chapter 15

The day after the House Cup was awarded to Gryffindor, the students had finished the school year and were to head home for the Summer Holidays and the 7th years graduated. Hope noticed a distinctive head of pink hair which clicked a memory in Hope's head supplying the name Tonks. Hope couldn't remember her first name but she knew the girl hated her name and that she was a Metamorphmagus, meaning she was able to change her appearance without the use of a spell or potion.

Hope travelled home on the Hogwarts Express with Susan, Hannah, Padma, Parvati and Neville. Her friends were talking about their overall scores through the year while Hope was resting her eyes and leaning on the cabin wall trying to hide her fever from the scratch during the trials.

"What about you, Hope? How did you do?" Padma asked her.

Hope brought her head off the wall and blinked dazed at them before yawning. "Sorry about that. Uh I think I was ranked 1st in History, Charms and Transfig. But I think I was in the top 5 for all other subjects except Potions. I think I got about 12th there mostly because I am the Slytherin Muggleborn and Snape hates me so I don't really care."

"Not bad." Padma replied with an impressed look on her face.

Parvati, the Gryffindor twin, was distraught as she exclaimed. "But that's not fair! I've seen your Potions and they are usually perfect! I've even seen Snape keeping your samples and trying to replicate your Potions that are even better than his!"

Susan, Hannah and Padma all looked shocked while Neville just nodded his head in agreement. "It's true. He does."

Hope just shrugged non-committedly.

"Doesn't matter to me. Snape doesn't control the O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s so I don't really care what Snape does. Though I will admit I find it amusing that he keeps my Potions." Hope said with a smirk.

The fever must have gotten to Hope because she couldn't contain her thoughts in her head as she verbalised her annoyance. "Although there is a ward surrounding the Potions classroom which alters our textbooks so we can't get Outstanding Potions frequently, allowing his perfect Pureblood Slytherins to get higher scores than us."

The other 5 occupants in the compartment looked utterly outraged at this information. Hope wondered why the compartment felt like her old school's Wolf pack, barely contained anger. When Hope looked up and saw their faces Hope realised she must have spoken aloud.

Hope bit her lip as she wasn't supposed to have told them that.

Hope held her hands up placetely as she clarified her words further. "Don't blame me. Being a Muggleborn Slytherin I got worse Potion recipes than everyone else combined. I think there was one telling me to add Bulbadox Juice to Cure for Boils Potion. I saw that this ward would have potentially killed me so I made sure I knew exactly what I was doing. So if you copy it to another parchment you can keep the Potion recipe correct for the class."

All 5 sets of eyes widened in horror.

"Noted." Padma said quietly before adding gratefully. "Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure to bring a copy of the Potion we are working on and compare it to the book after we enter the classroom."

Nic and Nelle were waiting on Platform 9 and ¾ for the Hogwarts Express to arrive, they were speaking to Annabeth and requested if they could look after Daphne and Astoria for a day or two. Informing the matriarch of the Greengrass' that they have a possible cure for Astoria but just need to determine if everything is good to go ahead. This is possibly the closest they have found for a true cure.

Annabeth was hugging Nelle tightly as Hope walked up to them, giving Nic a short hug and saying goodbye to Susan as she walked Hope over to the Fell's.

Susan however spoke to Nic for a bit as her Aunt Amelia showed up to speak to Nic about inviting Hope around over the Summer as she was highly impressed with Hope's gift for Susan at Yule. At the mention of her gift from Hope, Susan's hand came up to gently grasp the necklace as she lightly traced the etchings on the pendant Hope gave her containing her parents' voices and her Aunt's memories.

Nic looked at Hope discreetly and Hope decided to join into the conversation, albeit rather tiredly.

"Good evening Madam Bones. I'm Hope Mikaelson. I'd like to thank you for placing your memories of Susan's parents into the Memory Stone for Yule. Thank you Madam Bones." Hope says with a curtsey while trying to hide the pain from the scratch on her hip as she roughly bit into her bottom lip.

"It's lovely to meet you Hope. I've heard wonderful things about you from my niece. Your thanks is not necessary but it is appreciated. I hope you will consider coming around to Bones Manor over the Summer." Amelia replied gratefully with a smile as she noticed Hope's expression of powerful Occlumency barriers being used and she frowned slightly wondering how a 11-12 year old could have such strong mental protections.

Hope grinned pleasantly as she leaned against Nelle, using her as a wall to keep herself standing as another dizzy spell came over her. "I would be honoured Madam Bones."

"That's wonderful but I have a new rule. Call me Amelia." Amelia replied sternly with a smile.

"Sure thing Amelia. I'll message you or Susan over the Summer to arrange a time. If that's alright with you?" Hope suggested, wishing to hurry this along so Nelle could check her over.

