Her next class is Transfiguration, which she has with Penelope, Rose, and Ethan. They have this class with Ravenclaw as well.
"You were right," Hope tells Penelope along the way. Penelope arches one brow in confusion.
"About the Saltzman girl," Hope clarifies, a lump in her throat. "She's nothing but trouble."
"When am I ever wrong?" Penelope laughs in delight, quickly being elbowed by Ethan, who's just caught up with them.
"Like, all the time," he interjects, a smirk against his lips.
"Oh, please," Penelope scoffs. "Name one time."
"This morning," Rose cuts in quickly, and they all laugh despite the frown on Penelope's face.
"Whatever," she grumbles, walking faster as she enters the classroom. She stops shortly.
"Oh, come on!" she groans immediately. "We're changing seats in here, too?"
Hope strains over her head and sees that they are-in fact-switching seats.
That's...peculiar.
"What?" Ethan groans as well. "McGonagall never assigns seating charts."
"Maybe the old hag has finally lost her mind," Penelope comments as they all find a spot along the wall similarly to the way they did during potions.
Hope straightens up somewhat as her eyes catch Josette entering the classroom with Anna Lowly, a Ravenclaw. They appear to be friendly enough, and Hope breathes out a heavy sigh before she can stop herself.
The bell rings to signal the start of class, and with brief introductions McGonagall starts pairing them off.
Once again, Hope finds a partner in Josette Saltzman. She grits her teeth as she makes her way to their assigned desk, which just so happens to be right in the front of McGonagall's own.
Penelope and a Ravenclaw Hope hasn't bothered to learn the name of are sitting right across them, with Ethan and Anna just behind them.
Rose is at the back of the classroom by herself, and Hope doesn't even have it within her to laugh about it.
She does actually laugh when she sees that Ethan and Penelope are already arguing.
"Haha, I got a smart person!" Ethan attempts to gloat, gesturing to Anna's blue and copper robe.
"Me, too, dumbass," Penelope name calls, pointing to her seat partner who is wearing the same Ravenclaw robe. The smile on Ethan's face slips off easily enough.
Hope glances at Josette next to her, realizing that she isn't wearing her Slytherin robe.
Maybe she hasn't had the chance to purchase one yet?
She thinks she might be staring too long, so she glances back at Ethan and Penelope. She wonders if they'd still be as happy with their Ravenclaw partners if they were anything less than purebloods.
"Okay, class. This morning we will be transfiguring inanimate objects to live ones. For the first half of class, we will be starting small, with beetles and bugs. The second half of class we will focus our magic on bigger animals. We have been practicing this spell for the last week or so, so I expect that you will have little to no trouble. Please remember your wand movements and pronunciations. I have set aside various objects in front of you-you may now begin."
The class dissolves into chatter once again, and Hope looks at the task before her. There's a couple of cups and knobs on the desk, and she reaches for a chess piece.
In the corner of her eye, she sees Josette picking up a pair of dice.
Looking back at her brown rook, she waves her wand almost lazily, whispering the spell slightly disinterested. She wishes they could do something cool for once.
The chess piece turns into a cockroach immediately, running around the desk at a speed that has Hope disgusted.
Hope glances at Josette to see that she's transfigured the dice into two cute ladybugs that are oddly large.
Josette is smiling, admiring her ladybugs with a childlike enjoyment. Something light stirs in Hope's chest, which instantly deflates when she catches Josette's displeased face.
"A cockroach?" she says, a lone eyebrow raising up before looking Hope up and down. "That's surprisingly indicative of your character."
Trying to ignore the fact that Josette basically just called her a cockroach, she turns back to look at the bug in question. Her mouth goes slack immediately.
"Oh my god!" Josette whisper-yells, startling the students in their circumference and causing McGonagall to look up. "Your cockroach just ate my ladybugs!"
"Hmm, I would have thought it to have better taste than that," Hope mumbles sardonically, further aggravating Josette.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she gasps, crossing her arms quickly. Hope considers mocking her more, but she sees that McGonagall is fast approaching them.
