The Next Generation and the Followers of Darkness

Melody had spent the night in the hospital wing under the watchful eye of Madam Heiler, the school nurse. Her broken wrist was fixed within minutes of her arrival, and soon after, she could see out of both eyes, too. Madam Heiler had kept her overnight just to make sure. And, as it was nothing really serious, Melody was allowed visitors the next morning before she was released back to Gryffindor Tower.

The first people to show up on Sunday morning were Oliver and Jeremy. They walked in on tiptoe, but when they saw she was awake, they hurried over.

"Hey, Mel," Jeremy whispered. "I heard what happened. How're you doing?"

"I'm fine," said Melody. "I didn't have to stay, Madam Heiler just wanted to keep an eye on me."

"Well, at least you didn't get the chance to 'fall' down some more stairs," Oliver teased. Still, despite his light-hearted tone, her brother's eyes watched her intently. She knew why he was here so early.

"I didn't get to talk to you yesterday," said Jeremy. "So how are you liking Hogwarts so far?"

"Well, Jeremy," began Melody sarcastically, "other than being given a detention, being called a bitch by Amelia, and falling down the stairs, school has been fantastic! Then again, classes haven't even started yet, so I get the full experience tomorrow actually . . ."

"Oh . . . well . . . er . . . I'm sorry to leave so soon, but . . . you know . . . prefect duties . . ."

Jeremy nearly ran out of the room, not daring to glance back at the bed where Melody and Oliver were sitting. Oliver scoffed as the elder boy slammed the door shut carelessly behind him.

"Arse," he muttered. "Won't even take time off his duties to check if you're all right."

"He's not an arse," Melody said. She curled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them tightly. "He just doesn't care. We don't know each other well enough for him to care."

"What d'you mean, you don't know each other? He's our brother."

Melody sighed. Resting her chin on her right kneecap, she looked at Oliver. It was no surprise that people could tell they were related instantly. The two of them had the exact same pale brown color hair, Melody's long and wavy, Oliver's short and clean-cut. The sprinkles of freckles on their noses and below their eyes were almost identical, and both had a thin, slightly rounded face-shape. If it weren't for the fact that Melody was several inches shorter that Oliver, they could have been mistaken for twins. But their eyes were different, too. While Melody's were a dull hazel, Oliver's were a glassy blue, reflecting everything he looked upon. Right now, she could almost see a little reflection of herself in them.

Melody sighed again.

"What d'you mean?" Oliver repeated.

"You know how Jeremy left for school when I was four, and I only got to see him and Amelia when they were on holiday? Well, who they are with Mum and Dad, aren't the same people they are here. I guess, it's just that we didn't truly get to know each other when we were home, and —"

She stopped speaking when Lux, her owl, flew in the open window by her bed. Usually, the barn owl would have stopped to hoot sweetly as Melody stroked her feathers, but Lux merely dropped a red envelope on the bed sheets and flew back out the window in a whirl of feathers.

Oliver stepped back, and Melody looked at the letter with wide eyes.

"Oh, God —"

"That can only be from — Amelia must have written to her last night —"

He jammed his fingers into his ears as Melody flipped open the Howler, wanting to get it over with. The voice she heard coming out of the letter was louder than Melody had ever heard it before.

"MELODY CORNELIA SMITH!" her mother's voice thundered. Madam Heiler looked up from what she was doing, then hurried off to the farthest corner of the room, trying to busy herself with something as she made an effort to get as far from the noise as possible. "HOW ON EARTH DID YOU GET A DETENTION ON YOUR FIRST DAY? I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! WHAT KIND OF TROUBLE HAVE YOU GOTTEN INTO ALREADY? TELL THAT BROTHER OF YOURS, OLIVER" — he took his fingers out of his ears cautiously — "THAT IF HE DOESN'T SHAPE UP AND START SETTING A BETTER EXAMPLE, I'LL BE COMING THERE MYSELF TO PERSONALLY TEACH YOU BOTH A LESSON! AND IF I HEAR OF EITHER OF YOU GETTING INTO ANY MORE TROUBLE THIS YEAR, THE BOTH OF YOU WILL BE GROUNDED ALL NEXT SUMMER!"

The yelling finally stopped, and the letter caught fire, disappearing in a wisp of smoke. Melody and Oliver stared at each other, gulping. Then, without reason, both starting chuckling and giggling uncontrollably. The quiet laughter quickly became louder and louder until Madam Heiler told them to lower their voices. They sniggered under their breath, shaking with laughter, not understanding why they were laughing.

