‘Your rich and I don’t want you around,’ David cracked,
‘I don’t know that thick head of yours would make a good door stop.’ Lupin joked, at the same time as Sirius comicly slump his shoulders.
‘I needed that.’ David admired, ‘sadly it seems the requirement is irreparable magical damage.’
‘So I just played a really long solo game of kick the cup, dandy,’ Sirius facepalmed
‘Pretty much,’ Lupin confirmed ‘I don’t think any of us have anything that can do that level of damage.’
‘I know of spells, but I never played around of it.’ David admitted, they glanced at a silent Sirius.
‘I got nothing I don’t touch the stuff on principle.’ He waved of, David picked the cup up,
‘Guess we will need some help on this one.’ David held up his arm as Garius landed on his arm, with a quick charm a request was written up.
‘So why the request I doubt Sally is going to turn you away.’ Lupin pointed out.
‘I feel I need to show the old man some respect. We haven’t been seeing eye to eye.’ David admired as the letter rolled up and slipped into an envelop the owl nabbed it and flew off.
‘Yeah, didn’t notice,’ Sirius glanced away but David caught the eye flick back.
‘He wanted to let Holly confront Voldemort,’ David glanced at as both of his old friends went wide eyed. ‘He said everything would be safe,’ David snorted, ‘I think he has some chess game in mind. I don’t want my daughter involved in this. I know Sirius she already is, but damn it I don’t want to burry my daughter.’ He sighed as the room went silent.
‘While I am all up for children growing up, and becoming better, I fear 11 may have been a bit early.’ Lupin admitted, Sirius nodded, in agreement.
‘Yeah, after Holly is way to much of a witch for Voldemort’s feeble skills,’ he nodded as David cracked a smirk.
‘We still have some time, before school lets out, I am going to sniff around about this cup, do to it being dull, Sirius see if you can find a way to break that cup.’ He waved at it as Sirius gleamed in delight at the prospect as they parted for a time.
The end of school wrap-up wasn’t much of an issue. Sally took over teaching defense which was an amazing time. The school gave her as well as Ron and Hermione a service to the school and with her up on the broom the Ravenclaw match was managed with a third brutal victory for the lion cinching the win, for both the cups.
Holly kicked back on the Hogwarts express, the mellow space was filled, Ron still beat up about his rat being gone, but was playing a game of exploding snap and getting as much use as he could out of his wand. Neville was practicing his spells and would ask Holly or Hermione for help. Hermione was reading over books as Holly glanced out the window. Overall everything had worked out favorably, with two hiccups, her dad, and Sally.
The conversation with Sally on the matter was rather smooth a few unanswered questions on her survival but the protection that she had against Voldemort was fully explained, although her father had figured that was the case so it seemed her mother was the one who deserved the credit, for the downfall which the headmaster agreed.
Her father was a separate matter he went silent the only reply she got back was, she glanced at the letter. ‘Talk Later,’ she sighed she had a feeling he was probably very mad at her for her actions. She sent a few letters the cup victories but she still got no response. She tried both her uncles they were willing to alleviate her worries a bit her dad seemed to be involved in a project, another one of great importance, she sighed.
‘What’s wrong?’ Hermione asked as she set her book down as Neville glanced over at her as an explosion from the game Ron was playing.
‘I think I may be in trouble, my dad hasn’t sent me a letter back he’s been quiet.’ She admitted,
‘How could he be mad, you save the stone won the cups?’ Ron blurted out in surprise, everyone talking about the matter positively for the remainder of the school year.
‘My dad didn’t take kindly to me risking my life,’ she admired, ‘I think he’s the only one seriously disappointed.’ She admitted, the weight seemed to hit them hard as the joy kinda faded with the realization they probably could have been killed.
‘Still everything worked out, nobody got hurt.’ Ron waved off but the mood had been soured.
She got off the train, she had to look to find her dad who was talking with Neville’s dad. The father and son greatest each other happily as Neville smiled brightly as his parents greeted him. She watched as her Dad slowly stood up as he waved his wand and her trunk floated along.
