During the next Potions class on the following Monday, it was Malfoy who ended up delivering the news to their peers that Ron and Hermione were doubting.
"I shouldn't be surprised that your family won't be a part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight for much longer, Weasley!" Malfoy sneered, placing his book on his desk, but keeping his wand out. "First Ginny Weasley and her mudblood, Thomas. Now, you and your mudblood, Granger. And she's not even remotely attractive, either!"
Pansy Parkinson snickered. "Must be something in the air."
Malfoy snorted. "It's a wonder that they lasted as long as they had, the blood traitors. I suppose I should be surprised that none of them took up with a mudblood before now."
"Really, Mr. Malfoy," said Slughorn, just entering the classroom. "There's no need for that sort of derogatory language."
"Apologies, Professor," Malfoy answered, after a second's pause.
"Now, class, today we will begin on page fifty-five, if you will take out your books..."
"How'd Malfoy find out?" Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione ten minutes later, as they were assembling their ingredients.
Hermione blushed, then grinned at Ron, who grinned back.
"Saw us holding hands on Saturday, when we were coming back from dinner," Ron explained.
"He looked like he might choke, and asked if we were a couple," Hermione put in. "I said that we were, not that it was any of his business, and you would have thought that Christmas was cancelled."
"Why should he care, anyway?" Harry wondered, measuring out the appropriate amount of beetle eyes (according to Sirius's instructions, anyway).
Ron looked up from his own supply of beetle eyes. "Well, we may be blood traitors and all that, but no one has married outside of wizarding families since the blasted list was assembled. Not that we care about stuff like blood purity," Ron added, quickly, "but it just sort of happened that my grandparents and my parents all fancied people who were from magical families."
Hermione, having finished her measuring, turned to Ron. "But your parents don't care that I am muggle born, do they?"
"Well, if Fred or George or Charlie fell in love with a muggle, it would be an adjustment for Mum, but Dad would love it." He grinned. "Other than that, they don't give a unicorn's horn about blood purity."
"What's Fleur considered, anyway?" Harry asked, thinking of Bill's fiancé.
"Depends who you ask," Hermione answered, with a laugh. "Technically, being part Veela, she's actually a half breed. A bit like Hagrid. But since men go wild for Veela, even if they aren't strictly human, they would probably say that Fleur is a pure blood, or whatever it would be with the rest of her family. I never asked her, I only know that her grandmother was a Veela."
"Half breed sounds almost as bad as, you know, the other word," Ron mused.
Hermione shrugged. "It's technically true, but perhaps, not very polite."
They worked in silence for awhile, and after they submitted their potions to be graded, Hermione turned to Harry. "That reminds me. Slughorn is going to schedule the Christmas party when you're not holding practice, so you will have no reason to say no. And," she added, quickly, "I've overheard about a dozen girls discussing slipping you a love potion so you'll bring one of them, so you ought to find someone to go with, and quickly."
The thought of Ginny Weasley went through Harry's mind, but he banished it. He'd only thought of her because she'd performed so spectacularly at the last Quidditch practice. Besides, she was dating Dean, as Malfoy had so flippantly mentioned earlier.
At Harry's look of horror, Ron gave him a sympathetic look. "It's like fourth year all over again, isn't it?"
"Maybe worse, even. D'you know if we'll have to dance?"
"Probably," Hermione and Ron answered at once, rather eagerly, but Harry groaned.
"It won't be so bad," Hermione insisted. "The parties can be quite fun, you know. And it's only one evening."
Harry sighed. "Maybe I'll get sick and be able to skip out."
"I'm quite sure he'd still make you go," Hermione said, with a bit of a laugh.
After speaking with Sirius that night-well, complaining was more like it-his godfather suggested that he ask Luna.
"You can go with her as a friend, and have a good time without any expectations of snogging or dating afterwards," Sirius suggested.
"Yeah, that's not a bad idea," Harry agreed, but didn't hide another sigh. "She's in the club already, but I don't think she would have asked anyone else. She's not, you know, really popular like that."
"What about Cho, if Luna doesn't want to go with you?" Sirius offered.
Harry shook his head. "We're not talking, and besides, I'm rather serve detention with Snape than go through all of that again."
Sirius chuckled. "Well, look on the bright side, pup. It's only an evening, and in a couple of weeks, you'll be on Christmas holidays. You're still coming here, right?"
"Of course!" Harry answered, scandalized at the idea of not spending the holidays with Sirius.
His godfather grinned. "Just checking. We'll see if we can finish all your homework in the beginning, so you can really enjoy yourself for Christmas and the rest of the holiday."
Harry, who had been thinking the same thing, agreed.
