Wit-Sharpening Potion," Slughorn said. "Peter really could do with some of this. It's sort of self-explanatory, but can anyone guess what it does?"

"Sharpens your wits?" Kira suggested.

"Yes. So, collect your scarab beetles up here, and grind them on the grinding stones at the back of the room."

James laughed. He found scarab beetles extremely funny ever since he had learned that they were born in poo.

Kira and Evelyn looked at their friend anxiously.

Sirius looked at Lily anxiously.

He then looked at James, who was mouthing the word, 'Poo,' to him gleefully. He nodded to show his acknowledgment of the scarabs being born in poo and pointed to Lily.

James stopped giggling and looked at Lily. He was about to mouth something when he heard Evelyn talking to him.

"Ugh, I hate grinding scarabs."

James looked at her in surprise. "Why? They're so cool!" He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Do you know what they're born in?"

Evelyn looked scared of him.

He shrugged.

The beetles were dried and easy to grind. They smelled like chalk. Then, ginger roots had to be carefully sliced into fine slivers and sprinkled with the beetle dust. The main ingredient was armadillo bile, which was a muddy color.

After all the ingredients were all mixed together in the cauldron, it turned a vibrant lime green, a color which excited Sirius greatly. James looked disappointed. 'I thought it would be brown,' he mouthed to Sirius.

"Peter, bring your potion here," Slughorn said. Peter brought it up. His potion was brown. "Do you really want to try this?" Slughorn asked.

Peter didn't point out that he had never wanted to be a guinea pig in the first place.

"Evans, bring yours up." Lily half-rose from her seat, but James didn't miss a beat. He got up and brought his potion.

"Drink some," Slughorn said.

"Th-there's n-no cup," stuttered Peter.

Slughorn conjured one. "This good?"

Peter didn't say anything. James managed a pitying look and returned to his seat.

"How long is Polyjuice Potion supposed to last?" Lily whispered to Sirius between coughs.

"Only about an hour, but I think I put extra nettles in by accident and that's why it's going so long," Sirius answered uncomfortably.

"So how long will it last?" Lily asked.

"A while... maybe a week, even..." Sirius said, closing his eyes and trying to disappear. After a while, he opened them cautiously and found to his surprise that Lily did not seem angry at all, even pleased. He avoided looking at her and instead concentrated on Peter, who was under the impression that if he did not move at all or make any noise Slughorn might forget about him.

"Peter, come and drink some. It's perfectly good, you know."

Peter filled his cup with the solution and gulped it down in one swift moment. Many people applauded, including Sirius. James was about to whistle but Evelyn looked at him strangely so he didn't.

The class grew quiet after a few minutes. Nothing seemed to be happening to Peter. People began to tap their pencils. Sirius began carefully manicuring his hands with the leftover powdered scarab beetles. Slughorn checked his watch.

There was a loud POP! and everyone looked up. Peter was jumping up and down as if he couldn't keep still.

"What's seven times eight times fifteen times twenty-eight plus two?" Slughorn barked out.

"Twenty-three thousand five hundred twenty-two!" Peter squeaked back.

"If there are seven squares in a circle and twenty-three circles in a rectangle and every rectangle goes into a triangle seventy-two times more then a square goes in to a circle, how many squares are in a rectangle?"

Without missing a beat, Peter replied, "Eight one two four four!"

Slughorn shook his head sadly. "It doesn't work on him," he said.

Some people laughed.

"AHH! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO JAMES?" Iris Peton screamed suddenly.

The class turned to peer at Lily, who was not feeling very well. She had fallen out of her seat. Her eyes were rolling and she was frothing at the mouth and clutching at air. Sirius had tried to go near her to see what the matter was and almost got his eye clawed out.

James saw her and panicked. Because of Evelyn sitting next to him (How he hated her now!), he couldn't do anything but sit there, jerking violently as Lily had just been doing.

Sirius was jumping around and clutching his eye. Several people got up and started screaming and running around the room hysterically, enjoying themselves profusely.

After several minutes Lily sat up pleasantly. "Sorry," she said. Everyone stared at her. Slughorn looked amused. "Let's continue now, Potter, if you don't mind."

