Harry's aunt

~28~

Jasmine walked up to the large wooden door of Professor Slughorn's office.

'Hm…the feast is over. Maybe he is here? Or he could still be in the Great Hall?' she thought. “I guess it wouldn't hurt to knock,” she muttered to herself, before knocking on the door, her knocks echoing through the stone halls. The peephole of the door opened, and an older wizard's round face was on the other side of the window.

“Yes?” he asked, curious about the student standing in front of his door this late.

“Good evening, Professor. Professor McGonagall sent me down here to personally meet you. My name is Jasmine Potter, I'm assigned as your assistant this year?” Jasmine said, taking a step back, so he could see her. “She gave me a pass to come down here,” she added, holding up the pass that Professor McGonagall had written for her.

“Oh! Miss Potter! Come in! Come in!” Professor Slughorn said, shutting the peephole, before the door opened up. Jasmine nodded and stepped inside. “I have heard many things about you. Good things.”

“Likewise, Professor. You taught my father and brother during their years here,” Jasmine said. “They weren't very good on the subject.”

“Ah yes, young James and Remus,” Professor Slughorn said, shutting the door, before walking over to the table to pour himself a drink. “I remember them, troublemakers.”

“Yes, sir,” Jasmine agreed. “I can assure you that none of that has rubbed off on me. I keep my nose clean and out of trouble.”

“Good, and I've heard you've done extraordinary on your OWLS,” he said, offering her a drink, which Jasmine politely declined.

“I wouldn't say that, but I do believe I did well on them,” Jasmine said. “I just wanted to come and ask you what I would be looking forward to this year.”

“Oh, of course,” he said, before taking a drink from his cup. “Well, I will need you down here before the period you'll be helping me in, to help me set up things, but as the year continues, you will be helping with demonstrations and grading papers.”

“Oh, okay,” Jasmine said. 'That's not too bad,' she thought to herself. “Well, thank you, Professor, I should be getting to my dorm, it's getting late. I will see you in the morning, Professor.”

“Oh, of course. Do have a good night, Miss Potter. I will see you tomorrow,” he said, escorting her to the door, as he drank his wine. He signed her pass, in case she ran into another professor, and sent her on her way, closing the door as soon as she stepped out of his office.

'Remus was right, he is a bit…odd,’ Jasmine thought, heading back down the hall, making her way to the Gryffindor common room. She used the new password to get past the fat lady painting, and stepped through the common room entrance, once she moved out of the way.

“Oh, there you are, Jasmine, we wondered where you went,” Harry said, sitting with Ron and Hermione by the fireplace.

“Yeah, I had to talk with Professor McGonagall about my schedule for this year. Pretty sure she just wants to keep me busy,” Jasmine said, chuckling a little.

“Yeah,” Harry said, chuckling a little.

“So what did she rope you into?” Ron asked.

“I'm going to be an assistant in one of the potions classes, which means I had to speak with Slughorn. Remus was right, he was a bit…odd,” Jasmine said.

“Yeah, I spoke with him over the summer with Dumbledore. He must be good if Dumbledore insisted on bringing him out of retirement,” Harry said.

“Yeah,” Jasmine said, before sitting down on the floor by the fire. “Things will be different this year…right?”