O

NEMESIS

Retribution

February

The much-anticipated Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match was a few weeks into the new term. Hope, looking forward to watching it, was nevertheless disappointed that she would have neither Dom or Roxanne to sit with and comment on the match as she had with previous games. Few people understood quidditch like the Weasleys.

"Who are you supporting?" she asked James, as he swung by their table at breakfast to wish Dom luck.

"Ravenclaw, of course."

"And you'll tell Rox that you're supporting Slytherin if you see her?" Dom grinned.

"You can't support Slytherin when you're in Gryffindor!" James looked quite appalled. "Are you sitting with us for the match, Hope? We're going down now, to get good seats, if you want to come."

About to say yes, Hope hesitated. She glanced over at her fellow house members, sat in a huddle further down the table with Elodie taking centre stage as she always did. Marion was sitting apart from them and looking rather forlorn.

"I'm going to sit with my house," she said at last. "Thanks though. It's nothing personal. I'm seeing if I can get on better with them this term."

James wrinkled his nose.

"Like a New Year's resolution?"

"Sort of."

"OK," James said doubtfully. "See ya. Wouldn't wanna be ya!" And he was gone.

"Are you really going to sit with Elodie?" Dom sounded a little put out.

"Not Elodie," Hope countered. "But Marion's been OK recently. I've been sitting with her in lessons. She's nothing like the other two."

Dom shrugged. "Fair enough. I'd better go."

"Good luck!"

Hope sighed as Dom left the Great Hall with the rest of the Ravenclaw team. Time to make an effort.

"Do you want to go down to the match and get good seats?" she said to Marion, approaching their end of the table and trying to ignore Elodie, who had started whispering to Natalie. The two of them cackled with laughter.

Make an effort. Make an effort. Resit the urge to punch Elodie's teeth in.

"Yeah!" Marion's face brightened. "Shall we go down now?"

The rest of the Ravenclaws started making their way into the grounds as well. Marion chattered away to Hope about her new found love of quidditch as the two girls chose seats at the front of the stands. Elodie and Natalie, unimpressed, installed themselves in the row behind, and started making snide remarks about Hope's hair, which was bright blue in support of their house.

I guess being a metamorphmagus isn't so 'awesome' now then.

She tried to take a leaf out of Dom's book and ignore them, turning back to Marion and resuming their discussion about Ravenclaw's chances in the match.

It was an exciting game. Goals were scored on either end and although Ravenclaw maintained a steady lead, Hope knew it could go either way. Both teams were exceptionally quick this year, and the players resembled green and blue blurs shooting up and down the pitch. This was especially tough on the seekers and made the snitch harder to spot than ever.

"Who's the better seeker, do you think?" Marion asked, an hour into the game.

"Roxanne," Hope said at once. "I'm not just saying that because she's my friend. See how agile she is, and how she maintains her speed the whole time? Dan's good, but his average flying speed is much slower, so if Roxanne spots the snitch before him he'll be at an immediate disadvantage because of the acceleration time he'll need to catch up with her."

"You know so much about it."

Hope shrugged. "My extended family breathes quidditch," she replied. "James's mum played for- oof!" She broke off as Callum Burchess, their fifth-year chaser, was knocked of his broom by a well-aimed bludger. "That'll hurt us," she said, as the school medi-volunteers rushed onto the grass to check him over. The game didn't stop, of course. "He's our best scorer."

"Dom's doing well though," Marion said. "She's so quick."

Hope noted Marion's use of she without comment. Elodie and Natalie, to her intense fury, still didn't see fit to do this themselves.

Cal was back on his broom within ten minutes, to huge applause from the Ravenclaw supporters, but Slytherin had managed to score thirty points in the intervening time and Hope could already feel the shift in the game. Ravenclaw were losing momentum.

Ten minutes later, a deafening cheer arose from the sea of green in the stands as Roxanne, flat against the handle of her broom, went into a spectacular dive towards a tiny speck of gold glimmering near the ground. Hope groaned. Dan Gunnar, as she had predicted, was flying too slowly to be any kind of threat from the other side of the pitch. Ravenclaw, only forty points ahead now, didn't have a chance.

O

"It was a great game," Hope assured her friend for the hundredth time, as they sat by the fire that evening.

"Ah it wasn't so bad, I suppose," Dom said. "But we'll be out of the running for the cup, after losing to Hufflepuff as well. It'll be between them and Slytherin now."

"You and Cal play well together though. Better than Henry, he always goes for the goals on his own without passing."

"Henry's leaving next year," Dom said. "Then there'll be a spot for you. I mean it about training you up over the summer, Hope. I'd love you to be on the team."

Hope tried not to get too excited. Chasing was the most sought-after position of all and with Cal and Dom as returning team members, that would leave only one vacant spot at next season's trials.

"How was sitting with Elodie?" Dom blurted out suddenly. Hope wondered if she had been working up the courage to ask the question.

"I wasn't sitting with Elodie," she protested. "I sat with Marion and Elodie was near us, that's all."

Dom did not reply.

"Dom, you know I could never be friends with Elodie."

"I know! I know."

Dom's face told a different story. Hope thought of Elodie's behaviour over the past few months, snide remarks and pointed comments that Dom had so casually brushed off, saying that she didn't care, insisting that she was fine and that it was easy for her to ignore them. Apparently she did care and Hope couldn't blame her. She would not have been able to ignore treatment like that.

There was an awkward pause.

"I'm kind of tired, and it's late. I might go up to bed."

"OK," Hope said in a small voice, stealing a glance at the clock on the wall. It was eight o'clock. "See you tomorrow."

