Remus read the letter once more, just to be sure his eyes weren't tricking him.

Remus,

It is very curious that you bring up Harry having a dream about Samantha, seeing as that same thing happened here. Samantha's friend Leslie came to me the night you speak, talking of that same dream, once she found that all three children were not present in their beds. We were, thankfully, able to get each of them out before serious harm could be done, and they are quickly recovering as we speak. Magic is a peculiar thing, and works in strange ways. I have no further information on why this came to be, but I must say it is quite extraordinary.

Best regards,

Albus Dumbledore

So, Harry's dream had been reality, and not only had he had it, this girl Leslie had had it as well. Then, had Lauren had it too? Or was dream intuition specific to Harry? If so, why had Harry even seen the night's events? Leslie made sense; she could help. Harry, however, was a day's journey away from Samantha and would be little help to her in a crisis.

Remus struggled with trying to wrap his mind around this.

He also wanted to reassure Harry, tell him Samantha was, indeed, alright, but didn't think he was able to do that without causing suspicion.

He was glad to hear Samantha and whoever her friends were doing well, though, because he didn't think he could bear it if Samantha, alive because of her parents' sacrifice, was dead. Lily and James lived on through her, and although Remus thought it was selfish to think, he wanted to be close to every possible link to Lily and James, and without Samantha, it was only Harry and Lauren, both unaware of the Wizarding World.

He had, one day, decided to ask one of the teachers about Samantha, and the conversation had been interesting, to say the least.

"Clara, this may be strange," Remus said in the middle of a conversation with one of the teachers he knew had been there with Samantha, "but I've heard that Harry and Lauren have an older sister, and was wondering what she was like?"

Clara chuckled softly. "Oh, Samantha? That girl... she was something special, to say the least. Stood up for everyone, you know, kind heart, but man, was she trouble! Constantly pranking everyone, sometimes harmless things, such as switching people's desks, but once she rigged it so the first person to walk into the classroom got drenched in pasta sauce," Clara told Remus.

"Did she?" he asked.

"Oh, yes. Mighty smart, that one. Naturally talented at every subject, could practically teach them! That did cause some problems, though, with paying attention in class... not that she needed to, but it would be unfair to not make her. Loved her siblings more than anything, seemed to despise that cousin of hers, and I could see why. Samantha's not someone you come across every day, that was for sure," Clara finished.

Remus smiled softly. "She sounds fun to have as a student," he said.

"She was every teacher's worst nightmare and best dream combined into one. On one hand, she was smart, grasped the subject, always willing to help out with whatever, help explain to a student, run things down to the office, anything, but on the other... the constant pranks, never paid much attention in class, talked out of turn, had to make sure her point was heard, disrupted the class quite often, distracted others who needed to pay attention, the like," Clara told. "Like I said though, heart made of gold. Attracted to the loner kids, sat with 'em at lunch when no one else would, be their partner for a project if they didn't have one."

"Very nice. Rare to see that sort of thing, especially in ten year olds," Remus commented.

"She was one in a million, that Samantha," Clara sighed.

Remus smiled gently, returning to the silence that had engulfed them minutes before.

He thought about that. Samantha seemed to have inherited all of the qualities that had made her parents stand out. Lily's kindness, James's talent for trouble, and both of their smarts. It was then that he realized he had no clue what she looked like, having not seen her since she was a toddler.

"Clara, out of curiosity, what did Samantha look like?" he asked.

"Very pretty lady. Long, wavy dark brown hair and hazel eyes, which had a certain warmth to them. Average height, I'd say, and very skinny. Oval face shape. Very welcoming smile, type of person who, when they laugh, you can't help but laugh with them. A few boys seemed to have crushes on her, though she liked to pretend not to notice. Her hair was always nicely done, with braids, or ponytails, very mature looking," Clara explained.

"She sounds like a perfect mix of both of her siblings," Remus said. What he really meant was a perfect mix of both parents. Harry and Lauren were exact opposites. Harry looked exactly like his father except with Lily's eyes, while Lauren looked exactly like Lily but with James's eyes. It was a bit freaky, actually.

"She really was," Clara agreed.

Remus though more about this. Twice during class he had thought he'd seen James or Lily out of the corner of his eye, and been tricked for a moment into thinking that he was back in Hogwarts, running around with his best friends and being reprimanded by Lily, but he had blinked and seen it was really Harry or Lauren.

