Power of the Musea

Chapter 18: Protection

Melanie tried to look around her, tried to realize what was going on. She saw a glimpse of fine wood paneling and of dark green carpet before another melody began to play in her ears and the pain subsided once again.

"Melanie?" This time it was her father's voice that met her. She looked up at him.

"It, it's music," she stammered, trying to explain what she was already thinking in her head. "It's just like in the pensieve," she thought. "I can hear the music trying to fight the spell."

But who was casting a spell on her, here, at home?

"Can you stand?" he asked. Melanie nodded, all of the music subsiding now as she struggled to her feet. "Grab onto my arm," he instructed, and she did so.

"Octavian..." she heard her mother trail off.

"It's the only answers we can get, Violetta," he said.

"But you can't...You haven't in so long, what if something goes wrong?"

"How do you know that I don't on bad weather days?" he asked with a grin. "I'll be fine. Drive Simon there in the car and we'll see you there."

As Melanie was trying to understand what her father's instructions meant, she suddenly felt as though she was being sucked into a tube. The next second, she saw a fireplace standing in front of her.

"Mr. Brienwald!" a man sitting in the corner exclaimed, jumping up from his chair. "What?"

"This is an emergency. My wife and son will be here shortly." Melanie watched as her father led her to the fireplace, grabbing a handful of floo powder from a nearby container.

"Hogwarts!" her father shouted, pulling Melanie into the green flames as Melanie closed her eyes.

When Melanie opened them, she found herself lying in the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey looking over her.

"Yes, she'll be quite all right. I must say, you two gave me quite a start, bursting in like that. I'm not used to seeing students rush in with their parents in the middle of break."

"But what happened?" her father asked.

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "I hate to say it, but it looks like she was hit with the cruciatus curse."

"What!"

"It wasn't bad. It was probably the weakest casting of the curse I've ever seen. But, no permanent damage, no further danger. She'll be just fine."

Melanie's father looked at her in confusion. "But how on Earth was she hit with the cruciatus? There wasn't anyone nearby who would-or could-do that to her!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Brienwald, but, in all of my years here, I've learned not to ask how the events occurred, just fix the effects."

Melanie's father gave a frustrated sigh and nodded. "Thank you, Madame Pomfrey."

"Of course, it's just my job. She seems to be in no further danger, so I'll leave you alone for a moment to sort things out. I'll go see the Headmaster and see what else is to be done about all this."

As she walked away, he sat down next to her bed. "Melanie, do you know anything that could help us figure this out?"

Melanie thought for a moment, going back over everything she could remember step by step in her mind. "Well, a lot of it reminded me about the alley in London..." she let her voice trail off.

"Well, that would explain why it was a weak curse, if your, er, musical abilities managed to knock most of it off. But that still doesn't explain where the curse came from." He looked at Melanie expectantly.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I was drifting off to sleep, but I guess it might have been possible that someone was there underneath an invisibility cloak."

"That's not a reassuring thought," he said.

"No, I guess it isn't," Melanie agreed as Madame Pomfrey walked back to the bedside.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore is unfortunately too busy to come down here right now, but he has suggested that you remain here until the identity of Melanie's attacker is discovered. He says that he can arrange for anything you need to be brought here and can arrange for quarters for you and your family for the remainder of break."

"Oh, of course. It would be the best option, of course."

Madame Pomfrey nodded. "Of course, I shall tell the Professor that you agree and we should have you situated before dinner." She started to walk away, but turned back at the last minute. "Oh, and your wife and son have arrived, sir," she announced as Simon and his mother rushed past her to Melanie's bedside.

"Melanie!" she said, running her fingers through Melanie's hair. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Melanie answered. Her mother looked up at her father.

"What happened?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Someone attacked her with the cruciatus curse. We don't know how yet, but Dumbledore has suggested that we stay here for the rest of her break until they figure out what happened."

She nodded. "Of course." She looked at Melanie. "Did you see anything?"

Melanie shook her head. "Not that I can think of now, but, can I go off on my own? Maybe if I'm on my own for a little bit, I can remember something."

"But what if..."

"It won't happen again, Mom," Melanie said. "Besides, Simon can come with me and leave you and Dad to discuss things."

