Chapter 28
Severus leant back in his armchair, staring into the fire. His quarters were mostly bare, with just a box of books, and his trusty armchair. The bed had actually come with the quarters, so he was going to leave it there.
The things for his lab were already at the house, not set up yet, though. He studied the fire, lost in thought, trying to sort things out.
Holly frowned as she received a letter the following day.
Harry,
This is Rita Skeeter- I received an anonymous note last night on some very, very important info. I wanted to give you a heads up, and see if you'd like to give me an exclusive that you promised me. Please reply promptly, time is of the essence.
Rita Skeeter
With a trembling hand, Holly shoved the note towards Severus, and left the Great Hall quickly. Severus caught up to her in the hallway, the note still in his hand. They glanced about, and ducked into an empty classroom.
"Do you think she found out?" Severus asked worriedly.
"I don't know." Holly said, burying her face in her hands. "I only just told Hermione and Luna yesterday, I never told anyone else. Maybe someone heard us? But we were in my office… I don't know."
Severus sighed. "Okay. Well, it's rather clear that the staff might know something is going on…if you can convince Rita to hold off on the article until after the term is over…"
"I think I can."
"Okay. First, you need to reply to her before she decides to go ahead and write about…us. Then we need to sit down with the Headmaster and see what we can do about this. There might be some backlash."
Holly gave him a slight nod. So, two hours later, the two of them were in the Headmaster's office. Holly was sitting, while Severus was pacing, waiting for the man to arrive.
One of the portraits spoke up. "Don't worry so much, young man, it's not like she's knocked up!"
The portraits twittered, and Holly flushed furiously. Severus glared at the portraits, and sat down. Albus entered the office not too much later, and smiled as he saw the two of them.
"And how are you two doing today?"
Severus cut right to it. "Rita Skeeter apparently has information, something about Holly. She sent a note to Holly today."
"Ah."
"I think she wants an exclusive, which was why she even bothered writing in the first place. Apparently she received an anonymous tip." Holly paused. "I don't know if it's about…" She glanced at Severus.
Albus spoke up. "About your relationship with Severus?"
Holly blushed. "It's not like we've been…you know."
Albus' eyes twinkled brighter. "Well, people might not see it that way, but I can see your concern."
"I suggested that we try to get Rita to hold off publishing the article until after term is over- the last day is tomorrow."
"Correct. I quite agree. What makes me wonder though, is how Rita got the information in the first place." The old man leant back in his comfy chair.
Severus spoke hesitantly. "I haven't actually…told anyone, but you clearly know about it, and I can pretty much see that most of the staff have drawn their own conclusions."
"You are quite right. Now, there might be some students whispering about it here and there, but I do not believe anyone believes it to be true. Yet. Now, I can call Rita now, and we can conduct the interview here…"
Holly spoke up. "Could…I do something first?" She bit her lip. "Do you still have that Ministry paperwork for the name change?"
Dumbledore smiled, and opened his drawer. "I believe I do."
Severus realized what Holly was doing. "If you change your name, that news will offset the news of our relationship…"
Holly nodded. "Right, so the focus won't entirely be on that." She said.
The interview was held that evening in the room where the Champions had gathered all those years ago. As soon as Rita came in, and saw Severus at Holly's side, her eyes lit up.
"Hello darlings." She greeted, winking at Severus. "I see my tip off was true!"
Severus' face was stony, and he crossed his arms over his chest. Holly sat down, and motioned to the seat across from them. Severus sat next to Holly in the loveseat, watching Rita carefully.
"None of those quills of yours." Severus said with a frown, handing over a quill of his own. Rita pursed her lips at this, but accepted the quill.
"So, Harry, would you like to know what I learned?"
Holly tilted her head. "Oh, you mean you don't know yet? I legally changed my name at the Ministry of Magic just this morning."
Rita's jaw dropped. She looked at the two of them, and shook her head, smirking. "Of course. And your new name, dear?"
"Holly." Holly said, watching Rita write it with a flourish. "Show me this note you received."
Rita held it out, and Severus snatched it from her before Rita could protest or blackmail them. Severus' eyes scanned the parchment, and he cast several spells to it.
"So Holly, tell me about this date that you and Severus went on recently?" Rita asked, expecting denials or anger, but there was none. Holly crossed her legs at her ankles.
