Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Please read author's note at the bottom! :)
Chapter 5 – For the fifth time
Melanie hoped dearly that no Order member would arrive at this very moment and see her leaving; they would tell her it was a really bad idea – they always did – and make her go back. No way she would just sit and wait for their magnificent discussion to be over, when Harry needed help.
She hurried away from Grimmauld Place. It was a still and yet another hot evening. When Melanie had left the open space with the rampant grassplot in the middle, she slowed down and walked rather aimlessly – occupied with thoughts. Her first impulse had been to jump onto Buckbeak and fly to Harry. Buckbeak was strong enough to carry both Melanie herself, Harry and his luggage, but it was far too risky with all the muggles wandering around. She remembered very clearly Harry and Ron's flying car incident three years ago.
Melanie was rather unsure about what to do next. She pulled her sweater tightly around her and had a survyeing eye looking around her all the time. The neighbourhood was as dark and dusky as Grimmauld Place itself, but she didn't meet a living soul. Though, she still walked in the shadows; instinctively she didn't want to be seen.
After at least twenty minutes Melanie stopped in an obscure corner to consider her possibilities. Number one was the Knight Bus but she was not very fond of the conductor Stan Shunpike, he also knew who she was. Alternative number two was King's Cross, she was sure she would find the way – she'd walked from there with Remus. On the other hand, she thought grimly, Harry always came to King's Cross with his aunt and uncle, and they travelled in their metal carriage, which Harry had said muggles used when they travelled a bit too far for walking. Melanie cursed under her breathe.
Darkness had started to fall and the street lamps seemed broken, but it was still quiet and peaceful. Melanie checked her watch, it was almost forty minutes since she left number twelve Grimmauld Place. Well, if she started to walk now, she maybe would be at Harry's before dawn. A soft breeze swept by and played slightly with Melanie's hair, otherwise the street was still. Too still, a voice in the back of her head whispered.
Suddenly Melanie was uncomfortably aware of the fact that someone was running at full speed right at her, she turned sharply but in the pitch black darkness she couldn't see anyone. Instead she clasped her wand inside her sweater tightly and tried to move out of the way. Without warning Melanie was hit and almost fell over.
"Hey!" she called but a dull growling shut her up. She was pulled into a side street and the next moment the large dog transformed and her father stood in front of her. Sirius grasped her shoulders firmly.
"What were you thinking?" he hissed viciously. Melanie, who had never seen him this angry since that night in the Shrieking Shack, quickly realised the severity in this moment. Sirius face was screwed up with anger and his eyes were dark as he looked into Melanie's powder blue eyes. "What were you thinking?" he said again. "You thought you could just walk over to Little Whinging? That's half-way across London!"
"But –"
"No", Sirius said firmly. "I told you not to wander around alone …! This is even more dangerous than in that bloody house!" He ran his fingers through his hair. "Have you Apperated before? No? Just stand still and concentrate on the doorstep and I'll take care of the rest."
Sirius grasped her arm again. Without warning Melanie was so fiercely hurtled forward that she almost fell on her face. She had no idea what what going on, so she just tried to picture the doorstep like Sirius had said. The darkness seemed to thicken and pressing every inch of her body, making it hard to inhale. The best way to describe the peculiar feeling was that it was like traveling inside a water hose. Just when Melanie thought she would suffocate, the pressure was lifted and she stumbled forward on the solid ground of the doorstep to number twelve.
Sirius reached his wand arm out to open the door, but hesitated and turned to Melanie. He had calmed down, but his gaze was still very earnest: "Things could have gone much worse than they actually did tonight, but you really caused the Order a lot of trouble ..." He sighed and opened the door. "Just go straight upstairs … and no more walking around alone", he said in a low voice and shoved Melanie towards the stairs.
