—✧—✧—✧—✧—

NINE TAKE ALL OF 'EM FUCKERS

AND BLOW 'EM AWAY!

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

       THE MORNING OF the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor goes catastrophically — but, to be absolutely honest, Holly expected nothing less than disastrous, the minute she realised that she would, at some point, have to play against her boyfriend in Quidditch, as captains of rival teams. She expected to wake up on the morning of the match with her heart already stammering with nerves... She didn't expect to ignore Pansy, but then, she didn't expect Pansy to reveal one of Holly's biggest secrets to a random stranger, so.

       Everything is going fine though. Holly and Harry have already promised each other to not let this game get between them, even though both are worried stiff about losing and getting the verbal beating of a lifetime by their houses. She's heard people in the common room, she knows they think she's going to lose, that she made the wrong decision with who she picked, that she's going to lose because her boyfriend's the captain of the other team. And it's absolute shit, because she knows how much Harry needs to win this match, but she needs to win, as well.

      Holly hates this. She hates how quickly this has turned into 'Lippincott will lose because of Potter' and 'Potter will lose because of Lippincott'; in the week leading up to this match, Holly's apparently become some evil villain amongst Gryffindor house, according to Ron and Hermione, who reluctantly told her the things their house-mates had been saying about her. Things like, 'She's just as bad as her cousin,' and 'She's got Potter around her little finger, of course he'll let her win... Her mother was apparently manipulative like that.'

       Quickly, she's been turned into 'the evil Slytherin,' even though she's spent thousands of Galleons buying every team new brooms, so people that can't afford new brooms aren't at a disadvantage. She's tried her hardest to make people think hey, maybe Slytherins aren't that bad, and none of it's working amongst Gryffindor, because she happens to be someone's girlfriend. It's fucking ridiculous.

       But it's not like Slytherins any better, which pisses her off. Most of her house hates Potter already, but things have gotten worse. People, in the past week, have gone up to her, trying to spread lies about how 'he was seen with Romilda Vane' or how she's got to be careful, 'you never know with Gryffindors.' It's like they expect she'll think he's cheating the second they say he was 'snogging someone near the courtyard' and she'll go on some Tarantino-esque revenge mission to beat him at Quidditch... It's like they don't realise she'll remember that she, too, was making out with someone outside the courtyard, and, funnily enough, it happened to be him.

       Only one of them can win, so Holly's going to give it her best shot. She hopes that she'll win, and if she doesn't, that's fine, her boyfriend's won and that's just as good. Either way she gets to celebrate, but she supposes her own dedication to this team will determine whether or not she's the victorious captain, or the proud girlfriend.

       So she walks into the Great Hall, her heart pounding still. Everyone at the Slytherin table looks her up and down, and returns their gazes to their friends, whispering things. Holly doesn't feel that hungry anymore. She doesn't particularly want to sit at her table, what with the whispering... But she can't sit with Harry, could you imagine how people would react to that? It would basically be treason, if she sat at the Gryffindor table today. And if she lost, too... She'd never live that down.

       "Hey," says Harry, walking up to her. Holly breathes a sigh of relief, because his presence alone makes her feel better — but then she remembers that her house wants her to thrash him at Quidditch and suddenly everything feels terrible again. "Do you want to eat outside together?"

       "Is Gryffindor doing the same as Slytherin?" says Holly, her heart racing in her chest. "Are they going up to you and telling you how I'm terrible and how they saw me snogging someone else when they saw us snogging but they're hell-bent on finding some way to turn you against me—?"

       "I'll get us some toast, yeah?" says Harry, smiling softly.

       Holly breathes out. "Yeah."

       She waits at the side of the hall, awkwardly fiddling with her thumbs as she tries her best to ignore the amount of people whispering her name and Harry's. Every couple of seconds she'll glance over at Harry and try and will him to move faster, so she doesn't have to stand here on her own, having to see everyone staring and whispering and—

       "C'mon, Hol," says Harry, carrying a stack of toast wrapped up by a napkin. He puts an arm around her to guide her out of the hall, and she overhears someone from Slytherin say, "Look at that, he's going to corner her and Confund her, or something! You can't trust Gryffindors, especially ones that know all about people that have done dark magic to succeed."

