Notice to all potential artists: While I appreciate so many of you reaching out to me regarding a potential collaboration, I must decline any offers to make an official comic. As flattered as I am about the request, at this time I cannot afford to pay for any fan art for my stories. Besides...I'm sure many of you have noticed I have great trouble actually finishing most of my stories. My muse is quite fickle, and working in retail doesn't help much, LOL.
That being said if you want to make fan art, go right on ahead. Just be sure to credit the story and author!
Melanie had to blink a bit after being accosted by a sudden flash of light. Sebek was up in arms almost immediately at the perceived attack, and even Silver was a tad annoyed.
The source was a young first year, one wearing Gryffindor colors.
She looked to the source...and was utterly bemused by the small puppy before her, holding a camera.
"Insolence!" said Sebek. "How dare you accost our..."
Melanie held up a hand. He went silent, as he had been trained well.
"How amusing. What is your name, little one?" said Melanie with a slight smile.
It was rare for a human to be able to pull something like this off, especially in the presence of a dragon's natural aura. Most humans ran away from an apex predator, rather than get so close...even when they weren't openly using it to intimidate others.
"I'm Colin Creevey!" he said cheerfully.
Melanie had to fight to hide her grin. Even in the face of a dragon's aura, this child maintained a puppy-like demeanor.
"I see. And what was the purpose of that photograph earlier?"
"I'm the first wizard in our family. My dad's a milkman and he didn't believe me when I said we had someone as pretty as you in our school!"
The puppy comparison was even stronger now. Draco was already making a face at having to be this close to an obvious first gen, especially one as innocent as Colin. She found it adorable, he found it exasperating.
So naturally she felt it was only fitting to make Draco suffer more...if only for her own entertainment of course.
"I see. Well young Colin, how would you and the other first years like a proper tour of the school? My fellow second years found it far too easy to get lost for the first few days."
Daphne found it adorable and hilarious to watch the first years following her as ducklings.
Melanie had to frown at one of them though... there was some darkness that haunted the youngest Weasley child. She wasn't sure what it was just yet, just that it felt incredibly dangerous.
Melanie had a bemused expression on her face as Daphne had used her name to gather a majority of the females in the school.
"Ladies, it has come to my attention that the main reason you're drooling over Professor Lockhart is due to the fact that he's the only semi-decent male in the castle who's already established himself as an adult," said Daphne with all seriousness.
Beside her was Hermione, Tracy, Luna and oddly enough Ginny Weasley. Each of them were beside a table with a large box that looked to be about the same size as a respectable photograph.
"I'm here to inform you that for the low, low price of a sickle, you can obtain a photo of a much better quality of man to drool over. Also, for the older girls the moving photos go up to a full galleon."
"You seriously expect us to shell out a galleon for a single photo?" said an older girl. She looked to be a Gryffindor from the quidditch team by the name of Alicia Spinnet.
"When you see what we're offering, I know you'll agree that a galleon is a very low price," said Daphne with a smirk.
"What could possibly be worth a galleon a photo?" said a snide Ravenclaw by the name of Marietta.
Daphne looked to Melanie, who had a look of thorough amusement on her face. With a snap, she unfurled a poster that most hadn't even noticed was there.
Dead silence.
"How much did you say the photos were again?" said Angelina, also from the Gryffindor team.
"Dear Merlin, how is it possible for a man that beautiful to exist?" said another, drooling openly.
Daphne looked very much like she wanted to cackle.
"Ladies, this is only the beginning. He's a known dragon shifter from a well established line, rich and has no known fiance or girlfriend."
Every female there looked at Daphne, then began eyeing that single photo like a hawk. Melanie looked desperately like she wanted to laugh her butt off.
"We have yet to even tell them the best part," said Melanie.
"Best part?"
"These are just the base photos, some altered with the potion used to make them move," said Melanie calmly. "We will be holding a special auction for the more...detailed...photos."
"Detailed photos?" said Katie Bell, intent.
