Power of the Musea

Chapter 16: A Ghostly Warning

The next day, Harry came up to the Ravenclaw table as lunch was ending. "Up for a flying lesson?" he asked.

Melanie smiled. "Of course." She stood up and they walked out of the Great Hall together.

"Miss Brienwald, a moment, please," McGonagall's voice echoed from one of the stairs.

Melanie groaned as she turned around. She saw McGonagall descending the stairs, followed by a tall, young man.

"Simon!?!" Melanie squealed, leaving Harry's side and running towards the stairs. Simon walked past McGonagall and met her at the base of the stairs. She jumped into his arms and he spun her around a few times before setting her back down.

"Look at you!" he said, taking a step back and looking her up and down. "You just look like you, well, belong."

Melanie smiled and twirled around for him. "But what about you?" she asked. "How did you get here? Why aren't you at home?"

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "We got knocked out of the tournament early this year, I had a free weekend, and Mom told me how to get here. I thought it might be fun to spend some time with my little sister that I haven't seen in months."

"Oh," Melanie said, looking from him to Harry. "Yeah, that sounds great, but..."

"I see," Simon said, glancing at Harry. "You already have plans."

"Simon, this is my friend Harry," Melanie introduced. "Harry, this is my brother, Simon."

"Hello," Harry told him politely, shaking his hand.

Simon nodded, holding onto Harry's hand a little longer than necessary, looking him up and down. "Nice to meet ya."

"I guess you're here to see Melanie, then?"

"Yeah, but it seems as thought I should have made my plans in advance."

"Oh, no problem. I can step aside, I mean, I see her every day."

"No, I couldn't make Melanie give up her..."

"It's not like that, Simon," Melanie interrupted. "He was just going to give me a flying lesson." She looked at Harry, who nodded.

"I have homework that I could catch up on, anyway. Enjoy the afternoon," Harry said as he started to walk away.

"Wait, eh, Harry, isn't it?" Simon shouted after him. "Why don't you stay with us? What's the use of seeing my sister's new world if I don't meet her friends?"

Melanie smiled reassuringly at Harry, who nodded and walked with them.

"Well, how are you doing?" Simon asked as they started to walk around the entrance hall.

"Fine. It was hard catching on at first, but I'm finally starting to feel like I'm at the same level as the other students. What about you? When did Mom and Dad tell you..."

"Pretty much right after you left. I had people asking me left and right where you had gone, and I guess Mom and Dad got tired of me asking questions. So they told me everything."

Melanie turned pale. "Everything?"

Simon nodded. "Of course. Everything-that you were attacked in London by an evil wizard and you've been going to school here."

"Oh," Melanie said, letting out a sigh of relief. "What have you been telling everyone then?"

"The same thing that Mom and Dad have been telling people-that you went to some private school in the city because you couldn't stand the memories of coming back. They all send you their best, though."

Melanie nodded. "I do miss it, sometimes. But I'm starting to fit in here, and I really love it."

Simon nodded, adjusting the backpack on his back.

"Oh, Melanie, I almost forgot," Simon told her, a sneaky smile forming. "I thought you might like to see this." He reached into the backpack and pulled out a leather-bound book.

"What's this?" Melanie asked, opening it to see a collection of wizarding photographs. "Is that..."

"Mom and Dad, when they were students here," Simon finished. "I found it in the attic. I really wish Mom and Dad had told me sooner that they had pictures that moved."

"Wow, this is amazing," Melanie said to herself as she looked through the pictures. Harry looked over her shoulder.

"You look so much like your mom," Harry commented. "And it's weird to see her in Slytherin robes."

Melanie shrugged her shoulders as she paused at a group picture, much like the one Colin had taken in the Great Hall. In the middle was her mother and Narcissa, with her father behind her mother, his arms wrapped around her neck. To their side was a boy who looked eerily similar to her mother, with someone who looked eerily like Draco standing next to Narcissa. Yet another boy sat in the front of the group. They hall had pleasant looks on their faces, but none were smiling outright, as the group had in Melanie's picture.

The next page contained pictures of her mother and the boy that resembled her.

"Who are they?" Harry asked. "That doesn't look like your father."

"It must be my uncle," Melanie said quietly.

"Uncle?"

"Melanie, we don't have any uncles," Simon reminded her.

"Not that you know of," Melanie told him smartly.

"Why are you always the one that learns these things?"

