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TWENTY HOLLIDAY LIPPINCOTT
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HOLLIDAY LIPPINCOTT.
It is a variation of another name, one that replaces the first with the nickname Holly, sometimes just Hol. It is a name that has been thrown around frequently over the past couple years, ever since she stood in line with the first years to be sorted, at least a head taller than them, with ice-white hair and a gaze a couple notches down from piercing. It used to be mentioned with the fact that she's cousins with Draco Malfoy, or how she'd been accepted into Pansy's gang before she even stepped foot into Hogwarts. Further down the line her name was tied with Harry Potter, how they started going out last school year... Other times it was whispered gossiping, about I heard she used to go to Durmstrang, and apparently her mother broke out from Azkaban.
Recently, it's been one of the names people whisper; the name hasn't been outlawed in Hogwarts, but it may as well have, along with Potter, Granger, Weasley. There's a fear lying in Hogwarts, that if one of the new teachers overhears a conversation about the four, they'll presume it's the student in support of whatever they're doing, and they'll be thrown into detention for the next week. In Hogsmeade you can find the name Holliday Lippincott stuck on the side of buildings, alongside the words Undesirable Number Four. Sometimes you'll hear students mumble her name when Draco Malfoy walks past them — he always ignores it, it's Pansy that noticeably grits her teeth together, the mention of her best friend bringing to her the same cycle of terrified thoughts. Will they kill her? Will they kill Draco? Harlow? Blaise? Flo? Will they kill me?
Pansy lies on her bed in her dorm room. She glances across at the bed that's been empty all year, and she feels her heart sink again. Flo isn't here anymore, having finished education at the end of last year. Draco doesn't speak as much to Pansy anymore, since every time they do, the conversation slowly turns into them mentioning Holly. Normally when she's mentioned, Draco stops talking. Pansy knows that he misses her — he just can't show it. She knows he'll get into trouble if he does, so he doesn't talk about her. At all.
She doesn't know what to do, anymore. Her parents have always talked about Voldemort highly, saying how important he is to the wizarding world, but Pansy doesn't know. She doesn't know what she thinks about any of this, all she knows is that she's terrified that something's going to go wrong and she's going to get killed. She imagines it too much: she'll be sitting, eating her lunch, and she'll picture the school burning down, killing all of them. She'll imagine someone using the Killing Curse on her. She'll picture every way something could go wrong and it terrifies her. At the end of the day, she doesn't give a shit about what this war is about. She just doesn't want to die.
The door opens. Daphne bursts into the room, as Pansy bolts upright.
"You're never gonna believe it," says Daphne, sounding out-of-breath. She walks towards Pansy, the door closing behind her. "Holly — they've spotted her and the other three in Hogsmeade..."
"Holly's back?"
"Apparently!"
Pansy can feel her stomach tying into knots. She frowns at Daphne. "But... If Holly's back then surely that means that they're here for a reason," she says. "If they're spotted here, what if he comes? What if... What if..." She doesn't want to finish the sentence. Instead, she looks at Daphne in pure panic. "Are we safe?"
"I don't know," says Daphne.
Pansy nods. Her heart's hammering.
You will not die for nothing, she tells herself. If things go wrong, you get yourself to safety, no matter what... Fuck anyone else, it's not like they're going to look out for you anyway...
✧
SO. TURNS OUT DUMBLEDORE has a brother, and that brother is a dick.
Holly stands, arms crossed, in the Hog's Head, looking across at Aberforth Dumbledore, a grumpy old man that she already dislikes. Earlier they had managed to make Vivien land on the ground, Holly mostly trying to communicate to the dragon to stop flying. Now, she's lying on Holly's shoulder, miniature again. Her tail curls around herself, as she sleeps. Holly missed her.