"That's no problem." The older Bones woman confirmed.

As the two Bones women walked away. Daphne effortlessly slid in next to Hope without arousing suspicion from the rest of the Hogwarts students and murmured in Hope's ear. "Are you alright? Your Magical Aura has been off for the past week."

Hope looked at her Mate and considered lying but the thought of lying to her but it made her sick to her stomach. "Actually not so much. I think I might have an infection but I'm having Nelle look at it as soon as we get home."

Nelle heard her name mentioned and glanced down to see Hope leaning rather heavily on her, "What do I need to look at dear?" Nelle asked Hope directly as she could see her ward was not feeling well. Hell, the Flamel rings on hers and Nic's hands have been irritating them all week, now she knows why. Hope was gravely injured if her own healing abilities weren't kicking in.

Hope stayed quiet for a few moments before settling on. "I'll show you at home. Please?"

Nelle clenched her jaw for a second before hiding it from the Greengrass'. "Speaking of home, we probably should get going. We will be seeing you over the holidays Daphne, you and your sister will be coming around to our place sometime soon."

Daphne's eyes widened for a microsecond before looking at her mother then back to Nelle. "Are you sure? I mean, my mother hasn't even been to your home before."

Nelle smiled genuinely at the blonde haired girl before answering in a positive light that Hope was grateful for. "Of course I'm sure."

Perenelle bent down to Daphne and took her hands into her own, rubbing her thumbs on the back of Daphne's hands. "Daphne you are always welcome in our home."

Nelle leaned in close to Daphne's ear and whispered. "Besides, Hope would kill me if I even attempted to keep you away from her."

Hope snorted before stating with a Mikaelson smirk plastered on her face. "Nelle's not wrong."

Nelle looked at Daphne and raised an eyebrow before nodding her head at Hope causing Daphne to smirk at Nelle. "I'm glad I can come around whenever and I have Hope's permission."

Nelle let out a musical laugh. "Oh sweet girl."

Nelle released one of Daphne's hands and put her hand to Daphne's cheek causing the girl to steel herself visibly for a moment, not used to someone touching her in an affectionate manner. "If I didn't get Hope's permission then no one would be able to come to the cottage. Afterall Hope updated our wards dramatically, so we actually need her authorization to let someone in and Hope keyed you into the wards the day she met you."

Daphne's ice blue eyes widened and looked at Hope in shock, Hope was just smiling longingly at her however Annabeth saw the looks shared between the two kids. Anna was so happy Daphne was opening up so much with Hope but she was worried about what will happen when Marcus finds out.

Nic had overheard the worried conversation between Hope and his wife and had exchanged details with the Bones women before waving goodbye. Nic waited for Nelle to finish reassuring the Greengrass Heiress as they could both visibly see the blonde girl was worried about Hope. Perhaps Daphne was able to sense Hope's pain. The auburn haired girl mentioned that Daphne and her were beginning to share emotions.

Nicolas managed to direct Perenelle and Hope to the Floo so they could leave the station after saying their goodbyes to the Greengrass duo. Once they made it to Flamel Cottage.

Perenelle entered full Healer mode asking Nic to take Hope's belongings to her room as the brunette guided Hope to her bedroom. "Now what did you need to tell me?"

Hope sighed and started to take off her jacket as she started to explain. "Well first off I got scratched by something while going through the obstacle course and it isn't healing. Secondly, are Hellhounds a thing in this universe?"

Perenelle's hazel eyes went wide as she pulled out her wand starting to perform diagnostics charms while Hope took off her shirt so Nelle could work unobstructed on the wound.

Nelle saw the bandage around Hope's stomach and the maternal Healer moved to take off the bandage but halted in her actions before asking softly. "May I?"

"Yeah. Go ahead. It's the reason I removed my shirt. The damn scratch is really starting to annoy me. It burns, makes me dizzy, it is making me weaker and according to Daphne it's affecting my Magical Aura." Hope explained her symptoms to the Healer.

Perenelle unwrapped the bandage slowly. "You did a wonderful job applying the correct medical procedures on yourself, very professional."

Hope grinned. "I had an excellent teacher and I enjoy learning new things, even if I am nigh-indestructible." Hope joked with Perenelle.

Perenelle scoffed. "You may be practically indestructible but you learned Healing for Daphne. Don't try to deny it, kid."

Hope gasped as her wound was exposed to the spring air. "Not even going to try and attempt that. Of course I learned to Heal for Daphne but it is still a good skill to have. Especially in this world."

Perenelle only nodded absently as she looked at the wound and started casting multiple healing, anti-inflammatory and cooling charms. The only charm that stuck was the cooling charm which Hope sighed in gratifaction at the feeling of her blood cooling down.

