The Great Hall shone as the morning sun beamed through the windows, Holland was comfortingly stroking Harry's cast as she vocalized how proud of him she was. At this time of day, it was expected that owls come sweeping in and dropping parcels down onto their owners. Holland having received a second batch of letters from her mum and Tonks, she was quite happy despite the fact that no word had still been heard from her father. Even when Holland had asked, her mother seemed to not want to answer where her father was. It was bothersome, but Holland just had to trust when her mother said that her father was merely busy. Then she realized she had so much more to tell them, making a mental note to take another quick trip to the owlery later that day. She hadn't even explained about how she'd made a new friend. But then again, how could she fill them in on the story if she wasn't able to include the major point of how it even began? Not without getting into an enormous amount of trouble at least. Knowing her mother, she'd have a stroke if she found out that her quiet Holland was actually a well-known troublemaker in school. Dora would be nothing but amused, had the boy not been a former house and teammate. Because Nymphadora Tonks was a Hufflepuff when she'd studies in Hogwarts, Holland couldn't figure out how she'd take the news.
"I see you two are talking again," Holland comments, noticing that Ron and Harry were sitting next to each other after what seemed like ages. Harry purses his lips as an attempt of a smile, clearly uncomfortable with all the sappy stuff with Ron. Ron, however, was visibly ecstatic that he and Harry were speaking again.
"Yeah," Ron smiles sheepishly, knowing he'd been a bit crazy thinking the way he did. "I never actually hated Harry, you know." Ron begins as all the girls rolled their eyes.
"Could have fooled me," Ginny says quietly, earning a look of amusement from Holland. Ginny quickly returns the smile, giggling.
"Same here," Holland agrees, smiling as the table falls into a comfortable silence. Holland admires the hall, almost as if experiencing a high. After weeks seeing the hall so dark in gloomy when it had been the times she'd dreaded the first task, it felt like somebody had opened the curtains and let the entire school sparkle as if it were new again. It was nice being able to relax and breathe again. Hogwarts had been buzzing with news and excitement over the recently finished task, all the Harry Potter Stinks badges long gone and everyone coming up to Harry every now and then for a handshake. Nearly-Headless Nick had happily told Holland and Cedric that days of tasks were excused, as Cedric needed time to rest. Even then, the two met up anyway.
"It was brilliant seeing how proud my father was," Cedric admits, almost hugging Holland the fifth time that day. Holland was lenient about the hugging, not comfortable with Cedric being comfortable himself about taking the liberty to hug her as much as he pleased. But the boy had been scorched and chased around by a fucking dragon! Holland realized she needed to let loose, just a bit.
"I told you," Holland tells him quietly, still testing out the waters with the boy. It had been about the fifth time they'd spent an hour together, the potion still seeming to be at an high effect. Cedric would have moments of stability, just talking to the girl, but one wrong move on Holland's end and the boy relapses terribly. Holland would be convinced that the two had really developed a great friendship for a bit, until she says something that eggs the boy on, then he's completely ballistic for her again and wanting nothing but to smother her. This had been the most patient Holland had ever been. That night, the two two didn't spend time together too long, briefly chatting about the first task and eating another snack made by the elves before quickly returning to their common rooms.
Holland watched Harry wince as she'd turned to face Ginny and accidentally hit his arm, quickly apologizing and stroking his arm once more. "Does it hurt terribly, Harry?" She joked, knowing how annoyed Harry and Ron were when it was Pansy asking Draco that exact question last year. Draco had decided not to pay attention to Hagrid in their Care for Magical Creatures. Harry had successfully ridden and befriended a hippogriff and that didn't sit well with Draco. Draco decided to shove his way through the class and have a frank talk with the hippogriff, the mammal not feeling to warm with the encounter, had accidentally scratched his arm. Holland knew there'd bit minimal blood, but when Draco played it off saying he could have lost his arm, she knew he'd been faking it all along.
