CHAPTER 16 - BROKEN PROMISES
Despite some of the initial reserves for the truce with Russel, Rebecca enjoyed the next few days. Russel was good to his word. He came and talked to Rebecca for short conversations and if she told him to leave he would. This allowed Rebecca to have freedoms that she hadn't had in a long time like going to the library, walking in the halls by herself, and sitting in the common room. Even Charlie seemed to relax; he stopped worrying about who Rebecca was around while he was away.
If it wasn't for her feeling under the weather Rebecca would have been in heaven. She managed to get through the rest of the week, but each day she felt a little bit worse. Rebecca just couldn't get over her cough and started to feel achy with some chest pain and shortness of breathe.
By Saturday, Rebecca was ready to stay in bed all day she was so tried, but unfortunately, she couldn't since she needed to eat. She came into the common room after breakfast with every intention to head right back up to bed even though she had gotten dressed already. However Lauren had different plans for Rebecca.
"Hey Rebecca, I need to go to find the Portrait of Sir Cadogan to get some information for my history homework. Do you know where that is at?" Lauren asked coming up as she came up to sick fifth year.
Rebecca looked at her and softly said, "Well, I am not really sure exactly where he is at. I think he is hanging somewhere near the North Tower. . I bet you could use that map I gave you in the fall to find it."
Lauren's face lite up.
"I hadn't thought about using that!"
Lauren ran over to her bag and started to look of the map. After a few minutes she had everything out of her bag, but didn't have the map. Rebecca, who's curious had been peaked with Lauren inquiry, came over to see where the map said the painting was and saw Lauren getting more and more distressed as she looked through her stuff again.
"It was in here," Lauren said starting to search every pocket in her bag.
"Maybe it is up in your room," Rebecca suggested as she looked over the papers that the first year had taken out of her bag.
Lauren thought for a moment and said, "No, it's not. I cleaned up all my stuff upstairs yesterday after dinner and I didn't see it. The last time I saw it was in my bag, but that was a while ago."
"It might have just fallen out sometime in the hall. . Come on let's go hunt down that painting."
"Oh, you don't have to go."
"I know, but I am curious to hear where Sir Cadogan is now so I am going to go. Come on let's go ask the Fat Lady how to get to him."
Lauren shook her head gathered up her school supplies and shoved them back into her bag. The two girls then headed out of the door.
The Fat Lady told the girls exactly how to find the painting in question. They had no problem following the directions and got to the location fairly quickly. Getting the information that Lauren needed from the knight was another matter.
After about 45 minutes, Lauren had all of her question answered. Though at another painting they might have been done in ten minutes, Sir Cadogan insisted on reenacting accounts as he answered the inquiries.
Rebecca was about to tell Lauren that she was going to head back before she passed out when Lauren thanked Cadogan and walked towards Rebecca as the knight kept going on and on about the last question. Both girls looked each other and shrugged as they walked away from the chattering painting and headed back to the common room.
Upon entering the room Rebecca looked around to tell Charlie what had happened, but he was no where to be found. The fact of the matter was that none of her friends were in the room, Ryan included. She stood looking around the room convinced that they were actual there she was just sick enough that she was over looking them.
"Rebecca, you looking for something?" asked Russel came up.
Rebecca shook herself out of her daze and looked at him as she said, "Oh, I was looking for Charlie and the rest of the gang."
Rebecca started to cough while Russel told her that the others departed from the room in various groups. Charlie, Greg, and Cathrine headed out together while James and Sara walked out a short while later with Jacquelyn and Colin left after that.
"Oh," Rebecca managed to get out through her coughing fit.
"Rebecca, do you need to go to the hospital wing? . I'll take you. It isn't a problem."
She instantly muffled her coughs and softly said, "Thank you for your concern, but I think I am just going to head up to my room and take a nap."
"Okay, if you need anything let me know.
Rebecca shook her head and headed up the stairs. Unfortunately, on her way up the stairs, Rebecca tripped and fell.
