Rosabella Black |Daughter of Sirius Black| (Book 6)

Horcruxes

Rosabella's Point of View:
I guessed that the Felix Felicis was wearing off as Harry and I creeped back into the castle. The front door had remainedun locked for us, but on the third floor we met Peeves and only narrowly avoided detection by diving sideways through one of our shortcuts. By the time we got up to the portrait of the Fat Lady and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak. I was not surprised to find her in a most unhelpful mood.
   "What sort of time do you call this?" The Fat Lady said, severly annoyed.
   "We're really sorry - we had to go out for something important -" I said.
   "Well, the password changed at midnight, so you'll both just have to sleep in the corridor, won't you?" The Fat Lady said.
   "You're joking! Why did it have to change at midnight?" Harry said.
   "That's the way it is. If you're angry, go and take it up with the Headmaster, he's the one who's tightened security." The Fat Lady said.
    "Fantastic." I groaned.
    "Really brilliant. Yeah, I would go and take it up with Dumbledore if he was here, because he's the one who wanted me to -" Harry said bitterly, looking around at the hard floor.
    "He is here. Professor Dumbledore returned to the school an hour ago." A voice said from behind Harry and I.
Nearly Headless Nick was gliding toward Harry and I, his head wobbling as usual upon his ruff.
   "I had it from the Bloody Baron, who saw him arrive.He appeared, according to the Baron, to be in good spirits. Though a little tired, of course." Nick said.
    "Where is he?" Harry said quickly.
    "Oh, groaning and clanking up on the Astronomy Tower, it's a favorite pastime of his -" Nick said.
   "Not the Bloody Baron - Dumbledore!" I said.
  "Oh - in his office, I believe. From what the Baron said, that he had business to attend to before turning in -" Nick said.
    "Yeah, he has." Harry said, excitement blazing in Harry's eyes as he turned to grin at me.
Harry grabber my hand and we wheeled about and sprinted off again, ignoring the Fat Lady who was calling after us.
   "Come back! All right, I lied! I was annoyed you woke me up! The password's still 'tapeworm'!" The Fat Lady called.
But Harry and I were already hurtling back along the corridor.

Within minutes, Harry was saying "toffee eclairs" to Dumbledore's gargoyle, which leapt aside, permitting Harry and I entrance onto the spiral staircase.
   "Enter." Dumbledore said when Harry knocked.
Dumbledore sounded exhausted.
Harry pushed open the door. There was Dumbledore's office, looking the same as ever, but with black, star - strewn skies beyond the windows.
    "Good gracious, Harry, Rosabella. To what do I owe this very late pleasure?" Dumbledore said in surprise.
   "Sir - we've got it. We've got the memory from Slughorn." Harry said as he pulled out the tiny glass bottle and showed it to Dumbledore.

For a moment or two, the Headmaster looked stunned. Then his face split in a wide smile.
   "Harry, this is spectacular news! Very well done indeed! I knew you could do it! Well done to both of you. I daresay you assisted Rosabella." Dumbledore said, smiling.
    "Maybe just a little." I said shrugging.
All thought of the lateness of the hour apparently forgotten, Dumbledore hurried around his desk, took the bottle with Slughorn's memory in his uninjured hand, and strode over to the cabinet where he kept the Pensieve.
   "I can go back to the common room why you two do the memory watching." I said.
    "By all means, stay if you wish. Harry has told you about what we have watched so far?" Dumbledore said.
    "Yep." I said.
    "Good, very good. And now . . ." Dumbledore said, placing the stone basin upon the desk and emptying the contents of the bottle into it.
    "Now, at last, we shall see. Harry, Rosabella quickly. . ." Dumbledore said.

Harry bowed obediently over the Pensieve and I followed after him. I felt my feet leave the office floor. . .
I fell through darkness and landed in Horace Slughorn's office from many years before.
There was the much younger Slughorn, with his thick, shiny, straw - colored hair and his gingery-blond mustache, sitting in a comfortable winged armchair in his office, his feet resting upon a velvet pouffe, a small glass of wine in one hand, the other rummaging in a box of crystallized pineapple.
And there were the half dozen teenage boys sitting around Slughorn with Tom Riddle in the midst of them, Marvolo's gold and black ring gleaming on his finger.
Harry and I held hands as we watched the memory play out.
Dumbledore landed on Harry's other sade just as Riddle asked, "Sir, is it true that Professor Merrythought is retiring?"
   "Tom, Tom, if I knew I couldn't tell you." Slughorn said, wagging his finger reprovingly at Riddle, though winking at the same time.
    "I must say, I'd like to know where you get your information, boy, more knowledgeable than half the staff, you are." Slughorn said good naturedly.
Riddle smiled. The other boys laughed and cast him admiring looks.
   "What with your uncanny ability to know things you shouldn't, and your careful flattery of the people who matter - thank you for the pineapple, by the way, you're quite right, it is my favorite -" Slughorn said, heartily.
Several of the boys tittered again.
    "- I confidently expect you to rise to Minister of Magic within twenty years. Fifteen, if you keep sending me pineapple, I have excellent contacts at the Ministry." Slughorn said with a chuckle at the end.