Chapter 4

Holly could not believe that Charlie had just kissed her. She lightly touched her lips with her fingers, oblivious to the chatter around her. Then her gaze fell on Snape and he looked furious. Without greeting anyone the potions professor mentioned for her to follow him. Holly did not even hesitate for one second and followed him towards a small sitting room further down the corridor. She closed the door quietly behind her.

"What on earth was that?" Snape snapped at her.

Holly took a deep breath and then filled him in on Mrs Weasleys cover story and the reasons behind it. For a long while Snape said nothing. "And that kiss just now was just to make it more believable." Holly added, not able to stand the silence any longer.

"Miss Burr, I am very certain that you are able to operate with a complete detachment from your emotions. You have shown that on several occasions. However, when it comes to Mr Charlie Weasley I cannot be so certain. I do not think that he will be able to keep his feelings detached from this whole situation." Snape turned to face away from her, staring out of the window instead. "And whilst I do not personally care about young Mr Weasley's emotional well-being it may well cause problems to arise in the pursuit of your mission."

Holly reflected briefly on the methods she'd been using so far to gather information for Dumbledore. Snape turned back to face her.

"Gryffindors are prone to let their feelings control their actions. I would be careful in your place. You do not want a lovestruck Weasley endanger your mission. You never know how recklessly he may act once he knows exactly how you manage to obtain your information."

Holly internally cursed herself for telling Snape about how she had gotten McNeagan to leave the party with her. He had correctly deducted that this was her usual way of operating.

"I know what I am doing. And he understands perfectly that this is just for the two weeks or so I am to stay here. And I have not bled again since that one time yesterday before we spoke. Maybe the hex is not as long lasting as you thought."

Snape regarded her. "So that is not blood dripping down your hand this very moment?"

Holly lifted her hand and, as Snape had observed correctly, a steady trickle of blood was running down her hand. She pulled up her other hand and it too was bloodied. Suddenly the room began spinning around her.

Holly woke to a concerned Mrs Weasley looking down at her. She was wearing a different pair of jeans and a Weird Sister's t-shirt. Charlie's jumper was gone.

"Are you okay, flower?" Mrs Weasley asked gently. Holly just nodded, she didn't trust her voice just yet. "You fainted but we patched you up again pretty quickly. Remus reckons you lost a lot less blood, so that is good." Mrs Weasley smiled at her warmly. "I couldn't get into your bag but luckily Tonks had some spare clothes with her."

Holly took a few sips of the strengthening potion Mrs Weasley held up to her face. "Thank you." She whispered, her voice not as hoarse as she expected. Holly looked around the room but Snape had gone.

"Severus had to leave." Mrs Weasley said, interpreting her wandering gaze correctly.

"I see. Can I ask you something, Mrs Weasley?" Holly said, her voice now stronger.

"Of course my dear." "Is Charlie okay with this, this whole cover story? I don't want to erm well I don't want it to be awkward." Holly felt herself blushing.

Mrs Weasley considered her for a moment. Holly was not quite sure what to make of the expression on the older witch's face.

"Don't worry, Holly. He's fine. Charlie is probably the worst liar out of all my sons so he is just struggling to pretend. The kiss was a nice touch though. Did not expect it." Mrs Weasley smiled and Holly felt herself blushing more deeply.

She cleared her throat and slowly tried to get up. "Well I better go and supervise Ron and the girls clearing out the attic."

The attic was absolute mayhem when Holly had finally made it upstairs. Mrs Weasley had insisted she had a strong cup of tea first. Charlie's youngest brother was wearing huge gloves and was spraying Detoxify around wildly. Hermione and Ginny had resorted to whacking doxies out of the air using something that looked like huge fly swatters. Ginny was much less timid than Hermione and every time she took aim another doxy dropped to the floor. With a quick flick of her wand and a muttered "Stupefy" Holly stunned the remaining doxies. The three teens froze and there was a general sense of relief when they saw her standing by the door. With another flick of her wand Holly made the doxies drop neatly in an empty basket. Hermione watched her with interest.

