Chapter 11

AN: I just wanted to say thanks to everyone reading this story. I really appreciate it! Also, this is the last prewritten chapter. I've got up to what was done ahead of time, so there may or may not be weekly updates. Please be patient and don't abandon me! Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and co. I created Melissa.

Mr. Diggory was already at the tent when they got back.

"Thank Merlin you two are all right," he said, hugging his son.

"What happened?" Cedric asked as they all took a seat at the kitchen table.

"Well, after the mark appeared a bunch of us apparated to right under it. We found Arthur's boy, Potter and their friend underneath. Obliviously, it wasn't them. It looks like it was Crouch's house elf. She was found with Potter's wand, which was used to conjure the mark," Mr. Diggory explained as he slumped tiredly in the seat.

"But how could his elf have known how to conjure the mark?" Cedric asked. "I thought only You-Know-Who's followers knew how to do that."

"I don't know. We didn't find anyone else there…. The evidence is against her," Mr. Diggory shrugged. "Come on, let's get some sleep. We'll leave in a few hours."

Fully clothed, Mel crawled into her cot. She did not realize how tired she was until she laid down. She was asleep in a matter of seconds.

XXX

All too soon, Mel found herself being shaken awake by Cedric. Groggily, she got up, got her stuff and followed him out of the tent. Mr. Diggory came out last. With a wave of his wand, the tent took itself down and put itself in the carrying case. Mr. Diggory picked it up and led them to the portkey station. There was already a line, but they did not wait more than five minutes before getting their own. This time, the portkey took them to the Diggorys' front lawn. They had barely walked in the house when Mrs. Diggory appeared and began hugging them all.

"I was so worried!" she exclaimed, releasing Mel and hugging her son again. "The Prophet came early and—"

"It did?" Mr. Diggory asked, making his way toward the kitchen table where the paper was sitting. "Of course, Rita Skeeter would get the paper to go early, especially with this story. Well, I best change and get to the office," he sighed. "The Ministry is going to be a mess now. As if there isn't enough going on."

"I have to go into work too," Mrs. Diggory said. "Will you two be ok?" she asked, turning to look at Cedric and Mel.

"Yeah," Cedric said. "I'm going to crash for a few hours. We'll worry about food later. Have a good day at work."

His mother kissed him on the forehead and began preparing a quick breakfast for her and her husband. Mel slowly followed Cedric upstairs, just barely able to keep her eyes open.

"You ok?" he asked, pausing outside the guest bedroom.

"Just exhausted," she said, giving a small smile. "'Night."

"'Night."

She closed the door behind her and dropped her bag on the floor. Though she wanted to crawl into bed and sleep forever, she really needed to clean up. Mel walked toward the bathroom and turned on the shower. She stripped her dirty clothes and hopped in. The hot water felt great, though not as great as washing all the dirt off her skin. She washed quickly, the urge to sleep growing stronger by the minute. She dried off and wrapped a towel around herself before going into the room. She threw on a t-shirt and cotton shorts and crawled into bed. In the back of her mind, she thought about taking care of the clothes and towel she had left strewn all over the floor; but, in the end, sleep won out.

XXX

"Hey, wake up a second."

Mel groaned and opened her eyes to a very bright room and Cedric sitting next to her. She yawned and stretched before asking, "What time is it?"

"About two. I just wanted to let you know I was heading over to Drew's for quidditch practice. Mum and Dad are still at work, so you'll be on your own for a bit…. unless you want to come?"

Mel shook her head, "No, I might go back to sleep. And I'll be fine on my own for a bit. I am capable of taking care of myself, you know."

"I know, but with what happened at the Cup…" Cedric said, looking worried. Mel pushed the covers off her and went to sit next to him, taking his hand in hers as she did.

"It was just a couple of drunk former Death Eaters. I promise I'll be fine," she reassured him, kissing his cheek. "You worry too much."

He gave a small, unconvinced smile and got up. "You know where the food is?"

"Yes, sir," she said in a mock serious voice. When he did not smile, she sighed. "I'll be fine. I promise nothing's wrong. Go play quidditch."

