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She had a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw that afternoon. The houses buzzed with excitement.
It wasn't as exciting as Gryffindor with Slytherin, people had been talking about that match for weeks and they hadn't even played yet.
Still, for her though, it was more than just exciting, it was also nerve wracking. It would be her first real game since making the team a month ago.
But for her, today wasn't about Quidditch.
October 23rd, the day she had lost her parents forever. She honestly felt...indifferent. She hadn't known them, not for long at least. She carried the stories told of them with her.
But personally?
Nothing.
The only thing she had was the stuffed swan toy, and the small whisper of her name 'Spark'.
So why did this year feel different than the others? She had never really cared...no she did care. She just never put much thought into their deaths.
Maybe it was the fact that she was getting older and deep down wished she had parents who could guide her. Maybe it was because she had felt a sense of despair? Doom? She felt this heavy weight that had never been there before this year.
She made an effort to not seem affected by the date. Her professors knew her parents, of course they did, but it seemed this year they also sensed the heavy weight she was feeling. Unlike last year where they treated her normally, this year they seemed more careful.
A part of her felt it had to do with the looks she received from Professor Dumbledore. It had now been almost 2 months into the first term and the looks she received from him formed a pit in her stomach.
She knew she was 'special' but it was because she was an Ollivander, they were known to be more advanced in many areas. The looks though carried much more weight than what she assumed her mother and even grandfather had ever received.
She shook herself out her thoughts as she neared George and Fred.
"Hello you two...I think we should do something." She plastered a grin on her face and the two twins' eyes glinted mischievously as they heard her plan.
She wanted to sneak into Filch's office, she had learned from Nymphadora or Tonks as she liked to be called that he had many items that would help in their plans. Tonks had heard her talking to Maya about how hard doing pranks had been one night and just blurted it out at the two one day.
She wasn't even remotely close to the girl but she was forever grateful the girl had told her and Maya the great piece of information.
She spoke with the twins a bit more before having to get ready for her match with Ravenclaw. The twins had shown her a yellow sweater that had her name charmed onto it on the front. They told her Lee had one similar making her turn pink, slightly embarrassed but grateful for the three.
Her and Maya would do their absolute best to make sure they won the match.
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She weaved between the fliers, sticking close to her two partners; Tonks and Ivy. Ducking below the crowd of players, she caught sight of the Quaffle clutched in the hands of a Ravenclaw Chaser.
She shot upward in a streak of gold and black, reaching for it. The Chaser noticed and moved away just in time. Holly groaned in frustration, gripping her broom tighter and pushing herself faster.
Three inches away.
She leaned forward, stretching her arm out as far as it could go.
One inch.
The broom handle was slipping beneath her stomach, her weight nearly tipping her over the edge.
Almost laying flat, she gave one final push—
Smack.
Her hand knocked the Quaffle loose, sending it spinning midair. Tonks swooped in and snatched it effortlessly.
Holly hadn't even registered the roar of the crowd—or the excited voice of Lee Jordan shouting praise from the commentator's booth. He'd recently secured the job by convincing Professor McGonagall to put in a good word for him with Madam Hooch.
Tonks rocketed forward and launched the ball cleanly through the hoop.
Ten more points.
Hufflepuff now led by fifty. 160–110.
She caught sight of the twins across the pitch and tossed them a wink and a grin. Fred gave her a dramatic thumbs-up; George mouthed something that looked suspiciously like "show-off" but the smile afterward showed he was joking.
Ivy went for another goal but missed it by an inch. Before the Ravenclaw Chaser who'd caught the rebound could pull away, Holly dove in from above, snatching the Quaffle right from under them.
Just then, she heard the sharp crack of a bat—Maya had just hit a Bludger.
It must have been headed for Cedric. Holly could just make out his shape zipping across the far end of the pitch, eyes scanning, darting, chasing...
