Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Summary: What if Sirius Black had a daughter before he was imprisoned in Azkaban? What if young Melanie Black happened to end up in the same compartment as Harry Potter at their first trip with the Hogwarts Express?
How is it really to be best friends with The Boy Who Lived? And how does people treat the daughter of a notorious mass murderer? Melanie knows just what it's like.
This is the story about Melanie's fith year at Hogwarts with her friends Dave, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Love, friendship, betrayal, misunderstandings, tears, laughter, flying brooms and a little bit of magic. A lunatic Malfoy and a certain Umbridge woman causes trouble ... A completely ordinary teenage story, but it's not about anybody. Two Shades of Black is about Sirius' daughter Melanie Black.
A/N: Here's chapter two! Woah, I never thought I'd get any reader's and most certainly not based on just the prologue! So thanks, I really mean it! And it's because of you I finished this chapter so fast, so I hope you like it!
Otherwise, please comment if you find any grammar mistakes and so on. Enjoy your reading!
Chapter 2 – Secrets
Melanie Black shut her enormous trunk and with a soft snap it locked. She had been packing up and repacking all over again just to make the time go. She was not a person that sat around and waited. Two weeks of the summer vacation had gone by, and today, Melanie and her mother were invited to Melanie's best friend Dave Marcus' house for dinner. Melanie was also supposed to spend the night there.
Melanie straightened up. She was a slender, fourteen year old girl with rather long, dark hair and powder blue eyes. She had inherited her father's appearance, and if Melanie was proud of something, it was to be like her father. Even though she had only known him for just over a year she loved him very much.
Melanie felt alone and missed Dave, Harry, Ron and Hermione, although it was not long since they last met. Melanie was so used to be around a lot of people and so used to it always being something going on, so coming home felt empty. Owl mails had frenetically been sent between the friends but not a single one of the letters had been any interesting at all. They had to swear a solemn oath to not write anything important in a letter since the risk of owls being snatched was far too big.
Melanie fingered impatiently on a small, heart-shaped locket, hanging around her neck. The locket was worn, because Melanie had got it when she was born and it meant a lot to her. Inside the heart there were two moving photographies. One of her handsome father, with his long, dark hair flying around his face as he happily laughed at the photographer. The other photo was of her thin and pale mother.
A sudden wave of frustration hit Melanie in the stomach. Allison hadn't asked a single question about what happened by the end of last term, she hadn't asked Melanie anything about Sirius and not one single time had she sat down on Melanie's bed and asked her how she was holding up. Was she brainwashed by Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and thought, like everybody else, that Harry and Dumbledore were out of their minds? Did she even know that Melanie had reunited with her father and was regularly in touch with him?
Melanie sighed deeply and her wish since childhood, that Sirius would come and get her and let her stay with him, made itself acknowledged. As Melanie let go of the locket, a thought reached her. She was going to write to Sirius.
I'm going to Dave's. It's going to be nice to escape mom for a while, but I want to see you too. Can I live with you?
"It's for dad, make him answer. Later today I'm going to Dave's and I'm going to spend the night there. Just so you know where I am." Melanie tied the letter to Howie's leg and he took-off from her arm and flew out the open window. Melanie stood still and watched him until he was so small that he no longer was visible against the dark blue sky. It was a nice owl, she thought. Sirius had gotten the barn owl for Melanie prior to her third year at Hogwarts, but at the time she didn't know he was from Sirius because Sirius just broke out of Azkaban.
Time went on unnaturally slow and Melanie didn't manage to sit around any more. She jumped off the bed and tiptoed down the stairs with the trunk carefully trailing behind her. As soon as she sat foot on the ground floor she realised that something was not right. She stopped and listened. Voices. It was very hard to localize where the voices came from, since all four doors around her were closed. Melanie took a shot and opened the door immediately to her left; Allison's workroom. It was empty and quiet. Melanie frowned, she thought that Allison had a work meeting with someone from the Ministry and if so they surely would be talking in the workroom. Then who was Allison talking to?
Slightly hesitant, Melanie opened the door at the opposite from the workroom, and went through the small corridor which led to the living room. The next door stood open and Melanie was able to see a well known man's head in the flames, talking to Allison in low-voice. Melanie considered eavesdropping, since they appeared very furtive, but they had already noticed her standing in the doorway.
