Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. I got a little stuck on how to phrase my thoughts in this chapter. I did notice that the views in chapters nine and ten were lower than chapter eleven. That means people are skipping chapters. Please don't skip chapters because you'll be confused in later chapters. Enjoy my story!
Chapter Twelve: Returning
Where was I? I opened my eyes and saw a group of people gathered around me. Looking around, I saw that I was in a huge room. There was a door. Something bad was there. I grabbed my wand and stood up before blasting the door.
Xxxxxxxxx
"Where am I?" I asked. I was in a white room. It didn't even look like a room. There were no walls or ceiling. Just whiteness.
"You're in the void. It's where you can talk to the dead without actually being dead." Came a kind voice from behind me. I turned around to find Albus Dumbledore, Lily Potter, and Beelzebub Riddle, my father.
"Thank you, Professor, for confusing me even more." I said with a smirk.
"I see Samuel's spell didn't mess with your personality." Dumbledore said with a smile, his blue eyes twinkling behind his spectacles.
"Her attitude's probably the same too!" my father spat. He had jet black hair, dark green eyes, and a tall figure. His eyes held hatred and what looked like craziness.
"Nice to see you, too, father." I said. I could see the anger in his eyes, but he couldn't hurt me here, so why was I scared?
"Sam, it might not work but we're going to try to get your memories back." Lily said, smiling.
"How are you going to do that?" I asked.
"By having you travel through them." Dumbledore said. "You haven't, let me say, 'lost' your memories. You merely cannot see them. However, we will help you to see them."
"How's my father going to do that?" I asked. I remembered enough to know some of the horrible things he had done and how I killed him.
"You needed to have a family member that you knew who is dead right now for this to work. It'll help you see the memories of your family." Lily said. All of a sudden, I was seeing my father beating my mum. I was too small to help her. Scene after scene showed of my father hurting my mum, siblings and me. Then the scene that had played through my nightmares for years after it happened. The scene seemed to happen too fast to really know what was going on. Beelzebub Riddle was soon laying on the ground, dead. The scene changed to the good memories of my childhood. I was playing with my siblings. My mum was singing me a lullaby. Going to Hogwarts, the one place I felt truly safe as a kid. All of my childhood memories seemed to come in a huge wave. Suddenly, I was back in the white area.
"Okay, that should cover your childhood memories. Do you remember most of your childhood now?" Lily asked.
"Yes." I said. I was in a state of shock after what I had just seen. Maybe they were going to get all of my memory back. Suddenly, I was at an Order meeting. Voldemort was gone. I'm training to become an auror. I've passed. I'm working as an auror for a couple of years. Trying to find Sirius Black. I try to stun Harry, Ron, and Hermione after the 422nd quidditch world cup. Harry in the Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort returning. The Order regrouping. Having to tend to stupid Umbridge's stupid needs. Dumbledore leaving. The ministry accepting that Voldemort had returned. Dumbledore dying. Being asked by Severus to help the school.
"Okay, we have just the past two years to cover." Lily said. "You might have a slight delay in remembering some things when you return to the real world, so don't be alarmed."
"Did you see most of the memories between the first and second war?" Dumbledore asked, his blue eyes twinkling.
"Yes." I managed to say before I was pushed back into my memories. Severus's caring face as he worried about my injuries. Amycus torturing me. Meeting Samuel. Samuel raping me. The Order defying the ministry. Finding out about being pregnant. The Battle of Hogwarts starting. Being bit by the Basilisk. Hermione, Harry, and Ron rushing in. So many people wounded. So many dead. Helping to locate Death Eaters. Matilda being born. Living at Hogwarts. Accepting the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher post. Teaching students. Severus and I on Halloween. Christmas Day. Samuel taking Matilda. Depression. New Year's Eve. Severus saying he loved me and my love for him.
"Is she awaking?" I heard a voice say as I blinked the sleep out of my eyes.
"Sam!" my mum screamed as she tried to hug me. I hugged her back after a moment, confused. I was lying in a white hospital bed.
"Why are you guys freaking out about me waking up?" I asked.
"Thera, you've been asleep for five days." Richard said. "We were worried that you wouldn't wake up. I was worried that I would lose my baby sis."
"I remember that you were the fun one when we were little and was always doing some crazy stunt, like making a spell that will make someone look like a balloon." I said with a smirk. They looked shocked. "Where's Matilda?"
"You remembered!" Ivy screeched as she hugged me. "Matilda is right here." Breaking away from the hug, Minerva stepped up and handed me Matilda.
"What else do you remember?" Poppy asked as she handed me a potion to drink. I wrinkled my nose at the foul smell.
"Almost everything." I said. I talked to everybody until Poppy shooed them all out so I could rest. I didn't do that, though. Instead, I played with Matilda and helped her walk around the room. Poppy didn't like that I wasn't resting, but I managed to convince her to let three people in at a time. I sat in the white bed and talked to my family and friends for the rest of the night. At around nine, Severus came in. I'm glad I was the only patient.
"Hello, Severus." I said. He looked extremely agitated.
"Sam, on New Year's Day, you said your last name is 'Riddle'. Why is that?" he asked. I sighed. I knew I'd have to tell him eventually.
"That's my actual last name. I changed it to my mum's maiden name after my father died. I didn't want anyone to know about me being related to him." I said. Glad I finally got that off my chest. Now Severus will probably yell at me and never talk to me again. Or understand. Hopefully understand.
"Show me your left arm." He said coldly. I pulled up my sleeve and showed it to him. The small Dark Mark was there. I couldn't feel it burn, which was a good thing. He pulled my purple sleeve back down. Neither one of us said anything for a moment.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. Oh no. He didn't understand. His eyes had a hurt look in them.