Hope was deep in thought on her way back up to her own dormitory. It had been nice, in a way, getting on with Marion, feeling like she was finally making a new friend. But Dom didn't like it. Maybe she was worried that Hope would go off with Marion and Elodie permanently, or that she wouldn't want to be her friend anymore. Which was rubbish of course, but she might still think it. Whatever the reason, Hope's new friendship – if you could call it that - was clearly making Dom sad. Hope would happily have been enemies with everyone in her year if it stopped Dom being sad.

Surely there was a way to get on with her classmates and still be best friends with Dom.

But as she reached the door of the dormitory, she could hear Elodie's voice drifting through it loud and clear, and it stopped her in her tracks.

"…not actually going to keep hanging out with her, are you?"

"She's OK, Elodie." It was Marion speaking. "She's kind of cool."

"Cool?" Elodie was sneering. "She isn't cool. Teddy - her brother - he was cool. Cool and clever and popular and everyone loved him. Hope is a hopeless loser."

Hope's heart rate accelerated. She wondered how often Elodie talked about her like this. She was seldom back at the dormitory this early in the evening. Maybe they bitched about her every night before she came up to bed.

"Everyone thinks so," Elodie went on. "They think she's stuck up because she never spends time with the rest of us, not unless her so called friends are busy. They think she's a freak, like Dom. Ugly too, which is ironic as she could be the prettiest girl in the school if she wanted. And she's so stupid – why the hat put her in Ravenclaw, I have no idea."

Hope clenched her fists. She couldn't be surprised. It was no secret that Elodie detested her. And what she was saying might well be rubbish. It was true she didn't make much effort with the others in her year, but no one else had shown signs of actively disliking her. She wasn't stupid. The hat had been reluctant to put her in Ravenclaw but it had conceded she had brains. As for being ugly – she knew she was no supermodel, but she didn't look too bad with her bright eyes, high cheekbones and vibrant hair. It was better than having a squashed little button for a head, she thought viciously, thinking of Elodie's smug features.

Nevertheless, Elodie had managed to touch on a sore point.

Teddy was cool. Hope is a hopeless loser.

Teddy had said she wouldn't have any problems at school. But Teddy, as Elodie had pointed out, had been admired by everyone, top of his year, and immensely popular, with his huge circle of friends he kept in touch with now. Regardless of Elodie's personal vendetta, the fact remained that Hope had not made any new friends since starting school. The Weasleys could not be testament to her ability to forge meaningful relationships, given that she had known them since birth. And Marion, it seemed, was not about to continue defending her.

"So what's it to be?" Elodie continued, her tone very hard. "You can be friends with us and everyone else and hang out whenever you want. Or you can go off with Hopeless the loser and Dom the freak and none of us will bother with you anymore."

Hope knew from the silence what the other girl's decision would be. She couldn't even blame her. Elodie had half the year wrapped around her finger. A few simple words to the rest of her gang would make Marion's life extremely unpleasant. Marion didn't have a handful of almost-cousins to turn to if that happened and had no way of knowing that Hope and Dom would welcome her friendship if she wanted theirs.

Which she probably doesn't. You're a loser, remember.

"I thought so." There was satisfaction in Elodie's voice, the confirmation Hope hadn't needed to hear.

Hope waited until their conversation had shifted to a different topic before entering the dormitory. Natalie ignored her as she came in, but Elodie looked sharply at Marion, who flushed scarlet and didn't return Hope's attempt at a smile.

That solves one problem, at least.

Hope battled with herself. She had an overwhelming desire to stomp up to Elodie, grab her hair and yank it until she screamed, but rushing in and being impulsive was the Gryffindor way, and Hope, whatever the sorting hat had said, wasn't a Gryffindor. She could surely find a better means of payback if she sat down and thought about it.

That being said, some Gryffindor involvement wouldn't go amiss, and Hope knew plenty of people willing to partake in a bit of mischief.

"James." Hope sought her friend out at breakfast the next day. "I need you to help me with something important."

O

"Right," James said, opening the brightly coloured box that sat in front of him. "This is the largest collection of Wheeze joke sweets you'll find anywhere. I've been collecting them for years. Some of them are discontinued."

"What you got?" Dom enquired, eyes bright. Hope had told her two friends that she wanted to pay Elodie back for being horrible to Marion and asked for their help. It was mainly revenge for Dom herself, but Hope was sure Dom would object to anything being done on her behalf. As it was, both she and Roxanne had eagerly agreed to be involved.

"Canary creams – turn you into a canary; duck donuts - turn you into a duck; chicken chocolate - well you get the idea. Very temporarily though. Would get a couple of laughs, nothing more. Ton Tongue Toffees – nah, I wouldn't advise. Uncle George isn't allowed to sell them anymore – they were a choking hazard. All the usual skiving ones; puking pastilles, fainting fancies, sneezing snaps... But they are so well known by now they get boring. I've got pimple pills, you can probably figure out what they do-"

"That might work," Hope mused. "She spends half her life looking in the mirror."

"They don't last long though," James said. "Wart walnuts would be better, they make massive scabby welts that last for days, but I don't have any of them right now, unfortunately. Used my last ones on Matt Gillwater over the weekend."

"Aren't these muggle cough sweets?" Dom enquired, pulling out a box of lozenges entitled Tunes. "Lea in my dormitory uses them when she has a sore throat."

"The muggle version may be a cough sweet," James nodded. "The Weasley version will cause you to sing every word you speak for a solid twelve hours."

"Knowing Elodie she's probably got an amazing singing voice," Hope muttered gloomily, casting them aside. "Cartwheeling candies?"

"Transform you into a fully-fledged acrobat. Also not ideal for taking Elodie down a peg; the effects are pretty impressive. Would even cure your five left feet, Hope."

