Harry ate his dessert slowly. It was the first supper party Slughorn had invited students to this year. He tried looking lively and engaged in the conversation. He laughed when required and was quiet when necessary. Although he genuinely tried keeping a laugh in at Hermione's story about her dad's experience as a dentist alongside everyone else's blank looks. If only they knew how valued and respected dentists were as a profession.
Irritation grew gradually, however, as Harry was truly just desperate to get to Lily. Even though the elves were helping him out he really did not like spending time away from her. Sure he could focus better in his classes and was gradually improving in all of them but leaving her to the elves in his supposed free time just sat wrong with him. He missed her.
Harry pushed the thought to the back of his head. He was doing this to protect her after all. Somehow this was going to help Dumbledore find a way to destroy Voldemort.
More to the point, Malfoy hadn't made it to the Slug Club. Blaise had, however, who tended to score lower to Malfoy in most cases. Even though Malfoy had dropped his skill level, usually he was neck and neck with Hermione, he was still better at potions and should have been invited. That would benefit Harry greatly, it would give him a chance to keep an eye on the blond if he ever chose to wander after the dinner party.
However, after Lucius Malfoy had been revealed as a Death Eater and sent to Azkaban, Draco Malfoy had been cast aside in a way and was at best tolerated in classes. Except for Defence Against the Dark Arts in which Snape continued to favour his Slytherins. Although a part of him felt smug that the idiot didn't have any privilege cast on him, the more sensible part of him didn't like it.
Malfoy deserved to be here, in this stupid little club, he should be here. Harry took another bite from his dessert, not noticing when Ginny made her entrance and sat down. He was too busy berating himself for caring about Malfoy's injustice considering the prat was still trying to kill the headmaster and had landed Katie in St. Mungo's.
Sure they hadn't spoken since Katie was cursed, that was two weeks ago, but Harry still noticed him disappearing from the marauder's map every so often. Harry wasn't exactly sure when the idiot slept at this point. He cleared his throat, frowning as he rubbed his throat, feeling it hard to swallow a little. Still the creamy dessert soothed it so he kept eating. His headache was back. Maybe he should try and sleep even better.
Finally the party was over and Slughorn stood at the door waving the other students away. Harry stayed back and looked for something in the room to talk about. A peculiar hourglass caught his eye.
"Potter!" Slughorn said in surprise. Harry turned to look at him and noticed that everyone had already left.
"I'm sorry sir." He quickly said. "I was just… admiring your hourglass."
The professor approached him and nodded. "Ah yes, most intriguing object. It runs in accordance to the quality of the conversation."
Harry stared at it and chuckled. "I better be going then." He said and Slughorn laughed patting him on the shoulder.
"Nonsense my boy. You have nothing to worry about. As for some of your classmates, let's just say they're unlikely to make the shelf."
"…Shelf, sir?" He asked and Slughorn pointed to the pictures where Harry knew his mother stood saluting with a smile to the camera.
"Anyone who aspires to be anyone hopes to end up here." He said proudly. "But then again, you already are someone, aren't you, Harry." Slughorn smiled starting to pour a glass of some alcohol. "Perhaps in the future I could get little Lily to sit right next to her grandmother, ey?" He smiled as he mixed his drink. Harry felt a lump in his throat at those words.
"Did Voldemort ever make it to the shelf, sir?" Harry asked. The professor seemed to freeze. "You knew him, didn't you, sir? Tom Riddle?" Harry hoped this would work. He had no idea how to go about getting closer to the professor. "You were his teacher."
"…Mr. Riddle had a number of teachers during his stay at Hogwarts." Slughorn said softly.
"What was he like?" Harry asked, remembering the little boy he saw in the memory. Those angry eyes. However, Slughorn seemed at a loss for words. He had to fix this. Or he would scare the other off. "I'm sorry sir… he killed my parents." And that was the truth.
"Of course… it's only natural you should want to know more." Slughorn slowly turned to Harry. "But I'm afraid I must disappoint you. When I taught Mr. Riddle, he was a brilliant and dedicated young boy set on becoming a first rate wizard, like many I've seen. Similar to you, in fact." He said honestly, his eyes gazing into Harry's own. "If such a monster existed… it was buried deep within." He said.
