J.K. Rowling owns everything but Samaria Kirby. She is mine.

Chapter 11

The next afternoon, Samaria was just finishing up what little she had to do in her office before heading back to her quarters to ready herself for their engagement with the Malfoy's when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she called, stacking some papers.

The first thing she noticed when the person walked in was pink. Pink everywhere.

Lord, it's Umbridge, she thought.

"Hm, hm. I'm not interrupting, am I," she asked, a sweet smile on her toad-like face.

"Of course not. How can I help you?" Samaria asked through a false smile.

"Well," she began, taking a seat. "I need to speak to you of certain matters of importance…"

~*SW*~

A few hours later, a tired Samaria plopped down on her couch. Severus walked in looking very put out.

"Where have you been? We've missed our dinner engagement with the Malfoy's. I sent a Patronus and told them we couldn't make it. What happened?" he demanded.

"Umbridge came to my office and began asking me about my curriculum and when I told her I needed to go, she would say that the Ministry was more important than anything I had planned. She droned on about how I should improve my lessons and this and that. After a while, I really just tuned her out. I think I made her mad, though, when I asked if it was really any of her business how I taught. She muttered something about making it her business and finally left." Samaria propped her feet up on the coffee table.

He sat down beside her. "I'm sorry you had to deal with her, but try not to upset her. She's here directly under Fudge. She's trying to keep the Dark Lord's return quiet and discredit Potter. I heard some of the Slytherins talking about how he called her out in class today and she shut him up. You really don't need to be on her bad side."

She sighed, "I know. She drives me crazy, though. All that giggling and all the pink! It's everywhere!"

"Oh, yes, and I just love it," Severus gave her a look. "If I can tolerate it, you can."

"I know."

He sat beside her and put his arm around her. "Don't worry. I doubt you'll see her again, unless you provoke her ire."

"I hope not. I, ah!" Samaria grabbed her left arm, which was burning.

Severus looked at her, he hadn't felt a thing, "You'd better go."

Nodding, she stood and when to the fire place. Within moments, she was in Malfoy Manner and Narcissa was there waiting for her.

"Sorry about tonight. I was held up working," Samaria apologized.

"Don't worry about it, I understand," and Samaria could tell she did.

Narcissa led her to the same room in which she had received her Dark Mark and there sat the Dark Lord. Samaria walked to the center of the room, bowed, walked to his feet and knelt.

"Samaria," Voldemort spoke and shivers went down her spine. "I require a prophecy that was made 14 years ago about Potter and I. The only ones who can retrieve it are we. I, of course, cannot go walking into the Ministry and retrieve it, so I require Potter to do so. While we are devising a plan to get him in there, I need you to gain his confidence. You were close to his family, so that's a start. I need to know everything I can about him, weaknesses and such. Is that clear?" He eyed her.

"Yes, my lord." Spy on Harry? The Dark Lord was giving her permission to speak with him. She wouldn't have to shun he and his friends anymore!

"Good," he looked at her again for a moment. "How's the child?"

"Wonderful, master."

"And Severus?"

"Well enough, master," why all the questions?

He eyes lingered on her for a while, yet again, before he asked the next question.

"Any reconsiderations?"

She hesitated. Would he never drop that? "No, my lord." She looked down, "I'm afraid not."

"Very well, you're dismissed."

She rose, bowed and hurried home.

~*SW*~

The months flew by. Samaria continued her friendship with Harry, feeding the Dark Lord what seemed like valuable information. She prayed she didn't slip up and say something that would cause Harry harm.

Umbridge became High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. She went around to every class and 'inquired' on their duties. She especially got under Severus' skin when she asked about his applications to the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. When Samaria's turn came she merely glued a false smile on her face and lied through her teeth, saying things she knew the woman wanted to hear.

Harry continued having the vision-dreams he'd had all summer, one of Mr. Weasley being attacked. Even though this had saved the man's life, Dumbledore had insisted that Severus give Harry private lessons in Occlumency to shut out these dreams. Every Monday night, after the lesson, Severus would come in complaining about 'Potter's weak mind and lack of ability to adhere to rules'.

One Monday night, after Christmas break, the Dark Lord summoned Samaria. Not knowing what to do with Elena, as Severus was teaching Harry, she took her with her.

The poor little girl whined and coughed as they traveled through the Flu Network. Elena had always hated it. When she arrived at the Malfoy's, Samaria handed the baby to Narcissa and went to see what the Dark Lord wanted.

~*SW*~

Three hours later, Samaria sat at the Malfoy's dining table with Lucius. The Dark Lord had been brief with her, telling her that her information had been useless to him so he had another task for her, and handed her over to Lucius for instructions.