Hope ignored the usual clumsiness jibe and pulled out a pack of squishy blue jellies with a syrup filling. "What about these?"

"Ur-In-Troubles. Those are brutal," James said, an evil gleam in his eye. "Unleash a gallon of water into your system, giving you an unbearable urge to go to the bathroom until you've got rid of it all. I gave one to Al on a car journey once. Mum was fuming – we had to stop every five minutes."

"Sounds great," Roxanne sniggered. "Give it to her in potions. Leppard never lets people out, and certainly wouldn't more than once."

Dom had fallen silent. "Not that," she murmured.

"Oh come on, she would totally deserve it."

But Dom shuddered. "It's the worst feeling in the world," she said, looking almost tearful. "It wouldn't even be funny. Please let's do something else."

Hope did not protest further. The purpose of this was certainly not to make Dom uncomfortable.

"Hair loss humbugs?" James suggested. "Do what they say on the tin."

"That's a good one too," Roxanne said. "She's obsessed with her damn hair. Always curling it round her wand. Oooh!" she pulled out a packet entitled Gum-Gums with a picture of a grinning, toothless boy on the front. "I remember Dad telling me about these. They make your teeth fall out, right?"

"Yep!" James smirked. "They grow back, but not for a day or so. Would give her a fright."

"Hmm I like that," Hope agreed. "What are these?" She held up some tiny brown tablets.

James glanced at them without interest. "Self-Stinkers," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"Self-Stinkers. They're discontinued too, didn't sell very well apparently. You dissolve them in water and after you've drunk it, you smell terrible, like really awful, for a day or so. But only to yourself."

"What's the point in that?"

"I've never seen it," James admitted. "Definitely not something I use a lot. I did try one once myself though, it's a vile smell – like a mix of rotten eggs, dog poo and vomit. I was paranoid all day, even though I knew no one else could smell it."

Hope looked unimpressed but Roxanne's eyes gleamed in triumph.

"What?"

"Oh come on, you guys are such Gryffindors," she grumbled. "And you're being too Hufflepuff," she added to Dom. "Think Slytherin. A simple tablet that will make Princess "I'm so perfect and I want everyone to love me" think that she smells like rotten eggs, vomit and dog poo? It's exactly what we need."

O

By break the next day, Hope had to admit that Roxanne was right.

James, invisible, had slipped the tiny tablet in Elodie's drink over breakfast, before handing his cloak over to Dom, who would execute the final part of the prank later that day. By their ten o'clock potions class, Hope could tell that it was working. Elodie kept surreptitiously sniffing her clothes and looking around in consternation.

"Can you smell something?" Hope heard her mutter to Natalie.

"Smell something?" Natalie and Marion both looked baffled.

"Never mind."

Elodie was so distracted by the new, mysterious smell that she botched up her Throat Soothing Solution. It bubbled all the way over the top of her cauldron and caused a sticky, wax-like substance to spill onto the workstation. Professor Leppard was most unimpressed.

"I expect better than this, Miss Carmichael," she sighed. "This is one of the simplest potions in the syllabus. You clearly weren't paying any attention to what I was saying. You will do a detention at the weekend."

Hope tried to hide her satisfaction as Elodie glared. Elodie might be a scheming cow but she knew how to stay on the right side of the teachers, and to Hope's knowledge this was her first detention of the year. Hope herself was into double figures by now.

Elodie was still trying to sniff at her robes without anyone else noticing as they joined the throngs of students heading out for break. As they reached the entrance hall, Morella Flint appeared behind Elodie with her younger brother Cadmus. "Urgh, can you smell that?" she asked Cadmus suddenly.

"Yeah." He pulled a revolted face. "Like vomit or something."

"Can you smell it, Rox?"

"No," Roxanne said innocently. "Can't smell a thing."

Elodie quickened her pace.

"OK, you were right," Hope laughed, hanging back to talk to Roxanne as Cadmus and Morella continued to follow Elodie, discussing the new smell in loud, carrying tones. "She's totally paranoid. How did you get Morella involved?"

"Are you kidding?" Roxanne said. "You know Morella loathes Kirstin. Even more than I do. She leapt at the chance to pull a prank on her sister."

Elodie became more and more twitchy as the day wore on. James was another great asset.

"Phwoahhh," he exclaimed to his friends, as Elodie passed by their table in the Great Hall at lunch. "What's that smell? It wasn't me this time!" This comment was enough to provoke loud guffaws from Matt, Neil and Eoin. Elodie was scarlet in the face as she strode past and sat down at the Ravenclaw table.

"What's wrong with you?" Natalie said to her in bewilderment. "You're acting so weird."

Elodie seemed to battle with herself for a while, but she kept quiet in the end.

Hope and Dom, seated a few places down, exchanged a grin but did not otherwise react. They had already decided that they should keep out of it for the moment. Too much Weasley involvement would arouse suspicion.

Elodie was nowhere to be seen for the rest of lunch break and entered Transfiguration class just after the bell.

"Where on earth have you been?" Natalie demanded.

"I had a shower?"

"A shower?"

Hope strained her ears. She couldn't hear exactly what the two girls were saying, but it seemed that Elodie was asking Natalie if she could smell anything. Natalie, perplexed, was patiently telling her that she could smell nothing at all. No, not on Elodie's clothes. Nor in her hair. Nor on her breath.

That evening, Hope sat reading in the common room, trying to keep her face impassive as snippets of Elodie and Natalie's conversation floated over to her.

"Elodie, for the last time, you don't smell," Natalie was saying. "It must be in your head. Or maybe you breathed something in in potions."

"You would tell me, wouldn't you?"

"Yes!"

"And you?" Elodie rounded on Marion, who nodded obediently.

