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Slughorn's Favorite Student


Horace Slughorn pushed himself out of the plush chair be sat in, abandoning his box of candied pineapple and vials of student potions, and he waddled across the room as quickly as he could, past all the rows of desks, to where Lily Evans stood, sobbing, leaning against the door of the classroom. She had her hands covering her face as she shook her head and shivered. Slughorn hesitated when he reached her, pulling a handkerchief from the tiny pocket on the front of his vest, shaking it out and waving his wand to dampen the cloth before gently drawing her hands away from her face. He carefully dappled the cloth over her brightly flushed cheeks, tears pouring from her eyes. “My dear,” he said, his voice as soothing as he could bring it to be, “My dear, Lily Evan, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head, not trusting him enough to tell him the truth. Had it been McGonagall, sure, but not Slughorn. “I’ve had a row with Severus Snape,” she choked out the half-truth.

Slughorn clucked his tongue and he handed the damp cloth to her, slid his arm about her shoulders, and pulled her into him, hugging her as she fell into him, crying. “My dear girl,” he said, “It’s only a row, you needn’t cry like this over a little row. Friends have rows all of the time. Even very dear friends. Why, I had a row with my best mate - terrible row, ended with us attempting to hex one another! Practically a duel. And yet we’re friends to this day.” He chuckled and patted her shoulder, “It will blow over Miss. Evans.”

“I don’t think this one will, sir,” she struggled to get the words out. “Not this time.”

“Ah we always think such things in the throws of our emotions!” Slughorn said. He stared at her as she continued on crying.

Every time she closed her eyes, she could see that moment of hesitation, that flicker of temptation that had crossed Severus Snape’s face… and it shattered her all over again. He’d been the one to give her magic, to make her see the wizarding world, to open her mind up to it. It had been Severus Snape that had told her of the Hogwarts Express, of post owls, of wands and potions and hippogriffs and spells. It had been Severus Snape that held her hand in the little boats coming across the water to the castle, up the stairs, and into the Great Hall, to the Sorting Hat that very first night. It had been Severus Snape that had said he would always be there to catch her if she fell. Well now she was falling and it was Severus Snape that had pushed her.

Slughorn sighed heavily. “My girl.. My girl… it will be alright, you must calm yourself down before you’ve hurt yourself. Come. I have a potion that will help.” He drew her gently to the front of the room and put her in his plush chair. She sat and held the cool handkerchief to her face as he went to a trunk that opened up and had many many expanding drawers and cupboards within that he opened and dug through until he produced a vial of soft yellow liquid and carried it over. “Here we are, some cheering potion.” He drew the cork out of the vial and handed it to her, waving for a second chair. “Here… here, this will help wash it down…” and he produced a bottle of matured mead and two short glasses, the bottle pouring itself - a little in her glass and a generous amount in his. “Just a bit…” he smiled warmly at her and patted her knee awkwardly as she drank the cheering potion. She felt warmth spread through her and things suddenly seemed less dismal.

“Thank you,” she whispered, putting the vial onto the desk, empty.

Slughorn lifted his glass and nodded, “Of course, my dear, of course. Can’t let my favorite student feel dreary, now can I?” He smiled and took a sip of his mead after raising it in cheers at her.

“Your favorite student?” Lily asked, “Me?”

“Of course, my dear.” Slughorn chuckled, “Brightest witch in the school, you are.”

She blushed. “I’m not.” If I was bright, I wouldn’t have allowed myself to get into that situation, she thought, blaming what happened in the hallway on herself, wishing she’d pulled away from Severus Snape sooner, wishing she’d gone after the Marauders up the stairs. It had been the first time that they hadn’t escorted her from class to class since the incident with Mary Macdonald had occurred - and it had been because something had been wrong with Sirius. Probably Severus Snape’s doing as well, she thought bitterly. James never would have let that happen if he’d still been there.

Slughorn smiled, “You are very bright, Miss. Evans. Very bright indeed. Especially for a muggle-born…”

She looked up at him in disapproval for the way he’d said it. As though muggle-born were a handicap she ought to be proud of overcoming.

“I don’t mean that like it sounded,” Slughorn said, seeing the look in her eyes, “No, no, Miss. Evans, I’m not prejudiced! Not prejudiced at all, my dear. I’m fairly fond of muggles, myself. I have many friends that are muggles. Many friends.” He smiled and waved for his glass to be refilled. “It’s just a different sort of experience for muggle-borns than it is for those raised in a wizarding family, I suspect. Everything’s different and new and there’s such a lot to learn - the things we purebloods grew up with as second nature… a lot of information… that’s all.” He smiled.

Slughorn meant well, he was just a bumbling old man, Lily thought. He didn’t mean to be offensive.

