"Aw, come on Holly," Lavender whined. "You could at least help us with the summer homework."

"But then you won't learn anything, and it's not my fault you two have been slacking off all summer," She shot back with a grin.

"Ugh fine, see you later then. Don't get lost in the woods again!"

"That never happened! I'll be back by dinner!"

Parvati and Lavender laughed as Holly left through the front door. It had been almost a week now since she had arrived at the Hideaway. After their encounter with the nymph they had made it their mission to find more magical creatures in the forest.

They hadn't been very successful to be honest, even all the way up on this hill, Lavender lived too close to civilization still. It was rare to encounter any magical creatures. Especially nowadays, since most of them were taken to ministry controlled habitats to uphold the Statute of Secrecy easier.

Still, Lavender was convinced they'd found a so-called briar toad a couple of days ago, though hadn't been able to confirm before it hopped away. On the other hand it was undeniable that they'd seen some bowtruckles in the forest, little stick men that lived in magical trees. Which also meant there should be a tree somewhere on this hill that could be harvested for wand wood, a very rare sight, usually reserved for wandmakers.

That was Holly's goal for the day. It wasn't as interesting as trying new spells and playing around with known ones like they did in the evenings, but she'd been too frustrated with the disarming charm just producing puffs of smoke to continue.

At least something had happened though. Any other new spell she was still stuck on figuring out how to guide her magic through the blockage in her arms. It had been a nice surprise that it had only taken her a week to figure out the path for the disarming charm.

Holly took the trail down to the nymph pond, to start her search from there. To no one's surprise, it remained empty, so she continued on following the creek, pushing past shrubs and foliage.

In all her time here, she'd never been alone in the forest. But now that she actually was alone, Holly noticed a lot more small critters than usual. Mostly insects, but also rodents like mice and squirrels. Not to mention quite a lot of birds were cheerfully singing in the area.

Were they really that loud to always scare the wildlife off when they walked as a group or was Holly just that quiet? No that couldn't bei-!

*crack*

"Whoa! Ouch!"

Too deep in her thoughts, Holly almost took a tumble into the creek that was now deeper and wider. She'd gotten her hair caught in a shrub, but thankfully managed to balance herself in time and only fall in the muddy part of the bank and not the water itself.

*snap*

Sitting in the mud and looking down at herself Holly grimaced, she would have to ask Mrs. Brown later to scourgify her clothes. Though she did try and clean her gloves off of the mud in the water. Wearing wet gloves felt much less disgusting than wet and muddy ones.

*snap*

Holly used her hand like a comb to try and get the annoying twig constantly snapping out of her hair.

*crack*

And found nothing but leaves…

*snap*

She almost wouldn't have spotted them up in a tree, if one of them hadn't been keeled over 'laughing' at her misfortune with its cracking sounds. Two little stick figures with bark for skin, leaves for hair and thin twigs for hands and fingers were perched on a branch of the tree closest to Holly.

While the first one's amusement at her misfortune stung, the other was somehow worse. It was eating beetles like popcorn while watching her struggle in the mud. Where did it keep getting all those beetles from?

Fighting the slippery soil to get back on her feet, Holly looked up at them and shouted:

"You two think that was terribly funny, huh?!"

*crack* *crack* *snap*

The sounds of both their laughter was her answer, along with eager nods.

"Well, then I'll show you something even funnier!" Holly hollered at them and took a confident step in the mud.

The bowtruckles had leaned forward in anticipation of her falling again, but were clearly dumbfounded when she didn't slip in the mud this time. Instead, Holly got closer and closer to their tree without so much as a slip up. Only possible thanks to her awesome boots walking on a thin sheet of air above the mud.

When Holly took a leap and came to a stop right in front of them, in mid air, their expressions turned to shock and fear. They scrambled up from their seats on the big branch and began to flee back towards the tree.

"Hey wait, I didn't mean to scare you!"

But they were already gone from her sight. Holly tried to follow them in the air, but the foliage was too thick to push through. So instead, Holly took to the sky and tried to spot them from above, without success.

At first she thought she'd spotted them, but it was just the treetops rustling in the wind and not the bowtruckles moving along the branches. At least the view down the slope of the hill was pretty.

To the west, the rolling green countryside unfolded beneath her, a patchwork of emerald fields divided by hedgerows and dotted with cottages. Considering how far away those were from the village in the south and had no more than a small trail connecting them, they could be of magical origin.

