CHAPTER 4! A New World.
Harry was completely right. Before she knew it, Harry was telling her they had to travel to Diagon Alley to get her stuff.
"We have to travel to where to get my what?" she asked. He laughed at her.
"Diagon Alley, it's on of the most famous places in England, and we need to get your stuff for school. You know Hogwarts. We only have a week to go."
"Oh my God! But I don't want it to end! It's been so much fun!"
"Trust me, Hogwarts is better." He grinned at her, and she grinned back. A spark of electricity ran between them, and they just stared for a moment. But the spark was broken by the sound of her phone singing "Broken" Amy Lee and Seether. She smiled apologetically and pulled it out of her pocket.
"Hello? James! How are you? I've missed you so much…really? That's so amazing! Mhmm…yeah…oh my God…she didn't…that bitch! Uh-huh…nuh-uh…yuh-huh…nuh-huh…really? Oh my God…Oh my God…Oh my God…Oh my GOD! I'll kill her! I know, it was really sad. I'm so sorry, I miss you too. Boarding school, such a drag. Yeah, nah, as if I could forget you guys. Ok, love you too. Bye," she closed the phone and threw it on the bed.
"James," she said simply, as if that explained everything.
"Oh, your boyfriend right?" he looked down. They'd met on the day of Tony and Sarah's funeral, and both boys had been jealous, if not the slightest bit protective of what they both saw as theirs.
"Yeah…so where's this Diagon Alley place anyway?"
"It's in London. We'll probably go tomorrow, assuming Hedwig gets back, and I can get a hold of my friends so you can meet them."
"No problem, do they have a phone?" she asked.
"Yeah, but we're not allowed to use the phone here, remember?" he replied, looking at her as if she were stupid. She picked up her phone off the bed and returned the look.
"Remember this?" she asked, dangling it in front of his face.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry, I don't often remember it, because I don't have enough money to get one." He replied, angrily.
"Whatever, what's the number,"
She dismissed him again. He was so sick of her doing that! She thought she was SO much better than him, with her tonnes of friends, great boyfriend, and normal life. I mean, his life could sort of be called normal…if you forgot that he was a wizard and there was an evil guy trying to kill him like, every day of his life…but hey, that WAS normal for him!
What was normal for her was shopping, partying, working, talking about love and boys, make overs, phones etc. He tried to join in with her, but there was just no way he could do some of those things. Maybe she'd get along better with Hermione, he thought.
"Hello? Yeah, hi, my name's Melissa, I don't know if Harry's told you but I'm – yeh that's me!" she looked over at him and giggled. "I take it you're Ron? Yeh he's mentioned you! Look, I was just wondering, or, well Harry and I were wondering if you could meet us in Diagon Alley tomorrow? Yeh? Ok I'll put him on, hang on a sec," she held the phone to her hand. "He wants to talk to you," she said to him.
"Well, put him on then," Harry replied grinning. He knew what was coming. She handed him the phone and left the room.
"Hello?"
"Mate! She sounds really hot, is she hot?"
"Yeah, sorta. But she's got a boyfriend Ron, and she likes older guys,"
"That's not the point! What colours her hair?"
"Red with blonde highlights on top, and black on the bottom,"
"HOT! What about her eyes?"
"They're blue," Harry replied impatiently.
"Do you reckon she'll be into me?"
"SHUT UP RON!" Harry heard Hermione screech from the other end. Ron groaned, and next thing he knew, Hermione's voice was on the other end.
"Hello? Harry? How are you?"
"I'm good 'Mione how are you?"
"Good. Sorry, but Ron was being a total idiot so I kinda kicked him,"
"That's ok, how have you been?"
"Yeah, great. So who's this Melissa girl? Is she nice?"
"Yeah, she's totally awesome, you'll love her. Look, I gotta go, this is her phone, but I'll see you tomorrow ok?"
"Yeah, ok. Bye Harry, I've missed you heaps,"
"Missed you too, 'Mione," he closed the phone and went to find Melissa.
She was sitting in the bathroom with her head in her hands and shaking.
