This summer, Rebekah decided to stay home and occasionally visit her friends instead of visiting the whole summer again. She wanted to stay because Uncle Vernon's sister, Aunt Marge was going to visit and she loved Rebekah. She didn't love her parents though.
Very early on Rebekah's thirteenth birthday, there were several owls in her room. Her friends sent her small gifts.
What was it with Pansy and jewellery?
Last year it was a bracelet, this year it was a cute pair of small silver hoop earrings with a line of seven tiny diamonds in it. Rebekah smiled as she put them in. They looked really beautiful with her hair colour and complexion.
Errol, the Weasley family's owl, came in with a package and went for a large drink of water. Inside it was two pieces of paper.
MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank." The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.
Rebekah then read the letter Ron had sent her.
Dear Rebekah,
Happy birthday!
It's amazing here in Egypt. Bill's taken us around all the tombs and you wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian Wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and stuff. I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons! Most of it has gone on this trip.
We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get our new books. Any chance of meeting you there? Don't let the Muggles get you down! Try and come to London,
Ron
PS. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week
Rebekah sent back a happy reply to him but allowed Errol a break before he went on his way with the rest of the owls.
Dear Rebekah,
I'm on holiday in France at the moment and I didn't know how I was going to send this to you — what if they'd opened it at customs? — but then Hedwig turned up! I think she wanted to make sure you got something for your birthday. I bought your present by owl-order; there was an advertisement in the Daily Prophet (I've been getting it delivered; it's so good to keep up with what's going on in the Wizarding world). Did you see that picture of Ron and his family a week ago? I bet he's learning loads. I'm really jealous — the ancient Egyptian Wizards were fascinating.
There's some interesting local history of Witchcraft here, too. I've rewritten my whole History of Magic essay to include some of the things I've found out. I hope it's not too long — it's two rolls of parchment more than Professor Binns asked for.
Ron says he's going to be in London in the last week of the holidays. Can you make it? I really hope you can. If not, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September first!
Love from Hermione
Then Rebekah sent a Thank You letter back to Hermione, and to everyone else who brought her a gift. It was the right thing to do, it was nice also. She also got a letter from Hagrid saying that everyone was doing fine at Hogwarts, Tatia had grown a whole seven inches over the summer alone.
Then came the letter from Hogwarts:
Dear Miss Potter,
Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock. Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign. A list of books for next year is enclosed.
Yours sincerely, Deputy Headmistress.
On the other letter encased within the packaging was the confirmation of her lessons. It was a personal note from McGonagall that stated Rebekah had been accepted for all of her choices but once she was at Hogwarts, she would be introduced on how to take them all.
Rebekah would have to get Aunt Petunia to sign it later in the summer. For the next two weeks, Aunt Marge would be visiting and Rebekah couldn't mention Magic or Hogwarts in front of her. Wizarding secrecy and all that.
She sighed as she opened all the gifts and sent a Thank You letter with each owl. She finished around three in the morning and decided to curl up in the bed with Emperor and Fidele.
In the morning, Rebekah was the last to get up. She sat between Dudley and Aunt Petunia as Dudley stuffed his face as he watched the brand new TV in the kitchen. Aunt Petunia buttered her toast and then passed another plate over for Rebekah as the young Witch went to the fridge and got the grapes out. She nibbled on them as the TV ran its latest story.
She began reading the Wizarding newspaper.
BLACK STILL AT LARGE
Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.
"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm."
Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis.
"Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, Magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it — who'd believe him if he did?"
While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the Magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.
". . . The public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hotline has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately."
Rebekah took one look at him and sighed loudly and for a long time. She had recognised him instantly, Hagrid had given her an album of her parents and there was a single picture of him in it. And then the Mirror of Erised showed his face, but he was much older now. Older and fragile.
"What is it, Rebekah?" Aunt Petunia asked and took a bit of her toast.
"No need to tell us he's no good," Uncle Vernon snorted, pulling down the top of the newspaper before flinging his hand towards the TV in a dismissive way. "Look at the state of him! Look at his hair! Filthy layabout. Hang on! You didn't tell us where that maniac's escaped from! "
"You don't have to worry about him, Uncle Vernon," Rebekah said.
"What do you mean?"
"He's like me," Rebekah flicked her wrist a little, showing off her wand charm. "The prison in question is very far away, somewhere in the north sea I think."
"Oh, good," He quickly changed the subject. "I'd better be off in a minute. Marge's train gets in at ten."
"Is Aunt Marge coming?" Dudley said, prying his eyes away from the TV.
"For two week," Aunt Petunia said. "We told her that you went to a prestigious academy in Scotland. She doesn't need to know about Hogwarts. Just keep Emperor away from her mutts, I don't know how they'll react to each other."
"Do either of you want to come for the ride?" Uncle Vernon yelled from the front door as he put his coat on.
