Chapter Three – An Old Hag's Tale

Severus headed for Professor Flitwick's classroom. His stomach growled. They had missed breakfast while they were in the library, and if he didn't hurry he was going to be late for class - class with Lily.

He made it just in time and sat down at a desk behind Lily. He noticed Black gaping at him from across the room. Severus ignored him. He suddenly realized that he didn't have books, parchment, or a quill. So, he leaned forward.

"Lily!" he whispered.

She jumped at his voice and turned around, glaring at him.

"What do you want, James?"

Severus suppressed a look of annoyance at the name.

"Can I borrow a quill and paper?

She looked slightly amused.

"Why are you asking me?" She nodded across the room, "Did you have a fight with the gang?"

"Yep," he said decisively, "I've decided I can't stand them; they're a bunch of idiots."

"Oh, really? Are you sure they haven't just realized how swollen your head is and kicked you out?"

"Look," he said, "can I have a quill or not?"

"Not," she said, and turned back around.

Severus could not have been happier with this response – however, he still needed a quill. He pulled out James' wand and held it under the desk. He quietly performed a summoning charm while a chattering Gryffindor girl wasn't looking. Her quill and parchment flew off her desk and into his. He heard Black and Pettigrew snickering. When he glanced over at them, Black applauded silently.

Sickening – no wonder Potter was so arrogant. Now, Black was pointing to Lily and winking at him. He just raised his eyebrows and sat back in his chair, looking at the back of Lily's head. She was bent over the desk, scribbling in a book. He wondered what she was writing. What would Potter do? He stood up and tried to look over her shoulder. He could almost see the page when his shadow fell across it. Lily sighed loudly and slammed the book shut.

He sat back down. Flitwick started class, and Severus was happy to see that Lily did not try to talk to him the entire time. Normally this would upset him, but now he celebrated.

He could not stop watching Lily – he admired the movements of her wand as she performed the Bubble-Head Charm. He was entranced when she and Eliza Tibbit burst into giggles at each other's distorted features. He was so busy drinking in the smile that he hadn't seen for weeks that he forgot he was supposed to be performing his own spell.

"Well, Mr. Potter, let's see it."

Flitwick had appeared at his side. Severus performed a perfect Bubble-Head Charm at once. Flitwick clapped.

"Very good, a perfect sphere! Who's next?"

Severus couldn't help noticing that Lily was looking at him, but when he flicked his eyes toward her she hastily turned around.

The class passed quickly. Severus didn't say anything else to Lily, though he watched her constantly. Her long, deep red hair was down today, flowing carelessly over her shoulders. He knew that if he could see them, her brilliant green eyes would make his breath catch in his throat. It happened all the time. He wished he could tell her how beautiful she was without sounding like an idiot.

When class ended, Severus tried to make a quick exit. He was almost out of the door when Black called to him,

"James! What are you doing?"

Reluctantly, Severus stopped and faced him. Pettigrew and Lupin were there as well. It took much restraint not to whip out his wand and catch Black off his guard. Severus tried to imagine what Potter would say.

"I'm hungry," he said.

"I bet! Remus said you went to the library this morning," Black laughed knowingly, "now what would James Potter be doing in the library that made him miss breakfast? The question is, was it general mischief, or something to do with a certain redhead?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," said Severus, smirking.

"That settles it," said Black, "it must have been Lily - You would've told me about anything else!"

"Whatever it was, I don't think it worked," said Lupin, "she ignored you the entire class."

Severus only smiled slightly at them.

"Oh, I've got a plan."


James spent the morning in History of Magic with the other Slytherins. It was mind-numbingly boring as usual, but it gave him a lot of time to think before he met Snape again in Potions. He thought the best thing would be to go to McGonagall, but he knew Snape wouldn't do it. In the meantime, James tried to act like Severus would. He didn't want to make anyone suspicious, especially if someone sitting in Binn's class was monitoring his every move. It seemed like almost everyone was asleep, or in a sleep-like state, but they could be watching through half-closed eyes. James fought a yawn. He would have pretended to take notes, but he didn't have a quill. Did Snape take notes in History of Magic? Probably – he might be a slimy snake, but he was also notorious for meticulous note-taking and perfectly-worded essays. Even McGonagall had been impressed with his last essay on human transfiguration.

But not as impressed as she was with mine, thought James, remembering how she had been astonished at how thoroughly he had researched the sensations of Animagus transformation. James drew a sharp breath. What if Snape found out that he and his friends were unregistered Animagi? The thought consumed him for the rest of class. How could he warn them? It was impossible, of course - but it was only a matter of time before Sirius asked Snape to transform for a midnight run or called him "Prongs" instead of James.

