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Holly Polter



Chapter: Nascence

~oOo~

Just past dawn, Minerva entered the office of the Headmaster to find her friend and mentor staring out the window.

Usually when she came to this office, Albus would exchange some pleasantries and then embark on a story or rumination, or if it were his idea to meet, explain the needs of the moment and issue his orders. He often framed those orders in a way that would make it seem like it was your idea to help him solve his problem, but essentially they were still orders.

Albus did neither of these. He stood silent and motionless, as if unaware of her arrival. It was a puzzle.

He muttered, "I am faced with a puzzle."

"Clearly."

The Headmaster paused whatever he was about to say and turned to look at her.

She coughed and then said, "Do go on; you have a puzzle?"

"Yes. A puzzle named Holly. Truth and lies surround her in such a fog that I cannot clearly discern her nature. As a being, she is ... several layers of impossible. What's more, she has a strong hold on Harry, almost like mesmerism. I would call it parasitic except that Harry has flourished under her influence.

"I cannot rightly excise her if it would destroy all that I've worked towards in the matter of Harry's development, but that planning may already be irreparably compromised. If that were so, removing her when the damage is done would be an act of spite, of no real use and in fact might do great harm to our cause. Yet to leave her in place is an implicit approval of her actions, which I do not wish to give."

The aged wizard then said in what Minerva felt was a rather childish pout, "I had such faith in my plans up until she arrived."

A minute of respectful silence passed. Now feeling open to criticise, Minerva said, "This sounds like a matter of pride more than a question of logic."

Albus whirled around to glare but then he paused, shook his head and then smiled at her. "It is. Thank you. You have been an invaluable voice to me once more, Minerva."

"Er... you're welcome?" That went better than it usually did- she had been expecting to endure several rounds of denials and redirections first. Tempted by his unusual candor she said, "What does this mean for your plans, if I may be so bold as to ask?"

The Headmaster was in motion again, poking through various stacks of books- on his desk, on the shelves, stacked on the floor. While searching he answered, "That will take some time to work out, but in summary I would say the new policy can be described as 'Trust in the affections of the murderess'." Albus stopped in a quite undignified position of being bent over in half to look beneath his lifted robes at whatever had nearly tripped him. He then stood up fast enough to make himself dizzy, holding a weathered leather-bound tome in one hand and his hat to his head with the other.

"Albus, are you saying that this poltergeist has killed people, on purpose? And you want to trust her? Why?"

He straightened his hat and said, "Even if she hates me and has immoral feelings towards Harry, there is no longer any doubt in my mind of her commitment to fighting Voldemort. It will be up to Harry to guide the outcome to his satisfaction, and I have no doubts about /his/character. Thank you, Minerva! Oh, and was there a reason you stopped by?"

"Ginny Weasley has reappeared, even dutifully presented herself to Madam Pomfrey as she knew would be required of her. Poppy has given her a blood replenisher, treated a concussion and administered some Dreamless Sleep potion- apparently the girl has been through an ordeal in the last day and a half, but one that she cannot clearly recall. This is eerily familiar to me."

The Headmaster's eyebrows gnarled for a moment, but then he smiled. "Indeed. Too familiar for coincidence. I believe that Miss Weasley may be choosing not to share her recollections, and is merely feigning the symptoms she knows will grant her the least questioning. Did Poppy report any other observations?"

"Eh, I'm not certain where to categorise it but yes. Miss Weasley is now notably... larger."

"Larger? She is a young woman growing to adulthood, Minerva. I'd think we should only be concerned if she had shrunk."

"A stone's weight and four inches taller, since Friday? At first glance I mistook her for a NEWT student- Miss Smethwyck, perhaps, though Miss Weasley is of course much leaner. 'They grow up so fast' doesn't quite cover this."

The Headmaster considered this for a moment. He then said to her, "Aside from disappointing the High Inquisitor in her search for reasons to have me fired, I see no need to act on this."

"Oh, may I do that part?" The prospect of disappointing that woman was a warm bit of sunlight for Minerva's cold morning.

"I wish you well as you bear through your unfortunate task. Enjoy." Following his kind dismissal, the Headmaster sat down and started paging through the book, no doubt absorbing knowledge at his usual inhuman pace.

~oOo~

Last night, Hermione had fallen apart only to be taken into Harry's arms to let her cry out her worries. He'd said everything possible to support her during her breakdown. In particular she remembered him saying, 'Y'know, you can do everything you're supposed to do and very well in your case, but still lose.' She found herself having a very heated reaction to this display of wisdom on his part. A few minutes later they'd heard Harry's dorm mates approaching and she asked if they could retreat behind his bed curtains together.

Harry had made no indication that he was surprised nor displeased with Hermione wanting to stay the night. He left her hidden behind the Imperturbed curtains just long enough to do his nightly bed tasks. When he returned to find her wearing only her underthings, he acted as if it was natural for her to do so and cuddled them up beneath the blankets.

And yet, Harry was still a young wizard with a witch in his narrow bed, and his idle touches to Hermione's more ticklish peaks and corners became something more. Harry's arms had wrapped her against his very warm body, and his one hand had ended up cupping a breast through her camisole. Hermione felt a misaligned gratitude that he was treating her as a sexual being, as his lack of reaction up until then had left her doubting her femininity.

Perhaps she could have said something- should have, if she'd wanted him to stop. She knew he was expecting her to say something as he paused after each 'accidental' fondle, but the first thing to escape when she opened her mouth was a sharp inhale followed by a moan. The idea of saying 'I want you to stop' at that point would have been an outright lie, and lying to Harry wasn't an option anymore. Between the stress of Third year with the Time Turner and his indignation over her limited communications at the start of this summer, she wouldn't risk their friendship by lying to him, ever again.

Her moan in reaction had prompted more active touching, until he was fondling her quite intimately beneath the layers of underthings. His long and agile fingers danced in the folds of her dewy privates, the sensations stinging with pleasure. Eventually she had begged him for release, a hiss of 'please' repeated until the word had lost all coherence.

Things went much as they had at Grimmauld Place with the two of them in a bed. He made her shiver and she let him. Four times, in fact. They would kiss but Harry didn't guide her hands to his privates- it was an understanding between them, she felt. They would not be betraying their friendship with Ron if she was merely a passive participant.

(Lying to herself or to her ex-boyfriend was not a breach of Harry's trust and therefore another matter entirely.)

Hermione's clockwork mind woke her near dawn. She slid out of Harry's bed and tiptoed around it until she found her day clothes and trainers where she'd tucked them beneath the bedframe. Dressing was made more complicated by the shakes she suffered from the December chill. The heating stove had grown cold overnight and so she stirred the coals to life, much as she would each morning in her own dorm. Part of her yearned to simply return to the warmth of Harry's side under the covers, but she would not forgive herself if anyone caught her there. She'd be in violation of so many rules as to make losing her prefect's badge a foregone conclusion. No doubt the subsequent taunting would be unbearable.

Despite a pressing need to use the WC, she snuck out of the boys' tower and down the stairs, finding the common room blessedly empty. Skipping her way up the opposite staircase, she turned to enter the loo only to collide with another witch.

Or a reasonable facsimile of one.

"Morning, Hermione," Holly said with a chipper tone and a glint in her eye. She then offered Hermione a hand to standing, as their collision had tumbled Hermione onto her bum but left the stouter woman still on her feet.

The first observation that drew her attention was of the Gryffindor piping on the woman's robes. "Is that Harry's?"

"One of Ginny's. She loaned it to me."

"You've seen her? Where is she?"

"She's sleeping in a hospital bed under Pomfrey's care after recovering from a... debilitating curse. I was watching over her and made sure she got back safely a little while ago." Holly smiled at her. "How was Harry?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," shot from her mouth.

Holly smiled wider.

Hermione blushed but resolved to admit nothing. She said, "I really need to pee."

"Did you want me to help?"

"No!"

"Then why'd you tell me?"

Hermione growled in frustration as she maneuvered around Holly and into a stall. She didn't hear anything further from the room, which only made trying to pee more difficult. "Are... are you still there?"

"Yes. It's early and you haven't had your coffee yet, so I thought I'd give you a few extra minutes to--"

"Wait- where did you come from? How did you get a new body?How did you know Ginny was in trouble? Why were you in the loo, anyway? And how did you know I was with Harry?"

Holly said, "Shhhhhhhhh- feel free to urinate anytime there, Hermione. Like a swelling river overwashing a beaver's dam to flow free... shhhhhh..."

As if responding to a command, her body released its bilge. Hermione felt a blush hotter than any she could remember.

Over the echoing 'shh' sound of her peeing, Hermione heard Holly continue; "... and the answer to most of your questions of the moment is 'magic'. I was in the loo because I needed to pace but didn't want to disturb Ginny's dorm mates nor be noticed by the portraits just yet. Did the diagrams make sense to you?"

Caught in the non-sequitur and the end of her other process, it took Hermione an extra minute to reply, "Yes, they did. Thank you. Your Arithmancy needs some work as most of the binds were reversed or using the wrong factor, but once I realised that, the rest made sense. I was particularly amused by the note 'Something clever happens at this join'."

She exited the loo stall and washed her hands in a sink. Holly leaned on the wall next to it, facing her.

"Did it excite you?" Holly said, "Make you warm in a personal way?"

"What are you-- that's entirely-- could you be more rude?"

"Oh, don't challenge me on that."

"Proud of your delinquency, are you? How far down do you intend to drag Harry? How far have you sunk your claws into Ginny at this point?"

Holly stepped closer and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "It's not a race, Hermione, but if you're hoping to compete..."

Though Holly's proximity was heating her skin, Hermione attributed that more to the way she spoke with utter confidence, making her feel... lesser. Deciding to shore up her ego with a declaration, she said, "I have no interest in you whatsoever. We most certainly are NOT having sex. I'm not having sex with anyone, in fact."

Holly glared her way and Hermione was briefly struck by how much her eyes resembled Harry's when he was readying for a Quidditch match. Ferocious and focused and...

Hermione then blushed again, her memory of the previous night betraying her. She shook her head and tilted it back, choosing to focus on the woman's lips rather than stare into her achingly familiar eyes.

"Ohhhh," Holly said. "I suppose if you get pleasure but don't give it, it wouldn't seem like sex with someone. Sure."

Hermione felt the blood drain from her face. "I... how did you--?" Seeing the woman's impish grin re-stirred her anger. "That means nothing as far as my having any interest in you!"

"More's the pity. Still, there's much fun to be had for two people in the wide field between 'cordial' and 'sexual', Miss Jumping-To-Conclusions. To tell you the truth, your gasps of offense are losing their appeal. Wouldn't it be fun if you focused more on the challenging notions and less on the fact that I'm the one challenging you?"

Hermione glared at her, not willing to let go of her anger. "I have studying to do. So does everyone else. What are you planning to do?"

"Well, that's sort of up to you," Holly said as she turned away, gazing at the walls of the loo as if the architecture were fascinating. "How much control over Harry's life do you feel you deserve, seeing as you're not nor ever have been his girlfriend, not that there's anything wrong with that or with him, nor would you be insulted if he were to ask you out, though it might seem a bit unseemly having just broken up with his best friend, not that you care what Ron thinks right now anyway?"

