Dumbledore stood up a few seconds later. "The very best of evenings to you all. Now, first off, let me welcome the very newest member of our staff. Horace Slughorn!" There was an applause as Dumbledore continued. "He has agreed to resume his old post, as potions master. Meanwhile, the defence against the dark arts post will be taken by Professor Snape."

More applause as Rosalyn looked at her friends warily. Her headmaster soon changed track. "Now, as you know, each and every one of you was searched upon your arrival here, and you have the right to know why. Once, there was a young boy, who like you, sat in this very hall, walked this castle's corridors, and slept under its roof. He seemed to all the world, a student like any of you. His name; Tom Riddle."

There was a lot of whispering. "Today of course," Dumbledore said, tone not even wavering. "He is known by a very different name, all over the world. Which is why, as I stand looking out on you all tonight, a truth so strong hits me. Every day, every hour, every minute, dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle. But in the end, their greatest weapon, is you."

There was a silence before he shouted. "Now off to bed, pip pip!"

"That was cheerful," Ron sighed, as the quartet went to go up to the dorm.

Rosalyn sighed too, saying."He had to warn us. I mean, we were lied to all of last year!"

When they got to the common room, Rosalyn asked Neville if he wanted to play gobstones, but he turned her down. "I've got to go and do something," he told her coldly.

Rosalyn watched him go, nearly in tears. She and Neville were such good friends, why did a kiss with another boy that happened two years ago matter?

She sighed, looking at her best friend. "Ginny didn't mean to do this," Hermione said, sighing.

"No, but why did she have to bring up the fact that I kissed Tristan in front of Neville?" Rosalyn asked irritably.

Hermione answered quietly and honestly. "I don't know."

☆☆☆

Rosalyn's (and everyone else's) OWL results had come back around halfway through July, before all the madness with Dumbledore had started.

Now, before this, in fifth year, all her year had been asked to consider possible career options, and there was only one thing that Rosalyn wanted to do. Become an auror; a dark wizard catcher.

To do this however, you needed quite a few subjects. All of them were fine for Rosalyn, except one. Potions. Snape only took the best of the best into his NEWT class, so only people that achieved the "O" grade.

Now, Rosalyn had achieved "O" for outstanding on two subjects. DADA and transfiguration. She had got an "E" for exceeds expectations on herbology, charms and potions. This would all be fine, if it wasn't for potions.

So Rosalyn had given up her ambitions to become an auror. Not because she didn't want to, but simply because the world wouldn't let her.

Anyway, she stood in a crammed corridor right now, laughing with Harry and Ron as they watched McGonagall try to organise everyone.

"Girls, history of magic is upstairs, not down! Mr Davis! Mr Davis, that is the girls' lavoratory."

Rosalyn, Harry and Ron were beside themselves with laughter as McGonagall then aimed at them. "Miss Potter! Come here, if you please!"

"Oh, this can't be good," Rosalyn sighed, heading down to speak to her.

"Having fun, are we?" McGonagall asked, pursing her lips.

"I had a free period this morning, Professor," Rosalyn tried to explain.

But McGonagall had an answer to that as well. "So I noticed. I would've thought that you'd've wanted to fill it with potions. Is it not still your ambition to become an auror?"

"Oh, I still want to, but I was told I had to get outstanding in my OWL," Rosalyn said, puzzled.

"So you did. When Professor Snape was teaching potions, but Professor Slughorn is quite happy to take people on with exceeds expectations in his class."

"Great!" Rosalyn was smiling again. "I'll head there straight away, Professor."

She made to go, but McGonagall shouted after her. "Potter!"

"Yes?" Rosalyn asked, turning round.

"Take your two brothers with you, please," she said, gesturing to Harry and Ron. "They look far too happy over there."

Rosalyn nodded, heading over to ruin Harry and Ron's fun and take them to potions with her.

Slughorn was mid-sentence when the three musketeers that Rosalyn, Ron and Harry were burst in. Slughorn, wearing brown robes and a cap, turned to greet them. "Ah! Rosalyn m'girl, I was beginning to worry! You've brought Harry as well, I see! And someone else."

Rosalyn nudged Ron, telling him without speaking to introduce himself. "Ron Weasley, Sir, but I'm dead awful at potions, a menace actually, so, bye..." Harry grabbed the back of his robes to stop him from leaving.

"Nonsense, we'll sort you out! If you're friends with Rosalyn, you're friends with me!" Slughorn insisted. Bad luck, Ron, Rosalyn thought with a smirk. You have to do it anyway. "Get your books out!"

