Power of the Musea

Chapter 19: Lessons and Quidditch

After Melanie's family left Dumbledore's office, they walked back down to their rooms, where Melanie quickly went right into her bedroom, where she managed to pull out a quill and a piece of parchment.

"What are you doing?" Simon asked from the doorway.

"Writing a letter," Melanie answered, putting her signature on the bottom of the parchment.

"I see," Simon said, taking a step into the room. "I wanted to ask you, the person you saw...was it that one boy I saw you with the Saturday I was here?"

"Harry? Oh, no!" Melanie looked up at him. "No, me and Harry are actually just friends, not what you're thinking, Simon."

"So, it's someone else, then?"

"What?"

"Oh, c'mon, Melanie, it's obvious who you saw. You saw some boy that you didn't realize you liked."

Melanie sighed and shook her head. "Yeah, but it's nobody you know."

"Obviously. I haven't been around much to meet anyone, now, have I?"

"Hey, do you want to come down to the owlery with me?" Melanie asked, changing the subject. "I need to send this letter."

"What, is it a love note to that boy you helped?" he teased as she walked out of the room.

"No, I'm just filling in a friend of mine on what happened," she answered as he followed her out into the hallway.

"I wonder if I should send something to him?" she thought to herself. "I'm sure he's a little confused about what happened."

She dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. How on Earth would she start the letter: "Been attacked by the Cruciatus curse lately?" She laughed at her own stupidity as she led Simon up to the owlery.

"It stinks in here," he said as they made their way around the owl droppings.

"What did you expect?" Melanie told him as she found one of the school owls and tied the letter to it. "Off to London," she told the owl as it flew off.

"London?" Simon asked as they turned to walk out.

"It's where Rhonda's family lives."

"Why didn't you go with her?"

" 'Cuz I wanted to spend Christmas with my family, silly."

"Well, I didn't know...crap! I've got owl crap on my shoes!"

"Oh, no problem," Melanie said as she pulled out her wand. "Scourify!"

The bottoms of Simon's shoes were instantly clean, and he shook his head. "Some of the stuff you can do weirds me out."

"I thought you were practicing?"

"Yeah, but I can't manage to actually do much. So, what is there to do around here?"

Melanie shrugged her shoulders. "Not much."

"Then what do you do on weekends?"

"Study, mostly."

"Study! That's just a little on the boring side."

"Well, there's a lot to learn, and Hogwarts has high expectations."

Simon laughed. "I'll stick with high school, thanks." He sighed. "So, there's nothing to do around here other than study?"

Melanie nodded. "Actually, I haven't done much studying at all during break. I should do a bit while I have the free time."

Simon rolled his eyes as Melanie stopped. "I'm going to go to my room and grab a book or two. I'll be right back." She quickly walked to her room in Ravenclaw and opened the trunk at the foot of her bed. She pushed aside her potions and defense books-she was pretty much caught up in both of those classes. She picked up her herbology book-the subject she was the most behind in-and then saw her beginning charms book lying there. An idea crossed her mind and she grabbed it, too, before heading back out.

"Do you still have that wand?" she asked as she found Simon again.

"Yeah."

"Good, we're going to go practice," she said as she started to lead him to the organ room.

"What?"

"They say that teaching is the best way to learn. So, I'm going to teach you." She handed him the book.

"What kind of subject is this?" he asked, looking at the book.

"Charms. It was Dad's best subject. Maybe some of that passed on to you, since I seemed to get Mom's ability at potions."

She opened the door to the room and sat down in one of the desks, Simon sitting down in one next to her.

By the end of the afternoon, Simon was doing a great deal better, and Melanie even felt that her ability in charms had increased a little. She closed the book. "I think we better get back for dinner."

Simon nodded and started to walk to the door. "Thanks, Melanie. I think I learned a lot. Maybe I'll actually be able to hex you sometime."

Melanie stopped. "Do you still remember those hexes Harry and I taught you?"

"A little. I tried some on the neighbor's dog," he admitted with a laugh.

She ignored the comment. "Good, then there's one more thing I want to try," she told him, walking to the middle of the room.

"What?" he asked, following her.

"I want you to hex yourself," she told him, turning to face him.

"What?" he asked in disbelief.

"Don't worry. You won't get hit by it, if I'm right. Use the jellylegs hex, I know the counter to that one if this doesn't work."

"Melanie, I'm not crazy. I'm not going to hex myself!"

