In Horace Slughorn's defence, he couldn't have known that all this would happen. All he had wanted to do was play match-maker between his two favourite students, Tom Riddle and Artemis Potter.
...
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-------------------> THE PEACEFUL ATMOSPHERE present over the Potter Manor on the 1st of September was broken by the sound of yelling, as it always did.
"For the last time, Charlus, I am not asocial!" The youngest occupant and only daughter of the manor shouted loudly at her oldest brother.
"Arty, you have like two friends," Charlus said with concern.
"-Who happen to be my best friends," She defended, "Besides, when you were in school, you had about twenty people pretend to be your friends. Isn't it better to have two real friends than two hundred fake ones? Not to mention, I talk to a lot of people in my own House. Fleamont, tell him!"
"Don't bring me into this," Fleamont said, putting his hands up in the universal surrender motion. "This is between the two of you. After all, I'm not the one who called you asocial. I thought it, but I didn't say it."
"I am not asocial!" Artemis said firmly, feeling like the broken record that she had seen in Rome's house. "In fact, I like being social with the people I like. Except I don't like most people, so I choose not to socialise with them. I talk to a lot of people within my House. It's just the other three houses I don't talk to, but I am not asocial! Dad, tell them!"
"Boys, stop teasing your sister on her allergy towards human interaction," Lord Henry Potter commented absentmindedly as he read the morning's Daily Prophet while sipping a cup of tea.
Artemis glared at her father. "There are approximately 10,10,300 words in the English language but I could never be able to string enough of them together to properly express just how much I want to hit you all with a brick right now..."
"Try not to, sweet-heart. You'll get blood on your dress and it tends to stain." Lady Filomina Potter nee Fleamont said nonchalantly while she knitted, before looking at her children with a soft smile. "Oh Henry, look how fast our children grew up! I feel so old. Charlus is already twenty-three and has a job, Fleamont is in his last year and Quidditch Captain and Artemis will be taking her OWLS this year and -frankly, I don't know how- but she made prefect! The next thing I know I'll be planning your weddings and be surrounded with grandchildren!" She got a little teary eyed.
"Bold of you to assume that you will have grandchildren," Artemis countered. "Mother, Charlus has been chasing after Dorea Black since forever and she keeps ignoring him -which shows that she is smart- and I personally don't think that will change any year now. Fleamont only talks to those of the opposite gender when he is obligated to do so and I honestly still believe that every boy in our school other than Rome, is a gross, hormone-controlled idiot." She deadpanned before adding. "The girls are lovely, though, just haven't caught my interest yet."
Henry finally put down his newspaper to look at his only daughter. "And you will continue to think so, young lady. I can tell you from personal experience that boys of this age are in fact, gross, hormone-ruled idiots. They do tend to mature during their forties though, so you can date them then. Actually, fifty. Fifty sounds good. You can date anybody you want when you turn fifty." He paused. "But if you want to date a girl, you can do so whenever you want to. They're simply amazing."
