A/N: Hey, everyone! Thanks to all who have been reviewing. Y'all know how much I love reviews... :-)
Well, this is the longest segment of "No!" so far, so I know y'all will enjoy it. It's Judgment Day, and everyone is freaking out about their assignments...
Jedi Kinght Bus: You should be looking forward to this part...it's by far the longest! Buck is posting "Hermione's Exasperation" because I could no longer write it with him. The first half of the fifth chapter is basically the last of what I wrote of it.
ebtwisty9: I think of Lily as sympathetic too.
LadyOfTheCelticLand: I'm so happy you love it!
ST3: Nice suggestion...you'll see what happens...
Nicole: You're right about posting whenever I can. I need to get this show on the road if I'm to finish before HBP!
Part Thirteen: Judgment Day
"You added a drop of your blood?"
James nodded tiredly. Lily had been quizzing him for Merlin knows how long about the procedures he had completed on the potion alone.
"And stirred occasionally for ten minutes after?"
"For the hundredth time, Lily, I've done it all. Will you stop pacing and sit down? You're making me dizzy," said James in a surprisingly patient tone. They were in the common room. She had been repeatedly walking the distance between an armchair and the fireplace for several minutes: back and forth, back and forth. It was enough to drive anyone mad. And James was almost positive the carpet beneath her chosen path had sunken a good half-inch from the time she started.
Lily complied with James' wishes and settled down onto an armchair. "I'm just really nervous."
"No way," James said sarcastically, dodging a small pillow Lily threw at him.
"You don't look nervous, James."
"I am, but I hide that emotion fairly well."
"Lucky," Lily sighed. "I'd better go to be, although I don't think I'll be able to sleep."
"Good luck with that," James said, ascending his staircase at the same time Lily did hers.
James changed quietly into his nightclothes and shut his bed-hangings. This has been a crazy two months. I do wonder what Lily thinks of me now. I mean, I've put a lot of my life aside in order to work with her. My real hope now is that Solomon will grade us rightfully. I worked so damn hard on that thing…blood, sweat, and tears…literally…
Lily sat down on her four-poster and closed her eyes, trying to breathe deeply. I need to calm my nerves, if I'm going to do this tomorrow.
Be confident, Lily. James will help you.
Yeah, he will… He's so much more…considerate nowadays. And helpful…he's been wonderful the whole time, actually. He's been the one thing I could count on in this project.
It's because he cares about you.
He should care about me. I care about him—
Aha! I knew it!
—as a friend.
So you admit he's a good guy?
That he is… Lily put on her pajamas and fell into a deep sleep as a result of her utter exhaustion.
"Good morning, James," Remus said brightly the next morning. The Marauders were sitting at Gryffindor table, helping themselves to a hearty breakfast. That is, everyone except for James, who had only just arrived, looking a bit disheveled and extremely tired.
"What's so"—he let out a huge yawn—"good about it?"
"What happened to you, mate?" Sirius asked.
"Last night Lily made me go over everything with her."
"You look like you could use some Pepper-Up Potion from Madam Pomfrey," said Peter.
"Great idea, except I have potions first class; if I'm late, Solomon will kill me. And then Lily would bring me back to life and kill me again."
"Oh, I've just remembered! Benjy Fenwick and his partner made Pepper-Up Potion for the assignment," Remus said. (A/N: Impossibly convenient? Yeah, just go with it.)
"Oi, Fenwick!" Sirius called down the table.
"Not here yet!" someone answered.
But then the very person they'd been searching for appeared at the Great Hall doors, with an entire case of his newly-brewed potion in tow.
James felt infinitely better after drinking Benjy's concoction. He met up with Lily at the bottom of the castle's marble staircase. She was holding a case of their own potion.
"Ready?" she asked anxiously.
"Ready as I'll ever be," James replied grimly. "Might as well get it over with."
They and most of the other NEWT potions students walked solemnly down to the dungeons to meet their inevitable doom.
Arriving in the classroom with ample time to spare, the students began to set up their materials. Professor Solomon had purposefully not specified what they would be doing to share their projects with the class, so every pair came prepared with anything they might need, like note cards, or a display board.
After fifteen minutes of preparation, the potions master himself glided into the room. "Each pair will have a total of twenty minutes, no more, to give a concise history and description of their potion, and to demonstrate the effects of it on your partner. Points for the assignment will be deducted for unnecessary noise-making, slip-ups in speech during your presentation, and any failure to meet my expectations. Emmeline Vance and Antonin Dolohov, you're up first. Your clock starts…now." And so the games began.
James tuned out of Emmeline's frantic explanation on the properties of powdered bicorn horn and its use in the Polyjuice Potion and looked toward Lily. She was in a frazzled state, thumbing fretfully through her note cards on Stinksap.