Melanie snapped her fingers, causing six other posters to unfurl. If a single photo of her father in his casual wear was enough to pull their attention, the pictures of him from when they spent the day at the water park very nearly sent every teenage girl there into a straight up feeding frenzy.
"Let's begin the auction!" said Daphne cheerfully.
Several hours later...
"How exactly did you convince the teachers to allow this?" asked Hermione.
"Gave McGonagall a copy of the basic and moving photos as a bribe, along with Sprout," said Daphne.
"With the female teachers on board, the men didn't bother asking any questions," agreed Tracy.
"Coincidentally Madam Pince said that if we need any access to the restricted section she wouldn't be adverse to more photos...and the odd muggle romance novel," said Melanie amused.
Hermione visibly perked up at that.
"Even better, Battle Axe McGonagall said there was nothing in the rules about running an underground market on muggle books... particularly romance novels," said Daphne with dark glee.
Though that was after she confiscated the books Daphne planned to sell to the other girls for "inspection".
The entire castle was abuzz with the thought of the Heir of Slytherin being back. Needless to say the teachers were on edge.
"What exactly happened the last time?" asked Melanie.
"Last time a student got expelled because a new blood died," said Draco absently.
"Wait...when exactly did this happen?" asked Melanie.
"About fifty years ago? It was before father's time, but someone mentioned it was why Hagrid got expelled," said Draco after a moment.
"Hagrid?" said Daphne.
"From what father said, some sort of illegal creature was found and was suspected of killing the other student."
Melanie had a baffled expression on her face.
"I find it very hard to believe Hagrid would be behind the death. He is somewhat generous towards what he believes to be dangerous among others, but he would never knowingly keep a pet he knew to be dangerous," said Melanie flatly.
"Have you met Hagrid? The man kept a bloody dragon in his cabin for a full two months!" said Daphne.
"And he willingly surrendered Norberta to a place he knew she would be given the best of care after it was explained how impractical it is to keep an infant this close to the school."
"How did you convince him to give up a literal dragon?" asked Draco, honestly curious.
"I pointed out that while Dumbledore might be able to convince the school board to allow a dragon to remain, if only as hands on experience for that wretched dragon-handler career...provided said students also signed a full waiver saying they knew the risks first...there was no guarantee against general idiocy when it comes to greed."
"General idiocy?" said Snape with a drawl.
"I merely pointed out that it would only take one idiot who saw the dragon as a potential payout in terms of free dragon parts, and the dragon would have to be put down," replied Melanie sensibly. "Dragon parts go for a premium on a good day, and while an adult dragon would be relatively safe from most students, a baby is entirely different."
"Twenty points to Slytherin for well reasoned deduction," said Snape.
"So what happened to the dragon in question?" asked Flint.
"Great-Grandmother took an interest in the matter, so Noberta is being taken care by her personally."
Norberta had attached herself rather firmly to the Queen, and Melanie suspected that given enough time and the right training, she could become a lesser member of the Draconia family.
In any case, all anyone could talk about for the next month was who the heir could possibly be.
The next morning...
Melanie made a beeline straight for the second floor girl's bathroom, which most avoided for one simple reason. The ghost that haunted it had a rather unpleasant habit of flooding it when upset. And Myrtle was often upset.
"Madam Myrtle, I have a question for you, if I may be so bold," said Melanie.
Myrtle, startled by the unexpected respect, stared at her for several seconds.
"What sort of question?" she asked slowly.
"I wish to inquire on the nature of your death. I would like to ascertain exactly what caused it, and if possible clear Hagrid's name in the process. For all his faults, he would never knowingly have one of his pets attack another student."
Myrtle brightened up immediately. Not only was this strange girl polite, but she wanted to hear more about Myrtle herself.
The more Myrtle spoke about how she died, the bigger the frown on the girl's face.
"Wait...so you are saying that you died instantly after hearing hissing?" said Melanie.
Myrtle nodded enthusiastically.
