Ch. 11

(Samuel Lestrange Pov)

…

Samuel hobbled across the threshold to the Hospital wing.

Fucking Hell! Back here again already!

Samuel sighed as he heard a woman's voice scream, "SAMUEL LESTRANGE WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK HERE ALREADY! IT'S NOT EVEN BEEN TWO DAYS!"

Poppy quickly stopped organizing her various medical supplies on the other side of the room, and rushed over to him pushing past Hagrid. As soon as she reached him she firmly grabbed both sides of the young boy's face, and tilted it up so she could examine it.

Samuels head was pounding from the beating he took earlier. Flinching when she grabbed him, tightly shutting his eyes as she inspected his bloody face.

"Whelp, it's definitely broken. Luckily it's just the nose, a quick fix for a Medi-Witch such as myself." Poppy said as she pulled out her light brown wand.

"Alright, take a deep breath this is going to hurt a bit." She said calmly

"W-wai—-" Sam was beginning to say as he was cut short by a stern, "Episkey!"

A loud cracking sound rang out as he screamed in pain, "ARGH!"

FUCK THAT HURT!

Tears rolled down Sam's face, not from sadness but from the boy's photic sneeze reflex. A bit of blood that was trapped in his sinuses, unable to fall due to the damage from Goyle's meaty fist, shot out onto the boy's shirt. Causing his blood-stained Hogwarts uniform to become wet once again.

Sam reached up and wiped his nose with the sleeve of his Hogwarts robe and a large dark red blood clot stuck itself to the sleeve of his Hogwarts robe.

"Ugh, so gross." He thought to himself in a resigned manner

Suddenly, he felt the urge to breathe in deeply through his nose. His lungs quickly filled with air as he sucked air through his fixed nose. It felt amazing, honestly better than it did before.

Bloody-Hell! This woman is something.

Sam exhaled the air he had been holding in his lungs and let out a huge smile.

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey. You are absolutely brilliant!" He said

"You're welcome Sam." She said happily

"Am I free to go now?" Sam asked

"No sorry baby, you are gonna have to stay here until your head of house gets here to go over what happened." Poppy said as she quickly left and began rummaging through a cabinet with various potions, until she seemingly decided on one.

"Aye don't worry son, I got yer back. I didn't get too good a look at those ruddy snakes who attacked yer. Shouldn'ta be gettin inter much trouble fer it. Not on my watch." Hagrid said as he gently patted Sam's shoulder with a big meaty hand the size of Sam's head.

Sam fought the urge to shrink back from being touched by a disgusting Half-Breed, and just nodded his head meekly.

For a filthy Half-Breed he is not so bad I suppose. Still he's quite a disgusting creature. Definitely very dangerous, I'd hate to be on the other end of one of those blasting curses for hands he has.

Madam Pomfrey returned with the potion, pinched his nose and tilted Sam's neck back. She raised the mysterious liquid to his mouth and forced him to drink the whole bottle. It had a horrible medicinal taste and tasted like pure chemicals.

Sam coughed and pushed away from Madam Pomfrey as he fought the urge to vomit.

"That's alright, keep it down baby." Madam Pomfrey said

The image of his mother from the dream flashed through his head. "Oh baby what happened." Said in that pure voice, then the image shifted to her disgusting visage as her face became melted and deformed. It felt like maggots were chewing on his brain. He couldn't stop it from pounding.

"Blegh, what was that?" Sam asked

"Gorgon Flaxen root brewed into a potion, should clear that concussion right up, Sam." Madam Pomfrey said

Sam rolled his eyes, and let out a breath. "Next time warn a guy, alright!" He said still trying not to puke from the most disgusting beverage he had ever consumed.

"Sorry baby, next time for sure!" Madam Pomfrey said humming a happy tune.

Samuel rolled his eyes and said, "Could I at least go wash up first. I'm covered in blood?"

"Yes dear, feel free you already know where the patient's loo is, don't you?" Poppy said

"Yes Mam, I do." Sam said

"I wonder why I don't see Crabbe and Goyle anywhere in here?" Sam thought to himself as he gently placed his leather school bag down by one of the beds. Sam shook his head as he quickly grabbed a random hospital gown.

"Do you think you could spell the blood out of my uniform while I wash up?" He asked

"Yes dear, just leave your clothes right there by your bag and I'll take care of it." Madam Pomfrey said

Sam nodded, and quickly stripped down into his underwear. He slid his arms into the hospital gown that automatically tied itself shut in the back once he put it on. Sam reached into his robes and slid his wand out of his wand pocket, and slid it into the waistband of his underwear.

"Always good to be prepared!" Sam thought while nodding to himself internally, then he headed off to the lavatory at the far end of the hospital wing.

