Chapter 4: Slughorn
The Ministry of Magic was absolutely bustling this morning. Wizards flooded the Atrium, appearing from the fireplaces, brushing ash from their robes and going about their business. It was all Harry could do not to scream as he treaded slowly through the crowd. He was already late, and he was head of the Auror office, not ideal. Plus now that Ron and Hermione were teaching at Hogwarts and Ginny worked on a complete other floor he didn't have many people to talk to.
"Hem, hem," squeaked a sickeningly sweet voice behind him. Harry nearly cursed as he turned right into the face of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Dolores Umbridge. "Excuse me Mr. Potter."
"What?" snapped Harry, he and Umbridge hated one another to this day, and neither made any attempt to hide it, especially Umbridge. Every time Harry saw her it was all he could do not to pull out his want and jinx her right in her hideous toad-like face.
"I'm here to give you a warning Mr. Potter, as senior Undersecretary to the—"
"I know, you have the power to fire people. I won't be late again, alright!"
"And—"
"I know, I'm head of the Auror office, you outrank me in position and you want me fired because you just don't like me, I'm not too fond of you either Umbridge." Harry snapped. He help up his hand, she winced as though he were about to smack her toady face (he would certainly have liked to), once she realized he was not however, her eyes swept across the back of his hand, etched there in scars, still barely visible were the words: I must not tell lies.
"Well," said Umbridge, seemingly at a loss for words. Harry was just about to turn around and leave, he wanted to avoid Umbridge as much as possible, she was so… well the most polite description of Dolores Umbridge was that she was horrible, completely, utterly, nastily horrible, her physical appearance was quite frightening, she looked like an elderly toad, her voice was annoying, high pitched, and girlish, and she had a personality like poisoned honey. Harry felt a pang of pity for the Minister, Percy Weasley, who she worked for; he had to deal with her rubbish every day, and he was not in the position to fire her, she did good work for him as she was loyal, completely and utterly to any minister. Harry briefly wondered how she managed to wriggle her way out of Azkaban, after what she did to those Muggle-borns when Voldemort took over the Ministry.
"Well what?" Harry snapped.
"That was actually not what I was going to say Potter. Do not interrupt me in the future." Umbridge retorted, he sweet and girlish voice seemed somehow as threatening as it could possibly be, still Harry had been snapped at worse, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley, even Malfoy.
"What is it then? Out with it, as you know I'm already late!"
"Yes well, the Minister wished me to pass a message along to you. Auror Thomas needs to speak with you."
"Fine." Harry replied shortly, as slight curiosity fell upon him, what did Dean need to see him for? Yes, Dean was an Auror, he had joined the force before Harry did. "Anything else."
"No Mr. Potter."
"Bye then." said Harry as he continued his walk toward the surely cramped lifts. Umbridge gave a sigh of annoyance and anger and stalked off, Harry briefly hoped her obesity would kill her some day. He would never like that woman, she was a terrible person, if only she had worked for Voldemort… if only she had been a Death Eater. Where now would she be? Azkaban, rotting away like Fenrir Grayback, like Yaxley, Mcnair, or the Carrows? These thoughts ran through his mind as he stepped onto the least crowded lift he could find and descended to the floor of the Auror office. Thankfully it was much less crowded here and Harry easily made his way down the long corridors.
He found Dean waiting for him before his office door, for the first time since he had parted with Ginny this morning a smile crossed his lips. Dean shook his hand quite enthusiastically, despite the news he was about to relay….
"Hey Harry… Mr. Potter I mean." said Dean as he let go.
"Hi Dean, you can call me Harry you know." Harry replied. "So you've got news for me?"
"Yes, I didn't know if the Minister would actually be able to give it to you, but you usually see him every morning, more than anyone else and you know him so I thought it would be the best choice."
"Actually Umbridge told me."
"Oh, sorry."
"It's alright."
"Someday, after she's fired I'm going to jinx her little toad face."
Harry laughed quietly, and then he got a hold of himself.
"So what's up?"
"Actually this is sort of sensitive, maybe we should step inside your office?" Dean suggested. Harry's curiosity was perked. What information could be so sensitive that the rest of the Auror office was not to hear about it? Or perhaps some high officials didn't want anything leaked into the Daily Prophet, there were several Aurors Harry knew that would be happy to give the paper information on whatever Dean told him, or else might slip and spill, and so Harry agreed in the form of nodding his head and allowed Dean into his spacious, but entirely unorganized and messy office.
Harry took a seat at his maple wood desk and flicked his want lazily, a comfortable looking ash chair sprang out of the air and placed itself before Harry's desk, Dean graciously took it, and Harry folded his arms and looked the man straight in the eye.
"Can I offer you something to drink? I have Madam Rosemerta's finest oaken Meade or some firewhisky if you prefer, Dean." Harry offered.
"No thanks, Harry." Dean declined. "I really just need to tell you this."
