The Stars Tonight // H.Granger x Male OC

HBP // 31 - Slughorn's Memory

"And Odo the hero, they bore him back home..." Hagrid and Slughorn were both singing.

Harry, Altair, Hagrid, and Slughorn sit at the massive kitchen table, which is strewn with empty wine bottles. Hagrid and Slughorn are feeling no pain, while the young boys look clear-eyed and focused.

"To the place he'd known as a lad, they laid him to rest with his hat inside out and his wand snapped in two, which was sad..." The old men continued to sing as well.

As they finish singing, they both chuckled. Hagrid puts more wine in their mugs but Harry and Altair seemed to not in a mood to drink so they subtly poured the wine down the bucket near them.

"I had 'im from an egg, yeh know. Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. No bigger'n a Pekinese." Hagrid slurred a bit in his words.

"Sweet. I once had a fish. Francis. Lovely little thing. One day I came downstairs and he'd vanished. Poof." Slughorn told him.

"Tha's odd." The half-giant commented at him.

"Isn't it? That's life, I suppose." The old professor said. "One goes along and then... poof."

"Poof," Hagrid muttered.

"Poof," Harry said as well.

"Poof," Altair spoke too.

They all nod soberly as Slughorn's eyes rise to the ceiling.

"That's never unicorn hair, Hagrid?" He pointed up as Hagrid looked up as well, and reeled it in. Afterward, the half-giant nods. "But my dear chap, do you know how much that's worth?"

"No idea... no idea at all..." He said at the old professor.

Thunk! Harry and Altair both jumped a bit, seeing Hagrid's head hit the table, and already snoring loud. Maybe the wine's already made him sleepy. Slughorn smiles, regards Altair and Harry, who merely stares back then he averts his eyes, suddenly felt nervous as the wind rises outside. The windowpanes rattle.

"It was a student who gave me Francis. One spring afternoon I discovered a bowl upon my desk with a few inches of clear water. There was a flower petal floating upon the surface. As I watched, the petal sank, but just before it touched the bottom... it transformed. Into a wee fish. It was beautiful magic, wondrous to behold. The petal had come from a lily." Slughorn spoke which made Harry look at him. "Your mother. The day I came downstairs, the day I found the bowl empty... was the day she..."

The old professor seemed to gulp heavily, his sad eyes looking at the Potter boy.

"I regretted not helping Regulus when he needed me." He continued and caught Altair's attention. "It was before he..."

Slughorn wavers, looking pained in his eyes as he glanced at Harry and Altair. The sons of his favorite students, and he knew what they wanted.