Sam quickly entered through a medium sized wooden door, well at least medium sized for Hogwarts. So it was still quite big by regular standards. He stepped inside the eerily quiet lavatory. Sam quickly looked around and scanned the room for possible enemies.

These fuckers are coming at me from literally everywhere I can't be too careful. It seems empty, but there is always more than meets the eye when magic is involved.

He warily moved to the showers, only the sound of his own footsteps was audible in the cold stone chamber. He quickly threw off his hospital gown, peeled off his underwear and stepped inside the shower.

Once inside, he pulled his wand out of his underwear and placed it on the small shelf with the soap and shampoo. Then, he reached out and turned the metal shower nozzle to hot. As soon as he turned it, a jet of cold water shot out splashing onto him. Causing the boy to shiver. Sam's mind went blank for a brief moment, but he was quickly snapped back to reality a few seconds later as the water turned warm, then to hot. Sam let out a sigh of relief.

Ugh, I wonder how much longer I will have to go through this before they realize they shouldn't fuck with me. I'm stronger than I look, and I will be even stronger once I find the room of hidden things and my magical core hits its growth spurt, once I hit puberty and will be able to train it with far better results. Until then I have to endure the attacks and strike back as viciously as possible otherwise they will just keep coming. These fuckers really might kill me by accident if I'm not careful.

Sam ran his hand through his wet hair in the shower, and grabbed the bar of soap rubbing it on himself. Streams of dark dried blood began rolling down his body, falling down to the bottom of the shower and circling the drain. Sam sighed, trying not to let himself feel so depressed.

If only I had ended up in Slytherin my life would be so different. At least I know who my real friends are now.

Sam let out a maniacal laugh similar to his mother at his situation.

"That would be nobody!" Sam choked out between laughs. Eventually he stopped trying to catch his breath. He stretched a bit and began washing his hair. As he washed his hair, he noticed his head was no longer pounding or foggy.

Seems like that Gorgon-Flaxen root nonsense works pretty well!

Sam nodded to nobody in particular as he washed the dried blood out of his hair.

Eventually he stepped out of the shower feeling fresh and squeaky clean.

I hate Draco right now, but there is absolutely no way I'm ratting him out.

Sam dried off and slid on his underwear, and slid his wand in it. Then he once again, put on the magical hospital gown that tied itself and proceeded to leave the Lavatory back into the hospital wing.

As soon as he stepped out he saw a stern faced witch dressed in emerald green robes with a large giant of a man towering over her, chatting merrily with a smile on his face.

"Hello again professor!" Sam said politely as he strolled up to the bed that had his uniform folded neatly, now completely free from the bloodstains that covered it.

"Thanks again, Madam Pomfrey!" Sam said with a smile on his face.

Sam quickly pulled the wand out of his underwear and set it on the bed, and slid on his Hogwarts uniform and robes.

Sam sid his wand back into the wand holder and patted his chest smiling at the Emerald robed witch.

"Ahh much better!" Sam said

"Well, if you are ready please follow me to my office Mr. Lestrange, we have much to discuss." Said McGonnagal as she turned to leave the hospital wing

"Yes Mam," Sam said quickly threw his bag over his shoulder and followed her out

Quickly the freshly showered young boy and a stern faced witch arrived in McGonnagals office.

The office was pretty standard, a lot of quidditch posters around, some transfiguration qualifications, stacks of papers and a whole bookshelf filled with knowledge and theory that was far above Samuel's pay grade. Sam looked around everything was tidy and in order, about what he expected from what little he had gleaned about the witch. She had a few fun knickknacks and baubles on her desk, a picture of her and a tall wizard with dark hair, and a place to play a game of wizards chess in the corner.

Mcgonnagal sat down at her desk, and said "Please take a seat Mr. Lestrange."

Sam nodded and sat down in the chair across from her.

This lady can be a bit intimidating when she wants to be.

Mcgonnagal towered over the young eleven-year old, she was quite tall for a woman, and much larger than the young boy.

An image of him in a fist fight with Greyback once again flashed through his mind.

Well, she can't be nearly as bad as him. If I am to be expelled I may as well be homeschooled, or I will just go to Durmstrang. Probably should have gone their in the first place, hindsight is 20/20 I suppose.

"Mr. Lestrange this is the third incident you have been smack dab in the middle of in one week of Hogwarts. As well as the second time you have had to take a trip to the hospital wing. Hagrid has told me some of what happened. As of right now the offending students in all three cases are unknown. I would like to hear your side of the story before I pass any judgements."

"Well, professor I just wanted to say thank you and I hope we did not get off on the wrong foot. I am sorry that I interrupted the first day of you class the other day and truly wish for your forgiveness." Sam said politely switching into pure-blood mode.

