Chapter 318: The Slug Club

"Actually, you don't have to go at all." A voice rang out. Harry and Luo En turned their heads to look; it was Hermione. Ailiya was currently linking arms with her, and the two looked quite intimate.

"I mean, your O. W. L. certificates prove you passed the exams; as long as you participated in the exams, you will inevitably receive these certificates." Hermione's tone was very firm. "The Ministry of Magic can at most suppress them and not issue them, but it's impossible to cancel your certificates."

"What difference does that make?" Luo En muttered.

"As long as your certificates still exist, you don't have to be in a hurry to get them; instead, you can just join three clubs in your sixth year." Hermione said confidently. "If you're busy with exams this year, you don't even have to join a single club."

"No, you don't understand." Harry shook his head. "Arnold is... he is a man of the Ministry of Magic. If he wants me to participate in his club, he has plenty of ways. Rather than looking for trouble, it's better to agree to him early."

Harry did not reveal the intelligence he had obtained from Zhang Qiu about the "Chief Civil Servant." He vaguely had a feeling telling him that a thick barrier had already formed between them and Hermione.

"Yeah, that's true for Harry Potter, but Luo En, you don't have to be in such a hurry." Hermione said.

"How can I not be in a hurry?" Luo En's rebellious psychology was instantly triggered. "I can't watch Harry be busy while I'm idle!"

"Fine," Hermione shrugged. "See you later."

From beginning to end, Ailiya had not said a single word. She had been linking arms with Hermione the whole time, only waving at them with her other hand when they parted.

"Don't worry about so much; let's go see Professor Slughorn first." Harry pulled Luo En. "Let's see what he's planning to get up to again."

When they arrived at that classroom, they discovered that Slughorn hadn't just invited the two of them. However, judging by the degree of his warm welcome, Harry was the one he was most looking forward to seeing.

"Harry!" Slughorn almost jumped up from his seat. "It's so good that you're willing to come, so good! Oh, and you too, Luo En; I knew you two were best mates."

Harry nodded, while Luo En revealed a smile; he was very happy that others praised the relationship between him and Harry.

This empty classroom had also been rearranged, becoming somewhat similar to the Torchwood headquarters. The difference was that there were more seats here, and several drinks were placed on the long table in the middle.

"Alright, everyone knows each other, right?" Slughorn greeted. "The famous Savior, the rising star of the era, the first person of the post-Dumbledore era—"

Everything he said were words that had appeared in the *Daily Prophet*, but Harry still felt goosebumps all over his body.

"Harry Potter!" The students loudly read out his name, and then everyone laughed, with Harry Potter himself laughing the most reluctantly.

"I think everyone must know you two, but do you know everyone sitting here?" Slughorn said, beginning to introduce the students sitting there to them.

"This is Blaise Zabini," Slughorn introduced a Slytherin boy, and they greeted each other very reluctantly.

"Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've met before?" That burly guy with coarse hair raised a hand and nodded slightly.

"This is Marcus Belby, I wonder if you—" Belby was thin and looked nervous; he smiled unnaturally.

"—Oh, this charming young lady seems to be saying that she knows you!" Slughorn walked to the side of the last person, and unsurprisingly, it was Hermione, who waved enthusiastically at Harry.

"Alright, truly delightful," Slughorn said with satisfaction. "A chance for more mutual understanding. Come, snacks after dinner, feel free to eat a little, or have some fruit wine... there's almost no alcohol, students can drink it too."

Harry noticed that many people were holding half-filled glasses of a pale red liquid, so he and Luo En went to get one each, holding them in their hands.

"I was just saying that we are almost living in the best of times, Mr. Wei Wei Silai, do you agree with this point of view?" Slughorn said with a smile.

"I, uh, I guess so." Luo En was a bit bewildered by the question.

"You sound a bit reluctant, or is it that you prefer the time when Scrimgeour was in power and your father was just an office head?" Slughorn laughed at his own words. "Clearly, yes, Hake made many wise decisions, one of which was promoting your father to be the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, wasn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose." Luo En was clearly caught in an awkward situation; he had no idea how to answer.

"I think Luo En means that this makes his father and sausages the same type of thing." Harry felt he was helping Luo En out of a tight spot.

And Slughorn immediately burst into laughter, and Cormac also laughed until he had tears in his eyes; only Hermione revealed an expression of not knowing what was going on, and she and the somewhat sluggish Luo En looked at each other.

