Chapter Six: Needles, Rome, and Porcupine Quills
Sirius charmed several female portraits into telling Lily and him where to find the Transfiguration classroom and the two of them managed to arrive just as the bell rang. They grinned at each other and walked into the classroom just behind most of the rest of the class.
As the last bell rang, James, Peter, and Remus sprinted into the room, having gotten lost somewhere along the way. James and Peter collapsed into seats at the back of the room, gasping for breath under McGonagall's stern glare. Remus, who didn't appear to be having any trouble breathing, took the only remaining seat, next to the greasy-haired boy that Sirius had run into at the feast.
Professor McGonagall started off by taking roll. As soon as she finished, she launched into a lecture about how anyone fooling around would leave and not come back. Sirius suppressed a roll of his eyes. As if she would really not let someone back into her class.
After the lecture, she gave detailed instructions on how to perform basic transfigurations. At the back of the room, James was ignoring her in favor of catching up on some of the sleep he had missed the night before.
"Mr. Potter!" a sharp voice said, interupting his brief nap. He looked up to meet the irritated eyes of Professor McGonagall. He was dimly aware of quiet snickering coming from many of the Slytherins, but decided to ignore them as he put on his best "innocent" face.
She didn't buy it. "Five points from Gryffindor for sleeping during class," she snapped, setting a match on the desk in front of him and another in front of Peter before moving on.
James made a face at her back before turning to the match. Not quite sure of what they were supposed to be doing, James nudged Peter. "What're the matches for?" he asked.
"We have to turn them into needles."
James raised his eyebrows. That was it? Just match into needle? No problem. He shrugged and got started.
Up at the front of the room, Sirius had managed to turn his match a dull, grayish color, but he couldn't seem to do anything more. Next to him, Lily hadn't even managed that yet, though she was obviously trying as hard as she could. Suddenly, there came a shout from the back of the room. The whole class turned around to see James holding up a perfect needle with a triumphant grin.
McGonagall strode back to him and turned the needle back into a match. "Do it again."
James smirked and pointed his wand at it. Instantly it turned into a needle. The corners of McGonagall's mouth actually turned up, and she awarded him ten points.
By the end of the hour, only four other people had managed it. Sirius was the first, followed closely by the greasy-haired Slytherin that McGonagall called Severus Snape. Lily was next, and Remus displayed a perfect needle just as the bell rang.
Sirius caught Remus's sleeve as they left the classroom. "Hey, Remus. I...uh...I mean...that is..."
"Forget about it," Remus suggested. "It's fine."
Sirius gave Remus a lopsided grin. "I just didn't think, you know?"
Remus nodded. "Been there, done that," he said.
"Potions next," Lily said, coming up behind them. She nodded at Remus. "Lily Evans."
"Remus Lupin."
She smiled. "Ever been to Rome?" she asked, grinning. Noting the confused looks she was getting, she elaborated. "According to myth, a man named Remus was one of the founders of Rome. He and his twin brother Romulus were raised by wolves, and Remus was eventually killed by one of his brother's followers."
"Comforting thought," Remus said dryly. "Good thing I'm an only child."
"You said it. Where's the Potions classroom?"
"In the dungeons. The Prefects told us on the way to the common room last night. C'mon, I'll show you."
Remus and Sirius exchanged looks before shrugging and following the small redhead.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"I am Professor Johns," said the tall, whispy woman at the front of the Potions dungeon. "You are here to learn Potions. Anyone who is not prepared to pay absolute attention at all times can leave now." She looked around, seeming to meet the eyes of each Gryffindor. No one moved. She smiled. "Good."
She tapped the blackboard with her wand. A very complicated list of instructions appeared. Eyes widened and jaws dropped all over the classroom. Lily, Remus, Kevin Price, and a girl named Dorien Callan had all pulled out parchment and were scribbling furiously.
"Now," Professor Johns said, "this potion is called the Draught of Peace. You will /not/ be making it today." Relieved sighs echoed around the dungeon, and Professor Johns smiled as she tapped the board again. A much simpler potion appeared this time.
"/This/ is potion often used to cure boils, and is what you'll be making today. Does anyone have any questions?" No one did, and the Potions Mistress set about partnering people up.
"Black and Potter, Evans and Yanier, Pettigrew and Ross, Price and Callan, Lupin and Drew. Ingredients are in the cupboard, and if you need to ask me anything, just raise your hand." She looked at them for a second. "Well, hop to it."
Sirius and James looked at each other over a cauldron. "I talked to Remus," Sirius said.
James nodded. "I guess I'm sorry for biting your head off."
Sirius shrugged. "I guess I'm sorry for being a prat."
"Black, Potter! Get your ingredients, and get to work!"
"So," James said as they got started, "I saw you and Remus with Evans."
"She's not bad, for a girl," Sirius said, taking the cauldron off the fire so James could add the porcupine quills.
