CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
"reg"
"Hollis!" a muffled shout came from inside the glass, Lily calling out as she saw the Rosier walk by her and Marlene's compartment. She instantly turned into their car, just having been looking for them.
"I missed you!" cried Marlene, wrapping a hug around Hollis's shoulder, not her back. Lily followed suit before sitting back down as well.
"Where did you come from?" Lily asked, resting her head on Hollis's shoulder while rubbing her red hair between her thumb and middle finger. "You look all emotional."
"The Marauder's compartment," Hollis sighed, and Marlene rolled her eyes dramatically.
"They sure missed you, though, ran past our compartment like eight times looking for you," Marlene said causally, popping a piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum into her mouth.
She tensed slightly, surprised.
"They did?" she asked the redhead, wanting confirmation that Marlene wasn't just exaggerating.
"Yea, led by Lupin," Lily smiled, looking softly happy for Hollis.
Hollis felt a tiny warmth bubble up inside her. As soon as she noticed, though, she pushed it down and dismissed it. She had too much going on in her mind already to add her continuously growing feelings for Lupin to the mix.
"I'm dying for some sweets," she declared, standing up. Marlene stood up as well.
"We're almost at the end of the train, trolley lady will take forever to get down here," Marlene observed, poking her head out of the door.
"Let's go walk to her," Hollis said, her stomach pain increasing. The two girls stepped out and waited on Lily, who had broken into a book her parents had given her for Christmas.
"Lil, you coming?" asked Marlene, standing in the metal doorframe.
Lily looked up from the thick novel and shook her head, red hair catching the lamplight.
"I got so many books for Christmas, I need to start on them," she said, patting the foot tall, ready to topple stack next to her of all kinds of texts.
"Anything you want?" called Hollis back at Lily.
"I'll steal some of yours!" she laughed, making Hollis groan.
"Try me, Evans."
Marlene jogged a bit to catch up to Hollis, who had already begun to search for the loaded sweets cart. Rosier had her hands tucked into her black dragonhide pockets, her fingers rubbing a sickle back and forth to fidget.
She always had to keep her hands occupied to keep them from feeling limp and useless, claiming control over every part of her body she could as frequently as possible. It made her feel better about the parts she couldn't.
They finally reached the brass cart and the plump woman who worked it after five minutes of searching.
"Anything from the trolley, dears?" asked the witch, smiling widely.
Marlene pulled out four knuts and carefully examined the cart. After a few seconds, she selected a carton of Bertie Bott's and three chocolate frogs. Marlene loaded the sweets into her pockets while Hollis ordered.
"I'll just take a chocolate bar," Hollis said, extending a hand to grab the heavy slab of creamy cocoa. The brown wrapper felt crisply crinkled in her hand, and she held on to it tightly.
"Loading up on the sweets, are we?" asked a boy's voice from behind Marlene and Hollis.
They turned in unison to see who it was, frowning as they saw Lucius and Roldolphus with identical smirks etched on their ever-smugly attractive faces. It was a different kind of arrogance than James or Sirius, something much colder and significantly less playful.
Marlene wrinkled up her nose and grabbed Hollis's upper arm.
"C'mon, let's get away from the douches," Marlene muttered, glaring at Roldolpuhs. Hollis held up her middle finger above her head as she followed her friend away from them.
"After that ball must have been quite the ordeal, eh?" Roldolphus called after them, trailing behind Lucius, who was also following them down to their compartment.
Hollis froze, her mind racing through the events of that horrible night. Her hand wrapped around her wand tightly, and Marlene noticed quickly.
She didn't have the patience for this, but she certainly had the temper.
"Hol, it's not-" she started, but Hollis turned around rapidly before Mckinnon could stop her.
"Shut up" the Rosier snapped, not raising her wand but making it very clear that she had drawn it. "As you have very clearly already guessed, I have not had the best past couple of days. And guess what that means? It means that I have a lot of anger built up right now, and it means that if you say another word, I will not hesitate to use that anger on you."
Hollis just glared for another second before turning back away. Marlene sighed in relief.
"That the best threat you got, Hol?" Lucius asked, smirk widening as he strutted towards her receding back. They were close to the end of the train now. "I thought your parents taught you better than that."
Mckinnon's eyes nervously darted to Hollis as her steps slowed.
"How would I know, though?" Lucius asked coldly, his tone losing all of its playfulness. "Theodore's the one that had his hands all over you-"
"Oscausi," Hollis whispered, barely a breath. It wasn't an explosion of temper, just a soft word that said she had meant her threat and fully intended on fulfilling it. And she had.
Lucius's mouth was slowly sinking into his skin, and in its place, there was a swath of blank flesh pulled tight over where his lips should be. It was like his mouth had completely disappeared, leaving him physically incapable of speech.
Marlene's eyebrows furrowed in shock, then concern. "Hol, stop, please," she whispered, grabbing the Rosier's tense hand. Hollis ignored her friend's soft requests.
Roldolphus quickly unhexed Lucius. All three of them had their wands out now.
"Learn that hex from your parents, Hol?" asked Roldolphus, raising a brow. "Dark spell from a dark family."