Unsurprisingly this didn't calm Perenlle in the slightest. "So you think you were scratched by a Hellhound?"

"Well I don't know. I've never seen one before. But it was a large dog-like beast, moved on all fours, fully black except its eyes which were glowing red. Its fur was ragged like it hasn't been cleaned in years. Um… Its teeth were damn near glistening in the candlelight, very sharp and its claws were probably about 2 inches long. Actually I have one of it's claws." Hope tried to recall from memory as she snapped her fingers on her right hand and the metal box Hope had stored the offensive claw in appeared in her right hand.

Hope slowly opened the box and offered the container to the elder woman.

Perenelle gasped and brought her hand up to her mouth. "Dear Merlin. You should be dead. Hellhound toxin burns through the blood rapidly. You should have died within 4 hours of the toxin entering your system and yet you've had this toxin in your system for a goddamn week."

Hope shrugged before smiling slightly. "Well like I said I'm pretty indestructible. Hard to kill."

Perenelle groaned in exasperation. "Now is not the time for jokes Hope! This is life-threatening!"

Hope scoffed. "I gathered that, but if I've survived for a week with this toxin in my system. I'll survive for a while longer. Since you've stopped running spells on me I'm gathering that a spell won't cure this toxin."

"No sorry dear." Perenelle said with a forlorn look knowing that she didn't have any methods available for curing Hellhound Venom which has been in Hope's system for a week. Theoretically Hope should be dead. It's a damn miracle that she isn't.

After a few moments a look of solace came over her face as she remembered one of the most potent cures to most poisons. "But sweetie you have a Phoenix whose tears can heal you."

Hope blinked once before slapping her head. "Wow, now I feel like an idiot."

Hope grabbed her jacket and wrapped it across her chest before walking into her room bypassing Nic who was biting worriedly on his fingernails.

When Hope entered her room Nelle walked in behind her holding her shirt in her hand then placed it on Hope's bed. Hope let go of her jacket and took it off again walking up to Myrddin who had a pigeon sized Thunderbird under his wing.

"Hey pretty birds." Hope said with a smile on her face as she lifted her fingers to graze the feathers on the young fluffy bird.

Alexandria preened in sadness as she was able to sense the poison in her Bonded Tribrid. However Myrddin jumped over to another perch closer to Hope.

'Really? You got poisoned by a Hellhound over a week ago and this is the first time you even considered I could heal you.' The Black Phoenix thrilled in exasperation.

Hope narrowed her eyes at the Phoenix before blurting out. "How is it that you can make a musical chime that can induce peace in people sound like you are so irritated with me at the same time? That's impressive as hell."

Myrddin tilted his head before scanning over Hope's Aura. 'Oh… The poison is starting to affect your brain, that's why it never occurred to you to contact me. Go lie down on the bed. I need to heal you immediately before anything becomes permanent.'

Hope saluted to the midnight coloured bird as she moved to the bed to lie down, laying down on her right hand side so her left hip was exposed for Myrddin to cry his tears into her wound. Alexandria flew down in front of Hope and smiled again as she stroked the Thunderbird's feathers lightly as Myrddin glided down landing on Hope's left arm. The black Phoenix hopped down the Tribrid's arm so he was as close as possible to the wound before crying into the wound.

Hope remained still but hissed at the heat of the tears mixing with the poison as the Phoenix Tears neutralised the poison within seconds.

Hope's mind became clearer within seconds. Her strength came back along with her Magic that was swirling around uncontrollably as it felt like her Magic was just unlocked for the first time and ready to be released.

Hope's eyes glowed golden as her Wolf wished to be free but her Vampire wanted the thrill of the hunt. Hope was going to shift and she was going to hunt.

The Tribrid didn't have much control left as she growled out through extended fangs. "Thank you Myrddin. Can you look after Alexandria for a little longer? My Wolf needs to be let out, she feels like she's been suppressed since the Hellhound scratch. Thank you Nelle for looking out for me. I'll be back for dinner so long as it's a late dinner at 8 if that's okay with you and Nic?"

Hope was stripping out of her pants and underwear instantly shifting into her Wolf as soon as she jumped off of the verandah.

Over the next couple of weeks Hope worked with Nelle using her blood and Myrddin Tears to get the best results and the best methods of inoculation for Astoria. Hope also explained what happened at the end of the school year, the obstacles, the Hellhound as well as the fight she had with it and the showdown with Harry and Voldemort at the end.

Nic and Nelle groaned at the ease at which Hope was able to get through all the tests but were laughing as Hope told them how she bypassed the chessboard and the Golden Trio's reactions to her doing this.

