—✧—✧—✧—✧—

THIRTY-TWO S.O.S.

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

       THE SCHOOL HAS GROWN quiet since the departure of Professor Umbridge. The amount of jinxes and charms created to aggravate the old Defence teacher have deceased, and in the wake of the news from the Ministry, that Voldemort has truly returned, the school is quiet, still in a state of shock from the recent news — well, Flo thinks this, but to be fair, when does she ever show her face around school anyway?

       This is a judgement she's taken in whilst she's walked to the lessons, basically the only time where she interacts with the rest of the school (apart from Quidditch, she means.) She isn't the biggest people person, and when your older brother is as much of an arsehole as hers is, you can't blame her from shying away from the rest of the world, jumping into lands within novels, marvellous tales about a man trying to create human life, or even a man that sells his soul to remain eternally beautiful. The only reason she's gotten this far in school is because she spends her time hidden in the library — and no one dares mess with a Montague, so she tends to get areas all to herself, to study for her lessons and read muggle books that her parents wouldn't approve of.

       But, here she stands in the girl's bathroom, the massive window above the sinks casting a golden glow around the room. It's a Sunday, and since exams are over and lessons are starting to wind down for the summer holidays, she isn't stressing about completing her Potions homework. Instead, she's taking her time, washing her hands and planning to spend the afternoon in the library again. Maybe she'll read a new book today. She might even take it outside and read out there, bask in the small amount of sunshine they actually get in the summertime. Hm.

       The door into the bathroom opens, being swung with such force that it hits the wall with a loud bang. Flo turns around, to find Pansy Parkinson, the girl from the year below, rush into the bathroom. Parkinson skids to a halt upon spotting Flo, who raises an eyebrow.

       "I'm just leaving, if you want privacy..."

       "That's nice of you," says Parkinson, in a way that indicates she couldn't care less. Her head is tilted upwards a little bit, as if she's trying to be the bigger person out of the two. Flo frowns. She doesn't think Parkinson likes her.

       And then, just as the door into the bathroom swings back shut, she sees Parkinson's bottom lip tremble, and she bursts into tears.

       Here is the thing: Flo isn't good with comforting people. But, she knows a couple of things about human decency (she doesn't always practice it, though — have you seen her brother?) so she steps closer, wondering whether or not she should offer to give her a hug, or something.

       Flo begins to ask if Parkinson is all right, but she stops herself, thinking in her head, well obviously she isn't 'all right,' you idiot, she's crying. She opens her mouth to ask her what's wrong instead, but Parkinson gives her a cold look, having heard Flo ask, "Are you all right?"

       "Oh, yeah, I'm fantastic!" she says (more like she spits out... and then bursts into tears again.) Flo frowns at her, and Parkinson wipes her tears off of her cheeks. "Draco broke up with me — I told him, I told him that I love him but he wasn't having it. He said he couldn't believe that I didn't tell him about what was going on with Holly—"

       That was another thing that had shaken up the school. Holliday Lippincott, the old Slytherin Champion, the current darling of their house, was not only going out with Potter (Flo retches at the idea) but she had, for the past year, been hiding the fact that they were friends, pretending that she hated him like the rest of her friends. It had only been a couple of days since the whole thing happened with Umbridge and a group of fifth years going to the Ministry (it makes no sense) but the entire school knows. A discovery like that can run miles in a matter of minutes.

       "— but I wasn't going to tell him, was I? Sure, I love him but I love my best friend too — she's been there for me, and I'm not going to tell someone my best friend's secrets, am I? But he wasn't having any of it, he said I should've told her, who cared if Holly wanted to keep it a secret, so he broke up with me."

       She stops crying. She looks at Flo, who still isn't quite sure what to do. The entire thing, in her opinion, is stupid. "It's not your fault," says Flo finally, figuring that Parkinson was waiting for her to say something. "You were looking out for your best friend, that's a good thing..." Flo pauses. "He doesn't deserve you."

       Parkinson looks at her in surprise, her glassy eyes wide.

       "You're just saying that," says Parkinson, her voice no longer shaking, but rather, back to her judgemental tone. "You don't mean that."

