Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter.
September 20th, 1976
"Can anyone tell me what this potion here is?" Slughorn rumbles with a knowing smirk, his eyes dancing as they follow the steam spiraling from the cauldron in front of him. The dungeon is bustling with quiet whispers and giggles of students preoccupied with every other thought besides his lesson.
"Mr. Potter, could you tell me what you think this potion is?" He asks, his eyes alight with a desperate eagerness that seems to define him. James looks bored when his eyes shoot up from his exchange with Sirius. He pauses for a moment to study the cauldron before sighing as though he'd never been subject to a greater inconvenience. "Amortentia." He answers flatly.
"Oh very good, Mr. Potter! Ten points to Gryffindor! May I ask what it was that tipped you off?" Slughorn's enthusiasm is unwavering as he probes the young student with his signature sloppy grin plastered upon his sunken and sallow face. "Because you just set an essay on it." The classroom erupts in laughter and Slughorn scowls slightly but ultimately waves the comment off. "Now, I know that you will not be pleased to hear that I think it would be beneficial to split you off into assigned partners but—" His explanation is promptly met with a collective groan from the students. "Don't move seats until I've finished reading off assignments. Prewett and Snape," Alice's eyes bulge in alarm, a small whimper escapes her lips and Lily allows her an apologetic shrug. "Mulciber and Macdonald." Lily ground her teeth together at that one, was Slughorn doing this on purpose? "Stebbins and Wilkes, Avery and Lupin, Pettigrew and McKinnon…" Peter yelps and turns to face Remus beside him who levels him with a stern expression.
"Black and Evans, Alma and Gilmore…" Lily turns to playfully scowl at Sirius who wiggles his fingers at her flirtatiously only to be subsequently shoved by James. "Potter and Aubrey…"
"These are the worst possible assignments Professor, did you decide that you dressing up in elf garb during last year's Christmas party didn't do enough damage to our mental health—"
"Mr. Black, I'm appalled. You weren't even in attendance at that party and I distinctly recall my costume being a complete hit amongst students and professors alike. Now, off you go." He commands, evidently unfazed by Sirius' comments.
"Why are you complaining? You're the only one with a sane partner." James grumbles, pushing his things to the side to make room for Bertram Aubrey. Sirius shakes his head in mock anguish and joins Lily at the desk in front of him. "It'll be good for you, Potter." Lily turns to inform him wryly to which he rolls his eyes and his face scrunches unattractively as Aubrey slides into Sirius' recently vacated seat. "Potter." He greets curtly.
"There is a limited amount of unicorn hair so you'll have to make do, you won't be getting any more than your share so use it wisely. Supplies are in the back, you have one hour." Slughorn begins his rounds around the dungeon as the students begin to scramble to collect ingredients and light fires beneath their cauldrons.
Mary Macdonald sits on the left edge of her seat to allow as much space between her and Mulciber as possible. His large frame fills most of that space as he flips through Mary's book, bored. She scrapes her upper lip over her teeth uncomfortably as she begins the potion without his assistance, already falling behind the other sets of students only ten minutes into brewing.
"Black! It was just lilac a second ago, what did you do to it?" Lily barks irritably, emerald eyes locked upon the reddish hue inside the cauldron. "Evans, why I'm appalled that you would even begin to think that I am capable of causing that kind of mishap. I have done nothing besides sit here and look pretty." Sirius informs her proudly, leaning casually back in his chair. This earns him a menacing glower from the Head Girl. "You were supposed to be stirring the potion clockwise fifteen times while I crushed the lotus blossom!" She cries indignantly, snapping her head around to peer into Potter's and Aubrey's potion. This only makes her seething more vigorous, seeing as their potion was a perfect shade of lilac alike the description in the book.
"How are you doing that?" She sputters indelicately. Aubrey seems to be glowing with pride at her attention causing James to accidently drop his potions book on his hand. The Ravenclaw yelps in protest before clutching his hand to his chest, pouting petulantly at the redhead momentarily. She opens her mouth to scold James for his childish behavior but is distracted once again by her own potion boiling defiantly against her will.
Professor Slughorn hovers behind Alice and Snape, praising their potion fervently and awarding them each five points to their respective houses. The pair look uncomfortable under his gaze but they seem to be thriving quite nicely despite their obvious distaste for one another. Avery and Lupin are busing themselves over a deep purple potion, each taking turns pulling their eyes away to glare at their partner when they think the other will not notice.
The only pair in the room faring worse than Mary and Mulciber are Peter and Marlene, her brazen tone can be heard over the incessant clattering and bubbling around the room as she berates the boy for stewing beef broth rather than a love potion. "Time is up!" Slughorn coos as though he's speaking to his favorite grandchildren. "Stebbins! I said stop, put your ladle down! Everyone place your potions in the back, if you reached step seven as you should have your potions will simmer overnight and be ready for you to continue with tomorrow. For those of you behind… er… good luck."