Holly sighed as she descended back down to the ground. She'd stared so long into the distance, that the bowtruckles were surely long gone. Today wasn't her day, first the slip-up and now losing their tracks.

She aimed to land in a small clearing close to where she'd seen them last. Only, she didn't take into account her still muddy boots not providing traction on the partly wet grass and promptly slipped again.

If Holly had been any taller, she would have landed face first in a wild raspberry bush, at least her glasses didn't go flying. Today really really wasn't her day. She flipped over and just kept laying there, arms spread out and head resting on the soft grass like a pillow, watching the clouds.

Holly stayed like this for a while, to take a break. Then there was a light pull on her hair. She overstretched her neck to look further up, only to come face to face with an upside down bowtruckle holding a beetle out to her.

"Well, hello there little one."

*crunch* *crack*

Bits of beetle shell crumbled down into Holly's face that she quickly wiped off. She really needed a shower. Her hair was yanked to the left, so she changed directions and started walking left.

*crack* *slurp*

The sound of more munching came from above, along with various bits of beetle shell. She really had found the rudest and most gluttonous bowtruckle in this entire forest. It had made a nest in Holly's hair and was leading her someplace.

It wouldn't be so bad if the little glutton didn't keep conjuring insects out of thin air to eat. Her already messy hair must look like an actual bird's nest now, Holly definitely needed a shower later. Badly.

There was a series of taps on her head that made her look up. The bowtruckle was leaning forward into her face and pointing at a thick bush, nestled between two trees and taller than Holly herself.

Of course, she tried to simply go around the place, but with each step in the 'wrong' direction, the bowtruckle pulled harder and harder on her hair to get back to the bush. Holly finally relented when the little guy actually managed to rip out a bundle of hair, bringing tears to her eyes.

"Ow!" She rubbed at the sore spot on her head. "Really, you want me to crawl through there?"

More taps and pointing.

"Ugh, fine.," she groaned. "Hope you don't fall off!"

At first Holly tried to find a way to just push the bushes to the side and make a path between tree trunk and bush, but seeing the amount of thorns adorning the branches as well as the leaves, she started looking for another way.

After much searching and with the help of the impatient bowtruckle, Holly eventually found a small space near the ground free of thorns. It was almost like a tunnel leading into the bush, only, she was way too big to fit.

The little bowtruckle seemed insistent that this was the correct way though, so she got on all fours, and then, when she saw that she still didn't fit, laid down on her stomach to try and crawl in. Holly was filthy already, so a little more dirt wouldn't matter too much.

She squeezed into the opening, slowly crawling forward while opening a path with her left hand. The bowtruckle had gotten down from its vantage point and was now walking ahead of her, leading her towards the least amount of thorns. That didn't stop her hair and clothes from getting caught in twigs, getting dragged through the dirt or having insects crawl on her though.

Crawling over the already rotten leaves felt absolutely disgusting and when the arm she used to stabilise herself made a squelching noise on something she felt like throwing up. She closed her eyes and continued crawling as fast as possible, the end couldn't come quickly enough.

"Don't be slugs, don't be slugs, please don't be slugs."

Holly opened them again quickly with a yelp, when something brushed against the crook of her neck. She tried to wipe it away, but found nothing. Still, it felt like there was something there, no matter how much she wiped and felt around. Hopefully she was just imagining it and nothing managed to slither its way inside her clothes. Holly shuddered, just thinking about all the creepy crawlers that could be laying eggs on her right this moment… Why was she doing this again?

Eventually, they came upon a thick wall of green that blocked the way forward.

"Where to now, little one?" she asked the bowtruckle.

Its little head snapped from side to side, looking around and seemingly contemplating the best path to take. The problem arose when, after looking back at Holly one more time, it decided that 'just straight ahead' would do and disappeared through a small gap in the leaves, leaving her behind.

"Hey, come back!" she screamed after it, without success.

Holly sighed and inspected the obstacle closer, if she couldn't find a way through, she'd just turn around. With much effort, she got up from crawling on her stomach to hands and knees, pressing her back into the bush above her to make space. She got poked by thorns and stray twigs once or twice, but it was manageable.

From her better vantage point Holly still couldn't find a spot to push through. It allowed her to take a closer look at the shrubbery though. The leaves here looked different than the thorny ones she'd been avoiding on her way here.

They were heart shaped and much bigger than the smaller, round ones before. And rather than being riddled with thorns, these leaves were entirely smooth except for the tip that was unnaturally long and thin, almost like a needle.

