Chapter 12
"I'll be back later." Rebecca patted the top of Harry's head and took the Invisibility Cloak from the edge of his bed where he had laid it for her. "Sleep well."
Harry yawned, tired after practise and classes and grateful Rebecca had made it clear she wanted to go to the tunnel for Fred's meeting on her own. "Did you finish your Defence essay and-"
"Yes, Hermione." Rebecca waved and stepped out the door while Harry settled into his bed with a smile, the first of his roommates to bed. She put the cloak over her head in the hall and crept out of the not-emptied common room.
November had dragged by and there had yet to be any word from Fred in the tunnel about anything--including the still unknown whereabouts of Remus and Sirius.
The castle was silent as it slept, exactly as it should have been at the middle of the night in the week before the students returned home for the holidays. Rebecca's homework had mostly been finished and her hours spent in the Room of Requirement through term had left her with a trunk's worth of goods created on behalf of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. The only responsibility--and this was a loose use of the word--left before term officially ended was Professor Slughorn's Christmas party.
Rebecca had kept herself busy with the hope that running herself ragged would have made it seem as if time had flown by; it hadn't. She had to restrain herself to a brisk walk as she wanted nothing more than to sprint through the halls. Without a word from Fred, her heart had yet to let go of his last letter.
Weeks earlier, the tone in the Daily Prophet had changed dramatically over night. All reports of missing or murdered witches and wizards disappeared, any mentions of attacks along with them. Rebecca knew too well to think that the lack of reporting meant that the tragedies weren't happening. No, she had come to the same conclusion as Hermione: The Prophet had been taken over, too.
All of the dark thoughts plaguing her melted away as she turned down the corridor with the One-Eyed Witch. The tunnel's entrance felt like an old friend as Rebecca passed through it towards the point where Fred was supposed to meet her.
Key word: 'was.'
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"What do you mean he didn't show up?" Harry hissed over his eggs and sausage.
"What I mean, Harry, IS THAT HE DIDN'T BLOODY-"
Hermione shoved a piece of bread into Rebecca's mouth to cut off the shout that had begun to echo around the very-full Great Hall.
Harry looked down at his plate, wrestling his frustration with Rebecca's smart-arsery under submission. A slow breath later, the Great Hall's momentary silence at her outburst filled once more, Harry was able to speak calmly. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah?" Rebecca had taken the toast shoved onto her out of her mouth and reached for her cup. "Me fucking too."
Hermione glanced at Harry nervously. Rebecca's tone sounded like trouble, to a hurt reaching far deeper than any of them were accustomed to. "I'm sure he's fine." Hermione tried to reassure.
"No doubt, Rebecca." Harry leaned forward, forcing Rebecca to look him in the eye. "He wanted to be there, I'm sure."
Rebecca chewed at her cheek until she could taste blood, trying to keep herself from screaming at them. "What would have kept kept him away?" It wasn't meant for them to answer and Rebecca couldn't imagine sitting at something as normal as breakfast a second longer. She stood and put her bag over her shoulder. "Trouble."
"This isn't going to end well." Hermione warned as she packed up some muffins into her bag.
"What?" Harry managed between shoveling bites of his breakfast into his mouth to go with Hermione.
Hermione rolled her eyes as Ron approached, Lavender beside him as was now the constant. "I'll talk with her before class and see you then."
Harry nodded, nearly done.
"What's with them?" Ron asked, scooping his food. "Saw Becs in the corridor and she looked murderous!"
Harry was disgusted and only grew more so as Lavender combed Ron's hair back as he took a bite. "It's the fifteenth." Harry kept his answer as vague as possible, giving no extra information to Lavender about Rebecca. Ron's coupling with Lavender could only be compared to Harry and Draco becoming a pair. That, or Draco with Rebecca. Enemy to sibling.
"So?"
Harry swung his bag over his shoulder and left without a word, unable to handle Ron's obliviousness.
"Don't worry Won-Won." Lavender laid her hand on Ron's thigh. "Will you tell me about the match again?" Ron happily obliged.
