Despite wanting to finish packing that night so I could be at the wand shop in the morning, I fell asleep in the midst of taking what was supposed to be a short break. My plan was to pack light for the Quidditch Cup and, if we didn't get back in time, at least have my trunk ready for going back to school.
I realized my mistake as grandpa shook me awake the next morning to give me a hug goodbye as well as a "good luck" and "enjoy yourself."
Other than that, I was able to finish packing and set my stuff down by the fireplace to enjoy a free day relaxing with mom and Blake — this only being after she insisted that she'd pack my trunk for me if I didn't come back within a week.
We played with wizard cards in a game of go fish, which was interesting to say the least. Each card staring back at me raised their hands when it was my turn to show that they wanted me to ask mom if she had another one of them so they'd have a friend. If they could yell at me without giving away who they were, I bet they would've done so.
When the clock struck three, we put the cards down and that's when they started yelling at us and each other:
"No, not yet! This game isn't over! Melody, you could have asked for another King of Hearts! A King of Hearts, I tell you!"
"Orele, don't you dare end the game like this! All you needed was an extra Three of Spades and you would've beat her!"
"I would never change to your side!" the Three of Spades from my pile announced. "This is why I tried so hard to get her to choose me! We would have kidnapped all of you!"
"Shut up, Three of Spades! You're not that special!" a Ten of Diamonds from my deck screeched.
"None of us are," a Joker of Hearts in mom's deck chortled. "If we were, we'd be —"
Before the sentence was finished, Blake — who sat on the floor in between us — started picking up our piles and tossing them in the air. He giggled as they all screamed, flying up and fluttering back down to the ground only to be smushed back together and thrown again.
Mom and I laughed as she picked Blake up. The child wailed in dismay, throwing a tantrum by waving his arms and legs in an attempt to get back to torturing the poor cards.
"Can you put the cards back up, honey?" mom asked as she struggled to keep the energetic baby in her arms. "I'll go get Blake's teddy bear and meet you downstairs."
"Okay," I replied, gently stacking the cards together to their collective sighs of relief.
The last thing I heard before I closed them back up in their box was, "After that, I'm glad they didn't do another game. I'm exhausted. Little ones are the worst."
I thought about the Quidditch World Cup as I reached to put the little box back on the shelf, pausing in contemplation. Maybe these would help. They ought to have plenty of breaks for everyone to eat and sleep, so there may be free time. Free time where Draco will be bored.
"Hey mom?" I called.
"What?"
"Is it okay if I bring the cards with me?"
"I don't see why not! Go ahead!"
"Thank you!" I ran down the stairs to my bag, opening it up and stuffing the little box into an open space before zipping it closed again.
Mom and grandma made their way down the stairs, making silly faces at Blake to make him smile. He merely hugged his teddy bear even tighter, pouting. The look on his face was still peeved at his fun with the cards being interrupted, the tear stains on his cheeks fresh.
With a last sigh, mom came over to hug me with one arm. She carefully held Blake in the other, ensuring he had no chance of escape. "I want you to be safe, don't get into trouble, and always stay by the Malfoy's sides," she said, kissing my cheek.
When she pulled away, I nodded, "I don't want trouble anyway."
"I should hope not," mom said, holding a finger up before I could turn away. "Because mind you, I've warned Lucius. If you so much as talk to any adult, Muggle or wizard, the way you talked to that woman yesterday.... it's his sworn duty to send you straight back home. Do you understand?"
I gulped at the seriousness in her eyes, giving a small nod of understanding. However, despite her words causing my heart to freeze over, I did realize it wasn't possible that he would actually send me home. Me being my father's daughter, and Lucius himself believing that Muggles should be treated like garbage, it would just never happen the way mom wanted it to. I almost wondered if she already knew that fact, and just wanted to say it to keep me in line while she wasn't around.
Her demeanor changed as her lips quirked up into a smile, "On a better note, I just want you to have lots of fun. Promise me that?"
I smiled back, weirdly glad she didn't think to make me promise to behave. I knew I couldn't possibly follow that with the biggest Pureblood supremacist family around. "With Draco, I know it'll be lots of fun. I can promise that." Then I turned to Blake, his eyes swollen from crying, and kissed his forehead, "I hope when I get back that you're a ray of sunshine again."
Grandma gave me a tight hug, "Be sure to tell us everything when you get back. I love you."
"I will," I said, pulling away to pick up my bag and reach for the floo powder. "Well, I'll be off."
"Melody," mom said warningly.
"Wha —?" I stopped to look at her in confusion, replaying in my head what we just said. Ohh crap, time to play it off. I pulled them both into a tight hug, my arms wrapping around their waists. "Oh, no, don't think that. I just want to say it all at once.... I love all three of you."