"Don't start." Harry told Holland sharply before turning to the right where the Ravenclaw table was. Holland then watches Harry move on from the situation quickly and grab his cup of orange juice, now looking at Cho Chang. As her friends notice him looking, they inform their friend. Cho faces Harry with an already smile-etched face as Harry drank his juice. Harry sweetly smiles back and Holland nods in satisfaction, proud of her friend. That was until everybody noticed that Harry hadn't actually swallowed his juice yet, orange liquid spilling out of his mouth as he'd smiled. Cho's friends erupt in laughter as she told them to shush and quit their laughter, Holland covering her mouth to stifle hers.
"Shut up, Holly." Harry mutters as Cho sends him another smile, this time of pity. Like with Igor and Alastor, Holland didn't exactly warm up to the idea of Cho Chang. The girl has done absolutely nothing wrong, but Holland couldn't help how she felt.
"Look at this!" Hermione bellows, slamming her copy of 'The Daily Prophet' on the table. Holland and Harry lean in closer to her, ready to hear her say more. "Can't believe she's done it again." She shakes her head in disbelief as she shows Holland and Harry Rita Skeeter's segment of the paper — her 'Me, Myself, and I' portion.
"You're joking. She actually pulled through with that?" Holland rolls her eyes. Rita Skeeter really had nothing better to do with her life, so she feeds off teenagers' lives, and it showed.
"Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards." Scoffs erupt from the two as Hermione read. "Her latest prey, sources report is none other than the Bulgarian bon-bon, Viktor Krum." Holland's eyebrows knit together in confusion, how would she have known that? Holland knew Rita not to be a person to actually go around the castle and look for possible sources. Even if she was, there was no way in Merlin's pants she could, Dumbledore hated her just as much as everyone else, banning her from the grounds. "No word yet on how Harry Potter's reacted to this newly flowered romance." She finishes, earning a laugh from Holland.
"You're laughing now, Holland. Just know I'm not the only one on here." Hermione says, turning the paper to face Holland and Harry. Holland snatches the paper from the bushy-haired witch's grasp as she'd feverishly scanned it to look for any sight of her name or face.
"You can't be serious," Holland says in incredulity. But judging by the dauntingly accurate Hermione segment Rita had, Holland immediately turned afraid of what was written about her. Her eyes scanned from the first part of the column, an image of Harry and Hermione breaking apart from a hug, a lone image of Viktor Krum, then— Holland's eyes widen as she's got two images in the paper. One hugging Harry, and the other hugging Cedric. "This woman is insane." Holland laughed out in amusement, she may have had lucky guesses about Hermione and Viktor, but Holland being in a love triangle with Harry and Cedric was snort-worthy. Rita didn't even care anymore, literally just pouring out what she thought would catch the eyes of readers.
"Though Miss Granger couldn't tie herself down to one champion, neither could Harry Potter as he's found himself in the arms of another vixen." Holland showed her friends a look of disgust from what she'd read. "This woman isn't even trying to make sense anymore." Holland remarks, now getting the attention of Ron, too. The boy reluctantly abandoned his fourth helping of pudding and began to listen intently.
"Keep going," Ron says, enjoying the fabricated column about his friends.
"Harry Potter, now in the arms of the wizarding world's best aurors' rambunctiously intrepid daughter, Miss Avery..." Holland stops herself, "That's a lot of words, I'm sure this woman just ran out of lies to fill her garbage of a column and decided to grab random words from a dictionary," The lot stifle chuckles at Holland's visible annoyance.
"In the arms of the wizarding world's best aurors' daughter, Miss Avery, must be in the greatest blow to reveal that he, too can't tie down a girl, himself. Miss Avery also seen hugging Hogwart's original champion, Cedric Diggory. Could it be because she simply cannot work hard enough through her petty nature to live up to her parents' legacy? Is this all a play for the attention she seems to have trouble getting?" Holland laughs, once more. "You mean to tell me that this so-called journalist is announcing to the wizarding world that Hermione is juggling Harry and Viktor, while Harry is juggling Hermione and me, while I'm juggling Harry and Cedric? Honestly," Holland shakes her head in distaste.
