NOTES
So, Danny appears to be popular among my friends. Other than that, I have a four-way tie. So I'll leave the poll up until someone wins, okay?
By the way, I'm open to any and all suggestions. So feel free to share your ideas with me.
Oh, and one more thing. Holly stole my laptop while I was sleeping. She got herself a formspring. Go bother her.
DISCLAIMER
Me: *grabs Harry's nose* Ha! Finally! I got your nose, Harry!
Harry: Oh, you idiot…
Me: Yeah, I know…I don't own you…
Holly
Chapter Eleven – You Learn Something Every Day
I sat cross-legged on a chair in the common room. Lately, I hated being alone. I could never get comfortable, or even relax at all, unless there was another person around. Usually, of course, it was Mandy, Lisa, or Roger. Danny had started hanging around with some older boys, whom I guess were sixth or seventh years, so we hadn't seen him around much. Not that I cared. Or so I tried to convince myself…but let's not hang on the uncertain.
I hung out with Jason Samuels a lot, too. He was one of the Beaters for our team, along with Duncan Inglebee. Jason was a tall boy with a big smile and a good heart. Sure, he was a bit of a bumbling fool, but that wasn't much of a problem. He kneeled on the ground, making an attempt at the transfiguration homework – which technically wasn't actual homework to begin with – that I had seen Penelope Clearwater doing the night before. I decided that he needed to be bothered.
I poked him in the small of his back, and he jumped a bit. "What is it, Holly? I'm trying to do homework," he sighed, obviously miserable.
"I'm saving you from absolute misery. Well, if only for a little while. But don't you wanna go do something?" I asked, leaning forward.
"I'd love to…but I can't. Why don't you go ask Grant? I'm pretty sure he's got his life sorted out. I mean, you know I'm a bit of a slacker when it comes to homework, so…" He trailed off and laughed. I nodded and decided to investigate his idea. Grant sat by the fire with a book open in his lap. I never understood why he was so cold all the time. He was dark haired, like many of the boys in Ravenclaw, with Jason being one of the few exceptions. His eyes were an interesting blue-green, which a lot of girls loved. Needless to say, he unintentionally became a heartbreaker.
I pried the book from his hands and sat in his lap. I crossed my legs neatly. He stared at me.
"Something you needed, Holly?" He asked, tucking some hair behind his ear.
"Nope," I replied with a grin. "I'm just bored."
"And you expect me to entertain you?" He laughed.
"Yup," I nodded. "Because Danny's missing, Jason's busy, Roger's off with a random girl, Eddie scares me, and Duncan…well, I just like you better than him."
"I think that's a compliment, so I'll treat it as such," he mumbled.
I shrugged. "I'm not sure, either. But I think I just insulted the entire Quidditch team." He nodded, staring at the fire. I pulled on his ear.
"Ow, Holly! What the Hell?" He glared at me.
"I was checking to be sure you're alive," I grinned.
Grant muttered something I couldn't understand. You see, his mother hailed from the Netherlands, and he spoke fluent Dutch.
"You're not very good at entertaining females. I don't know why they all like you," I sighed.
He looked at me again. "Well excuse me for not making it my life's mission to please an obnoxious Yankee."
I stuck out my tongue. "You suck at this. Don't you have a girlfriend?"
"Not anymore," he said through gritted teeth. "We broke up. She decided to have a bit of fun with a Slytherin."
"Ew!" I shouted a bit too loud.
"Oi, Toto, shut up!" He whispered. Toto had become my pet name for the team. Watch one of them buy me a black dog costume for Christmas…oh please, no.
"Oi, Scarecrow, not gonna happen!" I replied.
"Did you ever think about how we don't even have enough people on the team to take up the parts of the entire main cast of the Wizard of Oz?" I stared at him, confused.
"When do you have time to think about that? Are you really that bored, Grant?" I yanked on his hair.
He glared at me. "Do you mind?" He asked. "But I do have time, actually – in Divination. I hate it."
"Then drop it," I said simply.
"No, I get great marks. I hate it because it's too easy for me!" He rolled his eyes. "Damn the Ravenclaw brilliance."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Try solving three horrible mysteries that you don't know what to do with. Then tell me how you feel," I sighed. I hadn't gotten any closer to my answers. I was dying to find out, but I just didn't know what to do.
