After all these years, she had finally caved and spent the points for a selfish thing; a single hint. She'd spent the points she'd earned after painstaking work, after years of balancing every actions she was forced to take all to earn that one sign. Previously everything she'd bought had been for him, for that person with the occasional injuries that made her think he'd had a happy childhood and an exciting life. 'Throwing up slugs,' had been one of the more unique options and she'd assumed quickly he'd been attacked by some manner of slug producing devil fruit… the idea was disgusting she would admit, and she'd paid to cure it the second she could.

Thankfully, her soulmate did not have many options; beyond the common, incredibly odd, or the unique he seemed mentally and physically stable. So she never had to honestly worry about her points being low. And low they were, after all that she was forced to do, with how she was forced to act, she was continually balancing at the bare edge of the positive and that was only thanks to the secret charity work she slipped into her daily life.

Balanced as she was, she'd never been able to afford a hint; until she'd accidentally saved a life and suddenly did have enough.

Perhaps it was impulse, or the dark knowledge that maybe she deserved something good too; something better than leering eyes and strings wrapped around her heart. Or maybe it was because she'd forgotten her situation and was stuck fantasizing about that person, that one man that would be her perfect other half. Her soulmate, as they stood side by side and free.

It was a mistake.

She knew what she pretended to be, she knew her situation, and she knew what she had to do. She had thought deep down that every person man she played like the fool, everyone one that betrayed her or used her trying to get to him was not her own. She'd believed that her own couldn't do that to her, that he'd see past the mask and she'd seen kindness in his heart when she looked. She'd thought that, believed it, because she hadn't known anything about him.

Now though, now she had a hint. And she knew that because of her foolish choice, she would stare into the face of every red-head she saw from that moment on, and she'd hopelessly wonder; 'is it you?'

Ron did not regret breaking up with Lavender, even though he was a bit confused as to why it happened. Hermione and Holly refused to tell him, blushing and glancing away every time he brought it up. But Ron had the distinct feeling it had something to do with the… ahem, dreams he'd been having over the past few… months. Which, he sort of blamed on Lavender, after they'd agreed one night that there was a war on, and they only lived once, so… they went a bit farther than just snogging. Okay, that was partly his fault, and partly the twins for giving him those spelled books which happened to respond to what you liked best and…

And he was getting off the point!

The point was, he'd been stuck in what Sirius referred to the 'honeymoon phase;' which was not to be mistaken with the 'time of the month' for werewolves and... other people. Sirius was also the only one to blatantly tell him, it had been a traumatizing sight to behold, for the girls, and for Sirius himself. It had also been Sirius who confessed Ron had, after his poisoning, been loopy enough on pain potions, to go into great detail about his fantasy involving his dark-haired soulmate - who was certainly not Lavender who had blond ringlets.

Apparently, she'd been most angered because her soulmate happened to have red hair and magic, she'd assumed it was Ron who was her better half. The girls said that wasn't his fault, admittedly they'd never spoken about soulmates, and Lavender certainly hadn't mentioned anything before then. Regardless Ron felt the need to apologize if only for the embarrassment he'd caused her when he'd been drugged-

"Don't you dare!" Holly said palming a conjured gold coin in her hands, she had been flipping it through her fingers until he'd mentioned his intentions. She, like Hermione, was learning to conjure all types of substances in preparation for their 'move,' across worlds. They'd both been obsessed with it that year, a distraction from the war no doubt, which was one of the reasons Sirius didn't say anything about it. The 'golden trio' all had soulmates in another world just as Sirius once had, and while all three of them could travel at a moments notice to their other halves, Sirius could not. So while they prepared for the eventual move to escape thinking about the war, Sirius was forced to watch them plan to leave him and their world forever. But in the end, Sirius never said a thing about it. Instead, he would tuck his canine body into Holly's side, burrow his face into her lap, and appear to nap.

