Thanks, as always, to ChuckTheElf for beta-reading.

Chapter 7: Easter Break

Holly stared at the Christmas roast that had splattered on the floor. Aunt Petunia will kill me. If she didn't, Aunt Marge would.

The pan was too hot for her to carry and she didn't see the oven gloves anywhere and Aunt Petunia pushed her into the kitchen to take the roast beef out of the oven and now she was in big trouble. Someone would walk in any minute and they'd kill her. "Very expensive, that roast", Uncle Vernon had said multiple times.

She wanted to use magic, but her 'attempts' were 'inconsistent', according to Alex. Most of the time she couldn't make anything happen, but when it did, things would go completely out of hand. Having the Christmas roast splattered all over the floor and ceiling would only make things worse.

"Yes, yes, the girl's getting it out of the oven." Holly heard Aunt Petunia say from behind the door.

Please, please, please work, she thought, trying not to panic and make an even bigger mess as her footsteps came closer. The pan stubbornly remained on the floor. Holly wanted to cry. What good was having magic if you couldn't use it when you really needed to?

Taking a deep breath, Holly aimed her hands at the pan, imagining the roast being how it was supposed to be, upright and on the counter. She knew she could do it. She wanted it to happen. She could picture it. Slow and steady. Think about what the book said. Belief, desire and focus. Belief, desire and focus.

It was as if she had pressed 'rewind' on a VCR—the pot roast and all its juices and vegetables floated back into the pan, reversing from its upside-down state. The floor was clean again.

Now for the hard part. Holly pulled into how she felt before, the feeling that everything had to go right and raised her hands again. She imagined the roast rising onto the kitchen table. She wanted it to. It had to.

Sluggishly, the pan obeyed, lowering itself on the table with a clang just as Aunt Petunia opened the door.

She narrowed her eyes. "It's taken you long enough," she grabbed the pan, touching the handle for a moment before letting go with a belated hiss.

Oh no. Holly winced. It was still hot. Aunt Petunia would be upset with her like anything if she found out the roast had been on the floor, or that she had used magic.

Aunt Petunia stared at Holly dubiously for a moment before going to the highest pantry, the one she and Dudley couldn't reach.

She put on a new pair of gloves and snapped, "Wash up," before leaving.

It worked! It really worked! Holly let out a relieved sigh. She knew by the time she was finished the roast would be mostly gone and Aunt Marge would insult her, but none of that mattered. She was safe.

The exhaustion was well worth it.

~•~

Holly hung her head off the bed in the Kann's guest room despondently and closed her eyes. She let out a deep sigh.

"So what's the plan now?" asked Alex gently as he ran his fingers through her hair. It reminded her of more peaceful times.

"There is none."

It had seemed so simple at the time. When her first attempt at the Mandrake potion failed, Holly hadn't been worried. Two thousand Galleons was a lot of money, but she was sure her vault had enough to cover it. The Petrifications had stopped, in any case. Getting more Mandrakes hadn't seemed pressing at the time.

Then Hermione and Penelope Clearwater had been attacked.

Any amnesty she had gotten evaporated. Hagrid's arrest didn't help, and Holly had signed up to leave for Easter the second McGonagall put the list up.

Wood hadn't been pleased — "What do you mean you're going home? We have practice the next two weeks!" — but Holly didn't care. She needed a break from everything, from the stares, from the angry looks Leanne Clearwater, Penny's younger sister, kept shooting at her, from the renewed curses and pranks.

Once she'd returned to the Muggle world, she and Alex made their way to Gringotts only to receive another nasty surprise…

"What?" asked Alex, flabbergasted.

The goblin teller—Burgock—rested his elbows on the counter, steepled his fingers, and bared his teeth in displeasure. "No."

"But you allowed the exchange last time," said Holly.

"Foolish children. Are you unaware of the Muggle-Wizard currency exchange limits? No more than fifty thousand pounds can be converted into Galleons every six months." He gestured towards the wall to their right, which detailed the daily exchange rate and the semi-annual limit on a Muggle-esque chalkboard.

Alex's eyes widened. "Oh no."

According to the sign, a Galleon was worth twenty pounds. The Mandrakes had cost forty thousand pounds to purchase, almost single-handedly reaching the limit overnight.

Crap. There was only one other option. Holly swallowed and faced the goblin. "How much is in my vault?"

