Samantha adjusted to her new schedule relatively quickly, as she adjusted to most things. Her friends still had no clue what was going on, and she had nights free for extra sleep or Quidditch practice because of her free periods and new strategy of doing homework whenever she had a spare second. Her friends had still not caught on, and all was well.
Everyone was on the lookout for Gilderoy Lockhart constantly. Although he would settle for any of the Potter siblings, his favorite target was Harry. He would use whatever he heard said around, by, or about them as an excuse to start talking about fame, and how none of them had yet achieved it. Samantha was close to using Petrificus Totalus on him once when she saw Professor McGonagall coming down the corridor and rethought her decision.
After a week full of classes and homework, Samantha, Leslie, Max, Harry, Ron, and Hermione planned to go meet Hagrid that Saturday morning. However, Samantha was woken up hours earlier than she had planned by Angelina Johnson.
"What's going on?" Samantha asked groggily as Angelina walked to wake up Katie.
"Wood's having a practice right now," Angelina replied, yawning.
"Now? Can't we sleep a little more?" Katie whined.
"Apparently not," Angelina replied. "Come on, grab a jacket, he'll be mad if we're late."
Samantha slowly pulled on a sweater, grabbed her Quidditch robes, and followed Katie down to the Quidditch changing room.
She saw that Oliver Wood was the only one truly awake. Fred and George were sitting , puffy-eyed, next to Harry, who looked about to fall asleep. Angelina was leaning against a wall with her eyes shut, and Max and Alicia, who were required to show up to all practices even though they were just reserves, were slumped on the bench.
Samantha slipped into the space next to Max and tapped him gently, and he sat up with a start.
"Whahappenin?" he asked while rubbing his eyes, making Samantha giggle.
"Max, we're in Potions, you've got detention every Saturday for three months!" Samantha told him.
"What?!" he cried, looking around. "Hey, this is the Quidditch changing rooms!" he said.
"And I've got your Cloak!" Samantha replied, smirking and jumping up.
"I'm cold, give that back!" Max said.
He chased Samantha around the room, finally jumping on her and sending them both tumbling to the ground, laughing.
"Are you ready to be mature, or should we let you run around like toddlers for another ten minutes?" Oliver asked, staring reproachfully at them.
Samantha laughed. "Chill, Oliver." She yawned. "We're just having some fun, waking ourselves up," she told him.
"This isn't funny! We've got to keep our winning streak up this year, and I have a new strategy I want to introduce to you all that I spent the summer developing," Oliver said.
"Aren't there better ways to spend your summer?" Samantha asked.
"Would you like to keep your spot on the Quidditch team, Samantha?" asked Oliver without looking at her.
"Yes," Samantha replied.
"Then I advise you to be quiet," said Oliver.
Samantha nodded and leaned against the wall behind her, wishing she'd brought homework to do while listening to this so she didn't have to do it later.
After Oliver spent what felt like days explaining this new strategy to them, they got into their Quidditch robes and went onto the field.
"Aren't you done yet?" asked Ron incredulously. He was sitting at the front of the stands with Hermione, Lauren, Ginny, Sarah, and Leslie. Each was holding a piece or two of toast, which Samantha stared at enviously.
"Haven't even started," Harry shouted back.
They mounted their broomsticks and soared into the air. It was the first time Samantha felt truly awake all morning, and she loved the feeling of her loose hair flying behind her and the wind stinging her eyes through her glasses as she glided through the sky. She felt free, and invincible.
That came crashing down a moment later.
"The Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver," she heard George say.
"What makes you say that?" said Oliver testily.
"Because they're here in person," answered Fred.
Samantha looked down and sure enough, the Slytherin team was walking onto the field, brooms in hands. Except, something was new, she noticed. There was a head of pale blonde hair that could only be one person. Draco Malfoy.
The Gryffindor team dismounted their brooms neatly and walked towards the Slytherins. Samantha saw her friends leave the seats and walk towards them.
"Flint!" Oliver bellowed at Slytherin's team captain, Marcus Flint. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now."
Marcus chuckled. "Plenty of room for all of us," he said.
"Actually there's not," Samantha replied.
"But I booked the field! I booked it!" Oliver said hysterically.
"Ah, but I'm afraid we have a special note from Professor Snape," Marcus said, holding a piece of parchment up. "I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker," he read.
"Of course," Samantha groaned.
"New Seeker?" asked Oliver.
