Potions Prodigy
Song stuck in my head: Fleetwood Mac – Albatross (instrumental)


The weather turned slightly rainy as fall wore on, forcing everyone indoors after classes and on weekends. Though the students didn't necessarily care, this meant more work for Prefects as bored students stuck inside meant more time for mischief.

Most of the pranks were fairly tame. Lily was sure it had to be Sirius, Peter, and James who filled the Gryffindor common room with balloons that wouldn't pop. She and Alice had tried Vanishing them, but then they exploded into brightly colored fireworks. Then, someone had taken to spiking people's drinks with belch powder and the afflicted students had taken to casting silencing charms so their belching wouldn't echo throughout the halls. Lily didn't mind these pranks, but were a little more aggressive.

Max had been sent to the hospital after he'd emerged from Ravenclaw tower covered in boils. The next day, Potter ended up in the hospital wing after breakfast when someone had poured an overdose of elderberry extract in his juice and he couldn't stop vomiting. Lily suspected Jasper Westpelt as the culprit, but wondered if it was at the behest of someone else since the next day, both he and Bertram Aubrey ended up having dungbombs go off whenever they opened their bags.

"Prongs is in detention," Remus said later as he and Lily walked through the halls during prefect duty. "He didn't even bother to deny it."

"Well, dungbombs are tame compared to some of the other stuff he's done," she replied.

"True, but it's pouring outside and no magic in the corridors, so his options were limited. Otherwise he probably would have hung him up by his pants in the courtyard," said Remus fairly.

Lily let out a small laugh. "I can't say I blame him, he was in hospital all day. Was he sure it was Westpelt doing it for Bertram?"

"Sam actually told me it was Bertram, then I told Prongs, and so on," he explained.

"Why? What has Potter done to him? I thought they all got on – "

"Prongs hasn't done anything to him, per say… it's what he's done to you," Remus informed her.

"He's done nothing to me," Lily frowned.

"He's got you talking to him somehow. Julia is on to something; they're jealous."

"What's there to be jealous of?" she scoffed. "I'm not going out with Potter."

"You're paying a lot more attention to James now than you are to Bertram, or Max…"

"That's because he's been pleasant while they've been idiots," grumbled Lily. "And that's saying something, because Potter is still a bit of an idiot-"

Remus laughed. "He's only sixteen."

"You're sixteen."

"I had to… grow up fast, so to speak," said Remus darkly. Lily frowned at him, a conflicted expression on her face. "Something wrong?" asked Remus.

"No, but since you brought up how you had to 'grow up' fast, I've been wanting to ask you something," she said quietly. "And I didn't want to ask in front of Potter because he's very… protective… of you."

"I don't know if 'protective' is the right word," Remus considered.

"No, it is," she said. "He looks out for you, he looks out for Pettigrew, and Black as well. He's very protective of all of you, and I still don't think he likes that I know."

"I don't mind that you know," said Remus. "You didn't… most people- "

"I know what most people think, trust me. I'm not thinking that at all. You're just Remus. You've… just got a- "

"'Furry little problem,' is what Prongs says."

"That's… appropriate," she laughed. "Can I ask… it hurts, doesn't it?"

Remus pressed his lips together, his eyes wandering the floor in front of his feet. She took his silence to mean yes.

"If you could do something to … ease the pain and keep your sanity, something to keep your wits about you, would you?"

"Obviously, I would," Remus replied. "I mean… if I was stuck as a wolf but I kept my…" he continued thoughtfully, considering the idea moment. Then he frowned and shook his head. "There's nothing though. Even with the others, I'm still a werewolf. I can't control anything… I mean, you saw that. I wouldn't have… I'd have stopped myself if I had any wits."

"So, it helps with… them?"

Remus nodded. "It's like a pack; there's an order. Even though we're not the same animals, there's an order. And just the fact that I'm not alone… biting, and scratching, and slamming myself into walls."

"How did everything for you get set up?" she asked curiously.

"It's all Dumbledore," Remus explained. "He came to our house. My Mum and Dad didn't think I'd be able to come to Hogwarts, see. I never had any friends because we always had to move around. Dad had just planned on teaching me at home, but Dumbledore showed up one day and… well… barged in, sort of. He told them he had thought of a work around so I could come to school."

Lily nodded, piecing together the puzzle of Remus' existence. "So, you came, and told no one… but Potter and Black and Pettigrew aren't dim..."