"You are really good at that." She said without a hint of jealousy.

Holly smiled at her. "I suppose so. My grandparents have an old house out in the country and I have spent many summers trying to get on top of the doxies in their wine cellar." Holly flicked her wand again and the doxies that had been whacked and sprayed by the threesome before she arrived joined their peers in the basket. "Why don't you open the window, Ron? The fumes are pretty bad up here."

Ron blushed at her addressing him but went to open the attic window. For a while the four of them awkwardly stood around. Holly noticed them looking at the cuts on her arms but they didn't ask her about it. Maybe hanging out with Harry Potter had desensitised them to people having scars.

"I'm really surprised that mum lets you sleep in a room with Charlie. Fleur, that's Bill's girlfriend, isn't allowed." Ginny eventually said, matter of factly. Ron was blushing even more furiously and Hermione was suddenly very interested in the fly swatter she was holding.

"Maybe it's a space issue." Holly said, trying to sound as nonchalantly as possible.

"So do you really like him then?" Ginny prodded further.

Holly was not sure whether she found this girl's overprotectiveness over her older brother annoying or endearing. "Yes." She said eventually, not willing to elaborate any further.

The young witch seemed satisfied with her short answer. "Good. Because I think he really likes you too. He looks at you like he does at a Hebridean Black." Holly raised an eyebrow. "Oh no, that's a good thing! It's his favourite dragon." Ginny said quickly. Holly gave her another smile. She was hoping, for her and Charlie's sake, that Ginny was interpreting his looks wrongly.

"Well, Charlie has never brought a girlfriend home, so you must be special I suppose." Ron said quietly from his spot by the window without looking at her.

Holly didn't know what to say to that but luckily they could hear Mrs Weasley calling form downstairs that lunch was ready. Ginny grabbed the basked filled with doxies and after shutting the window with a flick of her wand Holly followed the three teens down the stairs. When they got to the second floor she excused herself and walked to the bedroom she shared with Charlie. Holly went to the couch and grabbed her bag. She didn't really want to go to lunch with her cuts showing. Maybe someone would ask and she hadn't really thought of a believable cover story yet. And she didn't like the way everyone was looking at them. Charlie had been staring at the cuts all over her body last night too and it had made her feel uncomfortable. She rummaged through her bag for a jumper when her gaze fell on the wardrobe next to the large four poster bed in the middle of the room. Holly put the bag back down and walked up to the wardrobe. Surely Charlie wouldn't mind her wearing another one of his jumpers. Apart from them being very comfortable she felt that they lend their lie a bit more credibility. Holly found another one of Mrs Weasley's knitted jumpers, it was dark green and had a small dragon on the front. Holly smiled at it and put it on.

"Erm, Holly?"

She turned around quickly but it was only Charlie who looked very uncomfortable. Holly cleared her throat and straightened the jumper unnecessarily. "I hope you don't mind. I just thought that wearing your jumpers is a good thing to go with. Like for more credibility. Sorry for going into your closet." She said defensively.

"Oh, sure. I don't mind at all. They suit you." Charlie blushed again. "Erm. Mum told me that you were bleeding again. Are you okay?"

Holly clearly heard the concern in his voice. "Yeah. I fainted so it wasn't as painful as before. But I may have ruined your other jumper. That's why I was getting another one." Holly started pulling the jumper back over her head. "Actually, I shouldn't be wearing them. I might ruin this one too." She said, her voice muffled as she had the jumper over her head still.

"Oh, no, keep it on. I have so many, it doesn't matter. And I think mum can get anything out of them, so I'm sure the other one will be fine."

Holly pulled the jumper back down. Charlie had walked a little bit closer to her. He looked like there was something he really wanted to get off his chest.

"Was everything ok in Diagon Alley?" Holly asked, keen to keep him talking. The more they talked, the less uncomfortable Charlie would be around her. She hoped.

