Chapter Forty-Two

She just sort of stared at me as I pulled on my shirt awkwardly and started to gather up Draco's things. I felt sick, and angry, and used, and a bunch of other feelings I didn't even have names for. Draco's appearance in the living room only magnified my discomfort.

"What's going on here?" He came to my side noticing the look on my face and the haphazard way I'd bundled up his things.

I didn't even know where to begin.

"She isn't who she says she is."

"In my defense Harry I never said I wasn't a witch."

"She's a witch?" I could see the same panic run across Draco's face that I felt in my chest.

"She's a veela." I wanted to turn and sneer at her, "or at least a half veela."

"What?" Now Draco was looking at her.

"She's Professor LaSeigne's sister." I wanted to throw up.

"But it doesn't mean anything Harry. I thought we were friends. It's not like you told me you were a wizard or anything."

"I can't, you know that! Do you know how much trouble I'd get into just announcing that?"

"And that's why I left the wizarding world, too damn many rules, we have to hide everything, oblivate poor Muggles who stumble onto some magic, make up lies about why their loved ones die as collateral damage to our wars!"

Draco stepped in between us, looking a little lost, but trying to stop us shouting at each other.

"You tricked us into coming back here."

"I did not. You wanted to come."

"You're a Veela, we didn't have any choice."

"Of course you had a choice! You didn't fall into bed with me over the summer, or feel anything like that towards me then." It was true, but I just felt more entitled to be angry thinking that everything I had know of her, had done with her was beyond my choice, when, of course, it hadn't been.

"None of this makes any sense Melody." It was Draco. "Do you know who we are?"

"Of course I do, and I don't care."

"I'm a Death Eater." Just hearing those plaintive words come out of his mouth; I felt every tearful sob and every heaving breath that I had held him through for so many months. The few steps we had taken forward, moving past that seemed lost just then.

"No, you're not Draco." But the words weren't mine; they were Melody's, as much as they echoed my sentiments. "I can see that you are not a bad person, Harry can see that. You just need to believe it too."

"Why would you do this?"

"I just wanted to have some fun, I just thought you could use some fun. It was just sex, it made you feel good, it made you forget everything didn't it?"

"I thought we could trust you?" I felt so much guilt having dragged Draco into this relationship, trying to give him some kind of escape.

"You can trust me. I've not said anything about you to anyone all these months."

"But now you know something really damning. You could run right to the Prophet and betray us, and they'd likely give you a sack full of galleons to do it."

"I won't. You don't have to worry about that. I'll keep your secret. But it doesn't have to be a secret Harry, there's nothing wrong with you and Draco being together."

Draco had grown really quiet then, terrified, I suspected, of being exposed for something else, something as equally damning as being a Death Eater, if just in a different way. I wasn't going to let that happen. I drew my wand from the length of my shirtsleeve and pointed it at her. She gasped.

"Harry!" Draco's hand was on mine, pulling my aim down to the floor. "Don't hurt her."

"I will not let her hurt you Draco." I know I was shaking, I didn't want to harm Melody, not really, but I didn't know what else I could do to keep our secret.

"Are you embarrassed by Draco?" She asked me.

"Embarrassed?" I spit the word back at her, "I am not embarrassed by Draco, I love him!"

Now that was not the way I had pictured telling Draco the truth of my feelings. Not at all. Every one of us went silent and my words hung in the air, and I just wanted to die right then.

"So you see," I started to say, in a whisper, "I cannot take the chance. The Prophet will destroy him, and then he will have to run and I will lose him, and I can not bear that Melody."

"Oh Harry." Draco's grip on my wand hand tightened in contrast to the soft voice.

"I'll make an unbreakable vow with you both, never to speak of your relationship unless you release me to."

I looked at Draco, "can that be enough?"

"It was enough for Snape and my mother, to protect me. It will be enough here Harry, please let it go." I loved that he could be so forgiving when I could not, the anger still gripped my heart.

He dressed while Melody prepared everything. While she lived as a Muggle, she still had her wand hidden away in her house and she used it to move the furniture away from the center of the room to clear us enough space to stand facing each other, arms clasped together. Draco stood by our locked arms and took out his own wand, placing the tip over our hands.

"I vow to you Harry Potter that I will never communicate a word of your Relationship with Draco to another soul." She began the ritual by making the vow.

"You promise that everything you have witnessed between us will remain between us three?" Draco, as our Bonder asked the questions.

"I do." A tongue of fire encircled our hands.

"You promise that no matter the price or offer that you will remain silent about Harry and I?"

"I do." Another circle of fire warmed our skin.

"You promise that our secret shall go to the grave with you unless we together release you, upon pain of your death?"

"I do." The third circle of flame was the brightest, and with the three questions asked and answered the vow was made. I let her hand drop.

"I think we need to go Draco."

"Please don't be angry at me Harry, I just wanted to have some fun, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I am tired of people deceiving me Melody."

She let her head drop, and using her own wand spun it over herself to restore her normal appearance. The brown hair was replaced by the ethereal blond, her eyes took on the haunting blue sheen, and her whole countenance suddenly seemed enchanted.

"This is who I am Harry. I only wanted to be your friend, yours and Draco's. Please tell me you do not hate me."

"You don't mind if we apparate from here do you?" I didn't answer her question.

"No." She shook her head sadly.

I took Draco by the hand, holding onto it tightly and disapparated.