While everyone shrugged and took out their books, Lily was undergoing a transformation. James hadn't taken his eyes off her and she watched him curiously as she felt herself shrink.

She must have been shrinking slowly for James didn't realize anything was different for a few seconds. He then gave out a quiet yelp as Lily's dark red hair fell gracefully to her waist. James ran out of the room so quietly and swiftly that no one noticed but Evelyn.

"Class dismissed," Slughorn said.

Strangely enough, no one realized that James had just turned into Lily. When they left the classroom, Lily waited outside. After a while, a hand appeared. Then a cloak was thrown onto the floor and James stood there.

"What was the cloak for?" Lily asked, knowing perfectly well.

"So no one sees us together! What happened there?"

"I took Transjector Potion."

"Great. Very smart. You could have at least told me so I could make some too!" James couldn't believe that he was yelling at Lily.

Lily couldn't think of an answer.

"You scared me, you know? Ever thought of that? You were lying on the floor having some sort of fit!"

"What do you care? This was funny to you, wasn't it? You were laughing along with Sirius!"

"Not then! Not while you were shaking in your chair!"

"I didn't plan on that! I didn't think this through! I was panicking! I had just turned into the person I hate the most!"

James felt repulsive, completely disgusted with himself. The last three words... She really did hate him, and he deserved it entirely.

"Sorry," he mumbled, looking down. He picked up his cloak and put it back on. The only reason Lily knew he had left was by the sound of his footsteps, running.

And Lily was just left standing there.

James ran to the library, where he put his cloak in his pocket. The librarian distrusted him, but liked Lily.

"Do you have anything on Transjector Potion?" he asked.

"Yes, yes, come here," she said, leading him to a shelf and pulling a book out.

"Thank you."

Lily went to her dormitory, where Kira and Evelyn were waiting for her.

"Why did you run out?" Evelyn asked.

"Because- I wasn't feeling well," Lily answered.

"That would explain a lot of things," Evelyn said darkly.

"Like...?" Lily asked. It had never occurred that James would say weird things to her friends.

"Since when do you like James?"

"WHAT?"

"Lily... Are you okay?"

"Um." Lily thought this over.

"No, not really."

"Come on."

"Where?"

"We're taking you to the Hospital Wing."

Lily was about to protest when she realized that she really didn't feel well.

James finished his Transjector Potion and dropped his hair in it. A dark red seeped out from it once it touched the surface, reminding him of Lily's hair.

He brought it to his lips and drank it.

"Where's James?" Remus asked Sirius.

"I dunno, he's been gone for a few hours now," Sirius said.

"Let's go find him," Remus suggested.

"Yeah."

The three friends searched the bathroom first. Sure enough, James was lying unconscious on the floor, in his own form.

"Wait, he might just be joking," Sirius said to Remus suspicously. "I'm going to tickle him." Sirius began a rigorous tickling routine.

"Oh my gosh," he said after some time had passed and James had made no response. "He must be really, really sick."

"Let's lift him and bring him to the Hospital Wing," Remus suggested.

As soon as Lily fell upon the soft white mattress in the Hospital Wing, she slipped into a dreamless sleep. Her cat, Vivi, settled in a tight ball on her face and kept one eye half-open protectively.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Madam Calclamor, the nurse, clucked her tongue in disapproval as James was brought in on the staggering backs of Remus and Sirius. Peter was turning red with the effort of pretending to help.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"We're not sure... he was just unconscious when we found him," Remus said.

Madam Calclamor eyed them with distrust. The four boys had been known to pretend to be unconscious and had been carried in much the same manner numerous times.

"Let me see," she said suspiciously, coming over to feel James's chest. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed. "Put him down, right now!"

The boys did as they were told.

"Do you have any idea what happened?"

"Well, he was next to a caul-" began Peter. Sirius shoved him hard. Peter fell over.

"No," Sirius said innocently.

"Can we stay? I really hope he's alright," he added anxiously.

Madam Calclamor shrugged suspiciously.

"Put him here," she said, gesturing to the bed next to Lily's.

They obliged.

"Argh! There's a furry monster in the next bed! Oh, that's Lily," Sirius whispered.

Lily woke up at last, four hours later. She forgot where she was for a moment, and then remembered everything. She looked around and saw James on the bed next to her. Before he could wake up, she pushed Vivi off her face and hid at the bottom of the bed under a mass of blankets.

