Samantha now realized that inviting Harry to look for Flamel with her hadn't been the smartest idea. Even though she was keeping the Cloak away from him, folded in the bottom of her trunk, just in case he decided to look for the mirror again, she knew what he had seen affected him.
He had told her about nightmares he'd had. The screams. The green light. It started to jog something in Samantha's memory. She wished she could take it out, look at it, watch it again. See what happened that night, get the picture in her mind. She wished that were possible.
But wait, she realized one night, it was possible. That thing in Snape's office contained memories. If she could find out how to remove her own memories and put them in there, she could watch that night again.
She had no idea if this even had the smallest chance of working. Would she just watch the scenes she already had in mind again, or would she see everything play out? How could she even find out how to remove memories without knowing what the thing was called. Maybe she could ask Snape. He probably wouldn't tell her, but it was worth a shot.
So, after her next Potions class, she walked up to him.
"I have a question," she said.
"About the Hair-Raising Potion? You seemed to have gotten the theory right," Snape said coolly.
"No, not about Potions. When you showed me that memory of my dad and his friends, what is that thing? Where the memory was?" Samantha asked.
"And why would you need to know this?" Snape asked, eyeing her with his empty black eyes.
"I'm curious," Samantha replied.
"You aren't planning anything, are you?" he asked. Their eyes met now, and his searched hers, as if the answer was in her eyes. Samantha had the strangest feeling he could read her mind, and she tried to force him out.
She shut her eyes and focused on an image in her mind of him being shoved out of a room, and concentrated hard until he was all the way out.
She opened her eyes again. Snape looked startled. His eyes were wide.
"Where did you learn that?" he asked sharply.
"Learn what?" Samantha asked.
"Occlumency," Snape replied.
"I've never heard of that in my life," Samantha replied. "Are you going to tell me what the memory holder is called or not?"
"Pensieve" Snape said curtly. "Go. Don't come back until the next class," he instructed.
Samantha left, glancing back at him one before exiting the classroom.
Later that day, when she was supposed to be looking for more Nicolas Flamel, she was instead looking through books to see if she could find any mention of the Pensieve. She had yet to find anything, though, and it was getting harder because Oliver Wood was now pushing for as many Quidditch practices one could fit in a week. He didn't seem to notice the fact it was pouring rain and completely muddy.
It was after he had gotten mad at the Weasley twins, Max, and Samantha for dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms that he told them the bad news.
"Would you stop messing around?" he shouted at them. "Snape's refereeing this match and he'll be looking for any reason to take points off."
Samantha froze. "Snape's refereeing? Since when has he had any interest in refereeing whatsoever?" she asked.
"It's not my fault, we just have to play a nice, clean game to make sure he has no reason to take points off," Wood said.
"Hard to do when I could knock Snape to the ground with one move," Samantha mumbled, thankful no one but Max could hear her.
Samantha, Harry, and Max walked back to the Common Room together, completely silent. Even though he would most likely not be playing, Max was still nervous.
They found Leslie sitting with Ron and Hermione, doing some homework while they played chess.
"Hey, how was-," Leslie started, then stopped seeing the looks on their faces. "What's wrong?" she asked. Ron and Hermione looked up at this.
Samantha, Max, and Harry slipped onto the couch next to the other three.
"Snape's refereeing the next match," Samantha said quietly. "He could try to curse Harry again."
"What?!" Ron asked.
"Don't play," Hermione said. "Say you're ill."
"Pretend to break your leg," Leslie suggested to Harry.
"Really break your leg," Ron said.
"I can't. We don't have a reserve Seeker. I mean, I guess we could use Max or Alicia, but neither of them are trained to be Seeker," Harry said.
"If he forfeits, we're basically goners," Samantha explained.
"But is winning more important than Harry's life?" Leslie asked.
"This could put us on track to win the House Cup. Do you really want to spend another year in celebration of Slytherin?" Samantha asked.
"She's right. If Harry can get the match over with quickly, Snape'll have no time to curse him and we have a chance for the House Cup," Max agreed.
