—✧—✧—✧—✧—

SEVENTEEN HOLLIDAY LIPPINCOTT

(PT. 2)

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

       HOLLIDAY LIPPINCOTT.

       Her name's a variation of another name, one that replaces the first name with the nickname Holly. It is a name that has been thrown around frequently since September, ever since she stood in line with the first years to be sorted, with ice-white hair and a gaze a couple notches down from piercing.

       Often the name's featured with the names of her friends. Sometimes it's how she's the best friend of a girl many hate, of a girl with an equally piercing resting face. Sometimes it's mentioned with the name of her step-cousin, and more recently, her step-father, now that half the school's read the article about his death. Other times it's whispered amongst friends gossiping in the back of a classroom, where in a hushed voice someone says, I heard she went to Durmstrang... Frequently it's been mentioned in the Gryffindor common room, by a boy who for some reason can't stop thinking about her.

       Recently, it's been noted with another thing. She's got to win the tournament. By this point in the tournament it seems to have been decided by the majority of the school that obviously Holliday Lippincott will win the Triwizard Tournament. We've seen her swimming and training, every morning she's out there, getting ready, the Hufflepuff says to their friend in Potions. Of course she will, she's the only one with common sense! says their friend, the Ravenclaw. Every lesson she's got her hand up, answering questions like they're an easy breeze, a walk in the park. Every lesson she impresses the teachers and the other kids sitting in the classroom, because who would've thought?

       The most recent use of the name, however, happens to be from her best friend, who, as Holliday Lippincott laced her shoes to walk down to the Quidditch field to get details on the final task, shouts at the top of her lungs, "MAKE WAY FOR HOLLIDAY LIPPINCOTT, THE TRIWIZARD CHAMPION!"

       Holly grins back at her, and crosses her fingers. "We'll have to see!"

       She leaves her dorm room, and passes through the common room, where someone has the record player blaring wizard rock music. As she passes through the groups of students studying and messing about, she grabs one of the Chocolate Frogs from the table of leftover food. When the door to the dungeons closes behind her, the music and the laughter goes with it. Now, all Holly can hear are her own footsteps, and the sounds of her unpeeling the Chocolate Frog to bite its head off.

       As she reaches the entrance hall, she sees Harry and Cedric about to walk down to the Quidditch pitch, and she hurries up to get to them, greeting them with, "I have no clue where this Quidditch pitch is, so hi, hello."

       "Hi, Holly," says Cedric, and he smiles at her, just as Harry does the same. Holly finishes her Chocolate Frog. "What d'you reckon it's going to be? Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels; she reckons we've got to find treasure."

       "That wouldn't be too bad," says Harry.

       Holly likes the idea of underground tunnels, of a task where there's shadows and darkness to hide and slip into, to dart past other competitors in search of treasure. In all honesty she likes the idea of anything where she's mostly reliant on being quick on her feet, and even the idea of having shadows to hide in sounds superb.

       They reach the Quidditch stadium after a couple minutes. Holly wonders if she'll be able to pull Harry to the side after this, to fill him in on what she's been theorising for the past few weeks. Moody's connected to Crouch, he has to be. Either he's Barty Crouch Jr. in disguise, or there's some other way he's involved, but he is. She just knows.

       "What've they done to it?" says Cedric, horrified. He's staring at the Quidditch field, and Holly catches up to him and Harry, who have already walked through a gap in the stands. She sees dark green (she likes this) plants growing across the Quidditch field, towering over them.

       "Hello there!" says Bagman, who's standing in the middle of the field, next to Viktor and Fleur. Holly smiles at Viktor as she reaches them, and he smiles back at her. "Well, what d'you think? Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry — you'll have you Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over!" Good, she thinks, because that's the next thing I want to do. "Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

       "Maze," says Viktor.

       "That's right!" says Bagman, beaming. Holly places her hands on her hips, and glances around, as if to survey the area. A maze. That's seems easy enough. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the centre of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

       "We simply have to get through the maze?" says Fleur.

