"Zip me up, will you?"

Cedric's knuckles skimmed my spine as he zipped up the emerald green dress. I shivered slightly, but turned to face him with a smile.

"You look fantastic," he said, a small smile on his lips, brushing my hair back off my shoulder.

"You, too." He fidgeted in his dress robes, and he didn't seem terribly enthused. "What's wrong?"

"I just… I dunno, I feel a bit silly about going with you."

"What? Why?" I frowned. "I mean, I feel a bit silly about going, but Dumbledore insisted I accepted the invitation…"

"Exactly. I mean obviously there's something to be gained by you going. I'll just be some sort of tag-a-long."

I placed a hand on his cheek. "That's nonsense. In fact, Slughorn was overjoyed when I told him I was bringing you. He's dying to meet you." Cedric snorted. "He is. Watch, I bet you'll be the life of the party, and I'll get to hang out in the background for once in my damn life." When Cedric didn't look like he believed me, I set my other hand on his face and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulling me close, heat radiating from his body through his clothes, his lips urgent. I felt the back of my calves hit the bed and his fingers traced along my spine. Shivers of heat ran through my body as his lips found my neck, kissing the spot just above my collarbone.

"I know I just zipped you into that dress, but…" he murmured, holding me tight to him.

"If we don't go now, we're gonna be late." I can barely get the words out as Cedric's hand finds the slit in my dress and rides up my thigh.

"Hrmph," he protested, his face buried in my shoulder.

"At least give me something to look forward to this evening," I laughed. "Something's gotta motivate me to socialize with these people."

"Fine," he said, loosening his grip. I grin and kiss his forehead.

"Let's go."

We left the flat, Cedric's arm around my shoulders as we walked down the hallway. As soon as we were in the alley, he wraps his arms around me and we Apparated to Hogsmead. We drew our cloaks tight, walking quickly and silently up to the castle. He took my hand as we walked up the steps to the great oak doors.

"This is weird," he muttered, pulling open the doors. "It sort of feels like we've never left, you know?"

"Yeah."

Inside, we shrugged off our cloaks. "Where is this party, anyways?"

"Dungeons. Slughorn teaches Potions, remember?"

Cedric made a face. "Right. Okay, after you then."

We descended into the castle, and I followed the sounds of the party until we came to an open door with a tall boy in dress robes stood guard.

"Do you have an invitation?" he asked, eyeing us, no doubt trying to figure out who we were.

"Certainly," I said, digging out the slip of parchment from my cloak and handing it over. His eyes widened as he read our names.

"S-sorry! Right this way, Miss Potter!" he said, slightly panicked, and he lead us into the room.

The dungeon was decorated in a bright, cheery fashion. Elegant streamers hung from the ceiling, creating the effect of a large tent, and red warm light bathed the entire room. A large Christmas tree dominated one corner, and everyone was talking animatedly. I saw a few people I knew, and a different attendant took Cedric and I's cloaks while the first boy lead us to Slughorn.

"Professor, more guests have arrived," he said, tapping Slughorn on the shoulder.

"Yes, but can't you see I'm—good gracious!" Slughorn turned away from his conversation with a pair of tall men, one rough-looking and the other immaculately groomed. Slughorn nearly upset his glass of wine at the sight of us, and I gave him a kind smile. "Jennifer! Dumbledore said you were coming, but I guess I'd forgotten in my haste of planning this event."

"Not a problem. Professor—"

"Please, call me Horace. You're not my student, after all. Pity, eh?"

"Er, yes. Horace, this is Cedric Diggory."

I nudged Cedric slightly and Slughorn's eyes lit up as Cedric shook his hand. "The Hogwarts Champion himself! I'm so delighted to meet you, such a shame I missed you both. I would have loved to teach such excellent minds."

"Thank you, sir," Cedric said with perfect politeness, and he finally seemed at ease.

"Your father still works at the Ministry, correct? Amos?"

"Yes, Magical Creatures office. He's aiming to be head of the office soon."

"Excellent, excellent. He was a fine student in his time, very hard working. He and your mother both."

"Thank you, sir."

"And what about you, Cedric? I hear you're there, too."

"Yes. I'm actually in charge of a newer division. We're basically pest control on Dementors, Inferi and the like."