"Right," laughed Remus. "I'm pretty sure James and Sirius had it worked out first year, but during second year they told me they knew first week back and that they didn't think anything of it. I kept expecting them to turn on me, but they never did," he mused.

Lily smiled. "I'm glad, and I don't see how they could Remus. But, back to my question; if there was something you could do to help… would you do it?"

"Yes," he said emphatically. "Yes, of course I would."

Lily nodded, deciding after a few weeks of internal debate. "Can you keep something between us? Because I'm not sure what Potter would think about it."

"Think about what?" Remus asked, sounding wary.

"I need your help with something," she explained. "It's a potion I read about… for you."

"For me?" he asked, confused. "Lily, I'm not… I'm dreadful at potions to be honest. I still don't know how I scrapped an O.W.L. in it."

"I'll make it but… just, look at this article with me," she said, sitting down behind a suit of armor and pulling Remus next to her. She handed him a magazine she had rolled up in her robes, watching as Remus scanned it slowly.

He gave her a look when he finished, eyes a little wary. "This… it's still experimental."

"It is," she agreed. "But I've written to this Belby. I pretended I was the werewolf, and he gave me the instructions for it. It's tricky, and you'd have to take it every night the week before the full moon, but I think I could do it. The trick is with the heat," she explained. "It needs to be kept at a certain temperature while the ingredients blend. If the temperature isn't right, it's useless, but nothing bad happens. It's just useless, he says, or, that's what he's been told. But he's had a few people say it works really well," she added in a hopeful voice.

Remus looked at the article again, biting his lip. "Why do you need my help? Why can't you just brew it and give it to me?"

"Well, I could use some help getting the ingredients. I'm going to have to nick them from Slughorn's cupboard because I can't afford to buy them. But once I have a few I can just multiply them. And you have to agree to drink it, obviously."

"Why don't you want to tell Prongs?" Remus asked.

"Because like I said, he's protective of you. The way he acted at dinner when he thought I'd ask you questions… I'm not sure how he'd feel about me talking you into taking some experimental potion."

"Fair point, but why do this for me?" he asked. "I mean… I can't give you anything in return and we'll be breaking all kinds of- "

"I don't expect anything, Remus. And honestly, since when do you really care about the rules? You run about with Potter and Black for Merlin's sake," she said, rolling her eyes. Remus laughed and gave her an acquiescing shrug, so she went on.

"If this could help you, I feel like we should try. And if St. Mungo's took it on, then you and others would be more accepted, perhaps? I'm sure it would take a while, but… maybe things would get better. I know what it's like to think about … life after school and not know what options you'll have," she admitted.

Remus considered her thoughtfully. "Okay, I'll try it. I mean… what could it hurt?" he asked with a grin. Lily was beaming as she jumped to her feet.

"Great, because if I'm going to brew it this month I need to get started as soon as possible," she informed Remus as he stood up next to her.

He did agree that it would be nice to feel more in control, but wondered how James would feel when he eventually found out what they were doing together.

Though the next morning, it was Julia who was suspicious and not Potter. Lily didn't like it at all. "You two are never gone that long for Prefect duty. Where did you go?" Julia asked at the beginning of Chrarms class.

"Where did you go?" Lily asked back. "You didn't get back until after I did, so how do you know how long I was gone anyway?"

"Because Sirius was asking about it – "

"Oh, Sirius was asking about it," scoffed Lily, rolling her eyes. "Is that what he was telling you when you were skiving off breakfast this morning? You know, I'm not skipping meals to go get off with someone," she pointed out. "So, where were you? What did you do while you were out last night?"

Julia pursed her lips. "Sirius, he… took me to the kitchens first. Then we just… walked and talked."

"What did you talk about?" Lily pressed.

"This isn't the time, Lils," insisted Julia. "I promise… I promise I'll tell you later."

"Did she tell you she had dinner with Potter?" asked Mary conspiratorially as she sat down next to them.

"Did she tell you she had dinner with Pettigrew?" Lily shot back.

"Oh, my God. You lot ate together, what a scandal," Julia groaned, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure you were both having a lovely chat, right?"

"Yes, actually, we were," Mary said haughtily. "In fact, he said he feels like he never gets alone time to talk with anyone else, so it was nice… and he thought Potter wanted to be alone with you, so he wanted to respect that unlike his other friends.".

