Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
All for one
There was a weight on my abdomen; keeping me pinned down to a dirt floor that contained a mixture of many different scents. But I couldn't decipher them at the moment. It was too much. Everything was too much. "Jessie, Jessie, Jessie", a voice tsked from on top of me; the weight as I had mentioned before. With his arm raised above his head, he grasped a knife with both hands. The metal of the blade glistened above. "You're getting exactly what you asked for", the weight declared.
"Please", I tried to beg, my eyes almost went cross as they tried to keep track of the knife above me.
As if my pleading was the trigger, his face twists into a malevolent scowl with jubilation flashing in his eyes. The knife plunges down. Once, twice, maybe more. I feel it inserting itself in different places. My chest. My stomach. Breathing becomes a labored affair and the sounds of gurgling fill the empty space.
"Your fault! Your fault!" The man claims. It was getting harder and harder to focus; cloudy circles make my field of vision smaller and smaller. Phone… where's my phone? The man climbed off me and disappeared from sight. Maybe there was still time. If I had… my phone…get help. There was shouting in the background now. More than just my attacker. Who's here?
Red hair. Red blood. Red hair. Red blood. I was seeing both as things started to fade. But why?... Why?
Gasping for breath I shot straight up; eyes straining in the dark to make out any potential dangers that could be hiding. On the other side of the room, Ginny mumbled something in her sleep as she rolled over; reminding me of a very important fact. Holly. I'm Holly. Not Jessie. Jessie lives… or will live in America. I'm Holly and I live in the UK. Forcing myself to take deep breaths, I followed my normal nightmare ritual and allowed my hands to run over my chest and abdomen. No pain. No blood.
I waited. Not for very long, but long enough for my heart to stop racing before I climbed out of my bed. Of all the nights to have a murder dream, it had to be on the night before we returned to school. Tiptoeing to not disturb Ginny, I made my way out of our room; starting on the familiar trek up to Fred and George's. It was so familiar that it felt like I blinked and bam! Here I am in front of their door. It opens without a sound and I let myself in. First is Fred's bed. He's lying flat on his stomach with his hands and feet dangling off both sides. Skipping his bed, I head for George's because George likes to sleep on his side. I make quick work of slipping under his quilt.
His eyes crack open the moment I lay my head on his pillow. "I'm still unhappy with you", I told him in a whisper. "And I know you're still mad at me, but-"
George cut me off by throwing an arm over my middle and pulling me closer. "Good night, Holls", he mumbled. And that… was that.
Except, as George fell back asleep, I found that I was unable to. Why are my brothers better human beings than I am? Seriously! I excluded them from a trip into muggle London; then I got mad at them for following. The walk we took from Merriweather's Books back to Diagon Alley had been a terse one. With Adrian and Ginny walking in front so us triplets could chew each other out. The topics of trust and being a united force came up a lot. If I trusted them, I would have told them what Adrian and I were up to. If they trusted me, they wouldn't have stalked Adrian and me. And damn it all! We were triplets. We were supposed to do everything together. At least that part we agreed on. However, our differences were too much to be resolved on the trip back to Diagon Alley. It didn't help that Ginny was with us either. Because that meant we couldn't talk about Horcruxes, Jessie's memories, and the arduous task of preventing Fred's death. Which was kind of Fred and George's intention for bringing Ginny along in the first place. They knew with her there, Adrian and I couldn't discuss things freely with them. Like me working with Adrian instead of them to prevent the war, because Fred wanted us to take a step back. It made me question if their offer to watch Ginny for Mum was a fluke that worked out at the moment or if they suspect I was up to something before we even set foot in Diagon Alley. Knowing them, it was probably the second option.
But it kind of backfired, because bringing Ginny meant we stayed mad at each other longer than normal. Hell, we're still at odds. And yet, tonight, when I woke up scared of being in my own skin; George accepted me in his personal space with no annoyance or hurt feelings.
As sleep started to call and I found comfort under George's arm, I pondered about his good nature. Drifting off, my last thought was 'I hope I'd have done the same if he came to me'.
