Backfire

The outside of the castle glowed beautifully in the evening as the freezing winter wind began to burst in gusts through the air. Holland could do nothing but sigh in nervousness, hands toying with her straightened hair again. She had been staring out the window hopelessly, watching the snow fall and staring at the Durmstrang ship that stood still on the frozen lake. She had been nothing but excited for the ball, scribbling all sorts of amazing ideas on what else to add onto her ensemble. But now that it was in their midst, she found herself apprehensive, all feelings of joy and excitement nowhere to be found. Her friend Pansy eyed her from the other side of the room, shaking her head at the sight of her distraught friend. Pansy too toyed with her hair, smiling in satisfactory at how she looked. The girl had her hair up in a bun, twirling in her pink, frilly dress. She loved how she looked, and was hoping that Draco would, too.

"Oh, leave it, Holly." Pansy scolds, having walked from her side of the room and was now behind her friend. "You're beautiful." She says seriously, holding Holland's hands in hers. "That Weasel is one lucky slime to even have a girl like you breathe the same air as him." She says, her eyes landing on the silver necklace Holland hand on and delicately held its pendant in fascination. "It's gorgeous," She says, staring at her shiny trinket.

"Thank you," Holland says simply, still not able to trust her voice or even her body as fear had taken over her entire body. What she was so afraid of, nobody knew. Maybe it was because she had been dreaming of this night, already filling up her head with so many fantasies of what could happen. What if she got so excited for nothing?

Holland looked at herself once more in the reflection, sighing as she'd checked for any possible malfunctions she needed to fix before finally leaving to meet George. Hugging Holland's body perfectly was an emerald green off-shoulder, silk dress. The color giving off the impression that Holland was one to be pathetically prideful of her house, but she couldn't care less, she fell in love with it the minute she'd laid her eyes on it. Just when Holland expressed sallowness and desperation as she didn't know what her plan was for the ball, Teagan had dropped a plain black box wrapped in silver ribbon, a tag saying 'You'll look nothing but gorgeous in this! Love, Tonks' sticking out of the ribbon. Alongside the beautiful dress was a letter Nymphadora had written, expressing how she had finally become an auror and had wanted to give Holland a little something to celebrate. Holland clutched the letter to her chest, feeling nothing but happiness for her dear friend.

So there Holland was, in her beautiful green gown, hair enchanted to last an entire night staying sleek and straight,— still nervous and staring out the door, refusing to leave her dormitory whilst Pansy was already down their with her foot tapping in impatience. Pansy was used to dragging her friend out of their dorm, but this night, she figured her friend needed to get her act together.

"I'm going to slap you. Get out of there right now, Avery!" Pansy shrieks from the common room, waiting for Holland. As much as Holland wished that Draco and Pansy had an adorable and sweet moment when he'd ask her to the ball, they didn't. Fred asking Angelina would be the sweetest thing compared to how Draco did. Draco simply told Pansy the color of dress robes he'd be wearing, he didn't even ask the girl. Holland with shaking limbs walked down from their dorm to the common room, being met with the sight of the two bickering. But upon closer inspection, it looked a lot more like Draco was telling off Pansy.

"Yeah? If you're so confident, I'm sure you could spare me from a dance and go by your—" Draco had been so intent on yelling at Pansy, he'd come to a pause once he'd seen Holland. "Wow, so girls can clean up. Pansy, I don't—" Holland cuts him off before the two begin to bicker for another hour.

"Ah! Stop! Please, it's Christmas, no fights. Be a gentleman, Malfoy." Holland scolds, not wanting to spend a special night trying to reconcile her friends.

"She's got a point, you know." Pansy says to Draco. "Come on! Let's look for mistletoe." She follows excitedly, hooking her arm with Draco's as they begin to walk out of the common room, Holland following closely behind. Even though Pansy knew she could be treated better, she stayed loyal to her long-time crush, clinging onto him as if her life had depended on it. Holland was grateful George wasn't waiting for her outside their common room, she needed a moment to herself to prepare for seeing the love of her life in such attire.