Grant patted my head. "Hey, ask for help once in a while, okay? You've got a bunch of metaphorical older brothers that love you, Toto."
"Where'd that come from?" Such a sudden burst of wisdom…I shouldn't underestimate him.
He shrugged. "No clue. But my mom always told me to ask for help when I need it, so maybe that's where it comes from."
I nodded. "Me," I said, "the species fascinated me."
"You're so weird," Grant muttered.
"Hey, you chose to be friends with me. So, you're either equally weird or you have no life."
He stared at me. "And this proves it."
Ignoring his comment, I added, "I'll go with option number two."
"Yeah, thanks," he rolled his eyes.
"I'm hungry," I nodded, pulling at his ear again.
"For the third time, ow. And why is that my problem?" He glared at me, but I knew he was fighting off a grin.
"Come and get food with me," I whined. He knew that I didn't like to feel lonely. In fact, most Ravenclaws knew that.
"I'm not hungry," he said. He swung his leg over, knocking me backwards. But he caught me. He's so annoying!
I pouted. "So what do you expect me to do?" I attempted to pull on his lip, but he leaned back.
"Why don't you go bother…um…" he scanned the room. No one interesting seemed to be around. I knew that Mandy had been dragged to Heaven-knows-where by Danny for family bonding. Lisa was also after some family time, too. Her older sister was in Gryffindor. Andrea was a sixth-year. I met her only a few times, but she seemed to be really kind. She actually acted more like a boy than a girl, what with preferring to be called Andy, getting into fist fights with Slytherins, and hating to dress up. But she radiated bravery and would support anyone who deserved it.
But that kind of gave me an idea: bother Harry! Or Cedric. Or the three weenies in the corner. But, honestly, Harry sounded like much more fun.
"Toto? Earth to Toto!" Grant snapped his fingers in front of my face. I crossed and uncrossed my eyes.
"Yes, Scarecrow?" I asked.
"Aren't you friends with Goldstein? I think he's crying over there." I looked in Anthony's general direction. True, tears fell from his eyes, but he laughed as well. Michael and Terry sat with him, eating an unknown object, which I hoped was food. If they were such idiots, how were they in Ravenclaw?
I nodded. "I am, but I try not to associate with them when they're acting like…that." I sighed and leaned my head against Grant's chest. He patted my head, sighing.
"Get up," he said.
"What?" I stared at him.
"Get up," he repeated with a grin. "I wanna go harass some first years!"
I sighed. "You already are, Grant. What am I?"
"Difficult," he said bluntly. Yes, that's true; I could be difficult.
"Fine," I muttered. I got off of him and slid onto the floor. I stood, not wanting to see what Grant would do to the boys. I left the common room and wandered the hallway. I wanted to find someone to keep myself entertained. Maybe I'd make a new friend or something.
I eventually found myself at the library. I decided to go in and look around for something to occupy myself. I didn't see anyone of interest at first glance, just a few Hufflepuffs at a table. Passing them by, I let my fingers graze the leather bounding of the books. I ended up near the back, dangerously close to the restricted section, but not quite in it. One of my nails caught on a slight tear in the binding of one book. The gray leather was shiny, almost like silver. Black lettering was etched into the side: A Year in Hell. I figured that is was some form of horror book, like The Stand or something, so I pulled it out.
Well, I was wrong.
The book was actually a collection of memoirs, those of a Hogwarts student. Better yet, she was a Ravenclaw. I was interested in her story – I had to read it. I opened to the contents. One chapter struck me: My Soul Died at Seventeen. I flipped to the page and read a little bit. Her name was Lucinda, and she came from a wealthy family. Her father passed on when she was young, and her mother seemed to be a dark witch of sorts.
I skipped around a little, stopping at one paragraph.
I'm sorry mummy. I didn't mean to fall in love with Tom Riddle. He called himself a "lord" – Lord Voldemort. He seemed so kind. I didn't know that he would – or could – hurt me. I'll have to drop out of school now. I can't finish like this. I simply cannot do it. I'm pregnant and out of wedlock! That is a sin! What will the other girls think of me? I'm in Ravenclaw, so I'm supposed to be intelligent enough to avoid these situations. What happened to me? Why was I so stupid? But it was Tom! He was a beautiful man who could get me to do anything for him, but when I didn't give him daddy's amulet, he broke out in a fit of rage. He told me that he could kill me, and he even drew his wand. But, instead, he violated me. He took away all of my innocence, and I can never get it back now. Oh, I know what I will do. I will raise this daughter I've been given. I will help her live a pleasant life, and her children after that. I will. I will. This little girl is my gift, all mine. She will not know her father. He will not touch her. I swear on my honour. And I think I'll call her Morgan.
