Chapter Eight: Christmas Day

I awoke to Matilda screaming in the other room. She loves to wake me up extra early on my days I off. I groggily got out of bed and opened the door between our rooms. The first thing I saw was a house elf holding Matilda and trying to get her quiet.

"Tina is very sorry Tina didn't get Matilda quiet before she woke you up, Master Lechen." the house elf said. She handed me Matilda before bowing down.

"It's perfectly fine, Tina. I needed to get up anyway." I said, smiling down at the small creature. She looked as if I had given her one million Galleons.

"Would you like anything that Tina could get for you, Master Lechen?" Tina asked.

"No, but thank you, Tina, for caring for Matilda. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too, Master Lechen." She said as she apparated away. I then heard a knock at my door. Who knocks at someone's door at seven a.m. on Christmas Day? Now that I think of it, it's probably Poppy telling me to go after Severus. I am not in love with Severus Snape! I even have a date for tomorrow with a different man for crying out loud!

"Merry Christmas, Sam!" the short witch said. How did I guess it?

"Merry Christmas, Poppy. Come in." I said as I opened the door to let her through. We sat on the couch as Matilda played with my shoelaces. I don't know why she likes them so much.

"Go grab your presents and bring them out here." Poppy said.

"Why?"

"So we an open them together."

"Shouldn't you be at the hospital wing in case anyone gets hurt?"

"No one will get hurt and we'll be quick." I did as I was told and grabbed my presents. I had a surprisingly big pile of stuff. When I set my presents on the living room floor, I noticed Poppy had moved Matilda's gifts in the small room too.

"Let's open up Matilda's presents first." I said as I sat down. She got a white dress with hearts on it from Minerva, a package of diapers from my mom, a necklace with her initial, M, on it from Poppy, a night light from Sybill, and a variety of other things from my siblings. We soon moved on to opening my presents.

"Open that one!" Poppy said, pointing at a small white box that looked like it had jewelry in it. I opened it to find a silver necklace with my initial, S, on it.

"Is it real silver?" I ask. If it is, I can't wear it around Remus.

"No. I know that you'll be talking to Remus now that the Death Eaters are back." Poppy said. She looked spooked when she said Death Eaters. I opened up the rest of my presents. I got a bracelet from Minerva, a book on dark creatures from Sybill, some new robes from my mom, and plenty of other stuff from my siblings.

"Wow that took a while." I said once we were done. It was about eight, so the three of us headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. After breakfast, activities started. There was snowman building and cookie making contests. There was a massive snowball fight that every student, teacher, and guest, besides my mom and Matilda, participated in. I hit as many people as I could before I was too covered in snow to see. The rest of the day was a super blur, and I soon found myself in the Great Hall for the feast.

"Professor Lechen?" asked fifth year Henry. The five tables had been replaced by one long table with chairs on both sides. Henry was sitting across from me.

"Yes Henry?"

"Did you drink out of your goblet?"

"Yes, why?" I asked. What are they talking about? They didn't put anything in it, did they? The kids started laughing.

"We put truth serum in it!" Ivy managed to squeeze out. Oh no. Oh no they didn't.

"Were you really part of the Order?" one of the laughing kids asked.

"Yes." I answered plainly. Those brats! Now they could get my deepest, darkest secrets out of me.

"Have you killed someone?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"My dad and Tintum Franklin. Now stop asking questions!"

"Your dad! Why?"

"He was going to tell Voldemort about where Harry was. I couldn't let that happen. Now stop asking me questions!" I growled. I'm disliking this conversation.

"Who's your favorite sibling?" Richard asked.

"It's a tie between Ivy and you."

"Who's your least favorite and why?" a student asked.

"Vicky because she's tried multiple times to kill me." I stood up, grabbed Matilda, and walked towards the door.

"Wait, Sam, are you in love with someone?" Poppy asked. I turned away to see her smirking.

"Yes Poppy, now get off my back!" I stalked out the door before she could ask who. It took me a moment to process my answer to Poppy's question. I then realized it; I'm in love. I'm in love with a man who still loves a dead woman. I could feel hot tears in my eyes. How could they do that? How? At least I realized I'm in love with the greasy potions master. I doubt he loves me, so I'll just have to move on. Find someone else. I quickly came to my room and laid Matilda down in her playpen. I had moved it into my small bedroom so I could watch her while I laid in my comfy bed.

"Sam, honey. Please come out." My mum said. Of course I forgot to shut the door to my quarters! How else could that woman get in?

"When you find the antidote, then I'll come out of my room. Until then, I'll stay in here." I said. I really didn't want to have to spill my secrets to everyone at Hogwarts.

"Severus said he would go grab the antidote. You'll need to be out here to get it." Of course she knows how to get me out of my room, she's my mum. I sighed before grabbing Matilda and stepping out of the room. My mum was the only one there.

"I'm sorry about mentioning dad." I said as I hugged her. The smaller woman had tears in her eyes. It makes me feel extra bed.

"Not your fault. You were forced to tell the truth." She said. My mum and I hugged for another few minutes until Severus came in. We broke away quickly and my mum dried her eyes.

"Here you go, Sam." Severus said, handing me a goblet. "Take three sips and that should be enough."

"I'll be going." My mum said as she walked out the door and into the hallway. She closed the door behind her. Something was off. I noticed it as soon as I took the last sip from the goblet. I couldn't tell what, but something was wrong. I heard a voice. It wasn't Severus's, and it didn't sound familiar. I couldn't tell what it was saying.

"Severus." I whispered. "What's wrong?" thinking was becoming harder and harder. I felt Matilda leave the safety of my arms. I was being led somewhere. I don't know where. Soon, everything became black.

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I woke up in my bed, realizing right away something was off. After thinking for a few minutes, memories from last night came back to me. I remembered drinking out of a goblet Severus handed me, and then being escorted to my room. After that, it's all fuzzy. I tried to stand up, but immediately came crashing to the floor with a loud thud. Searing pain flooded from my legs. Looking at them, I saw that they had massive cuts in them. Blood was all over the room. What had happened here?

"Sam!" I heard a tortured scream from outside my bedroom door. I crawled to the door and opened it.

"Crucio!" a horrible voice said. Pain followed for what seemed like hours.

"Stop!" someone shrieked. I heard the door fly open. I was too weak to look up at who had entered the room. I laid there on the ground before the spells stopped and someone pulled me to my feet. I immediately fell back to the floor. My legs were just too weak to stand.

"Sam, are you hurt?" a woman with a kind voice asked. I couldn't seem to get my mouth to form out the words. It was just too much work. I felt myself being lifted onto a stretcher. I could see the faces of people now.

"Where's Matilda?" I whispered softly to Minerva, who was standing next to the floating stretcher.

"She was taken, Sam. I'm so sorry." She managed to choke out. Everything quickly became black once more.

Author's Note: Sorry for the shorter chapter. I know you all hate me for the mean cliff hanger, but I'll get the next chapter out soon. Please tell me if you spot any errors in my writing. Thank you to those of you who have commented or are following my story. Please comment! :)