CHAPTER TEN
❛Uncle Peter is alive.❜
Hope Black sat out by the Quidditch Pitch, shivering in the November breeze. The teenage girl had longed for alone time for weeks, and decided sitting next to her favorite place would give her so.
"This is just so stupid." Hope said to herself.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the black dog. The same black dog she had seen before school started, its eyes were sadder than they were before.
"It's you. How'd you get to Hogwarts?" she questioned, welcoming the dog to sit next to her. "Trust me, this hasn't been my week. First, I find out my dad is innocent. Well, I think he is. Then, Papa got so mad and called me a disappointment. I think I disowned myself."
The dog curled up next to her and dropped a note into her lap. It read out 'I'm Padfoot.'
"Padfoot?"
From behind her, a loud voice came, scaring the dog away. "Hope!"
Hope whipped around to see her brother and the blonde girl he was with days before. "Alfie? Random girl?"
"This is Alexa." he introduced. "Alexa is my girl--"
"You must be Hope." she said in a sickly sweet voice.
Hope eyed her brother. "No, Alfie just happened to call me that."
"Hope--"
Alexa placed a hand on the boy's chest and let out a fake laugh. "You're so funny. Alphard has told me so much about you."
"Alphard has?"
"Of course." exclaimed Alexa, in a high-pitched voice. "You're his baby sister after all."
Once the two girls shook hands, Hope wasn't in next to the Quidditch pitch anymore.
Four adults stood in front of a broken Hogwarts. All four stood crowded around a broken crystal ball.
"We need to focus on destroying the Horcruxes." said Milo, slamming his fist on the table. "I know what you're thinking--"
Hope looked up. "There's only five left. And we're responsible for three."
Milo nodded. "Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, and Ravenclaw's diadem."
"Uncle Regulus must've stashed the locket at home." said Hope.
"But what about the people?" exclaimed Alexa. "They're dying!"
Draco looked to the girl and nodded along. "The Death Eaters will destroy anyone in their way. They already want us. They just don't know I'm the Slytherin."
"You would know about Death Eaters, Malfoy."
"That mark is keeping us safe, Willard." snapped Hope.
Milo shrugged but pointed at the picture of Harry Potter. "The only person we need to be safe is Harry."
"It's always Potter."
"Draco, he's the chosen one--"
Hope glared at the Bishop boy. "It's always fucking Harry, my best friend died because of Harry. We need to focus on important people, Harry's a big boy, he can handle himself."
Hope just stared at Alexa's hand as if it were poison. Looking from her to the hand. "Uh, I--"
"Are you okay?" questioned Alfie, worry lacing his voice.
Alexa smiled as she spoke. "You don't look so good, much paler than usual."
"I'm fine."
A loud voice from the bottom of the hill stopped Alfie from answering. Everyone turned around to see George.
"Hope, is that you?" he yelled up.
Hope let out her signature bark-like laugh and smiled. "No, this is Cedric."
George shook his head and walked closer to the three. "Oliver wants to get Quidditch practice started."
"Merlin, I almost forgot." she said. "I don't have practice clothes--"
"I have some. You had extras in the boys' dorm." he reassured her.
Hope turned to her brother. "Alfie, I have to go. It was very nice meeting, well, your friend."
"Nice seeing you again, Alfie." George tried to smile at the scowling brother. "Always a pleasure."
As Hope and George walked away, Alfie kept a scowl on his face. He couldn't quite grasp the fact that his little sister had a boyfriend. Especially one that was almost two years older than her.
"Baby, you're really letting her go with him?" Alexa interrupted, with her signature sweet voice.
Alfie forced a smile as he said. "It's just George."
"George Weasley? They sleep together all the time, you know." she said, looking around at the cloudy sky. "No wonder he had her clothes."
"Pardon?" Alfie coughed out.
Alexa only put on her fake smile. "Oh, Alphard, I thought you knew."
Percy Weasley's voice came from behind the two. "These grounds are off limits."
"But Hope Lupin was here." snitched the Willard girl.
"I don't see Hope, do you?" said Percy, even though he knew Hope always sat here. Percy just didn't mind her being over there.
Alexa narrowed her blue eyes. "She was here."
"Percy, do you know anything about Hope and George?" asked Alfie, catching the Weasley boy off guard.
"George is my brother, Lupin. And Hope is just a close friend, I don't stick my nose in their business."
Alfie nodded. "Have they slept together?"
Percy's eyes widened before he just started to laugh. "Hope and George? As in my brother, your sister--"
"Yes."
"You know, even if they did, it's none of my business. If you really want to know, ask her."
In the Boys' Dormitory, Hope, Lee, and Henry laid on the beds talking about Quidditch. Fred and George had run down to the kitchens while the three stayed in the dorm.
"How's Quidditch going?" asked Lee, as he cleaned his microphone.
Hope only shrugged. "We've got an unbeatable team."
"Who's the first game against again?" he questioned, earning a laugh from Henry.
"Shouldn't you know this, Lee?" Henry laughed, pointing from the microphone to Lee.
Lee narrowed his brown eyes. "I'm forgetful, sue me."
"Hufflepuff." said Hope. "And I love Cedric dearly, but they kind of suck."
