White Heather for Protection

Between the Shadow and the Soul

It had been far from difficult to convince Slughorn to meet Heather and Hadrian. In fact, the only way the man could have been more enthusiastic would be if he had suggested the whole thing himself. Heather and her brother were knocking at his office door at 3pm on the dot, a bag of homemade cookies in hand.

Taking every opportunity to butter the man up, as Hadrian had put it, cackling at the pun.

"Ahh, Hadrian and Heather!" Slughorn answered the door, beaming, "Right on time, come in!"

"Hello Horace." "Hello Professor Slughorn."

She offered him the cookies, smiling when he took them with delight.

"Ahh, are these double chocolate chip? My, you know how to spoil an old man, Heather m'dear."

"It's just a little something," she demurred, "I hope you like them, Horace."

"Heather's baking is great! I snuck a few earlier while she wasn't watching," Rian added, grinning cheekily when she tried to swat him.

"Well, I'm in for a treat then! Come, come. Please, sit." The man gestured expansively towards the corner of his office, where there was a small lounge with a nice set up for tea.

She was amused to see it, finding it out-of-place for a teacher's office, yet strangely fitting for a man like Slughorn.

"I have a nice blend of rooibos here, a gift from a former student who's just returned from South Africa!" he poured them each a cup, gesturing for them to help themselves to the sugar and cream, as well as the biscuits.

Taking just a sip to try the unfamiliar tea, she then added a teaspoon of sugar to sweeten it a little. "It's different, but quite addictive." Hadrian echoed her sentiments, though she could tell he didn't really know what to say. To him, tea was tea was tea.

Luckily, Slughorn was more than satisfied with their answer. They talked a little about lessons so far, eventually delving into praise for their mother's exploits. Hadrian prodded the man for more stories about their parents. She and Rian made sure to sigh wistfully every now and then, but not so much as to overdo it.

"I wish we could have seen them in action," Hadrian said longingly, hearing about Slughorn's tales of their parents' magical prowess.

The older man frowned. "Yes, what happened to them was a great tragedy. The world lost two bright stars that day."

"If not for Voldemort..." Heather said, scowling. She didn't miss the flinch Slughorn made when he heard the name.

"Yeah, Dumbledore's been telling me a bit of Voldemort's history," Rian added, "He said that his real name is Tom Riddle." Another flinch. "Was he a student of yours, Professor?"

Slughorn fidgeted in discomfort. "Y-yes, I taught Riddle potions for all his seven years, in fact. He was such a bright student, I never expected him to take such a dark route."

Heather patted his hand in sympathy. "It's not your fault, Professor. I don't think anyone could see such evil in a child. I wonder, though, you were his teacher. Do you know of anything that could help us defeat him? A weakness of some sort, maybe?"

Averting his eyes, the man said, "He was quite the little genius. There didn't seem to be anything he couldn't do once he set his mind to it. I'm sorry I can't help you in this area."

"You were his Head of House, right, Professor?" Hadrian said, "He must have confided in you about things?"

"For example," Heather chimed in, "Did you know he was a descendant of Slytherin and that he could speak Parseltongue?"