Author's Note: Yea....so school totally took over my life for the past few months, and I apologize for not being able to write some more to the story. However, things are almost settled down now, and I have slightly more free time to sit at my computer and absorb myself into the Harry Potter world. So hopefully, chapters shall be coming without too much more delay...but I make no promises. Also, a special thanks to all reviewers!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except for Melodi and her parents. Any and all recognizable characters are property of J.K. Rowling and I am sort of using them to play with for awhile. I am not making money off of this, just fulfilling some long drawn out fantasies I have.
Chapter 4: Musings
Draco woke up the next day to the sounds of chatter. He opened his eyes to see Potter, Weasley and Granger all sitting across the room from him. Potter and Weasley were playing Wizard's Chess and Granger had her nose in a book. Draco rolled his eyes, and sat up. "If the three of you wouldn't mind, some of us are trying to sleep over here." The three friends all turned to look at Draco. "Sorry Malfoy, didn't mean to disturb you." Hermione said sincerely.
"Well, you did. What are you three rejects doing here anyways? Shouldn't you be in classes?"
Ron shook his head. "Stupid prat, it's 5:30pm; classes are over for the day." 5:30 pm! Draco had slept the whole day away! It was only the second day of school, and already he was behind. Draco fell back into his bed; he was still too tired to do any kind of arguing with the Golden Trio. He heard someone's stomach growl, and looked up to see Ron red-faced with embarrassment.
"Ron! Maybe we should go get that stomach of yours something to eat before it digests itself." Harry laughed. Ron turned bright red and nodded his head.
"Food sounds real good. Come on Hermione, let's go get some food while we can."
Hermione shook her head. "I'm not hungry. You two go on without me."
Harry shrugged. "Alright, suit yourself." The two boys picked up their chess game and headed out of the infirmary. Hermione looked back at her book, biting her lower lip. Draco settled back into his sheets, getting ready to go to sleep again. Just as he had closed his eyes, Hermione's voice filled the room.
"Draco? What happened between you and Melodi?" Draco opened his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about Granger?"
"Malfoy, I know I may be a... mudblood," Hermione choked on the word, "but I'm not stupid and I'm not blind. You were limping away from the Gryffindor Tower, where we, soon after, found Melodi unconscious. Then, all of a sudden, you're in the infirmary also? It's not just a coincidence Malfoy." Draco sighed, running his hand though his sticky hair. "Nothing happened Granger, just leave it alone. I just had some bad ham at dinner, okay?" He turned his head away from her gaze.
"You're lying Malfoy. I can see right through you." Draco felt his temper rising. "GRANGER! NOTHING HAPPENED! SHUT YOUR STUPID MUDBLOOD MOUTH! You think you're such a damn know-it-all. The only thing you are is a dirty blooded reject that asks too many questions." He half expected her to run off crying, but she didn't. She screwed her face up in determination.
"Malfoy, you can say what you want about me. I've stopped caring about what people like you think. But, you don't understand how important all of this is!" Hermione bit her lip. She didn't want to tell him the whole story. He didn't need to know abut Melodi's gifts, Merlin, she hadn't even told Harry and Ron yet, but Draco wasn't listening. He didn't realize how important this was.
"Mudblood, you have officially lost your mind."
"Shut up Malfoy. You don't get it do you? Melodi is..."
"Miss Granger! I would appreciate your not talking about my niece. Don't you have hallways to attend to, being as how you are Head Girl? Or should we have a discussion with the Headmaster and see if we can find someone competent enough to do the job?" Snape's voice had cut her off before she could finish her sentence. 'Stupid twit,' Snape thought to himself, 'what on earth was she badgering the young Malfoy for?' Snape looked at the book that Granger was frantically clutching. 'Ahhh, the bookworm dug up some information on her own. She always was too damn smart for her own good. If she had the brains for research, she should at least have the intelligence to realize that secrecy on this topic was the best. Telling Malfoy would start a massive chain of rumor that would only encourage Voldemort to come get Melodi. He was going to have to have a long talk with Miss Granger.'
If anyone had been paying close enough attention, the look on Draco's face, when Snape announced his relation with Melodi, was priceless. Disbelief mixed with pure shock. 'Melodi is Snape's niece? What the... How in the world did Snape, of all people, end up having a niece like Melodi? That means Snape has actual relatives.' He hadn't been expecting that at all. He started imagining multiple Snapes trolling along through the Wizarding world, scaring people every which way. That was something he was going to have to think about later. Right now, watching his Head of House berate the know-it-all was definetly more entertaining. Draco's face slowly returned to normal as Snape continued to criticize Granger. 'She really is too damn nosey. Why did it matter what happened between him and Melodi? What had happened?' Draco didn't even know where to begin on that subject. All he knew was that it was not an experience worth repeating.
"Now, Miss Granger, I would suggest you stop pestering Mr. Malfoy and return to your duties, unless of course you would like two weeks worth of detention with yours truly." Snape stood frozen as the Gryffindor pest gathered her things and stomped defiantly out of the infirmary. Then he turned his gaze on Malfoy. "Mr. Malfoy, I suggest you get some sleep and ignore Miss Granger's annoyingly rude interrogation. I will see to it that it does not happen again. Good evening." And with that Snape twirled his cape dramatically around himself and left the room.
