CH 3: Life with Lockhart
Hagrid lumbered down the dark alleyway toward Hollie.
"What're yeh doing down in Knockturn Alley, Hollie? Let's get yeh out of here. Don't want nobody to see you. This place is bad news," Hagrid said before forcefully steering Hollie down the avenue.
"So then why are you here, Hagrid?" Hollie asked.
"You know, this and that," Hagrid said, waving her off.
Soon, the dark pavement gave way to the cheery cobblestones of Diagon Alley. They were now in front of Gringotts.
"Hollie!" Came an excited squawk and a whirlwind of brown hair was suddenly embracing Hollie.
"Hermione!" Hollie said breathlessly.
"Are you alright? What happened at the Dursleys?"
Hollie filled her in on the Dursleys , Dobby, and the Draco Malfoy theory. Hermione listened to everything with rapt attention.
"Tha's why yeh haven't been answering my letters then, eh?" Hagrid added at the end of Hollie's explanation.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it were Malfoy who sent that house elf, you know," Hermione stated with pursed lips. "You should just avoid him. He's always trying to get you into trouble."
"Well, I would avoid him if he avoided me," Hollie said stubbornly.
"So, Hollie," Hagrid said. "What were yeh doing in Knockturn Alley by yerself?"
"I got separated from the Weasleys. I messed up on my first time traveling with Floo powder," Hollie explained. "I should probably go find them."
"I don't think that will be necessary," Hermione observed, looking up the street at a red-headed family running through the crowd.
"Hollie! Thank goodness," Mrs. Weasley gasped breathlessly, patting Hollie on the shoulder.
"We were hoping you had only gone one grate too far," Mr. Weasley said in relief.
"Where'd you end up?" Ron asked.
"Some place called Knockturn Alley?" Hollie said.
"Cool!" Ron breathed whilst Fred, George and Eli looked awed.
"Mum never lets us go there," Fred lamented.
"I would hope not," Hagrid stated gruffly. "I found her outside Borgin n' Burkes. Well, I'll be leavin' now. Gonna leave Hollie here with you then now that I know she's safe."
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley thanked Hagrid profusely as he left.
"You didn't touch anything in Borgin and Burkes, did you?" Mr. Weasley asked worriedly.
"No, but I did see the Malfoys there," Hollie replied.
"Lucius?" Mr. Weasley questioned. "Did he buy anything?"
"No, he said he was selling."
"Good. That means he's afraid of my Muggle Protection Act," Mr. Weasley said with a smug smile.
"The Malfoys are nothing but trouble," Mrs. Weasley said sternly—Hermione gave Hollie a significant look. "Don't go getting involved with them."
"You don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" Mr. Weasley asked, sounding offended.
"Hermione?" Hermione's parents had wandered over uncertainly from Gringotts.
"Muggles," Mr. Weasley said rapturously as he noticed Mr. and .
"I'll introduce you later," Hermione said to Hollie and Ron in regards to her parents, who were currently being questioned by an eager Mr. Weasley.
The group headed off to Gringotts to withdraw some gold, separating into three groups. Hollie and the Weasleys headed off to the back towards their separate vaults and the Grangers went off to the counters to exchange their Muggle money for wizarding gold.
Once they were prepared, the group split up yet again. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried Ginny off to Madam Malkin's for her robes. Percy muttered something about needing a new quill before heading to the stationary store. Fred and George ran into Lee Jordan, their friend from school. Eli was spotted by a rather large group of friends who steered him off with them. This left Ron, Hollie, and Hermione with the Grangers.
"Mum, dad," Hermione began before gesturing to Hollie and Ron. "These are my best friends: Hollie Potter and Ron Weasley."
Ron's ears went red at the tips as the result of being introduced as a best friend.
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Granger. It's great to meet you!" Hollie greeted.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Granger," Ron said with his voice a little higher than usual.
"Hello Hollie and Ron, we've heard a lot about you two from Hermione," Mrs. Granger said warmly.
"Any friends of Hermione's are welcome to visit any time," Mr. Granger insisted as his wife nodded in agreement.
"Oh dear, did he forget something?" Mrs. Granger asked concernedly, gazing behind Hollie, Ron, and Hermione.
