Only Half-Weasley

Chapter 7

A/N: Alright, I hope all of you enjoy this! I made this extra long to make up for my past few short chapters. Things are…actually getting somewhere. I guess they aren't going as fast as some of you may like, but you have to give me the benefit of the doubt. After all, Ginny can't come back in until Christmas and I finally managed to bring this to October! Anywho, thanks to all of you who reviewed: Dauby, tangozgirlscout, mikaygirl, mean titan, and teela32. I am a bit wary that I can count all of you on one hand, but at least you reviewed. Thanks!

Late that night, the girls in Holly's dorm came in with their loud and obnoxious voices. It was very obvious that none of the girls had much consideration for waking up Holly. Emma, the leader the gang, was the first to spot the brownies (as they were placed on her bedside table.)

"Oh, Maggie!" Emma said to a brunette girl next to her. "They're brownies!" Emma picked up the platter while Maggie opened the note and read it aloud.

"It's to all of us!" Maggie exclaimed. "'To the First Year Gryffindor Girls, Love, your secret admirer.' Oh wow! We have a secret admirer!"

A shorter blonde girl glanced at Holly's bed and turned back to the other three girls who were now helping themselves to brownies. "Should we leave some for Holly? They are addressed to all of us and since she is a first year Gryffindor…"

Emma snorted. "Since when does she deserve anything, Cynthia? Don't you remember that dirty look she gave us yesterday? She's a brat."

"I was only saying," Cynthia said defensively, "maybe we ought to be nice to her. You know, we haven't exactly been the welcome wagon and she wasn't born in the wizarding world like we were."

The last girl spit brownie all over Cynthia as she burst out laughing. "Whose side are you on, Cynthia? Hers or ours?"

Cynthia folded her arms and looked at the girl squarely. "We shouldn't have to be taking sides, Jasmine. She's a Gryffindor just like us and if you haven't noticed, she is the most outcast student here. What's wrong with us?"

"What's wrong with you?" Maggie said between bites. "Look, we're not the ones who are stuck up."

Cynthia rolled her eyes and went to bed without having a single bite. She felt a small pang of pity for the girl she was defending, but if she had known what Holly was up to, she might have been a little less ready to come to her aid.

The alarm rang the next morning at seven thirty sharp and Holly woke up feeling quite well. Pulling her curtains back, she was surprised to see Cynthia falling out of bed next to her. For a moment, Holly was taken back and was about to ask the girl if she had ate the brownies, but it was apparent that she hadn't. Cynthia didn't even look at Holly as she went into the bathroom to wash up and Holly surveyed her other roommates. The other three were still fast asleep and it looked like they would be for quite a while.

"Hey, ladies! It's time to wake up!" Cynthia called as she noticed, too, that her friends were still fast asleep. "Maggie! Emma! Jasmine! Come on, we have to get to class!"

"I don't think they're going to wake up," Holly said, trying to keep the straightest face that she could.

Cynthia looked unbelievable and left the room muttering, "Fine, if they're not going to wake up, they can be late for class…"

When the door shut, Holly skipped into the bathroom with a broad grin on her face. "Yes, it worked!" she thought. Then she remembered that Cynthia had still woken up. Would she get the connection? Maybe, maybe not. Holly crossed her fingers and prayed that she wouldn't.

At breakfast, there was still not sign of the girls. Holly ate her eggs happily even though she was still the loneliest Gryffindor at the table. This lasted all through History of Magic, as well, until the last ten minutes when the three girls finally showed up. Holly tried to keep from laughing. The angry expressions on the other girls' faces were priceless.

"Why didn't you wake us up, Cynthia?" Jasmine asked at their next class. The three girls had been reprimanded by Professor Bones and this put them in a worse mood.

Cynthia looked annoyed. "I did try to wake you up. It's not my fault you spent all night eating those brownies."

"There was something in those brownies, weren't there?" Emma accused.

"I don't know," Cynthia replied. "If it was placed there on purpose, then whoever did it did an excellent job of deceiving you. Don't blame their childish prank on me."

Holly was in quite a good mood all through potions, lunch, and even charms. After her classes were finished, she was on her way to the library when she got caught by Cynthia in one of the corridors.

