Chapter Five: Seeing Him Again
"Sam, Poppy's here to see you!" I heard Ginny call as I woke up.
"Be out in a minute!" I said as I groggily got out from under the warm blankets and changed into some robes. It took a few moments for me to remember everything that had happened last night. When I did, I thought last night was a dream.
"Sorry that took so long." I said as I came out of my room, pulling my hair up into a messy ponytail. "Ginny, did you feed and dress Matilda?" I said, shocked when I saw Matilda sitting in the middle of the room and playing with her lion, eagle, badger, and snake toys.
"Yeah. She started crying and I figured you got home late. Your mom was here. She's really nice." Ginny said, smiling at me.
"That's weird. My mother never comes inside Hogwarts." I murmured. "Anyway. So, Poppy, why did you decide to visit us on this lovely November first?" I added.
"Good morning to you too." Poppy said, a little hurt at my attitude. She was sitting on the couch. "Do you want Ginny to listen to your story about last night?"
"Sure, why not." I said sitting down in my chair in a huff. Why does she care about me and Severus so much? There are other men out there who like me as more than a friend, like the famous Harry Potter. He stares at me blank faced and googly eyed and acts strange. It's kind of funny.
"You sure Sam?" Poppy asked a shocked look on her face.
"Yeah, as long as you don't tell anybody." I said.
"Of course not!" Ginny said.
"Well then you can stay." I said as I reclined the chair.
"So, you and Severus?" Poppy asked with a smirk on her face. Her saying this received a shocked look on Ginny's face. Ginny was playing with Matilda and her toys.
"You and Severus are a thing?" Ginny asked.
"No." I said as, just as Poppy said yes.
"Poppy!"
"Sorry." She said smirking. "Anyway, what happened last night?"
I told my story to them and they seemed pretty shocked. I would've been too if I hadn't been there.
"So you didn't bring him in for a kiss?"
"Poppy! I'm warning you!"
"Sorry."
"That's practically what he meant."
"What are you talking about?" Ginny said. Matilda had started crawling to me, so I picked her up and cradled her. She was a normal sized seven month old.
"I can't remember his exact words, but there were along the lines of 'I shouldn't have' and 'let's not change our relationship'." I said as I started playing with Matilda's hair.
"So are you guys dating now?" Ginny asked.
"No, Gin, I am not dating Severus. We are just friends." I said as I sighed. What had happened to our close friendship? HE had kept me safe from Amycus care no, and I gave him someone to talk to when no one else in the Order trusted him.
"But she will be soon!" Poppy squealed.
"Poppy!" I yelled as I threw one of the throw pillows at her. This resulted in a massive pillow fight. No one really won. After a while, we all grew tired and hungry, so the four of us headed to lunch. Some of the students looked at us funny. We had feathers all over our robes and were laughing like crazy.
"My goodness, you four. What have you done?" Minerva asked when we sat at down at the staff table.
"Nothing." I said, trying to look as innocent as possible. It didn't work.
"Oh really?" Minerva said as looked at us over her glasses.
"We may or may not have attacked each other with the very dangerous pillows." Ginny said, also trying to look as innocent as possible. It didn't work for her either.
"Is this true Poppy?"
"Yes, and it was super fun!" Poppy said.
"I want to ask what happened, but I am a little afraid of the answer I'll get." Severus said as he walked past where we were sitting.
"The pillows are a little dangerous." Poppy said.
Severus rolled his eyes and walked out of the Great Hall. Poppy quickly told Minerva about what happened between me and Severus last night. I did have to correct her when she said we both confessed our never ending love for each other.
"I keep telling her it was just too much alcohol, but she won't listen." I said.
"That's just how Poppy is: fun until it comes to trying to set her friends up on dates." She responded.
"Hey!"
"You have to admit it, Poppy, what they're saying is completely true." Ginny said.
"I can't help but be a little upset at their hurtful comments. Plus, I know Sam and Severus are meant for each other. I feel it." Poppy said.
"Sometimes her feelings are correct. She is the one who set me and Albus up." Minerva said, a sad look crossing her face when she mentioned her late husband. They were so cute together.
"Hey, you know what?" I said.
"What?" Poppy said. She was probably hoping I'd confess my love for Severus.
"I'll try dating someone who actually likes me. Maybe the boy who lived, for example."
"No, you'll ruin any chance you already have with your true love!"
"Oh, I almost forgot." Minerva said. "Sam, I think you should start a dueling class for fifth years and up."
"Sure. I can arrange that." I said. "They do need to learn how to duel in case-"
"Exactly." Minerva said.
