Sisters; Can't Live With Them, Can't Prank Without Them

Thanks

I'm not sure who screamed first. Or who let go of whomever they were holding on to. But within milliseconds we were all sliding forward and screaming all the way. When we came to a sudden stop I was hanging right in the hole, head first, the only thing stopping Melanie from plummeting uncountable depths. And the only thing stopping me from following her were Lione's painfully tight hands around my ankles.

"Who's that?" I heard Lione ask from above.

"It's me," It was Frank. "And I've got Hagrid with me."

"Okay," said Lione. "Just no more surprises. We have a serious problem here."

"Which is no closer to be resolved," I added. "Further away actually."

"Okay," said Gregory. "Does anyone have a rope with them?" There was silence. "Right. We really do have a problem here."

"Can't someone just use magic?" Lucy suggested.

"That would involve letting go," Gregory pointed out.

There was more silence only broken by a pathetic sniff from Melanie. Her hands were beginning to shiver.

"Right," said Lione. "I have an idea. Who exactly is holding on to Lucy?"

"I am," said Frank.

"Right," Lione repeated. "Grab hold of Gregory. And Lucy, very carefully let go."

"Now hold on," Gregory interrupted.

"Shut up Gregory and hold on," Lione snapped. "I'm teetering on the precipice here and if I go in my ghost will come back and haunt you so bad you'll wish I never died. If you thought it was bad when I was alive you haven't seen nothing yet."

"You know, Kettle," I said. "Talking in the past tense isn't very comforting."

"Sorry. Right, Frank, have you got Gregory?"

"Yes."

"What do I do?" Lucy asked.

"Go get a vine, a stick, anything. We have to pull Melanie out first."

"You mean," Lucy sounded terrified. "Go out in to the forest? On my own?"

"Watch out for benba traps," Gregory warned. "And the giant snakes. They can pretend to be vines you know."

Of course I couldn't see but knew Lucy would be virtually quaking with fear by this point.

"Shut up!" we all yelled at Gregory.

"But-" Lucy started.

"Please!" I called. "Please Lucy. You're a Gryffindor, aren't you? We know you can do this."

The sound of her footsteps told me she had literally fled. As they faded away there was silence again.

"Joseph," Melanie was staring at me (though, admittedly, she didn't have much other choice). "Joseph, I'm scared."

"I'm here," I said.

"Hold on," she said.

"I'm holding," I replied. "I'm holding. How did you get here?"

"I don't know." There were tears rolling down her cheeks. "One minute I'm talking to Cathy Sandrine, the next thing I know I'm in the forest and the ground is disappearing from under me. I called so long. I'd almost given up. I thought no one would ever find me."

"It's all right," I said. "I'm here now. You don't need to worry any more."

"I'm so sorry," wept Melanie. "I'm so so sorry."

"For what?"

"For everything!"

"Calm down Mel, we're going to get out of this."

"How do you know? You don't!"

"We're doing our best."

"Oh yeah, like that helps."

"Melanie, this is no time to panic."

"Oh yes it is!"

"I thought it was," Lione added, unhelpfully

"Seems like a perfectly reasonable time to panic to me," came Gregory's voice.

"She's right you know," Frank joined in.

"You're not helping," I called up to the others. "Lucy'll be back soon."

"What if she never comes back?" Melanie asked.

"What if she gets eaten by a giant snake?"

"Shut up, Gregory!"

"Lucy will be back," I told Melanie. "All we need to do till then is hold on."

"I don't think I can," Melanie replied in barely a whisper.

"You just have to get your mind off it," I said.

"Oh yeah," said Melanie. "Like that's possible."

"She's got a point," came Gregory, right on cue.

"It is kinda hard when you're hanging over almost certain death," explained Lione, unnecessarily

"What can she think of for a start?" Frank asked.

"Shut up!"

I thought and tried to remember the lyrics to Melanie's favourite song. The one she sang all the time back home. The one from that old film she was always watching (although only because she really fancied the blond guy in it). I concentrated and sang the first line.