"I've got to ask you," she whispered, "if you were the one who put the sleeping potion in the brownies."

Holly looked quite serious as she shook her head.

Cynthia turned to make sure the coast was clear before she turned back to her. "Look, there are more than one way to find out what you want here. You can lie to me all day, but I know for a fact that you were given a bottle of sleeping potion yesterday. Now, did you put it in those brownies?"

Holly still didn't say anything and Cynthia took this response as a positive. "I'm not going to tell anyone that you did, but if you expect to make friends here, you better find a better motive because this one stinks."

Cynthia disappeared without giving Holly a chance to respond and this made the latter feel a tad bit guilty along with being furious. Holly didn't show up to the dorm that night until after the other girls were in bed (a first) and the only person who seemed to notice was Cynthia.

It did not take Emma, Jasmine, and Maggie long to find out that it was Holly that had "poisoned" their brownies. Even before Tuesday was over, the whole school knew about it and Holly received glares from every first year (she was sure that she would have gotten more if more people knew who she was and she was thankful that they did not).

Holly watched her back for the rest of the day and mostly kept to herself. On the one side, she felt complete victory getting back at the other girls, but somehow, this victory couldn't hide the fact that she was terrible at magic. After leaving Transfiguration without even producing a spark, she spent the rest of the afternoon in the library doing her homework. She practiced long and hard to make that stupid match turn into a pin, but would it change? Of course not! It would just stare defiantly back at her with a stubborn expression that said, "You cannot make me change! I won't change!" And this frustrated Holly more and more.

Holly woke up early Wednesday morning and got out of the dorm long before the other girls woke up. She was sending another letter to her mum and this time, she demanded to be taken out of this horrible institute. "The girls are snots!" she wrote feverishly. "I have never been so insulted and unpopular in my life!" However, she didn't know what good this would do or even if the letter would get to her mother. Ginny hadn't replied to Holly's first letter, not even sending one to acknowledge her daughter's hurt feelings and this infuriated Holly even more.

The first lesson of the morning was Defense Against Dark Arts and Holly was hardly prepared for it at all. They were learning about dark creatures and ways to avoid them. Today, they would be going over Jayucks.

"These are funny little creatures," Professor Potter said, holding one of these gross things by their tails. The creatures looked liked a gopher with a scaly head and a monkey's tail. "Most of them are completely harmless. The only time they are dangerous is when they sense an attack. Their teeth are so poisonous that they can kill a hippogriff in a matter of minutes. For a human, it could be a matter of seconds." Professor Potter dropped the creature back in its cage and the Jayuck hid in a little burrow that it had created for itself.

"It also has some extraordinary powers," the teacher went on. "Does anyone know what those are?"

"They have the power to shape-shift other creatures!" Daniel exclaimed with his hand in the air.

"Five points to Gryffindor," Professor Potter beamed. "Very good, Mr. Weasley. Anyone know what the advantage of this is?"

A Ravenclaw raised her hand and Professor Potter nodded to her. "It is a defense mechanism. If they believe that they are being attacked, they can turn the predator temporarily into another creature that is quite harmless giving the Jayuck time to run away."

"Five points to Ravenclaw!" Professor Potter replied. "For your homework, I would like each of you to write three feet of parchment on the Jayuck's defense strategies and relate it to other branches of magic such as Transfiguration and Potions. That is all."

The class jumped up all at once and made for the exit, but Holly stayed behind. Professor Potter didn't seem to notice her presence as she was the only student in the classroom, so she walked over to the cage where the Jayuck was curled up. She carefully looked over his texture, body length, and anything else that might prove useful to write an essay over. She was about to turn away when she fell to the ground.

"GEORGE!"

Holly looked around only to find that she was no longer a human, but a bird. She jumped in fright and her wings caught the air. She flew in frantic circles around the room until a huge bang caused her to fall to the ground.

"I'm sorry, Harry! I couldn't help it!" a red-haired man laughed as he stood next to the empty cage.

Professor Potter picked her up and muttered the counter-curse and she was brought back to her human state. Well, almost. Instead of long, blond hair, she had bright red locks that surrounded her face.

