Chapter 4: Smile
"Remus, what day is it today?" James asked tapping Remus with his quill. They were sitting in separate rows in Transfiguration class while McGonagall sat at her desk stamping papers, and occasionally marking things off with a quill.
"It's Tuesday, James," Remus huffed impatiently turning around to face him. "And we're in the middle of a test."
"Right." James nodded as Remus turned back to his 'test'. McGonagall had decided to torture them today by having them take the previous year exams in an effort to see where they were at for the year. With the year half done, she was curious to see where all her students stood and which students she'd have to pay a bit more attention to.
"Tuesday... hey Sirius?" James tapped the boy sitting next to Remus. Sirius was lounging on his desk, having finished his test early like James. "What?"
"Did I fall asleep on the wrong side of bed this morning?"
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Did I fall asleep on the right or left?" James asked more impatiently.
"Mr. Potter! Mr. Black!" James felt his body being tugged back and then forcefully shift and turn away from Sirius before settling back in his seat, looking forward. Sirius too met the same fate. They both turned to look at McGonagall who had somehow forced them to sit back upright without so much as lifting her wand. She sat there same as before looking through whatever papers she was grading.
"We are in the middle of a test boys." She told them sternly finally looking up. "If you both have better things to do-"
"I'll stop you right there, Professor." Sirius stood up adamantly. "James and I have decided to forfeit the test. And," he added looking back towards James with a wink, "we want nothing to do with this class any more."
McGonagall peered at them from her glasses, waiting.
He wagged his eyebrows at James pointedly who nodded understandingly. "That's right Professor. Sirius and I are done."
This line had taken the attention of rest of their class. Most of them had paused and looked up from their test once they realized something was happening.
"What are you two doing?" Remus hissed, still looking down at his test.
James jumped onto his desk with fervor liking the attention they were getting. "We've decided we're over school. No more tests! No more papers! No more Hogwarts!"
"Hand your tests over then." McGonagall said flatly having had enough. As an afterthought she suddenly waved them over to her instead and peered down at them wanting to see what they had finished.
James and Sirius were quick to grab their things and make a run for the door.
"By the way," Sirius grinned waving as they made a run for it. His professor who had momentarily forgotten about them as she looked over their tests incredulously. "Potter, Black wait-"
"Oh Professor we did the bonus question at the end too-wait no-that was James." Sirius nodded proudly. "He chose C."
James nodded. He had chosen C. "I did choose C."
And with that they were out the door before their Professor could say a word.
To no one's surprise except theirs they were both given detention for the whole week. Peter had been the unfortunate messenger assigned to do the task. He looked a little gloomy himself sighing sadly once he had delivered the news.
"No worries Peter, it's better us than you." Sirius said patting his friend down in the back in an attempt to make him feel better. "Here, have a bean."
Peter stared at the dark navy colored Bertie Bott bean apprehensively.
They were walking back towards the castle, the wind whipping against in their faces. Winter had left its mark in the form of white crunchy snow that soaked through their socks and caused their shoes to squeak with every step.
"It's hardly fair. You guys weren't cheating-" Remus turned to them and pulled his scarf closer to his face. "But how did you manage to get that bonus question?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked pretending to feel offended. He reached into the Bertie Botts bag Sirius held pulling out a bright red one. Blood cherry, if he has to guess.
He chewed it thoughtfully. Nope, definitely not blood cherry. He spit it to the side where it landed on a passerby's shoes.
Oh well."
"No I didn't meant it that way-" Remus was saying looking worried.
"Left." Peter said suddenly.
"What?" A bean hit James on the side of his face. "Not fair!" He nudged Sirius, who had given up on eating and instead was taking delight in throwing the beans onto his friend's faces.
"You slept on your left last night." Peter continued before turning a deep shade of pink "I heard you asking Sirius and Remus so-left. That's what side you slept on." He finished.
James slapped him on the back affectionately. "Thanks Pete. You're always looking out for me, mate."
He glared pointedly at Remus and Sirius who rolled their eyes.
"My bad Jamesie we'll make sure to watch out for your sleeping and eating habits for the next three months." Sirius said plopping one in his mouth. "ugh-vomit."
