"You are ready, my daughter. You are ready to kill Harry Potter."

Melody awoke with a gasp as a loud bang interrupted her light sleep, eyes snapping open to see a group of people staring at her from just outside the open compartment door. Their cloaks hoods were up, concealing their identities.

Staring at them with a blank face, she slowly moved her wand from her wrist holster to her palm, gripping it tightly. "Who are you?" She asked with a tight voice. "Reveal yourself before I curse you."

Suddenly the front figure yanked their hood down, "What? Can't a loving Uncle say hello to his niece?" The figure, now revealed to be Theodore Nott, asked.

"Fucking hell, Theo. What's wrong with you?" Melody asked angrily, tucking her wand back into her holster with a twitch of her index finger.

Theo let out a laugh as he entered the compartment, the other figures entering after him, taking off their hoods as they stepped through the door.

Draco Malfoy.

Pansy Parkinson.

Blaise Zabini.

And-

"Mattheo. Why am I not surprised?" Melody asked in an annoyed voice as her twin brother sat down beside her with a grin, her eyes instantly zoning in on the mess of blood that was his nose. "Merlin, what happened to your face?"

Wiping at the bleeding cut on the bridge of his nose, Mattheo shrugged. "Don't worry about that. You should be more worried about how you're going to fit in at Hogwarts if you insist on drawing your wand at every little thing." He replied, cleaning his bloody hand on the seat.

"Gross, Mattheo," Pansy said, crossing her legs as she looked at where he wiped the blood, a disgusted look taking over her pointy face.

Ignoring her brother's little jab, Melody turned to the others in the compartment. They had all known each other since they were babies, their mothers organising playdates every week, so they were all like siblings. Technically, Theo was her and Mattheo's Uncle but he was the only person who referred to him as such.

"How was everyone's summer, then?" She asked, smirking at their confused faces. Melody had never been one for small talk.

Eventually, Blaise leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Better than both of yours, I assume."

Narrowing her eyes at her friend's words, Melody stared at him for a few seconds before replying. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you're finally coming to Hogwarts aren't you, Melody? There must have been some big fights before your mother finally convinced your father to let you go." Blaise explained, Pansy nodding along while Draco stared out of the window, clearly bored.

Eyes flicking between Theo and Mattheo, both of whom were staring at her with hard eyes, Melody sighed before forcing her muscles to relax as she leant back in her seat. "Well... actually, it was my Father's idea. My Mother was... supportive and... now I'm here." She explained, her words jilted.

Pansy raised her eyebrows, seeming to believe her words, while Blaise just let out a low whistle as he brought his ankle up to rest on his knee.

"Bullshit. It's obvious you've been sent to Hogwarts to kill Potter." Draco suddenly spoke, turning to stare at Melody as his lips twitched into a smug smirk. The anger in his eyes told a different story, however.

"Shut up!" Both Theodore and Mattheo hissed, making Pansy gasp, head whipping to look at Theo with a betrayed gaze.

"You knew?" She blurted, cheeks going red with anger as she stood up, everyone else, minus Melody and Mattheo, doing the same.

"Of course I did, I'm Melody's Uncle, for Merlin's Sake! How did you know?" Theo shot back, his face going white as he realised that Draco, Pansy and Blaise had known the whole time.

"Stop calling yourself my Uncle, Theo!" Melody suddenly hissed, trying to gain control of the situation in the only way she could as her face drained itself of blood.

Draco gave a forced chuckle. "You forget that our families meet quite often. Theo's father isn't exactly quiet after a few drinks." He muttered, staring at Melody with an expectant expression.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Melody pinched the bridge of her nose before grabbing her wand and casting a silent Silencio on everyone before a full-blown shouting match started.

"Listen." She began as she stood up, ignoring everyone's glares as they tried to speak before realising what she had done. "My father forbade any of us from telling you three what was going on. You know we would've told you if we could've!" She desperately tried to explain. "But after the end of the Tournament last year..." Her voice trailed off, her eyebrows raising as she stared at her 3 angry friends, silently imploring them to understand.

Eventually, they all sat back down. Draco stood the longest before sighing in defeat and sitting as well. Nearly everyone in this compartment had seen the anger caused by her father's failure to kill Potter. He'd taken it out on their fathers and then they went home and took it out on their children. Blaise was the only one whose family didn't openly support Voldemort but he had seen enough to know.

Removing her Silencio, Melody brushed off a piece of stray fluff from her robes, looking out at the pitch black scenery as she did so. "I expect we'll be arriving soon," She announced matter-of-factly as she turned to look at Draco's black suit with a raised eyebrow. "I assume you won't be changing?"

He just shook his head, standing up to grab his carry-on bag just as the train pulled to a stop in Hogsmeade Station, looking at everyone expectantly.

