CHAPTER EIGHT
❛They were dead❜
Hope Lupin sat on the grassy hills just outside of Hogwarts. A lit cigarette in her left-hand as she watched the trees of the Dark Forest sway in the wind.
A voice came out from behind her. "What are you doing out here, Lupin?"
"What does it look like, Bishop." she turned around to be face to face with Milo.
"Doesn't it burn your lungs?" he asked, eyeing the thing in her hand as if it were poison.
Hope only shrugged before saying. "It used to, now it just feels like smoke going into your lungs."
"It doesn't make you smell good."
"I don't remember it being any of your business." she snapped in return.
Milo raised his hands in surrender. "It's not, it's not."
"Then why do you care?" questioned Hope.
The Bishop boy sighed. "What would your brother say? Or that boyfriend of yours? Or that Diggory boy?"
"They won't say anything, they won't find out."
Milo chuckled. "I realized something. That's why you haven't been hungry. Smoking dulls your appetite."
"Well--"
"You're killing yourself!"
Hope shook her head. "No, this arm is killing me. I can't smoke using my left hand."
Milo rolled his brown eyes. "Brackium Emendo."
"Woah."
"You're welcome."
Remus Lupin stood in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, taking attendance of who was there. It wasn't until he looked around the room that he realized that Hope wasn't there.
He walked up to Dean, who sat next to Seamus at a desk. "Where's Hope?"
"She left early this morning." said Seamus. "Was up all night too."
"Thank you, Seamus--"
The heavy door burst open to reveal Hope, who was panting as if she was running. Everyone in the class turned to see the girl.
"Look who showed up late to Daddy's class." sneered Pansy.
Hope narrowed her eyes. "Shut up, Pug-face."
"Miss Lupin." said Remus, giving his daughter a stern stare. "Do you have a reason why you're late?"
"I got lost."
His eyebrows raised. "Lost?"
"Yes." she said, unsure as can be.
"Whatever, take a seat please." he turned back to taking attendance.
Hope took a seat next to Draco, who was laughing heavily. He just took a look at her and cocked his eyebrow. "Lost, really?"
"You calling my bluff?" she laughed in return.
"Sure am."
Remus looked up to the entire class. "If you'd follow me."
After trouble with Peeves, Professor Lupin led the entire class of Gryffindors and Slytherins down many corridors. At last, the class arrived inside of the staffroom. The only person inside was Professor Snape.
As the professor went to close the door, Snape stood up with a curled lip. "Leave the door open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
"Then be our guest and leave." mumbled Hope, only to get elbowed in the side by Draco.
"Perhaps no one has mentioned it to you, Lupin. But Mister Longbottom shouldn't be trusted with anything difficult, or anything at all." sneered Snape.
Hope glared her grey eyes once more. "Neville is actually great, Professor Sniv--"
Draco elbowed her once more and glared at her again. "Shut up, Hope."
"I was actually hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of this operation." said Remus, smirking slightly.
"Me?" stuttered Neville.
Snape just narrowed his eyes and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. As he left, the wardrobe in front of them shook crazily.
Everyone in the class took a step back while Professor Lupin laughed. "Nothing to worry about, just a Boggart."
"Yes." whispered Hope, a smile on her face.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. But, aside from the point, let's ask ourselves a question." he eyed the class. "What is a Boggart."
Hermione smiled and spoke aloud. "It's a shape-shifter, it takes the form of your greatest fear."
He smiled at his daughter's friend. "Couldn't have put it better myself. Now, what does a Boggart look like?"
"No one actually knows, Professor."
"Right, Miss Granger." he said, then directed his attention towards the class. "What repels a Boggart is simple. First, laughter, you need to force it to assume a shape that you find amusing."
Draco laughed. "I think Weasley barfing slugs is amusing."
"Draco."
"What?"
Remus eyed the two, which made them quickly be quiet. "Now, the charm itself, without wants first. Say it after me. Riddikulus."
"Riddikulus."
"Neville, this is where you come in. What do you find most frightening?" as the professor turned towards Neville, he muttered an inaudible phrase. "I'm sorry I didn't catch that."
Neville looked into his eyes and said firmly. "Professor Snape."
"Professor Snape." he looked around the room, as if looking for an idea on what to do. "Neville, you live with your grandmother, right?"
"Yes," the boy started to say. "But I don't want the Boggart to turn into her either."
"No, no, you misunderstood me." Remus smiled. "I want you to picture her clothes very clearly in your mind. Can you do that?"
Neville nodded and started to speak. "She carried a red handbag--"
"If you picture them very clearly, Neville, we will see it too."
