[Sam]

Someone was screaming.

My eyes shot open at the sound, and I had my wand in hand, fully awake in mere seconds, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

I crept towards my door, maintaining a relaxed grip on my wand. One of the biggest mistakes witches and wizards of all ages made when casting spells was clenching their wand in their fist. I had quickly discovered after first getting my own wand that putting too much force in my grip was like choking the wand and my magic; instead it was much better to treat it like an extension of my arm. I had never shared my theory with anyone, but it obviously worked- I was top of the class in Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts, after all.

Returning my thoughts to the task at hand, I carefully opened my door. My systems were on high alert, and I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard the same girl scream again, closer this time.

Walking slowly down the hallway, I discovered who had been screaming, and I instantly put my wand away, laughter about to bubble out of my mouth.

"My, you must've had an interesting night, eh, Lou?" I smirked as I walked into the dorm room in front of me, belonging to Alli, Louise, and two other seventh-years: Hayley Grace and Cleo Montgomery.

Needless to say, the sight that greeted me was scream-worthy, at least in Louise's opinion. Louise was standing in front of her mirror, horrified at her reflection. Her once silky brunette hair was now a mixture of purple, orange, and green, tangled up into thick, dry clumps. Her skin wasn't much better- it looked like she had been attacked by a rainbow. Her clothes, however, were clean- the only part of her that wasn't covered in gaudy paint. And were those feathers in her hair?

"It most certainly was," Louise sniffed haughtily, probably trying to preserve what dignity she had left. "But not in a good way."

She told the tale of how she had stayed in the common room late last night, talking to Evan Watson, her seventh-year boyfriend, when two boys suddenly barged in, laughing like they'd gone crazy. She dismissed them, then all of a sudden they were shouting at each other about being Prefect, of all things, and then one of them shot a spell out that covered everyone- and everything- in the common room in paint, except for the two boys. Then the other one said he would clean it up, but instead he shot feathers out of his wand at all of them. Then the boys disappeared off to their dorm rooms, one of them shouting something about chickens.

Louise almost began sobbing again as she looked back in the mirror. "I look absolutely hideous because of them, those nutters." Alli and Hayley murmured soothing words to her while Cleo started picking the last of the feathers out of Louise's multi-colored hair.

"I figured if I took a shower the paint would come off, but it didn't. I washed my hair about ten times, and nothing even happened! I tried to get rid of it with a cleaning spell, but it still stuck, and I just gave up and went to bed. Now it's still there, and I look god-awful! What will Evan think of me if I can't even look presentable on the first day of class?" Louise wailed, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Of course Louise was having a mental breakdown over her appearance.

"Think, Lou," I said with as little sarcasm as I could. "If Evan was there with you when it happened, wouldn't he be having the same problem right now?"

That seemed to pacify her, at least a little. Louise sighed and then picked up her hairbrush. "If I just put it in a simple updo, I can pull it off." That time I did roll my eyes.

"Now that we've averted that crisis, I'm going back to my room." I turned to leave.

"You really should do something with your hair, Sam," Louise called. I rolled my eyes, but smiled. It was something I had heard only a million times since I cut it after second year.

"Glad you're back, Lou," I muttered before walking back to my room.

I closed the door behind me and changed out of my rumpled clothes mechanically, my thoughts on what Louise had described.

There are only three guys I know that would pull a stunt like that on before school has even started, I thought as I tied my Gryffindor tie and then pulled a gray sweater over my head. James, Teddy, and Fred. But they were gone last night. Who else would ever think of pranking their own House?

Maybe they made it here after I went to bed. I didn't want to give myself false hope, but it was there nonetheless.

Giving my hair one last run through with my fingers, I went to leave when the shiny purple Prefect badge sitting on my desk caught my eye.

Wondering how it got there, I walked over and picked it up, tilting it side to side, watching the light dance over the silver "P" on its surface. This one little badge, a symbol of favoritism and power. One stupid little badge that could cause so much trouble and drama. The Slytherin in me was proud that I had gotten it, that I had matched my brother. The Slytherin in me told me of the power to come if I was Head Girl next year. I would finally have bested my brother, the pride and joy of my father.

A prick of pain in my finger brought me out of the dark thoughts, and I realized I had the badge clenched in my fist, the pin on the back digging into the skin on my pointer finger.

I forced my hand to unclench and pinned the badge on the left side of my robe with a sigh.

I squared my shoulders and began the long trek down to the Great Hall for breakfast with faked confidence, the same thought echoing over and over in my head. Something I hadn't thought about in a long time: the Sorting Hat's words to me during my Sorting.

