Remus and I used our connected journals so often that we ran out of space. The last thing Remus wrote was for me to slip him my journal during one of our shared classes. Both of us had a full timetable, so we didn't have time to meet before dinner, and neither of us had a free period.

Classes started the next day, Monday. Since I'd pulled an allnighter with Remus' wolf my eyes were fighting me to stay awake. When Professor Slughorn passed out our timetables I almost had to hold my eyes open in order to check what class I had for first period, and I allowed my eyes to close when I discovered it was Potions.

I didn't feel particularly excited about Potions class. It wasn't a subject I was amazing at, but I wasn't horrible either; I preferred casting spells like we did in Defense. Arithmancy was also a favorite since it reminded me of math, although now that it was my second year taking it I wondered how much harder it would be. Potion making reminded me of cooking, but if you weren't precise with the potion it would most likely blow up.

Potions class ended up being the perfect cover for Remus and I to talk with one another, because whenever Slughorn asked for Gryffindor/Slytherin partners, Remus and I would get together. Professor Slughorn usually had students get into pairs throughout the week, and then every Friday we did individual work.

This day he had Gryffindors pair up with Slytherins. He likes to switch it up every other class, so our next class on Wednesday he would make Slytherins pair up with other Slytherins, as well as pair Gryffindors with Gryffindors.

I sat at my desk waiting for Remus to claim the seat beside me. When the stool dragged across the stone floor I glanced over. I caught a flash of red from the corner of my eye, and I turned my head all the way in order to see who it was.

Lily Evans turned her emerald green eyes onto me with a blinding smile. "Hi! I hope you don't mind if I partner up with you. Severus isn't in class today, and you seemed super nice during the carriage ride."

I rapidly looked around the room, and found Remus taking his seat three desks ahead of us. He glanced back, and caught my incredulous gaze. His lips twitched, and he shrugged his shoulders.

When my attention returned to Lily I realized she was talking to me. "I'm not sure where Sev is. He wasn't at breakfast this morning either, so he might be in the Hospital Wing. I was thinking of checking there during lunch period." She glanced up at the blackboard then looked at me. "Do you want to get the ingredients, or me?"

I shook off my surprise. "I'll get it." Examining the board I found the ingredients we needed. Usually I was the partner who gathered the ingredients and helped slice or chop them. Since my partner during the Slytherin/Slytherin pairings were often Severus, I always left the stirring and whatnot to him. He was practically a master already.

When I returned to the desk I carefully set down all of the ingredients. One memorable moment while working with Severus, I unceremoniously dropped the ingredients, and the enraged look he gave me afterwards would haunt my memories forever.

Once we had everything in place we set to work. Lily's efficiency reminded me of Severus. Her and Severus often fought for the top position in Potions class. Professor Slughorn always complemented their work loudly and unashamedly. Lily never failed to blush, while Severus kept his stoic mask.

Professor Slughorn started waking between the desks. He answered questions and praised students for doing good jobs. He slowly made his way down the desks towards us. Lily didn't even notice him with how focused she was on the cauldron. I continued to slice the dragonfly thoraxes while Lily added the Doxy eggs.

Everything was going very well until I caught movement in the corner of my eye. I brought my head up to see Lily staring at our neighbor in horror. I looked over and found one of the fourth-year Slytherin girls, Crystal Saunders, smirking in smug amusement. The girl obviously threw something into the cauldron in order to sabotage our work. She only ever did it once before, so I didn't understand why she would do it now.

I gland at our cauldron and stepped back. The previously yellow liquid turned into a frothing umber color. It surface bubbled dangerously, and I took another step back while glancing at Lily.

Her face was flushed red from anger as she stared at the smug Slytherin. I understood her anger, and as top student she probably never got a bad grade on a potion before. Unfortunately her anger blinded her to the fact our cauldron looked ready to explode. I glanced between Lily and the cauldron. Both of them looked ready to erupt, but only one of them was truly dangerous.

"Lily?"

The red head didn't react. She either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me. She looked ready to draw her wand and hex the Slytherin. I was pretty surprised about it, since I usually heard rumors about her giving Slytherins the benefit of the doubt.

A loud gurgling noise came from the cauldron, and I knew we needed to move away. "Lily, come here."

She spun around to look at me. Her fists were clenched, and her glare cut through me so sharply I jerked back. I didn't remember a glare affecting me so badly since my mother from my previous life.

Whatever she might've said to me got cut off by a dangerous rumbling. Lily and I, along with a few people around us, turned wide eyed stares towards the cauldron on our desk. The umber color darkened to a deep brown while I tried gaining Lily's attention. It's boiling surface almost bubbled over the rim of the cauldron.

Another deep gurgle caused the cauldron to tremble. My eyes widened, and I grabbed Lily by her robes. "Move!"

With strength I didn't know I possessed I flung Lily away from the desk. The abrupt movement sent Lily stumbling to the floor, and I had just enough time to turn my body before the potion finally blew.

The sound reminded me of a firework, only louder since it went off right beside me. I spent a second cringing against the ringing in my ears, then against the noise created by our classmates. Most of the girls were screeching while everyone else shouted curses and questions. Professor Slughorn's mouth was moving, but with all of the noise going on I couldn't hear a single word he said.

Burning pain made itself known down my left side. It started from my shoulder blade all the way to my hip. I ripped off my outer robe and surveyed the damage. Since I stood closest to the cauldron I bore the brunt of the potion. It completely drenched my side, and the amount was enough to seep through my school uniform to reach my skin. Removing it didn't help my already burned skin, but it prevented more of the potion from burning through the robe into the rest of my clothes.

My shirt was also wet, but the boiling hot potion started to cool down, so thankfully I didn't have to remove it. The cool dungeon air helped ease the burning sensation.