"Well aren't you nice."
Out of nowhere the door slammed open to reveal Alfie Lupin, he looked angrier than Hope had seen him in a long while. Henry just held his chest as he recovered from being startled.
"Haven't you heard of knocking?" Henry managed to say between gasps.
Alfie just glared and Lee groaned loudly. "Not you again."
"Hope, are you serious?"
Hope narrowed her grey eyes and smirked. "No? I'm Hope, obviously."
"You slept with George!" shouted Alfie, pointing his finger at his sister.
"You slept with George?" screamed Lee, his brown eyes practically popping out of their sockets.
Henry whipped his head around. "When? Where?"
"Details, woman, details!" Lee jumped onto the bed Hope was on.
Hope just laughed loudly. "I didn't sleep with anyone. I'm only thirteen!"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." said Lee, but then turned back to face Alfie. "I always forget that you're a year younger."
The Lupin girl pointed her finger at the three boys in the room. "Even if I did, that's not your business!"
"It's none of your business." Henry mocked, only to get a pillow thrown at his face.
Alfie furrowed his blond eyebrows. "Wait, you didn't sleep with George?"
"No!"
Lee sighed and pretended to pout. "Mate, she isn't even dating George."
"Lee, shut up." she smacked him with a pillow, and then pointed to her brother. "Alfie, leave."
The brother sighed and leaned against the doorway. "Listen, I'm sorry, but with all the rumors surrounding you--"
Hope narrowed her grey eyes. "Rumors?"
"Well, uh, someone said you disowned yourself." he managed to say. "Why didn't you talk to me about that?"
"If Papa didn't say that he didn't want a daughter like Dad--"
Alfie pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dad is a murderer, Hope."
"Dad is innocent." she stressed, standing up. "Uncle Peter is alive."
"Hope, Dad killed him, he's not alive--"
Hope slammed her hands down. "You're just like Papa, not believing a single thing I say. Dad is innocent, and if you don't believe your own dad, there's something wrong with you."
"So you just fucking disowned yourself?" he yelled in return. "Going to go by Hope Black now?"
"Sure, why not?" she threw her hands up. "It's our name after all."
The Lupin boy rolled his eyes. "Papa was right to call you a disappointment. We don't even know who you are anymore."
"Shut. Up." the teenage girl snapped.
Alfie took a step closer than her. "Disown yourself from our family! We don't care!"
In a split second, that was all it took. Hope tackled her older brother down to the floor. Punches were thrown from sibling to sibling, it wasn't til Alfie's fist collided with the bridge of Hope's nose that blood spattered onto the carpet.
"Hope, stop." yelled Lee, as he attempted to pull the small girl off.
Henry grabbed Alfie by the collar of his shirt. "Get your hands off of her, Lupin."
Blood began to get on Lee's robes as he looked at her nose. "Are you okay?"
"Is she okay? She fucking started it." yelled the older brother, not quite seeing that his sister was hurt.
"Her nose is probably broken." said Lee, as he went to his trunk to get his wand.
Oliver Wood peaked his head into the room, only to see the aftermath of what happened. Henry attempted to shove Alfie out of the door. Lee was searching for his wand. And Hope was just trying to stop the bleeding with whatever she could find.
"What happened?" was all Oliver could manage to say. "Who broke my Chaser's nose?"
Both Lee and Henry pointed to Alfie. "Look, Wood--"
"You broke your own sister's nose?"
Alfie looked at a loss for words. "Uh, well, I--"
"Get out, Lupin. And if you ever lay a hand on Hope again, you'll be answering to more than one Quidditch team." he shoved his finger into the boy's chest, who was almost as tall as him. "Understand?"
The Lupin boy just stormed out of the dorm and down the stairs, leaving Hope in shock. She only cried into her hands.
"Hope, are you okay?" the captain kneeled down next to her. "Do you need Madam Pomfrey?"
She managed to shake her head no. "T-t-thank you."
"Anytime, Hope. You don't need to rely on yourself for everything. Ask for help when you need it."
Once Oliver Wood left the fifth-year dorms, Lee just stared at Hope. "J, what was that about? Disowning yourself? Hope Black?"
"You know Sirius Black?" she said quietly.
"Yeah?"
Hope bit her lip and then she said. "He's my dad."
Lee smiled widely. "Professor Lupin got with a murderer? He's cooler than I thought."
"I think he's innocent, guys." she spoke softly.
Henry furrowed his black eyebrows. "Innocent?"
"But didn't like Sirius Black kill people?" asked Lee, looking dumbfounded.
"That is the definition of murderer, Lee." said Hope. "But, Peter Pettigrew is alive."
Lee's jaw dropped. "Plot twist!"
"Let me get this straight, this murderer that we're all scared of is actually not a murderer at all?" questioned Henry.
Hope smiled. "You're much smarter than Lee, Henry."
Lee stuck his tongue out before continuing. "Would anyone even believe you, Hope?"
"George does." she said. "But, anyone else wouldn't. Papa doesn't even believe me. Do you guys even believe me?"
Henry placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Of course. We trust you and George, we'll always stand behind you."
"Whatever you need, we're here for you."