Admittedly, Scorpius was quite disappointed Slughorn was the one teaching Potions this school year. He was actually hoping Severus Snape would be the one handling the class and sometimes wished he had returned to his father's fifth year instead.
Slughorn wasn't entirely bad as a Potions Master. He was rather brilliant in his work, and he could understand why he rose to fame. Back in his time, Slughorn had already retired and was replaced by Theodore Nott, who was also quite a good professor and was fond of him.
"I heard Slughorn's recruiting students for his little club," Pansy whispered to their small group as they sauntered inside the dungeons. "Mother used to tell me how only the best seemed to be invited to join."
Scorpius had to bite his cheeks to stop himself from laughing at how she straightened primly and properly on her chair. It was obvious she wanted to be included in his club, really.
"Crush the hope of being included immediately, Parkinson," Blaise drawled, placing his backpack on their usual bench. "Slughorn won't even give you a single glance."
Pansy's cheeks reddened in irritation. Huffing in annoyance, she glanced at the Malfoy heir with her big, round eyes, hoping for him to counter Zabini's words. Behind her head, Scorpius glared when Blaise lifted an amused eyebrow at his current predicament.
"I'm sure it's lame," Scorpius finally said, channelling disinterest and haughtiness in his voice. "He's not even a good professor. I wish Snape still taught us Potions."
"Yes, I'm sure," she hastily replied. He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes when she pretended to look disinterested, too, when her eyes already spoke of her wish to be included. It was, after all, an exclusive group – people tended to feel important when they're part of such an elite group.
"I think he'll invite you, Scorpius," Goyle loudly offered, setting on the desk behind the trio. Crabbe flanked his other side, while Millicent Bulstrode, took the other open seat. "I mean, you're a Malfoy. I think that's enough reason for Slughorn to invite you to join."
"Riiight," he drawled. "Have you forgotten my father's in Azkaban right now? I'm quite sure Slughorn's not big on letting Malfoys join his precious club." Honestly, he had too much on his plate right now, and he didn't want to think about joining Slughorn's club.
"But you're brilliant," Pansy pointed out. "Brilliant people are irresistible things to Slughorn."
Their conversation soon died down when the Professor in question walked into the dungeons with a large, indulgent smile on his face. He rested his hands on his bloated stomach, beamed a little too brightly at Harry Potter, then walked towards the very front of the classroom. With a wave of his wand, a list of instructions appeared on the blackboard.
"Today, we will be brewing Draught of Living Death," he started as a greeting. "Does anyone know what this potion is?"
Predictably, Hermione's hand shot up in the air. Scorpius was unable to hide a small smile from his face quick enough; Blaise was already giving him a pointed look.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"As what the name suggests, this potion is an extremely powerful sleeping draught, sending the drinker into a deathlike slumber," she mechanically replied, most likely reciting that specific passage from their book through her memory.
Slughorn's eyes twinkled and he beamed. Scorpius hazarded a guess Granger would get an invite to his club soon. "Very good, Miss Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor." Hermione preened at his words and this time, Scorpius didn't bother hiding his small smile, Zabini be damned.
"Now, this is an extremely difficult potion to make," the professor continued. "I do not expect you to brew it to perfection on your first try. But" – he rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a little vial – "I think a little competition will not hurt. If you were able to brew an acceptable potion within an hour, I will award you with this potion."
"Sir?" Lavender Brown called. "What does that vial contain?"
Slughorn shook the clear liquid a little and merely said, "Felix Felicis."
Scorpius' eyes bulged out in surprise. "Liquid Luck," he murmured without thinking. He had read a lot about this potion before. Its brewing was strictly restricted by the ministry due to its possible dependency. Scorpius once read in the Daily Prophet about a man who framed himself to be locked in Azkaban, Felix Felicis rendering him too overconfident and giddy. Said man firmly believed he'd be able to break out of the Wizarding prison, but had obviously failed. Scorpius wasn't sure if the Ministry bothered to release him or not.
"Yes, Mister Malfoy, very good," Slughorn said. "Ten points to Slytherin."
