Slytherin's Potter ( Scorpius Malfoy x Lily Luna Potter)

Part 91: The invisible targets

Lily wasn't sure what she and Hugo could accomplish by asking Slughorn discreet questions about the situation. What were they supposed to ask, and what more was there to know? The worst part was that Hugo didn't know what he was after either. His plan was to go in and "wing it."

"Just remember that I'm not promising anything," Lily reminded him as they walked to Slughorn's door. Dinner had already ended, with everyone whispering about the new rule concerning curfews. Lily and Hugo had informed Randy and Jaclyn that they would be unable to watch over the JB meeting until the prefects had to leave for curfew patrols, so they were going to watch over instead.

"The least we can do is try," Hugo replied as Lily knocked on the door.

"Just remember we need to do this discreetly. Because there's a chance that if there's more to know, it's stuff that Jacob didn't want us to know," Lily retorted.

The door opened a peak, and she Professor Slughorn's face. Then it opened wide, and he was smiling brightly. "Ah! Lily, Hugo. Come on in!" He ushered them in and closed the door. Trying to see casual and comfortable, Lily moved to sit on the couch in room. Hugo followed suit. "Can I get you two something to drink?" Slughorn offered.

"Oh, no thank you, sir," Lily replied.

"You, Hugo? A butterbeer, perhaps?" Slughorn asked, holding one out to him already.

Hugo shrugged as he took the bottle. "Sure. Thank you, sir."

"My pleasure, dear boy." Then Slughorn sighed. "Now, what can I do for you two?"

Lily cleared her throat lightly, taking the first step. "Well, sir, we had a small question concerning the issue we talked about this afternoon."

Professor Slughorn quickly tensed, and looked wary and hesitant. "Yes, such a terrible happening. What's your question?" He got up from the chair he'd just sat in, and moved around to table that was against the wall, and began to fix his own drink.

"Well, sir, we were just curious about whether or not the staff would be patrolling as well. I mean, you mentioned the ghosts, but not the staff," Lily asked.

Slughorn visibly relaxed at their simple question. "Ah. Well yes, we will. But we'll be patrolling when curfew starts, and afterwards. Actually, there's talk of splitting it so that half of us patrol before curfew with you prefects, and some patrol after curfew. It has yet to be decided," he answered.

Hugo sighed heavily. "I just can't believe something like this would happen at Hogwarts," he said casually.

"I agree with you," Slughorn said as he came back to sit in an armchair. He seemed comfortable again with the conversation. "I think it's sad that none of the students want to speak up and give a name. But, fear can be very powerful, especially in young students."

"Sir, if I may ask, and you can ignore the question if you want," Hugo assured, "but do you think my explanation during the meeting was sound? That it must be seventh years?"

Slughorn sighed as he took a long drink from his glass. Then he smacked his lips lightly. "Actually, Hugo, I think you are absolutely right. Our first guess was that the students behind this were older than fifth years. And with your explanation, I too think that it must be seventh years."

"A fifth year hadn't been attacked. No one older than a fourth year," Lily commented. "So, why did you rule out fifth years?"

Lily knew they were finally getting into the area that they were supposed to remain ignorant to. "Because the fourth year was Lyle Pickering from Hufflepuff. And if you know who that boy is, then you know that he is about as big as most of the fifth year boys. And after what was done to him, we can't imagine that mere fifth years had done it," Slughorn explained.