Rebecca awoke the next morning to a throbbing pain in her wrist. 'Great I
over did it yesterday with braiding everyone's hair.' she thought as she
got up and got the medicine Madame Pomfrey gave her. All the other girls
were getting up and finding their slippers to go to breakfast.
Rebecca found her slippers, a gray bandana, and her gray zip up hooded
sweatshirt, and headed down stairs. The common room was full of Gryffindors
in their pajamas waiting to go down stairs for breakfast. For the most part
the guys were wearing colorful pajama pants and tee-shirts with the sleeves
cut out or tank tops.
The girls wore pajama pants also, but their tops varied from tee-shirts to tank tops to spaghetti strap tanks and most had a zip up sweatshirt of some type to wear. When she entered the common room, Rebecca was tying her bandana on to her head to cover up the fact that she wasn't taking her hair out of the braids she had slept in. Charlie walked down the steps shortly behind her. He had blue and green plaid pajama pants on with a grey tank.
"Good morning, beautiful," he said to Rebecca looking at her in her gray plaid pants and crimson spaghetti strap top as she pulled on her gray sweatshirt.
"Morning, Handsome," Rebecca said giving him a kiss.
Greg walked over in his red pants and white tee-shirt and said, "I think as soon as Sara comes down all of us fifth years will be up and we can start down to breakfast together. There's a group of first years who are waiting over there for some older students to go first."
Greg pointed over to the door to a group that included Lauren, Aisha, Carolyn, Percy, Beth, and Oliver. Rebecca smiled to see Lauren out of bed and that her friends joined in with the pajama breakfast.
"Well Sara should be down in a minute or two. She was getting out of bed when I left the room," Rebecca said looking at the steps.
A moment later, Sara walked down in her blue cloud covered tank and pants set and asked, "So when does this show start?"
"Right now, let's go get something to eat," Charlie responded heading them towards the door.
Cathrine in her smile face pants and matching tank top and Colin in his rainbow tie-dyed pants with a red sleeveless tee followed along with James in his navy blue tee and gray pajama pants and Jacquelyn in her purple spaghetti strap pajama set. The group with Lauren followed after them with the other years following after them.
Down at the Great Hall, the other house tables were full and already eating. There were many rumors flying around about why the Gryffindor table was completely empty. One was that the students were being punished because they had refused to share common space with any Slytherins. Another was that the Slytherins staying with the Gryffindors had slipped a sleeping potion into the Gryffindor's food or drink so that they were all still asleep.
Russel who hadn't taken the time to tell anyone of the invitation that Bill had extended was the only one that knew that the Gryffindors were going to arrive in their pajamas this morning and had a feeling that they would all show up together. He was right. Once Rebecca and Charlie opened the doors of the Great Hall and came in, there was a steady stream of students come in until all the seats at the table were filled. Students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin stopped eating as they looked at what the Gryffindors were wearing. The Gryffindor students didn't seem to notice, they went on with breakfast as normal, talking and laughing all through the meal.
Most of the students from the other house chuckled at the Gryffindor students and then went back to eating. Ryan on the other hand just stared at Rebecca and didn't touch another bit of his breakfast. Even Cassie couldn't distract him, he just kept staring until he suddenly said, "That's it!" and got up and left the hall.
After breakfast all the Gryffindors headed up to the common room together. Once inside they all milled around wondering what to do next until some of the Slytherin students came in talking about what homework they had to do.
Bill looked over at Rebecca and Charlie who were making a face at the thought of all the homework and said, "I guess we were having so much fun this weekend that we forgot we were in school."
Rebecca smiled as she nodded her head at Bill and then turned to Charlie to say, "Guess we better get started."
Charlie and Rebecca went up to their rooms to get their books. Rebecca walked into her room and saw a letter on her bed. She picked up the letter and saw it was from Stacy.
Dear Rebecca,
I am so glad that you and Charlie got together. He sounds like he is a really great guy. The type you really deserve to be with. I have some news that I need to tell you. I had actually been putting it off for some time, because I didn't know how to tell you. But now I need to tell you now before someone else does. Ben is dating Sydney. I know you and Ben were close, but with you not here Sydney was able to turn his head. They actually didn't get together until this week, but they had been hanging out since Christmas. I should have told you early about instead of spring it all on you at once. Sorry.
I have to get going to class, but I wanted to get this letter to you before Sydney tires to rub your face in it.
Later,
Stacy
Rebecca looked at the letter. 'What was Stacy trying to protect me from? Ben and I were never anything and he told me that he like Sydney. Yes, she may not be my favorite person, but Ben can hang out or go out with whoever he wants!' Rebecca thought to herself half upset at Ben for dating Sydney and half upset that Stacy thought that she needed to protect her from something that should have been considered trivial.
She was about to throw the letter back onto bed when she saw something move across her bed. It was a snake. Rebecca gasped and backed out of the room with the letter still in her hand.
As she walked backwards down the steps, the snake slithered down towards her. Russel was sitting down at a table facing the stairs working on some homework for charms class when he saw Rebecca backing into the room. She was shaking really hard, so Russel got up to see what gotten her so physical upset.
"What's the matter, Rebecca?" he asked as Rebecca backed right into him.
Russel put his arms around her as Rebecca stammered out, "S-s-s-snake."
Everyone in the room was looking at Rebecca and then looked at the stairs to see a snake heading down the stairs. Rebecca tried to get farther away, but Russel blocked her way.
"Let go of me," Rebecca cried as while she struggled to get out of his arms without taking a step closer to the snake.
"Don't worry, I won't let it get you," Russel whispered to her trying to calm her down.
Rebecca struggled a little more until she heard laughter. She looked over to see Ryan laughing at her as he walked over and picked up the snake.
"Is Rebecca still afraid of a little old snake?" he asked as he walked over to her with the snake. Ryan put the snake eye level and close to Rebecca's face, causing her to turn her head into Russel's chest.
Russel squeezed her a little to try to let her know that he was still there and demanded, "Malfoy, what are you doing?"
Ryan glared at Russel for a minute and then said, "Just having a little fun and practicing some transfiguration."
With that, he switched the snake into a shoelace. Rebecca gasped and put her hand up to her mouth. She was still shaking violently and could only stare at Ryan as he laughed at her.
Charlie came down the stairs to see Russel with his arms around Rebecca. He rushed over about to deck Russel until he noticed how much Rebecca was shaking.
"What is going?" he asked touching Rebecca's shoulder.
Russel started to explain what happened as Rebecca walked into Charlie's arms. Everyone in the room, even Russel, noticed that as soon as Charlie touched Rebecca she stopped shaking. After he finished telling what happened, Russel started to walk away.
"Flint," Charlie said stopping Russel. "Thanks for helping Rebecca out."
"It was nothing," Russel said and he continued to walk away.
Charlie walked Rebecca over to the couch and sat her down. Sara, Cathrine, and Jacquelyn crowded around her as the other guys surrounded Charlie.
"Rebecca, are you okay?" Sara asked.
"I will as soon as I figure out how to get him back," Rebecca responded glaring over her shoulder at Ryan.
Cathrine smiled as she leaned in and asked, "What do you have in mind?"
"I don't know yet. Let me think about it," Rebecca said as she turned back to the girls.
Jacquelyn piped in, "Cathrine, don't you have any plans in reserve that might work for this situation?"
"Let me go see if I have any in my notebook," Cathrine said as she got up to retrieve her book.
As the girls were talking the guys were discussing what happened. "Okay guys what happened?" asked Charlie wanting to check the truth of the story Russel told him.
"Rebecca came, backing down the stairs scared to death. She was shaking just as bad as when you saw when you came down the stair. We all were heading over to get her, but Flint was already there," James explained.
"Do you think Malfoy and Flint worked together on this?" questioned Charlie.
Greg shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know, but when you look at everything that Flint has done, it sure seems that he could have been."
Just then Cathrine rushed by headed towards the stairs.
Colin stared at her and asked, "Wonder where she is off to?"
"Probably to set a prank up for Malfoy," Greg said offhand. "I think we all need to keep an eye on Rebecca and stay closer than we were while the Slytherins are here."
"Yeah. I wish I could be around her all the time to make sure that she is okay, but I can't always be around and even if you guys jumped in when I am not around she is not going to take being surrounded all the time when she may not feel the threat that we see," Charlie said.
James looked over at Rebecca and said, "What if she doesn't know that we are doing it?"
"What's your plan, Einstein?" Colin asked curious of what sneaky thing James had in mind.
"Well," James started, "Rebecca is use to us being around and hanging out with her and having spontaneous things happening. Why don't we just keep an eye out and when we see Flint or Malfoy coming near her we either walk over to get her to move some how or get her attention so she walks away without knowing that she was getting close to being in danger? . Getting the girls in with this might be vital. And of course, we will have to make it important enough that she doesn't start ignoring us, but as long as we make everything seem normal it should work."
Charlie and Greg nodded their in agreement, but Colin who was all for the plan had to add, "Shouldn't there be a prank involved, though?"
The guys laughed and shook their heads at him. Cathrine passed by the guys and looked over to see what they thought was so funny.
As she walked over to the girls on the couch, Professor McGonagall walked into the common room, causing Cathrine to stop in her tracks.
"Is there a reason why all of you are still in your pajamas?" started McGonagall. "Don't you think it is about time that you all changed?"
All the Gryffindors looked at each other wondering whether they were going to get a bigger lecture especially with all the Slytherins around.
Bill took lead and said, "We were just about to."
"Very well," McGonagall said and she left without anyone even making a move to go upstairs.
"Must have been for show," Bill muttered as he walked past Rebecca towards Charlie.
When Bill came over to talk to Charlie, he was told about everything the guys had been discussing. Bill agreed to keep and eye out for Rebecca. As the guys figured out their strategy for keeping Rebecca safe, the girl were looking through Cathrine's notebook of pranks.
"Wow," Rebecca whispered. "Some of these are really intricate."
Cathrine started to quietly explain some of her ideas, when she caught sight of Ryan staring at them.
"I think we better do this later," Cathrine said slowly shutting the book so that it wasn't obvious why she was doing it. Everyone shook their heads in agreement.
"What's that?" Jacquelyn asked looking at the crumpled piece of paper in Rebecca's hand.
"Oh that is just a letter I was reading when I saw the snake," Rebecca responded looking down at the letter.
"What did Stacy say?" Sara asked knowing that Stacy was the only person who sent her letters to the dorm room.
"Not much," Rebecca said fidgeting with the letter. "She just wanted to let me know that Ben was dating Sydney."
"Who's Ben?" Jacquelyn asked taking the letter from Rebecca so it didn't get any more tattered than it already was.
"He was your best guy friend at your old school, right?" Sara asked.
Rebecca nodded her head sort of surprised that Sara had remembered since she had only ever spoken of Ben once and in a passing conversation. She really hadn't wanted to tell anyone on here about him, but the girls were going to start asking all about him.
"So what was he like?" Cathrine curiously asked.
"What was who like?" Charlie asked walking over with the other guys.
"Ben, one of Rebecca's old friends," Sara timidly answered.
"Oh," Charlie whispered.
"So, what was he like?" Greg asked knowing that Charlie might feel better after Rebecca talked about the guy.
"Um, well, now that I think about it he was a lot like Malfoy actually. He was my Malfoy replacement when I first went to Beauxbaton, I guess," Rebecca said watching for Charlie's reactions.
"Like Malfoy? Would he have done what Malfoy did today?" asked Greg.
Rebecca thought for a moment and soberly said, "Yeah, he would have. If he was trying to get at someone for something, then he would use any weakness to do it and that is exactly what Malfoy did."
"Who's Sydney, then?" Sara asked wondering if Ben was like Ryan then would Sydney be like Cassie.
"Well, she was a girl who knew Ben before us all went to school," Rebecca started. "She and Ben were put into different houses and she didn't like that at all. Then Ben started to talk to me and that sent her over the edge. I think if Cassie didn't think Malfoy and I were cousins then she would treat me like Sydney did."
"Where did Cassie get that idea?" Colin asked.
Rebecca thought and said, "I don't know whether she jumped to the conclusion herself and Ryan let her believe it or whether Ryan hinted at it first, but I just went with it because I really didn't feel like having another enemy for nothing more than an friendship that didn't mean anything more to me than that."
"So she said it to you first?" laughed Cathrine. Rebecca nodded.
"She will flip out if she ever finds out the contrary," continued Cathrine laughing at what she imagined what Cassie's reaction would be. Everyone else started to laugh when they thought of what Cassie would do.
Bill came over to see what was going, but no one wanted to tell him so they changed the subject as they got up and headed to their rooms to get dressed.
The guys rushed around so that they were dressed and back down in the common room before Rebecca made it back down. The girls on the other hand first searched their room for any more surprises that Ryan might have left before they started to change.
Rebecca found a box at the foot of her bed, but didn't want to touch it. Cathrine walked over to the box and flipped it so that Rebecca could read that it was from Stacy and not a surprise left by Malfoy.
"It must have come with the letter and you didn't see it because you didn't walk past this side of your bed," Cathrine suggested.
"Yeah," Rebecca agreed picking up the box to open it.
Jacquleyn looked over and asked, "What's in it?"
