A/N: Remember I just write this for fun, I claim no ownership to this stuff and I'm not from England and don't use words like jumpers or trainers. I'm pretty solid on where this story is going and I think that I might have a place for Harry in the story, even though I like Draco better.
It was a rock in the bottom of her backpack. Like so many other things in her life, she couldn't remember what it was or how it got there. It was dark and shiny with a crack in the middle. It seemed like someone had put it in her backpack, but she couldn't imagine why. There didn't seem to be anything else strange in there and as she examined it, something wonderful and horrible happened.
When she turned the smooth stone over in her hand, a vision appeared. She was used to ghosts by now, she'd seen them for a whole month, but this was something different. It was a vision that was connected to her, to the rock, and it was her mother.
"Hello, Sam," her mother said.
Sam knew that this was her mother, and that it wasn't at the same time. They could talk freely but it seemed to pain her mother. She wasn't physically close to Sam, and all they could do was have this sort of odd, faraway conversation but it was so much better than not having a mother. Sam spent hours talking to her mom this way.
"Honey, you need to stop doing this," her mother said. She was pale, translucent and cold. It was said and wonderful at the same time. "I'm dead, Sam," she said. "You need to let me go."
"I can't mom," Sam said. She was no longer crying or choking up when she spoke with her mother because they talked so often. She'd found out that her mother really had no information about anything since her death. She couldn't communicate with other spirits or people, couldn't tell Sam what was happening anywhere other than right here, right now, and she appeared whenever Sam used the stone, but wasn't happy about it. "There is no one I can talk to about this."
"Samantha, darling, you can always talk to your father. He loves you and wants to take care of you…" her mother started but Sam interrupted her again.
"He doesn't understand!" Sam shouted.
"Sam?" Jack called as he started upstairs.
Sam turned the stone over in her palm and the cold image of her mother disappeared as Jack opened the door to her bedroom.
"What's going on?" Jack asked.
"Nothing," Sam said as she pocketed the stone. "I'm just having a day."
At that moment, Mrs. Chuffney passed through the wall of her room and started trying to dust Sam's nightstand as she listened in. Mrs. Chuffney loved drama.
"Get out!" Sam shouted at the lady that Jack couldn't see. She was sleep deprived, angry and over it all.
"Sam?" her father asked quietly. He was at the end of his rope as well. He had a daughter with a problem, but no one knew what it was and there was nothing that anyone was able to do about it. "What's happening?"
"It's ghosts, Dad," Sam said angrily. "I see ghosts. There is one here now and she's always trying to clean up. I wish she'd just go away!"
With that angry outburst, Mrs. Chuffney looked taken aback and huffed out of the room, through the wall.
"Sam, what are we going to do?" Jack asked.
"I don't know. I'm planning to just keep going crazy, I guess," she said sarcastically. "I want to go…"
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Sam took the opportunity to stop having this heated discussion and ran downstairs to answer it.
"Hello, we're raising money for Kids for Kids, a new charity that helps, well, kids," the teenage girl said as she stood on Sam's stoop. A very friendly boy stood next to her. "Would you like to donate, or better yet, would you like to join us for a coffee?" she said conspiratorially.
Sam froze. There was something familiar about these two strangers at her door. They were both about her same age, and they weren't from around here, judging by the unusual coats and hats they wore. There was something familiar about them and Sam did need a good excuse to get away from her dad.
"Um, a coffee sounds nice?" she said, wondering if it was a good idea.
"Well then, let's go!" the boy said excitedly.
"Let me get my backpack," Sam said. "Wait right here." She raced past her father who was coming down the stairs to see who was at the door.
"Hello," Jack said. "Who are you?"
"We are going to have a coffee with Sam," Colin answered and simultaneously realized that they weren't supposed to know her name.
"We just met, we're with the Kids for Kids charity," Rose lied.
"That's great," Jack said, not picking up on any of the clues that this wasn't on the up and up. "Have fun. Sam," Jack said as his daughter bounded down the stairs, "I probably won't be here when you get back, I'm going out soon."
"Give Sandy my best," Sam said insincerely as she and the two strangers walked down the block.
Jack watched the kids walk together, happy that Sam had someone to talk to as it seemed that she had been in solitary confinement for months. He watched them turn the corner and then noticed a person, no a woman, walking across the street from his house. He'd never seen her before, and he was sure that he would notice someone like her in the neighborhood. She was tall and elegant, even though he couldn't see her face under the hat she was wearing. What he did notice was the emerald green, long coat she was wearing. As he watched her walk, he realized that if she saw him, he'd look like a real creep, and he needed to get ready for his date at Il Capriccio with Sandy. It was strange how he wan't looking forward to it.
As he closed the door, he missed seeing the woman smile to herself.