Melanie was angry when she climbed the stairs. She was so angry and frustrated with the whole situation that her hands were shaking. To her disappointment the bedroom was empty. Hermione and Ginny were probably with the others, she thought grimly. Her dad probably told them not to go and see her. She kicked hard on the bed in frustration, but instead of the satisfaction from causing some damage on a perfectly innocent object Melanie let out a roar of pain. She'd hit the metal frame of the bed.
The frustration and feelings of deep disappointment took overhand and she threw herself into the bed, and soon she fell asleep.
The following morning Mrs Weasley had prepared breakfast. Food made Melanie lighten up a bit, since her bad mood still got the best of her after a night of bad sleep. Dave, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Oliver, Fred and George were also a bit disheveled. On the other hand though, Mrs Weasley was enthusiastic when she told them about the plans for the day.
"We're going to make this house inhabitable once and for all – we'll start upstairs, Remus will help you, and I'll come up with some lunch later. Off you go then", Mrs Weasley declared. Sirius cleared his throat impatiently and Mrs Weasley raised her eyebrows towards him. "Oh, by the way, Melanie dear, would you help me clean off the table?"
"Sure", said Melanie rather dully, frowning slightly at the exchanging of looks between her father and Mrs Weasley, as the others strolled off. It appeared to be a substantial mistake from Melanie, because she never made it out of the kitchen. Sirius made up ridiculous tasks for Melanie to do, if it wasn't scrubbing casseroles, it was sorting the cutlery. Melanie had a feeling that Sirius wanted to keep her under strict supervision, as a penalty for the evening before, and Mrs Weasley was in on it. She didn't get out until late afternoon, when Sirius asked her to go upstairs and feed Buckbeak.
"We're having a meeting later, so you don't need to come back downstairs", Sirius said while handing over the now familiar blood stained sack of dead rats.
"Okay, sure", said Melanie in an indifferent tone, but she grabbed the sack and climbed the stairs all the way up to Buckbeak's room. The hippogriff turned out to be very hungry and swallowed every single rat Melanie threw at him. While feeding the hippogriff Melanie poured her heart out for Buckbeak, like she'd done so many times before. She was sick and tired of everything that had anything to do with the Order, especially their meetings and she was too upset to be still, so she paced back and forth, telling him about the last days' events. The hippogriff was a bit more interested in his food, but Melanie still believed he listened.
When she finally was finished with her list of how much the Order of the Phoenix had done wrong and Buckbeak had searched her clothes for hidden treats, Melanie took a deep breath and sat down.
"Unlucky there, Buckbeak, but I'm not that kind of person who carries around dead rats in my pockets!" Buckbeak tilted his head slightly and clappered his beak.
There were footsteps in the stairwell, hastened footsteps, as if someone was walking fast at the urge of running. I wonder who that is, Melanie thought, and with a tingling of curiosity in her stomach she opened the door an inch and peeked outside.
"Mel?"
"Dave?" Melanie said in a surprised tone, but eying him rather suspiciously . It was something about his a bit too excited smile that caught her attention. "Is there something going on?"
"Duh!" he replied. "Harry's here!"
"WHAT?" Melanie jumped to her feet so fast that Buckbeak shrieked in surprise. "Are you joking!" Melanie neither cared about the hippogriff, nor did she wait for an answer – she sprinted down the stairs, just to skid in through the open door to Dave and Ron's room and threw herself around Harry's neck.
Standing in the middle of the room, facing away from the door, Harry was unknowing about Melanie's arrival and staggered slightly from the impact. He recovered himself quickly and loosened up when Melanie gave him a tight hug, which he returned hastily.
"Now when you're finally here Mels, would you do us the honour of telling us about last night?" Melanie released Harry and turned towards Fred, who was leaning against the wall beside his brother.
"Tell us about your brilliant idea, which included a nice and comfy stroll across London in the middle of the night!" said George lightly. They were all there, assembled together in the tiny bedroom, but not everyone seemed to be in such a jolly mood as the twins. In fact, Melanie suspected that Hermione had been crying and Ron looked very jumpy.
