The next few weeks passed in a blur. Everything was flowing wonderfully, everyone was getting along (Leah and Haylie occasionally had a row), and Quidditch practices were going great. We practiced two or three times a week, and it is so much fun being on the Gryffindor team. Everyone is so nice, and we’ve really bonded well as a team.
Being the overprotective sister that I am, I’ve made sure to check up on Maggie every few days to make sure that she’s doing okay. Danny, Maggie, and I would make sure to spend time with each other by visiting Hagrid, who’s grown to be a good friend, or simply taking walks around the lake and enjoying each other’s company.
The only problem in my new life at Hogwarts came in the beautiful blonde form of Hollie Larson. If I thought she was bad at Beauxbatons, she’s even worse here at Hogwarts. With ease, she’s wormed her way into all the dreams of half the male population at Hogwarts. The way she has been acting, it makes me wonder if she’s trying to prove something. Whether she’s proving herself or not, the only guys who seemed un-phased by her slim body and beautiful eyes were either taken or not interested in girls at all. The shocking thing was, the Marauders (with the exception of Peter) seemed to be immune to Hollie’s looks and charms. I knew that James still had his heart set on Lily, and Remus has liked Leah for ages, but what about Sirius? How can he, handsome and charming as he is, not have eyes for Hollie?
One evening in late September, I was sitting with my friends in the Great Hall, talking about whatever came to our minds, when my gaze fell to the Ravenclaw table. It was probably my “big sister” instincts, my eyes landed right on Maggie. Next to her was Hollie, and she was whispering into Maggie’s ear. My curly haired sister pulled away and gave Hollie a frightened look. Hollie, a look of triumph on her face, went back to eating. Maggie looked worried, and I decided then and there that I would confront my sister after the meal was over. I didn’t want Hollie talking to her, and knowing Hollie, she was probably up to no good.
The rest of the meal passed without much happening. Every so often, I would cast a worried glance over to the Ravenclaw table, but there was nothing I could do at the moment.
It was when Haylie had finally announced that she was done eating that I had my chance. Unfortunately, nearly the whole school had finished eating around the same time, and there was a crowd blocking the doorway into the hall. There was no way to get to Maggie.
I waited my turn and walked with my friends. As we exited the Great Hall and headed up the grand staircase, I kept watch for my sister.Everyone was in the hall all at once though, and it was impossible to find her. After one last wistful glance behind me, I continued with my friends up the stairs.
“Amelia, wait!” I heard a voice call, and I spun around. There was Maggie, pushing her way up the stairs to find me.
My friends all turned when they heard her shout. As Maggie drew nearer, they looked at me questionably. It was then that I realized that I had never introduced my friends to Maggie. They all knew Danny, but my Ravenclaw sister had never been mentioned.
“Maggie! I was looking everywhere for you,” I said.
“I need to talk to you,” S=she said in a rush. Maggie then realized that all my friends were eyeing her curiously. Her pale face turned a bright shade of red that could be seen down to the roots of her hair. She had gotten a lot more outgoing since coming to Hogwarts, but she was still very timid around people she didn’t know.
I turned to my friends. “You guys go back to the common room without me. I need to talk to my sister.”
Micky, Leah, and Haylie nodded and waved goodbye as they proceeded on their way. Lily however, stayed put. “If this is about that Hollie girl,” she said, “I want to be in on it. As Head Girl, I have the power to stop things like bullying.”
Maggie’s mouth fell open. I smiled to myself; Lily observes a lot more than I give her credit for. “But how…” Maggie trailed off, staring at my red haired friend.
Lily smiled warmly. “I saw her talking to you at dinner, and I got a suspicion that she’s up to something. Girls like her can’t be trusted.”
Maggie nodded. “But I can’t talk about it here…I’m actually not supposed to be saying anything at all.”
“Alright, then let’s find an empty classroom or something; somewhere remote, where we won’t be overheard,” I suggested as we set off at a brisk walk.
Lily, Maggie, and I paced down corridor after corridor, until Maggie pulled us into a random empty classroom. We headed straight to the far corner of the room. Lily and I pulled over some chairs, and we all sat down.
“Maggie, what’s going on?” I asked as Maggie took her place next to Lily and I.
“Well…it’s kind of a long story…” Maggie said nervously.
“We have all the time in the world, Maggie. If we’re out past your curfew, you won’t get in trouble. I’m with you,” said Lily.
A small look of doubt swept over Maggie’s face, and I decided to confirm what Lily had said. “Yep, if you’re with Lily, then the teachers can’t get after you.”
