Constellations | Regulus Black

You're a literal mole rat

First Year

Melody hopped down the steps, swooping down to grab the small pile of mail by on the doormat. She tossed the mail on the breakfast table by her sister. More often than not it consists of their parents bills or other junk mail. Her sister Celina sifted through the mail just in case anything interesting came through, her hands felt the wax seal of a letter and parchment paper. Immediately intrigued by the strange letter, she ripped it open ignoring who it was addressed to.

Melody noticed her sister reading through an odd letter and picks up the discarded envelope beside it. Seeing that her name on the front she snatches the letter out of Celina's hand "excuse me! I was reading that thank you very much". Melody looked at her with a small grin on her face "you're excused and it's not even yours to read is it?". Celina turns back to her cereal unbothered "it's nothing special anyways, it's all rubbish probably just some people playing pranks again". Melody continued to read anyways, but her sister was correct 1 wand, 1 cauldron... who the hell is Professor McGonagall.

Celina looked up from her cereal, eyes bright with an idea "We should write back to them, just for shits and giggles". Melody eagerly agreed and grabbed a piece of paper from the side table to start constructing a letter. "Dearest Professor McGonagall, it is with great displeasure that I am writing to inform you that I shall not be attending your peculiar 'magic' school as I have already accepted my place at a prestigious grammar school, which I worked my arse off for. Yours Sincerely, Melody Rowe." she set the pen down and sealed the letter in an envelope "Perfect, now who do I send it too?" Celina picked up the original Hogwarts letter and read aloud the sender address for Melody to write down. They laughed together as they thought of all the possible things the other person could reply with.

Melody grabbed the letter and ran to her fathers office for any others that needed to be sent. He handed her a small pile and with that she ran to the post box down the road. On her way back she noticed her neighbour's son rolling in the bins. She didn't see him often as he attended a boarding school somewhere in Scotland. He's was always very shy and kept to himself so they didn't interact often, much to her dismay. He seemed very kind and Melody was always keen on being friends with everyone but she also knew when people were not interested in being friends with her. She offered a wave, which he returned with a small smile. She still remembered the day they first moved in, they went around introducing themselves to the neighbourhood, the Lupin's, with a small box of chocolate for each household.

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Melody awoke to another bright, sunny Summer's day excited to go biking with her sister in the afternoon. However, she walked into the breakfast room met with an unexpected visitor dressed in rather odd clothing especially considering the current climate. The tall person turned to reveal a stern, pinched face woman "I received your letter Miss Rowe and I think it wise for me to discuss the matters of your schooling in person". Melody turned to her parents, who were just as if not even more confused than her. "Are you Professor McGonagall?" Melody inquired as she walked further into the room. McGonagall smiled "Yes, deputy headmistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" Melody scoffed "this is some elaborate prank, I mean sending someone to our house! Geez Louise these people are bored." Celina spoke up from where she was perched at the end of a seat "Mel I don't think this is a prank..."

"Melody have you ever made strange things happen when you were sad or angry" she thought back to the times when her sister and her would bicker and a light bulb would flicker ever so slightly or the radio would suddenly play up. She always chalked it down to faulty equipment or something as such but now with the lady in her living room and the letter from yesterday still sitting on the table she realised that it may be a little bit more than that. It took a very long time to explain to the Rowe family the concept of a whole other world existing beneath their very noses. A magic world at that! For the past 11 years or her life Melody always thought magic resided in the fantasy books she would pick up at school.

Following the professor's instructions very precisely, Melody and her family made their way to Kings Cross Station on September 1st, with a few large suitcases filled with her school equipment. They made a trip earlier in the holidays to Diagon Alley, all four of them were blown out of their mind at the new world they were just discovering. And now as they cautiously walked through Platform 9 and 3/4, half expecting to just crash into the wall, they were instead transported to a secret platform bustling with witches and wizards alike. They all wore similar robes and hats, which she still found very odd but looking down at her blue jeans and white t-shirt she thought that she might be the oddly dressed ones.

The scarlet steam-engine in front of her let out a high pitch whistle, which caused a lot of kids to bid their final farewells to their parents and start boarding the train making Melody realise she should probably do the same. She turned to her parents and sister and hugged them all tightly. "Thank God, I'm finally getting rid of you" Celina called out to her as she slowly walked away "You're a literal mole rat" Melody replied making Celina laugh very loudly bringing attention to them both. She waved at them through the train window until they were no longer in sight.