SIX IN BLOOM
♡
BRIAR — LIKE A LOT OF other teenagers, wizard or not — doesn't see the start of January as a new year, but rather, the start of September, when school's back in session. A new school year for Briar is cathartic: sure, she's the same person, no resolution will change that, but a new school year brings a new mind set. This year it's, let's get on with it, and let's get good grades. She doesn't know if she'll do pranks, or at least, as much. What's the point? She lives with her dad. There's no point in sending her grandpa a message... He already does that, every single day. His letters trying to guilt Briar into going back to him have been thrown straight into the bin, the second that they show up.
The thing is this — her grandpa knows that once Livvy's made his mind up, there's no point trying to sway him. Once Livvy learnt about the full truth, that was it, he's never speaking to his grandpa again. Briar, on the other hand...
Well, Briar always wishes that everything could work out fine and that people don't mean to be nasty. It's easy to guilt her. She wants everyone to be happy, which just isn't possible. She's gone three weeks without seeing her grandpa — two without speaking, considering for the first week she read the letters before Livvy took them off her — and already she's having to remind herself that he isn't a good person. It's ridiculous. She knows he's a bad man, she's spent the last year resenting him for his shitty actions, and yet she still feels guilty when Livvy gets rid of the letters, before Briar can even rise to take the envelope off of him.
She thinks some of Livvy's newfound protectiveness comes from the fact that he found out about Briar's secret, when he walked into Briar's room on the night they left for their dad's, and he said, "Dad's all right then, isn't he?"
Briar nods, smiling softly. "I didn't know how you'd react," she tells him. "I would've introduced you two, I just... I didn't think you were interested."
"I wasn't," he says. "But I like him. He's pretty fucking cool... And he says he's still got our grandma's records upstairs, and he said I could have them! How fucking sick is that? Apparently she had loads of Elvis and Frank—" Frank, meaning Sinatra, Livvy's first love. Livvy's eyes are wide with joy. "I'm growing to this already."
"I'm glad to hear it," she says, and she thinks, you're about to say it, come on...
The smile fades from her little brother's face, as he looks around anxiously, looking hesitant. Briar begins to feel nervous as well, her inner eye warning her of what her brother's about to say. "You know Draco sent me a letter at the end of last year, telling me what happened with Dad," says Livvy. If anything, Briar loves that Livvy's calling him Dad. He pauses, and Briar thinks, spit it out. Get this over with. Let Briar hear "you're fucking disgusting" and let her get on with it. "Saying how Dad's a werewolf..."
Briar nods. "Yeah, uh, Fred did the same..."
It sounds stupid, she knows it does, but just the memory of her best friend makes her feel a little less nervous — no, not nervous. She dreads what her brother's going to say, what her inner eye's telling her is about to happen. But, she feels comforted by the thought of her best friend. Even though he will never find out Briar's secret — she swears now, hell will freeze over before Briar says those three words to Fred — she still feels comforted.
"And Dad, uh, he was telling me how he was when he first went to Hogwarts, when none of his friends knew what he was. Like, how he would get very quiet around the full moon, how he'd stay to himself around that time but be fine afterward," says Livvy. "And I dunno... It reminded me of you."
Briar feels her stomach tie into knots. "I think you know why."
"Are you really a werewolf?" her little brother asks her, and he stands up. He looks surprised, maybe even sad, but not at all disgusted. She finds that strange.
Briar nods. She still can't say it, she still can't find the courage to say aloud I'm a werewolf. She can't. Part of her won't let her say it, because maybe, if she doesn't say it aloud, if she just gets on with it, it isn't a fully-fledged problem for her to deal with. Briar won't become, Briar the Werewolf but instead she'll stay as Briar. Briar Crouch, maybe Lupin. Briar the Seer. Briar, the girl that left Hogwarts. Not Briar the Werewolf. It would crush her, people seeing her and their first thought being she's a monster.
"When—?"
"The day we were told we were going to Beauxbatons," says Briar. "Grandpa had been saying nasty stuff when Greyback was being held by the Ministry and..." She smiles weakly. "The rest is history."
"Why—Why didn't you tell me?"
