Chapter 12 - Hallowe'en

Holly awoke from her nap to a heavy weight on her legs and chest. Her backrest was rising and falling slowly as if it was breathing. Well, it was breathing. She was leaning against one of Fluffy's heads, with the other two sprawled over the rest of her body.

His body was curled round her and the heads like a protective barrier, so Holly couldn't even make out which head was which. She'd started naming them after they'd fought over the squeaky toy. Of course this would be a problem, Holly felt dumb not getting something for each head.

Now, was that Fluff, Fluffers or Sir Fluffingon the 3rd that was currently using her feet as a scratch post? Holly couldn't tell. They'd picked up on what she was doing surprisingly quickly. The Cerberus was frighteningly intelligent and Holly felt bad whenever she could hear their whining as she was leaving.

Really, using poor Fluffy, a dog who needed lots of room to run about, to guard a stuffy corridor was just cruel. He could barely stand up straight without hitting his head. Did wizards have magical creature protective services? If not, that was something to work on. Give it a cool acronym and make it feel all official. Something like Association for Risked Species of England, or in short, A.R.S.E.

Giggling to herself, Holly pushed the giant head off her chest (ah, this was Fluffers, the white spot under his chin gave it away). While doing so, she was once again amazed by their size. A single head would be enough to swallow half of her in a single bite. It was a good reminder of how dangerous magical creatures could be.

Thankfully Fluffy was a well behaved puppy and knew when he was getting too rough in their playing and had to stop. Even if he was still overly excitable by the smallest things. Just bringing a piece of rope an upper year had conjured for her to play tug had him so happy he wouldn't stop licking her face. It hadn't even been proper tug, he just dragged her around by the rope through the small corridor. But it was still quite fun.

Fluffy really didn't get enough company here.

Holly had also seen the trapdoor Hermione had mentioned. Though Fluffy always pushed her in another direction when she tried to approach. It seemed like he took his guard duty seriously.

Giving each head a last scratch to the chin and receiving a big lick to her face in return, Holly departed the forbidden corridor. If she spent too much time with Fluffy, Hedwig would get jealous. And no one wanted a jealous Hedwig, especially because she was fond of dropping dead mice on anyone who dared cross her. She'd once hidden one in Vernon's shoes after he complained about her where she could hear. He didn't have that pair any longer.

Wiping as much slobber as she could off her face and freeing her robes of dog hair, Holly made her way to the dorms. She had a birthday present to finish sewing.

Astronomy class had been brilliant as always, but it was getting really cold these nights. They'd been studying the movements of the planets tonight, since Venus was visible and oh so pretty shining the brightest out of the sea of stars.

After class, Hermione was always the first to use the washroom and brush her teeth. Since she wanted to be up earlier than the two beauty queens so they couldn't hog the bathroom in the morning. Getting them to interact was like pulling teeth.

So, when Hermione emerged to see all three of them waiting for her with gifts in their arms singing Happy Birthday, she looked very surprised. Holly only had to threaten them with a prank of their own so they'd be cordial today and play along.

"Happy birthday, Hermione. We got you some Sugar Quills!" Said Parvati.

"I think you mean, I made you get her sugar free Sugar Quills." Holly said, before turning to Hermione. "I remembered you talking about your parents being dentists."

"Thank you, that's very considerate." Hermione looked very happy when she tried one of the quills, seemingly having forgotten that she'd just brushed her teeth.

"I made you a little something" and Holly handed Hermione a small, parchment wrapped package. (She didn't have anything else available. Something to get for future birthdays and Christmas.)

Still nibbling at the quill, Hermione gently unwrapped the box, the parchment could be reused after all, to eventually reveal a pair of red wool gloves.

"I thought it'd be getting cold soon, so I made you these. They have a warming function so you'll always be nice and toasty!"

Holly got a bone crushing hug as thanks. And afterwards Lavender and Parvati too. Sharing some of the Sugar Quills, talking and laughing well into the night, Holly thought she'd accomplished something positive today, even if Hedwig seems annoyed by not getting her beauty sleep. That Hermione tried to be more open and actually talk to the other two from then on made Holly even happier.

