Chapter 7 An unexpected Surprise
Days passed by and no member of the Order mentioned anything to her about the results of their decision, not even Sirius. Of course, no one knew that she and the others had listened to their talking at the meeting. Holly therefore started to accept, that she would not be informed about the doings of the secret organisation after all, and she felt let down by them. She regretted eavesdropping… if she never had heard them considering her involvement, she never would have started to hope.
Other than that, life went on as usual at Grimmauldplace, 12 and even though Holly still felt that weird loneliness, the invisible wall between her and her friends, slowly, she got used to spending more and more of her the time with Hermione and the Weasleys, opening up to them little by little, joking around, enjoying herself more times than feeling reserved. Sirius often was the centre of all the jolliness, still celebrating the outcomings of the trial.
Only at night, when the darkness crept back into her head, she couldn't keep the nightmares and the nagging feeling of guilt away.
One day at lunch, Molly Weasley brought in several envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink, the seal with the well-known Hogwarts emblem leaving no doubt about what kind of letters they had gotten.
"Hogwarts letters just arrived!", Mrs. Weasley beamed and handed everyone their letter.
Holly got curious when she held hers in her hands, the letter unquestionably a lot thicker and heavier than usual. She had wondered when they would finally arrive, since in only some weeks, school would start again and normally, the letters arrived around Holly's birthday just at the start of August.
With slightly shaking hands, Holly slid the envelope open with her fingers. Inside were the usual messages and list of school books required for the new year. But something else brushed her fingers, something cold, causing the unusual weight. Holly turned her letter upside down, for that mysterious thing to slide into her open hand.
It was a silvery badge in the form of the capital letter P. She'd been made a prefect.
Holly gulped in shock, never had she expected to receive this badge, she had always imagined Hermione wearing it, strolling the corridors at night on the prefect's control tour.
Damn it! Hermione would be so disappointed about that! Holly didn't want to see her best friend hurt, less so be the reason for her sorrow. Maybe she could decline the position? Thinking about it, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to be a prefect. After all, that would mean a lot less fun and a lot more work to do.
Or maybe, there had been a mistake. Surely, no one right in their mind would make her a prefect, rather than Hermione. Maybe their letters got switched? Holly flipped it over, but no, the neat handwriting clearly showed her name, scribbled across the parchment.
How in the world would she explain that to Hermione?
Carefully she looked to her left side, where her bushy-haired friend was seated next to her and found herself looking into the bright, brown eyes of Hermione, grinning at her like a Cheshire cat.
"I got one too!" Hermione screeched into her ear, while pulling her into a tight embrace.
"I can't believe we both did! I wasn't sure for weeks if I should expect the badge, with you being my toughest competition in the run for it, but now it all makes sense! I'm so glad that it will be us together!"
Holly did not quite understand how it happened, but suddenly everyone around the table was congratulating them. Ron stormed over to them, hugging both at once.
"I guess Dumbledore couldn't decide whom to take between the two of you, so he made you both into prefects", he joked happily.
Holly was glad to see that at least he was not disappointed about not having been chosen for the job. While still holding them in his arms, he kissed the tops of both their heads.
"This year will be a blast, my two best mates being prefects! Free ride for just about anything!"
Seeing Ron that well spirited, Holly joined his laughter:
"Oh, you wish! We won't spare anyone, especially not you, from the rules. Or rather, our rule!"
Jokingly, Holly pushed against his chest and Ron pretended to stumble back, a grin still twisting his lips.
Mrs. Weasley put an end to the spectacle, deciding they would go to Diagon Alley just the other day after breakfast.
Next day, Holly, Hermione and the Weasleys left early, just after finishing breakfast. Remus, Tonks and even Sirius would accompany them to Diagon Alley. Latter enjoying the feeling of being able to walk out on the streets without having to disguise himself or fearing imprisonment. It was his first trip to Diagon Alley as a free man.
The Ministry of Magic had published a statement in the Daily Prophet about Sirius and soon after, every morning he found himself in a pile of letters – fan mail, mostly from women, declaring their shock about he had been treated during the last years and promising they'd always believed him to be innocent, pronouncing their feelings for him. Some assuring, they never stopped loving him, so they must have been his girlfriends or lovers a long time ago, Holly concluded.
Even though Sirius joked about it non-stop, Holly knew he secretly enjoyed receiving this sort of mail, a player through and through. She loved seeing him that happy.
Never had he looked better (except maybe back before his imprisonment), no longer haggard from his time in Azkaban, back to his lean, yet muscular shape. His dark curls were shorter now but still framed his radiating face, grey eyes twinkling in delight, his lips always twisted to his disarming smile. Even the faint stubble he had begun to keep, suited him.
