Holly Garcia

The self-satisfied grin on Holly’s face was enough to make Severus want to claw his own eyes out so he didn’t have to see it again.  It wouldn’t have been that much of a sacrifice.  He would be able to avoid many things he didn’t want to see.  The incestuous tension of most of his house common room, for instance.  The look on Black’s face every time he said something he found particularly clever.  Whatever obnoxious shade of hair Holly herself decided to sport at any given time.  

“You should have looked over his text at some point in Defense Against the Dark Arts, yes.”  Severus sighed, digging in his bag for a spare bit of parchment.  "Slughorn doesn’t use his text in potions, finds it too rudimentary or some sort, but Jigger does a satisfactory job of explaining the base theories in potioncraft.“  Severus scrawled a not on the parchment, ripping it off to hand over to the girl.  "Start with Magical Drafts and Potions.  Once you’ve read that, you might be able to handle his more advanced work, Potion Opuscule.”

Holly really couldn’t see how Severus could call himself someone that wasn’t nice and then go and do this for her. He might not have been able to notice it but he was being helpful. His tone might not have been as happy and excited as hers but he was still being friendly. She gladly took the parchment from him and looked over what he wrote, "Ooohh that’s the one I was forgetting.” she muttered to herself, as she recalled the title Potions Opuscule now that he had said it.

“I’ve looked over that one before, Potions Opuscule. I probably should have gotten a better handle on potions before I checked it out but I’ll make sure to look over both of these for sure.” She explained to him, folding the parchment and putting it away in her bag for safe keeping. “Thank you very much for this. I’m guessing you would like to run off now and go back to doing your own thing?” Holly asked, aware that he’s been dying to get away and deciding maybe now was a good time to give him an out and wondering if he would take it or not.

Dung looked down at Holly’s clothes, eyes growing wide as he realized he had left her covered in vinegar too.  "Aw, I’m sorry Cotton, I got so excited at seein’ ya, I forgot I got all soaked.  Your ‘ouse password is pretty intricate, you know.“  He smiled apologetically.  "I’d try'n dry you off but I left my wand at the common room and I 'ave no idea what charm to use.”  He frowned, looking down as he stepped back from her.  He realized now how crazy it was.  They barely knew each other, but with everything going on, how could he not throw himself towards her the moment he knew she was alright?  

“Oh, no mean tricks, promise.”  He grinned, pulling parchment out of the pocket of his trousers.  "Just makin’ sure you got away with murder, whether you did it or not.“  His eyes grew wide, and his voice came out in an even more garbled mush than usual. 

"NotthatIthinkyou'dmurdernoone,IjustthoughtincaseDumblesmadeitsoyouwwasthemurdereryou'dgetawaywithit."  He laughed awkwardly, unfolding the intricate document he had forged.  "This was what I showed Baby Black, what she shared with the train to make sure you was innocent.  Don’t tell 'er but I forged it, wrote it all on some spare parchment I found in one 'o the compartments.  I fancy myself quite the 'andwriting forger, when I need to be.”  He grinned, hoping she would be impressed with his talents and care for her, even in a silly school game.  

“Things…” He looked down at the ground, suddenly fascinated with the way the vinegar was mixing with the dust and grime of the dungeon floor.  He thought for a moment he had overestimated what their few conversations had meant, but then she admitted that she had been on her way to see him, and his heart soared.  His head shot up, and he smiled brighter than he had in months.  "You mean you was comin’ to see me?  I mean, that is sorta… the things I was meanin’…“  He sighed, looking around.  "You wanna walk someplace, maybe… chat a bit… if you 'ave other people to check on I understand I’m sure I ain’t the only one you gotta look up on.  You prob'ly got loads o’ friends, but I’d greatly love if you and I… got to talkin’ a bit to work out those… things.”

Holly giggled at him and his rambling, finding it absolutely adorable. “It’s okay, it’s okay. A little bit of vinegar never hurt anyone.” The fact that he was so excited to see her that he completely disregarded being covered in vinegar to give her a hug made her feel like she didn’t have to worry about whatever they were calling their relationship with one another. “It is a little tricky the password, the portraits like to talk about how it’s the most secure common room in the whole castle!”