"Your key."

She took the key out of her jacket and slid it across the counter.

Burgock held it up to the light. "You have nine thousand, nine hundred and eighty Galleons, fifteen Sickles and twenty Knuts. Do you plan on making a withdrawal or will you humans continue to waste my time?" he spat.

Holly sighed. She couldn't afford to take out two thousand Galleons, not when they had other expenses to worry about. "No."

He threw the key on the floor with a sneer. "Then get out of my sight."

Now she was back to square one. Her only saving grace was that Hogwarts' Mandrakes were almost mature and would be ready soon.

Remembering the events of the bank only served to frustrate her. Her fingers blindly reached for a pillow on the bed. "My only option is to catch whoever is doing it, and that's rather unlikely, isn't it?"

"It's not as if you couldn't take whoever's doing it on."

Holly opened her eyes, giving her upside-down friend a look. "Sometimes you overestimate my abilities."

"The troll begs to differ."

"That was one time. Besides, trolls are mindless beasts and I had help."

Alex hummed. He shifted his astronomy-themed beanbag chair—he'd dragged it into the room—and resumed finger-combing her hair. "Do you think that book you gave to Flitwick will sort things out?"

Shortly after the latest attack, Holly had found a notebook suspiciously close to the Hideaway entrance. It looked similar to the one Ron had been carrying around all year, but there was something ominous about it. Spilt ink disappeared into it and when she wrote into it, it wrote back.

That had set off alarm bells. Ron had once said magical objects shouldn't do that, not unless you enchanted them yourself or they were purchased for that purpose.

She'd taken it to Flitwick the day she left, explaining her suspicions. The part goblin thanked her and assured her that it would be 'dealt with appropriately.'

"I hope so. How are things with you?" She didn't expect much of a response. Alex was notoriously tight-lipped about his Muggle life.

To her surprise, he brightened, revealing a grey and white smile. "Really well! I joined the Economics and Politics club. It's not too bad so far. It's given me fantastic ideas for Eternal Elixirs."

"Do tell."

"Well, at first I thought that we should try to sell as many potions as possible in as much quality as possible. You know, helping as many people as we can?"

Holly hummed.

"But then I realized that that was impractical. One second." Holly could hear him run to his room. He returned moments later with several papers. "See, I completely forgot about the population difference between the two worlds. There would be no way we could produce on the same scale as a purely Muggle company."

"I am only one witch."

Alex handed her a paper. "And there wouldn't be enough ingredients to meet demand. So I figure we can stick to a small, select group of people. I know you've been a bit worried about getting exposed."

"Just a bit," she said mildly, looking over the sheet of excited scribbles upside down. "But what about the prices?" Every business needed to make money, after all.

"Yeah, that's one of the downsides." He sighed. "If we keep our market down to, say, a thousand people, we can break even only if they are willing to buy a boil cure at four times production cost every two months. And that's not even accounting for the Pound to Galleon exchange rate and inflation and things like that."

Boil cure was the cheapest potion that had been approved thus far. After subtracting the cost of starting supplies — like her cauldron, scales, knives and vials — it cost about ninety Knuts per litre.

"So what's the plan?" she asked, echoing his earlier question as he put the sheets away.

"I'll let you know as soon as I think of one," he promised.

With that, he quietly returned to playing with her hair. It was a relaxing pastime for them both, and Holly smiled as she felt her scalp tingle from the tangles being worked out.

"Unless…" began Alex ten minutes later.

"Unless?"

"Would a charm work on…living things?"

Holly flipped right-side up. "How do you mean?"

"Like Engorgio cast on plants or potion ingredients," he said, looking studiously at the unadorned pale blue wall. "It could save money. The money you don't spend is the money you save, you know?"

She looked at Alex's reddened face suspiciously. "I suppose. But I don't think potion ingredients can be duplicated like that. It could mess with the magic."

"Just the magical ones, right?"

"Probably," she said, still puzzled at his odd question. She decided to chalk it up as one of Alex's weird moments and flipped over again. "I'd have to do more research, though."

"Right." He coughed. "Oh, and that reminds me, Dad wants to talk to us about possible future potions we can make, now that we have the first three covered. He said the more options we have available, the more wiggle room we'll have when we set prices."

That makes sense. She nodded her approval. "Alright then."