The students park their cauldrons along the back of classroom and immediately duck away from their assigned partners, except for Sirius and Lily as she has yet to cease reprimanding him for his unhelpful behavior. "I'm top of the class, Black! I only have two hands, if you had helped me at all we would have a perfect potion but no. Sirius Black is much too pretty to be bothered to put work into anything! For the love of Merlin, even Potter's potion is better than ours!" Sirius ignores her tirade as she follows him around to meet his mates.
"I'll have you know, Evans, my father was the inventor of the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. Potion brewing runs in my blood." James grumbles at Lily's attack on his potion. "I still think you're lying about that, Potter. I've yet to see any proof of that other than the unopened bottle of it on your night stand." She quips. "That's Sirius'." He says and she rolls her eyes. Sirius smirks, "How do you know what's on his nightstand?"
"Don't speak to me, Black." She barks turning away abruptly and rejoining her friends, her long red hair slapping him across the face as she does. Sirius picks at his lips in disgust, repeatedly pinching at his tongue. "She got her hair in my mouth." He scrunches his nose and continues his ministrations. "What did it get caught in your lip gloss?" James scoffs, earning a hearty laugh from Remus. Peter still looks deeply disturbed from his time with Marlene, refusing to meet any of their eyes. "Pete, you'll be okay. McKinnon has yet to kill anyone, although I must say I wouldn't be surprised if you were her first." Sirius says between twisting his tongue around to feel if the offending hair was still present.
"I haven't seen him since this afternoon, he said your hair gave him whiplash and he needed the hospital wing." James says, fighting to contain a laugh that threatened to escape his lips. "I need you to make sure he behaves tomorrow, I don't want a bad mark." Lily sighs, imploring him with her eyes and meaning to use their bright color to hypnotize him. "He can't be controlled." He chuckles as they round the corner to the entrance hall during their patrol. He stops short when he sees a dark figure crossing the space and grabs Lily's forearm to halt her beside him. "Who's that?" She whispers urgently to him, pulling her arms from his hard grip and shooting him a glare. "I don't know." He hisses.
"Well, are we going to just let him walk off? We're Head Boy and Girl, it's our duty to stop him." She starts after the man and James shuffles to stay at her side. "Duty? That's intense. And it's not a student, I want to see where he thinks he's going." He says, this time holding her back by her sleeve to keep a slow pace at his side. "Do you think that's a good idea? What if they're up to something bad?" She murmurs back but James is busy dragging her at a safe distance behind the man.
"He's going to the hospital wing." Lily furrows her brow at that tidbit. "How do you know that?" She asks. "I've taken this route plenty of times, I know where he's going." The man's hood slips from his head and falls back, revealing cropped bright red hair. James stops short and cocks his head slightly in thought. "That's Fabian Prewett. Or Gideon." He says and this only furthers Lily's confusion. "Who is Fabian Prewett?" She wonders aloud. "Or Gideon." He insists offhand and distracted. "James." She warns but he doesn't respond.
"Is he related to Alice?" She whispers as they peer around the doorway of the hospital wing. "Why would he be?" James responds, his eyes locked on the scene before him. "Her last name is Prewett." She grumbles as though he were the most unintelligent person she'd ever met. "She's a pureblood, Evans. They all have the same last name, doesn't mean they're any more related than a hippogriff and a grindylow." He says, still not paying attention to anything besides the Prewett brother leaning over one of the beds, flanked by Madame Pomfrey. "No one has your last name." She points out. "Well, what can I say, Evans? I'm special." She opens her mouth to say something but he shushes her.
"That's his twin. He's hurt." James sounds worried which takes Lily off guard. She wants to tell him they should stop this foolishness but she's interrupted by the gentle rumble of Professor Dumbledore behind them. "Perhaps it might be easier for you to continue your eavesdropping from inside, come along." He says but Lily grabs James' wrist and pulls him back into her. "I'm not going in there, James. This is none of our business, we've already made fools of ourselves sneaking about like children when we ought to be doing our jobs." James rolls his eyes. "Lily, something bad has happened and—"
"If you would prefer not join us that will be quite all right but I would like a word with the both of you, if you would be so kind as to wait in my office. Password is chocolate frogs." He turns gracefully to join the Prewett brothers and Madame Pomfrey inside, closing the door as he does.
"Lily! We had permission to listen in on whatever that was, why did you muck it up?" James grumbles at her, trying his best to ignore his nearly uncontainable urge to push her long hair from her face. "Because it feels wrong." She mutters and turns on her heel in the direction of the headmaster's office.