"Please, I just need to see if this works..." she pleaded.

"No! Why would any person in their right minds let themselves get cursed?"

"My friends have been doing it all year," she muttered to herself.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Harry let you hex him when we were teaching you," Melanie argued.

"Yeah, but I didn't see you letting yourself get jinxed. You always dodged them."

"That's because I can't be jinxed," she told him.

"What? How does that work?"

Melanie sighed in frustration. "Look, I'll explain it if you just let me see if this works!"

Simon thought for a second. "Fine, I'll jinx myself this ONCE if you promise to give me a good reason why I'm doing it afterwards."

"I need you to do it twice, using two different jinxes," Melanie told him softly.

"What!?!" He sighed. "Fine, but this better be one heck of a reason." He took a deep breath and pointed his wand at himself.

"Wait a second," Melanie told him as she took a deep breath and slowly let it out, closing her eyes.

"Relax, try to calm down," she told herself, as she continued to breathe deeply. "Okay," she told Simon, "on the count of three. One." She heard a faint, low note. "Two." She heard the note turn into a very soft melody. "Three." The melody suddenly became louder and was joined by a second melody. Then, the music stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

"What happened? Did it not work?" Simon asked, patting himself with his arms trying to see if he was all right.

"Oh, it worked," Melanie said to herself, a large smile threatening to break across her face.

"But nothing happened, I didn't even get hit by the hex."

"Try it again, and do a different hex. Don't tell me, and whisper the incantation so I can't hear it."

"Okay," Simon sighed unbelievingly, pointing the wand back at himself.

"On three," Melanie told him. "One, two, three!"

She heard the same low melody, followed by the same second one. When the music stopped, Melanie looked at Simon. "You used the jellylegs hex again. I told you to use a different one."

"How did you know?" Simon asked, stammering in his disbelief.

"Because I heard it, the music."

"Music..." Simon trailed off. "I heard music, faint, in the background."

Melanie nodded. "It's why I'm here...It's why...I don't know quite how to explain it." She sat down in a nearby desk.

"That's what everyone was talking about in Dumbledore's office, wasn't it? Your 'special ability?'"

Melanie nodded. "You see, I'm....Well, there's no easy way to explain it, and it sounds horrible, but it's the easiest way to explain it." She took a breath. "Basically, I'm possessed."

Simon looked at her blankly. "What?"

"Apparently, I'm possessed with the spirit of Euterpe, the Greek muse of music. Her spirit causes music to basically just flow through my body. Whenever someone attacks me with a hex or a curse that I don't want, the music acts like a shield, dissipating the spell so that it doesn't hit me."

"That's what happened in the alley, wasn't it?"

Melanie nodded sadly. "And it's what happened at home, too. Somehow, my musical shield went out to someone else. Because I wasn't used to it, I caught a bit of the backlash of the curse, but it's better now, since I'm used to it."

They were quiet for a while, since Simon was deep in thought.

"That's crazy."

"I know it is. I could barely believe it when Professor Dumbledore told me about at first. But I've been working with it since then, and it's..." She sighed. "It's real, Simon."

Simon shook his head. "It's still crazy. I have lots of questions, but," he looked at his watch. "Wow, it's getting late. We better head to dinner, otherwise we'll be late."

"I forgot about dinner! Mom and Dad'll kill us if we're late!" Melanie said, and she quickly grabbed her books and they headed back to their rooms.

"Where have you two been?" their mother demanded as they walked inside.

"I was showing Simon around, and we lost track of time," Melanie said as she ran inside and tossed her books on her bed.

"Well, we better get going," she shouted after her. "We're going to be making enough of an entrance, we don't need to increase it by being late."

Melanie rolled her eyes and came back out of her room just as the rest of the family was leaving to walk down to the Great Hall.

"I wonder if anyone we remember will be down there," her father laughed. "Are any of our old teachers here, Melanie?"

"I don't know. I don't know how long most of them have been here, or who will even be at dinner," Melanie admitted.

"Well, who are all of your professors?" he asked.

Melanie thought through her schedule. "Professor McGonagall, well, I don't have her anymore, but, then there's Professor Flitwick, Professor Slughorn..."

"Slughorn!" her father interrupted. "That's an old name. So is McGonagall."

"Professor Sprout, and Professor Snape," Melanie finished.

"Severus is a professor?" her father asked. "Talk about unexpected. What does he teach?"

"Defense against the Dark Arts."