He pulled out a parchment and was bouncing on the tips of her toes when he said he was trying to help her get away with the fake murder. His words picked up speed and she smiled at him while he continued to tell her about what he did, her heart feeling like it was fluttering. “Really? You did that for me?” she asked as she looked it over, letting out a soft laugh in awe that he went to that trouble. “This is really amazing. It actually looks official too, that’s impressive. I don’t know if I should condone this but if my character that was guilty, then I would be very appreciative that you’d fake an alibi for me.” 

She clasped her hands together in front of her, swaying side to side as she looked down at the floor just as he had. Holly knew she had to remember the things that Greer taught her about not being so embarrassed even though she just couldn’t stop herself from being an awkward blushing mess. She lifted her gaze from the floor back up at him and grinned, loving the suggestion that they go walk and chat. “Yes! Yeah we can do that…I mean I checked up on most of my friends back in the common room I can always check up on my friends from other houses later.” she paused for a moment realizing what she said and waved her hands as she back-pedalled, “That sounded worse than I meant it to! I-I just mean I’d really like to go and talk with you too!” she blurted out, mentally kicking herself for it, way to not be embarrassing Holly. She took a deep breath and let out an awkward chuckle as she tried to regain her composure.

Here’s the thing about Holly. She was– something. She was certainly something, even Greer couldn’t deny that. The girl started out as a real pain in her butt when she met her, but somehow, someway (even Greer couldn’t understand how), she managed to warm her way into Greer’s… she wouldn’t say heart, nor would she say friendship. They were not friends, she wasn’t friends with overly enthusiastic, always rainbow-and-sunshine, perky girls. But Holly was probably the closest thing to a friend she had in Hufflepuff, and as amusing as it was to make Holly flustered if this was how she was like when she talked to Fletcher, that was a disaster and she needed help. And lots of it.

She took the other’s wrist so she would stop with all the baking and the dry ingredients. They had bigger things to focus on. “Just leave it, Holly, we can do the baking at another time, you can even teach me how to bake an entire cake with frosting and everything,” a promise she would most likely regret later. “We gotta work on your fumbling and embarrassment thing because that is not a way to talk to a guy. You need to be confident, none of them deserves you actually stumbling over your words and blushing and everything that comes along with it.”

She pushed aside the ingredients that Holly so neatly organized and pushed herself back onto the counter - right in front of Holly, where the other Puff planned to work only a few moments ago. “Ok, so first things first - you can’t think of kissing and sex as something embarrassing, alright? It’s part of life, a really good and fun part of life, actually. Everyone does it. I mean, most people do and they enjoy it and talking about something that you enjoy is really not that big of a deal. Kinda like talking about baking, just you know. Other hobby.”

Holly was trying her best to move her hands as quickly as possible getting everything sorted before Greer could stop her but, the older girl grabbed her wrists, tight enough to get her to stop what she was doing. She squirmed a little but it looked as though Greer was determined to not let her go any further with the baking talk. As upset as she was that Greer was holding her back, the suggestion of them baking a cake together was very tempting. A cake was a lot more fun than cookies she thought to herself, but no! She couldn’t let Greer’s distraction methods work on her!

“But-but-but-” already fumbling over her words again, just proving that she needed all the help she could get even if she didn’t want the help if it meant her and Greer were going to have to talk about making out and having sex. “Hey! I mean, I’m not this bad I just-he’s really cute okay, and seems to like me I can’t help but get nervous about it all.” she explained with a pout, not considering her reaction to having a cute, funny boy give her attention as something abnormal. “It’s out of my control. I want to be confident but then he says something adorable and I just-” she couldn’t even explain herself, Holly just waved her arms a little hoping that would be enough.

She let out a sigh as Greer pushed aside all of her ingredients, feeling bad that she asked the house elves to provide these for her and now they were going to waste. Her brows furrowed, already feeling a little uncomfortable at her friends words. “Okay but....that isn’t baking. They are two completely different things to talk about. Talking about one so casually is easy and the other...not so much.”

        Lucretia was not one to hide her feelings from the people around her, especially if those feelings were negative in any way. Holly had annoyed her for years during their time at Hogwarts together, and it seemed as though the years of her  ‘nails on a chalk board’ voice and sunshine attitude no matter where she was, had taken it’s toll. She wasn’t the only one she knew who couldn’t stand to be around Holly, but she was one of the few who made her feelings clear and known about it. Bundling her possessions into her bag, throwing it over her shoulder and then pushing the quill quickly into it, she didn’t even bother to hide the roll of her eyes at the other girl’s apology. 