Hermione felt heat stinging her cheeks again- Holly hadn't even been looking at her, so Legilimency wasn't the source of that insightful mimicry. "It's spooky, the way you know us."

~oOo~

Harry woke alone but the night had been blissful in enough ways that this seemed a small thing to begrudge. Once he was fully awake he recognised that his situation this morning might be more complicated than average. He showered and dressed, heading down to the common room to look for Hermione. Whatever their situation, it would be better to sort it out within Gryffindor tower rather than the more public venue of breakfast in the Great Hall.

Apparently Hermione agreed as she was sitting in a chair facing the boy's staircase, waiting for him. "Harry," she said, in a tone much as if it was his turn to enter her throne room.

"Hermione." He walked up to stand next to her chair."Are you... how are you doing... this morning?"

"Just splendid," she deadpanned.

He crouched down in front of her at whispering distance. "Um, how are you feeling about... things?"

"Oh, I'm quite grateful for the comfort we shared again last night, but that will be the last night. I am determined not to become another notch in your broomstick. You're my friend, Harry. The best one I have, which at this point is rather distressing."

"Oh, thanks for that," Harry teased, "I thought you said you weren't upset with me."

"I am fuming, but not at you. I have a message to deliver, but honestly, I wouldn't do it if it wouldn't seem petty for me not to and I have no intention of acting as your courier--"

"What's the message?"

"Well! Someone's a bit huffy."

"I'm happy we're still friends and relieved that you're not angry at me for going a bit too far with the comforting, so what's the next thing?"

"Ah. You have a visitor. She is, by now, in... your wardrobe."

Harry glanced behind him towards the boys' stairs. "Um, who are we talking about?"

"Your tutor has somehow reconstituted herself. I happened to bump into her in the girls' side of the tower, as she'd been watching over Ginny."

Two seconds after the word 'tutor' had forced his eyes open in shock, Harry gave Hermione a smile of thanks and kissed her on the cheek, then bolted up the boys staircase two or three steps at a time.

Hermione called after him, "Ginny's alive, by the way, and currently in Madam Pomfrey's care."

When he got back to his dorm, he slowed to a 'casual' stroll, nodding to Dean as they passed. Noting that Neville and Seamus had already left for brekkers and Ron was stuck in a hospital bed, Harry sealed the door to the dorm. He then rushed over to his armoire, opening the door wide. He wasn't disappointed.

From a shadowed gap between hangers of dress shirts, Holly's wide smile set his heart to racing. Her hair was a mess of short red locks much like his black ones, but otherwise...

"You're you again! Let me guess; you borrowed a robe and hope I don't mind."

Holly parted the hanging clothes and hopped forward to reveal her unclothed self, landing with a jaunty jiggle. Harry couldn't hold back an earnest leer of appreciation, his eyes naturally drawn to her button-like nips. She taunted, "I didn't borrow your robe this time, so I don't care if you mind or not." Holly then reached one bare arm up to caress his neck and drew him down into a sweet, warm kiss.

Harry took her body in his arms and sank into the embrace. As they breathed into each other's kisses, he was beset by a memory of tasting a hot scone with melted butter and raspberry jam on his first morning ever at the Weasleys, after Ron and the twins had rescued him from Privet Drive; the feelings of liberation and euphoria were so similar.

His hands grabbed her body too tightly against his, upsetting their balance. With a mutual yelp they lurched back into the furniture, collapsing amidst his laundry. Accompanied by a forgiving giggle, Holly slid her arms into his robes. She snaked beneath the fabric of his shirt until her skin could rub more completely against his. Soon his clothes were tossed over his head and Holly had flipped him to lay on the floor, his upper half cushioned on crumpled shirts and trousers. She propped her arms to brace above him, her eyes shining from the shadow of her face and her bosoms gently skimming hardened tips across his collarbone.

He said to her, "I'm going to miss breakfast."

"Is this a complaint or a decision?"

He leaned up until his lips could wrap around a hardened nipple while also sliding his hands to grip her round bottom.

She moaned, "Ohhhhhh, I concur."

~o~

Whatever glibness she had been able to put forth was a small miracle, as Holly truly was nervous about seeing Harry since finding him with Hermione- in her mind, Hermione was the only person who might convince Harry to shun her. But then his smile from seeing her was sunshine and his eyes radiated with life and hope. Moving the clothes out of her way opened the aperture between them wider, allowing her to bathe in his aura. Then he touched her.

Emotional honey flowed into her bones. Harry's feelings of joy and arousal adding to and becoming her own. A desperate need for more contact took control of her arms- Harry was thankfully welcoming of her fumbling.

A few more traded bon-mots and Harry had linked her into his power grid by kissing her breast- an act stimulating for them both, thus twofold for her. In an inversion of common biology, life flowed from his lips through her nipple and into her body, lust and magic cycling between and through them. She would've been fine in that blissful state, but Harry had bigger, better plans. They'd wrestled the rest of his clothes away and he guided her thighs around his hips.

Harry allowed her to drive the process from there and did everything needed as it was needed. The slow stretching to fit his girth within her new-grown body was maddening but the sting felt ecstatic and she had to pause a few times as the rising pressure threatened to cause a skin-tearing twitch. Finally Holly had slid Harry into her to the hilt. She felt his prick-tip nudging her cervix with a kiss like a returning soldier.

Soon they were communicating entirely in motion, skin-to-skin; legs and chests and hands and lips all connecting in a wide variety of flavours, all succulent and sweet.

When Harry climaxed in her, the world became raspberry jam. The feeling induced her to orgasm as well, and she laughed with such childlike joy that her lover knew it as gratitude and not merely hysterics.

It took several minutes, but once her breathing settled to a point where she could be understood, she leaned down and whispered in his ear, "More."

He replied, "I was hoping you'd say that."

~o~

Harry ogled Holly's naked body as she lay on her belly next to him on his bed, head resting on folded arms to face him with eyes shut but smiling, her legs idly kicking the air above her arse. The interplay of muscles and skin along her back, buttocks and thighs had captured his fascination.

And yet, you're not really this, are you?

He reached out and lay a hand at the small of her back to feel her warm skin shift beneath his touch. "How did you do this?"

"'Mmm hmmm mmm 'member me saying that Peeves was formed of magical hormone waste?"

"When was that? Oh, right- in the library at Sirius' house when you talked with Professor Dumbledore."

"Mmm-hmm. Peeves only takes the young ones' accidental magic. That's why he has the sense of humour of a spastic firstie. Most folks get their accidental ya-yas under control by third year, so he has been dining on the abundant pre-pubescent wackiness that gets absorbed into the walls. What's left of accidental magic residue comes from outbursts of angst, rage and lust." She leaned off to the side, curled her body together and rolled back so that her shins were pressed into the mattress, then rocked back into sitting up.

Harry's brain went syrupy at seeing her plump breasts pointing his way, but he forced the randiness to settle down. He also tried to focus on her less-lust-inducing features, like the pixie-ish salad of upright tufts of hair that resembled his own, only tinted deep red.

Seeing his effort to avoid distraction, Holly pulled the crumpled top sheet from under the covers and wrapped it around her body. "I needed more magic to build more mass," she continued, "and that's what I found. You can tell the difference after a taste. I left the rage alone- the last thing we want is for me to get super-magically angry. No one likes it when I'm angry."

The phrase triggered a recollection; Harry imagined her with green skin and black hair. "Hols smash?"

"In a nutshell. The lust, of course, was much more palatable but very rare in terms of accidental magic leftovers- that tends to come out as physical residue which the elves can clean away, unlike the psychic kind. What was left was angst and I drew in as much as I could find."

Harry smiled. "I'm surprised you can speak in prose, then. Shouldn't you be ghostly white but shrouded in black and utterly dissatisfied with anything normal? I haven't heard even one sentence end in, 'like my soul'."

She burst out laughing, giving him a warm feeling in his spine.

Then her face drew solemn and she looked at him with a confessional wince. She said, "I bled off most of the negative emotional charge- neutralised it with its antithesis, you might say. The thing is... I needed someone magical to dissipate through. Someone who could counter the self-loathing with... love."

Harry paled. This was all past-tense, so it couldn't have been him. He gulped and asked, "Who?"

"Ginny."

"And she's alright?"

"She's fantastic. Also exhausted."

"Wait, she... you... you used her?"

"No! I asked. She agreed, wholeheartedly."

"Why?"

"Are you asking why I asked her or why she said yes?"

"Both."

"I formed near her in order to tip the scales in a fight she was losing. I got her out of the situation but ended up making it worse for her, so I brought her someplace safe to recover. When she woke up, I told her what I needed. She said 'yes' because... Ginny loves me. She's rather smitten with me, in fact."

Harry could see she was trying to hold back, but a wide, indulgent smile forced its way out onto her face. In contrast, Harry locked down on his emotions. He then politely asked, "And how do you feel about this?"

"There's nothing quite so empowering as having another person express love for you when you're plagued by self-doubt. Now that my regrowth process is done, I'm feeling a bit guilty." Holly winced but also leaned back to brace her upper body by her arms, an unfocused gaze emerging on her face. "It'd be entertaining in a nostalgic way were it not making me ill. The guilt, I mean; there's nothing nostalgic or ill-making about Ginny. She is entirely fresh and nourishing."

"Nourishing?"

"Well, the angst and such brought me only so far. To get to this size so soon, I had to drink from a purer well. Turns out the vampires know what they're on about- blood is life, and I took a pint of hers to finish my restoration. Ginny forgave me afterwards."

"Wait, you're a vampire?"

"No- I'm me. I drank her blood while in transition. I don't need any more. Wouldn't want it either- tastes like... well, like blood. I'd prefer my red protein suspensions in the form of strawberry milkshakes, thank you very much."

"Does she know you're here, with me?"

"I was very explicit about my plans for our reunion," she said. "Ginny even offered a few ideas, but I decided that I didn't want to be mistaken for an enemy due to ambush."

"What about us?"

Holly gave him a squint, then said, "How's Hermione? Are Katie's hoops fully functional again?"

"Now hold on- we're talking about you."

"You were talking about us as if we were a couple. I am your lover, tutor and other things, but not your girlfriend. You can't hold me to an unspoken standard... especially when you've already broken it."

"Yeah, okay, but I didn't just screw around-Katie and Hermione mean a lot to me. You mean even more."

"Exactly. You mean just as much to me. But this... Ginny... she went way outside her defined world, reached out in the most compromising of ways to starkly ask herself what love meant to her and have the answer be 'that spirit girl made of ink'. That's a lion's roar of courage, there. I love that. I love her."

"She's only fourteen!"

Holly blinked at him.

"I mean... others will be on you for trying to corrupt her."

"If she were Vicky Frobisher you'd have a point, but Ginny has been through a lot more than most, faced very adult situations and made it out the other side with a healthy ego. She's strong. She makes her own choices, just like you do. In fact, she chose to go only so far as kissing and cuddles, so dismount the effing high horse, please."

