Amazons VS Marauders

Chapter 8: The Hippogriff

  Holland felt good for the first time since Malcolm assaulted her the day of the prank. Everyone was talking about what happened the same morning, excited, fascinated or scared. It depended.

Most of the people were rooting for the Amazons. Why? Well, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor mostly because the victim was a Slytherin, but the Slytherin girls were mostly for the Amazons too. Apparently, Malcolm Pucey wasn't known for being respectful towards girls, so they were grateful the Amazons made something about it.

The teachers were all asking if the students had an explanation of what Malcolm Pucey did. They didn't know if they should look for the Amazons, since it was a threat towards Malcolm, or if they should punish the young Slytherin. Holland knew she would soon have to tell Dumbledore, but she was still trying to find a way to do it without telling everyone she was an Amazon.

Holland was quietly talking with Courtney and Blair about the prank. Courtney thought the prank was amazing, since she never liked Malcolm Pucey, and Blair didn't see it, but she thought it wasn't a great idea to prank a Slytherin. Holland avoided to explain the way she felt about the prank.

"Potter is coming towards us," Courtney announced after a little while, her blonde hair falling in the middle of her back.

Holland's head snapped upwards, and her green eyes locked with James' brown ones. She glanced at Blair and Courtney quickly. They couldn't know she acted nice with him once. It wouldn't be smart.

"Cordero, can I talk to you?", he demanded, running a hand through his messy hair.

Holland peered at her hands. She didn't know what to answer. She could feel her long hair covering her eyes. Courtney and Blair were staring at her and James with shocked expressions, and Holland wasn't comfortable. At all.

"What do you want, Potter?", Holland asked, fixing her headband.

"I need to talk to you, I told you."

The young girl sighed, and raised on her feet. She followed him to a different corridor. Holland thought she heard Blair whisper 'Don't tell me Holland slept with Potter!", but she couldn't swear it.

"Potter, I told you to not come to me. I will never thank you enough for what you did to me that night, but I can't be seen with you. And you can't be seen with me," Holland whispered hastily when they were far enough.

James ran a hand through his messy dark hair again, and pushed his glasses up the edge of his nose. Holland noticed he was doing it quite often. Not that she ever stared at him. Not at all.

"I know, Cordero, I know, but I had to talk to you. I wanted to know something. That prank, to Pucey, this morning, it was because of what he did to you, right?", he demanded.

Holland entwined her hands and stared at them. She didn't know what to say yet.

"I don't know. How am I supposed to know? The Amazons always act secretly, I don't see how I could know," Holland said casually, feeling her heart beat way faster than it should.

James didn't seem to believe her, and Holland held her breath.

"Cordero, how would they know what happened to you if you didn't tell them? Maybe you're even one of them."

Holland raised her eyebrows, and raised her chin, so she would look confident. Holland knew how to act to intimidate people. She knew how to make people fear her. It was easy. You must look confident, chin up. Walk elegantly, like royalty. Look at the people like they're as valuable as insects. Throw insults here and there. That's the way people fear you, so you've got respect.

The Hippogriff never liked to act like this. But she always had to. Not only to hide the fact she was an Amazon, also because of her family. Holland's family were rich purebloods, who thought the 'purity' of the blood was the most important thing about someone. They didn't like the fact Muggleborns were now going in Hogwarts, and her family was composed entirely of Slytherins. Charles and Melinda Cordero were working at the Ministry, and influent people. Holland was scared her parent would join the Death Eaters, since their values were alike.


Holland always felt the pressure of being a Cordero. She had to succeed in every subject, to never talk with Muggleborns and Blood traitors. But Holland tried hard to understand what was different between Purebloods and Muggleborns, yet she never found out. That's why she was covering the fact she was friends with Elizabeth, Theresa and Sofia, Ellie being a Muggleborn, Sofia an half-blood and Theresa considered as a 'Blood-traitor'. Her parents couldn't know, and that's one of the reasons they decided to keep their little group a secret.

"I'm not, Potter," Holland snickered. "And if you didn't notice, the Amazons have eyes everywhere. How would they know everytime your lame group, the Marauders, pull a prank? Usually, they prank when you do. No one knows how they're doing. Why would I?"

James seemed to think about what she just said, furrowing his eyebrows together. Usually, he would have exed someone who called he and his friends 'a lame group', but he was so focused about the Amazons he decided to let it go. It showed Holland how much it was important to im, because James Potter had more pride than all the Amazons together.

"Yeah, right... Sorry Cordero," James Potter announced after a small while.

