It's the 7th anniversary of when I started writing this story! In that time I've written 581137 words, 1485 pages, and 183 chapters! Somehow that's both amazing and bittersweet (considering my writing has taken a hit these last 6 months.)

I know it's not the biggest story out there, by any stretch, but I'm grateful for the ~300 of you that have stuck around for the journey :) Here's to another year!

Monday December 5th, 1994

Life over the past week was awkward amongst the sixth years. Word had spread about the fight during Divination class. Points were lost, several people got detention, not to mention the stares everyone was giving Jacinth, Ru, and Fleur. The harshest of stares, though, were equally distributed between Jacinth and Fleur. For the former, the reasons were obvious. However, there were many people (a.k.a jealous teenage girls) who blamed Fleur for what happened, as though her very existence was a problem. It was only the sixth year girls that took exception to this, resulting in shouting matches in the girl's defence. Fleur's reaction to all of this was mainly confusion. After all, it wasn't every day that fellow girls took her side in something like this, and the resulting ingratiation into Hogwarts-based friendships further confused her (though her smiles suggested that the confused state wasn't unwelcomed).

The Ignatov-Wystan breakup wasn't the last of romance drama, however, as was soon to come when Professor Snape called for a house meeting on Monday morning.

"On the twenty-first of December," he said slowly, "there is to be a Yule Ball held in celebration for the Triwizard Tournament."

Chatter began immediately at the news. Excitement spiked amongst the students, climbing until a loud call of, "SILENCE!" quieted them with a threatening chill.

"As I was saying… This Ball is an optional event for those in fourth year and above. Those of you in third year and below may only attend if an older student accompanies them as a date." The word date might as well have been 'prune' for how disgusted he appeared at having said the word. "Younger students are otherwise banned from the event. Any attempts to sneak into the Ball will be met by a week's worth of detentions.

"With the day of the Ball taking place on Yule, there will be two trains leaving for London this holiday. The first will be on the 19th for those not attending the Ball, and the second will be on the 22nd, for those that wish to spend the remainder of their holidays with family. I will leave sign-up sheets for both dates, and you'd best believe that these lists will be checked over."

A pause fell as the man took a deep breath. "The Ball will open with a waltz. Those that wish to participate will take lessons on Sundays by your fellow peers trained in the art of dance."

Trained in the art of dance? Melissa's head tilted. Who, how, and when- and I just heard Snape say "the art of dance" with my own ears. That's mind-boggling!

"I suggest you find dance partners before this Sunday. Do not embarrass our House before the international community."

Snape left shortly after his announcement, giving the children free reign to let their excitement boom. Everyone started conversations about the Ball, with a gaggle of third years seeking out older students, hoping to snag a ticket to the Ball.

Melissa felt a hand clasp her wrist. At her side, Rusalka whispered, "Is Operation Bombshell still happening?"

She gave the girl a slow smirk, "Hell yeah, it is!" She gestured for the door. "Let's find Fleur. We'll plan things over breakfast."

How any teacher thought people would pay attention today was a mystery to Melissa. All throughout Charms people were whispering and giggling; and from what she'd been told, it was much the same during Herbology, with the addition that Adrian had apparently beelined to Juliet McCormack with an enchanted flower (plucked from the greenhouse) to ask her to the Ball. His romantic gesture had stirred the ladies (and intimidated the boys), and now everyone was expecting big romantic gestures before going to the Ball.

Melissa could only shake her head as people bolted to find dates or to plan their promposals, as it were. She, herself, simply went for lunch. It was cute seeing the kids scramble for dates, but she had no rush or need for anything like that.

Although… she spied a nervous-looking Harry sitting at a table, I should really do that boy a favour.

She took a spot across from him at the Hufflepuff table. Her action snapped his head up at once, Master of Death and Reincarnate meeting eye-to-eye for the first time in weeks. There was an obvious power-imbalance between the two, energy wise, yet Melissa's unusual smile seemed to shift the balance as he squirmed with unease.

"What's happened?" Harry asked slowly.

"Nothing. Yet." Her eerie smile grew larger. "But with the lack of rumours surrounding you, I believe it's time I stage a Magdalene on your behalf."

From Harry's side, Justin gave her an odd look, "I think you mean 'stage an intervention'."

