Chapter 6 – A Very Strange Potions Lesson
Snape whirled around. "Potter," he said dangerously, his black eyes glittering. James grinned. "And," here his jaw dropped. "Lily!" Lily's smile faltered momentarily, remembering her and Severus' last, extremely awkward conversation, but she regained it in a flash.
"Hello, Severus," she said. Then she turned to James and muttered, "I'm warning you, Potter, don't try anything."
James gave a mock bow. "Ah, of course, but only for you, Evans." He winked at Harry.
Snape's eyes flashed, his mind racing a mile a minute. Lily. Here. Now. Alive. He coughed and tried to look foreboding. "Everyone sit down! Today, we will be trying to procure the Wolfsbane Potion…although some people may be too…daft to achieve the required results." Here, his eyes lingered on James and Harry.
James stood up, his eyes blazing. He flicked his wand and thought, Levicorpus! There was a flash of light and Snape yelped, for he was hanging upside-down, and his robes had fallen over his head. The class roared with laughter. "Silence!" Snape yelled from under his overturned robes. "I'm warning you!" This only made the class laugh harder.
Lily was furious. "Potter!" she yelled. "I can't believe you! Even 20 years in the future, you can't stop HEXING people!" She turned her wand on him and screeched "Furnunculus!" James yelled and brought his hands to his face, where angry boils were springing up.
"Oh, that does it," he said furiously. There was a flash of light, and Lily was hanging upside down, too. She was seething, and Harry sprang to his feet, flicked his wand, and thought, Liberacorpus! He caught Lily before she hit the ground. "What did you do that for?" asked James incredulously. Harry just looked at him. "Well, OK, maybe I was a little harsh on Evans, but can we leave Snape like he is?"
"By all means!" said Harry, grinning from ear to ear.
"Like father, like son," grumbled Lily. They then produced the Wolfsbane Potion, with the help of Harry's copy of Advanced Potion – Making. To Snape's displeasure, it was the best in the class. Snape stayed hanging until the end of the lesson, until James, standing in the doorway, let him down. Snape gave a roar and started towards James, who pointed his wand at Snape and shouted "IMPEDIMENTA!" Snape was stopped in his tracks.
"50 POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR!" he screamed. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, POTTER!" James and Harry ran as fast as they could towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, laughing their heads off. Lily followed, muttering darkly. They entered the classroom and took their seats. The teacher entered the room and stopped short.