And so they continued talking intermittently for the next hour, discussing their future Muggle classes. Holly had opted for a lighter course load. Even though she restricted herself in the past, choosing to put a majority of her focus on Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions, juggling five extra classes was not going to be an easy task. Alex, on the other hand, planned on seven, something she deemed 'supererogation'. The subject then turned to Mrs Figg.

"You know, it actually makes a bit of sense now that I think about it," said Holly about the neighbourhood cat lady's newly-revealed Squib status.

Alex looked slightly annoyed. "Not all Squibs have cats."

"Maybe not." Other than Alex's mum, the only Squibs she knew were Filch and Mrs Figg. Not exactly a large sample size. "But her fireplace is pretty big, just like the one at the Weasley's and at Hogsmeade. She said she couldn't tell me because I was too young. Even after we became friends."

His hands stilled. "Maybe it was painful for her," said Alex, not unkindly.

Holly's stomach dropped. How could she be so insensitive? She'd read the Squib books; Holly knew very well how Squib-born were treated. "Oh, right."

"And, it's not as if she has children or anyone close to her to tell, like Mum. Plus if she respects Dumbledore as much as you say, then of course she'd keep it secret."

"Yeah, that tracks," she said weakly.

The preteens had an early morning the next day. After a filling breakfast, they headed into the renovated basement. With eggshell white walls, a high sloped ceiling and rows of benches filled with interesting electronics, it looked like a proper workshop. Alex's father was already there, typing on a sleek computer when they arrived.

"Morning, dad."

Mr Kann returned the greeting as they sat down in the swivel chairs in front of his wooden desk. Alex took out a folder with all the information he'd shown her the day before and told his father everything. From ingredient wholesale prices to charts detailing costs vs profits of the accepted potions, Alex spared no detail.

"I see," said Mr Kann once he finished.

He looked at the paperwork carefully. "And have you decided how you're going to sell the potions? Plastic bottles, glass vials, jars?"

Alex blinked as if it didn't occur to him. He blushed. "Oops."

Holly didn't think to ask either; she remained silent.

Mr Kann gave them a gentle smile. "Your charts detail the costs of selling on a per litre basis, but very few people would be willing to buy so much at once. For comparison," he paused, bending over to the side of the desk. He placed a water bottle in front of them, its 'one-litre' designation was clearly visible on the label.

That is a lot to purchase at once, she thought in agreement.

"Do you know how much your cauldron can hold?"

"With water, one and a quarter gallons," she replied promptly. "But potions are tricky. It's like cooking, sometimes you don't end with the same volume that you start with. We tried to standardize the volume to litres and go from there."

Mr Kann nodded. "A logical decision, but you will need to standardize further. Do more research. What sizes are things like cosmetic selling in? Fifteen millilitres? Thirty? Sixty? Will you opt for glass, paper or plastic packaging? Each has its benefits and drawbacks. How will you handle delivery and shipment? Will it be free on all orders, or after a certain cart total? Overnight, two-day or three-day shipping? Will it be delivered through the post? All things to think about."

Though subdued, Alex diligently wrote everything down. Then they were dismissed to continue their research.

"That was humiliating," muttered Alex as they settled upstairs in the second sitting room.

"Come on Al, he was just trying to help. We didn't think about it, now we can." Holly took out her notebook. "We just have to work this out and we'll be back on track."

But Alex was still annoyed. "More like I didn't think about it."

She gripped her pen, pausing in the middle of her writing. He'd better not be blaming this on her! "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that some people are clearly more invested in this business than others," he said, making a show of looking over his papers. "Let's see. Comparison charts? All me. Price points? All me. Potion effectiveness on non-magicals results? A joint effort, but mostly me."

Typical, she thought with a huff. Since she wasn't writing reports, it clearly meant that she wasn't doing anything. "That's not fair, you know what's been happening this year! I'm doing my best! Brewing isn't as easy as it looks!"

Alex scoffed. "Whatever. Let's just get this done."

"Fine."

They set to work. Holly measured a standard potion vial — about sixty millilitres — to the cosmetics Mrs Kann had. For burn-healing paste, she looked online for inspiration. She compared and contrasted the different common sizes and materials, the medicines and what they claimed to heal. After a few hours of searching, she decided on twenty millilitres for dittany, fifteen grams for burn-healing paste, and thirty for boil cure.

