Chapter 22: Summer 1995Summary:Holly considers her future, learns what been going on in her absence, attempts to play nice, and does Hermione an overdue favor.
Notes:Heads up, I might not be able to upload next week. I was already behind in writing and that was before I spent most the week sick.
Plus my college semester is starting and that's, you know, a thing.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextIt was two weeks into summer break and, once again, Holly was reading a newspaper detailing the exploits of The Phantom Thief. Once again she'd robbed 14 corrupt rich targets over 2 weeks, only this time they were all in Spain. She'd had fun sneaking around their homes and finding their "hidden" safes.
This time there was a frontpage picture of her calling card: a slip of paper with a picture of a cute ghost wearing a thief's mask and carrying a money sack. She'd printed them out and left one at each crime scene. Something about claiming her robberies was viciously satisfying.
If she was using her crime spree as distraction? Well, that was nobody's business.
(She very carefully wasn't thinking about what might be going on back in Britain. Or about how she kept feeling the faintest sense of foreign emotions outside her mental barriers.
She might hate the so-called "wizarding world" but she didn't want to abandon them and let their dumbasses get killed. But she knew she wasn't ready to fight Adult Tom or attack groups of Death Eaters in a straight fight. Likewise, any attempted assassinations of the Death Eaters would only alert them to a threat. It'd only make things worse. She needed to wait for an opportunity. Which meant leaving them to their fates for now.
It was only 2 weeks. Wizarding society was seeming helpless but surely they couldn't be that inept. They could handle it. Hopefully.)
She'd stolen a lot this time: a fortune's worth of bills, jewelry, books, and a couple gold bars. Even the Goblins were impressed with her haul.
It begged the question: what was she going to do with all the money? She could hoard it but that felt rather pointless. She was already rich enough that making money felt like increasing her score in a video game. Even without stealing anything her investments were making a shocking amount of money.
Maybe she could invest in non-magical businesses? That'd be smart, some of those computer companies looked like they had promise. Besides, if she invested all her stolen money into the wizard economy she could accidentally cause rampant inflation.
But investing would still only make her richer. Maybe she could go full Robinhood and donate the money? That'd be a good thing to do. Thematically appropriate too.
She'd need to launder the money first but she had no doubt the goblins could do that, for a fee. After that it shouldn't be too hard to set up a couple charities under several false identities.
She'd need to pitch the idea to Gronuk. Hopefully the idea of giving away money wouldn't be taboo to them.
Nodding to herself, Holly apparated to Potter Manor and let herself in.
It took about 2 seconds for Flory to appear next to her and shove a tray piled high with food into her hands. Before she could react Flory popped away with a smug grin, leaving Holly alone in the entrance hall, holding a tray of food.
Staring down at the food, Holly still wasn't sure that'd just happened.
Naturally, that was when Sirius came running in. Fortunately for the food he managed to come to a sliding stop before hugging her.
"Prongslet! Welcome back, hope you enjoyed yourself." His wide smile shifted to something vaguely nervous looking. "So, do you want the good news or the bad news first?"
"Good news first, bad news will motivate me."
Sirius stared for a second before starting. "After you left I started looking for the Locket. I had to go back to my childhood home and fight my family's crazy old elf, but I got it to the goblins. Your account manager was terrifying but he took the job and purified it. When I went back to Grimmauld Place afterwards, Kreacher lost his mind when he saw the Locket was purified."
Sirius huffed, "he cleaned the entire house in no time and kept bowing to me. Creepiest thing I've ever seen. At least he saved us weeks of cleaning time."
That…was amazing news. One less horcrux! Now it was only the Snake and Holly herself.
"Is that all the good news?"
Sirius shifted in place, "well, Dumbledore reformed The Order. That's good news. But other then that? Its been pretty bad."
"Where to start? Oh yeah, the dementors defected when Voldemort broke his followers out of Azkaban. He personally led the attack on the day you Hogwarts students got back knowing Kings Cross would be the main suspected target. Since then they've started attacking muggleborn owned shops and houses. It's… not good out there."
That was Very Bad news. How the hell did that happen? She should've assassinated those Death Eaters in their Azkaban cells years ago.
Oh well, too late now. She'd still kill them later.
And the dementors! She'd already had 'figure out how to kill dementors' on her long term goals but looks like that needed to get bumped up in priority.
"Second bit of bad news: "the goblins are studying the snake but they're not sure how long it'll take to solve that issue. Being attached to a living thing apparently makes removing the soul fragment more complicated. Now, since yours has been attached for almost 14 years it'd be even harder to remove safely. They have hope but it'll take them some time."
"That's… not awful?" It was a complete lie, she wanted it out and wanted it done yesterday. She hated feeling foreign emotions outside her mental shields. She didn't think Adult Tom realized it yet but once he did her life would get hellish.
(Holly tried not to think about how tempted she was to try and attack his mind. How, If she caught him off guard, she could undoubtedly do major damage or even shatter his mind. But she remembered how hard it was to beat Diary Tom. Adult Tom would undoubtedly have superior mental defenses.)
"Anything else?"
Sirius looked rather awkward and scratched his neck. "Dumbledore went to check on you at the Dursleys and realized you weren't there. He… wasn't happy with me when he realized I'd known you ran away years earlier. I lied and told him you've been staying here."
"Thanks for covering for me. I'm still surprised it took him so long to find out. Anything else?"
"Now that you're back we can go visit headquarters. Dumbledore will want to chew you out but you can meet some of the Order members while you're there. The Weasleys are all staying there, do you know them?"
"Uh, kinda?" How exactly was she supposed to explain she'd rescued one from possession and was planning on going into business with the Twins?
Wait- "What about Hermione? Do you know if she's there or if her family is safe?"
"Your muggleborn lady friend?" When Holly glared at him he quickly continued, "Dumbledore had her brought to headquarters for her protection since she's publicly known as your friend. I think some of the others warded her parents' house too."
"That's better than nothing I guess." At least now Hermione wouldn't potentially risk her life defending her parents. Holly hadn't even broken the Trace for her yet!
"But wait, what about all the other muggleborns? If Hermione was singled out, are they not being protected?"
Sirius simply shook his head. "C'mon kid, once we get to headquarters (and after Dumbledore chews you out) we can talk strategy."
Walking out of Potter Manor, Sirius grabbed her shoulder and apparated her to a random city street. "Here, read the note."
In vaguely familiar, obnoxiously curly writing it read: The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.
When Holly looked up suddenly there was a whole new building, presumably the Order's headquarters.
"Fidelius charm then? And I'm assuming Dumbledore's the secret-keeper?"
Sirius simply nodded as they approached. "Glad it's him and Wormtail isn't here to mess things up this time."
Sirius knocked a specific sequence on the door and it opened up, revealing a dark and gloomy, yet surprisingly clean interior. Holly didn't get to look around any more than that because within seconds Dumbledore, professor Moody, and a small crowd of strangers appeared at the end of the hall.
"Ah miss Potter, glad you could make it." Oh, now there was a condescending greeting to match his expression. Good thing she didn't care about his opinion.
"Thanks for inviting me to your clubhouse, professor."
Before she could take another step inside professor Moody suddenly had his wand pointed at her. "Not so fast, we need to verify who you are." Ignoring Dumbledore and everyone else's complaints, he asked "what was the first private conversation we ever had about?"
