September 1st

The excitement seemed to shimmer as the staff bustled about, preparing for students to arrive by the Hogwarts Express very soon. Hope helped Newt where he needed, but she hadn't seen Albus nearly all day. Only once at breakfast, he'd asked how she was feeling, and she said, 'fine.'

Like always.

The truth was, while her physical body had healed over the past few days. Her mental and emotional structure was severely damaged. She often had nightmares now; sometimes, even Newt couldn't prevent them. She'd been spending her nights in his room, in his bed. Holding him and relishing in him holding her.

Madam Florence created a sleeping draught for her that helped with some of the nightmares. Allowing her to sleep just a little longer, but she was still exhausted. All she could picture when she closed her eyes at night was that blood soaked-skinned face flicking its dripping tongue at her. Ready to claw her soul from her chest.

As dusk drew near, the Great Hall looked wonderfully magical, and the teachers sat on the platform at the end of the hall. It was where Hope sat as well, next to Newt while he explained what usually happened during the first night at Hogwarts. She had to admit, she was excited to see this sorting hat in action.

"What house were you in?" she asked after he explained the four houses- Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. "Oh, wait, let me guess…" she smiled at him. "Hufflepuff?"

Newt laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "That obvious?"

Hope nodded with a grin. "All for the best reasons," she leaned in and kissed his lips softly. She pulled away when she heard someone clear their throat.

Glancing over, she saw Minerva giving them a warning look, causing Newt to blush furiously. She supposed it was worse for him. These were all his teachers not too long ago.

"Sir, I must ask you to keep your hands to yourself," Hope said, putting her hands up in feigned defense.

Newt leaned close to her ear and grinned as he whispered. "Troublemaker."

Hope snorted a laugh.

"Have I missed a joke?" Albus asked with a touch of a smile, though it seemed tighter than usual as he took his seat in the center of the tables. "They've arrived, Minerva."

With her usual severe manner, McGonagall stood abruptly and walked out of the Great Hall to retrieve the first years. The others were already filing in and filling seats, all wearing color-coordinated robes depending on the house they were in. All the Houses sat in the same section of glossy tables.

Seemed strange to her, but she supposed the colors helped to know where everyone belonged. Especially the first years.

Hope smiled over at Albus as she was sitting directly next to him. Newt on her other side. "I actually do have a joke. I remember some of those. What do you call a boomerang that won't come back?

Grinning, he shook his head, clearly not even thinking what it might be so she could deliver the punchline. "I don't know. What?"

"A stick."

Albus laughed while Newt snorted into his tea.

"That was a lovely one." Newt chuckled, shaking his head, and grinned as everyone was settled, and then the first years began entering with Minerva as their lead.

The looks on their face at the sight of the Great Hall must have been what she'd looked like. She understood the feeling of awe.

The sorting ceremony began, and Hope watched Minerva set the hat on top of each child's head, they all seemed so small. She couldn't help but smile and clap when they'd walk away with a grin, most happy to be placed where they'd gone.

What house would Hope belong to, she wondered. Tilting her head, she observed the different tables and how they all acted, but they were all children to her. Students that just wore different colors. One table might be more rambunctious than the next, but they all were smiling.

They seemed relatively the same to her.

When the sorting finished, and everyone was buzzing with excitement and hunger, Albus stood and raised his hand to call for silence. He didn't have to say a word for them to comply, looking up at him with eager faces. Innocent faces ready for the start of term.

Albus grinned as if he couldn't imagine a better task than to be headmaster at Hogwarts. She'd learned just recently this was only his second year as headmaster; last year was his first, but that he'd taught at Hogwarts for quite some time before that, first in Transfiguration and then in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Everyone always said the same thing about Albus Dumbledore.

He was one of, if not the most powerful and cleverest Wizard in the world. Hope couldn't help but admire that in him, though she knew power and brains didn't always equal goodness. She was careful around everyone, even Newt. Not that she'd admit it. Deep down, there was some primal urge she had that constantly made her aware of her surroundings and question what everyone said.

Albus had told her it wasn't a bad thing to be untrusting. To a certain degree, of course. If she had no trust in anyone, that wouldn't be much of a life to live. Constantly living in doubt and fear did not seem appealing, so she did her best to find the middle ground.

"Another year at Hogwarts. Welcome," Albus smiled happily, "Before our feast, I do need to remind you all of a few rules. New rules for the first years. Unless given direct permission by a teacher, no one is permitted to enter the Forbidden Forest. Student permission does not count." He eyed someone at the Gryffindor table who made a show of saying. "Aw." Earning a few laughs.

The Forbidden Forest had deeply interested Hope when Newt had told her not to enter it alone, so she could understand the disappointment.

Albus then began introducing new teachers, including herself. Still, she looked at him sideways in slight confusion. Hope wasn't a teacher, and he knew that. She was Newt's helping hand.

Then she realized why he'd introduced her as such when they clapped for her. If Albus introduced her as a level of authority, they would be more likely to see her as one. Especially given that she was very, hilariously different from them.