"It appears that you two have already mastered this part of the assignment. You may move onto larger life forms," the Professor says shortly, before returning to her desk. When Hope looks around, she finds that her classmates are still having trouble transfiguring mere ants.
She takes out her wand once again, choosing to ignore Josette for a second time. She feels like she's slowly losing her mind, all too aware of how close the muggleborn is next to her, all too aware of how their knees could touch if Hope were to move her chair a little bit to the left.
She takes a large cup this time, setting it in front of her before saying the spell and envisioning another animal.
A rat appears in front of her, its tail almost longer than half the length of the table. When she looks over, she finds Josette petting a small hamster.
How is she doing this so quickly? She's...almost better than me.
"You're so cute," Josette murmurs, holding the hamster up and continuing to play with it. Hope's fingertips tingle with the want to reach out, but she keeps them shaking underneath the desk. She hates this feeling.
"That is the ugliest fucking animal I have ever seen," Hope comments, unable to resist.
"And what, your speciality is...pests and rodents?" Josette responds without even looking up, still playing with the hamster. Hope crosses her arms and huffs, glaring at the rat slivering across the desk.
They stay that way for what feels like minutes on end, and then it happens.
Josette yelps, immediately attracting the attention of the entire class. She runs her hands around her body, swiping at things Hope can't see, until she does.
The buttons of Josette's white long sleeve have been transfigured into crickets, and they're hopping all over her incessantly. Laughter and wolf whistles resound loudly throughout the classroom, and the loudest of it is coming from one Penelope Park.
Hope looks at the Slytherin for barely a second before she realizes this is all definitely Penelope's doing. She can tell by the wand poking underneath the desk, and the menacing smirk on her face. Hope turns her attention back to the frantic Josette who has just calmed down, except that her shirt is split down the middle, leaving her stomach and torso completely exposed. And of course, she doesn't have a robe to cover up with.
Hope's eyes are promptly drawn to Josette's soft pink bra and the flat tone of her stomach, her lips parting and pupils dilating instantly. She forces herself to look away, shrugging off her robe and silently handing it to Josette.
The muggleborn takes it quickly, grabbing her book bag in a rush and fleeing the classroom. Hope's heart jams into her throat, the rapid beat of it paralyzing her vocal cords.
"Miss Park, that was wholly inappropriate and tactless. Forty points from Slytherin!" McGonagall yells strictly, and Hope can't remember a time the professor has ever been so angry.
"You can't prove I did it!" Penelope tells her, standing up in faked disbelief. Hope rolls her eyes.
"She did it," Anna and Penelope's partner chorus together, not even caring that they're snitching on one of the most menacing Slytherins at this school. Penelope rounds on them, but McGonagall doesn't let her get another word in.
"You'll be serving detention with me for the next week, and I'll be notifying your parents of this terrible behavior." McGonagall's lips are a thin line as she talks. "Now, I ask you to please leave my classroom immediately."
Penelope looks around at everyone, but they mostly have their heads down, and Hope herself glances away when she finds Penelope staring at her.
Finally, the Slytherin girl mutters something underneath her breath before leaving. The class is dismissed when the bell rings ten minutes later, and Hope transforms Josette's hamster into the cup it was before.
Her next class is Charms, which she thankfully doesn't share with any of her friends. She doesn't know if she even wants to look at any of them right now. After that, she finds peace in Arithmancy, where Josette's name is called during roll call, yet Hope doesn't see her anywhere.
During lunch, Penelope won't stop cursing Professor McGonagall and Josette Saltzman. Hope still doesn't see the girl in question, and no matter how much she tells herself she doesn't care, it doesn't stop her eyes from wandering in search of the muggleborn.
Hope's last class of the day is right after lunch, and just so happens to be with Gryffindor. It's Defense Against the Dark Arts, which is also one of her favorite classes. She shares the class with pretty much all of her friends, and that's mostly why she likes it so much.
Incidentally, it seems that Professor Snape has also taken the insanity potion that's affected most of the teachers at Hogwarts.