Luna happily accepted Harry's invitation to go as friends. When Ron heard who he had asked, he was dumbstruck, but Ginny's defense of him made him wish-selfishly-that she wasn't seeing Dean. They looked happy together, too, at least, as far as Harry could tell. The previous year, though, Ginny seemed happy enough with Michael Connor, or whatever his last name had been, and then she'd broken up with him before the end of the year. Harry tried not to hope too much that the same thing would happen with Dean, although he wasn't sure why. Dean wasn't so bad, really.
It was probably because Ron didn't like the idea of his dorm mate snogging his sister.
Luna wore spangled silver robes that attracted some giggles, but she'd left off her more unique jewelry and spectacles for the evening. Harry knew that she'd be entertaining, at least, and he could use a bit of that, in case the party ended up being dreadfully dull. He could just see it, being steered around and introduced to all sorts of pretentious witches and wizards who Slughorn had taught and was still receiving gifts from. Hermione had said that the parties were quite fun, but, well, Harry would believe it when he saw it.
Sure enough, there was a lot of introducing going on, a writer named Worple, who wanted Harry to give him several multiple hour interviews in order to write his life's biography.
It was almost a relief to see Professor Trelawney, even if she did start going on about him being the Chosen One. If things couldn't have gone worse, Slughorn nearly grabbed hold of Snape.
"Stop skulking and come and join us, Severus!" hiccuped Slughorn, happily. "I was just talking about Harry's exceptional potion-making! Some credit must go to you, of cours, you taught him for five years!"
Harry steeled himself, and Snape looked down at Harry, his black eyes narrowed.
"Funny, I never had the impression that I managed to teach him anything at all."
"Well, then, it's natural ability!" shouted Slughorn. "You should have seen what he gave me, first lesson, Draught of Living Death-never had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don't think even you, Severus-"
"Really?" asked Snape, quietly, his eyes boring into Harry.
"Well, sir, my godfather gave me loads of private tutoring during the summer," Harry explained. "You saw him in early July, remember?"
Slughorn laughed, and Snape seemed to relax, just a tad. "Of course! Yes, Sirius Black, James Potter, Lily Evans, and of course, Severus Snape were among the top students of my year. If Sirius has been giving Harry Potter private lessons, that all makes sense."
Snape nodded, as though to himself, and then glanced back at Harry, who stared firmly back at him.
Now would have been the good time to put his rudimentary Occlumency shields in place, but he found himself thinking that, if Snape wanted to read his mind at this moment, well, let him. He had nothing to hide. He and Sirius had done nothing wrong by improving the book, and even Hermione and Ron were benefiting from his instructions.
"Remind me what other subjects you're taking, Harry?" asked Slughorn.
Harry listed his classes.
"All the subjects required, in short, for an Auror," said Snape, and Harry was sure he could hear a sneer in his voice.
"Yeah, well, that's what I'd like to do, sir," he said, almost defiantly.
"And a great one you'll make, too!" Slughorn boomed.
Snape made a gesture-was it a nod?-but his face was perfectly blank.
Luna started to tell Harry why he shouldn't be an Auror, when suddenly, he saw Draco Malfoy being dragged by the ear to them by none other than Filch.
All in all, Harry thought as he lay down later in his bed, reliving the evening, it could have gone far worse.
The next morning, Harry traveled through the Gryffindor fireplace to Grimmauld Place. As Sirius had pointed out, there was no reason to take the train when he could just travel by floo powder. While it was still far from Harry's favorite way to travel, he had to admit that it was a lot more pleasant than Apparition, and more practical than brooms.
Sirius enfolded him in a great bear hug before Harry could clean the soot off his robes.
"Hello to you, too," he grinned, once Sirius had released him. "We just talked the night before last."
Sirius aimed his wand at Harry's robes, and they were once again soot free. "Yes, and when was the last time I saw you? Well over a month ago! No Hogsmeade, no Quidditch matches, and no lessons with Dumbledore in all the time." He let out an exaggerated pout. "I missed you, pup!"
Harry hugged Sirius tightly, laughing a bit. "I missed you too, Sirius."
"Come on, let's get you unpacked and then have breakfast." He glanced at Harry. "You look like you've grown at least two inches since I last saw you."
Harry glanced down at himself, but his robes seemed to be the same length on him. Tousling his hair, Sirius took hold of his trunk with one hand and wrapped an arm around his shoulders with another.
"I was planning on us working on your homework for a few days, get it all done, and perhaps a few Potion brewing classes and more dueling training, but mostly, pup, a lot of recreation and relaxation for the next two weeks. How does that sound?" Sirius asked.
"Brilliant," Harry answered, honestly.
"I suppose Hermione is at the Weasleys for the holidays?" Sirius asked, as they began unpacking Harry's books.
"Yes. Mrs. Weasley sent her a bunch of treats as soon as she heard that she and Ron had began dating," Harry laughed. "Took over five owls to deliver everything."
