Chapter 34
"Alright," Professor Jade said as she circled around her students. "The ingredients are on the board. If one mistake is made, the entire potion might blow up and make a big mess and could possibly injure one of you."
James rolled his eyes while Sirius snickered slightly. She turned to glare at them before walking around, continuing her lecture. Remus was paying close attention while James and Sirius continued to joke around.
"Okay, begin," the professor said and Remus immediately began measuring out items and setting things up.
"Okay, Remmie, what are we doing?" asked James as he looked at all of the surrounding items.
"Were you paying even the slightest bit attention?" he asked, sounding frustrated. James and Sirius shook their heads and he groaned in response. "Alright, measure out this ingredient and then pour it in the cauldron while I cut up the root things. James, um…make sure nothing explodes."
Sirius looked up at that with an offended look on his face. "I won't blow anything up!" he exclaimed, but only James was paying any attention to him.
"I know, mate, but we've had some bad experiences in the past, if you need a reminder of them," James said, trying to reassure his friend by insulting him. Remus rolled his eyes at that tact without turning around to look at either of them.
They were so different from him and he loved it. Their friendship, in his opinion, proved the theory 'opposites attract'. They were everything he wasn't. They joked around, were brave, opinionated, didn't really care what others thought of them, stood up for themselves, and were loyal to every possible extent. They were both also extremely handsome and outgoing. Remus, on the other hand, was quiet, shy, accepting, and studious. He tended to let people tease him without defending himself and really did care what others thought of him.
It was so awesome for him to have friends. This was the first time he had really had close friends. Werewolves don't usually have any friends, and Remus was ecstatic that he did. They were the best friends he could ask for. If only they knew…
"Remus," muttered James in his ear, trying to get his attention. Remus jerked and turned to look at his friend. Sirius was looking at him curiously. "Are you done cutting those root thingys?"
Remus looked down at the neatly cut root that he had just cut. He nodded and set the knife down. "Now we have to let it bubble for…fifteen minutes while we cut up this stuff and measure up this stuff."
"What stuff?" asked Sirius as he poured in the stuff he had been measuring.
"Oh, the stuff behind that stuff, and that stuff over there, and the stuff that does something or other, and the stuff that smells bad," explained Remus, pointing all over the place, never hitting a direct spot.
"Oh, we're being descriptive now," a sarcastic James replied as he looked around at all of the ingredients. "Care to explain in deeper detail?"
"Not really. I'll just hand you the stuff and tell you the measurement."
Sirius rolled his eyes and continued working. This was going to take a long time. Remus picked out ingredients and handed them to his friend. Sirius was stuck cutting up some other plant thing and James was watching them both, reading over the ingredient list and the instructions.
"Has fifteen minutes passed?" asked James as he glanced up at Remus and Sirius. Sirius shrugged and Remus glanced at his watch. He nodded and then poured some of the newer ingredients in. BOOM! It exploded instantly as one of the measurements of the plant thing hit it.
James, Sirius, and Remus ducked, but were still splattered with the potion. Professor Jade looked over at them and rolled her eyes. She could have predicted that their potion would go wrong somehow, she was just hoping that it wouldn't.
"What did you three do?" she asked, sounding exasperated as she walked over to them. The three boys stood up somewhat looking sheepish and somewhat nervous. She looked around at the mess and shook her head. "Well, you'd better start cleaning up. I'd like to see you three after class."
They nodded and she conjured up some cleaning devices just for them. They took it without grumbling and started cleaning. Lily Evans was staring at them with contempt and disdain on her face while the Slytherins laughed and continued on their work.
"Oh well," muttered James as he mopped up the blown up potion on the floor, "it could have been worse."
"How?" questioned Sirius, rolling his eyes slightly at his comment.
James simply shrugged and continued cleaning. Remus seemed to be dwelling on what had happened. "What had we done wrong?" he asked, glancing at James. James shrugged again and pursed his lips.
"As far as I can tell, we did everything correctly. Maybe we didn't wait fifteen minutes after all."
Remus looked unconvinced, but didn't say anything else. The class ended about ten minutes later and they finished cleaning up about five minutes after that.
"Alright, boys," Professor Jade said when they walked up to her desk. "Any idea what you did to the potion to make it blow up like that?"
James shrugged and Remus shook his head. Sirius didn't respond as he was thinking over the entire process. "I think I added too much root thing," he said after a moment.
Professor Jade nodded and then excused them. "What was the point of that?" asked James as they walked to lunch. Remus shrugged and glanced at his watch. He was beginning to feel quite ill and decided that he should go to the hospital wing before something bad happened.
"I have to go now, you guys," he said and waved and quickly left so he wouldn't have to listen to their questions.
James and Sirius were left standing staring after his retreating back. "What's gotten into him?"
Sirius glanced at him as if he'd lost his mind. "What is today?" he asked.
James shrugged and then answered, "It's…oh the thirteenth."
Sirius nodded and then sat down at the table to eat. He pulled out a chart and showed it to James. It was a moon chart. A few months ago, Sirius had begun to notice a pattern in Remus's random vanishings. He had found a chart on the moon's cycles and noticed that Remus was always missing around then. And when he came back, he was always exhausted and beat up. That led Sirius to believe that Remus was a werewolf.
James, however, was a bit slow and just stared at the chart stupidly. "Yeah, it's a chart of the moon cycles. What of-oh."
Sirius smiled and rolled his eyes as he piled food into his mouth. James was still staring at the chart, disbelief etched out on his face. "A werewolf?" he whispered, looking around him as if someone would be eavesdropping. Sirius nodded and continued eating as if nothing mattered.
James sat there ignoring the food in front of him. After a moment, he smiled and nodded. "That's kinda cool, actually. We should tell him that we know so he won't have to keep lying to us."
Sirius nodded and swallowed his mouthful of food. "But for now, EAT!"
A.N. sorry that took so long. I got distracted school. Oh well. Please review and thank you. Bye bye.