chapter 43

As 3 of the 4 Tri-Wizard Champions make their way out of the Infirmary along with their entourage minus Madam Pomfrey and Krum of course. Hermione and Harry were bickering back and forth about the scores and how they were actually awarded.

Hermione called out. "Excuse me Freya? Hope?"

The two Mikaelson witches turned back to look at the slightly frazzled brunette Gryffindor as Freya answered with a curious, "Yes?"

"Harry and I were just wondering but how are the points for the Task actually given?"

Freya and Hope shared a look as Hope decided to answer. "The 3 Headmasters as well as 2 Ministry Officials, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch Sr, will each give us a score out of 10. Due to us all completing said Task the lowest points they can award us is 2."

Freya grumbled to herself as she summoned the Emrys Codex into her hand. "Since my niece has a tendency to be screwed over by unforeseen phenomenons. I looked around for a damn rulebook for this 'Tournament', although I'd much rather call it a bloodsport."

"I mean who in their right mind would allow school children to compete in a bloodsport!?" Freya angrily announced as she flipped through the pages of her book.

The group around Freya all remained silent as they happened to agree with her but knew that if anyone but Hope spoke to her at this time she would focus that deadly Mikaelson glare on them.

Once Freya found the right page she read aloud while keeping pace with the students, parent of the Champions and the lone Auror.

"The points for the Tasks are allocated as follows:

If the task or objective has been completed, the Champion receives 25 points.

A total of upto 5 points can be awarded the physical and magical state of the Champion, if the Champion survives they receive 1 point.

The time of which the task or objective is completed can also award up to 5 points, again if the Champion survives they receive 1 point.

The remaining 15 points are given to the performance, magical prowess and strategic planning the Champion had shown, if Champion completed the task they are rewarded a minimum of 5 points (1 for performance, 1 for prowess and 3 for strategy).

If the Champion forfeits the Task, they receive 0."

The group remained silent for a time before Harry asked the 3 Emrys members. "Sooo… Are we following the rules or what Hope said earlier about the Headmasters and Officials picking our score?"

Daphne let out a long painful sigh. "Have a guess. I'm fairly certain you'll get it right."

Hope shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not going to fight them on this. The points don't truly matter much. They only decide who gets the early start in the 3rd Task."

Daphne and Freya considered this and made a small hum in the back of their throats as they agreed with Hope.

Fleur broke away from her family for a bit as she rejoined her fellow Champions. "So just curious, but if we used the actual ruling system. What should our score be?" The Veela asked the ancient witch in front of the group.

Freya thought to herself before looking over to Tonks. "Well if I'm giving scores based on this rulebook then Tonks can correct me if she thinks I'm wrong."

"Huh?" Tonks replied in shock as she heard her name.

The Metamorphmagus bubblegum hair changed to a deep red before reverting back quickly as she was caught off guard. "Yeah! Sure. I can do that Heir Emrys."

The elder Mikaelson woman glanced over to Harry. "Guess I should start from the beginning. Harry completed his task as did everyone else, so everyone at the very least has 25 points to their name. 5 full points for time. No injuries, therefore another 5. Performance, I'd give a 2 just because everyone was dumbfounded that a 1st year spell could complete the Task in record time. Magical prowess would be a 1, again it was a 1st year spell, nothing overly special. Then for strategy I'd have to give a 5 even though I know that Hope gave you the idea. I didn't know that until after the Task so it would be 5."

Freya looks over to Tonks with a raised eyebrow while the Auror had a thoughtful expression on her face. "I agree with Heir Emrys on all accounts. Sorry cus, but I believe that's a total of 43 which is incredibly impressive for a 4th year!"

The Delacours and Flamels shared a quick glance to one another before nodding in agreement. "Junior Cadet Tonks is quite right." Sebastian pointed out.

Perenelle gave a sweet smile towards the raven haired boy. "You did very well Harry."

Harry gave a large grin as he turned back to Hermione and moved his hand to Hermione's so they could walk to the stadium hand in hand.

