HP: The Other Potter! Ch.6 (Patreon)

Chapter 6

ALDEN POTTER

After his little discussion with Shacklebolt, the train ride had been mostly uneventful. In the final year, Slytherin was a rather quiet and obscure member of her house, and many students fared her because of her no-nonsense demeanour and the general reputation of her House.

House Slytherin, while not yet oscterised as it would be in the future, was still looked at distrustfully, and rightly so, for the House had the biggest pricks of their society sorted into it. Even for him, with his knowledge and maturity, the biases would spring up despite his repeated attempts to squash it down.

Though one place the House of Snakes found itself at home was at the Slug Club of its Head of House, the club was a social gathering of just the right sorts for them, a chance to build connections and further one’s ambitions.

He had not been a fan of it, yet he had quickly realized its usefulness. And then, given the Potions master's fondness for him, all it had taken was a simple suggestion here and a simple suggestion there. Then several new, fresh faces had found themselves invited to the gathering, and as he entered the specialized compartment, alongside Narcissa, he was greeted by some of those very faces as he found.

“It still amazes me that you attend these gatherings,” Narcissa added from the side as he slid into the compartment and he looked towards the Black woman who stood by his side as his date.

“How about we make a game of it,” he offered with a sly smile, making him narrow her eyes.

“How?” she asked as he picked up two glasses of Butterbeer from a floating tray and handed one to her.

“How about by the end of this gathering, you try and figure out why I attend these gatherings,” he offered. It would be a fun little game for her and help her pass the time, for he had gotten the indication that she was not fond of such gatherings.

Alden was not pleased with this setup initially, but he had enough sense not to make the girl suffer because of it. In all this, she was relatively blameless, a fact that his mother had drilled into him over a discussion that had lasted several lectures.

“And what do I get if I guess correctly?” she questioned, and he seemed to stew on it before she added. It seemed that she was easing up to him, somewhat, for she still was often quite nervous, but she would manage. They were family still, and that meant something to him.

“We will figure something out,” and he nodded before he heard his name getting called.

“Alden, my boy!” he looked up and found the portly professor coming over towards him.

“It is good of you to join us finally, I have been looking forward to it,” he said as they shook hands, and Alden didn’t miss how the man’s eyes narrowed slightly as he welcomed the Black daughter besides him.

“You know, I have just heard from Dumbledore that there has been a complaint against your club at school from one of the governors,” and Alden was surprised by that before he realized just who this might be.

“The Malfoy’s he reasoned out quickly. This was a retaliation. Abraxus Malfoy was a governor and was the only person who had any reason to go after him,” the plump potions master smiled as he took a sip of his drink.

“I did not say it,” he said cheerily as he leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially.

“But you would not be wrong,” he said, and Alden smirked.

“Dumbledore wished to end the whole club, but I spoke against it. Of course, it is such a nice thing you have established. I have never seen such good grades from a class,” and the club he spoke of was a study group, though it would be wrong to call it as such.

Muggle-born students plucked out most of the time, not failing, but would often remain behind the pure-bloods and the half-bloods because of a lack of guidance and connections.

So, in his third year, Alden started a little study group where people could help one another to remedy the first part about a lack of guidance while he participated in these slug club meetings and remedied the second part.

“Alden,” he heard his name getting called from the side and looked up to find Mr. Ogden's familiar face there, coming up to greet him.

“Mr. Ogden, how are you?” he greeted the man who shook his hand with the enthusiasm of a man a quarter his age. Thomas Ogden, or as he preferred to be called, Mr. Ogden, was a lawyer who was one of the best in the wizarding world and had a very successful practice.

The man had been looking for an apprentice to aid him in his work as he grew older, and so Alden had stepped in. The man was familiar with him because of their circles and a few mentions of a rather brilliant student named Ted from Hufflepuff. He had gotten the boy an interview with the man, and now, even as a student, Ted Tonks worked at the law firm as an intern.

“I am fine, fine, especially after you sent young Tonks my way. That boy is a miracle worker. A brilliant mind with the work ethic of a house-elf. He will go far that one, I am telling you, very far,” the man said, and it was nice to hear about that. Ted Tonks was fun to hang around with, and Thomas liked the guy he had been amongst the first to join his group even though he was his senior.

“Yes, Mr. Tonks is quite a hard worker. He has the makings of a fine barrister,” added the potions master from the side, smiling as he felt his little web grow. They made small talk as others came to greet him, students and full-fledged wizards, some to thank him, some to pick his mind, and some to seek his aide, for it was an untold secret that he was somewhat of a head-hunter in these parties.

And he did not just help muggle-borns, half-bloods, and many pure-bloods without connections sought his help, and he would give it for it cost him little more than going to a party and talking, little cost for a better world.

