"You visiting me is quite a nice surprise, Albus. Make yourself comfortable in my humble domain," Horace Slughorn offered after Dumbledore had entered though the floo.
"Oh, thank you, Horace. I already knew you like to live in style, but this quite impressive," Dumbledore replied, stroking the man's ego a little. After all, he was very familiar with Slughorn's ego after decades of knowing him.
Also, it was not exactly flattery. He'd known for years that Slughorn had developed a taste for a style that had been modern in the Muggle world around 1900. It certainly looked high-quality and not tacky at all, if you exclude the prominent tiger skin on the floor. The most prominent feature of the opulent room however was the big piano - Slughorn always had a fable for playing a piece when he was bored.
"Oho, I did it with some help from someone I vetted who has started dealing with old furniture. You would not believe how much of it you can find on the Muggle market. Of course I only selected the best pieces," Slughorn said with quite some pride.
Watching the ex-professor while he was pouring both of them a drink, Dumbledore observed that his body language was not as energetic as it used to be. Indeed, despite looking pristine on first glance there were small signs that this was only an outer appearance and indeed not all things were great. That Slughorn's belly had grown a bit also was a hint that Dumbledore managed to interpret correctly.
"Ah, thank you, Horace," Dumbledore accepted the drink. "Things have been very busy at Hogwarts, lots of change, you know. So I felt visiting you for a relaxing conversation would do me some good."
"Oh really? I have to admit that I'm a bit out of the loop concerning Hogwarts. Please tell me more, Albus," Slughorn asked, barely managing to conceal his great interest.
And so Dumbledore started to tell him of the changes that were coming to Hogwarts with the next school year. The only thing he didn't mention were the plans for Potions. He did not do this to lie to Slughorn, however. Instead, Slughorn as a Slytherin to the core would have felt somewhat offended, had he told him straight away. No, this was all part of the game that Slughorn loved to play and Dumbledore knew, should he bait the hook well enough, Slughorn would agree.
When the Headmaster was finally done, Slughorn did look impressed. "My goodness, you are literally turning the school inside-out. And to think that these are not even all the changes you wanted to go through with... But of course red tape and bean counters are always an obstacle."
"Certainly, but I'm sure this can be overcome in several years. Though, now I am curious at how you have fared since you have left Hogwarts four years ago," Dumbledore asked, knowing this was the path to the kill.
Slughorn seemed to dim somewhat. "Well, I have done well for myself, as you can see. All my years of running the Slug Club have also paid off nicely and I have lots of time on my hands now..." Slughorn fell silent.
Dumbledore knew he already had him now. "Horace, I can see that you are not as happy as you thought you would be in retirement. Things are not working out as you thought they would?"
Slughorn sighed. "No, they don't. My contacts go far and wide due to decades of teaching them at school, but only now I realize being retired means I can no longer add anyone new. Finding new upcoming talents had always been the fun part. I'll be honest with you, Albus, I'm very much bored as well. Retirement has not worked out in the way I thought it would. If I could, I would take the chance to return to teaching."
Ah, he has pretty much asked me if there is a chance. Now to show him the lay of the land. "Oh, I didn't want to mention it to you at first, but things are not going well with House Slytherin at the moment," Dumbledore revealed, this being the next bait.
"Really? Please tell me, how are things with my old House?" Slughorn asked.
And this was exactly what Dumbledore did. He gave the man an uncensored rundown of the problems that Snape was having with Slytherin, and how essentially it all boiled down to them not respecting him. He also made sure to sprinkle in mentions of how Potions class at Hogwarts had suffered in recent years. This all also was part of the game.
"My dear, I had no idea it could become this bad!" Slughorn said dramatically. "Alright, Albus, you can stop pretending. I knew right from the start that you were here to see if you can tempt me into returning to teaching. Seeing how bad things have gotten and all the exciting changes happening at Hogwarts, I am inclined to agree. Of course with some conditions."
Dumbledore knew he now only had to show Slughorn the final bait and it would be a done deal. "We already thought ahead of this, Horace. Besides a salary raise, You no longer have to teach the NEWT classes, as this will be done by Severus. This should give you plenty more time for your other activities."
Seeing Slughorn brighten up at the idea of more money for less work and more time for his vetting activities, he knew he got his man. "This sounds fabulous! Show me the way to your office, we have to put this into writing right now!"
This is Horace as I know him, the Headmaster mused while throwing some powder into the fireplace.
...August 12th, Ministry of Magic...
Hagrid barely held back his joy when the court was dismissed after the final verdict. It had been a long way to this point but now it finally was over and done with.
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