Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or names in this story created by J.K Rowling (who is a very talented lady.) I only own the plot, and new characters you won't recognise.

Chapter Four: Turbulent Troubles

Lily woke up the next morning to a loud knocking. She jolted out of bed, listening intently. The knocking came again. And did she hear – a muffled giggle?

In two steps she bound over to the door and flung it open. On the floor outside her room was a note.

Head Girl

be prepared

for what we have in store for you

was scrawled messily upon the parchment.

Lily made sure she laughed loud enough for the author (who was undoubtedly hiding somewhere nearby) and promptly chucked the note into the fireplace. She had heard all kinds of horror stories concerning her post from her predecessor – mentions of how a giggling group of anonymous girls tried their best to make life hard for the current Head Girl.

She headed down for breakfast with Alice . Lily was a well-liked, and many people greeted her.

"Hi, Lils!"

"Lily! How're you?"

In the Great Hall, the students were busy getting ready for their first day at school. Lily glanced down at her fresh timetable. Double Potions first up! She thought in dismay. Drat!

Wyona, however, was extremely pleased. "I've got two free periods! Excellent!"

Lily was reaching for toast when Pettigrew (a watery-eyed excuse for a Hogwarts student) grabbed the plate first. A hand whacked him on the back of the head and hastily returned the toast to Lily.

"Here, Evans."

"Thanks, Potter," Lily said automatically, before kicking herself. She had just said thanks to James Potter!

Luckily, she had to rush off to Potions. Unluckily, it was in the dungeons, and Lily hated the dank smell of them. Even more unluckily, she forgot her quills and had to double back for them.

"You go on ahead, Alice ," she said, before grimacing. She was certain to be late.

Running along the paved corridors, Lily took a few moments to regain her composure before entering the classroom.

The new Potions Master, Slughorn looked at her quizzically, and said, "Why are you late, Miss…"

"Evans," said Lily firmly. She had never been shy a day in her life.

"And why are you late?"

"Well, sir, I forgot my quills."

Slughorn looked amused. "'K then, Miss Evans, take a seat please."

Lily sat down next to Alice and took out her books.

"Now then, as I was explaining before," Slughorn said, "We shall begin with a simple Sleeping Potion. I know that you have all covered the Draught of Living Death last year, but this is just a simple exercise – and then after that you may read Chapter One: Antidotes and Their Properties."

The class began work. Lily found the Sleeping Potion ridiculously easy, but Alice was having difficulty.

"D'you…d'you think I've done something wrong?" Alice said, flustered, as she tried not to inhale the copious amount of blue-coloured steam.

Lily tried to fan it away while she consulted the textbook. "You didn't add the powdered lacewing after stirring the mixture three times clockwise?"

Alice shook her head glumly.

"You didn't turn the heat lower during the middle stages?"

Another headshake.

Lily leant over and added nettleweed to the potion, stirred, sprinkled some asphodel, stirred again, and sipped a little. She felt the slight drooping of eyelids, the symptom experienced at around the halfway stage, and turned the heat lower. She stirred the mixture three times clockwise, and added powdered lacewing. The bluish steam faded.

"Thanks," said Alice thankfully.

"No worries," said Lily, before turning to Chapter One of 'Advanced Potion-Making.'

After class, Lily told Alice about the note she received. Alice looked rather nervous, and said, "Don't you think McGonagall should know about this?"

Lily shook her head. "Nah, it's probably just a bunch of second-years playing pranks."

They headed up to the dormitories to get ready for lunch. As she deposited her books in her room, she found she couldn't move an inch. Her feet were glued to the floor. She looked down. Someone had spread a lot of 'Super Duper SuperGlue' on her carpet. Rolling her eyes, she pointed her wand and muttered, "Antecorpos!" Her feet came free as the glue melted.

Little tricks like this kept popping up during her time at school. Two days later, she found that someone had used a quill to scribble over her homework. It was mostly rude messages, but as she rubbed it off with the tip of her wand a phrase popped out at her. Turbulent Troubles. Hm, she thought. Interesting.