Chapter 14

Rebecca came down to the Great Hall and sat down next to Lily and started to get herself some food. She glanced at the High Table and saw a man she had never seen before. He had slicked back black hair and blue eyes, a goatee and pale skin.

"Who the hell is that? He is creepy looking." Rebecca said as he looked at her and raised an eyebrow and she raised one back at him and they held a stare for a few seconds before she stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes and he gave her a look of repulse and went back to his food.

"That's the new potions teacher. Apparently the injuries were worse then were thought, cleaner and whatever you made completely disfigured Professor Slughorns face so he is in St. Mungos until they can fix it, until then, we have Professor Blackwood." Lily said and Rebecca glanced up at him talking with Professor McGonagall.

"I don't like him much; perhaps I can blow up his face as well. That goatee looks ridiculous." Rebecca muttered as she cut in to her eggs and bacon.

"Becky you don't mean that."

"He gave me a dirty look."

"Well at least wait until you meet him before you make any judgments, first days are hard for everyone, including teachers, give him a little bit of a break."

"He looks evil."

"He is kind of scary looking." Jenny remarked.

"Maybe it's because he frowning so much, I am sure his face would brighten up if he smiled." Rebecca said with a shrug. "But then again, maybe not."

After breakfast they all headed down to the dungeons and took their seats and waited for Professor Blackwood.

After the class got seated he walked in to the room, his black robes following behind him as he made his way to the front of the classroom and waved his wand at the black board in which letters started to engrave.

"I am Professor Blackwood. I am your temporary potions teacher until Professor Slughorn returns." He said as he looked around at each of the students until his eyes landed on Rebecca and his lip curled.

"You girl." He said looking at her and she looked behind her and pointed to herself and he nodded.

"What are the uses-."

"My name is actually Rebecca or Miss Walcott; I don't really appreciate being called girl." She said and the class went silent and they all looked from her to the teacher.

"What are the uses of dragon blood?" He asked and leaned back against the desk.

"It's a main ingredient in Draught of Peace; it is also used to help heal certain types of burns and can be used to strengthen certain potions." She said and leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "How did I do?" She asked smartly.

"10 points from Gryffindor for being cheeky." He said and turned and waved his wand at the board and Lily looked at her with a frown and Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"He is out to get me." She whispered as she looked at the board for the assignment and got started.

All during class Professor Blackwood kept walking by her potion pointing out every little thing that was wrong with her potion, down to the way she was holding her knife.

"You know sir, it might not be a good idea to stand so close to my cauldron, poor Professor Slughorn fell victim to my poor potion making, I would hate to see the same thing happen to you." Rebecca said sarcastically not looking up as she grinded some leaves while Professor Blackwood peered in to her cauldron. She glanced up at him and he took a slight step back and continued walking around the class.

After class Rebecca hurried out with Lily following and she groaned.

"See? I know an asshole when I see one, criticizing every little thing, my potion was near flawless and he still failed me for today." She spat bitterly.

"Well you know it probably didn't help that you were being so smart with him."

"No he had it out for me since the beginning of class, now I won't feel so bad if I accidently blow up my cauldron in his face."

"Becky please don't think like that."

"Come on you saw the way he hounded on me today."

"Yes I know, maybe you should discuss this with Professor McGonagall."

"Yeah a load of good that will do, she doesn't like me too much in case you haven't noticed. I don't think she will listen to a word I say."

"That's not true; please don't do anything rash Becky."

"Fine, I'll try my best." She said as they exited the dungeons.

"I'll see you later." She said and headed off to Ancient Ruins.

It was a cool autumn day, the taste of winter was in the air and all the students were out trying to soak up the last rays of sunshine before it disappeared completely. Rebecca sat outside with Jenny, Tessa and Lily out by the lake, Lily was reading some boring history book while Tessa and Jenny poured over the newest Witch Weekly. Rebecca spent the time folding paper butterflies and flying them around overhead.

"Becky stop that I'm trying to read." Lily said not looking up from her book as Rebecca flew one of them in to the side of Lily's head.

"I'm bored." Rebecca said with a sigh as she leaned back on the grass.

"Don't you have homework?"

"No, none that I want to do right now at least."

"Well why don't you do that instead of bugging me?"

"I don't think it would be half as entertaining." She said in a bored tone and saw James and Sirius walking towards them.

"Lover boy is coming." Rebecca said and Lily looked up from her book.

"Goodness who would have thought it would have taken James Potter to make you stop reading." Rebecca said dryly and Lily gave her a glare as James approached.

"Hey Lily." James said as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Hi James." She said as she shielded the sun from her eyes with her hand and he stepped in to the sun to block it from her eyes and she smiled.

"Thanks."