"Mm, yes and no," she said with a dismissive flick of her hand. Her focus returned to Harry, who was now looking truly nervous.

"Alright, let's hear it."

"When it comes to the Yule Ball, you should only go with someone you're romantically interested in, as a date, or go with a friend and tell them outright that you're going together as friends."

His head tilted. "I think I already have that covered. I've already said no to one girl I don't know."

"Yes, but I don't want you asking an acquaintance, only to make her sit around bored at the Ball because you're too busy moping over not having a real date."

"What?!" He suddenly looked alarmed. "But what about Cho?!"

Her mind fell into an awkward pause. "...Are you two still dating? Everyone says that you two haven't been around each other since Hogsmeade."

"Well-," he cut himself off briefly. "I've been pretty busy. I'm still working on the egg and-" His eyes went wide again. "Is that bad?!"

Silence fell. So did Melissa's face. She took a deep breath and muttered, "Jesus, Harry, you're so bad at this," as she rubbed her face. By the time she looked back up at the boy, he was shrinking into his seat. "Kid, you have 36 hours to ask her out with a gift of sweets or flowers. If you wait any longer than that she'll definitely think that you're not interested in her anymore." He gave a slow, frightful nod, hopefully taking her words to heart.

Good. Seriously, this kid, genuinely useless at dating and romance! She rose out of her seat. "Ball's in your court, kid. Don't mess it up. If you do, well… at least stick to the Magdalene."

"Um, who else would I have-?"

"Nope! Don't ask. Don't think about it because you're not allowed to let it happen. Got it?"

"...Got it."

"Good."

She left the hopeless-at-romantics behind, heading over to the Slytherin section for her food. She slid into a seat between friends, verbalising a prayer of, "Please tell me this table can provide some sanity when it comes to dating world gossip."

Some people chuckled, and Domonkos asked, "What happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." She poured herself a drink and went for a swig.

"Well, if you want gossip," Amy obliged, "Kenneth just asked Jacqueline to the Ball."

She nearly choked on her drink. She lowered her cup, a small cough clearing the surprise, and she looked over at Jacqueline with wide, questioning eyes. "Oh?"

Jacqueline was entirely poised as she added, "I said yes, of course. We've grown quite close this term."

What… the fuck?

"Oh. Nice. Congratulations," she answered with a fixed smile. "So, that's three of you done- I assume you don't really need to ask Eloise, right?" The question was directed at Domonkos.

"No, but I should check what colour dress robes she's wearing to the Ball."

"Oh, right, dress robes," Adrian blinked. "So that's why they asked us to bring one this year."

"Mhmm!"

Amy reacted to Melissa's hum with an amused headshake, "Which, of course, you already knew about, right?"

She gave the girl an impish grin before answering, "I may or may not have bought a set of dress robes with a winter motif to match the theme."

"Ha! At this point, Mel, I'm not even surprised."

Tuesday December 6th, 1994

"Woo! Alright, great practice everyone!" The group of muggleborns (and smattering of half-bloods) gave each other applause at Melissa's praise. "Now remember, third years, see if you can find fourth years to pair up with, and make sure you all keep your reasons a secret!"

Everyone gave nods, and the group disbanded to chat happily amongst themselves as they made plans or headed for the door.

"This is going to be brilliant, Mel," Corin laughed as he met up with her. "Can you imagine the look on everyone's faces?"

"Not gonna lie, I'm half-tempted to give Dumbledore a private lesson so that he can join us."

"HA!" he laughed loudly. "Oh my god! I can't- No, but that would be brilliant."

"It really would. So who are you going to pair up with?"

"Me? Oh, no one." He scratched the back of his neck. "I actually asked Bea to the Ball after Potions."

"You did?! I totally missed that!" Another thought occurred to her. "Oh, Strickland and Sykes are going to be pissed when they find out."

Corin shot her a grin. "I think Terry will just be happy that she's not going with Sykes. That bloke is a complete prick."

"No kidding. When did those two even break up, anyways?"

There was a confused, yet amused, look on his face. "About twenty minutes after Sykes insulted you at that party for being muggleborn."

"Really?" She considered that night in her mind. "Technically he was just stating facts, though."

Corin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, in the douchiest way possible. Bea confronted him about it and they broke up once she realized that he's a full-blown blood supremacist."