Harry's shoulders lost their tension. Indulging a fit of pique, he said, "Is that what you're gonna say to Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes... more or less," Holly said, voice rising in defence. She tightened the sheet around her body and added,"preferably while standing behind you and at least two other people with a good Shield charm. I certainly won't be rushing to mention it to her. Doubt Ginny's in a confessional mood about it, either, so it'd be decent of you to keep the truth between us."

Harry nodded but also wondered if it was pointless to try, given Katie's third-person-blows-the-secret theory. Then again, the Marauders kept their secrets from Dumbledore for fifteen years. Perhaps the problem is how many witches are involved.

Concerned that Holly might peek in to see what he was thinking since he'd been silent so long, Harry prompted, "So... what are you gonna do now?"

"Ask for sanctuary from the local bishop. May I borrow a robe?"

~oOo~

Harry made it to the Great Hall in time to capture a muffin and a sausage link before the platters disappeared, barely slowing his pace as he approached the Staff table. He finished the last bite of meat and wiped his hand in a robe pocket, then pulled out his 'message' while vectoring towards the Headmaster. Professor Umbridge stepped in front of him and opened her hand.

"This is meant for the Headmaster," he said.

"Is it? Why don't you let me see? It may be that you've misunderstood the meaning of... whatever it is."

Harry glared at her, then handed her the carved piece of wood.

She held it up- a round tower stained dark-red. One of her rings sparkled with an inner glow and the chess piece trembled just slightly. Her shoulders slumped and she turned away from Harry, handing the chess piece to the headmaster.

"Ah! I was hoping that might turn up," said Dumbledore with much innocent glee. "Now that our set has been restored to full, perhaps we can schedule a game- come up to my office this afternoon."

Harry frowned. "Sir, I was rather hoping we could get right into it. You... you always play better when prepared, and I think it'd be fairer if you had to just jump into it."

The Headmaster tilted his head, then said, "Well argued. Let us be off, then."

Professor Umbridge nearly yelled, "Doesn't Mister Potter have considerable coursework to complete?"

Dumbledore stepped down from the Staff table and gestured for Harry to precede him out of the room. He replied, "I have no doubt that the match will prove to be very educational. Come along, Harry."

"I am a fan of chess, as well, Headmaster," the swollen witch simpered. "Might I spectate?"

"I wouldn't want you to neglect your Inquisition, Madam Umbridge. Perhaps another time."

~o~

The whole way up to the Headmaster's office, Harry felt a rising tension- like he was climbing higher and higher in the exposed framework of an unfinished building. Warnings about 'fighting enemies on their home ground' and 'facing a bear in its den' kept running through his head whenever he had idle time to think, and the Headmaster hadn't said anything to help distract him since they'd left the Great Hall. By the time they'd reached the gargoyle, Harry felt like he'd gone back to being a first-year caught smuggling a baby dragon out of the castle.

The Headmaster stopped them outside the door to his office. "Before we sit down, Harry, I must ask you something."

"Sir?"

"Harry, I may need to discuss some aspects of your friend's life that aren't suitable for less mature ears-" Seeing Harry's impending protest, the man raised a hand and said, "Not that you aren't ready for the topics, just that... I have very personal matters to discuss. You may learn things about your friend that you would wish never to have heard. Are you sure you'd like to stay for the whole meeting?"

"Yes, sir. Holly says she feels no shame for her past. As long as I don't hare off on some sort of foolish quest for revenge, we'll be fine."

"No shame, you say? We shall see. Please understand, Harry, that I don't wish any harm or humiliation for either of you, but that it may seem like it at the time."

"I understand... sorta. Also, I--"

Harry had felt an annoying itch beneath his hair. His immediate instinct was to scratch it but after a pause, he brought forward the memory of reunion sex with Holly that had occupied his morning so enjoyably. He saw the Headmaster's eyebrows rise to his hairline, and he blinked his twinkling blue eyes quite rapidly, as if beset by a sandstorm.

"-- think you should stay out of my head, sir." Harry gave him a petulant glare.

Professor Dumbledore gave him a reassuring smile. "Remarkable! You learned this under Miss Evans' tutelage?"

"Yeah." A moment's pride was replaced by a concern that he might be acting a bit too cheeky. "I mean, yes, sir. Pretty much the second thing she taught me. You may have guessed what the first was." He didn't mind his blush- the Headmaster looked about as red as he felt. Professor Dumbledore's 'Hrm', cough and muttered 'Yes, well,' was gratifying.

The professor then asked him, "Can you detect when the intrusion comes from /other sources/?"

"I think so. Riddle tends to stay away for a day or more after we... er... whenever I have such a happy morning."

Harry pulled out a spare robe from his bookbag and held it up like a curtain, facing away from the Headmaster. A minute passed, then he heard Holly mutter from behind him, "Ah, bollocks." Holly had appeared as planned, but she was standing behind him and facing the Headmaster.

Dumbledore said ever-so-politely, "Miss Evans, how wonderful to see you once more, in your full glory."

Harry spun around and wrapped Holly in the spare robe. "Sorry- but you said I should be facing west."

"It's my own fault for trying to outmaneuver the Headmaster. You probably were facing west."

"Southeast, actually," Professor Dumbledore clarified. "The rotating stairs are designed to disorient visitors, so you should not let this miscalculation plague you with doubt."

They entered the office together but rather than take a seat next to Harry, Holly walked over to the perch for the Headmaster's phoenix. She bowed her head to the fabulous swan-sized firebird, then held out her hand. Fawkes leaned in and nipped at a finger.

In a burst of fire, the phoenix disappeared from the room.

Holly nodded and whispered, "Yeah, thought so."

Harry asked, "What happened?"

"Fawkes doesn't like me much," she said. "It's cool."

"But you just met him!"

"He's had a taste of my sins, and chosen to go elsewhere." Holly turned back to the desk and said, "Let's move on."

Harry watched Holly sit down next to him. He then noted that the Headmaster's expression had become quite guarded in the last half-minute.

"I heard of Miss Weasley's return this morning," the Headmaster said to Holly. "May I assume that you had something to do with it?"

"That's quite an assumption, but you're right," Holly replied as she arranged her borrowed robe to better cover her legs. "Ginny is the reason I'm eight stone of pseudo-witch again, and I'm the reason she's been unavailable. Did Madam Pomfrey force her through a checkup or was she allowed to recover some sleep?"

"Madam Pomfrey did insist, and it's only by her authority that Miss Weasley will have the isolation to sleep as she requires. She was quite exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Miss Weasley reported having no memory of the last few days. Is that also your doing?"

Harry gave her a glare.

Holly smiled. "You might say that. She's an apprentice of mine as well, and therefore trained to keep secrets that need to be kept. Her memory is just fine. Better than ever, in fact."

The Headmaster seemed a bit irritated by that. He held his tongue for a minute, then whispered, "Apprentice. Is this a formal arrangement?"

"I've been paid to instruct, so yes, in both cases."

"I sincerely doubt that Arthur or Molly Weasley asked you--"

"Ginny's paid me directly, Professor. She approached me, asked for the instruction and paid me for my tutoring."

Harry was about to assure the headmaster that Holly was quite responsible about people having choices, but the wizard gave him a glance to warn him silent.

"Miss Evans, did this arrangement take place here at Hogwarts?"

"No, it started at Sirius' house."

The Headmaster's shoulders fell slack.

Harry asked, "What's wrong, sir?"

"I have reviewed a memory of your friend's struggles against her enemies, and I have grave concerns about her influence in your life. Now my concern must extend to Miss Weasley."

"Um... why?"

"This Miss Evans comes from a much darker world than ours, Harry. Witches here do not live in fear of the baser instincts of wizards. I fret that the cruelty she experienced has driven her to adopt a more draconian philosophy of living, and one she now is teaching to you and Miss Weasley."

"Cruelty? Holly, what happened?"

Holly glared once at the old warlock then turned to Harry and said,"I will tell you about this later, so long as you ask me when we're alone and not surrounded by animated portraits. Suffice to say: everything. However, to answer the Headmaster's concerns, I will say...," and she turned to Dumbledore to say it, "You have every reason to worry. That's why I'm here in your office and not skulking around the castle behind your back. I'm here to collaborate. My only condition is that Harry gets your full attention. Stop acting like he's just another student and treat him as the one who can win."

"And what makes you believe that?"

Holly didn't reply. Harry glanced over to see that she was looking at him as if expecting something. He caught up to the question and said, "There's a prophecy. That's why Riddle came after me and why he'll keep coming after me."

The Headmaster stared at him. "Do you know what the prophecy said?"

"Yes," Harry replied.

Holly countered, "No, he hasn't heard it yet."

"But you wrote--"

"An interpretation of mine. Yours may be similar or different, but the circumstances are so well-aligned I tend to think they'll match up."

"You've been LYING TO ME?"

"Harry- it isn't the wording that matters. It's the fact that he and you were mentioned in the same breath by a prophet that tells us that your destinies are tied together."

Professor Dumbledore said, "Really, Miss Evans, I hope you haven't been filling Harry's head with notions of predestiny and undeniable glory."

"Um, sir?" Harry said, "To be blunt, Hols -- Holly has likened it to being stuck with a venereal disease."

"Yah- you can't get rid of it, but you hope it doesn't hurt too much when it flares up," Holly said with a huff.

The Headmaster was notably caught short. "You mean to say that you don't want to hear Harry's prophecy?"

Holly said, "Won't change anything, will it? Harry has to face Riddle. No one else can do it, or else you would have done already, wouldn't you? From the other side, Riddle has to face Harry- he's stuck feeling incomplete until that flaw in his perfect record has been handled. In defiance of all logic Harry has survived every encounter with him unbroken, leading to the conclusion that there must be conditions on how that confrontation has to play out. Was there a line about the two of them being equals before they can finish their story?"

Harry thought seeing the Headmaster angry at Minister Fudge last year was disconcerting, but seeing the warlock's unrestrained joy at Holly's understanding of Divination (or at least Prophecies) was bloody surreal. Decades of worry seemed to lift from the Headmaster's face, and the man leaned forward on his desk in a way Harry had only seen done by Lavender and Parvati when sharing fresh gossip.

Harry did his best to follow the next hour or so of discussion, but some of the references sounded very odd- almost like movie critics arguing about German art films. As best he could gather, the Headmaster felt that Holly put too much faith into Divination to the point of limiting choices on how to eat a pie (she'd replied, 'For some pies, it matters!'). Holly felt the Headmaster was simply inconsistent, only believing the signs that reinforced his original assumptions.

For Harry's part, neither view suited him as he felt both of them were entirely too focused on some kind of supernatural accounting system, when in the end you still have to make and then live with your choices. He found it much more reassuring to make those choices based upon experience and judgement rather than stars and superstitions, though a few hints from his tarot deck had made him feel better about his choices once he'd made them.

Harry's growling stomach called a halt to the argument. By the time everyone had taken a breather and Harry had wolfed down a few sandwiches, the topic had wandered into the more interesting area of the war with Voldemort.

The Headmaster said, "We've already defended against or undone six attempts to steal the prophecy."

