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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"a gentle warning"
Vindia and Mulstone Rosier were having an early, silent breakfast in one of their many parlor tables when their son's black owl came flying through the partly opened, silver lined square window.
"Monty, get the letter!" Vindia shouted to the terrified house elf that was cleaning dishes furiously a few rooms away.
"Yes, mistress!" came Monty's high pitched squeal as he ran towards the window to collect the letter from the older Rosier child.
Scampering towards Mulstone, Monty delivered the letter from the owl's talons to him with a bow. The house elf had been taught to always put the man as first priority.
Mulstone cut open the black wax seal of the letter with a table knife and pulled out the piece of parchment hastily scrawled on by his son.
His dark eyes narrowed the longer he read, before slamming down the information on the table. His glass of water knocked over, shattering across the floor with a loud crash that made Vindia frown at the waste of fine kitchenware.
"According to Evans, Appoline has been with a halfblood Gryffindor," he told his wife with fury blazing in his eyes the exact color as his daughter's.
Vindia's red painted lips tightened into a thin line of shame. "She will never learn," she sighed, her fists clenching slightly.
Her husband's eyes darkened from their flames to pure cruelty.
"We will make her learn! She has no choice in the matter!" Mulstone roared, slamming his fist onto the table, Vindia flinching away. "Or if she won't learn, we'll make her do it anyway. She does not have to understand what she is told to do. I don't care if she shows up to every ball and dinner half-dead or bleeding out; she will be there."
Vindia's frown deepened as she re-read the letter after delicately picking it up with poised fingers. "As for the Gryffindor boy?"
Mulstone paced across the marble floor, running a hand through his beard.
"Get me my quill."
.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+
At the Gryffindor table, letters were coming in slowly but surely. Since it was a Saturday morning, most students were just now coming down to the Great Hall at eleven o'clock after recovering from whatever damage they had put themselves through the previous night either studying or engaging in more mischievous matters.
The majority of guests to last night's party were badly hungover, which meant that the Marauders were arriving in separate chunks at scattered times. James and Peter sat down a few minutes before Sirius and Remus, who had to wait on Frank to get out of the bathroom. Hollis came in from the Slytherin dorms entirely separately, sitting down to the right of Marlene instead of left as to sit farther away from Remus.
The two fighting sides of Hollis's mind had been driving her mad. Risk it all, or stay safe but separate.
She was currently leaning towards the first option; even though it had only been a night since Hollis and Remus spoke, the silence was already becoming unbearable. Setting down her cup of pumpkin juice, Hollis looked up as a new swarm of owls swooped in to deliver more mail. A slight pit formed in her stomach as the midnight black Rosier owl flew in as well, but that anxiety turned to relief as it flew past her.
Must be to Evan, she thought, letting that worry go.
However, right as Hollis was about to look away, she realized that the owl, Laurent, was headed right towards Remus.
Lupin was shoving his spoon into the sweet cereal in front as an owl as black as the night sky that he didn't recognize flew towards him. The grey talons landed with grace between a pitcher of marmalade and a basket of rolls. He gently untied the brown twine from its ankle, letting the letter go.
"Who's that from?" James asked after he finished off his third serving of scrambled eggs with a heavy amount of cheese poured on them.
Sirius knew as soon as he saw the owl that this was not good news. Two pairs of worried eyes met from across the Gryffindor table as the two purebloods looked at each other.
Tearing open the dark wax seal with a dragon embossed on it, Remus realized who this letter was from.
"How?" he started, looking up at James from across the table with wide eyes.
Potter swallowed deeply as he set down his gold fork on the wooden table with a slight clink.
"I would just get it over with, mate," he advised as he also looked down the table to where Hollis was sitting with humiliation and disbelief wrung dry into her tight expression.
Pulling out the letter slowly, Remus began to read aloud in a low tone to the three boys.
Mr. Lupin,
I presume that you already know whom this letter is from and what it is about. From that assumption, I would highly advise of you to stay away from the Rosier family, especially my daughter. The damage that you could create is irreparable to the pureblood name, far beyond anything your ignorant mind could possibly comprehend. I will repeat for your own sake if your unread mind is incapable of processing things without repetition: stay away from Appoline. She does not belong with a filthy halfblood, and most certainly not a Gryffindor. You embody the filth of the world with your most unfortunate affiliations, and I refuse to let my daughter sink so low.
You may not care what happens to you for her sake, but there is another person involved in this matter besides yourself. Think about what would happen to her before you make an irreversible mistake, Mr. Lupin.
Take this as a gentle warning.
Mulstone Rosier
There was a heavy silence, all four boys in slight shock.
"That's the most fucked up thing I have ever listened to in my entire life," Peter whispered in a horrified tone, breaking the quiet.
Sirius's face had gone completely pale; the only thing this letter was doing was reminding him of the world he had barely escaped from in time that Hollis was still deeply submerged in.
"You really chose the wrong girl to fall for, didn't you Moony?" James said with a joking tone that was obviously trying to lighten the mood. But now even James couldn't keep the intense worry and slight guilt out of his voice.
"Not the wrong girl," Remus replied, ripping up the letter into tiny shreds as if that would make the warning disappear. "The wrong family."
If the letter had done anything to Remus, it wasn't a message to stay away from Hollis at all costs. Instead, there was one that was practically screaming at him to get her away from the rest of the Rosiers instead. He knew that the short message was only a tiny fraction of what Hollis had to endure, and he was determined to fight for her, to fight for what she deserved.
Motivation, he thought bitterly.
It was going to take a lot more than a piece of parchment to make Remus Lupin stop battling for the girl he so deeply cared for.