"She does enjoy showing her love with food," Sirius smiled. "Not that I'm not guilty of that."
"Can't imagine what you're talking about," Harry teased.
The parcels of baked goods still came at least once a week, usually with long letters packed with information, but written in a code that only the two of them could understand.
"Now, pup, I'm not that bad, am I?" Sirius asked.
Harry shrugged. "I've never really had gifts or much in the way of post before you, so I don't know what to expect. What's normal and all that."
"Can't help you there. Regalus got treats nearly every day, but my parents didn't so much as send me a cookie once I'd been sorted into Gryffindor. Not that I minded, but it still stung after I saw the owls for him. Mind you," he added, "they were likely dictated to a house elf, and my dear Mum would never so much as go near the kitchen, let alone dirty his pristine hands by cooking or baking something."
Harry could tell that it still hurt, and he rested a hand on Sirius's. His godfather pulled him into another hug, and Harry wondered if they were going for a record for the most hugs received/given in a single day.
To his surprise, Harry finished nearly half of his holiday work by dinnertime, during which Remus stopped by. He looked grayer than ever, but his robes were neat and tidy. He greeted them both with hugs, and Sirius insisted that he take at least two helpings of each dish he'd prepared.
"Do you mind if I spend the night?" Remus asked, after they had finished dessert.
"You know you don't need to ask, Moony," Sirius replied, giving his best friend a rather exasperated look.
"It is your house, Padfoot, even if you've told me a hundred times I'm always welcome," the werewolf replied, with a tired smile.
"Exactly. I've told you a hundred times," Sirius reminded him. To Harry, in a stage whisper, he added, "It's more like a hundred and twenty-three."
"Not that you've been keeping track," Remus said, dryly.
Sirius snorted. "Come, let's go to the sitting room."
They did, and Remus let himself relax in a high backed chair while Harry joined Sirius on the couch. Sirius placed an arm around him, almost protectively, and certainly affectionately.
"How's your sixth year going, Harry?" Remus asked, lifting his legs up onto the armoire.
"Lots of work," Harry answered, truthfully. "More than last year, even. But, it's interesting, and Sirius prepared me really well with Potions and nonverbal magic." He turned to Sirius. "I'd been meaning to tell you...something sort of odd happened at Slughorn's party."
"How's that?" Sirius asked.
Harry turned a bit so he was facing his godfather as well as Remus, and outlined the exchange that had taken place between himself, Slughorn, and Snape.
"Snape seemed to get suspicious when Slughorn told him about how well I was doing," Harry finished. "And I told him that you'd been tutoring me, and I swear, Sirius, it was like he'd been afraid of something, but whatever I said made him reconsider. And," he added, "he was staring right at me, like he was reading my mind."
"Did you use your Occlumency against him?" Sirius asked, brow furrowed.
Harry shook his head. "I thought about it, but I didn't have anything to hide, or not with Potions, so I didn't. D'you have any idea what Snape was thinking?"
Sirius shrugged, and Remus looked pensive.
"Perhaps, he thought you'd been cheating? Copying from Hermione?" Remus suggested. "Of course, you weren't, and given that you had some practice with Sirius, and she hadn't, it took a few attempts to create potions of the same quality he was teaching you."
"I rather wonder if he was envious. Because he knew what a fraud he was-oh, I know that he's an expert at brewing them, I've no argument against Snape there-but he can hardly teach worth a lick, and it's only because of Dumbledore'd protection that he has a job." Sirius smirked a little. "Probably ate at him that one of his rivals spent a few weeks teaching Harry, and he ended up surpassing all the students in the first class."
"He did pride himself on his knowledge of Potions and the dark arts," Remus allowed. To Harry, he added, "Do you have any theories?"
Harry just shook his head. "But it was weird, wasn't it?"
"Certainly strange," Sirius agreed. Then, he and Remus exchanged a look. "He'll be here in a couple of days, come to think of it."
"Come to think of it?" Harry repeated, staring first at Sirius and then at Remus.
Sirius sighed. "I'd hoped to put it off a bit longer, but as we're here, I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you, pup. You know your scar?"
Harry pointed to his forehead. "Yeah?"
"It's a horcrux."
Author's note:
Snape's reaction to Slughorn's praise was due to his belief that Harry was using his old Potions book. Of course, he isn't, and his comment about receiving tutoring mostly put that concern to rest. (And Harry isn't going to be using the spells Snape created in this version.) Harry's work is excellent due entirely to Sirius, who is not only exceptionally intelligent, he's giving Harry help based on his entire education and private study. In light of that, Harry's work will be better than Snape's at his age. He has a great teacher and better instructions, so he has an enormous head start.
I expect to have the next chapter ready on Saturday.
Constructive feedback? Please?
