Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: Hello I'm Charlie Hawthorn and this is my first fanfiction in English. Since that is not my native language, bear with me. I try my best and I really really appreciate constructive criticism and remarks on grammar mistakes.
Summary: What if Sirius Black had a daughter before he was imprisoned in Azkaban? What if young Melanie Black happened to end up in the same compartment as Harry Potter at their first trip with the Hogwarts Express?
How is it really to be best friends with The Boy Who Lived? And how does people treat the daughter of a notorious mass murderer? Melanie knows just what it's like.
This is the story about Melanie's fifth year at Hogwarts with her friends Dave, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Love, friendship, betrayal, misunderstandings, tears, laughter and a little bit of magic. A lunatic Malfoy and a certain Umbridge woman causes trouble ... A completely ordinary teenage story, but it's not about anybody. Two Shades of Black is about Sirius' daughter Melanie Black.
Update: August 31st, 2011; Just a quick update to make it more clear that this is the prologue, which occurs four years before the story takes place.
Two Shades of Black
Chapter 1 – For the first time (prologue)
With a burst of effort, Melanie Black finally managed to pull her enormous trunk onto the dark red train which was about to take her to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For the first time. She rushed back to the open window and hung herself out to get one last look at her mother. The long, blonde hair distinguished Allison Harper in the mass of people and Melanie waved her hand happily. Allison made a halfhearted effort to smile and raised her fragile hand in goodbye, Melanie on the other hand couldn't erase the agog smile from her face.
Melanie and her mother lived alone because her father was imprisoned in Azkaban, though he was innocent. At least that's what Melanie was convinced, since Sirius Black claimed his innocence the one and only time Allison visited him, almost ten years ago. Not a snowball's chance in hell that Melanie would accept her own father being a mass murderer.
"Melanie!" The unexpected call in her ear made her jump and if Fred and George Weasley hadn't grabbed her, she would have fallen out of the window.
"Typical you!" yelled Melanie, but they simply laughed at her, like they always did ever since childhood. Their dad and Melanie's mother both worked at the Ministry of Magic and Mrs Weasley has been babysitting Melanie as long as she could remember.
Melanie realised that Fred and George, who were about to start their third year at Hogwarts, were accompanied by two other boys, who looked like they could be brothers. One of them seemed to be in the twins age and was rather tall, while the other one looked like he could be in her own age. Both were dark blonde.
"You know what?" said Fred enthusiastically. "Ron is in the same compartment as Harry Potter!"
"They're over there", declared George and pointed down the corridor. "Fred, Oliver and myself are going to find Lee now. Bye!" They dropped off and Melanie could make out their red hair in the crowd until they disappeared in a compartment. Melanie turned the other way to find Ron, but she bumped straight into Oliver's brother. He grabbed her to keep her from falling and smiled shyly.
"Woah, thanks. Hi by the way. What's your name?" asked Melanie vividly and started to walk as she looked in every compartment they passed. She didn't see Ron or Harry Potter anywhere.
"Dave. Dave Marcus. And you're Melanie?" He smiled again and Melanie grinned light-hearted back.
"Yeah, Melanie Black." If he knew who Melanie's dad was, he didn't show it. Melanie couldn't see him wince or look for an escape way. She liked this boy. Soon they found Ron and Harry, alone in a compartment.
"Hey Ron, can we sit here?" Melanie saw that Ron gave Harry a questioning look and Harry shrugged in reply.
"Sure." It became quiet while Melanie an Dave trailed in their trunks and became seated, Melanie next to Ron and Dave next to Harry.
"This is Dave Marcus." Ron and Harry looked at him curiously and muttered something that sounded like a hello.
"I'm Ron Weasley."
"Ron, I know your brothers … or, well, my brother Oliver is a friend of Fred and George's".
"Yeah, I know who Oliver is ..." Ron fell silent and gave Harry a quick look.
"Harry Potter." It became quiet once again. Dave gazed at Harry. Melanie looked too but hastily lowered her eyes.
"I'm sorry." She knew how it felt like when people stared at you.
"Whaat?" The three boys turned their head to her, rather confused.
"I mean for looking. Looking at you", said Melanie and continued to observe Harry's shoelaces a while before she felt it was safe to look up again. She exhaled; Harry didn't look at her like she was mental, he seemed … curious.
"My dad, Sirius Black, is wrongly accused for being a mass murderer and is imprisoned in Azkaban so I know what it feels like when people are looking", explained Melanie. While she was talking, a girl in their own age walked in and opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again to listen to what Melanie had to say. Her brown hair was bushy and her front teeth were rather big.
"Have you seen a frog? Neville's lost his." Melanie and the boys shook their heads. "Who are you by the way? I'm Hermione Granger." She looked at everyone of them and they introduced themselves once again. At 'Harry Potter' Hermione's eyes widened and for a moment she seemed to lose the thread. Melanie exchanged a meaning look with Harry.
"Are you, really? I know everything about you because you are mentioned in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century." In Melanie's opinion Hermione sounded like a walking dictionary, or possibly a walking library. By the thought of a walking library Melanie grinned widely, but the three boys looked highly bewildered. Hermione kept on blabbing.
" … but I think I prefer Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. Oh, it's gonna be so fun, don't you think? And hey, Melanie, there are very clear evidence for your father's guilt ..." She put her hand in front of her mouth and a tense silent spread in the compartment, everyone stared at Melanie. Melanie herself looked at Hermione without blinking, she felt very calm, considering what Hermione just said. Hermione could read as many books as she liked but she would never know what Sirius Black told Allison Harper when she visited him in Azkaban.
"He's innocent. He told my mum", said Melanie simply. It was the first time she revealed this for anybody, but she had a feeling that this was the right people to tell. For the first time.
Melanie was right. Four years later, she still told them everything.
A/N: So here it is! The prologue. The introduction to how it all started - how the "gang" formed. It's actually somewhat of a translation of my first fanfiction in Swedish. I hope you like it, please review! Don't hesitate to comment any grammar mistakes or such!
/CH