Chapter 19: Year Four (VIII)Summary:Holly manages to delude herself, learns the perils of friendship, has a close encounter of the surreal kind, and begins her final preparations.
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextA few hours after the second task Holly was sitting with Fleur and Hermione at a table in the kitchens overflowing with food. While she ate both of them gave her an update on the reactions to the second task after she'd left.
Hermione, speaking in accented French, started. "None of the judges looked happy you all used portkeys. Didn't make for a good show I imagine. Most students afterwards weren't sure how to feel: portkeys were boring but they know it was better than staring at the surface of the Lake for an hour."
"I think your Ministry officials and professors were surprised at our belief our friends were in serious danger." Fleur chimed in with, "they tried to explain they were perfectly safe and seemed offended when we clearly didn't trust their judgment." She scoffed, "the same people who thought fighting dragons could be made safe and were offended when we didn't trust their judgment. At least your Dumbledore seemed to understand."
"After we explained how you told us our friends would likely be hostages and gave us portkeys, they gave you the most points at 38. The rest of us got 25 for cooperation and trying to protect our friends, but ignoring the 'spirit of the Task.'"
"Well that's some bullshit. Fucking wizards." Only, then Holly processed the last bit of information. "Wait, if I got 13 more points then the rest of you-"
"You're now in 1st place. Congratulations Holly."Hermione said, looking far too amused.
Dumbstruck, she looked over at Fleur for support only to her nodding along. "It is well-deserved. Your performance in the First Task was far more impressive then the rest of ours. You only received less points because of Dumbledore saying you 'violated the spirit of the Task.' And the Second Task? You found the true meaning of the riddle. Your portkey solution was simple, elegant, and effective." Fleur looked over at Hermione, "am I missing anything?"
Hermione, smiling widely, seemed to agree. "I think the only thing you're missing is Holly accidentally helping dragon populations while also making their blood more available."
"Ah yes, very impressive that."
Holly, between having Fleur compliment her and realizing she was winning the stupid tournament, groaned loudly. She pushed away her food and folded her arms on the table to hide her flushed face in.
Hearing Hermione and Fleur laughing at her didn't exactly make it better.
"I hate everything." Only, then she realized something: she didn't have to stay here with them! "Screw you two, I'm going to talk to someone who doesn't tease me."
Although, she wasn't certain about that. Luna was impossible to read.
Hermione's laughter abruptly cut off, suddenly looking shocked. "You talk to other people then us? When did that start? How did I not know this?"
"Yeah, Luna. She's usually out in the Forest feeding the thestrals. I'm not sure where she gets the chunks of mystery meat but she's nice."
On that ominous note, she left the two concerned looking girls behind and walked into the Forest.
Sure enough, Luna was there feeding the thestrals chunks of mystery meat. Before Holly could say anything Luna turned and smiled at her in that unfocused, distinctly Luna-esq way.
"Hello Holly, congratulations on your victory over the Rotfang Conspiracy. I don't think they're very happy with you right now."
"Er, thanks. How go Luna things?"
"Pleasant as ever, thank you very much. The Nargles still don't bother me and the thestrals are doing well."
With nothing else to say they stood in surprisingly comfortable silence until Luna was done feeding the thestrals. "Goodbye Holly, I'll see you soon."
Not waiting for Holly to say anything, Luna turned and started walking out of the Forest.
'Well that was something. How come I don't know a single normal person? Hermione is the closest but she's too… Hermione to ever be considered normal.'
'Or am I the weird one?'
...
'Nah, that'd be ridiculous. It's everyone else that's weird.'
Reassured in her normality, Holly wandered the Forest collecting ingredients before calling it a night.
---
At least things mostly got better after that.
Hermione and Fleur seemed to be getting along. Hermione was getting to practice her French while Fleur practiced her English. The only unfortunate downside was Hermione constantly giving her knowing smiles whenever Fleur had dazed her slightly. At least she was getting tons of occlumency practice.
Some weeks later, she had absolutely no idea how, but suddenly Luna was with them as they were eating in the kitchens. Fleur looked suspiciously amused as Hermione tried to make sense out of Luna.
Hermione, leaning forward to stare at Luna, was clearly trying to interrogate the girl. "So Luna, how did you meet Holly?"
Luna, unflappable and dazed looking as ever, responded while seemingly staring over their heads. "I met Holly soon after I came here, back when the nargles used to steal my things. But then Holly swooped in like a mother dragon and scared them off."
Hermione, clearly having no idea how to interpret that, looked to Holly for clarification. "I don't remember the first time I met Luna. You remember how unobservant I used to be."
Hermione snorted, "Used to be?"
Before Holly could defend herself, Luna interrupted. "I think Holly is like a hawk swooping in on its prey. To be distracted at that moment could spell death for the predator."
Hermione looked completely stumped by that while Fleur was nodding along.
Holly herself was mildly unnerved. Luna's analogy was a touch too accurate for comfort.
Hermione didn't seem to understand it, throwing her hands up in frustration. "But what does that mean?"
Without making eye contact Luna somehow managed to give Hermione a reproachful look. "It means what it means."
Groaning, Hermione stood up and stomped out of the kitchens.
Fleur spoke up in English, still heavily accented but noticeably less so, "It is ok Luna. Hermione is a rigid thinker, but may be more, ah, adaptable in time. Then she will understand."
Holly joined in, "exactly what Fleur said. You're pretty brilliant, that observation about me was scary accurate."
Luna, still looking slightly over their heads, beamed at them.
And just like that, their trio became a quartet.
---
Naturally, there were growing pains. Hermione altered between bickering with Luna and trying her best to play nice. Luna, of course, took everything in stride, never letting anything bother her. Still, when even after a few weeks things weren't getting better, so Holly took Hermione to the Room to chat.
The second they were inside the Room Hermione's suppressed thoughts practically burst out.
"I don't get it Holly! When did you suddenly make a friend on your own? And without me noticing it at all! How did I miss that? Why Luna of all people? She's nice but you can't deny she's… odd."
"I wasn't trying to make a friend. In case you haven't noticed, I've never even tried to talk to people before. It sorta just happens to me. First it happened with us, then with Fleur, and now with Luna."
"As for the rest? Luna is nice. She's shockingly observational if you can figure out what she means. Sure, she could do with a bit more logic, but you could also do with more imagination. Does that make sense?"
To her horror Hermione was sniffling. "I'm sorry Holly, it's just, I'm used to it being the two of us. Fleur's nice and I'm glad you met her, but with her leaving at the end of the year I was expecting it to go back to just us."
That… made some sense but it didn't actually explain anything.
"Then what's the issue? It'll still be us, just with Luna here too. You're my friend. That's not changing unless you become a complete bitch or you're secretly a Death Eater or something like that."
Hermione rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Well, I can say I'm not a Death Eater. Thanks for talking to me."
With that Hermione pulled her into a hug before splitting apart. "I think I owe Luna an apology. I've been quite rude to her, haven't I?"
"Maybe? I bet she already figured it out."
Task complete, they went back to find Luna and Fleur in the kitchens. Sure enough, Luna already Hermione was about to apologize and smiled.
"It's nice to see you got the Wackspurts out of your ears Hermione. I look forward to talking to you now that you can hear."
Hermione, while clearly uneasy, still smiled back. "Thanks Luna, I am too."
Distractions from her friends handled, Holly settled into preparing for the final task.
---
Training with professor Moody went from twice a week to 3 times. It was grueling, every lesson ending with her laying on her back breathing heavily. The more competent she became the more suspicious professor Moody became. According to Sirius that was (somehow) a good sign.
In the Room she practiced furiously, usually trying to hit moving targets on the range while simultaneously shielding beanbags launched at her from random angles. That always left her sore and covered in bruises. After she was done she'd collapse into a chair, often with Hermione bringing her bruise paste afterwards.
She had a feeling Hermione didn't like that but of training but knew Holly needed it. They both knew the 3rd Task was almost certainly a trap.
Other times they exercised together, running laps and lifting weights (significantly heavier ones for Holly) until they both were drenched in sweat. Thankfully her regenerative elixir helped her muscles recover faster, something Hermione always grumbled about.
On her own she started making other preparations.
The Goblins assured Holly she could buy some Liquid Luck from them before the Task. Hopefully it'd be enough to get the best possible outcome.
If it wasn't she had other safeguards: she'd commissioned Gringotts for armor to be made from the basilisk hide and acromantula silk. She'd wear an acromantula silk tracksuit with basilisk scale vest, armguards, and shin guards underneath. The increased spell resistance would weaken any harmful spells, helping her keep fighting.
Hopefully any attackers would be surprised enough that she could catch them off guard.
Just in case all that wasn't enough, during class she doodled out rune sequences for a prototype rune-powered gun. She didn't want to reveal that trick before Adult Tom revealed himself, but she knew she might be forced to use it before then. Plus, it was a great way to not fall asleep during class.
The planning for her Stamina Elixir was proving surprisingly difficult. Unlike the both her previous elixirs, the standard formula for a stamina potion didn't require any rare ingredients. That meant she was able to endlessly experiment with it, making minor variations for every batch she tested.
