Chapter 33: chapter 33
After Hope had exited the shower, she was towel drying her hair as she heard a knock on her door. Hope glanced up in curiosity and decided to answer the door dressed in a towel as none of the boys could enter the girl's dormitories anymore, thanks to Lady Emrys changing the Slytherin Wardstone not even 12 hours later than when she arrived.
Hope opened the door to see Daphne with Tracey standing behind her, Daphne arched her eyebrows at Hope's bravado and trailed her eyes appricatably up and down her girlfriend's fine body.
Tracey however squeaked as her jaw dropped at the display of careless vulnerability in the snake den before looking up to Hope's sminking face as continued to dry her hair with a second towel. "Like what you see?"
The brunette girl went red in the face as she turned around and walked straight into Pansy and Millicent who were both looking at Hope with envy in their eyes.
Daphne furrowed her eyes as a thought crossed her mind. "Hey… Just curious, but no one saw you shower in the communal bathroom, so where do you shower when you're here?"
Hope tilted her head slightly as she considered the blonde's question.
"There's a communal bathroom?" Hope regarded curiously with a tilt of her head.
All the girls in the hallway nodded. "Oh… I didn't know that. I just used the bathroom in my room."
Pansy, the pug-faced girl, not one to be disgraced, shouted out. "Why the bloody hell do you have a shower in your room and the rest of us don't? It's not fair! You're just Mudblood nobody!"
Hope rolled her eyes.
"Maybe because I checked my room and dispelled all the booby-traps left over from the previous tenants of this room. I found the bathroom door behind a concealment charm." Hope answered with a shrug.
"Don't blame me for finding something that you never considered while I was making sure none of the booby-traps in the room killed me."
There was a scoff in Hope's mind as Daphne's partially humoured and exasperated voice drawled out. 'And you didn't think to mention this to me? Really?'
The Tribrid sent a slightly guilty look before hardening her face.
"Anyway," The light auburn haired girl started before turning to Daphne, "What did you need me for?"
Daphne tossed a package to Hope and she caught it with her magic before levitating it to the bed since her hands were preoccupied with a towel in her hand and holding the other towel up with her arm across her breasts.
"Thanks." Hope replied before closing the door to her nosy housemates as she threw her second towel towards the bathroom before it hit the ground it teleported to the drying rack.
Hope was making her way through the corridors with Alexandria on her shoulder, Myrddin stayed behind to wait for Hope's call at the first sign of bullying since both the paranoid girl and wise bird knew it was going to happen. Whether the bullying started today or later this week, they knew it wouldn't take long until Mandy, Isobel and Lisa would start to torment the younger years, maining focusing on Luna.
A patter of tiny feet slowed Hope to a halt as she turned around, sensing out with her magic as she glanced down to the ground the tiny animal jumped up.
Hope caught the rabbit-like creature in her hands and scratched the top of Cassandra's head. "What are you doing so far away from Luna, Cassandra? Luna must be worried sick about you."
"Not as much as you think." A whimsical voice came from around the corner.
Hope carried the Crumple-Horned Snorkack in her arms as she walked towards Luna's voice. "You know when I mentioned bringing Cassandra to school, I kinda expected that she would be sticking close to you."
"But it's not in her nature to stay in the same spot. She enjoys exploring." The happy girl smiled as she stroked along the curvy horn and Cassandra hummed, chirping at the blonde.
The girls made their way towards the Great Hall, side by side as Luna switched languages suddenly to the viking tongue. "I have some bizarre news to tell you."
Hope looked over to Luna and hummed in acknowledgement.
"Something is changing in your future. I'm not sure what it is, but it's something revolving around you." The descendant of Ravenclaw told her friend.
"Anything bad or complicated?" The Tribrid asked, hoping to keep on top of any problems that could show up.
Luna came to a stop just outside the Great Hall and Hope lowered her body to the ground, opening her arms to let Cassandra drop to the ground gently.
The seer considered Hope's question for a moment before slowly replying. "I'm sorry I don't know. But I don't sense anything nefarious being plotted against you."
"Good. I'll deal with it when it happens." Hope was about to walk into the large room before her foot squeaked across the stone floor as she pivoted to face Luna, "Oh, by the way, if Daphne asks how I enter the Tournament, tell her I asked you to keep it a secret."
Luna giggled as she entered the Great Hall behind Hope. "Of course. It would be a pleasure to keep this quiet. I can't wait!"
Before Hope could even sit down Snape hands her a small piece of paper before continuing on his way without a backwards glance. Hope's eyes followed her Head of House as he made his rounds around the Slytherin table and tilted her head slightly as she silently removed any charms or concealments on her timetable.