He reached over and took her hand in his. She immediately shifted her gaze from the note cards and into his eyes. He smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
Lily smiled back weakly. Oh my God, let me get through this presentation in one piece, she prayed. She had expected James to release her hand after squeezing it, but he didn't. Instead, he held it captive, stroking the back of it with his thumb absently. Lily found this act quite calming and mirrored it.
James was surprised she had taken to it so well. Oh, knock it off. She's just vulnerable right now and needs the comfort…but that doesn't mean I have to stop…
James was interrupted from his thoughts.
"Miss Evans and Mr. Potter, next."
James noticed Lily had let go of his hand with a pang of loneliness.
Lily held her note cards tightly in one hand and waltzed to the front of the room. James followed close behind, carrying the heavy case of Blood-Replenishing Potion. He set it down on the provided table and proceeded to write the potion's name on the blackboard.
"A few points have already been deducted from your score due to the little love-fest that was going on behind my back during the previous presentations. Don't think I wouldn't know about it," he answered the unasked question implied by James' facial expression. "You may begin now."
Lily seemed to be in shock at the professor's accusation. James looked at the clock on the wall opposite him and sighed. Now or never.
"The Blood-Replenishing Potion is a concoction that, when one drinks it, multiplies blood cells and restores blood to any given part of the body. One may need the potion after having received a nasty, poisonous snakebite, or even a serious paper-cut. Though most widely used in hospitals, the potion can be available in one's own home, if he or she stores the proper ingredients.
"The principle ingredients of this medical marvel are Stinksap, fluxweed, and a drop of type O-positive blood. The—uh—other ingredients"—James fumbled a bit with his note cards—"are—"
"—eye of newt and crushed scarab beetles. The properties of Stinksap cause the potion to thicken, enabling restorative powers…" Lily, now recovered, took over the explanation of their ingredients. A relieved James scanned the audience. Remus, who had the misfortune of sitting next to Snape, gave James a thumbs-up sign to help him along.
Lily came to a slight pause in her long-winded speech, inadvertently reminding James to pay closer attention to her lead. His eyes came back to full focus and he turned toward Lily, who was building up to the climax of their potion-making experience.
"After the fluxweed brews into the potion for one week, the final ingredient is added."
James continued for her. "The last ingredient is a fresh drop of O-positive blood, added directly into the potion from the donor. I added a drop of my own blood for our assignment accordingly. May we have a volunteer from the audience to test the potion?"
"No volunteers, Potter," drawled Professor Solomon.
"Oh…right, then. Lily, would you do the honors?" He gulped.
She cleared her throat. "All right," she said, though her voice hinted her answer wanted to be the opposite.
James pulled a pocketknife Sirius had given him from his robes and carefully—oh, how he hated to do it!—cut a slit in Lily's left palm.
Lily held her hand up for all to see in demonstration.
"Now," said James after a minute, "you can see that much of the blood has drained from Lily's hand. If you would kindly take a sip of this,"—he brought a glass out from under the small table and poured their concoction into it—"all should be well."
She did so, still holding out her hand toward the class. Everyone watched intently as her hand regained its normal color and healed itself completely.
There was some scattered applause from the other students. "No unnecessary noise-making," Professor Solomon nipped the cheers in the bud before Remus, Dorcas Meadowes, and even Benjy Fenwick could give James and Lily a standing ovation.
"Mr. Lupin and Mr. Snape, our last presentation, I believe," the professor said, shuffling the papers in front of him.
Remus and Snape hurriedly put up a display board on the small table and began.
James half-listened, pondering the outcome of his own presentation. There were a few snags here and there, but overall he felt they had done well. But will Solomon think the same way?
Lily found the Veritaserum presentation fascinating, and was listening to Snape's current rant on the chemical properties of the "Truth Potion" with rapt attention. Yet, her mind wandered after about two minutes of Snape spewing out facts.
I did horribly. If anything, I made our case worse. But the nerve of Professor Solomon to call James' and my holding of hands a "love-fest!" I admit it was a bit friendly, but James and I are friends. Seriously. At least James pulled us through when I faltered. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
When will this end? I mean, Moony's one of my best friends and all, but this is downright boring.Remus had been droning on and on about Veritaserum's effects. It was quite uninteresting; that's an understatement, in case you were wondering.
Ah, finally. With only a couple moments to spare, Remus and Snape took out a vial of some translucent substance. Remus was to drink it, and Snape was to ask him some questions that would prove the potion made him tell the truth. Remus downed the potion in one gulp.
"What is your favorite color?"
"Purple."
A few girls in the class giggled.
"What is your opinion of James Potter?"
"He's the best friend a bloke could have, an excellent Chaser, and his arrogance has diminished greatly this year." James frowned a little, but then he grinned, realizing Lily had heard that.
"What is you deepest secret?"
Remus' eyes widened, and his eyebrows disappeared into his bangs. "I…uh…the truth is, I'm a—"
A/N: Mwahahaha…review and tell me how much you hate the cliffhanger!
I just noticed there are SO many breaks for this segment...sorry...
Coming up: "Results and...Results" that's the next part's title!