When Sam woke in the morning, she was very excited. She was not usually a morning person, but as the thin rays of sunlight crawled across her bed, her eyes fluttered open to welcome the new day.
She looked at the trunk that sat at the foot of her bed. It still wasn't unpacked. She reached down and pulled a pair of her school robes out of it. Sitting on her bed, she redrew her scarlet hangings to give herself some privacy while she changed into her clothes.
When she opened the hangings again, she saw that all the other girls in her dormitory were still in bed and very un-ready.
"Good morning," Sam said to the room at large.
Lily greeted her a bit too enthusiastically while Alice, Cindy and Rose just grunted in reply. Obviously they weren't morning people, either.
"Well I'm going to head down to breakfast. I guess I'll see you all down there," she said and walked from the room.
The route from Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall was a simple one, thank God. Sam didn't want to have to go back to the common room and ask Bartimus Higgins for directions. He had been sitting in an armchair by the fire and when she had come down from her dormitory. He had told her that he was taking all the first years down to breakfast together.
"I am capable of getting there on my own, thank you," she had assured him.
Pursing his lips in a way to rival McGonagall, he'd said, "Well if you find that you're not actually as confidant as you feel, don't hesitate to come back and ask me for help."
"Yeah, right," she had muttered to herself. Sam Lace didn't ask people like Bartimus Higgins for help.
"Bit of a wanker, isn't he?" said a voice interrupting her thoughts and making her almost jump.
"Uh, what?" she said as she turned to see a boy with scruffy black hair and glasses that she vaguely recognized from dinner the night before.
"That Bartimus Higgins. Almost had a fit when I told him I wanted to go down to breakfast by myself."
"Yeah, he did that to me too. I'm Sam Lace, by the way."
"Well it's very nice to meet you Sam Lace. I'm James Potter," he said, offering a smile, "You know your name sounds awfully familiar."
"You probably just heard it at the sorting, I don't think we've met before."
The two walked down to breakfast together – without any difficulties in direction – and sat down at the Gryffindor table. James started to pile bacon and eggs on his plate, while Sam helped herself to the porridge and some orange juice.
Just as she was about to spoon the first bite into her mouth, an all too recognizable voice floated down the hall.
She groaned to herself and put the spoon back into her bowl.
She heard a pair of heavy footsteps stop behind her. She turned around. Sirius Black was standing before her with a small, fat boy that she didn't know.
"Hey James," Sirius exclaimed, "This is the one I was telling you about!"
"Oh," James said, his face dropping guiltily, "That's why your name sounded familiar."
"Wait, this girl here?" asked the fat boy.
"That's right Peter," Sirius replied and began to laugh. Peter and James then joined in.
"Well I don't see what's so funny," Sam said, her eyes narrowing.
"No, you wouldn't hun," Sirius said, only making James and Peter laugh harder.
"Fuck you, Black."
As Sam stormed down to the other end of the table, she could still hear the boys laughing behind her and Sirius call her a 'feisty little one', only making her blood boil even more.
Just as she sat back at the table, far from the three boys, Bartimus Higgins and the rest of the girls from her dormitory walked into the Great Hall. They saw her and immediately headed over.
"Are you alright?" Alice asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said and pulled a new bowl of porridge towards her.
About halfway through breakfast, Professor McGonagall came walking along the table and handing out everyone's new timetables.
Sam grabbed hers muttering a thank you, her mouth full of toast, and quickly scanned the first day.
"Oh, I have Charms first, too!" Lily said, leaning over her shoulder to get a look at her timetable, "and so does Cindy."
"Alice and I have Herbology," Rose said, looking a bit disappointed.
"Well do you want to get going now?" Lily asked Sam and Cindy, "I don't want to be late on my first day."
They agreed and the five girls made their way out of the Great Hall. In the Entrance Hall, Alice and Rose headed out into the grounds, while the other three made their way up to the charms corridor.
"I think this that is our classroom over there," said Cindy, pointing to a door that already had a boy standing outside.
"Excuse me," Sam said, "is this first year charms?"
"I'm pretty sure it is," said the boy with a smile, "and I'm Remus Lupin."
"I'm Sam. This is Lily and Cindy."
"It's nice to meet you all," Remus said.
About ten minutes later, while she was having a nice chat to Remus, Sam saw Sirius, James and Peter walk around the corner.
Remus turned to see what had captured her attention so intently and saw the three boys.
"Hey guys," he said with a wave.
"Oh, not you too!" Sam exclaimed.
"Sorry, I don't understand what you mean," Remus said looking confused.
"I hate them. I hate them. If you're friends with them, then it means I hate you too!"
"Oh, ok. See you, then," said Remus, slightly confused, and walked off to join his friends.
Sam cursed herself. Why did she always have to make friends with his friends?
At that moment a short little man opened the door their classroom and all the children filed in. She took a seat between Lily and Alice and rested her head grumpily in her arms.
Sam went to the rest of her lessons that day and learnt a great deal. She talked mainly to Lily and Alice and tried to avoid Sirius and his friends as much as possible.
By the time she got to bed that night, she was exhausted and completely ready to fall asleep.
Sam's first day had gone pretty badly, she thought. But what's that they say? Things can only improve from here, right?
Wrong.