Chapter 4: a Remarkable Case of Double Personality
I awake with a hell of a headache, hugging a picture frame tightly. As consciousness settles, all the events from yesterday make way through my mind, finally stopping when I get to the situation with Samantha. It didn't sink in yet, that she set me up. Really, I just can't take this off my head, it's so bloody disturbing!
How could she fool me so easily? I mean, she's probably good in potions, so making Amortentia would be fairly simple, but not calculating its exact duration to make it last only the night – that would be near impossible. Of course, there is quite some potions to cause infatuation, but I would remember drinking something, wouldn't I? Or at least, I'd remember more then some scenes, right? Unless she used... a memory charm! That's it, she used Obliviate, rather poorly, I have to admit – she wasn't even able to erase the entire memory...
Unbelievable! How could I have not noticed? The black outs, the images, her presence in the library, it was all there, right under my nose! And she was so obvious, always looking at me and with that smirk! Oh Merlin, how could I be so fucking stupid?
My internal rant is stopped by Ginny entering the Common Room, but not even the sight of her beautiful figure cheers me up, mainly because she hates me now, after seeing me with Samantha. Me and Samantha – no matter how many times I say it, it still sounds awkward. Think about it: Samantha is the conceited hot straight girl, I'm the know-it-all bookworm, as they say. Guess what? It doesn't match! It doesn't even make sense! She's straight, she's popular, she's a Slytherin! Well, obviously she's not straight, but I thought she was all along.
Anyway, let's assume she's a lesbian, then, since the situation shows us that's the way to go. Then why me? I bet Samantha could get all the girls she wants – especially using love potions. For instance, she could have picked Ginny! Ginny's beautiful, smart and smoking hot, it would be more reasonable, right? Not that I want it to happen, of course, I just don't see a motive for me to be the best candidate – I sigh.
In an attempt to free myself from my very frustrating search for logic in Samantha's actions, I glance at Ginny again, she's flirting with Dean Thomas, with a big, bright smile on her face that makes me light up a bit, even though its not directed to me – she seemed so gloomy this week, it's nice to see her better. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and tilts her head a bit, just because she knows she can get away with anything doing that. I miss her, I miss her a lot... goddamn you, Samantha! I'll hex the hell out of you in dinner, you'll see!
My fit of rage doesn't last very long when I look at Ginny again, that smile makes me melt. I can't resist, so I look into her eyes, they sparkle... wait, there's something wrong with her eyes. I frown a bit and almost instantly, she purses her lips. I scan her figure – everything seems in place, so why do I have this feeling? Dean says something and she starts laughing. I can tell she's forcing her laughter and she's nervous. She glances at me and scowls, then quickly excuses herself, heading to the stairs that leads to her dormitory.
The first step she took confirmed my suspicions: my best friend would usually land her foot flat on the step, but she didn't do it, she stepped just with the tip of her converses (a gift from me, of course), as if she was using high heels.
I'm following her into the sixth year dormitory now – and by her, I mean Samantha, of course, who's disguised as Ginny and a surprisingly good actress, since she fooled everyone, except for me. I'm truly sorry, Samantha, but you only get to fool me once.
I open the door, wand in hand, "Where's Ginny?"
"Well, 'Mione", she chuckles while using my nickname, which made my scowl more, "you really are the smartest witch in school", she smirks – I'm used to that, but I confess her shape as Ginny gives Samantha's trademark smirk a different twist, though not less hot in the slightest.
"If you really want to know, you should drop your wand", she states calmly, but on guard still. I purse my lips in response.
"Alright", with an even bigger smirk. She walks towards me, wand pointed at me at all times, and undo Ginny's tie, tossing it into her bed
"So, 'Mione" she starts unbuttoning the shirt, "here's the deal: ", one more button, "you forget about everything – I can make you, you're probably aware of my capabilities of doing so –", one more button opens, "and we'll leave things as they were", she pushes another button, revealing her black lacy bra and leaving me quite dizzy. I know it's Samantha, but the figure stripping right before me is still Ginny's and I dreamt of this scene long enough not to be affected by it.
"Your capabilities?", my turn to chuckle, "Samantha, you should check your real abilities before becoming this conceited"
"And why is that?"
"I have never seen a memory spell leave flashes of the memory like that, not even from first years", I smirk, just because I can't resist it.
"It's quite simple to do, actually, 'Mione", she looks deeply into my eyes and I can't help but feel hot, "you just need to erase only parts of the memory. Performed correctly, it can make the target mistake it for a dream. Pretty neat, don't you think?"
My smirk fades and I can't think coherently, I just feel the anger rising. Before I manage an answer, she continues, "I thought it'd be fun to see you all hot and bothered whenever you faced me – I was right"
"You bitch!", I let out, "What's the fucking matter with you? Were you so bored that you decided to ruin my life, was that it? To ruin everything between me and my best friend? Couldn't you find someone else to fuck instead of forcing innocent people into being your little sex toy?"
"Forcing?", she interrupts, "That's a strong word, 'Mione. If I was really forcing you, you wouldn't have been able to flee yesterday, but that's exactly what you did", I pause a bit, still panting, to think of an answer, but it only allows her to go on, "I confess using a potion to intensify your... hots for me, though. A few drops in my lips, actually, which you probably mistook for lip gloss and only lasted a few minutes", she smirks and I narrow my eyes.
