Power of the Musea

Chapter 9: Miss Brienwald

The next day, Professor Flitwick stopped her before she left charms and told her that Dumbledore would be able to meet with her after dinner that evening. Rhonda gave an excited squeal as he left and Melanie had to silence her with a firm glare.

After dinner, Melanie nervously walked up to Dumbledore's office. She walked inside and saw him sitting behind his desk.

"Ah, yes, Miss Harver. Please, come in."

Melanie bit her lip as she walked in and sat down in the chair that had magically appeared in front of his desk.

"So, Professor McGonagall tells me that you have recently come into some information?" he began.

Melanie nodded. "Yes, sir."

Dumbledore sighed.

"I'm sorry, sir. I did not mean to overhear it," she blurted out apologetically before he could say anything else. He looked at her and laughed.

"Miss Harver, young students always mean to overhear something."

"I meant that I didn't mean to cause trouble by overhearing something. If I had known it would put me in danger..." she trailed off.

"Miss Harver, you cannot undo what you have heard, so regret does not do much good." Melanie blushed, and Dumbledore smiled at her. "But do let me reassure you that this is not the catastrophe you are making it out to be. I knew it was only a matter of time before you discovered you were from a wizarding family. The family resemblance, after all, is too strong to prevent any suspicion."

Melanie looked at him curiously. "Family resemblance?"

"Yes. Having lived your life with no knowledge of your extended wizarding family you would not know, but you do carry a remarkable family likeness. In fact, it was your close resemblance to your mother that let the nurses at St. Mungo's identify you after the attack."

"So," Melanie started cautiously, "my parents are actually my parents. And they are pureblood wizards?"

Dumbedore smiled. "I can see that you've been thinking and exploring all of your options. But, yes, your mother and father are actually your mother and father. Both attended Hogwarts when they were your age, and both are from pureblood families."

Melanie nodded. "I guess it's just so hard to believe that my parents are actually wizards." She shook her head. "After everything that I've learned only being here these few weeks...how could they just leave it all?" She looked up at Dumbledore. "Did they know I was a witch?"

"Of course. They would have naturally expected it from you and your brother, and I'm sure that you performed accidental magic at many points in your childhood."

"Then why didn't they say anything to me? Why didn't they send me and Simon to school?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I cannot speak for your parents, Miss Harver. A lot was happening when you were born, and there was a lot of fear. I have ideas and theories that would account for their actions, but I will not pretend to know. Only your parents can tell you that."

Melanie nodded disappointedly. "I understand, sir."

"Which is why I asked your mother to grace us with her presence at this meeting."

Melanie looked up at him in shock. "What?"

"I have asked your mother to join us this evening. You have questions that only she can answer, and I need to determine how much information about your past your parents are willing to have revealed at this point, since their wish to keep it a total secret seems to have failed."

Melanie blushed as the fire glowed green and her mother's head appeared out of the fire.

"Ah, yes, Violetta. Right on time," Dumbledore said, turning to face the fireplace.

Melanie just stared at her mother's head sticking out of the fire in surprise. "You can do that?" she muttered to herself.

Melanie's mother turned and looked at her. "Yes, I can do this." She sighed. "Melanie, Melanie, Melanie, what am I going to do with you? You just always seem to find ways to confuse our plans."

"You're confused?" Melanie asked, surprised at her own belligerence. It was as though all of her recent frustrations had finally found words and were escaping her mouth. "I don't know what to believe anymore. Every day, it seems, I'm finding out something new or that something I thought was wrong, or something else happens that completely turns my world upside down!"

"Melanie, you need to understand that we've just been trying to protect you. Everything we did was to protect you. There is no way for you to imagine what it was like..."

"No way to imagine? Doesn't seeing my best friend die in front of my eyes count?"

Melanie's mother pursed her lips. "I know you've been through a lot..."

"And doesn't that entitle me to the truth?"

Melanie's mother sighed. "It's complicated..."

"Then explain it to me. I'm not just a child. I know there are horrible things going on right now-I've been hearing the other students talking about it. And I want to know what all of that has to do with me."

Her mother sighed again. "How much do you know?" she asked disgruntledly.

"Just that you and Dad are really pureblood, but that for some reason you fled to the United States."

Her mother's face suddenly became very stone-like and firm. "How much do you know about what happened before you were born and when you were a baby? About You-Know-Who?"

"Just the basics; what I've heard from my classmates."

Her mother nodded and thought for a moment. "It was your father's and mine desire to remain neutral during everything." Her head shook in the fireplace. "We thought it was our best chance for getting through the whole mess intact, so we didn't choose sides, didn't show any loyalty, and did everything we could think of to stay out of notice."

"That's why you fled to America?" Melanie asked.

