Ron and Harry were not at all happy about Hermione's purchase of the cat.
"You bought that monster?" Ron asked, looking horrified at the giant ginger cat Hermione had in her arms, clutching it tightly against her chest.
"He's gorgeous, isn't he?" Hermione gushed, scratching his neck under his fluffy fur so he was purring loudly. He pushed his head into Hermione's arm, forcing her into petting him.
"Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!" Ron cried.
"He didn't mean it, did you, Crookshanks?" Hermione said, running her hand over his soft fur.
"I mean, he was a pretty nice cat once you two left," Samantha said. "He loves being pet."
"Well… what about Scabbers?" Ron countered. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"
"Oh, by the way, you left your rat tonic there," Lauren cut in, holding out to Ron the bottle he had abandoned to chase after Scabbers.
Ron grabbed it from her hand as Hermione spoke again.
"Stop worrying, Ron, Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours, what's the problem? Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages, no one wanted him," she said, stroking his back.
"I wonder why?" Ron asked, sarcasm dominating his tone.
"Don't fight," Lauren said. "Let's just go back to the Leaky Cauldron."
"Good idea," Samantha agreed. "Come on."
When they walked in, they found Mr. Weasley sitting at the bar, reading today's copy of the Daily Prophet.
"Harry, Samantha, Lauren!" he exclaimed when he saw them, setting down the paper and walking over to greet them. "How are you all?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Harry said.
"And us," Samantha added in for her and Lauren. She glanced down at the paper, seeing the all too familiar face of Sirius Black staring back up at her.
"They still haven't caught him, then?" Harry asked, also looking at the newspaper.
"No," Mr. Weasley said darkly, shaking his head as he studied the picture. "They've pulled all of us off our regular jobs at the Ministry to try and find him, but no luck so far."
"Would we get a reward if we caught him?" ased Ron. "It'd be good to get some more money-"
"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," Mr. Weasley cut in. "Black's not going to be caught by a thirteen year old wizard. It's the Azkaban guards who;ll get him back, you mark my words."
"I don't know, Mr. Weasley," Samantha said. "We do have sort of a knack for getting ourselves involved in things we aren't really meant to be involved in."
"Don't get involved in this," Mr. Weasley warned, just as Mrs. Weasley entered the Leaky Cauldron, her arms full of shopping bags and being trailed by Fred, George, Percy, and Ginny.
Lauren's eyes lit up when she saw Ginny, and she grinned and gave a small wave, beckoning Ginny to come over. Ginny smiled back and began walking that way, hanging her head down and muttering a quiet "hello" to Harry before starting up a conversation with Lauren.
"Harry and Samantha. How nice to see you," Percy said, sticking out his hand for Samantha to shake. She bit her lip, trying to hold back a giggle.
"Hello Percy," Harry and Samantha said somewhat together.
"I hope you're well?" said Percy, now shaking Harry's hand.
"Very well, thanks-" Harry started to say before he was interrupted by Fred and George.
"Harry! Sam!" Fred said enthusiastically, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing to Harry and then to Samantha. "Simply splendid to see you, young ones-"
"Marvelous," George said, pushing Fred out of the way and shaking Samantha's and Harry's hands with great enthusiasm. "Absolutely spiffing."
Percy was scowling, and Samantha took that as her chance to laugh.
"That's enough, now," said Mrs. Weasley.
"Mum!" Fred shouted excitedly, as if he was just now noticing her. "How really corking to see you-"
"I said, that's enough," Mrs. Weasley repeated, pulling her hand out of her son's firm grasp and putting her shopping on a nearby vacant chair. "Hello, Samantha and Harry," she said, smiling at the two kids in front of her. "Oh, there's Lauren. Hello, dear." Mrs. Weasley waved to the youngest Potter sibling, who smiled warmly and waved back. "I suppose you've heard our exciting news?" Mrs. Weasley pointed to the silver badge on Percy's chest. "Second Head Boy in the family!"
"And last," Fred muttered.
"I don't doubt that," Mrs. Weasley said, suddenly stern. "I notice they haven't made you two prefects."
"What would either of us want to be prefects for?" George asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "It'd take all the fun out of life," he said, making Samantha and Ginny giggle.
"You want to set a better example for your sister!" Mrs. Weasley snapped.
"Ginny's got other brothers to set her an example, Mother," Percy said, rolling his eyes at the twins. "I'm going up to change for dinner…." he said, and with that, he disappeared up the stairs.
