Potion Lesson
The next day, Lily sat in the last but one row of the small dark dungeon that was her Potions classroom, listening to the drawl of Professor Asteen talking about the practical which they were eventually about to perform. Lily didn't feel the Professor had the need to tell the class how to make the potion, as he had already spent time telling them last lesson. It seemed quite simple, when made correctly it would make any chosen item shrink. However, much to the Marauders disappointment (who had all chosen to take Potions in their seventh year), the potion would only work on an item- and not a person.
Lily continued to watch Professor Asteen prattle on about how important it is to put the precise amount of beetle legs in the shrinking potion, the dungeon always seemed to make her feel drowsy, unlike other classrooms where she found she was more alert. Perhaps it was because other classrooms were more illuminated, unlike the dungeon which only had a few lighted torches attached to the walls to allow any light.
"Lily... are you still here?" came the voice of the person seated next to her.
Lily jumped from her somewhat tranquility and span around to face Erin Martella, a seventh year Hufflepuff. Her chocolate brown eyes watched Lily cynically and her wavy dark brown hair lay rested upon her shoulders. Herra, as well as the other Gryffindor girls, had not chosen to continue Potions in their seventh year, so Lily sat next to Erin, who she got along with quite well.
"Oh, yeah... sorry Erin," said Lily wearily.
Erin frowned, "Your usually attentive in lessons, what's wrong?" she asked.
Lily shrugged, she didn't feel anything was particularly wrong with her, and she was alert to what the Professor was saying, but found it hard to look completely focused taking in the atmosphere of the dungeon and that he made things seem so boring.
"Nothing, I just wish we could get on with the practical... he told us what to do last lesson anyway," she said irritably, as Professor Asteen continued to remind the class of the hazard of leaving the beetle legs too long to simmer could cause.
"I suppose," said Erin.
Behind Lily and Erin, sat the Marauders-or more precisely sat James and Sirius, and to the right of them Remus and Peter. They were obviously not paying much attention to what Professor Asteen was saying, as Lily could faintly here them whispering in hushed voices.
"Nah... he's not going to see... and if he does, we can just deny the whole thing," said Sirius.
"And what makes you think he would believe you, may I ask?" asked Remus tautly.
Lily heard what could only be Peter shift uncomfortably, a short moment later James spoke.
"Because Moony...I'm Head Boy." he said smugly.
Lily frowned. What were they planning to do?
"I don't think that would be enough in your case, Prongs," replied Remus resignedly.
Lily heard no more, as the scraping of chairs and tapping of feet signaled that the Professor had finally allowed the practical to begin. Erin's seat was now vacant, and Lily noticed that she was amongst the small crowd who were standing before the ingredients cabinet, reaching for glass jars of different sizes. A short while later she saw James, accompanied by Peter, also joining the crowd...James managing to get to the front of the crowd within seconds.
"Thanks for the help, Lil's," said Erin once she had returned, plopping several different sized jars on the scratched wooden desk before her.
"Sorry Erin, I wasn't really focused," replied Lily with a small smile.
Erin smiled sarcastically and waved a hand in dismissal. "We can use my cauldron," she said, clearing away the glass jars to the edge of the table and reaching for something at the foot of her desk. A moment later, she heaved a small black slightly rusted cauldron onto the desk.
"Great, all we need now is instructions," said Lily, peering up at the blackboard, which at the moment Professor Asteen was conjuring white chalk instructions with his wand onto.
After a few minutes, the whole class was assembled behind their cauldrons and instantly began to make the shrinking potion- along with the help of the completed set of instructions on the blackboard. The potion, when completed, was supposed to be a murky yellow colour and after a few minutes of following instructions, much to Lily and Erin's relief, their potion was just that.
They both sat back onto their chairs to allow their potion to simmer for two minutes, before adding three hairs of bat.
"It's looking good," said Erin gladly, peering over the top of the cauldron from her seat, which was now releasing a faint silver haze, adding to the rest of the misty atmosphere.
Lily was just about the respond when a faint clatter from one of the tables behind her interrupted her, which happened to be Peters.
"Oops, sorry," said Peter feebly, gazing remorsefully at the smashed glass of dead beetles which lay on the ground to the left of his desk. "Err, Professor?"
Professor Asteen came sweeping over with a dustpan and brush, "Broken glass? Step away child, I don't know why the school supplies me with non-shatter proof glasses, they're also spell proof," he said irritably, before hastily sweeping away the mix of shattered glass and beetles.
Lily looked away from Peter and found herself slightly puzzled to see only him and Remus remaining at their desks out of the four Marauders. She glanced around the foggy dungeon and spotted James and Sirius gathered by the ingredients cabinet. They seemed to be smuggling ingredients into empty jars that Sirius was retrieving from the black rucksack by his foot. He passed the empty jars to James, who put a small amount of different ingredients in them before passing them back to Sirius who returned them to the black rucksack. James handed back another jar to Sirius and turned around and squinted through the haze, he whispered something back to Sirius who then shut the rucksack before heaving it on his shoulder and casually walking back to his desk, shortly followed by James. Nobody seemed to notice, even the Professor who was now sitting back behind his cluttered desk.
A soft thump, and Lily knew that James and Sirius were safely concealed behind their desks. But Lily couldn't just disregard that they had stole from the ingredients cabinet- and why had they stolen anyway?
"Time to put the hairs in," said Erin, jumping up from her seat and reaching for the smallest of the jars, which was labeled, 'Bat Hairs'.
Lily nodded, "Yeah, I'll be with you now," she said, still contemptuous about what James and Sirius had just done.
