We can be Heroes

The next morning, as Sam sat down and began eating breakfast, the owls came in and delivered the post. She had been sitting in between Draco and Blaise when the owls dropped a letter in both hers an Draco’s lap. Sam felt a sense of fear when she saw the letter was from her dad. She could hear Draco’s proud voice as he boasted about how thrilled his family was at his placing in Slytherin.
Sam finally opened the letter and began reading the words that were assigned to her.

‘My dear Sam,
Congratulations on your sorting! Am I a slight bit saddened that you didn’t place in Gryffindor? Of course, but that dose not mean I am disappointed. I’ve already ordered you all the clothes, flags, and even the socks. I do hope you are making friends in your house!
I wanted to let you know that I’m okay if you want to stay for Halloween, or Christmas, but I do hope that you are home for at least one of the two holidays. Molly Weasley is planning a Halloween party, and it would be a shame if you missed it, but I do know how exciting it can be to spend holidays at Hogwarts.
I also have a question to ask you. I saw that you had one of my old vinyls in your room, the Heroes album, and I was wondering how you had come across it, and if there was anything you needed to ask me, or talk to me about. I’m sure it brought up a few questions, and I would be happy to explain them all to you, although I would prefer we did that in person.
I miss you dearly everyday, and I look forward to seeing you during one of your breaks.
Much love, Dad. <3