The Flamel's were becoming increasingly annoyed with the youngest male Weasley's behaviour but Hope glossed over Ron's insults, not wanting to bother Nicolas and Perenelle with the verbal abuse she was receiving at school.

Hope gave the fake Philosopher's Stone to Nicolas with a frown on her face as she described the enchantments she felt on the Stone. Hope let Nic study the Stone as he would be more familiar with enchantments in this world and he would also be able to sense Dumbledore's Magic on this Stone.

Nic closed his eyes as anger rushed through his veins at the irrefutable deceit Albus Dumbledore has shown against the Flamel's. As Dumbledore had Floo called him about a week ago, regretfully informing Nic that the Philosopher's Stone was destroyed. This made Nic incredibly upset and distrustful of Dumbledore while Nelle comforted him by wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Hope was pacing back and forth in anger until she halted suddenly and walked into her room with a pleased smirk on her face.

Hope walked over to her Phoenix and Thunderbird offering her shoulder to the Magical birds.

"Sorry I've been neglecting both of you. Other than nearly dying I have no better excuse."

The midnight Phoenix thrilled in query while he stroked his wing over Alexandria's golden feathers which had just started coming through after her second moulting.

Hope continued her thought process as she had been neglecting her Familiars. "How about during the rest of the Summer holidays both of you stay on my shoulder or shoulders while I'm at home. When I go for a run in the morning both of you can join me and fly beside me. In fact why don't you both join me while I run as a wolf? You know my wolf would never hurt either of you, right?"

Both birds sang happily in response and both birds flew on Hope's shoulders, Myrddin landed on her right shoulder while Alexandria landed on Hope's left shoulder rubbing her head against Hope's hair.

Hope laughed joyfully as she caressed the feathers on each bird as she walked out of her room to join up with the Flamel's. "Myrddin? Can I ask for a favour?"

Myrddin rose a feathered brow. 'Of course you can. I see the look of mischief on your face. You have something planned.'

Hope chuckled darkly. "You know me so well Myrddin."

Before gathering her composure before making her request. "I feel really bad for Nic about Dumbledore stealing his Stone. I know that he has more, but I don't want Dumbledore to possess a Philosopher's Stone. Since I am the Heir to the Flamel family are you able to sense family heirlooms?"

The black bird bobbed his head with a chirp.

"Excellent! Can you go collect the Stone that Dumbledore has? I'll imbue you with more of my Magic so you can blast through any wards and protections surrounding the Stone. If you feel the need to burn the room to ash, you have my go ahead." Hope said with a grin.

"I'll look after Alexandria until you get back and I'll see you soon." The Heir Flamel offered with a smile.

Myrddin flamed out as Hope re-entered the living room. Nic explained that the faux Stone's enchantment was to hold a clump of dirt in place until the Stone left the Mirror Room and a monitoring charm if the Stone somehow made it out of the room which Hope had disabled before she placed her preservation spell over the Stone.

Hope heard a Phoenix song in her head as Myrddin returned in a burst of fire. The black bird hovered over Hope's outstretched hand before dropping a blood red gem-like stone in her hand. After depositing the Philosopher's Stone in Hope's hand Myrddin flew back to his perch on the Tribrid's right shoulder. "Thank you Myrddin."

Both Nicolas and Perenelle's jaws dropped open at the scene.

"Happy birthday Nicolas?" Hope remarked with a half-assed smile and a questioning glance.

Nicolas blinked once before responding automatically without thought. "My birthday is on the 27th of November…"

Nic blinked once more before taking the proffered Philosopher's Stone from Hope and turned it over in his fingers absently before looking at the Phoenix. "Thank you very much Myrddin for recovering this Stone."

Myrddin nodded his head gracefully. Nicolas glanced at his wife and smiled merrily at her at which Nelle sent a slightly confused look at Nic, unsure what he wished to do.

Nic reached out with his opposite hand and took Hope's right hand in his, placing the Philosopher's Stone into her hand. "Keep it. You deserve it, dear."

However in regards to Astoria's Blood Curse they have narrowed down the methods to injection into an artery or simply ingested. Hope is suggesting injection. So Astoria doesn't taste that she is drinking blood then give the second injection with the Phoenix Tears to the same site after a 3 minute waiting period.

Nelle was wishing to do the ingestion method since Astoria was so young but after hearing Hope's worries about tasting blood Nelle reluctantly agreed to abide by Hope's choice as it did make some sense to do this via injection.

Nic, Nelle and Hope performed close to 15 experiments with Astoria's blood using varied amounts of blood in milliletres to see what amount they needed to use for the 10 year old girl. They decided that they would use about 50ml of Hope's blood and 5 Tears from a Phoenix.

