After another month and a half of school, Halloween was finally there. Samantha remembered the magnificent feast and decorations last Halloween, and was greatly looking forward to this year's celebration.
When she and Leslie walked in, they were not disappointed. The Great Hall was completely decked out in live bats and pumpkins with candles inside. It smelled of pumpkin spice, and made Samantha's mouth water at the thought of the delicious food they were soon to be eating.
She sat down next to Connor just as the food appeared, and was scooping mashed potatoes onto her plate when Professor Quirrel bounded into the room, looking hysterical, his turban almost falling off of his head.
"Troll-in the dungeons-thought you ought to know!" he said, then collapsed onto the floor in a dead faint.
"What? How could a troll possibly get in?" Leslie asked Samantha, speaking loudly because of the sudden chaos that engulfed the hall.
Dumbledore had to try four times with loud purple sparks from his wand to get everyone under control.
"Prefects! Take your houses to their common rooms. The feast will continue there," Dumbledore commanded, and Samantha stood up and began following Percy and the rest of the Prefects to the Gryffindor towers. It was then she caught sight of Bella, who looked completely shocked.
"Our common room is in the Dungeons!" Bella mouthed frantically to Samantha.
Samantha inhaled quickly. As they were passing the Slytherins, Samantha grabbed Bella and Riley's hands and pulled them into the crowd of Gryffindors.
Leslie gave Samantha one quick questioning look before shrugging and ignoring the fact that two Slytherins were about to come to the Gryffindor Common Room.
When they arrived in the common room, they found that tables had already been placed around, with big ones in the middle to get food off of and a stack of plates and goblets. It reminded Samantha of that one time the Dursley's had taken them to a buffet, except they had only been allowed to eat what Dudley didn't want, in case Dudley decided he wanted the whole supply of something. That had left the three siblings with a limited choice of salad, apples, vegetable soup, and whole grain bread.
After getting their food, Samantha, Damon, Max, Leslie, Connor, Bella, Riley, and Elias all sat down in a corner. Samantha quickly realized something was wrong; she couldn't see Harry anywhere.
"Uhm, guys?" Samantha said to the group.
"Yeah, Sam?" Elias asked.
"I don't see my brother or his friend Ron here," she said nervously.
"He's- he's gotta be here, right? Percy would've noticed if two first years had slipped away, right?" Connor said.
"No one noticed us slipping away or joining a different group," Bella pointed out.
"You don't think-?" Max started.
"That he and Ron slipped off to try and fight a troll?" Samantha finished. "Probably," she said, sighing.
"What should we do?" Leslie asked, looking concerned.
"We'll get in trouble if we leave, and lose more points for Gryffindor than Harry and Ron will if they're caught," Damon said, looking helpless.
"We can't just let them fight a troll on their own, they don't even know Wingardium Leviosa yet!" exclaimed Samantha.
"It would be stupid to try to fight a troll. The teachers can take care of it," Riley said.
"He's my brother, though!" Samantha said. "What if the troll finds him before the teachers find it, what'll happen then?"
"Maybe he can figure something out, he defeated You-Know-Who when he was a baby," Connor suggested.
"He doesn't even remember that," Samantha cried.
"Well, maybe they'll think of something," Max said.
"Like what?" asked Samantha.
Max shrugged. "I don't know, I just hope they don't get killed," he said.
Samantha rolled her eyes. "Very helpful, thanks," she said.
Suddenly, a girl walked through the Common Room door. Samantha gasped. "That's Hermione! She knows Harry and Ron! I'm gonna go see where she's been."
Samantha rushed over to Hermione, who looked nervous and shocked.
"Hermione! Where were you? Do you know where Harry is?" Samantha asked.
"I- I was in the bathroom, and Harry and Ron came to warn me about the troll and- and he came in there with me and they fought him off," Hermione said, looking shocked.
"Oh my god, Harry fought a troll? Is he alright?" Samantha cried.
"Yeah, he- he and Ron knocked it out, they're both fine. They should be here soon," said Hermione. She seemed to be regaining herself.
Just then, Harry and Ron burst through the portrait hole.
"Harry! I can't believe it, Hermione's just told me what happened!" cried Samantha, hugging Harry. "And Ron! Amazing! I wish I'd had a troll to fight in first year."
"No you don't, I accidentally stuck my wand up its nose," Harry said.
Samantha wrinkled up her face. "Ew. Remind me never to touch that," she told Harry.
"I'll try to remember," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Here, come on, they've got amazing food," Samantha said, and walked back to her friends.
After a hasty thanks, the three first years followed Samantha.
A few weeks later, it was the first Quidditch game of the season, between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Samantha had people coming to tell her they would be holding mattresses under Harry for when he fell. Samantha got a detention for putting a body bind curse on Malfoy in front of Snape.
The day before the Quidditch match, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into the Common Room grumbling about something. Samantha abandoned the Charms essay she was writing and walked over to them.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Snape took my Quidditch Through the Ages book," Harry responded.
"And he was limping," added Ron.
"Was he? I wonder what he did," Samantha said.
"Hope it really hurts him," said Harry bitterly.
"Me too," agreed Samantha.
That evening, Harry hurried over to Samantha and Leslie. "Sam, come here, I have to tell you something," he said. Samantha got up and followed him to where Ron and Hermione were sitting in the corner, with Leslie trading close behind.
"What's up?" asked Leslie.
"I was just trying to get my Quidditch book back, and Snape was talking to Filch, about the three headed dog! I think he tried to go in there, and that's why he was limping," Harry said.