"Take that, mudblood," Pansy smirked towards the bushy-haired Gryffindor.
Scorpius shot the witch beside him a withering glare.
"Felix Felicis makes the drinker lucky for a short time," Slughorn continued. "Whatever endeavour the drinker attempts for that specific period will have a greater chance of becoming successful." He chuckled at the sudden interest in his students' eyes. "However, its effects are very limited. For example, you cannot use this potion against powerful enchantments. Drinking a large quantity is also deemed deathly, which is why I am merely awarding the best student a small vial of it. Now, start brewing and let's see who will win this potion!"
He then proceeded to instruct his students to start brewing the Draught of Living Death.
As the students trickled towards the supplies cabinet, Scorpius couldn't help but smirk triumphantly. He already brewed this potion back in his time and he had to admit, it really was a difficult potion to brew. But, he had one advantage over his classmates – the Potion textbook of sixth year students of the Year 2023 was already revised to include the changes and commentaries of the late Severus Snape. And blimey, it was wonderfully helpful for the struggling Potions students.
After it was revealed that Snape was actually Dumbledore's man through and through, the media had a field day over the successes and tragedies in his life. Numerous articles and books were published to speculate about the true allegiance of Snape, emphasising his undying love for Lily Potter. Scorpius believed most of them were really embellished to satisfy the readers. One thing that they also discovered was that Snape, calling himself the Half-Blood Prince, excelled in his Potions classes during his Hogwarts years because of his brilliant revisions of their old textbook. Scorpius wasn't entirely sure how they found Snape's old textbook, though.
He glanced around the classroom and smirked at Granger, who was obviously having a hard time with her potion already. Her hair was extra bushier and if he squinted closer, he might already see electricity going through it. Hermione caught his smirk and glared in return.
His gaze then landed on the Gryffindor sitting beside her and he baulked. The book Potter was holding was old and tattered, unmistakable scribbles and corrections made on the instructions for brewing the Draught of Living Death. Scorpius instantly knew it was Snape's old textbook, recognising his Defense Against the Dark Arts handwriting.
Frowning, he wondered if Harry even realised he was using Snape's textbook. He doubted he would even be using it if he discovered it was owned by the professor he hated.
'No, I need to get that potion,' he told himself with renewed vigour to immediately finish his potion.
"You're doing it wrong," Pansy pointed out with a frown. "Our textbooks specifically told us to cut the sopophorous beans, Scorpius. Not crush them."
Scorpius merely shrugged and hadn't followed Pansy's suggestion. Her frown deepened, slightly offended he didn't listen to her. Blaise peered at his chopping board in confusion and was still struggling with his sopophrous beans.
"How many beans did you already use?" the Italian asked.
"Thirteen."
Blaise scowled and resorted to viciously stabbing his sopophorus beans instead. "How in Merlin's beard were you able to do that?" he spat in frustration. "And you should use twelve, Scorp. Not thirteen."
Again, he shrugged, his lips threatening to stretch into the infamous Malfoy smirk. "Really?"
All of the students were also struggling with their sopophrous beans, except for him and Potter. But he was faster than Harry, who was still peering at his textbooks. Since Scorpius already memorised the revised instructions for making the Draught of Living Death, he managed to finish it in record time.
"Why'd you stir clockwise?" Blaise growled underneath his breath. "The book stated you have to only stir counter-clockwise seven times!"
"Is something the matter here?" Professor Slughorn asked with a disapproving frown.
"Professor, Scorpius is already done with his potion!" Pansy exclaimed in awe.
Slughorn's eyes widened in surprise. "Really now?" he said dubiously and peered at his potion. It was the perfect shade of pale pink and the professor was impressed. Scorpius had to stop himself at grinning widely like a madman.
The Potions Professor then conjured a small leaf and dropped it inside his cauldron. The leaf disintegrated and Slughorn gasped in surprise, delighted.
"Wonderful, Mister Malfoy!" he exclaimed, gesturing at his potion. All the other students stopped working and looked at him with wide and suspicious looks on their faces. "I believe you have earned this potion." He gave him the small vial of Felix Felicis. "Use it very wisely, my dear boy."