You have a strong will and the desire to be great, and though you may not be aware of it yet, I can tell you'd do almost anything to be the best. To make your family proud. You'd do well in Slytherin.

But for some reason, the hat had pronounced me a Gryffindor, to the shock of myself, my brother, and everyone else. A Malfoy in Gryffindor? It was unheard of. What made it even worse was that my stupid brother had made it to Slytherin.

I felt a scowl form on my face, scaring a couple of first-years who happened to walk by me. I didn't bother to apologize, too lost in my own memories.

I wasn't happy to be in Gryffindor, believe it or not, but after receiving a reassuring letter from my mom (she had signed Father's name at the bottom with hers, but I knew he was still disappointed in me) the next day and finding friends in James, Teddy, and Fred, I soon began to feel at home in my new House and embraced the differences that set me apart from my brother. I smiled as I thought of all the pranks that the four of us had pulled over the years, most of which were aimed at Scor and his followers.

In a better mood after remembering the numerous pranks I'd taken part in, I sat down at my normal spot at the Gryffindor table.

I heard teasing laughter and looked up as Louise walked in, her nose in the air even though she was still splattered in paint, Alli walking next to her for support and to smack anyone who went too far with the jokes about Louise.

They came and sat down across from me again, Louise looking like she was barely holding it together. More laughter echoed from the other side of the room, and I figured that a couple other people unfortunate enough to be pranked last night walked in.

"Wonder what that's all about," a voice muttered from beside me and I jumped.

"Marvin, you really need to stop doing that," I replied, trying to calm myself down as he took the seat next to me and began filling his plate with scrambled eggs and sausage.

Marvin shrugged in response since his mouth was full and I tried not to glare at him. What made him think he could sit by me again? Oh, right. I had said we were friends last night. I mentally cursed myself for saying something so idiotic and letting this guy get so close to me, especially since I still thought he was hiding something.

I stabbed a waffle and took my time eating it so I wouldn't be expected to hold a conversation. Looking around at all the students- I noticed about five other Gryffs that shared Louise's unfortunate coloration- I almost didn't believe my eyes when I saw a shock of turquoise hair belonging to a tall student enter the great hall. It's got to be just another prank victim, I told myself, but then I noticed his skin was still a normal color. He turned so I got a better look at his face, and there was no doubt in my mind.

"Teddy!" I shouted, standing up and rushing towards him. In hindsight, running up to him like that probably seemed like some cliche reunion scene out of a Muggle movie, but I didn't care.

He laughed- Merlin, how I loved that laugh!- as I threw my arms around his neck, and he picked me up and spun me around a couple times.

When he set me down again, I turned my head and kissed him on the cheek, without even thinking about it. I froze for a second, thinking I had just made the whole thing extremely awkward.

"My, someone's affectionate today," Teddy teased, and with that, the awkward tension was gone, even though I could still feel a blush heating my face.

"Well, don't expect it to happen again," I smirked, shoving him lightly. "Oh, hey, James."

"What, I don't get a kiss?" James said, turning his face towards me.

"Nope," I replied, and smacked his cheek just hard enough that it would sting a little.

"Geez, woman! It was just a joke!" James said indignantly, to laughter from both Teddy and I. "That really hurt," he added sourly, rubbing his cheek.

"Oh, hush, you big baby," I said, giving him a rare hug, just because I was still so happy and relieved that they were here and not seriously injured. Or worse.

"There's my favorite doppleganger!" I turned to find Fred behind me, smirking, and I hugged him too, earning surprised laughter from him. I really was being more affectionate than usual today.

I stuck my tongue out at him (once again being the dignified lady). Fred always liked to say that I had stolen his "look" when I cut my hair short, and it kind of fit: we were the same height (which I teased him about constantly) and we both had short, messy red hair, although mine was lighter than his, and Fred obviously didn't inherit the trademark Malfoy grey eyes like I had.

Fred and James walked to our table arm in arm like the idiots they were. I rolled my eyes and noticed Rose's twin, Mike, standing a bit awkwardly off to the side of Teddy. I didn't quite know how to greet him, so I just settled on one of those "sup" nods that guys liked to give and he hesitated before smiling back.

It was only after he left that I realized he had been wearing a Prefect's badge.

"The other Prefect is. . . . Mike?" I asked Teddy, my mouth falling open in shock.

"Yep." Teddy replied, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I'd rather not talk about it."

I shrugged, and he followed me back to where I had been sitting, luckily sitting on my left (since Teddy was left-handed and I was right, and we sat together in almost all of our classes, it was a habit) and separating me from Marvin, who looked a bit put out.

