If I Lose Myself
by EMPG22HoPe
Chapter Twenty-Four: Draco & Astoria
Trigger warning: This chapter will contain a scene of violence, such as the use of knives and the appearance of blood. Please proceed at your own precaution, especially if you are easily triggered by previously mentioned concerns. If you wish to skip over those scenes, you may bypass the second half of Astoria's POV.
November 1997: Astoria
During the course of the last month, Astoria had been sneaking in and out of the Room of Requirement whenever time allows it. Being inducted into Dumbledore's Army was pretty much the cherry on top of her already disgruntled "blood traitor" status at Hogwarts. If her parents or her sister were to find out, no doubt they would have disowned her the very second she even entered the Room of Requirement. But that didn't stop her from helping the group.
Since the inflation of student injuries at the hospital wing, the D.A had been taking the other students who couldn't squeeze in an appointment with Madame Pomfrey under their wing into the room of hidden things. With Astoria's high aptitude for potions and for knowing a number on healing magic, she was actually quite an asset despite being a Slytherin.
Granted, she didn't get much of a great welcome party when she first stepped in. Half the group was a couple skeptic Gryffindors who couldn't be bothered with a snake joining their little den. Arguments ensued the moment Hannah proclaimed her as an official member, one of those included Ginny Weasley—who couldn't keep a proper conversation with Astoria without a sneer or a look of disgust her way.
Not that Astoria could really blame them. The color of her tie was enough indication that she could be the next Marietta Edgecombe of their army, the girl who had apparently betrayed their location to the Inquisitorial Squad back in the day. But for the most part, she was allowed in because Ginny trusted Luna's judgment on her; and Astoria supposed that was more hope and trust than she could possibly ask for.
Her first week in the D.A. had been mostly scouting for injured students courtesy of either the Carrow professors or her own Slytherin classmates. The lot of them didn't trust her to touch the injured students until they simply took her on as a last resort.
"He won't stop bleeding!" Ginny exclaimed as she continued to wrap Michael Corner's arm with a cloth she had ripped off from her own uniform. There was a panic in the Gryffindor's voice Astoria had never heard since she joined the group. "He's been like this for an hour now! I don't think he'll make it."
Everyone else were running around like headless chickens, because if their prime leader, Ginny Weasley, couldn't keep her head over their bleeding member—how else would anyone keep theirs?
"He needs a Blood-Replenishing Potion." Astoria suggested, causing some of the members to look at her as though she had lost her head as well.
"Unless you can sneak into Pomfrey's office—" Ginny started.
"I know how to make one." She interrupted stiffly, staring the red-headed Gryffindor down. "Clean the wound with soap and water. That should buy us some time from infection getting into his system. I can brew the potion in under ten minutes."
Ginny glared at her, trying to consider if she should trust her or not. The other members were staring furtively towards their leader, looking extremely desperate. Perhaps they knew that despite Ginny's best efforts to keep Astoria away from all the action, they too knew that the snake within the den was now their last resort in keeping Michael alive.
Before she could even get Ginny's confirmation, Astoria was already bolting out of the Room of Requirement. Her feet carried her as fast as they possibly could to the dungeons. Despite her own panic setting in, she remained calm as she brewed the potion meticulously. While she considered brewing an entire batch, it would take too long and Michael would have been lost to them.
By the time she came back with a bottle of the potion, Michael was as pale as a corpse and was only catching what little breaths he could muster. When Astoria finally drew the potion into Michael despite Ginny's protest, color slowly came back to the Ravenclaw's skin. The room was silent in anticipation, many likely thinking on whether or not she poisoned him. When Michael's eyes flew open and had risen up in a coughing fit after a few seconds, cheers and sighs of relief exuded from the group.
Cho Chang bolted for Michael, trapping him in her arms as the other members came in to join the fest. Astoria stepped back, beads of sweat running down the sides of her head from all the excessive running and worry. But she smiled in triumph, feeling the exhilaration from saving someone's life.
"I suppose I owe you an apology." Ginny said behind her.
Astoria whirled to meet her. She began to pat out the sweat from her head and brows with a hanky. "I wouldn't trust me either for simply being Slytherin. But I swear I've nothing but good intentions. I want to be a Healer someday, you see. I've got my own… health issues to worry about that needs some healing magic to make it less worst. I suppose I might as well help others along the way while I'm at it."