       "Yeah, I do?" says Flo, her brows furrowing. She gives Parkinson a confused look, as if to say, what the hell? This is why Flo doesn't speak to people and keeps to herself. No one makes any sense. "He doesn't deserve you, not if he's treating you like that."

       There's a pause, in which Parkinson continues to look at Flo, with this strange expression. Flo doesn't know what to think about her, if she's being truthful. Because this makes no sense. For the longest time Parkinson walks around and has her nose a little bit upturned, as if to show the world that she does not like Flo, and that she thinks she's beneath her. Before the Yule Ball last year Flo had breakfast with her brother (she hated it) and Parkinson went up to her brother to ask if he had seen Blaise anywhere, and not once did she acknowledge Flo. Maybe she doesn't like her — but then, if that was the case, why would Parkinson come in here, and vent to her about this?

       "Do you really think that?" says Parkinson, a little less confidently than before.

       Flo shrugs. "Yeah," she says. "You were doing the right thing, weren't you? And if he's too ignorant to notice that, then he's not worth your time."

       "I—um, thanks."

       Flo smiles softly.

       She leaves shortly after that, returning to the comforts of the library — and leaving Pansy standing in the bathroom, incredibly confused, the words he doesn't deserve you ringing around in her brain, repeating themselves over and over and over...

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

       "SO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING is that you broke my best friend's heart," says Holly, around the same time as the conversation between Flo and Pansy. She's sitting outside in the courtyard with her cousin, which she still doesn't quite understand. She thought he would never speak to her again, not be there in the hospital wing when she woke up, staring into space with a dreadful expression across his face.

       Draco nods. "I didn't like her that way, anyway," he says.

       "But if you told her you couldn't be with her because she didn't you about the whole thing with me... Why are you here? Why are you still being nice to me?"

       Because here was the thing: when Holly woke up, taking a minute to remember why she was in the hospital wing in the first place, her cousin was there, and he didn't mention Umbridge's office at all. He just asked if she was feeling any better, and that his father was being sent to Azkaban. And then they returned to normal... Well. Holly can't quite call it normal, because Holly kept on looking at him, waiting for him to say something about the other thing. And he was acting strange anyway, ever since he said what had happened to his father his distant expression made a lot of sense. Draco's worried.

       "I think you're being an idiot, first of all, with your thing with Potter," says Draco, looking disgusted at the idea of it. Holly nods, but doesn't say anything to defend herself. From her cousin's perspective this entire thing is sudden and horrific. She knows it's better to accept where he stands rather than force a change of opinion. "But that isn't why I broke up with her, I just told her that because I don't like the real reason."

       "You don't like it?" says Holly, frowning.

       Draco shakes his head, and he glances around where they're sitting. He checks to see if there's anyone nearby, before he turns back to his cousin, lowering his voice. "I don't know what he has planned for me, now that Dad has been sent to Azkaban," he says, and she can feel heart sinking. She hadn't even thought of that. "But I don't want to be thinking about other things if something does happen... I didn't like her that way anyway, so what was the use in continuing this with her?"

       Holly nods, because that makes some sense. In all honesty she hasn't been a fan of this relationship since the beginning, she never thought it would end well.

       "I think—" and then he pauses again. He looks around, again, and ensures that no one is nearby, not even a bird is perched on a stone bench near where they're sitting. A white cat is at the other end of the courtyard, but she doesn't think Draco spots it amongst the flowers. She doesn't mention Susannah, who's using the roof on the sheltered walkway around the courtyard to dive into the courtyard, like it's one large swimming pool. But really, who is Susannah going to tell? Maybe Draco, if she lets him hold onto the necklace again. (She told him a couple of days ago, and he was a little unsure about the whole thing, which led to Holly handing him the diamond necklace and Susannah scaring the shit out of him... She's yet to tell her other friends, though.)

       "I think he's going to make me a Death Eater."

       "Because your dad's gone to Azkaban?" says Holly, speaking just as quietly.

       Draco nods. He looks at Holly, dead in the eye, and she can see his fear. And in that moment, she thinks right or easy again, and she feels it begin to shift, and she doesn't know whether she likes it or not. Because what is the right thing to do? She's looking at her cousin — actually, no, she isn't looking at her cousin, she's looking at the boy she sees as her brother — and she can see his fear and desperation and she doesn't know what to do, because she wants two things, two things that are worlds apart. She wants to be good and she wants Draco to be safe.