At that moment, Dom appeared next to Hope and winked at her.

"Done it," she muttered out of the corner of her mouth. "Should work in a couple of minutes."

Sure enough, two minutes later, a truly awful, rotten smell started creeping round the common room. Roxanne had gone to Fred the day before and innocently asked him if he could modify the smell of a regular stink pellet, carefully describing the stench that James had told them about. Fred had been more than a little suspicious, but had consented to perform the NEWT level spell without question. He tended to adopt the principle of ignorance is bliss when it came to his rebellious younger sister.

The modified stink pellet, which Dom had carefully placed in Elodie's cloak hood while under James's invisibility cloak, was now doing its job. People around them were wrinkling their noses and coughing slightly, looking over towards Elodie.

Natalie and Marion looked at each other.

"You can smell it now, can't you?" Elodie said at once, spotting their expressions. "I told you."

"Elodie, I don't think it's you-"

At that precise moment, Alec Peters walked past.

"Wow," he said, raising his eyebrows at Elodie. "Was that you? Maybe we should call you Smellodie from now on."

Elodie bolted upstairs for her fourth shower of the day, her face scarlet. She did not come down all evening.

Hope and Dom were both doubled over with silent laughter and Natalie glared over at them. Marion just stared down at her book. They had not spoken at all since the day of the quidditch match, and Hope could tell that Marion was avoiding her. More than once, Hope had considered marching right up to her, Elodie or no Elodie, and insisting that she was welcome to come and hang out with her and Dom. But the subject felt forced and wrong, and she couldn't work out how to broach it. Anyway, maybe Marion didn't want to be friends with her if it meant losing the other two girls. Teddy had told Hope that a lot of people were reluctant to be too friendly with the Weasleys, and she didn't want to make Marion even more uncomfortable.

She and Dom stayed downstairs for a while, whispering about the success of the prank, and as usual, Hope was the last to come up to the dormitory. Elodie was sitting up in bed, scowling down at a book.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she snapped, glaring at Hope as she entered the dormitory. "I found that horrible pellet in my robes. I know it was you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hope said. "I haven't been near you all day, remember?"

"Liar," Elodie spat. "Natalie told me you and Domfreak were laughing after I left."

"Hard as it is to believe, we have amusing things to talk about that don't concern you, Smellodie." Hope felt a deep surge of triumph as Elodie went red at the mere mention of the nickname.

"Was it you?" Marion muttered to her, later on, when Elodie and Natalie were in the bathroom cleaning their teeth.

Hope hesitated for a second, considering letting Marion in on the joke. Maybe she would find it funny. Maybe it would be a chance to salvage a proper friendship. Perhaps Marion would realise that Hope and the Weasleys weren't so bad, ditch Elodie and come and be friends with them.

Or maybe Marion would tell Elodie and make the situation even more difficult. Hope was at a loss to know how "amicable" should be handled in this situation.

"Nope," she replied coolly. "Why would I bother with any of you?"

She turned her back on Marion and started getting ready for bed.

That was definitely not the way to handle it.

Hope resolutely ignored the little voice in her head, and drifted off to sleep with ease that night, grinning to herself whenever she thought of Alec Peters saying Smellodie, and the look that had appeared on Elodie's face.

"OK, that was funny," Hope admitted to Dom and Roxanne, the next day. It had taken an hour for Natalie and Marion to persuade their friend that she didn't smell and should come down for the day as normal. "I don't feel we embarrassed her enough, though."

"You say that, but I reckon she'll be cringing whenever she thinks of it," Dom said with satisfaction. "Rox was right, she hates to be seen as anything other than perfect."

"I guess," Hope agreed. "Everyone else will forget it though. Probably already have."

"We've still got the Hair loss Humbugs and the Gum-Gums," Dom reminded her. "Lets give it a few weeks though. Maybe after the Easter holidays."

oOo

March

Easter was a quiet affair for Hope, with her parents swamped at work and Dom, Roxanne and James on holiday with their respective families; Dom in France with Aunt Gabrielle, the Potters in Romania to see Charlie and Alex, and Roxanne's family in New York, visiting one of George and Angelina's old school friends. Teddy, after a very intense first few months at St Mungo's, now had a week's holiday.

"How's it all going?" Hope enquired, as they sat in the garden one warm, spring day, a mountain of Easter eggs on the table in front of them. Hope knew she was probably too old for Easter Egg hunts, but Teddy had been making one for as long as she could remember, and she wasn't prepared to give the tradition up now. She had found them all in record time that year.

Teddy chewed a toffee egg and nodded.

"It's good. Been busy and nerve wracking, but it's an incredible programme. You get the resources and the support that you need, and someone to advise if necessary, but it's really up to you how you manage the research. I'm starting to get my head round it all, how I'm going to proceed."

He paused to take another bite of his egg, and then said bitterly, "This programme has been running fifteen years, and I'm the first person to specialise in Lycanthropy."

Hope stared at him.

"Seriously?"

"Yep. I mean, in a way, that could be seen as a positive. It means that the lack of cure to date isn't because people have been trying unsuccessfully for years. It's because no one's looked in the right place."

Small comfort.

"Why haven't they been trying? It's not a new problem, is it? Why wouldn't people do it – for the money if for no other reason?"

Teddy sighed.

"It's not worth people's while to do it for the money," he said. "Look at Damocles Belby. It took him eight years to invent the Wolfsbane potion, and although he earns about a thousand galleons a week from that invention now, he didn't see a knut of that until it was certified. A permanent cure could take even longer. I don't care about money, and I'm lucky because I don't need to worry about it at the moment – I'm perfectly happy to live at home for a while and Mum and Dad don't mind. But if I had to support myself completely, the St Mungo's funding wouldn't be enough to live on. Some people don't have the luxury of not needing a full income, or else they aren't willing to dedicate their lives to something so unprofitable and unguaranteed of success, especially when a temporary cure already exists. Nowadays, a lot of people don't even realise there is still a need for a permanent cure."