"Ouch!" she yelled as she hit the steps.
"Rebecca, are you okay?" Russel called up the steps.
"Yeah, I just tripped," Rebecca called back as she quickly got up and headed the rest of the way up the stairs looking at her right hand to see that she had scraped it pretty bad.
She walked into the room and straight to the bathroom. After taking Charlie's ring off and setting it on the edge of the sink where it would be safe from falling down the drain, Rebecca washed her hand so that she wouldn't have to worry about a trip to the infirmary for that.
She started coughing again as she walked over to her bed. Rebecca picked up her copy of Quidditch through the Ages, as she flopped down and drew her bed curtains so that it was closed except for a sliver for some fresh air.
Rebecca was about to drift off to sleep as she read her book for the hundredth time, when the door to the room opened the door.
Assuming that it was one of the other girls, she didn't think anything of it, until she heard a familiar male voice say "What are we doing?"
Rebecca lifted up her head to see that Dan and Russel walking into the room.
Horrified, Rebecca sunk back into her bed as Russel answered, "Rebecca's been in the bathroom for a long time. I just want to make see if she is okay."
"How do you know that?" Dan asked the question that raced through Rebecca's mind.
"This map," Russel responded heading closer to the bathroom. "She's in here."
"That map's cool! Where did you get it?"
The Slytherin seeker stopped right in front of the opening of Rebecca's curtains as he answered, "I took it from that little Mudblood that she likes so much a while back and then cast a spell on the ring and the map so that I always know where she is at."
Rebecca's blood was boiling when Dan asked, "What ring?"
"Well she thinks it is the one that that loser Weasley gave her, but it was actually one that I did, because the other one wouldn't take the charm for it to work with the map," Russel explained as he walked to the bathroom where the fake ring was still on the edge of the sink. "The ring's here, but she isn't. Must be taking a nap."
As Russel headed back towards the stairs, Dan asked, "Don't you want to open the curtains to these beds to and see which on she is in so that you can wake her up and make sure she is fine?"
"No, you git, she is sick. She needs her rest. I just didn't want her passed out on the floor of the bathroom with no one knowing she was there. . Come on, NOW!"
Rebecca slipped out of her bed quietly and followed the boys down the steps as they talked more about the ring switch and how Russel was able to replicate everything about the ring except the RC initials that were on the leaves. "I didn't know they were there until I found the ring on the floor after she fell down the steps. I didn't have time to figure out he did that. I needed to get it back to her quickly so that she didn't suspect the switch. I have been really lucky that she hasn't noticed the one thing that would tell her that it was mine."
The boys went quiet all of the sudden so Rebecca stopped moving down the stairs. She suddenly heard the voice of Lauren say, "Hi, Russel!"
"Hello, Lauren," Russel answered in a very friendly voice. "How are you doing today?"
"Pretty good, other than I am buried with homework."
"Well if you need any help don't hesitant to ask me."
"Thanks! I might take you up on that. Rebecca usually helps me, but I don't think she feels that well, so I probably shouldn't bug her so that she can rest."
"Sounds like a good idea. I'll see you later."
Lauren appeared a moment in front of Rebecca.
To keep the first year from unintentionally blowing her cover, Rebecca quickly approached her and whispered in her ear, "Can you go up to my room and get my ring off of the sink and bring it down to me. I'll explain later."
Lauren shook her head and headed up the stair curious of what Rebecca meant. Rebecca cautiously continued down the stair. The two Slytherins she was following had stopped at the base of the steps and were still softly talking, but not about the ring any more it was about Lauren.
"Yeah, that was the Mudblood that had the map," Russel said with his back towards Rebecca.
Dan had his back turned to her as well so he didn't see her walk up right behind them as he asked, "Doesn't Harvey has a crush on her?"
