Chapter Six

Sam rose earlier than her dorm-mates, none of whom seemed to ever be able to rise until just before breakfast. Having packed the night before she didn't have much to do except slip her small stack of parchment, a quill and ink and the novel she had been reading as she had fallen asleep into her day-pack for the ride back to London. Having no pets to tend to, she simply decided to nip into the kitchens for a light breakfast and then head to the library until it was time to leave.

Sirius was feeling miserable. Sam had avoided him all week and wasn't even showing up to breakfast these days.

'She must have found the kitchens,' he thought.

As he boarded the train, he caught a brief glimpse of her and an idea popped into his head.

'Of course!' he thought, grinning to himself, 'She can't avoid me if she's in a compartment!'

"Oy! Mate, you have to keep moving, the rest of us would like to get a good compartment away from the Slytherins and the first-years!" James reminded Sirius with a nudge.

The second the train was moving away from Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade, Sam changed out of her uniform and into muggle-wear. She stuffed her robes unceremoniously into her trunk as a door opened behind her. A calm cool voice spoke.

"Done avoiding me, then?" Sirius asked, in a voice that would suggest he didn't care, though they both knew it to be quite the opposite.

"I can hardly avoid you when you seek me out, Sirius. And, besides, I was here first and thus, have no reason to leave."

"Oh good then! You won't mind if my friends join us."

As if on queue, the Marauders trooped into the compartment. They all sat and began chatting, cheerily, mostly of their latest exploits against the Slytherins, obviously forgetting Sam's house. Remus and James pretended to notice nothing when Sam rose and, rolling her eyes, stalked out of the compartment in search of peace.

She found it, not surprisingly, in the form of a compartment that was empty, save one person, Severus Snape. Sam slid open the door and plopped herself very ungracefully into a seat and, stretching her legs out, she reached into her bag and began reading her novel. Severus stared at her for a moment, and realized she wouldn't be a problem when it came to some much needed peace and quiet, so he left her alone. As the train began to slow down, Sam rose to return to her original compartment.

On her way out the door, she paused and said, "See you in the fall, Severus."

Sirius looked up as Sam returned to the compartment. He didn't ask where she had been though he was dying to know. He smiled to himself as he stared out the window, thinking of the surprise she would get when she got home. Speaking of which, where did she even live?

"So are you happy to be going home?" he asked, nonchalant.

"Yes, very much so, I've missed it," Sam replied, smiling at the memory of her destination, "What about you?"

"I'd rather be spending the next two months doing remedial potions with Professor Zekial than going home," Sirius said, obviously disgusted at either thought.

"Oh," There was a small, awkward pause then, "Still, it must be nice to live in London, so close to Diagon Alley and all."

"I suppose it is," It was then that Sirius stole his chance, "Why do you say that? Where do you live?"

"Outside of Manchester, so I'll have to take a muggle train to get there after this. I was just thinking how nice it would be to not have to take two trains just to get near home. After that, I have to fly the rest of the way. That reminds me…"

Sam opened her trunk, just enough to take out her broom.

"What's this?" She asked as she pulled out a small parcel, "I don't remember putting that in there, but I guess I must have. I did pack kinda late last night."

James and Remus hid sniggers, while Sirius tried to look innocent. Wormtail opened his mouth to say something, but Sirius stamped on his foot and then reprimanded him for running into the bench and stubbing his toe. This caused James and Remus to snigger even more, while Sam shook her head. She set the broom down, minimized it and then did the same with her trunk. She then put both of these objects in her day-pack for easy access.

When the train stopped, everyone filed out, leaving Sam and Sirius to have a little "alone time" as James and Remus kept calling it, still sniggering behind their hands like little school-girls. Sam rolled her eyes again and Sirius acquired a very light, barely noticeable pink tint.

Sam broke the silence first, "Listen, Sirius, I'm sorry about snapping on you like that. I just get a little touchy when people pick on others and I get even touchier when people mention blood Purity."

"That's because you're not Pure, are you?" Sirius said it quietly, in a factual tone, not really expecting an answer.

"No, I'm not," Sam's voice shook a little as she said it and Sirius detected a note of sadness, well hidden, in it.

"What are you, then?" he began; only to realize what he was saying, "I mean, it doesn't matter, really. I just was kinda curious is all…" he trailed off.

"Its fine, Sirius, but I think I'll save that story for another day. Well, I have to go catch another train, but I'll see you next fall. Bye, Black!"

Sam bounced out the door, and began the trek home. Meanwhile, Sirius and his friends went for a quick stop at the Leaky Cauldron before heading to their separate houses.

Sam soared softly onto her balcony which had been graciously left open for her. Touching down, she quickly crossed the room to her bed and dumped her belongings onto her bed. Rummaging through them she found what she had been looking for, her trunk, and fired the counter spell at it, returning it to its original size. Once it was back into place at the foot of her bed, she flipped the lid open and grabbed the parcel on top.

Truth be told, she had known it hadn't been there before hand and she strongly suspected Sirius had placed it in there. Her curiosity got the best of her, as it rarely did and she ripped into it. Inside she found a letter and a smaller, wrapped package. Placing the small package aside she splayed out onto her bed, next to her carelessly dumped belongings and began to read. She smiled as she did so.

"Dear Sam," it read, "I'm sorry for opening your trunk to put this into it. I know it was over-stepping my bounds but I didn't think I'd get a chance to give it to you otherwise. Just for the record though, I didn't go through your things (Remus wouldn't let me, just kidding!). Basically, I just wanted to apologize, but I'm not too good with words, hence the letter. Still words, but I get a chance to revise it, at least. I wanted to apologize for my brother, he's not the nicest person in the world, and in all honesty, I hate him. If he ever does anything to you though, let me know and I'll have a little 'chat' with him about it. Second, I want to apologize for me. I know I don't think before I act or speak nearly as much as I should, but I'm usually too busy having fun with life to do so. I didn't mean to get on your case about blood Purity or any of the other things, I just- I don't know; it's hard to explain. But if you ever want to talk about anything, send me an owl. I'd give you my address but I probably will be leaving my house fairly early this summer, and I might move in with James. It depends on my family situation. But an owl should be able to find me anyways. I hope you enjoy what's in the parcel, and accept it as an apology of sorts. Have a good summer! –Sirius Black"

Setting the letter carefully in the drawer of her bedside table, Sam turned to the parcel. She carefully untied the twine that bound it. When she opened it she was shocked to see a small golden ball shoot out and flutter around the room, checking its new surroundings. Sam reached out and caught the Snitch and wrapped it carefully in a velvet scarf she had lying around before setting that aside. She tugged out the note that had been half-hidden beneath it.

"Sam, I know what you're thinking, and no, I didn't knick the Snitch, James did. But he said I should give it to you so you don't get out of practice. (Apparently he has more at home, go figure, eh?) The school has tons of them, so don't worry about it, and besides, it'll give you something to do this summer, consider it a gift from all of the Marauders to you Oh, and the necklace is for you too, if you read the note you'll know it's my way of apologizing. I've never actually seen you wear jewelry but it stuck me as something you'd like anyway. Have a good summer, Sam! –Sirius"

As Sam finished reading the note, she discovered that a necklace had materialized in the packaging in front of her. The light in the room glistened off the warm-looking gold. Peering closer Sam was astonished to see that the simple golden chain held a small charm in the shape of a snitch. The charm was intricately carved with the swirl pattern of the ball and the wings almost seemed to flutter. On the back of the charm Sam found an 'S' and an 'H' intertwined around each other. She was touched that he had gone to so much trouble just to apologize. Putting the necklace on, she cleaned up her belongings and went off in search of her family.

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