She had most of it figured out, now it was just the fussy details about how best to gather her ingredients.
(In her testing she'd discovered that, while using a normal dragonfly thorax would work, one from a dragonfly she'd fed a swelling solution to was more potent. Naturally, after that she brewed another in her gold cauldron and fed it to another dragonfly. That one swelled to the size of a truck and immediately tried to eat her.
One fight later and Holly had plenty of oversized dragonfly ingredients. Using its thorax in her next batch massively increased the potency, making her quite pleased with the result. She told Hermione about her discovery but got a Look for some reason.)
Fussy details, which unfortunately tended to have a major effect on the overall outcome of her potions. Meaning every potion had to be measured in both potency and longevity.
That meant running laps on a track in the Room for hours at a time. After a few batches, each stronger and longer lasting than the last, she simply didn't have enough time to run until exhausted.
Fortunately, she had a solution to that. Hermione hated her idea, but grudgingly agreed it was their best option.
---
That evening, Holly approached the Weasley twins to be her guinea pigs.
She thought it was rather brilliant. She'd be able to test 2 different potion variations at once! And, since they were twins, she'd be able to directly compare the results without needing a control group.
As she saw the Twins walking past the great hall she cleared her throat to get their attention.
The Twins briefly paused before spinning around to face her with cheery grins.
"Well hello there, miss Holly-"
"Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived, "
"the violent recluse,"
"the ultimate bookworm,"
"the One-Who-Steps,"
'the prodigious potioneer,"
"the lady-loving witch."
"How can we-"
"assist you?"
Holly blinked, 'oh shit, Hermione was right. These guys don't need more energy. Eh, at least the shitshow they cause will be entertaining.'
"I have a business proposition for you two."
Without even glancing at each other they replied simultaneously, "we're interested."
"I have a potion I need to test: a stamina potion. I know it lasts for hours but I don't have enough time to see exactly how long my different varieties last. I figured you two would be interested in seeing how long you could run around causing mayhem."
This time they did glance at each other as identical cheshire grins slowly spread across their faces.
"We're interested of course,-"
"we are quite invested in-"
"causing general mayhem, but-"
"if you're good at something-"
"never do it for free."
Holly smiled, "I'll pay you 5 galleons per potion tested. Each."
Both twins immediately grabbed one of her hands and started shaking it rapidly, "you have a deal."
Coins exchanged hands before Holly reached into her bag, pulling out her two potions. "Twin on my left, you're getting potion A. Twin on my right, you're getting potion B. Remember that. I've marked the time already, let's see how long they last."
Handing over the two potions, both Twins immediately chugged theirs and handed back the vials.
"Well Forge"
"Yeah Gred?"
"I do believe it's time for a Prank War"
"Right you are, twin mine, right you are."
With that they both shook her hands again and ran off, leaving wary looking bystanders in their wake.
Holly, knowing she'd be in for a treat beforehand, pulled out her bag of popcorn and found a good spot to enjoy the show.
---
Naturally, the next several hours were nothing short of absolute chaos.
The Twins ran around like men possessed, causing mayhem wherever they went. They released bats in the dungeons; stuck the tables upside down to the ceiling in the great hall; made several doors only open if tickled while others were stuck open and gave everyone who passed through a massive beard; conjured waterfalls of glitter, and probably a dozen other pranks Holly missed in the chaos.
They even managed to convince the elves to make nothing but jello for dinner, some of them (away from the usual 1st and 2nd year sections) looking suspiciously off-color like they were spiked.
The result was very frustrated professors (although Dumbledore looked amused), the Twins getting weeks of detention, students either laughing hysterically or looking murderous, and Holly quite pleased with the data gathered.
As she was walking to the kitchens with Hermione, side stepping random piles of glitter as they went, Holly spoke up.
"I think that went rather well. Now I know potion A, the one with fresh coffee beans, is slightly stronger and longer lasting then potion B. That means for the next batch I'll start there then continue to further refine it. And I haven't even started using my rare ingredients yet!"
Hermione, sounding rather wary, asked "are you sure you want to give them even stronger potions? You did see what they managed with this one, right?"
"What's the worst that could happen? Besides, wizards take themselves so seriously for a society that really doesn't do anything."
"You only want to mess with everyone because they annoy you."
"Also true."
Stepping into the kitchens they were greeted with a sight Holly never could've imagined: a murderous looking Fleur sitting there covered in glitter, too angry to function, with a half dozen house elves trying to get the glitter out of her hair.
Fleur, seeing them, flatly stated "I am going to kill them."
Hermione, clearly deciding to throw Holly under the bus, turned around and walked out of the kitchens.
Leaving Holly alone with Fleur and the elves, knowing this was completely her fault.
Was it too late to escape?
"So I, uh, wanted to test an endurance potion but didn't have enough time. Sooooo, I might've paid the Twins to test 2 different variations at once for me." Seeing Fleur's murderous intent shift to her she quickly continued, "I should have made sure to specify some people were off limits. I'm sorry."
Fleur's expression softened the tiniest amount. "Holly, if you ever plan something like this I would like to be told beforehand. Now, I am going to take a shower and you, Holly, are going to make sure this never happens again. Are we clear?"
Holly rapidly nodded, unable to make eye contact or speak. Patting her on the shoulder as she passed, Fleur left, leaving a shaken Holly behind.
"Ok, so Hermione was right. I just didn't think the Twins were suicidal enough to let Fleur be effected. Does she hate me now? Maybe she'd like a gift, let me bribe my way back into friendship? Or maybe that'd make things worse?" Holly threw her hands up, "life was so much simpler when it was just me and the house elves."
Later that night when Holly asked Hermione for help she got laughed at, leaving Holly alone to fix it.
---
Thankfully Fleur didn't seem to hold a grudge against her afterwards. At least, not with her.
When Fleur found the Twins the next day she asked to have a "talk" with them. After a few minutes Fleur left their privacy ward with a satisfied smirk, leaving the Twins pale-faced and terrified as she walked off. Afterwards they refused to speak about it so, since nobody dared to ask Fleur, it remained a mystery.
Unfortunately for Holly, the Twins weren't willing to keep testing her potions after that. Thankfully she quickly thought of another group in desperate need of energy: stressed upperclassmen preparing for exams.
Once word spread Holly was selling extraordinarily powerful stamina potions she was suddenly overwhelmed with people asking to buy. It was annoying but at least she had no shortage of guinea pigs. After several weeks, countless variations, and making a surprising amount of money, she finally figured out the final component and how to get it.
The problem? It was Fairy wings. Not the ones from the standard tiny, non-sentient fairies that were like magical humanoid butterflies. No, a true sentient Fairy of the Fair Folk. The kind that were so dangerous that even human supremacist wizards knew approaching them at all was a terrible idea. To lose a wager to them was to become eternally trapped and tormented for their amusement.
Now, Holly could make do with garden-variety fairy wings. That probably would've been the wise thing to do.
But Holly wasn't willing to compromise. Getting those wings would give her a massive advantage against, well, everything. It could (probably) make her elixir potent enough to give her functionally unlimited stamina. That bonus would be invaluable.
She knew she couldn't fight a proper Fairy. Or out talk it. Or read its mind. Or out-anything it.
Which meant there was only one thing to do: cheat. She'd give it an unsolvable riddle and hoped it didn't have some unfathomable eldritch knowledge to know the answer.
After making preparations (updating her existing will at Gringotts, leaving Hermione and Sirius notes explaining everything if she wasn't back after 5 days) she did what wizards said to never do: during sunrise on Beltane she walked out into the Forest and followed the fairy lights.
---
As she walked the Forbidden Forest slowly shifted and blurred, until she was following a lit path through a different forest entirely. She kept her eyes on the path, refusing to look at any of the odd sounds, until eventually she came upon a clearing.
There, sitting on a large throne in the middle of the otherwise empty clearing, was a large Fairy man. He was devastatingly beautiful in an uncanny-valley way, even before she noticed the slightly pointed ears and wings behind him. And was that a crown on his head?
'Oh. This is Not Good. Not Good at all. Good thing I wrote out those letters explaining everything.'
She stopped walking a (hopefully) respectful distance and bowed her head.
Before she could say anything he spoke (and dear god was his voice smooth like butter but with the undercurrent of something distinctly inhuman) "I know what you seek. Were you anyone else I would have already taken your sanity for daring to come here and ask that."
When she risked a look up she saw him reach over his shoulder. With a slight jerk he tugged, pulling his hand back with a small section of translucent glowing wing in his hand.
He looked directly at her, an unreadable expression on his face. "May you use it well on your great and terrible path."
---
Holly blinked, suddenly finding herself laying down on her dorm bed.
'What. The. Fuck. Did that really happen or was that the most surreal dream I've ever had? Am I going crazy preparing for this obvious trap?'
However, once she sat up she spotted something new: a small piece of glowing fairy wing on her nightstand.
Which meant that really happened.
She'd been given a gift for nothing in exchange.
