October 29, 1994

Tossing and turning in his sleep, Horace Slughorn battled nightmare after hellish nightmare that seemed to assault him from every angle. When one fight was finished— and seemingly won— a new clash began, stronger and more terrifying then the last. The door to his mind seemed to have cracked open, and now, locked in an epic struggle to seal it, Horace had to wrestle with the bad memories that seemed determined to break free.

At last, it all became too much for the old man, and so he retreated into consciousness. Bolting up, eyes wide, Horace panted considerably in the night, shivering from the cold air that blew against his sweat covered skin. He looked around his dark bedroom, as though expecting to see that the night terrors had followed him, but none had. Instead, the room was silent. The cool night air wafted in from the open window and the curtains swayed gently, shimmering in the moonlight.

In his present state, Horace was simply trying to calm himself down and focus on getting his breathing back under control. He did not realize that he had not opened his window that night, as it was getting too chilly with the autumn air quickly turning. But it was when the curtains danced and the outside lights bounced off of the moving vehicles outside, that his eyes caught sight of something in the corner of his room.

Stiffening, the old wizard slowly turned his head towards the corner, gathering his blankets around him. Fear spiked through his heart when, yet again, he saw a pale face set in a harsh, unforgiving expression, before the lights disappeared and he was alone with it in the dark. 

“Wh…Who’s there?” he whispered, trembling.

From out of his hiding, the figure stepped forward, robed all in black, his long, dark hair was gently flipped by the wind. The stony white face told Slughorn all he needed to know. That man was here for it.

“You’ve finally come,” the old wizard sighed. “I-I knew that he would send you soon enough.”

“Yes,” the intruder said simply, his black robes swirled about him ominously.

A chill ran down the former professor’s spine. “I…I knew that you’d come one day,” he nodded. “I just knew that he wouldn’t be able to resist pestering me about this once again.”

The other man did not answer, but stood still, peering down at Slughorn with callous eyes. The pitiless response was not something that Horace was quite expecting, but he was not encouraged by the lack of feeling, which showed nothing either good or bad. The apparent indifference had the old man squirming in his bed, and Horace just wished that something would happen, something that would drive his unwanted guest packing and scrambling out the door.

“I-I’m not going to give it to you,” Slughorn said after a moment, not sure where his courage came from. “I don’t h-have what you’re looking for. I-I already gave him what he wanted years ago.”

“You and I both know that what you gave wasn’t real, Horace,” the other said candidly.

The old Slytherin blanched. “What? So your master sent you here to scare me into giving it to you?” he snapped, his fear igniting his temper. “Well, I’m not giving it to you,” he said resolutely.

“I do not need you to give it to me.”

Horace was caught off guard by this. He wasn’t going to try and take it? He wasn’t going to force him? “You’re…you’re not?” His voice was small, much weaker than he would have liked. “Why?”

The other wizard suddenly moved, startling Horace awfully. But after a moment, the other man did not make another move, and as Horace’s eyes adjusted, he could make out what was being held up in the dark. It was a small vial, and within it, contained a swirling misty substance that glowed faintly. Slughorn just about got sick.

“I took it from you ten minutes ago,” the silky voice spoke softly. “While you slept.”

Horace sat in his bed horrified. After all these years…after protecting that memory for decades, someone had finally gotten the truth. Someone else knew what had happened all those years ago between himself and the boy who had once been known as Tom Riddle. It had been one of Slughorn’s greatest fears that someone would find out what he had said all those years ago, and now that fear had been realized. But it was not his fault! How was he supposed to know that one of his brightest students would turn and then become one of the greatest dark wizards of all time? How was he supposed to know then what he did now?!

“Please!” the old man whimpered. “Please, don’t give that memory to him,” he pleaded.

The other wizard did not seem moved by the former professor’s entreaty, which furthered the old man’s distress. Instead of saying something to ease Horace’s pain, however, the figure turned to leave, to simply glide out the door as though he were nothing more than a simple phantom in the night.

“Is it too late to say I’m sorry?” Slughorn called out, wanting some sort of comfort, some sort of reassurance for his guilt stricken conscious.

In the doorway, the wizard stopped. There was a moment of silence that passed, before the man responded. “Never.”