Ginny nodded, looking at her now for the first time as though she was merely a simple girl and not some traitorous Slytherin ready to pounce for an attack. "You're not so bad, Greengrass. I could get used to a select few Slytherins not trying to kill us."
"I wouldn't have been able to hurt any of you if I had been forced to."
Eventually, she had been forced to.
When November came, the Carrows thought it was time to test her allegiance.
Astoria felt helpless as she trudged mournfully towards the Dark Arts room at the crack of dawn. But then again, that wouldn't be the first time she felt that way. She'd been called again by the Carrows for what seemed like the umpteenth time. They had a tendency of doing that anyway—bullying her to punish the first years for their transgressions and if she didn't... well, they punish her and receive twice the amount for not doing her "job". As if hurting people, human beings, was an actual job. It was a cruel fate, and she hated every bit of it.
There was a brief pause to her step when she finally arrived before the wooden door of the classroom. She breathed out, hands shaking nervously, her entire body shaking in absolute terror as she pushed her way into the closed area.
There, in the middle of the room, stood Alecto and Amycus Carrow. And before them, kneeling and attempting to dry her sobs, was not a helpless first year, but—
"Luna." Astoria's breath hitched.
Her friend's serene face was blotchy, tear-stained cheeks red from either her crying or Merlin forbid, something the Carrows likely produced. Upon Astoria's voice, Luna looked up to her, blue eyes hopeful. She couldn't but cringe and look at her apologetically. Where was Luna's wand? How did she end up in this situation?
For once, she didn't feel like a hero. Not the way she felt when she was in Dumbledore's Army. Instead, her blood boiled in anger. No one touched Luna and thinks they can get away with it. Not under Astoria's watch. But even then, she was still shaken at the sight of her to make any sort of defiance.
"You're late, little Greengrass." Alecto spat venomously, dark eyes narrowed at her. "Are you sure you're even a fucking pure-blood? With manners like that, it's hard to imagine you are one."
Astoria said nothing, trying to hold her tongue even more now that there were two of them in one room.
"Be nice, Alecto." Amycus told his sister off, a smirk gracing his calloused lips. "She's new to this, remember?"
"Rubbish!" Alecto scoffed unpleasantly. She walked over to Luna before taking a fistful of her hair into her hand. A loud cry came from her friend as she was dragged towards Astoria. The Carrow shoved the Ravenclaw at her feet, and if she hadn't had any reflexes, she and Luna might have collided terribly. Astoria took Luna in comfort, holding her body to hers protectively.
"This is your last chance, you pitiful girl!" Alecto screeched at her so loudly, that she felt Luna nearly jump away from her in both fear and surprise. "If you don't punish this pitiful loony for her disgusting support for Potter I'll—"
"You'll what?" Astoria asked bravely this time, her green eyes aflame with anger. "Cast the curse on me? Oh, sweet Merlin, what's bloody new? Can't be worse than the last one you did, really. Or what? You'll threaten to hurt my family, who have done nothing but—"
The jarring blow came to her before she even knew it. Astoria's cheek stung at the contact it had made with Alecto's wrinkled hand, a sharp gasp leaving her lips at the pain. She felt Luna trying to pull away from her grasp, likely attempting to get up to fight Alecto back. But she kept a firm grip on her friend. The last thing she wanted was to risk Luna's life.
"Quiet you—" But before Alecto could do the same thing to Luna, Astoria brandished her wand and wordlessly stupefied Alecto. The witch shrieked in surprise and was thrown towards the other end of the room; her head hitting the wall before anyone could say Nox.
Unfortunately, Alecto's head seemed to be thicker than most when the Carrow stood up from where she laid. But she didn't have enough time to worry about Alecto when Amycus had just shoved Luna away from her. Luna yelped helplessly, but Amycus smacked her hard on the face—the sound snapping reverently that it made Astoria's stomach churn.
"Stop it!" Astoria screamed, her eyes wide in horror at the sight of Luna trying to expel painful breaths before her body collapsed tiredly. She pointed her wand at Amycus this time, every inch of her aflame in vexation at the sight of her friend hurt. But just as she was about to disarm him—she lost touch of her own wand when a loud expelliarmus came from Alecto.
