Chapter 6
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does.
Author's Note:
Chapter 6 here we go! I felt like this one came about quicker than I expected, then I looked and saw that it had been three months. Which is even worse considering this chapter was smaller in size than usual, but it felt right to have this and what I have planned for chapter 7 as two separate chapters.
A really big thank you for the sustained interest and support this story has gotten as I explore different writing techniques and play around a bit to see what styles best suit me and the tone of this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Hogwarts had lived up to most of Holly's expectations so far. She had handled a range of magical plant life in Herbology, seen a giant squid, and learnt to transfigure a matchstick into a sowing needle. The castle was vast and mysterious; its staircases moved, and the suits of armour that lined the corridors would wave at her and tilt their helmets when she walked past. Every corridor she had explored with Harry or Astoria had at least one portrait, and the food served in the Great Hall was better than anything she had ever tasted! The grounds were a bright green, just as she had dreamt, and the castle was warm and cheery.
And just as Holly had imagined, the dungeons of Hogwarts were a dark, dank, and miserable place not fit for human habitation. Holly disliked going to the dungeons, indeed, she would not have visited at all were it not for the Potions Master, Severus Snape, holding his lessons down there.
It was where Holly found herself some weeks after she had started school, stirring her potion of cure for hiccups with Astoria to her right as the Head of Slytherin stalked between the tables, peering into the cauldrons of terrified first years.
"Explain to me, Miss Langill," whispered Professor Snape, the professor looming over poor Felicity Langill's cauldron at the table next to Holly's, "why you are chopping your newt spleen?"
Felicity paled, and her bottom lip wobbled dangerously. "P-pr-professor I-"
"Are you so much of a dunderhead that you cannot read your textbook, which clearly instructs that the newt spleen has to be sliced when brewing the cure for hiccups?" Professor Snape snapped.
It was at that point that the remainder of Felicity's blood drained from her face, sporting a rather concerning resemblance to the Fat Friar after a run in with the Bloody Baron.
Holly was convinced that Felicity wished she was a corpse at that moment, if only to escape her current predicament. Holly was certainly feeling queasy simply standing in the blast radius. She had been fortunate that Snape had not once asked her a question, or even looked at her. Holly would have thought that Snape had no idea she was in the class if he hadn't haltingly taken the register in her first lesson. No, Snape's attentions had always been directed towards praising the Slytherins in his class and tormenting every Gryffindor apart from her.
Not once had Snape commented on her work, even though Holly knew she was a talented brewer. It was almost as though she was invisible.
"I-I got lost professor," stuttered Felicity fearfully. "My measurement of crushed thyme was wrong, and my potion turned teal instead of maroon, and I saw that Holly was chopping her spleen and copied her without looking at the book."
It was at that point that Snape finally turned and looked at Holly for the first time, staring at her for two long seconds before turning his gaze to her maroon potion bubbling merrily in front of her.
"Explain," demanded Snape through gritted teeth.
"My m-", croaked Holly, before clearing her throat. "My mum told me the ingredients for cure for hiccups interact more smoothly when you chop the spleen instead of slicing it." The first years in the classroom were as silent as the grave when Holly finished speaking.
Snape's onyx eyes rose to bore into her hazel ones for much longer than two seconds, and Holly withstood the urge to swallow the annoying lump that had formed in her throat. She had no idea if Snape would scream at her for her answer but was truthfully more relieved that she had managed to speak a full sentence.
"Next time," spoke Snape in a low but clear voice, "follow the textbook." He turned around abruptly and marched to his desk at the back of the classroom. Holly let loose a breath and turned to see Astoria looking at her in equal relief.
"Langill!" Snape barked suddenly. "Five points from Gryffindor for copying others instead of using your own initiative, non-existent though it appears to be!" Snape waved his wand and the contents of Felicity's potion vanished into nothingness. Snape then gestured to a grubby cauldron in a shadowy, unused corner of the classroom and conjured a cloth and bucket of soapy water. "You can spend the remainder of the lesson cleaning that cauldron so that it's in a state fit to be used, though I suspect even such a brainless task is beyond your capabilities."