"From what I hear, we are both in the same boat: In love with girls that won't give us the time of day and hounded by the ones that we could care less about." Dan looked at him confused so Russel explained, "Kirsta is convinced we have something even though I am in love with Rebecca, but she won't give me a chance because of Weasley. Alannah is after Harvey, but he has it bad for Lauren who was dating that O'Donnell boy. Well, from what Marcus tells me Harvey was at least he was able to scare off his competition for Lauren, so he might get her after all."
As Russel laughed at this revelation, Rebecca got madder and madder. She was about to say something that would have blown her cover, but Dan said, "Hey, look at the map."
Russel looked and saw the little Rebecca was moving from the bathroom to the bedroom.
"She must have just woken up. I wonder if she is coming back down," Russel said as he turned around to look up the stairs surprised to be met with the defiant stare of Rebecca as she coolly said, "Really? Because I was just starting to wonder where my real ring is?"
Dan's jaw dropped at the sight of Rebecca standing behind them as Russel stuttered, "Re-Re-Re."
"'Re-Re-Re'" Rebecca imitated before she said, "That doesn't tell me where it is. I WANT MY RING BACK!"
"Rebecca you don't understand."
"I understand. You couldn't just leave me alone. You had to take my ring and switch it with another so that you could track me down. I want my ring back."
"Listen to me first."
"No, I am tired of listening to you. I listened earlier this week and started to think that the nice guy I got to know over Christmas wasn't a just a front, but you were just leading me astray. So give me my real ring back and then get out of my life!"
Russel was getting frustrated. He knew he need to talk to Rebecca about this, but it appeared she wouldn't listen to anything that he said so he needed to think of something.
After a moment, he said, "No! Not until you listen to what I have to say."
Rebecca grimly stared at him as Lauren walked down the steps with wide eyes locked on Russel. The first year, who had actually been just standing on the steps out of sight since Rebecca revealed that she knew about the ring switch, asked in a shaky voice, "Why?"
"Why, what?" Russel hissed.
"Why should she listen to you ever again?" Lauren had more confidence this time.
Dan took a step closer to the first year as he said, "Oh, shut up you little Mudblood."
Lauren retreated slightly as the towering black haired Slytherin approached her. Rebecca with her eyes still locked on Russel stepped into Dan's path so he couldn't get to Lauren. They all stood there, Rebecca and Russel staring at each other and Dan and Lauren glaring at each other. Everyone who was just sitting in the room were looking at them wonder what was going to happen.
Charlie came in just as Rebecca said through gritting teeth, "Give me back my ring."
Russel looked at her frustrated and before he knew what he was saying he blurted out, "You can have your ring after you go out with me on a date."
Charlie quickened his paces towards them and punched Russel right in the jaw. Before anyone knew what was happening, Russel was lying flat on his back and Charlie was towering over him.
"What is going on here?" Charlie finally asked staring at Russel with fury in his eyes. Rebecca was about to respond when Lauren said, "He took Rebecca's ring and replaced it with this one."
Lauren threw the fake at Russel hitting him right in the face and quickly hid behind Rebecca so that Dan didn't try to get her for doing that to Russel.
Keeping herself between Dan and Lauren, Rebecca didn't want Lauren to be fielding questions on this situation so she explained, "He charmed the replica so that it worked with the map that you had map me at the beginning of the year to show where I was when I was wearing it."
Charlie looked at Rebecca and then started towards the now standing Russel.
"This is between Rebecca and me, you have nothing to do with this, Weasley," Russel defiantly stated.
Charlie looked as though he could have hit Russel again, but he restrained himself and fiercely said, "She is my girl and when something with her involves you, it involves me, too."
"Well, if it involves you, then may I propose a bet?"
Charlie stared at Russel wondering what bet the Slytherin was going to suggest.
Russel took Charlie's silence as the go ahead to explain his bet, so he explained, "The next time we meet on the quidditch field, if you get the snitch, I will give back the really ring to Rebecca without her doing anything, but if I catch the snitch then I get a full fledge date with Rebecca with kiss and everything if she wants her ring back."
