The Matchmaker

Chapter Fourteen: The Box

Chapter Fourteen: The Box
"The past beats inside me like a second heart."
John Banville
~

To say Dorea Black was nervous was an understatement. She had tried on at least eight outfits since she'd woken up before deciding none of them were good enough. After that, she demanded Holly use one her her stones to transfigure the perfect outfit.

It took a few tries and a lot of complaining from Eleanor, who just wanted to sleep. Despite everything Holly knew was going to happen, she couldn't help but feel excited at watching her parents fall in love. They were innocent and hadn't been corrupted by the worries of the world yet, a concept Holly had never had the luxury of living through.

"How do I look?" Dorea asked as she turned around with a smile on her face, finally satisfied with her look.

"You look beautiful, Dorea." Holly said as she looked at her mother with a proud smile.

"Go on your date so I can go back to bed." Eleanor grumbled and Holly and Dorea laughed.

"Yes, yes, we're leaving." Holly said as she grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder, dragging Dorea out of the room.

"We? What are you doing?" Dorea asked before gasping. "Do you have a date with Riddle? You're not wearing that, are you?" Holly glared at Dorea, who just shrugged.

"I'll have you know that I have a date with potions. I'm so close to figuring out how to cure lycanthropy, I can feel it."

"Feel it?" Lyall asked as they reached the common room. "And here I thought you were trying to smell it." This time, Lyall was on the receiving end of Holly's glare. He had been referring to a few nights ago when she'd accidentally blown up the potion. The smell was so awful that class had been cancelled for two days while the professors tried to clear out the smell.

"Behave both of you." Charlus reprimanded like a father as he closed his book. Holly stuck her tongue out at Lyall who responded with the same action. When Charlus looked up at Dorea, his eyes widened. "You look beautiful, Dorea." He told her and she blushed. He offered his arm and he took it, the two waving goodbye before disappearing.

"Off to blow anything up?" Lyall mocked and Holly didn't even spare him a glare as she walked to the potions room.

Slughorn smiled when she walked in because, despite the room smelling horrible for a few days, Horace Slughorn was thrilled that he found someone that had as much of a passion for potions (if not more) as he did. He knew she would be great and make a wonderful addition to the wall.

"Working on curing lycanthropy again, Miss Renée?" He asked and she smiled as she settled down, opening her journal and grabbing the ingredients she was working with before everything went wrong. She sent Professor Slughorn a cheerful smile as she started to work.

"Until there's a cure, Professor, I'll be here as long as you'll have me."

Since the year 1970, Hogwarts had never been so silent. The Marauders hadn't made any noise in a week. For the first time in forever, they were taking notes, asking and answering questions, seeing their professors after classes, and even spending time in the library.

When they weren't being good students, they were in their dorm room. The teachers were thrilled, finally thinking that they whipped the boys into good students. The students, however, thought they were planning for a huge Halloween prank. They seemingly gave up on their agenda to scare and prank every student.