Meanwhile, Alex had chosen glass bottles for dittany and glass jars for burn-healing paste and boil-cure. He'd also taken the time to re-do his price charts, reluctantly asking for her opinion.

"One litre of dittany can produce fifty doses," she said stiffly. "About sixty-five for burn-healing paste, and thirty-three for boil cure."

Alex wrote everything down. "So each dose of dittany will cost about a pound-forty then?"

"Wholesale, yes."

"Hmm. So when we calculate the price of the equipment, shipment and other additions, plus profit, it'll probably cost around ten pounds for the dittany alone. And we can always increase the price."

"Probably."

"Brilliant."

"Fantastic."

"Spectacular."

"Sensational."

On and on they went, throwing out adjectives in an attempt to one-up each other. Then Alex snorted. Holly snorted back. And suddenly they were laughing as if they never fought.

"I'm sorry," said Alex once the episode ended, wiping his eyes. "I didn't mean it. I was just frustrated. I just want to prove to dad that we have what it takes, you know? That we aren't in over our heads like he thinks."

The last traces of laughter faded from her face. "Nobody expects you to be perfect. It was an easy thing to look over, but we figured it out."

But Alex was far from reassured. On the contrary, he looked vaguely annoyed, as if she wasn't fully grasping the significance of what he was saying. "Yeah. But I don't want to overlook anything again."

Mrs Kann called them for lunch, and the discussion was shelved. After the meal, she, Alex and Mr Kann descended into the basement once more, now with their revised plans. Alex's father was much more approving this time.

With that settled, Alex then moved on to the next topic of discussion—the next set of potions they would send for testing.

"Mane-Gro, Beautification, Wound Cleaning, Pepper-Up, Cough Soothing, and Invigoration Draught?"

"We were thinking of having the last three as part of a potential 'Herbal Remedies' products line, since they have to be ingested," said Holly, vaguely remembering the categories Alex has discussed with her.

"Cough Soothing should be reconsidered." He tapped the chart thoughtfully. "Though it's cheap, we already have cough medicine and the like."

On and on they went, proposing and disposing of various potions. There was even a discussion about truly medical potions in the future, many of which could replace Muggle medical procedures entirely. While Mr Kann analyzed a potion microscopically, she and Alex debated whether or not to sell them.

Alex was very much on board.

"There's more to potions than just boil cure or burn healing, especially for non-magicals," he argued, citing Holly's notes and potions textbook. "Skele-gro and nerve regeneration would not only sell well, but eliminate physical disability entirely. If we're going to break the law, why not go all out?"

Holly crossed her arms. "Skele-gro and nerve regeneration are NEWT-level potions," she reminded him. Her experience brewing Mandrake wouldn't be forgotten so soon. "People have to drink it, and we don't know how long it'd take for Muggles, and I don't think Dudley can help with this." After all, it was one thing for small pimples to vanish overnight, or for burns to heal faster than normal. Broken bones and permanent nerve damage was quite another.

"We can work around that," said Alex. "We can buy the potions instead of making them, maybe find a witch or wizard that won't report us…"

"How? Your mum said that she wouldn't be involved, and I can't ask people at school. Someone might overhear."

Fortunately, Mr Kann interrupted the growing argument. Looking up from his microscope, he said, "With the data, we compiled from testing burn healing and burn healing between you two, the general consensus is about two weeks for Skele-gro and five to six weeks or more for Nerve-regeneration. Hogwarts is not the only wizarding school in Britain," he added to the surprised children.

"Huh," said Alex intelligently.

Holly was aware of this, of course. Apprenticeships, owl correspondence and homeschooling were common among those who were unable or unwilling to go to Hogwarts. But another school entirely?

The wizarding world was larger than she thought.

"But how do you find them?" she asked once it was clear Alex had nothing more to say.

"Through work. The graduates at Avempace Academy of Magic keep in contact with one another and their relatives know about magic."

Holly hummed, deep in thought. "Nerve regeneration usually takes a week for witches and wizards." Oliver had reduced practice to just one day a week after he overextended his arm during a match the previous year. "Skele-gro took around fifteen hours for me, but I had several bones to regrow. A break might be longer or shorter for a Muggle."

"I wish this information wasn't so difficult to find," said Alex, writing it down.

