3 – The Christmas Challenge

Riddle's features were ruggedly handsome. His bone structure looked like something chiseled out of granite, or at least copied straight from one of the models in Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions catalog. He had a head of thick, cauldron-black hair parted to the side, and his eyes were dark brown, showing only a speck of the sinister red that would eventually consume them. In short, he looked exactly opposite of the Lord Voldemort Harry had defeated earlier that day.

Harry felt a wave of relief once his senses returned—this Riddle was not in the flesh. His face was plastered on a sheet of yellow parchment, floating at the head of the classroom. Text next to his picture read:

DESIRABLE # 1 IN THE SLUG CLUB

LISTEN TO GUEST WIZARD AND FORMER HOGWARTS STUDENT

TOM RIDDLE!

FRIDAY AT NOON

TOM WILL DISCUSS HIS ALBANIAN ADVENTURES

Next to the picture of Riddle was an announcement for the Hogwarts Yule Ball later that same day.

"Riddle is speaking?" Harry asked the classroom somewhat stunned. He knew Riddle had returned to Hogwarts to ask for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching post but not—

Harry's train of thought was broken by the sound of a cough.

At the back of the room, Snape had his head buried in a book. Its spine was worn and beaten and looked like old, wrinkled skin. The title was nearly indecipherable, but there was just enough of the bone-white lettering left to see Lost Magic of the Dark Arts. Harry had never seen anything like it, nor did he expect it to be available at the Flourish & Blotts bookshop in Diagon Valley.

Professor Slughorn walked into the room, not seeing Snape, but Snape clearly noticed him because he slid the book under his table safe from Slughorn's view. Slughorn raised his wand and mumbled something under his breath. The blackboard immediately began to erase itself, and a set of papers flew from the back of the room to Slughorn's desk.

"Nice!" Sirius Black walked in. "When are you going to show us that, Professor?"

"Ah, Sirius m'boy. I'm just filling in for Professor Flitwick the last few weeks. He caught a nasty case of that dragon cough."

"Fine by me. I like you better." Sirius seemed to walk on air as he made his way to his seat, several spaces to the right of Snape. "Hello, Snivellus," he said so Slughorn couldn't hear.

Snape didn't bother to look up from his book.

Pettigrew, Remus, and James Potter entered almost immediately after Sirius, and Slughorn seemed delighted. "And there's the rest of the Slug Club. Well,"—Slughorn raised a finger in the air for emphasis—"the Slug Club within the Slug Club that is." He winked at the boys and gave a hearty laugh until he noticed Snape at the back of the room. "Oh, hello Severus, m'boy. Didn't see you there."

"No surprise, huh Snivellus?" James sat next to Sirius, and Remus and Pettigrew followed suit, all of them quietly mocking Snape.

Harry moved to the back of the room. Sometimes he was a little ashamed at what he'd seen from his dad and Sirius, but he reminded himself that they were only teenagers. And people could and did change.

Other students filed into the classroom until there were maybe thirty in all. Slughorn was getting ready to flick his wand to close the door when Lily rushed through. "Professor, I'm so sorry."

Harry was taken aback because he'd forgotten how beautiful his mother was. It didn't surprise him as the other wizards turned their heads, taken by her radiant, emerald eyes, as if plucked straight from the Irish countryside, and her hair, the vibrant red of fire whiskey. But it was Lily's face that really lit up the room. There was something kind about it. Something that put everything at ease, the way a leisurely stroll through a park on a fall day, hand-in-hand with a lover, put everything at ease. Harry heard his dad whisper to Sirius, "I love her glasses. Adorable."

"I'm so sorry," she said again. "Professor Flitwick wanted me to bring some of his papers while he was out."

"No worries, my dear," said Slughorn. "Please take your seat and we'll get started."

Lily moved to the back of the room. There had been several seats open at the front, but she walked to the back where Snape had since put away his Lost Magic of the Dark Arts book. "Hi Severus," she said as she sat next to him. "Flitwick looks awful."

"How's that different from a normal day?" asked Snape.

It wasn't a joke but Lily playfully patted him on the shoulder. "Oh stop. He's not that unattractive."

Snape was surprised to have Lily touch him, and he shuffled in his seat nervously before a small grin formed. He seemed to even be a little proud of himself.

"Oh, I was just kidding," said Snape awkwardly, clearly a feeble attempt to pretend he had indeed intended to make a joke. "Or… or was I?"

Lily leaned in and whispered, "I know you were. It's okay."

Harry laughed. Snape was flirting. Who was this guy, and what had he done with Snape?

The conversation between Lily and Snape continued, and moments later, Snape was successful in making Lily giggle, loud enough that it drew a quick, curious glance from Slughorn.