"Lay down."

"What?" everyone cried.

"How?" Gregory added.

"Your sweet and weary head,

Night is falling."

It was true what Melanie always said, I can't sing. My voice sounds awful and croaky but I had to try. Thankfully Melanie's sweet but hoarse voice joined in. She realised what I was doing just in time. I could remember the lyrics but I can never remember tunes.

"You have come to journey's end."

Melanie's contribution came to an abrupt end with a sniff. I continued regardless of the extremely flat and off notes that were coming out my mouth.

"Sleep now,

Dream of the ones who came before."

On 'before' another girl's voice joined in. It was Lione.

"They are calling,

From across a distant shore.

Why do you weep?

What are these tears upon your face?

Soon you will see,

All of your fears will pass away,

Safe in my arms."

Slowly everyone started joining in. I found out later that no one had ever heard the original version but everyone had heard Melanie singing it around the grounds. Finally, Melanie rejoined the chorus.

"You're only sleeping.

What can you see,

On the horizon?

Why do the white gulls call?

Across the sea,

A pale moon rises!

The ships have come,

To carry you home.

And all will turn to silver glass,

A light on the water,

All souls pass.

Hope fades,

Into the world of night.

Through shadows falling,

Out of memory and time.

Don't say,

We have come now to the end,

White shores are calling,

You and I will meet again.

And you'll be here in my arms,

Just sleeping.

What can you see,

On the horizon?

Why do the white gulls call?

Across the sea,

A pale moon rises.

The ships have come,

To carry you home.

And all will turn to silver glass,

A light on the water,

Grey ships pass,

Into the West."

We must have looked incredibly odd, standing (or in some cases lying) there while two of our number were suspended over a huge height, just singing. But it worked. Melanie calmed down and stopped crying. There was a rustling and we all heard Lucy's voice.

"Now what?"

"Frank," said Lione. "Dig your heels in."

"Why?"

"Hagrid, let go."

"What!" we all cried.

"Lucy'll never get Melanie up on her own. It's the only way. It won't be for long."

There was a dangerous lurch mainly caused by everyone's fear of Frank not being able to take the strain rather than Frank actually not being able to take the strain. Now there were only three people keeping Melanie and I away from oblivion. I risked a glance up and soon wished I hadn't. Lione was nearly half over the hole. I couldn't help remembering that there were only two people keeping her from falling down with us and one of those was an actor with serious problems.

Lucy appeared leaning over the opposite side of the hole. She stuck her arm down as far as possible and leaned a long stick towards Melanie.

"I can't reach it," Melanie protested.

"I've got to go lower," Lucy called to the invisible Hagrid.

Lucy's arm came closer to me. The stick was perfect for Melanie to reach but she still made no attempt to do so.

"I can't get it," she said.

"Yes you can," I said.

"No," she said. "I can't. What if I lose my grip? What if Lucy loses hers?"

"I put a special gripping spell on it," said Lucy. "You wouldn't be able to let go of it even if you wanted to."

"What if it breaks?" Melanie protested. "Why can't you just levitate me out?"

"I've never done that with anything as heavy as you," said Lucy. "No offence meant."

"Why doesn't Hagrid do it?"

"Ter tell yer the truth I was never too good with levitation," came Hagrid's voice.

"Just grab the stick," I said.

The others called out in support. Melanie just looked at me, tears teetering at the edge of her eyes, and shook her head. It was at that moment I realised I had to do the hardest thing of my life. I had to let go.

"Melanie," I said, forcing calmness in to my voice. "I'm going to let go of you now. Just one hand."

"WHAT?!" Melanie cried. "No! Joseph, No! I'll drop!"

"Grab hold of the stick then," I said coolly. "I'm going to let go now."