"The magical world is not eager to inform people of the rights of their non-magical family to magical medicine," said Mr Kann as he continued his microscopic examination.

Alex shook his head. "The Statute of Secrecy strikes again."

Holly frowned. She was of two minds about it. It was for everyone's protection, yes, but it seemed to benefit the wizards over the Muggles. One side had full knowledge and advantages over the other and the unfairness rankled her. But people didn't react well when they were overpowered. The Dursleys were proof of that. And the witch trials didn't only capture innocent Muggles. It was a mental debate that she preferred not to have.

"I thought that the time wouldn't be more than fifty to eighty percent longer for non-magical people compared to wizards," Holly pointed out, remembering the information they had in regards to burn-healing paste and boil cure.

"That's for external applications," Alex said.

"Internal injuries are more tricky to work with," added Mr Kann absentmindedly. "Nerve and spinal cord injuries are especially difficult to recover from, so the estimated time is extended."

Holly nodded. That made sense.

"So can we start now?" Alex asked as he gathered the notes.

"We need reliable, trustworthy testers that know about magic and won't betray us to the Ministry," she said wearily. "If you have any suggestions, I'm all for it."

There was a long pause before Alex finally sighed. "Fine. Cosmetics for now."

With just a few days left before she departed for Hogwarts, Holly entered the Kann's greenhouse. The late morning sun was amplified five-fold through the glass as she closed the door behind her, the warmth of the room embracing her. Taking a water mister from a shelf by the door, she walked to the section labelled Magical Plants on a whiteboard and took a look.

Well, Magical Plants is a bit of a misnomer, given there's only one, she thought, lifting the dittany up to the light. It had grown from a cutting she'd gotten from Hogwarts. There was no shortage of the plant around the black lake, and she carefully dug out a reasonable section and stuck it into one of Hagrid's wooden bowls. A trip through the Vanishing Shoebox later and here it sat, growing quite well despite the Muggle environment. Only a slight drooping was the indication that something was wrong.

I'll have to get mooncalf or dragon dung, she thought. Or some kind of growth potion.

She briefly misted it with water before turning her attention to the non-magical plants. Leafy greens like spinach, arugula, lettuce and mustard greens were grown hydroponically on platforms of water-filled containers, while heartier plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, and bell peppers were grown traditionally. That was what she was allowed to see, though; Holly suspected that there was more exotic flora behind a locked section in the greenhouse.

Mrs Kann planned on making some sort of vegetarian dish, so she grabbed a woven basket and carefully picked the carrots, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. Next to the bell peppers was the strawberry bush; she took a few as a snack before leaving.

"But she's my friend! She should know what's going on!" she heard Alex say angrily as she entered the house.

"You're only twelve, Alexander." Mr Kann said sternly. Holly froze. "There are several people I was friends with at your age that didn't last into my teen years, let alone adulthood."

"Holly isn't like that, dad. Don't you trust our judgement? She already knows something is wrong, she's not a fool." Holly swallowed, the remnants of the sweet strawberries souring in her mouth. They didn't trust her? No, Alex does, she thought. His parents, on the other hand…

"My decision is final." There was a pause, then footsteps approached the front door. She ran into a corner in the second sitting room, knowing that the angle would keep her from being seen by anyone passing by. Once she heard footsteps ascend the staircase, she let out a breath. So Alex wasn't lying when he said his dad had the final say. She wondered what his mum thought about all of this, whether she approved. Probably, she thought. Shaking her head, Holly made her way into the kitchen. Alex was there, filling a glass of water from the fridge.

"Hey," she said, setting the basket down on the counter. "Are you ready to start testing? I finished the potion this morning."

Alex swallowed, his face visibly repressing anger. "Yeah. Let's head upstairs."

"Testing Mane-Gro," Alex said. In his hands was a small camcorder, the viewscreen open and red light blinking as he sat on her bed.

Holly briefly shook the squeeze bottle that held the watery yellow potion. "Test one commencing."

She separated a small section from the back of her ponytail and aimed the bottle. Its narrow tip carefully applied the potion at the roots. Holly messaged her scalp gently.

Alex crossed his legs. "Turn around so I can see the progress."

She did so, shifting the beanbag chair where she sat. "It tickles."

Then it pulled along the section like her hair was being jerked out by the roots. She hissed.

"Sensation?"

"It aches now," she said. "It's uncomfortable. I can feel my hair pushing through my skin. It's weird."

