The Parent Trap

Chapter Four

-dutchtulips-

Holly, in her Amy masquerade, was sitting on a bench outside King's Cross train station, her trunk perched on its trolley next to her. She'd been sitting for a few minutes, and was starting to worry. Amy had told her what their dad's car looked like and all, but she was still afraid she may have overlooked it. Staring down at the ground, Holly swung her legs back and forth as they hit the back of the bench.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she heard a voice calling out. "Amy! Hey, Amy!"

Holly looked up and saw a tall, red-haired man in blue robes smiling at her, closing the door of a silvery Ford he'd parked nearby. "I made it!"

She jumped up from the bench, completely forgetting about her trolley, and raced for him. Then abruptly Holly stopped a few feet in front of her dad, staring at him as if she could hardly believe he was really there.

Ron was grinning. "Get into these arms, woman."

"Dad! Finally!" Holly exclaimed as Ron picked her up and gave her an enormous hug.

They stood together in their embrace for a long while, before Ron put her down and swung an arm around her as they collected the trolley. "Ten months really is too long, Ames. I missed you too much."

"Yes, well, it's Hogwarts, what can you do?" Holly laughed. "I missed you something awful, too." Pause. "So how's Aunt Ginny and everyone?"

"Everyone's fab, cool, can't wait to see you." Ron stared at her a moment, still smiling. "What's up with you, Ames? Something's changed."

They pushed her trolley in the back of the car as Holly looked over at her dad, replying, "A lots happened to me. I'm practically a brand new witch!"

Ron laughed as they got into the Ford, and he started up the engine. Pulling out of the station and down the road, he said amusedly, "Oh, by the way, geesh, thanks for all of those newsy owls. I'm so glad I bought you all of that personalized stationary you just had to have."

"Well, er, we meant to write, Dad, but we -" Holly started to say.

"We? Who's we?"

"Oh, er, me and my friend. I met a girl at school and we got super close. Practically like sisters," she added, smiling knowingly.

Ron smiled. "That's great, Ames. She's in Gryffindor, too?"

Holly nodded. "Yeah. She was a marvy girl."

His eyebrow arched. " 'Marvy'? Never heard you use that expression before."

She merely shrugged, and turned to glance at the scenery out the window. "Well, guess school's just changed me, Dad!"

He smiled again. "And why do you keep saying 'Dad' at the end of every sentence?"

Holly turned round again, grinning. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was doing it, Dad." Holly giggled, and Ron joined in.

After a moment, she said suddenly, "Do you want to know why I really keep saying Dad?"

"It's cause you missed your old man so much, right?"

Holly hesitated, and then nodded. "Exactly. Because in my whole life. . .well, you know, for the past school term, I was never able to say the word 'Dad.' Never. Not once! And if you ask me, a dad is an irreplaceable person in a kid's life. Never being able to say, 'Lo, Dad', or 'What's up, Dad?', or 'See you later, Dad!' Just imagine someone's life without a father."

Ron looked over at her. "So you've really missed me that much, huh?"

"Yeah. I really have, Dad."

He smiled at that, and then grinned wider as he touched a button on the dashboard. The car surrounding them just sort of vanished, as did they. Holly, feeling the seat shaking underneath her, looked out the windshield and realized that they and the car was soaring up above in the air.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" She exclaimed excitedly, as Ron grinned over at her.

"Now you're starting to sound like your old self."

* * *

It was sometime later and Ron was landing the silvery Ford down to the British grounds again, lowering in front of a grand looking house that had a wrought-iron gate surrounding the place and morning glory vines twining around it. The orchard in the back was just barely visible from where the car was sitting.

Holly, staring at the house as she got out of the car, saw the ornate wooden front door creak open and Ginny rushed out, holding out her arms to embrace Holly as the young girl started up the front walk.

"Hey there, gorgeous! Welcome home!" Ginny exclaimed, embracing Holly tightly and twirling round and round with her. "Oh, we've missed you so much! How was school?"

"Really great," Holly murmured as she was still being hugged by Ginny.

Finally her aunt let go. "You hungry? I made some beef casserole!"

Holly just sort of shrugged, and Ginny laughed. "What's the matter? Why're you so quiet?"

"Nothing. . .it's just, I'm so happy to be home!" Holly replied.

Suddenly Ron came up next to them, pushing the trolley. "Hey," he said to his sister. "Did I hear something about beef casserole?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "It's inside on the stove."

As Ron disappeared inside the house, Ginny swung an arm around her niece and they walked around the house to the back porch, looking out over the orchard. "Something's changed about you, Ames. I don't know, just can't put my finger on it."

Holly leaned against the rail, looking back at her aunt. "Well, it's just the same old me! Honest!" She replied, crossing her fingers behind her back.

At that moment, a white cat with large black spots appeared on the back porch, creeping towards Holly. She noticed the cat, saying, "Hey, Patches!"

But instead of coming closer for a pat on the head, Patches backed away, hissing. Ginny looked confusedly over at Holly, and then at Patches. Leaning over and picking up the cat, she stroked its furry back, saying, "What's wrong with you, silly? That's Amy!"

Holly shrugged. "Oh, I probably just still smell like school, that's all." She walked away and in through the opened back door, finding herself in the wide, grand old den. The furnishings and layout of the room were incredible to her. "Wow, it's even better than the pictures!" She murmured to herself.

A few moments later, after putting Patches back down, Ginny appeared in the room behind Holly, saying, "Okay, kiddo. What do you want to do? We can eat then unpack, or unpack and then eat, or we can eat while we unpack."