"Melissa, are you okay?" Harry asked, sitting down next to her. She nodded, still shaking.
"Tell me what's the matter?"
She looked up at him. She was shaking with laughter.
"She's got a boyfriend Ron, and she likes older guys," she mimicked, barely breathing.
"You dickhead!" Harry exclaimed, and walked back into his room.
"Oh come on! It was funny! I mean now I have to like get all dressed up and pretty tomorrow, so he likes me more!"
"HEY! You will NOT play with my friends like that, do you understand me?" he snapped.
"Oh relax, I was just joking. I promise I'll be nice. I don't play with people like that, I love James." She gave him wink and a mischievous look, and he gasped.
"What?" she asked, worried she'd done something wrong.
"You just…you looked…almost exactly like Sirius when you did that," he replied, almost whispering.
"Sirius who?" she asked.
"Sirius Black," he replied.
"Never heard of him," she concluded.
"Oh. He was the one Bellatrix Lestrange killed," he said, his voice cracking.
"Oh," she didn't know what to say to that.
"How could someone do that? Some things are just despicable,"
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, killing someone is bad enough. But killing your own cousin? How could she? Is she not human?" he raged.
"Cousin?" she asked. Suddenly she felt weak. She'd had a cousin, and her mother had killed him too.
"Yeah, they were cousins. The entire family was apparently really evil; Sirius's brother Regulus was even a Death Eater! But Sirius didn't want any of it. He was the only one ever to be in Gryffindor in the family, and I reckon he always will. He moved into my dads when he was 15 or 16 and never went back,"
"Did Bellatrix ever have kids?" Melissa asked, wondering what ELSE had been kept from her. Maybe I have a sister, she thought. I always wanted a sister!
"No, not that anyone knows of. Well, not that I know of. But if those two ever reproduced," he indicated the photos on the wall. "It would be one seriously evil child."
Melissa's heart dropped to her toes.
"How do you know that?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. He looked at her as if he thought she were crazy.
"Well, I mean look at your Godfather's family. From what you've told me, everyone in that family was pure evil, but look how he turned out…he was a pretty decent guy yeah?" she was dying for information about her uncle.
"Yeah, definitely. He and my dad were the Prankster kings of Hogwarts. They may be matched only by Ron's twin brothers," Harry replied, laughing.
"Ron has twin brothers?" she was intrigued. She liked twins! Twins reminded her of Joel and Benji from GC…
"Yeah, why?" he asked suspiciously.
"Oh, no reason. I'm just curious. How many brothers and sisters does he have?"
"Um, well, there's 6 boys and one girl, Ginny," he blushed.
"You like her?" she asked.
"No, my God, she's 15!"
"I'm 15, and it's only one year!" she exclaimed.
"You're 15?" he asked. "But you look so much older!"
"And talk, and act older. Yeah well the world still spins while you're in boarding school," she complained.
"Yeah, whatever. It's not really a boarding school, I mean, it's just that it's so far away that you kinda have to live there!"
"Mhmm, it's boarding school. The only upside is I get to learn magic,"
"Yeah, whatever. Look, just go to bed okay? We'll talk about this in the morning,"
"No, we'll talk about this now! I don't wanna go to bed. You can't dismiss me because I'm younger than you! I bet I've experienced things you've only ever dreamed about!" she exclaimed. "And creamed over…" she whispered afterwards.
"What was that?" he asked loudly.
"Nothing," she replied quickly.
"No what did you say?"
"Nothing! I think I might go to bed actually," she grinned again. There you go, that mischievous Sirius smirk again! Harry thought.
"Tell me what you said!" he exclaimed.
"Look, I said nothing that involves you okay, just get over it! God, you're so paranoid. Maybe everything in the wizarding world is about you, but not everything in my world is," she pulled back the covers on her bed, climbed in, and had her back to him before he knew it.
She was shaken awake at nine the next morning. The sunlight blared into her eyes and Harry stared down at her, his piercing green eyes staring into hers.
"Morning," he said quietly, holding out a cup of something.
"What's this?" she asked groggily.