"Sorry, Sir, you see, I don't actually have a book and neither do Harry and Ron," Rosalyn said apologetically.

"Not to worry, get what you want from the cupboard!" Slughorn smiled merrily.

So it was that the three went into the cupboard. Rosalyn trailed behind the boys, who, she suddenly saw, lunged towards two books before smirking at her. "Oh, you get the tatty, old one, Rosie!" Ron laughed.

She rolled her eyes, looking inside the cupboard to see that there was only one copy of Advanced Potion Making left. It looked old and dirty, and Rosalyn wasn't happy about having it one bit.

She soon changed that opinion.

"Now as I was saying," Slughorn said merrily, once Rosalyn, Ron and Harry joined them. "I've prepared some concoctions for you all to look at. Any ideas what these might be?"

Hermione put up a hand instantly.

"Yes, Miss-"

"Granger, Sir," Hermione answered, stepping forward to look in the first cauldron. "Amortenia, the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumoured to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them. For example I smell... freshly mown grass, and new parchment and... spearmint... toothpaste." Her face was faintly red as she stepped back.

"Now, amortenia doesn't create real love, that would be impossible," Slughorn took over again. "But it does cause powerful infatuation and obsession, and for that reason, it's probably the most dangerous potion in this room." He put the lid on the amortenia cauldron.

"Sir, you haven't told us what's in that one," a girl in the class pointed out, speaking about a small vial in the corner.

"Ahh, yes," Slughorn said, taking the vial in his hands. "What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen, is a curious little potion, called felix flicis. But of course, it is more commonly referred to as-"

"Liquid luck," Hermione said immediately.

"Yes, Miss Granger, liquid luck," Slughorn nodded. "Desperately tricky to make, disastrous should you get it wrong. One drop and you'll find that all of your endeavours succeed. Well, at least until the effects wear off."

He walked back over to them. "So, this is what I offer to you, today. One, tiny vial of liquid luck, for the student who, in the hour that remains, manages to brew an acceptable draught of living death. The recipe for which can be found on page ten of your books."

Rosalyn sighed. She wouldn't be able to do this, but she couldn't let any other student, (AKA Draco Malfoy) get the liquid luck. She had lost all hope, however, until she came across some writing in her book.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆.

Who's that? Rosalyn thought to herself. But she would soon learn to like this guy more than she thought.

When she got to page ten, she saw that you had to cut a sophomorus bean, a tricky little thing that kept jumping out of your reach when you tried to cut it.

However, in Rosalyn's book, the word cut was crossed out, with a note beside it. 𝑪𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓. 𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈.

Rosalyn smiled, taking her knife and crushing the bean. Sure enough, a whole load of juice came out of it. "How did you do that?" Hermione asked her, incredulous look on her face.

"Crush it, don't cut it," Rosalyn told her.

But Hermione was a sticker for the rules. "No, the instructions specifically say to cut."

"Oh, but who has the most juice, me or you?" Rosalyn laughed to her best friend, who didn't return the smile.

Meanwhile, Seamus was doing what he did best, after putting in an ingredient, his potion blew up, leaving his hair black once again.

Hermione's hair was gradually getting bushier and bushier from the heat, but as her potion got worse, Rosalyn's got better. The red head was now following all the written instructions the Half Blood Prince put in the book. They had altered numbers, techniques and even written out some tips in the margins to note down.

At the end, Slughorn was putting a leaf in all the potions. If the leaf wilted, it was good, if it stayed the same, it had failed.

When he got to Rosalyn's cauldron, he had already expected great things, but when the leaf completely disintegrated, he was very impressed. "Merlin's beard! It's perfect! So perfect I daresay one drop would kill us all!"

Hermione, who had very big hair, shall we say, and a sour expression on her face, tried to be happy for her best friend. She couldn't.

However, Slughorn gave her a surprise. "Second best," he smiled. "You know what, Rosalyn here may have won the competition, but you answered all of my questions earlier. How would you like it to come along to the Slug Club party I'm having soon, Rosalyn and Harry can show you the ropes!"

"I-I-" Hermione smiled. "Yes, Sir, thanks."

Rosalyn smiled for her best friend, glad that she had something to cushion the fall that jealousy was responsible for.

At the end, the whole class gathered to watch Slughorn give Rosalyn the felix felicis. "Here we are then, as promised," he gave Rosalyn the vial. "One bottle of felix felicis. Use it well."

Rosalyn watched as everyone clapped for her, silently thanking the book, and the Half Blood Prince.