Grandma readily hugged me back, but I could feel mom's hesitation as she also wrapped an arm around me. "I love you too, honey."
"All right," I pulled away one last time, finally picking up a handful of floo powder and stepping into the fireplace. "Now I'll be off."
"What about Gerald?" grandma asked.
I waved my other hand back, "Who cares about him? See ya!" I threw the floo powder at my feet as I shouted, "Malfoy manor!" Off I went, keeping my elbows tucked in as I traveled a minute.
I landed inside the fireplace, brushing ash off of me before stepping out.
Looking up, inside the ornate office already stood Lucius Malfoy and what had to be his wife, Narcissa.
Lucius smiled, "So glad you could join us, Melody."
"Me too, Mr. Malfoy."
I turned to Narcissa and held out my hand, "It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Malfoy."
Narcissa looked to be shocked at my behavior, but reached her hand out and shook mine. "I've heard a lot about you," she said, managing a small smile. "Draco was very excited to tell us that you were coming along for the World Cup."
Lucius looked nervously at his wife, causing me painful uncertainty.... Did he tell her who my dad is? Perhaps an accidental slip?
"I'm glad he asked me. I've never been to a professional Quidditch match before, so I'm thankful to have the opportunity. Thank you for taking me."
Narcissa's surprise seemed to deepen the more I spoke. Almost as if she thought I'd just be a rude and demanding teen.
"Father, has Melody shown up yet?" a voice drawled just before the boy it belonged to walked through the doorway.
Draco greatly resembled Lucius; pale skin with a pointed face and white-blond hair. Narcissa had blonde hair, too — wow, the blonde family — I realized.
"Hey Draco," I said with a small smile.
Draco surprised me with a big hug, which I gladly returned. One whiff of his cologne, bright and citrusy, caused me the surprising need to hold back a relaxed sigh. He always wears this cologne... it smells so good....
"I can't wait until tomorrow, can you?" he asked, pulling away to show me his geeked excitement. "I'll show you up to one of our guest rooms! We have a few hours until supper."
"Sounds like a great idea," I said with a grin, waving at his bemused parents as I followed him out of the room. We trekked up the stairs, and he made his way around until he finally came up to a room and opened it. "I'm never going to find my way around the second floor of your manor... you know that, right?" I asked.
He laughed, "Come off it! This is easier to navigate than Hogwarts!"
"We stay at Hogwarts for the better part of a year... and I don't normally sleep over here," I said, throwing my bag down on the bed.
With a snicker, he said, "My room's right next to this one. I can wake you up in the morning."
"Or the middle of the night just to make me flip out..." I muttered, causing him a long chuckle.
We needed to get up bright and early to travel to the World Cup so we could use a Portkey to arrive there and get set up. Portkeys are random objects that would need to be something no Muggle would accidentally pick up, you have to grab hold of it and not let go until you've reached your destination. We weren't allowed to Apparate to it in case there were Muggles nearby, and you had to make sure you got there before the Portkey left without you.
"Did you get dressrobes yet?" I asked, laying down across the foamy mattress. Comfy!
"Yeah... but what do we need them for?" he asked, sitting down on the bed.
"No idea. Must be important though," I said, propping myself up on my elbows so I could look at him properly. "In fact – odd thing. I went just yesterday, and I let this incoming first year go before me. She was dressed in Muggle rags while the woman with her wore some fancy dress. Nuh uh, before you interrupt me–" I snapped, as Draco opened his mouth. "– She told me her parents were wizards. Her mother went to Hogwarts and her Bulgarian father went to Durmstrang. She is an orphan in a Muggle orphanage, and the woman that is with her is horrible!"
His eyebrows raised, "Oh?"
"I threatened her a bit. It was quite fun... but I keep thinking that I want to adopt that poor girl. My mom says it might not be possible because we don't have Muggle money."
He snorted, "Are you telling me this because you want me to do something about it?"
I scoffed, shoving at his arm in frustration. "No, I just... wanted to vent that out again. It didn't help the first time with my mom and uncle."
"All you need now is to tell Becky and you'll feel so much better... she'll probably help."
I glared at him. "Shut up," I said, accompanied by his snorts and snickers.
With a smile still plastered to his face, he asked, "Did you also send a letter to Flint about it? Maybe he'll do something." He nudged me a few times when I didn't answer right away.
I could only flinch and look away.
It was Draco's turn to scoff. "One of the few things to really get on your nerves about a Muggle, and you tell me but not Flint?"
"Well," I said slowly, happy that I could even explain to Draco how I felt about the situation. After a fight last year, he knew I held nothing against Muggles... I was lucky he even wanted to continue being my friend. "Knowing him, he would've said that I shouldn't have even tried to associate with her. It was obvious they weren't from the wizarding world so I technically shouldn't have bothered."
