Chapter 2
Breakfast and revelations
Rhiannon immediately went to the large bathroom that was now only to be used by her, since there were no other Seventh year's around.She poured some SuperBubblePotion in the hot water. She stepped into the tub and slid into the soft, creamy bubbles. How she enjoyed being caressed by the hot water. She closed her eyes and started to think about a strategy to get her mother to tell the 'ginger-secret' as she had already started to call it in her mind. Perhaps it was not even a big secret – she herself enjoyed chocolate biscuits. She didn't really know why, it had something to do with the crunch of the biscuit and the soft creaminess of the chocolate – she was fond of anything creamy now she thought of it… Her father enjoyed all sorts of sweets, but not Bertie Bott's Many Flavoured Beans. He told her he once had tried one and it turned out to be vomit-flavoured. Poor Pops… Rhiannon took a deep breath and pulled herself underwater. All she now heard was the noise of her blood streaming through the veins of her ears and her heartbeat. When she was running out of breath, she came up again. She washed her hair and dried herself with soft, fluffy towels before getting dressed.
The sun was out, so she had decided on light lavender robes and gone downstairs to have breakfast. She felt lonely as she sat down at the end of the table. None of her friends were there. She picked up a piece of toast and buttered it. A little First year girl accidentally dropped her teacup, which shattered on the floor. The poor thing looked close to tears when Rhiannon took her wand out and mumbled 'reparo'. Instantly the pieces were fit back together. She took another bite of her toast and glanced at the table where the teachers were all sitting. Headmaster Dippet was talking to her old Potions professor. She got a wink from Mr. Transfiguration himself and she smiled back at him. She looked away and poured herself some tea, relieved that she was perhaps lonely, but not alone.
She recalled being a First Year and how she had been just as excited as all the other children. She had always lived at Hogwarts, but never had she shared her room with other girls. She had once put 'a brother or sister' on her list for Christmas, but her mother had told her that was probably not going to be fulfilled. She had received pair of roller skates instead and she had been pleased as punch.
Again she looked up at the table and found her mother looking at her. How beautiful her mother still was, her black hair and bright green eyes, the way she held herself. At the moment she was smiling at her and a blush covered Rhiannon's cheeks. Quickly she looked back at her plate. She had found it difficult to share her parents with so many other children and being unable to call them Mum and Pops in public. They had been happy about her scores on the exams, but a bit disappointed about the scores in DADA and Transfiguration. She had told them that it is difficult to keep your mind on two things: learning two extremely difficult subjects without killing someone in the process and trying to remember not to call her parents by name. They had nodded and her father had enveloped her in his strong arms. "We are sorry…" her mother had said, her voice shaky. Rhiannon was alright with it, she knew that her life would always be a bit different from the lives her friends were leading. She extended her arm to get some scrambled eggs and buttered another piece of toast. This afternoon, her mother would be all hers. A bright smile appeared on her face, making her father at the teachers' table a little less worried.