       Yeah, he knows about them because they tried to kill him, she thinks, as she sits down next to Harry on a stone bench outside.

       "Thank you," says Holly, smiling weakly at him. "I appreciate this, really."

       "I'm sorry about the other day," says Harry, handing Holly a slice of toast, butter and strawberry jam already slathered on. "I didn't mean to upset you... At the time I thought it could've been your cousin that hurt April, but I guess it wasn't. I'm sorry, Holly."

       Holly looks at him, jutting out her bottom lip. "I guess I forgive you," she says, trailing off. He smiles apologetically at her, and she sends him a grin. "Yeah, I forgive you... I would ask how you're feeling about Quidditch, but it might be best if we don't talk about that until after the match...?" She raises an eyebrow, her voice lifting towards the end as she suggests the idea.

       Harry nods. "It'll be for the best," he says. "Whatever happens, I don't want to have a row over it."

       "Me too," says Holly with a nod. She glances at her watch, and she smiles sweetly at him. "I should be going... Good luck! You'll be amazing."

       Harry raises an eyebrow. "Aren't we competing against each other in—?"

       "Yeah, but, the best competition's the sort that challenges you," says Holly, shrugging. She kisses his cheek, trying to ignore the amount of people sitting nearby. "So, uh, see you on the Quidditch pitch, old sport."

       "Good luck, Hol," says Harry. He grins at her. "You'll need it."

       "Oh, ha, ha," says Holly, rolling her eyes. "See you."

       Holly sets off in the direction of the Quidditch pitch, already dressed in her Slytherin gear. She's the first of her team to get to the field, like she expects, and she pulls her hair up into a ponytail as she waits for them to arrive, nonchalantly looking down to see CAPTAIN embroidered onto the breast of the shirt, just below the Slytherin emblem.

       The rest of her team arrive over the next few minutes, clutching their brooms tightly. Holly gives them all warm smiles, and, as Harlow and Ruby arrive to where their team is standing, Holly begins, "I won't get sappy, don't worry — but, I will say, try your absolute hardest and I know that's going to get us the victory you lot deserve. You've all been brilliant from the very start, and my ties with Gryffindor aside, let's blow these fuckers away."

       Ruby grins at Holly. Toby and Elijah exchange a look of nervousness, before Harlow walks towards them, putting a hand on their shoulders in a way of comforting them. He wishes them the best of luck, and Millicent and Ruby exchange a nod. Holly smiles at Flo, who weakly returns the expression. They've got this.

       "Captains shake hands," says Madam Hooch a few minutes later, once both teams had arrived onto the pitch for the rest of the school to see. Holly and Harry grin at each other, and they shake hands, which she finds rather formal for the two of them. "Mount your brooms. On the whistle... three... two... one..."

       The sound of the whistle bolts through the air, and within seconds, Holly's kicked off and is up in the air; she spots Ruby ahead, already holding tightly onto the Quaffle, and Holly narrows her eyes. Thank Merlin they remembered their practice.

       Ruby tosses the Quaffle to Flo, who zooms past two of the Gryffindor Chasers. Dean Thomas bolts across to tackle Flo, who throws the Quaffle back to Ruby. Holly flies lower than before, spinning around so she's facing Ruby, rather than Ron. Ruby chucks the Quaffle at Holly and Holly grabs a hold of it, spinning and doing a loop-de-loop on her broom to get back in the direction needed to throw the Quaffle into the goal. She darts past the three Gryffindor Chasers on her tail, and she throws the Quaffle with all her might, aiming for the area of the goal furthest away from Ron, who... catches it.

       Holly's jaw drops.

       "Shit," she whispers.

       "Weasley saves it," says the boy commentating. Holly thinks Ron's wonderful and all, but for fuck's sakes! "Well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose..."

       Get lucky sometimes... Holly's brows furrow, seeing Ron quickly toss the Quaffle back to whoever wants to catch it, so he can put his hands up in the air with celebration. And Holly bolts towards the Quaffle, throwing it towards Ruby, who manages to grab it, dart into the scoring area, and throw the Quaffle into the goal before Ron can realise that her team's gone back to playing.