"Someone had to do something", Melanie said firmly. "Since the Order clearly wasn't. But it worked, didn't it?"
Oliver, who was sitting on Dave's bed shook his head in disbelief at Melanie. "Mel, don't be silly!"
"What?" Melanie said fiercely. "Harry's here now, isn't he?"
"But it's not because of you he's here", Oliver said in a matter of fact way.
"But –" Melanie began hotly but Ginny interrupted her, from her corner at the far end of the room: "It was chaos when they realised you were gone."
"Chaos?" Melanie repeated in disbelief, looking around the room with her eyebrows raised. Why would any of her actions disturb the Order's important meeting?
"Haven't you noticed that Sirius' been worrying about you?" said Hermione in a low voice, but loud enough for Melanie to hear her clearly. "All your adventures in the house – Tonks told me and Ginny about that thing she saved you from, that tried to poke your eyes out."
"And not to mention the carnivorous litter bin", said Fred with a wink.
"Anyway", Hermione continued after a long look towards the twins who mimicked being eating by the litter bin. "I'm sure Sirius was even more anxious with Harry's arrival coming closer ..."
"He made us look everywhere!" said Ginny looking intensely at Melanie. "And when we were all gathered in the kitchen, and nobody'd found you ..."
"Poor bloke", said Ron and he looked very earnest. "Should've seen him, Mels, he was mental! Wanted to just rush straight out the door ... But Lupin calmed him down. 'Think rationally' he said."
"Then Lupin called in Tonks and Kingsley for a crisis meeting", Ginny said. "And they didn't even bother to shut us out!"
"They didn't?" asked Melanie, once again with raised eyebrows.
"They didn't", Oliver confirmed with a grin.
"So what happened? Did they reveal anything?"
Oliver laughed. "They talked about you all the time, so if they did, it would be some of your secrets, not the Order's!"
"Oh shut it!" said Melanie impatiently. "What happened then?"
"Well", said Dave, who along with Harry had been quiet since Melanie came into the room. "They contacted your mum."
"What?"
"Yep", he said. "They checked if the Floo network had been used." Though Melanie understood the value of having an insider in the Department of Magical Transportation, she thought it was highly unnecessary to drag Allison into this.
"They had to, I guess", said Dave, observing Melanie's facial expression. "But Sirius thought that it was a waste of time."
"Again, Lupin calmed him down", said George, grinning widely.
"Again, he used the argument for thinking rationally", said Fred.
"But he missed one very important detail. Tell her what you said, Freddie."
"'Since when does Melanie think rationally?'" Fred reiterated proudly.
"And Sirius disappeared straight out the door."
Melanie stared at them all. "So that's why I've been locked up in the kitchen all day, separating the three toothed forks from the four toothed one's? Couldn't dad just tell me?"
"Don't know what you're complaining about", said Harry sternly.
"Hey!" hissed Dave, lurking at the door. "We've got a visitor!" As soon as he'd said that they could hear footsteps from the stairs and Mrs Weasley appeared in the doorway.
"Dinner!"
The time flew by – the summer vacation was soon over. Mrs Weasley's working obsession made them decontaminate almost the whole house. With Mrs Weasley's tough working schedule the sanitation went faster and was indeed more efficient than when Melanie, Sirius and Remus had tried during her first week at Grimmauld Place. After only three days they managed to get the living room pretty decent, and continued with the rest of the house. Harry attended his hearing at the Ministry (Melanie almost freaked out when she found out about the hearing, because nobody had told her anything until Harry already was back). Both Harry and Melanie turned fifteen and to nobody's surprise, Dave and Hermione became Gryffindor's new prefects.
