Chapter Five: Charmed, I'm sure
The feast was worth attending, and at least this time she didn't fall asleep.
"Where the bloody blazes is Hagrid?" Lee said, suddenly. Holly jerked her head to the staff table. Her eyes scanned the table as quickly and efficiently as if she was a computer scanning a library book. Colin Creevey decided to voice this analogy. He received long looks from the twins and Lee and, squirming under their gaze, was finally persuaded to move seats.
"Weird little brat, isn't he?" Lee muttered, who had apparently moved on from the giant shortage Hogwarts seemed to have and was already waving at Nearly-Headless Nick. But George looked as concerned as Holly was about Hagrid's absence.
"You don't suppose he was fired, do you?" he asked frantically. "Care of Magical Creatures is the only subject I didn't fail last quarter!"
"What are our classes again, brother?" Fred laughed. "Elective, elective, class, elective..."
"Hush," Holly snapped, looking all over the room for any sign of the big friendly giant. Fred looked a little annoyed at her attitude and continued in spite of her request.
"Would you look at that toad-like fiend?" he laughed, looking at the new– and not quite young– face. Holly tore her eyes away from the search for Hagrid.
"It's like... the Fuzzy Pink Monster from Hell." Holly commented. "She looks positively horrid."
"Wasn't it you who told me not to judge people by their looks?" Lee asked with a smirk.
"Well," Holly chuckled, glancing at her brother and his friends. "It looks as though they agree with me."
Ron looked critical of the woman's unbecoming style. Harry looked like he was about to gag. And even Hermione was frowning, but, Holly had to admit, she was probably just wondering who this new woman was.
"Must be the new Defense teacher," Lee said with a shrug.
"Here comes the sorting," George said, as McGonagall entered with a tail of eager fist years.
"Can you believe this is the last time we'll hear his song?" Holly sighed, nostalgically.
"Yes," the twins and Lee said, simultaneously in a monotone.
As the hat sang, the atmosphere became more apprehensive. When it ended, there was the usual applause, as well as the more unusual muttering and questioning glances.
"What the hell was that?" Lee laughed, staring at the hat. "I mean, I knew it was smart, but what was that about?"
Fred and George clapped hesitantly, and Holly frowned to see their faces void of smiles.
"Hey... you guys alright?" she asked them. George turned to her, looking pensive.
"Lee's right. What was that hat talking about?"
"Can't be anything good, can it?" Fred muttered.
"McGonagall's giving that look again..." Lee whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
Somewhere around the Gs, the twins got the nerve to speak up again. Or at least whisper to Holly.
"Don't you find it odd that the hat issued such a warning right when You-Know-Who comes back?" Fred asked with a nudge. Holly nodded, disconcerted. But she was distracted by Dumbledore's curt speech.
"To our newcomers, welcome! To our old hands– welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"
The twins also seemed distracted by the huge amount of food that appeared before them. The grins returning to their faces, they took Dumbledore's advice, and Lee followed suit.
Holly ate that evening, but not that much.
Dumbledore gave his start-of-year speech at the end of their meal, explaining the usual items. He came to the staff replacements and explained the abominable woman in pink was Professor Umbridge, who was, indeed, their defense teacher. And, to George's dismay, Dumbledore reintroduced Professor Grubbly-Plank, who was to take Hagrid's place. Dumbledore was vague on the details pertaining to Hagrid's whereabouts.
As he was announcing the Quidditch team tryouts, he was interrupted in a politely rude manner.
Holly, knowing right off that the Umbridge woman was nothing but sugar and ants, decided from then on that she would never listen to a word the woman said.
But there were some people her head wouldn't let her ignore.
Ring around the rosies A pocket full of posies Ashes, ashes We all fall down
A little American girl with brown, wavy hair, was swinging on a wooden swing in the middle of a spacious forest. Trees were scattered here and there, but you could see the blue sky through the foliage.
Holly was barefoot, walking on the damp leaves. It was the beginning of autumn, it seemed, and the trees appeared to be on fire with oranges and reds and golds.
The little girl kept singing to herself and swinging, seemingly unaware of Holly's presence.
"Hello?" Holly greeted with a smile. Things seemed so real... she was so aware of her silky hair lying lightly on her shoulders, her white, gauzy dress blowing around her knees in the breeze. But despite the apparent cold, neither she nor the girl was dressed in any winter attire.
The girl wore a white, lacy Sunday dress, with a pink sash. She also wore a pink ribbon in her cinnamon hair.
"No one will ever find me here," the girl muttered to herself with a smile. But her brown eyes seemed sad. Holly wondered who she wanted to find her in such a sanctuary as this.
"I found you," Holly said, but the girl seemed not to notice. She continued to talk to herself.
"Billy once chased me here," she said.
