I AM SO SORRY! I experienced the worst case of writers block i have EVER had, so it took me practically centuries to come up with this chapter (It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that i have only recently discovere The Big Bang Theory and i am now endlessly hooked and constantly distracted...nope, nothing to do with that)

Anywho, i hope you like this chapter, it has a cute Snape/Sam scene in it, i rather like to write them, i thinkt they're sweet.

Read on my lovely people and i'm sorry i haven't updated in a while :)

Chapter 18

"Sam?" Fred asked cautiously as he watched his parents manually lift all of the children's luggage into the expandable car which the ministry had lent them for this particular trip.

Sam was standing by the open doorway, tying her cloak around her neck. Today, she had charmed it to be a dark blue so as to match her outfit like she did everyday.

"Yes?" She asked him innocently as she lifted the bottom of her dress slightly and slipped her wand into a thigh-sheath, making Fred's eyes widen drastically; he averted his eyes hastily, looking up as he totally forgot what he was saying.

"I—um—uh."

Sam grinned mischievously; dropping the hem of her dress just as Padfoot came bounding down the stairs, fur and all. He grinned wolfishly at the couple as he squeezed past.

"Okay Sam, what's going on?" Fred asked her curiously as he watched Molly flail her arms about in anger as Sirius ran circles around a grinning Harry.

"I'm coming with you of course." Sam smiled inwardly; he still didn't know.

Fred turned back to her with a wary look.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" He asked her, gently entwining their hands as he frowned.

"Yep."

"But—but Severus isn't here!" He pointed out slightly frantically. The potions master had disappeared ten minutes earlier, he had said with a barely disclosed smile that he needed to collect some last minute things from their house and had apparated away.

He still hadn't returned.

"I know that. He's gone straight to Hogwarts."

Fred blinked as he gaped at her.

"What? He's gone?" He felt his heart drop to the floor when he thought of how Sam must be felling. "Are—are you alright?" He whispered hoarsely as he cupped her face in his hands.

"A quick goodbye is better than a long one." She said vaguely, looking at him with calm eyes. Inside though, she was grinning like a madwoman.

Fred was stunned by her serenity.

He leant forwards and kissed her on the forehead as his thumbs caressed her cheeks tenderly.

Sam felt guilty on so many levels for not telling him, but she wanted it to be a surprise and so she was adamant not to spill.

Fred sighed long-sufferingly as he pulled back.

He was about to make a comment about Sam's safety when he remembered Snape's words.

"I am embarrassed to admit that I do treat her as if she is fragile, but that is because I know what she has been through. Don't follow my example Fred; Sam is a lot more capable of protecting herself than I give her credit for."

"Okay, come on." He squeezed her hand as they walked out of the door.

Molly looked up from her lecture she had been giving Sirius and smiled secretively at Sam who grinned back, surreptitiously tapping the side of her nose.

"All right Weasley's, Harry, Hermione and Samantha, into the car." Arthur called out to the group assembled on the pavement of the street.

They all entered the vehicle one by one and as soon as they were seated Arthur climbed into the front seat.

"Alright; let's get going!" He said as he lifted the handbrake before he grasped the gear-stick and pushed it forwards, when he pushed his foot down on the pedal, the vehicle shot backwards, making everyone inside cry out in shock as it stalled. He unnecessarily slammed down the brakes and ripped his hands off the stick. His hands hovered over the steering wheel and he frowned; letting them fall into his lap as he stared at the dashboard confusedly.

"Umm, Arthur?" Sam asked hesitantly as she sat on the floor where she had slipped off the seat in the jolt. "You do know how to drive right?"

"I do, but the wand in this car doesn't do the same things our one used to do." He said as he leant down to observe the stick.

Sam didn't question the absence of the car; she had heard all of the stories and rants from Severus.

"Yours isn't a gear-shift?" She said as she clambered onto the seat between the Twins once more.

"A what?" Arthur turned around to look at Sam with a completely baffled expression.

"A gear shift; this is the gear-stick," She leant through the gap in between the front seats to tap the head of the stick, "it is what you use to chance gears to allow you to go faster in accordance with the speed of the engine; in short, it permits you to bring the wheel speed up towards the engine speed."

For a while Arthur's expression didn't change until he seemed to frown even deeper.

"What's an engine?"

Sam chuckled under her breath but before she could respond, Molly turned in her seat to look at Sam who was now resting her elbows on each of the front seats.

"Can you drive?"

Sam seemed to blush for a second before she slid back into her seat, pushing a stray piece of hair back from her face.

"I can, yes. I actually have a car, but I never use it; it's purely for emergencies." As Fred watched in amazement, a fond smile seemed to wash over her face.

Sam was taken back to a few years back.

She was sitting in the driver's seat of an old, silver, ford hatchback. Her hands gripped the wheels as she stared ahead in fear.

The passenger door opened and closed with a slam, making Sam flinch as Severus slid into the car, heaving a breath as he did so.

He looked over at her and tried not to laugh at her terrified expression.

"Okay. Are you ready?"

"No." Sam said quickly, shaking her head from side to side, sending her short hair flying round her face.

