Chapter 6 - Gap-Year

Watching Hedwig dive after the mouse plush Holly had stitched and animated with runes was a sight to behold. The plush had been her proof of concept that she could sew runes into fabrics and they still worked.

There hadn't been enough space for the runes needed for the movement rune matrix, so Holly had to find a workaround. She ended up making partitions for the stuffing so she could fit runes on the partition walls inside the plush.

Thankfully she had thought to include something for durability, Hedwig's talons were incredibly sharp. She was a predator after all.

Figuring out how to make that one had been an ordeal. Holly had thought she'd managed to make the plush durable with her first try. Only, her rune sequence just hardened the plush until it was hard as a rock. She had strengthened the structure and not the individual strings used.

She'd felt stupid after, rightfully so since her mistake should have been obvious. There was not enough space to specify what should be durable in the pentagon formation she had used so the plush had been affected as a whole and just became hard.

Back to the drawing board she went, working on the daunting task of making her first heptagon shaped rune sequence. She could have gone for a hexagon, but odd numbered shapes worked far better and were more stable since those numbers were more magical. However numbers could be magical. Arithmancy wasn't her favourite to read about by a long shot.

Hedwig landed on her shoulder and dropped the plush in her lap, breaking Holly out of her musings. It seemed like the plush was out of magic again. She'd have to find a way to increase the charge or make her runes more efficient. Hedwig was puffing out her chest proudly for having done such a good job of hunting the plush. She was just adorable, so Holly started giving her scratches all the while cooing at her, which seemed to annoy Hedwig to no end. She was a smart and noble owl after all, not someone to be cooed over.

Their quality bonding time was interrupted by aunt Petunia. "Holly, stop playing with the bird and Hoover for me will you!"

Holly grumbled to herself, she was only allowed to take Hedwig out to the back garden early in the mornings or when it was about to get dark, and then they still demanded her attention at those times regardless. One day she'd make a magical hoover that would do the work itself and maybe even chase Petunia through the house from time to time.

She shooed Hedwig off her shoulder with a sad look, getting an outraged bark in return, and headed inside.

Getting around Diagon was much harder when you didn't have someone like Hagrid to split the sea of wizards.

At one point the crowd was so thick that her glasses almost fell off when trying to push through.

She reached Gringotts sweaty and ready for a break. Afternoons during summer holiday season were a nightmare to go to Diagon Alley apparently. Next time she would try to go early in the morning like the day Hagrid had taken her.

Holly felt weird being alone in the long line of the goblin teller. Some of the wizards were giving her weird looks, did she really stand out that much in her flowy cream dress? Holly had tried to imitate wizarding robes as much as possible when sewing this one.

"Excuse me, I'd like to see storage vault 979. I have the key with me."

Her goblin escort this time remained quiet the whole time. She'd had much more fun on the cart as well, partly because her dress was wildly billowing around her.

To say that she was disappointed when the vault door of 979 finally opened was an understatement. It was all junk, old and mostly broken furniture. And not too little either. If you put them all in a pile it'd be twice the size of Privet Drive number 4. At least.

The goblin left her to it when she started rummaging through the broken furniture looking for interesting things. The vault was huge and it'd take her a long while to go through everything. Even then she'd most likely dismiss some formerly important items as trash, not knowing what they were.

One of the piles of furniture was decidedly different. Much more modern and partly muggle. Was this the stuff the goblins had gotten out of her childhood home?

All of her parents' stuff was singed or even partly burned. Was there a fire on the night of the attack? Was her scar a burn scar? The shape of it seemed far too peculiar for that to be the case. She'd probably been hit with some dark magic, since she was told the scar was still cursed.

Holly decided to sort through her grandparents' things before continuing with the burned ones of her parents. She didn't want to accidentally break any of the already damaged furniture without knowing the spell to fix them again.

Since Holly had come in the afternoon, she left the vault after just an hour. She wanted to check out the second hand wizard equipment and junk shop again before it got too late.

Having failed to find anything of value in her time in the vault, Holly only took along the slightly crooked owl perch that Hedwig would certainly appreciate, especially since she hated staying in the cage. Holly could bend it back into shape easily enough. It was almost up to her chest high with a heavy base, so she was dreading having to carry the thing around with her through the busy alley. Holding onto it in the cart had been quite the ordeal already.