"But, why do you want to know? It's not like it's important, right?"

"I want to know who The Amazons are. And I know I'm going to find each one of them one day, I just need some time. They're laughing at us, hiding in their corner. We'll see if they still laugh when everybody knows who they are."

Without an other word, James spun around his heels and left the young brown-haired girl standing there, her mouth open, her green eyes full of fear. Because she heard the determination in James' voice, and it was clear he wouldn't stop until he knew who they were.

James Potter could be a real threat.

***

Holland felt pretty confident when she knocked at Dumbledore's office door that night. When James spoke with her, it made her practice about what she would say. When she came back to her friends, Holland had to convince them that nothing happened between them, yet Holland was pretty sure they didn't believe her. The two girls knew Holland was keeping secrets from them, so they were doubting about her saying the truth.

After five seconds, Holland heard Dumbledore's voice, saying to come in. She unconsciously put a lock of her almost black hair behind her ear, quickly tied her green and silver tie, and then entered the Headmaster's office.

Holland never entered the Headmaster's office before. She often got detentions, but never from the Headmaster himself. It was mostly Slughorn, who was giving those. But everytime, she was deserving more than a simple detention. Holland was one of Slughorn's pet, with her gift in her Potions. She knew that the Potion wasn't about following the recipe, it was about trying different ingredients, and different methods, to do something even better than the recipe.

Dumbledore's office was full of magical instruments. Holland forced herself to control her thoughts, and to just go sit at his office, instead of examining every single artifacts. She also stared at the previous directors frames, most of them snoring peacefully. Holland suspected them to fake those snores. A lesson she knew too well, was to never trust a frame (That's a long story).

"Miss Cordero, have a seat," Professor Dumbledore said calmly.

The young girl's eyes flickered back to Dumbledore, who was sat at his desk. His silvery white hair and beard growing longer every day, his electric blue eyes analyzing Holland like he could guess why she was there. Holland did sat down, and entwined her hands on her lap.

"Professor Dumbledore," Holland began. "There's something you need to know."

Holland stopped, and the room was now completely silent, if you don't count the small whistles some artifacts were doing.

"I reckon there is a link with the incident Mr. Pucey was the victim of this morning?", Professor Dumbledore asked.

It was like he was reading her thoughts. Holland swallowed, and then nodded quickly.

"Yes. I know why the Amazons put that prank on him. I have no idea about how they discovered what happened, but I'm a 100% sure it's about what he did to me."

Holland felt uneasy, under the Headmaster's stare. She began to play with her black painted nails, unsure about what to do.

"And what did Mr Pucey do?"

She raised her glance to Dumbledore's, and in one breath, announced:

Holland told the whole story, without the parts about the party. The way she was saying it, it was like he decided on his own to drink, and he was the only one drinking alcohol. It was awful, for her, to tell all those things once again. Live it was such an hard task, telling it was only causing the memories to come bck. The way she felt. Powerless. Scared. Terrified, even. How dizzy she was, after the way her head hit the wall. Then she was at the part where James saved her from her boyfriend.

She still didn't know what to do about it. All the years she went to Hogwarts, Holland saw Potter like an arrogant, sexist wanker. But after what he did for her, she wasn't so sure. James acted bravely for her, even if they loathed each other. He asked for nothing in return, and it was only making Holland feel even worse about the way she treated him all those years, even though he deserved it most of the time.

"If it wasn't from James Potter... I don't want to think about what would have happened", the young girl concluded.

Holland couldn't hold Dumbledore's gaze, so she bent her head once again, her hair falling freely in front of her eyes in big waves, since her headband wasn't on her head anymore. Without knowing why, she felt quite ashamed. Holland soon took off that thought out of her head, and stared at Dumbledore, chin raised. She didn't do anything wrong. It was Malcolm who did, not her.

"I understand how hard it must have been to come to see me, Miss Cordero. And I am grateful for it. Mr Pucey is going to have the punishement he deserves, Miss Cordero, you can be sure about it. I'll tell to the other teachers that Mr Pucey deserved what he received, and they'll stop looking for the Amazons," he paused.

As much as his eyes were serious a few seconds before, there was now a twinkle in his eyes, like he knew something. Holland's heart beat quickened at the same moment, her mouth opening a little bit.

Does he know?, Holland wondered.

"The Amazons made you a favor, Miss Cordero. But make sure it doesn't happen too often, if the Amazons wants their identity's kept as a secret."

Then, Professor Dumbledore stared at Holland with an expression she couldn't read. But something was sure.

Dumbledore did know who were the Amazons.