Good Luck

Harry tried to avoid the room of requirements for a few days. Instead he kept tracking Malfoy on the map.

Professor McGonagall to their sadness fell ill by the weekend. Dumbledore's solution for her problem made Hermione and Ron very happy. Moriarty on the other hand wasn't thrilled to hear that.

"I understand your excitement for Sirius Black, but let's agree that he will make things complicated." he told Harry as they were on their way to the Ministry.

"I know, sir." said Harry as he stood next to Moriarty in the telephone box.

"Here we go… M-A-G-I-C." he then dialed 1.

"A small glitch." he explained as they moved down and the box made no announcements.

After Harry had his wand checked he went to the Auror office where to meet Henry Wellington and his Aurors.

"So what do you guys do here?" Moriarty said amiably.

"We've been working on Bloom's case, sir," said Wellington formally.

"Harry, Octavian Bloom was a Death Eater found by Aurors. When my Unspeakables got his body he was burnt like a piece of charcoal." Moriarty explained "Everyone is busy with that case somehow."

Harry's tour ended by noon when Moriarty took him to a muggle restaurant nearby.

"So did you find their job satisfying?" he asked.

"I think I'll be happy as an Auror." said Harry.

"Hmm… That's good. I'll show you other departments next time. You might change your mind."

When their order came the waitress sat on the third chair smiling in a funny way. Moriarty's face stiffened.

"Did you really think I'm afraid of you, kiddo?" said the waitress.

"I've never made such an assumption." Moriarty said as he took a bite of his chicken.

Harry stared at the waitress. How could this scrawny teenager know a man like Moriarty?

"I see that have changed your face." Moriarty said "What shall I call you for now?"

"Eve Morningstar." she stretched her hand to Moriarty.

Moriarty looked at her for a few seconds and then shook her hand.

"Interesting name, Eve. We'll defeat you this time as well."

"We'll see." she smiled, "Enjoy your remaining time. Soon this world will be mine."

She stood up and left. Harry tried to jump and follow her, but Moriarty stopped him.

"She's not trying to fight us. This isn't the place." said Moriarty angrily "We should go back."

Moriarty shakily took Harry's hand and dragged him out of the restaurant into a dark alley. A woman looked at them suspiciously, but Moriarty didn't mind her and took Harry into a building. He immediately side-apparated Harry without warning.

Transition was smooth and swift. A second before Harry could take his next breath they were in Hogwarts.

"Don't tell anyone I can do that." said Moriarty anxiously

He paced around his office madly. Cursing and hitting the walls violently.

"Are you okay, professor?" Harry asked anxiously.

"No, I'm not!" Moriarty bellowed, his face red with anger "She has seen you."

"Who?"

"Eve Morningstar." he yelled.

"Who?" Harry repeated his questions as he was perplexed.

"Harry, you are smart. She was John Dee. Obviously, she has changed her identity. Dee is a skinwalker, remember?"

"What was wrong with his previous identity?"

Moriarty stood dead. He gazed at the horizon for a minute before facing Harry.

"A very good point." he murmured "Why would she tell us her identity? What's her plan?"

Harry heard fire crack in the fireplace two times.

"He was following you." said a man, panting heavily behind them.

"No Rattenfanger. She was following us."

Harry turned around to see the man.

"Unspeakable Rattenfanger!"

"Nice to see you again, Mr Potter." Rattenfanger said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead "You met Doctor Dee at last."

"She didn't introduce herself as John Dee. Keep up Rattenfanger. In this century, she's posing as Eve Morningstar."

"A woman? Again?" Rattenfanger exclaimed.

"Yes. Last time she got really close. This means that she's as confident as then."

"We're screwed." said Rattenfanger.

"No, not yet. See who this Eve Morningstar is. She is on the move." Moriarty said. "And tell Stiltskin to answer his damn skull!"

**HS**

July 1930

Horace Slughorn was a young brilliant potioneer. He was only 19 years old when he was offered a job by Orion Black, the youngest of Arcturus Black. Orion was a close friend and a competent man who Horace admired greatly. He had asked Horace to work in his humble shop that he had bought just a year ago.

Horace opened the door carefully looking for Orion.

"Orion! It's Horace." he said loudly.

"I'm downstairs." Slughorn heard Orion Black's easily recognised voice.

Slughorn walked down the stairs to a dim, humid storage room.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us, Horace." said Orion with a friendly smile "Allow me to introduce you to our new friend and investor, Doctor John Dee."

Horace was surprised by the man's muggle suit and hat. The only indication of oddness was the long stick in his right hand. Horace had never seen a wand with a jewel on top of it.

"Call me, John." the man said amiably.

"Horace Slughorn. Nice to meet you, sir."

