Chapter Six: Winning Back the Twins' Trust

"What are you doing?" The girl seemed appalled. Holly just grinned.

"Want to try and win a broom?" Erin gave Holly a twisted smile.

"You're raffling off a broomstick?"

"A Nimbus 2001. I would have done a Firebolt, but the most recent one I have is a Nimbus 2001. You can inspect it if you want, to make sure it isn't fake or anything or some sort of scam." Holly held out the broom. Erin looked down at it distastefully.

"Listen, Phillips," she said, looking back up at Holly. "Last time you caught me, I was in a bad mood, but I really did like you. But I like my friends. They're all I've got. And when they're hurt, I'm hurt. You hurt me, you're in for hell. Now I know you hurt Cedric. So I just want to know one thing. Why don't you like him? He's a great guy, girls would kill to have him! And don't you dare say I want to date him again. Because I don't, even my friends know it. It's just a little joke we have. Just, stay away from him, you hear?" And with that, Erin turned on her heal and walked away.

"She was pleasant, wasn't she?" Kristen whispered.

"You just have to know her," Holly replied. "Her dad left her and her mom when she was a kid. She doesn't trust easily and protects those she does trust."

"She's not in Hufflepuff, is she?"

"She is." Holly nodded.
"She doesn't seem the type."

"She is." Holly repeated. "Uh oh. Here comes Ryan. I hope he still likes me."

"A raffle, huh?" the black-haired boy was skeptical.

"He doesn't," Kristen muttered.

"Why are you having a raffle?" Ryan asked.

"It's for a good cause. A galleon a ticket, six tickets for five galleons!" Ryan was still doubtful.

"What's the good cause?"

"Check out the sign," Holly replied, gesturing at her brightly colored poster. Ryan nodded.

"A joke shop, huh? For the twins?"

"That's right." Ryan put down five galleons.

"Why not?" he sighed as Holly gave him his six tickets. As he was leaving, he turned around to Holly.

"Look," he said, slightly awkward. "I'm sure you're a great person. But how can you break someone's heart like that?" He walked away shaking his head. Holly shook off the horrible guilt that was rising in the pit of her stomach.
"So, how much do we have?" Holly asked, turning to Jenna. Jenna looked in the box.

"Including that Hufflepuff's… a hundred galleons."

"Not bad…" Holly muttered.

"A hundred and one." Holly looked up and noticed Drew, holding out a galleon. "Where's my ticket?" Holly ripped off a ticket, her face expressionless, and handed it to Drew.

"Unlike Erin…" Drew started, "I'm not angry with you. I… I don't understand what you're thinking. And I don't think I ever will." Drew sighed and walked away. Holly turned to Kristen.

"They all don't like me," she said. "Drew just has the nicest way of saying it." Kristen nodded, then turned to Megan and Jenna.
"You two," she said, "Go advertise. Maria, you take over our profits." Jenna and Megan nodded and disappeared. Maria walked over to where Jenna had been, counting the money. Kristen then turned to Holly. "As for you, dear, gimme six tickets, I want that broom!" Holly laughed and nodded at Maria.

"Give it to her!"

"Go sleep, Holly," Maria suggested. "You were up all night."

"No," Holly declined. "I want to stay here, raise the money. For the twins."

"Holly?" Holly cringed as she heard that voice. "Holly, is that you?" Holly closed her eyes and took a deep breath as Cedric came over to the table.

"Hello, Cedric!" Holly forced a smile and took on a business like manner. "Would you like to try and win a broom?" Cedric looked at the poster, then at Holly, than pulled out five galleons.
"I'm doing this for the twins," he said, then added, "Not for you." Holly nodded, understanding.

"For the twins," she agreed. "Everything for the twins." As Cedric walked away, Holly felt her heart melt in her chest. Those eyes… She was right, whenever she looked at them, they consumed her.

It was five o'clock and Kristen was on watch of the money. She was sleeping over the box it was kept in, hugging it defensively as if it were some sort of stuffed toy. Holly smiled. Maria sat in a corner, drawing in her sketchbook, Jenna was sitting in the chair doing her homework, and Megan was drawing words and pictures on the sleeping Kristen's arm.

"Megan," said Holly. "How much do we have?"

"Um…" Megan tried to pull the money box away from Kristen, but she just pulled it back.

"Mine!" the sleeping girl muttered. Megan laughed.
"Last I checked, about 197."