       "There will be obstacles," says Bagman, looking like a kid on Christmas Eve. Holly nods. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures... then there will be spells that must be broken... all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading on points will get a head start in the maze. First, Miss Lippincott." She gives a smug grin. "Then Mr Diggory and Mr Potter. Then Mr Krum will enter... then Miss Delacour. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"

       OK. Creatures and spells to break. That should be fine. Over the course of the month she'll get her friends to test her on every creature they could possibly use, and she'll study different spells, and how to break them. It'll be fine. It's a maze, a labyrinth made with dark-green trees, attracting dark shadows, easy ways to dart past. She'll win this.

       "Very well... if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly..."

       Holly nods and turns on her heel, making her way back up to the castle to get started immediately. She'll run to the library and get every book even remotely useful, and she'll go to town with revision cards for Pansy to test her on. She wants to pass this with flying colours, she knows they allow parents to visit for this task, and she wants her dad to see her succeed, for him to see her and know his little Holly's victorious, in a strange world he doesn't particularly understand. (And neither does she, a lot of the time.)

       Harry walks off with Viktor, which greatly shocks Holly. Bagman smiles at Holly, as if to begin speaking to her. Instead of being polite, and forcing a smile, she just looks straight at him, with the resting face Pansy calls has committed murder.

       Holly lets Bagman walk ahead of her, once he takes the hint that she doesn't want to speak to him. She digs her hands into her pockets, and she breathes in the summer air, smiling to herself. This is her favourite time of year, where the world doesn't have to lock itself away in a stuffy house with the fire roaring. This is the season of hope, of ambition, of freedom.

       "HOLLY!"

       Harry crashes into her, causing her to fall onto the grass alongside him. Immediately, Holly clambers to her feet, frowning at him. "What are you doing?" she says.

       "Sorry, I didn't mean to!" says Harry, as he scrambles back to his feet. Holly brushes the soil off of her skirt, casting an annoyed look towards him. "It's Crouch! He's in the forest, Krum's keeping an eye on him, but there's something wrong with him — can you go, too, I need to find Dumbledore—!"

       "Will do," says Holly, and he smiles breathlessly. "Go!"

       And off Harry runs, back up to the castle. Holly hurries down to the Forbidden Forest, the woods skirting the edge of the school ground. She finds Viktor standing near the trees, looking alarmed.

       "So what's this about Crouch?" says Holly, as she reaches Viktor, and he explains as much as he can: apparently Crouch was saying how everything was his fault (to which Susannah laughs) and how he was saying something about his son and something terrible and Voldemort. Holly pulls a face. "Oh. OK."

        "He is talking to the tree, I believe," says Viktor, and he points towards the man in dirty, deteriorating clothes, standing a little further into the woods. Holly grimaces. "So Harry asked you to come back?"

       Holly nods. "Yeah, I was on my way back to the castle—"

       "So you're friends with him?" says Viktor. Holly, narrowing her eyes, nods again, and he smiles. "It is funny, I should have noticed — and here I thought that he was something with Hermy-own-ninny—"

       Holly's eyes widen. "Did you speak to Harry to see if he was competition?"

       "Yes," says Viktor, matter-of-factly. He's still smirking at her. Holly misses this. She hasn't spent much time with him whilst he's been here, and she wishes she had done, she was just caught up with her new friends and figuring out this tournament. "But he is not... You know that, I think."

       "What does that mean?" says Holly, frowning.

       "You seem fond of him—"

       "STUPEFY!"

       Viktor falls to the ground. Holly grabs her wand, and before the figure can stun her, she snaps, "Diffindo!"

       She hears a cry of pain, and the sound of Crouch talking to himself. Her fingers grip around her wand, her heart beating fast. Before the figure can do anything else, Susannah appears out of nowhere, and pushes Holly to the ground, shoving a cloth onto her.

       Through the cloth she can make out a figure disappearing into the forest, and she supposes it was lucky staying close to the edge. Evidently the figure didn't want to leave the comfort of the forest. She waits a couple minutes before sitting back up, taking a hold of the cloth that Susannah covered her with.