Felicity ran over to the bucket and cauldron with tears in her eyes, while Holly and Astoria could only look at each other aghast, feeling a great deal of sympathy and, on Holly's part, guilt for Felicity's punishment.
The remainder of the lesson was spent in silence, as so many of Snape's lessons were, the professor not moving from his desk as he marked a series of papers from another lesson. The tension that had coiled around the classroom like a python remained until the first years had exited the dungeons and it was only then that the students took a collective sigh of relief.
"Poor Felicity," murmured Holly watching as her dormmate rushed ahead of the rest of the first years toward the Great Hall. "I know he's your head of house Tori, but Snape can be really horrible."
"Can be?" Astoria queried disbelievingly. "He is horrible. We're just lucky he ignores us because I'm in Slytherin, otherwise he would have had you scrubbing cauldrons right next to her!"
"Perhaps that would have been for the best," mused Holly. She was quite friendly with Felicity and her two other dormmates and did not want Felicity to feel resentful. "I'd hate for her to think I was responsible; I feel terrible for what happened."
"You'll be fine," snorted Astoria. "Your brother is the Boy Who Lived Holly, you're the most popular girl in our year. Felicity and everyone else want to be friends with you far too much for her to have a grudge over anything."
Holly shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure that's true," she said delicately. "We just have very friendly classmates."
Astoria looked at her disbelievingly as they walked into the Entrance Hall.
"If that were true, they wouldn't ignore me," she muttered sourly. Holly glanced sheepishly at Astoria and nudged her with a shoulder, eliciting a small smile from Astoria as they entered the Great Hall.
"I'll see you after dinner?" Holly asked tentatively. Being in different houses, there were only a few lessons that the two had together.
"Sure", nodded Astoria, hugging Holly before departing for the Slytherin table. Holly settled herself at the Gryffindor table, smiling half-heartedly at the jubilant chorus of greetings she received from her year mates and some second years already seated.
"Hi Holly!"
"Snape was horrible potions wasn't he Holly?"
"Holly your hair looks amazing today! Well even more amazing than its usual amazingness!"
Holly responded distractedly as she reached for a cheese and pickle sandwich and turned to Felicity, who was sitting gloomily next to her, eyes red-rimmed and not touching the food on her plate.
"How are you, Felicity?" Enquired Holly lowly, conscious that every student around them was leaning closer to catch her words. "I'm sorry for potions. Snape was out of line; he should never had done that to you."
Felicity shook her head hastily, her blonde pigtails swinging side to side. "It's not your fault Holly, I was the one who got the potion wrong, not you. You're brilliant at potions."
Holly tried to ignore Felicity's praise and the resolute nods from their classmates. "We should tell McGonagall; she'll set Snape right. Or write to your parents?"
"No, you can't do that!" Felicity exclaimed aghast. "Gryffindors don't run to teachers! And my parents would be so disappointed in me, for crying in front of Snape! All my brothers were in Gryffindor, and they never did anything as silly as this." Felicity whispered the last forlornly, looking back down at her lap.
"Well… I guess I could speak to Tori to see how the Slytherins handle Snape," mused Holly, munching pensively on her sandwich, not registering the uneasy quiet that had settled around the group.
"Umm, no thank you Holly," said Felicity oddly. "I'd really rather Astoria wasn't involved at all."
Before, the crowd of Gryffindor's arrayed around her had nodded along with every word she said, but now they effusively agreed with Felicity.
"Too right Felicity," agreed Robert Firwick resolutely, one of her classmates. "Best that we stay away from those Slytherins as much as we can." More nods.
Holly frowned. "Tori's my best friend," she replied cooly. This prompted a wave of explanations.
"I didn't-"
"Bobby didn't mean…"
"It's just-"
"…best that these things remain in house is all Holly."
"No need to complicate things by involving others."
"I see," replied Holly distastefully. She looked at Felicity again. "As long as you're ok Felicity?"
Felicity nodded and, after a rather uncomfortable silence, the rest of the group began conversing again.
