A/N: Please. I enjoy reviews. They make me happy. And when I'm happy, I post. Comprendo?

Chapter Three: Disastrous Defense

Holly sat alone at breakfast the next morning. As the owls swooped in, she noticed two letters dropped on her plate, narrowly avoiding a pool of maple syrup. The first letter she opened was from Remus Lupin. She smiled, happy to hear from him.

Holly,

First of all, how is everything? I hope all is going well. How do you like Professor Moody? You and the twins aren't giving them a hard time, are you? How are the twins, by the way? How much trouble have they gotten into already? I miss the school already, as you can probably tell by all these questions I'm asking. But I also suppose, they're futile attempts to distract me from the real reason I'm writing to you.

I want to make sure that you don't tell anyone anything about who you really are and who your parents were. Remember, there could be serious repercussions if certain information gets out and I want you to do whatever is in your power to prevent that from ever happening. With the Tournament going on, reporters will be buzzing about everywhere and some will do whatever it takes to get a good story... I would also like to state that with the Tournament going on, your brother and his friends might get some ideas as well. I want you to look out for him. No one knows the kind of things he might get into this year.

That's all I really wanted to tell you about. Tell your mother I said hello and thank her for me.

Remus

Holly found this letter slightly odd. She came to the conclusion that Remus was extremely bored and decided to write a letter to Holly reminding her to watch out for her brother, even though Dumbledore had already done that on her first day back. But that wasn't the strange part. He told Holly to say hello to her mother for him. And to thank her. Thank her? For what? Sighing, she picked up the other letter and opened it. She smiled as she realized it was her mother's annual 'Have-a-good-school-year' letter.

Holly, dear, I just wanted to wish you luck on your sixth year at Hogwarts. I'm just glad you made it this far. With that C in Potions last year… I was very disappointed in that, honey. But you promised me that you'll pull it up.

How are Fred and George? How many detentions have they received yet? And is young Lee Jordan doing alright? I spoke with his father the other day, apparently Lee's favorite aunt has taken ill. Lee's father said the boy was taking it kind of hard. Be there for him if he needs you, Holly.

I want you to remind the twins and yourself about NOT trying to enter the Tri-Wizard Tournament. You are so predictable when it comes to things like this. I know that the three of you will come up with some elaborate plan to get past the age line, but don't even think of trying it or I will send you a howler!… Just kidding!

Well, have a brilliant school year, honey! And tell Remus hello from me and he's perfectly welcome!

Love, Mom

Holly sighed again at this letter. Again, here was her mother telling her to say hello to Remus and already replying to his thank you before she'd even heard it. Holly found this behavior peculiar because neither of them ever said that in any of the other letters they ever sent.

But Holly was also becoming frustrated. Both Remus's and her mother's letters reminded her of her feud with Lee and the twins. She didn't want to fight with them, but she knew they weren't going to forgive her anytime soon.

So, Lee's aunt was sick. He hadn't said anything about that. That information only made Holly feel worse about what she said the day before. She had suddenly lost her appetite.

"Is something wrong, Holly?" Harry asked as he noticed her stand up. Holly sighed and shook her head.

"I'm just going to go take a walk before classes…" Harry shrugged and went back to his meal.

Holly walked out onto the grounds and looked at the sky. The clouds were thickening and she knew it would rain soon. She walked over to a tree with black bark and red leaves that were falling off their branches.

"You're depressed. Is it because of what happened with the twins?" Holly turned around to see Cedric Diggory, holding a single white rose.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked.

"Oh, it was nothing. I have a garden."

"No you don't!" Holly laughed.

"I do so!"

"You do not! Where on earth would you put it? And besides, you'd make a lousy gardener." Cedric sighed.

"You're right. It was a simple transfiguration spell. It used to be a twig."

"Ah, I see." Holly smiled as Cedric handed her the rose.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" Holly asked, trying as hard as she could to avoid talking about it.

"About your fight with Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins."

"Oh… Well, that's none of your concern."

"Holly," Cedric said with a sincere smile. "It concern's you and you concern me."

"OK…" Holly took a deep breath. "I said something stupid and I don't think they're willing to let me off very easily this time."

"What did you say?"

"It's so stupid, I don't even want to repeat it. I accused them of not caring about me and then said their joke shop was never going to happen. You know how dedicated they are to that joke shop! I crushed their dreams in the palm of my hand as if it were this rose!" Holly was so angry with herself. How could she be so cruel? Lee was right, she had changed. And even Holly didn't like this new person she'd become. Holly couldn't figure out what had brought about this change. It had been bothering her ever since Lee had pointed it out to her.

"Holly, I'm sure they'll forgive you. They have to forgive you… some day. Apologize, let them know you're really sorry for what you said." Holly gave Cedric a weak smile.

"Oh Cedric, you're a great friend, you really are. But you don't know anything about the twins, do you? Apologizing won't be enough for them. I was their best friend, their big supporter, and now they think I've lost faith in them. Words can hurt, Cedric, despite what the poem says. I've really scarred them. They need me to show I still have faith in them. They need me to show that I'm still the same Holly who let them break her arm and tell the teachers she'd fallen down the stairs. They need to know I'm the same Holly who helped them play jokes on the Slytherins and talk them out of playing jokes on the teachers. They need to know that I'm still me! And verbal apologies aren't enough for that."

