44 Chapter 43: Slug Club

-Hogwarts, 10th October 1976

The next morning after the incident in Slytherin house many students from different houses were talking in the Great Hall about the new rumours about Mulciber and Avery.

In such a short time everyone had heard that they had been in the infirmary with various injuries.

There was also a lot of talk about Mulciber being in a similar state to Potter, which got everyone talking even more about what could have happened in Slytherin.

Draco, Hermione, Lily, Alice, and Marlene were sitting together at the Gryffindor table talking privately about their thoughts on the matter.

The five of them had become very close and used to discuss all sorts of things.

"Why do you think Prince fought with those two, weren't they friends?" asked Alice curiously as she ate her breakfast next to Lily.

" Why do you think he did it?" Marlene asked doubtfully, she was sitting across from Alice next to Draco and Hermione.

"Well..., didn't you hear that Mulciber also got knocked unconscious and that Madam Pomfrey had to do the same treatment as with Potter?" said Alice as if it was a matter of fact.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean it had to be him, besides the Puffs claim that both Avery and Mulciber had a lot of pretty nasty injuries that neither Black nor Potter had," Marlene clarified.

Yes, the Hogwarts gossips were none other than the Hufflepuffes, everyone used to find out about rumours or other things from them...

Alice, Lily, and Marlene had a very good relationship with many Puffs, so the news would be more detailed for them.

"Maybe they had a magical duel..." said Alice a bit uncertain as in a dormitory that was strange.

"In Slytherin?" asked Marlene unconvinced that it was possible.

"Yes, in Slytherin the use of magic is allowed without many restrictions and if a duel happened it wouldn't be much of a problem, I'm even sure many would want to watch the show" commented Lily and it didn't take any of her friends to ask how she knew that since they knew it was from Severus.

"How do you know that?" asked Draco, he had a feeling it was for Severus but it was unthinkable to him that a Slytherin would tell secrets of his own house to someone from another house, certainly not to someone from Gryffindor.

Lily looked at Draco a little hesitant to say the answer, while Alice and Marlene could only sigh, they sometimes forgot that Draco and Hermione were Severus' cousins.

" Severus once told me that Lucius Malfoy had taught a lesson to another Slytherin who was trying to get close to Narcissa Black," Lily finally said after thinking about it.

"Then I found out that this Slytherin that Severus mentioned had been badly injured in the infirmary but he hadn't wanted to tell Madam Pomfrey anything about what happened, there were rumours of what happened but nothing more..." sighed Lily as she continued counting.

"Therefore I asked Severus again about what and how exactly it had happened and although he refused for a while to tell me, he finally told me some very vicious things about Slytherin and their... horrible rules," Lily finished with a deep breath.

'That's not something a Slytherin would do' Draco thought with a frown, but he remembered that choosing to go to Gryffindor wasn't something a Slytherin would do either, so he couldn't really criticize Severus...

Though his situation was rather special.

"It was probably Severus, but there could have been others involved as well," Hermione commented.

"Yes... But no one else was in the infirmary, only Rosier who was the one who took them but he had no injuries" added Alice.

The conversation went on for a while on that subject.

"Is something wrong Draco?" asked Marlene suddenly as she turned to look at Draco beside her, she had seen him looking very pensive since Lily had talked about Severus and Slytherin.

"Huh? No, nothing," Draco replied.

"Sure?" Marlene asked again.

Draco just nodded and continued eating his breakfast, but Marlene wasn't convinced that he was really alright.

"Leave it, Draco must only be thinking about Severus and his defeat that day," Hermione joked, even though she knew that wasn't what he was thinking about, but she wanted Lily and her friends to think that.

"You wouldn't have been able to win either' Draco said with a frown.

"Well... you can't know that, besides I did win my duel" smirked Hermione amused as she watched Draco only get more irritated.

"Against an easy opponent, anyone can win" Draco countered.

"This...I don't think Ava Bird is an easy opponent Draco..." said Merlene a little embarrassed as his level was similar to hers.

"Merlene is right, Bird is not an easy opponent, it's just that you two are already at too high a level" clarified Lily making both Alice and Marlene nod.

