Chapter 58: Slug Club
Amelia Bones was telling Severus Prince a story about a trip she had taken with her family to Argentina and how her proud brother had been robbed of his belongings only minutes after they had arrived in the country and they were both laughing as they entered the party room.
"Ah, Miss Bones, and finally, Mr. Prince, how nice of you to join us!" said Professor Slughorn immediately as they entered the Feast Hall.
There were only a few people already seated at some of the tables, including a happy Pandora along with her partner who was conversing energetically with two very pale men, but Severus knew from the Force that these two men were not so simple as they unlike most humans had a deep connection to the dark side. ...also something about them seemed so strange..., he guessed that they were vampires and the other man at the table seemed to be some kind of wizard writer, but this one had nothing strange about him unlike the other two, just an average wizard.
Apparently, they were among the first to arrive.
As they entered Slughorn slapped him on the back and said some nonsensical things that Severus mostly ignored and Amelia pretended to listen attentively just to be polite.
A few minutes of torture passed in which they conversed with the professor.
It was a relief when other students and guests began to arrive, distracting the annoying professor.
The only thing Severus respected about the man was his skill with Potions, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he surpassed him... if he hadn't already.
As usual, the feast began with a huge feast with several round tables, surrounded by high-backed chairs, all made of intricately carved birch solids, the honey walnut veneer impeccably polished, giving off the general ancient and luxurious aura beneath the majestic copper chandelier.
Professor Slughorn had prepared several sets of silver cutlery and plates with enchanted crystal goblets for automatic replenishment when empty.
Severus scoffed slightly at the absurdity of all these lavish and sumptuous Victorian decorative designs.
Most of the male guests wore elegant suits while the women could be seen in full Regency dresses in different colours, a few witches like Amelia stood out by wearing more original clothes.
Severus and Amelia did not escape from the torture of having to listen to Professor Slughorn talk non-stop for long as when some guests who worked at the Ministry of Magic began to arrive, the Professor quickly introduced the two of them to these guests.
Then the professor gestured to the two of them, indicating that they should sit at the empty positions at one of the tables.
Severus sighed and agreed to sit with Amelia, then he looked carefully at the people at the table, there were not many, less than ten people.
Almost all members of the Ministry of Magic who were former Slytherin students along with some former Ravenclaw.
Severus shifted his chair and moved a little silently away from them while Amelia, contrary to him, approached them with quite a bit of enthusiasm for conversing with these people.
Well..., for Amelia this was a great opportunity as she was able to start a conversation with future colleagues.
After all, she had intentions of joining the Ministry of Magic as an employee when she finished Hogwarts.
Amelia nudged Severus with her elbow, forcing him to look up, eyebrows arched questioningly.
She nodded towards the Ministry members and discreetly gestured for him to join the conversation as well.
The two of them had already spent some time talking to these people, but Severus barely participated in the conversation, only answering the occasional question.
Severus rolled his eyes, giving her a small smile that told her that he clearly didn't plan on exchanging many words with these people.
Amelia gave him an amused smile back, she already knew that he wouldn't care or be interested in such things, but she at least wanted to try.
She already knew that he would leave at the first excuse he could find.
Severus's eyes roamed the various tables along with all the people attending the feast.
Most of them had already gotten down to business with the splendid food, the drinks, and the constant praise for Professor Slughorn.
Finally, Severus' eyes fell on Hermione who seemed to be sitting alone and bored in one corner of the room as she was pecking at the food on the table she was sitting at.
He had to admit that she looked rather lovely in the simple white dress she was wearing.
Severus was frankly surprised that Hermione didn't seem to even stand out among the other witches... it was as if the other wizards in voluminous robes didn't notice her for some strange reason that he couldn't understand.
Because clearly, she looked far more attractive and interesting than most of the witches present.
Severus glanced at his partner beside him, Amelia, apparently lost in her fruitful conversation with the Ministry employees.
"Er, excuse me, I just saw my cousin among the guests, Amelia, do you mind if I leave you for a few moments to go and greet her?" said Severus shooting Amelia a look that told her he obviously wouldn't be back once she left.
Amelia just rolled her eyes and shook her head.
" Sure it's no problem, Severus, I'll join you later," Amelia nodded with a smile even though she knew he was just avoiding staying with these people at the table any longer.
Severus nodded and said a polite goodbye to everyone present leaving Amelia to continue conversing with them.
Once he was away from them he sighed in relief that he had escaped the torture, it almost felt like when he was Obi-Wan's padawan and had to stand quietly beside him listening to annoying politicians talk or argue about meaningless things.
Finally, he approached the table where Hermione was.
"Hermione, you look fantastic! I didn't recognize you," Severus joked as he arrived in front of Hermione, though he wasn't really lying.
"Severus!, er... thanks... you look good too... er... where's your partner?" asked Hermione a little embarrassed by his compliment.
"Talking to some people from the Ministry" he replied lightly.
"Uh-oh and you don't keep her company?" she asked intrigued.
"I do, it's just that she and Slughorn have kept me busy long enough..., and I just saw you recently so I took the opportunity to get away, though I don't think Amelie would mind," Severus said sincerely.
