I do not own the rights to any of the characters that appear in my little story. Now I do not claim I can tell a story nearly as well as J.K. Rowling (if I could I'd be a millionaire). The best I can do is all I can offer. I hope that you will be entertained.

Holly Potter

And The

Army of Darkness

Story

Kim West

Chapter 9: The Necronomicon

Preparations have been made for tables and on those tables were pastries, pudding, ham, turkey, and so very much more there laden out for guests to consume to their hearts content. The setting was to be outdoors with a giant oak tree overlooking the festivities. With the soft rolling clouds above, it was truly picturesque.

Many wizards and witches have already shown up to be present at this stage of the party. Most formed their own little groups like the Grangers, Creeveys, and Weasleys. This particular group mostly talked about the upcoming school year. Because the Creeveys and Grangers were not of magical blood, special permission had to be granted to allow the parents to intermingle with the witches and wizards attending this function. Others such as Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, and Snape were discussing things amongst themselves, things that had very little to do with the party at hand. Hermione (still in pixie form) had stumbled upon this most interesting conversation.

"I tell you Albus that Dolores Umbridge is up to no good. I didn't like the way she was insinuating everybody at Hogwarts was a criminal, and had something to hide from her."

Dumbledore gave a weak smile. "I am afraid that things will get much worse before they get any better Minerva. There is a storm on the horizon that may destroy everything that we hold dear."

Snape's eyes flashed. "It's not just the Ministry that we have to worry about," Snape the put out his arm and rolled up his sleeve to reveal his 'Mark of Death' (tattoo) had changed greatly. It was now glowing bright pink, and looked like a crescent moon. The others looked at the disturbing site.

Hagrid shuffled his feet and stroked his beard. "That can't be good news, but what does it mean?"

Snape covered his arm once more and shook his head. "I have no idea, but I keep getting these strange visions in my head."

"So what are these visions about Severus?" McGonagall asked.

Snape's face bushed red. "NO! Uh…I mean…I'd rather not go into the details."

Dumbledore faced the potions master and looked him straight in eyes. "Tell us what you've seen my friend."

Snape's lip quivered. "No. You'll just laugh."

McGonagall crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "We're all adults here Severus. Tell us what you saw."

Snape drew a long breath. "Well, I was seeing myself in these visions along with others who follow 'You-Know-Who.' And I…they…the followers as well, were dressed up like girls. It was not just dressing up though, we were…"

Hermione couldn't quite catch the rest of this conversation because she was starting to have some problems. To be precise, her potion to make her a pixie was wearing off. She was growing bigger, and bigger, and more noticeable. She had to fly away or else land on top of one of the professors talking. She felt sure she would have a hard time trying to explain why she was eavesdropping on a private conversation, so she flew a few yards to a local bush, and unceremoniously plopped to the ground. 'Voldemort's back! Or something worse, I have to tell Holly about this' Hermione thought while she made her way back to the party.

Holly was sitting on a chair that looked like a thrown, and felt a bit ridiculous to be receiving the amount of attention she was getting. One by one wizards and witches bestowed gifts for her. Becky had given her a pair of new gloves for playing Quidditch, Mrs. Weasley made a new sweater, and then came the gift from the Longbottoms. Yes, Neville, his grandmother, and his mother and father all walked up to Holly who immediately stood up and curtsied.

The grandmother spoke while regarding Holly. "Rise child; let me see the face of the one who has given my family renewed life and joy."

Holly stood up and face the elderly woman wearing green robes and a rather large hat with a vulture sitting atop it. The woman had a power and presence to her that could not be denied. At that moment however she smiled upon Holly, and there were tears flowing down her cheeks. She held out her hand and touch Holly's cheek.

"So young, you would do your parents proud my dear." Grandmother turned aside to allow Frank and Alice to have their say. They both looked frail, but also seemed to be on the mend. Frank had on a nice dress shirt, bow tie, brown vest, and brown slacks. In fact he looked rather respectable by upper class Muggle standards. Alice wore a silver dress that captured her grace beautifully.

Alice Longbottom shook her head. "I see so much of your mother Lily in you."

Frank laughed. "And from what Neville has told us, you have much of your father in you as well."

Holly blushed. "I thank you for your kind words, and I am honored that you would want to attend my party."

The Grandmother now laughed. "Nonsense! You've restored our family, and that is something we will now acknowledge. Neville! Bring the gift!"

Neville had been hiding this entire time, but now stepped forward with a long narrow shape object wrapped in brown paper. The shape seemed awfully familiar to Holly, but she wanted to act surprised just the same. When she did open the package she did not have to act, she along with everybody else was surprised.

Holly gazed upon the racing broom in her hands. "This can't be!"

Neville nodded. "Yeah Holly, it's exactly what you think it is. It's a 'limited edition Thunderbird GRX;' there's only ten like it in the Wizarding world."

Holly's jaw dropped (well not literally cause that would be a medical emergency). "How? It's so rare?" Holly shook her head. "I can't take this, it's too expensive. It's too…"

Alice took Holly's hands and held them closely with her own. "It's yours Holly Potter. Let us give you this present as our way of thanking you."

