Chapter 9 - Playtime
When Madam Pomfrey finally judged Holly well enough to leave, it was almost time for tea with Hagrid. The potion she'd been sitting in just slid off her skin like oil as she stood up in the tub. It was slightly disturbing to be honest and definitely not an experience she wanted to repeat all too soon.
After climbing out, Holly spotted the change of clothes Madame Pomfrey had mentioned, though she was sure that it hadn't been there on that stool just a second ago. Looking around for the house elf, she hadn't ever heard of them before, Holly was disappointed to be all alone.
At least until she realised she was starkers and quickly changed into the clothes. Her dirty ones seemed to have disappeared as well while she hadn't been looking.
Thanking the matron on her way out, Holly hurried down the many stairs to the big castle doors. Hagrid lived right on the edge of the forbidden forest and she was almost late. Filch, the castle caretaker, screamed after her to not run in the hallways when she passed by him. He had the cutest grumpy cat, but said cat denied any of Holly's attempts to pet her.
When Holly knocked on Hagrid's door, there was loud barking and scratching on the door, was she about to meet Fluffy? She didn't think he'd fit in Hagrid's hut anymore, but with magic involved who knew.
After some shuffling and shouts the door opened to a smiling Hagrid who invited her in. The hut was just as big on the inside as it appeared from the outside. It was sparsely decorated, a single pot with a slightly wilted flower, some meats hanging from the ceiling, teapot over an open fire, a couple couches and a big cot in the corner.
As Holly sat down on one of the couches, a big dog came bounding over and started to lick her face. He was big, but not Cerberus big.
"Did Fluffy shrink in the wash or did you forget to mention you had another dog? I'd have made him something as well, you know." She shot Hagrid an accusing look while trying not to laugh. Doggy tongue on her ear resulted in tickles, who'd have guessed that.
Hagrid scratches at his cheek, looking a little flustered, "Must've forgotten teh mention him. That's enough now Fang, back. So tell me 'bout yehr firs week!"
And so she did just that. She told him about her competition for points with Hermione. About the time Lavender and Parvati made her try on various clothes (her measurements were vastly different, but the clothes had small self adjusting enchantments, very neat). She told him about her classes, where she knew most things already, but they were fun anyways. How she missed talking to Padma, Susan and Hannah since they barely shared any classes. They'd made plans for this weekend though. Holly wound down with the story with her experience in potions today.
"Sounds like yehr had a lot of fun. Gotta be careful, Potions is a dangerous subject. Yeh want another rock cake?" Holly nodded affirmatively.
The name rock cake was very fitting, chewing them was very hard. But they weren't nearly as bad as her own first forays into baking. Aunt Petunia had made her finish anything she made, just to learn to not waste ingredients. She fondly recalled making Christmas cookies, but she had mixed up cinnamon with crushed caraway. Dudley being Dudley, had not been able to wait and stuffed his whole mouth with them. In the end Holly had to clean up his puke but the sight of him barfing was worth it anyways.
When Hagrid picked up the platter Holly noticed an article from the Daily Prophet had been hidden under it, the one about the break in at Gringotts. It had been the talk of the alley when she'd been back to restock on quills and parchment.
Apparently it was a first in the history of Gringotts and they suspected some dark wizard or even wizards, plural, to have done it. Not that there had been any sighting of even a singular dark wizard since Voldemort. It sold a lot of copies for the paper though and churned the rumour mill. The vault in the picture, a number 713, had seemed familiar to her, but only now did she connect the dots.
Vault 713 was the one Hagrid had deposited the weird package in, the previous year. Holly quickly shoved the article under the tea cosy, no need to remind Hagrid, when he'd tried so hard to keep the contents of the package a secret when they'd been in Diagon.
"So, what are you up to these days? Anything interesting happening in the forest?" Fang had made himself comfortable next to her on the couch and planted his head in her lap.
"Don't yeh dare go in the forest Holly! It's dangerous even fer animal lovers. But something's got the unicorns in a tizzy, just dunno what."
"I wasn't planning on going in the forest," at least not yet, "I hope you find what's wrong soon." Holly was absent mindedly scratching Fang behind the ears while he just drooled on her robes contendly.
"Ah, s'fine, s'fine. Just had to warn yeh."
"So nothing else going on? How's Fluffy? I'm excited to finally meet him!" What was better than getting slobbered on by one dog like she was right now? Getting slobbered on by one dog with 3 heads.
"Fluffy? I dunno any Fluffys." Hagrid was a bad liar. "Ehr, I mean he's busy, real busy with erm… work!" A really bad one.
"Oh, I know! There was sumthin else goin on, I invited Neville for tea tomorrow." Holly hid a smile in her cup of tea at his bad attempt of switching topics. So something was definitely going on with Fluffy…
"You did? Are you two friends?"
"I showed'im around Diagon on his birthday when his grama was unwell. Great bloke he is."
