Harry Potter and the Sorceress of the Stars

"Well? What are you waiting for?" said Professor Slughorn mirthfully. "Come in, come in!"

Oleandra had never laid eyes on such a… substantial man, to put things lightly. Horace Slughorn was clearly someone who enjoyed the better things in life— namely the kind that you could put between your teeth.

"Right," said Oleandra, who didn't know where to look— Professor Slughorn's large figure filled the entirety of the doorway. "Er…"

Oleandra stared in morbid fascination as Professor Slughorn plodded over to the back of the compartment. He had put both of his hands in the small of his back to provide a counterweight for his massive belly— much like a heavily pregnant woman would.

"There we go," said Professor Slughorn, sighing in relief as he lowered himself into his seat. "Why don't you have a seat next to your sister?"

Now that he wasn't blocking the entirety of her sightline, Oleandra was finally able to see compartment C's other occupants. So far, there were only two— Blaise Zabini, the tall black boy to whom her sister Daphne had almost got engaged… and Daphne herself.

Daphne had her back turned to Blaise, pretending like she couldn't hear him blathering away about himself in her ear, so Oleandra entered the compartment and sat herself between the two of them.

"As I was saying," Professor Slughorn continued obliviously, "Your parents were among the last students I ever taught— they graduated in 1979, I believe…? To think I'd be teaching their children…"

Professor Slughorn let out a loud blustery laugh, which caused his belly to shake for a few seconds after he'd stopped.

"How are the, er… Greengrasses these days?" he then added.

During his first tenure as Potions teacher at Hogwarts, he'd obviously never found Oleandra's parents to be remarkable enough to take notice of, so he didn't remember their names!

"They're doing fine," said Daphne curtly— which was obviously a lie. "What were our parents like when they were young?"

Professor Slughorn's silvery moustache quivered slightly as he scratched his nose; he was now obviously trying to remember something of worth about their parents.

…

By inviting them to this lunch party, it seemed obvious to Oleandra that Professor Slughorn was attempting to curry favour from them… but she had no clue what use an old man like him could possibly have for it.

The truth was much simpler than Oleandra could have possibly guessed— Horace Slughorn simply liked to take promising students under his wing. Children would eventually turn into adults, as humans are wont to do— and promising students would turn into fine, upstanding adults… most of the time.

Indeed, during his first tenure as Potions Master at Hogwarts, Slughorn had grown to like feeling important— and to this day, he continued surrounding himself with the rich, powerful and influential adults that his former students had become. In doing so, he lived vicariously through the protégés who saw him as a mentor, and as a bonus, he collected the benefits of having friends in high places.

However, not all his pupils had been able to fulfil his expectations— Slughorn's greatest regret was teaching Tom Riddle, who had eventually reinvented himself as Lord Voldemort.

In his mind, Slughorn was directly responsible for Voldemort's ascent, since he had been the one to confirm the feasibility of multiple Horcruxes… though he had sealed away that particular memory for his own mental health.

As such, Slughorn felt like he absolutely needed to add those who had vanquished Lord Voldemort in combat to his collection— even though he had sealed away the memories of his guilt, the need to absolve himself of sin had remained, because in a way, Slughorn still felt responsible for Voldemort's atrocities…

…

"Of course, Iris and Maxim!" said Slughorn, laughing uproariously. "How could I possibly forget?"

"Maxwell," Oleandra corrected him.

Slughorn took the correction in stride— he didn't want to accidentally offend the magical world's rising stars.

"Maxwell, of course, of course," said Slughorn, his mind racing. "Well, er… let's see…"

The truth was that outside of him being red-headed, Slughorn couldn't remember a single thing about the bloke. And who could blame him? Maxwell Prewett had never been as talented a duellist as his brothers, which is part of the reason he had never joined the Order of the Phoenix like the rest of his family— his mediocrity had literally saved his life.

"At any rate, your mother Iris was one of my students in Slytherin," said Professor Slughorn, sponging his sweaty forehead with a monogrammed handkerchief. "I remember her well— she was quiet, polite, well-behaved, and she had a green thumb, a true gift for magical botany."

Slughorn had once invited Iris Greengrass to his Slug Club, since she was set to inherit the Greengrass botanical empire, but she had refused.

At that point in time, she had already got 'corrupted' by the pretty boy Maxwell's influence, and she had turned from a pure, prim and proper girl to the kind of woman who would hide in broom closets to snog with her boyfriend.

"Yes, Iris had quite the aptitude for Potioneering," said Slughorn with a mournful sigh. "I remember feeling such disappointment when I learned that she did not plan to take Potions to N.E.W.T. level…"

Slughorn quickly brightened up— he had checked his class roster, and both Greengrass twins had enrolled in his N.E.W.T.-level Potions class. They had both achieved Outstandings in their Potions O.W.L.s, so he was looking forward to teaching him.

However, much to Slughorn's disappointment, Harry Potter hadn't enrolled in his class, the Chosen One having failed to score an 'O' in his O.W.L.s. Although, it was his understanding from his conversations with Dumbledore that Harry wished to become an Auror, so perhaps if lowered the course's requirements from 'O' to 'E'…?

"Well," said Professor Slughorn with a wink, "I daresay I look forward to seeing her daughters in my class!"

"Are… are you not our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Oleandra asked in surprise.

The man kept droning on and on about potions, so could it be that Snape had finally decided to ditch Dumbledore and join the Dark Side?

"Whatever gave you that idea, my dear?" said Professor Slughorn, slightly taken aback. "I'm a Potions Master, so it's only natural that I would teach Potioneering!"