Briar looks across at him, as if it's now her turn to hesitate. She glances at the door, to check that's it's closed shut. Her inner eye predicts that her dad, in less than a minute, will walk from the living room to the kitchen: he'll be downstairs, he won't hear this. She almost tells her brother, Because I'm disgusting, but she knows it'll crush him. It would crush her, hearing him say that. So she picks something else.
"I don't want anyone to know," says Briar. "Please do not tell any of your friends, I can't have anyone finding out... As soon as people know the truth, they'll turn their backs. I won't be able to get a job when I'm older, just like Dad, I'll struggle with everything... Please keep this a secret."
"I will," says Livvy. He frowns at his big sister, before he stands up and walks towards her, opening his arms to give her a hug. Briar smiles softly, and she hugs her little brother. "I won't tell anyone, all right?" He smiles at Briar. "I mean, I know what it's like to be different..." And Briar nods, remembering when he came out to her last summer. "That's why I like Holly so much. She isn't gay but she's really accepting about it..." And then Livvy began to talk about his new best friend, which was nice for Briar, especially when her little brother's emphasising how this friend of his is "really accepting." It's a nice change from Draco.
But anyway. Start of September.
Briar doesn't exactly love the start of the school year (who does?) but she likes the return to routine, the feeling of a new start. She wakes up fairly early, mostly so that she's got time to pack her last things into her trunk before she goes to the train station. There's multiple trains for Beauxbatons, because of the diversity of the students, but the one Briar and Livvy use is the same one Fleur uses. It starts off in London and stops in certain cities in France on its way towards the south of the country, where the school is. Fleur's family has a house in the countryside, but it's easier for her to take the train from Paris, which is where she'll meet Briar on the train.
"If you need anything, let me know," says Remus to Briar and Livvy, as they eat their breakfast. Remus got pancakes as a farewell treat, with strawberries and everything. Briar thinks that he's already starting to miss them, which she understands, but it upsets her a little. She doesn't like seeing her dad unhappy. "Briar, if you need anything for the full moon—"
"I'll let you know," says Briar, and she takes a bite of a strawberry. She's already gotten dressed, her hair tied up in a red scrunchie. "It's fine, Dad. I dealt with it for a year and it was fine—"
"But you have us now, if you need help," says Remus. "If you need to talk about anything..."
Briar nods, and she smiles softly at her dad. She's going to miss him. Thank Merlin he can Apparate to the village students visit on weekends, or else she'd go mad. She knows it sounds bad, but part of her is so thankful that he's a werewolf. It makes her feel so much better. And she wouldn't admit this, because she knows that she shouldn't be thankful someone had to go through the full moon, through all of the fucking pain, but it's nice to know that she can talk to someone and they'll get it. Her dad's been in her shoes before. He knows what she means when she says she feels like a monster.
"I'll try and visit you, too," says Sirius, and he grins at the two. Briar smiles. "'Course, you might look a little weird, talking to a dog..."
"Briar already looks like a freak when she does that with Sergeant," says Livvy, and like that, the new addition to the family walks into the kitchen, having heard his name and smelt the food in the air.
So, let's rewind quickly: a couple of days ago, Briar found a dog abandoned in a field, his leg tangled in some thorns. Briar took the dog back to their house (which was difficult, considering the little guy's a German shepherd, and Briar had to carry him) and after an hour of pleading with her dad, he said she could keep the dog. He was mostly concerned that Briar would struggle to look after the dog, but then Briar explained how she'd make sure that the dog (called Sergeant) was looked after, including getting dog food in the village's pet shop, to walking him every single day. She thinks Sirius quietly reminded Remus how Sergeant could keep Briar company on full moons, because she wouldn't harm him, and that helped to get Remus on board. (Briar loves her godfather, so fucking much.)
Sergeant sits at the table, next to Briar. She found out, when she was asking around in the local village to see if anyone had lost a dog, that Sergeant had belonged to the old farmer before he died, but he got lost, and no one tried to find him. "But it's fine, because he found his person, didn't he?" the man in the post office had said to Briar, and she had smiled brightly, before having to make up an elaborate lie about what school she goes to.
