a/n; I am a terrible person. No excuses. Thanks for the support, though! :) Enjoy!

disclaimer; I don't own Harry Potter.

the fabulously vintage world of holly potter

—eighth: the longest way round

That Saturday Holly decided she had much to do and little time to do it. Firstly, she wanted to finish the majority of her homework before Sunday rolled around; secondly, she needed to hunt down Jeremy Stretton and ask permission to accompany the Hogsmeade group before she'd already missed church; and thirdly, she wanted to know what on Earth was in that grubby little package from Gringotts.

Holly and Oliver journeyed off together to locate the library early on Saturday morning. "I heard it's on the fifth floor," Oliver reported as they left the Great Hall after a quick breakfast. "I think Blaise Zabini mentioned it."

"Is he nice?" Holly asked as they started up the marble staircase. She'd caught sight of Blaise Zabini in passing before, talking with Draco Malfoy. Malfoy had waved; Blaise had glanced at her and nodded politely. All in all the encounter wasn't much to go on.

Oliver shrugged. "I think so," he replied. "Anyway—" He was abruptly cut off when the staircase they had just stepped onto began to shift to the left. Oliver and Holly both reached out to grab the rails on either side of them. "You know," said Oliver, "these staircases are really starting to annoy me."

"We'll reach the library eventually, I suppose," said Holly, eyeing the staircase disdainfully herself.

But the staircase did not connect with another one; in fact, it connected to a floor. Holly and Oliver stood still for a few minutes, waiting for the staircase to move again. When it didn't, Holly sighed and led the way up the stairs and onto the floor of the corridor. "There ought to be another staircase connecting to this hall somewhere," Holly remarked, as Oliver followed her up the stairs.

Oliver looked thoughtful. He reached up to smooth down his hair, as Holly had noticed he usually did when thinking. "I think I recognize this hallway," Oliver said. Still, he cautiously trailed after Holly as she walked along, heading further into the torch-lit stone corridor. "Then again," Oliver added, "I've been on about five hundred different hallways in just the past two days."

"I think I recognize it, too," Holly said as she realized, coming to a halt.

She and Oliver both peered around for a moment. There were no moving portraits; there were frames with landscapes and backgrounds, but they were all empty. A couple of old rusty mirrors decorated the walls. Holly looked ahead to the end of the hall and saw a black door.

Holly could feel the answer nagging at the back of her mind, but it simply wouldn't come to her. She began to walk along the corridor again, hoping to figure it out as she went. "Maybe we should stop," Oliver said cautiously. "It doesn't feel right here."

He was right; it felt dreadfully ominous. Holly sensed that something bad was about to happen. Maybe Peeves would swoop in out of nowhere. "I just want to see where this hallway leads," Holly replied to Oliver, narrowing her eyes at the ever-closer black door. "I think—" She suddenly stopped. Oliver bumped into her shoulder and quickly apologized, stepping back. "We're on the third floor corridor again," Holly said with a sigh.

"Oh," said Oliver. "No wonder it seems so horrible here. Apparently we might die some tragic death or something."

He was referring to Headmaster Dumbledore's warning at the start of the school year. Holly had hoped the headmaster wasn't serious; sadly, that warning had been one of the only serious things the elderly man had said. She frowned. "I suppose," Holly said. "We should probably leave, then, before Mr. Filch arrives."

Oliver and Holly were halfway back up the corridor when Mrs. Norris appeared in the entrance. Mrs. Norris was Mr. Filch's cat. She was an older dark tabby, with a shaggy coat and glowing eyes. Holly was the only person alive who thought Mrs. Norris was cute; however Holly felt this way toward all animals, including arachnids. "Oh, damn," Oliver blurted.

Mrs. Norris stared at them, and then meowed.

"We're dead," Holly said, taking a step back. They had already experienced Mr. Filch's wrath once before, and he had threatened them with detentions if they tried it again. Holly couldn't bear the thought of having a detention in her first week of school—Aunt Petunia would have been terribly ashamed, and Holly expected better even of herself.