It was a complicated thing Ron knew, for Sirius wanted them to leave, he'd made no secret about that. He wanted all three of them to escape the war, to live out their lives free and happy. Sirius didn't want them anywhere near Voldemort as Dumbledore kept pushing for - considering his increasingly demanding letters for Holly to attend super-secret lessons with him, the worst of which had been the dozens which appeared that night that all of which she'd tossed into the fire without reading. But Sirius also didn't want to lose his only family either.

There was no winning in the situation for Sirius, so he kept his mouth shut and hoped for the option that would better suit the rest of them.

"'Don't you dare' what?" Ron asked Holly as she dropped the conjured coin on the table. Her spell was progressing, her conjured items no longer lasted seconds, but rather full hours before dispersing.

"Apologize," said Hermione from the side as she did the homework he probably should be working on - it wasn't like Holly was either!

"Why?"

Holly wiggled her fingers attempting to conjure another coin to raise the speed and volume of how many she could create and said: "It's not your fault, you were drugged Ron, and you never talked about the long term. That isn't just on you, it's on both of you."

Hermione hummed in agreement: "You should have communicated better at the time, now that the time is over; there is nothing you can do. Just leave it, move on as she no doubt will."

"I guess…" Ron made a face and glanced at Sirius who sleepily rolled onto his back, his tongue lolled out in feigned or perhaps real sleep. His paw twitched in his sleep, and Holly absently ruffled his ears.

"Listen to our superior knowledge." Holly proclaimed, giving him a playful smirk, "we know better. Besides, if you bring it up, its sort of like rubbing dirt into the wound. That and, well soon you might not need to worry about her at all."

"Which brings us back to the point," Hermione suddenly shut her book, "you need to work on your wandless magic!" Ron quickly groaned and slid deep into the couch in denial. He was doing just fine, thank you very much. He was surviving Tonks' lessons just fine.

"We're going to be living in completely different worlds. Ron, do you have any idea what that means?"

"That I can never see my family again?" he hissed under his breath. Oh yes, he understood Sirius well and was firmly avoiding thinking about it.

"That means if your wand breaks, there is no wizard shopping area to get a replacement. You'll be defenseless! You won't be able to conjure currency, water, or shelter! You can't fight or…" on and on she went, and Ron tuned Hermione out. He knew all that, he did, but unlike Holly and Hermione, Ron doubted if he should ever take that permanent option. Another world was… everyone was so confident that a soulmate would fix everything, that they would be worth everything. Ron wasn't so sure. That a woman could be worth giving up all his family, all his friends, everything he'd ever known. He'd be forced to start brand new, new friends, new environment, new people and Ron wasn't overly confident he could do it.

So while Hermione planned endlessly for a move she was confident she'd take, for a person she was confident the gods had chosen to suit her perfectly. While Holly looked for an escape to the pressure and grief this world of theirs had constantly given her. Ron didn't know if he could do it.

He looked away from Hermione just in time to see Holly suddenly frown and stare at her hand. Idly, as if it was the most exciting thing in the world, she turned it and flexed. Then she blinked, obviously so, and rubbed at the skin there, the skin where she'd been scared. It had unfortunately taken them a while to figure out what Umbridge had been doing to her, too long he knew, and Holly's hand had been permanently scarred as a result of his lack of attention.

"It's gone." She mumbled interrupting Hermione who had been 'regaling' them about a spell she'd discovered which allowed her to create an expandable tent, in theory.

Sirius' eye slid open, and he tilted his head to stare at her while Ron asked: "what's gone?"

"My scar from Umbridge." Sirius released a growl over the name at the same time Ron pushed from his seat and moved to drop beside her. He snatched hold of her hand as Hermione leaned forward, the pair of them inspecting the callused skin of Holly's hand. Sure enough, the scar was gone, vanished as if it had never existed. Ron turned her palm this way and that, he pressed at the skin where it had been, but she was correct… it was gone.

"Well it's obvious, isn't it?" Hermione sat back as if this was boring news, "your soulmate paid to remove it."

