The last month of summer flew by in a haze full of Exploding Snap tournaments, late night walks, and a seemingly endless amount of laughter that made the Lupin and Potter parents realize that Hollis had barely made it out in time. On their last day of freedom before they transferred their mischief from Lupin Cottage to Hogwarts, Remus walked into the kitchen with a large yawn that made Hollis giggle.
"What?" he asked, leaning against the counter next to her and taking a sip of the hot chocolate Hope had made with the notice of the slight autumn chill in the air that symbolized the end of the last heavenly month the four of them would spend in the forest.
"What were you two doing last night that made you get so little sleep?" Sirius asked mischievously, tugging a shirt over his head as he walked into the kitchen. "I didn't enjoy you kicking us out of your room, you know. As gorgeous as I look sleeping on the floor, it's not as comfortable as it seems."
Instead of the usual clever retort, Hollis was awkwardly silent as she took a long sit of the rich, brown liquid.
Sirius crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, slowly glancing between his two soundless friends whose cheeks had both darkened as they avoided eye contact.
"Okay, sure, just don't tell your best friend," Sirius grumbled as he walked out of the room dramatically.
Watching him leave with their mugs raised at the bend in their elbows, Hollis and Remus were still quiet until the instant he got out of eyesight. They both burst out into laughter, knowing that Sirius was definitely going to pop back in and realize any moment now.
"How long do you think it's going to take for him to come back?" Hollis asked, leaning her shoulders against Remus's chest and looking up at him with a grin.
"I would give it a few sec-"
"WAIT," Sirius shouted, tripping back into the room with a slide in his obnoxiously pink fuzzy socks he and Hollis had enchanted to change colors based on how many times James said something about Lily in a day, much to the Potter's annoyance.
Hollis and Remus instantly wiped the laughter off their faces and gave him theatrically neutral expressions in response.
"What is it Pads?" Hollis asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'M TELLING JAMES!"
In less than an minute, James also came sprinting in the room breathlessly.
"MERLIN, WE WERE ALL THINKING IT WAS JUST ABOUT TIME," he shouted. "LILY SAID THAT-"
Sirius's socks changed to orange at the his first mention of the redhead of the day.
"Why did you guys make that enchantment?" James groaned, holding his hands out in exasperation to Sirius's socks.
"Documentation," Hollis replied smoothly, rinisng out her cup in the sink.
"Okay, but for real, did you two really-"
"Morning, my all grown up seventh years!" Euphemia exclaimed as she walked into the kitchen, giving all of them a hug in turn. "I'm so proud of you four!"
Sirius immediately cut of his statement with her presence, coughing uncomfortably. Mia was still completely oblivious to what had just been being discussed before she walked in the room.
"We need to make a stop in Diagon Alley as soon as we get your lists," she declared, pouring herself a cup of hot water from the blue painted teapot. "They should be coming any moment now."
Right on cue as Euphemia was sinking her chamomile tea bag into the steaming water, the Lupin's owl perched on the window with four letters in its talons.
"Of course Dumbledore knows," Lyall said as rubbed his eyes with the hand that wasn't holding a copy of the Prophet he had fallen asleep reading. "He doesn't miss anything, than old man."
Mia passed out the letters to the teenagers, who all opened them in turn to see how long their trip was going to be.
James and Hollis's eyes simultaneously widened in excitement.
"I'm quidditch captain!" they both shouted at the exact same time, their words not a second off from the other's.
The Gryffindor and Slytherin slowly turned their heads towards the other with jokingly raised eyebrows and crossed arms.
Hope grinned at Fleamont as their kids proceeded to grab each other's letters and see if they were telling the truth, only to break their serious faces and hug the other.
"I'm proud of you, James," Hollis said as he wrapped his arms around her. "Really I don't understand how someone so bloody thick-"
"Oh, screw you, Rosier."
Everyone in the kitchen laughed at their exchange, and Euphemia announced that it was time to go to Diagon Alley to get their new books for Defense Against the Dark Arts which, once again, had a new professor.
"Already?" Sirius cried.
