Snape and Lily's daughter

Christmas Party

Slughorn's Christmas party has arrived.

Grace had gotten ready and with her guest, Astoria (she didn't invite Draco because she already knew that his mind would be on whatever he was planning regarding his mission for Voldemort), went to the professor's office, where the party would be held. She met Harry and Luna at the entrance.

"Hi, Harry. Hi, Luna." Grace greeted them.

The four of them greeted each other before entering. There were already several people at the party, some students and others were Slughorn's guests. Soon the four of them found Hermione.

"Hermione!" Harry called her.

"Harry, Grace! There you are, thank goodness! Hi, Luna, Astoria!"

Hermione looked distinctly disheveled.

"What's happened to you?" Grace asked.

"Oh, I've just escaped — I mean, I've just left Cormac," she said. "Under the mistletoe,"

"Serves you right for coming with him," Harry told her severely.

"Why did you invite Cormac? There were so many other options..." Grace said..

"I thought he'd annoy Ron most," said Hermione dispassionately. "I debated for a while about Zacharias Smith, but I thought, on the whole —"

"You considered Smith?" said Harry, revoked.

"Yes, I did, and I'm starting to wish I'd chosen him, McLaggen makes Grawp look a gentleman. Let's go this way, we'll be able to see him coming, he's so tall..."

The three of them made their way over to the other side of the room, scooping up goblets of mead on the way, realizing too late that Professor Trelawney was standing there alone.

"Hello," said Luna politely to Professor Trelawney.

"Good evening, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, focusing upon Luna with some difficulty. "I haven't seen you in my classes lately..."

"No, I've got Firenze this year," Luna said.

After the scandal with Umbridge last year, when she fired Trelawney, Firenze, one of the centaurs, stood in for her as Divination teacher. But this year they decided to leave both of them as teachers.

"Oh, of course," said Professor Trelawney with an angry, drunken titter. "Or Dobbin, as I prefer to think of him. You would have thought, would you not, that now I am returned to the school Professor Dumbledore might have got rid of the horse? But no...we share classes... It's an insult, frankly, an insult. Do you know..."

While the teacher complained to Luna the other four stayed further back.

"Let's get something straight. Are you planning to tell Ron that you interfered at Keeper tryouts?" Harry asked Hermione.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Do you really think I'd stoop that low?"

Harry looked at her shrewdly. "Hermione, if you can ask out McLaggen —"

"There's a difference," said Hermione with dignity. "I've got no plans to tell Ron anything about what might, or might not, have happened at Keeper tryouts."

"Good," said Harry fervently. "Because he'll just fall apart again, and we'll lose the next match —"

"It's not a bad idea, actually." Astoria murmured to Grace. They both chuckled.

"Quidditch!" Hermione said angrily. "Is that all boys care about? Cormac hasn't asked me one single question about myself, no, I've just been treated to 'A Hundred Great Saves Made by Cormac McLaggen' nonstop ever since — oh no, here he comes!"

Hermione disappeared.

"Seen Hermione?" Cormack asked, forcing his way through the throng a minute later.

"No, sorry," Grace said.

The three of them joined Luna.

"Harry Potter!" said Professor Trelawney in deep, vibrant tones, noticing him for the first time.

"Oh, hello," said Harry unenthusiastically.

Grace and Astoria could get out of there and find someone more interesting to talk to, but Grace felt sorry for her brother, and decided to stay.

"My dear boy!" she said in a very carrying whisper. "The rumors! The stories! 'The Chosen One'! Of course, I have known for a very long time...The omens were never good, Harry...But why have you not returned to Divination? For you, of all people, the subject is of the utmost importance!"

Grace, who was smart to listen to her brother's and Hermione's advice, as soon as she had a chance to choose between electives, knew that she would not choose Divination, and opted to take both Thriller Studies and Arithmancy.

Harry didn't even have time to answer the teacher, when Slughorn arrived to join the conversation.

"Ah, Sybill, we all think our subject's most important! But I don't think I've ever known such a natural at Potions!"

Grace controlled herself not to laugh, she knew that Harry was only doing so well in the subject because of her father's book.

"Instinctive, you know — like his mother! Of course, Miss Snape here also has great skills with the subject, but I think she took from that from Severus..." At the mention of Snape, Slughorn gestured with his hand, calling out to him.

"Stop skulking and come and join us, Severus!" hiccuped Slughorn happily. "I was just talking about Harry's exceptional potion-making! Some credit must go to you, of course, you taught him for five years!"

Of course Snape knew that Harry was not this genius at Potions as Slughorn was saying. Snape looked down his hooked nose at Harry, his black eyes narrowed.

"Funny, I never had the impression that I managed to teach Potter anything at all."

"Well, then, it's natural ability!" shouted Slughorn. "You should have seen what he gave me, first lesson, Draught of Living Death — never had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don't think even you, Severus —"

"Really?" said Snape quietly, his eyes still boring into Harry.

The conversation continued, more between Slughorn and Harry, when Grace fixed her eyes on Draco, who was being dragged by the ear by Filch.

"Professor Slughorn," wheezed Filch. "I discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him with an invitation?"

Malfoy pulled himself free of Filchs grip, looking furious. "All right, I wasn't invited!" he said angrily. "I was trying to gate crash, happy?"

"I'd like a word with you, Draco," Snape said suddenly.

Grace was nervous. What would her father talk to Draco about? Did he find out something about them? That was what worried her.

The two of them left.

"I'll be back in a bit, Luna — er — bathroom." Harry said.

Grace knew that he was lying, that he would actually go after her father and her boyfriend.

"All right," Luna said cheerfully.

Now it was just the three of them, Luna, Grace and Astoria.

"How is it playing on the Slytherin Quidditch team, Astoria?" Luna asked, trying to make conversation.

"Oh, very nice. I always wanted to be a Seeker, and last summer Grace helped me a lot to train for the tryouts." Astoria answered sincerely.

"Has anyone else been stealing your shoes, Luna?" Grace asked.

"Ah, once in a while, sometimes someone hides them." Luna said, as if she didn't care about it.

"You shouldn't let people do that, Luna." Astoria said.

"It's not so bad. I wander around the castle and somehow always end up in the kitchens eating some pudding."