A few minutes pass and they start to get ready to leave, Briar pulling on her white Converse and tossing her bag over her shoulder, the one with her uniform stuffed inside so she can change on the train. It would look a little weird if she and Livvy walked through London in head-to-toe in baby blue. Also, she'll probably see people on their way to Hogwarts, and there's no way they're seeing Briar in the God-awful formal hat.
Here's the thing: Beauxbatons has two uniforms. One is the everyday uniform, the one you wear to classes and whatever, where it's either a skirt or trousers (light blue of course) with a shirt tucked in and a blazer on top. Then there's the formal uniform, which is what they wear on the first day of term for the assembly, and for special occasions. For Briar, this is a dress with a small cape draped over it, and this fucking ugly hat that's pointed and looks like a fucking turnip. It's fucking disgusting. Like, Briar doesn't mind the rest of her formals, it's just that stupid shitting hat that's the problem.
But anyway. Briar would rather die than step foot in the middle of London in her formals, so she isn't. And it's not like she's the only one that does it. It's the same as Hogwarts — it's easier to change on the train, because then you don't have half of western Europe wondering why all of these teenagers in light blue silk outfits are going on trains. Like, sure, Briar admits that she prefers the uniform to Hogwarts' (the blazers are, like, pretty Chanel which is always important) but she still fucking despises the hat.
When they get to Kings Cross, Livvy spots Holly and Draco with Narcissa Malfoy, and walks ahead to speak to them for a few minutes, taking Sergeant with him. They're early, so they've got time. In the meantime, Remus and Briar stand in the queue for a muggle café to get hot chocolate.
"I don't know if Beauxbatons works the same as Hogwarts, with Hogsmeade weekends, but let me know when I can visit," says Remus, mentioning the different names quietly. "I've got to visit both you and Livvy before Halloween—"
"Why?" says Briar, raising an eyebrow.
Remus pauses, before he smiles at her. "You'll find out soon enough."
Briar pulls a face. "You're turning into Mr and Mrs Weasley," she tells him. "They've been saying all summer that there's something special happening at Fred and George's school this year, but they won't say what... You're like, a proper grown up now. You're keeping secrets from me."
"Do you remember that I didn't tell you about my... condition for a year?"
"Uh, yeah, but that's understandable, I did the same," says Briar, shrugging. She's still frowning at him. "Why won't you tell me what's happening?"
"Because it'll ruin the surprise," says Remus.
"I hate surprises," says Briar. "I could just—"
"This is a good surprise," says Remus. "Just wait. You'll find out today what it is... You don't need to jump the gun and predict the surprise now, okay?" Briar scowls. "I promise you you'll be happy with it."
"OK..." says Briar, her brows furrowing as she looks across at her dad, who's gaze has fallen onto the display case. No doubt he's looking at the chocolate muffins, because Briar's doing the same. Merlin. It's ridiculous, sometimes. The second Briar remembered that chocolate's allergic to wolves her sweet tooth got worse, in a sort-of "fuck you" to the whole thing. Like, look, bitch, I'm not a real animal, am I? Because look at this double chocolate muffin that I'm eating, and the pain au chocolat I had for breakfast, fuck you fuck you fuck you—
Now, she can't wait until later. She wants to find out what this stinking surprise is. Part of her wants to just look into the future — it's not like she can't — but then, in her mind, there's the image of her dad looking excited about her finding out this super special thing. Like, she hates surprises, but she feels like she's letting her dad down, by jumping the gun. Does that make sense?
Briar and Remus walk out of the café, a chocolate muffin tucked into her bag for later. She's holding onto a cardboard holder for two hot chocolates, to give Livvy his once he returns.
"Fancy seeing you here," says a familiar voice, and Briar's heart stops.
She turns around to see Fred and George, their trunks by their sides. A massive smile appears across her face as they grin back at her.
"I'd hug you if my hands weren't full," says Briar, gesturing to the hot chocolates in one hand, and her trunk's handle in the other. Well. It's technically a valise, a fancier looking trunk that's all white, along with gold hardware and light blue details; Beauxbatons send them out for free, once you're accepted. It's sort of their way of making the students represent the school without having to wear the uniform. She can see the twins looking at it, and she shrugs. "Yeah, uh, school gives them to us..."
"School?" says Fred, frowning.