‘Pity about your plans I was hoping to see you fighting alongside me,’ Frank called as David waved back.
‘It’s not off the table yet, just for a year.’ David laughed as Holly gave her dad a confused look.
‘I’ll tell you later, been a bit busy sorry I didn’t reply to your letters.’ He apologized, the two walked into kings cross. ‘I was offered the job of the defense against the dark arts.’ He dropped as Holly went wide-eyed.
‘But the curse!’ She cried out as they got a few odd looks as Holly spun back worried about her trunk only to see it rolling up in front of her, a few weird looks, but David whispered something and after a slightly dreamy look went back to themselves. ‘That’s dangerous nobody ever makes it past the first year.’ She panicked as her dad simply shrugged.
‘I am more than willing take the risks.’ Her dad said as they pulled up to a car in surprise.
‘Rental turns out Mr. Weasily is in the misuse of muggle artifacts office didn’t want him to know,’ David admitted,
‘I think his dad, does the same thing so I don’t think he’ll grief you if you let him check it out,’ Holly considered, she was sure that someone brought it up.
‘Fair enough, but I am aware of the curse, I am only going along for a single year.’ He admitted,
‘This is payback for the Voldemort thing isn’t it?’ She accused as the two slammed the doors of the car shut.
‘Whatever gave you that idea?’ He asked back as Holly frowned at him before she snapped her gaze away.
‘I was thinking about beforehand.’ He admitted, ‘I, I, what did Sally tell you?’ He asked as Holly realized that her dad hadn’t even put the key in the ignition.
‘Well we went over the protection my mom gave me, we talked about the stone being destroyed. I asked why my scar hurt, said something about him maybe transferring powers to me, but didn’t go further.’ She explained, ‘dad? Do you know something?’ He shifted but didn’t answer, as he glanced at her with a pair of sad brown eyes.
‘I know one thing for sure and the second is a theory. I don’t know if I should tell you, I feel you should know, you proved yourself and did your old man proud when you stood up against him.’ He smiled, a warm feeling hit her chest as her dad beamed in pride. ‘Your mother would have killed you for it and I have half a mind to agree. But I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing.’ He said, ‘but what I figure it would change you, in what ways I don’t know.’ He suddenly swept her into a big hug as something wet hit her hair. ‘I don’t want to lose you, I worry what the truth will do. Can it wait for one summer vacation? You can ask me then, please?’ It almost sounded like a beg, and that scared her more than anything Sally had implied.
‘Sure we doing anything special? She smiled as she regained her vision as her dad pulled back and smiled as well.
‘Not sure,’ he mused as he started the car, ‘I was thinking of going someplace how does France sound?’
‘Just is?’ Holly asked as David paused,
‘Ditch Sirius and Lupin? I am game, but first homework,’ Holly pouted, as her Dad laughed, ‘Just long enough to let me plan the trip out.’
The pair headed home as a split of excitement and worry followed her around homework wasn’t too difficult Lupin was more than happy to get away from his own politics, he was a great help as her dad seemed to have forgotten most of his potions and he
rbology lessons.
The Holiday start was a bit sudden, ‘I think I got everything, right?’ Her dad looked at Lupin. He rubbed his chin as if going deep in thought.
‘I believe so,’ he smiled coyly.
‘I got the charm setup, so you press this button your invisible when you hit it again it creates a memory charm to fool anyone who sees you turn visible,e’ Sirius explained as Holly jumped into the side cart. ‘What no hug?’ He frowned at Holly.
She gave a slight pout as she got back out and gave Lupin a hug as Sirius scowled as Lupin chuckled, as she moved but Sirius gave his own pout as he turned away. ‘Sniff,’ Holly exaggerated,
‘Crap,’ Sirius realized as he glanced down to
See a pair of watery green-eyed. ‘I hate those,’ he sighed in defeat as he finally got his hug.
The bike flared up as the engine roared to life. Holly gave a wave to Hermione as they took off.
‘So what are we doing?’
‘Well, I figure we could bounce around to see the sights, maybe hit up a Quidditch match.’ He explained, ‘France usually has all female players maybe you can add to your natural talent. I wanted to sniff around the armature dueling tournaments.’ He admitted since they had a silencing charm on the bike they could chat.