"How interesting, Harry," Slughorn laughed. "Alright, let's not talk about Mr. Wei Wei Silai for now; let's talk about you, Belby, how is your uncle?"

"Still, still alright." That boy's expression was also somewhat unnatural.

"Yes, I taught him back in the day, a very honorable thing; he was already very excellent when he was in school. When I learned that he had invented the Wolfsbane Potion, I wasn't surprised at all."

Belby reluctantly echoed, and Slughorn seemed to see something, so he didn't make things too difficult for him, but instead turned to the next person.

"How about you, Cormac," Slughorn said, "how is your uncle Tiberius doing lately? Has he been worn out by the hearings?"

"Yes, he's been collecting materials lately, busy off his feet." Cormac answered with ease. "We can't let the committee think that our Ministry of Magic is extravagant and derelict in its duties."

"That's the one bad thing about working for the government; when you're busy, you're always very busy, haha." Slughorn ended Cormac's topic abruptly and turned to talk about Zabini; his mother seemed to be a famous beautiful witch, or to put it vividly, a star in the Wizarding World.

"And this one, Miss Hermione Granger, your performance in my class was absolutely brilliant. I think you must be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, the founder of the Extraordinary Society of Potioneers." He said with a beaming smile. Harry took the opportunity to recall Hermione's performance in class; he felt it was very ordinary, perhaps because he was already accustomed to Hermione's excellence.

"Not at all, sir." Hermione's smile was a bit stiff. "I am Muggle-born."

"Oh, I see..." Slughorn seemed to fall into deep thought, but soon, an even brighter smile bloomed on his face. "That makes you even more excellent!"

"Among all the students I have taught, only one person could have talent comparable to yours, and that is Harry's mother." Slughorn said happily. "You two are truly the students every Potions professor dreams of; you will surely achieve great things in the future, unless... eh!"

His tone suddenly became dejected, and Harry also felt a bit sad. If his mother hadn't died at the hands of Voldemort, perhaps she could have also invented some great potion.

"But we must always look forward." Slughorn squeezed out a smile. "Miss Granger, I look forward to seeing what amazing things you can do. Of course, I also sincerely advise you to carefully consider your marriage."

Hermione's complexion was a bit unnatural, but she didn't speak up to refute.

"I once organized a student gathering called the Slug Club." Slughorn finally got to the point. "Inviting the most excellent students at Hogwarts to participate, I believe everyone will become outstanding wizards in the future, and it just so happens you can take this opportunity to forge some friendships..."

Harry was skeptical of this claim; Slughorn wasn't just aiming for excellence; his focus should be on inviting the children of successful people, or children from families with connections.

But at least one point was something Harry thought was worth thanking him for, and that was that he talked about many stories of Lily Evans, allowing Harry to understand his mother from another angle.

The gathering lasted until 8:30, and Slughorn told many other anecdotes about outstanding wizards, and quite cleverly, these people had all been his students once.

At the end, Slughorn indicated that if he noticed other excellent students, or if anyone present had recommendations, they could also consider adding some new members to the Slug Club; this club would never be dissolved.

"Thank goodness, it's finally over." When leaving the classroom, Luo En immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's go back first," Harry looked around vigilantly. "Actually, I think joining this club isn't bad; it doesn't take much time, and it just happens to fill a club quota."

They talked about Slughorn the whole way; Luo En felt he had a very strong Slytherin temperament, but Harry thought he also had his merits; after all, he had talked about his mother being his favorite student several times.

"I think he is a relatively open-minded person." When walking into the dormitory, Harry was still saying. "Although he is emotionally biased toward purebloods, he is not a pureblood supremacist; he also acknowledges the existence of excellent Muggle-borns. You see, he was also very enthusiastic toward Hermione."

"But you also noticed that when he first saw Hermione, he started looking for a pureblood background for her, which shows that deep down he still believes in blood supremacy." Luo En retorted.

"Are you talking about Slughorn?" Neville asked.

"Yes."

"He and that Slug Club of his are a complete waste of time; I didn't go at all." Neville said. "You actually missed the point; Slughorn doesn't care about bloodline; he just wants to associate with famous, successful, and powerful people as much as possible, or people who will get ahead in various industries in the future. He wants to build friendships with these people during his student days to gain some kind of benefit; he likes the feeling of having them at his beck and call."

"That's how it is." Harry thought what he said made a lot of sense.

"And if you want to find such people, we have to admit that it is indeed easier for pureblood families to produce big figures, because they can receive extraordinary resources from a young age." ===== CHAPTER 319 =====