“Alright,” Maggie nodded, and began her story. “Well, this all started a few weeks ago. I was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room doing homework with a few other girls in my year, and I overheard that Hollie girl Amelia hates so much talking loudly across the room with a few of her friends. They were…um…they were talking about you, Amelia.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and Lily pressed Maggie to continue. “What did Hollie say about her?”
“She said that she didn’t know how people like Sirius and James could stand hanging around you. Hollie said that you were the biggest goody two shoes, and that you twisted the truth so that people would like you. At Beauxbatons, she said that she had the upper hand. The people there saw right through Amelia, and that’s why nobody liked her. But Hollie said that Amelia has been plotting to get all the best looking guys on her side just to get back at Hollie for how she was treated at Beauxbatons. Her friends then piped in with thing like ‘that’s so awful!’ and ‘A rotten girl like that isn’t worthy of Sirius’s attention!’”
A flush blossomed on my face as a cry of protest came from my mouth. “But I don’t LIKE Sirius like that! We’re just friends!”
Lily put her hand on my shoulder. “Amelia, we know that. Hollie’s just jealous, that’s all. She’s the one twisting the truth to make you sound like the wronged one. Now let Maggie finish.”
Maggie smiled gratefully at Lily and continued with her story. “After her little rant, Hollie seemed to realize that I was in the room. She came up to me and said, ‘Breathe a word of what you just heard to that sister of yours, and you’ll pay’. I told her that I had no idea what she was talking about. Hollie then said that she could use me, and said that if I didn’t do what she told me to do, she’d hurt me and spread all sorts of rumors about Amelia and our family. She then told me to think what she said over, and then a few days later, she started telling me to do things. She didn’t do this often, and they were only simple things like getting books from the library from her, or something about Sirius. So… seeing as though nobody could be hurt by those things, I did what she said. But I can’t take it anymore, Amelia! She could make me do something terrible, and then if I didn’t do it, she’d hurt you!”
I was in shock. I knew that Hollie was capable of doing nasty things, but I never thought she’d sink this low. Blackmailing my shy little sister just because she was jealous of me…my blood boiled in anger at the very thought.
“What did she want from you this morning?” Lily asked Maggie.
“She wanted me to get the password to the Gryffindor common room and give it to her,” Maggie replied.
“Sweet Merlin, she could do lots of things if she had that!” I exclaimed. “She could pull some cruel prank on me, or one of the other girls in our dorm. Or, she could get into one of the guys dorms…” I trailed off, thinking about all the cruel things Hollie could do with that password.
“I didn’t give it to her. I didn’t say anything,” Maggie explained.
Lily nodded in approval. “Good for you, Maggie. That’s probably the best option. She may think you said that you would get it for her, but you don’t have to. We’re going to do something about her, don’t worry.”
A thought crossed my mind. It was a perfect, no brilliant idea. “So, Hollie wants to play games with my sister. I say we play along. There’s no way she’s winning this.”
“Amelia, what are you talking about?” Lily demanded.
I got up from my chair and ran to the door. “I’ll be back in a minute!”
Fifteen minutes later, I returned to the room with Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter in tow. “What is this all about?” James demanded, taking a seat on one of the empty desks.
“We need your help,” I told them. “Hollie’s been blackmailing my sister, and if she isn’t stopped, someone could end up hurt. This morning, she told Maggie to get the password for our common room.”
“Merlin, that girl is nastier than I thought,” Sirius commented, taking a seat next to James.
“Amelia, why did you drag all of us here? Lily is here, she’s Head Girl, why don’t you just go to Professor Dumbledore?” Remus asked.
“That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering.” Lily added. “There’s no need to drag all of these Marauders into this, when we could solve this here and now by a trip to the Headmaster’s office.”
I sighed in exasperation. “Don’t you guys see? I’ve known Hollie for six years, and she doesn’t just give up on things. If we go to authority, then Hollie will know that Maggie told about what she was doing, and Hollie will find some way to get back at her for telling. Hollie may look all pretty and harmless, but she’s a treacherous little snake.”
“You know, I like how you think,” James commented, grinning at me. “We can deal with this ourselves, who needs authority? She plays dirty, and we fight right back! Plus, you have a problem, and you’ve come to the right people to solve it.” Lily rolled her eyes at this, but nobody noticed but me.
“We’re going to devise a plan to keep Hollie away for good!” Peter piped in enthusiastically.
