*This update is super late...I'm so sorry! I suggest you skim over previous chapters to get a feel for what's going on. Happy reading!*

The rest of the week passed slowly and so did Anna's grief. She'd gone to the Owlery the day after she'd sent the letter just to find her biggest fear.

Sirius' owl was gone.

Where could it have gone? Who got the letter? Was she right- was Sirius alive?

No answer came every day, no matter how fast she raced to the Owlery did a letter come, along with the grim-looking owl.

She hadn't told Harry about the incident- that deep-rooted fear of being called crazy seemed to have continued to grow and fester inside her.

She really, truly wasn't crazy, and the last thing she needed was to be told she was and to be confused further.

In fact, she'd barely spoken to the raven-haired boy at all since the incident. Not only was it awkward, but there was still unspoken tension about Caspar, whom she'd been spending a lot time with lately.

As much as she wanted to avoid the whole ordeal with her mother, she couldn't. She had studied those files for days until- after much nagging from Harry- she decided to part with them. Slughorn had become more and more impatient and paranoid with each day the binder was gone and, frankly, it became quite irritating.

So, the blonde walked briskly to the Potion teacher's office. She hoped he would be in the Great Hall for dinner and she could slip in and put the stolen items back without being noticed.

But, with just her luck, the door to his room was locked. Anna gave a sigh and knocked a few times. She heard shuffling within and Slughorn came to the door, looking more stressed than ever. He forced a smile and asked, "Oh, hello Anna. What can I do for you?"

"Um, I found this," she said awkwardly, holding up the binder.

Slughorn gave a sigh of relief but his eyes held fear. He took it quickly, saying, "Thank you so much!"

"No problem," she said monotonously. There was a stretch awkward silence. "I didn't look through it since you said not to but...well, what was so special about it?"

"Oh nothing, it's just various notes. Wouldn't want anyone stealing my ideas, y'know. So, where'd you find it?"

"Mavis took it," Anna blurted out. It took everything for her to not slap her hands to her mouth from surprise. Where'd that lie come from? How would she get herself out of this one?

"I knew it!" he grumbled.

"That wretched woman...even when she was my student she was trouble...and I knew it was odd that she was coming from my office one day after Mr. Mundy had some pointless ramble, yes, I knew it was a distraction-"

"Maybe it was a mistake-"

"I'll have a talk with her. Thank you for helping me out, dear," said Slughorn, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Anna gave a weak smile and nodded. "No problem. See you later, sir."

He bid her goodbye before closing the door, leaving her in a contemplative silence.

She was somewhat pleased with the fact that Mavis was about to get chewed out, but at the same time, she knew the woman's unleashed wrath would reach the fringes of the castle.

~=~

"Dumbledore, what did I tell you about making me come to your office?!" spat Mavis, eyeing the headmaster cautiously.

"I believe you told me to not do so under any circumstances," he said, acting aloof. As the woman opened her mouth to speak, he put up his hand to hush her.

"I'm afraid this wasn't my doing. Someone wants to speak with you about an...incident."

As if on cue, the door opened and in walked Horace Slughorn. His usual jolly demeanour had evaporated, making way for a face of bitterness.

"You!" He hissed, pointing a finger at Mavis.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "What do you want, old man?"

"You stole my records!"

"What the hell-"

"Horace, please sit," Dumbledore interrupted calmly.

"Do not make a fool of yourself...now, I came here on his request. He claims you have stolen his property...is that true?"

Kate Mavis was at a loss for words. She didn't want to rat Anna out, breaking the promise. The girl did make an effort to show up to her classes after the confrontation and did all work required.

"I'm not sure what 'property' we're talking about. This is all very sudden," she said boredly.

"I'm talking about my records of those in the Slug Club!"

She snorted in barely-hidden amusement at the nostalgic word. "Slug Club gets me every time-"

"Seriously! I write information down about the members, and it's very important to me. You went into my room and stole-"

"Again, let us be calm," Dumbledore said softly, but with authority. "Now, Horace, I understand you have your first club dinner tonight with the students. I don't want to make you late and I would hate to waste any more of Miss Mavis' time...can we come to a conclusion?"

The two looked at Mavis, who was happy her skin couldn't show a blush. She sighed and decided to go about her lie, "Fine, I took them. I just wanted to see what you thought of us. It's been a while, y'know, since I've been in the magical world. I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Thank you, that was all I wanted to hear," said Horace coldly. He quickly forced a smile and popped from his seat.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a dinner to attend."

