HOPPER // f. weasley

SEVEN

The log fire crackled with warmth, engulfing the common room in an amber glow. Hope sat on the sofa, curled up with her potions textbook in hand. Esther had tried to convince her friend to play exploding snap with her an hour earlier, but to no avail. Instead, she sat on the floor enjoying a rather lonely game. She had been looking for some more interesting company the whole night, and she was about to get it.

The portrait hole opened, Esther looking up to see two familiar red heads walk in. They stood next to the sofa, exchanging a wink and a smile.

Before the two could even speak, Hope cut in. "Go away, Weasleys." She continued to read her book.

"We just wanted to talk to you." Fred replied, him and his brother moving to stand in front of the girl.

"Yeah, about getting you out of detention. We've known each other for three weeks and that's the only thing you've bothered to talk to me about." She snapped, still not looking up from her book.

"You're not exactly our usually company, Love." Fred began. "Besides, what else do we have in common?" George finished.

Hope rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying I'll help you, but maybe I'd be more inclined if you were a little friendlier. As I've already said, we barely know each other."

"So you're saying you'll help us if we become your friend?" The two seemed giddy.

Hope finally looked up from her book, a disappointed glare in her eyes. "No, but I wouldn't be so harsh. Now, go away."

"Hey, you can't do that!" George argued. "This is our common room as well!"

Hope let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, you can stay as long as you stop bothering me." She returned her eyes to the book in her lap. The twins listened to the girl, heading over to a nearby table to work.

Esther had been watching the whole conversation with a smirk. "You really are like a mom, Hopey." She laughed.

"I can boss you around as well, if you'd like. I'm trying to study here." She continued to read as if that were the only way to block others out.

Esther saw how tense the girl had been lately, and decided to drop it. She stayed quiet along with the Weasley twins, almost hexing Lee Jordan when he came in yelling about some brilliant plan.

Now as five, the group seemed to be at peace in the warm common room. As asked, the twins and Lee quietly worked on their prank plans, while Hope and Esther sat by the sofas, the latter still playing her lonely game of exploding snap.

Almost an hour had gone by and Esther had finally managed to explode the rest of her snaps. As the noise echoed throughout the common room, she saw Hope flinch out of the corner of her eye. The girl had dropped her book, throwing her hands up to cover her ears. Esther quickly rushed over to her.

"Are you alright?" She seemed scared, as if her friend was going to ground her for being so loud.

Hope slowly removed her hands from her ears, looking up to meet Esther's eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a headache."

Esther didn't seem convinced. "You've been looking pretty weak for the past few days. Are you sick or something?" She pressed her hand to the girl's forehand, checking for any sort of temperature.

Hope removed her hands. "I'm fine. A little tired, but what teenager isn't?" She got up from the sofa, collecting her things. "I'm gonna head off to bed, don't stay up too late."

Esther watched as her best friend moved towards the stairs. She knew Hope wasn't telling her something, but as the closest person to her, she also knew that she wouldn't confess. Instead, she decided to let her go.

Hope hobbled by the group of whispering boys. They were huddled over a giant sheet of paper, her noticing several different ingredients listed.

"How are we going to make sure it hits Filch and not us?" Lee scratched his head. "The room isn't big enough for us to hide somewhere." The boys were at a loss for what to do, not wanting to give up on the prank they'd been planning for so long.

"Just eat some moly. It protects against enchantments."

Everyone in the common room froze at the voice. Esther and boys all turned to look at the staircase where Hope had stopped, herself shocked.

Fred spoke first. "Did you just help us with a prank?" He seemed almost proud, a smile slowly creeping into his face.

"Goodnight!" Hope left without another word, rushing up the stairs as quickly as she could.