ROOM OF REQUIRMENT-DUSK
[Cassie and Anna are laying naked under the sheets.]
Anna: We should get up. People will start looking for us. [Cassie nodded and they got up and got dressed.]
People close their eyes.
[Cassie is getting out of room when Anna stops her.]
Anna: Cassie?
Cassie: What?
Anna: Since when did you transfered to Gryffindor?
Cassie: What do you--? [Anna helds up Cassie's tie, Cassie looks down and sees she is wearing Gryffindor's/Cassie's tie.]
Cassie: Thanks, Merlin. If someone saw me... [Cassie shuddered.]
COMMON ROOM - DUSK
[The tiny vial of Felix Felicis glimmers in Anna’s palm as she and Rose huddle in the empty dormitory. They exchange glances, then Anna brings the vial to her lips.]
Rose: Well? How do you feel?
Anna: Excellent. Really excellent.
Rose: Now remember. Slughorn usually eats early, takes a short walk and then returns to his office.
Anna: Right. I’m going down to Hagrid’s.
Rose: What? No, Anna -- you’ve got to go see Slughorn. We have a plan --
Anna: No. I’ve got a good feeling about
going to Hagrid’s. I feel like it’s the place to be tonight, know what I mean?
"It's Felix working." Said Barty.
Rose: No.
Anna: Trust me. I know what I’m doing. Or at least Felix does.
CORRIDOR - DUSK
[A boy with a prefect's badge patrols the corridor. Bored, he ponders the progress of his faint mustache in a mirror. Anna walks by, unseen.]
ENTRANCE HALL - DUSK
[Filch paces, standing guard while Mrs. Norris sits calmly by. A mouse appears in the open helmet of a suit of armor, washes its face with its tiny paws, then spies Mrs. Norris -- who hisses. The mouse makes a quick retreat and the face plate comes clanging down. As Filch wheels, Anna strolls past.]
"Already lucky." Said Sirius.
GROUNDS/HOGWARTS CASTLE - DUSK
[Two aurors, twin silhouettes, patrol the grounds. Anna approaches, about to intersect their paths when, at the last second, something on the ground catches his eye. She kneels, considers a beetle on its back, legs churning helplessly. Anna extends her finger, letting the tiny bug gain purchase, then tips it upright... just as the Aurors’ shadows quiver over her and vanish. Rising, Anna starts off in one direction, then stops, as if compelled by some inner voice, and heads the opposite way.]
GREENHOUSE - DUSK
[Anna hums placidly. Up ahead, a figure ripples beyond the steamy panes of the Greenhouse. It’s Slughorn, hunched over a plant whose tendrils coil eerily, resisting his attentions. Snip! He stealthily removes a sprig, looks up and jumps.]
Slughorn: Merlin’s beard, Anna!
Anna: Sorry, sir. I should’ve announced myself. Cleared my throat. Coughed. You probably feared I was Madam Sprout.
Slughorn: Well, yes, actually -- (paranoid) Why would you think that?
Anna: Just the general behavior, sir. The sneaking around. The jumping when you saw me. By the way, those Tentacula leaves -- they’re quite valuable, aren’t they?
Slughorn: Ten galleons a leaf to the right buyer -- not that I’m familiar with such back alley transactions. One hears rumors is all. My own interests are purely academic, of course.
Slytherins look at him amused.
Anna: Personally, these plants have always kind of freaked me out. [Anna gives a little shiver of the shoulders, smiles. Slughorn cocks his head, studies her oddly.]
Slughorn: Exactly how did you get out of the castle, Anna?
Anna: Through the front doors, sir. I’m
off to Hagrid’s, you see. He’s a very dear friend and I felt like paying him a visit. So if you don’t mind, I’ll be going.
Slughorn: Anna!
Anna: Sir?
Slughorn: It’s nearly nightfall. Surely you realize I can’t allow you to roam the grounds all by yourself.
Anna: Well, then by all means come along, sir.
HAGRID’S HUT - DUSK
[Anna appears over a rise, strolling happily along... when Slughorn appears, huffing and puffing to keep up.]
Some laugh at him.
Slughorn: Anna, I must insist you accompany me back to the castle immediately!
Anna: That would be counterproductive, sir.
Slughorn: And what makes you say that?
Anna: No idea. [Slughorn frowns impatiently -- then stops, blinks.]
Slughorn: Merlin’s beard... [Up ahead, Hagrid sits disconsolately upon a stump. Nearby, Aragog’s massive body lies legs up.]
Slughorn: Is that an actual Acromantula?
Anna: A dead one, I think, sir.
NEW ANGLE - SECONDS LATER
[Anna and Slughorn approach a sullen Hagrid.]
Hagrid: Anna. ‘Orace.
Slughorn: My god, dear man. How did you ever manage to kill it?
Hagrid: Kill ‘im! Me oldest friend, ‘e was!
Slughorn: I’m sorry, I... didn’t realize. [Slughorn falters helplessly. Hagrid waves his hand.]
Hagrid: Ah, don’ worry yerself. Yer not alone. Seriously misunderstood creatures -- spiders. It’s the eyes, I reckon. Unnerve people.
"Those 'misunderstood creatures- almost killed my daughter." Said James.
Anna: Not to mention the pincers. [Anna makes a little claw motion with her hand, while making a clicking sound.]
People chuckle.
"She is so cute." Said Sirius.
[Hagrid eyes Anna curiously.]
Hagrid: I reckon that too... How’d yeh get outta the castle anyways?
Anna: Through the front doors.