"Yeah, Beauxbatons," says Briar.
She knows what he means. She's saying "school," not Beauxbatons. By her saying that, it shows that Beauxbatons is her school, not Hogwarts. For a while, in her letters to the twins, she always made it clear that she still saw herself as a Hogwarts student, as a Gryffindor. Now... She doesn't really know. She hasn't really minded not thinking of herself like that, but seeing the twins' faces...
"Right, 'course," says Fred.
George scoffs, but it's forced. "You know what that is, don't you Fred?"
"Unfortunately," says Fred, and he grimaces.
Briar looks over at Remus, who's talking to Mrs Weasley. She looks over at Livvy, still with the Malfoys, and she turns back to the twins. For the first time in her life, she feels awkward around them.
It's bizarre! Even when she was thinking about Fred being hot, she didn't feel awkward around them! But now, she's pleading with her inner eye to tell her how long Livvy will be, how long she'll have until this is over...!
"So, uh, have you found out about this big surprise yet?" says Briar, referring to the similar comments Mr and Mrs Weasley had been making all summer.
George shakes his head. "Not in the slightest."
Fred pulls a look. "Although we've been forced to pack dress robes."
Briar looks at them oddly. "That's weird."
"What's that supposed to mean?" says Fred, tilting his head a little.
Briar rolls her eyes. "I didn't mean it like that, fool," she says. She glances over at her dad, still talking to Mrs Weasley. "My dad said that he needs to visit me soon at school, so I can get a dress..."
"That's... weird," says George.
"Yeah," says Fred.
"Dad says I'll find out later, whatever my surprise is," says Briar. She smiles weakly at the two of them, her inner eye showing Livvy arriving in three, two...
Livvy takes hold of his hot chocolate, grinning. "Dad says you've got my muffin," he says, looking pleased with himself. Livvy doesn't have the same affinity for chocolate, so he's got a blueberry one, which he's just as excited about.
"Uh, yeah, in my bag," says Briar dismissively, before looking back at the twins. "So, um..."
"See you soon," both of them say, mumbling. Both of them look sad — she thought it was bad, when they thought they were saying their final goodbyes a couple of days ago. Now, it's heart-wrenching for Briar.
She glances at Livvy. "Can you—?"
Livvy takes hold of the hot chocolates, and Briar moves forwards, hugging Fred and George. They hug her back, and already she misses this. She misses them. They're her first best friends. They're the first people she's trusted as much as she trusts Livvy, they're the reason she's so confident, they—
"We need to go, boys," says Mrs Weasley, although she doesn't sound like she wants to be telling them that. Briar pulls away, and she looks up at the twins.
"I'll see you soon," says Briar, forcing a smile.
The twins nod back. She catches George's gaze and he smiles weakly at her. Fred doesn't look at her, instead holding onto his trunk again.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walk past them. Briar glances over her shoulder at her dad and brother, who don't want to tell her to get moving, but also, know that she needs to soon. She sighs.
George is the first to walk away, putting a hand on Briar's shoulder as he goes past her. Briar finally catches Fred's gaze, and she smiles weakly. "I mean, if you pass your Apparation test quickly, you can see me next April, not June..."
Fred snorts. "Merlin, Briar," he says.
Livvy taps Briar on the shoulder. She can hear Sergeant panting, excited by the amount of people everywhere. "We're going ahead... See you in five minutes?" he says, and Briar nods, before he walks off. The Beauxbatons train leaves a little later than the Hogwarts one. And besides, it's half-ten, they have time anyway...
"I'm gonna miss you," says Fred.
And there's no smile, no joke attached. Just "I'm gonna miss you." Nothing but seriousness. For once in his life he's being serious about something—
"I'm gonna miss you, too," says Briar.
He pulls her into a hug, and she wraps her arms around his chest. She feels as if he's holding her again. She tries not to think about everything that's been swarming her brain since the start of the summer — why does he seem different? The issue here isn't that she feels differently around him, but rather this: Briar won't see her best friend for another year, and she's heartbroken about it. Although, it's weird she's more affected by Fred than George...
They pull apart. Briar looks up at him.
"I'll get you something French for your birthday," she says with a grin.