"Melanie! Nice to see you!" greeted Arthur Weasley cheerfully.
"Hello Mr Weasley", answered Melanie, but he'd already turned back to Allison.
"Well, I hope you understand the situation and what's ahead of us. However, I can't stay longer. Nice talking to you Allison." And with a meaning look, Mr Weasley disappeared. Allison turned to Melanie:
"Are you done packing?"
"I never even packed up", grinned Melanie. Allison nodded and held out the pot with floo powder towards her.
Soon Melanie stepped, slightly dizzy, into the Marcus' living room. She was greeted by Angelica Marcus.
"Melanie sweetheart, how wonderful to see you again!" she uttered aloud and gave Melanie smacking kisses on both cheeks. Her appearance was impressive, with her long figure and the chestnut brown hair tied into a knot on the back of her head. But her eyes were friendly and bright blue.
As soon as Allison stumbled out of the fireside Mrs Marcus swooped down on her too. While Allison got smacking kisses on both cheeks, Dave entered the room. He hadn't got his mother's height, he was about the same length as Melanie and his eyes were brown. Dave pulled his half-long, dark blonde hair out of his eyes and beamed at Melanie. Soon she was embraced in a brotherly hug.
"I hadn't lasted one more day", she mumbled in his ear and he laughed.
"You always last", he replied as his tall brother Oliver joined them.
"Hi Mels", Oliver grinned and shook her hand and gave her a welcoming pat on the back. "Dave missed you so bad", he added in low-voice.
"Shut up!" cried Dave and gave his brother a vicious box.
"Boys", said Mrs Marcus sharply. "Why won't you do something worthwhile instead, like helping Melanie with her trunk?" Oliver gave Dave a triumphing look when the three of them left the living room and took Melanie's trunk up the long, narrow stairs.
When they came back to the ground floor, they discovered that the kitchen was closed. Melanie, who always had experienced the Marcus' house as a very open and welcoming home, found the closed door very odd. Dave and Oliver seemed to be thinking the same, they exchanged skeptical looks and all three of them stopped and listened. When muffled voices reached their ears, Melanie felt an unpleasant jolt in her stomach because she remembered Allison's similar conversation with Mr Weasley. Something was not right.
Oliver fumbled with something in his pocket. After a couple of seconds he pulled out an entangled bundle of multicoloured strings, which took several, valuable moments to untangle. When he finally had three separate strings, he handed Melanie and Dave one each. Melanie stared bewildered at the long string, what was this for? Dave apparently thought the same because he gestured questioningly towards Oliver, who at first looked annoyed but swiftly he realised what Dave was getting at.
"It's a prototype of Fred and George's Extendable Ears", Oliver breathed, and put one end of his string in his ear and put the other end below the door. "Extendable Ears", he accentuated snarly when neither Melanie nor Dave understood. Dave shrugged and doubtfully followed his brother's lead. Melanie on the other hand, who trusted Fred and George, was not as hesitant to the multicoloured string she had put in her ear. She let it slide under the door and it wriggled away by itself, like a worm, a bit wobbly but at least it managed to get under the door.
Suddenly Melanie heard static, as if her ear had had a burnout. It was a bit unpleasant at first, but after a few seconds a voice interfered the noise. Melanie couldn't catch any words … a moment of silence … she barely dared to breathe.
All of a sudden she heard Mrs Marcus incredulous tone: "Grimauld Place?" Another moment of silence. "Of all the places in the world ..."
"You said it yourself honey, we don't have much of a choice." The Extendable Ear crackled as Mr Marcus moved around in the kitchen.
"But ..." Mrs Marcus didn't seem to know how to continue. "Horrible people have lived in that house!"
"Angelica …!"
"No offense, dear", added Mrs Marcus hastily.
"No no", murmured Allison. Another crackle as she went on: "Actually, Sirius would side with you." Melanie looked astonished from Dave to Oliver. What on earth were they talking about in there?
Mr Marcus cleared his throat. "I think Dumbledore knows what he's doing." Allison and Mrs Marcus fell silent and Melanie thought that they agreed. "I think we should get the kids", continued Mr Marcus. "The dinner's ready."