Surprisingly there didn't seem to be any traps or changes to her timetable which caused Hope to blink in surprise before shaking her head out of her disbelief. She made her way over to the Slytherin table and sat down as she heard Pansy's shrill voice talking about Hope and how disfigured her body is.
Hope's brow furrowed as she listened in, hearing Pansy admit she saw Hope dressed in a towel and telling anyone who would listen that she had flaky skin and a disgusting mark on her back.
There was a loud teasing laughter coming from a majority of the green and silver students as they pointed and laughed at her.
Hope twitched her nose in irritation but a flash of fire appeared above the Slytherin table as Myrddin made his appearance to protect Hope and angrily thrilled at the group of Slytherins making fun of Hope.
"What are you doing?" Hope mentally thought towards the Phoenix as he encased his wings in red-hot flames, threatening flapping them over Pansy's head.
A loud thrill came from the midnight Phoenix as he set Pansy and Millicent on fire, but like he promised in the past everyone started with only threatening flames that don't actually harm the person to begin with. However the more offences they make the stronger and more dangerous the flames become.
"I'm doing my job. You told me to protect anyone who was being bullied." The noble voice replied smugly, "Not my fault some of your housemates are idiots."
Hope mentally sighed at the bird before murmuring, "Great! Now Lady Emrys' Phoenix is showing up in Slytherin. Now I've seen it all."
The two aforementioned girls squealed before running out of the Great Hall with their hair covered by fire. Some of the Professors just sighed as they were used to the black Phoenix' protective tendencies and they were ashamed that they were unable to do anything to stop the blatant bullying as there just wasn't enough Professors to supervise all the students.
Hope read over her schedule for the day and saw that it was very similar to last year, the only differences being the classes she shares with the other houses. Thankfully she only had one class with Ravenclaws exclusively, the downside was the class is DADA with Faux-Moody.
She had 3 classes with Gryffindors, obviously Potions because the universe just seems to hate them or Snape just enjoys torturing all his students, Transfiguration also for the same reason of torture but just in the opposite direction and Charms.
Although Hope was incredibly pleased that she had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, she was unsure about History of Magic as this was the first time she had this class with people who actually cared about her.
Hope let out a relieved breath when she noticed her first DADA lesson was next week since they arrived on a Thursday night and didn't have a class with Barty Crouch Jr until Tuesday and had it 3 days in a row.
There were a few kids still quietly chuckling in Hope direction as they made their way to Herbology for the first period. Susan and Hannah being the sweet angels they are, walking on either side of the Muggleborn Slytherin and guiding the girl to their table to work at, murmuring reassurance as they went.
When they were working through the lesson on belladonna, most of the Slytherins were still sending scrutinising looks every so often at Hope before laughing between themselves. Hope rolled her eyes at the childish antics, not letting them get to her. Daphne sent a rueful gaze at her girlfriend as she couldn't do anything to help at this stage.
After the lesson ended Professor Pomfrey asked Hope if she was alright, but to her shock the Slytherin girl just smiled before replying so everyone in the class could hear. "I'm fine. It's not like I'm ashamed of my body, in fact I'm proud of it."
Hope turned to look at Pansy before talking directly to her in a condescending voice. "Besides Pansy, I saw you looking at me with both envy and jealousy in your eyes. Because you know you'll never gain the effortless confidence I have, much less the natural gift of magic I possess. But I'd be willing to prove it if you'd like to Duel against me."
Pansy gulped nervously and shook her head, Hope hummed knowingly.
"As for the disfiguration as you like to call it. It's a birthmark I share with my mother. It's one of the most precious things I have and I wouldn't trade it for anything. So go ahead and mock me. It's not like I care about what any of you think of me." The Tribrid announced with such an inspiring expression that she was literally smirking at the class as she left.
As the rest of the day went on the Slytherins tried to bait the Muggleborn into attacking them and having the Slytherin Wards activate on her. Hope had to admit, they were finally getting a fraction smarter, she would say they were making great progress if it wasn't for the fact there were 7 Slytherin students in the Infirmary after testing the wards.
Eventually over the weekend the green-robed students finally gave up trying to use Hope's body against her, funnily enough Myrddin had also gave two warning fires to Draco, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle as they tried and failed to ambush Hope trying to rip her uniform to shreds to embarrass her.
When Daphne heard the reasoning behind this she almost went after the boys but her Occlumency skills kicked in hard before she could do anything.
During their first DADA class, Professor 'Moody' staggered in heavily as his prosthetic leg weighed him down significantly. He informed the class how they would be learning about the Unforgivable Curses for the first week. Out of all the houses that the Slytherins were paired up with for Defence Against the Dark Arts, Ravenclaw was probably the worst one to be paired with 'Moody' teaching them.
