The Potter Twins and the Innocent Ex-Convict

Chapter Fourteen: Brooding Brother

It was dangerous, what she had done in the library. Even so, Melanie couldn't repress her grin.

She'd controlled the small flames perfectly (well, they were small and they still had flickered, but it was better than before, right?). She had been thinking about her Potions problem while writing her essay and had come up with the idea of trying to control small fires in the library.

In my defence, she thought, I thought that I would work better under large amounts of pressure instead of the possible threat that I may or may not melt a cauldron or make the contents of the potion explode.

Then she realized that she was arguing with herself when she hadn't even felt the need to criticize of reprimand herself in the first place.

Yep, Steven piped up before she could think it. You're insane.

Oh, shut up and help me think of Christmas gifts.

Which is it that you wanted; me to shut up or to help you think of gifts?

Melanie scowled and shut a metaphorical door in Steven's metaphorical face. After a moment, she sighed and got rid of the door.

Gifts, please.

He laughed. Alright, for who?

Christmas was coming in the next few weeks, and Melanie was planning what gifts she would get for everybody. Harry was going to Hogsmeade the next weekend anyways (thanks to the Weasley twins), so she had decided that she would follow him there, but to buy the gifts. After all, she didn't particularly want to stay with them and overhear how Sirius Black was the traitor (false).

She 'spoke' with Steven and, one by one, came up with a list of things she would need to buy (and some alternatives that would be better, if they existed).

This is a really long list of stuff to get…

Don't complain to me; you're the one who chose all the people.

~.~.~.~.~

The Hogsmeade weekend had finally arrived. It happened to be on the very last weekend of their term, which doubly boosted the Christmas spirit.

Decorations seemed to surpass the past year's on every occasion. It seemed nearly impossible that, every holiday, Melanie was completely stunned by the effort put into the castle's appearance (even if most of it was done with magic).

Even each of the teacher's had their own way of decorating the classrooms, although Professor Flitwick's was the most memorable.

The lights in the Charms classroom were beautiful, if extremely distracting, and made all the more amazing when they saw that the lights were fairies. Of course, it was a perfect opportunity for somebody (who else but the Weasley twins?) to 'accidentally' leave the classroom door wide open and 'accidentally' cast a spell that scared all the fairies out of the room.

The fairies roamed all around Hogwarts, and the professor awarded a capture of one (unharmed, thank you very much) with a House point.

Needless to say, fairy-catching became a very popular sport.

After the 'Fairy Fiasco', none of the teachers would let Fred or George stay in a classroom for too long after or before the actual class.

Students were all discussing their plans for the holidays, inviting friends over or bragging to them about the trips they were going on.

For Melanie, Ron, Harry, and Hermione, it was good news hearing how many students were gone for the break. Hopefully, none of the teachers would be patrolling the hallways and they would be able to properly search for the book.

On the morning of the Hodsmeade trip, Melanie made sure to stay by Harry's side and, very subtly, lead them to where she knew the Weasley twins would be. The first time, however, they weren't there. The fourth time was when her brother spoke up.

"Okay, really?" Harry shot his sister a look. "What's your obsession with this corridor?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've led us through the corridor seven hundred times already!"

She grinned sheepishly. "I have no idea what you mean. Heh… heh… Look, a distraction!"

Harry looked over, then face palmed. "I cannot believe I just fell for that…"

"We can't believe it either," came a voice from behind the statue of the humpbacked, one-eyed witch.

Both Potters turned to look at the statue and saw the Weasley twins come out from behind it. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked, trying to take the topic off himself. "Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?"

"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go," said Fred mysteriously. "Come in here."

He led them into an empty classroom beside the statue, George following behind them to close the door.

"Early Christmas present for you two," said George, before furrowing his brow. "Though, there is only one. Oh well."

Melanie pouted. Aw… I guess Harry can get it. I could always see it from his/my memories anyways,

Her brother blinked rapidly, looking at the 'plain' piece of parchment. "What is that supposed to be other than my History of Magic essay?"

"Harry, you said you finished that!"

"…You're turning into Hermione."

"This, Harry," George said, interrupting Melanie's retort, "is the secret of our success."

Fred grinned, continuing. "It's a wrench, giving it to you, but we decided that your need's greater than ours."

"Anyway, we know it by heart. We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore."

Harry raised his eyebrow. "So, what do I need with a bit of old parchment?"

Fred clapped a hand to his heart. "A bit of old parchment? Explain, George."

The other Weasley twin launched into an explanation about how they found the Marauder's map, what is was, and how Harry needed it. Melanie didn't pay attention, but instead examined the 'old bit of parchment' herself.

That is fantastic, Steven said, summarizing her thoughts in three words.

So absorbed was she in her observations that she didn't notice when Fred and George left the room. She did, however, notice Harry bopping her over the head.

"Well? You coming to Hogsmeade or what?"

She nodded, childishly sticking her tongue out at him. "Obviously."

They headed through the secret passage into Hogsmeade (more specifically, into Honeydukes) silently, not wanting to risk the possibility of getting caught.

Though, who would be listening in on a secret passage?

Eventually, they did get to the end of the passage. It took quite a while, but the thought of Hogsmeade was obviously encouraging Harry, and Melanie had to keep up.

"Ouch!" The light illuminating the passage was dim, but she could see Harry rubbing his head. "There's a stupid trapdoor here."

"Well, open it."

The trapdoor was opened slowly, and both of them peered through the widening crack. It was a cellar, the one in Honeydukes. They exited quickly and ducked behind two large crates before getting the opportunity to sneak out of the cellar.

It was good that this Hogsmeade trip was a very busy one; neither Harry nor Melanie attracted much attention.