"Sweets, please," he says, smiling.
Briar raises an eyebrow. "You said 'please?' You must be serious—!"
"Hey!" he goes, and Briar starts to laugh.
"I'll see you soon," she tells him.
He nods back at her. "See you soon."
She takes hold of her trunk and walks the other direction to him, towards where the Beauxbatons train is hidden in plain sight, in a magical section of Kings' Cross that's accessed by an open archway, which muggles are enchanted to overlook. She catches up to Livvy and Remus before they get there, just as Livvy waves across the train station to where Draco and Holly are, having passed the hot chocolates to Remus to do so.
Briar glances over to where Livvy's friends are, just as Holly blows Livvy a kiss, before laughing. Draco looks unimpressed.
Briar takes the hot chocolates off of Remus as they walk through the archway, a line of trains appearing in front of them. This section of Kings' Cross is for magical trains overall — the ones that leave the country, when they get to the coast, they run on top of the sea, along invisible tracks. The train's become invisible to muggles, too, but that's a given, or else seaside tourists would start panicking at the amount of trains hurtling straight into the water.
There are two trains in the station currently, the Beauxbatons train, and another making its way through Europe. There aren't many wizards going on either, Briar thinks, but then that's always the case. Most of the time wizards just Apparate or use Portkeys, not sit around on a train for hours. But whatever.
"I'll visit you as soon as possible," says Remus, and he hugs Briar and Livvy. They all say one last goodbye before they leave, Livvy holding the hot chocolates and Briar holding onto Sergeant's lead, stepping aboard the train.
Briar sighs. "Well now I feel like—"
"Hello, Briar, Livvy," says Madame Maxime, speaking English in a thick French accent. Two house-elves are standing next to her, and she smiles at the two of them. Briar, without a thought, slips back into the image she's made of herself over the past year — Briar Crouch, the girl that turns the statues into rock bands. Briar Crouch, the girl that turned a corridor into a lake. Briar Crouch— "I hope you've had a good summer," says Madame Maxime, only this time in French. "Before you sit down, I need to speak to both of you."
Briar doesn't think much of it, presuming it's about their grandpa or something. School would be concerned, wouldn't they, if their students changed residence and started having a new guardian?
The two of them leave their trunks with the house-elves, who walk in the opposite direction to put Briar and Livvy's stuff above a booth. Briar keeps Sergeant close to her, eventually picking him up (again, this is a fucking task) and following Madame Maxime into her special carriage.
"So..."
♡
HOLLY — LIKE A LOT OF teenagers, wizard or not — would see this as a clean slate, a fresh start. She's starting a whole new school, in a different country to Durmstrang, where she used to go. No one knows who Holliday Malfoy is, but maybe they will. But, for now, all people will know is that she's Holliday Malfoy, Holly for short. Maybe some will find out her middle name's Hazel. Maybe some will find out that her mum and dad are respected, her dad especially amongst the Ministry, and both were falsely tried as Death Eaters all those years ago. Maybe some will learn that she secretly loves the muggle singer Cher (but don't tell her mum that!) Maybe some will spot her reading Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray (again — don't tell her mum! It's not Holly's fault wizards can't write for shit!) and realise that as much as she loves pop princesses and Audrey Hepburn films, she also loves creepy horror classics.
Or at least this would have been the case, but her dickhead of a cousin has gone and destroyed that, hasn't he?
Holly loves her cousin, she really does (she'd be complaining so much more about the whole "I promise to protect you blah blah blah" situation if she didn't) but he pisses her off sometimes. He still believes in this blood hierarchy and it bleeds, pun intended, to everything about him. He can be snobby, self-obsessed, prejudiced — all because his blood is "pure," and not everyone's is. Which makes no sense. How can blood be pure? Blood is just blood. It doesn't matter.
The thing is, she knows why she feels this way, but her cousin doesn't. In the nicest way, Durmstrang knocked the prejudice right out of her. Who cares what blood type you are there — whatever you are, if you snitch on others you'll be ripped apart. Holly's still got the scars to prove it.