So when Oliver yelped "Run!" then turned and did so, Holly followed his lead. They sprinted back down the corridor to the black door. There was a large woven tapestry just beside the door that a horse had just cantered into; it stopped to watch Holly and Oliver struggle with the locked door.

"What is it, my sweet?" Mr. Filch's voice echoed down the corridor. "Are there any wayward students here again?"

Holly prayed intensely, hands clasped together, as Oliver whipped out his wand. He fumbled with it for a second before pointing it at the doorknob. "Alohomora," he hissed, waving his wand around frantically. He tried to open the door again but with no luck. "Alohomora!"

"What are you doing?" Holly whispered.

"Trying to unlock it! Hermione Granger was telling me about these spells—alohomora!" Fortunately this final attempt was successful. Oliver shoved the door open and leapt inside, quickly followed by Holly, who was trying to enter the room as swiftly as possible without accidentally running over Oliver.

Once they were both inside, Oliver slammed the door; and they leaned back against it. "That was pure luck," said Oliver, shaking his head. Holly glanced over at him. He was kind of hard to see in the dark of whatever room they'd entered, but her eyes were slowly adjusting to the dim lighting.

Outside Mr. Filch was still wandering, looking for students. Holly could hear Mrs. Norris meowing. She looked ahead again, trying to see what was in the rest of the room. To her fearful surprise, something massive and dark seemed to be taking shape before them. "Uh, Oliver?" Holly whispered. "What—what is that?"

Oliver gulped audibly. "No idea," he answered.

They both stared. Holly could see a corridor stretching along beyond the monstrous shape. This is the third floor corridor, she thought. As the shape leaned forward, materializing out of the darkness, Holly suddenly realized she knew exactly why this corridor meant a violent end.

For she and Oliver were gawking up at a huge three-headed dog. It was so large that its heads nearly hit the ceiling. It drew back its lips, showing off glistening white fangs on three different mouths, and three pairs of eyes glared right at them—Holly liked animals but this one, this one was different, it was likely going to kill her in a moment—

"Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," Holly found herself saying.

"Damn damn damn!" Oliver yelped, scrambling for the doorknob. He yanked it open; he and Holly both collapsed back out of the door at once. He lost his grip on the knob as they fell to the floor outside, and the door began to swing back open. Holly leapt for it and smashed it shut before the dog, which was now both growling greatly and barking, could reach it and stick one of its horrible heads through.

They lay on the stone floor for a second, panting. At the end of the hallway, Mrs. Norris let out a curious chirrup. "Damn," Oliver repeated, as they abruptly tried to climb back up again. Once they had both made it up they stared down the hall at Mrs. Norris. Footsteps were echoing from outside; likely Mr. Filch returning, wondering what on Earth his cat was on about. It was either Mr. Filch or the horrible mythical creature behind the black door.

Holly grabbed a fistful of Oliver's shirt. He seemed to be frozen, staring in terror at Mrs. Norris. "Hide," Holly hissed at him, dragging him over to the tapestry with the horse. Maybe if they were lucky—or if they prayed hard enough—Mr. Filch would neglect to check all the way to the end of the corridor, and he wouldn't notice their feet sticking out from under the tapestry.

However, upon pushing the tapestry aside, Holly discovered a large square imprint in the wall, like a secret door. "Oh," said Holly, immediately pushing on it. It gave way; she thought it probably was not a good idea to tramp unknowing past mysterious doors now; but she brought Oliver into the passage with her anyway.

How interesting, Holly thought, staring down the passage they'd entered. It was a long, extending stone hallway. She could see a flight of steep stairs twisting down into darkness. Holly pulled out her own wand. "Lumos," she muttered. To her delight the tip of her wand lit up. She was quite glad to have read her textbooks before school started.

"Um, Holly?" Oliver whispered.

"What?"

"We can't get back out."

Holly twisted around. Oliver was pushing at the stone wall. It seemed to have folded over again, the outline of a door melting away into gray. "What have we done?" asked Holly, amazed and annoyed by their insistent bad luck.

Oliver gave her a nervous half-smile. "At least there's no Cerberus in this one," he said, turning back around to look down the corridor.

