Professor Slughorn arrived to his classroom nearly ten minutes after the start of the period.
"Very sorry, very sorry," he said as he opened up his classroom for the students to enter. "I've been feeling a bit under the weather...Anyhow, no matter, let's get to work! Books out and open to page thee hundred and ninety four, if you please!"
"Bloody hell, what's that smell?" Fred said, wrinkling his nose and him, Alanna and Alexandra took their seats at their usual table.
Alexandra smelled it too. It was as if someone had tried to cover up a very foul scent with an overuse of a perfume, and the end result was far from desirable.
"You'll have to excuse the aroma in here," Slughorn said. "It's coming from a potion I have brewing for my N.E.W.T. students. Now, you'll see in your books in front of you that you will be making a simple wart removing potion. Not very difficult, but extremely useful! Simply follow the instructions and turn in a vile by the end of the class!"
"He really must be sick," Alexandra commented, poring some salt water into her cauldron. "He's not as...energetic as he usually is."
True, Slughorn usually spent the entire class period walking around the dungeon, peering into his students' cauldrons offering his input. And of course, whenever he would reach Fred, Alexandra and Alanna, his energy always seemed to increase greatly. Now, however, he settled himself down at his desk and sipped out of a large goblet with a bright green steaming liquid in it.
"Well, I'm sure he'll be back to his old self soon enough," Fred said, stirring in a few scoops of beetle eyes into his cauldron. "Unfortunately for us."
"Fred, that's terrible," Alanna said, though not in an all convincing voice.
After a surprisingly uneventful potions lesson, the three headed back up to the common room to get started on the thirteen inches Slughorn had assigned on cosmetic potions before lunch. The common room was relatively empty, except for a handful of second years who also had break. Alexandra saw Albus and Scorpius sitting by the fireplace, playing a game of wizard's chess, but it looked like they were also discussing something very serious as well.
"I think we're going to need to get some books from the library for this," Alanna said, flipping through her own potions book. "There's not too much in here that will help us...Oh, but the Hufflepuffs are on break now too, and they always go to the library and they're so loud. Maybe it'd just be easier if I ran down there and brought some books back up."
"I'll come with you," Fred said at once.
"Er, alright then," Alanna said. She turned to Alexandra. "We should be back in a few minutes; save our spot."
Alexandra nodded as she watched her two friends disappear out the portrait door. She turned back to look at Albus and Scorpius. She couldn't hear what they were whispering, but she noticed that Scorpius looked very nervous.
Well his father is working with Claridina, she reminded herself. Perhaps something's gone wrong...
If only she could hear what they were saying...Suddenly, Alexandra realized that she did have a way to do exactly that. Quickly digging through her bag, she extracted the Extendable Ear that Fred had given her a while ago. Making sure that the fleshy colored string was hidden by her hair, Alexandra placed one end in her ear and pretended to be very interested in her potions book.
"I didn't hear from him all summer!" Scorpius whispered to Albus, moving his rook.
"Did-Did you expect to?" Albus asked softly.
"No," Scorpius mumbled. "But from what you told me...something big's going to go down here soon, if your dad placed his guards all around here, plus Hensworth."
"Remember, you're not to tell anyone about him," Albus said firmly. "Besides, if Claridina is planing something to get the school...that doesn't mean your father's necessarily involved."
"Rose told me she overheard your brother and your cousins talking about him this morning," Scorpius said. "That James is going to write your dad-"
"He's full of rubbish," Albus said, rolling his eyes. "If he thinks you're Claridina's spy in here...I wish I knew who it was though."
"Last year," Scorpius said, looking around the common room to make sure nobody was listening (Alexandra stared determinedly at the book in front of her). "Last year, when her son kept trying to get me to help him with that whole plan of his, you know, to take over the castle with his mum, he mentioned something..."
"What?" Albus asked.
"Well, he-he seemed to already know he wouldn't be at Hogwarts this year," Scorpius said.
"He did?"
"Yes, even back then, when he still thought his mum was going to take Hogwarts during her attack...he told me that she still wanted to have people inside the school that could tell her if there were any sort of rebellions going on. He-He wanted that to be me."
"But you said no, didn't you?" Albus asked.
"Of course I did," Scorpius nodded. "That's when he got mad. I told him I didn't want anything to do with him or his mum, and just because my dad might've joined Claridina, didn't mean I was going to. And-And he said..."
"Said what?"
"He said it didn't matter," Scorpius replied, lowering his voice so low that Alexandra had to jam the Extendable Ear further into her ear just to hear. "He said that there was already another lined up that would be helping him and his mum. Then he said something odd..."
"What?"
"He said that this person was... 'In their bloodline'," Scorpius said. "That I was only being asked to serve under this person's command."
"In their bloodline?" Albus repeated. "But that makes it sound like...there's somebody here that's related to him and his mum!"
"Exactly," Scorpius nodded.
"But-there can't be," Albus frowned. "She doesn't have any family besides him, does she?"
"I don't know," Scorpius sighed. "But if she does, we're all in trouble aren't we?"
Alexandra yanked the Extendable Ear from her ear, and as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself, she gathered her belongings and headed up to her dormitory.
If what Scorpius said is true, she thought miserable to herself as she started up the stairs. Than it sounds as if I really am Claridina's spy.
And as she tried to convince herself as she continued on up the stairs that she wouldn't have to help Claridina if she didn't want to, that she did not make an Unbreakable Vow for these circumstances, she knew, deep down, that if her mother wanted her to be a spy, then one way or another, even if it was by force, she was going to be one. After all, look at what Claridina had already made her agree to.
She threw open her dormitory door and stormed in, only to stop dead in her tracks.
Sitting on her bed was a large eagle owl with a letter tied to its foot, the writing on the front of it painfully familiar to her.
