They awoke the next morning and realized that there was a ton of homework
to do, so the rest of the weekend was spent getting that done.
Monday started the week before Christmas break. There were decorations all over reminding everyone what holiday was coming up. Classes dragged on and all the students' minds were wandering. By Wednesday, the entire student body felt that the week was lasting a month.
That morning at Rebecca was sitting at breakfast trying to read a book and eat at the same time, when Charlie sat down beside her while the rest of the group filled in the seats around the two.
Charlie and Rebecca exchanged smiles and continued with breakfast. They hadn't really had a chance to talk since the weekend, but never missed an opportunity to smile at each other, which led to the confusion of the rest of the group. No one could tell whether they were a couple or not just by watching the two interact. Greg did get Charlie to call Rebecca a friend just that morning, but didn't tell the rest of group because he wanted Charlie to come to his senses without any help of a prank.
It was about fifteen minutes before anyone needed to get up to go to class when the mail came. A brown barn owl landed right in front of Rebecca and looked at her. Rebecca stared at it for a moment and then started to smile. She fed the owl some toast and then took the letter it was holding.
As the owl flew off, Rebecca tore into the letter. Everyone watched her carefully to see what was making her so excited. Even James and Jacquelyn who were in the midst of an argument over homework stopped to see what was going on. A few moments passed as Rebecca read her letter. Finally she looked up with a huge smile as she exclaimed, "YEAH!"
"What is that all about?" Cathrine asked the one question that was on everyone's mind.
"This is a letter from the place that has my parent's will. Anyways, it says that as long as I stay here for Christmas break, I get a voice in whether I get to be able to finish up schooling here," explained Rebecca barely able to contain herself.
"That's great," said Colin.
"Are you actually going to give up your break for this?" asked Charlie looking into her eyes with look of hope.
"Oh, yeah, it's not like I really have any place to go. I mean I have a house and everything, but without family there, I really don't have a reason to leave for break, so I was going to stay here anyways. Besides, even if I did have some reason to go, I would stay here over break if it means that I get to say no more transferring," Rebecca said. She looked down at the letter again, wanting to make sure she didn't misread anything. This was the best Christmas gift she could have gotten this year, because she was paranoid about being told that she would be leaving.
The group excitedly talked about Rebecca being back to the following year until it was time to get to class. Everyone got up together, but the girls walked off with Rebecca talking the whole way to class on a new subject leaving the guys behind.
"Dude, isn't it nice that Rebecca is becoming part of the group?" asked Greg giving Charlie a teasing smile.
James smiled at Charlie the same way and stated, "I don't think I have seen her walk to anywhere by herself all week. She is always with either Sara or Cathrine."
"Yeah, I think she is a nice addition to our merry little group," added Colin smiling too.
Charlie didn't notice the smiles because he was staring at the girls walking away as he said, "Yeah, it is nice that she is getting to know people around here."
James, Colin, and Greg looked at each other and started laughing. Charlie gave them a look asking what they were laughing at.
"Come on mate, lets go to class," Greg said trying to cover up his laughter. The guys caught up the girls, and headed to class.
Classes at Hogwarts eventually wound down for the holidays on Friday. That night, many students were busy packing to go home for break the next day. Rebecca sat down by the fire reading while everyone was busy in the dorm rooms. Lauren joined Rebecca for a short while, because she was staying for the holidays, also, and wanted to stay out of everyone else's way. Eventually, Lauren went to bed leaving Rebecca by herself.
Charlie finished up his packing and came down to the almost deserted common room. He walked over to Rebecca with a smile and leaned sown to whisper in her ear, "I think it is time to exchange presents." Rebecca smiled and they both went to get the presents.
Rebecca made it back down to the couch before Charlie did. She sat facing the stairs on the couch and put Charlie's gift on the floor next to her. Charlie appeared on the stairs a few moments later and had his hands behind his back. He stepped over the couch and sat next to Rebecca so she couldn't see what was behind his back.
She looked at him and said, "Since we are doing this gift exchange for me. I get to give you your gift first."
Charlie stopped her from grabbing her gift to him, when he put his present to her in Rebecca's lap and said, "No, I suggested it so I get to give the gift first. Come on open it."
Rebecca tried to protest but with no luck, so she ripped open the wrapping and saw that Charlie had gotten her Quidditch through the Ages.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! This is so great," Rebecca said as she gave Charlie a hug. "I love it. Thank you." Rebecca said as flipped though and saw that Charlie wrote in it.
Becca,
Hope this helps in your understanding of the game. I'm glad you will be around for more quidditch seasons.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Charlie.
Rebecca gave Charlie a smile and reached down to get Charlie's gift. As she handed him the gift, Rebecca moved so that she was sitting facing the fire right next to Charlie. He opened the gift and stared at it for a few moments.
"How did you know?" Charlie finally said surprised.
"I heard you say something this fall to Greg about needing new arm pads and then when I was walking around Hogsmeade, I ran into Greg as he came out of the quidditch shop. He told me you still hadn't gotten any when he was telling me about the sale that was going on, so I decided to that was what your gift was going to be. They were a little more than the limit we set, but you have been there so much for me this year that I decided you deserved to get them from me." Charlie tried on the arm pads, speechless because from what Rebecca said.
"Are they the right size?" Rebecca asked anxiously.
"Yeah they're perfect. Thanks," he said and leaned over and gave Rebecca kiss on her cheek.
With a smile, Rebecca leaned in on him, picked up her book and started to look at it. Charlie added a few insights to what Rebecca was reading as he continued to look at his arm pads.
After telling each other how great the gifts were a dozen or so times, they finally decided it was time to go to bed. As they got up from the couch Rebecca turned to Charlie, smiled and said, "Merry Christmas, Charlie!"
Charlie said "Merry Christmas, Becca!" as he and Rebecca walked towards the stairs.
The next morning, the students that were going on the train woke up early to make sure they packed everything and that they got to the station on time. As the other girls rushed around with their last minute packing activities, Rebecca woke up, got dressed, and went down to get some breakfast. Lauren joined her after a few minutes.
Rebecca noticed that Lauren did not look to happy that day and asked, "Hey what's the matter? Why do you look so forlorn?"
"Forlorn?" Lauren asked looking up from her breakfast with puzzled face.
"It means sad or unhappy."
"Oh... well I have to stay over the holidays, because it is too much for my family to afford to get me home from London and then back. I'm really homesick too."
"Well, I am going to be here too, so we'll do something that will make the time fun. I know it won't be the same, but we can still try. What do you usually do at home with your family?"
"Well we do a lot of different things together, but probably the best thing is on Christmas day when my family and I put a puzzle together."
"Puzzles! You like to put puzzles together?" Rebecca asked very, very excited.
"Yeah, do you like them too?"
"Oh I adore them. They are practically my favorite muggle thing."
"Wow that's cool." They smiled at each other and continued to eat as more students filtered in.
Charlie and his friends came in and took seats that surrounded the two girls. "Hey, how are you two doing?" Colin asked as he filled his plate.
"We're doing well. Did you get everything packed that you need?" Rebecca responded.
Before Colin could answer, James piped in, "He probably hasn't so don't be surprised Rebecca if you get an owl asking you to send him something."
There were a couple of snickers among the group and Colin gave James a dirty look but finally said, "You know he probably is right, if my head wasn't screwed on." Everyone laughed at Colin trying to unscrew his head as he spoke.
They continued to eat and talk. In the course of the conversation Jacquelyn revealed that she knew a secret that Lauren would want to know. It turned out that a first year Ravenclaw, named Sean O'Donnell, thought she was smart and beautiful and that he really liked her. This news led to some light-hearted ribbing from the group and Lauren blushed.
Charlie sat and ate quietly as all the excitement happened. He smiled at Rebecca a couple of time when she looked at him, but didn't say anything. Greg noticed Charlie's lack of participation and it seemed to him that Charlie had something on his mind.
When it was finally announced that it was time for the students to head to the train station, Greg asked Rebecca and Lauren, "Are you two going to come and see us all off?"
Rebecca answered in a heart beat, "Yeah that would be fun."
Lauren looked apprehensive until Jacquelyn said, "Yeah, Lauren you should come. I'm sure Carolyn and Aisha would get a kick out of you seeing them off. Plus you might get to see Sean."
"O-o-o-okay," Lauren stuttered unsure of the last part, but got up and went to get her cloak and scarf so she could see her friends off.
The group got up and started to leave to get ready to get to the train station. As Charlie got up, he turned to Rebecca as if he was going to say something really important. Greg held back from the group to see what Charlie was going to say. Rebecca looked at Charlie and sweetly smiled at him.