The three friends turned to see Mr. Weasley sprinting back up the street toward them.
"Almost forgot!" Mr. Weasley said with a grin. "You simply must come join me for a drink!"
Mr. Weasley then whisked away the confused Mr. and Mrs. Granger.
"Meet up at Flourish and Blotts in an hour, you three!" Mr. Weasley called back at Hollie, Ron, and Hermione.
"Tell us what happened in Knockturn Alley!" Ron said enthusiastically once the three of them were alone.
"Yes, but tell us in the Apothecary, won't you? I need to restock my Potions kit," Hermione stated.
As the trio headed off to different shops and stocked up on school supplies, Hollie filled them in on her experience in Knockturn Alley.
An hour later, they were stepping through the doors of Flourish and Blotts.
"They're quite busy today," Hermione observed.
A lengthy line of patrons weaved all throughout the shop. The harried-looking employees were all surrounded by a group of at least five customers each.
"A bit of an understatement," Ron said.
"This is probably why," Hollie stated, noticing a sign which read Gilderoy Lockhart Book Signing.
The name was very familiar to Hollie who felt as if she'd seen it recently.
A funny squealing sound came from Hollie's left side.
"Hermione, what was that?" Ron asked incredulously.
"It's Gilderoy Lockhart! He practically wrote the entire book list this year," Hermione exclaimed.
"So that's where I've seen the name before!" Hollie said.
"Not just that! He's been in many wizarding publications recently. There was an amazing interview with the Daily Prophet and a spread in Witch Weekly about his life," Hermione breathed.
"Why do you even know this?" Ron questioned.
"Of course, I subscribe to them, Ron. It's so good to keep up with the times."
"Hey, looks like everyone made it here before us," Hollie said gesturing to the rest of their group, who were waiting in line.
The three friends snaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys were waiting with Hermione's parents. As they neared the front of the line, Mrs. Weasley's enthusiasm grew to almost match Hermione's.
"Mum fancies him," Fred whispered none too quietly.
Gilderoy Lockhart soon came into view in all his purple-robed glory. A paunchy man was busily snapping photos.
"Out of my way, boy! This is for the Prophet!" He barked at Ron as he stepped backwards onto Ron's foot.
"Maybe you should watch where you're going. You ran into him," Hollie snapped at the photographer in Ron's defense.
The photographer looked at Hollie in irritation before he was struck with recognition. He gaped at Hollie and stopped his photo-taking. The sudden lack of photos being taken caught Lockhart's attention and he looked at his photographer—then he looked at Hollie.
"Is that Hollie Potter?!" Lockhart exclaimed loudly.
A multitude of people turned to stare at Hollie and there was a sudden upsurge of chatter.
Lockhart bounced up and pulled Hollie to his side. He then gestured meaningfully to his photographer who immediately began snapping photos of a beaming Lockhart and a baffled Hollie.
"What an honor to have Hollie Potter as a fan of my books! Which I am going to provide to her—free of charge!" Lockhart boomed to the crowd, who cheered in admiration.
He then handed a now thoroughly embarrassed Hollie an entire stack of his books along with a short stack of signed photos of himself. After another forced photo op, Hollie made a beeline back toward the Weasleys and the Grangers who were now waiting at the front of the store.
"Well, that was uncalled for," Hollie declared, still pink-faced.
Fred, George, Eli, and Ron looked as if they were holding in their laughter. Percy was immersed in a book that was entitled Prefects Who Gained Power. Hermione looked a tinge jealous but that was easily remedied as Hollie handed her the stack of signed headshots of Lockhart.
Hollie then made her way over to the corner where Ginny was standing with her new cauldron. Once close enough, Hollie tipped her Lockhart books into Ginny's cauldron.
"You take these. I'll go get my own set," Hollie muttered.
"Donating to the poor, Potter?" Drawled the voice of Draco Malfoy.
"Just go away, Malfoy," Hollie said irritably.
"Bet you just loved that photo shoot," Malfoy sneered. "Famous Hollie Potter can't even go into a bookstore without making the front page."
"Leave her alone! She didn't want any of that!" Ginny said, glaring at Malfoy.
Hollie stared at her in shock.
