Next Time Around

by Kali ma1

Prologue to The Last Sabi. Based around Lia's mother and Sirius' father.

2. Year one

Next Time Around: Year One

"Mel! MelMelMelMelMelMelMelMel!"

My mother smiled at me over her porridge. "I think Vincent wants you, dear."

The front door banged open and Vinnie raced inside with an ear to ear grin. "I'm in!" He waved a letter in my face. "I'm going to Hogwarts!"

Mum grinned. "That's wonderful Vincent, I'm sure you'll love it there. And happy birthday."

"Yeah," I mumbled, "I'm sure you and Darling will have a fine time. Be sure to think of me occasionally."

"Nah, Mel; you'll get in, you haven't had your birthday yet." He eyed my porridge. "You gonna eat that?"

My birthday arrived with an owl and a letter from Hogwarts. Vinnie took great pleasure in saying `I told you so.' In fact, he enjoyed it so much he said it several times, he didn't stop until I raised my wand (to swat a fly, naturally). And so, when September first rolled around, Mum took Vinnie and I to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters.

From where I was standing, the Hogwarts Express looked, well, intimidating, big, and scary. However, it must have looked different from ten centimeters away where Vinnie was standing, because he was rocking on the balls of his feet, looking as though all of his Christmases had come at once.

"This is gonna be great," he said, grinning.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

The grin didn't falter. "Let's go find seats! C'mon, Mel!"

The compartment we decided onn only had one other person in it. I smiled at her, trying desperately to clone Vinnie's confident grin. "Hi. Can we sit here?"

She nodded and whispered, "Sure." Then she gave Vinnie (who was jumping on the seat) an odd look.

"That's my pet monkey, Vinnie. I'm Mel."

She smiled. "I'm Tess."

I grinned and sat next to her. "Do you know anything about Hogwarts?"

Tess shook her head. "Not really; I'm the first witch in my family. But I've been reading all my books and stuff."

"I'm pure blood," said Vinnie, still bouncing.

"Me, too."

Tess nodded, looking ill. "Do you think coming from a non-magical family is a disadvantage? I mean, I've read about all the Houses. Gryffindor sounds all right, so do Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

"Not Ravenclaw!" Vinnie was starting to give me motion sickness. "Has to be Gryffindor, but anything'd be better than icky-picky Slytherin."

"Bet Darling gets Slytherin."

Tess looked puzzled. "Darling?"

"A person-"

"And she uses the term loosely."

"A person who lives in the same town as us. She's not all that nice."

"Not that nice?" Vinnie finally stopped bouncing. "That makes her sound almost civil. Which she's not."

"And she's coming to Hogwarts?" Now Tess sounded nervous.

Vinnie nodded. "She's like the plague. There's no escaping her. Don't worry, though, the only reason she hates us is-"

"We hate her. It's a mutual thing." I shot Vinnie a look. He might have no problem with everyone knowing what he was, but I did.

The rest of the train ride was spent talking about much pleasanter things.

"Abby, Karl!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Banks, Dale!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Black, Vincent!"

Vinnie strutted to the stool with a huge grin- compared to the other two, who were practically wetting themselves (like I was) he looked doubly confident.

Half a second later...

"GRYFFINDOR!"

You can imagine the grin after that. After a few more kids it was Tess' turn (she got Ravenclaw), and then I stopped paying attention until my name was called.

"Carnes, Melanie!"

"Ahh yes, just like the other one. But you don't belong with him, do you? No, no I don't think so. Let's see, not Gryffindor, but not Hufflepuff. A Slytherin? You could be... But I think it's got to be RAVENCLAW!"

I sank gratefully into a chair next to Tess, trying to decide if I'd faint or spew first.

But hey, that could wait 'til after the food.

I decided before I went to bed that the next morning I'd tell Tess and my roommates (who I hadn't had a chance to talk to yet) that I was a Sabi. After all, what was the point to being friends with them if I was going to be lying all the time?

So, once we were all awake and introduced I took a deep breath and said, "Guys? There's something I have to tell you."

Danielle Wright winced as her brush got caught on a knot in her thick hair, but then smiled. "What?"

I sighed. "Uh, do you all know what a Sabi is?"

