Rebecca woke up the next morning to thumping on her dorm door. She ignored it at first, but she soon realised it wasn't going to stop. Ironically, it stopped right as she stepped out of her bed. She sighed in relief, but then heard voices instead.
"Bec! Bec? Get up! You're going to be late!" She heard muffled voices calling. She tiredly stumbled across the room to open the door, revealing Harry Potter. Next to him stood Ron Weasley, who was another good friend of Rebecca's. They stood there, in uniform and ready to go.
"You're going to be late for our first day." Harry said.
"Half of Gryffindor has left for breakfast already!" Ron said, implying he was going to miss out. He loved his food.
"Oh no, first day already?" Rebecca groaned.
"Hermione said you were up late again." Harry said, like it was becoming a usual occurrence.
"Yeah," She replied, regretting it already. "Wait for me? I'll be quick." She said without waiting for an answer and shut the door. She pulled her uniform from her trunk, which she should have prepared the night before, and quickly got dressed. She brushed her teeth and finger combed her long blonde, wavy hair from her face as fast as she could.
She rushed down to the Common Room to find Harry and Ron waiting just before the portrait hole. They were the last Gryffindors to leave for breakfast, and some of the last to arrive at the Great Hall.
She fell a few steps behind Harry and Ron to adjust her robes. Once she readied herself she walked around the corner, and just as she was stepping into the Great Hall she walked straight into someone who was walking out. The unexpected collision nearly knocked her over. She looked up, pushing her hair out of her eyes again, only to find that she had walked into Draco Malfoy. It appeared the run in had the same effect on him as it did her.
"Whyte." He addressed her abruptly.
"Malfoy." She replied, trying to mimic the tone he had used. They took a few long seconds to look over each other.
"You look different." He said, glancing between her eyes. She looked right back, suddenly feeling self conscious. She wondered if she looked different because she hadn't done her hair properly.
She felt that she must have been looking at him a little too long without saying anything, because he then added a little too quickly,
"Not in a bad way, don't take it personally or anything, uh…" He stopped and a frown appeared on his face,
"Wasn't counting on it..." She said unsurely. He raised his eyebrows and continued past her without another word.
Rebecca found Harry and Ron, accompanied by some others sitting at the Gryffindor table, where she joined them.
"Bec! Where have you been?" She looked up from her breakfast, to see Hermione return to the table and handing out timetables that she had received from Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor. Rebecca was just about to answer her when Ron's older identical twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley, joined them.
"Morning!" Fred and George said at the same time. Some people replied, some people grumbled. Fred and George were far too cheery for the first day of classes.
"You'll never guess who we just ran into," Fred started,
"And swamped with one of our new portable swamps!" George finished. Everybody turned their attention to the twins immediately. The two of them were tricksters, often pulling pranks and testing new products they invent on students and teachers. They were incredibly entertaining, though some of their products can turn out to be dangerous.
"Draco Malfoy!" They said together, and high-fived each other victoriously. The Gryffindor table proceeded to laugh at the thought of Draco being stuck in a swamp. Even Rebecca couldn't help herself. She quickly dove back into her breakfast, feeling a bit guilty that everyone was laughing at someone's unfortunate luck.
"What's wrong? Don't you think that's funny? Completely made my morning." Ron said, nudging Rebecca in the ribs as he noticed the lack of cheer on her face. Harry and himself chuckled quietly. Ron despised Draco at all costs. In fact, his whole family despised the Malfoys all together.
"Yeah, yeah... it's hilarious." She smiled.
"Why don't I believe you?" Ron asked, the smile slowly disappearing from his face.
"I, er..." She began to stumble on her words.
"I'm sure he'll still be stuck there, I can run back and feed him a puking pastil if you'd like!" Fred offered.
"No! No, you don't need to do that." She rushed. Fred eyed her for a moment.
"I think I left a book back in the Common Room, I'll need to get it before my first class. I'll see you all later." She excused herself quickly and received her timetable from Hermione before leaving the Great Hall. She didn't really need a book from the Common Room. She just wanted to leave.
Rebecca didn't get very far before she heard footsteps closing up behind her. She could hear the twins talking quietly between themselves. She stopped and turned around, looking at them questionably. She doubted they left books in the Common Room as well. She wasn't even entirely sure that they took any books to class. Once they reached her they pushed her down onto a bench against the wall without warning and stood in front of her, their arms crossed.
"Twenty Questions." Fred said.
"First question, why do you not find our pranks funny?" George asked.
"I do!" Rebecca answered urgently.
"Then why weren't you laughing?" It was Fred's turn to ask.
"I was!" She replied, trying to back further into the wall where she was seated.
"No you weren't..." George said, looking a little offended.
"What kind of person doesn't laugh at things they find funny?" Fred asked. Rebecca didn't know if she was meant to answer that question.
"Are you feeling alright?" George asked, quickly placing a hand against her forehead to check for a temperature.
"Yes, I'm fine," She giggled as she tried to wriggle away from George's hand.
"Then what's wrong?" Both Fred and George asked at the same time.
"N-nothing..." She said nervously, "I really need to go and get that book," She added as she made to get up and leave.
"Not yet you don't." Fred said as he pushed her back onto the bench.
"What aren't you telling us?" George asked as the both of them sat down on either side of her.
"A lot of things, probably." Rebecca said, almost sarcastic. Nobody knew about her fascination for Draco Malfoy.
"Is it because it was Malfoy?" Fred suggested.
"Yeap, that's exactly it. I'm tired of hearing about Malfoy all the time." She said, flowing with the conversation and trying to come up with a believable story quick enough for it to be believable.
"No way, no one gets sick of picking on Malfoy. Never will I believe that." George refused her last answer.
"What then?" She said, and it was too late before she realised that she gave herself away by asking what they would believe.
"...Alright, we're all ears now. Whatever it is that's said in the next few minutes doesn't leave this spot. Fire away." Fred said, shaking George's hand so Rebecca could see they promised. She gave in almost too easily, and she began to quietly tell them everything.
