It was still dark as the Slytherin team began to stretch their muscles awake as they walked onto the pitch.
"Five laps, people," Flint shouted, waving his hand in a circle with a finger. "You've got ten, Potter, for waking me up."
"Aww, you're only mad because I found you with miss Ravenclaw. She was very pretty," Rebekah smiled and quickly jumped onto her broom before Flint could catch her. He grumbled annoyed but he still smiled. She left them with a good laugh and zoomed around the pitch before Flint released the Snitch.
Quidditch went quickly. Even with the cold and wet air, it was refreshing to feel it rush against her skin. She missed this the most over the hot summer. Her skin moist with the dewy morning mist made her alert and awake. Adrenaline raced through her when a Bludger got a little too close.
"Aw, you'll catch up soon enough, Draco," Rebekah said and ruffled his hair as the whole team came into the Great Hall, halfway through breakfast. "Not all of us grow so slowly as you do."
"Shut it," Draco said and tried to stop his smile. "Not all of us are freakishly tall, Rebekah."
She faked a dramatic gasp. "How dare you! I'm only half a foot taller." She stuck her tongue out at him as they both took their places at the table. "Past the toast, please."
"For now," He said and the Rebekah took a piece of buttered toast and stuffed it in his mouth. She brought her own to her mouth before finishing it and sticking her tongue out playfully.
"Where were you two?" Daphne raised an eyebrow. Rebekah shook her head at her suspicious and gleeful look. Daphne backed off with a smile.
"Quidditch practise," Draco stated.
Rebekah reached all over the place, grabbing this platter, that plate, and the bowls. She filled her plate three times and finished it easily. She had Muggle Studies first and so she linked arms with Blaise as they trotted down the first floor.
"Good morning, good morning," Professor Charity Burbage said as the class wandered in. there weren't many of them, only twelve or so out of the forty students in their year. "Get your quills out, we'll be taking notes again."
The class sighed and silently took their quills and parchment out before taking their seats. Rebekah sat at the front but to the side furthest away from Burbage's desk and where she normally stood.
"Recap. So what is the reason for the Muggle use of electricity?" She asked the class. "Macmillian."
"Is it because they don't have the use of Magic and so they made electricity do things for them?" Ernest Macmillian said, questioning himself.
"Good, jot that down. Muggles cannot use Magic and so they made their own," The teacher said and smiled at the class. "Now, what is electricity?"
Rebekah rolled her eyes and didn't write it down. This class was boring but at least it gave her insight into the views of Muggles. It was an easy class and an easy Outstanding. Rebekah nudged Blaise as she passed a note.
"Miss Potter, since you can't be bothered to listen, answer my question," Professor Burbage thought she caught Rebekah out, perhaps she could give the girl a detention for not paying attention. "What is electricity?"
"Electricity is the process of charged particles, such as protons and electrons. The flow of these creates a vibration that is called energy, and that energy can be used to create electricity," Rebekah said. Dudley needed help over the summer with some of his homework, he asked Rebekah to help and she could only do that after reading the textbook he was assigned. "Instead of Magic, they use electricity to make things work. Because Magic is also a type of energy, electricity cannot work within its presence since Magic has a stronger magnetic field."
"Hm, good," She turned back to the chalkboard and began writing. "Today, we will start to explain the difference between our cultures. As Miss Potter and Mr Macmillian said, Muggles cannot use Magic and so made their own type of energy. Magic and electricity are both naturally occurring energies and both have to be gathered, in a sense, to create a reaction."
"But why can't Squibs use Magic but MuggleBorns can?"
"Um," Burbage said and sighed when Rebekah raised her hand. "Go on, Potter. Try and answer."
"Magic is within our genes, yes? That's why Wizards and Witches make other Wizards and Witches but Muggles make Muggles, usually. Magic would be a mutation within our genes, our DNA, that allows us to manipulate the energy that is Magic," Rebekah saw that they nodded, understanding so far. "Eventually, if a mutation occurs within a child that is supposed to be Magical, it renders the Magic trait dormant and so they can't access Magic, making a Squib. So when two Muggles have a MuggleBorn Witch or Wizard, some point in that each parent's lineage is a Witch, or Wizard, or perhaps a Squid, as each has a Magical trait but it is dormant. It sees the other Magic gene and so awakens the connection between the person and Magic. Does that make sense?"
Some of them shook their heads, making her sigh and rethink the conversation between her and the team during First year.
"So I've got green eyes. My Mother has bright green eyes, and my Father has hazel eyes, why do I have green eyes?" Rebekah tried.
"Because your parents had green eyes," Hannah Abbot said from next to Macmillian.
"My mum's parents both had brown eyes. Brown eyes are a dominant gene but blue and green are recessive. Recessive means that they need to be in pairs to occur and they don't always do. Think of Magic as a recessive gene within a Muggle but dominant in Wizards."
They nodded, finally understanding.
"Miss Potter, how do you know this?"
"Contrary to popular belief, I'm a HalfBlood, ma'am," Rebekah said and lifted her chin to look the woman in the eyes. "I was raised by my Muggle relatives when my parents died. I have been brought up Muggle and so I know about both worlds, now. My cousin goes to secondary school and he needed help with his physics homework."
"Then why are you taking my class?"
"Why not?"
Rebekah wanted to flop against the floor of the Chamber. She was exhausted from having seven classes today, then adding in Quidditch practise in the morning, and she wanted to pass out. She couldn't, she needed to relay the good news to the Basilisk.
