The various London suburbs flying past the window were a stark contrast to the rolling green highlands of Scotland. Holly had left Hogwarts mere hours ago and was already missing it dearly.

The train was practically empty except for her and a handful of others she didn't know. As such, she had a compartment all to herself. It would have been boring if Holly hadn't started working on her homework… which was also boring, she knew all this stuff already.

So, after getting annoyed with the essay about the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane and their use cases (hadn't she heard that question before?), she had started working on runes. Specifically, using runes on parchment as a kind of one time spell.

If she could set things on fire with a piece of parchment and ink, then it was a logical conclusion that you could also do other things with it. Like for example a one time shield to block spells when she got hexed in the corridors the next time.

Holly had made several prototypes with various different runes, but it was about finding the right balance as to not need too much magic. Or she'd set herself on fire, again. Uncle Vernon still held a grudge over the black spot in the ceiling.

Brought out of her thoughts by a soft knock on the compartment door, Holly quickly stuffed the small piece of parchment she'd been working on into her breast pocket.

"Yes?" It was the food cart lady.

"Oh, no need to hide your love letter," the lady smiled at her.

"What? This isn-" she started only to be interrupted by a loud sigh.

"To be young and in love, haaah, I envy you!"

"Excuse me, but-"

"Now, what can I get'cha sweetie? I still have some heart shaped chocolates left over from valentines, I'm sure."

Before the lunch lady could turn to her cart and search for expired chocolate, Holly quickly pulled the napkin package of food she'd smuggled from breakfast out of her pocket.

"I'm good already, thanks!" She practically shouted.

"Oh," the lady's mood visibly plummeted. "But good luck with your confession, toodeloo!" Only to instantly brighten again and depart, whistling a catchy tune.

Magic people were barmy.


When Holly disembarked from the train she was glad to have borrowed one of Lavender's smaller bags. As much as she didn't get needing so many pieces of luggage, it was immensely useful.

Holly was the only student heading towards the muggle exit, everyone else probably leaving by floo with their parents. But no one would be there to pick her up. Standing in the throng of people in the always busy King's Cross, Holly did feel a little lonely.

The Dursleys were spending the day in the city, Dudley had wanted to see something in the cinema and Holly would join them for the trip back after. Though thankfully, that also left her enough time to visit a library or bookshop for a chess strategy guide.

A short bus ride later, she got off at Leicester square, not too far from several book stores or the London library. Before leaving to look for a bookstore, she spent a couple minutes watching some entertainers on the square. One of them was doing magic tricks, funnily enough.

Her shopping trip was over quickly, the first bigger store she entered had an entire shelf about chess. After getting a recommendation from an older gentleman browsing the same shelf, Holly picked out a guide with simple illustrations, paid and left.

After a pleasant walk, she was standing in Hyde park, where she would get picked up later. Holly had chosen this place because she remembered the park had a chess area where seniors liked to play throughout the day.

She wasn't disappointed, there were at least 4 games ongoing. So she plopped down on a bench next to the big chess set to read her book and maybe observe the games being played.

Engrossed in learning chess, Holly barely noticed the passage of time. The sky turning different shades of red, more and more people leaving the park and the temperature slowly going down.

"There you are, Holly," a familiar voice sounded out in the distance. "Hurry up now, we've been waiting for ages."

"Aunt Petunia!"

With all the excitement and mystery in Hogwarts, Holly hadn't realised how much she'd missed her aunt, until this moment. The tacky dress, high heels and stoic, sharp facial features were the balm to her aching heart.

Holly rushed over to her aunt, embracing her tightly.

"I missed you, aunt Petunia," she mumbled into her aunt's side. She didn't care how awkward it was, that her aunt didn't return the hug and just patted her on the head a little.

"Enough with the sentimentalities," her aunt pleaded. "The traffic is terrible today and it's getting late already."

