It has been four days since the incident with Eddie and I had been hiding from him as much as possible, unfortunately, that also included not seeing my friends as much either.
Outside of the Gryffindor common room I had been spending time with Draco, because Eddie didn't mind that I wasn't with him when I was with family. Although Draco was starting to get sick of me. I hadn't told him that I was kind of using him because I was scared of my boyfriend. In fact, I still hadn't told him that I have a boyfriend. Imagine the letter he would send to Lucius, and the howler I would get in return from Narcissa.
Speaking of letters from Narcissa, I received one from her yesterday at breakfast. She had found my mother's grave. I've still been eating breakfast at my own table but lunch and dinner were spent at the Ravenclaw table, I'm doing everything I can not to make him mad.
I was sitting beside Freddie on Friday, the morning I received the letter. After reading it I shot up and left the great hall. I stopped in the empty corridor and sat on the cold stone floor, the letter still in my hand. Freddie had followed me out to find out what was wrong. I let him read the letter and as he was just finishing, Eddie came out to see what was happening. He sent Fred away and grabbed my wrist again, forcing me to stand, asking me why I didn't come to him with this and instead let another boy run after me. That day I couldn't get away from him.
I still haven't seen Cedric since Tuesday, I didn't want to face him after what happened with Eddie. Thankfully, we go home for Christmas tomorrow morning.
*
It's currently Saturday night, and Holly, Maddi, Katie and I were hanging out in our dorm with Hermione. I had told Eddie I needed to pack for the Christmas break, truth was I was packed days ago. Hermione was filling me in on how much of a little shit Draco had been recently. I had asked her to let me know when he was being a bully.
"He was looking straight at Harry when he said, 'I do feel so sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home.'"
"I'm going to kill him."
"Harry didn't care though, because he doesn't want to go home, he hates it there. Staying at the castle will probably be the best Christmas he has ever had."
"I'm glad Ron and the boys will be here to keep him company."
"Yea. Ohh, Draco and Ron got into a fight. Snape took five house points off Ron for starting it."
"A fight?" I asked in shock. I was with Draco earlier, he hadn't told me anything about a fight. Probably thought I would tell him off or send an owl to Narcissa.
"Harry, Ron and I were standing talking to Hagrid, who was bringing in another fir tree for Christmas. That's when Draco appeared out of nowhere and made a snide comment about Ron being poor and that he was probably helping Hagrid to earn extra money and that Ron was probably hoping to be gamekeeper himself one day because Hagrid's hut must seem like a palace compared to where the Weasley's live. So Ron attacked him and Snape caught him."
"The little shit! Hermione I'm so sorry he's being so mean to you all."
"He hasn't done anything to me, yet. It's not your fault though, you can't control him."
"I swear he's not like this without his Slytherin posse around, he can be so lovely at times. He'd kill me if he knew I told you that."
"How did he turn out such a bully and you didn't?" Asked Maddi.
"He idolizes Lucius far too much, and he's a complete arse, but recently he couldn't care less about us. He was barley home all summer, said he was away on family business in Albania. I doubt he'll be around much during Christmas either."
"Albania?" Questioned Katie.
"I have no idea. We don't have any family in Albania."
"I'm sorry Liss, but I really hope he's not being a big influence on Heather." Said a worried Holly.
"Me too!" I said giving her an apologetic look.
Holly was still worried about her little sister. So was I honestly. Holly says Heather has been distancing herself more and more. I think it's something to do with her blood status, if things don't change after the holidays I'm making Draco take us to the door to the Slytherin common room and we are finding out what Holly's blood status is. We also need to find out more about the orphanage they came from and then how they got there. Maybe we can find out who they're real parents are.
We hung out for a little while longer until Hermione said she had to go meet Harry and Ron for something. She didn't say what. Katie wanted to go talk to Angelina about quidditch techniques to practice during the holidays and Holly and Maddi really did need to pack.
I was tidying up my part of the room and I came across the letter Narcissa had sent me yesterday. I didn't say anything to the girls, I just left and headed straight to Fred's dorm.
I knocked on the door, praying to Godric he was there. "Fred?" I said after I knocked. I heard a loud thud before a lot of shuffling and then the door opened.
"Lissa." He said out of breath.
"Can I talk to you?"
"Of course! What's wrong?"
He let me into the room. He was the only one in thankfully. I went and sat down on his bed and he joined me. "I want to go back to the mirror before I leave for Christmas."
"You know you leave in the morning Lissa."
"I know. Can we go now? Please?" I could feel my eyes filling with tears, I couldn't stop it. I tried, but the river had started and I couldn't stop it. Fred moved over to hug me and that's when I started sobbing, right into his chest. Everything that had been going on with Eddie, Narcissa finding my mother's grave, Draco being a bully, everything. I couldn't hold it in anymore but I still couldn't tell anyone about Eddie. It was too embarrassing.
