in which hollis rosier falls asleep in the wrong compartment
or the right one, depending on who you ask
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part one of two
editing closed, logged off wattpad (sorry only like half of it is edited, but its obviously still all good)
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#...
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"how dare he"
Theodore Nott smirked as he shut the boy's dorm behind him. That disarming incident would never happen again, and he had just made sure of it.
.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+
Remus watched carefully as Hollis sat down next to Theodore during the house's joint study hall. She didn't want to, he could tell. The fragment of a second hesitation told him enough. She wasn't the kind to hesitate if she was fully certain of something.
It had been two or so weeks since Hollis disarmed Nott, and she hadn't spoken to a Gryffindor since. Remus would catch her longingly looking at Marlene and Lily, but then glance to Lucius, Roldolphus, and Theodore before not moving.
Hollis was scared.
And Remus wasn't the only one to start and notice.
Classrooms sounded quite different without her laughs provoked by Mckinnon and Evans, her witty comments sickeningly absent. Even McGonagall had begun to notice the lack of muttered jokes and sly grins from a certain Slytherin's desk. James, Peter, and Sirius had begun to follow Remus's glances and observations.
The quiet, not at all resistant Rosier was the only version they had seen for too long.
James had decided to finally do something about that. He took it as a personal responsibility to make as many members of the Hogwarts student, professor, and staff population laugh as physically possible. Some Slytherin pricks weren't going to stop him from doing that with Hollis.
She was currently between Nott and Malfoy silently doing her Potions essay that Peter had been profusely struggling with, both of whom found too many excuses to reach over her.
Now that's just foul.
"Oi, Rosier!" called James, sticking up one large, brown hand.
A group of annoyed Ravenclaws watched, wanting entertainment in return for their disrupted study. A rustle of parchment followed James's yell and with another clink of a quill in an inkpot. Hollis looked across the hall to him, a bit amused but trying to suppress it for her own sake.
Theodore looked at James too, but Potter wasn't at all intimated by his mannerisms.
He just popped his neck forward slightly in a lunge to Nott, who frowned at this dare to do something about it. Remus was looking up too now, a nervous expression on his sharp features. Sirius was the most worried.
"James, I love you dearly, but I don't think that-" Sirius started, but was cut off by another obnoxious shout from James.
"Over here!" he yelled while smiling, then loudly hitting the open seat next to him. A few titters rose from a clump of Hufflepuffs, one of which James winked at. The Ravenclaws were wondering what Rosier had done to earn a seat next to the Marauders, which many girls would have fought over.
Unfortunately, the Slytherin boys were wondering this, too.
A small urge to laugh bloomed inside Hollis's chest for the first time since before dinner the day she disarmed Theodore. The feeling was warm, and she found herself disliking James a little less. Perhaps his childishness wasn't all too bad.
It isn't bad at all, she decided.
The corners of Lupin's mouth twitched up slightly, happy to see her happy. Why, she didn't know. All she was doing was smiling, yet Remus seemed as though he was being injected with sunlight every second that he looked at her soft grin.
Sirius and Peter also turned around, smiling as Hollis opened her mouth to reply with what was sure to be a witty comeback guaranteed to make half the room laugh.
But they never got to hear it.
Because in place of that warm feeling, an icy hand had suddenly gripped her thigh, cold fingers giving it a painful warning to stop. The smile melted off her face. Theodore smiled right at her, an innocent expression asking what? What's wrong? Say it. I dare you.
That smile made her stomach turn.
The four boys' spirits plummeted back down as an expression of surprise, then pain, then fear morphed across Hollis's face that had been graced with a smile only a second before.
James frowned in confusion, wondering if he had done something wrong. Sirius shrugged, and Peter sighed as he turned back around. Remus noticed first what had just happened.
From the crack under the table and above the bench, he could see a pale, hard hand laced painfully tightly around Hollis's tensed thigh.
Remus's metal stemmed quill snapped directly in half. Sirius stood up quickly, almost toppling the bench over. James quickly followed suit, and lastly Peter.
How dare he. How dare he just touch her like that.
But Hollis just shook her head. They all froze, not wanting to see her hurt anymore. This was a human being, no matter how many words they had actually spoken to her. And no human deserved to be treated like a doll.
Her eyes were wearing the exact same look as when they found her on the train, fierce and angry. They knew if they did anything, it would only end up worse for her.
So with immense regret, the four boys sat back down, muttering curses under their breath. But Remus watched long enough to see Hollis grab Theodore's wrist and yank it off her skin. She hissed something to the dark-haired boy that made him angry, features turning dark.
Something changed, Lupin thought for what must have been the hundredth time in the past two weeks. Why isn't she doing anything against him anymore? What did he do to her that's got her so scared like this?
