Melody returned to her suite to find a return pest lounging on the sofa.
“Melody, darling! You’re back!” Brigitte sang, rising to her feet.
“Of course I’m back,” Melody snapped as she returned the silvery potion to her closet.
“Where were you off to this time?”
“That’s really none of your business.”
“Hogwarts?” Brigitte leered, “Now, since you weren’t in Transfigurations you ‘ave earned yourself another detention.”
“Yes, I have,” Melody replied, annoyed.
Brigitte’s smirk widened, “But seeing as someone was charitable enough to claim you were ill, you ‘ave gotten out of that.”
“Who would do that?”
“Me, of course, but I can take it right back if you don’t ‘ave good news for me.”
Melody was silent for a moment.
“What kind of news?” she asked cautiously.
Brigitte’s phony smile faded as quickly as it was conjured, “Why else would you go that school?!”
Harry…that’s what this was all about.
“Oh! Of course I have good news,” Melody lied, “He adores your photo.”
“Really? I’m surprised you two ‘ad such a courteous visit. According to the others, it wasn’t what you would call a clean break-up.”
Melody, who has been on her way to escaping behind the bathroom door, pivoted on her heels to meet Brigitte’s eyes.
“What others? I’ve only told….Marcel,” Melody said before falling into her own introspection, “So that’s how it will be? It’s going to be Marcel versus Harry all term?”
“Which is why I can take ‘arry off your ‘ands,” Brigitte remarked breaking Melody’s daze.
Melody felt her eyes tingle as she looked at the shallow mess before her.
“How can you be so heartless?”
“Until the moment I’m with the famous ‘arry Potter, I remain but a ring on your finger, catering to your every social need. It’s time that the tables shifted and I ‘ave my ounce of fame.”
“You can have it! I’m sick of it all, especially that group of airheads you cling so desperately to.”
“Marcel will love to ‘ear that.”
Melody sighed, “We’ll see…probably the instant you trot down those stairs…which is about now.”
With that, Melody raised her wand. Her vengeful guest’s feet left the floor and her shadow danced to the top stair.
“Now, I can drop you and you can plummet most likely to your death or you can go cordially.”
Frozen in fear, Brigitte silently pleaded with Melody and was gently placed on her feet.
Melody stifled laughter as Brigitte’s eyes burned. Her burst of brunette curls exploding from the ribbon at the base of her neck disappeared down the stairs.
Howls of laughter escaped Melody as a confused Marcel mounted the last step into her sitting room.
Slightly too obvious, Melody’s smile faded. Her relationship with Marcel was terribly new, but how was she supposed to deal with the news that whatever she said to him might leak out to the others.
“Nice to see you too,” Marcel laughed as he approached Melody.
He was about to wrap his arms around her waist when Melody sharply stepped away. Like a puppy, he took another step closer only to be met with a similar reaction.
“What’s the matter with you?” Marcel snapped.
Melody spun on her heels to throw Marcel a nasty glare.
“With me?! I just don’t what to do anything I’ll hear all about tomorrow in Herbology.”
Marcel remained clueless for a moment, but within seconds, his stature became that of a guilty child.
“That’s right, Marcel. You should feel sorry. I can’t trust you with anything.”
“I’m not normally like this, Mel…I thought you would want to turn people against him…so that…so that when he got here, everyone would….would, um….not….like him?”
Marcel has lost that argument before he had even begun. Melody stood in silence with her hand on her hip remarkably like her mother. Marcel remained leery for a moment, but he quickly turned on the charm as he slipped his own arm through the triangle formed by Melody’s arm and torso. With his free hand he traced her hip and slid around her waist to meet his other hand.
He gazed into her eyes for a moment before guiding Melody’s head to his chest.
“Do you forgive me?” he asked as Melody took in the scent of his shirt.
Melody was still for a moment, “I suppose, you could be something worse.”
“Yeah, I could be Harry,” Marcel joked.
Melody began to object, but Marcel had begun to stroke her hair in his perfect manner, so she just nodded and took the moment in.
The main street of Hogsmeade was a mix of green, yellow, red and navy as Melody looked fondly upon the familiar robes of her former classmates.
She traded updates with those that recognized her as she sought out the Three Broomsticks. Her hand had just graced the doorknob when she spotted Seamus, Dean and Neville leaving Zonko’s Joke Shop. Until this moment, these boys had seemed so distant, but they were fresh in her memory as Seamus pointed out a very pretty sixth year to Dean with a nudge. Not even ten feet from them stood Lavender Brown and the Patil twins huddled together comparing purchases. They painfully reminded Melody of herself and Celeste a little over a year ago. Melody watched as Luna appeared from the shop and took Neville’s arm. Much to no one’s surprise, Luna then pranced into the middle of the street and urged Neville to examine an odd weed growing between the bricks on the road.
A tear escaped Melody as she looked from face to face. They seemed almost frozen in time as if nothing would disturb them and their biggest concern was a coming exam. Their noises and movements opened Melody’s eyes to the charade she’d attempted to play back at Beauxbaton. She could never return to the life she had before Harry. As long as he was in the back of her mind, she couldn’t be this lighthearted.
Quickly, she wiped her eyes and turned the knob to escape a past that Harry has stolen from her.