Harry caught up to Hermione and they discussed the best way they could help Rebecca while trying to find her, but she had gone off in a different direction after running directly into someone outside the doors to the Great Hall--someone who had made it very clear he was severing all ties with her at the beginning of term.
"Watch where you're going!" Draco snapped before he even knew who had barreled into him. Rebecca walked on, not offering an apology or acknowledgement. Draco saw something on her face, something that didn't belong there. He caught her arm and stopped her. "Potter?"
"It's Potter Weasley!" Rebecca snarled, tearing her arm from his grasp. If anyone else had called her Potter, it would have been different. But Draco? He got to call her both names or nothing at all. Draco walked beside her and she snapped at him again, though her fire had diminished noticeably. "Bugger off!"
"I don't think I will." Draco tried to exude cockiness, hoping it would cover his concern. Maybe something had happened, something from the darkness he was attached to. "Unless you tell me what's got your wand in a knot, of course."
Rebecca scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"Guess I'm going to have to follow you then."
"What's it to you?" Rebecca demanded, stopping in the hall. Other students passing eyed the interaction between opposites. "You don't care; we don't like each other. We aren't friends, either. You made that very clear."
Draco put his hands in his pockets. He hated the feeling of eyes on him, but nowhere near as much as he hated how Rebecca only called him by his last name. She had always called him Draco, always. "No, we aren't."
Rebecca nodded once. "Then fuck off and leave me the hell alone."
Harry and Hermione turned into the hall with Draco and Rebecca at the exact moment Rebecca ended the interaction with such finality Draco slunk away without argument. They--Harry and Hermione--each took a side of Rebecca and walked to Transfiguration in tense, heavy silence.
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"If there was any attention being paid, perhaps my class would look less of an exhibit on daydreaming pirates and have more preparation taking place for the N.E.W.T.s!" McGonagall levitated the book in front of Rebecca and let it slam back onto the desk with a slap that jerked the whole room to attention.
Rebecca jumped at the noise and pulled her attention away from the window her gaze had wandered out of towards the lesson at hand.
McGonagall continued her teaching after a moment, but was unable to finish the day's topic. "That will be a seven inch parchment describing the Transfigurational laws and practice discussed, due Friday before holiday!"
The students collectively groaned; Hermione scratched the instructions down dutifully.
McGonagall watched as Harry gently prodded Rebecca's hand with the book she had forgotten to put away. Rebecca shoved it into her bag roughly, leaving without speaking. Hermione pushed in both of their chairs, not noticing Professor McGonagall's studying of their changed dynamic.
Rebecca had just realised that there wasn't time enough before Defence to run to the kitchens for something to eat when Hermione offered one of the muffins she had packed with a kind, sad smile.
Rebecca frowned and took the muffin with a quiet thank you. She peeled the paper back slowly, trying to raise her voice and not able to by much. "I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry about." Harry put his arm around Rebecca's shoulder and Hermione did the same with Rebecca's waist. "Why don't we do something fun this afternoon, hmm?"
Hermione nodded. "That's a brilliant idea--after classes of course."
"Of course." Harry rolled his eyes.
Rebecca took another bite before answering. "I don't know what we could do. Too bloody cold out to fly, not to mention that Ravenclaw's got the pitch. It'll be too late to go on a walk."
"I was thinking something a little more productive." Harry's grin only heightened Rebecca's confusion, and his face warmed as he alluded to knowing she wasn't spending as much time 'in the library' as she said. "You could show me what you've been working on, if you want."
Hermione only thought that pranking and prank-making might be the last thing Rebecca would want to do, but Rebecca latched onto the idea enthusiastically and turned to Hermione. "You could come too, if you wanted!"
"I have Arithmancy work that should be done, bit you two go on." Hermione smiled. "I'm sure I'll hear all about whatever you do tonight." Hermione wanted to warn them not to break too many rules, but she couldn't manage to after seeing something across Rebecca's face beside the morose, sadness that had lingered there every since she had told Hermione Fred hadn't made it to their meeting.
Harry found a weight lifted off his shoulders as Rebecca walked with a little more of herself in her step. Soon, Rebecca was speaking about the things she wanted to show him so quickly all Harry could do was nod along as if he understood.
