O

ZEUS

Sky

September

Somehow, the new school year was already upon them. Hope had enjoyed journeying to the school by carriage rather than freezing boat ride, and she and Dom now sat watching the sorting, predicting each student's forthcoming house whether they knew them or not.

"Malfoy, Scorpius."

"Got to be Slytherin, surely," Dom muttered. "All Malfoys have been in Slytherin."

"All Weasleys had been in Gryffindor until you and Rox came along," Hope reminded her, and Dom laughed. Scorpius's small, pointed face was white and terrified as he sat down on the stool.

After a long while, the hat made its announcement.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Dom's mouth fell open. Hope caught sight of Roxanne, over at the Slytherin table. She and Morella had put their dark heads together and were muttering. They had no doubt expected Scorpius to be sorted into Slytherin too.

Elodie gave a sniff from a couple of seats down the table.

"I'm not sure what his parents will say," she said. "We talked to them at the station – Mum's a very old family friend, of course. They were expecting him to be in Slytherin like them. Ravenclaw, I might have understood, but Hufflepuff?"

"What's wrong with being a Hufflepuff?"

"Nothing," Elodie said smugly. "If you don't mind being a bit of a dunce. Surprised you didn't end up there yourself, Lupin. I think the hat must have got you and your brother mixed up, you know."

Dom grabbed Hope's wrist under the table to warn her against retaliating. "Not worth it, remember," she hissed. "And it's Al's turn now."

Hope turned her back firmly on Elodie and watched as Albus tripped up to the stool. His bright green eyes showed a similar fear to Scorpius's as the hat fell over them.

"Gryffindor?" Dom muttered.

Hope shook her head.

"I don't reckon so. Teddy said he wants to be in Hufflepuff. I think he's secretly hoping to stay away from James."

"I can't really blame him," Dom said. "James is great but he can be so mean to Al sometimes."

Five seconds later, Albus's wish had been granted, and he was traipsing off towards Teddy's old table, looking heartily relieved.

Now there were only a few more first years to be sorted.

Hope joined in the applause as Sullivan, Mitchell joined their own table.

Travers, Daniel became a Slytherin.

Watts, Sasha went to Gryffindor.

Weasley, Rose was the last name on the list.

"Ravenclaw or Gryffindor," Hope muttered. "Probably Gryffindor though. Ron definitely wants her to be."

"Hmm. I think Ravenclaw," Dom said. "She's the most studious person I know. Except Louis I suppose, but much as I love him, he's just a bit unnatural."

"Runs in the family," Elodie snorted. Hope hadn't realised that she was still able to hear the conversation. Her retort was lost in the hat's announcement.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted, and Dom and Hope cheered loudly as Rose stumbled over to them.

"Sit with us!" Hope shifted up to make room and Rose sank into the seat next to her. Dom gave her a hug.

"Few surprises there."

Rose nodded, but she was looking back at the Gryffindor table. James waved at her before turning to resume his discussion with Eoin. He and Rose, for all their differences in personality, had always got on well, and there was something wistful about Rose's expression as she waved back.

"Ravenclaw's the best, don't worry Rosie," Hope said. She wondered if she really believed what she was saying. As much as she loved being with Dom, occasionally she wished she had let the hat have its own way, particularly when her mother and Teddy talked about their old house. Everyone sounded warm, fun and friendly in Hufflepuff. There was something cool and standoffish about a lot of students in their own house, and the atmosphere in the tower was often quiet and serious due to the amount of studying most Ravenclaws tended to do. But she wanted to cheer Rose up, and in any case, their younger friend was much more hardworking than she was. She would probably fit right in.

"We'll show you the common room before you go to bed," Hope continued. "Did you know we have a reading room? Like a mini library just for Ravenclaws?"

Rose's face lit up at once.

O

The next day was Saturday. It had never made sense to a lot of the students that they always went back to Hogwarts on September the first, regardless of what day that fell on, but it had been that way since the founding of the school. It was nice to have a couple of days to enjoy the grounds and get used to Hogwarts life again before lessons began. After a busy day of catching up with friends, Hope, Roxanne and Dom sat together by the lake, enjoying the last rays of evening autumn sunshine.

"Hey, look," Hope said suddenly. "There's Al. And isn't that Scorpius too?"

"Yeah, must be."