"Becca?" Charlie started wring a napkin in his hand.
"Yeah?" she replied looking in to his eyes. 'She has the sweetest smile I have ever seen,' Charlie thought to himself before he said, "um . I . um. well I just wanted to thank you for the Christmas present. They are the best pair for a seeker."
"You're welcome. I really like what you got me too. Thanks for the book." Rebecca walked away to go get her cloak still smiling. Greg was dumbfounded he couldn't believe what he just heard. He thought Charlie was going to say something else, something more important. There was no way that what Charlie actually said was what had been on his mind all breakfast.
Greg was staring at Charlie, when Charlie turned to put his napkin on the table. "What?" Charlie asked Greg.
"That was it? That was all you were going to say? What is going on?" Greg asked upset.
"What are you talking about? You're acting like a girl, we just exchanged gifts. I told her thank you last night and I told her again today. It's not a big deal."
"Yeah, you're allowed to by gift for whoever you want and tell them thank you as many times as you want, but dude?"
"But, what?"
"Don't you see it?"
"See what?"
"Never mind."
"No, what?"
"It's nothing . just my imagination. . So, what did she get you?"
"Arm pads."
"Really?"
"Yeah, they're great."
As they walked out of the great hall, Charlie told Greg about the arm pads that Rebecca picked out for them and some of what happened the night before. Greg just listened, noting what transpired, and wondering whether Charlie realized that he was falling for Rebecca.
Down at the train station student excitedly boarded the train and told the ones that were staying good-byes and Christmas greetings. Charlie and his friends said their good-byes and went on to the train to find a compartment together. Rebecca was standing on the platform outside of the compartment Charlie picked and waiting for the train to pull out so she could wave good bye to all the students when Lauren came to stand with her.
Harvey walked by and ran into Lauren. He looked at who he ran into and said, "Watch where you're going Mudblood. Oh, what, aren't you going on the train? Doesn't anyone love you at home or are you just to poor to afford the trip?"
Harvey got Lauren upset with this and her eyes started to swell with tears. Rebecca was speechless. She knew that she couldn't say anything to get the callus boy to apologize to Lauren.
Charlie and Greg saw from their compartment's window and started toward the exit to help out. They were on the steps of the train when Harvey started to walk away and ran into Russel.
"What did I say about using that word?" Russel asked. Harvey just turned around and fearfully stared at Russel.
As Russel went on lecturing Harvey, Rebecca turned to consol Lauren and saw that Charlie and Greg were standing waiting to see if they were needed. She smiled at them to let them know that everything was under control and they could go back to their seats. The guys turned around and disappeared as Russel finished his speak with "I'm staying here this break too. Do you think that I don't have anyone that loves me at home or that misses me and you know that I can afford to go home if I wanted to. Now apologize to her."
Harvey turned towards Lauren and looked her in the eyes and saw what his word did. "I'm sorry I said all of those mean things and I won't call you a mudblood anymore."
Lauren turned her eyes to the ground and turned towards the train.
"I just apologized," shouted Harvey. Lauren didn't answer at this.
Rebecca told Harvey as she turned towards the train, "Sometimes it takes more than just words to make everything better." Harvey ran off to get a seat on the train.
As he left, he passed another first year Slytherin. She had dark brown hair and was laughing hard. "I knew you wouldn't fight him," she said.
"Oh, shut up, Alannah!" Harvey roared at her.
"See you after break," she chuckled as Harvey entered the train.
After Harvey was on the train, Rebecca turned slightly and saw Russel staring at her and Lauren.
She smiled sweetly at him and mouthed, "Thank you."
Russel's face soften, he shook his head, and softly whispered back, "It was nothing."
The train started to move and Rebecca and Lauren waved to everyone until the train was out of the station.
Rebecca turned toward Lauren when the train was out of sight. "Are you okay?" she asked. Lauren burst into tears. Rebecca gave her a hug and tried to comfort her. "I know his words were hurtful and that it was hard to keep it all in when he was around," she said as she escorted Lauren toward the carriage that would take them back to the castle.
Russel walked up behind them and asked, "Is everything okay?" as Lauren and Rebecca climbed into the carriage He looked at Lauren with a great concern in his eyes Rebecca had never seen before.
"I think it will be eventually. We'll talk and find out. See you at lunch," Rebecca answered Russel as he shut the door of the carriage and walked to another carriage. He could take a hint that he would not want to be in that carriage on the way back to the castle.
Lauren looked at Rebecca when she settled down a little and said, "I just couldn't accept his apology again."
"I know. I don't think that I would have if he did it to me. Especially since he had already apologized for using that word and you only accepted it on the condition he never use it again. It makes you think he doesn't actually feel bad about it." Lauren smiled a little to hear that Rebecca would have done the same.
They arrived at the castle and walked up to the Gryffindor tower. Lauren took a nap and Rebecca started to really read Quidditch through the Ages.
Right before it was time for lunch, Rebecca went up to her room to put her book away. It was strange to walk into the room and know that no one was there or would be coming in. She wasn't sure whether she really cared for it or not, because she really liked her roommates.
Rebecca was about to walk back out the room when she noticed a letter on her bed. She picked it up and saw that it was from Stacy.
Rebecca suddenly had a panic attack. 'I didn't tell Stacy that I was staying here. How am I going o tell her why I chose to stay here over going home and the chance of seeing her?' her mind raced.
After a moment, she gained the courage to open the letter and see what Stacy had written.
Rebecca,
It's Christmas! Yeah! I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and let you know that I won't be home during break. My family and I are going to visit family in Scotland. I wish I could see you this break. I miss you! (Sorry this is so short I am trying to pack and write at the same time. It isn't going to well)
Merry Christmas!
Stacy
Rebecca sat down on her bed and gave a sigh of relief out as she finished the short note. She at least didn't have to write a letter to Stacy right now and explain why she wouldn't be able to see her.
'I have to figure out the right way to phrase this. I know Stacy will understand but she will have to explain it to everyone. I am so afraid that they will take it as I have a vote in my schooling so I will be coming back and I don't know whether that is a choice I get or whether I even want to transfer again. Where is Sara when I need her? She could get me to get this all out in the open,' Rebecca thought as she got up to get a piece of parchment. She started to scribble out what she might say. Nothing seemed to be right.
After the fifteenth attempt, she, finally, looked up at the clock in the room and saw that lunch had already started. Rebecca set down everything on the bed stand and walked down to the Great Hall still trying to think of how to say what all was going through her head.
Russel had been the first student to lunch. He did it on purpose, because he wanted to save Rebecca and Lauren seats so that he could see how they were doing since he had left them. Lauren came in after a few minutes and grateful took the seat that Russel saved. Russel made polite conversation with Lauren while the other students filtered in. He kept looking at the entrance to see who was coming in and turned back to Lauren when he saw that it wasn't Rebecca.
Finally after the food came to the tables and the students had filled their plates, Rebecca came in and took the seat between Russel and Lauren. She didn't say a word to either of them, just started putting food onto her plate. Russel and Lauren looked at each other with puzzled faces and finally Lauren said, "What's the matter Rebecca? Why are you so . f-f- forlorn?"
Rebecca turned and looked at Lauren and politely said, "Oh, nothing has gotten me sad since you last saw me. I would say I am more preoccupied than forlorn about anything. . Good job using a new word though."
Lauren smiled and went back to eating. She figured that Rebecca had to be okay after that response. Rebecca was about to start eating when Russel asked, "What's gotten you so worried then?" Rebecca about dropped her fork.
After she finished fumbling with the fork, she looked at Russel and simply stated, "I have to tell my friends something and am not sure exactly how to say it without having them jump to the wrong conclusion."
"Oh, well if you need help, I would be happy to try. What did you need to tell them?" Rebecca started in and explained to Russel the news in the letter she received in the earlier in the week and her fear that her old friends' conclusion of the news. Russel asked questions to get Rebecca to clarify why she was so excited to get told that she was getting to have a say in her schooling and why she said that she didn't want to transfer again especially if it meant that she could go back to Beauxbaton.
Rebecca thought for a moment on the latter of the questions and finally said, " To tell the truth, I didn't think it was a possibility at first, but now that I think of it I don't know what I would do it if was. . Have you ever heard the saying 'You can't go home again'?" Russel nodded his head as Rebecca continued, "Well I think that even as much as I miss my friends at my old school after being apart of a year, things will be different. It won't be like I never left. They will have inside jokes from this year and I'll be wondering what is up with the people I met here. . And now that I think about it I have this feeling that Beauxbaton won't be a choice for schooling too since it would have been illogical to tell someone to transfer schools and then transfer back and I don't know how to tell them that as well."