Rebecca opened the box and looked in side.
"Oh, it's candy!" Rebecca said pulling out four bags of rainbow colored rock candy.
After she got the bags out, Rebecca saw that there was a note at the bottom of the box.
Rebecca,
Mom sent this here for you. She forgot that you weren't going to school here anymore. (Parents can be so forgetful ) Anyways, I know you love this stuff so I am sending it on. Enjoy!
Stacy
"That was nice of her," Sara said reading over Rebecca's shoulder. Rebecca smiled in agreement.
"Look at all of these colors. Wonder what all the flavors are?" Cathrine said staring at one of the bags.
Rebecca responded, "Cathrine, this is muggle candy. The reds taste like cherry. Pinks are watermelon, blues are blueberry, and greens are spearmint. The blacks ones are licorice and the yellow ones are lemon. Orange tastes like orange while the purples are grape. Stacy's mom makes them and those are the flavors and color combinations she always uses."
"Can I try a piece?" asked Sara.
Rebecca opened a bag as she answered, "Yeah, you all can have a piece. I think there is enough of everyone in our house including our 'guests.' Just fair warning, your tongue might change colors from the candy."
Jacquelyn looked at her in disbelief as she said, "Really?"
"Yeah, I went around on summer with a blue tongue because I always had a piece in my mouth."
Catrhrine smiled at the idea of a blue tongue and then inquired, "Do you think that you could have your skin change colors if you eat enough?"
Jacquelyn shook her head, but Rebecca looked at Cathrine with an intrigued expression on her face.
"That's an idea," Rebecca muttered.
"What is?" asked Cathrine wondering what she started.
Rebecca started to smile a smile that was similar to the one that Cathrine would get when she came up with a new prank.
"Cathrine," Rebecca started. "You wouldn't have by any chance have smuggled any of the rainbow potion out of class?"
Cathrine looked at her suspiciously and slowly responded, "Yeah, why?"
"Well, we coat the candy with it and give it to Ryan then his skin will turn colors. Well actually we will probably be getting all the Slytherins, but that is a mood point."
"Oh, I love it." Cathrine rushed off to her bed to find the bottle with the potion in it.
"Rebecca, how are we going to get Ryan and the others to eat it?" Sara asked.
"We use Russel."
"What?"
"We need to cover our trail right?"
"Obviously," chimed in Cathrine, "I don't think you guys would like detention."
"Right," chuckled Rebecca. "So in order that we don't get detention, we give the candy to Russel and he passes it out to the Slytherin students. But so that they don't trace anything back to us we will also pass out good candy to Gryffindor. Cathrine, you and Jacquelyn will pass out to our house. If you give anything to the Slytherin's, they will know exactly what happened when they change colors. . Let's face our house is going to be apprehensive about taking candy from you, Cathrine, that's why it is important that you tell everyone the candy is from me. Jacquelyn, everyone will believe you so make sure that you tell everyone even if Cathrine has already. No offense, Cathrine."
"None taken."
"Sara you and I are going to get the candy to Russel. They will be so confused when their skins change and ours doesn't that they won't know what happened."
"That's great!" squealed Cathrine.
"Looks like you thought of everything," Jacquelyn stated impressed about how fast Rebecca thought of all of details of this plan.
"When do you want to do it?" Sara asked Rebecca.
"Tonight."
"Don't you think that would tip then off?"
"They won't think we had time to get all of this together. In fact if it wasn't for Cathrine keeping some of the potion we wouldn't be able to just come down the stairs with the tainted candy."
"You know you're right. Let's get started."
The girls got just enough candy for the Slytherin coated and then got dressed. Cathrine and Jacquelyn started down the stairs before Sara and Rebecca and headed straight towards James, Greg, Charlie, and Bill to pass out the good candy.
Sara and Rebecca hit the bottom of the steps to see that Russel and Ryan were looking to see what the other girls were doing. After a quick smile to each other, the girls started to walk past the Slytherin group towards a group of third year Gryffindors.
"I like the blue ones and the green ones. They're the best," Rebecca stated to Sara hoping to get someone's attention from Slytherin.
She didn't have to wait long, because a moment later Russel asked, "Hey, Rebecca what do you have there?"
Russel and Cassie had gotten up and walked over to the girls.
"Oh, my friend Stacy sent me candy that her mother made. She sent way too much. I will never be able to able to eat it all before it goes bad, so I am passing it out. . Would you like a piece?" Rebecca asked trying not to sound too eager to get him to take a piece.
Russel smiled and said, "Yeah."
Russel took a green piece and popped it into his mouth as Cassie took a red piece.
"Why don't you take this bag and pass it out to the other Slytherin students, so we don't miss anyone on accident and get in trouble for not including everyone?"
"Sure." Russel took the bag of tainted candy from Rebecca's hand and started to pass out the candy.
"Rebecca, wasn't your ring all silver?" Cassie said grabbing Rebecca's hand and inspecting the ring.
"Yeah?" Rebecca responded trying to see what Cassie was looking at. It took a moment but then Rebecca saw that the rose bloom had a slight red tint to in and the band was starting to turn green. "Oh my ring is changing colors."
"Are you going to get a new one?" Russel asked with an urgent tone in his voice.
Rebecca was confused by Russel and could only answer, "No, if it changes back then I'll ask Charlie to transfigure it for me again."
Rebecca and Sara walked away and started passing out the candy. Sara impressed that they had Russel in the plan already, since they really thought that they were going to have to do a little more than just walk by Russel once. Rebecca on the other hand was taken back by Russel's interest in her ring and whether she would keep it with it not being in its original state anymore.
After all the candy was passed out, the girls went and took seats by the guys so they could start their homework.
"You know that was really nice of you sharing your candy, Rebecca," said Bill as he walked past the group on his way out of the room.
Rebecca smiled at him and said, "Oh, I had too much to not share. I just hope everyone liked it."
Charlie chimed in, "I am sure everyone did, Slytherins included." The tone in his voice went harsh as he spoke of the guests in the rooms.
"I can't believe you shared with Ryan after what he did," Colin stated as he continued with his homework.
The girls looked at each other and smiled mischeviously.
"What is going on?" asked Greg and Charlie in unison causing Colin and James to look up from their books.
The girls put on innocent faces and answered together, "Nothing."
"Yeah, and I am going to get the best marks on the next potion test," said Colin sarcastically.
"Come on what is going on?" asked Charlie looking Rebecca straight in the eyes.
"You'll see," Rebecca responded quietly and she quickly turned to her homework.
Greg and Charlie looked at each other with 'What did they do?' looks on their faces.
"What do you mean?" whispered Charlie to Rebecca.
"Just what I said," she responded. "We need to get this done before you all have to go to practice."
Rebecca tapped on her potions book as she said this. Charlie sighed and returned to his books wondering what Rebecca had done.
The group continued to work with a few more interruption like going downstairs for meals until Charlie, Greg, and Catherine picked up their books to put them away so they could go to practice. James, Jacquelyn, Colin, and Sara started to put things away as Lauren came up to Rebecca to ask for help with her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. Rebecca walked back with Lauren and sat down at the table Lauren was at.
Eventually, more and more first years came over to get help. Some Slytherin students came over as well including Harvey, Alannah, and Marcus. Soon there were too many students for Rebecca to help by herself. She excused herself from the group to get some help. Jacquelyn was the first person Rebecca talked to.
After Jacquelyn agreed to help, Rebecca spotted James walking down the stairs. She walked over to the foot of the steps and said, "James, can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?" James responded.
"Will you assist Jacquelyn and I in helping the first years with their Defense homework?"
"I would love to."
"Thank you!"
Rebecca wrapped her arms around his neck as James said, "But I have to make rounds. You know prefect stuff."
"Noooooo, you have to help us," said Rebecca not letting go in hopes that she could keep him from moving. James however just had to stand up a little straighter to lift Rebecca off of the ground and started to walk towards the portrait.
"No you can't go. Think of the first years, they need you. They need some one smart and um, um, Jacquelyn I need help buttering him up," Rebecca tried to protest but ended up laughing.
"They'll be fine and I am sure you can find some one else to help Jacquelyn and you." James set her down in the middle of the room as Jacquelyn walked up to help convince him to help. "And I am sure you two can do it without making such a big scene. I'll see you two later."
He gave Jacquelyn a kiss and walked the rest of the way to the door as Jacquelyn said with a laugh, "Fine, just leave us here."
Both girls started to laugh.
"Okay who else could help?" Rebecca started still laughing. "A.J. is at practice so he's out. We don't want to ask Colin, because he will convince them that werewolves thrive on first year students."
Jacquelyn shook her head in agreement as she continued to laugh.
Rebecca thought for a moment and then it hit her. "Why don't we ask Bill?"
"Great idea," Jacquelyn said. "Where's he at?"
Rebecca looked around the room and finally said, "I think he is up in his room. Let's go get him."
"How about you go get him and I start helping the first years?"
"Yeah I am sure that they are starting to think I abandoned them." And with that, Rebecca headed up the stairs.
Rebecca came to Bill's room and knocked on the door. After a moment, she opened the door slightly to see if Bill was even there. Rebecca looked around the room and saw Bill lying on his bed. She wasn't sure whether Bill was asleep or not, but she had a terrible urge to go jump on his bed and startle him. Rebecca swung the door open, ran over, and jumped onto the bed.
"Bill!" she exclaimed as she landed on to the bed. "Wake up!"
She had very intention to get right off the bed and had even turned to jump off the bed, but Bill surprised her by taking her legs out from under her. Rebecca let out a little scream as she fell back on to the bed. Looking at each other, Bill and Rebecca started to laugh.
"What did you want?" Bill asked through his laughter.
Rebecca sat up and started to explain, "The first years need help with their homework. There is a lot more than usual with Slytherin students being in the common room. So can you come and help them with Jacquelyn and me?"
Still chuckling, Bill got off the bed and started to walk out of the room as he said, "No," in a joking tone.
Rebecca hopped off the bed and followed him down the step.
"You have to help Bill," Rebecca laughed as she hopped on to his back. Bill continued down the steps giving Rebecca a piggy back ride. Russel gave them a strange look as they passed him on the steps still laughing. Both of them continued to laugh as the entered the common room, causing all the students in the room to look at them.
When they reach the table with Jacquelyn and the first years that wanted help, Bill let go of Rebecca's legs so that she could get down. The two of them were starting to settle down when Jacquelyn asked, "There was a scream, what happened up stairs?"
Rebecca and Bill looked at each other with a surprised look and started laughing even harder than before. Obviously, Rebecca's little scream wasn't as little as she or even Bill thought it was.
After a minute, they settled back down and told Jacquelyn what happened. Jacquelyn laughed a little, but quickly got them on task of getting the first years the help had asked for.
"Oh and before I forget Chelsea Drown said that she would help. She walked past here and I asked her if she would help," Jacquelyn informed Rebecca and Bill.
"Oh that's good. Where is she?" asked Rebecca.
"She had to drop her books off in her dorm room. She should be down really soon." Just then the fourth year with short blonde hair and green eyes appeared on the steps.
As she walked over she over to the group, Chelsea adjusted how her glasses sat on her face and said, "Hi, thanks for giving me the opportunity to help out."
"No problem looks like any help here will be appreciated," Bill simply stated before he turned to Marcus and started to answer his question. Rebecca smiled at Chelsea, but couldn't say too much because Lauren and Carolyn were already bombarding her with questions.
The four got all the questions answered that were posed to them. After the last student had their homework done, Bill and Rebecca sat down at the table and began to talk as Jacquelyn headed out of the room to find James and Chelsea went to meet her boyfriend, who was the cute Hufflepuff keeper, Matt Graham.
They sat there for only a few minutes discussing a book Bill had on defense against the dark arts that Rebecca hadn't read yet, when Russel came walking up to them and asked, "Rebecca, since you have your homework done, could you help me with my potion's homework?"
Rebecca's eyes got really big and Bill was ready to step in so she wouldn't have to spend time with Russel, but Rebecca said, "We had potions homework?"
With that, Rebecca got up and sped up to her room to get her books.
Bill started to chuckle and called up after her, "Only you Rebecca."
"What is that suppose to mean?" Russel questioned he was slightly upset because was going to ask if he could do his homework with Rebecca, but she was already up the steps and gone before he could get the words out.
Bill looked Russel straight in the eyes and soberly said, "Nothing, she just always get so involved with helping the first years that when someone mentions her homework she flips out and forgets that she has already done it. I think Colin said something to her three of four times this term and every time it is the same reaction."
Bill started laughing again and got up to return upstairs leaving Russel standing there by himself.
"I don't get what she sees in them," Russel muttered to himself as Ryan walked up to him.
"Neither do I," Ryan stated.
Russel looked over and sighed. Ryan had never seen Russel like this.
'Is it me or is Russel looking alittle green? He looks like he is going to be sick from seeing Rebecca with Bill and she is dating Charlie. Poor guy got it bad,' Ryan thought as he said, "Don't worry she'll see through him eventually."
"No, she won't, especially after the little stunt you pulled this morning. She just found out that Charlie's touch comforts her thanks to you," Russel fiercely responded.