"Fleur is next." Freya interjected before anyone else could go as they were only a couple of minutes away from the arena the Champions had just survived only a few moments ago.

"Automatic 25 for completing the Task, matching 5's for time and no injury. Performance was boring, sorry Fleur, but you put a Dragon to sleep, not exactly exciting, so that would be a 1. The strategy worked wonders thus a 5 and from my understanding actually having the magical power to enchant a Dragon into a deep sleep is incredibly difficult, right?"

Tonks gave a disbelieving scoff. "More like impossible." The pink haired woman grumbled before looking over to the Delacour family and gave an awkward half grin as she realised they overheard her.

Freya gave an appraising glance to the young disowned Black woman as she tsk'ed her tongue in understanding. "I thought so. Therefore Fleur's magical prowess would be a 5. I don't give a damn that Fleur used her Veela side to enchant the Dragon as this book was before a time of prejudice and discrimination."

Unsurprisingly everyone nodded in agreement with the Immortal Witch.

Freya smirked to herself before counting up the score for the Champion from Beauxbatons. "If I did my maths right, that would give Fleur a total of 46."

Gabrielle squealed as she ran over to her sister and gave her a tight hug that went around Fleur's middle. Fleur had a polite smile on her face at the score she was given as she was quite proud of it but she also knew that she wouldn't get a score this accurate from the Tri-Wizard Officials.

"Thank you Freya." Fleur smiled at the dark blonde witch.

The eldest Mikaelson gave a light shrug. "All I'm doing is being honest. You received that score by your own actions. But if it helps, then you're welcome."

"I'll also give Krum a score using this scoring system since I'm kinda now interested in how different the scores are going to be. So 25 for completing the Task. Time… I'd say Hope and Viktor finish in the same amount of time… It wasn't overly long but it wasn't short either so maybe a 3?" Freya questioned her thoughts aloud to Tonks.

Nic was the one to actually reply as he scratched at the stubble on his chin. "I believe a 3 would be appropriate. If either match were to continue for another 10 minutes or so either Champion could've been killed."

Perenelle frowned at that thought before moving over to Hope's over side without the blonde Greengrass and softly grazed her hand along Hope's entire arm wishing to seek out some comfort from her daughter. Hope looked down at her arm at the feeling before smiling at Nelle and linking their fingers together for a few moments before letting go.

Freya's eye twitched at the mental image of Hope dying before she shook her head to clear the thought. "Right. So a 3 for time. I'd give a 2 for health considering he was able to leave the arena of his own volition. So that's 30 currently. Then his performance was okay, not great but not bad thus another 3. His strategy for blinding the Dragon worked but time to achieve his objective, so I'd say a 4…"

Freya waited for a moment and looked around. No one offered any rebuttal so she kept going. "As for his performance… Reasonably I'd give him another 4 as a 17 year old did outstandable well against a Dragon with little preparation. I'm not going to compare him to Hope as I know what my niece is capable of and I also know how much more powerful Hope is compared to most witches and wizards… Probably because we are from a Legendary House? Who knows?" Freya attempted to steer the conversation away while giving a legitimate reason to those who are in the dark about Hope and Freya's universal transgressions.

A symphony of murmurs sounded as the Delacours sounded their agreement along with Tonks while Daphne, Fleur, Nic, Nelle, Harry and Hermione covered for the Mikaelson aunt and niece duo.

"So Krum would've received a 41 point total." Hope butted in as she wanted to change the subject away from herself and her aunt.

"What do you think you got?" Daphne asked as she bumped into Hope's shoulder lightly.

Hope thought about it for a second. "Well… I got the default 25 for getting the egg, Aunt Freya mentioned my time was similar to Viktor's, so that's 3. Um… Injury wise… I was magically exhausted and I did take a fair few hits, so maybe a 2 or a 3 there?"

"Can we give halves? Because I would've suggested a 2 ½." Tonks questioned as she looked over to Freya.

"I don't see why not." Freya answered with a small shrug.

