The Twin

Chapter 2

"Holly..." Holly blinked, taking in the world before her. The first thing she saw was a white room, where there were many cots of the color of snow. Then, she noticed two pairs of gray and sparklingly blue eyes gazing at her, belonging to Draco and Charlotte respectively. Holly sat up, and immediately knew that she was going to be sick. Charlotte, who was sitting next to her bedside, handed her a pail, where she emptied the meagre contents of her stomach into. Holly heaved once before looking up. There were dark circles the size of bags under Draco's eyes and his usually immaculate hair was messy. Charlotte looked exhausted too and her tanned skin was pale. "Holly, are you alright? You were out for an entire 3 days. What happened?" Draco spoke, all haughtiness abandoned. Concern was dripping from his voice. "I...I'm in the hospital wing, aren't I?" Holly looked around before exclaiming wildly, "Wait, how did I get here? Besides, I shouldn't be here! What about the Quidditch match that was supposed to take place? Am I still competing?" Draco sighed dramatically, "Calm down, Holly, or else Madam Pomfrey would kick us out. Don't overstress yourself, the Quidditch match is postponed to next week, seeing that our most important player was absent. And if you really want to know, I carried you here. You were acting so weird, like you were ill or something. And then you blacked out, Charlotte and I did not know what to do. Sooo..." His usually pale face was blushing crimson. As Holly listened, her breathing eased, the arms that had lifted her up belonged to Draco, and she didn't miss the Quidditch match after all. But she "Now will you tell me what happened?" Nodding, Holly spilled everything that she had kept to herself for the past days. When she finished, Draco looked solemn. "Black is your godfather?" "And he kept all that from you?" The cheery voice of Charlotte was happy no more. Holly fought back tears which were overflowing from her green eyes. "I-I think so. But...I'm not sure who to believe now... I don't know what to do anymore." Holly shuddered and took a deep breath. Draco looked immensely apologetic and Sophie put an arm around her. "Well, today's your lucky day. I found something that you might find useful." The silent Charlotte spoke, turning to take out a piece of battered parchment which was yellowing at the corners. Tapping her wand twice on the surface, he cleared his throat, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Words start to form on the once blank piece of parchment, spelling, "Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present..." " What-the Marauders Map? What's that?" Sophie smirked her trademark smirk, which Holly took it as he meant, 'You'll see'. Eyes straying back to the map, Holly's jaw dropped open. The words disappeared, an in its place was a magnificent display of Hogwarts, complete with all the secret passageways and entrances. But what was the most fascinating, was that each and every member of Hogwarts could be seen as a black dot and Holly could trace every wand movement, every classroom or place the staff and students went. According to the map, Peeves the poltergeist was zooming around in a hallway, loosening the screws on chandeliers and blowing raspberries at every passer-by. (well technically u cant actually see that on the map but its just fun < 3) "This is amazing, Sophie! Where did you get it?" She exclaimed. "I was doing detention with Filch yesterday, and when he went away to settle something, I saw this beauty sticking out of a drawer labelled Private. So yeah!" Just then, Madam Pomfrey ushered in and told Holly with an almost mischievous smile on her face, "Miss Potter, feel free to leave any moment, I have given you your required potions when you were asleep." Finally! Holly jumped out of bed and ran out of the hospital wing with Draco and Charlotte at her heels.

"Do you think I should bring Snick to the hospital wing? He's been looking terrible. Now you may be asking me, why do I bother? I don't know either." Draco joked once they got back to the common room. Holly rolled her eyes, it was a known fact by Slytherins that Draco absolutely detested his pet rat, but was told by his mother that Snick used to belong to her and he could only change pets at his fourth year. So Draco was stuck with Snick for the time being. It was true. When Holly spared a glance at the rat who was almost being crushed to death in Draco's palm, she had to admit. Draco was right. Clumps of brownish-black fur was dropping from Snick, his whiskers were droopy and his jaw slack. "Ugh, I just want to flick this stupid lazy idiot away." He stared at the rat, the words "DISGUST" was etched on every inch of his face. "Hey, that's not very nice, Draco. Don't you dare to do it. " Sophie interjected, being that animal lover she was. "Don't tell me what to do, Sophie. If you had this rat for 13 years, trust me. You'll be wanting to throw him in the dumpster too." Draco said indifferently. Holly agreed exuberantly, looking at the brown rat with dislike. "Well we know how you're always a goody-two-shoes, Charly. You don't even want to hurt Snick." Holly teased, nudging her friend's shoulder. "What, he's still an animal, okay? Just because he is a little ugly and a little lazy does not mean he doesn't have animal rights! He deserves the same respect as you or Draco get!" Said Charlotte defensively.

A/N: I dropped a little hint about Charlotte's background, did you get it? Clue: she's the only one who actually likes Snick, can you guess what that means? This will lead to a major plot change in the back parts of this story. :D