"Why does that not surprise me," her father commented dryly as they finally reached the Great Hall.

"Here we go," her mother whispered to herself as she pushed open the door.

Almost everything had been removed from the Great Hall, except for a large bunch of trees and decorations and one long table. The seats were already half-filled as they approached. Professors Sprout and McGonagall were talking avidly with each other, while a young student in Gryffindor robes was discussing something with Professor Flitwick. Professor Slughorn was trying to extract conversation from two shy young Hufflepuffs. He looked up and saw them enter.

"Well, bless my soul. I never expected you two to walk through that door," Professor Slughorn proclaimed loudly, drawing everyone's attention to the family approaching the table. He stood up and walked to them. "Octavian, Violetta! Come, there are seats near me, please, come join me!"

Melanie watched as her mother plastered a smile on her face as Slughorn led them to the table. Melanie smiled at Simon as they followed their parents to the table.

During the meal, Melanie's father started talking to Flitwick about changes in Ravenclaw while Slughorn continued to talk avidly with her mother. Melanie whispered stories to Simon about the different professors while the rest of the table paired off in small groups. The only person who did not seem to talk to anyone was Nott. Melanie barely had time to recognize him, because he quickly ate his food and then hurried out of the Great Hall.

After dinner, Melanie returned to her room and curled up with her herbology book on her bed, falling asleep as she read it.

The next morning, the smell of breakfast coming from the next room woke Melanie. She walked out of her room to see Simon and her father, both laughing as they finished off their food.

"Melanie! Good morning," her father greeted her, pushing out a chair for her to sit down in.

"Guess what, Mel?" Simon asked. "Dad's going to teach me how to fly!"

"Would you want to come out with us?" her father asked. "We'll wait until you finish your breakfast."

Melanie shook her head. "Nah, not this morning. I don't really feel like flying."

"Suit yourself," her father responded. "Simon, are you about ready?"

"Just let me get my coat," Simon said, getting up to run to his room.

"Where's Mom?" Melanie asked.

"I don't know. She got up before I did and wandered off somewhere." Octavian looked at Melanie. "Don't push her too hard, Melanie. She has a lot of memories to deal with and sort out."

Melanie gave him a confused look as he stood up. "If you get bored sitting around here, Simon and I will be out at the quidditch pitch."

Melanie nodded as he grabbed his coat and he and Simon left the room. Melanie sighed and nibbled at a few of the pancakes that were still sitting at the table. Eventually, she put on her shoes and walked out into the hall.

She wandered around randomly. It was so odd to walk through the halls of Hogwarts in the middle of the day and see no one at all. She sighed and turned downward towards the dungeons. She had never really been in this part of the castle, and now seemed like the perfect time to do some exploring.

The sound of footsteps approaching startled her. Her first thought was to hide somewhere, but she calmly reminded herself that she wasn't doing anything wrong as the footsteps came closer.

"Mom?" Melanie asked in surprise as Violetta turned the corner.

"Melanie," her mother returned with just as much surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just wandering around to see what was here," Melanie answered. "What are you doing?"

Her mother sighed and kept walking. "At dinner the other night, Professor Slughorn suggested that I let him show me around the Slytherin common room." She shook her head. "I don't know what possessed me to think that it was a good idea."

"Why wouldn't it be a good idea?" Melanie asked, following her down the hall.

Her mother sighed. "You wouldn't understand, Melanie."

"Why wouldn't I? Too many memories?"

"Partially," her mother answered.

"You know," Melanie told her, walking beside her. "You can't just forget about the past. I've had a lot of memories to get past, too, and I'm dealing with them by facing them, not by pushing them to the side."

Violetta stopped and looked at her in surprise. "I never realized you could be so insightful."

Melanie shrugged her shoulders. "I've learned a lot this year."

"That you have." Violetta chuckled to herself. "You've had to deal with so much that your father and I tried to hide you away from."

"You can't hide forever, Mom. Just fleeing from danger..."

"It wasn't just the danger, Melanie," her mother interrupted softly. She paused. "It was Cissa, who came to us after Rimian's death and told us that our time of neutrality was over. You-Know-Who had sent her, thinking that she, my closest friend, would have the best chance of convincing me."

Violetta stopped and looked around her, tears forming in her eyes. "I had known Lucius was a Death Eater, and I knew that Cissa went along with it, but for her to come to me to convince me to join that side, to know that my closest friend was participating in something that I could not approve of..." Violetta's voice trailed off and she and Melanie stood there, silently for a minute.