"You offered to train me for the tournament. I agreed but gave you several conditions."
"Hm, can't be too careful. Constant Vigilance!" he yelled, making everyone either flinch or twitch in annoyance.
"Thank you Alastar, but I need to talk with miss Potter." His tone sounded calm but she and everyone else could hear the implied order. Gesturing to her, Dumbledore led her into a private room down the hall and shut the door behind her.
---
Avoiding eye contact, she sat down and pretended not to notice Dumbledore radiating 'I'm disappointed in you' feelings.
"Would you like to explain why you left your relatives house?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Holly asked, staring at his beard in disbelief. "Did you really illegally leave me there without knowing what type of people they are? Without ever checking in? They were terrible, abusive people. I ran away years ago and you never even noticed."
"I wa-"
"And while we're on that note: what gave you the authority to put me there? You're a politician, a headmaster, and a vigilante leader. None of that gave you the right to put me there and none to punish me now for leaving either."
"You are a major target in this war." He countered, "if I don't know where you are then The Order cannot protect you."
"I never asked for your protection." Honestly, she wouldn't trust any of them with her safety other than Sirius (and Fleur if she'd joined already). Why would she? They were all Dumbledore's groupies and most of them inept groupies at that. "Besides, wouldn't I be safer since nobody knew where I was?"
Clearly ignoring her (completely true) point, Dumbledore sighed. "I ask that you take your personal safety more seriously. There were many people worried about you."
"I take my safety very seriously, it's just not under your control. Now, is there anything else?"
Visibly debating what to say, he started with "I am sorr-
"Nope, you don't get to apologize for that. Now, do you have a strategy for winning this?"
"A strategy?" he asked, clearly off-balanced.
"I mean doing something other than being reactive. Any plans to attack the known Death Eaters houses? Are you working with the ministry to find the escapees? Have you created a way to respond to attacks faster so you can actually protect people? Are you evacuating muggleborns and their families to safehouses for protection? Are you working on capturing the rogue dementors? Anything like that?"
The longer she talked the more indigent yet embarrassed he seemed and a horrible suspicion started to form. "My girl-"
"Please tell me you are doing more than just responding to attacks in progress."
"We are working with the Ministry on several matters, including rounding up the dementors and trying to find where the Azkaban's escaped prisoners are being sheltered. Unfortunately, even with Minister Bones' support, we cannot attack suspected Death Eaters' residences without receiving the Wizengamot's permission, and they are unlikely to give it."
"Wait, you can't go after known Death Eaters' without Death Eaters sympathizers in the government blocking the vote?" She thought it was too absurd to be true even by wizard standards but he nodded.
'Fucking Wizards. Why do I even want to help them? Their society is a corrupt aristocracy of inept, inbred bigots. Even the "good ones" are fighting to preserve the status quo. If they survive this then I'm either ditching them or dragging their asses into competence.'
"What about sheltering muggleborns at safehouses? Warding their homes is better than nothing but not enough to guarantee their safety."
Again, Dumbledore shifted awkwardly. "Wait, you've been expecting Adult Tom to come back this whole time but you never set up any safehouses beforehand? You're stupid famous and have several jobs, don't tell me you don't have the money?"
"Hindsight is a powerful phenomenon and Tom's return was abrupt. I admit I could have prepared better." At her glare he continued, "most of The Order's members do not have the resources or skills to make a safehouse. Sirius inherited the Black estate but his family's properties have fallen into disrepair."
"So hire the Goblins to get them fixed and cleaned. That's what I did with Potter Manor" She thought it was obvious but Dumbledore stilled like she'd slapped him. "I can offer any of the Potter properties. Sirius can get his cleaned up, then you can cast the Fidelius charm on all of them. That'd let us hide at least a dozen families."
She risked a glance directed at his face only to see him frozen, shocked into silence.
That… was rather sad he hadn't thought of that. It was exactly like she'd thought earlier: Dumbledore was a skilled wizard and generally smart guy, but a terrible general. Too surrounded by Yes Men to ever be challenged with new ideas.
"Anymore bad news?" It didn't seem possible, but she had a feeling there was more.
"I sent envoys to the giants but they were… rebuked, rather harshly. Tom's envoys were there and had already gained the giant's favor. I believe Tom will have their full support going forward."
That… was not good. Dumbledore's ambassador failing their mission wasn't surprising. Giants were severely mistreated by every so-called 'wizarding nation', it wasn't surprising they'd be willing to fight against them. Unless British wizards suddenly cared about Giant's rights (which they didn't in the slightest) then they had nothing to gain from siding with the status quo.
Only, they were already so limited in number that this could legitimately push them to extinction. There was something profoundly disturbing about that.
Still, the tiny glimmer of good news in that situation was that her chance of getting Giant's skin for her durability elixir just skyrocketed.
"Additionally, with the dementor's defection they are now roaming the country under Tom's command. The muggles cannot see them, instead seeing fog, but can still feel their effects. The Ministry is attempting to catch them but that would be a difficult task at the best of times."
'Now that's why you don't trust soul-sucking monsters and you definitely don't have them guard your prison. Fucking Wizards.'
"So is there any good news?"
"Indeed, one of your ideas in fact" he said, a smile in his voice. "Your proposed cure for werewolves was reported both in the Daily Prophet and Potions Weekly. In the weeks since, it has spread internationally, with Healers and Potions Masters globally beginning to study its feasibility."
Wait, what?
"What?"
"If your suggested cure works then you may be formally accredited with helping invent the cure for lycanthropy." Dumbledore smiled at her obvious confusion, "Naturally, with a potential cure on the horizon, werewolves everywhere are waiting in anticipation. Some will still want to fight of course, but others might be willing to take the chance to be cured. Tom will have a more difficult time recruiting them to his side."
"Oh. Well, that's good." Really, what was she supposed to say to that?
"Quite. Now, do you have any other questions?"
Pushing her panicking feelings aside, she took a moment to think. What else would she want to ask? Knowing more about the Order and who might be competent would be nice. Good thing there was an easy way to do both.
"Can I sit in on the next Order meeting?"
"I'm afraid not as you are underaged." ('Oh, so you only indoctrinate children, not make them child soldiers. How noble of you.') "Sirius may want to allow you as your legal guardian, but, as you say, this is my 'clubhouse.'"
"Fine." With that she made her way out, inwardly wondering if either Sirius or Fleur would tell her anything more later.
She was distracted enough that she was completely caught off guard when a blur of curly hair tackle-hugged her. Even with her vision blocked she still heard Dumbledore chuckle as he passed by (probably to go order around his minions.)
"I'm so glad you're finally here Holly! Nobody knew where you and everyone was so worried until Sirius told them. Even Dumbledore was worried! Professor Moody was raving about how you had gotten yourself kidnapped and were already dead. Even the T-"
Her verbal barrage was only cut off when Holly covered her mouth with a hand. "Hello to you too Hermione. So who all is here?"
Pushing her hand off, Hermione said "well almost the entire Weasley family is living here for some reason. I know you know the twins but have you ever really met the others?" Without waiting for an answer to her own redundant question she continued, "Percy is very serious and ambitious, Ron is tactless and academically lazy, and Ginny is a fangirl of yours."
"And I'm assuming they're all Dumbledore's biggest fans?" Holly whispered, eyeing the suspiciously empty hallway.
