Chapter 11: chapter 11
Hope awoke with a groan as she recalled that it was Hallowe'en today.
The young girl didn't wish to celebrate this day with the rest of the students as Hope knows what this day means to Harry. Especially considering Hope has also experienced the loss of her parents, becoming an orphan herself just like Harry. It's no wonder why Harry hates Hallowe'en so much.
First Hallowe'en ever, his parents were murdered. The Dursley's most likely abused Harry for the next 10 years on All Hallows Eve. Then there's the troll attack on Hermione later tonight. Thankfully due to this attack this solidifies Hermione's and Harry's friendship for life. Hope knows she can not interfere with this attack at all because even Hope can tell that Hermione is the voice of reason in the Golden Trio and she will be needed in the future to help Harry. Actually Hope wonders why Harry and Hermione were never endgame in the canon timeline.
2nd year Hallowe'en announces the Chamber of Secrets opening for the first time in over 50 years and the first message on the walls as well as the first petrification of the year.
Sirius Black breaking into Gryffindor Tower to kill Pettigrew the following year. Hope frowned as she wondered what she would do about Peter Pettigrew. After a few thoughtful moments she believed in letting this play out until Voldemort's resurrection in 4th year is the best option at the moment.
Hope decided that she didn't want to alter the timeline too dramatically as it could make it impossible for Hope to predict what will happen next. Although delicately changing events so the timeline stays somewhat parallel to the books or at least the movies so she can use the information she already knows from her own universe.
Then there is the Tri-Wizard Tournament in 4th year, which in Hope's honest opinion was the worst Hallowe'en during Harry's school years. Hope made some plans for the Tournament to help Harry, mainly teaching him how to block Dragon's Fire like Hope had managed to do against the 1st Malivore Monster.
Hope knew she could do this but she would need to find a way to incorporate this spell to be used with a wand which had Hope banging her head on a desk wishing to consult with the Flamel's for help, but not wanting to see the flabbergasted looks on their faces when she explains how she knows this spell would work. The elderly couple were very protective of Hope even though they only knew her for half a year.
Hope considered all this when she ran around the Black Lake for her morning run. When the Tribrid finished her two laps she checked the time on her watch causing her to do a fast double take as her eyes widened in shock as she had only been down here for about 5 minutes.
Even with her Wolf Speed she wouldn't be able to complete two laps in 5 minutes, in 8 minutes, sure. Her wolf would easily be able to complete one lap but not two. Hope started to panic until her Vampiric side made its presence known by kicking at the walls in her mind basically shouting out, 'Oi! I'm here too!'
Hope slowly walked into the forest that surrounded the large body of water, almost in a trance until she got far enough in to hide her from prying eyes if there were any. Hope used her magic to sense the area before shooting off in a superspeed sprint which she held for about 10 seconds before turning around and locating Hogwarts Castle far off in the distance.
"Huh… I guess more of my Vampiric side activated when I jump-started Babbling's Vampiric side." Hope muttered under her breath.
"Well I really hope that I don't have to drink blood yet, otherwise that could be difficult to hide." Hope complained with a small frown as her Vampire shrugged in her head.
Hope ran back towards the castle alternating between her different speeds to get used to running without the assistance of superspeed. Running with just her Wolf Speed, then using Vampiric Speed only, before wondering if she could use both at the same time, which had Hope back at the forest line in 3 seconds.
"Cool." Hope said with a pleased smirk.
"This could be fun." Hope grinned as she walked back up to the castle at a steady pace.
After her run and a quick shower Hope waited at the base of the Grand Staircase for Harry to come down from the Gryffindor Tower. Hope watched as the stairs moved of their own accord with a glare of annoyance. The Tribrid really hated these stairs as they were a pain in the ass to navigate and nearly made her stumble off the edge when they moved unexpectedly.
Eventually students from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor started making their descent down to the Great Hall for breakfast. The Ravenclaws ignored her but the Gryffindors from all different years tried to get a rise out of her by calling her names associated with snakes and taunting her about not having any friends.
Hope ignored them just like she did with the Slytherins but she was about to agree to a Wizard's Duel that a 3rd year had requested. Thankfully for that boy the Weasley twins appeared and moved their friend away from the relatively pissed off girl who looked ready to murder the 3rd year Gryffindor.
Not long after the Weasley boys came back and apologised to Hope for their friend's behaviour. Hope was surprised with the prankster's apology but thanked them with a smile, knowing it would be easier to accept the apology than having the Weasley twins prank her constantly for being in Slytherin and for not accepting the apology.