Holly walks alongside Draco and her mother through Kings' Cross. Livvy's left them now, which upsets Holly. Holly loves Livvy, she really does. She's never had a best friend before... And OK, sure, she knows Draco's already best friends with Livvy, but it's different. Holly and Livvy have sleepovers together, they talk about boys together. Holly knows that there's something... special between Draco and Livvy, but it's a different sort of closeness.
(In short: Draco and Livvy are in love with each other. So, like, it's different.)
"Now remember," says Margo, glancing to Holly and smiling brightly. She puts an arm around her daughter, and Holly rolls her eyes, in a, "Gee, Mum, you're so embarrassing!" sort of way. "Hogwarts is a lot different to Durmstrang... At Hogwarts, there are all sorts of people..."
Draco snorts. "You mean mudblood, Aunt Margo."
Holly bites her tongue.
"Not just that," says Margo. "At Hogwarts, there'll be lots of people that might not... like you much. At least not from the start. Because they'll know you're my daughter and like that, they'll remember what they've been told them about Death Eaters."
"But you're not one, Mum," says Holly, frowning. "You were under—"
"Imperius, yes, I was," says Margo, nodding. She smiles at Holly still, pulling her into a side-hug, and kissing the top of her head. "But they all don't think that... Just don't listen to them. They're not important... A diamond like you shouldn't worry over the opinion of shrapnel."
Holly rolls her eyes. "Will do, Mum..."
She's laying it on thick, her cousin says.
And your dad doesn't? says Holly.
This is what Holly means by that promise. It happened at the start of the summer, when Holly burst into tears and said how she hated Durmstrang, how she didn't want to go there anymore. She had cried and cried into her dad's shoulder until she fell asleep; when she woke up, her mother had told her, "You're going to Hogwarts next year." They went to Malfoy Manor, so Holly could surprise her cousin, and then one of their parents — Holly doesn't know who — suggested, "They could promise to protect each other."
Holly doesn't exactly mean promise. You know what she means. The magical promise that ties you to the other person; if you break the promise, you're done for. Somehow, Holly and Draco's promise to keep each other safe, to look out for one another, has equated to them being able to talk telepathically, which is kinda fucking weird. Like, think about it. Everyone thinks they're twins and now, they've got the closest thing to twin telepathy.
"So," says Narcissa, as the four of them get to the platform. She beams at Draco and Holly. "Look after each other, but enjoy yourselves... You know what's coming up this year."
Next to her, Margo smiles happily. Holly thinks that her mum's smile is a lot... different to her aunt's. Like, Margo's almost smirking, in the way that she's smiling at them. Which is weird, but whatever. Obviously not everyone knows about what's happening this year, so obviously her mum's just smiling because, ha ha ha, they know and no one else does, isn't this funny? Holly finds it a little funny.
"Make sure you write to me, as soon as you can," says Margo, and she takes hold of Holly's hands for a moment, smiling at her daughter. Margo then lets go of Holly's hands, pulling Holly into a hug. "I'm going to miss you so, so much..." She hears her mother sigh. "My little Holliday dearest, going to my old school, going to see the Triwizard Tournament! You're going to love every second." The two pull apart, Margo holding onto Holly's hands again. "I love you."
Holly rolls her eyes. "I love you more."
"I love you most," says Margo, and she kisses Holly's forehead, before hugging her again. Holly, this time, catches Draco's glance, and she looks at him, sending him a glare intended for her mother.
I'm not even at this school, and I already look like a baby! she says.
There are bigger babies at Hogwarts, says Draco. There's a whole house of them, which is so ironic because they think they're the bravest!
Really? says Holly.
Really, says Draco.
Holly and Draco leave their mothers, slipping onto the train after a massive group of friends reuniting after the summer. She can't wait until she's in that position, when she's hugging her best friends on the train platform and finding a compartment with them. Sure, she has Draco, and she has Livvy... But Draco's practically her brother and Livvy isn't here. Holly wishes she had someone else. Like, a whole group of friends who she could trust and they could stay up late talking about nonsense and it would be amazing.
"I need to find Crabbe and Goyle, they'll be a free compartment somewhere," says Draco, and Holly gives him a look, thinking to herself, you're ditching me? But she doesn't say that to him, nor does she let her panic show. What good of an impression would that set? Holliday Malfoy: practically scared of her own fucking shadow.
