Author's Notes: Thanks go to Peggy (Medieval Mystic: USER ID: 796384) for doing such a wonderful job beta'ing.
Chapter Five: Promises.
Upon Professor Slughorn's instructions, we all got to work, attempting to make a Draught of Living Death and trying to win the little bottle of Felix Felicis.
Hurriedly, I lit my cauldron, then took out my scales and ingredients before getting to work. I had just taken out my small silver knife to chop my Valerian roots when Remus called me from the table behind.
"Hey, Jenn, can I borrow your knife, please?" he asked sheepishly. "I think I forgot to pack mine."
"Well ... erm ... I was just about to use mine," I replied hesitantly, hating to deny a friend help. "Can't you borrow James' or Sirius'?"
"No, Mooney cannot borrow mine," Sirius snapped, looking up from his own cauldron. "Can't you see I'm already using it?"
"Alright, alright Sirius, calm down," I returned, sensing his obvious stress. It was a well known fact Potions wasn't his strongest subject. "It was only a suggestion. Sure, Remus, you can borrow mine."
I reached across the desk to hand him the knife, and as I did our hands brushed. Once again, the temperature in the class room seemed to rise about ten degrees, and I hastily turned back around.
"I'll give it back to you in a minute," Remus called.
When I returned to my cauldron, Stephanie shot me a quizzical look, but I pretended not to notice and went back to work.
Within ten minutes, the whole class room was filled with blue-tinged steam. I glanced up and noticed Heather's potion was already at the apparent halfway stage; like the text book said, resembling 'smooth, blackcurrant-colored liquid.'
I turned back to my own cauldron and read that my next step was to cut up the Sopophorous Bean. Realizing I still hadn't had my knife back from Remus, I muttered to myself, 'Well, this is just great.'
Thankfully, Stephanie seemed to have finished with hers, so I reached across to borrow it.
Quickly chopping both the bean and my Valerian roots from earlier, I tossed them both into the cauldron and gasped as it turned a dark, licorice purple.
I consulted the text book and was frustrated to read that the Sopophorous Bean should have turned my potion a light shade of lilac. Knowing there was nothing I could do about it now, I stirred the mixture counter-clockwise as instructed to.
It lightened a little, but hadn't turned as clear as water like the book said it would, and how Stephanie's potion appeared to have turned.
"Darn it," I muttered.
Another fifteen minutes passed, but still no real change could be seen in my potion, and it looked as dark as ever. Around me, the potions of my friends were various shades from purple, to lilac and finally crystal clear.
Knowing there was no way I'd win now, and just to put the experience down to a bad day, I ceased stirring and tried to tidy up my work area.
Just as I'd packed all my equipment away, Professor Slughorn announced that the time was up. He then moved slowly between the tables, peering into cauldrons as he did so. He made no comment, but occasionally gave the potions a stir, or a sniff.
Finally, he reached the table where Michelle, Stephanie, Heather and I were sitting.
He smiled ruefully at my, now tar-like substance – and said, "Not your best work, I'm afraid, Miss Knightley."
I nodded in agreeance before he turned to look over the other potions. As he gazed from Michelle's to Heather's and then finally Stephanie's offerings, his smile grew wider and wider.
"Impressive work, ladies," he complimented my friends. "Five points to Ravenclaw for each of you."
Stephanie, Heather and Michelle all grinned, and then Heather whispered to me, "Sorry yours wasn't as good."
"It's okay," I said back, with a shrug. "I was a bit distracted today, but hopefully I'll do better next time."
Professor Slughorn then went to appraise the potions on the Marauders' table. He nodded approvingly at Remus, Sirius and James, completely passing over Peter, until he reached Lily; who had been sitting at the far end of the desk.
"The clear winner!" he cried to the dungeon. "Excellent, excellent, Lily. I see nothing much has changed over the summer. Here you are, then, here you are – one bottle of Felix Felicis, as promised, and use it well!"
Blushing furiously, Lily slipped the tiny bottle of golden liquid into her inner pocket.
James looked over at Lily and grinned, but she apparently ignored him. However, I caught the sheepish smile on her face as she turned to pack her things away.
When the dungeon was all cleaned up and our things packed away, Professor Slughorn dismissed the class, and we began to exit.
I had just reached the door with my friends when Remus called me back.
"Erm ... you forgot your knife, Jenn," he said, handing it back to me sheepishly.
"Oh yeah, thanks," I returned, a slight blush creeping over my cheeks.
"I'm sorry that me borrowing it caused you to mess up your own potion," he apologized, the color rising in his own face.
"It's okay," I insisted, with a small shrug and a lop-sided smile. "I wasn't really with it today, to be honest. I think, even if I'd had my knife, I still would have messed it up."
"Well, I'm sorry anyway. I'll make sure I remember my own next time," he promised me, before asking. "Are we still going to work on our Arithmancy project after dinner?"
"Yeah, of course," I replied eagerly. "That is, if you haven't got other plans?"
"No, I've got no other plans," Remus assured me, and then smiled sheepishly. "I quite like working with you, and I get a lot more done than I do when I work with James or Sirius."
"I bet," I agreed with a knowing smile. While the Marauders were certainly a loyal group of friends, and a lot of fun to be around, I also knew how much of a distraction they could be.
"Alright then, I'll meet you in the library after dinner," Remus said, as we walked out of the dungeon together and made our way to the Great Hall.