Hope leaned in towards Draco and smirked. "This'll be good."
"Neville, you will raise your wand and say Riddikulus." he said to the teenage boy. "Concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, the Boggart of Professor Snape will be forced into them."
The entire class erupted into fits of laughter. Hope laughing the loudest. Remus then held up his hand as if to stop the class from getting out of control.
"Now, I want everyone to picture what they fear the most, and how you will make it look comical."
Hope's thoughts were all over the place. She wasn't quite sure what she feared the most. Her first thought that entered her mind was her friends and family dying. As she couldn't bear to lose someone like Cedric or George.
The sound of Draco's voice interrupted her thoughts when he said. "What's yours?"
"Not sure, losing the people I love? Not sure how that could be comical though."
Remus' voice came from the front of the class. "Everyone ready?"
Everyone gathered around Remus and Neville, the Longbottom boy stood front and center of the wardrobe, while the professor stood more off to the side.
"On three, Neville."
After counting to three, Remus' wand sent sparks to the wardrobe and it opened up to reveal Professor Snape. Neville began to back away from the sneering professor. But then decided to say out loud.
"R-r-riddikulus!"
There was a noise and then Snape appeared in a long, lace-trimmed dress, a huge towering hat, with a large red handbag. The professor looked like an ugly version of a drag-queen.
Remus laughed along with the rest of the class before turning towards the class. "Parvati, forward!"
Parvati Patil walked forward and the Boggart changed into a bloodstained, bandaged mummy. It began to limp towards the girl before she yelled out.
"Riddikulus!"
The mummy's bandages began to unravel and it began to stumble. Only to fall on its face. Laughter once again echoed through the room.
"Seamus!" said Professor Lupin,
Where the mummy had once been, there was now a banshee. She opened her mouth and a loud wailing shriek filled the room. The noise made Hope cover her face.
"Riddikulus."
The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat. Her voice was now gone. Remus laughed and looked around the room.
"Ron, you next!" he yelled out.
Once Ron leapt forward, a giant spider appeared. Hope just smiled because it was the spider known as Aragog. But Ron looked terrified. And once he yelled out the charm, the spider was on skates.
Ron looked around the room. "Hope, you go!"
Hope walked forward and dead bodies began to appear, one after another. Her eyes just widened but Harry pushed her out of the way and back next to Draco.
"Are you alright?"
Her voice was unsteady. "They, Draco, they were dead."
"It's okay. It wasn't real." he told her.
"Cedric, George, Alfie, and you, and everyone." she spoke softly. "They were dead."
Once the lesson ended, Remus turned towards the class of third-years. "Excellent today. Class dismissed. Except for you, Miss Lupin. I'd like you to stay behind."
The entire class left, and the only student left was Hope. She sat on a table in the staffroom, picking at her fingernails once again.
"Papa, I didn't know--"
"Hope James Lupin, it is my first day teaching third-years. I'm excited, I get to teach my own daughter." he said, his voice very low.
"Papa--"
Remus turned around to be face to face with her. "You were late to your own father's class. Then you proceed to mouth off to Miss Parkinson and Professor--"
"They're bullies!"
"As much as you hate Professor Snape, he is your professor." he yelled at his daughter. "You cannot just say what you please."
Hope rolled her eyes. "Great."
Remus looked at her. "You need to learn how to control that little temper of yours. You need to learn how to hold your tongue. To stop lying."
"Or I could stand up for what I believe in."
"I raised you better than this. You were raised to be respectful. To not mouth back."
Hope just shrugged. "I am respectful."
"Go to lunch. I am finished talking to you about this. You will straighten up your attitude and behavior."
George and Hope walked down the corridors, as the two had decided to skip lunch. As the two unofficial lovers walked down the halls they laughed loudly.
"Let me get this straight." laughed George. "You were late to your own father's class."
Hope narrowed her eyes playfully. "Don't make fun of me."
"I'm not." he raised his arms in defense. "I just don't know you could be late."
"I lost track of time." she defended.
As they passed an empty stairwell, George looked inside to see Alfie Lupin and an unknown blonde girl.
"Love, isn't that your brother?" he questioned, eyeing the two as they flirted.
"I think so." Hope said in a disgusted tone.
George looked at the girl. "Who's the chick?"
Hope shrugged. "I have no idea."
As Milo Bishop walked by, he leaned in towards Hope, making her jump in shock. He just whispered in her ear.
"Alexa Willard."
Hope whipped around and narrowed her grey eyes. "How do you know everything, Bishop?"
"She's the Hufflepuff."