"So you think it might be a choice between Hogwarts and Durmstang." Rebecca nodded her head this time as Russel continued, "And you would choice would be Hogwarts then?"
"Right now, but I can't make my decision based on one weekend. I probably won't even have to really think about this until we leave for summer holidays so I will have a whole year here to help me make my decision."
The word weekend caused Russel to go from smiling to a grimace. All he could say was "Weekend?"
Rebecca looked at him and responded, "What?"
"You said that one weekend was not enough to base your decision on?"
"Oh, I meant to say term." Russel nodded and turned back to his food trying to think of the perfect way Rebecca could explain this situation to her old friends.
Rebecca picked back up her fork and thought, 'Did I really mean weekend though? Could this weekend have changed my view on how I feel about coming here? One weekend couldn't have. ... But then again if I would have gotten that letter any time this fall I probably would have been skipping for joy that I could go back to Beauxbaton. Now I am so torn about what I would want to do if that was a choice.'
Rebecca then started to think of the people she had met at Hogwarts. Charlie's face popped up several times. 'I would like to get to know him better,' she thought as she finished her plate of food.
After lunch, Rebecca returned to writing the letter to Stacy. By supper time she had what she thought was a decent letter explaining everything.
She made sure to emphasis that she really did not think that Beauxbaton wouldn't be an option several different ways in the letter. Rebecca also used the saying 'You can't go home again' to start off her explanation of how things had to have changed since she left and that they would never be able to go back to the way they were. Also, she mentioned that she had a whole other term to go through before she would find out her choices and had no intention of making a decision about it until she heard them. She was very careful not to say anything about wanting to get to know people better over at Hogwarts so that her friends wouldn't get the feeling that she would discard them for the new people she met.
After rereading the letter, Rebecca went to the owlery to send it. She then walked to dinner happy that the task was off her mind.
During supper, Rebecca engaged the entire holiday student population in a massive conversation. Jokes were told and the laughter never seemed to stop. Even when dinner was over and all the dishes were cleared, the students sat round the table enjoying each others company. Professor McGonagall came in around ten o'clock and informed them that they needed to return to their respective common rooms for the night.
As all the students filtered out of the room, Russel turned towards Rebecca with a smile and said, "You really changed since lunch."
"Oh well it was because I wasn't worried about that letter anymore." Rebecca responded with a big grin on her face.
"Oh, so you managed to get it done?"
"Yeah, after talking with you I was able to write it all down. . Thanks for letting me ramble on about everything."
"It was nothing."
"No, it was something and I appreciated it. If I hadn't of talked it out with you, I probably would have stressed out and gave myself a headache. I think we all can guess what would have happened after that. So see it was something. . Well I better go see what is up with Lauren. I'll see you tomorrow. Night"
Russel's smile got bigger as he said, "Yeah, see you tomorrow. . Sweet Dreams."
Up in Gryffindor tower, Rebecca went to talk to Lauren, but found that she had already went to bed. She then decided to go to her own room and read the book Charlie gave her. She changed clothes and propped her self up in her bed so she could read comfortable. Rebecca keep reading and reading the book until she finished it at about 3a.m. She couldn't believe it was that time. It hadn't felt like she was reading it for that long. After putting the book on her bed stand, Rebecca settled her self into go to sleep. As she started to drift off, she thought, 'No wonder Charlie likes it so much. It really is a fascinating sport.'
The next day Rebecca didn't wake up until Lauren came in to her room and posed the question, "Rebecca, are you going to get up today?"
"Why?" Rebecca groggily replied.
"Well, you missed breakfast and now you have missed lunch. I am afraid that you might miss dinner if you don't get up soon."
Rebecca smiled at Lauren and said, "Thanks for your concern. I am going to try to get out of bed; it might take me a little bit, though."
"Well, I'll come and check on you before I head down for supper, if I see you before that."
"Thanks," Rebecca called after Lauren who was walking out of the room.
Rebecca laid in her bed for a few more minutes and finally got herself out of bed. She took her time getting dressed and then headed down to the common room. Lauren was sitting on the couch looking at a wizard's chess set.
Rebecca took a seat next to her as she asked, "You want to play?"
Lauren looked up and smiled as she said, "I am not sure exactly how to. This is Aisha's set. She said that I could borrow it during holidays so that I could learn. I think she wants to play when she gets back."
"Well I can teach you if you want."
Lauren nodded and they started to play.
By dinner time, Lauren had the game down and really didn't want to go down for supper. She agreed to go after Rebecca promised that they would play as soon as they were done with supper.
As the girls enter the Great Hall, Russel stood up and them over to take seats next to him. Rebecca sat down and started to fill her plate full of everything on the table. Russel turned towards her and said, "You know if you would have come down for the other meals you wouldn't be so hungry."
"Yeah well, if was would have been awake I would have came down," Rebecca responded before she took her first bite.
Russel stared at her for a moment and then asked, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Oh," Rebecca started. "um, I really feel great. Of course that may be from sleeping most of the day way." Rebecca looked at Russel and saw that he was just staring at her. It made her nervous the way that he was looking at her, so she quickly explained, "I stayed up late reading last night that's why I sleep so long today."
"How late were you up?"
"Three or so." Rebecca quickly took another bite of food.
"Must have been some book. What was it?"
"Quidditch through the Ages."
"Oh, so you're brushing up on the game then."
"Yes and no. I haven't ever played and I know there has to be things you can only learn by doing."
"You never played? . If you want to some time, we can go out to the field and I can teach you how to play."
"Um, maybe, when it is nicer out." Russel turned back to his plate with a big smile on his face.
Rebecca ate some more and then looked over at Lauren who had already cleaned her plate. "You ready to go?" Rebecca inquired.
Lauren politely responded, "When ever you are." Rebecca took a few more bites and had most of her plate done.
The girls got up and started to leave when Russel asked, "Where are you two off to?"
"Lauren wanted to play wizard's chess again. Night." Russel just stared as the girls walked out.
Up in the room the girls played three games of chess and then called it a night.
The next day was Christmas Eve and the students were really excited for the next day. Rebecca and Lauren spent most of their day playing chess in their common room only coming out for meals to keep their mind off the holiday. After dinner, they played one game and decided that it would be best to just go to bed so that the next day would come faster.
On Christmas day Rebecca awoke to a pile of presents at the foot of her bed. There was a letter on top of the stack, which Rebecca opened first. It was a note from Charlie telling her thank you for the arm pads and that his brothers were jealous. Rebecca laughed, because she had wrote Charlie a letter the night before telling him a quidditch fact and saying thanks for the book. 'Our owls must have passed each other in the night,' she thought to herself as she sat the note on her night stand.
Rebecca turned and grabbed a package from the pile. It was a gift from Wadsworth. She checked the name several times to make sure she read it right. In the end Rebecca realized that she was indeed holding a gift from Wadsworth even though he was dead. She tore the wrapping off the gift to discover he had gotten her a puzzle of a beautiful wooded scene. There was a note on the back of the box. Rebecca took the letter off and set back on there bed to read it.
Dear Rebecca,
I am writing this letter shortly before I will depart your life. Your parents left me with the duty to ensure your upbringing exposed you to different experiences. It has been an honor to watch you grow up into the fine young lady you are becoming. Though it pains me to leave you without any guidance when you receive your next set of instructions, I know that you will be fine. My finally advice to you is pick up the pieces and put together the puzzle of your life.
Always Your Loyal Servant,
Wadsworth
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears when she finished the letter. She set the letter down on the bed and stared at it for a while.
Tears were still rolling down her face when Rebecca finally grabbed another gift to open. It was a box of chocolate frogs from one of her servants with a note telling her thank you for the generous bonus.
'They must have gotten them yesterday. I don't remember when I set them up to be distributed,' she thought herself desperately trying to get her mind off of Wadsworth's letter. She continued to open gifts from her servants. Most of them sent her candy, but some sent her other little gifts that reminded her of them.
Rebecca thought she was done with opening gifts when she got out of bed and got dressed. She was about to walk out the door when she saw the last package that slid part way under her bed.
She picked it up not knowing who it was from. Rebecca read the tag and saw that it was from the Weasley family. She opened the package to find a blue sweater with a golden R on it. As she walked out the door to go to breakfast, she threw the sweater on.