Rebecca was so swept away in Harry's proposed interest in the very thing she had never been able to fully share with him that she forgot to shut herself away as they entered the one place she could never exist as she was: Snape's class.
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"I hate that man." Rebecca muttered. "I really, really do."
Hermione nodded, thinking that it was very beneficial that there was a break after Defence and before their next class, Charms. Potions with Snape had been bad because Snape was miserable. Defence Against the Dark Arts with Snape was horrible because he enjoyed it.
Harry and Rebecca, as always, continued to feel the brunt of his anger. With such a happy entrance, this was doubly true. Snape had berated them for sullying the academic atmosphere of his classroom before reviewing their essays for the class to learn from, his critiques public.
Rebecca crouched to one knee at the end of the corridor with the door to Snape's class, rummaging through her bag until she pulled out a small bird-like figure between two fingers. "Severus Snape." She whispered to it before tossing it over her shoulder and walking on like she hadn't stopped.
There was an audible clatter in the now-empty hall that was replaced by a zipping sound.
"Do I want to know what you just released?" Hermione asked nervously.
"Depends." Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "Did it bother you when he called you a frizzy-haired Gryffindor know-it-all?"
Hermione didn't answer directly, but repeat herself as answer enough. "What did it do?"
Harry turned the corner with them as Rebecca began a technical explanation that didn't answer Hermione's question in the slightest.
Rebecca sighed. "I've been calling it One-Bird, Two-Stones. It'll find the feet of the person you tell it and wedge its way into their shoes."
"That's it?" Harry asked incredulously. "That would be annoying, sure. But that doesn't really fit your style. There's usually a little more."
Rebecca shrugged. "Well, it does split into two and it may or may not also bite your toes."
A shout rang out from the classroom in the distance behind them and sent all of them into the first bout of laughter of the day--laughter they all appreciated more than they could know.
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Harry hadn't expected the ornate quality of the wooden door that appeared for their entrance to Rebecca's Room of Requirement. It had vines creeping around its wrought-iron lattice, though Rebecca had never asked for it too. She had spent so much time in the room it seemed to draw on her innermost desires and preferences to morph into a finely-detailed extension of her internal work space.
"I don't-" Harry spun in a slow circle in the middle of the stone-walled room. Another table had been added, though the writing desk in the very center of the room was left untouched as a shrine to the correspondences she should have been able to answer. Next to the desk were two trunks, one on top of the other. The bottom had already been repacked with her ingredients and creation apparatus, but the top was still being filled with her finished products before she shrunk them to transport them back to Fred and George. "What have you been doing in here?"
Rebecca laughed and took her jumper off, tossing it to the pile of their bags by the door. "The better question might be what haven't I done." She brushed past Harry to collect some of the better things to show him and smacked the back of his reaching hand. "Don't touch that."
Harry's hand shot back to his side, curious but not suicidal.
Rebecca tossed him the book from corner of the table she had been working on last. "That's as close as an answer you'll get, I think."
Harry thumbed through the pages, sheet after sheet titled GPT along with another abbreviation and a number to note which variation. "What does this mean?"
"Guinea Pig Thoughts." Rebecca's smile dimmed as Harry didn't understand. "How well things work, how long they last, effects that don't fade, that sort of thing. Someone's got to do, especially before anything can go into the shop. Only have me here, so-"
"So nothing." HArry closed the book loudly. "Tester right here waiting for you. Lay it on me." Rebecca raised an eyebrow doubtfully, but Harry could see her sadness receding. "If you don't give me something to try, I'll have to start touching things!"
"Okay, okay. Let me find...one second." Rebecca dug around the top trunk and pulled out a little pouch she emptied into her hand and then held out to Harry who studied them closely. There was another little bird, and he avoided it carefully. Left was a train, a tree, and some sort of orb.
Harry held his fingers over them and studied Rebecca's face for any indication to pick one over the other, but she revealed nothing. "What have I gotten myself into?"
In the end, Harry chose the train. When he opened his mouth to ask what it would do, a train's blaring whistle left his mouth. His shock registered itself known by steam shooting out of his ears.