If she was with Hufflepuff, Hope could consult Susan after witnessing the cruciatus curse, since the orphaned red-headed girl had confided in Hope about the events surrounding her parents' deaths. However, Hope would've preferred to be with Gryffindor for this year so she could keep an eye on Barty Crouch Jr as he spied on Harry this year, preparing for Voldemort's return.
Hope sat with Padma as the Professor went over the information from his syllabus from the Ministry.
Hope's eyes furrowed slightly as she turned to her left to stare at the black-haired girl next to her before turning to look at Malfoy. 'I thought that Gryffindor had DADA with Slytherin this year… I could have sworn that Malfoy was taunting Harry, Ron and Neville during the lesson with the Unforgivable Curses…' Hope thought to herself.
But apparently her thoughts weren't as closed off as she believed as Daphne replied. 'Is that bad?'
Hope kept her gaze on the Professor as she answered slowly and cautiously, 'Probably not… I hope. But this small detail and Luna's warning about something unknown happening later this year could be connected and that thought worries me a little bit.'
"Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, you lot are too young to be learning about illegal dark curses and should only be teaching you about counter curses and hexes before leaving it at that." The man said as he shook the notes from the Ministry in his hand before throwing them away in a fit of rage and slamming his hands on the desk in front of him which happened to be Daphne and Tracey's desk.
Hope narrowed her eyes at the polyjuiced man as he stood so close to her Mate.
Daphne didn't even jump or flinch when the Professor slammed his hands on the desk before she levelled an icy glare at the man and arched her eyebrows at the criminal impersonating an Auror.
Faux 'Moody' slowly removed his hands from the desk as he kept his mechanically eye on the Greengrass Heiress as he cleared his throat. "Honestly I think that's a load of donkey's ass. If you are being targeted by a dark spell you should be able to identify it and protect yourself from it."
A snicker came from Malfoy as he brazenly taunted the older Auror. "You're mad. There is no spell in the world that can stop a Killing Curse."
The Professor sneered at the younger Malfoy boy, recalling how his father got off with as little as a slap on the wrist and chose to get some payback on the Malfoy family. The retired Auror shot off multiple spells at Malfoy causing him to squeal as he ducked beneath his desk while the class watched on in shock, however Hope was openly smirking at the scene in front of her.
As the Professor was firing spells he was shouting at the boy. "Mad am I? Well then boy how would you block these spells! Come out of hiding and protect yourself boy!"
The spells 'Moody' was casting at the blonde-haired Slytherin boy were low-level blasting curses that wouldn't even put a hole in a piece of clothing. It was a harmless but effective hands-on teaching method.
When the spells had stopped Malfoy poked his head out from under the desk and 'Moody' barked at him.
"Get out from under there! I'm not going to fire any more spells at you boy." He said as he rolled his eyes, his mechanical eye made extremely exaggerated movements.
"Wait until my father hears about this, he'll have your job in a matter of moments!" He cried out in anger.
Before 'Moody' could reply to the boy, the Muggleborn Slytherin girl snorted before she drawled out. "And how exactly would he do that Malfoy? If my memory serves me right and it does, Lucius has no say in anything that happens in the school anymore since I kicked him out. Forcibly." The girl smirked at the blonde boy who became red in the face.
"Shut your face, Mudblood whore!" The junior Malfoy blurted out.
"How about all of you shut yer yaps before I ship you all off to Azkaban!" The Professor yelled over the chatter and fired off another spell at the Muggleborn girl.
Hope had flicked her wand into her hand during the beginning of the lesson as she didn't trust the man, not even in the slightest. So she was prepared for the spell, a mid-levelled cutting curse that may have given her a decent sized scratch if it had hit.
To the majority of the class including the Professor but excluding Daphne and Padma, all their jaws dropped as Hope deflected the spell into the wall beside her using her wand.
The Professor managed to pull himself together faster than the rest of the class before pointing at the girl.
"See! Right there! This girl shows promise. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He shouted as the entire room jumped.
'Moody' slammed his cane on the ground gaining the class' attention.
"So, if this little demonstration has shown us anything, dark spells can be blocked by an inanimate object or as Miss Mikaelson showed us, a spell can be redirected, even an Unforgivable. But no one ever attempts this as a single error will end up with your death and only an experienced Dueller can pull off a seamless deflection. As it turns out Professor Flitwick's pride in Miss Mikaelson is not misplaced." The impersonator praised while thinking about how to get the girl to join Lord Voldemort's cause.