Holly hadn't interacted much with him, he usually kept to the boys side of the house and stuck close to Weasley. She would also continue calling them by their last name until they at least had the decency to introduce themselves. Lavender had taught her that it was only proper that the gentleman was the one to approach the lady.
Holly felt far from being a lady, but it was fun to at least play pretend. Maybe one day she'd be one.
"Well, I'm glad you're making more friends." Hagrid just gave a grunt in response and drank from his tea.
"Would yeh look at the time, it's gettin dark already. Better head up to the castle Holly!"
Sure enough, the sun was setting so she thanked Hagrid for the tea, waved him goodbye and then made her way back up for dinner. She also might have stolen a rock cake or two. Though, Holly was sure Hagrid wouldn't mind.
When Susan had told Holly that she should bring her wand to the meetup, she panicked for a second. She didn't know any spells that could be used for a wizard game. In fact, she didn't know any spells at all yet.
Holly had tried to work ahead a little and actually learn Lumos before it came up in class, professor Flitwick would certainly have been excited. Everything went well, build up magic, guide it through one of the gaps in the blockage and then fill the wand.
Only, the moment she started saying the spell, waving her wand or even just visualising the spell outcome (an integral part of doing charms work) the labyrinths that were the gaps had shifted. This had never happened to her while carving before.
After a lot of experimentation Holly found that the shifting always happened the same way, depending on what caused it. First syllable of Lumos? The layout of one labyrinth got mirrored. A flick with the wand? New pathways in some of the gaps opened up.
It was just a "finding the right combination" game from there on out to cast a spell. That said, after a whole week she was still not a step closer to casting the wand lighting charm.
So, it was with a lot of trepidation that she approached the meeting spot, a big field of grass by the lake. Some were already there, most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Both Padma and Susan had invited the other girls of their year to the outing.
Parvati and Lavender were the last to arrive, they were actually wearing a more casual sporty outfit for today, though they still looked fabulous in them. Were they going to do sports today? Holly looked down at herself, she was wearing shorts, gloves, a cardigan, sneakers and an outer robe. So pretty much what she wore when roller skating as well. It should be fine.
After a short round of introductions, Susan pulled out a weird looking purple ball with a honeycomb pattern. The so-called Fludgeball. Holly needn't have worried about her spells, all you had to do was hit the ball with a burst of magic from your wand.
It was a sort of reverse tug of war. Everyone tapped their wand to the ball to register as a player, stood in a circle around it and then it was play time.
If you hit the ball with your magic, it'd avoid you and try to hit all the other registered players. You could hit it again to make it change the pattern it was zipping about with or to make it target someone else.
To defend you either had to dodge, or hit the ball with your own magic to become the hunter. Which was easier said than done since it sporadically changed directions or the player "in possession" had hit it again. Not to mention that the ball shot around with the speed of a car passing by. That only left Holly with one question.
"Why is it called Fludgeball?" Susan and Hannah just giggled.
"If you get hit, you'll be covered in purple sludge!"
And with that the game was on!
Holly was lying panting in the grass. That last round had been so unfair. Susan and Hannah, clearly the most experienced players, had singled her out when it was just the 3 of them left. They had wanted to duke it out in a one on one, but clearly hadn't expected Holly's stamina and tenacity for dodging.
They had hounded her around the grass without a break. If Holly had better aim with her wand, she would have tried to retaliate. In the end it was Hannah that won, but only by a hair.
"Who… who invented this torture?"
"I don't know, but my aunt said they played Fludgeball as a warmup during auror training."
Just as a warmup? Holly had been knackered after the first round. How she managed to play another 4 she had no clue. Aurors must have some serious stamina.
Then Susan stood up to join Hannah in washing their hands by the lake… this was perfect. Holly snuck up on them on wobbly knees. And when they least expected it, pushed them into the lake.
"Payback time!" She jumped in right after them, clothes and all. There was some screeching and laughter from the both of them before they retaliated by splashing water in Holly's face.
It devolved into a huge water fight that all the girls joined in the end. Thankfully it was still warm enough this early in September. Holly had a blast.
When the clock struck four, Holly excused herself.
"I'm sorry to put a damper on things, but I have a detention with professor Snape soon."
"Let's call it then, it's starting to get cold and we could all use a warm shower or towel." Holly looked around to see Mandy and Sue, two of the new faces she hadn't known yet, were indeed shivering.
At least no one was covered in sludge anymore.
Holly peeked her head into the potions classroom at precisely 4:30, as the note she got at breakfast had said.
"Excuse me…" Professor Snape didn't seem to be here yet. But at one of the desks a brewing station was set up, with ingredients laid out next to it.
"Miss Potter, how nice of you to join me." Holly jumped, he was standing right behind her. And why did he always sound so sarcastic when being "nice"?
