CHAPTER 7 - Aftermath

Walking into the Malfoy's mansion, Rebecca was greeted by a flurry of action. There was a set of luggage placed next to the front door and she also saw Ryan's mother giving directions to Lucius.
Rebecca just rolled her eyes and started towards her room thinking it might not be a bad idea to start packing herself. She walked up the stairs and Lucius called up to her, "I am sorry my dear, but while my brother and sister-in-law are gone, your friend, Russel, must leave."
"Whatever," Rebecca indifferently stated in true teenager fashion.
"What was that?" The older man was more than a little taken aback by the girl's response.
Turning around at the top of the steps, Rebecca stated, "I don't care if the git has to leave. It's one less person I have to watch. ... Now as long as your son doesn't come near me with his snake again, I'll be able to make it through the rest of this stipulation in decent shape and I will be out of here by week's end anyways."
She didn't wait for a reaction from Lucius. She just went into her room and started gathering up her stuff into neater piles to organize for packing. When she emptied her bag to get that stuff in order, she found James' phone. Quickly she tried the phone in the room, but as she suspected earlier it wouldn't work.
She opened her window and climbed out and sat on the roof. It sort of worked and when James answered the phone she made him talk until she found the perfect spot where she heard him as if he was right next to her.
Rebecca sat there nestled between the roof and the part of the roof that protruded to go over the alcove of her window. It was a perfect spot because she couldn't be seen if anyone looked out of the other windows of the house even if they could hear her. It made her more comfortable to discuss things with her friend.
"Okay so I will go over and talk with Charlie and send you an owl to let you know when he will be calling," James recapped at the end of their conversation.
"Sounds good to me. ... James thanks again. I really appreciate this."
"No problem. You would do the same if the situation was switched. Well I better let you go so that you don't wear the batteries down before Charlie calls you."
"Okay."
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye." Rebecca carefully got up and climbed back into her room. She hid the phone and went back to her cleaning.
There was a knock on the door about an hour later. It was Ryan who just let himself in before Rebecca could say anything.
"Ben is in the fire wanting to talk to you." Rebecca looked at him as her jaw dropped.
"This day just keeps getting better and better." Rolling her eyes, she got up and walked to the parlor.

"What do you, Ben?" Rebecca asked when she entered to see her old Beauxbatons friend's head floating in the fire.
"That's some welcome for your best friend," Ben stated slightly annoyed mostly because he had to speak with Ryan. Rebecca just shrugged at him and settled herself near the fire, but not close enough that Ben could drag her through the fire. He noticed her doing this and couldn't keep his tongue. "Why the distance? You should sit really close so we can have a private conversation."
"I distinctly remember being pulled through the fire a couple of times when I dared to get close to the fire."
Ben turned red and muttered something of an apology before saying in a pitiful tone, "So have you been so busy this summer that you couldn't make time to write an old friend?"
"I couldn't write anyone, Ben so don't act hurt. You weren't the only person that suffered from lack of mail."
"That was one of your stipulations for the summer?"
"Yep." Rebecca had to admit she was impressed that he figured out the cause. 'Of course, why wouldn't he when it was the reason you left Beauxbatons, girl,'she thought trying to keep herself from being too impressed.
"Was not staying at your house part of it too?"
"Yep."
"And let me guess. This all stems from the fact that you decided to stay at Hogwarts."
"Yes," Rebecca stated knowing that Ben was about to read her, her rights for choosing the school she did.
Without fail Ben started in on his rant and kept going until he noticed. "You know you paid more attention to me when you were here. ... You need to come back here and start acting right."
"Ben, this is not a negotiation. I already decided..."
"But you need to be here with me. Your supposed to be my girl."
"I'm not yours. I'm dating Charlie." Ben looked as if he was about to exploded by the mere mention of Charlie' name, so Rebecca decided to cool down the situation by asking, "How did you find out I was here?"
"Stacy."
"Stacy?" She couldn't help, but have a bad feeling when Ben mentioned Stacy.
"Yeah, I got out of her that you said you weren't going to be home for the summer."
"What did you do to Stacy?"
"I didn't do anything. We had a nice friendly chat. ... You're being very suspicion. You never use to be like that." Rebecca rolled her eyes and waited for the evitable line. Without fail, Ben delivered it. "You need to come back to Beauxbatons and get back to acting normal."
"So I can be your girl," Rebecca mundanely muttered not even looking at Ben.
"Exactly!"
"Ben, it isn't going to happen. You had plenty of opportunities before I left and you did nothing. And after I left other than a picture that reminded me of a few perks of being your friend, you didn't keep in touch with me. In fact if it wasn't for Stacy, I would have been completely cut off from Beauxbatons when I left. From my point of view it is that no one really cared about me. And you're just wanting something you can't have."
"Becky it is destiny that we end are together."
"No it's your fanasty..."
"What ever you want to call it, Becky... So when will you be getting out of this dump."
"Friday."
"Your birthday?"
Rebecca eyes got big. She forgot that she was going to be turning sixteen.

