Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from Raisa
Chapter 3 Part 2
Lily was now feeling quite sheepish after her earlier outburst.
Her feelings towards James Potter were common knowledge to all Gryffindor Sixth years (and actually most of Hogwarts in general), but she still didn't like losing control so spectacularly in public. Potter seemed to have that kind of an effect on her…
Lots of things seemed to have an effect on her lately. Lily was quite aware that most of her classmates were increasingly coming to the conclusion that she was some kind of a maniac. This latest incident probably wouldn't be persuading them anything different.
In general, Draught of Living Death seemed somehow appropriate for her feelings right now. Briefly she noticed that Raisa was working with Sirius. She would have to warn her friend about Black later. For now though, Potter was grinning inanely at her, and the thought of having to carry him for a whole year in Potions filled her with dread.
James, on the other hand, couldn't believe his luck. Ever since their …ahem…encounter at the beginning of term Lily had been distinctly more frosty than usual towards him. The chance to have her all to himself for a whole hour filled him with barely disguised glee.
"So Lily dearest, you grab the ingredients and I'll chop?"
Lily stared at him blankly.
"I said the 'Lily dearest' part aloud didn't I?" James cringed.
Meanwhile, Raisa was having a lovely time. After she had got over the initial embarrassment of having to reveal to Sirius that a certain Miss Lily Evans was the only reason she had scrapped through her Potions practical for O.W.L.s, they had begun to get along very well indeed.
Sirius – despite what his marks in the subject would suggest – was actually a very capable Potions students and an even more willing and patient teacher. Raisa had to admit that it made a pleasant change to be partnered with someone who didn't have crazy control freak tendencies and actually let her do things.
She had the sense last year that James and Remus had shanghaied him into giving her a hand with Defence against the Dark Arts, but Sirius seemed relaxed now, as though he was actually enjoying her company.
He caught her wrist gently. "You don't want to do that."
"I don't?" she replied gingerly, a little disconcerted by his soft touch, her hand hovering over their cauldron.
"Not unless you want our work to explode…" Sirius paused,
"…come to think of it that might be quite…hey don't look at me like that, I was kidding."
"Do you think that they're ever going to come to their senses?" Raisa murmured, gesturing over to the bench where Lily and James were working together in an unconventional harmony which consisted of James chattering away animatedly and Lily looked determinedly in the other direction, treating him as though he were Medusa and she would turn to stone by actually facing him.
Raisa turned round to address Sirius and found herself blushing hotly when she realised he was looking not at the modern day throwback to Greek Mythology, but at her instead.
"You're basically a good person, aren't you?"
His question threw her a little and she looked up from her chopping with a start. "'Good' is kind of a relative term, isn't it?"
Her reply threw him a little too.
She had to admit that Potter had surprised her.
"Go on – say it." James prompted her with an encouraging nod of his head.
Lily spluttered. "Say what?"
"You thought I would be an awful partner."
A little embarrassed for even thinking it now and even more perturbed that Potter seemed to have developed mind reading skills. Lily shook her head furiously:
"Of course not, I mean I - . I didn't even give it any thought." She insisted, lying through her teeth.
James was about to make a response something along the lines of 'I beg to differ', when Lily was distracted by something:
"Potter, why does it look like someone threw up in our cauldron?"
"That's puce," he stated authoritatively, finding it particularly adorable that Lily was asking him questions.
The Adorable One suddenly felt slightly nauseous and checked her textbook just to make sure that the horrible thought flitting through her mind right now wouldn't be there to stay.
It was.
"POTTER!!"
Uh oh.
"Chin up honey," Raisa gave Remus a sympathetic hug as he trudged over to their desk, feeling more than a little drained after having to spend an hour in close contact with the serpent better known as Bellatrix.
"Sirius, are you free after dinner?"
Sirius surveyed dirty blond-haired girl who had just approached him with a look of barely disguised disdain. "No."
"But-"
"No."
"Don't you – "
"No."
With that the girl evidently decided to try her luck elsewhere, and so she walked off with a sigh.
Remus noted Raisa's confused expression and offered this titbit of information by way of explanation: "Sirius doesn't date."
She couldn't help but feel a small swoop of disappointment at this. She couldn't help but wonder also why Sirius was now deliberately avoiding looking her in the eye.
Remus, perceptive person that he was, noted something in her face and was about to discretely pick her up from this when there came a yell from the end of the classroom
"LILY, PUT THE CHAIR DOWN,"
The three Gryffindors turned round with a start, and Raisa automatically began to walk backwards towards Alice's frightened screams.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SOMEONE TAMPERED WITH YOUR BOOK?!!"
Raisa jumped visibly: "Maybe I'd better go and…"
Sirius and Remus watched with interest as she now sprinted towards the site of the discord.
Or rather, Remus watched Sirius watch Raisa with interest as she sprinted towards the discord.
He sighed. "Padfoot, I think we need to talk…"
Please read and review! Also...Sirius and Remus' little discussion is now up as a one-shot, the link should be in my profile under Getting Over You: Delicate It would be great if you could read and review that too, tell me what you think and all. Who knows, if I get a strong enough response I might plan some more moments that don't quite fit into the main fic... :)