EAT ME ALIVE | OPEN

[HOLLIE MONTAGUE]

HELP I'M ALIVE MY HEART
KEEPS BEATING LIKE A HAMMER
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it was frigid at the top of the astronomy tower, but the dungeon common room that became hers earlier that night was chilly in its own right. it was hollie's first night at hogwarts since her mother married the montague and shipped her off to some god forsaken scottish castle to practice her charms. she knew no one within a mile of her, except for her new stepbrother alexander who held residency in the village of hogsmeade. at the stone opening that served as a window of this tower, hollie rested her forehead against the cold stone; she would have given anything to see alexander just then. it was too uncomfortable, too awkward in her common room at the moment. slytherins as a whole were unwelcoming to newcomers, even if she was a carrow, a dolohov, and now apparently a montague. the girls glowered at her as if her presence had been a direct insult, and so she had left. she could have stayed...in fact she usually would have. but that night she wanted to remove herself from the common room so the lot of them could whisper behind her back rather than right in front of her face. she would deal with them the next day, and the day after that. she didn't have a choice.

hollie had never been one to collect a gaggle of girlfriends. in venice she lived with her mother, and the only other female witches she usually saw were her dolohov cousins whenever galatea took her to visit them in romania. but it had been easier to live in solitude in venice, where she hadn't been made to attend school. galatea had taken the training and polishing of her daughter into her own hands, and hollie was grateful for it. it had saved her from the necessity of attending school with a handful of dim purebloods who didn't know a born carrow when they saw one. it wouldn't have been so terrible if scorpius had shown his face in the common room - the carrows and malfoys went back. but he hadn't, and she had been all alone.

perhaps forty minutes ago, hollie had pulled a melon shaded robe about herself and exited the common room amid a sea of curious stares. it was past curfew and they all knew it, though no one was about to tell her that she would get in trouble if she were caught. they were slytherins, and most of them didn't care for trouble anyway. plus it wasn't as if any of them were going to jump up and stop her from breaking the rules.

she had wandered for perhaps ten minutes before finding a staircase that seemed to go up forever, and decided that the longer it took her, the later she could put off reentering her new common room. she was bored by halfway up the spiraling staircase, but she pushed on. this was hogwarts, after all, and it was famous for its hidden secrets. however when she reached the top, it was clear she had only discovered the astronomy tower.

it was freezing, but it was empty of students to watch her and pass judgment, so hollie let one tear roll down her cheek as she leaned against the icy stone wall. she cried for herself, for venice for her mother's marriage, and for this prison of a school she shouldn't have been made to attend. when she wiped the tear away, with it when all evidence of her teary victory.

TAGGED -- you lucky bitch.
WORDS -- seven hundred and sixteen.
MUSIC -- help, i'm alive by metric.
OUTFIT -- melon bed robe.
NOTES -- write me something pretty.