The Ultimate Power

You say you know just who I am

But you can't imagine

What waits for you across the line

You thought you had me

But I'm still here standing

And I'm tired of backing down

And I'm here now feeling the pain

Of a thousand hearts

Been to Hell and back again

I won't take this

You try so hard to bring me down

You can't break the broken

You still don't seem to understand

It's still your turn to see just

How it feels to be me

How it feels to be knocked down

-12 Stones (Anthem for the Underdog)

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Anthem for the Underdog

June 19 - June 21, 1998

Both Remus and Holli had assumed that it would take a bit of time to adjust to living with one another. It was to their immense surprise, therefore, when they discovered that their routines worked well with the other's. They tended to orbit around each other, anticipating what their partner needed or wanted and correcting from there.

Upon their arrival, they had immediately set up 'Holli's room', making it appear as lived in as possible as the days passed in case anyone decided to poke their head inside the small cottage and take a look around. Of course, the room wasn't truly needed; Holli shared with Remus and neither one could express how happy they were that she no longer had to sneak out and return to her own bed at dawn. It was just the type of adjustment they enjoyed: easy and simple.

The day after they left Hogwarts, the foursome was inducted into the Order to the horror and fear of both Mrs. Weasley and Remus, though he did not choose to protest vocally. He did, however, keep up a firm and silent legato chant of, "They're kids, they're kids, they can't do this, they're kids." Remus had to admit, though, that he was being a bit unreasonable. Not only was he living with one of those 'kids', but he was also sleeping with her. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous and he knew that well.

Harry had taken up residence at the Burrow for the time being, much to the delight of Mrs. Weasley who insisted he never leave. The night after their induction, however, he had enlisted the help of his friends and began a massive cleaning slash restoration slash Dark Arts extracting process in Grimmauld Place. Holli had adequately dubbed this endeavor as Grim Duty.

"Can't you just, you know," Ron had asked, waving his hands wildly around the second floor parlour, "wave your hands and - 'poof!' - everything's done?"

Holli had patted Ron's cheek gently, smiling sympathetically. "When is anything that simple, Ron?"

Two hours in and Mrs. Black had been awoken for the fifth time, shrieking all of her plights to the highest of heavens. Holli growled and threw down her rubbish sack, charging to the door and the staircase beyond.

"That's it," she had exclaimed, "I've had it!"

The trio had gazed at one another in amusement as the shrieks doubled in volume as Holli apparently came into focus for the portrait.

"Scum! Mudblood filth! You dare to stand on the threshold of my forefathers?"

"Be quiet you old bat!" snapped Holli. There was a half-strangled scream, followed by a moderately loud bang and then blessed silence.

Harry had sighed as Ron snickered. "Finally. I didn't know if I could take much more of that."

"I think she would have paired Holli against her a long time ago," Ron had commented, still chuckling. "Seems to have done the job decently enough."

"Harry?" Hermione had asked. "What do you plan to do about Mrs. Black after you move in here? You can't keep forcing the hangings closed every time she wakes up. You'll never have any peace."

"I'm not sure what I can do, Hermione," he had answered. "The Order tried everything they could think of while they were here and nothing worked. What more can I do?"

Silence descended upon the group once more as they all went back to the task at hand. Just as they were beginning to wonder where Holli had disappeared to, there was a high pitched squeal from the floor below. Harry immediately darted out of the room and flew down the stairs, wand in hand with Ron and Hermione close on his heels. As he charged over the landing, he came into view of the front door and the place where Mrs. Black's portrait resided. Or where it had resided.

"Holli?" Harry had questioned cautiously, interrupting the girl's gleeful dance. "You all right? Where's the portrait?"

Holli spun a full circle before stopping and beaming up at him. "I'm fine," she had answered. "And the portrait's gone. I hope you don't mind. I couldn't actually remove it, so I had to vanish it completely."

"I - it's gone? Just like that?" Harry had stuttered out.

"Well," she had said slowly, "it was a bit more complicated than that, but yeah, it's gone. The other time we were here, when we were looking to the locket, I had wondered if I would be able to remove it somehow. I didn't have time to try it then, though." She had paused, suddenly looking fearful. "You don't mind, do you? I didn't think you would at first, but it was Sirius' mother..." she trailed off, biting her lip in uncertainty.

"No," Harry had breathed out reassuringly, "I really don't care. Thank you, Holli. I didn't know how I was going to live with the thing in this house."

Holli's grin had returned full force and she had skipped up the stairs to join them in the parlour once more.

