The Half-Blood Prince

Barnaby knew that Dumbledore would reclaim his position as Headmaster of Hogwarts, but he still hoped for a miracle, that someone else might step in.

Ideally, someone who would actually do the job and not delegate every duty to Deputy Headmistress McGonagall.

But it didn't happen.

On the bright side, he could at least return to the castle with the Tonberries, Muk, and his other friends!

"At least the Minister of Magic is now Rufus Scrimgeour; he's much better than someone like Fudge," he thought, resigned to recent events.

It was a strange season. Leaving aside the delayed changes at the Ministry, Snape was finally going to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, while his position as Potions Master would be taken by Horace Slughorn.

There was also news of Ollivander's disappearance, which greatly worried him until he received a letter from the old man. Inside was a photograph showing him lying on a hammock tied between two palm trees on an unknown beach, wearing sunglasses, a brightly colored shirt, and holding a coconut with a straw and a tiny umbrella sticking out.

"I'm too old for all this!" was written on the back of the photo.

Inside the letter was a key, and Barnaby realized that Ollivander had essentially taken a vacation after assessing the situation, "temporarily" handing over the responsibility of wands to him.

At least he took his warning to heart…

So, Barnaby had to act as Ollivander himself for two weeks before the school year began. People looked at him a bit strangely but didn't question it.

The wizards who brought their children in for their first wands at least knew Barnaby was Ollivander's apprentice and behaved reasonably.

But his patience was really tested by young witches and wizards whose parents were both Muggles. Some of them were scared when the enchanted measuring tape began taking their measurements out of nowhere, and they wouldn't stop asking questions about wands—what they were made of, and they even wanted to choose the wand themselves rather than let it choose them.

Some of the parents were a bit rude, too, but they quieted down and behaved better when Sanshi emerged from Barnaby's shadow and split the counter in two with a single movement of her tail.

It was exhausting to deal with people so excited by their first encounter with the facet called magic.

When it was over, Barnaby placed a large lock on the store and went to visit the Weasley twins' shop, which they intended to open in two days.

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!

He had to admit, the duo seemed to have a nose for business. He couldn't help but laugh when they showed him a certain product for constipation relief and its sales slogan, along with other things that required a good deal of daring to use, like edible Dark Marks that would make the eater sick.

Although he didn't like that they sold such questionable items as love potions.

Even so, he managed to make a deal for several materials with them and even became their first customer, purchasing Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, Decoy Detonators, shield cloaks and gloves, Extendable Ears, Portable Swamps, and Truth Sweets.

These were really fascinating items.

Oh, and an interesting tidbit he learned during his shopping: it turns out that Fleur Delacour was going to marry Bill Weasley!

"Poor, poor Bill…" Barnaby thought, pitying the guy's misfortune.

Stranger still, Harry didn't show up at the opening feast.

Only three hours later did they learn that he was apparently paralyzed on the Hogwarts Express with his invisibility cloak over him. He was discovered because he tripped the snack trolley lady, and now Harry had two red lines on his face from where the trolley wheels ran over him.

The result?

Gryffindor started the school year with negative points, courtesy of Snape, who noticed Harry entered the castle still in his Muggle clothes instead of his student uniform.

"I need to visit that new professor," Barnaby thought, somewhat concerned about the vessel containing Muk. "Although he has a reputation as a capable potioneer, I've also heard he can be a bit greedy," Aunt Pomona once warned.

He was aware of the Slug Club, but he really had no interest in joining a circle like that if invited. Yes, the connections would be varied, but he had the feeling it was more of a club for displaying the "trophies" Slughorn had managed to recruit over the years.

Besides, gatherings or membership in this type of club wouldn't bring him any real benefit. It was better to decline politely if the opportunity arose.

"Ah! You must be Barnaby, Hagrid's son," greeted Slughorn when he saw him enter the Potions classroom, shaking his hand enthusiastically. "A pleasure to meet you! I was just about to look for you! Snape wasn't very prolific with the details of… this," he gestured at the vessel containing Muk.

Yes, Barnaby had expected something like that, and it was partly why he hurried over before the start of the term's first class.

"Fascinating!" Slughorn observed as Muk cleaned a cauldron with a potion he had intentionally ruined. "A very curious creature, though it seems it's not the only one I've seen since I arrived at Hogwarts. I've heard you know Newt Scamander?"

Wow, he really has an impressive network of contacts.

"Yes, we collaborate from time to time," he confirmed, not mentioning that they were neighbors.

"I see…" Slughorn watched intently as Muk retreated into his vessel. "Tell me, did you know I have a club?"

Barnaby spent half an hour listening to all sorts of stories from Horace. It goes without saying he was invited thanks to his interesting friends, but true to his intention, he declined courteously.

"That reminds me," Barnaby was about to leave but remembered the task Minerva had assigned him. "Professor Slughorn, I'll be replacing some of the old Potions books with new ones. Feel free to let students use them; after all, your criteria for admitting students to advanced Potions lessons are different from what my uncle Snape required."

While Snape demanded an "Outstanding" grade, Slughorn only required "Exceeds Expectations" for upper-year students.

"Do I have to pay for the books?" Slughorn asked, suddenly cautious.

"No, the school covered the costs."

"Wonderful!" the Potions Master applauded. "It so happens that I've had some last-minute applications, so they're arriving just in time."

Barnaby swapped out the scarce, ancient books that had who knows how many years on them, taking them out to burn later; Calcifer would likely appreciate a rare snack. He skimmed through them to make sure nothing was left inside the pages and noticed something curious in one of them.

"The Half-Blood Prince?" he raised an eyebrow at one of the heavily scribbled books, but it was filled with useful notes rather than random doodles as one might expect. "I'll take it home to review later."

If the annotations were good enough, he could make a new book with the corrections and keep it in his family library.

As for publishing it?

Although he was sure this could earn him money if reliable—since it had been years since anyone reviewed potion formulas as the previous owner seemed to have done—he wasn't a thief who took others' efforts for his gain.

Besides, what if this person decided to sue him later?

It wasn't worth it; it was good enough to add this information to his family's library. Though, there was another way to derive indirect benefits…

"Perhaps it would be more profitable to brew potions using these steps?" he wondered as he read one of the modified versions. "Or even achieve greater effectiveness; in any case, I can look into it later."