Strangers Like Me

Melanie Tyrell is a shy girl who has never fit in at Hogwarts. However, after a series of unfortunate events, Mel makes a friend she never thought she would have. Throughout the year Mel makes close friendships, relationships, and starts to show of her adventurous personality more and more.

A MARAUDERS STORY

This is a marauders era story following an OC, Melanie Tyrell. It is a story of love, friendships, enemies, and adventures. This story also follows the events of the first wizarding war, and shows its effects on the students of Hogwarts.

"Melanie, hurry up!" my aunt Aubrey growled up the stairs. I could hear her stomping around on the first floor, clearly annoyed that I was taking so long.

This is one of the many reasons why I hate the mornings. Aunt Aubrey is always in a bad mood, rushing around trying to get to work. It's particularly bad today since I have to go back to Hogwarts for my sixth year.

Even when its an off day, and Aunt Aubrey doesn't have to go to work, or by some miracle isn't grumpy, I still hate the mornings. But I guess I bring that on myself when I stay up until 3 o'clock in the morning. It was pretty stupid of me to stay up so late last night, especially since I knew that I had to get up early today in order to catch the train.

There actually is no good reason for me to be staying up so late. I just love the nighttime. When everything is quiet and peaceful, and no one's around so you feel like you can do anything you want. I usually read during the night, or go on my laptop (I know, I'm a very exciting person).

Even though I'm a witch, my aunt is a muggle born. She actually grew up with an entire family of muggles, so she has a lot of muggle customs. Besides me and her, we are the only magical people in my family. Sadly for me, this means I never am around magic during the summer. Because of this, I get to have my own computer and read muggle books. I usually find muggle books more interesting than wizard ones. I love the feeling of getting fully immersed into a different world when you read, and you're so into it that you are completely unaware of anything else going on around you. Some of my favorite muggle books are when they try to write a story with magic in it. It's hilarious to see how wrong they get it.

Knowing Aunt Aubrey will murder me if I don't get started, I rush across the room, through the huge mess on my floor, trying to cram everything I have into my trunk. It's nearly full and I still haven't packed my school books yet. Finally, when I am able to force my trunk to close, I go over to my mirror to make sure I don't look like a complete mess.

I still scare myself every time I look in the mirror, due to my new hair. It used to be brown and wavy, until very recently. I died it blonde about a week ago, a light pale blonde. I wasn't actually planning to keep it when I tried it out. I was just curious about how I would look. It turns out that I can actually pull it off, so I have decided to keep it. I'm still not used to it though.

There are dark circles under my blue eyes from lack of sleep, and I curse myself for not going to bed earlier. I can't look like complete shit on my first day back at school. Not that anyone would notice anyways. I'm sort of invisible at Hogwarts.

I shouldn't act like I'm completely invisible. The Hogwarts bullies tend to notice me. And that, of course, makes me very happy.

Back to the point. You see, there are certain stereotypes at Hogwarts. I happen to fall under the category of that-quiet-Gryffindor-who-is-really-smart. That's all that I am known for. And I hate it.

It's not that I don't like being considered smart. That is something I actually pride myself on. It's just that being the quiet smart girl, I don't get many adventures at Hogwarts. Or attention for that matter.

There are many more stereotypes at Hogwarts. Everyone falls under a certain category. That's just the way it is.

First, we have the jocks, aka the quidditch teams. Everyone pretty much loves them. And I'm proud to say that Gryffindor has won the quidditch cup ever since I've been at Hogwarts.

We of course have the ravenclaw nerds, and then, surprisingly, the ravenclaw sluts. That entire house is basically split in half.

Then we have the popular girls, the girls that everyone wants to be. There's one in each house: Amelia Hewett in Gryffindor, Elizabeth Parker in Ravenclaw, Steph Meyer in Hufflepuff, and Carlie Reed in Slytherin. They all hate each other with a passion, always competing for who has the hottest date, the best outfit, or other crap like that. Everyone who hangs out with any of them becomes popular too. I personally think they are all morons. But that's just me. The rest of the school seems to obsess over them.

We have the Slytherin bullies. They all have death eater parents (although its not confirmed, everybody knows it). And we all know that that's what they are aiming to be once they get out of Hogwarts. Their targets are muggle borns mostly. I became one of their targets when I accidentally let it slip in DADA that my parents were muggles. The one time I decided to speak up in class, and it blew up right in my face. Figures.

And last, but certainly not least, we have the marauders. This is a group of Gryffindor boys who basically rule the school. Their names are James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They are all extremely smart, extremely good looking, and extremely confident. Peter Pettigrew is a lesser version of all those things. He's sort of seen as the marauder's shadow. Potter and Black, however, are extremely arrogant and overconfident. They tend to act like bullies sometimes. Every girl in the school fawns over them like their some sort of kings. I guess I can see why. Confidence is an attractive trait in a guy. I'm just not one of those girls who fawn over them because of it, nor will I ever be.