"I wonder what Uncle Harry will say if they become friends," Roxanne mused. "He hated the Malfoys when he was at school."

"Ron told Rosie at the station that she should beat him in every test and that she wasn't ever to marry him," Hope grinned. "I think he was joking though. And Hermione told him off, obviously. Let's go and talk to them."

They crossed over to where Albus was sitting, chatting away to Scorpius. Scorpius looked quite nervous, Hope noticed, but he mirrored Albus's smile as the three girls approached.

"Hey Al-Pal! Seen the Giant Squid yet?"

"Yeah! Just now."

"It's so nice to have your first day to explore," Hope exclaimed. "My first day was so boring, all lessons and timetables. And I kept getting lost."

"We've already got lost plenty of times," Albus assured them. "This is Scorpius, by the way."

"I know," Roxanne replied. "I was sitting with Morella Flint when you were sorted. She was so shocked that you weren't put in our house."

Scorpius appeared downcast at this, and Dom nudged her cousin sharply in the ribs.

"Well hey, you're missing out, but I'm sure Hufflepuff won't be too bad," Roxanne went on hastily.

"Yeah," Hope said. "Teddy always says Hufflepuffs have great midnight feasts because they are so close to the kitchens.'

"You won't be winning the quidditch cup this time round though, I'm afraid," Roxanne continued. "Slytherin are going to thrash you all this year."

"Not if Ravenclaw has anything to do with it." Dom's tone was one of grim determination.

"Yeah, yeah, when was the last time you won the cup? You didn't even come close last year."

"But we'll have Hope this season."

"You don't know that," Hope said at once, feeling nervous at the mere thought of the trials.

"Ah come on, you've been training all summer and you were already good to start with."

"Maybe," Hope muttered. "Let's go to dinner, I'm starving. See ya Al! Bye Scorpius, nice to meet you."

Scorpius, still shell shocked from the standard onslaught of Weasley excitement, murmured something of the same.

"He seems sweet," Dom commented, as they went on their way. "Grandad always goes on about the Malfoys, saying they're arrogant and prejudiced and stuff, but Scorpius doesn't seem like that."

"Grandad goes on about Lucius Malfoy," Hope corrected her. "That's his grandfather I think, not even his father."

"He still has time to show his true colours," Roxanne added. "Although I doubt the hat would have put him in Hufflepuff if he was like Lucius Malfoy. And we don't all turn out like our parents, do we?"

Hope reflected on this. Granny Molly had once told her, in amusement, that she was so like both her parents in different ways that it was surreal. Hope wasn't entirely sure that she saw the similarities. Maybe she would one day.

O

A week later, Hope felt nervous as she pulled on a ribbed blue jumper and a pair of padded trousers. Elodie, who was fixing her hair while she waited for Natalie and Marion to finish getting dressed, threw her a scornful sneer as she self-consciously retrieved her broomstick from under the bed.

"You're trying out for the quidditch team?"

Hope glared at her.

"Anything wrong with that?"

"You can't even walk downstairs without tripping over! How are you going to stay on a broomstick? And I hope you're prepared to be rejected. Burchess will never choose a tiny second year like you to be on the team."

Hope merely turned her back on Elodie and left the room. Secretly, she was a little worried about this too, but her friends and relatives had impressed on her that age meant nothing when it came to making the Hogwarts quidditch teams. George and his twin had been Gryffindor beaters for most of their time at school, Charlie had also made the team in his second year, and Harry had shocked the school and become the Gryffindor seeker within a few weeks of starting Hogwarts. Yes, different rules tended to apply to Harry's life, but the point had been made. There was no reason why she shouldn't make the team now, as a second year. Which meant, Hope thought grimly, that age was not an excuse if she messed up.

She cast a quick look around at the others once they were all standing on the pitch. The competition was going to be fierce, not helped by the fact that, as she had told Teddy, there was only realistically one chasing position up for grabs. Cal Burchess, now captain, would be one, and Hope knew that Dom would be another. Dom might insist that nothing was guaranteed, but she was an excellent player and had the natural advantage of a year's hard training and an existing connection with the other players. It was almost impossible to top that with a summer of practice. So that left one spot. Hope could already see that she was the only second year trying out, and the smallest player there.