It all came in flashes; her wand being flicked off her hand, Alecto pushing her roughly against the cobblestone floor, her head spinning at the unwelcome contact. Astoria struggled, but the witch kneeling at the tip of her head had her hands pinned ruefully against the floor, her sharp nails digging into her flesh. Amycus Carrow stood above her, his eyes glinting with so much malice that it caused hot tears to spring from her eyes.
"No, please." Astoria begged, though it sounded all gurgled as the world around her spun. Her legs struggled to push Amycus off, but they were soon paralyzed by a spell she knew not of by the wizard who was looking at her with every bit of spite.
"Do it, Amycus!" Alecto shrieked at him, chortling menacingly as she tightened her grip on Astoria's wrist. "Teach this little blood traitor a lesson she will never forget."
Amycus roared with the most unpleasant laughter as he looked down at her dangerously. "No. I think I have something better in mind for this little bitch. Pull up her sleeves."
Astoria's eyes widened and she struggled relentlessly against Alecto's hold. She was smacked in the face once more, her vision blurring considerably as she felt the left sleeve of her robe shoved up against her arm. There was talking between the siblings, but Astoria could only ever hear them distinctly. It was only at the sound of the word knife did Astoria let out an ear-splitting cry.
Her cries had furthered one too many octaves more when she felt the tip of a sharp silver cut the flesh of her wrist. Astoria turned horridly towards her left arm and shrieked in horror as she felt her entire arm convulse in the most unbearable pain. Amycus and Alecto Carrow shrieked with laughter as Amycus dug the knife into her flesh. She twisted and turned, trying to pull herself away but the more she did, the harder and deeper the knife dug into her.
"This ought to be a pretty little decoration for a pretty little girl like you." Amycus grumbled maliciously between cackles, twisting the knife horridly against her skin. Astoria could see red now. "Shut her up, Alecto!"
Amycus's command was now barely distinct above the cries and shrieks that were coming out of her. Astoria tried to breathe, tried to close her eyes and believe that none of this was true, that all of this was just some twisted dream. She'd woken up from what she had hoped was a dream when Alecto cried, "Crucio!"
Astoria's body lurched forward raggedly. Her bones felt like wrought iron as their heaviness held her entire body down. Both of her legs writhed alarmingly, having broken the spell that paralyzed them earlier, as they twisted in odd angles, giving her terrible discomfort. Her arms convulsed haphazardly, and she cried even more when the sudden movement made the knife cutting into her dig deeper into her flesh.
"Stop, please!" Astoria cried out between sobs, and wailed so loud that she was close to deafening herself when the knife seemed to have hit a vein on her wrist. "Please! Please! Stop! I'll do anything! Anything! Just please stop!"
"I don't think I believe you, you filthy blood traitor!" Amycus thundered above her cries.
At this point, Astoria wished she was dead. Everything felt like pure, unsurpassed horror as her body gave in to the pain. Every part of her felt like she was being injected with thousands upon thousands of hot waxed knives. And most candidly, she didn't know which was worst—the knife or the curse itself. It was hard to choose at this point.
Astoria could feel her throat tighten up as harsh tears continue to well from her eyes, blinding her from everything that was happening.
Kill me! Astoria said shrilly in her head, only realizing too soon that she had actually said the words aloud. "Kill me! Just kill me! Please make it stop."
JUST KILL ME.
"Should we do her a favor by doing what she wants us to, Amycus?" Alecto howled, the unkind laughter adding more to the already excruciating pain Astoria was going through. "Saves us all the trouble, now, doesn't it?"
"Just kill me!" Astoria wailed hoarsely as she shut her eyes, unable to bear any more of it. There was no point in begging for mercy. This was to be her end. Her own blood curse would be kinder than this. "Please just end it! Please!"
"No!" Amycus snapped at his sister. "She may be a filthy little piece of rot, but she's still a pure-blood. The Dark Lord would kill us if we got rid of her now."
It felt like hours when it must have only been a few minutes before the torture of it all ended. Alecto had stopped casting the curse on her, cackling ever so victoriously to the side. Astoria could no longer feel a knife digging into her, but there was the cruelest of aftermath of stinging pain at her left wrist, looking awfully numb to the side. She tried her best to look away from what had transpired earlier, but her green, sorrowful eyes caught it.