No battle of riddles. No deals with the devil. Nothing.
Holly pinched herself, surprised when she felt pain.
"…Ooooook then. That happened. Note to self: never tell Hermione and Sirius about this. Ever."
Trying and failing to snap herself out of a daze, she drifted through breakfast, only snapping out of it when she saw Hermione coming.
"Guess what? I figured it out the last bit: we're ready to brew." The answering smile was brilliant, wildly different from how she'd react if she knew what had actually happened.
---
That night they stayed up late brewing the eternal elixir base solution in the Hogwarts anchorstone room. Finally, it was time to add her ingredients.
Ground coffee beans (specifically bred by Holly to have extra caffeine), peppermint, scurvy grass, and an infusion of wormwood. All grown with her fertilizing potions of course.
After that came the flying seahorses (personally caught from the lake), dragonfly thorax (from another dragonfly that drank her swelling solution, grew dragon sized, and was killed by her), the fairy wing bit (she really hoped Hermione wouldn't ask about that), and a phoenix tear (a massive upgrade from the standard vervian infusion).
Once she finished her potion was a vibrant green and slightly glowing, while magically spinning itself into a whirlpool.
"Well, bottoms up, take three."
Chugging her elixir, she felt raw energy run through her. Suddenly she didn't feel at all like she'd been up most of the night.
Which, well, hopefully it wouldn't mess with her ability to sleep. In hindsight that was something she should've considered. If she died from sleep loss due to her own elixir she deserved the passive aggressive gravestone Hermione would want to get her.
"I think it worked. Now lets just hope it hasn't destroyed my ability to sleep."
Hermione, too tired for a Look, simply shook her head silently.
---
Thankfully, after some testing Holly knew she could still sleep normally. Her body felt like it could keep going at least a few times longer, and her mind felt like it fatigued slower too, but she could still lay down and fall asleep every night.
Testing exactly how much more stamina she had was interesting at first but quickly got boring. She'd run laps around a track in the Room until even Hermione looked bored without feeling exhausted. She felt the burn in her legs, sure, but she could keep going for a while longer.
During her practice duels she slowly noticed that her magical stamina had also increased. Dramatically so.
She could keep casting spells, powerful ones, for far longer. Her normal spells weren't any more powerful, but could keep casting them for hours. Even when she intentionally overpowered her spells it took longer for her to feel drained. The best analogy she could think of is that, if she was a car, then it was like her petrol tank was suddenly much larger, letting her drive faster for longer.
When Hermione noticed she shrugged and tried not to think about the ominous implications.
"Well, I the elixir worked. I'm declaring Operation: Become a Total Badass complete for now."
Hermione arched an eyebrow, "for now?"
"Mhmm. Time to focus on my other preparations for the task. I've got a good feeling about this."
It was a complete lie, she was worried.
If this really was a trap, which it almost certainly was, she'd need to fight her way out. For the first time in her life she'd be in a real fight against grown wizards (Diary Tom, the eternally 16 megalomaniac, didn't count) trying to kill her.
There were no Goblins to hire, no allies she could bring, no minds to provide the answers.
Still, how bad could it go?
Notes:Direct inspiration for Holly's self reflection: Link
Holly friend group summed up: Link
Luna has officially joined the squad. I'd been wanting to work her in somewhere but honestly I was surprised at how easily it fit in here. Leave it to her to abruptly show up to a friend group during a time skip.
The whole fairy thing is a bit of my original ideas but mostly inspired from The_Carnivorious_Muffin's story, When Harry Met Tom. I wanted to introduce more fantastical magical concepts. Canon Harry Potter is somewhat lacking in that regard. It's not as lacking in variety as say Twilight (which has in-universe justification), but still extremely human focused and lacking in scale.
Chapter 20: Year Four (IX)Summary:Holly unintentionally helps the entire world purely out of spite, competes in the 3rd Task, has a very awkward conversation with a Dark Lord, and makes more questionable decisions than usual.
Notes:Just like in canon, this is when things will start taking a darker turn. I doubt it's a surprise to anyone but I still feel like I should say something here. Expect more graphic violence then in canon. This isn't a complete fix-it no matter how it might've seemed so far.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextIt was two days before the third task and Holly was finally taking her potions NEWT exam. She ignored the constant glances of everyone else in the room, only focusing on Snape standing at the front of the room with an unfathomable expression.
When the exams were passed out she nearly snorted. 'This is the exam? This is what Snape thought I couldn't handle? That bastard is looking down on me.' She completed her exam quickly, confident in her answers. The sound of her chair scraping on stone echoed as she stood up to turn her exam in, walking up through the rows of other students.
She handed in her exam while giving Snape a death glare, the bastard only raising an eyebrow in response. One of the elderly proctors looked like he might've started saying something but Holly quickly turned and left before he could start.
A few hours later it was time for the practical portion of the exam: brewing wolfsbane. It was one of the more difficult potions, but well within her abilities. She quickly got into The Zone, methodically working on her potion and even making a minor alteration.
Some time later she finished her brewing, turning off the burner and wiping the sweat from her brow. Glancing up she was startled to see Snape and the geriatric looking proctors staring at her cauldron with interest.
Snape was the first to ask, "Potter, what did you do?"
"I added a vanilla pod. It should taste better without altering the effectiveness."
Snape's expression gave away nothing but the proctors looked impressed. "Well done, miss Potter, well done indeed. You've taught her well, Severus."
Snape sneered and for once Holly agreed: that bastard hadn't taught her anything.
Only, then Snape's expression shifted, an odd malicious look in his eye. She knew what that look meant and readied herself.
"Potter, how would you cure werewolves?"
For a second Holly (and everyone else in hearing range) could only stare.
She knew what he was doing.
'He's trying to make me look stupid in from of them! Trying to make them fail me! This is his last chance to make me look stupid so he's doing it with an audience. He knows he's asking a seemingly impossible question. That petty bastard.'
'You know what? Fuck it, I'll answer it. I'll beat that bastard at his own game.'
She looked down and took a moment to think before finally responding, "lycanthropy is theorized to have first been created by a failed attempt at an animagus ritual using blood magic before it spread by bite. The reason its been impossible to cure so far isn't because its such a powerful curse, but because its anchored in their very blood. The solution to that is simple: you need to dilute their blood."
"If a werewolf had their blood withdrawn and replaced with uncontaminated donated blood the curse should weaken slightly. If you replaced a majority of their blood the curse should be significantly weaker. Maybe even more so if the donated blood was from a squib or non-magical?"
"After that… several rounds of strong curse purging and cleansing potions might be enough to remove the curse entirely. If that isn't enough... maybe a modified animagus ritual? If you can't completely remove the curse then you might be able to gain control of the transformations. That's better than nothing."
She looked back up to see a visibly shocked Snape staring back at her. Even the proctors (along with everyone else within earshot) was staring, simmering cauldrons forgotten.
Holly didn't care about any of that.
No, she only cared about one thing: she'd won.
With a savage smile wide across her face, she stood on her tippy toes and whispered "I win" into Snape's ear.
Victory declared, she turned and walked out with a wide smile, leaving the hall without a glance backwards.
---
Afterwards she found Hermione eating in the kitchens with Fleur and Luna. The moment she walked in their heads snapped up, seeing her smile and clearly expecting answers.
"I won. I beat the bastard." She said, grinning as she sat down and started filling her plate.
"Holly, that doesn't explain anything. What happened? What was the exam like? What did you have to brew? Do you know how you were graded? What about-"
"I think what Hermione is saying is that she would like some details" Fleur cut in.
"Oh, well I took the exam and it wasn't hard. For the practical I brewed some wolfsbane and made a minor improvement. Then, when Snape tried to make me look stupid by asking me how to cure werewolves, I gave him an idea that I think could work." Holly smiled wider, "I beat the bastard."
They didn't seem to agree for some reason because all three of them were silently staring at her.
"What?"
Fleur abruptly started laughing hysterically, the noise snapping the other two out of their stares. While Luna gave a cryptic smile, Hermione instead started silently patting Fleur's shoulder.
"Anyway, that's over. Now I just have to get through the tournament."
---
Two impossibly fast days later, just before the final task, Sirius was hugging her tight and refusing to let go. She could vaguely hear the muffled sounds of the other champions talking with their families nearby.
Of course, she couldn't actually see them because Sirius was being clingy.
"Sirius, I'm going to be fine. I'm armored up, have tracking charms from both you and Hermione, and Liquid Luck."
Left unsaid and unknown to him was that she also had several cursed knives in her boots, her prototype rune-powered handgun in her expanded pocket, and was fully willing to kill anyone who tried to kill her. He didn't need to know that.
He crouched down to look her in the eye. "The first sign of a non-tournament threat, you run away and hide, then contact me. I'll be there with the cavalry immediately. Do you understand?"
She nodded. It wasn't even a lie: she trusted Sirius to come rescue her if something went wrong. Of course, she had no intention of sitting out after backup had arrived, but he didn't need to know that either.
As Sirius started leading her to the quidditch pitch she let her brave façade fall. Even with all her preparations she was nervous.