"But she…" Holly stole back her hand and flexed it, "she hasn't bought anything for me in… merlin, ages." And oh would the boys of their world weep to hear her complete confidence in the word 'she' instead of he. Ron smirked picturing their expressions and pictured rubbing it in their faces.

"Well, that probably means she has had a change in her life," Hermione mused, "she ought to be similar in age to us after all, so perhaps she's grown up or escaped the situation she was in. Is she still giving you the same options?" They watched as Holly reached up and swiped at the air, then frowned.

"No actually, I don't have any options to heal her right now."

"There, see. This is good news, she's doing better."

"Oh." Holly continued to stare unsure what to do with that knowledge, then a slow smile made its way onto her face. Ron gave her a fond look; then sat back glancing at his own options, at his soulmate that had an odd collection of choices that had been hard to understand until he brought it up to his dad. Bruises in the shape of hands, pulled hair, and a collection of mental options he selected the second he saw them. The abuse she suffered was different than the more obvious way Holly's was, but it was no less painful. Arthur had treated him to a very long conversation about what was okay and what was not when it came to sex, and Ron committed it to heart.

"That's good then, that's… that's really good." Holly grinned at them- and a screaming alarm burst into life. The portraits in the common room all started to scream at once, and four elves popped straight into the room, hands up, and fingers glowing with magic.

"Hogwarts is under attack, Students, remain calm and get yourselves to safety!" The three of them froze, shocked, and stumped for a long moment. They had no idea how to react at that moment, because as much training as they had done, they hadn't really expected Hogwarts to actually be attacked. It wasn't named the safest place in the magical world for nothing. But while they seized up in inaction, Sirius, with his Auror training and previous war experience launched to his feet. His canine body twisted on a dime and he hopped off the couch, transforming mid-motion to take his full height. Quick as a whip he palmed his wand and stormed toward the common room door a moment before the elves could seal it.

"Wait." He ordered of them and threw it open to peer into the halls while the rest of the student body burst into delayed life. Several of the youngest students cried out in fear, others swapped between completely shoving away their fear or accepting it and moving on. For theirs was the house of the brave, and they had been training for this, so terrified or not… they acted.

Nearby Hermione snatched her DA ring from her necklace and ripped the chain off her neck so she could send a message, a call for information and an order to safety and defense. Hers was the first sent out as Holly and Ron's buzzed a moment later in response. Neither Ron nor Holly glanced at their coins yet, both trusting Hermione to fill them in. Ron instead straightened his spine and pointed to one of the few seventh years present in the common room and rushed out an order.

"Get a tally of who's here, we need to know which students are still wandering the castle." It wasn't yet curfew, so quite a few were unaccounted for and with the castle under attack they were all at risk. The upper years rushed to comply gathering the kids together and taking attendance instead of their head of house who could very well be in battle right then for all they knew.

At the same time that Ron did that Holly rushed to Sirius side and took position outside the common room doors. They stood side by side on either side of the fat-lady scanning he halls for the slightest movement. The paintings on the walls before them had fallen into an eerie hush, their message about being under attack passed and now they waited for more information, and little seemed to be had. Outside the paintings, the halls were filled with scattered kids rushing to safety. Students of all houses were dragged toward the Gryffindor common rooms by all ages of lions. Sirius and Holly did not stop them, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. They were all rushed into the safety of the common room and taken into their roll-call.

Straggling at the end of these students was Blaise Zambini with Astoria and Daphne Greengrass at his heels. The former held a familiar glittering coin and his wand up and at the ready, while the latter assured her younger sister at full speed toward safety. Holly did not stop them as Daphne all but bodily shoved her protesting sister into the lion's den. Blaise, on the other hand, stopped and joined her and Sirius at the doors and tucked his coin away.

"We were in the library," he explained quickly, "no sign of attack there, but when we were leaving, we heard something blow on the lower floors."