Draco blinked in the suddenly eerie silence and lay back against his pillow. 'Finally some peace and quiet.' He had had more excitement than he knew what to do with. Waking up to the Gryffindor Trio had put him in a rotten mood and he wished for someone or something to take it out on. Draco was looking around the room for something to curse when Madame Pomfrey came bustling into the room.
"Oh! Good Evening Draco. I'm glad to see you're awake. You gave us all a great scare last night. Here, take this." The medi-witch handed him a vial of green liquid which he forced down his throat. Draco gagged, the concoction was disgusting! It tasted like a mix between sweaty socks and animal droppings. He glared angrily at the medi-witch, "If you are going to force me to take this ... medicine...the least you can do is flavor it so it doesn't taste so disgusting."
"I had thought of that Mr. Malfoy, but tossing in some flavors would ruin the effects of the potion. Besides, it isn't half as bad as you like to think it is." Madame Pomfrey turned away and Draco continued to glare at her as she toddled over to Melodi's bed to check on her other patient. Draco's face turned into a worried stare as Madame Pomfrey bustled about, taking Melodi's temperature and tucking her under the blankets.
"Madame Pomfrey, has she woken up yet?" Draco asked, a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
"No. She's been here over a day and hasn't shown any signs of life yet. Poor dear, what a way to start the school year, she didn't even make it through the first day. I swear this school has something against transfer students."
"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Madame Pomfrey sighed. "Not exactly. I've never seen anything like this before. But, with the help of Headmaster Dumbledore and the faculty, I'm sure we can figure it out relatively soon. All I can do is continue to check her to make sure she's comfortable." Draco nodded his head at her answer. In the back of his mind he started thinking 'Did I have something to do with this? Was the Mudblood right, did this happen because of ...' Draco shook his head, he didn't want to think about that yet. He just wanted to get back to sleep. Sleep, it sounded so good. For what seemed like the hundredth time, Draco settled under the blankets and closed his eyes. But this time, he was able to fall asleep.
Hermione hurried into the Great Hall and took a seat next to Ron. He was eating a piece of chicken like a starving wolf. In between bites he turned to her, "Hey 'Mione. I thought you weren't hungry? Did Draco bother you?" Hermione sighed. "No. Snape came in and told me to start doing my Head Girl duties or he would personally speak to Dumbledore and find someone who could do the job." She grabbed a cup of pumpkin juice and took a sip. Anger always made her mouth dry. After one sip, she pushed it away from her. She needed to tell the boys about Melodi. But how was she supposed to broach this topic. Just waltz up and start a conversation saying; "Hey guys. Did you get the homework assignment for potions? Oh, and by the way our new friend can kill any army of people just by opening her mouth, and she can change shapes, and she can turn invisible."? It was not something they would take lightly. It wasn't something anyone would take lightly. "Hermione? Are you okay? You've been weird all day." Harry was looking at her, head tilted to the side, one of his dark locks falling in his eyes. "I'm fine. But there is something that we all need to talk about. Not right now, but soon. In private." Hermione's voice lowered to a whisper. "I can't go into it here. I'll let you know when, okay?" With that, Hermione got up and walked out of the Great Hall, leaving her two best friends looking after her and wondering just what the hell she was being so secretive about.
Melodi's eyes fluttered open and she groaned. Her head was throbbing and her mouth was dry. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was. A dozen or so beds lined both sides of the room. They were all sterile and dressed in white sheets. Each had a little side table next to it on either side. She turned her head and saw that hers had a small bouquet of hand picked flowers and some cards lining the top of it. Those had to be from Ron, Harry and Hermione. Melodi took a deep breath in and let it out. Everything came flooding back into her mind. It was only the first week of school and she had already labeled herself an outsider. Her Uncle hated her, she was hiding from her friends, she had almost killed Draco Malfoy, and some weird stuff was happening to her mentally and physically. Damn her mother for sending her to school at Hogwarts! She would have been perfectly fine finishing up her home-schooling studies and then marrying the man of her dreams. Her father had always lectured her about finding a suitor that was extremely wealthy and came from a powerful wizarding family. That's how he and her mother had met, and that was how she was going to marry. But Melodi's mother disagreed, Melodi should marry for love, not power or money. Her mother had taught her that nothing compared to love. "If you have love, you will be rich for life." That was her mother's favorite saying. Melodi laughed to herself, her voice coming out ragged from her overly sore throat. 'Who would love a stupid nobody like me? Especially after this.'
Melodi heard rustling from across the room. She sat up slowly, groaning from the aches in her muscles. There was someone sleeping in the bed across from her. All she could see was a head of blond hair that seemed to glow in the darkness of the room. She knew who it was, the only person with hair that color, Draco Malfoy. Melodi caught a sob rising in her throat. He had to be here because of her. She must have hurt him badly. Everything was her fault. 'Now he'll never speak to me again, never mind go out with me.' Melodi fell back into her pillow as tears fell silently down her cheeks. She had to get out of this school, it was no good for her. She would send a note to her mother tomorrow, telling her everything that had happened and how she desperately wanted to come home. Then, she would wait it out. Her mother would never deny her, never. All she had to do, until she left, was avoid everyone, especially Draco.