The next week was torture for Russel, he had Kirsta trying to get him to
ask her out every time he turned around and he had to see Rebecca with
Charlie. By the end of the week, he had gotten feed up with everything and
figured out how to avoid everyone.
It wasn't until Saturday during the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff quidditch match that he saw Charlie and Rebecca. They were sitting in the stands with all of the Gryffindor team and their others friends.
The Slytherin team sat behind them. There was a lot of tension between the groups, partly because the Slytherin team sat there and bashed the Gryffindor team. The Gryffindor group tried to ignore them.
They were successful until one of the Slytherins said an off-colored comment about how the team was chosen. That statement caused Charlie, Greg, and the rest of the guys of the team stood up and turned around to stare down the Slytherins.
Rebecca and the other girls got the guys to calm down and sit back down, by telling the Gryffindor males that they were better than that and should just ignore it.
As the guys sat down, Ryan remarked, "Wow, them Gryffindor boys are sure whipped."
Rebecca shot up out of her seat and spun around so that she was facing Ryan before anyone else could react.
"You better watch what you say or you're going to get a black eye," she forcefully stated as both Gryffindor and Slytherin student just stared at her.
"Are you going to order Weasley to give it to me?" reproached Ryan with a smirk on his face. He seemed to be the only one not taken aback by what Rebecca had just did.
"No, I am," Rebecca confidently responded.
"You think that you can punch me hard enough to do that or that I would even let you?"
"I did it when we were younger and I'll do it now," Rebecca finished and stared at Ryan.
He stared back remembering when he got the shiner from Rebecca. He had threatened to throw her into a pit with snakes knowing full well that she had a phobia of them. Rebecca had gotten mad enough at him when he kept saying it that she punched him right in the eye.
They continued to stare at each other for a minute or two. Everyone around them watched to see what was going to happen next. Russel was intrigued by the whole exchange and was looking for an opportunity to step in. He thought maybe he could get on Rebecca's good side if he did.
Unfortunately for Russel, Ryan gave in and said, "This is ridiculous," and stormed off only to return a short time later.
Rebecca sat back down as the game started. Colin was busy announcing the team members when Charlie leaned over and said, "Did you really give Malfoy a black eye?"
Rebecca smiled and nodded her head. Charlie turned back to the game smiling at the idea that a girl gave Ryan a shiner.
The match commenced and Rebecca found herself in the middle of critics. It seemed that everyone on the Gryffindor's team had something to say with how the other team's members executed their position. Rebecca and Sara looked at each other, rolled their eyes and started to laugh.
Soon the critics stopped as the game became more intense. Ravenclaw was up by ten point when Hufflepuff scored tying the game. After the Hufflepuff crowd stopped cheering, the seekers on each team took off chasing the golden snitch. They followed closely for a while and finally the Ravenclaw seeker landed and held up the snitch causing Ravenclaw to cheer.
As Rebecca and Charlie walked away from the stands they passed Ryan who was completely by himself. "Rebecca," Ryan started, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"
Rebecca looked at Charlie giving him a look to let him know that she would be okay. Charlie nodded and turned to catch up with the others.
Rebecca turned back towards Ryan and asked, "What's up?"
Ryan looked down and kicked a piece of earth. "When we were younger we were each other's best friend and unseparateable. Now, we barely talk and all I can see is that you aren't the same person you use to be."
"What?!"
"Come on Rebecca, you know what I am talking about."
"Obviously I don't. . You say that I have changed and maybe I have. To tell the truth I would be surprised if you thought that I was the exact same person that I was when I was ten. Things change and people do to, but I am not the only on that changed here. ... And let me just add this to the fact that we don't talk a lot, I am not the one who was trying to hide something when we magically became cousins."
"I was just trying to make it so that you could hang out with me without Cassie suspecting that there was something there that wasn't. A lot of good it did me, you won't even hang out with me even when you're invited."
"Well maybe if you had explained the whole Cassie situation to me and weren't always surround by those lackeys that you call friends then I would consider taking you up on your offers."
"Lackeys? My friends are not lackeys. What do they have to do with you and me?"
"I don't care to be around them. Yeah, I would get to hang out with you, but I wouldn't enjoy it. I don't feel comfortable around them and don't forget what Flint did to me. Why would I want to put myself in that situation?"
"He got frustrated trying to get to know you. I can understand that. Heck I might have been tempted to get you alone if I couldn't get you to respond to me. The truth of the matter is Russel really likes you and you don't give him the time of day."