Scorpius allowed himself to smirk proudly. With a lot of responsibilities to handle this year, he knew he needed a little bit of luck on his side.
He darted his gaze towards the Golden Trio, his smirk widening in pride. Hermione was giving him a frustrated look; he knew he had shaken the brightest witch of her age for besting her today. Ronald Weasley was unsurprisingly glaring his way, obviously thinking he didn't deserve such a wonderful potion.
Harry, though, his expression was indecipherable. Scorpius could see the surprise in his bright, emerald eyes, but there was something else. The Slytherin quickly looked at Harry's cauldron and saw that it was also the perfect shade of pale pink.
Scorpius suddenly felt a little nervous and shifted his gaze away from Harry. Instead, he looked at Slughorn who was still continuously praising him for his perfect potion.
'Maybe you shouldn't have shown off today,' Al-the-Inner-Voice whispered.
'I need this,' he firmly told himself, absentmindedly pocketing the potion. Still, he could not shake off the feeling of foreboding, Harry's look of curiosity and suspicion niggling at the back of his mind.
__________
"You're late."
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "For two minutes, Granger," he drawled in reply. "No need to get your knickers in a twist."
The Gryffindor expelled a frustrated sigh and merely turned around. Scorpius had no choice but to follow her, his wand already out in case he was able to catch mischievous students out of bed.
For the first few hours, their patrol was silent. They were already able to catch some fourth year Gryffindors doing Merlin-knows-what and Scorpius took pleasure in deducting House points from them. There was one Hufflepuff who just came out from the kitchens, hugging midnight snacks against his chest, and another Ravenclaw who lost track of time and spent too long in the library. There were two fifth year Slytherins, too, who were obviously in a relationship, and after Scorpius told them off lightheartedly, he sent them away, much to Hermione's annoyance.
"That's it?" she snapped, glaring at him through the dim lights of the third floor corridor. "They were out of bed, Malfoy. Why didn't you deduct points or... or give them detention?"
He shrugged. "Why didn't you?" he shot back.
Hermione bristled and scowled. "Because I thought you would," she shot back. "You had no qualms in deducting points from the other students. The two Slytherins were obviously doing... things" – her cheeks brightened with her insinuation – "and not... not studying like what they'd claimed to be doing before we caught them."
"Studying the human anatomy, no doubt," he claimed with a laugh, amused at how her cheeks reddened more with his claim.
She made a frustrated sound at the back of her throat, before wordlessly stalking off to continue her patrol. Scorpius looked at her retreating back with a huge grin; who knew the future Minister of Magic was such a bloody prude?
They scoured the Astronomy Tower in silence once more. It was only when they had finished patrolling all the corridors when Hermione finally broke the silence.
"How were you able to do it?"
Scorpius gave her a sideways glance. "Do what?"
"The Draught of Living Death," she explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I followed the directions," he said with a casual shrug.
"No, you didn't," she corrected. When he lifted an eyebrow questioningly, she expounded, "I saw you crushing the sopophrous beans when the textbook clearly stated you should cut it."
"So?" he asked with a frown. "Those things were a menace and I figured if you crush it instead, you'd get the juice immediately. I don't see what the big deal is, Granger."
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "Harry was doing the same thing," she pointed out.
Scorpius' steps faltered, his eyes widening in realisation. He was starting to understand what he had done wrong. "Well, maybe Potter got the same idea, too," he hastily excused.
She shook her head slightly. "He was following this old textbook with scribbled commentaries at the margins," she replied. Scorpius opened his mouth and was about to answer something in reply, but Hermione beat him. "I thought at first it was a coincidence, but then when you stirred clockwise..."
He mentally cursed himself for wanting to show off a while ago. He then tried to mentally curse Granger for being too brilliant for her own good.
Scorpius tried to come up with an excuse to save himself, but came up with nothing. Panic rose from his stomach and climbed all the way to his throat, clogging whatever stupid gibberish he might utter and give himself away.
