Chapter 14
Valentine's Day that year was on a Friday, with a Hogsmeade trip scheduled for the next day.
Harry and Ginny spent the evening in the Room of Requirement, enjoying each other's company over a candlelit dinner courtesy of Dobby.
Ron had also managed to rustle up some Valentine's Day plans, setting up a picnic by the lake, utilizing several handy spells to keep the area dry and free of snow, as well as comfortably warm in the crisp winter air.
Susan felt a little left out as all of her friends spent the evening with their significant others, and spent the night just wandering the castle, thinking about things – mainly Neville and Hannah.
The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff themselves spent an enjoyable evening eating in a classroom Neville had set up. As the night drew to a close, Hannah looked up at her boyfriend and took a deep breath. She really liked Neville, and liked being his girlfriend. But she could see where this relationship was going, and knew she needed to speak up now.
Sensing the change in mood, Neville glanced up and met Hannah's gaze. He smiled. "What's going on, Hannah? Did you like the meal?"
Hannah nodded shakily. "I did… Neville, we need to talk."
Neville furrowed his brow. "What's wrong?"
Hannah took a deep breath. "Neville, I really like you."
Neville nodded, confused. "I like you, too."
Hannah shook her head. "No you don't." Neville opened his mouth, but Hannah spoke over anything he might have said. "Not in that way. Neville, you like me as a friend, but I can tell that your heart isn't really in this. You and me, we're not going to work, because you're still in love with Susan."
Neville stared, and Hannah sighed. "I'm sorry, Neville. I never meant to come between the two of you –"
"We broke up," Neville interrupted. "You didn't come between anything. Susan and I –"
"Are good together," Hannah smiled, reaching out and resting a hand on his. "You broke up, but that wasn't because you didn't have feelings for each other." Neville looked uncomfortable, and Hannah's smile widened. "You both got scared because you were feeling things you didn't understand. You fell in love, Neville, and it happened earlier than you had planned, so you broke up." She took a deep breath, ignoring the slight jealousy that bubbled in her stomach. "It's time to stop running."
Neville looked at her, and took in her understanding gaze. He smiled hesitantly, and stood up. "I'm sorry, Hannah," he started, but she shook her head.
"It's all right, Neville. Go find her. And Neville?" she called out, stopping her now ex-boyfriend as he opened the door. He turned around and looked at her. "Once you find her, don't let her go. You both deserve to be happy together."
Neville's smile turned more certain, and he nodded. "Thanks, Hannah. I'll see you later."
With that, he quickly left the room and made his way towards the Hufflepuff common room at a fast walk. He wasn't sure where he'd find Susan, but he hoped that he'd stumble across her somehow.
Susan was on her way back to the common room when she heard someone call her name. Turning, she was confused and surprised to see Neville running up to her.
The Gryffindor came to a stop in front of his former girlfriend and good friend, and then paused, unsure of how to start. "Hi," he finally said.
"Hey," Susan replied awkwardly. She looked around. "Where's Hannah?"
Neville bit his lip. "We broke up."
Susan stared. "What? I mean, I'm sorry, Neville."
Neville shook his head. "I'm not." Susan looked confused. Had Hannah done something? Neville sighed. "Susan, when we broke up, I thought it was the right thing to do, but Hannah pointed a few things out to me tonight, and she's right. It's not fair to any of us for me and Hannah to date, because I don't have feelings for her. I never really did."
Susan felt her breath catch in her throat. What was he saying? "Neville…"
Neville shook his head again, taking Susan's hand in his. "Sue, when we broke up, it's not because we didn't have feelings for each other anymore. You remember that, right?" Susan nodded, still confused. Neville sighed. "Believe it or not, Hannah actually clarified it for me. It's not just that I wasn't ready for what I was feeling. I was afraid of it. I was confused and didn't understand the feelings I have for you. But I do now." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Susan. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to figure it out."
Susan smiled brilliantly, and leaned forward to kiss him. Pulling back, she reached up and brushed his cheek lightly. "I love you, too."
Neville grinned and leaned down to give her another kiss.
A few minutes later, they both realized the time, and with a blush, Neville gave Susan one more peck on the cheek, before pulling back. "Good night, Susan. I'll see you tomorrow?"
Susan nodded, beaming. "Night, Neville."
They separated, and Susan quickly made her way back to the common room. Hannah was waiting for her as she entered their dorm room.