Holly said, "I hope that's not all that you have the Order doing."

"Of course not. Much of our resources are divided between getting the word out, defending important people from being compromised and tracking the growth of his organisation."

Harry asked, "Why don't you just attack them if you know they're Death Eaters?"

"At this stage," Dumbledore said, "we can't be caught snooping around or worse yet assaulting potential enemies without cause. Even if we escaped detection, they could rally support around them for the 'unprovoked attack on Pureblood bastions of tradition'. There is also this rather modern notion that they are not guilty until proven so."

Holly added, "It's better to keep an eye on the troublemakers you know about, to see what trouble they're going to make. If you get pinched by taking action too soon, they'll know they were watched and all the watching goes into the rubbish bin."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

"That said," Holly mused, "There is a juicy target that must be considered. His followers in Azkaban--"

Dumbledore held up a hand to interrupt her. "I have warned the Minister to increase the defences of the island, and to replace the Dementor guards with wizards. It was one of many suggestions of mine that drove Cornelius, in his paranoia, into sending us the delightful Dolores Umbridge."

"That's the legal path. Have you considered a pre-emptive strike? It's not like they haven't already been proven guilty."

"I think Sirius would take issue with that assumption," the Headmaster said.

Holly countered, "I think Sirius would be willing to die if it meant that a dozen of Riddle's worst and most capable followers were buried with him. We can go down to Hogsmeade and ask him if you want."

"Why is this a bad idea, sir?" asked Harry. "They were convicted and sentenced to prison for life. If they get free, won't they join his side?"

"That's if they're even given a choice," added Holly. "If Riddle breaks them out, it could be 'Join me or I'll feed you to my new Dementor friends'."

Dumbledore sighed. "Harry, it is all well and good to say 'We ought to kill those people' - well, not good but understandable and very common to say to friends in times of conflict. What we're talking about now isn't just idle chatter or bluster. Are you willing to travel to Azkaban, break into the prison and then go cell to cell, casting the killing curse over a dozen times?"

Harry gulped at the stare he was getting from the Headmaster. "Would it have to be me?"

Holly laid a hand on his arm. "You have a voice. So does Albus. He can tell people to act in opposition to Riddle's song, right, but if he orders others but doesn't go himself, and Riddle does show up, Riddle will out-sing them. It's the same thing for you, except you don't have a choir to back you up yet. Sirius would go, and Remus, probably Tonks and a few Weasleys, but you'd have to lead--"

"What about you?"

Holly paled to milk-white. "N-no. No, Harry. I can't... not Dementors."

"Ah, and here is the problem in taking advice from the most vocal," Albus said quietly, even if he was crowing."Miss Evans may have a notion on how to change things, but she will rely on you to make those changes happen."

"Sod off, Albus," Holly said quite rudely, "If there were no Dementors, I wouldn't have even brought this up. You'd be finding out about it through the Prophet; 'Mysterious illness ravages Azkaban. Tattoos on the inmates' arms apparently cause wounds to open on their necks.' I would do this, except I cannot do this." Holly's face came over in a sort of grumpy concentration. After a sip of tea she said, "In fact, to do it right you'd both have to go, and just by choosing to do so, Riddle will probably sense that the storm is coming and meet you there in force." She shook her head and said, "It's too soon."

Harry said, "Wait, so now you're saying we shouldn't attack Azkaban?"

"I'm saying... it's not just the means and the ends that has to be considered, but also the... theme. If you believe that these things have as much meaning as I'm suggesting, then the whole struggle should support the story we are writing. You can't be the monster and still gather the will of the people. Wizards aren't like muggles in this way. What they believe actually affects the reality."

"Then why'd you bring it up at all?"

"I'm still working this out as we're talking, Harry! Besides which, sometimes you have to hash out why you're willing or not willing to do something, in case the conditions change enough to overturn the decision."

Albus nodded. "You are very wise for your years, Miss Evans."

"I'm just finally learning the lesson that the other you was shoving down my throat."

He leaned forward and smiled at her. "You're learning from those you hate. That's wisdom."

Holly gave him a pained smile.

Harry said, "I'm happy for you but what about Azkaban? What would you suggest?"

Holly shrugged. "Well, you could wait for Riddle to move against the place but try to get some unofficial support for a fast-response strike force with some portkeys ahead of time. Madam Bones might be willing to accept the help of guest militia if she isn't required to pay them. Any actions fairly taken in reaction to an assault have the blessings of most moralities even if they're strategically inadequate. The important part is not to let anyone know that such a force has been made ready and is likely to act, so actually telling Madam Bones would be imprudent."

"That's not a bad idea."

"Actually, it's a terrible idea, but the only one that'll pass muster with the General, here. I doubt he'll let you go with the rest of the militia, so at best they'll be too little, too late. At worst whoever is sent will be killed as well."

Harry sat forward in his chair. "Hang on- you're saying that there's no chance that us sending help will do any good because of fate? I thought I had a voice."

"You do."

"So if I say I'll help, and I get some others to agree to follow me, we can make a difference."

"Yes."

Albus warned, "Harry--"

"And if I say, 'I think it'd be stupid to wait, we should send an assassin to kill these awful people', and I'm willing to go along to make sure it's done right?"

Albus stood and said, "Harry, I forbid it. You are still a student."

Harry's heart doubled speed but he clamped down on his panic and forced the new, fear-laced voices to stop bothering the thought he'd been trying to finish. He stood as well.

"I think that that's worth being expelled, sir."

Albus' anger dissipated. He gave Harry a plaintive look. "Are you so sure of that?"

"No, but I'm willing to try it anyway."

"If you intend to do this, I cannot help you. You'll have to find your own... murderer."

Harry glared back at him and said, "You mean assassin."

"It's a war," Holly said. "Such people are known as special forces... or spies."

"We are not in open war yet, Miss Evans," the Headmaster said as he sat back into his chair.

Harry gave him an incredulous look, then turned to Holly.

He's not at war yet?

In his head, Harry heard Holly's reply; 'We fight alone until he catches up, Brigadier.'

She shrugged and said aloud, "Guess that settles that."

Harry sat down. He suspected that the Headmaster was fully aware of their intentions to pursue an attack. It showed a kind of respect that he was acting otherwise.

The Headmaster took another sip of tea, then said, "Miss Evans, I am concerned with how you plan to interact with Professor Snape."

"Aggressively," she replied.

"I would rather you didn't."

"Why," Holly challenged, "Don't you think he's due for a comeuppance from me?"

In his head Harry was emphatically agreeing, but he held his tongue. They'd agreed earlier that this was Holly's fight.

"Severus made a mistake," the Headmaster said, "and one he doesn't actually recall at this point."

"Obliviated the spy, eh? How expeditious of you," taunted Holly. "Still, however you think you've wiped clean the sin, it still demonstrated the character of the sinner. Mr. Snape and I /will/find our way into a confrontation. It's inevitable."

Professor Dumbledore stared down at his hands folded on the desk, a gesture Harry took as knowing he was going too far but feeling obligated to do so. "I ask that you avoid such a confrontation for however long you can, and afford him mercy and empathy should it come to pass."

Harry bristled. "Mercy and empathy? Sir, I am about one foul day from killing the man! The only benefit to having Inquisitor Umbridge here this term has been to focus my hate on an even worthier target. What-gives-you--- Urgh!" Harry bolted up from his seat. "Why do you defend him? He's cruel! A vicious bully who brews the little monsters in Slytherin into bigger, nastier creatures. I can't think of ANYTHING that makes him worth keeping alive! Can you PLEASE explain to me why you tolerate that utter--"

"Mister Potter, you should stop talking."

With a single cold statement, Harry lost all his fury and felt a wash of fear clearing his senses.

"You will grant Professor Snape the respect that is due his position," the Headmaster said, "as a favour to me."

As favours go, this feels like the Eleventh Commandment. I am not going to lose control of my functions. I am not going to puke. All the shite should stay put until this crisis is over, alright? Good. In recovering his wits, Harry discovered that he had also returned to sitting.

"Mister Dumbledore," Holly warned, "it might prevent a very dangerous rift from widening into a volcanic abyss if you were to answer Harry's questions."

The Headmaster stared at Holly for a moment, then seemed to wilt. "Is it really that bad?"

"You don't have the trust to say 'Just trust me,' anymore. You spent that... or perhaps I stole it from you."

Professor Dumbledore glared at Holly before turning to address Harry in a measured tone. "Mister Potter... Harry... you don't truly understand a man without knowing how he was raised, how he found and lost love--"

"Don't patronise him!" Holly admonished, "Whether Severus Snape had a hard-knocked life is irrelevant. Better men and women have died by your action or inaction, yet this one you've saved. This one you've excused and protected and apologised for. Tell Harry why."

"You seem to have some notions on the topic."

"Yes, but I'm not the one who needs to own up, here. I explain my choices to Harry, and I get trust out of it. The longer you put this off, the less traction you'll get out of the confession."

"I am trying to explain--"

".... as if to an eleven-year-old, maybe. Harry's seen one too many deaths to treat him so contemptuously."

Professor Dumbledore sat for a minute, then said, "Severus Snape is a key figure in this struggle. He is brilliant, capable and at times ruthless, but his allegiance is wholly to our side, I assure you. What's more, it is due to him that you were able to defeat Voldemort in 1981."

Harry spat out, "What?"

"Yeah, I'm with Harry- 'Whaaaaat?'"

Professor Dumbledore sighed. "I am breaking a promise to tell you this, so please allow me to tell the whole of it without interruption."

Harry and Holly shared a look and then agreed.

Dumbledore looked directly towards Harry, his very expression a plea for patience. "Severus asked Voldemort to spare your mother. He knew you were to be killed and he held no affection for James Potter, but Lily was important to him, so he asked for this small mercy and Voldemort agreed. Now, many witches have sought to save their children or their families from the evil of others, but only Lily Potter was in the position to bargain with her life, because Severus had asked for her to be spared. Voldemort took Lily's life, breaking his promise to Severus. I believe that it was Lily's desire to give her life in trade for yours, Harry, which forced Voldemort to push the weight of his promise to Severus onto you, perhaps even doubling its meaning. By trying to again violate that vow, his murderous intent was reflected back upon him."

"So you're saying that it's a good thing that Snape was a trusted Death Eater and obsessed with my mum," Harry said with some venom, "because Voldemort would never promise anything to an enemy."

"I suppose that's true," conceded the Headmaster.

"Fine. He set up his boss to be screwed over if he didn't get what he wanted. I still don't understand, sir. Why do you protect him?"

"Because, Harry, Voldemort's promise to Severus is what gives Lily's sacrifice such power. If Severus were to die by our hands, or to lose his love for Lily, that sacrifice might lose its meaning, and therefore its power, entirely. But, if he dies still believing in it, I am certain the protection would remain.

"Severus still has an important role to play if we are to succeed in defeating Voldemort once and for all. He is still trusted in their camp, still has the inroads to the enemy's plans that we would never be able to access through anyone else. He is far too valuable in too many ways not to afford him the leeway to do his work. Very dangerous work, I might add.

