There was nothing James Potter hated more than Potions class, absolutely nothing. He couldn't count the number of times he had melted his cauldron or overdone a brew, boiled something over or had it explode all over his brown hair and Gryffindor robes. Even now, in his sixth year at Hogwarts, he struggled with the class, but he refused help from anyone; failing so miserably at this one thing when he did so excellently otherwise was embarrassing enough.

Lily Evans couldn't help but find his struggles a bit amusing.

She had always disliked his teasing and cruelty; he was forever ready for a verbal engagement, easily egging her on with his jokes and taunts. He really deserved to suffer a bit in something, even if it was as small a problem as doing poorly in Potions.

But, then again, Lily Evans hated for anyone to suffer.

She'd tried to help him inconspicuously; over the years she had cast spell upon spell trying to keep his potion correct, repairing it physically by sometimes "tripping" and dumping the necessary ingredient inside.

It hadn't appeared to help much.

So she was fairly surprised and somewhat concerned to walk by the Potions classroom one afternoon on her way to the library and see James hunched over what looked like a spewing and boiling mess.

The vengeful piece of her said to let him blow himself up or whatever he ended up doing, but her kindness won out and she walked in behind him.

The thin bespectacled boy was muttering spells under his breath and gesturing wildly at his failed brew, trying to regain control of... whatever he had been practicing.

Lily coughed lightly, hoping that Potter would turn at the sound, but he continued to concentrate on the potion. Walking closer, she slowly rested a hand on his shoulder and then startled as he jumped a near foot in the air.

"Blimey Sirius, you scared the devil out of me-" he said, trailing off as he looked back and saw Lily, wide eyed. "I, oh, um- Evans... Sorry about that."

Lily nodded, still a bit shell-shocked herself, but felt more at ease when she saw the slight blush spreading across her companion's face. Apparently James hadn't planned on anyone seeing his work in progress.

"What potion are you-" Lily glanced around him, watching the steaming cauldron, "attempting?"

"I, uh... It's nothing," he said, moving to block her view, but Lily was quicker. She put out a hand and pushed past him...

Standing over the cauldron, she breathed in deeply and felt a twinge of surprise. "Is this a Babb-"

"Babbling Beverage, yes."

"Why in the world are you hoping to make one?" Lily asked.

"No reason..." James muttered, but he continued when he saw the incredulous look on Lily's face. "All right, Evans; I was hoping to improve my potions and to also, well, maybe give a few first years a hard time." James smiled then, hoping to dazzle the girl into leaving him be, but the glare on her face never left.

"Really? How pathetically immature."

And with that simple statement, Lily Evans was suddenly emptying new ingredients into his cauldron.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he asked, stunned.

"Fixing this ridiculously horrid potion."

James stood and watched over her shoulder as she stirred and poured, smelt the brew and then added another item to it. She told him what she was doing as she went, looking over her shoulder occasionally to make sure he was paying attention. Finally, she stepped back.

"There."

James gave her a questioning look.

"Your Babbling Beverage," she clarified, "is complete."

"You helped me finish something I'm going to use to play tricks on first years with? I thought you abhorred such actions."

Lily grinned then, and James felt his heart beat a bit quicker at the sight.

"Oh no, Potter," she said, "this isn't to be used on first years. This is for you."

"Why in Merlin's name would I drink that?" he asked, laughing.

"Because," Lily said, and he didn't miss the sound of triumph in her voice, "I just caught you doing something that could very well have you in trouble with the Headmaster, as well as ridiculed by fellow students. You were just helped by a girl and, to beat it all," and here she grinned, "me."

James stood in silence for a moment, his jaw dropping so low Lily thought she must have given him quite the shock. "I- You're good, Evans," he said finally, and then began to smile. "You're good."

Lily felt her face heat up under his admiring gaze. "Just drink it, Potter."

Still smirking at her, he took a cup of the potion she poured for him. Raising it to his lips, he toasted her and simply said, "Cheers."

She watched him drink the whole glass and swallow before saying, "How was that?"

"I is not good so now."

Lily just laughed, pushing past him to go back out the door. "Just remember how it feels to be a pranked-upon first year," she said, "and when you need more potions tutoring for, hmm, valid reasons, you know where to find me."

"Evans, like you I," James said, Blabbering Beverage muddling his language.

Lily just smiled and walked out the Potions room door.

With images of a devilishly smiling James Potter in her head, it was hours later before she remembered why exactly she'd gone down that hallway in the first place.