The Slug Club

With Sirius's help, Rose searched more than twice as fast. She believed she had a chance of finding the Diadem before Christmas.

Sirius joked that if he found it first, he would give it to Rose as a Christmas present.

"It'll be the best present you've ever received!" he said confidently. "Who else can make you smarter?"

Rose disagreed. She treasured every gift her friends gave her.

Rose didn't ask Sirius whether he had told James about it, and Sirius didn't ask either. But without a word, they both avoided mentioning it whenever a third person was present.

In mid-December, Professor McGonagall began collecting the names of students staying at school for Christmas.

Marlene apologetically said she had to go home for Christmas this year and couldn't stay at school with Rose. After reassuring Marlene and politely declining Lily's invitation, Rose signed the list.

By the time she signed, seven or eight names were already on it. Rose saw Sirius Black's name at the very top of the parchment, its beautiful, flamboyant flourishes taking up a large expanse of space.

"I thought families like yours would have special arrangements for Christmas?" Rose brought up the question in Potions Class: things like ancient, mysterious pure-blood families dressing up for a dinner on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

"You're right, but I don't want to go." Sirius lay sprawled listlessly across the desk. "My brother can deal with them on his own."

Because he wasn't going home for Christmas, he had received three Howlers in a row from Walburga, every one of them full of complaints and accusations.

"That little first-year Slytherin?" Marlene leaned over and asked curiously.

Sirius never bothered to conceal his Slytherin family background. He believed he was different to his core from that filthy, evil crowd. At the thought of returning to the oppressive old Black house and facing a hysterical Walburga, he would rather spend a month in detention in Pringle's office.

"Regulus Black." Rose dropped the chopped dried nettles into the cauldron, and the once-clear potion turned a rich purple. "I must have chopped them too fine! It's supposed to be pale purple!"

"How do you know everything?" Sirius's voice came muffled from within his arms, growing quieter and quieter until, before long, it turned into the slow, steady sound of breathing.

Remus and Peter shifted in the row ahead so that the two of them blocked Professor Slughorn's view. He was standing beside Snape and Lily's cauldron, sparing no effort to praise their perfect batch of Swelling Solution with every word he knew.

"I thought you'd all been behaving yourselves lately," Rose said. The gems in Gryffindor's hourglass hadn't dropped by any great amount in a long time, and she had thought they'd given up sneaking out at night and were getting proper sleep!

James's hands moved quickly. He had to do the work of two people on his own. Without looking up, he said, "We have, but he hasn't."

After putting the bat spleen into the cauldron, he turned and shot Rose a quick glance. "He seems to have something else going on lately," he said vaguely.

Professor Slughorn seemed to have finally finished admiring his favorite student's perfect potion and began pacing around the classroom.

Rose saw James jab Sirius hard several times, but it evidently did no good. Sirius merely shifted position and slept soundly on.

Professor Slughorn stopped at their desk and examined the thick, grayish-green liquid in James's cauldron. James clearly had no talent for Potions, but the kindly professor cheerfully pointed out what he had done wrong.

Just then, Sirius mumbled a few indistinct words. James glanced awkwardly at Professor Slughorn and reached out to wake him.

"Young people can never get enough sleep!" Professor Slughorn patted his round belly and said airily, "Let Mr. Black get a good rest. When he wakes up, tell him to come to my office for a bite to eat on Wednesday evening!"

"You come along too, Potter, Claude!" Toying with the tips of his walrus mustache, he stuck out his belly and walked away.

"A bite to eat!" Marlene repeated. She clearly didn't mind that Professor Slughorn hadn't invited her. "He must want you to join that club of his!"

The Slug Club. Rose didn't quite understand why she had been invited too. She had neither a distinguished family background nor successful, famous relatives, nor did she have any particularly outstanding abilities.

James Potter didn't want to waste a perfectly good evening attending a little gathering. In the common room, he loudly declared that he definitely wouldn't be showing up on Wednesday night.

Sirius agreed wholeheartedly. He had attended countless banquets over the past dozen or so years, and every one of them had been tiresome and phony.

"I don't see anything wrong with it," Rose said. She sat in a good chair close to the fireplace, reading The Magic of Toast intently. "Apparently, Professor Slughorn can always get hold of lots of delicacies the kitchens don't have. I'd really like to try them!"

"And Lily seems to have been invited too. I heard she's going with Snape," Rose said softly.

"I don't think there's any harm in talking to the professor more!" James said righteously. He looked as though he could hardly wait for Wednesday to arrive.

Professor Slughorn's office was much larger than the Defence Against the Dark Arts office. He had them sit around a huge circular table while several House-elves wove between the table legs, carrying heavy silver trays.

"Sirius-my boy!" Slughorn came over as soon as he saw Sirius and enthusiastically seated him in the place closest to him. To his right sat a small, slender boy, quietly watching the others with a pair of calm, dark blue eyes.

"Barty Crouch Jr., how has your father been lately?" Slughorn made conversation with him, while Snape, sitting on the other side, stared at Slughorn eagerly, hoping he would say a few words to him too.

Barty Crouch Jr. chatted with Slughorn politely and composedly, while Sirius was already looking impatient.

The warm, smooth-talking old professor spoke to each of them in turn and introduced them to one another.

"-This is Rose Claude. Burst tells me you have some very unique insights into Charms! Tell me, my dear, have you started inventing spells of your own already?" Holding a glass full of honey-colored gin, he spoke drunkenly to Rose.

Rose saw Snape staring at her with a hint of a smile. His expression reminded her of their unpleasant conversation in the library.

"Not yet, Professor-" Rose smiled at him and gave a perfunctory answer, hoping he would quickly lose interest in her.

As she wished, Slughorn lost most of his interest in her. After saying a few words of encouragement, he caught hold of James and began talking to him about the Potter Family's new product.

Rose breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her head to take a large bite of mince pie. She had no desire to become one of Slughorn's collectibles.

James fobbed Slughorn off with vague replies, always playing dumb whenever he asked a question. But Slughorn clearly wasn't falling for it. He grasped James's shoulder affectionately, beaming. "Come now, do tell me. The new product has sold so well this quarter; old Fleamont must have made a fortune! What are the plans for next..."

Rose watched him with amusement and sympathy. Poor James probably wouldn't want to hear the words "the Potter family's new product" again for a while!

Suddenly, her eyes met Sirius's across the air. Amid the noisy hum of whispers, across the whole stuffy, dim room, Sirius smiled gently at her and quickly blinked twice.

Like someone lost and enveloped by night, suddenly looking up and discovering with delight a twinkling star that had appeared in the pitch-black sky at some unknown moment.

The darkness faded in an instant, leaving only the bright star in her eyes.