Incendio

Chapter 26: Venomous Tentacula

Samantha's time unfortunately continued to be a stressful blur. Samantha was writing about everything of interest, training the new Gazette members, printing layouts nearly every other day. There seemed to always be something to report on this year and the paper had continued at a high rotation. In mid-October after Katie Bell had been cursed on a visit to Hogsmead, Samantha quickly changed her front page article to describe the attack.

Her article about Slughorn wasn't anything particularly groundbreaking, but it was honest and simple. At first Samantha worried he would be insulted by her honesty, but instead she was invited to several more Slug Club parties with high praise. She suspected it also had something to do with the fact she'd had her article detailing the attack in Diagon Alley published in the Quibbler.

She continued to attended every Slug Club party she was invited to. Ginny wasn't able to attend any more of them seeing how they were conveniently scheduled the same night as Quidditch. Instead it was often only Hermione as a friendly respite at these events.

She and Hermione spent a fair amount of time together before and after these events, attempting to keep up with their homework together. It wasn't so much friendly as it was productive, but at least her grades were steady.

An odd place of anxiety freeness came from her Saturday mornings down at the greenhouse with Neville. No romance, no high pressure homework, no deadlines, just basic Herbology and friendly conversation. She'd improved, she hadn't killed anything in a long time and although she realized she wouldn't be top of the class, she would at least pass.

The morning of the first Quidditch match, they both chose to take their breakfast down at the greenhouses so they could finish before the game.

She grabbed a few breakfast pasties and began to leave the castle. Her brother was outside the doors pacing back and forth. Adrian Pucey was leaning against the castle wall, but stood a little straighter when Samantha greeted them. Warrington was sitting on the ground and was shaking his head. They all looked flustered.

"What's the matter Jack?" Samantha asked stopping.

"Malfoy is sick and Vaisey can't play because he took a bludger to the head last night during practice." Her brother looked frustrated. "Montague is furious and we barely have a team. He's been running drills with us and the back up team for hours."

"Not that you care." Warrington interjected harshly at Samantha. "It'll be a precious win for you slags over at Gryffindor."

"I'd rather they win off of talent alone, not by default." Samantha grimaced at Warrington.

Adrian rolled his eyes before calling Malfoy a vile term, "I bet he's playing sick."

"You know he's got a lot going on right now." Her brother gave them a terrifying look and they both receded. Samantha assumed it had something to do with Malfoy's dad being sent to Askaban for being a Death Eater.

"Sorry about it all." Samantha genuinely expressed. "I'm sure you gentleman can still play an excellent game."

"Thanks Fyre." Adrian responded with an approving upturned nod. His eyes began tracing her. He wasn't a bad looking fellow with his sandy hair, light brown eyes, tan skin, it was his personality that bothered Samantha.

Her brother looked uncomfortable with how Adrian was looking at her, before proceeding to hit him in the stomach.

"Well, I'm off to the Greenhouses." Samantha nodded and practically ran down to the Greenhouses to meet Neville. She'd be safe from anyone looking at her like that.

Neville said she was probably ready to start on Venomous Tentacula. Samantha was nervous, but more confident than she had been earlier in the term.

"Ok, stay focused, but don't get nervous. They can tell when you fear them." Neville instructed.