Finally, I can seem honestly,

I've got the guts to say anything.

Back In Potions

After the incident with Sirius, Riley could barely stand being in the same room as him. Everywhere she went she could here his voice. His barking laugh. He was everywhere and she hated it. She hated him. How could he be so inconsiderate? It wasn't just some cheap, stingy bracelet. It was part of Riley and who she was. It was the last thing her Grandfather had ever given her. She needed it.

Her friendship with Lily was progressing so much that the two girls were inseparable. Riley had grown to enjoy Lily's presence and had even started participating more in class and making small talk with some of her classmates. She would sometimes find herself studying in the library with Remus and talking to him during classes. She was answering questions in class more frequently, too.

The end of October was coming close and as Autumn left and Winter was beginning to arrive, Riley wished for nothing more than to be back home in Spain where there was sun and heat. It was a misty Monday afternoon, classes had finished for the day and the common room was packed. It was the day before Halloween, when she had started fantasizing about her parents letting Lily stay with them in Spain for a while. In my dreams, she told herself, Only Claudia's friends are allowed in the house. Which was true.

One summer, Riley had went to the beach and met a very nice muggle girl, her own age, named Jennifer. She had asked her round for tea, knowing her parents didn't mind muggles, and when she had turned up at the front door and introduced her, Riley's father sent her marching back to the beach. Later that night he had told her that he did not want any of her friends to be in their home as they wouldn't be sophisticated like Claudia's. This turned out not to be a problem as Riley never had any friends after that.

"You all right over there?" Lily asked her from the couch next to the fire.

"Yep," Riley replied, joining her. "Just daydreaming."

Lily nodded and went back to her book. This was how the two girls mainly spent their time together. Making small chit-chat, then just sitting in silence. Riley enjoyed it. They talked most of the way to their classes and at dinner, so it wasn't as if they were just friends with each other for the sake of it.

"Are you looking forward to the feast tomorrow?" Riley asked Lily.

"I suppose," Lily shrugged. "But I just know that Potter and Black will use the whole 'Trick-or-Treat' thing to do outrageous pranks, so at the same time, no."

Riley smiled a little. She secretly thought that James and Lily were perfect for each other. That was another thing. Riley found herself talking to James a lot more. Just a normal conversation really. 'Hello, how are you?' and all of that pointless rubbish. But James and Lily…well, their names just sounded great together, didn't they? James and Lily. Lily and James.

"The first game of Quidditch is on Saturday, are we going?" Lily asked her and Riley froze.

Saturday the 4th of November. What was happening that day other than the match? Something had happened…Riley just couldn't remember what.

"I'm not bothered. If you want to go, we'll go."

"It's better than sitting around, isn't it?" Lily told her.

"I guess."

Riley looked back out the window. She never usually attended the Quidditch games at school. She was a big supporter of it outside, though. No one knew this of course, except Claudia, who found it very un-lady like. It was her Grandfather that had taken her to the games in Spain. He was the only person, other than her mother, who seemed to care about her.

X

"Alright then, what ideas do we have for tomorrow?"

Sirius sat against his headboard and watched the other three Marauders sitting at the edge of their beds. They had finally managed to get Frank out of the room so they could discuss tomorrow's plans.

"A Hiccoughing potion in the teachers drinks?" Peter suggested.

"Well…" James said, looking at Sirius who rolled his eyes.

"Not good enough, Pete. Pretty rubbish to be honest." Sirius said, realizing James couldn't just spit out the truth when it came to Peter.

They pitched idea's for about half and hour when Sirius sighed and sat on the end of his own bed.

"Why don't we just keep it down a bit? It's not like it's April Fool's day where we're expected to do something great, is it?" he told them.

"Well what do you suggest?" Remus asked him, sounding irritated.

"Something simple. How about we brew some Swelling Solution and set it on the Slytherins?"

Remus and James exchanged looks. James shrugged.

"Well, we got nothing better. Let's go get the ingredients and start tonight. Sluggy shouldn't mind."