"Ha," Rebecca forced out, "like you would get a kiss and you can forget about me ever letting you hold my hand on a date or anything."
"Yeah, well you won't be getting your ring back until the end of the date so you have to in order to get your precious ring back. Oh and I don't want your friends around for you to run off with."
"Well, if that is going to be the case then I get the stipulations that you can't use magic and that you only get one physical contact, if you take a hold of my hand and then let go that is it for the night."
"Fine on both, but I get to choose what the contact is."
"Why are we even discussing this?" Rebecca said exasperated.
"Yes, why are we discussing this, because this bet won't go that far," Charlie coolly said.
"So you are going to take the bet?" Russel calmly asked.
Charlie nodded yes.
"Well then as long as Rebecca is in for the bet we are all set."
"What does Rebecca have to be in the bet for?"
"She has to agree to the date if you loose, because if she doesn't then I don't have anything concrete to win by getting the snitch first."
Charlie turned to look at Rebecca to see what she would say.
"Is the date going to have the rules we threw out right now?" asked Rebecca quietly.
Russel nodded and simply restated the list, "You get the ring after the date, you're not allowed to ditch me, and."
"No magic and you can only either hold my hand or a little kiss."
"Which I get to choose."
Rebecca took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She hated the idea of this bet especially since Charlie was getting wrapped up in it. Rebecca looked at Charlie in the eyes and saw that his gaze urged her to take the bet with the message it gave of 'I have to face him anyways at the match and I am not going to lose, especially with this as a new driving force to beat him.'
"Well Rebecca, what is it going to be? Is there a bet or not?" questioned Russel impatiently.
Rebecca shook her head yes. Russel smiled a wicked smile and stuck his hand out for Rebecca to shake to seal her portion of the deal.
After Rebecca shook Russel's hand, Russel turned towards Charlie, extended his hand and asked, "You still in?"
"You're on," Charlie coldly said. "The next match where Gryffindor and Slytherin face off we'll see who wins the bet."
Charlie took Russel's hand to except the bet. The two seekers stood there for a moment both glaring at each other and from what everyone in the room could tell they were both squeezing each other's hand with all of their strength. Finally they let go and Russel walked away looking quite smug about what just happened and his prospects of having a date with Rebecca.
'I'll have to train really hard now so that I don't lose this opportunity,' he thought as he exited the common room to find Ryan and tell him about it.
After Russel was out of the room, Rebecca leaned up against the wall. All the adrenaline that was pumping through her during the confrontation was out of her now and she felt worse than she had before she had went upstairs after her and Lauren's search for Sir Codagon. Charlie noticed that she looked like she was about to fall over.
"You okay?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her so that she wouldn't go on to the floor.
Rebecca looked at him and shook her head no.
Charlie looked into her eyes and said, "Are you still feeling sick?"
"Yeah," Rebecca whispered. "I was going to take a nap and was about to fall asleep when Russel and Dan came into the room."
"WHAT!"
Charlie looked as though he could have killed Russel if he had been standing there still. Rebecca went on and explained everything that had happened up to where Charlie walked into the room.
"I had all this energy when I was demanding my ring back, but now I am completely drained. Climbing in to bed and going to sleep is the most wonderful idea in the world to me right now, but I don't know how well I will rest knowing that those worthless gits have no problem walking into the dorm," Rebecca quietly said at the end of her explanation.
Charlie was trying to formulate a plan so that Rebecca could get a nap as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Becca?" he finally said when he thought he might have came up with something, but Rebecca didn't answer. Charlie gently moved Rebecca's head with his hand and saw that she had fallen asleep standing there. After giving out a sympathetic sigh, Charlie picked up Rebecca and carried to her bed so that she could be more comfortable.
He didn't want to leave her in there by herself so after he tucked Rebecca in he went over to the other side of her bed and laid down on top of the covers positioning himself so that he could keep and an eye on the door and Rebecca all at the same time.