"We've put it off until now, hurry along now unless you're planning to wear those socks," Fleamont said teasingly. "And don't spend an hour brushing your hair."
To everyone's surprise, Sirius did end up following these instructions and they were all by the fireplace a quarter hour later.
"We'll take the Floo Power," Fleamont said, gesturning to the other Potters. "Meet you by Gringotts."
Hollis felt an immense amount of unspoken guilt as she grabbed Remus's hand to apparate. It was her father's fault that Hope couldn't come with them so they could all go through the fireplace because of his law against muggles.
"Oh, don't worry dear," Hope smiled warmly at Hollis as she saw the girl's expression and expertly read it. "I don't mind."
Hollis smiled back, but it was smaller than usual.
A couple of seconds later in a whir of cracks and green flames, Lupin Cottage was empty.
Much to the parent's relief, their children transitioned smoothy to Gringotts; something hadn't gone wrong with the four mischevious teenagers for once in their lives.
Fleamont had been right about needing to get to Diagon Alley early, the snowy white building that towered over the other little shops already had a very heavy flow of visitors streaming into it, ready to gather their money.
As Sirius, Remus, Hollis, and James walked ahead of their parents up the white marble staircase and pushed open the burnished bronze doors, a sense of excitement came over them to start the new school year fresh and without nearly as much hidden between them.
"Family names?" a goblin asked with a bored, nasal voice as the party of eight stepped forward.
"Lupin and Potter," Euphemia said, making Hollis stiffen slightly.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Potter, please don't pay for me," she said in a low tone. "I don't need anything else from you. You've already done so much."
Fleamont's eyebrows furrowed as he wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders.
"Please, let us," he added on to Hollis. "How are you even going to get it otherwise?"
The dark eyed girl bit her bottom lip in thought before turning back around to the counter where the goblin had been waiting impatiently.
Remus exchanged an alarmed glance with his parents at whatever she was about to do, while James and Sirius both looked amused and ready to be impressed.
"And Rosier as well," Hollis added on confidently without a shred of hesitancy. "I believe we keep a spare key in the bank in case of a misplacement?"
Remus bit the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning too obviously.
"And who might you be?" the goblin prompted, sounding oddly like Snape. "You must be of age to withdraw money or valuables, and I don't recall seeing you here before."
That much was true. Hollis had never been permitted to go to Gringotts with her family before, it wasn't ladylike for her to be handling money.
"I'm seventeen years old and a Rosier," Hollis stated firmly. "Remind me what else you need from me to give me that damn key?"
The shriveled goblin stared down at her from his high counter before opening his mouth again to speak.
"Before you even try to say anything else," Hollis stepped him with a lethally low tone. "I do believe you know that my father is the head of the Department of Magical Transportation, yes?"
Nodding tersely, the goblin paled slightly.
"And how would it be for your business if your clients could no longer get into Diagon Alley as easily? Or if he placed more restrictions on the bank itself?" Hollis asked with false sweetness, giving him a threatening smile. "Not so good?"
There were a few moments of incredibly tense silence before the goblin reached down into the cabinets below him and pulled a silver key our of the R section. Handing it to Hollis, the goblin seemed glad to see her go.
Hollis walked away from the counter with her head high and spinning the key ring on one finger, and the other seven quickly snapped out of their shock and caught up to her.
Remus still had his lips parted in awe, while James and Sirius were beaming. The four parents all had small smiles on their faces; this must be what she was like before she was cursed and then tortured for information.
"Okay, that was up on the list for top badass things you've done," Remus said, planting a kiss on her forehead and wrapping his arm around her waist.
"There's a list?" Hollis asked with amusement as she looked at the key with satisfaction.
"Uhm, obviously," Sirius said with an eyeroll. "I think this is just below taking down to fully grown Death Eaters-"
"What?" Lyall questioned, catching up to the seventh years in front of him as they approached the train tracks that would lead them down to their various vaults. "What did you do?"
Hollis awkwardly realized that Hope, Mia, and Fleamont were listening as well.