Down in the common room Lauren was sitting by the fire reading a new book. "Merry Christmas, Lauren," Rebecca said as she hit the last step.
Lauren looked up and said, "Merry Christmas, Rebecca. Where did you get the sweater?" Rebecca twirled around to give Lauren a better look.
"It was one of my Christmas gifts. Charlie's family gave it to me. What did you get?"
"I got this book, some candy, and my parents sent me some new clothes."
"That's cool. Have you eaten yet?" Lauren shook her head no and started to get up from the couch. The girls headed down to the great hall and to join the rest of the student body that were still around for breakfast.
Rebecca and Lauren were one of the first to show up. Russel soon showed up with a first year that looked similar to Russel and took a seat next to Rebecca, and said, "Merry Christmas, Lauren. Merry Christmas, Rebecca. Was that sweater a Christmas gift? It looks nice."
Rebecca smiled and nodded. "Who's that?" Rebecca asked nodding towards the boy that came in with Russel.
"Oh that is just my brother, Marcus," Russel responded nonchalantly.
"You have a brother?"
"Um, yeah."
"Oh I must have missed that."
"Weren't you playing any attention at the sorting ceremony?"
"Nope, honestly I only really can remember Percy and Oliver getting sorted and that is it. Not that it really matters. I didn't know your last name, then, so I wouldn't have been able to put two and two together even if I was paying attention."
"Oh, so what else did you get for Christmas?" As they talked, some more students came in, took a seat, and joined in the conversation.
All the students were able to seat at one table and could easily talk to one another. During breakfast the students talked about what was the best thing they got. Rebecca told about the puzzle she got.
Lauren's jaw dropped and said, "Oh! Can I help you put it together?"
"Oh, yeah, you can help and so can anyone else that wants to. We'll set it up on one of the tables in here." Many of the students that were from muggle families were excited about it the idea of doing a puzzle. Some of the students who were not acquainted with muggle things were curious to see what a puzzle was.
Alannah, the girl from the train station, rolled her eyes at the idea and talked to Marcus. They soon left to do something else.
After breakfast was done, Rebecca walked out to get the puzzle while Russel left and seemed to just disappear. When she returned, the students gathered around and started putting the puzzle together. The puzzle was over a thousand pieces and was going to take a while to put together.
By lunch they had the outside of the puzzle together and a few bits and pieces of the inside done. After lunch, they went back to the puzzle. Russel joined it too, but couldn't understand why everyone was so happy to do this without magic.
Rebecca explained, "If you use magic, it wouldn't be fun. Just wait, you'll see." When Russel found his first set of piece that fit together; he understood what was so fun about doing a puzzle.
The students work on the puzzle all day and had gotten a good deal done, but still had a lot done. The next day they continued the puzzle, but the difficulty of the puzzle and the students talking did not allow them to finish it that day.
It took until the day before the rest of the students would return from break to get the puzzle done. Rebecca and Russel put the last pieces in place late that night. Rebecca smile and ran her fingers over the finished puzzle.
"Now that it is done we can use magic," she said. Russel looked at her confused. "Watch," Rebecca said pulling out her wand. She waved it and muttered some words Russel couldn't make out. In a flash, the lines of the puzzle disappeared making it a solid picture.
"Where are you going to put it?" Russel asked as Rebecca put her wand back in her pocket.
"I have a stack of puzzles I've did in my trunk, so it will go there for now," responded Rebecca quietly as she stared at the puzzle as if she was looking for a hidden meaning in it.
Russel stood there looking at her not knowing what to say other than, "That's cool. Well I guess its time to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."
He reluctantly walked away and Rebecca told him good night nonchalantly continuing to stare at the puzzle. Rebecca stood there for a little while longer, then finally picked up the puzzle, and walked up stairs to go to bed.
In her room, Rebecca flipped over the puzzle and spoke another spell and words appeared.
Everyone changes like the river changes its course. Little by little the change occurs until the course turn into something unfamiliar.
Rebecca read the words but was too tired to figure out what the saying meant. She put the puzzle away in her trunk.
Rebecca didn't go to bed right away she stayed up and wrote Stacy a letter telling everything that happened since before her accident. She hadn't put any news of what was going on with her other than the letter from the lawyer in her last letter and felt a little guilt about it. It took her a long while to get everything down. After she finished the letter, Rebecca climbed into bed exhausted.
The next day Rebecca woke up really early excited for everyone's return from break. It had been fun and the time went fast, but Rebecca did miss her new friends and couldn't wait to see them. She got dressed and threw on her Christmas sweater, which she had wore every day since she got it.
Rebecca got down to breakfast and sat down next to Lauren. Russel came in a sat down across from Rebecca.
"You really like that sweater," he commented staring at the sweater.
Rebecca blushed, looked down at the sweater and said, "It's nice and warm."
"Well you look nice in it," Russel said, but Rebecca didn't seem to hear because she was too busy looking out the Great Hall wondering when everyone was going to come back.
Russel tried to talk the rest of breakfast, but Rebecca seemed to be too distracted to respond to anything. Finally Rebecca finished with breakfast and went up to the common room leaving Russel to wonder what was up with her.
Once in the room, Rebecca got her copy of Quidditch through the Ages and sat on the couch with a blanket to read it again. She ended up falling asleep and awoke up to the commotion of people coming in. She looked up for a second but decided that she would rather sleep at that particular moment.
Rebecca had laid her head back on the couch and was about to fall back to sleep when someone sat down at the end of the couch. Her goal was to ignore whoever it was, but the person's laughter was too much and Rebecca opened up her eyes to see who was disturbing her. It was Bill and he was smiling at her.
"You had all break to get yourself rested and you're still tired?" he laughed.
"Mmm-hmm," Rebecca nodded.
"Are you going to go to dinner or are you sleep through it?"
"Dinner? What about lunch?" Rebecca gave him a confused look and Bill busted up laughing.
"Oh, you slept through lunch didn't you? That's great. Come on let's go down. I think Charlie and his friends are down there already looking for you. They must have missed you hibernating on the couch."
Still laughing, Bill helped Rebecca up off of the couch and saw that she was wearing the sweater his mother made. He smiled and said, "I'll be right back."
With that he dashed off to his room and left a tired Rebecca standing in the middle of a deserted common room rubbing her eyes.
When Bill came down he had on a green sweater with a golden B on it and had something maroon in his hand. Rebecca and Bill walked downstairs talking about their Christmas sweaters. Rebecca mentioned that she had been wearing the sweater since she got it as they walked down the stairs to the door of the great hall.
"Oh, well I guess I should say welcome to the family now," Bill said.
"What?" Rebecca said smiling at him.
"Mom makes a sweater for each of us kids each Christmas. You got one so I guess you're part of the family now." Rebecca's smile got bigger and they walked into the great hall.
Bill and Rebecca made their way to the Gryffindor table. There were two seats next to Charlie that they took. Charlie looked up and smiled.
"Hey, you found her, Bill. . We were just wondering where you were," he said looking at Rebecca.
"Yeah, I found her on the couch you all must have walked by at least a couple of times," laughed Bill as he threw at Charlie what he had been carrying. Charlie looked at what Bill gave him.
It was his Christmas sweater. He looked at Bill questioningly until he noticed Rebecca and Bill were wearing their sweaters. He pulled on the sweater and talked to Rebecca about her break. Bill joined in the conversation and Rebecca found herself turning her head a lot to look at who was talking to her.
In one turning she caught sight of Russel who was glaring at her. 'I wonder why he is looking at me like that. I hope I didn't do something to get him mad at me. He's such a guy. I would hate to have him mad,' she thought. What she didn't know was that Russel had heard Bill and her discussing the sweaters and heard Bill say 'welcome to the family.'
Rebecca was a little distressed at Russel's gaze, but soon forgot about it when someone commented on the similarity of Bill, Charlie, and Rebecca's sweaters.
"Must be for red heads only," Carthrine teased.
A.J. jokingly asked, "Hey how come I don't have a sweater? Rebecca doesn't even have true red hair, it is just the way the light is in here that makes her look like a red head, and she got one. . I bet Percy has one too. I feel left out. (sniff, sniff) . Come one Rebecca, how did you get a Weasley sweater?"
Rebecca smiled and said, "I guess I am part of the family now." Bill and Rebecca started laughing at what was to be their inside joke. Charlie and his friends looked at the two wondering what was so funny. Greg was curious on what Rebecca's comment actually meant and continued to eat as he pondered its meaning.
