Teddie lingered in the shadows of the Entrance Hall and checked her watch. Harry should've been here ten minutes ago. She withdrew as she heard approaching footsteps, her furrowing as she saw Slughorn hurrying across the Hall and disappear through the Great Oak doors.

Where's he going? Teddie thought, ducking back as Cruise and Melanie walked by.

"You're sure she said she was going to Hagrid's?" Melanie asked.

"Yes. She asked if I would accompany her," said Cruise. "I said no, of course, but I should've guessed she would try and sneak out."

Melanie cracked a smile.

"It's not funny!" Cruise protested. "This girl is a thorn in my side. I've done tons of protection details, but Teddie Green takes the biscuit when it comes down to it."

"You care about her," said Melanie. "And that scares you."

"I care about all my chargers, Melanie."

"I know, but Teddie is different. Cerberus told her enough about her during his term as her guard, and now you're scared of losing her like she lost him."

Cruise huffed and didn't respond as they disappeared out into the grounds.

Teddie frowned after them. Cruise knew Cerberus, and they had spoken about her before? Did that mean that Cerberus was planning on leave her as an Advanced Guard before he had been murdered? Or did he plan on adding more Advanced Guards?

"You look sad."

Teddie jumped and turned to face Harry, only his head was visible above the Invisibility Cloak. "You're late!" she said.

"Sorry. Got caught up in the common room," said Harry. He made room for her beneath the cloak and the pair headed outside. "Why do you look sad?"

Teddie shook her head. "I'm not sad. I'm curious," she said. "Slughorn just left the Castle, not ten minutes before you arrived, and after him came Cruise and Melanie - oh, they'll probably be at Hagrid's waiting for us, by the way."

"I'm surprised they let you come along."

"They didn't," said Teddie. "I snuck out. But Cruise had an inkling I would and decided to follow me. He thinks I am already down there."

"Oh, so, you're in trouble?"

Teddie shrugged. "Wouldn't be a normal year at Hogwarts if I didn't sneak out at least once," she said.

Harry bit back a smile. "Wait, did you say Slughorn left the castle before them?" he asked. "Why?"

"Dunno. Hey, look, there he is now," said Teddie, spotting the Potions Master loitering around the Greenhouses.

"Let's see what he's up to," said Harry.

As the duo grew closer, they noticed that Slughorn was with Professor Sprout. They lurked behind a low stone wall, listening to the conversation.

". . . I do thank you for taking the time, Pomona," Slughorn was saying courteously. "Most authorities agree that they are at their most efficacious if picked at twilight. "

"Oh, I quite agree," said Professor Sprout warmly. "That enough for you?"

"Plenty, plenty," said Slughorn, he was carrying an armful of leafy plants. "This should allow for a few leaves for each of my third years, and some to spare if anybody over-stews them. Well, good evening to you, and many thanks again!"

As Professor Sprout headed off in the direction of her greenhouses, Slughorn directed his steps towards the Castle.

"What are we going to do?" Teddie asked. "If he sees us, he'll scarper or worse, report us for being out of bounds without a teacher."

"Do you trust me?"

Teddie furrowed her brow. "That is neither here nor there, Harry," she whispered.

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Then trust me when I do this!"

Without warning, Harry ripped off the Invisibility Cloak, exposing both himself and Teddie to Slughorn's gaze.

"What are you doing?!" Teddie hissed.

"Good evening, Professor," said Harry.

"Merlin's beard, Harry, you made me jump, oh, and Teddie is here, too," said Slughorn, stopping dead in his tracks and looking wary. "How did you pair get out of the castle?"

"I think Filch must've forgotten to lock the doors," said Harry cheerfully.

Teddie eyes him warily. It was then she realised he had taken the Liquid Luck potion. It was the only explanation that she could think of to go with his behaviour.

"I'll be reporting that man, he's more concerned about litter than proper security if you ask me. . . but why are you out here?"

"Well, sir, it's Hagrid," said Harry, who knew that the right thing to do just now was to tell the truth. "He's pretty upset. . . but you won't tell anyone, Professor? I don't want trouble for him. . . "

Slughorn's curiosity was evidently aroused. "Well, I can't promise that" he said gruffly. "But I know that Dumbledore trusts Hagrid to the hilt, so I'm sure he can't be up to anything very dreadful. . . "

"Well, it's this giant spider, he's had it for years. . . it lived in the forest. . . it could talk and everything-"

"I heard rumours there were Acromantulas in the forest," said Slughorn softly, looking over at the mass of black trees. "It's true, then?"