When class was over, James practically ran for the door, but nobody cornered him, or even addressed him. He wondered what Snape was doing with Sirius and Remus. Would he snap and hex them to pieces in the hallway?

James' stomach growled. He wished he could get into the Gryffindor tower and grab the Cauldron Cakes he had in his trunk. He decided to go to the dungeons and wait, in hopes that another Slytherin would let him in the dormitory. He started for the stairs, when he heard someone shouting.

"Snape! Hey, SNAPE!"

James turned to see Rastaban Lestrange and Avery behind him.

"What," he said warily.

"Where were you this morning?"

"Library," said James truthfully. This seemed to satisfy them, because Rastaban shook his head.

"You're pathetic, Snape – you've always got that overgrown nose in a book," he said, "I would ashamed of you, but then, you go a beat Flint in a duel and completely redeem yourself. I've never seen his face so red!"

They were still walking toward the dungeons. James didn't have to say much, because Rastaban was now going on about the upcoming Quidditch match.

"They're going to be at a disadvantage without Potter as chaser - we'll murder them! I heard they couldn't find anyone else to play seeker after Mulciber ran Marcus Dunner into the ground last match . . . "

Rastaban was seeker for Slytherin. He and Avery laughed, and James realized his fists were clenched at his sides. What if he was still Snape tomorrow? No, Dumbledore would be back by then . . . still, the thought of Snape trying to play Quidditch was hilarious. The only time James had seen him on a broom it had thrown him off from ten feet in the air in front of the whole class. Admittedly, it had been because he had tried to catch the walnut that Sirius lobbed at his face . . . but that just proved what sort of reflexes Snape had. He wouldn't have a chance against a snitch! James imagined Snape clinging to a broom while bludgers and teammates flew around him.

They reached the dungeons and Rastaban gave the password (firewhiskey). James hurried to the dormitory and looked for Snape's Potions book and a quill. He found the books stacked neatly at the foot of the bed and a bag with parchment and quills beside them. His stomach growled again, but it seemed that Snape didn't have any food in the dormitory. Well, he couldn't very well sneak into the kitchens as Snape – he'd scare the poor house-elves to death – and it was never good to be on the receiving end of a firghtened house-elf's magic. James lay down on Snape's bed. He didn't want to venture into the courtyard as Snape, but he did want to know what Snape was doing with his friends. They wouldn't let Snape avoid them, and they probably already suspected that something was wrong. What about Lily? He knew Snape was probably trying to ruin any chance James had with her, but he couldn't exactly follow them around to find out.

Thankfully, it was soon time for Potions. James left early and walked the short distance to the classroom by himself. He brightened, realizing that he was going to be sitting with Lily for the first time ever at Hogwarts; she and Snape were always Potions partners. This realization was only slightly dampened by the knowledge that she would think he was Snape.

James sat down in Snape's seat and waited. The class filed in, and then he saw her. Lily walked up the aisle, talking to Blair Higgins. He tried not to look too expectant, but listened to her conversation when she got close enough.

"I told her it would be alright, but you know how she is . . ."

"I know, she's being impossible," interjected Blair.

". . . but I think if we could both talk to her tonight -"

Lily was interrupted by Sirius, who pushed between them saying,

"Excuse me, lovely ladies!"

James suppressed a grin; Sirius currently had a thing for Blair Higgins, the only girl on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and a particularly good keeper. However, the smile was quickly wiped off his face when he saw himself follow Sirius and knock into Lily hard enough that she dropped her book on the floor and said,

"Nice one, Potter!"

"What are you looking at, Snivellus?" said Snape, breezing past.

James only glared at him as Lily settled into her seat.

"I can't believe he just did that!" she huffed.

"I can," said James darkly.

Lily pulled out a quill and arranged her things neatly in front of her. Slughorn came in and started class with a short lecture before setting them to work on their fever-reducing potions. James decided to let Lily do the talking; he had no idea what she and Snape would talk about. Lily didn't say anything, but started cutting up roots with her silver knife, making loud thunk-thunks on the table. James flipped open his potions book and stared at the page in confusion. There was writing all over the margins – he bent over, trying to read it. Beside the ingredients list, it said,

"Would adding witch-hazel make it fast-acting?"

And beside the instruction "stir in slow figure-eights for two minutes" was written,

"Turn up the heat, stir clockwise, and add chili powder to make it fever-inducing"

James didn't know why anyone would want a fever-inducing potion, but he was shocked that Snape was so advanced. Why didn't Slughorn like him very much? Sure, he favored students with important parents (which explained why James wasn't failing), but he loved Lily for pure talent.