Of course they'd all been very sleepy the next day and not accomplished much of anything. They were finally broken out of their stupor by the excitement surrounding Longbottom getting a package during lunch that required 6 owls to be carried.

Well, everyone but her had been broken out. Hermione seemed furious and stormed off after him and Weasley when they left without opening the package. Even Malfoy had left, looking very smug. But the rest of the hall was already lost to the craziest rumours, especially her other two roommates who had gotten a second wind.

Someone was spreading that the package contained the remains of Voldemort that Longbottom was finally old enough to have. Another one said it was fan mail and gifts from people. A popular Gryffindor one was that he'd made Seeker on their Quidditch team, even though first years weren't allowed brooms. But being the boy-who-lived and all they'd made an exception for him. Personally Holly preferred the one where it was a bag of junk mail and complaints that he hadn't done anything to solve any of the population's other problems.

It wasn't all too important to her, though Lavender really thrived with so much gossip and rumours being spread. She had the time of her life.

Being free this afternoon and having finished all her homework already, Holly made her way down to Hagrid's. She could still see the owls that had brought the package earlier flying over to the owlery for some rest. Couldn't have been easy to fly in tandem and carry that huge thing.

Hagrid was happy to invite her in and make some tea, while she gave Fang pets.

Holly sipped at her tea. "So, since Fluffy is busy with work and all," Hagrid grimaced at the reminder, "I wanted to ask if I could take Fang out for walks from time to time." She'd felt bad for him after not making him a blanket and now she was even spending time playing with Fluffy and he got nothing.

Hagrid seemed to brighten up at the idea "O'course, the lazy mutt needs sum more exercise anyways. Yeh can take him whenever yeh want, just come by to see if I'm there!"

They spent another hour after that just talking about magical creatures, enjoying tea and rock cakes and laughing at Fang's disgruntled look when she took him for their walk together.

She took him along the edge of the forbidden forest. After tying a knot on both ends of the rope she'd used to play tug with Fluffy, she threw it for Fang to fetch from time to time. He wasn't too much into it, but seemed to have fun regardless.

That all changed when after another throw, Hedwig swooped down from the sky, stealing the rope from right under Fang's nose and depositing it in Holly's hands and nipping at her ear.

"You want to play too?" Hedwig gave her a haughty look as if to say "of course". From then on Fang and Hedwig were in a fierce competition about getting the rope first.

It was surprisingly even with Hedwig barely eking out the win in the end. She'd never looked so smug and demanded scritches as a winning prize. (Though, Holly would give Fang some later anyways, after bringing him back to Hagrid's.)

As they made their way back to Hagrid's hut, Hedwig triumphantly riding Holly's shoulder, they saw someone zipping about on a broom above the Quidditch pitch.

When she approached, Holly wasn't surprised to see that it was Longbottom. Of course all the rules had been bent to allow him to play. At least Lavender would appreciate Holly telling her the true story so she could spread it with some outrageous lies mixed in later.

Holly spent a lot of time the following weeks playing with Fluffy and taking walks with Fang that Hedwig always joined. Their competitions continued so Holly had started bringing along different things to catch. She'd even adjusted the little mouse toy she had made for Hedwig one summer to be faster and make more turns, so the two had a harder time catching it.

Other than that she spent a lot of time on homework, sometimes she'd study with Hermione or discuss different styles of clothes with her other roommates, though Holly was mostly listening and trying to learn. A vast majority was spent on her runes project and trying to actually perform spells.

Mostly try, with a lot of fails. Finally getting down the match to needle transfiguration weeks after everyone else hadn't felt like an accomplishment at all. Holly had been so ashamed of her progress that she didn't even ask Professor McGonagall about her father.

But progress was progress, even if she'd probably never use that specific transfiguration again. It was all needed to build the foundation. Talking about building something. Holly had started working on a charm that could make her needles sew and stitch whatever the caster knew how to make. It was slow going, but would make her progress with her runes and speed up making gifts by leaps and bounds once she'd learned it.

Before Holly realised, September was over and the end of October was approaching quickly. The castle was decorated with pumpkins and webs, the armors creaked and moved whenever you walked past to scare you and the ghosts especially looked more solid and animated the closer it got to Halloween.

