Fire // Fred Weasley

Chapter 6

Melanie was standing in Dumbledores office. Looking around at all the paintings hanging on the walls. She turned to see a magnificent bird sitting on a perch. It had wonderful red and gold feathers and as soon as the bird spotted Melanie it flew over to where she was standing and rested on a chair nearby.

"This is Fawkes." Dumbledore said as he came back with an old hat in his hands.
"He's a-"

"Phoenix." Melanie interrupted still looking at the bird before her.

"Yes, you and him have a lot in common I believe. He too has a lovely phoenix song, he's very loyal and represents the element of fire."

"But I haven't been able to fire bend for a long time Professor." She said as the bird flew back to his perch.

"Miss Summers, the fire in you is still there. It comes from your emotions and with what you went through it's only natural that it may take a little time for it to come back."

"What if it never comes back?" She said remembering the last time she firebended. She felt a pinch in her heart at that memory.

"Professor Snape and Professor Lupin have agreed to help you through that if you wish. You will meet them soon but first we must assign you a house." He said as he placed the old hat onto Melanie's head.

The hat thought long and hard about where to place Melanie.She had ambition, determination and cleverness. She would fit right in Slytherin, she certainly had the bloodline for it. Stunned by the girls grief the hat had to dig deep to see all of her qualities, she was kind,brave and patient. But she was also extremely loyal to those she loved. After a while the hat spoke giving its verdict.

"Gryffindor!"

"Ah very well!" Dumbledore said as he took the hat off Melanie's head and turned to the door where Mr Filch was waiting. "Argus would you please take Miss Summers' belongings to the Gryffindor common room and please also retrieve Percy Weasley, he should be in muggle studies right now."

Mr Filch nodded and turned around disappearing from the office.

In the meantime, Dumbledore and Melanie were discussing her lesson plan. Since she was 16 she should be in her fifth year. However, due to the fact that she had very limited magical knowledge Dumbledore decided to place her in third year.

"Professor." Melanie started after placing her lesson plan in one of the pockets of the trench coat she was wearing. " I'm worried about what the other students might think of me when they find out what I am. How do I explain my presence here and the fact I'm not in 5th year."

"The only people who know that you're the Queen of Hell, if that is what you're suggesting, are the other teachers and I assure you that this secret is safe with them. For now you can say that you're a transfer student from Ilvermorny a wizarding school in the United States. And just simply say that the curriculum was different there." He said with a wink. "But Melanie, hiding who you are is not the answer, you are a very powerful creature with many gifts and talents. I assure you that nothing about you is bad as to worry about what others may think."

Before Melanie could respond there was a knock and the door to the office swung open revealing a ginger boy in scarlet robes with a badge on his chest that said 'Head Boy'.

"You wanted to see me Professor?"

"Ah yes Percy, this is Melanie Summers. She just transferred to Hogwarts."

Melanie smiled at the boy who gave her a slight smile back before Dumbledore continued.

"She has been sorted into Gryffindor house and as the head boy could you please show her around the castle and escort her to see Professor McGonagall at the end of her lesson?"

"Certainly Professor." He responded looking a bit unhappy at the fact he was missing a very valuable lesson.

Before they left Professor Dumbledore gave Melanie a letter to give to McGonagall. Percy walked with her showing her the main hall, the Gryffindor common room, astronomy tower and various other classrooms. To Melanie he seemed in a bit of a rush to get back to his own lesson as the tour took around 20 minutes and she soon found herself in front of the transfiguration classroom. Percy disappeared shortly after and Melanie felt extremely nervous to knock on the door and interrupt the lesson.

Inside the classroom students were attempting to turn chalices into whistles. Well, most of the students. Fred and George were sitting in the back rows. George was quietly snoring while Fred was throwing paper balls to Lee who was sitting in front of him.

"Mr Weasley, if you would please for the last 15 minutes at least try to be somewhat productive." Professor McGonagall said as she looked over at Fred who chucked the ball directly into the back of Angelina's head. A smile started forming on his face as he glanced at his sleeping twin then at the whistle that was now in front of Angelina.

"Hey Ange, great job! Can I see that whistle?"

"If you would just focus you could have one yourself." She smirked turning around and passing him the whistle.

He took the whistle and leaned closer to George who was still sleeping. He took a deep breath and blew into the whistle as loudly as he could. George immediately shot up startled by the sound right next his ear. In all the commotion he knocked over some ink which spilled directly onto Fred's trousers.

"Oi you git! What have you done!" Fred got up and the whole class immediately erupted into laughter.

"Shouldn't have woken me up mate." George laughed as he saw the stain on Fred's trousers. "You're lucky the ink is black otherwise that would look a lot more.. unfortunate." He grinned.

"All right everybody settle down! Mr Weasley, please go and clean that mess."

"Yes Professor." Fred said as he got up and started making his way to the door.

"And please come back after, the table will need scrubbing too." She continued not even lifting her eyes from her desk.

Fred groaned as he opened the door. He stumbled just as he took a step over the threshold and bumped into someone.

"Merlin, sorry I didn't see yo-" he stopped as he saw a pair of eyes looking back at him.