Harry glanced at the picture of his mother and nodded softly.
oOoOoOo
As Harry made his way out he heard sobbing on the way to the Gryffindor Tower. His mind instantly went back to the memory of Malfoy in the forgotten girls' toilets. When he rounded the corner he saw Ginny in tears, sitting on one of the staircases.
"Ginny, what's wrong?" Harry asked with a frown. Ginny looked up and then away, wiping her tears, starting to stand.
"Oh… nothing. Just me being silly." Ginny said.
"Do you… want to talk about it?" Harry asked. He thought Ginny was seeing Dean before the Slughorn dinner party. Did something happen between them? Ginny looked up surprised and slowly sat back down.
"…Boys are prats." She said.
"Yeah, I guess we kinda are." Harry said sitting down beside her.
"We just had an argument. He says I'm too bossy since I became captain of the Quiditch team and didn't like me giving him 'orders'. He's new to the team, I just wanted him to practice on his weak spots a bit more." She said. Harry nodded listening to what she was saying. He thought of Lily ever being talked to like that by a guy and it made his blood boil.
"I made you captain because what Dean calls being bossy, I call being a boss." Ginny looked up at him. "If Dean's too stupid to work on his weaknesses and can't take constructive criticism just either because you're a girl, younger than him, a redhead, whatever-" Ginny punched him on the arm and Harry chuckled as she laughed softly too. "-then Dean can leave. You're the captain, captain. You take charge with Gryffindor pride." Harry said and stood, offering her his hand to stand. She took it and smiled. They both made the way back to Gryffindor Tower in pleasant silence.
At the entrance to the common room he heard giggling and saw Hermione looking at the havoc within.
oOoOoOo
At breakfast Harry cooed at Lily who was sitting on a transfigured stool that now served as a baby chair. He brought a small spoon to her mouth with pureed rice porridge, starting her on soft foods for the first time. Hermione had recommended it and madam Pomfrey had agreed that now was a good time.
Lily smiled, thinking this was a game and mostly avoided the spoon. She did eventually take a bite and seemed to enjoy what she tasted. Breakfast was louder than usual today with the Gryffindor team getting ready for their match against Slytherin.
Harry glanced up to look at the table. As usual, Malfoy was sitting somewhat separated from his friends. A sombre look on his face as he mostly stared at his breakfast and didn't engage with the others at the Slytherin table. Malfoy's eyes flickered up and met his. Just then Lily reached for his pumpkin juice and tossed it over Harry's lap.
"Ah! Lily, why?" He took a deep breath while Lily squealed and giggled. Harry sighed and patted his trousers dry with a tissue, drying her hands before they got sticky. That was his last clean pair.
Ron sat down then and Harry looked up to see him looking terrible.
"So how was it then?" He grumbled as he plopped down on the chair, looking at his breakfast in a queasy manner.
"How was what?" Hermione asked and Harry turned back to Lily, encouraging her to eat more, most of the spoonfulls he gave her ending up on her chin as she ate some of it while pushing the rest out with her tongue.
"You know, your dinner party." He said mockingly.
"Pretty boring actually." Hermione said and turned to her newspaper amused. "Though I think Harry enjoyed returning to Lily." Harry paused feeding Lily, feeling his expression go blank, glancing at Hermione with what he hoped was the most unimpressed look ever.
Last night Ron had not been awake to witness the meltdown the elves had while taking care of Lily. Most of the things Harry had for her were muggle things since it's what he knew best to handle. Hence when he returned he'd found the common room where they'd been taking care of her scattered with her toys and blankets. On her head she had on a skirt charmed to stay upright like an eccentric fashionista's hat while she lay on her nappy, sleeping soundly after pulling off whatever the house elves had managed to get right and covering both she and her things in Harry's last vial of ink.
"Is that why the bathroom was covered in ink this morning?" Ron asked.
"Don't… I don't want to remember." Harry said rubbing his forehead in an attempt to rub the sleep from his soul. He'd spent a good hour with a screaming Lily who was absolutely offended at having been woken up and was refusing to cooperate. It was so late that Harry just left the bathroom as it was after dressing her back up and putting her back to sleep.
