Samantha couldn't remember a time when any of them had had a longer punishment. The Dursley's seemed to feel that Harry had put Dudley's life in danger, and were punishing him as if he had performed a mass murder instead of accidentally vanishing glass around a harmless boa constrictor.
"He just wanted to go to Brazil. It seemed reasonable," Harry told her one night when she and Lauren had snuck into his room.
"Harry, you were talking to a snake. What part of that is reasonable?" Samantha asked him.
Harry shrugged.
The next morning, the kids were shipped off to Mrs. Figg's house while Petunia took Dudley to get his new Smeltings uniform.
She had broken her leg by tripping over her cat, and was therefore less eager to talk about them. She let the three of them watch television, a dramatic soap opera that she was crazy invested in, and served them all dry, stale chocolate cake, but it was thoughtful nonetheless.
When they got home, Dudley made them watch him show off his new uniform.
It was an ugly maroon tailcoat with awful orange knickerbockers and a hat Samantha thought was rather stupid looking. It also came with a thin cane to hit people with, which was apparently good skills for later in life. Samantha thought it just taught people to act on their anger issues.
Aunt Petunia doted on her son, and Uncle Vernon talked about how Dudley was turning into a man.
"What do you think of it? He looks wonderful, doesn't he?" Petunia said.
Samantha fought to keep her voice steady as she spoke. "You look great, Dudley," she said, and then burst into laughter. Harry and Lauren quickly joined in.
The morning after that, Samantha walked into the kitchen to a disgusting smell. She wrinkled up her face in disgust. "What in the world is that?" she asked, walking to peer into the sink behind Harry.
"It's Harry's new school uniform," Aunt Petunia said. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes."
"Rather wet, don't you think?" Lauren said.
"No one in their right mind would wear this," said Samantha, staring down at it with disgust.
Just then, Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both wrinkling their noses when they caught a whiff of Harry's uniform. They heard the mail slot and knew the mail had been delivered.
"Dudley, get the mail," Vernon said without looking up from his paper.
"Make Harry get it."
"Harry, get the mail."
"Make Dudley get it."
"Dudley, hit him with your Smeltings stick."
Harry rushed off, dodging Dudley's hit. Samantha watched Harry pick up the mail and examine a letter.
"Hurry up, we haven't got all day!" Uncle Vernon yelled.
Harry walked in and handed two of the three letters to Uncle Vernon and started to open the one he kept. Samantha realized with a leap of her heart it was the same paper her Hogwarts letter had come on.
"Harry's got something!" Dudley suddenly yelled.
"What? Who'd be writing to you?" Vernon asked, snatching the paper from Harry's hands.
"No, give that back to him!" Samantha said, trying to take it from her uncle. His face became extremely pale as he read it.
"Petunia!" he called anxiously. She came over and Vernon handed him the letter. She read it and went pale as well.
"What should we do?" she asked, her voice barely audible.
"OUT!" their uncle barked without replying to his wife.
"I want to read that letter!" cried Dudley just as Samantha shouted "Give Harry his letter back!" and Harry yelled "I want to read my letter!"
"GET OUT!" Vernon yelled with murder in his eyes. He pushed them out into the hall together and slammed the door. After a brief fight with Dudley and his Smeltings stick where Samantha desperately wanted to jinx him, he got the keyhole and Harry got the floor; Samantha and Lauren were left to press their ears to the door.
Samantha suddenly spoke. "Hold on, I'm allowed in there," she said. "Move, you useless pig," she told Dudley, and shoved him out of the way before slipping into the kitchen with her aunt and uncle.
"What do you want?" her aunt asked her with narrowed eyes.
"To give my input on this situation," Samantha replied. "I know, remember?"
"Petunia, we swore we'd not let any of them know. One of them already does. I won't have three in the house," Uncle Vernon said.
"We're not evil," Samantha said.
"You're freaks," Petunia said. "But what do we tell them?"
