Chapter 29: Spring Break Shadows

The train had carried me back to the Muggle world for spring break, but I didn’t feel like I was leaving Hogwarts-I felt like I was carrying it all with me. The dark weight I had built around myself, the armor I wore like a second skin, didn’t disappear when I stepped off the platform. Dad was waiting on the platform, tall and steady, the same calm presence I had always leaned on. His smile was warm, genuine, and it made something inside me twist. Something I hadn’t let feel in weeks. “Melody,” he said, opening his arms. I hesitated. Dark Melody was strong. Dark Melody didn’t crumble. But before I could think, I was in his arms, rigid and quiet, letting the security of him wash over me for just a moment. We spent the first days walking through the city, sitting in cafés, and talking about everything except the things that really hurt. I kept my black clothes, my rings, my sharp-edged expressions. I laughed when he made jokes, smiled when he teased me-but it was measured. Controlled. “You’ve changed,” he said one evening as we walked home from dinner. “You’re not hiding it, and you’re not pretending anymore.” “I’m fine,” I said too quickly, adjusting the sleeves of my jacket. He didn’t press, and I liked that. But every time I thought about Hogwarts, about Draco, the betrayal, the lies, the anger, my chest tightened. I could be strong for a day, even a week, but the cracks were still there, hidden beneath the surface. By the last night of break, I thought I could hold it together. I walked into the living room where Dad was reading, smiling the same calm smile he always had. But the weight of the week- the pretending, the walls, the quiet longing for things I didn’t allow myself to admit-finally broke me. I sank onto the couch, tears spilling unbidden. “I… I don’t know how to be me anymore,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “The bright Melody. She’s gone, Dad. I don’t know how to get her back. I… I want to forgive Draco, but I don’t know how. I don’t know if I even can.” He closed the book and came to sit beside me, letting me lean into him as I shook with sobs. “Melody,” he said gently, “you’ve been carrying a lot by yourself. You don’t have to do it alone. You can still be strong and still let someone help. Maybe talking to someone trained… a therapist… could help you find your bright self again. Help you sort through what you want, what you feel, and how to forgive. You don’t have to figure it all out tonight.” I pressed my face against his shoulder, clinging to the safety I had spent so long rejecting. For the first time in weeks, I let myself not be Dark Melody. I let myself be scared, broken, and utterly human. “I… I just want to feel okay again,” I whispered. “You will,” he said, stroking my hair. “One step at a time. And I’ll be here every step of the way.” For the first time since that night in the dormitory, the armor felt less like a prison and more like something I could take off-even if only for a moment.

Author's Note

I got to get a picture will tomorow