Holly looked over at her. "You mean, I can eat in my room?"

"Sure, why not?" Ginny said reasonably.

A new voice entered the conversation. "Hey, Ames, when you get done there, why don't you come outside to the orchard?" Ron said, standing in the back doorway holding a plate of beef casserole and a fork in the other. "There's someone I want you to meet."

"Okay, Dad!" Holly grinned.

"Okay, Ames!" Ron grinned back, then disappeared out the door and onto the porch. Looking out the open window, Holly could see someone else there now; a shapely young witch sitting with her back to the house and talking to Ron, whom had just sat down in front of her.

"Look at you, always eating," she said, and he smiled, scooping up some casserole onto the fork and putting it in his mouth.

The woman leaned forward, asking softly, "Did you tell her?"

Ron made an incomprehensible sound in his throat. "Well, er, no. . ."

"Oh, Ronnie. . ."

Holly's eyes grew puzzled at she looked over at Ginny. "Tell me what?"

* * *

Upstairs in Amy's room, Ginny was opening the trunk and began pulling school things out of it, trying to explain to Holly as the young girl was standing nearby.

"It's really none of my business how your dad makes a fool out of himself," Ginny was saying, lifting some school robes out of the trunk. "He's grown-up now, he can do what he wants."

"Okay, okay! So who is she?" Holly exclaimed, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes.

Ginny stopped what she was doing and turned to her niece. "All right. Her name's Parvati Patil, and she has a Divination shop in Hogsmeade. Your dad knew her from school and bumped into her in Hogsmeade last winter, when he was there having drinks with the team. Ever since then, they've been seeing a great deal of each other. They do everything together. . .they go out for broomstick rides, dinner every night. . ."

Holly rushed to the window, pointing Amy's astronomy telescope out in the backyard where Ron and Parvati were strolling together, listening to Ginny as her aunt continued speaking. "Ames, you and me both know that your dad's not some suave and debonair type of wizard, right? So I've got to ask myself what does a woman pretty like she is see in a man who leaves half of the buttons on his cloak unfastened and carries around a big plate of beef casserole? And then I realize there's a thousand reasons why she's smiling and laughing - and they're sitting at Gringotts Bank."

Holly looked up from the telescope and turned around. "So you don't think she even really likes him?"

Ginny shrugged. "Who knows? Hey, meet her - see for yourself."

* * *

It was a little while later and Holly was making her way down to the orchard, where she could see her dad and Parvati sitting on the deck. Ron noticed her and ran over, putting a fatherly arm around her as they walked the rest of the way together.

"Ames, this is Parvati Patil," Ron said.

Parvati looked up from under the wide brim of her hat, smiling widely at Holly. Holly could see now that she had very dark hair, quite unlike Holly's mother's. "Hey there!" Parvati said brightly.

Holly sort of shrugged. "Er, hi. . .Parvati Patil."

She leaned forward and extended her hand to shake Holly's. "Wow, I can't believe I'm finally meeting the famous Amy."

"Well, here I am," she answered.

"You know, the way Ron talks about you I expected to meet a little girl. But you are so grown up, having finished your first year at Hogwarts," Parvati said, smiling ever so politely.

"I just turned twelve last month. How old are you?" Holly said bluntly.

Ron and Parvati laughed. "Thirty, same as your dad." She was still smiling that same smile.

Holly looked back and forth from her dad to Parvati for a moment, and then Ron broke the silence. "Well, I'm going to go inside, grab some more casserole, and maybe some butterbeer to celebrate." He grinned at Parvati.

"Er, what are we celebrating?" Holly piped up.

The two of them glanced at each other a moment, and then Parvati said to her, "Your homecoming, of course!"

After Ron had left, Holly turned to the nearest apple tree and started to shimmy up it, picking the fruit and tossing it into a wooden barrel below, all while Parvati was talking to her.

"So how was school, Ames? Wasn't it fab?"

"Pretty great," Holly answered simply, plucking a few more apples from a branch.

"You know, I've never heard someone talk about their daughter the way Ron talks about you," Parvati said, changing the subject. "The two of you are obviously incredibly close."

"Yeah, we're closer than close. We're all each other has!" She replied brightly, accidentally dropping an apple and it thunked Parvati on the shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hit you?"

"It's just fine, Ames," the older woman replied, brushing of her shoulder. "Hey, you know what?" She started again, glancing up at Holly through the branches. "You dad took me riding yesterday and he let me borrow your broom. I hope that's okay with you."

Holly slipped down a branch. "Oh, sure. I have other women giving my Nimbus a go all of the time! No big deal."

Parvati looked at her. "What other women?"

The younger arched her eyebrows. "You want the information? The lowdown on the others? Can't say I blame you. . . I'd want to know if I were number sixteen, I mean seventeen. . .in a wizard's life."

"I'm number seventeen?"

Holly sort of chuckled as if it were no big thing. "Yeah, it's always the same routine. Broomstick riding through the orchard, candlelit dinners with special reserved labeled butterbeer, visiting friends at Hogsmeade. . ."

Abruptly Ron appeared again, toting a tall, chilled glass bottle of butterbeer. "Here we go," he said, holding it out as he approached Parvati. "A bottle of Three Broomsticks' special reserve label."

Holly smirked down at Parvati.

The redhead joined her, looking up at Holly as well. "So, did you girls find something to talk about while I was gone?"

Holly didn't answer; she shimmied back up the branch and disappeared higher up the apple tree.

Ron looked over at Parvati, smiling, and asked, "Does that mean yes?"

She smiled back. "It sure does."

* * *

To Be Continued