X

That morning had been to quiet. The Marauders had been acting civil in every class they had had so far. Riley and Lily were sitting at the Gryffindor table at lunch, watching them.

"Surely they can't be doing nothing?" Lily whispered to Riley.

"They have to be. Halloween and April Fool's day is a chance for them to pull pranks and get away with the excuse 'This is what people do on these day's!' excuse." Riley replied.

A few seats down from them, the four Marauders were discussing their next class, Potions.

"The solution is in the dorm. After I've finished," Remus carried on, "I'll go and get it and go to potions and pour some of it into each of our cauldrons."

"Excellent," James replied. "And we all know who we've to accidentally pour it on?"

"Snivellus." Sirius told him, grinning.

"Lestrange." Remus said.

"Carrow." Peter squeaked.

"And for me, Bellatrix." James said.

X

Riley sighed as she sat down at her sea in Potions and Lily jumped into conversation with Snape. Riley rarely spoke to Snape, even when he joined the two girls in the library sometimes. He wasn't exactly on her list of 'Get-To-Know-Them'. She looked around the class as everyone walked in. Peter scurried off to his seat beside Mary, looking nervous. Sirius, James and Remus followed behind them, taking their own seats.

When Sirius sat next to her, Riley turned her back to him, as she done every time he was anywhere near her. Luckily, he didn't have time to start up a conversation, as Slughorn walked in.

"Right, settle down. Get your books out and turn to page forty-nine where I want you to brew the Elixir to Induce Euphoria."

Riley hopped off her seat and walked off to the storage room. Sirius walked with James.

"Do it near the end of the lesson," James told him. "That way, we'll have time to run. And remember to use empty cauldron. For this potion."

"I know what to do, Prongs."

"Just double-checking." James shrugged and collected his ingredients.

As it was nearing the end of class, Sirius caught Remus' eye and nodded.

"Hey, Martinez…You don't mind if I borrow-"

He reached over the cauldron with the Swelling Solution in it and knocked it over the table and watched it pour onto Snape's hand.

"Hey!" Lily yelled at him and went to help Snape wipe the potion off his hand.

"Don't touch that!" Sirius shouted and watched Lily's hand hesitate.

"Why?"

"ARGH!" Snape was clutching his hand as it swelled up.

Across the class, somehow, James managed to get Bellatrix's nose to swell up. Sirius watched as Slughorn hurried over towards her.

"What was in that?" Snape shouted at Sirius.

"Must've been a leftover Swelling Solution. Whoops."

Riley watched between the two boys and decided to put her Elixir into her tube for marking. As she was pouring it in, some 'accidentally' poured onto Sirius' hand. It's no Swelling Solution, but oh well she thought, smiling to herself.

"Oops." she said to him, smiling cheekily.

Sirius looked up at her without uttering a word and flicked his and towards her face, causing the potion to splutter over her face.

"Oops." he replied.

Riley could feel some of it on her lips and tried her best not to lick it off. Instead, she wiped it of using the back of her hand. She glanced over to where Slughorn was and saw he was attending to a screaming Bellatrix. She dipped her hand into the Elixir and flicked some into Sirius' face and that's when it started.

Sirius retorted by grabbing his cauldron and pouring it all down Riley. As much as she wanted to scream, she held it and smiled, taking hold of her own cauldron.

"Miss Martinez! What is going on here?" Slughorn came running towards her, making Snape scowl at the lack of attention he was getting with his large hand.

"Black poured his potion on her, Professor." Lily said.

Slughorn looked at Sirius. "Is it true?"

"She poured it on me first!" Sirius said.

"It was an accident." Riley told Slughorn, shrugging. As soon as she shut her mouth, she tasted something funny on her tongue and felt liquid pour down her throat. She had swallowed the Elixir.

This isn't exactly the best and I'm sorry for that. I got back last Sunday and while I was writing this, my head was all over the place.

On another note, how amazing is DH2? I think I must've cried through almost the full film.

Well, review please!

Abbey xoxo