CHAPTER FOURTEEN
❛I dare you, I bloody dare you.❜
The first breakfast after the students had come back to Hogwarts after the winter holiday was hectic. And much to Hope Lupin-Black's delight, Dumbledore had stashed the mirror away and told Harry to stay far away from it.
"I told you that mirror was no good," Hope reminded the Potter boy, shaking her head. "But could you listen to me? No."
"Dumbledore was right," Ron agreed. "That mirror could drive you mad."
Hermione Granger stared at her three friends, horrified. "I'm gone for three weeks, that's it! And you three decide it's okay to roam the school at night!"
"At least we weren't seen," Harry tried to wager.
"If Filch had caught you, imagine the trouble you'd be in," Hermione shook her head in disapproval. "Besides, did you find out who Nicolas Flamel is?"
Hope shrugged her shoulders, taking a bite of her food. "We're getting there, 'Mione. Patience comes to those who wait."
"I know I've seen the name somewhere," Harry assured her, but the Lupin-Black girl only rolled her eyes.
"Give it a rest, Potter." she joked, checking her watch. "Oh no, I have Quidditch. See you later!"
Quidditch practice had been getting tougher as the season went on. Even the endless rain and snow wouldn't ruin the captain's spirits. The Weasley twins complained, but Hope agreed with Oliver. If they won the game against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the house cup for the first time in seven years.
Hope Lupin-Black overworked herself every day, just to insure her spot as a chaser. Because even though she had amazing skills in Quidditch, she was still easily replaceable. And Hope refused to take any chances.
During one of the next practices, the Wood boy had gotten angry with Fred and George Weasley, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms. All while Oliver was trying to give instructions.
"Will you stop messing around?" exclaimed Oliver. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"
George then did fall off his broom at these words. "Snape's refereeing?" he spluttered through a mouthful of mud.
"When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match?" asked Fred, his eyes wide in shock. "He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."
The rest of the Gryffindor team landed next to the Weasley boy to complain. Any member of the Gryffindor team knew about Snape's hatred of their house. And even if they weren't playing against Slytherin, he'd do anything to make them lose.
"It's not my fault," said Oliver, shaking his head. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us."
Hope looked at her friend, sighing as she spoke. "Oliver, we both know how he is. There isn't anything that's gonna help us here."
The Lupin-Black girl angrily stormed into the Gryffindor common room, where Harry sat watching Ron and Hermione play wizards' chess. She walked over to the couch across the room, slamming her face into one of the pillows.
"Don't talk to me for a moment," Hermione spoke casually, thinking Hope was beside her. "I need to concentrate—"
Ron Weasley then caught sight of their friend. "What's the matter with you? You look terrible."
Speaking quietly so that no one else could hear, Hope explained to her three friends about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee. And that he would be refereeing the next game she'd play.
"Don't play," Hermione said all at once.
"Say you're ill," added Ron.
"Pretend to break your leg," suggested Harry.
The Weasley boy shook his head. "No, really break your leg."
"I can't," Hope groaned. "We don't have any backup chasers right now, plus Oliver said he wants me there. Thinks I'm their ticket to victory or something."
At that moment, Neville Longbottom came toppling into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized as the Leg-Locker Curse.
Harry and Ron started to laugh, but Hermione and Hope immediately jumped up to help him. Hope quickly performed the countercurse, helping him up as he trembled.
"What happened?" asked Hermione.
"Malfoy," Neville said shakily. "I met him outside of the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."
"I swear, this is the last straw. I'm kicking his arse, I don't care," Hope jumped up, Hermione went to grab her arm but missed. "I'll be back."
The four friends sat there in silence, wondering if she was actually serious or not.
Hope Lupin-Black bravely walked up to Draco Malfoy, as he stood in the courtyard laughing with his friends. "Malfoy, do you think it's funny? To pick on people who can't stand up to you?"
"Lupin, I was waiting for you to come around," Draco replied slyly, rolling his eyes at his cousin. "Want me to practice a curse on you, too?"
"No, I got something better,"
With those words, Hope's fist collided with Draco's nose, causing his eyes to water and blood to gush out. She only continued to punch him until a bigger force pulled her off, and she looked back to see Cedric Diggory with several professors running toward them.
"That's what you get, Malfoy. Mess with him again, I dare you. Do you think that was bad? Wait until next time," she yelled out, trying to escape from Cedric's hold. "Let me at him, Ced, I can get him."
"Calm down, J. Just calm down."
"What is the manner of this, Miss Lupin?" exclaimed Professor McGonagall as she walked up, shaking her head. "Do you think it is okay to attack other students?"
Hope looked to the Transfiguration professor, smirking with nothing but a couple of scratches on her face. "If it's Malfoy? Anytime."
