Disclaimer: I own nothing except my characters.
Melinda's Poor Reaction
"And that's the hello you plan to give him?" I asked sarcastically. I shook my head, trying to push away the slight annoyance. "Aren't you supposed to be enjoying your birthday? How did you escape—I mean, leave your common room?" I asked as she walked back over to the sink.
"I told them I wanted to thank you for my present" she said simply.
"But I haven't given you your present yet…" I reminded her. She gave me one of her looks, which only made me slightly giggle.
"Anyway" she said, rolling her eyes. "Where is he? Is he with you?" she asked standing at the sink twirling her wand in her hands.
"Yeah, he's just outside with Matt," I told her. She sighed and fiddled with the dials on the sink.
"Did you tell him? You know, about Houston?" she asked, still looking up from the sink.
"Yeah" I said careful not to step on the suspicious look black puddle. "He's a bit stunned, more than George actually…" I said, showing a small smile.
"I was going to tell him you know; after the game. I went over to see if you were alright, and then, sorta pull you off to the side, and then, have Matt and Draco follow. You know, him and Draco follow us to somewhere enclosed and quiet…"
"Because that's not suspicious or creepy at all…" I said sarcastically, making Melinda let out of a low and short laugh.
"What happened, in the air?" she asked, changing topics.
"I saw your sparks, the ones you made up fourth year" Draco said from the doorway. I was almost too late grabbing Melinda's wand as Matt pushed Draco out of the way, slamming him against the wall.
"Careful! You'll knock him out again and he'll forget this whole thing!" I exclaimed holding Melinda's wand at an odd angle behind my back.
"Good! At least then I won't have to alter his memory!" Melinda shouted, mainly at Draco who was rubbing the side of his hip and slightly winching.
"Stop it" I hissed at Melinda but she just stepped pass me, over to Draco, but Matt stood in front of her, blocking her way.
"We've talked about this Mel, you can't…" he said, looking directly at her, directly into her eyes, scanning her face. For a moment, she remained tensed and angrily staring Draco, but once she locked eyes with Matt she seemed to remember something else. "It will be okay" he whispered, cupping her face and smiling. "You got others; you got Houston, remember Houston?" I watched as Melinda slowly smiled, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Matt smiled too. "Everyone has to learn to let go, you told me that…" he continued, now speaking in a low hypnotic voice, his attention and eyes completely focused on Melinda.
"Not if they're not ready" Draco shouted; his voice like a blade cutting into the air. Matt shot him the most dangerous look I've ever seen; at first I wondered why and why this looked so, familiar, but my attention was quickly pulled from that to Melinda, who had now turned back to the hurt and angry expression. "Melinda, I'm sorry okay?" he asked. I wanted to smack my forehead, if Draco was smart enough, he'd know not to add questions to comments. "I just didn't know, but I was hoping. I was hoping every day you'd come back to me" I flinched at the sound of Melinda's laughter.
"You think I came back for you?" she hissed, grabbing Matt's wand and pointing it at Draco, but Matt moved in front of her path.
"We both know what the truth is, and we both know how hard this is, but you can't just go blowing up students. You'll get expelled, you're better than this. You're better than him, you have better" he said, though he was speaking a little more quickly, though his words seemed to only affect Melinda. I had a feeling whatever he was talking about was part of their many conversations. "I need my wand…" Matt said holding out his hand, but not taking his eyes off Melinda. She kept her face straight, though I could just see her bottom lip start to quiver as she dropped her arm and put the wand in Matt's hand. "Thanks" he whispered shoving it out of sight, and quickly moving closer to wrap his arms around her. "Tam, go, take Draco with you" he said, nodding to the door.
"But I—" Draco started but I grabbed his arm and pulled him out, though not quick enough to miss the beginning sounds of crying.
"I need to go back in there" Draco said as he paced back in forth. I ignored him as I pointed at the floor tiles with my wand. "What do you think they're doing in there?" Draco asked anxiously.
"I don't know Draco," I said with a sigh. We had been sitting outside the girls bathroom for the last forty-five minutes, it seemed longer because of Draco and his awful sense of patience and continuous questions.
"They're not dating, right?" he asked, for the fifth time.
"No Draco," I repeated for the fifth time. "She's dating—"
"Houston, yes, but, I don't get it, why?" he asked, still pacing.
"Because muggle boys are safe" I replied tempted to bang my head on the wall. "It doesn't' matter, she's not going to want to talk to you. I mean, didn't the spell thing and angry expression give you some kind of hint?" I asked.
"I don't care, I can take it. If she's angry at me, fine, let her have at me. I want her to be angry. It means she still feels something" Draco explained as he paused to look at the door. "I've missed her, and I thought she was never coming back. I thought I lost her forever. But I didn't, she's here, she came back" he said.
"Yeah, but not for you" I told him, though I didn't think I sounded fully convincing. Sure enough, he shot me a 'yeah right' look but I looked away.
"Then why did she come back?" he asked.
"To learn more magic" I said quickly, afraid if I waited too long to respond he'd instantly know the reason had something to do with him.
"Right" he said sarcastically with a snort.
"Just leave her alone, please? She's happy, she has Houston, she almost attacked you" I reminded him, counting them off on my hand.