"Is this... is this another secret of yours?" she finally asked. Hermione completely stopped walking and instead turned around to look at him fully. "Perhaps you're a secret Potions prodigy or something?"
Despite his panic, he grinned. "That's actually a pretty good excuse," he concurred. "I should have thought of that first."
Hermione wearily looked at him and sighed. "You're full of secrets, Scorpius Malfoy," she said. She strode closer to Scorpius and looked at him squarely in his eyes. "I can't decide whether I should really trust you or not."
"I can't fault you for that," he said with a shrug. He ducked his head closer to the curious brunette and sadly smiled. "Maybe one day you'll know everything, Granger." He playfully tapped her forehead with his finger. "I must warn you, though. That pretty head of yours might not grasp everything by then."
She looked more suspicious and Scorpius was honestly tempted to reveal everything to her right there and then, if just to satisfy her curiosity.
"Good night, Granger," he said instead. He flashed the infamous Malfoy smirk and added, "Don't think about me too much before going to sleep."
Hermione was affronted he could even suggest such a thing, but the vivid blush on her cheeks made Scorpius wonder how much she thought about him every day.
Strangely, it made his heart flutter a bit.
__________
"I told you you'll get invited soon," Goyle pointed out amidst chewing a muffin. Blaise eyed him distastefully while Crabbe snorted in amusement. It was only Pansy who didn't notice Goyle's lack of table manners, too busy eyeing the green envelope that bore an invitation for him to join the Slug Club.
"Maybe it's because he was brilliant during Potions yesterday," Crabbe offered.
Pansy pouted and glared at the same envelope Blaise was clutching. "I understand Scorpius getting an invitation, but why did he give you one too?" she demanded at the other Slytherin.
"I'm not quite sure whether I should get offended or not with your statement," Blaise drawled. "Also, unlike you, Pansy, I'm actually an intelligent student."
This time, Pansy directed her glare at Blaise. Then, to Scorpius, she asked, "You're not planning on joining right, Scorpy-pie?"
Scorpius frowned and shrugged. "I don't know," he said. He shot a glance at the Potions professor on the teacher's table, his frown deepening. His father wasn't joking when he said Slughorn really loved collecting brilliant students to build his network of connections. No wonder Slughorn was Sorted in Slytherin. "I still think it's a waste of time."
"Granger got an invite too," Blaise said with a glint in his eyes.
The blond immediately shot a glance at the Gryffindor table. Granger was also clutching an identical green envelope in her hands. Darting a quick look beside her, he was able to see that even Potter and the female Weasley have invitations to join. Ron, on the other hand, was sporting a look that was identical to Pansy's.
"Well, more reason for Scorpius not to join the club!" Pansy indignantly cried. "If Slughorn thinks our Scorpion King would affiliate himself with mudbloods and blood-traitors, then clearly, our Potions professor does not really know Scorpius."
"Right," Blaise said, pointedly glancing his way. "I don't know about you, Scorpius, but I think I'll give this club a chance."
Scorpius frowned at his friend. 'What the hell is he getting on?' he thought. "I'll think about it," he slowly replied.
Crabbe pointed out that Charms with Ravenclaw would start soon. The sixth year Slytherins collectively stood up from their benches and made their way out of the Great Hall. On their way, Scorpius spied a bushy hair amongst the crowd and had the sudden impulse to talk to the Gryffindors.
He made an excuse to go back to the Great Hall and hastily broke away from his friends before they could question him. Thankfully, most students were already rushing to get to their classrooms. Only the sixth year Gryffindors had free time after breakfast.
"Hey," he casually said, quickly sidling close to the Golden Trio. "I saw you got an invitation from Slughorn." He then proceeded to wave his own invitation for the Golden Trio to see.
"Great, even Malfoy got one!" Ron scowled and angrily stormed off.
Hermione glared at the retreating back of the redhead while Harry sighed.
"I take it Weasley didn't get one?"
The brunette directed her glare towards him this time. "What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked.
"I just wanted to know if you both will join," he said. "The younger Weasley, too."