Written in grating letters with the stain and blotch of blood everywhere within her left wrist, across it, were the words; blood traitor.
Astoria held back a sob, which wasn't so hard now. She didn't have the energy to cry to the point of deafening herself anymore. Instead, her body tried to breathe in as much air as possible—but none of that air helped contain the end of what had just happened to her. Another set of tears blinded her eyes before closing them; the sound of the Carrow siblings' heartless mirth resounding throughout the classroom.
She had wished they had just killed her right then and there. Death was, after all, far less painful than what they could have possibly done to her; far less painful than her blood malediction. She didn't know if she'd ever be the same again.
The last thing she heard was the sound of Luna's voice before everything went dark.
November 1997: Draco
Colin Creevey – September 27th
Natalie McDonald – October 1st
Orla Quirke – October 5th
Kevin Entwhistle – October 8th
Lisa Turpin – October 15th
Oliver Rivers – October 15th
Sophie Roper —
"Draco, mate, you still up?" came the tired, sleepy voice of Blaise Zabini.
Early morning had come, as far as Draco knew in spite of their windows practically just showing the waters of the Black Lake. Sleep never came easy for him now. And it certainly never did whenever he was at the manor. A part of him had thought he could get a good night's sleep in Hogwarts, away from Voldemort's army of death eaters now desecrating Malfoy Manor. But he had been sorely mistaken since.
Instead of sleeping that day, he had gone through the list of students he had tortured in the past two months. It was a bit sinister, keeping a list in his head of all the people he had hurt—but it gave him even more reason to believe that he was far from any sort of help now. Perhaps if he thought about the people he had hurt—people he had never meant to, but what choice did he have?—it'll make him see the kind of man he truly was.
Just like his father.
The very thinghe didn't want to be.
Back then, he would have been proud to be like Lucius Malfoy. Poised, powerful, and without a lint out of place—the epitome of a perfect pureblood. Until the Battle in the Department of Mysteries. Until his father's imprisonment in Azkaban. Until the risk he had brought on his own family for self-preservation.
No, he didn't think he would ever want to be like Lucius Malfoy. His father was a coward. And yet, wasn't he just as much as a coward as his father is now? He could have chosen the path to do good by others, to be just like Astoria—unafraid of toil and pain, risking her own life doing Merlin knows what in defying the Carrows' rule. But he supposed Astoria Greengrass had nothing to lose.
He still had his family to.
"You know I don't sleep, Blaise." Draco muttered tiredly, a yawn expelling from him as he took off from his bed.
Most nights, he just stared at the roof of his four-poster. Other nights, he stayed in the common room, staring into the nothingness of the emerald flames the fireplace provided. He was the walking shell of a man he used to be. And yet, some nights, he sobbed quietly to himself—remembering the look of horror on the students' faces when he had cast the cruciatus curse on them.
I'm sorry, he wanted to tell them. But the Carrows were watching. So he had to look the part of menacing, prideful pure-blood. Instead, he sneered at his victims, and remained placid as their cries filled whatever room the pitiful student was dragged into.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were bitten by a vampire." Blaise went on as he, too, got up and sat at the edge of his bed, facing Draco. "This can't be healthy for you, Draco."
"I'm well aware of that." Draco grumbled as he rubbed his face with his hands in frustration, feeling his tiredness from his lack of sleep taking its toll on him at last. He had been sleepless for nearly three nights straight, and yet, he still refused to ask for a Sleeping Potion from Pomrey as Crabbe and Goyle once suggested. "What fresh hell do we have on this fine weekend?"
"Amycus said to meet him sometime after breakfast. Merlin knows which unfortunate prick we'll have to torture this time."
When Blaise finally got up to get ready for the day, Draco followed suit. He managed a quick shower before he was out, dressing himself in his white-sleeved shirt and green and silver tie. At his first sight of a mirror, he nearly jumped in surprise; hardly recognizing the man in his reflection.
His grey eyes were more tired, slacked off from its usual bold touch. There were bags under his eyes far worse than last year. He had lost some considerable weight as well, his shirt nearly looking like its being hanged off on a clothesline.
The jarring sight of him was interrupted by the sound of Crabbe and Goyle's snoring, and the occasional creak of Theodore's bed.
"Prat," Blaise mumbled derisively towards Nott's sleeping figure. "You coming?"
