Hope closed the door with a click and turned around to face her room. Her eyes drifted towards her trunk and she strode towards it. She looked at it for a moment, and noticed that the Hogwarts crest had been added to the trunk, and now sat alongside the Winters' family crest on the lid of the trunk. Hope smiled; she really was going to Hogwarts at last!

She pulled out her hairdryer and straighteners, and turned them on by a flick of her wand. She then began to get herself ready for the day ahead. She straightened her hair into its usual style, letting it flow around her shoulder elegantly, completely poker straight. After admiring the results, she pulled out her small make up bag and began to complete her morning getting-ready ritual, applying her eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara before stepping back from the mirror she was working in front of. Admiring the results she smiled, but then her face dropped again.

She thought she looked good; she didn't think she was the prettiest girl in the world but she still thought she looked okay. And yet, she was the only person she knew who had never been kissed. Sure, she had liked boys and some boys had probably liked her, but she had never once dated. She thought about her friends back in Ireland, and marvelled at how they always seemed to have someone. As soon as they would stop dating someone, they would go on to date someone else. She was always left alone and forgotten when boys came into the picture.

Hope sighed. Her friends. She would have to write to them later and tell them what had happened. None of them went to Hogwarts either; she studied magic with them at Gloria, her tutor's, house. She felt saddened that she would possibly never see them again, and felt more alone than she did last night. She really was perfectly alone in the world.

A surge of creativity went through Hope at that moment, and her gaze quickly fell on her acoustic guitar, sitting safely in its case beside her bed. She wanted to play so badly, but she didn't have the time. She needed to get to Diagon Alley as quickly as possible to be able to get all of her things, and a few more.

Making sure her Gringotts key was still on the necklace around her neck, she grabbed her money bag and stuffed inside her backpack. With one last look at herself in the mirror, she quickly grabbed her Converses and headed for the door to the landing. She looked around the landing again, feeling the familiar sense of unwelcoming coming from the house. She shivered and began to make her way down the stairs, tip-toeing the entire way just as Uncle Albus had told her the night before.

When she reached the last landing before the bottom, she got distracted from her quest to reach the bottom of the stairs without waking something. There were voices coming from a room at the end of the hall. Curiosity getting the better of her, she quietly walked along the landing towards the door that was concealing the source of the noise. After listening for a few moments, she realised that they were the voices she heard coming from the room above her the night before. They were arguing about something. Despite the pang of guilt that she felt from eavesdropping, Hope continued to listen to the heated conversation.

"For Merlin's sake Harry!" said Hermione in an exasperated tone. "What do I have to do to make you see that you have to come back!"

"You can't!" Harry replied angrily. "I've made my decision! Everyone at Hogwarts will be a lot safer without me there, and in case you had forgotten Hermione, I've got something a bit more important than NEWTs to think about this year!"

"Harry, mate," said Ron quietly, "Hermione's right, you need to come back. Even if you just do it for us. We would never be able to last a year at Hogwarts without you being there. And if you won't let us come with you to search for them, then you are forcing us to go there, without you."

Harry looked at his best friend, considering what he had just said. There was silence for a few moments before he finally said "You will be safe at Hogwarts. I need to do this by myself; I don't want to risk losing you two. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I got the two of you killed."

"But Harry, don't you see? We want to help you! Harry we need to help you!", said Hermione. She looked at him; the soft look in her eye made him feel guilty for leaving them behind. But he couldn't take them with him, it would be too risky, and he just couldn't risk going back to Hogwarts at jeopardising the safety of the one place in the world he had ever been able to call home. He couldn't do it.

"Harry, how many times do I have to tell you that Hogwarts has, and always will be the safest place in the world, with or without you there? Voldemort has been after you every year you've been in school, and Hogwarts has remained the safest place through those years. Don't make me go and get my copy of Hogwarts: A History, and read you the numerous chapters on its measures to make it safe." Hermione was practically shouting at him, but she was making sure her voice wasn't raised. It was the kind of lecturing telling off that he had always hated, and she knew it.

Harry sighed, Hermione was right as always. Hogwarts had stayed safe since his first year, and Voldemort had been after him then.