Holly spots an empty compartment, cutting off another group of students to get into it. Oh, well, she thinks. She already knows what people think of her cousin; she learnt that the second those other Hogwarts students saw Draco at the World Cup. They did not look impressed when they saw Draco... Neither did they, when they clocked that Holly, a Malfoy, was close friends with the Quidditch player they had all been oogling for the past couple hours...
She begins to look around in the compartment, having placed her trunk on the shelf, setting her owl, called Owl, on part of the bench. The compartment's nice, she thinks. It looks nicer than what she's used to. Homelier, she thinks. The lightbulbs must be the kind that shines a warm white instead of the cold kind, and the fabric of the seats are a cosy-looking red. Someone's scratched into the wall, next to the window: THE BFG WAS HERE! Next to it, someone's also written, AND LEE!! Holly thinks that it's cute, that she likes it. It's unsettling, a massive difference to what she's used to, but she likes it.
Mindlessly, her fingers move to start twirling her necklace around, but the door slides open. A girl with short black hair frowns at her. "Oh, you must be waiting for your friends, anyway—"
"No," says Holly, lying slightly, but who cares. If she says, I'm waiting for Draco Malfoy, she could scare this girl off. The girl's eyes narrow at her anyway. The girl, Holly thinks, has the sort of face that could be seen as intimidating, but Holly's used to that. She's got the same issue. "I'm new..."
The girl, although frowning, moves to sit in the compartment. She tilts her head a little bit, her hair falling behind her shoulder on one side of her face. Holly sees the confusion — or is it intrigue? — on the girl's face grow.
"Where did you used to go?"
"Durmstrang."
The girl's eyes widen in bewilderment. Holly's surprised. She didn't think that this would be the reaction, that people would find the fact that she went there magical and exciting, but sure, she'll go with it. Anything to sit with someone other than her cousin during lessons and lunchtimes.
"I'm Pansy," she says. "And you—?"
"Holly."
The next few minutes consist into something that could be easily translated into the biography of Holliday Malfoy. She was born thirty minutes into Virgo season, but she sort-of thinks that astrology's a bunch of shite stitched together. Once upon a time she attended Durmstrang (you know this, though) and she shared a room with a girl from Bulgaria and two from Sweden, all of which she was friends with since they thankfully spoke English. (Although she learnt a bunch of phrases from different languages whilst at the school, but most of them were either insults or "Shut the fuck up a teacher's coming!") She was also on the Quidditch team, Chaser, but got cut to make room for more burlier players.
Her mother's name is Margo Valen and her father's Atticus Malfoy, his older brother being Lucius, Draco's father. (Pansy's eyes grew into saucers at that point, when Holly reluctantly mentions her last name, and who her cousin is... Pansy doesn't seem to mind, though. If anything, she's excited by it.) Her father Atticus works in the Ministry, with international relations. Her mother doesn't have a job; they've got enough money that she doesn't need to work, and the only reason her dad works at the Ministry is to prove to everyone that the old allegations about the couple being Death Eaters aren't true. They aren't true, Holly reassures Pansy. The Malfoys aren't Death Eaters.
Pansy's eyes lit up at three things: the first was "I'm a Virgo," because apparently Pansy's one two (their birthdays are two days apart!), the second was her surname, and the third was, "Oh, yeah, I know Viktor Krum," and that's how Holly explained how she used to be a Chaser.
And that's that. Pansy looks like she's proud of herself, for accidentally meeting Holly. "My friends should be appearing any time soon — we're all in the same house. The best house, obviously," she says. She grins. Holly smiles back. She knows that's what she's supposed to do. That, and Pansy doesn't seem terrible. She's nice. She didn't get pissy when Holly mentioned her dad, which is always a good sign in Holly's eyes. "I know you'll be in our house, though."
Holly remembers that Pansy told her she was friends with her cousin, that they were in the same house. So her brows furrow. "That's Slytherin, right?" she says, and Pansy nods. "And then there's Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor..."
Pansy nods, giving Holly a smirk. "Saving the worst for last, nice," she says. Holly smiles, even though she didn't really mean that. But whatever. "Every Gryffindor is obsessed with themselves, it's pathetic... You've looked out, having gone this long without meeting one of them."
