"Come in!"

It was cheerful enough, but still, Rose hesitated before gingerly pushing the door open to reveal Slughorn's office. It was sumptuously decorated, with plush leather armchairs and a large ebony desk, which distracted from the cold stone walls of the dungeon. The oil lamps burned with a merry orange light that threw cozy shadows on the emerald-green hangings. Behind Slughorn was a wall covered in photographs of his past favourites, who beamed and jostled for the best position.

Slughorn looked up expectantly. Though he did a good job of hiding his discomfort at seeing Rose, she couldn't help but notice, and shuffled awkwardly on her feet. Her hand subconsciously flew to her cheek. The scar was long gone now thanks to Madame Pomfrey, but she couldn't help but feel like it was still there, standing out starkly against her pale skin. By this point, Slughorn had recovered his smile.

"Ah, Miss Prewett! Yes, I was anticipating I might hear from you soon – please, take a seat, take a seat. Crystalised pineapple?"

Rose, who was just easing herself into one of the leather armchairs, blinked in confusion as she was handed a large plate of sweets. "Oh, uh – sure."

She took a sugared cube. Slughorn was watching her intently, and so she felt compelled to pop it in her mouth at once. It was delightfully tangy, but it did rather take up most of her mouth. This seems to have been what Slughorn was aiming for, because it gave him the chance to say, "A gift from Lucius! I suppose you remember him?"

He tapped to the photograph behind his right shoulder with his wand, where a handsome young man with white-blond hair was smiling at the camera. Rose nodded through her sweet. In her first two years at Hogwarts, he had been somewhat like a brother to her, first as her Head Boy, and then as her best friend's older brother. Now, of course, he wouldn't hesitate to spit at her in all likelihood. How times change.

"Yes, yes, a very charming boy," Slughorn carried on, oblivious. "Doing very well for himself – although how can you not, as a Malfoy, eh?" He chuckled at his own joke. "Anyway – you wanted to speak to me about something?"

She quickly swallowed her sweet. "Yes, I – I wanted to ask about doing some extra credit. To make up for – well, you know…" she trailed off, not wanting to speak about the incident. Slughorn, who nervously tugged at his moustache, seemed grateful for this.

"Ah, I see, I see. But you know, of course, that a 65 is really a very reasonable mark, and there is no need for you to make up for –"

"A sixty-five?" Rose spluttered, unable to help herself from interrupting. Slughorn started. "Sorry, Professor, I just mean – you know I can do better than that!"

Such confidence in her abilities had not been uncommon before, but she had grown rather subdued in her third year. Therefore, it was with pleasant surprise that Slughorn met this comment.

"I suppose, when considered within your class average, it is a bit of an outlier… But between marking and the Slug Club, I'm afraid I really don't have a lot of free time to spend redoing a whole lesson just for the benefit of one student."

Rose's ears perked up at the mention of the Slug Club. It had been a dream of hers since she had first started at Hogwarts to make it into this elusive and exclusive group of Slughorn's favourites. Then her heart sank.

"But how am I supposed to make it into the Slug Club if I have a sixty-five on my record?!"

For a moment, Professor Slughorn just stared at her. Then he burst into a hearty laugh that was so boisterous and unexpected that it made Rose jump.

"Oh, my dear," he said, wiping his eyes with the cuff of his sleeve. "To be thinking about joining the Slug Club at such a young age – you've a long while to go yet! Perhaps you should focus on your O.W.L.s first, hmm? Though," he added, settling down again, "I will say that unless you plan on spending the next two years skipping class and assignments, I would think you would find it hard to avoid being a member! With parents like yours, I've expected you to join from the first time you walked through the front doors of Hogwarts."

Rose wasn't sure how to feel about that statement. On the one hand, she was flattered that Slughorn thought so highly of her. On the other hand, she couldn't help but feel agitated that he seemed more interested in her parents than her. Having a father who was a high-ranking member of the Wizengamot was bad enough without people putting pressure on her to match his legacy.

Slughorn, who had been watching her rather despondent expression, stroked his moustache. "I suppose," he said slowly, "that there is a different kind of extra credit you could do."

Immediately, Rose sat up straight in her chair. "There is? What is it? I'll do it!"

Slughorn couldn't help but grin at the speed of her agreement. "You want to be a Healer, yes?"

"More than anything."

"Well then," said Slughorn as he helped himself to a crystalised pineapple, "Madam Pomfrey is always in need of an extra pair of hands in the Hospital Wing. If you put in, say, an hour's shift over there, making healing balms and such, then I might be able to bump up that sixty-five to an eighty."

An eighty! Still not quite as good as Rose's normal, but much less likely to drag down her average than a sixty-five. "Of course, I'd be happy to – thank you so much!"