""We tried to shut him in a pyramid," George said to Samantha and Harry with a sigh, "but Mum spotted us."
"That's too bad," Samantha replied.
That night's dinner could only be described as chaotic, but a good kind of chaotic. Three tables were pushed together to fit all of the Weasleys, Hermione, and the three Potters.
"How're we getting to King's Cross tomorrow, Dad?" Fred asked as the table began on a chocolate pudding.
"The Ministry's providing a couple of cars," Mr. Weasley said casually without looking up at any of them.
Everyone stopped eating, looking up curiously.
"Why?" questioned Percy, glancing up and down the table.
"It's because of you, Perce," George said, and if Samantha hadn't previously known George, she would have assumed he was telling the truth. "And there'll be little flags on the hoods, with HB on them-"
"For Humongous Bighead," Fred supplied, and Samantha pulled her napkin up to hide her laughter, although brought it back down when everyone else laughed as well.
"Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy asked, sounding falsely dignified.
"Well, as we haven't got one anymore, and as I work there, they're doing me a favour," Mr. Weasley answered, the tips of his ears turning red just at Samantha had noticed happened to Ron when he got nervous or was nder pressure.
"Good thing, too," Mrs. Weasley said. "Do you realize how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle Underground…. You are all backed, aren't you?"
"Ron hasn't put all his new things in his trunk yet," Percy said immediately. "He's dumped them on my bed."
"You'd better go and pack properly, Ron, because we won't have much time in the morning," Mrs. Weasley advised, and Ron shot a nasty look at Percy.
After dinner, they all headed upstairs. Samantha helped Lauren finish packing up her things, and just as she was about to head to her room to double check she had everything ready, she and Lauren heard angry voices. They turned to each other, frowning, and then peeked out of the door, spotting Harry doing the same.
"It was here, on the bedside table, I took it off for polishing-" Percy yelled, the door to his and Ron's room open.
"I haven't touched it, alright?" Ron shouted back.
Sharing a glance between themselves, Harry, Lauren, and Samantha walked to Ron and Percy's room.
"What's up?" Harry asked.
"My Head Boy badge is gone," Percy complained.
"So's Scabbers's rat tonic," Ron said, going through a messy pile of unfolded clothes as he looked for it. "I think I might've left it in the bar-"
"You're not going anywhere until you've found my badge!" Percy commanded angrily.
"We can get Scabbers's stuff," Harry volunteered. "You're both packed, right?" he asked his sisters, who both nodded, Samantha despite the fact that she wasn't completely packed.
"Thanks," Ron said, eyeing Percy as the three siblings left to go downstairs.
They were halfway through the dark hallway to the bar when they could hear another pair of angry voices, this time Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Samantha's eyes widened when she heard their names mentioned, and without speaking, all three of them moved closer to the door.
"... makes no sense not to tell them," Mr. Weasley argued. "Sam, Harry,and Lauren have a right to know, especially Harry. I tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating them like children-"
"They are children," Mrs. Weasley argued.
"Molly, they're twelve, thirteen, and fourteen," Mr. Weasley said.
"Arthur, the truth would terrify them!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. "Do you really want to send those poor kids back to school with that hanging over them? For heaven's sake, they're happy not knowing!"
"I don't want to make them miserable, I want to put them on their guard!" Mr. Weasley reasoned. "You know what they can be like, wandering off by themselves- they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest and the Chamber of Secrets and Merlin knows where else! Samantha just ran off to Muggle London for a day after having been told specifically not to! But they mustn't do that this year! When I think what could have happened to them that night they ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn't picked them up, I'm prepared to bet they would have been dead by the time the Ministry found them."
"But they're not dead, they're fine, so what's the point-"
"Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that' supposed to be impossible. It's been three weeks, and no one's seen hide nor hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after-"
"But the three of them will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts."
"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe," Mr. Weasley reminded his wife. "If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."
"But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry-"
There was a thud that made Lauren jump, and she clasped a hand over her own mouth to remain silent.
"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it to the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night that Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Black's been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: 'He's at Hogwarts… he's at Hogwarts.' Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead, and he could use Sam or Lauren to lure him away from safety. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that…"
Samantha swallowed, her mind running over everything Mr. Weasley had just revealed. Now she understood why everyone had been so mad at her and Max for running away to London for a day.
"Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt the three of them at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's headmaster. I suppose he knows about all of this?"
"Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed."