"Yes," said Harry. "But this one, Aragog, the first one Hagrid ever got, it died last weekend. He's devastated. He wants company while he buries it and Teddie, and I said we'd go. "

"Touching, touching," said Slughorn absentmindedly, his large droopy eyes fixed upon the distant lights of Hagrid's cabin. "But Acromantulas venom is unbelievably valuable. . . if the beast only just died it might not yet have dried out. . . of course, I wouldn't want to do anything insensitive if Hagrid is upset. . . but if there was any way to procure some . . . I mean, it's almost impossible to get venom from an Acromantula while it's alive. . . "

Slughorn seemed to be talking more to himself than Harry now.

"Well," said Harry, hesitantly, "well, if you wanted to come, Professor, Hagrid would probably be really pleased. . . give Aragog a better send-off, you know . . . "

"Yes, of course," said Slughorn, his eyes now gleaming with enthusiasm. "I tell you what, Harry, I'll meet you down there with a bottle or two. . . we'll drink the poor beast's-well - not health-but we'll send it off in style, anyway, once it's buried. And I'll change my tie, this one is a little exuberant for the occasion. . . "

He bustled back into the castle, and delighted with the outcome, Harry turned to Teddie. He faltered as he found her glaring at him.

"What was that?" Teddie asked.

"What?"

"You could've told me you had planned to do that," said Teddie. "And, you could've told me you had taken Felix Felicis."

"I did tell you I was taking Felix."

"Then why do you have the Invisibility Cloak?"

"Extra precaution?"

Teddie huffed. "I'm pleased we're getting a chance at Slughorn, Harry, but it would've been nice to be on the same page!" she said. "I don't have Felix protecting me, remember? I'm sticking my neck on the line here."

"I'm sorry," said Harry. "But we've got a chance now. If we can get Slughorn drunk, maybe he'll give us what we want."

"That's a lot of 'maybes,' Harry," said Teddie. "Besides, Cruise and Melanie will be at Hagrid's, what if Slughorn comes down, realises we have more than enough protection for being out after dark, and sends us back to the castle once the burial is over?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Harry, holding out his arm. "Come on. We've got a dead spider to celebrate."

Teddie rolled her eyes. "You may want to lose the cheeriness before we get to Hagrid's," she said. "He may not appreciate it."

"Point taken," said Harry.

~X~

"Yeh came," croaked Hagrid, when he opened the door and found Teddie and Harry on the doorstep.

Teddie smiled. "I hope you don't mind me coming, Hagrid," she said. "It's just you seemed so upset last lesson, then when Harry told me why, I just knew that I had to come down and support you."

Hagrid smiled tearfully. "Thank, yeh, Teddie," he blubbered. "There has been two Auror's here looking for you."

"Yeah. I saw them leaving the castle."

"Not in trouble are yeh?"

Teddie shook her head. "It's okay, Hagrid," she said, reassuringly. "This is important to you, and I want to support you as best I can."

Hagrid smiled. "Aragog would've bin touched yeh're here," he said. "I know you didn't know him."

Teddie smiled and turned away, edging towards the kitchen window. She drew back the blind and gasped at the enormous curled up body of the dead spider, its legs in the air, bent at awkward angles.

"Hagrid, where are you planning on burying him?" Teddie asked. "Not the forest, surely?"

"Blimey, no," said Hagrid, wiping his streaming eyes on the bottom of his shirt. "The other spiders won't let me anywhere near their webs now Aragog's gone. Turns out it was on'y on his orders they didn' eat me! Can yeh believe that?"

Teddie glanced at Harry. She had heard the stories about what had happened to him and Ron in the Forbidden Forest back in Second Year and found herself shooting him a warning look as he looked ready to agree.

Harry rolled his eyes and simply patted Hagrid's arm instead. "Professor Slughorn met us coming down here, Hagrid," he said.

"Not in trouble, are yeh?" said Hagrid, looking up, alarmed. "Yeh shouldn' be outta the castle in the evenin,' I know it, it's my fault —"

"No, no, when he heard what we was doing he said he'd like to come and pay his last respects to Aragog too," said Harry. "He's gone to change into something more suitable, I think . . . and he said he'd bring some bottles so we can drink to Aragog's memory. . ..