"We need to get into Hogwarts," says Harry to Aberforth, after a good couple minutes of them arguing over the fact that Aberforth's lost hope, and thinks there's no use fighting, but also he hasn't given up hope. Holly doesn't know. She just hopes Aberforth isn't tagging along. "If you can't help us, we'll wait till daybreak, leave you in peace, and try to find a way in ourselves. If you can help us — well, now would be a great time to mention it."
Aberforth doesn't move for a minute. Holly gives him a nasty look, raising her eyebrows and thinking, you are literally the worst person I've spoken to today and I was talking to a Death Eater earlier. She exchanges a look with Harry, who looks far more hopeful than she feels. By this point, they have a dragon, they could just fly straight into Hogwarts, or something. And besides... Isn't there a secret passageway into Hogwarts, inside Honeydukes?
Finally, Aberforth turns to the portrait of his late sister. "You know what to do."
Ron frowns. "Er — what—?"
"There's only one way in now," says Aberforth. Holly steps forwards, intrigued, and Vivien wakes up, hovering over Holly's shoulder. "You must know they've got all the old secret passageways covered at both ends, dementors all around the boundary walls, regular patrols inside the school from what my sources tell me. The place has never been so heavily guarded. How you expect to do anything once you get inside it, with Snape in charge and the Carrows as his deputies..." Holly recognises the surname, and she winces. Her mother didn't like them. "Well, that's your lookout, isn't it? You say you're prepared to die."
Hermione begins, "But what...?"
The portrait of Aberforth's dead sister, Ariana Dumbledore, begins to appear again in the frame, walking closer towards them. Someone is walking with her, though, and the four of them frown, watching the painting with confusion.
And then the wall behind the frame swings open, like a door, and Neville steps into the pub, a bright grin on his face. "I knew you'd come! I knew it, Harry!"
Neville hugs Harry tightly.
"Neville," he tries. "What the — how —?"
But before Harry can get the question out, Neville steps away from him, spotting the other three, and pulling them in tight hugs. Holly lets him embrace her, frankly a little surprised that he's even doing so, and she hugs him back, even though she's shocked by it.
"I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time!"
He steps away from her, and she gets a good look at his face. Every inch has some sort of damage done to it, whether it be bruising, cuts, scrape marks. Immediately she's brought back to Durmstrang.
"What happened to your face?" says Holly. "You are literally a paper cut away from all the skin falling off."
"What, this?" says Neville. She nods, her eyes as wide as the others', and then, get this, he brushes it off. "This is nothing, Seamus is worse. You'll see... Shall we get going then?"
Holly looks at him, shocked still. "I—"
Neville starts to go back towards the passageway behind the portrait. Harry follows, and Holly snaps out of it a little, climbing onto the mantlepiece to get into the tunnel. The more she thinks about the injuries on Neville's face, the more she begins to worry. Durmstrang was never that bad, she thinks.
"Is it true, then?" says Neville. "Did you break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It's everywhere, everyone's talking about it. Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!"
"Yeah, it's true," says Harry.
"What did you do with the dragon?"
"I've got her," says Holly. "She's my dragon... I took one of the mini dragons from the Triwizard Tournament, and they must've confiscated it off my friend sometime this year, because she was the one in the Gringotts..."
"You have a pet dragon?"
"Hell yeah I do," says Holly with a smile.
"What have you been doing? People have been saying you've just been on the run, Harry, but I don't think so. I think you've been up to something."
"You're right... but tell us about Hogwarts, Neville, we haven't heard anything."
"It's been... well, it's not really like Hogwarts anymore. Do you know about the Carrows?"
Holly nods. "My mother hated them."
"That's saying something," says Susannah.
"They teach here now... Well, they do more than teach," says Neville. "They're in charge of all discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."
"Like Umbridge?"
"Nah, they make her look tame... Amycus, the bloke, he teaches what used to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, except now it's just the Dark Arts. We're supposed to practice the Cruciatus Curse on people who've gotten deten—"
Holly stops walking, and says, "What?"