"Just be glad we didn't get that in the Great Hall during breakfast," Oliver said once he had stopped chuckling. "It's really embarrassing when that happens."

"What's really embarrassing?"

James had appeared out of nowhere with Hayden, Richard, and Luke. The four of them looked at Melody and Oliver, seemingly disappointed that they had missed out on something extremely funny.

"It's none of your business," Oliver chuckled. "And if you really want to know, I'll tell you later."

"Fine," said Hayden. "But I'm holding you to that, Smith."

"So, Mel," Luke said, pulling up a chair, "what happened? These two wouldn't tell us a thing yesterday afternoon."

"I fell down a flight of stairs on the way back to the common room," said Melody. She hardly blinked. The lie had been repeated so many times in the past twenty-four hours that she, too, was starting to believe it. But one image stuck out in her mind: the figure at the top of the stairs.

"No way," said Richard.

"That's not even possible," explained Hayden. "You couldn't have hurt yourself enough to end up in the hospital wing just by 'falling' down the stairs. If you were pushed, that's another story."

The five boys gazed at her, as if they were trying to make her tell the truth. Under their stares, she felt her restraint buckle. She groaned.

"Fine," she murmured. "Someone pulled the rug out from under me at the top, and I fell all the way to the bottom."

Now, Oliver knew what he wanted to know, but he looked far from satisfied.

For a moment, no one spoke. The boys diverted their eyes, thinking about something, then muttering into each other's ears. After ten minutes of whispering and silence, Melody raised one eyebrow. Oliver turned to explain.

"That's a serious issue, Melody." Her brother was no longer angry about what had happened to her — instead, he seemed rather worried and anxious. "You could have been killed."

"Brilliant," Melody grumbled, burying her head in her knees. "It's not even the first week of school, and someone's trying to get rid of me for good. I reckon this breaks a school record."

"Melody, we're not messing around," snapped James. "You should go to Professor Longbottom and tell him exactly what happened — or maybe even McGonagall . . ."

"No!" she replied firmly, looking back up. "I can't . . . I don't even know who did it, so I would look pretty paranoid."

"You have a reason to be paranoid!"

"Why risk it?"

"I don't want you to get hurt again."

"Melody, listen to us —"

"Just tell someone —"

The boys were all talking at once now, but Melody wasn't listening. She knew they meant well, but they didn't seem to understand. Without a name or concrete evidence that she was pushed, none of the teachers would take her argument seriously. They would blame the image in her mind on the fall, and the injures she obtained would be dismissed as purely accidental and self-inflicted.

"Hello!" someone said, making all five of the third-year boys and Melody jump.

"Dammit, Rose!" James yelled. "You scared the hell out of me!"

Madam Heiler rushed over as she realized how many people had gathered around Melody's bed. Rose, Albus, Aubree Bremner, and Pierson Hastings had entered the hospital wing.

"Only five visitors at a time," ordered Madam Heiler. James, Hayden, Richard, and Luke got to their feet. "And Mr. Potter," she added to James, "watch your language."

"Yes, ma'am," replied James, but rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking. "I'll see you later, Oliver. Bye, Melody!"

"Bye!"

"See ya!"

"Later!"

"I'll be back in the afternoon, Mel, if you haven't been released before then," Oliver said. "I promise."

He threw an arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze before running after his friends. The five boys left, and Melody's friends gathered around the bed.

"We were going to visit last night, but Madam Heiler wouldn't let us in," explained Albus, throwing a sidelong glance in the nurse's direction. "Oliver told us what happened and that you weren't allowed to have any visitors till this morning."

"I don't know why she's keeping me here," Melody complained, hugging her knees again. "I'm fine now. By the way, Aubree, Pierson, I haven't seen you two since the Sorting. How are Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff?"

Despite the House rivalries, the two of them were being dedicated friends just by being here. They had just met two days earlier, and Aubree and Pierson, who hardly knew each other, we're visiting their Gryffindor friend in the hospital wing — unlike someone else Melody knew.

"The Ravenclaws are incredible!" Aubree exclaimed. "They're all so clever and intelligent — and all of them read for fun! I've already borrowed a few books from the elder students. And the view from my dormitory is beautiful. You can see the Black Lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch, and the Herbology gardens!"

"And how's Hufflepuff, Pierson?" asked Melody.