"That makes sense! Whatever the dog is guarding must be very valuable, Snape probably wants it!" Samantha said.
"It was probably him who let the troll in, as a distraction so he could try to get through and steal the object" Leslie said, eyes wide.
"Smart," said Samantha.
The next morning, Samantha noticed Harry wasn't eating. "Come on, it's your first Quidditch match, you've got to eat," she told him as she put jam on her toast.
"I don't feel like it," Harry responded.
"Half a piece of toast," Samantha reasoned. She buttered it for him and then handed it over, where he held it limply in his hand.
Soon, everyone made their way onto the pitch and Samantha made her way to the changing rooms. She pulled on her scarlet robes and sat to listen to Oliver Wood's pep talk.
"Okay, men," he started.
"And women," Samantha pointed out.
"And women. This is it," he said.
"The big one," said Fred Weasley.
"The one we've all been waiting for," finished George.
"We know Oliver's pep talks by heart, did 'em before every game last year," explained Fred.
"Hang on, wasn't Charlie captain last year?" Samantha asked.
"Oliver's better at the pep talks. Charlie just said 'try not to get yourself killed'," George said.
"Ah," Samantha said, nodding.
She followed the team onto the field, and they mounted their brooms as Oliver Wood shook Marcus Flint's hand.
"I want a nice, clean game, all of you," said Madam Hooch, and then they were off.
Samantha wasn't paying too much attention to the commentary, but heard a few odd lines, such as "Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor-what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and quite attractive too-" and "Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which"
"Excellent pass to Samantha Potter-she's going to the goalposts-GRYFFINDOR SCORES!" Lee Jordan yelled, and Samantha grinned at Katie Bell.
"Was that the Snitch?" Samantha heard Lee ask, and she turned to see Harry diving toward a small, glittering object.
Then, too late, Samantha saw Marcus Flint zooming towards Harry, and they collided.
"Oh, that little-," Samantha said, glaring at Flint.
"After that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-," Lee Jordan was saying.
"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.
"I mean, after that open and revolting foul-"
"I'm warning you!" McGonagall said.
"Alright, Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I suppose," he said.
Samantha laughed, and resumed trying to get the Quaffle.
A few minutes later, Samantha realized something was wrong.
"Not sure what Potter thinks he's doing up there..." Lee Jordan said.
Samantha looked up to see Harry being thrown around on his broomstick. He looked like he was on a mechanical bull and was about to be thrown off, except he was hundreds of feet in the air.
Samantha and the Weasley twins tried to go near him, but Harry rose higher each time, so the three circled below, hoping to catch him if he fell.
Samantha looked around as she spun, and in the stands, she saw Snape standing quite still, focusing completely on Harry, muttering to himself without blinking.
"He's jinxing Harry," Samantha whispered to herself. She looked to where Harry's friends were, hoping they could see what she saw, and she saw Hermione get up and rush away, towards Snape. Smiling softly, she returned to watching Harry, who's broomstick was still trying to throw him off.
She heard a yelp, and turned to see Snape's robes were on fire. She saw Quirrell, who was right next to Snape, fall over in an attempt to get away from the fire, and Harry's broom stopped bucking because Snape was now putting out the fire on his robes. She assumed Hermione was hiding under the stands, as she couldn't see her anywhere, and it was somewhere Samantha had discovered on an adventure with Max and Bella the year before.
Harry began speeding towards the ground, and Samantha saw him clap his hand over his mouth. Hoping he didn't throw up, she sped down and landed next to him just as he coughed out something gold.
"You got the Snitch!" Samantha screamed, shocked.
Harry held it up for everyone to see.
Samantha heard Flint yelling "He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it!" to anyone who would listen, but she didn't care, as she was now walking with Leslie, Max, Harry, Ron, and Hermione to Hagrid's hut, where he made them all tea.
"It was Snape cursing Harry, I saw," Samantha said as she sipped the tea.
"Rubbish, wha' reason woul' Snape have for cursing' Harry?" Hagrid asked.
Samantha shrugged. "He hates us, I've already said," she told them. She had decided not to tell Harry about James and the bullying or seventh year Snape asking Lily out, because she'd have to explain why she had seen the second one, and she didn't feel as if bragging about sneaking into Snape's office was something smart, and she didn't want to ruin anything Harry thought of James, like how she had had her thought of him ruined for a while.
"Nah, Snape'd never try an' kill any a yeh," Hagrid said.
"I found out something about him," Harry said. "He tried to get past that three headed dog, probably on Halloween."
Hagrid spat out his tea. "How do yeh know abou' Fluffy?" he asked.
"You named that vicious beast Fluffy?" Samantha asked.
"I borrowed him from a Greek guy, lent him to Dumbledore to help guard the-," Hagrid started.
"Yes?" asked Samantha eagerly.
"Snape is trying to steal whatever the dog is guarding, I'm sure of it," said Harry.
"Snape's a teacher, he'd never do anythin' of the sor'," said Hagrid.
"Then why'd he try and kill Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Snape would never try an' kill a studen', I'm tellin' yeh," Hagrid said.
"Something suspicious is going on around here, Hagrid, you can't deny that," Samantha remarked. "Someone is after whatever that dog is guarding. If you could just tell us-"
"I've said too much about it already," said Hagrid gruffly. "Wha' that dog is guardin' is between Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel"
"Nicolas Flamel?" Harry asked.
Hagrid looked very angry at himself.