If the castle from the outside had looked beautiful than the architecture on the inside was breath-taking. The Great Hall was the most eloquent of it all, though Rebecca suspected that that was due to the ceiling charmed to look like the night sky. All the same she did not mind that the beauty of the room may be down to a spell. It was magic, and Rebecca loved it.
However, the beauty surrounding her as she stood with the rest of the first years at the front of this hall was not enough to stop her from wringing her hands together with nerves. She noticed that most of the others stood with her shifted in one way or another with a combination of nerves and excitement. They had had this energy also when they had all stood before Professor McGonagall in the entrance hall. The excited clamour that caused a buzz of noise around the first years then had quietened to almost nothing, with the exception of a shuffle here and there. All were awaiting for the professor to say the first name.
A girl named Hannah was first. She walked to the stool hesitantly at first, but reached it all the same, and sat down. There was a pause for a moment before the hat shouted loudly for all to hear.
"Hufflepuff!"
Rebecca jumped at the sudden change in volume. She had been curious to see how the house placement would be announced, despite having heard the song. She chastised herself for the obviousness that the hat would have had no other choice but to shout the name for everyone else.
More and more people went. It was getting closer to her turn, and her hands were now shaking with nerves. They had almost reached the letter 'J' in the alphabet and Rebecca was having doubts. She was unsure about where she would be placed, afraid, even, that she would be placed in the same house as Malfoy. She didn't fancy the idea of being in Slytherin. Then there was her worst fear. What if she wasn't supposed to be here? After all, she supposed even people with magic could make mistakes. Then it was her turn.
"Jefferson, Rebecca."
Rebecca moved forward slowly through the remaining first years, who parted slightly for her to get through. Her knees had started shaking but she didn't dare to even think of stopping, she would most likely collapse at the knees due to the tremors surging through them. She reached the stool and sat cautiously. She felt the weight of that hat upon her head. Her vision was half obscured by the rim of the hat which fell over her eyes slightly where it was too big for her small frame.
Hmm. Interesting.
There came a voice in her head, which startled her some much she had to grip the edges of the stool to stop from falling off. There next came a chuckle in her head and the voice again.
Careful there. I don't fancy falling from this height, even if you are quite small.
There was a pause and Rebecca realised the voice was the hat. She looked curiously at the professor stood next to her, but she did not look as though she could hear the voice, she was however watching her with curiosity.
Now, what shall we do? Hufflepuff would suite you. You seem to have a kind nature about you…But, no. Not there. It wouldn't do to waste your thoughts now, would it?
That's when she also realised it was reading her thoughts, which felt strange when thought about.
Well it seems you have made yourself clear to me.
The next thing Rebecca knew was that the hat was calling out the house name, "Gryffindor!" and she was giving the hat back to McGonagall, who gave her a small smile. She raced to the benches of her table and sat next to Hermione who congratulated her. They settled to watch the rest of the sorting and they were soon joined by Ron, who sat opposite them next to Harry.
The feast was amazing. It consisted of the best food that Rebecca had ever tasted. There was so much choice as well. She joined in with conversation with her new housemates, trying to keep up with all the new terms and names that the wizarding world had. Before she knew it, they were being ushered up staircases to the Gryffindor Tower and its dormitories, led by Percy.
All the first years made their way up the staircase and into their rooms for the night. Rebecca entered a room with Hermione. The room was cosy, as was the rest of Gryffindor Tower, with beds that looked soft covered in red bed spreads, and a small wood burner that was placed in the centre of the room. Hermione and Rebecca were greeted by two other girls when they entered the girls' first year dormitory. They introduced themselves to each other, quickly becoming acquainted with each other over the mutual feeling of excitement and nervousness of what tomorrow would bring.
They all tired quickly and before long, had decided they would get some rest for their first day of lessons tomorrow. After half an hour Rebecca could hear snores coming from around her. She had yet to fall asleep. Her eyes were heavy and her head was starting to ache with fatigue, but her mind wouldn't allow herself to fall asleep, still spinning with excitement above all.
She led on her back facing the ceiling of the room quietly listening to the snores of her new house and class mates, thinking. Thinking about how different everything had suddenly become. How quickly it had all changed since the appearance of Professor McGonagall on her doorstep. The events hadn't really sunk in until then, even now to Rebecca they seemed dream-like. Beside from the excitement at the prospect of a life better than the one she had seemed destined for, there was also fear. Fear that it had indeed been a dream created by her young mind to escape the reality of her life. And, this, she reasoned, was most likely the cause of her sleeplessness. She dreaded more than anything waking up in the morning to her attic, and not the warmly decorated room of the tower.
Even so, if this wasn't a dream, what Mr Jefferson say? Then she remembered what she had been told weeks before. Mr Jefferson didn't exist. For eleven years she had lived, essentially a kidnapped child, with the man. To whom and where she really belonged she could not fathom, and this was the scariest thought of all.
It played on her mind as she tossed and turned, but sleep never came. No part of the bed seemed to be comfortable enough for her and the thoughts.
# # #
Rebecca woke with a jolt, sitting up rigidly in her bed. She couldn't remember when it was she had finally closed her eyes. She glance quickly around her, and found that she was still safely in the dormitories she remembered falling asleep in. Everyone else appeared to be still asleep, and the light outside the window was still a fraction too dim for Rebecca's liking.
The dream which had awoken her had been very peculiar. To Rebecca it had seemed rather somewhat like a nightmare. She had been turned away from her first lesson by Professor Dumbledore himself, who had stood in front of the doors to the Great Hall. He had turned her away and escorted her to the train where she was to be taken back to the muggle world. From there she had been placed in an orphanage.