The semester start crept closer and the only one who didn't seem to long for September the first was Sirius. Instead, he seemed more and more gloomy the longer the vacation went on. The last day of August, a couple of days after Melanie's birthday, Hermione pointed out to Melanie that Sirius spent more and more of his time alone on the top floor. Melanie had also noticed how he sneaked away from dinner time, and how he had become increasingly quiet and bitter the last couple of weeks.
The same night Melanie tried to get a couple of minutes alone with Sirius, and talk things out with him. She knew that he was heart-sick by the fact that he, once again, was going to be alone in his childhood home, and she wanted to insure him that he wasn't alone. But Melanie didn't succeed, since people was everywhere, running around looking for their possessions and stressed out by the trip to Hogwarts early next morning. When Mrs Weasley got sight of Melanie's half packed trunk and put her to work under strict supervision, a conversation between four eyes had merely a snowball's chance in hell.
Early September the first (after being brutally awakened by Oliver, Fred and George and a spell called Aguamenti), Melanie tried once again, rather desperately, to talk to Sirius. She was forced to catch him in the hallway with a tight hug and a brief, but encouraging whisper in his ear before he, turned into Snuffles and disappeared. Sirius, Mrs Weasley and Tonks was supposed to take Harry to King's Cross in advance.
Soon the train whistle whistled and they had to hurry on the dark red train. It was Melanie's fifth time to ride with the Hogwarts Express, but it was the first time her joy of finally coming back to Hogwarts was mixed with an enormous absence. It had always been her mother who dropped her off, and Melanie always got the impression that Allison was happy to get rid of her. Now Melanie would miss not only Sirius, but of course Remus, Tonks, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Mr and Mrs Marcus, Kingsley, Moody, Buckbeak, Mundungus – what the heck, even Kreacher and the inhospitable house of Grimmauld Place number twelve.
"Shall we find us a compartment then?" Ron asked merrily. Melanie could see that Oliver, Fred and George already had vanished.
"Sure", she answered.
"But … me and Hermione are supposed to sit in the prefect carriage ..." said Dave hesitantly. Hermione nodded. Melanie stretched out her tongue towards them.
"So you're just leaving us – all alone?" she asked. "Maybe I can't be away from my walking brain and my walking library!" Ron chuckled. Dave and Hermione made ugly faces to her.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine", said Ron.
"You go ahead", said Harry encouragingly.
"We'll come and find you soon", said Dave before he and Hermione headed forward in the train. Ginny had met some of her classmates and disappeared faster than lightning, Melanie noticed a couple of Ravenclaws among Ginny's friends. Melanie, Harry and Ron were on the other hand now left alone and they began making way with their heavy trunks through the narrow hallway. They ended up sharing a compartment with their fellow Gryffindor friend, Neville Longbottom in the very back of the train.
Dave's interpretation of 'soon' proved to be very different from Melanie's. After two hours or so, she decided to find out why the hold up.
"I'll come with you!" said Ron and sprung to his feet when she told him.
"O.K.", said Melanie approvingly, but hesitated as soon as they left the compartment. "Er … do you know where the prefects sit?" Ron looked at her blankly.
"Well", he finally said, frowning as he was thinking. "Not exactly, but I know it's in the front. Fred and George covered Percy in stink sap there once."
"Really?" said Melanie in an impressed tone. "They need to tell me about that one, for sure."
Ron was right about the prefect carriage being in the front, because when they reached the first carriage, Dave and Hermione stepped out in the hallway.
"What are you doing here?" asked Hermione.
"Looking for you, of course", Ron said in a merry tone, as if it was obvious. Hermione smiled briefly and began a report on their first day as prefects. Half way back through the train the bumped into everyone's favourite Slytherin Draco Malfoy and his two accomplices Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.
"Watch your big feet –!" Malfoy began fiercely but fell silent when he looked at them.
"Out of the way, Malfoy", said Ron in a threatening tone, emphasizing the name.
"You were aloud back to Hogwarts, Weasley? I thought they didn't let blood traitors or mudbloods back, nowadays ..." Melanie and Ron did the same movement of throwing themselves at Malfoy.