"And it should be noted," Remus added failing to catch the purple colored bean Peter had aimed at him this time. "That you didn't brush your hair today-or ever for that matter."
"Hey I was born with this." James shrugged. His hair was a black mess on his head and to this day neither he nor his mother had been able to contain it. No amount of Sleakezy's could take the Potter mane. "It's a Potter thing."
"Whatever you say Jamesie." Sirius ruffled his hair affectionately.
"You said left, right?" James asked Peter who nodded enthusiastically.
James pondered over that fact. So what was it that he had done differently today? and what he had done today that he hadn't done the day before and the day before that? Had he always slept on his left? He has eaten the same breakfast he always did. Wore the same robes he wore every day, sometimes not even washing them until Marlene mentioned the smell- so what had it been?
"Oye did I do something different today?" He asked giving up and turning to his friends. "Maybe I got up too early or-" They turned around the corner suddenly causing James to jump back. He knocked into Sirius behind him, who fell on his side causing a surprised Remus to drop his scarf. Peter somehow ended up in the mess and had ended up on the ground along with them.
"Watch it, mate." Sirius wheeled onto James helping him get up.
"Did you see it?" James rubbed his eyes and blinked twice. "You saw it right? I wasn't dreaming?"
"Saw what?" Sirius asked. "Can you even see mate? Here." James felt Sirius place the glasses on his face, his vision clearing up instantly. He hadn't even realized when his glasses had fallen off because well-
Lily Evans had smiled at him.
"James?" Peter asked but James shook his head trying to clear his head. No, he was definitely imagining things. Lily Evans didn't smile at him. She didn't even like him. The person who had smiled at him wasn't Lily Evans. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be her.
James entered the potions classroom feeling dizzy all of a sudden. It couldn't have been Lily Evans, it just couldn't.
"Alright simmer down now," Professor Slughorn marched right up to the board, chalk in his hand at the ready. "We finished our Babbling Beverage potion last week and I've graded a little more than half of them already. They're all fairly decent though one group stands out in particular." He looked proudly towards the back of the class "Mr. Snape and Ms. Evans produced such a potion if someone had told me that a group of first years made it- well I wouldn't have believed it!"
James looked back towards them. She was grinning and whispering to Severus. She was smiling...so she definitely could smile, but the question was had she really smiled at him?
"-which you will find of page 19. Your partners are on the board. Get to it!" Professor Slughorn finished, tapping the board to reveal their pairs for the next assignment.
There was skittering of chairs being pushed back as everyone rushed to the board to find their partners for the evening. James saw Lily heading his way, ingredients in her hand, and quickly turned the other direction.
"Who do you have?" He asked Peter who happened to be heading right towards him "Michael" he answered smiling, "Thank Merlin he made it to class on time today. I'm not really good at lighting the cauldron." He let out a sigh of relief.
James nodded. Peter hadn't had the best track record with fire. He looked around to see that Lily had vanished. The coast was clear. He walked up to the chalkboard to scanning the chalkboard for his name. He found Peter's name right at top paired with Michael Duke. Sirius had been paired with the Slytherin girl Alesana Avery and he...he was with Lily Evans.
"There you are!" James froze recognizing the voice.
"I was coming right to you-but I guess you didn't see me." She continued not noticing he was still.
James blinked. There it was again.
She was smiling at him.
Lily Evans was really truly smiling at him.
"I must have missed you." James said quickly remembering that he was James Potter. "I'll get the ingredients."
"Oh," Lily smiled at him again. James was beginning to think that Sirius must have swiped his glasses, because he was not seeing right at all. "I've already got everything we need-and I've set up our stations just up there."
James nodded his head and followed her slowly. It was then that he noticed Severus glaring at him ignoring his partner who was trying to get his attention.
It made him smile. And when Lily called him over, James realized why he looked so annoyed. It was because Lily had been paired with him.
"Make sure you don't get all that grease on your book Snivellus." James whispered. Severus gave him a particularly nasty look as he walked by and wiped his nose quickly.
"Okay- I've started warming up the cauldron, if you want to chop the ingredients on your side, I'll get the serum prepped. That takes the most time anyways."