Portraits and ghouls compliment the three, whistling and throwing friendly smiles their way. Nearly Headless-Nick even popped up, telling Holland she looked paler than him and that she should calm down because she looked beautiful. As the three reached the Great Hall, Pansy and Draco said they'd be going on inside, wanting to give Holland and George privacy. As Holland whined, not wanting to be left alone, she reluctantly agrees as she knew the two weren't exactly friends with George, anyway. Holland now stood alone, eyes scanning newcomers and hoping to see a familiar face. She sighs in relief as she sees the Patil twins, knowing that's who Ron and Harry were going with. Holland immediately walks over to them. As she neared them, she caught sight of her two friends, Harry in simple but very dashing robes, and Ron in the curtains his parents had sent him that morning in the Great Hall.

"Holland!" Parvati exclaims in surprise, Padma and the two boys looking at her and sharing the same look.

"You look beautiful!" The two girls say, earning a smile from Holland. She felt her cheeks burn, always flustered when girls complimented more than guys, it just felt more genuine. More students begin to walk down behind them, as they were all stood right next to the stairs.

"That's too kind, but I don't think you two have seen beautiful until you've seen a mirror," Holland winks, the girls beaming back at her. Holland now moves to Harry and Ron, the not being able to take their eyes off her. It was definitely a sight they weren't used to.

"Holland, you look amazing." Harry says, visibly shifting uncomfortably as he was nervous. Holland smiles at the sight of her wholesome friend, wanting nothing but to wrap him in a blanket and give him a cup of tea like she always did.

"Calm down over there." Holland says, putting her hand on Harry's shoulder as an attempt to stabilize him.

"Sorry," Harry says, trying to stop, still turning his head restlessly like he was looking for someone.

"Oh, Potter! There you are." McGonagall exclaims as she walks over the the boy and his date. "Are you and Miss Patil ready?"

"Ready, professor?" Harry asks, not knowing what she meant. Holland was now running her fingers along the hemline of Ron's dress robes, the boy swatting her hand away in frustration.

"To dance. It's traditional that the three champions, well, in this case four, are the first to dance. Surely I told you that," The professor says, looking beautiful in her green dress robes, much like her usual robes, but much more enchanting and formal, even having a few touch of feathers onto her hat.

"No," Harry says simply, the newly given information visibly adding onto his nerves.

"Well, now you know." She says and before turning to leave. "Oh," She says in surprise, stopping in her tracks as her eyes land on Ron's dress robes, fixing it up as she begins to talk to him. "As for you, Mister Weasley, you may proceed to the Great Hall with Miss Patil." The two then leave, Padma clearly not wanting to be left alone with Ron. Professor McGonagall's eyes then land on the Slytherin, her lips curling up into a sweet smile at her adored student.

"Miss Avery! What a lovely dress you have. I don't suppose you are here without a date, no?" McGonagall asks, almost offended that the girl was alone.

"Oh, you're too kind, professor. I do have a date, I'm still waiting for him." Holland explains shyly, not used to being complimented on her appearance instead of her hexes and pranks.

"Waiting?" McGonagall asks incredulously. "Any boy as lucky as stars to be able to take you to the ball should not have the nerve to make you wait, Avery!" Holland did her best not to jump back in the stern tone of her professor, knowing she was merely complimenting her, after all.

"Don't worry, professor. She won't be waiting any longer." Holland smiles as she hears a familiar voice, turning to see the twins behind her, one accompanied by a beautiful Angelina Johnson. The twins looked dapper, sporting black dress robes much like Harry's and almost twinkling in the light. Holland found herself trying her hardest not to melt at the sight.

"As she shouldn't," McGonagall says. "You best treat Miss Avery and Miss Johnson well tonight, boys." McGonagall says sternly, before walking off to the other champions.

Holland's eyes meet everyone's, from Fred, to Angelina, to George's. Holland couldn't do anything but smile, finally plucking up the courage to speak up.