"Potter always wants to be alone with her," said Julia. "This should surprise no one. However," she continued with a wicked grin, "I am surprised that you asked Potter if he wanted to kiss you."

"I didn't… that's not what I asked," Lily sputtered. "I suppose you heard that from Sirius too."

"Among a few other people," Julia admitted. "You weren't as quiet as you thought."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I asked him if he had wanted to kiss me when we were flying. When we were on that broomstick… because he looked like he did."

Julia laughed. "Of course, he did," she whispered as Flitwick walked past. She waved her wand and froze the spinning top in front of her to a dead standstill. He nodded approvingly before wandering on and allowing her to continue. "Sirius was right, he wants to kiss you all the time. I bet if you went over there right now and asked him to kiss you he'd say 'yes.'"

Lily shook her head. "I shouldn't have asked that. It was – "

"Why? It's not like haven't been thinking about kissing him for the last month," whispered Julia.

Lily's cheeks felt a little hot and turned away before flicking so much force the top spinning in front of her it made a screeching sound when it stopped. Julia laughed mischievously. "There's the nerve I was digging for."

"Oh, shut up," grumbled Lily. "You won't talk about what's going on with Black, and he's been very sweet to you and- "

"Yes, he has been," she admitted with a smirk. "He's… hang on, what's this?" she asked, snatching a little paper bird that had fluttered over to their area out of the air. She unfolded it quickly, leaning away from Lily to show it to Mary first. They giggled as they read the note.

"What?" asked Lily, snatching the note out of Julia's hand. A single word was scrawled on it in all capital letters.

"YES."

"See? I told you," said Julia, laughing when Lily crumpled up the paper and turned as red as her hair.

Lily practically raced out of the classroom when the bell rang, hoping to avoid an interrogation from James or anyone else who happened to be listening. She made it halfway down the stairs before someone called out to her.

"Lils, wait up!" called Max's voice.

Oh no, she thought. She just had to make it to the Potions room in the dungeon. Max wouldn't be able to follow her into there for he surely had another class to get too…

"Hi, Max," she said as he caught up with her. She could hear another pair of footsteps, actually several footsteps, running to keep up. She tried to walk faster but the stupid staircases shifted.

"Say… another Hogsmeade visit this weekend, want to meet up?" he asked when they got stuck on a rung and had to wait for the staircase to swing around to another adjoining one.

"Oh, I may not be going if it's still raining… if I see you I'll see you," she muttered, practically jumping onto the next staircase as soon as it was close enough.

"Slughorn was talking about his Christmas do the other day, trying to compete with the costume party," Max noted, following after her. "You have a costume yet?" he pressed.

"I've got an idea," she mused, reaching the bottom of the stair case and vaulting over the railing to race down the hall.

"Can't wait to see it," he called, panting a little and watching her go. Lily waved over her shoulder at him, noticing that James had vaulted over the banister and was running her after now, followed by the rest of the Gryffindors in her year.

"Out of breath, Linghold?" he asked when he passed Max, a little smirk on his face. "Better get in shape quick. Quidditch season."

"You'd better get Shacklebolt up to speed," Linghold called after him. "And if Greenfield isn't better you'd better find a new Seeker. A good one, too! Otherwise Rowle will wipe the floor with them and we'll all be screwed points wise."

"On it!" James called.

"We can't let them win again!" Linghold shouted. Lily thought that the only issue they'd ever be united on was beating Slytherin at Quidditch.

Lily reached the classroom first, rushing to her usual spot at one of the front tables and throwing her books to one side. She sat down and waited anxiously, hoping that Potter wouldn't plop in the seat next to her and throw off her plans.

To her immense relief, Julia beat James into the class room and Remus followed close after, both of them panting. Peter slunk into the seat next to Remus, looking a little bemused.

"Why were we running?" he asked Remus, who shot a furtive look at Lily.

"Don't know why you were running," Lily said lightly. "I was trying to get away from Max."

"You might need to run a bit faster next time," advised James as he walked by. He looked at the four seats around her, frowning slightly. "He seems pretty intent on getting you alone."

"Good luck with that," she muttered.

James sighed, sitting at the table adjacent to her with Sirius, Melany Quills and Finn Benson, both from Hufflepuff. The rest of the class was filled with Slytherins.

"I heard Linghold shouting in the halls. Is Greenfield still out?" Finn asked James. Emmett Greenfield had fallen victim to a very well-placed tripping jinx and had been in the hospital wing for two days now recovering from a broken leg.