Professor Potter and the man, George, both looked at her frightened face curiously. "What happened to me?" she cried. "You!" Holly pointed at George accusingly. "You are the jayuck! You turned me into a bird!"

George grinned happily. "Indeed, I did," George answered with pride. "It's a new experiment that Fred and I have been playing with. We still have got to get the bugs out, though. Didn't you have blonde hair?"

Holly pulled on one of her locks of hair and screamed. "MY HAIR! YOU RUINED MY HAIR!"

"George! Fix it!"

"I can't, Harry! We haven't gotten all the bugs out!"

"George!"

"MY HAIR!"

POOF!

The room filled with smoke and when it cleared, Professor Potter was pointing his wand at Holly. "Um, perhaps you ought to see Madam Hertz," Professor Potter told her. "She could probably fix this up. George, care to go with her and explain this mess?"

George saluted Harry and lead Holly out of the classroom. Both were silent the entire way, but George kept giving her curious looks. "What, do I have feathers in my hair, too?" she said angrily.

"Huh? Oh no, you don't," George answered, but still with the same look. "You just look horribly familiar. Have we met before?"

Holly shook her head as she honestly had never seen this man in her entire life. Yet, there was something familiar in him, too, that she recognized. The two reached the Hospital Wing and the intern did her best to try to fix Holly's hair, but to no avail. They tried counter-curses, potions, hair-dye, and everything else imaginable. Even Madam Hertz was puzzled.

"I have never seen such a jinx in my life!" she proclaimed. "I will look in a few books and see if I can find anything better. Come back tomorrow, Holly, and we will try to change your hair back. Mr. Weasley, I suggest you make yourself scarce before Minerva finds out about this."

George saluted the woman and exited the hospital wing. Holly left a few minutes later and entered her next class, Herbology, late. She wished very much that she didn't have to go to class as she could have lived a much better life without all the snickering, snide comments, and harassment about her new hair-do, but Herbology was her best subject so far as it had nothing to do with magic and that was what she was good at.

A few days passed into weeks. Weeks were passed into months and still, Madam Hertz could not find any branch of magic that would change Holly's hair back. Finally, Professor McGonagall had to be informed and she was brought to the Hospital Wing to examine Holly.

"Very curious," she muttered after she ran a few spells. "I have never run across this complex of magic since Dumbledore was headmaster. I will have a word with Mr. Weasley at once to clear this up."

"Should the ministry be informed?" Madam Hertz asked.

"Heavens, no," McGonagall snapped. "The Weasley twins have gone too far, but they aren't criminals. Let me handle this."

McGonagall left the room and for the millionth time, Holly left the Hospital Wing with flaming red hair. She hated her new hair. It reminded her of her mother, which then reminded her that it was her mother that had sent her here to be tortured where she got the red hair that reminded her of her mother. This caused Holly to write her third furious letter which was finally responded to in the middle of October. The only use of this letter was to be burned as her mother only informed her that everything was peachy at home and that Holly shouldn't worry too much and just try to relax.

"Relax?" Holly said to herself at breakfast. "How in the world am I supposed to relax when everyone hates me and I have red hair? What do you think this place is? Paradise?" Holly closed the letter angrily, grabbed her books, and proceeded up to another exciting lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Professor Potter stood in front of his desk when the students arrived and everyone was astonished to see no desks, but an empty classroom. "Put your bags to the back of the room and only have your wands. This will be a practical lesson. Today, we'll be learning about some basic defense," Professor Potter instructed and the students obeyed with a murmur of excitement.

"Now, I need a volunteer," Professor Potter called out. All of the students raised their hands except Holly. Holly tried to hide in the back of the class. You know how when you try to hide, you do such a horrible job that they notice you more, instead? Yeah, well, when you have red hair, this rule seems to apply. Professor Potter spotted Holly in the back of the room and called her forward. "Miss Miller, please come forth."

Holly felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as she stood across from her teacher. She could hear people whispering around her and it only made her feel worse.

"Now, listen to my instructions," Professor Potter said. "In a moment, I'm going to whisper a simple spell. It won't do much, but the point is for you to deflect it with the defense spell we have just learned."

Holly nodded and held her wand nervously in front of her. Professor Potter bowed slowly and Holly returned the gesture. The teacher held up his wand and whispered, "Labo!"

