Wednesday July 22nd, 1992

In the middle of a training field, two adolescents were sprawled against the dirt. Their bodies panting and aching under the strain of wooden tubs of water pinning their legs to the ground. In front of them, a middle-aged man watched their struggles without expression. "The five minute mark has passed. Only one remains before I cast aguamenti again."

Making it even more impossible to get rid of them. Both children thought in despair. Still, they had to try, else face their tutor's threat. Melissa didn't bother trying to sit up off the dirt. Instead, she simply focused her energy on her magic. She stared at the tub in annoyance, her intent solidifying towards the wand bobbing innocently on the waterline out of sight. She lifted her arm up, forcing the magic through her hand.

"ACCIO WAND!"

From the rim, she could see the wand had jumped at the command, but fell back to its spot in a messy splash. "Oh, come on!" She groaned. Bad enough that the wandless spell only worked one in ten times, but to only get a jump when it did work annoyed her greatly. "Accio wand! Accio wand!"

Beside Melissa, Harry was having his own frustrations with the levitation spell. With a wand, Harry can only lift objects that are about two to three stone, and only with objects he can see. Without a wand, and with something this heavy, it felt impossible to focus on levitating out his own wand.

"Five. Four. Three. Two-"

"ACCIO BATH PLUG!"

"One." The tutor finished. However, the man did not raise his wand. Instead, he walked over to them, observing a now growing pool of water pouring out from Melissa's tub. "A change of target, Miss Bennett?"

"Yes." She gave a breathy reply. "It's too heavy. Figured it's better to take out part of the obstacle so I can focus more on the main target."

To her surprise, the man gave a proud smile. "A clever move. However, I think you'll find that your attempt backfired somewhat." He gestured to the water now seeping into her clothes. "Further, if a situation gives you only one chance at a wandless spell, you must pick the right target to best turn the tide in battle."

The girl deflated upon hearing the comment. "Yes, sir."

"Come now, let us try this again. Evanesco. " The water vanished from the tubs, much to their relief. Then he put the plug back in and cast a minor aguamenti to increase the weight, to their despair. "You have five minutes to retrieve your wands and remove the tub with your assigned spell, starting now."

They got to work quickly on the tubs. Desperate to remove them before the first round's aguamenti could be cast. Utterances of wingardium leviosa and accio wand repeated like desperate prayers.

Three quarters into the fourth minute, Harry felt a shift in the tub. He could feel his arm strain as the tub itself hovered by a handwidth over his legs. "I did it!" He shouted.

Then it fell on him again.

He yelped in pain. Unfortunately for him, there was no sympathy from Mister Salvatore, and the aguamenti was cast before he could catch his bearings. In a desperate thought, Harry mourned over the futility of the exercise. How can he levitate his wand without seeing it? The one time the spell worked didn't even hit the target, just the tub. Get the right target, he thought in a mocking rendition of the tutor's statement, you can't turn the tide if you pick the wrong one. Sure.

Wait a second! One chance to turn the tide, that's it! In a moment of inspiration, he lowered his aim to the bottom of the tub and cast the charm. "Wingardium leviosa!"

To his relief, the tub lifted! Though he kept his celebration to himself. Instead, he focused on the tub, forcing it away until it no longer hovered over his legs. Once it moved far enough away, he allowed the tub to tip, bringing down a cascade of water, and his wand with it. In a swift movement he allowed the tub to drop and made a dash for his wand before promptly falling back on the dirt in relief.

"Well done, Mister Potter!" The teacher congratulated him. He walked over to Harry, offering the boy a wide smile. "I see you took my suggestion."

"Wait? You said that on purpose?" Harry blinked at the man.

"Of course." The man responded. "What sort of educator would I be if I made a remark without meaning?"

From two metres away, Melissa's voice piped up. "Um, don't suppose you gents could fill me in, eh?"

Mister Salvatore turned to face the witch. Clearly she hadn't noticed the event, too focused on her own obstacle to pay attention to her surroundings. "I'm afraid not, Miss Bennett. Any further explanation would be coddling. Three minutes remain."

"Arg!" The girl raged. Fortunately she directed her frustrations against the tub of water on her legs. Unfortunately for her, it only caused the wand to bash against the side with a wet smack.

After a quarter hour of failed attempts to get her wand, Mister Salvatore called for a break. Melissa rolled away from the spot and massaged at her legs, hoping to return some semblance of feeling into them. Harry, too, enjoyed the break. He had spent the past few rounds working on progressively heavier tubs using whatever mysterious sage wisdom Salvatore had imparted on him, and had already achieved two levels of success.

"Don't suppose you can give me a hint?" Melissa asked.

Harry, on catching Salvatore's knowing headshake, could only shake his own head in return. "No. Though he already gave you the hint. It's how I figured it out."

