Last First Kiss {HP Next Generation}

Chapter Fifty Seven

Nixie sat in between Sirius and Remus as they waited for any of the champions to return from the task. They still had thirty minutes to collect as many gold pieces, but Nixie was hoping the girls would return sooner, especially Hope since Remus was turning into a complete puddle of nerves beside her. As she looked around, she caught sight of her son, standing with Teddy, possibly muttering some words of encouragement that the girls would be just fine. Teddy had a stubborn look on his face as he attempted to brush Henry's words off, until Henry gave her a look that resembled her a little too well.

She laughed to herself and shook her head.

"How could you be laughing at a time like this?" Remus asked looking over at her.

"I was just thinking about something. How history has a way of repeating itself in weird ways." Nixie said resting her elbows on the top of her legs and resting her chin in her hands.

"What do you mean?" Sirius questioned what was on both of the men's minds.

"Well, now that I look at the group, it reminds me of when we were in school. Henry, Teddy and Hope remind me of three boys that I went to school with."

"What? Who?" Sirius gave her a funny look, until Remus and Nixie both stared at him. "Oh right..."

"Hope reminds me of you," She said looking to her husband. "Henry reminds me of you, Remus. And Teddy, well, let's all be honest, does he not remind you all of James, sometimes? Between him and Stella, they remind me so much of James and Lily. All they're bickering and fighting, now look at them. Teddy has been biting his nails the entire time and no one can say anything to comfort him, the only thing that will make him feel better is seeing Stella come out of the forest, safe and sound."

"You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?" Remus chuckled.

"I'm just very observant...unlike you two. Took you both forever to see that Henry liked Hope. "

"Oh yeah, and when did you know, oh Wise Nini?" Sirius questioned.

"When they were babies, remember Henry's first word?"

"Ope." The three of them said.

Nixie looked back and forth between them. "Need I say more?"

As the three Weasley girls traveled along in the Forbidden Forest, the two tried to keep Hope in the middle as the girl wasn't too familiar with the beasts in the forest as the twins were. They had grown up around all types of animals and creatures, making their travel through the forest easier in their minds. But with Hope, they certainly didn't need her running up to anything that could potentially hurt her. However, Hope's mind seemed to be preoccupied with something else entirely.

She kept wandering off much to the displeasure of Stella and Eliza, until they roped her back in.

"Stop running off." Stella told her. "You don't need to be getting lost around here."

"Didn't I tell you not to worry, besides, I've been helping us the entire time. You're welcome by the way." Hope huffed.

"What have you been doing?" Eliza asked, shuffling around the niffler in her arms. 

"Come check it out, but keep quiet."

 Hope led the way through some of the trees and brush until she motioned the twins to lower themselves to the ground. 

"You see, we weren't the only ones to think of using nifflers." Hope whispered to them, pointing out the Ilvermorny team with their nifflers in hand. "But I've been a bit sneaky by distracting their nifflers."

"You've been using the leprechaun gold we've come across?" Eliza smiled.

Hope nodded. "Indeed I have, it's been great, for every real piece we've collected I've left a leprechaun piece in it's place every chance I've had. It's hard to detect leprechaun gold, so I've noticed both teams have been picking up any piece they can find. Not a bad strategy, but we've definitely have an advantage, this round."

Suddenly, she was patted on the head by the two. "Well done, Hope."

"Plus, you guys have to check this out." Grabbing a leprechaun piece from her pocket, she threw it a little ways from them. While the Ilvermorny students didn't seem to take notice, the nifflers they had certainly did. They instantly became restless in their handlers arms until they were set down and raced after the piece.

Stella laughed quietly to herself. "You're a genius, Hope!"

'About time you both recognized that." Hope said standing up and brushing herself off. "I've been saying it for years."

"How do you think they're doing?" 

Henry furrowed his brow for a second, not recognizing the voice right away until he turned around and saw Benji standing behind him. He faced the boy, with a surprised look, as it seemed there had been no interaction between him and Hope since Henry and Hope had become a couple.

"Uh, hey Benji. I...I think they're doing just fine."

"Well, of course they are, why wouldn't they be?" He jumped and turned to see Tori standing beside Benji with a smile. He looked down to see them holding hands, making it  click in his mind. He was able to relax, knowing that Benji's intentions were nothing but having concern for the fellow Hogwarts students.

"I just hope the girls will be able to pull off the first win." Benji said. "It would be great if Hogwarts could get the lead right off the bat, you know?"

"Eh...not so sure about that." Fergus called to them as the Durmstrang team emerged first from the forest with seven minutes to spare. Their bucket was overflowing with gold pieces, bringing the group to frown.

Ilvermorny came out second, their bucket appearing just as fool, bringing the group to worry.

And finally, the Hogwarts team came out with their bucket, it wasn't even near overflowing as Stella carried it with ease and set it down besides the others.

The other teams glanced over and muttered to themselves in amusement while, Hope, Stella and Eliza, stood with calm and collected faces. 

Henry looked directly at Hope, trying to show her a reassuring smile among the faces of disappointment , but rather than looking disappointed herself, she winked in his direction.

The countdown was counted out loudly in the last few seconds, as a Ministry official made her way over. 

"3...2...1..."

The crowd went silent for a moment, but then there was a series of gasps that were let out as they noted the gold disappearing from the buckets of the champion teams. The overflowing buckets were no more as Ilvermorny and Durmstrang looked to be in complete shock with how many pieces they had lost so suddenly.

However, Hope's smile grew wider and wider as the gold pieces in their bucket remained at the same amount. 

The other teams looked over, staring right at her as she glanced over at them.

She looked at the Durmstrang boy that had taunted her earlier in the forest. 

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy?"