Chapter Three: A Sleepover

"Where are we?" Valentina gasped. Hope looked around wildly at the place they had just landed. They were standing in a green lawn that was filled with tall trees. A rustic house stood in front of them with a gravel path leading to the brown door.

"I was going to ask you the same question. Aren't you the one who apparated us?" Hope exclaimed, struggling to keep her breakfast down. Looks like apparating wasn't that much fun after all.

"Something pulled us here. I was trying to take us to our safe house," Valentina explained.

"Safe house?" Hope wondered.

"Just for emergencies," her mother snapped then grabbed her daughter's arm. "Come on. We're leaving."

"I don't think we should," Hope said suddenly and yanked her arm away.

"Hope, we don't know where we are. We have to go," Valentina replied and reached for her daughter who jumped back.

"I think…I think I pulled us here," Hope gasped and walked towards the door.

"That's ridiculous," her mother snapped. Hope continued forward. "Hope! Get back here!" She stepped onto the front step and stared at the knocker. "As your mother I am ordering you to come back!"

"I think…I think this is one of my friends' houses," Hope murmured, as if talking to herself. Valentina gave up calling her daughter and ran forward. As she did, a bright blue light began to glow in the yard. Valentina screamed and grabbed her daughter, pulling her behind a bush. "Hey!"

"Be quiet," her mother hissed and stared through the leaves. Four people suddenly appeared the blue light vanished. Hope leaned forward to get a better look.

A woman with bushy brown hair and familiar eyes vanished a hole-filled boot with her wand. A tall, freckled, red haired man picked up the little red haired boy and swung him over his shoulders while heading towards the door. But the fourth family member, a girl with bushy red hair, stood completely still with her back towards Hope.

"Hon, what's wrong?" the woman asked the girl. She shook her head as if she was shaking a thought out and turned towards the door. As she did the morning sun touched her face and Hope realized who she was.

"Rose!" Hope yelled to her best friend as she stood up. Rose jumped and turned around, startled.

"Hope?" Rose asked, confused. Hope ran forward and tackled her with a bear hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to tell you something. Can we come in?" Hope told her as she broke away.

"We?" Hermione asked, stepping forward. Valentina slowly stood up from behind the bushes. Hermione's eyebrows rose. "Valentina."

"Hello Mrs. Weasley," Valentina said as she walked forward and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

"Well I guess you better come in," Hermione sighed and gestured to the door, "and tell us what you two are doing in our bushes."

"Are you sure?" Rose demanded as her and Hope sat on her bed with mugs of tea. Hope nodded miserably.

"They still have the stone and Asphodel was going to kidnap me. I would have been dead if it wasn't for my mother," Hope explained and sipped her tea miserably. "She kept calling me 'little snake.'"

"And you've been having dreams?" Rose asked, writing something down in a notebook.

"Yeah. But I haven't done anything," Hope assured her.

"SS said he'd been having dreams too," Rose mumbled, "but that they stopped when we arrived."

"Do you think Albany is trying to corrupt us?" Hope wondered.

"I fear so. Did you tell your mother about Albany returning? I'm sure she was freaked out by Asphodel."

"No. But I told her who Asphodel was, in exchange for some answers."

"Answers about what?" Rose asked and looked up from her notebook.

"My father."

"Really?" Hope nodded, sadly. "Did she tell you who he is?"

"He was a Death Eater. And he's dead," Hope said bluntly, although tears were forming in her eyes.

"Oh, Hope, I'm so sorry," Rose told her, taking her best friend's hand.

"She said that she doesn't want me to end up like him but that I'm exactly like him. How do I not become who he was if I'm just like him?"

"Well, you have some of your mother in you. You're not just your father."

"Maybe. I always thought that being like him was something to be proud of. That's how my mother made it seem," Hope sighed and reached down the front of the floral dress Rose had lent her.

She pulled out two necklaces. One, a silver chain with a silver snake charm with emeralds down his back. The other, a white piece of wood with a green stain on it hanging from a worn cord. The first she had bought for herself; it matched the ones she had given her friends.

