The Ambitions Of Rebekah Potter

Chapter Four

They studied the night skies through telescopes every Wednesday at midnight, learning the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they studied Herbology in the greenhouses behind the castle, learning to take care of all the plants and fungi and learnt what their uses were.

Professor Minerva McGonagall didn't like Slytherins, biast towards her own house, but she tolerated Rebekah and praised her skills.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," She said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She changed her desk into a pig then back again. Rebekah wasn't very impressed by it, but it was not bad. Transfiguration wouldn't be a favourite of hers, she knew, but she would do well enough in it.

After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. Only Hermione Granger and Rebekah had made any difference to their matches. Professor McGonagall showed the class how it went well, and gave them a rare smile, though Granger's was warmer.

History of Magic was easy enough, she simply had to remember names, dates and what they did, much like her primary school. It was taught by a ghost, Professor Cuthbert Binns, that liked to start to mumble about irrelevant things that confused the students if they weren't listening properly.

The Charms teacher, Professor Filius Flitwick, was a tiny little Wizard too short and so stood on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and reaching Rebekah's name, he toppled out of sight with a squeal. Rebekah chuckled as he got up with a grunt of pain, hiding it behind the gasps of students.

The DADA teacher gave Rebekah the chills, not that she was scared of him, No. His demeanour wasn't right, his reactions weren't natural, unnerving her only slightly. The overall class was easy. She scribbled her notes using an emerald-cased fountain pen with black ink. Her peers started at her with jealousy, and she simply glared at them to stop. None of the professors told her off, because nowhere did it state that she couldn't use them.

Potions class was in the Dungeons and taught by Professor Severus Snape. Colder than in the main castle, but it was comforting because that was the way Rebekah was used to. After all her dorm was placed in the Dungeons, along with her house's dorms.

Snape started the class by taking the roll call, he paused at her name.

"Ah," He said softly, "Rebekah Potter. Our new celebrity."

"Present," Rebekah said and lifted her hand, just as everyone before her did. Her eyes held his gaze. "And I wouldn't say celebrity, people just know about me."

Snape finished calling the names without a fault and looked up at the class. Black eyes; cold; empty. They mirrored dark tunnels. If they were green, they would mirror Rebekah's.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," Snape began, silence ensured. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death. That is if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."