Harry Potter and the Mysterious Sibling
Chapter Ten: Christmas Dream
Winter was finally taking autumn's place. Snow layered up onto Hogwart's grounds until the younger students had to find an already made path to get outside without being buried alive. The temperature dropped considerably and suddenly, catching some unaware by giving them colds.
Melanie was the only person in the castle who didn't seem to get sick, which Hermione thought was due to her fire powers. The people that didn't know about her powers were completely at a loss at how she could go out in short sleeves, looking no more than slightly chilled.
"I think the professors expect me to drop dead whenever I go outside," she remarked to Hermione the day before Christmas.
Steadily, the Great Hall had been filled with various decorations and pine trees. Each table also had a tree at the end of their table, so there were five trees with strange decorations.
The Weasley twins had even managed to put a firecracker at the top of the Gryffindor tree, warning people that if it was moved in the slightest, it would be set off. Needless to say, the Gryffindor tree was approached with caution. The other seven trees had various items on them, looking more like proper Christmas trees than a shelf for kids to put their unused items.
"Well, you should at least wear a sweater if you don't want anybody to notice."
She pouted. "But then I'll feel too warm."
"What? I thought you were controlling it."
Melanie cursed herself for letting that slip. It seriously confused her as well, and she didn't feel like being the subject of Hermione's examinations about why this was happening.
"Er… Yeah, I mean-"
"You mean you can't control it?" Hermione looked like she already had a dozen theories that she was willing to test out.
"It's not a big deal," she protested, a little too loudly as they headed towards Harry and Ron, who were bickering about something at the Slytherin table.
"What's not a big deal?" questioned Harry.
Before Melanie could stop her, Hermione said, "Melanie can't control how she's so warm all the time."
"It's not a big deal!"
Ron shrugged, half-agreeing with Melanie. "I mean, as long as she's not getting sick or anything, I don't see the problem?"
"The problem is that-" Harry made a shushing noise as the Slytherins, those who had stayed at Hogwarts during the winter break, around them leaned in to hear the big problem. "The problem is that if anybody were to accidentally brush again her, she'd be burning up."
"Oh… That could be a problem."
"Mel, what's happening?"
"Harry, I told Hermione: I don't know." She reached her hand out and touched Harry's, which was slightly chilly despite the sweater he was wearing. However, to her, it felt like an ice block and he recoiled as if he was burned. That's probably what it feels like to him.
In turn, she reached out to touch Hermione and Ron's hands, both reacting the same way as Harry did.
"Bloody hell!" Ron rubbed his hand over his other one, which was sporting a red, shiny mark.
"Did I burn you?"
"No, this was somebody else whose temperature is higher than a dragon's bloody breath. Yes, it was you." Despite his sarcasm, Ron didn't seem angry, only confused and interested.
"Whoops," she said, grinning slightly as Ron stuck his tongue out childishly.
"You practically are a dragon. You've got the heat and the temper."
"What are you then? A strawberry with red hair for colouring and freckles for seeds?" Ron chucked an ice cube from his drink at her, only to have it melt the second it touched her skin.
"That's insane," Harry said, staring at the small patch of soaked fabric where the ice had melted into. Melanie concentrated, and the wet spot was gone in an instant.
Luckily for her, dinner was over at that point and Melanie retreated back to the Hufflepuff dorms before Hermione could ask anything. Being stared at like an experiment was getting more than just slightly uncomfortable.
~.~.~.~.~
Melanie lay tossing and turning in her bed, unable to sleep. Unlike the others in Hogwarts, this was not because of the excitement that Christmas brought.
It was because her thoughts were racing a mile a minute.
Something's going to happen at the end of this year, but for a reason I don't know, I don't know what's going to happen! What's the point of the Sorting Hat giving me memories if the most important ones are held back!?
She huffed and rolled over, playing the Sorting Hat's words in her mind. Between her two Sortings, the only words that changed were the ones where it had said to look after her brother.
That's brings up another point: why the hell am I in Hufflepuff? Melanie considered going into the Gryffindor dorms for a moment, just to see the reactions. After all, she knew all the passwords, past, present, and future. It would be so much easier if we were all in Gryffindor…
Easier perhaps, but not what's needed.
Melanie bit back a yelp of surprise. The voice in her head again, the same one that had told her to go after Hermione on Halloween.
Er… Hello? she thought, feeling extremely foolish doing so.
Merry Christmas, Melanie. Definitely not her conscience then. Guessing from the pitch of the voice, she'd say it was the voice of a male that might be graduating from Hogwarts.
Odd.