"Yeah, well, look at it as a step to you getting back into her good graces. All I need to do is get her to start reminiscing about certain things about our childhood and she'll forgive me for what I did, but you really didn't have anything like that until today. She saw that you would stand up against your friends for her. Heck, if I hadn't been trying to get back at Rebecca for changing so much, then you wouldn't have came to her rescue and she wouldn't have been civil with you when you asked her about that candy she gave you."
Russel nodded his head. He hadn't seen it that way, maybe if he kept that up then he would become close to Rebecca and she would forget about the horrible things he had done before.
'If I could have controlled my temper at the dance, she would have never gotten scared of me and I wouldn't have to do anything. No more calculating things. Rebecca responds better if we are together by chance,' thought Russel as he walked away from Ryan.
Though she had remembered as she hit the first step on her way up to her room that she had already done her potions homework, she went upstairs anyways so that she didn't have to help Russel with his. He knew that if asked that she would help. It wasn't in her nature to not even if she didn't care for the person and she was afraid that Russel might exploit it.
Rebecca finally decided that it had to be safe after she sat in her room and wrote Stacy a letter. She walked down the stairs, but didn't step off of the last step. Rebecca looked around but didn't see any of her friends in the common room.
Russel saw Rebecca and was about to get up and try to talk to her, but Rebecca turned around and headed back up the stairs before he could even start to get up. She climbed the stairs to Bill's room.
After knocking on the door, Bill opened the door and let her in.
"What's up?" he asked as he plopped back onto his bed and picked up a book.
Rebecca climbed up and sat Indian style on the bed as she stated, "I went downstairs and no one was there that I wanted to talk to."
"Oh so you came to talk to me." Bill gave her a funny smile that was half joking and half 'I am either really special or really low on your list of people you want to talk to.'
"Though that is a very good, um, option," Rebecca joked. "I actually came up to see if you would lend me that Defense book that you had been telling me about."
Rebecca said this as she took a pillow and stuck it so between her back and the bed post she was closest to.
"You know for someone that just came up to get a book you're making your self awfully comfortable," Bill laughed as he got up to get the book Rebecca wanted. Rebecca mischievously smiled and continued making herself comfortable.
Bill handed her the book and sat back on his bed so that he was facing Rebecca. He didn't say anything, but he was glad that she came up, especially since Rebecca inferred that none of Charlie's friends were in the common room to watch over her.
What Bill didn't know was that Rebecca was also glad that he was letting her stay; she really didn't want to be in the common room with Ryan or Russel without at least one of the guys around. She was going to keep herself safe.
After a bit, Bill looked from his book at Rebecca who was absorbed in the book she was looking at. He sat there and just looked at her until he finally asked, "Becca, how did you get interested in defense against the dark arts?"
Rebecca looked up and thought for a moment.
"I really don't know," she finally said. "There has always been something calling me to it. I mean I have always been a natural at it, but even before I knew that I was interested in it. . I have a feeling that something bad must have happened to my parents that I really don't know about and that is why I devour anything to do with defense."
"You don't know how your parents died?" Bill was shocked he thought that she knew but just didn't want everyone to know and ask her questions about it.
"No, I don't. . I have been getting pieces of what happened, but I haven't figured out anything concrete yet. I thought for a while that I knew because all of the clues pointed one way, but then I started getting the different pieces and my theory didn't work anymore. The funny part is that the old clues and the new ones fit together it just takes me to different conclusions."
There was a brief pause after Rebecca finished and Bill found himself pondering out loud, "How old were you when they died?" He felt bad for asking so he quickly added, "Sorry. I don't mean to pry."
"Oh that's okay," Rebecca said trying to make him less worried about offending her. "I think I was about three, though I can't really say for sure. All I know is that I really don't have any memories of my parents and so I wasn't too old when it happened."
"Do you think you will ever know?"
"Yeah, eventually, I'll put it all together, but until then I'll continued to study defense without knowing why I like it so much," Rebecca responded with a smile and then went back to the book in her lap. Bill just stared at her.
'Wow no wonder Charlie says that she is the bravest person he knows. She knows nothing of her past and look at how she deals with it. I know she has had her moments where she is scared, but all of us do and if I had to go through what she has I don't know whether I would be in that good of shape,' he thought to himself as he turned back to his book.
The two sat down there for another hour until Bill said that he needed to go on rounds. Rebecca slipped off his bed and headed out the door with Bill's book. She knew that practice wasn't over so Charlie, Greg, and Cathrine weren't back yet. James and Jacquelyn were probably in the library arguing over some piece of homework that they didn't agree upon and Colin was probably searching for a passage around the castle for a prank.
'Maybe Lauren is still in her room,' Rebecca thought as she headed to the first year girl's dormitory.
After knocking on the door and getting no answer, Rebecca pushed open the door to see that no one was in the room. She decided that Lauren must be in the common room so she headed down resolved that if she didn't see Lauren she was heading right back up the stairs and staying in her room until one of her friends came to get her.
Rebecca walked down the steps and saw Lauren writing as she sat on the couch by the fire, so she headed over to see how Lauren was doing. As she stepped off the last stair, she passed Russel who was shoving a piece of paper in his pocket.
'That looks suspicious,' Rebecca thought to herself but quickly forgot about it as she approached Lauren and saw that Lauren was out of her pajamas.
"Hey, you're dressed," Rebecca said with a big smile. She was really glad to see Lauren out of bed.
"Yeah, after breakfast this morning, I felt a lot better about everything. Percy and Oliver walked with me to and from breakfast and glared at Sean when he tried to come up and talk to me," Lauren giggled.
Rebecca rolled her eyes as she took a seat next to Lauren.
Lauren looked over and saw the book Rebecca had and asked, "What book do you have there?"
"Oh, this is a defense book that Bill lent me. . Who are you writing?"
"My parents, I normally try to write them once a week. I am going to finish this up and then finish up my homework."
"That's cool," Rebecca said opening Bill's book to look at. She became so engrossed with the topics in the books that she didn't even notice that Lauren left and that she was sitting on the couch by herself.
Russel however notice and walked over and sat on the other end of couch. He was about to try to talk to Rebecca when James came into the room singing.
"Why do you build me up,
Build me up, Buttercup?
Baby just to let me down."
James saw that Russel was in close proximity of Rebecca and she wasn't aware of it so as he continued to sing he walked over to her.
"May I have this dance?" James asked with a smile offering Rebecca his hand and then continued to hum his song. Rebecca smiled as she set down the book and got up to dance with him.
Russel glared as James started dancing away from the couch towards the entrance of the common room, which had more room to dance, with Rebecca in his arms. James noticed the glare and decided that he better say something so that Russel didn't get a clue that he purposely got Rebecca to move away from him.
"So what should we teach this lesson?" James started. "Salsa? Tengo? Disco? Basic moves not covered yet."
Rebecca smiled and simply stated to the humming James, "I picked last time so you are stuck with the decision this round."
"Oh, yeah . Let me think about it." James continued to hum as he twirled Rebecca around.
Finally he said, "I got it we haven't taught them how to dip yet."
"Okay," Rebecca laughed as James dipped her.
"What you don't think it's a good idea?"
"I wouldn't say that but we kind of taught them that a while back."
James smirked a little and said, "We didn't teach them this."
Much to Rebecca's surprise James dipped her almost clear to the ground. He had placed his hand behind her neck and that was the only support Rebecca felt she had so she stiffened her whole body so she wouldn't fall on the floor, not that she had that far to fall.
Trying not to laugh she asked, "James, how are you getting me up?"
James was about to answer when the door swung open to reveal Charlie and the rest of the quidditch team.
"What are you two up to?" Charlie asked with a joking tone in his voice as he saw them.
James looked up and dropped Rebecca. She hit the floor and started to laugh hysterically.
The guys rushed around her and James frantically asked, "Becca, are you okay? I am so sorry. I really didn't mean to."
"I'm fine. . I was just thinking how glad I was that I was only a couple of inches from the ground," Rebecca laughed. James offered his hand to help her up.
Still laughing, Rebecca grasped it as she said, "I don't think we should teach that tonight."
James pulled her up and said, "I agree."
Jacquelyn, Sara, and Colin walked into the room to see Rebecca being pulled up from the ground.
"What happened?" they all said in unison. Rebecca looked at James and started laughing hysterically. She couldn't help it. She thought the way she fell on the floor was comical.
Rebecca was laughing so hard that she sat down on the floor so that she wouldn't fall down. James quickly explained what had happened and started to laugh himself. Everyone else started to laugh as Sara, Jacquelyn, Cathrine, and Anna sat next to Rebecca on the floor.
As Cathrine did a comical play by play account of what she saw distracting the girls, the guys stood whispered to James about what was going on.
"Okay, what happened so that you and Rebecca had to practice dancing? You two have never had to practice before a lesson before." Greg whispered.
James looked at everyone and quietly responded, "I know, but when I came in Rebecca was sitting on the couch and Russel was sitting there too."
Charlie looked over and saw Russel still sitting there and watching Rebecca.
"He wasn't doing anything was he?" He asked turning back to James.
James shook his head no as he said, "Rebecca was reading a book and I don't think that she even knew he was there. ... By the way, Jacquelyn and Sara know and are totally all for it. Did you talk to Cathrine?"
"Yeah, she is the same way."
Aaron, A.J., and Heath had been standing with the guys wondering what they were talking about. Finally Heath spoke up and asked, "Hey guys what is going on?"
Before anyone could answer him, Rebecca asked, "What are you guys whispering about?"
The guys looked at her wide eyed not sure what to say.
Luckily, Colin was fast in saying, "Well we wanted to see how hard we could get you laughing and were discussing what the best strategy was to tickle you."
"No!" Rebecca laughed. This set the guys into motion. They started to rush towards her.
Rebecca tried to scramble to her feet but to no avail. Charlie got to her first and then Greg. Before she knew it James, Colin, Heath, and A.J. were all on the ground next to her tickling her. The other girls had scattered when the boys started to move, but now they started to tickle the guys to help Rebecca out. She of course was in the middle of everything.
"NO! NO! NO! Stop it!" Rebecca cried through her laughter.
Russel who had watched the whole thing unfold was about to get up and get Rebecca out of there, when Bill walked in and asked, "What is going on here?"
Everyone stopped immediately. They all sat up straight and laughed about what just happened. They managed to explain to Bill what all went on through all of their giggling. He shook his head and started to laugh as he sat down with the rest of the group.
They all sat around and talked about what ever ran through their heads. More and more Gryffindors joined the group until everyone single one of them was sitting on the floor laughing and carrying on. Harvey and his friends even walked over and sat down near Lauren and her friends who were sitting next to Rebecca.
Oliver and Percy shot daggers at the Slytherin gang until Harvey said, "So Songbird, are you going to sing again?"
His face didn't have the same menacing look that he had always had every time he had talked to Lauren before. Neither of the boys nor Lauren knew what to think of Harvey said.
Rebecca had over heard what was going on and stepped in asking, "Why did you call her Songbird?"
Harvey turned towards Rebecca and it seemed that everyone on the floor had stopped their individual conversations to see what was going on.
"Because she sings as beautiful as a songbird," Harvey matter-of-factly stated.
Rebecca turned to Charlie with a smirk on her face and said, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Rebecca started chuckling to herself. Lauren started to laugh which caused Harvey to join in. Eventually everyone who was on the floor was laughing.
Rebecca leaned her head onto Charlie's shoulder as she looked around the group as Charlie kissed her head and turned back to his friends' conversation. She glanced over at the couch and saw Russel sitting there.
'Wonder how long he has been sitting there?' she thought to herself. 'Guess it doesn't matter I'm not sitting there anymore. I'll just have an in depth conversation with someone when I want to pick Bill's book back up if he is still sitting there.'
Rebecca joined back into the conversation.
They all sat there quite content to stay there all night, until Snape entered the room to check on his students. He almost tripped over Chelsea, who was closest to the entrance since she came joined the group when she came back in from meeting Matt. Snape quickly looked around the room seeing that other than his first years, his students were scattered through out the room and there were a lot of empty seats.
He looked down at them and asked, "Is there not enough room for all the students to sit so you are reduced to the floor?"
The tone in his voice was not that pleasant.
Colin and Cathrine started to open their mouths to say something on the lines of 'No we just haven't disinfected where Slytherin students have sat yet', which probably would have cause Gryffindor to major lose point. Luckily, Rebecca and Greg were sitting close enough to Colin and Cathrine to stop them before could say anything.
Snape looked through the group and stated, "I hope you all have your homework done."
With that he turned and walked back out of the door.
Colin was about to say, 'Don't let the door hit you on out way out,' but Rebecca, who saw it coming, lunged at him and covered his mouth to stop him.
As they tumbled backwards, she whispered, "Don't do it isn't worth getting in trouble over words. Get in trouble over a prank."
Colin had a surprised look when Rebecca put his hand over his mouth, but as soon as she finished whispering to him he started to laugh. The door was completely shut so Rebecca released the amused Colin and settled back next to Charlie.
"You better not let her go Charlie she speaks a lot of common sense," Colin laughed. ".it isn't worth getting in trouble over words. Get in trouble with a prank."
Colin continued laughing to himself as Cathrine started to chuckle as she said, "That is so true. . Charlie, she's a keeper."
