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CHAPTER 4
THE FIRST ASSIGNMENT
Rose woke up later than usual that morning, as there was no need to pick up another schedule; she knew it would be the same as the year before, though she was a little concerned about who would be teaching Magical Theory as it clearly was no longer Fogg. After breakfast, she and Scorpius went with Roxanne and Emma to their first class, Potions, and were surprised to find not Professor Marchbanks, but the old man from the Longbottoms' house last year, Slughorn, behind the teacher's desk. Rose searched the room for Dean, looking for an explanation for his aunt's absence, but not finding him they sat down hesitantly at the nearest table. The old man seemed to notice them and waddled over to their table, grinning. "Rose! How wonderful to see you again, you remember me, don't you?"
"Er, of course, Professor Slughorn," she said. "So you're teaching Potions this year?"
"Yes, yes, the headmistress wore me down," he chuckled. Rose remembered a general attitude of wariness toward the old professor and so doubted this, but remained quiet. "Yes, she said it was quite impossible to find someone who could do the job better. And you're Scorpius Malfoy?" he asked, clapping a hand on Scorpius's shoulder rather forcefully.
"Yes, sir," he said politely. Slughorn seemed to notice the other two then.
"And who are you?"
"Roxanne Weasley," Roxanne said.
He squinted. "Er… really?" he asked faintly, and Rose could practically see Roxanne's blood boiling. "Oh. Which Weasley?"
"George," she muttered, and he nodded absentmindedly.
"Lovely. I never had him, but… anyway. And, uh… your mother is…?"
"Angelina Johnson," she said flatly.
"Right, right, yes… I never had her, either, but she was a very accomplished Auror, of course. And you, dear?" he asked Emma.
"Emma Dursley," she said, and his brow furrowed.
"Anyone in the family I would know?"
"I'm… Muggleborn, sir," she said.
"Oh. Well, that's all right, too," he said, and Scorpius put a hand over Rose's, seeming to sense her urge to answer back.
"I'm Harry Potter's cousin, though," she said quickly, and Slughorn's eyes lit up.
"Oh! Of course! You'd be an Evans relation, then, wonderful! Speaking of Potters, where is Albus?" he asked, searching the room eagerly.
"He didn't come this year, sir," Rose said. "He's joined the war effort."
"Oh," Slughorn said, looking put out. "Well… I wish him the best, of course, let him know that, please. Lily is here, though, I suppose?"
"Yes, in fifth year," Rose said. Slughorn nodded, his mind clearly calculating how long he'd have to wait until he had the fifth years.
"Well, I must start the class, but I'd love to continue this conversation another time. I hope you'll consider joining the Slug Club, I'll send invitations out soon, yes…" the old professor hobbled towards the blackboard and began introducing himself to the rest of the unsuspecting class as Emma looked at Rose in alarm.
"Who is that?" she asked.
"He was a professor years ago. He's a bit eccentric," she said apologetically.
"If by eccentric you mean racist," Roxanne muttered, stabbing at her snake fangs with her scalpel indiscriminately. "Honestly."
"What is the Slug Club?" Emma asked.
"It's an exclusive student group Slughorn does," Scorpius said. "He's a climber, he likes to collect promising people. My dad was always bitter he never got in."
"I wonder why he's here," Rose mused. "Nothing happened with Marchbanks, did it?"
"Not sure. But isn't he a Dark magic expert or something?"
"Oh, yeah, they did talk about Horcruxes, didn't they?" Rose replied. "I'll see if I can find out from Dean." They saw Dean in Transfiguration next, but he said his aunt was only told they wanted to explore other options. Rose resolved to ask McGonagall the next chance she got, but as the day progressed for the most part Rose's worries shifted from Slughorn to the assignment they planned to carry out tonight. She only became more nervous as the hours passed by, thinking of what could happen if they failed. She had no idea how difficult it was going to be—what if they were followed? What if she couldn't really transform? She had never tried it—McGonagall thought it was too dangerous to attempt without a good reason. All the headmistress would tell them was that she believed they were ready, whatever that meant. She couldn't fail this assignment—the Dursleys and her grandparents were probably the most at-risk Muggles she could possibly think of. She was so preoccupied that she wasn't even listening to Claire talking during study hall until she heard the word 'statute'. Her head snapped up and she said, "Sorry, what?"
"I knew she wasn't listening," Scorpius told Claire with a smirk.
"Lucy wants you to start writing again," Claire said. "Thinks it's a good way to get people used to the idea of exposure. All you'd have to do is talk about the London resolution in further detail, and convince people it's a good idea should it be necessary. I know it's in the Confederation's hands now, but at least with public opinion on the side of exposure they'll probably be more likely to vote for it if they need to."
"Um, sure," Rose said, "I can do that. Tomorrow, probably."
"Great, thanks," Claire said. "You're starting the project tonight, aren't you?"
"Yes," Rose said.
"Well, good luck. Be careful," she added. "Nott's in the area, you know."
"Yeah, thanks," Rose said, returning to her troubled thoughts. Before long, she and Scorpius were the only students left in the Hall, and as it became closer to curfew Scorpius stood up and said, "Prefect commons?"