Hermione nodded, "Ron has always been quite vocal in the common room about how Dumbledore will always solve everything. He's also very dedicated to the House stereotypes and doesn't like you much since you've ignored him several times."
Holly snorted, "wonderful." Only, then another thought occurred to her, "Not to prove Ron right, but have you found the library here?"
"Of course," Hermione said, mock offended. Quickly looking back and forth first, Hermione leaned in to whisper "They tried to get rid of some of the books! I made copies of them and saved the originals."
"I have taught you well, my apprentice." Hermione rolled her eyes, clearly not appreciating her flawlessly timed Star Wars reference.
(That reminded her, she never did figure out how to replicate Force Choking someone…)
Before they could continue the Twins decided to make themselves known.
By apparating directing in front of Holly.
Holly wasn't quite sure what happened next, but suddenly one Twin was slumped against the opposite wall, while the other was staring at her still outstretched fist.
"Uh, sorry? I don't react well to being startled. But I was actually about to go looking for you two."
Groaning, the hurt Twin slowly stood up, checking for broken bones, while other Twin checked him over.
"Well Forge?"
"Yeah Gred?"
"Looks like you just learned what the wrath of the 'Violent Recluse' feels like."
"Doesn't feel too good."
"Sure looks that way."
Throwing his arm over his Twins' shoulder, the injured one asked "So what were you about to seek us out for?"
"Business." That had them straightening out immediately, any sign of injury disappearing. "I left you a note about it a while back."
"Wait-"
"Are you telling me-"
"You're the one that busted into our room-"
"Stole our Map-"
"Left a business proposition-"
"Then later returned it with interest?"
"Yes? I can have my accounts manager at Gringotts draw up a contract for my investment in your business, probably will only take a few minutes."
The Twins shared a glance. "We're… not exactly supposed to leave."
"Mum would throw a fit."
("And there are Death Eater attacks going on," Hermione muttered, going unheard.)
"You… arn't allowed to leave? If you disguise yourself and apparate to Gringotts front steps you'd be safe."
"We're of age, yeah, but Mum dosn't like us using magic outside of school."
What the hell…
"I don't understand." Seriously.
"Parents usually set house rules Holly" Hermione said, this time being heard. "Miss Weasley may be strict, but it's not crazy with all the attacks going on. She's probably only trying to keep them safe."
"How does banning her kids using or practicing magic outside of school, despite the Trace not applying, make them safer?"
None of them had a good answer, all simply shrugging at her.
Speaking of the Trace- "Hey Hermione, you remember when I asked if hypothetically you'd like me to break the Trace on you?"
"Oh?" Hermione asked, single eyebrow raised.
"Hypothetically, we could do that if you visited Potter Manor. Hell, why don't you just stay there with me instead of here?"
"That sounds great! I'd love to see your families library!."
"Cool, we can grab those books, talk to Sirius, and-" only to be interrupted when several people rushed down the staircase, Professor Lupin and Sirius in the lead.
"Holly! I, uh, know we never talked while I was your professor but I, uh, wanted to thank you so, so much" Professor Lupin said, looking both extremely grateful and awkward at once. "I don't know if you ever, er, figured out my, ah, 'little fluffy problem' but-"
"It's no big deal." Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because his expression fell and Hermione elbowed her. "You're welcome?"
Before he could stutter out a reply Sirius took pity on them and interrupted. "You can come by Potter Manor anytime Remus. Now, have you met everyone yet?" he asked , gesturing to the group of adults and gaggle of redhead kids.
"No?"
"Well it's always good to know people. This is Kingsley, he's-" as Sirius kept talking she glanced over at Hermione, mentally projecting "Go get the books while they're distracted." Nodding back at Holly, Hermione quickly left the room and Holly focused on shaking hands and saying meaningless greetings at the right time.
---
Holly thought it was going well until she was introduced to a matronly looking redhead, presumably the Weasley's mother. Instead of shaking her hand and giving a meaningless greeting like the others, she instantly started berating Holly.
"-were you thinking of running off alone?! Did you have any idea how dangerous that was?! How badly you scared all of us?! Sirius never should have let you move away from your relatives. Your parents-"
"My parents," Holly interrupted, "are dead. How they might've reacted is none of your damn business."
Something in her tone must've been off because in her periphery she saw nearly everyone wince and seemingly brace themselves. The Weasley mother however, was undeterred, instead puffing up in anger.
"Young lady! That is no kind of language to be using! Clearly Sirius hasn't been raising you right if-"
"Tell me how I'm a fuck up one more time and-"
"Whoa, everyone calm down" Sirius said, getting between the two of them. "Molly, I'd like to remind you Holly is legally my child ('Oh shit, is that actually true?') and that you're a guest here. Molly, I've already talked to Holly about this. Now Holly, are you ready to go?"
Spotting Hermione coming down the staircase carrying a trunk, she nodded. After a few awkward goodbyes and a meaningful look at the Twins, Sirius apparated them back to Potter Manor.
"Sorry about that Holly. Molly means well but as a mother she can be a little… overbearing." Sirius said, awkwardly rubbing his neck.
"I noticed." Turning towards Hermione she asked "do you want to get settled in or break the Trace first?"
Hermione, practically buzzing with excitement, nodded quickly. "That's not an answer but ok then. Don't move." Before Hermione could respond she tossed down the carved wooded rune blocks around the girl and activated them.
"Tractiare. Tractiare. Tractiare." There was a popping noise and Hermione jerked like she'd been shocked, but it seemed to have worked. "There, you are now free from Big Brother."
For some reason both Sirius and Hermione glanced down to stare at the now useless blocks before blankly staring at her. "What?"
"Thats it?!" "It was that easy the whole time?!" They both shouted at the same time.
"Well, yeah. The Trace was made by a cheap government and only ever used to discriminate against Muggleborns and some half bloods, both groups who largely follow the law. Of course it'd be easy to get around once you figure out how it works. Were you expecting me to sacrifice a goat or something?"
The two of them shared a Look before simultaneously shaking their heads, leaving a very confused Holly behind.
---
Unfortunately, things didn't exactly settle down after meeting the Order. Holly, and Sirius after she convinced him, hired Gringotts to ensure their empty properties were cleaned and safe. Once they heard the cleaning was done Sirius left to help Dumbledore convert them into safehouses. Sirius was out almost every day after that helping to move muggleborns and their families to safety.
Apparently he was one of the only ones with any real experience talking to non magical people. When Holly and Hermione heard that they shared a look of complete disbelief. That certainly didn't help change Holly's belief that the Order was mostly inept.
Holly, of course, offered to shelter Hermione's parents only to receive a panicked look in response. It took some pointed questions, but Hermione slowly admitted she'd been lying for years about how dangerous her time at Hogwarts had been.
Which, honestly? It wasn't hard to understand why. Any sane parent would expect their kids' school was safe and Hogwarts certainly wasn't. In hindsight she wouldn't be surprised if every muggleborn did the same.
That certainly wouldn't make relocating them easier.
Sirius, in a shocking display of acting his age, talked Hermione into being honest with her parents. The two of them left to tell Hermione's parents, (apparently they both agreed Holly shouldn't be included in that conversation for some reason?) not coming back until hours later with dried tear tracks down Hermione's face.