My soon-to-be friends nodded, even Tess, who added, "I read about them in A Brief Overview of Magical Sub-Humans."

"Well, I am one."

Juliet Downs looked awed. "Really? Wow, you are so lucky!"

Tess nodded. "Yeah, that's cool!"

Their reactions shocked me, as I'd been expecting the same response I got growing up.

Tanya Morgan laughed. "Don't look so surprised! What did you think we'd say?"

I shrugged. "Well, the kids in my town were less than nice about it. I wouldn't have told you, but Vinnie Black is one, too, and he's probably told the rest of the school."

"Is that Darling girl horrible to you because you're a Sabi?" asked Tess thoughtfully.

I nodded, still feeling slightly bewildered. "Yeah."

Danielle scowled slightly. "She got put in Slytherin, didn't she? Says it all if you ask me."

Everyone agreed, and as we walked to breakfast I felt as though I was walking on air.

Just like I'd suspected, everybody in Gryffindor already knew Vinnie was a Sabi and, by the end of breakfast, the whole school knew. This was because Vinnie made a point of floating food up and down the Gryffindor table.

By the end of my first week at Hogwarts I had met the only other Sabi at Hogwarts, a sixth year Hufflepuff named Dean Hooper.

My first class of the year was Transfiguration with the Slytherins. The professor who taught us, Professor Dumbledore, insisted on a Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Ravenclaw seating arrangement.

That was how I soon found myself sitting next to a boy called Tom Riddle.

He smiled at me. "You're Mel Carne, right? The Sabi."

I nodded. "How did you know?"

"Do you know Darling? She told me. She really doesn't have a high opinion of you, does she?"

"Tell me about it."

Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands, smiled and began the lesson. It was pretty interesting; we didn't try to any practical work, but Professor Dumbledore was a good teacher.

At least, I thought so.

The months flew by so fast that I often found myself thinking it was Saturday when it was really Monday.

Danielle, Juliet, Tanya, Tess and I became fast friends. Vinnie liked to refer to us as the fearsome five.

Darling was as nasty as ever, but her comments didn't bother me nearly as much when I had any of my friends with me. This made her livid, as she hated the thought of me having friends other than my fellow 'freak,' Vinnie.

Vinnie was enjoying Hogwarts very much, but I don't think Hogwarts was enjoying Vinnie.

Dungbombs in the Great Hall.

Even more vanishing walls.

Vanishing body parts.

Vanishing anything that could possibly vanish.

It didn't take young Vincent long to get a detention, and he was, by now, on his fourth.

So, all in all, Hogwarts was a good place to be. I wrote home regularly and enjoyed my classes, except for astronomy, which Vinnie absolutely loved.

So, like I said, the months just raced on past.

Transfiguration was hard, but Tom was really smart and he agreed to help me out with it. We met in the library regularly and Tom became a friend as well, much to Vinnie's dismay. He was convinced that all Slytherins were scum.

I watched as Tom made another perfect button from his beetle. When I tried it, the button still had legs and ran away.

Tom snorted in laughter. "Quick, Mel, there goes your homework!"

"Not funny, Tom. Now what am I going to tell Dumbledore? 'Sorry sir, but my homework ran away?'"

"Well, what else are you going to tell him? He'll just look at you with those big eyes and tell you to sit down."

"That's not the point. Vinnie'll have a field day."

Tom shrugged. "Who cares about Black?" He pulled another beetle from his pocket. "Here, give it another go. This time try to hold your wand steady."

I tried it, and surprisingly enough, it worked. Sort of. The beetle turned into a button-shaped beetle.

Tom grinned. "At least it doesn't have legs this time."

"That's it, I give up."

"So soon?"

"We've been working for an hour at least!"

"Fair enough. Bye, Mel."

"Bye, Tom."

Juliet was the only person in our dorm when I returned.

"Hey, Mel," she sighed when I sat down. "Where've you been?"

"Tom was trying to help me with Transfiguration. The most boring subject ever."

Juliet laughed "Vinnie wouldn't be happy to know Tom's helping you out. You know they hate each other."

"So? I don't even like Vinnie."

"Of course not." Her tone made it clear she didn't believe me.

