Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: I just want to say a big thank you all for taking your time to read! It keeps me going strong :) Here's a new, very long chapter for you guys! Please comment or review, I want to know what you think! How are my portrayals of the original characters?
Update: January 15th, 2012; just fixed some wrong spelling and grammar mistakes here and there.
Chapter 4 – Headquarter house guests
"You have a visitor", greeted Sirius when Melanie arrived at breakfast the next morning. Melanie's spirit immediately rose as she lay eyes on her very own barn owl sitting on the table.
"Howie!" She rushed forward and stroke his brown feathers. He welcomed her with a soft hoot and took a quick sip from the orange juice.
"It's a nice owl", said Sirius.
"Yeah", said Melanie and remembered how Howie just had flown into her room one day with a short letter telling her it was an early thirteenth birthday gift and signed by a paw print. "It's from your dad", had Allison told her.
"But how did you know I didn't have an owl?" asked Melanie curiously.
"I didn't, but that wasn't really the point." Sirius paused and smiled at her. "I wanted to keep an eye on you – but you never realised I was only on owl away."
"Oh", said Melanie blankly. The mere thought had never crossed her mind. "How come you never contacted med then?"
"Well", said Sirius. "If the Ministry had found out, you and your mom would have gotten into a lot of trouble. I would never risk that." He paused and looked at her seriously. "Moony did tell you about you probably being supervised didn't he?"
"Yeah he did", said Melanie. "But still ..." It was disappointing to realise how easy it would have been to contact her father all the times she really wanted to talk to him.
"I couldn't stand being all absent you know. Had already been for twelve years, I just had to know if something happened to you. And believe me I would." He gave Howie the last piece of bread and smiled wryly towards Melanie.
After the breakfast Melanie decided to take a closer look on the house. In her opinion the enormous stairwell seemed to have an endless amount of doors.
"Be careful!" called Sirius reproachfully after her when she left the kitchen and aimed her steps a story up.
The door didn't appeared to have been used for years and Melanie had to make a real effort to open it. It seemed to be a living room she stumbled into, an oblong, high-ceilinged room. A writing desk by the wall was vibrating slightly and the long, olive-green curtains buzzed alarmingly but the object which caught Melanie's eye was the tapestry covering the far wall. The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black – Toujours pur, it read in large gold letters. Melanie hastened curiously forward and found a family tree. To her surprise she didn't find her dad's name anywhere, but another familiar name showed up – Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father.
"Ugh", Melanie burst out loudly, before she could contain herself. The mere thought of being related to the Malfoys made her feel very uncomfortable.
All of a sudden she noticed that the buzzing sound from the curtains had increased. She started to walk as fast as she could, without running, towards the door. Just then, the fabric flickered and a bunch of tiny, hairy creatures with sharp claws and pointy teeth came flying in Melanie's direction. They didn't look friendly minded. Without further ado Melanie sprinted as fast as she could and slammed the door close behind her.
"Close call", she mumbled to herself, panting slightly. A vicious muttering by her feet made her jump and look down. She had crashed into a small, wrinkled creature which looked so old that Melanie queried whether it managed to rise from the floor. "I'm sorry!" she said and when she kneeled down to help, she realised it was a house elf. Melanie had never seen anyone being so old that white hair was pointing out of the ears, in this case large, bat like ears. The elf however stood up without her help.
"There were some hairy, flying little figures in there who chased me", she excused herself with. The elf eyed her. "Er … what's your name?" she tried in a friendly tone.
"Werewolves, thieves and rabble!" spit the elf, more to himself than Melanie, it appeared. "But now it's a new girl … She speaks to Kreacher. She speaks friendly to Kreacher – but looks like a squirt, she does!" Melanie raised her eye brows, amazed by his words. "Yes …" said Kreacher and looked carefully into Melanie's face. "Kreacher can she looks just like my mistress' scum to son, who comes back from Azkaban and makes a mess ..."
"Hey, that's my dad you're talking about!" said Melanie strictly.
Kreacher gave Melanie a watering look. "Kreacher is very surprised that master reproduced, when he smells like a sewer."
"Kreacher!"
The elf shook his head. "Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black." He wandered away, still muttering. "... What will my poor mistress say … dragging the name Black in the dirt is what they're doing ..." Melanie was so amazed she didn't know what to say.