Dinner finished up and all the students went up to their rooms to go to bed, since everyone was tired and classes were resuming the next day.
Monday started the week before Christmas break. There were decorations all over reminding everyone what holiday was coming up. Classes dragged on and all the students' minds were wandering. By Wednesday, the entire student body felt that the week was lasting a month.
That morning at Rebecca was sitting at breakfast trying to read a book and eat at the same time, when Charlie sat down beside her while the rest of the group filled in the seats around the two.
Charlie and Rebecca exchanged smiles and continued with breakfast. They hadn't really had a chance to talk since the weekend, but never missed an opportunity to smile at each other, which led to the confusion of the rest of the group. No one could tell whether they were a couple or not just by watching the two interact. Greg did get Charlie to call Rebecca a friend just that morning, but didn't tell the rest of group because he wanted Charlie to come to his senses without any help of a prank.
It was about fifteen minutes before anyone needed to get up to go to class when the mail came. A brown barn owl landed right in front of Rebecca and looked at her. Rebecca stared at it for a moment and then started to smile. She fed the owl some toast and then took the letter it was holding.
As the owl flew off, Rebecca tore into the letter. Everyone watched her carefully to see what was making her so excited. Even James and Jacquelyn who were in the midst of an argument over homework stopped to see what was going on. A few moments passed as Rebecca read her letter. Finally she looked up with a huge smile as she exclaimed, "YEAH!"
"What is that all about?" Cathrine asked the one question that was on everyone's mind.
"This is a letter from the place that has my parent's will. Anyways, it says that as long as I stay here for Christmas break, I get a voice in whether I get to be able to finish up schooling here," explained Rebecca barely able to contain herself.
"That's great," said Colin.
"Are you actually going to give up your break for this?" asked Charlie looking into her eyes with look of hope.
"Oh, yeah, it's not like I really have any place to go. I mean I have a house and everything, but without family there, I really don't have a reason to leave for break, so I was going to stay here anyways. Besides, even if I did have some reason to go, I would stay here over break if it means that I get to say no more transferring," Rebecca said. She looked down at the letter again, wanting to make sure she didn't misread anything. This was the best Christmas gift she could have gotten this year, because she was paranoid about being told that she would be leaving.
The group excitedly talked about Rebecca being back to the following year until it was time to get to class. Everyone got up together, but the girls walked off with Rebecca talking the whole way to class on a new subject leaving the guys behind.
"Dude, isn't it nice that Rebecca is becoming part of the group?" asked Greg giving Charlie a teasing smile.
James smiled at Charlie the same way and stated, "I don't think I have seen her walk to anywhere by herself all week. She is always with either Sara or Cathrine."
"Yeah, I think she is a nice addition to our merry little group," added Colin smiling too.
Charlie didn't notice the smiles because he was staring at the girls walking away as he said, "Yeah, it is nice that she is getting to know people around here."
James, Colin, and Greg looked at each other and started laughing. Charlie gave them a look asking what they were laughing at.
"Come on mate, lets go to class," Greg said trying to cover up his laughter. The guys caught up the girls, and headed to class.
Classes at Hogwarts eventually wound down for the holidays on Friday. That night, many students were busy packing to go home for break the next day. Rebecca sat down by the fire reading while everyone was busy in the dorm rooms. Lauren joined Rebecca for a short while, because she was staying for the holidays, also, and wanted to stay out of everyone else's way. Eventually, Lauren went to bed leaving Rebecca by herself.
Charlie finished up his packing and came down to the almost deserted common room. He walked over to Rebecca with a smile and leaned sown to whisper in her ear, "I think it is time to exchange presents." Rebecca smiled and they both went to get the presents.
Rebecca made it back down to the couch before Charlie did. She sat facing the stairs on the couch and put Charlie's gift on the floor next to her. Charlie appeared on the stairs a few moments later and had his hands behind his back. He stepped over the couch and sat next to Rebecca so she couldn't see what was behind his back.
She looked at him and said, "Since we are doing this gift exchange for me. I get to give you your gift first."
Charlie stopped her from grabbing her gift to him, when he put his present to her in Rebecca's lap and said, "No, I suggested it so I get to give the gift first. Come on open it."
Rebecca tried to protest but with no luck, so she ripped open the wrapping and saw that Charlie had gotten her Quidditch through the Ages.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! This is so great," Rebecca said as she gave Charlie a hug. "I love it. Thank you." Rebecca said as flipped though and saw that Charlie wrote in it.
Becca,
Hope this helps in your understanding of the game. I'm glad you will be around for more quidditch seasons.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Charlie.
Rebecca gave Charlie a smile and reached down to get Charlie's gift. As she handed him the gift, Rebecca moved so that she was sitting facing the fire right next to Charlie. He opened the gift and stared at it for a few moments.
"How did you know?" Charlie finally said surprised.
"I heard you say something this fall to Greg about needing new arm pads and then when I was walking around Hogsmeade, I ran into Greg as he came out of the quidditch shop. He told me you still hadn't gotten any when he was telling me about the sale that was going on, so I decided to that was what your gift was going to be. They were a little more than the limit we set, but you have been there so much for me this year that I decided you deserved to get them from me." Charlie tried on the arm pads, speechless because from what Rebecca said.
"Are they the right size?" Rebecca asked anxiously.
"Yeah they're perfect. Thanks," he said and leaned over and gave Rebecca kiss on her cheek.
With a smile, Rebecca leaned in on him, picked up her book and started to look at it. Charlie added a few insights to what Rebecca was reading as he continued to look at his arm pads.
After telling each other how great the gifts were a dozen or so times, they finally decided it was time to go to bed. As they got up from the couch Rebecca turned to Charlie, smiled and said, "Merry Christmas, Charlie!"
Charlie said "Merry Christmas, Becca!" as he and Rebecca walked towards the stairs.
The next morning, the students that were going on the train woke up early to make sure they packed everything and that they got to the station on time. As the other girls rushed around with their last minute packing activities, Rebecca woke up, got dressed, and went down to get some breakfast. Lauren joined her after a few minutes.
Rebecca noticed that Lauren did not look to happy that day and asked, "Hey what's the matter? Why do you look so forlorn?"
"Forlorn?" Lauren asked looking up from her breakfast with puzzled face.
"It means sad or unhappy."
"Oh... well I have to stay over the holidays, because it is too much for my family to afford to get me home from London and then back. I'm really homesick too."
"Well, I am going to be here too, so we'll do something that will make the time fun. I know it won't be the same, but we can still try. What do you usually do at home with your family?"
"Well we do a lot of different things together, but probably the best thing is on Christmas day when my family and I put a puzzle together."
"Puzzles! You like to put puzzles together?" Rebecca asked very, very excited.
"Yeah, do you like them too?"
"Oh I adore them. They are practically my favorite muggle thing."
"Wow that's cool." They smiled at each other and continued to eat as more students filtered in.
Charlie and his friends came in and took seats that surrounded the two girls. "Hey, how are you two doing?" Colin asked as he filled his plate.
"We're doing well. Did you get everything packed that you need?" Rebecca responded.
Before Colin could answer, James piped in, "He probably hasn't so don't be surprised Rebecca if you get an owl asking you to send him something."
There were a couple of snickers among the group and Colin gave James a dirty look but finally said, "You know he probably is right, if my head wasn't screwed on." Everyone laughed at Colin trying to unscrew his head as he spoke.
They continued to eat and talk. In the course of the conversation Jacquelyn revealed that she knew a secret that Lauren would want to know. It turned out that a first year Ravenclaw, named Sean O'Donnell, thought she was smart and beautiful and that he really liked her. This news led to some light-hearted ribbing from the group and Lauren blushed.
Charlie sat and ate quietly as all the excitement happened. He smiled at Rebecca a couple of time when she looked at him, but didn't say anything. Greg noticed Charlie's lack of participation and it seemed to him that Charlie had something on his mind.
When it was finally announced that it was time for the students to head to the train station, Greg asked Rebecca and Lauren, "Are you two going to come and see us all off?"
Rebecca answered in a heart beat, "Yeah that would be fun."
Lauren looked apprehensive until Jacquelyn said, "Yeah, Lauren you should come. I'm sure Carolyn and Aisha would get a kick out of you seeing them off. Plus you might get to see Sean."
"O-o-o-okay," Lauren stuttered unsure of the last part, but got up and went to get her cloak and scarf so she could see her friends off.
The group got up and started to leave to get ready to get to the train station. As Charlie got up, he turned to Rebecca as if he was going to say something really important. Greg held back from the group to see what Charlie was going to say. Rebecca looked at Charlie and sweetly smiled at him.