The Viking Witch continued on with Hope's score. "I'd give 5 for performance. Another 5 for her magical ability against a magic resistant Dragon."

Before Freya could give the strategy score Hope chose this moment to butt in. "I wouldn't accept a 5 for strategy. None of them worked."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "The only reason they didn't work was because someone screwed with your Task." The blonde angrily glared directly in front of her as she grinded her teeth together in frustration.

Freya sighed as she took a moment to collect herself as she was not at all impressed by the blatant sabotage she currently assumes Dumbledore created but couldn't prove at this time. "Enough Daphne. We'll settle this at the Wizengamot session at the end of the year."

"In the meantime, as much as your strategies didn't work, they should have." Freya directed towards her niece. "To me, a 4 is too small but you won't accept a 5 so perhaps a 4 ½ is appropriate here?"

"Sounds good to me." Harry admitted as he knows that Hope had back-up plan after back-up plan at her disposal.

"So that makes… 45?" Gabrielle asked as she stared up longingly towards Hope.

Hope hummed an affirmative sound as the group made their last turn before they were back at the arena.

The families branched off back to their seats while the Champions remained standing opposite to the judge's table with their partners beside them. Hermione stayed close to Harry as they whispered quietly amongst themselves. Daphne stood between her two Champions with a displeased scowl on her gorgeous face, staring directly at the Tri-Wizard Officials.

Thankfully the competitors didn't have to wait too long for the Officials to announce their scores. The judges magically showed their number out of 10 going in the order in which they were seated so it starts with Dumbledore, Maxine, Karkaroff, Bagman then Crouch at the end.

Dumbledore started off the scoring with a massive '10', "For being able to find the most simple of solutions in the face of a challenge seemingly impossible."

Harry wanted to huff in annoyance but remained silent with Hermione holding his hand acting as an anchor, keeping his frustration at bay as he ran his thumb over the back of her smooth hand.

"Tiz waz very imprezzive that you were able to complete your Task wit'in such a sh'ort time frame but the per'ormance waz rat'er boring. So I give you a 6." Came the harsh French accented response from the Beauxbatons Headmistress."

Karkaroff sneered and created a '4' without saying a word. Bagman made a '3' with his magic, "I was expecting so much more excitement from the Boy-Who-Lived, the performance was very poor and not a show I would want to watch again."

Harry shrugged at that review and waited for Crouch who created a '4' and twirling his wand so all the numbers joined together to add up to the total of 27.

The Gryffindor boy looked back to Fleur and Hope before whispering. "I actually expected a lower score than that."

Hope and Fleur shrugged their shoulders half-heartedly as they also expected the scoring to be rigged.

The Veela quietly murmured to her two lovers. "I bet that my Headmistress would be so ashamed that I used my Veela abilities to defeat the Dragon and will give me possibly my lowest mark in the group."

Hope visibly frowned while Daphne turned to Fleur and took a hand into her own. "Then she's a hypocrite and you deserve better than her as a Headmistress." Daphne informed the other blonde woman with such certainty that Fleur actually believed what the Slytherin Ice Queen told her.

The scores for Fleur are as follows: 7, 5, 6, 4 and 5. A grand total of 27 and a lot of backhanded remarks on how she used her Veela to complete the Task.

"Can I kill them?" Daphne muttered under her breath.

"Not yet love. Although Sebastian and Apolline looked absolutely livid!" Hope responded quickly as she watched as Sebastian held back Apolline while Nelle held onto a very pissed off Gabrielle who looked to be swearing in French at the Officials.

"I'm not surprised. My family supports me and is exceptionally understanding about my Veela side, so when someone discriminates against me, they lose their temper. Although papa is better at hiding it in public… well that is until he rips into them in a Wizengamot meeting."

Daphne and Hope gave a small smile as they both responded. "You know. I'd love to see that."

Fleur was smirking as the Officials gave out Krum's scores: 8, 8, 10, 8 and 7.

Hermione was the first to say. "Why do I think that they are literally judging on the performances and entertainment you were able to provide?"