"I should have known the minute we left Hogwarts. I should have known the minute I started dating Octavian and Cissa was with Lucius. Our husbands changed us, brought us to different ends of the spectrum, but we tried to ignore it. For years, we tried to ignore it. We talked nearly every day, but never once was anything political brought up. It was an unspoken arrangement to preserve our friendship." Violetta took a few deep breaths. "But it didn't last," she added sadly.

Melanie didn't know what to say, so they just stood there, silently. Violetta shook her head and looked around her yet again. "I've tried so many times to convince myself that what I did was right-that You-Know-Who was evil and that Lucius and Cissa were wrong. But, no matter how hard I tried, I could not condemn them for it. How could I when they were my closest companions growing up, the ones I could always count on and trust? I can't comprehend their choices, either, though." She sighed. "I guess the only answer is to love them in spite of themselves."

Melanie watched her mother as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She shook her head and looked around as though waking from a trance. "What am I doing, telling you this? It's in the past, it is no matter." She turned from Melanie and hurried down the hall.

"What do you mean it is no matter?" Melanie asked, running after her.

"That life is over for me, Melanie. The only reason I remain here is for your father's sake. He has sacrificed so much for me over the years that the least I can do is endure a few days here for him. But I do not ever plan to return."

With that she walked off, leaving Melanie standing, confused, in the hallway. Melanie sighed and slowly walked back to her room. When she walked into her family's quarters, she saw the door to her parent's room closed and heard her mother moving about inside. She sighed and grabbed her coat and headed out to the quidditch pitch.

She saw her father and Simon flying around. Her father, as she had expected, was flying like an expert. Simon, like the athlete he was, seemed to have caught on quickly and was giving their father a run for his money. Melanie had been standing there a few minutes when her father noticed her and down to her side.

"You're flying well after so many years," Melanie said as he stepped off of his broom.

Her father shrugged his shoulders. "It's one of those things you never forget."

Melanie nodded and turned to look at Simon, who had also flown down. "And you-I'm jealous. Two hours and you're better than I am."

"Well, now you know how I feel whenever you start casting spells," he responded. "Oh, come on Melanie. It's just another sport."

"Jock," Melanie teased him.

"Yeah, but watch this!" Simon threw back, taking back off and turning figure eights and loops in the sky.

Melanie and her father laughed. "He's not too bad, for a beginner," her father said. "A bit more work and he'd be good enough to give some of the players here a run for their money."

"Obviously, Simon got the athletic gene. I've been trying to fly all term and haven't gotten anywhere," Melanie said, laughing.

"You are a lot like your mother," he observed, watching Simon fly around the pitch, trying different tricks.

Melanie looked down at the mention of her mother, remembering their conversation just a few minutes before.

"Melanie, is something wrong?" her father asked, noticing her downcast look.

"Oh, no, it's just..." she trailed off. "I had an interesting conversation with Mom earlier.

"Oh?" her father asked. "What do you mean?"

"She was telling me about her friend, Mrs. Malfoy, and how...how they both went different directions."

Her father nodded sadly. "That they did. Something your mother has never quite understood or accepted."

"She said something about how you and Mr. Malfoy drew them in different directions," Melanie explained.

Her father laughed. "I guess we did, didn't we? I don't feel like it's proper to take all of the credit, but...yes, your mother did change a lot once we started dating."

"What do you mean?"

"I hate to put it this way, but she, well...she acted less Slytherin around me. Lucius, of course, drew Narcissa the other way. And that's when the lines were drawn, and your mother's heart was broken." He sighed. "You know, I'm surprised that she told you all of this."

"I don't think she meant to, actually," Melanie answered. "I think I caught her off guard, because after a little bit she just seemed to suddenly become aware of what she was telling me and she closed herself off again."

Melanie looked up at her father. "I wish she wouldn't try to deny and forget all that happened."

"Your mother's past is her own to deal with. Prying won't help at all." He sighed. "I should probably go talk to her. Do you want to stay out here and fly with Simon?"

Melanie nodded and he handed her his broom. "I'll see you at lunch, then," he told her, kissing her on her forehead before he headed back towards the castle.

Simon and Melanie continued to fly until the winter chill and their rumbling stomachs finally got to them. When they arrived back in their rooms, they saw that a large lunch had been set out for them. They started to eat, the door to their parents' room still closed. They could hear voices coming from inside, but couldn't understand anything they heard.

