Chapter 6

I don't own any of the characters apart from Melanie Malfoy. All of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

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He never got chance to answer as the door creaked open slowly.

The lights around the room when out and I raised my wand a little higher while Draco lit his and stood slightly behind my shoulder.

A small figure appeared in the doorway, dragging a huge crate behind it. Upon seeing them both stood with their wands raised, the small creature stopped and stared. I was feeling slightly unnerved by the intensity of the creature's stare, but as Draco lifted his wand, I lowered mine to my side.

"Dobby?" I asked walking over to our old house elf. He nodded, and then looked up into my eyes. His green tennis ball eyes looked up into mine and I saw a shine in them.

"Miss Melanie! Dobby came in here expecting to find no one, and then Dobby found his favourite mistress!" he said, while running over to me and engulfing my knees into a hug. I laughed and lowered myself down to his level. He had always made a point of seeing me as I was the only one to treat him fairly while he served our family.

"What are you doing here?" I asked standing up and leading him over to the arm chair I had occupied for the past two hours. Draco followed over reluctantly and sat next to Dobby on the sofa.

"After Dobby was given the sock by Mr Malfoy, Dobby came out looking for work. Dobby looked around for a year before Mr Dumbledore said Dobby could work at Hogwarts. Dobby is getting paid for his work now Miss," he told me proudly. I smiled, I had missed this elf. When everyone was out, Dobby used to come and sit with me until mother sat back.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it Dobby. Erm, what was-"

"What was that box thing you brought in here?" Draco asked him, cutting across me.

"It is for Winky. Winky is still not very well and Dobby was bringing Winky up here to get better, but since you and Miss are already in here, Dobby will have to wait to bring Winky in here." he explained.

"We're going now Dobby, so you can bring Winky in here to get better," I told him standing up. I gave Draco a pointed look and he stood up mumbling something about not being done yet. Dobby looked up at us both with curious eyes.

"What were you doing in here Miss?" he asked me. His eyes followed me while I picked up my bag and looked around for any items I might have dropped.

"We have a Potions project to work on, so we thought it was easier to come and work on it in here tonight, were we had more time," I told him. I felt bad for lying to him, but I knew he couldn't find out why we were actually in here.

"Ok Miss. Will Dobby be seeing you again soon?" he asked as Draco came to stand by my side.

"Yes, we might be coming by here tomorrow night," I said. Draco was now dragging me by my arm to get to the door. "Oh, Dobby. If you talk to anyone about me, make sure you say my last name is Lestrange."

"Why Miss?"

"It's what people think I'm called. Promise me Dobby?"

"Yes Miss. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Dobby,"

"You always were too nice to that elf," Draco mumbled as he checked to make sure no one was coming.

"Well, you were always horrible. What's it to you how I treat a house elf?" I asked him. I hated it when he said something like this, it sounded like he was superior to everyone around him.

"Nothing, but he's a house elf. You treat him like a long lost friend."

"You would too if he had been your only company when the rest of your family ignored you, were at school or were busy," I told him, brushing past him and walking faster up towards Ravenclaw tower.

"Mel," he sighed. " Come back, I didn't mean that." He quickened his pace so he was walking with me again. "I just meant, you don't normally see people treating house elves like their friends."

"Well, it didn't sound like it, but it doesn't matter," I was about to knock on the door to get into the tower when he pulled me in for a hug.

"Sorry. We can't start fighting now." he said letting me go. I just looked at him in shock. It's not often you hear Draco Malfoy apologising, even to me. It was one of those things he didn't believe in. He knocked on the door, and with a smirk, turned and started his walk back down to his common room in the dungeons.

**

"Wake up! It's Quidditch practise this morning!" Cho shouted jumping on my bed. I groaned. My first week at Hogwarts had been a blur, but I'd hardly had any sleep and was planning on catching up with it this morning.

"I don't even play Quidditch," I told her, rolling over and snuggling further into the duvet.

"I know, but I do, so you're coming to watch. It will be fun!" she said, pulling the duvet off me altogether. I turned to face her.

"You don't give up, do you?"

"Nope!" she said, popping the 'p'. The big smile on her face said everything, and it looked like I didn't have a choice. I gave her a look and stretched before walking into the bathroom. "Don't be too long, we have to be down there in 45 minutes!"

45 minutes later, we were both walking down to the Quidditch pitches, Cho with her broom over her shoulder, and me with a pile of toast in my hand. I wrapped my scarf tighter around my neck and kept making sure my sleeves came down to my wrists.

When I woke up this morning, I didn't realise that my left sleeve had rolled up during the night. At the moment, to any onlookers, it would look like I had a nervous twitch. Cho gave me a weird look, to which I returned a smile and took a large bite out of my toast.

