Chapter 7: A Talk With Sami
Moony's Story
We're back in Mara's POV now, and it's set during her 7th year at Hogwarts. Back to the Past! Hope you guys like it.
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Today we had Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws. The goal was to transform a dove into a bouquet of flowers, and to this day I can not figure out where this skill will get you in life. I suppose, if you were desperate, you could always get a job as a Muggle magician, though. The dove-into-flowers thing is a classic trick.
Professor McGonagall had, for an unknown reason, been extremely kind and let the class choose partners for the day. At least, that is what most of the students would say if you asked them. I, on the other hand, would reply that out of spitefulness towards me she forced the class to pair off.
"Now stand up and choose a partner," said Professor McGonagall. "But do it quickly. And I don't want any trouble today, especially from you two." She gestured at James and Sirius, who exchanged grins. "If you fool around, I'll take the liberty of giving extra homework. A lot of extra homework." That was enough to stop the Marauders, at least.
Chatter broke out as everyone shoved their chairs back and surveyed the classroom for a possible partner. I remained seated, staring at my clenched fists. I knew exactly how this was going to end up, and I didn't like it at all. I was going to end up without a partner.
One by one my classmates sat down together and waited for further instructions. Silence fell over the room.
Professor McGonagall walked down the rows of desks.
"Miss Wilson, do you have a partner?" she asked, standing next to my chair and tapping her wand on my desk. Everyone turned around in their seats to stare at me.
My face was burning. I shook my head. McGonagall sighed, looking around to see if anyone else was stuck in a similar situation.
"Miss Jackson, don't you normally work with Miss Evans?"
I jerked my head upward so fast I cricked my neck. Rubbing it, I stared avidly at Sami.
"Yes," Sami answered nervously, "but Lily went to the hospital wing, she wasn't feeling well."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "Well, then, come over here. You can partner Mara."
Sami bent to gather her books, then shot me a small smile. I didn't return it. Remus was staring at Sami with a dreamy expression on his face. So was Sirius, who was partnering James. I couldn't believe it. She had two out of four Marauders crazy about her. Some girls have all the luck.
Gritting my teeth, I looked down again and didn't even acknowledge Sami's presence when she sat down next to me.
Professor McGonagall had returned to her desk and was ready to start the lesson.
"Will one person from each group please come to my desk to select a dove?" she asked. There was a second collective scraping of chairs as people began to move towards the large crate of white birds next to Professor McGonagall.
After an awkward moment of silence, Sami said, "I'll get it," and left. I rested my head on my arms and continued moping. Remus had sent Peter, his partner, to fetch the bird, and was still staring at Sami as she walked past him. I buried my face in my hands.
Sami had come back with the bird. She stroked it and it cooed at her softly. Even birds adored her.
"The incantation is 'Beau de Fleur.' You may begin." I wearily raised my head and pointed my wand at the dove.
"Beau de Fleur," I said as clearly as I could. Nothing happened. "Beau de Fleur," I repeated with an icy edge to my voice. Sami was watching me uneasily.
"Beau de Fleur," I hissed softly between my teeth. The dove looked at me with curious brown eyes and cocked its head.
"Perhaps I should--" Sami began suddenly, but I cut her off.
"No, I can do it. My wand's just faulty, that's all." There was no way I would let Sami take over when Remus was watching out of the corner of his eye.
"Beau de Fleur. Beau de Fleur! BEAU DE FLEUR!"
At that moment, although nothing had come out of my wand, there was a loud crack and the dove flew away in a blur of feathers, twittering angrily. Several people turned around and gave me exasperated looks.
Idiot. She can't do anything right. It was written all over their faces, and I had a strong urge to kick something.
Sami murmured "Accio!" and the agitated bird zoomed into her hand, where she began stroking its head to try and calm it. Then, with a flick of her wand, she said "Beau de Fleur!" and the bird burst into a gorgeous bouquet. I scowled and accidentally set the hem of my robes on fire.
"Right…well…I guess we're done, right?" Sami asked tentatively. I nodded, swatting at my robes. Sami abruptly struck up a conversation with Audrey Jakobs and Kelly Hayman, who were sitting in front of us.
I managed to squash out the small flames and then tried to find something that I could pretend to be interested in. I settled on my shoes.
Lately I had been feeling even more lonely than usual. Sure, I had never had any real friends here, but I had myself and my music and that had always been enough. And until now, Remus had never really had a love interest, and I had been able to convince myself that he was, and always would be, mine- I could slap myself for that.
No, I knew his feelings for Sami were real, and that made it worse. I saw the way he looked at her in Hogsmeade. I was there, hiding…
Feeling so lost and confused and- alone- had left me wavering on the brink of depression. This scared me, even more than the thought of losing Remus did. I had recently been making an effort to be more sociable, but so far the results were less than satisfactory.
