Melody Riddle and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 15: Making Amends

 I spent the rest of that night sitting on my bed, thinking about the night before. They had discussed more than what was going to happen leading up to Harry's hearing. For the time being, that was to be their top priority until it was over with, so they could be sure it wouldn't go so bad as to kick Harry out of school. In any case, there was also discussion in regards to me — the reason why they'd tried to have me drugged in the first place.

I couldn't remember the whole conversation, because my blood had started to boil on quite a number of them. Especially at each of them agreeing that they shouldn't get me too involved in my dad's affairs, because I was both too young and was of such a vulnerable mind that I could hightail it over to his side. First and foremost were Remus and Sirius explaining what I had told them about my visions to Professor Dumbledore. Severus was angry.

"She wasn't supposed to tell that to anyone —" my godfather started to say.

"Don't blame her," Sirius defended me, "she was genuinely upset about keeping it all in, and rightly so. No one should have to deal with those kinds of things, especially if it's terrifying enough to show up in her dreams. It's no wonder she hardly sleeps now."

"She certainly had no issue keeping you a secret from the rest of the school — and me — when all she knew was that you were an escaped convict who killed people and followed orders from the Dark Lord."

"That's different... when she met me, she didn't believe I had done those things." Sirius had sounded ultimately proud about that.

"How did you two come to meet?" Professor Dumbledore asked curiously.

Didn't I tell him that on the morning of mom's death? I'd thought critically to myself. No, wait. There were a lot of things I skipped over in my pain. My walls certainly blocked out some details. I think I may have only said that Sirius and I bumped into each other.

"Well, you have to notice — when you're prowling the grounds for a possible fleeing rat — that a snake slithering through the grass is a mighty suspicious thing, especially when it seems like it's in a hurry to get somewhere. In following her, she even got surrounded by other snakes on her way into the Forbidden Forest.... Once she came out, I got a hold of her and took her back to the Shrieking Shack."

"Did you ask her what she was doing ?" Professor Dumbledore asked thoughtfully. Now I look really suspicious, especially to everyone else.

"I did, but she didn't want to talk about it to me. Even if she did see that I wasn't dangerous, she wasn't one to spill her secrets. For all I knew, it could just be a fun pastime for her to hang with the snakes when she's upset."

"Did she seem upset?"

"I had to notice that she seemed to have had a lot on her mind. There was something going on in her private life that bothered her."

Yeah, I had to deal with catching a rat for dad. I had to deal with the fact that I can never get a break from dad, because I have to do something dangerous for him all the time. Everything to do with him stresses me out!

"But she also knew things that she couldn't possibly have known. While she wouldn't tell me what she was doing, she did say that she had gotten news from some source. That Peter was the rat Ron owned, and that he was the one to kill the Potters rather than me. So.. not only could she tell that I had never killed a soul, but she'd gotten the information. I don't know how, but —"

"Snakes are rather intelligent creatures," Professor Dumbledore said. "Knowing who her father is, of course Melody has the ability to interact with them. Snakes can spy and are very silent. She did, indeed, tell me about those very escapades on the morning of Orele's death."