Chapter Twenty Eight

Success is no accident, it is hard work, perseverance and study.

Ezra's words of wisdom continued to play in my mind over and over again as I peered out the library window, watching the colourful gardens willow in the soft breeze. Daphne and I were actually attempting to get study done for our O. . this morning, but we kept finding our eyes everywhere except the page.

A tight feeling in my chest deepened as I reminisced over Ezra and his constant way of knowing what to say. The man was always full of the right advice. I bit my bottom lip, absentmindedly brushing my quill against my jaw as I continued staring outside. Daphne beside me sighed for the fiftieth time this morning and slumped back in her chair, defeated.

"Fuck Herbology," she huffed.

My eyes widened at her vulgar language. "Daph," I quietly scolded.

"I'm sorry, but seriously this is ridiculous. Where in hell will I need to know the effects of a chinese chomping cabbage when added to a skele-go potion?!" She wined and gave me her best puppy eyes. "Theodore has Quidditch tryouts soon, can we go watch?"

I breathed a sigh and looked down at the muddle of words in my text book. "Yeah, nevermind this."

After packing our gear and returning it to our rooms, we walked to the Quidditch pitch that was crawling with Slytherins. Daphne and I disregarded walking onto the grass and climbed up into the benches, seating ourselves in isolation.

"He's been practising all summer," Daphne smiled as she searched for her boyfriend on the field.

"Who is Captain this year?" I asked.

"Montague," she scrunched her nose.

"Better than Flint." I commented. "Nott looks like he has a good chance," I smiled encouragingly at her which she returned.

The Slytherin's were all on the field in heaps of discussion. I could see Malfoy pointing animatedly at the posts as he spoke to Crabbe and Goyle. Most likely giving them advice before their try out. Through the crowd I spotted Payton and Pukey walking towards the bleachers. A tiny groan sounded from me as Pukey held Payton's hand. The memory of him from last night was still vivid in my brain. I felt nothing but pure disgust towards the seventh year now.

He walked her to the end of the bleachers and they shared a quick kiss before separating; Payton running up the stairs to us and Pukey returning to the crowd for tryouts. If she didn't have such a blissful smile on her face, I may have told her what her boyfriend had done the night before, but I wasn't the type for confrontation. I didn't want to cause trouble. There was enough going wrong in my life so I decided to push Pukey's behaviour to the back of my mind.

"Hello lovelies," she chimed as she seated herself beside Daphne.

"You're in a good mood," Daphne commented.

Payton gave a dreamy smile as she gazed back over the field. "He's amazing," she said.

My nostrils flared as I contained the heat rising within me. It irritated me to no end to see how false her perception of him was.

Nott then came running to the side of the bleachers, quickly climbing over seats to reach Daphne. She jumped up to hug him and unlike with Pukey and Payton, I admired their affection. It made me envious and pricked my heart as I missed Cedric. Had he survived, had he not touched that portkey, things could be so different now. Maybe we would have developed a relationship.

"You're going to do so well!" Daphne exclaimed as she held Nott's face and squished his cheeks.

He gave her a distorted smile back. "As long as I have my good luck charm here."

Daphne squealed and hugged him again.

"Merlin, get a room." Payton laughed.

"Like you can talk," I bit and she waved me off with a chuckle.

Malfoy was now climbing up the bleachers towards us and stood two levels down. "Nott, let's go!" He called and Nott hesitantly pulled away from Daphne. As he moved out of the way, I entered Malfoy's line of sight and he grinned.

"Came to wish me luck, Taylor?" He teased, an elbow slung around his broom.

I laughed, my brown eyes glimmering gold in the sunlight. "Good luck, Malfoy," I said to humour him with a tilt to my head.

"Won't need it, but thanks love," he winked before turning to return to the field with Nott.

Daphne's eyes were ping pong-ing with speed between the two us after the exchange. She sat back down in her seat between Payton and I and gave me an expression that screamed surprise. "What. Was. That."

"What was what?" I acted oblivious.

Payton's head then popped out from Daphne's side. "I knew I wasn't the only one to notice," she said smugly. "They were quite cozy last night."

"Cozy?" Daphne repeated breathlessly with a smile of disbelief.

"You remember that?" I asked Payton, referring to her drunken state.

"Foggily," she admitted.

Daphne's hand then latched around my wrist. "Melody Taylor," she said, her voice restraining to squeal. "Do not tell me you are into Draco Malfoy?"