The beaters went first, then the keepers. There were a few stand out players in each group. The seeker spot would surely go to Rowan Higgs, Hope thought, watching him effortlessly outstrip the other two candidates. He was easily the fastest and most agile.

"Chasers!" Call called, as the seekers landed back on the ground, Rowan trying not to look too pleased with himself as he handed the little golden ball - still untouched by any of the other applicants - back to Cal. Feeling tiny next to everyone else, and with a sick feeling in her stomach, Hope traipsed forward.

"OK, fairly simple," Cal said. "I'll divide you into two groups. There will be a keeper at each end. I'll put a couple of beaters up there to fire the bludgers. Play as you normally would. But I'm not only looking for goal scorers, remember. It's about other skills as well: teamwork, speed, defence. So-" he gestured towards half of them. "You four on one team, you four on the other."

Dom squeezed Hope's arm as they both shuffled into team one. Being on the same team was bound to make this easier. Hope felt another great swell of nerves, and then Cal blew his whistle, she kicked off from the ground, and her worries immediately melted away.

Elodie had a point. She wasn't graceful on the ground, a trait that she was regularly told she had inherited from her mother. But being on a broom was another matter. Flying was something she didn't need to think about, something she could just do. Well, she didn't need to think about the flying part. Tactics required thought and concentration. Streaking towards the goalposts, she caught the quaffle Dom threw to her and, after performing a corkscrew manoeuvre to avoid a bludger, threw it, hard and straight, past the keeper. First goal.

Twenty minutes later, they landed back on the ground, Cal eyeing them all thoughtfully. Hope was feeling dispirited. She knew she had been one of the faster ones, and had worked well with Dom, unsurprisingly after their summer training sessions. But she had definitely not played her best. She had been beaten to the hoop a lot by the girl she had been marking, had the quaffle stolen several times, and after her first goal, had only scored two others. Whatever Cal had said, goal scoring was important for chasing, and Hope was certain she had not played well enough to make the team.

"I need to think about this for a bit," Cal said. "You all flew well and it's a tough decision. I'll put the team list on the noticeboard tonight."

"You did great!" Dom said, as they grabbed some toast from the great hall and headed back up to the common room, discussing the trial in depth. Hope sighed.

"I didn't really though, did I? Worse than I played over the summer. But even then, I'm not sure it would have mattered. I'm clearly not ready for the team this year."

"I think you are," Dom said stubbornly. Hope raised her eyebrows and Dom relented.

"OK, so you weren't at your best today. You were just nervous."

Hope knew that wasn't an excuse. Nerves were no good if they meant that you couldn't play to standard when it mattered.

"Cal said there would be a couple of reserves," Dom added bracingly. "So even if you don't make the main team, you'll still be able to train with us."

Hope didn't think she'd even played well enough to be a reserve. She tried to quash the disappointment. There was always next year.

"At least you're guaranteed a spot," she said to Dom. "You were easily the best up there."

Dom was unconvinced.

"Come on, you were. You're definitely back on the team. And don't worry about me. I can try out next year."

They entered the common room, Dom, as usual, being the one to answer the pass-question from the eagle door knocker. Hope didn't understand them at all half the time. It was just as well that Dom had brains for both of them.

"How's the quidditch star?" Elodie enquired, as they passed her chair. "I'm sure you'll be signed by the Arrows any day now. Or maybe the Canons. They're always looking out for hopeless cases."

Hope felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. Elodie was never going to let her live this down.

"Piss off Elodie," Dom said roughly, pulling Hope past her.

Elodie shouted something crude to Dom as they walked away. Dom flinched a little at the cruel words but otherwise ignored her.

O

Dom was still up in her dormitory getting changed when Cal approached Hope in the common room.

"Can I have a word?"

She followed him into a corner. Was he about to be extra nice to her? Condolences and a pat on the head for trying hard. She hoped not. It would be doubly humiliating.

"Nothing to worry about," Cal assured her, reading her expression. "Just a quick question - I'm asking everyone who tried out the same thing. Based on that trial, who would you pick as chasers for the team, other than me?"

"Is this a trick question?" Hope asked slowly.

"No, you can answer however you like."

"OK..." Hope was still confused, but thought hard. "Dom, obviously," she said. "She's fast and she scored the most goals and you played together all last year which is an advantage. And she always plays for the team, not herself. You'd be mad to drop her."

