Hope's POV:
The next day is Harry's trial and I can't be more anxious for it. Hogwarts won't be the same without Harry there. He's part of what makes it home. I pace back and forth in room I share with Ginny and Hermione, waiting for Harry and Mr. Weasley to get back from the Ministry.
According to Mrs. Weasley, the trial was moved up so they should be here by now. Is the reason they're not here because they are winning and it's just taking the jury longer to decide? I have no clue how wizard trials work. Finally I hear the door close downstairs. I race out of the room.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs and see the two I start launching questions. "What happened? Did you do it? Is Harry allowed to go to Hogwarts again? Did he get expelled? Is there going to be a retrial? What happened? Why isn't anyone saying anything?!"
Both their eyes are wide, clearly overwhelmed with my questioning. "Harry, I'll let you handle this one, but upstairs please." Mr. Weasley tells him. He nods and walks forward, grabbing my hand and dragging me upstairs. We get to a side room and he pulls me in, closing the door.
"What happened?" I ask when he sits next to me on a couch. "Everything's fine. I'm not expelled. Dumbledore showed up and won them over." He explains. I let out a breath of relief, pulling him into a hug. "Thank God. Wait..." I pull away. "...Dumbledore?"
He nods then goes on to explain exactly what happened at the Ministry. "That's weird. He didn't say anything at all to you?" "Nothing." "I have no clue what could have happened to make him act like that." "Me neither."
"Well, the good news is that you're going to be able to go to Hogwarts still. See, positive side to all of this." "Yeah, I guess you're right." "I'm always right." I smirk. He just laughs. The door then opens, revealing Hermione and Ron. "We heard you two were in here." Ron says.
"What happened?" Hermione asks as her and Ron take a seat opposite Harry and I. Harry sighs before launching in to the story again. Like me, Hermione and Ron didn't understand Dumbledore's behavior either, but stressed to Harry the need to not worry about it.
Soon it was dinner time and Mrs. Weasley calls us all down. Tomorrow we're all going to Diagon Alley for school supplies so that should be fun. The only time that've been out of this house in months is to go with Remus and Sirius. It gets boring after a while.
The next day we go around to all the different shops in Diagon Alley. We split up to get things done quicker since now that Voldemort's back it's too dangerous for us to be out for so long, even if we have Mad-Eye, Mr. Weasley, and Kingsley.
Harry and I are off with Kingsley right now, going through different shops. Even though we're only supposed to go into necessary shops Harry insists that he goes into one of the jewelry stores...alone. "You sure I can't go with you?" I ask as we get closer to the shop.
"No, I'll be fine. You and Kingsley will be right outside." "Well, if you're going into the store I have time to run into the parchment store next door. I need more sketching pencils and a new sketch book for this year." I explain to him. "Ok, just be careful."
"I'll be fine. Our bracelets go both ways." I remind him of the bracelet that neither of us have taken off since our first year. Especially after last year. He knows what it'll do to me if I don't know if he's in trouble or not. Last year brought us closer, which I didn't think was possible.
"Fine. I promise I won't be long." "I won't either." I grin. I hug him before we go into the separate stores. Once I have my things I head towards the check out counter. Right as the witch behind the counter checks me out I see a small journal like book for sale on the counter. "What's that?"
"Oh, that's a lovely little thing. Whatever you draw in it comes to life. The material used is what they use at Hogwarts for all the paintings." I grin. "I'll take one." She grins and rings that up as well. Once I've paid for everything I take my bag and exit the store.
Harry and Kingsley are waiting for me. "Get everything you need?" I grin and nod. "Yep, plus something special. Let's go, the others should be done soon." He nods and together, the three of us head towards the Leakey Cauldron where we are all meeting.
When we get back to Grimmauld place. Sirius pulls Harry aside and I head up to my room. I take out the journal and some sketch pencils. With that I begin drawing. I want this to be filled by Harry's birthday next year. We never get each other gifts, but this is special.
I want to draw the best moments from every year at Hogwarts from here. I know I should probably wait till the end of seventh year, but I don't know what's going to happen between now and then, especially with Voldemort back. Everything going forth from now is unexpected.
I can't afford to let my guard down. The moment I do, I'll lose someone else. Cedric was a wakeup call. I ignored my gut with fake Moody and because of that Barty Crouch Jr. was able to follow through with a complex plan that got Cedric killed and almost killed Harry.
I need to tread lightly. I let my Cedric in and look how that turned out. No more people. I have my friends now. My family in this world. I wonder what my family is doing right now? I wonder if they even miss me. Silly question, of course they miss me.
The longer I stay here, the less I want to go home. If only I could bring them here. Then I wouldn't have to choose. By family is always and forever, and I have to remember that. Did I make a mistake opening up to the people here?