Holly wasn't as excited as everyone else. As nice as the skeletons and other decorations looked, they always reminded her of her parents. The only thing slightly cheering her up was when during charms, Hermione was paired with Weasley and managed to easily do the floating charm he had struggled with. It had shut his loud, complaining mug right up. Hermione really was a brilliant witch.

Her own attempts didn't get the desired results either, but at least she pronounced the words correctly, like her mother had written in her notes, and did the swish and flick. Instead of a swoosh and stir the cauldron or whatever Weasley was attempting.

At the end of class Professor Flittwick held Holly back while the rest of the class flooded into the corridor.

"Miss Potter, how are you adjusting to life in the castle? I hear you grew up living with your muggle aunt." he inquired.

"I'm adjusting well I think, I've made great friends and seeing magic used so casually in different ways every day is always fascinating."

"Yes, yes. I've heard similar things from other muggle-raised children before. I hope seeing so much of it won't hamper with your excitement for magic. You have a brilliant mind for the theory of charms, as did your mother in fact. But,"

Holly's hands were getting clammy. Were they going to throw her out because she wasn't performing well enough?

"Me and some of the other teachers with practical elements in their subject have noticed a major discrepancy between your theoretical work and your practicals. And I wanted to ask if you require any assistance?"

That had taken a direction Holly didn't anticipate. What was she supposed to tell him? Sorry, my magic is all fudged up from when my family was almost murdered? She really liked Professor Flitwick, so she went with something as close to the truth as she was comfortable.

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't think there's anything that can help me beyond more time to learn the spells. There's some dark magic remaining in my scar from that night, so any wand with a core rejected me," she held up her wand for him to see, "only this stubborn little guy without one wanted me in the end."

"Extraordinary," he came closer to look at her wand from different angles, "I haven't heard of a wand quest for decades. I see why you're having trouble now." A what now?

"What's a wand quest?" It sounded like the epic tale of the hero of a story. Where he had to prove himself to finally be worthy of the magic sword that could slay the evil dragon. But Holly was no hero, just a regular girl.

"A wand quest my dear, is how wizards got their wands in ancient times." He led her to a chair to sit down. "Before the times of wand makers, the apprentice of a wizard had to earn the respect of a magical beast that would in turn bestow upon them a part of their essence." Holly was hanging on to his every word. Why couldn't Professor Binns teach history like this?

"This essence is what we call the core of a wand today and was then used by the apprentice to craft their very own wand or staff, really any medium to channel their magic through. It was a right of passage for a young witch or wizard to be considered an adult."

"How come I haven't read anything about these quests in our history book?"

"The tradition fell out of favour once wand makers became more readily available. Personally I have only read about it in old goblin records.

There was a rumour that the last successful wand quests were completed by a trio of brothers, vying for the favour of a single unique and curious creature.

The oldest gained his essence quickly by slaying anyone who dared disrespect the creature. Desiring power, he used it to craft a powerful wand that would make him unstoppable.

The middle brother, trying to outdo the oldest, collected rare magics to demonstrate to the creature. After years of effort, he too was finally rewarded and crafted his into a stone that was said to be powerful enough to even raise the dead.

The last brother, disgusted by his older brothers' search for power, neglected his quest. After a happy life with a big family, he was visited by the creature and bestowed its essence anyways. He had impressed it with his will to deny its power.

The youngest used the rest of his lifetime to craft the essence into a cloak that would forever protect his descendants, from anyone who would look at them and wish them harm."

Holly was touched, that was such a beautiful tale and now she was getting the chance to become like one of these brothers. If she could become like the youngest brother, she could die happy, knowing she'd lived her life as a good person. Just like her parents would have wanted.

"As you can see, it could take you years before finding an appropriate core for your wand.

Unfortunately I can't give you too much leniency for your grades, but as long as your theoretical work stays this outstanding and you manage to learn most of the spells, you should still pass."

Holly left the charms classroom in high spirits. There was a teacher who at least partially understood her troubles, even if he couldn't help her with her practical grades. Not to mention she was excited about what kind of magical creatures she could meet for a nice wand, would a completed wand make it easier to cast or find the right paths? Maybe she should move the timeline of when she'd planned to visit the forest up a bit…

Probably a bad idea, Holly didn't really have a way to defend herself yet. If she finished her newly named "Soaring Boots" maybe she could dare to. Being able to fly and run away would already be a huge help. However, she would still have to gain the creatures "respect" for their essence. And rushing into it like the first brother wasn't her goal. She would just wait and see when an opportunity presented itself.

