I don't own any of the characters apart from Melanie Malfoy. All of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
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"What's that on your left arm?" Cho asked me.
I looked down, fear coursing through me. I heard a scared noise somewhere near my right shoulder; I guessed it came from Draco. My eyes swept the length of my arm, along with everyone else's crowded round us, and saw huge burns running the length of my forearm, covered in blood.
"It's fine, just a few burns from that last hex Vasey cast," I said, trying to sound light hearted, when in reality, I was probably close to having a heart attack. I heard Draco let out a sigh of relief from beside me and turned to look back at Cho, who was still looking at my arm strangely.
"I thought I saw a tattoo there," she explained, trying to see beneath the blood still coming out of the burns. My heart rate sped up again, as I thought about how to cover this one over.
"You were probably just seeing things Chang. You know, the speed at which everything happened, it'll have just been the burns or her robes that you'll have seen," Draco stated smoothly. Cho opened her mouth, ready to shout an angry retort back at him when I cut across her.
"Drake, can you take me to the hospital wing please. Cho, I need to tell you something after I've been, okay?"
"No, you're not going anywhere with him! Let me take you," she said, walking forward and taking my other arm. The two of them were having a tug of war fight between them, using me as the rope, and I was feeling dizzier by the second.
"Cho, please trust me on this, I'll come to you straight after I come out of the hospital wing." She looked sceptical, but I gave her a look saying I wasn't going to argue and she let go of my arm. I smiled and turned towards the castle, and started the long walk up to the Room of Requirement.
"What're you gonna tell her?" Draco asked as we reached the Room of Requirement. I walked in front of the door three times thinking of what I wanted the room to be and then stepped back waiting for the door to appear.
"I'm not completely sure yet," I told him honestly, "I'm not gonna tell her anything about the Dark Lord, but I think I owe her the truth about why we're so close, otherwise she'll never let me come near you."
I sat on the armchair and held my arm out for Draco to have a look at. He nodded in reply to my earlier answer.
"What're you gonna do if she tells someone? Or she reacts badly to it?"
"Well, I trust her enough to know she won't tell anyone, don't give me that look!" I said, when he gave me the look that said 'you've only known her a week, how do you know that?' "But, I suppose if she reacts too badly...memory charm?"
He chuckled at the last bit, waving his wand over the blackened burns decorating my arm. The blood was now cleared up, the burns were stinging slightly, but were disappearing and now all that was left on my arm was the Dark Mark. I shivered when I looked at it and turned my head away.
"Hey, it's not that bad," Draco said comfortingly, pulling me into a hug. We sat like that for a few moments before I pulled away. He smiled at me, and brought his wand down to fix the huge rip that was in my sleeve.
"Thank you," I pulled him in for another short hug. "I'm gonna go and talk to Cho now, I guess I do have a bit of explaining to do."
"No problem Mel," he said, pushing me slightly towards the door. "If you get any pain in your arm, come straight to see me, okay?" he asked, sounding very concerned and searching my eyes for his answer. I nodded, sending him a small smile and exiting the Room of Requirement.
**
"So, you're telling me, that you and Draco are twins?!" Cho asked me for about the millionth time. I moved my finger up to my mouth, signalling her to talk quieter; she nodded and looked sheepishly down at the grass.
"Yes, but we're meant to be keeping it a secret. Father would kill me if he found out I told you," I said, taking a chocolate frog off the huge pile in front of us.
"I don't get why your father has such a grudge against you though, did you do something when you were younger?" she asked. Confusion could be heard clear in her voice.
"Something like that," I mumbled, keeping my head down, it was my turn to look down at the grass beneath us.
I met Cho as soon as I had left the Room of Requirement and brought her out to the lake so we could sit and talk about everything. I couldn't risk anything being overheard about my real family life. I skipped the bits about the Dark Lord and the mission though. God knows how she would react to that...
"Why what happened?"
"I was a surprise. The doctors had told mother that she was only expecting one child, and that was a boy. Father was overjoyed. He had always wanted a boy to carry on the family name, but he also only ever wanted one child. When I was born, apparently he tried to act like he was happy, but everyone saw through it." I paused taking a deep breath.
"He hates you, because he only wanted one child?!" I shook my head in response. 'If only...'
"No, as we were growing up, it was clear that my father was still waiting for the Dark Lord to return. I can't stand anything to do with that. So, while he went off with his Death Eater friends, I told mother and Drake how I hated Death Eaters and everything to do with the Dark Lord. Father heard and he's kept me shut away in the house ever since. I think he's scared I'll go to the Azkaban guards or something," I explained, taking another chocolate frog off the pile.