Rebecca blushed a little and leaned into Charlie.
He wrapped his arms around her and said, "I always thought she was."
Charlie looked up to see Russel glaring at him.
'Obviously, someone agrees that she is too, but was hoping I didn't realize it,' Charlie thought to himself as they all started to get up after Bill said something about homework.
Russel who had been watching the group was extremely happy to see them start to disburse. He thought, 'Good. I didn't know how much more I could take. Now, I don't have to give up the perfect opportunity to talk to Rebecca because of their little group thing on the floor.'
As the group started to disburse, Russel tried to act like had been sitting there busy the whole time.
Bill had came over and started talking to Rebecca about the book he lent her so Charlie was able to turn back to explain to Aaron, Heath, and A.J. about the Russel situation at hand. The guys were just as appalled as the rest and vowed to help watch over Rebecca. They all keep glancing over at her wonder how she could keep such a calm exterior when she was in the same room with Russel after what he did on Valentine's. What they didn't know was Rebecca only was able to keep herself calm because she was surrounded by friends that she felt would protect her if anything happened. This allowed her to talk to Bill without constantly looking over her shoulder.
Eventually Rebecca and Bill's conversation about his book, lead Rebecca to ask Bill a question, "You know that chapter about vampires I just don't get the how garlic helps ward them off?"
Bill looked a little puzzle and said, "Let me reread it and I'll let you know."
Rebecca headed over to the couch and picked up the book and was about to hand it to Bill when Russel looked up from what he was pretending to read and asked, "Hey Rebecca, could I borrow that book from you when your done?"
Rebecca glanced at Bill and simple answered, "It's Bill's. You'll have to ask him if you could borrow it."
Before Russel could say anything, Bill said to him, "You can see it after Rebecca is done."
Rebecca mischievously smiled at Bill, wrapped her arms around the book, and said, "Who says I'll ever be done?"
They looked at each other for a moment and then they both started to move. Russel watched as Rebecca stepped on to the couch and over it with Bill in close pursuit. She was about to the steps when Bill wrapped his arms around her stomach and picked her up so that she couldn't run any farther.
Rebecca started laughing at the fact that she kept moving her legs as she was lifted off the ground. Bill joined in and sat her down on the steps. As Bill sat down on the steps with her, James came over with a big smile on his face.
"Becca, I have a great idea," he said taking her hands and pulling her to the center of the room.
Rebecca composed herself and asked, "And what is your brilliant idea?"
"Swing dancing."
James started to hum the melody to In the Mood and to do a couple of steps.
Rebecca looked at him for a moment and then said, "We already did that for a lesson."
"But we didn't do any fancy. We just showed the basic steps."
"Oh, no. We aren't."
"Come on, Becca, you know you want to." James started back to humming the big band song.
"No, we have never practiced and some of those moves are really tricky to do if you don't have complete trust in your partner."
James started to act like Rebecca just stabbed him.
"You don't trust me," he said with a playful pout on his face.
"James, trust is really easy to gain the first time around, but if something happens to destroy that trust, it is hard to get back. You and me fancy moves."
"What did I do to lose your trust?" James interjected.
"You dropped me over there." Rebecca pointed to the spot where James had tried to dip her.
James looked over and turned back to Rebecca to say, "So you're saying that dropping you tonight caused you to lose all trust in me."
James was starting to look a little upset, so Rebecca said, "No not totally, just on fancy moves that we hadn't practiced before." Rebecca gave him a hug and added, "I still trust you to help me with my homework."
James laughed and gave her a playful push. Rebecca backed up and smiled mischievously.
Jacquelyn walked over with Sara and Cathrine and asked, "So what is the lesson for tonight?"
Rebecca was about to answer when James said, "We're still fighting it out."
"What are you guys fighting out?" Greg asked as he, Charlie, A.J., Heath, and Aaron walked over to see what is going on.
"What to teach for the dance lesson," Rebecca quickly answered before James had a chance.
"I thought you two had it all figured out how to choose what you were doing every week?" asked Bill.
James looked at Rebecca and they smiled at each other as Rebecca said, "Yes, but James never seems to be able to remember it is his turn and then always ask me what I think."
James took a deep breath and then said, "I say we let people tell us tonight what they want to learn."
"Fine, by me," Rebecca laughed.
"Are you guys going to ask the Slytherins to join us?" asked Bill. Everyone fell silent and looked at him as he continued, "You know we have to they are in the common room with us."
Rebecca shook her head and walked over to an empty chair.
As she stepped up on the chair, many of the students turned to see what she was doing.
"Could I have everyone's attention, please?" Rebecca projected to across the room getting everyone to turn towards her. "Back by popular demand, its dance lessons. As usual, EVERYONE is welcome to join in. For those of you on the fence about whether to join in tonight or do homework, we are going to be taking requests on what James and I will be teaching. It should be a great night for perfecting what we already taught."
Rebecca looked like she was about to get off the chair when she straightened up and added, "Oh for those of you who are new to this. You don't need to worry about having a partner to join in the fun, we'll find one for you."
"Yeah there is always a ghost. Just like the time you danced the waltz with Sir Nicholas, right Rebecca?" Colin shouted out as Rebecca jumped off the chair.
"Yeah, I am sure he would be willing to help out again," Rebecca laughed.
"So Rebecca who is going to be your partner for the lesson?" asked Jacquelyn.
"Charlie, of course, he is my guy after all."
Rebecca walked over towards Charlie and gave him a big hug as Chelsea said, "You all always get the best partners. Oh well, Heath will you be my partner again?"
Heath jokingly responded, "So I am not a good partner, then?"
"No you're a good partner, just." Chelsea started, but could figure out what to say to get her foot out of her mouth so she gave up.
The whole group laughed, including Heath, because they all knew it didn't matter what Chelsea said Heath would be her partner. He was Matt's best friend and he and Chelsea had a flirty friendship since they were around each so much. While they were still laughing, they started to rearrange the furniture so that everyone had room to dance.
All in all it was a nice lesson. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Almost everyone joined in. Lauren who usually was ecstatic about Sunday dance lesson was sitting in a corner by herself with school books opened. Rebecca had walked over to Lauren and asked her what was up. Lauren explained that she still had homework to do and felt that she couldn't do anything until she had it all done. Rebecca understood and told Lauren that if she needed any help just to let her know.
Lauren wasn't the only one who wasn't participating, though. Ryan refused to join in even after Cassie threw a fit trying to get him to dance with her. Russel walked over and saved his friend by asking Cassie to dance with him instead. They had a bit of trouble getting in sync with each other.
James and Jacquelyn tried to help them out, but not with much success, partly because Cassie wasn't trying very hard. Russel tried to keep going with Cassie, but was relieved when Jacquelyn in her frustration accidentally suggested that James dance with Cassie while she worked with Russel.
"Thank you so much," Russel sincerely said as he and Jacquelyn danced away from the other two.
Jacquelyn wasn't sure exactly what to say. It was Russel the guy who deceived Rebecca after all. She managed to come up with "It wasn't that bad, was it?"
"Has James ever stepped on your foot while you danced?"
She shook her head no. Jacquelyn had stepped on James foot when she was learning new steps, but he had managed never to have step on hers.
"Well, I think that I stepped on her foot without even picking up my feet."
Jacquelyn started to laugh, "Sorry that's funny."
"Yeah, it is," Russel said as he started to laugh.
The two continued to laugh as Jacquelyn showed him some of the moves that she had learned unaware that Rebecca, Charlie, Greg, Sara, Cathrine, Colin, and James had all glanced over to see them causing them to wonder what was going on.
After the dance lesson, the students moved back the furniture and headed up to their respective rooms. On their way to the stairs, several Slytherins came up and thanked James and Rebecca for the lesson.
Akira, a fifth year with dark brown hair girl with hazel eyes, who Rebecca recognized as on of the Slytherin Beaters, commented as she and Toby, a jet black haired, blue eyed third year and one of the keeper for that house's team, how entertaining it was as they passed the two Gryffindors. Toby said something about wishing his girlfriend Cicille, one of the Slytherin chasers, had been there to see that he really didn't have two left feet.
Rebecca smiled at James when she heard the two Slytherins' conversation and then headed up to bed with the other fifth year Gryffindor girls.
Up in the fifth year girls' room, Jacquelyn got mobbed asking what was so funny while she was dancing with Russel. As the all sat on her bed, she explained what all happened.
The other girls giggled a little until she said, "I had to keep reminding myself everything he did to Rebecca, so that I didn't start to think he would be a great person to hang out with."
All of them looked at Rebecca.
"Yeah, he has that effect on people." Rebecca soberly said remembering what she thought of him during Christmas. She then quickly changed the subject. "Did you all notice that the Slytherins all had a tint of color?"
Sara thought for a moment and said, "Sort of, I thought the light was playing tricks on my eyes though."
The other two girls shook their heads in agreement with Sara.
"Yeah, that is the beauty of our prank. The powder sugar on the candy slows the potion down without affecting its potency. We should see them complete colored tomorrow and no one will think it is the lights."
Cathrine got a smile on her face as they talked of the prank. She asked, "How long is it going to last?"
Rebecca thought for a moment and finally said, "Well it should last most of tomorrow, but they will be back to normal coloring the next day without a doubt."
"Wish it would last longer." Cathrine pouted a little.
"If we could have gotten more in them it would. You'll just have to take a picture so that it last. hehehe . Come on let's go to bed so that we can get up early and not miss anything."
The girls got off of Jacquelyn's bed and started to get ready for bed excited about what they would see from their prank in the morning.
Rebecca had just walked out of the bathroom and was headed towards her bed when there was a knock on the girl's door. Since her bed was closest to the door, Rebecca answered it. After slowly opening the door, she looked out to find Carolyn standing there.
"What's the matter?" Rebecca asked.
Carolyn looked nervous and she stuttered a little when she said, "L-Lauren hasn't come up from the common room. And I think there is some of the older Slytherins are still down there."
"I'll go get her," Rebecca said causing Carolyn instantly calm down. They exchanged smiles as Rebecca passed Carolyn and down the stairs.
When she hit the bottom step Rebecca looked around the room seeing a few people from Slytherin here and there. Russel was sitting on the couch looking at a piece of paper. Ryan was busy writing something at a table on the other side of the room. Neither seemed to notice she had entered the room, which was fine by Rebecca she just wanted to get Lauren and didn't want to interact with either of the guys. Finally, she saw Lauren was still in the corner she had been earlier, but she had her head down as if she was asleep.
Rebecca walked up and shook her lightly as she softly said, "Hey Lauren, it is time to go to bed."
Lauren brought her head up and looked at Rebecca groggily. After taking Lauren by the arm, Rebecca helped her up and started to lead her out of the room.
"I have a potions quiz that I need to study for," Lauren tried to protest, but Rebecca simply answered, "We'll get up in the morning and I will help you get ready for it."
Lauren shook her head to let Rebecca know she was okay with the plan.
They were about to the stairs when Lauren whispered, "Oh my books."
She tried to turn back to get them, but Rebecca stopped her by quietly stating, "Go up the stairs. I am sure that Carolyn is waiting for you. I'll get your books and bring them down with me in the morning."
Rebecca then turned and headed back to the table Lauren had been at. She picked up everything Lauren left and turned to head back up to her room. Rebecca about dropped everything because Russel was standing right there.
"Need any help?" he quietly asked.
"No, I can manage. Thank you, though," Rebecca hesitantly said trying to move past him as she reshuffled the books in her arms. Russel let her pass, but followed her towards the step.
"So, do you guys always have so much fun around here?" Russel asked trying to make conversation.
"What?"
Rebecca stopped and turned around.
"Your house just seems to have a lot of fun together. I was just wondering whether every weekend is like this one."
"I guess. . I really have to get back upstairs."
"Okay," Russel said as she started up the stairs.
After she hit the first step Rebecca turned around quickly. Russel was right there behind her. Standing on the step brought Rebecca eye level with him.
"Yes," Russel asked his face closer to Rebecca's then it ever was before. As much as she wanted to back up, Rebecca was afraid that she would trip on the stairs and really didn't want Russel to think that she was scared of him in case he might try to use it against her some other time.
So she stood her ground as she softly said, "I-I just wanted to thank you myself for helping me out with the snake. I think if you hadn't said anything I think he" she pointed at Ryan "wouldn't have stopped and probably would have put it right on my face." Rebecca shuttered at the thought.
Russel's face softened as it had the times before when Rebecca thanked him and said, "It was nothing. I was just glad I could help."
Rebecca shook her head and said, "Night."
Rebecca quickly turned and headed up the stair as Russel called up after her, "Sleep Sweet, Rebecca."
Russel turned back and walked over to where Ryan was with a huge smile on her face.
Ryan glanced up at him as Russel sat down and said with a triumph tone in his voice, "She thanked me."
Ryan laughed still looking at what he was writing, "You thought she never would do that again, didn't you?" Russel shook his head yes as Ryan continued, "See I told you that standing up to your friends for her would do the trick. Rebecca can never stay mad if you help her."
Ryan put his quill down and looked at Russel to say something, but just stared at him with his mouth open.
"What?" Russel questioned.
