Not Crazy, Just Different! A Tale of Friendship, Love, Anger and Confusion (The Diary of Darby C. Holliwether)

December 23rd

8:14 AM

Good morning! I am at home, with Sammy, Chandler, Percy and Oliver. Well, actually, Sammy and Chandler are going out Christmas shopping after breakfast. Percy and Oliver's parents sent their presents to us so that we can put them under the tree.

We got here five days ago. The other day, Sammy and Chandler took us bowling. I absolutely suck at bowling. I ended up throwing the ball into the wrong lane and this old bald man yelled at me because I didn't even hit a single pin and screwed up his score.

It was humiliating. I wanted to drop dead on the spot. Oliver and Percy snorted into the sleeves of their shirts, trying not to laugh at their friend but not being able to help them. Ah, but it's OK. I can't really blame them.

I've been up since six thirty. I must be the biggest dunce on the planet, waking up at this ungodly (to some) hour over break. Oliver has been sleeping until eleven. That's, without a doubt, the most un-Holliwether thing on the planet. We're all up before seven on the weekends. Must be some weird genetic thing.

And, as expected, Percy gets up incredibly early. Maybe even earlier then we do. That's just plain odd. He's so 'on top' of things that it's sickening.

Must go. Sammy wants me to come help fix breakfast.

10:07 AM

I was in the kitchen with Sammy, Chandler and Percy. Sammy was pouring pancake batter on her griddle thing. Percy was talking to Chandler about Arithmancy.

"That sounds like a class you might like, Darby," Chandler piped up. I hate talking about my choice of classes with my parental units. I shrugged.

"Actually, I am going to switch out of Divination after Christmas," I said, staring at the table. "I wasn't exactly sure what to take."

"Really?" Sammy asked. "I thought you liked Divination!" I really hated this conversation to extreme amounts. I began picking at my fingernail.

"Actually, ma'am, Divination is not a very good class," Percy informed my mother. "Our professor seems to make things up as she goes along."

"Really? Then they ought to fire her," Chandler said. "It's detracting from the student's education."

Sammy made a small 'hmm' noise. "Darby, why don't you go wake Oliver up?" I sighed, standing up and hurrying from the room. I was really happy to get out of there for some reason. I could hear them chattering behind me in the kitchen.

I opened the door to my bedroom and walked in. "Oliver?" He grunted in his sleep. I knelt next to my bed, where he slept. "Oliver?" I asked again, poking him in the back.

He sat up straight and fast. "What?!" I fell over awkwardly.

"Um, it's time for breakfast," I informed him timidly. His hair was standing up. I bit my lip.

"Yeah. OK," he said, getting out of bed and grabbing his robe off of the chair next to my dresser. I hurried back to the kitchen and sat down, just as Chandler put down the last Orange Julius. I took it that no one staying with us was used to having smoothie-type treats for breakfast.

I plucked a straw from the straw-holder on the table and poked it into my drink. Sammy had a huge plate stacked with pancakes. She sat it in the middle of the table. I sighed and took a few.

I was cutting my breakfast when Chandler said, "So, Oliver, how is Quidditch going for you?"

I half expected Chandler to slap him on the shoulder and yell 'Oliver, my boy, you're a god in this house' and do the same to Percy. My eyes got wide.

"Pretty good, sir," Oliver said. Chandler grimaced. He hates being called sir. "We won our match against Hufflepuff, did Darby tell you?"

"No, actually, she didn't," Chandler responded. I wanted to die right on the spot. I felt very guilty for some reason.

"Must have slipped my mind," I said quietly, staring at my drink.

Breakfast, for me, was pretty quiet after that. Lucky me.

3:09 PM

Oliver, Percy and I went down to the corner store to stock up on Muggle candy while Sammy and Chandler were out. Sammy does not believe in eating too much candy. She makes herbal tea for me rather than cookies, like any normal mother would. I don't like it. But hey, green tea helps prevent cancer, or so I heard.

We were sitting in the living room watching a rerun of M*A*S*H and eating our candies. Hawkeye was in some sort of weird predicament. Admittedly, I wasn't paying much attention.

"I don't get it," Oliver said suddenly.

"Hmm? How do you mean, Oliver?" I asked.