Despite some of the initial reserves for the truce with Russel, Rebecca enjoyed the next few days. Russel was good to his word. He came and talked to Rebecca for short conversations and if she told him to leave he would. This allowed Rebecca to have freedoms that she hadn't had in a long time like going to the library, walking in the halls by herself, and sitting in the common room. Even Charlie seemed to relax; he stopped worrying about who Rebecca was around while he was away.
If it wasn't for her feeling under the weather Rebecca would have been in heaven. She managed to get through the rest of the week, but each day she felt a little bit worse. Rebecca just couldn't get over her cough and started to feel achy with some chest pain and shortness of breathe.
By Saturday, Rebecca was ready to stay in bed all day she was so tried, but unfortunately, she couldn't since she needed to eat. She came into the common room after breakfast with every intention to head right back up to bed even though she had gotten dressed already. However Lauren had different plans for Rebecca.
"Hey Rebecca, I need to go to find the Portrait of Sir Cadogan to get some information for my history homework. Do you know where that is at?" Lauren asked coming up as she came up to sick fifth year.
Rebecca looked at her and softly said, "Well, I am not really sure exactly where he is at. I think he is hanging somewhere near the North Tower. . I bet you could use that map I gave you in the fall to find it."
Lauren's face lite up.
"I hadn't thought about using that!"
Lauren ran over to her bag and started to look of the map. After a few minutes she had everything out of her bag, but didn't have the map. Rebecca, who's curious had been peaked with Lauren inquiry, came over to see where the map said the painting was and saw Lauren getting more and more distressed as she looked through her stuff again.
"It was in here," Lauren said starting to search every pocket in her bag.
"Maybe it is up in your room," Rebecca suggested as she looked over the papers that the first year had taken out of her bag.
Lauren thought for a moment and said, "No, it's not. I cleaned up all my stuff upstairs yesterday after dinner and I didn't see it. The last time I saw it was in my bag, but that was a while ago."
"It might have just fallen out sometime in the hall. . Come on let's go hunt down that painting."
"Oh, you don't have to go."
"I know, but I am curious to hear where Sir Cadogan is now so I am going to go. Come on let's go ask the Fat Lady how to get to him."
Lauren shook her head gathered up her school supplies and shoved them back into her bag. The two girls then headed out of the door.
The Fat Lady told the girls exactly how to find the painting in question. They had no problem following the directions and got to the location fairly quickly. Getting the information that Lauren needed from the knight was another matter.
After about 45 minutes, Lauren had all of her question answered. Though at another painting they might have been done in ten minutes, Sir Cadogan insisted on reenacting accounts as he answered the inquiries.
Rebecca was about to tell Lauren that she was going to head back before she passed out when Lauren thanked Cadogan and walked towards Rebecca as the knight kept going on and on about the last question. Both girls looked each other and shrugged as they walked away from the chattering painting and headed back to the common room.
Upon entering the room Rebecca looked around to tell Charlie what had happened, but he was no where to be found. The fact of the matter was that none of her friends were in the room, Ryan included. She stood looking around the room convinced that they were actual there she was just sick enough that she was over looking them.
"Rebecca, you looking for something?" asked Russel came up.
Rebecca shook herself out of her daze and looked at him as she said, "Oh, I was looking for Charlie and the rest of the gang."
Rebecca started to cough while Russel told her that the others departed from the room in various groups. Charlie, Greg, and Cathrine headed out together while James and Sara walked out a short while later with Jacquelyn and Colin left after that.
"Oh," Rebecca managed to get out through her coughing fit.
"Rebecca, do you need to go to the hospital wing? . I'll take you. It isn't a problem."
She instantly muffled her coughs and softly said, "Thank you for your concern, but I think I am just going to head up to my room and take a nap."
"Okay, if you need anything let me know.
Rebecca shook her head and headed up the stairs. Unfortunately, on her way up the stairs, Rebecca tripped and fell.