“I’m so sorry!” Horace cried. “I never knew that he would—”

“No one did.”

Silence fell over them again for several eternal moments. “So that’s it then?” Horace spat bitterly. “That’s it, you just come and take my memory while I’m defenseless and then you are to leave, as though you were never here at all. You worked quite well, sneaking about. Very Slytherin of you. But tell me, why did you stay? You had my memory, why didn’t you just leave?”

The other wizard turned with a terrifying scowl to face his former professor. “I had wanted to see if you were all right after I had forcibly removed your memory. I could have killed you.”

“But you knew you wouldn’t,” Slughorn smiled acrimoniously. “We both know that you would never have risked it had you thought you could not safely do this. You are too good to do that.”

“No,” the wizard shook his head. “Not good. Ambition is the only force that moves me.”

“Ambition to do what you believe is right!” Horace laughed mirthlessly. “Please, my boy, when you review that memory with the Headmaster, please do not think of me so unkindly. I…I never knew…”

“No,” Severus shook his head. “No one could have.”

And before he could be detained further, Snape apparated away, leaving Horace Slughorn cold and alone, worrying about what the day would bring.

~*~

October 30, 1994

Harry woke up Sunday morning feeling like someone had smacked him in the face. He peeled open his heavy eyelids and groaned. It was only five thirty on a Sunday morning. Why his body had decided to get up at this time when he had at least a full hour and a half left to sleep was beyond him. But he sat up for a moment and looked over at his clock with blurred vision just to make sure that he was reading the numbers correctly.

The dungeon was cold, much colder than it usually was, and Harry shivered. He laid back down and tried snuggling into the warm comfort of his blankets, hoping to fall back into dream with no avail. Although he was exhausted, he simply could not go back to sleep. He was not sure why his body had wanted him up this early, but here he was, lying awake because something kept telling him that it was time to get up. For some reason, he felt as though something had happened, something that he would want to know about…

The other schools! Harry suddenly remembered. They would be arriving today; Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. The Tournament was finally getting under way. Everyone had been talking about this for a long time that it seemed almost surreal that it was actually happening now. It was a bit strange to think of other people attending Hogwarts other than just the simple British, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish children that normally came. For just a moment, Harry wondered where all the extra students would stay. 

Looking over at his roommate, Harry spied Draco in the other bed, sleeping soundly, curled up under his own blankets. When the blonde was asleep, the raven haired boy didn’t think that his roommate was nearly as bad as when he was awake. In fact, when Malfoy was unconscious, he was almost tolerable! Perhaps having the other schools come would help keep the pureblood’s thoughts and notice off of Harry and focused elsewhere. Hopefully everyone would forget about him in favor of pouring all of their time and attention on the new students. How wonderful that would be!

But for the time being, unable to sleep with his mind too noisy, Harry decided to just lay in bed and think about what he would do. He had a lot he needed to get done…not school work—that’s all he seemed to be doing anymore in his spare time!— but he had a lot he needed to do socially. At the top of the list was to get Ron to talk to him again. The stubborn red head simply refused to even look in Harry’s direction. But the new Slytherin was determined to get his best friend back. After all, Harry was discovering that he had a lot more ambition than he’d previously thought.

But then a close second was to figure out just what he was going to do with Malfoy. After the strange episode that occurred after they’d tried to hex each other several days ago, their…relationship had been rather strange. Despite the threats, the blonde had not ordered his goonies to attack Harry nor had he said anything to anyone about Harry trying to hex him silly. It seemed that another strange, rocky truce had been called between them, and that was something the former Gryffindor hoped to keep.

So, plotting quietly in his bed, Harry made his own plans for how his school year would carry out.

~*~

While Harry was just beginning to wake up, Severus was in the Headmaster’s office, pacing about the room agitatedly. “Six?” he growled.

“So it would seem,” Albus sighed wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Merlin!” The Potions Master kept up his furious pacing, his robes fluttering about anxiously around their master. “To destroy your soul once, but six times?”

“It seems that Tom did not want to take a chance at losing his immortality.” The Headmaster poured himself a steaming cup of tea.

“I had always suspected the Dark Lord of possessing one, but one only!” Severus sat down opposite his employer, forgetting for the time being, that he still loathed the old wizard.