"Yeah," says Neville. Holly can feel her heart beating in her chest. She doesn't like this, she doesn't like this. "That's how I got this one." He points at a deep cut in his cheek. Holly blinks away tears. "I refused to do it."
Holly can't look away from the cut. "I'm so sorry..."
"It's fine now," he says, brushing it off again. Harry takes hold of Holly's hand, squeezing it. She can't help but feel sick to her stomach. "Some people are into it, though: Crabbe and Goyle love it. First time they've ever been top in anything, I expect—"
"But not Draco," says Holly quietly.
"Alecto, Amycus' sister, teaches Muggle Studies, which is compulsory for everyone. We've all got to listen to her explain how muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious towards them, and how the natural order is being re-established... I got this one for asking how much muggle blood she and her brother have got."
Holly doesn't look this time.
Ron winces. "Blimey, Neville, there's a time and place for getting a smart mouth..."
"You didn't hear her," says Neville. "The thing is, it helps when people stand up to them, it gives everyone hope... I used to notice that when you did it, Harry."
"Anyway," says Neville. "They went after Gran, thinking if they had her I'd behave, but she's on the run now. She sent me a letter, actually, telling me she was proud of me, that I'm my parents' son, and to keep it up... Only thing was, once the Carrows realised they had no hold over me, they decided Hogwarts could do without me after all. I don't know whether they were planning to kill me or send me to Azkaban; either way, I knew it was time to disappear."
"But," says Ron, looking at the other three with an incredibly confused expression. "Aren't — aren't we heading straight back into Hogwarts?"
"'Course," says Neville. "You'll see. We're here."
They turn the corner, to a flight of stairs, which they climb slowly, the four following Neville unsure as to what's going on. Are they walking straight into danger? The back of a portrait appears in front of them, which Neville pushes, and it swings to the side, revealing what looks to the be the Room of Requirement.
"Look who it is!" says Neville. "Didn't I tell you?"
There's an uproar of shouting, students clambering to their feet to the greet the four. Holly's taken aback by it all. She dreads walking outside into the hallways, because in her mind, this sounds like a worse version of Durmstrang... She didn't realise that anything could be worse than Durmstrang. And suddenly it hits her, that her friends have been going through this for the whole year. Draco's been alone in this.
"What's the plan, then?" asks Seamus.
"Plan?" says Harry.
Holly steps to the side, trying to rack her brain of where her mother left the diadem. Buttercup was meant to hide it, wasn't she? So where would she go? Holly thinks of the kitchens, the dungeons, the broom cupboards. No, no, no. She tries and she tries, but the same image appears in her mind: the image of her cousin, desperately trying to survive in this hell of a school. She wants to see him, she wants to find this fucking diadem as quickly as possible so she can see him straight afterwards, but she can't concentrate. Think, Holly, think!
She can't. All she can think of is Draco. She knows that Atticus is here, but she knows that he can handle this better than Draco ever will be able to. She wants to see her cousin.
Voices sound from behind her, as a group of others step out of the passageway. Holly glances over her shoulder, where members of the Order arrive, hopeful smiles on their faces; a blonde girl with a red scrunchie walks out next to one of the twins (Holly still doesn't know who's who?) holding his hand. Old students arrive, too; Cho Chang follows Lee Jordan, all of which looking far more excited than Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Holly.
"So what's the plan, Harry?" says one twin.
"There isn't one," says Harry, looking disorientated. Holly frowns.
"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we?" says the other twin. "My favourite kind."
Harry turns to Neville. "You've got to stop this! What did you call them all back for? This is insane—!"
"We're fighting, aren't we?" says Dean. "That's the message we got."
Ron lowers his voice, glancing at the three. "Why can't they?"
"What?"
"They can help," he says.
Holly shakes her head. "But if they get caught, if they get detention—"
"What about the ones that aren't students anymore?" says Ron.
"The Death Eaters will kill them," says Holly.
"If they're caught," says Ron, and then he lowers his voice, so only they can hear. "We don't have to tell them it's a Horcrux."