Fred didn't try to stop me crying, he just held me and let me get it all out. I needed it.
Fred's POV
I was lying in bed alone in the dorm, George and Lee had went off somewhere in the castle with the girls from our year. George likes Angelina and she definitely likes him, but she sometimes can't tell the difference between us.
I didn't want to go, I wasn't feeling up to it. I was missing Lissa, she had been avoiding us recently and I think it has something to do with Eddie. Maddi is right, she isn't herself recently. She had received a letter from her cousin about her mother's grave and when I went after her to make sure she was okay Eddie followed suit and said I should go back into breakfast he could deal with it.
I rolled over onto my side and reached to grab the glass of water I had sitting on my desk. It was a bit too far away and just then there was a knock at the door and I heard her. "Fred?" That's when I fell off my bed. I was going to answer the door then realised I was only wearing my boxers and had to find something to wear. QUICKLY.
"Lissa." I answered the door out of breath.
"Can I talk to you?"
"Of course! What's wrong?"
I let her into the room and she went and sat on my bed, I closed the door and sat in front of her. "I want to go back to the mirror before I leave for Christmas."
"You know you leave in the morning Lissa."
"I know. Can we go now? Please?" I could see her eyes starting to fill with tears, she was trying her hardest to hold back, but it was no use. I moved beside her to hug her. My heart was breaking, she was sobbing into my chest. This couldn't only be about her mother, Eddie has done something. I let her cry it out. She clearly needed it.
After a few minutes she started to calm down. I didn't need her to apologise, I didn't need her to tell me what was wrong, I just needed to make her feel better.
"Why don't you go cool down your face and we can go? Yea?" I asked her as she looked up at me, her face all red and puffy. Still so beautiful.
She nodded in agreement and went into our bathroom to cool down. "It's disgusting in here." I heard her say as she closed the door, making me laugh but also feel a little embarrassed.
I grabbed the map from my trunk in case we were out after curfew and put shoes on. She came out of the bathroom still rather red in the face but not puffy anymore. "Ready?" I asked. She nodded and gave me a cheesy grin.
We walked quickly to the room with the mirror, as we entered the room I could hear her take a deep breath to calm herself. Before I closed the door I made sure with her she didn't want me to wait outside.
"No, I don't want to be alone." But she hesitated for a moment before she walked towards the mirror. When she did, I could see her face light up with happiness, making mine do the same.
I went and sat in the corner of the room to the left of the mirror and I let her sit in front of the mirror for as long as she wanted. The curfew bell had rang about an hour after we got there and it had been at least an hour and half since then. At one point she was talking to them, her parents, but she mainly just sat on the floor smiling at them. She knew they couldn't talk back, she was just telling them about herself, how things were at the manor with the Malfoy's, how much she was loving Hogwarts and all about us, her friends. She never mentioned Eddie, not once.
I watched her the entire time. I couldn't keep my eyes off her.
"Freddie. I don't want to leave them."
I came and sat beside her. "We don't have to just yet, but we will have to at some point, you know that. They wouldn't want you to waste away in this dark, dusty room."
"I know. My dad would probably rather I break him out." She laughed. It was the first time I had heard her laugh in over a week.
"I wish I could see them too. I bet you look just like her."
"She's beautiful Freddie." She said staring dreamily at the life she wished she had. "Do you want a turn? I need a moment to prepare myself to leave and not come back here again." Her eyes were starting to tear up a little but this time she was able to control it.
"Go on then." She moved over to the window while I had a quick look. There it was. My dream life. Even when we're older she's still so beautiful. I wasn't looking at myself or George and Angelina or even the joke shop. I was just looking at her. She was happy. She was mine.
But it's just a dream.
*
Lissa's POV
I would never find a better friend than Freddie. He sat there with me, probably bored out of his mind for three hours last night while I fantasised about the life I could have had.
The train was finally stopping at platform 9¾, I started to grab my things as the door to the compartment slid open. It was Eddie.
"Just thought I would come say goodbye to my girlfriend for Christmas and give her this. He held out a small package wrapped in blue gift wrap.
"Eddie, you shouldn't have. I didn't get you anything."
"It's okay, it was a last-minute thing anyway."
I opened it straight away. It was a locket, on the inside was a picture of Eddie on one side and on the other was a picture of a baby niffler. It was a beautiful locket, maybe this was a way of him apologising for his recent behaviour.
"Eddie it's beautiful. Thank you." I hugged him and he turned his head to kiss me. As we pulled away he took the locket and I turned around so he could put it on me.
"Come on then let's get off this train."
I said goodbye to my friends and they stayed behind for a moment knowing I would usually do this because of my family, but Eddie wanted to get off the train with me. "Eddie you go first I'll get off in a moment."
"No, come on. I want to meet your family."
"Excuse me? No, no way."
