Raising Hope {Fred Weasley}

Lupin Wars :The Sass Strikes Back

During the Easter holidays, the debate came whether to travel home for the time that they had off or remain at the school. After several owls going back and forth with letters, the children came to the decision that they would stay at Hogwarts, but their families would come to visit them and spend some time with them in Hogsmeade. Hope and Henry were the most excited knowing that they didn't have to wait until third year to explore Hogsmeade as some other students did.

Henry was excited to spend some time with his parents that didn't involve being inside the castle, while Hope was excited to see her parents and spend some time with her Greatpa.  Apparently, Lyall was quite excited himself as he had sent her plenty of letters before his arrival. He was prepared to spend plenty of time with his great-grandchildren when they arrived at Hogsmeade, but he would have to wait on Teddy as Tonks had called dibs on her son first, wanting to spend some time with him on a little mother and son date.

Hope was escorted by her grandfather, who had been in charge of bringing the children to Hogsmeade with the exception of Henry who had his parents. The twins remained back at the castle as their parents, Anora and Charlie were visiting with Hagrid to tell him all about a dragon adventure that had taken place at the sanctuary. Elliot was supposed to join them as well, but his father was already at the castle talking to Madam Hooch about quidditch, so he remained behind to meet with his dad.

Remus glanced down at Hope who hadn't stopped smiling since they left the castle, as she was practically hopping with each step.

"I might be going out on a limb here, Hope, but would it be safe to say that you're excited about seeing your mother and father?" He chuckled. 

"I'm pretty sure that they're excited to see me, but if it makes everyone feel better...sure," she smiled at him. They were supposed to meet outside of The Three Broomsticks with Fred, Ellie, and Greatpa Lyall, however, when they arrived they only saw Ellie and Lyall.

Eleanor went to take a step forward to bring her daughter into a hug, but Lyall pushed her out of the way to pull Hope into a tight hug. He managed to lift the girl off the ground, although, later on, that evening he would regret it. But for the time being, he was quite ecstatic that he could probably lift the entire village at that point. 

He suddenly set her down and looked down at her in silence. Remus and Eleanor exchanged glances before shrugging it off.

"Have you gotten taller?" Lyall asked Hope.

"Well, I'm not getting shorter, Greatpa," Hope replied. "That would be counterproductive, don't you think?"

"We agreed when you were two that you weren't going to grow up," Lyall said. "So far you haven't been sticking to your side of the agreement."

"Even at two I didn't plan on it, it didn't really benefit me," Hope smirked before Lyall laughed and pulled her into another hug.

"Oh how I've missed you."

"I missed you too, Greatpa. You need to come to the castle more often. I told Grandpa Rem Rem that you should come and give a lesson about Boggarts."

Remus quickly shook his head and Eleanor did the same while waving her hands, trying to warn Hope to dismiss the offer. However, while Hope saw them, she didn't take her offer back. Remus and Eleanor knew all too well that Lyall would go on and on for hours when it came to the subject of Boggarts, to the point where if everyone in the class had to face their boggart after the lecture, their boggarts would turn into another Lyall lecture.

"I think that's a great idea, thank you, Hope. I'll talk to McGonagall about it before I leave here," Lyall smiled before whacking Remus and Eleanor in the stomachs lightly. "Don't act like I didn't see that."

"We were hoping that you would and then take a hint,' Eleanor said rubbing the spot of her stomach. Lyall turned around to face the woman but was met with an innocent smile. 

"Hey, where's Dad?!" Hope asked looking around. "I thought he was coming."

Eleanor folded her arms with a tired look. "Your father said he wouldn't only be gone for a moment and left to Zonko's shop. Apparently, while traveling here, he forgot the definition of a moment."

"Did he also forget that he works in a joke shop?" Remus questioned. "Why would he go visit another joke shop?"

"Are you actually questioning that?" Eleanor asked her father. "It's Fred, there is no explanation to half the things he does. You either just go with it or....just go with it."

"I'm sorry, did we come here to discuss Eleanor's odd choice in men or are we here to spend some time with Hope?" Lyall huffed.

"Oh stop it Grandpa," Eleanor laughed. "Odd choice but you were the one rooting for Fred when Dad wasn't."

Hope looked over at Remus. "You didn't like my dad, Grandpa Rem Rem?"

"I never said that!" Remus said giving a look to Eleanor.

"You didn't have to," Lyall said. "You're easier to read than a children's book."

Hope giggled quietly to herself as the Lupin Trio went back and forth with their little quips at each other before she spotted her father in the distance. Going unnoticed as she slipped away, she ran towards Fred before reaching her arms out and tackling him with a hug.

"Hi Dad," she said as he hugged her in return.

"Hello Hopeful Little Hopette," Fred greeted. "Glad to see me I see?"

"Well, duh," Hope said. "You left me to survive among the pack of Lupins. Why did you go to the joke shop? Were you scoping out the competition?"

"Nonsense, I was just merely taking a walk down nostalgia lane," Fred said. "And just so happened so observe some of the scenery for future references. But enough about that...let's go see what the looney Lupins are up to."

"I don't think you want to get involved in that one, Dad," Hope warned him.

"And why not?" Fred asked looking down at her.

"Because Dad, you're here when it comes to the level of sass," she said keeping one hand leveled at her chest. "Mum, Greatpa, and Grandpa are up here."

She lifted her other hand way above her head before she dropped both arms down to her side and looked at him.

"We don't want you to get hurt. It's like setting yourself up for failure. Don't do that to yourself."

She gave Fred's arm a small pat. "Don't worry, I'll handle him, you just wait here until it's safe." His daughter abandoned his side as she left towards the other three adults. 

"She says that," Fred began, " yet I'm the one who won all over all three of them. So if we're talking about levels, I'm on the top-"

"Fred, who are you talking to?" Eleanor called out to him. 

"My dignity!"