Rebecca muttered to herself and scrambled for a pen to jot down some notes as the effects continued.
When Harry was able to speak again, the first thing out of his mouth was a question. "Why?"
"Thought it sounded like a neat idea." Rebecca shrugged. "I bet the smaller kids would find that to be a riot." Her attention went somewhere off in the distance. "Toot-your-own-horns? No." She shook her head and scratched it out.
"Have you named anything yet this year?"
Rebecca frowned. "Naming's best done as a team effort." Rebecca stood up and reached for something else, not wanting to be sad even for a minute with Harry there. "Here, wait till you see what this does."
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Rebecca entertained Harry until the afternoon slipped into evening and Harry was just relieved to see Rebecca so enthralled in showing off her hard work; it was a side of her none of them had been able to see in ages. When they both entered the library to meet Hermione, they were at peace.
At least, at peace until they saw the look on Hermione's face--she was scowling into a book with a stack next to her still untouched.
Rebecca glanced at Harry before sliding into the seat beside her. "'Mione?"
"It's just..." Hermione scoffed, looking up from her book and softening her expression with the care so clear on Harry and Rebecca's faces.
"Bonkers?" Harry offered.
"Bullshite?" Rebecca countered.
Hermione stood and thought a moment, joining their descriptions. "Bloody absurd?"
Madam Pince, who normally sought out happy students the way bloodhounds did their search, didn't hear their stifled homework.
Rebecca took out the list of homework she had yet to finish before break and followed Harry and Hermione to gather the books they needed still.
"Don't get me wrong," Hermione spoke to Rebecca and followed her, needing to release some of that which was building up inside of her. "He's perfectly at liberty to kiss whoever he likes. Was I under the impression that we would be attending Slughorn's Christmas party together? Yes."
Rebecca grimaced at the mention of the party, returning the book she had grabbed on a whim--magical maladies having nothing to do with her essays--and continuing her looking.
"Now, given the circumstances, I've had to make other arrangements."
"Have you?" Harry asked, following behind both girls like a trailing puppy.
Hermione reached for another book before looking at Harry curiously. "Yes. Why?"
"I was just thinking..." Harry winced, hating how he knew this would sound. "Seeing as neither of us can go with who we'd really like to, we could go together as friends."
"Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione gasped.
Rebecca tucked the book she finally located under her arm and joined them at the end of the aisle. "None of us can go with who we really want to." She sighed and glanced at Hermione. "Who're you going with? I thought I'd talk it through with Fred and all, but that went fuck all."
Hermione pursed her lips at the description, but Harry threw his arm around Rebecca's shoulders and pulled her closer. Four green, inquisitive eyes landed on Hermione and she panicked. "Erm, it's a surprise. It's you two we've got to worry about. You can't just take anyone." Hermione leaned forward and looked over them. "See that girl over there?"
Harry subtly looked over his shoulder for a peek while Rebecca made it obvious she was inspecting the girl Hermione identified as Romilda Vane.
"Apparently she's trying to smuggle you a love potion?"
"Really?" Harry couldn't help a little smile.
"Which of us?" Rebecca asked. Maybe someone fancying her--though it would never be acted on--would be compliment enough.
Hermione snapped in front of their faces. "Hey! She's only interested in Harry because she thinks you're the Chosen One."
"'Course it's him." Rebecca muttered.
"But I am the Chosen One."
Hermione whacked Harry on the head with her book; Harry was thankful that it was a small one. "Ow!"
Rebecca gave Harry a devious smile. "Remember, dear brother," she reached into her pocket and pulled out a yellow flower. "It's the 'Chosen Ones.'" Rebecca smacked the flower into his chest.
Hermione giggled as Harry's hair instantly turned a shade as bright as the sunshine of the petals the paper flower had been before fading.
Harry reached for Rebecca to force her to fix it, but she slipped out of his reach and walked cooly back to the table to not attract Madam Pince. Hermione looked Harry over, nodding her head slowly. She may not like the purposes, but there was no denying some of the technical feats Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had incorporated into their products. "Back to normal--mostly."
