Last First Kiss {HP Next Generation}

Chapter Eighty Two

Henry was confused as to where Hope ran off to after she had joyously kissed his cheek and ran away. It seemed at some point that everyone had come across her, usually yelling excitedly in the corridors but no one had seen her after that. He wondered why she had suddenly disappeared and he especially wondered why the hell she was so excited. He tried to think back to what he said, but none of it made sense of why it suddenly made her so happy. 

Remus appeared just as confused as Henry as he informed the boy that Hope had burst into his office, made several odd "Hope" noises and then ran out. When he found Stella and Eliza, he wondered if it had anything to do with the tournament, but the girls informed him that they were no closer to figuring it out. In fact, Hope was the one preparing to call it quits and forfeit. Apparently, she was not the only one as the other two teams representing the other schools were debating doing the same thing. 

"Well, I can't find her," Henry sighed as he found Fergus. "I have searched the entire castle and I can't find her anywhere."

"Who are you looking for?" The two boys looked up to see Armina approaching them. A stupid grin appeared on Fergus' face as the girl stood before them. 

"Hope," Henry told her. "I've looked everywhere and-"

"Did you look in the library?" Armina asked him.

Henry opened his mouth but quickly closed it before shaking his head. "No, I didn't check the library."

Armina chuckled with a sympathetic smile. "Well, I was just there and I saw her with Professor McGonagall entering the restricted section."

"That's the last place I thought of looking and of course, it should have been the first," he sighed. "Well, thank you. I'm going to go see if she's still there."

Sure enough, the girl was still in the library surrounded by plenty of books, the majority of them opened. Hope was nearly covered by the stacks, hiding her away in the corridor as she jotted things down vigorously on a piece of parchment paper. Henry approached her quietly before taking the seat across from her. She was so wrapped in what she was doing that she didn't even hear him. He could hear her whispering under her breath while dancing in her seat, she looked absolutely mental to him.

But adorable at the same time.

"Hope," he called to her in a whisper.

She jumped and proceeded to spill all of her ink everywhere on the table. 

"Ooops," the two said before looking around to see that the librarian wasn't anywhere around. Henry pulled his wand out to clean up the mess while Hope pulled her papers back and pushed the books away. They didn't need anything happening to the books or there would be plenty of consequences. 

"I've been looking for you all over," Henry told her once the ink had been cleared away. "You kinda just vanished out of nowhere."

 Hope looked up at him as she set her quill down. "Sorry," she said with a smile. "But it's your fault, you're such a genius without even trying."

"I am?" He said in a questioning tone but quickly changed it. "I mean, I am. But why?"

She giggled before leaning forward on the table and motioning him forward. Henry leaned forward to hear the answer.

"Because you solved the third task, Henry," she told him. "I didn't believe it right away because I thought I was getting ahead of myself, but it all makes sense now. I went through all these books and I think it fits perfectly."

"Well, what is it?" Henry asked her.

"I'm not telling you," she said before closing the books over.

"Wh- what?! But you just said I solved it."

"You did without knowing you did. Now if I spoiled the fun, where would the fun in that be?" Hope told him.

"Hope Margaret Weasley, I swear if you don't tell me right now," he began threatening her. Silence washed over them for a moment as they stared at each. Suddenly, Hope bolted from her seat and towards the exit of the library. She had snatched up the papers she had been working on leaving no evidence behind. 

"Hope!" He growled before running after her. The librarian called after them but they completely ignored her as they disappeared down the corridor.

Hope ran towards the Gryffindor Tower, dodging students left and right and reaching Elizabeth first.

"Wiggle Warts!" She blurted out at the portrait before it swung open. Elizabeth looked concerned for the girl's well-being for the moment but she knew better not to ask. Only a minute later did Henry appear running after her and she knew she definitely didn't want to know in that moment.

She thought she could escape him by heading up towards the girl's dorm, but Henry was not going to let her get away that easily. She was halfway up the steps when they turned into a slide. The boy was holding his foot down on the last step, making it so she couldn't escape him. She slid back down into the common room.

For a moment as she landed on the carpet, she just laid there but as soon as Henry went to snatch the paper from her, she rounded on him and tackled him to the floor. He let out a screech that startled the others in the Common Room. But rather than questioning it, the students just watched in amusement as the two wrestled about on the ground.

Hope kept a death grip on the parchment paper as Henry attempted to retrieve it. She played slightly dirty by tickling him in the ribs causing him to giggle and roll off.

"That's not fair, you know I'm ticklish!" He said.

"Well, yeah, that's why I used it against you," Hope said. She knew she couldn't make it up to the girl's dorm because Henry would be able to get her like he did earlier. He was set on getting the paper, so to make sure that he didn't get ahold of it with the answer, she balled it up and threw it into the fire.

Henry's jaw dropped as he looked at the paper burn right up.

"Hope!"

"Ha!" She pointed at him from where she was on the floor. "That's right, Guppy Puppy, the secret stays with me."

"I'll make you tell me," he said making his way over as he was quick on his feet. Hope tried to escape but he grabbed her by the foot and pulled her back. 

"So I told them that I'm making the decisions in this group and we are going to do it my way," Fergus said as he was attempting to chat up Armina as they returned back to the Gryffindor dorm. However, their conversation was cut short as they walked into the Common Room and found Henry in a headlock 

"Shouldn't you separate them before one of them gets hurt?" Armina asked with an amused grin.

"No, it's just best if I let them settle this one among themselves. Last time I got involved I nearly lost a patch of hair," he said rubbing over the spot where it had happened. 

"Mercy!" Henry called out. 

"Sorry, that's not my name!" Hope replied. "Please try again!"