"Because I'm the problem child, Simon. Apparently, he was killed in the fighting and that made Mom want to leave England."

"What, how?"

"I don't know. All I know is that Professor Snape was arguing with Mom about him. Apparently she blames him for his death since the two of them were best friends."

"Snape, have a best friend?" Harry asked in shock. He turned the page back and looked at the boy sitting in the front of the group. "Why does nothing surprise me anymore," he sighed, finally recognizing the familiar hook nose.

"I don't know anything else-they finished the argument in Professor Snape's quarters."

Simon shook his head. "I should just give up on trying to figure out my family's past."

Melanie laughed as the photo album switched from Hogwarts robes to wedding gowns. Then came pictures of a baby boy, followed by a baby girl. There was a picture of Simon learning to walk, his flabby legs wobbling as his toddler form swayed across the picture. The pictures abruptly ended after that.

Melanie sighed and closed the book. "Where did you find this?" she asked.

"Up in the attic."

"Mom and Dad always forbade us from going in the attic! Besides, it's locked. How did you manage it?"

"I'm talented."

"I doubt that, we've tried dozens of times to pick that lock! How did you do it?"

Simon sighed. "It was unlocked. When Mom went into the city one day they left me alone. I had heard them up there earlier, and I guess they accidentally left it unlocked.

"But you should see it, Melanie. It's all of their stuff from when they used to live here-and most of it's amazing. I grabbed that photo album and a few more things." He pulled his backpack up to the table and pulled out a wand.

"A wand?!"

"It's either Mom or Dad's-I found it in a box in a corner." A mischievous look crossed his face and he lowered his voice. "I was hoping you could show me something."

Melanie looked at Harry. "Is that allowed?" she asked

"Is it not so much if we're allowed or if we'll get caught?" he asked. Melanie smiled.

"Let's go up to the organ room."

Fifteen minutes later, they were standing in the organ room and Harry and Simon were facing each other, wands out.

"Trust you to want to learn hexes first," Melanie sighed as poor Harry giggled uncontrollably. She whispered the counterhex and Harry composed himself.

"I don't see what good it's doing me," Simon complained. "Everything just bounces off of you, Melanie."

"Ummm, I've just learned a lot of defenses, that's it," she lied, not wanting to have to explain everything to Simon.

"That's where you have an unfair advantage. If I had been at magic school for all this time, I'd be able to defend myself, too."

Melanie laughed and whispered something. Suddenly, Simon's jaw fell down to the ground.

"Mewawnee!" Simon yelped, trying to reform his face.

Melanie laughed for a minute before returning his face to normal. He glared at her for a moment, then started laughing.

"You know, this is what it would have been like," he told her. "This is what it would have been like if we hadn't left. We would have grown up, stealing our parent's wands, sending hexes at each other and causing trouble."

Melanie's laughing slowed down and she just looked at her brother. "Things would have been so different, wouldn't they?"

Simon sighed and nodded. "I should probably head back," he announced, putting the wand back in his backpack and swinging it over his back.

"Do you really need to go?" she asked as he started to walk out the door.

He nodded. "I have things I have to do tomorrow, and that traveling by fire..."

"Floo powder?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, whatever. But I tell you, if a plane didn't give you enough jet lag, that stuff does. Six hours gone in two seconds!"

Melanie laughed.

"But I will see you again. I mean, doesn't this school give you a Christmas break or something?"

"I hadn't even thought of that, yet," she admitted. "Yeah, I guess I'll be home."

"Great. What about thanksgiving?"

Melanie looked at him in surprise. "Simon...I'm in England."

"Oh," he said, blushing. "Well, I'll see you at Christmas, then." He turned and walked out the door.

"Wait! Don't you want me to walk with you back?"

He shook his head. "No, I'll let you get back to your day. I'm sorry I interrupted it." He turned to Harry. "I'm counting on you to take care of her for me."

Harry nodded.

"I mean it," Simon told him as he turned down the hall. "If I hear about anything or anyone hurting her, they'll have her big brother to deal with. And a bit more practice and I'll be able to hex them real good."

Harry laughed as Simon disappeared. He turned to Melanie. "You know, with everything I've faced, I don't think anything scares me as much as your brother's threat."

Melanie laughed. "He's not that scary," she told him as she walked up next to him.

"Ah, any older brother is scary. That's an older brother's job-to scare away anything that can hurt his baby sister. So..." he trailed off, looking at the room around them, "there's still a bit of time before lunch. Do you want to take a short flying lesson?"

