The Worst Summer of Her Life
The next morning, Becca walked down the stairs to the common room when she saw Hermione heading for the portrait.
"Hey Hermione, wait." Becca called out, Hermione turned, startled, but went over to Becca.
"Hey Becca." Hermione said quietly. Harry and Ron came down the stairs laughing at something.
"Hello girls, do you mind if we join you?" Harry asked with a smile. Becca looked at Ron.
"Of course we don't mind if you join us, its Weasley we don't want." Becca said, Hermione looked at Becca incredulously, Ron's jaw dropped to the floor and Harry looked from Ron to Becca.
"What'd I do?" Ron asked, Becca turned to Hermione then went back to Ron.
"You insulted Hermione, my friend, twice." Becca said, Hermione grabbed her arm. Becca turned to her.
"I'm your friend?" Hermione asked quietly, Becca smiled.
"Of course, well if you want to be." Becca said and Hermione nodded, Becca turned back to the boys.
"When did I have time to insult her?" Ron asked, Becca rolled her eyes. Harry just stood back.
"Once on the train, trying to impress us no doubt. Then again at the feast, you introduced me and Harry but you left out Hermione, who you also met on the train and who was sitting right there." Becca said, Ron looked at Hermione. He rubbed the back of his neck and avoided eye-contact with everyone.
"Look, Hermione, I'm really sorry about that. I was trying to impress Harry on the train and I guess I didn't notice you at the feast." Ron said, Hermione gave him a small smile.
"Good, now that that's over with, I'm starving." Harry said and they walked out together. Harry saw two blond boys in matching uniforms and pulled Becca up with him.
"Harry…" Becca started but Harry pointed towards Luke and Draco.
"Beccs we have to take a picture, Malfoy and Black wearing the same outfits." Harry said loud enough for the boys to hear.
"Funny Potter, you're not getting anywhere near me with a camera." Draco said as Harry and Becca smiled. They were at the entrance of the Great Hall. A blond slytherin boy, another first year, pushed past Becca to get in, only to find himself pinned to a wall with Luke's hand at his throat.
"Touch my sister again, you'll die." Luke said, the boy nodded and Luke let him down. He ran into the Great Hall, Luke straightened his robes. Ron looked equally scared and backed away from Becca, right into Hermione. He knocked her to the floor, Becca turned and pushed Ron. She helped Hermione up.
"Watch where you're going!" Becca yelled, she pulled Hermione into the hall. Luke and Draco nodded to each other.
"Ron, you might not want to mess with Hermione. Once Becca makes a friend, she'll do anything to protect her, one thing Becca values more than anything is loyalty. And you don't want to tempt the temper of Becca." Harry said and helped Ron up. Ron took a deep breath, and they walked into the hall. Everything went silent when they saw the two Slytherins being nice to two Gryffindors.
"Next time watch where you're going Potter." Luke said, Ron nodded.
"Why don't you?" Harry asked and the three boys wanted to laugh but just glared at each other while Ron looked scared. Soon they split up, Harry and Ron sat across from Becca and Hermione.
"Really? Your dad's an anamagi?" Hermione asked, her brown eyes soaked in everything Becca was saying.
"Yeah, but we have to keep it a secret because he's not a registered one. He turns into a black dog, he's really beautiful. He says when we're old enough we could become ones too." Becca said and Hermione smiled.
"Talking about Sirius already?" Harry asked as he started eating. Then the owls came in, Harry spotted his and Becca's owls right away. His was snowy white, he named her Hedwig, and hers was a black, almost purple owl, she named him Paddy after Sirius' nickname. They each got a letter, he looked over at the Slytherin table and saw Draco and Luke got some too.
"I bet he's missing us." Becca said as she read her letter, Harry smiled as he read his.
"Good old Sirius, told me to watch out for Snape." Harry said and Hermione pointed behind him, Harry turned around and came face-to-face with a tall, pale, greasy haired man.
"Mr. Potter, your presence is required in Dumbledore's office. You too Miss Black." Snape said and turned away.
"Was it something I said?" Harry asked, getting a small laugh from Hermione. He smiled sweetly at her, which no one noticed but Becca.
"Lets go Potter, Hermione save me a seat in Transfiguration." Becca said, Hermione nodded.
"Don't worry, I'll save you one too." Ron said, Harry nodded before he got dragged out of the Great Hall.