It'd be stupid not to be while knowingly walking into a trap. Better to be ready and over prepared then caught off guard. Which, looking at the lack of armor and weapons on the other champions, she certainly was in comparison. At least Fleur wasn't wearing a dress this time.
Holly was wearing a tracksuit again. Only, this one was secretly made from acromantula silk, capable of blocking most minor spells and weakening stronger ones. Hidden beneath that was her basilisk scale armor: a vest, armguards, and shinguards.
She would've liked a full fitted bodysuit of it but that wasn't exactly subtle. Since basilisks were so rare publicly wearing that would practically be announcing that she'd killed the Chamber's basilisk.
Plus, as a matter of practicality, she didn't want to use her limited amount of basilisk hide on armor she'd grow out of. Once she was fully grown she'd have a suit of it commissioned.
Sadly, she felt her prototype handgun was lacking. Sure, it was semi-automatic and silenced, but she thought it was lacking oomph. At least it'd be easy to draw quickly and she knew most wizards wouldn't recognize it as a weapon. She hadn't gotten as much practice as she would've liked either, although liquid luck would help with that.
Earlier that week she'd picked up her commissioned liquid luck from Gringotts. It was a small vial, but she knew it'd be enough for several hours. Hopefully that'll be enough time to rush through the maze and deal with whatever bullshit was in her way.
In the stands she could vaguely hear the announcements started, people cheering like mad, but she couldn't process that. Couldn't process anything besides needing to survive the task in front of her.
With one glance at the other champions (all of them, even Viktor, looked visibly nervous) she stepped into place at the entrance to the hedge maze. When the whistle sounded she stepped into the maze.
---
The instant the maze closed behind her she chugged her liquid luck. After a moment she was hit by a feeling of wrongness. That she needed to turn around and escape. That she needed to concede.
Which, well, she'd already known the tournament was a trap. But she wasn't running away, no matter what the liquid luck suggested. If she turned away someone else would fall into a trap meant for her.
That'd be unacceptable.
Seeming to sense her resolve, the luck potion shifted from suggesting she conceded to urging her onward. Letting the potion to lead her, she took off running.
She ran down each dark path, following the pull of her gut at each turn. She briefly saw one of Hagrid's abominations at an intersection but luckily it was facing the wrong way. By the time it turned around she was long gone.
She wasn't sure how long she ran for (having her endurance skyrocket make it annoyingly hard to judge time during exercise) but it didn't seem like long before she was looking down a long path with the Cup glowing at the end.
Sure, there was another one of Hagrid's abominations between her and it, but that was easily solved by shish-kabobbing it with a conjured spear. She climbed over its corpse (while seriously wishing she had time to take some ingredients from it) and sprinted for the Cup.
Holly slid to a stop just a few feet away from it to do one last check.
Liquid luck? Check.
Armor? Check, still in place and shockingly comfortable.
Makeshift gun? She pulled it out and made sure it was loaded before stuffing it back into her pocket. Check.
Communication mirror? Check.
With that she disillusioned and silenced herself before grabbing the Cup, not surprised when she felt herself being portkeyed away.
---
Holly landed on her feet, disappointed and almost disbelieving when she saw she was in an excessively gloomy graveyard. The place looked almost as clichély evil as the Chamber. She might've laughed if she couldn't feel the anti-apparation ward, probably a one-way block to prevent her escape.
For some reason her scar started hurting too. Not badly, but enough to be distracting.
Worse, she could tell the tracking charms on her were being suppressed too. At least Hermione and Sirius knew something was wrong now.
Even the liquid gut in her gut was giving her a feeling of foreboding. That this wasn't a good place to be but also not urging her to turn and run. Which, weird. Damn potion was more vague than she'd hoped for.
What should she do? She had the mirror but couldn't use it silently or while invisible. Her only other method of communication was a patronus and those were the opposite of subtle. If she died here because wizards hadn't invented magic-proof cell phones yet she was going to haunt their asses.
Before she could think to do anything else she saw a spell sweep over the graveyard, making her invisible form start glowing. Instantly she dove behind a nearby gravestone. Not a second later a stunner flew through where she'd been standing.
'Ok, so they're not trying to kill me yet. That could be good or Very Bad. At least I have that advantage over them.'
As several more spells impacted the headstone she was hiding behind she realized something. 'Wait, shouldn't there be more spells coming at me from multiple places? Is there only one guy? What kind of idiot attempts a solo kidnapping?' She took a second to assess the feeling in her gut: it was urging her up, to duel. Not use the mirror or gun for some reason. That didn't make sense but she trusted the Goblins, if they said the potion was good then it was.
'Well, here goes nothing.'
She peeked over her cover. There, standing a few dozen feet away, was a vaguely familiar, deranged looking man pointing his wand at her. Simultaneously the man glanced backwards at a faint voice coming from behind him as her scar exploded in pain.
Ignoring the pain to take the opportunity, she immediately started flinging curses at him. With shocking ease he countered both and rapidly fired back several stunners.
It wasn't long until Holly was on the back foot, desperately dodging and blocking spells. Even wandlessly casting with her empty hand and the liquid luck helping her aim better and dodge faster, she wasn't winning. She was, at best, fighting equally even while he was holding back by using only incapacitating spells.
Dodging his spells she internally cursed. 'What the fuck potion?! This guy is better than Sirius, probably at Moody's skill level but younger and with two legs! Are you trying to get me killed?'
In her brief moment of distraction, a stunner hit her chest, staggering her but negated by her basilisk hide vest. Clearly he'd expected her to drop because he lowered his guard and didn't react in time to fully dodge her retaliatory cutting curse. Sadly it missed his neck, instead leaving a bloody gash on his right shoulder . She followed up her attack but the man recovered quickly, soon gaining the advantage once again.
It was like Diary Tom all over again: she didn't stand a chance.
Even with his dominant shoulder injured he was winning. Worse, the guy was holding back and still winning.
She didn't even have time to pull out her gun, he was just too fast. The liquid luck knew it too, urging her not to try. Likewise, it was urging her not to attack his mind either, clearly suggesting the man was highly skilled in occlumency.
Furious, Holly started lashing out with more lethal spells. She overpowered her curses, launched volleys of conjured spears, and (almost) any lethal curses she could think of. But it was all useless. The man countered everything with a manic smile.
"Not bad Potter, but what would your parents think?" The man taunted.
That didn't need a response. Or rather, not a verbal one.
Instead she fired back with an imperious curse. He quickly ducked but his expression darkened.
Suddenly she knew he was done playing.
He swiped his wand, sending a bludgeoning hex at her. She countered it along with his next one and the next, but she couldn't keep up and was hit. She went flying backwards into a gravestone, her head slamming against stone.
Her vision was blurry, but she could vaguely see a silhouette standing over her. There was a bit of movement and a red flash, then she knew no more.
---
When Holly slowly came to she was tightly tied upright to a statue, with the same man working over a massive cauldron filled with an ominous looking potion. A quick tug on her restraints had them magically tightening, all placed so she couldn't wandlessly cut them.
Nearby on the ground was a small bundle of cloth wriggling and a massive snake coiled next to it. Strangely the snake had a somewhat familiar magical feel to it, almost like the Diadem.
Oh.
Fuck.
This was Not Good. Not Good at all.
If that snake was a horcrux then that meant that wiggling bundle was someone she hadn't wanted to see for at least a few more years.
Adult Tom.
But why did simply being around him made her scar hurt? It didn't make any sense, what could possibly cause that?
She was pulled out of her thoughts when Adult Tom whispered "Hurry" from his bundle. She refused to think of him like a baby being swaddled. She'd read enough illegal books to suspect how that body was created.
The Death Eater picked him up with a disturbing look of reverence and slowly unwrapped him.
The figure inside was horrific beyond description, painful to look at but impossible to look away from. Thankfully he disappeared under the potion's surface quickly.
The Death Eater walked closer to her, twirling his wand at the ground. "Bone of the father, given unknowingly, you will renew your son!"
'Oh Fuck, it's a ritual, probably one to get him a new body. This is bad, this is so bad-'
She was pulled out of her panicking to see the man raise a knife high, "Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master!"
The man swung downwards, cleanly slicing almost his entire right arm off without making a single noise of pain.
(Which, honestly? That was both wildly badass and a whole new disturbing level of devotion to someone.)
The man turned to her, bloody knife still in hand, manic smile wide across his face as he walked closer.
'Oh fuck. He needs a component from me doesn't he? Hopefully it's not my death or something.'
Roughly grabbing her wrist, he stabbed downward into her left palm. Just as the knife hit her skin, liquid luck made her hand jerk up.
"Blood of the enemy, forcefully taken, you will revive your master!"
He walked back to the cauldron, flicking her blood off the knife into the cauldron. The instant her blood hit the potion a tower of multicolor flames erupted before settling down into painfully bright white sparks. After a brief moment they stopped and a thick cloud of white smoke erupted.
"Robe me" a high voice ordered.
(Thank god for that smoke, she did not want to see Adult Tom naked. That'd require a self obliviate.)
