After lunch on Saturday, Melody swam through her trunks looking for the precious bottle. The liquid silver potion was wedged far in the corner. Pulling it out, her hands ran over the surface.
It was only 1:30, but Melody had planned on showing up early. If Harry had to lie about where he was, she was going to find the truth.
Returning to the sitting room, she tapped the tip of the bottle with her wand. The chromed cork popped out easily, and Melody brought the bottle to her lips. She wasn’t certain on how much to take, so she quickly downed half the bottle.
At first, she felt nothing, but that was soon erased as a sudden flood of warmth slowly made it’s way through her body followed by a severe cold. The sensation ended quickly to Melody’s relief.
Concentrating on the Gryffindor common room, Melody felt the rush of Apparition consume her until she stood right in front of the warm fire.
What appeared to be two first years, screamed and darted up the stairs to the girl’s dormitories. They were met by Ron and Hermione who flattened against the wall to let the shrieking girls through.
“I swear!” Ron shouted, “They’ve all gone mental!”
Melody laughed as she casually took a seat next to the fire. From the corner of her eye, she saw Hermione stop at the notice board as Ron took a seat adjacent Melody.
“Hello, Mel,” he said, glancing up.
Ron didn’t know Mel was coming, so within seconds he performed a classic double take.
“Mel!” he exclaimed as he rose to his feet.
Melody jumped up from her seat and rung her arms around his neck (which took a bit of a jump). He twirled her in a circle before placing her on the ground again.
“I missed you, Ron,” Melody said as they took a seat.
“Yeah, it hasn’t been the same without you around here,” Ron said before turning toward Hermione who was still examining the notice board, “Mione! Look whose here. It’s Mel!”
Melody again bounded to her feet and embraced Hermione.
“What are you doing here?!” Hermione asked, her voice a bit higher than usual, “It’s so great to see you!”
Melody smiled, “I have a meeting with Dumbledore, so I thought I’d stop by a bit early.”
The smile on Hermione’s face faded as she glanced at Ron who had been trying to get her attention.
“What wrong?” Melody asked.
Hermione nervously tugged on her sleeve, “It’s just that…well, Harry is…um…he’s busy.”
Melody’s eyes narrowed as she remembered why she was there, “I know.”
“You do?!” Ron asked urgently as he got to his feet.
“Well, he’s obviously doing something that none of you want me to find out about,” Melody replied.
“What do you mean?” Ron and Hermione snapped together.
“He lied to me about where he was going today, so I’ve come by early to figure it out.”
With that she began her way up to Harry’s dormitory. Once outside the door, she knocked a warning and entered. Stroking a large plant in the corner, sat Neville. As soon as he spotted Melody, he clambered to his feet knocking down a telescope.
Laughing, Melody crossed the room and hugged him.
“Oh, Neville,” she said, still trapping him in her arms, “I’ve missed you.”
Neville blushed as she released him, and he took a seat on his bed. Melody sat down beside him.
“How are things, Neville?” Melody asked.
“Fine, I guess. How about you?”
Melody thought about the day before her, “I’ve been better.”
Neville gave her a sympathetic look behind his round cheeks, “I’m sorry, Melody.”
Melody shrugged and then rose from the bed. She took a few steps about the room until her eyes fell on Harry’s photo album, which was lying open. Melody had seen this before, but the face smiling up at her was not familiar.
The girl’s brunette hair was tied into braids, and she looked up through two big, hazel eyes. Melody gazed at the image for a moment until she heard Neville rustle behind her.
“Neville,” Melody asked charmingly, “Whose this?”
She showed him the picture and his face quickly scrunched at the forehead.
“Um…well that’s…that would be Sarah, Sarah McGunther.”
“Really? And how does Harry know this Sarah?”
But before Neville could answer, Melody rushed to the dormitory door. Someone has entered the common room and was making quite a fuss.
“Hermione! Ron!” Harry’s voice called, “Mel is going to be here in an hour, and I sort of told her I was at Quidditch practice.”
“Harry, Mel knows there isn’t Quidditch this year,” Hermione snarled.
“I know, but I’m just going to tell her we set up a game against Ravenclaw for fun. Ron, I need you to run down to the pitch and get your gear on.”
“Why don’t you just tell her the truth?” Ron asked annoyed.
Melody heard Harry throw something on the ground, “Because she would love to know that I was down by the lake with Sarah.”
“You said it was totally innocent,” Hermione said, “So there should be nothing to hide.”
“Yeah, it is…but it’s like when you cringe every time Ron is alone with Mel. You know nothing will happen, but it still gets to you”
“I suppose…” Hermione trailed off.
“But you still have a problem,” Ron said, ignoring Hermione’s response, “Mel is up in the dorm right now…and she isn’t happy.”
“Shut it, Ron. That isn’t funny.”
Ron laughed, “I’m not kidding, Harry. You better hope she’s just talking to Neville.”
Melody pulled away from the stairs and waved her hand across the room. It was instantly clean.
Footsteps were coming up the stairs, but she hurried out of the door and met Harry on the step.
“You don’t seem happy to see me,” she joked, “I’ve just been tidying up your dorm. Would you like to see?”
She mouth to Ron and Hermione to stay put and led Harry up to the dorm. A blur she assumed was Neville brushed past them in the doorway, and she lightly pushed Harry into the room.
“Well, this looks nice. I’m sure Ron will like to see it,” Harry said, turning to the door.
He only took about one step before he was face to face with Melody who started to walk him backwards.
“Quidditch?” she asked simply.
“Yeah, well…you see…it was”“
“A game for fun?” Melody finished.
“Exactly! We met up with the team from”“
“Ravenclaw?”
“Right…” Harry said with his back to the wall, “How much did you hear?”
“Everything,” Melody snapped, “Whose Sarah?”
“Just a girl from Ravenclaw.”
“Just a girl you put in your photo album,” Melody said emotionally as she magically summoned the photo album.
“But, Mel,” Harry said before he was cut off by Melody’s raised hand.
“Save it.”
She turned on her heels and marched out of the dorm.