"You're obviously another Weasley. Just look at that dreadful cauldron of yours," Malfoy spat at Ginny.
"What did you just say to my little sister?" Eli questioned coldly from behind Malfoy.
Malfoy paled quite a bit as he turned and noticed four of Ginny's older brothers glaring down at him. Fred, George, Eli, Ron, and Hermione had walked over to join Hollie and Ginny.
"Try saying it again, you little twit," Fred dared.
"What are you kids doing?" Mr. Weasley asked, making his way over to them. "It's too crowded in here. Let's go outside."
"Well, well, well… If it isn't Arthur Weasley," Lucius Malfoy stated as he came to stand by his son, Draco.
"Lucius," Mr. Weasley said in a strained tone.
"It's strange to see you in a shop, Arthur. Are they paying you better at the ministry these days?"
Mr. Malfoy then reached into Ginny's cauldron and withdrew a battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
"Obviously not," he drawled condescendingly. "What's the point in being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"
Mr. Weasley went red with suppressed anger.
"We have a very different idea of what's considered a disgrace to the name of wizard," Mr. Weasley bit out tensely.
At this moment, Mr. Malfoy noticed the Grangers standing behind Mr. Weasley.
"My, my, the company you keep. And here, I thought your family could sink no lower," Mr. Malfoy managed to snarl before Mr. Weasley bludgeoned him with Ginny's cauldron.
Mr. Malfoy was knocked back into a bookshelf, which wobbled dangerously, sending a few textbooks tipping toward the ground. Mr. Weasley gave him no time to recover and chucked An Encyclopedia of Toadstools at him, hitting Mr. Malfoy in the eye. Mr. Malfoy retaliated by whacking Mr. Weasley in the mouth with his cane.
"ARTHUR, NO!" Mrs. Weasley screeched.
"Gentlemen, please," begged the poor shop assistant.
Mr. Weasley was still lobbing any book he could get his hands on at Mr. Malfoy who did his best to either dodge them or swing wildly at them with his cane.
"Get him, dad!" Fred and George encouraged.
"Alrigh' there gents, break it up," Hagrid ordered, prying them apart by the scruffs of their collars.
Both men were breathing harshly and glaring at each other. Mr. Weasley had a split lip and Mr. Malfoy's left eye was rapidly bruising.
"Here, girl—take your book," Lucius Malfoy spat out, tearing himself out of Hagrid's grip and thrusting Ginny's Transfiguration book at her. "It's the best your father could give you."
"Come, Draco," Lucius Malfoy called and after one last glower in Hollie's direction, Draco followed after his father.
Both the Malfoys left the shop with contemptuous glares on their faces and their heads held high. Hollie tried to restrain her grin at the comedic juxtaposition of Lucius Malfoy's purpling eye and haughty expression.
The group left the shop not too long after with Mrs. Weasley berating her husband all the way to the Leaky Cauldron. They bid farewell to the thoroughly shaken Grangers before gathering around the fireplace to Floo back to the Burrow.
The rest of the summer vacation breezed by and ended far too quickly. Mr. Weasley showed Hollie the flying Ford Anglia in detail and she watched as he used reparo to undo the damage to the window. Hollie decided she'd have to practice that spell once she got back to Hogwarts. Hedwig was kept active delivering letters back and forth between Hermione and Hollie.
Hollie spent the days lazily doing her schoolwork around the Burrow. In the evenings, they sometimes played quidditch in the pasture out back, making sure to fly low to keep from being spotted. At night, she lay to sleep in a quiet room as Ginny went back to being painfully shy around Hollie, despite standing up for her in Flourish and Blotts.
Before she knew it, Hollie was packing up her trunk for the school train the next day. Everyone was told to sleep early as they'd be starting tomorrow at sunrise. However, despite the fact that the family was up at dawn the next day, they were still running late.
The morning was chaos with multiple collisions on the stairways and missing knickknacks from school bags. The drive there was interrupted twice. In the driveway, Ginny realized she'd forgotten her new diary and once they'd gotten on the motorway, Fred and George had wanted to go back for their fireworks.
By the time they finally got to the station, there was hardly enough time left. With ten minutes to go before the train departed, the Weasleys began crossing the barrier. First to go was Percy, then Fred and George. Eli went next and was soon followed by Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley escorting Ginny. This left Ron and Hollie with barely five minutes to make it onto the train.