Breaking the hug, Holly wordlessly followed her aunt, who was stiffly walking towards the street. Just as they were about to get into the car, Petunia pulled a little shopping bag out of the passenger seat and shoved it at her, then quietly sat in the car.

"Hullo, Dudley. Uncle Vernon," she greeted.

Her uncle just grunted grumpily. Dudley was busy with some handheld gaming device and didn't answer her at all.

The small shopping bag revealed a miniature travel chess set. Cheap and entirely made of plastic, but it was enough. She'd onlyentio ed her interest in a single letter after all, and Petunia still remembered. Tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, Holly quietly thanked her aunt.

She didn't get an answer.

"Hey, why did Holly get a present and I didn't?!" The outraged scream of Dudley shook the car. "I deserve one after having to watch that stupid children's film!"

"We can share, but I didn't take you for someone interested in chess, Dudley," she grinned at him.

"What is chess?"

And Holly couldn't hold in the laughter.


"Ugh, you remind me of that stupid Peter Pants guy," Dudley exclaimed when Holly showed off her boots to him the next day. She was just barely hovering over the grass, as to not alert the neighbours.

"Who, from the film you watched? But isn't flying super awesome?"

"Not nearly as cool as a killer robot though," he whined. "Even dad agreed with me, but mum wouldn't let me watch that one."

Dudley was practically sulking, but there was nothing she could do to cheer him up. He'd get over it eventually. By Easter he would probably have forgotten, being stuffed with chocolate instead.

By the third day Holly was bored out of her mind. There was nothing much to do besides homework and chores. When she actually got to spend her free time outside, skating with her muggle skates, it felt weird without her friends there.

Relief came shortly before Easter, when Petunia started preparing for the festivities. Holly got to help decorate around the house and garden and together with Dudley they were supposed to paint the eggs.

He painted a whole three eggs by dunking them in paint before leaving with the complaint that it was unfair his eggs looked worse than hers. After he was gone, she started painting hers just pink with hearts and hid his. It wouldn't teach him a lesson, but it'd be funny when he got all 'girly' ones later.

On Easter Sunday Holly was thankfully not forced to attend church, she simply had to cook the huge breakfast brunch. It was a pleasant pastime after not being able to cook in months. As similar as potions were, it wasn't the same relaxing experience. All in all, Easter was a mostly quiet affair at the Dursleys, Holly couldn't wait to see how Hogwarts would look next year when she would hopefully be there for the festivities.

The longer the expected letter from Mrs Flamel was delayed, the more tense Holly became. To get her mind off of things, she decided to spend the day visiting her parents.

The nurses weren't expecting her, it being the middle of spring, but were happy to see her regardless. The same couldn't be said for her parents. She didn't know if they were ever happy about anything. Nothing much had changed since she'd last been there. They just… existed. A small plain hospital room their whole world.

She talked about school, her teachers and classes, the friends she'd made, the 'enemies', a good amount about her runes. And finally how she wished her parents were still there, able to pick her up from the train, write her letters, worrying about how often she got hurt. She even speculated in what kind of trouble her father must have gotten into himself, with the invisibility cloak she had inherited.

It happened when she was long done and just playing chess against herself, a soft knock on the door. An elderly witch entered, dressed in dumbledore-esque garish green robes. Most notable was the big witches hat adorned by a stuffed bird.

"Good afternoon, Miss Potter I assume?"

"Just Holly is fine, Mrs?" Holly replied.

"Augusta then as well, I have enough stuffy formalities in my day to day." Augusta smiled and took a seat across from her.

"How did you know my parents, you're not exactly the same age?" Holly inquired.

"I didn't, really. But my son was acquainted with your father," Augusta told her in a wistful tone.

Holly was confused, "why are you visiting him then, if you barely knew him?"

"Sometimes, sometimes I just need the reminder that under different circumstances, with a little less luck, my son would be lying in your father's bed and not his grave. A reminder that it could have been worse, and I'm sorry that you've had to deal with this all on your own."

Her words were like a punch to the gut. So Augusta was only here to feel better about herself, but still.

