James was in a bit of a rush, a whirlagig of emotions running through him like tornado. In the short span of time it took him to reach the potions lab, he had stopped several times to collect himself and think about what he was going to say. By the time he had knocked on the door, he had it all planned.

And then he saw Scorpius sitting alone at the desk they had usually shared, looking into a cauldron with his textbook opened. Everything he had planned promptly flew out the window. He couldn't even remember what he had planned to say.

"I'm sorry," James blurted out before anything else. It was the only thing that struck out in his mind above the spin of thoughts that had him a bit reeling. It was very much like a hurricane was in his head, blowing things about. In an attempt to stabalize himself, he caught those words. Well, he thought after he'd said them, they sounded good enough.

Scorpius didn't answer immediately, instead stirring his potion carefully with a look of utmost concentration on his face. James was a bit surprised by his lack of response and he felt something in his chest sink. Scorpius hated him. Of course he hated him. There wasn't a surprise in that. Hell, James hated himself. He couldn't think of a person in the world who should like him at that very moment.

"Which comes first," Scorpius said and James jumped a little. Trying to sort through his own thoughts and emotions had distracted him a little. At the Slytherin's voice, he came crashing down to earth with a jolt. "Flaxseed oil or Ashwinder scales?"

James stared a bit at Scorpius. Of all the things he could say, he was asking him a stupid bloody question about potions?

"Flaxseed oil. Always flaxseed oil," James answered slowly, sizing Scorpius up. Was he trying to catch him off guard so he could hex him into oblivion? Was he going to simply ignore him? Or was he going to yell and go completely mad about James being a complete idiot? Could James even make up his stupid mistake? He spoke again, a bit more tentatively and a lot quieter. "If you pour flaxseed oil into the pot after, you're likely to catch on fire."

Scorpius was quiet a moment as he poured a bottle of translucent yellow liquid into the pot. "Thanks."

"What on earth are you making that requires Ashwinder scales and Flaxseed oil?" James asked curiously, attempting to play it cool. Scorpius didn't seem to be making a big deal out of it. He didn't seem to care at all, actually, and James briefly wondered if Viola and Eddie were having him on. They were Slytherins, of course they would do that. They probably heard he was in love with Scorpius and thought it would be funny to see him rush off towards the potions room.

Scorpius was probably just practicing potions down here, anyway.

"Antidote," Scorpius said, stirring carefully - obviously counting his stirs with precision. "For love potions, to be exact."

At that moment, he gave James a sideways glance and James immediately wanted to sink into the surrounding furniture.

"I've been working on it since I found out the first one didn't work," Scorpius said, sounding light but looking quite moody. "It's supposed to be much stronger, but I'm rubbish at potions."

"You're not rubbish," James took a few steps forward, looking curiously at the potion. What did this mean, anyway? Did it mean Scorpius wanted to be rid of James or did it mean something else? It was all very confusing.

"The potion is supposed to be light blue and it's dark brown," Scorpius said, with a wry smirk. He didn't seem much disappointed in his, very clearly, rubbish potion. "But it doesn't matter anyway. I heard the love potion wore off."

James was silent a moment, trying hard to figure out what was the best way to go about this. In the end, James went into it the only way he knew how - boldly, head first.

"Sort of," he said at first, pausing a moment. When Scorpius finally (it seemed, to James, to take a day and an age) looked up, his eyes drifted over to James so laziliy the Gryffindor thought at once he didn't care at all.

"How does something sort of wear off? It either does or it doesn't," Scorpius stared at James, his expression unfathomable. James couldn't tell if he was curious, or annoyed and this was quite frustrating. It made proceeding extremely difficult because James didn't know what to expect at all. Scorpius was a complete mystery - at least, he had much better control over his emotions than James did.

"It just -" James struggled with himself for a moment. It was still very hard to wrap his mind around everything. "The potion wore off the day before I took the antidote. I - I haven't been under the potions influence for four days."