"Well the story doesn't exactly end there, does it? Holland's juggling Cedric and my brother, after all." Ron jokes, Ginny laughing beside him. The twins were far off the table, talking with Lee Jordan and their other friends. Holland's eyes rise from the paper to glare at the ginger, ignoring his remark and her friends' laughter before continuing to read.
"The two have been spending an hour together every single day—" Holland's eyes widen, dropping the newspaper in shock. How could she have known that? More importantly, how were the students of Hogwarts going to take the news? Draco, Fred and George... Everyone? The table was now in an awkward silence, watching Holland and waiting for her to speak.
"Blimey. You'd think it's Mad-Eye that's got eyes that can see through the back of his head." Ron grumbles in disbelief, not understanding anything anymore. Holland lets out a frustrated breath, hoping that Rita's column wouldn't spark that much of the students' interests.
"Holly," An unrecognized voice calls, Holland turns around to see Cedric, the boy's hand occupied with his copy of The Daily Prophet. Cedric then eyes the rest of the table, giving them friendly smiles, smiling wider at Harry and giving him a very sportsmanlike tap on the back.
"Oh no, not now." Holland says, shaking her head. This was exactly the opposite of what she needed right now, the entire dining hall seeing her and Cedric talking right after reading about their 'newly-flowered romance'. Fred and George were now watching the scene unfold from their side of the table, trying to see if what the paper said was true.
"Yes, now!" Cedric interjects. Cedric tries to hold her hand, earning a disapproving look from Holland as she jerked her hand away, the four Gryffindors eyeing each other amusedly as they watched the scene before them unravel. He laughs, "It can't be that big of a bother to you, can it? It's Rita Skeeter, for Merlin's sake! Nobody believes a word she says." Cedric tries to calm her down.
"Can't be hard not to, now that you're here in front of me!" Holland whisper-yells, ignoring all the eyes of the students from other houses that were on the two. "Sit down before the entire hall knows you're here." She tells him, Cedric complying quickly. True to word, more than half of the hall had their eyes greedily feeding on the scene before them, in shock that the two who had begun hexing and tricking one another had been met with turned tables.
"All I'm trying to say is, please don't worry about it." Cedric smiles, handing her a cookie before leaving to go back to his house's table, the little audience of students watching Cedric in awe as Holland stares at the cookie in her hand in confusion.
"How romantic," Harry comments jokingly, not used to seeing the two not at each other's throats.
"Oh please, go swallow your juice before you speak." Holland easily retorts, earning a chorus of laughter and a glare from Harry. Before Harry could fling a spoon of peas at Holland, she quickly rose to her feet and told the group that she'd be heading off to class early. Her beaten-up school shoes skidded across the smooth marble floor before feeling a hand on her shoulder. After jumping in surprise, she'd turned around to see that it was a very gloomy looking George staring at her expectantly.
"Hello, there!" She jumps up to tussle his heads before hurriedly leaving, George sighing at his friend's unsubtle attempt of avoiding him.
"Holly, You're upset with me." He says as he'd finally been able to catch up to Holland. The pair had left the dining hall, now in the courtyard where they were when they'd made up after their previous fight. It was upsetting that it really looks like another row is about to brew where they'd finally made up. Holland sighs, she was upset with him, but she didn't feel like she were in the mood to talk about it at the moment.
"I.." She tries to deflect, now facing the boy who was talking to her, Holland giving up trying to play dumb in an instant. "Yes, I am. You knew about the dragons, George!" She yells in a whisper, not wanting people to hear. Holland could barely handle the embarrassment of people thinking she was actually with Harry and Cedric, let alone some rumor saying she couldn't be satisfied with two and just needed another toy.
"Look, I know—"
"Do you? If you really knew, you might've at least tried to tell me." Holland laughs despite herself as she was getting mad again.
"Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to see you like this?" George asks patiently, referring to Holland avoiding him, and that the two fought more often now. Holland faltered, not expecting George to be so calm. She was seething, yet he was as calm as a river.
"You wouldn't have to see me like this if you'd just tell me what's going on! You call me confusing, but I honestly don't understand you right now, either!" Holland says, crossing her arms. The two were now stopped in the middle of the courtyard, the students that were once enjoying the sun and fresh air now slinging the straps of their bags on their shoulders as first period was about to start.
"I know my initial plan was to be a useless tutor, now I'm an actual tutor, and what about it? You can't possibly be acting like this for just that reason. Is it because he's in the tournament and you're not? I'm sorry Georgie, but that's a bit unfair, don't you think? Does the tournament mean this much to you? Is that why this pisses you off so much?" Holland finally explodes, not expecting to have said this much to her friend. "Are you not going to talk now?" Holland demands. George had been staring at the ground, fuming but silent. After a moment of silence, George finally spoke up.
"I'm pissed to see you try and help Cedric figure out tasks and thinking about what else to expect from the tournament when you found it so hard to even let me try and put my name in the cup." George responds quietly, Holland was still angry.
"Okay, you've told me the truth and I respect it. I'm sorry, alright? But this is literally my duty now. I'm sorry that I'm so busy with the tournament now." Holland says calmly, but still not understanding why George found this so offensive.
"You don't get it," He says simply, Holland rolls her eyes, she was staring at a tree as she had been pacing, not wanting to look at the boy in the eyes. What could he possibly mean by that? She already apologized. The boy could have easily explained instead of shove it in her face that she didn't understand.
"Of course, I don't understand! You won't bloody tell me anything! I already apologized, can you tell me what else I've done wrong?"
"It hurts, Holly." He mutters, face sallow and he sat down on a stone bench.
"Can't you just tell me?" Holland demands, impatient and ready to yell her heart out in frustration at the boy who was making the situation even more difficult than it already was.
"Because I'm bloody mad for you, Holland!" Holland blinks, not trusting what she'd just heard, she was facing George now. "How am I supposed to feel seeing you cheer for Cedric when it was me who's been with you, taking care of you, and making you happy all these years? Am I supposed to jump up and down, clapping that you found it so easy to toss me aside for him? How easy you found it to cheer for him and help him train when you wouldn't even let me try enter?" He let out, speaking slowly as if he was tired.
"Do you not think it's because I care for you more?" Holland asks, finally finding her voice. She begins to walk towards the boy as she follows, "We're friends. I cheer because I don't want my friend to be hurt. Mind you, Cedric's of age, he's allowed to compete. I dont want to take any chances when it comes to you." She admits. "There's only one of you," She jokes, earning an eye-roll from the boy, followed by a genuine chuckle.
"Okay, correction. There's two of you good-looking gingers, but only one George Fabian Weasley." She corrects, smiling at him as she sat down next to him, trying to make eye contact with the boy who was currently too shy to look at her.
"Second correction, there's only one good-looking ginger, and only one George Fabian Weasley." He says, lifting his head and looking at the covered corridor in front of him, earning a laugh from Holland.
"You're an idiot," She tells him, all signs and residue of anger leaving her.
"You like idiots, right?" He asks, for once in his life, not able to find his courage and look Holland in the eyes.
"Are you joking?" Holland asks incredulously before the boy carefully places his hand to get a hold of her jaw, his face leaning towards hers more and more.
"Not that I don't want to kiss you. Trust me, I've been dreaming of this," Holland says, earning a smug smirk from the boy. "But classes are starting and we can't get in any more trouble." She says sternly, shooing the boy to class before running to hers. The boy whines before complying, knowing the girl had already been in a lot of trouble, as it was.
-
Holland spent first period in a daze, not being able to listen to the professor. George Weasley, she sighed to herself. She'd been dreaming of this for ages! She could do nothing but write his name over and over her little parchment, pretending to be taking notes.