Stepping through the Gringotts doors, Holly had to suppress a groan. The alley was still just as busy as before, if not even more so. At least the owl perch made for a good "weapon" to fight her way through the crowd. Of course she didn't hit anyone, but used it to part the people in front of her.

When Holly entered the junk shop, she stopped in the doorway, surprised. The shop was barely recognisable. Their entire inventory seemed to have changed and the layout was different as well.

Strolling past a stack of licence plates, she made her way to the back so she could look through back to front. Holly found a bike without tires, some street signs, a doorless microwave, more broken electronics and other junk. Really, where did wizards get all this?

When she asked the price of a decently usable pair of garden shears, Petunia had complained about her old ones not being sharp anymore and this pair might be a decent birthday gift, she was shocked to hear the clerk wanted 5 galleons for it.

Would it be a viable way to make money if she just sold Dudley's old broken toys here? Of course the clerk told her that they only bought their wares from a vetted supplier and expert on all things muggle. As if! They probably just stole stuff out of the trash or something.

Grumbling to herself, Holly left. If only it could have been this easy to make money. The traffic outside wasn't any better, but thankfully the second hand shop was close by. Her mum's old pewter cauldron was all rusted through and a new one was too expensive, so Holly was looking into how much a used one would cost her.

It was a little busier here than in the junk shop. Holly had to push her way through a group of loud redheads that were blocking the way in the second hand robes aisle.

The used cauldrons were all a little rusty so probably best not used to brew potions. At least the price was cheap enough. Holly would have to come here early in the summer next year so all the decent ones weren't sold already.

Holly decided to look at the scales and telescopes next, just in case. But all the good ones must have been sold already, since it was so close to school starting again.

Looking through the miscellaneous item box, Holly found some old ink pots, ratty shoes and a nice black witches hat with wide brim that she put on experimentally while she continued her rummaging.

At the bottom of the box was a small brown leather wrapped pack with a leather strap binding it together. Holly was about to read the writing on the strap when she heard a voice behind her.

"10 Knuts for the leather wrap, if you get the hat and it'll cost ya 20. The hat alone is worth 15, great deal for a little missy such as you."

"What is it?"

"Ain't got the foggiest. Took it off some wanker, pardon the language, who owed me money. Swore up and down it was worth its weight in gold. No one's been able to open it though, so it's just been sittin there collecting dust, the bloody thing."

Holly frowned down at the wrap in her hand. It said exactly how to open it on the band though?

"Where was the wizard you got it off of from? I'll give you 15 Knuts for the wrap and the hat."

"Didn't ya listen? I told ye the hat alone was worth that much. The knob was from asia or south america I think, why? 18 is the best I can do for both."

Holly gave an innocent smile. "But you also said no one wants this thing, so I'd be taking it off your hands. 18 Knuts for both and one of the ink pots on top. And I was just curious is all."

"Fine, ye got a deal." Said the shop owner, before grumbling to himself. "Since when were children such bloody cutthroats?"

Holly didn't pay him any mind though, confident in the deal she'd made even if the nature of the wrap was still unknown. So she just paid and then started making her way home. It was getting late.

The wide brimmed witches hat made for a great sun protector, though aunt Petunia wasn't happy with her at all when she walked in the door with it on. Threatening her with more chores if she ever wore it in polite company.

Holly had to hold her tongue not to reply to thank her aunt for allowing her to wear it around the house then. Cheek like that would just land her in more trouble than it was worth.

In her room she was greeted by an enthusiastic Hedwig who instantly zeroed in on the owl perch and sat on it like it was her new throne. Unwilling to leave her new perch, Holly had to carry it along with Hedwig to the space between her bed and the window that she had chosen for it.

Pulling the ink pot, could never have enough of those, and the leather wrap out of her shoulder bag, Holly sat down on her bed. She read over the instructions on the band again before following them.

It was as simple as channelling some magic into the band and reading the phrase " Carve out thine own future" that was written on it out loud. Hedwig startled her with a sudden bark, but the band had just flipped open so Holly didn't pay her any mind.

