"What did Professor McGonagall want to talk to you about?" asked Max as they walked to breakfast.
"Just confirming I wanted to take all of those classes," Samantha answered. "I told you this last night, and in the Common Room. It's still the same answer."
"You're lying, I can tell," Max said as they sat down.
"I'm not lying. She wanted to know for sure that I planned to take all of those classes, because it'll be a lot of homework, she wanted to be certain I was up for it," Samantha said.
Max huffed. "Fine. But I'm still not convinced," he said.
"I don't care," said Samantha.
When the owls came in, they delivered Ron a red envelope.
"Oh, Ron, that's not good," Max said, eyeing it.
Samantha's eyes widened. She didn't want to imagine what Mrs. Weasley had to say about Ron and Harry flying a car to school. She wondered what the Dursleys thought of it. They had probably thrown the letter out when they had seen it. Anything regarding magic was seen as taboo in their household.
"Open it, Ron, I ignored one from my gran once, and it didn't turn out well," Neville said, scooting away from Ron and looking at the Howler with fear.
After a severe scolding from Mrs Weasley that resulted in Ron, Ginny, and Harry all becoming very red in the face, Professor McGonagall handed out their schedules for the year.
"Ugh, we have double Potions first," Max said in disgust.
"Ew, we have to start every Monday seeing Snape's ugly face and greasy hair?" Samantha asked, eyeing her schedule. She had a lot of classes happening at the same time. "Oh, Transfiguration is after, though, that's not too bad." Care of Magical Creatures was then, too, but Samantha didn't feel this bit worth mentioning.
"Oh, then History of Magic after! We've got to suffer through Snape and Binns every single Monday," Max complained.
"I wish they would hire someone else to teach that subject, Binns makes everything so boring," Samantha said. "And it's with the Slytherins! At least Bella and Riley will be there," she reasoned. "Well, at least the rest of our classes today are with the Hufflepuffs. We'll see a lot of Hudson."
"Yeah, that's not too bad," Max agreed.
"I've got a free period after that, do you?" Samantha asked.
"Hang on, how do you have a free period? I've got Care of Magical Creatures," Max said. "Let me see your schedule."
"Why?" Samantha asked, holding it out of his reach.
"Because you're taking three more classes than I am and you have a free period and I don't," Max said, and grabbed the schedule from Samantha.
"Max, give that back-," Samantha started.
"You've got a free period every day! And half of your classes are overlapping! Sam, how do you plan on doing this?" demanded Max, staring at Samantha's schedule.
Samantha shrugged. "I'll figure it out," she said. "Now, give that back, I want to look over the rest of the week."
"You're crazy for thinking you can do this," Max told her as he handed the paper back.
"I need to get all twelve O.W.L.s," Samantha replied.
"Why, exactly?" Max questioned.
"I want to be an exceptional student in both grades and being in trouble," Samantha answered. "I want the teachers to both love and hate me."
"And what is the reason for that?" Max asked.
Samantha shrugged. "I just want it," she said.
Max sighed. "You're too complicated," he said.
"Thanks," replied Samantha, smiling.
They had a rather interesting Potions lesson where Snape tried to get Samantha to add the wrong ingredient, resulting in Samantha using the Knock Back jinx on him, and getting a detention because of it.
"You shouldn't have done that," Leslie told her after.
"He tried to make me fail. I had to get my revenge," Samantha said.
"Still, what did you think would happen, jinxing a teacher? Especially Snape," said Leslie.
"It's just one detention," Samantha replied, shrugging, as the girls walked into the Transfiguration classroom.
"Ah, Miss Potter, you already have a detention?" Professor McGonagall asked, eyeing Samantha.
"Yes, Professor, but-," Samantha started.
"And what, pray tell, did you do this time?" she asked.
"Well, I used the Knock Back jinx on Sn- Professor Snape, because he tried to mess up my potion," Samantha answered.
"You jinxed a teacher?" Professor McGonagall clarified. "Of course you did" she said without waiting for an answer, sighing. "Take a seat, Samantha."
Samantha did as told.
"Come on, it's lunch!" said Leslie happily as Professor McGonagall dismissed them.