"Ron!" Melanie heard Hermione yell, and she felt Dave grabbing her arms, holding her back.
"Lucky there, Weasley", Malfoy continued scornfully, sweeping past Melanie with his eyes, and padding his chest, where a silver badge with a large P was pinned onto. "I am actually a prefect now and have the right to discipline other students. It would be a pleasure if I'd give you my first." With an unpleasant smirk he turned around and disappeared into a compartment with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering after.
"He's a prefect?" Melanie asked weakly. Who could be so stupid to name him?
"Yes", said Dave and sighed. "Unfortunately."
"He and Pansy Parkinson", said Hermione snidely and put a nasty emphasis on Parkinson's name. "And Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil. I don't understand how they –" Hermione was interrupted by a compartment door in front of them opening with great force, and they could hear loud and angry voices. A Slytherin girl with long, shining black hair almost bumped into Dave and Ron. It was Melanie's one year older cousin, Julie Harper, whom Melanie barely had spoken to, even outside Hogwarts.
Furious raged in Julie's black eyes. Though Melanie didn't know her, she was curious about who Julie'd been arguing with, so when they passed her, Melanie tried to cast a look into the compartment which Julie'd emerged from. It was Pansy Parkinson – she stood in the middle of the compartment, looking equally upset as Julie. But when Melanie turned forward again, a sudden movement behind Julie made her act instinctively, pulling Julie out of the doorway. Pansy's hex flew across the corridor, hit the glass and caused an ugly burn mark.
"What the …!"
"Next time you're not as lucky", hissed Pansy.
"You should watch your own back", said Julie in a dark voice and with a last hateful look at Parkinson she turned and walked down the corridor. "Why'd you do that?" she murmured to Melanie, as they were heading in the same direction. The fact that their parents had broken all contact when the two of them were babies was probably the main reason why Melanie and Julie never had taken time to get to know each other. But Melanie also took into consideration that Julie was a Slytherin and the fact that she sometimes companied Malfoy.
Melanie looked at her: "Pansy's an ass", she answered simply.
"Tell me about it", Julie replied sarcastically and looked thoughtful.
"Hey, I know we haven't talked but ..."
"Yeah ..." said Julie. "I know it's weird, really. But … for a Gryffindor, though, you seem pretty O.K."
"Right back at you", grinned Melanie.
"See you – I guess", said Julie when she found her compartment and friends, Melanie could see her two year younger, and also black haired, brother Isaac Harper among the Slytherins.
"Yeah", she said and when she continued down the corridor to her own compartment, where Dave, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville waited for her, for once she was preoccupied with thoughts. The ride with the Hogwarts Express usually wasn't this dramatic, she thought. Even though, she liked the fact that Julie and herself had for a couple of minutes united against Parkinson, who Melanie disliked almost as mush as she disliked Malfoy.
"Melanie", Harry said as she slid the door open. He looked worried and told her in a low, but tense voice, that Malfoy apparently had strutted into the compartment to show off his new badge for Harry and indicated in an ominous way that he'd recognized Sirius on the platform.
Correction; Melanie didn't dislike Malfoy – she loathed him.
The rest of the trip Melanie, Dave, Harry, Ron and Hermione were all muted. Melanie got an unpleasant feeling in the bottom of her stomach, like a weight, straining her insides. The feeling didn't ease when they stepped off the red train and didn't find Hagrid there to welcome the new students, and certainly not when Harry saw creepy horse creatures which neither Melanie or Ron could see.
This far, September first had certainly been different from previous years. But none of the events so far could measure up with the surprise in the Great Hall.
The dinner was eaten and everyone were now longing for their respective four-poster bed and fall asleep. Dumbledore informed the student this year's start-of-term notices, Melanie only listened with half an ear, she'd already heard that the Forbidden Forest really was forbidden grounds, a couple of Filch's hundreds prohibitions and staff changes since her first year.