"Who's Billy?" Holly asked. With each sentence, she took one step closer to the child on the swing. All the girl did was sigh.
"My name's Holly," Holly said. "What's yours?"
Again, no reply. The girl started to sing again. Holly watched until the girl suddenly extended her legs and put her black buckled shoes deep into the leaves below the swing to stop it.
"Sometimes, it's best not to be remembered," she whispered.
Holly had Double Advanced Charms, with the Ravenclaws first thing on Monday. Lee and the twins weren't in her class. And so, she took her seat next to the ravishing– and oddly stiff– Cho Chang.
"Hello, Cho!" Holly greeted in a friendly manner.
"Good morning, Holly," Cho replied, quite business-like, staring straight ahead as Flickwick gathered his papers. She looked unusually thin.
A curly-haired Ravenclaw sat on Cho's other side.
"Love the hair, Cho," she said, bouncily. She then caught sight of Holly and wrinkled her nose. "Oh. And who's this?"
Cho replied, quietly, "Holly Phillips, this is–"
"Marietta Edgecombe, of the Canterbury Edgecombes, of course." Marietta held out her hand to Holly. Holly took the hand and almost mimicked Marietta's haughty accent.
"Charmed, I'm sure," she said with a smile. Marietta laughed, not picking up on the mockery Holly was trying to make of her.
"Phillips... would that be the Phillips of Leeds?"
"No, the Phillips of Normandy, of course!" Holly laughed. "It's a French name, you know. And it's pronounced Phil-EEP!" Cho flashed Holly a warning look, but Marietta was eating it up.
"Oh Cho, where did you find this girl!" Marietta tossed back her head in laughter. "Dear, you simply must sit with us at the table at lunch today... you are a Ravenclaw I assume?"
"She's in Gryffindor," Cho said quickly. Nuts, Holly thought, And I was planning on telling her that I was in Slytherin just to see her furrow her blackhead-free brow.
"Gryffindor, eh?" Marietta seemed intrigued, but sympathetic. "Oh you poor dear. I suppose we can't all be blessed with intelligence, can we?"
"Whatever happened to unity between houses, Marietta? You seemed all for the idea last night!" Cho said, bitterly. Marietta laughed.
"I think we should be kind to the Gryffindor's and Hufflepuffs. The Slytherins will never get over their arrogance."
"Nor will you, Marietta," Cho sighed, quietly. Holly smiled to herself.
For the rest if the class, Marietta treated Holly like a five-year-old. Every time she answered a question wrong, Marietta would explain to Flitwick "She's deprived, she doesn't know any better." It drove Holly up the wall.
The class finished early, and Flitwick gave them a few minutes of free time.
"So have you seen Harry Potter recently?" Marietta asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," Holly said.
"Oh really? Was he still spouting stories about the Dark Lord?" Marietta laughed again. Her laugh bothered Holly. Every time she did it, her hair would bounce up and down as if she were on some odd trampoline. Cho shot Marietta an angry glance.
"Actually," Holly said. "When I saw him, he was telling me about his summer." It was a lie. Harry hadn't said a word about his summer.
"Marietta doesn't believe Harry's story about... about what happened at the Third Task." Cho went oddly quiet by the time she finished her sentence. Holly looked at Marietta.
"Oh really?" she said, snidely. "Why, was one of your parents a Death Eater?"
Marietta looked positively scandalized by this outrageous accusation.
"Marietta, dear, Holly and Harry are good friends. I told you to stop bringing up such a controversial subject. I swear, you just like to infuriate people," Cho said. She then turned to Holly and smiled. "I, for one, believe Harry fully. I believed him before, because it was the only thing that made sense, but now that he has Holly backing him up, I can't understand who could think to call him a liar."
"Thank you, Cho!" Holly said, crossing her arms and smiling gloatingly at Marietta, who sulked.
"Well, if You-Know-Who really was back, then don't you think he would have done something by now?" Marietta retorted.
"He's biding his time," Holly said. "He knows the Ministry doesn't want to admit that he's back, and he's not giving them reason to. He figures that maybe they'll put Harry in St. Mungo's so he'll be easier to kill." Then, her eyes narrowed and there was a low growl to her tone. "Don't you dare buy that bull shit the Prophet tries to sell you, or you'll be selling out my best friend!"
Marietta looked appalled at Holly's language, but half the class applauded her. Flitwick gave Gryffindor ten points (of course, when asked by disapproving students what the points were for, he said they were for all Holly's brilliant answers in class that day). Cho even went so far as to give her a huge hug.
"Oh thank you, Holly! I've been trying to get that through her head for ages, but I could never find the words!" Cho was grinning as Marietta fanned herself with her hand.
"Here here!" Holly's roommate Kristen chimed.
From then on, Cho had a new respect for Holly and Marietta had a new loathing for her.
