By the time the Care of Creatures lesson started, Rebekah was already bored. She already had her Muggle Studies lesson today, and she just wanted the day to be finished.
"I mean, what do they do?" Draco glared at the disgusting abominations that were Blast-Ended Skrewts. "What is the point of them?"
"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things — I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer — I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake — just try 'em out with a bit of each."
Rebekah stepped back from the crates with Pansy. She shoved the boys in front to allow them to feed the creatures. Hagrid saw this, kinda concerned by her actions. He knew that she should have been happy about new animals.
"What's Wron', 'Bekah?" He asked, standing behind her.
"You know I love animals, Hagrid," Rebekah said loudly as the Blast-Ended Skrewts rumbled in the crates. She pointed at them. "But even I won't go near these."
"…I reckon they're the males," Hagrid mumbled under his breath. "The females have got sorta sucker things on their bellies. . . . I think they might be ter suck blood."
"I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Draco rolled his eyes. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"
Theodore snorted before shucking a liver at him.
"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snapped. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"
"Kinda like you, Granger. Maybe not the useful bit. Can't be too careful these days,"
Hermione scrunched her nose up in rage and turned to Rebekah, almost signalling for the girl to rein her friends in. Rebekah snorted and also rolled her eyes, ignoring the Gryffindor's demand.
In Divination, Rebekah had the textbook wedged up on the table with another, smaller book hidden. As usual, the lesson was boring and Rebekah had to resort to doing something to keep her mind occupied for the whole thing.
Daphne jabbed her in the ribs. Rebekah looked up to see Professor Trelawny talking to her.
"…clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," She mumbled as she realised Rebekah wasn't gladdened by the news. "I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth. . . . Your dark hair . . . your mean stature . . . tragic losses so young in life . . . I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"
"I was born in July," Rebekah blinked.
Rebekah regretted taking this class now. Why would Trelawney think she was born in winter? With an ill-placed comment, Ron Weasley made Trelawney give everyone a lengthy essay to write that was due on Monday.
Arithmancy was like normal, not very interesting but enough to keep everyone's attention on their work.
FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.
Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.
"Look, there's even a photo!" Draco cackled, almost waving the newspaper around. "Tell me, Weasley. Does your mum actually look like that, or have they stretched the photo a bit too much?"
"Does your mum always look like she's smelling something bad, or is it because she was with you?" Ron retorted, going red with anger.
Draco sneered with an icy glare he learnt from Rebekah. "Don't talk about my mother, Weasley."
"Shut it then,"
Rebekah had stayed to the side, talking to Blaise about their Ancient Runes homework that was due in a month. She really didn't want to do it, it was a long essay about the four elements and how they correspond with certain star signs and how they could be used to deduce what era a rune came from.
"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"
"DRACO!" Pansy's screech brought Rebekah's attention to the wiggling white ferret who stood where Draco was originally.
She lurched forward as a laugh erupted from her chest. The animal quickly scuttered to where her foot was, clawing up her trousers to rest himself on her shoulder. Draco-Ferret, as she had now dubbed him, trembled and squealed loudly when Moody used his wand to levitate him in the air, several feet high.
"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back is turned," Moody snarled and made Draco-Ferret fly higher and higher into the air, completely helpless as his limbs flared with fear at the height.
Rebekah was flushed with anger. Her instincts went haywire as she heard Draco-Ferret scream in pain when he hit the floor. She couldn't just stand there and allow this to continue. The Witch unwrapped Fidele from her neck and gently laid him on Blaise's shoulder.
"Hold him,"
"Alright then,"
With a slight shiver of anger, she shifted into a lioness within a few steps. Rebekah leapt into the air as soon as Draco-Ferret got close to her, taking him by the scruff gently and out of the spell's hold. She stood in her Animagus form before Moody, swinging Draco-Ferret so he laid on her back with a squeak.
"Rebekah!" McGonagall called out as she ran down the marble staircase with an armful of books. She gasped. "Professor Moody!"
"Hello, Professor McGonagall,"
"What happened?" McGonagall's eyes flickered between Rebekah's animal ones and Moody's.
Moody's voice held no concern as he glared at Rebekah who gave him a glare back."I was teaching a student a lesson but she interrupted. Has she even been registered?"
Rebekah was careful as she shifted back, catching Draco-ferret before walking towards the fuming McGonagall. Her hair sashayed as she strutted, still angry and protective of the ferret in her arms. "I am. Professor McGonagall, I'm taking Draco to Madam Pomfrey, if that is alright?"
"Go on, Miss Potter," McGonagall nodded and Rebekah nodded back.
Madam Pomfrey was not happy about having to transfigure Draco-Ferret back into Draco. Rebekah still found it quite hilarious.
"Wands away, caldrons out," Snape snapped at the class as his wand revealed the writing on the blackboard. "I want four bottles of Shrinking Solution from each of you."
The class acknowledged the task and went to begin preparing to make the potion, lest they incur the wrath of Severus Snape.