"Hot chocolate, to say sorry about last night,"
"No, I should be saying sorry. I was totally out of line, it wasn't fair," she replied, taking a sip of the hot chocolate. It was hot, and she could feel it burning down her throat. It tasted so good, and she was very grateful.
She sat up in bed and looked at him. He was still in pajamas that were way too big for him, and his hair was messier than ever. She grinned at him, and he grinned back.
"Looks like your hair's just as crazy as mine in the mornings after all!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah," she replied. "But the thing is, when I put a brush through mine, it actually tames!"
He'd never seen her in the morning. Normally she was up, dressed and perfect by the time he awoke.
"Speaking of your hair, can I play with it before we go today? I've been dying to for ages!"
"Good luck," he replied. "No one's ever tamed this mop!"
She laughed at him and got up out of bed. He stared at her long, tanned legs under the small "daisy duke" boxer shorts she'd worn to bed.
"Hey! Put your eyes back in your head hun, do you perve on Ginny like this?" she grinned as he flushed.
"That's none of your business," he replied.
"Yeah whatever. Let me tell you though, girls my age are very fragile, hurt her and I'll kill you!"
"Trust me, Ginny's tough. And nothing would ever happen anyway because she's my best friends little sister," he replied, a small frown on his face.
"For a girl, that's the best place to be. And tough girls get broken hearts too," she walked out of the room and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
"You don't even know her!" he yelled after her.
"SHUT UP!" Dudley's voice floated from the next room. Harry grinned.
An hour later they were ready, and she was dragging him out the front door.
"But we're not due to meet Ron and Hermione for three hours!" he protested.
"I don't care! I'm going to a new school, I want new clothes!" she replied.
She took him to all her favorite shops. Trying on this and that, buying singlets, jumpers, jeans, skirts, shoes, she even took him into an underwear shop and made him choose new underwear for her.
"Oh, don't pretend you don't love it!" she exclaimed, laughing at his bright red face. He caught sight of himself in her change room mirror and sighed. I look like Ron, he thought.
When they were done, and Harry had deduced she would need four trunks to take all her clothes to Hogwarts, she dragged him into a menswear shop.
"What are we in here for?" he asked. She pulled a jumper off the racks and handed it to him.
"That's mine," she said. "Now I want you to pick some stuff ok?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I want you to pick some new clothes, for you," she replied.
"I can't take your money," he protested.
"Harry, I've had a bank account since I was two. I could spend thousands today and still have enough so I wouldn't need a job for a LONG time. I'm buying you clothes. I want to, please let me," the look on her face was pleading him, and he begrudgingly gave in, on the condition that he bought her stuff in Diagon Alley; she didn't have any problems with that.
"This is nice," he said lamely, puling a shirt off the rack.
"What size are you?" she asked.
"Medium,"
"Medium? Are you sure? You look like a small," she replied, doubting him.
"A small wouldn't fit over my arms," he replied, and lifted up his shirtsleeve. He has muscles! She thought. Wow, what else are you hiding boy?
"Fair enough, a medium then,"
They picked out a few more shirts, then two pairs of new jeans, some singlets, and finally a jumper and a jacket.
"₤350 please," the shop assistant said, grinning at Melissa.
"What! No you can't do that!" Harry protested.
"Harry!" Melissa leant over the counter so the shop assistant could see right down her top, and whispered into the shop assistant's ear. He turned bright red and looked at her.
"₤250 please," he said. She grinned and wrote something down on a piece of paper, then handed it to him on top of 5 ₤50 bills.
"Pleasure doing business with you," she said, reading his nametag. "Jason,"
He grinned and waved her goofily out of the shop. Harry stared at her, transfixed, and wondering whether to laugh at her or yell.
"What did you say to him?" he asked,
"I asked how much of a discount my number was worth. Apparently he likes me," she said.
"So that's what you gave him?" Harry asked.
"No. What I gave him was a mixture of my friends phone number, my mum's, and my old one," she cringed, remembering her mother.
Harry looked at her for a minute, blinked, and just started laughing hysterically. He pulled her into a hug.
"You're amazing!" he exclaimed.