Instead she continued her investigation of the house. Flying balls of hair with claws and an apparently lunatic house elf proved to be just the beginning. Generally speaking, every room was dark, gloomy, extremely dusty and hid some nasty secret. She encountered homicidal robes, a carnivorous litter bin, an ancient clockwork which amused itself by peppering Melanie with screws and an empty, but laughing painting who found it very drolly when Melanie was chased by the litter bin. The basement kitchen seemed more and more cozy the longer the day went on.
When the portrait of Sirius' mother woke up and started to scream horrible things about Sirius, Melanie really began to understand how much Sirius disliked being back on Grimmauld Place. That's what she told him when they met in the staircase. Sirius was holding a curiously, bloody sack.
"But I don't understand … why did they dislike you?" Sirius sighed heavily.
"I'll show you." They walked up the stairs to a door which had Sirius' name on it. He opened it (and to Melanie's relief he left the curious sack outside).
Melanie was amazed by the fact that the big room was beautiful, despite the spider web in the grand chandelier and despite the thin layer of dust, covering the paintings on the wall. In the corner there stood a large bed, but what caught Melanie's eye were the big Gryffindor banners covering the walls and the combination of red and gold made Melanie feel more home than ever. Sirius had sat down on the bed and eyed her.
"You see?" he said. "I was different from them – they and their pure blood obsession! Every single one of them belonged to Slytherin and my mother never forgave me for ending up in Gryffindor ..." Sirius lowered his eyes but Melanie could see the hate filling his face. She sat down on the bed beside him. "Eventually, I had enough … when I was sixteen I left and never looked back. That's when she erased me from the family tree", he finished bitterly.
"Where'd you go?" asked Melanie carefully.
"To James' of course. They were good people, the Potters. They let me stay until I found my own place." Sirius stood up. "I don't like being back here." He picked up the bloody sack outside the door.
"What is that?" asked Melanie suspiciously.
Sirius eyed her with a grin. "It's for Buckbeak", he answered and opened the second door on the landing step, and quite right, there lay the wanted hippogriff whom Sirius had escaped on just over a year ago. Melanie had a feeling that this house wouldn't stop surprising her.
That very evening Melanie's prediction turned out to be quite right. Melanie, Sirius and Remus had just finished a sausage and potato dinner and was clearing the table when the door bell rang. The sharp tone woke the portrait of Mrs Black.
"Scum! Filthy egg-laying mammals! Half breads!" she yelled furiously until Sirius and Remus was able to shut her up. Melanie, who stayed in the kitchen and continued to wipe the table with a dishrag, was very curious to know who the visitor was so she pricked her ears carefully. As the kitchen door opened, Melanie pretended to be very interested in the wet rag she was holding, but when she looked up she was taken aback. Between the smiling Sirius and Remus stood a young witch with bubble gum pink hair and a pale heart-shaped face. She was not smiling, but radiating with joy.
"Melanie!" she cried.
"Tonks!" cried Melanie and hurled away the dishrag, which got stuck in the ceiling, and threw herself over Tonks. They hugged each other tightly.
"I've missed you so much!" said Melanie into Tonks' curly hair.
"I haven't seen you for donkey's years!" replied Tonks. Both Sirius and Remus had time to retrieve the rag and sit down by the table before Tonks finally let go and held Melanie at arm length away and eyed her carefully.
"You've grown so much! But I'm so sorry, we'll have to catch up some other time, I have duty tonight –" Remus cleared his throat loudly. Tonks chuckled slightly. "Right, sorry. I heard you were in the headquarter, Mels, so I just had to stop by and say hi. We'll see each other again, very soon – I promise!" And with another tight hug she hurried out, unintentionally waking up the portrait again.
When Melanie was going to bed not long after Tonks' departure, she was still a bit taken aback. She changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed; the bedsprings squeaked softly. She turned out the lights but still in the pitch black darkness she was not quite able settle down. It really had been years since Melanie and Tonks last met. They had grown up together and were almost like sisters, though they weren't closer related than Sirius and Tonks' mother being cousins.
After a few minutes of thinking back hard, Melanie came to the conclusion that she and Tonks hadn't met since Melanie's first trip to Hogwarts, and that was four years ago. Melanie felt a twinge in her heart.
Melanie didn't remember this, but she'd been told that Tonks had been seven years old when Melanie was born and she loved to look in and see the baby. About a year later Sirius had been sent to Azkaban and Allison was taken in by the Weasley family for a time, but they moved out when Melanie was around three years old and ever since then Tonks visited at summertime when she was home from Hogwarts. She was like the big sister Melanie never had and vice versa.
