Lily Potter and the Shadows' Misfortune

Chapter Thirty-Two

Three more weeks of nothing for Lily and her friends. Sure, they had solved the mystery of Hugo's random disappearances and his awkward actions whenever Nora was mentioned, but the core six friends didn't know anything more about the stolen objects or the Sanger twins. The only thing new in Lily's life was her new job as a tutor for one of Slughorn's Potions students. Apparently, he had been having little success in teaching the student himself, and he thought Lily would be better suited for the job for some reason.

"Oh, hello, Miss Potter," Slughorn said, looking up from his desk as Lily walked into the Potions Dungeon. "I can't thank you enough for agreeing to tutor this student. I'm just at my wit's end with her."

"It's not a problem, Professor Slughorn," Lily said, smiling and ready to help her teacher out. "I'm just curious as to why you asked me. Wouldn't a N.E.W.T. student be better suited to tutor someone? I've only been at Hogwarts for a year and a half."

"But you're housemates with this student, and from what Professor McGonagall said, you're roommates as well. I expect the two of you are friends because of that. And a friend might help the girl learn better."

"Oh, who is it then?" Lily asked, relieved that she'd be helping out a friend rather than a stranger. "Cecily Longbottom? Romy Sanger?"

"Professor Slughorn?"

Lily looked to the back of the room to where the voice came from. Her jaw dropped as she saw the small-framed girl standing in the doorway.

"Ah, Adeline," Slughorn said, greeting the first year with a smile and a wave. "You're right on time! You've met Lily before, correct?"

"Of course I have, Professor," Addie said, giving Lily a fake smile before turning back to the Potion Master. "Is she my tutor?"

Lily wasn't too surprised that Addie Sanger needed her tutoring. Lily was just surprised to hear Addie Sanger speaking English and not German angrily. It was the first time Lily had heard the language coming out of Addie's mouth. That was certainly something new.

"Well, you two ladies can hop to it while I go and run some errands. Feel free to start, but I'll be back before you leave to check on your progess," he said, collecting some papers from his desk.

Still stunned by Addie's use of the English language, Lily stayed silent as she watched Slughorn exit the dungeon, leaving her alone with Addie Sanger.

"You can close your mouth, Lily," Addie said, dropping the smile from her face. "I didn't realize that it'd be such a shock to see me here."

Lily blinked, "I'm more shocked to hear you speaking English if we're being honest here."

"I can speak English perfectly fine," Addie said, putting her bag down on a table. "I just prefer to speak German is all."

"That's your prerogative, I guess," Lily said, putting her own things down beside Addie. "I guess we should start with the tutoring then."

"I was honestly expecting someone much older and more experienced than you to help me," Addie said with a scoff. "Do you even know about Potions to help me?"

"I have a pretty good mark in Potions and got a good one last year as well," Lily said. "Truth be told, Slughorn asked me to tutor you because he thinks we're friends and that I can get through to you because I'm a friend of yours."

"Well, I wouldn't consider us friends," Addie said, sitting down and getting out her textbook.

"Is it bad that I like your sister more than I like you?" Lily asked, her tongue tired of keeping her venomous thoughts to herself. Here Lily was trying to help out Addie and her supposedly poor mark in Potions, but all Addie seemed to be doing was giving Lily an attitude.