Ryan shook himself out of this trance to say, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Um, yeah, why?"
"You look a little green. I noticed it earlier today, but it seems more prominent now."
"Weird, maybe it's the lighting in here, because you look a little blue to me."
"Or maybe we are so tired that we are seeing things. Come on lets go to bed."
The girls wore pajama pants also, but their tops varied from tee-shirts to tank tops to spaghetti strap tanks and most had a zip up sweatshirt of some type to wear. When she entered the common room, Rebecca was tying her bandana on to her head to cover up the fact that she wasn't taking her hair out of the braids she had slept in. Charlie walked down the steps shortly behind her. He had blue and green plaid pajama pants on with a grey tank.
"Good morning, beautiful," he said to Rebecca looking at her in her gray plaid pants and crimson spaghetti strap top as she pulled on her gray sweatshirt.
"Morning, Handsome," Rebecca said giving him a kiss.
Greg walked over in his red pants and white tee-shirt and said, "I think as soon as Sara comes down all of us fifth years will be up and we can start down to breakfast together. There's a group of first years who are waiting over there for some older students to go first."
Greg pointed over to the door to a group that included Lauren, Aisha, Carolyn, Percy, Beth, and Oliver. Rebecca smiled to see Lauren out of bed and that her friends joined in with the pajama breakfast.
"Well Sara should be down in a minute or two. She was getting out of bed when I left the room," Rebecca said looking at the steps.
A moment later, Sara walked down in her blue cloud covered tank and pants set and asked, "So when does this show start?"
"Right now, let's go get something to eat," Charlie responded heading them towards the door.
Cathrine in her smile face pants and matching tank top and Colin in his rainbow tie-dyed pants with a red sleeveless tee followed along with James in his navy blue tee and gray pajama pants and Jacquelyn in her purple spaghetti strap pajama set. The group with Lauren followed after them with the other years following after them.
Down at the Great Hall, the other house tables were full and already eating. There were many rumors flying around about why the Gryffindor table was completely empty. One was that the students were being punished because they had refused to share common space with any Slytherins. Another was that the Slytherins staying with the Gryffindors had slipped a sleeping potion into the Gryffindor's food or drink so that they were all still asleep.
Russel who hadn't taken the time to tell anyone of the invitation that Bill had extended was the only one that knew that the Gryffindors were going to arrive in their pajamas this morning and had a feeling that they would all show up together. He was right. Once Rebecca and Charlie opened the doors of the Great Hall and came in, there was a steady stream of students come in until all the seats at the table were filled. Students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin stopped eating as they looked at what the Gryffindors were wearing. The Gryffindor students didn't seem to notice, they went on with breakfast as normal, talking and laughing all through the meal.
Most of the students from the other house chuckled at the Gryffindor students and then went back to eating. Ryan on the other hand just stared at Rebecca and didn't touch another bit of his breakfast. Even Cassie couldn't distract him, he just kept staring until he suddenly said, "That's it!" and got up and left the hall.
After breakfast all the Gryffindors headed up to the common room together. Once inside they all milled around wondering what to do next until some of the Slytherin students came in talking about what homework they had to do.
Bill looked over at Rebecca and Charlie who were making a face at the thought of all the homework and said, "I guess we were having so much fun this weekend that we forgot we were in school."
Rebecca smiled as she nodded her head at Bill and then turned to Charlie to say, "Guess we better get started."
Charlie and Rebecca went up to their rooms to get their books. Rebecca walked into her room and saw a letter on her bed. She picked up the letter and saw it was from Stacy.
Dear Rebecca,
I am so glad that you and Charlie got together. He sounds like he is a really great guy. The type you really deserve to be with. I have some news that I need to tell you. I had actually been putting it off for some time, because I didn't know how to tell you. But now I need to tell you now before someone else does. Ben is dating Sydney. I know you and Ben were close, but with you not here Sydney was able to turn his head. They actually didn't get together until this week, but they had been hanging out since Christmas. I should have told you early about instead of spring it all on you at once. Sorry.
I have to get going to class, but I wanted to get this letter to you before Sydney tires to rub your face in it.
Later,
Stacy
Rebecca looked at the letter. 'What was Stacy trying to protect me from? Ben and I were never anything and he told me that he like Sydney. Yes, she may not be my favorite person, but Ben can hang out or go out with whoever he wants!' Rebecca thought to herself half upset at Ben for dating Sydney and half upset that Stacy thought that she needed to protect her from something that should have been considered trivial.
She was about to throw the letter back onto bed when she saw something move across her bed. It was a snake. Rebecca gasped and backed out of the room with the letter still in her hand.
As she walked backwards down the steps, the snake slithered down towards her. Russel was sitting down at a table facing the stairs working on some homework for charms class when he saw Rebecca backing into the room. She was shaking really hard, so Russel got up to see what gotten her so physical upset.
"What's the matter, Rebecca?" he asked as Rebecca backed right into him.
Russel put his arms around her as Rebecca stammered out, "S-s-s-snake."
Everyone in the room was looking at Rebecca and then looked at the stairs to see a snake heading down the stairs. Rebecca tried to get farther away, but Russel blocked her way.
"Let go of me," Rebecca cried as while she struggled to get out of his arms without taking a step closer to the snake.
"Don't worry, I won't let it get you," Russel whispered to her trying to calm her down.
Rebecca struggled a little more until she heard laughter. She looked over to see Ryan laughing at her as he walked over and picked up the snake.
"Is Rebecca still afraid of a little old snake?" he asked as he walked over to her with the snake. Ryan put the snake eye level and close to Rebecca's face, causing her to turn her head into Russel's chest.
Russel squeezed her a little to try to let her know that he was still there and demanded, "Malfoy, what are you doing?"
Ryan glared at Russel for a minute and then said, "Just having a little fun and practicing some transfiguration."
With that, he switched the snake into a shoelace. Rebecca gasped and put her hand up to her mouth. She was still shaking violently and could only stare at Ryan as he laughed at her.
Charlie came down the stairs to see Russel with his arms around Rebecca. He rushed over about to deck Russel until he noticed how much Rebecca was shaking.
"What is going?" he asked touching Rebecca's shoulder.
Russel started to explain what happened as Rebecca walked into Charlie's arms. Everyone in the room, even Russel, noticed that as soon as Charlie touched Rebecca she stopped shaking. After he finished telling what happened, Russel started to walk away.
"Flint," Charlie said stopping Russel. "Thanks for helping Rebecca out."
"It was nothing," Russel said and he continued to walk away.
Charlie walked Rebecca over to the couch and sat her down. Sara, Cathrine, and Jacquelyn crowded around her as the other guys surrounded Charlie.
"Rebecca, are you okay?" Sara asked.
"I will as soon as I figure out how to get him back," Rebecca responded glaring over her shoulder at Ryan.
Cathrine smiled as she leaned in and asked, "What do you have in mind?"
"I don't know yet. Let me think about it," Rebecca said as she turned back to the girls.
Jacquelyn piped in, "Cathrine, don't you have any plans in reserve that might work for this situation?"
"Let me go see if I have any in my notebook," Cathrine said as she got up to retrieve her book.
As the girls were talking the guys were discussing what happened. "Okay guys what happened?" asked Charlie wanting to check the truth of the story Russel told him.
"Rebecca came, backing down the stairs scared to death. She was shaking just as bad as when you saw when you came down the stair. We all were heading over to get her, but Flint was already there," James explained.
"Do you think Malfoy and Flint worked together on this?" questioned Charlie.
Greg shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know, but when you look at everything that Flint has done, it sure seems that he could have been."
Just then Cathrine rushed by headed towards the stairs.
Colin stared at her and asked, "Wonder where she is off to?"
"Probably to set a prank up for Malfoy," Greg said offhand. "I think we all need to keep an eye on Rebecca and stay closer than we were while the Slytherins are here."
"Yeah. I wish I could be around her all the time to make sure that she is okay, but I can't always be around and even if you guys jumped in when I am not around she is not going to take being surrounded all the time when she may not feel the threat that we see," Charlie said.
James looked over at Rebecca and said, "What if she doesn't know that we are doing it?"
"What's your plan, Einstein?" Colin asked curious of what sneaky thing James had in mind.
"Well," James started, "Rebecca is use to us being around and hanging out with her and having spontaneous things happening. Why don't we just keep an eye out and when we see Flint or Malfoy coming near her we either walk over to get her to move some how or get her attention so she walks away without knowing that she was getting close to being in danger? . Getting the girls in with this might be vital. And of course, we will have to make it important enough that she doesn't start ignoring us, but as long as we make everything seem normal it should work."
Charlie and Greg nodded their in agreement, but Colin who was all for the plan had to add, "Shouldn't there be a prank involved, though?"
The guys laughed and shook their heads at him. Cathrine passed by the guys and looked over to see what they thought was so funny.
As she walked over to the girls on the couch, Professor McGonagall walked into the common room, causing Cathrine to stop in her tracks.
"Is there a reason why all of you are still in your pajamas?" started McGonagall. "Don't you think it is about time that you all changed?"
All the Gryffindors looked at each other wondering whether they were going to get a bigger lecture especially with all the Slytherins around.
Bill took lead and said, "We were just about to."
"Very well," McGonagall said and she left without anyone even making a move to go upstairs.
"Must have been for show," Bill muttered as he walked past Rebecca towards Charlie.
When Bill came over to talk to Charlie, he was told about everything the guys had been discussing. Bill agreed to keep and eye out for Rebecca. As the guys figured out their strategy for keeping Rebecca safe, the girl were looking through Cathrine's notebook of pranks.
"Wow," Rebecca whispered. "Some of these are really intricate."
Cathrine started to quietly explain some of her ideas, when she caught sight of Ryan staring at them.
"I think we better do this later," Cathrine said slowly shutting the book so that it wasn't obvious why she was doing it. Everyone shook their heads in agreement.
"What's that?" Jacquelyn asked looking at the crumpled piece of paper in Rebecca's hand.
"Oh that is just a letter I was reading when I saw the snake," Rebecca responded looking down at the letter.
"What did Stacy say?" Sara asked knowing that Stacy was the only person who sent her letters to the dorm room.
"Not much," Rebecca said fidgeting with the letter. "She just wanted to let me know that Ben was dating Sydney."
"Who's Ben?" Jacquelyn asked taking the letter from Rebecca so it didn't get any more tattered than it already was.
"He was your best guy friend at your old school, right?" Sara asked.
Rebecca nodded her head sort of surprised that Sara had remembered since she had only ever spoken of Ben once and in a passing conversation. She really hadn't wanted to tell anyone on here about him, but the girls were going to start asking all about him.
"So what was he like?" Cathrine curiously asked.
"What was who like?" Charlie asked walking over with the other guys.
"Ben, one of Rebecca's old friends," Sara timidly answered.
"Oh," Charlie whispered.
"So, what was he like?" Greg asked knowing that Charlie might feel better after Rebecca talked about the guy.
"Um, well, now that I think about it he was a lot like Malfoy actually. He was my Malfoy replacement when I first went to Beauxbaton, I guess," Rebecca said watching for Charlie's reactions.
"Like Malfoy? Would he have done what Malfoy did today?" asked Greg.
Rebecca thought for a moment and soberly said, "Yeah, he would have. If he was trying to get at someone for something, then he would use any weakness to do it and that is exactly what Malfoy did."
"Who's Sydney, then?" Sara asked wondering if Ben was like Ryan then would Sydney be like Cassie.
"Well, she was a girl who knew Ben before us all went to school," Rebecca started. "She and Ben were put into different houses and she didn't like that at all. Then Ben started to talk to me and that sent her over the edge. I think if Cassie didn't think Malfoy and I were cousins then she would treat me like Sydney did."
"Where did Cassie get that idea?" Colin asked.
Rebecca thought and said, "I don't know whether she jumped to the conclusion herself and Ryan let her believe it or whether Ryan hinted at it first, but I just went with it because I really didn't feel like having another enemy for nothing more than an friendship that didn't mean anything more to me than that."
"So she said it to you first?" laughed Cathrine. Rebecca nodded.
"She will flip out if she ever finds out the contrary," continued Cathrine laughing at what she imagined what Cassie's reaction would be. Everyone else started to laugh when they thought of what Cassie would do.
Bill came over to see what was going, but no one wanted to tell him so they changed the subject as they got up and headed to their rooms to get dressed.
The guys rushed around so that they were dressed and back down in the common room before Rebecca made it back down. The girls on the other hand first searched their room for any more surprises that Ryan might have left before they started to change.
Rebecca found a box at the foot of her bed, but didn't want to touch it. Cathrine walked over to the box and flipped it so that Rebecca could read that it was from Stacy and not a surprise left by Malfoy.
"It must have come with the letter and you didn't see it because you didn't walk past this side of your bed," Cathrine suggested.
"Yeah," Rebecca agreed picking up the box to open it.
Jacquleyn looked over and asked, "What's in it?"
Rebecca opened the box and looked in side.
"Oh, it's candy!" Rebecca said pulling out four bags of rainbow colored rock candy.
After she got the bags out, Rebecca saw that there was a note at the bottom of the box.