After the red-headed twins left her again after patting her shoulder in respect before heading back into the Great Hall for breakfast. Hope watched the boys leave in confusion, not expecting this behaviour from the 2 Gryffindors. While the auburn haired Slytherin was distracted Harry made his appearance with a disgruntled Ron at his side.
"Hey Hope." Harry said with a smile and the Gryffindors left the first year Slytherin alone since no one wanted to be on the Golden Boy's bad side in Gryffindor.
Hope turned to Harry with a smile. "Hi Harry… Ron." She added with a nod to the red-head who sneered back at her. However Ron didn't say anything either as Harry still hadn't forgiven him completely for being rude to Hope and pushing her nearly 2 full months ago. His ego wouldn't let him be friendly with a Slytherin so Ron ignored Hope mostly which was completely fine with Hope, the less she has to communicate with Ronald the better.
Hope holds out a hand in front of Harry in regret as she requests. "Harry. I need to tell you something in private that will make you very upset. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but I didn't know until yesterday. Can you please come with me for a minute before breakfast?"
Apparently Ron couldn't hold his distrust for Slytherins and blurted out. "No way!"
Ron slapped Hope's hand away with a glare before turning to Harry with worried eyes. "What did I tell you mate. Slytherins will do anything to hurt you and this is clearly a trap!"
Harry looked between his two friends wondering who to trust. Whereas Hope sighed in annoyance at the obnoxious Weasley boy.
After counting to 5 in her head and after Hope was able to contain the anger in her voice. "Look Harry. I would have preferred to do this in private but since your friend doesn't trust me, I'll tell you here."
Hope took a breath to calm herself before starting. "Did you know that Hallowe'en is a day the Wizarding World celebrates? It's because they celebrate the day Voldemort was killed."
At the Dark Lord's name Ron flinched and stuttered out. "Y-you said hi--ss name."
Hope rolled her eyes at Ron but turned back to Harry.
"As you have most likely guessed by now I'm an orphan, just like you Harry. If this was me I'd want to know why the school and Wizarding World celebrates a day that would be classified as one of the worst days in my life. I didn't want you to walk into the Great Hall without knowing why they celebrate this. I'm sorry for your loss Harry. I don't know if anyone has actually said this to you, but you have my condolences." Hope said with a light squeeze on Harry's arm before she walked into the Great Hall.
Hope went straight to Susan and drew the shocked red-head into a hug as she whispered on the Hufflepuffs ear. "I'm sorry for your loss, Susan and I'm sorry that the Wizarding World doesn't seem to understand that this is also a day for mourning. Especially for those who lost family to Voldemort before he died. I'm so sorry Susan."
Halfway through Hope's condolences Susan wrapped her arms around Hope tighter and started to cry on Hope's shoulder. Hannah looked over to her two friends and was very confused about what was happening as all she could see was Hope rubbing circles on Susan's back as her best friend cried softly into Hope's neck.
Hope looked up at Hannah and mouthed, we'll explain soon.
Before Hope turned her attention back to Susan and muttered reassurances to the distraught girl as her eyes took in the reactions from the other houses. Most students looked at the two auburn haired girls with slack-jawed expressions on their faces. Hope even thought that she may have heard in the most disbelieving voice coming from the Gryffindor table. "A Slytherin… just… hugged another student???"
Hope also caught Harry's eyes and she could see a look of understanding pass through them and Hope saw Harry's mouth move and she could make out the thank you, to which Hope replied with a small nod.
Hope's eyes make the rounds around the Great Hall, the Professors look shocked and Babbling looks confused. Hope casts her silent telepathic spell on the part Vampire teacher, "Sheda relax." Hope chuckled mockingly.
"I'm offering my condolences for the loss of her parents. I don't think she realised how much she needed this." Hope explained to the other woman.
Bathsheda's jade eyes locked with Hope's near sapphire eyes as soon as the Professor heard Hope in her mind again and nodded.
"I'll come see you sometime later this week. However, since I don't want there to be any possible chance of someone eavesdropping on us, can we discuss what happened last night during the Christmas Break?" Hope asked Sheda as she kept murmuring soft words to Susan.
Sheda nodded subtly, hiding the movement as she went to take a bite of her breakfast.
The Slytherins were downright glaring at her but Hope caught Daphne's aquamarine eyes and the blonde haired girl's face was impassive as always but her eyes were always expressive to Hope. The time-traveller saw Daphne's hidden emotions of understanding with a mixture of sadness in them as the blonde watched the scene in interest since she has been able to even look at her friend for the last couple of months.
Once Susan was able to calm down she thanked Hope for her condolences and Hope grabbed some pieces of toast and bacon to make a sandwich. Hope left with a polite goodbye and headed back to her dorm room as she had a study period first and didn't wish to spend it in the library.