Sirius growled like the canine he could transform into, while Holly tensed up ears straining for any sign of what was attacking the school. While she did, she softly said: "we'll have no idea the numbers in Slytherin." Unfortunately for them all, the DA had not gained many Slytherin members, and of those Blaise and Daphne were in charge. Which meant they had no idea if it were the Death eater children attacking, or actual death eaters. "Still, I'm glad your safe."

Blaise shot her a flirtatious smirk which did nothing to her, but there was relief in his eyes. A relief that he hadn't been anywhere near Slytherin at the time. At that point he was basically a secret agent, spying on the death eater's children and his fellow snakes for betrayal with the coin he kept strictly confidential. And despite being prepared for an attack by the Auror at his side, Blaise had not truly wanted to be surrounded by potential enemies when a real attack was occurring.

Silence fell between them and true to Blaise's word in it they could hear the battle going on. The noises had Sirius shifting his stance, he was a breath away from ordering the doors closed and rushing into the unknown. Unwilling to allow people to fight for him or without him, especially with the small number of order members in the actual castle. But the moment he did, he felt Holly's long fingers sink into the back of his robes, she gripped tight and refused to release him. Sirius knew that if he dared leave, she would be a step behind and there would be a stunner with his name on it following up.

"It's death eaters," Hermione announced causing Holly and Blaise to glance back, but Sirius never once took his eyes off the halls. "They're in the castle… Neville saw them." She bit her lip, he's hiding with Hannah." Her eyes stared down the coin, and Holly felt hers heat up when Hermione's face lost all color. "Oh… oh no." She dove for the windows, sent two children into the ground in her haste, and toppled a chair. In an instant, she had the window thrown open as everyone stared at her waiting for what news she'd gotten.

Holly didn't wait for her to speak. She reached in her pocket and fished out the coin as she and Blaise bent their heads together and stared at the words there.

'Dumbledore is dead.'

He crashed into her life like a meteorite, almost literally. He fell from the sky like the gods had got annoyed and had to make their meeting as evident as possible so that they'd finally talk. Admittedly, that could be true considering they'd nearly met three times prior to that moment. Once, when she'd been no older than eleven and happened to stop in a little village called Foosha. The second time while stealing from a ship, and the third when she'd taken a unique little map from a corrupt marine. And now that it had finally happened, there was absolutely no getting rid of him.

The sky gifted her a teen in sandals, blue shorts, a red vest, and a hat that she'd later put her own life a risk to protect. A boy so wonderful, so amazing, that Nami couldn't have possibly fathomed his existence at the time. So trapped in the darkness as she was, she almost didn't recognize the light he offered. Didn't realize how starved she was for hope, something he offered so freely… there was no way she could ever resist him; no matter how much she tried.

Nami knew weather, she knew it like she knew how to breathe. Later, she would compare her soulmate to the lightning that marked her. Later she'd compare herself to the storm clouds surrounding her electricity and bringing a storm together. But now, she compared Monkey D. Luffy to the sun. Shining so brightly you couldn't see anything else, giving hope and joy, bringing life, and burning those that challenged him. Luffy was smiles, energy, kindness, and love, he was so good. Younger than her, unknowingly the same age as Nami's soulmate, and he carried the future on his shoulders. With his whims, the fates of nations changed. Clueless, a moron who couldn't sail, cook, heal, navigate, build, shoot, or use a sword. Yet a captain all the same.

Luffy dragged Nami into his life like a force of nature; and she was helpless, unable to resist him; and deep down, she didn't want to.

Carted along with the moron captain and even more moronic first mate, who thought getting stabbed on purpose was a perfectly fine pastime. Nami was forced into saving a whole island from a pirate dressed as a clown. She was dragged this way and that, and the one time she managed to escape them, they crashed right in front of her again. And somehow, someway, Nami managed to escape that single event in the positives of her point list. She hadn't been in the positive for three years by then; and yet, with one island, one meeting, she could afford to buy an option for her soulmate. A woman who never stopped healing her, who never hesitated to give Nami everything no matter how often Nami wished she would stop, to let Nami suffer from the deeds she had committed.

