A/N: Aaaaaand, we're back! Hope you all had a great New Year! Happy to announce that Year Four is finally finished. Better yet, it ended in a way that finally smashed the writers block so I've already gotten the summer chapters mapped out. Double cheers to that.

Usually I don't mix my AO3 commentary/tags to my FFN posts, but the Summary I have for Year Three is too funny to resist adding it on here:

While Harry enjoys his first year at Hogwarts, Melissa decides to play hero.
While Melly enjoys her third year at Hogwarts, Harry decides to play hero.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programing...

September 1st, 1991

"Welcome, Harry, to Platform 9 ¾!" Melissa cheered as Harry and Sirius walked through the hidden passage.

"Whoa!" Harry swiveled his head from one end of the platform to the other. "It's a lot bigger than I expected."

Sirius nodded at that. "Every student heading to Hogwarts has to arrive through the Express."

"Even the firsties from Hogsmeade come so they can make friends easier." Melissa added.

"I guess that's what I'll be doing." Harry resigned. While Sirius stood back and chatted with Melissa's parents, Harry looked at Melissa in a way that was almost hopeful. "I guess I can't change your mind about sitting with us?"

"Nope!" She chirped with a shark-like grin.

Harry's lips curved downward as he began to eye the various families around the train, often meeting the eyes of kids and parents gawking at their group. "I suppose with Neville and Ron I might not have anyone else there to ask about Voldemort or the Dursleys."

"Perhaps." Melissa dismissed. Then again, the odds of him even sitting with Ron seemed doubtful with how late they were in the books. "Come on, then. Let's get our trunks on the train."

The two families got on the train, helping their kids secure their luggage and owls, as well as compartments to sit in. After a short time Neville and his Grandmother arrived. Melissa tried to ignore the stink eye being leveled at her by the Longbottom matriarch, and managed to survive the meeting without any confrontation. When the train became mostly full, the kids retreated into the Express to settle in their seats. Melissa knocked twice on her compartment door and opened it up. Her eyes swept through, expecting to see Amy, Jacqueline or any of the other girls she usually sits with. Instead she found it practically empty, save for her owl …and Domonkos.

"Uh, hello Melissa." The boy seemed curled in at the shoulders, as if willing himself to keep eye contact with her.

"…Hi." She paused at the doorway. They stood in awkward silence. Those four words have been their first exchange since June. "So… how was Hungary?"

"It.. was good." He gave a stiff nod at the final word. "It was nice to see my relatives."

"Mm."

"…and you?"

"It was… busy."

Domonkos gave a slight wince at that. "I can imagine."

They both looked away. This conversation was getting more awkward by the moment.

"I got one of my songs recorded for an album." Her voice strained itself in a way that it almost sounded like a question. "The one Graves got invited to join."

Surprisingly, Domonkos brightened at that. "I remember him speaking of a band. At your father's studio, yes?"

"Right." She smiled a bit. She looked down at the empty benches, at once feeling sheepish. "...Do you want to sit down?"

On hearing the question, Domonkos' shoulders finally relaxed. A small and hopeful smile of his own met with hers. "I would like that very much."

As the train ride wore on, their little compartment slowly rose in volume. While the train was still stationary, Melissa and Domonkos spoke quietly to each other, as if anything too loud would break whatever peace was forging between them. Then, near the departure time, Adrian and Amy found their way into the compartment. At first they had looked between the two occupants, Amy's eyes analyzing them as they sat. Then, as if by a light switch, she brightened and walked inside as if nothing was amiss. With two more people sitting with them, the tension subsided as talk of summers and school gave the group an air of normalcy. Almost subconsciously, Melissa found herself starting to relax, finding peace in a regular train ride back to school.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

The compartment door opened promptly at the sudden knock, revealing the third year Slytherins to a young, bushy haired girl with no house colours showing on her robes. "Excuse me? Have any of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost it."

Adrian looked about the group as two of the others shrugged. "No, can't say we have, sorry."

The young girl huffed in disappointment, and was just about to close the door when they all heard a sudden shout nearby. "BLOODY HELL, YOU'RE HARRY POTTER!"

Melissa failed to suppress a groan at the outburst. She spoke to the obvious firstie with stony irritation. "Let me guess, Harry's helping you find Neville's toad?"

The girl bit her lip, glancing quickly down where Harry must be standing, before looking back at her. "He is."