"Don't go defending him," Rebecca said walking away and thinking, 'He doesn't know about the headaches. If I tell him now, he'll think I made it up. I am sure that hasn't changed since we were kids. . He'll never see fault in his goon of a friend.'
Ryan followed and grabbed her arm stopping her from going any farther.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
"What happened to you? What happened to the guy that wanted to protect me when we were younger even when I wasn't going to let you?"
Ryan dropped her arm and stared as Rebecca walked away again. He thought to himself, 'What does she need protected from other than getting hurt by Weasley?'
After a minute Ryan walked back to the Slytherin common room, mad that Rebecca accused him of change. He was still the same person he had always been or at least that is what he thought.
When he came in to the room, Russel walked over to him and asked, "So did you and Rebecca getting everything settled?"
Ryan glared at him and said, "No. Mate, you have no idea how much she has changed."
"I like the way she is," Russel said with a smile thinking of Rebecca. "She's spunky. Did she really give you a black eye?"
Ryan reluctantly nodded.
Russel laughed and said, "I think she would have done it again." He chuckled and then sighed, "It's too bad she fell into that crowd with that Weasley loser."
"You know you're right she didn't seem that different at the start of school."
"Maybe she'll discover what Weasley really is and go back to normal." Russel muttered to himself walking away from Ryan.
Ryan stood there for a moment and thought to himself, 'Maybe I should see what all happened in that room on at the ball. Rebecca would have let it go if it was just Russel pulling her off the floor, professing his feeling for her, and then trying to kiss her.' He looked around the common room and didn't see Russel.
Before Ryan could go and look for Russel in their dorm room, Cassie walked up and started talking to him about the difficulty of their homework. Ryan had to give up what his search to help Cassie so that she would stop the drama.
Rebecca walked into Gryffindor common room in a bad mood after her conversation with Ryan, but soon found herself laughing when she joined her friends and listened to Cathrine and Colin's new plan to get potion classes cancelled for Monday.
"You guys are nuts. It will never work and even if you did get it to, Snape will catch you," Greg said after they finished telling how they were going to get the room flooded.
"We'll do it tomorrow and no one will know the difference," Colin responded.
Sara stepped in and said, "You're forgetting that Snape is always in his office on Sunday."
"You are such a wet blanket sometimes," Cathrine whined.
"We just don't want you guys to get into trouble and have to serve detention again," Sara said and then sarcastically added, "or lose points."
"Yeah," Cathrine muttered as she crinkled up the paper with the plan on it and threw it into the fire.
"Back to the drawling door," Colin joked.
Everyone laughed and they started new conversation. Eventually, they started their homework, which took them until Sunday evening to get it all done.
Monday morning came and everyone sat around talking about anything and everything that would keep their mind off of classes. When it was finally time to head to classes, Rebecca and Charlie walked out of the great hall hand in hand. They had just stepped out into the corridor when Rebecca remembered a defense against the dark arts book she had been showing Bill was still on the table.
"Oh my book," she started, "Go ahead I'll meet you there."
"Okay," responded Charlie as she headed back into the Great Hall.
They separated and headed to their respective classes.
Rebecca found Bill still looking at the book.
"Hey," she said as she walked up.
"Hey, Becca, are you looking for this?" Bill asked pointing at the book.
"Yeah."
"Here you go," he said handing the book to her and getting up and walking out with her. "By the way, I am glad Charlie finally got the nerve to ask you out. I thought he was going to drive everyone crazy by how much he talked about you."
Rebecca smiled and then asked, "He talked about me?"
"Oh yeah, over Christmas break it was Becca this and Becca that. My mother actually asked me if you guys were dating and Charlie just didn't want to tell to tell her right then. Luckily I went with the safe answer of 'I don't know', because a yes answer even though I thought it was right obviously that would have been the wrong answer."
Rebecca laughed. "I think we had several people thinking the same as you. I am sure that there has been a lot of 'About time' statements behind our backs."
"You have no idea."
"Yeah well just between you and me, I am glad that Charlie wait until now. . I am not saying that I wouldn't have given the same answer. In fact, I probably would have said yes after our carriage ride to Hogwarts at the beginning of the year, but I probably would have been really paranoid about why he was asking me. After everything that Charlie has helped me through this year so far, I don't have any grounds to question him on why. ... It's nice to know that we have a friendship as a base for our relationship on."
Bill smiled at her and said, "I think Charlie could sense that you need to have time. I am glad he was right about it."
"Yeah, I am too." Rebecca looked down at her watch and added, "Well I got to get to class. I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah see you, Becca."
