Melody Socering. She's known around Hogwarts as The Muggleborn Slytherin. But no matter what's said to her, the taunting, the insults, the hexes, the way Melody always stays so calm baffles both her house and the rest of the school. But much like a...
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"I'M NOT GOING!" Melody announced dramatically as she flopped onto the couch, the very one she had fainted on the previous month. "I'm going to fail at magic!" Tonks huffed out a breath. "Seriously, Mel?" Tonks sighed incredulously. "I'm going to fail!" Melody repeated stubbornly.
"Mel," Tonks said. "Mel. Look at me." Melody looked at her cousin. "You, Melody Cassiopeia Black, got her wand at the age of nine, are a metamorphmagus, and are the youngest witch to ever perform the Patronus charm!" Melody's lip trembled. "But that isn't even that big of a deal," she said hesitantly. "I'm not special! And-and what if I don't get into Hufflepuff?"
Tonks laughed, sitting next to where Melody was still splayed out upon the couch. "Mel, you know that we'll still love you if you don't into Hufflepuff! Any house is acceptable, you know." Melody sat still staring at her lap. "You'll even be fine with me in S-Slytherin? I-I don't want to be like my mother." Tonks placed a hand in her shoulder. "What do you take me for, one of those snobby prejudiced gits?" Tonks laughed. "Of course I'll be fine with you in Slytherin! And you will never be like Bellatrix Lestrange. You have a choice to be evil or not, and you have the purest heart I've ever seen."
Melody bit her lip. "You sure?" Tonks nodded. "Positive." Melody sighed. "Well then we better hurry so we miss the train!" the blue haired witch said brightly, grabbing her trunk before darting out. Tonks shook her head with a bemused smile upon her lips. How Melody's moods seemed to shift.
"Mel! Wait!" Melody and Tonks turned, to see Andromeda hurrying after them. "Yes, mum?" Melody asked with a smile. Andy waved a letter. "I got a letter from Dumbledore concerning you, Mel!" Melody's insides turned cold. Did he not trust her since she was Bellatrix's daughter? Maybe he was reconsidering his choice?
"He says that you should disguise your last name," Andy said quietly. "He said you would likely be overwhelmed by hate if other the students ever found that your mother was my sis—Bellatrix." Melody froze. They would hate her. Who wouldn't? Being the daughter of two murderers, who was to say she wouldn't go berserk and start killing everyone—to end up like them? "That bastard," Tonks huffed.
"As much as I hate it," Andy said fiercely, "I agree. I will not stand for people bullying you for your parents! And you cannot avoid that unless you follow his instructions. And Dumbledore does want the best for you, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, I s'pose," Melody murmured, face falling. "I'll go by Melody Socering. Muggleborn." Andy smiled kindly, eyes softening. "That seems fine," she said. "I'm sorry you have to do this, Melody." Melody smiled at her aunt. "It's fine... I understand."
"Come," Andromeda said kindly, taking her niece's hand. "Not apparating," Melody grumbled before her lungs became painfully constructed, and she was being sucked through an tight invisible tube. As Tonks and Andy landed gracefully onto the pavement of King's Cross, she face-planted, groaning as she felt her nose, which felt bruised and bleeding. And she had the urge to throw up.