Three days later found the foursome sequestered within the old house again. Everyone had grudgingly admitted that Grim duty wasn't nearly so grim when they no longer had to listen to the screams of Mrs. Black. They were upstairs in one of the many bedrooms, chatting idly when they heard a loud thump and twin voices chorused, "Oi, kiddies! C'mon, let's go, show time!"

"What's happening?" demanded Ron as they raced into the front hall where the twins stood impatiently.

"Death Eaters are attacking a Muggle village," George answered.

"Kingley's sending everyone he can manage," Fred continued.

"Where at?" Hermione asked, preparing to depart.

"Lidlington," Fred said, "in Bedfordshire. Can you four get there all right?"

"We'll be fine," Harry said as they all clambered outside. "Go on; we'll follow."

"Right," they both said with a slight nod and disappeared with a 'pop'.

"Everybody ready?" Holli asked, glancing at the other three. They nodded and she said, "Then let's go."

They Disapparated simultaneously. When they reappeared, they found themselves staring into the midst of a raging battle with their backs hugging a close forest. They took off at a run, firing spells at any available targets they found within range. The four eventually split, each heading in a different direction to help their friends. Holli was just speeding past a dark alleyway when an arm darted out and pulled her inside.

She almost shrieked in surprise, but found a pair of warm lips pressed urgently against hers. The kiss broke quickly and Holli looked up to find a pair of golden brown eyes gazing down at her in fright.

"Remus - ?" she began but he cut her off with another hasty kiss.

"I don't like this," he said when they broke apart a moment later. "I don't like this at all." He looked at her, eyes full of fear, almost as though this would be the last time he would see her. "I can't lose you, Holli. Please be careful. I love you." Then he was gone, disappearing back into the fray.

Holli stood for a second longer, lips trembling, wishing he'd given her the chance to talk as well. She shook her head, dismissing wayward thoughts, and followed Remus out of the alley. She turned right instead of heading straight through the mass and fired curses at any black-clad back she found. It worked for a while, Holli dodging the eyes of her targets, but eventually they spotted her and she found herself locked in a her very first duel.

It was more intense than she'd ever imagined. Lights of every colour of the rainbow shot around her body as she blocked or sidestepped everything that was cast her way. She wasn't quick enough to avoid everything, however. Just as she was slashing her wand through the air, a well aimed hex struck her arm and caused blood to spill and soak the ground beneath her feet. She yelped in pain and was distracted long enough for the Death Eater to fire another curse at her.

Pain exploded throughout her body and she collapsed to the ground, twitching and screaming in agony. She was distantly aware of someone yelling her name, but she was unable to focus and tell who it was. Another, even more distant part of her mind realised that she had been struck by the Cruciatus, though inconsequential in the greater scheme of what was happening, her hyperactive thoughts continued.

The pain stopped as suddenly as it had started and Holli took a brief moment to lay with her eyes closed and gain her breath back. When her nerves were once more under control and her body was no longer twitching violently, she opened her eyes. What she saw made her gasp.

Remus was standing a small distance away, locked in a heated duel with the Death Eater who had struck Holli down. He was faring well, but what had made her gasp was the dark figure closing in behind him, quickly raising their wand.

"Avada - " it began, but Holli leapt to her feet and cried, "Impedimenta!"

The figure stumbled before stopping completely and falling to the ground. Holli saw cold grey eyes flash behind the mask. Remus and the other Death Eater spun around to face her and the Death Eater advanced, aiming his wand for her chest.

"Stupefy!" Remus shouted and the man crumbled to the ground. Remus looked at her. "Tell me you're all right," he demanded.

"I'm fine, Remus," she said breathlessly. "Thank - Remus, watch out!"

He spun on his heels just in time to see the once prone figure of the other Death Eater advancing quickly once more. Remus tried to raise his wand, but he wasn't fast enough.

"Crucio," a male voice hissed. Remus fell to the ground and went rigid as though trying not to twitch. A small gasp of pain was the only sound he made as he clenched his eyes tightly closed. A steady stream of blood began to drip from between his lips and Holli suspected that he had bitten his tongue.

"Shit!" she cursed before shouting the first spell that came to mind. "Expelliarmus!"

The man flew backwards, but he kept a firm grip on his wand and did not lose it. He gained his feet quickly and turned to Holli as Remus gasped for air upon the ground and spat out blood. She wanted to tend to him, but did not dare remove her eyes from the Death Eater before her.

