Ch. 4 - Running into and Bonding With Draco

Melina yawned and opened her eyes. She shrieked at the sight of two blue eyes staring into her green ones.

"Adara! You're going to give me a heart attack! Don't do that!" She said shoving the fifth year away from her. The younger girl giggled as she sat down on the couch next to Ginny. Melina stretched her arms over her head and stood up, yawning again.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up." She turned at Harry's voice and saw him coming down the stairs from his dorm. "Where were you last night?"

"I fell asleep in one of the classrooms and Remus found me." She told him. "I better go change. I'll be right back." She walked into her dorm and to her bed.

"Oh, you're awake. Sleep well?" Hermione asked looking up from her bed and seeing Melina.

"Yeah. All nice and cozy in that little chair." Melina told her as she rifled through her trunk and pulled out a pair of jeans and a long sleeved dark green shirt. She went to the bathroom and changed and brushed the little knots out of her hair that had formed over night. She went back into the dorm and closed up her trunk and the two girls went back out to the common room.

"Are we going to Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron, who had just entered the room a moment before them.

"Sure." Harry said and Ron agreed.

"You guys go ahead. I have to go talk to one of the professors. I'll meet you at Honeydukes." Melina said. She exited the tower before they could ask which professor she needed to talk to. She groaned as she walked down the stairs at the thought of tutoring Draco. She rounded a corner and

SMACK!

She landed on the floor with an "uuff!", hearing whomever she ran into do the same. She tried to get up but found the wind had been knocked out of her and she was finding it difficult to breathe. She felt someone behind her helping her to her feet. Finally, now that she was on her feet, she was able to take a few breaths.

"They really ought to make it easier to see people around these corners so you don't smack into other people." Melina turned to see Draco standing there. The movement was obviously to fast and she started to fall from dizziness.

"Whoa. Come on. Come with me. We better go see Pomfrey and have her give you something for that dizziness." He took her by the arm and walked her toward the hospital wing.

"I'm fine Malfoy. Really. I'm just a little dizzy, that's all." She said as she swayed dangerously toward a wall and would have hit it had Draco not pulled her away from it.

"Sure you are. Madam Pomfrey!" He called into the nearly empty ward as they entered it.

"Mr. Malfoy. And Ms. Potter. What can I do for the two of you?" Madam Pomfrey asked when she came out of her office and saw the two of them.

"We ran into each other." Draco said.

"Literally." Melina said rubbing her forehead with her free hand, seeing Draco still held onto her other arm.

"You may release her Mr. Malfoy. Unless, of course, you believe she may fall over." Pomfrey said.

"You didn't see her swaying on the way here. So I think it's best if I keep a hold of her." He threw Melina a trademark Malfoy smirk and she glared at him.

"Honestly Madam Pomfrey, I'm fine. I got the wind knock out of me and I'm a little dizzy, but I'm fine." She assured the midi-witch.

"Well, take this anyway. It'll take care of the dizziness and clear you head." Pomfrey said handing her a glass of something that smelled awful. "Just take it and get it over with." Melina made a sour face before drinking it in one gulp.

"Bleh!" She said shuddering. "I hate knowing what's in potions. It makes them even worse to take." She said handing the glass back to Pomfrey, who raised her eyebrows.

"It may take a little while to take effect. Are you going to Hogsmeade?" Melina nodded. "Perhaps it would be best if Mr. Malfoy accompanied you for a while." Pomfrey suggested.

"I suppose I could bother her for a little while longer." Draco teased, his hand still holding onto her arm, keeping her standing.

"Good. Off you go." Pomfrey shooed them out.

"I just came from Snape's. He says I need to be civil to you since we'll be seeing a lot more of each other. Hope you dear brother doesn't mind." The last part was pure sarcasm.

"Harry can't tell me what to do or who I can or cannot tutor." He half-glared, half-smirked as he let go of her arm seeing if she could walk straight yet. She swayed slightly but stayed standing.

"Don't you dare tell anyone you're tutoring me in potions." He sneered at her.

"I thought you were suppose to be civil to me." She reminded him as the left the castle and headed to Hogsmeade. They walked in silence for a while until curiosity won over Melina. "So, Mr. Malfoy. What are you having trouble with in potions?" She asked as they walked.

"According to Snape, everything." Draco answered.

"Well, let's see. We could start small, do appearance changing potions and what not before we try the really hard ones." She said thoughtfully.