They stood there in silence for a long moment. Mrs. Norris's meows had faded, along with Mr. Filch's footsteps. Holly imagined she could still hear the dog growling faintly beyond the entrance to the third floor corridor. "I hope that door locks automatically," Holly said. Then she frowned. "That was entirely too easy to stumble upon."

"I was just thinking about that," Oliver said, looking just as puzzled as Holly felt. "A couple of first years made it in."

They spent another moment in confused and bemused quiet. Then Holly drew in a deep breath. "Well," she said, taking a step forward, "there is no way to go but down, I suppose."

"But why do they have a Cerberus at all?" Oliver asked.

"I haven't any idea," Holly replied.

"This is one weird school," said Oliver, before lapsing into silence.

The pair of them walked along the mysterious stone passageway. The stairs, at first, seemed never-ending, and Oliver voiced his concerns about eventually reaching the center of the earth. Fortunately it was soon after he mentioned this—it had seemed a very real possibility; this school was bizarre enough anyway—the passage leveled out, and then began to snake upward.

There were no torches or lamps ahead. The entire time Holly and Oliver had to light up the tips of their wands. Oliver hadn't known the spell to do so before, and Holly decided that even if they got nothing but trouble out of their journey this morning, at least Oliver would have learned something. Holly had also learned the spell for unlocking doors. She supposed it might come in handy someday.

"I wonder how long we've been down here," said Oliver, as they made another turn and seemed to head even further upward.

"At least an hour, I'd think," Holly answered. Her stomach was rumbling. "It must be at least past lunchtime."

Oliver sighed. Holly glanced over at him. "I wonder what they had for lunch," he said rather sadly. "I've been thinking about that chicken we had on Thursday." His stomach growled so loudly that Holly imagined it rather echoed. Oliver grinned. "Silly thing to be thinking about, isn't it?"

"Not at all," Holly replied. "I've been thinking about apple pie myself."

"Oh, pie," Oliver said with great feeling.

"Do you think anyone has noticed we're missing?" Holly asked. She had been considering this for a while as well. This struck her as somewhat more important than chicken and apple pie. "If we've really been gone for as long as it feels, Melody probably ought to have mentioned it to someone by now."

Oliver nodded. "She probably has," he agreed. He scratched his head. "I hope the entire school isn't out looking for us, though."

Holly hoped so as well. Professor Snape disliked her enough as it was. She did not need anything more adding to the popularity she already had, simply by existing. She wished God would allow strange circumstances to bypass her for once. As it was all she seemed to encounter were weird occurrences and unfortunate coincidences.

This ridiculous tunnel was everlasting. Sometime later, after their short discussion of foods and school-wide searches, Oliver piped up: "I hope this tunnel actually ends."

"As do I," Holly answered. The thought had occurred to her as well. "It would probably be a good idea to pray about it." She crossed herself and proceeded to do so as they walked. Then she crossed herself again and sighed. She hoped she would have enough time today to find Jeremy Stretton to ask about church tomorrow.

Then again, judging by the length of this passage, perhaps it would already be tomorrow by the time they escaped.

About twenty minutes later Oliver tripped over a rock—at some point earlier the passage had changed from stone to earth, which meant it had probably gone from in the castle's foundations to the land surrounding it—and flopped to the ground. Then he rolled over, fairly smothered in dirt, and lay there, staring up at the ceiling. "I can barely remember what chicken tastes like," Oliver said miserably.

Holly sighed and sat down beside him. She propped her elbow against her thigh and rested her head on her hand, although not before smoothing out her skirt. "This is horrible," she agreed. "We should really ask Headmaster Dumbledore to mark these places."

"It's ridiculous that he hasn't already," Oliver said. "He really is batty."

Holly agreed but felt it might be too impolite to say it aloud.

For a long while they alternately sat there and lay there in the quiet. Holly could only hear herself and Oliver breathing; she thought she heard footsteps overhead at one point, but she decided she must have imagined it. The overwhelming smell was that of grass and dirt. If she sniffed her hair she could smell her strawberry shampoo.