Holly, however, was left eating her lunch in silence and ruminating on Astoria's words from earlier. Perhaps she was right, and the large number of friends she thought she had only gravitated to her because of Harry's reputation.
Which should have been ridiculous! Harry was the best big brother of all time, that was an undisputable fact, but he was hardly the mythical superhero everyone seemed to worship him for.
Regardless, she would have to do something nice for Astoria, just to demonstrate that she was still her best friend. Perhaps she could bake her some cupcakes. Holly and her mum often baked together, and it was a universal fact that cupcakes were the most wholesome baked treat a person could eat.
Perhaps a foray into the Hogwarts kitchens was in order. Holly was fairly certain students weren't allowed in the kitchens, but her inner marauder was making very valid points that cupcake baking justified the immorality of travelling out of bounds.
Of course, the main obstacle at this point was that Holly was not exactly certain where the kitchens were. She would have to recruit Harry, decided Holly. Her brother had developed an uncanny awareness of where everything in Hogwarts was located, despite only living in the castle for a short period of time.
It was almost like he had a map…
"I see you've moved on from the snake." A snide voice cut into her thoughts. A voice that Holly detested with a passion.
Arabella Westchester, with her two minions Vivian and Ester, had approached their table and were smirking mockingly down at Holly. Since their altercation on the train and subsequent punishment, Holly and Astoria had tried to avoid the newly sorted Ravenclaws, but the three, and Arabella specifically had taken it upon themselves to always deride the two when possible.
"I wonder when everyone else is going to move on from you," pondered Arabella aloud, a vicious look on her face. Despite her perfect teeth, Arabella's smile looked sharklike and, just like a shark, Arabella seemed to have sniffed out that Holly was not in the mood to fight back, like a Great White with blood in the water.
"Go away Arabella." Responded Holly, irked. She had a kitchen heist to strategize and a best friend to reassure. She had no time for Arabella's antics!
"Yeah, piss off Westchester. No one wants you here." Apparently, her crowd of 'friends' were effective for one thing, the rest of her housemates chiming in after Robert Fenwick's opening salvo to jeer at Arabella, who retreated with a sneer and an upturned nose, well and truly outnumbered.
"See Holly," chortled her dormmate Nicole Pickering on her left, "stick with us, we've got your back. You don't need anyone else."
Holly could only look across the Great Hall where Astoria was sat eating morosely by herself, isolated from her housemates, her curtain of midnight black hair shrouding her from the rest of the school.
It was an hour before curfew, rain pelting Harry as he nudged his Nimbus 2000 higher in the sky, in no particular rush to reach his desired height far above the quidditch stadium, despite the miserable weather. The grey clouds and biting winds proved a deterrent to most of the Hogwarts population from wanting to venture outside of the warm castle.
Which was just as well since students weren't technically allowed to fly their brooms outside of flying lessons with Madam Hooch and quidditch practice. Fortunately, Harry had proven adept at breaking the rules without getting caught, thanks to his invisibility cloak and the newly repossessed Marauders Map.
It had taken a few weeks to uncover and then master a spell that allowed him to locate specific items, but when he had, it was a simple matter of retrieving the map out of the seventh year Gryffindor dorms when Fred and George Weasley were at dinner. Harry supposed that upon hearing of the Weasley twin's reputation he should have known that they had the Map, but better late than never.
Since he'd retrieved it (and how his dad, Sirius and Remus had cheered when he informed them!), Harry had felt invincible traversing the castle armed with the map and cloak. He had snuck out after curfew half a dozen times, just because he could. He had gorged himself on desserts in the kitchens the first night and ultimately vomited all over himself before getting cleaned up by a contingent of ever cheerful house elves. Harry was planning a late-night raid of the restricted section of the library, though careful planning would be required for that escapade. Goodness knows what manner of enchantments Madam Pince had to protect those rarest of tomes, or what she would do to anyone who absconded with them from the confines of the library.
'That should do it,' thought Harry, peering down at the miniscule quidditch pitch beneath him, having long exceeded the height of the Astronomy Tower in the distance.