They separated and headed to their respective classes.
Rebecca looked down at her watch again and saw that she really needed to hurry up to get to class on time. She rushed down the hall to the stair. As she ran down the stairs, she passed Ryan and his group. Russel was the closest to her as she passed. He grabbed her arm as he said, "Hey you better slow down before you get hurt."
But Rebecca was thrown off balance and tumbled down the stairs. She hit the bottom step and stopped herself with her left hand. Rebecca was about to get up when Charlie rushed over and scooped her up. He took her into the potions room and sat her down on a stool just inside the room.
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked.
"My wrist really hurts," Rebecca responded holding her left wrist.
Snape had come over immediately after Charlie came with Rebecca.
"Mr. Weasley, what happened?"
Charlie was about to responded when Rebecca started spitting blood out of her mouth.
"Take her to the infirmary now, Mr. Weasley," ordered Snape as everyone watched in silence.
As Charlie picked Rebecca back up and rushed to the infirmary, Russel kept saying over and over, "I am sorry. I didn't mean to."
Snape turned to him and said, "What are you muttering about, Mr. Flint?"
Russel went into the explanation of what had happened and afterwards got a scolding from Snape.
In the infirmary, Rebecca got checked out from Madame Pompfrey. Rebecca was a bit uncomfortable as Madame Pompfrey was seeing why she was spitting up blood. Now Madame Pompfrey didn't say anything but Rebecca could just feel that she was wondering why she had seen Rebecca so much this year.
After Madame Pompfrey discovered that Rebecca had bitten the inside of her cheek as she fell and that was the where all the blood was coming from, it was time to tend to Rebecca's wrist. Madame Pomfrey finished wrapping Rebecca's wrist and told Rebecca to stay on the cot until she got back.
Charlie took a seat next to Rebecca and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Do you know how many times I have been here because of him?" Rebecca soberly asked.
Charlie could tell that Rebecca was getting depressed about being hurt again by Russel's stupidity. In an attempt to cheer her up, he said, "Three, I had the privilege of bring you bringing you here each time."
Rebecca looked at him with a harsh look, but when she saw his timid smile, her face softened and she said, "Funny. don't you think it is a bit extreme?"
"Yes, but I was at the bottom of the steps and when I saw Flint, he had this shocked remorseful face. I have never seen him look like that before, so this might have been a complete accident. We'll just have to wait and see if Russel confesses that he did it on purpose."
'Of course, accident or not, if he knows what is good for him, he'll stay away from her,' Charlie silently added to himself.
Rebecca looked down at her hands as Charlie spoke. Something was missing.
"My ring is gone!"
"What?"
"I don't have the ring that you gave me. It was on my finger this morning and now it's gone."
"It must have slipped off when you fell. Don't worry about it we'll find it later, Becca."
She nodded her head in agreement.
Rebecca was about to say something when the door to the infirmary door opened. Russel walked in and straight to the cot where Rebecca and Charlie were sitting with his hand behind his back. Rebecca and Charlie stared at him wondering what he was there for. Actually, Charlie glared at him, but he still wondered why Russel was there was here.
Rebecca leaned over to Charlie, put her cheek on his shoulder, and took a hold of his arm with both hands as Russel stopped in front of them.
"I found this in the hall," Russel finally said, showing Rebecca's ring to her, but handing it to Charlie. "I just wanted to let you know this was truly an accident. When I saw you rushing down the stairs I thought you were going too fast and might trip. Unfortunately, it was my doing that caused you to fall and I am sorry about it. I know that I have done some horrible things to you, but I really never wanted to hurt you. I know that I will never be able to say sorry enough to make you really understand. I just hope that you can take everything I said right now for what it's worth and decide what you think of me from it and not everything else."
Russel turned and walked out without Charlie and Rebecca saying anything.
They both sat there shocked until Russel was out of the room.
"He found it?" Charlie said in a shocked tone in his voice as he turned towards Rebecca.
"He gave it back?" said Rebecca just as astonished as Charlie.
"It should be okay. I placed a charm on it so that it wouldn't fall apart every time we practiced any spell. Professor Flitwick said that it would protect it from being tampted with," Charlie explained as he looked into Rebecca's eyes.
They stared at each other for a moment, and then Charlie took Rebecca's hand and slipped the ring back on her finger. Charlie leaned in and they kissed.
Madame Pompfrey came back in and looked at Rebecca again and said that they could leave. Charlie helped Rebecca up and they walked out hand in hand. As they walked to class, Rebecca thought of what Russel had said. He seemed sincere, but Rebecca could not really feel safe around him at least not right now.