Technically, it's not Christmas yet. She could practically feel the voice rolling its non-existent eyes, which would've been quite a sight.
Yes, yes; I know.
Who are you?
There was moment of pause as the Voice seemed to be internally debating (while being inside her head) whether or not he/it should answer. Steven.
Then merry early Christmas, Steven.
The conversation in her head stopped abruptly there, leaving her wondering if she was insane. After all, it was either she'd had a conversation with herself but the other her was using a male voice in her head, or she was having a conversation with a voice in her head that wasn't hers.
Her sanity was well deserved of being questioned.
Eventually, her thoughts slowed down as she adopted the Muggle technique of counting sheep (Do wizards count dragons or something?). That was when she began to dream.
Her dream started off with the normal gibberish, nothing really that she could understand. Eventually, though, she started to dream of a scene.
'Everything's so foggy," she said aloud, hoping that somebody would hear.
"Are you sure? We could wait until tomorrow…" A male voice, sounding rather like the voice in her head.
"I'm sure." Those two words were spoken by a female.
'Sounds like me. That's odd.' She'd had plenty of weird dreams, but never ones about her future self talking about something that seemed rather important to a voice that she heard in her head.
"Before you ask again, I'm absolutely sure." 'Steven' chuckled as 'Melanie' predicted just what he was going to say. "Now, where's the potion?"
Clink. Clink. Clink. The sound of bottles being moved and pushed against each other.
"Are you ready?"
"I've been preparing for over a year," said 'Steven' in a mock-offended tone. "Of course I'm ready!" He began to chant some words, but a loud BOOM interrupted him.
Approximately a dozen or so new voices joined their conversation, all yelling over each other. There was one voice that stood out and made Melanie feel rather sad, for some reason.
"Put the vial down!"
"Nope," 'she' said. A pause, then more loud shouting.
Throughout all the yelling, everybody failed to notice that 'Steven' was still chanting, though much quieter than before.
"What's all the noise?" A male voice, older than anybody else present. Creaks and thumps as two people walked down the stairs.
"Mom! Dad! Don't-"
'Mom? Dad?' Melanie was confused. Lily and James Potter were dead… weren't they?
A short pause again, then a new female voice called out, "Do what you need to."
Scuffling, bangs and cracks were heard. 'Are they fighting?'
"NO!" Two thuds.
The fog dispersed quickly as a bright flash of light cleared it, effectively waking Melanie up.
What just happened? She seemed to be asking herself that quite a lot recently. Running over the events of her dream in her mind so she wouldn't lose them, she got ready. When she was sure that she wouldn't forget a single detail of her dream, she exited the Hufflepuff dorms.
"Oh… It's Christmas." And she was the last one to leave the dorm. There wasn't a single person in the hallways as everybody seemed to be in the Great Hall.
The four House tables that were usually in the Great Hall were not there. Instead, there was one large table where everybody sat, although Melanie noticed that they still seemed to sit next their own House members. Those who had to sit at the 'intersections' between Houses looked rather displeased and uneasy.
Everybody stopped to look at her. Is it possible to be late to Christmas breakfast when they're not taking attendance?
"Merry Christmas!" yelled Melanie as joyously as she could. Thankfully, that got the attention away from her and back to the food.
"Where were you?" asked Ron.
"Sleeping."
"We would've gotten you, but none of us know the Hufflepuff entrance," Hermione apologized.
"It was fun having to go into the Gryffindor Common Rooms to drag this lazy lump out of bed," teased Harry, pointing at Ron.
"Excuse me if some of us like to sleep." Ron sniffed in a Draco-like manner, tilting his head up and looking haughty. The four of them dissolved into loud laughter which stopped when Professor Snape, who seemed to detest joy, laughter, and all things human, glared at them.
"Git," Harry, Ron and Melanie said together. Each received a slap on the arm from Hermione.
The food seemed to have been prepared with extra care, either because it was Christmas or because there was less of it to prepare.
Still, that didn't stop the fact that whoever made the food made more than enough to feed five ravenous families which meant that Ron could eat to his heart's content. How much he could each astonished and slightly disgusted the others, though they laughed it off.
After breakfast, they all agreed to get their presents and head into the Gryffindor Common Room, after much protesting on Harry's part.
"A Slytherin going into the Gryffindor Common Room is like running around, parading with a Gryffindor banner!" he protested.
And indeed it was.
Disclaimer: Not J.K. Rowling.
Christmas and winter time, yay!
If that Steven thing was weird, whoops? XD It's part of the overall plot…
Read and review! Even just saying 'I'm reading this' is enough to make me happy.
~ScaleneGalleons~