We sat in silence for what felt like hours, though I knew it was probably only a few minutes.
Draco broke the empty air. "Will... will you ever tell Flint that you don't believe in pureblood supremacy?"
"Mm.." I groaned uncertainly... "mmm, I don't think so."
"Well, why not?" he asked, an expression of barely suppressed interest in his face. "You two are dating after all. What does it say about your relationship if you won't tell him your true feelings?"
The words seemed to blurt out of my mouth before I could even think about them. "Because I don't really trust him."
His expression nearly made me laugh if the topic for discussion didn't bother me so much. I would've said he looked like an owl. "Whaa —"
"Please don't make too big a deal about it," I searched my brain frantically for a good lie, eventually falling on something neither he nor Becky knew the details about. "It's just what we fought about at the end of school... still sticks with me."
"You never did say what it was about."
That he knew all along who my father is, and his parents got him to become my friend so he could have a better chance of getting in his good favors. That he started liking me for me and that's why he started dating me, but how he started talking to me still bothers me. "It's.. private. Can we talk about something else?"
Draco's gray eyes studied me a moment before he gave in with a small nod and a pompous smirk. "Sure, Mel."
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"Wha –?" I moaned sleepily while being shaken rather dramatically. Draco was there at my side, trying to wake me up.
"Time to get up!" he shouted, leaning his upper body across my back and slowly adding his weight. "Get dressed. We'll have a quick breakfast and go! Come on, you lazy bum!"
That felt like only a second of sleep. "Fine, now geroff me!" I mumbled into my pillow, hugging it tightly in comfort.
"I'm not getting off until you've woken up... actually, here –" with that he stood up... and pulled me out of bed, out of the comforting warmth of it, "– haha, payback!"
I fell to the floor with a loud thud. I pulled my messy hair out of my face to look up at him, he was still in his pajamas as well. "If I remember correctly, last time Becky and I woke you up to get out of bed it was Christmas our second year and we didn't pull you out of bed."
"You did something similarly painful."
"Pillow fights are softer than landing on the cold, hard floor," I countered.
He smiled and held out his hand. With a soft grumble, I took it and he pulled me to my feet.
"Now get out, I gotta get dressed."
"How about I sit on the bed – not looking, I swear – and just make sure you don't try going back to sleep?" he suggested, snickering at the thought.
No way. "How about you get out of this room before I body slam you and throw you out myself?.. Yeah, Marcus taught me a few things."
He smirked, "Good enough for me," and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
I locked it quickly and sat down on the bed with a tired groan. I sure hope they know how to dress like Muggles, I thought, putting on a gray tank top and jean shorts.
Walking downstairs, the Malfoy family stood waiting for me.
"Oh my God," I mumbled, dropping my face into my hands.
"What?" Draco asked, sidling up next to me as he gnawed on an apple.
"We're going to be around Muggles... you can't expect them not to stare at you in your robes," I whispered to him.
All three of them wore black robes with splashes of green, and pointed wizard hats. His parents stood a few feet away, holding a map between them as they obviously discussed how to get to the Portkey.
"As if we care," Draco sneered, not even bothering to whisper. "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing –"
"You wanna bet?" I asked threateningly.
He gave no reaction, expecting my outburst. His parents, however, flinched.
Crap, better tone it down. "Ugh, fine, I give up. But I'm warning you, if any Muggles sneer at you because you're wearing what they will call odd costumes, that you can't do anything to them...." I paused, then sighed. " Matter of fact, maybe I should just do all the talking."
"I like that idea," Lucius said silkily, leaving the map in Narcissa's hands and walking over to me. He reached into his robes' pocket, pulled out a wad of Muggle money sealed in a plastic bag, and handed it to me with barely suppressed disgust. "Here, you can ask them about the location of our site and pay them – and you can keep all the extra money in there. You know we won't use it again."
My eyes widened, 'keep the extra money' replaying in my head. He winked at me. Draco? I mouthed. He nodded. I gave a bright smile, and turned to Draco with joy. He just shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably, and looked away.
We ate our breakfast quickly, Disapparating to a secluded spot among fields of freshly mowed grass, and walked a few miles away from their manor. There were small buildings set up next to barns, all fairly distant from each other. I secretly admired each well built home while Draco and I walked ahead of Lucius and Narcissa.
"Thank you," I mumbled as we had started walking. It was five in the morning, and would take us about an hour to get there. Our Portkey was supposed to leave at ten minutes past six when the sun would start rising.