"It really wasn't anything," she shrugged nonchalantly as they climbed into the car on top of the miniature steel tran tracks while Sirius gave the goblin instructions. "It was just the element of surprise, I suppose."
This just ended up making the accomplishment seem even more impressive.
"And you said you wanted to be an auror, correct?" Mia confirmed, and Hollis nodded. "Brilliant choice, darling."
Hollis grinned as they sped off to the first vault, her own.
Only she climbed out onto the stone floor with a pouch she had been provided with, as the instructions of Gringotts said. Hollis watched as all of the tiny metal gears opened up the vault with wonder in her eyes. It was an entirely new, awestirking magical feat for her to witness.
"Take as long as you need," the goblin said, and Hollis stepped inside with a slight wrinkle in her nose.
The entire vault was stacked high with mountains and mountains of galleons, sickles, and knuts, along with various, rather haunting and suspicious, artifacts that Hollis tried to avoid at all costs. The bright white light reflected off all the metal with a shining glare, making her squint her brown eyes to see what she was doing.
"Capacious extremis," she muttered, pointing her wand into the pouch she had been provided with.
The Expansion Charm did the trick to give her the much needed room for how much gold she was about to take.
A few minutes later, the bag seemed to weigh ten pounds full of money, yet Hollis had barely made a dent in her family's money. Mulstone and Vindia would only notice she had been there if they looked for it.
As Hollis climbed back into the cart, the Lupins and Potters were in total shock.
James had thought his family was rich, but they were nothing compared to the wealth he had just seen in the Rosier's vault.
"Yea, I know," Hollis said under her breath as she slid between Sirius and Remus. "It's a lot."
"That's certainly one way to put it."
A half hour later, the families were out of the draft, humid tunnels with fuller pockets than they had left with and ready to hit their first stop of the morning.
"Flourish and Blotts," Hollis said with a smile. "Brilliant."
The bookstore had always been her favorite place to visit in Diagon Alley. The warm, cozy atmosphere was a place of much opportunity, something Hollis had always craved away from the Dark Arts filled library of Rosier Manor.
The brass bell above them jingled as the eight of them stepped in, and Hollus pulled out her letter.
"Okay, first book," she muttered to herself. "Lupine-"
She had to read the title of the book several times before realized that it was really there, and she wasn't just imagining it.
Lupine Lawlessness: Why Lycanthropes Don't Deserve to Live by Professor Emerett Picardy
"Oh hell, no," Hollis said with determination, pressing the letter against Remus's chest and immediately going to the section labelled P.
Her fingers traced along the spines for a few moments before she pulled out the desired book and scanned a random page she had deftly flipped to.
"Werewolves are heartless, killer creatures that need to be executed from existence at all costs," Picardy remarked in one interview. "And if that takes removing their human form as well, than so be it."
Hollis couldn't read it anymore, and promptly slammed the book down onto the table with anger.
"Where are you going?" Remus asked with another expression of alarm as Hollis burst out of the store.
"To kill Emerett Picardy."
He, James, and Sirius exchanged a very concerned look before running after her.
"Woah, woah!" Remus shouted, grabbing her hand gently. "What is this all about?"
Hollis just pointed to the list in his hand with crossed arms.
Remus raised an eyebrow as he unfolded the crumpled paper, and his face drained as he read the first book on his list. James and Sirius had a similar reaction to Hollis instead of just dread.
"I mean what possesses a person to write an entire bloody book on literal murder?" exclaimed Hollis, her blood running hot. "It's mad, it's-"
"Normal," Remus finished with a sad sigh. "It's honestly normal for me now."
Hollis's anger melted away to reveal sadness.
"I shouldn't be, though," she said in a tiny voice. "You're the kindest person I know, I just don't understand how someone could hate you only because of a stupid rock in space."
Remus laughed at her description of the full moon and kissed her lightly with reassurance.
"Hey, let's just know that no one can be worse then Bounce."
"Snivellus definitely could."
"Yea, but that's never gonna happen."
chapters just staying longer and longer
i have to be at school from 730 to 8pm for a fundraiser tmr so there might not be an update idk but ill try as hard as i can
2.5k words
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