"I'm sorry, Severus. I truly am." I said. He didn't say anything. He just stood up and walked out the door. Well, things couldn't have gone worse.
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"Professor Lechen?" a student exclaimed as they took a seat at their desk. It was my first day back to teaching after a four week break.
"Yes?" I asked.
"You-you're back?" the student said, confused.
"Yes, I am back. It just so happened that most of my memories were returned to me a few days ago." I said. It had been like that all day. Why was it so shocking that I was back? I didn't worry about it too much. I had other things on my mind. Matilda and I had moved back into my quarters. Ginny was very happy at my return. She said it was a lot gloomier in the classes, even though Lupin was teaching. The students did seem very happy when they saw me, even though they did look a little shocked. I was happy to be back. The only problem was Severus. Two weeks went by and he still would barely look at me! I thought he would be happy that I have my memories of him back, but instead he's upset. I really don't understand him.
"Sam." Minerva said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I have a present for Matilda's birthday." We were sitting at the teachers' table eating dinner. I almost forgot that Matilda's birthday is tomorrow, February 10th.
"Thank you, Minerva." I said, taking the present. "You don't mind if I open it now?"
"Of course not. It's close enough to her birthday." I opened it up to find a beautiful pink dress with red and white hearts on it.
"Thank you. I now know what she's wearing tomorrow." I said. I put it back in the box it came from and finished eating. I headed back to my quarters and played with Matilda until it got late. The next day, Matilda got tons of presents from students, coworkers, and family members. Wow. I never knew my baby effected so many lives. Later that day, I went to my mum's house with Matilda for her first birthday party. We arrived there on broom at four.
"How's my favorite youngest sibling and her daughter?" Richard asked as he hugged us.
"Good, yourself?" I asked.
"Great." I'm so happy your memory is back!" he said. "I missed having my smarty pants little sister telling me everything I'm doing wrong." I punched him hard in the arm. I'm not that strong, so my hard is most people's light.
"Hey S-girl!" Ivy called as she came out of my mum's small house. "Sup?"
"Not much, I-girl. Has the party started?"
"Not without Matilda!" my mum exclaimed as she came running out of the house. "Come on, we need you two to come in and eat dinner!" The five of us walked into the house. It was so full of people that I could barely breathe. I was immediately attacked with hugs from all sorts of family members. I didn't recognize some of the people that hugged me, that's how huge my family is. My mum quickly had us sit at the table and eat dinner. After that, she pulled out a huge chocolate cake with icing on top in the shape of blue, pink, and purple flowers on it and red letters that spelled out Happy First Birthday Matilda! Matilda couldn't blow out the candles, so I did it for her. Everyone had a slice of the delicious cake that had been enchanted to have enough slices for everyone. After dessert, we opened presents. There were diapers, a pacifier, little people sets, dresses, pajamas, a baby blanket, and so many other things.
"Hey, Sam." My Uncle Stephen said. "How's Matilda been?"
"Great. She's started walking. I love her more than anything." I said. Just then, everyone screamed as a patronus flew into the house. It was a cat.
"The Death Eaters are coming to Hogwarts and your house and they have some sort of creature!" the cat said in Minerva's voice.
"Everyone, we need to leave this house, now!" Richard yelled. "Those who want to help Hogwarts, come with me. The rest, go to a different location." I moved as quickly as possible. I ran through the scared people and found my mum.
"Take Matilda and go with some family members to their home, now. Keep my baby safe!" I said as I handed her Matilda and her baby bag. I ran over to Richard before she could respond. I quickly sent a patronus to Minerva so that she would know help is on the way. More people screamed as the bobcat zoomed out of the house.
"Sam, is Matilda safe?" Richard asked when I reached him through the crowd. A good chunk of my family had joined him. I nodded a yes to him. "Good. Now, take Ivy with you on your broomstick. Send a patronus if we won't be able to apparate outside the gate. Hurry!" I grabbed my broom and ran out of the house. Ivy was waiting for me outside.
"Finally, now let's go!" she said. We mounted the broom and took off. We got there in about three minutes. The battle hadn't started yet. I sent a patronus to Richard telling the coast is clear. Ivy and I flew through the entrance hall and into the school. It was then when I realized that I didn't know where they were. Good thing I spotted Nick.
"Hey Nick!" I called out to him. The nearly headless ghost turned to face me.
"Hello Professor. The others are in the Great Hall." He said. Somehow he always knows what I'm thinking.
"Thanks, Nick." I said. Ivy and I flew to the Great Hall. Some of the students were already being sent back to their dorms. It wasn't going to be a major battle like I had thought. I landed right up by Minerva.
"Are there any more of you?" Minerva asked, hairs spreading out of her bun.
"Of course. I think most of my family showed up." I said. "They should be here any second."
"Good." She said. "Now, I need some people to lead airstrikes."
"I'll take Remus, Tonks, Ivy, and anyone else who wants to join." Richard said as he came bounding in. The rest of the jobs were divided up. I was going to be with the ground attack. I was outside on the grounds. The sun was setting and it was getting dark. I could see people on the horizon along with something floating. It couldn't be dementors; the plants would've had ice on them. No, it must be the creature Minerva mentioned. But then, a cruel voice sounded from behind me.
"Hello, everyone! My name is Beelzebub Riddle, Samanthera Lechen's father."
Author's Note: But he's dead! Dun, Dun, Dun! (: Again, sorry for the long wait. Thank you to the one anonymous person who has reviewed. Thank you for reading this even if you're not reviewing. I do really appreciate reviews! Even if you don't have a fanfiction account you can post a review. It'll just say sent by anonymous. I'm begging you guys on my hands and knees, please review!