Melanie remembered the summer she was six, when Tonks had gotten hold of a baby nappy and chased Melanie around while Melanie yelled that she'd quit using nappies ages ago. Numerous times the two of them had taken advantage of the fact that Tonks was a Metamorphmagus and tricked several people as identical Melanie Black's.
When Melanie finally fell asleep childhood memories popped in and out her dreams.
The following day Melanie, Sirius and Remus tried to make the house fairly inhabitable, but it was not an easy task since the whole house seemed to put up a fight. That night Melanie was exhausted and it wasn't until the next evening Tonks fulfilled her promise. She dropped in to dinner companied with Kingsley Shacklebolt from the Auror Deparment and a strange man named Mundungus Fletcher, who according to Sirius was a real crook.
It turned out to be a really nice meal. The steak and kidney pudding they cooked tasted really good and the company was impossible to complain about. Remus and Kingsley came into a serious discussion about the Ministry and Dung told Sirius about his last bargain of stolen objects.
Tonks turned to Melanie, radiating with joy. As always. "D'you remember when I tried to teach you how to make an apple pie?" she asked, and suppressed her laughter.
"Yeah!" giggled Melanie and together they broke up with laughter from the memory. The result of the baking could best be described as it looked like a bomb had exploded in the kitchen.
"You've grown so much, I can't believe you're starting your fifth year now … what house are you in? Tell me everything."
Melanie told her about her friends, how they met on the Hogwarts Express, all the pranks she, Fred and George had come up with, all the adventures with Harry, Ron and Hermione, all the homework and how she wouldn't survive without Dave. Tonks was an excellent listener.
"I feel so old!" Tonks laughed and drank some butterbeer.
"What have you been doing then?" asked Melanie curiously.
"I don't know if you know this, but last year I finished my auror training!"
"Whoa! So you're an auror now?" said Melanie amazed.
"Yep", said Tonks and smiled proudly.
"Wow – congratulations!" said Melanie and was sincerely proud. "You must be excellent in disguise." Tonks chuckled and nodded.
"Have you considered the auror line, Melanie? I've heard that you're really skilled in Defence Against the Dark Arts", said Kingsley, who was sitting beside Tonks, and looked at Remus from the corner of his eye.
"No … or – well I haven't really been thinking at all ..."
The others burst into laughter.
"I wouldn't be surprised if that was true, Mel!" said Tonks and laughed her ripple laugh again. Melanie joined in.
"I agree with Kingsley, Melanie", said Remus when everyone had calmed down a bit. She actually had not considered it, but the thought of catching evil wizards was tempting. After all DADA was her favourite subject.
"Maybe you'll be the one catching me", said Sirius and grinned.
"Never", she replied determinedly. Sirius' grin turned into a smile.
It was a while since Melanie heard something from her friends, so she decided to write to them, saying she was fine and with Snuffles. Though, she felt obligated to update Dave about what she had found out about their parents hush-hush, so his letter was a bit longer than the others.
Hi best friend.
You were right, I survived, and I'm with Snuffles now. You were right about everything. Remember what we overheard? I know everything about it now, because I'm right in the middle of it. Hope you understand what I'm saying or this will just look weird. How are you doing?
Mel
"It's one for Dave, Harry, Ron and Hermione", Melanie told Howie when she tied the four letters to his leg. Melanie felt bad for Harry so she ensured him in his letter that she would try to get him out from the muggle house. "Watch out for Harry's uncle", murmured Melanie to Howie and he eyed her with his round, dark eyes. She was sure he understood. A moment later he took off through her small bedroom window, turned round a tall building and was gone.
A couple of days went by without any answer. Order members came and went, Melanie had met most of them by now, but she still wasn't allowed at their meetings so she fled upstairs to Buckbeak's room when they occurred. Melanie, Sirius and Remus hadn't had much progress with the cleaning, as Snape put it, so there were still occasions when Melanie stumbled upon some weird thing that tried to poke her eyes out. Once that actually happened; she investigated a cupboard in the dining room when a creepy little metal thingy with long, thin legs ran up over her arm. It was very fortunate that Tonks was in the room and saved Melanie's eyes. After that Sirius insisted that Melanie would stop walking around the house alone.
When Howie came back one morning, tapping Melanie's window, he had four replies tied to his leg. Both Ron and Hermione told her a little bit about their summer and was happy that she was with Sirius, while Harry didn't seem happy at all, he seriously doubted that he would get out the house before September the first. Dave's answer was the shortest but also the most exciting.