"You forgot your birthday was coming up, didn't you?" Ben laughed at Rebecca.
"I've had other things on my mind."
"Like how to get yourself back to Beauxbatons?"
"You know your getting very annoying saying that all the time," Rebecca stiffly replied wiping the smile off of Ben's face. He was about to say something but Rebecca, but she added, "I really think you need to go and exam your sudden desire to have me back at Beauxbatons and to date me."
"Probably should." Rebecca let out a sigh of relief. Ben was actually being more of his rational self. "That way I can give you more reasons to prove that I am right." Rebecca's eyes about popped out. She couldn't believe he said that. "Listen, Becky, you got to remember destiny is destiny, you are suppose to be my girl. Why else would you have came to Beauxbatons in the first place? ... I got to go. My mum wants me for dinner." With that, Ben disappeared from the fire.
"If I hear him says that on more time," Rebecca muttered as she got up and turned to walk away. She didn't realize Ryan was standing right there behind her and she almost fell back onto the ground when she bumped into him.
"Hey, you okay?" Ryan asked grabbing Rebecca's shoulders to help steady her.
"I'm fine." Rebecca tried really hard to mask that she was upset and not to take it out on Ryan. She didn't want another row with him right now. But he saw through it and had to ask, "What does Ben keep saying that you don't want to hear anymore?"
"That I should be his girl." Ryan just shook his head as Rebecca proceeded, "He keeps saying that if I had been around last year. He would have asked me out and we would be together now."
"Why are you so doubtful that wouldn't be the case?"
"Because he wouldn't have."
"Really?"
"Yep. ... He just wants what he can't have."
"Maybe he didn't know that he wanted you until you left," Ryan said and then silently added, 'I know I felt that way when we went to separate school.'
"Maybe? But I guess it doesn't matter, it isn't like I would have said yes."
"Why?"
"I really wasn't into him that way, maybe it looked like it from the outside, but it wasn't the way it really was and I definitely am not into him now." Rebecca was wondering why Ryan was being so nosy. In the end, she just decided that he was trying to make amends after their morning fight.
"So you're saying that you never would have thought of him as anything more than a friend."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"So you would never willingly do anything with him."
"What?" Rebecca gave him a questioning look like she had no idea what he was trying to get at.
"I just want to know if you had amnesia and could forget that you were mad at him if you would kiss him, like you did..."
"Oh," Rebecca groaned knowing that Russel's name was about to come up. "I am never going to live that down."
She left the room without another word, afraid if she would say she would start crying. Her emotions were taking over and she felt that until she could talk to Charlie it would be that way. 'I hope he can call me tonight.'

Rebecca went into her room and found a letter on her bed. It had Charlie's handwriting on it, so she tore it open.

Dearest Becca,
What has happened? James came over to my house and practically dragged me to his only saying that you had to talk to me and that he had no clue what it was all about. James could only say that you were really upset and said you had to tell me something before you told him. I will be calling James mobile at 9 tonight so you can tell me then. Please don't worry about upsetting me with whatever it is. I just don't want you to be upset about what ever it is any more.
I'll talk to you soon.
Love,
Charlie


"Nine," Rebecca muttered rereading the letter again. She felt some relief that Charlie was more worried about how she was than how the fact that she kissed Russel affected him. Of course he didn't know that she had done that yet, so when he got on the phone and found out his reaction might be different from his planned comforting her.
'I need to go distract myself so the time to the phone call doesn't crawl by.' With that Rebecca decided to go outside and try to enjoy the beautiful weather while figuring out how to break the news to Charlie.
As she came out of her room, Russel came out of Ryan's bedroom. They looked at each other for a moment. Russel sighed and averted his eyes from Rebecca. He was depressed to begin with from the song in the early morning, but seeing Rebecca roll her eyes disgusted at him sent him even farther into his depression.
Relieved when Rebecca walked back into her room, he hastily walked out down the stairs and into the parlor to see Ryan staring into the fire deep in thought.
"I'm leaving, mate." Ryan looked up from the fire place.
"What? ... Uncle Lucius changed his mind. He said you could stay. Didn't he tell you?"
"Yeah," Russel slowly started.
"But?" Ryan questioned slightly irked.
"I just think it would be best if I left."
"I don't think that is a smart idea."
"Why not? ... Rebecca hates me and I think it was best this way."
"I just don't think it is. ... Stay, until dinner and let me judge what is best. I'll be more objective." Russel shook his head sat down on the couch with Ryan who was back to his deep thought. Russel couldn't help but be curious what was running through his best friend's mind.
"What are you thinking about?" Ryan didn't answer Russel's question.

