Chapter 23

AN: I know it's short, but I may not have been able to update tomorrow (may not have wifi). I hope you can forgive me. Please enjoy, and thank you for reading and those wonderful reviews!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and co. I created Melissa.

Three weeks in the murderous heat. Even the water from the creek Mel was trying to wash herself with was hot. Mel sighed and gave up. There was no point in washing the muggle way if she could not cool off by doing it. With a wave of her wand, she magically cleaned herself and clothes. She dressed, gathered her things and walked out of the small patch of woods back to the dirt road. She walked beside it, hoping it would take her to a town where she could get some food. It was too hot to go without eating for too long. Mel was thankful she was of age and could do magic outside of school: Her water bottle was never empty, as she had placed a replenishing charm on it.

Though, I wouldn't be in this mess if Dumbledore had listened to me in the first place, she thought.

Mel had gone to Victoria's after school let out. She had been trying to use her powers, as she was still worried about the unknown consequences of her saving Cedric. She was there one week before she had a vision. Unfortunately, she saw Sean leading Death Easters to Victoria's house and killing her and her family and taking Mel. She had the vision only two days before they would arrive at Victoria's.

Well, she could not wait for aid or further instruction from Dumbledore. She had to act quickly to save the innocent people who had only tried to help her. That is why she had the vision after all. Using magic, she helped them pack quickly. She told Victoria and her husband to drive as far as possible, and anywhere Mel and Sean had never been with the orphanage. Dumbledore would contact them when it was safe to return home.

Victoria had begged Mel to go with them, but she refused. Mel felt guilty enough about them having to leave their home, she was afraid to put them in any more danger. In the end, Victoria gave her some muggle money and left with her family, telling Mel to send word she was safe by the next morning. Before Mel left, she sent letters explaining the situation to Cedric, Harry, and Dumbledore. So far, only Cedric's owl had been able to find her. He was furious and had been trying to get her to come to him, or, at least tell him where she was. The latter was difficult as she was apparating to different parts of the country every other day. She could not do the former, not yet. She wanted more than anything to go to him, but some part of her knew she needed to stay away for now. It drove her as crazy as it was driving him.

The only good to have happened in the last three weeks was that she understood the current limitations of her powers. She had to focus on an individual to see their future. While what she could see was more detailed than before, she could only see a few months into the future at best. In addition, she could no longer enter someone's mind to see their future. Mel now had to do it the old-fashioned way: meditation. She hated it. Meditating took more concentration than she often had, especially in this heat.

Mel paused and wiped some sweat off her forehead. The limitations worried her, but she knew they were only temporary. However, Destiny had not been clear on how long temporary was in their last meeting. All the Powers had said was that as long as she changed what needed to be changed, they would give her back her powers. In fact, they said they would give her all of her powers, even the ones she had yet to discover. Mel could not help but be a little excited when she thought of it; and she thought of it a lot. It was a good distraction from the night terrors.

While she may not have been physically present for what happened in the graveyard, she sure felt like she had experienced it all first hand. She saw the images from that night as she slept. She would often wake up in the middle of the night, shaking in fear. Sometimes, her dreams even showed Harry or Cedric or both of them dying. When she would wake, she found herself wishing to be with Cedric. She needed his reassurance, needed to hold him and make sure he was alive. Mel knew he and Harry had nightmares too: They had written to her about them. However, she could not help but to think that being with Cedric would help them both.

Mel shook her head. She could not think about Cedric right now. She needed to find a cool place to eat and maybe sleep. Mel had not meditated in a few days and needed to "check in" on a couple people.

She huffed and sat on the roadside. Clearly, she was miles from anything. Mel decided to try and check in on Harry before apparating somewhere else. She was very worried about him, as she had not heard from him since she left Victoria's. She sat up straight and took deep breaths, trying to empty her mind and focus on Harry. The vision came faster than what she was used to—the Powers must have felt this was very important. When it was over she stood up quickly and looked around to make sure she was alone. It was very important, and she needed to leave right away. With a small pop, she vanished from the country roadside.

xxx

Mel apparated into a small alley behind some houses. She realized she should have used the Disillusionment Charm, but on a quick look found she was alone anyway. The sun was setting; Mel needed to find Harry quickly. She retreated into the shadows and said, "Point me."