"But she was going to tell me," he said. I gave him a look; I knew he had been listening outside the door. "And honestly, if she didn't want me around, if she didn't care anymore, she wouldn't have sent that green spark up" he said. I bit my lip, even the illogical answer wouldn't have been right to say aloud.
"It wouldn't have made sense without it" I said quietly looking up at Draco. He smiled, as if he knew I was going to say that exact statement, as if that statement alone made all the difference.
"Exactly" he said, fully knowing what I did.
"That doesn't mean—"
"And Matt just needs to leave her alone" he grumbled as he started pacing again. I glanced at the door, half wondering what Draco was talking about and wondering why they were still in there.
"Matt's just helping" I suggested but Draco only snorted.
"If that's what you think he's doing than maybe you ought to talk to him yourself again, really get to know the guy" Draco replied sarcastically. I started say something sarcastic back but the door opened. Matt appearing first.
"Draco, Melinda's fine, but I think you should go back to your common room" Matt commented.
"Like hell" Draco said standing a few feet away from Matt who just let out an annoyed sigh.
"She's not in the mood to talk to you, you need to go calm down and her calm down so she think of what she wants to say without jinxing you" Matt said, as if reciting from a script.
"I can do what I like" Draco commented not even flinching as Matt glared at him. "Besides, I have a choice, don't I?" he asked, but none of us responded.
"Just do what he says Draco!" I exclaimed. For a moment I felt bad, Draco's expression looked a bit hurt that I wasn't agreeing with him/
"So this is what I get huh? For 'kicking you out,' you're gonna be on his side. That, that monster? You can't even see it, can' you?" he asked.
"Draco" Matt said firmly but Draco just continued shaking his head at me.
"I thought you were better than that Tammie, and Melinda too, but you're all just the same" Draco said as he backed up.
"I just want what's best for my friend" I explained.
"And what about me? When do I get to be happy?" he asked, though I could tell it wasn't exactly a question.
"It's your own fault when you're not" I reminded him. "You lost all this, you did all those bad things—"
"And what about you Matt? Are you ever going to admit the bad things you have done?" For a moment, a glint of worry crossed over Matt's face, but it instantly disappeared as footsteps approached.
"What's going on?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed as she abruptly stopped. I would've laughed otherwise, Matt in the doorframe of the girl's bathroom, Melinda just behind him, Draco staring angrily at him and myself unusually quiet.
"We're just having a chat" I found myself saying. Professor McGonagall glared at me, her mouth going rigid as she searched for something to say.
"Mr. Malfoy, please, to your common room, the rest of you should do the same" she finally got out. "Now" she huffed as Draco finally turned and slowly marched off, mumbling and curing as he walked. Professor McGonagall turned to say something else, but decided against it and hurried off, not even glancing back.
"Coast is clear" I said to Melinda who was still peering from behind Matt.
"Draco's gone too?" she asked. I nodded as Matt moved aside to let Melinda pass. "Matt, don't listen to what Draco said, he's just mad" Melinda said, for once sounding genuine and sincere to him.
"He's not half wrong" Matt said quietly.
"You're not a monster Matt, you got Melinda to stop crying—"
"I wasn't crying" Melinda quickly interrupted.
"Not that she was crying" I corrected giving her a knowing look.
"We should get going" Matt said breaking the silence as he looked off. I wanted to tell him again Draco was just being an idiot and he was mad, but Matt's expression didn't look like any part of him wanted any kind of conversation about regarding anything Draco had said.
"Okay" I replied as I walked over to Matt, and giving him a hug.
"What—what was that for?" he asked, wrinkling his nose. I cleared my throat, it was rare that Matt made a face like that when I got close to him.
"I just thought it would be nice to let you know it really does mean a lot to me, that you help my friends" I said, my voice low enough to make Melinda laugh.
"Well, I mean, she's kinda mine friend too…so…" he said wrinkling his nose again, but this time smiling.
"Come on you two, I wanna get back to my common room, they have cake" Melinda said walking over to push us apart. I gave her a weird look, not because her whole expression and body language changed, but because the force from pushing me and Matt apart seemed almost unnatural. Matt must have noticed this too because he started to glare at Melinda, but halfway through he changed his mind and forced a smile.
"Thanks" he said to her, his voice a little strained. I looked from him to Melinda but neither of them elaborated as we walked down the hall.
"So, what was Draco outside complaining about?" Melinda asked, as we started up another flight of stairs.
"He thought you and Matt were dating" I replied. Matt let out a loud and long laugh, causing him to lose his balance just slightly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was that funny" Melinda said darkly.
"No, it's not that!" Matt exclaimed giving Melinda's hand a firm squeeze. "I just," he paused to look at Melinda, who scanned his face. "It's me, you would've gone from a Weasley to a Malfoy to a muggle to me" he explained, his expression trying to hold back another laugh. Whatever the underlying joke was it seemed to take Melinda another few seconds to get, but by then she burst into laughter.
"Glad to know I'm part of this inside joke…" I said sarcastically as I continued up the stairs.
"It's complicated" Melinda said as soon as I finished my comment.
"Isn't it always?" I continued giving her a slightly dirty look.
"What I'm curious to know is what was going on after he found out?" Matt said, automatically trying to lighten the mood and switch topics. I waited a few extra seconds before launching into story about Draco's sudden observation and how he reacted, including details of how he kept shouting at me and wouldn't let me out of his sight as he waited for me to explain.