"Good." He said pleasantly, turning to look straight through the windshield, clapping his hands together, making Sam start; her knuckles going white as she tried to grab the steering wheel and failing as her palms which were slick with sweat slipped against the plastic.

"I can't—Severus I can't. In fact—no, I'm not, I'm going back inside." Sam grabbed the door handle and had begun to pull on it when Severus launched himself at her making her squeal; his hands instantly gripped her wrists wrenching them away from the handle.

"No! You. Can't. Make. Me!" She flailed against his firm grip on her hands before sagging against the door, her cheek pressed up against the window in defeat. She whimpered pitifully as her breath clouded the glass.

"I can and I will." Severus huffed, releasing her hands and sitting straight.

Sam's eyes flickered over to him before she pushed the door open and dived out head first; her body slamming onto the cobbled street making her squeak in shock.

After recovering herself, she grinned in triumph but made a strangled noise as Severus' hands gripped her ankles which remained in the foot well and began tugging her back into the car, grunting from the effort as Sam's hands grappled to find purchase on the ground; yet she found nothing and was pulled, with difficulty, back into the car. Severus had opened his own door in order to stand and pull Sam's entire body back into the vehicle where she shifted and adjusted herself so that she was sitting upright, instead of spread across the centre console like she had been previously.

She crossed her arms and pouted, she didn't even look at Severus as he cast a sealing spell on the driver's door before getting into his seat once more.

"Okay; let's try this again shall we?" He said with a raised eyebrow, Sam shifted her gaze slightly before sticking her tongue out childishly.

Sev grinned and leant over to lift Sam's hands from her lap and place them on the wheel; Sam let them slide lifelessly to her sides.

"Samantha, what are you doing?" Severus asked exasperatedly.

"Dead-arms." She replied monotonously.

"Sam—" Severus said warningly.

"Fine! Fine!" Sam threw her hands in the air before planting them on the steering wheel again.

"Thank you." Sam rolled her eyes and exhaled noisily, "So, this is the gear-shift;" Severus pointed to the stick on the centre console.

"Yes, I know what everything is Severus!" Sam said in frustration. "You taught me all about everything to do with a car before you actually let me in one."

"See? Don't you feel better for knowing something?" He said encouragingly, but Sam only lolled her head to the side and gave her guardian a blank look.

Severus sighed and gestured to the keys which hung in the ignition.

Sam frowned before turning the keys and whimpering slightly as the vehicle thrummed into life under her; and her hands, which both now rested on the wheel in the '10 and 2' position, felt the vibrations coursing through the car.

"What now?" She asked shakily, turning to Severus for guidance.

"Handbrake and…" He smiled reassuringly and leant forwards to tap the knee of the leg which rested on the gas pedal.

She gulped, and moved a hand to encircle the handbrake. She pressed down on the button as she simultaneously pushed her foot gently down on the pedal as Severus had told her to.

Abruptly, the car lurched forwards before conking out completely and Sam screamed in shock as she lifted her hands to bury her face in them.

"I don't like it I don't like it I don't like it!" She curled up into a ball in the driver's seat, whimpering into her hands all the time.

Suddenly, Sam heard small noises which sounded like snickering. She looked up with a betrayed expression to see him hunched over, with both hands still braced against the dashboard in front of him, but his head was hung as he shook with silent laughter.

Sam looked ahead of her as his laughs, which continued to grow in their volume, stirred something within her like they always did, and soon she was collapsed against her door once more, but because of her peals of laughter.

As she tried to calm herself, she saw that he was still incapacitated and leapt into the back seat, throwing herself at the door and moaning in pain when it didn't budge.

"It's no use!" Severus gasped from the front seat. "I sealed all of the doors except mine."

Sam shook the door with all her might and whimpered/chuckled in despair when it really didn't open.

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head.

She peered around the passenger seat Severus was sitting in and grinned evilly.

He had no time to ask her what she was doing before she jumped on him, tackling him and trying to grab his door handle.

Severus now had a chance to mirror her evil grin as his hands went to her sides and he poked her there.

She instantly cried out and curled in on herself, laughing and screaming as Sev continued to tickle her triumphantly, barely avoiding kicks and hits to the face in the process as he grinned.

"HELP!" Sam cried jokingly to a passer-by. "HELP ME, I'M BEING RAPED!"

The woman only shook her head with an angry look and carried walking.

"THAT BI –"

Sam was snapped back to the present when Molly spoke again.

"Well then, Arthur, get into the back seat; Sam is driving us to King's Cross."

Sam froze with her eyes wide open, simply staring at molly who smirked at the reaction.

"Okay?" She said weakly as she clambered out of the back seat to switch with Mr Weasley.

Once she had slid into the front seat, she buckled herself in—something she had never had to do in the hatchback, due to the fact that it had no seatbelts—and once she had adjusted all of the mirrors to Arthur's endless commentary of 'Ooh that looks professional, she does know what she's doing.'; she turned the keys again, bringing the car back to life as she spoke mostly to herself.

"Here we go."

Phew, so that finally came to me.

I'm off to bed.

NIIIGGGHHHTTT!

Love you all lotsly,

from

Alicia

xxxx