"No really, he's aggravating."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "You should be nicer to Vinnie- he's always nice to you."

"Nice? Oh, you mean annoying."

Juliet went back to reading and I got started on my Charms homework.

I didn't think of Vinnie again until a few days later when he ran me down in the halls.

"Oh, Mel," he said, not apologizing for breaking my bones, "I was just looking for you."

"That's funny, I was just avoiding you."

Vinnie grinned. "Not even you could spoil my mood today. Guess what happened in Potions?"

I sighed. "What?"

"Dah-ling put too much of something in her Coloring Potion and it exploded. Now she has to walk around all day with a green face."

It made for an amusing mental picture and soon I found myself grinning with Vinnie. "Where is she?"

"Probably hiding in shame in the Slytherin common room."

"Probably."

I continued on to Herbology in much better spirits.

More weeks drifted by in a lazy, hazy fashion and the days melded into one another, creating a comfortable blur.

The Christmas holidays arrived and I found myself on the Hogwarts Express with Vinnie, his friend Steve, Juliet and Tanya heading home.

Vinnie and Steve were animatedly discussing everything from Quidditch, to cheese, to Muggles.

Juliet and Tanya were deciding how they'd spend their holidays.

"I," said Tanya, "will be having hour-long showers without Danielle to tell me to hurry up."

Juliet sighed dreamily. "Sounds good, but my sisters will be there to tell me to hurry up. You're lucky, Tanya, you're an only child."

Tanya grinned. "What about you, Melanie? Do you have any siblings?"

I wondered for a moment how I should answer. Vinnie had stopped lifting Steve to hear my answer. "I have a sister; her name's Kath."

"Is she nice?" Juliet asked me.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her for six years. She lives in Australia with my dad."

"Oh."

Tanya and Juliet seemed unsure of what to say, so I changed the subject. "Who wants to play Exploding Snap?"

"So, how do you like Hogwarts?"

Once we were home, Mum wanted to know everything and anything about Hogwarts. She'd never been there because she went to Ombigono in Australia.

I was more than happy to tell her what she wanted to know. And believe me, she wanted to know a lot. By the time we'd finished talking, I was ready for bed.

In the moments before sleep took me, I thought back to the conversation on the Hogwarts Express.

I'd never really thought about the fact that I had no idea what my sister and father were like. I could barely even remember what they looked like.

It didn't want to ask Mum about them, as it was a painful subject for her. But that didn't mean I couldn't do a bit of searching on my own...

"So, Mel, let me get this straight," Vinnie said, smiling like a cat in a roomful of canaries. "You come here, to my house, acting like sweetness itself, generally butter me all up, then have the nerve to ask a favor of me?"

I nodded. "Yes, Vinnie, got it in one. Normally I wouldn't risk my life asking for your help, but no one else has your, er, expertise."

"My striking good looks? My extraordinary charm?"

"No, your researching skills."

"Oh, you want me to help you snoop."

I shook my head. "Not snoop, just search for information in places I really have no business being."

"Snoop."

I sighed. "Yes, Vinnie, snoop. Will you help me?"

He grinned, "'Course I will, Miss Melly. What are we snooping for?"

I hesitated a split second before I told him. "I want to find out anything I can about my father and sister."

He nodded. "Fair enough. Any idea where we start?"

"Not really. Mum won't be a big help, I don't think she even has any photos."

"Oh, she'll have something lying around. Next time she's out, have a snoop about, see what you find."

"That's an invasion of privacy!"

"You want to find out about your dad and sister, don't you?"

"I suppose."

Vinnie sighed. "Mel, you're just not Gryffindor material."

"Hmmm, you know, that could be why I'm in Ravenclaw."

"No, that's because your a geek."

I hit him and went home.

A week later, only a few days before I was due back at Hogwarts, Mum went into to town, giving me my chance to search her things. I wasn't looking forward to it, but Vinnie was right, it had to be done.

I started by looking under her bed and found nothing but a troupe of dust bunnies.

The closet held only sickeningly neat rows and folded piles of robes and other clothes, ditto for the drawers.

A knock at the door made me jump guiltily. I left the room gratefully and went to answer it. I need not have bothered, as Vinnie had already let himself in before I got there.

