Chapter Twelve
AN: song by Loudon Wainwright III Unrequited To The Nth Degree. Check his other songs even if you don't like folk, the man has some very interesting and amusing lyrics.
As always, my heartfelt thanks to my Beta Philosophize, without him my stories would not be readable.
The guitar is inspired by Fender Vince Ray Outer Space T-Bucket Acoustic Guitar, which is absolutely most coolest guitar I have ever seen.
I should apologize for the long delay between updating but life happened, nuff said.
Again thank you, for reading and reviewing.
The fallout from the article was immediate with Sam being portrayed was the victim. It seemed that Skeeter got the idea that, if she wrote about Sam in a truthful manner, then the ghostly dog would cease his attempts at eating her in defence of his conjurer.
And so most of the public's anger was directed at Ron while the fact that Harriet Potter attended the ball with a girl was a small note on the end of the article, a fact which made Sam grateful since it got her a minimum of hate mail.
The most notable exception was the howler sent but Mrs Weasley, but she never listened to it because she destroyed it right after Errol dropped it.
Ginny and the Chaos Carrots apologised profusely for their youngest brother and mother, but Sam never held it against them and always told them that she didn't held it against them, but rather put blame squarely on the Ron and Molly.
The rest of the holidays were spent in peace and quiet with Ron luckily behaving and keeping his distance.
The reason for it wasn't, as some would think, the powerful non-verbal Expelliarmus, but the fact that his mother had come to yell at him for severely disrupting her plans. This cowed him sufficiently that he gave Sam a wide berth. It also helped that Albus told them that he currently couldn't overturn the punishment or the restraining order, and the earliest opportunity would be at the end of the spring, so until then Ron had to keep his head down.
The public helped him in his avoidance effort, as every fourth letter contained some kind of curse or was laced in potion, keeping him in the hospital wing for some time.
Sam used most of the time of the holidays holed up in R.o.R. preparing for a dive into the lake in the middle of winter. During her last visit to London she had purchased a winter neoprene diving suit and was now experimenting with various methods for breathing under water. The bubblehead charm was her backup plan, and her main plan was using Gillyweed which Sam was trying to get to use to using.
She had found one major disadvantage in her plan of using Gillyweed: her need for glasses. Using contact lenses was out of question, as they would fall out underwater. Wearing goggle over contacts, well that was just asking for trouble in Sam's opinion, and large goggles and glasses was not an option either as the large goggles would probably destroy her glasses. So when she was in London she had a special prescription swimming goggles ordered, and they would be mail delivered before the end of the January to her London mailbox.
The webbing between fingers on hands and feet was causing her another problem because neither gave her as much speed as pair of flippers and they severely reduced the dexterity of her hands, so handling any underwater firearm became difficult. This led her to the drastic solution of cutting the webbing between her thumbs and forefinger and forefinger and middle finger.
That in turn led her to learning first aid spell, Episkey, to mend the wounds after cutting the webbing. It hurt like hell, but Sam argued to herself that it was necessary and that she had plenty of painful wounds already. Luckily, when the Gillyweed effects ended and she reverted back, any traces of the self-inflicted wounds on her hands disappeared as well.
Underwater combat was one of things Sam had very little experience in and muggle tech was not making it much easy for her. There were grindylows, merpeople, giant squids and what not in the lake, making it quite dangerous. Boris said he could procure SPP-1 and some ammo for her, but in greater depths she would only have her magic to work with.
So she decided to increase training in combat spells which she could use underwater as well casting a strong Aguamenti charm to boost her speed as a kind of underwater jet engine. Unfortunately, Sam found that she had loads troubles keeping hold of her wand while doing this, so she improvised as she constructed a leather harness that would firmly and securely fasten her wand to her arm. Near the end of the year she managed to get reply from Sirius telling her that he would meet her at her next Hogsmeade weekend in the end of the January.
Classes resumed shortly after the New Year, and Sam had to face that Snape brought a whole new level to his abuse towards her. During the first Potions class, she had to control her urges as she had a good mind to empty a magazine into Snape and kick him out of the window of the top floor of astronomy tower while saying, "yippie ki-yay motherfucker."
So tempting.