"Ouch!" she yelled as she hit the steps.
"Rebecca, are you okay?" Russel called up the steps.
"Yeah, I just tripped," Rebecca called back as she quickly got up and headed the rest of the way up the stairs looking at her right hand to see that she had scraped it pretty bad.
She walked into the room and straight to the bathroom. After taking Charlie's ring off and setting it on the edge of the sink where it would be safe from falling down the drain, Rebecca washed her hand so that she wouldn't have to worry about a trip to the infirmary for that.
She started coughing again as she walked over to her bed. Rebecca picked up her copy of Quidditch through the Ages, as she flopped down and drew her bed curtains so that it was closed except for a sliver for some fresh air.
Rebecca was about to drift off to sleep as she read her book for the hundredth time, when the door to the room opened the door.
Assuming that it was one of the other girls, she didn't think anything of it, until she heard a familiar male voice say "What are we doing?"
Rebecca lifted up her head to see that Dan and Russel walking into the room.
Horrified, Rebecca sunk back into her bed as Russel answered, "Rebecca's been in the bathroom for a long time. I just want to make see if she is okay."
"How do you know that?" Dan asked the question that raced through Rebecca's mind.
"This map," Russel responded heading closer to the bathroom. "She's in here."
"That map's cool! Where did you get it?"
The Slytherin seeker stopped right in front of the opening of Rebecca's curtains as he answered, "I took it from that little Mudblood that she likes so much a while back and then cast a spell on the ring and the map so that I always know where she is at."
Rebecca's blood was boiling when Dan asked, "What ring?"
"Well she thinks it is the one that that loser Weasley gave her, but it was actually one that I did, because the other one wouldn't take the charm for it to work with the map," Russel explained as he walked to the bathroom where the fake ring was still on the edge of the sink. "The ring's here, but she isn't. Must be taking a nap."
As Russel headed back towards the stairs, Dan asked, "Don't you want to open the curtains to these beds to and see which on she is in so that you can wake her up and make sure she is fine?"
"No, you git, she is sick. She needs her rest. I just didn't want her passed out on the floor of the bathroom with no one knowing she was there. . Come on, NOW!"
Rebecca slipped out of her bed quietly and followed the boys down the steps as they talked more about the ring switch and how Russel was able to replicate everything about the ring except the RC initials that were on the leaves. "I didn't know they were there until I found the ring on the floor after she fell down the steps. I didn't have time to figure out he did that. I needed to get it back to her quickly so that she didn't suspect the switch. I have been really lucky that she hasn't noticed the one thing that would tell her that it was mine."
The boys went quiet all of the sudden so Rebecca stopped moving down the stairs. She suddenly heard the voice of Lauren say, "Hi, Russel!"
"Hello, Lauren," Russel answered in a very friendly voice. "How are you doing today?"
"Pretty good, other than I am buried with homework."
"Well if you need any help don't hesitant to ask me."
"Thanks! I might take you up on that. Rebecca usually helps me, but I don't think she feels that well, so I probably shouldn't bug her so that she can rest."
"Sounds like a good idea. I'll see you later."
Lauren appeared a moment in front of Rebecca.
To keep the first year from unintentionally blowing her cover, Rebecca quickly approached her and whispered in her ear, "Can you go up to my room and get my ring off of the sink and bring it down to me. I'll explain later."
Lauren shook her head and headed up the stair curious of what Rebecca meant. Rebecca cautiously continued down the stair. The two Slytherins she was following had stopped at the base of the steps and were still softly talking, but not about the ring any more it was about Lauren.
"Yeah, that was the Mudblood that had the map," Russel said with his back towards Rebecca.
Dan had his back turned to her as well so he didn't see her walk up right behind them as he asked, "Doesn't Harvey has a crush on her?"
