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Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Truth Comes Out

Hope jerked awake from another nightmare. She slowed her sporadic breathing down before glancing at the clock. Two-thirty in the morning. After two weeks, the routine had gotten old. But at least her father was sleeping.

She sighed. She was completely caught up on homework, and had read all her books multiple times. She decided to get up and go raid her father's bookshelves.

She moved quietly to avoid waking her father up. She glanced through the books before choosing one on potion making and sitting down in the chair. She spelled the lights on slightly before opening the book.

She made it through the first three chapters before she heard her father's door starting to open. She quickly spelled the lights out and watched as Severus rushed into Draco's room.

Hope heard Draco call out. She stood and rushed over to his room as she heard her father cast a silencing spell.

"Shh, it's okay, Draco."

He shook his head against his father's chest.

"Dad, she didn't even scream. I know it must have hurt. I always see her getting hurt. I was so scared she would die. She's not always going to be lucky."

Hope entered the room and went over to his side. She saw her father give her a look.

"I'm fine, Draco. I won't do anything else stupid, okay?"

He laughed and reached over to squeeze her hand.

"I doubt that. You live for doing stupid stuff."

Hope smiled. "I'll let you know, then so you can come with. Deal?"

He nodded. "Deal. Sorry if I woke you. Dad's usually really good with remembering a silencing charm before waking me up."

Hope shrugged it off. "You didn't wake me. You think you're going to be able to go back to sleep?"

He nodded. "I'll be fine. Thanks, Hope."

She pushed him gently. "That's what sisters are for."

He laughed. "My words."

"And I'm using them. Got a problem?"

He shook his head. "No problem, just want to go back to sleep."

Hope stood up. "Then sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

She watched him from his door to make sure he was actually going to go to bed. He pulled the blankets over himself and was asleep within minutes.

Hope walked away from the door and saw her father watching carefully from the chair she was just sitting in.

"You weren't asleep," he stated rather than asking.

"No, I wasn't," she confirmed.

"I didn't get an alarm saying you had a nightmare."

Hope shrugged. "Maybe the spell wore off or something," she lied.

He rubbed his eyes. "Maybe. Come here."

Hope went to him without thinking and let him wrap her in a hug. She settled against him.

"What did you dream about?"

Hope laughed. "I'm fine, really."

He pulled her down on the couch. "I still want to know."

Hope sighed. "Lucius."

"Ah. It's been weeks since you've been back and you've yet to tell me what occurred between the two of you. Anything else you speak of willingly, yet that, you are rather closed mouth about."

Hope pulled away and stood, running her hand through her hair.

"Give me a break, I don't want to talk about it. You know everything else, why does it matter if you know that?"

He watched her pace. "Because it bothers you. It seems to be the only thing that bothers you. I can't help unless I know."

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "You can't help! He told me, he said that…" She cut off as tears fell from her eyes.

"What did he tell you?"

"He said he's not done. He's going to come after me, Dad."

Severus went to where his daughter was kneeling on the ground. He was happy that she called him 'Dad' again, but wished it were under happier circumstances.

"Hope, I won't let him near you. What did he do to you, child?"

Hope shook her head. "I can't tell you."

He sighed. He'd pry information out of Draco tomorrow. Right now, he needed to get her off of the cold floor. It was not going to help her still tender back.

"Let's move to my bedroom. Unless you want to risk waking your brother?"

Hope shook her head and stood. She followed her father into his room and sat on his bed. He sat next to her and put an arm around the sobbing child's shoulders.

"Why can't you trust me on this?" He asked her sadly.

"I'm scared. What if I see him and freeze?"

He shook his head. "You won't. You're stronger than him. I'm more worried that you'll kill him."

Hope leaned against him. "I feel stupid. I should feel guilty for getting Draco into the mess, for getting him captured, but instead, I'm worried about whether Lucius is going to find me. How selfish can you be?"

He pulled her to him. She laid her head against his chest, comforted by his close presence. He wouldn't let anyone hurt her.

"It's not selfish. You've dealt with torture. You know what to expect. You healed Draco; he was never left suffering, he was never close to dying. You came closer than you realize, from what he told me."

Hope nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Is he going to be okay?"

"Your brother will be fine. I'm worried about you. Why won't you tell me what he did to you?"

"I can't. Please just drop it. I'm tired and just want to go to sleep."

She tried to pull away but he wouldn't let her go.

"Then sleep, in here. It's early enough that I won't go back to sleep anyway. If you have another nightmare, I want to know."

Hope hesitated before lying down on the bed. Her father shook his head before pulling the covers over her. She lay awake for awhile, not wanting to fall asleep and show him that she was still having nightmares.

He sat on the other side of the bed and began rubbing her back softly.