But nothing had prepared her for morning Prophet on the first Tuesday of the new term. Sam was just reading in her Times that US east coast and NYC area were getting caught in one of the worst snow blizzards in the century while streets were flooded by the new drug called Valkyr when the Daily Prophet arrived and in it Rita had blown Hagrid's ancestry all over the front page. This explained why the gentle giant was missing and there was a replacement teacher, one who had even fewer body parts than Moody. She seemed like a decent teacher, but she somewhat lacked in enthusiasm. Maybe it was the extent of her injuries? Hagrid had this spark for animals, like that blonde Australian Sam once saw on TV who cuddled with dangerous animals, especially with crocodiles.
Sam noticed that when she approached the unicorn, the animal was visibly wary of her. Sam was not surprised - disappointed, yes, but hardly surprised. She was no innocent soul, and some of her deeds still weighed heavily on her conscience. It was one thing to kill man who killed hundreds and another to do so when he is unaware and unarmed at his own child's birthday party.
It was many girls' dream to pet a unicorn, and Sam was no different in that aspect, but she had to face the fact that she was too dirty for an animal that practically symbolised pure innocence and which refused to be touched by her.
Hagrid meanwhile had holed himself up in his hut, refusing to speak with anybody. It took several tries before he was even remotely approachable, but after intervention from Dumbledore he returned teaching and replacement professor Grubbly-Plank returned to her retirement to spend more time with her remaining limbs (Although Sam heard from Hagrid that most of Professor Grubbly-Plank's injuries came from working at a Nundu reserve in her youth and the fact that she survived to talk about it seemed to make her an certified badass).
As the month of January went on Sam was generally feeling a bit sadder without her guitar. According to Stan the music shop owner, it was irreparable.
On the morning of the last Saturday of the month, while Sam was going over what she'd be talking to Sirius about later in the day, Hedwig and two unknown owls arrived with a large package for Hermione. Hermione acted really secretive and oddly when she grabbed Luna and they both disappeared with the package.
They had been plotting something for some time now and Sam was naturally curious about what was in the package, but neither Hermione nor Luna were anywhere to be found. Since she was a bit pressed for time, she was forced to give up on her search for her two errant friends and headed to the Shrieking Shack.
There she had to wait nearly twenty minutes before the black dog arrived. She gave him an irritated look as he changed, but Sirius simply shrugged nonchalantly. "There was an auror snooping around Hogsmeade. I had shake em off my trail before I came here."
Something in his tone of his voice tipped Sam off. "Let me guess, an auror caught you peeking under her robes, didn't she?"
Sirius reddened a little. "Uhmm. I…" Sirius began stuttering, confirming Sam's suspicion.
"Oh my goodness, she totally did!" Sam face-palmed and quelled the urge to slam her head against the wall.
"Well, s-she was cute…" Sirius tried to say but Sam gave him a look that cut him off.
"Well she was cute, he says. Are you Se… Of course you are." Sam gave him glare that dared him to make that pun before shaking her head in exasperation.
"Siri, please, you have a kiss on a sight order on your arse. When you are cleared, do as you will, hell, if you teach me how to become animagus I might even join you, but not one second sooner. You are one of the few family members I have left, and I don't want to lose you. Use your effing head, it's not just for putting hats on, okay?" She delivered an each point with a stab to his chest with her finger and finished with a fierce hug.
Sirius grimaced a bit with each stab and the hug.
He really didn't use his head. He gently patted her on her head and when she released him they sat down.
"So, Siri," Sam began, "have you thought what I told you about getting a new face?"
"I'm not sure, I mean it would be great walking around without being bothered, but it would be permanent and that process you described…" He trailed off with a bit of a shudder.
Sam understood and nodded. "I hear you Siri, it's totally up to you now, among other things. You are the one who is holed in the family house being driven nuts. So I was thinking that I let you in on one of my plans for the summer, maybe then you'd have something to look forward."
"Oh, secret plans, pup?" Sirius asked his eyebrow rising.
"Well, yes, during the summer I wanted to do bit of sightseeing and was thinking of taking you with me - you know on an old fashioned bonding road trip. Somewhere far away where they've never heard of Sirius Black," Sam said with a smile. In fact, she was planning to get eye surgery in a clinic in Los Angeles, and it would be great to take Sirius with her. Sam was relatively sure that it would do Sirius good, maybe even with a side trip to Vegas provide some healing for his damaged soul, and there were lots of skilled plastic surgeons in that region who didn't ask many questions so long as hard cash was offered. If Sirius decided to get a new face on the trip, that was just a nice bonus.