       "They won't," says Holly, even though she knows they will. She holds onto his arm and frowns at him, giving up the idea of don't force him to change his thoughts. Because she's changing this one as much as she can. She can feel her heart breaking because of the look on his face. "You're barely sixteen! They won't make you join, Draco..." She looks at him. It's hard to believe the terrified boy next to her is the one that bullies others; right now, he looks like he doesn't have the stomach to hurt anything. "I won't let them."

       "You're not even sixteen," says Draco, giving her an odd look.

       "OK, well," says Holly, her brows furrowing and her lips pursing in thought. "If they do make you, and we can't do anything to alter that, then, they're not going to make you do anything massive, are they? You're sixteen. They won't give you any big task."

       Draco nods. Holly frowns still.

       "It's OK to feel scared, you know."

       "I'm not," he says, but he very clearly is.

       "I am," she says. Draco looks at her in surprise, like he was expecting her to say, well, I'm not scared, unable to tell the truth because of her pride. It's pride that gives her the courage to admit the truth. "I'm scared of the world turning into Durmstrang."

       "I heard Karkaroff's still on the run," says Draco.

       Holly sighs. "I wish he'd die already."

       Draco snorts, and she smiles at him.

       "I'm glad you came here," says Draco. "I don't think the rest of our friends understand any of this." She quirks an eyebrow, encouraging him to continue if he wishes. "I've given up trying to speak to Crabbe and Goyle about this, they don't get it. None of them do, not properly. At the end of last year I tried to ask what they thought, if we were all forced to join our parents, and they weren't bothered. They didn't think anything about it." Draco shrugs. "I mean, it's safe to say that they're both stupid, but I don't know... I don't think I've had an actual friend until you."

       Holly isn't quite sure what to say to that. She tries to think of a response — she can't say thank you, nor can she lie and belittle her other friendships — but before she can, he glances at her and gives her a smirk.

       "I still don't like that you're going out with Potter, though."

       "Yeah, well," says Holly, shrugging her shoulders, a little smile on her face. "I didn't like that you were going out with Pansy, but I kept my mouth shut."

       Quickly the conversation goes back to something lighter, not so much about the dark possibility of the future, but rather, silly everyday things. Such as, Quidditch, and the tragedy that is the Slytherin Quidditch Team. Or the Saturday job Holly had taken up at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade, and for the time being wasn't sure if she'd be able to continue once N.E.W.T.s started. Or the summer holidays in general, where he said that she could stay over if it wasn't safe anymore to stay with her dad, and Holly scoffing and saying, you know I used Cruciatus on your aunt Bellatrix, right?

       They leave the courtyard around dinnertime, walking back into school and towards the Great Hall, which for a Sunday evening was relatively quiet, since a lot of people had taken their dinner outside, so that they could eat in the sunshine. By the looks of it, the rest of their group has done that, or they were going to eat at a different time. Maybe the girls were taking precautions to keep Pansy away from Draco at all times. Holly doesn't know.

       But, as Holly and Draco sit together in the hall, idly chatting about everything under the sun (Umbridge being dragged off, the fact that Flo Montague had been seen for the first time in months, Vivien the Dragon, who was now small again and appeared as they started helping themselves to ice cream) she can't help the smile across her face — thank God she moved from Durmstrang to Hogwarts. Not only is the school far better, but look, she's got a wonderful cousin... Even if it's an idiot... A lot...

       The rest of the term goes by quickly and quietly. Holly cannot wait for the summer holidays to start, now that she's allowed to finally go back to her proper home. She can already taste the massive dinner her step-dad will cook up, already imagine getting home and stepping back into the bedroom she hasn't seen for a year...

       Holly's making her way to dinner when she sees Ron and Hermione walking in the same direction. Her brows furrow, and she leaves her friends to walk over to the two. "So you're both feeling better, then? After the Ministry?" she asks.

