BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE - REMUS LUPIN

12 - "WELCOME BACK, HOL"

"Don't bring Marlene and Lily into this," Hollis gritted her teeth, fist clenching just as tightly as her jaw. But Lucius kept going, wanting more of a reaction.

"And running around with the four filthy Gryffindor blood traitors, you don't know how to keep your legs shut, do you?" Lucius asked, now raising his voice for the first time.

Her eyes blurred, not even knowing that she had lunged at him until he had sharply leaned back to avoid her. But while he may be taller and stronger, she was faster, and she was so, so mad.

Before she could harm Lucius anymore, though, two strong arms wrapped around her stomach from behind, holding her back.

"Get off!" Hollis shouted, shoving out of the strong grip. The arms let loose easily, clearly obeying her body language and not actually trying to restrain her any longer. "Look what you did! Now he's gotten away, you complete idiot-"

She froze as she turned and saw that Remus was the one who had held her back.

A softly apologetic expression had taken over his features, but Hollis knew he would do it again without hesitation. It wasn't that he didn't want Lucius to get what he deserved, he just didn't want Rosier to get in any more trouble than she already was.

"Idiot," she repeated again.

"Will he write to your parents like Kettleburn?" Remus asked, eyes following Malfoy's fading figure and ignoring the insult. "Or will he keep it to himself?"

"He will," Hollis said, righting her shoulders. "But- wait. I never told you about Kettleburn."

"I-"

"I have to try out, Lupin. Goodbye."

Remus watched helplessly as she walked away, slowly shutting his eyes before sitting down heavily on the rickety wood. 

He just couldn't seem to be capable of controlling his mouth around her.

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When Slytherin's new Keeper walked into the Great Hall, ten people looked up. Four boys from Slytherin and Gryffindor, and two scarlet robed girls. Her books clicked lightly against the stone, elegant taps cutting through the conversation and clinks of forks and plates.

Word of Hollis and Lucius's fight had spread like wildfire through the school. The gazes she was receiving from that gossip only increased as she veered left and placed herself to the left of Lily and across from Marlene at the Gryffindor table instead of sitting between Theodore and Malfoy.

"Good to have you back, Hol," grinned Lily, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"First time you've sat with us since fourth year, dumbass," giggled Marlene, her mouth slightly full of toast.

Lily held a disgusted hand in front of her eyes.

"Ugh, Marls, no one wants to see that."

Hollis smiled, pouring herself a cup of orange juice.

"Not embarrassed anymore of us, Rosier?" shouted a Sirius from a few yards down the table.

"Not of Potter, Pettigrew, or Lupin, but certainly you!" Hollis shouted back, hands cupped around her mouth.

Sirius placed his hand over his chest, overly offended as half the Gryffindor table laughed.

"There is nothing about me to be ashamed of!" Sirius cried animatedly, causing as much of a scene as possible.

Marlene jumped in.

"Maybe not that Hollis knows about," she retorted mischievously, wiggling her eyebrows.

Sirius quickly sat down, blushing furiously. Dorcas rolled her eyes.

Remus watched as Hollis bantered with Lily and Marlene, happy and proud that she had finally gotten away from the Slytherins.

Morning mail came, and Marlene received an enormous box from her brothers. It landed with a loud bang on the table, sending a tray of biscuits flying, one of which Remus managed to catch in his mouth, making a little pod of Hufflepuff girls giggle and fawn in his direction. 

He ignored them.

Before Mckinnon got the chance to open her package, a hoot came from the ceiling as a night black owl arrived in the Great Hall, the Rosier owl. Lily and Marlene watched as a black envelope plummeted down, landing right in front of Hollis with a slight sway in its parchment path.

Marlene and Lily exchanged a concerned look. The last time Hollis had gotten a letter from home, it was not pretty.

Hollis noticed something different about this letter than the last one, though. It was just an envelope, no parchment outline coming through. A scarlet envelope.

"It's a fucking howler," Hollis groaned, tilting her head back.

Right on cue, the envelope flew up. The black wax seal split open into a pair of perfectly shining lips, the elegant yet frigid voice of her mother shrilly piercing through the air like a needle into flesh. The sound was clearly spoken softly, yet the volume was so amplified that half of the hall turned in the three girls' direction.

"You're in deep hell, Appoline Rosier."

Hollis braced herself, expecting more. After a few seconds, however, it became clear that Vindia had nothing else to say to her daughter. The letter burst into ash, Lily's cat curiously prodding the remains with his paw.

"Well that certainly could have been worse," Marlene said in a wayward attempt of shocked comfort, giving dirty looks to the people staring.

"Yea, it definitely could have," agreed Hollis as casually as she could, running a hand through her hair as she laughed it off.

That was a lie.

Hollis would rather have had the voice yell at her for five minutes straight, cursing her out than that unnervingly slow statement. It was bad when her parents were raging at her with loud volumes, but much worse when a lethal, steady tone took over their voices. Void of all emotion, or any empathy, they were at their most dangerous. Ready to try and teach their daughter a lesson she would always rebel against. Hollis wanted to scream.

From down the table, Remus could tell that she was not nearly as unbothered as she appeared to be as she rolled her dark eyes to Lily at the message.

Hollis looked down the table to gather reactions, forest green eyes and deep brown ones catching each other on the way. Her eyes narrowed with slight confusion at the expression of concern Remus wore, tilting her head questioningly to the side. 

I just helped him with his injuries to get my mind off things, not to spend time with him, Hollis thought after breaking the stare. He doesn't have to care, he owes me nothing.

She told herself that lie so many times that she almost believed it.

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