"What will Dumbledore say?" he asked, looking bit worried.
"Nothing, it is not like I have to explain to himself or that he has some say in my life."
He looked bit surprised by that, but Sam told him that she had a suspicion that Dumbledore was not exactly their friend now. He looked troubled by that and he seemed to be thinking about it.
They talked about life in the Hogwarts for a bit, and when Sirius asked about the ball, Sam was upfront about having gone with a girl because that's what she preferred (though she added that she didn't plan on dating Michelle any further).
He looked a bit shocked by the revelation, but didn't say anything. Then Sam looked at her wristwatch, noting that she needed to move on so she could manage to complete all of her plans for today. Getting up from the couch they were sitting on, she'd made it halfway to the bag she'd brought with her before seeing Sirius get up to follow.
She spun around and commanded in an authoritative voice, "Sit." He sat.
"Stay," she said with smirk.
She turned back and with a two strides reached her bag.
"No scratching yourself," she admonished as she picked her back and walked back to Sirius.
He scowled at her. "Not funny pup."
"Believe me, from my point of the view, it was," she said as she set her shop. "Now, for the trip I mentioned we will use muggle means. No worries, I have everything covered, I do have a good set of muggle passports for you." She pulled it and showed it to him.
He looked at it and frowned at the name. "Stan D. Still?" He looked in disbelief at her.
"What? Compared to the other names in wizarding world, that's is pretty plain." Sam defended. In truth, the name was her small joke on Siri.
"I mean, it is such a name that anybody who will see it will consider it as a real without any doubts. Who would pick such a stupid name for fake papers?" Sam argued. To be honest she had originally worse names for him like Bob Bimbou, Reed A. Lott, among others .
"All we need now is photograph for this. So stay still."
Sirius wanted to say something about the names, but the moment he opened his mouth Sam's hand darted out and stuffed cotton wad into his cheeks.
After an hour of torture, Sam stepped back and looked at her workmanship. Scowling back at her was a shorthaired, blonde, squared jawed, clean shaved man with tanned skin, a noticeable thin scar on right his cheek, and a distinctively crooked hook nose.
She gave a nod to herself as she appreciated her handiwork. Anyone would have hard time in recognising Sirius now.
She took a few photos with her Polaroid and waited for them to develop before cutting one out and gluing it into the passport, carefully putting the clear foil over it. Then she extinguished the sharp lumos she'd cast prior taking photos and rolled up the white sheet from behind Sirius
She handed one photo to Sirius as she worked with the one she chose for the passport. When she looked at Sirius, she found him examining himself in the mirror.
"I don't look like myself," Sirius said in a wonder. His voice changed because of the cotton in his mouth.
Sam was cleaning her tools and putting them into bag as she looked at him amusedly. "You do. Now we take everything down. This was a trial test, and the way I see it we passed with flying colours. I will keep this as a reference for the next time." She waved with a few photos she had in hand. They talked for a bit, eating sandwiches while Sirius went down memory lane.
Before they parted, Sam made an appeal to Sirius. "Siri, please don't do anything stupid okay, like you did today…I don't want to lose you. And if you do then be aware that I will personally force you to your animagus form and I will take you to the nearest vet to have you fixed. Are we clear?"
Sirius gulped a little he wouldn't admit it, but the way his goddaughter warned him with that flat, unwavering stare scared him as he had the sinking feeling that she would make good on her threats without batting an eye.
"Good. Take care, I will write you soon," she said as she hugged him.
Once back inside the castle walls, she returned to the common room. Hermione and Luna showed up later, but when Sam asked both refused to tell what they had been doing doing, where they had been, or what had been in the package. Sam ceased her questions as she saw that she wouldn't get anything out of them. All they said was that it was their secret project, so she let them to have them to have their secret.
Over the next few days Sam had to increase her training regime as she tried to quell her anxiety over the rapidly approaching second task. And she lacked alternative ways to release her frustrations. Sam idly wished that she had her car with her so she could take it for a spin on local roads.