Holly lifted the free section of hair into view and gasped. Her normally back length hair had reached the floor and showed no signs of stopping.

"Did the original formula say how long the hair was supposed to grow?" Alex asked in fascination.

"No, but it was meant to be consumed." Her mane was now bunching up around her.

He nodded.

The sensation of hair being jerked from her roots faded. "It's starting to wind down." She stood up, the tested hair falling well-past her feet. "We should have measured beforehand."

"Good point. I'll do the next test then."

They continued the tests until they both had patches of overgrown hair and books full of notes.

"Okay then, that should be enough," said Alex, pulling his overgrown fringe to the side with a wince. "There's a visible line of demarcation between the naturally-grown and potion-grown hair, at least in my case."

Holly could see that; the potion-grown hair was a touch lighter and thinner. "The instructions did say it would have interesting effects on redheads."

"My hair is auburn."

"And overuse can cause hair follicles to weaken," she continued, making a note. "I'll weaken the strength and see what happens."

Alex ran his hand through his hair again. "This is going to be a pain in the arse to cut."

"Don't worry, I can handle it." Holly reached into her trunk and took out a pair of scissors, quickly snipping her hair to an even length. "It shouldn't be too hard. Come on Al," she said as he moved his head away, "I trim my ends all the time at school. What are you worried about?"

"Nothing, just..." He shook his head. "Fine. Do what you have to."

Holly ran her fingers through and held them below the line of demarcation, lining the scissors to cut—

"Did you get some sort of weird protein treatment or something?"

Alex looked even more nervous. "Um, no, why?"

"Your hair is really tough to cut. I'm barely making a dent." She tried moving the scissors back and forth, but the blades only seemed to get duller.

"You know on second thought I'll take care of it later," said Alex, taking the scissors from her hands.

"Or I can grab the kitchen shears, I reckon they'd work better. Be right back."

She ran downstairs, took the scissors from the knife block and came back up just to see a weird shimmer and a lock of hair fall to the ground.

Alex gave her a nervous smile, running his hand through his now-short hair. "I figured it out?"

What the fuck? Holly stared in disbelief. "How?"

"Oh, I just powered through. Here."

She caught the scissors and eyed them carefully. They were sharp.

"Right, I..."

"What?" asked Alex.

"There's something in the corner of the room," she said, still staring. "I saw a shimmer or something earlier, but now it's gone."

He looked confused—and a little worried. "Really?"

Holly nodded, looking between him and the empty space.

"Must be a trick of the light," he dismissed, and went on to talk about the potion and its effects.

But Holly's mind was on anything but potions. She couldn't help but feel that things weren't adding up. The Kanns worked full-time yet were still able to maintain a greenhouse that was almost twice as large as the Dursleys, with several fruits and vegetables to boot. Petunia was a housewife with much more free time than Mrs Kann, yet she only had flowers. Even the Weasley's garden was more of an unkempt lawn than where plants could actually thrive. Hagrid farmed most, if not all of Hogwarts' food—and she knew it was not part-time work, even with magic.

Then there was the house. Two sitting rooms, a kitchen, a dining room, five bedrooms and more, yet they were all spotless. That was no easy task. Sure, they had access to magical cleaning products and implements, but it still took time. Not even magical cleaning was quick and instant, or else her Hideaway would have taken seconds, not days, to clean.

It was possible they had hired maids—they were certainly wealthy enough—but that didn't seem to fit, either. Alex, Sam, and Rhea all knew how to clean up after themselves and took turns doing chores. Rubbish was taken out, dishes washed, floors swept…

Maybe she was overthinking things. She and Petunia had to do most of the cleaning because Vernon and Dudley refused to. And she hadn't been at the Weasleys long enough to know if the Burrow was messy year-round or just during the summer. Fred and George could do quite a bit of damage on their own, let alone the others.

Nonetheless, she just couldn't get that shimmer from earlier out of her head. What was it, and why was it in her room? How did it get there? And why was Alex so nervous about it being there?

Alex had long since finished speaking, looking at her expectantly. She gave a general noise of agreement and asked for some space. He agreed and left. Now alone with her thoughts, she fell back into bed and sighed.