"Why thank you kind sir!" she replied, laughing at him.
"Melissa? MELISSA!"
She turned around in the direction of her name and squealed as three girls ran towards her and nearly bowled her over. They were crying as they hugged.
"I've missed you guys so much!" she said, laughing and sobbing. They pulled away and wiped their tears. The girls' happy faces turned to Harry, and he felt somewhat embarrassed.
"Who's this?" The blonde one asked Melissa.
"This is Harry," she explained. "Harry, this is Alex, Sarah and Shona. I'm staying at Harry's for a while, until I get to school,"
"But you told James you were already there," Shona said, greasing Harry off.
"I know, I just…I dunno. I didn't feel like seeing him, and I didn't think he'd take too well to me staying at Harry's house. But Prof – my teacher thought it would be best for now. Please don't tell him," she pleaded. They looked at her for a minute, and then nodded.
"I can't believe you're here! What are you doing anyway?" Alex asked.
"Shopping. Me and Harry just bought some new clothes," she replied, indicating the bags. "And Jason in there just gave me a discount for a phony number and a quick look down my top!"
"Really? Us too. He's so cute, kinda like a puppy!" Sarah said, laughing.
"Mmm, I know. Look guys I gotta go, we're meeting some of Harry's friends in like ten minutes, and we've gotta catch the train. What are you guys doing today?"
"We're going back to Sarah's house for a little while. Then we're going out to an Evanescence gig, you should come," Alex said, looking at the other girls to check this was okay. They nodded excitably, and Melissa nodded back.
"Ok, call me later and we'll work out a time ok? Gotta go, love you guys heaps!" they all hugged again and then they left.
"Who were they?" Harry asked.
"My bestest friends in the ENTIRE world!" Melissa exclaimed. "Come on, let's go. Lead the way big guy,"
"Big guy? Are you kidding me?" he laughed at her. "Come on, little one, let's move!"
He took her to the Leaky Cauldron, and she gasped.
"Ugh, it's so dirty!" she exclaimed.
"Don't let looks fool you, it's the most famous pub in Britain," Harry explained.
"Oh really, that's why none of these people are even giving it a second glance hey?"
"No, the reason they aren't giving it a second glance is because they can't see it," he explained. He laughed at her confused look. "Come on, let's go!"
He grabbed her hand and led her inside the tavern. It was almost empty and the barman grinned at the sight of customers.
"Mr. Potter! You stoppin' in today sir?"
"No Tom – " he began, but Melissa cut him off.
"We'd love to thank you," she replied.
:"What are you doing? You'll make us late!" Harry hissed.
"I don't care! Look at that poor man! His face lit up at the sight of two people! We can stay just for one drink!" she whispered angrily at him. "Stop thinking about yourself,"
"What will I get you?" Tom asked them.
"Two Butterbeers thanks Tom," Harry replied.
"What's a Butterbeer?" Melissa asked, confused.
"You'll see," Harry replied.
Tom brought the drinks, and Melissa raised the bottle to her lips hesitantly.
"Go on then. I promise you'll love it,"
She took one swallow, and Harry grinned as he saw the comforting look Butterbeer put on her face. It was thick and creamy as it slid freely down her throat.
"Oh my God, that's heavenly!"
"Told you. Hagrid!" Harry exclaimed, looking at a figure behind them.
Melissa turned around and fell of her chair. With a small squeal she crawled around and hid behind Harry.
"Who's that then?" Hagrid asked, laughing.
"That's Melissa. It's all right, he's very friendly," Harry assured her. She climbed out from behind him, looking slightly embarrassed, and smiled.
"Hi," she said.
" 'Ello, how are you?"
"I'm good thanks. What are – I mean how are you?" she asked quickly. Harry grinned at her slip.
"Hagrid's half-giant," he whispered. "Nothing to worry about. He's a very good friend of mine,"
"Oh, well, that's alright then," she straightened up and extended her hand. Big mistake. When he finished shaking her hand, she wondered if she had any limbs left.
"Er, sorry bout that. I forget my strength sometimes, you know," he apologized, shrugging.
