Chapter 25: Attack

Today was absolutely... awful.

Holly crashed face-first onto her bed, breathing the clean scent of her pillow. She turned on her back and stared at the ceiling as she recalled today's events. She felt tears pool into her eyes and she smiled bitterly. 'I don't think that's such a good idea…' But before she could stop the memories, they were already swarming into her head…

Holly had thought that feeding Auntie was just a daydream. That nothing really happened, because one minute there was auntie and the next she was in the safety of the kitchen. She couldn't have teleported, right? Even when she heard the wails from upstairs- she had thought that auntie had found an old disregarded shirt or toy of Dudley's. But she was still suspicious and no matter what she did she couldn't stop shaking for some reason...

Her heart leapt in relief when she heard the front door open and she ran to the hallway to greet her uncle with a "Hello or welcome back."

But the greeting never came.

She barely glimpsed at her uncle before a storm of loud thumping came down the stairs. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes met the wild blue ones of auntie Petunia. Before she or Vernon could even react at this sudden change of events, auntie screamed, quickly grabbed a photo frame and threw it straight at Holly.

Holly moved as she saw the frame get closer and started running back to the kitchen. But she wasn't fast enough and the photo frame hit her straight in the head. The force of the blow was enough to make her stagger and for her vision to become blurry for a moment. Luckily, the sharp edge didn't hit her and she ran on ahead, running towards the kitchen.

The chase was on.

Auntie was right on her tail and she quickly jumped the last of the stairs and ran like a wild animal at Holly. With her messy blond hair, snarling face, mad eyes and dusty grey dress- Holly saw a demon; not her auntie.

They ran around each other in the kitchen and around the dinning table. Auntie Petunia was snarling, cursing, throwing glasses and plates left and right until she found the pan and almost hit her with it (Holly ducked right on time), while Holly dodged, ran out of the way and blocked what she could. Some of the broken glass cut her, but most of it didn't do much damage. She knew this would have looked absolutely hilarious if it wasn't actually happening to her.

She thought the kitchen fight lasted long, but it was in reality short as just as uncle Vernon came into the kitchen Holly was out in the garden, auntie right on her heels.

She was panting like a wild dog, and she thought that her heart drooped into her legs. She was looking for a hiding place or a small hole- but then catastrophe happened. 'Oh no-!' She knew it was all over when she tripped on a rock and fell right next to the apple tree. She backed away until her back was leaning on the trunk, as her entire body squirmed and curled up in a ball. Auntie was looming in front and Holly's entire system stopped working as she saw the pan come flying down-

But nothing happened.

Holly opened her eyes and her heart eased as uncle Vernon grabbed auntie from behind, pulling her back while she trashed wildly against him. He was yelling at her to stop all the way as he dragged her back inside the house, but auntie's own yells of mortification were louder.

"She's one of them! She's one of them!" She spat as she was dragged away.

Everything after that was a blur. She remembered how she was cleaning the broken glass in the kitchen, cursing her trembling hands to stay still. Than her uncle took her stiff body in her arms and put her on the counter.

"Are you hurt?" He murmured as he looked up the cuts on her trembling hands, his long and now strong arms gently touching them. She shook her head, never meeting his eyes. Her uncle seemed disappointed somehow and sighed than he gently patted her head.

"Holly."

"Y-yes?"

"Go to Mrs. Figg's for today alright?" He said and laid her down on her own feet. She nodded in understanding and left, desperately trying to choke back the tears.

Mrs. Figg kept asking her questions when she arrived, but Holly refused to answer. So the old woman shook her head and murmured something under her breath as she cleaned her cuts, examined her head, gave her dinner, hugged her tightly (even though she knew that hugs still made Holly uncomfortable) and sent her to bed.

And now as she stared at the ceiling, wondering what would happen after all of this...

For the first time in over 6 months, Holly wished to be back in the security of her cupboard.

A/N: Those reviews just made me so happy. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT! From everyone that reviewed and favorite. I'm glad.

Ahem as you can see; things have spiraled out of control slightly. I think this would have been Petunia's reaction if she lost her child and indeed did later find out that her niece has magical powers and was one of them.

But why did she react so harshly? Dunno. Perhaps it was because of her simple hatred for wizards and magic in general or… the possibility that Holly had the power to save Dudley but didn't use it. That's what most people do when they grieve; blame others or themselves.

Correct answer LN-la-seule-l'unique: this was Holly's first time in using magic. But as you can all see, she doesn't really believe in what happened herself. WingedWolfbloodWitch: Well that would have been a rather interesting plot development... but not for now though (sorry if you were expecting that).

P.S. Also for anyone that hasn't noticed I'm using the Petunia from the HP books- the one with the blond hair, blue eyes and long neck etc.