"When did he… oh, nevermind." The girl groaned. "I'd rather not think about it. Let's talk about something else. ...What're you doing for your birthday this year?"

Harry tilted his head at the question. "What do you mean? I already sent you the invitation."

"No you didn't." She answered.

"Melly, I sent the invitations out on Sunday. You definitely would have gotten yours by now, if not first."

Tired as Melissa felt, her mind processed the information. Both for its strangeness, and its familiarity. "Has anybody RSVPed yet?"

"Not yet." Harry answered dejectedly. "Even Magdalene seemed annoyed with the whole thing when she got back."

"Huh." She paused for a moment. Her eyes grew distant as a part of her retreated into her own mind. It's an activity she hasn't been enjoying, of late. Her mind is still a mess. A collection of spheres and wisps of memory, broken doors and unguarded layers. Still, she tried to comb through her mind with intention. Eventually she came across something. Inside of one sphere came an image of Harry arguing with a house elf, a collection of letters in his hand.

Oh.

She blinked herself into consciousness. The sound of her nickname prompted a response. "What?"

"You were gone for a while. Are you alright?"

"Wha- oh, yeah. Just thinking…" She shook the sense of fogginess from her head. "I don't think Hedwig was able to send your letters."

"You mean Magdalene?"

"Yeah. That." Her head lulled slightly. Catching Harry's concerned expression, she tried to shrug it all off. "It's fine. It's fine. Um… if you want, I can get Hootini to resend them all? Long as they send their RSVPs to me it should be fine."

"Okay? …But why isn't anyone getting my letters?"

"It's 'cause of Dobby."

"Dobby?"

"Dobby hoped if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him, Harry Potter might not want to go back to school, sir." Her voice croaked. Harry flinched at the strange manner of speech, making Melissa realize what had just happened. She quickly shook her head, trying to remove the memory from her immediate consciousness. "Sorry, weird flex. Um, yeah, he's a house elf that's worried you'll get attacked this year and is trying to convince you to stay home."

Harry accepted the explanation with disquiet. The knowledge mulling over in his head. "Seems strange that a house elf would be the one to try and help me. Did he belong to Quirrell?"

"No?" She blinked once, mostly sure of the answer. "No, that wouldn't make sense. He belongs to…" She let herself begin to drift back into her mind.

Harry, catching on, immediately stopped her. "It's okay! You don't need to worry about it. We already agreed that Caireen won't hurt me, anyways, remember?"

The journey down halted at his assurance. "Oh. Right." Shaking away the remnants of the fog, she forced herself up and cast a spell to dry off her clothes. "Well, good, that's one less thing to worry about. After all this, we can get the guest list ready and I'll send out the new invitations."

"Alright." Harry nodded. "Just- promise me you won't be too annoyed by the guestlist."

"Annoyed? Why would I be annoyed?"

In the drawing room of Grimmauld Place, Melissa watched in morbid fascination as Sirius Black offered a disturbingly polite welcome to Lucius Malfoy and his family, newly emerged from the floo. The Malfoy patriarch was everything she remembered of him from the previous summer. Cold, poised, with long pale hair contrasting against dark formal robes. His wife and son held similar bearings, though they were surprisingly warmer in their greetings. The image of the Perfect Pureblood dark family contrasted remarkably against the room's plethora of yellow balloons and streamers. Moreso against the excited shouts of children from other parts of the house.

"This is weird, right?" She mused aloud. She turned her attention to Corin, Fred, and George -the only soon-to-be fourth years at the party- with a conflicted expression. "I can't be the only one who thinks this is weird?"

"Weird, yet somehow mesmerizing." George replied. "Like a runespoor cuddling a kitten."

"Or Snape reading poetry." Fred responded. Both Weasleys gave an involuntary shudder at the thought.

"Is it really that weird, though?" Corin asked, turning to the others. "I mean, Malfoy and Harry are friends, aren't they?"

"They are, but it's more the bigger Malfoy here that weirds me out." Melissa replied. "I mean, imagine if Darth Vader had played Tea Party with Leia when she was a little girl?"

Corin turned back to observe the blond guests in a new light. "Okay, I see it. Doesn't help that Mister Black went overboard on the decorations."

Melissa scoffed at that remark. "If you think this is bad, you should have seen what he did at Christmas."

Ahead of their circle, Sirius and the Malfoys approached them. "Melissa, boys, would you mind showing Draco to the kids' party? I'll be in the parlour with my cousin and the rest of the adults."

"Sure thing, Sirius." Melissa chirped. A large part of her revelling in the clear disgust on Lucius' face. With a twirl of her emerald dress robes, she moved to Draco's side and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. No doubt enraging the adult purebloods further. "Come along, young Malfoy. The party awaits!"