He kissed the top of her head before he left the room. She sighed and listened to his retreating footsteps. What was his problem? No one had been seriously hurt last night and she had not had a vision. If he could go play quidditch, it could not be that serious, right? Her stomach growled loudly, interrupting her thoughts. She pushed herself off the bed and made her way to the kitchen, brushing her slightly knotty hair with her fingers as she walked. Mel grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the table and walked over to the sink to wash it. As she washed it, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She looked up to see a large, black, shaggy dog standing in the backyard. Curious, she turned off the sink and went outside.

There was something about the dog she could not place. It was an odd animal. It did not run toward or away from her as she walked toward it, nor did it wag its tail or bear its teeth. Instead, it seemed to be waiting for her. When she was within a few feet of it, the dog began walking toward a patch of trees. The dog paused, as if to see if she was following, and continued walking when it was sure she was. However, when she reached the shaded area, she found a man instead of a dog. The man was thin, pale, in shabby robes and his black hair and beard were a bit wild. Despite his current appearance, she could tell he was once quite attractive.

"I can see by your lack of fear, you know the truth about me…and about yourself?" Sirius Black asked her. Mel nodded, looking around to make sure they were alone.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, slightly panicked. "If someone sees you—"

"They won't," he said confidently. "No one's home but you, and the nearest family is three miles away. Rather irresponsible of them to leave you alone given recent events," he added disapprovingly.

"I can take care of myself," she said defensively. "Besides, Voldemort and his Death Eaters don't even know I exist. How did you know I was here?"

"Dumbledore," he said simply. "Oh, how I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. Remus has told me much about you, of course, but that's just not the same. From what he and Dumbledore have said, I can honestly say Lily and James would be as proud of you as he and I are. Though, I don't think any of us are too happy about you spending so many holidays with your boyfriend," he added sternly.

Mel blushed, "My friends and I alternate where I go, but I don't have many options…. Why did you come here?"

"Because of this," he said, showing her a folded up piece of parchment. "Harry sent it to me a few days ago. I haven't known what to write back as neither Dumbledore nor I can tell how serious it really is. I was hoping you could help."

Mel took the letter from him and began unfolding it. She was not sure how she could help. Was she supposed to understand some hidden meaning in Harry's words? Or spot something between the lines? As she finished opening it, she was hit with such a force she stumbled backward. When she came back, she found Sirius supporting her.

"What happened?" he asked worriedly. "Are you all right?"

She nodded and lowered herself to the ground. Pushing some hair out of her face, she took a moment to compose herself and process what she had just experienced and seen. Then she read the letter:

"Dear Sirius,

Thanks for your last letter. That bird was enormous; it could hardly get through my window.

Things are the same as usual here. Dudley's diet isn't going too well. My aunt found him smuggling doughnuts into his room yesterday. They told him they'd have to cut his pocket money if he keeps doing it, so he got really angry and chucked his PlayStation out of the window. That's a sort of computer thing you can play games on. Bit stupid really, now he hasn't even got Mega-Mutilation Part Three to take his mind off things.

I'm okay, mainly because the Dursleys are terrified you might turn up and turn them all into baths if I ask you to.

A weird thing happened this morning, though. My scar hurt again. Last time that happened it was because Voldemort was at Hogwarts. But I don't reckon he can be anywhere near me now, can he? Do you know if curse scars sometimes hurt years afterward?

I'll send this with Hedwig when she gets back; she's off hunting at the moment. Say hello to Buckbeak for me.

Harry."

(Excerpt from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" pages 24-25)

"What is it?" Sirius prompted, growing more concerned by the second.

"He omitted information about his scar. He had a dream about Voldemort. He saw him with Peter Pettigrew and another man. They were plotting about bringing Voldemort back—I don't know how," she added at his questioning look. "More importantly, they were talking about getting to Harry. They didn't try it at the Cup because of the Ministry presence, but it sounds like they have a plan. It sounds like they have someone on the inside. Sirius, they're going to try to kill him."

Sirius paled at her words. "Did you see anything else? Where they might be? How they plan on…?"

"No," she said, her heartbeat speeding up from panic. "But if you let me have this letter, I might be able to use it to find out more."

He nodded and sat in the ground next to her. They sat in silence as they absorbed what they had just learned.

"You should before they come back," Mel finally said, nodding at the house as she spoke. Sirius nodded numbly and stood up.

"Will you be ok?" he asked, helping her up.

"If I can figure this out before it's too late, yes."