The feast was worth attending, and at least this time she didn't fall asleep.
"Where the bloody blazes is Hagrid?" Lee said, suddenly. Holly jerked her head to the staff table. Her eyes scanned the table as quickly and efficiently as if she was a computer scanning a library book. Colin Creevey decided to voice this analogy. He received long looks from the twins and Lee and, squirming under their gaze, was finally persuaded to move seats.
"Weird little brat, isn't he?" Lee muttered, who had apparently moved on from the giant shortage Hogwarts seemed to have and was already waving at Nearly-Headless Nick. But George looked as concerned as Holly was about Hagrid's absence.
"You don't suppose he was fired, do you?" he asked frantically. "Care of Magical Creatures is the only subject I didn't fail last quarter!"
"What are our classes again, brother?" Fred laughed. "Elective, elective, class, elective..."
"Hush," Holly snapped, looking all over the room for any sign of the big friendly giant. Fred looked a little annoyed at her attitude and continued in spite of her request.
"Would you look at that toad-like fiend?" he laughed, looking at the new– and not quite young– face. Holly tore her eyes away from the search for Hagrid.
"It's like... the Fuzzy Pink Monster from Hell." Holly commented. "She looks positively horrid."
"Wasn't it you who told me not to judge people by their looks?" Lee asked with a smirk.
"Well," Holly chuckled, glancing at her brother and his friends. "It looks as though they agree with me."
Ron looked critical of the woman's unbecoming style. Harry looked like he was about to gag. And even Hermione was frowning, but, Holly had to admit, she was probably just wondering who this new woman was.
"Must be the new Defense teacher," Lee said with a shrug.
"Here comes the sorting," George said, as McGonagall entered with a tail of eager fist years.
"Can you believe this is the last time we'll hear his song?" Holly sighed, nostalgically.
"Yes," the twins and Lee said, simultaneously in a monotone.
As the hat sang, the atmosphere became more apprehensive. When it ended, there was the usual applause, as well as the more unusual muttering and questioning glances.
"What the hell was that?" Lee laughed, staring at the hat. "I mean, I knew it was smart, but what was that about?"
Fred and George clapped hesitantly, and Holly frowned to see their faces void of smiles.
"Hey... you guys alright?" she asked them. George turned to her, looking pensive.
"Lee's right. What was that hat talking about?"
"Can't be anything good, can it?" Fred muttered.
"McGonagall's giving that look again..." Lee whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
Somewhere around the Gs, the twins got the nerve to speak up again. Or at least whisper to Holly.
"Don't you find it odd that the hat issued such a warning right when You-Know-Who comes back?" Fred asked with a nudge. Holly nodded, disconcerted. But she was distracted by Dumbledore's curt speech.
"To our newcomers, welcome! To our old hands– welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"
The twins also seemed distracted by the huge amount of food that appeared before them. The grins returning to their faces, they took Dumbledore's advice, and Lee followed suit.
Holly ate that evening, but not that much.
Dumbledore gave his start-of-year speech at the end of their meal, explaining the usual items. He came to the staff replacements and explained the abominable woman in pink was Professor Umbridge, who was, indeed, their defense teacher. And, to George's dismay, Dumbledore reintroduced Professor Grubbly-Plank, who was to take Hagrid's place. Dumbledore was vague on the details pertaining to Hagrid's whereabouts.
As he was announcing the Quidditch team tryouts, he was interrupted in a politely rude manner.
Holly, knowing right off that the Umbridge woman was nothing but sugar and ants, decided from then on that she would never listen to a word the woman said.
But there were some people her head wouldn't let her ignore.
Ring around the rosies A pocket full of posies Ashes, ashes We all fall down
A little American girl with brown, wavy hair, was swinging on a wooden swing in the middle of a spacious forest. Trees were scattered here and there, but you could see the blue sky through the foliage.
Holly was barefoot, walking on the damp leaves. It was the beginning of autumn, it seemed, and the trees appeared to be on fire with oranges and reds and golds.
The little girl kept singing to herself and swinging, seemingly unaware of Holly's presence.
"Hello?" Holly greeted with a smile. Things seemed so real... she was so aware of her silky hair lying lightly on her shoulders, her white, gauzy dress blowing around her knees in the breeze. But despite the apparent cold, neither she nor the girl was dressed in any winter attire.
The girl wore a white, lacy Sunday dress, with a pink sash. She also wore a pink ribbon in her cinnamon hair.
"No one will ever find me here," the girl muttered to herself with a smile. But her brown eyes seemed sad. Holly wondered who she wanted to find her in such a sanctuary as this.
"I found you," Holly said, but the girl seemed not to notice. She continued to talk to herself.
"Billy once chased me here," she said.
