Professor Slughorn thought it would be absolutely brilliant to mix the houses together as partners for a month. The only partners that stayed the same were Severus and Lily, for obvious reasons. At least Slughorn showed mercy on some of his students. Apparently, those who weren't doing that well got paired with those who were, which fortunately for Ely, meant that she would not get paired with James because he was halfway decent. However, she had expected the worse by getting Peter because he always messed up something on his potions. She had even supposed she would have gotten Sirius since he jokes off more than he actually works. Imagine her surprise when Slughorn said, "Mr. Lupin, you will be sitting next to Miss Taylor for the month."
Most of the class 'ohhed' as Remus stood up and walked to Ely's desk. Bella stood up and looked slightly frightened at Ely, to which she smiled reassuringly.
"Miss Smith, you'll be sitting next to Mr. Black." Bella visibly gulped and Ely gave Bella's hand a comforting squeeze before she walked to Sirius' table.
Ely ran her fingers through her hair nervously, looking sideways at Severus and Lily. As usual, they looked absorbed into each other, not paying any mind to anyone else around them. Ely didn't even try to resist the urge to roll her eyes as Slughorn started the lesson.
Once they were told to start on the potion, there was an awkward silence between Remus and Ely.
"So Lupin, what it is that you don't know what to do?" Ely asked as she crossed her arms across her chest and Remus' cheeks turned pink.
"I have no idea what you're talking about…" He stopped his defense when Ely arched her brow with a 'are you kidding me?' face.
"No offense Lupin, but you're sitting next to the person that is in a three way tie for top of the class. Obviously, Slughorn wasn't going to split up Lily or Severus to help anyone, because that would have made my life way too easy, so you're stuck with me. If Pettigrew is doing better than you, then there's a problem."
With his face almost red, he stood up and picked out the ingredients they needed for the potion. Ely had just finished writing down the potion on her parchment when Remus came back with enough ingredients for the two of them. He separated his ingredients and hers by ingredient and quantity, which she looked on confused.
"You didn't have to do that." She said to which Remus shrugged.
"I wanted to. I was already over there anyways." They both understood this as a peace offering and Ely smiled in acceptance. Grabbing the utensils they needed, they started to work.
Ely watched Remus as his hands trembled as he cut some of the ingredients. She paused for a moment and gasped as he almost cut his finger when he went to cut the last piece. She knew better than to ask so she did what she did when Bella had a hard time; she stood up, stood next to him, and helped him.
Remus jumped slightly as he felt her hands on top of his, and his hands started to tremble again as he picked up the knife again.
"Remus, relax…" Ely sounded soothing as she guided his hands to cut up the rest of the ingredient that he needed. By the time they finished cutting and squeezing everything for the two of them, his hands had stopped shaking and he was somewhat relaxed. Feeling confident enough in him that he could start the potion by himself, Ely quickly started hers. In a few minutes, Ely smelled something funny coming from her side.
"Um, Elanora, I think we have a problem…" Ely's eyes slightly widened before she relaxed slightly. It was bubbling like it was supposed to, but it was blue instead of green like it was supposed to be.
"Just add the crushed needles a teaspoon at a time, stir three times clockwise, and then repeat again until you've added four teaspoons. You probably added the herbs a bit earlier then you should have Lupin." Ely gave him a reassuring smile before Remus finally decided to take Ely's advice.
The look on his face was priceless when he finally saw the potion doing what it was supposed to be doing. It was a darker than it was supposed to, but apparently that didn't seem to be bothering him since he was smiling ear to ear.
"It's finally the color it's supposed to be!" Remus mumbled under his breath excitedly to which Ely giggled. Remus again turned pink as he realized he was heard, to which Ely smiled brightly at him.
"It's pretty good considering you had to speed up a couple of things halfway through. Now tell me, how did that happen?" She felt relaxed talking with Remus, and giggled again as his cheeks turned a rather rosy color.
"I was trying to keep up with you." He said it embarrassed to which Ely felt her heart tugged. She realized that Remus honestly wanted to do well; he just hadn't gotten the hang of it like everyone else had. It didn't help that he missed two days a month either. He was trying to show her that he wasn't that terrible, so he tried copying what she did in hopes it would come out like hers did. Grabbing his hand, she gave it a comforting squeeze.
"I take shortcuts through some of these potions…" She showed him her parchment with notes all around the directions and some of the ingredients, "Just ask me next time. I'm here to help you."
She let go of his hand and turned off his and her burner. Quirking both of their bottles, she stretched her arms and rolled her neck to loosen up her neck. When it cracked, Remus looked up at her disturbed.
"Was that…" Ely nodded as she cracked her shoulder, to which Remus shuddered. "That is really creepy."
"Chill out Lupin, it's not like anything is getting broken." She laughed when he attempted to retort but instead just huffed in defeat.
"Remus, just call me Remus." He said this hesitantly, and Ely smiled.
"Call me Ely, but only you can call me that. You're not a wanker like the rest of them." She pointed to James and Sirius as she said this, to which Remus chuckled.
"I will be sure to pass on the message. Although I can't guarantee that Sirius won't try."
They put their potions on the desk assigned to them and properly labeled. Slughorn saw Remus' potion and smiled approvingly.
"I knew this would work! Just look at the difference in just one class! Before we know it you could be making potions as well as my three brightest can by the end of the month Mr. Lupin." Slughorn praised, which Remus tried to cover his embarrassment by looking down at the table. Looking at Ely's potion, he smiled broadly. "Outstanding work as usual Miss Taylor, even with having to help Mr. Lupin! Truly fantastic. You know, I'd have to break my rule and allow into my Slug club for the rest of the year instead of waiting until next year."
Remus smiled at her to which Ely was already blushing from the unusual stand out of praise. Not once this year since their first potion's class had Slughorn singled her out on her potion making skills. Thankfully for Ely it was time to leave so she packed up her things as quickly as possible. Not paying any mind, her parchment fell to the floor and she blushed even harder. Remus helped her pick up most of them to which she mumbled a quick thanks, her ears now the color of her cheeks.
"I'll see you in Herbology Ely." Remus said as he passed her the last sheet that fell on the floor.
"See you around Remus." Ely politely replied as she smiled at him.
Severus had stormed out of the class, no farewell to anyone as he almost slammed the door behind him. Slughorn had congratulated Ely once again, and told her that if Remus kept it up, he would give her house points for every time Remus did an excellent job on his potion.
"What happened to him Lily?" Ely asked as they walked out of Potions.
Lily shrugged. "I have no idea. He was really tense almost the whole time we were making the potion today. He almost put too many needles into the cauldren had I not said something." Switching the subject, Lily wiggled her eyes at Ely. "So, you were touching Remus and giggling a lot in class today."
"Oh sweet Circe!" Ely face palmed herself before shaking her head, "The poor guy is nervous about something. He kept shaking when he tried to cut something up. He almost cut his finger off!" Lily narrowed her eyes at Ely to which she sighed. "He's not a wanker like Potter and Black. He's…tolerable, if not a bit shy."
"That means he could be your friend…" Lily said in a sing song tone to which Ely rolled her eyes, "I don't know, I think it would be interesting if you guys were friends. You're opposite enough where it could work."
"Not happening. Not as long as he's friends with Potter and Black." Ely defended to which Lily smiled mischievously.
"So it doesn't matter that he's a Gryffindor?" Lily tried to pull out something that wasn't there, to which Ely playfully pushed Lily.
"I'm friends with you aren't I?"