Marina Black sat at the end of the Slytherin table for the first time in months, completely oblivious of time. Blaise Zabini was the one to remind her of it; he took a grip of her wrist and dragged her down the corridor, laughing like a maniac.

"If we don't make it on time, I'm putting the blame on you," Blaise shouted, breathing heavily.

It was time for their first Potions class of the year. Marina was eager to meet the new professor, who Dumbledore had advised her to keep a good eye on. Blaise had claimed he had spoken to him while she was asleep on the train, and said he was - put simply - a jerk (Marina didn't want to believe it).

When they arrived in the cold classroom, she was sure her head was going to explode within seconds. She had not expected Harry to take Potions this year, yet here he was, standing face-to-face with Draco, both yelling at the top of their lungs. Pansy was smirking and applauding, Ron was assisting Harry, and Hermione was trying to pull her friends away from the Slytherins. Blaise ran to join the fight, and for a second, Marina considered going back into the Great Hall and eat in silence for the rest of the day.

Nevertheless, she raised her wand and put the silencing charm on Harry. He took a step back, wide-eyed, finally turning toward the door to realize that she had taken Potions this year, as well.

"You will not believe this," spat Draco, still looking at Harry and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "This jerk has become the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team."

Marina looked at Harry. He looked back at her, still shocked and unable to speak. His hair was a mess, and he had grown taller, even if it was just by an inch or two. Weird how she noticed the little details when it came to him.

By the time Blaise had managed to explain how utterly disappointed he was at the choice of captains this year, Hermione had removed the silencing charm Marina had put on Harry. A confused Professor Slughorn stumbled into the room, his mouth slightly open. Harry and Ron ran to him before he could say anything, and asked him if he had any books they could borrow for the class; Slughorn found two old copies of Advanced Potion-Making in a corner cupboard and handed it to them as the rest of the class gathered around him.

"Now then!" Slughorn said, turning to look at the class. "I've prepared a few Potions for us to look at, just out of interest, you know." He pointed at the cauldron next to him. "You have not made this one yet, but you ought to have heard of it. Can anyone tell me what it is?"

Hermione's hand hit the air. "That's Veritaserum. A colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth."

"Excellent!" Slughorn complimented, and moved on to another cauldron. "What about this one?"

"It's Polyjuice Potion, sir," said Hermione. Marina leaned over the cauldron, cringing at the mudlike substance in it.

"Right! And, now..." the professor walked to a new table with three new cauldrons; the rest of the class followed quickly. He pointed at the nearest cauldron. "What about this one?"

This table was smaller than the others. Students were crowding in around it when Marina turned to Harry and raised her brows.

"Could you calm down with the cologne, Potter?"

"That's Amortentia!" explained Hermione to the class. "It smells differently to each of us, according to what attracts us. For example, I can smell freshly mown grass and-"

Marina was blushing violently. Harry, however, was smiling wide.

"Excellent! May I ask your name, dear?"

"Hermione Granger, sir."

"Granger?" echoed Slughorn, "can you possibly be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?"

"No, I don't think so, sir," answered Hermione and looked down at the floor. "I'm a Muggle-born, you see."

Pansy leaned close to Draco and whispered something, but only Pansy laughed afterward. Draco looked Marina, shaking his head.

Slughorn explained that he wanted the students to make a small bottle of Felix Felicis each - or, at least try to make it. The Potion would give you 12 hours of pure luck, but as Marina had understood it, it took an awfully skilled wizard to make it.

There was a scraping as everyone drew their cauldron toward them. Marina found an empty cauldron next to Harry's, but neither one of them spoke. The concentration within the room was almost tangible.

Within ten minutes, the whole place was full of blueish stream. Slughorn was strolling in-between the tables when Draco tried to steal his attention: "Sir, I think you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?"

"Yes," confirmed the professor without looking at Draco, "I did."

It was obvious that Draco wanted to get some recognition from the new professor - it didn't look like Slughorn cared much, though. Marina rolled her eyes and leaned over her book again, looking for the next ingredient to put in her potion.

"Excuse me," said a person next to her, snapping her out of her thoughts. Harry had put his hands around her waist, trying to move her out of the way. "I need some of those."

He took a handful of Sopophorous beans from a glass beside her cauldron, letting go of her.

"You could have just asked, Potter."

He straightened his back, turning to face her. His lips then curled upward, his eyes only scanning her face. "I've missed you, darling. Been thinking of you all the time."

