Samara the Witch

Chapter Eleven

It was the thirtieth of October, and the Halloween Feast was tomorrow. Samara wasn't sure how to feel about that. Big celebrations of anything just weren't her thing. There was the noise, the total chaos... She must preferred smaller gatherings. Even normal mealtimes could be stressful to her, but the Halloween Feast wouldn't be a normal mealtime. On the other hand, she was kind of looking forward to how a wizarding school would handle Halloween. She'd heard that British kids didn't really celebrate Halloween as much as Americans, but that definitely wasn't true of this place.

Samara and Mallory were in an empty classroom, both trying to study for the end of year exams. They had a long time, but both of them were still quite nervous. they wanted to do well. Lucretia was off with some of her other friends. She'd said something about trying to sneak into Hogsmeade, but Samara didn't think they'd be able to. First years weren't allowed in the village. Lucretia wasn't as worried about the exams. Being a pureblood, she'd been around magic for her whole life.

Samara envied her. Samara had grown up with parents who hadn't understood her at all, being what the wizards called 'muggles'. Maybe if she'd had a magical family the bad things wouldn't have happened, at least not so much. That would have been good.

"How's your cat?" Samara asked. Her voice disturbed the stillness of the room with a sudden jolt, startling Mallory.

"Er... Merlina's fine. She's getting bigger every day. I can't believe how tiny she was when we got her. My sister has these two pet rats, and they were the size of mice when they were babies, but now they weigh almost half a kilo."

"How much is half a kilo?"

"Er, I think it's about a pound. More or less. Quite small still, really. Compared to people, or cats. But it's just... they grow so much."

The window near them broke with a crash and they both looked up. There was a large rock in the room. It was surrounded by a small sea of broken glass shards. Samara walked over to it, and lifted it up, cutting her skin on the shards of glass. Blood smeared the cool stone as Samara moved it around in her hands.

"Artemis..." she whispered. Who else could it be? Artemis was the only one she knew who had a real grudge against her. She must have Levitated it in, or maybe got one of those fifth year friends she had to throw it. There was no way a first year could throw it with enough force to break the window. In fact, Samara doubted they could have thrown it at all. She couldn't barely lift it.

"What was that?" Mallory asked. "I heard you say something."

"Artemis," Samara said, a little louder. "It was her who did this. It must have been."

"Who's Artemis?" Mallory asked.

"You don't know? No, you don't..."

Mallory looked at Samara for a moment. Samara sighed and put down the rock. "Artemis... She's a girl I hurt. I didn't mean to do it. Trust me, I didn't. I just... Listen, sometimes when I get angry, things happen, bad things. I never want them to, but I can't stop it. It's happened since I was little. It's made some very bad things happen. But it's gotten better now. I promise. Well, anyway. Artemis made me mad, so I hurt her, completely by accident... But now she really hates me. She wants to hurt me. I'm kind of scared of her."

Mallory frowned. "Have you tried going to a teacher about this?"

Samara shook her head. "No. I couldn't do that. I don't want anyone to know. You're the only one I told. I haven't even told Lucretia. Every time she asks why Artemis hates me so much, I change the subject."

She did feel better having told someone though. She could tell Mallory didn't care what she might have done. All she cared was that Samara was being chased by someone willing to throw rocks through windows to hurt her. Samara truly knew what it was like to have a friend then.

"We should tell someone," Mallory said. "Maybe your the head of Ravenclaw?"

"That wouldn't work. Artemis is in Slytherin, like Lucretia."

"So we'd need to talk to the head of Slytherin. That's Professor Snape..."

"The Potions teacher?" Samara asked. "But he's mean. I don't think he likes me much."

"Snape's mean to everyone. Except the Slytherins. Which might mean he's not the best person to go to about this. So... Maybe Dumbledore?"

Samara tilted her head. "That could work."

Samara stood inside Dumbledore's office. She's seen him at every dinner of the year so far, but hadn't spoken to him since that time he'd come to her in the barn. She still thought he looked strange, even here.

"Samara," he said, smiling. "Why is it that you have come to see me?"

Samara was tongue tied. She didn't know what to say at all, let alone how to actually make the sounds come out of her mouth. Why was she so bad at this?

"Samara? Don't tell me you came here just so you wouldn't have to go to your lessons." At first Samara couldn't believe he'd say that, but then she realised he was joking.

She smiled stiffly. "No," she said. "That isn't why I came here."

"Then why did you come?" Dumbledore asked, his tone turning serious.

"Because... I hurt someone. I didn't mean to, and it was ages ago now. It was back on the first day. But I didn't tell anyone, because I didn't want anyone to know what I could do, didn't want them to be scared... I just wanted people to like me."

"I understand Samara. Was the person all right?"

"She was fine. She's still fine. But she got angry, and she's going after me now. And she told some other people that I cursed her. I haven't been seeing her a whole lot. Normally she just tries to trip me up in the corridor, laughs at me, whispers about me behind my back. That stuff hurts, but I can deal with it. Earlier she threw a rock through the window of the classroom me and Mallory were studying in. It could have hit either one of us."

"Mallory? That would be Mallory Fletcher, in Gryffindor?"

Samara nodded.

"It's good to hear you're making friends, Samara. I was worried that, due to your isolated upbringing, you would find it difficult to connect with your fellow students. I am pleased to hear that is not the case. Do you know the name of this girl who has been chasing you?"

"Her names Artemis. I don't know her last name. She's a first year like me, in Slytherin. She has a few fifth year friends."

"Artemis Silverton. I will speak to Professor Snape about her."

"He's probably not going to do anything. He let's Slytherins get away with anything."

But Samara felt better. Dumbledore was taking her problem seriously, even though it seemed small. She was thankful for that.

The next day went a little better. Samara didn't get anything thrown at her. Lucretia was with them again today, and Samara and Mallory had filled her in on what had happened yesterday.

"Seriously? She actually threw a brick at you?"

"Well, it was a rock, not a brick. Bricks are man-made, this thing wasn't. It was definitely more of a rock than a brick, although I guess you could build with it, and maybe using it to build with would make it a brick..."

"Mallory. You're talking too much," Lucretia said. She turned to Samara. "Do you definitely know it was her? Or is it more of a hunch?"

"It was her," Samara said. "It's not quite a hunch. Sometimes I get feelings about things. I could sense her."

"So can you see the future?" Lucretia asked.

Samara frowned. "Um, no, not really. Sometimes I get hunches about what might happen, but I wouldn't call that really seeing the future. No, what I mean is more like seeing the present, just... seeing more of it. It's kind of hard to explain. But it was definitely her."

"This has been going on for a while, hasn't it? And it's getting worse now."

Samara hesitated. She'd tried to hide most of the stuff with Artemis from her friends. She didn't want them to know what was going on. She wasn't really sure why. They wouldn't think less of her. Mallory would feel bad for her and Lucretia would probably threaten Artemis.

"Yeah," Samara said at last. "But it hasn't got that bad, even now. I'm okay, right? It's not like they've actually hurt me." Not like Anna had. Samara felt her throat constrict as she thought about that day. It seemed so long ago, but it was no less painful. She still remembered that betrayal. But she didn't even feel angry any more, not really. She just felt sad.

Mallory and Lucretia seemed doubtful of her last statement. They seemed to think this was a much bigger deal than it actually was. But at least Samara knew that they were there for her. It was nice to have people who actually cared about her. That was quite new to her.

"Come on," Mallory said. "Let's go to the Great Hall for the feast."

Lucretia and Samara followed behind Mallory, who was practically running. Samara didn't share her excitement, but she wasn't really worried either. If Artemis tried to hurt her, she knew she had friends she could count on.