Okay hi there, most of the stories in here are going to be a hot mess if I'm being honest. I get some of my inspo from things I see on the internet some is all me. I write these stories for me but thought that it would be nice to share and see if anyone else liked them as much as I did. :)
Potions was already not her favorite class, it had proven to be so difficult to keep up at the pace she had taken it for the past five years.
She had spent countless hours poring over her already worn textbook and it was only the third month of the year.
No matter the amount of praise she got for being top in the class, she couldn't help but feel irritated toward the subject.
She did however like the lessons, always self-paced, she was able to move ahead in the times where she had already mastered that day's lecture. She took to scribbling up and down the margins and in-between the texts to make more sense and tips for her future self when studying. Something she had picked up from…someone that hardly mattered.
This class however, made her feel quite ill. Not that she didn't think that the members of this morning's potions class were capable of greatness (well maybe with the excuse of one…) but she wasn't into the whole partnership thing. She despised trying to explain what to do or what something means to a person that should have just listened or tried harder.
She was secretly glad that her friends all dropped potions after their fifth-year exams, she hated getting annoyed with them but they were just as bad as anyone at not having a clue and what was going on.
This class in particular, professor Slughorn had explained that there was a shortage in potion ingredients so for now everyone was to gain a partner to work together with.
As she looked around to survey the class she grimaced at her chances at getting a capable partner.
Slughorn took it into his own hands to make up the process of finding said partner; to "keep it fair".
"Hopefully you'll meet someone new!" he stated with enthusiasm that was genuine but not shared by any of his students. He didn't seem to notice this as he passed around an emerald colored box and asked for everyone to pick out a number.
She watched each student pick out a number;
Hilly Dhampir- 4
Simon Greyvan- 10
James Potter- 7
Gavin Carpon- 6
Dolana Messer-2
Pinia Pastel- 3
Anna Ada- 10
It was her turn. Slughorn handed her the box with a big smile and looked at the opening. She reached into the box.
Everything depended on the number she picked out. Slughorn's eye never wavered from the cut out of the box so there was no way she was going to be able to take a peek to ensure she got any number other than '7'.
She pleaded silently as her fingers picked out a small folded piece of paper.
Narrowing her eyes, she took a deep breath and unfolded the parchment. In elegant black ink the number that looked back at her made her stomach boil.
She slowly started thinking of all the ways that she could possible leave class before Slughorn finished passing the box around.
"Now, if you all would please partner up with the students corresponding with the numbers you picked out." He smiled with delight as everyone asked around looking for the person that shared their number. "Once you have done so, go ahead and find an empty station."
"Well, this just cannot be!" a voice behind her squealed, "It must be fate!" she turned to see him with his stupid face, and his stupid smile and his stupid twinkling eyes…stupid.
"I don't have time for this." She muttered as she threw her books into her bag hotly. She stood, turning without giving him the pleasure of seeing her face turn such an unappealing shade of fuchsia.
She pulled out a stool from an empty station and threw her book bag down on it. She didn't look over to him as he sauntered over taking a seat next to her.
She wrestled with all of the crap that was cluttering her bag and grabbed her potions book. She made it her number one effort to not make any kind of eye contact with him, knowing all too well that he would say something to annoy her further.
This was just a horrid day. She had woken up late, missed breakfast, didn't have any time to shower, and to her frustration, had found that her favorite perfume had ran out. Not only was her stomach empty and complaining, she smelled like a pile of dirt.
Potions was the first class of the day and she had no one that she knew…correction, liked, to vent to.
She decided to take it out on the peppermint flower that was among the other ingredients that had been laid out in front of the cauldron.
That had spiked James' attention "Hey!" he had gotten to his feet when she started to bruise the flower, "What are you doing? We don't even know what we are supposed to be making."
"Oh, please!" she snapped, "unlike you, I read the textbook, unlike you I can recognize what we are supposed to be making, and unlike you I do not have time for horse play and want to get this over with."
She turned away, a feeling of resentment found her as she did. It wasn't his fault that she had had a shit show of a morning. But... it wasn't her fault that he was a dumb as rocks. With that she let the feeling go, as she resided to the cauldron that was sitting on the burner.
"Ah yes, Miss. Evens has beat me to the punch, yes she did." Slughorn laughed, shuffling over to her and James' station, "The task for you this morning, is to start brewing the amortentia potion! Now please all make like Evens here and start working."
The class started to move around filling the room with a low rustle. James had retreated back to his seat and was shuffling through his book that looked like it had never been touched. "You have the page number?" He asked sternly, obviously offended from her outburst.
"Look, it's very cute how you think you're going to be of any help, but I will take it from here. You just sit there and look pretty." She barked and flicked her wand at the cauldron voicing the spell "Incendio." A jet of orange erupted from it creating a red-hot flame where one was not before.
"Funny, but I can keep up just fine." He retorted stubbornly, as he stood to be next to her. He reached a long hand to hover over the ingredients laid out for them.
She snorted and swatted his hand, immediately, he retracted. He reached again, this time shoving her back with his forearm and grabbing a piece of moonstone sitting out for them.