“Indeed?” Albus raised a white eyebrow. “And how is it that you know of horcruxes, Severus? Surely Tom would not have spoken of them with his followers?”

Snorting, Severus also took up a cup of tea. “Certainly not,” he growled. “Immortality was for the Dark Lord and the Dark Lord alone. He would not dare chance one of his followers become like him, and perhaps one day stronger than he. Such a Death Eater might try to over throw him. No, I came to find out about horcruxes due to my own investigation.”

The two paused, each lost in their own thoughts. They were both smart men, they knew what they had just discovered, and it was not good. If Voldemort really managed to create six horcrux then it spelled disaster in the future for them all. Would they find all of these objects? Would the Dark Lord really be around for years to come? Would generation after generation have to rise up and defeat the madman six times before Voldemort was finally gone from the earth?

“Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrive today.” Severus took a sip of his tea. It was simple earl grey, no sugar. His favorite. “What are we going to do?”

“For now?” Albus looked out his window into the dark morning. The sun had not shown her face to the world yet. “We prepare for the other schools like we’ve been doing. Make sure that the Tournament goes on without a hitch while also making up with the other professors. Unfortunately, my boy, while we do this, it is you and I who will have to think on what to do about this new dilemma. No one else may know about this.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Severus snapped. “No,” he shook his head tiredly. “You are right. Minerva will have to shoulder more responsibility as we look into this horcrux business.”

“I do not think she will mind much,” the Headmaster shook his head. “She’s been worrying over this Tournament for over a month now. I believe she’d like to handle things on her own; give her more control over it. I’m sure she’d like to be the one in the knows.”

There was no arguing with that. Minerva was the type that liked to be in the inner circle of just about everything and she liked being in control. If Albus and Severus could give her more control over the Tournament that meant that she would be too busy with that then trying to figure out just what the Headmaster and the Potions Master were trying to do. In a sense, she would be helping more with the horcrux situation by not helping. Minerva was a good hard worker, but she would be of little use in the cat and mouse game of hide and seek that they two wizards were attempting to play.

“How are we going to find these things?” Severus asked after a moment.

Albus looked down at his tea thoughtfully. “We’re going to have to dissect Tom’s life as best as we can. I have a few memories of his…and perhaps we should look at some of yours. Perhaps you’ve forgotten something or maybe we can discover new insights.”

Whatever was going to happen, Severus just knew that his part in this was going to be hell. He knew that he was just about the only one that Dumbledore could depend on with secrets and with planning out ways to defeat the Dark Lord, and yet he was worried. After all, he was being hunted by just about every dark wizard in Britain and here he was, risking his neck openly to run about doing the Headmaster’s errands. Although things had been dangerous for Severus before, no one really knew just what kind of danger he was in, now he could not hide what he really was; both sides already knew.

Nodding once, Snape took another sip of his tea. The sweet aroma wafted up into his nostril calming him slightly with its familiar scent. “I suppose that’s all we can do…I have something also that I believe you should look at soon enough. The Dark Lord has had me keep it for years. I’ve never known exactly what it was, but I believe it may help ease our search a bit.”

“Every little bit does count,” Albus dipped his head.

So, the two wizards continued on, making plans for the Order and about the other schools that would soon arrive. But while they were talking, a little part of Severus’s mind strayed off topic and he thought about his son and how best to protect Harry from not only the Defense teacher, but now also from the new schools and from the Death Eaters that lurked outside of Hogwarts.

~*~

Later that day, once the sun was up and shining, Harry sat outside reading a book by the lake under an old oak tree. The weather was chilly out, but at the same time bracing and invigorating. It sure beat sitting in the dark, dank dungeons all day, wondering if Malfoy was going to come back and taunt him. Actually, Harry noticed that his roommate spent a lot more time in his room than he did out and about with the other Slytherins. Harry had always thought Malfoy was the type that thrived on attention at all times, but now that he had lived with the other boy for almost two complete months, he was beginning to see that that was not the case. Draco seemed to want attention only when he wanted attention, which was usually in a social setting. Once out of the halls where other Houses couldn’t see him, the pureblood all but washed his hands of his “friends” and tended to simply lock himself away in his room or wonder into the common room to do his homework, ignoring everyone else who was there. Harry supposed Malfoy could get away with such actions and still be thought well of since he was rich.

