Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
PLANNING THE TRIP TO FORKS took longer than Holly had anticipated. First was finding the right house.
Coincidentally, the Evans family had owned a nice moderate cottage in a secluded area of the town Forks, which was small. The family there had left, but the house remained and was void of any residents. That was easily dealt with as Kreacher went there and checked the house for any reason it could not be used. There were none.
They went onto the transportation problem. They could apparate, but it would have been noticed by the ministry. However, with Amelia Bones as the current Minister of Magic, she might prevent the paparazzi from following them. Legally, of course. There was the option of a portkey, but Neville turned that down too, pointing out that that could be tracked by a ministry member as well. They weren't going to risk muggle transportation, either.
"It'll be too easy for someone to follow us with that, too," Holly pointed out. "I think it's best if Kreacher appartates us. The ministry can't track him. Right, Kreacher?"
"If that is what Mistress Potter wishes, Kreacher can do it," the House-Elf promised dutifully.
"Excellent. So we all agree on our form of transportation?"
"Agreed," Luna and Neville said in unison.
Unfortunately, the entire day had been consumed by resolving those two conflicts, which led to Kreacher yelping as he saw what the time was.
"Mistress Potter, Lovegood, and Lord Longbottom must sleep!" he insisted, shoving them all upstairs. "It is past 9:00! We all will talk in the morning, now sleep!"
Luna and Holly went into Holly's room as Neville went into his. Holly's room was actually Sirius's, which still had all the Gryffindor decorations, rock band posters, and the muggle girls in bikinis, too, which never ceased to make the girls burst out into raucous giggles at the ludicrousy Sirius had as a teenager. Tonight was no different.
"For someone so old, Kreacher has some mad strength," Luna giggled.
"I know right?" Holly agreed. In a more serious tone, she added, "But we should probably go to sleep—I want to get out of here as soon as possible."
The girls had a routine before going to sleep—a routine so embarrassing, they had yet to tell Neville.
Every night before bed, they'd open a secret compartment in one of Sirius's drawers (which had previously contained cigarettes and CDs of rock bands from the 70s) and pull out two bottles of dreamless sleep potion.
It was a humiliating secret they shared between themselves. The nightmares were too much to handle, especially for Holly, so the only solution the girls had found was to chug a potion every night so as to not look half-dead in the morning and raise too much suspicion from Kreacher and Neville.
That night, they both did have a dreamless sleep (obviously), courtesy of the knockout drug-like potion. It only felt like a few seconds until the bright sunlight was suddenly bestowed upon them.
"Wake up, Mistress Potter. Wake up, Lady Lovegood."
"Huh?" Holly groggily mumbled. When her vision cleared a bit, she saw Luna still rubbing her eyes, getting rid of the remnants of sleep. "What?"
"We is going to Forks," Kreacher squeaked. "We must be getting ready, Mistress."
"But...packing," Luna protested confusedly. Holly mentally agreed, but was too tired to verbally voice it.
"Lord Longbottom has already finished his, Lady Lovegood," answered the House-Elf, making Holly's bed as she stumbled along to help Luna's with hers. "We must be finishing yours soon."
"When—when will we l—l—l—leave?" Holly yawned, stretching her arms over her head.
"As soon as you two finish packing," Neville's voice came from the doorway.
Luna bounded over, graceful as ever, and placed a kiss on his cheek. Holly smiled, not being able to help the feeling of jealousy bubble up inside her. As a distraction, she grabbed a green top and black sweatpants from her wardrobe and went into the adjoined bathroom to change.
After she changed, Luna went in and Holly helped Kreacher with packing her bags magically. Luckily, Andromeda had shown her how to make all her clothes neatly pack themselves, including the socks. They quickly gobbled up a breakfast consisting of bacon sandwiches and orange juice before finally finishing all the girls' packing.
Kreacher vanished all the suitcases first, taking what the rest of them couldn't carry before apparting back in place to take them in side-along Apparition. Holly's nauseous feeling wherever she apparated had faded over time, so she barely felt anything apparating out into another continent. They landed on their feet on mushy green grass which was slightly mossy, as was the rest of the natural area surrounding them.
The house wasn't far off, just behind a few trees in front of them. It was truly a marvelous house to live in. Maybe not a mansion like Potter Manor, or a castle like Hogwarts, but to fit in as transfer students and muggles, it was perfect.
The cottage was two-storied with a quaint but overgrown garden that desperately needed trimming. Ivy had taken over the walls and the roof, making the door barely visible while grass, wildflowers, and fern grew to their knees. The picket fence was smeared with some green, which messed up the pure white it had previously been. Worst of all, tiny rodents were scurrying around, panicked by the sudden entrance of the wizard, witches, and House-Elf.
"Ugh!" Holly groaned. She'd never let her hatred and disgust of rats die down after Pettigrew was exposed to her.
Luna walked a few steps ahead of them and put her hands on her hips. "Well, looks like we've got our work cut out for us."
"Kreacher is sorry, Mistress," apologized the guilty House-Elf. "Kreacher only checked the inside, not the outside."
