Disclaimer: I don't own it.

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Chapter One: Home

Hope rolled out of bed, giving up on sleep, and walked over to the balcony of her room. Two weeks had passed since that dreadful night when Hope and her boyfriend Harry had been kidnapped by a friend who was working for the Dark Lord. While everything had ended up turning out okay, Hope was still haunted with the nightmares.

She was leaning against the wall of her balcony, letting her mind wander, when a voice pulled her from her memories.

"Having problems sleeping too?" Harry asked her from the door leading out.

Hope nodded, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to hide the shivers. Harry gave her a look of sympathy before joining her.

"I close my eyes and I see you being thrown into the lake. Or I see you breaking down in the cell. Or those hours before you got there when I was the focus of their wrath. Dreams without those scenes aren't easy to come by."

Hope nodded and watched as her boyfriend came over to her, mentally preparing herself for his touch. She saw the look on his face before he sighed and stepped away again.

"I don't understand, Hope. What happened in those ten or twenty minutes that makes you afraid of me?" Harry asked frustrated.

"Harry, it's not what happened then," Hope answered, exasperated. "It's the memories of the time before. Every time any of them touched me, it wasn't gentle. I think I'm going to get hit or a curse thrown at me," she finished in a whisper, looking at the ground below.

"So let us help you. Talk about it. You've done nothing but push us away, and none of us know how to help you."

Hope shook her head and walked away from him, back into her room. She sat down on her bed and pulled out a black notebook that showed wear and set it down in front of her.

"This is an account of everything that's happened since I got it from Severus, back when I was being held hostage. Notice how many pages it has," she said, flipping to the back. She had numbered every single page that was in there. He sat down next to her and looked at the page number, 198.

"That much has gone wrong since last summer?" He asked Hope quietly.

"No," she answered, flipping through the book again. "I write everything down. Good, bad, interesting or boring. This is my life since Voldemort kidnapped me. Everything that has happened is tied together. Take out one page, and nothing else makes sense. Do you know how long it would take to explain everything to you guys so it makes sense?"

Harry sighed and closed the diary before putting it on the table. He turned and cupped Hope's face, forcing her to look at him. "Hope, we don't want to know everything. I don't even want to understand. I want to see your beautiful smile again, and that's not going to happen until after you let go and talk to us."

Hope closed her eyes against the tears and pulled away from him. "I can't Harry. Not yet. Please, just leave me alone."

Harry sighed before complying and leaving the room and closing her door. He stood outside long enough to hear her crying before walking away, his heart breaking as he did.

Hope wearily trudged down the stairs in blue jeans and an overgrown sweater. She was already late for breakfast, but she couldn't force herself to care.

She sat down and the food was served by the house elves. After starting their meal, Severus shot a question at her.

"Oversleep this morning?"

"Something like that..." Hope mumbled to herself, not looking at the older man.

Severus frowned before finishing his food. He watched as his daughter pushed food around on her plate before standing up and walking outside. She had developed a habit of going into the woods where nobody could find her, only to appear hours later.

Everyone else finished their food in silence before getting up to do different activities. Harry and Draco went outside to play quidditch, while Severus went to brew some potions.

Two hours later when Hope returned, he set aside his ingredients and went to meet up with his daughter. He saw her already halfway up the stairs.

"Hope?" He called out, catching her attention.

She slowly turned around, eyes red and puffy. Severus went up the stairs and motioned for her to follow him. Once in his room, he led her over to the bed, where she sat and remained silent.

"Hope, talk to me. You were so different when you woke up, and now that you've had time to think, you're withdrawing. I saw what you went through, I know what it was like. Please, tell me why your reacting how you did after you escaped Voldemort the first time."

"You don't want much do you..." Hope muttered.

"No, I don't," he said sternly, causing her to look up. "I want your trust. Only you're too afraid to give it to me."

"That's not true...it just wouldn't make sense...it doesn't even make sense to me."

"Let me figure it out, Lea. You just have to tell me why."

"It brought back memories, memories I wish would've stayed hidden. They haunt me, you know?"

"I know, Hope, but talking about them helps the pain to lessen."

"Merlin, get off this talking thing. Talking won't undo what happened, Severus. Talking about it won't make the nightmares go away. You want to know why? Because it happened, and nothing you do can change it. That stupid prat got to me again, and because of it, I have to live with it."

Severus pulled the girl into a hug, ignoring it when she stiffened. Eventually she relaxed and he felt her tears against his shirt. He just pulled her closer until eventually she stopped crying and fell asleep.

A loud crash awoke Hope an hour later. She opened her eyes and noticed she wasn't in her own room, but her father's. Standing up and wishing whatever had crashed could've waited a few hours, she opened the door. What she saw immediately made her smile.

Draco and Harry were in the hallway wrestling, and had just knocked over the vase on the table. Severus came running up the stairs and stopped at the sight, fury evident on his face.

"Have the two of you gone mental? Hope is in that room right there sleeping, and Merlin himself knows she needs the sleep more than anyone. Yet you two dunderheads are trying to wake her up. Go outside if you must, but be quiet!"

"Actually, I'm already awake. Thanks for the thought though," Hope said, making both boys look sympathetic.

"I'm sorry, Hope," Draco said.

"Me too," Harry echoed.

"It was time for me to get up anyway. Let's go eat lunch." Everyone looked at her like she was crazy before shrugging and following her down.

After lunch, they all went into the parlor and talked strategy. Training was going to have to be picked back up, both magical and physical. Occlumency would be a key point in the war, and since neither teens had mastered it, practice would be occuring every other morning for an hour. Then after all that, they would pick out the spells to finally rid the world of Voldemort and his followers once and for all.

It was going to be a long summer.

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A/N: Hey Ya'll! Here's the start to the sequel. Let me know what you think.

Kayla