“I heard about your run in the dueling tournament. It's a shame that you lost the finals,” Mr. Ogden remarked as the crowd began to lessen, and Alden smiled even though he was not thrilled about the loss.

“Yes, it was a shame, but the boy who beat him was on the older side and had much experience this year. I believe we shall finally have a British champion in the underage division,” said Professor Slughorn with pride as he patted him on the back.

“Yes, yes, though I have heard rumors that the Ministry may send another candidate this year,” Mr. Ogden began surprising him.

“What? Who would be better than our Alden? He reached the finals of the tournament in his first year; it would be a big mistake to send another one when we have Mr. Potter here,” Horace came to his defense.

“I agree, but there are rumors that this person may even be more skilled than him, though I refuse to believe that until I see it with my own eyes,” he said as he raised his glass.

CLINK.

The Potions professor raised his own, clinking the two glasses as he agreed.

“So do I. I plan to make a heavy wager on our little boy wonder. I have not seen a finer duellist in decades,” he said, and Mr. Ogden nodded, and on and on it went as Narcissa stuck to his side-eyeing his face, his expressions and listening in on the conversations, though hers were not the only pair of eyes locked onto him for he did not miss how he was being eyed throughout the little part by a rather miffed out group of Slytherin, a group headed by none other than Lucius Malfoy himself.

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LUCIUS MALFOY

The Malfoys were an ancient family, a pure-blood family with deep roots and even deeper coffers. As the only heir of a House of such prestige and power, Lucius Malfoy lacked little in his life.

All his life he had grown up with all his desires being met, he had thought the influence and the riches of the Malfoy family the ultimate kind of power, and in some ways they were. Yet one meeting with the Dark Lord had dissuaded him of that notion.

Yes, there was power in blood, influence, and gold. Yet none of that mattered when he stood infront of their lord. His prowess, his eyes, everything about him was beyond anything Lucius had ever seen, a figure that rivalled and went beyond the vaunted Albus Dumbledore.

And it was the words of that very lord that stilled him from burning down the scumbag infront of him to a crisp as he strode through the little Slug Club party with his Narcissa in his arms. Their potions master's attempts at networking were timid and childish, yet he wouldn’t deny their effectiveness.

The old man had built around him a web of influence that spanned the entire of Britain. Lucius had little need of all this; his name carried enough power to get him into any room, yet they provided a good place for recruiting like-minded individuals.

“Look at him, prancing around the party like that,” Yaxley added from the side as they stood in the corner of the room and watched, probably the only person who could rival Lucius in his privilege.

“If it weren’t for the Lord, I would show him his real place for the insult,” Yaxley said.

“Yet you will do no such thing,” he chided the young Yaxley heir, and he scoffed as he sipped his glass.

“I know, I wouldn’t want to anger our lord,” Yaxley said, and there was a hint of disapproval in his tone, and Lucius turned towards him.

“Do not do anything rash, Yaxley,” he warned him. He had seen what happened when their lord got angry and disappointed, and he would not wish it on Yaxley even though he was not fond of him.

“I know, but I don’t understand what our Lord sees in him. He is damned blood traitor, one who insults everything we stand for as he languishes with those mud bloods,” Yaxley complained, and Lucius had the same thoughts yet was smart enough never to bring them to his tongue, for words had power.

“You would be able to see it if you were not such a self-absorbed prick,” came a scoff from the side, and his head snapped towards the source.

Victoria Parkinson stood there leaning against the wall, her eyes glued to the same person they were looking at.

“You...” Yaxley was about to speak up when Lucius held him by the shoulder, stopping him as he turned towards the blonde girl.

“And what do you think is that?”

“Power,” she answered.

“He is a sixth year, yet he is perhaps the most powerful wizard in our school. Something which you could never hope to achieve even if you were here for fourteen years, Yaxley,” Victoria ut in scathingly making Yaxley flare up.

“It seems you still haven’t gotten over your little crush, Parkinson. Does it bother you to see him walking with that Black girl?” Yaxley teased, and Lucius glared at him.

Victoria did not respond as he had expected and didn’t rage as she drowned her glass.

Victoria and Alden were Hogwart’s most famous couple. They got together in their third year and were the most iconic couple at the school. The infamous Slytherin queen paired with a  studious and charming Ravenclaw, though most dangerous, was that their political loyalties belonged to opposite factions.

Lucius had known that such a thing would end in failure.

It happened last year, though, according to rumors, tensions had been growing between the fabled couple for some time.

“I am not worried. Soon enough, he will realize the error of his ways and will come back to me.”

“We are destined to be together.”

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