"But there must be loads of people who do. Werewolves themselves, and their friends and family."

"That's precisely the problem. Those who have personal motive to find a cure have never had the resources or the skills to do it. And those who did weren't invested enough to see it through. Remember a lot of werewolves don't have many friends, fewer still a family. Very few non-werewolves have witnessed first hand the devastating consequences of Lycanthropy. Dad told me that Kingsley tried to fund research into it, not long after the war, and there have been attempts in other countries over the years. But too few people were interested, and those who were approached it from the wrong angle and quickly gave up the research."

"What do you mean, the wrong angle?"

Teddy opened his mouth to reply.

"In words I can understand, please," Hope added. She didn't have the faintest idea what Teddy was on about when he spoke in technical terms.

He chuckled.

"Put simply, all research to date, from what I can gather, has been focused on trying to rid the werewolf's body of the "wolfish" genes. A werewolf bite alters your genetic make-up, see, and so the logical way of curing it is to try and get the genetic make-up back to how it was before the bite – to reverse it, if you like. "

"OK."

"That's the angle previous studies have approached it from. And that's what hasn't worked. The Wolfsbane potion is the closest that's come to it. The potion modifies the body for a short period of time so that the werewolf genes are dampened enough for the individual to be harmless on the full moon. But it's laborious, expensive, and doesn't stop the overall negative impact of the condition."

As Hope had brutally told Marion before Christmas.

"What I'm hoping to look at," Teddy went on. "Is whether we can further alter the genetic makeup. Take it beyond the change brought about by the bite, and into a place where the genes are still different but the transformation no longer happens. Does that make sense?"

"Yes," Hope said, not fully understanding, but determined not to look stupid in the face of what was obviously the simplest way that Teddy could think of explaining. "And – and that will work?"

"Nothing's guaranteed," Teddy said. "But I am pretty hopeful. Magienetic study – that's the study of magical genetics-"

"Really? I'd never have guessed."

"You asked for simple."

"OK. Sorry. Go on."

"Magienetics has known huge advances over the last ten to fifteen years. There are so many new ways of studying and examining magical genes. They even offer a module in Magienetics now in your final year at Hogwarts. That's what gave me the idea in the first place. I kept in touch with the witch who lectured on it, and she seemed to think it was worth pursuing."

"Sounds complicated to me," Hope muttered, fairly convinced that this was a module that she would not be taking.

"The Hogwarts course is only the basics of it, obviously. But it's really interesting and it's encouraging more people to get into the field. You know my friend Jessye, who was in Hufflepuff? She's at St Mungo's now in the Magienetics department as well."

Hope thought for a second.

"Jessye's the really nice one, isn't she? With the blue eyes and long brown hair?"

Teddy laughed.

"I like to think all my friends are 'really nice', Dopey. Yes, she is lovely. It's good to have a proper friend at work as well."

"Would Jessye be able to help with the cure?"

"Not really." Teddy shook his head. "Jessye's gone into Magienetic counselling, so she studies Chromos and MDI and Blood Magenes-"

Hope gazed back at him blankly and he trailed off.

"I did it again, didn't I?"

"Yep."

"Sorry." He finished his mouthful of chocolate and continued in simpler terms.

"Jessye studies and advises on how magic in the genes might be passed down through a bloodline. My research needs to focus on mutated genes and how they can be manipulated further. But some of her work might be able to help mine a bit later on. And vice versa."

"Much better." Hope took another egg. She was feeling quietly hopeful. It was early days but Teddy seemed positive and that was a start.

They sat in silence for a bit.

"Did Dom say when they'd be back from France?" Teddy said suddenly.

"Probably not until next weekend," Hope replied. "I haven't heard from her, but Dom did say that they might end up staying longer, to spend more time with Gabrielle and the new baby."

"Oh." Teddy sounded crestfallen. "I thought they were only going for a week." Hope felt her eyebrows knot in confusion. Since when did Teddy take so much interest in Dom's whereabouts?

"Why?"

"No reason." Teddy waved a dismissive hand. Hope did not believe him. Her family were the all-time champions of brushing off pointed questions and Hope suddenly had her own suspicions. She had never been convinced that Teddy and Victoire had been studying up in Victoire's room at their family Christmas gathering last holidays. Who studied on Boxing Day?

She opened her mouth to probe, but Teddy maintained his innocent look and changed the subject.

"Which house is going to win the quidditch cup this year?"

Hope smirked - Teddy didn't care about quidditch either - but consented to answer his question.

"Ravenclaw are out of the running and Gryffindor are too, whatever James says. Rox is adamant that Slytherin will clinch it, but I reckon it could finally be Hufflepuff's year."

"Dougal's actually managed to win some matches then?" Teddy exclaimed. Dougal was another of his friends, now in his final year, who was captaining the Hufflepuff team with such a laid-back attitude that it was surprising they had scored any points at all that year. Yet somehow, the Hufflepuff team were now favourites for the cup.

"Yeah, he's so chilled out about it, it's unbelievable. Maybe that was a tactic. Ravenclaw didn't take them seriously when we played them and ended up getting slaughtered."

"Are you still hoping to make the team next year?"

"Yep." Hope's mouth hardened with determination. "But the trial will be tough. Cal will be first chaser and likely captain next year. And Dom will get back on the team, however much she says otherwise. That leaves one chasing spot."

"You could change to seeking?" Teddy raised an eyebrow, knowing fine well what her reaction would be. "Or beating?"

