Revenge Is Knocking

Everything was quiet over the next month.

No terrifying dreams or Wolfsbane burning Hope's tongue. During the day, they belonged to the school- doing what they could to help students learn. They'd begun approaching Hope with questions she had no idea how to answer, so she'd dig through the library with them.

At night, they belonged to each other.

Hope could still feel Albus' lips between her legs and Newt's tongue stroking her breast, but they'd kept to their word and only touched her. Never each other, but if she didn't know better, she could swear she saw an occasional glance that would make Albus' eyes flash and Newt blush.

Spooning a bit of porridge into her mouth, she looked over the Daily Prophet and rolled her eyes.

A photo of Hogwarts was on the front page, with dark clouds moving to make it appear dark and ominous. Next to the image was another of Albus standing in his office, looking a little surprised at the camera. To Hope, he looked shocked at the sudden flash of the camera he probably hadn't been expecting. Still, to others, he almost looked frustrated.

It didn't paint him in a good light.

"Have you seen this?" She asked Newt, who looked up from the letter he was writing and nodded with a solemn tight-lipped frown.

"I have," he nodded, "so has Albus. He wasn't expecting a full article or cameras when they asked to enter."

The article was about how the world should question the new Headmasters' lenience to having a 'hybrid' in the school where children were present. The article written weeks ago had circulated into the right sneaky hands. Soon after, many parents complained that she wasn't fit to be there.

It's been a back-and-forth battle ever since. Parents who were against her as faculty and parents who were for her. Many students raved about how wonderful she was, which made her heart swell. Naturally, some parents chose to listen to the media instead of their children's first-hand encounters with her.

"He's being dragged through the mud because of me." Hope muttered and tossed the paper aside, resting her chin on her arm.

Newt frowned and shook his head. "It wouldn't be the first time, and it won't be the last. His name itself has always attracted spectators, good and bad. This is just another hill to cross."

"More like a mountain."

After breakfast, they began walking toward the sparring room. Each Saturday since she'd gotten back, Hope decided she wanted to better learn how to protect herself. She had this speed and strength she couldn't always control. Hope tried to master it for her sake and for the sake of those she loved.

Unfortunately for Newt, he was the one least busy on Saturday. Her sparring coach, a ghost who had learned hand-to-hand combat in his living days, needed to watch her form with someone so he could adjust and critique her.

Upon entering the studio, they began right away. Hope worked on dodging; left, right, up, down, over and over in quick succession before delivering a punch to Newt's abdomen. She didn't leave a mark, of course; she was cautious. The idea wasn't to pulverize her poor boyfriend but to have the technique down so that if the time came, she could throw a few well-timed blows.

Hope had to admit, though, she was getting better each time they practiced. It was like her body knew how to move, she just needed to unlock it.

By the time the session was over, Newt and Hope both dripped with sweat and after a quick conversation with Nick, they made their way to their rooms, both intending to clean up.

"So, I was thinking…" Newt started, rubbing the back of his neck, "You know how we're in February now."

Hope raised a brow and nodded with a small smile. "Yes, it's…February 2nd. I'm aware." She glanced over at him, she could hear his heart racing. Hope couldn't remember him being this nervous since they first started innocently flirting.

Is that what he was doing now?

Flirting?

"Are you okay?" Hope asked.

Newt nodded and paused in the hall near the stairs they'd separate. "Yes," he took her hand, "I just wondered if you might accompany me to the Valentine's Ball the night of the fourteenth."

Grinning, Hope couldn't help but giggle. So that's what this was about. "Newt Scamander, are you asking me out on a date?"

"I-yes…" he nodded, smiling sheepishly as he looked down at his shoes. "I know we'd technically be chaperones. It's just…well, when I went to school here, I never really went to any of the balls. I never could get the courage to ask anyone, and no one certainly ever asked me. So I-"

"Yes," Hope smiled softly, pressing her lips against his, finally bringing his eyes up to look at her, "I would be more than honored."

The only unfortunate part about this relationship was that one part was open, and the other was hidden. Everyone knew about Hope and Newt, but she and Albus kept themselves secret. The only other to know was Newt, obviously. She wouldn't get to dance with Albus under the moonlight on Valentine's Day because God forbid people simply be happy for others in their chosen relationship.

With a grin, Newt leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers again, which she returned the pressure eagerly. Her hands squeezed his shoulders just as she heard someone cough. She didn't have to turn to know it was Minerva who walked by.

"Just because it's a Hogsmeade trip day doesn't mean no students are in the building." Her voice cut through, and Hope couldn't practically feel the slap on the hand.

Hope bit her lip and nodded. They both fought smiles as she disappeared around the corner before she touched the tip of his nose.

"I will shower and see you in a little bit." She giggled.

With one more chaste kiss, they parted ways.

