Yes, My Lord

Chapter 1:10

She shoved up her shirt sleeve and looked at her watch. He was late. She ran her thumb over the glass. This watch was her mothers. It had a dark green face and black diamond studs in place of the numbers. The hands were gold and thin. A snake charm dangled from the top of the strap which was black leather. Her mother wore the watch everywhere she went. Holly didn't know if it was symbolic or not, but it did mean a great deal to her mum. She remembered the day it was given to her; it was the clearest memory.

It was summer. I was sitting on the beach, mum on my left and Nathaniel and Dad on my right. Dad had my hand in his, gesturing me to stand up. I stood and he walked me over to the edge of the sea. The shimmering waves of the sea absorbed the hot sun rays which ferociously beat down on the water. He put me on his shoulders and walked right into the water. A wave was coming at full speed towards me and I gripped my Dad's hair in fear. He chuckled and said,"Holls it's ok" in the most calming voice, "Everything's going to be ok." The wave washed over us and left a warm feeling. I giggled. "Again! Again!" I exclaimed. The waves had retreated and he put me down on the sand. Nathaniel and mum came running from behind us and plunged into the water. I got up and followed them in. My mum picked me up and spun me around, leaving me in giggles. Nathaniel had started a water fight with Dad and me and mum joined in. I took my sand castle bucket and filled it up as much as I could and poured it over my dad. "Oi you cheeky monkey!" He chased after me, me trying to run away from him but finding it hard seeing as I was laughing between breaths. The sun had set; the dark-blue water cutting off the orange hue of the sky. We were sitting back down on the beach, my head in my mum's lap. She was fiddling with something on her wrist, trying to take it off. "What's that?" I asked, tugging at the charm attached to the strap "That's for you" she replied.

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Just as Holly was about to leave the Library, Sirius appeared next to a short, dirty-blonde haired boy.

"Hey Holls," Sirius chirped.

Holly found his positive energy annoying as she had waited a full 15 minutes for him to show up and had been getting tired. She crossed her arms across her chest and stared Sirius down.

"Where were you?"

Sirius could tell Holly was getting angry and started backing away, "Easy Holls, I was just sorting something out, that's all"

Holly started moving closer, making Sirius uncomfortable, "I've been waiting 15 minutes for you!"

"I know, I know I'm sorry, it won't happen again"

"It better not"

"It won't" Sirius made his way towards the chair and sat down, his legs outstretched on the table. He picked up an idle book from the table, and started flipping through it, not interested in the contents.

"And who's this?" Holly gestured to the other boy.

Sirius looked up at Peter and tilted his head, "To be completely honest with you," he scratched his head, "I have no idea"

"Hey!" The small boy exclaimed.

"Only messing Pete" Sirius smiled.

"Pete?" Who was Pete?

"Yeah Peter, he's a friend of mine"

"What's he doing here?" Holly wasn't sure why Sirius bought this 'Pete' over to their talk; it was meant to be private.

"You know you can just ask me" Peter spoke up. Holly turned around and looked at him carefully. Noticing that all eyes were on him, he quickly looked at the ground, regretting saying anything in the first place.

"Don't worry he's not staying" Sirius spoke, not looking up from the book,"He just needs to check out some books, don't you Pete?"

Peter quickly nodded his head and went off. Holly slowly took a seat next to Sirius who watched Peter walk away before resuming flipping through the book.

"Ok hold on," Holly pointed behind her, "What was that all about?"

"Hmm?" Sirius was still looking at the book.

"Sirius!"

Sirius looked up at Holly. She was angry. He slowly closed the book and pushed it away. He took his feet off the table and turned to face her. "What's wrong?"

Holly took a deep breath in. "I asked you to come here so I could talk to you"

"Talk? About what?"

"Well about the letter," Holly paused, waiting for a reaction from Sirius but finding none. Warily, she continued, "The letter from Walburga"

"Um yeah what about it?"

"Well have you read it?"

"No. And I have no intention to either." He got up and put the book back on the shelf.

"Well me and the guys had a plan to-"

"Hm?" Sirius was searching the shelves, trying to find another book. He proceeded onto the next set of shelves, causing Holly to get up from her seat and follow him.

"We were planning to do something to help you"

"Aha!" Sirius had found the book he was looking for and pulled it out. He stopped and looked at Holly, "Did you say you wanted to help me? Help me with what?" He tucked the book under his arm and rested his eyes on Holly's face, waiting for a response.

She opened her mouth only to shut it again, not sure how to say what she wanted to say.

"Well?"

"We-want-to-break-into-Dumbledore's-office-and-talk-to-the-sorting-hat" It all came out in a rush, leaving Holly breathless.

"You wanna do what?!" Sirius spoke, disbelief present in his voice.

"Well only with your permission of course"

"My permission? Holly you have no idea what you're saying."

He pushed past her and made his way towards the door of the library.

"We want to ask it about your sorting and hopefully it will change your house" She was half-jogging after him, trying to keep up.

He chuckled, "Holly it doesn't work like that"

"But we have to try!" She caught up and stood in front of Sirius, blocking him from walking any further, "Please Sirius?" She pleaded, "Don't you want this?"

"I do Holls, I do but not like this," His voice was breaking, "What's done is done, I can't argue with it"

"But maybe we can change what's happened!" Holly exclaimed hopefully.

He sighed and ran a hand down his face. Stopping at his eyes, he let out a light chuckle. He dropped his hand and smiled, "You never give up do you?"

Holly smiled and shook her head.

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