"Come on out, Mr Slithers," Rebekah hissed to the open air.
"You know I hate that name, little girl," His voice made her jump as he slithered from one of the pools of water in the ground.
"And you know I hate being called little girl, Vibora," Rebekah retorted and stroked his scaly side as he slithered around her until she was encased in his form. "Anyway, I've got good news. I have spoken with Merchieftainess Murcus and she has agreed to allow you to swim in the Black Lake. Of course, you can't petrify any of the occupants including the squid and you can't go near the colony either. But she has said that if you desire to, you can swim in it whenever you want. There's some pesky Grindylows that you can eat."
"Thank you. I have missed the sun," His tongue came out to taste the damp Chamber air.
"I'm sorry that it took so long, I had to make an appointment with Merchieftainess Murcus,"
"What will you do when I die?" Rebekah paused her stroking, her hand froze against his warm scales as she tried to comprehend the sudden question.
"Why do you ask that so suddenly?" She said, regaining the movement of gently touching his body.
"I am no longer young, I have but a decade left, if that," Vibora paused, flicking the end of his tail as Fidele suddenly wrapped himself around it. "What will you do? Someone has to protect the students of Hogwarts."
"Easy. If you agree that is," Rebekah smiled faintly. "How hard would it be to hatch a Basilisk?"
"A fresh chicken egg hidden under a toad will hatch one such as myself," Vibora laid his whole body against the cool floor and placed his head near Rebekah as she leaned against his curled form. She pulled the Invisibility Cloak over her legs as Emperor sat next to her. "Though Salazar bred me from two powerful Basilisks of the time."
"And the time it will take until it hatches?" She asked.
"Ninety days, thirty for the chicken embryo to transform into a Basilisk one and then sixty days for it to mature,"
She hesitated to ask, not knowing if it would offend Vibora. "Would it harm me? I mean when it hatches, it wouldn't be loyal to me as it would be newly brought into the world with no ties,"
"I will conduct the hatchling education correctly, they will know right from wrong and friend from foe," Vibora sounded so hopeful, so kind. It didn't match the nature that the WIzarding World gave this Beast. "I hope to teach them that you know the best for their interest. It would be my honour to teach the snakelet before I die."
"I'll see to it that you raise the hatchling," Rebekah shrugged as several shivers went down her back. "Oo, it's getting cold. I best be getting back to my dorm. But before i do that, i don't know if it's rude or offensive, but can I get a few vials of your venom?"
His body vibrated, almost like he was laughing but snakes couldn't laugh, could they?
"You need but ask and I am willing to give,"
Rebekah smiled and pulled out several small vials and a few larger one. Vibora opened his mouth and Rebekah gulped, that was a lot of teeth. Several dozen teeth double-lined his mouth and made a pulse of fear quickly go through her. She was being irrational, Vibora wouldn't hurt her.
She brought the vials to each large fang and watched the slightly neon venom slide into the vials. She filled nine small vials and five large ones. She thanked him and climbed off, watching him disappear into a body of water to find the Black Lake.
"Pansy, stop spraying yourself in that dreadful perfume!" Rebekah shouted as soon as she got to the corridor that contained the Third year Slytherins. "You've made the hallway smell like you again."
Pansy popped her head out of her room, smiling, "Not my fault. Anyway, I dropped the bottle and it smashed."
"Just Reparo it and get the room aired out," Rebekah gagged as she opened her door. "You need a new perfume anyway."
Rebekah walked into her room and paused. Since when did she have three bookcases? When she got closer, she realised it wasn't just a bookcase. It had small dividers on each shelf, perfectly sized for small and large vials, including enough space for various ingredients.
She spent the next hour carefully placing each vial of every potion she had into the dividers. She kept at least three of each type of potion on her person, she didn't know if she would need them in the future.
Shifting to her lioness form when midnight struck, she walked the empty hallways down to Snape's office. A flickering light echoed beneath the door and so Rebekah realised that he was still in there. She pawed the door and smiled a smile only a lioness could do when he opened it and tsked.
"What time is this?" He raised a black eyebrow when she shifted back.
"I came back from the Chamber of Secrets an hour ago, I spent it organising my potions, sir," Rebekah said and pulled out a small and large vial of Basilisk venom. "I've got you a gift, sir."
He took it from her hands and looked it over, opening the top to smell it. "What is this substance?"
"Basilisk venom," Rebekah grinned and waited for his reaction.
"And how did you get it?"
She rocked on the heels of her feet. "You know how the Chamber of Secrets was opened last year? Well, I kinda…"
"Spit it out, Potter,"
"I kinda got the Basilisk onto my side and now he's loyal to me," Rebekah beamed a smile sheepishly as Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head slightly. "Oh, he's tame now though."
"Am I supposed to be surprised?" He sighed and then took a good look at the vial, inspecting the substance as it swirls around the vial with a slighter thicker consistency than water. "But i am surprised you have given me this. Why?"
"Because, sir, I wanted to thank you for telling me about my parents," She said and stiffed her back to continue. "Even if some parts were embarrassing and others humiliating, you told me the truth about my parents, about Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They weren't perfect people, unlike what most people tell me. They weren't kind to you, or any who opposed them. That last bit is what I share with them."
"Hm, I suggest you get back to your dorm before you get caught," He said and nodded to the door. "But thank you, Miss Potter."
"Not a problem, sir," Rebekah began to walk to the door and then flashed a bright and mischievous smile.
"And no slinking off to the Library, Potter," He had a self-satisfied smirk on his lips, approving. "Now scram and go to bed."