Cho sat staring at me for about five minutes after my story had finished. The pile of chocolate and sweets we had brought out was decreasing quickly. I eat a lot when I'm stressed, always have done.
"Well, I suppose I admire you for doing something like that, especially when your family is involved in the Death Eater circle. Have you said anything since then?" she questioned me, curiosity had obviously overtaken her shock.
"Oh yeah, I once said something at a meeting held for all the Death Eaters. One of them overheard me on their way there and dragged me in. He told me to repeat what it'd said, so I did. Although I got in more trouble because the Dark Lord was at the meeting as well..." I said an evil glint in my eye as I relived the memory.
"Seriously?!" she shouted, then realised her mistake and turned her head to the floor again.
"Absolutely worth it though!" I replied. "You can't tell anyone anything in the conversation we've just had though, promise?"
"I promise. Hey, does Draco know what you've told me?" she asked. When I told the story, she had said that she would be nicer to my twin for my benefit.
"Well, I told him I was going to tell you and he agreed it was fine, I'll just fill him in on our conversation next time I meet up with him," I said, laying my head back on the grass and looking up into the sky. Cho mimicked my action.
We sat for the rest of the evening just sitting and talking about pointless things. The conversation was easy and we didn't bring up the subject of my family anymore. When the sky finally started to darken, I made my move to get up.
"I've gotta go and meet Drake, I'll see you in morning," I said to her, picking up my bag and running across the grounds. When I reached the entrance hall, huge crowds of students were making their way out of the hall to get to their dormitories. I was running late already and I certainly didn't need this to hold me up.
Twenty minutes later I arrived outside the Room of Requirement to be met by Dobby. When I approached, the elf looked up startled, before a huge smile broke out on his face.
"Miss Melanie! Dobby has been waiting to see you for a long time, and now Dobby finally gets to see you again!" he squeaked.
I laughed softly at my greeting. "Hey Dobby. I don't suppose you've seen Drao anywhere?"
"No Miss Melanie. Dobby has only seen you down this corridor tonight," he told me as he walked in front of the door three times. "Does Miss want to come in with Dobby?"
"Yeah, sure," he held his arm out, ushering me into the room first. The room was cluttered with everything you could think of. Piles of chairs sat at one end, old books, furniture and clothes were strewn all over the floor. "What is this place?"
"This is where people come to hide their unwanted items," Dobby told me, walking towards something covered by a huge white cloth, "Dobby comes in here often to find things to help Winky."
I couldn't stop looking at everything around me. This room must have been used for hundreds of years now, the amount of things that covered the floor. The standout though, was easily the thing we were walking towards.
Dobby pulled the cloth away. Underneath was a huge cabinet, decorated with gold patterns all down the side. On the very edge of the side closest to me, there were words written in a small gold print that I couldn't quite make out. I turned to Dobby with a questioning look on my face. He nodded and started to explain as he opened the door to the cabinet.
"This is a vanishing cabinet. They are used to transport people to different places. You can reach any place with a matching cabinet in. Dobby sends Winky in them so that she can get some time away when she's ill..." he carried on telling me his story but I wasn't listening anymore.
"How do you use the cabinet Dobby?" I asked him, cutting over his story.
"You simply step inside and say the words on this piece of paper." He held up a small piece of paper that had the same small print as the side of the cabinet, but the words could be made out on the paper. A spell was all that was needed.
My mind went into overdrive. I wouldn't have to sit around, planning the mission all day. I wouldn't have to sit and think about the Dark Lord and his followers. I could escape before anything happens in the mission! I just had to make sure Draco didn't find out, because I knew that this is exactly the sort of thing that he would want to help him in the mission.
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Hey guys! :D I stuck to my word and posted today, so be happy. I've been learning my Spanish assessment piece all day (still don't know it all) but felt like I needed to post something up before I disappeared for a couple of weeks.
I hope this chapter helps clear a few things up, especially about Mel and her father. More will become clear about their relationship in later chapters, but this is the start of it.
My next update will either be inbetween the 15th and the 24th or after the 24th. I can't specify when because of my exam timetable, but I will try and get something up after the 15th.
You know the drill, comment/vote if you liked it, if you have any ideas, let me know :) give me critisism if you have it and if you're feeling nice, fan? Until next time ;D