"James?" she asked, turning around and bringing her eyes up to match his hazel ones, which abruptly span up to meet hers and lighted up through the fog.
"Yes, Lily," he replied, just as Sirius added three bat hairs to their cauldron which then made a light popping sound.
"What's in the bag?" she asked, shifting her eyes to the rucksack that was just concealed underneath his table.
James watched Lily questioningly. "And why does that bother you, Lily?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe because I saw you... and you as well, Sirius," Lily said, now watching Sirius, who looked up from his smoking cauldron and exchanged a glance with James.
"Look, you're not going to report us are you? We just have to use them... for something important," said Sirius hopefully.
"Like I'm going to believe that," Lily replied sardonically. "And if it's so important, why don't you just ask Professor Asteen if you can borrow some ingredients?"
Sirius laughed,"Yeah, like Asteen would let us borrow his ingredients, it's just a potion... don't worry, it's nothing life threatening," said Sirius irreverently with a smirk.
Lily watched them sceptically for a moment, she didn't quite believe them... not that she often would believe an excuse James or Sirius told her.
Erin suddenly turned around from her and Lily's table. "We're done," she said to Lily, casting equally dark glances at the hopeful looking Sirius and James.
Lily broke her cynical look into a smile, and turned to face Erin. "That's great," she said, "I just had to remind James about his Head Boy duties... and that he still is Head Boy," she said, shifting her gaze from Erin to James, before glancing at Sirius.
"Nothing to worry about, James wouldn't forget anything that you have ever told him," he said mockingly.
The bell rang just as James was about to reply. Lily turned back to her desk... she wasn't going to report them, but they shouldn't have been stealing from the ingredients cabinet. What could they possibly be making that was so important that they needed to steal ingredients?
"I cleared it away, and Professor Asteen has a flask of our potion," said Erin in reply to Lily's stunned look as she noticed their desk was empty and clear.
She felt guiltily, she had done hardly anything to help make the potion this lesson and felt bad for letting Erin do all the work. "Thanks Erin, sorry I haven't helped much... I promise I'll be fully alert next lesson," she replied sheepishly.
"It's OK... as long as you remember that you're getting everything prepared next time... you're not in your usual organized mode today, y'know," she said.
Lily sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'm not... and I will get everything prepared," she replied fixedly.
The dungeon was gradually emptying as the students left through the small door at the front end. Lily waved goodbye to Erin and was just about to follow the mass of students out into the corridor when she remembered she had promised Herra that she would speak to Sirius.
Lily turned away from the mass of the crowds and frowned when she saw that all four of the Marauders had already left. She turned back round and left through the dungeon door, searching the heads of the people who were now milling across the corridor in hope for Sirius'. She spotted Sirius, along with the Marauders, just turning a corner down the rear end of the corridor. She couldn't just go and run after him, she promised Herra she would speak to him alone and avoid all of the other Marauders at all costs.
Reluctantly, Lily began to trail down the corridor along with the other students and a few minutes later she approached the Gryffindor portrait hole, which was already open as a group of fifth year girls were just climbing in. Lily followed in after them and began to search the common room for any sign of Herra, Kristy or Lorraine. She saw the three of them sitting at the back corner on the sofas, so walked over to them and sat down on the sofa next to Lorraine.
"Oh, look at her, she's all alone... what a tragedy," said Lorraine sardonically, smirking across the room at what could only be the figure of Sandra sitting on a squashy armchair before the flickering fireplace, alone.
"You don't like her either?" asked Lily, slightly surprised.
Kristy laughed, "Yeah, like we'd like her... she's such a prissy bimbo." she said, flicking her own long dark brown hair out of her eyes and batting her eyelashes sarcastically.
The four laughed, which caused Sandra to look over from the hearth and scowl.
"Y'know, she wasn't so confident before... when I nearly punched her," said Herra, still looking at Sandra who had turned away and continued to stare at the glowing amber flames.
Kristy and Lorraine gasped, their faces each a mix of shock and their eyebrows raised, the resemblance was almost uncanny.
"You punched her?" asked Lorraine, astounded but nevertheless content.
Herra turned away from Sandra and frowned, "I nearly did, except James Potter had to show up at the last second and ruin everything," she sneered irritably. "But I guess he just didn't want her to get hurt... don't know why, though."
"He's the only person in Gryffindor who seems to get along with her... I think she hangs around with some Hufflepuffs," replied Kristy thoughtfully, her eyebrows lowering a considerable amount.
Lorraine nodded. "Yes, she does," she said.
Herra suddenly made a strange questioning noise and turned to face Lily. "Did you ask?" she enquired quietly.
Lily frowned for a moment, but then got a sense of awareness once she looked over to where Herra was gazing and saw Sirius and the Marauders conversing.
She shook her head. "He was with them, and I knew you would rather die than have me ask him while he's around them," she said quietly, so that Kristy and Lorraine, who were now talking amongst themselves, couldn't hear.
Herra looked putout for a moment, but then smiled. "It's okay, and thanks for not asking when they were around... you know I would of died tomorrow otherwise." she replied.
Lily laughed. "I'll just have to speak to him later, if I see him alone," she said, casting another glance at Sirius, who was still surrounded by his friends.
"What are you going to say to him anyway?" prodded Herra curiously.
Lily frowned, she didn't actually know what she was going to say to Sirius herself. "I don't know, but I'll find something..." she said. "But don't worry, I won't make it obvious," Lily added quickly in reply to Herra's terrified look as she had said 'I'll find something'.