Actually, it wasn't just the tips that were abnormal, the edges glinted in the little sunlight that filtered through the greenery above her.

Far too curious for her own good, Holly reached out, what could make a leaf shiny like that?

Tracing a finger over the edge of a leaf, she regretted it immediately. There was a sharp sting, and a hiss of pain.

Holly nursed the cut immediately by sticking the bleeding finger in her mouth, just in case the leaf was poisonous and not just as sharp as a razor.

Yes, she definitely wouldn't be able to get past this, at least not without magic. With the amount and density of leaves, she'd end up as minced meat before she could so much as get halfway through. The bowtruckle could come find her and lead her on a better path some other day if whatever was behind this shrubbery was so important.

Holly was just about to turn around when something bit her in the ankle. She yelped again, not so much out of pain, but surprise and jumped away from whatever had bitten her. At least as much as lurching forward could be considered jumping.

She realised way too late to prevent what would happen next. Carried forward by her momentum, Holly closed her eyes and clenched her jaw right as she was about to fall face first into the sea of razor leaves.

Yet, the pain never came…

"Diagon Alley!"

The world was bathed in green flames and not even a second later, Holly stumbled out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. Parvati helped her steady herself with a grin.

"We have a busy day ahead of us, can't afford to stop by St. Mungo's to treat a sprained ankle."

"Yes, thank you for the reminder."

To say that Holly was not excited for today was an understatement. They had gotten the owl with their 2nd year booklist just yesterday, way later than last year. While the list had gotten everyone else, including Lavender's parents, talk in excitement, it had only filled her with dread.

She had really hoped that, since they weren't nearly done with Trimble's 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection' which they worked with in Defense against the Dark Arts last year, that they would continue using it.

Instead, not only had they been given a new book to buy to accompany their studies, no. It was a whole set of seven books. But it got even worse, they were all written by one Gilderoy Lockhart, some famous wizard and way out of her price range. She had seen one of his books at Flourish and Blotts last year, and just one copy of it would have cost her almost her entire vault's contents.

Compared to the price of getting the required books used like she had done last year, new books were of course more expensive, but Lockhart's books were at least 5 times more expensive than any other book new. It didn't give her much hope for finding a used one at a decent price, or at all. She would still try of course.

"Come on Holly, Lavender is finally here," Parvati informed her, and off they went to Diagon.

Their plan had been to stop by Flourish and Blotts for her friends' books since it was closer to the entrance. But seeing how busy it was even this early in the morning, they decided to look at the used bookstore first, just to give Holly the best chance at finding a used Lockhart book. It seemed like everyone was in a rush to buy school supplies, now that the lists had finally arrived.

They had to fight their way through the crowds surrounding the various stores with their arms linked, as to not get separated. When they finally arrived, Holly was hot and sweaty. Not just from the proximity of the many witches and wizards in the stuffy streets, but also because it was late August and she'd forgotten to wear one of her robes enchanted with cooling runes.

"How come I've never noticed this ehrm… what does that say… 'Scrolls and Sorcery… Secondhand' before? It's right on the corner of the main alley," Lavender gestured at the used book store.

"Well, it doesn't really look like a store you would pay attention to. Not to mention you never needed to buy a used book," Parvati replied in Holly's stead.

And it was true, Lavender would never look at this building twice. The only indication that the store was even open were the occasional patrons entering or leaving. The windows were partly boarded shut and the black paint of the exterior wall was flaking off, revealing the half rotten wood beneath.

That Lavender had even been able to read the store's name on the sign hanging above the entrance was half a miracle. It was only hanging on to the fixture by a single thread and spinning slowly.

"How did you even find this dump, Holly?" asked Parvati, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh, I was just… desperate I guess. Looked all over Diagon to find books I could afford," she explained as she pushed the door open. "It doesn't look like much, but I found some pretty interesting and old books here." Her friends shot her doubtful looks before following her inside.

As unorderly as she had thought the store to be when she first found it with all its bargaining boxes, there was some order to the chaos. Like the first row of shelves to the left had used versions of school books and… actually, that was the only kind of order she'd noticed.

Much to Holly's disappointment, there were no Gilderoy Lockhart books to be found on the shelves, though she did score a 'Standard Book of Spells: Year 2' that she still needed. It was thankfully the only other book she would have to get for this year bar the Defense ones.