"And down we go," he breathed, tilting the tip of his broom downwards ever so slightly and letting the momentum pitch him forward until his torso was horizontal with the earth below and started plummeting down with a whoop.
He did want to try out for the Gryffindor quidditch team, but upon hearing from Ron that his sister Ginny was the team seeker Harry backed out, turning up only to cheer on Ron. He liked Ginny, she was funny and cool. Most importantly, he didn't want to usurp her position and have anyone say he was given a spot on the team because he was the Boy Who Lived. Besides, Ron had said that Ginny really wanted to be a chaser and was waiting for Angelina and Alicia to leave at the end of the year. Harry could always try out for the team next year.
Harry braced himself as he drew near the trimmed grass of the pitch, the wind thundering in his ears, gently pulling up before tugging ever more insistently to have the soles of his shoes kiss the top of the grass for a second before shooting up with a triumphant yell in a perfect arc.
"POTTER!"
Harry turned on his broom in a slight panic at the bellow, only calming slightly when he saw Angelina Johnson standing at the foot of the hoops, her mouth agape and strands of hair sticking wetly to her forehead as Harry flew over to her.
"Angelina." Harry nodded at her as he dismounted.
"I – you, straight down-," she stammered.
"Umm… yeah?"
"And is that your Nimbus 2000?"
"It is." Harry clarified. "My Godfather bought it for me when I was eleven. What exactly are you doing out here Angelina?" Unlike himself, Angelina did not have a broomstick with her.
Angelina seemed to compose herself and brought about a stern expression, though its intensity was lessened by the raindrops dampening her face and the memory of her gormless reaction moments earlier.
"I was checking the pitch before the game tomorrow. Harry, why on Earth did you not try out for the team?!" She asked incredulously.
"I was going to," said Harry, trying to placate the seventh year. "But the only space on the team was for a keeper, and I play as a seeker mostly."
"Then you should have tried out for the seeker position!"
"Yeah, but Ginny is the seeker."
"I don't care if she's the bloody Minister of Magic! You should have tried out!" Angelina gave a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's too late to put you into the team when we're playing Hufflepuff tomorrow, but you're training with the team on Sunday Harry. We'll see if you can catch the snitch as well as you can fly."
Harry stood there slightly dumbfounded. "But… what about Ginny?!"
"She has more years left at Hogwarts then you do Harry," answered Angelina flatly. "I mean to win the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor and have them winning it as much as possible when I leave, and you were born to play for this house. Ginny will understand."
"But-"
"No more buts!" She interjected. "Get on inside and do not let a professor see you've been flying without permission. The last thing we need is you getting our Nimbus confiscated."
"Our Nimbus?"
"Go on. In." Angelina chucked her thumb behind her with a firm look that had Harry nodding dumbly and trudging towards the castle while hearing the faint muttering of Angelina labelling him an idiot as he walked past her.
"And you definitely measured out 110 grams of butter Harry?"
"I definitely did." Harry assured Holly as his little sister finished whisking the cake mix. Holly eyed him suspiciously as she poured the gooey mixture into twelve segmented portions on their baking tray. She nodded in satisfaction when finished and slid the tray into the preheated oven.
Holly jumped up and perched next to Harry on the edge of one of the great tables in the Hogwarts kitchens, dozens of house elves scurrying around them, occasionally shooting concerned and confused looks at the two students who had chosen to bake themselves instead of asking the kitchen's residents for help.
"It still surprises me that Hogwarts has so many house elves," chortled Harry, watching the elves in question putter away, some humming merrily as they worked.
Holly hummed in agreement. "How did you find the kitchens anyway?" She asked. "I would never have thought to tickle the pear of all things."
"That is for me to know and for you to find out, little sis." Harry winked at Holly mischievously, chuckling as she grumbled under her breath.
"I have a question for you though," said Harry.
"I'm not answering it." Holly responded petulantly.
"As much as I love baking cupcakes with you," Harry continued undeterred, "just why did you want me to break into the kitchens with you to get some baking in?"