It seemed that both my friends and his had gone off without us, and when we arrived in the great hall, almost everyone had settled into seats at their house tables and begun eating.
"Well, I guess I'll see you a little later then," I said, as we stopped in the entrance way, and I noticed Stephanie, Michelle and Heather looking over at me.
"Yeah, I'll see you later, Jenn," Remus replied, and then we parted ways and headed to our respective tables.
When I sat down with my friends, they all looked at me quizzically. Then, with a cocked eyebrow, Stephanie commented, "You were a long time."
"Was I?" I returned innocently. "Well, Remus wanted to give me my knife back and then we had to arrange about meeting up later to work on our project."
The answer seemed to satisfy Heather and Michelle, who turned back to their dinners. However, Stephanie kept gazing at me curiously.
"What is it?" I asked, somewhat impatiently five minutes later. "Do I have something on my face?"
"Oh, nothing," replied Stephanie in a sing-song voice, that led me to believe it wasn't nothing. "Just that you and Remus seem pretty close."
"Yeah, I suppose we are. We're good friends and we like working together."
"Uh-huh," Stephanie returned in the same sing-song tone. "You're 'good friends' with a very cute looking guy, and you're spending more and more time with him."
"Oh, quit playing match-maker, will you?" I teased, knowing Stephanie had a habit of trying to pair her friends off. Just last year, she'd tried to set Heather up with a boy from Hufflepuff.
"Sorry. You know I can't help myself. I really do think you and Remus would make an adorable couple."
"Perhaps we would," I replied, allowing myself a moment to contemplate Stephanie's suggestion. "But right now, all I'm concerned about is finishing my dinner so that I don't keep him waiting any longer."
"Fair point. Can't keep lover boy waiting."
We both burst out laughing at this comment, and then began eating desert, which tonight was my favorite; apple pie and custard.
When the meal was over, I said good-bye to my friends before I began making my way to the library. As I expected, Remus was waiting outside for me, and greeted me with a warm smile.
"Did you have a nice dinner?" he asked.
"Yes, thanks. Did you?"
"It was okay, until Sirius and James started teasing me about all the time we're spending together."
"Oh, not them as well. You know, I had a very similar conversation with Stephanie."
"Really?" questioned Remus, with a cocked eyebrow and a faint blush coloring his cheeks. When I nodded, he went on to say, "Well, how about we really give them something to talk about, and go to Slughorn's gathering together on Friday evening?"
"Alright then," I agreed with a grin, as we both strode into the library. "It'll be a good way to celebrate getting top marks on our Arithmancy project."
Once we'd sat down, nothing more was said about our plans to go to Slughorn's gathering together, as Remus and I both began working on our essay.
Now that we'd completed the initial research, all that was really left to do was write up our findings so that they showed the different magical properties of the number twelve.
In less than an hour, we'd successfully completed the essay, and then moved onto the other homework we'd been set during the week.
"So, what are your plans for the weekend?" Remus asked, as I finished off my final assignment.
"I'm not sure really, as I'm up to date on all my homework now," I replied with a satisfied smile. "Although, Michelle did mention that they're holding the Quidditch try-outs on Saturday morning, so I'll probably go and watch her play."
"That's a coincidence, as Gryffindor are holding their try-outs on Saturday afternoon. How about we go together and spend the day supporting our friends?"
"Sounds good to me. Although, then we'll have to put up with Stephanie making eyes at Sirius."
"I don't think that's going to be much of a problem anymore," commented Remus ambiguously.
"Oh no. This isn't going to be bad news is it?" I asked, knowing how much it would break Stephanie's heart if Sirius started dating someone else.
"Quite the contrary, actually. From what Sirius said to me at dinner, he's planning on asking Stephanie to go with him on the next Hogsmeade visit."
"That's great news. Stephanie is going to be so excited."
"Just don't tell her you know, okay? I think Sirius wants it to be a surprise."
"But you know, she'll hex me into next week if she ever found out I knew about this and didn't tell her."
"Yes, and Sirius will hex me into next month if we ruin his plans," Remus objected with a chuckle.
"Alright, I'll try to keep it to myself."
"Good, because if Sirius does hex me, I'll be counting on you to nurse me better afterwards."
"All the more reason to spill the beans then," I said playfully.
"I thought you'd be sick of me by now," commented Remus, and I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "What with us studying together, going to Slughorn's party and the Quidditch try outs."
"Remus, I could never get sick of you," I said genuinely, placing my hand on his.
Suddenly, the temperature in the library shot up by ten degrees and I didn't know if I should move my hand or not. All I could think about was the fact that Remus' skin felt pleasantly warm under mine.
"You know, I think we should be getting back to our common rooms now," Remus said after a few moments as he pulled his hand away awkwardly.
"Yeah, you're right. We don't want to get a detention for strolling the castle after curfew."
"Do you want me to walk you back to Ravenclaw tower?"
"No, I'll be okay on my own," I replied, knowing if we spent any more time together, I was just going to end up feeling even more flushed and embarrassed.
Outside the library, Remus and I said good-night after arranging to sit together in class the following day, and then headed off towards our respective common rooms.
As I strolled the deserted corridors of the castle, I again began to contemplate when my feelings for Remus had changed. We'd been friends for a long time, but this year I was seeing him in a whole new light. Maybe Stephanie was right, and there was something more between the two of us.