Holly looks around. "Over half of the people in here are children—"
"Then they stay here," says Ron. "Look, if you need to figure out where this thing is, surely it would help having some people getting us through the school?"
Holly frowns. "I guess that's true..."
They turn to Harry, who still looks unconvinced.
"You don't have to do everything alone, Harry," says Hermione.
Harry looks at the three of them, thinking about what to do. He turns to Holly, and asks, "Do you have any idea where it could be?"
She pulls a face. "I can't think clearly, I don't know," she explains. "I can't take my mind off of my cousin, so I don't know... Maybe we can try Ravenclaw tower?"
"It could be in the dungeons," says Hermione. "If you're thinking about Malfoy, maybe that's a sign of where it is?"
Holly nods. She tries to think of where else it could be, if her mind's thinking about her cousin. The only places she can think of that are notable to him would be, what, Moaning Myrtle's toilets, maybe the Quidditch pitch, and then this room... But it can't be in this room, it isn't the same as what Draco saw...
"But we'll check Ravenclaw tower first," says Holly.
Harry nods, seeming to snap out of one of his trances. "He's on the move," he tells the three quietly. He looks over at Luna, who's sitting next to Ginny. "Luna, can you take us to Ravenclaw Tower?"
"Oooooh yes, I'd like to," she says, smiling.
"Me and Hermione will stay here," says Ron.
Harry and Holly exchange a look, before nodding.
"We'll see you in a bit," says Harry, and Holly smiles weakly at the two of them. She walks towards Luna, who's sat up, ready to take them to her common room. Harry follows, holding onto the cloak. He tells Luna, "We need to stay under this."
Luna nods.
The three of them are covered by the cloak, and with that, they leave the Room of Requirement, hurrying through the hallways towards where the Ravenclaw dorm rooms sit. Holly can't help but looking at everything as she passes, shocked by how different everything feels. She doesn't know if it's because she's scared out of her mind, or if things genuinely seem worse, but Hogwarts feels cold. Soulless. Dead. Like someone took out everything that made her fall in love with this place, after those years at Durmstrang — it doesn't feel like that anymore. Instead, it feels like a caricature of what she once knew, a perverted version where someone's used parts of Durmstrang to take away the wonder of this place.
They reach the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. The eagle on the door says a riddle in a sing-song voice, to which Holly raises her eyebrows, and Luna figures it out, reasoning her answer. Holly doesn't think she can think clear enough to solve a riddle, not when her mind's racing over the fact that her cousin is so close to her, but she can't see him, because he'll be in danger, more danger than he already is just being here... Not when she's trying to figure out where this stupid fucking diadem is, not when there are Death Eaters in the school and they could catch them, at any point. They won't kill Harry on the spot but they will her. She knows she's meant to die old, but she can't shake the feeling that she could die, if they're caught...
As they step into the common room, Holly looks straight ahead at the alcove, where the white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw stands proudly. She walks toward it, her eyes fixed on the diadem sitting on the statue's head. Holly can hear her brain go ding-ding-ding! at the sight of it.
Harry stands next to Holly, looking up at the diadem.
"'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure,'" he reads out.
"Which makes you pretty skint, witless," says a voice.
Both of them spin around, their eyes landing on Alecto Carrow, as she pulls up her sleeve, digging her finger into the Dark Mark on her arm.
"Stupefy!"
Alecto Carrow crashes to the floor. And, as the bookcases next to her jolt from the sudden impact near them, the ceiling makes a noise with the amount of footsteps, people jumping out of beds and rushing down the stairs into the common room. Luna looks at Harry and Holly, looking proud of herself, having Stunned Carrow. Holly smiles.
Harry throws the cloak back over the three of them, as the Ravenclaw students enter the common room, their eyes wide as they spot Carrow lying on the floor.
"I think she might be dead!" someone says, grinning.
"Oh, they're pleased!" says Luna.