When Hope realised the effect she had on Susan by just giving condolences, she decided that she would send some letters out as Lady Emrys to the Most Ancient and Noble Houses who had lost family members during the last Wizarding War to offer condolences.
Since Hope believed All Hallow's Eve in her world, especially within the magical community, was a day for remembrance and mourning rather than a day of celebration like it is here. So Hope chose to continue her tradition in this world.
So Hope used her study period to look through her Emrys Codex to find the name of the 7 families of Most Ancient and Noble Houses: Black, Bones, Greengrass, Carrow, Lestrange, Longbottom and Potter. Hope glared at the Carrow and Lestrange names before replacing them with the Tonks and Lovegood families.
Hope signs most of the letters with her Lady Emrys signature which she took great pride in as she spent weeks perfecting it as she knew she would need it in the near future. The Lovegoods were the only family that she signed with her own Hope Mikaelson signature. Giving the family her condolences for Pandora and to offer her friendship to Luna as compensation for a debt Hope owes the Lovegood family.
After Hope sent these letters off via fire messaging. Hope writes a letter to the Flamel's informing them about her rendezvous with Bathsheda Babbling and her Vampiric side activating or at least some more traits. She's still not sure yet but includes that she hasn't had any cravings for blood as of yet.
Hope goes through her school day as normal, using a runestone from the Flamel family after mentioning to Nic and Nelle how some of the Slytherin students throw random ingredients into her cauldron as well as the Gryffindors.
The runestone is named 'praesidio' which basically creates a containment field around herself. It covers about a 2 metre radius, so it doesn't affect anyone else as no one ever chose to be Hope's partner in Potions which she is eternally grateful for.
But when Snape walks by Hope has to cancel the runestone's effects so her Head of House won't bang into the barrier. However as soon as he leaves the outcast Slytherin re-channels her magic into the runestone again to avoid any sabotage to her potion.
So this makes Potion classes at least somewhat bearable, but the auburn haired girl still gets frustrated when Snape gives full marks to all Slytherins except for her even though more than half of the Sytherins couldn't brew an acceptable potion, Snape still marks them higher than her.
Hope still despises Flying class with a passion, however it just got a lot worse when her Vampire side started growling along with her Wolf about not being able to touch the ground. Hope's Witch side tries to placate her other sides and tells them that she will be dropping this subject at her earliest convenience as she hates flying as well. Hell she even hates Quidditch as it bores her and she's forced to go to the school games for at least for the first 2 years as part of Flying class.
All of her other classes are going well and she believes that she's most likely getting A's or whatever the top score in this world is. The universal-traveller is even learning the materials from Astronomy much to her utter annoyance as she now has to remember two sets of constellations and celestial events.
She had Herbology as her last class before dinner, in which Professor Sprout gave Hope a genuine smile. All of her Badgers gave Hope a grateful smile for looking after one of their own as well by offering Hope their friendship and support.
The Head of Hufflepuff House frowned slightly when she saw the look of disbelief on the 1st year Slytherins' face when she took in all the Hufflepuffs wishing to become friends. But the auburn haired Slytherin girl seemed to bounce back rather quickly with a beautiful smile and a nod to all her Hufflepuff students.
Hope worked with Hannah and Susan with a relaxed look on her face, now that she had at least half of class on her side, the exiled Slytherin girl was able to enjoy the class more without fear of her classmates pulling any dirty tricks on her.
Susan seemed to be sticking close to Hope through the entire class. Keeping her attention on Hope with an appreciative smile on her face to show that she was thankful to the auburn haired girl, for offering her condolences to her when nobody else had ever considered it.
At the end of Herbology class, Professor Sprout requested Hope to stay back for a moment. Hope watched the yellow and green trimmed students leave, but she managed to see Daphne brush up against Susan lightly at the back of the group. Her Mate laced her fingers with Susan's and muttered something in her ear.
This left the red-haired girl with a shocked expression on her face before a kind smile appeared on Susan's face at the Greengrass Heiress' quiet, yet sympathetic words. Daphne left to catch up to the rest of the Slytherin's who were making their way to the Great Hall for dinner.
Hope smiled at the scene between her friend and her Mate, while her Wolf preened in satisfaction knowing her Mate has a heart of gold but hides it behind the Ice Queen persona. The Professor clears her throat softly, gaining Hope's attention quickly. "I want to thank you Hope." Professor Sprout says with a kind smile.
"I never realised that the Wizarding World has never acknowledged the loss of those who perished the days before You-Know-Who's demise. We only celebrate the end of His reign of tyranny and destruction. When we should offer the families greatly affected like the Bones' and Potter's a day of mourning, rather than to force them to celebrate a day that causes them great pain." Sprout admits with a sorrowful expression.