"It's fine, Kreacher," Neville said, his eyes sparkling at the prospect of the challenge ahead of him. The teen rubbed his hands together, and smiled. "We made a good choice, coming here a month before the school year begins. We have plenty of time to spruce things up around here."
Holly and Luna helped Kreacher lug the bags inside while Neville, his wand at the ready and herbology book in his hand, set to work in the garden. Holly began to take (read: levitate) her and Luna's bag up the stairs to their bedrooms (yes, they had decided to have separate bedrooms now). She placed her bags in her room and floated Luna's in hers, which was coincidentally right across from Neville's.
She smirked, knowing that those two were going to be taking their relationship awkwardly slow, mostly Neville. It was expected, seeing as it was their first relationship, and it reminded her painfully of...her and him.
What was he doing now? Holly found herself wondering.
Shaking her head, she unpacked her clothes, hanging all the ones in the bag labeled HANG in her walk-in closet and folding the ones in the bag marked as FOLD on her bed, which Kreacher had already set up for her. It didn't take long. The Dursleys had given her enough practice for any household chore to last her a lifetime.
"HOLLY!" she heard Neville holler.
"WHAT?"
"GET DOWN HERE!" he responded.
"NOW!" Luna added.
The redhead rolled her eyes before taking the steps two at a time and entering the living room. Luna and Neville were seated on the couch next to a middle-aged man with brown hair and a Chevron mustache. He was wearing a dark brown jacket over a gray shirt and brown pants. He smiled when he noticed Holly enter the room, but looked suspicious of her age.
"Good afternoon, miss," he said. "The name's Charlie Swan, Chief of Police. Just wanted to welcome you to Forks. Hope you don't mind your friends letting you in."
Holly smiled. "Not at all," she assured him and her friends, who grinned. "Would you like something to drink?"
"No, thank you."
Holly smiled faintly again at how awkward Chief Swan looked. She turned to Luna and discreetly mouthed: Kreacher?
Luna pretended to brush a strand of hair out of her face as she replied. Hiding in the kitchen.
Finally, Neville said, "My friend told me you might stop by. It's alright if you're here to ask questions—we won't be offended. I doubt you get many people moving to Forks from overseas."
Luna gave him the go-to to sit down on the couch. He smiled in relief and scratched his hair as he sat down gratefully. "So...why Forks, of all places? I would've thought that someone coming to America for the first time might've gone to New York or even Los Angeles."
Holly wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Those are big cities, though. I like peace, not chaos. And a simple, quiet life is all I'm looking for now."
"And I plan to major in Botany," Neville chipped in helpfully. "My girlfriend's planning on getting a degree in Folklore and Mythology."
Luna nodded, entwining her hand with Neville's. "That's right. Honestly, everything's been so crazy in England. So many deaths and lives lost...I suppose you've heard of the serial killer?"
Chief Swan's expression turned grave. "Can't say I have. Tell me about it."
"Well, first, he killed my parents when I was one," Holly began.
"I'm...sorry for your loss," he apologized, probably feeling even more awkward now.
Holly shook her head. "It's fine. I miss the idea of parents more than the reality of it all. I think the closest thing I've ever had to a parent figure was my...godfather and that was when I was 15."
She felt proud of herself, her voice not even cracking. "October 31, 1981; Halloween night. He killed my parents, but for some reason, he wasn't able to kill me. I don't know why. Perhaps someone came and he got scared away."
"If he was a serial killer, I doubt he would've been scared away," Charlie said doubtfully.
Darn it, Holly mentally cursed. She turned to Luna for help, who closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if the next few words were going to hurt her, which they probably were, knowing the amount of people, family, and friends lost in the war.
"He was mad and never did anything in a logical way, so most of his actions and motives were blurry to the...government, which refused to believe he didn't die the night he killed The Potters—Holly's parents."
"I see. Please, you don't have to continue."
"No, no, it's alright." Luna inhaled again. "Well, the government believed that Holly, at the age of 1 and a half, managed to get rid of that serial killer."
"That makes no sense!" he protested.
"I agree. But the government in England is really messed up, which brings us to the other reason we came here."
"But first, we have a few questions to ask about the government system in Forks," Neville said, taking over the conversation. "Have you ever thrown someone into jail without giving them a fair trial?"
"No." The Chief seemed scandalized by the very idea of it.
"Have you ever put a sadist into a school for children and let them take complete authority over said school, allowing them to make stupid rules like boys and girls must stay 8 inches away from each other, punishing them for buying sweets from an "unauthorized" supplier, or making it illegal to own a magazine because it contained information—true information, might I add—that would hurt the reputation of the government, or"—here, Neville was standing up and enunciating his words—"forbid a student club or organization from being formed if it was not approved of the government, which should have had nothing to do with said school since seeing that said school was a FUCKING PRIVATE SCHOOL!"
Chief's Swan's eyes were as wide as saucers as he gaped. Holly couldn't even imagine what he, as a muggle raised in a semi-impartial society, was thinking at the moment. Finally, when he was able to pull himself back together, he stammered, "I can assure you, nothing like that has ever happened here in Forks."