Her first instinct would have been to demand answers for what she'd seen. Why didn't his hair cut? Why was there a shimmer? But that wouldn't help. Either Alex would shut down or argue back with her, leading to a fight. She could question Sam or Rhea, but she wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of interrogating eight-year-olds, even if they knew something (and Holly was certain they did). Mr and Mrs Kann were dead ends as well. Mr Kann felt that she was untrustworthy, and she couldn't imagine why. And Mrs Kann was already hesitant about Eternal Elixirs—asking questions wouldn't help matters.

Of course, she could always spy. The thought left her mind as soon as it came. What an awful way to repay their kindness and hospitality, not just for this break, but for the entire tenure of her and Alex's friendship. She couldn't do it.

Alex wanted to tell her, she knew. She lay on her side. He knew that she knew that they were hiding something. The argument with his dad proved it, 'She should know what's going on' he had said. But if his father wouldn't allow it, then he wouldn't tell. And if he pushed too much or too often, what would become of their friendship?

No, she had to let it go. For both their sakes.

~•~

"Steady, steady..."

Holly felt her arms ache. "Am I close now?"

"Almost. It has to go on the hooks right, or else it'll fall."

But she had never spent such a long time holding something so heavy in the air. She lowered the model of the solar system onto his desk with a sigh. "I can't do it."

"Holly—"

She collapsed on the beanbag chair, exhausted. "It's too heavy. And it's your birthday gift."

"So?"

"So? You've wanted it since Christmas!"

Alex gave a nonchalant shrug from his place on top of the bookshelf. The air conditioner above it blew his hair forward. "I changed my mind."

"Well, so have I."

"You couldn't even lift a rock—"

"It was a pebble—"

"—a year ago. Now you can."

There was a difference between a pebble's weight and a model solar system, and she said so.

He simply shrugged. "If you really think you can't do it, I won't force you to."

"Good, so what do you want..." she trailed off, then narrowed her eyes and said, "What do you mean, can't?"

"Well, the book said that most adults aren't able to do wandless magic, so if it's insurmountable, I understand."

Holly glared at his carefully blank face. It stunk of a set-up but she wasn't going to let it stand. "You're a prat," she said as she got up.

Alex grinned, showing a partially regrown tooth and he leaned back. "That's not what my marks say."

She closed her eyes. The lessons from the book were simple: belief, desire and focus were the bare bones of spellcasting. The other parts, like skill, came with practice.

"Alright."

She opened her eyes, pointing her hands at the model. Tapping into the same feeling she had when she lifted the roast was easy, but the model was harder. There were a lot of moving parts, they were heavier, and she had to make sure everything was up at the same time. All the strings holding them had to be hooked to the ceiling one after the other, but after she'd hook one, another one would come undone.

"Think about how it would feel to carry them," suggested Alex.

She grit her teeth. Her friend didn't understand. "It doesn't work like that. I have to lift it with my magic."

"How?"

She attached another loop. "I don't know, it's what the book said!"

Alex eyed the hooks again. "Okay, just one more right here..."

Focusing on the right hook, she magically slipped it on and dropped her arms. The entire model moved precariously, and Alex stuck a hand underneath, just in case.

When it stopped swinging, he grinned. "Awesome! Thanks Holly!"

Holly wiped her sweaty brow and let out a relieved breath. "That wasn't so bad."

"That's because you were angry, well, frustrated, at me."

"Huh?"

"Whenever you get angry, your magic seems to get really potent. Remember the eggs?"

Holly felt herself grow warm at the reminder. "That was an accident!"

"Anger's pretty powerful. I wonder why the book didn't mention it."

"It was really old. Maybe they found that bit out later."

"Maybe." Alex hummed and put a hand on his chin. "Maybe Mum can get more books for us."

The Kanns had taken the knowledge of magic and the Wizarding World fairly well. Or at least, Mr Kann did. Alex's mum had confirmed to them that yes, she was a Squib, Holly was a witch, and a lot of the things in the books were true, but she wouldn't tell them anything else.

At least she let them keep the books they had already read.

Nevertheless, casting spells made her rather peckish. She stood and stretched. "I'm getting something to eat. Maybe an ice lolly too."

"Hey, aren't you going to help me down from here?"

"You climbed up by yourself, but if you think it's...in-sur-mount-able then maybe I'll help when I get back," she said with a smirk as she left the room.

A bit of a filler chapter. The next one will be back to the action at Hogwarts.