"So, how long will this Quidditch practise go on for?" I asked, swallowing my toast as I did.

"Dunno, it depends on what the captain says I suppose," she said thoughtfully.

"Hey, there're people on the pitch," I said, squinting my eyes in the direction of the crowd.

"Yeah, the rest of the team should already be there," Cho said absentmindedly, still thinking something over in her head.

"No, they're wearing green. I think the Slytherin team are there," I told her. She brought herself out of her thoughts and started walking faster towards the pitch with me on her heels.

"What're you doing here Montague? I booked the pitch for our training session this morning!" the Ravenclaw captain, Roger Davies, was shouting at Montague.

"Just because of that, doesn't mean that you have to train on it. We could always take this training slot from you," he sneered back. The Slytherin team jeered from behind him. I scanned the small group in green and silver, but couldn't see Draco anywhere.

"Montague, we booked it, which means our training session. You wanna train, you're gonna have to book the pitch," Cho stated coolly from my side. Everyone crowded at the edge of the pitch turned to look at us.

"Whatever Chang," Montague hissed. I sent him a glare and he turned back to Davies. "How about a warm up match? Get us both ready for the season?" Davies nodded and the rest of the Ravenclaw team looked around in shock.

"Might as well. Team, go and change into your kits." he ordered. Obediently, the team shuffled into the changing rooms.

"You got a new member then?" Montague asked Davies. He looked at him confused. "The one stood next to you, she a new member?"

Davies looked at me. "I'm here because Cho asked me to come and watch." I stated. He nodded his head.

"No, new to the school, come to watch her house train. We'll be out in a minute Montague."

Montague turned to look at me with a sneer. I looked at him calmly and he seemed to give up and turn his team towards the pitch.

I walked into the stands and spotted my twin sitting at the end of the highest tier. He looked rather bored, but was holding a small bit of parchment in his hand. I smiled to him as I got closer and he returned it half heartedly. He looked tired and ill.

"How're you doing?" I asked him, handing him a slice of toast. He took it and started eating it straight away.

"Tired, but otherwise good, you?"

"Same. Was planning on having a lie-in, but Cho decided I wasn't allowed one," I told him with a smile. "How come you've brought the plan out here with you and you're not training? I thought you were Seeker."

"Montague dragged me down here, for no reason. I dropped off the team at the beginning of the year, thought it would be easier with... everything, you know," I looked at him; he had avoided my question about the parchment he was holding.

"Answer my question," I said. It came out quite stern and he looked at me with a questioning look. When the only thing he got in return was a flat look, he sighed and answered me.

"It was in the pocket in this jacket," he said gesturing to it. "I thought that while I was sat here, I could have a look through it, and I've had an idea, so I was trying to see where I could fit it in."

"Well, put it away. If anyone realises you have a blank piece of paper in your hand that you're 'reading'," I held my hands up and gestured quotation marks, "you're going to look stupid. We're going to the Room of Requirement tonight; we'll talk about it then."

He went to argue with me, but decided against it realising it would come to nothing. He put the piece of paper away and took another slice of toast of the pile. I looked onto the pitch and saw that everyone had dropped to the ground and were forming a small crowd.

"Come on, something's happening down there," I told Draco, picking him up by his arm and dropping the toast to the floor. I ran from the stands and to the small Chaser that was stood at the back of the group.

"What's happened?" I asked her. The urgency in my voice seemed to bring the attention of two other Ravenclaws in the group.

"The Quaffle that Roger threw hit one of the Slytherin Beaters and he dropped to the ground, dragging Roger with him, trying to pick a fight. They're still trying to split them up."

I took my wand out of my pocket and pushed through the crowd to see Vasey firing a spell at Davies, which he deflected. I jumped into the middle just as Vasey threw another spell which hit me on my forearm. I sent a spell back which shot him off his feet and turned back to the Ravenclaw captain.

"You okay?" I asked. He nodded his reply and all of the team continued to stare at me in a weird way. When I turned to Cho to ask what was happening, she had her mouth open in shock and was pointing at me.

"What's that on your left arm?" she asked me.

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So, I'm back! :D I was going to wait to upload, but thought I'd be nice and do it now.

So, I'm in my last few days of being off from school before Christmas holidays end, and as soon as I go back I have 5 exams :/ my uploads are going to be less regular or not until after my exams are over. I hope you all understand, they are important and are my first priority. I go back on Tuesday, so I will try and get an upload in on Monday if I can (but it's not a promise!)

I would like to thank everyone who has been reading, and to those who have took the time to comment and vote. It means a lot. I know nothing really happens again in this chapter, but I have ideas for upcoming chapters.

If any of you have ideas that you want put in, drop a comment or send me a message and I will try and fit them in somewhere. If you like this chapter, remember to comment and vote and maybe even fan?

Until next time guys! :D