By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
—William Shakespeare, Macbeth
Chapter Five
As September passed into October, the friendship of Holly, Lavender, and Parvati became as strong as steel. You would rarely see any of them without the others, and it seemed as though they had always been friends. The three girls excelled at their studies, though they left time for other things too. Holly and Lavender were especially gifted at Transfiguration, while Parvati could rattle off Charms theory by rote. All three girls enjoyed Herbology and Astronomy, and dreaded Defense, History, and Potions. Their lessons too were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics. In the evening, the girls always finished their homework as quickly as possible so they might have time for other things. Parvati continued to practice hair styling spells on Holly, while Lavender generally had a project she was working on. During October, the blonde was collecting flowers and pressing them into a little book. As for Holly, she had discovered the library and wizarding novels, and the exploits of the Perilous Potioneers kept her busy all that month. (It was a seven volume set).
Of course, enough time had started to pass by that Lavender began to feel homesick. It wasn't really a problem for Parvati, as she had her sister in school with her, but for Lavender it was pretty strong. She wrote long letters to her mother and grandmother, and Mrs. Brown (the younger), sent back answers just as lengthy, along with sweets for all three of them. Lavender's mother had her daughter's need to constantly have projects running, and she sent the girls little sachets she had made filled with good smelling things that they placed all over their dorm room. They filled the air with sweetness.
Hermione wasn't speaking to them. At first, none of the other three were fussed about it, but after a while, it did tend to grate on the nerves. The bushy-haired Gryffindor woke every morning and left without a word, and spent the rest of her time going to class and staying at the library until curfew, at which time she came back to the dorms and the cycle started again. Holly didn't really care what the bossy girl did with her time, but it did start to concern her when she saw that Hermione didn't really have any friends. At first, Holly had supposed that Hermione spent all her time in the library with the all the bossy little know-it-alls from other houses, and that they had formed a club or something. But when Holly had started going to the library herself to check out books, she had been startled to see Hermione off in a corner; always studying, always alone. Certainly Hermione's dedication to academics was helping her, she was second only to Holly in classes, but there was something about seeing Hermione sitting there, surrounded by books instead of people, that had struck Holly to the core. She looked so lonely.
Holly told all this to Lavender and Parvati one Friday in October during their free period. The two girls were playing Hopscotch in the courtyard while Parvati sat nearby on a bench watching them.
"Well, it's her own fault, isn't it?" Lavender asked rhetorically, throwing her token into the second square. She hopped forward. "All those times she could have been nice to people and tried being friendly-like, and instead she was bossy and pushy, and talking like a walking textbook."
Parvati didn't look so sure. "Maybe she isn't as bad as all that. Okay, we got off to a bad start, and she was insulting, and swotty, and overbearing, but…"
"Everybody should have friends," Holly finished, her hazel eyes looking bleak for a brief moment.
Parvati nodded. Holly suspected that she had long forgiven Hermione for her insult on the train. The Indian girl's temper seemed to flare when Parvati was angry, and then it ebbed, and slights were quickly forgotten.
"Even Neville has friends," Holly commented, and it was true. Neville had bonded with the other boys in his dorm after the flying incident, especially when he had been caught practicing flying on his own, having knicked a broom from Madam Hooch's cupboard. He lost twenty points for Gryffindor, but the other Gryffindor boys had been so in awe of him at that point that they now all got along fine. Neville seemed especially close to Ron Weasley.
"What are you suggesting, Holly?" Lavender asked, hopping back to the beginning square. "You want to crawl on your belly to make friends with her?"
Waving her hands in the air, Holly replied, "All I am saying is that if she apologizes and tries to be nice, then we meet her halfway, agreed?"
The other two girls consented with a nod.
"She never will," Lavender said, throwing her token towards the third square. It missed. "Hermione Granger would rather die than apologize."
On Halloween morning, the castle woke to the smell of pumpkin bread filling the hallways. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they had seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put them into pairs to practice. Holly was matched with Lavender, and soon the two of them had the feather flying all about.