While a dejected looking Hermione drifted into her room, an awkward looking Sirius explained. "Her parents… weren't exactly happy she lied to them for years. Wanted to pull her completely out of the Magical World. Said 'magic tricks weren't worth risking her life.' It took a while and wasn't pretty, but they agreed to start looking to sell their muggle tooth business and move out. It'll take them some time, but they'll eventually be moving in."
There wasn't really anything to say to that. Holly didn't know what having parents were like. Sirius was (technically) hers but certainly not a real parent and the Dursleys never wanted to be.
All Holly could do is try to be supportive and hope they'd work out their issues in time.
(Unknown to them, they wouldn't ever get that time.)
Notes:Holly POV coming back to Britain: Link
Things are going much faster then canon. The Ministry under Minister Amelia Bones didn't deny his return so he has no reason to hide. That, combined with the inherited Liquid Luck making him reckless, means his revolution is in overdrive. The war has already begun.
I don't mean for this fic to have any bashing. Dumbledore's trying his best but honestly, even in canon he wasn't exactly a good leader. And for Ron and Mrs Weasley: Ron takes most things personally because of his inferiority complex. That means Holly brushing him off dosn't exact make him like her.
And with Mrs Weasley, Holly was never going to react well to her. I don't think she's a terrible person like some fics make her, but she's certainly extremely maternal. That whole forceful parenting thing Does Not mesh well with Holly's independent attitude.
Chapter 23: Summer 1995 (II)Summary:A cliffhanger is finally paid off, people are surprisingly honest, Holly is unpleasantly surprised several times, and things heat up.
Notes:Hey people, I'm not dead. TL;DR: Life has been ultra shitty. Here's an update, expect more updates but probably not every week. I still have this fic outlined to Endgame, its not ending bc of Life BS.
Detailed version? In my last note I said something like "not feeling great." That escalated scary quick and I was functionally useless for ~6 weeks. Six weeks right at the start of my college semester, which meant my entire semester was beyond recovery. Fun Times. Anyways, I drop my classes only to get a call from housing saying I need to move out in 2 days. Fun times but that actually went shockingly smooth other than my pc screen getting a scratch. Just as I was settling in I think it was about a week later that my grandpa suddenly died. He had alzheimer's so frankly it was a mercy, but shocking because he'd only been diagnosed less than a year ago. Good chunk of that was while I was away at college too so from my POV it came outta nowhere since I never saw his decline in person. Fun times. I think it was a couple weeks after that my Mom caught Covid. Her life and health in general was never at risk but that wasn't great to been around, couldn't sneeze for weeks without someone panicking. Fun times. Then finally, just this week my dog somehow managed to accidentally rip out one of his nails- imagine a cute little dog with a paw that won't stop bleeding and won't stay still to wrap it. Pretty sure there's still bloodstains on the floor somewhere. He's fine now, no worries, but still being super careful with him.
So yeah, life been not so great. I guess on the plus side I can say Elden Ring is great?
TL;DR: Life has been ultra shitty. Here's an update, expect more updates but probably not every week. I still have this fic outlined to Endgame, its not ending bc of Life BS.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextLooking at a bloodied and hysterically sobbing Hermione, Sirius futilely trying to calm her, Holly felt too numb to think. How could this have happened?
It was a dumb question. She knew exactly how this came to be.
---
After Hermione's falling out with her parents Holly did her best to distract her friend. She asked if Hermione wanted to help her make a Force Choke spell (it ended up being shockingly easy, taking them only a couple hours to master wandlessly); give her free reign over the Manor's library (that earned an actual look of excitement); offered to talk about boys (after a very awkward start they both agreed Cedric Diggory was rather pretty); and tried to get her to binge some movies and video games (Hermione laughed at The Princess Bride, Holly counted it as a win).
Despite all that, Hermione was clearly still out of it. Whenever left to visit her parents with Sirius she came back looking worse.
Having parents seemed complicated.
---
After a week preparing Hermione's parents were finally ready to move into Potter Manor. Knowing they needed the extra hands and moral support, Holly offered her help to move and apparated over with them.
What greeted them was a sight none of them were expecting: houses crushed to rubble; trees knocked over; fire and smoke clogging the air, limiting visibility and stinging her eyes; screams of pain and fear coming from all sides. It looked like a warzone, or that a tornado had blown through the neighborhood, something that was explained a second later when she saw the figure of a giant stomping through a row of houses nearby.
Unfortunately, the giant wasn't alone. Several cloaked Death Eaters were following behind, laughing as they casually picked through the rubble for survivors.
Hermione, staring at the scattered debris that used to be her house, let out a heart wrenching sob and ran towards the rubble. Sirius glanced between them, clearly torn between following Hermione or guarding Holly.
Unfortunately for him, Holly was in motion before he could decide.
The battle that followed only ever came back to her in flashes. Pulling out her prototype magical handgun. Apparating behind the Death Eaters. Her gun's recoil as bodies fell. Flashes of curses flying back and forth. Decapitating the last Death Eater when his shield broke. The giant attempting to stomp on her. Turning two transfigured knives into portkeys. The look on the giants' face as it was simultaneously portkeyed to two different places.
Holly wasn't sure how long the fight lasted. When she became aware of her body again she was splattered in Giant blood, surrounded by bodies and bloodied remains. Looking at where the giant had been, there was only a pool of blood and fleshy chunks.
Trying not to think about what she'd just done, Holly quickly grabbed several scraps of the giant's skin and turned away.
That's when she spotted Sirius nearby, fighting another trio of Death Eaters. They didn't seem as good as him, but he was forced onto the defensive through numbers.
Of course, that changed quickly when Holly attacked them. Between her and Sirius's spells they fell quickly.
A quick attempt to scan their minds showed only one was still alive and he was nearly useless. A brand new recruit who'd come from Germany to join up. Apparently this was an initiation for everyone here, excluding the senior Death Eater leading the attack.
Who they hadn't seen yet.
Who had a Dark Mark and could summon Adult Tom immediately.
"We need to call in reinforcements and go! There's still more of them around." Nodding back at her, Sirius sent off a messenger patronus as they sprinted back to Hermione.
Hermione had managed to uncover her parents but, well, they were long dead. Apparently Hermione had given up on them because she wasn't trying to heal them, instead sobbing over their corpses.
Holly… had no idea how to help with that. Instead she silently put an arm around Hermione's shoulders, letting the girl lean into her.
"C'mon, we can take them with us but we need to go." Nodding slowly, Hermione wiped at her face and transfigured them both into a tooth. Holding her hand, they all apparated back to Potter Manor just as the first Order members started popping in.
Reappearing on the front lawn of Potter Manor, Holly held Hermione tight as the girl sobbed. She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but it wasn't until after the sun had started sinking Hermione was out of tears.
"Do you want them buried here?" At Hermione's nod she conjured a shovel. It took some time to do by hand, but eventually they'd buried them properly and carved a small headstone.
Supporting the exhausted girl as they walked towards the Manor, Holly still had no idea what to say. Other than that she was overdue to tell Hermione everything.
"I was able to check one of those Death Eater's mind: attacking a random neighborhood was their initiation. They weren't specifically targeting your parents but the wards drew their attention. The one leading them was named Yaxley."
Hermione only nodded slightly but Holly didn't miss how her eyes were filled with murder.
That… was probably something she should keep an eye on.
"I think it's time I should tell you everything too."