I let go of my hand and quickly withdrew it so she couldn't grab it again. She screamed and called my name and she struggled and tried to grasp the one hand remaining. It hurt me to do it. My other hand was getting sweaty and I was afraid I was going to lose her. I could tell from various shouts above that the strain was getting too bad. I nearly gave in and grabbed her again but before I could Melanie finally came to her senses and grabbed the stick. I let out a breath I hadn't even realised I was holding in.

"Don't you dare do that again!" Melanie yelled.

"I'm going to let go of the other hand now," I said conversationally.

"No!" Melanie shrieked. "No! Don't you dare! Joseph! JOSEPH!"

I let go. Melanie grabbed the branch with two hands and there was a massive shout of "Pull!" from above. The earth disappeared and we landed in a heap in the middle of the forest, panting.

"Joseph," said Melanie, between breaths of air. "Promise me something?"

"What?" I asked exhaustedly.

"Never ever do that again."

Frank was the first to recover. He got to his feet and addressed us all in his best impression of a teacher to date.

"Right," he said. "I should really reprimand you all for coming in to the Forbidden Forest without permission but I think we've all been punished enough for this century. Now, Melanie, where's Catherine?"

"What?" Melanie asked.

"Catherine Sandrine," he hinted. "In Hufflepuff? You sit nest to each other in my class. I saw you both walk down here. Where is she?"

Melanie looked around at us, panicked. "I don't know. I don't remember walking down here. Like I said, one minute I was in the grounds, the next thing I know I'm down this hole."

"You said you were talking to Cathy," I said.

"You don't think she..." Lucy didn't finish the sentence.

"Frank," said Gregory, delicately. "Was Cathy Muggleborn?"

He nodded. Gregory, Lione, Lucy and I all looked at each other.

"Scary creepy guy," we chorused.

***

We all spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the forest (in two groups, one to a teacher, of course) calling out Cathy's name but we didn't find her. We never did. That night I was in the common room alone when Melanie came up to me.

"You could have died," she informed me. "If Hagrid hadn't been there."

"I didn't really think of that until I was hanging in there myself," I admitted.

Melanie thought about this. "Oh. Well. Thank you anyway."

We sat in silence.

"And," she said, slowly, as if the words were only coming to her as she spoke them. "Thanks for letting go. At the end. When I was being such a brat."

"Trust me," I said. "You've been much more of a brat than that and you were perfectly justified there."

"I didn't see you or your friends panicking."

"Oh I was panicking. But so were you and you'd been out there for longer so I felt you had more of a right. We couldn't both panic, it would be stealing your thunder if I joined in."

Melanie considered this. "That doesn't make sense."

I frowned and went over my last sentence in my head. "No it doesn't. I think I've been spending to much time around Lione."

"I bet you wouldn't have enjoyed letting go then," said Melanie, smiling and trying to make light of it, though even I could detect the concern in her face.

"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "You're my sister. I couldn't let you plummet to almost certain death."

"Oh."

There was silence.

"You wouldn't let me plummet," I asked, genuinely worried about the answer. "Would you?"

"No," she said, laughing. "Of course not."

We both laughed. One of those laughs that always ends in a long drawn out 'he' that shows neither party is to certain about the speech that precipitated it.

"Anyway," she said. "Thanks."

"You've already said that," I reminded her.

"Oh yes," she said. "Who's scary creepy guy?"

This sudden change of subject shocked me a bit but wasn't completely unexpected. "Exactly what it says on the tin," I said. I paused. "That's too much Gregory, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Doesn't he have a proper name?"

"Probably," I said. "But we don't know it. He's this evil bloke trying to take over the world. He's a Voldemort copy cat who attacked Lione last year."

"Really?" said Melanie. "She never told me that."

"She doesn't like to talk about it," I said. "In fact I really shouldn't have told you that. Don't mention it, will you?" She nodded. "Thanks. Well anyway we think he's getting stronger."

"Didn't you defeat him?" Melanie interrupted. "If he attacked Leigh and she's slightly not... not here."

"Well we threw a dictionary at him."