And although this isn't really a group, there is this one kid, Grace Grant, who knows everything. Literally. Nobody knows how, and nobody questions it. If you have an issue, you go to her and she'll tell you everything you need to know. It comes with a price. A big price usually. But I wouldn't know what she asks for. I've never talked to her. Partly because of my shyness, and partly because I get a bad and creepy vibe from her.

Everyone who doesn't fall into one of these categories, like me, is a nobody.

I sigh thinking of what's ahead of me this year at Hogwarts, and pick up my trunk to take it down stairs. Aunt Aubrey is going to be pissed. We were supposed to leave fifteen minutes ago.

I put my trunk down on the bottom step and go into the kitchen. I was about to eat my toast when Aunt Aubrey came in.

"You can eat that in the car. We are already running late." Then she proceeded to walk outside and slam the door on her way out.

Ugh. My parents were never this way. They were always happy and fun and, well... not like Aunt Aubrey.

I remember the day they found out I was a witch. They were so excited for me. They didn't stop talking about it for weeks. I smiled at the thought of them. Aunt Aubrey's reaction was different. After my parents died, I was forced to go live with the only other living relative I had left, which turned out to be her. Once she got over the initial shock of me being magical like her, she simply didn't care. She went back to treating me like she always had: just ignoring me.

I know it sounds like I hate my aunt, but I don't. Really. She can be a bit of a workaholic, and we rarely talk, but she's never (deliberately) mean to me. That, though, is as far as our relationship extends.

I grab my toast and my trunk and bolt out the door. I am finally ready to go to Hogwarts.

Platform 9 3/4 is always amazing. After going all summer long with no magic, it's odd to see everyone with their wands out, doing one thing or another. I walked through a thick cloud of smoke coming from somebodies wand in order to get to Aunt Aubrey.

When I finally get to her, we just stand there. After a few moments of an awkward silence, I say "Well... Bye."

She replies with a rushed "Goodbye Melanie"and then returns quickly through the barrier. No hug or anything. Not that I mind all that much. Just sometimes, it is nice to feel missed.

I sigh and head over to the train. I am running late, so it is very crowded. I have to squeeze my way by everyone who isn't in their compartments to get to my usual seat: alone in the back. I almost tripped a few times.

Suddenly, the train let out a 'choo choo' and lurched to a start. I was completely unprepared, and lost my footing and ran into the person in front of me.

Fuck. It's Jace Flint, one of the Slytherin bullies. He is glaring right at me, with a murderous look on his face.

"Sorry," I say quietly.

"Watch where you're going, you filthy mudblood!" he yells back at me.

"Don't call me that," I reply a little more confidently. Yes, I'm a shy person, but I am a Gryffindor. I have the ability to stick up for myself sometimes.

I could see him slowly reaching for his wand. Great. Now I'm going to pay for that. My wand was somewhere in my trunk.

"Hey Flint!" I heard someone call out. Jace heard it to, and turned around to see who was calling his name. I took this as an opportunity to flee. I walk all the way to my compartment without looking back.

I put my trunk down on the seat across from me, and put the cage with my owl, Sky, down next to me.

"Honestly!" I vented to him. "I only ran into him. Any sane person would have just let me apologize and move on with their day!"

Yes, I am talking to my owl. Don't judge me. Owls happen to be very wise creatures. Plus, I get sort of lonely when I don't have anyone else to talk to (its pathetic, I know).

After I finished venting, I pulled out my wand and starting trying out random spells I had read about over the summer. Some of them were pretty cool. If you pointed the wand at your head and said 'Wavario' it put your hair in perfect waves. Unfortunately, if you did it wrong, your hair would get really really frizzy, and would puff up to form an Afro. I learned this the hard way, which is why I only used it occasionally.

I decided to try it now anyways. After all, it's the first day of school. I point the wand at my head, and say clearly, "Wavario!" I wait a few seconds, hoping I didn't mess up, and am pleasantly surprised. My hair looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Throughout the train ride, I keep practicing stupid spells like that. Eventually, my eyes start to droop from lack of sleep, and I drift off unwillingly into darkness.

I usually try to stay awake during the train ride. One of my biggest fears is that I'll fall asleep on the train ride, and I'll miss Hogwarts. No one is ever in my compartment to wake me up, so I'm screwed if I fall asleep. I didn't have to worry today though. I was awoken in a most terrible way.

