𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒-ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣❥

𝐇𝐁𝐏 𝟕

For the rest of the week's Potions lessons Harry continued to follow the Half-Blood Prince's instructions wherever they deviated from Libatius Borage's, with the result that by their fourth lesson Slughorn was raving about Harry's abilities, saying that he had rarely taught anyone so talented.

Neither Ron nor Hermione was delighted by this and when Hermione told Emily about it, Emily was annoyed with Harry and told him over and over again to not use the book.

Although Harry had offered to share his book with all three of them, Ron had more difficulty deciphering the handwriting than Harry did, and could not keep asking Harry to read aloud or it might look suspicious.

Hermione, was resolutely ploughing on with what she called the 'official' instructions, but becoming increasingly bad-tempered as they yielded poorer results than the Prince's.

Half of the time, Emily was too focused on studying her cousins every move and Harry couldn't blame her, he would be the same if someone he grew up with was now being suspected as a death eater.

But, Emily's grades had been dropping in all of the lessons, she seemed to have difficulty reading and writing and most of the time she couldn't even keep her eyes open.

Harry wondered vaguely who the Half-Blood Prince had been. Although the amount of homework they had been given prevented him from reading the whole of his copy of Advanced Potion-Making, he had skimmed through it sufficiently to see that there was barely a page on which the Prince had not made additional notes, not all of them concerned with potion-making.

Here and there were directions for what looked like spells that the Prince had made up himself.

"Or herself," said Hermione irritably, overhearing Harry pointing some of these out to Ron and Emily in the common room on Saturday evening. "It might have been a girl. I think the handwriting looks more like a girl's than a boy's."

"The Half-Blood Prince, he was called," Harry said. "How many girls have been princes?"

Hermione seemed to have no answer to this. She merely scowled and twitched her essay on 'The Principles of Re-Materialisation' away from Ron, who was trying to read it upside-down.

Harry looked at his watch and hurriedly put the old copy of Advanced Potion-Making back into his bag.

"It's five to eight, I'd better go, I'll be late for Dumbledore."

"Ooooh!" gasped Hermione, looking up at once. "Good luck! We'll wait up, we want to hear what he teaches you!"

"Hope it goes OK," said Ron,

Emily jumped up but stumbled back down, Ron pushing her back up to her feet, "Harry! Wait!"

Harry turned back around and took Emily's hand, worried she would collapse right before her, "What is it?"

"Can I come?" Emily asked, ". . .please?"

It didn't take Harry much convincing until he said yes and Ron and Hermione watched Harry and Emily leave through the portrait hole.

Harry and Emily proceeded through deserted corridors, though they had to step hastily behind a statue when Professor Trelawney appeared round a corner, muttering to herself as she shuffled a pack of dirty-looking playing cards, reading them as she walked.

"Two of spades: conflict," she murmured, as she passed the place where Harry crouched, hidden. "Seven of spades: an ill omen. Ten of spades: violence. Knave of spades: a dark young man, possibly troubled, one who dislikes the questioner –"

She stopped dead, right on the other side of Harry's and Emily's statue.

"Well, that can't be right," she said, annoyed, and Emily heard her reshuffling vigorously as she set off again, leaving nothing but a whiff of cooking sherry behind her.