P R E V I O U S L Y
"Μείνε ασφαλής, λουλούδι μου" Said the woman,
a sad tone in her voice before she kissed the child's forehead,
and let her go into the sea; which even in the blazing thunderstorm, still remained calm.
➶︎ KEEPING UP WITH THE
WEASLEYS !
MELANIE SAT IN HER ROOM, brows furrowing as she looked at her third-year class options. There was Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination, Study of Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures.
Bringing her gaze towards her twin sister, Ginny—who was also looking at the electives— she sighed. It was barely audible, but her sister heard, and looked up at her.
"What are you taking, Gin?"
"I think I'm going to take Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies."
"Oh."
"Oh.?"
"I was thinking about taking Care of Magical Creatures too, but I'm torn in between Arithmancy and Ancient Runes."
"I say either Arithmancy, or just take both."
"Both? Helga, that's a whole lot of work,"
"Well then just take Arithmancy, I mean, unless you need Ancient Runes in the career path you want."
"But Ancient Runes sounds quite nice..." There was a slight pause before Melanie sighed, "Fine, I'll take Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes. There, we're done choosing."
"Oh thank merlin, let's go now Mel, mum's supposed to be done making lunch by now."
"Yeah, Harry's coming today, right? For the quidditch cup?"
"Yeah, he should be here soon—"
CRASH
"—that should be them! Come on, Gin!"
Going downstairs, Melanie smiled, happy that her bigger brothers, Charlie and Bill was here, and also for going to the quidditch World Cup.
Melanie, despite being a Weasley, wasn't sorted into Gryffindor, but rather, Hufflepuff. She was the black sheep in the family. Very different, yet nothing really changed at home. She was still Melanie, the same girl who would listen to her bigger brothers' rambles when no one would, the same girl who makes fantastic baked goods, and especially the same girl who has the Weasley mischief sparkle whenever she was up to no good—which was a rare occurrence.
Yet, there were always questions as to why she was the odd one out. One of them, being as to why her eyes were not blue—like the rest of the family—but rather; sea green. When she asked this to her father, he only chuckled nervously before telling her that some people in his ancestry did have the same eyes as her, bringing that question down ever since.
She was brought out of her little daydream as Hermione got out of the bathroom, also coming down to see Harry. The three girls went downstairs, only to hear the Weasley twins arguing with their father.
"That's not the point!" raged her father, "You wait until I tell your mother —"
"Tell me what?" Said a voice from behind.
Melanie's mother, Molly Weasley, had just entered the kitchen to hear her father, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Oh, hello, Harry dear," she said, spotting Harry and smiling. Then, her eyes snapped back to her husband, "Tell me what, Arthur?"
Mr. Weasley hesitated, and Melanie could tell that, however angry he was with Fred and George, he hadn't really intended to tell Mrs. Weasley what had happened. There was a silence, while Mr. Weasley eyed his wife nervously. By that time, Harry spotted the three girls in all their glory, and smiled at them, which made Ginny blush furiously. Melanie and Hermione smirked, knowing all too well of the fellow Gryffindor's crush to the-boy-who-lived.
"It's nothing, Molly," mumbled Mr. Weasley, "Fred and George just - but I've had words with them —"
"What have they done this time?" said Mrs. Weasley "If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes —"
"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" said Hermione from the doorway.
"He knows where he's sleeping," said Ron obliviously, "in my room, he slept there last —"
"We can all go," said Hermione pointedly.
"Oh," said Ron, cottoning on. "Right."
"Yeah, we'll come too," said George
"You stay where you are!" snarled Mrs. Weasley.
Harry and Ron edged out of the kitchen, and they, Hermione, Melanie, and Ginny set off along the narrow hallway and up the rickety staircase that zigzagged through the house to the upper stories
"What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked as they climbed.
Ron, Melanie and Ginny both laughed, although Hermione didn't.
"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room," said Ron quietly, "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented Joke stuff, you know Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that..."
"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," said Ginny, "We thought they just liked the noise."
"They're really brilliant," added Melanie, "I always knew they were smart if they actually are determined to do things, mind you — most of the things are very advanced magic."
"Only, most of the stuff - well, all of it, really - was a bit dangerous," said Ron, "and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them, told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms...She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many OWLs as she expected."