‘Think we could go shopping?’ She asked as her dad groaned,
‘I guess, I may have found a nice ally, or are you thinking something more muggle?’ He asked.
‘Bit of both wouldn’t mind going swimming either, not a summer break without a trip to the beach.’ Holly smiled,
‘Sounds fair, we could save that and invite your friends over.’ He offered,
‘Sounds much better.’ She admitted.
True to form the first few days they explored the city, the found a few magical historical sights as well as the odd which and wizard. The Quidditch game was fun as they watched the home team pull out a victory and her dad spent some time with a newspaper as she glanced around the stores.
‘I didn’t think so,’ David said as he put the chocked back on the self. ‘The butterflies can stay, as she put the hair ornaments in.
‘No fun,’ she huffed as her dad paid for the order.
‘What would call the last few days,’ he asked as they headed out on the streets.
‘Stress tests, to see how much I can get away with,’ Holly replied. Her dad eyed her playfully as she spotted a pair of good-looking boys.
‘Anyway,’ he cleared his throat as she turned back to him. ‘The amateur dueling ring is going to start up soon. I want to have a bit of fun myself.’ He urged as they headed along.
‘So anyone famous I heard Professor Flitwick dueled in his day,’ Holly recalled,
‘Doubtful dueling isn’t as popular as it use to be. The amateur ring is more for fun and bragging rights at the local pub.’ He shrugged.
‘So why not do it at home?’ She asked,
‘Cause nobody will duel your old man. The trouble with the duelist circuit is if you get to good nobody will duel you. It’s why Flitwick doesn’t even practice at these places.’
‘Oh, why is that?’ Holly asked,
‘Well in most sports you play to make money. In a circuit people back out of a big name moved in; why waste money if you know Sally is in the tournament? As for the big fights, it’s money on gambling it’s not gambling if you know one person doesn’t stand a chance. So you normally just get the middle guys dueling people who aren’t as amazing or as showy as people like Sally. Add on most circuits have spell lists, spells you can’t use’ He explained as they walked into a decent sized building with a large table in the middle with a lot of chairs. The place already had a large body of people currently most people seemed well-dressed wizards.
‘Name?’ Asked an aged which as the translator charm worked its magic. Holly decided to take a seat near the front row. She sat for a moment before she pulled out a book to read thankfully fiction in nature.
‘You zeem a bit young to be participating.’ Said a female voice, Holly glanced up a woman about four years maybe three it was hard to peg.
She seemed rather cold and critical with her blonde hair and clean pressed dress, she was very pretty and prim much the opposite of herself who hardly bothered to brush her hair more than four days a week. ‘My dad is participating, we are here on vacation. It’s payback for dragging him through a shopping spree.’ Holly admitted as she decided to give the older teen the benefit of the doubt, even if she felt like she was being accused of something.
‘That makes sense,’ as the blonde glanced away nervously Holly wasn’t sure what to do, ‘Do you like Quidditch?’ She gave a nervous grin.
‘I am familiar with zhe sport,’ she admitted who now seemed just as relieved.
‘Holly,’ she introduced as the blonde blinked in surprise.
‘You are English?’ She asked in surprise, ‘Your French is incredible,’ she complimented.
‘Hardly my father put a charm this is his doing not mine,’ Holly admitted,
‘Impressive, oh Fluer,’ she rectified as the two shook hands. Holly soon found herself in a conversation on clothing, makeup, and celebrities. They paused when her dad came up he also looked very prim kinda reminded her of Malfoy only he didn’t look like a rat, and he actually looked like a nice but stern person.
It was weird Hermione never talked about stuff like this and her other roommates, while friendly avoid them for the most part. But it was refreshing in a way to just sit back and listen. Holly popped in to offer an opinion, as the tournament slowly winded down.
‘David Potter, not familiar, I do see the resemblance,’ she glanced as her dad stepped forward who smiled cockily. Fleur’s dad stepped forward with a polite wave.