Susan stopped just inside the door, noting that their fellow sixth year Hufflepuffs were already asleep.
Hannah took a deep breath, looking at one of her oldest friends. "Susan, I'm sorry."
Susan frowned. "For what?"
Hannah rolled her eyes. "I'm not an idiot, Sue. I know I should have stayed away from Neville. Even if you two had broken up, ex-boyfriends are off limits. And I could tell that you still had feelings for him."
Susan sighed and began to change into her nightclothes. Once that act was done, she sat on her bed, folding her legs beneath her as she faced her friend. "All right, I was a little pissed when you started going out with him," she admitted. Hannah looked down, guilty. "It just really bothered me that you didn't even ask me if it was all right, first." She bit her lip. "I know we haven't spent a whole lot of time together lately. I'm sorry for sort of ignoring you over the last couple of years."
Hannah shook her head. "You haven't ignored me, Sue. I mean, yeah, we used to spend more time together over the summer, but you've still been a good friend. You just…"
"Started hanging out with Gryffindors more," Susan finished. "I am sorry, Hannah. I became friends with Harry and the others, and got a little caught up. I should have included you more in my life."
Hannah smiled slightly. "I'm glad to hear that, but I don't blame you or anything. And I didn't go out with Neville to spite you or anything. I thought he was cute."
Susan smiled shyly. "He is, isn't he."
Hannah narrowed her eyes. "All right, girl. Spill. What happened tonight?"
Susan's smile widened. "Neville caught up with me a little while ago. We're back together."
Hannah squealed, and then clapped her hands over her mouth when she realized the other girls in the room were asleep. Removing her hands after a moment, she whispered, "That's so great, Susan! I'm so happy for you!"
Susan blushed, but her smile could have lit the room. "We should get to sleep. It's getting late."
Hannah nodded, but narrowed her eyes as she lay down, still looking at Susan. "All right, but you're telling me details later."
Susan chuckled and nodded as she, too, lay down.
XXX
When Neville returned to the Gryffindor common room, he found Harry and Ginny, as well as Ron and Hermione all waiting for him in two armchairs next to the fire. Hermione and Ginny looked quite content on their boyfriends' laps.
Harry looked up as Neville entered the room, and raised an eyebrow. "Not smart, Nev. Don't you know that you're supposed to sneak back into the common room after curfew? Especially when there are three Prefects waiting for you?"
Neville spluttered a little, but calmed down when he saw the smile on Harry's face.
The sixth year Prefect chuckled. "Have a good night, I take it?"
Neville nodded shyly, taking another unoccupied seat next to his friends.
"How is Hannah?" Hermione asked. "Did you two have a nice dinner?"
Neville bit his lip. "Actually, Hannah and I broke up."
Hermione gasped. "Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry."
Neville shrugged. "I'm not." They all looked at him, confused. "Susan and I got back together."
Harry grinned. "That's great, Nev. I'm glad you two stopped dancing around each other. Even Ron could see that you two still like each other."
"Yeah…" Ron paused. "Hey!"
They all laughed.
"Seriously though," Harry said, catching his breath. "I'm happy for you."
"Definitely," Ginny agreed. "Is Hannah all right with it? I hope she wasn't too hurt."
Neville snorted. "Hannah's the one who told me to stop running and face the fact that I was still in love with Susan. Technically I think she broke up with me, but she was right. Susan and I didn't break up because we didn't like each other anymore. We were both just… scared." He sighed. "I was afraid of what I was feeling, so I did the easy thing. But if there's one thing you've taught me Harry, it's that it's not worth winning if you don't have to fight for it."
Harry blushed slightly. "Thanks, mate," he said quietly.
As it was getting late, they all headed up to bed. The next day was a Hogsmeade trip, and they wanted to get an early start.
XXX
The rest of February passed quietly, and with the arrival of March, the students of Hogwarts could almost tell that spring was on its way.
The snow was melting, and here and there, flowers could be seen bravely peaking up from the ground.
Unfortunately, this also meant that exams were looming, so the students couldn't really enjoy the cease in bitter cold weather. Ginny and Luna were more harried than the younger and sixth years, as their OWLs were only a couple months away.
Ron's seventeenth birthday was a festive occasion, as Harry once more asked the house elves to provide a feast for the entire House. They complied, and the Gryffindors spent that Saturday afternoon congregated in the common room, enjoying the food and celebrating their housemate's birthday.