Hope recommended that she would like to cure Astoria as quickly as possible so Hope added Astoria, Annabeth and Marcus to the Wards to allow the Greengrass' into the property.

Nicolas and Perenelle looked at Hope with raised eyebrows.

"What? Nelle was right. I already added Daphne to the Wards." Hope shrugged with a smirk.

"Of course you have." Nic teased the Tribrid with a grin.

"Does that mean you and Daphne have been walking around here unsupervised?" Nic added with a cheeky smile.

Hope rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately no. I thought it would be a major give away to invite her here since the password for the Floo is 'Flamel Cottage'. Since you two were the ones who suggested the Greengrass sisters come around, now would be a great time to suggest a password change."

Nic and Nelle snorted in amusement.

"That's a fair assessment. We'll change it to 'Fell's Woods Cottage'." Nic replied.

Hope had a look of confusion pass her face. "Why would you guys need to add 'Woods' to the password?"

Nicolas shrugged slightly. "We have more than one cottage, so we've had to give alternate names for our cabins. Add in an extra word and it changes the location of where we end up."

Hope nodded her head in understanding. "Cool. Does that mean I can invite Daphne over whenever?"

"Yes. But all I ask is for you to be safe. Deal?" Nelle says as she holds out her hand.

Hope took Nelle's hand in her own and shook it. "Deal."

"What kind of adoptive parents are you? No sex talk? I'm partially ashamed for you guys." Hope snarked in mockery.

Nelle smacked Hope's shoulder softly in amusement. "I imagine you have already had the sex talk before… Unless you really need another one?"

Hope paled slightly. "Nope! I've already had 5. I'm good."

"5? That's quite a lot. Who gave you the sex talks?" Nelle asks with a shocked laugh.

Hope groaned as she recalled when she received these awkward talks. "My mum gave me one when I was 8. Aunt Freya was next, I was 13. When I was 14 I got a joint sex talk with my Uncle Kol and Aunt Davina. I got a second joint talk with my school Headmasters, Ric and Caroline. My last talk was from my dad when I was 15 but that was more of a, 'I'll rip out their spines and feed them to the wolves if they ever start dating my daughter'."

"Well that's absolutely frightening." Nicolas replied with a white face at her dad's threat.

Hope just grinned.

"Yep." She said, popping the 'p' to draw out the sound.

Over the next weekend Nelle invited the entire Greengrass family around but only Anna, Daphne and Astoria were able to come, Marcus had other engagements with the Ministry of Magic. After Nelle gave a tour of the house except for Nic's Alchemy Room, everyone converged in the living room for lunch.

Hope made small talk while mentally talking to the two birds on her shoulders which have been concealed with one of Hope's invisibility spells.

Daphne kept glancing to just over the tops of Hope's shoulders in confusion, Hope caught Daphne's ice-blue eyes and mouthed the word 'later' at her while motioning her head side to side brushing against the two birds.

Nelle and Nic explained their new method to cure Astoria's Blood Curse, both Daphne and Anna gave extremely fast glances to Hope to which just smiled and waved. "I figured it out on my own. Don't worry I won't tell anyone. Besides, after today Stori will no longer have a Blood Curse so there is nothing to talk about."

Anna blinked while Daphne had a smile on her face that outshined the sun as she looked at Hope, whereas Astoria had a nervous grin on her face as if she couldn't believe it and didn't wish to get her hopes up.

After lunch the brunette Healer sat Astoria on the lounge in front of her as Nelle explained to the Greengrass women how they were going to cure the 10 year old. Nelle had two syringes on the table.

The larger one was filled with Hope's blood while the other, much smaller syringe was filled with the Phoenix Tears. "So to start I will inject the larger syringe into a vein in your most dominant arm. After 3 minutes I'll inject the second syringe into the same arm and we just wait for a day. You'll be cured in 24 hours."

Astoria looked at her mother while biting her lip anxiously, however Annabeth asked with worry coating her voice. "Will my daughter be in any pain? Also what is in the two syringes?"

Hope answered Anna's questions. "Stori won't be in any pain. The first syringe will just feel like a pressure filling your veins with more blood. This syringe is filled with blood of three different species of Magical Beings. None of which will affect Stori in any way and will literally vanish from her blood after the second syringe is injected. The second syringe is filled with undiluted Phoenix Tears. This injection may make Stori uncomfortable for a few minutes as the Phoenix Tears leaves an awkward burning sensation,"

Hope veers off as a recent memory of the Hellhound poison goes through her head. "Well actually it feels more like you've been placed in a slightly too hot bath. It's uncomfortable but most certainly bearable."

