Cast yourself (you are the spell)

Chapter 10

The snake in the portrait of the Slytherin common room's entrance cackles as Hope reaches the faux-door. Josette and her had separated soon after Professor Snape had dismissed them, and, although Hope wasn't sure, she thinks that Josette had headed in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.

"Wait until your father hearssss about thissss," the snake hisses shrilly, and Hope automatically ignores it.

She mutters the password and the wall crumbles open slowly. She takes her time stepping through it, because she knows she'll be instantly assaulted the second she walks in.

Just as she thought, her friends drag her to the nearest couch when they see her. There's a crowd of students gathered around the room, but with a single glare they're sent scattering up to the dorms.

"Two weeks?" Penelope nearly yelps after Hope has told them everything about what happened in Professor McGonagall's office.

"And a day," Hope adds, putting her feet up on the green ottoman in front of the couch. She throws an arm around the back of the couch itself, closing her eyes in heavy disinterest. She's done with this entire thing, if she were to be honest.

"If it makes you feel better, I have a week of detention with McGonagall," Penelope tells her.

"For that stunt you pulled with Saltzman?" Maya asks, in such a way that Hope just knows she's about to become gross. "I heard she was wearing bright pink knickers."

"Pale pink bra," Hope corrects, underneath her breath, completely by mistake. She relaxes when she realizes that no one heard her, but the thought still keeps her paralyzed to the couch all the same. She keeps her eyes closed as her friends to continue to argue over the matter.

Hope almost falls asleep somewhere between Rose and Penelope arguing over whether or not Penelope can curse Snape for the day's events.

"There's no use getting angry at our own Head of House.." Rose says from her position on a large, velvet chair.

"No use? Of course there is. First he pairs me with a blood traitor in Defense, and then makes you duel a lowly mudblood? Hope! You should be appalled." Hope is decidedly not appalled.

"No use?" Penelope repeats again, disbelieving. Hope glances up and sees that the girl is almost foaming at the mouth. Hope arches an eyebrow at her. She's seriously not in the mood. "Her father tried to kill yours, and then Snape basically handed her the chance to try to kill you, too! Where's your sense of loyalty?"

"Loyalty," Maya barks out in laughter. "What are you, a Hufflepuff?"

Hope doesn't feel like talking anymore. She's had a pretty exhausting day, and the reminder that she's not actively hating Josette Saltzman despite the fact that they're supposed to be enemies is too much for her to handle. She just wants to finish out her studies and leave Hogwarts, but that would be too easy, she supposes.

"Snape's a family friend," Hope drawls out lazily, only because everyone's waiting for her to speak. "He would never intentionally try to hurt me."

Penelope fumes silently for the next couple of minutes, and Hope is almost grateful for her. She's the only one truly upset for Hope, and her friendship has been unrelenting during the past couple of years. She defends Hope without question, even when the pureblood doesn't ask to be defended.

The girls go up to bed an hour later, when Hope can barely keep her eyes open but doesn't show it. She collapses into her bed without having to converse with the others in her room, and she falls asleep the second her head hits the pillow.

The next two days pass uneventfully, or at least uneventfully enough that Hope doesn't want to rip her hair out. She doesn't have Defense Against the Dark Arts or Potions until Monday, and she isn't forced to talk to Josette in Transfiguration because McGonagall decides to lecture on both days.