I stopped. Morgan was her daughter's name, and her child's father was Tom Riddle. Then…could that mean…Morgan Riddle, my mother, was a child of rape?
I felt sick suddenly. What kind of man would hurt a little girl like that? Who is this Tom Riddle – my grandfather? The word didn't seem to fit him. Grandfathers are loving gentlemen, not mindless perverts who impregnate teenage girls. I reread the sentence: "I think I'll call her Morgan." Morgan Riddle became Morgan Evans when she married Richard Evans. And then, she had a baby – me, Holly Evans. Everything fit. But that horrible person, that Tom person! He was an ugly, sick man, and I hope he is long dead, or at least imprisoned. That would be best. I longed to find answers on this man. I needed it.
And so, the plot thickens.
I left the book in its dark corner, never wanting to see it again. But, if it gave me answers, I may have to return to it. And I would, if need be, but not now. I needed to find out about this Tom Riddle. But where could I look? Who was around to ask?
Maybe I should wait for Potions, hm?
So I sat in class, waiting for a prime opportunity to ask Professor Snape about my grandfather. I had no idea why, but he just seemed to appear to know what I wanted.
He eventually asked, rather rudely, if anyone had a question. My hand shot up. He looked to have mentally sighed before saying, "What is it, Miss Evans?"
"Who's Tom Riddle?" I asked with a pleasant smile. I received odd looks from some other students in the class, probably because Tom had nothing to do with Potions.
Professor's jaw tightened. "Miss Evans, you realize that this had absolutely nothing to do with the subject at hand, correct?"
"Well, yes, but –"
"Then I suggest you do not ask me of such a thing," he snarled. I didn't back away, however.
"But he's my grandfather," I countered, rising from my seat. The looks from my classmates go even stranger, especially from the Hufflepuffs.
"I care very little about who your family is, Miss Evans. Now sit down," he growled. His tone seemed extremely vicious this time, so I decided to drop the subject. I sat slowly, mumbling to myself.
"And ten points from Ravenclaw for disorderly conduct," he said smugly. I sighed, and stayed silent for the remainder of class.
When the bell finally got around to ringing, I left as quickly as possible.
A Hufflepuff grabbed my arm, and I turned to him. "Evans," he said in a hushed voice. I hated it when people referred to me by my last name. "Evans, you really don't know who Tom Riddle is?" He looked frantic. His eyes darted around the hall.
"Well, no," I shrugged. "I also don't know who you are."
He grinned sheepishly. "I'm Ernie Macmillan. Anyway, how can you not know?" He looked at me like I was an idiot.
I paused. "Because I was raised by Muggles," I said.
"Well, there's that. But do you really want to know?" He pressed further.
I rolled my eyes and nodded. Of course I wanted to know. Why would I be talking to you if I didn't?
"He's…well…he's You-Know-Who," he whispered. I narrowed my eyes.
"You mean Lord Volde –"
"Don't say it!" He said. "Don't say his name! But, yes, that's who I mean."
I looked away, blinking a few times. My grandfather is a lord of evil magic. That explains a lot.
I looked back at him. "Don't you dare let this get out, Macmillan. If it does, I'll have my personal band of Quidditch players hunt you down. And I'm sure you know what the Ravenclaw team looks like. They could easily hurt you, even without magic."
"But people need to know about this because it's dangerous!" he tried.
"No!" I said sternly, as if scolding a dog. "I don't want people to judge me based on my ass of a grandfather. I am Holly Evans, not 'The Granddaughter of the Dark Lord'."
Ernie nodded slowly. "You have a point," he said quietly.
"Then this is our secret. I trust you with this, Ernie," I smiled a little and offered my hand to him.
He took it firmly. "Okay. I won't tell. Not unless you say it's okay."
"Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you. It means a lot. I think…I think this'll be okay."