Hope looked down shyly at the ground due to the Professor's words as she was embarrassed by the praise the Professor gave her.
Professor Sprout put a hand lightly on Hope's shoulder which caused Hope's eyes to shoot back up to the Professor's in suspicion, before her eyes softened after a moment of recognition. The Professor filed this information away to the back of her mind with pity as she knows that when kids react that quickly with distrust as their first emotion. Then the child has usually been through a terrible or painful ordeal.
Professor Sprout is aware that Hope was an orphan as Susan and Hannah had told her when she asked her Badgers why they were set on protecting the girl from the rest of the Snakes in the den. The girls replied that the Muggleborn girl was kind, respectful if not a little guarded but that was to be expected since Hope was an only child and she lived with a married couple as her guardians since she mentioned to Susan on her first day that she was living as a ward.
"If you ever need someone to talk to, my door is always open. You've shown great loyalty to your friends regardless of their house and this is something I pride myself on. So I award 20 points to Slytherin." The Professor says with pride in her eyes and a grateful smile before walking Hope out of the greenhouse and heading to dinner.
Hope walks in surprising comfortable silence with the Professor. As the girl with sea blue eyes passes by the bathroom she suddenly comes to a halt causing the older woman to stop as well.
"Sorry Professor." Hope says to the Professor as she turns back to see why the Slytherin girl had stopped.
Hope lifts her thumb pointing towards the bathroom as an explanation before mentioning politely. "I'll make my own way to dinner. I just need to use the bathroom."
Professor Sprout just smiles and nods as Hope heads into the girl's bathroom. The Head of Hufflepuff House frowned as she wanted to show unity and support from her Hufflepuff students to the Muggleborn Slytherin as an attempt to stop the other students from hassling the poor girl all the time.
As Hope turned the corner she could hear the soft sigh from the Professor as the teacher walked off, her soft leather boots hitting the ground with an even pace. Hope had realised what the Professor wished to do and she would have loved to go ahead with the public show of protection from Hufflepuff.
But alas the sound of soft sobs brought Hope's mind back to the situation at hand. To speak to Hermione before the Troll arrives and offer friendship to the brillant 1st year Gryffindor.
With silent footsteps honed from walking in the forest as both girl and wolf. Hope made her way into the bathroom and knocked softly on the only closed door in the room drawing a startled gasp of shock from behind the door.
"Are you okay?" Hope asked with concern in her voice.
"Please go away." A soft almost broken voice replies back, which almost tore Hope's heart in two.
Hope sighed softly, coming to the conclusion that if she tried to force a friendship now she would only distraught the girl further and would never become friends with the bushy haired brunette.
"Very well. I'll go. But whatever you are going through, it will get better. I promise and if you ever want to talk to someone, come find me. My name is Hope. Hope Mikaelson." Hope said quietly and with as much sincerity as she could through a closed door.
Hope heard another heartbreaking sob, but knowing Hope couldn't push her luck, so she turned around to leave, making sure her footsteps were a little louder for Hermione to hear before calling out softly. "Please just don't give up, okay? You will survive whatever has got you down and you will persevere stronger than before."
When Hope left the bathroom she heard Hermione start crying again and Hope clenched her fist in anger, knowing that it was Ronald Weasley who broke one of the smartest and most independent people in this world.
The Tribrid's eyes flashed gold and dark veins came from the corner of her eyes as she stalked off to the Great Hall. She kept her eyes downcast so the portraits could not see her face and took deep breaths to calm herself.
As Hope arrived outside the Great Hall she had regained control over her anger and when she looked up she saw Professor Sprout standing outside the Hall, hiding just behind the doors so no one in the Great Hall could see her waiting patiently for something. Hope frowned slightly.
"Professor?" Hope called out in confusion, drawing the woman's attention to her.
The Professor just smiled at her as she ushered Hope into the Great Hall with a hand behind Hope's back, not touching her but giving the school the impression she was, the Herbology Professor seemingly guiding the girl to the Hufflepuff table.
As the Muggleborn Slytherin walked in with the Hufflepuff Head of House she couldn't help but notice the glares from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were gone. A majority of the Gryffindors are no longer looking at Hope with contempt in their eyes. It looked like the Gryffindors were giving her a nod of acceptance or respect, Hope wasn't sure which. Obviously the Slytherins' views would never change so long as she is a Muggleborn from a no-named family tree.
Hope honestly just doesn't give a damn anymore what the Slytherins' think. The only Slytherins that Hope would give a chance to are Tracey and Blaise. Daphne automatically doesn't require a chance to prove herself as she is her Mate and her best friend in this world. So Hope already knows Daphne decently well but can't wait to learn more.
