Melody Riddle and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter 10: Caught Under the Mistletoe

I had gone to visit with Sirius – who had just finished wrapping up the broom – and he told me he had already worked out a way to place it inside Gryffindor common room. He wouldn't tell me, though. So I went back to my dormitory to put any remaining stuff inside my bags.

The next morning we all woke up early, to my distaste, to get on the train back to King's Cross.

I can't remember much of it except I was so tired that the moment Becky, Marcus and I found a compartment I made myself comfortable and fell asleep.

Later on, I opened my eyes wondering where I was. When I looked out the window at the snowy outdoors and remembered I was on the train... I was more than surprised to find that I'd been leaning against Marcus, and that he had an arm draped around me. We were alone in the compartment, and Becky wasn't there to pry him away from me.

Rubbing my eyes, and trying to pretend like that wasn't at all embarrassing, I asked, "What time is it?"

Marcus smirked, "Noon."

"Huh..." I said softly, still trying to wake up, "Really?.. I can't believe I slept that long."

"Well, believe it," he said with a small laugh.

I looked around, "Where's Becky?"

I felt him shrug his shoulders, "She just said that she had something to do. And she warned me not to do anything to you, because if she notices anything wrong when she gets back she swears she's going to kill me."

I laughed, "I suppose you bore her because she dares not make fun of you." It's really weird though. First she was okay with him, and suddenly she's been trying everything to push him away from me. What is going on?

With a chuckle, he leaned his head on top of mine and said nothing.

The silence was more comfortable than anything. I was still slightly tired so I felt my eyelids close halfway. I looked to the compartment door, and no sooner did I see a shadow bolt away than Becky burst in. Putting her hands on her hips, she said, "Well, now that you're awake sleepyhead, you can get up off of Marcus."

I laughed and slowly sat up, "I didn't realize how I'd fallen asleep until I woke up."

Becky rolled her eyes and turned to Marcus, "Draco would like to speak with you before the train reaches King's Cross. So go now before the time passes by too quickly and he has no time to speak to you."

Marcus raised an eyebrow at her, "Did he say what for?"

"No," Becky said frustratedly. "Now get out, and see what he wants. Go on."

Marcus stood up and gave Becky a small smirk, sidling his way out of the compartment.

Sitting down across from me, after giving a glare at Marcus as he made his way down the hall, she looked at me with a strange expression on her face. "Are you falling for Marcus or something? I thought for sure that once you woke up, you'd move as far as possible away from him."

I thought reflectively on that. Am I? "I never really thought about it actually... it's just that I'm still exhausted and, you know, he was comfortable...... Why are you changing your mind about him, anyway?"

"What makes you say I'm changing my mind about anything?"

I nodded. "One moment you're going 'oh Melody he could adopt you,' and the next you're going 'maybe we should make amends with Draco instead.'"

"Oh..." she responded as though she got caught in a lie. "Well, I guess I'm just a little confused."

"About Marcus? He's been more than accommodating to both of us –"