"No, I don't, but it's ok. I'm a big girl, I'll live,"
"Yeah, yeah. Well, come on little one, we've gotta go. Seeya at school Hagrid!"
"Bye Harry. Nice to meet you Melissa!"
"You too!" she waited until they were outside. "He comes to our school? What did he do, like fail 50 years over?"
"No silly, he works there!" Harry exclaimed, wondering if she was really that dumb.
"I knew that!" she said indignantly, scolding herself for in fact not knowing that.
They reached the wall, and he tapped the appropriate bricks, and she watched in amazement as the wall opened up to them. All of a sudden she was introduced to a completely different world, and she loved what she saw. The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside a shop, there were shops with wands, shops with broomsticks, shops with robes, Quidditch supplies (whatever that was), owls, potion ingredients, so much she could play with!
"Yeah, yeah come on," he grabbed her hand and led her to a large, snowy white building that towered above everything else. A strange creature wearing a scarlet and gold uniform was standing beside bronze doors.
"This is Gringotts, but before we go in, I have to warn you, that over there – " he indicated the creature. "That's a goblin. Now the entire place is full of them, and they don't like it when you stare, so get used to the sight of it now,"
She looked at the creature for a second, and deciding that, like so many other people in this world, it couldn't help that it was ugly. She walked inside the doors and the goblin bowed. Harry followed after her.
She paused at a set of silver doors to read the words engraved on them:
Enter, stranger, but take heed,
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay dearly in return.
So if you seek beneath our floors,
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"Wow, tight on security aren't they?" Melissa whispered, as two more goblins bowed them through the silver doors.
"You'd be mad to try and rob it," Harry said, echoing the words Hagrid had said to him upon his first time at Gringotts.
They walked up to a desk and Harry pulled two small keys out of his pocket.
"Hi, I'm here to take some money out of my vault. Harry Potter, and another vault, that of Mr. Sirius Black," he said to the goblin.
"Please," Melissa added. Harry looked at her as if she were crazy. "Manners will get you everywhere. But I'll forgive caz I don't think the Dursley's know the meaning of the word."
"Fair enough," Harry replied. Suddenly a goblin rushed up and grabbed Melissa.
"Hey! Get off me!"
"You must come, now!" he insisted. Melissa looked at Harry, he looked worried, but he shrugged and mouthed 'You better go', so she followed.
He led her into a back room and handed her a key.
"What's this for?" she asked.
"Malicia Lestrange?" he asked. She gasped at the sound, she'd almost forgotten in the fun of the day. Begrudgingly she replied, "Yes that's me. What?"
"Dumbledore ordered me to give this to you, he says it's the key to your account. Gold has been shifted from your parent's accounts and also your cousins and moved into an account for you. He also says tell Mr. Potter, who will no doubt be suspicious, that he set up the account for you so you had wizard money, good day," and he left.
"Little bastard," she whispered after him. She walked back into the main hall to find Harry and a goblin waiting for her.
"Hi, I also need to get some money out. Melissa Simmons," she handed the goblin her key and examined it.
"This all seems to be in order. Follow me," the goblin led them through a door into a narrow stone passageway that sloped downwards, with little railway tracks on the floor.
"Where did you get that?" Harry asked, giving her a strange look.
"Dumbledore organized a vault for me," she explained, feeling bad for lying to him even more. The goblin whistled, and a small cart came rattling towards them. They climbed in and were off.
Their eyes stung as air rushed passed them, and Melissa fought the urge to close them. She wanted to take in everything. The cart slammed to a halt outside a small door, and they all got out.
"Mr. Harry Potter sir," the goblin inserted the key into the lock and turned it. Green smoke came billowing out as it opened, and when it cleared, Melissa was amazed to see piles of Gold, Silver and Bronze coins inside. Harry picked up a bunch of each and held three different ones up for her to see.
"Gold ones are Galleons, Silver ones are Sickles and the Bronze ones are Knuts. Seventeen sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle," Harry explained. Melissa nodded.