"Because it is." Daphne replied with a cold expression as the joint number of '41' appeared for Viktor.

The Gryffindors sighed in disappointment as Hope's score was called. There was a '4' from Dumbledore and the crowd boo'ed him loudly for such a small number in regards to the extensive performance Hope provided.

The Hogwarts Headmaster waited until the crowd settled down which took nearly 3 minutes before he spoke in a passive tone. "The reasoning behind my score is because Miss Mikaelson used a vast array of dangerous and unsanctioned spells. It wouldn't be right to award her for using such spells."

Hope glanced over to her aunt who had the most dangerous death glare on her face right now as she mentally ripped the old man apart piece by piece.

Hope on the other hand leaned over to Daph and whispered. "I actually expected a 2 or lower. I thought he'd try to forfeit me."

"Sounds like something he'd do… Have you noticed that not one of the Officials mentioned that your Dragon was sabotaged?" Daphne replied with a visible frown.

Hope was barely paying any attention to the words that the judges gave her but saw the rest of her numbers: 9, 7, 10 and 5. The numbers merged together to show '35' at which Hope tilted her head in confusion.

"Bunch of bullshit." Hope muttered as she crossed her arms under her breasts.

"Yep." Came the chorus of responses of the pair of blondes and the Gryffindor couple.

Hope grunted before a look of gleeful realisation crossed her face and she smiled brightly as she turned Daphne to face her. Daphne's ice blue eyes were furrowed in confusion as she felt Hope's happiness and anxiousness.

"Daphne Annabeth Emrys nee Greengrass. Would you provide me the honour of escorting you to the Yule Ball?" Hope clearly stated her intent and marital status all within a simple sentence which echoed throughout the quiet arena.

Fleur, Harry and Hermione all looked exceptionally surprised at the change of subject while Harry looked off into the crowd to see Dumbledore looking like he was sucking on a very tart lemon, whereas in the background the Gryffindor Golden Boy watched as Professor McGonnagall fainted behind the judges table.

Daphne smiled genuinely in front of the entire school which had them all dropping their jaws to the ground in shock. "Of course. I would love to go to the Ball with you Hope Mikaelson."

Hope gave a very chaste kiss to Daphne before breaking it off and walking out of the arena only stopping long enough to drag Fleur along with them. "Sorry about that. I promised Daph that I would take her to the Yule Ball this year. Although we will quite happily share a dance with you."

"So who am I supposed to go with? All the boys here are immature and inappropriate." Fleur pouted slightly.

"What about Viktor? I know he's in a relationship at the moment but from what I can tell she's unable to come here for the Ball as Hogwarts won't allow it for some God only knows what reason. You also have no interest in pursuing him… right?" Hope suggested before realising that she was pushing the older woman into joining their relationship without giving her the chance to think it over.

Fleur however either didn't notice that Hope was pressuring her or didn't care as she looked thoughtful at the suggestion the auburn haired girl made. "That's actually not a bad idea."

Immediately after the scores had been given Freya had rejoined the Mated pair and told Daphne that her parents were waiting for her in Diagon Alley. A small frown appeared on Daphne's immaculate features as she wondered why Freya would be telling her this. The elder Mikaelson gave a small smile as she explained that she spoke to Nic about the Pure Ice Dragonstone the blonde had been gifted.

Hope let out a small 'oh' as her brain caught up with her. The Tribrid turned to her wife and informed her that her current wand will no longer work for her now that she has been gifted a Magical Core more in tune with her magic.

Once the 3 members of the Emrys House were out of sight from the crowd Myrddin had appeared in a burst of fire and flame travelled Freya and Daphne out of Hogwarts since he was able to safely travel with multiple companions. Alexandria was not far behind as she cracked into existence above Hope then transported the Tribrid out of the Hogwarts Wards via lightning travel.

The women appeared in front of Ollivanders, joining Annabeth and Marcus Greengrass who both jumped at the sudden appearance of the Emrys family.