"And so I ask you both to set aside your indignation and your hatred. Let Severus do his job, as only he can."

Holly said, "Y'know, even though I agree with you--"

"You agree?!" Harry was close to losing his mind, he was sure. "He burned you alive! He's a hateful, murderous, unholy wretch of--"

Holly snapped a look of anger at him that shocked Harry silent. She said, "He's rotten- I know. I didn't forget that. You don't get to hang out only with the angels, Harry. We're moving into big boy decisions, and success depends on you being able to work with those you hate. That's not even a 'maybe'. Battles are won by the killers, not the priests, and diplomacy requires talking with and even making agreements with thieves, goblins, politicians and other backstabbing scum. And those are just your allies."

The Headmaster quoted, "...there is no king, be his cause never so spotless, if it come to the arbitrement of swords, can try it out with all unspotted soldiers."

"My favourite Shakespearean quote- Henry V, before the Battle of Agincourt. So Severus Snape is relevant in two ways," Holly said. She then turned to address the Headmaster, "But I feel compelled to mention..."

"Yes?"

"Snape doesn't help anyone but you, and Lily's protection disappears when Harry turns seventeen. If Snape isn't being helpful to others by then, we lose nothing by cutting him loose. In fact once this coming summer is over, his part in providing the protection is effectively done. With Harry here during the school terms, Lily's protection isn't required. The difference of a month between June and July next year just isn't worth putting up with Severus' poison after 1st September. I'd suggest you warn him that he's got until then to prove his value to someone other than you."

Between Holly's threat and the disagreement on Azkaban, the conversation had come to a halt. Following a minute's silence Holly stood up to leave, prompting Harry to rise also.

Dumbledore didn't act like he was insulted or surprised by their decision to depart, but he said, "Miss Evans, one more thing."

"Yes, Albus?"

The Headmaster caught short; perhaps it was the fatigue but Holly's voice had softened and smoothed out- Dumbledore reacted to it as if she sounded like someone else he knew. "Miss... Evans may I ask, what are your plans? You aren't a student here, so it really would be inappropriate for you to remain in the castle following this meeting."

"Ah, but I'm a poltergeist, aren't I?" taunted Holly, "Haunting the halls and being inappropriate is entirely my raison d'etre."

"I was mistaken on that point. I believe you may be something else entirely."

Harry said, "What's that, sir?"

The Headmaster smiled and opened a book on his desk with several colourful yarns poking out to mark pages. He turned the leather-bound tome around towards them. Harry was expecting an illustration, but instead it appeared to be a diagram of some sort, annotated in an odd script.

"Is that Persian or something?" he asked.

"This is written in Aramaic. I believe that Miss Evans is a revenant," explained the Professor in a professorial tone, "what the Kabbalists who wrote this book called an Ibbur- a spirit returned to earth to fulfill a quest, enabled to do so by possessing a voluntary host."

Holly appeared genuinely surprised at that. "Oh! And since I can't use Harry's body seeing as it's quite crowded with souls already in there, I made my own."

"So it would seem. Of course, you might be a Dybbuk," the Headmaster said as he flipped to the next page, "the opposite of the Ibbur, a demon that attaches itself to a soul to torture it."

Holly squinted at the text, muttering, "I believe he already has one of those, nicknamed 'Little Tom from Scarborough'."

A loud guffaw escaped from Harry's mouth.

Holly smiled his way, then said to the Headmaster, "Doesn't this fly in the face of every text on beasts and magic that suggest no one can return from the dead?"

"Thus why beings such as these have been dismissed in the modern literature. What I believe the Kabbalists mistook was the status of the spirit as having gone and come back. Much like the ghosts of the castle, these questing spirits had never truly left."

"So, if I'm merely a good spirit on a quest, why are you trying to chase me out of the castle?"

"I am trying to keep matters here under control. You... are not under control."

Holly smiled. "Control is an illusion, my dear Professor, a phantasm that will lure you into danger with false promises and tantalising visions." She then shot a coy look at Harry and added, "...like my soul." Her robe crumpled to the floor, as the woman inside had vanished.

Harry winced despite his amusement. He said, "I hate to ask this right after Holly is being... her, but do you think we could have a few more meetings like this, sir? I feel like I'm finally learning why my life isn't like anyone else's."

Albus gave him a tired look. "Yes, Harry. I will see about arranging time to teach you directly. You've grown up rather faster than I expected."

As he left the Headmaster's office, Harry had a moment of irritation come over him.

Why is he trying to make me feel guilty about exceeding his expectations?

~oOo~

Madam Pomfrey cleared both Weasleys to leave her care the next morning. Ginny had awoken to find her whole body felt sore, but the prospect of further rest only annoyed her- she needed to run, to jump, to stretch... and to find Holly. Questions had multiplied in her mind like well-fed rabbits while she'd slept.

By contrast, Ron was beaming with simple relief at seeing his unmarred skin in the mirror. When she stood next to him in the reflection, he gave her a once-over in comparison and scowled. "I'm gettin' you a stick for Christmas."

"A stick?"

"Yeah- to beat off all the blokes who'll be after you from now on. Dean's gonna be unbearable about it. Did you hafta make my job harder?"

Ginny chuckled. "Isn't that my job as your little sister?"

"Yeah maybe, but you don't have to shoot for an 'O' in it. You're not so 'little' anymore."

Ron's teasing felt deliciously normal, and Ginny gave him a one-armed hug for it.

They returned to Gryffindor to different receptions. The moment Ron stepped through the portrait hole, he'd been grabbed in a strangling hug followed by a face-smashing snog from Lavender Brown. Everyone was hooting and making wolf whistles when Ginny stepped in.

Most of noise dropped away in favour of gobsmacked expressions. Dean Thomas skipped up to her only to stop a pace away.

"Gin! You've... changed!" The boy then fell back into incoherent half-started expressions.

Answering his and everyone else's confusion, she said, "It was a growth spurt."

"More like a growth burst."

Angelina walked up to her, then gave her an up and down look. Ginny was still two inches shorter than her but they now had similar lean but muscular builds. Her captain said, "You're gonna need to adjust to the change. I'm setting a practice for us every morning at six. You ready for that?"

"Are you kidding? I'll be there before you are." She shifted beneath her robes at the cloth pulling in unwanted ways."Just need to find a kit that fits."

Angelina's face softened. "Let's see if I've got some stuff you might use."

~o~

Entering the seventh year girls' dorm, Ginny noted that it was similar in layout but different in decoration. Each girl had replaced the curtains around her bed with a different red-gold pattern. Two of the bedside tables had been expanded into vanities with tilting mirrors. There were several different competing scents of musk and flowers, but unlike her own dorm, Angelina's crew didn't saturate the walls with clouds of perfume. Everything similar was distinguished in its subtlety.

Three years isn't a small leap, so why do I feel much more comfortable here than in my dorm, or Katie's or Hermione's?

"Take off your robe," ordered Angelina, and Ginny complied with barely an afterthought. She finished peering around the room and turned to face her host, who appeared to be shocked.

"What's wrong?"

"Aside from the fact you did that without a hint of a blush? Howabout that your tummy looks tighter than mine! What've you been doing?"

"Oh. I'm getting personal training from Harry's tutor. She has me climbing the walls."

"Well, the results..."

Ginny smirked. "See something you like?"

Angelina's face popped open for the third time in the past hour. "You did not just come on to me!"

"I'm just flirting. Don't be offended."

"Ginny, I sleep next to Alicia, sometimes waking to find her in my bed. I have no interest, yet she's been trying to hump me for three years. I just-- am I giving off a vibe or something?"

Ginny shrugged. "I'm new at this. It just felt natural to banter back. I wasn't even expecting anything."

"You want me to talk to Alicia for you? If you start up something, maybe she'll leave me uncrowded for a while."

"What I want is your help making my clothes fit, or getting some from you that'll fit me better. Don't rush me into a second relationship when I just started my first."

They spent a few hours sorting through Angelina's armoire and trunk, piecing together several kits that would serve Ginny's new frame without depending on sizing charms that might wear off or be cancelled by prank-minded wizards. Angie's tops were sized for her more substantial chest, but her older ones from before she'd 'popped out' were a reasonable fit.

Ginny thanked her with a hug and retreated to her dorm. She had to rearrange her wardrobe and relabel the hand-me-down clothes so that the house elves would return them to her closet after a cleaning instead of Angelina's. Though she'd only been active for a few hours, Ginny then succumbed to a need for rest. Most of the movements in the last day had proven to be a constant, gnawing pain for her muscles, as if they were all being stretched for the first time after months of atrophy. The soreness had worn down her energy and patience so a quick nap turned into an early bedtime.

She awoke in the middle of the night, not from feeling rested but because the soreness had grown too loud to ignore in sleep. Ginny leapt from her bed with the feeling of fire ants beneath her skin. Noting that the other girls were hidden behind their curtains, she grabbed her dressing gown and escaped the dorm to the loo.

A basic wash-up gave way to windmilling her arms to alleviate the pain. When the protesting muscles in her top half were down to a dull throb, she switched to high kicks and standing somersaults until her legs weren't whinging too loudly.

She landed from a particularly well-executed run up the wall and flip to the sound of quiet clapping.

Holly was leaning by the door, clad in Ginny's old robe. She said, "Gingersnap, you are--"

Before Holly could finish her thought, Ginny had rushed up and wrapped her in her arms.

"Oh, Merlin, Hols." The woman gurgled in her arms so she loosened her grip, allowing Holly to slip down to standing again. Neither of them moved to end their embrace, but Ginny frowned down at her. "What did you do to me?"

Holly scoffed. "Love, you were just fine and only a few inches taller than me when I left you. Some part of you decided to grow into your maturity or something. I was happier with you in snogging range. Now I'll have to climb up your chest to get at your lips."

Ginny muttered in protest, "What chest?"

Holly made a musical noise.

A moment later Ginny felt warm wet lips enveloping her right nip through her cotton pyjama top. Her heart started beating in panic, her whole body clenching in reaction to the sudden stimulation. Ginny could only gasp from the acute sensations. Holly continued to taunt, bite and lick through the fabric across her chest for several minutes before releasing Ginny from her attentions.

Holly leaned back to look up at her and said, "You may have a bare handful, but I assure you they're fully functional. Until you have to nurse an infant, you should be grateful if they stay small and out of your way."

Ginny's reply was interrupted by a pulse of pain spreading through her limbs. She groaned.

"What?"

"Nothing- I'm sore all over! It got so bad I couldn't sleep."

Holly cupped her face and gave her a sympathetic nod. "Muscle strain from sudden growth. I know a salve that'll do you right."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. I also know that one of your dorm mates has a jar, and that you blame me at least a little for this pain. I'd like to make it up to you, by massaging said salve into your sore, stretched skin."

Visualizing this made her nervous and excited. She whispered with amazement, "This is just a ploy to get me naked and give you a reason to fondle me, isn't it?"

"Would you be happier if I said, 'yes'?"

"Yes." Ginny leaned down and kissed her. They returned to her bed, and Holly proceeded to apply the lotion to Ginny's body, feet to hips then shoulders to fingertips.