"Fascinating." Slughorn seemed in awe of him. I grinned. Slughorn's eyes wandered back to me, and then to Cedric. "So how do you two know each other? I can only assume you were classmates."

"Uh, we're, um—"

"Jennifer's my girlfriend," Cedric said, wrapping an arm around my waist. I blushed, half delighted when Slughorn's jaw dropped slightly, half wishing that I could disappear. It was so rare that Cedric ever referred to me as his girlfriend that I had almost forgotten that the word even applied.

"Bravo!" Slughorn said, taking a grand swig of his wine. "Well, Dumbledore certainly hadn't mentioned that! Oh, but Cedric, you must meet this friend of mine, worked at the Ministry for years—"

Slughorn steered off Cedric, who threw back a glace at me as though to say, "Help!" I just snorted and went to fetch myself a glass of wine. I tracked down a student who looked like they were part of the welcoming committee, hoping he could point me in the right direction.

"Jennifer! I didn't know you'd be here!"

It was Neville, and I frowned at him.

"Yeah. Neville, why are you serving? Aren't you in the… Slughorn's club thing?"

"The Slug Club? No," he replied, blushing a little. "I'm… I guess, not cool enough, or something…"

"That's idiotic," I said mildly. "You're fantastic, and you don't need Slughorn or anyone else to tell you that. Besides, any club that lets Cormac—" I indicated over Neville's shoulder to Ophilia's slimy younger brother, who had Hermione trapped in what was probably a dreadful conversation, "—isn't worth belonging to. If Slughorn can't see you're great now, then he doesn't deserve you when you become Minister or something like that."

Neville turned a bright shade of red. "I, but, no, that's—"

"Can it, Neville. I'll tell you I told you so when they're swearing you in," I said, shaking my head. "Know where I can get some wine?"

"Yeah, there are house elves serving people. I bet they can get you some."

"Great. I'll see you later. Don't let Slughorn get you down."

"Thanks, Jennifer," he said, and I left to weave my way through the crowd, acquiring some wine from a very proud-looking house elf. If Hermione was here, surely Harry was. I hadn't seen him yet, but maybe Hermione knew. I shadowed her, and watched as she darted away the moment Cormac turned his head. I followed her behind a large group of wizards, talking and laughing quite loud, and she jumped when she saw me.

"Oh! Jennifer, I thought you were—"

"Cormac. Yeah. Why were you talking to him anyways?"

"It's uh, a long story," she said. "How are you? I didn't know you'd be here."

"Yeah, Dumbledore passed on an invitation. I'm fine. Cedric's here too, he got swept away by Slughorn."

Hermione stifled a laugh.

"Anyways, have you seen Harry?"

"No," she said, frowning. "I haven't seen him in a while. He was here with Luna, and she's been warning everyone about the wackspurts in the Christmas tree. You could ask her."

"Great. Thanks, Hermione. You'd better duck away now, Cormac's headed towards us."

She gave me a pained expression before she nearly doubled over and slinked away just as Cormac came up to me.

"Oh, it's you."

"Lovely to see you too, Cormac," I said dryly, taking a long drink of wine.

"Where did Granger go? You were just talking to her."

"What, Hermione? No, I was chatting to this witch from the Ministry who works with Cedric."

Cormac frowned. "No, I thought I just…"

"They look similar, I guess. Sorry."

He just waved his hand at me as he walked off, following a new lead. I managed to slip away towards the tree, where I finally found Luna.

"Hey Luna, nice dress," I said, grinning. Her dress must have been another of her wild creations, and despite the glowing bauble look, she looked very elegant.

"Thank you. Do be careful not to get too close to the tree, the wakspurts have been very active and you don't want your brain to go fuzzy."

"I'll keep my distance then." I glanced around again, sure that no one was terribly close. "Have you seen Harry?"

"Harry?" She thought for a moment. "No, but I did see him leave shortly after Draco left. I had the impression Harry was following him."

I sighed. "He's impossible some days. Thanks, Luna."

"No problem."

"Out of curiosity, how has Slughorn been as a teacher?" I asked, looking over to see Cedric still being wheeled around by Slughorn, introducing him animatedly to all the people in attendance. I did feel bad for him, knowing that that would have been my fate had I attended alone.

