The Ambitions Of Rebekah Potter

Chapter Fifty Three

The Hogwarts Express whistled as the group boarded it.

"If you need to get the dress adjusted before the ball, just owl it over and I'll have Madam LeLon do it," Mrs Malfoy waved her hand and gestured to the train. "Go on, I have brunch with Pansy's and Daphne's mothers. Say hello to everyone for me."

The group sat back in their two tables in the carriage. Tracey Davis had incorporated herself into the group and sat with Theodore, Pansy, and Daphne on the other table, while Blaise and Draco sat across from Rebekah with Emperor and Fidele.

Draco drawled on about how he didn't like how DADA was being taught,

"...Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts. He knows the headmaster, you see. You know his opinion of Dumbledore, and Durmstrang doesn't admit Muggleborns or the like. But Mum didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defence rubbish we do..."

"Lucky them," Rebekah muttered, looking outside the rain stricken glass window. "I still can't believe that we'll be hosting Durmstrang and Beauxbatons this year."

"Well, I'm very happy, Rebekah," Pansy leaned towards her, a sly smile on her lips.

"Yes, because we'll be having foreign boys staying with us," Rebekah also smiled warmly. "Please don't scare them away, Pansy."

"I won't,"

"Or invite them to your dorm,"

"That was once!"

The group laughed as Pansy turned pink.

"He was cute, I'll give you that, but I did not need an image of you naked," Rebekah faked a shudder before smiling amusedly. "I've seen two of you now."

"Who else did you see?"

Rebekah's eyes travelled to Draco who had a light blush on his cheeks. The group burst with a laugh again.

Rebekah had missed this over the summer, a decent laugh with good friends. It had been a while since all of them were together. Uncle Vernon had been very grumpy all summer and refused to allow her to visit any of them. And after the Dark Mark, Rebekah was cautious to visit any of their homes. She had already asked if their parents were okay.

The rain was harder than Rebekah thought possible. Even with the Umbrella Charms, it didn't completely stop the rain from hitting the group. They only needed it long enough to get into the carriages before they were under the safety of the roofs.

The stone flooring of the Entrance Hall was soaked with rainwater that dripped off the students' robes. Many people slipped as they tried to get into the Great Hall for the Opening Feast. Even with the rain, there wasn't an inch of mud anywhere.

"ARGH!" Ron Weasley screamed from one side of the Entrance Hall. Rebekah stopped and so the whole group did, matching her as she turned to watch Peeves the Poltergeist throw another water-filled balloon at him, Hermione, Lavender Brown, and Seamus Finnigan.

The bells on Peeves' hat were silent as he floated upside and threw another balloon at a group of third years. It exploded over them and drenched them in murky rainwater Peeves somehow collected.

"Peeves, come down here at ONCE!" Minerva McGonagall was pink with anger as she yelled at him. "Peeves, get down here now!"

"Not doing nothing!" Peeves cackled before throwing another at a group of Fifth-year girls who screamed and darted into the Great Hall "Already wet, aren't they?"