10: Guilt
"Well, you're very good as a beater." George complimented as Mel and the rest of her friends headed back to the Gryffindor Tower to clean up before lunch.
"Yeah, and, if you want, you can play against Slytherin next Saturday." Angelina said. Mel smiled, thinking it over.
"If you think I'm good enough for Slytherin, I've heard rumours, that they're good." She replied, unsure of her talent.
"Yeah, they're good." Katie said, "But we're better." Mel laughed.
"I suppose so then. You'll still be here won't you?" She asked her brother.
"I think so, I might be able to get some of the other members down; I'll talk to Dumbledore. I best do that now. I'll see you later." He gave his sister a quick hug, then jogged off to find Dumbledore.
"Look who it is." A voice sneered from the right of the group. All of them turned at once and saw the entire Slytherin Team stood there – including Draco. He caught Mel's eye and gave her an apologetic look. He didn't want this.
"What do you want?" Harry asked fiercely, he clearly wasn't in the mood for this.
"On our way to practice actually Potter. But we don't really need to because you don't have a full team so you can't play next week." The Captain replied.
"I think you'll find we do." Ron told them.
"Who?" It was one of the beaters.
"Melissa's playing beater." Angelina replied, sounding proud. The Slytherin team laughed, even Draco. This hurt Mel because she thought that he didn't want the rivalry.
"You know better than I do that girls can't be beaters." One of the other team members laughed.
"Well, we'll see on Saturday, won't we?" Mel finally spoke up, glaring at Draco before walking away. Her team mates following after her.
**Draco's POV**
Draco watched as Melissa walked away from him and felt a pang of guilt. He shouldn't have laughed with his team, but he knew that they would give him a hard time if he wasn't fully on their side, especially for the game. Sighing, Draco followed as his team walked to the Quidditch pitch, laughing and joking about Melissa being beater on the Gryffindor team.
**Melissa's POV**
As Mel entered the Common room, she changed then went back down, slumped into a chair and sighed. She stayed there as everyone else changed and headed to lunch.
"Aren't you coming Melissa?" Hermione asked. Mel shook her head.
"I'm not hungry." She lied.
"Ok. Well, come done if you do get hungry." She replied, walking away reluctantly. When everyone was gone, Mel fished in her pocket for the note that Draco had given her. She unfolded it carefully and read it out.
'Melissa, meet me at the lake after dinner
xDx'
Crumpling the letter into a ball, she threw it into the fire and watched as it burnt. She got up out of her seat and walked up the stairs to the girls' dorms until she found a window. Mel sat on the ledge and stared out, watching the Slytherins fly around the pitch practicing. Mystery walked up to her and jumped on her lap. Mel looked down at her and stroked her aimlessly.
"Why do I feel this way, Mystery?" She asked her cat. Mystery just looked up at Mel and meowed. "I know he's a Slytherin but he was so nice to me and now he just agrees with all the other Slytherins. He doesn't think that I can play as beater but I know I can. Yet, as much as I should hate him, I don't." She told her cat, looking down at her as she lay in Mel's lap.
"You know, talking to animals only works if it can talk back." A deep voice said from by the door. Mel's head shot up and she saw a tall man. His hair was dark and shaggy, as if he hadn't combed it in a while.
"Do I know you?" She asked, he seemed familiar but she just couldn't place it.
"Melissa?" He asked. Then it clicked.