It only felt like five minutes had passed when I woke up to Mum knocking on the door. "Rise and shine you two. Breakfast is on the table".
George groaned as Fred answered her, "Wake us up last".
I didn't have to see to know Mum had her hands on her hips. "You're old enough to get yourselves up, Fred Weasley". I doubt she knew it was Fred who had answered her. But it was a fifty-fifty chance. So, the odds were in her favor. "Your sisters got up without needing a wake-up call. Ginny was already awake when I checked on them, and Holly wasn't even in her bed".
The mention of my name had me opening my eyes. Since we were lying face to face, the action had me making eye contact with George. A wicked grin took over his usual early morning groggy expression. "That's because Holly slept in here last night".
I narrowed my eyes at him, annoyed as Mum flung open the door. It slammed against the wall making the whole room rattle. "Holly Weasley!" Mum started.
Rolling over to face the doorway, I saw the amused face of Fred and the irate form of my mother. "Morning Mum", I said even though I knew the greeting wouldn't change anything.
"How many times must we have this conversation?" Mum demanded to know. "You are too old to be sharing a room with your brothers. Let alone a bed!"
Sitting up with George doing the same behind me, I leaned into him so I lazily didn't have to support my own weight. On the neighboring bed, Fred adjusted himself so he could lean against the headboard and enjoy the show. Mum had been going easy on me all summer. If I was late in finishing my chores, just a small warning. If I slipped up at the table and used a bad word, only a reprimand. If I helped George and Fred replace the contents of Percy's sock drawer with chocolate pudding, I got sentenced to cleaning the kitchen when the boys had to work outside. I had Lockhart to thank for the special treatment. As if Mum was afraid I was too damaged to handle the normal consequences. But this… this might be the end of such treatment. And honestly, it's about bloody time.
"How long do you think you can keep this up?" It was the same argument whenever Mum tried to break me of this habit. It's inappropriate. You're too old. What will you do in the future when you all have your own homes? But this time around, Mum had some new ammunition to work with. "What do you think Adrian would say if he knew about you climbing into bed with your brothers whenever you got scared?"
Yawning, I answered casually as if we were sitting down to Sunday brunch. "Oh, he already knows". Mum's forehead wrinkled in the middle at my news. It motivated me to continue even though the smart thing would have been to let her lecture me without interrupting. "He's embarrassed about it on my behalf so I don't have to be", I said despite knowing that's not how second-hand embarrassment works.
Mum didn't know how to respond to that judging by the quirk on her lips. But she wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet. "And what about Fred and George?" She tried, waving a hand in Fred's direction for emphasis. "How do you think they feel about you invading their privacy every other night?"
"Oh, we don't mind", Fred jumped in before I could answer.
"We hardly ever notice she's there", added George.
"Except when her feet are cold", Fred added even though Mum would be happier if they both had remained spectators.
Mum closed her eyes. In my imagination, she was taking a moment to beg Merlin for patience. She sighed before opening her eyes again; having decided to take a different approach. "What will you do when you're both married?" She asked, directing the question solely at Fred and George. "What do you think your wives would think?"
Fred and George shrugged at the same time; a clue that they weren't about to give a serious thought. Of course, I doubt either of them could give the question serious thought. Neither of us was in a stage of our lives where we were even thinking about future spouses. "They'll make room", said George.
Then, as if he realized how creepy that sounded, Fred tacked on, "Or we could get dog beds. Put them in corners of our rooms". Mum was staring at Fred with her mouth open and her eyes looking slightly concerned. "Add a blanket and pillow. Holly could sleep there".
I should be horrified with the suggestion, but knowing this was just for Mum's sake I played along. "Dog beds?", I questioned. "Why bother? I'd be content with a spot on the floor as long as there isn't a draft".
George hummed as if he agreed. "Very reasonable", he commented. "And if you think about it, it really wouldn't be all that different from… oh, I don't know. From hosting a family camping trip".