Hope took her time as she entered the room of moonlight and crossed to the open bathroom, where a showerhead hovered above like a rain cloud. She undressed and tossed the dirty clothes into a hamper before starting the hot water.

She waited until the room was steaming before stepping under and letting the scorching temperature penetrate her skin. Sighing, she leaned back and ran her fingers through her long hair. Earlier that week, she'd mentioned getting it cut, feeling it was getting too long for her liking. She could wait until after the ball to have more styling options.

With a flutter in her stomach, she grinned, eyes closed. A ball. She was going to go to a romantic ball with Newt. She'd get to wear a beautiful gown and matching slippers before dancing with him in the moonlight.

It all sounded so wonderful.

Excitedly, she took her glass shampoo bottle and quickly worked it through her hair. She could go into Hogsmeade by herself and find a perfect dress for the occasion. Better yet, use the Galleons she'd been saving back and have one tailored to her perfectly.

Hope froze, caught in a silent scream as an acidic burning enveloped her entire body. From her head to her toes, her skin was on fire. Instinctively she rushed under the water, knocking the shampoo onto the shower floor, where it shattered. The soap she'd put in her hair flooded her face and body. Hope screamed as her eyes felt like someone had forced hot pokers through her sockets.

She stepped on the broken glass in her clumsy panic, shoving the pieces deep into her flesh. The pain and inability to see or know where to stand made her fall, smacking her head with a resounding crack against the lip of the shower tile.

Stars shot across her vision as she tried to comprehend what had happened through her blurry memory. Opening her eyes, she saw darkness. Had the lights gone out? No, even if they had, the room always had a natural moon glow that, while dark, she could see around at night.

No, this was different.

It was like she'd gone blind.

Trying to keep herself calm, Hope tried to lift herself off the floor. Her hand flailed to find something to grab onto, and she carefully pulled herself to her feet, but the pain in her soles forced her to walk only on her toes.

Stumbling through the bathroom, she nearly fell twice before finding her way to the sitting room. Using her sense of touch, she made her way to the couch. Her body still burned and felt so raw it was what she imagined a boiled chicken might feel like.

A headache pounded behind her eyes as she tried not to panic, but what else could she do? She couldn't see, couldn't walk, and couldn't call for help. Something to the left of her grazed her arm, making her jump and scream. Then a little pat pat on her arm seemed to try and calm her down.

She knew that little pat.

"Pick?"

He responded with a tiny sound.

"Oh, Pick." Hope sighed in relief. Sure, he couldn't do much for her at the moment, but knowing she wasn't alone made a great deal of a difference. "Can you find Newt? I need help…please…"

Hope didn't hear a response, but she was pretty sure she heard him scrape himself under the room's door. Now she just had to wait. Everything would be fine. Newt would return, and they'd figure out what happened.

The door creaked open slowly, much sooner than Hope would have thought. The pick couldn't have been that fast.

Her vision was still dark, but she could feel the edges starting to blur into something; she must be healing.

"Newt?" She asked.

No response came.

Dread slowly began to build, her heart stuttering.

"Albus?" She tried again, voice hoarse.

Nothing.

If it were them, they would have. Hope pulled the throw blanket against her bare chest, feeling more vulnerable now than ever, even in the cage. There was physically nothing she could do, and she was naked to top it off.

Something touched her shoulder and dragged lightly across her back.

Sucking in a sharp, pained breath, Hope remained perfectly still. The blood rushed past her ears, making hearing almost impossible.

This was it, whoever this was had to be the person who spiked her drinks. They must have been Wolfsbane in her shampoo. This person wasn't Henry like she'd wanted to believe. Someone had wanted her to leave Hogwarts, and now that she hadn't, they'd come to finish the job themselves. She'd be leaving Hogwarts but in a body bag.

No, the hell she wasn't.

Hope turned and, in her blindness, grabbed for the object the person held. She wrapped firm fingers around it, feeling the wooden texture.

It was a wand.

Her assailant struggled against her hold-on, but Hope sent out a blind fist catching whoever it was off guard and making them stumble backward. Hope heard her easel crash to the ground and then crack, another blow to the side of the head made Hope's breakfast nearly come up.

"Hope!" A distant voice yelled. "Hope, open your eyes, please."

As she did, a blurry face came into view. The panic she'd felt what felt like a moment ago took hold, and she flailed, sending a swift kick to the person above her.

"Don't touch me!" She screamed as two hands pressed firmly down on her shoulders. She struggled and thrashed like a wild animal, trying to twist out of the hands of her attacker. "NO!" She screeched, followed by a crash she couldn't place.

"Hope it's us!" The other voice came. "It's Newt and Albus!"

It was like turning on a switch. The realization was that she was not in the hands of the person who had come in but the hands of the people she trusted the most.

