"Do you solemnly swear about those ways?"

"Trade secret, Ickle Fredikins. If you'll notice," She gestured to the table, "there isn't a parchment such as that in front of me."

"Right, right," Fred settled into his seat beside her. "So, what are you researching?"

Holly sighed deeply and miserably, "anything and everything. These guys are years ahead of me and grew up in the wizarding world. I'm not entirely sure what the task is and it's coming up too fast…"

Fred brightened up for a moment before he crept closer into her personal space. His face was so close to hers she could count all his freckles if she wanted to; which was a weird and distracting thought to have, so she shook it out of her head and focused on what he had to say instead. A feeling in the pit of her stomach told her she wouldn't like it, because as soon as he brightened up he got serious. A serious Weasley Twin was never a good thing.

"I would have thought Ron still had an ounce of sense in him to give you a warning, but I guess not." Holly looked down at her hands on the table, her unruly hair shielding her face for a moment before Fred moved it aside. "Our brother Charlie is coming for a visit."

Holly's face paled dramatically as her eyes widened. These people were mad. Absolutely mad. There was no other way to explain it. They wanted her to face a bloody dragon. She felt like she couldn't breathe for a moment, her test tightening up and she knew a panic attack was starting. She tried to slow her breathing like those library books she found the summer after first year— before she was locked up—told her to do. It wasn't working. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly. What was she going to do?! This was the end for her. Plain and simple. How would she even begin to plan how to face a dragon?

A hand rubbing gentle circles on hers and shushing noises entered her awareness and she realized she was in public. The mortification flooded her and she looked around quickly to see who was watching. Madame Pince had a careful eye on her, but most others were focused on their own work. Victor Krum was the only other one who appeared to be paying attention. He looked on understandingly, gave her a slight nod and went back to his own reading.

It was probably a book on dragons.

How mortifying; they already thought her a 'little girl' and she was freaking out in public. She bet she was the last to know the task. The slight slowing that had been happening started to speed up again. Her lips were being bitten to all hell, enough so that Fred was sure that they'd be bleeding, but she didn't even notice. Suddenly she was in arms and being moved to a corner of the library where typically no one visited: The history section.

"Deep breaths, Holly," she could tell that Fred was trying to remain calm for her, but she saw the panic in his eyes. She nodded her head, but it was so light she was getting dizzy. She gave a stuttering breath trying to follow his.

"I'm sorry," Holly muttered.

"Nothing to be sorry for, love." Fred had his arms wrapped around her and they were on the ground. She was between his legs, hers slung over his right and her head was on his chest. She had never been in a position like this before. She was a bit tense at first, but his left hand rubbing slow, gentle circles on her back relaxed her into him.

"I don't know anything about dragons," she moaned once her breathing was more regular. "Did Charlie ever tell you if the damn things are reptiles? Maybe they could understand parseltongue? Oh, no, but what if they speak a different dialect or something and I wind up offending it and getting burned to a crisp?!"

Fred chuckled lightly and Holly sat up a bit, her hair seemingly puffier and messier. "I'm not laughing at you, Holly, just the thing about dialects— it's something that only you would think of!"

Holly groaned miserably and shifted, suddenly more conscious about their position. Fred let her move as she pleased until she was sitting next to him. They were quiet for a moment both thinking about the dragon mess, and Fred could feel her getting worked up again.

"Want to go for a fly around the grounds?" Fred asked seemingly out of the blue.

Holly wanted to, very badly, but Hermione's voice was whispering in her head about how she needs to immediately start reading up on them. Any weaknesses they may have, any way to survive this. Fred smiled at her, only slightly crooked and kind and she found herself agreeing.

"We can always look up information later, but trust me you can't focus on that right now. You need something nice and light and fun!" He got up and offered her a hand, "Maybe a nice prank on a certain ginger afterwards?"

Holly laughed quietly, "Hermione will want to be there to help with the hard research since we know what I'm facing now."

"Exactly!" Fred cheered as he placed right arm over her shoulders, glad he could get a chuckle out of the petite girl. "Now off we trot for some fun. Maybe after we can stop by the kitchens, eh?"

Holly nodded along as they went back to her table to put her books away and came to an empty space. She stared for a good ten seconds, looking perplexed, but was tugged away by Fred. He already had her school bag over his left shoulder.

"But, but I need to say thank you to who—"

"To fun!" He said a bit louder, earning a reproachful look from Madame Pince that he shrugged off. Holly knew that when Fred was set on something that it would happen so she trotted for a second to catch up to her hand and the boy holding it.

"Alright; to fun," she echoed the older boy gratefully with a smile.