~*~ Am I not pretty enough? Is my heart too broken? Do I cry too much? Am I too outspoken? Don't I make you laugh? Should I try it harder? Why do you see, right through me? 

Kasey Chambers – not pretty enough

"Well," Dumbledore began, "I guess you are all wondering why you are here?" He paused a moment.

A tense silence filled the room.

"Well, Duh!" I stated, matter-of-factly. "Why else would we bother to come?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. Ron and Hermione were looking at him apprehensively, and Harry was looking at the floor. He seemed to be contemplating something in his head.

"Thank you for that blunt reply Melanie," Dumbledore said, amusement clear in his voice.

"No problem." I answered, with a cheeky grin.

"Now, down to business.  Harry, I found out about Sirius last night and…"

"Excuse me Professor Dumbledore, but how exactly did you find out about Sirius?" Hermione asked in a confused voice.

"That would be my fault." I said guiltily, giving her a small smile.

She didn't return it.

Instead she looked at Harry, who seemed unfazed by the news. A look of anger clouded over her face a moment. 'Uhoh!' I thought, glancing between her and Harry, 'I am so in for it now!'

I looked back to the Headmaster, giving him a pleading look, trying to send him a message through my mind.

"Now Harry, am I right in saying that you would like to see Sirius before he leaves?" The energetic Professor asked.

Harry raised his head for first time since entering the office, he nodded looking hopeful.

"Right then," said Dumbledore, looking business like. "I will alert the school that there will be a special Hogsmede day today for the whole school, you may visit him there, Fetch a bag of food from the kitchens; he will need it on the journey back,"

The three of them nodded, then Harry spoke up asking, "must he go?" Something flickered in Dumbledore's eyes, "I'm afraid so Harry, but don't worry, you will still be able to write to him. Now you three go and get ready to leave, I must speak with Melanie a moment,"

They got up walked to the door, before leaving, Harry turned around and looked at the Headmaster, "thanks," he whispered gratefully, "you too Mel" then he followed Ron and Hermione out of the office.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly, then turned to me, "Melanie, if you agree I can have a house-elf sent to your house to pick up some of your things for you, is that ok?" I nodded, "Sure, I had a suitcase already packed to go to Aunt Laura's, it should still be there in the hallway, the address is…"

"I know the address Melanie, we just needed to get your permission to enter the house, I will have a set of school things sent to you dormitory along with your belongings as soon as possible, you will need to send an owl to your friend Hannah explaining the situation, saying, of course as little as possible of the magical world."

"You mean, I have actually to LIE to Hannah??" I asked, horrified. Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"But sir…"

"Sorry Melanie, we can not allow you to tell anybody about the magical world." I felt my face grow hot,

"I can't lie to Hannah! She's my best friend! She's my sister! I can't not tell her everything! Besides she knows me too well! She can tell when I'm lying!  She'll know! What are you going to do when I leave? Are you just gonna put a memory charm on me so I'll forget all that happened?" my eyes flashed.

"Melanie…" "It's true isn't it?" I interrupted angrily, "you're going to wait until I do whatever the special thing I was called here for, and then you'll send me home with my memory wiped!" I glared at him, arms crossed.

"Melanie, we have no intention of sending you home at the moment, let alone wiping you memory. We just need you to postpone telling your friend the truth for a while, so we can decide what to do with the situation." Dumbledore gave me a penetrating gaze, I knew what Harry meant now, it felt as though my entire mind had been opened up and Dumbledore was reading it.

"I need your word on this Melanie," he said gently.

I sighed, thinking it over. 'If I tell Hannah, we both would most likely get zapped with a memory charm, if I keep it from her then… nothing.  I would still remember and Hannah won't know a thing, but I can't lie to her, I know she won't tell anybody, but I know I can't say anything to her…' I looked at Dumbledore, my eyes boring into his, "I promise I won't tell," my voice was clear and confident, but inside I felt a mess, I wasn't really sure if I would be able keep the promise, but I knew I had to try.

"Thank you Melanie, I know it will be hard, but we need you to do this, for your good, and the good of your friends. Now you may go," I nodded, and turned to leave but realised something, the Professor had said we, "Professor D? There's one other thing," I said, whirling around to face him, "who do you mean by saying we?" Dumbledore looked at me in surprise, "did I say we?" he thought a moment, "hmmm, so I did, mere slip of the tongue I believe," I nodded, still not convinced. "Uhuh, sure, thanks, seeya Professor D!" I said, skipping out of the office.