‘My dad is the best, he reads so much, I swear he has the largest number of spells under his belt in this dueling bracket. Maybe even better, my dad wants to go pro even if the money is not as good.’ She went on as Holly nodded with a knowing smile, she had heard this a few times before.
Holly was disappointed her dad kept to simple spells by his standard hardly the spectacle he put forward against Quirrel. ‘You okay?‘Fleur asked as Holly waved off the concern.
‘It’s nothing,’ Holly smiled, as she was sure her new friend believed she was worried about her dad. She found Fleur was like Ron no filter but unlike Ron, Fluer seemed to love to talk, where Ron would allow some silence.
A body hit the table as the match was called, ‘yes!’ Fleur shouted as she stood up to celebrate as Holly blinked in surprise that her dad got dropped.
The two men smiled and shook her head as the pair walked down after the brief winner’s ceremony.
‘They both got a cash prize as they chatted away.
‘Sorry,’ Fluer apologized to Holly but, she just felt confused.
‘Could I inrezt you in an early dinner?’ He offered,
‘I could go for a meal,’ David admitted, as Holly blinked in surprise and awkwardness as she was dragged along to the local restaurant.
The dinner went smoothly but Holly kept quiet for a while as the two dads and Fleur chatted over dueling techniques, until her dad dragged her in.
‘You okay?’ Fleur’s dad cut in as Holly took a second to realize she was being addressed.
‘Yeah, just thinking,’ she admitted,
‘Ah taking your dads lose hard huh?’ The man surmised. ‘Don’t be duels like this have rules, far too many, to make a duel a good indication of skill.’ He smiled as both the younger girls looked at him in surprise.
‘But you won.’ Fleur blinked, as she looked at Her dad but he stayed silent.
‘Yeah cause he didn’t use to dueling, I fueled enough vets to know the difference. You hesitated a lot, your first instinct isn’t to disarm the want but take out the person. It happens from time to time, a vet from some blood war starts dueling thinking it will be a simple changeup. But they foul out use spells they shouldn’t and get disqualified, a long time ago a guy killed their opponent cause the
y had a flashback mid-fight. The difference between me and David is that we were both fighting him. That’s kinda why I wanted to have dinner wanted to know if I could talk you out of dueling just to be safe.’ He admitted.
‘No worries this was a one-time thing, I am going to be teaching next year and wanted to restart the school dueling club. I felt I needed to duel at least once to get the right idea.’ David admitted, ‘sorry if I worded you Mr. Delecore.
‘No trouble at all teaching you must be taking up at Hogwarts.’ He went on as the pair chatted away amicably. She glanced over at Fleur who now looked like Holly did, they left a lot unsaid but Holly got the impression her dad would be the victor in an all-out fight, without the regulations.
Holly noticed as Fleur seemed a bit more introverted as the meal carried on, ‘David Potter. Are you the guy that beat Voldemort?’ Fleur asked suddenly,
‘Nope that was my wife,’ David corrected,
‘Oh,’ Fleur’s dad realized, ‘sorry but that would explain a bit, I heard there was a recent incident with the stone.’ He recalled, which since Nicholas resided in France Holly guessed it was news here as well.
‘Yeah, that was fun it’s why I got the job the former was trying to steal the stone to bring back Voldemort.’ David admired,
‘Voldemort, really that wasn’t mentioned in the paper.’ Fleur’s dad glanced at him with suspicion.
‘Well he claimed to be him, so at least we got a copycat hanging around who broke into Gringotts.’ David shrugged, as Fleur’s dad had to agree as such a wizard would be dangerous regardless of the name.
Holly frowned at her dad it felt like a lie not pushing for the truth. The pairs split ways after a decent argument over the bill.
‘Why didn’t you convince him it was Voldemort?’ Holly asked as David sat down on the bike.
‘You can’t waste time arguing with people. While we know the truth, it’s not my desire nor should it be to stomp over every detail, to get him to see the danger. Was enough of a victory.’ He admired,
‘I don’t like it.’ Holly folded her arms, she felt him ruffle her hair. She swatted at him,
She whispered Page 79