At breakfast the next morning, everyone was talking about Harry and what had happened the night before. Samantha couldn't believe that Professor Quirrell had Voldemort living in him for the whole school year.
Although, it made sense and now Halloween night was cleared up for her. He let the troll in and was trying to keep everyone away from the third floor to steal the Sorcerer's Stone.
"Hey, Sam, we're gonna send Harry a toilet seat," Fred said, grinning mischievously.
"You sure Madam Pomfrey will allow that?" she questioned with raised eyebrows.
"Probably not but it's worth a try," George answered.
Samantha laughed. "You two have fun. I'd rather not do anything that could get me in trouble."
"Suit yourself." And with that, the twins left the Great Hall.
Samantha looked over at Neville. He looked tired and depressed. She had found him early in the morning completely frozen except for his eyes. "How are you feeling, Neville?" She felt incredibly bad for him, he'd had people bully him and have accidents all year.
"I can't wait until this year is over, honestly. We're not going to win the House Cup because of me." He rested his chin on his arm, looking sadly at his pumpkin juice.
Samantha reached across and placed her hand on her friend's. "Oh, come on, Neville. Don't think like that. If it's anyone's fault, it's Malfoy's. He should have just minded his own business."
"Yeah," Neville sighed, still not looking persuaded.
Samantha sighed as well. She wanted to make her friend feel better. "You know I don't usually go to Quidditch matches but I'll go with you to the one tomorrow."
"Really?" he asked, perking up a bit.
Samantha nodded. She didn't like Quidditch but for her friend, she would do almost anything.
Samantha hated brooms and she hated flying. She didn't like the fact that she had to take the class all year long. And every Quidditch game that had been held over the year, she hadn't even gone to one, not even to cheer Fred and George on.
It was something soothing to have the common room all to herself for a couple of hours.
But now she was marching toward the Quidditch pitch with Neville, Hermione, and Ron. They climbed into the stands on Gryffindor's side and took their seats.
The June sun beat down on their heads as the Quidditch teams came onto the pitch. Samantha watched as the team captains shook hands and Madam Hootch started the game.
It was a mess of flying people. She barely could hear Lee giving commentary over the cheering of the crowds.
Samantha wasn't well versed in Quidditch but she knew enough to realized Gryffindor was losing. The Gryffindor crowd groaned as one of the Ravenclaw beaters hit a bludger at one of the twins. It hit him right in the stomach and almost knocked him off his broom.
Samantha's chest tightened in fear. The twin coughed and signaled to Wood that he was good.
"This is madness," Samantha muttered, running a hand through her hair.
"This is Quidditch, Jones," Ron said, cheering as Gryffindor scored.
Samantha wasn't sure if she was grateful or sad when Ravenclaw's seeker caught the snitch and they won the match and the Quidditch Cup.
Walking back to the castle, Samantha found herself between Fred and George. "Who got hit in the stomach?" she asked.
George raised his hand and flinched at the sudden movement, his other hand going to his stomach.
Samantha bit her lip. "You need to see Madam Pomfrey."
She led the boys up to the Hospital Wing and explained to Madam Pomfrey what happened. She made George lay down in a bed. She left the room for a few minutes, saying she needed to find a potion.
"Is that where Harry is?" she asked, motioning to the curtains around a bed.
The twins nodded. "Yeah, Madam Pomfrey confiscated the toilet seat yesterday, but we gave him some Chocolate Frogs," Fred said.
Samantha sighed, hoping the boy would get better soon.
After Madam Pomfrey gave George some nasty smelling potion, she told them they were good to leave.
It was a somber type of feeling as they headed up to the common room. Samantha wasn't ready for the end-of-year feast.
The Great Hall was filled with talking students as they waited for Dumbledore to start speaking. It reminded Samantha of the sorting ceremony on the first day of September.
Except Slytherin won the house cup. And Malfoy kept throwing Gryffindor table nasty grins.
Everyone's eyes followed Harry as he made his way over to the table. Samantha smiled at him softly, he smiled back.
Dumbledore arrived and he started his speech. At first, it was simple and expected, he stated in which place each house was in, and once he mentioned Slytherin house who won with four-hundred and seventy-two, the Slytherins cheered loudly.
Then came the shocking part of it.
Professor Dumbledore gave Ron and Hermione fifty points each, Harry sixty points, and sweet Neville ten. They had won the House Cup by pure luck or some amazing miracle.
Samantha hugged Neville tightly as Dumbledore changed the Slytherin banners to Gryffindor. Her friend hugged her back, looking shocked.
After the hall quieted down, Dumbledore finished his speech and the food appeared out of mid-air just like it had at the start-of-term feast. Samantha spoke with her friends happily as they ate.
She couldn't wait until she went back to the orphanage and tell Betty everything that had happened. Worry flourished in her when she realized she hadn't heard from her friend in a while. But she didn't have time to think about that, she was sure Betty was just busy or something.
The rest of her time at Hogwarts went by quickly. She got her exam results and was pleasantly surprised that she was right behind Hermione in the grades. She was proud of Neville, he actually did a very good job.
Samantha was walking down the train with Neville, looking for an empty compartment.
"Hey, Sam, wanna sit with us?" George asked, motioning to his compartment, inside was Fred, Lee, Angelina, Katie, and Alicia.
Samantha was tempted. She thought they were all cool but she knew that Neville wasn't too comfortable around them. "It's okay, George. Thanks anyway."
George nodded before going inside the compartment.
"You could've sat with them," Neville said once they found an empty compartment.
Shaking her head, Samantha sat Felix's cage on the seat and smiled at her friend. "Nah, I wouldn't want to leave my best friend to sit all by himself."
Neville smiled back. "Thank you for being my friend, Samantha. I was actually worried I wouldn't make any friends this year. But then I met you and Harry and Ron and Hermione."
That made Samantha's heart hurt because he was so sweet and clumsy and adorable. Who wouldn't want to be his friend? "Of course, I gotta be honest, I really didn't want to make any friends. I didn't want to lose them like I lost my family. But then Betty came along, then you. Now I'm friends with way too many people. It's just really weird."
And it was because she was still scared to lose her friends but she cared about them too much to just stop being their friend.
"Don't worry, Samantha, you won't ever lose me." Neville reached across and held her hand in his.
"I better not," Samantha muttered with a smirk.
Neville laughed and then changed the conversation to the fact that they had to keep in contact over the summer.
A couple of hours later, Neville was taking a nap and Samantha was looking out of her window. Felix hooted and she smiled at him. She couldn't believe that a year ago she was living in an orphanage waiting impatiently for someone from the wizarding world to come and see her and that she only had Betty for her friend.
Not to mention, she might know who killed her family. And she had something to look forward to every September.
She had changed too. A lot. It was wicked.
"Ready to see Betty again, Felix?" she asked her owl.
Felix hooted happily and flapped his wings.
Samantha chuckled. "Me too."
A/N: Just one more and then we are done! XD