"Yes! Now come on." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me off the train.
"Melissa, over here dear." Called Narcissa. Eddie walked straight for her still pulling me along. He let go as we got in front of her and he held his hand out to shake hers.
"Mrs Malfoy, a pleasure to meet you." She looked at his hand disgusted. The thoughts that must be running through her mind right now, I can't even imagine.
"And who, might you be?" She asked without shaking his hand.
"So sorry, I'm Eddie, Melissa's boyfriend."
She nearly snapped her neck looking in my direction with a raised brow. She finally shook his hand, still looking at me. "Pleasure to meet you Eddie. Melissa hadn't told me she had a boyfriend."
"Well...I..I." I didn't know what to say.
"We'll talk about this later, Melissa. Now say goodbye, we need to go find Draco and leave."
"Yes Narcissa." I turned to Eddie. He looked livid. I gave him a quick hug said goodbye and merry Christmas and quickly headed off behind Narcissa to find Draco.
When we got back to the manor Narcissa told Draco to go up to his room and that she needed to see me in the drawing room. IMMEDIATELY.
She sat down in her usual black leather arm chair and I sat down on the matching sofa across from her. She was looking at me, analysing me.
"How are you dear?" She asked me.
"Oh, umm, I'm okay." I was a little taken aback by her asking me that.
"How are you feeling about my letter?"
My eyes widened. With all the Eddie chaos going on I had completely forgotten about the letter. I haven't really had a chance to think about if I want to go see her grave or not, if I'm even ready for that.
"Have you not read it?" She asked cautiously.
"No no, I have." I reassured her. "I just haven't had the time to think about it, what with finishing school and packing for Christmas."
"Would you like to talk about it?"
"Well, I'm not sure if I'm ready to go there yet." I'm going to tell her. "A friend and I found something in Hogwarts."
"And what would that be dear?"
"It's a mirror. I'm not really sure how, but it showed me my mother and father."
"A mirror?"
"Yes."
She looked excited but also nervous about this information. Does she know about this mirror? Do other people know about this mirror? Is it famous? Who made it? Why is it in Hogwarts?
"Narcissa?" She had been staring to the corner of the room for a few minutes, I think she had forgotten I was there.
"Sorry dear. Umm, where exactly in the castle is it then?" She looked a little insane, eyes wide and fake grin plastered on her face.
"It in an abandoned corridor, why?"
"Do you know what that mirror does?"
"Not exactly, it showed me my parents but I could still see myself. I could talk to them but they couldn't talk back, but it looked like they could hear me."
"Okay, so the mirror is called the mirror of Erised. It shows you your deepest desire in life."
"Even if it can become real or not?"
"Yes dear. What did your friend see?"
"They seen the joke shop they want to run with their brother in the future."
"Okay so what they seen could potentially become real if they make it so. However, yours cannot because your mother cannot come back, you do know that?" I nodded reassuring her that I knew you cannot bring someone back from the dead and them be the same the person they were before. "Once you have died you do not belong in this world anymore, if you were to ever try and bring someone back from the dead they wouldn't be happy, it would hurt both of you more than if you were to leave them in their new world. You also know that your father will never get out of Azkaban?"
"Life sentence." I said sadly. I know Narcissa is trying to make sure that I am okay and make sure that I don't ever try anything stupid, but emotionally I'm done with this conversation.
"Okay, go and unpack your trunk and please make sure Draco does the same, then get Dobby to take your washing. I want us to talk a little more about your mother once Christmas is over but before the new year."
"Thank you Narcissa." I gave her a hug and got up to leave. She has been a lot nicer to me since I started at Hogwarts. I'm not sure why, it could be because Lucius has been away A LOT, or maybe she genuinely misses me.
Nope it can't be that.
As I placed my hand on the door handle she stopped me. "Wait dear, I'll invite Eddie over for you on boxing day, what are his parents names?"
I turned on the spot so quickly I felt myself get lightheaded as I nearly screamed no at her. I don't want him to come here. I could feel the bruise on my wrist throbbing at the thought. What if he treats me the way he has been in front of Lucius and Narcissa?
"Excuse me?" She asked very confused.
Oh for the love of Merlin, what on Godric's green earth do I tell her?
"Melissa?" I had been standing there, just staring at her for far too long. "Melissa? What in the name of Salazar is wrong with you?"
I have to tell her, I don't know what else to say.
"Well it's just.." Shit, shit, shit. "His family name is Carmichael." I couldn't, I just couldn't tell her. I wasn't ready for whatever reaction she would have.
She was giving me a very concerned look. "I shall send them an owl tonight. Now off you go."
I walked up to my room in a daze. I had really liked Eddie, I do still like him but I can't let him treat me like that anymore. Should I break up with him? Maybe he doesn't know he's been hurting me. I could talk to him and let him know how I feel.