"So, what'd you think of Hermione?" Becca asked quietly as they followed Snape.
"She's cool." Harry said keeping his eyes in front of him, truth was he liked her, a lot. Becca smiled.
"Sure she is. I think she might like you." Becca said, Harry tripped on his own feet and fell to the floor. Becca doubled over laughing, Snape turned around.
"Potter, quit fooling around. I haven't the time for this." Snape said, Becca, still laughing, helped Harry up and they continued following him. They got to a statue and Becca was about to say something but Snape cut her off. "Lemon Drops." The statue moved and Snape motioned for them to get on the stairs, so they did.
"Dad said to make sure that we only talk about school things. I cant believe he would try and take you away from us." Becca said, Harry smiled and knocked on the door. They walked in and sat on the chairs.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Black, thank you for coming up." Dumbledore said with a smile, Becca looked around the room than her eyes landed on a phoenix.
"Wow, is that a phoenix?" Becca asked moving over to the bird.
"Yes, his name is Fawkes. Lovely bird." Dumbledore said, Becca nodded but continued to look at the bird.
"Sorry if I'm being a bit rude, sir, but what exactly did you want? I mean, me and Becca couldn't have got in trouble already." Harry said, keeping one eye on Becca and the other on the Professor.
"Very true, how are things going at home, Harry?" He asked, Becca moved back to Harry.
"Fantastic, but if you have no school-related issues with us, we have a class to attend." Harry said and Becca grabbed onto his arm when Dumbledore stood up.
"Very well, be on your way." Dumbledore said, Harry looked him over once more than walked out with Becca.
They walked into Transfiguration with only ten minutes left of the class. Harry sat next to Ron and Becca sat at the table in front of them with Hermione. Harry found his eyes wondering to Hermione throughout most of that ten minutes.
"Harry!" Becca hissed at him, it was nothing more than a whisper as McGonagall had asked him a question and he was just looking at Hermione. She quickly looked at Luke and he motioned to hit him by hitting Draco.
"Stop doing that!" Draco yelled turning everyone's attention to them. Becca hit Harry upside the head, he shook his head then looked at Becca.
"Stop staring at people and listen to the teacher." Becca said, Ron was laughing quietly at Harry and Hermione just turned around.
"Cat." Hermione said, Harry looked at her confused. "The answer, she can turn into a cat." Harry nodded understandingly.
"Right, thanks." Harry said, she smiled at him than turned back around.
"Now, Mr. Potter, what animal can I turn into?" McGonagall asked, Harry looked at her. Becca turned to Hermione.
"A cat." Harry said, McGonagall raised her eyebrows and looked from Harry to Hermione with a smile.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, please stay behind so I can have a word after class." She said, they both nodded. Harry threw his head on the table, Ron shook his head.
"Wait 'til Dad hears who got in trouble first." Becca said quietly, Harry's head snapped up.
"She didn't say we were in trouble, she just wanted a word." Harry said, Ron leaned forward to join their conversation.
"Plus Hermione is staying too, he cant be in trouble." Ron said, Hermione whipped around in her seat.
"And how would you know that? You don't know me at all." Hermione said, Becca looked impressed.
"I know you answered every question she asked, even if she didn't ask you." Ron shot back.
"And what exactly are you implying?" Hermione asked, Ron took a deep breath then looked over at Becca.
"Never mind." Ron said, Hermione turned around. Harry could see the hurt in her eyes, although you cant see it any where else, her eyes give it away. Everyone got up to leave and Harry moved to sit next to Hermione.
"I'm sorry about Ron, he can be a bit slow sometimes." Harry said with a soft smile, she nodded.
"No problem, I'm used to it." Hermione said with a sad smile. Harry looked confused.
"What do you mean you're used to it? Its barely been the first day of school." Harry asked, Hermione looked down at her hands.
"I didn't mean here." Hermione said quietly, Harry was about to say something.
"Now, I know Mr. Potter wasn't here when I transformed at the beginning of the class, so that brings up the question of how he knew?" McGonagall asked, Harry looked around.
"Lucky guess?" Harry said with a weak smile, Hermione looked at him.
"Nice try, Mr. Potter. Miss Granger, I do expect more from you though." McGonagall said and Hermione looked down again.
"Yes, m'am. I'm sorry, I just didn't want Harry to look stupid." Hermione said quietly, McGonagall gave a small smile.