"Mate," Russel asked after five minutes of being ignored. Ryan just turned and looked at him as if he was coming out of a daze. "What is your problem?"
"What?"
"You make me stay and then ignore me when I ask what is going on."
"Oh, sorry, I was just think about what my uncle told me about Rebecca last night."
"And?" Ryan looked at him confused. "Come on Ryan you have had all day to think about that and when Rebecca was gone this afternoon you weren't this spaced out." Russel was starting to get really interested in happened when Rebecca got home, so he started to ask, "What happened? Did she say something to you?"
"No, Ben showed up in the fire today," Ryan bitterly said. Russel didn't say ask anything else. That was all the answer he needed. "I hate that guy."
"Did she act happy to see him?"
"No." Ryan looked less angry as he thought for a moment. Then a devilish grin started to form as he added, "In fact, she acted if the day got worse when she heard he found her."
Russel just shook his head knowing that Ryan probably had something going on in his head, but he decided that it would be best to not ask. It was evident that it would have to do with Rebecca and he made a promise to himself that he wasn't going to get sucked into any plans that have any involvement with Rebecca. In fact if he couldn't say anything to get Rebecca what she wanted he swore up and down that he was going to keep his mouth shut.
Ryan didn't seem to notice Russel not asking what was going on in his head. He just sat there on the couch formulating ideas about Ben and what his uncle had said. By supper, he was sure he had some great fail-proof ideas.

Waltzing into the dinning room, Ryan looked triumphant and saw Rebecca already sitting waiting for everyone to come in. She looked spaced out as if she was deep in thought. For a moment, Ryan could see the worry in her eyes and he had a clue what it dealt with. Her eyes flickered with disgust, loathing, and guilt as Russel entered the room confirming Ryan's suspicion.
Rebecca let out a sigh and then shifted her gaze to her plate. She sat there the rest of dinner not noticing that Lucius came in to join on them. He could help but notice that the three teens were working on having an awkward silent dinner.
"Rebecca, my dear," he started encroaching into her thoughts. "Is there something the matter? You are awfully quiet tonight."
"I just was thinking... Trying to get something straight in my head," Rebecca softly responded. Lucius looked at the boys with a stern look and then excused himself.
"What are you thinking about?" Ryan genuinely asked when his uncle left.
"Just trying to get things straight in my head," repeated Rebecca.
"You said that." Ryan was a bit annoyed with her answer.
"It is still true."
"Well, maybe you need to talk about it. I'll listen until you get it straightened out."
"You want to hear about me whine about this that and ..."
"You missing your boyfriend." Ryan's bitter tone could not be masked by his joking smile. Rebecca rolled her eyes and was about to say yes and throw in part about the amnesia incident, but decided against it.
"Missing my friends in general more like it."
"I'm your friend. What is your problem with remember that I am that?"
"You have had a guest to entertain the whole time that I have been here," Rebecca stated gesturing towards Russel who just wanted to get up and leave the house. "I personally would have liked to have a friend be able to come over for longer than a couple hours. And that was only once."
"You just want Charlie to be allowed over here." Rebecca didn't want to deny it, because she would have liked that, but at the moment she wanted something a little different.
"Actually, right at the moment, I want to help getting myself clear headed and I think one of my girlfriends would be better suited for this case." Rebecca didn't wait for the come back from Ryan. She just got up and trooped out of the room and into her room leaving Ryan and Russel alone in the room.
"Mate, you have an opportunity here," Russel finally said in a very sobering tone. "You can take a cue from what Rebecca said and get one of her friends over here and keep on her good side making your uncle happy or you can keep her miserable here and see where that gets you."
Ryan nodded the reminder of his uncle sealed the deal. With a grimace on his face he said, "I don't want Bell to come with Davis again, or else I would go to her house right now."
"Who says that it has to be Sara?"
"Sara is her best girl friend at school. It doesn't matter if it isn't Bell coming then it Piper with Tyson or Patterson with..."
"No, mate, I was thinking staying out of the Gryffindor house."
Ryan looked at him a moment and then smiled. He had the best idea of who to get. He rushed up the stairs to get things set up.

