Melanie Rosen Chamberson: Year 1 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Chapter 17 The Mirror

Chapter 17

The Mirror

“Well, I will be spending the holidays away from Hogwarts,” Draco boasted quite loudly in the Great Hall, glancing sideways at Potter and his friends. “Unlike, some, I actually have a place to go over Christmas.”

I turned my head, just for a moment, to see if Potter reacted, as Draco desired. He did appear slightly sulky, but continued to chat with his friends as though he could not hear Draco. I just shook my head, knowing that there is not a chance that Potter would give Draco the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Not particularly in the mood for bullying, I turned my head to Lenora and asked, “So are you going home over the break?”

Lenora shrugged, keeping her voice casual, but avoided my eyes. “Nah, Dad says he’s going to be busy.”

“Is the ministry really making him work that much over Christmas?” I asked, believing there to be something more to this.

“He’s busy with stuff outside the ministry,” Lenora muttered and before I could inquire, she quickly added, “He won’t tell me exactly what though.”

I noticed Pansy’s eyes briefly turn in our direction as we talked, but thankfully she did not say anything. She seems to have learned better not to after the last incident where she uttered something negative about Lenora’s father. I must admit the whole thing seems odd to me. Even though I never actually met him, Mr. Lane strikes me as neglectful and distant with his daughter, yet Lenora still seems strongly loyal to him and will not stand for anything poor said at his expense. I do admire that about her, but it still makes me wonder what he is really like.

“Maybe instead you can come stay with me,” I offered. “I can write to my aunt and uncle. I’m sure they will be fine with it.”

Once again, Lenora shrugged. “That’s okay. I’d rather stay here anyway.”

I thought for a moment, and then suggested, “Maybe I can stay here too.”

This time, her eyes actually met mine, but her eyebrow rose. “You don’t have to do that.”

I shook my head as my mind was made up. “I want to. To be honest, I’m really not prepared to leave this place just yet. Besides, I’ll have the whole summer to spend with my family.”

“Well, I guess if you say so,” Lenora mumbled.

“It will be great!” I ranted on enthusiastically. “Maybe with less school staff here, we can more easily get away with exploring more of Hogwarts, like the Dark Forest, or the Restricted section of the library. I do wonder why it’s restricted. After all, what harm could books cause? Oh, and maybe we could check out that three headed dog again, and also…”

“Melanie,” Lenora interrupted with exasperation. “Okay, I get it. You want to stay, but what are you going to tell your aunt and uncle?”

I thought for a moment on this. “I could say that most of the other students are staying to celebrate together and I don’t want to miss out.”

Lenora’s tone remained apathetic, but I did catch a sparkle in her eyes as she said, “Yeah, you could do that.”

Later that evening, I wrote to Aunt Becky, using my excuse, and she wrote back saying it was fine, but explained in great detail how important it was that I made sure to visit my mother and father over the summer. To avoid any unwanted eyes falling upon this, I burned the letter and wrote her back on a new piece of parchment.

xXx

Today turned out to be the day most students planning on visiting their families for Christmas left. In the Slytherin common room, I tried to spend most of my time with Draco, seeing as I would not see him for a couple weeks. I just wish Pansy were not here with us, but she insisted on sitting on the other side of Draco on the coach while we chatted.