Cast yourself (you are the spell)

Chapter 55

Hope finds herself alone in her room, two days later, getting ready for her date with Josie. She hasn't been this nervous in ages.

Rose helped her pick something to wear hours ago, but Hope still feels a bit like an idiot now, standing in front of her mirror dressed in mostly muggle clothing and a self-ironing robe.

She can't afford any wrinkles.

It's the main reason she hasn't stepped foot outside her room since last night—Hope Mikaelson is in hiding. Merlin forbid her parents catch her alive wearing muggle clothes, or even worse, learn that their precious daughter is going out on a date with her muggleborn girlfriend.

She has never once seen herself as someone who would have some secret love affair while in school, but here she is. It's almost like one of those awful, cliche novels in the romance section of Flourish and Blotts.

Hope glances anxiously at the grandfather clock hanging on her wall, her foot tapping in rhythm with every tick.

She only has a few minutes left before the agreed meeting time. Time zones are fickle. It's almost two in the afternoon here, but it should be early in the morning for Mystic Falls.

She still hasn't told Josie that the secret location is the girl's own hometown, but she reckons it's part of the surprise, right?

She hopes Josie likes it. The thought of Josie hating it makes her stomach turn. She can only hope that Josie doesn't take it poorly.

The pureblood plays nervously with the ring on her finger, twisting it back and forth, careful not to accidentally slip it off. The linking spell on her family ring is the only thing connecting her to Josie and the talisman.

Any moment now, her girlfriend will activate the portkey and Hope will teleport them both.

Yet, she finds herself hesitating, for just a moment. She hasn't seen the muggleborn in over a week. What if Josie doesn't want to see her back? What if she thinks Hope is too clingy or something?

It's not like they've been dating for very long—

The grandfather clock strikes two. It's only seconds later that her family ring begins to glow a dim, muted blue. Josie. She lets out a sigh of relief.

"Portus," Hope whispers, before she can lose her nerve, before she can talk herself out of it.

A blinding, white light floods her vision, forcing Hope to keep her eyes open, but it doesn't make her dizzy like the darkness had before. She soon finds that transporting with a portkey is nothing like apparating.

It's easier to breathe, for one.

She feels weightless somehow, like she's back on her broom and flying around the quidditch pitch again. Before she can enjoy it for too long, the strange feeling disappears.

It's replaced by a sinking flutter, low in her belly, almost as if Hope is about to piss herself.

It kind of feels like—

It kind of feels like she's falling to her death?

Hope looks down.

The next thing she knows, the pureblood is midair and sinking towards water. She barely has enough time to take a lasting breath before she hits the cold surface.

Her first instinct is to panic. She sucks in a breath that fills her lungs with water, making it almost impossible to think. It doesn't help that she utterly sucks at swimming and that her clothes keep dragging her down to the—

Hope stops panicking when she realizes that the water isn't very deep. If she tries hard enough, she can touch the bottom with her feet.

Oh.