I started wandering through the hallways, not really knowing where I was going.  "Hey!" a voice called out from behind me, I spun around, two figures were running towards me, when they got closer I realised that they were two boys, they stopped in front of me and grinned, "you're the new Gryffindor girl aren't you? Melanie?" asked the one with spiky, sandy-blond hair, "yeah, that's me," I told them cheerfully, "are you guys Gryffindors as well?" they nodded proudly, I searched my mind for the identities of the boys, they looked my age, then it clicked. "Seamus and Dean right?"

They nodded, "how did you know?" asked Dean. "Lucky guess, besides its not like there's that many 5th year Gryffindor guys! Can you take me to the common room? I don't know the way." I gave them a puppy dog look, "well… sure," Seamus said, "we were on our way to Hogsmede, but I suppose we could take you there on the way," my face lit up, "thanks guys!" we started walking down the corridors, they boys were chatting about Quidditch, my mind wandered, thinking about what I would tell Hannah.

My thoughts were interrupted, by Seamus calling my name and waving his hand in front of my face, "what?" I asked him, annoyed.  "We've been calling you the last 5 minutes!" Dean exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry!" I said, "I have a short attention span, what did you want?" I turned to look at the two boys, 'hmm they're kinda cute…' I thought flicking my hair over my shoulder.  "Just asking which Quidditch team you go for?" said Seamus.

I wrinkled my nose, thinking of all the Quidditch teams I knew of, and came up with pretty much nothing, save the Chudley Cannons, "I don't really go for any specific team," Seamus's eyes widened in horror, "raised as a muggle you know, never really heard much about it, but I love Quidditch." They both nodded, "we're here," said Dean, motioning towards the Fat Lady.

"Humming Bird," said Seamus, and the Portrait flew open, "Thanks Fatty," I called back to her jumping through into the common room, "Thanks guys, I'll see you later!" I told Seamus and Dean, they waved and kept going down the hallway, I walked through the common room, stopping to say hi to Hermione who was sitting by herself in one of the armchairs by the fire, she barely acknowledged my presence, just raised her head gave me a nod and a cold look.

I shrugged and walked up the stairs to the dormitory, just as Dumbledore had promised, my suitcase was sitting on my bed, along with a bag, which I supposed was full of my school supplies, I felt a shiver of excitement run down my spine.

I was actually going to go to school here for a month! It was so amazing!

I rummaged through my suitcase, searching for some paper and a pen, I couldn't write to Hannah using parchment and a quill, it would make her suspicious at once, finding the stationary my mother bought me for Christmas last year, sat on the floor and leaned against a table and started to write.

Hey Teddy,

                             Has Aunt Laura gone knocking at the door screaming yet? Stupid cow probably hasn't even noticed I'm not there, don't look so shocked, there was no way I was gonna spend a whole month with her! I'd probably be stuck on permanent diaper duty. Ew! Anyway, I need you to cover for me until I get back, come on Hannie! I really need you to do this for me! I'm staying nearby, but don't try to find me. I'll write to you again, I promise, you can tell your mum, just make sure she doesn't freak out or something, I swear I'm fine, actually I'm having a ball, I'm going under the name 'Olivia'. I'll be back in one month, I promise.  Just tell dear Aunt Laura I'm staying at your house,

                                                Hugs,

                                                             Candy J

'That'll do,' I thought, reading through the letter.  I smiled at the use of our childhood nicknames; Candy for me, since I loved sugar so much, and Teddy for Hannah, since her room was absolutely full of Teddy bears.

I grabbed the letter, and walked back down to the common room.

"Hey Mel," Ron greeted me, he was sitting in between Harry and Hermione, with a bag of food on his lap, "hi guys," I said uncertainly, "I thought you were going to Hogsmede?" I shoved the letter in my pocket. "We are, we just wanted to know if you wanted to come with us?" From the look on Hermione's face I could tell it wasn't her that suggested I come, "but I thought you were going to see Si..er Snuffles?" I caught myself, before I said too much, noticing the first and second years all sitting around.

Harry nodded, "and you want me to come?" he nodded again, "are you sure?" he nodded again, "really?" Ron sighed exasperatedly, "Yes, Melanie, he wants you to come with us, we wouldn't be asking otherwise! So let's go!" he and Harry grabbed my arms and pulled me out of the common room, down stairways, through corridors and outside, where there were some carriages waiting, ready to take people to Hogsmede.

I was pulled into the closest one and sat down on a seat next to Ron, "Where's Hermione?" I asked Harry, who opened his mouth in horror, swore and tore out of the carriage.