"'Cause of you!" says Holly softly.
She glances at Harry, who's frowning again, his eyes closed. She suspects he's having another vision, and she winces, looking around at the amount of students appearing out of nowhere. Holly holds onto her wand, trying to rack her brain for where the diadem could be in Ravenclaw Tower, but it's no use. Her brain feels as if it would shake her head if it could, to tell her, it's not here.
It's not here...
Then where could it be?
Holly frowns, and reaches for her necklace, having moved it back around her neck since they left Gringotts. "Suze, you see that crown there?" she says, and the ghost nods, eyeing the diadem carefully. "Do you think you could find it?"
"I'm not a fucking map," says Susannah.
Holly gives her a look. "Please?"
"I don't know where to look," says Susannah. "But, the other Carrow's coming."
"Oh, shit!"
"ALECTO! OPEN THE DOOR!"
Holly sees some of the Ravenclaws rushing back upstairs to their dorm rooms, and she tries to figure out what to do. She can fend off a Death Eater, she knows it — maybe if she makes herself known, they'll focus on getting her, and Harry can escape...?
"If he comes, and we haven't got Potter — d'you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? ANSWER ME!"
Her stomach twists.
"May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?" she hears McGonagall ask.
"Trying — to get — through this damned — door!"
Holly whispers to Harry, "The diadem isn't here... As soon as we can we get out, yeah?"
"Only if—"
"They won't hurt all of those students," says Holly. "If they do then we'll fight back, but you're a lot more valuable to them than anyone else in this room."
"Isn't your sister in there?" asks McGonagall. "Didn't Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evening, at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door for you? Then you needn't wake up half the castle."
"She ain't answering, you old besom! You open it! Do it, now!"
"Certainly, if you wish it," says McGonagall, her voice cold.
The voice from the door asks a riddle, to which McGonagall answers correctly, and the door lets them in. The remaining Ravenclaws run back up the stairs upon the sight of Amycus. Holly watches his face go red with anger.
"What've they done, the little whelps? I'll Cruciate the lot of them until they tell me who did it — and what's the Dark Lord going to say? We haven't got him, and they've gone and killed her!"
"She's only Stunned," says McGonagall, checking on Alecto. "She'll be perfectly all right."
"No she bludgering well won't!" he shouts at her. "Not after the Dark Lord gets hold of her! She's gone and sent for him, I felt my Mark burn, and he thinks we've got Potter!"
"'Got Potter'?" says McGonagall. "What do you mean, 'got Potter'?"
"He told us Potter might try and get inside Ravenclaw Tower, and to send for him if we caught him!"
"Why would Harry Potter try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower?" asks McGonagall, raising her voice. "Potter belongs in my House!"
Voldemort immediately thought it would be here, shit, Margo would've known that. So she wouldn't have hidden it here... It's in Hogwarts, but where?
"We can push push it off on the kids," says Amycus. "Yeah, that's what we'll do. We'll say Alecto was ambushed by the kids, them kids up there and we'll say they forced her to press her Mark, and that's why he got a false alarm... He can punish them. Couple of kids more or less, what's the difference?"
Holly's jaw drops. Her grip on her wand tightens.
Stay hidden, Holly, don't—
"Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice — a difference, in short, which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate. But let me make one thing very clear. You are not going to pass off your many ineptitudes on the students of Hogwarts. I shall not permit it."
"Excuse me?" says Amycus. Holly can see Harry stiffening as Carrow walks closer to McGonagall. "It's not a case of what you'll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time's over. It's us what's in charge here now, and you'll back me up or you'll pay the price."
And then he spits in her face.
Harry pulls the cloak off, and raises his wand.
"You shouldn't have done that," he says. Amycus spins around, and Harry shouts, "Crucio!"
Amycus drops to the ground, writhing in pain. He crashes into one of the bookcases, and Harry glances at Holly. "I see what you mean... You really have to mean it."
Holly gives him a look.