"Who else?"

Hope resisted the urge to say "me". She had not performed well and they both knew that.

"Daphne," she said finally, speaking of the tall, gangly third year, with her long arms and swift style.

"Why?"

Hope thought back to the trials. "I mean, maybe it's because I was marking her a lot," she said. "But she seemed the next best to me. She was fast too, and she scored quite a few goals. But she also has a really unique flying style. She was unpredictable and kept taking me by surprise and throwing me off. That's pretty important for a chaser. There's no point being able to score a goal if you can't get to the hoops in the first place. And she kept marking me on the right and knocking the quaffle away, forcing me to play with my non-dominant hand."

Cal's expression gave nothing away as took this in.

"OK," he said. "Thanks."

Hope wrinkled her forehead as she watched him cross the room and approach Chris Hodges, another chasing applicant. Whatever he said, that had definitely been a trick question.

O

The list went up that evening. Hope didn't even bother going over. She supposed there was a slight chance that she might be reserve, but she was happy enough to find that out later. No doubt Elodie would be around to gloat about it very soon anyway.

"Go on," she said to Dom, whose eyes kept drifting over to the board. "You know you want to. Just go and look."

Dom shuffled off obediently and came back thirty seconds later, grinning from ear to ear.

"Told you," Hope said, determinedly pushing down all traces of envy. Dom deserved it, and she was so often overlooked and downtrodden. Hope was not going to ruin this for her by being bitter.

"And I told you."

Hope didn't dare believe it.

"I got reserve?"

"Nope." Dom's smile widened.

"Dom, if this is a joke-"

"Come on, would I?" Dom protested.

Hope knew her friend would do no such thing.

"But how? There were way better players than me in that trial. Why wouldn't Cal pick one of them?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Hope looked up to see Cal approaching them.

"Seen the sheet then?" His eyes sparkled in a friendly manner. "I'll be making you work hard, mind."

Hope gazed up at him suspiciously. "Why did you pick me? You know I wasn't the best after Dom."

Cal sat down in front of them and eyed her more seriously. "No, you weren't," he admitted. "I'd say you have the most potential, that first goal was incredible. But no, you didn't play the best overall. And neither did Daphne, despite what you said earlier. She'll be second reserve. Chris, based purely on what I saw out there, would have been my choice after Dom."

"So why didn't you put him on the main team?"

"Because," Cal said. "I asked the same question I asked you to all eight chasers who tried out today. And they gave me a variety of responses. Two of them didn't mention Dom at all. That was an automatic out because any idiot should have been able to see that she was the strongest player up there. Two of them said Dom and themselves. That's fair enough, but they didn't give me any real reason as to why they would be better, just the usual stuff about being dedicated and training hard, which isn't enough in itself. Three of them correctly identified Dom and Chris as the best players in that trial. They didn't, however, base this on anything other than number of goals scored and flying technique."

Hope was trying to remember what she had said. She felt she had rambled on a bit.

"You," Cal continued, "not only identified a good player, but you were able to tell me why they were skilled, how they managed to get past you in the air, and what techniques you used to respond to them. And being able to identify opposition strengths and weaknesses is worth more at this stage than if you had scored a dozen goals up there. Although," he hastened to add. "A dozen goals in our first match wouldn't go amiss."

"So," Hope still didn't dare believe it. "So I'm genuinely on the team?"

"Genuinely on the team," Cal assured her. "We'll get your scoring up to scratch no problem, and you and Dom work brilliantly together, which is another advantage. I think we'll have a great chance this year, I really do."

"Told you Cal was awesome," Dom said, as the older boy walked away. Hope was feeling much happier, if still a little uncertain.

"What?"

"I just – I'm happy. Of course I am. But it – it's a gamble. On his part. If I wasn't the strongest. I don't want to let him down. Especially if most people said Chris was better."

"I didn't say that."

Hope screwed up her forehead like she often did when working something out, trying to do the maths.

"You must have done – Cal said two were out and two said you and themselves and then three said you and Chris. Plus me makes eight."

"I think Chris probably said himself. So he would have been counted twice."

"Who did you pick, then? Please tell me you said yourself?"

"I didn't want to," Dom admitted. "Cal didn't exactly give me a choice."