"Off you go, Miss Black is waiting." She said and they both got up, Hermione dropped a book and Harry bent down to get it. Their fingers brushed as he handed it to her.
"Thanks." Hermione said and stuffed it into her bag. They walked out the door and met up with Becca and Ron.
"What's next?" Harry asked, Becca looked in between them with narrowed eyes.
"Potions." Becca said and they continued to walk, Becca pulled Hermione back so they were behind the boys. "So, what do you think of Harry?" Hermione smiled.
"He's cool." Hermione said and Becca gave a small laugh.
"Sure he is. I think he likes you." Becca said, Hermione tripped over her feet and her bag flew away from her. Ron turned around and laughed and Harry went to get the bag. Becca helped her up. "Sorry." Hermione sighed and took her bag from Harry.
"Don't worry, I trip over my feet too." Harry said, she gave him a soft smile then they continued on their way. Becca shook her head and laughed to herself.
The four friends fell into seats in the Gryffindor Common Room, exhausted. Harry and Hermione were on the couch and Becca and Ron were on the chairs.
"God that was tiring." Ron said as he threw his bag on the floor.
"Yeah, I wonder how everyone else is taking it." Becca asked, Ron closed his eyes. Hermione sighed.
"I just cant believe Snape gave us homework on the first day. I mean sure he hates me but he could have left everyone else out of it." Harry said, he looked over at the portrait and saw a swarm of people looking at the notice board. "Looks like something big is going on." Becca sighed and stood up, she made her way over there.
"Out of the way! Harry Potter's cousin coming through." Becca yelled, making the other three laugh. But, amazingly enough, it worked. She slammed herself back into her seat and smiled wickedly. "Flying lessons." Hermione visibly paled, while the two boys were almost jumping with excitement.
"I'm just gunna go do this essay. See you all at dinner." Hermione said quickly and ran off.
"So, Becca, what was your favorite class?" Harry asked bringing his legs up where Hermione was sitting.
"Charms, and don't tell me, Ron's is History of magic and yours is potions and Hermione's is Transfiguration." Becca said with a smile. "Hey Hedwig." Hedwig flew over to Harry and handed him a note, he found some food left over on the table and handed it to her. She flew away not taking the candy.
"Why didn't she take the candy?" Harry asked and threw it to Ron. Ron ate it and his tongue started growing, and it wouldn't stop. Fred and George came over laughing.
"Hello there brother, I'm glad you ate that instead of Becca." Fred said and smiled at Becca who stuck her tongue out to him. The four of them laughed at Ron and no one noticed Hermione was sitting by herself in the girls dormitories.
Soon it was dinner, Becca was waiting for Hermione and the boys had already gone. She finally got fed up and walked into the girls dormitory.
"Aren't you coming to dinner?" Becca asked, Hermione looked up from her essay.
"Yeah, sorry." Hermione said and they walked out together. Before they got into the doors, a group of Slytherins came up.
"Excuse me, royalty before filth." The leader, Pansy Parkinson, said and Becca moved out of the way.
"You mean age before beauty." Becca said, Pansy spun around to face them. Hermione looked down while Becca looked at Pansy. But Pansy was pushed into the Great Hall by her group. They sat at their usual spots, Hermione next to Becca and across from Harry and Ron.
"Nice to see you waited for us." Hermione said quietly, Harry looked from his plate to her.
"Sorry, I wasn't thinking." Harry said, Hermione and Becca laughed at him.
Pansy sat at the Slytherin table next to Draco and Luke. Draco noticed she was glaring at the brown haired girl, Hermione, and Becca.
"Stop staring." He said and grabbed a roll. She turned to him confused.
"What do you mean?" Pansy asked, Draco swallowed his food then turned to her. She was obviously waiting for something.
"Becca is no one you want to cross. Believe me she has many people who look out for her and that also means you leave that Granger girl alone too." Draco said, Pansy scoffed and continued glaring at the two Gryffindors.
"I'm not afraid of Potter or Weasley." Pansy said, Draco grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.
"Are you scared of me? If not Luke?" Draco asked, he had a fire in his almost silver eyes. Pansy was definitely afraid of Luke and Draco. Pansy sighed and went back to her food.
The four Gryffindors were oblivious to the conversation and were laughing at Pansy and Becca's little battle of wits.
"Harry, who sent you that note back in the common room?" Becca asked as she ate.