"I think Fabian—"
"Or Gideon." Lily interjects without looking back at him. James jogs to keep up with her brisk pace. "I think that they're a part of Dumbledore's secret society. The one fighting against Voldemort." James tells her as quietly as he can manage. "We don't even know if it exists, we just heard speculation from a group of Slytherins, who obviously would not be in the group. How should they know?" Lily shoots back. "Because they're sneaky." James presses dully. "So are your lot and you've never heard anything about it." She snaps, stopping short in front of the statue guarding Dumbledore's office. "Chocolate frogs." It twists to reveal a spiral staircase.
They shuffle into the chambers and Lily surveys the countless magical items strewn across the space. "I like what he's done with the place." She mutters to no one in particular. "No, you don't." James scoffs, jerking his chin towards the sorting hat atop a bookcase as a way of greeting. "Are you… friends with the sorting hat?" Lily asks him, her expression befuddled. "Sometimes we go out for firewhiskey and talk politics." He shrugs, Lily's about to retort but James waves her off. "I'm kidding, Evans."
She circles around Fawkes for a few moments before tentatively reaches a hand out to stroke his feathers. "He's beautiful." She whispers. "Have you ever seen one before?" She asks him. "A phoenix? Not besides him, although I must say he and I are almost as close as the sorting hat and I with the amount of visits we've had over the years." James says, coming beside her and scratching the side of the bird's face. It nuzzles its beak affectionately into his palm.
"Where did he get it?" Lily asks and James shrugs. "Dunno, reckon Hagrid had something to do with it though." She giggles at that and her eyes fall behind the headmaster's desk, locking on a series of glass vials lining a basin. "What's that?" She inquires, her irritation melting away into wonder. "I think I should just give you the grand tour of the place and get it done with, Lily." James chuckles. "Oh hush, just tell me what it is." His eyes scan over it momentarily and he shrugs. "It's a pensieve. It allows you to see people's memories, my dad has one. He has a library full of memories of when he's brewed potions so he can duplicate them or adjust them. I used them all the time when I was trying to brew something complicated." She aches in jealousy at that, how incredible would it be to have access to that sort of information?
"Ah, hello." Professor Dumbledore appears in the doorway. Lily stiffens and feels the sudden urge to apologize for snooping about his office. "Please sit down." He commands, gesturing warmly towards a pair of ornate chairs opposite his desk. James and Lily do as they're told, waiting for the headmaster to continue.
"I feel that I owe the two of you an explanation." He says and the head students share a confused look. Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkle at their exchange fondly. "I feel that as you both have been awarded positions of great leadership at this school, you also have the right to be aware of what's going on inside of it." James can sense Lily hardening at the sudden topic of conversation but Dumbledore does not seem to notice and if he does, he makes no indication. "I regret to inform you that the war has found its way with within Hogwarts' walls, students are being influenced by the allure of the dark magic threatening to overtake our world. Many have, as I'm sure you have feared, become seduced by the power of Voldemort." Dumbledore pauses to allow Lily a moment to wince at the name, James' expression is unwavering.
"You questioned my decision in appointing you Head Boy, you even went as far to write me a letter to inform me that I was… what was it? 'Off my rocker'?" James blushes at the memory and Lily fights a smile at the bashful look on his face. "I am happy to inform you I am, in fact, not 'off my rocker' and stand completely behind my decision." James' eyebrows raise into his hairline at this assessment but makes no move to contradict him.
"You seem to possess resources that the rest of the students here do not, you have ways of knowing what transpires in these halls that even I do not. You vehemently oppose the dark arts and while your moral standards are interesting," Lily snorts and tries to play it off as clearing her throat when she finds herself leveled with Dumbledore's stern gaze. "They are true and honest. I believe that all of these traits combined with your talent for trouble will put you in a position to protect the students in ways that I believe will change the outcome of the war." James blinks a few too many times in amazement, processing Dumbledore's speech. He chances a look in Lily's direction and finding an encouraging smile rather than a mocking one. "I agree." She tells him softly.
"I don't think anyone ever questioned my appointing of you Miss Evans, you are extraordinarily talented and level-headed. I feel that your kind nature will offset Mr. Potter's impulsive behavior and the pair of you, I imagine will make me immensely proud." He pauses briefly. "With that being said, I have a task for you. I require a complex potion that I have on good authority you have successfully brewed in the past, Mr. Potter. I am unsure if he has shared his talent for potions with Miss Evans but I assure you it's there. I also understand that Miss Evans is top of her class when it comes to Potions so I ask that you work together on this." Lily makes no effort to cloud her confused look, it was ironic that James was just mentioning using his father's work to brew complex potions and here they were discussing it.