The Death Eater, still smiling like the madman he was despite looking quite pale, approached with a bow and pulled the robes onto Adult Tom.
The smoke cleared and there was Adult Tom in all his evil glory.
He was tall and thin, with a disturbingly attractive face and a full head of dark hair.
Still, his body wasn't quite right looking.
His fingers were a bit too long and spidery looking. His eyes were slightly tinged red. His skin was splotchy, slightly paler in some spots.
Adult Tom, still weirdly feeling his own face up, looked pleased.
"I feel… powerful. You have done well, my servant." The Death Eater, still bleeding heavily from his shoulder wound and stump, somehow bowed even lower than before.
He pulled out his wand and turned it over several times before his eyes snapped over to her.
He smiled a terrible smile, "Holly Potter, Girl-Who-Lived. I was quite disappointed we did not meet your first year or that you somehow did not recognize me attached to that puppet. Perhaps I was expecting too much of you…"
Now that was condescending. She was getting casually insulted by Adult Tom.
How was this her life?
Still, she needed to play along, keep him talking. Thankfully she had a good idea of how to do that.
"Well excuse me, your Dark Lord-ness, I wasn't exactly expecting you to be in Hogwarts. Guess it was naive of me to expect Dumbledore would do a background check. He's probably too busy with his hoarding."
He blankly stared back at her for a second before abruptly laughing loudly.
"The fool does like to collect his trinkets, doesn't he? I saw his office once just after he became headmaster and it was already cluttered." The amusement quickly fell from his face, as if it had never been there. "But Dumbledore is not why we are here tonight."
He turned and approached the still bowing Death Eater. "Rise and give me your arm." Immediately the Death Eater complied.
Adult Tom examined the Dark Mark on his remaining arm. "It is back. They all will have noticed it, and now we shall see. Now we shall know…"
Adult Tom touched the Dark Mark, instantly making Holly's scar spike in pain.
(And why was it doing that? What the hell was her connection with him?)
"Your other arm now."
Pointing at the still bleeding shoulder stump, Adult Tom swirled his wand, conjuring a gleaming silver arm that attached to the stump.
"Thank you Master, thank you."
"You have done your job well, my most loyal servant. Now we will see if any of the others have your loyalty."
Pacing between headstones Adult Tom looked strangely manic, like he had too much energy.
Wait a second…
'If he used my blood does that mean he got all the benefits from my elixirs? Oh fuck, that'd make him so much harder to kill. And the liquid luck! Hopefully he didn't get that too. Sure, it'd make him overconfident and eventually poison him, but it's still Not Good if he's lucky right now, let alone if it lasts longer.'
"You know, I was impressed by your showing in the Tournament" Adult Tom abruptly said, sounding shockingly conversational. "Taking advantage of the opportunity to collect dragons' blood during the First Task was resourceful. Granted, your method of doing so was disgustingly muggle but undeniably effective. I'm surprised you didn't get a better score."
Was he nervous and trying to talk out his nerves? Weird. Whatever it was, she couldn't waste the chance to distract him.
"Thanks? Apparently Dumbledore said it 'violated the spirit of the task' or something and marked me down."
Adult Tom sneered, "Dumbledore, that old self-righteous, moralizing fool. You know the first time we met he set my wardrobe on fire?"
Holly did know that but saying so would lead to some awkward (and painful) questions. Instead she said, "you know, between that, hiring puppet-you, and not discouraging Hagrid's interest in dangerous monsters; I'm seriously questioning his judgment."
Adult Tom abruptly turned towards her. "I knew you were intelligent from your potions papers but I never expected you to distrust Dumbledore."
What the- "my potions papers? How the hell did you read those?"
He simply stared at her before flatly answering, "… your articles in Potions Weekly. There are over a dozen of your alterations published in it."
"Wait…" if that was true then there was only one person who could've done it. "That bastard! Snape's been assigning me extra papers, publishing them, and is probably pocketing the money from them for himself!"
Adult Tom, the evil asshole, simply laughed. "Severus truly embodies the House of my ancestor Slytherin well."
"You know after my NEWT exam he, in front of everyone, tried to make me look stupid by asking how I'd cure werewolves?" Holly asked, glaring. "I gave him a good answer of course, finally beat that bastard, but he still tried. I can't believe one of the proctors said he 'taught me well.' He didn't teach me shit!"
For some reason Adult Tom was giving her a Look oddly similar to Hermione often did.
(Now that was a disturbing similarity to make. Probably shouldn't ever mention that.)
"… I may have spoken too soon about your intelligence. Although, this is an impressive attempt to distract me. You would have done well in Slytherin."
Well, there was no point in being unrepentant. "Thanks? Not sure that's a compliment coming from you."
Chuckling (and wasn't that disturbing? He chuckled.) he said, "you are remarkably unafraid for someone who should be."
"I figure you're not going to try and kill me until after your minions show up. Then we can fight and try to kill each other like civilized people."
Was she really quoting The Princess Bride to a monster like Adult Tom who hadn't seen the movie and was legitimately going to try and kill her soon? Yes.
Did she regret it? No.
Especially not as he was staring at her with the strangest expression on his face.
Before he could carry on his unnerving conversation suddenly there was the sound of people apparating in. Holly watched as the cloaked Death Eaters started appearing and formed a circle around them.
---
Holly paid close attention to all the figures. Their cloaks and masks anonymized them well, or at least they did until Adult Tom started addressing them by name.
Dumbass.
It's like he actually believed he was guaranteed to kill her here. She was memorizing all the names to expose later.
(She was desperately trying to believe she was getting out of this but Fuck this was not looking good. Hopefully liquid luck would kick in and let her do something wildly badass so she could make a run for it.)
Adult Tom insulted them, calling them cowards for never once searching for him or committing public acts in his name. All his followers begged, apologizing for their failure. Even after he crucio'd several of them they sought forgiveness.
That level of fanatic loyalty, especially since it was out of fear, was disturbing to watch.
Then he started addressing the gaps in their circle. Praising the ones who were publicly loyal and went to Azkaban, calling one a coward (probably Karakoff, hopefully she could rob him before they killed him), and doubly insulting the gaps left by the ones who had publicly renounced him but were arrested last year.
Eventually he finally addressed her, "and now, the supposed cause of my downfall as well as the means of my return. The so-called 'Girl-Who-Lived.'"
He turned to face her, "they call her my downfall but that is not the truth. Her mother died trying to protect her, and in doing so unwittingly placed protections on her that I admit I did not foresee. It protected her from my curse, making it rebound, and destroying my body."
"But now?" Abruptly he turned and backhanded her across the face. Hard. With her thoughts spinning she noted he had gotten her enhanced strength.
(And why did it feel like her scar was on fire when he touched her? That was not normal. An old scar shouldn't flare up in pain, especially not in connection to someone else.
Wait… connection-)
"Now? Now she is nothing but a normal girl. Admittedly a promising duelist and skilled potions mistress, but nothing extraordinary."
Hearing Adult Tom say what she'd always suspected was odd. She'd never bought into the mythos surrounding her, instead it'd made her think wizards were stupid for believing it.
She was right all along.
That said, hearing that her mother died protecting her made her feel... odd. She'd already know that but hearing it from her murderer's mouth was different.
From there he went on an extremely long-winded summary of everything he'd done since his defeat. His time as a helpless spirit, finding Quirrell, trying to steal the Stone, getting beaten by Dumbledore, and fleeing again.
What was interesting was hearing how he'd learned about the tournament: from a random incompetent ministry employee and apparently decided it'd be perfect for his resurrection.
What an overdramatic, scheming megalomaniac.
He even outlined exactly how Holly was entered: apparently his original servant, Barty Crouch Jr, had his death faked by his father and was placed under the imperius curse for years until he broke free when Crouch Sr was stressed during the quidditch world cup.
(She couldn't wait to tell Sirius what a hypocrite Crouch Sr was.)
He'd entered her by getting some Durmstrang students drunk, impersonated one with polyjuice, and snuck into the castle.
(Which never should have worked. Sure, she understood why the Hogwarts' wards didn't keep him out: he was only entering her in the Tournament, not directly trying to harm anyone while he was there. Since he technically had no harmful intent to anybody there and wouldn't be blocked from entering. Stupid intent-based defenses.
But why the hell didn't Hogwarts have a way to detect Dark Marks and keep them out? Hell, why didn't her own Map have a way to detect them? She was adding that if she survived tonight.)
After explained how an imperiused Bagman, whoever that was, turned the Cup into a portkey he finally finished his monologue.
Adult Tom turned to her, ordering "now untie her Barty, and give her back her wand."
Once she was freed and given back her wand he smiled his sadistic smile, "you know how to duel, but do you know the formalities? We bow to each other."
"So are we really going to try and kill each other like civilized people then?" She smiled an overly sweet false smile, "One problem with that: I'm neverbowing to you."
His sadistic smile grew wider. Raising his wand slightly he said, "I said bow."