Her mother eyed her before turning to Simon. "Could you find your way back here if you need to?"

He nodded. "No problem, Mom," he answered as he followed Melanie out of the room. "Wait for me, Melanie!" he shouted as he ran to catch up with her. "Where are you going so fast?"

She didn't answer as he followed her all the way to the organ room, where she suddenly turned and faced him. "Can you stay out here? I'll call you if I need you, I just need to be...alone."

Simon nodded, confused. "All right," he agreed. Melanie nodded and walked inside.

"Phantom, are you here?" she asked, not quite sure how to address the ghost.

"Yes?" the ghostly voice answered as the caped figure appeared from the organ in the front of the room. "Well, you're back early from break."

"Something happened," Melanie explained. "And I want to know what you can explain to me."

"Well, I would need to know what happened before I can explain anything," the phantom told her, hovering next to her in a sitting position.

Melanie looked uncertainly at the ghost. "Well, I don't know exactly how to start. I was just taking a nap at home when I heard some unusual music, and the next thing I knew there was this unbearable pain going through me. I couldn't focus, think, or anything. It finally went away, but then it started again. The second time wasn't nearly so bad, because the pain went away quickly and I heard more music in the background like I did when I saw the alley memory in the pensieve."

The ghost nodded. "Did you hear a loud trumpet-like blast before the pain?"

Melanie's eyes widened. "Yes, exactly! Do you know what happened?"

The ghost nodded. "Your power went to another person in order to protect them from the curse."

"But how can that be? I couldn't get it to work when I was working on it in here, why would it work when I'm an ocean away?"

"I don't know exactly, but probably because the emotional bond you hold with that person is stronger than the one you held with any of the people you were working with in this room and the situation was more dangerous than mere hexes."

Melanie shook her head. "No, that's not right. My family was all safe, and I don't care about anyone else more than them and my friends."

The ghost floated around her again. "Maybe it was someone you didn't realize you were so close to."

"Whatever. Are you sure that's even what it was? I mean, the music is supposed to dissipate the curse. Why was I hit with it? I shouldn't have felt anything."

"This was the first time your power was shifted to someone else. So, your body wasn't used to having it spread out like that and was susceptible to attack."

"But then, who attacked me? The spell couldn't have rebounded on me, because it was supposed to have dissipated," Melanie protested.

"With your powers spread like that, you were hit with a small bit of the dissipated spell since you didn't know how to deal with it. Didn't you manage to get rid of it the second time?"

Melanie nodded. "But what do you mean by 'a small bit of the dissipated spell?'"

"Well, you obviously weren't hit with a full cruciatus curse. That was just a small bit of it, a fraction of its actual power and what that person would have suffered if your abilities hadn't reached out to him or her."

"That was only a little bit of it?" Melanie asked, her face going white. "And people suffer through all of it?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Wow." Melanie sat there for a moment in stunned silence. Suddenly she looked up at the ghost. "How did you know what had happened?"

"Because it was the same thing I experienced once," the ghost explained, returning to her seat by the organ.

"What!?"

"For me it was my sister," the ghost explained, her usually airy voice becoming somber. "That was how I figured out I was a musea. My younger sister Cassandra was a squib. Since we grew up in a wizarding village, the other children would tease her and hex her when I wasn't around. Then, the hexes started to bounce off of her for an unknown reason, and I started to hear music whenever they did.

"Now, my sister might not have been able to perform magic, but she was incredibly intelligent. Cassandra started pouring over books, trying to figure things out. She finally figured that the only explanation was that I was a musea. We kept it to ourselves, but I was constantly feeling my protection go out to her. I would always hear two distinct melodies: one was the same melody that I identified with her, the other was a response to whatever hex was attacking her at the time. I would hear her melody before the other; I assume its because I could feel her stress as she was being teased. Then, the other melody would chime in. If I could, I would apparate to her side and then retaliate by hexing whoever was attacking her." She laughed. "They finally started to learn not to attack her."

"So that's why I heard the first song? That song identifies whoever it was I helped?" Melanie asked.

The ghost nodded. "Of course, since you can't compare the song to others, there's no way for you to identify who it was you helped now."

Melanie huffed. "I don't understand who it could be? My attempts never helped my friends, and my family is safe, so who else can it be?"