       And, admittedly, this is when Holly gets incredibly competitive: "Montague scores... Weasley saves attempt by Wotten... Weasley saves another attempt by Montague... Thomas scores... Lippincott scores..."

       "HEY!" shouts Holly to Flo and Ruby, forty minutes into the game. The scoreboard states that they're currently tying. Beads of sweat are already clinging to the baby hair around Holly's face. "Flo — Transylvanian Tackle. Ruby — grab the Quaffle, get it to me."

       "Aye, aye," says Ruby.

       Flo sets off in the direction of Dean Thomas, who currently has the Quaffle. Holly can hear the suspicion in the commentator's voice as she flies closer to the goal posts, glancing over her shoulder to check everything's going in full swing. She's in position when she sees Flo swing her fist close enough to Dean's face that he flinches and lets go of the Quaffle, but not close enough to make any sort of contact, thus keeping it legal.

       Ruby catches the Quaffle and bolts across the pitch, throwing the Quaffle to Holly, who punches the Quaffle into the goal before Ron can react.

       "And the Slytherin team are a hundred and thirty points ahead... Oh. A hundred and twenty, Gryffindor just scored... Oh, no, a hundred and thirty, Slytherin scored... A hundred and forty, Slytherin scored again — Gryffindor scores, making them a hundred and thirty behind... Slytherin scores again, Gryffindor follows suit..."

       Holly thinks she might burst into tears in a minute. She needs to win this. She can't go back into that common room later if she's lost, they'll all hiss at her for making them lose. They'll shout at her and accuse her of sabotaging them, her mother will write a letter to her saying how she's disappointed...

       ... Her dad wouldn't want her to lose.

       Her dad would be here if it was safe for him to still be in the country, cheering her on. Maybe that's why she's struggling to keep her hopes high, she doesn't have her dad by her side, encouraging her. She doesn't have his letters to read over and over before the game, not like she did with the tournament. She doesn't have him anymore.

       She needs to win for him, to make him proud. She can hear his voice, from the last time she saw him. Blow 'em away, one more time.

       Holly's eyes narrow and she spots the Quaffle going in the direction of Millicent, her Keeper. She sees Ruby grab the Quaffle before it can reach the goal posts, and Flo relays it towards Holly, who catches it and goes flying across the field, getting closer and closer to the goal post. She can do this, she can fucking do this for her dad.

       She remembers all of the tactics — as does the commentator Zacharias Smith (great fucking idea, whoever thought of that.) "Lippincott's getting closer to the scoring area... If she gets this before Potter catches the Snitch, both teams will tie..."

       Holly remembers everything she's heard over the last week. She'll let us lose to Potter, you know how those Gryffindors can be untrustworthy... She doesn't care about us... She left the team last year, I bet they only picked her because she's going out with someone famous—

       She launches herself off of her broom, using all of the force within her to throw the Quaffle into the goal post. It flies past Ron and through the goal, just as Harry grabs a hold of the Snitch...

       And then Holly begins plummeting towards the ground. Because that's what you do, when you launch yourself off a fucking cleaning utensil in order to tie on a game of wizard football.

       To her own amazement, she's caught — but not by her own team. Rather, Ron's close enough to grab a hold of her. Holly, yet again, is surprised by him.

       "Thanks," she says.

       "It's fine," says Ron.

       Holly gets to the ground, finding her broom waiting for her, along with the rest of her team, who rush towards her and pull her into one of the largest and sweatiest hugs she's ever received. Harlow puts his arm around her, hugging her, as someone shouts, "TYING'S BETTER THAN LOSING!"

       She needs a fucking nap.

✧

       HOLLY SLEEPILY ROLLS out of bed the next morning, rubbing her eyes and frowning for the first minute she's awake. For a second she forgets about yesterday, forgets that Slytherin tied with Gryffindor, and Slytherin took this as something to celebrate, the speakers to the common room's gramophone blaring wizard rock until two in the morning. Holly, however, left around half-eleven, falling asleep the second her head hit the pillow.