At that moment, Neville toppled through the portrait hole. How he had managed it, no one knew. His legs were stuck together in the cleverly named Leg-Locker Curse.
Chuckling, Samantha performed the counter curse, and Neville's legs sprang apart and he stood up.
"What happened?" Hermione asked, taking Neville with them to the corner they had been in.
"Malfoy," Neville said nervously. "I met him outside the library, he said he'd been looking for someone to try that on."
"You've gotta go to Professor McGonagall!" Leslie said.
"I don't want more trouble," Neville said sadly.
"You can't just let him walk all over you! You've gotta stand up to him, he's not used to that," Samantha urged.
"There's no use telling me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," Neville said sadly.
"The Sorting Hat is never wrong. It put Malfoy in Slytherin, the house of the cowards," Samantha said.
Harry handed Neville, who looked like he was about to cry, a Chocolate Frog. "You're worth twelve of Malfoy," he said.
"Thank's, Harry," Neville said, unwrapping the package. "You can have the card, you collect them, don't you...?" Neville said, handing the card to Harry. "I'm going to bed," he said, and walked off.
"Dumbledore again, he's the first one I ever-," Harry said, then stopped suddenly.
"What is it?" Samantha asked, taking the card from him. She scanned it, and saw what it was immediately. "Nicolas Flamel!" she said excitedly.
"What?" Max asked.
"I knew I'd read the name before! Listen to this, 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel'," Harry read.
Hermione let up. "Stay there!" she commanded, and ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. A few minutes later, she ran back down, carrying a large book.
"What's that?" Samantha asked.
"I checked it out of the library weeks ago, for a bit of light reading," Hermione said breathlessly.
"That's light?" Ron asked.
"I'd hate to see what was heavy," Max said.
Hermione shot him a look, and he shut up. After flipping through the pages for a little while, she said, "I knew it, I knew it!"
"Knew what?" Samantha asked.
"'Nicolas Flamel'," she read, "'is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone.'"
"The what?" Harry, Ron, and Max all asked together. Leslie looked thoughtful, but confused.
"Oh, don't any of you read?" Samantha asked. "How have none of you heard of the Philosopher's Stone?"
"Sorry we don't all spend our summers reading about myths in the library," Harry muttered.
"So what is the Philosopher's Stone?" Leslie asked.
"It's supposed to be a myth, it's around in the Muggle world too," Samantha explained.
"Read this," Hermione said, pushing the book towards Leslie, Ron, Harry, and Max.
After they had read the short paragraph on the Philosopher's Stone, they looked.
"See?" Hermione asked. "I bet the dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone!"
"He probably asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, which is why he had it removed from Gringotts," Samantha reasoned.
"That does make sense," Leslie said.
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying! No wonder Snape's after it, anyone would want it!" Max said.
Harry decided to play in the upcoming match, despite Snape and his sudden desire to referee.
"I feel like I'm running into Snape wherever I go," Harry told Samantha one night at dinner.
"Probably trying to jinx you again," Samantha said casually.
"And he's so awful to me in Potions, sometimes I wonder if he knows we know," Harry added.
"How could he?" Leslie asked.
"He gives me a strange feeling that he can read minds," Harry said.
"I got that too. It's probably a thing, in a world of eternal life stones and killing curses," Samantha said. "He mentioned something about Occlumency, although I have no idea what that is. I guess I did it, though. It was like pushing him out of my brain," Samantha said.
"So then he can read minds?" Harry asked.
"Who knows. I'll have to look into Occlumency sometime," Samantha said.
The next day was the Quidditch match. "The whole school is there! Even-blimey-Dumbledore's come to watch!" Fred said.
"What?" Samantha asked, dashing to look out the door with Harry.
"Oh, Snape can't attempt anything with Dumbledore there!" Harry said excitedly.
"He probably heard what happened last match and decided to come, because no one would dare attack you if he were there," Samantha said.
The team trekked onto the pitch, and Samantha noticed Snape. He looked very angry. Probably because he couldn't try to kill Harry again.
