I barley slept that night thinking about Draco. I was up and out of the dorm first thing to go down to the dungeons to wait for him coming up to breakfast.
When he did finally emerge from his pit, he ran straight over to me. "Melissa, why are you down here?"
"To make sure you're okay after last night, I can't believe Dumbledore thought sending you all back to Slytherin house was okay. I couldn't sleep all night worrying and my friends basically had to force me to eat."
"You think you're angry, the entire Slytherin house was shouting at Snape telling him how unsafe they felt and how Dumbledore should be fired. I told him father will be hearing about this."
"Of course you did."
"Wrote him an owl this morning."
"Great, now I'm going to get a howler from him for not protecting you. I'll write Narcissa during breakfast."
"Good idea."
"But you're okay yea? You didn't even see the troll?"
"No, but it left its stench behind."
"Did you hear about Harry, Ron and Hermione taking down the troll?"
"Saint Potter and his weasel?"
"Don't be so rude, but yes Harry Potter and Ron Weasley." As we walked up to the great hall, I filled Draco and his friends in on what the trio had done to the troll in the girls bathrooms.
"And they got house points for this?"
"Well Hermione lost us five points for going after it in the first place." I couldn't tell him what Ron had said about her, so I lied and told him what the trio told the professor's. "But Harry and Ron got five each 'for sheer dumb luck' as McGonagall put it."
He rolled his eyes and went off to the Slytherin table and I went and sat down with my friends and started to write my letter to Narcissa.
*
That night Dumbledore let us do the scavenger hunt seeing as it was still set up from the night before. Beatrice Haywood, a fourth year Hufflepuff, won the ten galleons, Angelina won the Blemish potion, although I don't think she was really looking for it more than she was George and the sweets were won by Eddie Carmichael, a Ravenclaw in my year. I've never really spoken to him, he's quite a quiet person.
It's always the quiet ones.
*
A week later it was time for the first quidditch match of the year. Slytherin vs Gryffindor. It was also Harry's first match and somehow the entire school had found out he was seeker and were staring at him during breakfast. For Godric's sake it's seven o'clock, leave him alone. The poor kid was already nervous enough because of Fred and George who in their words were 'only trying to hype him up' all week before Oliver snapped and yelled at them to stop. They had been telling Harry things like how often people go missing or end up in the hospital wing. It was when they started telling him about how many people die a year from playing quidditch was when I stepped in and told him how last year Fred swung himself off his own broom. Thankfully, that gave him a laugh.
"I hate that everyone is staring at him." Said Holly.
"I know. It's putting me off my breakfast, Godric knows what it's doing to him." I said as I played with my food.
Maddi stood up and shouted, "Oi, you can all stare at him later on the pitch. Mind your own for now." Everyone turned their heads away at the same time that you could actually hear it.
"You didn't need to shout at everyone." Whisper shouted a shocked Holly who now had a bright red face. Harry on the other hand had a slight smile on his face and was looking a lot more relaxed than he was thirty seconds ago.
"Right boys we won't see you until after the match so good luck." I said as Holly, Maddi, Katie and I got up from the table.
"Why? Where are you going?" Asked Fred.
"Library." I answered.
"Katie, we have match to warm up for." Said George.
"We have a transfiguration essay to finish. I'll only be there for an hour." Explained Katie.
"But it's a Saturday." Groaned Lee. "Homework isn't for Saturdays."
The four of us looked at each other rolled our eyes and started to walk out of the hall.
"Do you think Harry will be any good?" I asked the girls.
"Oliver hasn't really let us see him in action yet. He's been keeping him a secret, even from the team." Katie said.
"Hermione says his dad was a seeker." Maddi replied.
"So it must be in his blood." Holly said turning to face us and walking backwards.
"If blood meant anything shouldn't Melissa be in Slytherin?" Said Katie.
Tick tick tick.
I didn't get a chance to retaliate because right at that very moment Holly walked backwards full force into the one and only Professor Snape.
"Professor I am so sorry I wasn't looking wh.."
"No, you weren't were you? And where would four young Gryffindors be going at this time on a Saturday?"
"The library sir." I said as quickly as I could.
"Overachieving, are we?"
"No, we jus..."
"Detention Miss Morris. Monday after class."
"Yes sir." She said with her head down.
"But.." I tried but yet again he interrupted me.
"Want to make it two detentions for Miss Morris, Miss Black?"
"No sir." And with that he flipped his robes and walked on down the hall, well he actually limped away. The four of us ran out of the hall so fast we left a gust of wind behind us.
*
Katie left the library about an hour before the rest of us so she could make it to Oliver's pre match pep talk and a quick warm up. We headed down just a little earlier than usual so we could find a good view in the stands. Apparently, the whole school had the same idea. Thankfully, we quickly found Ron and Hermione and stood behind them.
"Okay but....Snape.......limping." I could hear Ron say to Hermione.
She replied but I couldn't hear any more of it than I could of what Ron said. "......three....dog......trapdoor."
"What on Merlin's green earth are they talking about?" Maddi whispered in my ear.
"Not. A. Clue."
So far Katie had been hit with a bludger, so George hit Pucey with a bludger then Angelina scored. A bludger had been sent towards Harry and Fred had went speeding after it and sending it towards Flint. Harry had been circling the pitch from high above until Pucey dodged two bludgers and two Weasley's but then dropped the quaffle as the snitch flew past him. That's when Harry and Higgs both sped after it, Harry gaining ahead of Higgs. Unfortunately, the Slytherin captain Flint blocked Harry sending his broom off course.