"What does mostly mean?" Harry's alarm was clear.
Rebecca wrote onto the margin of her parchment quickly as Harry sat across from her. "One eyebrow remaining yellow." He heard her whisper as she spelled. "Change recipe or delivery method?"
Harry sighed. He was certain that he was going to end up walking to the Hospital Wing before the day was through.
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"He's not cross, is he?" Rebecca asked from the bathroom as Gryffindor Tower wound down for bed. Harry's eyebrow had stayed yellow all through dinner, despite Rebecca's insistence that it would wear off on its own. "He didn't seem it, but maybe it was me. Maybe I could see it and-"
"No, Rebecca." Hermione sighed and put her quill down. "He wasn't cross but I am going to be if you don't figure out who you're taking tomorrow night and let me finish this."
Rebecca turned to the mirror, falling silent as Hermione wanted her to. She slid the drawer open and took out the small vial of Amortentia she had gotten from Slughorn weeks earlier, just twisting the top off for a moment.
The effect was instantaneous--the smell flooded her brain with feeling of relief at feeling as close to Fred as she could but worry at what could have kept him from their meeting; both sides battled horrendously for control.
Hermione rolled up her parchment with a sense of finality, positive the essay would garner distinction. There was a clatter from the bathroom that caught Hermione's attention, and then Rebecca headed straight for the door. "Are you-"
"Had an idea for tomorrow night." Rebecca walked with a purpose, finding that the only benefit to Ron's sudden infatuation with Lavender was that it kept her out of the girls' dormitories and, by extension, away from her. One would think that coupling with Ron--he and Rebecca close-as-siblings--would have brought about some kinder treatment, but this couldn't be farther from the truth.
Lavender, if anything, had only become more hostile in less overt ways. The passive insults drove Rebecca batty and Harry had had to lead Rebecca off with some excuse more than once before blows could be exchanged.
The common room was pretty full with those who had already finished their pre-holiday homework helping those who hadn't.
There, in a seat by the window, was exactly who Rebecca had been thinking about. "Hey, Nigel."
Nigel looked up quickly, moving to hide what he had in his hand until he saw that it was only Rebecca. He uncovered his hands and grinned. "These bird things are wicked! One of your greatest creations yet."
Rebecca bowed deeply, lowering her invisible hat. "Well, you're the greatest reviewer." She took the seat next to him and put her back to the wall so she faced him straight on. "I've got a favour to ask."
Nigel's grin disappeared and he nodded quickly. "Anything."
"Anything?" Rebecca smiled at his fourteen year old seriousness.
"Anything." Nigel stared at her, not joining her tease. "You name it and it's good as done. Arse beat? Done. Something delivered? Done. Hell, Yara and Louis have been itching for something destructive so if-"
"Nothing quite so dramatic!" Rebecca laid her hand on Nigel's shoulder before he could get too far ahead of himself. "You have dress robes, don't you?"
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As Rebecca found her date, Harry stumbled onto his--literally.
"Didn't see you there, Harry." Luna said in her usual sing-song cadence from where she ended up on the floor.
"No, I supposed you didn't." Harry pushed himself up on his elbows outside of the Hospital Wing.
"Neat eyebrow."
Harry held a hand out to Luna. "Thanks." Luna turned her arm, a tiny, minute abrasion was left along her wrist where she had caught herself on the stone ground. "C'mon, Madam Pomfrey will be nicer if you come too."
Luna laughed as if he were joking and fell into step beside him. "Ready for the holiday, Harry?"
He held the door open as an excuse to avoid her eyes and gave only a noncommittal shrug as they entered. Harry was so, so conflicted; No word on Sirius or Remus was eating away at him, weighing him down.
"Luna!" Madam Pomfrey's warm greeting tapered at seeing Harry. "Mister Potter."
"Madam." Harry hopped up on the bed Luna was already sitting on and smiled. "Don't worry, Rebecca won't be joining us in person--just her handywork." It was a running faux-rivalry between Rebecca and Madam Pomfrey, especially with the influx of Weasleys' Wheezes products passing around as Rebecca tried to lighten the season.