"You go on ahead. I just need to go to the Dark Arts classroom. I left my potions homework somewhere in there." Draco waved dismissively, fixing his tie in spite of its perfect form.
"Alright, I'll see you at breakfast, then."
When Blaise finally left, Draco let out a sigh of relief. He didn't feel like talking to Blaise today, or to anyone, for that matter. His aimless days of walking around the castle grounds felt like a habit he wanted to break. Get up, go get breakfast, go to class, be called on by one Carrow to punish some unfortunate student, punish some others, and back to bed.
The routine was eating him from the inside out. Every time he contemplated it, he thought of Astoria's advice—of giving himself the privilege of resistance against what he thought wasn't right. He had all the privilege the world could provide… except that.
After a few minutes of trying to pull himself together, he finally waded out of the dormitory and made his way towards the Dark Arts classroom. The halls were slowly starting to fill with students heading for breakfast, but he headed upwards to the third floor.
By the time he's made a work out of climbing up the ridiculous changing flight of stairs, he came upon the serpentine corridor leading up to the classroom. Though before he could take another step, he saw the Dark Arts classroom's door fly open to reveal two figures hobbling out of the space.
Draco grimaced, barely able to recognize the people that were likely under one of the Carrows' punishment. Before he could turn to leave, feeling nauseous at the sight of the students holding each other—he caught the sound of familiar whimpers and a dreamy voice echoing within the hallway. His brows furrowed in question until he saw the familiar blonde head of Luna Lovegood look up to him. The other girl beside her was hunched over, her dark as night hair covering her face.
"Draco, please help!" Luna cried out as she tried to keep the girl aloft. "It's Astoria!"
Suddenly, it was as if the earth was swallowing his entire being whole. Draco couldn't remember how his feet leapt towards Luna and Astoria, how he tried to hold Astoria's body up from the other side, or how he saw the blood dripping from her wrist. Only that the moment he saw the blood, he was desperate to get Astoria, even if it meant stumbling over himself.
Astoria was unconscious, her dead weight a trouble to Draco and Luna as they carried her with attempted quick strides towards the hospital wing. It made his stomach lurch to see some students catch them on their way there, many of them gasping and pointing at the trio as though they'd just seen a ghost far more terrifying than the ones already living in the castle.
Was she dead? Why wasn't she moving? Draco checked for a pulse on her uninjured wrist. No, she was still alive. But could she survive it? She was losing too much blood. So many terrifying questions filled Draco's head from that moment on.
The world, as it seemed, had gone completely deaf as he focused on carrying Astoria. When they finally reached the hospital wing, Draco was pounding on its double doors with shaking hands. He had ripped off a piece of his shirt to press the blood on Astoria's wrist, but it wasn't helping with the amount of blood she was losing.
When one of the doors swung open, Draco barely had time to listen to Pomfrey's berate on how "full" the hospital wing was. He and Luna barreled past her, dragging Astoria to the nearest bed where, to his great surprise and sheer irony, Daphne Greengrass was sporting what seemed to be a head injury.
"Out of the way, Greengrass!" Draco snarled at her.
"Come off it, Malfoy! I was here first. You can take your friend and—" Daphne berated back at him, only to stop when she finally caught a glimpse of who Draco and Luna were carrying. If he weren't so desperate to get Astoria to the bed, he would have gloated at the sight of Daphne's face etched with sheer worry for her own sister—someone who he recently learned Daphne had been trying to avoid since the start of the school year.
"Merlin's beard! Astoria!" Daphne leapt off the bed, trotting over to them before finally helping Astoria's unconscious body onto the sheets.
Madame Pomfrey strode towards them angrily, only for her person to pale at the sight of Astoria's state and the blood trickling off the haphazard wrap on her injured wrist.
The matron forced them out of the hospital wing at once, but Draco was reluctant to make a move. Only when Daphne and Luna were now collectively dragging him outside did he finally follow them suit.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Draco whirled angrily towards Luna. "What happened to her? Speak now, Lovegood, or I'll—"
"Keep your bloody voice down, Malfoy!" Daphne screeched at him, wobbling all of a sudden due to the head injury she was still sporting.