The days went on, and I soon found myself teaching a dueling class in old classroom. All the desks had been pushed aside and a riser had been placed in the middle of the large room.
"Mr. David Yandel, can you come up here?" I asked the nervous fifth year. "You aren't in trouble, I just needed a worthy opponent." I added quickly. His face brightened as he came up on the riser.
"Now," I said, "to start out a duel, you need to do it the proper way. First you face each other and bow, then you walk three steps back, and finally, you turn around and fire. David and I will demonstrate and try to disarm the other one. I don't want Mr. Yandel destroying me."
We demonstrated the procedure and Mr. Yandel disarmed me. However, I had been practicing wand less magic and disarmed him with a wave of my hand. The students were amazed.
"How'd you do that?" David asked, a look of wonder in his eyes. All the other students had the same dumbfounded look in their eyes.
"You'll learn eventually. Some of you may never be able to do it, some might be able to do now, and some might be able to when they get older and more powerful." I said. "Now, everyone partner up and practice. We are only disarming them and nothing else."
As they "dueled", I watched them. They were doing very well and were well on their way to be master duelers. Sadly, four kids had to be taken to the hospital wing due to others not following my directions and casting powerful spells.
As the lessons continues, the students progressed more and more. Soon, the last lesson came and they were prepared. Each one dueled me. No one casted a dangerous spell the entire time. It was a real duel. Soon I was on the last kid. Jeremy Netro. He was a brutal kid.
"Ready?" I said and he nodded a yes. The duel was fast and he proved himself a worthy opponent. I had beaten him after a couple of minutes and was walking to the desk where I kept the papers saying whether they passed or not. I was going to stamp Jeremy's paper as passed. All of a sudden, pain shot through every limb of me. I heard screaming. The second the pain stopped, I looked around the room. I noticed someone running out the door.
"Stop!" I yelled at the figure. I ran out the door and soon caught up to the person.
"Hello, Sammy." a wicked voice said.
"Hello, Samuel." I said, casting spells as fast as I could while blocking his.
"Professor Lechen!" a girl screamed.
"Go get help!" I yelled to her. I wasn't going to be able to finish the man I once loved.
Someone came running up to us and started dueling by my side. It was Jeremy. The rest of the class quickly followed. We soon overpowered Samuel. A kid had disarmed him and he wasn't able to do wand less magic. Minerva came running up, with Poppy, to take him away. Poppy checked to make sure no one was hurt.
"Professor, your robe!" said a fifth year girl. When I looked at my robe, I noticed the part around my right thigh was soaked with blood.
"Poppy." I said calmly as I sat down and lifted up my robe.
"Yeah?" she said as she walked over. When she say my leg she immediately got to work. There was a big gash in the middle of my right thigh, but the weird thing is that it didn't hurt at all. Normally if your leg is cut open you feel something, but I didn't feel a thing.
"Class!" I said over the talking. "In case you didn't know, the curse he used on me in the classroom was the imperious curse. It is one of the unforgivable curses and if you get hit with it during a duel, you're most likely dead meat."
"Can I see my daughter?" I heard Samuel say.
I stood up and walked up to where he was bounded by ropes to a door and slapped him hard across his face.
"She is not your daughter." I growled, spitting venom. I was almost shaking with rage. Either that, or I was shaking due to the amount of blood loss. I moved away from him and sat back down by Poppy. She continued her work while the students stared at me.
"By the way," I said, "Everyone passed. I will give you the sheet when I see you during class. You are dismissed." They drifted away a moment or two after I said this. They kept sending curious glances my way. I didn't really care.
"All set." Poppy said after a moment. Samuel had been dragged away by Minerva, so it was just Poppy and me left in the hallway.
"Thanks, Poppy." I said as I stood up. Now I can feel the piercing pain in my leg.
"I'm terribly sorry you had to see him again after he did those things to you." Poppy said as he hugged me.
"Thank you, Poppy." I choked out. We stood there in the hallway, hugging and crying. Poppy crying for me and Samuel. I crying for her and Moody, Samuel, and my darling Matilda. After a bit, both of us had run out of tears.
"I'm sort of happy he raped me." I said as we broke apart.
"What are you talking about?" Poppy exclaimed, looking at me as if I was crazy.
"If he hadn't, Matilda wouldn't be here right now."
"You were raped?!" a noisy sixth year boy exclaimed. He had been hiding behind a mostly closed door, listening to us.
"Yes." I said. I then walked away, heading to my quarters where Matilda was waiting for me, unaware her lousy father had been in the building, looking for her.
Author's note: I do NOT own the original Harry Potter characters. Please comment! :)