"He's good, actually. Much better than Snape," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice. "Though, I suppose that isn't much of a stretch. Still, Potions has been nice this year. His parties though have been awkward, from what Ginny tells me."

"Parties?"

"The Slug Club. They have dinner parties and the like is what she said. Odd collection of people, too. Mostly students who have famous relatives, or are just really talented." She slapped at something invisible in the air. "Anyway, Ginny says that the meetings are odd. But she thinks he means well."

"Interesting. Thanks, Luna. I'd better go rescue Cedric, he looks like he's had enough."

"Okay. Bye, Jennifer."

I left her by the tree, keeping a sharp eye out in case Harry returned. Before I could even say anything, Slughorn saw me and roped me in to the conversation.

"Here she is! Where did you wander off to? Anyways, Gwenog, this is the Jennifer Potter!"

Slughorn pulled me next to him, and I was face to face with my absolute favorite Quidditch player. She reached out to shake my hand, and I was sure my face was doing something absolutely stupid as I shook her hand, dumbfounded.

"Very nice to meet you, Jennifer," she said, grinning, her tan skin glowing a radiant gold in the light.

"I—yeah, it's… wow, nice to meet you too, Gwenog." I hated myself in this moment for stuttering. It wasn't like I was totally meeting my idol or anything, the most perfect human being and Quidditch player ever.

"Do you play Quidditch?"

"Yeup. I played Chaser for Gryffindor when I was here." I had to take another drink of wine to get my throat to unstick. "I was Captain my seventh year."

"Gwenog played for Ravenclaw when she was here," Slughorn said proudly, his chest puffing out. "Best Captain they've ever had, I'll say!"

"Horace, stop," said Gwenog, laughing. "Well Jennifer, we have tryouts in spring, if you're not busy, I'm sure we could arrange a time for you."

My jaw dropped. "For… the Harpies? Really?"

"Certainly. We're looking for reserve players. Last season we went through players like mad when we went abroad to Africa. They're quite rough down there, but nothing we can't handle."

"I—wow. Thank you," I said, shaking her hand again. "That would be a dream to play for you, really. The Harpies are my absolute favorite team."

Gwenog grinned again. "Excellent! Well, I'd love to see you try out, if you can."

"Definitely."

"It was lovely to meet you, Jennifer. Horace, I'm afraid I've got to run, but I'll send your tickets along for the next game of the season soon, alright?"

"Yes, yes, excellent my dear. Safe travels home!" Slughorn gave Gwenog and enormous hug, and she left to go find her cloak.

I hadn't even recovered from meeting my hero when Slughorn steered Cedric and I around to meet the two men we had seen him talking to when we came in.

"Eldred! I found her. Don't know how you missed meeting Jennifer." The man he spoke to was greying and a little hunched, but wore fine velvet robes and golden glasses. "Jennifer, this is Eldred Worple. He's a rather famous author—"

"I recognize your name," I said as I shook his hand. "I work at Flourish and Blotts, we've got a whole section of your work."

"I say, that is flattering," Worple said. "This is Sanguini. He's the subject of my most recent work."

Sanguini was tall and pale, and had an odd sort of look about him. I didn't shake his hand, and he didn't offer to. The look in his eyes was rather unsettling, and I avoided his gaze.

"I met your brother earlier, Miss Potter. I asked if I could write a biography on him sometime, but he turned me down…"

"That's because my brother is smart." I finished my wine and set in on the trey of a passing house elf. "The last time someone decided to write about our lives, the entire Wizarding World decided that we were liars out to destroy the peace." He gave me a very startled look. "Nothing personal to you, of course, Mr. Worple, but I think my brother and I would like to keep our lives as private as we can in the middle of a war."

"Hmm," Worple said, sipping his sherry thoughtfully. "Perhaps then when this whole business with He Who Must Not Be Named is over I may be graced with your insights. I daresay I do a better job than that Rita Skeeter. She gives us all a bad name." He made a face that I chuckled at.

"Perhaps."

"Well, I hope that—no, Sanguini, come back here…"

Worple went after his friend who had started advancing on a pair of younger witches, and Cedric and I were left with Slughorn.