The spell hit Holly before she even realized that the spell had left his wand. She fell to he ground face-first and the students around her began to roar with laughter.

"Are you alright?" Professor Potter asked concernedly.

Holly picked herself off the ground and grabbed her wand. Her face turned a dark red as she went back to the group of students and hid in the backgrounds. Professor Potter watched her hide and decided to move on. "Alright, well how about you give it a try, Mr. Patterson," Professor Potter called to a Ravenclaw student.

All of the students were given a chance to stand and face Professor Potter and unlike Holly, they were all able to deflect the spell successfully. This only made Holly feel much worse and the harsh comments towards her increased until she was finally in tears.

The bell rang and the students crowded out of the class. Holly picked her bag, eager to get away from them all, when her bag broke open and everything fell this. This was followed by another round of laughter and teasing. Holly tried to stuff her books back in her bag, but they just fell out again. She sighed with frustration and a hand touched her shoulder from behind.

"Here, let me help you," Professor Potter said as he took Holly's bag and muttered the spell to mend it. He opened it up for Holly to put her books and quills into it and handed it back to her. Holly turned to leave but Professor Potter stopped her. "Come over to my desk for a minute. You won't be late for class, I promise."

Holly followed him to his desk and before he seated himself behind it, a chair magically appeared in front of her. "Sit," he offered more than commanded. Holly obeyed, trying to dry her tears as fast as she could, but it was a lost cause. Professor Potter had seen what had happened and it was no use trying to hide it from him.

"Well, you seem to have yourself in a bind," he commented, looking at Holly casually. "Are you from a wizarding family?"

Holly shook her head. "My mum is a witch, but my father isn't. I didn't grow up in this world," she confessed.

Professor Potter nodded his head in understanding and smiled. "Yeah, that does happen," he said. "You seem very upset. Is there anything bothering you?"

Holding her breath, Holly debated on whether telling him everything or nothing. She didn't want to be a tattle-tale, but at the same time, she was miserable. "Everything," she muttered and then finally let out a sob. "I'm horrible at everything and I don't belong here."

Professor Potter handed her a handkerchief and let her sob for a few minutes and didn't speak until she settled down again. "How are you doing in your other classes?" he inquired.

"Terrible," Holly admitted. "I can do the homework, but I can't do magic at all. Nothing ever happens! 'Swish and flick!' they tell me, but does it really happen? Of course not! I just get more frustrated as I watch everyone else make the stupid feather levitate except me. I don't even think I'm a witch! I'm just a muggle like my dad." She let out huff and her expression challenged her teacher's.

"I don't believe that," Professor Potter countered in an even voice. "Just because your father was a muggle doesn't mean you are destined to be a second-class witch. You're just distressed, that's all. There are many great wizards who have parents who are muggles or muggle-born. My own mum was a muggle-born, in fact, and she was a great witch herself. Same with my best friend, Hermione Granger. She came from a family of muggles and was at the top of her class! See? You don't have to be pure-blood to be a great witch. It's all in your head."

"But everyone hates me," Holly said with more tears. "Since the first day I got here, I was singled out as the most dim-witted person. No one talks to me and every time I screw up, I'm sure to have an audience of people to make fun of me. I was never treated like this at home! I was actually popular there."

Professor Potter listened with an understanding ear. "Trust me, as popular as I am, I've been in your boat many times. In fact, I was hated by everyone all through my fifth year. It's something I can understand, but nothing that will stay permanent. You've got to give it a chance."

"How?" Holly asked.

"There are ways to change the tide," he said warily. "How about this: you come to my office every Thursday night at 8 and I will give you private lessons and help you learn to cast spells. I can't save your popularity, but at least you'll feel much better about yourself and it will give other students less reasons to laugh and tease you. What do you say?"

Holly contemplated the offer. It sounded very tempting, but what would students think if they knew that she was getting lessons?

"No one will know," the professor answered her thoughts. "This will be between you and me."

"Alright, I'll give it a try," Holly gave in. "Eight o'clock?"

"Eight o'clock," Professor Potter answered.

Holly nodded as she walked out of the classroom feeling a little better about things. However, there was still a long way to go before she could be satisfied with life there at Hogwarts.