"Well," a smooth, icy voice commented, "now I'm simply befuddled. It's blatantly obvious that I can't take care of you both at once, so who should I choose first? The werewolf, or the Mudblood?"

Holli scoffed at his ignorance, but otherwise remained silent. The grey eyes trained on her and the wand rose. "Oh, dear. I believe it's going to be you."

"No!" Remus roared as he tried to leap to the Death Eater. His limbs were still too weak, however, and he stumbled back upon the ground. "Holli, no!"

Her world froze for a heartbeat in time as she gazed at the wand tip slowly aiming for her chest. Her eyes glanced at Remus, kneeling upon the ground, frozen in fear. Time sped up with a click of sound in her mind just as the masked man began to speak.

"Avada Ked - "

Holli turned on her heels and ran; ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction. She heard the man curse briefly before he began to chase her.

"Holli!" Remus screamed after her, but she did not risk looking back. She ran just as the situation intended her to: for hers and her love's life. She knew they would both perish at the hands of this particular Death Eater if she stayed. Holli was determined that at least one of them would survive and she desperately wanted it to be Remus.

She kept going until they were far away from the battle. She ran to the top of a high hill that overlooked the entire village before she stopped and turned. The man has fallen back a bit during his chase and was just beginning to climb the hill. Holli took a moment to observe the flashes of light she could see down below in the distance and thought in a detached manner that it was actually beautiful if you didn't know what was happening.

The Death Eater crested the top of the hill and stopped when he saw her standing before him. He smiled coldly beneath his mask.

"Nowhere to go," he murmured. "Tired of running, coward?"

Holli's only reply was a twitch of her wand which caused the mask to fly from his face. He stretched to grab it, fingers brushing the edge, but missed and it tumbled to the ground, rolling dejectedly down the hill. Lucius Malfoy sneered at her.

"Sorry," she said airily with a smirk, "but I like to see who I'm fighting."

"Mine'll be the last you ever see," he snarled.

"Probably," she agreed, "but I promise it will be the same for you if it ends that way."

Malfoy raised his wand at the same moment she did and fired a silent spell at her. She blocked it and shot one of her own. They dodged and ducked and retaliated whenever possible. Holli still wasn't completely comfortable with using a wand, and that, plus the physical exertion she was eliciting, was quickly wearing her down.

Malfoy shot a spell at her and she dodged, but it still managed to graze her wand hand. She dropped it with a wince and watched it benignly as it bounced ridiculously down the hill to join the lost mask. Holli heard a soft chuckle and looked back up to where Malfoy was grinning maliciously.

"I suppose your promise will have to go unfulfilled," he said, advancing on her.

Holli shook her head as she grinned, causing the Death Eater to stop short. "I don't think so," she replied. Her hand twitched behind her back and Malfoy's robe flew up and over his head, blocking his face from sight. He quickly untangled himself and jerked around with wand pointed, searching for anyone within their vicinity.

"How did you do that?" he demanded, rounding on her.

"Do what?" she questioned innocently, eyes blazing with fire. Malfoy glared. "Oh, you mean this." She lifted her hands, causing water to rise from the ground, before swiftly pulling them back down. The water crashed down upon Malfoy's aghast head in a torrential downpour. He sputtered and stumbled back to the edge of the hill, staring at her in horror.

"Goodbye, Mr. Malfoy," she simpered sweetly. She raised her hand to her mouth and blew air upon it as though she were blowing a piece of parchment towards him. A large gust of wind flew at his body and toppled him arse over elbow down the hill. Holli watched his descent with a small amount of amusement. When he reached the bottom, he lay still for a few moments before righting himself and gazing up at her in utter astonishment.

Holli expected him to turn and run back to the battle in the village. What he did instead was turn a cat-that-got-the-cream smile upon her. Her eyes widened in puzzlement, but before she could follow him, he spun on his heel and disappeared into thin air.

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Two days later, Holli awoke late in the morning to an empty bedside. She gazed blearily around the room for a moment, searching for any sign of Remus. When she saw nothing, she shrugged to herself and rolled over, gathering his pillow beneath her head. She heard a crinkle of parchment and opened her eyes once more.

Holli grabbed the note and sat up, scrubbing the sleep from her eyes so she could focus on the words.

Happy birthday, love!

Sleep in and enjoy your morning for all it's worth. I've gone to the Burrow to talk to Kingsley for a bit. Join me if you like when you wake. I'm determined that you should enjoy this day, so I have hereby banned everyone from discussing the war and any Order business with you. No worries there. Relax and I'll see you later.