The goblin closed the door and they got back in the cart. After a lot of twists and turns it came to another sharp stop and they got out once again. The goblin opened up this vault, this time it was Sirius's and Harry looked inside.
"There's money missing," he said simply. Melissa's stomach dropped.
"A small amount had to be removed," the goblin replied.
"What for? And who authorized it?" Harry yelled.
"Dumbledore did. And he did it because a direct family member of Sirius's has been discovered and they needed money," the goblin explained. Melissa thought her stomach was in the region of her feet right now.
"A direct line…He had a son?"
"A cousin,"
"Oh my God…"
"Harry, if we don't hurry, we're going to be late," Melissa urged.
"I can't believe Dumbledore didn't tell me about this," he was stumped.
"HARRY!" he was shaken out of his trance. "I know you're shocked, but we have to go," she urged.
"You're right, come on," he grabbed a small amount of money, they rocketed off to Melissa's vault, and then they returned to the main building.
"I still can't believe that Sirius has a cousin and Dumbledore didn't tell me,"
"Mmm, it's strange. But you know, maybe there's a reason he didn't tell you, so I don't think you should tell your friends for now,"
"Yeah, I agree, speaking of…"
"Harry! How are you?" Hermione ran towards him and hugged him. "How have your holidays been?"
"Good, yourself?"
"Oh, you know, holed up in Ron's house dealing with all the male ego is not my general idea of fun, but it has some perks,"
"Oh really," Ron had caught up to them. "And what exactly were those perks?" he turned to Harry. "Hermione's decided to take an interest in boys other than Vicky. Namely my bloody twin brothers! How are you mate?"
"Yeah good. Guys this is Melissa. Melissa, this is Ron and Hermione,"
She shook their hands. "Nice to meet you,"
"You too," Hermione replied.
"Yeah," Ron said, startled.
"Oh my God, tongue in, mouth closed, puppy," Hermione snapped. She linked arms with Melissa. "Thank Goodness for another female. Ginny and I thought we were going to be stuck with these two forever!"
"Ginny?"
"Ron's little sister, hasn't Harry told you about her?"
"Oh yes, but you're talking as if she were here, and I can't see her," Melissa said, looking around.
"Oh, she's in Florean Fortescue's getting us a table. We can get our things later, but right now I'm hungry…you?"
"Starved! So, these twins…"
They walked off together, their arms still linked. Harry and Ron walked behind them.
"Man, she's hot! You've been sleeping in the same room as her all summer?"
"Pretty much. She's an awesome girl,"
"Yeah, she seems like it. Might get Hermione off our hands for a while anyway!" They both laughed.
"Speaking of Hermione, the twins?"
"Oh yeah, I overheard her talking to Ginny about how hot she thought they were, especially George. I was like 'ew, Hermione, they're my brothers!' and then Ginny put a Bat-Bogey Hex on me for listening in. But then her and George started flirting during dinner. It's gross,"
"Yeah, well, I think Melissa has a thing for twins too, her eyes lit up when I mentioned you had twin brothers. She has a boyfriend though…"
"So that's why you haven't touched her then?" Ron asked smirking. Harry gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, and they followed the girls into Florean Fortescue's.
A small red headed girl sat a table towards the back of the shop, and she waved when she saw Hermione.
"Hi! You must be Melissa, it's nice to meet you! I'm Ginny,"
"Hi Ginny," she was pulled into a hug, and she warmly returned it.
"You're my age aren't you?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah,"
"So hopefully you'll be in my class at school?"
"Hopefully. Can someone explain this whole school thing for me? Harry and I haven't really talked about it. He's just blabbed on about it and not explained any of what he's saying,"
"Such a guy," Hermione said, giving him a look. "Ok, well there are four houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. We're all in Gryffindor, but we have friends in Hufflepuff. You'll hear a lot about Hufflepuff being a bunch of dunderheads, but don't believe it. They're all really nice people and they're all smart too,"
"Most of the really smart ones end up in Ravenclaw, sometimes the Hat stuffs it up though, you've gotta remember that. I mean, there's people in Gryffindor who are really brave and really dumb, and people who are complete cowards. In all honestly, we don't understand it. The Hat's probably the only one that does," Ginny added.