Having caught on to what we were doing, Mum removed her hands from her hips. "You three are lucky you're off to school today, or I'd have you scrubbing every floor in this house", she threatened as she pointed a finger at each of us in turn. Backing out of Fred and George's room, we heard her muttering to herself, "They'll be the ones to put me into an early grave". Mum closed the door as she left. But not before yelling at us, "And don't go back to sleep! We have a train to catch".
We were late getting to platform nine and three quarters. It wasn't meant to be that way. We were right on time getting everyone fed and dressed with all the luggage packed into Dad's car. But then Percy's Head Boy badge suspiciously went missing and it took several minutes of searching through the whole house before we miraculously found it in Fred's pocket, of all places. Merlin only knows how it ended up there. Or why it now said big head boy instead of head boy. One can only speculate.
Needless to say, that unplanned detour led to us scrambling onto the train when it was already packed with students. Finding an empty compartment was near impossible; leaving all of us Weasleys to wander the aisle; looking for a home for the duration of the trip. Well, almost all of us Weasleys. Percy, being a very important person, had somewhere to be. So, with a very cordial 'see you later' to Ron and Ginny and an excellent rendition of the stink eye to us triplets, Percy ditched us for greener pastures. Otherwise known as the prefects' car.
Ginny was the next to go as she was pulled into a compartment by Hestia and Flora, having saved Ginny a seat. This particular compartment was filled with the second-year Slytherins, and as the compartment door slid shut behind our little sister, we heard someone sympathizing with her. Claiming how dreadful it must have been to be stuck with so many Gryffindors during the summer months.
Ron, the lucky bastard, was next. We actually walked right past the compartment his friends were in. And if it wasn't for Hermione sticking her head out and calling for him to join her and Harry, Ron would still be with us as we looked for someplace to sit. And here presents one of the problems of being triplets. Or rather, being a set of triplets that prefer to stay together. There was no compartment with enough available seats to fit all three of us.
Eventually, we found where Lee was sitting. And he was happy to see us; waving excitedly as we peaked our heads into the compartment to see if there was enough room for all of us. Lee is who we usually share a compartment with. Problem was that this time around, we were so late that Alicia, Katie, and Angelina had ended up claiming seats in the same compartment as Lee. "We're trying to avoid Wood, you see", Katie said apologetically; as we eyed the two free seats a bit unhappily. "He wrote Angelina over the holidays about his time at a quidditch camp this summer and all of the brilliant new plays he has come up with and… well, we want to put off that discussion as long as possible". I can't say I blame her.
"And since Lee isn't on the team", Alicia continued. "We know Wood won't want to share any new tactics with him in the compartment". Perfectly understandable. I'd avoid Wood too if I was on the Quidditch team.
"Not to worry", Fred said gallantly to his female teammates, before he looked over his shoulder at me. "Um…" he started. "What do you think, Holly? Do you think you can squeeze in?"
I judged the two available seats. They were next to each other since the girls had all decided to sit on the side across from Lee. So, it was possible for me to squeeze in. Especially since Fred, George, and I had no problem being up close and personal with each other. Take this morning for example. But, still… "Only if you're okay with me sitting on your lap for the whole trip". I directed my answer at both George and Fred because it didn't really matter which of them I ended up sitting on.
The girls understood the context in which I said that. But Lee decided to ignore it and chose to hear what he wanted. "You can sit on my lap", he offered; lowering his voice just a bit as he wiggled his eyebrows at me.
Immediately, my skin started to itch as I scowled at Lee. He really needed to find a girlfriend so he could stop flirting with anyone wearing a skirt. At least, there was some comradery with the girls being there, as I saw similar expressions of disgust on their faces. Alicia even took it further by saying, "gross". As if that one word summed up Lee's comment as a whole. And it kind of did.
Deciding the best course of action was to not encourage Lee any further, I kept my attention solely on Fred and George. "I think there's an empty spot in Ron's compartment". If Jessie's memory is still accurate in this regard, there should be an open seat with the golden trio. Maybe even more if Sirius was staying on as the defense professor. Meaning there was no reason for Lupin to be on the train this year. "I'll go try my luck with our little brother". Ron may not be happy with me joining him and his friends. But I know if I pouted and looked dejected enough, Ron would cave.