She glared at him.

"If you're not careful I'm going to start asking why you're sooo interested in Dom's trip to France, and why she – and I assume her stunningly beautiful older sister – aren't coming back until the end of the holidays."

Teddy stopped teasing her at once.

oOo

April

Hope spoke to Dom about it as soon as she got a chance to. "Maybe," Dom said thoughtfully, when Hope asked her friend if she thought their older siblings could now be an item. "They've always been really good friends. Now you mention it, Victoire did throw a tantrum when the postal strikes in France meant we couldn't send any letters. I didn't think much of it - she's always in a strop about something. But that would make sense."

"Yes! Teddy was definitely a bit sad when I told him you were staying longer, so he was probably expecting to hear from her."

"It's a bit weird though, isn't it?" Dom said. "Wouldn't it be like going out with your cousin?"

Hope pondered this.

"If they get married you'd be my sister-in-law," she said. "I'm all for it."

"Freaks reunited," Elodie said suddenly, appearing behind them. She had a horrible habit of materialising from nowhere and chipping into their conversations with a snide remark. "Don't you mean brother-in-law?" she added, already gliding on her way.

Hope pulled out her wand and pointed it towards her retreating back, but Dom grabbed her wrist.

"Leave it," she said. "Please leave it. It's not worth it Hope. You don't want a load more detentions, do you? Not now the weather's finally improving?"

"Fine," Hope growled, glaring after Elodie. "But tomorrow I'm going to James and getting some Hair Loss Humbugs and Gum-Gums. We're going to use them both at the same time. She's going to look like a bald, toothless worm by the time we're finished with her."

Dom, for all her previous protests, did not object to this.

oOo

June

Dougal's team did win the quidditch cup, much to Roxanne's disappointment. Hufflepuff, celebrating their first quidditch cup win in sixteen years, threw such a wild party in their common room that three quarters of the house ended up in detention. While this did not dampen their jubilation, it did counterbalance all the house points accumulated from the quidditch win in the first place, putting them out of contention for the house cup. Gryffindor, already miles ahead, clinched it with ease.

"Shame," Teddy said, hearing about this on the first night of the summer holidays. "Gryffindor won both last year, it would have been nice to have Hufflepuff to get the double in return."

"Ravenclaw were last for both," Hope said dismally.

"Historically Ravenclaw do have the worst house cup record of all the houses," Teddy said. He tutted in mock disapproval. "You're supposed to be the smart ones."

"Dom and I actually have a theory on that," Hope retorted. "We think that teachers often give house points to encourage students to work harder. You know, like a bribe, and-"

"I think you'll find it's called positive reinforcement," Remus broke in. "Most teachers would object to the word bribery." Hope huffed at this.

"Whatever," she said. "But they do, and because Ravenclaws have more students who are really keen and work hard anyway, the teachers don't think they need to bother with extra incentives."

Teddy turned his nose up at the excuse but Remus looked thoughtful. "Might actually be something in that," he agreed. "It is definitely easy to forget house points when you already have high levels of participation and a keen work ethic from the majority."

"See." Hope stuck her tongue out at Teddy.

"Yeah, but-" His attempt to rebut this logic was stopped by the sound of the door, and Tonks strode in seconds later.

"Hi Mum!"

"Good shift?" Remus enquired, as Hope jumped up and hugged her tightly round the waist. As much as she was enjoying school, it was lovely to be back with her family.

"Average," Tonks said, once the hug had been returned with vigour. She banished her cloak to the peg on the wall and crossed over to the stove to help herself to food. "I'm starving. But I have some news."

This was enough to end the conversation about house points and her three family members waited expectantly as she retrieved a plate and a large glass of wine.

"Savage has announced he's retiring," Tonks said, once seated at the table. Remus and Teddy both did a double take at the proclamation. "Within the next two years."

"Thank God for that." Teddy nodded silent agreement of his father's words, but Hope was confused.

"Two years?" She was aware of the poor opinion that her family held on the current Head of the Auror office, therefore understood the cause for celebration, but wondered why he would even bother announcing it that far in advance. "That's ages away!"

"It might seem ages to you, but most of us have thought that Savage would hold on into his eighties or nineties," Tonks replied with grim satisfaction. "Two years is better than anyone could have hoped for, especially as he wants to start the handover process soon. Which means he may relinquish a bit of control even while he's technically still in office."

"Who will be Head when he leaves?" Hope said. "You?"

Tonks gave an amused snort.

"No. Harry, of course. He'll be interviewed officially but I doubt he'll have any competition. He should have been Head years ago."

"Why wasn't he then? If Savage is so useless."

Tonks sighed. "He wasn't qualified when Gawain Robards stepped down after the war. There were no strong candidates for the role at all back then, but Kingsley was happy enough to go with Savage, given that he was already talking about retirement. The idea - we suspect - was that Harry would be fully qualified with a few years experience and ready to take over by the time Savage left. Unfortunately, he changed his mind about early retirement once settled into the position, and has spent two decades now enjoying the perks of the top job while others, namely Harry and me, do the lion's share of the work for him. It's very hard to get someone out of the role when there's no real justification for firing them. Employment rights occasionally favour those they shouldn't." She shook her head in disgust. "This summer will mark seventeen years since Harry received full Auror status. He could have taken the helm back then and still done a better job."

"Could have," Remus murmured, half to himself. "Doesn't mean he should have."

Tonks' face did soften at this.

"True. For his sake, maybe it's worked out for the best."

Hope did not probe. Like most, she knew that Harry's childhood had been plagued with tragedy and adult burdens, and had heard her parents talk before about the lingering trauma it had induced, much of which would never be undone. She supposed she should be grateful that all she had to worry about at school were a couple of nasty dormmates and an overly competitive quidditch trial.