But such thoughts were not what Harry was trying to think of today. All he wanted was an easy day by himself, away from everyone else, perhaps plan his talk with Ron. So far, no one had taunted him about something, nor did anyone stare at him too long. Today, the other schools were coming, and now Harry had lost his fame for the time being and was over looked, something he had been wanting ever since he came to Hogwarts.

Just when he thought that he might spend a whole quiet afternoon by himself, someone plopped down next to him under the tree. Harry looked up in surprise to see a blonde haired girl sitting beside him, not even sparing him a glance as she had her nose in a book herself. It was a strange looking book, and as Harry tried reading it, he realized that she was holding it upside down.

As he looked her over, Harry could not determine anything else out about this strange girl other than she was blonde and could not figure out how to read. He all set to ignore her when she spoke up suddenly. “You think it would be easy to find them, but it seems that the Crumple-Horned Snorkack is better at hiding than I thought,” she said breezily, as though she and Harry had been old friends and as though they were simply carrying on an earlier discussion.

Thrown off guard, Harry could not help but frown. “Erm…a what’s hiding?”

Lowering her book at last, the blonde girl reviled herself to the confused Slytherin. She had bright silver, blue eyes that held a rather peaceful, whimsical fancy to them, and her long hair was a bit messy and windblown, yet it did not distract one from her pretty face. She had her wand and a quill behind her ears and a large nap sack still hung on her shoulder that was filled with books. To Harry’s utter surprise, the girl was wearing a blue and bronze tie. She was a Ravenclaw…one that held books upside down…

“A Crumple-Horned Snorkack,” the girl repeated. “One would think that such a large creature would be easily spotted, but thus far it has eluded naturalist for years.”

Harry was not sure if he was less or more confused. Although he had not know many magical animals when he had come to Hogwarts, he had been doing an awful lot of reading the past several years, and never once had he come across the name of Crummy-Horned Spork-snack or whatever she had just said.

“Uh…” Harry struggled to come up with something to say as the blue eyes stared back at him expectantly. “Are you sure that they’re so big?” He didn’t really know what he was talking about, but it was the only thing he could think of to say.

The odd girl cocked her head to the side, her messy blonde hair fell down her shoulders. Her face was pensive, as though she had suddenly been struck with a very difficult problem. “You know,” she said after a moment, “maybe you’re right. That might explain why no one’s seen them. Maybe it’s just the opposite. Maybe they’re small and that’s why no one has seen them before.” Her warm eyes continued to look Harry over considerately. “You’re eyes match wonderfully with your tie. Green and green go well together,” she smiled gently.

Thrown by the complete change in topics, Harry could do nothing but give a forced smile. “Um, thanks?”

“You’re welcome,” the girl chirped. “I like green,” she went on. “It’s a nice color, the color of grass. Sweden is really green I hear. My father and I want to go to Sweden some day.”

“Oh,” Harry decided that there was no point in keeping his book open. It seemed that this girl was going to stay on a while, so no reading would get done for some time. He closed his book after he marked it. “What do you want to do in Sweden?” he felt compelled to ask.    

“Why, we’re going to go see the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks!” she looked at Harry as though he was quite slow, making the boy blush. “I thought you were paying attention to the conversation?”

“Well how could I?” Harry asked defensively. “I don’t know what a Crummy-Hooked Snoflax is!”

At this, the girl laughed. It was a very light, airy sound, the same as her voice. “It’s a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, not a Crummy-Hooked Snoflax. You won’t find those in Sweden…though you might look in Siberia if you’re really earnest about searching for them.”It was sad to know that she was being serious.

“Um, no thanks. I’ll stay right here in the U.K. thank you,” he gave an uneasy smile again. What a strange girl!

She began to study Harry with a curious gaze, making Harry’s stomach flip-flop all around. What was she looking for? Could she see through his glamour somehow? “You don’t look anything like I thought you would,” she said after a moment. “Before I came to Hogwarts, I’d always imagined that you’d be taller and your nose would be larger.”

