Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Harry Potter Series – it belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. If I did own it, then Remus and Tonks would've been alive.
Author's Note: Well, hey there. Sorry, I couldn't write the author's note in my first story, Déjà vu. That was my first story, so I didn't know how to write A/Ns. But I've always been a fast learner :D
Francis
April 24th, 1977
It was a beautiful spring afternoon when Professor Slughorn opened his office door. It was a tiring day (Which forced Slughorn to skip lunch because he was very, very tired and surprisingly, not hungry). James Potter and Sirius Black had caused a minor explosion during their Potions class. Nobody was hurt, except for the causers and Peter Pettigrew. That stupid boy didn't have enough sense to shift aside when their potion was starting to bubble at a faster rate than it was expected to. Slughorn often wondered how that fatso even got through his OWLs.
Sighing as he remembered the commotion that had taken place as soon as the thick liquid burst very loudly, Slughorn squeezed (With difficulty. Slughorn wouldn't admit that he was fat) himself on his new chintz chair (Sent to him by dear Lucius Malfoy today morning. The letter that had accompanied the chair said that Lucius's wife, Narcissa had selected the admirable chair). The only student who had kept her cool was Lily Evans. Lovely Lily never screamed like Alice Prewett had screamed nor did she faint like Mary Macdonald (Female Pettigrew, Slughorn called her in his mind) nor did she clutch some handsome boy like Marlene McKinnon did, neither did she run out of the room like Dorcas Meadowes.
Slughorn chuckled as he remembered how much girly Lily's friends were. And they called themselves Gryffindors – where brave at heart dwelled. The behaviour they exhibited was even worse than the standards of Hufflepuff. Not that Slughorn had anything against Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff was a house which the Sorting Hat had considered apt for him. But the blood of so many Slytherins ran in his veins, so Slytherin succeeded over Hufflepuff.
Presently, a bowl on Slughorn's desk interrupted him from his thoughts. Slughorn's gooseberry eyes widened. What was a bowl doing on his desk?
For further inspection of the bowl, Slughorn tried to get up from his chintz chair, but he got stuck. He couldn't get up from his chair. He tried again but no avail. It was no rheumatism, it was just that he was noticing that the chair which seemed be rather tight for him. May Malfoy have a grandson who falls in love a ... a ... Weasley! Slughorn cursed inwardly. As soon as he cursed Lucius Malfoy, he could be able to get up from his chair.
He panted towards his desk and stopped to his tracks when he got close enough. The bowl was filled with very little water. On the top of this water was a petal – a lily petal. Slughorn smiled because any lily petal represented his favourite student (The favourite amongst the rest of his favourites).
He watched the petal sink, the smile still present on his face. As soon as the petal hit the bottom, it transformed into a fish.
Slughorn gasped at the excellent bit of magic performed by his secret friend (He did not think it was an enemy. No Death Eater had that much brains to perform such beautiful magic, wondrous to behold) and gift giver.
He had a pretty good idea who it was. But before he could know how that person had transported the bowl into his office, his eyes fell on a small piece of parchment next to the bowl. Slughorn picked up the parchment and read what was written in it:
Dear Professor Slughorn,
A few days ago, Professor McGonagall recommended this book to me, A series of Animal Transfiguration by Emeric Switch (He wrote the Beginner's guide to Transfiguration). It is a very good book. In this book, I found this interesting spell which transformed a small animal (Such as a rat or a fish) into a flower petal (We have to think of which petal we are going to Transfigure the animal into). When the petal reaches some surface, it transforms back into the animal. Isn't that fantastic, Professor?
After reading about this spell, I had an idea. You are fond of fishes, right? So, I decided to use this spell on a fish that I'd found from the Lake (Severus a friend of mine told me that there are a lot of hidden fishes in the Black Lake!) and gift it to you.
Don't ask me how I slipped in here. All I can say is Remus helped me. I am sorry if you think I have broken any rules, but sir, I really wanted it to be a surprise.
Love,
Lily
P.S. Name him Francis. That's my favourite name!
Slughorn smiled at Lily's letter and pocketed it in his robe's pocket. Ah, Lovely Lily! How he would miss her when she left Hogwarts!
November 1st, 1981
Professor Slughorn opened the door of his office, sadness gripping him. Soon, this office would no longer belong to him. He had cribbed about it a lot of times to Professor Dippet and Dumbledore, yet this office was comfortable in its own way. There were a lot of memories with this office – some good and some bad.
The bad memories – when he told that vile Tom Riddle (Who preferred to call himself Lord Voldemort) about ... them. And the good memories – there were too many... but the best of them all was when Lily Potter (Then Evans) had gifted him Francis.
Smiling at the memory, Slughorn's eyes reached to the spot where Francis was kept. The smile on Slughorn's face wiped away as he saw that in Francis's bowl, Francis was not there!
Not believing his eyes, Slughorn sprinted (At a very slow rate, because of his weight) to the desk where Francis was.
His eyes weren't deceiving him. Francis had disappeared. Before Slughorn could contemplate how Francis had mysteriously disappeared, a magnificent Screech owl entered into the room via the open window (Slughorn always kept one window open. Ventilation was very important!), carrying a copy of Daily Prophet. Slughorn fished out two Knuts from the depths of his pyjama pocket, threw those Knuts inside the pouch attached to the owl's left leg and snatched the Daily Prophet from the owl. The owl waved a wing and left the room.
Slughorn straightened the rolled up paper and read the heading of the first article: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Gone! Slughorn's eyes widened and his insides were dancing. The dancing stopped the minute Slughorn read the subheading: But not before killing James and Lily Potter
Slughorn sucked his breath inwards. Lily was dead? Then realization hit him. Francis's disappearance was a sign. A sign that Lily was...
"Gone..." Slughorn choked. It was early April, 1997 and Slughorn was telling Lily's son about Francis in his second office (He'd bargained with Dumbledore for wanting a bigger one than the last).
"That's sad sir," Harry Potter said in a constricted voice.
"Not sad, m'boy! Heart wrenching! It was heartbreaking! Such a wonderful witch... such talent –" Slughorn broke off.
Harry exhaled a heavy sigh. It was bad enough to convince a stubborn individual such as Slughorn into giving him the memory and right now, Slughorn was in an emotional mood.
"Professor, I think, I should leave. I have to – er – do my – Defence Against Dark Arts – e... essay! I have to do my Defence Against Dark Arts essay! Professor Snape wants –" Before he could make up more lies, Slughorn waved him to go, tears still streaming from his gooseberry eyes.
Sighing again, Harry got out of the office, leaving old Slughorn alone. Slughorn wiped his tears and took out a photograph from his robes' back-pocket.
This was the photograph of the Slug Club in the year 1977. Slughorn's fingers traced through every student's face finally resting on a particular, smiling face.
This smiling face belonged to the person who had given Francis to Slughorn.
Author's Second Note: Tada! Finished. I swear I will write more happier fics. But presently, only tear-jerkers are coming in my mind -.-
Anyway, I am really sorry if you find any grammatical errors. And, I am really sorry to misspell Macdonald as MacDonald and Meadowes as Meadows in my first fic.
Read and Review :-)