It wasn't until Saturday during the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff quidditch match that he saw Charlie and Rebecca. They were sitting in the stands with all of the Gryffindor team and their others friends.
The Slytherin team sat behind them. There was a lot of tension between the groups, partly because the Slytherin team sat there and bashed the Gryffindor team. The Gryffindor group tried to ignore them.
They were successful until one of the Slytherins said an off-colored comment about how the team was chosen. That statement caused Charlie, Greg, and the rest of the guys of the team stood up and turned around to stare down the Slytherins.
Rebecca and the other girls got the guys to calm down and sit back down, by telling the Gryffindor males that they were better than that and should just ignore it.
As the guys sat down, Ryan remarked, "Wow, them Gryffindor boys are sure whipped."
Rebecca shot up out of her seat and spun around so that she was facing Ryan before anyone else could react.
"You better watch what you say or you're going to get a black eye," she forcefully stated as both Gryffindor and Slytherin student just stared at her.
"Are you going to order Weasley to give it to me?" reproached Ryan with a smirk on his face. He seemed to be the only one not taken aback by what Rebecca had just did.
"No, I am," Rebecca confidently responded.
"You think that you can punch me hard enough to do that or that I would even let you?"
"I did it when we were younger and I'll do it now," Rebecca finished and stared at Ryan.
He stared back remembering when he got the shiner from Rebecca. He had threatened to throw her into a pit with snakes knowing full well that she had a phobia of them. Rebecca had gotten mad enough at him when he kept saying it that she punched him right in the eye.
They continued to stare at each other for a minute or two. Everyone around them watched to see what was going to happen next. Russel was intrigued by the whole exchange and was looking for an opportunity to step in. He thought maybe he could get on Rebecca's good side if he did.
Unfortunately for Russel, Ryan gave in and said, "This is ridiculous," and stormed off only to return a short time later.
Rebecca sat back down as the game started. Colin was busy announcing the team members when Charlie leaned over and said, "Did you really give Malfoy a black eye?"
Rebecca smiled and nodded her head. Charlie turned back to the game smiling at the idea that a girl gave Ryan a shiner.
The match commenced and Rebecca found herself in the middle of critics. It seemed that everyone on the Gryffindor's team had something to say with how the other team's members executed their position. Rebecca and Sara looked at each other, rolled their eyes and started to laugh.
Soon the critics stopped as the game became more intense. Ravenclaw was up by ten point when Hufflepuff scored tying the game. After the Hufflepuff crowd stopped cheering, the seekers on each team took off chasing the golden snitch. They followed closely for a while and finally the Ravenclaw seeker landed and held up the snitch causing Ravenclaw to cheer.
As Rebecca and Charlie walked away from the stands they passed Ryan who was completely by himself. "Rebecca," Ryan started, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"
Rebecca looked at Charlie giving him a look to let him know that she would be okay. Charlie nodded and turned to catch up with the others.
Rebecca turned back towards Ryan and asked, "What's up?"
Ryan looked down and kicked a piece of earth. "When we were younger we were each other's best friend and unseparateable. Now, we barely talk and all I can see is that you aren't the same person you use to be."
"What?!"
"Come on Rebecca, you know what I am talking about."
"Obviously I don't. . You say that I have changed and maybe I have. To tell the truth I would be surprised if you thought that I was the exact same person that I was when I was ten. Things change and people do to, but I am not the only on that changed here. ... And let me just add this to the fact that we don't talk a lot, I am not the one who was trying to hide something when we magically became cousins."
"I was just trying to make it so that you could hang out with me without Cassie suspecting that there was something there that wasn't. A lot of good it did me, you won't even hang out with me even when you're invited."
"Well maybe if you had explained the whole Cassie situation to me and weren't always surround by those lackeys that you call friends then I would consider taking you up on your offers."
"Lackeys? My friends are not lackeys. What do they have to do with you and me?"
"I don't care to be around them. Yeah, I would get to hang out with you, but I wouldn't enjoy it. I don't feel comfortable around them and don't forget what Flint did to me. Why would I want to put myself in that situation?"
"He got frustrated trying to get to know you. I can understand that. Heck I might have been tempted to get you alone if I couldn't get you to respond to me. The truth of the matter is Russel really likes you and you don't give him the time of day."
"Don't go defending him," Rebecca said walking away and thinking, 'He doesn't know about the headaches. If I tell him now, he'll think I made it up. I am sure that hasn't changed since we were kids. . He'll never see fault in his goon of a friend.'