"Oh, well done!" Professor Flitwick had cried, clapping. "Look everyone, see here! Miss Potter and Miss Brown have done it!"
Parvati and Padma quickly followed this success, and the four of them started trying to make their feathers crash in midair. It took practice to keep the feathers aloft, and Flitwick didn't seem to mind, as they were practicing. Hermione, on the other hand, shot them a glare, as if she thought levitation was important business and that they should take it more seriously. She was paired with Ron Weasley, and their feather sat on Ron's desk, as he repeatedly failed to make it levitate.
"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" Professor Flitwick said from atop his pile of books to those who still hadn't had success. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too—never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."
Holly saw Neville and Seamus set their feather alight out of the corner of her eye, and grinned.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron Weasley shouted from nearby, drawing Holly's attention.
"You're saying it wrong," Hermione snapped at him, shooting a withering glower at Holly. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."
"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snapped back.
Hermione rolled up her sleeves, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.
Ron glared at her, pillowing his head on his arms and rolling his eyes.
As class was ending, Professor Flitwick called Holly up to the front. She waved Lavender and Parvati off, and went to see what the diminutive teacher wanted. "Well, Miss Potter," he squeaked, balancing on his books. "You've been here for two months now, how do you like our establishment?"
"I like it fine, Professor," Holly assured him.
"But you find the coursework a little easy," he guessed.
"A little," Holly admitted, "but that's really just the practical side. The theory is still new and challenging for me."
"Yes, Professor McGonagall suspected as much. She said she thought you found spell casting natural."
Holly nodded.
"I am not surprised," Flitwick told her. "Your father was much like you are. And don't think that we haven't noticed the fact that instead of being disruptive, you help your classmates learn. Your father," he said dryly, "was not quite so diligent."
Sniggering, Holly grinned at him. "And here I thought I was just like my mother."
"Oh, no," Flitwick said, shaking his head. "You look like her, of course, with your father's eyes, but you do seem to have more of his personality than hers, despite what some may think. Well, anyway, the reason I asked to you stay after was because I would like to invite you to join the Charms club after Christmas break, if you are interested."
"I thought that the clubs were only open to second years and above," Holly commented, tilting her head to the side.
"That's true," Flitwick agreed genially, "but exceptions are made. Your mother was another such exception. The club meets once a week—I am the moderator—and it really is just a hodgepodge. Sometimes we have a guest speaker, and other times we go over certain rare charms, and I display them to the club. Even more times we practice charms that are not taught here at Hogwarts as they are considered 'superfluous' to a scholastic education." Here the professor winked at her. "I know a great charm for creating fireworks, but you won't find that anywhere on the curriculum."
"It sounds great," Holly said honestly, excited to have something new to do with her time.
"Excellent," Professor Flitwick said. "And you are, of course, welcome to bring Miss Brown and Miss Patil with you. Both off to excellent beginnings in Charms."
"Thanks, Professor," Holly said, getting properly excited now.
"No problem, Miss Potter. Happy Halloween."
Holly beamed at him before rushing from the classroom, and skipping along the corridor outside. She had to find her friends immediately, but first she ran downstairs and ducked into the girls' bathroom. Before she could even think about going to the toilet, she heard the sound of sobs coming from one of the stalls. Holly groaned. There was a ghost that haunted one of the girls' loos, as she and Lavender had discovered in their first month at Hogwarts. Her name was Moaning Myrtle, and she sobbed constantly, which could be very distracting when trying to use the facilities. Since then, Holly had been very careful to avoid that location. She had specifically used this bathroom because it was supposed to be the one where Moaning Myrtle wasn't.
Pushing open the door to one of the cubicles, Holly began, "Look Myrtle, you can't have every loo—"
It wasn't Myrtle. Sitting on the closed toilet seat was Hermione Granger, sobbing into her hands. Holly looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, it's you," Hermione said, turning her face away. "Go on then, now you've seen it. I'm crying like a whiny little baby—you and your mates should have a real good laugh."