"I'm sorry about your son," Holly barely managed to choke out, tears dripping onto her pants already. "How did it happen?"

"War," and nothing more needed to be said about that. "But enough with the sad matters, why don't we play a little," Augusta gestured at the game of chess.

Holly nodded silently and tried wiping the tears away, but it was futile. So she just let them flow and reset the board. If Augusta had a problem with a cheap muggle chess set, she didn't show it. This would be Holly's first game against an actual person.

After Holly had calmed down enough, they started making idle chit-chat while playing. Mostly school related since it was an easy topic. Holly had a little hang up when Augusta asked her what she thought of the boys in her year, what was up with old ladies asking about a 12 year olds dating life?

So she was entirely honest, the ones she knew were mean or bullies like Longbottomor Malfoy, and the rest she barely interacted with. Augusta frowned at her, probably disappointed that Holly had no juicy gossip to share.

They were finishing their fourth game when Holly noticed the sun starting to set. She hadn't won a single game without the help of her strategy guide, and even when using it, it was still really close. But she was confident that with a little more practice she could beat the chess set in the corridor. With the help of the book of course.

It's getting late and I'm expected at home," Holly said while packing up her things. "Thank you for spending the afternoon with me, Augusta!"

"It was my pleasure, Holly. It really was the least I could do." Augusta smiled at her.

As Holly closed the door behind her, after saying her goodbye, she felt invigorated and ready to take on any challenge the world would throw at her. Death might have been a more merciful fate, but her parents being alive also gave her the hope of a future where they were healthy again.

And Holly would work her hardest to see that it would happen.


The expected challenges didn't come though. After returning to Hogwarts on the Sunday before classes resumed, nothing changed. Classes were the same old slog of too much homework, the Professors repeating the same core principles again and again, and falling asleep to Binns' droning voice.

At least Hedwig had had a grand time at Hogwarts during the holiday, apparently Professor McGonagall had transfigured a bunch of rabbits to be hunted by the students' owls. Not to mention Lavender and Parvati had started spoiling her as well since Hedwig was the only pet owl in their dorm.

It took over a week for Holly to have enough free time to finally go play with Fang. Approaching Hagrid's hut, she was a little concerned that all the windows were shuttered, or the curtains drawn closed. It was still early afternoon.

"Hagrid, are you in there? I want to take Fang for a walk," she shouted through the door. She could hear shuffling and some weird animal sounds that decidedly weren't from Fang.

"That' you, Holly? Roun' back, roun' back," Hagrid's gruff voice answered her after a while.

When Holly entered through the back door, having to squeeze in because Hagrid didn't want to open the door further, she was instantly concerned. Hagrid looked haggard, with deep bags under his eyes and his hair even more dishevelled than usual. If that was even possible.

"Tea?" He offered after he had led her through his pantry and into the living room. It was even messier than usual.

"Ehr, yes please. But are you alright Hagrid, you look a little… tired." It was the only thing she could say without sounding mean.

"Jus' fine, Holly. Heard you went back to your folks for Easter. Shame you missed the decorations."

Just as he went to pour the tea, a shadow jumped at her with a loud hiss. Thankfully Hagrid grabbed it out of the air before it could reach Holly, only he had to drop the kettle in the process, spilling its contents on the floor.

Holly gaped at the baby dragon Hagrid was wrangling in his arms.

"Hagrid, how did you get a dragon? But more importantly, can I pet her?" Holly was so excited, a dragon, a CUTE BABY DRAGON. Right here in front of her, ready to be pet.

"Holly, meet Norbert. Isn' he jus' the best?" Hagrid cooed at Norbert. "Bu' how'd you get the idea he's a girl?"

"Just a feeling." Holly really didn't know. "But females are also a lot more vicious," she added while pointing at Norbert who was constantly trying to snap at Hagrid's fingers, or take flight in her direction.

"He's just' playin', promise!" He didn't look like he believed himself.