He had been able to tell immediately which were Lily and James's kids. Even if they had not looked like their identical twins, they both had similar personalities. At this young age, combined with being seemingly neglected and kept in the dark from where they belonged, they were both much more like Lily, with her kind heart and reluctance for trouble. Remus did see a spark of James in both children, Harry more often than Lauren.

While Lily had been reluctant for trouble in earlier years, she grew more comfortable with it when she accepted James. Remus felt that Harry and Lauren, especially Harry, would have much more of a knack for trouble once they joined the world they truly belonged in.

Samantha was recovering quickly. She, Max, and Margot were all awake by lunch, and were visited by Elias, Connor, Damon, Leslie, Bella, Ellie, Hudson, and many of Margot's friends, causing Madam Pomfrey to ban having more than one visitor at a time.

It was this situation that truly made Samantha realize how many friends she had. She was very grateful for this.

"I'm so bored here, I can't wait to get back to beating you at Transfiguration and Charms and getting higher marks than you in Potions," she told Max that night.

"We've been here for less than twelve hours. Calm down," Margot told her.

"Besides, I'll totally beat you at everything," Max added defensively.

"Do you ever?" Samantha asked, raising her eyebrows. Max blushed.

"I beat you at- at..." Max said, struggling to remember a time he had learned a spell faster than Samantha. "At Nox! You know, extinguishing the light on our wands!" he cried excitedly.

Samantha looked skeptically at him. "And I beat you at Lumos, Wingardium Leviosa, Alohomora, and Flipendo," she told him, making Margot smirk and Max look ashamed.

"That shut you right up, didn't it?" Margot asked. Max shrugged.

"So, guys, do you wanna go night exploring again sometime?" Samantha asked.

"Are you mad? We could've died!" Margot cried.

"But we didn't. Leslie saved us. Besides, we can be more careful next time, we'll leave if something weird happens, like how cold it was in that one spot," said Samantha.

"I don't know, Sam. We were lucky this time, but what if we don't get so lucky next time? Or, what if we get caught out of bed? As fun as it sounds, we didn't get punished this time because we got hurt. Going out again, especially with our track record, may not be the best idea," Margot countered.

Samantha sighed. "I'm just trying to have a little fun, come on," she whined.

"Sam, we go to a school where we are learning how to petrify someone as a defense mechanism. They're teaching this to eleven year olds. We can have all the fun in the world," Max said.

"Brilliant. Who should we target first?" Samantha asked sarcastically. Margot rolled her eyes.

"Alright, whatever. I'm not even gonna bother anymore," Max said.

"Sorry if I'm bored," Samantha told them, wishing someone would agree with her. She hoped she could convince someone to sneak around at night with her. Leslie seemed as if she might murder Samantha if she left the dorms at night again. Damon, Elias, and Connor were viable options, although not super close with each other. Ellie was too smart; she'd use this against Samantha just as Max, Margot, and Leslie would. Hudson seemed scared of any conflict, so she doubted she could convince him. Then, the idea struck. Bella.

Bella would never object, no matter what had previously happened. Bella was always on her side, and up to do rebellious things.

When Samantha, Max, and Margot were finally released the following day, Samantha met up with Bella as quickly as possible, which ended up being the next day.

She'd had homework, and then she'd been unable to get away from Leslie's constant reprimanding for going out at night.

Finally, that Saturday, she'd said she wanted to go for a walk and left Leslie in the castle while she ran to where Bella sat reading a book.

"Bella, you need to help me," Samantha said, pulling up next to Bella.

"With what?" Bella asked, calmly shutting her book.

"I need to go out and explore tonight, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me," said Samantha.

"That isn't really help, and I know there's no getting out of it, so sure, I'll go," Bella sighed.

Samantha smiled happily, giggling. "Yes, thank you, thank you! I just need to, you know? I can't explain why, but I have this insane desire to lurk around at night," she rambled.

Bella smirked. "Sounds fun. What time are we meeting? And where?" she asked.

"Let's see... Les usually goes to bed around 9:30, but people are in the Common Room much later... meaning we should probably meet up around midnight, just to be safe. And we can meet... by the Charms corridor, because that's in a fairly central part of the castle," said Samantha.

"Great. Also... Sam, didn't you just get, you know, knocked unconscious by a room while exploring at night? Are you really sure this is a good idea?" Bella asked apprehensively.

"Look, Bella, I know what happened to me last time, but we won't go anywhere dangerous like that, we'll go places we already know, like... I don't know, the Defense Corridor maybe? We won't get hurt, I promise," Samantha reassured her friend.