Alli muttered a greeting to Teddy, but Louise was too busy putting herself as close to Evan (who apparently had showed up while I was gone, and was equally paint-covered) as she possibly could, practically sitting on his lap. Not that he seemed to mind, of course.

Teddy snickered upon seeing Louise and Evan until Louise threw him a glare and he seemed to recover, although he was still smiling almost proudly.

"Okay, spill it," I whispered forcefully. "And don't play innocent. You know it doesn't work on me!" I added when he started to put on his "perfect little angel child" look.

"Always so demanding," he muttered, rolling his eyes. He reached out for a piece of bacon, but I slapped his hand before he could reach it.

"Story first, food later." I said sternly, ignoring his whining about his hand and his empty stomach.

"Fine," he sighed dramatically. "The prank last night? Me."

"Aha!" I shouted. "I knew it!"

He shushed me. "I don't want to take all the credit for it. I had help, you know."

"James?" He shook his head. "Fred." He shook his head again, a smile playing at his lips, obviously enjoying my confusion. "Lily?" He laughed. "What? I think she could be the pranking type!" I defended.

"You're off your game, Sammy," he replied. Teddy was the only person who could call me that and not be punched or kicked or injured in any way. "Mike helped me."

"Mike? What the. . . ." I was confused. Mike wasn't the pranking type. He was more of the teacher's pet, always obey the rules kind of kid. Someone who was easily overlooked, which is why I was so shocked that he best Teddy for the Prefect's position.

"Let's just call it his initiation," Teddy smiled, obviously proud he had gotten the new Prefect to play along successfully.

"That explains the permanent paint. I knew you couldn't pull off a spell that complex," I teased, dodging the playful punch he threw at my arm.

"Ah, ah! We can't reward violence, now can we?" I wagged a finger at him. With my other hand I dangled a piece of bacon in his face, laughing and pulling it back when he tried to bite it.

I took a bite of it just to make him mad, and then tossed it to him, but I missed and it landed right in Marvin's drink with a satisfying sploosh. Stupid Keeper reflexes. I was great at deflecting flying objects but not so great at aiming and accurately throwing objects like bacon. Or just any object in general.

"I'm so sorry, Marvin!" I said with my hands over my mouth, eyes wide. Teddy was barely holding back his laughter. I reached over him to fish the strip of bacon out of Marvin's cup, but Teddy bumped my arm, causing me to knock the cup off the table and right into Marvin's lap.

"I am so, so sorry!" I said, getting up and pulling out my wand to fix the damage.

"Don't bother," Marvin snapped, his blue eyes cold as ice, a seriously frightening ferocity taking over his face. And with that, he stormed angrily out of the Great Hall.

"Sheesh, what was that guy's problem?" Teddy asked me as I sat back down.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. I proceeded to tell Teddy about Marvin's Sorting yesterday, the bad feeling I got from him, how he had seemed so charming but had lied about where he was from, and even about the exchange we had had on the way back to the common room and what happened once we got there.

"Wow," Teddy said thoughtfully, munching on a new piece of bacon. "I guess I missed a lot, huh?"

I elbowed him in the ribs. "That was not the point of the story, you tosser!"

Professor Longbottom chose that moment to walk over and hand us our schedules. "School has barely even started and you're already being violent and insulting fellow students, miss Malfoy?" He smiled kindly to take the edge off of his words, but I flushed nonetheless.

"Nah, I've got Sammy here in check," Teddy said, pretending to crack a whip at me with sound effects and everything.

I opened my mouth in outrage (how dare he insinuate something like that?!) but Nev- er, Professor Longbottom beat me to it. "Mister Lupin, I will not have you behaving like a sexist pig at this table! We both know that they all belong in a certain House," he lowered his voice and nodded at the Slytherin table. Teddy and I both busted up laughing, Professor Longbottom holding himself together better than we were. He gave us a wink before handing us our schedules and walking down the table to the next students.

When we both had collected ourselves, I looked over at Teddy, our eyes meeting, and I almost started laughing again, but I distracted myself by glancing over my schedule for the school year.

I definitely had my work cut out for me this year. After getting high grades on my OWLs last year, I was taking some pretty advanced classes. Monday I had Potions with (oh joy) the Slytherins in the morning, and Charms with the Hufflepuffs. Tuesday was Herbology and Muggle Studies (I quite enjoyed that class), both with Ravenclaw, while the afternoon I had free. Wednesday I had Defense with Slytherin in the morning and Arithmancy with Ravenclaw in the afternoon. Thursday morning was (thankfully) free, and then I had Transfiguration with Slytherin, yet again. Friday entailed Care of Magical Creatures with Hufflepuff and Apparition (which I was very excited for) with Ravenclaw.

