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Chapter 3

Samantha stepped out of the revolving gargoyle and groaned. Great. She had forgotten her wand. Way to not raise suspicion, she admonished herself. Staring down the corridor, she shrugged. Might as well go exploring. It wasn't like anyone would know it was missing but herself. She just wouldn't cast any spells within sight of others. Her luggage was in good hands. She turned right and started down the corridor.

Severus Snape was having an annoying day. His first year class had collectively melted, blown up, and dissolved ten cauldrons during today alone, bringing the total up to sixty-eight. Really sad. Thank gods he didn't have to provide their cauldrons. All the inbreeding by the pureblood families was beginning to show by the weakened magical bloodstream. He groaned. At least he only had to teach them twice a week. As he had petitioned Albus to have Thursday afternoons off, he wondered what to do with his free time. There was an enticing experimental potion calling his name in his laboratory, but only hellebore would persuade the potion to produce the desired effects. That meant a trip to the greenhouse. Well, perhaps it would be worth a quick trip to the greenhouse for hours of entertainment. With a sigh, he put on his black cape with the dramatic flaring at the bottom. He loved the way it swooped and billowed about him. Feeling slightly more cheerful, he left the frigid dungeons for the ascending corridors.

Samantha strolled happily down the deserted hallways. She reveled in solitude, and was very glad indeed that the other students were all in class. She let her feet guide her, and merely observed the many corridors passing. She entered a narrow out-of-the-way corridor that ended in a doorway. Opening the door, she gasped. A magnificent balcony, overlooking the grounds. The sun warmed her face and she turned to let the sun embrace her fully. Oh, how she loved the sun. Six months of the year weren't warm enough to let the snow melt, so spring and fall didn't in reality exist for her. But the summer, oh, the summer meant bike trips, sunbathing, and warmth. Winter would be coming along again soon, so she immediately resolved to spend as much time as possible outdoors. No time like the present. The stone balcony suddenly seemed confining. She wanted to go onto the carpet of grass below and sink her bare feet into the cool foliage. She turned to go the way she had come, but realized that she would become lost within the castle in minutes. She glanced around. There was nobody in sight. With a flick of her wrist, a simple Disillusionment charm was cast. She examined herself. Not perfect, but passable. Removing her outer robe, she double-checked there was nobody around again. She stopped for a moment. What the hell, why not. She grabbed her hair elastic and pulled. Her gray hair turned silver once loose, like it was waiting to be freed. She shook her head vigorously to get rid of the feel of restraint upon her hair, then began her transformation.

She clenched her fists, and shifted her back so her wing buds were in position. Then, with a wrenching cry of pain, she forced her pointed wings out of their hidden shafts and spread them. She quickly checked - but no, her silver gossamer wings were cleverly hidden by the enchantment as well. She felt a trickle of blood down each of the shoulder blades. She could clean it later; she had been dying to fly for weeks. She backed up to the castle wall facing the edge of the balcony and began her routine.

She kicked off her shoes next to the wall and bounced a few times on the balls of her feet. She had always been slightly afraid of flying, but the danger was part of the exhilaration. She understood that her gifts were very rare, but longed for by almost all. It would almost be an insult to the spirits to not use this gift she was bestowed. After a couple of deep breaths she clapped her hands together three times to invoke the powers of the spirits around her. She stretched her wings as far as they would reach, a good twelve feet wingspan. And began.

She flapped her wings furiously, tearing down the balcony towards the looming edge. She timed her jump perfectly, clearing the two-foot high balcony railing. She plummeted thirty feet, then spread her wings. With an enormous WOOSH she was airborne. She flapped a few times to gain some speed and altitude, then relaxed into the normal pattern of flight. She swooped, glided, floated and twirled in the air, joy taking her breath away. Spontaneously, she burst into song.

Snape was just leaving the greenhouse with dried hellebore when suddenly he spotted a figure on a balcony out of the corner of his eye. He blinked, and the figure disappeared. A disillusion or invisibility charm. This could only mean mischief, students using magic to play pranks or steal food from the kitchens. He cast a reality charm upon his eyes. The figure came back into view, for him at least. He squinted his eyes against the sun, and tried to distinguish the person from the glare. The person was removing a cloak. It was hunching its back. It changed form! He tried to figure out what had happened, but before he could, the person began sprinting towards the edge of the balcony. He fumbled for his wand, but dropped it. He snatched it from the ground and pointed it towards the balcony, but the person was gone. He stared, dumbfounded for a moment, then decided that the sensible action would be to check the ground below. He swooped across the lawn, the nearest he could come to a jog before losing his dignity. There was nobody to be found. Directly above him, a voice began a lilting song. Slowly raising his head to see whom sang, he saw a young woman with silver hair swooping and twirling in the air upon enormous wings. The woman did not sing in words, but rather sounds. A language unspoken, but comprehended by all. Her voice wove through the air, a symphony of life itself, and the joy of living. A song professor Snape had not heard for many years.

She quietly let her voice fade out. She glided lower and lower, and landed cat-like in the relatively hidden space behind the greenhouses. Breathless, she shook out her hair. Concentrating hard, she retracted her wings, and threw a charm over her shoulder to mend her shirt where they had pierced through. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, where it changed back to gray, she looked around. A stone walkway wound back up to the castle. Good. A man dressed all on black was coming towards her. Had he seen her? She laughed. Impossible, she had yet to remove the charm. A flick of the wrist and it was off. Deciding it would look rather odd to be hiding behind the greenhouse when the man approached, she strolled out into the field calmly. The grass felt wonderful under her feet, and she wiggled her toes happily as she walked. The man swooped at her at an alarming rate. She stopped facing him and put on her most innocent face. He stopped in front of her and regarded her with a very curious expression. "Did you see…?" Realizing how stupid it would sound to ask if she had seen a winged person land around here, he changed tactics. "Did you see anything unusual happen just now?" Samantha appeared puzzled. "No, what do you mean?" Close up, her eyes were gray. "Any unusual birds, perhaps?"

She choked. He had seen her, but how? The charm should have worked. She met his eyes and shook her head no. "Sorry." Needing time to think, she decided to go back to the castle and lose herself until her meeting with Dumbledore. "I have to leave, I have a meeting now", she fibbed. "I have no doubt we shall be meeting again soon. Until we meet again." After a polite curtsy, she turned and began walking quickly back to the castle without looking back.

Snape gazed after her, stunned. Two trickles of blood trailed down her shoulderblades.