The headmaster and professor watched as the man strode to the door, before pausing.

"Mavis, as a former member of the Slug Club, I invite you to our annual Christmas Party. You must bring a date and look and act presentable...see you there."

And with that, he slammed the door.

~=~

Slughorn's usual messy room was decorated for the night with floating candles and delicate centrepieces on the roundtable the Slug Club sat at. The professor sat amongst the ten students, two spots still noticeably vacant. Harry glared at the emptiness, mad that Anna hadn't shown up.

They both had reluctantly agreed to come to the dinner, as they had missed the last two. She had been flaky with him lately, and he knew it was because of Caspar. Harry was snapped back into reality as Slughorn's merry voice rang out. Harry cringed as the man with features of walrus-likeness continued discussing family matters jollily, prying into everyone's accomplishments like it was no one's business.

"So, Mr. Zabini, how's your mother doing?" the wizard pressed in a chirpy tone. Blaise continued eating his food, pretending not to have heard him. "Oh, alright then...how about you, Miss Granger? What do your parents do for a living?"

Hermione sat up a bit, nervously glancing around the table. "My um...my parents are dentists."

"What's a, a...dentist?"

"Well, you see, they're people who tend to teeth."

"Ah, interesting," said Slughorn, acting amused. "Is that a dangerous profession?"

"Um, no," she said quietly, but then smiled, "Actually, I guess it could be considered so. One time-"

Hermione was cut off by the door opening and laughter filling the room. In walked Anna clutching onto Caspar's arm. Slughorn gave a merry smile, "Welcome, Black and Mundy! Glad you could join us, as late is better than never!"

"She looks kind of messy," whispered Hermione to Harry. And she was right. Anna's hair was frizzy and tousled, her dress shirt wrinkled and the buttons mismatched.

Something compelled Harry to stand up once Anna approached the table, his eyes wide as everyone stared at them. She cringed, "Why-"

"It's polite," he said mumbled. As he was about to sit, Caspar stepped forward and shook his hand.

"True, nice to see you, Potter."

"I meant it's polite to greet a lady," he said coldly, giving Caspar's hand a hard shake before sitting back down. Anna eyed him before silently sitting down herself, her cheeks flushed from embarrassment...or something else.

Harry noticed her lips were swollen, his eyes flitted to Caspar and he noticed the same. His stomach churned as a sick pull played dangerously at his heartstrings.

"So, we were just discussing family matters...do you want to contribute?" asked Slughorn, acting as if nothing just happened.

Anna was at a loss for words, but Caspar answered before she could make a bitter comment.

"My family's not all that interesting-"

"Well of course they are! One's a Nott and the other is American!" he exclaimed with a chuckle while everyone grimaced.

Caspar forced a laugh, "Yeah, my dad's pretty cool. Typical American, a half-blood, but what's coolest is his profession: astronomy. He knows about the stars, all of them, and all of the constellations."

Anna's eyes lit up as she watched him explain, yet there was a bit of tension in his tone she couldn't quite figure out. She piped up, "My dad isn't an astronomer but was named after the brightest star...ironically, the constellation it's a part of is a dog...his animagus," she said, her eyes widening- she'd just spilt his secret without any means to.

She noticed Slughorn looked intrigued, so she continued, "yeah, he was an unregistered one. So were Harry's dad and my mother. I've heard they were all bright, really. I mean, my dad has to be, he even escaped Azkaban-"

"Your mother was phenomenal," said the man quietly, his eyes watering, "so was yours, Harry."

"Thank you, professor."

The conversation was mild after that, and the dinner finally came to an end. Everyone was eager to leave the awkward scene, as Slughorn had seemed to have lost his charm over the years. When outside, Harry quickly caught up to Caspar and Anna.

"Wait!" He called.

Anna turned. "Harry, please-"

"I just need to talk to you," he pleaded, then eyed the American boy, "alone."

Caspar gave a sigh, then looked at Anna, "If anything happens, just yell my name."

"Wouldn't be the first time," she said with a smirk. Harry became wide-eyed, and Caspar just looked at her, dumbfounded.

"Oh, um...yeah," he chuckled, tugging at his collar, "I'll see you tomorrow."

After he was out of earshot, Harry's eyes narrowed at Anna, "You sure seem to be moving on."