Ron was almost as shocked as Hermione had been back in September, when so many of his housemates wished him a happy birthday. He just hadn't thought he was that popular. Sure, people paid him attention, but he had always figured that was just because his best friend was Harry Potter.
Hermione gave her boyfriend a new set of keeper gloves, something that surprised and pleased Ron, as he certainly wasn't expecting the Quidditch-related gift.
Harry and Ginny got him two tickets to a Cannons game that summer, and Neville gave him a gift certificate to Honeydukes.
It was a great day for Ron, and he still couldn't believe he was of legal age. His parents sent him a beautiful watch, as was the custom for a wizard who came of age, and a large box of sweets. Fred and George gave him a box of joke products, and Bill and Fleur, a magical razor. Charlie sent him a pair of dragonhide gloves from Romania.
When the party started to disband as students headed up to bed, Ron looked at Harry and smiled widely. "Thanks, mate. Today was great."
Harry nodded, smiling in return. "Any time, Ron. Happy birthday."
XXX
Apparition lessons for the sixth years were proving to be quite a trial. Harry was so far the only one to really make any progress, though several more people had splinched themselves. Ron had gotten really excited a few weeks into the lessons when he opened his eyes to find himself inside the hoop, until he saw several people laughing around him, and realized he had merely leapt the few feet to arrive at his destination, rather than apparated. Others were caught flickering, an act where they apparated very quickly to their destination and back again, appearing to the rest of the world to simply flicker in their spot, not really traveling anywhere. It was yet another byproduct of not being sufficiently determined, Twycross informed them.
More than one student was getting frustrated with Twycross, and had come up with their own 'D's' behind his back. Dog-breath, and Dipstick were perhaps the kindest of these names. Several also suggested where Twycross could stick his hoops.
Harry managed to have some success in early March, safely apparating into his hoop to applause from his friends.
Halfway through the month, Harry was heading up to the common room one evening, when the sound of hushed voices caused him to pause. Listening for a moment, he thought he could make out the shrill voice of Pansy Parkinson, and he quickly placed a Dissillusionment Charm over himself before sneaking closer.
A slightly open door to an empty classroom showed him that it was indeed Pansy inside, along with Crabbe, Goyle, a seventh year he was fairly certain was called Miles, as well as another seventh year whose name he wasn't quite sure of, but was wearing the blue and bronze striped tie of Ravenclaw, and a fifth year Slytherin he knew was named Albert, only because Theo had told him about the horrendous stink the teenager had raised when he hadn't made the Quidditch team earlier in the year.
He didn't hear everything they said, but he did catch something about ensuring secrecy, and a 'possible way in'.
They looked to be wrapping up their meeting right then, so Harry quickly backed away and made sure he was two corridors over, before he released the Dissillusionment Charm. Even if he hadn't heard everything, he knew that he had just discovered the most likely candidates for Malfoy and Voldemort's 'informants'.
When he returned to the common room, he joined Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Neville by the fireplace, dropping his book bag down and setting up a few minor wards to prevent anyone from overhearing their conversation, including the charm Snape had taught him and Ginny, Muffliato.
Ginny looked up when Harry sat down, and frowned at the use of the charms. "Harry? What's going on?"
She had been caught up studying, and hadn't overheard what he had on his way back to the Tower.
The rest of them looked up as well, their attention drawn.
Harry sighed and in a hushed voice, told them about the conversation he had heard. "It sounds like they're working out a way to break into Hogwarts."
Hermione pursed her lips. "Harry, I know it might not sound good, but Voldemort can't get into the castle. There are too many wards and protections in place."
Harry shook his head. "Nothings infallible, Hermione." He glanced at Ginny, who nodded.
Ginny leaned forward slightly. "Something Fred and George have taught me is that anything is possible if you've got enough nerve. If Voldemort really wants to get in, he'll find a way."
"But Dumbledore –" Hermione argued, but Neville cut her off.
"Haven't we learned by now that Dumbledore doesn't deserve our trust?"
Hermione looked startled, before she nodded ruefully. "I'm sorry, I know he's got a lot to answer for, but he's still the only person Voldemort ever feared. Wouldn't he think twice about coming here?"