"Nice to meet you, too, Horace. I've heard a lot from Orion. I believe we're going to have a profitable business together."

"I hope so." Slughorn smiled nervously.

"There's no need for hope, my boy. There is no need when all we have is certainty." said Dee.

Slughorn smiled brightly.

**LM**

March 1996

Slughorn smiled brightly at Sirius Black, who entered the staff room wearing a fashionable velvet red robe.

"Sirius, my boy." he called Sirius.

Sirius walked to the Potions master.

Slughorn patted his back in a friendly manner.

"Professor Slughorn! How are you?" said Sirius with a normalcy that surprised Snape.

"Is he using Occlumency?" Snape asked Lucinda.

"I don't know." said Lucinda.

Sirius brought Slughorn to Lucinda. Lucinda looked into Slughorn's eyes. They were filled with joy. There was no trace of discomfort and concern.

"I hear you two are getting married?" said Slughorn merrily.

"Yes we are, Horace," said Lucinda.

"I must say Orion - hadn't he died before - wouldn't have believed it. 'Sirius is going to marry a muggle riff raff one day', he kept saying."

"That wouldn't have been so bad," said Lucinda.

"No, it wouldn't have. I always thought Sirius would end up with Marlane McKinnon. Poor girl." a single drop of tear ran down his left cheek.

"Let's not talk of things that make us sad, Horace." Lucinda said uncomfortably.

"Of course, dear, of course." Slughorn said "May I talk to you in private, Lucinda?"

Slughorn guided Lucinda to a less crowded place next to a window.

"I knew your father, Lucinda." said Slughorn "Did you know that?"

"Of course, even though never talked much about you."

"A better Legilimens, your father was. You should know by far that you cannot dig into my head. Has Dumbledore put you to do it as well?" Slughorn asked suspiciously.

"As well?"

Lucinda couldn't make sense of what Slughorn was saying.

"Oh come on. He's been nagging me about sometime. Tell him I have already given him the memory. I don't have anything more to give him." Slughorn said and left Lucinda alone.

Later Lucinda met Moriarty at his office while he was busy communicating with his Unspeakables.

"What does Albus want from old Slug?" she asked abruptly.

"You want a short answer or a detailed one?" he asked with sparing her a glance.

"Why don't you give me both?" said Lucinda.

"A memory." was the response "For the long answer I shall refer you to Albus."

"What memory?"

The Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor looked at her passively and put the skull in his pocket.

"Horace has a memory regarding Voldemort, more specifically, his Horcruxes… It's crucial to Dumbledore and consequently very important to me."

"I thought you only cared about the stone," said Lucinda.

"That is only one of many ingredients our enemy needs. I only need stone to keep the Flamels alive. These things deserve to be worried about. For now, let Harry do his job. He has to get the memory from Horace." Moriarty said as he drew his wand and turned a piece of parchment into an owl.

"I've tried that. It doesn't work." said Lucinda.

"Huh? … Oh, you mean the owl? Don't worry about it. I know what I'm doing." said Moriarty as he attached a letter to the owls leg.

Lucinda inspected the bird.

"It seems too real. No wonder it works for you." she said, admiring his work.

"Practice, dear. This is not difficult to do."

"Easy for you to say," said Lucinda.

Moriarty sent the owl on its way. "Do not attract Slughorn's attention. Behave normally around him. If he asks again, Dumbledore really wants that memory. He must not know that I suspect him."

"I'll be careful." said Lucinda "But there's something I don't understand. He never seemed to be into pureblood supremacy. Why would he want to poison, Harry?"

"I'm not sure what his agenda is, but I don't think he wanted to kill Harry," said Moriarty as he walked to his bookcase "For now, stay out of his dark detector and let Harry do his job."

"You're not telling me much." Lucinda protested.

"In time I will."

*HR*

Summer slowly started to warm up the ground, but Harry had little success with obtaining the memory from Slughorn.

"Has Malfoy fixed the cabinet already?" asked Harry from Hermione one morning after he kissed her.

"Couldn't you think if anything else while kissing me?" said Hermione disappointedly.

"Just asking." said Harry and kissed her as an apology.

"Well… I've been working on it." Hermione told him quietly "Draco cannot fix it on his own, so I had to help him a bit. I'm not doing my best of course."

"It must be hard to fake being bad at magic." whispered Harry in her ear.

"He's already frustrated that fixing it is so easy for me. I try to engage him as much as I can." said Hermione with a proud smile "Oddly, I think you would have more success than me. Your transfiguration is more inspirational than me after all."

"I have zero knowledge of runes. There's no way I could fix the Rune Board." disagreed Harry "So… are you nervous about today's apparation test?"

"No, of course not." said Hermione "But Ron is very stressed about it."