"Fun," he said simply. "Everyone's really nice — plus, our common room and dormitories are really close to the kitchens!"

Albus groaned enviously, then muttered something about shushing the Gryffindor dormitories were closer to the kitchens. Melody, Rose, and Aubree laughed.

~~~~~

Melody was released from the hospital wing at lunchtime. Madam Heiler, who was actually quite sweet when she wasn't worrying about student health, had checked that everything was fine with Melody before giving her a small pat on the head and sending the first year down to the Great Hall. And Melody was grateful, not only for the nurse's kindness, but also the chance to eat. She had hardly taken a bite of toast that morning.

Making her way cautiously down to the Great Hall, she glanced around her suspiciously, not wanting to be ambushed again.

Rose, Aubree, Albus, and Pierson had left for lunch a half hour earlier, promising, like Oliver, to come back after, as they hadn't known when Melody would be able to leave. She was going to surprise them when she walking in and joined them.

As she came down the great marble staircase into the entrance hall, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning, she saw that a person was coming up the corridor from the dungeons — a Slytherin. Scorpius.

Melody felt a twinge of hurt inside. He hadn't come to visit her in the hospital wing, and she felt a little betrayed. While she had tried so hard to be a friend to him, the Slythein boy kept failing as a friend to her over and over again. Maybe the rivalry between Gryffindors and Slytherins could ruin friendships.

I guess, that's what I get for befriending the Malfoy boy, she thought. The mere thought of this made her feel guilty. But she was still mad at him for not coming to see her, and tried to cross the entrance hall without being noticed. This didn't work, of course.

"Melody!" Scorpius called, speeding up to meet her halfway across the hall.

"Scorpius," she said in greeting. He hesitated at the hostility in her voice.

"Hey — er — where — er — where have you been?" he said uncertainly, as if he was convincing himself of something.

"In the hospital wing," she replied.

"Oh, really? I had no idea. What happened?" he asked. But he seemed to know more than he was letting on. Melody narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"I fell down a flight of stairs yesterday," she hissed. "Broke my wrist. Fell right on my face."

"Oh." Scorpius just nodded.

They stood in silence in the middle of the entrance hall. Even the air surrounding them seemed heavy with tension. The only sound came from the Great Hall, where the most of the school was enjoying lunch.

"You didn't come to visit," Melody said quickly. "I thought you'd just drop by for a few minutes or so."

"Melody, I didn't even know you were —"

"Yes, you did. News travels fast at this school, even a bit of trivial information like a Gryffindor first year in the hospital wing. You knew. Why didn't you visit?"

Scorpius didn't say anything. He looked anywhere but at her. Suddenly, he straightened himself up to full height, looking down upon her slightly.

"It's because I'm a Slytherin," he sneered in a tone of self-appointed superiority. "And you're a Gryffindor. We can't be friends. House loyalties will always get in the way. And why would I visit you, anyway? It's not as if you're important to me."

Melody wanted to slap him and cry at the same time. It was possible that she might do both. But she bit her lip and glared directly into those cold grey eyes. The boy standing before her now was much different than the one she had met on the train, desperate to have one friend in the world, asking her to ride over with him so he wouldn't be alone. Scorpius had morphed into the stereotypical Slytherin.

"All right," she said. Without saying another word of giving him the chance to speak, Melody whipped around and marched into the Great Hall with her head held high, her robes billowing out behind her.

She didn't glance back at Scorpius. Because now she was seeing him as the rest of the school saw him — a clone of his father.

~~~~~

After a quick lunch, the five reunited friends decided to explore the castle. There hadn't been much time with the events of the past two days. But this afternoon, they were determined to reveal one or two of Hogwarts' secrets.

The House common rooms were out of the questions, so the first place Melody, Rose, Aubree, Albus, and Pierson went was the Trophy Room. It was as exciting as they expected it to be. Loads of dusty old badges and medals, lying in glass cases for decades. Even Aubree, who got excited about anything to do with the history of magic and Hogwarts, was bored by what the room held. Then, Rose and Albus found their fathers' names in one case.

"'For special services to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,'" read Melody aloud. "Well, what did they do?"

"I don't know," said Rose. "We'll have to ask."

Leaving the Trophy Room, Aubree insisted they go to the library. The boys argued that this room would be just as boring as the last. But the girls pleading with them to go there next, and Albus and Pierson finally agreed.