"It is alright, Mr. Lestrange as your head of house I have an idea of what might be going on I just wish to hear your side of the story."

Sam snorted in his mind, "She doesn't honestly think I'm about to tell her the truth does she."

"Well, truthfully it's my last name. I have only ever met my parents once and I was absolutely disgusted by them. They were crazy and filthy up in that cell in Azkaban and didn't even recognize me when they saw me. However, my whole life I have just been Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange's son, and people have always hated me for it. So this is nothing new, people have always wanted me dead." Sam said calmly

"I figured it was something like that. Perhaps you could tell me a bit more about this particular incident. Hagrid said he found you passed out covered in blood and around four younger Slytherin students hobbling off when he found you. He said they were all injured, but none of them have come into the hospital wing for treatment. Is there anything you wish to tell me about the incident." Professor McGonnagal said in a slightly softer tone than before.

"Well, I was hiding out from everyone who has been coming after me out by the Great Lake. I was reading a book on transfiguration and how to use it in battle. I'm not quite at the level where I can use it in combat, but it always helps to know. Transfiguration is so cool! I hope to one day master it!" Sam said with a smile on his face

A slight smile appeared on McGonagall's face, "Perhaps we can discuss your extracurricular theory afterwards. I would appreciate you not dodging my question though. Do you know who attacked you?" She asked

"Well, I don't know to be fair it was a bit of a blur. One minute I'm walking back to the castle after a bit of reading, and the next fists were flying in my face. Those Slytherin Gits I remember managing to take out two, but I honestly can't remember what they looked like. The last thing I remember is I got hit with a Petrificus Totalis and then everything went black. I assume they beat me up while I was immobile. As for who did it I couldn't tell you, they couldn't have been beyond a third year though considering they were in a similar weight class." Sam said

"Samuel, are you sure there is nothing more you wish to tell me?" Mcgonnagal asked

"I'm sorry professor, there is nothing more I can say." He replied feigning a sorry look on his face

"If you don't tell me who attacked you I can't help you, you know." She said

As if I'm ratting out Draco!

"No mam. I'm sorry, nothing Madam Pomfrey said it should be normal not to remember cause I had a concursion or something like that, I don't know anything more." Sam said

"If I find out you are lying to me Samuel I will be deducting a hundred points from Gryffindor." She said sternly

Good thing I'm not getting caught there's no way to prove I'm lying.

"Understood mam. If I knew anything I'd tell you." He said once again.

She sighed and pinched her nose.

"You may go now Samuel. If anything happens or you remember anything else, you know where to find me." She said with an exasperated sigh

"W-wait professor. I have a question, perhaps you could help me with something." Sam said

"Is it about transfiguration? After hearing what you have been reading I hope to see you give it a go one of these days." She said

"No mam." Sam said he raised his hand up and palmed the small silver pendant he found inside of the book.

"Well, when I was wandering about the castle, hiding from any who might wish harm upon me. I heard the portraits talking. They were discussing something about a secret room and how one of them had somehow found their way into it." He said calmly a curious expression on his face.

"There are lots of secret rooms in Hogwarts, Samuel you will have to be more specific." She said a slight frown appearing on her face.

"Well, they called it "The Room Of Hidden Things." I've never heard anything about it. I figured a Woman as experienced and intelligent as you must have heard something about it." He said a sly smile appeared on his face.

No Fear, No Hesitation, it's life or death for me. Hopefully this gives me something to work with.

A smile appeared on McGonnagal's face, "Thank you for the compliment Mr. Lestrange." Then she paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. "I believe I have heard something about it before. It's just a legend though. Each of the founders placed their own hidden chamber somewhere in Hogwart's. That one should be one of Rowena's Hidden rooms. It goes by another name, the Room of Requirement, or the Come and Go room. Though many scholars say these hidden rooms don't even exist, however if you find it I believe it is supposed to take the form of whatever the user of the room most needs. So say you needed to use the loo, if you think about the loo one would appear for you. But it's just a legend, kind of like the chamber of secrets. It doesn't exist." She said

It's real for sure. I just need to find it, if it takes the form of different things I'm sure some people have accidentally found it and not known. I'm on the right track. I need to keep looking!

Sam had a thoughtful look on its face, "Well that's disappointing, I was hoping there might be a secret room I could hide out in and practice magic and do homework in peace in." Samuel sighed and placed a hand on the bridge of his nose, "What a letdown I suppose."

"Samuel, in all my years working at Hogwarts I have never seen a student bullied as viciously as you. These fights you keep getting in are incredibly dangerous, students are getting hurt. Someone knows some pretty dark magic in here. Do not worry too much, we are trying to work out a way to keep you safe." She said

She's not going to be of much use then. I'll have to start poking around some of the more obscure areas in hogwarts. But where should I start? The one place we can't go! I must go to the third corridor! It is forbidden after all there must be something in there.