The second was a piece of her father's wand, given to her from her mother. Until today Hope had always been proud to wear it around her neck. But now it was almost as if she was carrying a past, a mistake. A reminder not to be like her father despite her genetics.

Rose watched her friend's silence and frowned. She hated that she couldn't do anything to help. And she was so worried about her. If something happened, if Hope went too far in her quest for answers…

"Did she tell you his name?" Rose asked, hoping to learn what Hope was thinking.

"No. Do you think I should find out?" Hope responded and looked up, slipping her necklaces back under her clothes.

"Well, I don't know," Rose sighed.

"Isn't knowledge power?" Hope wondered.

"Isn't ignorance bliss?" Rose replied.

"Maybe…" Hope sighed and looked out Rose's window, searching the flowers for answers.

"I know you, Hope. If you found out his name you would find out everything about him."

"Is that a bad thing? I mean, he was my father."

"Why didn't your mother tell you all this before?"

"She was trying to protect me. That's all she's ever done. Protect me," Hope admitted, looking into Rose's golden brown eyes.

"And aren't we doing the same thing to our parents? By not telling them everything about Albany, aren't we trying to protect them?"

"Do you think I'll ever find out who he was?"

"Yes. But I don't think your mother, or you, are ready for that. Not today," Rose said. Hope nodded in agreement.

"Thanks."

"Always."

Rose's bedroom door suddenly swung open and Hermione and Valentina entered.

"Valentina has told me all she can about the attack but we both agree that there are some pieces missing," Hermione told the girls and glared at her daughter. "What aren't you telling us?"

"We only know what you know," Rose lied and Hope nodded. Hermione's glare hardened a degree, as if she didn't believe her daughter's lie.

"Hermione, is it really vital to question them?" Valentina interrupted. "I think me and Hope will go home now. I'll cast stronger charms to ensure this never happens again."

"Don't be ridiculous. The Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow. You should stay," Hermione said.

"But I left all of Hope's Hogwarts things in Flourish and Blotts when I heard she was in trouble. They're probably stolen," Valentina insisted.

"I'll owl the owner, we're old friends. And Ron can go with you to pick up your things from your house," Hermione said. Valentina started to protest but Hermione led her back into the kitchen. "Hope, you should come too." Hope looked at Rose.

"Go. I'm going to owl the boys about what happened. I don't think it can wait till tomorrow," Rose told her and nodded towards the door. Hope smiled and followed her mother.

The house was a mess. Furniture was blasted apart and glass littered the floor. Rugs were dancing on the ceiling and the knives tried to kill them. Luckily Ron had a year's worth of Auror training under his belt and his training combined with Valentina's knowledge was enough to set the house right.

Hope climbed the stairs and entered her room. Everything was torn apart and all her books on magic were gone. Fear suddenly sparked in her heart. What if Asphodel had found her wand? Hope ran over to her lamp that lay on the floor, its bulb broken, and reached up into the lampshade. She felt around until she found the thin piece of wood clicked onto the back of it. Hope breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Hope, why was your wand there?" Valentina asked her daughter as she watched from the door way. "Were you expecting to be attacked or stolen from?"

"No!" Hope said instantly, sort of telling the truth. She never expected she would be attacked. She had been hiding her wand so that her sleeping self wouldn't find it. But she always did. "I was afraid that you might take it, so I couldn't go back to Hogwarts."

"Oh, Hope, I would never take your wand," Valentina said and reached for her daughter. Hope stepped back.

"Even if you thought it was best for me?" she asked.

"If it was what you needed, then yes. But I don't see how that wand is causing you harm," Valentina answered, her arms by her side. Hope swallowed, hard. "You should pack everything you need for school. I'll fix anything broken."

"Thanks," Hope said, looking away guiltily. Lying to her mother had always been an impossible task. Ron Weasley suddenly came through the door.

"Ready to go? Rosie's probably getting anxious. She gets that from her mum," Ron laughed and slammed Hope's trunk shut. Hope watched as her mother's walls went up.

"Of course," she nodded and walked out of the room. Ron stared after her, confused, then glanced at Hope.

"You coming?" he asked. Hope nodded, grabbed a bag of spare items, and followed her mother to the fireplace that would take her back to Rose's.