Ryan followed and grabbed her arm stopping her from going any farther.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
"What happened to you? What happened to the guy that wanted to protect me when we were younger even when I wasn't going to let you?"
Ryan dropped her arm and stared as Rebecca walked away again. He thought to himself, 'What does she need protected from other than getting hurt by Weasley?'
After a minute Ryan walked back to the Slytherin common room, mad that Rebecca accused him of change. He was still the same person he had always been or at least that is what he thought.
When he came in to the room, Russel walked over to him and asked, "So did you and Rebecca getting everything settled?"
Ryan glared at him and said, "No. Mate, you have no idea how much she has changed."
"I like the way she is," Russel said with a smile thinking of Rebecca. "She's spunky. Did she really give you a black eye?"
Ryan reluctantly nodded.
Russel laughed and said, "I think she would have done it again." He chuckled and then sighed, "It's too bad she fell into that crowd with that Weasley loser."
"You know you're right she didn't seem that different at the start of school."
"Maybe she'll discover what Weasley really is and go back to normal." Russel muttered to himself walking away from Ryan.
Ryan stood there for a moment and thought to himself, 'Maybe I should see what all happened in that room on at the ball. Rebecca would have let it go if it was just Russel pulling her off the floor, professing his feeling for her, and then trying to kiss her.' He looked around the common room and didn't see Russel.
Before Ryan could go and look for Russel in their dorm room, Cassie walked up and started talking to him about the difficulty of their homework. Ryan had to give up what his search to help Cassie so that she would stop the drama.
Rebecca walked into Gryffindor common room in a bad mood after her conversation with Ryan, but soon found herself laughing when she joined her friends and listened to Cathrine and Colin's new plan to get potion classes cancelled for Monday.
"You guys are nuts. It will never work and even if you did get it to, Snape will catch you," Greg said after they finished telling how they were going to get the room flooded.
"We'll do it tomorrow and no one will know the difference," Colin responded.
Sara stepped in and said, "You're forgetting that Snape is always in his office on Sunday."
"You are such a wet blanket sometimes," Cathrine whined.
"We just don't want you guys to get into trouble and have to serve detention again," Sara said and then sarcastically added, "or lose points."
"Yeah," Cathrine muttered as she crinkled up the paper with the plan on it and threw it into the fire.
"Back to the drawling door," Colin joked.
Everyone laughed and they started new conversation. Eventually, they started their homework, which took them until Sunday evening to get it all done.
Monday morning came and everyone sat around talking about anything and everything that would keep their mind off of classes. When it was finally time to head to classes, Rebecca and Charlie walked out of the great hall hand in hand. They had just stepped out into the corridor when Rebecca remembered a defense against the dark arts book she had been showing Bill was still on the table.
"Oh my book," she started, "Go ahead I'll meet you there."
"Okay," responded Charlie as she headed back into the Great Hall.
They separated and headed to their respective classes.
Rebecca found Bill still looking at the book.
"Hey," she said as she walked up.
"Hey, Becca, are you looking for this?" Bill asked pointing at the book.
"Yeah."
"Here you go," he said handing the book to her and getting up and walking out with her. "By the way, I am glad Charlie finally got the nerve to ask you out. I thought he was going to drive everyone crazy by how much he talked about you."
Rebecca smiled and then asked, "He talked about me?"
"Oh yeah, over Christmas break it was Becca this and Becca that. My mother actually asked me if you guys were dating and Charlie just didn't want to tell to tell her right then. Luckily I went with the safe answer of 'I don't know', because a yes answer even though I thought it was right obviously that would have been the wrong answer."
Rebecca laughed. "I think we had several people thinking the same as you. I am sure that there has been a lot of 'About time' statements behind our backs."
"You have no idea."
"Yeah well just between you and me, I am glad that Charlie wait until now. . I am not saying that I wouldn't have given the same answer. In fact, I probably would have said yes after our carriage ride to Hogwarts at the beginning of the year, but I probably would have been really paranoid about why he was asking me. After everything that Charlie has helped me through this year so far, I don't have any grounds to question him on why. ... It's nice to know that we have a friendship as a base for our relationship on."
Bill smiled at her and said, "I think Charlie could sense that you need to have time. I am glad he was right about it."
"Yeah, I am too." Rebecca looked down at her watch and added, "Well I got to get to class. I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah see you, Becca."
They separated and headed to their respective classes.