"Hi dad. Hi mum." Daphne greeted her parents with a hug.

The Greengrass pair returned their daughter's hug before they greeted the Mikaelson women. They both shook Freya's hand, while Marcus also shook Hope's hand Annabeth gave the young girl a hug. "I heard you had to face a Dragon. I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks Anna." Hope replied with a tired smile.

Noticing that Hope looked exhausted as Freya and Daphne looked like they were barely holding it together, the Greengrass' decided quickly to not waste any more time. Marcus opened the door to Ollivanders as the bell sounded above their heads. Lord Greengrass held the door open for all his companions before entering himself.

Garrick Ollivander walked out slowly from his office before looking curiously at the group in front of him. "What can I do for you today Lords, Ladies and Heiress'?"

Daphne moved forward as she summoned the Pure Ice Dragonstone to her hand. "The Dragon that my wife had fought in her First Task had gifted me this item to use as a Magical Core. As you know when a Magical Core is gifted freely from a Magical Creature the item is made specifically for that witch or wizard thus I will be needing a new wand. Are you able to craft such an item?"

Ollivander stared dumbfounded at the practically non-existent Magical Core. The Wandmaker had always wanted to work with such an item but since it wasn't a Ministry item he wasn't allowed.

"No sorry… It's not a Ministry sanctioned Magical Core that I have been given permission to work with."

All the Greengrass' were expecting this response and gave a small nod in acceptance before walking out of the shop.

"So does this mean we are going to Hephaestus Wandcrafters?" Hope asked with a smirk.

Daphne frowned at this smirk as she didn't know why Hope was being so cheeky. "Yes… How do you know about Hephaestus Wandcrafters?"

"I had to get my wand crafted for me. Nothing worked. Nelle, Nic and I had a feeling that would be the case and came prepared." Hope answered truthfully.

"Although I think I had more fun terrorising Jamie, the wandcrafter. I'm kinda hoping he'll be there today. He'd probably have a heart attack realising that he crafter Lady Emrys' wand." Hope added as an afterthought.

Freya shook her head at her niece's antics as she opened the door to the Wandcrafter. Jamie was at the counter reading the newspaper as his eyes scanned upwards to his potential customers he froze.

His eyes locked with Hope's as he gulped loudly. "So… Lady Emrys… How's the wand treating you?"

Hope grinned devilishly at the man. "Not bad at all considering I'm not dead yet."

Jamie swallowed at the lump in his throat before looking at the other customers and paling at the political power alone.

"Right… How can I help?" Jamie asked as he scanned over the group wondering who would come forward.

The youngest Greengrass of the 3 moved forward and Jamie glanced at Hope for a second before recalling the emergency notice in the Daily Prophet. That Lady Emrys is married to Daphne Greengrass making her the Consort Emrys.

The beautiful blonde woman snapped her fingers and a fist sized icy stone materialised in her hand. "I was hoping that since you did such a fine job with my wife's wand you would be able to grant me with such a wand using this Pure Ice Dragonstone."

Jamie blinked in shock for a few moments before nodding slowly. "I can… Do you have a recording—"

Marcus supplied the cream coloured recording crystal which Jamie requested a moment to authenticate it. After a minute he reappeared and handed the crystal back. "So since this is a one of a kind Magical Core I will ask for payment in advance and a confidentiality that if the wandcrafting process doesn't work you can not sue me or the business."

Hope smirked slightly. "You said the same thing for me."

"Yes. But those items shouldn't be able to be mixed together. The fact that they did still surprises me to my core." Jamie replied with an anxious look on his face.

Daphne looked over to Hope who nodded her agreement. The blonde witch placed the icy stone onto the counter as Marcus came forward to pay for the wandcrafting with his ring.

After nearly 10 minutes a new white coloured wand has been created.

Jamie looked like he was freezing as he held out the new pine wand to the Consort Emrys.

"Sweet Merlin, that wand is freezing!" Jamie complained with a full bodied shiver.