Quite right. Cal went up even further in Hope's estimation. Dom needed to be forced to admit her strengths, once in a while.

"And who else?"

"Who do you think?"

Hope looked down at her feet, not feeling much better. Dom would have said that regardless of how she had played, she was sure.

"And I meant it!" Dom said earnestly. "You trained so hard all summer and you normally play way better than you did today anyway, and Cal's right, you're so good at reading the game. It's not just me who thinks so. Charlie and Ginny were saying too, that day you were round for practice and Ginny stayed for dinner after you'd gone home. They said you had raw talent. That you could be better than any of us in a few years."

Hope tried to look modest. But there was suddenly a warm glow in her chest. She wasn't ever the best at anything, or so she felt. She did alright at school, but her grades were nothing to boast about. Teddy, much as she adored him, had always been the clever one, the successful one. The one who was sensible and good while Hope was often in trouble. The one who was humble, and could admit that he was wrong and say sorry, and always resolved disagreements tactfully and calmly, when Hope was prone to flying off the handle and sulking, however much she regretted it afterwards. Teddy was the one who had been prefect and Head Boy and got ten OWLS and seven NEWTs and gone to work at St Mungo's to follow his life's ambition of finding a cure for werewolves.

But Teddy had never been any good at quidditch. He could fly if he needed to and avoided it whenever possible. Quidditch was her thing, and she knew it.

"See," Dom said, as her face brightened. "You'll be brilliant, and I wouldn't be surprised if you did score a dozen goals in our first match."

oOo

December

"I hear Ravenclaw flattened Hufflepuff in your first match, and you scored about a dozen goals," Teddy grinned at his sister, on the first evening of the Christmas holidays.

"Only seven," she countered. "Dom got six and Cal got ten."

"Not that you're keeping score." Remus winked at her.

"Well, Dom set me up for loads of them," she added, trying to sound humble. Then she couldn't help sniggering. "Elodie's so mad that we both got on the team. You should have seen her face when she came over to gloat after the trials and realised she had nothing to make fun of us for."

"Being amicable still not going well then?" her mother said, her tone sharp. Hope made no reply. The truth was that Elodie was becoming even more unbearable, particularly when it came to her comments about Dom. But Dom had pleaded that Hope not say anything to her parents this time.

"They'll just tell my parents," she had said. "You know they will. Our parents don't keep stuff from each other. They won't feel comfortable not telling my mum and dad if you tell them what Elodie's really like. And I don't want to worry them."

Hope wasn't sure she felt good about keeping it from them either, but don't tell our parents was a cardinal rule between the Weasley cousins, and if that's what Dom wanted, that was how it would have to be.

"I do have other friends," she said hastily to her parents. "More than last year, honest. The quidditch team are cool, and I sit next to Michael in some lessons, and Esme Okare is cool too. And Dom and I hang out with Rosie a lot - when she's not busy studying. Also Al. Did you know he's friends with Scorpius Malfoy?"

"Yes!" their mother said. "Harry told me. Apparently Al was a bit nervous about their reaction, but they are just relieved that the Potter-Malfoy rivalry won't be passed on to a new generation."

"Was it really that bad?"

Her father nodded.

"I had to break up more than one serious fight when I taught them," he said. "But from what I hear Draco isn't so bad anymore. And his mother, of course, ended up being crucial to our victory in the Battle of Hogwarts."

"That reminds me," Tonks said, looking suddenly at Remus. "I meant to tell you but it slipped my mind with everything else going on. Narcissa actually wrote to Mum, not too long after Scorpius started school. They've seen each other a couple of times since then and Mum's going to meet Scorpius in the holidays."

"Why would Gran meet Scorpius?" Hope asked in confusion.

Tonks smiled. "Your Gran's sister is Narcissa Malfoy," she said. "And Draco Malfoy is actually my cousin, which is a weird thought."

Hope gaped. "Gran's sister is Scorpius's gran? I never knew that. I knew she had a sister but when I asked about her she wouldn't tell me anything."

Remus and Tonks exchanged an odd sort of look, but when her mother replied, it was in perfectly casual tones.

"Well, it was always a difficult relationship, although your Gran was allowed on the jury that determined whether the Malfoys would be imprisoned, and was one of those who insisted that their part in the final battle was instrumental enough to allow their pardon. They'd barely spoken at all since then, but it seems Narcissa had been hoping for a chance of reconciliation for a while, and Scorpius being placed in Hufflepuff gave her an opportunity. I think Mum's secretly really pleased as well."