"No problem, I was uh wondering if I might have a word." He said and nodded over to the side and she placed her book mark in the book and got up and they walked over to the side. Sirius shuffled his feet through the grass as he glanced at Rebecca who looked at him mildly interested.

"What?" He asked and she shrugged and started to play with the grass. She glanced up at the butterflies and then glanced at him and he raised an eyebrow at her and she smirked and he glared at her as she flicked her wand and they started to dive bomb him and he struggled to get away and she laughed as she watched him trying to swat away the repeated attacks of the butterflies.

"Walcott stop it." Sirius yelled as he got out his wand and tried to burn them and she continued to laugh until he sent out a burst of flame which burnt all the butterflies to a crisp and he pointed his wand at her and she jumped up and he walked towards her as she walked back a few steps. She saw a few cuts on his face and she started to laugh at the fact that her paper butterflies had actually done some damage.

"Oh yeah?" He said and with a flick of his wand she was levitated in to the air and she looked at him bored and he looked towards the lake that was not ten feet away.

"Don't you dare." She said narrowing her eyes at him and he smiled and gave a flick of his wand and she went flying out towards the water. He laughed as he watched her hit the water and he looked at Jenny and Tessa who were staring wide eyed at what he had done.

"Sirius what the hell was that for?" Tessa said as she got up and looked over at where Rebecca had been thrown.

"She had it coming." He said with a shrug.

"I don't see her." Jenny said and Sirius turned around, his smile fading as he just saw ripples where he had thrown her and his stomach dropped.

"Where is she?" Tessa asked as she got up.

"Becky!" Jenny shouted and looked at Sirius with fear in her eyes.

"Sirius do something." She said as James and Lily ran over.

"What the hell happened?" James asked Sirius.

"Sirius threw Becky in the water and she hasn't come up." Jenny said frantically.

"What? Padfoot!" James said and Sirius stripped off his cloak and jumped in to the water and swam over to where he had thrown her and dove under water looking for Rebecca. He didn't see anything and he came back up. Oh god had he killed her? He dove down again and searched some more but saw nothing.

"Guys I cant-." He said as he looked over to the shore and saw Rebecca wringing out her hair.

"You are a fucking asshole you know that Sirius? I hope the squid eats you." Rebecca shouted as he felt his temper rising. She let him believe that something bad had actually happened? How cruel was that? He thought he had killed her. He swam back and pulled himself out of the lake and turned to Rebecca.

"What the hell Walcott!" He shouted and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"That's what you get for throwing me in to the lake." She spat and turned to Lily.

"I am going to go change. I'll see you later." She said and turned on her heel and walked towards the castle and James turned to Sirius.
"Come on mate you could have really hurt her." James said and Sirius grabbed his cloak and started off towards the castle.

Rebecca sat with Michael who was staring at his food pushing it around with his fork.

"Come on Michael you need to eat if you want to have any energy for the game." Rebecca said as she ate some eggs and bacon.

"I'm not really that hungry, I'm really nervous."

"Well first games can be like that, you're going to be fine, I have seen Ravenclaw practicing, they aren't that great, and you will be fine."

"What's the worst thing that can happen today?" he asked as he looked at her.

"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow and he looked down at his food.

"No not really." He said and James came over.

"Be down at the pitch in 15 minutes alright? We are going to warm up." He said and pat Michael on the back and Michael nodded and sighed as James went down the table informing the team.

"I'm going to die today."

"No you aren't, have you seen the size of most of the Ravenclaws? They don't have anything on you, now you better eat before I make you." She said firmly and he frowned at her.

"But I am not hungry; I don't think I would be able to keep anything down anyways."

"At least eat some toast; the last thing you need to think about during the game is how hungry you are so just a little toast at least." She said and pushed some toast in front of him.

"I have no idea why I let you talk me in to this." He said and picked up the toast.

"Come on it won't be that bad, at least your first game isn't against Slytherin, just Ravenclaw, look at them, a bunch of sissies." She said as she looked across the hall and he glanced up.

"They look pretty tough."

"Where is your Gryffindor courage?"

"Gone at the moment." He said meekly and bit in to the toast.

"You won't die or something, I don't think it would look very good for the school if you did, Dumbledore will make sure nothing too bad happens, alright?"

"Yeah, alright."

"Now eat up and get down to the pitch." She said and pat him on the back as she got up.

"Where are you going?"

"Grab my coat, I forgot it upstairs, I will see you down at the pitch alright, good luck." She said and pat his back and headed out of the Great Hall.

As she exited she saw Remus coming in.

"Hey Remus." She said and he paused in step and walked over to her.

"Hey Becky."

"Are you going to the match?"

"Yeah, I usually go to the Gryffindor matches."

"Alright well want to sit together? Lily is coming, you know, watch James." She said with a chuckle.

"Yeah alright."