Luna sniffed as she faced the door, unable to look Draco in the eye. "It was the Carrows. They wanted her to punish me, for what my father's been writing at The Quibbler about Harry. But they knocked me out before I could do anything. I woke up to her screams and she was just… lying there. They left her… I should have been awake… I should have helped her."
Draco's blood boiled over ten-fold as he gnashed on his teeth in vexation. "Yes, you should have, Lovegood! What was the whole point of being in that stupid Dumbledore's Army of yours if you couldn't even help Astoria!"
"Draco, stop it. There's nothing she could have done." Daphne intercepted dryly.
"Oh, so you're on her side now! All of a sudden you start caring for your sister when she's on the bloody brink of her goddamn death!" Draco barked at her derisively, feeling the frustrations of the last months get to him. The nerve of her. "How fucking quaint, Greengrass!"
"You stay the hell out of it!" Daphne pushed Draco's chest angrily before pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Where were you, huh? Off torturing students like her, I reckon! You should have been there to protect her!"
Draco growled, taking out his wand just as Daphne did before they pointed it dangerously at each other.
"Stop it, please!" Luna begged as she came between them, both wands held aloft at her. "Astoria would not have wanted this. She knew what she was getting into."
"Goddamn it!" Daphne howled in frustration after a moment's breath, putting her wand away before she turned around to kick the door with a loud thud. She began to pace around now, chewing on her nails in both worry and anger.
Draco scoffed, but he could still feel his blood rushing from the sight of Astoria's unconscious body, to the idea of who was to blame for her getting hurt in the first place.
Zabini. He promised he'd look after Astoria. And where did that lead her?
He wanted to so badly to blame Blaise for not taking care of her, to blame Luna for not being conscious during Astoria's torture, to blame Daphne for not being a decent sister enough to look after her. And yet, despite the thousands of people he wished to blame—even those that had nothing to do with it—eventually he felt the blame fell on him.
As much as he refused to admit it, Daphne was right.
He should have been there to protect her. He should have been there to keep her away from the Carrows. He should have gotten into the Dark Arts room in time to stop them. So many possibilities came rushing into him, all the scenarios in which he could have changed if he had just been there a few minutes earlier. Had he gone out with Blaise instead of waiting like a blasted fool in the dormitory, he might have caught up to stop it from ever happening.
A wave of regret rushed over him.
It's my fault, he growled to himself internally. It's all my fault.
Draco ran a frustrated hand through his locks, fisting a hair-full of them angrily as he tore at them.
A part of him had been right all along. No matter what he did, whether he had been there or not, whether he still spoke to her or not; he still couldn't protect her. Because he was stripped of the power and of the opportunity to do something about it so many moons ago.
And no amount of galleons to his name will ever be enough to save her.
Trigger warning disclaimer: I have always been curious as to what happened in everyone's school year during the brief Voldemort regime. I imagine it wasn't pleasant and that many horrible things likely happened to the students there (especially female students that were defiant, like Astoria). But I resisted to pushing into a darker perspective than what I've written, but know that this is exactly how I envision the school year would have become. You think Bellatrix Lestrange was too hard on Hermione? You haven't seen what the Carrows can do to a bunch of students. My apologies if y'all weren't ready for that part, but I truly just felt it needed to be a part of this story as this shapes Astoria's character a little more. Cracking that vision of her innocence into something much more. Whether or not she retains her kindness towards the world after what she just went through, we've yet to find out.
I was actually inspired by Mary Stuart's character from Reign from when she was assaulted in the castle by the assassins that were attempting to take Francis's life. The actress, Adelaide Kane, is the same actress I envision for Astoria. And the post-Mary after that assault was heartbreaking, so expect the same heartbreaking scenario for Astoria in the next chapter.
AN: If I am being truly honest, I do not know when the next chapter is going to come out. I might have a spur of inspiration all week and possibly have a new chapter posted next week, or it could be weeks later. I am in the post-graduation stage where finding jobs can be a pain in the behind. On top of that, I have been getting sick all summer with tonsil issues which has made it difficult to sit down and write chapters. BUT this does not mean I have given up on this story. I will still continue writing it, but it simply just might take a while to get those updates. I truly am sorry! But know that this story will still be alive and hopefully be finished by the end of the year.
Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter and any theories/thoughts you might have for the coming chapters ahead. Don't forget to follow/favorite the story to receive updates.
See you all soon,
EMPG22HoPe