        “Professor McGonagall talks through similar theories and exercises every lesson Holly, this lesson was a continuation of the last, your excitement is ridiculous” she snapped, continuing to walk away towards the door, dismayed when it seemed that Holly was desperate for forgiveness and had followed her, continuing to talk. “I can obtain my notes from more reliable sources, what makes you think that after that lesson I would want to spend more time with you? If you hadn’t been so loud I wouldn’t need your offer” she hissed. She shouldn’t have been so mean and usually she wasn’t, but when certain people irritated her, she couldn’t hold back. 

        “There are hundreds of students in this school… please go and bother one of them”.

Lucretia seemed to be in quite the rush to get away from her and had no problems tell her how she felt. Holly didn’t get it one bit. Sure, she knew that people could take her bubbly personality as something irritating but it wasn’t very often that she ended up getting a reaction like this. She stood there in stunned silence for a moment, biting down on her lower lip as she pursed her lips together. She was feeling embarrassed and the bright colour in her hair began to fade to white, showing off the loss of her happy demeanor.

“I’m sorry.” she repeated though regretting it, sure the Slytherin didn’t want to hear her apologies. “I don’t know what you’d like me to say, I’ll try to keep it down in class from now on.” she offered and trying to wrack her brain for any other alternatives she could suggest to get on Lucretia’s good side. Holly wasn’t sure why she continued to follow her when it was obvious she didn’t want her there but the Hufflepuff just wanted to make sure she could fix this.

“I just...want to make sure we’re okay. I don’t really like it when people are mad at me.”

        There was no doubt in his mind that Holly was naive, and though that was often seen as a good way to see the world around you, through kindness and trust, he knew that with a war brewing beyond the castle walls she had to be more careful. He hoped, somewhat in vain he was sure, that after this encounter, she would hold a little more suspicion to those people who came up to talk to her with no prior knowledge or reason for doing so.

         As she bounced on her toes, he realised that indeed, his hopes were in vain. “As am I, but in future, you need to be the one with the keen observation skills” he warned, hoping that in some part of her brain it would sink in. “I wasn’t headed to anywhere in particular, just wandering around, seeing if I could catch sight of a certain girl or find one of my mates skulking about. They’ve been in some right weird moods lately” he admitted. He wasn’t sure what was up with them all but they had all drifted and it didn’t sit well with him. “I’ll walk you there and you can tell me… did you ever find out who your mystery boy was from the ball?” he asked, knowing full well that she had.

His words sounded almost stern, like a parent teaching their child right from wrong. Holly knew that she had to be more careful in times like these but it felt so unnatural. She was trusting and wanted to see the good people and she did see the good in them. Changing would be difficult for her but with the look of concern James was giving her she knew she should at least try. “Alright, I promise that I will work on my observation skills from now on.” she told him, placing one hand over her heart and raising the other up by her head like she was making a vow.

The mention of a “certain girl” piqued Holly’s interest and she let out a playful oooooh as she linked her arm with his while they walked. “A certain girl huh? Is this the certain girl that you told me about before?” she asked curiously hoping that everything had worked out for him. Holly started grinning widely thinking about Mundungus, glad that the two of them found one another. “I did! Mundungus Fletcher, such a sweetheart. We’ve been spending some time together but...I get really shy around him, so I don’t really know exactly what’s going on between us.”

Lily smiled at the words she barely heard right; but she did hear the color blue and had to stay for several seconds staring at the other’s hair. ‘ Blue? It looks like a combination between pink and red to me- but, sure that is a really beautiful blue!’ she clapped her hands together, excitedly. ‘ No matter what color it is, I think you are really beautiful, Holly.’ It was a mystery how the redhead still knew the other’s name really well, at least that side didn’t die. And then she chuckled again, shaking her head at herself.

Holly had to pull at some strands of her hair to confirm the colour of it. Did she turn it from a cool blue to a warm pinkish red without her even realizing it? When she looked at her hair it was in fact still blue. “Your eyes must be playing tricks on you Lily, today isn’t my pink day anyways. You are feeling okay, right?” she asked, reaching over and doing like her mother does and feeling Lily’s forehead to see if she had a fever. Holly couldn’t help but blush at the compliment she was given, looking down at the floor shyly. “That’s really sweet of you to say and means a lot coming from someone as pretty as you.”

