Return of the Unicorns, Chapter 18
Note: This chapter will also be from the point of view of Tonks.
For the entire day after their adventure in the room with the Veil of Death, Tonks didn't see Hope; she was off discussing her safety and anonymity with Kingsley Shacklebolt – and probably also Albus Dumbledore, who ran the Order of the Phoenix.
When Hope got back late that night, Tonks asked what'd happened. In response, she simply shrugged and slunk off to her room.
This was odd. Hope was on the quiet side, sure, but she always had something nice to see whenever she saw Tonks, or anyone else in the Order, for that matter.
The next morning, Hope was gone before Tonks had gotten up. Tonks did her best to put on a cheerful face and go about her workday at the Ministry, but she was getting worried.
Work kept her late that day and when she got back to her little cottage that evening, it was to Hope, sobbing into a pillow on the couch in her living room.
Tonks had never seen her roommate so distraught. "What is it?" she asked.
Hope wiped her eyes and took a moment to swallow her tears. "I'm going to be an Auror," she said hollowly. "I start training this January."
Considering that Kingsley had expressed a lot of interest in mentoring Hope, this didn't come as a surprise. "Does becoming an Auror distress you?" asked Tonks.
"No. It's just… my family are all Muggles, right? And the Death Eaters know that someone like me exists, right? So they could be a threat not just to me – which I kind of anticipated – but also to my family. And since my family couldn't defend themselves against wizards… well… they had to be disconnected from me, right? So, Kingsley and Mad-Eye had to modify their memories to make them forget me!" Hope's face was streaked with tears and her voice sounded small and half-strangled.
"Err, well, what were your family… like?"
"They were nothing but WONDERFUL to me!" she shrieked. "They told me that before they had me, they weren't sure if they could have kids and that when my mom got pregnant with me and when I was born, it was like a miracle! They named me Hope because of the hope I brought into their lives!"
"I-"
"Growing up, they supported me in absolutely everything I did. When I told them about my unicorn abilities, they didn't understand what those powers were, but they admired me for them anyway. And when I wanted to go to England to learn about my wizarding powers, they were supportive about that, too. And do you know what they said when I showed up to their Thanksgiving dinner with two Aurors from the Order of the Phoenix who wanted to wipe me from their memories? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DID?!
"They told me they loved me, and to come reverse the spell when it was no longer dangerous for them. They said that they were sad to be losing me, but they understood that I had things I needed to do. They said to come find them as soon as I could, and that they'd always love me even if they couldn't remember me. And they held me as I cried, and they told me it was all going to be okay. But it's NOT OKAY! IT'S NEVER GOING TO BE OKAY!" she wailed.
"They still love you," Tonks said as she put a soothing hand on Hope's shoulders. She rubbed Hope's back in little circles, uncertain as to whether anything she was doing was helping in the least.
Hope turned her head to face Tonks. "Yeah. They loved me unconditionally and supported me in absolutely everything I did – and this is how I repay them. By showing up with a couple of Aurors to erase myself from their memory. Great gift, Hope." She sighed and turned her head back to rest on the couch.
She shuddered for a moment as the tears continued to flow from her tired gray eyes. Tonks thought she was going to say something else, but instead, she flopped over sideways and buried her face in the couch cushions.
Tonks squeezed Hope's hand and stayed by her side until her tears gave way to sleep.
The next day, Hope woke up ill-rested, but ready to start the day.
"So, what're you up to today?" asked Tonks from the kitchen, where she was making tea.
"Um, I've got to talk to Kingsley about some exams I have to pass before I enter the Auror training program."
Tonks poured Hope a cup of tea – with cream and sugar, just the way she liked it – later, she would apparate them both to the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters at 12 Grimmauld Place, where breakfast was being served. Tonks could, on a good day, be trusted to serve tea, but most days, it was better to have someone else make breakfast and keep house.
"So… I haven't got much to do today. Mind if I come with you?"
"Not at all," Hope replied, sipping the tea Tonks had prepared for her.
A couple of minutes later, Tonks apparated the both of them to the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, where they joined Molly and Arthur Weasley, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, and Kingsley Shacklebolt at breakfast.
"So," said Tonks when she and Hope sat down to breakfast, "what exams has Hope got to pass if she wants to be an Auror?"
And so, Kingsley explained about the Post-Hogwarts NEWTs, or PH-NEWTs, for short. Anyone who wanted to re-take their NEWTs after Hogwarts, or any non-Hogwarts student who wanted a certification of wizarding education in Britain had to take the PH-NEWTs.
"Okay, so what subjects does Hope have to get certified in? Besides Defense, that is?"
"I tried to get her directly admitted to the training program with no exams, but Rufus Scrimgeour, head of the Auror Office, insisted that she have at least 5 acceptable NEWT exams. So, I was thinking that she could take exams in Herbology, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, and Charms. Those are the standard ones."
"What about Care of Magical Creatures?" interjected Hope. "I know all about magical zoology from my life as a unicorn, so I bet I could pass that one pretty easily!"
Kingsley shrugged. "Fair enough. I'll see about having you take it."
"I'm going to need help with getting ready for the other tests, though. My spell work is pretty good, but I could use some extra review, for sure!" said Hope.