"Actually, I think I'll go back to my room and study some more. With all of this searching through the library for Hermione, I haven't had a lot of time to review old lessons."

"Oh," Harry said, disappointed. "I guess I'll go back to the common room, then."

Melanie laughed. "Why are you trying to avoid the common room so much?"

Harry shook his head. "Just all of this business with Ron and Hermione. Each of them wants me on their side, and it's so nice to spend time somewhere where I don't have to worry about picking sides."

Melanie grimaced. "I'm sorry. Anything I can do?"

"Unless you can miraculously make two people get along. I mean, you saw them last night, and that was better than usual." He sighed. "I guess I have to face it sooner or later."

"Good luck," Melanie shot back at him as he left to walk back to the Gryffindor common room.

~*~*~*~*~*

The next Saturday, Melanie walked up to the organ room a bit early. She sat down and pulled out the fourth year potions book she had worked her way up to.

"You're quite a bit early, aren't you?" a voice asked behind her.

She turned around and saw the phantom standing there.

"I thought you liked your solitude?"

The ghost smiled. "I exaggerated the truth a wee bit."

Melanie laughed. "You seemed very sincere...and almost scary."

"Well, I am an actress, after all," the ghost told her, smirking. "Actually, I was just looking for an excuse to leave. What I wanted to explain to you I didn't want them there for."

Melanie looked at her in surprise. "And what would that be?"

The ghost swirled around her. "I know what the Headmaster wants with you-what he wants you to try to do with your abilities."

Melanie looked at her in confusion. "I don't understand."

"It's not unheard of," the ghost continued, "for wizards to try to manipulate the gift of the musea to their advantage. Until now, however, no one has ever tried to test the limits of that gift to the extent that you and your friends are planning to. I do not know how successful you will be. I just wanted to make one point clear to you before you began."

Melanie looked at her expectantly. "What would that be?"

The ghost fixed a gaze on her that chilled Melanie's bones. "You are not immortal."

"I know that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have died."

"I mean, that being a musea does not give you infallible protection. Your abilities, like everyone else's, has limits. Being a musea does not mean that you cannot be harmed by a magic spell."

The ghost continued to float around her. "I bring your attention to the young lady who possessed the musea spirit before you were born. Her name was Alicia, and I watched from a distance as she went through Hogwarts never quite realizing her abilities-she simply thought that she had a knack for unspoken defensive spells. She left Hogwarts at the same time that Lord Voldemort was gaining power. I do not know why, but for some reason she was marked to be killed by the Death Eaters. A pair was dispatched to her house, where they were quite surprised when the killing curse could do nothing to her. They knocked her out the old fashioned way and brought her to Voldemort himself.

"I doubt that Voldemort ever knew what he was facing, he was probably just shocked that someone had devised an effective defense to the killing curse and wanted to get rid of them before they could share that information with anyone else. It took twelve Death Eaters five hours of constant curses-the cruciatus curse and the killing curse to name a few-until her power finally broke and she died."

Melanie stared into space with wide-open eyes, her face as white as snow. The ghost put her face as close to Melanie's as possible. "You can die, and Voldemort knows how to do it."

Melanie was quiet in shock for a long while. "You disagree with what I am doing, then?" she asked in a quivering voice. "You think I should be like my parents and just hide out?"

"You are young, and can easily fall prey to an invincibility mentality. I wanted to make sure that you fully understand that you are just as mortal as everyone else."

Melanie shook her head. "I...I can't! How can you expect me to want to stand aside during all this, knowing that I could help my friends? They are more vulnerable than I am, yet they have the courage to stand up and fight."

"You are not invincible," the ghost told her slowly.

"But I'm better off than they are! What if it's true, and I can use my power to protect them? How could I ever live with myself knowing that I could have helped to protect my friends, but chose to save myself instead?"

"But what if you cannot give them your power?"

"Then I can still support them! I am in no more danger than they are, how can you expect me to sit on the sidelines?"

The ghost looked at her in amusement. "I am surprised with you. You have a lot of courage and loyalty. I am surprised that you were not sorted into Gryffindor."

Melanie blushed. "I am not brave enough for that. I am the knight who is brave because I have a large shield in front of me. My friends are braver, because they stand with nothing but a sword."

The ghost nodded. "And yet you are willing to fight behind your shield. Others would take that shield and do nothing but hide behind it." She gave a soft laugh. "Obviously, you are a musea for a reason. Somehow, I feel that the spirit is ready to stand up and take a shot against evil." She shook her head.