( OWLs were Ordinary Wizarding Levels, the examinations Hogwarts students took at the age of fifteen. )
"And then there was this big row," Ginny said, "because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop."
Just then a door on the second landing opened, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression,
"Hi, Percy," said Harry.
"Oh hello, Harry," said Percy "I was wondering who was making all the noise I'm trying to work in here, you know I've got a report to finish for the office - and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs."
"We're not thundering," said Ron irritably, "We're walking, sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic."
"What are you working on?" said Harry.
"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation," said Percy smugly.
Melanie led out a small sigh, which only everyone except her brothers heard. Ever since he got the job in the ministry, Percy haven't spent much time with the family, almost always doing work. She didn't know how, but it was even worse as to when her brother got a secret girlfriend. She was upset, they rarely had their midnight discussions now — which was when they talked about anything before bedtime—mostly Percy talking about his learnings while Melanie asked for help and listened, which was one of the only things she did with her brother, and she loved every second of it, no matter the topic.
"We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin - leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year -"
"That'll change the world, that report will," said Ron, "Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect, cauldron leaks."
Percy went slightly pink.
"You might sneer, Ron," he said heatedly, "but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriously endanger - "
"Yeah, yeah, all right," said Ron, and he started off upstairs again Percy slammed his bedroom door shut.
As Harry, Hermione, Melanie — who had now sprouted a disappointed face —and Ginny followed Ron up three more flights of stairs, shouts from the kitchen below echoed up to them It sounded as though Mr. Weasley had told Mrs. Weasley about the toffees.
The room at the top of the house where Ron slept looked much as it had the last time that Harry had come to stay;
The same posters of Ron's favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, were whirling and waving on the walls and sloping ceiling, and the fish tank on the windowsill, which had previously held frog spawn, now contained one extremely large frog.
Ron's old rat, Scabbers, was here no more, but instead there was the tiny gray owl that had delivered Ron's letter to Harry in Privet Drive.
It was hopping up and down in a small cage and twittering madly.
"Shut up, Pig," said Ron, edging his way between two of the four beds that had been squeezed into the room.
"Fred and George are in here with us, because Bill and Charlie are in their room," he told Harry, "Percy gets to keep his room all to himself because he's got to work."
"Er - why are you calling that owl Pig?" Harry asked Ron.
"Because he's being stupid," said Ginny.
"Its proper name is Pigwidgeon." Added Melanie again.
"Yeah, and that's not a stupid name at all," said Ron sarcastically.
"Ginny named him," he explained to Harry. "She reckons it's sweet. And I tried to change it, but it was too late, he won't answer to anything else. So now he's Pig. I've got to keep him up here because he annoys Errol and Hermes. He annoys me too, come to that."
Pigwidgeon zoomed happily around his cage, hooting shrilly. They knew Ron too well to take him seriously. He had moaned continually about his old rat, Scabbers, but had been most upset when Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, appeared to have eaten him.
"Where's Crookshanks?" Harry asked Hermione now.
"Out in the garden, I expect," she said, "He likes chasing gnomes. He's never seen any before."
"Percy's enjoying work, then?" said Harry, sitting down on one of the beds and watching the Chudley Cannons zooming in and out of the posters on the ceiling.
"Enjoying it?" replied Melanie darkly, which took Harry by surprised since the only thing that seemed to sprout of the girl to him was gentle words.
"I don't reckon he'd come home if Dad didn't make him. He's obsessed. Doesn't spend time with his family anymore, it's like I—er— we. We don't matter anymore..."
"Er - Just don't get him onto the subject of his boss." Said Ron awkwardly, seeing his sister in a gloomy state was hard to see for the family, and they tried everything to make her mind distracted, though the said brother seemed to be as blind as Harry without glasses.
"According to Mr. Crouch... as I was saying to Mr. Crouch... Mr. Crouch is of the opinion... Mr. Crouch was telling me... They'll be announcing their engagement any day now." Said Ginny, trying to ease up her sister with a joke.
"Have you had a good summer, Harry?" said Hermione, quickly changing the subject.
"Did you get our food parcels and everything?"
"Yeah, thanks a lot," said Harry. "They saved my life, those cakes."