Holly knew that this broom was only given to the absolute elite players. Having money to buy such a broom usually wasn't enough; you had to have extremely good connections. She thought about Neville's Grandmother just then, 'was it possible she wielded that much influence?' She looked over to her while she considered the possibility, and she smiled back at her as if she could read Holly's thoughts.

"Neville said you needed a new one, and I figured you might as well fly the best. Besides, what good is having friends in high places if you can't ask for a wee favor now and then?"

Holly laughed. "This qualifies for more than just a wee favor, but I will gladly accept this magnificent broom. I will fly it with pride this year at Hogwarts."

"See that you do my dear, Neville tells us that you are an excellent Seeker and I expect you to help Gryffindor win the house cup."

Neville's face turned red. "Gran!"

"What? I am just showing support for Gryffindor."

And so, the Longbottoms made way for others to present gifts. Nora was up next, and gave her gift which looked liked a simple velvet bag.

Holly held it up trying to figure out what to say. "A bag, it's, umm, nice."

Nora giggled. "It's a bottomless purse silly, here let me show you." She opened up the purse, then took Holly's brand new broom, and stuffed it inside before Holly had a chance to protest. The Thunderbolt was much longer than the purse, but it still fit quite nicely. In fact you could not even tell it was inside the purse at all.

Holly looked inside the purse, but nothing was there. "I should've liked to have flown it at least once before you did that."

Nora giggled once more. "Your thunder thingy is still inside the purse. Just think about the object you desire, and then put your hand in the purse without looking."

Holly did just that, and actually felt the top portion of the broomstick. "Amazing, this will come in quite handy for storing my broom when it's not in use."

"Yes, I figured as much, but you can put much more inside the purse than just your broom. You can put all of your books, your cauldron, wand, and anything else you think you might need inside of it. The purse will still look like it is empty, not only that, but none of the contents will be damaged or crushed inside of it. Of course, if you damage the purse itself, then you might have to replace whatever was inside of it at the time. Those items may not come back or they might be damaged if they do return."

Holly took in the information while tying the purse inside of her cloak. Nora walked off so that another person may give their gift. Luna Lovegood approached with a book in her hands. This seemed innocent enough, but little did anybody realize that this was not Luna, and that book was not really a present. If most of you reading this have been paying attention, Luna was really Draco Malfoy in disguise, who is supposed to be setting up a deadly trap for Holly. Hence the book, ah but I do not wish to rehash too much. Let us watch the event unfold.

Luna handed Holly the ancient book. "This has been in my family for generations."

Holly felt something odd about the book, but did not really think much about it. "Thank you Luna, what is it about I wonder?"

Holly opened up the book before Luna had a chance to say anything. A flash of energy came forth from the pages. Holly was then sent hurtling high into the air. She felt a force grab her around the waist; it was pulling her back towards the book which landed on a nearby table. It looked like it had become a portal to another place, a swirling white gaping hole that led to who know where. Instinctively Holly used her magic to stop herself from being swallowed by the hole. This however was a momentary victory because whatever had a hold of her was now grabbing others.

"Ah, get off of me!" Yelled Luna while joining Holly up in the air. Holly prevented her from being sucked into the hole. She could possibly maintain this for a while, but now Lilybee, Becky, Ginny, and Connie were trapped. The strain to keep everyone safe was increasing.

Hermione rushed forward and yelled. "IMMOBULUS!"

The only result of this action was that everyone in the air froze, with the exception of Holly. This was fortunate because she was the only one from preventing all of the girls from disappearing into the book. Hermione tried to think of another spell, but she too had been grabbed. More girls were being captured, Bek, Dana, Jilly, Daphne, and Nora. No boys were taken, no men or women, just girls.

Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, and many other drew their wands firing at the book, but the effort proved useless. The book simply continued to grab young girls. Yukio and her elf Esera were next, the book didn't really care about the elf, but Yukio refuse to let go, she had hugged the elf so tightly that taking both seemed to be the only way. By now, Holly was near exhaustion; she had used up every bit of her power just to keep the book at bay. She saw many of the girls crying, struggling to free themselves.

"LET THEM CHIDREN ALONE YOU FOUL BOOK!" Roared Hagrid.

"No Hagrid! Stop!" Yelled Dumbledore, but it was too late. The giant charged forth and swung his mighty fists into the book. When he struck there was a brilliant flash of light all about. You could make out the silhouette of a giant tentacle creature that was apparently part of the book. Each of its tentacles was holding a girl, and its mouth appeared to be the white hole that wanted to devour the girls. This was not the terrifying part of this event. No, not by a long shot, you see, when Hagrid struck the book he vanished without a trace. Only the sound of his fearsome roar could be heard ringing in the nearby hills.

Holly cried out. "Hagrid! NOOOoooo…" At that moment she felt all her remaining power drained away. There was no fight left; she and the other girls were quickly sucked into the portal. There was light, wind, and screaming of girls plummeting through a vast funnel.

Hermione yell out to the others. "Grab on to each other!" She took hold of Connie's hand, and in turn Nora, Yukio, and Esera clung to each other forming one group. Becky, Bek, Lilybee, Dana, and Daphne formed a second group. The third group consisted of Holly (who was barely conscious), Ginny, Jilly, and Luna. Fierce winds split the three groups farther away from one another until nothing was left but the relentless wind and bright light.