Title: More than Mrs. Potter

Author: Joy

A/N: For those of you that don't like my choice of name or think its over used all I can say is I've never read any Harry/Ginny fic with the name Hope in it. I find it absolutely hysterical that I would be held to some idea that I was supposed to have read everyone else's fanfiction to know that other people had used the same name. Truthfully I love the name Hope... I'm big into the emotion names... Hope, Faith, Joy... oh wait I'm Joy. Anyway, if my choice in character name bothers people, I'm sorry...but I'm not changing it.

3. Hope

The train got set to pull out of the station while students scurried to their compartments. It was so full that a blonde girl came stumbling into the head boy and girl's quarters having been pushed by some passersby. Harry instinctively reached out and caught her fall, being closest to the door. The girl didn't smile or anything.

"You okay?" Harry asked quickly even as a cool sensation spread out through him.

"Yeah thanks... People are awfully happy to be here...rushing around to get to their friends." She spoke with an American accent, still not smiling.

Gin grinned big, having noticed the patch on the girl's knapsack. "Hey. You're American and from the Salem school. Are you Hope?"

"Yeah..." She looked uncomfortable. "I guess you're Ginny."

Ginny smiled as warmly as possible, "Yeah."

"So I will be seeing a lot of you I guess." It became very clear that Hope wasn't very hopeful.

Hermione attempted to be helpful by chiming in, "So...What house do you want to be in?"

"Slytherin, I guess," Hope stated quite melancholy. "That's what my dad was. I'm already a big enough disappointment to him. If I end up anywhere else, my life is going to be hell for the next two years...cause he's a prick like that."

Harry was slightly shocked by her statement. "You...you don't have to end up with those..." he began.

"...Filthy buggers..." Ron grumbled under his breath.

Harry shook his head at Ron, "My godfather came from a family of Slytherins and..."

Piercing blue eyes stared him down, "I am very aware, Harry Potter, all about your godfather. I don't need you to tell me about him! Besides so far I have only met self-righteous Gryffindors."

Ginny stood up, getting between the trio and Hope. "Hey, lets not have a problem. I have a buddy over in Slytherin...He's the 7th year prefect, Draco. Remember? He can make sure you're... insulated... alright?" Gin nodded. Hope nodded back. "Besides the three of us have to work together this year." Hope nodded again.

At this Ginny ushered Hope out of the compartment, before glaring at Ron, then Harry.

"What the hell is that? Did my sister just call Draco Malfoy a 'buddy'?" Ron asked incredulously.

Harry clenched his jaw a bit. "Yeah. She did... Apparently those letters Gin was getting were from Malfoy. Dumbledore's got them working together...he knows all about those books we aren't allowed to know anything about."

"I don't like this," Ron growled.

"Dumbledore must have a reason," Hermione commented.

"It doesn't matter," Harry said dismissively. "She isn't hanging out with him anymore... except for the project."

Hermione stared at Harry, "Are you sure that's wise?"

"It's MALFOY! He's going to hurt her," Harry rationalized.

"Don't let jealousy cloud your vision. Gin wouldn't cheat...You don't want her to regret the loss of a friend or worse resent you for taking him from her," Hermione warned.

"Come on. It's not like I said she couldn't have any guy friends or some bollocks like that. I didn't even throw a fit about them working together. But she hid this from me all summer, knowing it would make me upset..."

Ron sat quietly as Hermione tried to make Harry see her point. "There is something else that's irking you," she muttered.

Harry groaned in frustration, "Ginny was talking to him when she 'couldn't' talk to me." He grit his teeth, "Plus...he sent her this present...something I know means a lot to her. This crystal flower that blooms when she is sad or down. It always makes her feel better... I know he sent it..." Harry paused looking out the window, "I asked her if it was something I needed to worry about. She looked me dead in the eyes and said no." His head snapped back fast. "Bollocks it's not something I should be worried about."

Ron put a hand on his shoulder, "Calm down man."

"I just can't believe she didn't see this as any big deal. I mean how could she not see that she was cheating...that's what I don't understand. I think I am being very reasonable about everything."

"Cheated..." Hermione asked.

"You don't agree?" Harry questioned.

She thought it over. "I don't know Harry. I mean unless the letters were filled with explicit imagery or something physical has happened with them I don't think I would call it cheating."

"She went to him to fulfill her emotional needs when she and I were fighting this summer," he explained.

"I don't know..."

Harry looked at his best guy friend, "If you and Hermione had been having problems over the summer and she was writing Krum but wasn't talking to you, wouldn't you feel betrayed."

"Sure as bleedin' hell I would."

Hermione shook her head, "I just can't see Ginny..."

"She says she didn't see it that way," Harry stated.

"Then mate," Ron began, "take her at her word."

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Harry was beyond rational at the moment with thoughts of Ginny and Draco together in any capacity, "Where is she? It doesn't take this long to deposit an exchange student." He got into the hall and busted into the Slytherin compartment to find his wayward girlfriend.