With a nod at each other to indicate the coast was clear, they both charged forward with their carts. Without warning, their carts connected with the very solid barrier. There was a thunderous crash as their carts bounced back from the impact, sending Ron, Hollie, and all their belongings flying.
Hollie ran desperately after Hedwig's cage, which was rolling away as Hedwig squawked indignantly inside, attracting the attention of everybody nearby. Hollie made it back in time to hear Ron tell the irate station worker that they'd lost control of their carts.
"Why won't it let us in?" Ron whispered urgently in regards to the barrier after they'd recovered all their stuff.
"I dunno," Hollie said. "Have you ever heard anything about this happening before? We're going to miss the train!"
"It never happened before, even when Bill and Charlie were going to school!" Ron said frantically.
The station clock showed they had one minute left to board the train. Both Hollie and Ron pushed their carts right up against the barrier determinedly but to no avail. There were only a few seconds left… Three… Two… One…
"The train's left," Ron said, slumping back against the barrier in shock. "What if Mum and Dad can't make their way back to us either? Do you have any Muggle money?"
"The Dursleys giving me pocket money? Hasn't happened since I was five when they made me go buy Dudley some ice cream from the 'foreign' ice cream man," Hollie replied with a dead look in her eyes.
"What are we going to do?" Ron bemoaned.
At this moment, Hedwig gave a soft hoot as if sensing Hollie's distress.
"Of course! We can send a letter to McGonagall. Maybe someone can come help us," Hollie exclaimed.
Ron and Hollie tore through their luggage in search of parchment and a quill. Hollie wrote a quick note explaining their situation. Hedwig held out her leg patiently as Hollie secured the note, sensing that this was important. Hedwig took off quickly.
"Well, do you want to go find some place to sit down?" Ron asked as Hedwig disappeared from view.
"Sure," Hollie replied.
They found a nice spot in an alleyway away from the view of Muggles in case McGonagall really did send someone to help them. They passed the time with Hollie teaching Ron how to play I Spy.
Soon, there came a pop of someone apparating from the end of the alley. Ron and Hollie scrambled to their feet, relief flooding through them. That relief was soon crushed as they recognized the impeccable blond locks and the thousand-watt smile. What was he even doing here? The man looked around him in confusion before he spotted Hollie and Ron.
"Hollie Potter! We meet again!" Lockhart announced as he approached looking extremely pleased yet surprised to see her.
"Wh—" Was all Hollie could muster in reply while Ron just stared in disbelief.
"Now, now," Lockhart eased. "This may come as a great surprise. So, try to control your enthusiasm but Hogwarts has the honor of welcoming a new professor this year—yours truly!"
Both Hollie's and Ron's jaws dropped open.
"Yes. I'd imagined that response!" Lockhart said boisterously. "Well, imagine my surprise when my first assignment would be rescuing you two from trouble! My colleague, McGonagall, will be most grateful that I accepted this request. I am known to be the best at rescues but of course, I think you could glean that information from reading any one of my widely-acclaimed, best-selling volumes!"
Lockhart winked heartily. Hollie and Ron were still both silently processing the ridiculous situation. Lockhart looked up and down the alleyway dramatically before grabbing an arm from Hollie and an arm from Ron. He then spun forcefully and Hollie felt the air from her lungs being expunged as the alleyway blurred into nothingness.
After a moment of an uncomfortable tightness as they traveled through darkness, Hollie felt herself falling into an icy expanse. Hollie began panicking once she realized she'd fallen into a body of water. Her heart slammed to a stop. Adrenaline then flooded her system, sending her heart into overdrive. Instinctively, she kicked her feet in an effort to reach the surface only to realize that the bottom was not far. Hollie immediately stood and her head broke the surface of the water. She began gasping in air frantically in an effort to steady her pounding heart.
"Hollie!" Ron called worriedly. He waded over to her and dragged her out of the shallow water quickly. On the shore, he made sure her breathing steadied before pushing himself back up to his feet.
"What was that about?" Ron asked Lockhart angrily.