"Yeah, it was all good." Charlie wouldn't look at her. "I just wanted to apologise for this morning. I shouldn't have just kissed you like that. It was just that Tonks and Bill were teasing me about - well it doesn't matter. I'm sorry." Charlie said, still looking at the floor.

Holly sighed. She walked up to Charlie and put her hands up on his shoulders so he would look at her. He did so eventually, his cheeks still blushing lightly.

"Don't apologise. It was the right thing to do. I don't want anyone to find out why I am really here. After I have recovered I will have to work quickly to make up for the time lost. And I'd rather do so without having to worry that someone knows that I'm working for Dumbledore."

"Sure. It's just a strange situation. I'm not good at pretending. I suppose that's why Dumbledore has me working abroad, out in the open. Don't you find it weird?"

Holly let go of Charlie's shoulders and wrapped her arms around herself. "It's kind of what I do anyway."

Charlie looked at her, frowning. Now it was Holly's turn to talk to the floor.

"I pretend a lot. People talk a lot when their guard is down and there are certain situations where their guard is down naturally." Holly gave Charlie a minute to consider her words. When she looked up again he looked taken aback.

"Why are you doing it?" He said eventually.

"The same reason why you are doing it. To protect my family. They have managed to survive last time without having to join the dark lord. But it's not going to be the same now. And I don't want my cousin having to join. Most of his friends already have and he would just get himself killed. So I will do whatever it takes to give Dumbledore an advantage."

Holly blinked away the tears that had started to gather in her eyes. She did not want for Charlie to think her weak. Charlie lifted his arms and for a second Holly thought he was going to hug her. She cleared her throat again and stepped back. She did not want nor need his pity.

"So you will have to work a little bit harder to make this more believable. We ought to go downstairs for lunch."

Holly resolutely wiped her eyes once more and walked out of the room, not waiting to see whether Charlie would follow her. When Holly entered the kitchen most of the order was already tucking into their lunch. Black and Lupin were sitting in their usual spot on the end of the table closest to her. Bill and Tonks were also sitting next to them, the foursome was discussing who may replace Lupin as Hogwart's defence against the dark arts teacher. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were joking around with another pair of Weasleys. They were identical so quite obviously Fred and George who Charlie had picked up in Diagon Alley earlier today. Holly was unsure as to where she should sit. Everyone at the table was talking and, although for once she was happy that nobody was staring at her, she did not want to interrupt. Before she had to make a decision, Charlie had appeared behind her. He resolutely took her hand and lead her to where his younger siblings sat.

"Fred, George - this is Holly. Who I told you about."

Holly was surprised by how confident his voice sounded all of a sudden. She smiled at the twins and they said hello. One of the twins turned to Ginny and stage whispered "You are right, she is pretty!" to her. Charlie sighed next to her. Without saying anything else he lead her up towards the far end of the table. She sat down and Charlie said down on her left, shielding her from view.

"I will not be the one to put you in danger." He whispered to her.

After lunch, Holly and Charlie joined the twins, Ron, Ginny and Hermione in the downstairs sitting room. Although it was the height of summer outside the room was dark and someone had lit a fire. Ron was playing chess with one of the twins and Ginny and Hermione were sitting in front of the fire, discussing an article about Harry Potter that had been published in the Golden Prophet. The other twin, Holly thought she'd never be able to tell them apart, was pulling out books from the dusty book shelf at random and opening them. Charlie sat down on a small sofa across from the fire and before Holly could decide on where to sit he had pulled her towards him. Underestimating his strength, Holly more or less crashed down and landed halfway on top of him. Holly did not want to look whether they were now all staring at them but as it would most likely be the case she might as well use the opportunity. Holly moved herself upright so she was properly sitting on Charlie's lap. She leaned back, her head resting on his shoulder. Holly felt Charlie straightening himself under her and hesitantly putting his left arm around her waist so she was now comfortably nestled against him. She grabbed his left hand and linked her right hand with it. Holly looked up and everyone was pretending not to watch them with varying degrees of success.