Scorpius didn't respond at first. And when he did, it wasn't with words. He picked up his wand, extinguished the flames burning beneath the cauldron he was working at and picked up the cauldron by it's handle. He swooped over to the large basin sink and proceeded to dump the murky brown liquid down the drain.

"Rubbish," Scorpius muttered, and James stood awkwardly in the middle of the potions classroom.

"That's why I haven't been coming here," James said at long last, unable to bare the silence between them. "When Rose figured it out, I thought it was madness. Silliness. And then, for a while, I thought I'd accepted it. But then thinking that you just liked me, if you did at all, I kind of - well, I kind of went mad. Nobody asks a girl they don't even know to a dance if they're not mad, right?"

"You asked a girl you don't know to the Graduation Ball?" Scorpius sounded a tad bit amused, and James had enough dignity to be a little hurt by it. Here he was, baring it all, and Scorpius was amused by it. He thought it was funny!

"Are you even listening?" James asked exhasperatedly. It was bad enough he was being run about by these ridiculous conflicting emotions, he didn't need Scorpius, the object of such conflictions, mocking him. It sort of made James want to punch him right in his smug face, but then the image that produced had him crinkling his nose in disgust of the idea. He would feel terrible. Not to mention, he didn't want to cause Scorpius any physical pain.

Just mental anguish.

No, no, he didn't want to do that either.

"Of course I'm listening," Scorpius said at once, placing his empty pot on the desk. "What's her name?"

"Veronica something-or-other, the seventh year Hufflepuff with the hair that does the thing," James said, waving his hand as though to brush the digression of their conversation away. Scorpius wasn't having any of it, of course.

"You mean Sara Bones?" Scorpius asked, attempting to be completely innocent in this remark, but he was biting his lip to keep from laughing. "That doesn't even start with a V."

"Whatever, does it matter? Ugh, you are so - so..." James gritted his teeth together. "Frustrating! You're not making this any easier!"

Scorpius gave him a bright smile that took James by surprise. He knew Scorpius was at least capable of such a thing, but he hadn't expected it in that moment - nor with such satisfaction. James' face, which had taken on a contorted, angry look was frozen in that ridiculous pose before falling.

"What?" James asked, looking at Scorpius suspiciously.

"Ribbing you," Scorpius said with a chuckle. "It's impossibly easy. But I've had my revenge. I forgive you."

James started. "Just like that?"

"Yes. I forgive you for being an enormous impossible prat," Scorpius said, folding his arms over his chest. "An idiotic Gryffindor that doesn't think for a moment that just because I'm a Slytherin - or maybe because I'm a Malfoy - means that I don't have any emotions or even remotely capable of forgiveness. Stop looking at me like that, I know it's quite shocking to learn that we're human beings too."

"It's not - it's not -" James stuttered. Well, he couldn't deny he wasn't thinking that. Part of the reason he was so upset over this entire thing was because Scorpius was a Slytherin (and a Malfoy, no less) and by definition that made him a great git who thought only of himself and - that was really narrow-minded of him. But James had only recently started living outside the box, you couldn't much blame him, could you? "I wouldn't have forgiven me. Not that easily, anyway."

"You again fail to realize that I'm nothing like you, Potter," Scorpius said, tidying up his potions utensils. "I'm not a womanizing idiot who thinks himself much better than everyone. Even if you think you're annoying, I haven't even considered it. Of course, I was under the impression you were influenced by a love potion and now that I realize that you are really just that great of a moron - I'm still really not that bothered by it. And when you run off and don't show yourself for three days, I'm going to be annoyed, but I understand."

James gaped. Malfoy had really been sorted in the wrong house. Of course, James didn't dare, in this moment, to suggest that Scorpius was as harmless as a Hufflepuff on a draught of peace. Because he would, invariably, prove him wrong.

"Besides," Scorpius said with a smirk that made him appear much more pompous than James knew him to be. "I know I'm better than everyone else."

James laughed.