"James… James!"
I groggily opened my eyes to see Remus leaning over my four-poster. I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow.
"If you want breakfast, I suggest you get up. Especially because you skipped dinner yesterday, and it's the first day of classes today."
I heard him leave the dormitory and I slowly stood up, slipped my robes over my head, quickly combing my untidy hair and left.
Still rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I entered the Great Hall which was still crowded with students. I saw Dumbledore sitting at the staff table, his beard gleaming in the morning light. He was in polite conversation with Professor McGonagall. The Great Hall was as incredible as ever, with the sky above me and the smell of delicious food filing my nose.
"James!" called Sirius. I immediately changed course and sat next to him at the Gryffindor table.
"Why did you sleep in so late?" he asked, watching me shovel food onto the plate in front of me. I had been starving.
"Byont no, us ried," I choked, my mouth full. Next to me Wormtail laughed loudly, even though I didn't think it was that funny.
"Shut up, Wormtail," said Sirius, who obviously agreed with me. "Now what did you say?"
With a gulp, I swallowed. "I don't know, I was just tired, I suppose. Where's Moony?"
Sirius leaned in close, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's almost time for him to transform. He told us that he was getting you up, but he never returned. I reckon he's taking a walk, he does like to be outside before it happens."
I nodded, still eating. Across the hall, I could see Severus, who was watching Lily intently. She was sitting a few seats down from mine, her lovely hair tied up, green eyes sparkling, as she laughed with her friends. I wanted to shout something at her, but then I remembered my goal, and refrained.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. Behind me stood Professor McGonagall, a slip of paper in her hand, and her thin mouth curved in a smile.
"Good break Potter?" she asked. I nodded, waiting.
"Your schedule for your N.E.W.T. classes is here; you have been cleared for every class. Well done, Potter. I must say, you will make a fine Auror."
And with that, she moved on to Sirius, who had also been cleared to continue with all his classes. Wormtail, however, looked crestfallen.
"The only class I was cleared for is Defense Against the Dark Arts," he said, looking extremely put out.
"Well, we all knew it was coming, you're a half-wit anyway," said Sirius, grabbing my schedule. He read it quickly then said, "Excellent! We have every class together. Our first class is Double Potions," he said. I grinned back at him, and he knew what I was thinking. Double Potions meant Slughorn, and Slughorn meant Lily.
"Come on, let's grab our stuff and head to the dungeons."
Together, Sirius and I walked out of the Great Hall, leaving Wormtail waddling in our wake. As we approached the Fat Lady, we found Remus exiting the portrait hole. His face look grey and his eyes had bags under them.
"We got our schedules; you better go get yours from McGonagall, it's almost time for our first class." He cursed and quickly ran through the hundreds of students making their way to the common rooms.
"Poor bloke, at least we have a choice to change," he said, watching Remus's receding figure.
Ten minutes later, we were in the dungeons, supplies in hand.
"James! Had a good summer, m'boy?" said Slughorn, his hearty voice echoing in the empty dungeon. I gave him a small nod. "Excellent, excellent! And here's Black! Your brother Regulus is taking O.W.L.s this year; he was always one of my favorite students…" He laughed loudly. "Put your stuff on the tables, just there, yes. We will be doing a special little lesson, come over here please…" Sirius and I walked to our allotted spots and watched as the dungeon filled. My heart did a little leap when Lily walked in, but this time she had only one friend with her. Following behind closely was Severus.
"That slime ball," muttered Sirius. "I wondered what the foul smell was."
Under normal circumstances, this would have made me laugh, however, I didn't find this slightly funny.
"Blimey James, your becoming like Moony, first telling me how I should act my age, now you don't even find Snivellus funny."
I didn't answer him. Lily and her friend had just stood next to us, but Lily seemed not to notice that she was standing only four feet away from me. I forced myself not to look at her.
"Yeah, well times change, don't they?" I said a little louder than necessary. Sirius didn't miss this and raised an eyebrow.
"Jeez, Prongs you defiantly have changed." said Sirius, shaking his shaggy head. "If you don't be careful you'll become Head Boy, and then I swear on it, I'll ditch you, best mates or not."
I chuckled, repressing the urge to mess up my hair.
Don't do it. Lily hates when you do it. You are supposed to show her you've changed.
"Hello, and welcome to Potions! Firstly, I would like to congratulate you for achieving E's or above on your O.W.L.s!" Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together, looking jovial.
"Now, it's a bit of a tradition with my N.E.W.T. classes to offer a sort of challenge for the first lesson." He indicated to a table with three potions on it. He opened the lid and suddenly I smelled a warm, strawberry scent. It was so light, feminine and strangely familiar…
It reminded me of Lily, with her green eyes, glittering smile and of course that lovely red hair…
"Can anyone tell me what this potion is?" said Slughorn abruptly. I jumped with a start, forgetting where I was. The smell that so infatuated me was coming from the potion. Slughorn covered it with its lid and my head cleared instantly.