Madam Pomfrey turned his head to the light and pursed her lips at the luminescent yellow. She tapped her wand to it and the dark shade of normalcy returned.
"Thank you."
Luna and Madam Pomfrey chatted happily, largely ignoring Harry which was fine with him. He sat there and used the opportunity to observe Luna, finding himself unable to keep from smiling as Luna insisted that Madam Pomfrey only tell her how to heal her own scrape so she could have first-hand critiques.
"Potter?" Madam Pomfrey called after Harry as they filed their way out. Harry could see a grin playing behind the healer's lips. "Tell Rebecca to keep that on the drawing board, yeah?"
Harry laughed, "I will. Thank you for fixing it!"
Madam Pomfrey shooed them out. The interaction was a welcome break after the day she had had remedying 'illnesses' and a slew of first year magical accidents. One boy had managed to charm his feather into another's ear, and this was only on top of the other magical maladies and mishaps that were bound to happen with so many students learning to master their skills.
The hall was emptier than when they had entered, the fires within the intermittent Hogwarts lanterns casting tall shadows up to the ceilings. "Is there something bothering you?" Luna asked as the approached the corridor that would take her back to the Ravenclaw quarters. "You've scratched the back of your neck three times now."
"There is, actually." Harry took a quick breath. "I was wondering if you'd like to go to a party with me tomorrow night."
"Professor Slughorn's?"
"Yeah, that's the one." Harry smiled.
"I heard about that." Luna looked confused. "Rebecca's not going with you? I assumed you two would be with his absence."
Harry kicked himself--he had never even thought to ask if Rebecca wanted them to go together. "No. Bloody hell, that would've been smart though."
"Might be for the best you didn't offer if she didn't bring it up." Luna's attention wandered outside a nearby window. "No one wants to feel pitied."
"I'm not asking you out of pity." Harry paled, wondering if he had done something to give off that message. "Self-pity, maybe, but none for you; I'd just pity you wasting an evening with me."
Luna considered the offer a moment and nodded. "Time with friends is never wasted, I think. What time?"
Harry smiled, relieved and actually looking forward to the party now. "I'll get you at seven?" It occured to Harry that he would have to be thank Rebecca for sending him to the Hospital Wing.
"Should I dye my eyebrow yellow?"
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After spending the dwindling evening hours with Harry, Rebecca climbed the girls' stairs with a growing stone in her stomach. It had been quite some time since she had had a premonition last and Madam Pomfrey had said that it was something more witches and wizards grew out of.
But the fact that there were still days to go until she would be going home left Rebecca sick with worry. What if something had happened? What if that was the reason Fred hadn't come?
"I could do it, especially since it might not even work. I could try and if it does work then I'll have a headache. If it doesn't, then I wait a few more days."
Rebecca was still trying to rationalise not warning Hermione or Ginny while she brushed her teeth, she still hadn't decided as she climbed into bed.
"Nigel? You're bringing a fourth year to the party?" Hermione was appalled.
"I don't see an issue with it." Ginny added. "Nigel's like an honorary member of the 'age-will-not-limit-me' club."
"I needed someone to go with it, I found someone to go with." Rebecca sat up and moved a blanket or two so that she was properly buried.
"Becs?" Hermione asked, sensing the odd tone of her voice and not sure what was off.
Rebecca stared up at the ceiling for a long time. "I'm going to try and see if they're all okay."
Ginny didn't say anything, though Hermione instantly tried to convince Rebecca otherwise. "Look, I'm not say no be-"
"That's good, considering I wasn't asking."
"I'm not saying no." Hermione continued like Rebecca hadn't said anything. "But let's think this through: they're all okay enough for McGonagall to not have been notified, or Dumbledore for that matter. Did you consider that?"
Rebecca's silence was all the 'no' Hermione needed.
"And it might not even work." Ginny's voice was small and working its way across their room. Rebecca moved to the side of her bed as Ginny squirmed underneath the blankets by the window.
"Three days." Hermione said softly, taking the other side of Rebecca. "Nearly two already and tomorrow's going to be busy with the last day of class and then the party, so it's practically only one day."