He concluded with a happy nod and said. "Let the feast begin."

The food appeared in front of them with more grandeur than Hope had ever seen before, and it covered everything in bright colors and mouth-watering aromas.

Albus sat in his seat and began conversing with Minerva on the other side as they all started eating. Happy chatter filled the Great Hall, the ghosts also making an appearance. Gliding through and making a spectacle in front of the first years.

Hope picked up her goblet, which she assumed would be pumpkin juice, but instead, it was blood. The scent is hidden under some sort of enchantment. She smiled, glancing over at Albus, who was in a deep conversation about Quidditch. She'd have to thank him later for thinking of her.

She took a sip as Newt touched his elbow to hers. "So. What do you think?" He smiled, nodding at the Great Hall of people laughing and having fun.

"It's brilliant," she grinned over at him, "it feels good not having everything so quiet all the time."

Hope looked curiously still at the sorting hat on the chair not too far ahead of the table. "Where do you think I'd be?" She asked him curiously.

"Hm?" He asked, eating a green bean from his fork.

"The sorting hat. Where do you think I would be if I were like you?"

Newt thought the question over, "Hm, I don't rightly know. I know you're brave, but you can also be very gentle. Clever too. And maybe sometimes too ambitious for your own good." He grinned at her. "It would be hard to answer, but the sorting hat could."

"I'm not a-"

"But you still have magic. It only turns away people with no magic. It might be able to tell you." He nodded.

Hope thought for a moment and nodded. "I don't think I need to know. Just curious, is all."

They continued to eat, Hope sticking mostly to red meats, her teeth craving the texture to bite into. She was sure she'd be eating like an animal if she were alone. Hope was confident the wolf in her wanted to tear pieces of meat apart and suck the bone, but here she needed to at least pretend she was classy and civil.

Sometimes though, she felt equivalent to one of Newt's creatures.

Hope supposed it was primarily because of her environment over the last two years. Being locked away for so long had scrubbed off some of her humanity.

By the time dessert replaced the main course, Hope took a bite or two of some chocolate but spent the rest of the meal sipping her blood. She wasn't craving sugar right now, and if she were honest, she wanted to ensure she was filled with blood and didn't risk being hungry around the students.

When the meal was finished, the school Prefects led their houses to their dormitories.

Hope looked at the mess of the tables, but just as she was thinking it, Albus waved his hand, and the tables were clean and glossy again.

"How did you enjoy your first Hogwarts feast?" Albus asked with a crooked smile.

Looking over at him, she nodded. "I'll be ready to eat again in May."

Laughing, he started down the length of the Great Hall, and Hope followed Newt, but as she walked past the sorting hat, she brushed it with her fingers. Was the texture more like suede or leather?

Its booming voice made her jump as it screeched. "Slytherin!"

Newt and Albus both looked back at her with raised eyebrows, surprised.

"I swear I barely touched it."

The other teachers, who hadn't gone to bed yet, looked at her a bit apprehensive before departing. Minerva, however, took the hat with her to return to Albus' office.

Hope frowned as she watched them disappear, leaving just the three. "What was that about? I didn't knock it off the stool." She glared at the place where the hat had been. "They act like I tossed it into a fire."

Newt slowly shook his head. "Nothing to be concerned about, it's just that…"

"That what?" She was starting to get a bit irritated. Now that she thought about it, she'd been avoided after the Boggart incident. Aside from Albus, Newt, and Madam Florence (and occasionally a fleeting conversation with Minerva), Hope had been all but ignored by other staff.

Albus answered. "Most times, the hat takes a minute or two to decide where to place people, usually when it's sat on top of their head."

Narrowing her eyes, she looked around at the tables. Setting her eyes on the Slytherin table. "I'm starting to get the impression Slytherin isn't the house to want to be in."

"Nonsense," Albus said with a shake of his head, "Every house here runs into trouble one time or another. They are all noble houses with positive personality traits. Being a Slytherin means you are cunning enough to start trouble, yes, but also cunning enough to stay out of it. It depends on your perspective."

Hope didn't…feel like a Slytherin; then again, she'd been forced into a life where she could only be what they wanted.

"Hope, when I call you a troublemaker," Newt started, "I mean so…affectionately. You don't always follow the rules, but your intentions have never been wicked. Wingedback, the Boggart. Trust us when we say you're the one who decides what the definition of cunning and ambition means to you."

Looking at the table again and frowned, nodding slowly as she started to walk with them out of the Great Hall. "Well…then if I can choose the definition, I'm deciding to be kind in the most cunning way."

And she would be. No matter what evidence the universe threw at her, she would be who she wanted to be, not what it thought she was. From dark magic to demonic creatures to uncontrollable thirst, she could not be beaten by it.

Hope would be kind.

She would be cunning.

She would be clever.

And she would be fearless.

Hope thought back to the demon. Well, maybe not fearless, but she would try to be courageous in the face of fear.

If anything at all, Hope would be a fighter.