"Can you help me look through these bins? Maybe there's one in here," Holly asked her friends.

'Charmed Chronicles', no, 'Mystical Mosaic: Runes', sounded interesting. But when Holly flipped it to look at the description it was just a children's story. She stared at 'Wand-erful Wonders: Neville's Whimsical Journey' in shock and held it up for her friends to see.

"Seriously, there are actually books about Longbottom?"

"Of course, but that one seems to be a counterfeit one, it doesn't mention his last name in the title."

Holly giggled before placing the book back in the bin. She didn't know why she was surprised that Longbottom would milk his status as saviour as much as possible. Though, looking at the publishing date, maybe it was his relatives doing the milking, he'd have been a toddler still.

"Here, I found 'Voyages with Vampires', but it's absolutely filthy," Parvati handed her the book with a grimace adorning her face.

The cover was covered in stains, Holly huffed at the pun. Even worse were the pages, littered with praises to Lockhart and confessions of undying love. Many of the pages were stuck together and the name of the vampire lady Lockhart was wooing in the book was crossed out and replaced with 'Margaret'…

With a sigh, Holly approached the shopkeeper, "excuse me, how much is this?"

He gave the book a single glance before grunting out his answer, shocking Holly.

"Three galleons."

"What, have you seen the condition it's in? You'd be lucky if anyone bought this," Holly tried to haggle.

"That's why it's only 3 galleons, the other ones sold for double that. I'm surprised you even found one of these."

"What, only 3 galleons?" Holly sputtered. Even with a heavy discount there was no way she would buy this. She only had around a dozen galleons to her name and it would have to last her for the rest of the six years of schooling. Not to mention she would have to spend extra on special potion ingredients as well this year.

"If she doesn't want it, I'll take it!" A voice from behind Holly disrupted their conversation.

Holly didn't mind though, she gladly left the book to the middle-aged witch in ratty clothes and frizzy hair. She would just borrow her friends' books when they didn't need them.

For those they would need to get into Flourish and Blotts which seemed unlikely as they approached said store together. It was even more packed than earlier.

Standing by the entrance was none other than Hermione and a certain family of redheads, looking worried, but Holly wasn't concerned about them at the moment. She had spotted Hagrid in the distance and really wanted to ask him something.

"You two can go ahead and get your books, I'll wait outside." Seeing how busy it was in the store, they quickly began to fight their way through the masses in search of their books.

Holly continued on a little further, wanting to meet Hagrid halfway. But her mood turned a little sour when she saw who accompanied Hagrid through Diagon. Neville Longbottom was strolling alongside the giant, though he was covered in dirt or ash for some reason.

"There you are Neville! Are you alright, where did you end up? I'm so sorry about Scabbers, he's never done that before," Ron Weasly hollered across the street while roughly pushing past Holly, making her stumble.

"Don't worry, I reckon it's got to do with who I told you about," Longbottom whispered as reply, but not quiet enough for her to not overhear.

Neither of the two boys acknowledged her existence as Ron pulled Neville back towards his family. No snarky remarks or insults, Longbottom only met her eyes for a heartbeat before averting his eyes again. She didn't know what to make of this development, whatever happened this summer that they would ignore her now?

"I'm sorry about my oaf of a brother, he's usually not that bad." The small redheaded girl she had seen standing with the other Weasley's spoke up.

"No need to apologise, I'm used to it by now, I appreciate it though," she replied. "I'm Holly, nice to meet you."

"Ginevra… Weasley, as you could have guessed by the hair, but everyone calls me Ginny. Maybe I'll see you around school, bye!"

Ginevra disappeared as fast as she had appeared. Holly waved her off with a small smile and then turned to the patiently waiting Hagrid. It seemed like there would be at least two reasonable Weasleys at Hogwarts this year.

"Hullo Holly," he greeted her. "Have a good summer?"

They made some idle small talk about their summers, how Fluffy was doing and she thanked him for the incredible birthday gift with a big hug. He was very busy though and couldn't stay long, but before he could leave Holly asked him the burning question she'd had since yesterday.

"As the gamekeeper of Hogwarts you must have a lot of experience with the trees in the forest right?" She continued when he nodded. "Say, a magical tree was infected with some kind of disease that makes it rot from the inside and bleed purple sap, what should I do?"

No matter what she had expected, Holly was not prepared for Hagrid to scream the answer in her face.

"Ye burn it!" He shook her by the shoulders, panic written all over his face. Well, that wasn't very promising.