My eyes turned to Maggie, whose face was a shade paler than what it had been. I tried to imagine how she felt. A really cruel girl was downright nasty to her, and now her sister and the coolest kids in school were helping her get back for it. I smiled. I would be freaking out if I were her as well.
“So Amelia, if we’re going to pull something on Miss Hollie, what type of prank do you want? Something funny and publicly humiliating?” Sirius suggested. “Or something more cruel, that will emotionally tear her apart? Yes, we can be quite cruel sometimes.”
Still sitting next to Maggie, Lily gave a loud laugh. She must know all too well of the pranks the Marauders pull.
“Now Miss Evans,” James said in a polite voice, “are you doubting our master pranking skills?”
Lily shook her head, trying to fight a fit of laughter. “Why of course not, Mr. Potter. I just doubt that your ‘pranking skills’ can be trusted.”
James ignored this and returned to me. “So Amelia, what do you want us to do?”
“Although publicly humiliating her would be highly amusing…I was thinking of something with more…. impact.” I said.
Sirius nodded. “Impact it is.”
Lily, Maggie, and I sat on the sidelines and observed as the four Gryffindor boys furiously worked on their plan. They suggested ideas, most of which were turned down directly after being suggested. It was amazing to watch them work. Each boy seemed to have his own place in the group. Remus, being head boy and everything, seemed to like keeping things organized. Immediately when they started planning, he whipped out a sheet of parchment and began scribbling down all the ideas that were suggested. He was one to find all of the flaws in the plans. James and Sirius came up with lots of the ideas, and by these, I got the sense of what their places were. James and Sirius firstly, were the leaders. James was the behind the scenes guy, if there was any sneaking around to be done, he would do it. Sirius had a more public aspect to him, if there was a need to confront Hollie, his charms and good looks that earned him that role. It took me awhile to figure how Peter fit in. He stuck out like a sore thumb, lacking the wit and intelligence of the other three. At first, he seemed to only be there for comic relief, but I soon realized that he too had a place. It was Peter’s duty to cause distractions and make a fool of himself if he had to.
The Marauders worked furiously, occasionally cracking a joke, and after awhile, Lily pulled me back into the corner of the room.
“Amelia, I know that you just want to help Maggie, but are you sure that this is the best way to solve it?” she said, concern in her bright green eyes. “I know that these guys are your friends, but I just don’t”“
“”Trust them?” I finished. When Lily nodded, I continued. “Lily, I know that you don’t like them. This is for my sister, and they’re my friends. Plus, knowing their opinions on Hollie, I doubt they’ll let me down.”
“But how do you know that? You’re so quick to trust them, but they could just be only in it for a laugh,” Lily reasoned.
She had a point, but I didn’t care. “If that’s the case,” I shrugged. “Then I guess I’ll just have to laugh along.”
It was then that James called out to us. “Oi! Amelia, Lil-uh…Evans! I think we have a winner!”
Lily flushed slightly; James had almost called her by her first name. I grinned to myself. It looked like Sirius and I’s plan was working well.
d23;d23;d23;
Their plan was a good one…no, it was a brilliant one, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
That evening in the common room, Sirius came up to me while I was doing my homework. The table was empty, Haylie was off doing some extra flying, Micky was in the dormitory sleeping, and Lily and Leah were in the library doing homework. He sat down next to me and slipped something into my hand.
I set down my quill and glanced at the scrap of parchment that was now in my hands. “Um…Sirius, what is this?”
Sirius grinned evilly. “This, Amelia, is the secret to Hollie’s demise.”
I was confused. “You’re going to crush Hollie’s spirit…with a scrap of parchment?”
“Ah, but this isn’t just any scrap of parchment!” Sirius reached into his robes and pulled out another scrap of parchment. “Take a look at this.” Sirius tapped the paper with wand, and words began to form on it as if they were being written in invisible ink. I also observed that they were written in Sirius’s slightly messy scrawl. I looked down at the parchment in my hand, and the same thing was happening to it.
Wow, I thought to myself, this must have taken ages to create. “Wow…how did you”“
Sirius interrupted my question. “Protean Charm. We created this last year while doing tests for the Ma…uh…for a test we were doing for a prank.”
“This is brilliant,” I exclaimed, gazing at the words forming on the page. Sometimes I see you across the room and wonder if you ever notice me. My eyes shot up to look at Sirius’s face. “A love note?”
Sirius nodded. “Tomorrow sometime, it’s my job to flirt shamelessly with Lady Hollie, and then ‘accidentally’ drop this. The hard part is to make sure she picks it up,” he explained.