"Oi!" she gasped, regaining her position in front of the cauldron "you don't even know what you're doing."
He didn't answer. Instead he pushed his bag to the ground, the thump that it made when it hit the floor made a few people look their way. He slid his book to the side to make room for the grader. He plopped down on the stool and started grating the moonstone to a thin powder.
Like the water in the cauldron, her blood was boiling as she watched him. He was sitting on the stool, legs sprawled, one foot resting on his book bag. His laziness for the action of what he was doing was just making her livid.
She turned back to what she was doing, dropping the peppermint levees and flower into the water. She didn't want to look at him again, even though now she needed the moonstone. She wasn't about to ask nicely.
He had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, the mass amount of boiling water had made the room hot and foggy. She wanted so badly to tell him that the way he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt was the wrong way, that they would just slide down…stupid.
She shook her head trying her hardest to not think about the person sitting next to her.
For the second time that morning she was pushed away from her hovering position over the cauldron.
"Would you quit that you sack of potatoes'!" she harshly whispered shoving him back, the spoonful of moonstone falling on the table top instead of into the water.
He bumped her with his shoulder once more, succeeding this time to get the moonstone to fall into the cauldron.
"Spoon please," he requested, stretching out a callused hand.
She snorted as if, and proceeded to stir the bubbling water herself.
After three turns James let more powder fall from the spoon and into the water.
Both of them had been actively fighting for a closer look at the cauldron, resulting in them pressing up against the table and each other.
Both of his shirt sleeves had fallen to his wrists, every so often dipping down to low and wetting the cuffs. "damn it." He hissed each time.
Her hair had started to frizz because of all the humidity, irritatingly sticking to her sweating face, strands started to tickle her nose and eyes.
"Rose thorns." She demanded, moving her hair behind her ear.
"Now where are your manners?" James demanded back, his annoying attitude brought back to life.
"Please." She grunted, prickling with anger.
She normally was not this angry, not even with him. She was in a mood and with any other person she would have never stopped apologizing, but there was no way she was letting an 'I'm sorry' slip with his ego already on the prowl.
James had retrieved the thrones and was sprinkling them into the moving water.
"Okay well that's it." she said taking the wooden spoon out of the potion and glancing at her book to double check that the potion was complete.
"Aren't we supposed to smell something?" James asked, his head still inches away from the cauldron.
"well…uh, yeah." She said, rereading the steps of the potion and bending back over.
"I don't smell a damn thing!"
"Impossible! I'm a hundred percent sure this is correct." She argued lowering her head to be a fraction away from the steaming pearly liquid.
"Well, obviously not."
"Well," she started in a mocking tone, "maybe I would be able to smell something if you didn't use the whole bottle of conditioner in your hair!"
"I wouldn't be the one to talk, the amount of perfume you have on is giving me an asthma attack!"
She scoffed, "It wouldn't kill you to leave the rest of the world some hair cleaning product! You have what, inch of hair?" she inhaled again, trying to distinguish a scent.
"Well, would you like me to write you instruction on how many squirts you should be using? I'm dying over here!" James protested, leaning over more to match her position, both of them getting whisked in the face with the steam coming from the pearly potion.
"Ha, ha, ha" she mocked, closing her eyes and desperately searching for a scent. "I feel bad for your roommates, with you hogging all the time in the showers mopping your precious hair, bet they all smell like dogs!"
James spun his head around, his nose colliding with her ear, "For your information," he stated, "Sirius hogged all of the water this morning! It was me who missed the chance to shower." He hesitated "You have moonstone dust in your hair." He sounded warmer, the stupid boy never had the tolerance to stay mad at anyone and that aggravated her to no end, partly because she was never good at dropping her mood.
She unhunched and started brushing the white dust out of her hair, eyeing James, "You're the one who went crazy with that stuff."
He stood straight to, looking down at her with his stupid goofy smile. Only one sleeve had managed to stay pushed up. He rammed his hands into his pockets and said, "Not bad for a sack of potatoes, huh?"
"Your ridiculous." She said, fighting off a smile that was tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"I prefer the term 'incredibly handsome' or 'mind blowingly cool' or even 'the guy of your dreams' but that works to."
Her mouth twitched into a small smile which she whipped clear. She crossed her arms and turned away.
"Now, class, we are at our ten-minute mark, will you all please remove your cauldron off the burner and cover with the cloth. Excellent work today everyone! The room is overwhelmingly scented with sugared pineapple! All good signs!" Slughorn said, beaning from his desk at the class who had begun packing up.
"Uh, hey look, I think you smell nice, my uh "asthma" is at bay." James said to her, laughing a bit at himself as he picked his bag up from the ground.
She impulsively took at smell of her shoulder, she smelt like nothing. she had no time to ask to borrow Marlene's perfume, she smelt of dry air (rather a pile of dirt in her harsh opinion) and nothing more.
Taken aback she answered "thanks," and covered the cauldron with the cloth strip from the stations basket.
Hope that was acceptable, I know that the potion they are making takes like days and its illegal to like actually make it...buttt pretend that its fine. haha.