Jamie applied a few warming charms to himself before offering the wand lore to the blonde girl. "The wand is 11 ½ inches, smooth and rigid. The straight-grained pine wand always chooses an independent, individual master who may be perceived as a loner, intriguing and perhaps mysterious. Pine wands enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, will adapt unprotestingly to new methods and spells. Wand core is Pure Ice DragonStone. No one has ever used this as a wand core before, but it will freeze anyone who touches it, except for those who the Dragon had gifted the wand to. The wand excels in ice magic and Duelling."

Hope, Daphne and Freya all smirked at the description while Jamie, Marcus and Annabeth looked frightened at what that smirk could mean.

Nearly a week after the end of the First Task Professor McGonnagall informed the Hogwarts student body of the upcoming Ball on Christmas Day and what is to be expected of the host school.

Basically she explained that there were etiquettes to follow and not to embarrass themselves or the school. McGonnagall had also pulled both Harry and Hope away for a short time to explain that they would be opening the Ball with a dance.

Harry cheerfully smiled as he told his Head of House that he was going with Hermione since he was aware of the Ball due to Hope's formal invitation she gave Daphne. Hope gave a small smile as she looked past McGonagall's shoulder to see her Mate smiling back at her.

The Deputy Headmistress looked slightly put out as she asked Hope whether or not she was certain that she could go to the Ball with another girl as she had a feeling someone was going to bring it up. Hope tilted her head in suspicion for a moment before realising that the Lion's Head of House was actually trying to help her.

Hope nodded to the Professor before explaining that her aunt had looked at the charter and rules for the Tri-Wizard Tournament a few days ago, knowing that someone would try to pry the married pair apart. The Hogwarts Champion told the elderly Scottish woman that written in the charter it says that a Champion must open the Ball with a traditional waltz, it never signifies the gender requirements for the dance nor does it say that all attendees must have a date.

The Professor gave a light sigh as she was afraid she would suffer at the wrath of the Emrys family for bringing up her concern for the witch's pair.

On Hope and Daphne's morning run Fleur had joined them for a lap before they were forced to stop and turn around due to the crowd that formed around Krum while he was doing his morning exercises. Viktor looked rather bored as he regarded his fanbase but a small smile appeared when he saw the other 2 Champions. The girls around him sighed loudly at the smile as they mooned over the Bulgarian Seeker with lustful eyes.

Fleur tapped on the other two witches' shoulders requesting them to stay as she walked past the wall of obsessed fans to walk up to Krum.

"Hello Viktor." Fleur regarded him politely. "I'm glad to see you up and about. The Champion meetings are not the same without you."

The corner of Viktor's mouth lifted up in a smirk as he knew the Veela never did anything without a reason and no one in the crowd was aware that there was no such thing as Champion meetings. The girls around the 2 Champions from the visiting schools glared viciously at the silver haired lustrous woman.

"Thank you Fleur. I have missed our chats with Harry and Hope. They mean a great deal to me."

Krum gave the woman an opening to which Fleur had no problem using as laughed musically before moving closer to the young man. "Mr Krum. I was hoping that due to our friendship we have formed over the last month, if you would be interested in going to the Yule Ball with me?"

Hope and Daphne looked amused as they watched all the fangirls' jaws drop in shock. The Emrys couple were trying desperately to hold in their laughter at the red face among the entire crowd as the Hogwarts boys were hoping that the beautiful Veela would ask them to the Ball.

"You know traditionally in Bulgaria the man would normally ask out the woman?" Krum cheekily replied much to Fleur's amusement.

"Oh, I know. We have that in France too. I was just inspired by our fellow female Champion asking out her wife. You don't always see a woman asking out her date so I wanted to try it." Fleur verbally volleyed back with a blinding smile.

Viktor actually gave the Veela a true laugh as he nodded his head. "That's understandable and quite brave of you and Lady Emrys. In any case, yes. I accept your invitation Miss Delacour."

Shocked gasps filled the area before practically the entire crowd ran back to the castle with tears in their eyes.

