It Started With A Letter

10 - sixth year

I had a nice summer so far. Dumbledore came to get me, we went to get a new teacher, Professor Slughorn, who could impersonate an armchair. Then I went to stay with the Weasley's and Fleur, who told me she and Bill were engaged. Me, Ron and Hermione's OWL results came, me and Ron only failed Divination and History of Magic, and Hermione managed to get an O for everything except for DADA, for which she had an E. I also got made Quidditch Captain.

We celebrated my sixteenth birthday with Remus, and went to Diagon Alley to get our school stuff. At Madam Malkins, we found Draco and his mother, who made a comment about Sirius. I tensed, and Draco made up an excuse to leave so there wouldn't be problems. When he bumped past Ron to leave, I brushed my hand against his, silently thanking him. Later that day, we saw Draco heading into Knockturn Alley and heard him threaten someone.

At the train ride to Hogwarts, Slughorn asked me and Neville to come meet him. There were a few other students in his compartment, amongst them Blaise, who didn't give any sign of friendly greeting towards me but just kept staring at Slughorn. We all got interrogated for knowing someone famous, before we were dismissed. I threw my Invisibility Cloak over me and followed Blaise, letting out a small gasp of pain as the train stopped and he took his trunk out, hitting my head. 'Go ahead, I wanna check something.' I looked down to see Draco standing in the compartment, waving Pansy away.

'You know, it isn't nice to spy,' Draco said, looking a little on my left, 'get down here, idiot.' I jumped down and pulled my cloak off. Draco raised an eyebrow at me. 'Just wanted to make sure you're okay.' He unconsciously rubbed his left forearm. 'Does it hurt?' He shook his head. 'Getting it burned in your skin hurts like hell, but now I don't feel anything at all. But we better go. Oh, and I won't be seeing you much this year, since I'm quite busy with you know...'

I smiled and placed a kiss on his lips. 'That's right, you won't be seeing me much, only at meals, lessons, in the corridors...' 'Oh shut up, you know what I mean.' I kissed him again. 'You're right. I'll see you somewhere.' I threw the cloak back over my head and walked out of the compartment, Draco close behind me.

~•~

'Here you go, Harry, m'boy. You can use this book for the time being. Now, go to page ten. The student who manage to make the best Draught of Living Death wins a bottle of Felix Felicis, also known as Liquid Luck. You may start.' I took the old book from Slughorn, and opened it. Half an hour later, Slughorn made a round around the classroom and stopped at my potion. 'The winner. Here you go, Harry, m'boy.' He gave me the bottle and I closed my book. As I did so, I saw something written at the very first page. This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince.

~•~

'Harry, I really think you should tell a teacher about that prince.' 'No, Hermione.' 'But-' I took of my glasses and rubbed my eyes. 'Herm, please.' She immediately fell silent and I stood up. 'Gotta see Dumbledore. You don't have to wait up.' 'Alright, goodnight Harry.' 'Night mate.' 'Night Ron, Herm.' I walked out of the portrait hole and towards Dumbledore's office. 'Ah, Harry. Let's go see some memories, we will be studying about Voldemort.' We entered the Pensieve.

Quidditch tryouts went nice next day, I found an almost complete new team. The Chasers became Katie Bell, good as ever, Ginny, who was as good as when we played at the Burrow and Demelza Robins, who was good as dodging Bludgers. The Beaters became Jimmy Peakes, who managed to hit me with a Bludger at the back of my head, and Ritchie Coote, who had a nice aim. I continued playing Seeker and Ron continued playing Keeper.