She knew time was short. With the Snitch in play, she hurled the Quaffle with everything she had toward the hoop, needing those final ten points before the match ended.
From above, Lee's voice rang out:
"It seems Diggory's caught sight of the Snitch! Jon just tried to knock him off his broom—!"
"There goes Ollivander! Moving ever so gracefully between the Ravenclaw Chasers—she throws—and she scores! Ten points to Hufflepuff!"
Holly exhaled sharply, her chest pounding.
Then...
"Diggory's closing in! Parks has seen it too—who'll catch it first? And—Diggory has the Snitch! Hufflepuff wins! 210-110."
Holly whooped, diving down and landing right beside Maya. The two girls crashed into a hug, laughing breathlessly.
"We did it! I never doubted you for a moment, Holly!" Maya grinned, still high on adrenaline.
"You did amazing Maya! Honestly. We would've lost if Cedric got hit." She shook her head staring at her friend in awe and with a look of pride.
They'd actually won. Her first match, and they won.
Across the pitch, she caught Cedric's eye and mouthed, "Nice catch."
He smiled back and nodded, before his friends swarmed him with cheers.
"Holly Ollivander! You did amazing!"
She turned and spotted her two favorite redheads bounding toward her.
"Thank you," she beamed. "I couldn't have done it without you two making me play."
Before she could say more, another voice cut in.
"Oi! I helped you practice too!" Maya called, tilting her head dramatically.
Holly laughed and shook her head. "How could I forget?"
George leaned closer. "You think you're still up for the plan after hours?"
"Of course I am," Holly said, rolling her eyes. "I'm tired, not boring."
She turned back to Maya, who was waiting nearby. "I'll see you two in a few hours. I should hit the lockers. See ya!"
She walked off and hooked arms with Maya, both girls still glowing from the win.
. *. ⋆ *. ⋆
Holly stood disillusioned in front of Filch's office. She honestly made disillusionment look so easy — to easy considering she was only a second year. It was something her professors at Ironwood had the children practice in the case they needed to hide.
She didn't know why or what they meant. She didn't care.
She was just grateful it was handy at this moment.
She sighed exasperatedly, beginning to grow impatient. She had told the twins to hurry and take whatever they thought would be useful or important.
It had been 10 minutes now.
Her nerves and anxiety were getting worse as the minutes passed. She had to refrain from tapping her feet impatiently as she would be heard from anyone who passed by.
Thankfully, the two boys had walked out looking around for the girl. They frowned, confused, until she made herself visible again.
"What took you two so long?" She whispered, making them jump and scream. She had to cover both their mouths to silence them. She gave the two a soft glare before letting her arms down.
"Blimey Holly! You can't just sneak up on two beautiful children. Do you know how many people would want to kidnap us?" Fred said dramatically, making her roll her eyes and shake her head with a small grin forming.
"How did you do that?" George asked amazed.
She just gave a prideful grin and shrugged.
"What did you two find?" She asked looking at the things they were carrying.
Parchment, two small containers and a muggle pen? What good could those things be? she wondered.
The twins' eyes lit up and they pulled her towards their common room. She hesitated standing in the middle of the hallway, wringing her hands. 'Wait... what if I can't go in?
The twins looked at each other as if having forgotten she wasn't in their house.
They held a silent conversation before Fred replied. "We'll never know if we don't try" he shrugged excitedly and Holly just nodded hesitantly.
When they arrived at the Gryffindor Common room door the Fat Lady narrowed her eyes at the girl. Holly just waved nervously with a smile and the Fat Lady hummed her stare less tense as it was at first.
The twins said the password and she let the three in. Holly released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
The Gryffindor common room was nothing like the Hufflepuff room. The room was red with gold trims around it. There was a small fireplace with a sofa near it. It looked more homey than the Hufflepuff room. The Hufflepuff room was more connected to nature and Gryffindor was more connected to home.
They twins moved towards one of the tables at the edge of the room and laid out the items they found.