She had awoken from the dream at a jump when she had fallen over. Something had caused her fall but her memories of the dream were slipping away, and soon after minutes of thinking the dream had vanished completely. She found herself closing her eyes once again, and drifting off to sleep. The hours she spent awake last night catching up on her already.
When she woke again it was to hands upon her shoulders shaking her gently but with urgency. She opened her eyes, but closed them instantly on reflex to the brightness of morning. She gave a groan to let the person know that she was not happy with them. Then she finally made sense of the quick words that were being spoken.
"Oh, come on Rebecca. You'll be late!"
She recognised Hermione's voice instantly. Then the recognition of what she was being told sunk in. She sprung from the bed and rushed from the mattress frantically towards her trunk. She opened the lid and quickly found what she hoped was the correct uniform. She half heard Hermione telling her she would be in the Great Hall waiting for her.
Rebecca rushed out of her pyjamas. Had the others girls still been in the room she would have used the bathroom attached to their dorm. However, she really was late in rising and the others had already left. Once she had on all items of clothing, she went back once more to her trunk to retrieve her books. She placed them all on the bed, then realised that she didn't know what classes she would be having that day.
She rushed down the stairs two at a time and speed past Pravati and Lavender, who were coming back from breakfast. She alternated between a fast walk and a jog. She only did the latter when no one was there to watch. She reached the hall with her breathing a bit faster than she would have liked. Hermione was sat across from Neville, a piece of parchment in hand with another beside her.
Rebecca slumped down next to her and she giggled taking in Rebecca's rather dishevelled appearance due to her rush. Luckily there was still food on the table to be had. Hermione passed her the schedule for the weeks to come and went back to finishing her toast. Rebecca grabbed a nearby slice and buttered it quickly, and starting to eat it.
"How much time do we have until first lesson?" She asked Hermione.
She giggled at her again, "Just over five minutes." Rebecca's eyes widened a little, and she raced to cram the slice of toast down as fast as she could. She wouldn't have time to eat anything else and get her school books.
Once finished with the slice of toast she rushed back out of the hall, shouting behind her that she would meet Hermione at the classroom for their first lesson. Hermione shook her head at the retrieving back of her friend, and stood herself to leave the hall and make her way to their first lesson, History of Magic with Professor Binns.
# # #
She was late and she had no idea where she was going. More than that she was frustrated at herself for not having asked Hermione earlier where their Transfiguration lesson would be taking place. Hermione would have most likely have known. She nearly cried tears of frustration when she got stuck once again in one of the fake steps, which were rather hard to pull yourself out of without help from another. She was almost at breaking point when she heard a noise.
People were approaching, and quite quickly too. By the sounds of it they were students at least, which lessened the fear of being caught by a teacher out of lesson. Then again she had a reasonable excuse of being lost and stuck. Maybe they would help her out of the step. She waited for them to get to her point on the winding staircase, but no one came.
She could hear their voices fading. Obviously they had left the staircase and gone to a lower floor of the castle. She now felt completely doomed, and helpless. She was more than likely going to receive a detention from Professor McGonagall, whose reputation had already reached her ears.
# # #
Hermione was becoming extremely anxious now. Rebecca hadn't turned up yet for lesson, and it was almost halfway through. Harry and Ron had turned up ten minutes after it had started panting, obviously having run to avoid being any later. They had told McGonagall that they had got lost, which was most likely true. But Hermione had asked them leaning sideways towards their desk, which was the next one along to hers, whether they had seen Rebecca. She was disappointed and worried further when they said they hadn't. Both of the boys frowned, seemingly concerned also by her absence.
Hermione tried to concentrate on her work, but something didn't feel right. She knew that Rebecca wouldn't miss a lesson, even if they had met only yesterday, but she was sure that Rebecca was just as excited as she was. This made it hard to believe that she was truanting.
It wasn't until they had fifteen minutes of the lesson left when McGonagall approached her desk.
"Hermione," she whispered as she stood beside the girl, her brows creased slightly. "Do you know where Miss Jefferson is?"
Hermione looked at her nervously, bit her lip and shook her head, no. McGonagall sighed and with a nod of thanks to Hermione went back to the marking at her desk.
No less than a minute later did the door to the classroom open. Everyone turned around in their seats to look at the person who entered. Rebecca blushed at the sudden attention from the whole room. She could see Malfoy smirking with his cronies on the other side of the room, and Hermione looking at her with relief and a questioning look. Once everybody started going back to their work, only then did she move toward the professor at her desk.
McGonagall looked at her expectantly with one eyebrow slightly raised. Minerva whilst waiting for the girl to speak took in her appearance, which was rather interesting. Her uniform was a mess, and looked as though she had been dragged through a hedge backwards. But barely noticeable on her cheeks were a couple of glistening tracks and her ever so slightly red-rimmed eyes.
"I'm sorry that I'm so late," she paused not wanting to meet her professor's eyes. "I got lost and then…and then the staircase…and I got stuck, and…"
Minerva nodded along while the girl ramble quietly to her, so no one else in the room could hear, avoiding any attention possible. The professor stopped her gently in her tracks and told her to take a seat beside Hermione, and that she would discuss what happened later after school in her office. She did as she was told and went rather quickly to her seat, blushing again as she realised she had rambled rather incompetently to her teacher.
She gave Hermione an 'I'll tell you later' look and sat for the rest of the lesson trying to catch up with the work she missed, and absolutely dreading the thought of being told off by McGonagall later that day.