Draco stepped out from behind the line of Slytherins.
"Aren't you Lucious Malfoy's son?" Fred asked with dislike.
"Funny you mention Draco's father," Marcus said with an evil smile. "He gave us all a rather wonderful gift."
The Slytherins all held out their brooms. Identical sleek, black handles and black twigs made up each of the broomsticks that the Slytherin team members had. On the handle, Nimbus Two Thousand and One was written in silver cursive.
"Bribery? So that's how he got onto the team? I can see why he needs to be trained, he can barely hold a quill the right way!" Samantha exclaimed.
Draco's nostrils flared. "At least my parents aren't dead," he retorted.
"At least my parents didn't work for Voldemort," Samantha muttered.
Draco pulled out his wand, but Samantha was quicker. "Don't even think about it," she whispered, getting closer to Draco. Once again, her wand was almost touching his face.
After holding it there a few seconds, she slowly dropped it and backed away.
"Only came out last month," Marcus was saying. "I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousands by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps-" he said, glancing nastily at Fred and George, "-can't even be compared," he finished.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent," Hermione said.
"No one asked for your opinion, you filthy Mudblood!" Draco said.
There was chaos. Samantha, forgetting about her wand, went to dive onto Malfoy with Fred and George, only to be held back by Marcus and Montague, who Samantha pummeled instead. She heard yelling from Alicia and other voices mixed in.
"You punch hard, for a girl," Marcus teased.
Samantha kneed him hard in the crotch and he stumbled backwards, moaning. "What you deserve," she told him.
"You'll pay for that!" Ron yelled at Draco, whipping out his wand and pointing it towards the boy.
A get of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, and for a split second Samantha thought he had been trying to kill Draco. Ron fell hard onto the ground.
"Ron! Ron, are you okay?" Hermione squealed, rushing towards him.
The Gryffindor Quidditch team gathered around Ron, along with Leslie, Ginny, Sarah, and Lauren.
Ron gave a huge belch, and slugs sprayed out of his mouth.
"Ew!" Samantha cried, jumping backwards. Lauren and Leslie joined her.
Samantha heard the Slytherin team laughing. No one wanted to touch Ron, and just continued to watch as slugs dribbled out of his mouth.
"We should take him to Hagrid's, it's closest," Samantha heard Harry say.
"You guys have fun, I'm getting some breakfast," Samantha said. Leslie and Max followed her on her way to the castle, but Lauren and her friends, who'd already had breakfast, went with Harry, Ron, and Hermione to see Hagrid.
The three of them walked to the Great Hall, which Samantha was sad to see had been cleared of all food and was empty.
"Damn it!" she said.
Max groaned.
"Wait, I just thought of something!" Samantha said excitedly.
"What?" Leslie and Max asked together.
"The kitchens! We can go to the kitchens and get food there!" Samantha replied.
"Great idea, except we don't know where the kitchens are," Leslie pointed out.
"I bet I know someone who does," Samantha replied. "We're going back to the Quidditch pitch."
"Fred and George!" said Max as the trio walked back towards the entrance hall.
"Exactly," Samantha replied.
They found Fred and George in the changing room.
"We'd be happy to show you where the kitchens are," Fred had told them once they asked.
"And get some food ourselves..." George added.
The twins led them down a flight of stairs near the Great Hall, and then to a large painting of a bowl of fruit.
"Tickle the pair," Fred instructed.
"What?" the three of them asked together.
"Just do it," George said.
Samantha reached out a hand and tickled the pear. The pear giggled and turned into a large green door handle, which Fred reached out and turned.
The painting swung open to reveal a large room, the same size as the Great Hall above it. There were hundreds of tiny creatures that looked similar to Dobby.
"Oh, House Elves!" Samantha said.
The House Elves immediately looked over at them. They saw Fred and George, and beamed.
"Misters Fred and George!" one said happily.
"Hello, Pixie!" Fred replied cheerfully. "It's nice to see you."
"Misters Fred and George brought friends!" Pixie beamed. "Would the Weezy's friends like a snack?" she asked.
"That would be nice," Samantha said. She, Fred, George, Leslie and Max were suddenly surrounded by six or seven house elves, holding plates of pastries, fruits, toast, and jugs of pumpkin juice, milk, and water.
"Thank you so much!" Leslie cried.
The house elves beamed at the group and bowed, retreating.
"We'll have to be leaving now," George said.