That got Hermione to react, pushing away her arm and glaring. "Oh? Do I finally have the right to learn another of the great Holly Potter's precioussecrets? Do you think that now my parents were murdered by Death Eaters I'm finally trustworthy? That I'm too sad to ever get sick of your bullshit?"
Hermione lashing out wasn't surprising. Holly let her finish before saying, "I… have no clue what having loving parents are like. I don't know what you've lost. My relatives were abusive; the first mind I ever read was my Aunt's because I wanted to know why they beat me. Immediately after learning about magic I ran away and was homeless before Hogwarts."
She tried to give a smile. "I want to be completely honest with you because you deserve to know. Have deserved to know for a while. I'm never open with people to protect myself but you're my friend; I've trusted completely for a while."
"Now's probably a bad time, but we can talk when you're ready." Giving Hermione's hand a squeeze, she left the other girl to her thoughts.
---
The next few days were something of a blur. Hermione was a mess, subdued in a way she never was normally.
Dumbledore came and told them what all happened after they'd left. The Ministry and Order had managed to catch a couple of the Death Eater recruits, but Yaxley and the rest got away. Worse, all of the captured ones were newbies too, they didn't know anything useful. In the end the whole situation was covered up as an explosion caused by a gas leak.
At least the muggleborn evacuation was going faster after other families heard about the attack. Dumbledore tried to apologize to Hermione after mentioning that, but still got an impressive death glare from the girl.
Desperate to help her friend feel better, Holly invited Fleur and Luna over. Fleur tried her best but, unsurprisingly in hindsight, it was Luna that managed better. After a private conversation between the two Hermione came back with fresh tears but looked noticeably better. Naturally Holly gave them both a standing invite and spare bedrooms to use at the Manor afterwards.
(If anyone accused Holly of blushing during her offer to Fleur they were a dirty liar who lies.)
Unfortunately, Holly got another nasty shock after the attack.
Their fighting skills, or more specifically their dueling skills were, well, they were something.
When Holly had first seen Hermione at their dueling practice with professor Moody last year Holly wasn't sure if everyone was that bad, if she was just inexperienced, or if it was a Hermione thing. Hermione wasn't exactly a physically active or coordinated person after all. As she slowly improved from her meager beginnings Holly assumed it was because Hermione herself didn't have the natural aptitude.
And yet, during their duels Hermione could easily beat Luna. That wasn't too surprising, Luna was a year younger and not an aggressive person.
What was shocking was that Hermione could put up a decent fight against Fleur. Hermione almost always lost, but occasionally she managed to find an opening and disarm Fleur. The first time that happened everyone besides Luna stared in shock. Fleur looked torn between being impressed and embarrassed before vowing to practice more.
The less said about comparing them to Holly's own skill the better. She could beat any of them on their own, even Fleur. Could beat both Hermione and Luna whenever they teamed up. It was… enlightening.
Fleur, a triwizard champion with formal dueling training and an Order member – someone comfortably above average for adults in dueling skill – couldn't beat Holly.
It made Holly realize something: most wizards were pushovers. If Hermione, who was apparently decent after receiving a year's worth of dueling lessons, despite having lower aptitude, then what about the rest? Functionally helpless fools.
No wonder Voldemort could steamroll the country: wizards had a superiority complex so large they never realized against any marginally competent person they were helpless as a baby. If the average Death Eater had any dueling experience whatsoever they'd be stronger then the vast majority of the wizarding population.
It was a concerning realization, to put mildly. And from their expressions they knew it. Hopefully under her's and Sirius's tutelage and with them practically living at Potter Manor they'd improve quickly.
---
A few days after her parent's death Hermione took the first chance at privacy to ambush her for answers. It took over an hour, but Holly upheld her promise and told Hermione everything.
How she'd been abused. Living in her Trunk. Stealing the memories of Diary Tom. Killing the basilisk. Her international trips and robbing rich fools.
Everything.
The look on Hermione's face throughout her confessions was indescribable, torn between too many conflicting emotions.
After several minutes of shocked silence, Hermione managed to ask was "so you weren't joking when you said 'you've got Voldemort on the ropes?'"
"You really think I'd lie about that? I'm offended. I am a beacon of truth and integrity." After Hermione giggled at her faux-affronted tone it was impossible to regret opening up.
---
Thankfully the surprise was better than the last: a surprise birthday party.
Considering she'd forgotten the date it actually was a surprise.
(If her hands twitched with aborted lethal curses when they all jumped out, well, thankfully only Hermione, Fleur, and Luna seemed to notice. Good thing for that.)
It… wasn't awful, at least at first. Sure, it was extremely awkward making small-talk with the Order members Sirius invited but thankfully one of her friends was always there to rescue her if they got weirdly enthusiastic at meeting her.
Seeing the Weasley Twins again was nice, as was hearing about how they'd successfully snuck out to Gringotts and gotten her investment in their business formalized. She was certain they'd be profitable soon enough. Or, at least own the war was over. Assuming they survived.
Unfortunately, seeing the other Weasley kids was nowhere near as pleasant. Ronald radiated awkwardness, clearly only present because his parents forced him to be. Ginny was the opposite and kept babbling about Quidditch to her. Percy was the embodiment of a pompous beaurocrat, made worse by the fact he was a wizard beaurocrat.
And the less said about Bill the better. That bastard was making eyes at Fleur.
Holly didn't care. She didn't. Really. The fact Fleur seemed interested in him as well didn't matter in the slightest.
Eventually, like most birthday parties (according to the memories she'd stolen) there was cake with 15 candles, some very awkward singing, and gift giving. She tried to look thankful and not weirded out by a bunch of strangers giving her things but probably failed judging by Hermione's expression.
It was right as Holly was about to eat her cake that things suddenly went terribly wrong.
Apparently Adult Tom was feeling left out. Or maybe Adult Tom wanted to remind her of his existence. Whatever the reason, Holly abruptly felt a sudden stabbing pain in her scar as he battered her mental defenses.
Simultaneously the partygoers abruptly went silent as they spotted a crowd apparate in just outside the Manor's wards. Sure enough, there, in front of his Death Eaters and other assorted goons, was Adult Tom.
Without fanfare he raised his wand to the sky and rapidly cast several spells, causing a transparent glowing dome to expand in front of him. Within seconds it fully encased the Manor's wards. There wasn't any visible effect but that didn't stop the purpose from being obvious.
They were trapped.
Of course, several people felt the need to yell to obvious while others appeared to freeze in terror.
"That's an anti-apparation and portkey barrier! Floo too, I'll bet!"
"-bloody You-Know-Who out there-"
"We're doomed!"
"-brooms? We could fly away down to-"
"-Ministry won't get here in time!"
Ignoring the pain from the continued mental attack along with the background noise of panicking adults yelling, Holly retreated into her own mind to think. What could they do?
If Adult Tom wasn't a complete fool, then all instantaneous modes of escapes would be blocked. No apparition, portkeys, or floo. Brooms are the obvious workaround but would be expected. Could easily be blocked by the barrier too.
What did that leave?
There was something she was missing, there had to be. She wasn't getting killed here, not by a racist wizard cult.
She needed more time to think. Needed to strengthen the wards by pulling them back to cover less area. But she never checked how to do that! Damn her past self for not being paranoid enough.
Good thing there was someone to ask.
"Flory!" She shouted, only to dumbly glance down at the terrified elf when she suddenly appeared with an almost-silent pop.