"You don't know me at all if you think that I'd laugh over someone crying when I don't know the reason," Holly told her, crossing her arms. "What happened?"
"What do you care?" Hermione said, her reddened face looking cross. "You're the great Holly Potter. You can do no wrong! Everyone loves you, and everyone sings your praises. It's not fair! The one thing I had, the one thing that I could do better than anyone else—and you just took it from me. You don't even try," she wailed. "I spend hours upon hours studying, and you are just flouncing about with your friends, and then you swan into class and amaze everybody. And then you just tell your mates the secret; I can't compete with that!"
"Secret, what secret?" Holly asked, incredulously. "It's school, not code-breaking, and it's not a competition. This is Britain, not France. Of course, I want my friends to do well. You are welcome to take my tips too, but you never do. You insist on doing it your own way, and that is not my fault."
"I read all about you before coming here," Hermione said, as if Holly hadn't even spoken. "I wanted to meet you so badly. I thought—I thought that Hogwarts, the magical world, it would be a place where I was supposed to belong. I thought that if I was clever enough, or quick enough, that you could—but I was wrong. The teachers all love you, and there is nothing left for me. You have everything!"
That was when Holly got properly angry. "Are you mad, or just an insensitive cow? How can you say that to me, today of all days? Do you know what Halloween means to me?"
Hermione looked surprised by Holly's venom, but answered, "It was the day you became famous—"
"FAMOUS FOR LOSING MY PARENTS!" Holly screamed at her. Her face contorted, and all the anger and all her hurt she had been storing up just spilled out. Holly wanted to punch Hermione, she wanted to slap her, but most of all—she wanted her chest to stop hurting. Holly rubbed at the scar over her heart. She took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. When she finally looked at Hermione again, the other girl looked stricken, but the redhead felt no sympathy. Hermione Granger had made her bed, it was time for her to lie in it.
Holly told her, as calmly as possible, "Look, I get that you feel like I stole your thunder, or something. The teachers like me because I come to class ready to learn, not to have them confirm my cleverness by showing them how many facts I can regurgitate from the textbook. Sorry, but I didn't ask to be good at magic, or to be an orphan, for that matter. My parents were murdered, and I became famous for something I don't remember. And it wasn't a story out of some textbook that you can read all about—it was my life. I lost my parents, and my home, and I can never get either back. The story of how I defeated Lord Voldemort is not a fairytale, Hermione, it's a tragedy. And yet the first thing you ever said to me was how fascinating you found my parents' deaths."
Holly then turned, and stormed from the bathroom, slamming the door as she left. She could hear Hermione weeping from inside, but she didn't care anymore. Breaking into a run, she jogged out of the front doors, and down to Greenhouse One, just making it in time for Herbology. Lavender raised an eyebrow at Holly's dark expression, but Holly shook her head.
She told them later, of course. Holly whispered it to Lavender and Parvati over lunch, careful not to be overheard. Parvati had just clucked her tongue and called it a shame, but Lavender had wrapped an arm around Holly's shoulders and volunteered to go hex Hermione if Holly wanted. The redhead declined, eager to just forget all about it. She told her friends about the Charms club, instead.
That night, when the three Gryffindors entered the Great Hall, the Halloween decorations were like nothing they had ever seen. A thousand live bats fluttered around the ceiling and walls, zigzagging through the floating pumpkins and candles. Naked skeletons danced the mambo on the dais before the head table, and bullfrogs hopped around the tables singing a chorus. The food appeared suddenly, as it had during the Welcoming Feast, and they all dug in with enthusiasm.
Holly was just helping herself to seconds when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban crooked. He looked terrified, and everyone watched him as he ran up to Professor Dumbledore's chair, leaned against the table, and cried, "Troll—in the dungeons—thought you ought to know."
He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.
Everyone began to panic immediately. Screams were echoing off the walls, and it took several firecrackers from Professor Dumbledore's wand to silence them. "Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Prefects," he called out, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately! Slytherin and Hufflepuff, you remain here."