"Yes well, I didn't have much of a choice I think. Though I do enjoy my time in the dreary and dark dungeon quite a bit." Holly was grinning at Snape, who only gave her a deadpan stare in response.
"You will brew the potion again while I observe, so prepare yourself."
So this was a remedial lesson for her? How generous, only…
"What if the cauldron explodes again?"
"Not to worry, I have a supply of old ones that former students have left behind, courtesy of the house elves."
Holly pouted at him, he was definitely insinuating she'd blow up more than just the one from the lesson yesterday.
And blow them up she did, professor Snape had observed every step of hers, not made any complaints. But when it was time to add the porcupine quills, the colour was off again. This time Holly was prepared and took cover after dropping them in. After hiding behind the next desk and turning around, she was just in time to see the potion explode.
A quiet "again" was all she got after he had vanished the potion. So she brewed another one, and another one when it blew up as well, and then another one.
Holly was getting frustrated, but Snape wasn't satisfied yet.
"Brew another one. But this time," he dropped a pair of weird scaly looking gloves on the table, "change your gloves to these."
"Don't give me that look, I have seen your scar when I was involved in trying to find a cure."
Measuring the ingredients and stirring the potion was a lot harder with the stiff and unyielding gloves on. Not to mention she was sore from waving her wand at the Fludgeball all day. The potion actually looked as it should when it was time for her to add the quills. Holly was excited and plopped them in… nothing happened. She gave a careful clockwise stir. Still nothing. So she continued, one, two, three, four and the colour of the potion changed to the right tone.
"Congratulations, you have brewed a perfect boil cure potion… that even a toddler could make." Holly just giggled at the insult.
"Why did it work this time and what are these gloves?" Holly inspected the fine leather like gloves.
"I suspect that the magic in your scar interacted with the potion when you touched the ingredients," he pointed at the gloves, "those are rare and valuable magic isolating gloves. They are used for some of the most dangerous brews… and now also for a boil cure." Professor Snape sounded a little defeated.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Holly's attempt at a hug was swiftly dodged. Followed by a rolled up paper to the back of the head. Where had that come from?
"Well, I'll take good care of them, promise." She was about to rush out the door, his mood had gotten all weird from her hug attempt. Only to be grasped by the wrist.
"They are staying here! I'm only lending them to you for lessons when I don't need them myself."
Oh, so Holly would not be able to practise potions in her free time. As if reading her mind he continued with a sigh.
"If you require more experience, you could always just land yourself in more detentions."
Holly brightened until Snape smiled nastily.
"Of course, that would also cost your house a lot of points in the process." She gulped. Oh well.
Still being sore from yesterday's activities, Holly spent most of Sunday in the library with Hermione who had apparently barely left the place besides to eat, for lessons or to sleep. Though, Holly could see Hermione falling asleep right here between stacks of books.
It was Holly's first time in the library, since she wanted to go when there was lots of time to explore. Thankfully she had her mum's books to use as references for her homework essays.
She was excited. The library was huge, the Dursley's house would fit in here at least 5 times, if not more. Hopefully they would have a lot about runes since books about them were sparse in Diagon. Or far too expensive.
Searching far and wide for a public library in Diagon Alley had not returned results. You either bought a book, or knew someone who had it if you wanted to borrow it for a while. It was pretty disappointing, how were poor wizards supposed to further their education? Maybe they could make use of the Hogwarts library during summer. That'd be neat.
"As you can see, the sections are ordered by topic, so anything related to transfiguration will be under "T"." Hermione was whispering while showing her around. Madam Pince, the librarian, liked her calm and order and was not shy about throwing troublemakers out.
The sorting system didn't make much sense to Holly. Where would you find a book that was about more than just one topic?
The tour ended at one of the work tables that had obviously been claimed by Hermione. There were multiple stacks of books as high as Holly was tall. Had she finished all those or was she planning on still reading them?
Browsing the books in the aisle marked "R" Holly found tomes on Runespoors, Relics and a book on rubbish weirdly enough. Why was there a book about Runespoors in the "R" section if its main topic was a snake, starting with "S"
Unless… Holly made her way back to check the book titles. "Artifacts of the Ancient Times", "Runespoors, Just Misunderstood Creatures?" and "A Guide on how Wizards Dispose of their Trash: For Dummies!"
"Oh my god!" Holly almost yelped out.
"Quiet back there!" That'd been Madam Pince.
The library didn't actually sort by topic. It magically read your expectations on what you'd find when looking under a specific letter and then moved the books around for you to find. That was bloody brilliant. It would make looking for relevant information so much easier. That was, if you understood the system behind it. If you didn't, you might never find what you're looking for.
Thinking as hard as she could about runes belonging in "R", Holly could see books appearing and disappearing near her. She was officially in love with the library, an inanimate object. Or was it magic in general she was in love with? Didn't matter either way.
Quietly giggling to herself, she started picking up random books on rune related topics. Homework could be done later, for now she had new books to read!