"You disagree with me, though? You still think that I should protect and preserve myself?"

"No, I do not, actually," the ghost said gravely. "I was here when Tom Riddle went through Hogwarts. I have heard the stories of his rise as Lord Voldemort. And I am convinced that there is nothing more evil than that man, if you can continue to call him that, and that it is of the utmost importance for us to unite against him. I just wanted to make sure that you knew the risks. If you choose to fight, it may very well result in your death."

Melanie turned pale and silent yet again. "Everyone dies at some point. But I can't stand aside and watch my friends fight knowing that I could help them."

The ghost nodded. "Very well, then. Your friends approach. Good luck to you. I will be here if ever you need me." She floated back towards the organ and disappeared as the door to the room opened.

Once everyone had arrived, they started sending every hex or jinx they could think of towards Melanie, who just stood there. This time, after about fifteen minutes, Melanie was ready to sit down.

"Anything new?" Hermione asked as the group sat down around the room.

"Nothing happens. I just hear music," she said. "Is there nothing else we can do?"

"We can try to see if we can get you to protect someone else," Hermione suggested, her eyes lingering on Ron.

Melanie shook her head. "I don't think so. If I don't feel like facing simple hexes right now, I highly doubt that I can manage to protect someone else. If we're going to try it, we need to try it when I'm fresh."

Hermione sighed. "Fine. I guess we'll stop here and meet again next Saturday. Everyone just try to think of ways that we might possibly be able to get Melanie to transfer her powers. I'll see what ideas I can dig up in the library."

Hermione was true to her word. When everyone gathered in the organ room the next week, Hermione had a thorough plan to try with Melanie.

"Okay," Hermione started as everyone relaxed around the room, "magic like this often requires a strong emotional bond to work. So if we're going to get Melanie to transfer her powers, it needs to be someone she has a strong bond to."

The group looked at Rhonda. "Me?" she asked meekly.

"You are the person here Melanie is closest to," Hermione admitted.

Rhonda took a deep breath and stood up. "All right."

"Okay, we need to..." Hermione started to say, but Ginny had already drawn her wand and had sent a hex towards Rhonda.

"Ginny!" Ron shouted as Rhonda stumbled. Hermione cast the counterhex and Rhonda shook it off. She looked over at Melanie, who had turned white.

"Are you all right?"

Melanie just stared past her as though into a different world.

"Melanie?"

Melanie blinked and looked at Hermione. "I think I've had enough Hermione," she said simply, standing up and leaving. Everyone else in the room exchanged surprised looks.

Rhonda quickly followed Melanie out and found her on her bed, looking at pictures and crying. She took a tentative step towards the bed.

"I couldn't do it," Melanie sobbed. "And all I saw was Sophie. I saw Ginny cast that hex and all I saw was Sophie." She shook her head and continued to sob.

Rhonda sat down next to Melanie and wrapped her arm around her. "It was just a silly hex. I'm all right."

"But it just reminded me..." Melanie trailed off. She shook her head and kept looking down at her pictures. "What if I can't do it?"

"You can do it, you just need more practice," Rhonda assured her. "If anyone can do it you can. Just remember why you're doing it and keep trying."

Melanie sniffled and nodded. "I'm sorry, you must think I'm pathetic."

"Of course I don't! You are dealing with more than I can even imagine. But you can do it; I know you can. Just remember why you're doing it and use that as your strength, not your weakness."

Melanie nodded. "Thanks."

"What are friends for?" she asked, giving her a big hug.

~*~*~*~*~*

The next week, Melanie was back and ready to try to transfer her powers again. They started to work every week, trying every strategy that Hermione managed to dig up in the library. No strategy seemed to work (except Ron's suggestion that Melanie could just jump in front of the spell), and all they could get Melanie to do was just defend every hex they could throw at her. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get her to protect anyone else, even with the simplest of hexes.

"But I don't like just standing here getting attacked by Ginny's Bat-Bogey hex," Rhonda said as Ginny pointed her wand at her at their last session before the Christmas break. The guys were off somewhere, and it was just Ginny, Melanie, Rhonda, and Hermione.

"But it's the only way that we can see if we can get Melanie to transfer her power," Hermione told her as Ginny cast the hex.

"Nope, nothing," Melanie said as Ginny removed the hex quickly, still having to endure Rhonda's glare. "Your turn, Ginny."