It seemed like all of the students in the class turned their heads their way. The Slytherins were already whispering, Professor Slughorn was smirking and Ron and Hermione had stopped their potion-making to look at them. Marina tried to hold back a smile but failed terribly.

"Will you move, now?" she pressed out. Harry shrugged and found his way back to his cauldron, dumping three beans into it, and Marina tried to hide her pink cheeks.

Slughorn stopped his students five minutes later. He moved slowly among the tables, peering into cauldrons. He passed Marina, whose potion was of a light green color (she knew that she had done something wrong, but she had not been able to concentrate properly this class, so she did not care), and pursed his lips. Then, he saw Harry's, and a look of incredulous delight spread over his face.

"The clear winner!" he cried. "Good lord, it's clear that you have inherited your mother's talent. Here you are, then - one bottle of Felix Felicis!"

As the attention turned to Harry, Marina took the moment to get a glance at his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. He had been overly protective of it this class, and she knew that he wasn't really extremely good at Potions. There were handwritten instructions on how to make the liquid luck on the open page - and there was something very familiar about the handwriting. She could have sworn she had seen it on the Slytherin notice board just this morning...

Harry stepped forward to accept a bottle of Felix Felicis from Slughorn, Hermione and Ron turning to watch him do so. Marina was quick to reach over and switch her and Harry's books. She glanced around the room - nobody had noticed it - and pressed his book down in her bag, getting a glance of the back of it: This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince.

"Use it well, my boy," smiled Slughorn as Harry put the tiny bottle of liquid luck in his pocket. Draco was already on his way out of the classroom, huffing and shoving people out of his way. The rest of the class walked back to their cauldrons, found their books and got ready for their next classes.

Harry was so overwhelmed in his little euphoria that he didn't even notice that his old book had been replaced with a new one. He smiled happily to Marina, and she smiled slightly back just to get him to leave. For when everyone was out of the classroom, she turned to Professor Slughorn and batted her eyes. "I reckon you need some help with washing all these cauldrons?"

The professor turned to her, surprised that there were people left in the classroom. "Oh, yes, if you would be so kind as to help me..."

She found her wand and began sorting the ingredients she had used in her potion, making them fly into different shelves across the classroom. "I don't think we have met yet, sir, but I have heard a lot about you."

"A lot of positive things, I hope," Slughorn laughed so his whole body bounced.

"Naturally," said Marina with a light tone. "I am Marina Black. I think you taught my father when he attended Hogwarts..."

Slughorn stopped his cleaning to get a better look at her. "Yes - I can see it now. You do look like Regulus... I assume you are Darya's daughter, as well?"

Marina put down her wand. "I am. So, you knew both of them?"

"Knew? They were some of my favorite students! Both members of the Slug Club, and all."

She didn't know what the Slug Club was, but it sounded like something she would not have any care for. "I assume you heard about what happened to them after Hogwarts?"

"I did," Slughorn sighed. "A horrible case. Too young for death, both of them. I apologize."

Marina bit her lip and looked down at her shoes. Now that she had gotten his sympathy...

"A horrible case indeed. If only I had gotten to know them... Everything would have been so much easier, you know?" Slughorn was looking at her worryingly as she pressed out a few tears. "My father's days as a Death Eater is well known. People expect the same of me - I don't know what to do anymore!"

The professor sprinted over to her to calm her down. He clasped a hand on her back, opening his mouth to speak again.

"I am horribly sorry, Miss Black... Is there anything I could do to help you?"

Marina wiped her tears and fixed her posture. She then looked Slughorn in his eyes.

"Well, there is a question I have that you might have the answer to... I could go to the other professors with this question - but of course, they wouldn't be as much help as you are..."

"Go on."

"So, I was reading some of my father's work the other day... I believe I read about something called Horcruxes... And I couldn't help but wonder what they are..."

"I beg your pardon?" said Slughorn and took a step back, letting his hand glide of her back. "This is very dark stuff, Miss Black, very dark indeed."

"Oh, I'm sorry - I should not have asked. I'm just going to leave," said Marina quickly, picking up her bag from the floor and turning toward the door.

"A Horcrux is an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul," said Slughorn right before she exited the room. She turned back, a confused look on her face.

"But I don't understand how that works, sir."

The professor gulped. "One splits the soul and hides parts of it in an object. Should you be attacked, and your body be destroyed, the part of your soul that is hidden lives on. In other words, you cannot die."

Marina stopped in her tracks. Her father had written in his diary that he had stolen a Horcrux that belonged to Voldemort right before his death. But if he had destroyed it successfully, why had Voldemort lived on after his body had been destroyed?