"Wow, really?" Maria looked up from her sketchbook. Megan nodded at her. "We didn't do too bad. We're doing the drawing in half an hour, right Holly?"

"Yes," Holly replied. "At five thirty." As she said it, she noticed the Weasley twins and Lee look her way and slowly walk over to the stand.

"Holly…" George muttered. "That's your favorite broom! Your only broom!"

"A broom's a broom," Holly shrugged. "I don't fly it as much as I'd like anyway. And my mom says she might get me another one for Christmas or something…" Lee frowned, confused.

"You're auctioning off your broom?" Holly nodded.

"I'd heard about it, but I didn't think…" Fred shook his head, shocked.

"Why?" Lee asked. Holly shifted uncomfortably and blushed slightly.

"Well, I needed to raise money…"

"For what?" Fred cried. Holly sighed and licked her lips.

"Well, your joke won't go anywhere if you don't have any money behind it."

"What?" Fred, George, and Lee gaped. Holly nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "And we're three galleons away from an even 200." Lee smiled.

"In that case," he said, reaching into his pocket. "Where are my tickets?" Holly took his money and gave him his tickets.

"Thanks, Lee."

"Thank you," Lee answered.

"Hey Holly, when's this drawing?" George asked.

"In half an hour."
"When it's over, do you want to go and ruin the days of a few Slytherins?" Fred's face was full of excitement and Holly would have laughed. They were incorrigible. And they were forgiving her. This was a day well spent.

The night was another story. Dreams are intricately woven fairytales of the mind, a spider web linking one event to another, a collage of memories. Dreams can also be a way of finding peace.

"Daddy…" Holly let her father's strong arms embrace her and hold her close. She rested her head against his stomach. She was a little girl again, in her Sunday best.

"I love you, sweetheart," Her father whispered into her dark red hair.

"Daddy, why did you leave me?"

"Death is a natural way of life," her father replied to the young girl of around seven or eight.

"Death is not a way of life," the girl said, wisely. "Death is the opposite of life." But her father shook his head.

"No, honey," he said. "Death and life are different, but they aren't opposites."

"But Daddy…" Holly was confused. "How can that be? If something's not dead, it's alive. If something's not alive, it's dead, isn't it?" Her father smiled warmly.

"I only wish the line was as clean cut as that. There are those who walk and talk and eat like you do, and yet, they are more dead than I am. Death and life aren't opposites. Death and life aren't good or evil, they just are. They coexist, creating a balance in the world. If all who lived never died, do you know how crowded this earth would be?"

"How did you die, Daddy?" Holly asked. Her father's smile became a grim one.

"There was a dispute… At my office… He hadn't meant any harm, sweetheart. We were both out of hand. It resulted in my death."

"Mummy said you fell," Holly said.
"In a way I did," her father nodded. "He hadn't meant any harm, honey, he hadn't meant any harm at all…"
"What do you mean?"

"Sweetheart…" Her father kneeled down to her level. "Honey… Don't say anything. He hadn't meant any harm. He hadn't known the stairs were behind me and he didn't mean to push so hard… Don't tell anyone."
"You were pushed?" Holly stepped away from her father, surprised. Her father said nothing. Finally, it sunk into Holly's young mind. "You were pushed…"

"You never told me!" Holly shouted into the flames. "You never said a word!"

"Sweetheart, calm down…"

"Don't call me sweetheart. Dad called me sweetheart." Holly noticed her mother sigh and shake her head.

"It had been an accident, Holly. I had no reason to worry you about it. You know how much your father loved to say exactly what was on his mind. He was a very, er, truthful person. His colleague just thought he'd gone too far. He hadn't known they were even near the stairs. But he was found guilty of manslaughter. Please, Holly, calm down this was five years ago!"

"I don't care!" Holly screamed into the fire. "I don't care! You lied to me!"

"Holly, please, it's Sunday, relax!" Holly took a deep breath and sighed.

"OK, I'll relax," she said. "But I haven't forgiven you." Holly dowsed the flames and went down to breakfast.

"Cedric?" the young man turned and looked at Holly, who appeared very timid. Holly didn't know what he was thinking. His eyes were blank.
"I don't need to talk to you, Holly," Cedric muttered, and turned away.

"Cedric, I just came to let you know…" Holly squeezed something in her hand, then reached behind her and pulled out a broom. "You won the drawing. The broom… It's yours."