Contrary to what the boys believed, the library was incredible. Shelves upon shelves of books covered the walls and stood in neat lines all across the room, which was more like the Great Hall in size. All five of them gasped as they walked in, only to be hushed by Madam Lawrence, the librarian, a moment later.

Aubree nearly ran to the nearest shelf. The books here were about the history of Hogwarts. She ran her thin fingers along the spines, her lips moving as she read the titles. Every book varied in size and style. Some were huge and thick, with flimsy parchment covers and bindings; others were tiny volumes, wrapped in leather with gold or silver lettering. Aubree seized a book titled A Recent Collection of the History of Hogwarts School, skipped over to a table by the window, and sat down to read. Rose, pulling her bushy brown hair out of her eyes with a big hair band, walked up and down the aisles of books for a few minutes, then picked a few books off the shelves.

Melody walked all about the library, staring up at the titles. She became enthralled in the books about dragons and alchemy and potions and —

"Where in heaven's name are you going?" said Madam Lawrence suddenly from right behind Melodh. "Get away from the Restricted Section this instant!"

Melody, so interested in what was on the shelves, had almost walked straight past the rope separating the Restricted Section from the rest of the library. She hopped back a couple strides, blushing furiously.

Despite her wish to be nothing like Amelia, Melody had always loved reading in general. She enjoyed reading the Daily Prophet and had an exceptional collection of volumes she had gotten for birthdays, Christmas, and from Diagon Alley. Being surrounded by so many books now, she had not been paying attention to where she was going.

"Sorry," mumbled Melody, turning away from Madam Lawrence quickly and swiftly walking down the aisle.

At the end of the shelves, she made a sharp left turn and nearly ran into someone again. Thankfully, she came to a halt right before she and Mr. Witt collided.

"Oh — sorry," Witt grumbled as she side stepped to avoid the collision, Melody apologizing quietly. But Witt turned on his heel — more gracefully than Melody would have expected for a man of his age — to look at her. "Melody, right?"

"Yes . . ." she said, facing him from five feet away. Why was he asking what her name was? He had written it on her file in his office just the day before. Even at his age, his memory couldn't be failing yet.

"I heard you were in the hospital wing last night," he said casually. "Broken wrist, right? What happened?"

"I — er — fell down a staircase."

"Wow . . . must've been one hell of a fall. I . . . dropped by the hospital wing to get something from . . . er . . . what's-her-name —"

"Madam Heiler?" suggested Melody, grinning despite her surprise that Mr. Witt was talking so casually to her.

"Yes — her." Witt snapped his fingers out of realization. "Thank you . . . but, er . . . I was in there and I saw you . . . anyway . . . I was just wondering . . ."

Without saying anything else to her, Mr. Witt stalked off in the direction of Madam Lawrence.

Melody shrugged. Although she couldn't understand why the caretaker was being so kind to her after she, Rose, and Albus had dripped water all over the castle one day earlier, she was happy that he wasn't dogging her about what had happened. Grabbing a book about werewolves off the shelves, she returned to where her four friends were sitting, Albus and Pierson reluctantly reading beside Rose and Aubree.

After a few hours of sitting in the library, the girls had pulled down at least five books each and were blazing through them, absorbing the information. Albus and Pierson, however, could no longer stand it.

"Can we please leave now?" whispered Albus, who had long ago put down the copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Pierson lifted her head from his arms.

"Please?" he yawned.

After several minutes of muttered discussion, Melody, Rose, and Aubree concurred — under the agreement that they could check out their books before the five of them left. The boys promised they would be in the corridor outside.

But as the girls made their way toward the librarian's desk, they saw Mr. Witt leap up from where he had been sitting on the floor in the middle of an aisle and bolt out the door, holding his left forearm tightly, an expression of agonizing pain on his face. He nearly bowled them over in the process.

"What do you think was wrong?" Rose asked.

"I don't know," said Aubree, looking around for some reason for Witt to flee the library. "But what was he even doing in here?"

"Reading," said Melody.

She walked down to where Witt had been sitting. A book was lying on the ground, closed. Melody picked it up. Legends and the History Surrounding Them. She added to the stack of books in her arms.

"What are you doing?" Rose muttered in her ear. Melody nearly dropped her books.

"I'm curious why he was in here," hissed Melody. "This isn't from the Restricted Section so I can check it out."

"But why?" Aubree asked.

"I want to know why he was in here, and why he was reading this," Melody snapped, rolling her eyes and marching off toward Madam Lawrence.