"So, Holly. Charlie said that you work for an apothecary?" The twin by the bookshelf asked her.

Holly thought that this was probably Fred, Mrs Weasley had told her that he was the more confident of the two.

"I do, yes."

Fred, well Holly thought it was Fred, put the book he was flicking through back to its place on the shelf and went to lazily lounge on an armchair across from them.

"So you are really good at Potions, I take it?"

Holly felt Charlie stiffen under her in anticipation where this might be going. "I'd say so, yes." Holly answered nonchalantly.

Fred grinned. "That's cool. It's just that Snape has set us this really annoying homework over the summer and mum said that we were only allowed to go and stay at Lee's for a couple of weeks if we'd finish all our summer homework before that. And well, we didn't. And now we are here and all our books are at the burrow. So maybe you can help us? Seeing that you are pretty much our sister-in-law and whatnot." He said the last sentence with a grin directed at Charlie behind her.

Holly hoped that Charlie didn't look too shocked.

"I don't know about the sister-in-law bit but I can help you. What is your homework?" Holly heard Ginny giggle.

"Fred, you should really be doing your homework yourself. You ought to have finished it at the beginning of the summer." Hermione said, sounding a lot like Mrs Weasley. Fred ignored her.

"We have to write an essay about what we consider to be the five most important potions we have learned so far. I can't really think of any. And he's asked us to describe how they are made."

Holly thought about it for a moment. She faintly remembered having been set the same homework in the year before her N.E. . "I can help you. But if you are struggling, why don't you ask Snape to bring some books with him the next time he comes round?"

As soon as she had said it, Holly realised it was definitely the wrong thing to say. They all were in Gryffindor so obviously Snape, as the head of their rival house, would not be on good terms with them. And they've all seen her talk to Snape so she couldn't even pretend that she didn't know him and just made assumptions about their teacher.

"Well you probably don't know Snape well as a teacher, but if I dared to ask him for help he'd take points off me before the year has even started. If that's even possible." Fred said and Holly tried to mask her feeling uncomfortable with a laugh.

"Holly, did you go to Hogwarts or one of the schools abroad?" Hermione said, looking up from the Daily Prophet article.

Before Holly could make up a lie, Ron piped up. "Of course she went to Hogwarts. Didn't you hear Tonks talking about the Transfiguration lesson they once had together? Where Tonks transformed herself rather than the tea pot she was meant to turn into a turtle."

Holly silently cursed Tonks and her big mouth. Hermione turned back to face her. "Oh yeah I forgot. She said that you were upset that she made Professor McGonagall so angry that she dismissed everyone before she could see that your tea pot was a perfect snapping turtle."

Holly did her best to smile at Hermione. "I remember that. I think I ended up putting the turtle into Tonks' bag."

The twins looked at her appreciatively. Hermione looked less impressed.

"So which house were you in? Ravenclaw?" Ginny asked.

Holly nodded without hesitating. There was no way she was going to admit to being a former Slytherin in a room full of Gryffindors.

"And were you and Charlie friends at Hogwarts?" Ginny continued with her interrogation.

"Not really. I wasn't really into Quidditch and we didn't have many classes together. Just Potions and Care of Magical Creatures." Holly said, hoping Ginny did not expect some sort of teen romance story out of her.

Hermione frowned. "Aren't those classes usually shared by Gryffindor and Slytherin?" She asked.

Charlie had gone completely still. Holly did not think she could rely on him coming to the rescue. "Not always. They kind of just mix it up."

Hermione did not look convinced. Desperate to get out of what had started to become a very dangerous situation to be in Holly turned around to face Charlie.

"Erm, Charlie, you said you'd give me a tour of the house today?" She said sweetly.

"What? Oh yes. Sure. Let's go."

Charlie cleared his throat and Holly pulled him after her out of the door. She could hear the twins snicker. Obviously they thought Charlie and her had something else in mind. Holly did not care. She just wanted to get away from Ginny's questions and Hermione's brain.