I opened my door to my bedroom and there was Draco standing with his hands on his hips. "You have a boyfriend? Why have you been bothering me so much if you have a boyfriend."
That made me laugh.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.
"I didn't want you to go telling on me to your father."
"Look how that turned out for you." He smugly pointed out.
I just rolled my eyes at him and walked past to him to sit on my bed.
"What did mother say to you?"
I explained to him about Narcissa finding my mother's grave but I left out the part about the mirror. I don't need the Slytherin's hogging it.
Narcissa's POV
I need to inform Lucius immediately!
*
Draco's POV
Christmas was great as usual. Father had come home for Christmas day and was still here on boxing day. Mother and father had been acting strange, they were overly happy, which really isn't like them but I'm not complaining. I liked seeing them happy. Melissa had been a little off though since her talk with mother on Sunday. She had told me all about it, how my mother had found her mothers grave and how Melissa didn't think she was ready to go see it yet but mother still wants to talk about it tomorrow. Today though is boxing day and Eddie, Melissa's boyfriend, is coming round. I'm not sure whether to stay away and hide in my room or annoy them.
Melissa and I were just finishing breakfast in the dinning room when father stormed into the room, mother running after him, shouting at him to calm down. He went right up to Melissa making her stand up and try to back away from him but he grabbed the collar of her white shirt.
"Who is he?" He yelled at her.
"Who?" She asked terrified, not looking him in the eye.
"Lucius stop this!" Mother yelled trying to free Melissa's collar from his grasp.
"The boy, what is his name? Who are his parents?"
"Melissa hurry up and tell him." I shouted, realising that he wasn't going to let her go until she told him what he wanted to hear.
"Eddie Carmichael." She replied still not looking him in the eye.
"Carmichael? The Carmichaels from Barnton?"
"Yes." She replied.
He let her go. Everyone was breathing heavily, mother from the energy she was using to try and get father to let go of Melissa, father from pure anger and Melissa and I from fear.
"And he's coming here today is he?"
"He is dear, yes." Said mother.
"I'll need to speak with him."
"What about?" Asked Melissa boldly. Clearly forgetting what had just happened moments ago.
"I need to know what his intentions are."
"His intentions?" She yelled. "We're not getting married."
"I don't care what you want. If I think he's suitable enough you will be marrying him in the future. I don't need you hanging around here forever." And with that he stormed off, mother following him, leaving Melissa gobsmacked.
I didn't know what to say. I just stared at her staring at the door they just left through. "Melissa?"
She snapped out of her daze, looked at me with tears in her eyes and then stormed off herself.
I sat there for a minute, shocked at what just happened and confused about what I should do. I'm not following after Melissa, as much as I love her, I don't want to deal with her crying. I'm defiantly not going to find my parents, they will just tell me to go away.
Thankfully the doorbell rang. I went to see who it was, as I was walking down the corridor to the front door, I could see Eddie trying to peer in through the glass, he stopped when he seen me coming. I stood there waiting for Dobby to appear. "Dobby!" I yelled. He appeared with a crack immediately and opened the door.
Eddie walked on in past Dobby and up to me putting his hand out for me to shake. I folded my arms staring at his hand in disgust. I looked up to meet his eye. "Melissa! Eddie's here!" I yelled and walked away from him.
I went into the drawing room, where I had left my presents. I locked the door so I wouldn't be bothered by them. There are enough rooms in this manor for them to use and not annoy me.
Lissa's POV
I slammed the door to my room and fell onto my bed in tears. I can't believe he just said that. I can't let him anywhere near Eddie when he gets here. How dare he try to marry me off at thirteen. This isn't the middle ages Lucius.
Wait a second. I sat up straight. Maybe that would scare Eddie off. Do I really want that? I should really let him know that he hurt me. But what if he doesn't care? What if he hurts me again? What if he laughs at me?
Just then I heard the doorbell ring. I fell back on my bed and covered my face with one of my pillows. I can't deal with this right now.
"Melissa! Eddie's here!" I heard Draco yell.
What if I just don't leave my room? Maybe he will go away. I could hide in the wardrobe.
Don't be silly Melissa.
I quickly gathered myself and went to greet my boyfriend. He was smiling up at me as I came down the stairs. He is cute.
Uggh, I'm so conflicted.
"Hey." I said hugging him.
"Hi babe." He said giving me a kiss on the cheek.
I could hear Lucius and Narcissa talking in Lucius's study.
"Would you like a tour?" I said trying to get us away from them as quickly as possible.
"Yea, this place is huge."
"Great, let's start outside." I grabbed his hand and lead him outside.
"Melissa, you don't have a coat on." He said as we went down the marble front steps.
"I'll be fine." He shook his head and gave me his.
CONFLICTED!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER
I do not own any of these characters except Melissa, Holly, Maddi and Heather. The rest belong to J.K Rowling.