Ch. 6 - A Kiss, A Confession, and A Costume

"You're very annoying, you know that?" Melina asked as she walked out of 'history of magic' with Draco on the way to lunch.

"Of course. It's what I live for." He told her.

"Do you want to meet again tonight?" She asked, glaring playfully at him.

"Wh-wh-what?" He stuttered.

"You know. For tutoring. Potions." She told him frowning slightly.

"Oh. Oh. Right. Potions. Yeah, sure."

"What did you think I meant?"

"I-uh-um." Melina raised her eyebrows at the red that crept up his face. "I got to go." He turned and walked quickly away without another word.

"Same time then." Melina called after him. Draco stopped and walked back to her and leaned down and kissed her softly on her lips.

"Later." He said turning back around and walking away.

"Melina?" She jumped and turned around.

"Bloody hell Harry! You're supposed to make noise when you walk up behind a person." She told him.

"Did Draco Malfoy just kiss you?" Harry asked, ignoring her comment.

"Yes, I believe he did. Don't ask me why. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry. And if I don't eat now, my stomach is going to growl all through 'transfiguration'." She turned and walked in the direction Draco had gone, leaving behind a very confused Harry Potter.


"I'm getting kind of worried." Harry commented two weeks later in the common room with Ron and Hermione.

"What about?" Hermione asked.

"Melina. I think she may be spending to much time with Malfoy. I think either he's starting to rub off on her or she's starting to rub off on him. I don't know which is worse." Harry said, pacing the length of the room. "Malfoy's not the most trustworthy person to hang around."

"Well, maybe Melina knows how to handle people like him. I mean, there's still a lot about her we don't know." Ron pointed out.

"Hi guys." They turned to see Melina rushing pass them and into the girls dorm. "Bye guys." She said, rushing back out of the dorm, wand in hand, and then out of the tower.

"Mental, that one." Ron muttered and Harry had to agree.


Melina walked down the stairs, slipping her wand into her pocket, and through the halls toward her destination.

"I thought losers traveled in packs." Melina turned to see Pansy and several other Slytherin girls starting to follow her.

"Obviously the do." Melina nodded at the group of girls as she exited the castle and walked out to the courtyard with the girls following.

"You think you're better than us, don't you? Just because you're a Potter. Well, let me tell you, you're not." Pansy said as Melina stopped at the start of the bridge.

"What are you talking about? Is that the best you can come up with? That I think I'm better than you? You need some lessons in insulting." Melina asked, smirking slightly as she turned to face the other witches.

"Let's see how brave you are without you brother or you little friends." Pansy said whipping her wand out and pointing it at Melina.

"Expelliarmus!" To both the girl's surprise, the wand flew out of Pansy's hand and clattered to the ground. "What is the meaning of this Ms. Parkinson?" Snape stood there holding his wand with Draco standing behind him, arms crossed in front of him and a smirk firmly in place.

"I-She-she started it!" Pansy lied. Melina rolled her eyes and sighed.

"If she started it, how is it your wand was out and hers as not?" Pansy's mouth opened and closed as if she were a fish at Snapes question. "That's what I thought. Ten points from Slytherin. Now, get inside." He pointed to the castle and Pansy stomped all the way in, her friends and Snape, after he had retrieved Pansy's wand, following.

"I heard Pansy say to her little friends that she wanted to find you and bother you. I figured they were going to try something so I grabbed Snape on the way here." Draco told her. She raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "Well, someone's got to keep an eye on you. So where were we going to go before the annoying Ms. Parkinson decided she wanted to try and duel with a Potter?"

"I thought we should go play." She said simply. He gapped at her and she rolled her eyes. "With our wands, genius." She said pulling her wand out of her pocket and tapping him on the head with it. "Follow me." She said leading the way to the middle of the bridge. "I come here when I need to think. And it's a lot of fun too." She pointed her wand at the water and whispered a charm spell. Some of the water flew up in a line and swirled around, and stopped in the shape of an owl, before splashing back down. Draco tried but all he managed to do was make the water splash up a bit.

"I guess you need to be less preoccupied when doing charms." He said placing his wand in his pocket and leaned on the railing.

"Yeah, that kind of helps. What's up?" She asked as the water formed a snake.

"I got a letter from my father. He-he wants me to meet Voldemort and become a Death Eater." Draco sighed. Melina turned away from the water that dropped back down halfway through a lion.

"What? Well, you don't want to, do you? I mean, a Death Eater?" Melina said leaned on the railing next to him.

"Well, no, but I don't really have a choice, do I? No one says no to him and lives." Draco said.