"Don't push too much pressure on yourself," he said, engulfing her in a tight hug.

"Trust me, it's just the right amount. Will you write Dumbledore? It'll look suspicious if I do it," she said, hugging him back. "I promise to pay closer attention to Harry, too. Try to warn him in your letter. Don't scare him, just have him be on his guard."

"Remus was right," Sirius said, letting go. "You are very much like Lily."

"You should go," Mel repeated, slightly uncomfortable. Lily, essentially, was her mother, but itwas weird to be compared to her or any of them for that matter.

"I'll do everything you asked. Take of yourself," Sirius said before transforming. She watched him disappear into the woods and vaguely wondered where he would go. Mel then made her way back into the house, grabbed her apple off the counter and went straight up to her room. She pulled out her pile of divination books and threw them on the bed. She placed the letter under the clock so it would not get blown away and settled down to begin her research and practice.

XXX

Mel was still working when Cedric got back from practice. He was surprised to see the house so empty. His parents must still be at work. He walked up the stairs and dropped his quidditch gear in his room. Noticing the open door and light, he walked across the hall to Mel's room. He found her sitting on the bed pouring over a pile of books.

"What're you doing?" he asked, walking into the room and lying across the foot of the bed.

"Practicing," she said without looking up.

"Why?"

"The same reason you practice for quidditch, because I need to," she said, reaching for a book. Cedric sighed and sat up.

"So this is just practice? You didn't see anything that brought on this sudden need to practice?" he questioned, growing slightly irritated. He had seen her practice, and it had never been this intense before. How oblivious did she think he was?

"What did you see?" he demanded when she neglected to answer his previous questions. She sighed and closed the book she reading.

"You're not going to like it," she warned.

"Just tell me."

"Fine," she sighed. "I had a visitor and he gave me a letter. I had a vision when I touched the letter, and now I'm trying to figure out if I can recall that vision and get more information when I do."

"So, who came and what did you see?" he asked, easily catching on to her omission.

"Er, a family member came and the vision was about another family member. Are you hungry? I am. Let's go see what there is to eat."

She sped toward the kitchen so fast, Cedric had a bit of difficulty keeping up with her. His pride blamed it on very little sleep and a full day of quidditch practice.

"Ok. So, I'm taking it that Lupin came to see you and Harry's in some sort of danger?" he questioned, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at her.

"Hmm…"

"Mel, stop lying to me," he demanded.

She sighed and spun around to face him. Lowering her voice she said, "Fine. Sirius came to see me. He wanted me to have a look at a letter from Harry. When I touched the letter, I got a vision…it was more powerful than anything I've ever experienced. It was horrible… I still can't believe what I saw."

"Which was?"

"I saw…." She took a deep breath and then spoke in a whisper, "I saw You-Know-Who and two of his Death Eaters plotting to bring him back and to kill Harry. I don't know how or when, all I know is they have someone on the inside. This is why I've been looking through my books all day. I've been trying to find something to help bring the vision back, so I can slow it done and try to catch something. I just haven't found anything yet…"

She finished her explanation looking extremely helpless and worried.

"You need to be careful," Cedric warned. "I've seen the toll your visions take on you. And I've done research of my own. Most Seers go mad, especially the ones who push the limits of their abilities."

"I don't have a choice! If I don't try, then Harry could die or You-Know-Who could come back. Besides, I'm not pushing my limits," she said defensively. "I have these powers. I'm just learning to use them."

"I know!" Cedric snapped, losing control of his temper. "I know that you're different than all the other Seers. But you're still human! You and your powers are limited by that!"

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" she yelled at him. "Let him die? Let the most powerful dark wizard come back?"

"I don't know!" he yelled back, running his hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. "I just…just don't want you die in the process," he said, his voice softening. He hung is head in defeat and out of shame for yelling at her.

She walked toward him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her head under his chin. He tightly wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm not going to die. The side effects are mostly just headaches or dizziness. They fade quickly and haven't increased in intensity. I'm not going to go crazy, or die from this. Promise."

Cedric nodded and held her tighter. "I'm sorry," he mumbled into her hair.

"Me too. I told you you wouldn't like it," she added, jokingly.

"I guess I should listen to you more."

"I guess you should," she said, giving him a small smile as she pulled away. "Now, what should we eat? I really am starving."