"He is for now," James muttered. "I'm finding a back-up for him."

"But you've got your other Chaser. Can't you play it?"

"I can, but I'm better at Chasing and we still need someone to shore up the score that way, so I'd rather find another Seeker," he explained before looking at Lily. "Oi, Evans… are you listening to this?"

"Not really," she admitted, turning around in her chair to look at James.

"I need a Seeker if Greenfield is still out with his leg."

"I'm not your girl," she insisted. "I've no interest in playing Quidditch."

"Come on…" James groaned. "I can teach you to fly better."

Lily smirked. "Not on the Quidditch pitch."

"Around town then?" suggested James. "Hogsmeade next weekend, we could- "

"It's been pouring down rain, I hardly think that's the type of weather to learn to fly in."

"I'd only keep you for a bit. There are shield charms. We could see if I end up wanting to kiss you again."

Melany Quills giggled, as did Julia. Lily fought back a grin as she looked at Potter's smug expression. "You sly little twit," she grumbled. "In your dreams."

"He does dream about it," Remus muttered, chuckling when James grinned wildly.

"Honestly, though," James pressed. "I really need a Seeker… Tottleham?"

"Not me," Julia laughed. "I've seen what happens during Quidditch; no, thank you."

"You know who you should ask," Lily said suddenly, as though she'd been giving this some thought. "Westpelt or Honora Price."

"Westpelt is a prat," scoffed Sirius.

"Honora is all right," Lily pressed. "She tosses things at me from across the common room and catches them when I throw them back if that means anything. She might have potential."

James considered this, thinking back to the few times he'd watched Lily and the short haired fifth year mess about in the common room. He'd have to find her at dinner, or after class this afternoon.

Slughorn cleared his throat as he came sauntering into the room. "Good morning, everyone," he said jovially, squeezing his portly figure tight rows of tables. Lily noticed he was wearing an amused sort of expression on his face. "All right, I've got something fun for us today. Pull out your books and turn to page 112, the Volubillis Potion. Quite tricky, but it can be brewed within our class period. Now… who can tell me the purpose of the Volubillis Potion? Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"Changes the drinker's voice for a period of time," said James matter-of-factly.

"Yes, exactly right. It can also be used as an antidote for a silencing charm, you should know. Now, I heard from Minerva that Ms. Evans put a silencing charm on you and Max Linghold so powerful it took her two tries to remove it," Slughorn laughed, clapping James on the shoulder. "You may want to pay close attention to this one, then."

James gave Slughorn a strained smile, but then grinning for real when he saw the smug look Lily threw him.

"Now, as I said, this is tricky, but not impossible. Brewing it within class time, and brewing it well, will take some focus, which we all have been lacking a bit lately. So, I'm going to sweeten the deal a bit. As a reward, I offer this," he grinned mischievously, pulling a small vial of golden liquid from his robes.

Everyone in class sat up a little taller, peering at the little vial Slughorn held aloft. He smiled. "I usually bring this one out in the first week of lessons, but I'd ended up a bit behind on my brewing schedule after spending holiday in India. I'd been visiting a few old students of mine studying international wizarding law. Plus, during our first class, there were so many questions about Polyjuice Potion and Amortentia we didn't get to it." he mused.

Julia and Lily exchanged a look while Remus mouthed "Questions about Amortentia?" at James, who narrowed his eyes a little bit.

"Anyway, here it is now," Slughorn went on, setting the vial up for display on his desk. "Anyone venture a guess as to what it is? No one? Well, let me give you a few hints: its use is rather controlled, and absolutely forbidden in sporting events. Side effects can include recklessness, excessive giddiness, overconfidence and, oddly, excessive nose tweaking. The potions are brewed- "

"Felix Felicis!" Sirius yelped. He glanced at James who looked excitedly back at him. Indeed, almost everyone in class had perked up even more.

"Yes, that's correct, my boy," Slughorn cheered. "10 points to Gryffindor. Now! Whoever is the first to finish their Volubillis Potion before class is up AND have brewed it correctly will claim this as their prize. That is your challenge. So, gather your cauldrons, the ingredients are in the cupboard - don't shove there's plenty for everyone," he added, stepping out of the way as students pushed up from their tables and crowded the stores to pull out ingredients.

"Ah, Ms. Evans… this should be an easy task for you," Slughorn said quietly as Lily passed him. "I expect I could just write your name on it right now."