"It's a waste of time," Harry pointed out. "We have other important things to do."
Scorpius shrugged. "I think it's a great opportunity to build more connections for the future," he reasoned out.
To his surprise, Potter guffawed. "Malfoy, I'm the Chosen One," he drawled. "Connections were already built even before I learned how to talk."
Hermione smacked her green envelope against the cocky Gryffindor. Scorpius laughed at how shamefaced Potter quickly became. "Really, Harry," she tutted. She then turned to Scorpius and continued, "And I also think it's a waste of time. This is just an opportunity for Slughorn to collect us like trophies and boast to his future students he'd been affiliated with famous people."
"True," Scorpius said with a grin. "But think about it. Also, I'm sure Slughorn won't stop pestering you until you attend one dinner, especially because you're the Chosen One, Potter."
Hermione rolled her eyes while Harry was trying his best to bite back a smile. "Aren't you late for class, Malfoy?" she pointed out.
The Slytherin swore when he noticed he was already late for five minutes. "Right, shite, Flitwick will eat me alive."
__________
"Well, fancy seeing you here," Scorpius greeted in surprise as he slipped on the chair beside Hermione.
The brunette made a face and lightly glared at the Gryffindor beside her. "Yeah, well, apparently someone got interested in going when he discovered Ginny decided to attend tonight," she drawled, loud enough for Harry to hear. Her best friend turned into a brilliant shade of red and looked away.
"Interesting," Scorpius said, quirking an eyebrow. He gazed around the round table and noted that said Weasley was missing. "I don't see her right now, though."
"She's having some stupid squabble with Dean," Hermione explained with a worried frown on her face. "I hope she's all right." She then quickly glanced at the Slytherin beside her and lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "I see you've been invited, too, Zabini."
"Of course, Granger, as expected," Blaise said with his own smirk. Scorpius was surprised he was able to detect slight teasing in his voice. He gave his friend a dubious glance, promptly making his smirk widen.
Conversations were hushed when Professor Slughorn finally strolled in and settled on his own seat. His face was alit with happiness, a huge beam stretched widely on his face; Scorpius bet his cheeks were already smarting from the expression on his face.
Dinner was dull, with Slughorn constantly engaging the students around about their brilliance or famous connections. The food was quite good, though, and the blond Slytherin merely busied himself with eating instead of listening to the conversations exchanged.
He jolted in surprise when Hermione discreetly hit him on his ribs. Scowling, he threw her a glare. Hermione rolled her eyes and gestured at Professor Slughorn, who was expectantly looking at him. Scorpius' cheeks coloured when he realised he had addressed him.
"Err... sorry, Professor, can you repeat what you've said?" he asked.
The smile on Slughorn's face faltered a bit, but heeded his request nonetheless, "I was just saying that this is the first time for years since I've seen a student perfectly brew the Draught of Living Death. I can only think of another person who'd done the same thing, actually." His grin came back full force as he set his cutlery aside and intently looked at Scorpius. "Tell me, Mister Malfoy, how were you able to do it?"
He instantly felt nervous as all eyes settled on him. Scorpius desperately thought of an explanation to his sudden Potions prowess, and finally settled on a lame, "I was actually told I'm a Potions prodigy."
Beside him, Hermione snorted behind her goblet of pumpkin juice. Scorpius was trying his hardest not to burst out into mad chuckling. The brunette, however, was very bad at hiding her amusement. Potter was already shooting her strange looks.
"Ah, I didn't know that," Professor Slughorn said as a delighted glint appeared in his eyes. "Well, I expect better potions from you in the future, Mister Malfoy."
Scorpius meekly nodded his head. Internally, though, he kicked himself because now he had to step up his game and do better in Potions.
Slughorn moved on to him and started talking to a curly blond boy beside him. He recognised him as Cormac McLaggen, a seventh year Gryffindor, and probably too arrogant for his own liking. His youngest son in the future, Timothy McLaggen, was in Scorpius' year and he didn't like that Gryffindor brat, too. He wouldn't be surprised if his father acted the same way as Timothy.