Viktor and Fleur shared a vexing grin and Krum gave the woman a thankful nod as he could now do his exercises in peace. Hope and Daphne came up to Krum to check in on him, see how he was feeling after the Task. Viktor shrugged off the concern but there was now a haunted look in his eyes that wasn't there before and the 3 women looked at him with sympathy.

However it seems with the introduction of Hope's Legendary status the Tribrid has been challenged to multiple Wizard Duels of her own which Hope accepted only because she was bored. Professor Flitwick was still busy officiating Wizard Duels for Freya so Hope and Daphne were still unable to go to their actual Duelling classes.

Their Emrys couple decided that they were still going to use the normal Duelling classes as a time for practice and Hope took the initiative to teach Daphne some spells from her own world when she was bored. The blonde witch took great pride in being able to magically remove someone's mouth when someone was attempting to insult her. Although sometimes Daphne decided that she wanted to make her own Wizard Duels to see how she would fare against her peers.

The Slytherin Ice Queen defeated them easily, always with a smile on her face as she was finally able to Duel some of her more annoying classmates who have been taunting her wife for years. Daphne was also immensely pleased when she was able to Duel on behalf of the Emrys family as she felt like it was the highest honour to represent the Legendary House of Emrys.

Due to all the Duels the Emrys House were accepting and dishing out Madam Pomfrey was ever so thankful that Perenelle was staying at the castle with Nicolas Flamel. The Healer was an avid listener when Perenelle was teaching another form of Healing or an alternate method to heal someone.

The Healers mixed together a few large cauldrons full of Hope and Freya's poultice as it was an easy mixture to make and has a long shelf life. On the plus side the poultice doesn't require any magic for it to heal a patient which means the Healers can prioritise who they actually need to use their magic on to heal them.

Nicolas was staying mainly in the Infirmary with his wife after he had a long discussion with Dumbledore after the Headmaster had pulled him up to his office to speak privately to him. Nic was furious with Dumbledore as the 100 year old wizard was trying to manipulate him, trying to make him believe that Hope, his daughter, was going down a very dark path.

The Immortal Alchemist last straw was drawn when Dumbledore attempted to cast a compulsion charm to influence him. Since Hope had worked with the Flamels, Greengrass', Luna, Harry and Fleur on how to improve their Occlumency skills the compulsion had no effect on Nic.

The normally peaceful man was absolutely livid at Dumbledore's attempt to control him and cut ties with the man then and there.

Hope and Daphne were barely able to spend any time with Fleur except for their morning runs that the Veela had chosen to join the Emrys couple as her Headmistress was pressuring her too much for the Tri-Wizard Tournament while trying to limit her abilities. Practically telling her not to use her Veela powers in the next Task.

Fleur vented angrily to the married pair during their runs, Daphne took it in stride realising that the half-giant Headmistress was being very hypocritical considering Madam Maxine's mixed heritage.

Hope on the other hand took the lead in this conversation as she understood what Fleur was being asked to do. Hope vehemently defended Fleur as she told the Veela that she probably won't be hiding her other sides for very long. Even mentioning that she had used her vampiric speed in the First Task and that her healing factor was the main reason that she wasn't bleeding out or injured after battling her Dragon. Hope confessed that Nelle has never healed her since she has been living with the Flamels due to accelerated healing.

The Tribrid did calm down after a while and rubbed her forehead as she gave herself a stress induced headache. Hope's real advice to Fleur was to do whatever she felt comfortable doing, whether it was only using her witch abilities, which Hope was able to help the silver-blonde woman unlock her true potential, so this option wouldn't be impossible. But if she did only use her witch side she would be completely ignoring a part of herself.

Fleur had noticed the saddened look on both Hope and Daphne's faces and frowned at the expressions on the gorgeous women's faces. When Fleur was about to question why they looked so disheartened, Hope gave a sad smile as she told Fleur that one of her parents last requests of her before they died was not to deny any part of herself.

The older girl sighed sadly as she pulled Hope into a hug.