"I swear you get a new pet every time I see you," Uncle Vernon muttered after she came out of the wall and saw Fidele around her shoulders. "Is it poisonous?"
"No, he's a ball python," Rebekah said as the two got into the car. Emperor sat in the back with Hedwig in her cage, both completely silent. "His name is Fidele and he's peaceful. He needed to be rescued else the other students would have killed him. Most of them have a big fear of him but he's harmless unless I say otherwise."
"Mmm, good," He said and began to drive the journey back home. "What will he eat though? I don't think he'll be able to eat your diet, can he?"
"No, he wouldn't be able to, Uncle," Rebekah said as the two laughed. "I'll see about getting food ready for him. I'll probably let him out in the garden and he'll eat all of the rodents. It'll save Aunt Petunia's flower bushes at the same time."
"Your aunt will be happy about him then, the damned rodents keep having her rose rushes for breakfast, lunch and dinner," He tapped the back of his hand on the wheel. "And now they won't be a problem and we can stop paying for the exterminator."
"There might be a few owls coming just before Christmas," Rebekah said and saw Uncle Vernon's hands tighten a little. "I have told my friends to keep the owls unsuspicious and only send the gifts. I'll talk to them after the holidays."
They arrived home and Aunt Petunia was waiting by the front door, giving Rebekah a quick hug before rushing her in at the sight of Fidele. She had to place her trunk on the base of her bed, barely fitting it under it. The terrarium Rebekah had asked Aunt Petunia to buy was sitting in the corner of her room, completely bare so Rebekah had to take her time to add the right substrate, water bowl, and heating pad to one corner.
Rebekah went and got changed into a sapphire blue dress as Uncle Vernon said they were going out for dinner.
"If you eat Hedwig, I will make sure that you eat frozen mice!" Rebekah pointed a finger at Fidele as he slowly lifted his head in the terrarium. "I will leave the top off but I don't want to find a dead owl, capeesh?"
"Of course," He hissed, giving the hooting Hedwig a dirty look. "I will not eat the bird, else I will eat dead mice."
"Good," Rebekah smiled.
Tonight would be a full moon and she had to keep the Mandrake leaf under her tongue for a month. She was not looking forward to this long month. Spicy food it was, she looked at the fancy menu and went for the dish with plenty of heat and spice.
The Yule holidays went quickly, thank Merlin. Rebekah quickly realised that the Mandrake leaf added a very bitter taste to food so she had to counter it each time she ate, resulting in her making food for herself more often than Aunt Petunia did.
The day after Boxing day, a letter came through the post. The letter itself was written on parchment with beautiful calligraphy writing that was still legible.
Hello Rebekah,
I do hope your holiday has been pleasant with your family, they are such pleasant people.
I have spoken with Draco and he finally seems to understand what he did to hurt you. Even with my Black Family heritage, I am much more open about MuggleBorns in our society than my husband is. You have started to open the eyes of your friendship group, I never thought that they would be so open-minded about MuggleBorns and HalfBloods as much as they are.
Daphne and Blaise have both completely refused to speak to Draco until he apologises to you in person. I have never seen him so flustered since his childhood. Even Theodore Nott and Pansy refuse to, their families are usually the one with the most extreme views on MuggleBorns. Only Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe would owl and stay at the manor with Draco.
I do hope everything between you two gets sorted, I understand where you are coming from, however. You have such a tight grip on the group, Draco says that he's been shunned from the group. Shunned away from the people he has known since he was an infant! I am so very pleased that he will finally understand that people will not always be who they say they are, and he no longer follows in his father's footsteps as much.
Draco has been punished for his use of the Magical slur and understands that he may not use it or he will be in deep trouble. I believed that I brought him up better than that.
I believe Corvus misses Hedwig also.
Signed,
Lady Narcissa Malfoy, wife of Lucius Malfoy.
Rebekah smiled as she read it, making Aunt Petunia ask what it was about. She passed it to her aunt as she ate her dinner for the night, spicy egg fried rice.
Then a day after that, Hagrid sent a letter with one of the Hogwarts owls. It was written in his scruffy handwriting and took up almost a foot of parchment.
Good news, Rebekah!
The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has approved Fluffy, Fluffy was scratched out, Tercet as a permanent resident of the Forbidden Forest and Hogwarts grounds. He's allowed to roam around now! He's been put under your care though, I think they'll contact Dumbledore to arrange a meeting between you and an official.
And the spiders have been acting strange the past few days. It's not too bad. One of the roosters has been killed again. I need to find out what's killing them before I run out of roosters.
Have a good holiday,
Rubeus Hagrid.
Rebekah was happy that Tercet was approved, it meant that he didn't have to stay in the forest all the time. He could wander the grounds and perhaps even go in the lake, though Rebekah didn't think that Merpeople would be happy about that arrangement.
On the Third of January, the Hogwarts Express was ready to pick up all the students and bring them back to Hogwarts for the next term. Rebekah sat in the carriage with her year and some of the older years. The group took up one of the tabled benches and a bit. Fidele hung from the overhead area and rested, rocking as the train was making its way to Scotland.
"How was the holiday, Draco?" Rebekah asked when he appeared by the table, clearly uncomfortable by his fidgeting. "I'm sure the lecture was very informative."
