Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

11 December, 1974 - Birthday Wish

Slughorn's party was the usual overblown ordeal. Though not one of his grandest affairs, it was, nonetheless, overdone in Lavinia's opinion. While they often had little dinner parties with just the Slug Club, those were just that: dinner. They sat at a large round table, ate dinner, and intermittently tried to get Slughorn to like them more than everyone else. The other type of party Slughorn occasionally indulged in was a massive affair, with music dancing, hoards of the professor's favorite Hogwarts alumni and horderves floating around in the middle of it all.

This was, weirdly, somewhere in between. There was a dance floor and music was drifting from seemingly nowhere. But there were no house elves wandering around with food, and smaller tables were set for four each on the edge of the room.

When Lavinia, Regulus and Severus entered, Slughorn swept up to them so quickly Lavinia was sure he'd been waiting for them.

"Lavinia, Severus, Regulus, my goodness, I thought you'd never show," Slughorn said, rather louder than strictly necessary.

Lavinia smiled, "I'm sorry we're late professor. I'm afraid my friends and I got rather caught up getting ready."

"Not to worry, not to worry. We're about ready for food anyway," Slughorn mused, looking over the room. Lavinia spotted several people she recognized, including her uncle, Abraxas Malfoy, who spotted her and nodded from across the room. She nodded back, annoyance flickering in her for a moment. If Abraxas was here, it meant her every movement was going to be reported straight to her mother.

But she brushed it aside. Slughorn's parties were something she wouldn't mind having her mother hear about. She was, after all, doing exactly what was asked of her. She would just take extra care to avoid Evans this evening.

"Come, come, you three," Slughorn was saying, ushering them along towards a table. "I want you to meet some people before we eat."

And so the three of them were swept around and introduced to Slughorn's old favorites. Lavinia forgot half of their names as soon as they were introduced and only really brought herself into focus when Slughorn brought them around to her uncle.

"And of course, Lavinia knows who this is," he said grandly. "He works closely with the ministry and of course, his son is another favorite of mine. Shame Lucius couldn't join us tonight," he added, a lingering question in his voice as he probed for a reason why.

Abraxas smiled coldly, evidently well acquainted with Slughorn's tactics. "Lucius had a meeting with the minister this evening," he said smoothly. "Otherwise, I'm sure he would have been delighted to come."

"Of course, of course," Slughorn said, evidently placated. "But let me make introductions," he added, realizing the three students were still standing there rather awkwardly. "You know Lavinia of course, and I'm sure you've met Regulus Black, charming young man, and this is Severus Snape, the most brilliant potioneer I've ever taught."

Severus smiled, and stuck out his hand. They shook awkwardly and from the look in Abraxas's face, Lavinia knew her mother had mentioned Severus to him before.

"How is school going, Lavinia," the older man enquired, almost as soon as he had dropped Severus's hand.

"Well enough," said Lavinia, offering him a smile. "You can assure my mother she has nothing to worry about." She forced her tone to be joking, as if they didn't both know that was exactly why the question had been asked.

Abraxas played along, smiling indulgently at the apparent joke. "We all know there's no need to fret over your academics, Lavinia. She's rather brilliant, isn't she, Horace," he added, turning to the potions master.