"Well, this was actually our first date." Holly said, smiling. It was true. They had gone out before, but they had gone as…friends, or colleagues, then. "Severus and I became friends over the past year, and we only recently became interested in each other."
Rita raised a brow. "Now that, I don't believe. I heard that you two danced at the Yule Ball quite a bit."
"As friends. I didn't even have a date, and Severus escorted one of our coworkers." Holly said, frowning.
"And this coworker is…"
"It doesn't matter." Severus cut in. "Whoever wrote this knew what they were doing. Their magical signature is masked, they used ink and paper you could get anywhere, and they used a spell to disguise their handwriting."
"Of course they did." Rita said, rolling her eyes. "That's why it's anonymous. Don't you think I checked already?"
Rita sighed. "So, tell me about this date of yours."
Holly smiled, leaning forward a bit. "Well, we went to a festival, in a little village."
"And this village is?"
Severus shook his head. "You don't need to know that."
Rita frowned.
Holly went on. "There was lots of homemade food, carnival games, contests, things like that. While Severus and I knew each other just as friends, or colleagues, we thought going to something like this might be fun and we could learn about each other a bit more."
Rita raised a shapely brow. "Anything else? Was there a romantic dinner? A moonlit stroll? Anything?"
Holly shook her head, giggling at Rita's plight. "No. I had just finished my NEWTS that day, so it was really just nice to have some fun after all that studying." She glanced at Severus, smiling shyly at him. "Severus was very nice to me, a complete gentleman."
Rita tilted her head as she watched them, her quill still going. "Would you go on another date with him?"
Holly smiled. "Yes, I think so. Perhaps this summer?" She asked, purely for show. It was kind of unspoken between them that they were playing for keeps.
Severus gave her a curt nod, and Rita's eyes gleamed. "Well, instead of a scandal, I find a cute little love story." Rita said, making them break their gazes and look towards her. She was absolutely giddy.
"The girls at Witch Weekly would absolutely love this. So, Severus, it doesn't bother you that Holly used to be a boy?"
Severus shook his head. "No. I have always been with women before, and I think of Holly just like I would any other beautiful, intelligent woman."
Holly was touched by the compliment, and Rita ate it up. "What do you have in common?"
Holly and Severus exchanged a look. Severus spoke up first. "We have similar backgrounds." At Rita's perplexed look, Severus glanced at Holly.
Holly bit her lip. "We're both halfbloods that were raised in the muggle world."
Rita's eyes lit up at that. Not many people knew Severus grew up in the muggle world, even while he'd been a student. Considering he was Head of Slytherin House, and he was a Potions Master- Potions Masters were generally purebloods.
"How interesting." The woman leant forward. "What else do you have in common?"
"We like to read a lot of the same books." Holly pointed out. "We're always talking about some book we read up at the staff table- we often trade books as well."
Rita nodded, still writing. "And?"
Holly and Severus exchanged another look, and Rita studied them carefully, noting their eyes, and how they could read each other with a look- how could have no one seen this before?
"I respect Severus- I might have given him quite a bit of trouble when I was younger, but…" Holly chuckled. "But as I've gotten older, I got to know him better. I'm glad to call him my friend."
"And more?" Rita asked with a wry grin. "Where do you two see this going, if I may ask?"
Severus, in a rare show of public affection, took her hand in his, and Rita's eyes gleamed once more, quill quickening. "We're in no rush, but…"
"We'll just see where this goes." Holly finished, squeezing his hand.
Rita shook their hands, grinning madly. "Fantastic, fantastic, I've got plenty to work with! Well, I've gotta dash-"
"Rita?" Holly called after her, making the woman pause.
"Could you please wait until term is over to put the news out?" Holly asked sweetly. "You would just have to wait one day…"
Rita hesitated.
Severus continued. "If you do that, we would go to you for…another interview?" He wrapped his arm around Holly's shoulders, and Rita immediately thought of the opportunities- after all, there would be plenty of chances of romantic dates, perhaps announcements, oh, that would be too good!
"Oh, you've convinced me. I will wait one extra day- It'll give me more time to make your article extra special-" At their sharp looks, she backpedaled. "I won't misquote you."
"Better not." Snape muttered.