"Oh… I'm not going to count my dragons before they hatch, Professor," she smiled. Slughorn just laughed and began to peruse a magazine while Lily shunted forward, Remus by her side.

"You sure about this?" he whispered. "We could grab them another day…"

Lily shook her head. "No, I think today is perfect because everyone is going to be distracted. I can't get it ready for this month, but if it's to be done by the next full moon I have to start by the second week in November, otherwise it won't be ready."

Remus nodded. October's full moon was just a few days away, but November was a harvest moon and those were always more intense. It would be a good to have something to take the edge off that night if the potion worked. "What do we need again?"

"Valerian root, Wolfsbane, Moonseed, and Occamy egg shells," she whispered back. Remus nodded grimly and approached the shelf to grab his ingredients.

Lily couldn't have planned for a better day to do this. With the lure of Felix Felicis at the front of the room, everyone was focused entirely on their own potions instead of gossiping or messing about. Usually students were allowed to ask for help from others, but today it was all solo work. Sirius and James were working in furious silence, almost in competition with one another. Melany and Finn at their table had stopped working a few times just to watch them in awe.

Lily was going at a leisurely pace, reading the instructions carefully and making sure that she could at least pull a passing grade off the assignment. Julia scowled at her textbook and Peter looked utterly lost. Lily noticed Remus was working rather hard as well. She glanced at the small vial of potion.

While she would have liked to have it, because surely there would come a time when she could use some luck, it wasn't her focus today. She'd spent the two weeks memorizing the instructions to brew Damocles Belby's potion and had read his reply letter so many times she practically had it memorized.

"… wouldn't even be suggesting this if you hadn't gotten an Outstanding in your O.W.L's. Frankly I'm shocked, but very pleased, they worked out a plan for you to attend school. The instructions are below, but I urge extreme caution. The potion must be kept exactly at temperature in order for the dittany and lavender to blend well enough that it counteracts the toxicity of the wolfsbane. It must be taken every day in the seven days prior to the rising of the moon otherwise the effects will be useless. If you have positive results, I beg you to let me know. I'm working with St. Mungo's and trying to get them to see the benefits of such a treatment, but as you can imagine the idea of integrating werewolves hasn't been too popular…"

"Ms. Evans," Slughorn mused from above her. "You seem very distracted today. Your cauldron is just starting to bubble."

"It took me a while to shred my mandrake root. I could have chopped it, but shredding makes it- "

"Dissolve much easier, yes," Slughorn finished for her. "Yes, you're quite right about that."

"Professor, while you're here, I'm wondering if you have extra mint leaves I could purchase. I have enough for today's assignment, but I'm afraid it's going to wear out my stores," she lied. "I haven't got an owl to order more and you know how the schools- "

"No need to worry, Lily, my dear, plenty in my cupboard… help yourself to as much as you'd like, you need only ask," he said, giving her a wink and a friendly smile.

Lily nodded, getting up to grab more ingredients. She did grab mint leaves for the assignment, but she also snuck the vial of Occamy egg shells under her sleeves. When she sat back down, she pulled out her wand, casting the required spell on her potion then pointing it at the vial in her hand. "Augere Tantum," she whispered, opening the vial of egg shells and pouring the excess she created into a small jar she had brought with her. She screwed the lid on tight, passed the original vial to Remus and stuck the other deep in her bag.

It went this way throughout class. Lily would get Slughorn's attention and while he was occupied, Remus would run to the cupboard to grab another ingredient. Lily would double the amount and stash away the excess, then when Slughorn was engaged with someone else or Remus happened to catch his attention, Lily would be the one to run to the stores and grab another ingredient. There were only three things she needed from his stores, but one of them was wolfsbane and since it was the primary ingredient, she was hesitant to duplicate it, let the duplication spell affected the potion somehow.

There was about fifteen minutes left of class when several students erupted with shouts. Sirius was the first one on his feet.

"Finished!'

"Professor!

"Done!

"Professor!"

After Sirius, James, Snape, and Nadine Shafiq had also jumped to their feet. Slughorn considered them thoughtfully. "Well done all of you, but I do believe I heard Mr. Black's voice first," he said with a large grin, striding over to where Sirius was. Lily looked down at her potion, which had been finished for just a while, but she saw no sense in competing for the goal. Remus and Julia were both still stirring, and Peter was staring at his cauldron looking lost.