"Well that's great - hang on!" Hope's brain caught up with the conversation. "If Scorpius's dad is your cousin, does that make Scorpius my cousin? Our cousin?"

"Second cousin," Teddy said. "But yes, we're related to him."

Hope pondered this for a few seconds. "That's cool," she said. "Having a proper blood relative at school. He's really nice, you know."

"Vic said that too."

Hope's eyes sparkled wickedly. "So how are things with you and Victoiirrre?"

"Good thanks," he said simply, looking down at his food. "She's in France for Christmas, but I'll see her when she's back."

"Isn't it weird? You're basically going out with your cousin?"

"Hope," Tonks sighed. "Is that really necessary?"

"I'm not judging," Hope protested. "I'm just saying."

"She doesn't feel anything like my cousin." Teddy's cheeks went very red. "More- more like my best friend."

Hope felt bad in the face of his obvious embarrassment. Teddy never embarrassed her. She hurriedly took the conversation in a different direction, as she remembered some further news from her last week of term.

"Professor Izatt is retiring after this year. She told us in our last class."

"No!" Teddy looked up in dismay, his cheeks back to normal colour. "But she's such a great teacher."

"I know," Hope said miserably. "She's so kind, and fair. Really interesting as well. They'll never get anyone half as good."

Teddy looked over at their father. "Maybe you should apply for the job, Dad. You loved teaching, didn't you?"

Hope felt surprised at this, though not unpleasantly. Their father was looking thoughtful.

"I did, Teddy. But I'm not sure it's for me this time. A lot has changed since then. Anyway, I don't think Hope would be too thrilled to have her old dad teaching her, do you?"

Hope considered this. It would be odd, certainly, but she couldn't imagine that she would hate it. Michael didn't seem to mind Neville teaching him, and he was not only his teacher but his head of house.

"You can if you want to," she blurted out. "I don't mind. You would be a nice teacher. And you're always fair."

"Not interesting though..." Remus chuckled and she hastily amended herself. "No, no you would be that too."

"Very kind of you, sweetheart," Remus said, as Tonks laughed as well. "But it doesn't matter. It won't be me going for that job."

"Why not?"

Remus looked around their bright kitchen, a fond smile playing on his lips. "There was once a time when Hogwarts was my home," he said. "And it was a wonderful home. But my home is here now. I can't imagine it being anywhere else."

oOo

January

Regardless of who would be teaching them the following year, Hope was determined to make the most of Izatt's classes. They learned the disarming charm in the week after Christmas, which Hope paid special attention to, Harry having impressed upon her many times that this was a vital spell to learn. Then they learnt about the wizarding wars, and Voldemort's rise. As Hope knew a lot about this already, she was able to gain thirty points for Ravenclaw with her detailed knowledge, and she did well in the lessons about dark creatures as well. The advantage, she supposed, of having an auror for a mother and a magizoology expert for a father.

Unfortunately, her grades had started to slip in some of her other lessons. She was scraping by at Transfiguration and zoning out altogether in History of Magic. Potions was a categorical nightmare.

"Miss Lupin, did you even read the notes on the board before starting this?" Professor Leppard said in exasperation one lesson, looking down at the curdled mess in her cauldron.

"Yes, I did," Hope said. It was true that she had read them. Following them was another matter.

"Then what is this?"

"It's an anti-irritant potion."

Professor Leppard looked as though she would soon be needing an anti-irritant herself.

"I can assure you that it is not. You need to try harder, Lupin. This isn't an acceptable standard of work and I know you have it in you to do far better than this."

Hope scowled at her back as she moved on to the next table. She knew perfectly well what the teacher meant by that and it was so unfair. Just because Teddy was a genius didn't mean that she was. Most teachers refrained from making any sort of comparison between herself and Teddy - as it should be, Hope thought angrily - but Leppard never seemed able to help herself.

Even so, Hope could not be bothered to get upset over something as stupid as potions. She threw herself into quidditch instead, as the team prepared for the upcoming match against Slytherin, which would take place in February.

