Chapter 1; Moderato

"Ravenclaw!"
Melani was relieved. She always knew that she belonged there, but was nervous about it nonetheless. Now, thankfully, she had nothing to worry about. She bounded over to the table with a spring in her step, taking an open spot near the end that was virtually empty except for a few people.
"Welcome! My name is Cho Chang and I'm a second year," a cheerful Asian girl with straight black hair whispered to her happily.
"Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only Asian," Melani said under her breath just as Jenifer Gretchen got sorted into Hufflepuff.
Cho let out a giggle which turned into a coughing fit when some people near her looked at them harshly.
A different girl with somewhat wavy blonde hair cut in a bob style, freckles dotting her face and bright ocean eyes ran over and sat in the spot to the right of Melani.
"I'm Elise Harper and I just got sorted! Who are you?" Her waves bounced with her excitement.
"Melani Gerisha, nice to meet you," She smiled, admiring the charisma in Elise.
"Cho Chang, but I'm a second year," she smiled too. It seemed that Elise brought an energetic atmosphere to both girls when she bounded over here.
Elise smiled along with them, but then sat attentive when Dumbledore stood.
Melani looked down the long Ravenclaw table, noting on peculiar people that stood out, then glanced over to the other House's, barely listening to the headmaster. Behind her was Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, and in front of her was Slytherin, which Melani could tell by the banners with their respective house colors above each table. Hufflepuff had a handsome boy who looked somewhat like he was distant from everything. Gryffindor had the largest collection of redheads Melani had ever seen and a peculiar scrawny boy with round glasses who looked a bit like the famous Harry Potter.
It was when she glanced at Slytherin that she went rigid. A boy with platinum blond hair was staring at her, and when he caught her eye, just smirked and whispered to a heavy-set boy with a bowl haircut next to him. He then turned to stare at her again, smirking like an idiot. She sent him a confused look and, in return, he winked at her then turned his attention to Dumbledore.
Her heart skipping a beat, Melani turned to now look at the long teacher's table to distract her from the boy. There was a frail looking man with a turban, a tight faced woman with a bun and a look that screamed "don't cross me", a very very small teacher, and a somewhat scary-looking teacher with greasy black hair, waxy-looking skin and a prominent hooked nose. "Definitely Slytherin," Melani muttered to herself as she assessed the last teacher. She saw Elise out of the corner of her eye frown, then turn back to Professor Dumbledore, a very old looking wizard with half-moon spectacles.
Suddenly, massive amounts of food appeared in front of her. Cho started to pile her plate, and Elise followed en-suite. Melani blinked, then decided she was hungry and started serving herself too.
"I wasn't listening," Melani confessed as soon as she started on a particularly greasy looking chicken. "Did he say anything important?"
Cho choked back a laugh. "Not really." She was picking her way through a lamb leg, slicing it carefully with her knife.
Elise frowned again. "Why weren't you listening?"
"My mind just... wandered... and I was looking around at the other tables," she said, remembering the platinum blond boy with the smug face.
Elise then smirked and wiggled her eyebrows. "I saw you staring at that Malfoy boy," she said, almost accusingly.
Cho's face twisted into a look of disgust.
Melani was taken aback. "What?! No! I... I don't even know what he looks like..." She inwardly pleaded that he wasn't the cocky blond that winked at her from the Slytherin table.
"The whole rotten lot of them are pompous blond gits that think they can brag about their 'pureblood' status, even though it isn't the 19th century," Cho spat out with vigor. It was clear she despised the Malfoy's.
So that's who he was. The Malfoy heir.
"That's Draco?" He was the opposite of what she pictured him as. She was fairly sheltered as a child, and lived far into the rolling hills of Northern England, which kept her from other wizards and witches her age.
"The one and only," Elise grinned. She sighed, staring off into the distance. "If only he didn't have such a thick cloud of admirers, maybe I'd have a chance," she said dramatically, holding her hands to her heart as if she were a lovesick teenager.
Cho looked like Elise had just confessed to kissing a spider. "Wait, you like the bloke?!"
Elise's grin widened. "Who wouldn't like such a powerful man?"
"I believe the coming of age is seventeen, not eleven," Melani muttered darkly under her breath. So far, she disliked Draco based off of Cho's outburst.
Cho barked a "HA!" and continued to bad-mouth the blond. "He's like a scrawny chicken! If he's a man, then Cedric Diggory's a god!"
Melani didn't even want to ask who Cedric was.
Just as Elise was going to defend Draco, the food had disappeared and Dumbledore dismissed them soon after. Unsure of where to go, Elise held her tongue and both her and Melani followed Cho. They went to the west side of the school and started to climb a long flight of stairs. Melani's feet began to hurt when they got to the top. They were then herded in, and Melani got a glimpse of a bronze knocker before being pushed into a large room.
She was stunned. It was a huge, well-furnished room with large windows and beautiful blue and bronze decor. Across the room was a marble statue of a lovely women, which was in front of a detached semicircle. The walls were lined with bookshelves and torches. But what caught Melani's attention was the sloping dome-like ceiling. It was midnight black and sprinkled with twinkling stars. She recognized several constellations before fixing her attention on an older girl with mousy straight brown hair pulled into a braid. Unfortunately, it seemed that she was done speaking, and everyone moved past the statue into the semicircle, which revealed two corridors, one to the right and another to the left. Before she could think about it, Elise dragged her down the right corridor, which led down the tower. After passing five doors, they bid Cho goodbye as she went into the sixth door and then walked to the very last door.
It revealed a circular room with five four-poster beds, all decorated with blue and bronze with large cases at the foot of each of them. The beds were on one side and the fireplace was on the other. The walls were lined with bookcases and desks, and windows exposed the light of the nearly full moon into the room.
There were probably other girls, but Melani didn't pay much attention, as she realized she was prone to doing. She recognized her trunk, covered in scratches, and ran towards it. It was in front of the last bed in the row. Elise was on the bed next to her in her pajamas, absentmindedly swinging her legs.
"Oooh, that's a pretty necklace!" Elise stopped swinging her legs and pointed at Melani's chest. Melani, out of habit, placed a hand on her chest and felt the familiar chain beneath it. Running it down the chain, her hands stopped when she felt it.
It was a charm that Melani treasured greatly. The charm was a tiny violin with an attached shoulder rest. It was extremely detailed and had authentic-looking strings on it.
"That's such a cool charm! Can you play?" Elise's mouth was hanging open in shock.
Melani nodded. "My parents gave this necklace to me on my eighth birthday, right after I started my lessons. I've been wearing it everyday since."
Elise was still in awe, as if she couldn't comprehend that Melani had played for so long. "Do you... do you think you can play for me sometime?"
Melani grinned slightly. "Maybe. Depends on if I get my hands on mine sometime soon."
She didn't like lying, especially to people she just met. But her parents strictly told her to keep it a secret from everyone in school. They had even went through the trouble of getting her a high-quality Muggle one so it wouldn't react as badly to the charms they had to put on it to shrink it so small. She fingered it almost nervously, even after Elise had already changed the subject, thinking quietly about the small violin.
Melani changed into her sleepwear, shoved her robes into her trunk, and fell onto her bed. She said her good-nights to Elise, and shut the curtains. The lights had gone out, and Melani was enveloped in darkness.
She felt for her violin again and sighed. Turning on her side, she wondered how exactly she was going to pull it off without getting caught. She needed to find a secret room... maybe the legendary Room of Requirement her brother had talked about...
Sighing again, Melani gently placed her charm on the set drawers next to her and closed her eyes, falling to sleep almost instantly.