Her mother nodded. "We finally realized that there was no such thing as being safe and neutral, and certain events led us to realize that we could no longer remain safely in England for any period of time. So we decided that, for our entire family's sake, we would be safest if we left England and the world of magic."

Melanie noticed her mother throw a look at Dumbledore, but she dismissed it as she tried to picture her parents, with two young children, facing the horror of Voldemort's first reign of terror.

"Then why didn't you come back after he was defeated? You could have come back to England and sent Simon and me to school."

Her mother shook her head. "There was no way to know if he was gone for good or not. And it looks like we were right, from what I've been reading in The Daily Prophet."

"You read the Prophet?!"

"Yes, ever since this summer. We cancelled our subscription when Simon was in kindergarten and tried to convince his teacher that an owl delivered our paper, but we started receiving it again after you were attacked."

"Then you know everything that's been going on," Melanie said softly.

"Yes, which is why I want you to come home so badly. Every day you remain at Hogwarts is one more day in danger, one day closer to when they might decide that you are next on their list." She paused, her eyes firm. "They've already tried once."

Melanie locked eyes with her mother for a moment and there was a silence.

"Need I remind you, Violetta," Dumbledore interrupted, "as I have many times, that Melanie is as safe at Hogwarts as she is at home. We have numerous safeguards this year to protect our students."

"And why would I be in any more danger as a witch when I was attacked as a muggle in the first place?" Melanie asked. She looked at her mother, hoping for her mother to give her arguments to the contrary. But her mother simply sighed.

"I just don't see all of this heading towards a happy ending, that's all," she said gruffly.

"None of us can see the ending, Violetta," Dumbledore said calmly. "That is one of the blessings and curses of life. All we can do is take life as it comes and make the best of the situations given to us."

Melanie's mother sighed. "I'm through trying to argue with you, Dumbledore. You argue your way out of any corner I try to back you into."

"An overstatement of my abilities, I am sure," Dumbledore replied with a chuckle.

"Either way," Melanie's mother continued, "all of my ideas and attempts to make things work haven't. So, we'll try it your way, Dumbledore. Do whatever you feel is best for Melanie while she is at school here. Our secrets are fairly close to being gone, anyway. You took a step towards that when you managed to weasel money from our Gringotts account to buy Melanie's school books."

Dumbledore looked innocently away as Melanie's mother turned her attention back to Melanie.

"Now, it's getting late for you, and I need to return home. Now, if you need anything, Melanie, don't be afraid to ask. There ought to be a few owls in the owlry who are up to a long trip."

Melanie nodded. "All right. Good night, Mom."

Her mother nodded in the fireplace. "Good night, then." She disappeared in a flash of light. Melanie sighed and looked at Dumbledore.

"Is that all, then?" she asked, slightly disappointed at the small explanation she had received.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, if all of your questions are answered."

Melanie fiddled her fingers nervously. "Well, sir, I do have one more," she said uncertainly.

"And what would that be?" he asked.

Melanie took a deep breath. "Have you told me everything?"

He smiled. "Of course not, Miss Harver. Nobody knows everything."

Melanie gave him a confused look. "I see, sir."

"Do not worry, Miss Harver. If any new information comes to my attention, I shall let you know. Until then, your mother's explanations should suffice."

Melanie nodded. "Thank you, sir," she said as she turned to leave.

"Oh, Miss Harver," Dumbledore said, and Melanie turned around to face him again. "I also meant to tell you that there is a lead on the Death Eater that attacked you, and we may be catching him sometime soon."

Melanie nodded. "I hope you do, for Sophie's sake."

"I know that you are suffering from the death of your friend. However, sometimes we must honor the dead by going on with our lives."

Melanie nodded and walked to the door, pausing. She took a deep breath and turned to face him one last time. "Sir, may I ask one more question?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"If my parents were fleeing from, well, from You-Know-Who, then Melanie Harver isn't the name I was born with, is it?"

"Yes, your parents changed their last name when they fled to America."

"So, what is my real name, then?"

"Melanie Brienwald."

Melanie nodded and smiled. "Thank you, sir."

Dumbledore gave her a knowing look. "Would you like me to ask your teachers to refer to you as Miss Brienwald rather than Miss Harver?"

"Wouldn't that possibly put my family in danger, though, if I'm that forward about it?"

"I don't think so. The connection has always been there if someone had wanted to find it."

"I see, sir."

"And don't think that your parents are entirely unprotected in New York. They use the same protections on their home that all wizarding families use over here. Even though they've left the wizarding world, I don't think they ever completely left magic behind."

Melanie nodded and smiled. "Then, yes. I'd like to be called by my real name."

Dumbledore nodded. "All right, then. I will inform the staff in the morning. Now, you need to hurry off to bed."

"Yes, sir. Thank you." Melanie shot him a smile as she hurried out of the office.