Hello.
I'm fine, you're not going to believe this but I think we'll come to you!
Hopefully we'll see each other soon.
Dave
Melanie spent her day waiting for the door bell to ring. When it finally did, some time after dinner and when another Order meeting just had begun, she sprinted down the stairs. By the landing step to the hall she crashed into two brightly red haired figures, on their way upstairs. Melanie hurtled forward and hit her head in someone else's, the twins hurled backwards into a mass of people who shouted in surprise and they landed in a disordered mess below Mrs Black's portrait which woke up and started to scream insults all over the place.
Sirius and Remus came out through the kitchen door and for a moment they froze and watched, astonished, the scene in front of them, before they rushed over to shut the portrait up. The silence was for a couple of seconds earsplitting before the mass of people on the floor started to wail.
"Ouch ..."
"What happened?"
"Bloody hell ..."
Melanie found herself lying full length on top of Fred Weasley.
"Well hello there Mels, how nice to see you!" said Fred half-choked and sat up.
"Yeah, you made a strikingly entrance indeed", said George and pulled Melanie to her feet, she laughed.
"I'm sorry!"
"What are you doing?" asked Sirius as he helped Ginny up.
"I wonder exactly the same thing", said a voice which Melanie cheerfully recognized as Hermione's. She leaped forward and clasped her.
"Hey!"
"Well, that explains a lot", proclaimed Oliver ironically and ruffled Melanie's hair. "We barely made it through the door before you threw yourself over us."
"You were in my way", answered Melanie teasingly and greeted Dave, Ron and Ginny. Sirius interrupted them:
"Hey, Melanie, you've got to go upstairs 'cause the Order's having a meeting. Why wont you show them around or something", he added ironically. Melanie grinned, but showed Hermione, the Weasley siblings and the Marcus brothers upstairs.
"How are you guys? Dave – they said you were right about everything! Hermione, how's Crookshanks? Ron – you're so tall! How's Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" They reached Melanie's room and she kept babbling on about the carnivorous litter bin and the homicidal robes, before Fred demanded to know everything about the Order. Melanie told them everything she knew (which only meant what Sirius had told her, since she was't aloud on the meetings).
"I wonder why they've kept it secret from us", said Oliver thoughtfully, when Melanie was finished.
"I'm more interested in why they haven't let us join", said George. Hermione eyed them skeptically.
"Well", she said in a matter-of-fact way. "You may be over age but you're still in school." The twins gave her vicious looks.
"Yes", said Dave, teasing his brother. "You're still too young!"
"I'll hex you!" Oliver lunged himself over Dave and they hit the bed with a dull thud and a painful shriek from the bedsprings, a great cloud of dust rose from the mattress. Luckily Mrs Weasley soon interrupted them by calling them all down for dinner. Oliver, Fred and George turned around on the spot and Disapparated.
"They're driving me insane", muttered Mrs Weasley darkly but lit up when she lay eyes on Melanie. "Melanie dear, how are you?" She clasped her tightly.
"I'm fine, how about yourself Mrs Weasley?" Melanie answered, rather muffled by Mrs Weasley's embrace.
"Oh, I've been better", Mrs Weasley said indeterminately. They could hear her mutter as she walked in front of the down the stairs: "What's the thing about all the dust, haven't anyone been cleaning this place?"
The basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place had probably never felt this homelike. Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Mr and Mrs Marcus were all in the act of cleaning up after the meeting, in the middle of vivid discussions or making an effort by the stove.
Mrs Weasley and Mr Marcus combined their kitchen skills and after three servings of dessert, Melanie established that it was among the best meals she'd ever had.
As Melanie scraped her plate for the last lump of vanilla sauce, she could see how Fred and George exchanged looks and how Oliver bridled his neck, all three of them with resolute facial expressions.
"When were you going to tell us about the Order?" Fred finally asked, facing his parents. Oliver gazed at Mr and Mrs Marcus. The spirit in the room slowly changed, and the joyful conversations died away as everyone realised what had been uttered. Everybody seemed to watch Mrs Weasley, Fred and George. Surprisingly enough, Melanie noticed that Mrs Weasley first threw a glance at Melanie and then an irritated look at Sirius, before she answered. Dave and Hermione, next to Melanie, had also noticed.
"We want to fight!" said George.
"You're too young!" cried Mrs Weasley.
"We're actually over age", said Oliver boldly.