Her Wolf and Vampire nod in agreement with a pleasurable sound that had Hope's eyes widen slightly at combined noise.
Sprout on the other hand, looked very pleased with the outcome. A majority of the other faculty members were all quite happy with the events that occurred with the exception of Binns, who was taking a nap and Snape who practically looked like murdering Hope in her sleep with the glare he was shooting in her direction.
Hope internally grinned at Snape's glare knowing this was going to make Snape's life difficult with his Slytherins bitching to him, about Hope needing to be isolated to send her running from the school with tears in her eyes.
Hope had laughed in her room for hours when she overheard that plan from the Slytherins. If she could survive Lizzie Saltzman's pokes throughout her school years, then she could easily survive this.
These kids don't know anything about her and their insults about her dead parents were a low blow, but she never got the same insults like, 'Your mother is an abomination,' or 'Your father is a beast, murderer or a monster.'
So the insults were easy to shrug off, although they have taken to doing these insults in the common room when possible. When Susan had overheard one of the Slytherins bullying Hope and calling her names, Susan had hexed the boy that was bullying the lone Slytherin to trip face first into a desk, causing Hope to snort in laughter at the image.
As Hope sat down next to Susan and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table, she chanced a glance at the Headmaster, who was looking at Hope with curiosity in his eyes. For some strange reason this made Hope's stomach roll into itself in fear of Dumbledore trying to manipulate the situation to his advantage or trying to use her to his own 'Greater Good'.
Hope tried to shove this feeling of dread aside and focus on the conversation around her and she managed to answer some questions the Hufflepuff's were asking her, including one from a 4th year Cedric Diggory.
Hope's stomach dropped as she faced the future Hogwarts Tri-Wizard Champion. The dread she was feeling with Dumbledore a few seconds ago instantly turned to guilt and pity as she glanced at the cheerful boy who would be murdered by Voldemort in 3 and a bit years.
A loud bang sounded through the room as the doors to the Great Hall slammed open. A rumble of thunder shuddered throughout the castle, causing Hope to jump in surprise and groan in pain as she covered her ears due to the combination of loud noises.
Hope muttered out in a quiet moan of pain. "Fuck! That hurt!"
At the same time Quirrell is shouting out at the top of his lungs. "Troll! Troll! There's a Troll in the Dungeon!"
When nobody made a noise or movement, Quirrell must have rolled his eyes internally. Because even while moaning slightly in pain, still recovering from the noise from earlier, Hope rolled her eyes literally as she zoned her hearing over to Daphne before bracing for the squeals of terror that will follow shortly.
Quirrell or Quirrell-Mort is an excellent actor Hope deduces as he feigns a look of shock and horror as he continues in a scared voice. "Thought you'd ought to know."
Quirrell dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes as he fainted.
After two seconds of quiet there was another boom of thunder and this started the chain reaction of setting off the students with shrieks of terror. Feeding off the fear of a mass panic as the screams became even louder than before.
Hope thanks her foresight to concentrate on Daphne as her Mate is not screaming in terror. Instead she is trying to calm Tracey down as the Half-Blood has never seen a Troll before.
"SILENCE!!!" The Headmaster called out with a booming echo rebrevating through the Great Hall's stone tiles.
Hope groaned in pain again as the Headmaster's one word requesting silence almost drove her deaf with how loud it was. Hope made the leap in her mind, Dumbledore must have used a silent sonorous charm on himself. Because there is no way in hell an elderly man, who Hope believed to be nearly 100 years old or possibly older could make a sound that loud without magical assistance.
The Headmaster took charge of the situation quickly informing the Professor's to find the Troll and for the prefects to take the students back to their dorms. However Hope just facepalmed near Susan who looked at her in curiosity.
Hope sighed at the cautious faces of the yellow-trimmed students around her and asked Susan simply. "Where are the Hufflepuff and Slytherin common rooms located again?"
This causes the red head girl to pale significantly, which Hope thought was impressive as the girl was already basically white-skinned.
Some of the Hufflepuffs overheard Hope's annoyed remark and gulped nervously as everyone stood up to leave the Great Hall.
The Hufflepuffs tried to argue with their prefects but the prefects were resolute in leaving and following the instructions the Headmaster had given them. Even though the prefects knew that they were leading their classmates towards a Troll but had no choice, otherwise they could be stripped of being a prefect.
Hope didn't complain, instead she just joined the end of the Slytherin line as they walked out the door. After informing the closest Hufflepuffs goodbye and that she'd talk to them tomorrow when everything had settled down.