I rubbed my eyes. I was exhausted today. Could have been that I was up so late with my guitar (I had been going without sleep lately, that's how much emotional stress I was under) but this kind of sleepiness was unnatural. My muscles were cramping up, and my eyesight was becoming slightly misty.
"Mara?" Sami asked, waving her hand in front of my face. I stared at her dreamily.
"Hmm?" I replied faintly, but I didn't feel my lips move…in fact, I realized, I had no control over them…
"Mara!" Sami repeated sharply, but her voice sounded muffled now, as if she was talking through a fuzzy radio. Audrey and Kelly were staring at me with worried expressions. They looked as if they were miles away. "Are you feeling alright?"
Dark, stormy clouds were now beginning to obscure my vision. But wait a moment- there weren't rain clouds in the classroom…
In a flash I realized what was happening. "NO!" I screamed, but nobody heard me. I gestured frantically, trying to move, but I was no longer the only occupant of my body.
Before everything went black, I remember feeling regret that I had to have my first 'connection' in a year in front of Remus and the rest of the class. Voldemort would not be pleased.
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Slowly my eyes came back into focus. I was in the hospital wing. I stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, feeling completely fine, and decided I would ask Madam Pomfrey if I could leave. But when I sat up, I screamed, because I hadn't realized I had company.
Sami was sitting beside my bed, or had been, until I had screamed and she had fallen out of her chair.
"You're awake," she laughed, as she stood up and smoothed out her skirt.
I nodded mutely.
Sami looked uncomfortable for a second. "I came because I had to give Lily the Transfiguration homework," she said, and gestured two beds over, where I could see my cousin's long red hair falling across her pillow. "So I thought I'd bring yours as well."
She handed me the assignment, which was titled "Describe, in detail, why the transformation we performed today in class is not permanent."
"Thanks," I said shortly.
"No problem." There was a pause.
"Mara…" I knew what was coming, and braced myself for it. "What happened? Why did you go all— spastic— like that?"
I sighed, letting the tightening in my chest loosen. "Oh, that," I said dismissively. "I've been feeling sick for awhile. No big deal. I'm feeling loads better now."
Sami gave me a stern look.
"I'm serious! Really…I want to know."
"Why?"
Sami looked at the floor. When she raised her eyes to mine, I was shocked to see that they were glistening with tears.
"Because…some of the stuff you said…made me think…that it was my grandfather who was speaking…instead of you."
My eyes widened. This was not something I had stopped to consider- once I had had a 'connection' where a young wizard had wanted to pass on a message to his wife, but it had taken me forever to hunt her down. No dead spirit had ever come through for someone I knew, or, for that matter, when the person they were trying to contact was in the same room.
Sami was crying quietly. I stood up, concerned, and stumbled over to her.
"Are you okay?" I asked as kindly as I could, though I had the feeling that I sounded a little stiff. I wasn't good at these types of things.
Sami nodded. "Sorry," she sniffled.
"No problem," I said, and guided her to the bed. We both sat down.
"Now…what exactly did he- I mean I- I mean, oh, you know what I mean, say during the…when I got all 'spastic?'" My mouth was having trouble forming words. I couldn't give too much away, after all.
"I don't remember exactly what he said," Sami murmured, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
"You must remember," I urged. It was important that I knew the exact wording, just in case it had more than a simple grandfatherly message.
Sami knitted her eyebrows together, thinking hard. Then she suddenly opened her mouth and began reciting.
"Are you there, my owl? I was killed…that horrible wizard got me after all…you are destined for great things. I can sense it now. Follow your heart, but don't forget that fear and pain can be a blessing as well as a curse…I love you. Don't forget me…this is goodbye, for awhile."
Sami finished and looked at me expectantly. I realized my mouth was hanging open, and quickly closed it.
"Wow," I said finally.
"Yeah, wow," Sami echoed. She blinked a few times and rubbed the back of her neck, examining the mattress. "I had no idea I could remember it that well. When you actually said it, I only caught a few words, you know? I was too shocked to retain much. But then when you asked me to recite it, I remembered it perfectly."
As I watched Sami talk, I realized I was beginning to like her more and more. She looked as if she felt awkward, like I was, and I was amazed that someone who always seemed so confident and collected could feel the same as me. It made Sami seem more human. I had never thought of her as a person before, just as a rival. Maybe in time, I could think of her as a…a friend?
Hey, it was possible.
Sami hadn't stopped talking, but I had failed to listen to a word she said. "So, what do you think it all means?" she ended finally.
I shook my head slightly to clear it. "Well, let's go through it piece by piece and try to sort everything out," I suggested. "When did your grandfather die?"