       Holly stands up, and notices the pattern on the cloth. "Were you there when Harry mentioned this?" she says, holding up the Invisibility Cloak.

       Susannah nods. "You were a great Stevie Nicks."

       Holly folds the Invisibility Cloak up to the best of her ability, and manages to shove it into one of the pockets in her robe. She walks towards Viktor, whose face-flat on the floor. Frowning, Holly checks his pulse, pressing her fingers against his neck, just to be sure. He's alive, thankfully. Holly's not equipped to experience that, not just yet.

       "Over here," she hears Harry say. Holly jumps to her feet to stand into the grounds, to make her whereabouts known. She sees Dumbledore following Harry, looking concerned.

       As they get to her, Harry frowns. "Where's—?"

       "Over there," says Holly, pointing towards Viktor. 

       Dumbledore moves closer towards Viktor, and lifts one of his eyelids, to which he states, "Stunned."

       Holly frowns. "I didn't see who did it," she says, standing back. Her heart's still racing. She keeps on glancing around, in case the figure returns. "They stunned Viktor and before they could the same to me, I used Diffindo, and after that they disappeared."

       "That's fine, Holly," says Dumbledore.

       "Should we go and get someone?" says Harry. "Madam Pomfrey?"

       "No," says Dumbledore. "Stay here."

       Holly exchanges a look with Harry, who's red in the face. Considering he quite literally ran into her, she figures that he ran all the way to find Dumbledore. She turns to look back at Viktor, at her old school friend, the nice boy from higher up in the school that campaigned for little second-year Holly to get put on his team in Quidditch. She regrets not noticing the figure in the shadows.

       "Rennervate."

       Viktor opens his eyes. He tries to sit up, but Dumbledore puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him from doing so. Holly watches, frowning. "He attacked me!" says Viktor. "The old madman attacked me! I was over there next to Holly, looking around to see where Potter had gone and he attacked from behind!"

       "Lie still for a moment," says Dumbledore.

       Hagrid appears. There's a split second between his arrival and Holly's realisation that he probably associates her with Pansy and Draco, and she grimaces. A massive dog follows him, and her face lights up.

       "Professor Dumbledore!" says Hagrid. His eyes widen, and he looks over at where Holly and Harry are standing. "Harry — what the—?"

       Dumbledore looks towards Hagrid, his hand still on Viktor's shoulder. "Hagrid, I need you to fetch Professor Karkaroff," he says. Holly freezes. She can't get out of this. She can't find a way to get out, she doesn't want to see him, not today, not tomorrow, never, unless it's from a far distance, where his head is the same size as his brain: the size of a pea. "His student has been attacked. When you've done that, kindly alert Professor Moody—"

       "No need, Dumbledore," says Moody. Holly jumps, as he walks past her. She doesn't like him. She knows he's got something to do with this. He has to, it doesn't add up, his weird behaviour, unless part of this is to do with him. "I'm here... Damn leg. Would've been here quicker... What's happened? Snape said something about Crouch—?"

       "Crouch?" says Hagrid.

       "Karkaroff, please, Hagrid!" says Dumbledore.

       Holly, desperate, asks, "Can I go? Please? You don't need me—"

       "Did you see this happen, Lippincott?" asks Moody.

       Holly winces. "Yeah."

       "Then you're needed," he says. Holly's tempted to glare at him, but she remembers that she turned her cousin into a ferret when he tried to pull something, so she chooses not to.

       She glances to the side to Harry, who looks confused. Holly watches Moody go further into the forest, in search of Crouch, and she frowns. Is it just her who's noticed this?

       "What is this?" a familiar voice hisses. Holly's brought back to cold hallways and icy wind down her neck, as she walks into a classroom, filled with Durmstrang students waiting to help out at the detention in ten minutes. "What's going on?"

       "I was attacked!" says Viktor. "Mr Crouch or whatever his name—"

       "Crouch attacked you? Crouch attacked you?" says Karkaroff, close to shouting. Holly wants to take the Invisibility Cloak out of her pocket. She feels like she's back at Durmstrang. She left for a reason, not for this bastard to follow her. "The Triwizard judge?"