"Which potion, Professor?" James asks, uneasy. The headmaster smiles serenely. "It's funny you should ask which one, implying that you've brewed more than one advanced potion under my nose." Professor Dumbledore grins but James seems unfazed by this revelation. "Polyjuice potion. I am quite dreadful at brewing potions myself and I fear if I asked other individuals I will be bombarded with questions I cannot provide answers to. Are you both agreeable?" He asks and Lily shrugs slowly as though she's only slightly sure she wants to be involved. "Okay." James responds and Professor Dumbledore nods thoughtfully. "You may use the room of requirement on the seventh floor, you will find everything you need there. I will be in touch with you soon." With that he shuffles around his desk and urges them down the stairs. They find themselves at the bottom of the stairs, bewildered and locked in place.
"What just happened?" Lily asks and James ponders for a moment. "I have no idea."
"Why would he want you to brew him polyjuice potion? That doesn't even make sense. He's surrounded by talented witches and wizards, what's he doing messing about with a couple of students who haven't even completed school yet?" Sirius hisses. They were in the Gryffindor common room which was long deserted save for Sirius Black, considering it was nearly two in the morning.
"I wouldn't try out for the quidditch team with a poster like that." Lily grumbles at James as he hangs try-out forms on the bulletin board, they were hand-written in a messy scrawl that would put even a chicken to shame. James waves her comment off easily and she scowls.
"He knows we brewed it third year, Padfoot and he says if he asks someone else they might go sniffing around." He reasons and is promptly met by a very unladylike snort from Lily. "I think it's not so much that he needs a potion as much as he wants to know if he can rely on us. And it's safe to say he can't since we've already managed to relay the information to the school's biggest gossip within an hour of the task being set to us."
"I told you that you didn't have to come, Evans." James grunts, not making eye contact with her and turning to face Sirius. "We can start tomorrow, I have meeting with the prefects at seven but we'll have plenty of time after." James tells him and Lily's mouth drops open. "Potter! We can manage just fine, we don't need Black's help." She cries indignantly and James rolls his eyes. "No, Evans. Sirius and I will brew it, we've done it before. There's no reason for you to get involved, it'll just lead to Dumbledore asking for more from you and you'll get hurt." He doesn't have the decency to meet her eyes as he says this.
"There's no reason for me to get involved? How about the fact that I was the one he asked not Black! He can't even manage to stir a potion, how is he going to help you with one of the most complex potions there is? What brought this on anyhow, hmm? Just a moment ago you were completely fine with this!" She's raising her voice now and they make an immediate effort to shush her. "Evans! You'll wake up the whole tower with your screaming! And I'll have you know I'm an exceptional stirrer of things!" Sirius all but barks at her.
"Butt out, Black. This doesn't concern you." Lily says and James grits his teeth. "Fine, Evans, we'll brew it together like Dumbledore said but when he asks us to drink it and play Death Eater to get information from his inner circle don't come crying to me about not wanting to do it!" James whispers angrily at her and she throws her arms up in exasperation. "He won't ask us to do that! We're not even seventeen!" She shoots back and is met with laughter that she has a suspicious feeling isn't genuine.
"Oh please, Lily, Voldemort is recruiting underage wizards so why can't Dumbledore? He's trying to get ahead of the game and it starts with us." He says matter-of-factly. "Recruiting—" Sirius starts to ask but Lily interrupts him. "Well, I assure you if that's what he asks me to do I am not too delicate to do so. Stop acting like I'm weak!" She growls venomously. "I never said you were!" James is shouting now.
"Shut up!" Sirius erupts like a once dormant volcano. "I thought you both were done attacking each other last year!" Lily opens her mouth to say something. "No, it's fine. Lily you want to work on the potion with me so we will, tomorrow after the meeting." James concedes, clearly still upset but deciding the fight was not worth risking years of effort put into her not completely despising him.
She stands there momentarily twisting her lips in anger, deciding whether she like this response but ultimately says nothing and stomps out through the portrait hole with James trailing irritably behind her. Sirius stands there confused, sputtering questions that go unanswered as the pair leave him without so much as a second glance.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading and PLEASE leave a review! I love it so much when I hear from you guys and it makes me want to write more! Sorry, this took a while to get out but I don't really have an excuse for that. Also, I am going back through and updating some of my old chapters to correct some grammar mistakes, I've done chapter one so far. It really bothered me that there were so many apparent mistakes but when you proofread right after you've finished writing a chapter you're so familiar with the wording you don't always notice them. Thanks for your patience and much love to you guys! I've also started a new fic centralized on Harry discovering his parents' past and an another adventure of his own so feel free to check that out if you'd like, I will continue updating this fic though so don't worry I will not abandon it! Once again, let me know what you think and happy Monday!