kneel | Tom Riddle

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9| Family

"Miss Vevrain, sweetheart, this looks absolutely perfect," Slughorn looked at the potion delighted, "I don't believe you could ever disappoint me," Seraphina gave him a small smile.

"Good work for you too, Greengrass," Slughorn told Leo as well, who looked ecstatic for the professor's words, "You were lucky to be paired up with Seraphina here, she's a very talented girl."

Leo nodded his head, "Thank you, professor."

"I'm organizing a small dinner tomorrow night, with some of my brightest students. I expect you two to attend," Slughorn said looking at the two pupils in front of him with a pleasant smile, even though in Seraphina's opinion it looked a little creepy.

"I will be there, professor," Seraphina said, used to attending those dinners almost every month with Tom, but now things were different and she looked forward to going with someone else.

Leo agreed, "Of course, thank you for the invitation."

"You can leave earlier since you already finished your potion," Slughorn gave them a last smile and walked away from them, going to examine the other potions with his hands behind his back.

The two students collected their materials and walked out of the classroom with their arms together, "What do you have next?" Seraphina asked Leo, who looked content like always. He was such a happy wizard, she wished she could be more like him. So carefree and relaxed.

"Muggle studies," he answered, making Seraphina clear her throat, "It's a rather interesting subject. Right now, we're studying the muggle war. Things aren't famous in Germany."

"Yes, I've heard. Muggles can be really dumb, sometimes. They are all the same, so just tell me why they started a war over a country that thinks it's better than the others?" Seraphina shook her head as they kept walking down the halls, "Seriously, the average muggle mind still amazes me. Not for the best reasons, obviously."

Leo chuckled, "You're not fond of muggles, I see. That explains why you didn't choose this subject, but I must tell you that it's really interesting to study what they did to be where they are now. You know, even with limited capabilities they managed to build such great things and I don't doubt they will go to the moon in a few years. Believe me, their science is becoming more and more advanced. It's a shame they are losing their time and resources in war."

Seraphina listened to him intently, even though she disagreed on the last part, "I don't think they are good enough to go to the moon. As you've said, they waste their time with stupid things and their capabilities are quite limited. When this war ends, the countries will be destroyed, and eventually, they'll start another war."

Leo nodded his head as they started climbing the stairs arm in arm, "Yes, but despite all their mistakes, they created a lot of stuff and look at their industry. It keeps getting better and better, especially here in London. I don't think they're so different from ourselves, we were just lucky enough to have magical powers. However, they still find ways to achieve their goals with magic and I think that's admirable."

At this point, Seraphina looked extremely uncomfortable with his words. How could he say muggles are similar to wizards? They are weak and useless. Her parents and her friends always told her terrible stories about muggles and she couldn't help but picture the muggles in the orphanage Tom went to as a representation of all the muggle population. Such nasty and obnoxious creatures.