Much to Ginny's later mortification, the relief from the pain settled in just as Holly had started on her back, and she fell asleep floating in a tingling state of bliss.

When she woke up she could still feel the salve easing the strain in her muscles. Every single one. She also saw a note on her bedside.

'Don't wash it off.

Love, H.'

~oOo~

Harry had been as supportive as the rest of the House upon the return of his friends from their convalescence. Once the hubbub was done, he redirected his attention to the mountain of homework that had accumulated from his detentions. Most of the House took one look at the stack on the right side of his chair and left him to his toil. Hermione was the only one to join him in the corner. For the first few hours, she had limited her talking to polite responses to his homework-related questions. Eventually she ran out of future homework worth doing and became restless.

Hermione sighed and leaned back in the chair, letting her book close into her lap. She somewhat non-chalantly said, "Ginny certainly has blossomed."

Harry looked up from his star charts to give her a quizzical look. After a few seconds taken to adjust to the new topic, he said, "I thought you'd decided on wizards after taste-testing this summer."

"Prat! I was thinking of your interests, not mine."

"You think I missed noticing that she's hot? I'm a bit near-sighted but the glasses do work." He turned back to the reference and flipped back a few pages to check his essay.

"Yes, but Katie and Lee are now involved and I thought you broke up with Cho."

Harry didn't look up from his book, though he replied, "Hermione, I would've had to have gone out with Cho to break up with her. What're you on about?"

"According to Parvati, who heard it from Padma, Cho's been talking like you've been sharing secrets with her in not-quite-scandalous broom closet encounters."

"Why are you even listening to Parvati? I thought you hated gossip."

"I do, but Lavender's mouth has been otherwise occupied with Ron's, so Parvati's been begging me to bond over tea and secrets. I refuse to giggle, but the rest of it is a rather entertaining challenge of deductive reasoning."

Yeah- because Sherlock Holmes was a big gossip. "So what else is Parvati's sister saying that Cho's saying?"

"That you're planning a revolt."

"Then let them talk. If anyone asks, you haven't ever seen us meet, so you can't say what we discuss together."

"That makes it sound like I know that you're meeting with her."

Harry nodded.

Hermione was silent for a minute. Harry sensed waves of anger flowing at him and turned his face to confront them. "What?"

"What exactly has Holly been teaching you?"

Harry cackled. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"I do! That's why I'm asking!"

"Secrets of the universe. Girl stuff. 'Ways to herd the witless and unman the unwary'- that's a quote, by the way."

Hermione jumped from her seat to loom over him, her face flushed and frizzy curls bouncing with agitated purpose. "Does it not occur to you that she's teaching you how to use people? Does it not occur to you that this is wrong?!"

Harry reeled back in surprise at her anger, as did several others in the room.

"She's... evil!"

"What would you suggest instead, Hermione?"

"Keep to yourself. Stop provoking Umbridge. Let Professor Dumbledore handle her." Hermione huffed and then quieted her voice to say, "We can try the Defense club again, but do it secretly this time, like I said before."

Harry considered for a moment, then said, "That sounds like a little kid's way of handling it- behave yourself, eat your veggies, and only break the rules if you probably won't be caught doing it. D'you know why I know that Dumbledore isn't going to handle it?"

"Why?"

"Because he hasn't."

Harry stood to face her, enjoying the few inches of height he had over her to put her on the defensive, even if it encouraged the whole room to be audience to their argument.

"Dumbledore's dealing with bigger things than unhappy kids at his school- this is a playground compared to his problems. Don't you get it? Umbridge is the Ministry and we're the magical population. This is OUR school, OUR society. If we want it to change we have to stand up, and get others to stand up with us."

Noting that he now had the attention of everyone in the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry was tempted to sit back down. Instead he made a slow turn, seeing exactly who was there but not to glare at them. It gave him the time to arrange his thoughts.

"Look, everyone, I know you're probably waiting for the teachers, or the Board of Governors or (Merlin help us) me to stop Umbridge from making Hogwarts her kingdom. It's not going to happen. We, as a House, as a school, as a society, have to stand up together and tell her 'no'."

"How do we do that, Potter?" Cormac said with derision. "She's the High Inquisitor."

"So what? You think the other Professors are on her side?She's been harassing them almost as much as she tortures me. Every decree is an insult to their authority."

Katie asked, "So what are you suggesting we do, Harry?"

"If you hear her lying, call her on it. If she gives you detention, skip it. If she orders you to change something, act like you can't even hear her. What's she gonna do- hex us?"

Seamus said, "She'll have us expelled!"

Harry answered, "How many students could she chase out of here before the school would become a ghost town? We all are already in violation of at least three of those stupid decrees of hers, just by talking right now. If we stand together, she'll be forced to send us all home. What'll the Ministry and the Board and your parents think of her 'inquisition' then?"

Fred smiled and said, "Brilliant. Time to let loose--"

"No!" Harry said, "The rest of the teachers deserve our respect - more or less - and if it all goes out of control, people will think we're just a bunch of noisy kids. As long as the command or the detention comes from a real professor, you've got to take it. This isn't about us not wanting to obey rules- it's about Umbridge being a sick, twisted, power-hungry troll, and how we're not taking it anymore."

"We can still torment Filch, though, right?" asked Fred.

"Oh, sure. He's a tool. We're trying to oust Umbridge, not give up all our fun."

The laughter was welcome.

Hermione sat down. Her glare at him, though intense, was hard to pin down since it didn't carry any anger with it.

Harry sat back down and gave her a superior look.

Hermione leaned forward until she could hug him, resting her chin on his shoulder. She breathed into his ear, "If you keep saying and doing things like that, I will not be held responsible for my actions." Hermione then licked his ear before sitting back in her chair to face him with a rather saucy expression, though her deep blush undermined the confidence she was trying to convey.

Harry was struck speechless.

Girls: still a mystery. Still worth investigating.

~oOo~

Harry dropped into his bed that night, wondering if Holly would be visiting him. An hour later he was nearly asleep when she poked her head between his bed curtains.

"Oh, good. You have enough space for me this time."

He gave her a smiling nod and shuffled to one side, allowing her to clamber in to lay facing him. They kissed briefly but Harry wasn't feeling exactly amourous.

Holly stroked fingers around his face, but made no move to intensify their activity.

If I'm not in the mood you aren't either? Not sure how I feel about that.

Harry whispered, "So, Hermione's gone nuts."

"In which way?"

"She was talking to me about Ginny and Cho and Katie and then decided to get frisky with me. All the while she was reminding me that you're the devil's daughter."

"Ah. The poor dear. She's probably thinking you can be swayed from my embrace by a more personal relationship with another witch. Not finding a worthy candidate to interest you, she's offering herself. The girl is really devoted to you."

"What should I do?"

Holly smiled. "And here I thought we'd gone over those lessons."

"She insists that we're never having sex."

"Harry, she said the same thing to me and later... I changed her mind. Besides which you two have been having sex, she's just been selfish about it. Anyway, I'm here to talk about something else."

"What?"

"Defiance. Insurrection. The Underground Army's training."

"We are under constant watch! Even my speech in the Common room ended up common knowledge by dinnertime."

"Right. So tomorrow, I'll take you to my secret room where no one can find you if you don't want to be found."

~o~

"If you want to host a revolution, you'll need a headquarters. Welcome to the Room of Requirement."

"Hang on. This is the place that Dobby calls the Come-and-Go room!"

Half of the room was taken up by a large waist-high table, though there was also a reading nook with bookshelves packed full of material. The other half was more like a gymnasium with padded floor and walls. Between the two was a foot-thick wall that appeared to be solid brick on the practice side but was entirely transparent on the opposite, allowing observation without distraction.

"Wow! This place is fantastic."

"I know, right? Step outside and I'll show you another function."

Once they were outside in the hallway, Holly set Harry back to stand against the opposite wall. She then strode back and forth in front of the place where the banded oak door had been. This time, the door that appeared was sandstone or some kind of baked clay. Holly pushed it open and immediately a cloud of fragrant steam formed in the chilly hallway.

Harry followed her inside where they traversed a short hall that led to an open sort of half-amphitheatre ringed with crumbling stone pillars, standing at the upper edge of what appeared to be a jungle clearing. The stone floor was intact, and the structure followed a shallow stepped descent to a squared-off pond. A total of six water-filled pools were set, one at each level, the first one being entirely circular but the second with an opening like an eye and the last before the pond an obvious hexagon at least ten feet across. Beyond the pools and the surrounding stone floors of the shrine were thick vines and trees that blocked everything with their dense tangle. The sky was filled with fluffy pink clouds, giving the whole place an otherworldly cast.

"It's like we're out in some lost temple, somewhere tropical."

"Yeah, but thankfully there's no bugs nor beasties." Holly swirled her arm around and her clothes stripped from her body to fold into a pile at her feet. She then strode over and jumped feet-first into the round pool closest to them, disrupting the steam where it loitered on the surface.

Harry gulped and waited. Holly didn't swim up from the pool. He peered into the wavy surface but there were no lights below- Harry couldn't tell how deep the pool went, but it was deep enough that Holly couldn't be seen. He side-stepped around the edge, trying to find an angle where the diffuse light from beyond the temple ruins might shine beneath the surface. Another anxious minute passed.

Holly called from behind him, "Come right in, Harry. The water's perfect. Hottest at the top."

Harry whirled around to see that Holly was leaning back at the edge of the eye-shaped pool, next in line.

"They connect?"

"No. I've just been practicing with my powers. Water is my element now, and self-transfiguration the only reliable magic I have at hand. It's rather funny to me, as I used to be all about fire and curses. Vanishing and unvanishing is much easier for me when there's water nearby."

Harry nodded while staring unabashedly at the rise and drop of Holly's glistening breasts as they floated at the surface of the pool.

"Harry... if you want me, come have me. We're all alone here and I think you've moved past the bashful goofball stage."

He shambled forward, almost as if under a compulsion. Sadly, this delirium also made him trip on the raised tiles at the edge of the pool, and he fell forward into the water, fully-clothed.

From above him he heard a muffled, "Or prhsss nnot."

He surfaced, though struggling with the weight of his water-logged robes. He didn't see Holly, but a moment later he felt her embrace him from behind, wrapping her arms beneath his to help him stay afloat. Harry was resisting at first, still jerking and flailing in an attempt to tread water, but he soon realised that Holly held him firm and buoyant, though her head was bobbing below the surface.

He felt Holly shifting her grasp, holding him tight with one arm whilst the other was busy pulling Harry's heavy robes down his arms. Harry wriggled carefully to aid the effort and he was soon divested of the robe's weight and felt much freer.

Holly retained her grip, though, and was now unbuckling his belt. He tried to reach down, but his arms were propped above Holly's shoulders and they couldn't bend that way. She had his trousers down around his knees when she chose to tilt her face above water.

"I'm loving the 'breathe only when I feel like it' power. Now, Harry... should I dive down and take your shoes and socks off?"

"Is that all you're going to do?"

"Well, your panic has subsided, so no. I'll be sexually assaulting you next."

"It's not assault if I cooperate."