The pen was actually not a pen. It was a small muggle pen that could be transformed into a blade.
She understood why that would be taken.
She also understood that it looked interesting and she wanted it. So before either of the twins could call dibs she grabbed it and claimed it to be hers. Why did she want it? No special reason, she just liked how it looked.
The twins looked at her baffled at her quick claim for it. She just laughed quietly and stared at the muggle pen that was really a blade in awe.
They next looked at the two shiny vials. She could feel a vibration coming from them. The feeling of magic having been transferred into it was strong at least to her.
"Why'd you two get those?" She asked watching the vials carefully.
The twins shrugged and George replied, "It's either something important-"
"or very dangerous" Fred finished.
She shook her head, "I'm going with something dangerous...so you two can open it if you'd like. Just make sure it's far away from me. I rather like living" she said wrinkling her nose as she thought of all the many things the two vials could be.
She pushed the two vials further away from her paying attention to the parchment they brought.
"A parchment? Boys I know you don't like writing essays but stealing an essay is foul." She shook her head causing the two two put a hand over their arm in feigned offense.
"It's not an essay...we actually don't know what it is." George said sheepishly.
She stared at them confused a frown forming.
"She looked at it more and brought her wand out muttering a revealing charm.
Nothing.
She tapped it again and this time a person 'Prongs' said something. More like they wrote something.
Prongs: "If you're reading this congratulations, you're either very clever or very nosy."
The twins scoffed at the insult in perfect unison.
"Thats rude." Fred huffed.
"I prefer 'brilliant' thank you very much" George added.
Holly instead gained more interest on the piece of parchment and tapped it once more with her wand.
Padfoot: "If you're a slytherin please do us all a favor...and eat a sock!"
Moony: "I second that, but please make sure the socks are washed"
The twins laughed at it and Holly was starting to get impatient.
The magic she felt as she kept tapping it was getting stronger. She knew she just needed to keep tapping it with her wand for it to reveal itself.
She tapped it once again this time a fourth person was revealed.
Wormtail: "You just need to say the words you know."
"What words?" George muttered looking at the other two. Fred shrugged and Holly didn't respond thinking of any words it could be.
She set the parchment down and put her wand away frustrated with the parchment paper. "It's useless if we don't know the right trigger."
George picked it up and did as she had with his wand. When he did he and Fred yelled out.
Prongs: "You can only open if you solemnly swear you're up to no good"
George and Fred repeated the phrase and red ink began to fill up the once empty parchment. The middle of the folded parchment held "MARAUDERS MAP"
They opened the parchment and a map of all Hogwarts was revealed.
"Blimey! This is a map of Hogwarts!" Fred said in bewilderment.
Holly moved closer and could see footprints with names walking around the castle.
"This is brilliant!" Holly and George exclaimed in unison.
They blinked at each other, then laughed it was genuine and bright.
On the map, Madam Pince could be seen patrolling the library, her tiny labeled footprints pacing back and forth. Further down, Filch crept along the corridors, Mrs. Norris trailing close behind.
Then it hit Holly—she still had to make the long walk back to the Hufflepuff common room. Alone.
Her smile faded slightly as nerves started to creep in. "Could I... borrow this? Just for tonight? I need to get back to my house."
"Of course, Holls," George said, handing her the map without hesitation.
Her heart gave a soft flutter at the nickname. It was her second nickname, but her first given by a friend.
"Thank you," she said, cradling the parchment like it was made of gold.
"I'll see you boys tomorrow."
She gave Fred a wave; he grinned and waved back. George gave a small nod and a wave of his own, eyes lingering on her a beat longer.
And with that, she turned and slipped out the portrait hole, the Marauder's Map tucked safely under her arm, and a new warmth settling quietly in her chest.
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MG-
Sooo how do we feel about having the marauders being mentioned?!
Updates may start to slow down due to school but I'm not sure yet.