Alexandra pushed the door to the Room of Requirements open and stepped in. It was just like she remembered it; a charred mess of ashes and scattered remains of items that had once been housed here. Finding the burnt book, Alexandra gently picked it up and settled herself down on the floor, ignoring the ash stains that appeared on her jeans. She flipped to the index of the book and anxiously searched for the word 'Athrimo', but found nothing.
Something kept her from closing the book in defeat, though. Something was telling her to keep searching through the book. Alexandra turned the pages, scanning each one desperately for any sign of something helpful.
She was about halfway through the book when she finally caught sight of it. Scribbled in tiny writing in the corner of a page about making a wart-removing potion was the word 'Athrimo'. Alexandra felt her heart beat faster as she began to read the squished paragraph beneath it.
Athrimo potion hasn't been concocted in years; very difficult. Takes two moon cycles to complete. If brewed, keep away from Mandrake leaves; they will absorb the potion if placed in the brew.
Then, in almost unreadable writing, the word 'Mastered' was written underneath. Alexandra frowned. Did that mean that the Half-Blood Prince who had made all the notes in this book actually knew how to make the potion? He must've been very skilled, if that was the case. Alexandra looked in the front cover of the book for a date, but found nothing. By the looks of the book, it must've been very old. Maybe whoever this Prince was had used this book in school when he went to Hogwarts as a student. They might be pretty old by now, but there was a good chance he could still be alive, wasn't there? She knew that wizards could live far longer than muggles could. But finding someone with only a school nickname? That would be hard, if not impossible.
For a second she contemplated going to Slughorn with this book. Perhaps he would've taught a student who called himself the Half Blood Prince. He had been here for years, hadn't he? Except for those almost two decades when that Snape fellow had taken over, of course. Somehow, though, she didn't think Slughorn would be too willing to help her. Ever since that day when he had confessed to her that she had taught Claridina while she was at school, he had been avoidant of her; barely making any comment on her potions in class and refusing to make eye contact with her.
No, it looked like if she wanted to find out who the Half Blood Prince was, she was going to have to do it herself.
…..
"There you are," Fred said, walking into the Gryffindor common room with Alanna and James. "Didn't you come to the match?"
Alexandra suddenly remembered that she was supposed to go down to the Quidditch pitch to see the match against Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. She had gotten so sidetracked after her visit to the Room of Requirement, though, that it completely slipped her mind.
"I dozed off," she lied quickly. "I was planning on just taking a ten minute nap, but I guess I was too out to wake myself up. I only just woke up."
"Whatever, it doesn't matter," James sighed. "We lost."
"Embarrassing game, really," Fred nodded, sitting down in an armchair. "140-200."
"That's not too bad," Alexandra said. "Only a sixty point margin."
"Which is exactly what they needed to slip into second place and push us to third," Alanna said. "If we lose to Ravenclaw, we're done, and if Hufflepuff wins against Slytherin by more than sixty points, we're done."
"That's rough," Alexandra said sympathetically. "Too bad."
"We'll be fine," Alanna said, pulling on a smile as she sat down next to Alexandra. "What are all these books?"
"Just a little background information for my History of Magic essay," she said quickly.
"Famous Wizards of the 20th century," James read, picking up one of the books. "Known Potion Masters and their Contributions, Europe's Top Brewers, who are you looking for in these?"
"Yeah, we don't have to write about any potion masters," Fred nodded. "We're learning about the trading restrictions of foreign bewitched goods."
"Yes, I know," she said. "But I heard that next week Professor Binns is going to have us start looking at potion brewers and I just wanted to get ahead."
"Why?" James said, looking disgusted.
"I think that's a very smart idea," Alanna said approvingly. "Maybe I should do that as well."
"You two are sick," Fred said, shaking his head.
"I'm going to go shower," James said, getting up. "Before I hear any more of this rubbish."
"Suppose we should as well," Alanna said to Fred. "We're covered in dirt and sweat."
As her friends headed out of the common room, Alexandra picked up Europe's Top Brewers and opened it back to where she had left off. If the Half Blood Prince was so extraordinary with potions, he had to be in one of these books somewhere, right? So far, though, all she had found were a bunch of old men who were famous for making medical remedies and other potions of the sort. She had yet to come across anyone who seemed to fit her idea of the Prince.