Neville nodded stiffly. "Good to know."
"Is that all, Chief Swan?" asked Luna, rubbing circles on her boyfriend's arm.
"Um...one last thing," he said, sounding like he wanted to leave as soon as possible. "You all are quite young to have traveled here without an adult."
"Actually, Neville and I just turned eighteen a week ago," Holly intervened, thankful they had thought everything through about age and whatnot. "Luna is sixteen, but she's still gonna be a junior while Neville and I are seniors. Our previous headmistress approved of it and everything."
Luna walked over to the recently set-up table with a headlamp of moons (a joke from Holly on her twelfth birthday) and opened the drawer. She pulled out an envelope with the Hogwarts seal and handed it over to the dubious Chief.
He raised a questioning eyebrow at the symbol, but didn't say anything. He took out a pocket knife and ripped the envelope open from the side. After reading the paper, he put it down and announced, "Well, everything seems to be in order. So, you're going to Forks High School, too huh?"
The three nodded, wondering where he was going with this.
"My daughter, Bella, goes there, too. She's actually a senior, along with her...boyfriend, Edward Cullen."
Luna, who was just standing up, gasped and fainted, falling back on the couch half-way. Chief Swan stood up immediately, but Holly and Neville were quicker; reflexes from the war. Neville lifted his girlfriend's legs and Holly supported the head. By then, Luna was already coming to and scrambling to lift herself up.
"So sorry about that," she apologized to the Chief, who looked just about done with it. "Jet lag, you know?"
He sighed in relief. "Yeah. Don't worry, we're done here. I hope you all enjoy your stay here and...yeah."
Holly led him back to the door, mainly to give Luna and Neville some...time. It wasn't that big of a deal, she kept telling herself, but she couldn't stop the jealousy, just like before.
"Merlin, what's wrong with me?" she muttered angrily as soon as she closed the door as Chief Swan stepped off the porch step.
She knew exactly what was wrong with her. Before, she didn't know that Cedric was alive. She had been able to suppress the jealousy (eventually) because she knew that it would do her no good and that Death had taken Cedric.
But now...oh, but now, a cold feeling had overtaken her. Cedric was alive, and possibly dating someone else. Holly had tried many times to keep those disturbing thoughts out of her mind by working her mind on other things. So far, it had worked, but now, standing in front of her door and watching Chief Swan drive away in his police cruiser, she felt a million emotions all at once.
"Argh!" Holly stomped back to the living room. She was met with her friends' apprehensive faces.
"Well," Neville announced, "I'll leave you to it, Luna. Good luck!"
Luna scowled, but didn't stop Neville. She couldn't blame him for leaving the room—Holly's temper was a sight to behold.
"Well, what is it this time?" she asked impatiently. "Another vision?"
"Yep," Luna said, making strange motions with her fingers. If Holly remembered correctly, it was to rid them of evil spirits lurking about.
"About?" the redhead urged.
"Cedric, or should I tell you his new name now?" Luna seemed bitter, which was a new one. Luna Lovegood rarely showed annoyance.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that when Cedric was changed into a vampire and rid of his previous life's memories, he changed. Did a one-eighty, he did."
"And by one-eighty, you mean—"
"He currently has a girlfriend."
This time, Holly did yell. A lot.
"HE DID WHAT?!" she roared. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM? HOW COULD HE? I THOUGHT WE WERE SOULMATES?! I THOUGHT I WAS HIS MATE?! EVEN IF HE DOESN'T REMEMBER ME, THAT GIVES HIM NO RIGHT TO DO—"
Luna clamped a hand over Holly's mouth, which was a very dangerous thing to do when Holly was in the middle of a tirade or a rant.
"Shh! They're vampires, remember?" Luna reminded her. "They'll hear us and what'll we do then?"
"Let them hear," Holly said icily when Luna's hand was removed from the front of her mouth. "All the better. Besides, I think the adrenaline rush wore off. You were saying?"
And she's back, Luna thought. It was eerie how Holly could be shouting for nearly half an hour without stopping, and then calm down immediately and resume talking in a normal tone of voice, her voice not even the tiniest bit sore.
"Hello? Earth to Luna?"
Luna shook her head. "Right. Well, it's what Chief Swan said. Edward Cullen. That's Cedric's new identity and...well, he's dating the Chief's daughter."
"HE'S WHAT?!"
"Here we go again..." Luna really wanted pizza after this. She deserved it after all the crap she'd endured...and was currently enduring.
A/N: Hi, there! It's me. I hope I didn't make you wait too long. Here's the second chapter, so I hope you enjoyed. I know that the picture at the top doesn't exactly match the cottage how I described it, but it looks like it would when Holly, Neville, and Luna are half-way done fixing it.
I have decided that I will ask a random question at the end of each chapter that has absolutely nothing to do with the story and one that does, so please answer in the comments.
1. Do you prefer coffee or tea?
2. Do you think I'm describing the characters accurately.
Please like, share, comment, and vote!
—TeamLeo765