…Fucking wizards. Just… Fucking Wizards.
Turning back towards the panicking group to share the good news, Holly suddenly had both her shoulders grabbed and shaken by a grim looking Sirius as he shouted at her. Had she missed something?
"-need to get out of here! We can hold him off while you kids escape until backup arrives! Now get-"
Ah. So that was their plan. Well, thankfully she knew what to say to that.
Shrugging Sirius's hands off her, she slapped him across the face.
"You self-sacrificing idiot!" Turning back to Flory she asked, "can you take everyone to one of the other Potter properties?"
"Yes, Mistress Potter! Shall we be going now?"
With a glance back out the window she could see them starting to attack the Manor's wards. Slowly but surely cracks were appearing as a barrage of curses impacted with it. It was a surprisingly pretty sight. Very theatrical, sounding like a stream of firecrackers breaking glass.
Too bad it was a murder attempt.
"Find everyone else in the house and take them to whichever Potter property you think is safest. Might want to explain that to them too before you grab them." Nodding to her, Flory teleported away, followed immediately by shouts from somewhere else in the house.
Ignoring a still sputtering Sirius and pushing down her emotions, she sprinted back to her bedroom. A flick of her fingers sent everything in the room into her open Trunk. Grabbing it, she ran into Hermione's room and repeated the process. Snapping Hermione's trunk shut, she shrunk both and sprinted back down the halls towards the library.
It took less than a second for her to unshrink both trunks and wandlessly send every book in the library flying into them. As hundreds of books flew through the air, a quick glance out the window showed she didn't have much time left.
As the last of the books landed in the trunks Flory finally reappeared, looking more panicked than ever.
"Everyone else be safe, Mistress Potter!"
"Good. Is there anything of yours you want to take with you from here?" At the elf's confused expression she continued, "I'm not letting them capture this place. It'll burn tonight, hopefully with them all in it."
With a nod, Flory disappearing before quickly returning with a bundle of papers in hand.
Grabbing Flory's hand she walked them over to the window, silently watching as the wards fell with an ear splitting, shattering noise. Immediately the small horde charged, Adult Tom in lead.
Which, frankly, was surprising. Seemed like Dumbledore was right about him becoming more reckless.
Just as they reached the Manor's front doors Holly broke the windows and whispered "fiendfyre " down towards the front yard and crowd below.
The flames lit up the whole Manor's front as they rapidly spread, trapping them between the Manor and approaching blaze. The animalistic forms within the fire roared, but not loud enough to drown out the sudden panicked shouts that they couldn't apparate away.
Wouldn't be able to until Adult Tom took down his own barrier.
It was the work of seconds to turn her wand from aiming outside to Manor into the now-empty library, effectively trapping everyone else between the two cursed fires.
"Time to go Flory" and with a twisting feeling, they were suddenly standing near the other evacuated partygoers. Immediately she got tackle-hugged by everyone and their mother but Holly wasn't thinking about that.
Wasn't thinking about anything other than the fact she'd just lost the first real home she'd ever had. Sure, it had been too big and grandiose but it was home .
Now it was gone because of fucking Adult Tom.
Half the Order had been there too and they were useless.
Worse than useless. The only reason they were all alive is because she'd rescued them.
Holly had hoped she wouldn't need to take care of everything herself but clearly she'd been wrong.
Waiting on everyone else wasn't working.
It was time to act.
Notes:Entire chapter summed up: Link
The editing on this chapter is iffy but I wanted to put it up now anyways because I hate that it took me this long to post. I'll fix it up soon but still feel free to point out typos.
Before anybody gets their hopes up, no, Voldemort isn't dead. He put up that barrier blocking them, he can take it down. The question is how many of his own people he's willing to let burn before he accepts his enemies already escaped?
Answer: Yes. Holly's kill count is going up again but no solid numbers this time. Hard numbers tend to break the immersion and make it too easy to mess up continuity later on. Plus it's not important here. Assume a couple of those that died to be named characters and anyone else is faceless goon #1-x.
Chapter 24: Summer 1995 (III)Summary:Holly and Hermione discuss the war effort and take action, Holly blatantly lies to everyone, and realizes the solution to all her problems is doing drugs.
Notes:This chapter was harder to write then I expect. I maaay forgot how much I struggle with writing dialogue heavy scenes. Pretty stupid considering I literally chose to make Holly a loner to avoid them.
Edit: Credit to Pink Fang by Avulle for helping me figure out how to depict the upcoming arc. It only got harder to write from here and I was stuck without Pink Fang's depiction of a similar arc providing inspiration.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextTaking action, unfortunately, wasn't as simple as Holly would've liked. She needed a solid plan first. Thankfully, she had Hermione to help her with that.
After the Order members were finally done checking her over for injuries and yelling at her for "not taking her safety seriously" or something like that, she and Hermione were led by Sirius to a spare bedroom for the night.
The second the door closed both of them started casting privacy charms without needing a single word between them. Once that was done they sat on the floor, ready to start plotting.
"So… that happened." At Hermione's glare she continued, "hey, I want to crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentations of their women too. But we have to make our anger constructive, not let it blind us."
"...Fine. I suppose that's a practical mindset. Where do we start?"
"The obvious way to end this bullshit would be to kill Adult Tom. He's the king on the chessboard: the Death Eaters immediately fell apart when they thought he died before, it stands to reason they'd do it again. Unfortunately, he still has the Snake and my scar as horcruxes. The Goblins are working overtime on trying to safely remove them, but according to them that'll take at least a few months."
"Could we still kill his body?" Hermione asked, looking contemplative. "As a bodiless wraith, Voldemort would be much less of a threat. It would demoralize his supporters or maybe even disband them entirely."
"True. Problem is, he seemingly came back from the dead once already. If he does it again people will think he's really immortal. Nobody would believe he's ever truly dead; his followers would never disband." Groaning, Holly laid down on the floor and flopped an arm over her eyes.
"Dammit Holly, why do you have to be right? What other options do we have?"
"We can't kill him. I doubt we could imprison him, even if we did somehow manage to knock him out and kidnap him. A majority of his supporters are old money families with heavily warded mansions that we can't assault; that'd be tough even if we had the full force of the Order behind us. Killing off his Inner Circle will only put the rest on high alert. Killing off his grunt enforcers will mildly inconvenience him at best since he's got plenty of recruits coming in from overseas.
That… basically eliminates most offensive options."
"...Fuck." Holly still had her face covered, but she could hear Hermione shuffling through her things.
"Yep. I mean maybe we could sneak attack them inside their manors by tunneling in." Holly bit her lip, thinking for a moment. "Or maybe we could imperious a couple of his recruits and have them suicide attack, but that sorta thing would only work once. And since we can't kill or capture Adult Tom–"
"It wouldn't be worth the risk to kill anyone else and only put the rest on alert," Hermione finished. "Is there anything else?"
"Well, I do have a mental link to Adult Tom thanks to the horcrux. Theoretically, I could attack his mind." Even with her eyes covered Holly could feelHermione glaring at her. "I know, I know, but it's an option. He doesn't seem to know about it yet and I really don't want him to – he'll attack the second he does – and I'll have a constant migraine until he dies."
"Good. If he possesses you–"
"You have my full permission to fight back with lethal force in that case. I mean, he'll probably beat you regardless, but don't hold back just because it's my body you're fighting."