"Don't mention it," he said with a smile. Then he looked serious, "No, really, don't mention it. I have a reputation to uphold, and the only reason father agreed was because I explained that the girl's parents were wizards. That you wanted to take her out of a Muggle's incapable claws."
I laughed, "And hide the best of you, Draco? It's not like anyone will expect you to –"
He shook his head, "Nope."
I smiled reassuringly, "Okay, then."
"So this girl," he said, "what's her name?"
"Lissy Parker. I think you'd like her."
"Can you guess what House she might be in?"
"I can't really give a guess – but she seemed to think that I'm a Gryffindor because of the way I threatened her overseer. But you and I both know that Gryffindors think too highly of themselves to do that...."
Draco laughed, giving an extremely sarcastic response. "You? Threatening? No."
I rolled my eyes, bumping my shoulder into his. "By the way, I think you'd have a laugh at the woman's name."
"What?"
"Miss Roachers," I said. He snorted. "She started it first. Threatened that I need to be punished, and that she would take matters into her own hands if she could since my family apparently won't. I told her she was giving empty threats, and threatened her, myself, with magic."
He grinned, "I wish I could've seen that!"
I laughed, "I even made a point to bump into them at the wand shop and get Lissy a wand, myself. Before they left, the woman's eye was twitching!"
"Hush now," Lucius warned us. "We don't want to wake up the locals."
We chuckled as quietly as we could for the rest of the walk.
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Once we reached an empty clearing, with some houses a near mile away, we looked around for what the Portkey could possibly be. It seemed to be nothing but acres and acres of grassy fields.
What finally caught my eye was when, a short distance away, was what looked like a patch of neon green grass. Upon reaching it, we found it was a ratty umbrella with a gaping hole.
"What time is it going to leave?" I asked.
"We have two minutes," Draco said, after consulting his watch.
When his parents caught up with us shortly after, we tightened our holds on our bags and got set up to go. We each held the Portkey with one hand, it was small enough to just fit our four hands perfectly. Lucius was staring at his watch and finally counted down, "Three... two... one..."
A sudden jerk of the umbrella, and my feet had left the ground. Draco and I bumped into each other often, our bodies and even heads slamming together from the impact of the constant spinning. My hand was magically stuck to the umbrella, so I was curious as to how we were supposed to let go –
My feet slammed to the ground, cutting off my inner thoughts in their tracks. Draco and I fell over on top of each other. Lucius and Narcissa stood above us, looking quite windswept, but having never lost their balance. They fixed themselves up as I rolled off of Draco, laying in the grass for a few seconds to breathe. He stood, brushing himself off quickly before holding his hand out and helping me to my feet.
I wasn't listening as Lucius and Narcissa walked away in the direction of two people that stood there waving them over. I brushed all the grass off, and smoothed my hair down as best I could.
"Looks like I didn't have to brush my hair this morning anyways," I grumbled.
"You're telling me," Draco replied, causing me to look up to see him doing the same thing as me. I hadn't even noticed that his hair had ruffled so much... matter of fact, I didn't even think it could do that. His hair was always so perfectly smoothed out.
"Wait, stop," I said, holding my hands up so urgently that he paused his grooming to look at me. "Let me find a camera so I can take a picture of the day Draco Malfoy's hair finally stood out of place!"
He scowled, rolling his eyes before continuing his original task. "Ha. Ha. You're so funny. I almost forgot to laugh."
I grinned as I looked at him, noticing as the sun rose over the horizon that his gray eyes seemed to glow brighter than usual. I stared at them, transfixed, until he finished smoothing his hair out and looked at me curiously.
"All right," he conceded with a sigh, "Just laugh. I know you want to."
I blinked in confusion, shaking my head to hide the burning sensation in my cheeks, uncertain as to why the way his eyes shone in the sunlight made me feel so happy inside. "No, you just... I mean, you look..." I sighed, uncertain what I was even thinking about telling him. That he looks great no matter how his hair was styled? Forget about it. "Let's just go find out where our plot is."
I didn't know why, but he smirked as he responded, "After you, then."
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Author's Note: When I first wrote Melody out on fanfiction.net, I believe – despite me putting specific detail into her run-ins with Lissy over the past two chapters – that I skipped over an important factor in the rush to get the Quidditch World Cup going.... That I need to showcase her relationship with her mom better. I hadn't given much in the way of consequences for the way she talked to Miss Roachers (perhaps because I was a teen then as well), nor for what they might do together before she leaves with a friend for God knows how long. Before, it felt like I literally just made Orele send her out the house without a second thought, and that's just not what heartfelt moms like her do.
SO, I end this note happily. I'm happy and proud to have taken the time out to really work on Melody to perfect her. It's been a long journey that isn't over yet, and I only get better the further along that I go.