With Luffy and Zoro asleep Nami sat curled up in the larger ship staring at the collection of options she hadn't dared look at for years. At the bruises, the pains, the suffering she couldn't have fixed. Her soulmate suffered, and the universe was cruel enough to show her everything that happened that Nami could no longer select and fix.

"Possession." Nami felt like retching, like emptying her stomach at the coma her soulmate had been in while she'd been out-drinking pirates so she could steal from them without their knowledge. She gave a sardonic laugh: "how is she this good, no one is that…" she trailed off, eyes sliding toward Luffy who'd smiled so brightly after abandoning half her stolen money because he'd liked the mayor of that destroyed town. Then she brutally shook her head, nope, there was no way the pair were similar.

"You need to stop," she ordered her list as if her soulmate could hear her, "you're going to get yourself killed… try being a little selfish for once."

Her soulmate probably thought Nami hated her, never buying a single option despite how many were available. She probably suffered unaware that Nami did care, that she just couldn't- Nami swore and curled up tighter. She'd gotten over this, she'd made her choice. Nami had known what to do, and yet here she was again.

Nami shouldn't have looked, she should have just ignored what the universe had given her. Abandoned the idea that the options and points even existed. She'd be better off.

And yet.

Nami rubbed her burning eyes, felt her hands reach up after, and tap randomly on the page before her.

'Blood Quill Compulsion and Scar: Heal?'

She tapped the option and watched as it burst into light and vanished. Her point total dropped to next to nothing once more. But Nami had helped, she'd helped.

"I'm still here, I still… I care, I swear- I do- I-" Nami pressed her fist to her mouth to smother her cries. She didn't want to wake Zoro and Luffy, didn't want them to know how horrible of a person she was.

Minutes passed as her body heaved until she calmed down and something in her heart eased - her soulmate again Nami knew instantly - comforting her selflessly. And she uncurled her body staring up into the night sky.

One day, one day was all it had taken. A teen fell from the sky, and now she suddenly had something like hope. She didn't want it, didn't want it yanked from her like everything else. And yet… and yet deep down she believed that one day she'd finally meet them- she was so stupid. Believe she'd be free one day, that she'd meet that person who always healed her. Maybe… maybe it would be Luffy that would free her? He was different from other pirates, he saved a village instead of stealing it, who gave away treasure instead of taking it. Who defended the smallest of dogs and an old man just because.

No.

No, Arlong would destroy them, Luffy and Zoro would die, and Nami would be directly responsible. She'd never allow that to happen. She would not be responsible for their deaths. She was navigating, she'd just keep them as far from Arlong as possible and when… when her time ran out, she'd leave. It would be fine.

Shaking herself off, Nami leaned back and made herself comfortable, she rolled slightly and allowed herself to lightly nap. Eyes closed, she missed the moment when Luffy and Zoro's eyes opened to peer at her. As she drifted away, Zoro closed his own eyes and returned to sleep. He'd guessed why she had been upset and hiding it, he'd personally gained a massive amount of points as soon as he'd joined up with Luffy. He'd not actually been in the negative though like he suspected the Witch had been. Like he suspected Luffy never had been.

Luffy at the same time curled up his body and wedged himself into the ship, so he was comfortable. He didn't know about Nami's or Zoro's soulmates and didn't ask. All he cared about was making sure he asked their soulmates to join his crew if Nami and Zoro ever met them, just like he'd make his join. Personally, Luffy was rather excited to meet his soulmate who seemed to go on all kinds of exciting adventures considering the options Luffy was continually seeing.

After accidentally rescuing that marine town - he hadn't meant to, he'd just been saving Zoro - Luffy had wasted his points on getting rid of the scars plaguing his soulmate since he was really young. When he'd realized afterward that his soulmate might not want that! Luffy personally wanted to keep his own scars, the one on his cheek was a memory after all! So Luffy had nudged his soulmate with the 'special time' options that Ace had told him about. Asking if it was okay, and if it weren't Luffy would be sure to apologize as soon as he could. But his soulmate hadn't nudged back! Which meant he was probably mad - and certainly not busy as his soulmate actually was.