Fred nodded as George said, "I'll help you with your trunk". A nice consideration, since he knows I struggle with the overhead racks.
"And make Ronnikins help you pull it down when we get to Hogsmeade", Fred added as he was already pulling his and George's trunk into the compartment. Lee stood up to help with the process. But I think he was mostly offering his help so he could flex his muscles for the girls. Not that any of them would be impressed. After all, they shared a changing room with Wood. (I think. Does Hogwarts have separate changing rooms for the female and male quidditch players? They would have to, right?) Hell, if you really thought about it, the girls probably had more impressive muscles than Lee.
"Already planning on it", I assured him as I waved bye to the others. Alicia and Angelina promised we would catch up when we settled into our dorm for the night.
It felt weird walking away from Fred; knowing I wouldn't be sitting with him. We've always sat together on the train. And had never even questioned the possibility of us sitting apart. George walked behind me, pulling my trunk as we started back towards Ron's compartment. "I guess this is a good reason why we shouldn't mess with Percy before we have to be somewhere", I tried to joke.
"It was funny, though", George chuckled. "Did you see how red Percy's face got?"
I joined in. As always, humor proved to be infectious. "Ripe tomato red. I think that might be a new record". But then I sighed and adopted a slightly more serious tone. "I'm sorry".
"About what?" George asked, sounding a little surprised as we continued on our way.
"I was hoping we'd have time today to talk about what happened at Diagon Alley. I wanted to apologize or let you guys dye my hair again… Just something so we could go back to normal. And we haven't talked about what we're going to do with the diary this year. I know-"
"Holly" George cut me off before I could go on about any sort of agenda for this year. "You apologized last night. We're fine".
Last night? Last night couldn't count as an apology. I hadn't even said the word, 'sorry'. But if George was satisfied with that, I guess it works. It's no skin off my back. "But I still haven't said anything to Fred about the matter", I argued. "And the diary-"
"Is in Fred's trunk", George interrupted again. But it was with a piece of information I wanted, so I didn't mind. "Safely stuck in the trap we made last year for Dobby. Don't worry".
And I didn't worry. At least, for today. "Is Fred mad at me?" Because if anyone other than Fred knew the answer, it would be George.
"No", George answered, sounding awfully sure of himself. "It's just…" Whatever George was going to say, it became clear he didn't know how to express it because he quickly switched tactics. "Holly, if one of us, Fred, you, or me, had to die, who would you pick?"
The answer came fast like whizzing by on the interstate fast. "Me". It was the only answer that made sense as far as I was concerned. There was no Holly Weasley in the books. So, if a Weasley had to die, I was the best candidate. Besides, I had already died once before (that I know of), so it was like I was living on borrowed time anyway.
George didn't seem upset by my answer. Instead, he nodded as if that's what he suspected all along. "I'd choose myself too. And Fred would choose himself. But from his perspective, he's meant to die. And he doesn't think he could live with himself if one of us took his place".
I get that. I really do. But I had to argue. "Except that, I'm here with my sole purpose being to save Fred". We came to a stop in front of the compartment Ron was occupying with his friends. Turning around to face George, I saw that he was frowning at me.
"You're not disposable, Holls", He spoke quietly. I'm not sure why. Maybe to avoid being overheard or maybe because it was a difficult conversation we were having. "It would hurt just as bad if I lost you. It'd be the same as losing Fred would be".
George's sentiment hung heavily in the air; causing me to shift awkwardly on my feet. "All for one or none for all", I offered a sentiment of my own. Although, given the context, the consequences of that sentiment were shockingly horrible.
But George accepted it with a grateful smile. "Yeah", he agreed. "That's more our style, anyway".
I smiled at him in return before I turned around and flung open the compartment door. "Ronny, I'm home", I called out even though probably the only person who got that reference was Hermione.
