A/N: Here's another chapter. Enjoy:))

Chapter 110: Slughorn

"Yes, we would." The man conjured a tea set just like Dumbledore had done merely an hour before.

"As I said before Albus, I have no intent of coming back to teach. I prefer my retired life. It's nice, and I travel a lot now. So they won't find me." If the Death Eaters wanted him so bad he must've been a really good wizard. Especially if he was so close to the headmaster.

"The muggles who live here are gone for a week on holiday. Surprisingly, the hardest change to make here wasn't the security or the ward spells. It was getting that piano into the house." He tilted his head and pointed with his chin to somewhere behind us. There, in the other room, next to the hallway, was placed a black grand piano. I wondered how frequently he actually played it.

" Well, at least allow me to make some presentations. Horace, this is Harry Potter."

The man's eyes widened, and he stared somewhere between Harry's 'scar' and his eyes.

"Pleasure to meet you young man." He took my brother's hand in both of his and shook it vigorously " I was your mother's teacher, you know. Brilliant student, Lily Evans. One of the best in my class. And she was so kind. I was surprised when I found out she was muggle-born. Not that there's anything wrong with muggle-borns."

"Can you point me towards the bathroom? "

"The second door to the right." he left and I was left with Slughorn and an irritated Harry.

"Of course there's nothing wrong with them. Our friend Hermione is muggle-born and she is the best in our year."

"That's true, she has been like that since first year and is very hard working as well." When I spoke, he seemed to suddenly remember about my presence.

"And you, my dear?"

"Oh, I'm Selene Potter professor. His twin sister."

"Oh, right, I read about that. They didn't think you were telling the truth, did they?"

"No sir, they didn't. But it came to surface after all. Now the secret is out."

"Lily didn't seem like someone who hides their kids though. She was very sincere."

"She was, yes, but those were times of war sir. They went into hiding before we were born. It's complicated."

"Of course dear, I didn't mean to insult your mother. She was one of my favourite students. She was in my club actually."

"Club?" Harry frowned. It sounded weird. Why would a teacher make a club.

"Yes, for the gifted students. She was one of them. Look, I have their photos there. "

We walked up to the table where dozens of moving photos were placed. Mom was there, laughing along with some of the other kids. The captain of the Holyhead Harpies was there as well.

"Regulus Black." Slughorn held a photo with a dark wood frame in his hand. A dark haired boy smiled slyly, staring back at him. "His whole family was in the club. Except for his brother, Sirius. I could've had the whole set." Set? He sounded like a collector. But a photo on the shelf attracted my attention and Harry and I reached for it at the same time. A handsome Slytherin boy, pale and with dark hair and a what looked like a solid gold ring on his finger was held by the shoulders by Slughorn." We held the frame, staring at him.

"Ummm, excuse me professor, but is this Tom Riddle?" He froze. His eyes filled with guilt and he didn't seem to keen on answering, but eventually he did.

"Yes, he is; promising boy, really, I never suspected he could have such...dark intentions."

"It is not your fault professor. He is rather good at tricking people."

"Yes, but I was good at not being tricked."

"He only fears Dumbledore, you know. I don't think he'd try anything with him. That's why Hogwarts is the safest place of all. But who knows what is going on in his mind?"

Dumbledore showed up, the usual twinkle in his eyes.

"Well, if you don't want to come back, we can't force you. I think we should be on our way kids. Have a good night Horace."

As we made our way out of the house and into the street, we heard someone shouting and panting behind us.

"Wait! I'll do it Albus, I'll come back to Hogwarts."

"That's great news. I'll see you there then."

"You knew he was going to act like that professor?"

"Well, I knew you'd convince him. I mean, Harry is the only one he could ever be interested in so much that he'd come back to Hogwarts. And now that it was found out about you as well Selene, how could he refuse? Now, you both need to be careful. He's going to try to make you part of his club. Don't get carried away, whatever happens. Things happened that started at his club that are better off not being discussed. Now-"

"What happened to your hand professor?"

Harry had a horrified look on his face. I followed his eyes and realized why. Dumbledore's hand was darkened and a lot more wrinkled than ever. It looked like someone set it on fire. I came here with him and didn't see it until now.

"When did that happen? And how comes it-" A blurry dome vanished from around the headmaster as he sighed in defeat. How come I didn't see it before? But why did he need a disguise spell for? Only when the spell was gone for good and the asphalt almost made acquaintance with my lunch did I realized that didn't actually want to know the answer to that.

"Black magic? How? And why the dome?"

"Because you found out before. But it appears that we can't keep this from you."

"It's not like I want to throw up either. But when did I- oh! I didn't actually ask you about leaving to Grimmauld Place that night, did I?"

"No, but that doesn't mean I will tell you this time either. Let's go. We have to Apparate there Selene. Can you do this?" I didn't think my stomach could handle being so close to him for a longer time.

"I'll Apparate separately. See you there."

Two loud apparitions and ten minutes later Dumbledore was gone and all of us were in Harry and Ron's room, filling Harry in with what happened before he got there, about Bill and Fleur, and they gave us the Daily Prophet they just got, and the first page had Sirius' face printed on it and a huge title "Alleged mass murderer Sirius Black redeemed".