"Miss Evans! Miss King!" Professor Slughorn bustled over towards our desk. The noise in the classroom reached a manageable level, and when they heard the professor yell our names everyone fell completely silent.

Professor Slughorn looked horrified. "Miss Evans, what happened?!"

Lily pulled herself up from the floor. She sent him a pleading look. "Professor, it wasn't us! We were almost finished with the potion when she," and here Lily pointed at my old dorm mate, "threw newt eyes into the cauldron."

Professor Slughorn looked at the girl in question. "Miss Saunders, is this true?"

Crystal Saunders, being the Slytherin she is, adopted a completely innocent expression. "Of course not! Professor, I would never endanger the class that way."

"Sir?" My quiet voice captured everyone's attention. "I collected our ingredients from the cupboard, and all of them are sitting here." I gestured to the desktop where our ingredients sat. They had quite a bit of potion on them, but they were easily identifiable. With no newt eyes it was safe to say we didn't add any, even on accident.

"I also saw something being thrown into the potion, and when I looked up Saunders was smiling at us."

Professor Slughorn didn't come across as the smartest man. What people failed to realize was that he was a Slytherin. He knew how they worked, and after teaching for so long he could catch people in a lie. He also knew Rosabell King was the most honest Slytherin he'd ever met."Detention, Miss Saunders, as well as twenty points from Slytherin. I'll see you in my office at six o'clock tonight. Any later and you'll have detention tomorrow night as well."

Crystal stared at Professor Slughorn in horror. He looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, daring her to argue. Messing with potions could cause severe damage. Everyone was lucky the potion didn't burn clothes or melt skin. She ducked her head and mumbled, "Yes, Professor."

Professor Slughorn looked back at Lily and I with sympathetic eyes. "Seeing as the incident was not caused by either of you, I will exempt you both from this assignment." He took a moment to examine the classroom. "I believe we will end class for today. I'll see you all on Wednesday, and we'll continue this lesson then."

While everyone gathered their bags, Lily slowly stepped up to our ruined desk. "Are you alright?"

I carefully threw my bag over my right shoulder. My side still burned from the boiling hot potion, and my shirt was wet enough to cling to my skin. "I'll be fine. I just have to put some ice on it."

Lily collected my robe, and I was forced to follow her out of the classroom if I wanted to get it back. "I'll help you out. It's the least I could do, since it's my fault."

We walked down the corridor side-by-side, so I had to turn my head so she could see me confused look. "How was that your fault? Saunders threw in the newt eyes. Unless you let her throw them in."

Lily quickly shook her head. "I didn't see them until they were already in the potion. I meant it's my fault you got hit by the potion, because I didn't move out of the way like I should have."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. She should have moved, but I wasn't going to say anything about it. "It's not your fault the potion exploded all over me. I could have left you there and hid myself."

"You're right," she said in a contemplative tone. "You could have saved your own skin. That means I owe you one, because if you hadn't pushed me out of the way it would have exploded all over me. My chest, my face, everywhere."

Her grateful words actually made me grimace. "Don't remind me, Evans."

Lily's pace slowed, and I had to slow down with her. She stared at me confusedly. "What?"

I shook my head. "If the Slytherin house didn't already hate me, they sure would now. I saved a Gryffindor Muggle-born from serious harm, and on top of that I threw a fellow Slytherin under the bus. I just created a bigger smear to my name than I already had." I didn't particularly care about the Slytherin name. More about what the Slytherins would do in retaliation.

My statement made Lily's eyes go wide. "They would hurt you for helping me?"

"They already try to hurt me," I admitted. It was the first person I told, outside of Remus, about the Slytherin's less than stellar actions towards me. "I'm a Muggle-born in a pureblood House. I helped a fellow Muggle-born, and got a Slytherin in trouble. Slytherins are all about sticking together, but apparently I'm the outlier."

Lily blinked in surprise. "They hurt you for being a Muggle-born?" She started looking a little angry. "That's horrible. Have you told a teacher?"

I shrugged. "No, they wouldn't be able to help. The only thing that could help me at this point would be if you left me alone."

She stopped walking all together, bringing me to stop as well. Her features conveyed how much my words hurt her. "I'm sorry?"

"I deal with enough shit from the Slytherin's. You hanging around me will only make my life that much harder. You want to help me? Keep your distance. You already cause Snape a load of problems in our House. Hanging out with me would only make things worse. Please," I held out my hand, "pretend I don't exist, 'cause I'll be doing the same to you."

Lily continued to stare at me with wide eyes. The hurt was now mixed with disbelief, and mounting anger. She shoved my robe into my hand, and I hugged it to my chest. I assumed that would be the end of it, but Lily shoved a finger into my chest. "You're a coward. You let them walk all over you, and you don't even care."

"I can't care," I hissed. I moved close enough so our chests bumped together, and we glared into each other's eyes. "I have an entire House out for my blood. If they thought I gave a shit about what they did to me they would eat. Me. Alive. Don't call me a coward when you wouldn't be able to last a single day in my shoes."

Her emerald eyes were hard as the stone they resembled as she carefully stepped away from me. Since most everybody in the castle were in class, we were the only two people in the corridor. It allowed Lily's steps to echo across the stone as she quickly strode away from me.

I stood there for a few moments in silence. My heart felt heavy, even though I knew it was smarter to keep my distance from the red-headed Gryffindor. I didn't regret pushing Lily out of the way, but as soon as Professor Slughorn took twenty points from Slytherin I knew I'd be in deep trouble from the rest of my House. Usually my low profile didn't pull too much attention onto me, but after Potions class that would definitely change.

Edited: 1/23/2019