Henry slouched in a window seat after being denied by Hope to celebrate as she went to check on Elliot and McGregor in the hospital wing. Countless times she had hurt Elliot and he had hurt her during quidditch matches and practices but they hardly consulted about it afterwards. It wasn't like Madam Liddell couldn't perform her job properly. Henry was sure that Hope was just trying to be polite and make him feel better about going to see McGregor. It obviously wasn't working and Teddy's taunting hadn't made anything better.

"You look really sad over here."

He glanced up to see Tori, who sat across from him. 

"I'm not.." he said looking away from her.

"I'm guessing this has to do with Hope being in the Hospital Wing with Benji."

She had caught his attention once again.

"Yeah, I saw her in there when I went to go check in on him. She beat me to it." she sighed. "Of course, he seemed thrilled to see her, so I guess it was better that she did."

"I bet he would have been just as happy to see you too." Henry reassured her.

The two sat in the window quietly for a few passing seconds.

"You two...are pathetic." Alyssa appeared after walking down the corridor. "Absolutely pathetic."

"Gee, thank you." Henry said. "I needed someone to come lift my spirits, that did just the trick."

"I'm not trying to lift your spirits, I'm trying to open your eyes, stupid." Alyssa said. "The two of you are just sitting here instead of taking action...you realize if you wait too long, it's going to be too late. Act now and let them know."

"There's nothing-" Henry and Tori began to say but Alyssa just threw her head back in frustration and walked off angrily. 

"Your sister has problems." Henry said.

"You're telling me...try living with her. She can be so obnoxious."

"I can see that. I guess I should ap...ap..app.." Henry stopped as he struggled with the word. He hadn't struggled with words since first year and without Hope by his side to assist him. He suddenly felt lost.

"Excuse me." he told Tori quickly before jumping up and leaving the girl alone.

Henry decided to return to the Gryffindor Common Room, wondering if Hope had stayed true to her word and returned from the Hospital Wing. Sure enough, as he entered he found her lying down on one of the sofas, a throw pillow over her face.

"You shouldn't put those pillows on your face..." Henry chuckled grabbing it and lifting it up.

"Why not?" she asked opening one eye and peeking over at him.

"Merlin knows how many people have farted on this thing." Henry said.

"Ew." 

He dropped it to the floor while Hope pulled her shirt over her face to clean it off.

"You're welcome, by the way." Henry plopped down beside her.

"My hero." Hope said dropping her shirt from her face. "I appreciate -"

"Appreciate!" He shouted out causing her to eye him strangely.

"Yes...appreciate...you okay there, Henry?"

Henry stared at the empty fireplace for a moment as sudden realization washed over him. Everything Teddy and Alyssa had been saying over the course of several weeks had been true.

He had just been so completely oblivious to all of it no matter what the two had told him. He didn't realize it until he witnessed how much Hope's presence had an impact on his life. He remembered back to first year when they started Hogwarts and how nervous he had been about starting because of his trouble with speech. For some reason, Henry could say the word in his head but as soon as he tried to say it out loud, he was met with a struggle.

Yet Hope was always there to help him out whenever he was stuck on a word. With the book that his mother had bought for him before he started Hogwarts and Hope, he was able to overcome the speech barrier. However, it appeared as though it returned under stress and without Hope to help him, he had felt so lost.

Hope was his partner in crime, but also his helper, and his other half.

"Moo bubble bubble...wooo...Henry...' He blinked several times and turned his head as Hope's hand waved in his face. As soon as he made eye contact with her, she smiled. "Welcome back. Thought I lost you there for a moment."

"No..never." Henry told her.

"Hey, you promised me something that rhymes with rocolate." she said.

"Ah, right. You're right." He jumped up and ran up to the boy's dorm to retrieve the left over chocolate.

When he came back down, Hope was missing from her place on the sofa.

"Hope?" He turned around in search only to be tackled to the floor.

"My chocolate." Hope smiled at him as she took the bag from his hand. "Thank you."

"Was all that necessary?" he asked peering up at her as she sat on him.

"Yeah...I would say so." 

"My back hurts now."

"There, there." she chuckled. "Chocolate will make everything better." She reached in the bag and pulled out a piece of chocolate before dropping it into his mouth.

"Hope...chocolate doesn't exactly heal-"

"Shhh." she placed her finger over his lips. "Chocolate heals all."

"But my back still hurts..."

"That just means you have to eat more!"

"Hope, I don't want- STOP!" He tried to push her hands away as she aggressively shoved chocolate in his face. "I don't want it!"

"Liar!"

"I swear, I will scream for help!" he warned her.

"As if anyone is going to come running. I'm the one who helps you, remember?"

"Oh right...forgot about that. Well, I'm still going to scream bloody murder if you don't get off of me."

Suddenly, Hope jumped up, but Henry knew it wasn't that easy. It was never that easy to get Hope to listen.

"I just thought of a plan...inspiration comes to me in the form of chocolate." she smiled looking at the portrait hole. "Come, Henry! We have much to do and a short time frame to do it!"

"Wait." He sat up as she walked away. "Hope? Now wait just a second! What...What are we going to do ? Why is there a time limit? How is chocolate involved in this? Hope? HOPE!"