"I'll calm him down." Harry promised.

Unfortunately, Harry was not successful with that task. He was about to hex Ron when a girl interrupted them.

"Harry Potter. You have a letter." she left the letter in his hand without further explanation.

"Who is it from?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Hagrid."

Harry handed her the letter. Ron read the letter next to Hermione. His eyes were wide open when he was finished reading it.

"I can't believe he expects us to mourn that monster. Its mates almost ate us!" Ron exclaimed.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"A story for another day, love." Harry tried to avoid it but Hermione had already seen flashes of the event in Ron's head.

"Is Hagridinsane?" she screamed "Why would he send you there?"

"He doesn't see them as monsters." said Harry as he stared at the tear stained letter of Hagrid "I want to…"

"No you don't." Hermione said firmly.

"I suppose Hagrid has to do it alone." said Harry unwillingly.

"Yes, he does." yelled Hermione indignantly. She calmed herself down before continuing "Look, Potions will be empty this afternoon with so many of us away for the exam. You should try your luck with Slughorn tonight."

"What luck? He is more stubborn than a flobberworm that refuses to move." said Harry.

"Luck!" exclaimed Ron "You need luck."

"Beg your pardon?" said Harry baffled by his words.

"Drink the lucky potion, Harry." Ron explained.

Harry looked at Ron door five seconds before rushing back to their dorm room.

He came back with the tiny phial Slughorn had given him at the beginning of the school year.

"Ronald Weasley you're a genius." said Harry excitedly "I hope this works well."

But he hesitated to drink the potion. What if Slughorn had poisoned the potion.

"You know, I think I'll try it after I've tried talking to him this afternoon."

He put the bottle in his pocket.

On their way to the Great Hall they saw Montgomery sister's who gave Hermione nasty looks.

"What's their problem?" said Ron defensively.

"Their brother was attacked by a werewolf. He died at the age of five. Rumor has it that their mother refused to cooperate with Death Eaters." said Lavender "Don't bother them, please."

Harry looked at them. Their eyes were filled with hatred. Even that far from them Harry could clearly see what was going on their minds.

"Who was this werewolf?" Harry asked.

"Fenrir Greyback." said Hermione.

"I'd love to meet him one day." said Harry as he clenched his fist.

"Don't be stupid, Harry." Hermione said.

"Believe or not, that is not the worst thing that can happen to Harry." Lavender said "He could just disappear like Aron Hikes and twenty or so other people who just vanished overnight on New Year's day. It's scary to think about."

Lavender shook slightly and grabbed Hermione's hand, who stood there like a statue for a few seconds.

Ron coughed uncomfortably and took Lavender's other hand.

The bell rang and the three next to Harry jumped to their feet.

"We should go, Harry." Hermione kissed Harry goodbye.

"Good luck." Harry waved at them and once they were gone Harry headed off to the dungeons.

Slughorn asked him to join Ernie McMillan and Draco Malfoy.

"Now that we're so few, how about we make something fun? I want you all to brew something amusing for me."

Ernie was pleased with Slughorn's suggestion but Malfoy irritatedly asked "What do you mean, something 'amusing'?"

Slughorn looked at Draco and smiled "Oh… surprise me."

Harry immediately knew what to make. An Elixir to Induce Euphoria would make using Liquid Luck unnecessary. If only he could persuade Slughorn to drink it. Halfway through his Potion he realised his Potion could have no effect on Slughorn since he was a natural Occlumens.

Slughorn was excited to see Harry's potion.

"Excellent choice, Harry. Euphoria, I take it? Mmmm … you've added just a sprig of peppermint, haven't you? Unorthodox, but what a stroke of inspiration, Harry." he said "Of course, that would tend to counterbalance the occasional side-effects of excessive singing and nose-tweaking … I really don't know where you get these brain waves, my boy … unless it's just your mother's blood coming out in you!"

Harry smiled nervously at Slughorn. Although he might have come up with the idea on his own, he had got it from the Prince.

Ernie and Draco simply gave Harry indifferent looks and left. Harry looked at Draco Malfoy's face as he was packing. He seemed tired and pale. His eyes tired from lack of sleep. Draco's Occlumency however was as strong as ever. He shivered as Harry pulled out of his mind. Harry was told that his Legilimency felt like ice. Once he was in, people would feel cold. It was very effective in disturbing the individual.

Harry looked away from Draco to find no trace of Slughorn.

Dissatisfied with his lack of success Harry went to help Moriarty with his Occlumency session.

"Is this poisoned, professor?" Harry asked Moriarty by the end of session as he handed him Felix Felicis.

Moriarty simply put the potion on his desk and waited a few seconds. Then he gave it back to Harry.

"No, it is not. I assume that we shall have the memory tonight?" he said.