Holly finally struggled back to her feet. "Come on," she said, holding out her hand toward Oliver. "We're going to get back there in time for dinner if it's the last thing we do."

Oliver glanced at her and smiled. It was a little mischievous. "Hell yeah," he said, taking Holly's hand and yanking himself up. "We will never give up, no matter how many passageways and demented creatures this school throws at us!"

"Indeed!" Holly agreed with a smile of her own. Oliver strode ahead, using his wand to light the way. "We shall go down in history as having braved the weirdest of the weird in this school!"

"We shall!" Oliver exclaimed dramatically. He turned back to shout: "Did you hear that, school? We've got you now!"

Holly laughed, and Oliver did too. They completed the final leg of their winding, twisty journey with more determination and in a much better mood than before. In fact, it was only about ten to fifteen minutes later that they reached a tiny, rickety ladder and a wooden trapdoor.

Holly climbed out first and found herself in the middle of a forest. There were summery trees everywhere. A blue sky peeked in between canopies of green leaves overhead. Countless bushes and undergrowth grew all around; and no matter which way Holly turned, she could not see where the school building was.

As Oliver clambered up out of the secret passageway Holly said, "I have no idea how to reach the school from here."

"Is this the Forbidden Forest?" Oliver asked, as he pulled the trapdoor shut. He covered it with some stray leaves and turned to look at Holly earnestly. "How far out d'you think we are?"

"We can't be too far," Holly said. Oliver frowned. "Well," Holly explained, "although we did spend an inordinate amount of time down there, I also think that it is not past midafternoon, and that tunnel was horribly winding. I think it took the longest way round."

"I guess we have to pick a direction and just walk that way," Oliver suggested.

Holly frowned. "I suppose," she replied. This felt too random, and she thought they would probably be stuck wandering the Forbidden Forest until night fell; then some strange creature would hurtle out of the forest to gobble them up.

"Oh—no! I've got it!" Oliver exclaimed, jumping up with excitement. "I'll climb a tree, then I'll look around and figure out where we need to go!"

"Good idea!" Holly replied. She glanced around. One of the trees seemed to have better handholds than the others; she pointed it out, and Oliver began his perilous journey up the tree.

Holly had been waiting for him for about ten minutes, pacing around the trapdoor and wondering if there was anything she could do to help, when she heard the undergrowth rustle loudly. It had rustled occasionally before, but this was different. Holly immediately held her wand at the ready. She knew no defensive or offensive spells, but she decided she could spray whatever it was with water long enough for her to climb the tree after Oliver.

"Oliver," Holly called up at the thought of him, "there's something down here, I don't know what it is—"

Then, of all things, a centaur emerged from the undergrowth. Holly quickly lowered her wand. "Never mind," she yelled back up the tree. Then she faced the centaur. It was magnificent, partly reddish-haired man, partly roan horse. Holly tried to remember what she'd read of centaurs and she inclined her head toward the creature. "Good afternoon," she said. "I am very sorry for intruding; I'm afraid neither my friend nor I intended to do so."

"Afternoon," said the centaur. He looked sorrowful. "Usually it is only Hagrid who sets foot in the forest." He looked up at the largest visible piece of sky between the leaves. "I fear the moon is out early today."

Holly was intrigued. "What does that mean, if I may ask?"

The centaur looked at her. "It is an omen," he said sadly. "Dark things will take place here." Holly's curiosity was burning her insides, but she didn't dare interrupt someone she had only just met. "I cannot tell you more, nor do I wish to." He looked back up again. "The moon is out early."

Oliver came sliding down the tree at that point. "Found the school," he said to Holly, rather out of breath. He glanced up, caught sight of the centaur, and looked down again; then he stared at the centaur again, frozen quite comically. "Oh—er—hello."

"Hello," said the centaur. "Students, are you?" He seemed to eye them somewhat disdainfully. Holly was even further interested in him; was there a stigma between wizards and centaurs as well? Were wizards just truly terrible at relations with any race outside of their own? "And do you learn much, up at the school?"