I whipped my hand out of her grip. "Oh, please. We're just civil from spending time together as prefects." I defended. In fact, it was true. When we were alone and Malfoy wasn't so adamant on showing superiority over others, he had shown a softer side. True, it wasn't rainbows and sunshine. But over the first few weeks of term, he had been exceptionally decent to be around during our patrols.

Payton nodded. "She made a similar excuse last night."

"Because it's true!"

Daphne's eyes squinted into slits as she surveyed me. "Okay, Mel," she turned away from her interrogating stature. "But I have never seen Malfoy call anyone love."

Hey Taylor, good technique, love.

"He has before," I said quietly, remembering his teasing in Potion's on our first day back.

The grilling from the girls came to an end as Quidditch tryouts commenced. They seemed to do normal exercises of flying and passing the quaffle. Those going for Seeker were tasked with chasing the snitch. As the tryouts went on, I went to a great effort to keep my eyes on everyone playing, but I was all too aware of how often my eyes stayed on a certain blonde darting around the field.


My feet slipped on wet, muddy leaves as I rounded a corner, the cold wind of the night freezing my throat and lungs as I inhaled deeply and quickly. A jarring pain was shooting up to my hip with every step I took. My heart was beating frantically, it was all or nothing. Fail and my life paid the price. I turned another corner, meeting another familiar dead end of hedges. The maze was changing every few seconds, the snapping and popping of branches so loud in my ears as I raced against the plants.

He was chasing me. The black coated shadowy figure with a skeletal face. Red eyes taunted me when I blinked or closed my eyes. He was everywhere. Watching. Waiting. Ready to strike. I heaved more breaths as I sprinted with all my ability down a straight path. Sobs were starting to squeeze out of my throat as I panicked. In my terror, I glimpsed back to see the travelling black smoke wisping in the air, closing in on me. A mistake it was as I tripped over the hedges roots.

Branches worked quick to lock me down to the grass as I struggled to stand. My body was starting to grow weak and as the vines wrapped around my limbs, I became imobile. Mud smeared my sweaty face as my face was pushed against the grass. The black smoke then reached me, covering my entire body and silking through my arms and legs. I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut to escape the nightmare.

And escape I did as I opened my eyes to see the roof of my bed canopy. My chest was pounding, my ears deaf and my skin completely soaked from sweat. Relief chilled my body as I realised it really was a nightmare. I had been in the maze again, only this time he was chasing. Voldemort's smokey form was bolting after me. A small meow sounded by my feet. I must have woken Mia in my terrors. I looked over onto my bedside table and opened the top drawer, I was completely out of Dreamless Sleep. My last dose had clearly not been enough to go a whole night without it.

I picked up my watch to see it was half past four in the morning. That meant I still had more sleep to go before it was an acceptable time for me to be awake. I exhaled a deep sigh, my hands coming to cover my eyes. I was too afraid to sleep again, afraid I would end up back in the maze or graveyard. So I layed there wide awake until it was time for breakfast.

"You alright?" Faye asked as I poured myself a third cup of tea.

"I didn't get a good sleep," I admitted and started sipping on the cup.

"Might need another layer of makeup to hide those circles," Pansy commented from across the table. "Just trying to help," she sang.

I crumpled my nose, deciding the tea was lacking sugar and reached for another spoonful, but a single Gryffindor caught my attention across the Hall. Harry was alone, sitting at the table and packing his books into his bag. From his actions I could tell he was about to leave and it was the first time in weeks I had seen him alone. I bolted out of my seat without a word to the others and started to walk down the side of the Hall. As predicted, he stood up and also started walking down the Hall. Just as he walked out and into the Great Staircase Tower, I managed to catch him and grabbed his elbow.

He turned with confused eyes and then sighed when he saw me.

"Don't act too impressed to see me," I said flatly.

"What is it?" He asked impatiently.

"What is up with you?" I asked. "Have I done something?"

"No I just-" he said and pulled on his sweater sleeves. I looked down and noticed something unusual with his hands.

"Harry," I said, cutting him off and grabbing one of his hands. I pushed back his sleeve with my thumb to see scarring. I recognised they were letters, but before I could read what it said he pulled his hand away. Covering it with his other. "What is that?"

He shook his head and started to walk off annoyed.

"Harry!" I called and went to grab his arm again, but he shrugged me off.

"Please, Mel. Just don't worry about it," he mumbled.

Again he had successfully dodged me, leaving me all hot and angry. If he wasn't going to tell me what was going on, I decided to go to someone who might. I turned back into the Great Hall and walked over to the Gryffindor table. I had been going through great efforts to avoid this table again after my first day back. Thankfully Seamus wasn't around, but Ginny was there. She was seated next to a girl I didn't know and they seemed to be sharing a plateful of fruit.

