Hi readers! Here is a quick little interlude to tide you all over until the next chapter is posted. It's just a little idea I had, and I wanted to get something up a little quicker this time. So, enjoy!

Disclaimer still stands.

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My Dearest Ambition
An Exercise in Mentoring
By Sirius Black
For Prof. Horace Slughorn

To be perfectly honest, Professor, I do not wish to share my dearest personal ambition. However, concerning my mentee Milton Boyd, I would be glad to share. You see, young Mr. Boyd and I will be tackling a year long project, provided that we can manage to have the necessary time together that this project requires. Milton will be gaining from me all the knowledge he needs to survive the next four years at Hogwarts, as well as the remainder of his third year. I do hope that this is making sense, Professor. My roommates are busy tossing around ideas for their compositions as well, and can be a bit distracting. I apologize in advance for any incoherence. I also have a detention with Gary Professor in an hour, so I will most likely have a good solid chunk of time with which to complete this assignment. Back to the ambition then…

My dearest ambition regarding the mentoring program is to impart to Mr. Boyd all the wisdom I possess. This, I hope, will help him to succeed in taking over my place as Gryffindor's resident, in house, king of everything. No, Professor, this is not vanity. I am the one that people come to for advice. I aid them to the best of my abilities and will occasionally seek advice from my friend Remus Lupin when I cannot arrive at an answer. I do hope that Mr. Lupin trains his mentee Mr. Teslo to provide Mr. Boyd with the information he needs to be my successor.

So, in short, Professor Slughorn, I wish to shape Milton Boyd into the next Sirius Black. I want to transform him from the clumsy mumbler that he is today into a suave, charismatic charmer. Thank you for your time, sir.

Sirius Black

Professor Horace Slughorn set down the essay and looked around him. He felt as if he had just awoken from a very strange dream. Sirius had not really answered the question. He hadn't really done the assignment. He had rambled. He'd written himself in circles and then into a corner, and Horace Slughorn knew not what to think of it. He was actually considering passing Sirius for the sheer fact he had stumped him.

"At least he was honest," Slughorn said as he picked up the essay for a second time. He began reading again and then promptly stopped. There was really no point. The assignment was to detail your goals for the year, as an exercise in developing activities for the mentor program. It would seem that Sirius thought himself to be laying plans for a dynasty of sorts. It was all very strange.

Slughorn then picked up the paper James Potter had handed in… three hours late. The Professor was beginning to worry about this boy. His performance was slipping and it was only the first week of classes. For all the time he spent watching Lily Evans, it was not helping him. She was one of the best students in the N.E.W.T. class, but Potter was not picking up on any of her talent. He stared too much, instead of working. Slughorn decided to set his essay aside too. He instead picked up the essay handed in by Remus Lupin. It was sure to be an interesting read, if nothing else. Lupin always turned in good work. He was what professors fondly referred to as a nerd.

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Thanks for reading! Now please, review and let me know your thoughts.

Next up is detention with Gary!