"Hem, hem."
Melanie jumped and looked up. She was not the only one wondering who'd interrupted Dumbledore. "It's that Umbridge woman!" Harry whispered surprised. She apparently was sadly unaware of the regimes of Hogwarts. Melanie grinned at her ignorance.
"Nice cardy", said Ron and grinned too. Melanie instantly knew she would dislike this Umbridge woman as soon as she laid eyes on her floppy face – nothing good could possibly come from someone wearing that pink, fluffy cardigan with matching hair band. She spoke with a fake, high pitched voice and was extremely boring, but it were the cold, hard eyes which made Melanie's unpleasant gut feeling sink even lower down her stomach.
Dave and Hermione seemed to be the only ones listening, and they immediately began discussing what they'd just heard as soon as the Umbridge woman fell silent. Spread, half-hearted clapping could be heard across the Hall.
"Were there things hidden in the nonsense?" asked Harry surprised.
"Did you listen?" Melanie wondered even more surprised but Hermione brushed her aside:
"The Ministry is going to interfere with what's going on at Hogwarts!"
"Through the Umbridge woman?" asked Melanie bewildered. Was that Fudge's ace in the hole, his spy? Hermione's reply was drowned in the noise that suddenly occurred – people started leaving the Great Hall.
"First-years!" Dave and Hermione began shouting.
"Where are you going?" Melanie asked them.
"We're steering the first-years to the dormitories", said Dave and smiled slightly as justification. "See you later?" He disappeared in the crowd.
"Midgets ..." Ron mumbled.
"What?" Melanie laughed. It actually sounded a bit more accurate than first-years.
"Yep", Ron continued. "They're so small!"
"And cute!" Melanie patted the closest one on the head, just to get a grip on how small they actually were. The little boy, who barely reached Melanie's chest, stiffened and stared petrified at Melanie. Then his widened eyes fell on Harry and he turned at the spot and sprinted after his peers.
"Gryffindors are supposed to be brave", Ron snorted.
"Yeah", said Melanie, frowning irritatedly as she turned, a long line of tiny Hufflepuffs walked by, staring at Harry.
"Let's go", Harry said grumpily, and he stamped furiously out of the Hall. Melanie and Ron had to hurry to keep up with him.
In the circular round Gryffindor common room they met familiar Gryffindors on their way towards the dormitories, sitting in the comfortable armchairs or simply catching up on summer events in front of the constantly crackling fire. Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet from the Quidditch team waved happily from across the room and Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan from Melanie's own grade came over and greeted them. Dean had his arms extended towards Melanie and a broad smile on his face.
"Hi Dean!" He gave her a hastened hug, but instead of releasing her, Dean grabbed Melanie by the back of her neck and ruffled her hair.
"Got ya!" he shouted and the boys laughed. "That hairdo really fits you", Dean grinned.
"I'll get you back, you know", said Melanie, smiling slyly. She said good night to Dave, Ron, Dean and Seamus, yawned and climbed the well known spiral staircase to the girls' dormitory. It was empty, but Melanie didn't mind. She was feeling very good. She was full, tired and back at Hogwarts.
Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown stepped into the dormitory as Melanie was about to close her bed curtains.
"Hello", Melanie said. "Had a good summer?" she asked with another yawn and thought merrily back on her own.
"Oh yes", Parvati replied with a smile. Lavender brushed Melanie's question away.
"Do you really believe what Harry said about You-Know-Who?" Lavender was bursting with the urge of asking her. Parvati gave Lavender an elbow in her side. Melanie just sat on her bed for a moment, taken aback from the completely unexpected question.
"Er ..." Melanie finally said slowly. "Of course I do." Her voice grew in strength.
"But ... it's kind of absurd, I mean ... what if it isn't true? You know, we didn't see what happened."