Holly nodded and smiled. "True. Can't call it cooperation if I'm doing all the work, though."

She dove down again, though she wasn't holding Harry afloat anymore. He used his arms and whichever leg Holly wasn't working on to keep treading water. She somehow loosened his laces and stripped off both shoes and socks. Harry wondered if all his clothing was going to end up at the bottom of this pool.

The next evidence of Holly's activity were the hands sliding up his belly from beneath his shirt. Her hands tickled his ribs and then slid up over his chest, tweaking his nipples and grasping at his pectorals almost as if he were being treated like a woman with very small breasts. Harry was already hard, but this tingle made something deep down in his belly twitch awake.

He helped her push his shirt and jumper up to his shoulders, taking over to wrestle the wet fabrics over his head and off of his arms. Holly had clutched him around the waist to hold him again while his arms were busy. Harry tried to fling the clothes over to the pool's edge, but they slapped against the tile and slipped back into the water to float down into the dark depths.

Holly's warm and strong embrace disappeared along with the feel of her breasts pressed into his back. He looked around but couldn't see much, so he dove under the surface. While underwater, his glasses tended to float out of place as he turned about looking for signs of Holly, so he had to use a hand to realign them every few seconds.

Finding no sign of her, he rose back out of the water. Just as he had gathered another breath, he heard the door to the room grinding open, followed by voices- in particular, the worst possible voices he could have wanted to hear.

"As you can see, Professor Snape, there is a room here and one I did not know could be found at Hogwarts."

"Madam Umbridge, I have been at this school for most of my life and I have heard nothing to even suggest such a place existed."

"Perhaps the castle chose to share some secrets with me that it didn't deem suitable for... others."

Harry had floated oh-so-quietly over to the edge of the eye-shaped pool nearest the door so that he might keep an ear above water and still hide beneath the lip of the tile edging. He was quite proud of this cleverness, up until he felt Holly's hands pulling his boxers down his legs.

He heard Snape musing, "A set of robes is here. I suspect that a student discovered this secret place and may still be hiding somewhere within. Homenem Revelio."

A snap echoed in the space and Harry saw his body glowing with a bright red aura; he dove under, fast as he could, using the wall of the pool to pull himself deeper.

A yard or two down he met Holly looking at his glowing form with obvious concern. She pushed him further down by the shoulders, and then made her own body glow with the same nimbus that surrounded Harry. She shot up towards the surface, while Harry sank deeper in search of his robes, where he knew his wand was currently tucked into an inside pocket.

~o~

Severus Snape was caught by surprise - his person-finding charm had acted almost like a fishing rod- dipping down into the eye-shaped pool and reeling up its catch. A woman surfaced with a resounding splash of water, her naked body arcing backward and an exultant cry escaping her lips. She bobbled down to floating at shoulder depth and then quirked her head when she caught sight of the two professors.

She said, "Are you looking for me?"

"What is this?" protested the squat, bloated woman, "And who are you?"

Severus felt frozen in shock, as if he were a recorded telly show set on pause. Umbridge glared at him and at the woman in the pool in turns.

"Professor Snape! Who is this and what is she doing here?"

In the soft light of the room, in the shadow of broken temple walls, a red-headed woman who had occupied every happy thought in his experience stared back at Severus Snape whilst surrounded by an aura of red. Her emerald green eyes squinted at him in recognition, and she gave him a wide smile whilst scrunching her nose in a very cute, very familiar way.

"L-lily?" he gasped out.

Lily's soft, melodious voice tickled his ears, saying, "Is that a date you've brought in here, Severus, or some failed experiment in making humans amphibious? How perverse, either way."

He fell painfully to his knees without uttering another word, as his mouth was frozen open again.

Umbridge scoffed and repeated, "Who is this, Professor Snape, and what is she doing here? UH! No wonder you didn't want me to find this place- you've been hiding a student for your own indecencies!"

Anger and a bit of selfishness broke him out of his shock. He snapped his gaze at Umbridge and said, "Get out."

"I will not! I am staying right here until I get an expl--"

A bit of agile wand-work flung the witch out the open door and into the corridor, followed up with a hasty Stunning charm that nonetheless struck true, and capped the movement with a last spell which shut and sealed the door.

When he turned back to look into the eye-shaped pool, no one was there. Instead, he heard that voice, the one from his fondest dreams, calling up to him from the large pond edged in stone at the low point of the grotto.

"Yoo-hoo! Severus, I'm down here."

~o~

Harry had struggled with his waning oxygen supply, searching through his robes almost to the point when he would otherwise need to jet upwards to the surface in search of air. He drew forth his wand and prepared a Bubble-head charm.

Except he couldn't speak.

He wracked his brain, and then had a sudden epiphany-most of the adults he'd met hadn't spoken their spells; they just cast them. In fact, this would be exactly the sort of spell one would expect to cast without speaking. He concentrated, enunciated the incantation in his mind and swept his wand around his head like he was drawing a halo. A subtle pull traveled the length of his arm, and he saw a sphere of air swell out of the tip of his wand, enveloping his head.

He breathed deep and coughed, happily. He held his wand up and said, "Thank you."

If it responded at all he was pretty sure it said, 'Umm... what?'

No politeness required- you must be family. Now, if I can just figure out how to escape this pool without being caught...

~o~

Holly watched Snape as he clambered down the stone steps to a Romanesque bench set a few yards from the pond's edge. He sat down on the marble as if he needed its cold, hard structure to assure himself that he wasn't falling into a dream... or an abyss. "Lily... but you're dead."

Holly looked at her arms, waving them around at the water's surface. "Am I? Seem awfully rosy-cheeked and lively for a corpse. Besides, I think you know that there are special circumstances involved here. I offered my life to protect my son and he still very much needs that protection. Clearly, my mission is as yet unaccomplished."

Snape grimaced.

"You know my son Harry, don't you Severus?"

"Yyyeeessss," he whinged.

"He's a good man, Severus, a good soul. Like mine. If you open up to him, tell him what you know of me, of us, it could mean so much to him."

"It's pointless. He's an arrogant, lazy--"

"Lazy? Clearly you haven't seen his handiwork in my sister's gardens. If by arrogance you're referring to having the courage of his convictions, well, I remember some very foolish and brave acts that I did in my youth emboldened by that sort of arrogance."

"Lily, you haven't seen how he is. You were different."

"Why- because I'm a witch? Or is it different because you're seeing the same acts from a different sort of ghost- one that looks like James? I think you've been seeing what you expect to see, and not what's there."

Severus moaned- clearly this wasn't the first time he'd been told this, but it appeared that this time he felt compelled to listen. He let his head droop.

Holly stepped up from the pool, sheets of water glistening as they slid off her skin. She stalked up to the man sitting on the bench with his head in his hands. When he looked up, he gasped.

"You never saw me like this before, now did you, Severus?"

"No."

"So it can't be a dream." She reached out and cupped his cheek, leaning forward to kiss him on the forehead. That her wet breasts were directly in front of him dripping water into a puddle stretching towards his shoes was not an accident. Holly added, "Behave yourself, Severus."

~o~

Harry had to suppress a gag as he watched a tall version of Holly bend her naked body in front of Snape and give him a little peck on his greasy head. Once he'd moved past his need to retch, he adjusted his glasses to see if Holly could see him at the edge of the pool. She did look up and squint in his direction, then shook her head and gestured for Harry to sink down, in a way that Snape couldn't have seen as her movement was happening above his bowed head.

Harry sank down to eye level, but he just couldn't turn away from watching Holly, dripping wet and naked, as she pranked Snape in the worst way. His anger over the form of it he tucked into that Rage pocket which had been growing quite full of late.

~o~

Holly turned away from Snape's puppy-dog gaze, entering the water with careful steps onto the mossy, submerged marble.

Severus stood and reached for her, saying, "Don't go!"

She turned at the last step, the water up to her thighs. "I must. I will be here, watching over Harry. If he can accept you, perhaps I can appear to you more often."

Snape shook his head and spat, "Potter. Of all the--- wait, you are watching over him; protecting him! He's here, isn't he?!"

"Severus, of course he is. School is in session. He wouldn't be anywhere but Hogwarts."

"I mean HERE! In this room!" The man swirled to fully standing and scrutinized the landscape, looking for a hint of Harry's whereabouts.

Holly's shoulders sagged. She took a glance around and found a suitable tool- a fallen branch balanced at the water's edge. While Snape readied his wand, Holly strode up out of the pond to stand an arm's length behind the obsessed potions master. "Severus--"

"Don't try to deceive me- he's here, and I'll catch him!"

The man turned to grin in assurance to his lost love, but Holly had reverted to her shorter, stouter stature. He was looking at the top of her head right as she swung the log directly into his temple, spinning his body to tumble to the ground. He landed with a muffled groan but made no motion to get back up.

"I believe that's a six-run," she announced, resting the branch on her shoulder like a cricket bat. Holly then kneeled down and pulled back the hood of his robe to check his pulse. "Harry! He's out, so get over here. We need to do damage control."

Harry yelled, "How the Hell did they find us? I thought you said the room couldn't be found!"

"Did you close the door behind you?"

"I...," Harry then recalled that he'd been so surprised by the change in the room that he'd just kept walking. "... will be right down."

Upon summoning his drenched clothes and making his way down to where Holly was checking on Snape's body, Harry hissed, "What the hell was all that?!"

Holly looked up at him, bit her lip and then offered, "One small smack for Holly, one giant leap of faith on your part?"

"Yeah, I held back. Now tell me what you're doing!"

"I'm trying to convert this highly accomplished musician to our side."

"And just how far will you go to do that?"

Holly stood up to face him. Harry thrust forth her robe to put on. She dressed in measured movements, then looked up at him.

"Well?"

She said, "I'm holding back my first urge, which is to smack you for hinting that you make my choices about who I touch."

Harry gave himself a twelve-count. He then said, "There is no one in the world who deserves you less, than him. I'm asking you; please, never side with him against me, even as a joke or a scheme."

Holly said, most solemnly, "I never will."

"It would kill me."

"I understand."

"No joking, Hols. Now, what do we do with him?"

"We could chat for a few minutes more while he bleeds to death."

"He's dying?"

"That depends on you. I can't cast the spells to save him." Holly grasped his arm and said, "His life is in your hands right now."

Harry scowled down at the man, noting the growing pool of blood by his head. Holly turned and stood next to him, hands clasped behind her back. He could feel her gaze on his face, but she wasn't trying to influence him at all- merely waiting for him to decide.

A minute passed.

Holly cleared her throat and whispered, "In cases like this, making no decision is effectively a decision so--"

"Shut up. I'm still thinking."

~oOo~

Harry had introduced Holly to Madam Pomfrey as his tutor come to visit. Together they explained that their tour of the castle had been interrupted when they'd found the professors collapsed in a hallway. Madam Pomfrey was cordial enough to make Holly some tea, as she'd told the matron that she wished to wait and make sure their charges recovered from whatever had ambushed them. Harry was sent back to his dorm to abide by the standing curfew.

