CHAPTER SEVEN
❛This idiot needs help.❜
Hope Lupin laid on the floor of the second-year boy's dormitory, particularly between the beds of Neville and Seamus. No one in the dorm found it odd either, as she was always in there. The girls in her dormitory hated her, except for Hermione.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up." a voice said while shaking her. Hope jolted forward to see Oliver standing over her. "Hello."
"Way to wake someone up, Olly." she yawned. "It's the crack of dawn."
"Exactly." Oliver smiled. "Perfect time for Quidditch."
Hope yawned again. "Let me go get my Quidditch robes. Then I'll be down to the field."
"Good." he went to leave. "Next time, don't make it so hard to find you. Also, wake up Harry."
Hope walked by Harry's bed and started to shake him.
"Harry, wake up. Harry, Harry, Harry." she shook him. "Merlin, Potter, wake up."
Harry squinted his green eyes to see who it was. "Huh?"
"Put on your glasses and maybe you could see me." Hope laughed. "Your Quidditch robes are in your trunk, your broom is already in our broom shed. Get them on and let's go."
"It's so early, Hope--"
She interrupted him. "Exactly. Best time to practice. You need training. Get up."
Everyone was in the changing room, and at that moment, the only person missing was Harry. Though, more time to doze off felt better. Hope leaned into George who was puffy-eyed and barely awake.
Harry ran through the doors, breathing heavily.
"There you are, Harry, what kept you?" said Oliver. "Nevermind, I wanted to talk to you all before we got to the field. I spent all summer making a new plan, and it's really something."
Oliver Wood whipped out his wand and pointed to a board. Arrows crawled all over the place. As the captain began to begin on tactics, George began to snore as he laid on Hope's head on his shoulder.
After the first board, there were two more. Then Oliver clapped his hands, getting the attention of the whole team.
"So," he began to say as he looked at his team. "Is that clear? Any questions?"
"I've got a question, Oliver." said George, which jolted Hope awake. "Why couldn't you have told us this yesterday when we were awake?"
"Olly, this is a lot to take in when it's barely even morning." Hope yawned.
Oliver just clapped his hands again. "Listen here, we didn't win the Quidditch Cup last year, we need to win this year. We easily have the best team now."
Hope stood up. "Come on, let's get to practicing what we do best!"
As the team walked onto the field, Hermione, Ron, and Colin Creevy sat in the stands. Hope ignored her two friends and began racing Fred and George around the field.
Fred looked around in confusion. "What's that funny clicking noise?"
The Lupin girl looked over to see Colin Creevy trying to wave her down. His camera clicked pictures of her almost every second.
"Hope! Look here! Were you really the youngest Quidditch player in 100 years? Hope!" Colin cried out.
"Who's that?" asked Fred.
"A pest." she laughed.
George looked over his shoulder. "Oi, pest, stop taking pictures of her!"
Oliver had arrived near them. "What's that first-year doing? What's going on?"
"He's taking pictures of Hope."
"I don't like that. He could be a Slytherin spy or something." the Wood boy raged.
Hope quickly cut him off. "Olly, he's a Gryffindor."
"Besides, Slytherin doesn't need a spy." said Fred gaining the threes' attention
The captain furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Why's that?"
George pointed down. "Because they're here in person."
It didn't take longer than 2 seconds for Oliver to fly his broom straight to the ground to yell at the Slytherin captain. All of the Gryffindor team followed their captain as he yelled at Marcus Flint.
"Easy, Wood. I got a note from Professor Snape." Oliver snatched the note and scanned it. "As you can read, we need to train our new seeker."
"You've got a new seeker?" questioned the sixth year. "Where?"
From behind the six large males was Draco Malfoy. Hope looked at him with surprise. "Draco?"
"That's right. And that's not all that's new this year." sneered Marcus. The entire team showcased their Nimbus Two-Thousand and Ones. "A generous gift from Draco's father."
None of the Gryffindors said a word until Hope eyed the brooms. "They're nice, Flint. Do you have a point?"
The Flint boy went to respond, Ron and Hermione started to run down the field. "Oh, look. A field invasion."
As the two arrived, Ron's mouth fell agape. "Woah, those are Nimbus Two-Thousand and Ones."
Miles Bletchy let out a laugh. "That's right, Weasley. Unlike you, our team can have the best of the best."
"And these are the best of the best." smirked Draco.
"Bletchy, you can't even talk. You couldn't block any goals last year." snapped Hope.
