Incendio

The reaction to Lee's comment on the radio was not something Samantha expected. Nearly everyone she knew had heard the interview. Samantha was suddenly now interesting and cool enough to have made Lee Jordan, who was now making regular appearances on YWW&W, leave his heart behind at Hogwarts. Her past pranks and protests were being talked about again, and she wasn't sure if she liked her old reputation being brought to the surface. She was trying to leave it behind and be a mature focused student.

There was slight retaliation towards Samantha from a few students. A few younger Slytherin students had taken to making kiss noises at her when she passed through the hallway.

Elsie Overbast and Marietta had started loudly telling everyone that Samantha was a ruthless heartbreaker. Samantha refused to talk badly back to them, but she could, considering Marietta was the one who had gotten the Gazette banned and still had acne scars from betraying the D.A.

Ginny didn't understand why Samantha wouldn't be getting revenge on Marietta and Elsie. She was particularly angered one Saturday morning after hearing them loudly call Samantha a particularly ruthless term.

"You could have just jinxed her, no one would know. Hermione told me you picked up wand-less magic pretty quickly." Ginny remarked as they left the Great Hall. "Just one moment later and Elsie could have been covered in pimples like Marietta."

"She is just jealous that dating Lee never made her interesting." Samantha laughed, "And Marietta is just upset that I wouldn't let her back on the Gazette. I'd rather fight about important things."

"Fine, but I'm not exactly a fan of anyone picking on my best friend." Ginny commented to Samantha as they made their way out of the castle.

"Thanks Ginny."

Ginny remarked with an odd giggle back, "I could tell you without the radio broadcast, Lee isn't getting over you. When I saw him over the holiday, was constantly asking about you. Fred keeps wondering what kind of long lasting love potion you slipped him, he thinks it would sell incredibly well."

"Tell Fred that I'm rotten at potions." Samantha said in an un-sarcastic tone as they walked further onto the grounds. Ginny was going to Quidditch Tryouts and Samantha was on her way to meet Neville at the Greenhouses. "Trust me, I know Lee isn't over me. I just wish he hadn't aired it out for the world to hear. According to him, he didn't know they were asking the question so he panicked."

"You two still write?" Ginny asked. "Colin says you get a letter from him twice a week."

"We do, but it's not romantic. It's mostly business." Samantha rolled her eyes, "He may not be over me, but I am quite over him."

"Oh you are?"

"One hundred percent." Samantha lied. She wasn't sure if she was fully over him. It was the reason she couldn't stand being around romance or happy couples. All she could think about was how much she missed those little moments together. She knew she was better off not being entangled with him at the moment, but it didn't mean she didn't miss the happy moments.

"Excellent." Ginny giggled. "You know the next Hogsmead trip? Dean and I were talking, Seamus and Lavender broke up last year and we could totally do a double date."

Samantha felt her nose wrinkle, "You want me to go on a date with Seamus?"

"Ok, I know, he's not your type." Ginny laughed.

"He's really not. He's short, biased and it took him forever to believe Harry last year." Samantha shook her head, "Not to mention, he thinks Aiden Lynch is the best Quidditch player in the world."

Ginny stopped in her tracks before making a face. "Ok, no one is perfect."

Samantha coughed, "I'll have homework to do that that day."

Ginny laughed in a way that highly resembled Fred and George. She heightened her voice, "Oh I'm Samantha Fyre, I just want to focus on my future and education when I could be having a good time."

Samantha burst out laughing before patting her friend on the back. "Well, good luck with tryouts today. Knock them dead."

"You could have tried out too Sam." Ginny rolled her eyes.

Samantha laughed, "Yeah, I need another thing on my plate. Also, I'm terrible at Quidditch, I'm not good like you."

"True." Ginny laughed.

"Besides, I do need this Herbology tutoring." Samantha shook her head.

"I just thought you'd find it funny to watch all those little girls swoon over Harry Potter." Ginny put her hand to her head."

"Yeah, you trend setter." Samantha raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms making Ginny's eyebrows furrow.

"Shut it, now go off and enjoy what I presume will be a much more exciting time learning Herbology from Neville." Ginny smirked sarcastically.