A few seats down James watched this exchange and was tapping his wand on the table. When Snape made her laugh another time, he started tapping the wand faster, and with a little too much force, for some fire started to shoot out.

"Whoa! Whoa, Mr. Potter!" Slughorn flicked his wand and said, "Glacius minimus." A shot of cold air went through the room and immediately extinguished the sparks on James's table leaving some icicles . "Don't jump too far ahead of us. We'll get to that charm in a few weeks, but for today, I have something else planned. As you all have heard by now, I'll be taking over the last few weeks, since Professor Flitwick has caught a bad case of dragon breath." He paused strategically.

James and Sirius laughed.

"Oh, pardon me. I meant cough not breath." He let out a large belly laugh, and the buttons on his robes seemed ready to pop. "Now, I have exciting news. Very exciting news." Slughorn pointed to the picture of Tom Riddle. "As you can see, one of the finest students to ever walk through Hogwarts will be a guest lecturer in a few weeks."

There were some murmurs in the classroom. Harry watched his father and Sirius, and they didn't seem to take much interest in the announcement. Clearly Riddle's name wasn't unheard of, but what exactly did the students know? Was Riddle beginning to recruit his Death Eaters? Snape, on the other hand, had leaned forward and was watching Slughorn closely. He raised his hand.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Severus?"

"What will Mr. Riddle be discussing?"

"Ah, yes." Slughorn paced at the front of the classroom. "This is where the news gets really exciting. In these last few weeks, I'm setting up a challenge for all of you."

"What kind of challenge?" Snape interrupted.

"A Christmas challenge. You will be asked to create a Christmas ornament."

Snape leaned back and rolled his eyes.

"But!" Slughorn raised a finger to the air. "This won't be any normal Christmas ornament. You will need to combine elements of all of your classes in this project. Transfiguration, Charms, Potions,… any magic you can think of to create something that is alive. Something that can interact with us. And something that best captures the spirit of Christmas and love."

The students wore confused expressions on their faces, and Harry could tell this was much more advanced than anything they knew at this time. Snape had again lost all interest, and he quickly levitated the Lost Magic of the Dark Arts underneath his desk and started reading.

"Professor?" James Potter raised his hand.

"Yes, m'boy."

"What does that have to do with Mr. Riddle?"

Snape looked up from his book.

"Well," said Slughorn. "You see, Mr. Riddle is a very talented wizard. So he will be judging the contest and will award the winner."

"What does the winner get?" Snape didn't even bother raising his hand this time.

Slughorn now wore a huge grin. "Mr. Riddle has just returned from traveling all over Albania, and he promises me that he's learned magic that none of us have seen before. So the winner will get to spend the day with Tom and learn some new tricks.

"Now, you're probably wondering what these new tricks are," he continued. "All Mr. Riddle would tell me is that this advanced magic embodies the essence of our Christmas challenge."

The class broke out into chatter, and Harry could hear bits and pieces of questions theorizing what the magic could be. He kept his focus on his mother as she leaned in to Snape again. "Sev, do you know what the magic is?"

Snape didn't answer right away. He was watching Slughorn levitate a large crystal ball to the front of the room. Inside it, there was a Dickensian Christmas scene: a small, English town with carolers walking through a sliver snowfall, row homes with fireplaces warming living rooms, children with hot chocolate, and in the town center a steeple with church bells playing "Silent Night." At the top of the crystal ball, there was a huge banner floating with the words, "Christmas Challenge: Ornaments of Christmas Spirit and Love." Slughorn levitated it next to the Tom Riddle poster, thus completing his marketing for the contest.

Snape eyed the word love for a moment before turning to Lily. "I don't know what the magic could be."

Lily looked a little disappointed. "Well, I suppose we'll find out soon enough. By Merlin's Beard, I'm sure it will be really wonderful."

"Perhaps."

Underneath the table, Lost Magic of the Dark Arts was open to a page titled, "The Dark Tourist – The Fourth Unforgivable Curse?" The text on the page read as follows:

The three Unforgivable Curses are the Imperious , Cruciatus, and Killing. There has long been rumored to be a fourth curse—The Dark Tourist. No one knows the incantation, and many wizards deny it has ever existed. The Dark Tourist is similar to the Imperius Curse in that it allows the castor to control another human being, but the Dark Tourist is more powerful because it controls without control. While being completely convinced of their own free will, the subject feels, believes, and acts as the castor wishes. The Dark Tourist can influence the widest range of emotions including anger, hate, joy, jealousy, sadness, revenge, and even love.

Last believed to be used somewhere on the coast of the Adriatic Sea in the 1500s.

"It will certainly be interesting to see what Mr. Riddle brings in a few days. And perhaps it will be wonderful," said Snape.