"No, but Harry did!" Melanie fired up quickly, but Lavender pressed on:
"But the Ministry says there's nothing to worry about ... and really, there are no proof –"
Melanie interrupted her abruptly, enough was enough. "No? What's Harry then? Aren't you listening? You don't know what happened, and you shouldn't speak about it, but Harry – he knows! So leave him alone! Has he even done anything to you, except warning you for Voldemort? No, I didn't think so! Now I'm going to sleep!"
The last thing Melanie could see before she ostentatiously pulled her curtains close, was Lavender, opening her mouth to speak, but Parvati's elbow in her side shut Lavender's mouth effectively.
The next morning Lavender disappeared very quickly out of the dormitory.
"What's with her?" Melanie muttered as she got dressed.
"She began babbling about Harry as soon I came in – she believes The Prophet you know – so I told her one thing or two about what she should do ..." Hermione was already fully dressed and sat on her bed, waiting for Melanie.
"You too? I flew out at her before you came", Melanie grinned.
"Mmhmm", Hermione murmured thoughtfully. "Are you coming?"
They met up with Dave, Harry and Ron in the common room.
"Monday morning, Melanie. Alive and kicking I see", Dave teased. Melanie gave him a half-hearted box on the arm and yawned again. Melanie and mornings just wasn't a good combination. Hermione stopped by the notice board and began talking prefect talk with him, which Melanie quickly turned a deaf ear to. Instead she noticed, with yet another yawn, how exasperated Harry looked.
"What's with you, Harry?" she asked as they all had safely gotten out of the portrait hole.
"Yeah, you look like you're angry about something?" Hermione put in. Dave and Ron exchanged looks.
"Seamus thinks that Harry lies about You-Know-Who", Ron explained quickly.
"What?" Melanie blurted out. "He too?" She really hadn't expected that.
"Well, Lavender is in line with him", Hermione told the others.
"They should form a club", Ron grunted.
"But you're cool Harry, we got your back – Hermione and I gave her a real lecture!" Harry, who had opened his mouth to say something, closed it and looked a little bit happier.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Melanie shouted, one and a half hour after they had left the Great Hall.
"No!" Ron uttered gloomily.
"What a Monday", sighed Melanie and hit herself in the head with her Potions book. She really needed to wake up from a drowsy History of Magic lecture with Binns. They were now heading down to the dungeons for a double Potions, followed by Divination and after that double Defence Against the Dark Arts. Divination was a running gag, at least that's how Dave put it, and with this Umbridge woman at the wheel the DADA would probably become a long lecture in true History of Magic spirit.
"Silence." Snape stepped soundlessly into the classroom – or more precisely, the dungeon – and with his usual flapping of his robes, he took his place at the teacher's desk. The mere look of him made Melanie's skin creep. She offered Dave an exchange of desperate looks, knowing how much he loathed Potions, as Snape spoke, with an ominous voice: "Before we begin this class, I will remind you of the examination you will be sitting this June and since I'm only taking on the very best in my NEWT classes, some of us will be saying good bye. But we have yet another year in front of us before this happy farewell moment, so I advice you to concentrate, whether or not you are going to try for NEWT ... or not." Melanie looked down as Snape's sharp look sweeped around the class. He continued: "Today we will be mixing ..."
Melanie could be skilled in Potions, but only if she managed to keep her focus. The real problem was standing right in front of her – Snape hated Melanie almost equally as much as he hated Harry, and he insulted her just because he knew that it made her lose focus. On the other side Potions was a important subject for an intended auror. She'd made up her mind. This year she really would strain herself to get a good grade in Potions.
"Yes", she said before she could restrain herself.
"Pardon me?" Snape said coldly. "Black, was there something you wanted to say?"
"No", she answered.
"That's right", said Snape, smirking unpleasantly. "As previously mentioned, before Black here opened her mouth ... you have one and a half hour ... beginning now."