The two sat there, talking of different ways Samaria could go into the Ministry without much notice. Lucius was so prominent and well known; there was no way he could walk around without being recognized. Samaria on the other hand, was barley known.

They had thrown around many ideas and finally decided on her going under the pretense of adoption. Even though she had had Elena, it was on her medical record that she couldn't have children, so she could claim that any more would be impossible for her. Lucius would accompany her and do his best to distract the others while she looked around.

After setting the date, which was that Thursday, Samaria got up collected Elena and left.

When she arrived at home, she found her living room in disarray.

Quickly she took out her wand, looking for an intruder. Holding Elena, who was asleep, close to her, she walked quietly through the quarters.

Samaria's head jerked as she heard a crash from the bedroom. Elena stirred, but didn't wake. Not knowing what else to do with her, she held her daughter closer to her and peek into the bedroom.

Severus was in there, throwing things against the wall and knocking objects off the dresser.

Opening the door, she hissed, "Severus! What are you doing?"

He stopped and looked at her. She could see tear tracks down his face. Quickly she laid Elena down in her crib and led Severus to the couch.

"What happened?" she asked, very worried.

"Potter," he muttered still seething.

"What?"

He took a breath, "Potter looked in the Pensieve while I was out of the room. He saw… he saw…" It seemed he choked on the words, but he didn't need to continue. Samaria could see in his eyes, in his mind, what he couldn't say. Harry had seen James teasing Severus, who was suspended in mid-air by a spell. He had seen Lily try to defend him and saw Severus call her a mudblood.

Samaria put her hand on Severus' cheek, she knew that to this day, the part he played in Lily's death still haunted him. To have her son see him call her such a name when she had tried to defend him and to have Harry see him at one of the weakest points in his life was more than Severus could bear. They had been married two years before he had even confided that incident to her.

"It's okay. It'll be okay," she tried to soothe him.

"You must think me an idiot for losing my temper like this."

"No, you're human. You're entitled to lose it every now and then," she said with a smile.

"Not like this," he said looking around.

"It can be fixed easily," she replied kissing him. Then she got up and began to repair the damage. With Severus' help they finished before long.

As they got ready for bed, he walked over to Elena's crib and just stood looking at her. When Samaria came next to him, he said, "I don't want her to know about that horrible mistake. I don't want her to ever know how horrible I was."

She wrapped her arms around him from behind and said, "It wouldn't change how much she loves you."

"Non-the-less, I don't want her to know."

Samaria nodded, "That's your decision, but I don't think you should keep things from her."

Changing the subject, Severus asked, "What did the Dark Lord want?"

"Oh, I'd forgotten," she said and began to tell him Lucius' plan for that Thursday.

~*SW*~

Thursday came quicker than Samaria would have liked. She had informed her classes the day before that they could have her period off, so she didn't have to worry about finding a substitute teacher. So, that morning Samaria got up and went to the Malfoy's house with Elena.

Leaving her daughter with Narcissa, she and Lucius set off to the Ministry.

"Okay, you now the plan. When we get to the adoption floor, I'll talk to Johnson and keep him busy. He's so stupid he won't pay attention to you. Then you…"

"I will make my way to the information floor and see what I can find," she cut in. "I know the plan Lucius."

Nodding, he opened the door to the Ministry for her.

Many people greeted Lucius as they made their way to the elevator and he nodded a greeting at some, ignored the others.

When they made it to the floor that handled the adoption matters, the two stepped off and with Lucius leading the way, went to a door that read Almus Johnson.

Lucius didn't even knock; he just opened it and walked in.

The small, bald man sitting at the desk looked up and smiled, "Mr. Malfoy! I was expecting you. And this is the friend you mentioned?"

"Yes, Johnson. This is Samaria Kirby Snape."

Johnson shook her hand, but his attention was on Lucius. Apparently, he wasn't interested in Samaria, only in what Lucius had to say.

"Before we begin, Johnson, I need to speak to you, alone, for a moment," Lucius said.

"Of course. Mrs. Snape, is you'll just step right out here for a moment," the little man said as he ushered her out and shut the door.

That was easy, Samaria thought as she looked around. Everyone was so busy, no one paid her any mind.

She started toward the elevator, walking down a long hall with filing cabinets on each side. She saw some wizards coming from the opposite end. They looked up at her, so she turned and opened a drawer, acting as if she were looking for a file.

They group passed, but before she closed the file Samaria noticed a familiar name; Potter.

Pulling out the file, she began to read.

