Melanie Rosen: Year 3 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Chapter 26 Going Home

Chapter 26

Going Home

    With exams in the past, all the students began to pack their things ready to go back home. Hermione chose to spend her last afternoon in the library since she would not see it again until forth year. I hung out up in the boys dormitories with Harry and Ron while they finished packing. We were the only three there at the time.

    Harry seemed rather quiet. He had told us Sirius Black originally asked him to move in since he was his legal guardian. Now however, with Black on the run, that was impossible.

    “You know, we don’t live that far away from each other,” I reminded him. “Only like a block a or two away. I remember easily being able to walk to see Dudley.”

    Harry managed a smile. “That’s true. The Dursleys don’t really care what I do during the day as long as I stay out of their way.”

    “At the very least, this summer should be better than last,” I concluded, recalling last summer I had no friends, whatsoever.

    Harry then looked down and quietly pointed out, “You know, if Malfoy knew that you’re not really muggle born, he might be willing to be friends with you again. Do you ever think of that?”

    I sighed and admitted, “I did a little but I’m not the same person I was back then. I don’t think I can go back to that. Besides, we fought a lot anyway, especially last year when he thought I was the Heir of Slytherin, though I guess he was right.”

    “Oh yeah, I remember you threatening to send the monster after him,” Ron chimed in.

    I let out a hollow chuckle. “Yeah, that was bad… Wait, we had that fight in the Slytherin common room. How do you know I said that?”

    “Smooth, Ron,” Harry muttered, eying him. “I guess we may as well tell her now.”

    “Tell me what?” I asked, looking at both of them.

    Harry sighed and explained, “Well, last year we thought the heir was either you or Malfoy so we used Polyjuice potion to make us appear as Crabbe and Goyle that night.”

    I gawked at both of them. “Wow, I had no idea. Though now that I think of it, Lenora did say she saw Crabbe suddenly sprout out red hair when she passed him. I guess that was the potion wearing off?”

    Harry nodded. “Yeah, it only last an hour. Also, speaking of Lane, there’s something else you should probably know.”

    I could detect a hint of guilt in his tone as he spoke.

    Harry continued, “Towards the end of the year, we were all certain it was you, so I made another potion to make me look like Lane and that was when you told her about being muggle born.”

    I had to take a moment to process what he was saying. Suddenly it all made sense. All this time I thought Lenora was just lying about hearing the truth about me from Pansy first just to get under my skin, but it turned out she was not making that up.

    “I’m sorry Melanie,” Harry said, quietly. “I should have told you before now.”

    “No, its okay,” I said feeling surprisingly cheerful. “This is good. All this time I was so frustrated with Lenora because I thought she was lying to me but now I understand. I think I can work things out with her.”

    “You mean you want to be friends with her again?” Ron asked, looking slightly bewildered. “What about what you said about letting your past go?”

    “This is different,” I reasoned. “Lenora’s not as bad as Draco.”

    Ron snorted and commented, “Well yeah, I bet if you put a rattlesnake next to Malfoy, it will seem pretty friendly.”

    I tilted my head and looked up. “Actually I did meet and talk to a snake a couple years ago and you’re right, Ron. It did seem nicer than Draco.”

    All three of us burst out laughing at that.

    Harry then looked at me and said, “We’ll give her a chance, for you, Melanie. Right Ron?”

    Ron huffed but said, “Yeah sure, why not? At least she’s enemies with Parkinson, right?”

    “I don’t think you’ll ever meet two girls that hate each other more,” I commented.

    “Just don’t tell her about the map or the invisibility cloak yet,” Ron said.

    “Don’t worry, I won’t,” I promised, and then looked to Harry. “Speaking of that map, Sirius said it doesn’t say my name as Melanie Rosen since that’s not my original birth name. What does it say my name is?”

    “Haylan Riddle,” Harry answered. “All this time, we had no idea who that was but we never had a chance to figure it out.”

    “So are you going to change your name again?” Ron asked me with a smirk.

    I shook my head. “No, it took me a while to adjust to being called Rosen rather than Chamberson this year. I don’t really want to start all that again. Besides, I don’t think I’m ready for people to know the truth about me.”

    Harry and Ron both nodded, understandingly.

    “Melanie!” I heard my name called from downstairs.

    “That’s my aunt,” I said, standing up. “I’m going to go see what she wants.”

    I walked down the steps and found Aunt Becky standing by the fireplace.

    “How did you get in here?” I asked her.

    “I found a parchment with the password on the ground,” She answered with a beam. “You really should tell Mr. Longbottom to be more careful with that. I only came to see how your packing was going.”

    “I’m almost done,” I answered.

    Aunt Becky raised her eyebrow. “Are you sure? Because I know your suitcase is not up in the boys’ dormitories.”

    “It’s almost ready, I swear,” I said, grinning. “I just wanted to take a break.”

    “I see. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that,” she said and then eyed me. “You do still want to go home, right?”

    I looked at her curiously. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

    “Well, as I recall, you said you were never going back at the start of this year,” my aunt reminded me.

    I had completely forgotten about that. All of the sudden, my anger with Mum at the beginning of the year did not seem all that important.

    “Will you just make sure you get me back to Hogwarts for my forth year?” I asked.

    Aunt Becky smiled and nodded. “I promise. But, I was thinking maybe you would like to spend the first week of summer with your uncle and me. I can tell you more about your parents. I’ve got a lot of pictures of both of them. I bet you still have a lot of questions.”

    “That sounds nice,” I said, gratefully.

    After all the time spent this year, trying to figure out the mystery of Andre, I felt a great deal of relief that that burden was lifted. However, the burden of yet another secret had been placed on my shoulders. I dreaded I would go through the same ordeal as my first year. But, there was one thing that would make next year different. First year, I was the only one in the school that knew my secret. Next year, at least my friends know and I know they accept me for who I really am.

End of Year 3  

A/N: And we conclude year 3. I hope you all enjoyed it. I hope to have the first chapter of year 4 up sometime next week. In this year there will finally be some romance in Melenie's life. That should spice things up a little. Thank you all for reading!