"Potter!" says McGonagall. "Potter — you're here!" She looks at Holly, who smiles weakly. "And Lippincott! What—? How—?" She frowns at Harry. "Potter, that was foolish!"
"He spat at you," says Harry.
"Potter, I — that was very — very gallant of you — but don't you realise—?"
"Yeah, I do," says Harry. "Professor McGonagall, Voldemort's on the way."
"Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?" says Luna, taking the cloak off of herself.
Holly shrugs. "I guess it doesn't matter anymore, does it?"
"You must flee," says McGonagall. "Now, as quickly as you can—!"
"I can't — we can't," says Harry, and he gestures to Holly. "There's something we need to do. Professor, do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?"
"It's been lost for centuries... It was madness, utter madness, for you to enter this castle—"
"I had to," says Harry. "We need the diadem."
Holly frowns, looking at the statue again. She tries to think it through: Margo would've put the diadem somewhere that's barely used... It can't be Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where Draco went all the time last year, because that's the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, isn't it? Margo wouldn't have put it there, because that's so close to Voldemort, she would've known not to hide it somewhere like that...
Think, Hol! When you hide things, you put them in places others wouldn't expect to find it. So it wouldn't be the dungeons, how obvious would it be for a Slytherin to hide something in their area of the castle? And she wouldn't hide it here, nor would she hide it anywhere that it could be spotted by accident. She'd want it hiding in plain sight...
"—and if Hogwarts is about to enter a state of siege, with the Dark Lord at the gates, it would indeed be advisable to take as many innocent people out of the way as possible. With the Floo Network under observation, and Apparition impossible within the grounds—"
"There's a way," says Harry, and he explains how they got in.
"Potter, we're talking about hundreds of students—"
"I know, Professor, but if Voldemort and the Death Eaters are concentrating on the school boundaries they won't be interested in anyone who's Disapparating out of the Hog's Head."
"There's something in that," she says with a nod. "Come. We must alert the other Heads of House. You'd better put that Cloak back on."
They follow McGonagall out of Ravenclaw Tower, after she uses a spell to keep the two Carrows tied up. Holly tries to think things through again, but suddenly McGonagall stops, Snape appearing out of the shadows.
"Where are the Carrows?" he asks.
"Wherever you told them to be, I expect, Severus."
"I was under the impression that Alecto had apprehended an intruder."
"Really? And what gave you that impression?" asks McGonagall. Snape makes a discrete gesture to the mark on his arm. "Oh, but naturally, you Death Eaters have your own private means of communication, I forgot."
"I did not know that it was your night to patrol the corridors, Minerva."
"You have some objection?"
"I wonder what could have brought you out of your bed at this late hour?"
"I thought I heard a disturbance," says Professor McGonagall.
"Really? But all seems calm," says Snape. "Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Because if you have, I must insist—"
Snape attempts to curse McGonagall, but before he can, she reacts, casting a shield charm. Flames erupt into the hallway, and Harry, Holly, and Luna are forced to the side of the corridor, crashing to the ground. Shouts echo around them, the voices of other teachers' appearing suddenly; Holly hears Atticus' voice cast a shield charm, just as McGonagall cries, "Coward! COWARD!"
The three stand back up, rushing towards the teachers.
"He jumped," says McGonagall.
"Is he dead?"
"No, he's not dead," says McGonagall, looking disappointed. "Unlike Dumbledore, he was still carrying a wand... and he seems to have learned a few tricks from his master."
Holly looks at Atticus, standing next to Flitwick. He looks at her, and he smiles. "Hol," he says, and she runs into her dad's arms. He hugs her tightly, as she closes her eyes, feeling close to tears. "What are you — what are you doing here?"
"We need to find something," says Holly. "I can't tell you what, but she hid something around the time Regulus died, and we need it—"
"Professor!" says Harry. "Professor, we've got to barricade the school, he's coming now!"
Holly steps away from Atticus, and she turns to Harry.