"You look beautiful." Holland says to Angelina at the same time as George and Angelina when they say the same to Holland, the three making an interesting harmony.

"Well, I bloody well hope so." Fred jokes, diffusing the tension. The four chuckle and make their way to the Great Hall.

"You're breathtaking. Are you sure you're going to this ball with me?" George asks, pointing towards himself as he took in the radiance of his date.

"Stop," Holland whines quietly, not knowing what to say anymore to people other than 'thank you'. The bunch were now blended in a crowd of people, lined up as they await the four champions to enter with their partners. Holland examined the sky above her, the Great Hall enchanted to look like a winter wonderland. Everything was silver, white, and snowy. Holland wanted nothing but to run and twirl around in bliss, she'd always loved the snow. Music begins to play as the champions march inwards, Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies being the first to enter.

"Beautiful." Angelina Johnson says under her breath as she watched the veela in her shining, silky, silver gown. Fleur's gown matched perfectly with the Great Hall, looking like a snow queen.

"Beautiful, indeed." Holland says, looking at Hermione. Holland could feel her eyes well up with tears, she knew her best girl friend felt beautiful and it made her heart melt. For years, Hermione had suffered the wrath of being called a bushy-haired, bucktoothed, know-it-all of a 'mudblood'. Holland would always be the one to console her friend, Hermione never felt beautiful nor comfortable in her own skin in this school. She knew very well about her knowledge and cleverness, but it never could compare nor console the feeling of what it felt like to look the way she did on the outside. That's why watching Hermione Granger now, smiling genuinely and holding Viktor Krum's hand, made Holland feel so proud seeing her friend proud of herself for something not related to academics for the first time. Hermione finally gave in and told Holland the truth about Krum. The process wasn't easy, but Holland knew she had to be persistent to get on Hermione's nerves and have her crack. She informed Holland that Viktor had been showing motives, and had been very expressive of his liking for Hermione. Despite the many times of Hermione had been with Krum, that was all she had to say about him.

"Are you crying?" Fred asks Holland incredulously, laughing before squatting down, still needing to despite the fact that Holland had been two inches taller than usual.

"I can't help it. My Hermione's all grown up." Was all Holland could respond with before Fred readily reaches in his pocket and hands the girl a handkerchief. Before Holland could take it, a hand swats Fred's nearly making him drop the cloth.

"That's my job," The owner of the hand says, giving Holland a cloth identical to the one she was about to reach for. Holland laughs at how stupidly sweet the boy was before finally grabbing it and dabbing at her eyes carefully. After doing so, she returned her eyes and focus to whichever champion had been in front of her, it was Cedric. He looked happy, proudly having Cho Chang beside and smiling at the people who'd been cheering and clapping for him. As the champions began to dance, Cedric lifts Cho in the air, looking ecstatic. This surprises Holland, as the boy had been behaving less and less like the potion had an effect. Holland let out a breath of relief and satisfaction at the thought, only about a hundred days to go. His eyes meet Holland's, the smile never leaving his face while he gives her a knowing look as a greeting. Holland secretly snuck a peak at George to check if he'd seen, surprised to see he'd been looking at her.

"What are you looking at?" Holland interrogates jokingly, squinting her eyes. George laughs, shaking his head.

"You're too beautiful I think it'd be an insult to take my eyes off you," He said, earning a timid wack on the arm from Holland.

-

The ball was in its prime time, all the students now in the middle of the hall and dancing with their own dates, George and Holland being no exception. The two were in a peaceful and comfortable silence, George being a gentleman and having one hand occupied holding Holland's, the other on the small of her back and not sliding down any further. Holland rested her head on his chest, breathing in the smell of the man of her dreams.

"Who would have thought, you know?" George asks out of nowhere, smiling at the warmth on the lower part of his chest, where his date's head rested. At his inquiry, the head lifts to face him.

"Well, what do you mean? Who would have thought you and I would go to the dance together?" Holland asks, wondering if he meant what she thought.