"Hey, Mel," he said with a grin. "What's new?"

"Nothing," I said, "absolutely nothing. Mum's out and I gave her room a look over, but there's nothing of interest in there."

"You just don't know where to look." He grabbed my hand and dragged me down the hall. "C'mon, let Uncle Vinnie show you how it's done."

Vinnie didn't even glance under the bed or in the closet, he went straight for the window and started to tap rap his knuckles on the wall around it.

"Vinnie, what in hell's bells are you doing?"

"You'll see." He kept it up for a moment, then, "Aha!"

"What?"

He pushed against the wall and, to my surprise, a small door opened. "Lots of old houses have little hidey-holes like this around the place."

"Is there anything in there?" I asked, kneeling next to him.

"Dunno. I'm not sticking my hand in there, it's dark."

I rolled my eyes. "Aww, poor baby."

"Well, I don't see you diving in head first."

I shoved him out of the way and started to feel around inside the small compartment. At first I thought it was empty and was about to give up, but then my fingers brushed against something.

"There's something in here," I said, grasping whatever it was and, hoping like hell it wasn't a spider, bringing it out.

It was a large yellow envelope.

"Open it," said Vinnie, leaning forward.

"Do you think we should? What if it's something we're not meant to see?"

"Of course it's something we're not meant to see! Why else would it be hidden? But it's a bit late to turn back now. Isn't the curiosity killing you?"

Sadly enough, he was right. I slowly opened the envelope, feeling how Pandora must have when she opened the box, and tipped the contents on to the floor.

There wasn't really that much inside, only a few photos and official-looking documents.

"Hey look," said Vinnie, picking up a yellowing piece of paper. "It's your birth certificate, and your sister's, as well."

I read them over with interest and turned to the photos. One was a wedding photo of Mum and my father. The other was of two little girls playing in a sand pit.

"That's you, Mel," whispered Vinnie. "And the other girl must be your sister."

I could have stayed there staring at the two photos all day, but Mum was due back any minute, so we silently packed everything away and the left the room how it had been before.

The next time I saw Vinnie, it was at Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. Neither of us mentioned the hidden compartment, we just waited for Steve, Juliet and Tanya.

"Mel! Vinnie!" We both turned and saw Tanya and Juliet heading our way, grinning. They made their way over to us. "How were your holidays?"

"The usual," I said with a shrug.

Vinnie made a look of mock puzzlement. "How can they be the usual, Mel? I mean, they're our first set of holidays since we arrived at Hogwarts. How do you know what's usual and what's not?"

We told Vincent to shut up and went to find seats.

The Hogwarts routine continued like the holidays had never happened. In my second week back, I met with Tom to work on my ever-awful Transfiguration skills.

I had finally mastered the beetle/button trick, a few weeks after everyone else, and I was working on turning rocks into marshmallows.

"How were your holidays?" I asked during a break.

Tom shrugged. "I stayed here."

"Oh. Why?"

He shrugged again. "I like to stay away from the orphanage as much as I can."

"Oh." It was the first time Tom had mentioned the orphanage he lived in, and it didn't take a fool to notice the bitter note to his voice.

He shrugged. "How were yours?"

"Fine."

We went on working and soon forgot the short, but important, conversation.

Time marched on, as it tends to do, and I began seeing less and less of all my friends as I devoted more time to working on my Sabi powers.

I didn't even notice it was happening until Vinnie pointed it out.

"So, Mel," he said during our flying lessons, "what's up with you and your friends?"

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "You just don't seem to be spending much time with them anymore."

It was my turn to shrug. "I've just been busy."

"Busy?"

"Yeah, doing stuff. Practicing."

"Ah." Vinnie paused as we were shown how to hold our brooms. "It's just, don't you think friends are more important?"

It was something to think about.

A few days later and I was still thinking about what Vinnie had said. Finally, I decided to talk to Tess about it.

"So, Tess," I said while she was struggling through her charms homework, "what's new?"

"Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "I guess I haven't been much attention lately..."

"It's okay, I mean, being a Sabi is important, right? We all understand."

"That's not the point, Tess. You guys should tell me when I'm ignoring you, not Vinnie."

Tess smiled. "We told Vinnie to tell you. You listen to him."

