Chapter Four
When Samantha was younger, her parents would always warn her to never do this or never do that, or, Abigail Linney would get her. Abigail Linney, in many children's eyes, was the boogeyman of Salem.
As Samantha grew older, she found out that Abigail Linney was only a senior citizen in her nineties, who had a flair for the dramatics and would tell anyone who would listen that she was a witch reincarnated who had been burned at the stake.
She was a nice old bird and Samantha did little things for her here and there when she was younger, but after Samantha's parents had died, she had lost contact with Abigail Linney.
Not that Samantha had no idea where Abigail was. Samantha knew exactly where she could find Abigail Linney.
So, as she was making her way up the small cobbled path to the town, and eventually to Abigail Linney's home, the feeling of guilt was filling her mind. Samantha really should have kept in contact.
She just hoped Abigail Linney was still alive.
It was days ago when Samantha had suggested they go see Abigail. Since then she had bought Sirius new clothes, gotten him a hair cut and he had even helped her clean the cemetery up.
They walked together now, toward the end of the other side of the town. That was where Abigail lived.
Every now and then they would wave to people. Ever since Samantha had introduced Sirius to some of the people of the town, they had really taken a liking to him.
She had come to the conclusion that Sirius Black was an okay kind of guy. Though, when he thought she wasn't looking his eyes looked so painful. Just like now.
"Are you okay?" she asked, brushing dark brown hair out of her eyes.
Sirius barely glanced at her. "I'm fine. Are we there yet?"
Samantha pointed to a very old looking eighteenth century style home. It was surrounded by large trees and bushes. The grass looked as if it need more then a lawnmower to get it back under control.
They could barely see the small cobbled path. It was covered in over grown grass and weeds. It irritated her ankles as they walked through.
Before Sirius could even reach the door knocker, it swung open, without even a squeak. A white haired woman with huge glasses and a white apron on, squinted up at them.
"Ehh," she said before spying Samantha, "Samantha Anne!"
She grabbed a hold of Samantha's arm in a vise like grip and dragged her into the moldy smelling house. Sirius followed reluctantly behind. He closed the door behind him and looked around cautiously.
Errily, he was reminded of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
"Sirius?"
Sirius walked after them after hearing Sam call his name.
Abigail Linney dragged Samantha into the foyer and sat her down at a small table.
"It has been so long since I have see you, dear," she said to Samantha in a failing voice, "but of course, I have been expecting you."
Abigail looked to her right and laid her eyes on Sirius as if she had just seen him.
"Oh, Samantha Anne! You did not say you would be bringing your boyfriend! Sit down, son, sit down!"
The twinkle in her eyes vaguely reminded Sirius of Albus Dumbledore. A flash of anger came over him, but he quickly pushed it down. The actions of Albus Dumbledore in the fifth book had simply infuriated him.
He forgot about his anger at once at the gob smacked look on Samantha's face.
"Excuse -- Oh no, he's not my --"
Abigail put a hand in the air to stop her from talking anymore.
"No need to explain, Samantha Anne," she said, smiling at Sirius, "I will certainly not say a word to the people of the town about your absolutely gorgeous looking man friend!"
Sirius smirked and took a seat next to Samantha. He set an arm around her shoulders.
"She called me gorgeous," he whispered into her ear, tickling her a bit.
Samantha frowned and got down to business.
"We wanted to ask you about something, Mrs. Linney."
Abigail waved a hand in Samantha's direction. "Oh, please, Samantha Anne. I have not been a missus since Alexander died twenty years ago. Bless his soul. Call me Abigail."
"Err, uh, Abigail then," Samantha said awkwardly, "You see my friend here --"
"I'm your boyfriend, remember," Sirius said with a wink.
"My boyfriend," Samantha bit out, almost angrily," has a problem. You see, you probably won't believe us, but Sirius is from another dimension."
Samantha stared at the old Abigail Linney. Her white hair pulled into a bun with pencils and her glasses so think they made her eyes look more enormous then they really were.
After a moment Abigail said, "Oh, I do believe you, dear. Your not the first person to come to me about a problem relating to a different dimension."
Both Sirius' and Samantha's eyes widened.
"Really?" Samantha asked surprised.
Abigail nodded. "'Fraid so, Samantha Anne. Poor souls. I have no idea why no one ever listens to me."
Abigail grabbed Sirius by the lower arm from across the table.
"Dear?" she asked, "Do you remember how you came into our dimension?"
Sirius nodded, a little dumbfounded.
"Yeah," he answered faintly.
"Now, do you remember where you came into our dimension from? The Veil?"
Sirius' and Samantha's eyes widened for the second time that day.
"Yes," he answered.
Abigail Linney looked at him with her bug eyes.
"It's very simple, Sirius. All you have to do is find the back door."
She let go of his arm and sat back into her seat and stared out the window, as if in a daze.
"It's all so very simple. . ."
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"That old bird is off her rocker," Sirius said a loud as they sat in Maxime's Dinner.
A dumpy looking woman with a frown on her face brought their burgers to their booth.
"Anything else?" she asked dully.
"Cherry Coke," Samantha said.
"Same," Said Sirius next.
It only took the woman minutes before she came with their drinks and the receipt.
"She's perfectly sane actually," Samantha said, not exactly believing herself, though wanting to defend the helpless Abigail Linney.
"Whatever," he said under his breath.
They ate in silence until Samantha spoke up.
"You never told me where exactly you came into our dimension from, Sirius."
Sirius shrugged. "I didn't really think it made a difference a few days ago. . . I got here from inside a tomb."
Samantha nearly choked on her burger. "Excuse me?"
Sirius handed her a napkin.
"It's kind of like one of the above the ground graves that are in the cemetery, I don't know which one though."
Samantha sighed. "Perfect, just perfect. We'll try to find it another time. . ."
They left the dinner and began to walk home. The night breeze was picking up and the temperature had dropped. Samantha held her purse tightly to her.
"There's something else, too. Something's been bothering you for a while now. And eventually, I'm going to pry it from you. I do care, you know."
Sirius remained silent. The pain returning to his eyes. Samantha decided not to press on.
As they got nearer to the end of town a man the same height of Sirius bumped into Samantha. She fell back with a gasp, only to be caught by Sirius.
"I am so sorry, Miss," the man apologized, "I wasn't looking where I was -- Sam?"
Samantha, who was still in Sirius' arms, righted herself and then blinked up at the strange man.
"David?" Her jaw dropped.
The man's dark brown hair was in his eyes, but she knew him instantly from her community college day in Boston.
She handed her purse to Sirius and gave a David a long embrace.
Samantha pushed away from his gently to get another look at him.
"Wow," said David, with a grin, "You look great, Samantha."
"So do you," she said returning the grin.
There was a tap on her shoulder and she turned to a slightly irked looking Sirius Black.
"Oh, uh, David, let me intoduce you to Sirius. Sirius, this is David."
They shook hands quickly and let go rather weirdly. It was as if they had been stung by something scorching.
"It's getting late, Samantha," Sirius said, "We should go home. Now."
Sirius grabbed onto her arm gently and lead her to the town gates. Samantha waved to David.
"See you around!"
She then turned to Sirius and wrenched her arm out of his grasp.
"What the hell!" she said angrily to him, "I was talking to him, you know."
Sirius struggled for an explanation. "You looked tired so I intervened. I think we should go home right this instant and go to bed."
Samantha shook her head. "What a load of crap. You sound like a jealous boyfriend."
Sirius merely shut his mouth and blushed the rest of the way home.
He thanked God it was so dark.
AN: Enjoy! -- JMMendiola