"Grandmum sent these for you too," Fred said, handing Alexandra and Alanna large baskets filled with a wide variety of homemade candies and cakes.
"Wow, that was so nice of her," Alanna said, accepting one of the baskets.
"Yeah, these look really good," Alexandra nodded, popping one of the taffies into her mouth.
"Did you lot just sit around and do homework all break then?" James asked.
"We played a few rounds of gobstones, and Alexandra played Keeper for me while I practiced my Quidditch shots," Alanna said.
"Nearly fell off the broom," Alexandra muttered darkly.
"Fred and I practiced too," James said. "Of course Lily had to tag along, though."
"She's not too bad," Fred said. "I'd be surprised if she didn't make Seeker when she came here herself."
"Yeah, whatever," James shrugged. "On the plus side, though, on my way back up here, I overheard Slughorn talking to McGonagall. He said that he's not going to have enough time to throw his Spring Party this year!"
"Really? I wonder why," Alanna said.
"Who cares why," Fred said. "The point is we don't have to go!"
Alanna looked at Alexandra. Alexandra was wondering the same thing Alanna must've been wondering; did this cancellation of the party have anything to do with the fact that he had revealed such personal things with Alexandra?
"Exactly," James nodded. "Now I won't have to deal with a whole night of questions about my dad."
"He still brings up from time to time in my class," Fred laughed. "'Mr. Harry Potter, who even though had quite a bit on his plate when I taught him, still managed to make a perfect sleeping potion that could knock out a troll!' I reckon he's in love."
"My dad wasn't even all too good at potions," James laughed. "He told me that he found this book that that had all sorts of tips and hints written next to the recipes that always made the potions come out better."
"Oh yeah, I remember him saying something about that years ago," Fred nodded.
"Yup," James said. "He said that Slughorn always believed it was him who was the potion genius but that he really owed everything to the Half-Blood Prince."
Alexandra nearly choked on the chocolate she had been eating. "The who?"
"Half Blood Prince," James said. "He's the one who wrote in all the tips. He also wrote down a bunch of his own spells and stuff. It must've been a dead helpful book. I asked dad if he still had it, but it was destroyed in a fire apparently during the Second War of Hogwarts."
"So-So he never found out who the Half Blood Prince really was?" Alexandra asked, trying to sound nonchalant. "I mean that had to be a nickname, didn't it?"
"It was," James nodded. "And he did find out who it was in the end, though."
"Who?"
The others stared at Alexandra, who had just realized how loudly she had voiced her last comment.
"The bloke Albus is named after," James said after a moment.
"Albus Dumbledore?" Alanna frowned. "I was sure that I read he was a pureblood."
"No, no, his middle name," James said. "Severus. As in Severus Snape. He was the headmaster after Dumbledore died, actually, he's the one who killed Dumbledore, but that's another story, and before that he was the Potions teacher here. The book was his when he went to school here."
Of course, Alexandra thought to herself. That made perfect sense. I could've saved myself weeks of trouble if I had just gone to James in the first place.
"I'm sorry, but you said Snape killed Dumbledore?" Alanna said. "Why would your parents name your brother after him then?"
"Because apparently Dumbledore had it planned to end that way all along or something along those lines," Fred said. "Anyway, can we show a bit more excitement about getting out of Slughorn's party? That's about three hours we'll save of our lives!"
"He probably thinks we all really enjoy them," Alanna said. "I feel sort of awful for hating them."
"They'd be decent parties if we didn't get harassed at them all the time," James pointed out. "But, well, we do, so that's that."
"Exactly," Fred nodded in agreement. He got up from the couch he was sitting on. "I'm gonna head up to the Owlrey. I told mum and dad I'd write them when I got here."
"I'll go up with you; I told my parents the same thing," James said, tossing his bag onto the armchair he had been sitting on. "See you girls around."
"You don't Slughorn would be canceling his party because of what he told you, do you?" Alanna asked as soon as the boys had left the common room.
"Huh?" Alexandra frowned. "Oh, I don't know…maybe." Truthfully, she had more important things on her mind right now than worrying about Slughorn's reason's for canceling his party. She had just found out who the mysterious Half-Blood Prince was, and she was still unsure of what this new information meant. But she had to do something with it, didn't she? Sure, she had made a promise to herself to stop obsessing about the Prince, but that was before she found who he was. Now, things were different. If only she had a way to find out more about Snape. She doubted he would be in any books, and seeing as he was dead, there wasn't anyway to talk to him in person. Then, a grin slowly crept onto Alexandra's face; there was a way of talking to Snape, and she knew just how to do it.