Secrets of the Musidora

Horse of a Different Color

The next morning, Melanie was eating breakfast when Draco walked into the room a little uneasy.

"Are you all right?" Melanie asked as he sat down next to her.

Draco looked at her wordlessly, then shook his head. "Did you realize there's another house-elf in this house?"

"Oh! Harry dropped him off here last night after you went to sleep." Melanie grimaced. "He didn't do anything, did he? He's a little odd."

"A little odd?" Draco asked. "I woke up this morning to see a set of eyes peering at me from the foot of my bed! I jumped so high in fright that I almost hit the ceiling."

Melanie tried unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle. "I'm sorry," she said, turning to look away.

"Oh, you think it's funny, do you?"

Melanie giggled again. "I do, actually."

"Then what do you think of this?" he asked, leaning over and starting to tickle Melanie, who just giggled harder.

"Stop it!" Melanie managed to say through her giggles, trying to push Draco away.

"Well, good morning to you two," Simon said as he walked in, raising his eyebrows as he sat down at the table.

"Good morning, Simon," Melanie said, taking deep breaths to calm down. "What are you up to today?"

"Getting ready to go back home," Violetta said, walking into the room with an armful of boxes.

"What do you mean?" Melanie asked, getting up and helping her put the boxes on the table.

"Well, the summer's almost over, and we need to get back home and pick things up where we left off. I need to get back to my job, and we've arranged for someone to tutor Simon with his magic. Not to mention that, after last night's meeting, that we need to start our recruitment efforts as soon as we can," she told them, walking back out of the room. Melanie turned and looked at Simon.

"You're getting a tutor?" she asked.

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "Mom's set it up. Apparently there's some group of witches who try to educate American witches and wizards."

"The Salem Institute?" Draco asked.

Simon nodded. "That sounds about right," he agreed as Melanie looked at Draco in surprise.

"Since when do you know about American groups?"

"My father used to send them donations every year," Draco explained. "It's good for our family to show interest in the magically uneducated. Makes us seem more charitable."

Melanie snickered despite a glare from Draco.

"Anyway, the Salem Institute is supposed to be halfway respectable-for an American group."

Melanie shook her head and looked at her brother. "That's the closest he'll come to a compliment."

Simon just shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. I'm gonna head up and pack my stuff. I have a feeling Mom's going to want to leave right after lunch." He stood up and walked out.

"So I guess this house is going to get a lot quieter without your mom and brother gone."

"It'll still be me, Dad, you, your mom and Theodora."

"Well, I never see Theodora around."

"She does seem to keep to herself a lot, doesn't she?" Melanie laughed.

"My mother will probably do the same now that your mom's leaving," Draco added. "And I've overheard your father talk about getting a job at the Ministry."

"What?" Melanie asked. "I haven't heard anything about that."

"Why not? He's leaving a job in the States to live here, isn't he? Why wouldn't he get a job here in England?"

Melanie looked at him curiously. "How do you know all of this?"

He shrugged his shoulder innocently. "I just learn these things."

"What else do you know that I don't?" Melanie asked sarcastically.

"Besides that and the fact that Hogwarts will be closed next year..."

Melanie jumped up. "How did you know that? I only found out last night from my dad!"

Draco smiled. "I know something else," he told her, throwing her a mischievous look.

"What?" Melanie asked, smiling coyly back at him as he walked up to her until they were nearly touching noses.

"You have jam on your shirt," he said, turning on his heel and walking out of the room. Melanie looked at him for a second in surprise, then looking down at her shirt.

"Crap," she muttered to herself as she tried to wipe the purple spot off of her shirt.

~*~*~*~

Melanie spent the rest of the morning helping her mother and brother sort through their things and bringing their bags down by the fireplace in the living room. Simon finished his boxes first, then grabbed a broom and ran out to fly around behind the house. Draco went out to join him.

"Melanie," her mother asked as they carried the last of her boxes down to the fireplace. "Do you happen to know why there's a new house-elf suddenly in our house?"

"Oh." Melanie laughed, setting down the box with the others. "He's Harry's, but he brought him here since he's leaving to...do things."

"I see," Violetta told her, nodding as she returned her attention to the boxes. "Well, he's set up camp in Cissa's room. He's been following her around like a little shadow, so I hope you weren't expecting him to do much more."

Melanie laughed to herself. "Why does that not surprise me?"