"What kind of appearance changing potions?" He asked as they enter the wizarding town.

"Oh, serums that'll change your hair color or your eye color. You can even make potions that'll change your skin. You can change the color of it or the texture; make it furry or even turn it into snake skin." She said ecstatically as the approached Madam Puddifoot's café and sat down at an outside table.

"You're scarier than your brother." He said after staring at her for a moment. She laughed as he ordered them some coco.

Harry stopped walking and turned at the sound of Melina's laugh and his eyes widened when he saw whom she was sitting with.

"Is that my sister with Malfoy?" He asked his two best friends.

"And she laughing." Ron said.

"Well. . .we might as well be polite and go say hello to her." Hermione said pushing the two boys in the direction of the other two sixth years.

"Potter." Draco said coldly to Harry as the three walked up behind Melina. She turned and ginned.

"Harry. Ron. Hermione." She greeted each of them.

"Weasel. Mudblood." Draco said. Melina spun back around and glared so hard Harry was sure Snape would crack if she looked at him that way. "Sorry. Weasley. Granger." He corrected himself sulkily.

"Can I talk to you?" Harry asked Melina while he tried not to laugh at Draco's sulking.

"Sure. I'll be right back Draco." She got up and followed her brother away from the table, Ron and Hermione following.

"Since when are you such good friends with Malfoy?" Harry asked raising his eyebrows.

"I'm not. Snape's assigning partners and stuck me with him. He told Draco to try and be civil toward me 'cause he probably knows I won't hesitate to kill the prat if he annoys me." Melina assured him.

"You promise?" Ron asked in a hopeful voice.

"You three'll be the first to know. Now if you don't mind I need to sit down. Draco and I smacked into each other earlier and Madam Pomfrey gave me some nasty potion. You don't even want to know what was in it." She said making a face.

"Alright. We'll see you later then. Don't be afraid to hex him." Harry said and Melina grinned. She turned around and walked back to the table. Draco was frowning as she sat down across from him.

"I didn't tell them if that's what you're so grumpy about." She told him.

"How did you do that?" He asked, looking up from his drink.

"Do what?" She asked, getting a strange feeling of deja vue. Oh yes. Hermione asked me the same thing the other day. She thought to herself.

"Make me apologize and correct myself." He asked.

"Remus says I'm sort of an Enchantress. I can make anyone do anything I want; even when I'm not aware of it. When I was little Remus told me I had to say 'please' if I wanted something, so I did and every time I said it I got what I wanted. I didn't realize this until I was about six and Remus realized it then too. He told me not to say it anymore and to only say 'may I have' instead." She explained. "Please is my own personal magic word."

"So, Harry's a Parsalmouth and you're an Enchantress. Wonderful." He said sarcastically.

"The only thing I can control so far is the 'please'. I've used it on Snape once already and I'll undoubtedly use it on him again." She said smirking. "Remus says there's loads of things an Enchantress can do but I only know of, now, two others so far. I guess one of them is a sort of mind control, like what just happened with you. I've never done that before. The other is a natural wand-less magic. I have to concentrate hard if I want to do that. It's not as easy as Dumbledore makes it out to be. Why am I telling you all this?" She asked shaking her head.

"How would I know? You're the Enchantress." Draco said before taking a sip of his now cooling coco.

"When do you want to start the lessons?" She asked, changing the subject.

"The what?" He asked, not following her train of thought.

"The potion lessons. When should we start them?"

"Tonight? 7o'clock after the feast?" He suggested.

"Perfect. We can meet in one of the empty classrooms near the dungeons. That way we won't have to go far for supplies. What should we do first?" Melina asked, finishing of her drink and leaning forward slightly.

"You said we could start with appearance changing potions?" She nodded. "How 'bout hair color? I'll make yours and you can make mine."

"Is that suppose to be some sort of lame challenge? Whatever color I make you'll take?" She questioned.

"And whatever color I make you have to take. Just promise you won't make it girly. Like hot pike or something." He said.

"As long as it's not girly or hot pink for me it won't be girly or hot pink for you." Was as close as "promise" she got. "And it has to be at least a two day potion. Now," She said standing to her feet. "I'm going to Honeydukes. Care to join me?" She could tell he was fighting not to smile as he sighed and nodded.

"Did we just bond?" He asked as they walked down the street.

"Why yes, Mr. Malfoy, I believe we did."


Adara is just a tiny character. She has no real purpose except to annoy Melina. In case any of you were wondering.