Quickly copying his movements, everyone grabbed their bags before all piling out of the compartment one by one. It was a bit of a squeeze in the corridor, with students from all years trying to get out at the same time. Luckily for their group, most people moved out of their way,

The people that didn't? Well, Draco wasn't about to stop to let them pass anytime soon.

Once they had finally stepped off of the train, Pansy quickly linked her arm through Melody's, beginning to talk about her lessons and how she was so happy her best friend had finally joined her.

"I'm surprised the Ministry's still letting you walk around free, Potter!" Draco's hate-filled words interrupted Pansy's word vomit as both girls looked up to see what was going on. "You better enjoy it while you can. I expect there's a cell in Azkaban with your name in it!" He spat, rearing backwards as Potter lunged at him.

Letting go of Melody's arm, Pansy quickly ran ahead to grab Draco's instead, glaring daggers at Potter as he wrestled, trying to get out of another boy's grip.

Quickening her steps, Melody reached her brother's side, tucking her hand into his elbow just as Draco threw another jab at the struggling boy. Eyes widening as Potter shouted back at Draco, she couldn't help but wonder where all this anger had come from. From her friend's descriptions, he wasn't usually this aggressive.

His friend was still holding him back as the twins walked by, Matteo not even looking in their direction while Melody stared right at him, noticing the way his eyes widened with interest as he realised he didn't recognise her. Slowing down her steps, she tried to hold eye contact with him as long as possible, a smirk growing on her face before Matteo yanked her forwards, muttering under his breath.

Walking at a normal pace now, Melody couldn't help but look over her shoulder, her lips twitching at the sight of Potter and his two friends staring after her in confusion.

That boy was way too nosy for his own good.

Tapping her fingers against her thigh, Melody bit the side of her cheek, waiting with a bored expression as Professor McGonagall called out the last first year's name, placing the hat onto the boy's head as he wriggled backwards onto the stall.

She could feel the stares on her, could hear the whispers, but she continued to stare ahead, straight at the little boy on the stool. The hat was covering his eyes, but the rest of her face was deathly pale. If she had to guess, she'd pick Hufflepuff-

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled out, creating a deafening roar from the far right side of the hall.

Huh.

As the boy half ran, half walked, over to his new house, Melody scanned the teacher's table. It didn't take long for her to catch someone's eye, making her do a slight double take. She'd forgotten that Severus worked here.

He seemed to be trying to silently communicate something with her but before she could figure out what it was, Professor Dumbledore stood up, eyes trained directly on her. He threw his arms out and smiled jovially.

It didn't reach his eyes.

"As some of you have most definitely realised by now, we have a new 5th year. Miss Riddle, if you would approach the stool, please." He called out, eyes never leaving hers as rampant whispers broke out. Most of them only spoke of her brother. Not many people knew her father's real name, after all.

One person was well and truly acquainted with that name, and she could feel his heated stare on the side of her head as she walked up the stairs towards the stool.

Sitting down, her gaze never left the open doors of the hall. Professor McGonagall began lowering the hat and, just as the bottom of it brushed the crown of her head, it opened its mouth.

"SLYTHERIN!" It screamed out to the silent hall.

A smirk broke her stony face as the whole of Slytherin House jumped up, shouting their appraisal with cheers and whistles. Breathing in deeply, Melody stood up and began walking over to the Slytherin Table, her held high.

Her friends had left her a seat, and she was greeted with many introductions, handshakes and slaps on the back before her behind had even touched the polished wood. Dumbledore was now addressing the whole of the hall once again with what could only be the start of school announcements, but Melody could hear none of it, even after her fellow Slytherins stopped congratulating her.

Her grey eyes were clashing with a pair of green ones, and neither of them refused to look away. She couldn't work out if he was furious or simply intrigued but he looked constipated either way.

A sudden elbow to the ribs made her jump, turning to look at her brother with a glare. "What was that for?" She whispered, rubbing her already bruising ribs with a slight frown.

"Look who it is." He whispered back, not looking at all sorry for elbowing her.

Biting back an insult, Melody turned back to face the front of the hall, eyes widening comically at the sight of Dolores Umbridge. She had met her multiple times when Mr Malfoy had taken her, Mattheo and Draco to the Ministry with him, and she'd hated her.

Even though she was barely able to stay awake through her simpering speech, Melody knew exactly what was going on. The Ministry was interfering with Hogwarts. Of course, it was just her luck to have a Ministry Official inside of Hogwarts the year she is sent to kill Harry Potter.

Sharing a glace with each of her friends, Melody sighed as her eyes strayed back to Potter - who was now whispering with his friends.

This was going to be harder than she thought.