"If you say so... well, I'll see you at midnight, Sam," Bella said, picking up her book again.

"See you at midnight," Samantha repeated, then sprinted back to the castle.

That night, Samantha was more careful in sneaking out. She waited until it hit 11:45, and then buried herself in the Invisibility Cloak and hurried down into the deserted Common Room, where she snuck out of the Fat Lady and down to the Charms Corridor.

After a few minutes of waiting, she saw Bella approach and pulled off the Cloak.

"Bella! Glad you made it" Samantha whispered.

"Glad to be here," Bella replied, doing a mock bow. "Okay, so where'd you want to go?" she asked.

"Uhm... let's just wander around, shall we? Oh, get under this, in case any teachers come strolling about," Samantha said, throwing the Invisibility Cloak over herself and Bella.

"Merlin, where did you get one of these?" Bella asked, examining the fabric.

"Anonymous Christmas present," replied Samantha. "Now, let's get going."

The two girls set off down the Corridor, getting closer to the dungeons.

"Want to break into Snape's office?" Samantha asked.

Bella hesitated for a second. "That's my head of house, I don't-"

"Exactly the point! You're in his house, he would never take more than five points from you!" Samantha explained.

"He'd probably take a ton from you, though," Bella reasoned.

"You can maybe... convince him of taking less? He might listen, he loves all the Slytherins," Samantha said.

"And he despises all of the Gryffindors," Bella pointed out.

"Well, we can cross that bridge if we get there. Please, let's just sneak into Snape's office," Samantha pleaded.

"Fine, fine, let's go," Bella agreed.

The girls walked farther down and the temperature grew steadily colder.

"Come on, Snape's office is right in here," Samantha whispered, pointing to a door at the end of a corridor.

The girls tiptoed down the hall and slipped through the door of the office, looking around at everything. There were hundreds of glass jars with revolting-looking plants and animals inside of them sitting on shelves on the walls.

"Ugh, that's so gross!" Samantha said, pointing at a slimy red thing inside of a dark green liquid with brown things floating around it that appeared to be very much alive.

"I hope we never have to use that," Bella agreed. The girls had taken off the Invisibility Cloak to get a proper look around.

"I know," Samantha agreed. She peeked around, not quite sure what she was looking for or why she had been drawn to this place.

"Oooh, what's this?" Bella asked, pointing to a basin of swirling pearly white substance that was neither gas nor liquid.

"Oh, that's um..." Samantha paused, realizing she had no idea what it was called. "Well, it shows memories. You get a third perspective point of view on your own memory, or on someone else's, as long as they've put it in here," Samantha explained.

'Whoa, that's cool. Can we put our own memories in there? How do we do that?" Bella asked.

'I'm not sure. I've never seen anyone take memories out. Snape's memory was already in here when he showed it to me," Samantha said. "Want to go in and see what we find?"

Bella shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Can't hurt anything, can it?"

Samantha shook her head in agreement, although something deep down told her this was wrong.

"Alright, let's do this together," Samantha said, taking Bella's hand. "Three."

"Two," Bella said.

"One."

The girls were spinning through the air, grasping each other's hands for dear life, but in a second, they were on the ground outside of the castle.

Samantha found teenage Snape quickly, because aside from definitely looking younger and skinnier, he hadn't changed too much as an adult. He was seated a few feet away from them, reading a book and half-heartedly up every few seconds, looking past Samantha and Bella.

Soon, something seemed to have caught his attention, and he shut his book without marking the page and left up. "Hey, Lily! Lily, can I talk to you?" he called, running up to a girl with red hair.

Lily looked similar to that she had in Snape's previous memory, and Samantha guessed this took place a year or two after that one had. She looked much like what Samantha assumed Lauren would look like at that age, except she had Harry's green eyes while Lauren had James's hazel ones.

"What do you want, Severus?" Lily asked, turning around.

"I wanted to talk to you, Lily," Snape said, pushing some greasy hair out of his face.

"About what, Sev? You're getting so wrapped up with Death Eater stuff, I'm surprised you still want to talk to a Mudblood like me," Lily stated, raising her eyebrows.

"Don't call yourself that," Snape muttered.

"It's what you called me, isn't it? And what you call everyone of my birth, you and your little Death Eater friends?" Lily asked.

"That- that's dif- you're different, Lily," Snape said quietly.

