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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"rosier manor, not azkaban"
When Hollis walked into the Great Hall, a little bit of shocked breath exited her lungs.
The place had been turned into a Christmas wonderland overnight, complete with gentle flurries of delicate snow coming down from the ceiling and an enormous, fragrant tree in all four corners. It was December first, time for students to make the journey home for Christmas break. This breakfast was the last she would eat in 1975 at Hogwarts, and she fully intended on savoring it.
She took her usual spot next to Marlene and across from Lily, but the Marauders were far from unnoticed. All four of them had ridiculously ugly sweaters on, enchanted to sing cheesy carols in shrill voices that sounded oddly similar to a drunk Peter.
Remus watched Hollis as she sat down, confused at how she could be so calm after the events of last night. If Remus hadn't seen what happened on the tower, he wouldn't have known something was different about her.
So what else had she been hiding that they didn't know about?
And how is she so willing to help people she barely knows? he thought, forcing himself back into a more positive mindset. I mean, she did it for me. Why not anyone else, I suppose?
"We'll see you soon, of course," continued Sirius in a conversation Remus had only been half paying attention to.
The other three boys had listened to the story about Hollis with shocked expressions that wore off quickly as they remembered who they were talking about. Remus was by far the most affected by her actions, most likely because he was the one who had felt the most helpless out of the four, barely over Sirius.
"Yea, when is it we're meeting again?" asked Remus, forcing himself to concentrate on his friends and not the dark haired girl laughing a few seats away.
"Two days after Christmas, my house," James reminded them.
Remus nodded, making the mental note in his head.
"I won't be able to make it, my mom wants to take us skiing," sighed Peter, his tone upset and apologetic.
James and Sirius looked confused.
"Skiing?" Sirius asked, setting down his fork.
It was easy for Remus to forget that his friends had such little knowledge of the non-magical world.
"It's when muggles go into snowy mountains and strap pieces of wood to their feet to go down it," he explained, gesturing his hands like they were going down a hill to elaborate.
"Why?" James asked, amused.
"For fun, and then they just go back up," Peter told the purebloods with a crooked grin, who both shook their heads in confusion.
James and Sirius never paid attention in Muggle Studies. They had learned about muggle sports last week and, apparently, neither had listened.
A high pitched giggle came from the Hufflepuff table, and all four boys turned and looked to see who it was. A sixth year girl with dirty blonde hair and grey eyes had been watching Remus talk, and she and her friends were giggling with her. It made Remus highly uncomfortable, while James and Sirius immediately started laughing.
"Valentine's Day is going to be a wreck for you, mate," Sirius teased, giving Remus an overly hard pat on the back.
James clasped his hands and made his eyes go wide in mock adoration.
"Oh, Remus, the mysterious, attractive, werewolf," he said in his best impression of a girl's voice. "He's just so smart and funny!"
Remus whacked him over the head with his copy of the Daily Prophet while Peter and Sirius almost fell off their bench with laughter.
"None of them know I'm a werewolf, you gits," he sighed, shaking his head. "And keep it down, would you?"
Remus knew the second the words left his mouth where this was going to go.
"Well, no one does except Hollis," James pointed out, pumping his eyebrows up twice.
"I hope Mia knocks some sense into you two," Remus muttered, stabbing at his eggs.
.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+
Hollis, Marlene, and Lily all sat together in a compartment of the Express to ride back to London. Marlene's head was in Hollis's lap, and Lily had her legs propped up between the two benches. Candy wrappers littered the floor, along with several already collected chocolate frog cards. Hollis was on her period, and as a result about a dozen saltwater taffy papers were in a pile next to her.
"Hol, I love you to pieces, but if you eat one more piece of that watermelon taffy, you might turn into one," Lily sighed, snatching the bowl of pale pink and green candies from her friend, currently enduring severe cramps.
"Did you know that Muggles shove pieces of cotton up there to stop the bleeding?" asked Hollis, repositioning herself a little closer to Lily.
Lily rolled her eyes and put the bowl of Hollis's period cravings behind her back.
"Uhm, Hol, we do too," Marlene giggled, pulling up her head to look at Hollis. "Where are you going with this?"
Hollis bit her lip, thinking.
"Well, since we have magic, shouldn't we have found a better solution by now?"
Lily nodded in agreement, along with Marlene.
"We should do something about that," Marlene declared, grabbing her wand off the seat with false assertiveness.
"The Witches Society for Not Shitty Tampons," Lily agreed, standing up like they were in a Ministry meeting as well.
"TWSNST," Hollis said professionally, keeping a straight face.
The three girls lasted for a few more seconds before collapsing in laughter on the blue plaid seats.
Hollis was good at hiding her sense of dread.
They would never know that she was reading the letter over and over again in her mind.
She hid it too well.
.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+
The corridors were crowded as Hollis pushed through the students getting onto Platform 9 3/4.
A hand grabbed Hollis's cloak.
Remus stood there, the other Marauders behind him.
"Hollis, please be safe," Sirius whispered, fear in his grey eyes.
"I'm going to Rosier Manor, not Azkaban," Hollis reassured, pushing a smile on her face.
All four boys noticed how she said Rosier Manor instead of home.
Remus thought of Nott and the ball.
Peter realized how alone she would be.
Sirius hoped that the Rosiers were nothing like his parents.
James reminded her that his home was always open to her.
And as Hollis stepped outside towards her parents with fury just barely disguised on their haughty faces, the Marauders felt helpless to save their friend.
