The Tribrid and Her Prison {Book One - Complete}

Existing Into Nothing

By day seven, Hope was restless.

Closing the last book Newt had given to her about magical creatures, she let out a soft sigh. She could feel her body healing.

Growing stronger.

The potions must be working, but thinking about it, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a brew. Madam Florence was in a constant state over the fever that never seemed to go away, no matter what tonics she used.

Still, Hope could feel her muscles strengthening. She was growing stronger and knew that, but she felt something was missing. Something she'd been without for so long that her body craved desperately.

The craving even made her gums ache.

Swinging her legs off the bed, she walked to the long-length mirror and examined herself. Her face was still a bit gaunt, and when she lifted her dressing gown, she could still see some of her ribs stretching through her taut skin. Still, Madam Florence assured her that with the speed at which she was healing, she would be back to how she'd been before the Poachers ever laid hands on her.

Hope paced around the place, playing little games out of boredom. One was not to make the floorboards creek when she stepped. She had been making good progress, testing each area and learning which made a sound and which didn't. That was until she bumped into a chest on the ground, stubbing her pinkie toe.

"Hahhah." She let out a gasp of pain. She lifted her knee up, rubbing her poor pinkie toe, looking the chest over as if it were now an enemy instead of the inanimate object it was. Naturally, curiosity infiltrated her mind, and she opened the trunk to peer inside.

At first, it looked like the bed gowns she'd been wearing all week, and her excitement deflated, but then she took a closer look. Underneath the hospital attire was actual clothing. Extras, she supposed, how fitting since something she'd wanted to do since having coherent thoughts was to explore the castle.

She couldn't do that in a sleeping gown, now could she?

Smiling, Hope pulled out a deep green dress encrusted with shimmering stones around the bodice that descended into a sheer glitter material below.

It was pretty but too dressy for what she wanted to do. Hope placed the article back and pulled out a more neutral dress of soft pink and beige. She undressed quickly and slipped the piece on, the silky threads barely grazing the floor at her bare feet. It was tied in the back with a champagne bow, and before she realized it, the dress seemed to take itself in. Fitting to her naturally as if it had been made for her.

Striding back to the mirror, she looked herself over. The sleeves puffed just a little, and the neckline of soft cream lace accentuated her collarbones. For the first time in her memory, she felt...pretty. Pulling a brush through her hair from the bathing materials nearby, she decided this now was a better time than any to explore the castle.

After all, Madam Florence did say she should exercise, and what better way to move her muscles than to climb the hundreds of staircases this place seemed to have.

Hope slowly pushed the door open and peeked into the hallway, smiling to see no one was there. It wasn't rule-breaking if Hope had been given no rules.

Making her way down the hallway, she followed whichever staircases were closest or seemed most interesting. Her body seemed to be faring well, her legs no longer shaky as they'd been the first time she'd entered the castle.

She continued to wander, examining paintings and listening to distant sounds, which she naturally followed to see what they were. Hogwarts was more significant than she could have ever anticipated.