"Who's Billy?" Holly asked. With each sentence, she took one step closer to the child on the swing. All the girl did was sigh.
"My name's Holly," Holly said. "What's yours?"
Again, no reply. The girl started to sing again. Holly watched until the girl suddenly extended her legs and put her black buckled shoes deep into the leaves below the swing to stop it.
"Sometimes, it's best not to be remembered," she whispered.
Holly had Double Advanced Charms, with the Ravenclaws first thing on Monday. Lee and the twins weren't in her class. And so, she took her seat next to the ravishing– and oddly stiff– Cho Chang.
"Hello, Cho!" Holly greeted in a friendly manner.
"Good morning, Holly," Cho replied, quite business-like, staring straight ahead as Flickwick gathered his papers. She looked unusually thin.
A curly-haired Ravenclaw sat on Cho's other side.
"Love the hair, Cho," she said, bouncily. She then caught sight of Holly and wrinkled her nose. "Oh. And who's this?"
Cho replied, quietly, "Holly Phillips, this is–"
"Marietta Edgecombe, of the Canterbury Edgecombes, of course." Marietta held out her hand to Holly. Holly took the hand and almost mimicked Marietta's haughty accent.
"Charmed, I'm sure," she said with a smile. Marietta laughed, not picking up on the mockery Holly was trying to make of her.
"Phillips... would that be the Phillips of Leeds?"
"No, the Phillips of Normandy, of course!" Holly laughed. "It's a French name, you know. And it's pronounced Phil-EEP!" Cho flashed Holly a warning look, but Marietta was eating it up.
"Oh Cho, where did you find this girl!" Marietta tossed back her head in laughter. "Dear, you simply must sit with us at the table at lunch today... you are a Ravenclaw I assume?"
"She's in Gryffindor," Cho said quickly. Nuts, Holly thought, And I was planning on telling her that I was in Slytherin just to see her furrow her blackhead-free brow.
"Gryffindor, eh?" Marietta seemed intrigued, but sympathetic. "Oh you poor dear. I suppose we can't all be blessed with intelligence, can we?"
"Whatever happened to unity between houses, Marietta? You seemed all for the idea last night!" Cho said, bitterly. Marietta laughed.
"I think we should be kind to the Gryffindor's and Hufflepuffs. The Slytherins will never get over their arrogance."
"Nor will you, Marietta," Cho sighed, quietly. Holly smiled to herself.
For the rest if the class, Marietta treated Holly like a five-year-old. Every time she answered a question wrong, Marietta would explain to Flitwick "She's deprived, she doesn't know any better." It drove Holly up the wall.
The class finished early, and Flitwick gave them a few minutes of free time.
"So have you seen Harry Potter recently?" Marietta asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," Holly said.
"Oh really? Was he still spouting stories about the Dark Lord?" Marietta laughed again. Her laugh bothered Holly. Every time she did it, her hair would bounce up and down as if she were on some odd trampoline. Cho shot Marietta an angry glance.
"Actually," Holly said. "When I saw him, he was telling me about his summer." It was a lie. Harry hadn't said a word about his summer.
"Marietta doesn't believe Harry's story about... about what happened at the Third Task." Cho went oddly quiet by the time she finished her sentence. Holly looked at Marietta.
"Oh really?" she said, snidely. "Why, was one of your parents a Death Eater?"
Marietta looked positively scandalized by this outrageous accusation.
"Marietta, dear, Holly and Harry are good friends. I told you to stop bringing up such a controversial subject. I swear, you just like to infuriate people," Cho said. She then turned to Holly and smiled. "I, for one, believe Harry fully. I believed him before, because it was the only thing that made sense, but now that he has Holly backing him up, I can't understand who could think to call him a liar."
"Thank you, Cho!" Holly said, crossing her arms and smiling gloatingly at Marietta, who sulked.
"Well, if You-Know-Who really was back, then don't you think he would have done something by now?" Marietta retorted.
"He's biding his time," Holly said. "He knows the Ministry doesn't want to admit that he's back, and he's not giving them reason to. He figures that maybe they'll put Harry in St. Mungo's so he'll be easier to kill." Then, her eyes narrowed and there was a low growl to her tone. "Don't you dare buy that bull shit the Prophet tries to sell you, or you'll be selling out my best friend!"
Marietta looked appalled at Holly's language, but half the class applauded her. Flitwick gave Gryffindor ten points (of course, when asked by disapproving students what the points were for, he said they were for all Holly's brilliant answers in class that day). Cho even went so far as to give her a huge hug.
"Oh thank you, Holly! I've been trying to get that through her head for ages, but I could never find the words!" Cho was grinning as Marietta fanned herself with her hand.
"Here here!" Holly's roommate Kristen chimed.
From then on, Cho had a new respect for Holly and Marietta had a new loathing for her.