"Sometimes."

Tess grinned. "Sometimes."

Everything was back to normal. For the time being.

With the first Quidditch match of the year (Ravenclaw and Slytherin) came great excitement, as the year before the session had been cut short due to a series of unfortunate accidents.

Danielle was exceptionally optimistic for Ravenclaw's chances. "My brother Todd reckons we've never had a better team."

"But that could just mean that all our other teams were useless," pointed out Juliet with her trademark logic.

Danielle shrugged. "I'm trying to be optimistic, Miss The-Glass-is-Half-Empty."

Juliet laughed. "I want us to win as much as you do, but I don't quite see the point to a bunch of guys on broomsticks."

Tanya sighed, interrupting the speech Danielle was about to launch into. "I love flying. When girls are allowed to play, I'm signing up."

I snorted. "When girls are allowed to play? More like 'if.' But if we stay here talking, we'll miss the game."

Slytherin took an early lead thanks to a suicidal chaser, but Ravenclaw soon caught up in what was proving to be a close match.

"Is that the Snitch?" shrieked Tess, clutching my arm, cutting off circulation.

I shook my head. "I don't see anything."

"There!" She pointed at the Snitch-free ground.

"You're seeing things!" yelled Tanya over the roar of the crowd.

I shouted along with everyone else when Ravenclaw scored, and booed when it was Slytherin's turn to gain a point.

Half an hour went by with no sign of the Snitch and my butt was starting to ache. "They must find it soon," I said, scanning the pitch.

"I hope not!" cried Danielle, clapping for the Ravenclaw keeper. "This is great!"

This must have tempted the gods of fate, for the moment the words journeyed from her mouth, the Ravenclaw and Slytherin Seekers both broke into a dive.

Tess screamed (in my ear) and reapplied her death grip on my arm.

I mentally urged Alex Scott, the Ravenclaw Seeker, onward. It did no good and as the Slytherin Seeker, Lars Tolks, took the lead, it was obvious to all who was going to catch the Snitch.

Tanya moaned. "No, no, no."

Tolks stretched his hand, the Snitch mere millimeters away, and was about to grab the prize when it darted to the left.

The look on Tolks' face was comic as he grabbed at air.

"What is it doing?!" cried Tanya. "Snitches don't do that!"

Tolks grabbed at the Snitch again, only to watch it dart to the right. This continued for a few seconds that felt like hours until Scott flew around and grabbed the Snitch himself.

After a few shocked moments the crowd (minus all the Slytherins) began to cheer. Tolks and his team yelled incoherently, words like 'cheat' and 'unfair' could be heard by all.

"I don't know what the heck just happened," gushed Tess, standing, "but I'm sure glad it did. We won!"

I shook my head, knowing full well what had just happened.

Vinnie.

The professors searched the Snitch for signs of tampering and found none, so they put it down to a one-off chance. They made it clear that they had a fair idea of who had done it, but were going to let the guilty party off this time.

It took me several days to catch up to Vinnie (one might think he was avoiding me), but I finally ran into him on the way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Vinnie!"

He turned and grinned. "Hey, Melly, what's up?"

I shrugged. "Nothing. Interesting Quidditch match, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was." He grinned, the perfect picture of innocence.

I glared to let him know I wasn't fooled. "So, Vinnie, tell me, since when do Snitches act like that?"

"I dunno, Mel, was kinda odd, wasn't it?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Come off it, Vinnie, I know it was you!"

He squirmed slightly. "Know what was me?"

"Snitches don't act like that, Vinnie, unless someone makes them and seeing as the Snitch wasn't tampered with, I think maybe a Sabi was the cause..."

"Hey, yeah! I bet it was that shady Hufflepuff."

"I bet it was you."

Vinnie grinned, not slightly embarrassed. "So what? It's not like it's gonna happen again and 'sides, you should be happy that Ravenclaw won."

"We didn't win, Vinnie; you cheated. And if you do it again I'll tell the professors."

Vinnie sneered. "Just like a perfect little Ravenclaw, huh, Melanie?"

I blinked. Vinnie had never snapped at me before. Even when I deserved it, he held his tongue. I shrugged, aware of just how red my cheeks probably were, and stalked into the Great Hall.