"Go without me, I just need to check something," Samantha said. She pulled out her schedule. She had to go back now, to go to Care of Magical Creatures.
Quickly looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, she ducked behind a suit of armor and turned the hourglass once.
Her surroundings looked as if she was seeing without glasses underwater - blurred and distorted. She felt as if she was flying backwards, with no ground under her.
And then, she felt the floor beneath her feet. She was still behind the suit of armor. Looking down at her watch, it read 10:55 a.m.
"It worked," she whispered to herself in wonder. Not wanting to wait around for her classmates to see her on their way to Transfiguration, she rushed through the opposite hallway and through a shortcut to the entrance hall, where she then ducked out of the door and made it just on time to her Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
"Hello, class!" the Professor said as she joined. "I am Professor Kettleburn."
Kettleburn had shoulder length, caramel hair that was knotted and in slight disarray, with a curled mustache of the same color, tan skin, extremely dark brown eyes, and a few missing limbs. His right arm was still there, but his left had been replaced with a wooden prosthetic, the same with his whole right leg and the bottom half of his left one.
"I thought we'd use the first class for something a little fun," said Kettleburn. He leaned over a box and picked up a small animal with a long snout and black fur. "This is a niffler. They are generally harmless, however, they are attracted to shiny things, so set loose indoors, they can cause much havoc. Today, I have Leprechaun Gold buried in various spots around this area. You will get in groups of two and each pair will receive a niffler. Whichever team has the most coins at the end of the class wins an essay pass," Kettleburn explained.
Samantha joined up with Ellie. They received a niffler, and at the end of the class, although they hadn't won, they'd had a lot of fun.
"I can't wait for the next lesson. If all the classes are like this, Care of Magical Creatures might just be my new favorite class," Samantha told Ellie.
"I know. It's so fun!" Ellie gushed.
The girls walked to lunch together before separating and going to their house tables.
"What were you checking?" Leslie asked as Samantha got into her seat.
"Just... seeing which class I have after lunch," Samantha answered.
"Couldn't you do that during lunch?" Leslie questioned.
"I- I had to go to the bathroom, too," Samantha lied.
Leslie opened her mouth as if to contradict, but closed it again. Finally, she said, "Alright..." and began putting food on her plate.
"So, History of Magic with the Slytherins next... should be fun," said Damon, grimacing.
"I know. I can't believe we've got to sit through Binns and the Slytherins every single Monday," Samantha agreed. "I mean, Bella and Riley being there should be nice, but still, the rest of the Slytherins suck."
"Exactly," Elias said.
"Have you had Lockhart yet?" Harry asked.
"No, we've got him after my free period," Samantha answered.
"Your free period?" Harry asked.
"Leslie, Elias, Connor, Damon and I've got Care of Magical Creatures," Max said bitterly.
"How do you have a free period? Aren't you taking all of the classes?" Ron asked.
"I don't know, ask McGonagall, she made my schedule," Samantha replied, shrugging.
She was very grateful for the free periods, because they allowed her time to do her homework. She suspected that was why she had been given so many. Instead of going to the classes she would normally have been in, she went to the others, the ones that overlapped, because she had a time turner and could easily go back instead and have extra time to do the enormous workload she was sure she'd get. Snape had already assigned them a foot-long essay on the Wiggenweld Potion, the Potion they were to be making in the next class, and McGonagall had given them hints at getting even more essays this year.
"So, why'd you ask about Lockhart?" Leslie asked.
"He came up to me before Herbology, and started talking about fame, and how it was his fault that we flew a car here, that we did it all for the fame, because I got a taste of it by being on the front page and needed more," Harry said, wrinkling his nose.
"Strange guy. Self centered," commented Max.
"Very," Samantha agreed.
After finishing lunch, they had a little time before their next class, so they went and sat outside for a few minutes.
"So Lauren, how's your first day going so far?" Samantha asked her sister.
Lauren shrugged. "Nice, I guess," she answered.
"What subjects have you had?" questioned Samantha.
"Transfiguration and a double period of Herbology," Lauren answered.
"How did you like them?"
"I liked Herbology a lot. Transfiguration seemed complicated. I don't know if I'll be able to do it," Lauren said sadly.