The talk about larger noses made the Slytherin uncomfortable. His nose was larger without the glamour and he was taller. His father was tall, and he was told once that the Snape men were never under five foot eleven. Harry’s own father had grown to a proud six foot two. “Sorry to disappoint you,” he snapped before he could catch himself.

“That’s all right,” the girl said, not offended in the least. In fact, Harry wondered if she had even caught on to the fact that he had been upset before. “It’s not really your fault. I just like bigger noses. It gives the face more character, don’t you think? Gives you something to look at that distinguishes one person from another easily.”

“I suppose…” What a weird girl!

“It’s a nice day,” she went on. “I believe that it’s good weather for the Blibbering Humdinger.”

Was there no end to the oddities of this girl? Harry had spent only about ten minutes in her company and he still had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Most of the words that came out of her mouth meant nothing to him, and he was becoming exasperated.

“I’m sorry,” he said at last. “But I really have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know any of the things you’re talking about.”

Again, the girl laughed lightly. She turned away from Harry for a moment and went about digging in her satchel. After a moment of looking, she pulled out a magazine and handed it to him. In big letter on the cover, in blue letters with a pink outline, it read The Quibbler.

“Here you are,” she smiled. “There’s articles about both the Crumple-Horned Snorkack and the Blibbering Humdinger. You may keep that if you like. I have more.”

Taken aback for the third time, Harry took the offered magazine and scanned the front page. “Uh, thanks…um, I’m sorry, but have we ever met before?” Harry blushed. He was, however, quite certain that he had never met this bizarre girl before even though she looked close to his age, as he was certain he’d remember someone so abnormal.

“Oh! I’m sorry.” She held out her hand. “I’m Luna Lovegood. Ravenclaw. Third year.”

At last understanding something proper, Harry took her hand. “Harry Potter. Former Gryffindor, now Slytherin. Fourth year.”

Luna smiled at him softly. “I remember your resorting. That was very interesting. I don’t think that Hat’s ever resorted anyone before.”

“Yeah, that’s what everyone’s been telling me.” Bitterness leaked into his voice. “But it’s not so bad I guess…I’m surviving.”

“That’s nice,” Luna nodded. “How do you like Slytherin? Is it better than Gryffindor? Or is it really just the same?”

Merlin but she knew just how to make him squirm! Harry was not exactly sure what he should tell her even though he knew what he wanted to say. “It’s…different,” he said at last. “It’s…yeah, it’s just different.”

“Well, I’m glad that you have gotten into your proper House now. I never really saw you as a Gryffindor either.” She picked up the book she had been reading upside down and began skimming through a few pages as though Harry were no longer there.

But Luna’s words had taken Harry by complete astonish. “You never saw me as a Gryffindor?” he couldn’t help but ask, dumbfounded.

“No,” Luna looked up.

“But why!” Harry almost threw his hands up in the air due to his exasperation. “Both my parents were in Gryffindor.”

“And why should that matter?” Luna cocked her head once more to the left.

Harry was not sure when he had ever been so confused or stunned during a conversation except when his aunt had told him that Snape was really his father. This girl, this Luna Lovegood, was just so anomalous that it was making his head spin. Normally, Harry might have been annoyed with someone like this, the dismissive way she went from one subject to the next with seemingly little regard as to what she was saying, but he was not. Rather, Harry was actually intrigued by Luna. Nothing she was saying was supposed to be hurtful, she merely observed something and stated her study.

So, with that in mind, Harry took a deep breath and looked at Luna calmly. “Well,” he began with the greatest patience in the world. “Aren’t children usually in the same House as their parents?”

“But if that were the case, what would happen to children with parents from different Houses?”

“I suppose then they’d just be in one or the other,” Harry shrugged.

For the first time since their unorthodox introduction, Luna frowned slightly. “I do not think that children are simply copies of their parents. They have their own, distinct personalities.”

“Well I never said that children were clones or anything!”

“Well that’s good then,” Luna looked back at her book. “I’m glad you broke away from the mold of your family. You always seemed more reserved and ambitious to me. Those aren’t Gryffindor traits!”