In her old life she'd owned a real beauty which she called the orange blur. It was an orange Porsche 914/6 with dark blue spoilers and stripes. It was fast, agile and in many ways a unique little convertible.
Sam finished beating the training bag and with a frustrated growl she hit the showers before heading to the Great Hall for the dinner. Walking down the corridors, she idly thought that even today, right when they were finished with their classes, both Hermione and Luna had vanished again to work on their mysterious project.
When she reached the Great Hall made for the other Gryffindors and dropped in her customary seat near the end of the table. The hall wasn't particularly full and once again Hermione and Luna weren't there. With a shrug Sam threw together a light salad and dug in.
Sam didn't see it, but shortly after she was seated Hermione poked her head into the hall, grinned, and disappeared.
A few seconds later, she reappeared with Luna holding large box wrapped in paper. The duo sat across Sam, clearing the part of table in front of them and placed the box onto the cleared space.
"Hey Mia, little moon, what's up?" Sam greeted them.
"Hey, Ri." they greeted Sam. Both of them were having a small smiles on their faces as their eyes were full of anticipation. After a few seconds of silence Hermione began to talk. "You know Ri, ever since the blasted ball, you have been positively sulking and…" Sam opened her mouth to protest just to be cut of by Hermione.
"Don't deny it you were totally sulking."
Sam huffed and looked at Luna who was nodding vigorously.
"Brooding even.." Luna added.
"Okay, maybe a little." Sam conceded.
"So," Hermione continued. "Luna and I put our heads together and we made an ultimate anti-sulking device."
With that, they presented the box to her.
Sam looked at the box and the two faces full of anticipation before opening the box, at which point her jaw went slack as she stared at what was inside.
Sitting before her was a black Fender T-Bucket, its front painted with a downed dragon and Large snake with a sword rammed through its head. Next to the dragon stood a red-headed pin-up witch in a sleeveless, form fitting duster and cowboy hat. She was holding a Winchester 73 repeater leisurely over her shoulder and a white bird sat on its barrel. Next to the witch sat a white wolf and in its jaws was with a dead white weasel with a red mane spot on the top of its head. Above the painting it in an old comics two-toned font was the title, "Tales of Wild West Lightning Witch". Underneath was the subtitle, "This ain't no twilight zone."
Sam stared at it for a good minute, not touching it, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. Hermione and Luna exchanged looks.
"Ri?"
"Wow," was the only sound Sam could make.
"It's yours, it won't come apart if you touch it," Hermione said with a smile.
"Wow," Sam repeated, apparently awe-stuck. Soon, though, she was gently running her fingers over the wood and strings.
"So, we take it you like it?"
"Like it? It is gorgeous! Just... how?" Sam asked with tears veiling in the corners of her eyes as she gently lifted the instrument out of the box and stroked the strings, finding that it needed a little fine-tuning as she started to fiddle with the tuning heads.
Hermione smiled. "After the ball, I wrote to mum and dad and asked about his old guitar which he hasn't played for many years. They checked and found that it was still playable, so they agreed to send it to me. Luna found out and proposed that we customize it for you with a painting. We designed what to paint on it, then had to figure out how to make it thin enough not to affect the sound quality much - I think we did a great job on that - and finally Luna painted it," Hermione explained while Luna beamed.
"I...I have…words fail me, thank you. I…" Sam hugged them both. She was really at a loss for how to thank the duo enough. Not many people had ever done something so thoughtful for her. With gentle smile, Sam strummed few chords while admiring the small details - even the British flag on the fingerboard just under the head.
Sam then threw the strap over her head and with a few practised moves began played for real as happy laugh bubbled gestured to the others as she began a speedy tune:
"Oh when I die and it won't be long
Hey you're gonna be sorry that you treated me wrong…"
Luna and Hermione joined Sam as she stood up and followed her as left the Gryffindor table with a slight spring in her step.
Hermione joined in with the second stanza.
As the trio walked the rest of her friends including Gryffindor quidditch team joined them for the laugh along part as they walked out from the great hall.
"And you better not pout and no you better not cry
The grim reaper is a-comin' to town
And I just might die."
Albus Dumbledore looked from his place to the corridor from which the last echoes of the song echoed. "Well at least I know who to pick as her hostage and no one will protest." He thought little bitterly.