"Very well," says McGonagall. "Potter has work to do in the castle on Dumbledore's orders. We need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while Potter does what he needs to do."
"You realise, of course, that nothing we do will be able to keep out You-Know-Who indefinitely?" says Flitwick.
"But we can hold him up," says Sprout.
"I suggest we establish basic protection around the place, then gather our students and meet in the Great Hall. Most must be evacuated, though if any of those who are over age wish to stay and fight, I think they ought to be given the chance."
"Agreed," says Sprout. "I shall meet you in twenty minutes."
"How are we evacuating students?" asks Atticus.
McGonagall frowns at him. "Malfoy, surely you should be helping your—"
"I'm not on their side," says Atticus. "They tried to kill my daughter, and they've ruined my brother's life. I want Voldemort dead."
Holly grins.
Slughorn finally begins to speak. "My word," he says. "I'm not at all sure whether this is wise, Minerva. He is bound to find a way in, you know, and anyone who has tried to delay him will be in most grievous peril—"
"I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, also," says McGonagall. "If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance to take up arms against us within this castle, then, Horace, we duel to kill."
"Minerva!"
"The time has come for Slytherin House to decide upon its loyalties," says McGonagall. Holly frowns. "Go and wake your students, Horace." She turns to Holly, Harry, and Luna. "You had better return to your friends and bring them to the Great Hall — I shall rouse the other Gryffindors... Atticus, start to barricade the entrances."
Holly, before they leave, hands Vivien to Atticus. "Enlarge her, she'll be more than willing to fight them," she says, thinking back to how they treated her dragon.
Atticus nods. "Stay safe."
"You too," she says, and she holds onto Harry's hand, as they catch Luna up, running straight back to the Room of Requirement.
They pass crowds of students, who begin to shout at the realisation that two of the most wanted wizards in the United Kingdom are back in the castle. Holly tries her hardest to ignore it, as they continue to run, back to the Room of Requirement.
"Is that Potter?"
"And Lippincott?"
"But—?"
Suddenly, the name Holliday Lippincott has gained itself another connotation. A name gasped by students as they walk out of their dorm rooms, to the Great Hall, sleepy and confused, their eyes suddenly widening as they see a girl with ice-white hair bolting past them, her hand tightly holding that of the boy they've been thinking about since the start of September...
✧
PANSY'S WOKEN UP BY DAPHNE, hovering over her bed with her eyes widened and her hoodie covering her pyjama top. The dorm room door's open, and Pansy can hear Slughorn urging everyone to get out of their beds and line up in the common room, as quickly and as calmly as possible. Pansy and Daphne walk out together, her heart beginning to rattle in her chest as she looks around at the rest of the Slytherins. Draco's nowhere to be seen, same goes for Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy chooses not to worry about it, but rather, worry about whatever the fuck is happening.
She hears someone say that he is coming, and immediately she wants to stay in her dorm room, barricade herself in. They're not going to go after her if she's in the dungeons, will they, they'll only care if they fight alongside Potter. Pansy doesn't want to fight. All Pansy wants to do is feel her heart beating in the morning. She doesn't care who wins, who loses. She just doesn't want to die.
Slughorn tells her, as one of the prefects, to walk the first years into the Great Hall. Pansy hears them talking quietly, to the person behind or in front of them, about how this must mean that the war's going to be over soon. Really. They don't know what this is about. No one does. What is this war about? It might have started as someone wanting to rid the world of muggleborns, but it isn't anymore, is it? Someone wants to power, and Potter's in their way. Pansy thinks everyone getting involved isn't looking at this clear enough.
She sits next to Daphne again, once they're in the hall. She looks around, and still, there's no sign of Draco, no sign of Crabbe, no sign of Goyle. Foolishly, she wants to look for Holly, but she doesn't know if she wants to. She knows if she does, she'll cry, she'll try and make Holly stay out of this fight... And then she'll have to watch her best friend refuse, and walk away, and fight for something that makes no sense anymore.