      Her entire dorm's still fast asleep when she gets out of bed, pulling her hair into a ponytail and deciding she'll wash it later on in the day. All of her homework's been done, so she can spend Sunday doing absolutely nothing. Thank Merlin.

       She walks into the Great Hall and finds Harry sitting at the Gryffindor table, so she makes her way towards the table covered in red and gold. All of her friends, by the looks of the Slytherin table, are still asleep. She supposes most of them went to sleep when the music stopped, it was just her who had had enough.

       "Morning," says Holly, sitting opposite Harry.

       "I've got news," he tells her, and she raises her eyebrows. He glances around quickly, to make sure no one else is listening in. She suspects he's got some news about his lessons with Dumbledore. "Ron's got a girlfriend."

       "Oh," says Holly. She wasn't expecting that...

       And then it properly sinks in.

       "Ohhh," she says. "Who?"

       "Hi, I'm Lavender!" says a voice, and someone sits down next to Holly. She remembers her from various lessons over the past couple years, how she'd always be whispering and giggling with her best friend. She was always a little critical of Harry, I thought, she thinks, seconds before she's pulled into the most uncomfortable hug she's ever had the displeasure of receiving. "Oh, we're going to spend so much time together now!"

       "Help me," Holly mouths to Harry, a look of panic on her face.

       "I don't know if you know yet, but as of last night, Won-Won—"

       Holly snorts. "Who?"

       "Ron, silly, that's my nickname for him!" says Lavender, looking a little less bubbly than before. Holly supposes the accidental snort did some damage to their new friendship. Whoops? "Anyway, I just wanted to say hello, because you're all very important to my Won-Won—"

       "Oh, well, I bet Hermione will be down in a couple minutes too," says Holly. Harry's eyes widen, and he kicks her under the table to stop talking. She frowns at him, slowly continuing, "She's just as much his best friend as Harry is, surely she's a lot more important for you to meet than me..."

       Harry shakes his head at Holly, and mouths, "Stop talking."

       "Is she, now?" says Lavender.

       "Uh, yeah?" says Holly, frowning. "I don't get the issue with that...?" Lavender looks like she's trying her hardest not to scowl at Holly. "Well, I don't? They're best friends. Surely it makes sense for you to also be nice to her..." Quickly, Holly remembers the amount of times she's heard Lavender and Parvati whisper about Hermione behind her back, and she tries her hardest to not mention that. "I just don't understand the logic behind it..."

       "Holly," says Harry. "We have that meeting with the other Quidditch captains, don't we?" Holly narrows her eyes in confusion, and he gives her a look. "We should probably go to that."

       "Oh, yes, we should," says Holly with a nod, standing up just as Ron sits next to Lavender. Within seconds, Lavender and Ron start kissing, so furiously that Holly, at one point, sees someone's tongue.

       Holly and Harry exchange a look, before (very quickly) leaving the hall. She turns to him as soon as they're out of earshot, her lips curving into a look of disgust. "Well, that was unpleasant," she says. "They kiss like pigeons mounting."

       "Charming," says Harry, looking at her oddly.

       "I saw it happen once," says Holly, a grim look on her face. "It's the most disturbing thing in the world... Well, after that monstrosity... Why is she so against Hermione?"

       "I don't know," says Harry, and the two stop walking, standing to the side of the courtyard. "Last night, though, Hermione got upset when she saw them kissing." Holly nods. "I don't really get it, but she was really upset over it—"

       "Do you think, maybe, deep-down, the two like each other?" says Holly, looking at Harry inquisitively. He looks confused, maybe a little grossed-out by the idea. "I mean, it's just an idea, but you said Ron got royally pissed off when Hermione went with Viktor to the Yule Ball... Maybe they don't realise they have some sort of feelings for each other?"

       Harry shakes his head. "I don't think they fancy each other," he says. "Surely if Ron did, he wouldn't be going out with Lavender—"

       "Speaking of which, when did that happen?" says Holly.

       "Beats me," says Harry, shrugging. Holly loves how observant he is. "One minute, I just turned around, and they were snogging."

       "Oh," says Holly. "That's pleasant."