"Why can't we get Malfoy or someone else up here that we don't like so that we can hex him instead of each other?" Ginny complained as Rhonda took out her wand and pointed it at Ginny.

"Well, why would it work on Malfoy any better than us? If it only works with people she has a deep emotional contact with, we'd never get anywhere with Malfoy," Hermione reminded them.

"Unless hate works as a deep emotional contact," Ginny laughed.

"He hasn't been too horrible lately, though," Melanie said, staring down at the ground.

"He hasn't been too horrible to you. You're parents are wizards, he won't let me forget who mine are," Hermione said with tinge of hatred.

"Yes, he is still a git, but he's been a bit more, well, nonexistent this year."

"Yes, and a good improvement it is," Hermione said, sitting down. "I think that's enough for tonight. Maybe we'll be able to figure something out over break."

"All right!" Ginny said enthusiastically, sitting down before Rhonda could hex her.

Melanie just sighed. "Well, if we're done, then I'll go ahead and go back to my room. This wears me out," she explained, walking to the door.

"Of course," Hermione told her. "We'll see you in class."

"Only one more week!" Ginny added excitedly. "This time next week, and we'll be on our way home!"

Melanie smiled, turning her glance towards Rhonda. Rhonda took the hint and walked out with her, and they walked together back to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Is there something wrong?" Rhonda asked as they sat down in front of the fireplace.

Melanie shook her head. "No, I just wanted to leave so I could get some more studying done."

"Studying! There's a week until break, what do you have to study?"

"There's still a week of classes, then, isn't there?"

"But there is so much more!"

"Like what?"

"Well, Slughorn's Christmas bash, for one," Rhonda added, her eyes flashing mischievously.

"What do you mean? Neither of us are invited."

Rhonda shrugged her shoulders. "But I thought you'd be wondering if a certain black-haired Gryffindor was going to ask you..."

"What? Rhonda, how many times do I have to tell you that I don't think of Harry like that!"

"Oh, yes, I forgot...you have a thing for Malfoy," Rhonda said, rolling her eyes. "I still think..."

"You're hopeless," Melanie laughed, standing up. "Harry and I are just friends, just like I've always said. I'm going to go study now."

"But if Harry asks, you will say yes, right?" Rhonda shouted after her.

But Harry didn't ask, and it soon spread through the school that Harry had instead asked Luna Lovegood to go. Melanie was relieved, although Rhonda huffed around the common room for a couple hours when she heard.

When the night of Slughorn's Christmas party arrived, Melanie was quite content to sit on her bed, reading the last of her old potions lessons.

"Are you really just going to study all night when it's our last night in Hogwarts before Christmas break?" Rhonda asked, tossing aside the copy of The Daily Prophet that she had been reading.

"Why not? I'm finishing up the fifth year book. Once I finish these last couple of chapters, I'll be officially caught up in potions!"

"But it's the last night!" Rhonda whined.

Melanie laughed. "And what do you suggest we do? Everyone's at Slughorn's party, and, unless you have an idea for a grand adventure, I'll just sit here and read."

Rhonda's eyes glimmered mischievously. "We could have an adventure."

"Like what?"

"Feel like crashing a party?"

Melanie laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Why not? Do you think they'll notice us among everyone else? And what are they going to do if they do find us? They can't give us detention-we're going home tomorrow!"

"A last hurrah for the term?"

Rhonda nodded.

"Hmmm." Melanie looked from Rhonda to her book, then smiled and set the book aside. "Let's go!"

The girls giggled as they walked down into the deserted common room and out into the hall.

"What are two young Ravenclaws doing out this late in the evening?" a voice asked from the wall.

"I left some more books in the library, Grandfather," Melanie lied, pausing to answer the portrait.

The portrait raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yes, and Rhonda's going down to get it with me."

"Well, I shall expect you back rather quickly, then. I wouldn't want you to get caught out and loose some of Ravenclaw's house points."

"Don't worry!" Melanie shouted back at him as she and Rhonda walked down the hall, waiting until they were out of earshot before they started giggling again.

"We've got to be quiet, Rhonda!" Melanie whispered. "We're trying not to get caught."

Rhonda cleared her throat and stopped giggling. "Right," she agreed seriously.

They walked quietly throughout the hallways, tiptoeing quietly in the darkness.

"Rhonda, do you even know where Slughorn's party is?" Melanie asked after they'd been wandering around for a while.

