Hope is waken up by a pillow to the face. A jinx makes its way half-out of her throat before she realizes it's just Maya Machado.
"Get up, we're gonna be late to practice," Maya tells her, wrapping a scarf around her neck on top of her quidditch uniform. It's slightly cold outside, and when Hope looks outside the window, she finds that the sky is dark.
They used to not have windows at all, until some spoiled kid had complained about how the common room was in the dungeon, so they got moved up to the east tower.
"How long have you been up?" Hope asks, throwing the cover off her too-hot skin. Her throat feels sore.
"For an hour or so," Maya says, very nonchalantly.
"It's six o'clock. You couldn't have woken me up sooner?" Hope sits up straighter, glancing to the clock on her bedside table.
"Well, I thought about it. But...you're hot when you're mad." Maya punctuates the sentence with a wink and smiles at the mirror, seemingly happy with her herself. Hope is not happy at all.
She raises her wand and Maya almost sprints out of the door, the tickling jinx deliberately hitting the wall above her head.
"Hurry up," Maya calls out, effectively leaving Hope by herself. She gets dressed in twenty minutes, almost uncaring that she will definitely be late. Although she's the captain, she's never been concerned with punctuality.
Consequently, Hope is the last one to make it to the quidditch pitch, and when she approaches her teammates she finds that they're all huddled together discussing the prophecy.
"Do you think it's real?" Maya whispers conspiratorially.
"It doesn't matter," Hope cuts in. They all turn to her quickly, adjusting their quidditch gear. "We have a match against Hufflepuff on Saturday we need to prepare for."
"'It doesn't matter'?" Maya asks. "That's a little difficult for you to say, Great Evil's heir."
"Whatever." Hope shrugs off. "Let's start."
They do a couple of warm up laps, just flying around the pitch, and then she has the chasers-Ryan Clarke, Ethan Machado, and Jo Victoire-practice the passing drill she made against the keeper, Rose Nicot. They do it perfectly five times over, so Hope allows the beaters-Penelope and Maya-to take part in the drill to make it more difficult.
She watches above, the snitch twitching in her hand, making small comments and interjections wherever she can. At one point, Penelope gets frustrated and steals the quaffle from the chasers, using it as a bludger against Maya's brother Ethan. The quaffle flies towards Ethan, just barely missing his head. It changes direction, soaring to the right of where Hope is hovering in the air. She swiftly raises her hand and picks it easily out of the sky.
Hope looks down and finds that Maya and Penelope have started hitting each other with their bats, which quickly makes Hope interrupt them. She had hoped they would've been able to solve it on their own. She scolds them briefly, and they begin to argue loudly. Hope only entertains them for a minute.
"She hit me first!"
"Huh, I didn't know first years were allowed on the team," Hope remarks sarcastically, taking their bats away from them. They fold their arms angrily in unison just as Ethan starts to glide down, jumping of off his broom and hitting the ground softly.
"What the hell was that, Park?" He crosses the short distance fastly, his fists clenched at his sides. The rest of the team that's still in the air floats down as well, Rose being the last to make it.
"What happened?" Rose asks, terribly oblivious.
"'What happened?'" Penelope mimics, like a child. Hope frowns. "You're a fucking idiot-"
"Spare me the superiority complex, P," Rose cuts her off. Hope is shocked speechless. Rose was usually kind of shy and backed down from fights rather than exacerbated them.
"Superiority complex? I-"
"Oh please, you talk a big game, but the truth is you suck, and you're only on the team because you're friends with Hope."
The field quiets. Hope puts a hand on her forehead. She can already feel a headache coming.
"Okay, that's enough. I'm ending practice for the mornin-" she starts, but Penelope interrupts her.
"That's not true." Hope sighs. She knows Penelope is about to embarrass herself immensely.
"I bet I could score on you with my eyes closed," Penelope continues, stepping forward, a smirk against her lips. It reflects against Rose's own.
"Fine," Hope snarls, annoyed at being interrupted. She tosses Penelope the quaffle. "Prove it."
Not five minutes later, the Slytherin team divides themselves into two groups. Ethan, Maya, Rose, and Jo on one side of the field hanging around the goal posts, and Hope, Penelope, and Ryan on the other.
Rose and her team are whispering furiously and glancing to the other field, which makes Hope overwhelmingly nervous. She sudden regrets allowing this to happen.
"You're not even a chaser, Pen," Hope tells her while Ryan continuously hypes Penelope up.
"How hard can it be anyways?" Penelope asks, weighing the ball between her hands. Her hands are tiny compared to the quaffle.
A drop of water hits Hope's head and she realizes it's raining. Within seconds, it's pouring. The water seeps through her clothing easily, and she wonders how the weather had changed so quickly.