"From what I hear, we are both in the same boat: In love with girls that won't give us the time of day and hounded by the ones that we could care less about." Dan looked at him confused so Russel explained, "Kirsta is convinced we have something even though I am in love with Rebecca, but she won't give me a chance because of Weasley. Alannah is after Harvey, but he has it bad for Lauren who was dating that O'Donnell boy. Well, from what Marcus tells me Harvey was at least he was able to scare off his competition for Lauren, so he might get her after all."
As Russel laughed at this revelation, Rebecca got madder and madder. She was about to say something that would have blown her cover, but Dan said, "Hey, look at the map."
Russel looked and saw the little Rebecca was moving from the bathroom to the bedroom.
"She must have just woken up. I wonder if she is coming back down," Russel said as he turned around to look up the stairs surprised to be met with the defiant stare of Rebecca as she coolly said, "Really? Because I was just starting to wonder where my real ring is?"
Dan's jaw dropped at the sight of Rebecca standing behind them as Russel stuttered, "Re-Re-Re."
"'Re-Re-Re'" Rebecca imitated before she said, "That doesn't tell me where it is. I WANT MY RING BACK!"
"Rebecca you don't understand."
"I understand. You couldn't just leave me alone. You had to take my ring and switch it with another so that you could track me down. I want my ring back."
"Listen to me first."
"No, I am tired of listening to you. I listened earlier this week and started to think that the nice guy I got to know over Christmas wasn't a just a front, but you were just leading me astray. So give me my real ring back and then get out of my life!"
Russel was getting frustrated. He knew he need to talk to Rebecca about this, but it appeared she wouldn't listen to anything that he said so he needed to think of something.
After a moment, he said, "No! Not until you listen to what I have to say."
Rebecca grimly stared at him as Lauren walked down the steps with wide eyes locked on Russel. The first year, who had actually been just standing on the steps out of sight since Rebecca revealed that she knew about the ring switch, asked in a shaky voice, "Why?"
"Why, what?" Russel hissed.
"Why should she listen to you ever again?" Lauren had more confidence this time.
Dan took a step closer to the first year as he said, "Oh, shut up you little Mudblood."
Lauren retreated slightly as the towering black haired Slytherin approached her. Rebecca with her eyes still locked on Russel stepped into Dan's path so he couldn't get to Lauren. They all stood there, Rebecca and Russel staring at each other and Dan and Lauren glaring at each other. Everyone who was just sitting in the room were looking at them wonder what was going to happen.
Charlie came in just as Rebecca said through gritting teeth, "Give me back my ring."
Russel looked at her frustrated and before he knew what he was saying he blurted out, "You can have your ring after you go out with me on a date."
Charlie quickened his paces towards them and punched Russel right in the jaw. Before anyone knew what was happening, Russel was lying flat on his back and Charlie was towering over him.
"What is going on here?" Charlie finally asked staring at Russel with fury in his eyes. Rebecca was about to respond when Lauren said, "He took Rebecca's ring and replaced it with this one."
Lauren threw the fake at Russel hitting him right in the face and quickly hid behind Rebecca so that Dan didn't try to get her for doing that to Russel.
Keeping herself between Dan and Lauren, Rebecca didn't want Lauren to be fielding questions on this situation so she explained, "He charmed the replica so that it worked with the map that you had map me at the beginning of the year to show where I was when I was wearing it."
Charlie looked at Rebecca and then started towards the now standing Russel.
"This is between Rebecca and me, you have nothing to do with this, Weasley," Russel defiantly stated.
Charlie looked as though he could have hit Russel again, but he restrained himself and fiercely said, "She is my girl and when something with her involves you, it involves me, too."
"Well, if it involves you, then may I propose a bet?"
Charlie stared at Russel wondering what bet the Slytherin was going to suggest.
Russel took Charlie's silence as the go ahead to explain his bet, so he explained, "The next time we meet on the quidditch field, if you get the snitch, I will give back the really ring to Rebecca without her doing anything, but if I catch the snitch then I get a full fledge date with Rebecca with kiss and everything if she wants her ring back."