"Harry-"

"You don't even realize what you're doing!" exclaimed the raven-haired boy, "You use love as a coping mechanism. It distracts you for a bit, and that's all. It's not healthy, Anna."

She looked at him, her eyes wide and heart pounding. No- she refused to show weakness. Her voice became low with menace, "Don't pry into my life just because you don't have one of your own."

"Are you saying I can't find someone?"

"That is exactly what I am saying."

"Wanna bet? You think I have no chance?!" he challenged, hoping she wouldn't give in.

But Anna's pride was her weakness and she couldn't help herself. She would rather drop dead than admit that Harry still held her heart, and always would. "I don't think you do nor do I care, all I want is for you to stay out of my relationship-"

Harry scoffed. "Relationship?! You've been with him for a week and you've already crossed so many lines-"

The door opened, interrupting him. "Ah, Potter, Black, why are you two still here?"

Anna's eyes widened, but Harry covered, his voice kind, "We were going to talk to you, sir."

"Ah, I see...well, come in now, don't be shy!" he said merrily, leading them into the room. The roundtable and decorations were gone and tables with cauldrons filled the room once again.

"I'm sorry that dinner was a bit boring, it just goes to show they won't make it on the shelf."

"Erm, shelf?" asked Harry, as his and Anna's gaze lingered on the bookcase that contained framed pictures of past Slug Club members. They tried to act oblivious but shuddered as they remembered Slughorn's obsession.

"Yes, that shelf there contains everyone who is anyone in the wizarding world. Ambition, intelligence, blood, they all hold your place in the world, through light and dark-"

"But it doesn't save you from death," Anna said bitterly. "The dark army couldn't care less about your personality."

Slughorn looked taken aback, but he quickly recovered, "Being someone keeps your memory alive...let's take Lily Potter for example. Although she was muggleborn and never held a career, her intelligence, beauty, and pure kindness is how people remember her. If you met her, she was impossible to forget."

"Was Tom Riddle impossible to forget?" asked Harry nonchalantly, his eyes locking with Slughorn's.

"Erm, well, what became of him was," said the man nervously.

"He killed our parents, sir-"

"And I understand that m'boy, you have every right to be intrigued...but, alas, I have nothing to say about it. He was a quiet boy in his day, smart as well. All he wanted was to be a great wizard. He changed after Hogwarts, not during, so I'm not sure how he came to be- I can promise you that."

"But-"

"I believe that's enough chatter for one night," said the professor quickly, forcing a smile. "Bye bye now!"

Harry sighed and started towards the door, but Anna didn't budge. She saw Slughorn's expression. It was filled with pain and guilt that he had been trying to hide for years. This sparked sympathy within Anna. She knew what it was like to unknowingly serve evil.

"Professor?"

"You should get going-"

"I'm sorry about him, he just wants answers," she said softly. "How could you have known Tom would've become evil? He was just a kid."

Slughorn looked at her, and something resonated within him...nostalgia. "You remind me so much of your mother...strong on the outside, yet understanding at the right time. I appreciate it, Miss Black."

The mention of her mother sent a chill down her spine. She ignored it and forced a smile.

"Goodnight, Professor."

~=~

Oh my gosh hi, it's been forever!

No, siriusly, it's been over a year, and I'm SO sorry...but I'm ready to write again, most likely updates will be Fridays like before.

Now I intend to finish the story this time around and not take ANOTHER year-long hiatus, so hopefully I stay motivated and can crank out new chapters...and hopefully I didn't lose all my readers.

I've just uploaded an advice/rant book, it doesn't have much content yet, but I would really appreciate if you would check it out!

I wanted to give recognition to a certain beauty...WhichWitchWrites ! She's my new totally awesome editor, and she's been on these stories since the beginning (previously InkStain1813 ). Please give her some love, she has amazing writing and editing skills. Also, check out her stories. I've only read "Pseudo - Sham Magic" so far, but the plot is amazing and I love it already!

Also, if anyone has any plot questions at any time, feel free to ask, I tried doing summaries in the previous chapter to help, but it can still be a bit confusing.

Question of the day...

~Has anything good/important happened in the last year for you?~
(I've sold my soul to a pizza place, but I'm in a good relationship and have good grades)

OH, and to all my American peeps out there...HAPPY MF THANKSGIVING! May your day be awesome and filled with diabetes :)
(I'm thankful for you all)

Thanks for reading!

Love to all,

~Lumos