"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?"
"Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," Mr. Weasley said with a heavy sigh, appearing tired. "Nor am I, if it comes to that… but when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid."
"If they save Samantha, Lauren, and Harry-"
"-then I will never say another word against them," said Mr. Weasley. "It's late, Molly, we'd better go up…"
As quietly as they could, Samantha, Lauren and Harry ran through the rest of the passage and to the bar, where they could not be spotted from where the Weasley parents were sitting.
None of them spoke as Harry picked up the bottle of rat tonic that was under the bar, and they waited until they heard a door shut to head back upstairs.
They found Fred and George crouching on the landing, laughing as quietly as they could as they listened to Percy shout at Ron as he searched through the room for his missing Head Boy badge.
"We've got it," Fred confessed in a whisper to the three of them. "We've been improving it." He held up the badge for them to see, and discovered that it had been charmed to read Bighead Boy instead.
Despite the dire circumstances, Samantha did genuinely smirk at it, knowing it was accurate. They quickly dropped off the rat tonic with Ron, avoiding Percy as best they could, and then all crowded into Lauren's room.
"So…" Samantha said as they sat cross legged on the bed.
"Sirius Black is after me," Harry broke the silence.
"And if he's after you, he's after all of us," Lauren said.
"It all makes sense now," Samantha said. "That's why Fudge let you off so easily, that's why everyone was so mad at Max and I, why the Ministry is sending cars to get us to King's Cross tomorrow."
"Sam, you said he was friends with Dad," Lauren said. "Would he really… murder his best friend's son, or all of his children?"
Shrugging, Samantha truly didn't know. "If he was a big enough supporter, I'm sure he'd be capable of it," she said. Still, to her, the whole situation was strange. "He seemed so normal…"
"People can change," Lauren said.
"He must've gone through a lot of changes," Samantha muttered.
There was quiet in the room for a while, listening to the muffled yells from the room two doors down. "I should feel more scared," Harry finally said. "He murdered thirteen people with a single curse, but I really don't feel scared. I mean, we've got to be safest where Dumbledore is, right?"
"I think so," Samantha said. "But… well, Voldemort was there back in second year, and the Chamber last year…"
Lauren bit her lip, looking down. She hated when the Chamber was brought up. Samantha put her arm around her, pulling her close in a side hug.
"Dumbledore's the only person Voldemort was ever afraid of," Harry reasoned. "Wouldn't his right hand man be just as scared? And these Azkaban guards… who and what are they?"
"I have no idea," Samantha said, one of the rare occasions she was clueless. "I haven't researched Azkaban. I really should…"
"Well, between them and Dumbledore, I don't think Black's chances of getting into Hogwarts are too high," Harry said. "But, this means that I probably won't be able to visit Hogsmeade…"
"Do you think they'll realize Vernon's signature on mine was a forgery?" Samantha asked.
"I'm surprised they haven't already," said Lauren. "I thought they would check for something like that."
"Apparently not," Samantha replied.
"Do they not think I can take care of myself?" Harry asked, evidently having not paid any attention to Lauren and Samantha's conversation. "I've defeated Voldemort three times, I'm not completely useless."
"They want you- us- to stay safe," Lauren said.
"What do you guys think that thing in Magnolia Crescent was?" Harry then asked, looking straight into Samantha's eyes.
"I've got as little a clue as you do," said Samantha.
"It was on the cover of a deadly omens book," said Lauren.
There was silence.
"We're not going to be murdered," Harry said firmly.
"That's the spirit, dear," the mirror in his room said drowsily.
Samantha woke up the next morning excited to go to Hogwarts and see her friends again, be in the castle she had come to think of as home. She pulled on a shirt and jeans before heading downstairs for breakfast, where she ran into most of the Weasleys, Hermione, and Lauren. Fred, Harry, Ron, and George came down a minute later, joining them at the table left from the night before. Percy came down after that, still looking angry from the night before.
Leaving was hectic. Lauren approached Samantha because of a book she couldn't find, and after a fair bit of searching, they discovered it in Harry's trunk. They then had to drag all nine trunks and five cages of animals down to the front of the Leaky Cauldron, and pile all of them inside the three cars the Ministry had provided.
The cars were very nice, dark green and old fashioned with secretive drivers wearing emerald velvet suits. It was something strangely respectable.
Lauren, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Samantha were in one car, Percy, Ron, Hermione, and Harry in another, and Mr. Weasley with the twins in the final one.
