"HOPE"

HOPE: a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; the four letter word had two different meanings for Lorelei Black, the first one obviously being her bestfriend, but the second and the disappointing one being the actual definition. Lorelei Black once used to hope, when her heart was naive enough to believe that her hopes and dreams mattered.

As a child she spent an awful lot of time hoping. Hoping that her mother would come home to meet her, just once, and tell her that her leaving had nothing to do with Lorelei not being good enough for her, she wanted Neveah to hug her and tell her that she did love her, but it never happened even now that Neveah Ross has explained from time to time again the reason she left all Lorelei could gather was she left because of her. I mean what kind of kid sends their mother into a literal state of panic instead of euphoria?

Lorelei hoped. She hoped to be the best version of herself any way she could, she got good grades, she spent time as a beater on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, she was nice to everyone and she was a good kid, even when it got frustrating for her she was nice, she was good.

And then she saw the article about her dad escaping, and she remembers thinking this is it, she'd get to see him, she'd get to hug him and she'd get to tell him all the stories about how she was the top of her class, like he used to be. Beater of the Quidditch team, like he used to be. Gifted in charms, like he used to be. She wanted to tell him that she was just like him.

She didn't get the chance to, because as it turns out that even after all those years — Sirius Black chose the Potters over his own daughter, and that was the year Lorelei Black stopped.

She stopped hoping and she started becoming better, not good, but better — a better version of who she really was.

Cedric was with her through it all, even when Birdie couldn't be because of her brother, of course she loved him, Lorelei was in love with him and no matter how much she tried to steer away from the concept of a relationship she'd always wondered.

Would the events of the Triwizard Tournament have turned out differently than it did, if she'd just told him?

She couldn't find it out now, it was too late because he wasn't here anymore, and all she could do is wonder.

Lorelei stared at the piano keys in front of her and her fingers hovered above them, she kept looking and looking but she couldn't bring herself to press the keys, she had the song in mind and she remembered the tune, but she couldn't do it.

She had never played to anyone before, she had never even told anyone that she enjoyed playing to clear off her head — she was going to sing to her friends though, play them something by ABBA or maybe Queen, perhaps even 'Oh, Darling' by the Beetles — the song Cedric absolutely adored. Lorelei remembers Birdie sneaking the record player in and Lorelei bringing in all the stolen vinyls from her aunt's collection and Cedric being so unbelievably happy whenever 'Oh, Darling' would come on, he'd grab El, or Birdie and spin them around while he burst out into random dance movies, and Bianca would just sit as far away from them as possible.

He didn't get to hear her play.

"Having trouble with remembering?" Lorelei heard her aunt say, she quickly jumped to her feet, and made her way to embrace the older woman standing by the door frame, "Missed you too, kid"

"I love you, aunt Si" Lorelei said, burying her face in her aunt's shoulders, Sirene looked down at the kid with her brows furrowed.

"Do I need to beat your father up?" Sirene asked jokingly (Not really, though, she very much did want to beat her brother up).

"I wouldn't mind it..." Lorelei trailed off, releasing a chuckle, of course she was joking — no one needed to be beat up by Sirene Black. No one.

"I leave for four days and suddenly she's your favorite" Andrew Rosier came into view, three big suitcases floating around him, Lorelei assumed they were all Regan's, the girl travels with practically her whole room, but then again who was Lorelei to judge?

"I don't have any favorites" Lorelei rolled her eyes, pulling her uncle into a hug, she then whispered in his ear, "You're definitely my favorite though"

"That's my niece!" Andrew ruffled her hair, the smile on his face more prominent and the wrinkles on his face looking a bit more defined.

Sometimes Lorelei had to pause and remember that she was growing up and growing old, it's a very weird concept to her. Sometimes, it felt like just yesterday when Lorelei would pull on Regan's hair or Regan would jump on Lorelei and body slam her on the ground just to grab the lollipop Lorelei had in hand.

