Transfiguration did not start well.

James, busy yawning, didn't see the stand McGonagall had placed at the front of the classroom. Lily had smartly avoided it, but James knocked it over. On top of the stand was a box of kittens.

The squeals James heard were loud and were still ringing in his hears. Things about animal cruelty and you must be a dog person, which made Lily snicker. McGonagall had come out to see what all the ruckus was about, saw Lily laughing at James, ordered them to pick up the kittens and deducted five points from Gryffindor.

Lily had then sat next to James, rather than Hestia. Marlene made a big deal out of it, too. "We've been replaced," Marlene said scandalously. "Bro's before ho's, Lily!"
Hestia hid her face in shame. "Shut up, Marlene," she snapped.
"What? It's just a bit of fun."

James was eavesdropping, like Lily. "I seem to have caused a disruption in the balance," he noted. Lily shrugged. "Marlene is just a bit dramatic sometimes, that's all. Sometimes she goes too far."
James thought she sounded like a female Sirius, but decided against pointing that out to Lily.

Transfiguration had started out badly, but it ended even worse.

Lily had been having a great time with James. He was making her laugh and smile, and even though he was tired, he remained energised. He had been having some trouble turning his cat into a statue, though.
"Wave your wand like this," Lily demonstrated perfectly. James watched carefully.
"I don't think –" he started, but Lily shook her head.
"Nonsense. Just try!"

Following Lily's advice, he tried to copy her wand movements. Unfortunately, he messed up a flick – he flicked to the left instead of upwards. This mistake turned out to be disastrous, however.
The kitten, instead of turning into a statue, started growing. And growing. It didn't stop growing.

James and Lily quickly gathered their stuff and moved out of the way. "Uh… Professor?" Lily called out weakly. Professor McGonagall had her back turned to the Heads, helping another student. Lily's call alerted the other students to the giant cat (which was now as tall as Lily and incredibly fat) and a few girls started screaming. One boy fainted.

"Class dismissed!" McGonagall shouted. "Potter! Evans! Stay behind!"

James and Lily were unwilling to stay behind in the classroom – the cat was now as tall as McGonagall herself – so they moved out the door, following the crowd of excited students. Marlene and Hestia were waiting for them, giggling.
"Brilliant!" Marlene said enthusiastically. "Out of class early!"
"And a giant kitten will be roaming the school in no time at all," Hestia commented. "If it can get through the door."

"Maybe it'll eat us before McGonagall can take any more house points off," James said. Lily looked doubtful. The door burst open and McGonagall flew out, slamming the door behind her. She rounded on James.

"Is this another prank of yours?" she demanded. "Because, Potter, I have no tolerance for this kind of misbehaviour!"
"It was an accident, Professor," he said meekly. Lily nodded quickly when the professor looked to her for confirmation. "I think I waved my wand wrong."
McGonagall looked dumbfounded. "How can you mess it up? There are only three steps!"
"He flicked to the left instead of upwards," Lily interjected. McGonagall sighed.
"Of course. Very well, Miss Evans. You can go."

Lily walked away confusedly, wondering why James wasn't allowed to join her. Hestia and Marlene had run off somewhere, too; Lily thought they were waiting for her but had obviously ditched when McGonagall showed. Lily sighed. The castle was big and there were plenty of places to hide.

She decided an early lunch would do her good so she headed for the Great Hall.

Professor McGonagall was listening to make sure Lily was well out of earshot before she began. "So, Potter. How're the ball plans coming along?"
James was surprised. He just created a giant kitten that disrupted her class and she wanted to talk about a ball? "It's coming along great, Professor. Hestia Jones is helping out with the designing."
"Helping out or doing?" McGonagall asked slyly.
"Well… doing," James admitted. "But I've been busy organising Halloween with Lily."
McGonagall grinned. "Ah yes, Halloween. Your plans have to be in to me by Wednesday. I look forward to seeing what you have planned for this year."

McGonagall patted James on his shoulder before returning to the classroom. Hopefully to deal with the kitten, James thought.

His stomach grumbled and James headed to the Great Hall for lunch. Once there, he sat next to Lily (of course) and almost fell asleep on his plate.

Potions didn't fare much better than Transfiguration.

Slughorn had decided to teach the class to brew Felix Felicis, after warning them that is it illegal to use in many circumstances and has disastrous consequences should they mess up the potion. They would be creating the potion for the next six months. As it was, the first few steps of the potion were critical.

Lily was partnered with James.