Harry nodded, conceding the point. "Still, I had a dream a while back, and Malfoy had been given a task, to 'redeem himself'. They were talking about a mission, and informants being in place."
Hermione's mouth twisted downward. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"
Harry shrugged. "It really didn't give me any specific information. And I've caught Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle whispering together with some other worrying students before. I told Snape, and he said he was keeping an eye on them. There's not much we can do, but keep an eye out." He bit his lip. "In the meantime, how are you guys coming with your research on our… project?"
They all looked at each other.
"We might have a few things to talk about," Ron said, glancing at Hermione, who nodded her agreement.
Harry smiled slightly. "Good. We'll meet this weekend, and discuss everything. For now, though, I've got a horrendous Defense essay that I haven't even started yet."
Hermione stared. "Harry! That essay is due this week!"
Ron snorted. "Yeah, mate. Even I've started it."
Harry rolled his eyes, but didn't respond, just pulling out a roll of parchment and his textbook and getting started.
XXX
That weekend, Harry and his friends spent Saturday morning in the Room of Requirement. Blaise and Daphne were so close to getting their animagus forms, so they spent an hour practicing, before Harry called them over so they could discuss what they had learned about Voldemort.
That practice paid off, as both Blaise and Daphne managed to successfully transform into their bobcat and fox forms. They changed back to cheering, as their friends looked on, happy at their success. Luna kissed her boyfriend, before Harry asked the Room to provide couches for them to sit on.
Once they were all settled, he looked around at the group. "I just wanted to see how you're all doing with your research. Luna, Neville, Susan, did you guys get a look at the old records?"
Neville nodded. "Professor McGonagall showed us the records room. It's massive, and took some digging, but we did manage to find a record of Tom Marvolo Riddle attending Hogwarts from 1938-1945. He was a Prefect and Head Boy, a member of the Slug Club. On paper, he sounds like a popular and well-liked student who was destined for great things." Neville shuddered. "If I didn't know he became Voldemort, I would have thought I was looking at a future Minister of Magic candidate."
Harry nodded. "He was good at hiding his true colors. A lot of people gravitated towards him because of his charisma and charm. Did you find anything that might help us?"
Neville sighed. "There's not much there. We copied the file for you guys to look at, but it's really not much to go on. Riddle was an orphan. He grew up in an orphanage in London, and received a stipend from the Hogwarts Trust in order to pay for his school things."
Harry took the parchment Susan handed him, and skimmed it. It really was mostly superficial, but he knew it might come in handy. "This is good work, guys, keep digging and see what you find. You never know what might be the key to bringing him down."
Neville, Susan, and Luna nodded, and Harry looked at the others. "What about you guys? Anything?"
Ron shrugged. "We've thought up a few ideas, but there's really no way to be certain of anything, without actually checking them out."
Harry nodded. "Voldemort's a narcissist. He would use objects of importance, and he would place them somewhere special. He wouldn't leave his horcruxes just anywhere." He looked at Neville. "He grew up an orphan, right?" Neville nodded, and he turned back to Ron. "He spent the first eleven years of his life thinking he was insignificant, that no one cared about him. Then he got his letter to Hogwarts, and all of a sudden, he wasn't just an orphan with no future. He got proof that he was special."
Ron gaped, and Hermione frowned. "What exactly are you trying to say, Harry?" Hermione asked.
Harry sighed. "I'm just suggesting that he might consider using places that symbolized his ancestry, his wizarding heritage. Places like Gringotts, where witches and wizards keep their money, or Hogwarts, the first place he really felt at home."
Blaise tilted his head to the side. "Sounds like you've given this a lot of thought," he commented.
Harry shrugged. "Not a whole lot," he replied. "I just felt the same way. I grew up thinking no one cared, and then I was introduced to the wizarding world and felt special for the first time in my life." He grimaced. "I hate the fact that I can sympathize with the bastard, but at the same time, it could come in handy a little, because I do understand him."
Ginny took his hand in hers and leaned into his side. "Harry, the fact that you had similar experiences growing up means nothing. What matters is that you made different choices from him. Yeah, you might have felt the way he did as a child, but he chose revenge. He chose power. He chose hate. Voldemort was obsessed with proving that he was the best, and believed that wizarding blood proved he was better than anyone else." She smiled reassuringly. "You chose family. You found one you hadn't had before, and you would do anything to keep it. You chose to be happy."