"Not as much as we would like, I'm afraid," Holly replied.

"Yeah," Oliver agreed, joining Holly on the ground. He was brushing leaves and twigs off himself. "Nothing we've learned so far has been helpful."

"Yes," said the centaur. "Yes, I can see it." He glanced back up at the sky. Holly half-expected him to mention the moon again. Instead he looked back down at them. "You should leave," he said. "You do not belong here, and night should fall soon."

Before Holly could excuse herself and Oliver to begin the trek back to Hogwarts, the undergrowth rustled noticeably again. This time it was a taller centaur, with wildly curly black hair and a black horse body. He caught sight of Holly and Oliver and did not look surprised. "Good afternoon," said the centaur, walking over to stand beside the first. "You should not be alone in this forest."

"It was quite accidental, to be honest," said Oliver, scratching his head sheepishly.

"Indeed," Holly agreed. "We were just about to walk back when you arrived." She inclined her head toward the new centaur. "We are quite sorry to intrude; it was not our intention."

"Hagrid intrudes," said the centaur almost absently. He looked up to the sky. "The moon is out early today."

Holly wanted to know more about this. Did centaurs read the stars to see the future? Did they see the future? Were they better than wizards at accomplishing this feat? Holly felt she had much research to do upon returning to the castle. "It is quite unfortunate," Holly said to the centaur.

The centaur looked at her with some degree of both apprehension and surprise, and maybe a little anger. "Do they try to teach you our ways, at your school?" he demanded.

"No," Oliver and Holly answered at once.

Holly continued, feeling as though she ought to explain herself. "I'm very sorry for presuming to know anything about it. I admit—you both made the moon sound important, so I figured it must be so."

The dark-haired centaur gave Holly a suspicious look. "Wizards do not usually give credence to the centaurs' ways," he said slowly. He took a step toward Holly, who straightened up a little. Both of the centaurs were quite large for horses, and their torsos were even taller. "Hmm," said the centaur, eyes grazing the scar on Holly's forehead. "Holly Potter."

"How do you do," said Holly with a curtsy. She was glad she'd worn a skirt today and could therefore properly curtsy. It was rather difficult wearing shorts or jeans.

"You, of all people, should not be wandering the woods alone," said the centaur. "Dangerous times are ahead for you, Holly Potter."

"May I ask why?" Holly inquired.

The roan centaur looked both nervous and upset at the same time. "We shall not say," said the dark-haired one. "We read many events by the stars, Holly Potter, and you are not to know of them."

Holly thought this made sense. She didn't want to know her future anyway—or whatever the centaurs were using to read the future. She much preferred to trust in the Lord. "All right," said Holly. She inclined her head toward the centaurs again for good measure. "Again, I must apologize for our intrusion."

"And the intrusion of those at the school," Oliver added, catching onto the old-fashioned manner of speaking the centaurs seemed to favor.

"But we should take our leave," Holly concluded. "It was a pleasure to meet you both. I wish you well."

The centaurs both nodded at Holly and Oliver. "Good afternoon," said the roan. The darker one said nothing, only observed as Oliver and Holly walked away, in the direction that Oliver gestured toward.

Neither Holly nor Oliver said anything on their way back. Holly felt another centaur could appear right out of the bushes, or some other sentient magical being. She wondered if centaurs ever went to Gringotts, or had any modes of transportation that could bring them to the Ministry of Magic, wherever it was. What if a wizard mistreated a centaur, she wondered? Could centaurs have representation in court? Did they care enough to start court cases?

Holly had no idea. The longer she remained at Hogwarts the more utterly bewildered she became. She felt as though she was facing a massive jigsaw puzzle, and the more pieces she gathered, the more she realized she was missing.

"You know, Oliver," Holly finally said, "the wizarding world upsets me sometimes."

Oliver sighed as he pushed a stray branch out of his way. "Me too," he said. "I wonder if anyone will ever tell us anything when we get older, or if we'll have to figure it all out ourselves."

"It would be irresponsible for them not to really teach us," Holly replied. "One day our generation will be in its prime and we will be the ones in charge of Hogwarts and Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic, and if we know nothing, everything will collapse."