"..."
Lifting her arm off her face, Holly looked over to see Hermione seemingly attempting to kill her by glaring alone.
"What?" Really, she thought it was perfectly reasonable to prepare for the possibility. That reminded her, she really needed to update her will with the Goblins…
"You can't just casually say things like that!" Hermione yelled. "You're my friend, I don't want to kill you!"
"The sentiment is appreciated, but do remember that my mind has already been obliterated in this hypothetical."
Actually, the topic reminded her of something she'd been meaning to say: "By the way, can you make sure I'm cremated if I die? If Adult Tom wins, he'd probably do something creepy like put my corpse in a glass coffin and make a trophy out of it. Or maybe eat it. Either way, I'd rather be cremated."
It was then that Hermione's death glare got intense enough to wandlessly set Holly's shirt on fire.
"Shit! Wait 'til I'm dead first!" She shouted, flinging off her flaming shirt, vanishing it before it hit the ground. After quickly putting on a new shirt from her Trunk she turned back to a furious looking Hermione.
"What? If you wanted to see me shirtless you could've just asked. I promise not to be weird about it even if you're straight. I mean, if you're questioning I could let you look?"
That was just being a good friend, right? Or maybe Hermione was feeling insecure? Should she try to be supportive then?
"I promise I haven't shapeshifted my boobs besides making my bras fit better. Do you–"
"No! Holly, just… no." Hermione visibly took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. "Now, the war effort. What are our options?"
That… was a tough question.
One that needed several minutes to properly think of an answer for.
"The Goblins are confident they'll be able to remove my scar horcrux, but they need at least a few months' time. Once I get it removed the Goblins will handle the Snake; we should be able to assassinate Adult Tom relatively easily and that'll end it. The problem is buying enough time for that to happen.
At this rate, if nothing changes… by then the Ministry will have fallen, a pureblood-supremacist government put in place, and any 'undesirables' either killed off or in hiding. Dumbledore would probably be dead already in this hypothetical too, so the Order would be leaderless and Hogwarts wouldn't be safe either. People in our safehouses might still be safe but they're dead the second that changes. The Goblins would be fine though; they'd solve the horcrux problem, but by the time we assassinate Adult Tom it'd be a pyrrhic victory at best ."
Hermione looked conflicted, not wanting to take her analysis as fact. "But… what about the other magical governments? Or the International Conference of Wizards? Wouldn't they step in if it got that bad?"
"Hermione, these people haven't developed socially since medieval times. They have no real concept of international cooperation or global economies other than the quidditch world cup. The International Conference of Wizards is filled with rich, old fucks: they don't care about anything other then upholding the statute of secrecy. At best they'd send a couple representatives to tell Adult Tom's puppet government to hide the fighting better if they violate the statute of secrecy too blatantly."
That had Hermione's shoulders sagging as the reality of the situation sunk in. Poor girl had far too much faith in wizards. At least that'd get fixed, however this ended.
"Right, so how do we prevent that?" Hermione asked, summoning paper and a pen.
"Keeping Dumbledore alive is necessary, not because he's the most powerful, but for morale. He's a rallying point. So long as he's alive, the Order won't disband and Hogwarts will be run by him." Holly said, listing off ideas as Hermione took notes. "Second most important person to keep alive is Minister Bones; if she dies, installing a puppet would get that much easier."
"What about the systematic problems?" Hermione asked, still furiously writing. "How can we make the Order and the Ministry more effective?"
That… was a good question. How could they?
"Neither the Ministry or the Order can predict attacks, they're too spontaneous. Travel time isn't an issue with apparation. That means the delay is in either the time it takes to report an attack or organizing the response force. Probably both."
"So it's a communications issue then?" Hermione asked, not looking up.
"Makes sense. All forms of magical communication have either major drawbacks or time delays. They don't have the equivalent of a cell phone. That reminds me: let's make a magic-proof one once we're done with Adult Tom's bullshit."
That was a good start for what she'd do once this bullshit was over: drag wizards into the 20th century, whether they like it or not.
"You're off topic again Holly. How can we make attacks be reported faster?"
"Their attacks are focused on muggleborns and half-bloods, in other words, the people who typically have the worst home defenses. Improving everyone's wards would be impossible but… what about if we could create something like a home security system? Or a panic button? Something to instantly send an alert out if they're under attack?"
Pausing her writing, Hermione looked over, shock written on her face. "That… that's brilliant! But would either the Order or Ministry respond soon enough?"
"I mean, it'd be hard to do worse than now," Holly dryly stated, rolling her eyes. "Besides, the Ministry must have at least some kind of 24/7 emergency response team. If they don't then the Minister would probably be willing to create a rapid response team or whatever they'd call it. Might be easier politically to create a new department then reshuffle existing ones."
"You're right." Hermione mumbled, furiously writing again. "If we could have that alert synced with the Ministry, or with Order… maybe with a Protean Charm? It'd have to include more information, like where the attack is and nearby apparation points. Or how many attackers there are. But what else should we…"
Listening to Hermione mumble to herself, it seemed like she had that train of thought under control. Which, if it worked, would dramatically help reduce casualties.
They'd still be stuck fighting a losing war of attrition, but at least they'd last longer.
With that pleasant thought in mind, Holly tucked herself into bed, falling asleep to the white noise of Hermione's mumbling and pen scratching.
---
Unsurprisingly, Dumbledore dropped by the safehouse the next morning to check in on them after the attack, making it easy to propose their idea to him.
The look on his face after hearing their idea for panic buttons was priceless . Poor guy was too stunned to even facepalm. He may have played it off afterwards with a joke about how his old age was getting to him, but the sheer relief and self-recrimination in his eyes was obvious to her.
Good to know his own ego hadn't gotten to him.
With shocking speed for a man his age, he sat down across from them, casually flicking a finger to levitate their breakfast dishes away to make room, and immediately beginning to sketch prototype ruin sequences. Both she and Hermione chimed in with ideas, occasionally suggesting small optimizations, breakfast ignored as they worked.
They attracted a couple Order members as an audience, which was awkward to say the least. Damn people better not get any ideas about her. Holly wanted to fade into irrelevance so she could disappear and not be bothered by them for the rest of her life after Hogwarts.
Which, Holly realized, meant she'd have to keep her involvement in ending the war and killing Adult Tom secret.
Which, of course, would only make the whole thing that much harder.
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Despite her internal crisis, they had a working prototype panic button made within the hour. It was nothing fancy: just a runic circle drawn on a piece of paper you could tap with your wand that'd send an alert to another runic circle on a separate, corresponding piece of paper that also displayed the others' location and any written message attached.
Privately, Holly didn't expect that feature to get used optimally. Knowing wizards they'd probably use it to request all available responders because they deemed themselves important.
Regardless, Dumbledore seemed happy with the prototype and practically ran out the door to show it to the Minister. Hermione, having not noticed the growing crowd, blushed scarlet when they swooped in the second Dumbledore left.
Naturally, Holly left Hermione behind and took the chance to disappear back into the blissful silence of their room.
Totally worth leaving her cold breakfast behind.
---
Dumbledore and Minister Bones must have immediately gotten started because her scar suddenly exploded in pain a few hours later. Seemed like Adult Tom's spies must've reported back to him because he was Not Happy.