"Listen, Laur, you've got this. Don't think for a second that you're not as good of a witch as anyone else here. Transfiguration is complicated for everyone at first, but you'll figure it out, okay? Trust me," said Samantha.
Lauren smiled sadly. "Thanks, Sam," she said.
"Everyone line up! Potter's giving out signed photos!" a drawling voice called.
"Draco," Samantha muttered, turning to see Harry standing next to a small mousy haired boy holding a Muggle camera, with Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle standing next to them.
"No, I'm not," Harry said angrily. "Shut up, Malfoy."
"You're just jealous," the small boy peeped.
Malfoy scoffed. "Jealous? Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself," he said.
"Eat slugs, Malfoy," Ron said angrily, taking out his Spello-taped wand and pointing it at Draco.
"Be careful, Weasley," Draco sneered, although he backed away slightly. "Don't want to cause any trouble or your mummy'll have to come and take you away from school." He put on a shrill, piercing voice. "If you put one more toe out of line-"
A group of Slytherins laughed, and Samantha noticed Bella and Riley were in the group. Riley had laughed. Bella hadn't.
"Potter, Weasley would like a signed photo. It'd be more than his whole life is worth" said Draco.
"At least he doesn't result to petty bullying about how much money someone's family has just so people pay attention to him," Samantha said, standing up. She and Ron pulled out their wands together, pointing them at Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle.
"Look out!" Hermione said a little too late.
"Now, now, what's going on here?" an overly exaggerated voice asked. Lockhart was striding over to them. Ron dropped his hand. Samantha advanced closer to Draco, so her wand was only an inch from his face. Draco stepped back, seeing the menace in Samantha's eyes.
Samantha walked closer to him, moving so that whatever she said, only he could hear. "You might get away this time, Draco, but just you wait," Samantha whispered, still holding her wand up to him. She pulled away and walked back to her group.
"Who's giving out signed- Harry! Shouldn't've asked!" he said, putting an arm around Harry. "Oh, and your sisters are here too!" he added, moving towards them.
"Actually, I need to show Lauren and her friends to their next classroom," Samantha said, and grabbed Lauren's arm, pulling her back to the school before Lockhart could get his hands on either of them, with Ginny and Sarah trailing close behind.
"Good save," Lauren said, watching as Lockhart forced Harry into a pose.
"What is your next class?" Samantha asked.
"Charms," Sarah answered.
"Great, I know a shortcut, I can show you," Samantha said, and began leading them to the classroom.
"We've got a free period after that," Lauren said as they walked.
"Really? Me too. Pretty sure I'll do my homework then, though. Get a head start so I have more time for practicing Quidditch," Samantha told them.
"Oh, we've got flying lessons next week!" Ginny said excitedly.
"Flying lessons were the best. Although, I must say, playing Quidditch is better," said Samantha.
"When is the first game?" Lauren asked.
"No clue," Samantha replied casually.
"You are on the team, aren't you?" Lauren double checked.
"Yes, of course, but I haven't talked to Oliver yet, we've only been here a few hours," Samantha said. "Should be Gryffindor versus Slytherin, though. That's how it went last year and the year before."
"Neat," Lauren said.
After taking the girls to their class, Samantha went to History of Magic, where Binns droned on about something and Samantha worked on her Potions essay. He then assigned them an essay on Goblin wars, which Samantha decided she'd do during her free period, along with finishing Snape's essay.
"Have fun in Care of Magical Creatures!" Samantha told her friends as they left for that class.
After they were out of sight, she ducked into a bathroom and twisted the Time Turner once. She had the same flying backwards sensation she'd had the first time, and then she was on the ground again.
"Muggle Studies, here I come," Samantha whispered, and ran out of the bathroom.
They had a lesson all about the basics of how Muggles lived their lives, and at the end were assigned pages to read from their textbook. Just as Samantha was walking out of the classroom, she heard familiar voices.
"What do you think Care of Magical Creatures will be like?" Leslie's voice carried through the halls.
"Shit," Samantha whispered. She couldn't let the friends who had seen her just a minute ago see her coming out of a different class. Not thinking, she ducked back into the Muggle Studies classroom.