She walked quickly out of the alleyway and down the street, pausing every so often to check her direction. Apparently, she had apparated several blocks over and Harry was moving, making it difficult for the spell to be accurate. The sun had set now. She only had a matter of minutes. She broke into a run, openly using wand for the point me spell. It did not matter; all the muggles were in their houses hiding from the heat. She rounded a corner and found herself on a cold, dark street. This was the place.

"Lumos," she muttered. She walked quickly, listening for any movement. Finally, she heard some yell and sped up.

"Harry!" she called, pain shooting through her legs and her backpack flopping against her back as she ran. He did not respond, probably did not hear her. She the four of them in her wand light: Harry searching the ground for his wand, a large boy cowering on the ground a few feet away, and two dementors. The vision had not shown who had sent them or why, it had just stressed that Harry not use magic. She lifted her wand and summoned the happiest memory she had.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A silver retriever flew from her wand and circled the boys, chasing both dementors away. Suddenly, it was no longer dark or cold. Mel could see the night sky and feel the hot air on her skin again.

"Harry!" she called, running toward him. "Harry, are you all right?"

"Melissa?" he said in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping you of course," she panted, offering him a hand. He took it and stood up. "Are you ok?"

"I suppose," he said. "Do you know what's going on? Have you heard anything since your last letter? I'm sorry Hedwig couldn't find you. You must have been moving quite a bit."

"I was, and no, I haven't heard anything. We need to get inside, then I'll tell you everything I do know."

Reluctantly, Harry nodded. He hefted the boy—who was Harry's cousin—up and struggled to support him as they walked. Mel would have helped, but she needed to be able to defend them if anything, or anyone, else attacked.

"Harry! What is-Who are you? I am going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!"

Mel and Harry turned to see a distraught Ms. Fig running over to them.

"Who are you?" she asked Mel again.

"Melissa Evans," she answered, her wand raised.

"Ah, Dumbledore is very angry with you. Lower your wand, I'm not a threat to you."

Mel hesitated, but lowered her wand. Her powers were in overdrive and she could see this woman was a Squib, and working for Dumbledore.

"How do you know Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"Who in the magical community doesn't? Just because I'm a Squib does not mean I've been exiled," she quipped. "Besides, someone reliable needed to look after you all these years."

"What do you mean? Has someone been following me?" Harry demanded. Mel could hear anger in his voice. She could not blame him for it. Throughout her various check ins, she had figured out no one was really communicating with him. Now he gets to find out someone has been near him the whole time, but no one had bothered to tell him anything.

"Come on," she said. "Let's walk and talk."

They walked backed to Harry's relatives' house. Mel on guard the whole way as Harry tried to interrogate Ms. Fig. Tried because she was too busy saying how she was going to kill whoever was supposed to been watching Harry. She only left once they were at the house.

Mel knocked on the door. She was not sure what she was expecting, but it was not the look of horror on the woman's face when she opened the door. Harry pushed his way inside with Mel following as the woman let out a screech. She began fussing over her very large son, who was still feeling the effects from the attack.

"What did you do to him?" a large man demanded of her. Mel vaguely remembered Harry mentioning how his relatives did not like magic. She sighed.

"I did not do anything to him," Mel said loudly, so her voice would carry over all the fussing. The woman quieted and stared at her with disgust. "I stopped a dementor attack. They drain all the happiness from you. Your son is fine. Give him some chocolate and he'll be back to normal."

Mel did not miss the smirk on Harry's face when his relatives stared at her in bewilderment.

"He was—what?" the man stuttered.

"Just give him some chocolate, and he'll be fine."

"Who are you?" the woman demanded.

"A friend of Harry's from school, and I am of age. So I can use this," she said indicating her wand, "if necessary."

"Why are you here?"

"To protect Harry from the man that killed his parents. Now, if you'll excuse us, Harry needs some rest."

"You're, you're staying?" the man asked flabbergasted.

"Until other arrangements can be made," she said shortly. She turned to Harry who led them to his room upstairs, leaving a frightened and confused group of people in the sitting room. Harry busted into the laughter the second his door was closed.

"What?" Melissa asked, setting her bag on the ground.

"I've never seen them accept anything magic related that quickly," Harry said. "They're terrified of you."

"Well, someone should be," she muttered. She sat on the ground and leaned against the wardrobe. "Do me a favor, send a letter to Sirius and Dumbledore telling them what happened. We shouldn't have any repercussions, but Dumbledore should be informed all the same."