"Detention, Miss Lupin. Detention for two weeks straight and an owl home to your family," McGonagall ordered, before turning to the Hufflepuff boy. "Mister Diggory, you may take her to the Gryffindor common room."
As Cedric and Hope passed Draco on their way, she only mouthed 'It's not over.' with a smirk. Once they made their way into the corridor, Alfie Lupin-Black was quick to see them walking and pulled the two aside.
"Hope! Hey, what happened?" his eyes then darted over to Cedric. "Who's he?"
"Oh, Cedric, this is my brother Alfie. Alfie, this is Cedric," she quickly introduced the two before continuing. "Anyway, I got into this tiny fight—"
"A fight? With who?"
Hope shrugged her shoulders, delaying her answer. "Malfoy, but he deserved it. He only lost a couple of teeth and I broke his nose, but he'll be fine. No harm, no foul."
Alfie's green eyes widened, and he shook his head fast. "Hope! What were you thinking? Papa's going to flip out."
"Yeah, I figured. But he should've never messed with Neville. Never."
As Hope Lupin-Black walked into the common room, with only a couple of scrapes from the fight. The Longbottom boy sprinted over, pulling his friend into a hug.
"I don't want you getting into any more trouble, Hope." Neville declared, glancing at one of her scrapes. "Are you okay?"
She smirked, sitting down on the couch. "I'm terrific, Nev. You should've seen Malfoy."
"Did you get him good?" Ron asked. "He's used to walking all over people, so I can only imagine you made him pay for what he did."
"Oh, trust me, a broken nose and a couple of broken teeth probably set him straight."
Hermione gasped, shaking her head. "Hope James, you're lucky you're not getting expelled."
"No, Malfoy's lucky Ced pulled me off," she laughed. "I could've kept going."
As Hermione scolded Hope, healing her injuries as she did. Harry Potter pulled out his last chocolate frog, handing it to Neville who was on the brink of tears.
"You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Harry told him. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin."
"Plus, you know I always got your back, Nev," Hope yelled over.
Neville's lips twitched into a weak smile as he unwrapped the frog. "Thanks, Harry. I think I'll go take a nap. Do you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"
Once he walked away toward the dormitory, Harry looked down at the Famous Wizard card he was given.
"Dumbledore again, he was the first one I ever—" he stopped, letting out a gasp. He read through the back of the card before passing it to Hope.
"You actually found him?"
"I did, I've found him," he whisper-yelled, taking the card to read it aloud. "I found Flamel, I told you I'd read his name somewhere before. I read it on the train coming here, listen to this, 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for his discovery of the twelve uses for dragon's blood, and for his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel.'"
The Granger girl jumped to her feet, turning towards the girls' dormitory. She hadn't looked this excited since they'd gotten back the marks from their first piece of homework.
"Stay there," she ordered as she went up the stairs.
Harry, Hope, and Ron barely had time to share their confused looks before she was already back. An enormous book in her arms.
"I never thought to look in here," Hermione whispered excitedly. "I picked this up from the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."
"Light?" Hope asked.
"That's a little more than light," muttered Ron, but Hermione only told him to be quiet until she finished skimming through the pages, talking to herself.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
Ron looked at Hermione grumpily. "Are we allowed to speak yet?"
"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered, ignoring the Weasley boy. "He's the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"
The three friends looked at each other in confusion. "The what?"
"Oh honestly, don't you three ever read?" asked Hermione. "Look, read that, there."
She pushed the book as close as she could to them, pointing at the section that mentioned Nicolas Flamel.
"See?" the Granger girl said as they continued reading. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him because they're friends and he knew somebody was after it. That's why he wanted the stone moved out of Gringotts!"
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying?" Harry read aloud, gasping. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want that."
Hope shrugged her shoulders. "I really thought the git would want some everlasting shampoo."
"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry," exclaimed Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six-hundred and sixty-five, is he?"
"This is it, we have everything we need,"
As the three first-years arrived for lunch the next day, a letter in a red envelope landed in front of Hope Lupin-Black. Her eyes widened as she groaned, knowing what was coming.
"Great," she muttered sarcastically. "Just great."
Fred and George Weasley peered over. "What's Little Lupin done this time?"
"Why don't you just listen for yourself?"
The howler exploded open as soon as the Lupin-Black girl touched the seal.
"Hope James Lupin!" the sound of Remus Lupin came loudly through the Great Hall. "What the hell were you thinking beating up that Malfoy boy? He may be awful and arrogant but I know you were raised better than this! You broke his nose and knocked out his teeth! Think before you act Hope, or I will not hesitate to revoke Quidditch and everything you own! I will see you this summer, I can't believe you would act this way. You are better than this, Hope. Good day!"
Hope rolled her grey eyes. "Well then, I guess that means no more fist fights for this year."
"You beat up Malfoy?!" the Weasley twins along with the rest of her friends exclaimed.
rewritten 08/23/2022