       Dumbledore tries, "Igor—"

       "Treachery!" shouts Karkaroff. By this point Holly's inched back a little, her heart beating faster. She knows what happens when he gets angry. She still has the scar on her hand. "It is a plot! You and your Ministry of Magic have lured me here under false pretences, Dumbledore! This is not an equal competition! First you sneak Potter into the tournament, though he is underage!" Holly steps forward, feeling the same as she did when she refused to perform Cruciatus, almost a year ago, but she feels Harry grab onto her wrist and pull her back. She takes her hand away from his. "You take one of my old students and use my school's teaching to make yours look better! I smell double-dealing and corruption in this whole affair, and you, Dumbledore, you, with your talk of closer international wizarding links, of rebuilding old ties, of forgetting old differences — here's what I think of you!"

       Karkaroff spits on Dumbledore's feet, and before he can storm off, with or without Viktor, Hagrid grabs a hold of her old head-teacher, raising him into the air. Holly puts a hand over her mouth, to hide her grin.

       "Apologise!" shouts Hagrid.

       Holly stares at Karkaroff. She wants to keep this image in her brain... Fuck, if she ever needs to produce a Patronus, she damn well knows what memory she's going to think of.

       "Hagrid, no!" shouts Dumbledore.

       Susannah shouts, "Giant man, yes!"

       Hagrid lets go of Karkaroff, who slides back to the ground. Holly wonders if this is an inappropriate time to get a camera, just in case she forgets even a smidge of this scene.

       "Kindly escort Harry and Holly back up to the castle, Hagrid." 

       "Maybe I'd better stay here, Headmaster..."

       Yeah, and beat Karkaroff to a pulp!

       "You will take Harry and Holly back to school, Hagrid," says Dumbledore. Holly tries her best to catch Karkaroff's eye, but for obvious reasons (his recent humiliation) he's trying to avoid any eye contact. "Take them right back to their common rooms. And both of you — I want you to stay there. Anything you might want to do — any owls you might want to send — they can wait until morning, do you understand me?"

       "Er — yes," says Harry.

       Holly, although she's certain that was mostly directed towards Harry, nods. "Will do, sir," she says, because still, she can't help adding sir. Durmstrang has ruined her.

       Hagrid casts one last glare at Karkaroff, before walking back towards the castle. "How dare he," says Hagrid, shaking his head. Holly wants to give Harry back his cloak, but she feels a little rude to interrupt Hagrid's rant about Karkaroff, because she's been there, too... Only hers was when she got back from school and her dad was cooking dinner and then she walked in, mid-breakdown, and declared how terrible Durmstrang was. "How dare he accuse Dumbledore. Like Dumbledore'd do anything like that. Like Dumbledore wanted you in the tournament in the first place. Worried! I dunno when I seen Dumbledore more worried that he's been lately."

       Holly frowns. That's odd.

       "And you!" says Hagrid, turning to Harry, who flinches. Hagrid looks angry, which worries Holly. She doesn't like teachers when they're angry. "What were you doing, wandering off with bloody Krum? He's from Durmstrang, Harry! Could've jinxed you right there, couldn't he? Hasn't Moody taught you nothing? Imagine letting him lure you off on your own—"

       Holly chooses not to mention it. She knows that Harry's looking towards her, but she keeps her eyes focused on the grass next to her feet. Sure, Hagrid's nice, she thinks, but she still feels wrong, essentially arguing with a teacher... When that teacher isn't Karkaroff, because she knows he must've seen her grin when he was picked up into the air.

       "Krum's all right!" says Harry. "He wasn't trying to jinx me, he just wanted to talk about Hermione—"

       "I'll be having a few words with her, and all," says Hagrid, as they start to walk into the entrance hall. Holly discretely takes a hold of Harry's arm, to direct him towards her common room. She doesn't want to spend the next few minutes alone with Hagrid, hearing him call her old school the breeding ground for untrustworthy wizards. "The less you lot have to with these other schools, the happier you'll be. You can't trust any of them."