"And are you able to split your soul into more than one part? Can one make several Horcruxes?"

"Merlin's beard, Marina, you sound like someone I once knew. Why are you asking these questions?"

"I am only curious, sir. I do not mean to scare you - I just want to know what this dark magic is. It seemed like my father was curious about these objects - and you know, he admired you much. I just want to understand his life better."

"Very well," said Slughorn. "Yes, you would technically be able to split the soul more than once, but in order to do that, you would have to commit murder several times. And this, of course, goes against nature."

Marina felt a sudden sharp and intense pain in her head. Her hands were beginning to shake.

"You say you split the soul into objects - correct?" she asked, and he nodded. "But can you make a person a Horcrux?"

He nodded again. "It is rare, but it has happened before. Of course, only the most skilled wizards have been able to do so."

Suddenly, the world around Marina went black. She couldn't see anything. Icy fingers had taken a grip around her mind, and a shrill cry was echoing in her chest. The Dark Lord was trying to get into her mind. She could remember falling, the floor swaying beneath her, and then the darkness consumed her.

Rays of sunlight met with Marina's face when she came to herself again. Her eyelids were heavy; she was struggling to open them. Feeling blankets trying to hold her down, she let out a soft moan. After several minutes, she opened her eyes, her vision disfigured, and blinked until she could see properly. Both her heart and head pounding, she came to the conclusion that she was in the Hospital Wing, sitting in a bed, wrapped in white sheets, her uniform still on. No one else was there - well, that's what at least what she thought until she felt the weight of someone's head on her thigh.

He was sitting on a chair that was pulled close to her bed, but his whole upper body was leaning on her. When she bolted upward, he did, too.

He rubbed his eyes and smiled softly. "Hey, darling."

"You snore."

"I don't!" He only smiled wider, a small chuckle escaping his pink lips. Merlin, she had missed him. It felt as if she had been missing a part of herself. Memories of what had happened before the summer flashed before her eyes. Then she remembered why she was in the Hospital Wing.

"How long was I out?" She tried to speak clearly, but her body only let her words come out as a long, weak whisper. Her hand immediately clapped over her mouth.

"A little over a day," he whispered back, though he did not need to (he could've just spoken normally). He took her hand away from her lips, his touch softer than ever before. "You passed out in class, and Slughorn asked me to take you here. Are you alright?"

She nodded in response, and let her gaze fall upon the window. Try-outs were happening on the Quidditch Field. Yet the captain of the best team was sitting in front of her. "You've been here all night?" she asked. He nodded. "You didn't have to."

He now shook his head and moved closer to her. "Are you hungry? Dizzy? You're not hurting, are you?"

"I'm fine." She really wanted to ask him the same. Are you hungry? Are you hurting? Why aren't you out on the pit? I've missed you, you know. But she was in reality hurting, and she was afraid that if she spoke more, she would break.

A sharp gasp escaped Harry's lips. She looked down, and felt her stomach twist, believing that he had seen her Dark Mark. Fortunately, he was gripping her right hand and not her left, and her uniform was covering the mark.

"You're hurt." His finger traced blue and yellow bruises on her wrist. "What- Who did this to you?"

"Who do you think?" she answered sharply - and immediately regretted opening her mouth when she felt invisible knives dig into her head. Another moan fell out of her mouth, and she brought a hand to her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Shh, be careful," Harry hushed, rushing out of his chair to sit beside her in the bed. "You don't have to talk. I'm sorry."

Feeling her eyelids getting heavy again, Marina exhaled all the air she had left in her lunges and let her head rest on her pillow. She could feel Harry brushing strays of her hair away from her face.

"I should have been there for you. I spent all summer thinking about you," he whispered. "I couldn't go back to our home after she took you."

Our home.

"Harry... You need to stay away from me this year." He could not get hurt. She would never forgive herself if he got hurt. If he stayed with her, she would end up hurting him.

"What? No. I- I can't do that," he answered, and she slightly opened her eyes to find his lip and chin trembling. "I want to be with you. I want you."

She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to cry. She couldn't show weakness, but this felt so much like a break-up. Keeping her face straight, avoiding to look into his eyes filled with tears, she dug her head into her pillow. "I don't want to see you again, Potter."

He must have thought that she was angry at him for everything that had happened over the summer. But she was only trying to protect him.

"I'm going to let you rest," he answered, not a hint of anger in his voice. "I'm still in love with you, you know."

She was falling asleep when he kissed her cheek and left the room.