And Hermione just nodded, expecting something like that from him.
"And your partner?" he asked curiously.
"Remus..., he, well, he preferred to go and talk to some Quidditch players... and you know, I don't..."
"You don't really like Quidditch," Severus added amused.
"Right..." she said with her cheeks a little red.
"By the way, where'd you get that dress?"
"Oh, it was a birthday present..." replied Hermione.
"That's great..." nodded Severus.
"From you, actually," she added.
"Oh, well, I got great taste," smiled Severus amused that the dress she was wearing was probably what she bought when he told her to buy something she liked for her birthday on the 19th of September.
Yes..., he hadn't had time to buy her a present at the time, so he had given her a bunch of galleons and told her to use them to buy herself something she liked.
Hermione just rolled her eyes and laughed a little at how shameless he could be.
Only a few minutes passed and of course, Severus was out of luck, because his walking torture seemed to have gotten to where he was again.
"Severus it's great to see you, I've been looking for you," Slughorn said excitedly, his eyes crossing over Hermione's face.
'I'd rather this man was a giant or a basilisk' Severus thought as he watched him, he really preferred dealing with enemies to having to endure this torture.
Hermione who noticed Severus' annoyance laughed slightly amused.
"Oh and this lady next to you must be your lovely cousin Miss Prince, Hermione Prince, no doubt the descent of the Prince family can be very honoured and talented," said the professor who had only had Hermione in his classes for a while but he had already managed to notice the great potential of the young girl...
Of course, in Professor Slughorn's eyes her talent in Potions was not comparable to Severus', but 12 Outstanding O.W.L.s was more than enough for her to get his attention.
"You know, I graduated alongside one of your Prince great-grandfathers, we both went to Slytherin together, yes, the Prince family has a long and rich history in Slytherin..." he added.
Hermione looked at Slughorn and said, "I'm currently in Gryffindor..."
Despite the fact that she wasn't really a Prince, she felt the need to clarify that.
"That's Slytherin's loss, isn't it?" said Slughorn regretfully.
"Be proud, my girl! I don't think Slytherin or any other house has ever seen a student with 12 Outstanding O.W.L.s before... maybe Ravenclaw but I don't really remember!" he added with a proud smile as if she was his student since childhood.
'Great. Now his attention is on me' Hermione thought with an annoyed sigh and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Severus smirk as if he was amused by her misfortune.
'Hmm... Why do I feel that Severus expected this to happen... although considering my O.W.L.s, this might actually make sense' she analysed.
...
...
"Your cousin is the most brilliant Potionist to ever pass through my class," said Slughorn who was already chatting to Hermione about all sorts of things.
Some time passed and finally, the music started to play, from the different tables in the room several couples got up and went to the dance floor.
Even Professor Slughorn left Hermione and Severus alone to go to the dance floor with some of the guests.
Although most of the people present opted to stay in their seats and keep talking.
It was then that Pandora and her partner approached the table where Severus was, apparently she had already finished talking to the vampires and the other wizard.
"Sev, I bet you don't know who I've been talking to!" she said excitedly as she approached him.
Pandora was wearing a white dress with green that made her look like a little angel.
"Hey Pandora, well I saw you very immersed in your conversation with those three people over there," he replied.
"Oh, yeah, but two of them were vampires, amazing don't you think?"
Severus just smiled and shook his head amused by her cheerful and energetic behaviour.
"Cough Cough" coughed Pandora's partner.
"Huh, is something wrong Xeno?" asked Pandora.
"Uh..., no, it's nothing, but would you mind introducing us," said Pandora's partner a little embarrassed, after all, he had followed her to this table but she still hadn't introduced him to her friend, and the other young woman next to him, even though he knew who they were it didn't seem polite to suddenly speak without first introducing himself to the person in question.
"Uh-oh yeah, right, I forgot, heh, Sev, this is my good friend Xeno. Xeno this is my friend Sev," she said casually as she smiled.
Pandora's partner coughed again and shook his head in embarrassment.
Severus just grinned in amusement.
And Hermione couldn't help but laugh a little at Severus' friend's behaviour, she already knew that Pandora was Luna Lovegood's mother and she had to admit that both mother and daughter bore a great resemblance, although her mother was certainly more hyper than Luna.
"So..., yes, it's nice to meet you, I'm Xenophilius Lovegood," Xeno greeted politely after regaining his composure and introduced himself properly.
"Severus Prince, I must say it's nice to meet a friend of Pandora's" Severus replied politely, Xeno really seemed to be a nice guy.
Finally, Xeno and Pandora looked at Hermione who was standing next to Severus as if waiting for her to introduce herself.
"Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Severus' cousin, Hermione, Hermione Prince"
"Huh?, Oh so she's your cousin Sev? wow..., you don't have any similarity, hmm... it's like you're not even related..."
Hermione's eyes went wide in surprise when she said that, but Severus knew Pandora would pick up on this.
"Yeah, we may not have similarities, but we are," Severus said lightly winking at Pandora.
After that, the four of them continued to talk for a few moments about various topics until Pandora insisted that all of them should go dancing together.