Melanie Rosen: Year 4 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Chapter 20 Bone, Flesh and Blood

A/N: Warning, this chapter is the reason I upped the rating to PG13. Sorry for the delayed updates. Hope everyone reading is still enjoying the story!

Chapter 20

Bone, Flesh and Blood

Bone of the father
Flesh of the servant
Blood of the enemy

All three must be given from a living blood relative...

"Melanie!"

I slowly opened my eyes. My entire body ached. I tried to move but the pain forced me still. I tilted my head to see a slash above my lowest left rib. My eyes fell left and I saw what appeared to be a gravestone. My vision was too blurred to make out the name. My skin felt sticky, almost crusty. Slowly, I turned my head to the other side. A cloaked figure emerged from the shadows, with a man crouching behind him.

"Melanie!"

I looked up at a taller gravestone. Harry was bound to it.

"Melanie!" He cried out again. "Can you move?"

"Harry... what's happening?"

He struggled in his bounds. "It's Voldemort! He's been resurrected. Listen to me, Melanie, the trophy, it's a portkey. You can use it to go back. Grab Cedric if you can, but get out of here!"

"Cedric?" I glanced passed him and spotted the trophy, glowing in the grass. Beside it, rested Cedric Diggory's lifeless body. My eyes froze in a shock.

I attempted to hoist myself up, but the moment I started to place my right hand on the ground, a jabbing pain surged through my entire hand. I rested my back against the gravestone and pulled that hand up with the other to see that my index finger had been severed off. My body shook uncontrollably.

"Melanie, you have to escape!" Harry repeated urgently.

"Oh I don't think anyone will be leaving anytime soon," the voice I did not want to hear hissed. "After all, I have both of you to thank for my miraculous return."

The figure removed his hood to reveal his ghastly complexion. His monstrous form appeared to be neither dead nor alive. It was something I had never scene before.

He waved his wand conjuring the same image in the sky I recalled the night of the World Cup, the Dark Mark. Moments after, others began to appear. Some happened to be familiar faced. Lucius Malfoy was one of the first. I had only seen Crabbe and Goyle's fathers once but it was enough to recognize their faces. Mars Lane was one of the last to appear.

I kept blinking, hoping this was just all a bad dream but nothing changed.

Voldemort was not pleased with his followers, accusing them all of abandoning him in the first battle. While he circled them in rage, I turned to the gravestone in attempt to untie Harry. I could not move my right hand so I yanked the ropes with my other.

Voldemort surged towards me, grabbing my shoulder with his skeleton like fingers.

"I will do you the same courtesy I gave your father," he said to me. "I will give you one chance to join my cause."

I tried to shake my head and used the remaining energy I had to spit at him. Mostly blood emerged.

"You murdered him!" My body trembled as I spoke. "You're a monster... and you will lose..."

He chuckled at my remark and acknowledged, "To be fair, it was Andre that attacked me and challenged me to a duel... and this night, there will be another duel." He waved his wand at Harry, releasing him from his bounds. Voldemort turned his head back to me and said, "Perhaps after you witness how easily I kill him, you will change your mind, my dear."

Harry picked up his wand, which had been dropped by his feet and whispered to me, "I think I can hold him off long enough for you to escape..."

"NO!" I hissed. "I won't leave you!"

It did not matter anyway. I was not strong enough to move on my own and the majority of the Death Eaters surrounded me as Harry prepared his duel with Voldemort. They began the proper way, as we learned from Lockhart and Snape our second year. The two enemies faced one another with a firm grip on their wands before turning and pacing back, ready to conjure their curses. At the same moment in time, their spells escaped their wands met, linking to one another like a tightly bound rope. Neither opponent dared break their hold on their spells.

I did not know what would happen next. The wands remained linked with no change. That was until I spotted a light from Voldemort's end. The light transformed into the figure of a man I did not recognize. Another light popped out. This time it turned into a woman. The first thing I saw on the third figure was his deep brown eyes staring directly at me. This one I did recognize. It was my father, Andre. The final two to emerge were Lily and James Potter and I began to understand. These people must all be victims of Voldemort.

I stared at Andre in a daze, desperately wanting to say something, anything, but nothing came out. Maybe this was a dream. Perhaps I slipped out of consciousness from all the pain? I blinked. No, this had to be real.

The spirits all stood in front of Harry, protecting him from the curse.

Andre turned to me, "My darling daughter, I wish we had more time. I know you are strong and brave. I want you to always remember you are who you choose to be." He shot a glare at his own father, "not who he wants you to be."

I barely managed a nod, while Harry's parents declared they could hold him off long enough for us to escape. When the spell bond broke, Harry did not waste a moment. He grabbed my arm and Cedric's body, while summoning the Portkey. I caught it with my left hand and we were whirled out of there and back to the Tournament. For a moment there were cheers soon followed by gasps at the sight of Cedric's body. It was only moments later I collapsed into unconsciousness.