It had not taken long for Harry to come up with the thought that this girl was crazy, but the more she kept talking, he grew more and more certain that this Luna Lovegood was just a bit of a loon like her name so wonderfully hinted. And yet she was cheerful and interesting, something new and refreshing. Harry had become rather lonesome over the course of his stay at Hogwarts thus far, and it was nice to meet someone that didn’t automatically judge or condemn him. Hermione and Neville were great, and Harry would have never traded them for the world, but they still looked at him skeptically sometimes, and often mourned the fact that he no longer wore red and gold, even though he was still the same person on the inside. It was actually a bit shocking to find someone who agreed with the Hat and thought that all this was a good thing.

“I suppose they aren’t really,” he nodded.

Wistfully Luna returned to her book. It seemed as though she had set up camp under the tree next to Harry when she suddenly stood up, book firmly in her hands, still upside down. “It’s been lovely talking to you, Harry.” She peeked over her book before shoving it back up to her face. “I do hope that you and Ron can sort through things.”

With that, she turned on her heels and began marching away, not bothering to look where she was going. Harry was so stunned by what Luna had said that for a moment, he just sat there stupidly. “Hey! Wait!” he called after a moment. “Hey! Luna!”

The blonde twirled around and looked over at the raven haired boy questioningly. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“How did you know about me and Ron?” he decided to be blunt. “I didn’t think that…well…I’d been rather hoping no one would knew that we were fighting, but I guess that was too much to ask for, huh?”

“No, not really.” Luna put her book back into her satchel. “I would want some things about my life to be private too. That’s not asking much.”

“I guess not,” Harry agreed. “But have you heard a lot about our fighting? Is it all over school or something?”

The girl looked over Harry compassionately. “No, not to my knowledge,” she shook her long hair, making several strands fall in her face. “Ginny was talking to me the other day about Ron. That’s how I found out what I did.”

“And what did Ginny tell you?” With everything else going on, Harry had quite forgotten about Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. What was everyone saying now? It hurt knowing that Ron was angry with him, but the thought of all the Weasleys being disgusted with him was almost too much for the Slytherin. It’s not like he’d asked for all this to happen! It’s not like he had come to Hogwarts with the intent of getting a new House or anything.

“Oh, not too much, just that all the Gryffindors were shocked when you’d been resorted. To be honest, no one thought you’d last this long. I’m actually surprised that no one’s tried harming you yet. Although they have their commendable aspects, Slytherins usually keep to their own and do not like outsiders so much. They remind me a great deal of an angry mother nargle. They’re quite nasty when they want to be.”

Heaven only knew what a nargle was or any of the other things Luna was talking about. For just a moment, Harry’s mind wandered and he wondered if these things Luna was talking about were animals or maybe even plants? The nargle thing had to be an animal and so did that that thing that was supposed to be in Sweden, but as for the Blibbering Humdinger, he wasn’t all that sure.

“Oh,” was all he said in response. His sprits fell at the thought of everyone making bets on how long he’d actually survive as a snake.

“Don’t be sad, Harry,” Luna place a dainty hand on his shoulder. “It’s not so bad. Professor Snape seems to be watching out for you, and if he is, then I don’t think that anything bad will happen to you. He can be very malicious when he wants to be and if he’d wanted you hurt then he would’ve let the other Slytherins hurt you by now.”

“Thanks?” Harry wasn’t sure if he should be all that comforted or not.

“You’re welcome,” Luna smiled brightly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve just figured out where at in Sweden the Crumple-Horned Snorkack must dwell. Obviously they’d be near the water!”

Still a bit confused, Harry nodded. “Of course.”

“Oh look!” Luna suddenly pointed out across the grass, startling Harry. “There’s Brittney!”

Harry looked out as well and indeed, saw the other girl walking away from the castle. “Yeah, it is,” he smiled. “She’s my Herbology partner.”

“She’s good with plants,” Luna nodded. “And there’s that Nott boy from your House.” She frowned slightly. “I wish that he would go and talk to Brittney so he could ask her out instead of sneaking about and stalking her.”

“Wait…What?” Harry looked over at Luna. How did she come up with that?

“I think they’d make a cute couple, don’t you?”

And before Harry could answer, Luna was gone, sauntering away in the sunshine as though she had never had a conversation with anyone at all.