Without a sign of warning he silently cast the imperious curse on her. She felt the incredible pressure of his curse pressing against her mind but she refused to let it bow her over. The force increased when she wasn't immediately cowed, forcing her to grit her teeth as she used her mental shields to sort of shove the curse off herself.
A quick glance up showed a visibly surprised Adult Tom looking back at her. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she flicked a finger, wandlessly summoning a gravestone behind him, sending it flying towards his back. He somehow managed to blindly twist enough to avoid being knocked over, but was still knocked off balance as it hit him.
As he stumbled Holly took stock of her situation.
Extremely angry Adult Tom in front of her? Check.
Completely surrounded by Death Eaters? Check.
Horcrux snake somewhere nearby out of sight? Check.
Anti-apparation wards still in place? Check.
Having no clue where she actually was? Check.
Altogether, it was a pretty fucked but not unsalvageable situation. There was one spell she suspected could get her out of this. Not that she'd ever dared to cast it before.
Still, desperate times, desperate measures.
So, for the first time ever, Holly shouted "fiendfyre!"
Suddenly the air was filled with screams as she wildly waved her wand back and forth in a wide U shape, forcing Adult Tom and the Death Eaters back as the flames quickly spread. Walls of fiendfyre formed around her, massive animals forming in the flames as they chased down her attackers.
The anti-apparation barrier was working in her favor now, forcing them to either try to block the flames or run for their lives. She doubted most of them were capable of protecting themselves from it, probably only Adult Tom and the few highly skilled ones.
Which meant their only chance of survival was running their unathletic wizard bodies to safety.
No wonder they were screaming so much.
Turning, she ran towards the (luckily still there) gap in the flames, wand held out behind her and still spewing fiendfyre. Closing in on the gap she could see a couple panicking Death Eaters slowly raising their wands. Without stopping she used her free hand to summon her gun from her pocket and started shooting at them.
Normally, shooting with her off hand while running would never work, but right now she was still high on liquid luck. Both Death Eaters fell quickly before ever firing a single spell at her.
Running past their bodies, she tilted her wand down at them, making sure they got incinerated. It wouldn't do for Adult Tom to get the idea of using a magical gun.
Sprinting further away, her head jerked to the side as she saw the giant horcrux snake rapidly approaching, somehow not burnt alive in the massive blaze. Before she could incinerate it with fiendfyre, liquid luck gave her a Great Idea.
With the luck potion guiding her, she let the horcrux snake close in on her.
Once it launched itself at her she canceled her fiendfyre, switching to using her wand to summon the Cup.
Just as she felt the snake's teeth sinking into her hip the Cup came flying into her other hand, whisking both of them away.
The last thing Holly was fully aware of was slamming face first on the ground in front of the task's audience, Cup in hand, giant horcrux snake still latched onto her hip. As the music and screams started she felt her exhaustion catch up and let herself sink into blissful unconsciousness.
Notes:Holly's problem solving visualized: Link
I am 100% shamelessly using the Avengers Infinity War method of avoiding any "why didn't Holly just do X... ?" Because Liquid Luck (aka Time Stone aka Plot). It's guiding Holly through the optimal solution (in the long-ish term), even if she and everyone else dosn't realize it yet. At least, as well as I am able to plan it, as a flawed and un-beta'd writer.
So Holly and Voldemort have finally met! Their interaction changes a lot since they never talked First year. Honestly, reading back through GOF Voldemort is surprisingly chatty there, gives half his origin story and full monolog. Naturally, this means Holly gets to chat and distract him with her Holly-ness.
Btw, if anyone reads this and thinks its turning into a Tom/Holly Story: No. Just No.
Chapter 21: Year Four (X)Summary:Holly learns about the consequences of her actions, causes significant stress to everyone around her, learns an obvious truth years late, and goes international.
Notes:Happy New Years!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextWhen Holly returned to consciousness it was not a slow and gradual process. The instant she felt the slightest sense of awareness her eyes snapped open, and abruptly sat up, looking around for anything that needed cursing.
After a few panicked seconds of looking around she spotted her wand on a bedside table and summoned it. She was obviously in some sort of hospital, the sterile feeling was obvious. In a chair nearby Sirius was hunched over asleep but stirring slowly. That was a good sign.
"Hey, Sirius, where are we?"
His head snapped up, blankly staring at her before he rushed in to hug her. Which, ok, she could admit she liked his hugs but that didn't stop it from hurting her still healing body. She flinched in pain slightly, making Sirius jump back.
"I'm so sorry Holly! Are you ok? Do you need a healer? Do you want a pain potion? Are you bleeding? Are-"
"Sirius! I'm fine, take a breath." She shifted the robes someone put her in (seemed like the wizarding equivalent of a hospital gown?) to expose her injured hip. The bite wound was still visible, with a clear red outline and some bruising, but mostly healed-over looking.
Either her regenerative elixir had worked extremely well or it'd been a couple weeks. Good thing she had someone to ask.
"How long has it been?"
Sirius, looking rather stubbly and exhausted answered, "about a day and a half. The healers were amazed at how fast you started healing." He gave her a shrewd look, "I take it you used the phoenix tears?"
"Mhm, I think I found the best way to use them." Before Sirius could ask she asked her other pressing question. "Do you know what happened to the snake?"
"I know Dumbledore is the one that got it off you. There was something weird about it, it resisted any spells thrown at it. Dumbledore restrained it somehow but I don't know about after that." He sat down next to her on the bed, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "I'm so glad you're ok Prongslet. You gave us all a scare arriving like that."
"I'm just glad it worked. I let the snake bite me just before grabbing the portkey so I could (hopefully) take it with me."
Sirius stilled before slowly turning to her with an unreadable expression. "You... let it bite you?"
"That snake is important. It was my only chance to get it away from him."
For some reason he looked furious, abruptly standing up and looking down at her. "You let it bite you!?"
"It was a liquid luck idea. Don't worry, I made sure it didn't hit anywhere important. Plus I heal super fast and (now I know) I'm immune to its venom. Relax."
When Sirius didn't respond immediately, she took the moment to conjure a patronus. She really didn't want to talk to him but she had no other choice. So, for the first time ever, Holly intentionally sent a message to Albus Dumbledore.
"Hey professor, I just woke up. Can we talk? It's kinda important. Thanks." A second later her raven patronus flew off.
Message sent, she looked back to a still furious-looking Sirius. She should say something reassuring, right?
"Soon as the old man gets her I'll explain what happened." Actually, wasn't there a better way to do this? "Flory?"
Instantly the elf appeared, looking overjoyed.
'What a massive security hole. That should not be possible. Fucking Wizards underestimating other species.'
"Can you bring us the pensieve please?"
She popped away, reappearing with it a second later. "Thank you" The elf smiled, giving Holly's dangling legs a hug before popping away.
"There. Now I can just show you both exactly what happened once he gets here. So, did I miss anything important while I was asleep?"
Sirius, still looking furious, simply stared back at her, blinking slowly.
"What?"
"Holly," he started slowly, "how could risking your life to bring back that snake possibly be worth it?"
Oh, now that was the question. Not that literal question of course, but whether she should be honest with everything else answering that question entails.
'Should I tell him about the horcruxes? He deserves to know what I've been doing. He deserves to know what happened to Regulus. He could help me find the Locket.'
'But what about my freedom? He seems panicked seeing me injured. He might put a tracker on me and lock me in Potter Manor. I- I don't think he'd abandon me though. I- I guess I'll have to trust him.'
"Sirius," she said, turning to make eye contact, "I had a very good reason why. I'll explain once Dumbledore gets here. Please listen to me first before you get overprotective. Ok?"
He sat back down, gently putting an arm over her shoulders, leaning his head against hers. "I can try."
Well, that was the best she'd get.
With conspicuously good timing, Dumbledore walked in, quickly shutting the door behind him (but not quick enough to block her from seeing the guards posted outside her room). "Miss Potter, I'm glad to see you recovering so quickly. It seems you used Fawkes' gift well."
"Those tears were invaluable. I was able to create a regenerative eternal elixir with them."
Both of them stilled, eyes going wide. Dumbledore snapped out of it first, saying, "a regenerative eternal elixir and this is the result? I daresay you could earn your potions mastery for that. Severus taught you well."
"Snape? He didn't teach me anything! All he ever did in class was harass me. He even asked me how to cure werewolves in front of the NEWT examiners!" Just then she remembered something else, "and according to Adult Tom, he's even been publishing papers in my name and taking the money!"
Sirius looked confused but Dumbledore suddenly sucked in a breath. "Holly," he started, "what exactly happened in that graveyard?"
Holly held up a finger, "one second." Slipping her wand into her hand she started casting every security measure and anti-eavesdropping spell she knew. After a long moment she felt the room was secure enough to talk.
Holly summoned the pensieve, letting it float in front of her. She carefully deposited her memories of the graveyard into it before gesturing for them to take it.
"This should show the full events of the graveyard. Sirius, please try not to panic."
She watched both of them dive in, Sirius looking far more concerned than Dumbledore. While they were getting caught up Holly took the time to examine her injuries. Her hand looked and felt normal, not at all like it'd been stabbed. The only sign it ever happened was the faintest scar on her palm. Her hip was sensitive to the touch and hurt slightly to move, but she could probably walk fine if she ignored it.