"Prefects, when I give the word, you will organise your house and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point..."
Some idiot in Hufflepuff says, "And what if we want to stay and fight?"
"If you are of age, you may stay," says McGonagall.
Pansy frowns. "Stay and die, more like," she mutters.
"What about our things?" says someone in Ravenclaw.
"We have no time to collect possessions. The important thing is to get you out of here safely."
"Where's Professor Snape?" asks someone further up the Slytherin table.
Pansy thinks, fair enough to ask that, he is supposed to lead this shithole of a school.
"He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk," says McGonagall.
People begin to cheer. Pansy grimaces at this, thinking to herself, sure, he wasn't nice, but now's the time we need a headteacher, surely? She looks around at the other tables, grins appearing across people's faces — and then she spots her.
Her best friend, standing next to the Gryffindor table, holding tightly onto Potter's hand. Pansy almost cries out Holly's name, but she can't find the ability to do so. It's been months, almost a year, since she saw her. She looks years older, but at the same time, the same as she had done the last time they spoke. Her hair's shorter, and her clothes scruffier, dark-wash jeans and a leather jacket that was once white, but now slightly grey and brown from a year on the run. She looks different — her expression seems to be different. She looks like she's worried, or antsy, or scared... Pansy can't tell from this far away.
"We have already placed protection around the castle, but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it," says McGonagall. "I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects—"
A horrific voice echoes throughout the hall.
"I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."
Pansy looks around, at people holding onto their friends in terror. She feels as if her heart's stopped beating.
"Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed."
Pansy looks across at Potter, as Holly moves to stand in front of him.
"Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."
There's silence.
Everyone's head turns to Potter, who can still be seen despite Holly standing in front of him, since she's at least a head shorter. With the calmest expression, Pansy's best friend holds her wand out, and Pansy knows what her best friend could do if she wanted to. And she will for him.
But Pansy won't. He's one life, how are they expected to sacrifice themselves for him? He's always hated Slytherin, and now they're expected to stand by him? Why? What's going to happen when the Death Eaters come in and kill them, kill all of these people? Will he bring them back, by defeating You-Know-Who? No. People will lose their friends, their parents, their children. Pansy loves Holly, but Pansy isn't dying for him.
So Pansy stands up, her arm shaking as she points at him. "But he's there! Potter's there! Someone grab him!"
Pansy watches Holly's face fall. She can see her best friend's lip quiver, as she looks at Pansy. Their gazes are locked until the sudden amount of students standing in front of Potter, protecting him, cover Holly.
She hates me now, she thinks suddenly.
"Thank you, Miss Parkinson," says McGonagall. "You will leave the hall first with Mr Filch. If anyone else wanting to leave can follow."
Most of Slytherin stands up as Pansy walks past them, towards the caretaker. Daphne rushes after Pansy, holding tightly onto Pansy's hand as they walk back to the dungeons, tears gathering in Pansy's eyes as she begins to tell Daphne, "I just don't want to die — I don't — I don't — and now she's going to hate me — Holly hates me, I've lost my best friend—"
"Have you?"
Pansy skids to a halt. She suddenly realises that a diamond necklace has been placed around her neck, and ahead of her, she can see a glowing girl floating mid-air.
"Susannah?"
"She doesn't hate you, calm yourself," says Susannah. "I'm here to help you out... Jesus fuck, let your friend hold the necklace." Pansy tells Daphne to hold onto the diamond. Daphne protests, but does it, her eyes widening. "Hi, hello, I'm Susannah, I'm a ghost, you can see me if you wear Holly's necklace, it's a whole fucking story and I don't have the time to tell you it... Yet." Daphne raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Right, so, Holly's made me help you out. There won't be enough time to get everyone out, so I'm going to help you keep the dungeons safe. But you need to make sure that everyone's OK... OK?"
Daphne and Pansy exchange a look.
"OK."
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this was written in comic sans