Pixie's smile faded slightly. "Come back soon, Mr. Weezy!" she said.
"Course, Pixie!" Fred replied, smiling.
They began the walk back up to Gryffindor Tower, and were around halfway there when they were stopped by Professor McGonagall.
"Miss Potter..." she started, eyeing the plates and jugs they all carried.
"Professor-," Samantha began.
"I don't need to know," she said, holding her hand up. "Professor Snape asked me to tell you that you will serve your detention tonight. You are to meet him in his office at eight o'clock sharp," she said.
"Alright," Samantha replied, sighing.
She went with the others up to Gryffindor Tower, where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sarah, Ginny, and Lauren met up with them a few minutes later. They ate the food the house elves had given them while Samantha, Harry, and Ron complained about their detentions that night.
"Filch'll have me there all night with no magic!" Ron muttered.
"I'd trade you any time, I've gotta deal with Lockhart," Harry replied darkly.
And who knows what Snape'll have me do!" Samantha whined.
"If you hadn't jinxed him-," Leslie started.
"I wouldn't have jinxed him if he hadn't tried to mess up my Potion," Samantha replied.
At five to eight that night, Samantha, Ron, and Harry bid their goodbyes to their friends and made their ways to their separate detentions. Samantha trekked down to the dungeons, feeling the temperature decrease with every step she took. She always felt this was strange, seeing as it gets warmer the further down you go, but supposed that was just part of the magic of Hogwarts.
Samantha got to Snape's office at exactly eighty and knocked on his door.
"Good, you're here," Snape said. "I have a new shipment of potion ingredients that need sorting. Jars are on the floor. Boxes are labeled. Get to work. No magic," he instructed, smiling evilly.
Samantha gave him a very fake smile and went into the room, where ten full crates sat on the floor, next to many jars with blank labels on and a quill and ink next to them.
"If you mess up on the labels, you have to put it into a different jar," Snape told her.
Samantha got silently to work, sorting all of the ingredients into their proper jars while Snape graded things, looking up at her every so often.
Finally, after Samantha's hand was camping from opening and closing jars and writing on their labels all night, she was done.
"I finished," she told Snape.
He walked over and inspected her work, and decided it was fine. "You may leave," he told her.
Samantha wiped her hands off and stood up, walking to the door. When she was almost there, she stopped. An idea had struck.
"Professor?" she asked, turning around.
Snape looked up at her from the essay he had resumed grading. "Is there a problem?" he asked greasily.
"Do you still have the Pensieve?" she asked.
Snape raised his eyebrows. "Why?"
"I..." Samantha began, taking a deep breath. "Would it be possible for me to see the night my parents died?" she asked him.
Whatever Snape had been expecting, it was not that. He dropped his quill, staring at Samantha curiously. "And why," he paused, "would you possibly want to relive that?' he asked.
"I just..." Samantha sighed. "I want to know what happened that night," she told him. "Can you show me how to put my memories in there?" she asked.
Snape sighed. Something in his eyes flickered. "Very well," he agreed. "I will show you tomorrow. I do not currently have the Pensieve with me. Come back at one in the afternoon."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Samantha said happily, smiling. "I'll be there," she said, and walked out.
Snape took a few deep breaths, trying to prepare himself for the next day.
Sunday afternoon came quickly. After eating lunch, Samantha hurried down to Snape's office, arriving a few minutes before one. She knocked on the door.
"Come in," Snape said.
Samantha stepped inside. The Pensieve was sitting in the middle of the room, and Snape was at his desk. Samantha stared down at the swirling contents inside of it, and then glanced back up at Snape, who was now a few feet away from her.
"You are certain you want to do this?" he asked Samantha.
"Yes," Samantha answered surely.
"Very well," Snape replied. "Take out your wand and place the tip on your temple," he instructed. Samantha did as told. "Concentrate very hard on the memory you wish to remove. Visualize it going into the wand."
Samantha shut her eyes and visualized.
"Now, pull your wand slowly away" Snape told her. Samantha did. She looked at her wand and saw a long strand of silver hanging from it. "Put it inside the Pensieve," Snape instructed.
Samantha lowered her wand tip to the surface of the Pensieve and the silver memory slipped inside. Samantha watched it disappear.
"This is your last chance to back out," Snape warned.
"I'm ready," Samantha told him. Her heart was racing and she felt sweaty.
"Go ahead," Snape told her.
Samantha took a deep breath and dove into the swirling liquid of the Pensieve.