"Yeah, I don't know who taught you, but you're both way above most people," Alice added, she had seen her boyfriend duel in more than one situation and she knew he had an excellent level, what surprised her was that the Prince had a similar level to him.

~~~~~~~

Today Severus had a really tiring day, first, he had to deal with the stares and constant whispers from the students at breakfast.

And then in Potions class, he had to answer the odd question from the Ravenclaw, of course, he only gave short answers and didn't explain or detail anything.

It was lucky that his seatmate, Pandora, wasn't so interested in those things and preferred to talk about other things that Severus didn't know whether to believe or think that she was just making them up...

But considering that she seemed more mysterious than anyone could imagine, he decided to half-believe her.

That was why he listened to everything she said because as weird and delusional as what she said sounded, she had already been right that Severus really had changed and if it wasn't because he knew that what she saw were their two souls that had merged into one, he would probably even believe that she was just a little... crazy.

At the end of Potions class, Professor Slughorn asked a few students to stay for a few moments before leaving the classroom, including:

Amelia Bones, Logan Fancourt, and Pandora Moonlight from Ravenclaw.

Evan Rosier, Olivia Greengrass, and Severus Prince from Slytherin.

Severus frowned as he didn't understand why the professor asked him to stay after class, but he didn't say anything and stayed talking to Pandora until all the other students left the room and the professor finally appeared.

"Well, thank you for waiting my dear students, well here are the official invitations for this year's club party," said the teacher handing everyone the invitation.

Everyone took the invitation calmly, already expecting it to be something like this.

Well... not everyone.

Only Severus was confused as he didn't understand why Slughorn was giving him this invitation.

He knew that Professor Slughorn didn't give just anyone this invitation as he always consulted his students privately before handing them an official invitation in case they didn't want to participate...

As was usually the case with Severus, who always refused and therefore had never received an official invitation.

Horace Slughorn had never given Severus or any other person who didn't want to participate in the Slug Club an official invitation because for him it would mean losing face if a student refused to go in front of the others.

That's why Severus didn't understand why the professor gave him this invitation when he never accepted to be part of his Slug Club.

What Severus didn't know was that on the first day of class when the Potions teacher asked him if he would join the club this year and he said that he would think about it to avoid having to listen to him talk about the advantages of the club so that he could quickly go and find Pandora...

Horace Slughorn had thought that Severus was really considering it now, especially now that he was no longer just a potions genius but also the Prince heir.

Which for Slughorn might have made Severus finally reconsider joining his Club in order to get acquainted with other important people for the sake of the noble Prince family.

All this made the Potions professor feel that Severus needed only an incentive to finally join the Slug Club.

Therefore, Slughorn planned to give Severus the official invitation so that it would be an incentive for him to join.

Since turning down the Potions professor directly would be quite disrespectful.

And it wasn't the best option for Severus either, since Slughorn had always given him several benefits for being one of his best students...

One example was that he had allowed him to use a private room to make his own potions.

Of course, Horace Slughorn wasn't foolish enough to give Severus a letter if he refused to participate, but when Severus said he would think about it, the Potions professor didn't think twice and considered him part of the Club from that day on.

And so he cunningly planned how to do things, many people sometimes forget that Horace Slughorn is also a Slytherin.

Once the professor handed them their invitations, he left without another word.

The first to leave the classroom were Francourt, Greengrass, and Rosier.

Although the last two frowned when they saw that Severus had received an official invitation, as they both knew that he never accepted to participate in such events.

But neither of them said anything and simply left.

"So are you going to participate this year, Sev?" asked Pandora with a shine in her eyes, now that they used to talk so often, she started calling him Sev.

Severus didn't really like the idea of being called Sev, but Pandora explained that since they were friends now it was normal to do that.

"I don't remember agreeing to go and I wasn't planning on it either," Severus answered, he didn't really mind the idea of participating anymore, but he didn't see the need for it either.

" Let's go, it'll be fun, there's always lots of food and interesting people, maybe something unique will happen, you never know," said Pandora with stars in her eyes.

"This..., Pandora is right Severus, it might seem like a waste of time, but you'll be able to make contact with a lot of important and knowledgeable people, you can say it has its benefits" added Amelia who had also gotten very close to Severus this month, but she wasn't so impudent as to start calling him "Sev" like Pandora.

"Yes, I guess so," nodded Severus, a part of him might find it stupid to join the Club, but as Amelia said, it had its benefits and he was also confident that he could meet some interesting people as Pandora said.

"So will you go?" asked Pandora.

"Looks like you convinced me," said Severus with a slight smile as he saw Pandora smiling satisfied as a child, Amelia also smiled but more slyly.

"So do you have someone to go with Pandora?" Severus asked her since if he had to go with someone he'd rather it was her.

Pandora pouted prettily as she heard him again call her by her full name.

Despite her calling him "Sev" he would never call her as she intended for him to do, as calling her "Pandy" was just embarrassing and Severus wouldn't do it.

No matter how much she insisted that friends called each other in that way.

"If I remember correctly, Xenophilius Lovegood is usually your partner," Amelia commented, looking at Pandora.

"Yes, this year I'm sure I'll go with him again, but this is his last year so it will be our last party together at the Slug Club," replied Pandora a little sad to lose her good friend Xeno.

He used to be one of the few people she could talk to about all sorts of things at Hogwarts, although now with Severus it wouldn't be so bad.

"I see..." replied Severus with a frown knowing that he would now have to find another partner.

"And you Amelia?" asked Severus finally.

"Well, my usual partner already finished Hogwarts last year and now I received an invitation from Regulus Black, but I haven't decided to accept it yet," Amelia clarified.

"Why?" asked Severus curious as Regulus was a nice guy, despite being a Slytherin he didn't treat anyone badly and was very respectful, although he also disliked Muggles, he didn't let his dislike change his respectful behavior.

"You should already know which side of the current conflict the Blacks are on, and my family supports the Ministry, so it's not appropriate to go with him" Amelia explained, if it were up to her alone, she would go with Regulus Black as he was a smart, handsome, respectful wizard and from a good Wizarding Family, everything she needed as a partner to take part in the Slug Club party.

But as much as it is said that at Hogwarts it doesn't affect what happens outside, she knows that's not the case.

"Hmm, in that case, if you can't make up your mind, I don't have a partner yet, so if it's okay with you I can be your partner this year."

"Yes, I'd like that" nodded Amelia agreeing quickly with Severus' proposal.

"The truth is that I was going to ask you that as soon as I found out you were going to participate, especially knowing that you weren't aware that the professor was going to invite you, I assumed that you wouldn't have a partner," she added with a smile.

Typical Ravenclaw thinking about everything.

"Looks like we both got lucky then," Severus joked.

"Great, I'll be able to introduce you to Xeno, well, see you later," said Pandora happily as she waved to them both and left.

"This Xenophilius Lovegood, who is he?" asked Severus curious as he had never heard of him before.

"A seventh-year student in Ravenclaw, he's quite a recluse, he only usually talks to Pandora... or rather Pandora talks and he listens most of the time," said Amelia.