"Becca?" Charlie started wring a napkin in his hand.
"Yeah?" she replied looking in to his eyes. 'She has the sweetest smile I have ever seen,' Charlie thought to himself before he said, "um . I . um. well I just wanted to thank you for the Christmas present. They are the best pair for a seeker."
"You're welcome. I really like what you got me too. Thanks for the book." Rebecca walked away to go get her cloak still smiling. Greg was dumbfounded he couldn't believe what he just heard. He thought Charlie was going to say something else, something more important. There was no way that what Charlie actually said was what had been on his mind all breakfast.
Greg was staring at Charlie, when Charlie turned to put his napkin on the table. "What?" Charlie asked Greg.
"That was it? That was all you were going to say? What is going on?" Greg asked upset.
"What are you talking about? You're acting like a girl, we just exchanged gifts. I told her thank you last night and I told her again today. It's not a big deal."
"Yeah, you're allowed to by gift for whoever you want and tell them thank you as many times as you want, but dude?"
"But, what?"
"Don't you see it?"
"See what?"
"Never mind."
"No, what?"
"It's nothing . just my imagination. . So, what did she get you?"
"Arm pads."
"Really?"
"Yeah, they're great."
As they walked out of the great hall, Charlie told Greg about the arm pads that Rebecca picked out for them and some of what happened the night before. Greg just listened, noting what transpired, and wondering whether Charlie realized that he was falling for Rebecca.
Down at the train station student excitedly boarded the train and told the ones that were staying good-byes and Christmas greetings. Charlie and his friends said their good-byes and went on to the train to find a compartment together. Rebecca was standing on the platform outside of the compartment Charlie picked and waiting for the train to pull out so she could wave good bye to all the students when Lauren came to stand with her.
Harvey walked by and ran into Lauren. He looked at who he ran into and said, "Watch where you're going Mudblood. Oh, what, aren't you going on the train? Doesn't anyone love you at home or are you just to poor to afford the trip?"
Harvey got Lauren upset with this and her eyes started to swell with tears. Rebecca was speechless. She knew that she couldn't say anything to get the callus boy to apologize to Lauren.
Charlie and Greg saw from their compartment's window and started toward the exit to help out. They were on the steps of the train when Harvey started to walk away and ran into Russel.
"What did I say about using that word?" Russel asked. Harvey just turned around and fearfully stared at Russel.
As Russel went on lecturing Harvey, Rebecca turned to consol Lauren and saw that Charlie and Greg were standing waiting to see if they were needed. She smiled at them to let them know that everything was under control and they could go back to their seats. The guys turned around and disappeared as Russel finished his speak with "I'm staying here this break too. Do you think that I don't have anyone that loves me at home or that misses me and you know that I can afford to go home if I wanted to. Now apologize to her."
Harvey turned towards Lauren and looked her in the eyes and saw what his word did. "I'm sorry I said all of those mean things and I won't call you a mudblood anymore."
Lauren turned her eyes to the ground and turned towards the train.
"I just apologized," shouted Harvey. Lauren didn't answer at this.
Rebecca told Harvey as she turned towards the train, "Sometimes it takes more than just words to make everything better." Harvey ran off to get a seat on the train.
As he left, he passed another first year Slytherin. She had dark brown hair and was laughing hard. "I knew you wouldn't fight him," she said.
"Oh, shut up, Alannah!" Harvey roared at her.
"See you after break," she chuckled as Harvey entered the train.
After Harvey was on the train, Rebecca turned slightly and saw Russel staring at her and Lauren.
She smiled sweetly at him and mouthed, "Thank you."
Russel's face soften, he shook his head, and softly whispered back, "It was nothing."
The train started to move and Rebecca and Lauren waved to everyone until the train was out of the station.
Rebecca turned toward Lauren when the train was out of sight. "Are you okay?" she asked. Lauren burst into tears. Rebecca gave her a hug and tried to comfort her. "I know his words were hurtful and that it was hard to keep it all in when he was around," she said as she escorted Lauren toward the carriage that would take them back to the castle.
Russel walked up behind them and asked, "Is everything okay?" as Lauren and Rebecca climbed into the carriage He looked at Lauren with a great concern in his eyes Rebecca had never seen before.
"I think it will be eventually. We'll talk and find out. See you at lunch," Rebecca answered Russel as he shut the door of the carriage and walked to another carriage. He could take a hint that he would not want to be in that carriage on the way back to the castle.
Lauren looked at Rebecca when she settled down a little and said, "I just couldn't accept his apology again."
"I know. I don't think that I would have if he did it to me. Especially since he had already apologized for using that word and you only accepted it on the condition he never use it again. It makes you think he doesn't actually feel bad about it." Lauren smiled a little to hear that Rebecca would have done the same.
They arrived at the castle and walked up to the Gryffindor tower. Lauren took a nap and Rebecca started to really read Quidditch through the Ages.
Right before it was time for lunch, Rebecca went up to her room to put her book away. It was strange to walk into the room and know that no one was there or would be coming in. She wasn't sure whether she really cared for it or not, because she really liked her roommates.
Rebecca was about to walk back out the room when she noticed a letter on her bed. She picked it up and saw that it was from Stacy.
Rebecca suddenly had a panic attack. 'I didn't tell Stacy that I was staying here. How am I going o tell her why I chose to stay here over going home and the chance of seeing her?' her mind raced.
After a moment, she gained the courage to open the letter and see what Stacy had written.
Rebecca,
It's Christmas! Yeah! I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and let you know that I won't be home during break. My family and I are going to visit family in Scotland. I wish I could see you this break. I miss you! (Sorry this is so short I am trying to pack and write at the same time. It isn't going to well)
Merry Christmas!
Stacy
Rebecca sat down on her bed and gave a sigh of relief out as she finished the short note. She at least didn't have to write a letter to Stacy right now and explain why she wouldn't be able to see her.
'I have to figure out the right way to phrase this. I know Stacy will understand but she will have to explain it to everyone. I am so afraid that they will take it as I have a vote in my schooling so I will be coming back and I don't know whether that is a choice I get or whether I even want to transfer again. Where is Sara when I need her? She could get me to get this all out in the open,' Rebecca thought as she got up to get a piece of parchment. She started to scribble out what she might say. Nothing seemed to be right.
After the fifteenth attempt, she, finally, looked up at the clock in the room and saw that lunch had already started. Rebecca set down everything on the bed stand and walked down to the Great Hall still trying to think of how to say what all was going through her head.
Russel had been the first student to lunch. He did it on purpose, because he wanted to save Rebecca and Lauren seats so that he could see how they were doing since he had left them. Lauren came in after a few minutes and grateful took the seat that Russel saved. Russel made polite conversation with Lauren while the other students filtered in. He kept looking at the entrance to see who was coming in and turned back to Lauren when he saw that it wasn't Rebecca.
Finally after the food came to the tables and the students had filled their plates, Rebecca came in and took the seat between Russel and Lauren. She didn't say a word to either of them, just started putting food onto her plate. Russel and Lauren looked at each other with puzzled faces and finally Lauren said, "What's the matter Rebecca? Why are you so . f-f- forlorn?"
Rebecca turned and looked at Lauren and politely said, "Oh, nothing has gotten me sad since you last saw me. I would say I am more preoccupied than forlorn about anything. . Good job using a new word though."
Lauren smiled and went back to eating. She figured that Rebecca had to be okay after that response. Rebecca was about to start eating when Russel asked, "What's gotten you so worried then?" Rebecca about dropped her fork.
After she finished fumbling with the fork, she looked at Russel and simply stated, "I have to tell my friends something and am not sure exactly how to say it without having them jump to the wrong conclusion."
"Oh, well if you need help, I would be happy to try. What did you need to tell them?" Rebecca started in and explained to Russel the news in the letter she received in the earlier in the week and her fear that her old friends' conclusion of the news. Russel asked questions to get Rebecca to clarify why she was so excited to get told that she was getting to have a say in her schooling and why she said that she didn't want to transfer again especially if it meant that she could go back to Beauxbaton.
Rebecca thought for a moment on the latter of the questions and finally said, " To tell the truth, I didn't think it was a possibility at first, but now that I think of it I don't know what I would do it if was. . Have you ever heard the saying 'You can't go home again'?" Russel nodded his head as Rebecca continued, "Well I think that even as much as I miss my friends at my old school after being apart of a year, things will be different. It won't be like I never left. They will have inside jokes from this year and I'll be wondering what is up with the people I met here. . And now that I think about it I have this feeling that Beauxbaton won't be a choice for schooling too since it would have been illogical to tell someone to transfer schools and then transfer back and I don't know how to tell them that as well."