All the Greengrasses blinked in disbelief as Nelle and Nic shook their heads in bewilderment at Hope's explanation.

Hope realised it got very quiet and looked up. "Uh… Any chance we will never mention that last part again?"

"What?" Daphne asked in a shocked whisper.

"NO! We are not ignoring this." Daphne yelled getting up from the lounge and pulled Hope up by her arm taking Hope to the auburn haired girls room before stopping for a moment.

Daphne looked back at her family and the Fell's. "Sorry for my behaviour but I need to… 'talk' to Hope." Hope gulped in fear at Daphne's tone as the blonde girl dragged Hope away.

Daphne opened Hope's door and yanked the Tribrid into her room before closing the door behind her and shoving Hope against the door, placing a cold hand on Hope's chest. For some reason Hope's Wolf purred at the feeling of the cool magic on her chest while her Vampire stayed surprisingly quiet but had a massive grin on her face. Pleased at the events taking place.

Daphne's hand kept Hope pinned against the door before threatening the slightly older girl with her newly awakened Ice Magic.

"Start talking." The blonde demanded in a cold voice.

The auburn haired girl gulped again. "Well you were right."

A raised eyebrow was Daphne's only response. "On Platform 9 and ¾ you asked if I was okay. Well apparently I wasn't as okay as I led you to believe. I was poisoned… with Hellhound poison."

Daphne's hand dropped off Hope's chest.

"YOU WHAT?" Daphne screamed at Hope as she paced in the room.

An icy chill filled the room and Hope's Wolf purred in delight as the cooler temperature. "HELLHOUND POISON! HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET POISONED BY A HELLHOUND?!?"

Hope scratched her head sheepishly.

"I went into the 3rd floor corridor at the end of the term, it turns out they had a Hellhound, 'a most painful death' indeed." Hope said, mocking Dumbledore's start of term speech.

"Damn it Hope! Can you stop mucking around for 5 minutes and tell me what happened." Daphne angrily glared at her.

"I got scratched by a Hellhound. I must have a great immune system according to Nelle. She said I should've been dead. I didn't die and I had my Phoenix Myrddin heal me and yes I have a Phoenix." Hope said quickly and honestly as her Wolf threatened to rip her insides out if she dared to lie.

Hope waved her hand in the air and the two birds on Hope's shoulders appeared in a flash of Magic. Daphne's jaw dropped as she saw the elegant midnight Phoenix preening his feathers as he thrilled in amusement at Hope's awkwardness.

Alexandria was sleeping on Hope's left shoulder, snoring softly, not at all bothered by the fact Hope had been moving around or slammed into a door.

"Please don't tell anyone about Myrddin and Alexandria. I don't want people to take advantage of either of them. Phoenix' are already rare as they are, having one bonded to a wizard or witch everyone tries to take advantage of them. Alexandria is a Thunderbird, according to the books I've read on Thunderbirds they have similar traits to a Phoenix but uses lightning instead of fire." Hope pleads with Daphne, taking her hands in her own and resting her forehead against Daphne's breathing in the same air as her Mate.

Daphne brought Hope into a hug instinctively and Myrddin hopped from Hope's shoulder onto Daphne's to avoid Daphne as her face came to rest on Hope's right shoulder.

Daphne sighed into the hug. "I can't lose you Hope. Please don't die."

Hope clung at Daphne tighter. "You won't lose me. I promise."

"I won't tell anyone about Alexandria and Myrddin." Daphne released Hope and went to look for Myrddin.

Daphne jumped slightly when she finally saw him on her left shoulder. "Hi Myrddin. Thank you for offering your Tears for my sister."

Myrddin thrilled happily and nodded his head.

"He said 'You're welcome young one. I'm more than happy to help, your poor sister is just a child she deserves to experience life to the fullest. I'm glad I'm able to help her get better.'"

Daphne straightened her head in shock looking between Myrddin and Hope.

"Yeah. We share a mental bond, actually Alexandria also has access to that Familiar Bond, so I can hear her as well." Hope explained with a smile.

Daphne smiled at Hope brushing some of her blonde hair behind her right ear.

Hope smirked at the girl causing Daphne to blush then cleared her throat. "Right we should rejoin the other--s."

Daphne's eyes widened dramatically. "Oh crap. Everyone must have heard that. We-"

Hope gripped Daphne's upper shoulders loosely. "Love, calm down. No one heard us."

Hope directed Daphne's attention to the bundle of sage. "You see that bundle of sage that is lit and smoking?"

Daphne nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "Well my biological grandmother came up with a spell used on sage that when it's lit, it acts as a privacy spell. It even knocks out listening charms that were in the area previously. I actually gave a bundle to your father for Yule. No one heard us. We're fine."