"Why, Sev? Why am I different from anyone else?" she questioned, and Samantha noticed her voice softening ever so slightly.

"Because- because- because we grew up together, Lily," said Snape.

'What does that have to do with anything?" Lily whispered.

"It's got to do with everything," Snape said softly. "Lily, I- I'm sorry I called you that- that awful word, but please forgive me, and maybe we could be friends again... and maybe... more, Lily," Snape asked desperately, taking one of Lily's hands in his own.

Lily swallowed and then licked her lips. "Sev, I- I can't do that, Sev," Lily said delicately.

"Why not, Lily? It's perfect, isn't it? Friends who grew up with each other turn to lovers?" Snape asked.

"Severus, I'm pregnant," Lily whispered. Snape dropped her hand almost immediately.

"Not- not with James's-," Snape started.

"Yes, with James. Sev, he cares about me, and I know you care about me but it... it just can't happen, alright? You understand that, right?" Lily asked.

Snape seemed to have forgotten how to talk. He stared at Lily with a mixture of anger, fear, and pity.

"Severus, please speak," Lily begged.

"I- have to go," Snape said, and hurried away, leaving a hurt Lily standing alone by the lake.

"Come on, let's go," Samantha said, and pulled Bella with her as they left Snape's memories.

Once the girls were back on their feet, Samantha started talking instantly.

"That was strange... Snape wanted to date my mom! And, I was technically there, you know? In Lily's stomach, just, well, a fetus, I guess," she told Bella.

"Yeah, you were technically there, I guess. Huh, that was only what, thirteen years ago? Twelve and a half? Strange" Bella muttered.

"I know. That's so wild," Samantha agreed. "Plus... Snape liked Lily! Oh, he'll despise having Lauren, she looks exactly like Lily, maybe he'll just look at her eyes though, those are dad's. That might not be great though, now that I think of it..." Samantha rambled. "I mean, he's gotta choose between seeing his bully or the girl he was once in love with... oh, I forgot, he'll have Harry as well, that'll suck."

"Calm down, Sam. He's still got a year to wait. Plus, who says Harry won't be in Slytherin? He can't really hate Harry then, can he?" Bella suggested.

"True... I hope he's in Gryffindor though, that'd be nice. Plus, what would Death Eater children do with The Boy Who Lived?" asked Samantha without thinking.

Bella's nostrils flared. "We're not evil, Samantha! Not everyone's parents are ex-Death Eaters!" she cried, breathing angrily out of her nose.

"I'm sorry, I spoke without thinking, really, I did!" Samantha said.

"You said what you've been thinking all along, haven't you? You're just waiting for me to go evil, for my parents to be revealed as Death Eaters or for me to become one! Samantha, I have shown you nothing but kindness, and you still classify all Slytherins as evil Death Eaters who are trying to get you killed, finish what their master started! Slytherin isn't just Death Eaters, okay! You have to get that into your head, Sam!" Bella said, her voice steadily rising with every word.

Samantha's eyes widened as she heard faint footsteps approaching. "Bell, get under here, come on-" she started, throwing the Invisibility Cloak over herself.

"No, don't try-," Bella said, but was interrupted by the door bursting open to a furious looking Snape.

"Bella," he said sharply. "What are you doing here? Who were you just talking to?" he asked, fury on every centimeter of his sallow face.

Bella seemed to cower. "I'm- I'm here alone, sir" she told him.

The breath seemed to have been sucked out of Samantha. She couldn't believe Bella was covering for her.

"Really? Because you seem to have just been yelling to someone... someone called Sam. Is Samantha Potter in here?" asked Snape.

"N- no, sir. Samantha's not here," Bella said, and then, seeming to gain some courage, added, "Can you see her, because I sure can't. No first year can produce an Invisibility Charm that well, sir," as Snape began to snoop around the office.

Finding nothing, as Samantha made sure to avoid being within five feet of him, he scowled. "Alright, fine. Five points from Slytherin... and from Gryffindor too, just in case," he said.

"You can't do that, Professor! It was just me here, don't punish Gryffindor for something they didn't do!" Bella cried.

"Do you want it to be ten points?" Snape asked threateningly.

"No, sir," Bella replied.

"Get to bed. Now. I never want you here again," he said, and Bella quickly left the room. Samantha stayed to watch Snape. He looked around once more before evidently deciding Samantha was nowhere, and left. After a few minutes, Samantha followed him out, but instead of going to the dungeons, headed back up to Gryffindor tower, where she slept the rest of the night.