The two parted and Samantha made her way down to the greenhouses. Neville was waiting and greeted her with a brief smile. There had been two more Herbology classes since they'd agreed to meet, both of which were disasters. The first class, she'd nearly been stabbed by some kind of aggressively moving cacti. The second class, things hadn't been much better, but it had been interrupted mid way. Poor Hannah Abbot, one of Ernie's best friend from Hufflepuff was pulled out of class. Her mother had been found dead and no one saw her in school again. Of course no one could focus on schoolwork after that.

"Alright, so where do we start?" Samantha asked feeling her jaw clench.

"I think we will start simple today. Nothing that could kill you." He chuckled. "Maybe go back a bit. Just work on identification and uses."

Samantha breathed a sigh of relief and got out her pen and paper. "That would be appreciated."

He took her into one of the greenhouses and began slowly showing her every plant. He truly was knowledgable as he showed her each of the plants. He was a little more confident in his ability and she appreciated seeing a different side of Neville. She rarely saw it when he worked with the Gazette or in normal classes.

He got to a black and white flower and she burst out, "That one is pretty." Samantha admitted, she recognized it at least. "I can never remember the name of it, but I remember that it's good for countering enchantments right?"

"It's Moly." Neville confirmed with a jolly smile. "And it is very good for countering enchantments. Why don't we start with that one then? Since it's your favorite."

"I didn't say it was my favorite." She laughed. "I just said it was pretty."

"It's still the one you remember best." Neville handed her one of the plants in a pot. "We're going to practice harvesting."

That evening after a long morning of Herbology and a long afternoon prepping for the auditions the next day. She was feeling quite spent. She just wanted some dinner then to go take a bath and go to bed early. She had a long day tomorrow, followed by an even longer Monday as she would be interviewing Slughorn for the next issue of the Gazette.

"Oh just the young lady I was looking for." Slughorn stopped her in all of his large, joyous glory. "I was thinking, I'm having a small party tonight, just a few of you extraordinary students you know. I was wondering if you'd care to join. We could maybe even get that interview done early."

Samantha thought about it, she knew she needed to network and Slughorn was the man to do that with. She feigned a smile and answered, "Of course."

"I would keep it between us if you don't mind. I do not think I have made such a positive impression upon your brother and I wouldn't want to upset him further by excluding him from such events." Slughorn requested.

"We do not run in similar circles so I doubt he would notice." Samantha wondered what kind of argument he and her brother had engaged in.

"I would not mind if you brought Miss Weasley, I hear through the grapevine that you two are quite chummy."

"She's my best friend." Samantha nodded. She was sure Ginny would say no, but it wouldn't hurt. They could go together after giving their puffs a little playdate.

"Talent does always seek talent, how wonderful. I will see you both later then." Slughorn bowed slightly before leaving.

The party was quite ridiculous. Hermione, Ginny and Samantha had all been invited and Samantha was very thankful that she'd eaten before hand. The food was too rich for her liking. She also wanted to throw up every time McLaggen attempted to flirt with Hermione by bragging extensively. She was eventually able to get an interview out of Slughorn after the party when he'd had just the right amount of wine.

Samantha was up the next day, bright and early. She was ready to conduct these interviews but the lateness of the Slug party had left her exhausted. She was to meet Ernie and Colin to conduct the interviews at the Gazette's room.

There were more interested parties than previously at auditions. To Samantha's dismay, quantity did not in fact mean quality. Most essays were nothing but gibberish. From little first years who just wanted hobbies to third and fourth year girls who preferred to write gossip, it wasn't a big pool to choose from.

It eventually came down to a few people who the group decided were at least decent.

Luna of course had arrived with a beautiful essay about her summertime adventure with her father. Ernie and Colin both had been skeptical, but after looking at the rest of the candidates, they were easily persuaded.

A young lady who surprised Samantha was a second year Hufflepuff named Rose. She was definitely young, but she had an elegant writing style and beautiful penmanship. She seemed like the best person to take Marietta's spot.

Dennis, Colin's younger brother still couldn't write to save his life, but he'd started picking up photography like his brother. So it was decided that he would at least learn photography with Colin.

With a full team finally assembled, Samantha felt things with the Gazette should become easier.