"So you think it might be a choice between Hogwarts and Durmstang." Rebecca nodded her head this time as Russel continued, "And you would choice would be Hogwarts then?"
"Right now, but I can't make my decision based on one weekend. I probably won't even have to really think about this until we leave for summer holidays so I will have a whole year here to help me make my decision."
The word weekend caused Russel to go from smiling to a grimace. All he could say was "Weekend?"
Rebecca looked at him and responded, "What?"
"You said that one weekend was not enough to base your decision on?"
"Oh, I meant to say term." Russel nodded and turned back to his food trying to think of the perfect way Rebecca could explain this situation to her old friends.
Rebecca picked back up her fork and thought, 'Did I really mean weekend though? Could this weekend have changed my view on how I feel about coming here? One weekend couldn't have. ... But then again if I would have gotten that letter any time this fall I probably would have been skipping for joy that I could go back to Beauxbaton. Now I am so torn about what I would want to do if that was a choice.'
Rebecca then started to think of the people she had met at Hogwarts. Charlie's face popped up several times. 'I would like to get to know him better,' she thought as she finished her plate of food.
After lunch, Rebecca returned to writing the letter to Stacy. By supper time she had what she thought was a decent letter explaining everything.
She made sure to emphasis that she really did not think that Beauxbaton wouldn't be an option several different ways in the letter. Rebecca also used the saying 'You can't go home again' to start off her explanation of how things had to have changed since she left and that they would never be able to go back to the way they were. Also, she mentioned that she had a whole other term to go through before she would find out her choices and had no intention of making a decision about it until she heard them. She was very careful not to say anything about wanting to get to know people better over at Hogwarts so that her friends wouldn't get the feeling that she would discard them for the new people she met.
After rereading the letter, Rebecca went to the owlery to send it. She then walked to dinner happy that the task was off her mind.
During supper, Rebecca engaged the entire holiday student population in a massive conversation. Jokes were told and the laughter never seemed to stop. Even when dinner was over and all the dishes were cleared, the students sat round the table enjoying each others company. Professor McGonagall came in around ten o'clock and informed them that they needed to return to their respective common rooms for the night.
As all the students filtered out of the room, Russel turned towards Rebecca with a smile and said, "You really changed since lunch."
"Oh well it was because I wasn't worried about that letter anymore." Rebecca responded with a big grin on her face.
"Oh, so you managed to get it done?"
"Yeah, after talking with you I was able to write it all down. . Thanks for letting me ramble on about everything."
"It was nothing."
"No, it was something and I appreciated it. If I hadn't of talked it out with you, I probably would have stressed out and gave myself a headache. I think we all can guess what would have happened after that. So see it was something. . Well I better go see what is up with Lauren. I'll see you tomorrow. Night"
Russel's smile got bigger as he said, "Yeah, see you tomorrow. . Sweet Dreams."
Up in Gryffindor tower, Rebecca went to talk to Lauren, but found that she had already went to bed. She then decided to go to her own room and read the book Charlie gave her. She changed clothes and propped her self up in her bed so she could read comfortable. Rebecca keep reading and reading the book until she finished it at about 3a.m. She couldn't believe it was that time. It hadn't felt like she was reading it for that long. After putting the book on her bed stand, Rebecca settled her self into go to sleep. As she started to drift off, she thought, 'No wonder Charlie likes it so much. It really is a fascinating sport.'
The next day Rebecca didn't wake up until Lauren came in to her room and posed the question, "Rebecca, are you going to get up today?"
"Why?" Rebecca groggily replied.
"Well, you missed breakfast and now you have missed lunch. I am afraid that you might miss dinner if you don't get up soon."
Rebecca smiled at Lauren and said, "Thanks for your concern. I am going to try to get out of bed; it might take me a little bit, though."
"Well, I'll come and check on you before I head down for supper, if I see you before that."
"Thanks," Rebecca called after Lauren who was walking out of the room.
Rebecca laid in her bed for a few more minutes and finally got herself out of bed. She took her time getting dressed and then headed down to the common room. Lauren was sitting on the couch looking at a wizard's chess set.
Rebecca took a seat next to her as she asked, "You want to play?"
Lauren looked up and smiled as she said, "I am not sure exactly how to. This is Aisha's set. She said that I could borrow it during holidays so that I could learn. I think she wants to play when she gets back."
"Well I can teach you if you want."
Lauren nodded and they started to play.
By dinner time, Lauren had the game down and really didn't want to go down for supper. She agreed to go after Rebecca promised that they would play as soon as they were done with supper.
As the girls enter the Great Hall, Russel stood up and them over to take seats next to him. Rebecca sat down and started to fill her plate full of everything on the table. Russel turned towards her and said, "You know if you would have come down for the other meals you wouldn't be so hungry."
"Yeah well, if was would have been awake I would have came down," Rebecca responded before she took her first bite.
Russel stared at her for a moment and then asked, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Oh," Rebecca started. "um, I really feel great. Of course that may be from sleeping most of the day way." Rebecca looked at Russel and saw that he was just staring at her. It made her nervous the way that he was looking at her, so she quickly explained, "I stayed up late reading last night that's why I sleep so long today."
"How late were you up?"
"Three or so." Rebecca quickly took another bite of food.
"Must have been some book. What was it?"
"Quidditch through the Ages."
"Oh, so you're brushing up on the game then."
"Yes and no. I haven't ever played and I know there has to be things you can only learn by doing."
"You never played? . If you want to some time, we can go out to the field and I can teach you how to play."
"Um, maybe, when it is nicer out." Russel turned back to his plate with a big smile on his face.
Rebecca ate some more and then looked over at Lauren who had already cleaned her plate. "You ready to go?" Rebecca inquired.
Lauren politely responded, "When ever you are." Rebecca took a few more bites and had most of her plate done.
The girls got up and started to leave when Russel asked, "Where are you two off to?"
"Lauren wanted to play wizard's chess again. Night." Russel just stared as the girls walked out.
Up in the room the girls played three games of chess and then called it a night.
The next day was Christmas Eve and the students were really excited for the next day. Rebecca and Lauren spent most of their day playing chess in their common room only coming out for meals to keep their mind off the holiday. After dinner, they played one game and decided that it would be best to just go to bed so that the next day would come faster.
On Christmas day Rebecca awoke to a pile of presents at the foot of her bed. There was a letter on top of the stack, which Rebecca opened first. It was a note from Charlie telling her thank you for the arm pads and that his brothers were jealous. Rebecca laughed, because she had wrote Charlie a letter the night before telling him a quidditch fact and saying thanks for the book. 'Our owls must have passed each other in the night,' she thought to herself as she sat the note on her night stand.
Rebecca turned and grabbed a package from the pile. It was a gift from Wadsworth. She checked the name several times to make sure she read it right. In the end Rebecca realized that she was indeed holding a gift from Wadsworth even though he was dead. She tore the wrapping off the gift to discover he had gotten her a puzzle of a beautiful wooded scene. There was a note on the back of the box. Rebecca took the letter off and set back on there bed to read it.
Dear Rebecca,
I am writing this letter shortly before I will depart your life. Your parents left me with the duty to ensure your upbringing exposed you to different experiences. It has been an honor to watch you grow up into the fine young lady you are becoming. Though it pains me to leave you without any guidance when you receive your next set of instructions, I know that you will be fine. My finally advice to you is pick up the pieces and put together the puzzle of your life.
Always Your Loyal Servant,
Wadsworth
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears when she finished the letter. She set the letter down on the bed and stared at it for a while.
Tears were still rolling down her face when Rebecca finally grabbed another gift to open. It was a box of chocolate frogs from one of her servants with a note telling her thank you for the generous bonus.
'They must have gotten them yesterday. I don't remember when I set them up to be distributed,' she thought herself desperately trying to get her mind off of Wadsworth's letter. She continued to open gifts from her servants. Most of them sent her candy, but some sent her other little gifts that reminded her of them.
Rebecca thought she was done with opening gifts when she got out of bed and got dressed. She was about to walk out the door when she saw the last package that slid part way under her bed.
She picked it up not knowing who it was from. Rebecca read the tag and saw that it was from the Weasley family. She opened the package to find a blue sweater with a golden R on it. As she walked out the door to go to breakfast, she threw the sweater on.