This was the first time he was paired with Lily Evans and must have been the first time she also wasn't paired with Severus, he thought looking over the recipe she had placed in between them.
He began chopping up the beetles as fine as he could, feeling rather proud of the way they looked. But it was the silence that was killing him. He didn't really do well with silence.
James snuck a quick glance at Lily. She was sorting through the ingredients, humming to herself as she double-checked the book to make sure she had the right amounts. James took a deep breath, shook his head and took out his copy of the book just in case he needed it. He looked over the ingredients-anything to get the sound of her humming out of his head. Though it was better than complete silence, he mused.
It was odd being paired with Lily Evans. After the sock debacle he wasn't sure how she would react the next time she saw him. Thankfully after Sirius's apology she seemed to have been okay with him. Not that they were friends per say but at least she wasn't screaming at him.
Lily was humming softer now as she mixed the baby blue serum in the centrifuge. The dark blue crystals floated on the top, waiting for her to scoop them up.
"So-" he started not sure what to even say.
"Mhm?" She said turning to look at him.
He hadn't thought as far as what to say and had found himself at a loss for words. Thankfully Professor Slughorn was heading towards them and the pair immediately went back to working on their potions.
"Ms. Evans." He greeted Lily with a smile. "Mr. Potter." He gave James a stern look. "I do hope you aren't giving dear Ms. Evans any trouble now?"
"Me?" James pointed to himself. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Lily let out a small laugh.
James hadn't ever heard her laugh. Never when he had cracked a joke. She e usually sported a disappointed look anytime he made a joke in class or downright ignored him. Just last week Sirius and Remus had thrown Peter a beige Puffskein, they had stolen from a third year in the common room when she wasn't looking, and Peter had let out the most girly scream possible falling from his chair and knocking into the shelf of alumni nameplates behind him.
The entire common room had burst into laughs especially when Peter tripped again trying to stand up and one of the Prewett twins had dubbed him butter fingers.
But Lily Evans hadn't joined the rest. Instead she had been the first one to help Peter up and called over her friends to help put the shelf back together.
"Good." Slughorn peered into their cauldron and looked at James chopped up beetles. "Well done, Potter."
James felt his chest rise. He looked over to see if Lily had noticed but she was back to peering over the recipe and trying to measure whatever green goop was in the vial in her left hand.
"You okay?" Lily turned to him suddenly.
"Yeah." He hadn't started on the ginger root and realized he needed to shred it but Lily hadn't brought one over.
"I completely forgot." She looked apologetic in the middle of stirring, counting the stirs and yet fully concerned she had forgotten a piece. "Er-do you think you could-?" She looked pointedly at him.
"I'll get it." He told walking away only to pause and a look back. "Don't lose count."
"I won't." She told him not giving him a glance, more engrossed into the stirring than anything else.
The supply cabinet opened with a loud creak but no one was paying him any attention. He rummaged through the different colored glass vials and array of roots and powders sloppily labeled in Slughorns handwriting. The bottom shelf contained wrapped up fresh ingredients while the ones on top were labeled with a cautious sign.
He ended up finding the shredder in a rusty drawer to the right.
"Found it." He told no one in particular. He took the chance to look around the classroom and see what everyone else was doing. Peter and Michael seemed to be doing well. The pair was joking over something Michael had said. Just then Peter scooped up some dried kettle leaves and dropped them in before Michael could warn the boy. They both looked towards the cauldron nervously.
Over to the far right, Remus and Mary MacDonald were arguing over the correct vial to hold the brewer serum and Sirius who was directly behind them and being the only ones who had noticed James, gave him a wink.
James laughed and began heading towards their station thinking he was gone long enough. Just then he felt something under his foot and was slightly confused as to how he hit the floor.
The class, whose attention he now had, let out a roar of laughter. Sirius who had started the whole thing was pointing to his eyes and mimicking squinting. James felt heat rush to his face. He knew exactly who had done this. He could see the tattered second hand black shoes of Severus Snape. As he stood up, brushing his robes he turned to look at the boy who was smiling as he stirred his potion pretending he hadn't just tripped him.
