Raising Hope {Fred Weasley}

The Forbidden Forest is Forbidden

One of the many struggles that came with Hope was keeping the girl entertained. Despite going to a magic school, she often found herself bored a great deal of the time. When it came to living at home, there was always something exciting going on at the shop. Whether it was watching her father and uncle give a demonstration of a product or allowing herself to be a test subject of some of their newer products, there was always something to do. However, with Henry enjoying sleeping in late and Fergus' attention one hundred percent dedicated to quidditch all the time, sometimes she was left with nothing to do.

Sometimes she could call on Peeves, but the relationship with the poltergeist went back and forth. Sometimes he played along, other times he tried to prank her and the others. He really was in it for himself. 

Another problem came with being an early riser like her mother. She would be up and wanting to move around and do something, but Henry and Fergus enjoyed staying in their beds as long as possible. They had even begun barricading the entrance to their dorm shut to prevent her from coming to wake them up. 

Hope thought about all the people she could bother one morning as she headed to the Great Hall to get something to eat. She knew to stay clear of Nixie as the woman had made an agreement with both her and Henry that they don't disturb her class but were free to disturb Sirius' and Remus' classes. The two quickly agreed to it because they never wanted to experience an angry mermaid again. 

Although, with the recent full moon, Hope knew better not to bother her grandfather that morning, knowing he was probably quite tired and she had bothered Sirius enough during the week to the point where he was just skipping "Little Lupin Weasley" and going straight to calling her "Spawn of Evil."

She giggled to herself as she sat at the Gryffindor table as she went to reach for some toast when she looked across the way and caught sight of Stella and Eliza. The two girls seemed to be arguing about something judging by their faces, but they were whispering whatever they were saying. Hope watched them curiously from where she sat, wondering what they were arguing about as they were preparing to leave the Great Hall.

They looked over their shoulders a couple of times, which Hope shook her head at their amateur moves. If they were going to a sneaky and subtle exit, they had totally just failed. She chuckled to herself before pushing her empty plate away and making her way towards the entrance to follow them. Her stomach made a little creaking noise, wondering why she was not eating as she was so close to food, but she ignored it. There were far more important things going on in that moment than wasting it by eating.

Like spying on her cousins. 

Stella and Eliza were close in a sense, but when they were at school, they could usually be found doing their own thing. It was rare to find them meeting up and doing something together, but then again, Hope didn't pay much attention to them when she was preoccupied with other important pranking matters. Perhaps in the mornings it was something that they did.

Peering around the corner, she saw the two had come to a halt in the corridor as Iggy, the cat, made his way over to the girls. 

He meowed at the two girls before he turned and led the way out of the Entrance Hall. Hope raised a brow in confusion before she followed as well. She quietly ran up behind them and suddenly wrapped her arms around the twins.

"Hey-"

She was drowned out by the two screaming before Stella knocked her to the ground roughly. Hope landed on her back and remained still for a second, staring up at the sky as she could feel all the air rush out of her lungs.

"Stella!" Eliza scolded her. "What did you do that for?"

"What?! She snuck up on us! What did you want me to do?"

Iggy made his way over to the girl on the ground while the twins argued and stood on Hope's chest looking down at her. He gently touched noses with the child, causing her to giggle.

"Hi Iggy," she said before letting out a small groan and sitting up.

"Hope, are you hurt?" Eliza asked as she made her way over to the girl's side.

"I'm fine," Hope reassured her.

"Oh good, now I can kill you for sneaking up on us!" Stella said. "So I can actually give Eliza a reason to complain."

"That isn't necessary," Eliza said holding her sister back by her shirt. "Hope, why are you following us?"

"Because I was bored and it looked like you two-"

Iggy meowed.

"Er...sorry, three," Hope corrected herself. It looked like you three were up to something. Of course, I was right, so....what are you guys up to?"

"There's no sense in lying to her," Stella sighed. "She's going to figure it out anyways, we might as well include her."

"Yay," Hope clapped her hands. "I like being included. So what are you guys doing?"

"We're about to head into the Forbidden Forest..." Eliza whispered to her as if they were telling the greatest secret of a lifetime.

"Okay..and?" Hope waited.

"What do you mean and?" Stella said placing her hands on her hips. "We're going into the Forbidden Forest...it is Forbidden."

"So are half the things I do inside the castle on a daily basis," Hope pointed out. 

"Well, we don't get into trouble on a daily basis like someone," Eliza said. "So this is something for us, besides we've been doing this for quite some time."

Her tone was proud causing Hope to laugh. "Oh you absolute rebels."

"Shut up, Hope,"Stella told her. "Get up so we can get going before someone sees us. If you ruin what we have going here, I'll destroy you."

Hope listened to her older cousins as she pushed herself up and followed them towards the edge of the forest.

"What exactly do you guys do in here?" Hope asked them in a low voice.

"Mum told us where we can find the unicorns grazing at certain times," Eliza answered. "So we've been coming out here and seeing them. You should see the little babies-"

"They're so cute!" Stella squealed and suddenly everyone was looking at her quietly. "I mean...shut up!"

Hope let out a snort before following the girls further in while Iggy remained in the front, scouting out the area for any dangers.

"So your Aunt Anora told you guys where you can find them? What about Uncle Charlie?" She asked.

"Dad wouldn't tell us, he told us not to enter the Forbidden Forest because it's forbidden,"  Stella imitated her father's voice nearly perfect.

"Good call, Charlie," Hope laughed. 

"I think Mum figured that we would do it anyway," Eliza said. "So she just told us the right places to go. We already ran into Hagrid."

"What did he say?Did you guys get into trouble?"

"Not really," Stella shrugged. "We just told him what Mum told us to tell him."

"Which is?"

"We were going to come back and do it anyways when he wasn't around."

"I love your mum," Hope said when suddenly, the twins clapped their hands over the girl's mouth.

"Shh...look," Eliza pointed out in the distance and it didn't take Hope long to see the unicorn herd grazing in the patches of sunlight. 

"Oooh, Henry is going to be so jealous that he slept in when he could have seen this."