Draco looked up quite amused while Hope appeared down right confused. Harry swallowed and hoped his cover would work, "Hi Hope. I just wanted to apologize for upsetting you earlier. I know you and Ginny will be working together throughout the year and I don't want there to be any awkwardness between us."

"Sure...that's it Potter," Draco snipped causing the confused lines on Hope's face to deepen.

"Malfoy, I wasn't talking to you," Harry glared.

With big fake innocent eyes Draco looked at his nemesis. "But Harry, Ginny and I are going to be working together throughout the year. Don't you want to make sure there is no awkwardness with us?"

"Stuff it Malfoy."

"What's wrong, scar head? Lose the little woman?"

Harry sighed, "No Malfoy, I came to apologize to Hope like I said. Ginny mentioned bringing her here to meet you...I didn't come here looking for Gin and I didn't come looking for a fight."

Draco glared, "Scared."

"We've been over this Draco."

Hope began to soften her expression toward Harry.

"Whatever," the blond growled. "You just can't stand the thought of Ginny running to me when you hurt her."

The raven-haired boy raised his eyebrow, "I was under the impression Malfoy that you were a passer-by. You might have easily been Neville, Colin...hell even Blaise. I know you like to fancy that this friendship you have with Ginny is based on me having screwed up one night, but truthfully you were in the right place at the right time."

Draco clenched his fists tight and grit his teeth.

Harry shook his head; "You are an important friend to Ginny so I don't want to get into this with you."

"Oh...but you want her to stop hanging out with me!" Draco snapped.

Harry attempted to keep his temper, "No Draco, I told her if she wanted to be with you to be with you and screw what everybody else thinks...I did that because I love her and want her happiness. What I told her was if she still wanted to be with me I didn't want to feel like she had a default boyfriend waiting in the wings. It was Ginny's choice what she did. It was Ginny's choice how that would play out. Under the circumstances Malfoy I think I am being more than gracious about this situation."

Hope stood up at that point putting a hand on Draco's arm. The boy immediately calmed at the mere touch of her. Harry noted the oddness of the action. He had felt a similar sensation when he caught her as she fell. He had assumed it was merely relief but at the moment he began to wonder.

Hope continued to rub Draco's arm up and down softly before she faced Harry once again and said, "I accept your apology Harry. I am sorry I overreacted. I am sure I will get to know you better as things continue this year... I imagine Ginny is back from visiting Colin now."

"Thank you," he whispered and moved past them both.

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When Harry arrived back in the hall he leaned his head against the side of the wall. Hope came out quickly and laid a hand on the back of his neck. A cool sensation spread from the location and made him relax. "How do you do that?" he whispered.

"Do what?" she asked.

Harry turned around and stared at her, "You know...the calmly thing..."

She smiled for the first time, "You're the first person to ever know it was me...beside my mother."

He looked at her oddly with a lopsided smile, "Well...what is it?"

Hope shook her head, "I don't rightly know... I do...but I don't... How do you do all the stuff you can do that most people can't? What makes you special? Why are you Harry Potter?"

"I suppose because of my parents and the prophecy."

"Exactly... They are just embedded in who you are for no other reason then your genetic code and a group of old words."

Harry looked her over, "But most of the things I can do at least have names...things I can look up in books to understand...Parseltongue, blood protection, wandless magic."

"Okay then look up what an empath truly is and you'll understand," Hope said cheekily.

"How bout you explain it?"

She smirked like Malfoy suddenly, "I feel what people around me are feeling. I can hear their thoughts a lot of times if their feelings are strong enough...and Occlumency doesn't work with me because I am not magically breaking into someone's mind or using Legilimency. I am merely getting a total impression on their emotional state... The upside and the downside is when I come into physical contact with someone else I drain away their heightened emotions. My father had just embraced me before I got on the train. All of his sorrow, pain, hatred, and inferiority leeched in through that contact. You caught me and you were still upset about things with Ginny."

"But Draco...Draco gained your calm...I just gained your calm."

Hope shrugged, "Sometimes I can push an emotion onto someone rather than take one away...sometimes it just happens. Draco is different though."

"Why?" Harry asked. She looked down and away. "You don't have to tell me but..."

Hope looked directly into Harry's eyes. For however brilliant Harry's green eyes were supposed to be Hope's blue eyes were equally as startling. "I have a thing for Draco. I know it's not smart. I know his reputation. I know he can't necessarily be trusted." She shrugged her shoulders, "But when we wrote back and forth this summer...we connected. I liked writing Ginny too...but with Draco it seemed...more somehow. I am doing my best not to read him. I don't want to violate his trust."

Harry nodded. "Thanks for telling me...here I was thinking all those letters were from Draco only. Ginny insists he just wanted a friend."

Hope smiled, "I think she's right."

TBC...

Now with this new update on Fanfic tomorrow I will hopefully get in another chapter before it takes effect... but you guys have to REVIEW in order for that to be guaranteed.

So come on... I will REVIEW for Joy and tell her what I think of Hope. I will REVIEW for Joy and tell her what I think of Hope... thank you class. Hopefully we will reconvene tomorrow.