"Don't say that, I'll wind up being one now," says Holly. Pansy laughs and shakes her head in disgust, like it's that horrific. Part of Holly wonders how a house system can be this aggressive. "What's so bad with Gryffindor, anyway?"
"They're just terrible," says Pansy, shaking her head still. She leans forwards and puts her hand on Holly's wrist, in a cute comforting way. "But you don't need to worry, you're not going to be like them... I can already tell, you're far better than them."
The compartment door opens again, and three girls appear.
"Oh, this is Holly," says Pansy, beaming brightly. She looks like she's found a diamond at the bottom of the ocean, or something. "She used to go to Durmstrang, and she's in our house, and obviously she's going to be a Slytherin, like the best of us are." Then, she moves to look at Holly. "That's Daphne, Millicent, and Tracey."
"Sweet," says Holly.
They all look friendly enough, and very quickly, they all burst into conversation, talking about school and explaining to her the stuff that she wouldn't know. Daphne says that they best get changed into their school uniforms, and the latter is done. Holly feels a little strange, having a plain tie whilst the others have robes with green and silver already decorating the fabric. Holly almost moves, to start twisting the diamond on her necklace in discomfort, but she stops, because the Gryffindor-Slytherin thing is mentioned again, and she's yet again reassured that she's obviously going to be in green later.
"C'mon," says Pansy. "You're such a Slytherin."
Tracey jokes, "It's the green hair that does it."
Holly lets out a laugh.
She thinks she's going to like it here.
♡
"BRIAR," SAYS MADAME MAXIME, sitting at her desk. Briar sits down on the other side, glancing across at her little brother, who looks a lot more nervous than she does. Briar's used to this now. Livvy isn't. "I'm sure you know about the Triwizard Tournament coming up this year."
Briar frowns. "No...?"
Madame Maxime looks surprised, her brows furrowing.
"It was this tournament between Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and Hogwarts," says Livvy, without a pause. Briar turns to look at her brother, surprised he knows about some ancient tournament. "Each school would have a champion, and basically they'd compete in a series of tasks, and whoever did the best would win. But it was really dangerous, so they stopped doing it..." He trails off, looking at Madame Maxime in confusion. Briar's confused, too. Does Madame Maxime want to chuck Briar in this tournament, or something, to get her killed and out of her hair? It's not like Briar would be surprised, but...
"We're introducing it again this year — of course there'll be restrictions to ensure the champions' safety, such as an age restriction. Students will have to be seventeen to enter," says Madame Maxime. She spots the frown on Briar's face, because the second she says "Seventeen," an expression washes across Briar's face, as if to say, Then why are you telling me this? "The Tournament this year is being held at Hogwarts."
Briar nods, frowning still. Way to rub it in my face.
"And, because of this, I won't be at school from Halloween onwards..."
Briar thinks, Are you giving me a heads up, or something?
"The school will burn down if I leave you there, so, although you cannot enter, you will join the potential champions in spending the year at Hogwarts—"
"What?"
"And, Livvy, you are coming, too."
Livvy looks surprised. Briar's jaw is still on the ground.
She cannot believe this. Almost the entire school year, back at Hogwarts? The entire year back at her old school, back with Fred and George and Lee, back spending afternoons in the Gryffindor common room, next to the fire, back sneaking out at night and going to the kitchens for dessert. All of this sounds perfect, but quickly her excitement's halted.
Briar begins, "Fleur—"
"Mademoiselle Delacour is one of the candidates."
This just gets better and better!
"I can spend the year at Hogwarts?" says Briar, in disbelief. The entire year at Hogwarts, but not only that, because she'll still have Fleur with her?
Madame Maxime nods. "Well, I would like to return to Beauxbatons with the castle still standing, and that will not happen if I leave you behind."
Briar opens her mouth, to try and defend herself, but then she remembers the hallway turned into lava (it was the Arithmancy corridor, do you blame her?)... And that one statue that went a little rogue... And most of the things she's done, when they've gone just a little too far...
"Fair enough."
suddenly i realised how similar george and holly are???? the parallel was unintetnional but lol im gonna play that up now
anyway i hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you thought!!!