Wow! "Okay, how did I not hear about this? Isn't the gossip mill in Hogwarts, like, the fastest thing on the planet?"

"I'm pretty sure we all had better things to talk about," he said teasingly. "Plus, the fight was quiet, or so she told me, but we talked about it afterwards."

"And you swooped in, knowing that their break-up wasn't big news, before anyone else knew about it," she nodded in understanding.

"Or," Corin countered, "Bea is her own person and she said yes to the bloke she's interested in."

"Ah. Touché." She gathered the rest of her things, and the two of them made for the door.

"What about you?" Corin asked. "I take it you're going with that Durmstrang guy, right?"

"Uhh, probably?" she answered as she held the door open for him. "I haven't really thought about it, to be honest, but-"

*BA-DAM DA-DAM!*

A trumpet of brass made her jump as she stepped into the hallway. Their section of the hall was littered with flowers, and exiting muggleborns had made way for a quartet of students with instruments in hand. The blast quieted into music from the quartet, with Lev at their head playing a guitar as he walked towards her.

Melissa froze. She flashed a quick look around, catching Corin with a smug and laughing grin as the spectacle unfolded. You, shut your face up! Her eyes turned back to Lev as he walked forward. Once he was a metre away, he got down on one knee and, with a flourish, presented her with a bouquet of flowers that had been attached to his guitar.

"My dear enchantress," he said with dramatic and careful pronunciation, "will you come wit-th me to the Ball?"

Holy shit, dude! Did I miss something between us?!

And yet, her silly inner-romantic was floored by the gesture. "Wow. I- Yes. Absolutely!"

His smile widened. He stood mid-way, allowing her to take the flowers in her hand, before moving his guitar aside and embracing her with a big hug. Those in attendance started to applaud the promposal, with two people even whistling at the outcome. Melissa gave a confused laugh over it all. "I would have said yes even without all of this," she said in his ear.

"I know," Lev said simply, "but I vanted to do somezing you vood like."

Curse her inner-romantic, but he was right! Lev was really sweet to have done all of this.

"Flatterer," she teased. They let go, and she gave him a cheeky curtsey, "I'd be delighted to come with you to the Ball, Lev."

He gave a laugh and confidently proclaimed, "Good, because I vood go vit no von else."

She wasn't going to lie, a part of her melted on hearing those words.

Saturday December 10th, 1994

Work continued on her Independent Study Project. Today her research into workable materials continued with a focus on gemstones. Dozens of test subjects lay before her, made up of sixteen types of stones, each in variations of state, for them to work with.

"I'm rather surprised," Snape said, though his voice gave little emotion to the words as he eyed each piece, "I had thought Wystan would decline his services after yesterday's… incident."

Incident. What a lovely way to describe hexing a jackass in the face. "In my defence, that's what he gets for not accepting No for an answer." Honestly, why did that idiot think Ru would take him back, just like that? She clicked her tongue, "And, anyways, these aren't from him. My family managed to find what I needed, and then I did the rest. Powdering a ruby is a bitch, by the way."

"Do cease your complaining, Bennett. Preparing the ingredients with your own magic is a requirement for well-made potions."

"Hey, I did the work, didn't I?" she said with a grouse. "So what now? We call in Harry to test them all?"

"I will look into that at another time, when you are not present to cause a distraction," he stated. "For now, you need to work on the arithmancy behind each potential variable, as you had with the herbology variables."

"You had me do that after Harry tested them, though."

Snape took a breath, then spoke more as if giving a lecture than his usual beratement, "Herbology results are far more fickle than you could manage to calculate in the time given. Seasons, moon phases, soil, each holds minute fluctuations that can affect the results of our experiments. So, instead, I had Potter experiment with them in a basic scope, and weeded out any options that showed no obvious reactions."

Heh! "Weeded out. Pun intended?"

His expression darkened. "No."

Geez, this man's a stick in the mud. She clicked her tongue. "So, unlike plant-life, rocks and minerals don't have as many problematic variations. Therefore I can weed out bad options early?"

"No. You are to do these calculations so that when Potter finishes his tests, we can compare his results to various measurements and work to find correlations between them."

"Oh!" Her mind focused, and then began to race. "And if we can find correlations it can also help us figure out workable metals. Then, depending on which variables have correlations, we can look into other things; like see if specific cadences of song magic will harmonise with certain crystalline structures! That's brilliant, Professor!"

