Chapter 6: Sam Paddleport

Harry and Ron could tell that Sam wasn't British. Her accent just wasn't right. She pronounced words differently. Sam left off "g's" in words like sailing and drifting. She combined words. "Going to" became "gonna." It took Harry and Ron a while to get used to Sam's colloquialisms. Sam sat down next to Harry and Ron.

"Hi. I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter? The Harry Potter? The one who defeated You-Know-Who? Ohmigosh! I can't believe it! And," she looked at Ron with a quizzical expression, "you are?"

"Ron Weasley. It's…erm…nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too."

"Not to seem rude," Harry said. "But where are you from?"

"I'm from the good ol' U. S. of A. The state of Georgia to be exact."

"You're accent," said Ron in awe of the beautiful creature sitting next to him, "it's wonderful."

"Thanks," Sam said. Until then she had been concentrating on Harry. She turned and looked at Ron as if she was seeing him for the first time. "Are the rumors true? Has You-Know-Who really returned?"

"You don't know?" asked Ron, amazed that everyone didn't know about You-Know-Who and the Department of Mysteries.

"Information gets garbled as it comes overseas. So, is it true?"

"Yeah, it's true. Harry saw him come back," said Ron, still gob smacked that someone didn't know the truth. "Did you hear about the Department of Mysteries in the British Ministry of Magic?"

"No. What happened?"

"Ron," Harry warned, but it was too late. Ron already started telling the entire story. Although, Harry noticed, Ron skipped over the brain incident. Ron talked about the thestrals, the time room, the circular room, and the prophecy room. Sam was especially interested in the prophecy and the Death Eaters and what tactics they used. She also wanted to know about the fight.

Ron ended the story (thankfully he didn't mention Sirius' death). Hermione and Ginny had given up in the splash fight. Fed and George kept the fight going anyway. As Hermione and Ginny made their way over, Sam stood up. Harry and Ron, for reasons even they don't know, stood up as well.

"I'm sure I'll see you again soon," Sam said as she put her hand on Ron's shoulder. In one sweeping motion moved her hand down Ron's arm and was gone.

"Who was that?" asked Hermione in an accusatory tone.

"Her name's Sam. She's from America."

"Really? She seemed…" Hermione's voice trailed off as she looked at Ron. He had turned a slight shade of green and red. "Are you okay, Ron?

"Yeah. I'm fine," he said still staring in the direction that Sam had been going.

"Are you sure?" asked Hermione, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Let's go see if mum's got dinner ready yet," Ron said rather quickly. He started in the direction of Nathan's summer home before anyone could object.

About two hours later, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Weasleys were seated around the dinner table. Nathan's house looked so much better since Mrs. Weasley decided to make it her summer project. She dusted the entire house, washed all the surfaces, and even did a little painting to bring color to the house. With the help of magic (and her husband and sons Bill and Charlie), she did all this within a week.

Nathan came to the table and stood at the head like he was going to make a grand speech.

"I have an announcement to make. My niece is visiting from America. I'm thrilled that you all have the opportunity to meet her. Ladies and Gentlemen," he said as though he were announcing the winner of Ms. Britain, "My niece: Samantha Paddleport!"

Upon hearing this name Harry and Ron looked at each other.

"It couldn't be the same one, could it?" asked Ron, a hopeful look upon his face.

"It must be," said Harry trying to keep the hopefulness out of his voice. Ron liked her. Harry had never seen him as happy as he was after he met her. "Ron likes her," he thought. "I'll keep out of the way."

Samantha Paddleport walked into the room as beautiful as ever. Next to her the walls looked gray and dull again. This was a feat considering Mrs. Weasley had painted them bright orange.

"Hi! I'm lookin' forward to hangin' out with y'all this summer," Sam said smiling beautifully. Having said that she plopped down in the chair right next to Ron.

"Well, no point in letting the food get cold. Molly slaved away like a house-elf preparing it," said Nathan, unaware that he had just offended the president of a little group called S.P.E.W. Hermione, however, pursed her lips and said nothing. "Let's eat!" said Nathan, sitting down and diving into the turkey.

A dull murmur of conversation filled the room. Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie were talking about the Quidditch World Cup.

"There's no way America can win. Japan is just too good," Bill said.