Ron and I laughed, "forgot his girlfriend, tut tut…" I said, Ron looked at me funny, "Hermione isn't Harry's girlfriend." I raised my eyebrows "I know she isn't, well not yet anyway," I grinned knowingly, Ron looked confused, he opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Hermione storming into the carriage followed meekly by Harry.

The ride was pretty much silent, apart from Harry trying to apologise to Hermione, but she just brushed it off like she hadn't even heard him.

When the carriage stopped, we piled out onto the streets of Hogsmede, I held my breath a moment, looking in awe at the surroundings, it looked exactly how I imagined it, a dusty road, littered with shops with brightly coloured signs that flashed and pictures that moved.

I tried to talk to Hermione, but she stormed ahead. I shrugged and pulled one of the lollipops I had bought yesterday out of my pocket and put it in my mouth, I idly followed Harry down an old side road that looked like it hadn't been used for ages.

We stopped outside a deserted looking house, with peeling paint, boarded up windows. It looked like it would topple over at any moment. I recognised it immediately. "The Shrieking Shack," I breathed.   

Harry stepped up to the front door and tapped a rhythm on it with his fist, the door creaked open and Harry was pulled inside. We followed him in, walking up stairs into an old room with a dusty four-poster bed in the middle.

Harry was standing in the middle of a room, enveloped in a huge protective hug from his godfather. I smiled at them; neither of them really knew exactly how they meant much to the other. Sirius was as dependent on Harry as Harry was of Sirius.

They pulled away from each other, Ron placed the bag of food on the bed. Sirius looked disapprovingly at Harry. "you didn't you sneak out of school to see me, did you?" Harry shook his head and answered, "no, Dumbledore gave the whole school a Hogsmede weekend, because..."  he was interrupted by Sirius saying, "he gave the whole school a Hogsmede weekend on the first day of school? Why?"

Hermione pointed at me, I grinned sheepishly as Sirius turned to look at me, to my surprise he chuckled and said, "nice hair," my eyes widened in surprise. I pulled my ponytail over my shoulder and looked at it; it was bright pink, I laughed, "how did that happen?" Ron and Harry were laughing as well, Hermione just rolled her eyes, "your eating a hair colour changing lollipop," she said flatly.

I took the lollipop out of my mouth and looked at it, "cool! I gotta get some more of these!" I exclaimed. "so anyway what does your pink haired friend here, have to do with there being a Hogsmede weekend?" Sirius asked. I smiled guiltily and answered, "umm, well I kinda accidentally let Professor D know that you were here, i'm really sorry, I didn't mean to, it just kinda slipped out." I bit my lip anxiously, wondering how Sirius was going to react.

He sighed exasperatedly, turned around to the other three and said, "did none of you bother to tell her that I wasn't supposed to be here?" they shook they're heads, "It's a bit hard to tell Melanie anything; she never stops talking!"

"but…" I protested, Ron put his hand over my mouth, "don't even try to deny it Mel, you know its true," I hung my head in mock shame, and threw my arm around Ron, "but you love me anyway, right?" I said jokingly.

"Hey Sirius, guys what happened at breakfast this morning?" Harry's face lit up with a grin, 'God that guy needs more fun in his life,' I thought sadly, "Well, Mel and Ron's twin brothers; Fred and George, snuck down to the kitchens and put something in the Slytherins food, so all the Slytherins turned into monkeys at breakfast this morning!" 

I grinned sheepishly, as Sirius burst into laughter, followed by Harry and Ron, I noticed Hermione however, was looking slightly put out.

"I do hope I am not interrupting anything," said an amused voice coming from the doorway. Sirius stopped laughing, "Albus, do come in." he greeted the 

man with a grin.

Dumbledore stepped into the room, "glad to find you all so merry," he said, his eyes twinkling, "I must speak with you for a moment Sirius," Sirius nodded, and followed the Headmaster out into the hall.

I sat on the floor and lent against the wall. I yawned.

"you tired too?" Harry asked, I nodded. Ron sat down next to me and I leaned my head on his shoulder. I was just dozing off when Sirius banged the door open again, he had a look of complete amazement and shock on his face.

~*~ can't be bothered writing any more now! May as well post this, its now 4:30 in the morning here. That's Australia by the way!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have had a total overdose on chocolate lately!!!

Never get majorly pissed off when you've eaten nothing but chocolate ALL day!! Trust me! I went psycho at my best friends boyfriend because he broke up with her!! Hehehe! Now hes a bit shitty with me, but oh well to dump her like that hes a big ugly stupid shit head loser! Hmph! Shutting up now…..

Thanks for all the reviews Eb!!!!

I luv your story by the way!!!!!!!