"Hat?" Melissa asked, hoping she's heard right.
"Yes. Oh sorry, ok, well the Sorting Hat is what places you into one of the four houses. It's said that when the school was first founded, they couldn't work out how to sort the houses. So Gryffindor – "
"I thought that was a house?" Melissa cut in.
"It is. The houses are named after the four founders. Anyway, so Gryffindor took the hat off his head, and they put brains in it, and it now deduces what house you should be in from what's in your head." Hermione finished.
"It reads your mind?" Melissa asked.
"Well, yeah I…I guess it does,"
"Can we stop talking about school now?" Ron asked. We only have a week left of freedom and no homework, so back to normal subject: Quidditch,"
Hermione groaned, but Harry and Ginny both perked up. Melissa just looked confused.
"Quidditch?"
"You've been staying with Harry for almost two months and he hasn't explained Quidditch? Wow, ok, well move over Hermione and Ginny, this is our forte," Ron said, and launched into an entire spiel about Quidditch.
"So, what have we learnt?" he asked her 20 minutes later.
"Okay, Quidditch is a team sport played on broomsticks. There are seven players to a team; a Seeker, a Keeper, 3 Chasers and 2 Beaters. There are 4 balls, a Quaffle, 2 Bludgers and the Golden Snitch. The Chasers pass the ball between themselves and try to score it in their hoops at the end of the pitch that the other teams Keeper guards. The Beaters hit the Bludgers out of the way so they don't hit any members of their team and try to aim them at the other team. The Seeker catches the Golden Snitch and his team gets awarded 150 points, which doesn't necessarily seal a win. The game is over when the Snitch is caught. You're the Keeper for the Gryffindor team, Ginny is the Seeker but wants to be a Chaser, and Harry was the Seeker until he was banned for punching some slimy git – "
"Who is also very hot," Ginny cut in.
"Who is also very hot," Melissa added.
"But now, I've been reinstated as Seeker and am now officially captain," Harry broke in. Everyone looked at him.
"Wow! Harry that's awesome congratulations!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Yeah, good job mate," Ron added.
"Congratulations Harry," Melissa and Hermione said together.
"Thanks guys,"
"Why didn't you tell us before?"
"I only just found out this morning! Bloody owl woke me up,"
Melissa smirked. "So you didn't get up specifically to make me hot chocolate? And here I thought you were being nice!"
"Yeah, well, ya know," he grinned at her.
Their sundaes arrived and they sat in silence, eating them.
"So, Ginny, do you really think Malfoy's hot?" Ron asked.
"Well, yeah. Doesn't every girl at Hogwarts?" she asked. Harry and Ron looked at Hermione, who blushed and became very interested in the cherry on top of her sundae.
"Hermione!" they both yelled.
"What? I'm not saying I'd date him or anything, he's just, well, hot," she finished lamely.
"What's he look like?" Melissa asked.
"Ugh, just look towards the front of the store," Harry said, dropping his head. But Malfoy had seen them.
He was definitely hot. There was something evil about him, but he was hot, no denying it.
"Well, well, well Potter. Looks like you made a new friend," he extended his hand. "Draco Malfoy,"
"Melissa Simmons," she replied, shaking his hand. Harry looked on, his mouth wide open. She winked at him.
"So what are you doing here with Potty, Mudblood and the Weasels?"
"You mean, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny? Oh we're great friends," Melissa replied.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. What about you, do you have friends?" she asked, catching him off guard.
"Well – I – Ugh, well of course I do!" he spluttered.
"Oh, where are they?"
"Over there," he pointed at Crabbe and Goyle who were stuffing their faces with take away sundaes.
"Aww that's cute, but where I come from, we call those animals,"
"You bitch!" he lunged at her, but Harry stood up and blocked his way.
"Out of my way Potter," Malfoy snarled.
"Careful Malfoy, you're heading the right way to ending up like your father," Malfoy paused, snarling.
"You'll see my father sooner than you think Potter. Don't threaten me, don't even try," he walked out of the shop and clicked at Crabbe and Goyle to follow him.