       "Yeah," says Harry. "A bit quicker than us."

       Holly rolls her eyes. "OK, to be fair, you could've kissed me at Grimmauld Place if you had plucked up the courage—" she stops herself, pausing to grin at him. He looks amused, but not impressed. "Whatever. We're here now."

       "Exactly," says Harry, with a smile.

       "Ron was good yesterday, though, as Keeper," says Holly. Harry nods, a mischievous grin on his face as he does so. She looks at him suspiciously. "What did you do?"

       And then he fills her in, how he pretended to give Ron the Felix Felicis he had won in Potions (and how angry Hermione was about it, saying how he should be ashamed for cheating, and how it was even worse that he was cheating when his opponent was Holly... Holly thinks that's sweet of Hermione.) Holly nods along, interested. It's not like he used the stuff, he just tricked Ron into being confident in himself.

       "He was good," says Holly. "It was lucky, too, that we tied."

       "Yeah," says Harry, rather quickly.

       Holly looks at him suspiciously. "What did you do now?"

       "I didn't do anything," says Harry. Holly raises an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms. He pulls a face. "I waited until you were a hundred and fifty points ahead before I got the Snitch, so you wouldn't lose."

       There's a minute where Holly doesn't know how to react — because she can see both sides of this, and she can feel both sides of this. She knows that he meant this to be kind, that he knew how she's been getting stressed about this, and he didn't want her to lose at the minute, with only ten points between them. And it's sweet of him, and she feels touched by that... But then, she feels the complete opposite to that. Part of her feels like he was pitying her, probably seeing her close to ripping someone's head off at the end of the match, and feeling bad for her. It's the stubbornness in her shining through, she knows it, but it sucks. She doesn't like the idea of people feeling sorry for her. Her mother would tell her all the time, over the summer, "When others pity you, they see you as weak... Now, if the outside world believes that, what makes you think it isn't true?"

       "Oh," she says finally, not sure what else to say.

       "I didn't want you to lose like that, you've been working really hard — so I waited for as long as possible before getting the Snitch, so the points would even out."

       "OK," she replies. "Don't do in the future though, yeah? It's unfair on the other houses... And I would've been just as happy if you won, not me." Keep smiling Hol maybe he'll believe you.

       Harry looks unconvinced. "Really?"

       "Uh-huh," she nods.

       He still doesn't seem to believe her, but she smiles softly, wracking her brain to mention something that has nothing to do with Quidditch, nothing to do with how overwhelmed she started feeling during the match.

       "I forgot to ask," says Harry. "You know the Slug Club?"

       "How could I not?" says Holly, smiling bitterly. 

       "Well, they're having a Christmas party, and we can bring someone, so..." says Harry, and he motions towards her, as if she is the someone. Well, she is, but still. It makes her smile.

       "Romantic," says Holly with a scoff.

       Harry frowns. "Well, considering we're going out, I presumed you're going to be the plus one if I ever need one..."

      "Yeah, yeah," says Holly. "Is it formal? Like, suits?"

       "Think so," he says, although by the looks on his face, he has no idea whatsoever.

       She rolls her eyes and asks him to find out, and she thinks to herself, I'll get Mother to sort a dress out for me. By this, she means her auntie Narcissa will, since she's the one allowed in public without getting arrested. Which is fine, in Holly's opinion. Admittedly, her auntie Narcissa's got a lot better dress sense than her mother does. Although, she did spend the past sixteen years in a prison, wearing a stripey jumpsuit, she reminds herself, and then, she reminds herself that she went to prison to protect Holly, and Holly can feel herself starting to spiral down the familiar rabbit hole, past the thoughts about her dad and—

       "I should check on Hermione," says Harry. "Want to come?"

       "Uh, yeah, OK," says Holly, leaving the thoughts for another day.

✧

       "UH, HEY, HERMIONE," says Holly a few minutes later, slowly stepping into the girls' dorm room in Gryffindor tower. She knows she isn't supposed to be here, the amount of looks on the walk up the stairs made that crystal clear to her, but still. Holly would like to hope that she's a little more comforting than Harry is.