"James-are you okay?"
It was Lily, extending her hand to him. He didn't miss the look on Severus face as she helped him stand up.
"I'm fine. No harm no foul."
They worked in silence for a bit, exchanging words when they needed something from the others end of the station.
"James." Lily said suddenly. "I'm sorry about the other day. I was angry about something and I took it out on you."
James didn't know what to say. He hadn't expected her to apologize.
"Sirius told me it was his fault." She continued. "And although I still don't understand how you got into the girls dormitory."
"Oh." James relaxed. "Well, we Potter's are good at getting where we need to be."
"Don't let it get to your head, James." She turned to her book. "Now it says we need to let it sit for about a week before we can add the fennel seeds.."
After potions, Sirius, Remus and Peter had decided a game of Gobstones was much needed. Peter who brought Michael Duke, who often was left out between the 4 boys. Sometimes James forgot that they had five boys in their year.
Michael took one look at the Gobstones game that Sirius has set up and asked if they would be interested in playing the new game that released by WXG (Wizarding Games Corporation)
James looked around at the others who nodded and Sirius promptly shoved the Gobstones game to the side making room for whatever Michael had brought.
Michael proudly set the box down labeled Legacy in bold letters. The box had assorted images of fire breathing dragons, a wizard attacking a group of Hinkypunks. Elves stood in the shadows and ghostly form of a pretty lady stood in the corner. A Sphinx sat in the middle, her eyes closed.
"What is it?" Remus asked looking intrigued.
Michael had propped open the instruction manual and was explaining it as he read along.
"It's supposed to be a mix between Wizarding chess and Gobstones." He told them peering down at the words. "The goal is to get to the end of the board without dying."
Remus pulled out the stack of sealed cards and tore them from the wrapping. "What are these cards for?"
"They have rules on them. Once you tap the crystal ball, it'll tell you how many steps you need to go." He looked at the board with its many paths and square steps. "If you land on a red one you need to pull a card."
"Are these supposed to be us?" Sirius had picked up one the player pieces, an elf with a blue and pink spotted mushroom hat.
"I claim this one!" Remus had grabbed the best piece of them all. A miniature wizard with a navy blue hat and wand raised out towards the sky. He had a permanent scowl on his a face as he pointed his wand towards the air.
"Put me down!" It shouted struggling to escape from Remus's grip. "I, Sir Lancelot the Brave belong to no one."
"You're mine now." Remus told him but set him down gingerly. It scurried away to the start position on the board.
"I guess I'll be the Wrigley the Courageous Centaur." Peter decided summoning the chocolate brown centaur into his open palm. The centaur wore a set of black leather on his top half, a bow and arrow slung across his back.
"Aww man,there was a centaur?" James asked pushing past him to look at the remaining pieces left on the board. "Fine I'll be Gregory the Great Giant."
Gregory, hearing his name, let out a roar and threw his club upwards in the air joining Wrigley and Sir Lancelot at the start.
"I guess that means I'm stuck with Heward the Hodag." Sirius said pulling the half frog and dog creature that extended his horns to half his bodies length. It leaped to the start position and Sirius nodded in approval. "Not so bad are you?"
The Hodag barked in response.
"Guess that leaves you with," Peter looked over the manual, "Bella the Banshee."
"And this one." Sirius wiggled the elf with the pink and blue spotted mushroom hate he held earlier.
"That's definitely supposed to be a girly piece."
"Sorry mate."
"Well," Michael grinned pulling out the piece he had hidden and setting it in the middle for the other boys to see. They marveled at the shiny Hebridean Black dragon that stood proud and tall on its 4 sharp taloned legs. Its purple eyes glowed bright, great black wide wings flailing out to the side before it let out a small burst of purple red flames and took his spot at the start with the others.
The other four boys let out a collective groan.
"No fair!"
"I wanted the dragon!"
"I think my wizard is better."
"Whatever Remus, tell that to Heward here."
"Heward's got nothing on Bella."
"Now now, don't make Gregory jealous- he'd crush you with his bat."
"Is that so?"
"So who's ready to play?" Michael asked setting the crystal ball in the middle, wagging his eyebrows.