Harry couldn't help but smile at his girlfriend. "Thanks," he said softly, leaning down to give her a kiss.
When they pulled apart, Ginny gave him a peck on the nose. "I'm always here to slap you with a reality check, Harry."
Harry chuckled, and the others smiled. He rolled his eyes slightly, and looked at the group. "Just keep digging. You never know if something from his past might be the key to figuring out where he hid a horcrux."
They nodded, and left the Room to head to lunch.
XXX
The next day, Harry decided to spend some time on the project Dumbledore had asked of him, the one he had decided to carry out for himself, rather than the old man.
Ginny called it Operation Slughorn, which made Harry roll his eyes, but he had to admit, it did fit. He almost regretted introducing Ginny to spy movies, but she had fallen in love with the genre as soon as she had realized it existed.
Slughorn was surprised, but very willing to accept the offer of help, and the two spent Sunday morning scrubbing cauldrons and giving the potions laboratory a good cleaning. Slughorn showed him a few tricks to get out set-in stains and old ingredients that had dried, and they talked about many things. Mostly, though, Harry steered the conversation towards the past.
Slughorn was happy to talk about Harry's mother at great length, and Harry enjoyed hearing the stories the professor shared. He still wouldn't trust Slughorn to watch his back in a battle, but he was warming up slightly to the man. Slughorn knew a lot about his mum, as she had been one of his star students, and more than once compared Harry to her, in terms of talent. Though he normally didn't like it when someone compared him to his parents, wanting to be seen as his own person, Harry found he really didn't care so much. Perhaps it was because for the first three years of his schooling, Snape had been quick to tell him how much of a dunderhead he was, just like his father. That had kind of tainted the whole experience.
But now that Snape was no longer at his throat complaining and belittling him, he found that he didn't mind being compared to his parents so much. He knew they had been talented and wonderful people, and he wouldn't mind aspiring to be like them.
"So you must have been teaching a while, then," Harry commented idly, trying to get the professor to confirm their theories. "If you taught my parents, and Professor McGonagall said you taught her as well."
Slughorn chuckled jovially. "Oh yes, I remember Minerva. Bright young witch. Much better at Transfiguration than Potions, of course, but no slouch. Oh my, that was years ago! Did she tell you that?"
Harry nodded. "She said you had probably been teaching a few years before she started, and you retired a few years after my parents graduated."
Well, the last part wasn't really true, it was more just what he knew from when Snape had started teaching, and Harry knew he had taken over for Slughorn.
Horace nodded, thinking. "Let's see, I started here, oh, must have been 1928. Goodness was it really that long ago?"
Harry nodded mutely, doing the math quickly; Slughorn would have surely been a teacher when Voldemort had attended. He wasn't sure he should say anything yet, though, wanting to earn the older man's trust and get a little bit more of a rapport, first.
Slughorn regaled him with a few stories of his first few years on the job; there were several that Harry quite enjoyed hearing, as they involved Dumbledore running into issues in his new role as the Transfiguration professor. Everyone hailed Dumbledore as the new Merlin, and had done so for so long, it was amusing to hear stories from before he had been someone so many looked up to.
"Goodness me, is that the time," Slughorn exclaimed a couple of hours later, coming out of a story about his group of first years who had to spend an entire Saturday cleaning frog spawn off the ceiling of the Potions lab after a mishap in class. "You should get on up to lunch before it's over."
Harry nodded and started to clean up a bit, before he left the room, accepting an invitation to a luncheon the following weekend on his way out, and promising to pass the invitation along to his friends.
XXX
Later that day, Harry told the others what he had learned from Slughorn. They were all surprised to hear that the professor had been teaching for that long.
"My mum and dad said that he taught them," Ron commented, "but this is way before them."
Harry nodded. "Professor Slughorn said he started around the same time as Dumbledore."
"Blimey," Ron muttered.
Harry shrugged. "Yeah, so he was around for a while. But think about it, guys. Slughorn started in the 1920's. Riddle attended in the late '30's. That would mean that Slughorn taught him."
Hermione gasped. "How many people are still around who remember Voldemort from before?"
Harry grimaced. "Not many. I think that's why Dumbledore got Slughorn to come teach. At Hogwarts, he's much safer than he would be anywhere else."
Hermione's eyes glinted with knowledge. "You think he might have some information on Voldemort," she observed.
