Alrighty then! I am sooooo sorry that this took longer than usual, but I just wasn't writing anything good so I thought I'd rather wait until I was in a writing mood and give you something good rather than write it then and there and give you something completely and utterly pants.
Hopefully I managed to avoid the 'pants' writing and I hope you enjoy this!
Chapter 7
Harry stumbled out of the fireplace covered in soot and breathing heavily but was held upright by Arthur's hand clenched in the back of his jacket.
They both whirled around and took a couple of steps backwards, waiting for Snape and Samantha, wands poised just in case. But no one came.
Just as Arthur was getting worried, green flames engulfed the hearth as two immediately familiar figures spilled onto the floor.
They scrambled to their feet and soon, after Mr Weasley cast a sealing spell on the fireplace, ensuring that no one could follow them, all four were running into the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley.
Heads turned in their direction but they all had one destination in mind as they ran through the crowd to exclamations of 'Is that Professor Snape?' and 'Merlin's beard its Samantha Harlow and Harry Potter!'
"Take my hand!" Sam called to Harry and he did so instantly. Arthur grabbed Harry's other hand, whilst on Sam's other side Snape mirrored the action.
With a whooshing sound, they were sucked into the air with a sickening stretching motion. Harry's head was spinning when he felt solid ground below his feet and his legs felt like jelly as he stumbled only to be caught by a thin, strong hand. He looked up to see his potions master's hand encircling his upper arm.
Snape propelled Harry forwards gently and he looked up to see Grimauld Place looming over him and he breathed in a sigh of relief.
He ran in the already open door and he breathed heavily before sliding down the wall to join Arthur who had slumped onto the ground in the narrow hallway with a stunned expression.
But it appeared that they weren't safe yet.
A loud crack broke the calm silence in the street and loud yells and screams could be heard as Sam and Snape tumbled through the door, Sam landed on top of her friend, who kicked the door closed, and lay there, making no attempt to move. Severus didn't seem to mind, he simply rubbed soothing circles on her back until he heard her breathing calm down.
Eventually Sam fish flopped off Severus, groaning painfully as she landed next to him on her back, promptly landing on Harry and Arthur's feet.
"Well, that was eventful." She said breathlessly, a weary smile appearing on her face.
Harry sighed. Arthur rubbed his eyes and chuckled quietly.
Severus however, was so exhausted that he didn't bother keeping his emotions in check and began to laugh slowly at first before chuckling hysterically. Samantha soon joined in and the two men sitting against the wall watched in shock as the two figures lying on the floor rolled about in fits of giggles. Samantha's snorts cut in occasionally, prompting her to point at herself and laugh even more at the abnormal noise, encouraging more snorts and the process would repeat until they were breathless and laughing silently, their forms shaking. The sniggers showing no signs of stopping.
At the end of the hallway, Harry heard the thundering sound of several pairs of footsteps approaching. He turned his head lethargically to the side to see Molly, Fred, George, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Padfoot (who remained in his dog form as a precaution) appear from upstairs.
Arthur stood tiredly and rushed forwards at the sight of his family carefully avoiding treading on the Severus and Sam, Harry followed suit. All Seven rushed forward to meet the two men, slowing slightly when they saw the state that Samantha and Snape were in; Molly, after watching bemusedly, went straight to Harry and Arthur, checking them over for injuries before hugging them both.
"Oh Merlin's Beard!" Molly cried embracing her husband. "No sooner had we received an owl from Kingsley saying that Harry had been cleared when he arrived himself saying that you had been attacked by Death Eaters and had escaped through the floo network. Naturally, we didn't leave the house, but we knew you'd be all right."
Hermione was hugging Harry fiercely, muttering how she was "awfully worried" about him. After she let him go, Ron enveloped his best friend in a brief hug before releasing him and patting him on the back.
"God I was worried mate." He told him.
Ginny gave him a brief awkward hug before hugging her father.
Padfoot raised himself on his hind legs and licked Harry across the face frantically.
"I'm fine Padfoot." Harry reassured his Godfather, scratching behind the animagus' ears and grinning as his long tongue lolled out in pleasure.
George gave Harry a grin as Padfoot returned to all fours and rubbed playfully against his leg. The redhead reached down and stroked him, shaking his head all the while.
"What's wrong with them?" George asked, nodding towards those on the floor.
As if on queue, there was a whoop of laughter from Sam as she snorted again and Severus began to howl with loud mirth as he had no energy to try and stop the laughter, despite the fact that six of his students and his long time enemy, were observing him.
Fred, who hadn't greeted either man due to the fact that his gaze had been locked on Sam, began to laugh at the sight in front of him.
Hearing his laugh, Sam looked at an upside down Fred and the laughter died in her throat, a wide smile taking its place. Snape also seemed to calm down as his companion's laughter ceased and he breathed in deeply before, realising what had just happened, standing and, keeping his head down, he marched past the sniggering crowd and disappeared from sight, his cloak billowing out behind him.
Seeing that he was gone, everyone began to howl with laughter.
All except Sam and Fred, who were lost in each other's eyes.
Crystal blue into rich brown.
What they realised was that, in that moment, the emotions they felt within themselves were mirrored in the eyes of the one who they looked at; the one who was the reason behind the emotions coursing through them. The one who made their heart beat faster with every smile, every lingering look and every soft touch.
The one who they barely knew, but with every passing moment was learning about.
Sam saw how when Fred was thinking, he would suck his lower lip in between his teeth, leaving dents where he had chewed contemplatively on it. She saw the way Fred's eyes would warm when he laughed, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners; he had a smile that reached his eyes. Sam could get lost in those eyes. Their rich, deep shade of brown was capturing.
Everything about Fred was breathtaking.
It was almost funny. The world's youngest, bravest, most powerful Auror was winded by simply looking at this boy.
Sam's mind wandered to a day many years ago.
''But he told me: "My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak." So I will brag even more about my weaknesses in order that Christ's power will live in me.''
'Why would someone be stronger when they're weak? That's a complete contradiction!' Samantha objected.
'Yes, that may be; but everyone must have a weakness.' Severus said to a fourteen year-old Sam from his chair by the fireplace in his small home, Sam was seated by his feet as he read to her from the bible, much like his mother had done with him. 'Ultimately, it is mans weaknesses that makes us stronger.'
'How? How can being weak make you stronger?' Sam looked up at Severus.
'Having a weakness doesn't make you weak little one.' Severus sighed as he smoothed some hair back from Sam's forehead. 'If something is your weakness then it is ultimately something that means more than the world to you and therefore you would do anything to protect it. Thus, you become stronger as you fight to protect your weakness.'
Sam knew without asking exactly who he was talking about. It had taken her years to crack his shell, but eventually he had let her in. There were no secrets between them anymore.
'Oh.'
For a while, they sat in companionable silence, watching the rain streak down the dusty windows.
'Sev?' Sam said quietly as if nervous of what she was thinking.
'Yes?' He said absently, as he watched a single raindrop's journey down the glass.
'You're my weakness.'
Severus froze for a second before a small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.
'And you are mine.' He smiled fondly down at the girl who had rested her head on his knee. 'You are mine.'
As Sam's mind stuttered back to the present, she couldn't help but swallow down the fear that ripped through her now.
It appeared that she had found another weakness.
Let me know if I avoided the 'pants' writing!
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!
Or don't… you know, but I'd rather like it if you did :)
Lots of Love from
Alicia!
xxxx