If she'd healed this much already it shouldn't take long to feel normal again. Maybe another day? She did not want to stay in this hospital any longer than necessary.
After a surprisingly long time the two of them emerged from the pensieve, Sirius was obviously shaken while Dumbledore looked grim.
Sirius grabbed his face with both hands. "You quoted The Princess Bride to Voldemort. You quoted The Princess Bride to Voldemort! I don't know if I should be proud or furious with you. Can I be both?"
"It fit the moment perfectly. How could I not?" Sirius didn't seem to have anything to say to that, instead groaning into his hands.
Dumbledore however, was looking more serious. "That ritual… I would have expected the outcome to be worse. For Tom to almost regain his former natural appearance is unexpected."
"That's with me trying to botch the 'forcefully taken' part too. I think it's a combination of the elixirs in my blood and that Death Eater being so loyal."
"That seems possible." His attention suddenly fixed on her, "elixirs plural?"
"Well I did the regenerative elixir first. Then when I found out about the dragons, I decided to make a strength elixir with its blood. After that I made a stamina elixir." As she talked Dumbledore kept paling, so she threw in the cherry on top. "Oh, and I drank liquid luck that night too."
Dumbledore abruptly sunk into a chair, looking panicked. Sirius however was looking between them in confusion. "Wait, do you mean he'll gain the effects of those elixirs too?"
"I fear Miss Potter has accidentally made Tom stronger than before. The effects of the elixirs will likely carry over to him. The liquid luck may wear off or it could be permanent, making him more dangerous as he becomes recklessly overconfident and erratic. Only time will tell."
There was only one proper response to that.
"Fuck."
It said something about the mood in the room that neither said anything about her language.
"The good news is that, due to your actions, Tom's return has become widely known."
"Wait, really? How'd that happen?"
Dumbledore hesitated slightly, so Sirius spoke up. "You killed 7 Death Eaters, Holly. All of them from old pureblood families, almost all who'd previously claimed the imperious curse defense. (Excluding Crouch Jr., a publicly convicted Death Eater.) That can't be swept under the rug, not that many at once. Add in calls the Ministry got about your fiendfyre and how you got kidnapped only to publicly return with a bloody massive snake attached… it'd be impossible to deny."
"You foiled his planned resurrection," Dumbledore said, giving a grim smile. "Coming back with his snake caught the entire countries' attention. Then, by killing so many of his free followers you have considerably weakened his available forces. Exposing his vulnerable position helped Minister Bones begin rallying the Ministry for war."
'Well, that's good news. Glad they're not going full moral absolutist on me either.'
"That's good to know but it's not why I asked you to come, professor. What happened to the snake?"
"After I removed it from you I captured and securely restrained it. It is imbued with very dark, very powerful magic. Magic that, I believe, may be the key to his defeat."
"I already know it's a horcrux ("What?!") that's why I intentionally brought it back."
Dumbledore, his grandfatherly disguise gone, looked at her sharply. "How do you know of those?"
"I never believed he was dead. I mean honestly, getting killed by a baby? I never believed that. So I started researching. Then I found my answer."
Dumbledore peered at her over his glasses, "found your answer..." Only, then he seemed to think of something because he straightened up and gave her a shrewd look. "Would this answer have been found when the Chamber of Secrets was abruptly shut overnight?"
'Dammit, how'd he'd make that connection?'
Sirius, or course, started sputtering wildly in her periphery as she stared back at Dumbledore with her best poker face. "I cannot confirm or deny any role I may or may not have played in killing the basilisk and leaving an ominous, yet helpful message afterwards.
Ignoring Sirius's continued sputtering, Dumbledore stared back at a moment before abruptly laughing.
(Which really, that was not the proper reaction to have after learning that a then 12-year-old risked their life fixing the problem he should have handled.)
"Anyway, the snake: can you send it over to the Goblins to study? They're pretty good at destroying horcruxes."
Dumbledore straightened, looking… shifty? Uncomfortable maybe? Was she imagining that? "I'm afraid that I must keep it. It is a vital chance to study a living horcrux."
Something about those words triggered a thought that occurred to back her in the graveyard.
Something that she'd desperately wanted not to be true.
Something she couldn't deny to herself any longer.
She stared back at him, for once meeting his eyes. "You knew."
"My girl-"
"Don't 'my girl' me! You knew. Were you ever planning on telling me?"
"Holly-"
"Yes or no: were you going to tell me?"
"I-"
"Get out."
"I've been-"
"Out!" She shouted, pointing at the door and wandlessly slamming it open. "I'll give you any strategically important information later. Now go."
Slowly, and looking back several times, he walked out, shutting the door behind him.
After a few seconds of silence she heard, "what in Loki's name was that about?"
She turned to see a stunned looking Sirius staring at her. "It's..I- I'm "
'How the hell do I explain this?'
"Anytime I'm around Voldemort my scar starts hurting. When he slapped me, him touching me hurt more than the slap. Its some kind of weird connection. So when I realized living things can be horcruxes too…"
Sirius seemed to understand what she was implying because he rushed in and hugged her tight. "Hey, it's going to be alright. You're going to be fine, we'll figure this out."
Sniffling into his jacket (not that she'd even admit it) Holly was glad to know Sirius didn't hesitate to accept her even after learning she had a piece of Adult Tom's soul stuck to her.
"Damn right Sirius. Or more realistically, we'll give the snake to the Goblins and pay them to figure it out."
Sirius pulled back looking wary, "are you sure? Goblins don't exactly like witches and wizards."
Holly glared back at him, "why do wizards think that? My account manager Gronuk is the most helpful person I've ever met. The Goblins have never failed at anything I've hired them to do. I commissioned them to help with the horcrux hunt and they did an amazing job."
At Sirius's questioning look she started putting more memories into the pensieve. "Here. And Sirius? I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I- it's just a lot to dump on you at once."
With that she gave him the pensieve, letting him know everything about the horcruxes, her commissioned search, and Regulus's death.
After some time a shaken looking Sirius emerged, clearly overwhelmed with everything she'd shown him.
"Go take a walk to clear your head. I'll be here when you get back."
Barely giving her a nod, Sirius rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
'Well, if he abandons me it's entirely my own fault.'
On that pleasant thought, she decided to pass the time reading. No way she was going to sleep alone in a wizarding hospital, even with ministry guards.
---
Sometime later she looked up from her book as Sirius came back in and sat at the end of her bed. He smiled weakly at her, leaving both everything and nothing unsaid. Glad she wasn't going to be abandoned, she couldn't stop herself from smiling back.
It wasn't until the next day when Holly was finally allowed to leave under heavy guard. Her bite wound had almost entirely healed, only a slight stiffness remaining. Thankfully it seemed that Dumbledore had implied he'd given her phoenix tears earlier because nobody was questioning her rapid recovery.
Which was a good cover story. It was even partially true.
Sirius dropped her off at Hogwarts and (after a very long hug) she finally got to walk back into the school.
Unfortunately, it seemed her performance during the third task had made her even more interesting. Everyone who saw her stopped and stared, whispering to whoever they were with. A few people drew their wands and started screaming at her, but she ignored them until they started throwing spells.
After that she stuck them to the ceiling.
When someone suddenly put a hand on her shoulder, she was about to judo flip them until she noticed the distinctive silver-blond hair.
Fleur smiled at her, offering an elbow. "Want to get something to eat?"
Holly, glad for the provided escape, gave Fleur her arm and let herself be led to the kitchens.
It wasn't until they were settled in at the kitchen's tables Fleur said anything. "I didn't see it myself, but I saw the pictures of your return. Finding out exactly what you survived makes it all the more impressive."
Trying and failing not to blush, Holly simply nodded.
"Your rapid recovery is fortunate too. Dumbledore giving you phoenix tears was very generous."
"Oh that? I got those tears right after I was picked as a champion and made a regenerative eternal elixir with them."
Fleur froze, croissant halfway to her mouth.
'Shit, maybe I shouldn't have told her that. Probably should add that to the list of secrets not to tell anyone.'
"Uh Fleur, I'd appreciate it if you don't tell anyone about that. I'd rather not have more people steal my blood."
Fleur, still looking shocked, managed to nod slightly.
Naturally, that's when Hermione came running into the kitchen, clearly about to tackle-hug her but abruptly stopping just before they made contact.
"I'm so glad you're alright Holly! Did your elixir really work that fast or did Dumbledore actually give you more phoenix tears? Did you heal alright? Are you still in any pain? Do you have any pain potions or a treatment plan? My parents once mentioned that surgeries take-"
Holly, not understanding a word of Hermione's word-vomit, covered Hermione's mouth with her hand.
"I'm fine Hermione. Seriously, I made sure the snake didn't hit me anywhere important."
Both of them stared at her for a second before Hermione shoved her hand away, "...you let yourself be bitten?"
"I was feeling Lucky. Bringing back that snake was important."