Oops?

Regardless, Luffy would be more careful about what he spent his sudden influx of points on - the number just kept going up now, - Luffy didn't even know what to do with it all. And he'd definitely have to find Nami and Zoro's soulmates to bring them into the crew. Which meant, he'd have a ten-person crew, plus their soulmates, so… uh… ten-twice.

Luffy grinned into his shirt.

This was going to be the best.

Dumbledore's death changed everything. As Holly, Hermione, Ron, and Sirius made camp in Grimmauld place, unfortunately trapping Sirius once again in a place he hated more than anything.

They were loosing. Voldemort in one fell swoop had the school, the ministry, and the world.

And every night Holly opened her points page and peered at the option she had available to her. An escape that so many others would never get. One single tap and she'd be whisked away, given a chance to start a new. To… abandon everything in the world she was born in. To leave the Order who waited and watched for her to do something, anything. To abandon the Weasley's, who backed her at every meeting. Abandon Sirius who hinted at every opportunity that she ought to do it.

He didn't want to lose her, he never did. But he'd lost hope in winning, in saving their world. And as her godfather, he wanted her alive, before anything else.

If she was honest, it was becoming harder to resist as she spent an entire two months trapped in Grimmauld place while more and more people died, as Voldemort hunted her down, ripping through their world without pause to kill her and only her.

Holly wished she'd never learned about the damned prophecy, wished it had never existed. She wished she could be a normal girl without the worlds fate on her shoulders. Holly wished people would stop looking at her like she would spontaneously save them, or that they'd stop glaring at her when she didn't. Merlin above, she wanted to be normal - free.

She escaped the latest order meeting, vanished from the seat Dumbledore used to fill as the leader of the group. She disappeared into the darkness of Grimmauld and hoped everyone would just leave. They wanted her to throw herself at Voldemort now, to challenge him publically because 'surely she'd win, she was the chosen one, wasn't she?'

Holly hid from Ron, Hermione, and Sirius for a moment. From Sirius' fear, Hermione's focus, and Ron's faith. She burrowed into a corner, brought her knees to her chest, and absently went through her points. Her soulmate didn't need her to heal her anymore, she was injured so rarely now. And… and that was a good thing.

Right?

The door opened, and Holly winced. Who had found her now?

Shoes hit the wood and strode right for her, somehow managing to locate her without a second of pause. Holly grimaced knowing it was probably Ron, Hermione, or Sirius then. They always knew exactly where she was despite her choosing different spots every time she hid. Yet it was none of them that leaned past the couch to peer at her; instead, it was an aged man that had been in the meeting. John Smith, he'd called himself. A stranger that was perfectly plain, eerily so.

"Holly Potter… we need to speak." Holly internally cursed already preparing for the utter nonsense this man was about to judge her with. The Order found it so easy to judge her again and again, putting everything on her shoulders while they did nothing.

"We really don't." She muttered mulishly from her corner as if it wasn't all that odd for her to be found there.

"Potter," Smith said again, giving her a look that was oddly… familiar in a way she couldn't yet place, "we need to speak." He lifted his wand, and Holly felt her jaw drop as the plainness slid away, leaving behind a face she knew unfortunately well.

"Professor… but you-" she cut off and frantically went for her wand despite once trusting him. The truth had become complicated after Severus Snape vanished when Death Eater's attacked the school. Some assumed Severus had been either given up in defense of the old man, had betrayed them, or that he'd gone with the Death Eater's to try damage control. When days later, after the ministries fall, the Death Eater's had bragged about the 'truth' Severus killed Dumbledore. Most believed it instantly, most turned their backs on him, cursed his name, and prepared to end him the moment they saw him. But Holly had not been of that number.