Rebecca,
Mom sent this here for you. She forgot that you weren't going to school here anymore. (Parents can be so forgetful ) Anyways, I know you love this stuff so I am sending it on. Enjoy!
Stacy
"That was nice of her," Sara said reading over Rebecca's shoulder. Rebecca smiled in agreement.
"Look at all of these colors. Wonder what all the flavors are?" Cathrine said staring at one of the bags.
Rebecca responded, "Cathrine, this is muggle candy. The reds taste like cherry. Pinks are watermelon, blues are blueberry, and greens are spearmint. The blacks ones are licorice and the yellow ones are lemon. Orange tastes like orange while the purples are grape. Stacy's mom makes them and those are the flavors and color combinations she always uses."
"Can I try a piece?" asked Sara.
Rebecca opened a bag as she answered, "Yeah, you all can have a piece. I think there is enough of everyone in our house including our 'guests.' Just fair warning, your tongue might change colors from the candy."
Jacquelyn looked at her in disbelief as she said, "Really?"
"Yeah, I went around on summer with a blue tongue because I always had a piece in my mouth."
Catrhrine smiled at the idea of a blue tongue and then inquired, "Do you think that you could have your skin change colors if you eat enough?"
Jacquelyn shook her head, but Rebecca looked at Cathrine with an intrigued expression on her face.
"That's an idea," Rebecca muttered.
"What is?" asked Cathrine wondering what she started.
Rebecca started to smile a smile that was similar to the one that Cathrine would get when she came up with a new prank.
"Cathrine," Rebecca started. "You wouldn't have by any chance have smuggled any of the rainbow potion out of class?"
Cathrine looked at her suspiciously and slowly responded, "Yeah, why?"
"Well, we coat the candy with it and give it to Ryan then his skin will turn colors. Well actually we will probably be getting all the Slytherins, but that is a mood point."
"Oh, I love it." Cathrine rushed off to her bed to find the bottle with the potion in it.
"Rebecca, how are we going to get Ryan and the others to eat it?" Sara asked.
"We use Russel."
"What?"
"We need to cover our trail right?"
"Obviously," chimed in Cathrine, "I don't think you guys would like detention."
"Right," chuckled Rebecca. "So in order that we don't get detention, we give the candy to Russel and he passes it out to the Slytherin students. But so that they don't trace anything back to us we will also pass out good candy to Gryffindor. Cathrine, you and Jacquelyn will pass out to our house. If you give anything to the Slytherin's, they will know exactly what happened when they change colors. . Let's face our house is going to be apprehensive about taking candy from you, Cathrine, that's why it is important that you tell everyone the candy is from me. Jacquelyn, everyone will believe you so make sure that you tell everyone even if Cathrine has already. No offense, Cathrine."
"None taken."
"Sara you and I are going to get the candy to Russel. They will be so confused when their skins change and ours doesn't that they won't know what happened."
"That's great!" squealed Cathrine.
"Looks like you thought of everything," Jacquelyn stated impressed about how fast Rebecca thought of all of details of this plan.
"When do you want to do it?" Sara asked Rebecca.
"Tonight."
"Don't you think that would tip then off?"
"They won't think we had time to get all of this together. In fact if it wasn't for Cathrine keeping some of the potion we wouldn't be able to just come down the stairs with the tainted candy."
"You know you're right. Let's get started."
The girls got just enough candy for the Slytherin coated and then got dressed. Cathrine and Jacquelyn started down the stairs before Sara and Rebecca and headed straight towards James, Greg, Charlie, and Bill to pass out the good candy.
Sara and Rebecca hit the bottom of the steps to see that Russel and Ryan were looking to see what the other girls were doing. After a quick smile to each other, the girls started to walk past the Slytherin group towards a group of third year Gryffindors.
"I like the blue ones and the green ones. They're the best," Rebecca stated to Sara hoping to get someone's attention from Slytherin.
She didn't have to wait long, because a moment later Russel asked, "Hey, Rebecca what do you have there?"
Russel and Cassie had gotten up and walked over to the girls.
"Oh, my friend Stacy sent me candy that her mother made. She sent way too much. I will never be able to able to eat it all before it goes bad, so I am passing it out. . Would you like a piece?" Rebecca asked trying not to sound too eager to get him to take a piece.
Russel smiled and said, "Yeah."
Russel took a green piece and popped it into his mouth as Cassie took a red piece.
"Why don't you take this bag and pass it out to the other Slytherin students, so we don't miss anyone on accident and get in trouble for not including everyone?"
"Sure." Russel took the bag of tainted candy from Rebecca's hand and started to pass out the candy.
"Rebecca, wasn't your ring all silver?" Cassie said grabbing Rebecca's hand and inspecting the ring.
"Yeah?" Rebecca responded trying to see what Cassie was looking at. It took a moment but then Rebecca saw that the rose bloom had a slight red tint to in and the band was starting to turn green. "Oh my ring is changing colors."
"Are you going to get a new one?" Russel asked with an urgent tone in his voice.
Rebecca was confused by Russel and could only answer, "No, if it changes back then I'll ask Charlie to transfigure it for me again."
Rebecca and Sara walked away and started passing out the candy. Sara impressed that they had Russel in the plan already, since they really thought that they were going to have to do a little more than just walk by Russel once. Rebecca on the other hand was taken back by Russel's interest in her ring and whether she would keep it with it not being in its original state anymore.
After all the candy was passed out, the girls went and took seats by the guys so they could start their homework.
"You know that was really nice of you sharing your candy, Rebecca," said Bill as he walked past the group on his way out of the room.
Rebecca smiled at him and said, "Oh, I had too much to not share. I just hope everyone liked it."
Charlie chimed in, "I am sure everyone did, Slytherins included." The tone in his voice went harsh as he spoke of the guests in the rooms.
"I can't believe you shared with Ryan after what he did," Colin stated as he continued with his homework.
The girls looked at each other and smiled mischeviously.
"What is going on?" asked Greg and Charlie in unison causing Colin and James to look up from their books.
The girls put on innocent faces and answered together, "Nothing."
"Yeah, and I am going to get the best marks on the next potion test," said Colin sarcastically.
"Come on what is going on?" asked Charlie looking Rebecca straight in the eyes.
"You'll see," Rebecca responded quietly and she quickly turned to her homework.
Greg and Charlie looked at each other with 'What did they do?' looks on their faces.
"What do you mean?" whispered Charlie to Rebecca.
"Just what I said," she responded. "We need to get this done before you all have to go to practice."
Rebecca tapped on her potions book as she said this. Charlie sighed and returned to his books wondering what Rebecca had done.
The group continued to work with a few more interruption like going downstairs for meals until Charlie, Greg, and Catherine picked up their books to put them away so they could go to practice. James, Jacquelyn, Colin, and Sara started to put things away as Lauren came up to Rebecca to ask for help with her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. Rebecca walked back with Lauren and sat down at the table Lauren was at.
Eventually, more and more first years came over to get help. Some Slytherin students came over as well including Harvey, Alannah, and Marcus. Soon there were too many students for Rebecca to help by herself. She excused herself from the group to get some help. Jacquelyn was the first person Rebecca talked to.
After Jacquelyn agreed to help, Rebecca spotted James walking down the stairs. She walked over to the foot of the steps and said, "James, can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?" James responded.
"Will you assist Jacquelyn and I in helping the first years with their Defense homework?"
"I would love to."
"Thank you!"
Rebecca wrapped her arms around his neck as James said, "But I have to make rounds. You know prefect stuff."
"Noooooo, you have to help us," said Rebecca not letting go in hopes that she could keep him from moving. James however just had to stand up a little straighter to lift Rebecca off of the ground and started to walk towards the portrait.
"No you can't go. Think of the first years, they need you. They need some one smart and um, um, Jacquelyn I need help buttering him up," Rebecca tried to protest but ended up laughing.
"They'll be fine and I am sure you can find some one else to help Jacquelyn and you." James set her down in the middle of the room as Jacquelyn walked up to help convince him to help. "And I am sure you two can do it without making such a big scene. I'll see you two later."
He gave Jacquelyn a kiss and walked the rest of the way to the door as Jacquelyn said with a laugh, "Fine, just leave us here."
Both girls started to laugh.
"Okay who else could help?" Rebecca started still laughing. "A.J. is at practice so he's out. We don't want to ask Colin, because he will convince them that werewolves thrive on first year students."
Jacquelyn shook her head in agreement as she continued to laugh.
Rebecca thought for a moment and then it hit her. "Why don't we ask Bill?"
"Great idea," Jacquelyn said. "Where's he at?"
Rebecca looked around the room and finally said, "I think he is up in his room. Let's go get him."
"How about you go get him and I start helping the first years?"
"Yeah I am sure that they are starting to think I abandoned them." And with that, Rebecca headed up the stairs.
Rebecca came to Bill's room and knocked on the door. After a moment, she opened the door slightly to see if Bill was even there. Rebecca looked around the room and saw Bill lying on his bed. She wasn't sure whether Bill was asleep or not, but she had a terrible urge to go jump on his bed and startle him. Rebecca swung the door open, ran over, and jumped onto the bed.
"Bill!" she exclaimed as she landed on to the bed. "Wake up!"
She had very intention to get right off the bed and had even turned to jump off the bed, but Bill surprised her by taking her legs out from under her. Rebecca let out a little scream as she fell back on to the bed. Looking at each other, Bill and Rebecca started to laugh.
"What did you want?" Bill asked through his laughter.
Rebecca sat up and started to explain, "The first years need help with their homework. There is a lot more than usual with Slytherin students being in the common room. So can you come and help them with Jacquelyn and me?"
Still chuckling, Bill got off the bed and started to walk out of the room as he said, "No," in a joking tone.
Rebecca hopped off the bed and followed him down the step.
"You have to help Bill," Rebecca laughed as she hopped on to his back. Bill continued down the steps giving Rebecca a piggy back ride. Russel gave them a strange look as they passed him on the steps still laughing. Both of them continued to laugh as the entered the common room, causing all the students in the room to look at them.
When they reach the table with Jacquelyn and the first years that wanted help, Bill let go of Rebecca's legs so that she could get down. The two of them were starting to settle down when Jacquelyn asked, "There was a scream, what happened up stairs?"
Rebecca and Bill looked at each other with a surprised look and started laughing even harder than before. Obviously, Rebecca's little scream wasn't as little as she or even Bill thought it was.
After a minute, they settled back down and told Jacquelyn what happened. Jacquelyn laughed a little, but quickly got them on task of getting the first years the help had asked for.
"Oh and before I forget Chelsea Drown said that she would help. She walked past here and I asked her if she would help," Jacquelyn informed Rebecca and Bill.
"Oh that's good. Where is she?" asked Rebecca.
"She had to drop her books off in her dorm room. She should be down really soon." Just then the fourth year with short blonde hair and green eyes appeared on the steps.
As she walked over she over to the group, Chelsea adjusted how her glasses sat on her face and said, "Hi, thanks for giving me the opportunity to help out."
"No problem looks like any help here will be appreciated," Bill simply stated before he turned to Marcus and started to answer his question. Rebecca smiled at Chelsea, but couldn't say too much because Lauren and Carolyn were already bombarding her with questions.
The four got all the questions answered that were posed to them. After the last student had their homework done, Bill and Rebecca sat down at the table and began to talk as Jacquelyn headed out of the room to find James and Chelsea went to meet her boyfriend, who was the cute Hufflepuff keeper, Matt Graham.
They sat there for only a few minutes discussing a book Bill had on defense against the dark arts that Rebecca hadn't read yet, when Russel came walking up to them and asked, "Rebecca, since you have your homework done, could you help me with my potion's homework?"
Rebecca's eyes got really big and Bill was ready to step in so she wouldn't have to spend time with Russel, but Rebecca said, "We had potions homework?"
With that, Rebecca got up and sped up to her room to get her books.
Bill started to chuckle and called up after her, "Only you Rebecca."
"What is that suppose to mean?" Russel questioned he was slightly upset because was going to ask if he could do his homework with Rebecca, but she was already up the steps and gone before he could get the words out.
Bill looked Russel straight in the eyes and soberly said, "Nothing, she just always get so involved with helping the first years that when someone mentions her homework she flips out and forgets that she has already done it. I think Colin said something to her three of four times this term and every time it is the same reaction."
Bill started laughing again and got up to return upstairs leaving Russel standing there by himself.
"I don't get what she sees in them," Russel muttered to himself as Ryan walked up to him.
"Neither do I," Ryan stated.
Russel looked over and sighed. Ryan had never seen Russel like this.
'Is it me or is Russel looking alittle green? He looks like he is going to be sick from seeing Rebecca with Bill and she is dating Charlie. Poor guy got it bad,' Ryan thought as he said, "Don't worry she'll see through him eventually."
"No, she won't, especially after the little stunt you pulled this morning. She just found out that Charlie's touch comforts her thanks to you," Russel fiercely responded.
"Yeah, well, look at it as a step to you getting back into her good graces. All I need to do is get her to start reminiscing about certain things about our childhood and she'll forgive me for what I did, but you really didn't have anything like that until today. She saw that you would stand up against your friends for her. Heck, if I hadn't been trying to get back at Rebecca for changing so much, then you wouldn't have came to her rescue and she wouldn't have been civil with you when you asked her about that candy she gave you."