Melanie's new decision on making an effort encountered a great deal of work right away. The Draught of Peace, which they were supposed to mix, was the most complex one they'd ever encountered. When Snape announced that silver smoke should be rising from their potion Melanie was exhausted. Her stomach was aching with hunger and she was at the line of sweating. At the top of it all, Snape rounded up on Harry.
"Potter, what's this?"
"The Draught of Peace", said Harry, through clenched jaws. Melanie peeked into his cauldron. The smoke wasn't exactly silver coloured, but a lot better than Crabbe's or Goyle's.
"Potter, can you read?" Snape went on. Melanie felt her temper rise, like her inside suddenly began boiling. Why did he always pick on Harry? At the corner of her eye, Melanie saw Malfoy laughing behind Snape's back. Furious she swung around.
"Malfoy shut your giant pie hole", she said viciously and Ron, Dean and Seamus snickered. "Yours is nowhere near as good as –!"
"Black!" Snape interrupted. Melanie gave a jump. For a second there she'd almost forgotten why she'd become so angry. "I suppose there's nothing you want to say this time either?"
"Yes. I don't think you should complain that much about Harry's potion", she said in a defiant tone, ignoring the warning looks from both Dave and Hermione. "It's actually better than ... er ... some others ..." It became so silent in the dungeon that you without a doubt would hear a pin drop. Melanie half expected smoke from Snape's nostrils by the look on his face and was very happy that looks couldn't kill.
"Tell me, Black", he hissed. "Who, out of the two of us, is an educated teacher in Potions?"
"You, sir", Melanie answered reluctantly.
"That's right. So it's not your business deciding whose potion is the best. That's my business, and I also have the indulgence of giving you detention tonight at six o'clock. You better be on time." With one last loath dripping gaze on Melanie, he turned to the rest of the class: "Fill a bottle with your potion, put your name on it and bring it to my desk. Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone, in my hand on Thursday."
Goyle's bottle exploded. Glass shatter spread over the whole dungeon and the Gryffindor students burst out in laughter.
"Look Harry, that would never happen to your potion", she said triumphing and picked a piece of glass from her hair.
The unpleasant feeling in the bottom of Melanie's stomach from the day before hadn't bothered her all day. In a weird way it had been comforting that at least Snape was his usual, yet idiotic, self, and that Divination still was as useless as Professor Trelawney's death predictions for Harry. Although Melanie and Dave found it hilarious to interpret made-up dreams. But as Melanie, Dave, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the DADA classroom, the weight in Melanie's stomach acknowledged itself again. The unpleasant feeling came back with such a force that Melanie almost panicked. The realisation came to her in a heartbeat; just like Hermione had said – things were about to change at Hogwarts. And Melanie didn't like it at all.
The Umbridge woman was already in her position behind her teacher's desk, sweeping her cold eyes around the room. She opened her mouth broad mouth and spoke with that high-pitched voice which made Melanie want to run up to her and shove a pair of Dobby's home knitted socks in her throat: "Good afternoon, children. Wands away, please."
"Are you alright?" Dave leaned in an whispered, with his brow raised at Melanie.
"I don't like this, not at all", she murmured through clenched teeth. "That woman is evil."
A/N: I'm back! Hope you guys have had a nice holiday! Over the holiday's I've had some time to catch up with my writing. I'm trying not to bit off more than I can chew, but I'll try not to keep you guys waiting this long for the next chapter. I mean, chapter 4 and 5 needed some huge adjustments comparing to my original story, so the time consumer (except from school and ... yeah, life) have been modifying the old chapters into what you can read here. The story is now pure story, I edited out the unnecessary side tracks. Though, there may not have been too much drama (certainly not comparing to the upcoming chapters), but the story's just building up, so be patient. Otherwise, this was a really long chapter, I know I called the last one long too, but this is REALLY long. Hope you like it though. Is it too long? Please, please give me some of your thoughts? I'll give you a cookie if you review! Cheers!