Rebecca looked down at her watch again and saw that she really needed to hurry up to get to class on time. She rushed down the hall to the stair. As she ran down the stairs, she passed Ryan and his group. Russel was the closest to her as she passed. He grabbed her arm as he said, "Hey you better slow down before you get hurt."
But Rebecca was thrown off balance and tumbled down the stairs. She hit the bottom step and stopped herself with her left hand. Rebecca was about to get up when Charlie rushed over and scooped her up. He took her into the potions room and sat her down on a stool just inside the room.
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked.
"My wrist really hurts," Rebecca responded holding her left wrist.
Snape had come over immediately after Charlie came with Rebecca.
"Mr. Weasley, what happened?"
Charlie was about to responded when Rebecca started spitting blood out of her mouth.
"Take her to the infirmary now, Mr. Weasley," ordered Snape as everyone watched in silence.
As Charlie picked Rebecca back up and rushed to the infirmary, Russel kept saying over and over, "I am sorry. I didn't mean to."
Snape turned to him and said, "What are you muttering about, Mr. Flint?"
Russel went into the explanation of what had happened and afterwards got a scolding from Snape.
In the infirmary, Rebecca got checked out from Madame Pompfrey. Rebecca was a bit uncomfortable as Madame Pompfrey was seeing why she was spitting up blood. Now Madame Pompfrey didn't say anything but Rebecca could just feel that she was wondering why she had seen Rebecca so much this year.
After Madame Pompfrey discovered that Rebecca had bitten the inside of her cheek as she fell and that was the where all the blood was coming from, it was time to tend to Rebecca's wrist. Madame Pomfrey finished wrapping Rebecca's wrist and told Rebecca to stay on the cot until she got back.
Charlie took a seat next to Rebecca and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Do you know how many times I have been here because of him?" Rebecca soberly asked.
Charlie could tell that Rebecca was getting depressed about being hurt again by Russel's stupidity. In an attempt to cheer her up, he said, "Three, I had the privilege of bring you bringing you here each time."
Rebecca looked at him with a harsh look, but when she saw his timid smile, her face softened and she said, "Funny. don't you think it is a bit extreme?"
"Yes, but I was at the bottom of the steps and when I saw Flint, he had this shocked remorseful face. I have never seen him look like that before, so this might have been a complete accident. We'll just have to wait and see if Russel confesses that he did it on purpose."
'Of course, accident or not, if he knows what is good for him, he'll stay away from her,' Charlie silently added to himself.
Rebecca looked down at her hands as Charlie spoke. Something was missing.
"My ring is gone!"
"What?"
"I don't have the ring that you gave me. It was on my finger this morning and now it's gone."
"It must have slipped off when you fell. Don't worry about it we'll find it later, Becca."
She nodded her head in agreement.
Rebecca was about to say something when the door to the infirmary door opened. Russel walked in and straight to the cot where Rebecca and Charlie were sitting with his hand behind his back. Rebecca and Charlie stared at him wondering what he was there for. Actually, Charlie glared at him, but he still wondered why Russel was there was here.
Rebecca leaned over to Charlie, put her cheek on his shoulder, and took a hold of his arm with both hands as Russel stopped in front of them.
"I found this in the hall," Russel finally said, showing Rebecca's ring to her, but handing it to Charlie. "I just wanted to let you know this was truly an accident. When I saw you rushing down the stairs I thought you were going too fast and might trip. Unfortunately, it was my doing that caused you to fall and I am sorry about it. I know that I have done some horrible things to you, but I really never wanted to hurt you. I know that I will never be able to say sorry enough to make you really understand. I just hope that you can take everything I said right now for what it's worth and decide what you think of me from it and not everything else."
Russel turned and walked out without Charlie and Rebecca saying anything.
They both sat there shocked until Russel was out of the room.
"He found it?" Charlie said in a shocked tone in his voice as he turned towards Rebecca.
"He gave it back?" said Rebecca just as astonished as Charlie.
"It should be okay. I placed a charm on it so that it wouldn't fall apart every time we practiced any spell. Professor Flitwick said that it would protect it from being tampted with," Charlie explained as he looked into Rebecca's eyes.
They stared at each other for a moment, and then Charlie took Rebecca's hand and slipped the ring back on her finger. Charlie leaned in and they kissed.
Madame Pompfrey came back in and looked at Rebecca again and said that they could leave. Charlie helped Rebecca up and they walked out hand in hand. As they walked to class, Rebecca thought of what Russel had said. He seemed sincere, but Rebecca could not really feel safe around him at least not right now.