"Ginny," I said and she followed the voice to see me.

She offered me a kind smile, "Melody. How are you?"

"Good, thank you." I said, stopping short in front of them. "Do you know where Hermione is?" I asked.

"Library, she had to return some books before class," she said.

"Thank you," I smiled and pivoted on my heel to walk to the library.

I was on a mission, not stopping for anything. It was easy to find Hermione in the library, her bushy curls popping out within the aisles. She saw me before I said anything and offered a warm smile.

"Melody, how lovely to catch you," she said and closed the book in her palms. "O.W.L revision has been so busy, it's been hard to find time to-"

"Hermione, spare me." I said, waving my hand. "I get it, busy, yadda yadda. Harry clearly hates me, avoiding me, yadda yadda." I deadpanned.

She slouched with a puckered face. "He doesn't hate you, Mel. He's just annoyed at your lack of... uh..." she averted her eyes from my impending stare. "Persistence to prove You-Know-Who has returned."

"Because of what happened in Umbridge's class, right?" I sighed.

"He thinks you're doing what everyone else is doing and pretending he's not back." Hermione explained. "In denial, if you will."

"He thinks I'm in denial? I was there! How can he believe something like that?" I complained.

"That's just a small factor of it," she said and put the book in her hands down on the shelf. She gestured me to follow and we began walking through the library. Her voice had dropped to a much quieter volume. "He is agitated."

"You don't need to tell me that," I joked.

"No," she whispered. Her eyes now stared at me. "Very agitated. He's so angry and frustrated all the time. At first I thought it was just teenage hormones." She said and I made a disgusted face. "But he said something alarming to me the other day."

"What was it?"

"He said he feels connected to You-Know-Who." She looked around the area to make sure no one was listening to us. "He's invading his mind, appearing in his dreams and he thinks he's giving him these terrible impulses."

I frowned and we stopped walking in a deep corner in the library. "How can he be sure? I mean, I've been having nightmares too, but after what we went through wouldn't you think that is normal? Has he been to Dumbledore about this?"

"No," she shook her head. "He's completely ignoring him. It's just Harry is always so good, with noble intentions, but lately he is so impatient and overeager on everything. I think he's right, I think he is connected to him."

I soaked in all the information. My mind feeling slightly pained like a headache was approaching at the back of my mind. "I saw scars on his hands." I said.

She made a disgusted sound. "Umbridge," she said. "She's making him use a Black Quill."

"Am I meant to know what that is? Aren't all quills black?"

"It's a dark quill that tortures the person using it." She explained. "Everything she makes him write appears scarred on his hand. It's hurting him." She said sadly.

"So when he goes to write lines for detention..." I said and she nodded before I finished my question. I sighed, my own shoulders dropping now. "Why didn't he tell me this? Harry never keeps this sort of business from me."

"He hasn't been pleasant for myself and Ron either," she confessed. "Don't tell him I told you all of this."

"I wont," I promised and the bell tolled for our first class with Sprout. We parted ways and instead of going to Herbology, I decided to skip and see Snape. I had more important matters on my hands than chinese chomping cabbages.

His office was dark as usual. If he had painted the walls black it wouldn't be any darker. The walls could be any shade and I still wouldn't be able to tell.

"Shouldn't you be in class, Miss. Taylor?" He asked as I walked in.

"I'm on top of my work this year for once," I said honestly.

"Then perhaps it would be wise to stay ahead?"

"I have something very urgent to tell you." I said.

He now frowned and listened to me intently. Snape was my connection to the Order and under Dumbledore's orders, he had to keep an eye on me, so it was no surprise the mention of urgency grabbed his attention. "Umbridge is using a Black Quill on students," I said.

He shook his head with an eye roll, "do you think I am truly that blind, Miss. Taylor?"

I frowned. "You know and you're letting it happen?"

"It is not my place to interfere." He said, picking up his quill and pulling out work from his table. "And I strongly advise you do not either," he said sternly.

"Does Dumbledore know?" I asked and he remained quiet. "Why isn't anyone doing anything?" I exclaimed.

"Dumbledore's lack of involvement when it concerns the Ministry is nothing for you to worry about. Now, if you skipped class to tell me this, please return and set a good example, as you should for being a prefect."

"There was something else I needed to ask." I said.

"Ask," he said.

"I was wondering if I could please have more Dreamless Sleep? I've finished the vials you gave me."