"Oh, Miss Potter, how can I help you?" Professor Burbage asked, looking slightly confused.
"I... I... I forgot to copy down the pages we have to read, could you remind me of them?" Samantha asked, knowing full well which pages they had been assigned.
"You are to read from all of the introduction, and then read Chapter One: The Best Muggle Inventions of All Time, which goes from page one to page thirty six," Burbage told her.
"Thank you, Professor," said Samantha.
"Of course, Miss Potter," Professor Burbage replied, smiling kindly.
Hoping her friends had passed, Samantha stepped out of the classroom. Thankfully, they had, but only by a few feet. Being extra careful to make absolutely no noise, Samantha hurried in the opposite direction.
After she was far enough away from them, she ran faster up to Gryffindor Tower, where she found Lauren, Ginny, and Sarah sitting. Lauren had Voyages with Vampires open on her lap but was talking avidly with Ginny, while Sarah was reading Year with the Yeti, apparently unaware of the conversation happening just to her left.
Samantha said a quick hi to the three of them before sitting a few feet away and pulling out her almost completed Potions essay.
Five minutes before three, Samantha packed up her stuff and met her friends outside of the Defense classroom.
"Samantha, Care of Magical Creatures was amazing!" Leslie gushed.
"It was, wasn't it?" Samantha agreed, smiling. "Who won?"
Damon, Connor, Elias, Max, and Leslie all looked at Samantha with confused expressions.
"Huh?" Max asked.
"Did you do the Niffler competition, too?" asked Samantha.
"Yes, but-," Damon started.
"So who won the essay pass?" asked Samantha.
"How do you know about the class if you haven't been?" Elias asked.
"I've been," Samantha said.
"We've been with you all day, Sam," said Leslie.
"You couldn't have gone, because you weren't there just now and the rest of the day you were in class or at lunch," said Damon
"Or threatening Draco Malfoy," added Max.
"No, I went during the Slytherin and Ravenclaw time," Samantha answered.
"What time was that?" questioned Connor.
"From eleven to twelve," answered Samantha.
"But that's when we were in Transfiguration, and you were definitely there, you were the first one to transfigure the shoe into a flower," Leslie pointed out.
Samantha smiled at the memory. "That was a very pretty lily," she said happily.
"That's not the point," Elias said.
"Yeah, the point is, how were you in two classes at once?" demanded Max.
"Don't be silly, of course I wasn't in two classes at once!" exclaimed Samantha.
"But-," Damon started, however he was cut off by a grand voice.
"Hello, students! So nice to see you all!" Lockhart said. "Come inside, come inside!" he gestured grandly to his classroom, and Samantha proceeded slowly inside.
The walls were decorated in moving pictures of Lockhart himself, and his books were displayed fancily on a shelf. A large, modern painting hung behind his desk, where Lockhart's huge head smiled and winked down at them.
"That makes me sick," Samantha whispered to Max, pointing sneakily at the painting.
"I know," Max replied, wrinkling up his face.
The class took their seats and began chatting. Lockhart cleared his throat loudly, and the students silenced.
"So amazing to meet all of you," Lockhart said grandly. "I can see you've all bought a complete set of my books! Wonderful."
"A waste of money," Samantha whispered to her friends. Max and Damon both chuckled.
"Boys, could you please pay attention?" Lockhart asked them, giving a grand, obviously fake smile.
Max replied with an even faker smile, and glared at Samantha once Lockhart looked away. Samantha smirked, and Max scoffed.
"I thought we'd start today with a little quiz on how much you remember from them," Lockhart told them cheerily. "Books away, quills out, everyone!"
Groaning, the class set their books on the floor and took out their quills. Lockhart passed around two pieces of paper to each student. Samantha read over hers, seeing that the quiz stretched over three sides of paper and had a total of fifty four questions.
"Not exactly a little quiz," she muttered to herself, before setting to work.
The questions were all rather easy, and Samantha remembered the answers to all of them from reading them over the summer. After seeing how self-centered he was at Flourish and Blotts, she had made sure to thoroughly read all of his books to be prepared for a quiz on his personal life.
"How are we supposed to know his birthday?" Elias asked her as they passed their papers forward.
