"Whaddaya want?" I mumbled into my pillow as my mom shook me awake the next morning.
"The train leaves in two hours..." she said, walking out of the room.
I popped up out of bed and quickly go dressed. I shouldn't have stayed up so late... "So tired," I mumbled, grabbing my umbrella, trunk, and Bodoujn's cage – in which he'd already walked in and lay down to sleep. "Good for you, you get to sleep," I groaned at him.
Bodoujn meowed sleepily and I made my way down the stairs.
Mom, Jim, Gerald, Nick, and Blake were awake downstairs.
"Are you all coming?" I asked.
Each of them nodded.
Mom explained. "Your grandparents said their goodbyes last night, so they're going to sleep in today. Jim will be driving, Gerald will be in the passenger seat, I will be in the back seat with Blake on my lap next to you and Nick. It might be better for me to sit in the middle for Blake's safety... we all want to see you off."
"Wow, even you Gerald?" I asked with a smirk.
He scoffed but didn't answer.
I giggled, "Love you too, uncle."
We squeezed into the car the way mom had planned it. Apparently, Jim really wanted to drive just so that he could practice driving on the left side of the road. It was typical for his level of curiosity. I used to tell him that he might as well be the male version of Alice in Wonderland.
As he drove, he asked, "Does it really matter to wizards if you're a – a Muggle, is it – or a Muggle-born wizard or witch?"
"Yes," I responded. "To many, it is of the utmost importance, and that's just Slytherin House for you. It's mainly comprised of Pureblood students who don't think Muggle-borns should be considered witches or wizards. They can't do anything to you in an open environment – like King's Cross – but they will do their best to insult you."
"Huh..." Jim said. "Fascinating."
I snorted and gave a small choke of laughter, "Seriously? I tell you that you'll probably be insulted, and you think it's fascinating?"
He chuckled, "How insulted am I really going to be? It's not often I'll be insulted by a real wizard just because they think they're better than me."
I shrugged, "Whatever keeps you entertained."
We drove in silence for a few minutes. Gerald started tapping the dashboard with his feet.
"Will you stop that?" mom asked him irritably.
"I'll stop when -"
"Orele, do you think Nick will be a wizard?" Jim interrupted quickly.
Mom hesitated. "I think it's possible. But he might not... for years, I was hoping with all my heart that Melody wasn't a witch. She wasn't showing any signs, but she was surprisingly able to keep her magical abilities a secret until I told her I was a witch." Mom stared off into space, stuck in a memory. "Though the Ilvermorny School is in America... Hogwarts had always been like home to me."
Jim's smile was sad. "When did you meet Blake's father?"
"You're having this conversation now?" I asked. "Don't ask about him now."
Mom laughed. "Melody doesn't particularly like him. He was in love with me back when we went to Hogwarts. We were engaged before I broke it off with him."
"Try this," I said, disgust in my voice. "Not particularly liking him doesn't cut it. I absolutely despised him! No one liked him unless they only paid attention to his looks and that included Becky. Do you know how excited she got when you named Blake after that git?"
"The man's name was Blake?" Jim asked.
"Blake's full name is Blake Gilderoy Lockhart... take off Blake's first name, and that was the simple name of that idiotic man."
"Melody, calm down. And stop gossiping," mom said.
"Psh! That's not gossip, that's my opinion."
"So..." Jim said. "What happened to him?"
"He lost his memory. He'll be spending the rest of his life in St. Mungo's so that he's not a danger to himself or anyone else," mom said, giving me a dangerous look to keep me from saying anything else.
We reached King's Cross Station and hurried out. Mom grabbed a trolly and we placed my stuff on it.
"Where is this platform nine and three quarters?" Jim asked.
"Melody!" a voice called. I turned around to find Lissy running toward me – on her trolley was her suitcase and the owl I got her, sitting in his cage rather peacefully. "Thank goodness I found you!" She was out of breath and looked as if it was a great relief to see me. "I don't know where platform nine and three quarters is! I asked a security guard and he thought I was playing a joke on him!"
I pointed to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. "You have to run through that wall... makes it hard to get to if you're a Muggle. And you have to make sure to go fast so no one sees. Here –" I stood a few feet away from the barrier, looked around quickly, and ran at the barrier, going through to the other side where platform nine and three quarters materialized.
Lissy came through soon afterwards, her eyes had been shut tightly and when she opened them her mouth dropped wide.
We waited while everyone else came through, standing underneath a wide balcony out of the rain.
"Melody –" Lissy started to say, warning in her voice.
Arms suddenly wrapped around my waist and spun me around in a circle. I gave a freaked out shriek, surprised my new Sight didn't warn me, but when I heard the laughing I laughed too. "Marcus!"
He put me down. I turned to look at him. He had coarse black hair, was quite tall, was relatively muscular, and had large teeth. Some people seemed to believe he had troll blood in him but in any other thoughts he was quite handsome.
"It's so good to see you!" I said, stroking his cheek.