Rebekah had realised that Snape used modified instructions long ago. Ever since she had gotten his old copy of Advanced Potion Making, she knew that Snape had modified many potions and so they worked better. That was one of the reasons he was the best Potion Master in the UK. she had written every modification, every little note into her own journals and memorised them all.
She opened the textbook to find the instructions were different from the board. She sighed and skimmed her eyes over the board's instructions:
Add five sliced caterpillars.
Heat till the potion turns red.
Shake the peeled Shrivelfig until it is ready.
Rebekah shoved her elbow into Draco's ribs and told him to follow the board instead of the textbook. Everyone in the group agreed, closing their own textbooks before starting their cutting of the caterpillars.
"I can't believe he turned Draco into a ferret!" Pansy gasped when Draco gave her a bitter look. Draco was still sour about being tossed around as a ferret and Rebekah wouldn't stop calling him Draco-Ferret.
"Well, I can't believe Rebekah's an Animagus!" Daphne gave Pansy a look. The other Witch shrugged but agreed. "How did you do it?"
Snape walked around the room as he checked that the students did the potions right.
"Sir helped me, along with McGonagall," Snape glared at her for a moment. "Sorry, Professor McGonagall."
"But becoming an Animagus is difficult!"
"You should know her by now," Tracey said, slyly smiling as she cut into her caterpillars slowly. "She will do it even if it should be impossible for our age."
"Well," Rebekah paused as she stirred her caldrons so the potion turned from yellow to turquoise to purple. She looked up as she added four rat spleens and minced daisy roots, turning it green. "What can I say? Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one."
"Yeah, but an Animagus? That's hard,"
"Truly," Rebekah did a half-smile. "It's not. The mandrake bit is difficult, it's absolutely disgusting. And the whole process is time-consuming but it's quite easily done if executed correctly."
"Can you teach us how to do it?"
"You'll have to ask McGonagall for help, it's hell if you do it alone. Especially the first shift," Rebekah almost finished her potion by adding in the last sliced caterpillar and heating it until it turned green. She began bottling the potion into eight separate bottles, placing four onto Snape's desk, two on his shelf, and two into her clutch.
Eventually, after Snape had confirmed her potions to be up to his standards, she was allowed to sit back and wait as the rest of the class finished off theirs. Rebekah sat on her stool as she saw that Neville's potion was about to erupt, but she was wrong. It didn't erupt, the bottom of the caldron melted into a gooey mess and stained the wooden desks.
"Potter, ten points to Slytherin. Malfoy, Greengrass, five points each for Slytherin. Granger, five points for Gryffindor," Snape pointed out as he tested each potion out of the four everyone made. "Longbottom, ten points from Gryffindor and detention with me. You should know how to not melt your caldron by now. Everyone dismissed. Potter, stay a moment. I need to speak to you."
"You're getting fat," Rebekah mumbled as soon as Paladin got into her line of sight. The young Basilisk was the length of a car now, and as thick as both of her forearms.
"Fat? I am growing!"
By the end of last year, Rebekah had completely transformed the Chamber of Secrets. It was no longer damp and dark. The strange slide/pipe had turned into a long, winding staircase that went deep into the ground.
The edges of the room had rectangular and circular pools of water that hid the pipes quite nicely, almost giving off a calm tone to the room. The pipes on the walls were covered with tapestries centuries-old that would move if one of the Basilisks needed to access them.
Rebekah had to shove some of the sofas and couches to sit in the middle of the room, all barely facing the statue of Salazar Slytherin's face, which had been lifted so that the whole body that sat on a throne-like chair showed. There were several low rising tables around the sofas, and even a low rising futon styled seating area. It was almost three metres by three metres, and easily fit Rebebah, Emperor, Fidele, and Hedwig.
Above everything, the ceiling was a clear dome that showed into the Black Lake. it glittered beautifully as the sky darkened completely and made the waters seem more murky than normal.
She was happy with how the Chamber turned out. It was no longer gloomy and moody. It was fit for the Heir of Slytherin and her friends now.
Rebekah lounged on the padded area, Emperor by her head so she could use him as a pillow. Fidele had already left to go and explore a bit more of the pipes of Hogwarts, and Hedwig didn't particularly like the Chamber.
"I know, I know," Rebekah smiled. "I'm only teasing. How's Vibora doing?"
"He's—He's getting worse," Paladin hissed. "I've been helping him hunt but he can hardly eat anything."
Rebekah sighed solemnly, her face blank and emotionless as slight sadness filled her. She knew this day was coming and it had been for the last two years. Vibora had warned her before he suggested that Rebekah hatch another Basilisk to look after the school.
She had tried to find a way to extend his life but even she knew that it was impossible. He was already a thousand years old and that was unusual for a Basilisk. There was a limited amount of time left with him, and Rebekah would spend as much as she could with him.
"Keep him fed, Paladin. I'll see to it that he's comfortable before he's gone," Rebekah slumped into Emperor with a slight groan. "We both know he's not got long now."
She stared off into the dark waters above her.
It was going to be a long year of waiting.
If there are scenes you want to see, just put them down in the reviews or PM me!
I do have somewhat of a plan, but these filler chapters are a pain to write.