"I so want to win the cup this year," Dom said for the hundredth time, as they sat together one night after practice. Hope knew their chances were good - their team was playing better and better as time went on - but it would still be a difficult game. She, Dom and Cal were stronger than the Slytherin chasers, but Roxanne was a talented seeker, hated to be beaten, and would no doubt be making every effort to get an early capture of the snitch.

"I reckon we've got a good chance," Hope said decisively.

"Only if you're not as hopeless as you seem." Elodie, walking past, hissed the comment at them and then retreated, just as she always did.

"Coward," Hope called after her, turning round as Elodie disappeared up the stairs. "Say something to our faces for once, you spineless little worm."

"Ignore her," Dom said. "Leave her be. She'll only get worse if you antagonise her. Focus on the match. It'll be tough, you know it will. You'll need all your concentration."

oOo

February

It was a tough game, no doubt about that, and a long one as well. But Cal, Dom and Hope were on top form, and spurred on by their performance, and the ever increasing Ravenclaw scoreboard, the rest of the team played better than they had all year. Finally, after nearly three hours, Roxanne was narrowly beaten to the snitch by Rowan, ensuring Ravenclaw's win: four hundred and ten points to one hundred and fifty.

Ravenclaw, who had not been in with such a good chance of winning the quidditch cup in years, celebrated for many hours that evening. As it neared midnight, the common room began to empty, but Dom and Hope stayed downstairs, still chatting animatedly about the game with some of their teammates. They were discussing the more spectacular goals in detail when Elodie drifted past with Natalie. Marion was not with them.

"You know," she said, her voice carrying as she caught the end of their conversation. "I'm quite surprised that Dom didn't score more goals."

Hope knew a sinking feeling in her chest as she saw where this was going. Dom had warned her that antagonising Elodie was not going to help, and now she was going to be the one who paid for Hope's inability to resist a rise.

"She banked us seventy points, you numbskull." Chris Hodges, who had taken his reserve spot on the team with reasonably good grace, bit back at her. He was not at all fond of Elodie.

Elodie deigned him with a disdainful sneer. Comments from those she did not find attractive or worth her time did not have any impression on her whatsoever.

"Yes," she said. "But aren't boys supposed to be stronger?"

There was an awkward sort of silence.

"That's so sexist," Keith Tovey snapped.

"True though," Elodie persisted. "And Hopeless scored seven too but Cal scored twelve, so Dom should have been up there with him."

Dom got up and walked away, tears sparkling in her eyes. Cal, Hope noticed, was also within earshot, and staring at Elodie with a highly unpleasant expression on his face, but no one spoke as Dom fled upstairs and Elodie waltzed off to sit in a recently vacated armchair by the fire.

Hope resisted the urge to launch herself on Elodie and punch her face in. Dom was more important right now.

She found her friend up in her dormitory - thankfully alone - tears streaming down her face.

"Oh Dom."

Dom hastily tried to dry her eyes,

"I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare apologise," Hope said fiercely, sitting on the bed next to her. "She's evil, and she's getting worse. Dom, I wish you'd tell someone how awful she's being. Tell Flitwick."

"Flitwick knows," Dom said at once. "He knows people aren't always nice. There's not much he can do. People have been making comments ever since I got here."

"But Dom, she is worse than most. Most people aren't this bad. I know they stare and whisper sometimes and I know that must be horrible, but Elodie actually seeks you out to be hateful. And what she just did. Putting you down in front of everyone when you played so well and helped us win the match-"

"It's the way it is."

"No," Hope said. "No, it's not the way it is. Remember what Mum and Dad said. You should never accept being treated like crap. You can't just ignore it."

"But people do ignore it!" Dom burst out. "Everyone ignores it. Most people aren't mean like she is, that is true. But no one dares contradict her. People feel uncomfortable and try to pretend that it's not happening. You didn't see anyone else jumping to my defence just now, did you?"

"Chris and Keith did."

"Not really. Chris stuck up for my goal scoring and Keith told her she was sexist. No one mentioned what she was actually saying."

"But-"

"Hope, please leave it," Dom said. "I've told you. I want to ignore it too, as best I can." She turned her back and faced the wall, lying on her side and drawing her knees up to her chest.