Melanie, Dave and Oliver jumped to their feet and sprinted into the living room, as fast as possible without making a sound. Melanie cursed inside while she took off and jumped over the sofa's back and landed on the mahogany brown pillows with a dull thud. Dave crashed down on her at the very same moment Oliver threw himself down in an armchair. Melanie tried to structure a we-have-been-sitting-here-all-the-time expression on her face.
Mrs Marcus stepped into the room. "Dinner's ready."
Oliver let out a low-voiced whistle as they went after Mrs Marcus to the kitchen. "Close call." Melanie sighed in relief and nodded.
"Melanie!" called Mr Marcus when she stepped into the kitchen. He was shorter than his wife and a bit chubby, but was never seen without the frisky glimpse in his dark brown eyes. Mr Marcus shook Melanie's hand. "Grand visit", he said with an eye blink and Melanie grinned. When he turned, Melanie could tell that his bald head was considerably larger than last time they met.
"Oliver!"
"Melanie, watch out!" She turned just in time to see Mrs Marcus avert a staple of dinner plates from flying straight into Melanie, with a sharp wave with her wand.
"Er … thanks", said Melanie, still with her eyes on the plates, which ominously enough still hung in the middle of the room. Mrs Marcus was busy giving Oliver such a scolder that Melanie thought his ears would fall off. Mr Marcus promised, with another eye blink towards Melanie, that he would teach Oliver a thing or two about household spells. Melanie couldn't help but burst into laughter. Soon the others tuned in and and Melanie felt the slight tension ease.
The rest of the evening went along without any more accidents and soon Melanie climbed after Dave, up the long and narrow stairs to the attic story. Oliver had turned around on the spot and Disapparated, saving several seconds.
"He does that all the time", muttered Dave. "Ever since we came home." Oliver had turned seventeen during his sixth year at Hogwarts and passed the Apparition examination.
"Slacker!" said Melanie.
"What did you say?" said Oliver and poked out his head through the doorway as Melanie and Dave reached the top of the stairs.
"Truth hurts, doesn't it, Oliver?" laughed Dave but quickly quietened down when Oliver gripped his neck and wrestled him down on one of the beds. Melanie just shot them an amused look, she was all drowsy from stuffing herself during dinnertime. Mr Marcus had outperformed himself with the delicious dinner, and that was a real achievement since he worked as a chef and a brilliant cook.
Melanie's gaze wandered towards the enormous windows and the amazing view. She had never slept in this room but she knew that when the sun rose, it lit up the whole space. The effect enhanced by the white walls. Melanie wondered whether Dave was jealous or not by the fact that Oliver had gotten the best room, since Dave's room was located on the other side of the attic. Melanie herself would gladly be waken up by the sun, it seemed good enough peaceful and serene. Not like all the times Fred and George had woken her up in the Burrow. Firecrackers and chickens in bed were far from peaceful.
"Hey, are you sleeping or what?" A pillow flopped down over Melanie. To be honest, one more second and she actually would have fallen to sleep.
"What am I supposed to do then, when you're over there cuddling?" Dave and Oliver threw each other horrified eye beams and increased the distance between each other with at least thirty centimetres. Melanie laughed, but suddenly she became serious.
"Grimauld Place, where's that?" Dave shrugged and Oliver shook his head.
"There's something going on", he said. Melanie thought it sounded very ominously.
"But what …?"
"Something they must keep secret from us ..." Oliver's tone was skeptical. In Melanie's opinion, the whole situation was very bizarre. Her mother couldn't possibly be involved in something secret, could she?
"Well ..." began Dave in a matter-of-fact way, clearing his throat. "Mum, dad, Allison, Sirius, Dumbledore ..."
"And Mr Weasley!" Melanie suddenly recalled her mother's mysterious conversation earlier that day.
"OK", continued Dave and looked thoughtful. "What if – Allison and Mr Weasley works together – what if they can't talk about it at the Ministry …!"
"'Cause the Ministry doesn't like Dumbledore", added Oliver.
"... and dad is still wanted!" Melanie's unexpected exhilaration mirrored back in Dave and Oliver's faces – she felt like a real super detective. But heavy steps in the stairs interrupted them. Melanie, Dave and Oliver stiffened and heard Mr Marcus stop and listened outside the bedroom door. Melanie didn't even dare to breathe until he had disappeared.