"Pete, if you add the mint you'll be able to finish it up," Lily whispered. "It won't be perfect, but you'll at least scrap an A."

"Really?" Peter asked. "No idea what I'm doing in here to be honest," he admitted. "Don't know how I got an E…"

"Well, you did," she reminded him. "You've got more skill than you give yourself credit for."

Peter smiled, pleased with the compliment. Remus smiled at Lily. "Did you get it all?" he whispered as he leaned over to look at her potion.

"Yes, I just need to put this back," she explained, showing him the fourth bottle of wolfsbane she'd stolen a few leaves out of. "Lucky Slughorn has about a billion bottles of it."

Remus glanced at the front of the room. "Should we try it now?"

"No, when we hand our samples in," she said. "I'll chat him up, you put it back."

"What are you two on about?" asked Julia curiously. "You've been hissing at each other all through class."

"Nothing," Remus and Lily said simultaneously.

Julia gave them a suspicious look, but turned her attention to where Slughorn was standing over Sirius. "Will you look at him go?" she said. "I expect he might pop the question after this."

"Has Black been saving himself for marriage?" asked Lily.

Julia's grin was devilish. "Depends on what you mean by 'saving,'" she asked.

"…absolutely perfect, Sirius, my boy," Slughorn gushed. "I tell you, you hide your potential so well. I should have expected as much, being a Black and all. I am still shocked by your sorting, but something must set you apart from your family to have been sorted outside of Slytherin…"

Remus rolled his eyes and looked at Peter. "He's going to be hot about that tonight," he muttered while Peter nodded.

"What?" asked Lily. "About Slughorn praising him?"

"No, about him saying he's only good at potions because he's a Black," Julia explained. "And always saying he should have been in Slytherin."

Lily chewed her lip, watching Slughorn continue to banter while Sirius tried to smile. James was stoppering up his potion and gathering his things along with Sirius', apparently eager to get out of the dungeon. She began to do the same, glancing at Remus to confirm the plan was still on.

The bell rang, and students jumped from their chairs. "Oh, I almost forgot. I want a roll of parchment on this one by Friday. And congratulations again to Sirius Black for his marvelous demonstration… enjoy your prize," he gleamed, handing a grinning Sirius the vial of golden potion.

James followed him out of the room, watching as he examined the vial. "You going to share that?" James asked.

"I may; or I may keep it for myself," he muttered with a grin. "You know it's not 'get lucky' potion, Prongs."

"Potter'll need all the help he can get with that," muttered Avery as he passed with Snape, who looked disgusted over his loss.

"Don't look so glum, Snivellus. If you'd wash your hair more than once among, I'm sure you would have been able to see better and finish on time," Sirius replied, frowning at Avery as he remembered something. "And Avery…you might want to use some get lucky potion since it sounds like you enjoy hexing ladies, now? They usually don't like that," he noted.

Avery smiled. "I don't know if I'd classify Tottleham as a lady."

"She's prettier than this lady-fraud you've got with you," said Sirius, pointing to Snape. "But even with that… you should learn some manners. Perhaps you should be taught how to be polite."

"Is that a threat?" Snape asked.

"Yes, I think it might be," said Avery. "Ten points for threatening a prefect."

"You're going take points?" asked James angrily. "That's a cowardly way out. We should teach you some manners."

"Coward, eh? Ten points for insults," Avery continued, turning over his shoulder and flashing his wand at James. "Go on then…teach me."

James glared angrily with Sirius at his side. Peter came then, moving along past Snape and Avery before pausing and watching James for cues. Everyone was tense until Remus joined them, giving both James and Sirius a look before he walked past. James snorted, then stowed his own wand back in his robes and followed Remus down the hall. Sirius joined him, but not before taking a moment to shove Avery aside with his shoulder as he passed.

"Five points for physical violence," Avery laughed after him. James saw Sirius' hands clench into fists.

"You know, I'm not sure Black actually finished his potion since Slughorn declined to test it," Snape pointed out loudly. "He could have cheated."

"That's fair, fifteen points for cheating," Avery added.

"Questioning a Professor's decision and lying about a student," Lily called, glaring at Avery as she and Julia walked past them. "I'd say that's worth at least fifteen points," she muttered.

"You weren't top of the class, Evans… didn't let Slughorn up your skirt today?" Avery sneered after her. "No wonder he seemed so glum."