Hermione huffed, still upset, while Fleur laughed. "I should have guessed that a potions mistress like you would brew yourself liquid luck."
"Brew it? Why would I do that when I could save myself months of time by buying it? And what do you mean 'potions mistress?' Why would you think I'm one?"
Again, both of them stared blankly at her until Hermione slowly answered in accented French "...because you have dozens of published potions alterations and have invented several potions. That's what potions masters and mistresses do."
"Oooh, so that's why people keep saying that. I didn't know those articles were being published until Adult Tom, Voldemort, told me about them. Turns out it's that bastard, Snape, publishing them and stealing my money."
Hermione blankly stared at her before turning to Fluer. "My French must need more practice because I think she said Voldemort told her about her own papers. Did I get that right?"
"No, you understood right, Hermione."
The two of them stared at each other for a second before they both abruptly started hysterically laughing, continuing for long enough that tears started flowing down their faces.
"Right, well I'm going to find Luna."
"I'm right here."
Holly jumped, turning around to see Luna standing directly behind her.
"Jeez Luna, you scared me."
"I don't think you're the type to be scared by anyone or anything, Holly. Your fears come from yourself, not from others."
"That's… scary accurate. How do you do that?" Luna, of course, only gave her a Classic Luna dreamy smile in response.
---
After catching the other up on the events of the graveyard (all of them, even Luna, kept staring blankly at her for some reason), afterwards going with Luna into the Forest.
She'd always been able to seen the thesterals, but for some reason they almost looked ineffably different now. Pinpointing the change was impossible, but they looked... more defined? More real? Less ominous and more gentle? Something like that.
Absently, Holly wondered if the difference was from having barely remembering seeing death before to now personally killed several people.
Regardless, Holly silently watched as Luna fed them, zoning out and listening to the Forest.
Eventually leaving Luna behind, she walked deeper into the Forest to find Shadowfax. It took some time but eventually he appeared out of the trees.
Holly stood in place as he walked several full circles around her while sniffing her. Abruptly he stopped his circling and licked her face, seemingly letting her pass his inspection. Holly threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his mane.
"I'm glad I haven't lost you. Gotta admit I'm surprised you still approved of me."
She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that. Eventually Shadowfax gave her a nudge as the sun started setting. Waving goodbye, Holly promised herself she'd visit him more next year.
---
It was a few days later when Holly did something she was overdue to do: she barged into Snape's office.
"Potter! What-"
"I had an interesting conversation with a megalomaniac recently. Heard the funniest thing about how you've been publishing my papers and pocketing the money."
Snape, the bastard, looked distinctly unimpressed. He raised a single brow, "and you would believe the word of the Dark Lord?"
"Obviously not, the dude's crazy."
"That 'dude' is a very dangerous and powerful wizard, Potter" he said, sneering. "Do not make light of him."
"I think you're changing the topic." Holly gave him a falsely sweet smile, "so, would you like to confess or do I need to hire the Goblins to investigate?"
Snape stared at her briefly before doing something unimaginable: he smiled at her.
'What the Fuck. What the Fuck. What the Fuck. What the Fu-'
"Those papers are published under your name and the earnings are being deposited into your accounts. I have turned you, Potter Brat, into a true Potions Mistress. You will forever be known as a Potions Mistress because I tricked you into becoming one without you ever realizing it."
He leaned in over his desk, eyes filled with malicious glee. "I win, Potter Brat."
...
...
Holly was frozen, her brain trying and failing to form thoughts.
There was nothing to be said.
What could she possibly say to that? The bastard was right; he'd won the game within the game.
He really had taught her.
Wait…
"Sooo, what you're saying is that you intentionally gave me special treatment and tricked me into to becoming your apprentice?"
Snape, caught off guard, lurched back and paled rapidly. Their positions had reversed; Holly was smiling at Snape with malicious glee as he desperately tried and failed to see where she was wrong.
After a long moment he abruptly sat down, reached into his desk, and pulled out a large bottle of Firewhiskey. Conjuring a glass, he poured himself an excessive-looking amount and slammed it back.
('That is not his first time doing that. Looks like I found his coping mechanism for dealing with students.')
"Potter Brat, you might be the best student I've ever had and I hate you for that."
"Drunken Bastard, you might be the most effective professor I've ever had and I hate you for that."
"Let us never discuss this again?"
"Agreed."
With that she rushed out, leaving him to drink alone.
---
The last few days passed quickly. There was more staring, several duels (apparently she'd killed some of their parents? Awkward), letters making sure the snake was given to the Goblins, and Dumbledore's farewell speech that sounded suspiciously like a call to arms.
Also new was how she occasionally felt the faintest brush of foreign emotions outside of her occlumency barriers. Any doubt she had about being a horcrux was gone.
That was Not Good but thankfully Gronuk had confirmed Dumbledore had given them the horcrux snake to study. Unfortunately, they were expecting it to take a while to figure out the key to not killing a living horcrux. She had faith they'd succeed but it was hard not to worry about.
Thankfully she was great at distracting herself.
---
On the last day of the semester Holly was walking with Fleur out to the Beaubaxton's carriage.
"I'll miss you Holly. You've made my time here better than I'd hoped for, ever after I was selected. Promise to write?"
"Of course. And likewise Fleur, I'm glad you were chosen, even if the whole tournament was a shitshow."
"You might be seeing me again soon." Fleur smiled cryptically, "I think I'll be back. I've applied for a position at Gringotts so I can stay here to fight."
Holly abruptly stopped walking, feeling her stomach drop as her face paled. She tugged on Fleur's arm, gently forcing the girl to stop and face her.
"I- its, m-" Holly looked down at the snow, trying to order her panicked thoughts. "My parents. Those brave and stupidly naive people. They jumped into a war they weren't prepared for right after graduation. Within 4 years they'd gotten married, had me, and were killed."
Holly looked up at Fleur through watering eyes. "Don't end up like them. Don't let your bravado or blind trust in Dumbledore lead you to an early death. Do you understand me?"
Fleur, clearly taken back, nodded and she wiped away one of Holly's fallen tears. "I understand."
"Good. Take care of yourself, Fleur."
With a final two kisses to her cheeks and a wave Fleur walked off to her carriage.
It was sometime later Hermione found her standing in the same place, a few tears still frozen on her face.
"I don't want to pry Holly, but did she break your heart?"
"What? No, definitely not." Honestly, what was Hermione thinking? She wasn't interested in Fleur like that. She just found Fleur (ridiculously and devastatingly) attractive. "She said she wants to fight. I told her not to end up like my parents."
"Oh. I can see how that'd be an uncomfortable parallel." Hermione wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, the train's leaving soon."
Still not recovered from her chat with Fleur, Holly spent the entire train ride only vaguely aware of Hermione and Luna talking in the background.
---
Some hours later Holly mechanically stepped onto Kings Cross platform. She was pulled out of her daze seeing the obvious fear among the crowd of parents. She wanted to be mad at them, they had magic but never bothered to learn how to defend themselves. Fucking Wizards not appreciating their inborn gift of magic.
Only, she couldn't stay mad after seeing they were all anxiously looking for their kids. The instant any of them spotted their kid they rushed forward, apparating away immediately.
Sirius, with several auror guards nearby, found her quickly. "C'mon Prongslet" and grabbed her shoulder before apparating away.
They reappeared in a playground somewhere near Privet Drive. Sirius glanced over at her, "you can still go 'back to the Dursleys' but I think they should take an international trip this year. Sound good?"
Did he mean what she thought he did? Only one way to find out. "I think they'll be paying France or Spain a visit."
"Excellent. Take care of yourself Prongslet and mirror call me if you need anything."
"I'll be fine Sirius, get outta here." With a final crushing hug and kiss to the top of her head, he apparated away, leaving her alone and free.
"Well, guess I'm going international. Good thing I've already got those calling cards made."
Notes:Voldemort's theme song is I Can Do Anything/Finale by Christopher Lennertz (spotify link, youtube video NSFW). Gives the vibe of extreme confidence/mania while having a mental breakdown, which is 100% my Voldemort's depiction.
Holly's return to Hogwarts in one gif: Link
So 4th year is finally over! This year got dragged out longer then I originally planned for due to the eternal elixir subplot and Yule Ball chapter. I don't regret it, I think they add a lot to the fic, but damn did they slow down the pacing. I'm planning on splitting this work up into 2 or 3 parts, with this first part ending after Holly's Hogwarts graduation. Hopefully this one dosn't come off lopsided.
This chapter is something of a Shakespearean tragedy of failed communication between Holly and Dumbledore. No bashing intended, they're just both being stupid and terrible at communicating.
Unlike what's implied/known in canon, here Dumbledore is actively trying to research how to safely remove her horcrux since he has a chance to study a living horcrux. He's not given up on Holly's survival and isn't commited to having her suicide charge at Voldemort.
Unfortunately for him, Holly is too impatient and distrusting to listen to his explanations. Holly only sees a scheming old wizard not doing anything to help those he's supposed to. She has no reason to trust him with Nagini when the Goblins have proven themselves to be capable allies.