James opened his eyes blearily and had no idea why he was where he was. He looked around for someone to tell him why. The person next to him was huddled on the bottom. He wondered briefly who it was. He coughed loudly to attract the attention of Madam Calclamor. It didn't work, she was at the other side of the room.

He looked again at the bed next to him and saw red hair peeping out. Oh. Lily. James wondered if she was there for the same reason he was. He considered asking her, but was too ashamed. He buried under his blankets just as she had.

Lily heard James cough and made a tiny peephole in her mound to see him. He was buried under a hill of bedspreads, too.

An hour later, Sirius, Remus, and Peter entered the Wing to visit.

"Oh my god! James turned into a mountain!" exclaimed Sirius.

James emerged sheepishly.

"Whatsup?" Sirius asked.

James gestured to Lily, who didn't know that he saw her. Alarmed, she covered the peephole up.

Sirius nodded sagely and the four immediately began conversing in some sort of very fast sign language.

James spread his arms out with his hands curving at the top, pointed to himself, and then to the rest of the room.

Sirius made cauldron-stirring signs.

Remus made stirring cauldron signs and then spread out his arms questioningly.

James shook his head violently and made bizarre body movements, apparently to indicate change, and then pointed to himself.

He then jerked his head towards Lily and spread his arms out again.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter shrugged simultaneously.

James shrugged too, and then gestured a small object hopefully.

Sirius solemnly handed him a chocolate frog.

The four then did their secret handshake.

When the three visitors left, Lily decided that she needed to talk to James. She threw her blankets off and sat up.

"Can you at least make it so I can tell people what happened?" she asked.

"What?" James asked, confused.

Lily began again, very slowly, as if speaking to a small child. "Whenever... I try... to tell... people... what happened... I start... coughing..."

James blushed. "I didn't do that," he said. "Sirius did. I told him not to, but..."

"Can... you... take... it... off?" Lily asked.

"No. Only he can."

"Can... you... get... him... to... take... it off?"

"Okay," James said, looking at the floor.

Lily fell back on her bed with a bounce and ignored James for the rest of the day.

When James was sure Lily wasn't looking, he pulled out a small mirror that he carried with him at all times.

He whispered, "Sirius" and it wasn't long before Sirius appeared.

"What?"

"Lily wants you to take the spell off," James said.

"No!"

"Yeah. We have to."

"What do you think is going to happen to us?" Sirius asked anxiously.

"Just detention for the rest of the year," James answered lightly.

"Oh. That's okay, I guess. I'll come around later, when she's asleep. She gets really mad," Sirius said.

"Yeah. Thanks a ton."

An hour later, Lily was sleeping. James pulled out the mirror again.

"She's asleep," he told Sirius.

"I'm in the middle of Herbology," Sirius answered. "I'll just say that I'm feeling sick and I need to go to the Hospital Wing."

"Good," James said. "It's true. Except for the sick part."

"Yeah. See you in a few minutes."

The mirror went back to its normal reflecting self. James amused himself by making faces at it. Finally, Sirius entered the Wing.

He walked over and flicked his wand at Lily. White light flew out and hit her in her mouth, which relaxed its tense position.

"Got to go," he told James, leaving. "I'll say that Madam Calclamor told me that I was a hypochondriac again."

After a short time, Lily awoke. James decided not to hide under his blankets again, she didn't either. They both sat there, feeling awkward.

"I'm really sorry," he said after a while.

She didn't answer, but looked at him for a few seconds.

"Really. It was stupid of me."

She seemed not to hear him. He looked at her earnestly a few minutes.

Lily was glad when Madam Calclamor came with the medicine.

"I'm not really sure what's wrong with you two," she said, puzzled, "especially you, Evans, but this can't do any harm."

They cautiously took their potions. James took his, Lily sniffed hers and shuddered.

James's tasted fine, and he leaned back on his bed while drinking it.

Lily took hers and immediately began vomiting all over the bed.

"Potter, you're free to go, but Evans needs to stay a little longer until I find what's wrong."

He got up, glad for once to leave the Wing, and left for class as quickly as he could.

To her surprise, Lily found herself a bit bored after he had left.