"Oho, Head's together!" Slughorn had chortled. "Yes, I expect the best from you!"

Lily had offered to do the beginning of the potion on her own. James, knowing that Lily was an excellent potion maker and he was far too tired to be able to do anything properly, readily agreed. Lily managed to do the first five steps of the potion on her own before Slughorn swooped down on them.

"What's this? Potter, head up! This is partnered work!" James groaned and lifted his heavy head from his arms to watch Slughorn. He moved about the table to look in the cauldron. "Perfect brewing, Lily. Move on."

Lily waited just for a second to see if Slughorn would move away but he didn't move an inch. He obviously planned to stay and watch. Lily lifted up the bottle containing lavender oil. The potion only required a single drop. "Let James do it," Slughorn encouraged. "Partnered work means sharing the workload!"

James looked at Lily apologetically. Usually, James had quite a steady hand. Today, it was a bit on the shaky side. It was no problem though; James could control it easily enough. He lifted up the bottle and began to gently squeeze the bottle.

Someone knocked into James from behind, causing him to squeeze the bottle too hard. An influx of lavender oil went into the potion, causing it to splutter and turn from a light purple to an ugly brown. James, furious that someone caused him to screw up the potion, stood and looked for the culprit.

It was Snape.

He was standing to James' left with a malicious grin on his face that quickly disappeared. James wanted to attack him so badly; his lack of sleep meant that his emotions were running on edge. Any other day, James would have shrugged it off. Today, James wanted to kill him. He quickly grabbed the cauldron sitting in front of him and aimed it at Snape's head. He was ready to throw.

"Boys! Settle!" Slughorn yelled. Snape had pulled out his wand threateningly and was aiming it as James' chest. "Put your weapons down immediately!"

James didn't move until Snape lowered his wand. "Sorry, Professor," Snape muttered. "It was an accident."
James snorted. "Bullshit. You deliberately did that, you greasy haired slimeball."
Snape raised his wand and James raised the bubbling cauldron in retaliation. Lily, horrified at what was going on and well aware that the rest of the class was watching with wide eyes, tugged on James' robes. "James," she hissed. "You're causing a scene."

He looked around, saw everyone watching, decided Snape wasn't worth detention and thumped the cauldron back on the burner. "Right. An accident."
Snape sneered at Lily. "Better keep your reindeer on a leash."

Lily was so shocked at the attack that she didn't reply. Snape returned to his station in the heavy silence of the room. Slughorn cleared his throat.
"Well then, yes, okay. Everyone back to work! Back to work…" He waved his hands and the class dispersed. "Best start again, Lily dear," Slughorn added, then returned to the front of the class to sit. His face was very red and he was sweating profusely.

"I could kill him," James growled. He was wide awake and furious with Snape. The immature piece of crap! How dare he! What was the point?
"Calm down, James," Lily said. She had cleaned out the cauldron and was refilling it with ingredients. "It's not that bad."
"He wanted to make me look incompetent," James argued.
"He was starting a fight," Lily corrected. "He wanted you to get in trouble."
"Dumping the cauldron on his head would have been worth the detention," James mumbled, but he didn't really mean it. Snape wasn't worth any detention. Besides, Marlene had already done that this year, and James didn't repeat pranks.

"Why don't you do the easy steps, like stirring?" Lily suggested. James shrugged.
"I don't care."

Marlene and Hestia hurried over to Lily's station. "What was all that about?" Hestia whispered. James stabbed the cauldron with the stirring rod. "Sabotage, that's what."
"Snape wanted James to screw up the potion in front of Slughorn," Lily informed her friends. They rolled their eyes. "How pathetic," Marlene said loudly. "Shall I dump another cauldron on his head?"
Lily held back a grin. "No. He's not worth it. Let's just get back to work."

James and Lily were on edge the rest of the lesson, expecting backlash from the other Slytherins in the class. However, none came near them and no more sabotage occurred.

When Snape strode past Marlene and Hestia's work station to get to the ingredients cupboard, Marlene stuck her foot out and successfully tripped Snape over. He landed face first on the hard ground. Hestia burst out laughing, then covered her mouth to stifle it. Snape rose to his feet, glaring at Marlene.
"What was that for?" he demanded crossly. Marlene gave him a sweet smile.
"I'm sorry, Snivellus," she said pleasantly. "It was an accident."

Fuming, red in the face, and embarrassed, Snape stayed far away from the Gryffindors for the rest of the lesson.