"Yeah," she said, nodding, and followed him to the small study on the fourth floor to wait. When it neared midnight, they snuck down the corridor, safe in the knowledge that the other prefects would be keeping everyone in the Houses as instructed, with Devon Goyle and Jared MacMillan waiting at the Room of Requirement to help settle the arrivals. They walked under the cover of Al's Invisibility Cloak until they came to the Entrance Hall, where McGonagall was waiting for them. "Hello, Professor."
"Quickly, put away that Cloak," she said, and Rose stuffed it in her bag as they walked closer to the headmistress. "On the count of three you will imagine yourselves as your animal forms. Ready?" Rose took a deep breath, putting her bag on the ground, and nodded. "One… two… three." As Rose thought of transforming, she began to feel the process taking place, her body shrinking to the ground and elongating. The strangest sensation she had ever experienced, she felt claws and fur grow from within her body and her face become a snout. Before long, she opened her eyes about three or four feet off the ground and looked around to see a tail swishing just out of reach. She looked over at where Scorpius had been and saw another wolf, though his was of a darker pelt than she was. She looked up at McGonagall, who looked almost surprised but pleased. "Very good. Now go. They'll know what to look for." Hearing her speak almost sounded foreign to her, though she still understood her, and Rose felt it difficult to continue thinking in an entirely human way—not impossible, just difficult. She couldn't imagine staying this way for any length of time. McGonagall opened the front doors and along with Scorpius, Rose bounded out into the night, a freeing feeling overtaking her as she ran across the grounds with a speed and strength she had never known before. This was definitely an unparalleled experience, if nothing else. They reached Hogsmeade much more quickly than they would have otherwise, and wasted no time in climbing up the rocky hills to the Shrieking Shack. They ran inside through a hole in the wall and came upon a room full of people—the first she recognized was James, who was standing with Mr. Dursley and a woman Rose presumed to be his wife. Nearby were Rose's mother's parents, talking to a couple with a young daughter Rose guessed were Ava's family. The Dursleys jumped when they entered, but James nodded reassuringly.
"It's all right," he told them. "Rose?" Rose moved forward a little and James grinned. "Right. And Malfoy, I suppose." The wolf that was Scorpius inclined his head, and James said, "This is Rose and Scorpius, they'll take you back to the castle. Through the Hog's Head, guys." Rose nodded at him and she and Scorpius ran out of the Shrieking Shack, waiting at the door for the Muggles to follow them. They bounded down the hill and across the street into the deserted pub, where the bartender started but seemed to have been informed, as she nodded warily at them. The group arrived a few moments later, and Rose led them back behind the bar to the hidden portrait and passageway. Once they had jumped inside and the others followed them, the bartender sealed it shut behind them and Rose and Scorpius imagined returning to human form, the process reversing almost as quickly. They stood up, back to normal, and the Muggles gaped at them.
"Right," she said, "we can get into the castle through here. Follow me." Speaking felt strange, even just after twenty minutes as a wolf, and she realized she was both eager to transform again and wary of it. She could tell it was extremely powerful magic.
"How did you do that?" Mr. Dursley asked them as they walked. "Harry's never done anything like that."
"It's a difficult skill to learn," Rose explained. "It's called Animagus."
"And you can transform into any animal you want?" he asked.
"No," Scorpius said. "Just to whatever your Patronus is."
"What's a—never mind," Mr. Dursley said, shaking his head. "Well, er, it's very impressive. Do we get to see the castle, by any chance? I've always been curious."
"Not through this way, no," Rose said. "Sorry. We might be able to let you see it sometime, if it's not too dangerous."
"Right, okay," Mr. Dursley said, though he looked a little put out. "I was always a little jealous Harry got to go to school in a castle—my school was just a big gray brick building outside London, pretty dreary actually. Though I did meet Mary there, of course." His wife, a small woman with a pointed face similar to Emma's, smiled at him as they continued down the path. When they reached the end of the passage, they opened the door and led the group down the ladder into the room.
"You can have your choice of beds—the bathroom's just there, and the radio tunes to Muggle stations and Wizarding news so you can keep up with what's going on in the war," Rose explained. "Food will be brought by elves three times a day. If there's anything you need we'll be in to check with you regularly—this is Devon and that's Jared, they're also Prefects. There'll be more of us you'll meet, but you can ask any of us for anything. If you have questions they'll answer them, but we've got to get to the Headmistress."
"Thank you," Ava's father told them, and Rose's grandparents both hugged her before they left.
"I suppose we should tell Emma and Collin their parents are here," Rose said.
"I can do it if you want to report to McGonagall," Scorpius offered.
"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow, then," Rose said.
"Yeah. I thought it went great. Didn't it feel amazing?" he asked, sounding exhilarated.
"Er, yes, it was very interesting. I thought it was a little disturbing, though, how… different it felt."
"Well, I loved it. It was like I wasn't even me, you know?"
"Don't you want to be you?" Rose asked, taken aback by this. Scorpius paused.
"…Yeah. Of course. It was just… different. I don't know, I'll see you tomorrow." Rose watched him walk down the hall to Gryffindor, more concerned than ever. She was glad the mission had gone well, of course, but she didn't like this change in him at all.