In fact, Hollis had. The silencing spell had once been used on her for almost an hour so that she couldn't scream out, and she had never forgotten the incantation. I shouldn't have used it on him, Hollis thought with a tinge of remorse. I know how it feels, I shouldn't have done it.
"I told him to shut up or I wouldn't hesitate to use my anger on him," she said quietly. "It was his fault for not taking me seriously."
There was no time to think as Lucius and Roldophus cast a stunning spell at her at the exact same time. Hollis wasn't quick enough to block it, and the red jets hit her square in the stomach.
Marlene cried out as her friend was stumbling backward against a compartment's glass, both hands over her mouth in shock, not knowing what to do besides running to get her wand from the compartment with Lily.
Hollis gritted her teeth and pushed her arms against the door to stand back up fully, her back screaming.
"Expelliarmus!" she shouted, and Lucius's wand flew into her hand. To her surprise, Roldolphus became disarmed as well. Regulus was standing behind her, his grey wand out.
Hollis watched as their faces turned slightly panicked with a sick satisfaction. She threw Lucius's wand on the ground with a clatter of wood against the carpet as it bounced slightly. Regulus did the same, not wanting to cause any more harm than necessary.
Roldolphus lunged suddenly for his wand, but Hollis stuck out her leg. It sent him stumbling over, knocking down Lucius like a bowling pin with him. The four Slytherins all caught their breath and regained footing after a chaotic few seconds, glaring at one another.
"Don't you have someone else to bother?" Hollis asked quietly, tilting her head to one side.
Roldolphus and Lucius exchanged a glance and turned around. They knew when they were beaten. Continuing at this point would just hurt their pride. Lucius spat some nasty comment back at them before he walked out of hearing distance, but neither responded.
The instant Malfoy and Lestrange turned the corner, Hollis stumbled over slightly to in front of the next compartment. She didn't realize it yet, but it wasn't empty as the last one had been.
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A loud thud made Peter jump out of his sleep with a snort. It sounded like a person hitting a wall very with an immense amount of force, probably some third years tripping one another.
"What was that?" asked James, turning towards the sound.
More muffled shouting rang out, followed by silence.
"Probably just some first years being idiots," said Sirius, shrugging it off. "Anyways, like I was saying. There's no way Professor Linchen isn't a vampire. With all of that access to animal blood in the castle-" Sirius started, making Remus sigh, before he stoped his theory with an abrupt halt.
Remus followed his eyes to the glass door on their right.
An obviously in pain Hollis fell back slightly, some unknown force making her loose her balance. Before she could fall far, however, Regulus came into view from the left and caught her tightly by the waist. Remus watched as Black smoothly pulled her up all the way, the Rosier not caring about his firm hold on her waist in the slightest.
Something changed between them, Remus realized, an odd feeling in his chest that he couldn't quite place.
"Must they always try to start trouble with you?" asked Regulus with an annoyed glance to his left, down the thin hallway.
Hollis brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
"You seem to repeatedly be getting me out of it, don't you?" she asked in return.
Regulus frowned and looked at Hollis's back.
"Obviously not well enough."
Hollis's brows furrowed.
"It's not your fault," she whispered, and the Marauders could barely hear her. "I promise, Reg. You probably got me out of some of it, actually. It would have been much worse if we hadn't pulled that stunt. Just.. trust me, okay?"
Regulus bowed his head slightly, making his black hair fall around his cheekbones.
"Marlene and Lily are waiting on me," Hollis sighed as she realized she wasn't going to get anything else out of him, picking up her bar of chocolate off the ground.
Black watched her go before turning around back to his own section. Unlike Hollis, he realized from the corner of his eye that four Gryffindor boys had been watching them this whole time. Sirius stood up before he could react, throwing open the glass door and looking at his brother with confusion topped with a fresh layer of anger.
"What the fuck was that, Reg?" asked Sirius, practically spitting at his older brother.
"My life is none of your business anymore," Regulus replied coldly.
That snapped Remus out of his shock.
"Yea, but Hollis's sure as hell is," he exclaimed, standing beside Sirius. "What was she talking about, getting her out of it?" Remus questioned, trying to figure out what Regulus knew that he didn't about what happened to her over Christmas break.
Regulus scanned their faces, all clearly more worried for Hollis than angry at him.
"She hasn't told you anything?" Black asked softly, surprised.
James groaned in frustration. "Obviously she hasn't, dipshit!" he exclaimed, holding out his arms to Regulus in a straight line.
"If she didn't want to tell you, don't press it," Regulus replied as he turned away from the Marauders, but he paused slightly before he got too far. His brows furrowed, considering his words before saying them.
"Maybe she's more scared for your reactions then actually explaining to you."
James nearly lunged at Black, and Sirius just stared in disbelief, lips slightly parted, as his brother walked away. Peter looked nervous, and Remus was quiet. All of their heads turned as a new, breathless pair of footsteps came around the corner.
It was Marlene, her cheeks flushed and voice breathless.
"What did I miss?" she asked, wand in hand.
Remus almost laughed.
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