Oompa, who had been sitting on Hope's shoulder, bounced down her arm and onto the bed, nestling on Dom's shoulder and blending in with her flame red hair. Hope left her pet to cheer her friend up, hoping that it would do a better job than she herself had managed, and, feeling saddened on what should have been a joyful and celebratory occasion, returned to her own dormitory.

O

Hope continued to dwell on the problem as the term progressed. Whatever Dom said, she could not ignore Elodie, and sometimes it wasn't possible to avoid her, given that they shared a common room. The biting winter cold had begun to fade, giving way to longer days and brighter skies, but regular heavy rainstorms were still limiting the amount of time they were able to spend outside. Elodie was cunning, and rarely unkind when other students were within earshot. Her comments after the quidditch match had been a first, no doubt in retaliation to Hope's challenge, and she hadn't repeated any such actions since, which meant that although her opportunities to be cruel were fewer and further between, there were never many people around to witness it.

Hope struggled with her paradoxical thoughts. Dom wanted her to leave it, but she was one of the only people who knew exactly what was going on. Even Roxanne wasn't aware of some of it. And she was Dom's friend, so as a good friend shouldn't she do everything possible to help her? Or did being a good friend mean respecting someone's wishes, even if you felt it to be wrong?

She remembered her father telling Dom that this was not a battle she could fight all by herself. So didn't that mean Hope was supposed fight it too? He had also said that telling a teacher was Dom's decision, but that was after Dom had said Elodie's behaviour didn't bother her. Surely if her parents knew how bad it really was - if they knew Elodie was being so unkind that Dom was regularly reduced to tears - then they would want something to be done about it.

Hope turned these questions over and over in her mind as the end of term approached, becoming more and more confused and feeling, quite frankly, like the most useless friend in the world.

oOo

March

Hope intended to talk to her parents about the issue, somehow. They were good for advice, and surely she'd be able to think of a way to ask them without directly betraying Dom's trust. But on the second day of the Easter holidays, news arrived that drove all other thoughts out of her mind for several days. Passing the living room door on her way to the kitchen, she stopped short at the sound of her own name.

"…should really tell Hope as well."

"Tell me what?" She poked her head into the room. Her parents were sitting with Harry and Hermione, all four of them looking very serious. Her mother turned round to look at her and sighed.

"Hope, how many times have we told you-"

"I wasn't listening," Hope protested. "I wasn't, honestly. I just walked past and heard my name. I swear."

"OK, OK!" Her mother held up a hand. "I'm sorry love, come in. We do need to tell you something."

Hope came over and sat down next to them. The grim expressions on each of their faces was rather alarming.

"What's going on?"

It was Harry who spoke, after a half glance towards Remus and Tonks. He was never one to beat about the bush.

"Fenrir Greyback is appealing his prison sentence."

Hope felt her heartrate accelerate madly in her chest at the mere mention of the name, but she kept her face resolutely impassive.

"Appealing," she repeated slowly, trying to remember what that meant. Appealing didn't mean anything concrete, she was sure of that.

"Azkaban prisoners are allowed to appeal a life sentence if they feel there is new evidence to back their release, or if they believe circumstances have changed enough since their initial imprisonment to warrant re-examination of their case," Hermione said. "Greyback is claiming that his actions during the war were down to self-defence against mistreatment and cruelty, and insisting that as werewolves now have more rights and opportunities, he should be allowed a chance to benefit from them."

Hope swallowed with difficulty.

"So he'll get out of prison?"

"It's still very unlikely," Hermione said, her voice gentle. "He's a convict and no amount of rights can negate what he did. War criminals have been appealing their sentences for two decades now."

"Do they ever win?"

Her father and mother exchanged a fleeting look. Hermione clenched the fist that was resting on the table and Harry's face hardened noticeably. "Once," he said, a muscle jumping in his jaw. "It has happened once since the war. But they were exceptional circumstances. And that person has committed no crimes since. So even if – and remember this is very, very unlikely – even if Greyback gets released, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to do something bad."

Hope could only nod.

"Are you OK?" Tonks said to her, later on, once Harry and Hermione had gone home. "You know, if you're worried about Greyback or anything, you can talk to us."

He's my worst fear and has been since I was six years old.

"I'm not worried!" Hope did not look up from changing the colour of her fingernails as she experimented with several vibrant shades of green.

"Sure?"

"Yep."

Inside, her stomach writhed like a pit of snakes.

OOO