"You sure it's not because you didn't even finish on time, Avery?" asked Julia. "Slughorn hates when his house is shamed, and you bring shame to it every day."

"How's your face, Tottleham?" Avery hissed back while Snape laughed. "Though, I reckon even with a broken nose you're a nicer sight than this Mudblood," he finished, gesturing to Lily who made a face and kept right on walking.

James had whirled around, intending to stalk back to where Avery was, but Lily had walked right in front of him. She put her hands against his chest and leaned her whole-body weight into him. "Not worth it," she mumbled.

"The only Mudblood prefect in all the school," Avery continued, shaking his head at Snape. "It's a shame we can't dock points from other Prefects. I think being a Mudblood alone is worth at least twenty."

James made an angry noise, placing his hands on Lily's shoulders to move her out of the way. "Forget manners," he sneered over her head. "Someone needs to wash your mouth out."

"Go on, then," Snape challenged, watching as James struggled when Lily pushed him back.

Avery laughed. "Not going to let a Mudblood talk you out of a fight are you, Potter?"

Lily grabbed James' robes when he pushed her out of the way and lunged towards Snape, Sirius just behind him. Lily sank her entire body weight back, but James kept moving forward just like a packhorse hauling a heavy carriage behind him. Thankfully Remus, looking just as angry as James, stepped in front of both Sirius and James, suddenly looking a lot broader and stronger than he normally did.

"I think 20 points for language is fair…you agree, Evans?" he asked, grabbing James by the shoulders and pushing him hard back toward Lily.

"Sure, all right," Lily replied, gathering a stumbling James and turning him away from Snape and Avery as Remus took Sirius by the shoulders and dragged him down the hall.

Avery sneered while Snape smirked in an odd manner before they turned and walked away. James glowered after them while Sirius gave him a look. "The mouth washing…I think we can manage that," he muttered under his breath.

"Better," agreed James.

Lily ignored this, not wanting to know what they were saying to each other in their strange, broken sentences. Other students had started to file into the hallway leading to the Potions dungeon; a few had gathered around to watch. Lily released James, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder as she turned to walk away. Julia was standing next to Peter, looking disgusted. "Come on… we're going to be late," Lily muttered, waiting for Julia to fall into step with her.

They hadn't gotten much further down the hall when a sneering voice echoed over to them. "If we're assigning points it should be at least thirty for a Mudblood."

"At least," replied a high-pitched laughed. "They're practically half-breeds. I can't imagine a love potion would-"

Sirius and James both whipped around again, but it was Julia who shouted. "Oi!" she snarled. "A love potion would be the only way you could get someone to kiss that frog face of yours!"

Sirius bit back a laugh, but James still looked angry. "Who said that?" he growled, looking at the group of students heading into the Potions dungeon.

"That idiot Umbridge twat and Marcus Jugson," said Julia, still glowering over at the group of Slytherin's now filing into the potions dungeon. "Fourth years."

"Someone ought to wash her mouth out too," Remus muttered.

Lily made a disgusted noise and continued her walk to class. "Hey, Evans," James said catching up with her. "Ignore that… it's- "

"I am," she replied quietly. "It's just a word."

"You're right, it is," he insisted. He took her hand and continued walking beside her. "It doesn't mean anything."

"I know it doesn't," she said, tugging at his grip.

"Evans-"

"Potter, let go of my hand," she said sharply. James did as he was told, frowning at her expression. "I don't need you to take care of me."

She turned sharply and went straight into the classroom, leaving James frowning behind her. Julia ran up to him, a placating look on her face.

"She knows, James… catch her when it's not so fresh, yeah?" She squeezed James' shoulder reassuringly before following Lily into class.

Sirius was at his side next, followed by Remus and Peter. "I think you were on to something, Prongs," Peter suggested.

"Yeah?" asked James.

"Yeah," Remus added. "Someone should wash their mouths out."

Sirius grinned. "I expect we can work something out," he laughed, nodding towards the classroom and rubbing his hands together mischievously.


A/N This chapter is shorter because there isn't a ton of action, but I couldn't combine it with the next one because there is more in it. If I get a bunch of comments I might publish it a little sooner in the week (and still keep the Friday update because I have material to post). I'm so glad everyone is enjoying it =). I'm loving writing and I know from being a reader of many stories that it's satisfying when a story you follow updates regularly. Thanks for encouraging me to keep going =).