The Ambitions Of Rebekah Potter

Chapter Twenty Eight

"I swear you get a new pet every time I see you," Uncle Vernon muttered after she came out of the wall and saw Fidele around her shoulders. "Is it poisonous?"

"No, he's a ball python," Rebekah said as the two got into the car. Emperor sat in the back with Hedwig in her cage, both completely silent. "His name is Fidele and he's peaceful. He needed to be rescued else the other students would have killed him. Most of them have a big fear of him but he's harmless unless I say otherwise."

"Mmm, good," He said and began to drive the journey back home. "What will he eat though? I don't think he'll be able to eat your diet, can he?"

"No, he wouldn't be able to, Uncle," Rebekah said as the two laughed. "I'll see about getting food ready for him. I'll probably let him out in the garden and he'll eat all of the rodents. It'll save Aunt Petunia's flower bushes at the same time."

"Your aunt will be happy about him then, the damned rodents keep having her rose rushes for breakfast, lunch and dinner," He tapped the back of his hand on the wheel. "And now they won't be a problem and we can stop paying for the exterminator."

"There might be a few owls coming just before Christmas," Rebekah said and saw Uncle Vernon's hands tighten a little. "I have told my friends to keep the owls unsuspicious and only send the gifts. I'll talk to them after the holidays."

They arrived home and Aunt Petunia was waiting by the front door, giving Rebekah a quick hug before rushing her in at the sight of Fidele. She had to place her trunk on the base of her bed, barely fitting it under it. The terrarium Rebekah had asked Aunt Petunia to buy was sitting in the corner of her room, completely bare so Rebekah had to take her time to add the right substrate, water bowl, and heating pad to one corner.

Rebekah went and got changed into a sapphire blue dress as Uncle Vernon said they were going out for dinner.

"If you eat Hedwig, I will make sure that you eat frozen mice!" Rebekah pointed a finger at Fidele as he slowly lifted his head in the terrarium. "I will leave the top off but I don't want to find a dead owl, capeesh?"

"Of course," He hissed, giving the hooting Hedwig a dirty look. "I will not eat the bird, else I will eat dead mice."

"Good," Rebekah smiled.

Tonight would be a full moon and she had to keep the Mandrake leaf under her tongue for a month. She was not looking forward to this long month. Spicy food it was, she looked at the fancy menu and went for the dish with plenty of heat and spice.

The Yule holidays went quickly, thank Merlin. Rebekah quickly realised that the Mandrake leaf added a very bitter taste to food so she had to counter it each time she ate, resulting in her making food for herself more often than Aunt Petunia did.

The day after Boxing day, a letter came through the post. The letter itself was written on parchment with beautiful calligraphy writing that was still legible.

Hello Rebekah,

I do hope your holiday has been pleasant with your family, they are such pleasant people.

I have spoken with Draco and he finally seems to understand what he did to hurt you. Even with my Black Family heritage, I am much more open about MuggleBorns in our society than my husband is. You have started to open the eyes of your friendship group, I never thought that they would be so open-minded about MuggleBorns and HalfBloods as much as they are.

Daphne and Blaise have both completely refused to speak to Draco until he apologises to you in person. I have never seen him so flustered since his childhood. Even Theodore Nott and Pansy refuse to, their families are usually the one with the most extreme views on MuggleBorns. Only Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe would owl and stay at the manor with Draco.