     He watched as she rummaged through her bag, looking for the pieces to the game she had offered to play with him. It wasn’t very often that he was approached by those who did not really know him, since he had not always been known as the most approachable guy at Hogwarts and had a tendency to make people uncomfortable if he felt the need. However, from the aura he felt pulsing around her he could tell that she would be unfazed by his attempts if he tried. He smirked as she used her wand to place the pieces on the board. Most people forgot they had magic and used their hands.

     “You’re very kind” he said, feeling no need to reject her offer and change their colours, as most men would have done. He wasn’t particularly chivalrous. “I’m Xenophilius, though most people just call me Xeno” he introduced in return, tapping a pawn and then a square on the board, watching his piece jump obediently into place. “It’s nice to officially meet you Holly” he said, having heard of her and seen her around, but never having actually spoken to her. “Are you a wizard chess enthusiast?”

Holly bowed her head playfully at his comment, giving him a big smile as she took pride in her kindness. “Thank you! Being kind is sorta my thing and I’m not really planning on stopping now.” she told him with a soft giggle escaping her lips soon after. She never really saw it as a problem though she was sure there were people who disagreed, thinking about how easily it could be taken advantage of or how it was a naive way of thinking. But those thoughts never crossed her mind and for right now, this was nothing more than a simple game of chess.

“It’s nice to meet you as well Xeno. That is a fantastically unique name, I love it. You don’t meet many Xenophiliuses that’s for sure.” she mused, wondering how often he’s gotten questions or comments about his name. As he made his move Holly looked down at the board and examined her pieces carefully before also moving one of her pawns forward. “I don’t know if I’d call myself an enthusiast but I do dabble, playing from time to time. It really gets your brain focused ya know? Are you a fan of the game or would you have preferred I grabbed a different game from my bag?”

Of course.  The little ball of sunshine liked magical creatures.  He bet her favorite was a unicorn and she thought flobberworms were cute somehow.  She also seemed the type to have perfected a cheering charm by the end of first year, to help make people happy or some ridiculous notion.  He raised an eyebrow at her mention of wanting to be a healer, however.  That was mildly intriguing.  Something potentially useful to remember.  Though he doubted with her flighty personality she would be much good as a healer.  

“Well there is a strong element to potions that, I find, requires natural talent and ability to pay attention to detail.  Theoretically, yes, one may learn and apply themselves to become adequate at the craft, but there is an instinctual finesse that cannot be replicated just by effort.”  He regarded the girl in front of him.  Her incessant persistance might prove to make her a fairly successful potioneer, were she not studying under the tutelage of Slughorn.  "You should look into the work of Arsenius Jigger.  I suspect his methods would be more adequate for your needs than the texts we’re given in class.“

She was happy that she managed to gain his interest and that he didn’t just brush her off and make her leave him alone. Holly didn’t really know why she was so persistent about winning him over, there was just something about him that made her want to see if she could make that scowl of his turn into a smile. It seemed like he really needed it so the fact that she got something he was willing to stick around and talk about put her one step closer.

“You’re right about that! I’ve been trying really hard for years to get the hang of it.” she told him, letting out a chuckle, sure he would be amused by her incompetence. “Maybe you just have to be born with a talent like that. but I’m still very determined even if I don’t have that instinctual finesse as you call it.” At the mention of Arsenius Jigger, Holly nodded her head, knowing she had heard or read that name somewhere. “He’s the one who wrote one of the textbooks for the class right? And that other one he did...oh I can’t remember the name but I’m positive I’ve read his work to assist in my learnings.”

     He thought of Holly as a little ray of sunshine that beamed down the hallways and corridors of Hogwarts, but he knew that there were people out their who couldn’t stand the girl’s positive attitude and outlook on life and who would do whatever they pleased to a girl like her. It made him angry just thinking about it, so when he had seen it happen in front of him, he hadn’t been sure if he would have been able to reign in his temper enough to control the situation rather than escalate it. Luckily he had matured over the past year and the situation was shut down before it had even begun. 