Needless to say, my pride was severely injured and I was careful to avoid Vinnie as much as possible for weeks afterwards, a task made easy by the fact that Vinnie was also avoiding me. I knew I was being childish, but hey, I could give a mule a lesson in stubbornness and I wasn't planning on giving in and talking to Vincent any time soon.

It wasn't such a hard thing to do really. I spent my time practicing my powers, hanging out with my friends and struggling through Transfiguration with Tom. The only thing that really changed was whenever I saw Vinnie, I turned and walked the other way.

It was a sketchy arrangement, one that could not last forever, or even until the end of the year. Heck, it didn't even last until the end of the term.

I was going home again for the holidays, as were Tess, Danielle and Vinnie. I did not plan on sitting with him on the train or even waiting with him at King's Cross, but Tess and Danielle had other ideas.

"This compartment is fine!" I said, waving my hand around the empty compartment we were standing in.

Danielle shook her head. "We promised Vinnie we'd sit with him and his friends. Now come on!"

I grumbled and groaned and was all around annoying, but I followed my friends to where Vinnie and a handful of his noisy Gryffindor friends were sitting.

He barely looked up when I entered and didn't say anything until I sat down.

"Hi Mel."

"Hi Vinnie."

Just like nothing had happened.

The holidays went quickly. I tried not to think about my father and Kath and when I did, I pushed the thoughts to the furthest corner of my mind, along with Brussels sprouts and soggy bread.

I spent most of my time with Vinnie. We didn't mention our fight; there was really no need. We both knew we were sorry, what was the point of saying it?

It was really quite fun wandering around town. I felt a freedom I hadn't experienced growing up; Darling had stayed at Hogwarts and her old muggle cronies were too scared to come near Vinnie or I. It was peaceful, to say the least.

"Guess what I can do?"

Normally, such a question from Vinnie would have made me nervous, but lying in the sun on a comfy leaf mattress had put me in a good mood. "Does it involve noises made by your body?"

"No."

"Then what can you do?"

"You'll have to open your eyes."

"Am I going to regret it?"

"No."

I slowly opened my eyes. Vinnie grinned and quite suddenly began to glow.

"Oh, that's not fair! I've been trying to do that for ages!"

Vinnie smirled- a smirl is a cross between a smile and a smirk. "I know you have."

I hit him, probably harder than necessary. "You are such a Gryffindor!"

"Yes, well. That's obvious."

I giggled and whacked him again, and I used my powers to bury him in leaves.

"Hey! No fair!"

I raced off before he could retaliate.

Mum was very strict about me developing my Sabi powers. She insisted I practice every day I was home until my head hurt too hard to continue.

"What's the rush?" I asked her one night. "I'll have my whole life to figure this out."

She just smiled a wistful smile that seemed to be appearing on her more and more often. "I hope you do, Melanie."

"What, am I expected to die?"

"No, of course not. Now come child, finish practicing."

I did as she said and tried not to think about the meaning behind her words.

"He really is a monkey." Tess, Danielle and I were watching Vinnie and his best friend Nick jump from one chair to another.

I nodded. "Yup."

"Is it natural?" Danielle asked. "To be so hyper?"

"They're boys." Tess shrugged. "What do you expect?"

I nodded. "Yup."

No more was said until we reached Hogwarts.

"Did you have fun on your holidays?"

I winced. I hadn't been planning on mentioning the holidays to Tom after the last time, but he just had to bring it up.

"They were fine. Boring, really."

"Uh huh."

"Did you stay here again?"

"Yeah. It wasn't too bad; a lot of the Slytherins stayed."

"Uh huh."

I went back to Transfiguring and for half an hour the only time we spoke was when Tom pointed out when I was doing something wrong, which was often.

"You'll get the hang of it one day," Tom said, trying to cheer me up and failing.

"Unlikely, but thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You're welcome."

I sighed and dropped my wand. "Tom..."

"Yeah?"

"It's just… I was wondering, what happened to your mother? And father?"

Tom's brow furrowed and he bit his lip.

"You don't have to tell me..."