"It's alright Harry, it was a good practice for my baking anyways, as this house would be filled with food if you didn't ask." Said Melanie, her mood eased as a bright smile replaced her frown. But it seemed only short-lived, as the frown replaced it back at the thought of Percy.
"And have you heard from -?" Ron began, but at a look from Hermione he fell silent.
"I think they've stopped arguing," said Hermione, to cover the awkward moment, because Ginny and Melanie was looking curiously from Ron to Harry.
"Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?"
"Yeah, all right," said Ron.
"Oh, no, no you go first. I - erm, forgot something in my room, let me just -" Awkwardly, Melanie left the room, going to hers, knowing that they all knew it was a lie, but they didn't say anything, so the youngest Weasley was relieved. She sat on her bed looking at the wall - almost glaring - not remembering as the noises and time passed.
Meanwhile, the four Gryffindors ventured out, only to see Bill and Charlie with their wands out, levitating the tables, and attempting to smash each other's tables with the twins watching with amusement.
After they got a telling off from Percy, the two oldest Weasleys fixed the tables, their gazes turning to the four, only for them to not see the youngest Weasley.
"Where's Linnie?" asked Bill, who called his sister in the nickname they had for her when she was younger.
"Mel got into the subject of Percy again, she's in her room." Muttered Ginny, glaring at Percy's window.
The Weasley boys' glow darkened at the mention.
"Don't know why the daft -"
"- blind-"
"-arrogant-"
"-grease even affects her, he's nothing but a pompous brat." Muttered Fred, as him and George does their creepy twin thing, which sadly, Ginny and Melanie doesn't have. Their looks, albeit similar, was also very different, fortunately for Mrs. Weasley.
EARLY IN THE MORNING, THE NEXT DAY, Hermione, Melanie and Ginny woke up to Mrs. Weasley screaming. Melanie thinks its still an ungodly hour, but was excited for the Quidditch World Cup nonetheless. Being allowed to sew had its perks, as Melanie's closet seem to be filled with her mother's jumpers and her own clothes, which when Hermione found out, was pretty impressed. Putting on a white blouse, her yellow jumper, and her dark grey joggers, Melanie went -but not before she took her black hair-tie downstairs.
While Ginny and Hermione looked pale and drowsy, Melanie looked like Christmas had came early. How? Even she didn't know.
"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny said, rubbing her eyes and sitting down at the table.
"We've got a bit of a walk," said Mr. Weasley.
"Walk?" said Harry, "What, are we walking to the World Cup?"
Melanie chuckled at his knowledge of the wizarding world. Despite defeating one of the darkest wizards in history, his obliviousness to the Wizarding World is basically one out of a hundred. Pouring herself a cup of tea, she listened to the discussion.
"No, no, that's miles away," said Mr. Weasley, smiling, "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup..."
"George!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply, and they all jumped, Melanie, spilling a bit of tea on the table.
"What?" said George, in an innocent tone that deceived nobody.
"What is that in your pocket?"
"Nothing!"
"Don't you lie to me!" Mrs. Weasley pointed her wand at George's pocket and said, "Accio!"
Several small, brightly colored objects zoomed out of George's pocket; he made a grab for them but missed, and they sped right into Mrs. Weasley's outstretched hand.
"We told you to destroy them!" said Mrs. Weasley furiously, holding up what were unmistakably more Ton-Tongue Toffees.
"We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"
It was an unpleasant scene; especially for Melanie, who were quite proud of them for pursuing their dreams. The twins had evidently been trying to smuggle as many toffees out of the house as possible, and it was only by using her Summoning Charm that Mrs. Weasley managed to find them all.
"Accio! Accio! Accio!" she shouted, and toffees zoomed from all sorts of unlikely places, including the lining of George's jacket and the turn-ups of Fred's jeans.
"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted at his mother as she threw the toffees away.
"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" she shrieked, "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"
All in all, the atmosphere was not very friendly as they took their departure.
Mrs. Weasley was still glowering as she kissed Mr. Weasley on the cheek, though not nearly as much as the twins, who had each hoisted their rucksacks onto their backs and walked out without a word to her.
"Well, have a lovely time," said Mrs. Weasley, "and behave yourselves," she called after the twins' retreating backs, but they did not look back or answer.