"I'm going to pop off and grab some food," Cedric said, and he left too, disappearing into the crowd of people before I could even protest.

"This is quite the mix of people you've invited, Horace," I said casually, though I felt very odd calling him by his first name.

"Yes, isn't it?" he said, drinking mead so strongly scented I could smell it from a few feet away. "I'm so glad you were able to come. I know I wasn't your professor, but I thought if I could get Harry to come, I may as well try and get you…"

"Thank you. It's been an interesting evening, to say the least." I stood there for a moment, wishing I had another drink, wondering what Dumbledore thought could be gained from me being here, when…

"Horace? Did you have my mother as a student?"

He nearly choked on his drink. "Your mother? Why, yes, yes I did."

"Can you… tell me about her? Since I never really… well, I remember a bit about her, but not much."

"Yes, yes… of course…" Slughorn looked deep in thought, and a bit sad. "You mother, Lily, she was… of all the students I've had, she is perhaps my favorite." He took another drink. "So bright. Always smiling. I didn't know what to make of her at first, coming from a Muggle family, but she proved to be my best student quite quickly. She was also incredibly kind. I'd never seen a soul that gentle in a person so young. She could light up an entire room." He drained his drink. "It was… horrible, when I heard the news. I can't even imagine… it was such a tragedy." He fidgeted. "I was relieved though, that you and your brother survived."

"You know that Harry's trying to defeat him, right?" I said, finally making eye contact with him. "Both of us are."

"Yes, of course—"

"And we're not going to stop until he's gone. So that nothing like what happened to our parents, or anyone else, happens again."

His eyes were glassy when he looked away from me. "Of course." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, Jennifer, I'm sorry to leave you, but I must check on some of our guests."

"That's alright. Thank you again for the lovely evening, Horace," I said politely, and he wandered off, picking up a new glass of mead as he went. Relieved, I slipped around people, keeping my head down, until I found Cedric, and whispered, "I think we can go now," in his ear. He nodded, and we collected our cloaks quickly and left.

In the corridor, I pulled Cedric into an empty classroom. "What, what's wrong?" he asked, throwing his cloak over his shoulders. "Did you ever manage to find Harry?"

"No, I'll have to send him a letter," I said, frowning. "No, I just… I have a theory."

"About why we were here maybe?"

"Yeah." I bit my lip. "So, Dumbledore has been showing Harry and I memories that are about Voldemort, right? About his past, what people knew of him as a kid."

"Uh-huh."

"Slughorn seems pretty old to me," I continued. "I would bet he would have taught Voldemort. I mean, if he's always been like this, Slughorn would have had young Tom Riddle as the crown jewel of his Slug Club."

"So you reckon Slughorn knows something about Voldemort that he's not telling?"

"Possibly." I frowned. "That may be why Dumbledore wanted him back. To extract this memory…"

"Interesting."

"I also think that he left because of what happened to my parents."

"What do you mean?"

"Slughorn said his favorite student was my mother," I explained. "He kept drinking a lot when he talked about her. I think maybe when he found out what Voldemort had done, he quit."

"So… the only reason he's back is to teach Harry, but getting this probably important information out of him is going to be difficult. He probably feels responsible in a way, that's why he quit."

"My thoughts exactly."

We were quiet for a few moments.

"I'll have to write this all down for Harry. I can only guess that he's supposed to persuade Slughorn to show us some memories of Riddle."

"Right. We should go then."

Cedric steered me out of the room and up the stairs, and I was still deep in thought. What could Slughorn possibly know about Voldemort? Was it something to do with how powerful he became? What he's capable of?

"Jennifer."

I stopped just in front of the oak doors.

"Can you focus on this… some other night?" Cedric asked, giving me a half smile.

I opened my mouth to argue, to say this was important and I had to know, but… I could tell that Cedric needed me tonight. Who knew when we could have another night together?

"Sure," I said, and I took his hand as we walked across the frozen grounds to Hogsmead.

In which Slughorn drinks a lot, Jen meets a hero, and Cedric is decidedly grumpy.

I have graduated, I'm alive, and I have the summer to write.

Updates. Every. Damn. Monday.

Maybe even some doubles if I get lucky.

Thanks for sticking with me.