Midway through Slughorn's interrogation, the door suddenly opened and in came Ginny. Harry immediately scrambled onto his feet, much to his amusement. 'Gods, Potter, you got it so bad,' he thought with an eye roll, watching as the Chosen One furiously blushed and hastily sat back on his seat.
"Sorry for being late, Professor," the redhead excused. Scorpius noted that her eyes were red and puffy; she was obviously crying before coming to dinner. "I'm usually on time."
"No worries, Miss Weasley," Slughorn said with a smile. "Please have a seat."
Nothing exciting happened soon after, and Scorpius was already getting bored. They moved on to desserts now and he busied himself by observing all the people present.
He recognised familiar faces, remembering their future children in the process. As his eyes settled back on McLaggen, though, he noticed that he was lewdly staring at the Gryffindor beside him.
Frowning, Scorpius shot a glance at Hermione who was obviously uncomfortable with the stares she was receiving.
"Looks like Granger has a new admirer," Blaise whispered against his ear, prompting him to glare at his friend. The bronze-skinned Slytherin merely lifted an eyebrow at the sudden hostility on his face.
Scorpius spent the rest of dinner throwing daggers at Cormac. The older wizard seemed oblivious of Scorpius' glares, too busy making googly eyes at Granger.
The dinner had blessedly ended after another hour. The students clambered back to their respective dormitories, but Scorpius still had some nightly patrol with Granger.
"Looks like you've got yourself a new admirer, Granger," Scorpius casually drawled as they started perusing the first floor.
Despite the dimness of the corridors, he was able to see the blush on Hermione's face.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, self-consciously tucking a stray curl behind her ear.
"McLaggen," he explained. "He was too busy staring at your face to notice his ice cream." He scowled, unable to understand the sudden revulsion he felt. "I don't know about you, Granger, but I think he's bad news."
Hermione glared despite her inflamed cheeks. "He's always been like that," she pointed out. "I don't get why he's suddenly..." She trailed off, her cheeks growing redder with embarrassment. "Anyway, I can very well hex him into oblivion if he stayed out of line, Malfoy."
A grin broke out from his face, prompting Hermione to look at him weirdly. Scorpius suddenly felt self-conscious and nervously cleared his throat. "Anyway," he emphasised, "are you going to the Christmas Party?"
She made a face. "I think I don't have a choice," she said. "Harry seemed set to go, but mostly it's because he wanted to make sure that Dean wouldn't do anything iffy to Ginny."
Snorting, Scorpius replied, "The-Boy-Who-Lived got it so bad, but he's too much of a buffoon to actually acknowledge his feelings."
Hermione quirked a smile at his words. "I... plan on inviting Ron," she confessed, her cheeks blazing once more. Scorpius made a face, but Hermione continued, "That is, if he stopped being a jealous idiot. I mean, what's the bloody deal with getting an invite to this ridiculous club?"
Scorpius wanted to point out that Ron Weasley always had an issue about being overshadowed. From what he heard from Albus, Granger's appointment as the Minister for Magic had been one of the most frequent topics of fights between the couple.
"I don't honestly know what you see in him, Granger," he said with a frown. "He's... he's..." He made frustrated gestures with his hands, unable to find the right words. "Of all the guys, why Weasley?"
She quickly took offence, much to his disgruntlement. Can't she see she deserved so much better than Ronald Weasley? He had nothing against the redhead, except for the fact that he instilled in his daughter's mind that Scorpius was bad news; besides, he thought he was actually a decent bloke, if he managed to control his emotions and voracious appetite. But honestly, he couldn't understand what Hermione saw in him. He thought going back in time might have given him an answer to this age-old riddle, but seeing their teenage selves now, Scorpius was still at a loss.
"What's wrong with Ron?" she protested.
"Save it, Granger," he snapped. "I don't give a hippogriff's shite about your love life."
She turned into a lovely shade of red, embarrassed and irritated at the same time. She chattered his ear off about the good qualities her best friend possessed, but Scorpius already tuned her off until their patrol ended for the day.