Sure enough, nobody saw much of Kreacher the next couple of weeks. He stayed in Narcissa's room almost all of the time. The only time that Melanie ever saw him was those times when she and Draco were talking with her and Kreacher came up to make sure that she did not need anything. Rhonda saw him a few times when she came to visit, and started to make jokes about how Kreacher should just proclaim Narcissa his goddess and make her room into his temple with him as the high priest.

Melanie's father did indeed start to work at the Ministry again, and Melanie and Draco filled their days by finally going through the boxes stacked in the library and started to clear the room out.

"I hate not being at school," Melanie complained as she pushed aside an empty box and sat down. "Are we just never going to get our N.E.W.T.s?"

"It'll all get sorted out one way or another," Draco assured her. "We're not the only ones getting our N.E.W.T.s. Plus," he looked around the room and sighed, "N.E.W.T.s won't do anyone much good now."

Melanie shivered involuntarily. "Don't be all dismal," she said, standing up and opening the next box. It was full of books, which she started to sort on the shelves around the room.

"What would you rather I be?" he asked, helping put the books away.

"I don't know, just not so foreboding." Melanie pushed the last few books into their places with a thud. "I'd like to try to be somewhat optimistic about the future."

"Yes, of course. Potter, Weasley, and Granger will have no problems doing whatever little plan they're trying to hatch and those three teenagers will be able to defeat the most powerful wizard alive," Draco told her sarcastically.

"You never know," Melanie replied, kicking the empty box across the room. "At least they're trying. All we're doing is sitting here sorting through old books." She haphazardly pulled out a random book.

"Keeping you out of his hands is doing enough. If you're safe here then that's keeping him from completing his plans."

Melanie sighed. "But I would still rather be doing something than sorting through my dad's old books." She shook the book she had in her hand. Her eyes caught on the title and she just there for a second, staring at the faded gold lettering.

"Melanie?" Draco asked, looking over her shoulder. "What is it?"

"Look at this book," she told him, handing it to him. He looked at the title: Person in a Cauldron: Preserving Yourself in a Potion. His jaw dropped and he looked at Melanie.

"Don't you see?" Melanie continued, grabbing the book out of his hands and starting to flip through the old yellowed pages. "There might be something in this book that I can use!"

"Melanie," Draco told her, watching her with interest as she continued to flip through the book, "are you sure this is a good idea? That book looks really old, probably from back when they were trying to use magic to breed the perfect race. Those experiments were a horrible failure. Are you so sure it's safe?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Melanie asked, still looking through the book as she sat down excitedly at a nearby desk. "Draco, look at this! It's ways to put personal characteristics into potions! Do you think I could make this work with my powers? Imagine it-a potion that could protect against any curse!"

Draco shook his head as he peered over her shoulder. "You don't really think this will work, do you?"

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Melanie asked, standing up. "I mean, I have a potion lab. And it's not like I have anything better to do."

She walked out of the library and across the house to the room that she had started to convert into her own personal potions lab. Draco followed her and stood in the doorway as Melanie laid the book open on the table and started looking through her ingredients cabinet.

"I think I have almost everything mentioned in this book as far as ingredients go," Melanie announced, leaning far into the cabinet. She pulled herself out and looked at Draco. "Which means that I should be able to experiment some once I read through this book and get some ideas." She walked past Draco, who just shook his head as she sat down in one of the living room and started to read the book.

~*~*~*~

Melanie worked tirelessly on the potion for the next few weeks. Whenever she got frustrated, she would go for a ride in the nearby fields on Teresa to clear her mind. By the end of August, though, all she had to show for her work was a pile of discarded potions.

"How's the potion going?" her father asked one Sunday afternoon as Melanie sat down to eat lunch.

"I've hit another block," Melanie complained as she started to eat the sandwich in front of her.

"Sorry to hear that, hon." Her father stood up and walked out of the room. "If you decide that you want to relax for a while and play a game or something, I'll be in the living room."

Melanie nodded as she continued to eat her lunch. She sighed and looked out the window. Surprised, she blinked and took a second look.

"Teresa?" she asked out loud, standing up and putting her face to the glass. Sure enough, the golden horse was standing in the garden. "What are you doing out there?"

She opened the door and walked out onto the patio. "Is something wrong, girl?" she asked the horse, slowly making her way down the stairs into the garden. She approached the horse. There was no obvious danger, yet something seemed amiss about the situation. She kept her eyes darting around her as she reached the horse. "Huh? Is there something wrong?" She reached up and petted the horse.

As soon as her hand touched the horse, she jerked it back. She looked at the horse and slowly backed away. It seemed impossible, but she knew that that horse was not Teresa.