Holly was excited when she unrolled the pack to reveal a collection of carving tools and small brushes, probably to clean out whatever was carved. She'd gotten a tool kit, and a high quality one at that, despite how simple the leather wrap looked. The carvers ranged from being as wide as her hand to as fine as a hair, their handles were some white shiny material with intricate engravings and the carving tips looked as sharp as knives. She hadn't known there were tools with different sizes like this, what were they used for?

Rushing out to the back garden with the tool kit, Holly pulled her stone collection, that she gathered for her runes projects, out of the shed. After sitting down cross legged on the grass, Hedwig joined her in a flutter of feathers while Holly picked the smallest carver to try out first.

Her magic flowed into it much more smoothly than her mum's old one. When she touched the tool to the stone she had chosen it practically exploded in her face, showering her with small shrapnel and dust.

Hedwig had taken off with a loud squawk that Holly didn't know owls could even make and she herself was stunned. What had just happened?

She wiped the stone dust off her face and inspected her handiwork. The stone was gone and the carver thankfully still whole. Holly might have cried if she broke it the first time she tried to use it.

An aggravated Hedwig swooped down to land on her shoulder again. She nipped at Holly's ear and kept smacking her with her wing, only disrupted by the occasional bark.

"Ow, Ow! Hedwig stop! It was an accident - an accident!" Hedwig gave another bark, hopped over to her knee and turned her head away from Holly pretending to ignore her.

This owl was so full of sass, she'd be the death of Holly. And she wouldn't have it any other way. It wasn't clear who owned who in this relationship, but Holly preferred them being partners over owner and pet anyways. She felt like they had a special connection, it was hard to describe.

"Fine, fine. I'll help you with preening later and I promise I'll get you some bacon tomorrow."

Hedwig looked at her again, seemingly judging her honesty. Apparently satisfied, Hedwig gave another bark, took off and landed on the garden shed, taking cover from any other "accidents" Holly might have.

Holly concentrated back on her new tool kit, there were tests to be done.

The last week of summer holidays was about to begin and Holly was dreading it. Not because of having to go back to school soon, no. But because aunt Marge would be visiting and Holly really didn't like her.

She was so overbearing that even Dudley could barely stand it, but she treated Holly like a second grade maid. Always complaining and making Holly clean after her and her dogs.

At least she'd managed to negotiate a truce with said dogs. Negotiated in the broadest sense of the word, Holly had just started carrying around dog treats or cuts of cold meat from the fridge to get in their good graces.

She'd done that ever since they tried to chase her up a tree when she was small. Holly was certain it was the way the dogs were getting raised that was the problem. Any other dog she met was a sweetie.

Aunt Petunia had forbidden her from letting out Hedwig while Marge was here so she'd sent her off on her first letter delivery to Hagrid and Professor Snape.

Holly was a little worried, since Hedwig was still so small. She had grown quite a bit over the summer, but Holly didn't know how far away Hogwarts actually was, nor how difficult the flight with the smaller wingspan of a not yet fully grown owl was.

It still beat locking Hedwig up in her room though.

With Marge here Holly couldn't even continue her tests with the carving tool kit.

She'd found, after pulverising 3 more stones, that the small carver focused all the magic into such a small point that it basically overloaded the point of contact with magic. Which in turn caused the explosion.

So she either had to use it on bigger stones or rocks (the ones she tested with still cracked and split into multiple pieces) or learn to channel way less magic into the tool.

The bigger ones on the other hand had the opposite problem, they spread magic over the broad tip so thinly that she would have to somehow increase the channelled magic or it wouldn't cut properly. So the best option was probably to learn to regulate how much magic she put into her tools.

She hadn't noticed any specific benefit to using her new tools compared to her mum's yet, but given their magical, high quality nature, there had to be one.

Holly couldn't experiment or practise with aunt Marge around though, so she settled on her other project that she had planned before acquiring her tool kit. Sewing a nice gift for Hagrid for his birthday. She didn't know when that was yet, but she'd asked in the letters so would hopefully know soon.

But it wouldn't be just an ordinary gift. After noticing how often she had to recharge the mouse plush, Holly had tried and failed to make her rune design more efficient. Using different runes for the same purpose of charging and holding magic or the functions she had devised, hadn't helped. Her initial designs were almost as good as they were going to get with just using elder futhark, the problem was the connection between the functions was bleeding magic. Holly had no idea how to fix it. Yet.