"You and I getting together, of course!" Holland bit back a smirk, not wanting to give him the satisfaction and not allowing the boy to believe she'd be his girlfriend without even being asked, regardless of how badly she'd wanted this to happen.

"Are we together? I don't remember you asking me to be your girlfriend," Holland feigned ponder, eyeing the tall red-head and appreciating how much more wonderful he looked under the winter sky.

"That's because I haven't," George says smartly, then letting go of Holland before looking up, bringing up a pointed finger. "Look." He says in a grin, Holland quickly turning her head to see what he had been pointing at. The Great Hall has always had an enchanting sky, but tonight it was even more beautiful. It was the most magical Hogwarts could ever be. All Holland could do was admire the sight, trying to see what George was trying to show her, but to no avail. After deciding that she's tried searching the sky long enough, she looked back, well down, at a kneeling George, who was now holding a bouquet of paper roses, the exact same kind he'd given her when he'd ask her to be his date. Above him was a floating sign, similar to the banner that illuminated the lyrics of the Hogwarts song the school sang at the back-to-school feast. This banner didn't have lyrics on it though, instead was one word in a form on a question,'Girlfriend?', the boy below it sporting nothing but a goofy grin.

Holland giggles in delight at how much effort the boy had put in planning surprises for her. She then decided to give him a surprise, as well. She stopped giggling and let out a breath before answering. "No," She says, shaking her head in a smile, the boy's expression falling immediately, frozen still as he had no idea what to do, not expecting the girl to say what she did. Holland tried to stay silent, the boy's sullen expression making her break, she responds immediately.

"I'm kidding! Yes I'll be your girlfriend, you idiot!" She yells, the boy immediately standing up. He caught her in a hug, lifting her up and turning around in pure joy.

"You had me good, let me tell you. I was three seconds away from drowning myself in the showers for a minute there." George confesses, looking at her.

"Oh please, just kiss me already." Holland says, no longer being able to wait, the boy quickly, but carefully pressing his lips to hers. The two then hear howls and wolf whistles, turning their heads to see Fred and Angelina smirking at them.

"Go get him, girl." Angelina jokes, still dancing with Fred, a boy who'd been sending a wink to his brother before giving him a thumbs up.

"Glad you've finally done something, mate. Been tiring hearing you whine about Cedric for nights on end." Fred says, chuckling at his brother's mortified expression. Holland quickly turns her head to look at George, who'd been too embarrassed to look back at her.

-

As the night progressed, Holland found herself dancing with different friends of hers, now being with Fred. Though the two were identical, being in Fred's arms was a lot different than being in George's. His touch was almost ghostlike, barely there but was there enough to let Holland know that she was in fact dancing with someone. Though George was the one who'd really taken a fancy in the girl, Fred really had a soft and careful way of holding her, like she'd break. When it came to George, it wasn't that he was basically squeezing the life out of her, but his grasp felt as if, if he let Holland go, she'd never come back again. His hands felt longing, the entire night Holland tried to put a finger on what was with his hold was, and maybe it was because he really had been longing for her, after all.

"Lovely night, isn't it?" She asked, smiling at the sight of Angelina and George.

"You bet. If I feel like I'm on top of the world being here with Angelina, you best believe my brother feels no different." He says, knowing it was that easy to get the girl to blush.

"Oh, stop." Holland turns her head away as she blushed, her eyes resting on Neville, dancing with a much smaller girl. Her dress robes were lovely, a pastel green and pink and — is that Ginny Weasley? Holland smiles at the sight. She was about to ask the boy why they never told her their sister was coming when Fred spoke up first.

"I mean it. He'd never been too vocal about it, but we all just.. knew." Fred says. "And if my brother were to end up with any girl worth spending time with more than me, it just makes sense that should be you. Thank Merlin for that, too. I'm getting real sick of it." He chuckles, trying to make it come off as a joke, but Holland knew deep down that he was serious. The boys had spent their entire lives together, and it wouldn't be easy for Fred to have his brother taken away by some random person. Holland knew Fred and George really loved each other. But then again, probably the entirety of Hogwarts did, too.