The horse took a step towards her as she backed away, and that made her back away even more quickly. She turned back towards the house. "Draco!" she called. She turned to look back at the horse, only to find a hooded figure in its place.

The figure slapped her across the face, pushing her to the ground. He drew his wand and a streak of red light flew towards her. It vanished when it reached her, and his surprise gave her the second she needed to climb to her feet. She flung out her arm to hit him back, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him. She quickly stepped on his foot and, when he leaned over in pain, wrenched her wrist away from him and swung her leg in one fluid motion that struck him across the face.

"Draco!" she screamed as the figure collapsed. She started to run back towards the house. She reached the patio just as Draco was hurrying out.

"Melanie?" he asked.

"A Death Eater!" she exclaimed hurriedly, pointing at the hooded figure struggling to get to his feet. Draco's eyes opened wide and he quickly sent a spell towards the figure. The figure collapsed back onto the ground and did not stir.

"What did you do to him?" Melanie asked as she followed Draco down into the garden.

"I immobilized him," Draco answered, pulling the hood back to reveal a stringy face. He sighed. "Nott."

Draco shook his head and turned to Melanie. "Get your father and tell him to notify the Order! Now!!"

Melanie nodded and ran back into the house. She ran into the living room where her father was sitting and reading a book.

"Melanie, what's wrong?" he asked, putting down the book and turning to look at her.

Melanie panted, trying to catch her breath. She shook her head. "Death Eater...in the garden."

"What?" He stood up, running outside.

"Draco immobilized him," Melanie stammered, following him outside. Her father ran to where Draco was still hunched over the unmoving form of Nott.

"He was after Melanie," Draco told him. "We need to get the Order over here and get him into custody."

Octavian nodded. "You have him handled?"

"He's not going anywhere," Draco assured him, his wand against Nott's throat. Octavian nodded and walked back towards the house. He stopped at Melanie.

"You all right, Melanie?"

Melanie nodded, looking uneasily back at Draco, her arms crossed across her stomach. He sighed and disappeared into the house.

A little while later, Tonks and Lupin arrived at the house and busied themselves taking care of Nott. While they talked to Draco and her father outside, Melanie occupied herself in her lab, trying to get past her block and get her potion to work.

"What are you working on?" a voice asked from the doorway.

"Just a potion," Melanie answered as Tonks walked into the lab.

"A potion for what?" Tonks asked as she looked down at the book.

Melanie sighed. "I'm trying to see if I can put my powers into a potion form. Then the protection would still be there, but there wouldn't be the risk to me."

"Clever idea," Tonks told her, her eyes still on the book. "But will it work?"

"We'll see," Melanie said, turning her attention back to the potion.

Tonks nodded, looking from Melanie to the cauldron to the book. She sighed. "You know, you did a very good job fighting off Nott. He's not going to get rid of that black eye you gave him any time soon."

Melanie laughed. "I knew all those years of being a cheerleader would come in handy."

"That it did. You thwarted quite a creative plan. Since he was transfigured into a horse, there was no way that anyone would have realized what was going on."

"How did he even manage to get here? Isn't our property guarded or something?"

"It's carefully watched, but nobody would have thought to stop one of your horses. It was an ingenious plan, but it won't work again."

"Until they figure out a new one," Melanie said grimly.

"But we'll be ready for it," Tonks assured her. "We just need to keep being on our toes. We'll take Nott back to the Ministry, see if we can get any more information on him. Then he'll head to Azkaban."

"Azkaban?" Melanie asked in surprise. "Simply for attacking me?"

"Did you not know?" Tonks asked, her face pale. "When he finally made it onto your property, he murdered your father's cousin Theodora when he ran into her at the barn. He also killed all of the horses."

The color drained from Melanie's face and she staggered back.

"He'll be tried for murder. The court might be a bit more lenient on him because of his age and the fact that she was a squib, but he'll still be put away for a long time."

Melanie nodded, her eyes still staring into space blankly. Tonks walked up behind her and put her arm on her shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

Melanie nodded. "I'll be fine."

"We're doing our best to protect you, Melanie," Tonks assured her. "The Death Eaters won't get to you if we have something to say about it."

"I know," Melanie told her, nodding. "Thanks."

"No problem." Tonks grinned at her. "Well, Remus and I best be going so we can take care of everything. See you around, Melanie."

Melanie smiled and nodded as Tonks walked out of the room. She sighed and looked at the bubbling potion sitting in front of her. She shook her head and walked out of the room.

"Melanie!" Draco shouted, running up to her as she walked through the dining room. "Are you all right?"