Her breathing slowed just as a pair of hands cradled her face with care. "You're safe," Albus murmured.

Albus' face was still a blur to her, but his voice comforted the fright that had filled her so entirely. She immediately pressed her face to his chest, gripping his sweater tightly. Her body trembled.

"Your eyes," Newt murmured, "your back…" He swallowed hard. "What happened?"

Hope took a shuddering breath. "It wasn't Henry." Was all she could manage, still holding onto Albus as if he were her last lifeline.

After they helped her into something that didn't rub too much against her raw skin, she sat on the couch with a cup of medicinal tea to help ease the pain while slowly healing.

When she was settled and calm enough, she told them everything that had happened since entering the room. She remembered nothing had looked out of the ordinary, and she couldn't even recall a different scent. It was like the person who'd been there had left without a trace.

They'd sat and listened while Newt carefully wedged pieces of glass from her feet and legs where she'd fallen on them.

"I'm tired of it," she finally said, "I'm so tired of feeling like I can't be anywhere alone. I can't even take a shower."

"Hope," Albus started, "from now on, I'd like you to stay in my chambers. If you don't mind. Until we can get this sorted and find the person behind it all." His voice was slow and severe. She'd know it would be a hard mask if she could see his expression.

Hope nodded, she saw nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, if he hadn't offered, she would have asked.

"They were going to kill me." She whispered after a long moment of silence. "Just like that, and I would have been dead. For someone to hate me so much, someone I've never met. It sounds a little excessive."

"You probably have met them," Newt offered, "at some point in your time here or at the camp. It's likely someone who doesn't believe…" he trailed off.

Hope frowned. "Go on."

Sighing, he nodded. "It's likely someone who thinks hybrids, or in your case tribrids, shouldn't exist. Many people in history have gone on rebellions against anyone that didn't match what they deemed natural. Many Wizards with pureblood history have even attacked Wizards with mixed blood. It's been a raging war for so long, like the war between the Poachers and magical creatures."

It was a slow process, but finally, Hope could see a little more clearly. She nodded, leaning forward and squinting at him to see him better. "Well, they are trying to get me thrown out."

"Which won't happen." Albus chimed.

Hope frowned then as she looked more closely at Newt's face, seeing his lip had been busted and was bleeding. "What happened to your face?" She asked with a soft gasp.

Newt grinned sheepishly. "You did…"

Her eyes widened. "I did what?"

Newt chuckled. "We don't hold it against you. When you thought we were a danger to you, you fought back."

Hope looked over at Albus, who seemed to have blood on his sweater collar. She looked around the room, seeing things smashed and crashed by her art area and nightstand.

"It's a mess."

"Ah, yes," Albus chuckled, "when I touched you, you also threw me back against the wall. With your mind, no less. Granted, it wasn't wise of me to touch you when you were in such a frantic state."

Hope huffed out a breath.

"It can be repaired easily, no worries." Newt offered quickly.

Shaking her head, she leaned back against the pillow and frowned. "It's not that. It was just nice when I thought Henry had been the one behind the Wolfsbane. Thinking it was all behind me and I could just look to the future, but no." Hope rubbed her temples. "Now it's all falling apart again."

Running her fingers through her hair, she froze. Her heart stopped as she pulled out a long, large chunk of hair. Staring at it, her eyes slowly grew.

"No, no, no…no, no…" she started pulling more and more out, her hair falling right off in large patches and streaks.

Newt and Albus' eyes widened as they quickly lurched forward, taking her hands from her hair while tears started to fall down her cheeks.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Newt whispered, stroking her fingers lightly, "it's hair. We can visit Hogsmeade; a stylist works wonders there."

"It's not just hair, Newt!" Hope shouted suddenly. "They think they can threaten, imprison, and poison me. Every step they take toward me is one step closer to putting me back in a cage because they think I'm some kind of animal. I've had enough!"

Hope's vision was restored in a power flourish, and the fire in the hearth suddenly roared. Fueled by her anger, the room turned into an oven that made the ceiling smoke.

"If you don't find them, I will. And I will kill them the way I want to."

"Hope," Newt started, "I know you want revenge, but there are better ways to do this. We will find them, but hunting them down and dealing with them that way will only earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban. They will never allow you to roam free if you show our society a lack of humanity."

"Where was their humanity!?" Her teacup burst in her hands now, but she didn't bother to look. "I will not live in fear anymore. I had to sit here completely vulnerable to an unknown force because they blinded me. Blinded me, Newt. Why shouldn't I show them the same courtesy they've been showing me?

"Because you are better than them, and giving into that side will change who you are forever."

Hope rolled her eyes and started to get up, but he took her by the wrist with a gentle grasp.

"Don't let them take away your humanity, Hope."

Anger still simmered off her skin like steam.

"Fuck humanity."