Which she got the emotional bleed over from in the form of pain.
Holly hadn't ever been stabbed in the head, but damn, did she have a good idea of what it'd feel like now.
As she sank deeper into meditation she tried her best to reinforce her occlumency barriers as subtly as possible but it was no use, she couldn't block out the pain.
Worse still, Adult Tom must've felt something because that's when she could feel his attention switch to their mental connection, like suddenly being under a spotlight. His surprise and curiosity was tangible as he probed at their connection.
Then there was nothing.
No emotional spillover.
No pain.
It felt as if their bond was abruptly severed.
But Holly knew what was coming and prepared herself.
Sure enough, an instant later Adult Tom slammedinto her mental defenses with everything he had.
If she thought it was painful before, now it felt like her brain had caught fire while also exploding. Holly hadn't ever tried crucio 'ing herself but she imagined this is what it felt like.
Shocked out of her meditation, she stumbled over to her Trunk and summoned a Pain-Relief Potion from her supplies. Slamming it back, Holly felt the pain just barely recede.
This… wasn't good. Not good at all.
She should probably tell someone Adult Tom discovered their connection. There was no way that conversation was going to go well.
Fun.
---
'I hate always being right,' Holly thought to herself as a hysterical Sirius and (marginally calmer) Hermione frantically checked her over. 'Can they get any more overprotective?'
Holly shook them off, putting up her hands, "guys, I'm fine. Adult Tom hasn't gotten past my outer mental barriers. Even if he did, he'd have to go through the literal, unsolvable maze that is my mindscape. My mind is safe; all he can do is give me a headache."
For some reason that didn't seem to reassure them. Not at all.
Which, rude. Holly had put literal years into building her mental defenses. She wasn't about to get possessed by Adult Tom, especially not without a long, bitter fight.
Hermione and Sirius turned towards each other, doing the whole 'silent conversation with only eye-contact' thing before simultaneously turning back towards her.
It was more than a little creepy.
"Holly," Sirius started, tone sounding vaguely parental for once, "Voldemort is a master legitemens. The only reason we haven't already declared this a worst-case scenario is because we know how skilled in occlumency you are. But even you can't say this is fine."
"But-"
"No buts!" Sirius shouted, not a trace of humor on his face. "Dumbledore and Snape will be here soon to see if they can help you improve your occlumency. Until then, you need to be completely focused on defending your mind."
With that Sirius walked out of the room, leaving behind a stern but vaguely apologetic Hermione. When Holly turned her glare to her the girl simply shrugged.
"You have to admit Holly, from an outside perspective it is rather alarming to hear that Voldemort can directly attack your mind from any distance. Besides, it's not like Dumbledore or Professor Snape need to teach you the basics of occlumency, only help you improve as much as possible."
That wasn't wrong but… it didn't help what she was feeling.
That she was now expected to do nothing except sit and meditate, all day, every day.
That she was expected to only defend her mind, never trying to attack back.
That everyone would tiptoe around her, treating her like both a potential spy and damaged goods.
That everyone would be staring at her, waiting for her to be possessed.
That, unless something changed, her extreme migraine would last until someone managed to kill Adult Tom.
It was an unsustainable situation. She would be fine in a week, or a month, or maybe even 6 months, but not forever. Eventually, the combined effects of her migraine, sleep loss, and whatever else may occur would leave her vulnerable to assassination attempts.
If she couldn't protect herself then she'd be as good as dead.
That wasn't even mentioning how awful that time would be for her.
So no, she wasn't planning on listening to Sirius. Oh, she'd take every piece of help Dumbledore and Snape could give her and put it to use, but she was going to attack Adult Tom back sooner or later.
She was trapped in mental siege warfare, her mind like a castle under attack from an endless army on all sides. Eventually any castle would crumble as the defenders either starve when their supplies run out or fall before the invaders.
But voicing that wouldn't change anyone's mind. Well, except possibly Hermione if she had enough time to explain, but she couldn't now.
So Holly played nice when Dumbledore and Snape arrived.
She let them examine her mental defenses, listening to every scrap of advice they offered. She nodded along as they made her promise to focus entirely on her mental defense, never attacking Adult Tom.
It was a lie of course, something that she suspected everyone in the room knew.
Still, she played her role just as they played theirs. She was the desperate and dutiful student under the skilled and benevolent professor. Or, at least, that was Dumbledore's role.
Snape helped, but only spoke in insults and condescending remarks. No matter how insultingly phrased, the bastard's help was still useful.
Soon enough they left, leaving Holly and Hermione alone once more.
After applying privacy charms once more Holly stood up, a grim smile on her face. "Well, since I'm going to have a migraine for the foreseeable future, I should probably get working on something to help that. I know potions to cure headaches and migraines exist, but I wonder if I can make them better? I mean, I'm going to need some strong shitto get me through this. Or maybe drugs. I guess that's what I'm doing already, but wait: do wizards have drugs? Like, recreational drugs? Because if they don't they don't I'm going to be extremely disappointed. Leaving it to fucking wizards to have magic and never make any magical drugs . Seriously,-"
Hermione, obviously agreeing with her, simply listened as Holly continued ranting and started brewing.
---
Brewing new and improved pain relief and migraine cures went well. Whenever she took them it reduced her pain from "my brain is on fire and exploding, please kill me" to a somewhat more reasonable, "it feels like there's a knife in my head" level. Not great, but not terrible.
Fortunately, that only took her a few days.
Even better, while brewing she had an idea for how to help keep both Dumbledore and Minister Bones alive: eternal elixirs! Not all 3 of hers of course, super strength being wasted on wizards, but the other 2 would hopefully be enough to improve their odds.
Dumbledore needed to be able to survive fights against Adult Tom. If Holly gave him both a Stamina and Regenerative Elixirs he'd feel decades younger. Considering how ancient the man was, that wasn't saying much, but it was better than nothing.
Minister Bones needed to survive so she could lead the Ministry and not be replaced with a puppet. A Regenerative Elixir would help her survive any assassination attempts or otherwise fatal wounds, though Holly supposed a Stamina Elixir wouldn't hurt either.
It'd cost her precious phoenix tears and rare supplies, but, well, that was better than the alternative.
Besides, winning the war and having 2 extremely influential figures in her debt would make it worth it.
With that in mind Holly got brewing, mentally blocking out her migraine and putting as much raw intent into her elixirs as possible.
Intent to heal. Intent to protect. Intent keep them alive.
It wouldn't make up for the fact she was missing a crucial ingredient, the already-used piece of Faerie King wing she'd been gifted, but it'd help make up the difference.
Hopefully the few drops of blood she put in would do that.
The drops of blood which, when she put them in, produced poofs of multicolor smoke and made both elixirs faintly glow.
Choosing to take that as a good sign, Holly bottled the elixirs and gave them to Hermione to somehow deliver. Mentally exhausted, she took another set of her improved pain relief and migraine cure potions before laying down for a much-needed nap.
She hadn't exactly been expecting to be woken up soon after by Dumbledore himself to both question and thank her. Too tired to care, she mumbled something that was - hopefully - coherent before rolling over to go back to sleep.
Notes:Voldemort POV this chapter: Link
End of chapter be like: Link
I'm trying something new by inserting the small line breaks between scenes/minor timeskips. Do they make it a clearer read? If they help people with reading clarity I'll go back and add them in the entire fic.