"Well, that's where we come in!" chimed Sirius, gesturing to himself and Remus. "We'll get you ready for your exams in no time!"
"I'll help too," chimed in Tonks.
"Thanks so much, guys!" replied Hope. She was almost cheerful for a moment, before her eyes became downcast and misty.
"What is it?" asked Tonks.
"I'm just still really sad about having to say goodbye to my family. I know that you had good reasons why, but-"
"HEYYYYY," interjected Sirius. "You may've said goodbye to your biological family, but you haven't said goodbye to ALL your family! I think those of us in the Order of the Phoenix have pretty much picked you to be part of our chosen families, right?"
"Absolutely!" added Remus and Tonks.
"Thanks, guys," said Hope as she extended her hands to grasp theirs over the table.
The next few days were spent helping Hope prepare for her PH-NEWTs, in between missions for the Order.
The first step of every preparation session was to give Hope a practice test – both written and practical – and when it turned out that Hope had prodigious aptitude for Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures, Tonks, Remus, and Sirius sent her off to the Ministry to take the exams, just so she could get them out of the way. Hope later explained to them that she probably had such aptitude for the subjects because of her past life as a unicorn, but Tonks, Remus, and Sirius were still impressed.
Next came Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, both of which Hope mastered in a couple of days with help from Tonks, Remus, and Sirius. Charms came equally easily to her. Whatever past life she'd learned her skills in, she'd obviously learned them well.
The last subject left was Potions. Despite the fact that Hope had completed 5 PH-NEWT exams very well, Kingsley wanted her to complete Potions, since it was such an integral subject to the Auror Training Program.
"Perhaps I could invite Professor Snape to get Hope ready for the Potions exam?" suggested Kingsley.
"LIKE HELL WE'RE INVITING SNIVELLUS!" spat Sirius.
"Who's Snivellus?" asked Hope. "Are you referring to the Hogwarts Potions Master, Professor Severus Snape?"
"Very good, Hope," said Remus.
"Well, I'm no fan of his, either," said Hope. "Isn't he the greasy-haired guy who always wears all-black robes and sneers at students while they do their work? I seem to remember that he taunts people a lot."
"Right in one, Hope!" proclaimed Sirius.
"He's dreadful," acknowledged Tonks.
"Well, how about I start by borrowing a study guide to review for the written portion of the exam? Then, later, we can see if I need Professor Snape's help for the practical," suggested Hope.
"You won't need Snivellus to get you ready for the practical," called Sirius as Hope picked up a binder of notes and headed into another room to read it.
It took a couple of weeks, but ultimately, Hope was ready to take the Potions NEWTs, both written and practical.
By mid-to-late December, Hope had returned from her Potions PH-NEWTs, not feeling exactly confident in her results, but nonetheless feeling certain that she'd done her best.
"Well done, Hope!" announced Sirius, raising a butterbeer to his friend over dinner at Grimmauld Place.
"Well done, indeed!" chorused Tonks and Remus.
"Thanks, guys," said Hope as she raised her butterbeer to toast with all of theirs. "I hope I did okay."
Ah, Hope could be so modest. Tonks was sure she'd done an absolutely exceptional job on her exams.
By December 20, Hope's PH-NEWT exam results hadn't come back, so she was settling into a routine of Order of the Phoenix tasks. In fact, she'd signed up for a lot of shifts in the Hall of Prophecy guarding the prophecy about Harry Potter.
She claimed, as a reason for taking on so many shifts, that she was "happy to fill in" and "had nothing else better to do anyway," but Tonks knew the truth. Hope Marshall loved Christmas and the way she'd been ripped from her family made Christmas miserable for her – so she was about to attempt to drown herself in work.
It wasn't a pretty picture.
One night, Tonks had an idea, so she made her way to Hope's bedside.
"Hey," she said as she smoothed the covers up until they covered Hope just below her face.
"Hey," murmured Hope.
"I have an idea," said Tonks.
"What is it?" asked an unexpectedly bright-eyed Hope.
"Well… what if you had another life?" asked Tonks. "You know, one where you learned to do magic and everything?"
"I think I maybe had another life? But who was I? What did I do?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to help you figure this out if it's the last thing I do."
Tears sprang to Hope's eyes before she embraced Tonks and clung to whatever comfort she provided.
Later that night when Hope was finally asleep, Tonks pondered Hope's situation. Kingsley wanted to train Hope to become an Auror and he wanted to help Hope find where her memories of magic had come from, but he wasn't considering the possibility of a past life, and he was busy tonight anyway.
But maybe she could talk to Albus Dumbledore. Tonks knew that he believed in the reincarnation of unicorns, and she could run her thoughts by him – and ask him for some help with Hope's memories.
Tonks momentarily wondered if Dumbledore was busy, before she decided that this was a matter important enough to interrupt Dumbledore in whatever he was doing. And besides, Tonks thought, she was a clumsy witch – she could always say she'd dropped by at the wrong time.
With that thought in mind, Tonks made her way to the fireplace, grabbed a pinch of flue powder, stepped into the fireplace, and dropped the powder as she said, "HOGWARTS!"