"I don't know. That is an answer that you will have to discover on your own."

"Melanie?" Simon's voice came from outside. "Melanie, I think we should go back, it's almost dinner!"

Melanie sighed and looked at the ghost. "I guess I should go. I'll probably be back later."

The ghost nodded and began to disappear back into the organ.

Melanie turned at the door. "Wait, what happened to your sister?"

"She went with me to Paris when I decided to attempt a career in opera. After I died, she went off on her own, married a muggle, had a family. Her son ended up being a wizard, though, and I got to see him come through Hogwarts," she added with a smile. "Part of the reason I came here after I died."

Melanie smiled. "I'll be back," she told her as she walked out the door and then headed with Simon back to the hospital wing.

When they returned to the hospital wing, house elves were waiting to lead them to the rooms that had been prepared for them. There was one main room, with a table, fireplace, couch and several chairs. Four rooms branched off from it-a bedroom for Violetta and Octavian, one for Simon, one for Melanie, and a bathroom. When they walked in, a feast was sitting ready for them on the table.

"This looks good," Simon said as he sat down at the table. The rest of the family agreed, sitting down and eating the meal. When they were finished, Melanie stood up.

"I think I'm just going to go straight to bed," she announced, turning to walk into one of the bedrooms.

"Of course, you've had a rough day," her mother agreed as Melanie closed the door.

Because she had gone to sleep so early, Melanie woke up before anyone else. She saw a trunk of things sitting on the floor in front of her bed. She opened it and saw a bunch of her clothes sitting inside, as well as her wand. She shuffled through the contents and finally picked out a pair of jeans and a pink fleece hoodie. She walked out into the main room and found several plates of pancakes and waffles had already been brought up. She sat down and started to eat when there was a knock on the door. Curious, she got up and opened the door to find a house elf.

The elf handed her a piece of parchment. "From the Headmaster," he announced quickly before turning and disappearing.

Melanie looked at the parchment and saw it addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Octavian Brienwald." Her hand started to open it, then chose to set it aside for her parents.

By the time she had finished eating enough waffles to fill her stomach, her parents had awoken and joined her at the table. Her father picked up the parchment and read the letter.

"It seems that Dumbledore wants us to meet him after lunch today to discuss what happened with Melanie."

"I wonder what was so important that he couldn't have been there yesterday," her mother said curtly as she started to eat a small pile of pancakes. "What does a Headmaster have to do during a break?"

Melanie decided not to mention the fact that Dumbledore had lots of other things to worry about, since it would obviously upset her mother to think that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was off fighting Death Eaters and whatever else in his spare time.

"Violetta, you have never been Headmaster of Hogwarts, so I doubt that you know every single responsibility he has," her father answered, setting a second stack of waffles on his plate. Her mother sighed and finished off her pancakes.

While her parents spent the morning in their rooms reading, Melanie decided to wander around and see if anyone else she knew was around. Hardly anyone seemed to have remained; the halls were deserted. Except for a near-incident with Peeves, she didn't see a single soul-dead or living. She sighed and headed towards the Ravenclaw common room to see if anyone was there.

Nobody was there, either, so Melanie curled up in one of the comfy couches in front of the fireplace and watched the flames flicker. She pulled out the charms book that she had brought along and began to read. After a few hours, the rumblings of her stomach told her it was time to head back.

Lunch was already sitting there when she arrived, and Simon was wolfing down sandwiches at the table.

"Hungry?" Melanie asked with a laugh as she sat down.

"Yeah," Simon said through a mouthful of ham. "I woke up too late for breakfast."

Melanie sat down and set a few sandwiches onto her plate. As she started to eat, her parents walked in and sat down.

"Where did you wander off to this morning?" her mother asked.

"I went to the common room," Melanie answered. "I sat down and studied for a bit."

Her father laughed. "When we go to see Dumbledore, I'll have to see if I can still go into the common room, being an old Ravenclaw myself. It'd be nice to visit the old school memories."

"I don't see why you'd want to. I have no desire to go back and see the Slytherin common room," her mother said, finishing off her first sandwich.

Her father sighed and returned to his lunch. When they were all finished, they walked together down the hall to Dumbledore's office.

The old wizard was sitting behind his desk, waiting for them.