"Geez, dad thanks for helping me with all my luggage" Regan said, dragging her trunk and almost falling over in the process, "It's really great that you care!"

"Don't mention it, Reggie!" Andrew said with a grin, Regan rolled her eyes at her father — she did love him a lot but sometimes she wanted her father to not be as sarcastic as her.

Regan actually did end up tumbling down on the floor, her trunk landing with a loud crash and then suddenly a loud voice boomed through the hallway, startling the Rosiers and Blacks. Sirene's eyes widened, it couldn't be... "Filthy blood traitors in my house! Filling them up with half breeds and creatures!" ...yup, that was definitely her.

"Don't worry I'll shut her up!" Lorelei called out to her dad who was about to make his way to argue with his mother, probably, Lorelei took her wand out, wanting to burn the portrait down when she saw the woman for the first time since she'd arrived at Grimmauld Place.

Walburga Black looked exactly like her aunt and father, she had the same structure and the same intimidating grey eyes every Black has. Walburga Black squinted her eyes at the girl standing in front of her portrait, "What do you want girl?"

"For you to shut up" Lorelei said without missing a beat, "or ashes of a portrait to flush down the toilet, your choice"

Walburga pursed her lips, if she wanted this attitude she would've just talked to her children...

🫐

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT?" Hope said, pressing her ear to the fake clay one they'd made, the hearing device was still under progress and Hope won't lie, watching the Weasley twins work in perfect synchronization and bouncing ideas off each other wasn't half bad.

Of course, Lorelei didn't agree.

Lorelei Black could argue that the time spent with those little demons was infuriating, she hated how George would try to tease her every chance he got and she also hated how sulky his brother was, the only tolerable person there was probably Ginny, the girl was smart, like really smart, for a fourth year she had a vast knowledge of spells and a need to learn.

Lorelei Black actually admired Ginerva, she was one of the bravest people from what she's heard about her, and when she'd visited Ginny after the whole chamber of secrets fiasco, the girl was shaken but Lorelei could see that she was having an internal battle with herself, she was fighting the urge to cry, Lorelei would know she'd done it herself a lot growing up.

So, Lorelei closed the curtains and hugged Ginny, it was weird at first and the small girl was taken by surprised but soon the first tear fell, then the second and each tear kept replacing the other and the light sobs turned into full on wails.

Ginny had never thanked Lorelei officially for that, but Lorelei could tell the girl cared because of the small gestures she made — sending her chocolates for Christmas, sometimes trying her hand at knitting and even asking her mum to make a jumper for Lorelei.

Lorelei had formed a bond with the girl, almost like a sister, though not really because Regan was her sister and she wasn't sure she wanted another one of those running around.

"I want in" Regan popped her head between Hope and Lorelei's startling everyone but Lorelei as she rolled her eyes.

"We are not very sure what you mean, Regan" Lorelei said, flipping the page of the notebook she was writing the spell about purposely to avoid Regan peeking.

"The clay ears" Regan slid a chair over to the table, "I want in"

"The clay what?" Hope asked, her brows furrowed, "I have no idea what you're talking about"

"I can it see it on the table..."

"You see nothing"

"Fine, then I'll just tell the adults that you're all planning to eavesdrop on material that can be life threatening—" Ginny slapped her hand over Regan's mouth, Regan licked it, Ginny yelped jumping back in surprise.

"Disgusting" Ginny scrunched her nose.

"Fine" George sighed, "Here, if you want to do something you can start with researching how to make the magic in the ear last without pointing your wand at it" he pushed a spell book towards her, Regan pushed it back.

"I don't like to read" Regan said and Lorelei looked up, she knew Regan had trouble reading — she always said the letters looked funny to her, almost as if they were jumping around.

"You can shape some ears, if you want" Lorelei offered, Regan nodded and everyone went on to continue with their work.

The amount of times the adults passed by just to make sure it wasn't some sort of illusion and the kids were actually studying (Well, kids excluding Regan — in their eyes she was just playing with clay) was concerning, little did they know...

i'm literally in such a slump.