Hagrid had showed up in the middle of all this and had joined in with entire of Gryffindor house booing and shouting foul. Madam Hooch had a word with Flint and then gave Gryffindor a free shot at the goals. Ron had to tell Dean he wasn't watching a football match after he shouted something about a red card and sending him off. What is a red card?
Lee's commentary was excellent but unfortunately McGonagall had to keep telling him off for being too biased. Alicia scores on the free try and Harry dodges another bludger, however he never really seemed to recover from that as he had started to jerk about in the sky. Meanwhile Lee was commentating about Flint getting hit in the face by a bludger. No one had seemed to have noticed Harry yet.
"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing." Mumbled Hagrid. "If I didn' know better, I'd say he lost control of his broom." He said as he watched Harry through his binoculars. "But he can' have."
"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" I heard Seamus ask.
"Can' have, can' nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful dark magic."
"No student could do that to a brand-new nimbus 2000." I said looking up at Hagrid who gave me a worried look.
Just then Hermione grabs Hagrid's binoculars and showed Ron something in the professor stands across from us. I couldn't hear a word they were saying but all of a sudden Hermione runs off leaving the stands. "What in Salazar is wrong with her?" Maddi asked.
"Probably something to do with her best friend jerking about uncontrollably in the sky." Said Holly rather sarcastically. It was at that moment we all just shut up and watched everything unfold in silence.
Fred and George had tried to pull Harry off his broom to safety but to no avail, so they started to circle below him hoping to catch him if he fell. Flint went on to score five more times by himself without anyone even noticing. Lee had stopped commentating. Neville was crying. Everyone was on their feet watching.
I took my eyes off of Harry for a second and I noticed a flash of light in the professors stand across from us. "Fire?" I whispered to myself. Just like that Harry had gained controlled of his broom again and he and Higgs were in a fight chasing after the snitch once again.
They were playing a dangerous game of chicken to catch the snitch, both of them speeding towards the ground. The entire crowd was silent until Higgs pulled up and out of the chase. Chicken. Harry did the same thing not seconds later continuing to chase the snitch across the pitch. He stood up on his broom, arm stretched out towards the snitch when he flew off it. When he stood up again, he had his hand over his mouth.
"Looks like he's gonna be sick." Said Hagrid.
He spat something out into his hand. "He's got the snitch." Lee announced. "Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the snitch."
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and announced. "GRYFFINDOR WINS."
Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw erupted in cheering while Slytherin were seething in rage. "He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it!" Flint was yelling to Madam Hooch trying to demand a rematch.
We had won 170 -60.
*
During the after party in the common room that night I wanted to talk to Maddi in privet about what had happened during the match. We decided to go for a walk around the castle. "I didn't want to talk to you with Holly around because of how close she is with Hermione, but did you hear anything her and Ron were saying during the match?" I asked her.
"It was so weird, wasn't it? I know we both heard them saying about Snape and a trapdoor."
"I also heard them talking about three dogs. But what did Hermione run off to do? And did you see the flash of light in the professors stand across from us?"
"I seen that. I think it was her because did you not see Snape was in that stand?"
"What if they thought Snape was doing something to Harry's broom? But why?"
"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders in defeat.
We continued to walk around the castle trying to figure it out, but we didn't have enough information to do that. "Let's get back to the common room." I said realising it was nearly curfew.
"Liss?"
"Yeah?"
"Where are we?"
I didn't recognise anything around us. We were standing in a corridor that we had never been in before there were no portraits and no lamps lighting the way. Just cobwebs, everywhere. "Let's go through here." I suggested. We entered into a room that had nothing in it but a mirror. "Where in Godric's name are we?"
"I wish we had the map." We walked over to the mirror and as we got closer both of us gasped and looked at each other. "What can you see?" I asked Maddi.
"I think it's me, but I'm older and I have a family. No one apart from me has a face though." She explained as she got closer to the mirror. "Do you see the same thing?"
I couldn't speak.
"Liss! Breath." She pushed me out of the view of the mirror. "You look like you've seen a ghost." She gasped again. "You seen your mum, didn't you?"
"I think so." I've never seen a picture of my mother. "My father was there too."
"Are you okay?"
"We looked like a happy normal family. No Narcissa, no Lucius."
"Do you want to see it again?"
".......Yes." I moved back into the view of the mirror and looked. There was me and standing on either side of me was my mother and father. My father, looking very put together with his curly hair sitting nicely and his moustache perfectly trimmed. His pocket watch chain poking out from his robes and one hand on my shoulder and the other holding the lady's hand on the other side of me.
It was my mother. She had long dark hair, mesmerising dark eyes, her skin was glowing, she was of average height and absolutely stunning. She looked happy, they both did while I was stood in the middle looking, well looking rather stunned, star struck even. It took me a minuet to realise but they were looking and smiling at me. They nodded when I asked, "Mum? Dad?"
I stood there for a moment just drinking in this experience knowing that I would never actually have this. "Liss? You okay?" Asked a worried Maddi.
"Yea." I said smiling at my parents. "We better go before we get caught." I didn't want to leave, I wanted to stay and sit with them. I wanted to tell them everything about me, but I also wanted them to be able to talk back.
When we finally got back to the common room, I went straight to bed but I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about them and how happy they looked. None of us usually close the curtains on our fourposter beds but tonight I needed it. Even though I was happy that I saw my parents tonight the lingering feeling of knowing that will never happen wouldn't go away and it wasn't long before I was crying myself to sleep.
Salma Hayek as Karis Davidson (Melissa's mother).
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DISCLAIMER
I do not own any of these characters except Melissa, Holly, Maddi, Heather and Karis. The rest belong to J.K Rowling.