"Well I need to go grab my coat, I'll be back." She said and headed up the stairs to the tower.

Rebecca sat in the stands cheering with Jenny, Lily, Tessa, Remus and Peter as Gryffindor took the lead with 40 points. It was nearly an hour in to the game with the score at 90 to 130; the Ravenclaws had actually stepped up their game since Rebecca had last seen them practice and were actually rather good. Rebecca wished more than anything to have been out their playing but no she HAD to be banned from Quidditch, stupid Slytherins. Since the fight at Hogsmead there had hardly been an exchange of words between Rebecca and the Slytherins, most of them stayed away from her with the exception of the occasional snip here and there as they passed each other in the hall.

"Tommy needs to catch that damn snitch; Ravenclaw has already spotted it three times already." Rebecca said as she sat down with a grumble and jumped up as Ravenclaw scored a goal.

Come on Lex pay attention, keep yourhead in the game." Rebecca yelled.

"Calm down Becky, it's just a game." Remus said with a small smile and she frowned.

"Don't say that Remus, that is an awful thing to say about quidditch." She said stiffly. "Just a game he says, he doesn't know what he is talking about." She muttered and screamed as James got a hold of the quaffle and threw it to Michael.

"Come on Michael, come on, come on YES! Score!" She yelled as she punched the air. Mason flew in front of James to hit the bludger away, hitting it on the tip and sending it towards the Ravenclaw seeker, nearly knocking him off his broom and Madam Falcon called a penalty.

"Oh come on it was a slip of the bat, why the hell would he try to hit the damn seeker, he didn't even have the snitch in sights, come on!" Rebecca yelled and Remus looked at Lily.

"Should we be worried she takes this so seriously?" He said quietly as Rebecca muttered curses under her breath.

"I think it's good to let her vent her frustration like this; it's a lot healthier plus no one gets hurt." Lily said and Remus chuckled and nodded.

"I think the fucking ref is blind, it was so not aimed at the seeker, this is bullshit." She grumbled as she sat down.

"And Larson has spotted the snitch with Welkes not too far behind." The commenter said and Rebecca jumped up.

"They are neck and neck folks, I think this might be it."

"Come on Tommy, I know you can do this, someone get Walkes off Tommy's tail god damnit!" She yelled as Tommy reached as far as he could.

"And Larson has the snitch; the game goes to Gryffindor with 280 to 100." The commenter said and Rebecca jumped up, nearly falling over before Remus grabbed a hold of her and steadied her.

"We won! We won! Oh my goodness this is exhilarating! Come on lets go down to the pitch." She said as she grabbed her scarf and headed out of the stands and headed down to the pitch.

Later that night James and Sirius managed to sneak down to the kitchens to knick a few bottles of firewhiskey in celebration of the match which was unfortunately met with a cross Lily Evans.

"Come on Lily, its just a little celebratory drink, look I even brought you a butterbeer." He said as he held out a bottle to her with a smile and she frowned and sighed before taking the bottle from him and he smiled and started to pass out the bottles as one of the students brought out a magic powered stereo and started to play some rock music as everyone fell in to conversation with each other.

"Great match James, you guys did really well." Rebecca said as she came over to James talking with a group of guys.

"Thanks Walcott, you did really well with Baley too, so thanks, I don't think we would have been halfway prepared if you hadn't helped, so thanks." He said and held out the bottle of firewhiskey to her.

"Want a drink?"

"I really shouldn't, bad things happen when I drink." She said and paused as his eyebrows rose up and she smiled.

"Hopefully you won't see that but what the hell, its just one drink." She said as she took it from him.

"To you guys, hopefully we have as great of a year as we did today, to the Gryffindor team." She shouted and was met with a small applause and a few 'whoops' as she took a drink and handed it back to him as she did her best to keep the drink down as it burned her throat.
"Man that is strong stuff." She said with a laugh.

"You have no idea." James said with a smile and took another drink.

Around midnight Lily decided to come down and disperse the party, sending everyone up to bed.

"Ugh what a mess." Lily muttered as she sat down on the couch next to Rebecca.

"You have to admit, it was a great match."

"Yes it was but I don't think it was." She said and opened her arms to the mess. "This great."

"Sure it was, you know the greatest thing about being a witch is this." Rebecca said as she pulled out her wand and paused. "I've had a bit to drink I don't think it would be safe if I do this, I might turn Sirius over there in to a pig, not that it would be a problem." She said as she looked at Sirius slouched on the other couch with his arm around a girl, both of them looking pretty much passed out.

"Right, I will take care of it." Lily said as she got up and went around cleaning.

"I am going to bed, I'll see you tomorrow." Rebecca said as she pulled herself up and walked to the stairs and went up to her room.

