Emerald (Lazuli Book #2) Harry Potter Fan Fiction (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter Four - Welcome to the Slug Club

I smooth my dress before knocking on the door of Compartment 5. Why does Horace Slughorn want to see me? How does he even know I exist?

The door slides open, revealing a bored looking fourth year. "You are?" she drawls, picking at her fingernails. I raise an eyebrow. "Juliet Weasley," I say through gritted teeth, trying not to loose my composure over this child. "Professor Slughorn asked to see me."

The girl rolls her eyes and steps aside. "Come in then."

I push past her and survey the scene.

The compartment is already full of people, all of whom seem to have no idea why they're here and what for. I take a seat beside a Slytherin girl who boredly smiles at me. "You too huh?" She says. I shrug my shoulders. "I've got no idea what's going on."

The compartment door slides open from the outside and a small, tubby man walks in. His aged face has a gentle smile as he beams at all of us. His eyebrows are unruly and tinged with grey, and the man has lost most of the hair on his round head except for a few tufts. The suit he's wearing is obviously expensive, if outdated and a bit random. He takes a seat at the front of the room, placing his cloth bag down on the table and grinning at us all. Even if I hadn't known basically everything about him, it would be obvious. This man is Horace Slughorn.

"Greetings! I am Professor Slughorn!" He exclaims in an enthusiastic voice. The Slytherin I'm sat with winces.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here. I'm the new potions master, although I held the position for many years before Professor Snape took over. Back in the old days, I used to host little mixer parties - purely for the best students of course. And I've heard through the grapevine as they say that you are all the best!"

I raise my eyebrows as I look around the room. Now that he points it out, it does make sense. Everybody here possesses a talent of some sort - brains, sport, music. Then there are a few that are already famous - Blaise for example, who's wealth is indubitably attractive to Professor Slughorn.

I can't help but wonder what I'm doing here.

"I wanted to get to know you all, and I was planning a little get-together a few weeks into term. So I suppose look for my owl!" The professor chuckles at his own joke, the rest of us join in laughing awkwardly. Across the room, I notice Hermione. She's obviously here because of her brains.

Hermione smiles slightly at me, a gesture that my manners order me to return, and I return my attention back to Professor Slughorn who's now making his way around the room, greeting various people. Over by the door, a few people are sneaking out when Slughorn isn't looking. I stand up and try to sneak after them - despite my previous dream of getting to meet Slughorn, I found myself yearning for Draco. I'd spent 3 months separated from him. Now all I wanted to do was feel his embrace again.

"Miss Weasley?" I hear someone call. I wince, having almost reached the door. Now I have no choice but to turn back and smile brilliantly at Professor Slughorn. I turn around, and flash him the said smile. "Yes sir, it's an honour to finally meet you. I've respected your work for many years."

Slughorn chortles warmly, patting me on the shoulder. "It's an honour to meet you too, Miss Weasley. I too have heard of your remarkable potioneering talents from Professor Snape - he speaks very highly of you." I blush slightly. At least now I have an answer to why I'm here. "And of course, your skills on the Quidditch pitch are famed as well!"

I wince slightly at the mention of Quidditch. "Thank you Sir, but I'm afraid I no longer play Quidditch." Slughorn gasps as if I've slapped him in the face. "I suffered a terrible fall at the start of the summer, and find myself traumatised by the thought of climbing onto a broom again." I try not to grimace as I recount the attack at the start of the summer to Slughorn, leaving out a few major details of course, such as who was attacking me, where I was flying from, what happened after the fall. Something told me that Slughorn - who'd infamously taught Voldemort when he was simply Tom Riddle - wouldn't take too kindly to that information.

"Oh my dear, I'm terribly sorry. However it's good to see you recovered now, eh?"

I force a smile and incline my head in thanks.

"I've been looking forward to meeting you - you're the prefect of Slytherin house if I'm correct?"

I raise my eyebrows. When Dumbledore returned to the school after Umbridge was fired, he'd returned my position as prefect to me, since Umbridge had taken it away. He also offered me the Slytherin Quidditch Captaincy again if I wanted it, although I'd turned it down almost instantly. On my advice, the captaincy had been awarded to Sophia instead.

"Yes Sir. Alongside my boyfriend Draco."

Slughorn's face turns pale. Obviously mentioning a Malfoy was not the right thing to do. "Ah yes, I've met Mr Malfoy once or twice - his father was an ex-pupil of mine."

It must be hard for Slughorn. Knowing that kids he's taught from 11 until 18, children he's nurtured and cared for, have strayed from the path of the righteous and now spend their time murdering, stealing and trying to destroy every morsel of good in the world. Remembering students like Lucius Malfoy when they were first sorted. Remembering Tom Riddle.

I change the topic from Draco as I can see how talking about the Malfoy's panics Slughorn. "You taught my parents when they were at Hogwarts Sir. Molly Prewett and Arthur Weasley?"

Slughorn breathes a sigh of relief, before furrowing his face as he tries to remember my parents. "Neither of them were particularly good at potions, so I can understand if you don't remember them." Slughorn chuckles as he pats my shoulder affectionately. "I remember Arthur Weasley - bright red hair."  I nod gently. "That's him."

"How is he then? Last I heard he was working in the Ministry of Magic, am I right?"

"Yes sir. He was employed in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Although he recently received a promotion to Head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects."

Slughorn nods approvingly. "Your family must be very proud."

I smile weakly. "Yes. He works hard and deserved this promotion."

Slughorn offers me a glass of pumpkin juice from the tray that a bored looking second year is carrying. I accept it gratefully and sip at the drink. "Do you have any other siblings Miss Weasley?" He asks politely, perhaps hoping that there was more talent in my family that he hadn't heard about.

I blush deeply as I always do whenever I tell people how many siblings I have. "Yes sir, there are 8 of us in total. My brothers Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, my twin brother Ron, and my younger sister Ginny." Slughorn's eyes grow wider and wider with each name I reel off. "My, what a brood!"

I blush intensely.

"Yes. Although thankfully my 5 older brothers don't live at home anymore."

Slughorn nods his head and chuckles again. "It must have been terribly crowded - what do they all do?"

I sip again at the pumpkin juice before clearing my throat. "Bill - or William as his proper name is - works in Egypt as a curse breaker, Charlie works in Romania with dragons, Percy works at the Ministry, and Fred and George own a joke shop in Diagon Alley. They managed to buy a shop thanks to a generous loan from my friend Harry."

Slughorn's eyes grow wide. "Harry? Harry Potter you mean?" He gasps when I nod my head. "My, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Potter recently - what a fine young chap he is! Have the two of you been friends for long?"

I frown slightly. "Yes sir, since we were 11 years old. Although he's closer to my brother Ron than he is to me. He spent a few days at our home towards the end of the summer, and he's supposed to be staying at Christmas too."

Slughorn hollers excitedly. "Well feel free to bring Mr Potter along to any of our dinners - I sent him a message too today, but he must have not received it." I smile accordingly although I'm sure that Harry has purposely missed this meeting. I was starting to wish I had. Despite my previous admiration of Horace Slughorn, I was finding him incredibly underwhelming, and definitely not all that I'd hoped him to be. I try to reassure myself, perhaps conversation isn't his strong point, and I'm sure that once we're in the potions classroom, he'll be back at my role model.

"Well professor I'd better be going - my friends are waiting for me. It was wonderful to meet you." I hold out my hand for him to shake, which he does excitedly. "And you Miss Weasley, it seems to me that you'll be a very promising addition to my little 'club.' A very promising addition indeed."