"I'm sorry for what I said," He said, shuffling his feet when Rebekah didn't answer him and just stared. "What do you want me to say?"
She shrugged and then turned her head, looking outside as the scenery passed them at a fast speed.
"Well?"
"Well, what?" Rebekah snapped her head around, her eyes blazed with fire. "Do you expect me to forgive you even after I warned you of the consequences? I told you that that word won't be tolerated and then I hear you saying it half a dozen times in the common room. I can forgive you, of course—" He sighed and allowed his clenched shoulders to drop, "—but I won't forget. Sit down before you make a fool of yourself again."
He took a seat at the closest seat to the middle of the other bench. The group of six took up two benches. Daphne and Blaise sat with Rebekah on one bench while Emperor lounged next to her, while Theodore, Pansy and Draco sat on the other bench.
"Myrtle, what's wrong?!" Rebekah yelled at the sobbing Ghost.
The floor was flooded and so Rebekah picked up the hems of her robes as she stepped through. The candles had been extinguished and left two walls and the floor wet. Myrtle was crying harder than Rebekah thought was possible, silvery tears dripped down her face as she gained a slightly purple blush in her cheeks.
"Someone decided to throw a book at me! A book!" She sobbed into her hands in one of the stalls. "Just because I can't feel it, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt my feelings!"
"Oh no. Who did it? Did you see their face?" Rebekah said, trying to comfort the Ghost.
"No, I was minding my own business in the U-bend, thinking about death," Myrtle said. "Then someone tried to flush a book and it bonked me in the head! It was washed out when I flooded the bathroom…"
The book in question was small and thin, soaking wet with a nondescript black cover. On the first page was T M Riddle. Rebekah blinked, could this book have belonged to Tom Riddle? It meant that the book was over half a century old and yet it still looked brand new. She pocketed the book and Rebekah did her best to comfort the sobbing Ghost for the next few hours.
Valentine's day was coming closer and closer. During breakfast that day, the walls were covered in gaudy pink flowers and Lockhart wore the same colour robes. Heart-shaped confetti gently fell from the clear sky ceiling. Rebekah stood by her normal seat, quickly placing a shield above her friends' seats and vanished all of the confetti before sitting down.
McGonagall looked like she was ready to lash out as a muscle in her cheek twitched while she forced a smile. Snape was ready to slaughter the man as a stoney expression made its way to his face. None of the teachers looked very happy, or at all entertained by the man's antics.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart clapped his hands and harp carrying dwarfs came marching in, all looking miserable like the students at this news. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"
The first person to ask Snape for a Love Potion was going to get three months detention with Filch, and several dozen points would be deducted from their House. Perhaps also force-fed poison if he didn't like them enough.
Throughout the day, the dwarves interrupted lessons to give their valentines out. Rebekah got at least three of them before lunch, and during lunch, she had another two people approach her with five at break. She accepted it graciously and with a smile but swore that the next person to approach her would be hexed.
That day, Rebekah had a meeting in Dumbledore's office. It was set for just after lunch and so she would be excused from Charms. She went in and found that Hagrid, Dumbledore, Kettleburn, and Snape were with an official from the Ministry.
"You must be Rebekah Potter," The woman said as she stood from the chair. "I am Cathrine Grimblehawk, from the Beast Division."
"Pleasure to meet you," Rebekah shook her hand, noticing that it was rough. "Is this about Tercet?"
"Tercet?" Grimblehawk asked. "Oh, you mean the HellHound. You have named him already?"
"Yes, the HellHound's name is Tercet but each head has his own name also."
"So it seems like you have bonded with the Beast then," Grimblehawk smiled to herself. "Well, the HellHound in question, Tercet as you say, has been approved to stay here at Hogwarts as long as he and his caretakers follow some rules to keep everyone safe."
"Alright," Rebekah smiled as Grimblehawk passed a large bit of parchment over.
"Since you're under seventeen and at Hogwarts, by law, we have to inform the Headmaster and anyone else who would look after the Beast when the primary caregiver cannot," She nodded to Hagrid and Kettleburn, then to Snape. "Or anyone who is in charge of the caregiver. They've been informed already, it's just you now. I'm quite surprised that someone as young as you has almost tamed a HellHound. For us professionals, it takes a few good years."
"I just gave him the companionship he wanted and he was happy to be my friend," Rebekah said as she finished reading. "And now that I've finished?"
"Now we put a collar, or collars, on the Beast and he is officially allowed to stay at Hogwarts permanently or until an alternative home is registered. No one has to power to make him leave but the Beast Division and the Division of registered Familiars and you, all together,"
Tercet wasn't having the Ministry woman go near him, he had tumbled behind Rebekah as Hagrid tried to pull him to the woman. Snape had suggested that they should allow Rebekah to place the collars on the creature, else they would be here for several days.
Rebekah had placed the last collar on Harmoni and the huge beast began to become smaller, only standing around three metres high. This was the size of a tamed HellHound but he would grow back to his original size if he, or whatever was his, was threatened.
She sighed after that ordeal and sucked her teeth and almost gagged.
Rebekah couldn't wait until she could spit this Mandrake leaf out, it was becoming mushy and rancid as did the bitter taste. She wanted to gag at first but she got used to it after a few days and very strong food. Rebekah planned to get the Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis ordered and sent to her, it would take too long for her to try and find the ingredient naturally.