Melanie laughed. "Really? Your dictionary has helped defeat the powers of evil?"

"No," I said. "We just did that to get away. He had Lione under some sort of spell and we... well we threw the dictionary and ran for it. Look the point is that... Well you know the attacks this year? The ones on relatives of Muggleborns."

"Oh yeah," said Melanie. "I've been really worried about Caitlyn. Every time I heard there was another attack I was convinced it was going to be her. Every time I got a letter from Mum I was scared to open it in case it was bringing bad news. I was really in a bad state about it all. Do you think this... scary freaky guy... may have been behind them?"

"Scary creepy guy," I corrected automatically. I stared. "Why didn't you tell me!" I cried suddenly. "I've been scared to death as well! Why didn't you say you felt the same way?"

"So we could be scared together?"

"Yes!"

"Because you're my brother!" she cried. "You're like this huge overpowering type creature who wants to run my life. If I admit any kind of weakness to you you'll pounce on it and use it as just another reason to control me. You're worse than mum! You think you're so much smarter and more responsible than me and you know what's the worse thing? You are smarter and more responsible than me! All I want to do is have a little fun and I don't need you fussing over me!"

I really shouldn't have, but I did.

"You just walked into a trap!" I protested.

"See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! I didn't mean to! It's not like I got up this morning and thought 'You know what, today I'll go out and nearly get killed by some freaky psychopath. That'll annoy Joseph.' I don't even remember it!"

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know! I'm not the expert of evil wizardry!"

"Well neither am I-"

I froze. Another moment of clarity hit me. It was all so simple. I didn't run up the stairs. I got up, stiffly, and walked up. Gregory was in the room, talking to the wall. I walked straight past him and to my trunk, ignoring him as he spun around guiltily. It wasn't the first time I'd caught him doing that so I wasn't surprised. And I don't think I would have been shocked away from my task if he had been doing the mamba in a flowery bikini with a fruit hat on his head. Okay, maybe then. I searched through my trunk and got out a newspaper cutting I had saved from Teddy's disappearance.

"Although there was no sign of entry the door was open which had been locked from the inside," I read aloud.

"What?" Gregory asked.

I ignored him. I was already sifting through my things for my copy of 'Hogwarts: A History'. I got it out, and flicked through the pages till I found what I wanted. I could feel Gregory watching me as I searched for yet another book. I took it out and riffled the pages until I came across the part on attraction and reflection charms.

"Here," I said, showing it to Gregory.

He examined the page in mock interest but clear bewilderment.

"Look," I said. "You know about the charms around Hogwarts, don't you?"

"Which charm in particular?" he asked.

"The one that reflects Muggles. If they get too close they suddenly get the urge to go away and they're not sure why. What if someone could do a much smaller version of that but the opposite?"

"Err..." said Gregory. "They'd attract Muggles?"

"Exactly!" I cried causing Gregory to jump. I tapped my spell book viciously. "It tells you how to do it right here but it doesn't tell you how to specify. What if someone managed to specify. Like the Hogwarts charms only with Muggleborns."

"So Muggleborns couldn't come to Hogwarts."

"The opposite."

"Only Muggleborns could come to Hogwarts?"

"The forest, Asher! I'm talking about the forest. There's something out there calling Muggleborns and there are traps waiting for them. We've got to go out there and find it before someone else gets caught."

"But it's gone," said Gregory.

I stared. "What?"

"The charmy thing. It's got to be gone, right? I don't know, maybe it was only trying to get one person so it turned off once Cathy fell down. That's why Melanie woke up in time to grab the tree root. That's why you never got the urge to wander in to the forest alone."

"Oh," I said.

I realised I had just been out reasoned by Gregory Weasley. It had all been so clear...

"We should still tell Dumbledore," Gregory said, kindly. You know, what we know."

"It was just a theory..." I muttered.

"A good theory," he said. "You just got over excited about it." He paused. "Have you been spending too much time around me?"