"Go to sleep, Lea. I'm right here."

Hope felt her eyes closing against her will. She was asleep within minutes.

Hope heard two voices in the living room and woke up before rubbing the rest of the sleep out of her eyes. She walked over to her father's door and listened.

"She still asleep?"

She recognized her father's voice.

"Yes, she hasn't made a sound all day," Draco responded.

"What did Lucius do to her, Draco? You promised me if she let it go too long, you'd tell me. She's found a way around my charms, and she's not sleeping. I have no clue how to help her."

"Have you asked her?"

Severus must have nodded because Hope didn't hear a reply. Deciding she had to stop this conversation before Draco opened his mouth, she pushed the door open and saw lunch on the table.

"Oh, good, food. Is there enough for me or do I need to order more?"

Draco laughed. "You know the house elves always send up enough to feed an army. Help yourself."

Hope sat at the table. She noticed her father's gaze on her. She turned to him.

"Shouldn't you be in the great hall? You've never joined us before for lunch. Something about keeping up appearances."

"Yes, well, that was before I found out my daughter learned the counter spell to my monitoring spell."

Hope winced. "Harry told you."

"No, I merely know when you're not sleeping. Which is why you are going to tell me what is plaguing your dreams."

Hope shook her head. "I'm not talking about this." She stood and walked towards the door. "And if you try and make me, I'll walk out of this room and won't come back. If you think I wanted the adoption canceled before, I'll push for it this time."

Hurt filled Severus' face. "Hope, why won't you trust me?"

"It's not that I don't trust you. I just can't talk about this. Nothing happened, why won't you believe me?"

"Because even though nothing happened, you're still petrified."

"Hope, just tell him."

Hope shook her head and went to open the door only to find it locked.

"I undid Voldemort's locks on all his cells, as well as blew his wards to pieces, and apparated through the wards around Hogwarts, do you want to see who has the stronger magic, Severus?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to fight you, Hope, I just want to help you."

"Hope, I'll tell him if you don't."

She turned to her brother. "You promised me you wouldn't."

"I thought you would have the common sense to accept his help! It's not your fault that he tried to rape you."

Hope turned away from the look on her father's face. Draco realized what he said and covered his mouth.

"Hope…"

"Forget it, I'll see you guys later."

She undid the lock on the door with a simple wave of her hand. Her wand was still in the other room, but she could worry about it later.

"Hope, wait!" Severus called.

He ran to catch her but the door shut in his face. He jerked it open and ran out into the hallway after her.

Hope kept walking, ignoring her father's voice calling for her. She knew the secret tunnels of the school and easily lost him. She went up to the astronomy tower and sat there.

She knew Harry would show up in a few minutes, as soon as he saw her father looking for her. She heard the door to the tower open and looked over to see him walk through.

"I knew it wouldn't take you long," she whispered.

"You're father told me what happened. Are you okay?"

Hope shook her head. "How much did he tell you?"

"All of it. Hope, I don't think anything less of you. I still love you, you do realize that, right?"

Hope nodded and motioned for him to sit next to her.

"I know. At least now you understand why I flinched from you so much more strongly than I did any of the others."

He nodded and pulled her close. "He's trying to help you. I think you should go back."

She shook her head. "I can't. I can't talk about this, Harry. I can feel it in my gut, that he's going to get a hold of me again. That petrifies me."

He tightened his grip on her even more. "I won't let him. You're mine, and I'm not sharing with him."

Hope sighed. "I guess I do have to face this sometime. Will you come with me?" She pleaded.

"Of course."

He stood and pulled her to her feet. He wrapped his arm around her waist before leading the way to Severus' quarters.

Hope walked in and stood by the door. Harry nudged her toward the couch but she refused to move.

"Hope, I didn't expect you to come back so soon."

Hope felt tears cover her eyes. "I'm sorry, but this is hard. You have to understand, that he didn't do anything. I didn't let him."

Severus enveloped her in a hug. "I know, Draco told me. I'm proud of you, but you should have told me."

"Right before I left, he said that it wasn't over yet. Even if I did survive, he'd find me and finish what he started. I can feel in my gut that we're not done yet. He's going to get his hands on me, and now he knows about my wandless magic. He'll be prepared."

Severus led her over to the couch. Harry stayed close, but let her father help her.

"He won't have a chance. I won't let him near you."

Hope was shaking. She leaned against her father.

"I'm scared," she admitted.

Draco had came over and sat on her other side.

"I'd be afraid for your mentality if you weren't. Nobody should be attacked like that."

Hope nodded. Nobody said anything else. But Hope was surrounded by people that loved her, and that made her feel safer than any reassurances could.

A/N: Here you guys go. Hope you enjoy :)