"Can I?" Rebekah asked. At his nod, Rebekah slipped on her flats, smoothed her top into her jeans. She saw that she left one of her robes on the hangers. "Emperor, can you bring this up to my room? Aunt Marge doesn't need to see this. Also, can you stay in my room until I can introduce you to her and her dog?"
Emperor purred and flicked his tail as he laced the robe around his torso and made his way upstairs.
It took about an hour to get to the right station and Rebekah waited for Aunt Marge with her hands clasped in front of her. She was greeted with a large hug and a crisp twenty-pound note, just as every other time they hugged. Aunt Marge commented on the slightly messy bun Rebekah had, comparing it to her father's messy hair. Aunt Marge's bulldog, Ripper, decided to growl at Rebekah but quickly quieted when the young Witch gave the dog a firm glare and sneer before turning it into a smile.
When they got back to the house, Aunt Marge did the same to Dudley. She gave Aunt Petunia a kiss on the cheek as a greeting and Rebekah went to make tea.
"Here you go, ma'am," Rebekah placed the teacup and saucer in front of the large woman, she then made Aunt Petunia a cup and sat herself down with her own. Emperor waltzed in carefully, almost glaring at Ripper sitting by the woman. "Emperor."
"Who's this ratbag?" Aunt Marge said when she caught sight of Emperor draping himself across Rebekah's shoulders, the extra weight didn't hinder her movements.
"He's my pet," Rebekah sent an apologetic glance to Emperor. "I've had him for two years now."
"How did you allow her to get that thing, Petunia?" Aunt Marge scowled as the thinner woman raised an eyebrow.
"Emperor has been quite pleasant. We only see Rebekah over the summer breaks mostly, he stays with her at the school."
Rebekah excused herself, saying that she needed to feed Emperor. She didn't want to hear the conversations between the vile woman and Aunt Petunia. She had enough of that in the first eleven years of life.
Aunt Marge's visit was going to be over soon, thank Morgan. If Rebekah had to deal with that woman and the bad-mouthing of her parents for a single moment longer, Rebekah would snap.
"This Potter," Aunt Marge said at the last dinner of the week, pouring more brandy into her glass and still splashing some onto the cloth. "You never told me what he did?"
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia gave each other a tense look
"He — didn't work," Uncle Vernon tumbled over a thought, giving Rebekah a half glance, half glare, "Unemployed."
"As I expected!" said Aunt Marge, taking a huge swig of brandy and wiping her chin on her sleeve. "A no-account, good-for-nothing, lazy scrounger who —"
"Because he was from a wealthy family," Rebekah said suddenly. She had been staying quiet for the whole dinner, reciting Potion recipes in her mind to keep calm and collected.
"What?"
"I said, my father was from a wealthy family," Rebekah pulled apart a potato, trying to stop her temper getting the better of her. "He didn't need to work, he had plenty of money and it will go to me when I mature."
Aunt Marge began to hiccup as she shook off Uncle Vernon's demand for more brandy. "Proud of your parents, are you, Rebekah? They go and get themselves killed in a car crash," She turned around a little. "I expect they were drunkards, honestly—"
"They were not drunkards!" Rebekah snarled as she stood up from the table and made her chair fall back.
"They died in a car crash, you little liar, and left you to be a burden on their decent, hardworking relatives!" Aunt Marge swelled with anger. "You are an insolent, ungrateful little girl, Rebekah. Why don't you help out instead of being ungrateful little—"
Rebekah became hot with fury but she sneered as the woman began to swell.
Aunt Marge couldn't speak, the swelling didn't stop. Her whole body began to expand, her eyes bulged as her mouth was too stretched to speak properly. The buttons on her tweed jacket pinged off and hit the walls, echoing. Her already fat fingers were becoming fatter as Rebekah's anger washed over her.
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia began yelling as Aunt Marge's whole body drifted to the ceiling. She was plump and round now with beady eyes and limps she couldn't move very well. Ripper came rushing in and barked, leaping to Uncle Vernon and biting into his leg as the man tried to get Aunt Marge back into her chair. He was failing miserably.
Rebekah decided that it was a good time to leave. She made her way upstairs and quickly scooped her belongings into her pouch. She even put Hedwig's cage and Fidele's terrarium in, both of them levitated to the open bag.
"I'm heading out," Rebekah said, throwing her runed robe on, and then half lied. "I'll be staying with friends, I won't come back this summer."
"You need to fix her!" Uncle Vernon said and waved a fist under her nose. "YOU NEED TO FIX HER NOW!"
Rebekah just looked at it, unaffected, then shoved it out of her way. "Yelling doesn't scare me!"
She unshrank her wand and he jolted back. Aunt Petunia and Rebekah held an apologetic stare, she shook her head as the Witch left out of the door with Fidele on her shoulders, Emperor by her feet and Hedwig in the air.