Now that he considered things with a speculative mind, he looked over to the Greengrass girl and recalled that she and Mikaelson won the Doubles Championship, maybe he should also try convincing the future Lady Greengrass to join them as well. Having the leader of the Neutral Faction at their beck and call would be a large boon for them, so long as Lady Emrys doesn't take over the Neutral Faction by force.
Murmurs brought Crouch's attention back to the class and he slammed the cane on the ground again, making the students jump in surprise but the two Duelling Champions didn't even move a muscle, causing the imposter to arch an eyebrow between the two.
"Back to what I was talking about. The Ministry doesn't think that you lot should be learning about Unforgivable Curses but like I said the Ministry doesn't know it's ass from its face. So with that said, what makes an Unforgivable so illegal?" He asks the class.
Terry Boot raised a shaking hand as he answered nervously. "Because the 3 Unforgivable Curses target the other person's soul. Which in its act is unforgivable."
"Right! And it also offers a one way ticket to Azkaban for your troubles."
'Moody' scribbled on the blackboard behind him before calling out, "Now who can name one of these spells?"
The class remained completely silent and 'Moody' grew irritated at the class' nonparticipation in his class and cracked his cane against the stone floor.
"Are you trying to tell me, not a single one of you knows the name of an Unforgivable?" He questioned sarcastically.
Nott, one of the Slytherin boys, sneered at the Professor but answered begrudgingly. "The Imperius Curse."
Crouch turned back to the board and wrote some information about that specific Unforgivable. "Finally! Now can anyone tell me what this Curse does?"
Anthony Goldstein, a fair haired boy from Ravenclaw cleared his throat lightly before answering softly. "The Imperius Curse, like mentioned earlier, targets the opponent's soul, focusing on the mind. It allows the caster to control the other person's actions and thoughts."
"Well done! Good explanation. 10 points to Ravenclaw. Next!" 'Moody' called out as he continued writing on the board.
Another Ravenclaw blurted out. "The Cruciatus Curse."
The scarred man grunted and waved his hand in a circular motion telling the person to continue, the girl swallowed but responded. "The spell sends unbelievable pain through the opponent's soul, basically setting their nerve endings on fire."
"Right! Not the best description. Miss Turpin, but good enough." The Professor veered off as he recalled his own memories of using the Curse on his victims.
"And the last Curse? How about someone from Slytherin this time."
Surprisingly to Hope, none of the other students answered for a very long time.
Hope rolled her eyes as she answered. "The Killing Curse. This is used to literally split the soul from the opponent's body, as violently and ruthlessly as possible. No magical barrier can block the Killing Curse but a physical barrier like stone or wood can stop the spell. The physical barrier can break, but it will protect the defender from a single attack."
'Moody' turned his head as he considered the Muggleborn's answer. "Very astute Miss Mikaelson. 10 points to Slytherin."
Crouch took a quick swig out of his flask before picking up a jar with a large spider and emptying the jar on his desk. "I'm going to show you all what these spells look like."
He pointed his wand at the spider, "Engorgio."
The spider was enlarged and 'Moody' cast the first of the Unforgivable spells, "Imperio."
The Professor waved his wand causing the spider to jump around the classroom as the class started to laugh as they watched the spider perform cartwheels, jumping jacks and even the moonwalk.
"You think that's funny do you?" 'Moody' remarks bitingly, the class becomes quiet at the rough voice. 'Moody' flung the spider towards a bucket of water and thrusted his wand down and the spider started to down itself.
Hope bit her lip in anger and looked away in disgust, staring at the wall for a while as she listened to the water ripple and splash as the spider tried to fight against the spell and break free.
"Is it funny now?" The Professor asked, there were several murmurs and shaking of heads from the Ravenclaws.
"The Imperius Curse can make anyone do whatever the caster wants, including killing themselves."
The DADA Professor flung the spider out of the water and placed the dripping wet insect on his desk before releasing the curse from the arachnid making the spider give a full bodied sigh.
Hope turned back to the front of the class as she watched Crouch cast the second Unforgivable, "Crucio."
The spider writhed in pain and made a screeching noise that sounded like the poor animal was dying. Hope grinded her teeth together as she watched the sadistic smile cross 'Moody's' disfigured face.
"Professor!" Daphne called out, causing the scarred man to stop his curse and face the girl in feigned confusion, "You wished to show us what these spells look like. Not to make us watch as you torture creatures unnecessarily. Also if you plan on showing the Killing Curse on that spider I will personally make your life hell. Do you understand?"
Every head in the class turned to face Daphne as she continued to stare down the Professor with her best 'Ice Queen' mask on her face, after a few moments the Professor blinked first before turning away.
