MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you had a great day. Here is my gift to you, the next chapter. And I don't ask for much in return, just a little review like the one DSCWin gave me.

Not long after the McGonagall incident, we were still waiting for her to inform us on the trip to the Ministry we were planning. She'd written a letter to them and promised to let us know the moment they replied. So of course we were still waiting, but we were going on with our lives at the same time.

I earned Slytherin ten points for designing the best map in Astronomy and my dorm mate James earned us another twenty for being the first one to master the Smokescreen Spell. But I was awfully proud of Mel, because she finally managed to transfigure her mouse into a Snuffbox. We'd been practising for ages together in the library and she was so happy. It was obvious that McGonagall also shared her excitement. Janet got a D on her History of Magic essay about Emeric the Evil while I got an E. Guess who was jealous of who. Dominic and Zaria had ended up with another detention for using the Sardine Hex on a Ravenclaw.

January had come to an end, February was halfway done and I soon came to the realisation that exams were less than half a year away. That meant that we had to start revision according to Teddy, who was a year older. And that certainly freaked me out. No one was ready for revision, except James who spent his time rereading our textbooks in the dorm.

I tried to drag Janet and Danus to the library one day, but I only managed to get Janet there and then she wasn't even trying to study. A letter came from her parents though which said that they were expecting good grades from her. After that, she was the one dragging me to the library.

One day at Potions, Slughorn walked into the classroom looking very cheerful. "Good day everyone," he said as he made his way to his cauldron "We are going to have an excellent lesson today, but I would like to ask Miss Andrews, Mr. Candon, Mr. Odny, Miss Morcroff, Mr. Novak, Miss Zine and Mr. Rush to remain in class for five minutes after the lesson is over."

Janet and I cringed and I'm sure Dominic and Mel did the same. There was only one reason he would be holding the seven of us back, his Slug Club. I'd hoped Professor Snape wouldn't allow him to keep having meetings but he must have given in to his constant nagging.

The lesson today was about dittany. Slughorn explained that Dittany is a magical plant. It is a powerful healing herb and also restorative. I took notes on everything he said.

"Who could tell us about the effect of Dittany on a wound?" he asked and several hands rose. He looked over them trying to decide who to pick. "Mr. Novak," he said.

"Its use makes fresh skin grow over a wound, and after application, the wound seems several days old," said Dominic.

"Excellent," Slughorn congratulated him and even clapped "You take after your mother. You may know the most famous potion this ingredient is used in is Essence of Dittany. And who can tell us what colour Essence of Dittany is? Miss Bumis."

"It's brown, sir," said Lyra Bumis.

"Correct," Slughorn confirmed "Now, Dittany grows on Dicte, a mountain in Crete. Crete is the biggest island of Greece. The name of the plant, Dittany, comes from the Ancient Greek word δίκταμνον, supposedly Δικτή, meaning Dicte…"

He went on about the plant and then talked to us about Essence of Dittany. Its ingredients are three ounces of Blended Dittany Extract, which is a combined mix of White Dittany and Cretan Dittany oils, Copper and four Pickled Shrake Spines. It sounded interesting, but we weren't allowed to brew it until we had reached a specific level of potion making, which we hadn't reached yet.

The dreaded time came when the lesson ended. Nearly everyone left. Us select few were putting our books in our bags slowly, trying to prolong the time until Slughorn talked to us. But Nicolas Rush, a Gryffindor, didn't seem to mind at all. He looked like he was looking forward to talking to Slughorn about his amazing aunt. He was the first to walk to his side, nose pointing to the ceiling as he walked. I couldn't give a better example of snobbish behaviour.

"Professor Snape has given me permission to hold a small feast for my Club," he said proudly "I would like you all to attend. We will have a lovely talk and I will have the elves prepare their best food for us. See you tonight and don't eat too much at dinner."

We left the classroom. I was so excited about this party. Not! This was going to be just like the Christmas Eve feast but with more people. More people meant more stories and more stories meant more time and more time would lead me to kill myself. I'm sure Slughorn wouldn't want me to die, and after all I am destined to save us from the evilest wizard of all times. If I died we would be doomed and Slughorn would most certainly not like that.

Next period was History of Magic. Binns didn't even realise what day or what time it was, he just kept teaching. We'd spent three lessons already talking about Emeric the Evil, but he still kept going about him. I don't even know why I tried to concentrate. After ten minutes I gave up and fell asleep, just like Janet had. Mel and James were still the only ones paying attention, but Mel confessed that she found herself falling asleep halfway through the lesson as well.

