Melody and Marcel celebrated her victory in his preferred manner. For an hour, Melody allowed it as he covered her in affection, but her patience with this behavior had worn thin.
“Marcel!” Melody said throwing Marcel off of her, “That’s enough.”
Refusing to accept Melody’s objection, Marcel again wrapped an arm around Melody’s waist.
“Come on, Mel. Don’t you think we should celebrate?” Marcel said smoothly as he pressed his body against hers and his hands found the underside of her shirt.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Melody burst, pushing him away.
He settled on the other end of the couch with a mix of confusion and anger on his face.
“Mel, we’ve been together for quite some time now. Don’t you think we could-“
“No!” Melody snapped rising from the couch, “Get out!”
Marcel rose from the couch, but instead of moving toward the stairs, he crossed to Melody.
“Don’t be mad. I’m not going to force you to do anything,” he said, grabbing Melody’s hand.
The instant their hands touched, Melody pulled her hand away as if his repulsed her.
“Don’t be mad?!” she howled, “When did I even hint I wanted to have sex?”
“You didn’t-“ Marcel said before Melody cut him off.
“No! I didn’t. You need to go.”
Marcel looked as if he would say something, but turned and disappeared down the stairs.
Melody stood by the sofa for a moment longer before moving to her closet. In an instant fury, she grabbed the handle of her trunk and thrust it out of the way. She burrowed through the piles of shoes as she searched for a sweet reminder of the last time she was truly happy.
As she picked up a black stiletto, she saw the locket’s gold chain wrapped around the heel and caught it as it fell to the floor.
She felt the chain mingle with her fingers as she tightened her fingers around it. Bringing her fist to her heart, she used her other hand to pull a small pile of letters from the second trunk.
Setting both memories before her, her eyes opened and she looked at what remained of her relationship with Harry. Without the strength to walk away, she sat there and cried.
It hadn’t ended because either of them was unfaithful. It ended, because Melody had changed into an increasingly self-centered girl. A bitter summer had created the mess that sat deflated on the floor in the closet and Harry had seen her change gradually as the letters moved between them. He had made the wise move to get out while he could make a legitimate excuse.
All these realizations tore Melody apart as she felt her world fading. Nothing she had any longer meant anything. Nothing she did was meaningful. She had become what her classmates had always seen“ a beautifully rich girl.
The only things that gave her depth were gone now. She had lost her father, her mother, Anna, Celeste and Harry all too easily, but now as she deteriorated in her closet the effects sunk deep within her bones and she was finally seeing herself for the selfish monster she had become.
Sitting in her seat in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Melody traced the golden chain with her thumb. To her right sat Marcel, fast asleep, and to her left Harry had slipped a Quidditch magazine inside his textbook.
As much as she wanted to hate Harry as Sarah took away his magazine, Melody’s breath still tightened in her chest. Seeing him with Sarah only reminded her of the person she used to be and the person Harry wanted.
Melody didn’t realize she was staring at the hand Sarah had seized until she felt Harry’s eyes on her. Embarassed, she quickly returned her attention to Professor Jaquensi.
The topic was something called Aphrotans. It held Melody’s attention, for she had never heard of anything quite like it. The basis of the spell was a strength transfer, but it became far more intricate with the spell’s prerequisites. Strangely enough, a loving bond had to be present to carry out the transfer - the stronger the bond, the more complete and safe the transfer.
As Professor Jaquensi summed up the lesson and gave the class their assignment, Melody’s grasp on the locket tightened.
For a week Melody avoided Marcel outside of classes. She knew that they would eventually have to talk about the incident, but at the moment, Melody didn’t even want to look at her biggest mistake.
Her successful attempts at side-stepping him were brought to and end as he finally cornered her on her way to Defense Against the Dark Arts a week later.
“You can’t avoid me forever,” he laughed as he rung one of his hands with hers, “Eventually, you will be looking for your escort for the ball. I would hope it was still me.”
Melody brushed him off with a nod and then claimed she couldn’t be late for class if she wanted to be able to get a pass to go buy her ball dress after school.
As she crossed the yard to the building that held Professor Jaquensi’s classroom, she couldn’t help but feel bad for Marcel. At this point he was nothing to her. There was nothing left of them.
No matter how much she would have liked to, she couldn’t break him off now. She would have to continue the charade until after the dance and then, maybe she would have to the courage to tell Marcel what was really going on.
Where would that leave her? She would be exactly what she was now without the little bit of comfort that Marcel still offered. As much as she liked to pretend she had become independent without Harry, she knew that without anyone, she would fall apart.
All that remained was the choice between being honest with Marcel and standing alone or stringing him along just to hold on to the last strands of comfort Melody could attain in her crumbling life.