It was doubly good, and coincidental, that they were able to find Ron and Hermione in the first building they were in, amidst all the people.

"Harry," Melanie said, "I'm going to go do some Christmas shopping, since we're here anyways."

He waved her off dismissively. "Sure, see you later back at the castle."

She got her way through the crowd of Hogswarts students, though she received a few angry glares from those she pushed out of the way. Once she was outside of Honeydukes, Melanie realized why everybody was inside the shops.

It's cold.

As her temperature rose to counter the icy weather, she had to continually pace to avoid melting any patches of snow too much.

Which way am I supposed to go now?

"Oh, great."

~.~.~.~.~

It'd taken her quite a while yesterday to finish her Christmas shopping, between almost getting lost and trying to find what she was looking for. When she finally did, though, her mood plummeted as Melanie recalled exactly why she hadn't wanted to follow Harry around.

And now I have to deal with angry Harry. She sighed. Oh joy.

Along with Ron and Hermione, who had explained the whole situation to her when they found her in Zonko's, she waited outside the Slytherin entrance. Luckily, it was the first day of the holidays, meaning that they'd only been stared at by a few Slytherins instead of the dozens that were sure to have been at Hogwarts on any normal day.

"How long do you think Harry's going to stay in there?" Hermione asked.

Ron sighed. "He better get out here soon. I don't want to stay outside the snake den any longer than I have to."

If my stubborn, brooding brother doesn't get out by the time the next Slytherin boy does, I'm sending said Slytherin in to fetch him.

That was indeed what she had to resort to, though the boy didn't look happy about being sent on an errand by a Hufflepuff. He did agree to do it when offered a few candies that she had purchased the day before.

The first words out of Hermione's mouth were, "Harry, you look terrible."

Ron nodded. "Mate, you look worse than Fred and George after a Gryffindor party. Ouch, Hermione, why'd you hit me? You basically said the same thing!"

When the usual jokes and violence got no reaction out of Harry, Hermione frowned. "You really don't look that well."

"I'm fine," was the abrupt answer.

And cue the Hermione and Ron speech about how he shouldn't go after Sirius in 3… 2… 1…

"Harry, listen…"

And there it is!

Are you really so bored that you're narrating everything in your thoughts?

Melanie thought for a second. Not bored, exactly. Well, I guess I am pretty bored. Really, I'm just waiting for me turn to be able to say something, but I think interrupting in the middle of a speech wouldn't do anything.

"…Mel?"

She shook herself out of her thoughts. "Sorry, what?"

"Hermione wanted to know how you were feeling about this since, her words, I'm being too 'broody' to think clearly."

"Well," she started slowly, "nothing's really changed, has it?"

"What do-"

She held her hands in front of her. "Hear me out, Har. Nothing's really changed. While it really does suck knowing that our parents were betrayed by a rotten rat of a friend." Here she stopped for a second, sorely tempted to correct Ron when he muttered, "Bloody Black."

Keeping her face blank, she continued. "We really can't do anything about it. After all, like Hermione and Ron stated in their lovely speech, going after a grown man who managed to escape Azkaban wouldn't be the smartest thing, now would it?"

All three of her friends were speechless for a moment, choosing to stare at her. Harry was looking thoughtful (and less angry), Hermione thankful, but Ron's gaze held a bit of suspicion in it.

Was I being too calm? The mental question she directed at Steven, who immediately responded by conjuring up a mental image of a big checkmark.

Damn.

"Let's go visit Hagrid," decided Harry after a while, though his tone was much calmer than any of them would have imagined.

Still, Hermione shot him an exasperated glance. "You know you can't ask Hagrid why he never told you about Black, right? It's pretty much admitting that we overheard him at Hogsmeade, and he knows that if only Ron and I overheard him, we probably wouldn't have told you because we knew you'd react…"

"Like a very angry teenager," Ron concluded.

The black haired boy deflated slightly, but brightened up the next moment. "Well, we still haven't seen Hagrid in ages."

They each went back to their dormitories to grab their cloaks, and headed out into the snow.

"You know," said Melanie, "I would appreciate it if you didn't crowd me."

"We'll get hypothermia!"

"…You won't get hypothermia, Hermione."

"Better safe than sorry."

"I'm going to develop a sudden case of claustrophobia." Thankfully for all four of them, they got to Hagrid's hut relatively quickly. Once the door opened, Melanie braced herself for a tearful Hagrid and was pleasantly surprised by a grinning one.

Seems like Draco didn't tell his father this time around.

Good he learned from last year, isn't it?

They spent the rest of their day in Hagrid's hut, trying to convince him that the salamanders were a good topic for the chilly winter ("No, I don't think Professor Dumbledore will allow you to bring in chimeras or trolls to teach Hogwarts students, even if they are seventh years.")

Harry did manage to sneak in a question about Sirius Black, which had Hagrid stammering for a good minutes before he decided to make some tea.

All in all, Melanie thought it was a much better visit to Hagrid's than what could have happened.

Thanks to…

Lily F. Lux: I thought I'd get at least one answer like this! Hogwarts would probably be up there on my list of fandom places to live in as well, though I'd probably choose a peaceful period of time to avoid getting killed. :3

Dazer95: That'd be awesome! What element would you choose?

*throws streamers and confetti at everybody who's reading this*

I'm kind of frustrated that I have writer's block in the summer, which would be an otherwise awesome time for me to start spam writing. But, no, writer's block.

Well, thanks to everybody who's still reading!

Question: If you could choose one book, movie, fandom, etc. (that isn't Harry Potter XP) for you to be reborn into as the main character and be able to change everything, what would you choose?}

~ScaleneGalleons~