All my love,

Remus xx

Holli provided the note with a sleepy smile and placed it upon the bedside table before standing and journeying in the general direction of the shower.

An hour later, Holli Apparated to the front gate of the Burrow. She walked up to the door and knocked, waiting for any form of reply from within. All was silent and Holli became slightly worried. Silence was a rarity at the Weasley's.

She stuck her head through the door and called, "Hello? Anyone home? Remus?" No answer.

Holli stepped inside cautiously, raising her hand in front of her as she walked into the kitchen. There was no sign of anyone. Every surface within the small room was neat and tidy as though Mrs. Weasley had not been within for days. She followed the path through the kitchen and into the sitting room. Still there was no one around.

Holli's worry rising closer and closer to the surface, she stepped through the back door and rounded the corner of the house to the garden. There was a sudden flurry of movement and Holli instinctively raised her hand higher as it began to emit a faint glow.

"Happy birthday!" several voices chorused together. Holli stumbled backwards in surprise and her foot caught in the leg of her jeans, causing her to fall flat on her bum in the warm grass.

"I - what?" she stuttered ingeniously. A figure moved forward from the crowd of people and suddenly there was a warm body kneeling beside her on the ground.

"Are you all right?" Remus asked apologetically. "We meant to surprise you, but certainly not that much. I honestly thought you would have expected something was up from the note I left you this morning."

"I - had no idea," she answered, baffled as Remus helped pull her to her feet.

"It was Molly's idea," he told her while he pulled her towards the others.

Remus smiled and released her arm as Holli reached out and hugged Mrs. Weasley.

"Thank you," she whispered to the woman.

Mrs. Weasley patted her back affectionately as she gazed at Remus over the top of Holli's head. "Now, Remus, don't be so humble." She moved her eyes back to Holli. "The party was completely Remus' idea, dear. All I did was offer to have it here."

Remus scoffed behind Holli. "All you did, my arse. You did everything short of coming up with the idea to have it. I'm certainly not being humble. I'm being completely honest."

Mrs. Weasley huffed in good-natured irritation and pulled Holli to the rest of the people. Shortly after she had greeted everyone and thanked them for what they had done for her, Remus excused himself to go inside and fetch some of the food. Holli followed him into the kitchen.

There was a corner within the room where a person could stand and not be seen by anyone coming through the front or back doors. This was where Holli pushed Remus as she entered the warm kitchen. He started in surprise before Holli pressed her lips to his and shoved him further into the corner.

"What was that for?" Remus gasped out with a small smile when they parted.

Holli ran a fingertip along his jaw. "Just a thank you. I haven't been able to tell you at all, let alone properly."

"Properly, eh?" Remus asked with a quirk of his lips. "Do I get to see the extent of that proper 'thank you' when we go home?"

"Oh, I'd say it's a definite possibility," she murmured.

"Well," he said as he wound his arms around her waist, "I think we should skip the party and go straight home immediately before that 'definite' turns into a 'not so sure'."

Holli's face took on a look of mock-outrage. "And miss the cake?" She shook her head and attempted to step out of his embrace. "For shame, Mr. Lupin, for shame."

Remus' grip tightened and he pulled her chest firmly against his once more. "I hadn't thought of the cake," he said, his eyes going fuzzy. "I do like cake."

Holli snorted. "Nice to know I've been won out over."

Remus looked down at her and smiled. "Never," he said reverently.

Holli buried her face in the fabric of his shirt to hide her grin and Remus chuckled. They stood in silence for a few long moments, listening to the sounds of their friends drifting through the open windows. Finally, Remus spoke again.

"You're not upset, are you?" he asked hesitantly.

Holli jerked back in surprise. "Whatever for?" she asked.

Remus shrugged one shoulder half-heartedly, his eyes glancing around the room. "About the party and me not telling you?"

"Why in the world would I be upset about all of this?"

His eyes locked with hers once more and his lips twitched. "I'm not really sure. Even as well as I know you, it's still difficult to tell at times how you will react to certain things. I don't like to upset you, love. Not for any reason."

"Am I really such a delicate little flower that I become distraught so easily," she asked, frowning. "I never realised that I was that bad."

"You're not, Holli," he assured her. "I just - I have to..." Remus trailed off with a sigh, glancing away from her for a moment before meeting her eyes again. "I just have to accept the fact that I still don't know everything about you. Just like you don't know everything there is to know about me. How are two people supposed to cover their entire lives within only a handful of months? There are couples who have been married for sixty years who still don't know everything about their spouses."