"Two and a half months without you is way to long," he moaned, bending down and kissing me on the lips.
"Uh... ugh," I heard Lissy groan.
Marcus and I laughed.
"We should postpone it for a bit," I said with a chuckle, moving away from him to suddenly see Jim at my side. "Uh... oh! Um, Jim, this is Marcus. Marcus this is Jim... my stepdad... Oh and Lissy...! Introductions are over with..." Melody, you fail at introducing people…
Lissy giggled and Marcus gave Jim a curt nod... thank goodness I'd told Jim earlier about Muggle status with my friends, otherwise he'd have held his hand out for Marcus to shake. That wouldn't have ended well.
Marcus and Draco knew about Jim. It was nice that Marcus was being at least partly civilized, surprisingly.
Mom came over with Blake giggling under her arm, and Gerald with Nick at his side. They bade me farewell as Draco and Becky came over to us – bickering as usual.
Vincent and Greg were also with Draco. They, and Marcus, helped Lissy and I get our trunks into a compartment. I waved goodbye to my family and went into the train – our compartment being on the other side away from the waving families. Anyways, we wouldn't have been able to see them through the rain on the windows.
In the compartment; Vincent, Greg, Becky, and Lissy were on one side while Draco, Marcus, and I were on the other – in order from one side to whoever was next to the window. We left the door open to let the air flow through.
Draco was telling everyone about how Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were coming to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament. I didn't really listen until he came up to a part I didn't know. "... Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the Headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore – the man's such a Mudblood-lover –" Becky and I kicked him in the shins rather hard, so after a pained pause he continued. "– and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother 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 defense rubbish we do..."
Under 'Alastor Moody' we will, I thought wryly.
"What's a Mu –" Lissy started to ask, having not entirely listened to what he said.
"Shh! Don't say it..." Becky said softly.
"It's a really foul name for someone who's Muggle-born," I told her. The boys knew our discomfort with the word but sometimes lost their state of mind. They knew how we felt, but they didn't really understand.
"Oh..." she said softly.
"So, Draco..." Becky said, rather mischievously. Draco buried his face in his hands and Lissy looked up curiously to see what was going to happen. I winked at her. "I was wondering... what do you have against trees, I daresay? Just what did that one tree do to you to deserve such a fate?"
He looked up from his hands to scowl at her and me, Lissy laughed uncontrollably. "Melody! Why did you tell her?" Even Marcus couldn't control his laughter... Vincent and Greg just didn't know what was going on – as always.
"I thought we could all do with a laugh on this train ride – come on, admit it, it was kind of funny that your wand just hit an unexpecting tree..." I said.
He dropped his head into his hands again and then suddenly sat up straight to look at me again. "Did it make the newspaper?" he asked.
"Did what make the newspaper?" I asked.
"When you fixed up Krum's nose after the World Cup, of course!" he said.
"You did what?" Marcus and Becky asked at the same time. Marcus was in pure excitement and Becky was just confused – she didn't know any infamous Quidditch teams.
"The Bulgarian Seeker's nose was broken after a Bludger smacked him in the face. Draco got him to trust me enough to fix it up. I doubt it was in there – I never looked for it... Here, Draco give me your Viktor Krum model... are you going to use it?" I said.
Draco shrugged, taking out the Viktor Krum model and holding it out to me on his hand. The model walked to the edge of his fingers and onto my outstretched hand. "It got boring after a while."
"Then here. Lissy take out your Firebolt – and after the demonstration both models are yours."
Lissy handed me the Firebolt model, and I placed it in the same palm as Viktor Krum. When he saw it, he grabbed it and actually flew around the compartment with the same agility as the real Viktor Krum. She stared at it dreamily.
"Viktor is Bulgarian – apparently he'll be at Hogwarts this year because of some Tournament, as Draco said, from Durmstrang." I said.
Lissy smiled.
Later on in the day, the compartment across the hall opened to loud chattering. Harry, Ron, and Hermione occupied it, and visiting them were their fellow Gryffindors Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom. Ron had also gotten a model of Viktor Krum, and as he showed it to Neville – who'd missed the World Cup – Draco, Vincent and Greg stood and went over across the hall.
"We saw him right up close, as well," Ron said. "We were in the Top Box –"
"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley," Draco drawled.
"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy," Harry said coolly.
I stood and closed the compartment door, shaking my head. We had all gotten into our Hogwarts robes earlier so we wouldn't have to worry about it, so I knew those three wouldn't be back anytime soon.
When the Hogwarts Express finally slowed down, it was pitch-dark outside. I duplicated my umbrella so everyone would have one, except Marcus shared with me.
We went outside to be caught in a downpour of rain and wished Lissy good luck. While we rode in a carriage, she went with the rest of the first-years to go sailing across the lake with Professor Hagrid
When the gate was in sight, we watched everyone ahead speed to the castle in excitement for getting dry. "Am I the only one who thought to have an umbrella in my suitcase?" I asked aloud, to no answers.