An hour or so later Snape snapped awake, then winced, no doubt regretting the sudden movement. He took a moment to assess his current position; propped in a hospital bed, surrounded by white sheets and pale blue curtains. He then noticed his visitor.

"You... hit me!" he seethed.

"You deserved it," Holly replied. "You were being a twat."

"You're that psychotic spirit, aren't you? I can't believe I fell for your deception."

"You should be more surprised that you fell to my batting skill. I certainly was."

"Why should I be surprised that Potter found away to humiliate me? He lives for this sort of thing. He and Black no doubt conjured you to taunt--"

"Harry had nothing to do with my arrival and never wanted you to meet me. When I cracked your skull open, it was his choice to save your life. You're here with a Potter-made headache, all right; the kind you should thank him for, since it means you're still amongst the living."

"For years I have been defending myself from--"

"Being a covetous, bullying hypocrite is not a defense; it's a personality disorder. What did Harry do to you, Severus?Nothing! Your attitude towards him is equivalent to Pomfrey hating you for being an abusive alcoholic like your father."

"I am NOTHING like my father!"

Holly glared and yet smiled in victory.

Snape blustered, "But Potter--"

"Still the pedant, ready to declare your framework for the world as the only one worth considering. Let me break your stride, peacock. You are not a great man beset by fools and cowards. Your importance, in fact, is dependent on your suffering. It requires it."

"What are you blathering on about?"

"Do you think, if Lily Evans had never existed, that you would have reached such a lofty station in life? Would you have become a Professor at the most famous school of magic in Europe? Isn't your success basically a by-product of my death?"

"You are nothing like Lily."

Saint Lily, you mean. I need to remember that.

Holly settled into her chair with legs folded beneath her, curling into the well-made curves of the furniture. She took care to soften her voice to sound more like Lily's, and spoke in a tone of reminiscence.

"All that you know of Lily ended when she was twenty-one. Can you remember Lily as she was then?" She waited, gazing at the man until he appeared to be visualising a memory. "Now imagine that she spent the next ten years in a prisoner-of-war camp. What do you think she would be like? Would she die of shame and hopelessness?"

"No... at least she wouldn't martyr herself pointlessly."

"So she'd grow savvy?"

"Yes. Her cunning would rise to the surface."

"And her skills- would she learn to fight without magic, learn to use people to her advantage by leveraging her beauty... however much was left beneath the scars."

"Yes, yes, she would be hard, and brilliant, and decisive, and..." Snape stopped and opened his eyes wide.

She smiled behind her teacup. "My name is Holly, now. I am the stunted Amazon that grew from her principles, hardened by suffering and privation. Lily is dead but Holly endures, spiny and poisonous; a tough little shrub, but her fruits are oh-so-pretty."

"And poisonous as well."

Holly gave him a wink. She knew scanning his thoughts would be pointless, so she looked for and found the physical signs of his reaction- deeper breathing, kept under his conscious control; a flush of the skin on the neck and a darkening of his white collar where sweat had accrued; the slight shifts in position prompted by discomfort, due to his skin swelling from excess heat and perspiration. She gave his body this extended inspection and noted his head tilting back, ready to defend his mind and exert further discipline over his body.

That's got him hooked. Just have to be careful reeling him in.

"Mister Snape," she said with a bowed head, almost as if embarrassed to admit something, "I should think you and I are well-suited to cooperate, so long as you see me as I really am."

"Perhaps... so long as you give me the respect I am due. You will refer to me at all times as Professor Snape."

She looked up and tilted her head back to stare down her nose at him, mimicking his pompous sneer. "I will not; it's presumptuous. You've never taught me, and as I just said, you'd have no Professorship without Lily's death to make you relevant."

"Yet she did die," he insisted, but a flash of pain crossed his face, as surprising to him as it was gratifying for her. "Lily died. She's dead."

"And the last that she knew of you, a Professorship was not in your future. I am the path not taken by her, here. If you won't act like a decent sort to me, all you'll get from me is 'Mr. Snape'. Or would you rather I call you something more vulgar?"

A little suggestion of spice from your fallen angel, and...

"I... I would like it if you called me Severus... in private."

Checkmate. He could be my puppet, but Harry asked for this to stop here. Let's see just how much we can expect from him in his current state of befuddlement.

Holly's expression went cold. "The only way you and I will ever again speak in private, is if you seek to redeem yourself for all the cruelty you've inflicted upon the innocent students you've terrorized, Mr. Snape."

"What are you talking about?"

"I find that your greatest crime here at Hogwarts isn't that you treated Harry poorly for resembling James- it's that you're shite as a teacher."

"What do you want from me?"

"I'd think that would be obvious. I want your job. What isn't obvious is that I'd like to hire you for a different one."

"The Headmaster would never allow it."

"He'd have to, wouldn't he? I mean, it's your life, your decision, after all."

Snape squinted at her. "What job?"

"Executioner."

Snape's pallor shifted from cave-dweller pale to mouldering-corpse white. Whatever he had been preparing to say had caught in his throat.

"I'll just let you mull that over, shall I?" Holly stood up, downed the rest of her tea and then left the hospital wing.

~o~

As Harry and Ginny were spending the day in their respective classes, Holly returned to the Room of Requirement. She had never found a way to be certain what all of the functions of the room were. Even the house-elves were notably absent-minded when it came to its history and capabilities. The grotto of seven pools had been Padma's discovery, the training gymnasium was hers and Hermione had unearthed the recovery room that had doubled as Holly's apartment when she was feeling the cold seep into her center.

Holly's investigations of it in this timeline were tempered by her own limitations; every request she made of the Room drew from her limited reservoir of magic, just like any change in her shape or location had. The longer she stayed in one form and exercised no magical influence, the longer her reserves held out.

Of course, the process for replenishing that supply was hardly a burden, but Holly could only hold so much before continued lovemaking was ineffective. It was a shallow reservoir, and that was more than she deserved, so she worked within its limits.

In defiance of her conservation efforts, the Room had so far only revealed eight different kinds of utility closet.

Holly stumbled her way out of a collapsing pile of chamberpots and ended up colliding with the tallest of Professors who were not named Hagrid.

"Apologies, Headmaster."

"No need. I was wondering where that room had wandered off to."

Holly noted Professor Dumbledore's scowl despite his mild tone. After a moment's thought, she said in her defence, "We talked politely up until he stopped acting like an adult."

"So Severus reported. That doesn't mean you were in the right," said Professor Dumbledore. He then held up a leather-bound journal. "Did you write this?"

Taking the book, she paged through it to confirm that it was her writings to Harry. Must be a replica of a replica. The Appendices are still blank.

Holly said with deliberate irritation, "How did you get a hold of this?"

Albus gave her a patient look.

"Right- no point in asking why since you have it either way. It's all mine, though some of it was written before I died and just re-written here. Why?"

"I read it last night. You have some very interesting ideas and a rather engaging narrative style. Your writing demonstrates a complex if not quite organised mind. And so, I have a request. I would like to invite you to teach at Hogwarts."

It was Holly's turn to give the patient look. "Really."

"This would give you legitimacy with our allies, and having a sense of your mindset from this writing, I honestly believe that you would be a valuable addition to the staff."

"I accept."

"There are always... I'm sorry, did you say you accept?"

"Yup."

Albus smiled, "This is excellent. Truly, I think Madam Umbridge has run her course as an educational tool, and we'll need to accelerate--"

"As Professor of Potions."

Dumbledore's expression turned cold. "I already have one of those."

"Laid up in hospital at the moment."

"I suppose I should thank you for your mercy, if not your patience nor forgiveness."

"Thank Harry- he made the decision to save his life."

"I think I will thank him for that. Nonetheless, Professor Snape's recovery shouldn't take more than a few days. If I hired you to replace him, what would I do upon his return?"

"Shuffle him into Defence. We both know he has insights on the Dark Arts and would be enthusiastic in teaching the subject."

"That's not the issue. I need Severus in his current role. If you aren't willing to teach Defence, I'm afraid the students will need to suffer through with Dolores for another two terms. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"Sure I would. A pressure steamer gets things cooking much faster than a crockpot. Time is not on our side right now."

They stared at each other for several minutes, eventually continuing the argument hosted in Holly's forebrain. Both the silence and their psychic debate were disrupted when Harry entered the corridor, heralded by the squeak of his trainers changing direction. He jogged up to them, saying, "Um, what's happening? Also, why is it happening here, in this corridor where there isn't anything but a tapestry?"

Holly replied, "Albus and I are manoeuvering to see which piece will be put into the hangman's noose known as the Defence Professorship."

"You're gonna teach? That'd be fantastic! We'll finally have a great Defence Professor again."

Albus nudged, "It seems like Mr. Potter is a fan of the notion."

Holly turned to Harry and said, "I won't teach Defence. There's a curse on the position- the Headmaster is trying to arrange for my quick expulsion from your life."

Harry snapped back in shock. He and the Weasleys had often joked about the tendency for Defence to be taught by someone new each year, but never had heard mention of a curse that could actually force that to happen.

The Headmaster said, "You cannot put a curse on a concept, Miss Evans. I'm surprised you should be so... superstitious."

"No, you're not," Holly said, "and trying to make me ashamed of it won't work, either. As it is, I have the trump card on this one. If you want Umbridge out, you have to give it to Snape."

"Snape?!" Harry roared, but Holly held up a hand towards him to silence further protest.

"And what is this trump card?" prompted the Headmaster.

"I can't cast spells," Holly said, "and credentials-wise, I have nothing to offer as proof that I would be a better candidate than Dolores. If you had hired me back in August, instead of letting Snape immolate me, it might've worked. For a mid-year replacement you'll need a proven expert in the subject in order to oust her, and you know that."

The Headmaster looked down into his hands. "I can't have Severus take the position yet. Not until summer at the earliest. I can hire you now as a substitute, I suppose. Tutor on special topics, Professor Evans."

"Nah-ah-ah! Harry's tutor Holly Evans is wanted by the Ministry. You may call me Professor Polter, the geist- er, guest-speaker."

"Holly Polter?" the Headmaster said.

"To remind you and Severus of the mistake, Albus. I'll find a suitable disguise."

The Headmaster grumbled to indulge her needling, but his face was alit with mirth. "In the presence of students, Professor Polter, I ask that you address me with respect."

"Once I am a Professor here, I will do my utmost to remember that. In the meantime, shoo. You're interrupting our swimming lesson."

The Headmaster muttered, "Oh, is that what they're calling it these days?"

Holly leaned on the wall, a door appearing to bleed into shape radiating from her palm. She then pushed open the door, releasing a gout of warm, wet air. This turned into fog as it spilled into the chill hallway.

"Yes. Water sports means something different. We're merely going to be having sex in a pool."

Harry skipped past her into the room, ignoring any look the Headmaster might be aiming at him. Holly followed, turning to close the door and leave Dumbledore out in the hallway. In the last inch before shutting the door, she added, "... or seven."

With the room sealed, she turned to smile at Harry, who was stifling a laugh.

"Now, where were we yesterday, before we were so rudely interrupted?" Holly said as she slipped off her robes.

~oOo~

Author's note: Halfway through the story and I finally got around to explaining the title.