"Ha," Rebecca forced out, "like you would get a kiss and you can forget about me ever letting you hold my hand on a date or anything."
"Yeah, well you won't be getting your ring back until the end of the date so you have to in order to get your precious ring back. Oh and I don't want your friends around for you to run off with."
"Well, if that is going to be the case then I get the stipulations that you can't use magic and that you only get one physical contact, if you take a hold of my hand and then let go that is it for the night."
"Fine on both, but I get to choose what the contact is."
"Why are we even discussing this?" Rebecca said exasperated.
"Yes, why are we discussing this, because this bet won't go that far," Charlie coolly said.
"So you are going to take the bet?" Russel calmly asked.
Charlie nodded yes.
"Well then as long as Rebecca is in for the bet we are all set."
"What does Rebecca have to be in the bet for?"
"She has to agree to the date if you loose, because if she doesn't then I don't have anything concrete to win by getting the snitch first."
Charlie turned to look at Rebecca to see what she would say.
"Is the date going to have the rules we threw out right now?" asked Rebecca quietly.
Russel nodded and simply restated the list, "You get the ring after the date, you're not allowed to ditch me, and."
"No magic and you can only either hold my hand or a little kiss."
"Which I get to choose."
Rebecca took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She hated the idea of this bet especially since Charlie was getting wrapped up in it. Rebecca looked at Charlie in the eyes and saw that his gaze urged her to take the bet with the message it gave of 'I have to face him anyways at the match and I am not going to lose, especially with this as a new driving force to beat him.'
"Well Rebecca, what is it going to be? Is there a bet or not?" questioned Russel impatiently.
Rebecca shook her head yes. Russel smiled a wicked smile and stuck his hand out for Rebecca to shake to seal her portion of the deal.
After Rebecca shook Russel's hand, Russel turned towards Charlie, extended his hand and asked, "You still in?"
"You're on," Charlie coldly said. "The next match where Gryffindor and Slytherin face off we'll see who wins the bet."
Charlie took Russel's hand to except the bet. The two seekers stood there for a moment both glaring at each other and from what everyone in the room could tell they were both squeezing each other's hand with all of their strength. Finally they let go and Russel walked away looking quite smug about what just happened and his prospects of having a date with Rebecca.
'I'll have to train really hard now so that I don't lose this opportunity,' he thought as he exited the common room to find Ryan and tell him about it.
After Russel was out of the room, Rebecca leaned up against the wall. All the adrenaline that was pumping through her during the confrontation was out of her now and she felt worse than she had before she had went upstairs after her and Lauren's search for Sir Codagon. Charlie noticed that she looked like she was about to fall over.
"You okay?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her so that she wouldn't go on to the floor.
Rebecca looked at him and shook her head no.
Charlie looked into her eyes and said, "Are you still feeling sick?"
"Yeah," Rebecca whispered. "I was going to take a nap and was about to fall asleep when Russel and Dan came into the room."
"WHAT!"
Charlie looked as though he could have killed Russel if he had been standing there still. Rebecca went on and explained everything that had happened up to where Charlie walked into the room.
"I had all this energy when I was demanding my ring back, but now I am completely drained. Climbing in to bed and going to sleep is the most wonderful idea in the world to me right now, but I don't know how well I will rest knowing that those worthless gits have no problem walking into the dorm," Rebecca quietly said at the end of her explanation.
Charlie was trying to formulate a plan so that Rebecca could get a nap as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Becca?" he finally said when he thought he might have came up with something, but Rebecca didn't answer. Charlie gently moved Rebecca's head with his hand and saw that she had fallen asleep standing there. After giving out a sympathetic sigh, Charlie picked up Rebecca and carried to her bed so that she could be more comfortable.
He didn't want to leave her in there by herself so after he tucked Rebecca in he went over to the other side of her bed and laid down on top of the covers positioning himself so that he could keep and an eye on the door and Rebecca all at the same time.