Samantha was able to score one goal before she heard cheers and turned to see Harry flying towards the ground, barely more than a scarlet flash. She scanned the ground below him and spotted it as well.
A second later, Harry pulled up, smiling triumphantly, holding the glittering gold Snitch in his right hand.
Samantha cheered. She turned to see if she could find Hermione, Ron, and Leslie in the crowd. She spotted them after a moment. Hermione was jumping up and down, hugging and squeezing a beaming Leslie. Ron, she then realized, was fighting someone, and so was Neville. With a shock, she realized it was Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.
A while later, Samantha and Harry left the locker room together and walked silently to the broom shed, enjoying the warm, setting sun. Samantha looked around the grounds, marveling at the beauty of Hogwarts. Then, she spotted something.
"Harry, look," she whispered, pointing across the lawn, where a hooded figure strode across the lawn.
"Let's check it out," Harry said. The two of them mounted their brooms and soared silently behind Snape, who was headed towards the forest.
They couldn't see exactly where Snape had gone, so they circled above the trees, going lower and lower until they could hear voices.
"Here!" Samantha mouthed to Harry, who flew over to her.
"I-I d-d-don't know w-why you wanted t-t-to meet h-here, S-Severus," Quirrell was saying.
"We're away from prying eyes... and ears," Snape said. "It would do no good for a student to know about the Stone, after all."
"S-S-Severus, w-why do y-you-?" Quirrell started, but Snape cut him off.
"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?" Snape asked curtly.
"B-b-but Severus, I-"
"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," Snape said.
"I-I don't understand-," Snape said.
An owl hooted and Harry nearly fell from the branch, but Samantha heard what Snape said next.
"You understand perfectly well. You are a Ravenclaw, after all, and Ravenclaw's are known for their smarts and knowledge," Snape said threateningly. "I don't want to deal with you little hocus pocus. I'm waiting."
"B-b-but I d-don't-," Quirrell said.
"Very well. We'll have another chat soon, when you've decided where your loyalties lie. Be smart in your decision," Snape said harshly, and stalked away.
Samantha turned to Harry. The two flew back to the broom shed and stowed their brooms before talking.
"Can you believe that? Snape's trying to use Quirrell to get the Stone!" Harry said.
"I knew he was evil, but not greedy like this," Samantha said. She thought about it. "You know, it could, in a way, be interpreted as Quirrell was the one trying to steal the Stone," she said thoughtfully.
"Are you crazy? Quirrell? No, Snape's definitely the one after it," Harry said. "He's threatening Quirrell, why would he threaten Quirrell if Quirrell was the one after the Stone?"
"Just pointing to the perspectives people could take," said Samantha, shrugging.
"That perspective's wrong," said Harry.
"Calm down," Samantha said, putting her hands up in mock surrender.
They soon reached the Gryffindor Common Room, where they met Max, Leslie, Ron, and Hermione in their usual corner.
"Where have you two been?" Hermione asked.
"We won, we won!" Ron shouted. "And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take out Crabbe and Goyle single-handedly! He's still out cold in the hospital wing, but he'll be alright."
"We're having a party, Fred and George took some cakes from the kitchen, come on!" said Max.
"We saw Snape having a little talk with Quirrell," Samantha said.
"What?" Leslie asked.
"Come on, let's go find an empty classroom, it's much too crowded in here," Samantha said.
The six of them found the nearest deserted classroom, triple checking if Peeves was in there before shutting the door.
Then, Samantha and Harry began to recall the conversation to their friends. Samantha had to get it perfectly right, word for word, which annoyed Harry, but they eventually managed to get the story out.
"We were right, it is the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape's after it, and he's trying to force Quirrell to help him," Leslie said.
"He doesn't know how to get past Fluffy yet, that's a plus," Max added.
"Right. There's probably more enchantments guarding the Stone, and Quirrell's probably done some anti-Dark Arts spell Snape doesn't know how to undo," Samantha said.
"So the Stone is safe if Quirrell doesn't give in to Snape?" Max asked.
"Great, it'll be gone by Tuesday," said Ron miserably.