Of course we're fucking switching seats again.
The Slytherins and Gryffindors stand against the wall, their rivalry dividing them up into two groups quickly.
Hope's breath catches fire when she lays eyes on Josette, who is on the side of the Gryffindors with her sister Elizabeth. She is also wearing Hope's robe.
"The audacity of her," Penelope sneers next to Hope. "Prancing around in your robe like she owns it."
"I don't know, P," Maya cuts in, a small smirk against dangerous lips. "I think she might look better in it than Hope does."
Of course, Hope agrees but that doesn't mean she's going to say it.
Professor Snape quiets the class soon enough, taking out a small list on parchment paper. He begins naming everyone's partners.
"Elizabeth Saltzman and Sebastian Pyre."
"Maya Machado and Emma Wilford."
"Ethan Machado and Rose Nicot."
"Penelope Park and Milton Greasley."
"This is bullshit!" Penelope snarls, and Hope grips her back with a single arm. She could count on two hands how many scenes Penelope has started this year. "How dare you partner me with a blood traitor!"
"Miss Park, I think it'd be wise of you to stop talking. As I've heard, you've gotten yourself into enough trouble today as it is."
Penelope settles back against the wall in defeat, and Rose and Hope make eye contact over her head. Hope frowns, Rose quickly mirroring the expression before they look away. Across the room, the Gryffindors are laughing at Penelope's expense.
"Rafael Waithe and William Jacques."
"Hope Mikaelson and Josette Saltzman."
Hope chooses not to throw a temper tantrum, merely nodding at Josette civilly. It's not even a surprise anymore, if she were to be honest. But her heart stutters in her chest all the same.
They're allowed to sit down a second later when Snape finishes up pairing everyone off.
"This afternoon, you will partake in self-studying." The class groans. "Yes, I am aware that this is a difficult, challenging task for sixth-year students."
Yes, Hope thinks, Snape does not have many different expressions, but sarcasm is one he does perfectly.
"In case you did not bring your textbook with you to class, I have a spare set in the front of the classroom. You will be reading pages 127-142, and your homework is a foot of notes due tomorrow. As you will soon find, the topic retains to a form of advanced magic known as a patronus. Can anyone tell me what a patronus is?"
No one responds to him, so Hope raises her hand, almost bored.
"A patronus is a projection of happiness, usually used to ward off dementors and other creatures of despair. It can also be used to send messages and it can take many forms, most commonly one of an animal."
"Indeed. Five points to Slytherin." Ethan reaches over to high-five Hope. She swats his hand away quickly, turning back to Snape. Snape pauses slightly, as if he might regret what comes next. "During the next month, we will be discussing patronuses and practicing the spell. It is important that you do your homework, because we will begin tomorrow. I understand that it is a very difficult feat to accomplish, and it will take time for many of you. However, it will be very useful for those that can get the hang of it. Although, do not feel defeated if you can't. I know many impressive wizards and witches who have failed to produce even a simple noncorporeal patronus."
Hope picks up a textbook at the front, getting started quickly. Nevertheless, she is constantly distracted by Josette. When the muggleborn even shifts a fraction of an inch, Hope can't concentrate. Hope is too attuned to the sound of her breathing and the way her lips mouth words as she reads them on the textbook. By the end of the lesson, she has a single note written down on her parchment.
The bell rings, representing the end of all classes, and Hope should be happy, but she's not. She feels like time has gone by too quickly, and is almost relieved when Professor Snape stops them.
"Before you leave, please note the sign up sheet on the door. Headmaster Dumbledore and I have agreed to rekindle the dueling club, and we welcome all students to attend. Have a good night."
The class erupts into gossip immediately, no one forgetting the accident that had occurred nearly three years ago last time the headmaster had thought to rekindle the club.
Without a second thought, Hope signs her name on the parchment. Her father would be terribly disappointed in her if she passed this opportunity up.
The rest of her friends sign up as well, and with excitement growing between them, they begin the walk to the Slytherin common room.