Shooting Star

Chapter Sixty-One

Mum,
When I first met Professor Slughorn he was disguised as a bloody armchair. Do I want to be taught by this guy?
Dumbledore and I have been meeting regularly, and he's been teaching me about Voldemort. He's tasked me with getting one of Slughorn's memories. Because that's easy.
But I think that I may fancy Ginny. Just a little bit. But Ron would be so pissed if he knew...
How's Dad? He hasn't been answering my letters.
Love, Harry

He's not a bad teacher. Maybe eccentric, but not a bad teacher.
You'll need to be careful, Harry. Slughorn himself isn't dangerous, but Voldemort is.
I'm sure Ron would be okay with it if he knew how you really felt.
Dad's all right. He's just been ill.
I heard Severus is teaching you Occlumency. Don't complain, all right? He's trying to help. He loves you. He spent his life trying to protect you.
Love,
Mum

Draco's going to kill Dumbledore, Mum. He's going to do it, I swear.
You're right, though. Slughorn is a good teacher. I actually got a bottle of Liquid Luck for brewing a potion correctly. He's much better than Snape, honestly.
I got his memory, though. Remember the spiders and Arogog from my second year? Well, Arogog died, and Slughorn and I attended Hagrid's mourning service for it, and I got Slughorn's memory. He told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes. No wonder he didn't want to tell anybody.
Yes, Snape's teaching me Occlumency and it's pure torture. I don't like him in my head. It's creepy. I'm only doing it because Dumbledore says I must to protect myself from Voldemort.
Snape has not protected me. He's not trying to. He's a Death Eater, Mother. You're so blinded by your love for him that you don't see it, but he's a bloody Death Eater, Mother. He isn't trying to help me. He's trying to help Voldemort.
Ron gave his blessing for Ginny, so that happened.
I asked Dad how you guys started dating. He said that he was "cold and hard" and then you "begged him to go out with you" and his "cold and cruel heart was melted" and he "gave you a chance" and you turned out to be "not too bad." I'm sure that's not the real story, if you care to tell it.
Hermione and Ron are fighting because Ron got an annoying girlfriend and Hermione obviously fancies him. He's dating Lavender Brown and they're constantly snogging. It's revolting.
I love you, Mum.
Love, Harry

You're going to have to stop with these conspiracy theories about Severus, Harry. I don't want to hear one more thing about it, do you hear me? Not a thing, Harry. If Dumbledore trusts Snape, so can you. I know Remus has told you that before too. You'd think that if you didn't trust my judgment, you'd at least trust him. He's been in my head too, Harry, and he hasn't once used it against me. You can trust him. I don't want to hear about Draco either. He's a child, not a killer.
What are you and Dumbledore needing with Slughorn's memories anyway? Hagrid told me about Arogog. I honestly can't say I'm very sad. That thing terrified me.
Severus is teaching DADA, huh? How is it?
Good! So you're dating Ginny? That's wonderful.
I'm sorry about Ron and Hermione. I've no doubt they'll make up. Hermione says you're doing strangely well in Potions because you have a strange book? Do tell. Also, Severus told me that you tried to convince him that your name was Roonil Wazlib? Do you care to explain that either?
Your father got the cold and hard part right, at least. He was that excessively. It was just because he was unhappy and trying to distance everybody, though. He wasn't actually as cold as he'd liked people to believe. I had confronted him on some things in sixth year, and then in seventh year I'd walked in on him having a nervous breakdown on James (he said I could tell you, as long as I included that he was 'totally plastered and would never have acted that way otherwise') and kind of took over the situation (because James wasn't being helpful enough, in my opinion) so he kind of stopped being so harsh--towards me, at least. I'm not going to say how we actually started dating (not one of our finer moments) but that's more or less what let up to it. I also saw how he was with Remus when he was ill around the full moon, so I knew he wasn't THAT cold. That's how it actually happened. He's hard to get a straight answer from.
James' and Lily's love story was almost as epic as Romeo's and Juliet's (in my opinion, at least). Your mum couldn't stand him, but then he mellowed out a bit and she finally befriended him. She fancied him (a lot) but still wouldn't date him because she deemed him a player (which he was, but still). They had this big blowout in the middle of the common room, and she finally gave him a chance for a date and made Sirius and me go with them. Your father said that we could "Witness the day Lily Evans fell in love with him" (even though she already was.) It actually was nice, though.
I hope everything works out there. I love you too.
Love,
Mum