"We'll ignore it," Vernon said. "If they get no answer, they'll have to give up," he said happily.
"Not how it works," Samantha said.
"No, no, it will! They'll stop if they think he doesn't want to go," Vernon insisted.
"They won't, and he does want to go," Samantha told him, but was ignored.
Later that day, Harry popped into her and Lauren's room.
"Hey, Harry, what's up?" Lauren asked.
"I'm moving into Dudley's spare bedroom," he told his sisters.
"Really? They're taking it that far, then?" Samantha said.
"You know what's going on, then?" Harry asked.
"I can't tell you yet. You'll get more out of not knowing than you will if I told you," Samantha said.
"That doesn't make any sense," said Lauren.
"I'm sorry. But you'll both know soon enough," Samantha told her siblings. "I wanna see how far they take this."
"You're mean," said Lauren.
"Trust me, it'll be funny," said Samantha, who was rather looking forward to what would happen.
Lauren sighed. "Fine," Harry said. "I'll be in the room next door if either of you needs me," he said, and walked out.
The next morning, another letter was delivered. Uncle Vernon, Dudley, Harry, and Samantha got in a wrestling match, each trying to get the letter. Vernon won.
The day after that, Samantha was woken by a loud scream. She ran downstairs and saw Harry standing next to her uncle, who lay on the ground. Harry looked shocked.
"Did you just step on him?" Samantha asked, laughing.
Harry glared at her.
Vernon stayed home that day, nailing the mail slot shut. "They'll stop delivering if they've got nowhere to deliver," he said cheerfully, trying to hit a screw with fruitcake. If it was hard for Samantha to hold back laughter while she watched this, it was impossible when he tried to eat the hammer.
"This is the most fun I've had in months" she said, giggling as Vernon cursed.
Friday, a dozen letters arrived, having been shoved through the crack under the door.
"I'm telling you, they won't give up," Samantha sighed as Vernon nailed boards around the door.
Later that day, when the milkman delivered their eggs, Petunia found that instead of the normal egg insides, a letter was crammed inside each eggshell. She shredded these with her food processor.
"No post on Sundays!" said Uncle Vernon cheerfully.
"You really don't understand us, do you?" asked Samantha.
Just then, hundreds of envelopes fell through the chimney.
Samantha looked around as they rained upon her. "They're really desperate," she said as Harry was thrown from the room. Then Lauren was tossed and gave a cry of pain, and Samantha ran after her, forgetting any attempt to grab a letter.
Lauren was bleeding, having cut herself on the corner of the glass table she hit.
"Here, come on, I'll help you clean it," Samantha said.
"PACK YOUR BAGS, WE'RE LEAVING!" Vernon cried.
"Harry, get some clothes for us while I help clean this up. Use my grey bag for my clothes," Samantha told her brother, who nodded obediently and rushed upstairs.
Fifteen minutes later, Lauren's leg was cleaned up, everyone had a bag of clothes, they had pushed their way out of the boarded up door, and they were squeezed in the car.
Samantha had no clue where they were going, but she knew she would not tell Harry or Lauren of their powers. This seemed like it would be an adventure, and Samantha loved adventures.
Later that night, though, Samantha thought it might be the most boring adventure ever. They had been in the car all day without bathroom breaks or food, and Uncle Vernon made many random, sharp turns and kept muttering "shake 'em off".
Everyone was starving except Vernon, who seemed to have forgotten about food. Finally, he found a dingy hotel and decided that would work. He parked the car and checked in.
Harry, Samantha, and Lauren shared a room with two twin beds, Dudley had his own room, and Petunia and Vernon had a room to themselves.
They ate dry meat and went up to bed. Lauren fell asleep almost instantly. Samantha couldn't, though. She could tell Harry was still awake. She slipped away from Lauren and joined Harry in his bed.
"How are you?" she whispered.
