Chapter 4

I don't own any of the characters apart from Melanie Malfoy. All of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Some parts of the sixth book (Half-Blood Prince) are included and all belong to J.K. Rowling.

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"RAVENCLAW!"

'Oh crap,' was all that was running through my head, on repeat. I had possibly gone into shock. I was happy I wasn't in Slytherin, but God only knew how my family and the Dark Lord would react to this news. I shivered at the thought.

The small room had been drowned in silence since the Sorting Hat had shouted out that one word. Even Professor McGonagall seemed to have gone into shock. Who would have thought a Malf- I mean a Lestrange would be Sorted into a different house to Slytherin. I coughed to try and get a reaction out of the frozen teacher.

"Erm, okay then. Miss Lestrange you will accompany me into the Great Hall. All the other students will just be getting there as well. You will sit at the Ravenclaw table. You should know, Miss Lestrange, that each house has its own noble history which should be respected by all the students."

I briefly nodded along taking in some of the information that she was telling me. "While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup." she finished as we came to the doors of the Great Hall.

She opened the doors and I could see the last of the students going to sit down, so McGonagall hurried me into the hall. I quickly nodded a thank you to her as she pointed out a table of blue in the middle of the hall and walked off back towards the small room.

I quickly walked over to the table McGonagall had pointed out. On the way over, I caught Draco's eye and he smiled over at me, while moving across and pointing to the space next to him. I returned the smile and then turned to carry on walking to the table. When I sat down, he shot me a confused look and then turned away from me again. 

I could feel the numb feeling in my stomach again, although I could only pin it to one thing, and that was that I hated letting Draco down or upsetting him, which I seemed to have done. In fairness, I didn't mean this. I would much rather be sitting next to him than surrounded by people I've never met before. 

"Hi, I'm Cho, are you new here?" the girl sat next to me asked. I turned to face her. She was pretty with long black hair and she was sending me a small smile. I smiled back, deciding it wouldn't be the worst thing if I started talking to someone.

"Hey, I'm Melanie. Yeah, I just started today," I replied. The other people around us had started to stare at me now. 

"Well, you'll love it. What year are you in?" she asked me while shooting a look at some of the people staring. I couldn't help but feel thankful at the small action. 

"I've heard a lot about Hogwarts, and I can't wait! Erm, sixth?" I told her, although it sounded more like a question. She smiled again and another girl with dirty blonde hair turned to join in our conversation.

"You'll be in Cho's year then. You'll probably be in her dorm as well because of the spare bunk she has. Oh, I'm Luna by the way," she told me before Cho got a chance to open her mouth. 

"Ok, anything I should know before I start then?" I asked them both. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'm guessing you've been told about the house points?" Cho asked me, so I nodded in reply. "All the information that is important will be said by Dumbledore before the feast. He has to fill in the first years so you might as well wait until then." 

"The Sorting's about to start," Luna told us, and everyone turned to look at the front where McGonagall was now stood with the same stool I had sat on only minutes before, and the hat I had worn.

"Is this how everyone gets Sorted into their houses?" I whispered to Cho.

"Yeah, the hat belonged to one of the founders and it's been used to Sort students since the school began," she replied, turning her head slightly so I would hear. The Sorting hat had started singing something, but I wasn't paying much attention to it.

I was deep in thought for the full song and then I missed the first years being Sorted into their houses. I came back to my senses when a loud cheer erupted around me. I clapped along with them and then everyone settled down as McGonagall picked up the stool and carried it out of the hall.

"Why were we cheering?" I asked Cho. I realised I sounded pretty stupid but considering I hadn't been listening it could have been important. 

"Just one of the first years being Sorted into Ravenclaw. Why don't you try some of the food; it's delicious," she said pointing at a huge pile of Yorkshire puddings. I piled the food onto my plate listening to the talk around me. I was also introduced to the twins, Ben and Toby Lennox, who are best friends with Cho. 

Once the last of the food had disappeared, Toby turned to me while pointing to the front. "You better listen now, Dumbledore's about to make his speech."

She turned back to the front with a smile on her face which I couldn't return this time. The numb feeling was back again, but more than usual. I quickly glanced at the Slytherin table and caught Draco's eye as he sent me a thumbs up before turning his attention back to the table. A silence presented itself in the hall and I unwillingly turned my attention to the old wizard stood at the front.

He was looking around all the students and opened his arms, and the whole room gasped. His right hand was blackened and dead-looking. I couldn't take my attention away from it.