James tentatively started his potion; he knew it would soon be all too obvious that Snape wasn't himself today. He tried to concentrate, but standing next to Lily wasn't helping. He was aware of her every movement, and each time she flipped her hair back over her shoulder he noticed how it shimmered, even in the dim light of the dungeon.

He was now sweating profusely and stirring his potion in careful figure eights. It might not be award-winning, but James was pretty sure he had made a successful potion. Then, he heard Lily gasp.

"You forgot to lower the heat!" She quickly did it for him.

"Er – thanks, Lily," he said. She met his eyes briefly before turning back to her own potion.

"You're welcome," she said softly.


Little did James know that Severus was watching that short exchange in agony, wishing desperately that he was back in his own body to savor the moment she met his eyes. They had not talked for two weeks without fighting and he coveted every kind word that Potter might hear. He would have made the most of that small truce – but it had been wasted on Potter.

Severus realized he was stirring his own potion much too quickly. It was too thick already, because he had accidentally added all of his roots at once when he noticed Lily save Potter from turning his potion into useless soup. It didn't matter, because Potter was a terrible potion-maker, but it was the first potion Severus had ruined in a while.

Black was relatively quiet now, concentrating on his work. Over the past few hours it had taken every ounce of reserve Severus could muster not to give himself away and hex Black into oblivion. He talked more than Rastaban Lestrange and apparently never left Potter's side. Severus had also developed a newfound loathing for Peter Pettigrew and his fawning adoration. Pettigrew was partnered with Lupin, who was calmly repeating instructions to him (as usual) to keep him from melting yet another cauldron.

Severus scraped some of the potion into a bottle – it was thick, gooey, and booger-colored. Handing in the bottle of ruined potion made him feel a little better about Lily.

"Bad luck," said Black, "I think I pulled it off this time!" He ladled some potion into his own bottle. Severus prepared to follow him out of class, when he saw that James had approached Slughorn.

"Go ahead," he said, "I want to talk to Slughorn."

"Aw, you don't need too," said Black, "he liked your dad so much, he'll pretend that potion was passable."

"I'll meet you at lunch," said Severus stonily. Black and the others left looking suspicious.

Severus caught up with Potter just in time to hear him say,

" – was just wondering if there was anyway to extend the effects of Polyjuice Potion?"

Slughorn's eyes darted around like he was looking for an escape,

"Yes, of course there is, for at most a few hours, but it's tricky and I wouldn't advise a student to attempt it – of course, I wouldn't advise a student to make Polyjuice at all! No, no, that would land you in a world of trouble! Now, off you go, wouldn't want to miss lunch!"

Slughorn attempted to leave, but Potter persisted,

"But sir, I have one more question –"

Slughorn looked annoyed,

"Now, see here Snape, I won't be held responsible for any of your experimentation! I really must go!"

Severus realized what he had to do.

"Professor!" he said loudly, pushing Potter out of the way, "could I speak with you before you leave?"

"Why, of course, Mr. Potter! Snape here was just leaving." Slughorn was very glad for the interruption.

"Well, I was talking with Lily Evans the other day," he said carefully, and noticed Slughorn's eyes light up, "you know, she has Muggle parents – and she had read a Muggle book where the main characters switch bodies - and we were arguing about whether it was possible to do that with magic? I told her it wasn't, but she didn't believe me!"

Slughorn looked a little confused, then said,

"Switch bodies? You mean, change one soul with another?"

Severus nodded. Slughorn laughed heartily.

"Lily Evans should know better than to think Muggles know anything about magic! No, Mr. Potter, there are limits to what magic to do and that's one of them! Of course, you wouldn't know, but if you had studied . . ." he trailed off and then cleared his throat.

"Anyway," he continued, "it's not possible, couldn't be."

"Oh," said Severus, "Uh – thanks, Professor."

He started to leave, and saw that Potter was hanging around the door, listening.

"Of course, it's not only a Muggle story," said Slughorn.

Severus turned back around.

"It's not?" he said.

"Oh no! It's an old hag's tale that when two people dream about being one another at exactly the same moment, they will wake to find themselves in the other person's body."

Severus stared at him in horror.

"Of course, there was also some nonsense about the planets being aligned and whatnot . . ."

Severus still stared. Slughorn cleared his throat again.

"Well, I suppose your generation has never heard it," he smiled, "tell Miss Evans about it though, I think she would find it interesting."

"I will, thanks, sir," said Severus and headed for the door. He almost plowed over Potter, who was still standing outside it.

"I did not dream of being you," he snarled at his own pale face, "so don't ask!"