"No, it's just, not many people ask. My mother died after she named me, and my father left as soon as he found out she was a witch." He laughed bitterly. "His name was Tom, as well; let's hope I don't turn out anything like him, eh?"

I winced at his harsh tone, and picked up my wand again.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your parents, your family, fill me in."

I shrugged. "I live with my mum. My dad and sister live in Australia. I haven't seen them since I was a kid; I guess Mum figured we couldn't stay with them, 'cause we're both Sabi and all..."

Tom gave the same bitter laugh that made me shudder. "I guess you and I are alike then, aren't we? Dumped because we're different."

I wanted to argue, tell him it wasn't like that. But maybe it was.

I'd have to give it some thought.

The next Quidditch match rolled around, between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Hufflepuff put up a good fight, but Gryffindor eventually won. I put my sanity on the line and sat with Vinnie and the other Gryffindors, mostly to make sure he didn't cheat, which he didn't, and after the match he walked me back up to the castle.

"So, Melly Pelly," he said once our ears had stopped ringing, "What's the matter?"

"Why is it that every time I see you, you ask me what's the matter?"

"Because every time I see you, something's the matter. You're a very complex person, you know."

"Right."

"So?"

"So what?"

"What's the matter, baby?"

"Baby?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Just answer the question, Melanie."

Melanie. Vinnie never called me that. "What was the question again? I forgot."

"What's the matter?"

I shrugged, turning slightly away. "It's just... I've been thinking about my dad and Kath again."

Vinnie stopped walking and sat down in the corridor, leaning against the wall. He gestured for me to sit next him and I did so. "Ah. Do you still want to track them down? You haven't mentioned that in a while."

"Not really. Do you know why Mum and I left Australia?"

"No. Do you?"

"Not really. Well, I do, sort of. I only asked Mum once, when I was about five. She said we had to move because we were different and they might get hurt. I didn't really understand what she meant then."

Vinnie thought this over. "Well, if you've known it for that long, why's it only bothering you now?"

"It's something Tom said..."

Vinnie snorted at the mention of Tom, and I glared. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Ok, ok, I'll listen."

"You're not to breathe a word of this to anyone, you understand me, Vincent?"

"Yes."

"Anyway, he was telling me how his father left his mother when he found out she was a witch, and I told him about me and Mum leaving Australia 'cause we're Sabi and he pointed out that we have that in common. 'Dumped because we're different' were his exact words."

Vinnie sighed. "Mel, you don't know the full story of why you left Australia, and don't you take any notice of what Tom the Slytherin says until you do."

"I guess so."

"You think far too much, Mel. Relax a bit, okay? So maybe Tom the Slytherin's dad was a jerk; doesn't mean yours is."

"Okay, Vinnie, you win. I'm all happy now, see?"

He smiled. "You're not happy now, but you will be tomorrow. Now go to your girlie friends and do what girlie girls do, I don't want to miss the Gryffindor victory party."

I waited until he was out of sight before I headed for the Ravenclaw dungeons with a grin on my face.

Only a few weeks later, like the good little Ravenclaw I was, I started studying for the end of year exams. And I wasn't the only one; the Ravenclaw common room looked more like the library than the library did.

Vinnie, naturally, thought I was insane, and let me assure you, the feeling was mutual, and opted to enjoy more relaxing pastimes like harassing anything that had two feet and a pulse.

The Quidditch season ended, a great show down between Gryffindor and Slytherin which Gryffindor won, and the holidays popped in to say hello.

I almost didn't go home (exams were only a term away and I was still bungling up my Transfiguration), but Vinnie insisted that so much studying was simply not healthy and threatened to practice his charms on me if I didn't go.

So I went.

Tess, Juliet and I sat with Vinnie and his friends Steve, Nick and Tabitha, and we spent the first half of the trip playing Exploding Snap and Gobstones.

The second half was not nearly so pleasant thanks to the blight of humanity, also known as Darling.

"Oh hello Dah-ling," said Vinnie when she stalked into our compartment. "I think you're lost, the veterinarian's in the other direction."

Darling scowled. "I just wanted to see Melanie." She forced my name out like it caused her physical pain. "Can I speak to you outside?"

I shot my friends a desperate look before following Darling outside, feeling like someone on their death march.