"All right. By the way, why is Dumbledore mad at you?" he asked, walking over to his desk to write the letters.

"Because I'm not listening to what he wants me to do," she sighed.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" Harry asked.

"Well, if you've been reading the Prophet, you know Fudge is not letting any "odd" news be printed. It's also saying you, Cedric, and Dumbledore are loony. He's trying to turn the wizarding community against you, so no one will believe Voldemort is back."

"What? Why would we make that up?!"

"They're using a whole bunch of reasons. Dumbledore's old and being fooled by a young dark wizard in the making, and Cedric's mind has been addled. I guess you haven't been reading those at all, then," she explained, pointing to the scattered papers.

"No, just the front page," Harry muttered. "Great. Anything else?"

"Voldemort wants me dead almost as much as you, and Dumbledore's been reforming the Order of the Phoenix, which was a group that fought Voldemort before. I don't know how successful they've really been though."

"Wonderful," Harry said sarcastically. "Any idea why no one's told me anything?"

"Probably because their afraid of it being intercepted," Mel yawned. "You mind if we talk more in the morning? I'm exhausted."

"Sure. You can sleep on the bed if you want," he offered, looking a little awkward.

"Don't worry about it," Mel said, pulling her bag to her and opening it. "I've got a sleeping bag in here."

Mel laid out the bag in the corner and crawled into it. Harry looked a little uncomfortable, like he was not sure what to do.

"I'll sleep like a rock, so don't even worry about waking me," she said with a smile.

"All right. Hey Mel?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for coming to help me, and letting me know what's going on."

"Of course," Mel mumbled, already half-asleep.

XXX

Mel woke with a start the next morning, forgetting where she was. Her mind remembered after a few seconds. She could see the sun was already high in the sky: It must be late. The room was empty and the house seemed quiet. She crawled out of the bag, and dug through her knapsack for some clothes. After closing the bedroom door, she changed into the clothes, enjoying their clean feeling on her skin.

She crept quietly down the hall, hoping not to meet any of Harry's relatives. They did not seem like pleasant people, and she was not in the mood to deal with them or explain anything to him. She found Harry in the kitchen, making lunch.

"Hey," he said as she entered. "I was just coming to wake you. I made some lunch."

"Thanks," Mel said, following him to the table. He had made them a couple of sandwiches. They did not have a lot on them, but Mel could tell Harry had done his best. "Where are they? Your relatives."

"Out for the day. They said they would be back later tonight. We had a long talk this morning about last night. I think they needed a break. Sirius wrote me. Told me to stay out of trouble and not use any magic. It also said someone was coming to get me soon," Harry explained.

"Did they when or how?" she asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Nope."

"Of course," she sighed.

"Will you come with me?" Harry asked, finishing his lunch.

"Where?"

"Wherever they take me when they come."

"We'll see," she said, playing with the crust of her bread. "I may need to go see Cedric first. They may not let me leave if I go with you right away, but I'll try to join you after," she added at the disappointed look on his face.

"I guess I understand," he sighed. "It's no fun to be locked up."

"No, it's not. I suggest we go pack you're room. It's a mess, and you need to be ready for when they come to get you."

"Yeah," Harry groaned. Mel laughed and took care of their dishes while Harry went to start on his room. When she joined him, he had taken care of the old newspapers and Hedwig's cage. She began sorting through his trunk.

"Do you clean anything out? Ever?" she asked, pulling out a handful of old essays.

"Cleaning and packing aren't my best skills," Harry joked, his voice lighter than she had heard it yet.

"So, I see."

It took them a few hours to clean and pack his room. Harry used the time to vent. He was angry about a lot, but mostly about how he felt his friends, Sirius, and Dumbledore were keeping him uninformed. Mel believed it was more Dumbledore's doing the others. In the few letters she had received from him, he had seemed different. It was like he was holding something back. Mel kept her opinions to herself. She did not want to fuel Harry's anger.

"That's the last of it," Mel said, plopping down on Harry's bed.

"Thanks for helping and listening," Harry said, sitting down on his desk chair.

"Feel any better?"

He shrugged. "Not really. I'm still angry, but it helped to talk a bit."

"Your anger won't go away over night," Mel said gently. "It'll take time. Trust me."

"Are you ever scared?" Harry asked. Mel met his eyes. He was vulnerable, trusting her to be honest and not think less of him.

"Of course, almost all the time."

"Yeah," Harry said quietly. "Me too."