"She's pretty, too," James said, staring at her. Sirius rolled his eyes and dropped the quills in himself. He nudged James.
"She's not that pretty. Now, put your eyes back in and stew the horned slugs."
"Why do I have to stew the horned slugs?"
"Because I put the porcupine quills in."
A loud hissing and a cloud of bright green smoke cut off whatever reply James might have been planning to make. The potion Remus and Tasha Drew had been working on had somehow melted the cauldron. Before anyone else had realized what had, Remus was on his stool, and Tasha was on the table where they had set out their ingredients.
Everyone quickly followed their lead, getting out of the way of the potion until Professor Johns cleared it away. She looked at Remus and Tasha. "Mr. Lupin, Miss Drew. Can either of you tell me what went wrong?"
They looked at each other and shook their heads. "No, ma'am," Tasha said. "We can't."
"Mr. Lupin, read the third line on the board."
"'After taking the cauldron off the fire, add the porcupine quills,'" he read. His face fell. "Oh."
She nodded. "Now can you tell me where you went wrong?"
"We didn't take the cauldron off the fire," Tasha said.
Another nod. "Both of you come back here tonight to redo your potion. Everyone else, your potions should be done. Place a sample on my desk, and you may leave."
James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus met up outside the classroom. "Finally," James said. "Lunch!" The other three laughed.
"How'd you get out of the way of your potion so fast?" Peter asked Remus as the started up the stairs from the dungeons.
Remus looked uncomfortable. "Well, I noticed it was bubbling kind of funny, so I got out of the way, just in case. So," he said, changing the subject, "what was your partner like?"
"Mine was a bit annoying," Sirius said, grinning mischeivously. He laughed at James's mock-angry glare.
"She was okay," Peter said, shrugging. "Bossy, though."
"What about Drew?" James asked.
Remus grinned. "As hopeless at Potions as I am."
"Oh, come on, you're not hopeless," Sirius scoffed. "Even I'm not hopeless."
Remus laughed. "I am."
"It's just following directions," Peter pointed out as they entered the Great Hall and dropped into seats at the end of Gryffindor table.
"Yeah, a long list of fidgety instructions that you have to follow exactly. Give me a wand and spells any day."
Sirius nodded, agreeing with Remus.
"Still," James said thoughtfully, "There's a lot of stuff that works better as a potion than a spell."
"And there's a lot more stuff that works better as a spell."
James rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Sirius"
Author's Note: -hits self repeatedly- Sorry everyone! I know I said that I was going to put chapter six up the same day I put up chapter five, but I had forgotten one very important thing: there was a three-year-old in the house and the floppy was in plain sight. -wince- Let's just say that that version of Chapter Six is gone since I didn't save it anywhere except on the floppy. -smacks head- And then I had some major computer problems-bad enough that I had to get a whole new one. But I'm back! With a new (and hopefully improved from the one that got destroyed) Chapter Six! Yay! AND it's 1,415 words not counting the Disclaimer, title, Author's Notes or review replies. Whee! On to reviews, and thanks for sticking with me!
Review Replies:
shadow929: I'm sorry I took so long! But here it is! And yes, Sirius's mom will eventually prove James wrong. -cackles- Remus is nice, isn't he? -smiles- Glad you like it!
Nooka: Yeah, last chapter was a bit short. But this one's longer! (now that it's finally here...)
Tikvah Ariel: I love your reviews. They always make me think. Now, Malfoy. Yes, Harry and Ron thought that Draco's dad opened the Chamber, which would imply that he was there at the same time as Riddle. However, I doubt that they actually knew how old Mr. Malfoy was. I mean, I sure don't know the ages of my least favorite person's parents. I could be wrong, but I'll bet that they just thought it was Malfoy because of the way they acted (not that I blame them. Slimy git...) and the when they found out that it had been opened before, they just assumed that it had to be Malfoy's dad that did it, and didn't bother to verify their facts. Also, I know wizards live longer than us normal humans, but Malfoy doesn't strike me as being over sixty. Some of that might be the movies, but still... -shrugs- Let's agree to disagree, shall we?
I'm sorry if I offended you with my last reply-I was intending to callRon and Hagrid biased against Slytherin, which they are. I was not intending to call you biased. I'm sorry if that's how it came out.
Thanks for the recommendation-I'll have to check that story out!
LOOPYLOZ: Sorry it took so long! Glad you like it!
Lady Silvamord: Don't worry, the Marauders will definitely have their bumps, thuogh right now they're back togetheragain. As soon as I post this, I'll hop on over and review the chapters I've missed! Sorry it's been so long since my last update. AndI'm working on restoring the next chapter of 5P1S (it got attacked as well), so that should be up sometime before Christmas.
brennqt14: Sorry! I honestly did not mean for it to take this long. I'm glad you like it!