Ch. 10 - What To Do, What To Do
"Shh. You'll wake her." Melina heard as consciousness slowly coming back to her. She tried to move but found quickly that it was way to painful. So she settled for cracking her eyes open.
"Too late, she's awake." She felt lips press against her forehead and she turned to see a very blurry person. She blinked a couple of times to get her eyes back in focus and finally was able to make out Draco's face.
"I thought I told you to be careful." He said with a smirk.
"I was careful. Until my wand left my hand." She defended herself. "Are all the students ok? How long have I been out?"
"All the students are fine. Minor injuries and I don't think you want to know how long." Harry spoke up from her other side.
"If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't've asked." She said, looking from Draco to Harry to the others in the room, which included Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Remus and even Snape. Sirius was also there, in his dog form incase any other students decided to drop by for a visit. "How long?"
"Two weeks." Ginny told her and Melina gapped at them.
"Two weeks? I've been out for two weeks? How is that possible?" She asked looking up at Dumbledore and Snape.
"What I would like to know is how you found out that saying 'Potrificus Totalus' backwards would undo any binding spell." Snape said.
"That's sort of a long drawn out story, how 'bout answering my question." Melina said quickly, not looking at Remus's smirking face.
"Have you ever been hit by the Cruciatus Curse before?" Dumbledore asked, taking a step toward her as Draco helped her sit up.
"No." She answered.
"If you had been, your body would have known what to expect and not have put you under so long. Am I correct Harry?" Dumbledore asked him and he nodded.
"You've been hit by the Cruciatus Curse?" Melina asked, eyebrows raised.
"Two times too many." Harry said.
"Why am I not surprised?" Draco muttered.
"Alright. Ms. Potter still needs rest. Everybody out." Pomfrey said, ushering them toward the door. "Except you," She said to the dog, which hadn't moved from his spot next to Melina's bed. "I suppose you may stay." Draco gave Melina one last kiss on the forehead before he followed the others out the door. Snuffles gave a quiet 'woof' and Melina laughed slightly.
"Oh stop it. If he tries anything you'll be the first to know I promise." She said as she leaned back on her pillow and closed her eyes back up.
It was another week before Pomfrey would let Melina leave and by then she had gotten her full strength back. She had begged Dumbledore to allow Sirius to stay in the castle in dog form until he got sick of the place and decided to leave. Not that he would. The headmaster agreed only when Melina told him she felt safer with him there and that she could somehow understand him in his dog form. Dumbledore let Sirius stay in Gryffindor tower and Hermione conjured a bed and he slept in the common room.
Melina was on her way to the library a week after Pomfrey released to study with Hermione to catch up on the three weeks worth of work she missed and found herself being followed by the large black dog known as Snuffles.
"You know, nothings going to happen to me while I'm in the school. You really don't have to follow me." She told him and he 'woofed' at her. "Making up for lost time, huh? I see. Well, I'm not going to turn you away. I just don't know how Madam Pince is going to react to a huge black dog in her library." She as they turned and entered the library.
"What is it doing in my library?" Madam Pince asked as soon as the two entered.
"I'm sorry Madam Pince. I can't get him to stop following me. I think he thinks he has to protect me even while I'm in the school. You could try to get him to leave, but I don't think he'll listen. He's got a mind of his own." Melina said with as much sincerity as she could draw out. Pince sighed gestured for them to continue. Melina nodded and headed to the back of the library where Hermione was waiting.
"You made it this time. Hello Snuffles." Hermione said as Melina sat down.
"Ha ha. Very funny. Can we get started? I have to meet Draco for potions in an hour and a half." Melina said. "Don't ask." She added as Hermione's eyebrows went up.
"Alright. We'll do 'History of Magic' today since it's the only one that doesn't actually involve doing magic. Later when we're both in the common room we'll try to do 'Charms' and maybe 'Transfiguration'." Hermione said and they got started.
Melina walked down the halls toward the classroom where she was meeting Draco and felt eyes on her. She knew people were watching her for two reasons: one, there was a large black dog walking next to her and two, she'd gotten them all to safety during the Death Eater attack; even if she was just acting under orders from Dumbledore. She sighed as she found herself heading down a hallway that held Pansy and her group of losers-ahem, sorry, friends--and they were standing directly in the middle of the hall. Either they didn't see her or just wanted to have an excuse to fight, they didn't move.
"Stay here." She whispered to Snuffles to stay on the other side of the corner. "I'll call if I need you." And she continued walking toward the girls.
"Well, if it isn't the loser herself." Pansy said eliciting laughs from the others in the group. "I'm sorry did you want to pass? You'll have to say the password." She snickered.
"And what would that be Pansy? 'Slytherin girls are losers'?" Melina said placing her hands behind her back.
"You don't know what the password is?" Pansy said in mock shock, ignoring the comment. "Come now Potter. I thought you were smart."
"You haven't had those insulting lesson yet I see." Melina said, keeping her face neutral. "I'm sort of disappointed. I thought you of all people would take that kid of advice."
"I don't need insulting lessons. You're just not worth my time." Pansy said snobbishly, crossing her arms in front of her, revealing her wand in her hand. "Now come on. Try to guess the password."
"This is the thanks I get for helping to save you? I should have left you behind." Melina said coldly.
