Chapter 24: An Irish Surprise

Melissa stood, staring open-mouthed, as the girl with sun-streaked blonde hair and the tall, handsome boy both grinned at her, eyes sparkling. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and their partners, Althea, Blaise, and Zachary stood next to them, Melissa's friends watching her with smiles on their faces, and their partners watching with curiosity in their eyes.

"Oh . . . my . . . Caysie? Jeremy?!" Melissa began slowly then ended up shrieking through her excitement. She screamed and ran at her best friends. She flung her arms first around Caysie, then Jeremy, laughing unbelievably.

"I've missed you guys so much!!! What are you doing here?" Melissa demanded when she finally let go of Caysie and Jeremy. No one noticed Malfoy slip away, smiling slightly. Melissa's two friends from her old school grinned.

"Well, we were contacted by your headmaster and asked if we wanted to come and visit," Caysie explained.

"And, come on," Jeremy interrupted. "It's not like we're going to say no to come and visit our best friend, whom we haven't seen for months!"

Melissa grinned.

"Well, I think it's time for me to make a few introductions," Melissa said, remembering that her brother and two Hogwarts best friends were there. She stepped back and gestured to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Cays, Jeremy, this is my twin brother, Harry, and two of his best friends - and two of mine, too, come to think of it - Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione smiled at Caysie and Jeremy.

"Ron, Hermione, Harry, these are my two best friends from Sullivan's, Caysie Johnson and Jeremy Zurchensky."

Jeremy and Caysie grinned at Harry, Ron, and Hermione and reached out their hands. Harry cleared his throat and jerked his head in the direction of the three Slytherin partners standing uncomfortably. Melissa started.

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry!" Melissa remarked, turning to the three outcasts, "Jeremy, Caysie, this is . . . Althea McKay, Harry's partner; this is Blaise Zabini, Ron's partner; and this is Zachary King, Hermione's partner."

Caysie and Jeremy grinned and shook hands with the three Slytherins.

"Um . . . sorry if I'm being rude or anything, but . . . their partners?" Jeremy asked curiously.

"Yeah, you see, our Heads of Houses recently set us up with partners from Slytherin House to promote peace between the two houses -" Harry explained before Hermione interrupted.

"Slytherin and Gryffindor, our house, are massive rivals."

"Shush, Hermione," Harry mumbled. "Anyway, we have to spend almost all of our spare time with our partners."

"Oh, okay," Jeremy said softly.

"Got it," Caysie added, nodding her head.

"So, how long are you guys here for?" Melissa asked excitedly, linking her arms with Jeremy and Caysie as they headed back to the castle, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurrying ahead of them, talking animatedly to their partners.

"Oh, we're only here for a few days," Caysie told her.

"Yeah, Feran said we couldn't miss too many days of school," Jeremy explained. Melissa's face fell for a moment, then brightened again.

"Oh. Well, at least I get to spend some time with you guys," she responded, thinking of the bright side of things. "It's been soooo long since I've seen you both!"

Caysie laughed before she and Jeremy proceeded to give Melissa an update on everything that had happened in Ireland since she left.

~*~ Meanwhile, up in Gryffindor Tower . . . ~*~

Hermione, Ron, and Harry stepped through the portrait and hung up their cloaks. They found a seat on a couch as Hermione conjured up some hot chocolate for everyone.

"Well, Mel's friends seem nice," Ron ventured, glancing at the other two.

"Yeah, they do," Hermione replied enthusiastically. "I can see why Melissa likes hanging out with them. They seem really cool."

"Yeah," Harry muttered to himself, not seeming totally in tune with the conversation. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other worriedly.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked, leaning forward towards her friend.

"You don't like them?" Ron added.

"No! No, it's not that at all," Harry corrected. "They seem very nice."

"Then, what's wrong?" Ron questioned, his brow creasing.

"Well, don't you two find it a bit odd that suddenly, Melissa's two best friends from her old school show up, saying Dumbledore contacted them to see if they wanted to visit?" Harry asked, a strange look on his smooth features. "I mean, it's not exactly normal for school headmasters to have a student's best friends from an old school come for a visit, you know?"

"Yeah, you're right," Hermione mused, thinking deeply. "It is a little weird, now that you mention it. Even if Dumbledore did owl Melissa's old headmistress, how would he know that Melissa was missing her friends horribly? We didn't even know until this morning, when she looked positively miserable."

"We still don't know why she was looking like that," Ron pointed out.

"She told us she missed her friends," Harry reminded Ron.

"But she never said why she looked so awful."

"Much as I hate to admit it, Ron's right," Hermione declared. Ron looked triumphant for a moment before thinking over Hermione's remark.

"Hey!"

"Shush, Ron," Hermione ordered absentmindedly.

"Any way we think about this, there's another aspect we don't know," Harry said quietly, looking around and making sure no one could overhear their conversation. "There's some fact in this visit that's hiding from us."

"What could it be?" Hermione whispered.

"Do you have any idea?" Ron added, lowering his voice.

"I don't know," Harry replied honestly, his eyes darkening. "But in any event, I intend to get to the bottom of this and find out what this unknown piece is."

A/N: Okay! This chapter is finished!!! Sorry it took so long. I got a major case of writer's block and I've been wicked busy with cheerleading and homework and everything else that comes along with high school. Review, I know you want to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!