"I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday," Mrs. Weasley said to Mr. Weasley, as he, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Melanie and Ginny set off across the dark yard after Fred and George.
It was chilly and the moon was still out. Only a dull, greenish tinge along the horizon to their right showed that daybreak was drawing closer.
They trudged down the dark, dank lane toward the village, the silence broken only by their footsteps. The sky lightened very slowly as they made their way through the village, its inky blackness diluting to deepest blue.
Melanie ended up walking beside Ginny and Hermione, discussing some things.
"Mum said some of us need dress robes this year."
"I wonder why - when I asked her, she just said 'you'll see'" Huffed Ginny.
Hermione's brows furrowed, "Yeah, I need dress robes too, when my mum found out, she went out and bought me a periwinkle blue dress."
"Sounds pretty 'mione, anyways, if I have to have to bring dress robes, there's this emerald green dress I have in my closet that I began making. If not, well then I'd probably still continue it." Said Melanie.
"Yeah, you have to see it Hermione, Melanie made this really beautiful green dress, said she wanted to paint it to add more color."
They didn't have breath to spare for talking again as they began to climb Stoatshead Hill, stumbling occasionally in hidden rabbit holes, slipping on thick black tuffets of grass.
Each breath Melanie took was sharp in her chest, and her legs were starting to seize up when, at last, her feet found level ground.
"Whew," panted Mr. Weasley, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his sweater. "Well, we've made good time - we've got ten minutes."
Hermione came over the crest of the hill last, clutching a stitch in her side.
"Now we just need the Portkey," said Mr. Weasley, replacing his glasses and squinting around at the ground. "It won't be big.... Come on..."
They spread out, searching. They had only been at it for a couple of minutes, however, when a shout rent the still air.
"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it."
Two tall figures were silhouetted against the starry sky on the other side of the hilltop.
"Amos!" said Mr. Weasley, smiling as he strode over to the man who had shouted.
The rest of them followed. Mr. Weasley was shaking hands with a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby brown beard, who was holding a moldy-looking old boot in his other hand.
"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," said Mr. Weasley. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"
Cedric Diggory was an extremely handsome boy of around seventeen. He was Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff House Quidditch team at Hogwarts. Other than quidditch, Melanie and the captain seem to talk about a few things, so they were on normal terms.
"Hi," said Cedric, looking around at them all, sending a big smile at Melanie, one she returned.
Everybody said hi back except Fred and George, who merely nodded. They had never quite forgiven Cedric for beating their team, Gryffindor, in the first Quidditch match of the previous year.
"Long walk, Arthur?" Cedric's father asked.
"Not too bad," said Mr. Weasley.
"We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"
"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still... not complaining... Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons - and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy...."
Amos Diggory peered good-naturedly around at the three Weasley boys, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Melanie.
"All these yours, Arthur?"
"Oh no, only the redheads," said Mr. Weasley, pointing out his children. "This is Hermione, friend of Ron's - and Harry, another friend -"
"Merlin's beard," said Amos Diggory, his eyes widening, "Harry? Harry Potter?"
"Er - yeah," said Harry.
Melanie knew Harry was used to people looking curiously at him when they met him, used to the way their eyes moved at once to the lightning scar on his forehead, but she also knew it always made him feel uncomfortable.
"Ced's talked about you, of course," said Amos Diggory, "Told us all about playing against you last year... I said to him, I said - Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will.... You beat Harry Potter!"
Harry couldn't think of any reply to this, so he remained silent. Fred and George were both scowling again. Cedric looked slightly embarrassed. Melanie just frowned.
"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," he muttered, "I told you... it was an accident...."
"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" roared Amos genially, slapping his son on his back.
"Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman... but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"
"Must be nearly time," said Mr. Weasley quickly, pulling out his watch again.
"Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?"
"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," said Mr. Diggory.
"There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"
"Not that I know of," said Mr. Weasley, "Yes, it's a minute off... We'd better get ready...."
He looked around at Harry and Hermione. "You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do -"
With difficulty, owing to their bulky backpacks, the ten of them crowded around the old boot held out by Amos Diggory. They all stood there, in a tight circle, as a chill breeze swept over the hilltop. Nobody spoke.
"Three...
two...
one..."
And like that, they were off.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
To all of you who understands or theorize who she
is by the small details I have put, damn.