"Do you still fancy being an Auror, Dope?" Teddy's teasing voice broke through her sombre thoughts. "Remember when you used to run round the house in your dressing gown with short black hair and green eyes, pretending to be Auror Potter on a mission?"

Reluctantly, Hope joined in the family laughter, despite cringing at the memory.

"I think I might be destined for other careers," she said, forcing a dignified tone. Professional quidditch player burned strongest in her list of mental ambitions, but she was far too proud to say that out loud. She wasn't even sure she'd make the school team at this rate.

oOo

July

That weekend, Remus sat flicking through the summary that came to every parent at the end of a school year.

"You seem to have received a fair few detentions this year," he commented. Dom, seated at the table with a glass of juice, grinned over at Hope, who was hunting in the cupboard for snacks.

"Nothing really bad though," she assured him. "Why do we never have interesting biscuits? Ginger Newts are for boring, old people."

"Sweetheart, I do feel compelled to tell you that insulting your parents is not the way to get them to buy you more exciting treats," Remus said dryly, not looking up and flipping the page over. "Ah, you had a full weekend of them in May, I see."

"Totally worth it, seeing Elodie's face when all her hair and teeth fell out. She looked like the creepy creature in that muggle book Teddy has. The one about the ring. Especially because the sweets reacted together somehow and her head began to shrink. The nurse fixed it for her, but Elodie knew it was me. She was already suspicious after the Self-Stinkers and she dobbed me in to Flitwick."

"So much for being amicable," her mother sighed. She had entered the kitchen and was now looking over her husband's shoulder at the papers in his hand. Hope wasn't too worried. Her grades were perfectly fine, and as for detentions, neither of her parents could reasonably give her a lecture on that, after everything she had heard about their own school days. "Why did you do that?"

"She's mean!" Hope said at once. "She's a horrid person, she totally deserved it and you said yourself you'd never expect me to be nice to someone who is unkind about Dom."

Dom winced and Hope felt a stab of guilt. She knew that Dom hated for a fuss to be made on her account, and so far had consented not to tell anyone else about Elodie's vicious remarks. But how were things ever going to change if Dom didn't start calling people out on their behaviour? Hope was prepared to do that on her behalf.

"Don't tell my mum and dad." Dom gazed imploringly up at her godparents and Remus and Tonks exchanged uncomfortable glances. "Please don't. It's really not that bad - it honestly doesn't bother me. They do know things are a bit difficult sometimes. I don't want to worry them more. Anyway." Her shoulders slumped resignedly. "It's just the way it is, isn't it. People are always going to make comments. I'll have to get used to it."

Tonks's eyes blazed as she sat down next to Dom and reached out to take her hand.

"Now you listen to me, my love. There are some things in life that we do have to get used to, but you being treated badly is most definitely not one of them. Some of us have an easier time fitting in, for various reasons. Some of us are less accepted by our peers, however unjust that might be. But no one is less deserving of respect because of who they are."

Dom merely fiddled with a tiny splinter of wood on the table.

"Remus will tell you exactly the same thing," Tonks continued. "He's had first-hand experience of mistreatment for simply being himself."

Remus looked seriously across the table at his goddaughter, warmth in his brown eyes.

"Dom, there was once a time when I couldn't visit Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley without being jeered at, a time when people refused to serve me in shops or restaurants if they knew what I was. There was a time when total strangers would talk about me within earshot, not caring that I could hear them. When people spat at me in the streets. I used to put up with it, and brush it off and think that was how the world was and that I would have to get used to it."

"Do people do that now?" Dom looked quite horrified. Hope registered that it was odd that Dom should be so indignant on someone else's behalf, yet so resigned to her own difficult situation. Her father shook his head.

"Not so much anymore. You still get idiots, of course. There will always be bigots who are prejudiced, unkind and badly informed, but things are so much better for me than they were even ten years ago. People are more understanding, more accepting. Other people are more willing to stand up in defence of my kind. And when someone is unpleasant, I no longer think this is the way it has to be. Because it doesn't have to be that way."

Dom chewed her lip uncertainly, as Remus continued.

"I'm not saying attitudes will change like magic, Dom. They won't change until people with the power to make that change realise that this is a fight they have to help you with, which is what people did for me. But I truly believe that a day will come when you are treated better. Don't give up hope of that, because those who care about you definitely won't. I would- " he hesitated. "I would strongly suggest telling a teacher or your head of house if other students are being unkind, whether it bothers you or not. But," he added hastily, as Dom's looked even more anxious, "that is your decision. If nothing else, remember that your friends and family are here for you, to do what they can to make things better for you, and to tell you that if a cruel idiot doesn't want you in their life, they are not worth knowing. And," he winked at Hope, "quite deserving of losing all their hair and teeth once in a while."

Dom managed a smile.

"Thanks," she said in a small voice, as Tonks pulled her into a fierce hug.

"Can we have chocolate now?" Hope cut in.

"What makes you think I have chocolate? I thought we only had boring, old people snacks?"

"You always give us chocolate when you do serious talks like that. You must have some somewhere."

Remus gazed back at her blankly for a second and then relented, his lips twitching.

"There's a Honeydukes megabar under the sink."

"What's it doing under the sink?" Tonks enquired indignantly.

"Hidden from you, of course."

Dom burst out laughing.

"So," she said, now considerably perked up, as Hope retrieved the bar of chocolate and broke it into chunks, handing her friend the biggest piece of all. "Quidditch! We need to get planning your training if you're going to make the team this year."

oOo

August

"Come on Hope, tighter turns!" Fred Weasley swooped around her, shouting over the rush of air that was loud in her ears. Hope did not protest. She had wanted to be trained up, and this was the price she would pay.