Norbert loudly complained about her treatment, hissing desperate ~ cha cha ~ sounds at Holly. She'd always expected dragons to roar, but maybe that came with growing.

Not deterred by the unruly dragon, Holly approached, reached out her hand and miraculously Norbert calmed down, happily leaning into Holly's touch.

"You're a natural, Holly!" Hagrid praised, slapping his big hand onto his thigh.

And Holly couldn't be happier. The warm dragon scales under her fingers, the thorny spikes on Norbert's back, the pleased dragon hisses, it all spread a warm feeling throughout her body.

Hagrid, after cleaning up the first mess, prepared some more tea while Holly petted Norbert. They chatted a lot about dragons, both being enthusiasts. But Holly couldn't stay for long.

"I wish I could stay longer, Hagrid, but I have more homework and I promised Fang a walk. Where is he?"

"Oh, he's sleepin' outside, he and Norbert got in a tizzy." Hagrid scratched at his cheek, embarrassed. "Have a fun walk, I 'preciate it!"

When Holly left, all hell broke loose behind her. Norbert, not wanting to see her go, started dragon rampaging in Hagrid's hut and spitting wisps of fire angrily. Hopefully the hut wouldn't burn down.


"Did you hear? Ron was bitten by some creature and is in the hospital wing now," Hannah 'whispered'.

Holly was only half listening to the conversation happening around her during History of Magic. Now that it was close to the exams, people actually started attending again. Didn't change that they wouldn't listen to the lecture and instead just gossiped or napped. Though Holly couldn't blame them either, it was their last class this Friday.

"I didn't, how bad is it? Lavender responded, after gasping just for the effect. A miracle that she hadn't been the first to know to be honest.

"His hand is swollen to thrice, no quadruple the usual size I tell you!"

"Serves him right," Holly interjected, without looking up from her work. He probably mistreated whatever bit him like he did his rat.

Parvati slapped her on the shoulder, " she doesn't mean that. But how did…." And she stopped listening. Gossip wasn't for her. Maybe she should ask her aunt to teach her something about gossip… Or not.

Dinner that day was a much quieter affair without Malfoy and Weasley getting into an argument. Longbottom and Hermione did seem to be plotting something though, whispering over the table and constantly looking over their shoulders.

As it turned out, Holly was right. After acting suspicious all day the next day, Hermione never came back to their dorms in time for curfew. That at least gave her the opportunity to work on her runes without getting inquisitive looks from Hermione.

Lavender and Parvati were long asleep when she heard a quiet voice grunting with effort. It was high pitched and decidedly female.

Curious, Holly scanned the room carefully. Nothing seemed out of place, sleeping roommates, open window for fresh air, small package hovering behind her bedpost… she smirked.

Holly turned back to her desk, pretending to have found nothing. After a couple of seconds, out of the corner of her eye, she could see the package hover over and onto her pillow. It was suspended into the air by a tiny pink light that flitted away when the parcel touched fabric.

This had to be from Mrs Flamel. Who else would have a fairy deliver their post. Said fairy was hiding behind the bedpost again, peeking around it and observing Holly.

She couldn't let a chance like this slip, so picked up the package and then enthusiastically crouched down by the bedpost to whisper a "thank you".

Apparently that hadn't been what the fairy expected at all. She squeaked and threw pink dust in Holly's face, then disappeared in a little flash. The fairy hadn't aimed very well, the dust barely reached her sleeve. That certainly could have gone better.

"Hmm, strawberry," Holly absentmindedly tasted the dust while she unpacked. The small parcel held a letter and a velvet pouch.

Miss Potter,

I'm terribly sorry for the delay.

This should never have involved you, but if you can find the stone, use this pouch to hide its trace.

Contained within is also a decoy to replace the real one in its hiding place.

I am counting on you.

Stay safe and good luck.

Yours,

Perenelle Flamel

Holly was going to secure the stone for Mrs Flamel.

Tonight!