"Well," she told him, "I'm not upset. I love everything you and everyone else has done for me. Thank you."

Remus smiled. "You're welcome."

"So I've been thinking," she continued.

"Yes?" he prodded tentatively.

"You know how we and everyone else are going to Dad's next week," she hedged.

"I do," he confirmed, still wary.

"Well, since everyone we care about is going to be in one place, I was thinking maybe we could use the opportunity to tell them about us." The words almost exploded from behind her lips, she said them so quickly. "I mean, we said we would wait to say anything until we were away from Hogwarts, but we never said exactly when..." Holli trailed off, feeling as though she were beginning to babble.

Remus remained silent, searching her eyes. When he finally spoke, Holli had to strain to hear him.

"You're positive that you're ready to do this?" he asked her. "You do know what people are going to think and say, don't you? Are you ready to deal with that?"

Holli rested her hands on his chest and began to play with her fingers. "We don't have to," she said, not looking at him, "not if you don't want to yet. I just - damn it, Remus, I'm sick of hiding!" She exclaimed softly stepping out of his embrace and finally meeting his eyes. "I love you and I don't care what people think about it. Their whispers can't change you I feel about you."

She turned to walk away, but Remus reached out and grabbed her hand in his, pulling her back to him.

"Look at me, Holli," he said forcefully, but she refused. He moved his other hand beneath her chin and lifted her head enough to meet her eyes. She was surprised to see that he was smiling. "I didn't mean that I wasn't ready to tell anyone. If it hadn't have been for the situation we were in at Hogwarts, I would have told everyone I knew then. I just wanted to be sure that you knew what you were talking about. Once you tell people something like this, you can't take it back, Holli."

"I know," she whispered, "but I don't want to hide behind a closed door anymore, Remus. When you do something for me like what you've done today, I want to be able to grab you and kiss you in front of everyone. I don't want to have to sneak into the corner of the kitchen."

Remus chuckled. "All right, then. We'll tell everyone at your dad's do."

An hour later, the food and cake had been completely devoured. The large group was all seated in various positions around the garden, involved in their own sub-conversations. Holli was relaxed in a chair at the table beside Remus who was drawing patterns on her thigh with his fingertip beneath the table top. The peace, however, was disturbed by the arrival of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Kingsley," Mr. Weasley greeted, "we thought you were going to be here earlier. What held you up?"

Kingsley ignored the man as he picked his way across the garden to where Holli was seated.

"Kingsley?" she asked bemusedly as he glared down at her in irritation.

"Why did you do it?" he demanded. "Why?"

"Kingsley," Remus murmured warningly. "Now is not the time. We've already discussed this, remember?"

"Do what?" Holli asked again in frustration. "What did I do? And discussed what?" She rounded on Remus, providing him with an icy gaze.

"Why did you show a Death Eater what you can do without a wand?" Kingsley redirected her attention.

"I - I lost my wand," she answered in confusion. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Run!" he shouted. "Anything but let Voldemort know what you're capable of!"

"He knows?" she whispered breathlessly.

"Yes, he knows," Kingsley answered in a growl, "and now he wants you -" He paused and glanced at Remus. "- dead."

"Dead," Holli repeated and couldn't quite stifle a laugh. "You mean he doesn't want me alive so that he can try to convince me to join his side and work with him?"

"That isn't Voldemort's style," Harry spoke up from the grass behind her. "You're powerful, so you're a threat. If you did join him, he knows you would soon eclipse him and leave him either in the dust or dead. He eliminates power instead of giving it the opportunity to grow. It's why he came after me when I was a baby. There's less of a chance if the power is still buried."

Holli shook her head and turned to Remus. "You knew about this?" she demanded him. "That's what you meant in your note earlier, when you said you had forbidden anyone to talk to me about the war. You didn't want me to know."

Remus massaged his temples, clenching his eyes closed. "We would have told you, Holli. Just - not today, that's all." He looked up at her and his eyes said what his mouth would not. "We just wanted you to enjoy today before all hell decided to break loose. Just one day."

Holli glanced around the garden at the faces of all of her friends, each one containing concern, fear, or a mixture of both. She sighed and collapsed back into her chair.

"So," she began, "what do I do now?"

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A/N: I swear, why is it when I promise short chapters, I end up spinning out almost 4700 words? That's it, I'm through making promises! -Sigh- Poll's still going on so get your votes in for the title. Two chapters left.

Thanks again to easleyweasley!