       Hermione's sitting at the desk in her dorm room, one that looks out of the window, showing off the landscape around the school. For a second, it surprises Holly that people can see the sky from their dorm, all she can see are fish and mermaids. But, Hermione turns around, blinking in shock that Holly, a known Slytherin, is standing in her dorm. And then she smiles at Holly, standing up.

       "Harry said you got upset last night," says Holly, thankful that the other girls sharing this room had gone elsewhere. Hermione nods once, and Holly smiles sympathetically. "Do you want to talk about it...?"

       "It doesn't matter now," says Hermione, straight off the bat. Her brows furrow and her lips curve downwards, making Holly tilt her own head in thought.

       "It looks like it does," says Holly quietly.

       Hermione looks up at Holly.

       "I—I don't know," says Hermione finally. Holly nods her head, even if she isn't sure what that's supposed to mean. Her dad used to nod his head, as if he was allowing Holly to rant, that it was OK for her 'to not know.' So that's what she does here.

       Hermione sits back down at the desk, and Holly sits down on the floor next to it, looking up at her. "I don't know why I was upset, Ron's at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes... I couldn't care less — I shouldn't care less..." she says, the last part making her frown. She turns to Holly. "Don't tell anyone that."

       "Cross my heart," says Holly.

       Hermione smiles softly. "Thanks."

       "Don't worry about it," says Holly. She stands up, and she wraps her arms around Hermione, uncomfortably leaning over her since she's still sitting on the chair. She pulls away, and she smiles at Hermione. "Can I ask you something?"

       Hermione nods.

       "Do you think that you might, deep, deep down, have feelings for Ron?" she asks, and immediately, she thinks to herself, Draco better fucking run here if I get hexed.

       "No, I don't," says Hermione, and then she pauses. "I don't know."

       "OK," says Holly. She smiles warmly at Hermione. "That's fine... I mean, if you don't know, you don't know, what's the use in getting stressed about it now?" Hermione nods, and Holly crouches down, so she can rest her hand on top of Hermione's. "You're the smartest student in this whole entire school, why should you worry about someone that doesn't see just how amazing you are?"

       Hermione smiles. "Thanks, Hol."

       Holly grins at her, shrugging. She called me 'Hol!'

       "You're smart, too, though!" says Hermione, standing up.

       Holly pulls a face. "Yeah, but I'm only good at the dark stuff."

       "That's not your fault," says Hermione. Holly shrugs, and Hermione looks at her oddly. "Well, think about it — it's still defensive magic, isn't it? Surely every spell can be defensive, if you're using it in that way?"

       "Crucio can be defensive?" says Holly, raising an eyebrow.

       "If someone's attacking you, then, yes," says Hermione.

       Holly pulls a face. "But you have to want to hurt the person—" 

       "If someone's trying to kill me, I'd want to hurt them," says Hermione, raising an eyebrow at Holly. "Wouldn't you?"

       Holly isn't sure what to say. "I mean, I suppose so...?"

       Hermione does have a point, Holly thinks, it's just that Holly's been made to believe that that sort of magic isn't defensive — even though Hermione's point makes absolute sense — because, at Durmstrang, they said that sort of magic gave you the power. It wasn't a panicked scramble for safety, it was a way to hold the world in your hand.

       "Well, whatever, I guess," says Holly. "Do you wanna go back downstairs? Harry said he'd wait... Considering R—the boy is, um, preoccupied."

       Hermione nods. "Thanks, by the way."

       "Don't mention it," says Holly.

       Hermione smiles at Holly. "I really mean it," she says, and Holly can feel her heart swelling with joy. "It's nice having you around."

       "I think so, too," says Holly, smiling.

—✧—✧—✧—✧—

all right so pansy and holly will ofc make up eventually, but like, as a lot of you said, pansy sorta fucked up and obviously holly's gonna take a little time before forgiving her for it. like, from where i see it, pansy's the sort of person that means well but will throw people under the bus if it helps her (so like flo thought she was a little crazy for 'talking to no one' so pansy didn't think and told her about suze.) also this means holly and hermione can become bestest friends too and like,,,, hell yes

i hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you thought!!