Percy, Ron's older brother, was in his element. "Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"
Holly dashed out of the line without really thinking about it. She rushed after Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, who were hurriedly leaving the hall. "Professors!" she called. "Wait!"
The pair of them turned. "Miss Potter," Professor McGonagall snapped, looking flustered. "I insist that you return to your year mates immediately."
"No, Professor, you don't understand," Holly said, jumping in. "Hermione Granger doesn't know about the troll. She is in the ground floor bathroom by herself."
"Is this true?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
Holly nodded.
"It's true, Professor," Lavender said, causing Holly to turn with surprise to see her and Parvati standing just behind. Holly hadn't even known that they followed her.
"She's been in there all day since Charms," Parvati said. "She even missed classes."
Professor McGonagall nodded sharply to Dumbledore. "Very well," he said gravely. "Now, I insist you three return to your House, and stick together."
"Yes, sir," they all said at once, turning around and leaving. They joined the thronging students on the stairs, walking with some fourth years back up to Gryffindor tower. The common room was packed and noisy when they arrived, and a huge selection of food had been set up against the far wall. The three girls quickly got plates and joined the queue. For the next half an hour, every time the portrait opened, all three looked up as one to see if it was Hermione. Eventually, it was. McGonagall led her in, and the bushy haired girl didn't even look in their direction before going up to the first year dorm room.
McGonagall came over to where they were sitting. "It was a good thing you did," she told them. "We found the troll headed for the bathroom door when we arrived. She would have been hurt grievously if you hadn't informed us of where Miss Granger was." The Transfiguration professor's voice softened here. "It is always a special pleasure to see the students showing such camaraderie. Five points each for House loyalty."
The professor left then, and Holly, Lavender, and Parvati all looked at each other silently. The food didn't taste as good as it had before, and Holly's scar was aching.
She was convinced it was with guilt.
November came with cold that seemed to sink into their very bones. The mountains that surrounded the school turned icy grey, and the lake heavy with frost. Every morning, the students woke to the sight of the moisture on the grass having frozen overnight, and it was a miserable thing to have to leave the school for Herbology. This put a slight damper on Lavender's love for the subject.
One source of interest for the school was the Quidditch season, which was set to begin on Saturday. The Gryffindors would be playing the Slytherins, but their odds at winning were not looking good. As the game grew closer, Holly quickly learned the names of all the players on their side, as it was all anyone was talking about. The team was captained by Oliver Wood, who played Keeper. The three Chasers were Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and second year Katie Bell. The Beaters were Fred and George Weasley, and the Seeker was second year Cormac McLaggen, brother to Morgaine McLaggen, the prefect. Apparently McLaggen was a fair flyer, but there were rumors already of conflict in the team. The Slytherins, on the other hand, had been playing together for years, and were rumored to be very good.
The day before the Quidditch match, Lavender, Parvati, and Holly were outside in the courtyard, playing Double Dutch with Padma, Lisa Turpin, and Mandy Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw. It was Holly's turn, and she was standing next to Mandy, watching the rope go round and round, waiting for her opening to jump in. She saw it then, and there—
Holly jumped in, and quickly got the rhythm of the ropes.
"Ready, Holly?" Parvati called out from her position at the other end, where she was turning the ropes.
"Ready!" Holly called, jumping easily.
All the girls began chanting, at once then: "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around."
Holly turned.
"Teddy bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground."
Holly touched it.
They continued on like this, Holly acting out the actions of the chant. They drew quite an audience of students, some of whom were looking like they had never seen skipping rope before. Lavender certainly hadn't, though she had picked it up easily once the other girls had shown her how. Mandy was a half-blood and Lisa was a Muggle-born, so they both knew it well. Parvati and Padma had been a bit of a surprise to Holly, but apparently their parents were very involved in their Muggle neighborhood in Birmingham. The knowledge had made Holly smirk to herself at what Pansy Parkinson would do if she knew.
"Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say your prayers."
Holly clapped her hands high above her head.
"Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn out the lights."
Holly closed her eyes, and continued jumping. The crowd was really getting into it now, they were clapping along and hooting, calling Holly's name.
"Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say goodnight!"
Without opening her eyes, Holly jumped out of the rope, and that got her loudest cheer yet people started calling for her and chanting, "Potter! Potter! Potter!" Holly was getting ready to jump back in when a snarling voice, immediately silenced the crowd.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Parvati and Mandy immediately stopped turning the rope, and Holly turned around to see Professor Snape standing there, glaring at the crowd.
"We're jumping rope, Professor," Holly told him, looking at him in confusion. There was certainly nothing about not being able to use Muggle things in the school rules, and Holly didn't think they were bothering anyone by jumping rope during their break. She had been thrilled when Parvati's mum had sent the ropes at breakfast five days before.
Snape's face eased a bit when he looked at Holly. Some student in the crowd, yelled out, "You should see Potter go!" And then, just like that, the softness was gone and cold fury was in his eyes once more.
"No skipping rope during break," Snape said. "Give it to me, now." He took the ropes from the girls and limped away, favoring one of his legs.
The crowd dispersed after that, and Lavender came up beside Holly. "He just made that rule up," Holly said, glaring after Snape's departing back. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"
"I don't care, but I hope it really hurts," Lavender said, crossing her arms.
Holly wrapped her arm around Lavender's shoulders, knowing she couldn't ask for a more loyal friend. Turning, Holly saw Hermione Granger standing in the doorway to the entrance hall, but when the other Gryffindor met her eyes, she looked away and walked back inside.
That night, Holly was sitting with Parvati and Lavender in the common room, listening to Parvati go on about how much she loathed Professor Snape. "And if it wasn't enough that he ruins potions for us—I should love potions, my mum is great at them!—but now he takes my things and makes up stupid rules that don't mean anything."
Holly loved Parvati, but she couldn't take another minute of her complaining. "Right," she said, standing up. "I'll just go see if I can get it back for you, shall I?"
She made her way down to the staffroom, thinking that if there was a good time to ask for the ropes back, it was probably when there were other teachers present. Holly knocked on the door, and no one answered. After trying it again, the door swung open on her second knock and she gasped in horror.
Filch and Snape were alone inside, and Snape was holding up his robes above his knees with one hand. One of his legs looked as though it was half-eaten, and Filch was inspecting it as he handed Snape bandages.
"Blasted thing," Snape said. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"
Holly must have made a sound, for the eyes of both men immediately shot to the doorway. Snape looked thunderous, as if he was about to start screaming, but then he looked at Holly's face, her eyes wide in her head, and stopped. He dropped his robes, and waved Filch away.
"What are you doing in here, Holly?"
"I just wanted to get the skipping rope back, Professor. We won't do it again during breaks if it distresses you," Holly told him, her heart pounding in fear. It made her be extra polite. "Are you hurt, sir?"
"Nothing for you to be concerned about," Snape said brusquely. He held out the rope, which he had plucked off the table near him. "Here, girl—take it."
Holly tentatively came into the staffroom and took the rope from him. "Thank you, sir."
He nodded, looking at her, but not quite meeting her eyes. It looked as though he was staring at the spot on her forehead directly between them. Holly left the room before Snape could change his mind, all but running back to Gryffindor tower. When she arrived, she found that her friends had already gone up to bed.
After handing the rope to Parvati, Holly told them what she had seen.
"The three-headed dog, it serves him right," Parvati said. "I hope he goes up there again and the dog eats him."
"But why would he want to go there again?" Lavender asked.
"Honestly, don't you three remember anything?" Hermione said, standing in the doorway with her books in her arms. "The dog is guarding something. Something Dumbledore is trying to keep safe."
"And Snape is trying to steal it," Parvati concluded, nodding.
"He's a teacher," Hermione said, exasperated. "I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try to steal something."
"It's Snape," Lavender said, as if it explained everything.