"You really think ahead, don't you?" Oliver more said than asked, glancing at Holly. He seemed to be smirking a bit. "I've never met anyone who talks quite like you do, you know." He frowned. "Except Teddy Nott. He talks about the big picture a lot."

Holly liked to think that this was wisdom she possessed, but she also had enough common sense to understand that she was probably being overly grandiose. Aunt Petunia had definitely called her melodramatic before. Holly agreed with this assessment. She kept it to herself, though, as she and Oliver made it to the tree line, and climbed out of the Forbidden Forest and onto the edge of the Hogwarts lawn.

There was no spiral of gray smoke coming up from Hagrid's chimney today. Holly and Oliver marched up the lawn to the front door of the castle. Once there, Oliver opened the door, held it for Holly, and then followed her inside.

A great clattering from the Great Hall alerted Holly to the fact that it had to be dinnertime. "Ugh," Oliver groaned. "Food!"

Before Holly and Oliver reached the open entrance to the Great Hall, though, Professor Sprout appeared from the door beside the marble staircase. She looked frantic. Melody followed closely after her; Melody caught sight of Holly and Oliver, grabbed Professor Sprout's arm, and pointed. The two fairly ran to Holly and Oliver.

Melody threw her arms around Holly's neck. "I'm so glad you're all right!" she cried, diving for Oliver next. "Where have you two been all day!?"

"We found some secret passageway," Holly explained. "Once we were inside we couldn't get back out, so we had to follow it to the end, which turned out to be in the Forbidden Forest." She winced, glancing at Professor Sprout.

Professor Sprout shook her head. "I can't believe the two of you," she said, holding a hand to her heart. "You both had poor Melody worried sick. And with good reason!" Professor Sprout reached forward to pluck a stray leaf out of Holly's hair. Holly quickly reached up to fix her hair, having just realized how tragic it had to look. "Both of you ought to be seen by Madam Pomfrey right away!"

"We haven't eaten in hours, Professor," Oliver complained. "Not since breakfast!"

"Oh, you poor dears!" Professor Sprout exclaimed. "Go on, then! If you aren't hurt you can just go eat!"

"We aren't hurt," Holly reassured her, as she brushed another leaf out of her hair. "Nothing actually happened, really. We're only hungry."

"Go, go," said Professor Sprout, ushering the three of them together into the Great Hall. Once inside, Professor Sprout said goodbye to them, and hurried up to the teachers' table. Melody, Holly, and Oliver all trooped over to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Immediately Oliver grabbed an entire serving platter of drumsticks and pulled it over to himself.

Melody still looked concerned. She spent more time watching Oliver and Holly eat than eating herself. "You need to eat, too, you know," Holly said at least twice, gesturing at Melody's mostly full plate.

"I wasn't the one stuck in some secret passageway all day," Melody returned. She seemed rather back to herself now, having just fixed her hair up in a messy bun. "Where was the entrance to the passage?"

Oliver and Holly exchanged side glances. "Well, Melody," said Oliver, leaning forward to say this in a low voice, "it was right by the entrance to the third floor corridor."

"But that's forbidden," said Melody.

Holly nodded. "It is for a reason. There's a monstrous three-headed dog in there."

Melody squeaked in surprise. She then narrowed her eyes at the two of them, as if suspecting that they were trying to pull one over on her. Holly and Oliver spent the rest of dinner explaining their adventures to her, and then returned to the common room only to have to explain it all again to Ernie Macmillan.

Beyond that, though, they didn't share the story with anyone else; Holly felt it contained some sort of vital information that shouldn't have been spread around. For one thing, she did not want to face a detention for having entered the third floor corridor. For another, she doubted all of the professors would see it Professor Sprout's way and refrain from giving them detentions for being in the Forbidden Forest, even by accident. And lastly—Holly thought of the centaurs. That encounter had felt real and just special. She doubted many students found themselves in conversations with centaurs. She also rather thought that dark-haired one wouldn't have much liked being known around Hogwarts. He'd been jaded enough toward students from there.