Harry sat up. "Hungry. That meat-if you can even call it that-was awful," Harry said.
Samantha chuckled softly. "I know. It was the worst thing I've ever tasted," she said. Samantha was really missing the superb Hogwarts food right about now.
"It really was," Harry agreed. There was silence for a moment.
"Your birthday is in two days. You'll be eleven," Samantha said finally.
"Is it really? Strange... not much will change though... I guess I won't go to the same school as Dudley, that'll be nice," Harry said.
"What?" Samantha said. It took her brain a minute to realize Harry was talking about Stonewall and not Hogwarts. "Oh, right," she said.
"You're not gonna... disappear for another year, will you?" Harry asked.
Samantha though for a moment on how to answer this. She was going to Hogwarts again, but once Harry knew, it wouldn't be disappearing.
"I won't disappear," she told him. It wasn't technically a lie; she and Harry would be together still, and leave Lauren alone. Samantha wished she could smuggle Lauren into the school with them, but knew that was impossible.
"Good. I don't think I can do that again," Harry said. "Where were you, anyways?" he asked.
"I won't tell you yet. But you'll find out very soon, I know it," Samantha said.
Harry sighed. "Fine," he said, looking disappointed.
"Now try to get some sleep. If today was any indicator, we'll have another long day of nauseating driving tomorrow," Samantha told her brother.
"Okay," Harry said, nodding softly. "Goodnight, Sam"
"Night, Harry."
The next morning, they were eating stale cornflakes when a young woman came to them.
"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H Potter. I only got about a hundred o' these," she said, holding up another Hogwarts letter addressed to Harry.
Harry made a grab at it, but Uncle Vernon was quicker. "I'll take those," he said, and followed the lady to where she had the letters.
"Who wants to contact you this badly?" Dudley asked, amazed. Harry shrugged.
That day, they got back in the car and drove all day. This time, they made stops, but no one was allowed out. Only Uncle Vernon got out to look around, decide it wasn't good enough, and get back in the car to continue driving.
Finally, when the sun was starting to set, he got out and left for a while.
"He's gone mad," Samantha said, shaking her head.
Vernon came back a little while later, holding a long package. "This gentleman has agreed to let us spend the night in his cabin! There's a storm coming tonight, let them try and reach us now!" he said cheerfully. "Come on now, everyone in the boat."
They all followed him to a small boat that Samantha thought might drown with their combined weight. Wondering if she could pull off nonverbal spells, Samantha concentrated hard on the words Wingardium Leviosa. They made it to the other side, and Samantha wasn't sure if it was because she had pulled it off or the boat was sturdier than it looked.
The cabin was abysmal. It had only two rooms, was freezing cold, and looked very dirty. Uncle Vernon had bought six bags of chips and six bananas. They each ate their food, and then Uncle Vernon tried to make a fire out of the empty chip bags, which just smoked and shriveled up. Samantha watched, wishing she could light a blue fire she had learned at school.
That night, Vernon and Petunia shared the one bedroom, and Petunia made a bed for Dudley on the couch. She gave Harry, Lauren, and Samantha the dingiest blanket and set off to join Vernon. The three of them pulled on all the clothes they could fit and huddled together on the softest piece of floor.
Samantha fell asleep... she felt calm... then the alarm clock was ringing... "No," she moaned. the alarm clock got louder... it sounded less like an alarm clock and more like banging... but wait, Samantha didn't have an alarm clock, she was in the middle of the sea...
Samantha sat up suddenly as another loud bang sounded outside. She saw Harry and Lauren were already awake, and saw Dudley hugged against the far side of the couch.
"What's going on?" Samantha asked, yawning.
"Someone's banging on the door," Lauren answered as the Dursleys ran in.
Finally, the door broke open and there stood a man. He was giant, twice as tall as a normal man and five times as wide. He had crazy, messy brown hair and a tough face.
"I know you," said Samantha, and her heart skipped a beat.