They had twenty minutes before the departure of the Hogwarts Express when they arrived at King's Cross, allowing for them to comfortably load their belongings onto trolleys for comfortable transportation of them.
"Right, then," Mr. Weasley said to the group as they stood in front of the passageway to Platform 9¾. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry. Lauren and Samantha, you two come next," he instructed.
Samantha nodded, watching the two of them lean casually into the barrier and disappear through it.
"Ready, Laur?" she asked her sister, who flashed a smile of understanding and then followed Samantha through the brick wall at a casual walk that could make no one suspicious of their activities.
They were joined by Percy and Ginny a moment later, and the rest of the group trickled in from there. Percy ran off to see his girlfriend, as Samantha had been informed by the twins, and then they boarded the train, their luggage in tow.
Samantha had been hoping to find Max and Leslie in a carriage together, but she could only find Leslie, sitting with Ellie and having an animated conversation.
"Have you seen Max?" Samantha asked as she pushed her trunk up on the luggage rack, placing her owl Athena next to it.
"No, have you?" Leslie said, directing her question to Ellie.
"Nope," said Ellie, shaking her head. "I'm sure he'll turn up. I mean, there's only so many places he can be. This is a train."
"True," Samantha said, grinning. "I'll be right back, I'm going to make sure Harry and Lauren have gotten seated."
She walked through the train, finding Lauren putting her belongings on a luggage rack in a compartment with Ginny, Hudson, and Neville, the last of which was struggling a bit with his trunk.
"Want some help?" asked Samantha.
"Thanks," Neville quietly replied, and Samantha helped him push the trunk back onto the rack.
"Anytime. Lauren, I take it you're settled?"
"Yeah. Have you seen Harry? I think when he took my book, I took his, because I just found it in my bag," Lauren said.
"No, I haven't found him yet, but I was about to. Want to come with?"
So Lauren joined Samantha as they walked through the train, looking for what compartment Harry was sitting in. They found the twins, and followed them outside to say a quick goodbye to the Weasleys, which was where it turned out Harry was.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave all of them hugs, handing out sandwiches for the journey as well.
"Do stay out of trouble, Samantha," Mrs. Weasley said after hugging her.
"Mm…" Samantha replied, grinning. But when Mrs. Weasley gave her a stern look, she straightened her face and nodded. Maybe she should actually try to stay out of trouble that year.
When Mr. Weasley got to Harry, Samantha, and Lauren, he shot a quick glance at his wife before whispering, "Come over here a moment." He led them to behind a pillar a little ways away. "There's something I've got to tell you three before you leave-"
"If it's about Sirius Black, we already know," said Samantha before Mr. Weasley could finish his sentence.
"You know? How?" asked Mr. Weasley, looking between the siblings, obviously baffled.
"We heard you and Mrs. Weasley talking about it last night," Harry said.
"We had gone down to get the rat tonic Ron had left, and overheard it," Lauren added, appearing sorry now that she had eavesdropped.
"That's not the way I'd have chosen for you to find out…" Mr. Weasley said.
"No, honestly it's okay," Harry said. "This way, you haven't broken your word to Fudge and we know what's going on."
"You all must be very scared-"
"We're not," Samantha said carefully.
"Really," said Harry after seeing how skeptical Mr. Weasley looked. "I mean, Sirius Black can't be much worse than Voldemort, can he?"
Despite flinching at the name drop of Voldemort, Mr. Weasley didn't comment on it. "I knew you three are made of stronger stuff than Fudge seems to think, and I'm obviously pleased that you're not scared, but-"
"Arthur!" A call from Mrs. Weasley interrupted Mr. Weasley. "Arthur, what are you doing? It's about to leave!"
"They're coming, Molly!" Mr. Weasley shouted back. He looked back to the siblings. "Listen, I want you to give me your word-"
"That we'll be good and stay in the castle?" Harry asked, a tone of definite gloom in his voice.
"Not entirely," said Mr. Weasley. "I want you all to swear to me that you won't go looking for Sirius Black."
"Mr. Weasley," Samantha said, "why would we do that?"
"Just swear you won't."
"We swear," said Lauren, looking to Harry and Samantha, both of whom nodded.
"Arthur, quickly!" Molly shouted.
"Protect them, will you?" Arthur said to Samantha just as she walked off.
"I always try," Samantha replied, smiling gently and then hopping onto the train just as it was setting off.