"My question still holds, Granger: do you want to forget it?", I don't answer right away, I just use my wand-free hand to open the door abruptly
"Out! Now!", she walks calmly towards it and in a blink, she pushes me to the wall, closes the door with the other hand and kisses me. As soon as I realize what's happening, I pull away aggressively but I'm too late, because she has her wand in hand and she's casting a spell on me silently. Before I can reach my wand, I'm flooded with scenes, heated scenes of me and her in the library, I even feel a bit lightheaded from it.
"Here, so you remember it as well as I do. I have to say I'm gonna miss it – I had plenty of girls and I admit none comes close to you", I'm in shock, right now.
"And don't worry about your redheaded eye-candy, she already forgot what she saw, and your fight about it. She did have a tight grasp on the memory, the spell was a tad difficult to perform, so I reckon she'd enjoyed it way more than she'd admit".
Suddenly, she's kissing me all over again, but I can't bring myself to react, I just kiss her back – like that, she's gone and I'm completely dumbfound.
"I gotta go, I'm sorry, gonna finish that Transfiguration essay"
"No, stay! You can do it later, 'Mione, please", Ginny pleads very charmingly and I'm almost giving in.
"I'm sorry, Gin, I catch with you later", and I rush out the Great Hall, then take a wrong turn on my path to the library, because I'm not going there, not now, at least – I'm going to the Slytherin dungeon.
As you see, me and Ginny are fine. Actually, fine is a major understatement: she's been subtly hitting on me all day and has shown a radical change of point of view. For example, when Ginny and I went to get her broom and ran into two Hufflepuff girls in a heated make out session, she just grinned and said "carry on, don't mind me", then glanced at me, which obviously made blush; on practice, I overheard she talking to Alicia Spinnet, who was complimenting her on her flying. She smiled and replied she did quite an effort to impress me, making Alicia giggle; during dinner, when a Hufflepuff asked us if we were really a couple, she answered "no, but we'd make the hottest couple on school" and, to make things a bit worse, she grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
So, after two minutes of thinking, I came to the infuriating conclusion that Samantha messed with Ginny's head, not only erased the memories she caused. That drove me into a fit of rage – she could mess with me, I could bear that, but messing with my Ginny was taking it too far! I'm too overprotective of Ginny to allow Samantha to do what she pleases.
That's why I'm here, shoulder against the cold dungeon wall, waiting for my least favourite blonde. And there she is, surrounded by a group of Slytherin girls, which includes my second least favourite girl, Pansy Parkinson.
"Granger, what a surprise...",
"Shut it, Parkinson, I'm not here to deal with you", I put my want below her chin and her usual smirk faltered. Really, what is with Slytherins and smirking? I look over to Samantha, who's standing right in front of me, a serious scowl on my face.
"Lestrange, we have to talk", she nods, but with a frown of her own, "come", she follows right behind me to the Potions classroom, the nearest room to the Slytherin common room. She closes the door behind her and grabs her wand.
"Muffliato", she says very elegantly, flicking her wand with impressive technique.
"What did you do to Ginny?"
"Didn't you like it? It's a gift for you", she grins mischievously.
"Right, now answer my question"
"Calm down, Granger, it was just a couple of memory spells", smirk.
"I don't think you understood me, Lestrange, so let me enlighten you: I want to know exactly what you did"
"Alright", she looked at me impatiently, "I erased all bits that remembered me with you"
"Yes, I reckon, what else?"
"I forged a conclusion she was already very close to, but couldn't really admit. I think you know what I'm talking about. She shared an accidental kiss a few weeks ago with you, that triggered almost all of it"
"Why?"
"Curious, aren't we, Granger?"
"Answer the bloody question, Lestrange", I almost growl.
She approaches me slowly, eyes locked on mine.
"I have to admit you are terribly sexy being so bossy", she says in her usual purr and it shakes me a bit, "however, I'm afraid I grew tired of you, so I want you away from me – and what better way than giving you the girl you want?", I wasn't expecting the sting I feel from hearing she "break up" with me and it only makes me angrier.
"As if I wanted you. Lestrange, I'd choose Ginny over you anytime. Actually, not only Ginny, quite a sizable group of girls", the last part is a lie. I can't help it, though, I'm way too enraged.
"Perfect. Have fun with your redhead and leave me alone, then", with that, she left without looking back.
I sit down and sigh, reflecting on my recent conversation. I'm surprisingly sad from it, which leaves me even more furious: did I grew slightly fond of the girl who tricked me? Really? I'm bloody pathetic! I bring my hands to my face in defeat. I must be insane... or a masochist.
I lay back on the chair and look at the ceiling as both confrontations with Samantha replay on and on in my head. "I have to say I'm gonna miss it", I scoff to the echo of the phrase – of course you are, Samantha. I let out a bitter chuckle. Then it occurs me: she didn't actually use this to fool me, or to get something, just to distract me to recover my memory. Wait... it doesn't make any sense! She could have used the opportunity to erase all my memories if she wanted me to leave her alone, it would work much better. Why on earth would she want me to remember? I sigh in frustration – bloody double personality.
I'm a terrible person to leave all of you on that moment. The truth is: I had it all figured out, until the last scene of the last chapter, that came out much stronger than I first imagined. After I posted it, my beta came running to tell me it wouldn't fit on what I previously thought, that my point of view of Samantha was very different from what I was showing. I complained a lot from it, majorly stating that I needed to keep Samantha in character, so the story went through a major turn and I got very focused in tailoring Samantha's character deeper – changes will be more evident in the next chapter.
Anyway, I hope you liked this one, I'm particularly fond of it – it features my favourite scene in the story until now, the common room one. Let me know what you think, please, that's very important for me!