"Expelliarmus!" someone screamed. I jolted awake, terrified at what I saw. My compartment was packed with Slytherins, including Jace Flint, who I ran into earlier. With him is his entire posse. His twin sister, Aria, stood right next to him with an evil smirk on her face. Regulus Black, Severus Snape, Kate McBride (Jace Flint's girlfriend), and Justin Zabini are with them.

It was Kate who spoke first. "My Jace tells me that you knocked into him earlier today. You'll pay for that. A filthy mudblood like you must have given him all kinds of gross germs." The rest of the Slytherins laughed. I don't move. I can only stare at my wand, being clutched in Regulus' hand.

Those cowards! They must have disarmed me in my sleep. I start to panic. I am completely defenseless against an entire Slytherin crew. The evilest Slytherin crew, to be exact. There is no way for me to escape.

I remembered what they did to Mary MacDonald last year. She was in the hospital wing for an entire week, curtesy of the Slytherins. My heart is racing.

"I think we are going to have to teach her a lesson. After all, we can't have mudbloods thinking its okay to spread their filth on to those of us who are pure." said Aria. Then she motioned with her chin from Regulus to me.

With one swift motion, Black had me pressed up against him, with my hands pinned against my back at a painful angle. I let out a small scream. I knew there was no way out of this situation now. Black is to strong.

Jace Flint moved towards me. "You are Melanie Tyrell, right? I know who you are. Your parents were killed by the deatheaters last year on Christmas break. Got what they deserved, those pathetic muggles." He started to laugh.

I drew in a sharp breath. It was still painful whenever somebody brought up my parents. Especially in this type of situation. I have finally moved on from their deaths, and this was just a painful reminder of what happened.

Flint pointed his wand at me, and took another step. "What happened again? Oh yes, the muggles at Diagon Alley who were shopping with their mudblood children were all being tracked that day. By deatheaters. And then they were all murdered. I suppose you were the one who made your parents go to Diagon Alley with you. A muggle can never enter by themselves. So in a way it's your fault, isn't it." He smiled at the pained look on my face.

I knew the story well. I didn't need him to repeat it. And I certainly didn't need to hear him voice the one thought I had been thinking ever since my parent's death.

You see, it was two days before Christmas, and I wanted to visit Diagon Alley. I had never seen it in the winter before. According to the discussions I heard at school, it was beautiful around Christmas time.

My parents didn't want to go that day. They told me we could go tomorrow instead. They both had work that day. They were excited to see the wizarding town too, but they couldn't the day that I wanted to.

I remember feeling annoyed by this. It was Christmas after all. Couldn't they take a day off from work to be with their daughter? After endless amounts of begging, it still didn't work. So I came up with a dirty trick.

I told my parents that this was the last day Diagon Alley was open while I was on break. My parents had no connections to the wizarding world, and had no way of knowing that I was lying. They believed me, and after a few phone calls, they both got off from work for the entire day, and we were ready to go.

We were having a great time together in Diagon Alley. I was showing my parents all the magical stores, and they were so excited over the smallest things. I felt no regret for the lie I told them.

Later on that day, I had to go to the bathroom, and I stupidly left my parents in the middle of the alley while I went. Who would leave their muggle parents in the middle of a wizard alley during a war? Clearly I wasn't thinking.

When I came out of the bathroom, it was like an entirely different place. That beautiful, magical alley covered with snow and sparkly lights was gone. It was dark and scary. Everyone was screaming. Children were crying and confused, not knowing what was going on. I was confused too when I came out. That was until I saw hooded black cloaks and people in masks. That's when knew. That's when I knew my parents were in danger.

I ran through the crowd as fast as I could. I vaguely noticed that I was stepping over dead bodies, dead muggles, to be exact. When I got to my parents, I was right on time. Right on time to watch them both drop to the ground, dead.

It took me forever to get over their deaths. I remembered being depressed, feeling lost. It had never fully hit me that there was a war going on until I actually lost someone from it.

Even after I finally moved on from their deaths, it still haunts me today that I am the cause of their death. I know that I am, and I'll never be able to make up for it.

No, I am not depressed anymore, but the fact that I caused their deaths still makes me feel pain.

"It wasn't my fault," I said weakly, in a small voice.

"Sure it wasn't." he replied sarcastically. He raised his wand, opened his mouth, about to cast a spell, when the compartment door banged open.

"What's going on in here?"

So, I know that was a sort of boring and short chapter, but it was necessary to introduce Mel. I hope the ending makes up for it.

So what do you think so far? How do you like Mel? Who do you think came into the compartment at the end? (Hint: I know you are probably thinking it is a certain group of people, but its not. It is one individual person).

Anyways, since this is chapter 1, I'd really appreciate it of you left a review! I promise I will try to upload the next one as soon as I can!