Melanie nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Draco looked at her closely. "Is that a bruise on your cheek?" Melanie put her palm against her cheek. Her face was a little sore from when Nott had hit her, but she didn't know if it had bruised or not.

"I don't know, maybe. Nott hit me a few times before I was able to bring him down."

"And most of us are impressed by how thorough of a job you did of that," Draco told her, gently moving her hand so he could point his wand at her cheek. He whispered something and Melanie felt a tingle on her cheek.

"Thanks," Melanie told him with a smile.

He gently kissed her where the bruise had been. "My pleasure." He sighed. "You scared me today, you know that?"

"What, scared that I might beat you up, too?" Melanie teased with a smile.

A smile momentarily crossed Draco's serious face, but he just shook his head. "When I heard you yelling, when I saw Nott there..."

Melanie looked at Draco with amused surprise. "Draco, what are you..."

"I...I was scared I was going to loose you," he stammered, staring down at his feet. Melanie looked at him curiously as he lifted his head back up and looked in her eyes.

"I love you, Melanie."

Melanie looked at him in surprise, her breath catching in her chest. "What?"

"I love you. What, do you not believe me?"

Melanie laughed. "I'm just surprised to see Draco Malfoy all sentimental."

"Well, I'm sorry if I upset you," he said, storming off.

"Draco, wait!" Melanie shouted, running after him and grabbing his arm.

"What?" he asked.

Melanie sighed. "I love you, too."

A smile crossed Draco's face. He opened his mouth to say something, but just threw his arms around her, spinning her happily in a circle. Melanie laughed as they finally both came to a stop.

"I didn't mean to laugh at you, I just wasn't expecting gruff Draco Malfoy to get sentimental like that."

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't matter. I surprised myself, actually. I've been trying to convince myself for weeks that I couldn't feel this way about anyone. But then the attack, and..." He sighed.

Melanie just shook her head and hugged him. "I won't tell anyone that you broke down. It was just a momentary weakness, after all. Anyone would be worried by an attack." She laughed. "I'm just glad I don't have to see my mom's reaction when she hears the news."

Just then, they overheard voices coming from the living room.

"Where is she, Octavian? Is she safe?"

"She's fine, Violetta," Melanie heard her father assure her. "She beat him back with some nice kicking. Gave the guy quite a black eye, actually."

"I don't care about that! I just want to know where she is."

Draco looked at her. "Your mother's calling."

"Great." Melanie sighed as she walked into the living room.

"Melanie!" her mother exclaimed, running up to her and giving her a big hug. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm fine, Mom," Melanie told her. "I'm a little shook up, but I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Another Death Eater attack!"

"I'd hardly call it a Death Eater attack, Mrs. Brienwald," Draco told her. "Nott is our age and hardly an extreme threat."

"He must have been smart enough to get through all of our security! I'd hardly call that not a threat."

"And he killed Theodora. That's enough of a threat to worry me," Octavian added.

Draco just shook his head as the fire behind them glowed green and Rhonda ran into the room.

"Melanie, are you all right? I just heard!"

Melanie laughed as her friend embraced her. "Does the entire wizarding world know about this?"

"Well, Uncle Archie knew I was your friend, so he told my dad when he saw Tonks bring the guy in. Took me forever to manage to get here, though. Stupid security wouldn't let me floo here at first."

"Well, I'd hardly call it increased security if anyone could just floo in whenever they wanted," Violetta said, giving Melanie another hug.

"It's okay, Violetta," Octavian told her, putting his arm around her shoulder reassuringly. "The boy's locked up. No need to overreact."

"Theodora's dead. What do you mean we shouldn't overreact?" Violetta asked.

"She's dead?" Rhonda asked, looking over at Melanie in surprise. Melanie nodded sadly.

"There's only so much protection we can offer, Violetta," Octavian said firmly. "And I don't see the use of increasing security so much that Melanie's own friends can't see her. I'd rather my daughter be able to enjoy her life than restrict her life so much she's miserable, especially with something like this. There is no total protection, Violetta. We can only do what we can and go from there." Everyone else in the room was silent as he walked out. Violetta looked from Melanie to the door and then followed him.

"Wow," Rhonda said, walking up next to Melanie as she looked out the door. "I don't think I've ever seen your dad like that."

"I think he's just upset over Theodora," Melanie said, sitting down.

"It is horrible," Rhonda agreed, sitting down next to her. "It's hard to believe that someone we went to school with..."

Melanie just nodded as she watched the flames in the fireplace flicker.