Learning How To Talk

~Chapter 7; Just So Different~

Quick A/N: I refuse to say "ginger" when describing a redhead. My mom, two sisters, and two nephews are redheads, and they aren't the biggest fans of being called "gingers." They're scary when they're mad...

"Wake up, Freak!" The girl stirs in her sleep; the voice sounds like her aunt, but why is the floor so soft?

"Come on!! Wake up!" She feels hands softly sway her; her aunt sounds younger, less shrill. 

"Holly, come on! It's time to get up for breakfast!" Her vibrant eyes flutter open. Breakfast? Instead of her aunt, Holly sees a familiar black-haired girl gently shaking her shoulder. It's Pansy! Holly softly smiles as she leans up. "Do you want to eat breakfast?" Holly has never been asked that before, she nods quickly. "Okay, come on then!" Pansy giggles. Holly quickly puts on her school robes and rushes over to Pansy. "We need to do something about your hair..." Pansy sighs, brushing over the course-knotted hair strands. "But, for now, we'll go eat breakfast." Holly smiles, her teeth surprisingly not as eroded as they should be.

Pansy grabs Holly's hand and leads her down to the common room, where Draco and Blaise are waiting. Pansy lets go of the girl's hand as Draco reaches for it. "Let's go," Blaise smiles. The small group walks swiftly to the Great Hall. Bacon and syrup smells fill the halls around the room itself. The four make a beeline for their assigned table. Holly looks around her, all the foods she knows how to make, but no idea what they taste like. Draco grabs a few pieces of bacon. He puts two on his plate and the other two on Holly's. 

"What do you like to eat for breakfast?" Pansy asks Holly, who shrugs. She looks at all the food in front of her and feels sick to her stomach. She tries to watch what Draco, Pansy, and Blaise grab, but her stomach hurts just thinking about eating that much. Holly's plate looks bare compared to her friends. Two small pieces of bacon, a small pile of scrambled eggs, and the smallest biscuit she could find. She takes a tiny bite of everything, letting the new flavors sink into her taste buds. While she eats her first-ever breakfast, she doesn't notice the three pairs of eyes watching her in concern. None of them notices the single pair of dark eyes watching them from the teacher's table. Her plate is barely touched, small nibbles here and there, but she feels unable to eat anymore. 

Holly looks around for any way to discreetly take the leftover food with her, but finds none. "What are you looking for?" Draco asks her, and she points to her food, then gives him a sad look. "Are you... full?" It seems to hurt him to ask, looking at the small bits of food missing makes him wonder just how often she got this much food. She thinks for a second before smiling and nodding. "Well, if you're done, you can just leave it." He says, "They take care of all the leftovers." Holly looks at him, horrified, shaking her head as she begins to try and put the rest of her meal into a napkin. "You want to keep it?" he asks, startled by her reaction. She nods, fear in her eyes, and evident from her shaking hands. "Holly," he grabs her hands as they were wrapping the now dirtied napkin around her saved meal. "Why do you want to keep it?" What if there's none tomorrow? She thinks, oh, how she wishes he could read her mind. "No to-mar-o." She whispers to him. 

Draco thinks over what she means, but he so wishes he's wrong. "Are you scared that there won't be any more food tomorrow?" He tries, praying to Hogwarts herself that she shakes her head. To his horror, she nods gently, taking her hands away from his, and continues to wrap up her precious rations. When she sets them in her bag, he snaps out of his haze. "Holly, you don't need to worry about that, it's magic!" He tries to smile, but when she shakes her head with a scared expression, he only holds her hand in concern. Pansy and Blaise share a look; both had begun to listen in when they heard Holly's quiet voice. Although none had seen the teacher who had walked up behind them at the right time to see the girl nod at the most concerning question he's heard in a while.