       Hermione smiles. "Yes, thanks," she says. She glances over Holly's shoulder, where Holly supposes her friends still are, choosing to walk on without her. Hermione looks back at Holly. "They're not annoyed at all, are they? About you being friends with us?"

       "They don't like it," says Holly.

       "We don't like them," Ron mutters.

       Holly scoffs. "Yeah, so, they don't like," she says. "But, they like me so I think they're just going to get on with it. They can't change it. I like you lot. You're cool."

       Hermione and Ron beam.

       "So where's Harry?" she asks.

       "Still packing," says Ron. "Won't be long, though..."

       Holly nods. She looks around, at the different groups of friends chatting and laughing amongst themselves, walking into the hall to have one final feast together this school year. Holly turns back to the two, a hopeful smile on her face. "Do you want to, maybe, tell me the Gryffindor tower password so I can speak to him?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. "I won't tell anyone, pinky-promise... I can tell you the one for the dungeons if you want. We have a table filled with sweets in the common room... But, uh, I want to see if he's okay with what's happened with Sirius."

       "It's audeamus," says Ron.

       "Thanks... The Slytherin one's Latin too," says Holly, and she gives a grin to the two of them. "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum — the Slytherin prefects pick our password, since our entrance doesn't have a guardian, and I talked them into using that one for the last fortnight of term."

       Hermione's brows furrow. "Nolite te...?"

       "It's mock-Latin, but it means don't let the bastards get you down," says Holly, with a little mischievous smile on her face. Hermione smiles back at her. Ron explains to her where to go in the common room, and Holly walks off after thanking them for helping her out, and quickly wishing them a good summer if she doesn't see them the following day. ("Harry and Hermione sometimes stay at the Burrow with my family in the summer — you can visit, if you'd like!") And off she walks, in the opposite direction of everyone else in the corridors.

       She gets into the Gryffindor common room rather easily, the worst part is the odd looks she's given when she enters, proudly marching through the common room in the direction she's been told is the way to the boys' dorm rooms. And, again, the odd looks increase as she walks through the little hallway, knocking lightly on the room for the fifth-year boys'.

       "I'll be a few more minutes, Ron!" she hears Harry say.

       So Holly lets herself in.

       "Hi," she says.

       "How did you—?"

       "Ron and Hermione told me the password," says Holly, walking into the dorm room and looking around, crossing her arms. "Gryffindor Tower's strange. Your windows don't look into the lake."

       "Well, it is a tower," says Harry. Holly gives him a look. "Sorry."

       "I don't mind," says Holly, shrugging. She steps a little further into the room, her gaze moving around the place. The whole room is odd, especially compared to the boys' dorm room in Slytherin. This one is messy and brighter, with Quidditch posters on the wall. The one she's used to is adorned with Quidditch merchandise, yeah, but the Slytherin one just seems a little different. Often their dorm rooms are dark because their windows look into the lake, and the dark emerald wallpaper. "I like your remarks. They're clever..." She pauses. "Why do you have that?"

       She nods at the small mirror in his hand.

       "It's a two-way mirror," says Harry. "Apparently."

       "My mother had one of those," says Holly, quietly. Harry looks up at her, off of the mirror. He still has an odd longing expression across his face, from gazing at the mirror. "Regulus Black had the other one."

       Harry frowns. "Sirius' brother?"

       Holly nods. "They were together when they were younger — they joined the Death Eaters together," she explains. "So who's got the other mirror?"

       "Sirius," says Harry.

       "Oh," she says.

       There's a pause.

       "I'm sorry," she says, finally. "It's unfair, the timing he died. You deserved to spend more time together..."

       "Wait — Holly," he says. She raises her eyebrows, and he steps forwards, his face lit up like he's had an idea. "Your ghost — Susannah — do you think Sirius might be one?"

       Holly feels her stomach twist as she shakes her head.

       "He's gone, Harry," she tells him.

       Harry looks at her for a minute, before he turns away, packing the mirror into his trunk. She thinks a letter was attached to it, because he folds a piece of parchment too.

       "Um, I might be a while, you might want to go for dinner now..."

       "I'm fine," says Holly. She sits down on his bed, crossing her legs and absentmindedly taking out one of the jumpers he folded badly. "I don't really want to go to the end of term feast, either, so..."