Rhonda stopped in her tracks. "I knew I was forgetting something!"

Melanie laughed and leaned against the wall. "Great. So much for our grand scheme."

"But, hey, wandering around like this is a lot of fun."

"Yeah. I used to do stuff like this all the time back home. Sophie and I could weasel our way out of about anything. I haven't even tried to do anything adventurous here."

"Well, now you are."

"Yeah, and it's so much fun-your heart pumping, wondering if you're going to get caught."

"Race you to the end of the hall!" Rhonda shouted suddenly, taking off down the dark hallway.

"Rhonda!" Melanie whispered loudly after her, trying to follow her as best as she could through the dark hallway.

Suddenly, Rhonda's figure turned and started to run back towards her. "Go! It's Peeves!"

Melanie darted to the side of the hallway as Rhonda ran past her with Peeves on her trail shouting, "Student out of bed! Student out of bed!"

Even though Peeves was chasing after Rhonda, Melanie took off in a different direction. She turned backwards to make sure Peeves hadn't followed her instead and ran into someone.

"I'm sorry!" she immediately apologized as the figure pulled out their wand.

"Lumos," the figure said, and the wand's light lit up Draco's face.

"Oh, it's you," Melanie said, relaxing a bit.

"What are you doing out like this?"

"I should ask you the same question," Melanie fired back.

"My business is none of your concern, Yankee."

"Then neither should mine."

"Well, fine, then, Miss I'm-better-than-my-own-blood," Draco said as he started to walk past her.

"Well, that's not quite a slander coming from a guy who goes around randomly kissing girls," Melanie told him firmly.

Draco turned and looked at her for a minute. "You know, that was a Malfoy kiss. That doesn't happen every day."

"Oh, yes, I know," Melanie replied sarcastically. "Good thing it doesn't. I might have to commit suicide if I did have to experience it every day."

Draco just shook his head and walked up to her. "You don't have to pretend, you know. I know you're just being all tough because you liked it."

"In your dreams."

"Really? It is nighttime, you know."

Melanie just glared at him and he smirked at her. "Remember, Yankee, anything I want."

A look of fake sincerity crossed Melanie's face. "Oh, so you really do want to be hexed into oblivion? All right, then," Melanie said, pulling out her wand.

"You wouldn't hex me."

"Try me."

Draco opened his mouth to respond, but they heard footsteps coming down the hall. Draco looked behind him, then grabbed Melanie's arm and pulled her into a nearby doorway. They both stood there next to each other, silently waiting for the footsteps to pass.

"I know somebody's here," a voice snarled from down the hall. "I heard voices. If you come out now I shall be more lenient in your punishment."

"Snape!" Melanie whispered to herself. "Great. If my mom finds out about this I'm toast." Draco looked at her as she gazed worriedly out into the hallway.

"This is your last chance," Snape announced again, this time a bit closer.

"It's better than him finding us," Melanie whispered, starting to step back out into the hallway. Draco pushed her back into the doorway and stepped out into the hallway itself.

"It's just me, Professor."

Melanie saw the light from Snape's wand focus on Draco.

"Mister Malfoy. I thought we covered this just a little while ago. You should not be out wandering at night. If someone would catch you..."

"Filch caught me, and I weaseled my way out of it fine enough, didn't I?"

"This time. You don't know what the circumstances will be next time. Your best bet is to avoid being caught. Now, talking rather loudly in the middle of a dark hallway is not in any way avoiding capture. Now, who were you with? I heard voices."

"Nobody, Professor. I was just talking to myself."

"Oh, really? Why do I not believe that?"

"You can believe whatever you want, but I'm telling the truth."

"Really? I think if you were telling the truth, then you wouldn't be using occlumency against me. Who are you trying to protect?"

"That's none of your business!"

"Draco, I've already told you, I'm here to help you. But I only can if you'll let me!"

"We don't need your help!"

"Oh, yes, I forgot that the almighty Draco Malfoy doesn't need any help."

"Glad to know that you finally have that through your head," Draco said, walking past him.

"Don't walk away from me again, Draco!" she heard Snape yell, and she saw the light from the wand turn to the other end of the hall. Their voices faded. Melanie poked her head out and checked to make sure that they had both left the hallway. She looked out to the empty hallway for a few minutes before she finally left the doorway and started to run towards the Ravenclaw common room.

She didn't stop until he was safely behind the portrait.