As Harry sat at the gift table, the surrounding twelve year olds "Oohed" and "Awed" as he showed off his godfather's gift. A sleek black and silver broom that gleamed under the light.

"Is that a Nimbus 2001?" Megan gasped

"It can't be!" Ron insisted. "They're not going to be released until tomorrow!"

"You can always get new items early for the right price. Not that you would know anything about that." Draco drawled reflexively, though even his eyes gleamed with envy.

"Oy! You want to say that to my face, Malfoy!"

Lucky for everyone, Sirius chose that moment to step in. "Alright, alright, no need to get overexcited." He flashed his eyes over to Draco almost regrettably. "Young Malfoy is right, I did manage to talk the NRBC into letting me buy it early. They agreed that Harry's birthday was a reasonable request for letting me buy one ahead of time."

Knowing that the conversation should end, Harry smoothly joined into the fray. "Thanks, Uncle Sirius. I love it!" He got out of his seat and gave Sirius a hug. The broom was still in his hand, and the urge to go take it out flying was strong. That had to wait, though, as there were more gifts from his friends to be opened.

Melissa watched the unwrapping from the other side of the room. Tempting as it was to join in on the excitement, she found herself in conversation with Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy, of all surprises. So, while everyone else was pining over racing brooms, Melissa found herself slowly bonding with the older women over their experiences as witches in Slytherin.

"There's also a secret tunnel near dungeon #6, under a painting of a ship sailing through a storm." Andromeda mused to the younger girl. "It leads straight to the crystal caves where the first year students travel after the boats. Sometimes the moon enters through just right and makes the entire cave sparkle."

Narcissa offered her sister a shy, wondering smile. "I never knew of that entrance."

Andromeda's smile turned more mischievous. "In all fairness, Cissy, it wouldn't do to share my romantic rendezvous with one of my sisters, as I'm sure you would agree."

Melissa giggled slightly as Narcissa managed a light blush. Andromeda had already exposed that she knew one of Narcissa's shortcuts was, in fact, a rendezvous location. Revealing her own, it seemed, also had an impact on the more reserved sister. Narcissa, to her credit, was able to recover quickly and change the subject. The change directed entirely to Melissa.

"I imagine you have found a few hideaways yourself? Certainly you don't spend much time in Slytherin-proper?"

Andromeda flashed her sister a warning look. That said, Melissa took no offense to the question. "I have one or two that I use. Though I do stay in the common room when working with my classmates."

"And the other students," Narcissa continued, "are they comfortable with the arrangement?"

"As well as can be expected."

The pureblood sisters gave the girl considering looks. Though Andromeda's look held more concern than her sister's understanding gaze. "Melissa, if you're having trouble with the older students-"

"It's not so bad." She assured the woman with a smile. "Actually, I've been working on a couple of projects to pacify students since first year. I'm sure your children have told you about them? Valentine's Day? The Pledge?" Both women nodded, to her relief. "It's been working well. Better than I expected, really. I mean, just look at this party."

"How do you mean?" Narcissa inquired.

"Well, take a look at who's here." She swept her arm over to the children clamouring over yet another birthday gift. "There are members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, regular purebloods, half-bloods, muggleborns, muggles." a werewolf. "They're all here, together. Regardless of House affiliation or blood. None of that matters here because they enjoy each other's company and friendship, and they're all the stronger for it. When you think about it, they're practically an exhibition of society's potential."

Melissa's gaze swept over the faces of smiling children, her own smile serene at the sight. She then returned her attention to the older women. With no surprise, Andromeda smiled happily at the rambunctious group. Narcissa, on the other hand, looked ponderous towards the group. Flickers of various emotions reflected in her eyes. Then, surprisingly, a small smile played on her lips as Draco's laughter bounced across the room. Melissa's attention went briefly to the boy, engaged in what appeared to be an excitable debate with Oliver, Megan, Blaise, and Ron. To think, how different these children are now from the people they could have become. Her smile brightened at the thought of it. Ha! Suck it, Death Eater bastards!

She moved her attention away from them, only to have her eyes locked on someone else's gaze. Mere steps away from the group of witches, Arcturus Black had his focus on her. His portentous gaze forced her to be still, as her mind tried to decipher the expression on his face.

It felt like ages until he released her, yet hardly any true time passed at all. In a single moment his eyes flicked from hers with the sharpness of a knife, before striding past the group to Harry and Sirius' side. Melissa watched in confusion as the man went over to the gift table to present his own. The scene unfolded in a formal yet casual manner, by his standards, as if the previous minute didn't exist. She wasn't sure what to make of it. As such, she reluctantly returned to the conversation with Andromeda and Narcissa, not wholly understanding what just took place.