"Did you ever think I liked him, too?" Holland asked, surprised the brother didn't notice anything.

"You must be joking, Holly. Everyone knew you liked him before we'd even begun speaking to you!" He laughed, Holland turning pink again. She put a palm to her face, no longer liking the topic they were discussing. "He and I figured it must have just been a silly rumor. Though when we got to spend time with you, George never noticed, but I did. Everyone knew except you two." He rolled his eyes.

"I love you, Freddie." Holland laughs, hugging the boy. "I feel bad, I feel like you and I haven't actually spent time together this year." Holland says, realizing her fights with George had completely taken her away from Fred.

"All in good time, Holly. You and I have years ahead of us." Fred says. (A/n: I'm not crying, y'all are.) The song had stopped, meaning Holland needed to dance with another friend of hers, she decided to dance with Draco next. She waved goodbye to the twins and Angelina after pointing at Draco, letting them know where she'd be going.

"May I have this dance?" Holland asks in a chuckle, bowing down and offering her hand to the boy in white dress robes.

"Avery," Draco raises his eyebrows, giving her a disapproving look playfully. "I thought you'd never ask." the boy jokes, the two laughing and beginning to dance.

"How are you and little Pansy?" Holland asks as the two sway around. Draco snorts, indicating that their night together must not have been so pleasant.

"Oh come on, it's Christmas! Lighten up!" Holland scolds the boy.

"You lighten up, Holly. Don't let my fucked up life ruin yours." Draco says seriously, making Holland frown.

"What are you talking about?" She asks, looking him in the eyes, Draco had a sullen expression hidden deep within his unfazed face, only Holland could actually see through his bad boy facade.

"It's nothing. I just.. I'm not happy with Pansy." He says through gritted teeth, not making the sentence be completely audible. "I like the feeling of being liked but.. when it's her, it doesn't matter. It's not worth it. I want to be liked, taken care of, not because of my last name, the amount of galleons in my parents' vault, none of that." Draco was completely unravelling himself in front of Holland, surprising the girl and himself. "But for now, I guess I could enjoy her quick sucks every now and then." He clears his throat, Holland rolling her eyes. The boy really had her fooled for a moment.

"You are disgusting." Holland winced at the cursed image that bore in her mind. She then decided to speak up about the first part confession. "I love Pansy with all my heart," Holland begins. "But I hope you know that some time in the future, you'll find your true love. Every fight won't go on and off like a faulty light and you're going to cherish every moment with her. You, Draco Malfoy, are going to learn how to love, and I'm going to be right here laughing in your face as you do."

"Bet you'd love that," Draco shook his head, still too young and naive to truly understand how relationships should really be. But based on his abrupt confiding, Holland figured he was on his way to maturity. "Speaking of love, you and Weasledum, eh? Was it Weasledum or Weaseldee?" Draco ponders jokingly, shrugging in pain as his friend had hit him in the arm.

"George Weasley, if that's who you mean." Holland corrects snootily, sneering at the boy.

"I'm only joking." Draco defends himself. "A beautiful pureblood like you, I'd expect you to know better. But if you're so happy, then why the hell not. It's not like any of us could dare try to make your mind up without having you hex our hairs off," Draco rolls his eyes in defeat, knowing his friend really liked the boy. Holland shook her head, wondering where the Draco who had spoken about real love to her was. And just like that, the song had stopped. Holland knew there wasn't enough time left, and she knew she had to choose between Harry and Ron to have her last dance with. The two were sitting, Padma and Parvati miserable sitting beside them. They looked like they hadn't danced more than twice the entire night. She began walking to the two, who had already seen her and smiled, waiting for her to come over. Before she could, somebody had grabbed her hand and spun her, as she'd faced the stranger, she smiled in surprise.

"Hello there," The boy sang, trying to say it the way Holland always did. Holland's eyes slightly widen, pleasantly surprised. She immediately accepts the boy's invitation to dance, as Cedric had approached her, bowing and asking for her hand.