My actions lead to five pairs of wide eyes staring at my grand entrance. Wait? Five pairs of eyes? Quickly, I scanned the compartment. On one side sat the golden trio with Harry in the middle looking absolutely squished. On the other side sat two adults; One Sirius Black, and the other an ill-looking man with scars running across his face. What was he doing here? I mean, if Sirius was here why was he here also? Were we going to have two defense teachers this year?
Ron recovered from the surprise while I was busy questioning the presence of Remus Lupin. He frowned at George and me as Harry and Hermione smiled at us in greeting. "No", Ron stated very adamantly.
"You haven't even heard what we want yet", I protested as George gently nudged me aside so he could start hauling my trunk into the compartment.
"I don't need to", Ron reasoned. "Whatever it is, just no".
But George wasn't having it. I wasn't either. We rarely ever conceded to Ron's opinions. We didn't have to. It was one of the benefits of having younger siblings. "Holly's going to ride with you", George explained; adding, "oh, hello", when he saw the two adults in the compartment. "Everywhere else is full and there isn't enough room for the three of us to sit together".
I could see the disagreement leaking out of Ron's pores. But he didn't get the chance to voice any of it. Not when Sirius stood up, claiming, "the more the merrier". Helping George with my trunk, the two of them made quick work of getting it onto the overhead rack.
As Sirius retook his seat, and George inched his way out of the compartment, I was able to pull my attention away from Lupin. As always, it was slightly discombobulating meeting someone in the flesh that I had considered to be fictional in my last life.
Before George left completely, he placed a hand on my shoulder and peered in the compartment at our little brother. "Ron, when we make it to Hogsmeade you better help Holly get her trunk down". Ron grumbled something unintelligible in response. But it was enough for George to say, "Ron" all drawled-out-like in mock warning. George removed his hand from my shoulder in favor of placing it on top of my head. I frowned; knowing that I was about to become the punchline of some joke. "We've already had this conversation", George continued. "Holly's too short to be left on her own".
Out of retaliation, I stomped on George's foot. Causing him to retract his hand in a hurry as he hopped on one foot. "Short people are quite capable, thank you very much", I said.
At the same time, George let out a loud, "bloody hell, woman", as he cradled his abused shoe-encased foot in both of his hands.
Sirius threw his head back and laughed as he nudged an amused-looking Lupin next to him. As if asking if he had witnessed the same thing. On the other side of the compartment, the only one who looked even slightly entertained by our antics was Harry; smiling happily. Hermione seemed undecided about how she should react. And considering her proprieties, I suppose that's appropriate. While Ron looked embarrassed to even know us, let alone related to us. Oh, my little brother. He's such a dear.
Finished with laughing, Sirius slid over as far as he could go and patted the middle seat between him and Lupin. "Have a seat", he offered me.
I accepted it with a small nod as I stepped into the compartment. It wasn't ideal; sitting between two adult men that I didn't know very well. But still better than spending the whole train ride on Fred and George's laps. Or even worse still, Lee's. As I squeezed into the tight space, I said to George, "Save me a seat in the great hall".
"Sure", he agreed as he slid the compartment shut. He really didn't have to say anything, And I really didn't have to ask. We always…. 99% of the time, ate meals together. And I doubt that will change anytime soon.
After George's departure, I looked around at my new travel companions. The silence was brief and a bit awkward with both Sirius and lupin trying to give me as much room as they possibly could. Vaguely, I wondered if they were thinking about all the trouble that had happened between me and Lockhart last year. And now that I'm thinking about it, I realized this probably wasn't the best place for me to be sitting… Oh, well. I'll just have to roll with it. On the other side, the golden trio was staring at me; as if waiting for something. The next thing that should happen, if we're thinking logically, is for someone to introduce Lupin to me. However, I got the impression the reason the golden trio was staring at me was because they were expecting me to do something. So, in order to break the silence, I said, "Does anyone want to hear about the time Ron was three and he ran around the house without any clothes on?"
Ron flushed scarlet; equally enraged and mortified. Although, he didn't turn as red as Hermione. A fact that was very telling. And again, I was struck by how much Ron had grown over the summer.