As much as she'd hated him, as much as she'd publically suspected him over the years. He had saved her life countless times, and he had trained her to use occlumency at risk to his own life. So when he appeared before her, Holly was torn. Moving to defend herself just in case - as he'd, Sirius, and Moody taught her, - but hesitation to do what so many others would and attack. It didn't help that she was trapped in the corner, and her range of motion was severally limited.

"Calm yourself Potter." Snape tucked away his own wand after ensuring the door he'd entered was completely locked down, and the room was secure, "While I commend your reaction time, as slow as it was. At least you attempted to defend yourself. Naturally, I could have killed you a thousand times already, which you ought to find… comforting."

"Professor." She made a face and yanked herself out of her corner, "yeah, thanks for not doing that. Can I get an explanation anyway?"

"How is your occlumency?"

"Wanna test it?" she taunted him knowing he'd done so a hundred times before and she had managed to perfect the art enough to keep him, and therefore, Voldemort out. She also knew Snape would, and did test her shields, he was a spy that might have killed Dumbledore, he wouldn't leave his fate and secrets in her hands without insurance. Holly held him back easily, even when he violently struck out at her shields.

Nodding in approval he took a seat, and Holly claimed one opposite him all but throwing herself into it. "So, did you do it?" was her first and immediate question.

"Yes."

Silence echoed between them, as Snape waited for her reaction, as she thought over that blatant confirmation. She would have asked if he was going to kill her too, but as he'd said, he could have already, and she was in no mood to have her intelligence insulted again for 'stupid questions.' "Why?"

"To ensure the dark lord trusted me, it helps that the headmaster requested i."

"Why?"

"Turning into a toddler Potter? Do try to articulate your questions."

"Okay." She scowled, "why did the old fool determined to win the war by keeping me blind as a bat, want you to off him?"

Snape sighed and slowly started to explain, explain how the headmaster had been dying anyway and had hoped that Severus, by killing him, could save Draco and ensure Snape was trusted by Voldemort for the last leg of the war. Holly nodded along and took it as assisted suicide, but knew she'd probably freak out over the whole story later. For now, she had more important questions to ask before someone discovered Snape was present and killed him before she had all the information she needed.

"So, your still a spy? For… me?"

"Indeed."

"Okay… so… what did you find out?"

Snape closed his eyes as if pained and Holly felt her stomach sink as he slowly sealed her fate. "The reason the headmaster was not in the castle that night is the very same reason he wanted your attention this year. The dark lord has created Horcruxes."

Holly sat there as Severus Snape told her what a Horcrux was, that the headmaster had forced an answer out of a man named Slughorn to discover Voldemort had seven soul fragments scattered around the world. That two were accounted for, one was a fake, and one… was Holly.

"Remove Horcrux? What the hell is a Horcrux?" Nami asked herself, staring at her options as she waited for the sun to rise over Syrup village. Zoro was napping nearby, Luffy was silently chasing a beetle, Usopp was audibly shaking. While Nami had finished her map of the few islands they'd visited already and decided to check her list out of sheer boredom. The option she found was brand new, and one of the most expensive things she had ever seen on her list. So she could not afford it, not even in her dreams.

Making a face, she dismissed it and bought a few smaller things instead.

It couldn't be that bad if she couldn't understand what it was.

"The sun is coming up," Zoro announced suddenly, and Nami rushed to stand.

It was time.

AN: So, I accidentally destroyed the battery of my laptop, don't ask how, and the new battery just got delivered today so… new chapters yay! Let me tell you, I missed it, you guys comments and kudos get me through the week so thank you for everyone.

Now! Ron's hint in the first chapter has been changed on Ao3 to reflect his new soulmate but not FF, which basically just shifted the hint from 'magic' to 'dancer.' (thanks for the suggestions those that gave some!) While Hermione's is still open, I'm currently torn a bit between Sabo, Ace, or Coby who has been suggested a few times, or maybe even Vivi?… (dang, I really don't know! Lemme know your thoughts guys)

Also! Does anyone want to hedge a guess on who Ron's soulmate is? I'd love to hear if I was being totally obvious or not obvious enough.