When Holly reached the great hall, lunch was almost over. She barely caught Parvati and Lavender on their way out to skive off History of Magic like they always did. Hermione was nowhere to be found either so she just quickly scarfed down some roast potatoes with pumpkin juice.

Holly was surprised that when she arrived for History of Magic, no one but her was there, not even Hermione. Had they all just decided to have fun early? That seemed unlikely in the case of her bookworm roommate. She hoped nothing had happened.

After listening to Professor Flitwick's riveting tale, just hearing Binns' monotonous babbling about Uric the Oddball had Holly's eyes droop within seconds. She didn't know why she even attended these anymore, her mother must have heard these exact same lectures in her own time. At least Binns wasn't talking about another goblin rebellion again today.

Holly was running towards her dorm as fast as she could. She'd ended up falling asleep to Binns anyways and was almost late for the evening feast now. When she'd woken Holly thought class was still in session since he was also still talking. She didn't even know why she was hurrying, Holly didn't really feel like attending, but time with her friends would certainly be better than moping around alone somewhere.

Taking a sharp turn around a corner Holly ran straight into Parvati, who was making her way down to dinner with the rest of the Gryffindors sans Longbottom, Weasley or Hermione.

"Sorry about that," she got out between her heavy breaths from running all over the castle. "I fell asleep in History of Magic. Where was everyone?"

"The Weasley twins organised a 10 year celebration for You-Know-Who's downfall. We only heard about it from the boys on our way to History. Sorry."

Lavender didn't really have to apologise to her. Holly wasn't one for big gatherings or any kind of party anyways. She had usually kept to the sides whenever Dudley celebrated his birthday with his friends.

"That's fine. Is that also where Hermione is? Wouldn't have expected her to miss out on History for a party." At that, Lavender and Parvati looked at her weirdly.

"Out with it, what happened?" It must have been serious or Hermione would never miss a class.

"After charms, Weasley called her a know-it-all and said that's why she doesn't have any friends. She's been crying on the girls' toilet ever since."

Holly bristled at the revelation, sure, Hermione could be a little difficult. But being at least twice as smart as everyone else in the room didn't help make connections.

So she stormed off in the direction of the toilets and didn't stop when her friends called after her to wait. They were Hermione's friends as well, they should have helped her!

It didn't take her long to get there. Holly pushed open the door with trepidation. Her heart almost broke when, after what must have been hours, she could still hear sobbing and sniffling coming from one of the stalls. This felt like her experience during primary school all over again.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Holly sat down next to the stall door.

"Go away, I don't need your pity!" That made her frown.

"This isn't pity, I'm worried about my friend. So are Parvati and Lavender." She could hear Hermione blow her nose.

"Oh, please. Those two just talk to me because you're friends with them. And you can stop pretending now too."

The crying had gotten louder again. Holly might have had some tears in her eyes as well.

"I'm not pretending, I genuinely like you." She was almost pleading. They were supposed to be friends.

"S-stop lying! You-you just like getting better grades than me, now leave or I'll start hexing you!"

Holly slammed the door on her way out, tears streaming down her face. If Hermione wanted space, she could get space! The last month had been going so well. And now everything was ruined. Every Halloween was just rubbish!

She took her time on the way to the great hall, wanting to calm down. Only to run into prefect Weasley escorting her fellow first years in the direction of the dorms.

"Miss Potter, there you are! To the common room we go, don't be tardy now!" What was happening?

Quickly wiping her eyes, she joined her friends in the row of first-years, shooting them a questioning look.

When Lavender leaned over to whisper "Troll in the dungeon", she almost ran back for Hermione, no matter how much her words had hurt Holly. She was stopped by a hand on her arm though.

"Don't be daft, there's nothing you can do against a troll, Longbottom and Weasley already went to warn her. No need to endanger yourself too."

Even if Lavender was right, Holly regretted her decision not to go back.