"Alright, go ahead." said Harry, still curious, but trying as hard as he could to appear not so.
"Okay, now a Muggle called the police force yesterday about a body floating in the lake near his house. Naturally they came to investigate and fished the body from the lake, they sent it to a morgue for autopsy, however the Muggle who preformed it found absolutely no signs of death. This sparked the interest of one of an Auror who happened to catch wind of it. We took possession of the body and found that it was Alexey Dashkov, a Russian wizard who works at Azkaban." Dean explained, he waited for a reply from Harry eagerly, as though his boss was about to tell him that he believed there to be a conspiracy behind the death, and that it was much more that it seemed.
"Alright," said Harry lightly. "Go on."
"Well obviously he was killed by the Avada Kedavra curse, but we also found signs he was tortured, probably for information."
"Any suspects?" asked Harry, he had one in mind…. Where were the Malfoys, was it a coincidence that this body just appeared while they had shut themselves inside their mansion, away from the public eye.
"We believe it might have been Bellatrix Lestrange." said Dean. Harry had suspected he would say that from the moment he spoke the word 'killed'.
"Alright, well look into this then." said Harry. "Keep it hushed I suppose no one's going to like it if news of a murder gets out."
XxX
Albus awoke grimly the next morning and got dressed for his lessons. It was a dreary day, purplish gray clouds hung over the mountains in the distance, while a ceiling of white covered the cerulean sky and blocked the pale sunlight of morning. After gathering his necessary supplies he strode into the common room where he met Rose, Hugo, and Phil. Together they headed down to breakfast which turned out to be very filling and tasty, though it did nothing to lighten anyone's moods.
Once the group of four exited the Great Hall Rose bade them all goodbye and headed off to Arithmancy, excited that her mother would be teaching which Albus, and Hugo found odd, not Phil through, he was used to it since his father taught Herbology. After Rose began to ascend the Grand Staircase the trio of third years made their way to the dark, dank, dreary dungeons for their first Potion lesson of the year, and to meet their new professor. Apparently a man named Horace Slughorn had taught a two years prior to the Battle of Hogwarts where Voldemort was killed, and the man had went into retirement again for the next twenty-two years, an elderly, dreadful man had taken the post and become head of Slytherin House, he was forced to retire at the end of last year after someone left a mild poison in his goblet during dinner. He vowed never to return to Hogwarts, all the better for Albus who utterly disliked him.
He was curious to meet this new… old Professor Slughorn who Headmaster Shacklebolt had recently succeeded in rehiring. Harry had told him a few things about Horace Slughorn, mostly that he created a group he called the Slug Club in which he gathered the sons and daughters of the famous, or the smartest, most talented you witches and wizards around him. He apparently had a knack for picking those that would go one to become rich, famous, or successful, or any of the three. Harry had warned all three of his children, James, Albus, and Lily that Slughorn would likely target them for his Slug Club.
Albus did not immediately find out as he entered the potions classroom for Slughorn was nowhere to be found. He, Hugo, and Phil took a seat furthest away from the empty teacher's desk and waited gloomily for Slughorn to enter, and for the no doubt boring lesson to begin. They completely ignored the small cauldron on his desk which was filled with a golden liquid, hundreds of sunlight colored drops sprung from it, flying into the air and back into the cauldron, not one hit the floor.
A few minutes later the walrus like man who was Horace Slughorn burst into the dungeon classroom.
"Albus m'boy!" he boomed, striding straight up to the table that Albus, Hugo, and Phil occupied, completely ignoring the rest of the class who did not seem to care at all, except for several Slytherins who apparently expected more preferential treatment from their head of house. Slughorn reached Albus quickly and enthusiastically shook his hand. "Welcome to your first potion lesson with me m'boy! The son of Harry Potter I see, yes, your father had a natural talent at potion making he did, head Auror now I see, and no one better for the job than him, no sir, what with his triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and such…. Well anyway good to meat you m'boy. And you!"
Slughorn turned enthusiastically to Phil, completely ignoring a cross looking Hugo as though he were a pile of pungent dung.
"You are the son of Neville Longbottom are you not, and Luna Lovegood?"
"Yeah," Phil replied unenthusiastically as he shook Slughorn's hand.
"Great parents you have my lad. Neville is the best Herbology Hogwarts has ever seen! No offense to poor Professor Sprout, may she rest in peace… and your mother Luna, she was part of the organization known as Dumbledore's Army I think, and she took on Bellatrix Lestrange during that fateful battle here at Hogwarts! My, my, it was very good to meet you as well." Slughorn cried happily.
"My parents are both teaching at Hogwarts," Hugo muttered, catching Slughorn's undivided attention. "And they helped Mr. Potter defeat You-Know-Who."
"Oh! I must have overlooked you, Hugo isn't it?" Slughorn asked while taking Hugo's clammy hand and shaking it vigorously. "Yes your parents were indeed very talented, most especially your mother Hermione, yes, she was a right good one she was, best witch in her year! I suppose you must have inherited her talents as well? Good to meet you too! Alright class, enough chit-chat let's began the lesson!"