Rebecca glanced across the room at Professor Blackwood who was watching her with a scrutinizing glare like he had the whole class. He walked by her cauldron and glanced inside and looked up at her unimpressed and shook his head.

"Miss Walcott-."

"The potion is fine." She snapped.

"It is the farthest thing from fine, your potion by now should be a soft green, this is not." He said motioning to her light green potion.

"Are you blind?" She asked incredulously.

"Excuse me?"

"Well you must be, my potion is perfectly fine, ask anyone."

"I am the teacher here and I say it is not, start over again." He said as he tapped her cauldron and the contents disappeared and she grabbed the desk as she closed her eyes.

"Is there a problem Miss Walcott?" Professor Blackwood asked.

"No sir there isn't." Lily said quickly as Rebecca opened her eyes.

"Yes there is, I am sick of this, I can't work like this." She yelled as she pushed the cauldron off the table and grabbed her bag and slung it on her shoulder.

"Detention tonight, where are you going Miss Walcott, take your seat immediately." Professor Blackwood said and she turned to him.

"Fuck you, I can't stand this."

"10 points from Gryffindor for vulgarity. Now take your seat." He said as she continued to the door. Just as she reached the door it slammed shut and she turned around.

"Take your seat now." He said and she clenched her fists willing herself not to curse him in to an oblivion.

"Take your seat, now." He ordered and she pulled out her wand.

"Eradico." She growled with a flick of her wand and the door was blown off its hinges and was thrown out in to the hall and she stepped through hearing Professor Blackwood behind her yelling and she walked down the hall. She was sick of this, there was only so much she could take before she completely snapped, she was partly glad she hadn't decided to transfigure him in to something awful, that would have gotten her sent back without another word.

She exited the dungeons and headed outside to the lake, perhaps she could get some clarity out there.

As always Rebecca found herself in Professor McGonagall's office.

"Miss Walcott, your behavior today was highly unacceptable." She said and Rebecca groaned.

"Professor, he has been harassing me for the past three weeks."

"I have heard quite the opposite Miss Walcott, that you have been harassing Professor Blackwood."

"Of course he would say that but ask anyone in the class, he intentionally picks on me, I am failing the class because of him, my potions are perfectly fine and he fails them anyways. He constantly hangs over my shoulder during class, making it incredibly hard to get my word done, he even vanishes my potions despite the fact that they are perfectly fine, I can't work with this guy like this."

"I have spoken with Miss Evans she has told me of the unfair treatment that Professor Blackwood has given you and there for you will not be punished further by myself, but you do have a detention with Professor Blackwood tonight plus the 20 points he docked."

"Is there any way I could serve my detention with someone else?"

"I am afraid not."

"Right well is that all?"

"Yes it is, you will be reporting to the Potions room at 8 o'clock sharp, understood?"

"Yes, bye Professor." She said and walked out and heard Peeves cackle.

"Always in trouble we are." He said and she rolled her eyes.

"Shut up Peeves." She muttered and continued down the hall.

She could feel him watching her as he graded some papers while she scrubbed the insides of the cauldrons.

"You know Miss Walcott, if you weren't so head strong we might actually get along, you seem like a rather decent girl." He said and she looked up.

"Right well if you weren't such an arrogant asshole I think we might actually get along, you seem like such an unpleasant man though so no thanks." She said dryly.

"So angry." She said and clicked his tongue.

She continued in silence until she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she glanced over at Professor Blackwood and saw him watching her, leaning back in his seat, just watching her. She turned back to the cauldron and continued to scrub the gunk off the bottom and she saw him get up from his chair and started walking around the room. She felt a stab in her stomach and glanced across the room where her wand was sitting on the desk. She glanced at Professor Blackwood who glanced at her as he continued to walk around the room and he took his seat next to her.

"Is there something I can help you with sir?" She asked as she looked at him and she watched as his eyes wandered over her as he leaned back in his seat.

"No, please continue." He said and she bit her lip and went back to cleaning, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"Don't you have essays to grade?" She asked, not looking up.

"They can wait." He said and sighed. "You are incredibly beautiful you know that?" He asked and she froze and looked up at him.

"So strong and so intelligent, so beautiful.' He said as he reached over and brushed his fingers along her arm and she stood up quickly and took a step away.

"Get away from me." She spat.

"Such fire." He said as he got up and stepped towards her.

"Stay away from me." She said as she looked towards the door.

"I wouldn't think of it." He said and with a flick of his wand the door slammed shut and he turned to her with his wand at her.

Well a day early, i hope you enjoyed it. HotaruKitsune your review totally made my day, thanks =) This is among one of my favorite fanfics that i have written, i really like this character Rebecca, well please rate and review and the next chapter should be up in a few days, i have my music jury this week so i am hoping i do well on that, so after that i should have a bit more time to write