"Miss Evans?" he said. I turned and saw Lily's hand in the air.
"It is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. It is supposed to smell differently to each person, depending on what attracts them."
I was very impressed with her answer, and evidently so was Professor Slughorn.
"Wonderful! Always had an aptitude for potions, yes… Anyway give Gryffindor five points! Now, Amortentia does not cause actual love, but it causes an extreme obsession, which, is just as dangerous." Slughorn moved along the line to a gold colored potion. It emitted no smell, but let off a thin stream of steam.
"This potion is extremely tricky to make, terribly dangerous when made wrong. Can anybody tell me what it is?"
I looked around tensely. I knew what the answer was but I didn't want to be a show-off….
"Nobody?" pleaded Professor Slughorn.
Carefully, I raised my hand. Beside me, I felt Sirius stiffen. He hated people that answered questions in class, and here I was doing just that.
"Ah, Mr. Potter?"
"It is Felix Felicis, sir." I said. My voice sounded calm and confident, which surprised and pleased me at the same time.
Was Lily watching me? It took a lot of will not to snatch a glance at her, to see if she was impressed….
Don't do it. Lily hates when you do it. You are supposed to show her you've changed.
"Yes! Very good, Mr. Potter, very good indeed. Can you perhaps tell me the alternative name?" cried Slughorn.
"Liquid Luck," I said automatically.
"Oh, excellent, absolutely excellent, take another five points!"
I was happy to see Severus looking livid.
Professor Slughorn walked to the last potion, giving them a view of it. "Can anyone tell –"
He didn't even finish his sentence before Severus's hand was waving in the air. His face look set, as if he was trying to prove something.
"Yes, Mr.…?"
But Severus had cut him off. "That's the Drought of the Living Dead sir," he said promptly. "Correctly made, a single drop could probably kill us all."
Next to me, Sirius rolled his eyes. I couldn't help but agree.
"Why… Yes, yes, very good. Take five points to Slytherin also." He seemed to lose his train of thought at Severus's abrupt interruption.
"As Mr. Potter said, Felix Felicis is Liquid Luck, and a dose of it will give you a perfect day. Taken excessively can be dangerous, but taken rarely, it's perfectly harmless. This is the prize that I offer the student who can produce a sufficient enough Drought of the Living Dead in the time that remains. The recipes can be found on page ten of Advanced Potion Making. Now, off you go."
Sirius and I took a table together and began setting out our supplies. Lily had taken a seat with her friend a few tables away. I noticed with some smugness that Severus was sitting alone.
I pulled out the first ingredient: A Sopophorous Bean.
Cut a Sopophorous Bean, and release the juices into your caldron.
As hard as I tried, I couldn't keep the bean still; it kept jumping out of my hand, and avoiding my blade. Next to me, Sirius was having the same issues. I hear him curse, and I grinned.
"How in the world do we cut open something that won't let us even touch it?" he asked angrily. I shrugged, just as confused as he was. Looking around the room, it seemed others were having similar difficulties. Lily was panting as she tried to keep hold of hers, while her friend had given up already, preferring to watch everyone else's struggles.
Severus, however, was the only one to have succeeded in cutting up his bean. I could tell he was sweating, his dark, greasy hair covering his face. Severus's potion was letting off a violet steam, exactly what the book said it was supposed to be doing. As I studied him, I noticed he kept jotting notes in his book. For some reason, this bothered me.
"Hey, I cut it!" said Sirius gleefully. He had Stunned his bean, which seemed like a good idea. I followed suit, and proceeded to squeeze the juices out. Most people had caught on and used the idea.
Stir potion counter-clockwise until it turns a lavender color.
My potion was a royal purple, and was emitting a smell of burnt rubber. Sirius's was doing the same thing.
"I think we weren't supposed to Stun the beans," I whispered. Sirius didn't care, I could tell. Currently, he was eying Lily's friend.
"I wonder who she is. That's defiantly an attractive girl," said Sirius nodding appreciably, ignoring my statement. He had totally forgotten his potion, which was starting to boil. I quickly put out the fire under the caldron.
"Look at Snivellus, already done with his potion, the grease ball," said Sirius, winking at Lily's friend. She giggled and turned away. I couldn't help but feel revolted at the look of triumph on his face. If I had acted like that, it was no wonder Lily didn't like me, I thought.
"Don't call him Snivellus," I said stiffly. "We don't have to be the best of mates, but we really should stop calling him that. I'm not saying I feel bad for him or anything," I added, seeing the look of incredulity on his face.
"Prongs, you really love her don't you?"