"He was killed two days ago. But I only got the owl this morning. He…Voldemort did it. Not for any particular reason, just because my grandpa was Muggle-born."
My eyebrows rose. So Sami wasn't afraid to say the Dark Lord's name. That was quite an accomplishment, even for a seventh-year. A strong, defiant look had come over Sami's face when she said it.
"Okay…your grandfather certainly didn't waste any time trying to contact you, then. Makes sense, though, because he's been dead for a short period of time, which means he's more closely connected to the physical world…it would be harder for him to come through if he had been dead, for, say, a year."
"You know a lot about this," stated Sami, looking astonished.
I looked at her in horror. I had been thinking out loud…oops.
"I've been doing some reading on the subject lately." I said, once again trying to dismiss a touchy subject.
"And you just happened to have a seizure soon afterwards?"
"Erm…yeah, I guess. Strange, huh?" Real smooth, Mara. I inwardly smacked myself.
Sami gave me a slightly suspicious look. "Just a little." I think she picked up on my nervousness, though, because she dropped the subject.
"So, anyway, what else did your grandfather say…he mentioned that you were 'destined for great things,' do you have any clue what that means?" I asked.
"No," Sami said unconvincingly. I could tell she did know, but I wasn't going to press her for details, since she had been kind enough to drop subjects I was uncomfortable with.
"How about 'follow your heart, but don't forget that fear can be a blessing as well as a curse?'"
Sami smiled. "He was always saying that," she said happily. "He liked saying very cryptic things. It was one of the reasons I loved him so much."
"Were you very close?" I asked softly.
"Yeah," Sami replied, and there was a hint of sadness in her voice. "At least, we were on and off…he lived with my parents and me, but he got really mad when I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. I wish I knew why…I remember the fights he had with my parents, trying to convince them not to let me go. I used to sit in my room and listen to them yelling through the air vent. It was horrible. My parents were muggles, but they said that if I wanted to go, neither he nor they would stop me. After I came here, he moved out until my 5th year. By then he had clamed down and wanted to live with us again. Since then, we've been great friends. I could tell him everything, even things I didn't tell my parents. "
"I'm so sorry he died," I said sympathetically. I couldn't believe the things I was finding out about Sami from our discussion. As happy and cheerful as she always seemed, her life had been difficult. Not quite as difficult as mine, but nevertheless hard. I reached out and placed my hand on Sami's shoulder, a gesture I had never done before. Sami gave me a small, grateful smile. As I looked at her and reviewed the conversation in my head, something clunked into place, and I broke away from her.
"Wait a second," I said breathlessly. "Did you say your grandfather was a muggle?"
"Yeah," said Sami, looking confused. "Is that important?"
I nodded. "He couldn't have been a muggle, only wizards can come through when I…I mean, when people have seizures similar to mine. Are you sure he wasn't a wizard?"
Sami frowned. "Yes," she said indignantly. "I would know if he was. He told me tons of stuff about his past, he was very open with me."
I sighed. "Then how are you so sure this was really him? If he was really a muggle, there's no way he could have contacted you."
"I know it was him," Sami said stubbornly, "Because he called me 'my owl,' and I never told anyone except him and Dumbledore that I'm a snowy owl Animagus…oh my god."
I was sure that my jaw had dropped so low it was on the floor. I was literally in shock. Sami was looking at me, terror etched all over her face, with both hands covering her mouth.
"I…I have to go now," Sami mumbled quickly, and sprinted from the room.
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Ahh! Two months?! Where on earth did two months go?? I have been extremely lazy with this story, and I'm sorry. I actually had the first half written for like 3 weeks, but didn't know how to finish until I had a sudden burst of creativity two days ago. Anyway, I'm going on vacation tomorrow, which is why I worked so hard to finish this chapter today. Hopefully you didn't all forget about me, lol.
BlackLupin: Sorry it's confusing, and that I've been away for so long! Your new chapters were great, hopefully mine makes up somewhat for the lack of updates? Anyway, if there's anything I can do to make the story seem less confusing, please tell me
Snuffles2984, Smiley-Freak :D, Elfy-Elf Girl, and shadows 13: Thanks a lot! Sorry this chapter took so long!
BlackKat99: Thanks a bunch for the review! I read your story "The Middle Realm" and it's great. I just realized that you've posted about 4 chapters since I last read it…just goes to show how long I've been away…next chance I get, I'll be sure to read them! Oh, and hoped you liked this chapter, since it was from Mara's POV.
Daemon of the Lyre: Thanks for adding me to your faves! Your review was very dramatic, lol. Again, I realize that even though you found the fic a month after I last updated, I still kept you waiting for another month. :(
My birthday was April 17th! I've officially been 14 for a week. A review would be an awesome late birthday present (wink wink nudge nudge)
-Padfoot-Dreamer-