Flitwick had us practise all of the charms we had learned this year at the start of the lesson. To my relief, I found that I could perform all of them correctly except for the Locking charm. I still needed to practice that as I kept saying "Colloportus," and waving my wand around but nothing happened until what seemed like the hundredth attempt. The Professor said that the next lesson was going to be about the Mending charm. That was good news because Marius had taught it to me some nights ago in the common room.

In Defence, Kettleburry was trying to reassure us that exams weren't going to be too difficult and that all we had to do was remember everything we had done this year. She was being positive, but I was still freaked out. She went on to talk about Fire crabs.

That was our last lesson of the day. It would have usually made me happy, but today it meant that we had to go to the Slug Club.

I tried eating as much as I could at dinner thinking that if I ate too much here and then too much at the feat I would end up sick and have to leave early. Janet said that she would rather not be getting sick so she and Dominic didn't follow my tactic.

We got to his office the same time as Mel and Nicolas Rush who had come together from the Gryffindor tower. We had had ten minutes after dinner to get ready. We knocked on the door and Slughorn opened it, greeting us with a large smile. Some other students including Teddy were there already. I tried to find Liam, Charlotte or Rey but they must not be members of the club. Lucky them.

We took our seats at the big round table. I was sitting between Mel and a fourth year Ravenclaw named Shane Celther. The last one to arrive was James. He scooted quietly over to the last remaining seat next to Rush.

I didn't get sick because apparently my body had had enough time to digest my dinner. As we were eating, Slughorn would ask everyone questions.

"Tell me, Nicolas," he asked Rush "How is your aunt?"

"Better than ever," Rush answered as if the two of them were old friends "She's still on the team and she believes that she might even become Captain. You see, their current Captain caused a huge mess a few months ago and Auntie Helen turned out to be the one who solved it. And not only that, she also fixed the team's whole reputation. So naturally we're expecting her to replace the Captain since he's not capable of handling seven people. Auntie Helen guaranteed me a spot on the team myself after she's Captain and I'm old enough to join. She says I'm gifted."

Rush had been using his hands while he talked so much that he almost knocked James off of his seat a few times. We chuckled a bit at that, but James seemed very uncomfortable whenever Rush so much as touched him. That was what caused me and some others to stop laughing.

"Fascinating," commented Slughorn "And you, Shane. I hear your grades are excellent. What are your parents saying?"

"They are proud," Shane Celther told him "But they have to send me letters asking what they mean." Slughorn laughed.

"You see children," he said to the rest of us "Shane is a Muggleborns and yet somehow managed to be the top of his year. Now isn't that remarkable?" I had to admit I was quite surprise that a Mudblood could manage that. I saw Mel scowl and Shane looked something between embarrassed and offended.

"Mr. Odny," the potions master addressed me to my surprise "I am sorry that I cannot ask you about your parents, but how is the rest of your family doing?"

"Very well, sir," I said, even though I didn't even know if what I was saying was true.

"I'm glad to hear," he said "It is a big family indeed the Odnies. I remember having your ancestors as students. Tell me, has your grandmother changed much?"

"Not at all, sir," I said smiling. Mel all but started laughing and I kicked her under the table. She kicked me back and we started doing that until our feet eventually hurt. By that time, Slughorn had talked to some others.

"Miss Andrews I believe your parents haven't been too busy at the Auror office," he said to Mel at some point by which we were no longer kicking each other.

"You're quite right," she said "There aren't many dark wizards around anymore."

"But I hear you had Christmas with Harry Potter," this made me wonder how he knew that "So that meant that you were with Teddy as well?"

"Well, yes," Teddy answered.

"Oh how wonderful," Slughorn exclaimed "That must mean you are friends."

"We are," Teddy said. "In case you hadn't worked it out already, since we hang out together," he added so that only Mel and I would hear him.

"And Mr. Candon," Slughorn caused James to look up from his food "How is your father? I haven't heard from him in a while. It's a pity really."

"He's alright," James answered in a small voice, almost like he wanted no one to notice him.

"He hasn't been very involved in anything lately," Slughorn continued "And at first I thought it was because he was getting over his wife's death, but it's been years now. How old were you when she died?"

James seemed to shudder at the mention of his mother. I turned to look at him and he appeared to be devastated, he must have known her. I could relate to that, I remembered my parents as well and knew it was hard to lose them when you had memories of them. But I didn't know his mother had died. Come to think of it, I didn't know anything about him other than his name and House.

"Four years old," he said even quieter than before.

Slughorn is really annoying to me, what about you? I just think he doesn't respect privacy. Give me a Christmas present by reviewing please and maybe tell me if you got your Christmas wish. I love you all!