"Well, in all the episodes where someone is sick or hurt, they always go to the hospital with one of their friends. Always!" he explained.

Percy got a thoughtful look on his face.

I shrugged. "You know, I didn't write it," I told him. "But there's not much I can do about it. The show's been over for nearly twenty years."

"Really?" he asked, looking earnestly surprised.

I nodded.

"Not that I don't like 'television for the insane,' but can we maybe do something?" Percy queried. Oliver and I exchanged a glance.

"Uh, we can take bikes to the mall. We can go explore in the woods. We can prank call defenseless people. I have a Ouija board, which lets you contact the dead." I gave them a questioning look. "Stop me at any time."

"How about we go for a walk?" Percy suggested. "In the woods."

"Oh, cool. We can go to this old tree house thing," I suggested as we trekked down our stairs to the coat closet near the garage.

Soon we had gotten all bundled up in scarves and coats and gloves. I snapped a few cans of pop out of the fridge in the garage (which is there for situations such as these) and put them into my coat pockets.

And then we strolled down the hill in my backyard to the edge of the woods. I handed them both a can of pop.

The tree house was not close to our house. It took us about fifteen minutes to get there, and the whole time, Oliver was whining about how cold it was outside. It took us another few minutes to shimmy through the little door in the side after stumbling up the old rope ladder.

Finally we were all sitting in a circle in the tree house, huddled close because it was so freakin' cold!

All we did was sit around and talk about dumb things, like predicting each other's futures. Apparently, Oliver Wood will be a successful Quidditch player, and Percy Weasley will be Minister of Magic. What about me?

"I think Darby will be some sort of radical, famous lawyer. She's going to go to that Muggle school she's always talking about. And she'll move back to the States and leave us behind forever," Oliver recited.

Percy shrugged. "That sounds about right."

Shrugging, I shook my head. "Nah. I'll probably end up being something else. I mean, Sammy and Chandler and I are not exactly rolling in the bucks, and that school costs loads of money. That's why I need to start thinking of alternatives."

There was a stretch of awkward silence.

"Okay, how did your parents meet?" I asked hurriedly to get rid of the dull quietness of the woods.

"In Hogwarts, of course," Percy said. "It's quite dull."

I shrugged.

"My mum met my dad at the supermarket. My mum is a Muggle, that's why they met somewhere besides Hogwarts," Oliver said matter- of- factly. I nodded in agreement.

"Sammy and Chandler were best friends in high school. They were both seventeen when they graduated. They started dating in sophomore year and got married when they graduated and went to the same college," I recited automatically.

Soon after, the three of us headed back to the house. We've been here for the last hour, playing with Ouija.

8:47 PM

Oh horror! Oh disaster! I fear that I have just alienated my grandparents!

Okay, it all began when Sammy told us all that we were being forced to go out to eat tonight with Grandma and Grandpa Holliwether! So we decided to go to this expensive Chinese restaurant.

The meal went fine, despite some upsetting silence from Percy and Oliver (who were disturbingly quiet). When it was time to leave, I don't know, the safety pin that was holding shut a small hole in Percy's sweater got caught on the tablecloth.

As you can imagine, as he stepped away unknowingly, the tablecloth just went WHOOSH, right out from under all of the used plates, centerpieces, and half-empty glasses. It was not like a magic trick where everything miraculously stays put. Oh, no.

Everything toppled to the floor, plates and glasses shattering, food splatting onto the floor.

And then the manager emerged from the kitchen, a horrified look up on his face! Percy nearly threw up from shock, which would have been funny, if the situation had not been so utterly horrifying.

Needless to say, even after we volunteered to help clean the place up, we were herded out. Grandma and Grandpa looked utterly mortified. I could almost hear my Christmas gifts smashed to bits.

But, Merlin! To see Grandma's face? Priceless!

10:32 PM

Percy was absolutely crushed by the whole thing. He said nothing the whole way home, despite the fact that Sammy and Chandler were hysterical about the whole thing!

I suppose that the redeeming factor was seeing my mild-mannered, prim and proper Grandpa Holliwether shout "HOLY HELL!" at the top of his lungs.

Ahahaha. I'm laughing just thinking about it.