Harry nodded readily. "Yes," he replied simply. "He might know something and not even be aware of it, but McGonagall says I've probably got a pretty good chance of getting it out of him, because my mum was one of his favorite students. If I learn anything, I'll let you all know."
They nodded, and spent the rest of the afternoon doing homework.
XXX
The rest of the month passed in a haze of work, late nights and early mornings. Final exams and OWLs were coming, much too fast for the students of Hogwarts.
Harry made sure to attend every party and get together Slughorn held, and even though he knew he was really in negative digits when it came to free time, he also spent several more mornings and afternoons helping the professor out on weekends. It wasn't really that tedious, most of the time they spent brewing potions and talking about Harry's parents. He much preferred this to the Slug Club meetings, because he felt more like a real person having a conversation with someone who knew his parents, than a prop piece, used for someone else's gain.
Towards the end of the month, Harry finally felt like he had spent enough time working his way into Slughorn's good graces – and he tried not to feel too manipulative at what he was doing – so when they were bottling their brews that afternoon (an antidote to a poison that Slughorn had hinted might come up on the NEWT next year, and then praised Harry, telling him he would have given it an O had he been grading it), he carefully broached the subject he had been working towards for so many weeks.
"Professor?" Slughorn looked up and nodded for Harry to continue. He took a deep breath and did so. "I was wondering… do you remember a student of yours, called Tom Riddle?"
He had thought to get a reaction from the older man, but not that big of one. Slughorn let out a sound almost like a yelp, and spilled half the cauldron of potion on the floor.
Shaking in fear, he peered at Harry. "Where did you hear that name?" he whispered.
Harry grimaced, using his wand to clean up the potion mess, before he replied. "Your reaction indicates that you understand the significance. You know who Riddle became, don't you."
Slughorn didn't appear to be capable of coherent thought.
Harry sighed. "I know you don't want to talk about it, Professor. But what you know could help us win."
Slughorn let out a weak chuckle. "It sounds so simple when you put it like that, Harry. But it's much more complex."
Harry shook his head. "No, it's not." Slughorn looked startled by the abruptness of the statement. "Professor, we think we know how to stop Voldemort."
Slughorn let out an "Eep!" at the name, but Harry pressed on, relentless.
"Have you ever heard of a horcrux?"
If just the name had scared him, he seemed utterly terrified of Harry's latest question.
"I can't," he whispered. "It's not… I just…"
Harry leaned forward, his eyes blazing intently. They almost seemed to glow in intensity. "Did you know my mother gave her life for me?"
Slughorn's eyes were pained. "Harry, don't."
Harry shook his head. "Voldemort gave her a choice. She could have stepped aside, but she refused, and he killed her." Slughorn was unaware of the tears that leaked from his eyes at Harry's harsh statement. "Do you want her sacrifice to be in vain? You could help us beat him, Professor."
Slughorn looked at him for several moments in silence, before he sighed, looking down, unable to continue to meet the honest and searching gaze. Slowly, he reached up with his wand and rested the tip at his temple, his other hand finding an empty vial.
As Harry watched, he pulled out a long silvery strand – a memory. Slughorn deposited it into the bottle, and held it out. "Please don't think too badly of me when you see this. Had I known…"
Harry nodded, taking the bottle. "I understand, Professor. Thank you."
Slughorn stopped him as he reached the door. "Harry." The teenager turned around. Slughorn was looking devastated and slightly lost. "I need you to do something for me."
Harry nodded. "Of course."
"Obliviate me."
Harry looked confused. "Sir?"
The Potions professor sighed. "I need you to wipe my memory of giving you that. No one can know."
Harry nodded slowly. He had never Obliviated anyone before, but he did know the theory. Hesitantly, he raised his wand, concentrating on what he wanted to do, before whispering, "Obliviate."
Slughorn's eyes glazed over for a moment, before he focused again. "Harry!" he exclaimed jovially. "Thank you so much for your help with these potions. Madam Pomfrey will be happy to have these antidotes, just in case."
Harry nodded, trying to smile. "Of course, Professor. I'm going to go catch up with my friends now."
Slughorn beamed. "Of course, of course."
Harry made a hasty exit, mentally telling Ginny to meet him in the Room of Requirement as soon as possible, and to bring his pensieve. He knew he would tell the rest of the group soon, but he wanted to watch the memory first, to see what the professor had given him.