Snape reacted to the ramble with a strange level of… amusement? "Precisely, Miss Bennett." He gestured over the collection. "Work through your calculations. If you miss anything of note, I will have you go through the entire study over again. Is that clear?"

"Crystal!" she said happily. She was only dismayed that he seemed to ignore not one, but both of her intended puns! How cruel!

She worked on her calculations all morning. It was a tricky but overall fun activity. Her enjoyment of the activity was short-lived, however, as the afternoon was filled with bouts of nausea.

Picking herself off the floor (again), she woozily went over to her parchment. "Let's call that a… seven point five out of ten, at…" she looked at her watch, "2:47pm."

From her own vanity, Jacqueline looked on, horrified. "Are you sure this is safe? Whatever it is the Twins are making you test out is clearly hurting you!"

"It's fiiine, it's fine," Melissa dismissed. "'Sides," she slurred, "if I don't test this, they'll get the first years involved. Better me than them."

"Better no one than this!" Jacqueline huffed. "I'm a Prefect. I can report them to Professor Snape and he'll put a stop to this at once!"

Good luck with that. Snape and Houdini are the ones doing this to me in the first place, she thought with weak amusement. "Hey, hey, don't go tattling on me! This is my choice to do. Trust me, Jackie."

"...The fact that you're calling me 'Jackie' says enough about your ill health as it is."

"Let's talk about more fun things," Melissa said in a daze. "You and Ken, what's up with that?"

Jacqueline gave an annoyed sigh, "Must we talk about this?"

"Hey, no one else is here to listen in. So come on, spill, what happened 'tween you and Luce?"

"Nothing happened," she said, "but she and I can hardly go to the Ball together, can we?"

"Huh. I suppose not-ugh!" Another bout of nausea hit her. It lasted for a few seconds, and the feeling dissipated not long after. Once it was gone, she glanced at her watch and made another note. Not as bad as the fifth one, but worse than the twelfth. So let's call it Two Point Two out of Ten, at 2:50pm.

"So what's your plan, then?" Melissa asked, then added with a light tease, "Gonna string Kenny along thinking you're a real date?"

"It's not like that," she promised. "He… feels insecure about trying to ask someone out, so we're going as friends."

Melissa narrowed her eyes, "That's not what you said the other day."

"Does it matter?" Jacqueline snapped harshly. "I'm going with Kenneth and Lucy is going with Jason. We all agreed to it, and I'm tired of this needless interrogation!"

"Whoa!" Her hands went up in surrender. "Whoa- sorry, geez, okay, I'll stop asking. Bloody hell."

She backed up onto her bed, wondering what crawled up Jacqueline's ass all of a sudden. Not as if I'm the one who's been helping her, eh? Honestly, so ungrateful-

Before she knew it, her brain twitched her body into sleep. Dreams of her life, her old life, flitted around her. Family, friends, places, memories. Their images seemed to fly by her, yet her dream-self simply accepted the changes as fact as she moved further and further down her life.

The next time she woke, it was to Jacqueline screaming her name, and an ice & lightning pain searing through her body.

"Melissa?! Oh, thank Merlin! Are you alright? Say something!"

In a move of pure determination, Melissa lifted a single forearm into the air to silence the other girl. Then, with the last of her strength, she spoke her thoughts aloud, "Eight point seven!"

"Apophyllite, in its solid form," Snape pronounced upon reading through her entries. "You also had a strong reaction to its powdered form, though not quite as harshly."

Melissa cringed into her seat. Though it was a better reaction than the level of guilt Harry was going through.

"I'm really sorry, Melody-"

"Hey, don't beat yourself up, Houdini. I asked for this, didn't I?"

Thank fuck Snape made Jacqueline leave, Melissa thought with a cringe. Her mind drifted to thirty minutes earlier, when Jacqueline had dragged Melissa into Snape's office, only to catch him and Harry going over the stones with the Elder Wand. Mercifully, Jacqueline hadn't asked any questions. She did give Harry a suspicious look, but once she explained the situation to Professor Snape, she accepted his assurances to look after Melissa and had promptly left.

Of course, what Jacqueline didn't know is that the three continued with the experiment after she had left. It was fortunate for Melissa to discover that a change in location did not mess with the results of the previous tests (if what Snape's double-blind claims were to be believed).