Holly had theorised that using runes in between her separate rune functions could help prevent the bleed. But if she used the same runic language as the one in the function they started interaction, integrating the new rune and destabilising them as well as creating unforeseen side effects.

The first time she had tried the cloth she had sewed simply went up in flames. Thankfully she had been outside in the garden or there might have been a little bit of trouble. The second time it had folded into itself until it somehow popped into nothingness.

So Holly had tried younger futhark, which didn't work either, the alphabets were too similar and just resulted in similar experiences. Hieroglyphics seemed not compatible at all, they hampered the magic flow more than helped stop the bleeding. And she didn't dare touch the Mayan runes until she had a better grasp on them. Same with Sumeranian and Babylonian. They were only briefly mentioned in her mothers newt runes books.

Holly had the hope that the Hogwarts library would have books on them she could read. But that was for the future.

In the meantime she was working on a way for a self charging runeset instead. At least she would once aunt Marge was gone. All Holly could do with her here was sew the gift for Hagrid that would later hopefully hold said runes.

"Girl! Come help me carry Marge's suitcases!" Speak of the devil and she shall appear.

"I'm on my way!" Holly was in for a great week ahead of her, not.

Dear Holly,

Happy Christmas! 'm doin well. How's school goin for yeh?

I jus' got the pup, so yer present is very appreciated. He won't go anywhere without it. The three heads fightin over who gets to carry an oversized puppy blanket aroun is just precious. An' yes, he is very fluffy. Might actually be a great name fer 'im. Maybe yeh'll get to meet 'im when he's better trained.

Hagrid

Holly grinned to herself, Fluffy was a brilliant name for a Cerberus. She couldn't wait to meet him. That he liked the gift was even better.

She'd made it extra cosy and warm. Hopefully rip and tear proof, no guarantees with an overexcited 3 headed puppy though.

Hagrid's birthday was in December and Holly almost didn't manage to finish the blanket in time. A self charging rune network was more complicated than she had thought.

Making a rune sequence that just sucked in whatever magic in the vicinity was pretty dangerous. Holly had almost keeled over in pain when she first activated it. Getting magic sucked out of her hands through the blockage had hurt like crazy.

After recovering from the shock and deactivating the rune shed just lain there in the grass looking at the clouds in the sky.

Oooh, there's a unicorn cloud getting chased by giant spider clouds. And they collide! "Poof."

"What are you doing on the ground giggling to yourself like a mad woman?"

She'd been giggling? She shouldn't be giggling, the Easter bunny needed its coloured pencils back or it wouldn't be able to defend itself from the evil jubblyguff! Holly shot up from her lying position.

"Aunt Petunia! Where are the coloured pencils? It's really important!"

When Holly attempted to stand up she just ended up with a face full of dirt. Why was the ground spinning? It didn't usually do that, did it? No, she was certain. The ground was supposed to be wavy like the ocean. She'd always wanted to see the ocean, the Dursleys never went to the beach.

"What is up with you, did you sneak some of the Brandy again?"

That'd been Dudley! But they hadn't believed her.

Before Holly could answer though, she'd promptly fallen asleep right where she was lying face first in the grass.

Waking up after that day's ordeals had been a nightmare, no pun intended. Her throat was parched and felt like it had grown a pelt. Her head was fuzzy and throbbed whenever she moved it. At least someone had been kind enough to move her to her bed.

Holly vowed that day to never be too close when testing new rune designs. One might have thought she'd have done that much earlier with some literally going up in flames, but she'd thought doing her testing outside would be enough of a safety measure. Oh how wrong she had been.

Concentrating on anything had been difficult for a while after that. Worse yet, the Dursleys wouldn't let her live it down how embarrassing her display had been. But once she was a little more recovered and able to do more than just shuffle to the loo and back to her room she'd instantly gotten to work on fixing whatever mistake she'd made.

Adding a limiter to how fast and how much magic would be absorbed was the first thing she did. The result was less than stellar, with the absorption being regulated enough to not kill anyone that touched it in a matter of minutes, she barely got enough magic into the system to sustain the runes of the blanket.

With Hagrid's birthday rapidly approaching, Holly had decided to cut her losses, send him a safe and serviceable version and work more on the design later. She had big plans for her self-sustaining runes after all.