"Hmm, well that wasn't supposed to happen," Lockhart said with a frown. "But we did make it to Hogwarts!"
"Yes, well, I don't think the shallows of the Great Lake counts as a good choice of apparition points," Ron said bitingly.
"Well, we're almost there. Should be a breeze from here," Lockhart beamed.
"I'd rather just walk," Ron stated.
"What about our luggage?" Hollie called out from behind them, having calmed down.
"You had luggage?" Lockhart asked.
Hollie and Ron were so taken aback that their anger didn't kick in until after almost a full minute of silence. Before either of them could speak another word, Lockhart had once again latched onto their arms.
"NO!" Hollie and Ron shouted as Lockhart turned and the squeezing darkness once again enclosed them.
Hollie shut her eyes in dreadful anticipation. As the tight coils around her chest lightened, Hollie was at least appreciative that they were deposited onto solid ground this time.
"Well, this isn't what I expected," Lockhart said nervously.
Hollie snapped her eyes open. They were in the shadows of a great willow tree. She let out a breath in relief but sucked that breath right back in as the boughs of the tree bent back and shook menacingly. The leafy arms swung wildly like lithe whips.
She turned wide eyes to Ron, who had also seen the tree move. Ron turned to look at her. He looked astonished but his surprise morphed into fear as he gazed at something beyond Hollie.
"HOLLIE!" Ron shouted as he dove towards her.
Before Ron could reach her and before Hollie could even turn her head, there was a rushing sound from behind her followed by a blunt, powerful pain to the back of her head. Everything faded to black.
When Hollie regained consciousness, the first thing she realized was that she was dry. There was a slight stinging in the back of her head and everything came flooding back. Hollie sat up quickly.
She was in the hospital wing.
"Hey, are you alright?" Ron asked from the cot next to hers.
Hollie noticed that he was also dry and mostly unscathed apart from a few scratches on his face and a sling around his arm.
"What happened?" Hollie questioned.
Ron scoffed.
"Lockhart apparated us underneath something called the Whomping Willow. It whomped you in the back of the head and you were knocked out. McGonagall found us after about five minutes of us trying to dodge that evil tree. I'm just glad it didn't continue to hit you once you went down."
The door slammed open at this point and Madam Pomfrey marched in with Professor McGonagall.
"Miss Potter, Mr. Weasley. Are you alright?" McGonagall questioned.
"Yes, professor," both Hollie and Ron answered.
"Well, let's check on you," Madam Pomfrey said as she began examining Hollie's head.
After a few questions about what Hollie remembered, Madam Pomfrey deemed her healthy and moved on to Ron. Hollie watched as she removed the sling from Ron's arm and bent it experimentally. When Ron showed no signs of discomfort, she moved on to his scratches. She dabbed a potion across them and Hollie watched as they smoked at the edges and came to a close.
"Er… Professor," Ron began. "Were you able to see if my wand was fixed? Professor Lockhart said he would be able to fix it."
"Sorry, Mr. Weasley. Damage of that extent would be irreversible. Try writing home for a new wand."
Ron looked hung his head and twiddled with the pieces of his wand, deep in thought.
"Do you know why the barrier wouldn't let us through, professor?" Hollie inquired.
"We do not know the reason why but I do commend you two for your quick thinking in sending Miss Potter's owl. I had originally intended to meet you in the station as soon as I got your note but alas, my newest colleague insisted on retrieving you and disappeared before I could," McGonagall explained with irritation marring her features. "Once I made it to the station, I met up with your parents, Mr. Weasley. We couldn't find any sign of you two apart from your luggage in an alleyway, which is waiting for you in your rooms."
"Thank you, professor," Hollie said in relief. "Are the other students here already?"
"They should still be downstairs at the feast, there's about twenty minutes left. If you both feel better, I suppose you could go join them downstairs. If you want to rest here, I'll have food sent up for you."
To Madam Pomfrey's dismay, Hollie and Ron opted for joining their classmates in the Great Hall. She had wanted to keep them to monitor their health but let them leave with multiple reminders to come back if anything felt wrong.
As they left the hospital wing, Hollie pressed Ron for more details on what had happened after she'd been knocked out.