       Harry frowns. "Why not?"

       "Draco broke up with Pansy," says Holly, and she pulls a face, because she's exhausted of this. The past week has been nothing but talking about that with her friends, and what with one being her cousin and the other being her best friend... Ugh. She puts her head in her hands, grumbling. "And now it's this massive thing because she's upset — which makes sense — but now I've got to half my time with both of them and it's this whole nightmare and I just —" She raises her head from out of her hands, looking up at Harry, who seems to be confused. "Do you want to go to the kitchens later instead?"

       "Yeah, all right," says Harry, and he smiles a little. Holly smiles back at him. "So Malfoy doesn't hate you because of me?"

       Holly shakes her head. "He doesn't approve but he doesn't hate me, so it's fine," she says, smiling still. "Although — er — sorry, by the way, for the whole thing with Umbridge. I know we haven't talked about it, I just said we were going out with mess with her."

       "Oh, that's — fine," says Harry.

       Holly glances around the room, trying her best to avoid exchanging a look with him as she breathes in, breathes out, and works up the courage to say, "Unless you want to."

       "Go out?" says Harry. "Us?"

       "If you want," says Holly, finally looking at him. He seems to be in a state of shock, and he has this lovely little smile on his face. "I'd like to."

       "You do?"

       Holly nods. She gets back to her feet, and stands next to him. For a second he smiles back at her, seemingly still surprised that she suggested the whole thing, before she grins and hugs him. She keeps her arms hanging around his shoulders as she kisses his cheek, and he smiles at her, hugging her back.

       "OK, but we've got to see each other in the summer, yeah?" she says.

       Harry nods, but he adds, "If you're at Malfoy Manor, then maybe not—"

       "Yeah, I know that," says Holly. She looks down at the trunk on his bed and she frowns at it, pulling away from him. "You need to pack."

       "I can do it in the morning—"

       "Yeah, that's the attitude that helped me beat you at the Triwizard Tournament."

       Holly gives him a smirk, seeing him roll his eyes. Both start to laugh a little and the rest of the feast isn't spent in the hall, listening to Dumbledore's new warning about friendship and choosing what's right, not what's easy. Instead, they're messing about, and he's smiling and his mind's off of Sirius, and hers is finally off of Draco's concerns about the Death Eaters — she's just in this one moment, laughing with her boyfriend (her boyfriend!) and the darkness looming over the wizarding world is forgotten, just for a minute.

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

       FOR AS LONG AS HOLLY can remember, her dad's always had this pretty house in London, one where the outside has been painted white, and the door has been a glossy black. There's a small little back-garden, with a patio that you can see from the kitchen's big windows. Holly can't believe she missed her house this much, but as she returns, Holly grins.

       She missed all of it. She missed the pink flowers in the garden. She missed the print of Klimt's Death and Life — a painting that seems to depict the grim reaper looking at a mass of people — that hangs in the kitchen. She missed the plain white walls, she missed the masses of books all around the place. She missed her dad's collection of old horror movies, the sort that are in black and white and aren't really scary anymore. She missed all of it, and above all else, she missed her dads, Gus and Eugene.

       "So," says Holly, walking into the kitchen, where Eugene's cooking up pasta, and Gus is keeping him company. She hides the letter behind her back, smiling at the two of them. The two Dalmatians Eugene own — Buster and Dusty — follow her, barely concerned about the dragon sitting on her shoulder. Susannah's more a concern for them, who's currently minding her own business and flying about in the room, making the two dogs look up suspiciously. "Remember how I said I was applying to be the British Youth rep..."

        "Have you gotten a reply?" says Eugene, his eyes lighting up.

        Holly grins at him, unable to contain it any longer. She hands them the letter she got from the Ministry that morning, stating that she was, in fact, the British Youth representative of the Wizengamot, and that she gets to sit in the trials from next Thursday onwards. She got the letter at breakfast this morning, and she forgot she was surrounded by the entire school when she reacted, letting out a little yelp and throwing herself on Pansy, excitedly exclaiming her news. Pansy had reacted like she had at the tournament, when Holly won the second task with full marks, and they had jumped up and down.

