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𝐓 𝐇 𝐄 𝐋 𝐄 𝐀 𝐊 𝐘 𝐂 𝐀 𝐔 𝐋 𝐃 𝐑 𝐎 𝐍
𝐀𝐓 five past nine the next morning, there was a knock at Harry's door.
He had been staying at the Leaky Cauldron for a few days now, in room eleven, and he had already grown to enjoy the simple freedoms it promised — but who was knocking at this hour? Housekeeping didn't come around until half past two. He rolled over and glanced out his bedside window. By the looks of the sun in the August sky, it was morning, and he had better see who it was.
Dreams of butterbeer and broomsticks disturbed, he blinked awake, slid out of his warm bed, and shuffled to the source of the sound, managing to push his glasses onto his nose.
He had barely cracked the heavy oak door open when a familiar pair of arms came snaking across his body, driving him backwards into the room: it was a warm and welcoming embrace, a tangle of limbs and laughter — lilac and vanilla were enveloping him, and he wasn't arguing. How she'd found him, he wasn't sure, but all that mattered was that she was here, and he wasn't dreaming.
"Melody?"
Eyes full of glistening silver fairy dust, she pulled away from his chest.
"Harry James Potter. You blew up your aunt and didn't invite me."
He grinned, and ran a hand through his unruly black hair. She looked different, radiant, almost — her skin was sun-kissed, and a splattering of freckles had formed across her nose. She was still shorter than him, but she'd grown an inch or two. "I would've, but I didn't exactly schedule it—"
"I know," she sighed, taking a brief glimpse around his room. "The Minister came by the castle and told me."
Harry was ripped from his partial drowsiness at once, and he felt his face contort. "Told you? The Minister went all the way to Hogwarts to tell you?"
"If you're jealous, there's no need to be rude," Melody answered, stepping towards the window. "But if you want to get technical, he told Dumbledore and my grandma whilst I was hidden behind a pillar listening in."
This made Harry chuckle, and smile even wider — she hadn't changed, at least not on the inside.
"Why are you in London?" he then wondered, following her over to the windowsill. "You always stay at Hogwarts over the summer."
She smiled, eyes on the sky outside. "I convinced my grandma to let me come stay with you for the next two weeks."
Harry turned to her, shaken. "Really? Until school?"