"Now, Bill," Mr. Weasley interjected, "America's gotten much better. Have you seen their chasers move lately?"

"I'm just disappointed the Cup isn't in Britain. It'd be awesome to see it again," said Charlie sadly.

Mrs. Weasley and Nathan were discussing the house.

"Next, I thought I'd tackle the drawing room. That could use a bit of cheering."

"Really, Molly, you're doing too much," said Nathan.

"Not at all! I'm rather enjoying myself."

Hermione and Ginny were silent. They stared across the table. Boys could be so stupid. Both Harry and Ron ere starring intently at Sam. She was sharing what it was like in America.

"We drive on the other side of the road as well," she said.

"Really?" said Ron as though that was the most interesting thing he'd ever heard. "How do you do that?"

"Well, instead of goin' down the left side of the street, ya go down the right." Sam said with a smile.

After everyone had had his or her fill of food, Nathan stood up. He picked up his spoon and hit it on the side of his drinking glass. The conversation died down.

"Looking around it seems we are all finished eating," said Nathan, beaming at all the people around him. "I must insist that the children get to know each other. Go on, kids!" he said, gesturing for them to leave. "Go out and play."

"Nathan, I don't know if that's such a good idea," said Mrs. Weasley immediately. "Arthur?" she added, appealing to her husband.

Mr. Weasley sighed and tool off his glasses to clean them, as he always did to buy himself some time. "If they," he said slowly, "are sure to come back by curfew, it should be all right."

"But if You-Know-Who—"

"Molly, You-Know-Who isn't about to come to an all wizard beach." Then turning to the kids he said, "Go on. But be back by nine!" His face was grave. Faces often were now. Lord Voldemort was at large, and now the entire wizarding world knew it.

Hermione and the others promised to be back by nine. They walked out the door and down to the beach.

Hermione and Ginny sat down on a towel and watched Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Sam splash around in the water.

"Come on, girls!" yelled Fred. "Join in the fun."

Hermione longed to yell back, "I'm coming," and fling herself into his arms. Instead she replied, "No thanks. I'd rather not have to wash salt water out of my hair." Then she muttered, "And it's not as if any of you would pay attention to me with Sam there."

"Oooo…There's some hostile feelings inside you, isn't there?" asked Ginny, looking over at Hermione.

Hermione glanced at Ginny. "It's just that…well, look at her. She flirts with any male she sees."

"I know. She just met them today and she's acting like she's known them forever," said Ginny sadly. She was watching as Sam jumped onto Harry's back, and Harry gave her a piggyback ride.

"She has no shame," said Hermione as Sam splashed water on Ron.

"I can't believe that they are all falling for it."

After the splash fest, Sam and the boys went onto the sand. Everyone had a butterbeer or two. Pretty soon Fred and George were entertaining everyone with some new inventions for their joke shop.

"Hahahaha…I'm sorry. What did you say?" snorted Ron.

Sam sighed and repeated, "I asked if you wanted to come with me so we could be alone together and talk."

"I…er…Well, that is to say, I..,er…sure," stammered Ron.

"There's a nice place around the corner."

"Okay."

"Now, where are those two going?" Hermione said under her breath. She looked around. Fred and George were now demonstrating Puking Pastilles for Bill and Charlie. No one would miss her. She turned and followed Sam and Ron. Keeping out of sight, she followed them all the way to an abandoned dock.

This dock was the very same dock that Nathan had showed them the first day they all got to the beach. The dock had not been used at all, it seemed. Indeed, the reason that it was not used was because it was built too far away from the water even when it was high tide. There were broken boards, and the wood seemed rotted through. Hermione watched as Sam led Ron right underneath all the rotted wood. Sam and Ron began to talk. Hermione could not hear what they were saying. She didn't want to get too close, in case they would notice her.

"Maybe they're just going to talk," thought Hermione. "I guess Sam isn't as bad as I thought." Feeling thoroughly ashamed of herself, Hermione turned and was about to leave when the sounds of murmuring behind her stopped. It was replaced with smacking. Hermione listened as the smacking continued. She was afraid to look. She turned around. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes grew wide.

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A/N: Kind of a long chapter this time. It took me forever to write it. Anyway, I'll give you a little time to digest it. Happy 4th of July, everyone! Yay, Indepedence!

willow