"Tris, come here a second."
On the second day back at school after the Christmas holidays, Harry quietly sought Tris out and pulled him into a deserted corner.
Tris had assumed the guy wanted more dating advice and was about to roll his eyes when Harry whispered, "Dumbledore came to see me yesterday."
"Huh?" Tris paused, then lowered his voice too. "What happened?"
"It's about that Horcrux Dumbledore mentioned before. He wants me to get some information out of Professor Slughorn." Harry glanced around, making sure once again that nobody was nearby before telling Tris.
"Oh, that." Tris nodded in understanding.
After Professor Slughorn took over Potions classes for the first three years, the first-years didn't notice much of a difference, but the second- and third-years, who had endured a year or two under Snape, felt as though rain had finally fallen after a drought.
Especially the Gryffindors.
Snape made absolutely no attempt to hide his dislike of Gryffindor, or the way he singled them out. Previously, in Harry's year, nobody except Hermione and Neville had ever received an Outstanding on an assignment or exam. Not even once.
When it came to deducting points in class and on every other occasion, however, Snape was Gryffindor's undisputed champion. The points he took from Gryffindor alone exceeded twice the combined deductions of all the other professors.
Incidentally, he also took more points from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw than all the other professors combined.
Snape, as Slytherin's Head of House, could certainly claim a great deal of credit for their string of House Cup victories. His ability was beyond question. So were his professional ethics: he simply didn't have any.
As for Slughorn, Tris thought the fat old man had his own agenda. He paid special attention to students who could benefit his reputation,