Disclaimer: I do not own HP

Lucius Malfoy sneered at me while I busily scrubbed away at the trophy for some guy named Tom Riddle. Something about a special service towards the school. All well. All that mattered was that Malfoy was definitely enjoying this.

"Maybe that will teach you to keep your mouth shut while addressing me," Malfoy told me superiorly.

"Or maybe I could throw a cauldron at you to knock you down off your high horse," I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?" Malfory snapped, his eyes glittering.

"Nothing," I shot back, scrubbing harder out of anger.

Malfoy checked his watch. "Dear, dear, it looks like dinner is over. You've been here for three hours already, oh my."

"Arrogant toerag," I hissed at him, then immediately regretted it.

His eyes narrowed. "Another hour will do nicely, I think."

I stormed up to the common room an hour and a half later, my arms aching and my anger simmering. The common room was filled with other Gryffindors doing homework, but I headed towards my friends who were sitting in their favored armchairs by the fire. Remus wasn't there, but Sirius and James were talking quietly while Peter nodded in agreement every few seconds.

I sat down in a chair, my stomach growling. "When I said I wanted to explore the trophy room sometime, that wasn't what I had in mind."

Sirius checked his watch. "Your detention was four and a half hours long. How the bloody hell did you manage that?"

I shrugged sheepishly. "I called him an arrogant toerag...among other things..."

Sirius rolled his eyes in exasperation but James merely took a bundle wrapped in cloth out and handed it to me. Hopefully, I untied it and grinned widely. "Thanks, you guys!" I immediately started on the chicken.

James and Sirius leaned in closer. "We have it," Sirius announced.

"Tonight, you, me, Sirius, and I are going to the Restricted Section of the library and look for that book, while Peter keeps watch on the map," James explained softly. "Peter will have one of the mirrors so he can talk to us."

I nodded in determination. "Let's do this." Excitement coursed through me. Choosing the Marauders as my friends was a great decision. There was never a peaceful moment with them around.

James tore the cloak covering us off after we ducked under the rope separating the Restricted Section from the rest of the library. The three of us solemnly stared at it for a moment. "Well, where do we start?"

"In the A section, Mel-Mel," Sirius replied, walking over to the nearest bookshelf. "I still can't believe we're sneaking into the library of all places at night," he muttered to himself. "Even if it is to help Remus."

"Just another exciting adventure," I reminded him cheerfully, climbing a nearby ladder to look on the higher shelves.

"I think I've got it!" James exclaimed, looking through a thick, ancient book near the bottom. "Here it is; To Transforme Oneself into Animagi. Eww, we have to drink that?"

I slid down the ladder and joined my friends at the bottom. "So we basically have to drink a potion, meditate, and go through some long, arduous process of actually practicing the transformation before becoming one?" I looked around. "When do we start?"

Peter's voice suddenly filtered in through the silent library. "James? Sirius? Melanie?"

James grasped the mirror out of his pocket. "What is it, Peter?"

"Filch is coming! You better get out of there."

"Let's go," Sirius said shortly, grabbing the Invisibility Cloak and throwing it over the three of us and dowsing the lantern. The three of us made our way out of the library, dodging Filch and headed back to Gryffindor Tower with the book in our hands.

A/N

Thanks so much to my lovely reviewers! Sorry for the wait, I've been busy :P

So there is basically going to be two parts to this story. The first part happens while Melanie is at Hogwarts with the Marauders, and the next part happens during the Second War and the Golden Trio's timeline. It'll be a little different because Melanie, as you all know, will actually be the one to adopt Harry instead of his aunt and uncle.

So, yeah! Review and you get a box of Chocolate Cauldrons! ^-^ I want to try some...

~Eva Sirico~