"What are your plans for today?" wondered Mr Marcus at breakfast time the next day. He put down The Daily Prophet while eyeing Melanie and Dave carefully.
"Well, we thought we should do some homework, you know ...", said Melanie with a broad smile. Mr Marcus threw his head back and laughed heartedly.
"Always the mysterious tone!" He chuckled heartily as Oliver came into the kitchen, yawning and with untidy hair.
"Look, here's my oldest son!" called Mr Marcus cheerfully. "Sit down, Oliver, sit down." He patted the chair beside him and waved his wand which made a plate of porridge appear. "Are you going to be as mysterious as those two?" By pretending to suppress another yawn, Oliver managed to raise his eyebrows towards Melanie and Dave on the other side of the table. Eventually he shrugged in reply to his father and grabbed a piece of toast with the porridge.
Once again, Mr Marcus burst out in laughter and his belly bobbled riskily. "Kids!" All of a sudden he became serious and lowered his voice as if he was afraid someone would eavesdrop on them. "But you better be careful, as you know, we live in dangerous times ..." He eyed all three of them carefully, as if to see if they understood. With an unpleasant jolt in her stomach, Melanie had a notion that Mr Marcus knew that herself, Dave and Oliver were onto them.
The silence broke by soft wingbeats, and Hedwig, Harry's snow-white owl, landed on the table. She had a letter each for Melanie and Dave.
What's going on, why isn't anybody telling me anything?
Harry
Dave's letter was identical. They couldn't do anything else but answer that nothing was going on.
"But should it be?" asked Melanie hesitantly and horrible pictures found their way into her brain. Family and friends attacked, wounded, gone … A sudden urge of guilty conscience hit Melanie, by the fact that Harry obviously was still locked up in his aunt and uncle's house. She added a couple "sorry"s and "if I could Apparate I would come for you right away" in her reply letter for Harry.
Melanie's question seemed to have started similar thoughts with the others because an alarming silence had fallen around the breakfast table.
"Has something happened?" Oliver asked his father in a demanding tone. Mr Marcus looked dumfounded for a moment, but quickly recovered.
"No, there's nothing you need to worry about", he said strictly and killed the conversation. The breakfast ended with silence and while up on the attic story, Melanie, Dave and Oliver separated in order to get dressed, the boys in Oliver's room and Melanie in Dave's.
It was a tremendously warm day and Melanie came up with the conclusion that she would wear a pair of jean shorts and her favourite tank top, which was striped in different colours. Problem was, the tank top was nowhere to be seen, so Melanie started to search for it in the gigantic trunk. This could take all day, she thought.
In that very moment, several happenings occurred at the same time.
Dave opened the door, but froze. Melanie realised she was only wearing a bra, yelled, and rushed for something to put on. The clothes spread all over the place.
"DAVE!" He slammed the door shut again and she could hear him shouting excuses from the other side. She now searched the trunk frenetically, and finally found what she was looking for.
"You can come in now." Dave looked ashamed and Melanie had to ensure him several times that everything was OK. She felt stupid for making him embarrassed.
"You know what, I convinced dad that –" Oliver became a question mark, figuratively speaking, when he saw them. He looked from Dave, who was leaning against the wall, looking shocked, to Melanie, who stood in the middle of the room with all her clothes scattered all over the place.
"What are you doing?"
Dave also watched the scene around him and seemed to lighten up – to Melanie's relief. He grinned at Oliver.
"What about it?" said Melanie. "I call it a horizontal wardrobe."
"Well, everybody else calls it floor", said Oliver with a smile. "But I was actually about to tell you that I convinced dad to let us spend the day at the lake!" He sounded as if he had achieved something very tricky and Melanie applauded him ironically. Oliver frowned. "It wasn't easy, let me tell you", he said and explained how their parents had had a hot-tempered argue whether the brothers should be home alone or not. It ended with a compromise; Mr Marcus stayed home the following weeks and he had kept them under carefully observation.
"Last night, for instance", said Dave.
Melanie shivered unintentionally at the feeling of the open and welcoming Marcus home she knew, slowly was about to change.