"Why not?" George continued rebelliously.
"The members of the Order of the Phoenix have finished school", said Mr Marcus with a firm, resolute voice. Mrs Weasley gave him a thankful look. In the split second of complete silence, Melanie realised something. She had been too happy to finally meet everyone again that she didn't notice that it actually wasn't everyone.
"Where's Harry?" she asked, in a loud voice. "Everyone's here except for Harry. Why?" She looked around the table, but nobody seemed to know the answer to her question. Mrs Weasley, though, turned uncomfortably in her seat.
"Well", said Hermione tentatively. "Dumbledore made us swear not to tell Harry ..."
"But I did", said Melanie. "I mean, not everything of course", she added hastily, when all the Order members looked chocked. "Just that I was with dad ..."
"Dumbledore doesn't want Harry to know ...", Mr Marcus finally said in a calm voice.
"But that's unfair!" Melanie burst out.
"... more than he needs to know", finished Mr Marcus and eyed Melanie firmly. "Dumbledore has his reasons for everything", he added in a friendly way, but his brown eyes were very earnest. Melanie felt she'd gotten no answer to her question at all and looked around the table for any help. Sirius looked thoughtful and Remus had his eyes fixed on Melanie.
"Now, that's enough!" said Mrs Weasley sharply. "Go to bed, all of you!"
They didn't ask anymore question's about neither the Order, nor Harry, but four weeks in on the vacation they just had to.
I've just been attacked by Dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here.
"WHAT?" yelled Melanie so loud that Hedwig hooted and flew away from her, frightened. Hermione and Ginny burst into the room.
"What's going on?"
"Why're you yelling?"
"Look – Harry ..." Melanie gave them the letter with a shaking hand. She was so upset that she barely was able to put the words together. Hermione let out a little yelp and Ginny fell silent and became very pale.
CRACK. The twins Apperated right behind Melanie.
CRACK. Oliver Apperated right in front of her.
"ARGH!" she shouted and jumped aside.
"Always the merry tone, Mel" said George with a smile as the door opened again and Dave and Ron appeared.
"What?" asked Ron bewilderedly. Ginny handed him Harry's letter. Dave, Oliver, Fred and George read over his shoulder. About the same time all five of their facial expressions became grimly surprised, before they looked up on Melanie, as if she was pulling their leg. Ron was the first one to recover:
"But … the Dementors are supposed to be guarding Azkaban … You don't think …?" The unfinished sentence hanged ominously in the air, no one dared to finish it. What if the Dementors had changed sides?
"We have to tell the Order!" said Hermione suddenly, and made all of them woke up from their paralyzations and sprint down the stairs (except from Oliver, Fred and George who Disapparareted).
"Harry's been attacked by Dementors!" shouted Melanie feverishly when they all stormed into the kitchen. She was still holding Harry's letter and waved it under Sirius and Remus' noses.
"Calm down", said Remus composedly. Sirius took the letter from Melanie and started to pace back and forth in the room. Mrs Weasley looked very upset; she was holding a tissue and her eyes constantly wandered towards the door, as if she expected someone.
"We know what happened to Harry", said Remus reassuringly, when neither one of Melanie, Dave, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Oliver or the twins calmed down. "But we're expecting Order members at any minute ..."
"But you are going to do something, aren't you?" Sirius looked up, and fixed his gaze on Remus, he had a worried and tense facial expression. Mrs Weasley let out a brief sniffle and started to clean the already shiny kitchen table. Remus cast her a compassionate look and turned to Melanie and the others:
"Right, we'll discuss the situation and ..."
"Discuss?" Melanie testily pressed on.
"But –" Hermione began, but Remus cut them both off.
"No buts. This concern only the Order – end of story", he added firmly and started to shove all of them out of the room. As much as Melanie loved Remus, she couldn't understand the level of rubbish he was talking. This concerned them all since Harry was their friend and the fact that the Order was going to discuss the situation and waste precious time was outrageous.
"Discuss?" Melanie hissed hotly when the kitchen door was shut behind them. "Discuss? Are they joking? A meeting now? What about Harry?"
"Hey, get a hold of yourself, woman!" said George. "We'll hear everything they say, silly!"
"With these, of course", said Fred and pulled out a couple of flesh coloured strings from his pocket. "Good ol' Extendable Ears!"
"They're complete now?" asked Oliver interestedly and they all climbed the stairs. Everyone except Melanie. She tiptoed through the hall, pulled out her wand and unlocked the front door.