"Let's just get this over with," she says, walking over to the other group and wishing Rose luck. Hope knows she won't need it.
The entire incident is ridiculous to begin with, but everyone knows Penelope won't back down with her competitive nature. Sighing for what feels like the hundredth time today, Hope mounts her broom and flies between the two groups.
"Okay." She feels silly. She knows for a fact that none of the other houses do this kind of stuff at their practices. "Penelope, you only have one chance to get the quaffle in. You can aim at any of the three hoops. Rose, you can only make one move to block it...whenever you're ready."
Both Penelope and Rose nod, and Hope backs off. She flies to where the rest of the team is watching.
"Ten galleons Penelope gets it," Ryan puts in immediately. Hope rolls her eyes.
"I have twenty for Rose," she humors him.
"Rich people," Maya scoffs underneath her breath, and Hope allows herself a laugh. She watches as Penelope approaches the goal posts.
Everyone holds their breath momentarily, and Jo goes as far as to close her eyes. Ethan punches her in the shoulder.
Rose readies herself, sitting stiffly on her broom but ready to bolt in one direction or another. Penelope picks up speed, so that she's only a few feet away from Rose. She fakes left and turns right in a flash, but she catapults the quaffle to the left post anyway.
A second before everyone thinks it's going to go in, Rose comes from nowhere and blocks it with her foot. The second it happens Rose screams in excitement.
Hope claps, and turns to the right, catching Ethan's eyes. They're alight in happiness, and he tears them away from Hope to look at Rose.
There's something about the way he looks at her that is very, very curious, but Hope doesn't pay it any mind because Penelope is already stomping off the field.
Hope doesn't bother to chase her, and huddles up with the rest of the team to praise Rose and schedule the next practice for tomorrow.
Before long, she makes her way into the locker room, taking a quick shower and then changing into her school uniform. Breakfast has already started by the time she gets into the great hall.
It's silent when she walks passed the table and finds a seat next to Penelope and Ryan, and she realizes Professor McGonagall is talking.
"-We have taken the proper precautions and have contacted the ministry, and I am relieved to inform you that the prophecy announced last night was indeed a fallacy. There is no need to worry, and with that being said, I wish everyone a good day with the rest of their classes!"
Hope's shoulders droop in consolation with the news, but something doesn't quite feel right. When she can't put her finger on it exactly, she goes back to drinking her pumpkin juice.
The rest of the hall is relieved as well, and although the Slytherins don't show it, Hope can tell by the set of their spines that they are.
She searches all of their faces for a particular reaction, but doesn't find Josette anywhere. It's only when she glances at the Gryffindor table that she sees her.
Josette's hanging out with Elizabeth and another guy she recognizes as Rafael, a sixth year Gryffindor.
It makes Hope upset for a reason she can't justify rationally. Slytherins aren't supposed to sit with other houses even though all the other houses usually do. If anyone asks her, she might just say that.
She forces herself to pull her eyes away, looking down at her pumpkin juice again. She sees flashes of Josette in the swirls of orange. She shakes her head, wondering what the hell is wrong with her.
It's Tuesday, so Slytherins have double-potions with Ravenclaw first thing. At least that'll take her mind off of things for a while.
She begins the long trek to the dungeons with Penelope and Rose. They're a minute late to class, but Professor Slughorn never cares. He practically worships the ground she walks on.
When Hope walks in, she quickly notices that no one is sitting down. Slughorn has lined everyone up against the wall. Her stomach fills with dread when she realizes that he's changing the seating chart.
"Alright, so Anna Lowly with Paige Hengl. Yes, yes, hurry along. Violet Pielt and William Jacques over there, please."
"He can't partner me if I'm not here," Penelope says the second she realizes he's changing their seats, too. She starts to walk back out the door, but Rose pulls her back.
"Get over yourself," she whispers, and together the three of them shuffle to the back wall.
"Penelope Park and Rose Nicot," Slughorn says a moment later, and Rose begins to drag Penelope over to their seats at the front. They look friendly enough, and Hope wonders what happened between quidditch practice and now to make them that way.
She also wonders how they were lucky enough to become partners. She frowns, almost seething on the inside. Penelope notices and sends her a condescending wink, which Hope replies to with her middle finger.
Hope watches as Slughorn recites everyone else's names but hers. When she looks around, she's the only one left.
"-And finally, Hope Mikaelson and Josette Saltzman."
Saltzman? She's not even in this class.
"I'm sorry I'm late," comes a voice from the door. Josette walks in, the strap of her book bag almost falling off her shoulder. She hands Slughorn a pass, and from where Hope is standing she can just barely make out a lemon drop in Josette's other hand. "I thought the headmaster was joking when he said this class was in the dungeons."