Did he?" said Hagrid, looking both astonished and touched. "Tha's — tha's righ' nice of him, that is, an' not turnin' yeh in either. I've never really had a lot ter do with Horace Slughorn before. . .. Comin' ter see old Aragog off, though, eh? Well . . . he'd've liked that, Aragog would. . .."

"Are we going to bury him here, Hagrid, in your garden?" Teddie asked.

"Jus' beyond the pumpkin patch, I thought," said Hagrid in a choked voice. "I've already dug the — yeh know — grave. Jus' thought we'd say a few pleasant things over him — happy memories, yeh know —"

His voice quivered and broke.

There was a knock at the door and Hagrid rose to answer it. He wiped his and swung the door open, revealing Professor Slughorn to be on the other side. The Potions Master hurried over the threshold, bottles clinking inside his jacket.

"Hagrid," Slughorn said, in a deep, grave voice. "So very sorry to hear of your loss."

"Tha's very nice of yeh," said Hagrid. "Thanks a lot. An' thanks fer not givin' Harry and Teddie detention neither. . .."

"Wouldn't have dreamed of it," said Slughorn. "Sad night, sad night . . . Where is the poor creature?"

"Out here," said Hagrid in a shaking voice. "Shall we — shall we do it, then?"

~X~

After the burial, Teddie sat alongside Harry supporting a bottle of mead in her hands. She had toasted to Aragog so many times she had lost count, and now, in between stories of illegal dragon egg trades, and other creatures that resided in the Forbidden Forest, Slughorn and Hagrid were looking for other things to celebrate.

"To Hogwarts!" Slughorn bellowed, sloshing his mead around in his bottle.

"To Dumbledore!" Hagrid followed, banging his own bottle on the table.

Harry nudged Teddie and leaned in. "Do you know the Refilling Charm?" he asked.

"You know I do," Teddie replied. "Why?"

"Those bottles are looking awfully low."

Teddie eyed the pile of bottles between Hagrid and Slughorn and, when she was sure they were entrapped in another conversation, waved her wand beneath the table.

Instantly, the bottles refilled.

Harry grinned while Slughorn and Hagrid were none the wiser.

"To Harry Potter!" Hagrid suddenly shouted, his voice booming around the enclosed space that was his kitchen.

"Yes, yes, to Parry Otter, the Chosen boy Who – well – something of that sort," Slughorn mumbled into his bottle.

Not long after, Hagrid became emotional again. He seemed to ease on the tears when Slughorn struck up an oddly keyed song about a wizard named Odo, and sat with his arm around Slughorn, and vice versa, as the pair sang their hearts out at the top of their lungs.

"The good die young," muttered Hagrid. "My dad was no age ter go… nor were yer mum an' dad, Harry."

Teddie felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Almost as if she were experiencing a moment that didn't concern her, especially when one considered the fact that it was her father – she used the word begrudgingly – had been the one to hunt down the Potters.

Great fat tears oozed out of the corner of Hagrid's cross-eyed eyes, and he reached across the table to shake Harry's hand. "Bes' wiz and witchard o' their age I never knew… terrible thing… terrible thing… terrible."

With a grunt, Hagrid's head lolled backwards and clunked against the cabin wall.

"Sorry," Slughorn hiccupped. "Can't carry a tune to save my life."

"I've heard worse, Professor," said Teddie. "You should hear Theo in the mornings when he thinks no one else is awake. Sounds like a dying Walrus."

Slughorn offered her a timid smile.

"Although, Hagrid wasn't talking about your singing," added Harry. "He was talking about my mum and dad."

"Oh," said Slughorn. "Oh dear. Yes, that was – terrible indeed. Terrible… terrible…" he looked at a loss for words, and instead reached for another bottle. "I don't – don't suppose you remember it, Harry?"

Teddie glanced at her friend. She hadn't ever asked him about the night his parents had been murdered. He had only been a year old, surely, he didn't remember anything that had happened. Same as she didn't remember anything about her last few hours in the Wizarding World, and she had been two.

She had memories, but the last time she had witnessed them had been under the guise of a Dementor attack. She hadn't seen any naturally or witnessed them in a Pensieve.

"Not really, no," said Harry, shaking his head. "I was only one when they died. But I have found out pretty much what happened since. My dad died first. Did you know that?"