He patted her knee again. “You’ve grown into quite the lovely young lady, Miss. Evans.” He smiled. “I remember when you were but eleven years old, a firecracker of sass.” He smirked. “Do you remember your first class? How delicately you cut those allihosty leaves! With such precision!” He smiled, nostalgic. “I knew then that great things would come from you, my dear, and great things have. You’ve done such a lot of amazing work in this class. I’m very proud of you.”

Lily’s eyes filled with tears again. She’d never realized that Horace Slughorn - of all the teachers in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - had paid such attention to her progress. He’d always seemed sort of aloof, sort of disconnected from his students. But he remembered with such detail their first encounter - over five years ago now - and looked at her with such pride…

“Don’t start crying again, my dear!” he said.

“I can’t help it,” Lily answered, overly emotional by everything that had happened, “You’re just so sweet and nobody realizes it. You’re such a sweet man, really, underneath it all, aren’t you?”

Slughorn flushed.




James and Peter had caught up with Sirius meanwhile on the stone staircase in the entrance hall. Students flowed about them, heading to lunch or back to their dorms to get things before lunch, and James jumped in front of Sirius, stopping him, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Sirius said.

Remus was struggling with the stairs - the day before the full moon, his knees were in horrible condition and he was leaning against the banister halfway to where the others were, wincing. He was thankful that Peter had offered to carry his cauldron - he wasn’t sure he could’ve made it up the stairs at all with that heavy thing on his arm. “There’s something the matter, Padfoot,” he said from where he stood, “We’re not idiots, we can tell when something is bothering you so spit it out already. Please don’t make me chase you all over the castle like this, I’ll never catch you up in my condition.”

“Furry little problem,” James said, shaking his head, “It’s really not fair, mate,” he said, looking at Sirius. “Go on and tell us what’s the matter.”

Sirius turned to look at him and shook his head, “No. Nothing. I’m fine. Bloody brilliant, even.” He wanted to go back and help Remus up the stairs. He’d heard Remus crying himself to sleep the last two nights with the pain in his back and his legs from the moon approaching and there’d been nothing Sirius had dared to do about it, afraid of getting too close, afraid of touching Remus Lupin for the way Achyls reacted. And right now he could hear her in there, her raspy breath echoing about his chest cavity, agreeing with Severus Snape that he - Sirius - had been the monster in the relationship all along.

His eyes teared up at the thought of it.

“Did Snape say something?” James asked, his voice vengeful.

“No,” Sirius lied. But his voice cracked slightly.

“He said something.” James turned back down the stairs, dropping his cauldron to the floor and leaving it there with Sirius and Peter. “Bloody tosser…”

“Prongs --”

But James was already past Remus on his way to the bottom of the stairs, wand drawn from his pocket.

Peter looked wide eyed down the steps at Remus as Sirius plowed after James as quickly as he could. Remus sighed, closing his eyes. “Bloody hell,” he murmured and he turned to follow them - though much slower, “C’mon Peter, are you coming or what?” he asked.

Peter hesitated, then grabbed James’s cauldron handle and ran after Remus, balancing the three cauldrons in his chubby grasp. He paused to pick up Sirius’s cauldron, too, as Sirius had dropped it at the door of the dungeons, and panted along after them.

James was coming ‘round the bend in the stairs and was nearly to the corridor when he heard Lily Evans’ voice, “Ziafarin!” she cried and there was a shout - Mulciber. “Fat lot of good your protection does me, Severus!” Lily said hotly and there was a slamming of a door, and a muttered cuss word and a thump and James came ‘round the corner to find Mulciber had Severus Snape slammed against the wall of the corridor, clutching the neck of his jumper roughly, getting right into Snape’s face.

“Your bleedin’ girlfriend’s gone and hexed me,” hissed Mulciber, as though this were Snape’s fault.

“Oi, Mulciber,” James yelled, coming down the corridor, “Get your hands off him.”

Sirius came ‘round the bend then, too, saw what was happening and grinned, “Yeah, he’s ours to hex. Back the fuck off you great twatwaffle.” He raised his wand, eyes glinting with the rush of the pending fight.

Remus and Peter came down the steps behind Sirius and James then, Remus raising his wand, and Peter standing there holding now four cauldrons and unable to even get his wand with the weight of all the cauldrons weighing him down.

Mulciber turning to face them.

James said, “Go on, leave Snape to us, we have business with him.”

“So have we,” Mulciber replied.

Both groups stood with their wands raised, Severus Snape caught in the middle.

Rapiunt,” hissed McNair, flicking his wand in James’s direction.

Suddenly the Potions classroom door opened and Lily Evans stepped out, followed by Slughorn.

“What the dickens --?” he started to ask, but the sparks from McNair’s wand caught the old man in the chest and he clutched his heart, his breath coming in a great gasp, and he fell forward.

Seeing what happened, the four Slytherins looked at one another in shock, and ran off down the hall toward their common room.

“Ferfuckssakes,” Sirius groaned and he leaped forward. “Wormtail, go for Pomfrey!”