"Lockhart and I could only try to dodge the tree from hell. One of its bigger branches got my right side and broke my arm and my wand in one hit. Lockhart got walloped pretty hard a few times as well. Then McGonagall came and got us out of there. She stretchered you and I to the hospital wing and yelled at Lockhart pretty harshly about endangering students. When she told him to head to the hospital wing, he was saying stuff like 'just a few scratches' and 'it'll take more than that to bring him down' or whatever."
"I wish we could've just taken the train to school," Ron said wistfully and Hollie wholeheartedly agreed.
They entered the Great Hall and easily spotted Hermione's bushy hair amongst the other Gryffindors.
"Where were you two? You missed the sorting," Hermione inquired as Ron and Hollie took seats next to her at the table. "Just so you know, Ron… Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor too."
Hermione pointed down the table to Ginny who was squeezed in amongst several other small first years. Hermione then stared at them, waiting for an explanation. After several minutes of both of them eating voraciously, they finally managed to fill her in.
"Well, everyone makes mistakes sometimes," Hermione said uneasily in response to their narration of Lockhart's incompetence.
The three of them glanced up at the teachers' table where Lockhart was scratched and bandaged and exuberantly chatting with the professors nearest him, waving his hands dramatically. Probably over-exaggerating something or another, Hollie figured.
"Hermione, I don't even think him finding us in the alleyway was on purpose," Ron said disbelievingly.
"True, seems just like him to accidentally apparate into a random alleyway instead of the station," Hollie said, chuckling. "I wonder if he wears crazy obnoxious robes all the time because he's always apparating into the wrong clothing shops."
Ron guffawed before adding, "I hope he tries apparating to his lessons. That way, we wouldn't have to sit through them."
Hermione frostily returned to her meal as Hollie and Ron continued berating Lockhart's magical abilities.
After dinner, the Gryffindors crawled through the portrait hole after Prefect Percy informed them that the password was 'Billywig.'
Hollie and Hermione made their way up the stairs to the girls' dormitories and entered the second years' room along with Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.
"How was the train ride? Wish I could've been there," Hollie asked Hermione.
"Why? You'd rather sit there with Neville and his wandering toad, Trevor, wondering where your best friends are while Malfoy drops by every now and then to throw you a rude gesture?" Hermione retorted bitterly.
The other three girls in the dormitory were struck with surprise. Hollie was the first to recover, due to her mounting irritation.
"What's your problem? Are you actually jealous of my 'lovely' adventure with Lockhart?" Hollie asked incredulously.
Lavender and Parvati unashamedly listened in to their escalating argument.
"I just don't get why you and Ron have to bash on him like that. You don't even know anything about him," Hermione criticized.
"Oh, and you do?" Hollie demanded. "I read his books too, Hermione. It's just all the stuff he says he's done. You'd judge his character based on his books rather than my experiences?"
"Well, isn't it just the same? Your word is just the stuff you say you experienced."
Hollie very nearly lost her temper at this statement. At this point, Parvati interjected.
"Hey, if Hollie says he's not who his books say he is, then I believe Hollie," Parvati stated. "I know her better than Lockhart and she's never lied before."
"Why would he have sold so many books if it weren't true?" Lavender asked defensively.
"Besides, he seems like an amazing person. He looked so good with those scratches and bandages. They're probably proof of his heroics."
Hermione nodded at this and Hollie scoffed.
"How obnoxious of him when Madam Pomfrey could've easily healed them," Hollie said.
Lavender and Hermione bristled.
"He's probably much more than you think he is. You probably just got a bad first impression. I think you shouldn't judge him based on just one afternoon with him," Hermione lectured.
"That's rich coming from someone who has never even met him once. How could you know what he's like? Are you sure you don't just like him because of his looks, Hermione?" Hollie said scathingly.
At the look on Hermione's face, Hollie instantly regretted saying what she had in the way that she had. Right before Hollie could apologize, the look on Hermione's face hardened.
"What do you care? Because of him, you made the front page of the Daily Prophet after all," Hermione bit out.
Well, after that statement, Hollie was definitely not going to apologize anymore. Both girls huffed and pointedly turned away from the other.
Hollie lay there fuming for most of the night, too upset to notice that the room was absent of its usual sounds of deep breathing indicating that none of the other girls were sleeping either.