Nevertheless, within an hour they were on their way, carrying bags packed with delicious pies and snacks made by Mr Marcus. The once lush and vivid woods stood dry and empty. After about fifteen minutes of quiet walk, the trees thinned out and behind a thicket the small clearing, just over fifty metres in diameter, appeared. In the middle the little dark blue lake was located. On their right and at the opposite, the ground rose and in the distance the hills became mountains.
Their muted spirit changed drastically when the unfolded the enormous blanket in the moss and put down their bags.
"Slackers!" called Melanie, half-way into the water. All three of them had changed into bathing suits in the house but obviously Melanie was the one who fastest could rip off all her clothes. She threw herself into the water, it came as a nice contrast to the heat in the sun. Moments later she could hear splashes behind her; soon Dave and Oliver was beside her. They swum around a bit half-heartedly and splashed at each other.
"D'you think Harry meant You-Know-Who in the letter?" asked Oliver. He took a couple of swimming strokes with his eyes attached to Melanie and Dave. Despite he was serious, Melanie got the feeling that he'd been waiting all day to ask the question.
"Yes", answered Melanie determinately. "I also wonder what he's doing … The Prophet hasn't reported a thing."
"Oh please", spit Dave.
Oliver frowned at Melanie. "The Ministry controls The Prophet now, I bet Dave's wand" – Dave raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything – "Just think about all the crap they have been writing about Harry and Dumbledore."
"Then what about the Muggles?" wondered Melanie.
"No", said Dave. "I bet Oliver that the Ministry doesn't have anything on the Muggles." Oliver grinned.
"So, maybe they would report if something happened?"
"Yeah, Mels, maybe, but I'm pretty sure they haven't. Then Harry of all people should know, shouldn't he?" Melanie nodded thoughtfully and felt a strong need for information, to get the whole picture explained and be told not to worry. Dave usually was an expert on those things. She knew that he was thinking, he chose his words carefully, formularized his thoughts. That's how he was, Dave.
"He … I think that You-Know-Who wants to keep it secret … Wasn't that the aim when he came back?" Dave eyed them hesitantly. They hadn't discussed the end of last term, when Harry returned from the maze with Cedric Diggory's dead body and shouted that Voldemort was back. Melanie shivered unintentionally by the mere thought.
"He wanted Harry to die then", said Oliver in low-voice and Melanie swallowed. An ice cold stone sank deep in her stomach, and when she opened her mouth, it was only a whisper, barely audible:
"Not knowing is scary."
The rest of the day they carefully avoided topics for conversation which contained evil wizards and murder. It felt like everyone wanted to do the best of the day, since Melanie was going home on the afternoon. Melanie herself didn't mind, except the fact that she was going home.
Eventually the moment came, when Melanie sprinted around the attic story and threw all of her clothes and belongings back into the trunk. Meanwhile she wondered when they were going to see each other again, because first September was in Melanie's determined opinion far too late. They had however agreed to get in touch as soon as possible and was unanimous to find out more about their parents hush-hush. But since secrets were strictly forbidden in owl mail, they had another problem to solve.
"See you", said Melanie with a smile. She was standing in the living room, with her trunk in one hand and the other clasped floo powder. The whole Marcus family smiled back at her.
"You know I'm just an owl away", said Dave muted, he was standing closest to Melanie.
"I know", she mumbled before she threw the powder over the flames, which immediately flared up in bright green.
Dizzy, Melanie stumbled into her own living room. Mumbling voices reached her ears. She snorted testily, in a very Hermione-like way. Was her mother having another secret meeting again?
"Hullo, mum?" Maybe it was Dumbledore. No, that was to exaggerate a bit too much, Melanie thought to herself. Nevertheless all of her senses were uptight when she stepped into the kitchen. Allison was drinking tea and talked, gently smiling, to a man who sat with his back towards Melanie, she vaguely recognized the batted traveling cloak hanging over the back of the chair. He turned around and Melanie gazed astonished into the pre-aged face.
"Hello, Melanie", said her old teacher in Defence Against the Darks Arts, Remus Lupin.
A/N: First off, I must say that I love to write this in English! I don't know how or why but everything seems so much more alive than when I write it in Swedish. Anyways, as I said, this took a very short amount of time (and I thank all of you of course) but I just wanna give you a heads up that next chapter probably wont be done this fast. Bear with me, I'm writing when I have the time! :)
Don't forget to review!
/CH