𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 (OC x OC) - Full Series

[006] CHAPTER 16 - thank you aimee

"there wouldn't be this if there hadn't been you."  || taylor swift

Harry

I walk from Dumbledore's office, having just had a meeting with him. I learned many different things, such as why it's so important that I spend time with Professor Slughorn. Turns out that he helped Tom Riddle learn about Horcruxes or whatever.

Lately, I've been trying to learn what Dumbledore told me to learn, but Slughorn caught on immediately. That doesn't exactly help me.

Ron was also poisoned a while ago. Katelyn is angry at him because it was the same day as her birthday. You can't help but laugh.

Today, I visited Dumbledore to ask for help on getting information from Slughorn. He told me to talk to Makayla, which is something I was not wanting to do.

I know it has been some sort of frequent suspicion of mine that the Malfoys are up to something, but I have my reasons. One being that Makayla is starting to hang out with all of them now, including her father. I got this information through Ron. She's been staying with the Weasleys since my third year and now she's suddenly running off and 'visiting family?' Plus, I don't want to talk to her because she's literally pissed off at me right now for what happened with Draco. I don't want her to kill me!

I do see why I would need her though. She won the Liquid Luck. I could use some of that right now.

Thankfully, I run into Makayla in the hall. She isn't really paying attention until I say, "Makayla!"

She glances up from the floor, blinking a few times before glaring at me and replying with, "Harry..."

"Do you still have any Liquid Luck?" I ask awkwardly.

"Haven't used it," she shrugs, obviously still angry at me. "Why?"

"I need it..." I murmur. "Listen, it's hard to explain, but it could really help with the fight against Voldemort."

She sighs, pulling the vile from her pocket. I smile and try to grab it, but she yanks it out of my reach. "Yeah, no," she snorts as if I were stupid. "If you want it, we're splitting it and I'm helping."

"Makayla—"

"No debate, Harry. Deal or no deal?"

Sighing, I nod, "Deal."

She smiles and opens the vile, taking a sip of half the Liquid Luck before handing it to me. I drink the rest as she smiles.

"This better be worth it, Potter," she murmurs.

"It will be," I sigh. Soon enough, I get this urge to go see Hagrid.

Makayla turns to me and asks, "Hagrid's?"

I smile and nod, "Was thinking the same thing."

Together, we make our way toward Hagrid's shack. On the way, we run into Slughorn peering into the Herbology teacher's greenhouse.

"Professor Slughorn?" I suddenly ask, startling him and causing him to bump his head on the window. "Sorry, sir... We should've announced ourselves. Cleared our throats, coughed."

"You probably feared we were Professor Sprout," Makayla adds.

"Yes, I do actually," Slughorn laughs. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, just the general behavior, sir," she says. "The sneaking around, jumping when you saw us."

"Are those Tentacula Leaves, sir?" I ask. "They're very valuable, aren't they?"

"Ten Galleons a leaf to the right buyer," Slughorn murmurs. "Not that I'm familiar with any such back-alley transaction, but one does hear rumors. My own interests are purely academic, of course."

"Personally, these plants always kind of freaked me out," I murmur.

Makayla and I start back on our walk to Hagrid's, quickly getting stopped by Slughorn asking, "Exactly how did you get out of the castle, you two?"

"Oh, through the front door, sir," I explain. "We're off to Hagrid's, you see."

Makayla adds, "He's a very dear friend and we just fancied paying him a visit. So, if you don't mind, we will be going now."

Makayla and I get further down the hall before Slughorn whisper-shouts, "You two!"

We both turn to him, sassily whisper-shouting back, "Sir?"

"It's nearly nightfall!" Slughorn declares. "Surely you realize I can't allow you to go roaming the grounds by yourselves."

"Well, then by all means come along, sir," I say sassily.

We ran into Hagrid weeping over Aragog, his giant spider's corpse. Slughorn helped give it a funeral before we went back to Hagrid's shack.

Hagrid and Slughorn quickly got drunk, Hagrid slurring out, "I had him from an egg, you know? Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. No bigger than a Pekingese. A Pekingese, mind you."

"How sweet!" Slughorn exclaims drunkenly. "I once had a fish... Francis. He was very dear to me. One afternoon, I came downstairs and he'd vanished... Poof..."

"It's very odd, isn't it?" Hagrid asks us.

"Isn't it?" Slughorn agrees. "But that's life, I suppose. You—you go along and then suddenly poof..."

I glance at Makayla and watch her smile disappear for just a moment. Hagrid falls asleep quickly, leaning back in his chair and snoring loudly.

After a moment, Slughorn adds, "It was a student who gave me Francis. One spring afternoon, I discovered a bowl on my desk with just a few inches of clear water in it, and floating on the surface was a flower petal. As I watched, it sank. Just before it reached the bottom, it transformed into a wee fish. It was beautiful magic. Wondrous to behold. The flower petal had come from a Lily. Your mother, Harry. The day the fish disappeared was the day she..." he sighs. "I know why you're here, but I can't help you. It would ruin me."

"Do you know why I survived, Professor?" I ask, pointing to my scar. "The night I got this? Because of her... Because she sacrificed herself. Because she refused to step aside. Because her love was more powerful than Voldemort."

"Don't say his name," Slughorn quickly says.

"I'm not afraid of the name, Professor!" I say, standing up. "I'm going to tell you something, something others have only guessed at. It's true. I am the Chosen One. Only I can destroy him. But in order to do so, I need to know what Tom Riddle asked you all those years ago in your office, and I need to know what you told him."

Makayla stands next to me. "Be brave, Professor," she says. "Be brave like his mother."

"Otherwise," I add, "you disgrace her. Otherwise, she died for nothing."

"Otherwise, the bowl will remain empty," Makayla puts forth, "forever."

After a moment, he mumbles, "PLease, don't think badly of me when you see it..." He lifts his wand to his forehead, pulling the memory out of his mind. "You have no idea what he was like, even then."

Slughorn takes the memory and puts it in a glass vile. Makayla takes it and puts a cap on it before handing it to me.

Perfect.