My throat seemed to close up for a brief moment. He was going to write my worst enemy love notes. I couldn’t possibly see how this would crush her spirit. “So you’re going to write her love notes? Um…how does this tie into things?” I asked, trying to keep my voice level.
Sirius grinned proudly. “I’m going to write her love notes for a week or so, and then, I’ll catch her while she’s reading one of them and tell her it was all a mistake, and that the note was meant for someone else.”
Despite my mixed feelings I had about his plan, I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of Hollie’s face when Sirius would tell her this. “Oh, she is going to be furious!”
Just then, Lily came tumbling through the portrait hole. She had been carrying an armful of books, and tripped on the way in. Sirius and I rushed over to help her up. Lily looked up at us, her gaze accusing. “What have you two been up to?”
Sirius picked up the last of her books and set them on the nearest table, repeating the plan to Lily.
Lily shook her head and sighed. “It amazes me how you Marauders always come up with these crazy schemes.”
Sirius grinned and took a small bow. “Why Evans, you’re making me blush!”
Lily rolled her eyes and laughed. “But what if this doesn’t work? Hollie’s not stupid, she is in Ravenclaw.”
“Lily, I’ve known Hollie for six years. I would know better than anyone here that once she’s latched onto an idea, she’s stuck. Trust me, this will work,” I said, imitating Sirius’s mischievous grin.
d23;d23;d23;
And fall for it, she did. Lily and I stood at one side of the corridor, pretending to be in conversation, but really, I watched with very mixed emotions as Sirius approached Hollie. My eyes narrowed in disapproval as he leaned sideways against the wall, his sleek black hair in his eyes, smiling like he had a secret.
Hollie’s back was up against the wall. Her long blonde hair was sleek and shiny as usual and her face was alight with a content smile. She looked around, her expression was bragging. She saw me watching her across the hall pretending to talk to Lily and shot me a triumphant sneer.
I looked away quickly. If only she know what Sirius was really up to, I told myself. Behind all those dashing looks and charming smiles was a man on a mission, and she was thick enough to believe that he really wanted her.
“How do you think it’s going so far?” Lily hissed in my ear.
I shrugged. “Fine, I think she’s falling for it.” Just then Hollie let out a giggle. “Scratch that, I know she’s falling for it.”
“You can say that again,” Lily commented. “Ugh…she’s so disgusting. Flinging herself at any good looking guy, it makes me sick.”
I silently agreed as Sirius began digging in his pockets for something. Hollie was watching him with interest, her head cocked to one side. Sirius then spoke, his face apologetic, and walked away. In his hurry to leave, I saw the crumpled piece of parchment flutter to the floor.
Hollie, having noticed it too, bent over and picked it up. After examining it for a minute, she smiled triumphantly and pocketed it. It was then that she turned briskly and stalked over to Lily and me.
“So, Amelia. Thanks for ALL the help you gave me, but it turns out I didn’t really need it. Sorry.” Her voice was mocking, and my eyes narrowed instantly. “You see,” she flipped her hand through her hair. “It turns out I didn’t need your help. I’m just so irresistible that I could snag him myself. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, you fought a hard battle, and I respect you for it. It turns out that I’m just prettier and more attractive than you are, and Sirius has obviously realized that.” She smiled sweetly. “So, I guess that means I win.” With that, she turned on her heel and marched away.
I felt like I had been slapped in the face. She thinks she’s won, and now she feels the urge to gloat and throw it all back into my face. The nerve!
“Um…Amelia, is she always like that?” Lily asked quietly.
I nodded, unable to speak. It felt like my heart was stuck in my throat and I just wanted to go cry somewhere. I hated it when Hollie did this to me. I can stand up to adults and I can take their criticism fine, but when it came to my peers being nasty to me, I just cracked. “Although she’s never been that vicious.”
Lily, being the sweetheart that she is, must have noticed my discomfort. “Well, I think that she’s downright nasty. I can see how you didn’t like Beauxbatons that much with her working against you the entire time.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly it. Come on, Lily, let’s get to class.”
d23;d23;d23;
The next week passed with mixed feelings on my part. I don’t know why, because the idea seemed brilliant at the time, but I just didn’t feel like participating in the plan anymore. Maybe it was because Hollie was my worst enemy, or perhaps it was because Sirius was getting so into it. Time after time that week, I had to mentally slap myself to keep from strangling Hollie. I was constantly fighting an internal battle. Deep down, I knew I shouldn’t be getting so jealous over a prank; after all, Sirius and I were only friends. It’s like what Hollie said on my first full day here, he would never fall for a girl like me. Plus, half the Hogwarts female population were probably head over heels in love with him, and he didn’t need me joining their numbers.