"Ta-ta dears, I should fly!" Rita scampered off before they could give her any more limitations. Severus exhaled, and Holly hugged him, burying her face in his chest.
"Thank you." Holly murmured. He raised his hand and placed it on the back of her head. She tilted her head up, and their eyes met.
Holly was rather nervous as she waited for the post to arrive. The students were rather rambunctious today, looking forward to the holidays. Severus was glaring into his teacup, worrying about the newspapers as well. Finally, the post arrived, and everyone started to get their newspapers.
One by one, students looked towards Holly with wide eyes, making Holly a bit antsy. Hedwig finally arrived with the Daily Prophet, and Holly opened it.
BOY WHO LIVED CHANGES NAME!
Holly rolled her eyes at this, hating the moniker. There was a picture of Holly on the front of the paper, a picture from the Yule Ball taken. She looked rather pretty in her dress. You could see the Headmaster at her side, and they were talking, not even noticing the camera.
The article talked about how the paperwork had been noticed in the Ministry the previous day, and that Harry had officially changed his name to Holly Jamie Potter. It wasn't really that big of a deal to Holly, as people had known about her gender change for months, and her friends and the staff members had been calling her Holly for a while now.
However, she was nervous about tomorrow. Hopefully the news from that day would help soften the blow.
As Holly left the table later that morning, she noticed Professor Sinastra was looking a bit peeved about something. She walked away- quickly.
Before everyone knew it, the students were packed up and preparing to leave. Holly was hugging Hermione tightly. It wasn't as though they weren't going to see each other again- Hermione was staying with her parents until she got a job. She'd gotten several offers, but hadn't accepted any just yet. She was seriously considering one offer- a Potions Mistress at St. Mungo's had gotten a recommendation from Professor Snape, and had offered an Apprenticeship to Hermione.
Holly knew it was very likely Hermione would take that one- she'd be terribly busy, but she would be doing something worthwhile.
"You better come and visit soon." Hermione murmured, hugging her back. "And tell me how things with you and Severus are."
Holly nodded quickly, and her best friend went on, and hugged Flitwick so hard she picked him up. Neville grinned as he shook hands with Holly.
"Well, we're finally finished."
Holly nodded. "So what are you going to do now?"
Neville shrugged. "I was thinking about doing a bit of traveling this summer." He glanced back to Draco, who was a bit further behind him in the line. "I'd like to go to South America, but Draco says he can't stand the humidity."
Holly giggled, and hugged Neville. "I hope things work out with you two. Write."
"Of course I will. I'll see you around, Professor."
Holly blushed. "I'm not a Professor." She mumbled, and Neville went on, and she shook hands with some of her classmates. Hannah and Susan were going to go on for Auror training at the Ministry, Zacharias was working for his Aunt in one of their offices, Lavender was going to work at Madam Malkin's, while Parvati was going to go work for Witch Weekly.
Padma was working with the Ministry as well, but she didn't say which Department, and some of the Slytherins were just going to live off of their parent's money for a while. Pansy pulled Holly into a big hug, making Holly squeak.
"I'm so happy we got to know each other, Holly." Pansy said with a smile, leaning back a bit. "Even though you're a Gryffindor, you're just as sneaky as the rest of us snakes." Holly couldn't help but laugh, and hug her again.
"The sorting hat wanted me in Slytherin, just letting you know." She breathed into Pansy's ear. Pansy pulled away, gasping in surprise.
"What?"
Holly gave a slight shrug, just smiling. Pansy shook her head. "You and I are going to write!"
"Of course."
"I'll be staying with my brother for a bit until I get a job, so I won't be in the country for a while. But that's no excuse- we've got floos and owl post. So I better hear from you." With a smirk, she added loudly. "And you better take care of Severus."
Holly flushed under inquisitive stares. Draco rolled his eyes, and bent down, kissing Holly's hand. "Have a good holiday, Miss Potter." He said formally. "And thank you for…everything, really."
Holly just smiled shyly at him. Draco looked at her thoughtfully. "Who would have known seven years ago things would have turned out like this?"
"Not me, that's for certain." Holly said, her smile widening.
"Well, I'm sure Longbottom told you that we'll be doing a bit of traveling, but unlike him, I've got a job to go back to in the fall. I'll be flying with the Tornadoes, and don't expect any free tickets."