He looked up at me again, slightly shocked. "That should have lasted you until Christmas."

I shrugged. "I needed to take bigger doses. Do you build immunity to it?"

"No," he said. "It seems your trauma is stronger than I perceived. I will start brewing you something stronger, but you must take the minimal amount I prescribe." He said. "Anymore and you could fall into a permanent sleep. Do not let it get in the hands of anyone, understood?"

"Yes, sir." I said happily.

As always, our conversation was short. That's the way it was with Snape, straight to the point with no fluff. I quite enjoyed the quick nature of our conversations and as we shared goodbyes, the tiniest flick at the corner of his mouth showed me he did too. I had already missed the first fifteen minutes of Herbology and being late to Herbology was worse than other classes. It was like Potion's. Everyone would be ahead in their assigned tasks and you couldn't move quicker to catch up. If I went now, I would have to stay behind to finish everything.

So I took a casual stroll through the halls instead, trying to prolong my walk as much as possible. Since everyone was in classes, they were practically empty, spare a few seventh and sixth years with free period.

I turned a corner and found myself at the Great Staircase where I only just caught the glimpse of short boys running into a corridor. I moved fast to catch up with them, skipping up the steps and hurriedly walking the direction they went. At first I thought they had gotten away, but the distant laughter of children said otherwise. I followed the giggles to find them outside the girls bathroom with pink vials, clearly skipping class to do some prank. My inner prefect bitch took control and I marched towards them, ready to lay down the law and send them flying to class.

But instead the three boys turned to me with wicked smirks.

"Hey look, it's the crazy girl!" One said brightly, as if excited to see me.

The one to his right was the only one without a smirk and hit him in the arm. "Don't! That's You-Know-Who's daughter, y'know!"

"Are you excited he is back?" The other asked.

My mouth dropped at the words, but I quickly masked it with a deep frown. "None of that is true. Now, what are you doi-"

"So you're not You-Know-Who's daughter?" The quieter one asked with a tilted head.

I was taken aback again. "Oh, uh no that's true, but the rest isn't." I stumbled and then frowned again. "What are you boys doing with-"

"My brother says you're evil. Did you mean to bring back He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Of course she did! If my dad was dead, I'd try bring him back too." The other argued.

"Yeah, but her dad is the darkest wizard ever." The other retaliated.

I looked down at the twelve year olds, trying not to show that I was hurting from their conversation and the fact they were easily ignoring my authority.

"Who cares, they will all die anyway when Dumbledore catches them."

"That's not true, he didn't stop him last time."

"That's enough," I said sternly.

My ears were burning red, the heat travelling to my cheeks. A deep crease between my brows and my nose knotted up in animosity. What type of prefect was I to let these kids run circles around me? I heaved a laden breath and stared icily at them.

"You kind of look like him." One suddenly pointed out. His big hazel eyes staring at my face. The comment left me speechless, the fury in my body rapidly dispersed.

"How would you know what You-Know-Who looks like?" The other asked him.

"I thought he didn't even look human now from all the darkness."

"My parents were in his school year. I've seen him in his school books." He justified. "You know, before he turned ugly."

I stared at the kids nonchalantly talking in front of me. My mouth had practically fallen open and my brain formulated no thoughts other than to register I was aphonic. I finally closed my mouth, struggling to swallow with my drying throat. What had caught me so off guard was that it reminded me he was human. That before Voldemort's descent into darkness, he was a student just like me. A normal human being. It stunned my bloodstream, rendering me astounded.

The boys were still chatting away before me which angered me again. Not only did I hate their disobedience towards me and how small they were making me feel, their comments were unwanted. A new pinch of jealousy now unnerved me as this stupid second year could see what Tom Riddle looked like and I couldn't. All I would know is the monstrosity he became.

"That's enough." I said a second time, only to receive no response and they continued to harp on. A bottle of resentment became uncorked and exploded out of me like gushing champagne. "I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" I screamed and a bolt of electricity bounced from my wand onto the ground nearby.

I hadn't even realised I was holding my wand. The three of them now gawked at me, their hands to their chests and feet close together. "Go to your class." I said with a tight mouth. "Now!" I yelled and they vaulted into action, running back towards the Great Staircase.

"She really is nuts!" One shouted as they ran.


A shorter chapter with some filler, but they're leading up to some chunkier ones I promise! I'm so warmed by all of you who have already favourited this story, thank you so much! And thank you to Lou-Denis and BigBangVIP for your reviews; I know it's taking a while for the love to happen, but we're closing in on it as you can probably tell :)