Rebecca hated the tears that welled, the weakness because her boyfriend failed to show up. "This is fucking pathetic." She wiped at her cheek roughly.
"It's not." Ginny wrapped her arm around Rebecca's middle and laid her head on Rebecca's shoulder while Hermione similarly held the other half of her.
"It's love." Hermione moved closer to Rebecca.
That's how they fell asleep, wrapped up underneath the layered, crooked blankets of Rebecca's blanket.
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Rebecca had made Harry late to leave to meet Luna, but she had insisted that he wait for her to find something upstairs. "It's a party!" Rebecca panted, the only sign of her mad search her reddened cheeks. "Every girl deserves a flower."
Nigel grinned and leaned forward, knowing it couldn't have just been a flower. "I don't remember a blueberry blossom."
Rebecca tucked her hair back behind her ear, looking over herself to make sure nothing else was askew. "It's winter in Scotland, there aren't a lot of natural flowers out right now."
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Although the castle was bathed in Christmas spirit, one student slunk around in the shadows. Draco hadn't interrupted any other instances of Rebecca's use of the Room of Requirement, adamant to himself that it was because he didn't want to raise suspicion. The other reason still hurt inside of him every time he remembered the look on her face when he had said what he had.
But, the night of the Slug Club party, Draco knew it would be empty and he still had a job to do. Opening the room of oddities and antiquities he had asked for, the cabinet was underneath the red blanket he had left over it last time.
This was it, his side was tuned. The other cabinet was supposedly in worse condition; the reason all other attempts had failed at synchronization. Draco placed the apple he carried inside gently and shut the door.
"Harmonia Nectere Passus."
Looking inside, the apple was gone. A small smile flit across his face, though it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. What had he done? Exactly what was required of him--what he had to do if he was going to live long enough to get back to school. But there was always more at play, more he had made possible, and that left him feeling empty.
Maybe it hadn't worked as it was supposed to though, maybe the other side was too damaged. Draco shut the door and repeated the words.
"Harmonia Nectere Passus."
Inside was the apple...with one large bite taken out of its side.
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"Smile, children!" Professor Slughorn had a camera set up at the entrance. Nigel excused himself to the table of food when the Potions professor waved Harry and Rebecca over for a quick photo.
As quickly as the flash had faded, Slughorn was greeting another arriving student.
"You look beautiful, Rebecca." Luna appeared behind them, the flower Rebecca had insisted Harry bring tucked behind her ear.
Rebecca looked down once again. She had had to borrow a dress from Ginny--Rebecca having thought it wasn't something she would need with Fred not at the castle--and Hermione had charmed it to fit better. As Ginny liked to remind Rebecca at every opportunity possible, she was now taller than her. "Hardly as much as you." Rebecca leaned forward to see the dangling earring Luna wore better. "These are almost as neat as the necklace you wore last year--the butterbeer one!"
"I made that!" Luna lit up as Rebecca remembered something so inconsequential.
Harry smiled and tuned them both out. He wished for a moment that Ron was with them, but he regretted it after thinking about how tense the room would be. Especially since, at the moment, wherever Ron went Lavender did too.
"Neville?" Harry asked.
Neville paused next to the three of them and held his tray out happily. "I didn't get into the Slug Club." Neville blushed as Luna took one of the treats. "It's alright, he's got Belby handing out towels in the loo."
Harry rejoined the conversation he had abandoned and continued with Luna while Rebecca looked around the room. Nigel was gone from the table he had been snacking over, and Hermione had just ducked behind the curtain across the party.
Rebecca excused herself, discreetly stopping in front of where she thought Hermione would be. "Hermione? What are-"
Hermione reached out and pulled Rebecca behind the curtain. She looked her over and nodded. "You look splendid. Definitely good we took it in; did you get one of the pictures?" For Fred, was left unsaid.
"Yes." Rebecca looked around the dark hiding hole. "Now what are you doing back here? What happened?"
Hermione fixed her hair and righted her dress. "'What happened?' I've just escaped!" Hermione glanced out at the room, distorted through the material. "I left Cormac under the mistletoe."