Slughorn shook his head. "No need, no need, Miss Prewett. I'll put in word with Madam Pomfrey straight away."

Rose was in a distinctly happier mood when she strolled back into the Slytherin common room, so much so that she barely even registered the waspish comments Dolohov shot her way as she breezed past her dormmates to sit on a black leather sofa next to Severus. As usual, he had sat in a secluded corner away from everyone else and was hunched over an essay.

"Alright?" said Rose breezily, earning a small nod in response. "Wait, is that an essay on werewolves? I thought we weren't learning about them until fifth year?"

"We're not – this is Harwood's essay."

Rose blinked. "You're doing someone else's essay for them? But that's cheating!"

Severus shrugged, not looking up as his quill slid along the scroll of parchment. "What it is, is a solid business decision. I made two galleons for this, and it's only taken me an hour." He produced two golden coins from his pocket and rubbed them against each other to make his point. "And anyway, I like Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Rose frowned. "Well I think it's immoral."

"Good thing I don't care what you think then, isn't it?"

Rose could feel her good mood slipping away like it was water in a leaky tap. Severus often seemed to have this effect on her. "Can I tell you what I actually came to tell you, or would it be more useful to go and tell the Giant Squid?"

Severus rolled his eyes, but finally laid down his quill. "Go on then. What fascinating news have you got for me? Did you have some more tea with that oaf of a groundkeeper?"

Rose's frown deepened. She had become very fond of Hagrid, and did not appreciate Severus' tone. "You know what? Forget it."

She stood up and made to leave, but before she could make it two steps, Severus had grabbed her sleeve and tugged her back onto the chair. "Don't be a baby. What were you going to say?"

Rose glowered at him, but he just watched her expectantly, offering no apologies. Eventually, she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Slughorn said I can make up for my failed potion by helping out Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing!"

Severus considered this for a moment before picking up his quill again and resuming his scribbling. "Well, aren't you lucky. That should be interesting, in any case."

Rose flushed with pride. From Severus, that was the equivalent of glowing praise.

"I know – you know how much I want to be a Healer, it will be really good…"

As she allowed her brain to fall down familiar routes about Healing and her future, something niggled at the back of her mind. What was it? She had meant to talk to Severus about something that had happened last time she had been at the Hospital Wing, but in all the awkwardness of leaving she had forgotten. Her mind lingered on the thought for a moment, before it all came flooding back to her.

"Oh! And I meant to tell you – I saw something very weird the other day."

"Mmm?"

He didn't turn away from his task. Rose hesitated, unsure if she should mention it suddenly. She wanted a fair appraisal of the situation, and Severus could not always be trusted to evaluate fairly. However, he was the only one of her new friends who she knew wouldn't tell on her to the person in question.

"What do you know about Lupin being sick?"

Severus froze in the act of dotting an 'I'. He turned his head sharply towards her. "What do you mean?"

His voice was low and calculated, and it put Rose on edge. "You know what I mean! Why he's always out of class so much."

"His mother is sick," Severus said evenly, not meeting her in the eye. "Dragon pox, I hear."

The lack of a stinging comment made Rose suspicious. It was not like him to be generous towards one of Potter's friends. "Right. That's what I heard too. Only –"

"Only what?"

His interruption caught her off guard. "Only I – I saw him in the Hospital Wing while I was there, and he was covered in scars."

Severus said nothing in response. He had gone very pale. His silence in the face of such intriguing information put Rose even more on edge, and she began babbling to compensate.

"I thought it was odd, you know – it definitely wasn't like he'd caught Dragon Pox from his mum, they weren't lesions or pustules or anything like that. They were proper big cuts! And I asked him about it and he said something about running into the Whomping Willow accidentally. But how do you run into a ruddy great big tree accidentally? And anyway, Madam Pomfrey could have healed that right up, but these looked like they hadn't even begun to heal –"

She stopped abruptly. Severus had grabbed her left wrist very tightly, so much so that it almost hurt. She flinched despite herself, and looked around hurriedly in case someone was watching them. But everyone was much too involved in their own conversations to pay attention to the two misfits in the corner. When she looked back, Severus was watching her with a fierce expression.

"Prewett, listen to me – stay away from Lupin."

For once in her life, Rose said nothing in response. She was too frightened by how serious Severus was.

"I know you like him," the boy said in a hushed whisper, "but he is dangerous, Rose, do you understand? And if you're not careful, you're going to get badly hurt."

Rose blinked and let out a disbelieving laugh that sounded hollow in her mouth. "Sev, he's just a guy –"

"He's not just a guy," hissed Severus, "and you need to be more careful, do you understand me? Stay away from him."

As though he had never said a word, he dropped her wrist and returned to the parchment, though his hand shook as he wrote. Rose stared at the red ring where his fingers had gripped her, seeing not her arm, but a pair of dull green eyes.