"He says it in Wanderings with Werewolves, it's January 26, 1964," Samantha replied.
"How do you remember that?" he asked.
"I had a feeling something like this might happen. Plus, I just have a very good memory," Samantha replied, shrugging.
Lockhart skimmed through the quizzes, pointing out things students had gotten right or wrong.
"Ah, but Miss Samantha Potter here has remembered that my favorite color is lilac, and that my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair care products! In fact..." Lockhart said, reading over Samantha's quiz, "full marks! Ten points to Gryffindor!" Lockhart exclaimed, beaming at Samantha. Samantha gave him a weak smile back.
"Now, I have a task for you. I have caught some Cornish Pixies. Try not to scream in fright," Lockhart said grandly.
"Pixies? Why on earth would we scream about pixies?" Samantha whispered to her friends.
"Of course, the second years could not manage them. I would have stepped in, of course, but I wanted to make sure they learned something," Lockhart said, and for the first time Samantha noticed that there was a broken chandelier in the corner.
"Oh God," she murmured.
Lockhart opened the cage, and a bunch of disgruntled-looking pixies flew out. They began grabbing things and throwing them around the room, causing many people to duck under the desks they sat in. A group of them opened the window wide before picking up Lockhart, who was yelling utter nonsense at them, and taking him to the window, which they dropped him out of. Samantha heard him scream, and a faint crash.
"Least we've got Madam Pomfrey," Samantha said.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" Leslie asked, looking out the window.
"His insanely inflated ego probably cushioned the blow," Samantha replied. "Stupefy!" she cried, pointing her wand at a pixie coming up behind Leslie. It dropped to the ground immediately. "Hey, it worked!"
"Where did you learn that?" asked Leslie.
"I read about it. Decided to try it," Samantha answered.
"Of course that was your first try," Leslie muttered.
As the pixies began dragging other people around the room, more and more ran out before anything could happen to them.
Samantha walked casually around Stupefy-ing them, getting her friends to copy her lead. It took all of them a few tries, Connor taking the longest, but they all learned eventually, and they soon got all of the pixies under control.
"I bet the same thing happened last class, with Harry," Samantha said, rolling her eyes as she packed up her bag.
"Self-centered jerk," Max said.
"For sure," Damon agreed.
"What's next?" Elias asked as they left the classroom.
"Charms," Samantha answered immediately. "I've got to use the bathroom, though, so I'll meet you there."
"Oh, I'll come with you," Leslie said.
"You don't have to..." Samantha said.
"I'd rather go now than in the middle of a Charms class," Leslie pointed out.
"Right..." said Samantha. Reluctantly, she walked into the bathroom with Leslie, where she would be unable to use the Time Turner. She decided if she couldn't get away, she'd just turn back after Charms was over and use the extra hour she'd have for more homework.
That was what ended up happening. After Charms, Samantha made up a random story about leaving a book in Lockhart's classroom, and pretended to rush back to get it. Instead of going to Lockhart's classroom, she made sure a side corridor she'd slipped into was completely empty before using the time turner to go to Study of Ancient Runes, where they were assigned yet another essay, yet considerably shorter than the other three she'd been assigned that day.
After that class, she walked around trying to find a place no one would find her doing homework. To her left was a door.
"Was that there before?" she muttered, but decided to see what was inside.
It was a small but comfortable room, complete with a desk, extra quills, parchment, and ink, a pile of blankets, and a bunch of new looking books.
"Whoa," Samantha breathed, staring around. She set her bag on the ground and got to work on her Ancient Runes and Charms essays.
After dinner that day, they were lounging around in the Common Room, with everyone doing the homework they had been assigned and Samantha turning everyone's shoes into flowers.
"Could you stop it?" Hermione snapped.
"Calm down," said Samantha, yawning "I'm exhausted, what time is it?" she asked.
"It's eight thirty, Sam," Leslie replied, looking at her strangely.
"Are you sure?" Samantha asked, checking her watch.
"You're going crazy," said Max.
"Never mind..." said Samantha. She had just realized her day had been four hours longer than everyone else's, and by that logic, it was past midnight for her. "I'm going to bed," she announced, and left before anyone else could say a word.