"They're for Astoria," answered Holly quietly.
"Oh yeah, is it her birthday or something?" Harry asked.
"Don't be silly Harry, cupcakes are not birthday cakes. Her birthday isn't until April, but… I want her to know that she's my best friend." Holly sat there scratching the back of her left hand under her brother's inquisitive gaze.
"Was that ever in doubt?"
Holly shrugged non-committedly. Harry reached around Holly and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, Holly resting her head against his shoulder. They sat there in silence for a few moments before Holly began to speak.
"Have you struggled to make friends here? I mean real friends like what dad has with Remus and Sirius and not just people who hang around you because your famous?"
"A little bit," admitted Harry. "It was tough at first, and I avoid Justin Finch-Fletchley like the plague, but I have Ron and Hermione, and the boys in my dorm. Though the latter can get a bit… enthusiastic sometimes in agreeing with me."
"Are you friends with anyone outside your house though? In Slytherin? Like I'm friends with Astoria?"
"… yes. There is someone, not like your friendship with Astoria, but still, they're someone I like a lot."
Holly was quiet again for another while. "All my friends in Gryffindor don't think I should be friends with Astoria. But I don't even know if they are my friends, Astoria says everyone acts nice to me because you're the Boy Who Lived."
"That's not a nice thing for her to say." Harry frowned.
"She didn't mean it like that." Holly clarified hastily. "But I don't know if she's right and if she is I still have to dorm with my housemates for seven more years. I don't want to annoy them. But Astoria is also my best friend; she doesn't have any other friends and I don't want her to think I'm abandoning her."
"Hence the cupcakes," observed Harry.
"Hence the cupcakes," confirmed Holly. "It's – I just… everything is so confusing! What do I do?"
"How should I know?" Harry asked bemusedly. Holly looked at him with no small sense of disappointment.
"I knew I should have asked mum," complained Holly.
"Why didn't you?" Harry asked, genuinely intrigued. His mother and sister shared a special relationship, being the only two girls in an otherwise male group of family and friends.
"I don't want her or dad to think I'm not enjoying Hogwarts-"
"You're not enjoying Hogwarts?!"
"No, I am! But – argh, you don't understand!"
"I think I do," insisted Harry. He opened his mouth but was cut off by the ping of the oven timer, resulting in Holly rushing to extricate her precious cupcakes from the heat of the oven. The two busied themselves adding butterscotch icing to each of the cakes.
"I don't think you necessarily need to do anything Holly," advised Harry. Seeing Holly about to interrupt he spoke quickly. "Astoria is your best friend, keep doing things like this for her," gesturing to the cupcakes, "and spend as much time with her as you like. It's not like you won't see our housemates in the common room every evening. If they make a fuss, be clear that Astoria is your best friend. It's better to have one true friend then a dozen false friends in my opinion. Keep being kind to people, you shouldn't have to change to meet other people's expectations. Merlin knows I try not to."
Holly focused on tidying her work surface, much to the consternation of nearby house elves.
"Did any of that make any sense?" Harry asked a little bit despairingly.
"I'm… not sure."
"Fantastic," muttered Harry.
"I understood bits of it, if that helps," offered Holly.
"Oh yeah, because everyone loves bits," said Harry sarcastically.
"Shut up," retorted Holly. "You have helped, you big idiot. Here's a thank you cupcake." She picked up one with pink icing and deposited it in Harry's hand.
"How very generous," smiled Harry, helping himself to one on the end. "You should have one as well, otherwise you'll have odd numbers."
"It only makes sense," agreed Holly, nodding sagely, before ruining her façade by bursting into giggles.
"That was a good game of quidditch yesterday," said Holly, not entirely reassured about her friendship woes but feeling calm and relaxed with Harry next to her.
"Mhm," hummed Harry. "Much too close for my liking, we're lucky our chasers played as well as they did to make up for Diggory catching the snitch. Though Ginny did a good job blocking him most of the game."
"Ginny's awesome," declared Holly. "I saw her hex a boy a couple weeks ago and made bats fly out of his nostrils. It was so cool."
