She remembered the day, she remembered the day Erin and her were sorted. Sorted into separate houses. It had been painful to see her best friend get put into Slytherin and her be put into Gryffindor..

Headmistress McGonagall continued calling names. One by one the nervous looking first years headed to the front of the Great Hall to be sorted. Sam hadn't been paying attention to where anyone went, how could she when there was so much else to look at? Her eyes wandered greedily over the room, trying to take in everything at once.

"Knowles, Samantha."

Sam nearly jumped when she heard her name called. With a final smile to Erin, she shuffled over to the Sorting Hat. After a moment of silence, she heard the hat call:

"GRYFFINDOR!" Enthusiastic applause was heard from the table the farthest to the right. Sam went to join her new housemates and waited eagerly for Erin's name to be called. Though they promised to be friends even if they were in different houses, Sam secretly hoped that her friend would join her in Gryffindor.

However, when the name "Malistaire, Erin," was called and the Sorting hat was placed on her wavy black hair,the hat hardly hesitated before shouting:

"SLYTHERIN!"

Erin gave Samantha a small smile before bouncing over to the Slytherin table. Though somewhat disappointed, Erin had promised that they would stay friends. Their friendship would still work despite the house difference. And it did, for a while. The two girls would meet up between classes they didn't share and gossip about the boys in their house. They could be seen eating together occasionally in the Great Hall. Everything was perfect until third year when Erin changed and gradually drifted away from Sam. Erin made new friends, friends that Sam never particularly liked. Everything seemed to happen so fast and Sam was still struggling to come to terms with the changes. Every day she'd look at her friend and wonder where things went wrong...

"Hello? Earth to Sam! Are you even listening to me?"

Sam stopped staring at the Slytherin table to glare at her friend, Teddy Lupin. After the fallout with Erin, he had somehow filled the gap that was left behind. She still wasn't sure exactly how it happened; Sam had never met anyone so different from her in her life. Teddy was loud and energetic, constantly getting himself into trouble whereas Sam tended to be more reserved, choosing to put her time towards classes, not mindless riff-raff. Despite their differences, however, Teddy had been there her whole third-year, ready to listen or to cheer her up after a rough day with Erin. After a while seeing the two together became so natural it almost seemed as if they had been friends forever, but Erin was there as a constant reminder that they in fact were not.

"No, I was not listening to you," she said as she speared a potato viciously with her fork. "You were telling the story of that Quidditch match at your family's house again. I know everything that happened already, seeing how you recounted it for me twice on the train ride up here."

He groaned. "You have no sense of fun, Sam!"

Which was far from true, at least, in her opinion. If she didn't know fun, why would she have plans to join the Quidditch team?

Sam scoffed. "Of course I do!" Teddy didn't look convinced. "Okay, just because I don't like to go around messing with first years like you and your other friends do doesn't mean I can't have fun. Besides," Sam flipped her light brown hair over her shoulder. "If everything goes as planned, Gryffindor will have a new beater this year."

Teddy decided to ignore the comment about first years. He was too interested in Sam's talk about Quidditch(something solemnly talked about) to think of a good comeback.

"Oh really? And who would that be?"

"Uh, me?" Sam thought she had made it pretty clear in her last statement. Teddy often had a knack of missing the obvious. Clearly he hadn't even considered the idea because he nearly choked on his pumpkin juice.

"You? Beater? Ha!" he burst out laughing, like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. Which was strange, he'd heard plenty of funny things, way funnier than her wanting to try out for Beater.

"I'm serious, Teddy!" her tone was serious, even moreso than it normally was. She continued to glare at him. He didn't think she could do it, did he? He didn't think she had what it took to be a beater. Talk about friends' support. He was laughing so hard that some of the other Gryffindors began glancing over to see what was happening. Sam could feel her face flushing as she muttered:

"Nevermind, Teddy. Forget I said anything." He could've at least been a little excited that she was going to try out for the team. He had gained the position of Seeker last year, and ever since then it seemed his entire world revolved around the sport.

He tried to control his laughter. "I'm sorry, Sam. But come on, you don't really have the build for a beater anyways. They're usually short and stocky, and you're well... not. I just don't see it working out well."

Well fine, then. She didn't need his approval anyways. Who was he to decide whether or not she could play Quidditch?

Teddy leaned across the table and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"This isn't about you-know-who, is it?" He threw a glance over towards the Slytherin table. Ever since Sam and Erin stopped being friends, they had gotten into the habit of not saying her name aloud.

"No," she lied quickly. A little too quickly, judging by his reaction.

He turned his full attention to her, something he rarely did. "You're lying. It is about Erin, isn't it?" It was the first time he'd said her name in nearly a year, but he wouldn't take it back despite seeing the pain cross Sam's face.

"You're wrong; it's not about Erin. I wouldn't want to join the team if it was about her." She abruptly stood and walked out of the great hall, not waiting for his response. She'd never felt so alone in her life, not even when Erin had turned into a bully. Her heart pounded more than it normally did as she climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor had she become so easy to read? Teddy hardly noticed anything, but now he could all of a sudden read her mind? She went straight upstairs to her room and began to rummage through her things, not wanting to see Teddy again tonight. She'd see him at breakfast in the morning when they got their timetables.

A.n

This is a collab between Aleeta6 and itsverity.
If you liked it, follow! If you didn't, tell us why!