Teddy groaned. "We have four classes with the snakes this year."

"Blargh." I replied, making Teddy chuckle.

"OI!" James' face suddenly appeared between Teddy and I, making me jump for the third time today.

"James Sirius Potter, if you ever sneak up on me like that again, I swear I will hex you into next year!" I stuck my wand in his face for emphasis, using my death glare to show how serious I was.

"What's this about hexing James?" Fred asked from my other side.

I jumped yet again and spun around to face him, karate-chopping him in the neck before he had a chance to react.

Fred coughed and started choking, to which I rolled my eyes and informed him of his bad acting and utter incompetence.

I felt strong hands grab my wrists and hold them behind my back.

"Teddy!" I screeched. "Let me go, you prat!" I squirmed and kicked, trying to escape his iron grip, but he held me tight like I wasn't even a challenge. Even after I put up with all the stupid (and lengthy, I might add!) strengthening exercises the team had done before each Quidditch practice the past few years, I still wasn't strong enough to beat Teddy. Yet. I was set on being stronger than him this year; it was only fair since he was taller than me.

Then I remembered I was a witch, and my wand was currently in my back pocket. I pretended to give up, letting my arms go limp, and then I reached for my wand as discreetly as possible- yes! My fingers wrapped around the handle, and I twisted my wrist away from me, effectively aiming a spell at Teddy's stomach, which blasted him down the bench a ways. He hit some blond boy (he looked like he could be a fourth- or fifth-year) who bristled, and Teddy got back to his feet, running a hand through his hair cooly, hoping to regain his composure before anyone else noticed.

He glared at me, but I looked up at him with what I hoped was an innocent look (James told me later that I looked like a fox that had been caught in a chicken coop, whatever that meant, and I gave him a smack to the gut for good measure) while James laughed and Fred said, "She got you good, mate," clapping him on the shoulder.

"Geez, you're a bit unpredictable today, Sam," Teddy said once he sat back down beside me. "First you tackle me, then you go around hugging everyone, then you're all happy, and now you're back to your normal violent self." I punched his shoulder for that last one.

"Teddy's right, you have been moody today. Is it, you know, that time of the month?" He lowered his voice and cocked an eyebrow. My face reddened, in both anger and embarrassment. In all honesty, I actually hadn't started my period, but I wasn't about to inform my three best friends (I didn't really have any close friends who were girls, to the disappointment of my mum) of that.

"Watch it, James," Teddy growled, seeing my discomfort with the subject.

"Down, boy!" I teased him, ruffling his (amazingly soft) turquoise hair, to the amusement of James and Fred.

Visibly calmer now, Teddy casually slung an arm across my shoulders. I stiffened but relaxed after a moment, leaning into his chest. I let him get away with such a public display of touchiness just because I was still so thankful that he- and his abnormally large family- had returned safely.

Fred shot a questioning look at me about Teddy's arm (usually by now I would've slipped away and elbowed him in the ribs or something) but I ignored it, grabbing my schedule and standing to leave, Teddy following. He still had his (admittedly very muscular) arm around me, and I flashed him a look meant to scare him off, but he just chuckled and pulled me closer. Git.

I knew the rumors were starting to spread like wildfire about Teddy and I as we walked out of the Great Hall and back to Gryffindor Tower to grab our things before class.

When we were out of earshot I smacked his chest and hissed, "Teddy, you prat! What were you thinking?" I ducked under his arm and put some space between us, even though I missed his comforting warmth immediately afterwards.

"I was thinking that you shouldn't keep secrets from everyone," he responded with a tone that said "uh, duh!"

"Secrets? What are you tal-" Teddy cut me off with a finger to my lips. I glared at him but didn't move.

"Ah, ah! Our undying love cannot be revealed yet, my darling- gah!" Teddy yelped in pain as I bit his finger. What? The whole "darling" thing was a bit much for me.

"You're a feisty one, but that's why I love you!" Teddy all but shouted the last part, then kissed my cheek and quickly moved out of range before I could retaliate.

"Teddy Remus Lupin, don't you dare walk away from me!" I shouted at his back, stalking towards him angrily as he ran off towards the Tower, the coward.

"Love you! Miss you always!" He yelled back before I lost sight of him. I rolled my eyes with an exasperated sigh. It seemed Teddy's "romantic" antics had returned.

The boy just never learned.


A/N: Wow, it's been a week already?! No matter, the Potter/Weasley Clan has returned, much to Sam's pleasure. This chapter was a bit lighter than some of the past chapters, and very fun to write all the different personalities and reactions! As always, thanks to all you readers out there who have stuck with me this far, and I'll be back next week! :)