"Him who? Your father or Voldemort?" Melina asked making him laugh.

"Well, I was talking about Voldemort but my father could fit there too." He stopped laughing and turned to face her. "What should I do?" He asked.

"Write him back and tell him no. He can't touch you while you're here at the school. If you feel like you need to, you can tell Dumbledore or even Snape. I sure Dumbledore'll let you stay here the summer if you feel like you need to. I'll stay with you if you want." She told him. "Come on. I'm starving. I missed lunch." She said dragging him along behind her.

"I starving too." He said.

"Well, good. Then you can come and join me." She said. He pulled her to a stop before they got off the bridge and turned her to face him.

"I never said I was starving for food." He told her. She rolled her eyes but let him pull her into his arms. He smirked before capturing her lips with his own.


They entered the Great hall a while later and found the only occupant, professor Dumbledore, sitting at the teachers table.

"You're a little late for lunch." He said, smiling slightly.

"We got distracted and didn't realize how late it was until our stomachs growled." Melina told him.

"Well, then come and sit with me. I could use the company." Dumbledore gestured to his right where two plates of food suddenly appeared. The two teenagers smiled and sat down at the professor's table and ate a much-needed meal.

"Well, now that you are fed, I take it you two will not be at the feast tonight." Dumbledore said after they had finished.

"I doubt it. Seeing as the feast is in only two hours." Melina said as they plates disappeared.

"Well, the lake is lovely this time of day. Good night." Dumbledore said leaving the table.

"The lake it is." Draco said pulling Melina to her feet and leading her out of the castle to the lake. Melina picked up a flat rock and flung it at the water. It skipped a few times before falling beneath the surface. Draco sat down behind her and leaned up against a fallen tree. He reached up and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and they watched the sun set.

"We should get inside. That potion doesn't always work for Remus and we don't want to get caught in his path if it doesn't work." Melina said standing up and pulling him to his feet and started to lead him back to the castle.

"Wait a minute." He pulled her to a stop. "I have something for you." He said reaching into his pocket. "I forgot about it earlier. Where is it?" He reached into his other pocket searching for whatever it was he had for her. He patted the front of his sweater and smiled as he felt something on the inside. "Close your eyes. And no peeking." He said unbuttoning the dark green sweater and reaching inside. Melina raised her eyebrows but did as she was told. She felt something go over her head and drop around her neck. "Alright. You can look now." He told her. She opened her eyes and looked down.

"It's beautiful." She said, lifting the long beaded necklace for closer examination. "Draco. It's Slytherin colors." It was in fact Slytherin colors. It was made up with green and silver beads and at the end hung a metal charm in the shape of a diamond. Draco looked at it and frowned.

"Huh. I got it because I thought it matched your eyes." He told her and she laughed.

"Thank you. I love it. You really didn't have to get it for me." She told him.

"Yes I did. It's pretty and it reminded me of you."


"Malfoy actually said that?" Hermione asked later when Melina had gotten back to the dorm and told her and Ginny what she did that day.

"Yes. It was sweet of him wasn't it?" Melina answered.

"I just can't imagine Draco Malfoy saying something like that ." Ginny commented and Hermione agreed.

"Well obviously you two don't have very good imaginations." Melina teased pushing them so they got off her bed. "Good night." She closed the curtains around her bed and lay back on her pillow and closed her eyes.


The professors were noticing a change in Draco's attitude as the school year went on. He was lot more civil with the people around him; especially the Gryffindors. But the biggest change was on Halloween. Dumbledore stood up a week before the holiday and announced they were going to have a costume ball.

"You will all be allowed to dress as anything you like. Points will be awarded for creative costumes." The headmaster told them at breakfast. Everyone was so excited and Hermione and Ginny dragged Melina to Hogsmeade to find costumes. Melina wandered off to other costumes while the two girls looked at gypsy and pirate costumes. A costume caught her eye and she knew it was the one she was going to wear. So she bought it and asked for it to be delivered to the school. She called to the girls that she'd see them back in the common room and left the village and headed back to Hogwarts by herself.

The week passed quickly for the students but not quickly enough for the professors. Everyone knew what everyone else was wearing as the students talked nonstop about their costumes. Even the professors knew what everyone was wearing. Well, everyone except Melina. She refused to tell anyone what her costume; not even Draco could get her to tell. On the night of the ball, she waited until everyone had left Gryffindor tower before she got dressed. She placed the necklace Draco had given her around her neck as a final touch before she left the tower for the Great hall.

"Well," She said to herself as she approached the Hall. "here goes nothing."