"What I wouldn't give for a pair of extendable ears right now," Melanie sighed, glancing at the closed door.

Octavian and Violetta stayed in their room for the rest of the afternoon, finally emerging right before dinner. Melanie could tell her mother's face was tear-stained, but she talked as though nothing had happened and nothing was wrong.

After dinner, Melanie withdrew into her room, lying on her bed with her herbology book propped up in front of her. There was a knock on her door, and her mother walked in.

"Herbology, eh?" she asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

Melanie nodded. "It's the subject I'm having the most problems with."

"Yeah, well, I didn't pass my herbology O.W.L, so you're already doing better than I did. But, I must mention that Professor Slughorn did nothing but rant on about your potions ability. He said that you're one of the standouts in potions, even exhibiting more talent than some of his seventh year students."

Melanie just nodded, turning a page in her book. Her mother sighed.

"I know all of this can't be easy on you, taking N.E.W.T. level classes when you've only had three months of experience. I must say, despite how much I would love for you to have come home and just kept things normal, that I am really proud of you. You've proven that you have exceptional ability, and your father and I are both really impressed."

Melanie looked at her in surprise.

"But," her mother continued, "I can't help but be concerned about this whole situation."

"What situation?"

"Well, it was one thing when I let you stay here, but, if this is going to happen every time one of your friends is attacked..."

"It's not going to happen, Mom. It was just because it was the first time, now it's all fine."

Her mother looked at her suspiciously. "How do you know?"

"I just do, Mom."

She shook her head. "Melanie, you know how hard your father and I have worked to keep you and your brother safe." She sighed. "It just upsets me to see yourself putting yourself at risk."

"How am I putting myself at risk?"

"Your father and I know what's going on here in England-You-Know-Who is back, Death Eaters are attacking, danger everywhere."

"But that doesn't matter to me. Even with my abilities, I go home to America, far away from everything."

"But what about your friends? If they get attacked, you feel the repercussions!"

"I already told you, that was just because it was the first time. It won't happen again."

Her mother shook her head. "But who you're making friends with. I saw who was all in Dumbledore's office that day. Harry Potter!"

"What's wrong with Harry?"

"I've been reading all about what's been going on. The Daily Prophet is calling him 'the chosen one.' They're saying that he's going to be the one to kill You-Know-Who. Do you realize what kind of danger that puts him in, and, because of your friendship, you?"

Melanie looked at her suspiciously. "What are you getting at?"

"Simon told us about what happened when he visited, that he interrupted your day with Mr. Potter. And I'm not an idiot, Melanie. I've put two and two together, and I'll bet quite a bit of money that it was him that your power went out to yesterday. I'm sorry, Melanie, but I can't help but be concerned about all of this."

"You think..." Melanie trailed off, starting to laugh. "Mom, you're wrong. It wasn't Harry."

"Then who was it? You said yourself that it had to be someone with close personal ties."

Melanie suddenly became quiet. "It wasn't Harry."

"Then that just makes the situation even worse! Instead of just Harry who's in danger, it's another one of your friends! Melanie, the cruciatus curse is no laughing matter. Whoever was attacked is in real danger, and I don't like the idea of you being drawn into that kind of danger."

Melanie remained quiet, replaying her mother's message in her head. "But, Mom, you have to remember that I've already been attacked. It's hard to believe that I could be putting myself in any more danger."

Her mother turned white.

"Mom, I'm involved. It can't be undone now. Don't act like it was something that I could avoid-I didn't ask for these powers, I don't have control over who I care about, who I...." She trailed off.

"Who you what?" She paused. "Melanie, who did you help yesterday?"

"I don't know what's going on!" Melanie suddenly exclaimed. "I don't understand who I helped or why I helped him or even why he needed my help in the first place."

Violetta looked at her daughter sadly. "Melanie, what has happened? We used to be able to talk about anything together. We used to gossip about what boys you liked, wondered if Billy Willis was going to finally ask you to homecoming, talk about your first kiss. What happened to that girl?"

"She died, in an alley in London," Melanie said, her voice quivering. "I found out who I was, where I really came from. I'm a witch, Mom, and I can't talk to my muggle mom anymore. And my witch mother is too scared to come out and talk to me."

Violetta's mouth dropped. "Melanie, I..." She stood up, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Melanie." She turned and walked out of the room.