Melissa gave an irritated sigh as her chin rested on an open hand. "Figures he would. Just… try to keep an eye on him, will you? I don't need some seventh year trying anything with him."

The girl blinked, half afraid of the prospect now that it entered her mind. "That would be against the rules. They wouldn't dare."

Melissa and the others gave a mix of sardonic or pitying expressions towards the girl. "They wouldn't when there are professors as witnesses, and there aren't any professors on the train."

The girl took that explanation nervously, but nodded in understanding and some level of resolve. "Very well. I'll do that, then. Thank you." With that, the door slid closed and left the third years in a moment of awkward silence.

Domonkos looked at her with an almost guilty expression. "Should you have gone after them? Make sure he is good?"

"And make it look like she's babysitting him?" Adrian responded. "That would only make things worse, especially for Melissa."

"The upper years will eat me alive." She added. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask. Any idea how bad it will be?"

They all looked at each other, unsure of the answer. Amy was the only one to respond to that question. "It's hard to know for sure, but…"

"But?"

She looked almost guilty as she thought about it. "It's just, no one else has come to visit since the train left. I've seen some faces look in, but that's it."

Melissa deflated with a twinge of worry. That wasn't really normal for them at all. "Hopefully things will blow over in a couple weeks."

The others agreed to that statement with as much semi-hopefulness as the witch could conjure.

While sitting at her place in the great hall, Melissa couldn't help but notice the various stares and glares from the Slytherin table and beyond. She especially couldn't ignore Jacinth making a snide remark about 'the lack of honesty from so-called friends' and Warrinton making a less friendly comment in response about the trustworthiness of 'real' witches. Melissa did her best to ignore them, though. Rusalka was giving her the cold shoulder, too, but the silence was easier to handle. Garrick was also guarded around her, but secreted a respectful nod so she knew they were still on good terms. Most of the others were quiet for safety reasons, but Domonkos and Amy spoke with her enough to keep her mind away from the stares and whispers.

The stares and whispers ended almost immediately once the first years entered the great hall. People craned their necks to get a look at the new students, or perhaps just for Harry, she couldn't say. The ritual of the sorting began as usual. By the sixth name every house had a new student of their own, with Millicent Bulstrode joining Slytherin, Lavender Brown in Gryffindor, Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones in Hufflepuff, and Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst in Ravenclaw. Melissa watched carefully as each name passed under the hat. She was pretty good with remembering faces, and knowing people in Harry's year was bound to be an asset; especially since, with Harry's usual single-mindedness, Melissa honestly knew practically nothing about most of Harry's year.

Seriously, did the books even mention any of these Ravenclaws? Melissa thought to herself. Oh, wait, there's Padma Patil.

Padma Patil became the ninth student to enter Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff and Slytherin each had eight of the tiny group of first years. Gryffindor had only four by that point, but the numbers bumped up once Parvati Patil and Sally-Anne Perks joined them in succession.

Now for them to have three lions in a row. She thought again as Harry's name was called up to the hat. The rest of the hall was deathly still in that moment. Everyone watched eagerly as Harry walked forward and sat on the stool. It won't be long to wait. Melissa considered. She's watched that boy grow up, albeit mostly from a distance, and knows that the hat won't fight hard for Slytherin this time around. True, Harry won't likely fight against the idea either, but most of the boy's cunning and ambition came from escaping the Dursleys. With them out of the picture, he has enough comfort and safety to remove the temptation of that whole "lead you to greatness" or whatever it is that the hat said to him.

With that in mind, let it be… GRYFFINDOR!

The hat remained silent.

Okay, that's weird. That being said, Melissa didn't chalk it up too much. Maybe it's factoring in his parselmouth abilities? A minute passed. Then another. Then another. Seriously, kid, what could you be debating over?

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"What?" Melissa squeaked under her breath.

Jacqueline, Amy, and Garrick flashed her a quick glance, but immediately they and the rest of the hall reeled in at the end result. Then, like a supernova, the implosion of shock exploded into cheers by Hufflepuff as his tie changed to yellow and black. Students stood up and screamed or whooped in delight, beckoning the boy over to the table. Melissa watched as he was greeted by a prefect, then offered a spot between Justin Finch-Fletchley and Wayne Hopkins.