"So, this stone," Harry began, "apophyllite, will it be useful for the amulet?"

"No," Snape said simply. "According to these notes, the Elder Wand merely amplified the stone's magic to resurface memories of her past life."

WHAT?! Don't tell him that, you arse! He doesn't know-!

"Oh. Okay then," said Harry.

WHAT?! Her head whipped between Harry and Snape, her face full of shock and audacity. Did this motherfucker tell Harry everything?! What the fuck, dude?!

Her voice strangled as questions and outrage tangled in her throat. She could only stare at them, fully bewildered, as Snape continued to go through the notes as if nothing was amiss.

"The red and rutilated quartzes are worthless, as is carnelian," he announced. "That's three more to the junk pile."

I'm so confused, but I have to bottle it up for now. Damn, and I really had high hopes for the carnelian. "What else went there?" she asked.

"The celestine, fluorite, and lapis lazuli samples shattered almost immediately," he answered.

Shattered?!

"Opal, labradorite and unakite worked briefly before they, too, broke under pressure. Then there's the tiger iron, which partially degraded despite offering you some protection. Though, considering its makeup, I can see why. A similar thing happened to the apophyllite, but that, too, seems reasonable considering the circumstances."

Melissa gave a slow nod as she heard his explanations. She considered her chart of stones, trying to find correlations between which ones failed and which passed. "Uh… well, everything with a positive optic sign failed," whatever that means, "also everything that's low on the hardness scale broke, …except," she furrowed her brow, "did you mention jet or hematite?"

"No, those two ranked amongst the highest with your tolerance levels."

"But that's-" she looked over the results again. "If things were shattering because of their hardness level, then the jet should have been the easiest to break. Even hematite- it's got a similar hardness to labradorite, so it should have broken, too, right?"

Harry considered her words, then said, "Maybe they didn't break because they're black?"

The other two looked at him flatly.

"I mean," he sputtered, "none of the black stones broke, and the resurrection stone is black, too, so it could fit, right?"

"By that logic, the tiger iron would have also been fine because it's got hematite in it," Melissa argued. "Hell, even the quartzes have hematite and black tourmaline in their mix."

"Mister Potter may have a point," Snape said, to everyone's shock. "It was the hematite bands of the tiger iron that remained intact. As for the quartzes, they did not crack. They did, however, only provide weak protections against the Hallows. Their compositions saved them, but clearly higher concentrations of hematite and black tourmaline are needed for your experiments."

Colour? Is that seriously the hypothesis this research is going for? "And, what, should I go look for black rubies and emeralds, while I'm at it?"

"Along with black variations of fluorite and opal, if you can find them."

"Do I look like I'm made of money?!"

Harry looked bashfully between them. "Erm, I could buy them for you, if that'd help?"

She didn't answer straight away, mainly in a struggle to accept the growing hypothesis. "Well… if you're volunteering, I suppose." Lord knows he's got the money for it.

"Ensure they are not synesthetic," Snape cautioned. "The synthetic gemstones provided no protection."

"Yes, sir."

"Alright then," Melissa said with a sigh, "Guess that's our next step for testing. I'll go over the results and calculations; then, Harry, I'll give you the specs of what kinds of gems to buy. Best that we be careful with tones and clarity since that's apparently a factor we have to consider."

"Alright," Harry nodded. Then, pensive, he asked, "What about the stones we already have?"

"They've already been tainted by the experiment. Well, the ones that broke, at least."

"They all are," Snape noted. "However there may be a benefit to studying longitudinal exposure to the Hallows.

Ugh, that sounds painful. "Yeah, I suppose so. Just for the top five stones that made it, though. As for the rest…" She picked up a few stones and studied them. There wasn't any overt sense of death within them that she could find. So, technically, they can be useful. "I'm gonna make myself some jewellery for the Ball. Hey, Harry, do you know what colour Cho's wearing?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, find out for me. You can give her something nice for the Ball."

His eyes went wide. "That's brilliant! Thanks, Melody!"

"Don't mention it, Houdini. Gotta surprise a lady once in a while to impress her."

Snape rolled his eyes. "Spare me your insipid chatter. Go, if we're done here."

"Yes, Professor!" they shouted in unison, then gathered the gemstones and rushed out to enjoy the rest of their day.