“Your eyes, they shine like pale moons! I long to get lost in them, but…” Sirius was writing on Sunday evening as we sat at a table in the common room.
I turned away, trying not to gag. It had been almost a full week since we started this whole plan, and I was starting to wonder when Sirius was going to bring this whole scheme to a close.
Alight with her supposed success, Hollie had taken to tormenting me at every opportunity. “Amelia, don’t look so down!” she’d croon in mock comfort. “After all, I told you he’d never fall for you.”
“Hollie, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I would tell her, and she would grin that triumphant smile.
Sirius, who had elbowed me, brought me from my thoughts. “Amelia, what do you think? Is this good?” He asked me, holding out the parchment.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I think that you’ve tormented her enough, Sirius. You need to pull this to a close.”
“But this is so much fun! Seriously, Amelia, this is probably one of the funnest pranks I’ve ever played on anyone! I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I pull the news on her.”
“Funnest isn’t a word,” I mumbled crossly to myself.
“What?”
“Never mind, it was nothing.” I took a deep breath, preparing to let my frustration from the past week out. “Let me remind you, Sirius Black, that we’re playing this prank for my sister’s sake, not for your personal enjoyment. Do you have any idea on how brutally Hollie’s been treating me this past week? She thinks she’s got you in the palm of her hand, and I know it’s supposed to work out like that, but she’s been taking it out on me. I’m getting kind of tired of her snide remarks every time I run into her anywhere. So if you seriously want to go shag Hollie or something, at least wait until the prank is over. We’ve worked hard on this for Maggie, and it would be a shame to see it wasted.”
With that, I slammed the book I was reading shut and marched up to the dormitory. I know I overreacted on Sirius, and that I shouldn’t have taken it out on him and accused him of such awful things, but I was getting sick of it all. I spent the next half hour with an understanding Lily, venting on how stupid guys were.
d23;d23;d23;
Lily and I headed down to the Great Hall for dinner that evening like usual. Unusually, though, we sat farther down the table, away from the Marauders. I had resolved to not talk to Sirius until he ended this whole scheme.
I was almost finished eating when Hollie dashed into the Great Hall, her eyes streaming with tears. She sped to the Ravenclaw table and instantly started sobbing hysterically on her friend Bree’s shoulder. As I watched as she pitifully gained some composure and started eating. Her beautiful clear blue eyes were red and blotchy, and her face was somewhat swollen from crying. I knew that my insults to Sirius had made him see reason, and he had instantly ended it.
Surprisingly, the satisfaction of crushing Hollie that I expected didn’t come. Instead of the joyous satisfaction I wanted, I felt empty and cold.
“Lily, I’m not really hungry anymore,” I told Lily and got up to leave. I kept my eyes on the floor as I made my way out of the Great Hall. As I rounded on the grand staircase, I nearly walked into someone. “Sorry,” I mumbled as I started to continue on my way, but a strong hand gripped my shoulder to keep me from escaping.
I glanced up and met Sirius’s eyes. “Look, Amelia,” he began letting go of me. “I just wanted you to know that I ended it. I guess you were right, I got too into the prank and didn’t realized I was going too far.”
I sighed. “It’s not your fault, Sirius. I always get really…weird when it comes to Hollie. I was selfish, although we were doing this for Maggie; I guess I was sort of doing it for myself. But, I realized when I saw Hollie at dinner tonight that revenge isn’t right, and it only leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth. So…what I’m really trying to say, is I’m sorry for dragging you into this whole conflict, and I’m sorry for freaking out at you earlier. It was really stupid of me.” I took a deep breath, glad that the words had stopped flowing from my mouth.
“Apology accepted,” Sirius said, smiling slightly. “So, are we good?” He stuck out his hand in a form of agreement.
I shook it, feeling the now familiar jolt as our hands touched. “We’re good.”
“Great. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to head to supper. I’m starving.” Sirius said, and we continued on our way. He went to dinner, and I to the common room.
A Girl Like You by Lady Alanna
Chapter Notes: Well everyone, here's chapter eight! This is by far my favorite chapter so far. Thanks so much to my friend Cathy who came up with the basic idea for the prank they play on Hollie and of course, to Kate for the great beta job!
Chapter Endnotes: Hope you liked it! As always, leave a review!