Disclaimer: Take a wild guess.

Yes, this is kind of a filler chapter. It was for my amusement, and Larka's amusement. No, I don't particularly care. A less filler-y chapter will be along soon.

Suzie carefully dabbed some of the potion that was in her cauldron onto her braid. It glowed blue for a second, before settling to its normal colour. Suzie felt her braid and groaned. It was rock solid. She flipped through her textbook, and sighed.

'Oh, I was meant to put in three!'

She slapped her forehead dramatically. Lily saw this, and came over to her.

'Something wrong?' she asked.

'Too solid,' said Suzie, 'Why aren't you doing anything?'

'Professor Slughorn doesn't have half of the ingredients. He says it's too advanced for sixth-years, or even NEWT level. So he assigned me to be his personal assistant, going around and helping everyone.'

'How's everyone doing?'

'Who do you mean by everyone?'

'Sarah and Caroline.'

'Sarah's nearly finished, and so is Caroline. She's only got one ingredient left, which she will put in at the end of class, for dramatic effect, in case it works, and explodes.'

At that moment Sarah came over, holding a bottle filled with so much liquid of a garish pink colour it was spilling over onto the floor.

'Here,' she said breathlessly, 'Drink this.'

'What?'

'You're the one with a cold, Suzie, so you need to try the cough medicine to see if it's effective. Now hurry up, drink it!'

'All of it?'

'Yes! It will work better the more of it there is, won't it?'

Suzie dubiously looked at the potion, but then lifted the bottle to her mouth and drank it. Sarah looked at her expectantly and excitedly.

'Well?'

'Well what?' said Suzie.

'Does it work?'

Suzie considered this. 'My headache's clearing up, so I'd say it works.'

Sarah looked delighted. 'And what flavour is it?'

'Strawberry. Definitely strawberry.'

Sarah squealed joyfully and punched the air in triumph.

'A marvel in modern medicine, a marvel in modern medicine!' she sang, until the three girls heard a strange groaning sound.

'What's that?' asked Lily. Suzie could feel it – it was her stomach.

'It's my stomac –' she exclaimed, until she was cut off by a violent coughing fit. Sarah looked horrified, and started patting her on the back, but the coughing wouldn't stop.

'Professor Slughorn! Professor Slughorn!' screeched Lily, and their teacher rushed over at once.

'My potion!' said Sarah, distraught, 'It made her worse, not better!'

By now the entire class was watching them, silent. Suzie felt her cheeks heat up as she blushed. Sirius smirked at Sarah.

'Davies, I'm disappointed,' he said, 'You know you shouldn't be giving Gibson drugs. Especially not in lessons. Gibson, just say "no".'

'Black!' reprimanded Slughorn, frowning, and, as Caroline burst into giggles, he added, 'Hawling!'

'Sorry,' wheezed Caroline through her laughter, 'um, sir.'

Slughorn ignored her, and grabbed Sarah's list of ingredients off of her desk as Suzie continued hacking in the background.

'How much did you give her, Davies?'

'A bottle's full, sir,' replied Sarah, looking anxious.

'That explains it! Too much of it reverses its effects! Hold on, Gibson, I'll whip up an antidote for you! In the meantime, I'm afraid you'll have to live with it. Carry on, everyone!'

Slughorn immediately began a potion, as the other went back to work. Caroline clambered onto the desk and slid over it to join the hysterical Sarah, the irritated Lily, and the still coughing Suzie.

'Suzie, I feel sorry for you, but it is quite humorous,' said Caroline. Suzie looked at her.

'Too… soon… for… jokes…' she replied between coughs. Caroline sighed, but she grinned a moment later.

'What?' asked Lily suspiciously as Caroline watched her.

'No-thing,' said Caroline, stretching out the syllables. At this point, Slughorn noticed her.

'Hawling! Get back to your potion!' he said loudly. Caroline rolled her eyes and slid back to her cauldron. Seeing that she was doing nothing, he added, 'Get to work, Hawling.'

'I've only got one more ingredient to add, sir!' protested Caroline.

'Well then add it!' said Slughorn. Caroline sighed, and dropped her banestone into the mix, and, as she had hoped, there was a huge explosion. The room seemed to shake, and a horrible murky brown gas filled the room. Suzie soon wasn't the only one coughing.

'HAWLING!' yelled Professor Slughorn through the smoke, 'Detention!'

'Whoops,' said Caroline innocently. Suzie sniffed the air, and suddenly found she wasn't coughing anymore.

'Hey, Caroline! I'm not coughing anymore!' she said, hoping Caroline would hear her over the noise of other people.

'Really? Do you think my brown gas helped?'

'Maybe. I don't know. Or maybe it just went away,' said Suzie, shrugging, although no one could see her doing so. She turned around to see if she could find her cauldron in the smoke, when she felt herself bump into someone.

'Oh! Sorry,' she said, at the same time as Peter did. Suzie blushed brightly, and was thankful for the smoke.

'You're not coughing anymore,' remarked Peter.

'No, the gas seemed to heal me,' said Suzie.

'That's good. How was your potion going?'

'Rock solid,' sighed Suzie, 'See?'

She held out her braid, and Peter put his hand around it.

'I see,' he said, 'It doesn't even feel like hair.'

'I know. How was yours going?'

'Opposite of yours. Too soft.'

'What do you mean?'

Peter groped for Suzie's hand until he found it, and then placed it on his head. His hair felt like jelly. Suzie grimaced.

'Somewhere between ours is a good hair care potion,' she said, putting her hand back by her side. 'I think I'll stick to store-bought from now on.'

Peter laughed a little. The smoke was clearing, and Suzie could now see him, although he seemed to be tinted brown.

'Do you want to use some of my potion on your hair?' he offered.

'OK, thanks. And you can use some of mine.'

'Thanks.'

By the time Peter and Suzie had put the other's potion onto their hair, and neutralising their own potion, it was the end of the lesson. Suzie reluctantly handed in hers, along with the instructions, hoping she'd still be able to get a good mark, despite the fact it was too solidifying. Sarah's potion had cleared up her headache, and she was feeling a lot better. Maybe she didn't need to go to the hospital wing.

More plot soon. I could have had this as an offshoot, but an offshoot of an offshoot is weird.

Let's discuss gymnastics. Yesterday I was doing a forward roll off a trampette and banged my knee to my head. VERY painful. Ouch.

Hepsa