Chapter 5

"Hurry up, everyone!" came the call of Mrs Weasley from downstairs. Becci was hurriedly stuffing clothes and school items into her trunk, having not finished the previous night.

"I'm sure I've forgotten something," she muttered.

"Books?" Ron asked, looming over her shoulder.

"Got them."

"Robes?"

"Yes, got them too."

"Um, stuff for potions?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..."

"Wand?"

"...Oh."

Ron smiled and picked up Becci's wand from under her bed, and handed it to her. She threw it carelessly into her trunk, and returned to winding her hair around her index and middle finger, making it even kinkier than before.

"Stop that, you're irritating me," Ron said.

Becci relented. "Sorry... I'm nervous..."

"Still?" said Ron, his tone exasperated.

"Hello, I'll be the only Fifth year getting sorted this evening! I think I have the right to a few jitters, thank you."

Ron looked as though he was about to respond, but Hermione and Harry walked in. "Are you two ready yet?" Hermione said.

"Yeah, I was just finishing packing," said an apologetic Becci.

"Do you need help getting your trunk downstairs?" Harry offered.

Becci shook her head. "No, I can do it myself..." She took her wand out of her trunk again, closed it, then said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The trunk lifted itself, slightly shakily, about fifteen inches off the floor.

"Oh... I keep forgetting you're allowed to do that," Harry said, looking slightly embarrassed.

Becci stuck her tongue out at Harry, then walked out the door, guiding her trunk down the two flights of stairs with Ron, Harry and Hermione following close behind her. The four of them got down to the kitchen, and sat down to a hurried breakfast (after Becci had removed the spell from her trunk). Once they had all finished, Ron asked,

"How're we getting to Platform Nine-and-three-quarters?"

"A few cars from the Ministry," Mrs Weasley said, as Bill and Charlie proceeded to carry everyone's trunks outside.

"Platform what and three what?" Becci whispered to Hermione, who was sitting next to her.

"Nine-and-three-quarters. It's where we get the train to Hogwarts," Hermione informed her.

"Oh, right..."

"All right, everyone," Mr Weasley said as he came down the stairs. "We've got to get going or we'll be late."

Everyone around the table stood up, and was hurried out to the cars by Mrs Weasley. Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Becci, as well as Mr and Mrs Weasley, squeezed themselves into two cars. After a rather uncomfortable journey, as they were also accompanied by their excessive amounts of luggage, they all got out at King's Cross Station.

"Hogwarts students are very good at fitting in, aren't they?" Becci remarked, looking around whilst putting her trunk onto a trolley.

Ron snorted with laughter. "Not quite..."

"This way, dear cousin," George said, taking Becci by the forearm and steering her to the barrier through which was the Platform.

"Well, fine then," Becci said, shooting an angry glare at Ron. George let go of her arm, and, without warning, pushed his trunks straight through the apparently solid wall. Becci blinked. "Oh - my... So, you just... go for it?"

"Basically," Ginny nodded. "And - try not to be nervous. Here, I'll go..." Ginny walked forward as her brother's had done and simply stepped right through the wall.

Hermione walked up next to Becci. "All right?"

"If you come at the same time as me," Becci said pleadingly.

"Fine by me," Hermione grinned. "On three, okay? One... two... three..."

Becci took a deep breath, and hurried forward with Hermione. As she came to the barrier, she shut her eyes tight, but kept going. She heard someone calling her name, and stopped, opening her eyes again.

"Oh. I made it."

"You were about to make it right onto the train track," Fred smirked. Seconds later, Ron and Harry came through the barrier, followed by Mr and Mrs Weasley.

"Well, you'd all better get on," Mr Weasley said, gesturing toward the scarlet steam engine. "So... Have a good year, everyone."

Mrs Weasley started going round and hugging everyone. When she got to Becci, she said cheerfully, "Now, don't get in any trouble, or your parents will never forgive us!"

Becci forced a laugh. "Oh, I... won't..."

As everyone finished saying goodbye, Fred, George, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Becci and Ginny climbed onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Bye!" Ginny called, waving from the window as the train started moving.

"Thanks for having us!" Harry said, sticking his head out next to Ginny.

Mr and Mrs Weasley continued waving until they could no longer be seen. Harry and Ginny leant back into the compartment, and Harry shut the window. And so, the journey begins, Becci thought.

After an hour or so, the compartment door opened and three boys walked in. They loudly and cheerily greeted Harry, Ron and Hermione, and acknowledged Ginny as well, but didn't seem to notice Becci.