     Holly was looking at him with a mixture of confusion and upset on her face and he couldn’t say that he blamed her. When she called him Jimmy, he almost winced but for some reason when the name slipped from her, because it was her, he could handle it. For anyone else, he would have corrected them or knocked them on their asses. “They intended for that to be the case, people are cruel when they want to be. Oh, I’ve seen it a few times before, plus I’ve been told that I’m too observant” he shrugged, running a hand through his hair. “Are you okay? Where were you headed?”

Holly couldn’t help but frown, the idea that people could be so cruel and could concoct a plan to hurt someone was so odd and upsetting to her. None of those people she recognized so she wasn’t exactly sure what she had done to make them feel the need to go to such lengths. She shook off the negative thoughts though, knowing there was no point in worrying seeing as nobody ended up getting hurt.

“Then I’m very glad you and your keen observation skills were here to help me out!” she grinned, bouncing on the tips of her toes for a moment when she spoke. She turned her head to look behind her and gestured down the corridor as she responded, “I’m good, there’s nothing to worry about thanks to you. And I was heading to my tutoring session with Ted actually. I guess you’re gonna have to come along with me just in case those meanies try to strike again. Unless you’ve got somewhere you were headed as well of course.”

“Yeah, sure. Simple chocolate chip cookies, obviously,” Greer muttered in a half mocking, half surprised tone and wondered how Holly really did it. How could she have such a pull on her that she doesn’t just turn around and walk away from this entire ridiculous situation (something she wanted more than anything, really)? It must have been something… well, something for sure, but Greer was lost what exactly. But still, she was here and she was not walking out, so whatever it was, it was working. “Don’t fret it, snogging is good, but it’s not everything. It had to be more than a snog, otherwise, he wouldn’t have spent any time making posters to find you.”

Greer was almost completely certain that she has never seen Holly flustered before, and her lips curled up into an amused, entertained grin as the now pink-haired girl kept going, as she stumbled on the words. “No, no, no, we definitely can’t back to the cookies,” she said as she fully turned her body towards Holly, leaning against the counter with her hip, one hand resting on that counter. “I never thought I’d see you get flustered like this, honestly. You didn’t get like this with Fletcher, right? He’s really not that big of a deal, and it’s just a little shag, nothing to feel embarrassed about.”

Greer seemed to be having way too much fun making Holly so flustered. Would she really go this far just so that she didn’t have to take part in baking? What was she thinking, this was Greer of course she would.

Holly pouted, shrugging her shoulders, she liked talking about Mundungus but she didn’t like this very obvious teasing to distract her from the task at hand. “I try not to get all embarrassed around him but I’ve never been very good at communicating properly with people i’m into.” she explained, reminding herself of the multiple times she’s stumbled over her words when talking to someone she found cute or even being oblivious when someone very clearly tried flirting with her. 

“What? No, no, no! What would make you think we did that? All we’ve done is kiss we haven’t done anything like that at all yet!” Holly replied, covering her mouth as she realized she had raised her voice a little thanks to the embarrassment she was feeling. Moving her hands from her face she cleared her throat and stood straight, acting as if their current conversation wasn’t happening. “Anyways, we’re going to get all these dry ingredients, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, measure them and whisk them all together.”

Lily was feeling dizzy.

She didn’t notice it when she exited Slughorn’s office- where she had been helping him for hours with creating some Potions for his next classes and the Hospital Wing; she had inhaled all the smells and together they did not make quiet a healty combination. She couldn’t walk up the stairs, so she ended up pressing her back to the nearest wall and view her surroundings.

As someone passed by, she let her head to a side and giggled- she didn’t know what made her giggle, maybe it was the colorful ligths she saw dancing around the other’s head. ‘ These many colors suit you.’ she couldn’t help herself, but giggle again, she sounded like a little kid who had just eaten candy. ‘ I suggest you do keep your hair like that.’

“Oh why thank you!” Holly replied as she stopped in her tracks, pleased with the sudden reaction she had gotten from the older girl. To her, it didn’t seem odd, there were times that she got compliments on the colours of her hair. Holly heard the giggling and smiled at how happy she looked, just assuming that Lily was being friendly and was very enthusiastic about her colourful hair choices. “I do try my best to keep it changing, I can never really choose. Pink, blue, white, purple, green...so many different options and they’re all so fun and pretty but I’m glad you like the blue.”