"McLaggen?!" Rebecca gasped. "That's your mystery? Ugh, I wish you hadn't told me."
"I know, okay!" Hermione shuddered. "He's got more tentacles than a Snarfalump plant." She paled. "Here he comes."
Rebecca rolled her eyes and nudged Hermione off in the opposite direction. "You go on and slip away, keep an eye for Nigel--he's disappeared."
Hermione ducked out of the curtain just in time as Cormac stepped in looking Rebecca over. "You haven't seen Granger, have you?"
"Who?" Rebecca asked, hoping to annoy him away.
"You're slippery little minx of a friend." Rebecca glared at him, but Cormac was too busy surveying their surroundings. "Likes to work her mouth too, doesn't she?"
Rebecca reached into the pocket she had charmed onto Ginny's dress--justifying the tailoring with the reasoning that all dresses could use a good pocket--and pulled out a 'mint.' "She does, I've warned her about it though."
Cormac smirked and took the candy out of her hands sleazily. "Nothing turns a man off more than-" He popped it into his mouth. The flavour was familiar, yet unplaceable. "Too...much...talking?"
As Professor Snape flung the curtains open with the hopes of finding a Potter, no matter which one, misbehaving, the Puking Pastille took effect and Cormac vomited at his feet. Rebecca had been messing around with them for a while, trying to find a way to make it a one-dose sweet so that the giver wouldn't have to provide the antidote half.
"You've just bought yourself a month's detention, McLaggen." Snape cleaned himself. "Not so quick, Potter."
Rebecca had tried to duck away before Snape could needle into her, but she hadn't been fast enough. "Me, professor? Potter...?"
"Potter Weasley." Snape spat the word.
Rebecca looked around quickly with her first issue addressed and solved. "I've really got to go, professor. I'm looking for-"
"I'm certain the Wolpert boy can survive your absence for another minute or two." Snape intoned, clearly not impressed with her date choice. "Besides, I only wish to convey a message."
"A message?" Rebecca's interest was piqued and she found herself staring up at the ex-Potions professor intensely. Her green eyes shone behind her glasses that couldn't mask her curiosity.
"From Professor Dumbledore," Snape put more venom into his words than before, but Rebecca didn't know why. "He asked me to give you his best and that he hopes you enjoy your holiday. He's traveling." Snape narrowed his eyes. "He won't return until term resumes."
"Traveling where?"
Snape looked over her face a brief moment before walking away without answering.
Nigel laid a hand on her shoulder, his face nearly as red as his hair. "Sorry. I-had-to-" He held a hand up and tried to catch his breath before starting again. "Sorry, you said every girl deserved a flower." He held up one of the colour changing daisies from the last bunch Nigel had been given to test.
Rebecca took it gently, and not because she was afraid of turning the light lavender of its petals. She wasn't sure if she was able to say thank you without growing embarrassingly emotional. "Nigel, I-"
"Want to dance?" Nigel interrupted, shaking his head before any thanking could be passed. "This is supposed to be a party, right?" He grabbed her hand and took to the empty section reserved for students to dance, bobbing his head to the music before grabbing her hand and--as he had seen Fred do so many times before--twirl her away.
Rebecca laughed, a melodic sound that attracted a few students over to their happiness. They had all wanted to dance, they just didn't want to be the first to. Lucky for them, a fourth year was there to break the ice and he didn't do anything halfway.
Hermione had found Harry and Luna and stood between them, all three smiling. "I'm glad she's having fun."
Luna nodded and sipped from her glass. "Loving from a distance can sometimes hurt as much as loving close."
Harry's eyes fell on Ginny across the room, the green of her dress highlighting the natural vibrancy of her hair in a way that Harry hadn't even known was possible without magic. Once again, Harry was left to wonder how much Luna really noticed. "A nice evening is always a good thing. Especially with-"
The door to the party was thrown open, the bang silencing the party's chatter and the music momentarily. Nigel looked over his shoulder to find the interruption and scowled before stepping to Rebecca's side with his arms crossed, trying to look as menacing as a fourteen year old can.
"Get your hands off me, you filthy squib!"
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