Slughorn: Hagrid. I wouldn’t want to be indelicate, but Acromantula venom is uncommonly rare and, well, if you wouldn’t mind my extracting a vial or two -- purely for academic pursuits...
Hagrid: Don’ suppose it’s doin’ ‘im any good, izzit?
Slughorn: My thoughts exactly! Always carry a few spare ampoules for just such occasions. Old Potion Master’s habit, you know... [Slughorn rummages about his pockets, extracts some small vials -- all empty save for one containing a hairy worm -- then scrambles up close to Aragog.]
Sltherin look at him amused, again.
[Anna and Hagrid watch.]
Hagrid: Wish yeh coulda seen ‘im in ‘is prime. Magnificent ‘e was. Jus’ magnificent... [Hagrid blinks wildly, then takes out a handkerchief and snorts loudly into it. Slughorn looks up, studies Hagrid’s sorry expression with empathy and steps away.]
Slughorn: Why don’t I say a few words? I trust he had family?
Anna: Oh, yeah.
"Terrible one." Said Srius.
Slughorn: (clearing his throat) Farewell... [Slughorn frowns.]
Hagrid: Aragog.
Slughorn: (a nod) Farewell, Aragog, king of arachnids. Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your Forest home. May your many-eyed descendents ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained.
Hagrid: Tha’ was... tha’ was... beautiful.
[Hagrid wipes his eyes, then rises. He walks to Aragog, studies him lovingly, then puts a shoulder to the big beast’s body... and sends him tumbling into the freshlydug grave adjacent with a sickening thunk.]
Hagrid/Slughorn: (O.S.) (singing) And Odo the hero, they bore him back home...
HAGRID’S HUT - NIGHT
[Anna, Hagrid and Slughorn sit at the massive kitchen table, which is strewn with empty wine bottles. Hagrid and Slughorn are feeling no pain, while Anna looks cleareyed, focused.]
Hagrid/Slughorn: 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... [As they finish, both men chuckle.]
"Did they got druk on job?!" Glares Lily.
[Hagrid tops off everyone’s mug with a bit more wine. Anna brings her mug to her lap... then slyly pours it into the bucket at her feet.]
Hagrid: I had ‘im from an egg, yeh know. Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. No bigger’n a Pekinese.
Slughorn: Sweet. I once had a fish. Francis. Lovely little thing. One day I came downstairs and he’d vanished. Poof.
Hagrid: Tha’s odd.
Slughorn: Isn’t it? That’s life, I suppose.
One goes along and then... poof.
Hagrid: Poof.
Anna: (amused) Poof.
Some look at them with amusment.
[They nod soberly. Slughorn’s eyes rise to the ceiling.]
Slughorn: That’s never unicorn hair, Hagrid? [Hagrid looks up, reels a bit. Nods.]
Slughorn: But my dear chap, do you know how much that’s worth?
Hagrid: No idea... no idea at all... [Thunk! Hagrid’s great shaggy head hits the table. Instantly, he is snoring, so deeply his mug shimmies across the table. Slughorn smiles, regards Anna, who merely stares back. Slughorn averts his eyes. Suddenly nervous. A wind rises outside.]
Slughorn: 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 bottom... it transformed. Into a wee fish. It was beautiful magic, wondrous to behold. The petal had come from a lily.
Lily smiled at Slughorn.
[Hearing “lily,” Anna looks up. Slughorn nods.]
Slughorn: Your mother. The day I came downstairs, the day I found the bowl empty... was the day she... [Slughorn falters, pain etching his face.]
Slughorn: I know what you want. But I can’t give it to you. It will ruin me...
[Anna studies Slughorn a moment, thinking, then speaks.]
Anna: Do you know why I survived? The night I got this. [Slughorn looks up, sees Anna pointing to her scar.]
Anna: Because of her. Because she sacrificed herself. Because she refused to step aside. Because her love was more powerful than Voldemort.
Lily smiled.
"That's my Lily-flower." Smiled James.
Slughirn: Please don’t say his --
Anna: I’m not afraid of the name, Professor. And I’m not afraid of him. And you shouldn’t be either. She didn’t just die for me that night. She died for you too. She died for everyone who’s ever woken in the middle of the night afraid a Death Eater waited on their doorstep. [Slughorn gazes into the guttering candle before him.]
Anna: Professor. I’m going to tell you something, something others have only guessed at. It’s true. I am the Chosen One. [Slughorn looks up. Anna nods.]
Anna: Only I can kill him. But in order to do so, I need to know what Tom Riddle asked you that night in your office all those years ago. And I need to know what you told him. [Slughorn’s eyes well with tears, his hands tremble.]
Anna: Be brave, Professor. Be brave like my mother. Otherwise you disgrace her. Otherwise she died for nothing. Otherwise, the bowl remains empty forever.
"I told you! She is little snake." Said Barty.
[Slughorn shakes his head, staring into the candle. Finally, slowly, he removes his wand.]
Slughorn: Don’t think too badly of me once you’ve seen it. You don’t know what he was like... even then. [Slughorn fishes out a tiny vial -- the one with the worm -- but his hand is shaking so violently, Anna has to take it. Slowly, Slughorn raises his wand, touches it to his temple and withdraws a long, silver thread. Anna extends the vial and... it drops within.]
YOU ARE READING
Anna Potter and the Half-blood prince
Fanfiction[Book 6] The story follows Anna's sixth year at Hogwarts as she receives a mysterious textbook, overcomes obstacles with her girlfriend, and attempts to retrieve a memory that holds the key to Lord Voldemort's downfall.