Holly was looked at Hermione with some curiosity. "I thought you weren't talking to us."
"Yeah," Lavender put in. "Don't stop now; it's doing us such good."
Hermione dumped her books on her bed and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
"Nice one," Parvati said sarcastically to Lavender.
The next morning came quick enough, and with it arrived a feeling of excitement that spread over the school. The Great Hall was filled with delicious food, and every one ate their fill before heading down to the pitch. By eleven o'clock, the stands were filled with spectators. The Gryffindor section was decked out in gold and scarlet, and Holly and her friends were cheering like mad, wearing their lion pennants and waving their banners. Dean had painted Lions For the Cup on one of the sheets from the first year boys dormitory, and under the words was a roaring lion he had drawn. Even Hermione had contributed, performing a tricky little charm that made the paint change colors. Holly looked for her, but the bushy-haired girl was not sitting in the Gryffindor stands. Holly's gaze wandered over to the teacher's box, and she saw Phin sitting beside Professor Sprout. When Holly caught his eye, she gave him a great wave, which he happily returned.
By the time all the players had left their locker rooms, and onto the pitch, the enthusiasm of the crowd had grown to a dull roar. The Gryffindors watched as the players all mounted their brooms, and then Madam Hooch gave the whistle—
And they were off. The players raced around the pitch, all the while the commentator gave a colorful commentary from the box which seemed to get Professor McGonagall more and more upset as time went on. It made the girls giggle, but there was truth to what Lee Jordan was saying: the Slytherins did play dirty. Holly didn't even know the rules all that well, but foul after foul seemed to happen in the match.
One particularly bad one happened when the captain of the Slytherin team rammed into Cormac McLaggen, sending him into a tailspin. The second year Gryffindor still looked a little shaky when he regained control of his broom.
Dean Thomas was yelling behind them, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"
"What are you talking about, Dean?" Ron Weasley, who was sitting next to him, asked.
"Red card!" Dean replied. "In football you get shown the red card and you're out of the game!"
"But this isn't football, Dean," Ron reminded him.
The commentator, Lee Jordan, was also finding it hard not to take sides. "So—after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating—"
"Jordan!" snapped Professor McGonagall.
"I mean, after that open and revolting foul—"
"Jordan, I'm warning you—"
Holly began snickering, clutching at her stomach. The roar and cheering of the crowd was getting louder now. The Bludgers were flying all over the place, and then suddenly, the snitch was seen. It was as if the crowd let out a collective gasp, as Terrence Higgs and Cormac McLaggen raced from opposite ends of the pitch to see who caught it first. No one was looking at anything other than them, so perhaps fittingly, that was when it happened.
George Weasley smacked a Bludger straight at Terrence Higgs, but the Slytherin Seeker rolled in time, the Bludger missing him narrowly. The black ball was heading straight for the Gryffindors, but unlike normal, it didn't turn when it got too close to the stands. Instead, it slammed into the student section. A collective scream went up from the crowd, and the Bludger rammed through the middle of them, breaking through the back of the wooden seats. Luckily, everyone was able to dive out of the way, though Neville was giving a low moan from where he fell atop Ron. But then, the Bludger came around for another pass, and this time, it didn't just head for the Gryffindors, but also directly for Holly.
She jumped out of the way, and the Bludger crushed where she had been sitting anyway, sending up a spray of wood chips and splinters. The screams of the crowd were getting louder now, and people were scrambling over each other to get out of the way of the rouge Bludger. It lifted off again, going higher and higher in to the sky. The Gryffindors began to relax, thinking that was the end of it. Lavender looked over to where Holly was pressed up against the corner of the box, her back to the pitch and smiled at her. The redhead was about to return that smile, but then, she saw it.
The Bludger came around for one final pass. It zoomed over the top of the crowd, directly at her, catching Holly in her midriff and knocking her clear from the box and out into the empty air.
At that moment, Terrence Higgs caught the Snitch and the whistle blew.
The game was over.