Daphne's eyebrows came down in a frown. "Your biological grandmother was a witch?"

Hope shrugged but nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah… Would it be possible to explain my biological family later… Please? I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

The blonde girl smiled sadly at Hope and dipped her head slightly in a small nod.

"Actually there is something I want to tell you before your 13th birthday but I want to see if you can guess it before the next Yule holidays or the next Summer holidays depending on when your birthday is?" Hope subtly tried to request Daphne's date of birth.

Daphne scoffed playfully. "Please I'll figure it out."

The blonde looked so smug that Hope smirked at her Mate. "Well I will enjoy you trying to uncover my secret. I've left clues for you to use. In fact, I left a breadcrumb today for you to pick up. Any chance I could still get your birth date, so I can get you presents?"

Daphne's cheeks flushed pink, "17th of January, 1980." Daphne murmured.

"I missed your birthday?" Hope asked, a displeased look crossed Hope's face at the thought.

"You didn't know."

Hope walked over to her desk and pulled out one of the drawers grabbing the necklace she took out of the Emrys vault, however she made a couple of alterations. Hope had Nic place some vervain into the necklace while Hope made a painting of the Greengrass family, shrunk it and had Nic place it into the necklace over the vervain hiding it from sight.

"Turn around love and close your eyes please." Hope requested as she was unhooking the clasp with her back facing Daphne.

Daphne's mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water at the constant endearments Hope keeps calling her.

The Greengrass Heiress turned around and closed her ice blue eyes. "My eyes are closed. When's your birthday dar-, Hope?"

Hope's eyes glanced over to Daphne at the near slip of endearment and tilted her head examining Daphne's profile, appreciating her Mate's beauty before shaking her head slightly and walking up behind Daphne. "2nd of May, twen--- 1979." Hope covered up before she could say 2012.

As Hope raised the necklace above Daphne's head. Myrddin moved over to the edge of Daphne's shoulder to give Hope room and caused the blonde girl to shiver slightly at the feeling of claws shuffling across her shoulder.

"I missed your birthday?" Daphne repeated back to Hope slyly.

"Shhh and keep your eyes shut love." Hope chuckled over Daphne's shoulder as she clasped the lock behind her head and a flash of Magic came from the locket as it activated.

"Having you here for the night is a wonderful birthday gift. But if it worries you so much. You can get me something for the next time you see me."

Hope gathered up Daphne's silky blonde hair and lifted her hair out from under the necklace chain. Hope lets Daphne's hair flow through her fingers as she smells Daphne's wonderful scent, smelling more of Daphne's orange coming from her hair.

Hope leaned closer to Daphne causing her to shiver pleasantly as Hope almost left a kiss on the back of Daphne's neck but held herself back taking in the scent of fresh snow and parchment.

"I will." Daphne whispered. "I'll get you something. I promise."

Hope smiled and murmured, "Let me move you to a mirror love."

The sea-blue eyed girl manoeuvred the blonde girl to stand in front of Hope's full length mirror. "Open your eyes, Daph."

Daphne opened her ice blue eyes and focused her gaze on the locket around her neck. Her hands were trembling as they rose to touch the necklace delicately. "It's beautiful. I love it."

Hope had a stunning smile on her face as she leaned over the taller girl's right shoulder and whispered in her ear. "There's more. Open it."

Daphne's eyes meet Hope's sea coloured eyes through the mirror blushing again as her fingers deftly opened the locket.

Daphne brought the locket up, turned it around before returning her attention to her birthday gift and Daphne gasped in surprise. "You painted my family?"

"Of course. Family is Always and Forever." Hope replied with nostalgia in her voice.

"Do you wanna go show your mother and sister?"

Daphne nodded as she opened Hope's door. Hope called out "invisique" making the two Magical birds vanish from sight again and Myrddin moved slightly on Daphne's shoulder letting her know he was still there. Daphne lightly stroked the Phoenix' wing as she and Hope walked out to her family.

"Are you two okay?" Annabeth asked in concern.

Daphne nodded, "Hope gave me a late birthday gift." She said as she showed her mother and sister.

"Dear Merlin, that's a beautiful piece Hope. Are you sure you want to part with it?" Anna asked the young girl who has a crush on her daughter.

"Perfectly sure. It belongs to the most gorgeous and divine woman in the universe which would be Daphne." Hope answered with a charming smile causing Daphne to blush again due to the compliment.

Hope decided to take some of the heat off her Mate by looking at Astoria who was laughing at her sister's embarrassment. "Although Stori would be a close second with her irresistible personality and exquisite beauty."

Astoria stopped laughing and flushed red as she shyly hid her face behind her mother's frame as Annabeth burst out laughing along with Nic and Nelle.