Russel nodded his head. He hadn't seen it that way, maybe if he kept that up then he would become close to Rebecca and she would forget about the horrible things he had done before.
'If I could have controlled my temper at the dance, she would have never gotten scared of me and I wouldn't have to do anything. No more calculating things. Rebecca responds better if we are together by chance,' thought Russel as he walked away from Ryan.
Though she had remembered as she hit the first step on her way up to her room that she had already done her potions homework, she went upstairs anyways so that she didn't have to help Russel with his. He knew that if asked that she would help. It wasn't in her nature to not even if she didn't care for the person and she was afraid that Russel might exploit it.
Rebecca finally decided that it had to be safe after she sat in her room and wrote Stacy a letter. She walked down the stairs, but didn't step off of the last step. Rebecca looked around but didn't see any of her friends in the common room.
Russel saw Rebecca and was about to get up and try to talk to her, but Rebecca turned around and headed back up the stairs before he could even start to get up. She climbed the stairs to Bill's room.
After knocking on the door, Bill opened the door and let her in.
"What's up?" he asked as he plopped back onto his bed and picked up a book.
Rebecca climbed up and sat Indian style on the bed as she stated, "I went downstairs and no one was there that I wanted to talk to."
"Oh so you came to talk to me." Bill gave her a funny smile that was half joking and half 'I am either really special or really low on your list of people you want to talk to.'
"Though that is a very good, um, option," Rebecca joked. "I actually came up to see if you would lend me that Defense book that you had been telling me about."
Rebecca said this as she took a pillow and stuck it so between her back and the bed post she was closest to.
"You know for someone that just came up to get a book you're making your self awfully comfortable," Bill laughed as he got up to get the book Rebecca wanted. Rebecca mischievously smiled and continued making herself comfortable.
Bill handed her the book and sat back on his bed so that he was facing Rebecca. He didn't say anything, but he was glad that she came up, especially since Rebecca inferred that none of Charlie's friends were in the common room to watch over her.
What Bill didn't know was that Rebecca was also glad that he was letting her stay; she really didn't want to be in the common room with Ryan or Russel without at least one of the guys around. She was going to keep herself safe.
After a bit, Bill looked from his book at Rebecca who was absorbed in the book she was looking at. He sat there and just looked at her until he finally asked, "Becca, how did you get interested in defense against the dark arts?"
Rebecca looked up and thought for a moment.
"I really don't know," she finally said. "There has always been something calling me to it. I mean I have always been a natural at it, but even before I knew that I was interested in it. . I have a feeling that something bad must have happened to my parents that I really don't know about and that is why I devour anything to do with defense."
"You don't know how your parents died?" Bill was shocked he thought that she knew but just didn't want everyone to know and ask her questions about it.
"No, I don't. . I have been getting pieces of what happened, but I haven't figured out anything concrete yet. I thought for a while that I knew because all of the clues pointed one way, but then I started getting the different pieces and my theory didn't work anymore. The funny part is that the old clues and the new ones fit together it just takes me to different conclusions."
There was a brief pause after Rebecca finished and Bill found himself pondering out loud, "How old were you when they died?" He felt bad for asking so he quickly added, "Sorry. I don't mean to pry."
"Oh that's okay," Rebecca said trying to make him less worried about offending her. "I think I was about three, though I can't really say for sure. All I know is that I really don't have any memories of my parents and so I wasn't too old when it happened."
"Do you think you will ever know?"
"Yeah, eventually, I'll put it all together, but until then I'll continued to study defense without knowing why I like it so much," Rebecca responded with a smile and then went back to the book in her lap. Bill just stared at her.
'Wow no wonder Charlie says that she is the bravest person he knows. She knows nothing of her past and look at how she deals with it. I know she has had her moments where she is scared, but all of us do and if I had to go through what she has I don't know whether I would be in that good of shape,' he thought to himself as he turned back to his book.
The two sat down there for another hour until Bill said that he needed to go on rounds. Rebecca slipped off his bed and headed out the door with Bill's book. She knew that practice wasn't over so Charlie, Greg, and Cathrine weren't back yet. James and Jacquelyn were probably in the library arguing over some piece of homework that they didn't agree upon and Colin was probably searching for a passage around the castle for a prank.
'Maybe Lauren is still in her room,' Rebecca thought as she headed to the first year girl's dormitory.
After knocking on the door and getting no answer, Rebecca pushed open the door to see that no one was in the room. She decided that Lauren must be in the common room so she headed down resolved that if she didn't see Lauren she was heading right back up the stairs and staying in her room until one of her friends came to get her.
Rebecca walked down the steps and saw Lauren writing as she sat on the couch by the fire, so she headed over to see how Lauren was doing. As she stepped off the last stair, she passed Russel who was shoving a piece of paper in his pocket.
'That looks suspicious,' Rebecca thought to herself but quickly forgot about it as she approached Lauren and saw that Lauren was out of her pajamas.
"Hey, you're dressed," Rebecca said with a big smile. She was really glad to see Lauren out of bed.
"Yeah, after breakfast this morning, I felt a lot better about everything. Percy and Oliver walked with me to and from breakfast and glared at Sean when he tried to come up and talk to me," Lauren giggled.
Rebecca rolled her eyes as she took a seat next to Lauren.
Lauren looked over and saw the book Rebecca had and asked, "What book do you have there?"
"Oh, this is a defense book that Bill lent me. . Who are you writing?"
"My parents, I normally try to write them once a week. I am going to finish this up and then finish up my homework."
"That's cool," Rebecca said opening Bill's book to look at. She became so engrossed with the topics in the books that she didn't even notice that Lauren left and that she was sitting on the couch by herself.
Russel however notice and walked over and sat on the other end of couch. He was about to try to talk to Rebecca when James came into the room singing.
"Why do you build me up,
Build me up, Buttercup?
Baby just to let me down."
James saw that Russel was in close proximity of Rebecca and she wasn't aware of it so as he continued to sing he walked over to her.
"May I have this dance?" James asked with a smile offering Rebecca his hand and then continued to hum his song. Rebecca smiled as she set down the book and got up to dance with him.
Russel glared as James started dancing away from the couch towards the entrance of the common room, which had more room to dance, with Rebecca in his arms. James noticed the glare and decided that he better say something so that Russel didn't get a clue that he purposely got Rebecca to move away from him.
"So what should we teach this lesson?" James started. "Salsa? Tengo? Disco? Basic moves not covered yet."
Rebecca smiled and simply stated to the humming James, "I picked last time so you are stuck with the decision this round."
"Oh, yeah . Let me think about it." James continued to hum as he twirled Rebecca around.
Finally he said, "I got it we haven't taught them how to dip yet."
"Okay," Rebecca laughed as James dipped her.
"What you don't think it's a good idea?"
"I wouldn't say that but we kind of taught them that a while back."
James smirked a little and said, "We didn't teach them this."
Much to Rebecca's surprise James dipped her almost clear to the ground. He had placed his hand behind her neck and that was the only support Rebecca felt she had so she stiffened her whole body so she wouldn't fall on the floor, not that she had that far to fall.
Trying not to laugh she asked, "James, how are you getting me up?"
James was about to answer when the door swung open to reveal Charlie and the rest of the quidditch team.
"What are you two up to?" Charlie asked with a joking tone in his voice as he saw them.
James looked up and dropped Rebecca. She hit the floor and started to laugh hysterically.
The guys rushed around her and James frantically asked, "Becca, are you okay? I am so sorry. I really didn't mean to."
"I'm fine. . I was just thinking how glad I was that I was only a couple of inches from the ground," Rebecca laughed. James offered his hand to help her up.
Still laughing, Rebecca grasped it as she said, "I don't think we should teach that tonight."
James pulled her up and said, "I agree."
Jacquelyn, Sara, and Colin walked into the room to see Rebecca being pulled up from the ground.
"What happened?" they all said in unison. Rebecca looked at James and started laughing hysterically. She couldn't help it. She thought the way she fell on the floor was comical.
Rebecca was laughing so hard that she sat down on the floor so that she wouldn't fall down. James quickly explained what had happened and started to laugh himself. Everyone else started to laugh as Sara, Jacquelyn, Cathrine, and Anna sat next to Rebecca on the floor.
As Cathrine did a comical play by play account of what she saw distracting the girls, the guys stood whispered to James about what was going on.
"Okay, what happened so that you and Rebecca had to practice dancing? You two have never had to practice before a lesson before." Greg whispered.
James looked at everyone and quietly responded, "I know, but when I came in Rebecca was sitting on the couch and Russel was sitting there too."
Charlie looked over and saw Russel still sitting there and watching Rebecca.
"He wasn't doing anything was he?" He asked turning back to James.
James shook his head no as he said, "Rebecca was reading a book and I don't think that she even knew he was there. ... By the way, Jacquelyn and Sara know and are totally all for it. Did you talk to Cathrine?"
"Yeah, she is the same way."
Aaron, A.J., and Heath had been standing with the guys wondering what they were talking about. Finally Heath spoke up and asked, "Hey guys what is going on?"
Before anyone could answer him, Rebecca asked, "What are you guys whispering about?"
The guys looked at her wide eyed not sure what to say.
Luckily, Colin was fast in saying, "Well we wanted to see how hard we could get you laughing and were discussing what the best strategy was to tickle you."
"No!" Rebecca laughed. This set the guys into motion. They started to rush towards her.
Rebecca tried to scramble to her feet but to no avail. Charlie got to her first and then Greg. Before she knew it James, Colin, Heath, and A.J. were all on the ground next to her tickling her. The other girls had scattered when the boys started to move, but now they started to tickle the guys to help Rebecca out. She of course was in the middle of everything.
"NO! NO! NO! Stop it!" Rebecca cried through her laughter.
Russel who had watched the whole thing unfold was about to get up and get Rebecca out of there, when Bill walked in and asked, "What is going on here?"
Everyone stopped immediately. They all sat up straight and laughed about what just happened. They managed to explain to Bill what all went on through all of their giggling. He shook his head and started to laugh as he sat down with the rest of the group.
They all sat around and talked about what ever ran through their heads. More and more Gryffindors joined the group until everyone single one of them was sitting on the floor laughing and carrying on. Harvey and his friends even walked over and sat down near Lauren and her friends who were sitting next to Rebecca.
Oliver and Percy shot daggers at the Slytherin gang until Harvey said, "So Songbird, are you going to sing again?"
His face didn't have the same menacing look that he had always had every time he had talked to Lauren before. Neither of the boys nor Lauren knew what to think of Harvey said.
Rebecca had over heard what was going on and stepped in asking, "Why did you call her Songbird?"
Harvey turned towards Rebecca and it seemed that everyone on the floor had stopped their individual conversations to see what was going on.
"Because she sings as beautiful as a songbird," Harvey matter-of-factly stated.
Rebecca turned to Charlie with a smirk on her face and said, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Rebecca started chuckling to herself. Lauren started to laugh which caused Harvey to join in. Eventually everyone who was on the floor was laughing.
Rebecca leaned her head onto Charlie's shoulder as she looked around the group as Charlie kissed her head and turned back to his friends' conversation. She glanced over at the couch and saw Russel sitting there.
'Wonder how long he has been sitting there?' she thought to herself. 'Guess it doesn't matter I'm not sitting there anymore. I'll just have an in depth conversation with someone when I want to pick Bill's book back up if he is still sitting there.'
Rebecca joined back into the conversation.
They all sat there quite content to stay there all night, until Snape entered the room to check on his students. He almost tripped over Chelsea, who was closest to the entrance since she came joined the group when she came back in from meeting Matt. Snape quickly looked around the room seeing that other than his first years, his students were scattered through out the room and there were a lot of empty seats.
He looked down at them and asked, "Is there not enough room for all the students to sit so you are reduced to the floor?"
The tone in his voice was not that pleasant.
Colin and Cathrine started to open their mouths to say something on the lines of 'No we just haven't disinfected where Slytherin students have sat yet', which probably would have cause Gryffindor to major lose point. Luckily, Rebecca and Greg were sitting close enough to Colin and Cathrine to stop them before could say anything.
Snape looked through the group and stated, "I hope you all have your homework done."
With that he turned and walked back out of the door.
Colin was about to say, 'Don't let the door hit you on out way out,' but Rebecca, who saw it coming, lunged at him and covered his mouth to stop him.
As they tumbled backwards, she whispered, "Don't do it isn't worth getting in trouble over words. Get in trouble over a prank."
Colin had a surprised look when Rebecca put his hand over his mouth, but as soon as she finished whispering to him he started to laugh. The door was completely shut so Rebecca released the amused Colin and settled back next to Charlie.
"You better not let her go Charlie she speaks a lot of common sense," Colin laughed. ".it isn't worth getting in trouble over words. Get in trouble with a prank."
Colin continued laughing to himself as Cathrine started to chuckle as she said, "That is so true. . Charlie, she's a keeper."
Rebecca blushed a little and leaned into Charlie.
He wrapped his arms around her and said, "I always thought she was."
Charlie looked up to see Russel glaring at him.
'Obviously, someone agrees that she is too, but was hoping I didn't realize it,' Charlie thought to himself as they all started to get up after Bill said something about homework.
