Chapter 1: Melody Dreams

The dream starts off creepily enough. A girl looks on in confusion as a man she only recognizes as her father walks into a destroyed house. He seems to be pleading with a giant of a man to give him the bundle in the giant's arms.

"He's my godson, James and Lily would have wanted him to have come with me and my daughter."

"I have my orders from Dumbledore to take little Harry to his relatives. I don't know the plans. Talk to him about it later..."

The scene changes as the giant leaves and her father looks on in despair. Now, it's a crowded city street and she sees not only the man she knows as her father, but she sees her baby self and another man.

"Peter, how could you tell Voldemort about where James and Lily were? They were always there when no one else would be! Now, not only are the dead, but little Harry has to grow up with those monsters known as the Dursley's!" her father yelled at the other man. "Remus, James, Lily and I trusted you!"

The other man, Peter, didn't say anything, but seemed to have a calculating look in his eyes. The baby looked on in confusion before starting to sniffle a bit.

An idea flashed in the other man's eyes before he yelled out "Lily and James dead! Sirius, how could you!" And before Sirius could do anything, Peter put on an evil smile before cutting off his finger and causing an explosion, covering up his transformation to a rat. Something started burning her left shoulder and...

Knock, knock

A pair of stormy, grayish blue eyes shot open at the sound at the door. The person outside waited a moment before shouting in.

"Arion Black, wake up. Someone is here to see you!" the person on the other side yelled in before walking off.

Eleven year old Arion Black let out a sigh of relief. She had been deep into another nightmare when there was an explosion, screaming, and a pain in her left shoulder. Getting out of bed, Arion grabbed a faded pair of jeans and an old red T-shirt before running a hairbrush through her shoulder-length black hair. Running into the bathroom while pulling on a pair of old sneakers, she brushed her teeth and ran down to the main office of the orphanage.

When Arion got there after crashing into five other kids, she saw the owner was talking to a stern-looking older woman.

"Ah, hello Arion. This is Professor McGonagall who works at a boarding school in Scotland. I'm just going to leave you two to talk," the owner said before leaving the two to study each other.

'Well, the girl certainly favors her father in the looks department,' Professor McGonagall thought.

"Hello, Professor. I'm kinda confused about why I've been chosen for going to this boarding school. Especially since I can't afford it," Arion told McGonagall, looking confused.

McGonagall dug into her purse at her side before pulling out a letter from her pocket labeled to 'Miss Arion Black Room 13 Liverpool Orphanage, England" and handing it to the person it was addressed to. "Maybe you should read your letter before asking any questions and I'll answer them."

Arion took the letter, noting the thickness and feel of the paper. She ignored the brief pictures that popped into her head of an old man with twinkling blue eyes talking to an angry man with dark hair and eyes. Opening it, she took out the paper inside and a look of comprehension dawned on her face as she came to the end.

"So, I'm a witch?" Arion asked for clarification. Before McGonagall could answer, Arion continued. "That would explain a few things..."

"Like what?" McGonagall asked.

"Oh, a couple of times when a kid here has made me angry their hair has mysteriously turned to a different color. I can also change the color of my hair and eyes," Arion said before demonstrating, turning her eyes green and hair red before going back to the natural gray and black. "I can also see, when something has been written in ink or lead, a scene of when the letter, report, or whatever else it could be when it was written after touching it. Sometimes, though very rarely, I can see some things from a person's past, but only if I have some sort of connection to them before I shake their hand. Like, if there's someone I met when I was younger and I shook their hand for the first time in a few years, I can sometimes see what has been happening to them. But, I usually see it in dreams," she finished.

McGonagall was slightly shocked to say the least. How could this girl, especially one the wizarding world had been looking for, have completely escaped the radar having that sort of magical power? "Well, if you want to, we can go and get your school supplies for Hogwarts," McGonagall was able to get out calmly enough.

Arion frowned. "How am I supposed to get my stuff if I'm completely broke?" she asked.

McGonagall sighed. She was not looking forward to telling this young girl what happened a decade before. But, she knew that Arion would have to be told before she entered the wizarding world. Because if it was a sink or swim situation when she entered, without knowing what happened, there was no way that she could do anything but sink...

A/N: I have a bad updating habit (look at my other stories...), but I have liked this one so far and plan on working on a couple of my other ones later. This is, however, the first Harry Potter story I have put up. Not the first I have written, though. If you want to give ideas for the story, feel free. The next chapter is almost finished, just a couple things to touch up on. I'm also moving soon, and won't have internet access for anywhere from a couple days to a couple weeks. So, ta ta for now!
Oh, and I'm curious as to if anyone can guess where the title comes from...

Updated May 28, 2007: I read through this last fall and found a few typos that I just never corrected. Sorry! Some things might make more sense now that Sirius isn't "pleading with a giant of a man to the giant…"

Oh, the title (since no one wanted to guess…-sniff sniff-) comes from her name, meaning "With Melody" and the fact that it starts off with her dreaming.