"And think of the resources there Harry, the library, the teachers, Dumbledore. The possibilities of help at Hogwarts are far less than those out there on your own." Hermione continued, and Harry knew she was right, "As much as you would love to believe it Harry, you can't do this on your own. You may be the only one with the power to do the final deed, but you can't do the rest on your own. You need the help Harry, and there are plenty of people ready and willing to give it to you if you would just stop being so noble and accept it! You are only human, Harry."

Hermione's words finished in his head, and he bowed his head. He knew she was right, and he knew Ron was too. How could he let them endure a year of Hogwarts without him? He wouldn't want one of them to do it to him. And Hogwarts did have the biggest library he had ever seen, and most of the Order was there. He couldn't ignore the facts; he would have to return to Hogwarts.

"Fine, I will go back," said Harry, "but don't expect me to work towards my NEWTs, I have more important things to worry about."

"That's the spirit!" said Ron brightly, clapping his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry smiled weakly.

"Excuse me", said Hermione in her best bossy tone, "But correct me if I'm wrong, but you weren't really going to work very hard towards them anyway, whether you planned to or not?" She gave them her best "I Told You So" look, and Harry and Ron both shrugged their shoulders at her.

"Gee, Hermione, you sure do hold us high with your expectations of us don't you?" said Ron in a very accusing tone.

"Don't try and deny it Ronald, you know I'm right" she replied, giving him a look that made Ron retreat quickly.

Harry's stomach began to rumble, and Ron laughed.

"Now that makes a change!" he said between breaths of laughter. Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"C'mon" she said irritably, "I'm sure your mum has started breakfast already, Ron."

They headed towards the door and left the room. Harry was last to leave the room, and was about to follow the other two down the landing when something in the shadows caught his eye.

Hope froze. He was looking straight at her, and he would surely not be very happy with her if he found out she had been eavesdropping on his conversation. She looked up at him and gasped. She had never seen this boy before in her life, and yet something stirred within her. She was feeling something she had never felt before; she thought this boy was handsome.

He was tall and thin, but not too tall nor thin as to be gangly; he was proportioned just right in Hope's eyes. Just right. His longish, messy raven hair gave him a rugged look that she just could not ignore, his emerald green eyes were holding her gaze with an overwhelming sense of curiosity and it made her melt. She ran her gaze over him, stopping to look at The Clash t-shirt he was wearing, and she gasped. Looking down to his feet, she saw that they he was wearing a pair of battered old black Converses. Hope was surprised she didn't faint from excitement right there and then. She looked over him once again, and her gaze came to rest on the thin scar on his forehead. She didn't spend too much gazing on this however, knowing that he probably didn't like people looking at it all the time. She herself had a scar on her side from an operation a few years previously, and she knew how nervous it made her feel to have people looking at it for longer than was necessary.

Hope had fallen down on the ground when they had opened the door to the room. Harry had extended a hand out to her to help her up, and she accepted his offer. Reaching out her own hand to grasp his, she felt in something of a fairy tale. His hand was rough, yet firm. Clearly this boy played Quidditch, her favourite sport. This boy had just risen above the top spot of her most perfect boy list. She felt giddy and excited, but tried to hide it. She looked up at him shyly; he was looking at her with curiosity.

There was something, no someone in the shadows! He looked down at the girl who had obviously fallen over. Had she been eavesdropping on his conversation with Ron and Hermione? Had she heard anything that she possibly shouldn't have?

Harry wondered these things for a few moments, but then he moved herself so that her face was caught by the light, and all other thoughts were pushed from his mind.

He didn't know who this girl was, he didn't know her name. But Merlin, she was beautiful. Her deep brown hair flowed effortlessly around her shoulders, reminding him of a dark haired Veela. He moved his gaze to her eyes, and was almost blown backwards by the intensity of her eyes. Her bright green eyes. Those eyes, they had an air of innocent beauty about them the he just could not ignore, he was captured by those eyes and was sure that he would fall into them. He reluctantly ripped his gaze from her eyes for enough time to think of something to do.

He extended his hand towards her to help her up off the ground, and she kindly accepted. As she gently touched his hand, he gasped inwardly. Her hand, they were so soft and small, he was afraid that if he squeezed too hard he would crush them. But it was her touch that made him react to her. As soon as she had touched his hand, a jolt of what felt like electricity had surged through his body, from his head to his toes.