"I saw a pair of great big yellow eyes over by that sink," said Myrtle. "The next thing I knew, I was dead."
When Melanie inspected the sink, her frown deepened.
"That almost sounds like a basilisk," she said confused. "But for one to survive this long, it would have to be a massive beast, and surely have been seen before now."
She turned to face Myrtle.
"I give you my thanks, Madam Myrtle. I will be sure to find the truth behind your murder."
"It was nice that someone actually listened to me for once."
"That is completely unacceptable. The Baron is a perfectly pleasant conversationalist, as is the Lady of Ravenclaw tower. I see no reason the students should not interact with the ghosts properly," said Melanie. "And the less said about the sheer disrespect given to Sir Nicholas, the better."
Even Peeves, the mischievous spirit that lived for mayhem, respected Melanie.
Melanie went to find Colin. She had a special project just for him, one the little shutterbug might enjoy greatly if they did this right.
A few hours later...
Colin was beside himself with joy.
"You want me to document the ghosts and their stories?"
"It is an utter travesty that we know so little about the illustrious spectres that reside in the school," said Melanie seriously. "We hardly even know the circumstances behind why they died...aside from Professor Binns of course."
"That is true. Plus imagine the amount of history they've seen," said Hermione.
"Can ghosts even show up on photos?" said Daphne. She looked intrigued herself at the thought.
"If you get the right camera," said Melanie. "If we do this right we could potentially use this to skip out of the History of Magic exams for our fifth year. It would take time to get all their stories as some of them appear to be seasonal."
"Sold," said Tracy.
Melanie was one of the few who didn't fall asleep during those classes, and had a dicta-quill writing down notes while she read something else entirely.
According to her, Binns' droning was rather similar to some of the noble functions she had to endure once she was old enough to attend. Being able to smile and nod while not really paying attention unless they said key words was a very useful skill after all.
Even better, it gave them an excuse to skip out of certain classes...like Defense, which had become an absolute joke. Lockhart tried, oh boy he tried...but the photos of Melanie's father Malleus had done more to drop most of his fan base than trying to talk sense into them had.
It was rather hard to compete with top tier eye candy after all. Add in the fact that the most he could do was have them recreate his books, which upon closer inspection were more like glorified travel logs than actual defense text books, and the girls were swiftly losing their interest in him.
"Still...I wonder what the monster actually is," said Daphne.
There had been a second attack after the incident on Halloween, but fortunately the victims still had a chance to recover.
"I am fairly certain it is a basilisk," said Melanie. "What I cannot figure out is how no one has noticed it yet. Odds are it is a very large beast, if we take into account how old the myth is."
Dead silence.
"I'm sorry, did you just say a basilisk is behind the attacks?" said Tracy.
"It is fairly obvious."
"HOW?" said Daphne, incredulous.
"According to Miss Myrtle, she died instantly after looking into a pair of yellow eyes, and before that she heard a sound much like hissing," said Melanie. "And from what I was told she was not turned to stone, so the only logical conclusion is that some idiot left a basilisk behind."
"...That makes way too much sense," said Hermione exasperated.
"Slytherin was a know parselmouth. I suppose if anyone could control that sort of creature, it would be him," agreed Daphne.
"And from what Hagrid has mentioned last week, someone has been openly killing his chickens. Which means whoever is doing this is using outdated information," said Melanie.
"Wait. Outdated information?" said Hermione.
"Basilisks are rare, but they are not vulnerable to the sound of roosters," said Melanie amused. "They have extremely sensitive eyes that cannot handle full sunlight, which the rooster's cry would signify."
"How do you know that?" asked Daphne, incredulous.
"Because they were quite the nuisance during the war that cost us my grandmother Meleanor," said Melanie. "The idiots who stripped mined our lands caused several magical creatures to attack neighboring villages...one of which was a basilisk. Lord Lilia called them quite the headache to deal with."
Considering their power, only those who could hunt without sight were sent to deal with the overgrown snakes. And as a general, Lord Lilia was often tasked to deal with the bigger ones.