Chapter two

Mellie walked into potions alone and sat down. She pulled out a notebook and began writing in it. She was alone in the room; even the professor wasn't there yet. Her peace and quiet was ruined when Severus Snape walked in and sat down next to her. They were lab partners by the will of the potions professor, who wasn't even a Master, as Severus aspired to become. They said hello to each other coldly, and she went back to her notebook. Severus opened a potions book. There was really no question as to who was better at potions. He was.

The marauders walked in some time later, laughing noisily. Severus sighed loudly and slammed his book closed. The dirty glare he gave them only made them laugh harder. James pushed Sirius right up to Mellie's seat.

"Ask her out already and quit mooning over it." He commanded and went to sit at the table where the marauders worked during potions. She shuddered to think about what was growing on that table, after years of potions and those boys.

Sirius swallowed loudly. "James Potter!!!" He shouted and tackled the black-haired boy. Mellie laughed in spite of herself, Severus simply turned back to his book.

Sirius and James both stood up sometime later and dusted off. Sirius' black hair was tousled and Mellie's fingers itched to straighten the lock of hair. She shook her head and went back to her notebook. I will not, she thought, I will not think about how adorable Sirius looks at this moment.

The rest of the students started to file in, Lily was among them. She waved a hello to Mellie, who barely noticed so intent was she in her scribbling, and Lily went to speak with James. Sirius walked over to Mellie's table.

"Funny seeing you here, I thought you took Advanced Potions." He said, playfully grinning.

She put down her quill and pushed a pair of glasses back up her nose. The gesture was not lost on Sirius, who thought it adorable. "I do, but Severus and I have to take this potions class as well. It's in the rules, if you'd only read Hogwarts, A History, you'd know that." She was very serious when she spoke, Sirius noticed. She pushed her glasses up again as they slid down the bridge of her nose.

They all settled down to work. Half way through the class, James and Sirius began to shout.

"That's MY scarab beetle eyeball." James shouted. The professor didn't even look up from helping Frank Longbottom, he was so used to their antics.

"No!" Sirius shouted back. "It rolled onto to my side of the table!" Remus rolled his eyes.

"Mine."

"Mine!"

"MINE!"

"MINE!!!!!!" Remus stood up, walked over to their table and flicked the eyeball in question. It bounced all over the room, off the ceiling and across most of the tables. It bounced off the back of James' head and smacked Severus right in the center of his forehead.

All was silent. Then laughter slowly started to filter in. James and Sirius stood up and bowed, Severus glared at them. They grinned back. His lab partner gave him a dirty look and smacked him across the back of the head.

"Merlin Severus, you'd think that they meant to hit you the way you're acting." She said stirring in her own scarab beetle eyes.

"You don't know them." Severus said venomously. "They'd do anything to embarrass me."

She rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself Severus, I doubt you're that important to them. Besides, " she said tossing her hair over her shoulder before it got into the potion. "They're in my house." She said. "They're Gryffindors, you're just a slimy Slytherin who thinks way too highly of himself."

"Oh and you don't, Miss Perfect?" Severus shot back at her.

"I'm not perfect." She said slowly. "What makes you think I'm perfect?" she was hurt by all of this. First Sib, now Severus. Did everyone have this perception of her? Was she that perfect in their eyes?

Severus continued. "Well for starters, you're too good at magic. All magic, not just certain subjects."

"I'm not good at Herbology." She insisted.

He rolled his eyes. "You still have good marks. Bad for you is good for everyone else."

Mellie rolled her eyes at him and the both went back to making their potion.

A few moments later Sybil walked into the room, note in hand. She walked up to the professor and handed him the piece of paper. Snape and Mellie had finished their potion and Snape was removing it from the fire. James walked by and "accidentally bumped" into Snape causing him to spill it all over himself.

The Marauders doubled over in laughter as Snape started growing spikes all over himself. Mellie delivered a chilling glare in their direction for ruining their potion. Sirius had taken the liberty of adding a special ingredient to Snape's personal stash. Snape was enraged and tried to jump on James.

James ducked and ran. The professor grabbed Snape by one of his spikes. "You're going to the hospital wing and then I think we need to have a little chat with the headmaster." Professor Frellings led Snape out by his spike. Sybil was still in the room, apparently waiting for a reply.

She then went into a catatonic like state. "The dark is closing in. Beware the dark," was all she said. Remus, being the nice guy he was, ran over to her. He tired to get her to stop shaking. When she came out of her trance Remus was holding her quite closely. "Oh Remus, I've liked you for the longest time." She just started snogging with him right there. Remus didn't pull back. James, Sirius and Mellie all stared in amazement.

Mellie was the first to respond. "Sybil Eleanor Trelawney! What would your mother say!" Sybil and Remus jumped apart. Remus wore a sheepish look and Sybil looked very guilty. Mellie walked forward and grabbed Sybil by the ear. "Ten points from Ravenclaw, I can't believe your behavior!" she pulled Sybil away. "And you Mr. Lupin! Ten points from Gryffindor as well, learn to control yourself!"

"But… she…" He began, quite confused as to why this little girl was able to take points off.

"I don't care who started it. As a school prefect, it's my responsibility to award or take points based on behavior." The light clicked in Remus' brain, he also finally noticed the prefect badge pinned to her robes. She then dragged Sybil from the room, leaving those still the room to wonder whether they should worry about what had happened.

James and Sirius were arguing about what to do with Remus for about ten minutes before they noticed Mellie had returned and was cleaning her table while shooting icy looks in their direction. Sirius ignored her as best he could and continued to argue with James, until Remus stood up and violently shoved Sirius over to Mellie's table.

"What does he think gives him the right to act that way." Remus was a little unamused at the situation. "When he's such a wuss, he can't score himself?"

"Exactly." James was staring over at Mellie's table, where Sirius was trying (Unsuccessfully) to help her clean up. "Now shush, I want to watch the show."

"The show?"

James pointed at their bumbling friend. "Duh." He smacked Remus across the back of the head.

"Oh."

"Uhh… ummm…"

"Yes?" Mellie asked, looking up at Sirius.

"I uh…"

"Yes?" She asked again, amused by the rather large gaps in his speech and the stutter he currently had, which she knew, he normally didn't.

"Uhh… I…." James and Remus rolled their eyes at the pathetic display. Sirius was completely tongue-tied as he tired to wipe up part of the spilled potion.

"You're missing the potion." Mellie snapped. "If you're going to help, at least manage to wipe the right spot." Sirius flushed, talk about humorless, he thought.

"Well excuse me..." He began, she snatched his hand.

"You're not excused. Like this." She said and placed her hand over his and she showed him through demonstrating what he was doing wrong. "Honestly," she began. "However did you make it through 6 years of potions without being able to wipe up a spill." Sirius flushed again, he began to think he was a little out of his league with this one.

"Most of the potions we've made have had to be cleaned up by the professor." He grinned sheepishly.

She rolled her eyes. "I see, is life a game to you Sirius Black?"

He was flabbergasted. "No." He said slowly. "Life isn't a game to me. Mellie…" He began.

"Yes?" She asked for what seemed like the thousandth time. As he opened his mouth, the bell rang and everyone else raced from the room. "Yes?" she asked again when he smiled blankly at her.

"Ireallylikeyoualot." He said in one breath and raced off.