       Does this include her? Until last year she was at Durmstang, and she was at the top of her class. Could've jinxed you! Imagine letting him lure you off on your own. Is that what people thought of her, when she first got here? That she's been untrustworthy, that she'd be able to lure them off and curse them, or something?

       "You were getting on all right with Madame Maxime," says Harry, sounding annoyed. Holly picks up her pace, eager to get back to her friends as soon as possible. At least with them she doesn't feel like everything sees her as an evil, wicked thing.

       "Don't you talk to me about her!" says Hagrid. Holly turns the corner leading towards the common room's entrance, and she feels like she's almost home.

       She sees that Hagrid's walking ahead of them, and Holly taps Harry on the arm. "Kitchens, midnight," she whispers. She pulls the Invisibility Cloak out from her pocket and hands to him. "I'll explain."

      "You can't trust any of them!" she hears Hagrid loudly shout. Holly frowns, but Harry nods back at her. She tries her best to ignore what Hagrid's saying about Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students being disloyal, and overall terrible. 

       They reach the end of the corridor, and Holly walks ahead, towards the wall that leads into the common room. She lowers her voice as she says, "Necromancy."

       The wall moves and she sees the dark green sofas, with her friends sitting and waiting for her. Holly glances to her side and gives Harry a small smile, before she walks into the common room, the wall closing behind her. She would've said thank you to Hagrid for walking her back, but the things he was saying leaves a bad taste in her mouth. She doesn't want to say thank you if he's essentially called her untrustworthy.

       Pansy gets to her feet as she sees Holly. The rest of their friends are all sitting around a couple of sofas, the boys included. Holly sees all of them looking up at her, waiting for her to explain what the next task is, or why it took so long for her to get back, considering she left saying, I'll be half an hour, tops!

       "Yeah, I under-estimated how long it would take," says Holly, sitting on the arm of one sofa, closest to Pansy. "The next task is a maze — Bagman said that there'd be creatures in it, and that there'd be spells and such that need to be broken to get past. So I need to brush up on creatures and spells, which should be fine."

       Pansy nods. "We can do that."

       "And I get a head-start, because I'm currently first place," says Holly, and she's interrupted by a number of cheers. She can't help but grin. "Which means that I'll be able to run and get going way before the others are all in the maze."

       She goes over her plan with Pansy as they walk back to their dorm room, Holly choosing to stay quiet about what happened with Crouch until she can speak to Pansy in private — because although Pansy hates them, she knows that Holly's friends with Harry, and half of Holly's evidence towards Moody is Crouch relies on what she's been told by Harry, or by someone associated with him.

       But, their plan is this: forget the swimming, they're focusing on running and obstacles. They'll wipe her memory about the school's layout and sneak out at night, and she'll have to find her way back as quickly as possible. They'll leave breakfast early and have to squeeze and push past the crowds of students leaving the hall at the last minute, and she'll have to be at their classroom by the time the bell rings. They'll do everything in their ability to help Holly win the third and final task.

       Because that's the thing — Holly's noticed something about the other champions, and that's the fact that they only study how to get past the dragon, or how to breathe underwater. They don't think like she does. They don't assess the task and think, sure, it helps to know the Bubble-Head Charm, or have some Gillyweed, but how will that help if you're not a fast swimmer? You can breathe, sure, but you're not going to be fast.

       So her focus is going to be half-skill, half-knowledge, because that's how she's been succeeding so far. She knows that she's fast, she's spent her childhood running 'for her life' during games of tag at primary school, winning the sprint races on sports days. She knows that she's quick to respond, her three years at Durmstrang helped her in some way, and even earlier, at soon as Viktor was hit, she fired back.

       She can win this.

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

       SHE KEEPS ON THINKING about what Hagrid said.

       They'll jinx you. They'll lure you into a trap. She feels her heart sink at the idea of that, at the idea of her old school being seen as one thing — untrustworthy. Take her, Durmstrang-era, and sure, you'd believe that, but you've got to take into the account that she wasn't just snitching on people because she thought it would be funny, she was terrified and generally, people that are scared out of their minds don't make the best decisions, and often panic and do something they don't mean to do.