She wheeled about her Nimbus 5X, an early birthday present from the family – as a new broom was her only request, they had chipped in to get it - and made to start the course again.

"You're doing really well," Dom assured her, forty-five minutes later. They had stopped for a drink, very warm and red in the face. Fleur was putting out glasses and huge jugs of lemonade on the garden table. "And it's only the start of August, remember. You've got loads more time to get even better."

Ginny, who had been watching from a deckchair, smiled broadly. "I'm impressed," she said to Hope. "You've come on loads since I last watched you. Keep that up and you'll be in with a good chance at the trials, definitely."

Hope glowed at the encouragement. "Thanks Ginny. Can we go again?"

Fred and Roxanne both groaned.

"Let's take a break," Dom laughed. "I'm starving, and Dad says the food's nearly ready. It'll be light for ages, we'll have plenty of time after we've eaten."

Reluctantly, Hope consented to go in and wash her hands for dinner.

"Where's Harry?" she said, looking round the table on her return and realising that he was not there.

"Stuck at work," Tonks said. "He'll be here later. Savage is making him work obscene hours, under the excuse of starting the handover process, even though Harry could take the reins tomorrow if he needed to and make a better head than Savage. The real reason, of course, is that Savage needs to have someone he can lay the blame on if things go wrong."

"I think you should be Head Auror," James piped up. "You're older than Dad."

"James!" Ginny shot Tonks an apologetic look. "Could you not be so rude, please?"

"I'm not being rude!" James looked outraged. "Tonks is older than Dad. She's been an Auror way longer than him. That's not rude. It's truthful."

"Fair point," Tonks conceded. "But to be honest, James, I'm not cut out for Head Auror, even if your dad wasn't obviously the best person for the job. There's so much paperwork involved, and I can't even keep my corner of the study tidy at home."

"That is certainly the truth," Remus acknowledged with a dry smile. "And it is a trait you seem to have passed on to Hope. The state of her room this morning was abysmal."

"Urgh, you're just like Elodie." Hope rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "She's always moaning at me for leaving my corner in a mess. It's my own space. It's not like I spill on to her things."

"Hope, how can you compare your dad to Elodie?" Dom sounded appalled. Hope knew that there was an edge of genuine horror to her friend's reaction and looked guiltily at her father. "Didn't mean it, Dad, honest."

Remus raised an amused eyebrow and helped himself to food.

"Who is this Elodie girl?" Ron asked Hope, as they all tucked into hot dogs and burgers. "Anyone we know?"

Hope shrugged. "Her name's Elodie Carmichael," she said. "I don't know if you know her, but she's a total bitch."

"Hope, haven't I told you not to use that word?" Tonks said sharply. Hope scowled.

"She is. I tried giving her a chance after Christmas, like you told me, and she got even worse. No way am I bothering now."

"I'm sure you could still sort things out with her," Hermione broke in. "All rivalries can be resolved, Hope. Normally they are caused by simple misunderstandings. I'm sure you could be good friends if you tried."

"I can't be friends with her!" Hope said incredulously. "She's always really horrible about -"

Dom's head snapped up in dismay and Hope changed tack at lightning speed.

"-Harry," she finished. This was partly true, although the subject had only come up once, and Elodie had been cried down by half the common room. Apparently even her Queen Bee status wasn't enough to allow her to insult Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived and saviour of the wizarding world. She had never dared speak ill of him again.

"I'm sure Harry won't be too distraught by a few comments made by a teenage girl," Ginny laughed. "Drop in the ocean compared to what he had at school. I don't know any Carmichaels, though. Are her parents magical?"

"Oh yes." Hope pulled a face. "Elodie Carmichael has the purest blood in our dormitory, we are never allowed to forget that."

"Carmichael," George said thoughtfully. "There was an Edward Carmichael in our year – he was in Ravenclaw, and I'm pretty sure pureblood. Could be her dad?"

Hope just shrugged again.

"Dunno," she said, piling four slices of cheese onto her burger, ignoring George's disgusted grimace. George hated cheese. "We haven't discussed our parents' names. I don't talk to her at all if I can help it."

"I think Eddie married someone in your year." George turned to Ron and Hermione. "I remember because all our class heard about it – I'm surprised you didn't. It was a massive ceremony, although I didn't get an invite - gutted of course. Patsy, was it? That Slytherin girl who was friends with Malfoy?"

"Wait." Hermione looked up from her plate of salad, a revolted expression on her face. "You surely don't mean Pansy? Pansy Parkinson?"

"Yeah, rings a bell," George said, screwing up his forehead in thought.

"Yes!" Roxanne chipped in. "Their mum is called Pansy. Definitely! I heard Kirstin say once."

Hermione's eyes bulged. "You have got to be joking? Someone married that puffed up… pug faced… cow? And reproduced?"

Ron, Ginny and George roared with laughter as the younger ones collapsed into fits of giggles. Seeing Hermione lose her composure, particularly in front of the children, was a rare thing indeed.

"Um. Hermione," Tonks said, her disapproving tone wavering dangerously. "Weren't you in the middle of telling Hope how all rivalries can be resolved? How it doesn't do any good to hold grudges?"

"Yes!" Hermione said, recovering herself. "Yes, absolutely. And I mean it, Hope. I'm sure you could work it out with Elodie in the end, at least enough to be civil with her."

Hope was only half listening as she wolfed down the last mouthful of her burger.

"I won't tell her you called her Mum a cow, at least. I promise," she reassured Hermione. She turned to Fred, Dom and Roxanne. "Come on! I need to get back to training."

OOO