"I – I didn't," said Slughorn.

"Yeah… Voldemort murdered him and then stepped over his body toward my mum," said Harry. "He told her to get out of the way. He told me she needn't have died. He only wanted me. She could have run."

"Oh dear," breathed Slughorn. "She could have . . . she needn't . . . That's awful. . .."

"It is, isn't it?" said Harry. "But she didn't move. Dad was already dead, but she didn't want me to go too. She tried to plead with Voldemort. . . but he just laughed. . .."

"That's enough!" said Slughorn, raising a shaky hand. "Really, my dear boy, enough. I'm an old man. I don't need to hear…"

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Harry lied. "You liked her, didn't you?"

"Liked her… everyone did. I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her. Very brave. Very funny. It was the most horrible thing to have heard…"

"But you won't help her son?" Teddie asked, unable to stay quiet any longer. "The brave and funny Lily Potter gave her life for her only son, and you can't even give us a memory that could stop the person that murdered her?"

"Don't say that," Slughorn whispered. "It isn't a question, if it were to help you, of course I would give it, but it will serve you no purpose."

"Serve no purpose?" Teddie repeated. "Professor, if it served no purpose, then why modify it? Why would you feel the need to hide something that isn't important?"

Slughorn lowered his gaze.

"Dumbledore needs information," said Harry. "Teddie and I need information. I'm going to let you in on a secret, Professor, something that only a few has even guessed. I am the Chosen One."

Slughorn gave a start.

Teddie took a deep breath. "There was a prophecy," she said, glancing at Harry from the corner of her eye. "In that it said that there was a power that could stop Voldemort once and for all, but no one knows whether that power means the love of Lily Potter, or the power of Voldemort's daughter."

"Faye."

Teddie nodded. "Has much as I hate to admit it, Professor, I am the Daughter of Darkness. I have the power that could make or break this war for either side."

"You are," said Slughorn, nodding. "You both are. You are asking me to aid you in your attempt to destroy -"

"We are asking you to right a wrong, Professor," interrupted Teddie. "Don't you want to salvage your reputation? Isn't that why you modified the memory in the first place?"

Slughorn stammered.

"Don't you want to get rid of the wizard that killed Lily Evans?" Harry pressed.

"Of course, I do, but -"

"Are you scared that he'll find out you helped us?" Harry asked.

Teddie furrowed her brow. Slughorn had been in hiding for a year before coming to Hogwarts, and Voldemort had been busy most of last year recruiting his old followers, getting the Prophecy, and …

She gasped.

"What?" Harry asked, turning to her.

"That's why Voldemort has been searching for you," said Teddie. "This memory is the reason you have been in hiding for a year. He's scared of what you told him as much as you are, because he knows you hold the key to his destruction."

Slughorn's eyes watered.

"Don't you get it, Professor?" Teddie asked. "It doesn't matter whether you tell us or not, if he finds you then he will kill you anyway. He doesn't care. Voldemort is no longer your star pupil; he wants you dead so that you can't undermine him."

Slughorn said nothing, he looked terrified.

"Be brave, Professor," said Harry, tentatively. "Be brave like my mother."

Slughorn raised a pudgy hand and pressed two shaking fingers to his mouth. "I'm not proud," he whispered. "I am ashamed of what – of what that memory shows…"

"It doesn't matter now, Professor," said Teddie, shaking her head. "What you did is already in the past, but you have a chance to make things right."

Harry nodded. "You would be doing a very brave and noble thing by helping us, Professor," he urged.

A long, long silence stretched between them.

Then, very slowly, Slughorn put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wand. He put his other hand inside his cloak and took out a small, empty bottle. Still looking at the students, he touched the tip of his wand to his temple and withdrew it, so that a long, silver thread of memory came away too, clinging to the wand tip.

Longer and longer the memory stretched until it broke and swung, silvery bright, from the wand. Slughorn lowered it into the bottle where it coiled, then spread, swirling like gas. He corked the bottle with a trembling hand and then passed it across the table to Harry.

"Thank you very much, Professor."

"You're good children," said Professor Slughorn, tears trickling down his fat cheeks into his walrus moustache. "You don't deserve to be in this mess. Promise me one thing,"

"Anything," said Teddie quietly.

"Don't think too badly of me once you've seen it. . . ." He then put his head on his arms, gave a deep sigh, and fell asleep.