Alexander Potter, born April 26th 1955 to Michael Potter and Jaina Minx . Place in Ministry of Magic Child Services by mother and father's parents, Both under-age and unmarried. Child adopted by Americans Maxwell and Darla Kirby…

"Those were my grandparents," Samaria whispered and read on.

Child will take last name of adopted parents. Biological parent's families wish for the child not to know if it's origin.

Samaria replaced the file and thought a moment.

Alexander Kirby, my father, was adopted. Potter? He was a Potter? Could he be related to Harry?

She hurried to the elevator and went up two floors. When she arrived at the Information Department, she went up to the lady at the front desk and asked, "Could I see my daughters birth certificate? I need to make sure of some things on there, you see I wasn't in the best frame of mind when I filled it out."

The woman didn't even look up from her work, she only gestured to a room on the left.

Samaria hurried in there and closed the door. Quickly she found the P's. As she looked through them she noticed another familiar name, James Potter. Curious, she took it out and read:

James Potter, born March 27th 1960 to Michael Potter and Jaina Minx Potter…

They were the same people as her father's parents. That meant…

"My father and James were brothers," she said aloud. "That means, Harry and I…" She didn't get to finish her thought. Someone was coming in the room.

Quickly, she put the files back and hurried to the door. An older wizard stepped in just as she walked out. Looking around, she noticed the witch at the front desk looking at her.

"Find what you needed?" she asked.

Nodding, Samaria said, "Thank you," and left.

In the elevator she alternated between kicking herself for not doing as Lucius had instructed, find information on the Department of Mysteries, and think on what she did discover. She was related to Harry!

"And you're sure there was absolutely nothing?" Lucius asked for the hundredth time.

"Yes, absolutely nothing about the Department of Mysteries," she told him as they entered his home. That was the best lie she could think of to hide her mistake.

"Did you really think they would have information about their most secret secrets sitting right there for anyone to go through?" Samaria asked him.

"No, but it was worth a shot," he muttered.

"We tried," she said and went to find Narcissa.

"Wait," he called after her and she turned. Looking closely at him she notice Lucius actually looked worried.

"The Dark Lord expects results, soon, from me and I would be very grateful if you would help."

After searching his eyes for a moment and seeing the fear in them as he spoke of his master she said, "Of course. I'll be over tomorrow to discuss another plan."

When he smiled his relief at her, Samaria turned and went to collect her Elena, all this new information whirring within her.

~*SW*~

As soon as she got home, Samaria put Elena to bed and waited for Severus to come in from his teaching duties. As soon as he walked through the door, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the couch. Quickly she relayed the events of the day and all she had learned. When she finished she waited for his reply. For a moment he sat there, looking at her, but not really seeing her. He was deep in thought.

"So, Potter is your cousin," he finally said and Samaria nodded.

Severus looked down, thinking. When he looked back up at her he said, "The Dark Lord mustn't ever know this. If he found out, he would use you to get to Potter. He knows how valuable family is to the boy and that he'd do most anything for family. The Dark Lord might even go as far as to hold you hostage. You can't let him find out, meaning you can't tell anybody else." He looked at her sternly and waited for her to nod before continuing. "So, Lucius learned nothing else about the Department of Mysteries?"

"No, unless he found something on his own that he didn't tell me about," she told him.

"Okay. Well, I don't think you really have anything to report to Dumbledore as of yet. He told me if you did that he would be in his office around eight."

Samaria shrugged, "Unless, you think he needs to know about this relation-thing."

"I don't think it's important enough to bother him with it now." Severus paused and shook his head. "I knew you were trouble. I marry you and become related to Potter in the process."

She laughed and pushed him a little, "It's not like your brothers or anything."

"No, but cousin is bad enough," he said and Samaria laughed.

A knocking at the door got their attention. Severus rose and opened it but didn't see anyone. He looked around a moment, and then happened to look down and saw a very big and beautiful eagle owl. In it's beak, it held an envelope with the Malfoy Crest on it. Leaning down, he took the letter and the bird flew back down the hall.

"Must be urgent, not to wait until the morning post," he commented, opening the silver envelope with the emerald seal.

Aloud he read:

Dearest Samaria,

Thank you for your help today. I won't, however, require your assistance tomorrow. We have come up with an alternative plan. Thank you again.

Yours Truly,

Lucius Malfoy

"Formal, isn't he?"

"The Malfoy's are always like that in their letters," she told him taking the letter and looking it over. "Another plan? I wonder what?"

"I don't know, but you can bet it won't bode well for Potter."

"Your right. I hope we can help him," she said, thinking.

"You better be hoping we get out of this alive," he replied.