"I hope, sir." said Harry.

"Good, drink this when your friends are around."

Moriarty then dismissed Harry.

When Harry returned to the common room, Ron and Hermione had already arrived. Lavender was massaging Ron's shoulder as he was sitting on a chair with a sour expression.

"How did it go?" Harry asked Hermione.

"I passed," said Hermione stiffly.

"I failed." Ron said dramatically "For half of an eyebrow was gone."

"We also meet Umbridge." said Hermione.

"That's lovely." said Harry "I didn't get anywhere with Slughorn."

"Then you should use it." said Hermione gently as she patted him.

"I wonder if occlumency will nullify its effects." Harry said as he popped the phial open. He grimaced as he witnessed Lavender and Ron kiss each other grossly.

"I think three hours will suffice."

Harry gulped a mouthful of Felix Felicis "Wow, this thing contains more than it should."

"Yeah, it seems full." said Hermione.

Harry allowed the potion to take its course into his brain. It was as if his brain was being connected to an invisible unknown source of intuition.

"Oh … Okay. I'm going to Hagrid's then."

"You what?" Hermione and Ron yelled. Hermione seemed furious.

"No Harry. You should go and see Professor Slughorn, remember?" she said desperately.

"Ah Hermione, trust me. I've got a very good feeling about it."

"Have you?" Ron asked, amazed by the sudden turn of events "Are you sure that you want to bury a dead spider as big as a truck?"

"Yes Harry. Haven't you got a more crucial task at hand?" asked Hermione.

"I should be going then." Harry picked up his invisibility cloak and suddenly he was gone.

"I'll go after him. Stay here!" Hermione ordered. She cast a powerful Disillusionment charm on herself and a couple of second muffling charms at her feet.

Lavender just stared at where Hermione had been a second ago.

"Yeah... impressive. I know." said Ron as he dumped his body on a couch nearby.

Hermione had simply had to go to Hagrid's in order to find Harry. Hermione was extremely surprised to see Slughorn join Harry.

"Hagrid. So very sorry to hear about your loss." Slughorn said with a deep grave voice.

Hermione was surprised as Slughorn seemed genuinely upset.

Hermione watched him in astonishment as he bent over the humongous spider.

Hermione approached them carefully and noticed that he was collecting Aragog's venom. Slughorn was a master of manipulation, Hermione realised.

"Oh my." Hermione whispered as she heard Slughorn say his words about Aragog.

Slughorn took Harry and Hagrid inside for a drink. Hermione immediately followed. She entered first as the door was open. She cast a mild confundus on Fang and sat in a corner.

"I've had it all tested for poison." Slughorn assured Harry as he filled Hagrid's large mugs "Had a house-elf taste every bottle after what happened to your poor friend Rupert."

Hermione could feel her blood boil. She just wanted to hex Slughorn, but restrained herself before promising herself to get even with him in the future.

Harry wisely avoided drinking and kept refilling the bottles.

There came a point where Hagrid said something about Harry's mum and dad's deaths. Hermione leaned forward to hear better.

"I don't suppose you remember it, Harry?" Slughorn asked wasted.

Hermione felt pain in her heart as Harry explained how her father had murdered his parents.

"She could have… she needn't… How…" Slughorn cried silently.

Harry continued to describe the scene. Slughorn begged Harry to stop.

"I forgot, you liked her, didn't you?"

Hermione had never seen Slughorn so sad and desperate. It was as if Harry was talking of his own daughter.

"Liked her?" said Slughorn, his eyes brimming with tears. "I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her … very brave … very funny" his voice broke " … it was the most horrible thing..."

Harry struck then. He accused Slughorn of not helping Lily Potter's son. Slughorn eventually gave in and handed Harry the memory.

"You're a good boy…and you have her eyes. I wish she could've seen you now. Please don't think badly of me once you've seen it."

Then Slughorn like Hagrid fell asleep. As Harry left the hut.

Hermione followed Harry back to the castle right to the portrait of fat lady. She was forced to reveal herself once she realised that Harry didn't know the new password.

"Harry."

"Hermione?" Harry said suspiciously "Did you follow me."

"Yes. I know you have it, too."

"We don't know the password. If only Dumbledore was back to the castle." Harry said to her.

"He is back." said a voice behind them. "He returned an hour ago. He just went back to his office."

They turned around to see Nearly Headless Nick. "According to Bloody Baron he was in good spirits, albeit he was tired. Professor Moriarty, in return, left the grounds upon meeting with the Headmaster."

"Oh… so Dumbledore gets to see it first." Harry said as he ran for Dumbledore. The fat lady tried calling him to come back to no avail as Hermione followed Harry's example.

A/N: What do you think about Horace Slughorn?