"Thanks," Cedric mumbled and took the broom. "Is that all?"
"Yeah… You… I never gave you your coin back." Holly dropped the Peruvian coin in Cedric's hand. Cedric's fingers closed over the coin, and then he opened his hand again.

"Thanks," he said again, and turned away. Holly sighed and walked over to the Gryffindor table where Lee and the twins sat.

"Are you sure you guys don't hate me?" she asked when she sat down. Fred, George, and Lee nodded.

"Bygones," Fred mumbled through his eggs.

"We just didn't think you liked us anymore," George added. "We thought you thought we were crazy or stupid or something and that our joke shop would never work."

"I must admit," Lee smiled weakly. "I was mad at you for a while. But then, I missed you, Holly."

"We all missed you," Fred added.

"And we wanted to apologize," said George. "You know, for not treating you as well as we should have, but we were afraid you'd laugh at us or throw it back in our faces or something." Holly laughed.

"You didn't have to apologize!" she cried. "I was the one who said things I didn't mean."
"Yeah, but so did I," Lee reminded her. "And I didn't know if you'd accept an apology."

"But you did mean it, Lee…" Holly sighed. "You were right, I've changed. And I'll try and be better about it."

"And we should have been more understanding," George said. "About whatever's been going on with you."

"No, you were right. You were just acting like you always do. The day you become understanding is the day the world goes crazy!"

"Would you all stop arguing already? 'I was wrong,' 'No, I was wrong,' 'No, me!' It's sickening! As I said, bygones! Lord, just shut up!" Fred rolled his eyes. Lee looked at Holly.

"They're back to normal with you around again," he said.

"Where are they?" Holly asked, looking all around the grounds.

"Dunno," Lee replied. "There are too many people here, I can't see a thing."

"They're here," said the voice of a female student nearby. "Durmstrang's on the lake and Beauxbatons has this huge carriage…"

"Thanks," said Holly to the friendly stranger. The girl smiled. She had lovely black hair and dark eyes. "I'm Holly."

"Cho Chang." The girl held out her hand. "I know you! Cedric…"

"Yeah, tell him I'm sorry, would you?" Holly blushed. "I really didn't mean to hurt anyone." Cho nodded, understanding.

"You just didn't feel the same way towards him, did you?" Holly looked surprised.

"Is that what he told you?"

"Well, why else would you turn down someone like Cedric?" Cho shrugged. "I know how you feel. I had this friend who was really sweet, and not bad in the looks department. A lot of girls wanted him. But not me, and I was the only girl he wanted. Poor guy. He got over it though. Don't worry, Cedric's strong. Everything will be alright." Holly smiled sadly.

"Yeah…" Her regret over what she'd done suddenly increased immensely. Suddenly, there was nothing she'd rather do more than just hold Cedric close and tell him that everything would be alright.

"You don't seem like a bad person," Cho said. "I understand how Cedric feels and why he's trying to not speak to you, but his friends might be overreacting. You aren't some wicked person. You just…"
"Yeah," Holly interrupted, rather hastily. Cho smiled.

"If you ever need me, I'll be your friend."

"Thank you, Cho. If you ever need me, I'll be your friend too."

And that was how it began.

The Goblet of Fire was set up in the Entrance Hall.
"You're not doing it."
"Like hell we aren't!" Fred and George grinned at each other.
"Give it up, Holly," Lee said, sadly. "There's no stopping them."

"We need that money, Holly!" George cried.

"How are you going to get past that age line?" Holly demanded.

"How do you think?" Fred readied his wand, his twin copying him. Holly rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a part of this!" she called as she turned her back on them and walked upstairs. In the hall, she ran into Cho Chang.

"Cedric and Erin entered their names in the goblet," Cho informed her.

"They said they were going to do it." Holly nodded. "In the meantime, the twins are trying to fool the age line." Cho smiled.

"Sounds like them. They have a school wide reputation for things like that."

"They're famous!" Holly laughed.

"Tell them I wished them luck!" Cho called over her shoulder as she walked down the stairs. Holly shook her head, laughing. Everything was back to normal. Everything except…

"Cedric…" Holly sighed. What was she going to do about Cedric? Was she falling in love with him? Had she made the wrong choice?

Instantly she shook off the feeling by shaking her head.

"No," she laughed at herself. Her laughter was suddenly cut short as she realized how much she missed him. "Cedric…" she whispered the name once more in the hope that it might make him forgive her. Unsurprisingly, it didn't.