"Slughorn's having a Christmas party too, you know?" Hermione said, keeping her eyes on her newspaper. "And we're supposed to bring someone with us." Harry turned his attention back to Lily, smiling at her and opening his mouth to get her to copy. She seemed to be getting the idea and did so on the second try, managing to swallow a little of the rice porridge before gurgling the rest onto the bib.
"Harry, eat something." Harry looked up at Ginny who was sitting beside Lily. She must have noticed he hadn't had any breakfast. Harry smiled and shook his head, focusing on Lily. His throat felt scratchy. He didn't know what it was. He barely felt hungry because of it.
"I suppose you'll be inviting McLaggen. He's in the Slug Club too isn't he?" Ron asked annoyed. Harry chuckled at the disgust in the other's voice.
"No… I was going to invite you, actually." Hermione said glaring at Ron with mild annoyance, turning her attention back to the newspaper. Harry glanced at Ron who was too nervous to eat, let alone acknowledge Hermione's annoyance. If he had still been captain he would kick the other for being so nervous. He glanced up at the teacher's table as he cleaned Lily's chin again.
Snape ate looking as indifferent to the world as ever. Anger was a permanent feature on his face, though lately Harry couldn't figure out what he'd done to provoke the potions master's fury. His grades were better now that Lily was being taken care of during the day, and he was advancing well in Defence… so what had he done wrong? Ever since Lily had started with the elves Snape was back to his harsh, angry, critical self. His patience with Harry was close to zero again.
It confused Harry at first. Call him crazy, but in some way, his messed up mind had started to believe… who knows? That maybe the potions master was starting to like him? God, why would Harry even begin to think that? He narrowed his eyes at the potions master and turned back to Lily, giving her another spoonful.
He thought maybe he'd wanted Harry to get better rest, to avoid any more breakdowns like the one he'd had a few weeks ago. Instead, maybe Snape thought like many others, that he was incompetent as a father. That he couldn't take care of Lily properly and needed to suggest Lily should be taken care of by someone else as he was clearly unable.
Or maybe all he was to him and Dumbledore was a weapon against the Dark Lord.
"Ah, stop it." Harry said annoyed with himself, shaking that stupid notion from his head. Making up stories in his head never helped him before. Maybe he needed to do something entirely different. Something he would never consider.
Lavender Brown left after encouraging Ron and Ron turned in a panic at them, speaking to Ginny aswell. "Right, after this match, I'm resigning. McLaggen can take my spot." He said, his face as pale as when he was throwing up slugs in second year. Harry looked up at him annoyed and passed him a cup of pumpkin juice, discretely holding his liquid luck in such a way that they could notice.
"Fine, but drink this." Harry said. Ron looked at it ready to refuse.
"Good morning everyone. You look terrible Ron." Luna said with her airy voice. "Is that why you put something in his drink, Harry?" Harry turned to her putting an innocent expression and made a show of putting away the vial of liquid luck.
"Liquid luck?" Hermione said horrified and Ron put a firm hold on his cup. "Don't drink it, Ron!" Hermione whispered.
"Don't Ron." Ginny joined in but Ron looked too excited and gulped down the plain pumpkin juice.
"You could get expelled for that." Hermione hissed at Harry. Harry would never do something as stupid as that while he had Lily to think about.
"I simply don't know what you're talking about." Harry said innocently.
"Come on sis, we have a game to win." Ron said standing. Ginny stood annoyed.
"That's captain to you, Ron!" Ginny called after him, sending Harry a grin and a shake of the head as she left.
Harry smiled and turned to Lily. "Think you could be Quiditch captain someday?" He asked.
"Mihbah!" She replied and Harry chuckled, offering her another spoonful of rice. He couldn't go to the match. Lily would find it too distressing, all the shouting and cheering and there was no way he was risking a rogue bludger around her. Harry let her grab the spoon and sighed as she tossed it across the room and hit a Ravenclaw on the side of her face.
First thing's first.
oOoOoOo
"Professor Snape? Can I speak with you?" Harry tried being polite. The look of disgust the other sent him clearly told Harry that Snape wasn't buying it and could tell he was up to something. Harry took a deep breath, irritation building already against Snape.