Once the conversation of their summers had died down, Ron finally seemed to remember his cousin.

"Oh - Becci, sorry, this is Seamus Finnigan -" he gestured to the boy with sandy-blonde hair, who had been talking with an Irish accent, "- Neville Longbottom -" then to a round-faced boy who was clutching a wriggling toad in his hand, and then "- and Dean Thomas -" the third boy, who was a little taller and with dark hair. Becci smiled at them all, but as Ron told her the last boy's name, something struck as familiar... She choked back a gasp, causing Dean to look a little nervous.

"N-nice to meet you all," Becci stammered, her hand automatically going up to the side of her face and twiddling her hair. She smiled in a strangled kind of way.

"You're, um, just starting at Hogwarts then?" Seamus asked, ruffling up his hair.

"Yeah, I've been living in Spain for seven years," said Becci, trying to act like a normal person. "My father's the ambassador..."

"Wow," Dean said, sounding interested, but Becci couldn't look at him. He glanced at Seamus and Neville, but they both shrugged. "Well, we need to, um... go meet someone else..." He headed out of the compartment, beckoning for his friends to follow him. As they walked away, Becci was sure she heard Seamus whisper, "I think you're in there..."

"Gah," she muttered, covering her face with her hands.

"What was all that about?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing," Becci said, her voice muffled.

Hermione looked as though she was trying to think of something quickly. "Um - Ginny, weren't you telling me that you were supposed to meet your friend Laura on the train?"

Ginny glanced down at her watch. "Oh, you're right... Okay, I'll probably see you all later..." She stood up and left the compartment. As soon as the door was shut again, Becci finally removed her hands to reveal her beet-red face.

"I'm sorry!" she whined. "It's just... You saw him, didn't you, Harry? I remember you saying you saw him in one of your dreams..."

Harry nodded slowly. "But, you can't tell him, okay?"

"I won't... Hey, how come you lot didn't start acting like beached goldfish as soon as you saw him?"

"Well, I guess we were prepared to see him," Ron said, shrugging.

"We probably should have told you that he went to Hogwarts," Hermione said apologetically.

Becci groaned. "Now he's going to think I fancy him..."

"You mean you don't?" said Ron, with a very fake innocent expression.

"Ha ha." Becci gave Ron a deadly look. "Oh well. I'll just have to be more prepared next -"

Her sentence was cut short, however, as the compartment door was slid open for the second time. And, for the second time, three boys walked through it. But they were not like the three who had come in before. Two were enormous and muscled, and neither looked like the brightest. The third had blonde hair and a far smaller build, although was undeniably good looking. A cruel smile spread across his face as her surveyed the passengers of the compartment.

"Well, well, Potter," he said in a drawling voice, "you're back, I see. Just goes to show that not all wishes can come true."

Harry narrowed his eyes slightly. "Apparently not, Malfoy. Otherwise you'd be a flobberworm by now."

"My my, that was almost close to actual wit. In a terribly boring Gryffindor sort of way, I mean."

Malfoy smirked as his friends sniggered, a sound uncannily like the snorting of pigs, and glanced around, his cold grey eyes settling on Becci. "And who's this? Don't tell me one of you has got a girlfriend... You seem to go for redheads, don't you, Potter. Says a lot, considering who your best friend is -"

"My name," Becci interrupted loudly, "is Rebecca Weasley."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow (to Becci's private disappointment). "Another Weasley?" he said with great contempt. "Dear God, aren't there enough of you already?"

Ron stood up, but Hermione took hold of his forearm. Becci's hands clenched themselves into fists.

"I think maybe you should leave, Malfoy," said Harry. Becci could see, despite the rather cool tone in which he spoke, that he clearly felt as much loathing for Malfoy as Malfoy did for him.

"Do you?" Malfoy replied boredly. "So… Rebecca… Are you a long lost sister, or something? Were they just too poor to keep you so they dumped you in a box somewhere?"

"Actually," Becci was finding it hard to keep her voice steady, "I'm Ron's cousin. I've been living in Spain because my fa-"

"Happy, Malfoy?" Ron said, cutting her off. "Have you reached your annoying quota yet?"

Malfoy flashed Ron a sarcastic smile, then walked out of the compartment, beckoning his friends to follow him.

"Why didn't you let me finish?" Becci asked, sounding a little indignant.

"Trust me," Harry said, "you don't want to get into a my-father-is-better-than-yours match with Draco Malfoy."