Russel who had been watching the group was extremely happy to see them start to disburse. He thought, 'Good. I didn't know how much more I could take. Now, I don't have to give up the perfect opportunity to talk to Rebecca because of their little group thing on the floor.'
As the group started to disburse, Russel tried to act like had been sitting there busy the whole time.
Bill had came over and started talking to Rebecca about the book he lent her so Charlie was able to turn back to explain to Aaron, Heath, and A.J. about the Russel situation at hand. The guys were just as appalled as the rest and vowed to help watch over Rebecca. They all keep glancing over at her wonder how she could keep such a calm exterior when she was in the same room with Russel after what he did on Valentine's. What they didn't know was Rebecca only was able to keep herself calm because she was surrounded by friends that she felt would protect her if anything happened. This allowed her to talk to Bill without constantly looking over her shoulder.
Eventually Rebecca and Bill's conversation about his book, lead Rebecca to ask Bill a question, "You know that chapter about vampires I just don't get the how garlic helps ward them off?"
Bill looked a little puzzle and said, "Let me reread it and I'll let you know."
Rebecca headed over to the couch and picked up the book and was about to hand it to Bill when Russel looked up from what he was pretending to read and asked, "Hey Rebecca, could I borrow that book from you when your done?"
Rebecca glanced at Bill and simple answered, "It's Bill's. You'll have to ask him if you could borrow it."
Before Russel could say anything, Bill said to him, "You can see it after Rebecca is done."
Rebecca mischievously smiled at Bill, wrapped her arms around the book, and said, "Who says I'll ever be done?"
They looked at each other for a moment and then they both started to move. Russel watched as Rebecca stepped on to the couch and over it with Bill in close pursuit. She was about to the steps when Bill wrapped his arms around her stomach and picked her up so that she couldn't run any farther.
Rebecca started laughing at the fact that she kept moving her legs as she was lifted off the ground. Bill joined in and sat her down on the steps. As Bill sat down on the steps with her, James came over with a big smile on his face.
"Becca, I have a great idea," he said taking her hands and pulling her to the center of the room.
Rebecca composed herself and asked, "And what is your brilliant idea?"
"Swing dancing."
James started to hum the melody to In the Mood and to do a couple of steps.
Rebecca looked at him for a moment and then said, "We already did that for a lesson."
"But we didn't do any fancy. We just showed the basic steps."
"Oh, no. We aren't."
"Come on, Becca, you know you want to." James started back to humming the big band song.
"No, we have never practiced and some of those moves are really tricky to do if you don't have complete trust in your partner."
James started to act like Rebecca just stabbed him.
"You don't trust me," he said with a playful pout on his face.
"James, trust is really easy to gain the first time around, but if something happens to destroy that trust, it is hard to get back. You and me fancy moves."
"What did I do to lose your trust?" James interjected.
"You dropped me over there." Rebecca pointed to the spot where James had tried to dip her.
James looked over and turned back to Rebecca to say, "So you're saying that dropping you tonight caused you to lose all trust in me."
James was starting to look a little upset, so Rebecca said, "No not totally, just on fancy moves that we hadn't practiced before." Rebecca gave him a hug and added, "I still trust you to help me with my homework."
James laughed and gave her a playful push. Rebecca backed up and smiled mischievously.
Jacquelyn walked over with Sara and Cathrine and asked, "So what is the lesson for tonight?"
Rebecca was about to answer when James said, "We're still fighting it out."
"What are you guys fighting out?" Greg asked as he, Charlie, A.J., Heath, and Aaron walked over to see what is going on.
"What to teach for the dance lesson," Rebecca quickly answered before James had a chance.
"I thought you two had it all figured out how to choose what you were doing every week?" asked Bill.
James looked at Rebecca and they smiled at each other as Rebecca said, "Yes, but James never seems to be able to remember it is his turn and then always ask me what I think."
James took a deep breath and then said, "I say we let people tell us tonight what they want to learn."
"Fine, by me," Rebecca laughed.
"Are you guys going to ask the Slytherins to join us?" asked Bill. Everyone fell silent and looked at him as he continued, "You know we have to they are in the common room with us."
Rebecca shook her head and walked over to an empty chair.
As she stepped up on the chair, many of the students turned to see what she was doing.
"Could I have everyone's attention, please?" Rebecca projected to across the room getting everyone to turn towards her. "Back by popular demand, its dance lessons. As usual, EVERYONE is welcome to join in. For those of you on the fence about whether to join in tonight or do homework, we are going to be taking requests on what James and I will be teaching. It should be a great night for perfecting what we already taught."
Rebecca looked like she was about to get off the chair when she straightened up and added, "Oh for those of you who are new to this. You don't need to worry about having a partner to join in the fun, we'll find one for you."
"Yeah there is always a ghost. Just like the time you danced the waltz with Sir Nicholas, right Rebecca?" Colin shouted out as Rebecca jumped off the chair.
"Yeah, I am sure he would be willing to help out again," Rebecca laughed.
"So Rebecca who is going to be your partner for the lesson?" asked Jacquelyn.
"Charlie, of course, he is my guy after all."
Rebecca walked over towards Charlie and gave him a big hug as Chelsea said, "You all always get the best partners. Oh well, Heath will you be my partner again?"
Heath jokingly responded, "So I am not a good partner, then?"
"No you're a good partner, just." Chelsea started, but could figure out what to say to get her foot out of her mouth so she gave up.
The whole group laughed, including Heath, because they all knew it didn't matter what Chelsea said Heath would be her partner. He was Matt's best friend and he and Chelsea had a flirty friendship since they were around each so much. While they were still laughing, they started to rearrange the furniture so that everyone had room to dance.
All in all it was a nice lesson. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Almost everyone joined in. Lauren who usually was ecstatic about Sunday dance lesson was sitting in a corner by herself with school books opened. Rebecca had walked over to Lauren and asked her what was up. Lauren explained that she still had homework to do and felt that she couldn't do anything until she had it all done. Rebecca understood and told Lauren that if she needed any help just to let her know.
Lauren wasn't the only one who wasn't participating, though. Ryan refused to join in even after Cassie threw a fit trying to get him to dance with her. Russel walked over and saved his friend by asking Cassie to dance with him instead. They had a bit of trouble getting in sync with each other.
James and Jacquelyn tried to help them out, but not with much success, partly because Cassie wasn't trying very hard. Russel tried to keep going with Cassie, but was relieved when Jacquelyn in her frustration accidentally suggested that James dance with Cassie while she worked with Russel.
"Thank you so much," Russel sincerely said as he and Jacquelyn danced away from the other two.
Jacquelyn wasn't sure exactly what to say. It was Russel the guy who deceived Rebecca after all. She managed to come up with "It wasn't that bad, was it?"
"Has James ever stepped on your foot while you danced?"
She shook her head no. Jacquelyn had stepped on James foot when she was learning new steps, but he had managed never to have step on hers.
"Well, I think that I stepped on her foot without even picking up my feet."
Jacquelyn started to laugh, "Sorry that's funny."
"Yeah, it is," Russel said as he started to laugh.
The two continued to laugh as Jacquelyn showed him some of the moves that she had learned unaware that Rebecca, Charlie, Greg, Sara, Cathrine, Colin, and James had all glanced over to see them causing them to wonder what was going on.
After the dance lesson, the students moved back the furniture and headed up to their respective rooms. On their way to the stairs, several Slytherins came up and thanked James and Rebecca for the lesson.
Akira, a fifth year with dark brown hair girl with hazel eyes, who Rebecca recognized as on of the Slytherin Beaters, commented as she and Toby, a jet black haired, blue eyed third year and one of the keeper for that house's team, how entertaining it was as they passed the two Gryffindors. Toby said something about wishing his girlfriend Cicille, one of the Slytherin chasers, had been there to see that he really didn't have two left feet.
Rebecca smiled at James when she heard the two Slytherins' conversation and then headed up to bed with the other fifth year Gryffindor girls.
Up in the fifth year girls' room, Jacquelyn got mobbed asking what was so funny while she was dancing with Russel. As the all sat on her bed, she explained what all happened.
The other girls giggled a little until she said, "I had to keep reminding myself everything he did to Rebecca, so that I didn't start to think he would be a great person to hang out with."
All of them looked at Rebecca.
"Yeah, he has that effect on people." Rebecca soberly said remembering what she thought of him during Christmas. She then quickly changed the subject. "Did you all notice that the Slytherins all had a tint of color?"
Sara thought for a moment and said, "Sort of, I thought the light was playing tricks on my eyes though."
The other two girls shook their heads in agreement with Sara.
"Yeah, that is the beauty of our prank. The powder sugar on the candy slows the potion down without affecting its potency. We should see them complete colored tomorrow and no one will think it is the lights."
Cathrine got a smile on her face as they talked of the prank. She asked, "How long is it going to last?"
Rebecca thought for a moment and finally said, "Well it should last most of tomorrow, but they will be back to normal coloring the next day without a doubt."
"Wish it would last longer." Cathrine pouted a little.
"If we could have gotten more in them it would. You'll just have to take a picture so that it last. hehehe . Come on let's go to bed so that we can get up early and not miss anything."
The girls got off of Jacquelyn's bed and started to get ready for bed excited about what they would see from their prank in the morning.
Rebecca had just walked out of the bathroom and was headed towards her bed when there was a knock on the girl's door. Since her bed was closest to the door, Rebecca answered it. After slowly opening the door, she looked out to find Carolyn standing there.
"What's the matter?" Rebecca asked.
Carolyn looked nervous and she stuttered a little when she said, "L-Lauren hasn't come up from the common room. And I think there is some of the older Slytherins are still down there."
"I'll go get her," Rebecca said causing Carolyn instantly calm down. They exchanged smiles as Rebecca passed Carolyn and down the stairs.
When she hit the bottom step Rebecca looked around the room seeing a few people from Slytherin here and there. Russel was sitting on the couch looking at a piece of paper. Ryan was busy writing something at a table on the other side of the room. Neither seemed to notice she had entered the room, which was fine by Rebecca she just wanted to get Lauren and didn't want to interact with either of the guys. Finally, she saw Lauren was still in the corner she had been earlier, but she had her head down as if she was asleep.
Rebecca walked up and shook her lightly as she softly said, "Hey Lauren, it is time to go to bed."
Lauren brought her head up and looked at Rebecca groggily. After taking Lauren by the arm, Rebecca helped her up and started to lead her out of the room.
"I have a potions quiz that I need to study for," Lauren tried to protest, but Rebecca simply answered, "We'll get up in the morning and I will help you get ready for it."
Lauren shook her head to let Rebecca know she was okay with the plan.
They were about to the stairs when Lauren whispered, "Oh my books."
She tried to turn back to get them, but Rebecca stopped her by quietly stating, "Go up the stairs. I am sure that Carolyn is waiting for you. I'll get your books and bring them down with me in the morning."
Rebecca then turned and headed back to the table Lauren had been at. She picked up everything Lauren left and turned to head back up to her room. Rebecca about dropped everything because Russel was standing right there.
"Need any help?" he quietly asked.
"No, I can manage. Thank you, though," Rebecca hesitantly said trying to move past him as she reshuffled the books in her arms. Russel let her pass, but followed her towards the step.
"So, do you guys always have so much fun around here?" Russel asked trying to make conversation.
"What?"
Rebecca stopped and turned around.
"Your house just seems to have a lot of fun together. I was just wondering whether every weekend is like this one."
"I guess. . I really have to get back upstairs."
"Okay," Russel said as she started up the stairs.
After she hit the first step Rebecca turned around quickly. Russel was right there behind her. Standing on the step brought Rebecca eye level with him.
"Yes," Russel asked his face closer to Rebecca's then it ever was before. As much as she wanted to back up, Rebecca was afraid that she would trip on the stairs and really didn't want Russel to think that she was scared of him in case he might try to use it against her some other time.
So she stood her ground as she softly said, "I-I just wanted to thank you myself for helping me out with the snake. I think if you hadn't said anything I think he" she pointed at Ryan "wouldn't have stopped and probably would have put it right on my face." Rebecca shuttered at the thought.
Russel's face softened as it had the times before when Rebecca thanked him and said, "It was nothing. I was just glad I could help."
Rebecca shook her head and said, "Night."
Rebecca quickly turned and headed up the stair as Russel called up after her, "Sleep Sweet, Rebecca."
Russel turned back and walked over to where Ryan was with a huge smile on her face.
Ryan glanced up at him as Russel sat down and said with a triumph tone in his voice, "She thanked me."
Ryan laughed still looking at what he was writing, "You thought she never would do that again, didn't you?" Russel shook his head yes as Ryan continued, "See I told you that standing up to your friends for her would do the trick. Rebecca can never stay mad if you help her."
Ryan put his quill down and looked at Russel to say something, but just stared at him with his mouth open.
"What?" Russel questioned.
Ryan shook himself out of this trance to say, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Um, yeah, why?"
"You look a little green. I noticed it earlier today, but it seems more prominent now."
"Weird, maybe it's the lighting in here, because you look a little blue to me."
"Or maybe we are so tired that we are seeing things. Come on lets go to bed."