Beyond the Hufflepuff table, the Gryffindors groaned loudly at losing a shot of the famous Boy-Who-Lived. The Ravenclaws were only mildly dejected at the result. The Slytherins, well, Melissa couldn't be bothered to look around to see everyone's reactions. She just kept staring straight through the crowd to where Harry was sitting, utterly baffled by what had just occurred.

The sorting continued on, though it was getting harder for Melissa to maintain her focus. She gave a stronger applause when Matilda Runcorn and Blaise Zabini were sorted into Slytherin, but the other six students passed almost in a blur. In fact, even the welcoming feast went by without much thought. Melissa did end up glancing through the staff table, though, and was only mildly surprised to find Snape sitting next to a man in a purple turban.

Quirrell. Or should she say Quirrelmort.

Great…

It would have been a great set up to a joke about chasing out another defence teacher, but a great set up certainly didn't match for great timing with the current Slytherin climate. That considered, Melissa mostly kept her mouth shut during the feast. If a wise Slytherin is good at anything, it's knowing when to keep their mouth shut.

"Alright, spill it!" Rusalka spun on her heels the moment the door closed on their dormitory. "How come you never told any of us you know Harry Potter and why -on Merlin's beard- didn't you groom him into being a Slytherin?"

Melissa stood straight at the abrasive questions. The other girls wandered in slowly so that they all formed a loose circle to hear the answer. The first one the others know the answer to (because they had the smarts and decency to send letters over the summer), but the second was possibly a question on all of their minds.

"I already said it at the trial, Ignatov. Whoever knew where Harry was living obliviated him the first time we tried to rescue him. I couldn't tell anyone without the risk of Harry getting into trouble."

"You could have told us, at least."

"And risk the rest of Slytherin finding out?" She bit back. "Merlin, even if just the boys in our year found out it would be bad news."

"Oh please, we know how to be discreet."

"Oh really?" She responded sarcastically. "You mean to tell me that you could keep a secret like that from Wystan?"

"I could." Rusalka answered, although her eyes shone more to fight than to be truthful. "Even if I did, who cares?"

"Uh, I don't know, his Death Eater parents?"

"Allegedly." Jacqueline muttered in almost a singsong voice.

"Whatever. His alleged death eater parents would pounce on that information in a second!"

Rusalka crossed her arms and gave a small huff. "Puh, you know there's no proof of that."

"Right… and his aunt Ruby killed wearing a Death Eater mask was just a prank gone wrong-."

"Alright, that's enough!" Jacqueline stepped between the two of them. "We understand you were just trying to protect a friend, even though we all feel hurt that you kept that information from us." That last point was made while Jacqueline made fierce eye contact on Rusalka. A brief staring contest occurred, resulting in the redhead stepping down with a quick 'agreed' at her lips. "Now, as for the second question-" she stepped back to reform the circle, "-you did seem awfully surprised by his sorting. What happened?"

Melissa looked down pensively. Truthfully, while she had some guesses on the matter, it didn't seem worth the fight to point out what she had expected to happen at Harry's sorting. "I'm not sure. My family taught him how to be cunning to avoid the wrath of his relatives, I even had him keep a hidden journal so that we could use it against them in court. That said, Harry never had much ambition beyond leaving his relatives. I suppose with that matter settled it allowed for his other qualities to shine through."

"Qualities as a duffer?" The redhead asked.

"It's not a bad thing." Amy considered aloud. She looked at Rusalka with a glint in her eyes. "Think about it. The Boy-Who-Lived in a house known for loyalty has a mentor, a sister-figure, in Slytherin." She stopped with her assessment to allow the other girls to get the implication.

"Hmm… not bad. It could be of use to us." Rusalka considered in a way that was almost to herself more than as part of the conversation. She then met Melissa's eyes with a brief, considering nod. "Alright. I'll keep that in mind. Try to keep yourself in his good graces."

"Without question." Melissa answered in spite of her own feelings. Honestly, the girl couldn't help but feel mildly disturbed at the potential consequences of this train of thought. Regardless, that answer seemed to pacify Rusalka, who broke the circle and went to claim her bed for the night. Jacqueline did the same, but Melissa paused for a moment to meet Amy's eyes. Surprisingly, the brown haired girl met her gaze with a cheeky smile and a wink before she, too, went to her bed for the night.

Melissa went and laid down in her own bed once she finished getting dressed for the night. As she waited for sleep, thoughts and memories of the day wafted through her mind. With so many changes happening in hers and Harry's life, it was hard to see just what the future holds.