"Ah thank you professor, it might not be necessary for you to do anything, hopefully I can get strong enough to scare some of them off soon." Sam said

"Mr. Lestrange for a first year you are plenty strong already. Based on what I have seen." She replied

"W-well, professor I admire you greatly, but there are some things I am worried about outside of the castle. I just need to be able to protect myself." He said

She looked thoughtful for a moment, and slowly walked over to her book shelf. She ran her fingers along the spines of several transfiguration books and pulled out one. She grasped it tightly, and brought it over.

"Professor Snape has told me about your passion for transfiguration. Before I give you this, I want you to show me what you can do. Transform this bauble into a matchstick, then a goblet, then a needle, and return it to its previous form.

Sam quickly drew his wand from his pocket, and flicked it, he felt the pull on his magic core as he will overpowered that of the globes to stay in its previous form. Quickly the globe shifted into a small perfectly shaped matchstick.

Professor McGonnagal's eyes went wide as she watched it. "Well done Samuel, an excellent Matchstick!"

Then sam flicked his wand again and the process repeated itself. Sam's will overpowered the Will of the matchstick and as he quickly shaped it into a beautiful Crystal goblet.

McGonagall's eyes went wide, "My god it's perfect."

Then Sam flicked his wand once again, overpowering the goblets Will to stay a goblet, he felt the magic flow from his core through his arm and it pour into his wand. It burst out of the end of the wand and the goblet quickly shifted into a long silver knitting needle. It was perfect, no imperfections. Sam felt the continuous pull on his magic, as he battled the objects will to return to its previous shape.

"Well Done Samuel! Well Done!" McGonnagal said as she clapped her hands.

"I dare say you might pass the first three years of my class with no issues at all! You are truly a genius. I've never seen a first year do that!" She said

"Thank you professor." Sam said with a slight smile on his face.

Sam flicked his wand once again and released his grip on the magic, the object quickly shifted back into the globe shaped bauble from before.

"Is there anything else you can do?" She asked

"Yes mam." He said

"Would you be willing to show me sometime?" She replied

"Of course, anytime." He said

"Okay here, I wanted to give you this. Perhaps it will help you a bit more than finding some mysterious hidden room that might not even exist." She said

"Perhaps it will help you defend yourself a bit better than before." She said handing him the book she had just pulled from the shelf.

Well, anything helps I guess.

Sam quickly took the book and looked down at it.

"Lightning Fast Shields" by Andrew Rockman.

"Professor—" he said but McGonnagal cut him off.

"If you want to learn battle transfiguration, that book should be incredibly useful in your foundation. Some spells can't be blocked by a mere shielding charm. Sometimes you have to either get out of the way or cause a physical object to intercept it. Practicing transfiguring shields should help improve your casting speed as well." She said

"Thank you professor." He replied as he quickly placed the book in his schoolbag.

"I hope to see you in class tomorrow…. Unharmed." She said

"Looking forward to it Professor. Thanks again." Sam said with a smile.

He gently placed the book in his schoolbag, when he looked inside he saw one of the books he stole from the library.

"Animagus Transformations in the 16th century."

Sam turned to leave, his steps echoing in the empty study as the stern faced witch moved to look over a stack of papers on her desk.

Sam crossed the threshold swearing in his heart to get stronger and check out the third floor corridor.

However the other book was on his mind, other than the little black book of rituals. He wouldn't be able to do any yet, mostly because he didn't have any ingredients and he didn't quite understand the theory yet. He didn't care that they were incredibly dangerous and getting caught might end up with him doing a small bid in Azkaban. Sam needed a way to move around the castle undetected.

I could try to learn the disillusionment charm, but I suck at charms. Maybe the Animagus transformation could work, but only if I'm lucky.

Sam sighed as he made his way through the halls of Hogwarts, keeping an eye on his surroundings in case enemies appeared.

Fuck! I'm the most unlucky person I know. Based on my luck my animagus transformation would be an Elephant. I mean I guess it's worth a try, it's a lot less dangerous that even the most basic ritual in the little black book. From what I have read so far anyways. It could be useful.

Sam quickly pulled out the Animagus Transformation book, and made his way to hopefully find an empty classroom to read in.

Hopefully I am a cockroach or something… Jeez… Okay let's do this. It might be best to not let Snape know about the little black book, but I might ask him for some stuff so I can do this Animagus transformation.

Sam said as he entered an empty classroom.

Dang I have so much to do. Who knows how long these could take, I'm putting all on black. Let's check what's going on with the third floor. Hopefully I stumble into the Room of Hidden Things down there. I need to do more research.