"What do you think happened to it?" Cho asked to the people around her. Some shrugged and some shook their heads. Out of the corner of my eye, I realised I wasn't the only one sat staring at the withered hand belonging to Dumbledore. 

Dumbledore looked around and smiled before waving his sleeve over the injury. "Nothing to worry about," he said airily. "Now...to our new students, welcome; to our old students, welcome back! He looked around, and caught my eye. He sent me a knowing smile before addressing the room again.

"Another year full of magical education awaits you, and I have a few notices that need to be addressed to you."

"Do you think it got cursed?" Cho asked me. I looked at the blackened hand again and nodded turning my attention to her again.

"Looks like it. I wonder how though..." I tailed off because he had started addressing the staff around him. Cho nodded and turned to face the front as well. 

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn," he gestured to a teacher sat to his right who stood up, "who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master." The words seemed to be echoed around the room with some curious glances.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," Dumbledore raised his voice so he could be heard again, "will be taking over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." A loud cheer erupted from the Slytherin table and all the people around me turned to look at each other in horror. I already knew about this because mother had told me, so I stayed quiet while everyone else discussed it.

My head shot up though as Dumbledore started talking about the Dark Lord and I could feel a tingling sensation in my left arm, just above the Mark. I ignored everything he was saying as I was putting all my concentration into not reacting to the amounting pain in my arm. The second Dumbledore finished his speech the pain stopped and I quickly wiped a tear from under my eye, hoping no one noticed.

"But now your beds await, and I know your top priority is to be well-rested for tomorrow." he addressed us for the final time before turning to go and take his seat again. A scraping of benches sounded from around the hall as Cho grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room. 

After going through a series of passages and some moving staircases, we finally arrived at a wall with a knocker the shape of an eagle. I was confused and Ben saw so he came and stood next to me. "You have to answer a question to get into the common room. You use the knocker and the eagle asks the question. But if you get it wrong, you have to wait for someone else to come before you can get in."

I nodded as the door opened and we all walked into the circular common room. I said goodnight to the twins as they went off to the right of the common room and I turned to Cho. 

"Ours is this way, come on," she told me. I followed sleepily behind her. As soon as I saw my bed, I collapsed onto it not bothering to get changed. Cho and Luna did the same and mumbled goodnights to each other. I did the same as I rolled over. It was then that I saw the note. 

'Meet me outside your common room tomorrow before breakfast' I read quickly just as I drifted into sleep.

**

I woke up early and got changed into my new robes, not bothering to check the time. The other two girls were still asleep so I went as quietly as I could while I packed all my books into my backpack. When I finally looked at the clock, I saw it read half past 6, but I carried on out of the common room anyway. Maybe Draco was already waiting.

I opened the door quietly and stepped out. I would have to stay in this area in case Draco didn't come, because I didn't know my way around the school yet. I turned to my right and fell over a person sat on the floor.

"Sorry Mel! I didn't think you'd be out this early. Sorry," my twin said as he helped me up off of the floor. I laughed as he kept repeating his apology to me.

"It's fine Drake. What did you need to see me about anyway?" I asked as I rubbed some dust off my robes. 

"How come you got Sorted into Ravenclaw?! Father is going to go mental. Not to mention how he is going to react to this!" He whisper yelled at me. I didn't have any answers to his question, especially since I had been saying the same things since I got Sorted yesterday evening. I just shook my head in reply. 

"We'll think of something, we have to," he muttered, more to himself than me though. "Argh!" he shouted, grabbing his left arm. I had started to laugh before I felt a shooting pain go through my left arm. I winced and grabbed hold of it, letting my bag go with all my books flying out into the corridor. 

"What does this mean?" I asked Draco, still rubbing my arm.

"I think...I think we have to go to him," Draco whispered, looking up with fear in his arm. Just as Draco said this, I felt a twisting feeling in my stomach and my feet being lifted off the ground. When I opened my eyes again, I was stood in Malfoy Manor with the Dark Lord and my father stood looking down on me. 

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Hi guys, I'm back! Hope everyone had a great Christmas! :) I would have uploaded faster but I had family round everyday since Christmas Eve, but it's here.

Thankyouu to everyone who has commented and voted :) It's nice to know people are enjoying the things I'm posting. If anyone thinks something should happen, drop me a comment and I'll try to put it in somewhere. 

Anyway, if you like it, remember to vote/comment and fan if you're feeling nice ;) 'Til next time :P xx

P.S. the speech from Dumbledore in this chapter is taken out of the Half-Blood Prince. I thought it would fit better than me making something up :)