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The week went by slowly. Katie Bell had been removed to St. Mungo's Hospital and the news about her injury had spread all over the school. Marina and Blaise kept quiet about what had happened that day in Hogsmeade.
Christmas was approaching. Hagrid had single-handedly delivered twelve Christmas trees for the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. Marina had spotted large groups of girls who tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past. Not that she cared, though - she found herself much more interested in the Half-Blood Prince's old copy of Advanced Potion-Making (or at least she pretended it was immensely interesting to read every time Harry was in sight).
On December 1st, Marina found herself standing in front of the gigantic mirror in her dormitory, trying to fit a lilac silk dress Narcissa had given her on. She combed through her raven hair and hid her wand inside her dress, and an hour later, Blaise was happy to escort her to Slughorn's little Christmas dinner. He tried to explain to her what the so-called SlugClub was. She concluded that it was ridiculous, and imagined that the professor only wanted her to dine at his table because of her last name.
Whether it had been built that way, or because he had used magic to make it so, Slughorn's office was much bigger than any other teacher's. The ceiling and walls had been draped with emerald, crimson, and gold hangings. The room was extremely crowded, and the sound of music and laughter so loud it hurt Marina's head. A number of house-elves (including Kreacher, who had just gotten a job in the kitchens), were negotiating their way squeakily trough the forest of knees, obscured by the heavy silver platters of food they were bearing, so that they looked like little roving tables.
Slughorn, wearing a tassel velvet hat to match his smoking jacket, came waltzing over to Marina and Blaise, his face lighting up. "I knew you two would come!" he cried.
"Of course, Professor," answered Blaise, grabbing a drink and turning on his Slytherin charm. "Wouldn't have missed another one of your marvelous parties."
Slughorn's lips curled upward before he walked away. A few Ravenclaw students, who Marina assumed were at the dinner because they were excellent Quidditch players, were quick to take the professor's spot and start a conversation with Blaise. And he happily talked back to them, his arm around Marina's waist - her face went visibly pale. His touch was nothing like Harry's; she stiffened up, already growing tense.
"Black, huh?" began one of the Ravenclaw boys. With brown hair that fell into his eyes, and a suit that seemed like it was two sizes too small for him, he took a step forward. "Yeah, you're the one who almost got murdered in the Triwizard Tournament, aren't you?"
