The Ambitions Of Rebekah Potter

Chapter Nineteen

They were dropped off at Platform nine and three-quarter at precisely half ten. Rebekah shoved most of her unnecessary belongings in a trunk and Hedwig's empty cage sat on top of the trolley. Emperor trailed behind her as Hedwig sat on her shoulder.

Everyone made their way down the hallway of the express, wanting to get the same carriage as they did last year. They opened it and found three older years there, making a lot of noise but silencing when the doors opened.

"What do you want?" One of the girls snarled. "Go away."

Rebekah and her group stood shocked for a moment.

"She said go away!" Another said, snorting a little too hard. "Did you see Burke's hair? She tried to bleach it the Muggle way and it turned ginger. Ginger! And no amount of charms can fix that rat's nest."

The last girl stood up and glared at the group of Slytherins. "For fuck's sake. What do you want? An autograph or a photo or something? Can you just leave already?"

Farley quickly came out of her compartment next door. "Why are you yelling?"

"Fuck off, Farley," The main girl said. "It doesn't concern you, just get these kids away from us!"

"Come on, I'll take you all to the main carriage," Farley gestured. "You don't want to be bothered by such riffraff as them, eh? No point tryna get through their heads that they ain't that important, not like you, Potter."

"Eh, what? Which one of them is Potter?"

"Well, you won't find out," Farley said and escorted the group to an open carriage. There were several booths placed against both walls with a walkway between it. The windows were large and the curtains were completely open. On each side, there were four booths and Farley walked up to one of the middle booths, making the teens that sat there move.

"Sit," Farley said and then turned to the booth behind them. "Oi, Fabius. Look out for Travers, Hopkins and Corner from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. I have a feeling they'll try something with these lot."

When they arrived at Hogsmeade station, carriages were pulled by Thestrals and two of them dragged the carriage right up to Rebekah. It was the mated Thestral pair from last year and they looked healthier than ever. The female sneezed into her face again while Rebekah's friends yelled for her to get in. The night was clear so the carriages were roofless and they could admire the sky.

Rebekah left Hedwig's cage with her trunk, telling Hedwig to get comfortable at the Owlery while they waited for dinner to finish. She would find a way to get Hedwig into her dorm room with Emperor and herself; she didn't like having the owl so far away from her.

She wasn't far from the entrance of the Great Hall, not even a few metres away from where she saw a purple-red flash. Emperor jumped in front of the light and his body collapsed suddenly, twitching as his shaded fur slowly fell off in clumps. One of the young Gryfinndors saw and screamed as Emperor's naked limbs turned into a mist.

"What is it, Miss Brown?" McGonagall appeared from beside the screaming girl pointing at Emperor. "Oh, dear. Everyone in the Great Hall, take your seats, students. Miss Potter, stay."

Everyone trailed past Rebekah as she made her way to McGonagall. Emperor began to lose even more fur and it fell off, disintegrating as it reached the floor. She was angry, very angry but she was more concerned about Emperor for the moment.

"Oh, what happened to him this time?" Kettleburn said as he came out of the hall, taking a good look at Emperor.

"Not Quirrell or a bludger this time," Rebekah said, quickly quieting her tone. "I saw a purple-red flash from one of the students, they aimed for me I think but Emperor sensed it and stopped it."