Down in the common room Lauren was sitting by the fire reading a new book. "Merry Christmas, Lauren," Rebecca said as she hit the last step.
Lauren looked up and said, "Merry Christmas, Rebecca. Where did you get the sweater?" Rebecca twirled around to give Lauren a better look.
"It was one of my Christmas gifts. Charlie's family gave it to me. What did you get?"
"I got this book, some candy, and my parents sent me some new clothes."
"That's cool. Have you eaten yet?" Lauren shook her head no and started to get up from the couch. The girls headed down to the great hall and to join the rest of the student body that were still around for breakfast.
Rebecca and Lauren were one of the first to show up. Russel soon showed up with a first year that looked similar to Russel and took a seat next to Rebecca, and said, "Merry Christmas, Lauren. Merry Christmas, Rebecca. Was that sweater a Christmas gift? It looks nice."
Rebecca smiled and nodded. "Who's that?" Rebecca asked nodding towards the boy that came in with Russel.
"Oh that is just my brother, Marcus," Russel responded nonchalantly.
"You have a brother?"
"Um, yeah."
"Oh I must have missed that."
"Weren't you playing any attention at the sorting ceremony?"
"Nope, honestly I only really can remember Percy and Oliver getting sorted and that is it. Not that it really matters. I didn't know your last name, then, so I wouldn't have been able to put two and two together even if I was paying attention."
"Oh, so what else did you get for Christmas?" As they talked, some more students came in, took a seat, and joined in the conversation.
All the students were able to seat at one table and could easily talk to one another. During breakfast the students talked about what was the best thing they got. Rebecca told about the puzzle she got.
Lauren's jaw dropped and said, "Oh! Can I help you put it together?"
"Oh, yeah, you can help and so can anyone else that wants to. We'll set it up on one of the tables in here." Many of the students that were from muggle families were excited about it the idea of doing a puzzle. Some of the students who were not acquainted with muggle things were curious to see what a puzzle was.
Alannah, the girl from the train station, rolled her eyes at the idea and talked to Marcus. They soon left to do something else.
After breakfast was done, Rebecca walked out to get the puzzle while Russel left and seemed to just disappear. When she returned, the students gathered around and started putting the puzzle together. The puzzle was over a thousand pieces and was going to take a while to put together.
By lunch they had the outside of the puzzle together and a few bits and pieces of the inside done. After lunch, they went back to the puzzle. Russel joined it too, but couldn't understand why everyone was so happy to do this without magic.
Rebecca explained, "If you use magic, it wouldn't be fun. Just wait, you'll see." When Russel found his first set of piece that fit together; he understood what was so fun about doing a puzzle.
The students work on the puzzle all day and had gotten a good deal done, but still had a lot done. The next day they continued the puzzle, but the difficulty of the puzzle and the students talking did not allow them to finish it that day.
It took until the day before the rest of the students would return from break to get the puzzle done. Rebecca and Russel put the last pieces in place late that night. Rebecca smile and ran her fingers over the finished puzzle.
"Now that it is done we can use magic," she said. Russel looked at her confused. "Watch," Rebecca said pulling out her wand. She waved it and muttered some words Russel couldn't make out. In a flash, the lines of the puzzle disappeared making it a solid picture.
"Where are you going to put it?" Russel asked as Rebecca put her wand back in her pocket.
"I have a stack of puzzles I've did in my trunk, so it will go there for now," responded Rebecca quietly as she stared at the puzzle as if she was looking for a hidden meaning in it.
Russel stood there looking at her not knowing what to say other than, "That's cool. Well I guess its time to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."
He reluctantly walked away and Rebecca told him good night nonchalantly continuing to stare at the puzzle. Rebecca stood there for a little while longer, then finally picked up the puzzle, and walked up stairs to go to bed.
In her room, Rebecca flipped over the puzzle and spoke another spell and words appeared.
Everyone changes like the river changes its course. Little by little the change occurs until the course turn into something unfamiliar.
Rebecca read the words but was too tired to figure out what the saying meant. She put the puzzle away in her trunk.
Rebecca didn't go to bed right away she stayed up and wrote Stacy a letter telling everything that happened since before her accident. She hadn't put any news of what was going on with her other than the letter from the lawyer in her last letter and felt a little guilt about it. It took her a long while to get everything down. After she finished the letter, Rebecca climbed into bed exhausted.
The next day Rebecca woke up really early excited for everyone's return from break. It had been fun and the time went fast, but Rebecca did miss her new friends and couldn't wait to see them. She got dressed and threw on her Christmas sweater, which she had wore every day since she got it.
Rebecca got down to breakfast and sat down next to Lauren. Russel came in a sat down across from Rebecca.
"You really like that sweater," he commented staring at the sweater.
Rebecca blushed, looked down at the sweater and said, "It's nice and warm."
"Well you look nice in it," Russel said, but Rebecca didn't seem to hear because she was too busy looking out the Great Hall wondering when everyone was going to come back.
Russel tried to talk the rest of breakfast, but Rebecca seemed to be too distracted to respond to anything. Finally Rebecca finished with breakfast and went up to the common room leaving Russel to wonder what was up with her.
Once in the room, Rebecca got her copy of Quidditch through the Ages and sat on the couch with a blanket to read it again. She ended up falling asleep and awoke up to the commotion of people coming in. She looked up for a second but decided that she would rather sleep at that particular moment.
Rebecca had laid her head back on the couch and was about to fall back to sleep when someone sat down at the end of the couch. Her goal was to ignore whoever it was, but the person's laughter was too much and Rebecca opened up her eyes to see who was disturbing her. It was Bill and he was smiling at her.
"You had all break to get yourself rested and you're still tired?" he laughed.
"Mmm-hmm," Rebecca nodded.
"Are you going to go to dinner or are you sleep through it?"
"Dinner? What about lunch?" Rebecca gave him a confused look and Bill busted up laughing.
"Oh, you slept through lunch didn't you? That's great. Come on let's go down. I think Charlie and his friends are down there already looking for you. They must have missed you hibernating on the couch."
Still laughing, Bill helped Rebecca up off of the couch and saw that she was wearing the sweater his mother made. He smiled and said, "I'll be right back."
With that he dashed off to his room and left a tired Rebecca standing in the middle of a deserted common room rubbing her eyes.
When Bill came down he had on a green sweater with a golden B on it and had something maroon in his hand. Rebecca and Bill walked downstairs talking about their Christmas sweaters. Rebecca mentioned that she had been wearing the sweater since she got it as they walked down the stairs to the door of the great hall.
"Oh, well I guess I should say welcome to the family now," Bill said.
"What?" Rebecca said smiling at him.
"Mom makes a sweater for each of us kids each Christmas. You got one so I guess you're part of the family now." Rebecca's smile got bigger and they walked into the great hall.
Bill and Rebecca made their way to the Gryffindor table. There were two seats next to Charlie that they took. Charlie looked up and smiled.
"Hey, you found her, Bill. . We were just wondering where you were," he said looking at Rebecca.
"Yeah, I found her on the couch you all must have walked by at least a couple of times," laughed Bill as he threw at Charlie what he had been carrying. Charlie looked at what Bill gave him.
It was his Christmas sweater. He looked at Bill questioningly until he noticed Rebecca and Bill were wearing their sweaters. He pulled on the sweater and talked to Rebecca about her break. Bill joined in the conversation and Rebecca found herself turning her head a lot to look at who was talking to her.
In one turning she caught sight of Russel who was glaring at her. 'I wonder why he is looking at me like that. I hope I didn't do something to get him mad at me. He's such a guy. I would hate to have him mad,' she thought. What she didn't know was that Russel had heard Bill and her discussing the sweaters and heard Bill say 'welcome to the family.'
Rebecca was a little distressed at Russel's gaze, but soon forgot about it when someone commented on the similarity of Bill, Charlie, and Rebecca's sweaters.
"Must be for red heads only," Carthrine teased.
A.J. jokingly asked, "Hey how come I don't have a sweater? Rebecca doesn't even have true red hair, it is just the way the light is in here that makes her look like a red head, and she got one. . I bet Percy has one too. I feel left out. (sniff, sniff) . Come one Rebecca, how did you get a Weasley sweater?"
Rebecca smiled and said, "I guess I am part of the family now." Bill and Rebecca started laughing at what was to be their inside joke. Charlie and his friends looked at the two wondering what was so funny. Greg was curious on what Rebecca's comment actually meant and continued to eat as he pondered its meaning.
Dinner finished up and all the students went up to their rooms to go to bed, since everyone was tired and classes were resuming the next day.