"You really think that's hot?" Ron asked the girls.
"The bad boy thing is sexy," Melissa answered. The other two nodded. Harry and Ron snorted in disgust and the rest of the meal was eaten in silence, though the girls kept giving each other cheeky smiles
After they had gotten all of their things, the girls went with Melissa to get a wand, and the boys went off to Quality Quidditch Supplies.
Melissa, Hermione and Ginny walked into Ollivanders and Melissa was overcome with a feeling of dread. She didn't understand why, she just felt like something really bad was about to happen, and she wasn't looking forward to it.
"Hello?" she called out timidly.
A man on a ladder slid out from a bunch of shelves and looked at her through his creepy silver eyes.
"Ah, yes. Yes, yes, yes. I was wondering if I'd ever see you. Come, come dear don't be afraid. I was one of the few who knew you know? Yes, felt very privileged at the time of course. That I was trusted with such a secret,"
"Sorry what are you talking about?" Melissa asked.
"Why your birth. Kept secret of course due to the nature, you are Malic – "
"Melissa Simmons," she cut him off before Hermione and Ginny found out the truth. They were already looking at her very strangely. She just shrugged and grinned at them.
"Ah, yes. The Simmons's. Very nice people. Come here my dear," he pulled out a measuring tape. "Wand arm?"
She looked at Hermione for help. "Writing hand," Hermione mouthed at her, so she stuck out her left hand.
"Ah, a lefty. Yes, just like your father," he walked over to the shelf and pulled out some boxes. Melissa was vaguely aware of the measuring tape measuring the space between her forehead. Ollivander clapped his hands and it dropped to the ground.
"Try this one. 11 inches, willow with unicorn hair," he handed her a wand, and she waved it around, feeling overly foolish. But before anything could happen Mr. Ollivander snatched it away. "Not that one, try this one. 14 and a-half inches, yew. Very swishy, nice for charms work," she waved that one too, but the same thing happened. "11 inches, Mahogany," he handed her another wand, but this time when she waved it around, green and silver sparks shot out the end of it. Hermione and Ginny clapped and Melissa grinned widely. "Perfect!" Mr. Ollivander exclaimed, and once again snatched the wand out of her hand, this time to put it in it's box and wrap it in brown paper.
"5 Galleons thanks," Melissa pulled 5 Galleons out of her purse and gave them to him.
"Thank you very much," she said, walking out of the shop.
"Goodbye now," he replied.
Hermione and Ginny followed her out, and they walked down to Quality Quidditch Supplies, but the boys weren't there.
"Bloody hell, where did they go?" Ginny moaned.
"Right here," Harry and Ron came up behind them, carrying a gorgeous black owl. "For you," he handed it to Melissa.
"What for?" she exclaimed.
"For spending ₤250 on me!" he replied.
"Oh yeah. Thank you so much, she's gorgeous!" she squealed. She took the cage the owl was in and looked inside it.
"What can I call her?"
"I don't know," Ginny replied.
"Me neither," Hermione said.
"I'll call her…Verity," she decided.
"I like it," Ron said.
"Me too," Harry added.
"Mmm. Oh yeah wait! Gimme one sec!" She handed Harry the cage and pulled out her phone. After running around trying to find reception she called her friends. A quick conversation later and she was back.
"Do you guys wanna come out with me tonight?" she asked.
"What?"
"Yeah sure, my non magic friends have enough passes for all of us and I want you guys to come,"
"Yeah, ok. I'm in," Ginny said.
"Me too," Hermione replied. "But I have nothing to wear,"
"You look about my size," Melissa said. "You can borrow something of mine. What about you boys,"
Harry and Ron looked at each and shrugged.
"Why not?"
"Awesome. Well, we have to meet them at 6 at the park near your house Harry, so we should probably go now,"
"Wait, to my house?" Harry asked panicky.
"Yes to your house. Oh calm down and stop twittering," she snapped. Hermione and Ginny laughed, and the three of them linked arms and led the way up Diagon Alley.
"That girl will be the death of me,"