Adrian took a step forward. "No one asked your stupid little opinion, Half-Breed. That's why none of your family wanted you. That's why your own brother dislikes you."
With those final words, Hope was pushed face first into the hard ground. Draco's eyes flashed angry.
"Pucey, you leave her alone." Draco snapped.
While Katie and Angelina helped Hope off the ground, George and Oliver were being pushed back by Fred and Harry.
"Filthy trash, I ever see you put a hand on her, you'll be sorry!" shouted George from behind Harry, who just barely held him back.
As the girls inspected Hope's bloody nose, she just yelled forward. "George, stop it!"
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent!" yelled Hermione.
Marcus Flint just laughed, eyeing the bushy-haired girl. "No one asked the opinion of a mudblood."
Ron gasped and whipped out his broken wand. "How dare you! Malfoy, you'll pay for this."
"Ronald, stop it! It's Marcus, not him!" Hope went to grab his shoulder but missed.
A loud boom echoed in the stadium, and a flash of green came from Ron's wand. The Weasley boy flew back a couple of feet and laid on the grass.
"Ron! Ron! Are you alright?" Hermione stood over him. "Ron, say something!"
As he went to say something, he only barfed up a slug. While the Slytherins crowed with laughter, the Gryffindors looked disgusted.
"You arrogant immature fool! Hex the right people next time." Hope shouted at him. "Get up! We have to take you somewhere!"
George grabbed Hope. "Calm down, Hope. Don't let him get to you." he eyed the girl. "Your nose looks broken, are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm okay, I'm calm." she only repeated on and on.
Oliver eyed the second-year. "Hope, how about you go see Madam Pomfrey--"
"No, let's take him to Hagrid's." the Lupin girl told her friends. "This idiot needs help."
Hope had her arms crossed as she sat at the table in Hagrid's, occasionally taking a swig of her tea. Everyone could feel the tension between Ron and Hope, and everyone was afraid Hope was going to snap.
"Better out than in, who was he tryin' ter curse anyway?" Hagrid asked eyeing Ron.
"Well, Malfoy--"
Hope stood up. "Ron was trying to hex Draco, for no reason. Marcus called Hermione the name, why not curse him? Draco did nothing to you! Stop being a fool, Ronald. Get your head out of your arse."
Ron looked up to her. "You disgust me. Might as well be an arrogant pureblood like all of them. You deserved to be shoved to the floor."
"Ronald, you are clueless. Clueless! Has it ever occured to you that not all pureblood families are bad? That just because you're related to one, that doesn't define you!" a small tear went down her cheek. "At least with Draco, Vincent, and Gregory, they don't expect me to choose friends."
Hermione looked up to Hope. "Hope, just sit down. It's okay."
"No! It's not. I need to go."
As Hope walked out the door, Harry turned to Hagrid. "Draco and Hope, where's the connection?"
Hermione shrugged. "He's defended her. Like a brother would a sister."
"'Ope's just strugglin' that's all. Only 'as one parent, 'er brother. Going down teh same path as 'er dad did with 'is family." Hagrid frowned.
"Hope has two dads, right?" asked Harry. "Where's the other one?"
The Granger girl frowned. "He left when she was little. She doesn't talk much about him. Snape compared her to him last year. That was the only time I saw Hope cry."
Ron looked up with guilt. "So, Malfoy's just looking out for her?"
"Yer just now realizing? Teh girl needs support." Hagrid sighed. "Apologize te 'er."
As Hope walked into the Gryffindor Common Room, Alfie and Cormac sat on the couch. The girl still had tears running down her cheeks and was breathing heavily as she walked in.
"Hope--" Alfie then looked up and saw his sister. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Cormac looked up as well. "Is your nose broken?"
The girl only sobbed more. "I can't, I can't."
"Cormac, go get me my wand."
As Cormac went to get Alfie's wand, the brother inspected his sister's nose. It was swollen and began to turn nasty shades of purple.
"Hope, what happened?" he asked softly. "Who broke your nose?"
"At, at Quidditch, Adrian Pucey pushed me into the dirt. Then he called me a Half, Half-Breed. Ron said, he said I'm stupid and I disgust him." she sobbed. "Do you hate me, Alfie?"
Alfie gave his sister a smile. "Of course not. You're my sister and I love you. Sometimes you're reckless and don't think, but that's just you."
"I wanna go home."
Alfie offered his sister a small smile. "Christmas will come soon enough."