As she stood up, he looked at her carefully. Her make-up was done in a way that gave her eyes an air of mystery, not that they needed it. Her clothes were well worn and obviously a favourite of her. As he looked at her t-shirt, he smiled. The Ramones, a favourite band of his. Her jeans were baggy and didn't accent her too much, but Harry found her was not bothered by this. They hung low on her hips, and a studded belt held them in place. He glanced further down the girl, and stopped at her feet, Converse. He smiled again, he did love Converse. She wasn't a tall girl, infact she was quite the opposite, reaching just below his shoulder when she stood full height. Harry found this quite amusing, as he wasn't exactly the tallest boy of his age that he knew. But this girl's smallness just added to the overall aura of the girl.

This girl was beautiful to Harry, and he felt his face blush red when he realised that he had been thinking of a girl as more than just pretty, but as beautiful.

Harry smiled at the girl and quickly turned around the walk away, immediately feeling stupid for doing so. This girl was beautiful and he was walking away from her! But his legs would not turn around, he could only keep walking with his head hung low.

"You're a stupid git, Harry Potter, you know that?" he said quietly to himself as he descended the staircase to the kitchen.

Hope watched as the boy walked away down the landing. Something within her told her that she should run after him and at least ask her name, but she found she was glued to the spot. No matter what her heart was telling her, her body would just not move.

Hope sighed heavily. "Maybe it was a fluke? Maybe, we were just meant to meet the once, and never meet again?" she wondered idly, as she walked down the stairs towards the door.

As she reached the dank and dingy entrance hall, she heard voices coming from a stone staircase, and felt a sudden urge to go and find what all the noise was about. She was about to make a move towards the staircase, and then the new memory of what happened when she had been curious just a few minutes earlier flooded her brain, and she strongly decided against it.

Hope quietly opened the door of the house, and stepped out onto the steps leading up to it from the street. She closed the door behind quietly and started off down the steps towards the pavement. Once her feet were planted firmly on the paving slabs, she had the peculiar feeling that the house was shrinking behind her.

She turned round so quickly that the air around her made a rushing noise. She had turned around just in time to see the door of the house disappear between the two adjoining houses beside that. Her eyes were wide with amazement, and she stared open mouthed at the wall between number 11 and number 13.

Hope shook her head furiously, the wizarding world was a strange place, and anything was possible. She looked around her for a suitable place to apparate from and a small cluster of large dustbins caught her eye. She walked briskly towards them and stood in the middle of them. Being small, they easily were taller than her and she was hidden from sight from any prying eyes in the small square.

She concentrated hard, and turned quickly. With a loud crack, she had disappeared from the cluster of dustbins.

Harry walked dreamily into the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place, a very satisfied grin on his face, and sat down in his usual chair between Ron and Hermione at the large kitchen table. He could see Ron eyeing him curiously out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes?" he asked Ron, trying to sound as if nothing was wrong. He knew he had failed miserably, but Ron wasn't very hard to fool. "Why are you looking at me like you suspect me of eating your last chocolate frog?" Ron continued to look at him strangely for a few moments before saying in a suspicious tone, "You've done something."

Harry couldn't help snorting. "Excuse me?" he said, trying hard not to laugh.

"That's why you've got a big grin on your face, you've done something you found funny."

"Honestly, Ron, Hermione is right. Your skills of deduction leave a lot to be desired."

Ron looked furious, his face had gone nearly the same colour as the red Weasley jumper he was wearing today. Harry started laughing again.

"Can't a guy be happy the day before he returns to school?" asked Harry

"That's just it. About 10 minutes ago you were yelling us and being all angry, Harry, and we leave you on the landing for 5 minutes and you've got a big grin on your face! So come on! 'Fess up! What did you do? I swear, if you have done anything to my Cannons pos-" Ron had started to ramble loudly, and Harry was forced to put his hand over Ron's mouth to shut him up.

"I didn't do anything to your beloved poster. And I didn't do anything. But if you behave, I may just tell you later on why I have a grin on my face," said Harry. He removed his hand from Ron's face, and laughed at his look of shock at what he had just done to quiet him.

"Well, you wouldn't be quiet!" Harry said in defence to Ron's hurt face.