"That sounds unpleasant, but yes, awesome."
"Can you get me some fizzing whizzbees when you're in Hogsmeade next week? I want to break them down and experiment with baking a honeycomb flavoured cake in the future."
"The future?" Harry looked at her quizzically.
"Well yeah." Holly looked at him matter of fact. "I know how to get into the kitchens now after all."
Harry frowned. "There can be a lot of Slytherins at this part of the castle sometimes, I'm not comfortable with you coming down here by yourself."
"Try and stop me. You can't keep an eye on me all the time Harry," rebutted Holly victoriously.
"I could always obliviate you?" Harry suggested with a humourless smile.
"Don't you bloody dare!" Holly responded heatedly. "Memory charms are not funny!"
"Ok fine. Just make sure you bring a friend with you if you do. Maybe I should ask Daphne to keep an eye when her housemates normally come this way so that we know times for you to avoid." Harry's words tapered off; his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
Holly looked at him curiously. "Daphne? Astoria's sister?"
Harry slowly turned his head in Holly's direction, appearing noticeably uneasy.
"Yes…"
Holly's mouth opened and closed multiple times, as though not knowing which question, she wanted to ask first.
"Is this the Slytherin who you and I quote, 'like a lot'?"
"That – we… I mean – that's a very leading question!" Harry stumbled over his words and Holly, who rarely got to see her brother so flustered, was delighted and giggled ecstatically.
"Stop that," ordered Harry, but Holly was not deterred.
"Are you going to ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you?!"
Harry spluttered a bit more. "That is none of your business."
"I'm your sister, of course your love life is my business. I have to review any potential sister-in-law."
"Your reasoning is so incredibly flawed I don't even know where to begin dissecting it."
Holly laughed some more, not bothered in the slightest and extremely content, a juxtaposition to Harry, who looked as though he had never regretted anything as much as he did when he agreed to help Holly bake cupcakes that morning.
"Why Daphne though?" Holly asked.
"What?" Harry uttered, completely lost, fed up, and ready to leave his sister's company.
"I'm sure she's great," said Holly, "after all she has the same genes as Astoria. But she's not as wicked as Ginny or as awesome as Hermione. So why her?"
"Daphne is perfectly nice, thank you very much," said Harry. "I'm not discussing this with you."
"Wow," said Holly slowly. "She's 'perfectly nice' is she? You really know how to compliment a girl don't you? That's really going to get her heart racing. You should make sure you tell Daphne how 'perfectly nice' you think she is when you ask her out to Hogsmeade."
"Holly…" warned Harry in a dangerous tone. "I swear to Merlin I will obliviate you."
"I can't actually imagine you on a date of all things. With an actual girl. It seems as improbable as Madam Pince at a book burning."
"Right, we're done here." Harry declared, standing up to exit out of the kitchens. Holly only giggled even harder in response.
"Keep on laughing Holly. Good luck getting a hold of those fizzing whizzbees next weekend."
Holly's laughter died off abruptly and she began gathering her remaining cupcakes.
"Wait, Harry – let's not make any hasty decisions…" Holly jumped up and sped after Harry as speedily as she could with her arms full of cupcakes.
This was an odd chapter to write for me. Most of it was written in three of four very productive bursts with substantial gaps between each bit, which is not my usual process. As a result, I am not certain how this chapter reads, and it is the one that I am least confident in at the point of release.
We got to see more of Holly in this chapter, which I was hope was enjoyable, but then on the other hand no Daphne in this chapter. And my current plans for chapter 7 have no Daphne either. Which is not very good for a Haphne story in hindsight. Let's hope that when this story is finished the overwhelming Haphne fluff makes up for this brief void.
My recommendation this time is for an ongoing Haphne story I am really enjoying called Snakes, Cats, and Ladders by ch4. An incredible story that provides a brilliant and intriguing take on the trope and Harry Potter more broadly, so definitely check it out.
Please do let me know your thoughts on this chapter, it really is appreciated and helpful to see what everyone thinks. See you all next time!