'Damn… That was sexy.' Hope dragged out in a seductive tone within their minds, the copper haired girl felt the Heiress's smirk.
"Very well Miss Greengrass. If for some reason no one knows what the Killing Curse looks like. Here you go." The one-legged man shifted and faced the same wall Hope deflected 'Moody's' previous spell into.
"Avada Kedavra." A jet of emerald light shot out of his wand and struck the wall with a cracking sound.
Hope and Daphne's eyes twitched as 'Moody' shot off the Curse, both of the girls had their wands in their hands for the entire time Crouch was showcasing the Unforgivable Curses just in case the undercover Death Eater decided to attack one of the students.
"Well that just about covers this lesson, but tomorrow I have received the Ministry's permission to cast the Imperius Curse on the lot of you. Not to do anything nefarious but just to see how well you can protect yourself against the Curse." 'Moody' mentioned before he dismissed the frightened class.
Daphne was exchanging spells in rapid-fire with Hope as Flitwick watched on in amazement as she ranted about Professor Moody's class and his deranged ideals. Professor Flitwick questioned the girls about the class, when he heard that Alastor had been using the Unforgivable Curses he was partially surprised that he actually followed through with his syllabus he gave to Dumbledore.
"I'm aware that Alastor wishes to use the Imperius Curse on the students to test their mental walls and resistance to manipulation. One of the Heads of House will be in the room at the same time to keep the commands neutral, if not a bit embarrassing." The half Goblin revealed.
Hope sighed as she ducked under one of the volleyed spells.
"You have no idea how happy… Wait… Which professor has our class to supervise?" Hope cautiously asked.
"Uhh. I believe it is Minerva. I mean Professor McGonnagall." Flitwick answered and the two girl's sighed in relief.
Daphne brought them to a halt as she was sweating, "Damn… I'm out of practice." Placing her hands on her knees as she caught her breath.
Hope hopped up on the workbench and reached over to her girlfriend pulling her in between her legs and rubbing circles into Daphne's shoulders to relax the blonde girl.
The Greengrass Heiress leaned against Hope as she softly moaned, closing her eyes.
Hope placed a kiss on the top of Daphne's head before mentioning cheekily. "Maybe you should join me for my morning runs?"
Daphne groaned slightly. "My poor feet. I can already tell they are going to hate you again darling."
The blonde looked over at Bloodied Warrior of the Goblin Nation before asking, "If asked, would you cover for me? For instance if I say to my classmates that you told me to start running with Hope in the mornings as part of my Duelling training. Will you back me up?"
"Sure. But if you want legitimacy." Flitwick looked at the blonde girl, "Miss Greengrass, I want you to join Miss Mikaelson in the morning for her run around the school grounds to increase your stamina."
"Yes, Warrior Flitwick." Daphne replied respectfully with a small bow to her mentor.
"Thanks Warrior Flitwick." Hope said with a small nod of her head.
The Professor smiled at the pair before making his way back to his desk. "Well I think that you two are done for the day. I'll see you both tomorrow in class. You mentioned that you have Astronomy tomorrow night?"
The girl's nodded as they made their way to the door. "Yes, Sir."
When Hope had her hand on the handle of the door, she froze before she could turn the knob. The auburn-haired girl swore and walked back into the room, drawing the attention of the other two occupants.
"What's wrong?" Daphne asked as she turned back around to face Hope.
"I just remembered. Ragnok had mentioned to me when I first received my Emrys ring, that it will protect me from all spells that target my soul or anything that would affect my judgement." Hope recalled with a groan.
Daphne gave a shrug at the information. "All Head of House rings provide protection against mind altering spells or potions."
"No. I know that." Hope admitted softly, "Ragnok theorised that my Legendary House ring will be able to stop the Unforgivable Curses and since you are wearing the Consort ring, you would also be protected from the Unforgivables. Normally that would be a good thing but 'Moody' will be casting the Imperius Curse against us tomorrow."
A look of realisation came across the blonde Heiress' face as her mouth opened in an 'o' and she lifted her fingers to her temples to rub at them in frustration. "Oh… You're worried that since the Imperius won't work on us, everyone will speculate why it doesn't affect us?"
"Yeah. I mean, should we fake being under the Imperius?" Hope asked her Mate.
"Probably not. We'll have to take our rings off temporarily during the lesson."" Daphne suggested with a displeased look on her face.
"Is that smart?"
"Hell no."
"Peachy." Hope groaned before she headed out of the room and the Professor shared a grin with the blonde haired girl at the Tribrid's sarcasm.