"Hagrid, he wanted to meet us. Sirius said he was cool but we should watch out 'cause he is very loyal to Dumbledore." Harry replied between mouthfuls, Ron was to busy eating to talk and would only open his mouth to shove more food in. Becca looked at Hermione's food, which she had barely touched.
"Hermione, are you okay?" Becca asked laying a hand on her shoulder. Hermione looked up and smiled at Becca.
"Yeah, just worried about the whole flying thing." Hermione said and dropped her fork.
"Afraid of heights?" Becca asked, Hermione nodded. "No problem, Luke is too. We should try and get you two out of it." She stood up.
"Wait where are you going?" Hermione asked, Harry watched it all but didn't say anything.
"To talk to Luke. I'll get him to come over here and we'll talk to McGonagall." Becca said and walked over to the Slytherin table, who all stopped talking to look at her. "What? Am I not allowed over here?" She made her way over to Luke and sat down.
"Becca." Luke said and turned to her.
"Well, you know how both our houses have flying lessons tomorrow?" Becca asked, he nodded. "I know you're afraid of heights and a friend of mine is too. So I thought we could talk to someone and get you out of it." Luke nodded. They both stood up and walked over to the Gryffindor table, who stopped talking.
"Do you have a problem?" Luke asked, he scared everyone.
"Come on Hermione. Oh, Luke my brother, Hermione my friend." Becca said causing both to smile. They walked up to the teachers table and stopped at McGonagall.
"Miss Black, Miss Granger, Mr. Black, to what do I owe this pleasure?" McGonagall asked, Luke looked from Becca to the professor.
"Professor, since Hermione and Luke are both afraid of heights, we were wondering if they could do something else instead?" Becca said confidently, McGonagall looked from Hermione, to Luke to Becca.
"Report to the library, at the time. I will check to make sure you are there." She said and the three walked away.
"See you Friday than." Luke said to Hermione who nodded and smiled. "Becca you've out done yourself once again." Becca smiled sweetly then he left to talk to Draco.
"Thanks Becca." Hermione said and Becca waved it off.
"So, when are we to visit Hagrid?" Becca asked, Harry looked at the note then back at Becca and smiled.
"After dinner. Do you both want to come as well?" Harry asked, Ron nodded and he looked at Hermione.
"Sure. I would've thought you would bring Lucas?" She asked, Becca laughed at the sound of her brother's full name.
"You're much better company." Harry said with a smile, Hermione ducked her head to avoid everyone see her blush.
"Nice going Potter, make her blush to death." Becca said as Ron joined in on her laughing. The other Gryffindors looked at the four like they're crazy. The four walked out of the hall not to long after that and over to Hagrid's. Becca knocked on the door but jumped back when she heard barking, Harry laughed at her. "Shut it Potter." The door opened.
"Hello there, you must be Harry." Hagrid said, Harry straightened himself up. Hagrid invited them in. Fang, a huge black dog, jumped up and started licking Ron. Harry and Becca laughed. They spent a while talking about classes and friends.
"Yeah, Snape has it in for Harry and Becca. But he cant take it out on Becca if Luke or Malfoy's around. Pretty funny actually, Becca'll say something about Snape and Snape'll shout at Harry." Ron said as he and Becca laughed.
"Yeah, its funny 'till he does it to you." Harry muttered, Hermione placed a hand on his arm then withdrew it when he looked at her.
"Be serious," Hagrid started but realized his mistake when Harry looked at Becca. "Why would Snape have it in for anyone this early into the school year?" Harry shrugged. Hermione jumped off her chair and picked up a newspaper clipping, Becca, Ron and Hagrid went on talking while Harry moved over to see what it was.
"Someone broke into Gringotts on the 31st of July, nothing was stolen though. The vault was emptied earlier that day." Hermione said, Harry looked at it.
"Hmm, same day as my birthday. Sirius always said Gringotts was impossible to break into to. Weird." Harry said, Hermione sighed and turned to face him.
"Harry, have you learned nothing? We're in the Wizarding world now, nothing is how it looks." Hermione said and put down the paper. Harry turned to see Becca looking at them.
"Someone broke into Gringotts on my birthday, nothing was stolen though." Harry said, Becca smirked and gave him a look that said I'm-sure-that's-what-you-were-doing.
"Well, you best get going now." Hagrid said and pushed them out of the hut. "See you around." He slammed the door shut in their faces.