       Holly stands in the kitchens, her arms crossed. She sees the door open, and Harry appear, becoming visible as soon as he takes off the cloak. Harry smiles at her, but she frowns at him, and as he walks closer, she asks, "Do you think I'm untrustworthy?"

       "What?" he says. "Why would I—?"

       "What Hagrid was saying," says Holly. Her brows are still knitted together, and her bottom lip juts out a little. "About Durmstrang students being untrustworthy — about how they'll hex you as soon as they can, or how they'll lure you into a trap. Do you think I'm like that?"

       Harry frowns. "I trust you," he tells her. Holly sees him looking straight into her eyes, with the most sincere expression she's seen in a while, and she glances away, the strange feeling returning. "I told you about Snuffles, and about the cloak, and about the map. Hardly anyone knows about them."

       "I don't know," says Holly, sighing. "Because I know for a fact at Durmstrang I wasn't particularly trustworthy, but I wasn't thinking properly — you've never been there, you don't understand how unsafe you always feel, how you're constantly terrified, because you never know what the teachers are going to do if you dare misbehave... I don't know. It just left a bad taste in my mouth."

       "Well, I trust you," says Harry, and he gives her a smile, a nice one, the sort that makes her smile back and feel a little better. He then glances down at his Invisibility Cloak, and back at her, and gives her a look. "How'd you get my cloak earlier?"

       Holly pulls a face. "Would you believe me if I said that a ghost sort-of haunts me, and no one but me can see her, and even then I don't think I always see her, but yeah, she's called Susannah, she overheard you mention the cloak to me and so, when whatever happened earlier with Crouch, she took it and covered me in it."

       "Oh," says Harry. "OK."

       "I hope you don't mind me using it," says Holly, and she smiles a little.

       Harry shrugs. "Oh, no, it's fine!" he says. And Holly looks at him appreciatively, because she isn't quite sure how much that Invisibility Cloak helped her out earlier, but she knows that it must've helped her stay hidden. She sees the little smile on his face fade into a frown, knitted brows and curved lips. "Did you see anything, earlier?"

       "No, but I have a theory," she says. "Moody's Barty Crouch Jr."

       "What?"

       "Right, so," says Holly, and she's already making hand-gestures. The sign of any great theory. She's almost as bad as her dad trying to explain JFK's assassination, throwing his hands about when he mentioned an umbrella. "This mostly relies on one possibility, but that's the sign of a great theory, so. The Marauder's Map. Does it include Senior or Junior to the end of a name?"

       Harry frowns. "I don't know?"

       "So, what if Barty Crouch Jr. somehow found a way to escape Azkaban — I have no idea how, but it's been done, hasn't it? So there must be ways to do it, they're just difficult to figure out and conduct and whatever, that isn't the point.

       "So. He gets out. I'm thinking his dad might have helped — don't frown, hear me out — because his dad's high up in the Ministry, meaning that he would know how to get someone out of Azkaban — and he's obsessed with the Dark Arts, he'd know something! But, his dad, as we know, was too busy working to be around and have a connection with his son and whatever. But. His wife died from grief, so she must have loved their son, so, what if he got his son out of Azkaban because his wife asked? You'd do something, wouldn't you, if your wife asked?"

       "Sure?" says Harry, frowning.

       "Exactly!" says Holly, grinning proudly at her entire idea. "Now. How would he be here? Because he can't be here as himself, could he, he'd be sniffed out within seconds if he didn't have some way to disguise himself. The easiest way for him to disguise himself would be Polyjuice Potion, right? And, Moody — if Moody was Moody — would have known if a Death Eater was in disguise, and we all know Moody is weird, so, in conclusion, Barty Crouch Jr. is posing as Mad-Eye Moody."

       Harry gapes at her. She wants to believe it's because of her intelligence.

       "That—That—What?"