Sam stared at the letter, feeling some warmth at her dads kind words, but also a spike of anxiety realizing he had found that album. She wondered if that meant he knew she knew about Sirius, if he was oblivious to the situation.
“What did your father say?” Draco asked her suddenly, making Sam jump slightly.
“You know, just the normal ‘Congratulations’ and stuff.” Sam mumbled as she pocketed the letter. She continued to eat her breakfast, sharing conversation with Blaise and Draco every so often. Her and Draco had shared class schedules to see that they had most classes together, the only ones they didn’t have together was charms and history of magic.
“It’ll be exciting to do defense against the dark arts together,” Draco told her, finishing his eggs. “I’ve been looking forward to that class, that one and potions.”
Sam frowned. “I have a feeling that we’ll get bullied in defense against the dark arts.” She mumbled, staring down at her eggs. Draco rolled his eyes and threw his arm around her shoulder.
“You are too worried about what others are going to think about you,” He told her. “If they want a bully and someone to hate, then give them that. These people don’t know you, but you can make them know the person that they think they know.”
Sam frowned. “What?” She asked, confused with his words. Blaise leaned in close to her.
“He’s saying that everyone treats you like you are a terrible person, then you should just be that.” He explained. Sam nodded understanding, but not sure if she wanted to do that. Did she really want to feed into these people and let herself became the person they wanted? She didn’t really know.
After breakfast, Sam walked with Draco to their first class, which just so happened to be potions. Her and Draco sat at the same table, chatting softly while they waited for the professor. Sam could spot Ron, Harry, and Hermione sitting together at their own table. She saw Harry steal a glance at her then immediately begin whispering to Ron and Hermione. Sam took a long annoyed breath, feeling that burning shame come over her. She knew she shouldn’t feel same like this, it wasn’t her fault that her father was a murderer, yet she still felt guilty and shameful at the fact.
The door to the class room was swung open hard, knocking against the wall, and making all the students in the room jump. The professor strutted in, his cloak flowing behind him as he began to go on about how strict his class would be. Sam recognized the name Snape as soon as he had introduced himself. She could recall the many times her dad had talked to professor Dumbledore about him. Apparently Snape had tried to convince Dumbledore not to let her be aloud to attend Hogwarts. She knew her dad had tried to keep it a secret from her that some teachers and parents didn’t want the daughter of a murderer and werewolf to go to the same school as the other students. (Although, Snape was the only one that complained about the werewolf part, seeing as he was the only one that knew about it.)
Sam tried to keep her head down as much as she could while Snape drilled Harry with questions that only Hermione knew. (Sam was starting to see that Hermione had probably done more studying then what was needed.)
Eventually though, Snape spotted her, and instantly his eyes narrowed. He strutted forward, looking own at her. “Miss Lupin-Black,” He started, looking her over. “My, my, don’t you look like your fathers mugshot.”
Those words had made Sam want to be sick. She stared at him hard in the face, letting him know just how disgusted she was with him. Of course, he continued. “How is your father? The one that isn’t currently in Azkaban?” He asked her.
Sam set her jaw, hearing his tone of disapproval at the fact that her dad was gay. “He’s doing quite well,” She said to him, then gave a small smirk. “He told me to remind you to wash your hair.”
There was a wave of giggles in the class room. Snape stared at Sam hard in the face. “Quiet,” He ordered the class in that low voice of his, his eyes still on Sam. “Detention, Miss Lupin-Black, and five points from Slytherin.”
There was a groan from some of her fellow Slytherin’s that were in the class, including Draco. But, Sam didn’t care about the points, Snape had tried to humiliate her in frount of her classmates, and she was not going to let that happen, she didn’t need someone else tormenting her, much less a teacher.
Snape eventually went on to teach, telling the class that he would be assigning partners that would be your partner for the rest of the year. Sam waited, hoping she would get paired with Draco, but hopes of that was gone when Snape partnered Draco and Neville Longbottom together. Poor Neville looked terrified of Draco. Sam waited for her name to be called, till finally she learned that she would be paired with Harry Potter.
As soon as the names left Snape’s mouth, she could tell by his smirk that he had done that on purpose. Both her and Harry looked at one another, seeing each others dread. The class was dead silence, and the tension was thick. Harry gathered his things with a groan and moved to sit next to Sam, refusing to look to her.
The class soon went on, and they were instructed to begin brewing a potion. Sam looked over her book as she began sorting ingredients and placing them in the steaming cauldron. All while, Harry did nothing but watch.
“Are you going to help, or watch me do all the work?” She finally asked. She expected a smart remark, or insult, but instead, Harry was quiet. She turned and looked at him, to see that he was utterly confused. He was looking at the recipe, but looked as though he couldn’t understand it. Sam stared at him, it all suddenly clicking.
“Do you not know how to brew potions?” She asked him. Harry gave her a glare, but answered honestly.
“I’ve never done anything like this before.” He mumbled, annoyed. Sam let out a ‘huh’ noise.
“You would think the savior of the wizard in world would know a thing or two about potions.” She mumbled, trying to hide her smirk. Harry turned to her sharply, his face in a frown.
“How about you shut the fuck up!” He whispered angrily at her. Sam looked to him and raised her eyebrows.
“Excuse me, but I’m the one that actually knows what she’s doing, so really you should shut the fuck up!”
Harry looked as though he wanted to argue some more, but held his tung. He turned to continue to flip trough his potions book while Sam finished brewing. They got an alright marking on the poison, and were given a ton of homework, of course.
Sam did her best to keep up with every class she ad that day, and she also did her best not to get too lost around the giant castle, but her and Draco found themselves going down the wrong staircase more then once that day.
Throughout the day, students and teachers would give her odd look, like they thought that at any moment she would jump up and curse them all. She felt like a danger and a hazard and she really hated it. She did her best to follow Draco’s advice, but it didn’t seem to be working. She was still being bothered by the comments and stares. More then once, a student had gone up to her and pretended to take her mugshot. It seemed that Snape’s comment had been spread across the school, and now everyone was laughing at it.
By the time dinner rolled around, Sam felt her patience dwindling. She was so close to finally snapping, and it was getting difficult to hold in her anger. Draco tried to help her mood by talking about how in charms Seamus Finnegan had blown up his feather he was supposed to make levitate. She had smiled at that, but soon that little bit of happiness was washed away when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Ron and Harry standing there. She gave them a hard look and was about to tell them to ‘fuck off’ but before she could, they handed her something. It was a photo. She stared at it and felt her stomach drop as she heard Ron and Harry start laughing.
The photo was her fathers mugshot. She had never actually seen the mugshot, or a picture of him, and this one made her chest hurt. The man in the photo had her black waves and gray eyes. He was standing with his sign in his hands and in his prison suite. But what made Sam really uneasy was the way he had tears streaming down his face as he stared right into the camera with dead eyes. There was blood dripping down his nose, and his lip was split.
Sam didn’t realize she was shaking till Draco grabbed her hands and took the photo from them. She stared down at the floor, feeling uneasy, like she might be sick. Draco stood from his seat, and marched too where Ron and Harry were laughing.
“What the fuck is wrong with you parts?!” He shouted in their faces, making them stop laughing. “Are you actually mentally stupid?! Do you not have brains?! Why the fuck would you do something like that?!”
Both Ron and Harry had froze. Ron’s face was twisted in anger, but Harry’s had gone pale. “Her father is a fucking murderer! She shouldn’t be aloud here!” Ron argued. They went back and forth for some bit, till finally Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore came in, ordering the boys to stop. There was some more scolding going on, then McGonagall went and marched over to Sam after Draco had told her what had happened.
McGonagall spotted the picture of Sirius on the table next to Sam, who was still staring at the ground. McGonagall huffed sadly, taking the picture and pocketing it, before helping Sam up and leading her through the halls with Dumbledore by their side. Sam wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening, and had blanked out till she was made to sit on a sofa in Dumbledore’s office. McGonagall sat by her side, rubbing circles on her back while her and Dumbledore talked. It was quite sometime of just sitting there, till finally the floo in the fire place popped, and out came Remus Lupin, looking at his daughter with sad eyes.
At the sight of her dad, Sam began sobbing, reaching out for him. He sat next to her and hugged her close, kissing the top of her head as shushed her softly. And although Sam knew that by him being there they would have to talk about her father, she pushed tat from her mind and just let herself relax in ear dad’s arms.