"Hi! How is it with Cho?" Holland smiled as the two easily began to dance.

"Marvelous, she's wonderful." He says and Holland could only nod in response, things slowly becoming awkward between the two.

"She's beautiful," Holland says, not knowing why. She knew what would come if she said this, why did she have to set a trap for herself to fall in like that?

"She is." He says simply, confusing Holland. Was he not going to tell her that she was beautiful, too? That he thought she even looked more beautiful? He's drunken the love potion, hasn't he?

Before Holland could think up of another topic to bring up, in the corner of her eye, she saw Hermione and Ron talking, not in the most pleasant way. Ron was walking away, more calm than Hermione looked. Hermione was hot on his heels, clearly upset with the boy.

"Cedric, I'm sorry, I have to go." She apologized before running off to the two. Cedric politely lets her go, smiling as he did.

"It was wonderful dancing with you," He says, smiling. Holland did a curtsey she had never done the entire night, frantic as she really needed to go to her friends. She took her heels off and ran, not caring about the looks of surprise, disgust, and amusement by the students of Beauxbatons as she proceeded to go to the doors of the hall where her friends were heading off to.

"You know the solution then, don't you?" Holland hears Hermione say to Ron as the two walk out of the Great Hall as they argued. Holland looked desperate, searching for Harry so she could ask what was going on.

"Go on," Ron replies snarkily.

"Next time there's a ball, pluck up the courage and ask me before someone else does. And not as a last resort!" Hermione exclaims, voice breaking as tears filled her eyes, Holland feeling sorry for the girl.

"Well, I mean, that's just completely off the point — Harry." Ron says in relief as he'd spotted his friend who'd just joined the bunch. Holland whips her head to the direction of the boy, running to him and asking him what was going on.

"What is this?" Holland asks, stressed out.

"I- don't, — I have no idea," Harry stutters, confused as well.

"Where have you been? Never mind, off to bed, all of you!" Harry could only turn in confusion as a response before Hermione dismisses them.

"They get scary when they get older." Ron tells Harry loudly as the two climb up the stairs. Holland stayed behind despite her friend's orders, knowing what would come after the boys had gone.

"Ron, you've spoiled everything!" Hermione yells, the two walking up the stairs faster in fear as Hermione began to shrink down on the stairs herself, crying and taking her shoes off.

"Hermione," Holland says sadly, feeling broken at the sight of her friend. Tonight was supposed to be Hermione's night. She'd finally felt beautiful, and Ron let his stupid pride overcome him and had tried to let Hermione believe Viktor had no genuine intentions asking her to be his date, after jumping to the conclusion that Hermione'd been dateless in the first place. "I love you, beautiful." Holland began to soothe her crying friend, Hermione burying her head in Holland's shoulders as she let out sobs.

-

(A/n: Hey!! Fun fact: the inspiration for Holland's dress robes was actually a gown I had worn myself on my very first pageant on June 1 last year. I wrote this chapter on June 1, 2020, and it was so weird because I only realized that it had been a year since the pageant after I finished the chapter. That's just beyond mind-boggling to me!! I just fell in love with the color so much, and I hadn't actually pictured Holland as anyone yet, really just basing her off of someone like me, just prettier. As I progressed, the sudden image of her popped in my head!! Camila Mendes!! ((AND WHEN I WAS SEARCHING FOR PICS FOR THE COVER I SAW THIS PICTURE SO SHE'S JUST MEANT TO BE HOLLAND AVERY.)) Tbh, I'm not really the biggest fan of Riverdale, but I'm absolutely in love with its cast! Camila is definitely someone I adore, and I've been told we have the same features (same features but not like that we look alike lmao which is perfect!) Originally, I was going to post the picture of me in my gown but that would be too much of a self-insert kind of thing bwahaha. So finding Camila, y'all have been spared hahaha. Just a little share, that's all. Hope you all enjoyed this! All love x)