Holly couldn't help but giggle now. "I come and watch whenever you guys have a game here in the UK. Treat Neville right, and good luck."
Draco gave her a clipped nod, and went on. The Seventh years started for the carriages, and Holly was surprised to get a great big hug.
"…Luna…what are you doing here?"
Bright silver eyes blinked at her, a grin widening. "I came to hug you."
Flitwick chuckled next to her. McGonagall cleared her throat. "Miss Lovegood, the carriages will be leaving soon."
Luna's arms didn't leave Holly, though. Luna smiled up at the girl. "We must go shopping this summer- I won't be leaving for Cairo until July, so we've got some time. I know we'll be seeing each other again next year too, but I can't hug my friend?"
Holly sighed, and hugged Luna back. "I'll write you soon, Luna."
Luna laughed, and skipped to the carriages, waving goodbye to the rest of the staff. As the carriages passed by, Holly felt Severus' arm wrap around her middle. Holly looked up at Severus, but the man was only looking at the carriages. He seemed somewhat… a strange combination of happy and sad.
The staff retreated to the castle, intending on doing some packing of their own, and making plans for the holidays. Holly curled into Severus' side, and the man wrapped his other arm around her.
Dumbledore smiled widely at the sight of them, nudging Minerva. The woman hid her smile, and tugged the Headmaster inside. Hagrid sniffled, and blew his nose into his handkerchief, effectively breaking Holly's and Severus' embrace.
Holly turned towards the doors, and was taken aback by the glare Sinastra was giving them. Her hand tightened in Severus'.
"She's just a child, Sev- she's not even a she! How could you be even attracted to her?"
The other staff members paused, and glanced at each other.
Severus drew himself up visibly. "Holly is mature for her age, and we've got a lot in common."
"Does she know how you like to-"
Severus' lips thinned, and he interrupted her before anyone else would find out things he didn't want them finding out. "Enough." He grabbed the woman by the arm roughly, and the three of them entered the castle.
He shoved Sinastra into the nearest empty room, and Holly closed the door behind them, staying there. Sinastra was so angry.
"Oh yeah, just shove me around, will you? I'm tired of being quiet about it! You're abusive, and you've got a temper- do you know what you're getting yourself into, Potter?" She hissed at Holly.
Holly went forward, and slid her hand into Severus'. She smirked slightly, melding into the man's side. Severus' tension eased a bit. "I am well aware of Severus' habits."
Sinastra's eyes widened.
"And it isn't abuse when it's consensual." Holly continued, and gave Severus a long, lingering kiss. Severus smirked into the kiss, knowing what she was doing. His hands slid down her back and groped her openly.
Sinastra made a choked sound, making them part.
"No…Severus, you and I were supposed to be…"
"You made it clear you did not want to be with me." Severus said flatly, eyes narrowed upon the woman. "Every glare you've given Holly, every petty comment- I've noticed. There is no way I would ever, ever be with you again."
The woman began to cry now. "I thought after getting Weasley to break into her room, and after tipping off Skeeter, I thought it would be enough, but…" She sobbed, and ran out of the room. Severus and Holly looked at each other, and Holly buried her face in Severus' shoulder. People were very stupid sometimes.
They should have realized that the staff members were the only ones to know where Holly's rooms were, and that it was not a very well kept secret among the staff that Severus and Holly were together now.
But Sinastra had finally seen that Severus was never, ever going to be with her again.
Holly sighed as she entered Grimmauld Place, her trunks and things at her feet. She stared at the dusty kitchen, and her shoulders sank. At the moment, Severus was packing the last of his things, and would be at the Farm by this evening.
Holly sat on top of her trunk, sighing sadly. He hadn't asked her to move in, but he hadn't asked her to stay away either. In fact she was supposed to come over that night. Holly smiled, and got up, rooting through her trunk for her stash of muggle money.
After a bit of grocery shopping, Holly set about making something for dinner tonight. It was likely that Severus wouldn't even think about dinner, and they would probably have to go out.
Holly had every intention of staying in tonight.
I know some of you guys guessed that the news would get out- I hope I'm not getting predictable! Haha.
I hope you guys liked the chapter. Thanks for reading, and please review.