"Geez, Holly. If I hadn't known any better, you look like you're slowly creating a spell to have my brother fall for you," Ron teases from beside the girl, taking her aback as she had no intentions of having anybody witness her doodling.
"I'll have you know, I don't need to cast your brother under a spell for him to fall for me." Holland smiles in satisfaction, immediately regretting it. Her smile immediately turned to a frown in worry, afraid that spreading the news to her own brother might jinx it. What if George had been joking? What if George just said it so she could get off his back about Cedric?
"You're barking," Ron says, surprised. "He's finally told you?" Holland tries to hide her giddiness from the fact that Ron knew all along.
"What are you two going on about over there?" Hermione whispers, seated next to Harry in a table next to them.
"If you really want to know, Hermione, we're on about how George has finally told Holland over here that he's crazy for her." Ron answers, earning a look of disbelief from both her and Harry, most likely because a part of them had hoped Holland would end up with Cedric somehow.
"Why?" Harry whined despite knowing Holland and Cedric ending up together was as mad as their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
"Oh, I don't know, Harry. I forgot to ask." Holland answers, both her and Ron laughing, quickly snapping their mouths shut and facing down as their professor began to walk around the room.
-
Holland and her friends were separated later that day, all students being called by their own house heads to be meeting for an important announcement. The house of Gryffindor were to meet McGonagall, as the Slytherins were to meet Snape in a roomy, dungeon-like area near his office. Not a lot of people were permitted to ever enter that room, so being in the spacious and almost unused room were new to the students of Slytherin house. Snape were in the middle, a giant phonograph next to him as all the students filled the sides and corners of the room to listen.
"Now," Snape begins, Holland tilting her head to the side in boredom, wanting nothing but to be with George at the moment. She was now between Pansy and Draco, Pansy staring at Draco dreamily as Draco pretended not to notice.
"The Yule Ball, a dance..." He drawls out, the girls letting out squeaks of delight as majority of the boys groan. Holland was no exception to the girls who were excited, already imagining what it would be like dancing with George as he'd be in dress robes and her in a beautiful, flowy, dress. "The dance," Snape repeats after silencing the entire crowd of students with a simple raise of the brow. "As Hogwarts has been chosen to host the event, we are expected to be no less than extraordinary with how we represent this school. As much as I would rather have you all go out there and make fools out of yourselves as you do..." Snape says, earning a laugh from Holland. The man hated everyone and he had no intentions of hiding it. "It is my duty to make sure none of you go out there looking like a swarm of provoked apes."
Draco didn't bother hiding his boredom, already talking to Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, earning Snape's attention. Holland then remembered her old friend, searching the room for her princess-like friend. There she was, near the other third years. Aurora was, just like Pansy, staring dreamily at Draco despite his unamused, unpleasant expression. Holland wanted to try and make Draco take younger girl, knowing that without a date, she wouldn't be able to come as she was only a third year, but figured it was near impossible as Pansy never left his side.
"Mister Malfoy, would you please join me down here as we demonstrate to your fellow housemates on how to waltz?" He asks, the entire room silencing once more in anticipation. It was no secret that a lot of girls in the house fancied the boy, so they were excited to see him. "If I'm not mistaken, your mother did have you take a few classes when you were younger. Correct?" He asks rhetorically, Draco standing still. It was clear that Draco was pretending not to hear was Snape had said, despite being the obvious kiss-up he was to the house head.
"Draco, just go!" Holland pushes him, not wanting anybody to get in trouble. Draco exhales in defeat, rolling his eyes.
"Not a word to anyone," He eyes his goons before going of to Snape.
"Lovely," Snape says, tone not matching what he's said. "Hand.. on my waist." He says, Holland not being able to bite back her laughter. Holland hated to say it, but Draco was a fair dancer. She saw the crowd of first years swooning, Pansy scoffing at the sight.
"As if," Pansy muttered bitterly, not liking the amount of attention there was on Draco.
-