Knights of Walpurgis Hideout

Samantha followed behind Tomas silently, desperately wanting to ask him to explain the image of the woman but not wanting to hurt him. She could tell that the whole encounter with the boggart had left him distracted. As Tomas entered another room, Sam stayed behind and leaned against the doorway. She watched him as he rattled through various pieces of furniture and ruffled through stacks of paperwork. His face was hard to read, but she could tell that the incident was still bothering him internally. The faint crackling of the fire and wailing screams of the burning boggart were distracting as well.

As Tomas picked up a paper and examined it closely, he spoke quietly. Samantha took a step forward and pulled the door shut behind her. She nodded slightly at his question and waited a moment before adding, "You don't have to tell me anything about it though, obviously. It's not as though I matter." Her voice was calm overall, but shook a bit as she finished her sentence. Looking down at the floor, she moved her head slightly so her long blonde hair fell in front of her face.

Samantha's eyes darkened as the possible endings to his story rushed to her mind. She brought her hand up to cover her face, which was riddled with confusion and surprise. She found herself hoping that it didn't end the way she thought it might. She knew that Scelestus was evil, but was she evil enough to force one member to kill his own reason for living? It would explain the deep hidden pain behind Tomas' eyes, but she didn't want it to be true.

She walked over slowly to Tomas and looked up at his face. Keeping eye contact, she reached down and held his hand gently. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me the rest if you don't want to." she said in a whisper. She smiled up at him one last time before releasing his hand and looking around the room.

Samantha forced back a gasp, as Tomas finally confirmed what she had originally thought. Her face was covered in the pain that she felt for him. She looked back over to him with tears forming behind her eyes. "Really?" she asked quietly, looking at the floor again in efforts to hide her face. She mentally yelled at herself for showing weakness, even though she wasn't the only one in the house doing so. She began to walk towards him, when something suddenly occurred to her. She lifted her head sharply, but continued making her way towards him. "Well, she probably deserved it. Truthfully, she had it coming." She reached her hand out and squeezed it gently, before walking past him and to a desk. Pulling out a pen and paper, she scribbled something down and folded the paper, only to write "Open when alone." on the front of it. "There's nothing useful in here, and you're wasting time. Let's go." she said in a harsh tone, silently slipping the note into his hand as she walked past him and out the door.

Samantha wanted to do nothing more but turn around and hug Tomas, but she was too fearful that Scelestus was somehow listening in on them. It would explain how she would have found out about Bella in the first place, although she wouldn't put it past Linnea to have told her in effort to get ahead. She rolled her eyes and huffed to herself in annoyance. She flipped out her wand and angrily forced all the doors down the hall open, with loud banging noises followed seconds by a loud screeching. Her hand flew up to her ears as she spun around to look at Tomas for help.

Realizing that the loud noises would distract from any sound, she rushed over to Tomas and pulled him in to a tight hug. She looked up at him and whispered that she was sorry, hoping she hadn't hurt his feelings by her harsh words.

Samantha ignored what he said and concentrated on putting her feelings into the embrace. It was silly when she really thought about it, putting feelings in a hug...but she'd always thought that if you felt something strong enough you could make another feel it too. She let go of him slowly and looked up at him, to see that he was already staring down at her. Samantha could feel the blood rising in her cheeks as a bright blush formed. They stood there for a few minutes in complete silence. She was too embarrassed by her actions to say anything of value so she just nodded as Tomas suggested locating the source of the screeching.

She began to walk down the hallway quickly peering into every door, wand at the ready. She hated being in this kind of situation, even though she had signed up for it. She couldn't stop thinking about the look on Tomas' face after she had hugged him. It was so distracting to her that she didn't even notice the large object flying straight towards her out of a room to her left, until it thumped her quite hard on the side of her head. With a small squeal she pushed it off of her and to the ground, looking to Tomas in complete shock.

"I-I-I"m fine," she managed to stutter out. "What was that thing?" she asked, her voice filled with the perfect mixture of fear and surprise. Tomas pushed her blonde hair from her face and focused on the bump on her head. She looked up at him and smiled shyly. "Any major damage?" she asked him in a whisper. She realized that she was gripping her wand so tightly, that her nails had dug into her palms, drawing more fresh blood to the surface. "Let's hope there aren't any vampires or blood-sucking creatures around this house." she said through a laugh as she held up her hand to show Tomas.

"Sorry, I was just a bit distracted and didn't even see it coming." She turned her head to look at the creature that had attacked her, but to her surprise it wasn't a creature at all. It was a small black orb, that appeared to be made of some sort of stone. She looked at it in confusion before turning back to Tomas. "What do you think that could be? I've never seen anything like it."

Samantha smiled nervously at Tomas, before inching forward to examine the orb more closely. The surface looked as the it were made of granite or marble, but something still looked off. As she slowly reached her hand out to touch it, the surface rippled back and forth, following the movement of her fingertips. She looked over at Tomas in confusion. "I was going to say that it reminded me of a bludger, but I've never seen a bludger like this before." She stood up and took a step back from the object, for safety. Bringing her hand up to her forehead, she rubbed the bump that it had left her. Finally turning away from it, "Should we just lock it back in a room and keep looking or...?" she began to ask quietly as she shrugged her shoulders.

Samantha nodded her head in agreement as Tomas proposed bringing the odd orb back to Scelestus. She looked over his shoulder, and peered into the room. A chill shivered down her spine as she saw the room. It didn't look much different from any of the other rooms besides the fact that it had less furniture, but there was a sinister feel to it. She reached down and grabbed Tomas' hand, before taking another step forward into the room. As she regained her confidence, she slipped her hand out of Tomas'. She took a few steps and was soon standing by the fireplace.

"H-H-Hey Tomas?" she managed to whisper quietly, turning on her heels to see his face. "I think there may be someone else here..." She pointed behind her a bit to the fireplace. "It's warm..."

Samantha looked over her should at Tomas. "Come over here and hold your hand near the fireplace. It's almost as if someone just stopped the fire." she said quietly. She found herself instinctively backing herself up against the corner where the walls met. She looked around the room trying to see anything out of the ordinary. She laughed to herself, as she thought how nothing in this cold dark house had been normal thus far.

"What do you think?" she asked, with more bravery coming through in her voice than her actions. She took a step forward realizing how childish it was of her to try to hide herself in the corner. She slowly walked over to Tomas, looking up at his face.

Samantha drew a sharp breath and watched Tomas as he place his hand on the stone mantle. She couldn't help but feel like someone was watching them. Her cheeks turned crimson as she realized how she'd been acting like an insecure and fragile child. How long had they been watching?, Samantha found herself wondering. The hair on the back of her neck were rising and her stomach had begun swirling.

She took a step backwards and bumped into something warm. Without realizing it, she had gotten into a defensive stance in front of Tomas. Samantha turned her head just enough to see his face and nod in response of getting through this as quickly as possible. "I agree completely... Wouldn't want to have to kill anyone without having time to torture the properly," she said in a grim tone. She realized she sounded harsh and decided against apologies in case someone was around. She motioned to Tomas that they should continue on, when there was the sound of a door slamming in the distance.