Holly was so incredibly glad her godfather had gotten justice. Even though the Ministerium still was the same incompetent pile of shit as always, not revealing to the wizarding word the truth about Voldemort's return, at least they had come to reason about Sirius. She thought that there was some hope left for them to accept all truth in hopefully near future.
At Diagon Alley, the group split up. Mrs. Weasley left with Ron and Fred, to buy all the needed potions ingredients at the Apothecary. Tonks went with Hermione and Ginny to get the required books at Flourish and Blotts'. That left Sirius and Remus to accompany herself and George to buy some new school robes at Madam Malkin's.
While the two got measured up, Sirius and Remus waited at the door. Holly could hear them whispering, laughing every once in a while. To witness her uncles being that happy, filled her belly with warmth.
"So, excited for the new school year? Still can't believe you have been made a prefect! I'm honestly a little disappointed in you", George said wryly.
Holly looked to her side, where George stood, arms stretched away from his body while Madam Malkin herself hurried around him, pinning the simple, black school robes in place at his ankles. His blue eyes twinkled cheekily while he grinned at her.
"Yeah, guess so. I don't understand that part either, I would never have chosen myself for that kind of job. Maybe it's Dumbledore's way of trying to calm me down… now I really should keep to rules after all."
Holly shrugged her shoulders, immediately being scolded for moving by the assistant working on her robes.
"Maybe you're right. I just hope you won't make my life too hard from now on, because I probably will not find myself able to stick to all those rules, you know", George winked at her. "maybe you will even have to give me detention from time to time for the things I'll do."
Holly was startled by the playfulness in George's voice. She hadn't even thought about that part of her job. Keeping Fred and George from breaking the rules won't be easy. Especially since she loved watching them doing all that crazy stuff. It sometimes was the only thing that kept up her spirits in stressful times.
"If I were you, I would be more careful, Mr. Weasley. After all, I really could give you detention. Or worse yet, tell your mum."
She wiggled her eyebrows in his direction. He playacted as if he'd been shot right into his heart, earning himself a piercing look from Madam Malkin herself.
"Oh please, milady, don't do such a terrible thing to me! I will do anything for you, if only you promise to never act on this truly horrible threat!"
The corners of his mouth twitched a little, Holly smirked at those words herself.
"Well, my dear Mr. Weasley. I never intended to hurt you, I will keep you safe, as long as you play by my rules."
He was stunned for a moment, not saying anything. Then he replied saucily:
"Can't wait to prove myself worthy to you."
Holly felt herself blush faintly at those words. Fred and George always made their fun about everyone and often she had been participating in their jokes, but never had she felt like she did now at that moment.
She shook her head just a bit, but unfortunately, lost her balance by doing so and fell from the little stool she'd stood upon and tumbled to the floor, taking the assistant with her in her fall.
George broke out in roaring laughter and as soon as she'd sat up again, she couldn't help and join him. Madam Malkin and the assistant tried to calm them down, scolding them both for not standing still.
"If you two won't stop immediately, I'm afraid you'll have to go somewhere else to buy robes! I will not have this kind of behaviour in my shop!", Madam's eyes sparkled angrily, her small fists pressed to her meagre body.
Exchanging one last glance, Holly and George suppressed their laughter and stood as straight as soldiers on their stools again. Madam and her assistant went back to work, both a frown on their face, mumbling silently to themselves about the behaviour of the young these days. From the corner of her eyes, Holly saw it took all George's strength to keep from bursting into laughter again and had to look away in order to stay calm herself.
Afterwards, Remus and Sirius guided them to look at new brooms and other Quidditch stuff at Quality Quidditch Supplies', then Holly hurried into Eeylops' to buy a few packages of owl treats for Hedwig. Lastly, George hopped into the joke shop purchasing some mysterious items, he wouldn't show.
"I think you would prefer not to know, being prefect and everything", he whispered into Holly's ear, when she looked at him curiously. His breath tickled the soft skin at the nape of her neck, creating a small patch of goose bumps beneath her thick, jet-black hair.
She just sighed and rolled her eyes at him, irritated at his comment, not responding any other way.
Slowly, they walked down the Alley, listening to Remus' and Sirius' talk about this and that. Then they joined the rest of the Weasleys at Florean Fortescue's for some delicious ice cream before heading back home.
Hello friends! ;)
Hope you enjoy the development of the story so far!
What do you think about Holly being a prefect?
I know, normally it would be a girl and boy, but "my" Dumbledore will be somewhat different than J.K. Rowling's, so it just felt right.
Stay tuned
- entscha