Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. The wonderful, amazing JKR does. Please send all fan mail regarding Harry Potter to her.

A/N:I actually wrote this section a while ago, and I finally got around to setting it up. Hope you like it. Please review!

Chapter 4: Bad Impressions

Lily chattered excitedly to Mary on the way to class. "I've been reading over the summer, and Potions just sounds so exciting! I can't wait. I hope we'll be making something interesting!"

Mary, on the other hand, wasn't so enthusiastic. "My whole family's bad at Potions, and I couldn't really make much sense of the textbook, to be honest."

Lily reassured her new friend, "That's okay. I'm sure you'll be fine!" Half an hour later, Mary's potion had given an enormous pop. Her shrinking potion had gone horribly wrong, and the classroom was covered in a viscous, green slime. Both Mary, and her partner, Alice, were covered in the goo. James and Sirius had also taken the brunt of the explosion. Lily and Severus, who were also sitting near the disastrous potion, had also been covered. But Severus was covered with more slime, as he had blocked most of the explosion.

"Professor!" Mary squeaked, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that. It's just…"

"Quite all right!" Slughorn boomed, "it happens all the time." He began siphoning off the slime good-naturedly.

"Oh! I'll help, Professor!" Lily shouted.

"Why thank you, Miss Evans. What a kind, considerate student. Five points for Gryffindor." James and Sirius smirked. Lily had already spent most of the class answering all of his questions correctly. At five points a question, she had earned seventy points for Gryffindor in one class.

Lily helped Severus clean up most of the slime on his robes. He thanked her with a smile. Slughorn hadn't gotten to cleaning up James and Sirius when the bell rang, and "Class is dismissed!" The pair scowled at their bad luck, but they spotted Lily.

"Oi! Lilyflower! Help us clean up," demanded Sirius.

"Why? Are you too stupid to do it yourselves?" Lily demanded back, her hands on her hips.

"Nah, you'll probably do a better job of it."

Lily sighed and helped them, to Severus's annoyance.

"Thanks, Evans," said James.

"You're welcome," answered Lily.

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It was lunch when they finally got around to discussing the incident.

"Double Potions with Slytherin was fun!" Lily announced.

"Only because you got to be partners with Snivellus," James retorted. Lily turned to stare at him. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Lily turned her attention back to Mary.

"Really, Mary, I thought you were exaggerating," Lily scolded, pretending to be disappointed.

"I'm sorry! I didn't think—"

Lily chuckled, "It's okay, seriously. I just wonder, how your potion managed to go so wrong. What did you do?"

"Um… I think it might have been the flobberworm tail that Alice added. Or it might have been that I didn't stir it in the right direction…"

Lily sighed, but fought back a grin. Then a thought hit her. "You didn't get any…blackmail material?"

Mary looked confused for a moment before her face lit up and she smiled. "Yeah! I did. Even better than yesterday's!" The two girls giggled.

"Honestly, I wonder if they ever shut up," complained James.

"I know a way to shut them up," said Sirius, raising his eyebrows suggestively. James blushed faintly, and Sirius's eyebrows shot up, until they almost touched his forehead. He tucked this bit of information away to torment James later with.

hr

James was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, trying to finish up his homework. Sirius crept up behind James, a wicked grin plastered on his face. He leant down until his mouth was right next to James's ear.

"So. Lily Evans, eh?"

James jumped, caught by surprise. "Ah—what? L—What about Lily Evans?"

"You know…"

James pretended to be confused, "What? I have no idea what you're talking about, mate."

Sirius arched an eyebrow and took a seat. "Really have no idea at all?" James nodded. "Does that mean yes, you do have an idea, or yes, you don't have any idea?"

"I don't have any idea at all," James declared.

"Are you kidding yourself, or are you really that dense?"

James looked affronted. "Sod off, Padfoot."

Sirius grinned, "Oh ho! Getting defensive over Lily, eh?"

"I am not getting defensive," James denied, "you're just annoying me because you're way off base."

"Not even going to admit it to yourself?"

"Admit what? I don't have anything I need to admit," James bellowed.

Sirius smirked knowingly. James scowled.

"Tell me. What do you think of Lily Evans," Sirius inquired.

"Why the hell do you want to know?" James nearly yelled, "What is your obsession with Evans?"

"Just answer the question," Sirius demanded.

"Fine. Evans's a prat. She's such a know-it-all. Did you see her yesterday in Potions? Sucking up to Slughorn and all? Ghastly." James noted that Sirius fell silent, so he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms defiantly. But then he noticed that Sirius's attention was at his shoulder.

"Oi! What're you looking at?" James turned around, and to his horror, he saw a flash of red hair disappearing up to the girls' dormitory. He turned back, only to find Sirius clutching his sides in silent laughter.

"Oi! It's not funny!"