       "You did it, kiddo!" says Gus, who begins to pull Holly into a hug. But before he does, he opens an arm for Eugene to hug them, too. Both of her dads hug her and Holly can't stop smiling. She's missed this so much.

       "I knew you could do it!" says Eugene, who gives Holly a little hug before remembering the sauce in the frying pan, and rushing back to attend to it. "So you're on your way to the Wizengamot, then?"

       Holly nods, and she takes a seat at the table. "They say for N.E.W.T.s, you need to do History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts, but for the most part, they just recommend that you choose a range of subjects," she explains. "I'm thinking Potions too, and maybe Charms and Transfiguration. But I'm not sure yet..."

       "History of Magic?" says Eugene. "That sounds interesting."

       Holly gravely shakes her head. "The teacher's this ghost and the lessons are really boring, but I spoke to him about what you study at N.E.W.T. level, and to be honest, it sounds sot-of interesting. It's a lot less about trolls fighting and more about different families, especially the Sacred Twenty-Eight." And then she explains to him who these are, briefly mentioning Draco. "But hopefully I'll get the entry grade for that subject — I got distracted at the end, that was the exam where Harry thought he had the vision about his god-father."

       The last part slips out by accident. She knows that she probably shouldn't tell them about what happened at the Department of Mysteries — at least, not in any detail. So she quickly tries to change the subject.

       "Speaking of Harry," says Holly, immediately regretting the decision to mention this. But she smiles awkwardly anyway. This is better than telling them something that could put them in danger... Well. It's a little bit better. "He's my boyfriend now."

       "Oh, look at you!" says Eugene, grinning. "You're all grown up!"

       Holly giggles. "I'm not!"

       "Yeah, you are!" he says. "First the tournament, then the Wizengamot! You're taking the wizarding world by storm, Hol!"

       "When did you start going out, then?" says Gus.

       "A while ago," says Holly, because she isn't going to explain to her father how it has taken an entire year for this to happen. So instead, she picks this. And she thinks it works. "Oh! And do you remember how my friends were weird about Gryffindors? Well!"

       She tells that tale, too, only changing a lot of the story so they don't find out about Umbridge's existence, or the fact that she threatened to torture a teacher. But she quickly glazes over the truth, saying she just told them eventually, that she was friends with the Gryffindors, and they all accepted it. She doesn't mention the thing about muggles. Only two know and the rest cannot, not for a long time. Holly doesn't think it's safe.

       Her dad turns on the radio, so that they can listen to the muggle music. Fleetwood Mac sing a song about little lies, and the sun begins to set outside, the sky turning red. Eugene used to tell her that's shepherd's delight; she reminds him of this, and says how her friends were astonished when she told them about this. (They were astonished. Holly supposes it's not so much common knowledge amongst wizards.)

       Holly starts to set the table in preparation for their dinner. She's just about to get the place mats out when there's a knock at the door. She glances at her dads. Eugene's cooking and Gus is sorting out the dogs' dinners, so Holly leaves the three place mats on the table, and she walks to the front door.

       Knock-knock-knock!

       "One minute!" says Holly, grabbing the key from the side, the one with the house number printed in silver on a key-ring. She unlocks the door, after checking that the dogs are eating their dinner outside and won't run for the front door once it's opened. So she turns the handle, opening the front door.

       And then she sees her.

       Holly can see the resemblance, both between herself and the woman standing in front of her, a hood draped over her head, and between the woman and the old pictures of her when she was a teenager, the moving pictures she had stuck into her diary to share her fondest memories of her best friend and boyfriend. She looks at the woman in shock. On her cloak there's a small diamond brooch, of a white cat. (Her mother's an Animagus?) She hasn't aged that much, either, not as much as Atticus has done from being in Azkaban. She has a confident little smile on her face, like she expects the world, but her eyes gaze down upon her, and Holly can recognise how piercing those eyes could be if they truly wanted to be.

       Margo Valen smiles at her.

       "Holliday, dearest..."

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

To Be Continued

in 'Holliday, Dearest'

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

SURPRISE.

Holly will be returning very shortly in the sequel, but for now, let me know what you thought, and I hope you enjoyed!