"Ah, the family Brienwald, yes," he greeted them, standing up. "Please, sit down." He waved his wand and four chairs appeared behind them.

"So, from what I understand, Melanie was hit with the cruciatus curse from an unknown source?" Dumbledore continued, returning to his seat.

"Yes, and we want to know how someone managed to get close enough to attack my daughter!" Violetta demanded.

Dumbledore looked at Melanie. "Did you see or hear anything that may shed light on this?" he asked.

Melanie nodded. "Nobody attacked me, sir. It was my powers going to someone else."

"Do you know who?"

"No, sir," she answered.

He nodded. "I suspected this, for I could think of no reason why anyone would journey all the way to the States just to attack Melanie."

"But they already attacked her once," her mother argued.

Dumbledore nodded, but he kept his attention focused on Melanie. "I believe that Melanie understands what happened to her."

"I do!" Melanie agreed. "It was just like my memory from the alley, except just a little different. But the ghost was able to explain everything."

A smile crossed Dumbledore's face. "So, I see you have met the esteemed Phantom of the Organ."

"A ghost?" her mother asked in surprise.

"Hogwarts' resident musea expert, seeing how she was one before her unfortunate death," Dumbledore explained.

"But she explained it, and it makes perfect sense with what I remember. My protection went to someone else."

"But you don't know who? How do you know someone didn't attack one of us?"

Melanie thought for a second, then shook her head. "No, I saw something-a glimpse of a room....It wasn't at home, it was somewhere else."

Dumbledore looked at her. "You saw who it was you were protecting?"

"Not enough to know who it was, but I saw wood paneling and a dark green carpet."

Dumbledore nodded, then drew his wand. "If you wish, Miss Brienwald, I can help you to review what it was you saw. Maybe a second glance will help you solve this mystery."

"The pensieve?" Melanie asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, this is less complicated. It is a simple legimilency spell."

He whispered something, but the only effect Melanie could discern was the rush of music through her ears that had become so common in the organ room. Dumbledore hummed to himself. "It seems as though your protection even extends to mind-reading. See if you can disable it."

Melanie nodded and tried to relax herself and instruct her body not to react. Dumbledore cast the spell again, but all that Melanie saw was a flash of blonde hair before the music returned and the spell was ended.

"I'm sorry, sir," Melanie said as he withdrew his wand.

"Do not be sorry, Melanie. I just hope that small clue is enough to solve your mystery." He looked at her calmly as she tried to figure everything out.

Melanie shook her head. "No...it can't be. It only works with someone I have a close emotional tie to...and I don't...it's not possible..."

"Sometimes, the greatest mysteries of the world are our own emotions," Dumbledore said, a small smile forming as he returned behind his desk.

"I guess that solves that question, then," she said quietly, slouching down in her seat.

Dumbledore smiled. "Well, since it seems that you or your family was not the target of the attack, your family would be perfectly safe in returning home if you so desire. However, you are welcome to spend the remainder of the break here at Hogwarts. Perhaps you would enjoy a nice reminiscence of your time here." He turned to Melanie's father. "I am sure that Professor Flitwick might be willing to escort an old Ravenclaw such as yourself through the Ravenclaw common room, and I'm sure that Melanie can lead you around wherever you like. The same invitation extends to you, too, Violetta."

Melanie's mother rolled her eyes. "I don't know, maybe we'd be better off just returning home."

"Why can't we stay here?" Simon asked. "It'll be like a Christmas vacation."

"It would be rather interesting, Violetta," their father agreed.

"I really don't want to," she protested. She looked at everyone around her and sighed. "Fine, if I'm overruled."

Dumbledore smiled. "Excellent. You are, of course, free to join the staff and handful of students that remained here for dinner tonight in the Great Hall, but it will be understood if you prefer to dine in the privacy of your own quarters."

"The Great Hall sounds wonderful," Melanie's father agreed, standing up and shaking Dumbledore's hand enthusiastically.

"Of course, then, I shall have places set for you. I, unfortunately, will not be joining you because I have things I must attend to as soon as possible," Dumbledore told them, standing up.

"Of course, we shall be on our way, then. Thank you for helping us figure all of this out."

"No problem, Mr. Brienwald. I do hope that your family has a Happy Christmas."