"But they're a start, aren't they? Come on, Holly, nothing will get done if you just sit here and mope about it!"

"They need time. They need time to get over it. In the mean time, I'm going to try and stay away from them and meeting their eyes."

"That might be a little hard to do seeing as they're in every single class you have," Cedric pointed out. Holly sighed.

"Yeah. But it's worth a try, isn't it?"

"Defense techniques in this situation are key, and not just magical defense! You need to physically avoid the blows as well." Professor Moody was lecturing his sixth year Gryffindor class a few weeks later. "When a curse is thrown your way, you'll need to block it with the blocking charm, which I'm sure Professor Flitwick has demonstrated once or twice when certain people feel like using books and the levitation charm as weapons." As he said this, he eyed Fred and George with his beady brown eye. They were too tired it seemed, to come up with any witty comebacks. This surprised everyone except the teacher as he continued. "However, the charm is not always effective and you can't count on it for everything. And you especially can't count on it when the Unforgivable Curses are involved. In which case, you will need to dodge the spell in order to avoid it because blocking charms and reflecting charms are useless when it comes to this. Could I have a volunteer?" Moody's smaller eye surveyed the room while his electric blue eye swiveled around in its socket. Finally, the eye landed on a victim. One with dark red hair and sad brown eyes.

"Miss. Phillips," he said with a smile. "If you would be so kind." Holly reluctantly stood up and walked to the front of the class. "Now I am going to throw harmless spells at you. When they hit you, you will feel a small shaking sensation, but that is all. However, you must avoid feeling this shaking sensation at all costs, are we clear?"

"Yes sir," Holly nodded. Moody's smile widened.

"Very well. Let's begin." Moody aimed his wand at Holly and fired a spell, which Holly blocked with a reflecting charm almost lazily. The spell ricocheted out the window. Moody watched it.

"OK, you have demonstrated your knowledge of the reflecting charm. Let's see if you can dodge it without magic. Drop your wand."

"Excuse me sir?" Holly asked.

"I said drop your wand!" Moody ordered. Holly carefully set her wand down on the nearest desk. The black haired girl sitting there happened to be one of Holly's roommates, Kristen. She looked at the wand, then at Holly.

"Take the wand, Miss. Turvey, so Holly isn't tempted to take it," said Moody. Kristen did so. "OK, Miss. Phillips, let's try this again!" Moody rolled up his sleeves. He aimed and shot a spell straight at Holly, and as she moved to step out of the way, he fired another one right in her path, hitting her square in the stomach. Holly flinched for a second, then relaxed.

"That's not fair!" she protested. "You can't fire two spells at once!"
"Your enemy can do whatever he pleases if you let him, Miss Phillips. Let's try this again."

After a few more trials, it was evident that Holly couldn't dodge multiple spells if her life depended on. However, Moody was about to test that theory.

"I don't believe you're motivated enough, Holly Phillips," he said, with a slight smile. "I think your head is in the clouds in stead of the classroom. So let's up the stakes. The spells are no longer harmless, Miss. Phillips. They will be curses. Picture yourself in a real battle and you've lost your wand. You must trust your skills at dodging spells that are cast simultaneously from many directions. You must dodge them… or die."

"But Professor, isn't that against school rules?" Holly asked, desperately. He was making her nervous. This wouldn't help her dodging skills, it would hurt them.

"Nonsense!" Moody waved her words away as if they were pesky insects buzzing around. "Dumbledore trusts me. You trust me, don't you, Holly? You know I'd never do anything to harm my students."

"But you just said they're real curses. Like, dangerous curses?"
"And what is they are?" Moody hissed, the smile on his face transforming to a grin. Holly was becoming terrified.
"Professor, may I say something?"
"Of course you may, Holly," he said, his voice as sweet— and as thick and sticky— as honey.

"Well, to put it frankly sir… You're scaring the hell out of me."
"Keep that fear, Holly, and use it to your advantage. People do amazing things when under pressure!" Moody seemed to be enjoying this. Holly couldn't believe he was enjoying this. In a desperate attempt get out of this, she turned to the class for support.

"Er, you guys, do you know if he can do this?"

"Oh come on, Holly, stop being a chicken!" Lee Jordan's voice jeered from somewhere in the middle. "It's a classroom, not a survival challenge. The curses can't be that bad, probably just jelly legs or a body bind or something. I thought the brave Holly Phillips didn't take anything from anybody." At that moment, Holly had absolutely no sympathy towards Lee and his sick aunt.

"Stupid Jordan…" she muttered under her breath. Holly glanced at Kristen. "Kristen!" she hissed. "Give me my wand!"

"Don't you dare, Miss. Turvey!" Moody cried. Kristen shrugged and gave Holly an apologetic look.

"Good luck," she whispered. Holly scowled when she realized that she had no one on her side. She supposed that Lee was right, in a way. They couldn't be curses that were very harmful to her…

Facing her fear, Holly turned and looked Moody straight in the face. She smiled, confidently.

"Let's do it then!"