"Geez Hope, you're making us mere mortals jealous with your outstanding praises on beautiful women." Nic remarked as he turned to his wife.

"Perhaps I need to up my game. What do you think, my love?" The immortal Alchemist suggested.

"We'll see, my amour. You may need to take some lessons from Hope in the art of smooth talking." Nelle replied in a musical laugh.

Hope smirked as she gave an exaggerated bow.

"What I want to know is, how did you go into your room with an irate Daphne and walk out without a single scratch?" Annabeth asked in complete confusion.

"Whenever Daphne had that tone in her voice, no one has ever left the room in high-spirits, in fact they are usually more distraught. I should know. I've been on the opposite end of that tone a few times." Anna mentioned with a laugh.

Hope glanced at Daphne and she raised an eyebrow at her.

"I listened to her and gave her a late birthday gift." Hope answered with an awkward smile as Daphne nodded at the girl still playing with her new necklace.

"Right. Now that we have that out of the way. Astoria, can I have your arm please?" Nelle changed the subject and held out her left hand as Nelle picked up the syringe with Hope's blood in it.

Astoria sighed, shifting closer to Nelle and gave the Healer her right hand. Nelle rearranged Astoria's arm so she could find a vein by casting a wandless Healing charm to make the closest vein to the skin glow with a luminescent light allowing Nelle to make the injection easily.

Stori's eyes were squinted shut as Nelle made the injection.

Hope walked in front of Astoria and knelt in front of her. "Breathe Stori. Look at me, beautiful girl."

Astoria peeked out from closed eyelids to look at Hope and saw Hope smiling before moving her hands in a specific motion as she chanted her Glamour Spell on the roof, "Mutare seu rosto."

Hope glamoured the roof to look like a starry night with twinkling stars and shooting stars. "Look up."

Everyone in the room looked up to the ceiling and gasped in awe at Hope's wandless Magic, they were all so immersed in the glamour that Hope created that 2 and half minutes passed in no time.

No one else had noticed that the needle mark had already healed due to the Vampiric qualities in Hope's blood. Hope picked up the Phoenix Tear syringe and tapped Nelle's arm placing the second syringe in her hand.

Perenelle smiled at Hope before moving over to Astoria and injecting the second syringe into the same vein as before but further down the arm closer to her wrist.

After a few moments Astoria made a hissing noise as she covered her arm where the second injection site would be, except this mark has also healed whether it was from the Tears or Hope's blood. Hope would suggest tossing a coin.

Astoria's whimpers broke everyone out of their trance.

"So what now?" Annabeth asked worryingly as she carefully watched over her daughter.

"We keep her overnight. I'll monitor her vitals. But Astoria will be okay. The burning sensation will dissipate in about 5 minutes." Nelle explained to her friend then looked over to Astoria. "Maybe you could distract yourself with the stars again. It will take your mind off it."

Hope moved over to Daphne and whispered in her ear. "Hug her."

Daphne looked at Hope with a confused look as Hope let out a chuff of amusement.

"Use your Magic. Cool your skin to counteract the heat. Make a cocoon of cold air around you and your sister." Hope explained without anyone noticing.

Daphne got up so she could sit next to Astoria and brought her sister into a magically induced icicle hug just as Hope had suggested.

"I got you Stori." Daphne said softly as she cradles her sister who sighs in contentment.

"Mmm… You feel so cold. It feels wonderful." Astoria moans in delight cuddling her big sister.

Daphne keeps this going for nearly 10 minutes before Astoria mentioned that she was getting cold and Daphne immediately recalled her magic back into herself. "Better?"

Astoria nodded to her sister then her mother. "Actually I feel stronger than before."

Annabeth stayed around for dinner before heading home after consulting both her daughters. Hope offered the two sisters her room while she took the lounge. Daphne tried to talk her out of it but Hope stated that she's wanted a legitimate reason to sleep on the lounge since the first day she saw it.

Nic and Nelle rolled their eyes but verbally confirmed that Hope had wanted to sleep on the lounge and that it was one of the first questions she had when she saw it.

"I'll be fine out here." Hope reassured her Mate.

Since Astoria went to bed early Hope cancelled her invisibility spell and the two birds were flying around outside as Hope created a secondary perch about 5 minutes ago when she realised that she wouldn't be sleeping in her room tonight.

Daphne was moments away from arguing with Hope about expanding her bed so everyone could fit but Hope did something that caused a mental lapse in the blonde haired girl.

Hope kissed Daphne's cheek near the corner of her lips and wished her goodnight as she left her Mate in her room, while Hope's Wolf and Vampire rejoiced in the intimate contact.