Melody Riddle and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 9: EVERYTHING is Unexpected

I awoke early the next morning to the sound of shrill yelling.

"Where is my daughter, Lucius?"

Mom? I sat bolt upright in realization. What happened last night must've made it to the Daily Prophet this morning.

"I don't care if she's sleeping, she's coming home with me right now! —— Don't 'Orele' me, Lucius. I know you must've been a part of the idiocy that occurred last night! How dare you subject Melody to that! Ruin your son if you must, but not her!"

I thrust the covers off of me and sprinted out of the room, deciding my best plan of action was to follow the sound of her voice. Luckily for me, mom's screaming woke Draco up as well, so he burst out of his room at the same time I did.

One shared look, and we nodded to each other. He grabbed my hand and led me to the stairs, jumping two steps at a time to make it to the bottom quicker.

"Shut up, Lucy! —- Yes, I said Lucy! My God, I can't believe I trusted you to be a responsible, sane adult! —- There is no understanding here! You are a grown man with a son looking up to you to be a role model, and here you are showing him how to continue being a child!"

When we finally made it to the room, I was ready to throw the door open but... Draco held his arm out.

"Wait.." he whispered.

Mom's voice had lowered significantly, leaving us to put our ears up to the door. "You must know who her father was without me needing to confirm it," she gave a heavy sigh. "Don't let that also be her path. I walked away from that for a reason."

"You haven't even let me explain about the events of last night. I —" Lucius started to say.

"I don't need you to to know that everything you say is a lie," mom snapped. "It's been a long time, but I haven't lost my memory. You'll do anything you can to talk your way out of trouble, but it's not going to work on me. Tom and I —"

I quickly shouldered my way past Draco, opening the door and hurrying into the room. As soon as I took a few steps in, I was suddenly being smothered in a hug.

"Mom!" I mumbled into her shirt. "I'm suffocating!"

She let go of me, her eyes glistening as though she were ready to burst into tears. The Daily Prophet was in her hand.

"I'm fine," I told her soothingly, "the Deatheaters didn't go after us. I stood around in the woods with Draco while Lucius and Narcissa helped get everyone down safe and sound."

The look of confusion on her face made my stomach churn. She knows Lucius had to have been a part of it, but in order to get the truth about my dad out of her the right way I don't want her to think I'd allowed any part of it. Otherwise, I'll be hearing a whole lecture back at home about how I should've demanded them to take me home before causing mayhem.

"We were all in the tent when the fires started..." I glanced at Draco and Lucius as I explained. Lucius's shoulders seemed to relax, and Draco leaned in the doorframe listening intently. "While Mr. Malfoy left to go deal with the chaos, Mrs. Malfoy took Draco and I into the forest to hide out. They kept us safe."

The doubt in her eyes was clear as day. However, her resolve seemed to soften as she stared at me and she gave an affirming nod. "Okay, honey... now, please go get dressed. It's time for us to go home.

Relief. I nodded.

⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