At this everyone groaned and opened their textbooks.
"Now, now, don't fret!" boomed Slughorn as he strode up to his desk and stood next to the small cauldron, golden drops still shooting from it. "I always try to make the first lesson of the year a friendly competition, ever since I came to Hogwarts the year poor Albus Dumbledore was killed, and I always offer the same reward. Can anyone tell me what this little potion is?" Slughorn gestured to the golden liquid in the cauldron next to him.
Albus took a lazy glance at it, and then it hit him. He knew exactly what that was! His father had won it in his first lesson with Slughorn! Albus's hand shot into the air, Hugo and Phil snickered, hand shooting was more of Rose's style.
"Yes Albus? What is this potion, I'm sure you with Harry Potter as your father know!" Slughorn asked happily.
"It's Felix Felicis." said Albus. "It's liquid luck, if you drink it you'll be lucky at everything you do."
"Correct!" said Slughorn. The gloomy atmosphere in the room lifted almost immediately and every student gave Slughorn their fullest attention. "Ten points to Gryffindor I think, yes. Mr. Potter is quite right, it is liquid luck, a marvelous little potion, Felix Felicis. I drank it twice myself, best two days of my life. Well, this potion is the reward for the person who completes a simple healing potion flawlessly. A review from last year's segment I'll assume, for you third year, any simple healing potion you'd like to create, I believe you learned how to make one though, so all of you begin with that, the person who completes theirs flawlessly wins the potions. Go ahead and begin."
Everyone's hands shot toward their textbooks, the room was filled with the sound of flapping pages, clinking scales, and cauldrons. Albus was first to find the correct page which detailed the ingredients needed. He quickly lit a fire under his cauldron and rushed to get the ingredients. He'd never been excellent at potions, but perhaps it was the Felix Felicis that motivated him to do well because he seemed to progress further than anyone in class, Slughorn looked down at his potions happily and exclaimed,
"You have inherited your father's natural potion making skills I see! Always the first done in class with the best results Harry was, made an excellent Draught of Living Death in the first lesson I had with him, even bested Ms. Hermione Granger! Carry on Albus, oh, five minutes left!"
Albus scrambled to cram all the ingredients in and proceeded to stir as the book said, after which his potion was supposed to turn a navy blue color. Indeed it became so just as Slughorn announced the time was up. Albus stopped and glanced around at everyone's potions, no one had proceeded as far as he had! The closest potion to his was a very pale blue, created by a Slytherin. Slughorn gave an approving word to the students as he walked by, savoring his trip to the last table to glance at Albus's potion as he rightly expected it to be flawlessly completed.
When he reached the table he glanced down at Phil's which was a beautiful lilac color, though that was what the book said to expect at stage five of the potion making. He took a look at Hugo's somewhat expectantly and scowled slightly, Hugo, unlike Hermione had never been one for potion making, his cauldron looked as though it contained a boiling mud. Slughorn's scowl faded when he looked upon Ablus's.
"Excellent, completely flawless!" Slughorn boomed happily. "Albus Potter here has won the Felix Felicis and rightly so, you've definitely inherited your father's potion making skill."
Albus smiled as Slughorn produced a small vile of the golden liquid from a pocket in his green robes and handed it to him. Several Slytherins scowled angrily.
"I must warn you though, Felix Felicis is banned from most sporting events as well as on tests. Use it one just a normal day, and watch that day become extraordinary!" said Slughorn. "Well now, class dismissed good luck Albus."
The trio left the classroom quickly, Phil and Hugo seemed downed that they had not won the lucky potion, and their glum feelings were magnified by the rain that fell down past the windows, and the dull gray sky. Albus's spirit was brightened immensely and the rest of his lessons went smoothly, despite the homework he received from McGonagall and Longbottom.
The next week, which was also the first week of the first term at Hogwarts transitioned by smoothly, Albus completed all of his homework by Saturday and awoke Sunday, free to do as he pleased. The moment he stepped into the common room a sign on the notice board caught his eyes. Tryouts for Quiddich were being held soon. Excitement gripped him, he had always wanted to try out for the Quiddich team but never thought he was good enough until this past summer when his family traveled to the Burrow for a holiday, there he had practiced flying with Ron's brother George, as well as his father, Ron, Hugo, and James. He had improved brilliantly and felt he was ready. He made a mental note to try out for Quiddich, and for the next few days that was all he looked forward to. Apparently he had followed in his father's footsteps in potions, he also hoped he could do so in Quiddich.
I brought Umbridge in and still kept her in the ministry because I want to write her causing trouble for Harry in a while… and who knows, something utterly horrible might happen to her later on…. Next chapter we can look forward to Quiddich tryouts. Oh and Percy is minister because I thought he might actually be good at it since he's so devoted.
