The fifth year Hogwarts students were in a bit of a state that crisp Valentine's Day morning, whispering and jostling amongst themselves as they crowded into the potions classroom. It was the only potion lesson their entire time at Hogwarts in which every single student in their year would be mandated to attend, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and Gryffindors all together. The only excuse that might possibly be accepted was an acute onset of death. Then again, they might just revive you to make you attend.
Professor Slughorn leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. He was wearing a rattier robe than usual, anticipating more trouble than he normally had. After all, he was dealing with nearly triple the amount of students that usually attend his classes. He looked out over the hall with barely restrained amusement as he watched them fight amongst themselves in getting seats at the first row benches. Even Black and Lupin, fifth-year Gryffindors who usually skulked in the back, were seated at a second row table and watching him with barely concealed trepidation. The professor waited until the tension in the room became so thick you could cut it with a knife before he spoke.
"There comes a time" he began and immediately the chatter died down to a level where, were Slughorn to stop speaking, you would have been able to hear a pin drop. "In every young witch or wizard's life, where a most important part of their identity is revealed." He made a dramatic pause, watching with satisfaction as every pair of eyes in the room seemed transfixed on him. "I am speaking of course, of the day of revelation, which for you are today. Today, you will find whether you are biologically alpha, beta or omega." There was again a titter of eagerness and excitement amongst the teens and Slughorn adjusted his lazy stance, waiting patiently till it mostly died down.
"As you are no doubt aware" he finally went on with a faked bored note in his voice, "the biological class is these days a minor part of the wizarding community. The omega auctions, for example, have been outlawed since 1683. I trust you have learnt all about it from professor Binns." There were nods and confirming mumbles. A few of them grimaced at the mere mention of their History teacher's name. "So for the lucky few of you who will on this day be revealed as omega, you have a courtship to look forward to. May the best alpha win and all that." Slughorn himself was a beta, like about eighty-five percent of the population of wizarding england, so he had never cared much either way.
"Alright" he said, figuring it was about time before one of the youths in front of him had an aneurysm from sheer nerves, "let's get started, shall we?"
Lily Evans brushed a strand of vivid red hair away from her face as she looked down at the cauldron in front of her. She nervously smoothed down her slightly damp Ravenclaw robe (she had spilt water on herself when filling the cauldron from the tap) and tried not to fidget. If she as much as breathed in the direction of the ladle before the potion was finished, her potions partner Severus Snape was going to have her head. Instead, Lily looked down at the potion bubbling slowly and felt sick to her stomach. This potion would, after she had added three drops of her own fresh blood, identify her biological class. This was not to be confused with biological sex; Lily had known she was female since she was a little girl. However, she was now fifteen and did not know what her class was. Unlike muggle children, who could reveal anytime between the ages of twelve and twenty, wizarding children were put under very specific spells to protect them. These spells would be broken by the potion she had just brewed as soon as the youth in question had turned fifteen years old, an age that the wizarding world considered mature for courtship. It had been both a relief and a bother to her ever since she was eleven and her older sister Petunia presented as a beta. She had been dying to know her own class since then, but having been put under the spell her first day at Hogwarts that been impossible. She looked over at Severus with anxious green eyes. He seemed as calm as a cucumber, washing up the last of the tools they had used. He was not a good looking boy by any means, but she liked his intense dark eyes and sardonic sense of humor. There had never in her whole life been anyone who could make her laugh until she snorted milk out of her nose. No one until she met Severus. His dark hair that had an unfortunate tendency to always be slightly greasy was hanging down around his face, looking in desperate need of a cut, and his long-fingered hands worked swiftly and efficiently.
"What do you think you'll be?" She finally asked when he didn't seem to be interested in starting any sort of conversation. He had been unusually surly lately, and she was getting rather fed up with it. Whatever it was that had crawled up his arse and died, she was so over it.
"I don't know" he said in a dour tone as he rinsed the cutting knife one last time, put it back in its plain leather sheath and put it on the ingredient tray, ready to be brought back to the storage room. "Never thought about it. Beta, I suppose." That was all she got out of him, so instead Lily placed two small glasses on their desk and ladled the potion into them. There was just enough to fill the glasses, one dose for each of them. They would have to add three drops of their blood, report the colour that the currently pale yellow potion turned, and then drink it to affirm the revelation. Red for alpha, blue for beta, green for omega. Lily hoped hers would turn blue, since there were restrictions on both alphas and omegas. Such as the fact that they could only have children in that combination - an alpha was only able to impregnate an omega, the omega only able to become pregnant from an alpha. She didn't want that additional headache when looking for a decent guy.
"Ready?" Severus asked, holding out a small, ornate knife to her. It was the kind of knife that in the wizarding world was called a 'blood letter', and usually a witch had her own that she did not share with anyone. But Lily always shared everything with Severus, had since they started school, so to her it was natural to also share the blood letter. It was theirs, not hers or his. She hoped that it would always be like that, no matter what life brought them or what happened. That they would be they, Lily-and-Severus, not Lily and Severus.
"Ready" she confirmed as she accepted the blood letter. She ran it across her palm, like Slughorn had instructed, and watched her blood immediately come to the surface. It didn't hurt; the blood letter was a magical knife that cause no pain when it was used. That was the danger of it; you could cut too deeply without realising it. That was why you usually did not share the blood letter - it could be keyed to its owner, ensuring that it did not draw too much. Holding the now bloody knife over her glass, she watched as three brilliant drops of red fell into the sickly yellow liquid. Then she put the blood letter aside to be cleaned. She waited. So did Severus. They both stared intently at the potion as the cut on Lily's hand sealed itself, thanks to the magic of the blade that had caused it.
Lily breathed a sigh of relief when it turned a bright blue.
"Beta" she said triumphantly, as she raised the glass in a sort of toast. "Cheers!" she added, giddy with relief, as she drained it. It tasted like stale salt water, but she drank it down anyway. It felt like her stomach was full of fizzy cider that spread into every part of her body. A part of her she hadn't been aware was sleeping was waking up. She snorted with laughter as it felt like she was tickled just underneath her skin. Then she turned to Severus, who had cleaned the blood letter while she experienced the effects of her biological class shaping her magic into the witch Lily knew she was meant to be.
"Your turn" she said, still feeling giddy from the feeling. He made an unhappy face that made his already grim features look even worse, but she was used to that face and it didn't faze her at all. "Go on!" she encouraged, "might as well get it over with." He grumbled something unintelligible, but then let the blood letter slide across his palm. His blood shone in the candle light as he let the three drops of blood fall into the glass. Lily leaned forward, pulling her red hair away from her face, looking eagerly into the glass.
"It'll turn blue" she said confidently. "I just know it. Look, it's changing colour!"
But then her confidence turned to shock lightly mixed with alarm as the colors kept changing; it had at first appeared blue, but it kept deepening and twisting until it settled on a vivid, brilliant green.
"Omega" Lily breathed, and though her spoke softly, it was as if her voice cut through the room like a blood letter through flesh. Every head turned to look at her and Severus, who still stared at the potion with a look of dread on his face.
"Congratulations, Mr Snape!" Slughorn cried in delight, "An omega! And by the shade of your potion - a hyper fertile one!"
Lily did not join in his delight. Neither did Severus. In fact, he looked more like a man that had just been informed that he was to be hanged at dawn.
Lily patted his freshly healed hand consolingly.
"It'll be okay" she said, but even to her own ears it sounded forced.