"What's. The password. Potter." Pansy said icily.
"I'm going to chose. . . Snuffles." Melina concluded, her finger behind her back gesturing for Sirius to come.
"Snuffles? Please why would we use that stupid dog's name as our---good lord!" Pansy cut herself of as Sirius got to Melina's side, a growl rumbling in his throat.
"He's my insurance. Against people like you. Although I could have gotten by without his help." Melina said.
"Yes, yes. Snuffles, of course that's the password. On your way." Pansy and the other girls pressed themselves back against the wall and watch the dog closely as he and Melina continued down the hall. Just for good measure, and for his fun, he gave a loud, deep bark. The girls screamed and took off in the opposite direction.
"You're going get yourself into trouble. Or worst, your going to me in trouble." She said after laughing.
"I agree." She jumped and spun around to see Snape.
"Do you enjoy doing that to me?" She said and Snuffles barked. "No you may not. I can't believe you just asked me that." She shook her head at him.
"Dare I ask what he said?" Snape asked glaring at the dog looked as if he was glaring back. Melina opened her mouth to tell him but she started laughing instead.
"He wanted to know if he could use you as a chew toy." She managed to say.
"I see." Snape said and took his glare off the dog looked up at Melina. "Where are the two of you headed Ms. Potter?" He asked her.
"Down to meet Draco. He's got all my make-up potions work." Melina told him when she stopped giggling.
"Really? Is this your chaperone?" Snape gestured to Snuffles who was now sitting next to Melina.
"He thinks he is, but I'm the one with the wand. I could bind him if I needed to." She told him. Snape smirked as Snuffles growled.
"Uh-huh. Well, regardless of your missed time, I expect you to score highly on my O.W.L test. On your way." With that, Snape turned and walked away and disappeared around the corner. Melina smirked as she turned and continued her walk toward the classroom and went in.
"He's late." She said looking at her timepiece as she sat at the table and Snuffles barked. "Of course this is the right classroom. It's the one we always meet in."
"What? Does he follow you everywhere now?" She smirked as Draco entered the room, potions supplies loaded in his arms.
"Pretty much." She said before he gave he a long, sweet kiss on the lips. "So what'd I miss?" She asked after he pulled back.
"Everything." He said as he spread the stuff out on the table..
"That much huh?" She said and he nodded and they got started on their work.
"That was fun. What's next?" Melina asked after she had done five different assignments.
"Next? Melina you don't need any more work. You did all of that flawlessly. I'd say we're done." Draco said leaning back in his seat and putting his feet on the table. Snuffles barked twice, nearly causing him to fall over backwards. He would have had Melina not caught his arm. "What did he say and did he do that on purpose?"
"He said it's rude for a gentleman to put their feet up on a table with a lady present." Melina told him, trying not to laugh. "And yes. I think he did do it on purpose."
"Who ever said you were a lady?" Draco teased. Melina glared at him and he jumped to his feet.
"You are so dead." She told taking off after him. Snuffles followed just to keep an eye on them as they flew through the halls. Students jumped out of the way as the three of them ran, warned only by the sound of a bark.
"You'll never catch me Melina. Give up." Draco called over his shoulder. He turned to see how far away from him she was and noticed she, and Snuffles, were gone. He stopped and frowned wondering where she could have gone. He turned back around and jumped. She had somehow managed to get ahead of him and was currently directly in front of him. "How did you do that?" He asked, backing up as she walked toward him.
"That's for me to know and you not to find out." She said, catching him before he could run again. Her lips found his in a deep kiss and they heard Snuffles groan behind Melina. That didn't stop them and they continued to kiss in the middle of the hall.
"Draco, Melina, enough." Melina jump at Remus's voice and turned to see him standing next to Snuffles, whose tail was wagging.
"Oh, you think you're so funny don't you?" Melina asked the dog and he barked. "Yeah, I thought so." She turned to Draco and noticed he was trying so hard to keep a straight face. He failed and broke down laughing. She rolled her eyes and shrugged to her surrogate father as he crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.
"All three of you to my office now." Remus said. Draco stopped laugh as quickly as he started and sighed as they followed the DADA teacher to his office.
"What am I going to do with you?" Remus asked Melina as they sat.
"Me?" Melina asked innocently.
"No, your twin." As soon as he said this Remus knew it was a mistake because of the look on her face.
"Harry?"
"Melina. You know who and what I mean. And you," He pointed at Snuffles who cocked his head in an innocent way that said 'Who me?' "Yes you. You should know better than to let her snogg in the middle of the halls." Remus closed his eyes and sighed, wishing he would think before he spoke.
"Ok. No snogging in the halls. Got it. Can we go?" Melina said .
"No." Remus said shortly. "What to do, what to do." He said to himself. Melina groaned inwardly. He always did this when he was going to give her some stupid punishment.
"How 'bout we apologize and say we won't ever do it again?" Draco spoke up.
"It is the first time we've done that." Melina added. Remus looked at the two of them with a scrupulous look. Melina and Draco looked at each other and back at Remus.
"We're sorry and we won't ever do that again." They said together. "If that doesn't work I'll say the magic word." Melina added.
"Out." Remus said and the three of them hurried out of the room.