Rebecca entered her room and laid down in her bed. She had about an hour and a half to kill before Charlie would call. It didn't long for that time to pass though. She just kept keeping on trying to think or what she was going to say.
When it was finally time, Rebecca picked up James' phone and headed out the window and carefully positioned her self so that she wouldn't fall off. She had just settled in and looked to see that it was now nine when the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey Becca," a deep familiar voice came over the other line. "It's me."
"Charlie?" Rebecca couldn't help but start to cry and it wasn't only because she had to tell him that she had had a snogging session with Russel. She missed Charlie so much, much more than she had even realized. It was hard for her to believe the strength of this emotion.
"Becca? Becca, darling what's the matter? Please talk to me," Charlie pleaded his mind racing to figure out why Rebecca was acting like that.
"I just really miss you." Rebecca choked back a few tears. "And I did something horrible."
That was it. Rebecca just sobbed unable to do anything else. Charlie stayed on the line trying to calm Rebecca down so that she could talk. Finally after about ten minutes she choked back the tears until she finished explained about her kissing Russel while she had amnesia. Before she let the tears flow freely, she finished with sadly stating, "I'm so sorry."
"You had amnesia when this happened?" Charlie wasn't really asking a question. He just wanted to reiterate it to her. After she confirmed it between sobs, he asked, "How did you get amnesia?"
Rebecca regained some of her composure and explained about Draco, the snake, and the stairs. "Let me guess. Russel was on his best behavior after the accident and then you were never told that I existed?" Rebecca could tell Charlie was getting angry and rightfully so. She was just hoping that he wasn't going to explode and tell her that it was over. Though she had to admit that she really didn't believe it was going to happen she just wanted to be ready for the worst.
"Yeah," she slowly answered trying to keep from choking up. "I swear Charlie, I couldn't remember anyone or anything."
"Oh, I believe you." Rebecca let out a sigh of relief as Charlie continued. "I wouldn't put it past those two cooking up this whole scheme... I can't believe they put you in that danger. ... Do I need to come get you?" There was a long pause. "Becca? You still there?"
"Yeah," sniffed Rebecca still needing a few minutes to really calm down.

Charlie sat on the line hearing Rebecca try to stop crying. When he heard her sniff, it was about all he could handle he was about to tell her he was coming over. Problem was he wasn't sure where the Malfoy's were at and he needed Rebecca to calm down to tell him where he was going.
"You don't know how much I want to say yes," Rebecca said when she finally regained control of her tears and he had posed his question to her again.
"But?" Charlie asked knowing that she was telling him no. He couldn't help but want to know what was keeping from saying yes to his offer.
"I don't know what me leaving will do to other stipulations."
Charlie stopped for a moment partly not believing that Rebecca was thinking that far in the future. 'Why shouldn't she though?' He thought to himself. 'She has dealt with these silly stipulations almost all of her life. I bet she has a couple good experiences where if she didn't complete on she got the run around to get where she needed to be.'
"You're afraid that you won't be able to come back to Hogwarts if you don't stay where you are at right now?"
"Yeah..."
"How many more days do you have there?"
"Until Friday, as long as the meeting with the lawyer's on Friday goes well." There was a hint of paranoia in her voice that called to Charlie to try to comfort her.
"Becca, I'll still love you and will keep in contact if you have to leave. And you know Sara and the other girls will write too. It isn't worth..."
"But I want to stay at Hogwarts with you... I don't want to give up that when this situation is only temporary no matter how long it goes on." Charlie didn't know what to say. The conviction in Rebecca's voice when she said that she wanted to stay with him got to him. Before he could say anything, she said, "I can get through all this if I know where I am going back to and who is going to be there."
"Oh, we will be here. Without a doubt, I will."
"Thank you." Charlie swore that he could here her smile. "That's exactly what I needed to hear."
"Glad I could help." Rebecca heard a beep from James' phone
"Charlie, the phone's battery is going. I sorry but I got to get going."
"That's okay as long as you are okay now."
"I think I will be."
"Good. Will see each other soon, I promise."
"Okay. I miss you."
"I miss you too. Becca, I love you..." The phone died and Rebecca just sat there staring at it a moment hardly able to believe Charlie had said that to her. He loved her and he stated it twice in one conversation. She had never had that happen before. The sad part of it all was that she didn't remember being told it one ever.