       "And," says Holly, stepping forwards. "Why else would he take the Marauder's Map unless it was to stop you from noticing him going into Snape's office to steal the ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion he's been drinking in order to stay in disguise as Moody!"

       "Maybe he was interested in the map?" says Harry, frowning.

       Holly raises her index finger. "Or maybe, he had other motives."

       "Holly—"

      "And," says Holly. "Do you remember what he said at the start of the year, during a Defence Against lesson? You and Potter are ones to look out for! Ones to look out for! He put us in the tournament!"

       "You're mad."

       "I'm a genius." 

       "Why would he put us in the tournament?"

       "Um, because you're Harry Potter, and he likes Voldemort."

       "What about you, then?"

       "I'm not too sure about that, but the rest of it makes sense."

       "It doesn't."

       "It does! I'll explain again, hang on—"

       "Barty Crouch Jr. is dead!"

       "How do you know that? You know about Romeo and Juliet, don't you? She faked her death! All throughout history, people have faked their deaths! Why is it weird to think that he's done the same?"

       "Because it makes no sense!"

       "Yeah, it does!"

       "No, it doesn't!" 

      "Which part doesn't make sense?"

       "All of it!"

       "It does, honestly, I'll prove it—!"

       Harry shakes his head. Holly feels her heart sink.

       "I thought you trusted me," she says.

       "I do!" he says. "This just makes no sense!"

       "It does!" says Holly, frowning. She feels her insides hurting. "Why does this make no sense, even after I've explained it, and yet you still believe yourself every time you pin every single suspicious action on Snape?"

       "Because he's Sl—!"

       Holly doesn't know whether she wants to cry, or shout at him. Quickly the latter seems unappealing, and she stares at him in disbelief and disgust. Because he's Slytherin. Because he's evil, because he's from the house most Death Eaters are from, because every Slytherin is really just a wicked snake that'll lure you into a trap and jinx you the first chance they get.

       "Because he's a Slytherin?" she says, her voice almost a hiss. "Because all Slytherins are evil? Because all Slytherins are cunning and ambitious?" She steps closer to him, seething. "That'll make it much worse for you, Potter, when a Slytherin beats you in the tournament. Don't ever speak to me again."

       Holly storms out of the kitchens before she can hear him finish saying her name. She darts through the hallways, feeling hot tears gather in her eyes, burning them.

       If she wins this, it isn't just her winning. It's her entire house — every single Hogwarts student in the green-and-silver uniform wins that trophy if she does. If she wins, Slytherin is victorious, Slytherin is a glorious, Slytherin is a hero, when before, they've only been regarded as evil, the same as their parents.

       If she wins this, she's proving that Slytherins aren't evil. They're ambitious and cunning but, since when were those bad things? Her dad's always told her that ambition is the greatest power you could ever have — hope bleeds into ambition, every great trait bleeds into ambition, and that's the sort of thing she should seek. If her dad wasn't ambitious he would not have gotten into a top university in a country abroad. If her dad wasn't ambitious he would not have gotten into a career heavily reliant on family connections, when his family were across an ocean. If her dad wasn't ambitious he would not have been able to hunt down a wizard — a man from a world he isn't a part of — and demand he let his daughter into his school.

       She's doing this for Slytherin, and she's doing this for herself. If she wins, her entire house wins, but still, she wins. She gets to see her dad's face light up with pride, she gets to see him look overjoyed because look at her, look at what she's won! She's beaten three kids older than her, and a boy who's defeated Voldemort three times! She gets to be able to look at herself in the mirror and think, you did that, you worked hard and you won.

       She doesn't know what to do with Crouch. Part of her is worried about the entire situation, but she knows it's selfish, but she can't risk this tournament for something that she's barely a part of. She's not going to sacrifice this tournament for a perhaps. She's not going to heighten the chances of her walking back into the common room, after the next task, and everyone's silent, because she didn't win. Or her dad watch her lose, and hug her and say it's fine, but it's not. She has to win.

       And that's just what she's going to do.

       Holliday Lippincott is going to win.

—✧—✧—✧—✧—