"HAHA—yes—ha—it is," he gasped between laughing. After he had calmed down a bit, and wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, he admitted, "I would have told you sooner, but it was too funny. Did you see the look on your face?" He burst into laughter again. "You should have said that you were in love with her. Then she would have fallen at your feet in an instant. Good luck getting her now."

James scowled, "What do you mean, getting her?"

Sirius grinned, "You don't have to pretend. Did you see you in Potions yesterday? And in Transfiguration…and Charms…and History of Magic…and breakfast…and dinner…and supper."

"Wait a moment. I don't fancy her. Is that what you're getting at? I don't need to 'get her' because I don't want her." James heard the portrait shut with a resounding snap. Sirius burst into helpless laughter again.

"You did it again, mate. If she didn't hate you before, I'm sure she hates you now."

"Look, I have to finish my homework now, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the library." James snatched his homework off the table and left Sirius in the common room, still laughing.

Lily sat nestled sideways in one of the library's cozier chairs. She had been reading the same page for ten whole minutes. She caught herself rereading the same sentence, and mentally berated herself. Who cares what Potter thinks? If he can't tell what the difference between high-intelligence and being a suck-up, then his opinion doesn't matter to me anyway. He's just an arrogant brat who thinks he's king of the world. Her repetitive line of thinking soon became a mantra that she kept repeating to herself. Potter sucks. I hate Potter. His opinion is rubbish.

Her Potter-bashing was interrupted when the door to the library opened. Through the corner of her eyes, she saw Potter entering, and her heart sank. She nestled lower in her chair, and held the book up to cover her face. She heard footsteps approaching, but when they came close to her, they stopped abruptly. Lily's muscles tensed, but she remained still. Several moments later, and Potter still hadn't moved. The corners of Lily's mouth turned down in a frown. The situation was becoming awkward, so Lily decided to address Potter.

"Yes? May I help you?" she asked icily, not lowering her book.

"Uh, um," James stuttered, "uh, look, I'm really sorry about before. I wasn't really thinking, and uh, I didn't really mean it. It's just, um, Sirius caught me off guard—"

"So that was the first thing that popped into your head? I understand, now. Please leave."

"Uh, no—"

"If that's all you have to say, then don't waste my time. I'm studying, so that I can be a know-it-all prat."

"That's not wh—"

"Goodbye, Potter."

Lily turned her attention to her book again, but still, Potter did not move. Lily glared at her book, still unable to take in anything she read. Several minutes elapsed, and still, Lily made no progress in her book, and James made no progress walking away. Finally, unable to stand it any more, Lily snapped her book shut. James straightened, looking hopeful, but Lily didn't say a word. She stood and walked briskly out.

"Wait!" James exclaimed, "I lied to Sirius." But the door had already closed behind her. "I really do fancy you," he whispered. Peeves watched in interest, intrigued by this last comment. As James sat down sadly in Lily's chair, and proceeded to finish his homework, as planned, Peeves swept down from his observation place.

"So ickle Potter fancies Lily Evans, eh?"

James was horrified that Peeves had heard his confession.

"Of course not!" he denied futilely.

Peeves smirked, and swooped away. Just as James sighed with relief, Peeves shouted through the library, "Ickle Potter fancies Lily Evans!" He cackled wickedly, and passed through the wall, and all eyes turned on James. He blushed, and tried to focus on his homework, but he felt curious eyes on him. He had completed two whole words when a brunette Slytherin, whose name escaped James, made her way to his seat. She sat across from him. James scowled.

"What do you want? I'm working!"

She crossed her legs and tilted her head coyly, "Is it true? Do you fancy Evans?"

"Of course it's not true," James snapped angrily, "why would you believe, Peeves, out of all people?" Realizing that Peeves was not really technically a person, he added, "And ghosts."

"So, then," she began, twirling a lock of her hair, "you wouldn't mind going out with me, would you?"

"Of course I would mind," he snarled.

"Why?" she pouted, "you said you don't like her."

"That doesn't mean I like you. First of all, you're not my type. Second of all, I don't even know your name."

She glared at him, "For your information, my name's Belle Zabini. Take care to remember it." She stood up, and stalked out of the library.

James sighed and stood up as well. He simply couldn't focus. Maybe he could "borrow" Remus's homework…

"Flesh-eating slugs," he told the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung open. As he stepped into the common room, he saw a flash of red hair disappearing up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. He sighed, wondering if he'd ever get a chance to apologize properly.

"Hey, Remus, can I borrow your Charms homework?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Borrow?"

"Yeah. Borrow. I just need to see it for a second to, um, see what I missed."

"Oh, ok. What did you write?"

"Ummm…"

A/N: Bwahaha. Sirius makes me laugh. It's moving pretty fast, I guess. Story will probably slow down around 6th/7th year. OH! By the way, does anyone happen to know Alice Longbottom's maiden name? I don't think it's mentioned anywhere, but if you know it, would you drop me a line? Thanks. Happy fanficcing!