'So," she paused, as if contemplating whether or not to say my name again, and deciding against it, "how are you?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't. It was just far too weird.

Darling sighed. "Look, I'll get right to the point. I've known you a long time, and I know we're not really friends, but, well, I hate seeing you so pathetic."

I finally found my voice. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the way you trail around behind Tom like a faithful puppy, it's sad. He only puts up with you because he pities you. You know that, right?"

I glared at her.

"I just thought you should know, that's all. Bye!"

I watched her practically skip away, my blood boiling. She was lying, of course. The rational part of me knew this. My insecure, teddy bear-clutching side was in hysterics.

I took a few deep breaths, pushing all thoughts of Darling and her filthy lies to the darkest realms of my mind, and walked back inside the compartment.

"So, what did little miss sunshine want?" asked Tabatha curiously.

I shrugged. "Nothing worth noting."

Vinnie shot me his 'I don't believe you' look and continued to beat Steve at Exploding Snap.

Fortunately, everybody else just noted it down as another unexplained mystery and went back to whatever they were doing.

I didn't say a word for the rest of the trip.

I spent the entire holidays studying with the few books I'd brought with me and almost asking my mother why we left Australia. 'Almost' being the key word there.

I avoided both Darling and Vinnie's innocent but oh-so-snoopy questions about what Darling had wanted, and generally just wished for the holidays to end.

Eventually they did, and I was back in the safe haven of Hogwarts.

I didn't see Tom for a few more weeks, and when I did things were tense, which was my fault.

Tom picked up on it and demanded to know what was wrong.

I shrugged and dodged the question. "Nothing. You know, I think I've got the hang of this now..."

"Yes, you have. Very good. What's wrong?"

I marveled, not for the first time, at how alike he and Vinnie really were. Not that either would ever admit it, of course.

"Nothing, I just had a run in with Darling. Nothing too exiting."

He groaned, "I knew she'd done something, what'd she say?"

"Nothing worth noting."

"Right. Well, whatever she said, it wasn't true."

"I know."

We went back to Transfiguration without another word, but the tension had left the room, leaving behind two kids and a Transfiguration book.

The exams arrived with alarming speed, but if I thought I was unprepared, which I suppose I wasn't, it was nothing to how Vinnie must've (or should've) been feeling, as he only started studying the night before the exams started.

I breezed through Charms, History of Magic and Potions. Astronomy and Herbology were slightly harder, but I still passed them with colors flying everywhere. I even managed to get through Transfiguration, but only just.

All in all, the year was a success. Vinnie agreed with me, not because he got the highest marks out of Gryffindor, but because he got the most detentions. Typical.

The end of year feast was a happy affair. The Great Hall was decorated with scarlet and gold, letting everybody know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Gryffindor had won.

Before we could get started on the feast, Professor Dippet stood to give the end of year speech.

"Well, students, this is the end of another glorious year. I am pleased with the behavior shown by all students and impressed by the marks most received."

He rattled on for about half an hour and most students spaced out, staring at the empty food platters longingly. Finally, the tone of Dippet's voice indicated he was wrapping things up and we slowly pulled ourselves back from the fluffy abyss of daydreams.

"I hope to see you all back here next year, in one piece and ready to learn. Now, enjoy the feast."

"This is great," said Tanya, her mouth full of apple pie. "I'm gonna miss this."

"Miss what?" I asked her. "We'll be back next year."

"Yeah, but that's ages away. 'Sides, my ma can't cook."

Juliet was eating with her usual rabbit-size bites. "My mother cooks just fine, but I'll miss you girls. Still, Mel's right; we'll be back next year."

"Corth thwe will," said Tess around all the food crammed into her mouth. "Now, Mel, path me tha gwavy."

I floated it down the table (nobody even blinked at this now common occurrence) and went back to my food.

I don't know why I turned at that moment, but it was only because I did that I saw Darling's face, twisted with barely concealed fury and disgust, as she watched me.

Authors note: Here it is, -grins sheepishly- finally. But you would not believe the writers block that came with this fic! It was enough to make a saint faint! But my thanks go to Lone Astronomer for beta reading and all you readers who were patient and are going to review (hint, hint). Let's just hope the next part doesn't take as long, eh?