“Now would be a perfect time to ask her, you know,” muttered Remus to James as they sat behind a cauldron together during Potions.
“I’m not asking her now,” James hissed back. “Not in front of Snivellus. I don’t need the whole world knowing I’m having a little bit of trouble. And you know Snape, he’ll blow the whole thing out of proportion because he hates me so much and she’ll think I’m even stupider than she already does.” He hacked savagely at the hellebore he was supposed to be slicing.
Not for the first time, Remus rolled his eyes and sighed. He glanced at James, who was scowling towards the cauldron Lily and Severus shared, then looked down at James’s right hand, which held the silver knife. James was so busy staring across the room that he was missing the hellebore completely, instead chopping deep grooves in the wooden table. Remus thought about telling him, and then decided it was safer not to. He quietly slid the plant along the table and began slicing it himself.
“I’ll ask her in Charms,” James said definitively, with the air of one settling an argument. “We don’t have that with the Slytherins, so I should be pretty safe. Besides,” he added smugly, “I’m good at Charms.”
“Better than you are at Potions, anyway,” said Remus under his breath, and James kicked him.
From the neighboring cauldron, Sirius sighed loudly. Although he had been initially disgruntled when James had partnered with Remus, he quickly got over it and progressed to bored. He peered casually into the cauldron that Peter was stirring feverishly, and asked “Is it supposed to be that color?”
“Famous last words,” grumbled Peter. He looked up from the potion, which had turned a nauseating shade of yellow and was emitting golden sparks, and glanced around the classroom. “Everyone else’s is kind of reddish,” he said mournfully. “Face it, Padfoot. I’m pretty sure we messed up.”
“You messed up,” Sirius pointed out. “I did nothing.”
Peter looked at him for a long moment. “And you don’t think letting me do an entire potion by myself was a mistake?”
“Oh yeah,” Sirius mused. “Well…oi! Prongs!”
James turned to face him. “What?” he asked irritably.
“We need to, um, borrow some of your potion,” said Sirius, beaming at him.
“Messed up that badly, did you?”
“Well I gave Wormtail the reins on this one. Should have known better.”
“Don’t blame him, I’m sure you couldn’t have done it either.”
“James.”
“Sirius.”
“Can I just have the potion please?”
“Five minutes. We aren’t done yet,” James said, shaking his head.
“What are we supposed to be making anyway?” asked Sirius.
James shrugged. “I think it’s the Draught of Peace,” he said.
Remus leaned over to him, handing him a small vial. “Here, shake this gently,” he said, “until it turns from red to pink.”
“Sure,” James said absentmindedly, taking the vial. He started to shake as he glanced around the classroom. Like they had so often in the past few years, his eyes fell on a rush of auburn hair. For some reason, Lily Evans never seemed to pay any attention to him.
Frustrated, he shook the vial a little harder. As he watched Lily, Severus Snape leaned over to whisper something in her ear. They both looked up at James and he blinked, jerking his head in a different direction A few moments later, he glanced back. Lily was absorbed in the potion, but Snape was still staring at him. For a moment, those black and far-too-knowing eyes bored into James’s hazel ones, and then Snape smirked. Angrily, James clenched the vial and shook it harder, staring right back without blinking.
“Careful,” Remus said nervously, reaching out to him, “that potion is really sensiti-”
Before he could finish, the vial exploded with a muted pop all over James. Almost instantaneously, small red sores appeared on his skin where the potion had touched it. He winced in pain.
“This,” James yelped, turning to face Remus, “is not a bloody Draught of Peace!”
“No,” said Remus calmly. “That’s the hellebore. It’s poisonous.”
“HOW POISONOUS, MOONY?” James roared. “AM I DYING OR NOT?”
Remus bit his lip. “I will get back to you on that,” he said over his shoulder as he ran towards the front of the classroom, where Professor Slughorn gazed, happily oblivious, out the open window.
---
Three hours, a trip to the hospital wing, and five antidotes later, James managed to drag himself to Charms, just in time for the last few minutes of class.
“Good,” Remus said briskly when he saw him. “You’re just in time.”
“For what?” James grumbled, still not entirely reconciled with the events of the morning.
“To ask out Lily!” piped Peter. Sirius growled and whacked him on the head as James stared incredulously at Remus.
“You told them?” he nearly shrieked, making an intense effort to keep his voice down. “That was confidential!”
“Relax, James,” said Remus bracingly. “All three of us have known since about the fourth year. I’m pretty sure most of Gryffindor Tower knows. Probably most of-”
“You can stop now,” said James queasily. “Anyway, as long as Lily doesn’t know, I think I’ll survive.”
Sirius and Peter exchanged a glance, and began to snicker uncontrollably. Remus had the grace to keep a straight face as James looked at the three of them and sank into the nearest chair and buried his face in his arms.
“Oh God,” he groaned into his elbow. Remus patted him sympathetically on the arm, finally letting the grin break onto his face.
---
Lily was concentrating. Charms, much as she liked Professor Flitwick, occasionally gave her a little trouble, and she was having particular trouble with the tricky Vanishing Spell. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, repeating the incantation in her mind. She exhaled, raised her wand arm, and”
“Ow! What was that for?” Lily opened her eyes indignantly, rubbing her arm where her friend Mary Macdonald had just poked her in the arm. Short and curvy with long, jet-black hair, Mary was probably Lily’s best friend in Gryffindor Tower, even though Lily spent most of her time sequestered in hidden rooms with Severus.
“James Potter is coming down to talk to you,” said Mary, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
“What?” said Lily, surprised, glancing over her shoulder. James Potter was indeed heading towards her from the back of the classroom, but she merely shrugged and turned back to Mary. “I’m sure he’s just going to ask Professor Flitwick a question,” she said, turning back to the cushion she was supposed to be Vanishing.
Mary sighed exasperatedly. “Am I going to have to explain the appeal of these boys to you again?” she asked resignedly. When Lily didn’t reply, Mary crossed her arms and said briskly, “If you’d just spend more time in the common room you’d know how funny and clever they are. Why, just last week Sirius Black Charmed a bottle of Butterbeer and gave it to a first-year, and it turned him into a salamander!”
Lily reached into her bag to pull out her Charms book, saying frostily as she did so, “That’s not the kind of thing that I find funny.”
“Well, that’s not a very good example,” said Mary, waving a hand at her. “Anyway, the first-year was fine, he got a real thrill out of it. If you’d just stick around you’d see for yourself. And my, it doesn’t hurt how attractive they’ve gotten recently…” she trailed off suddenly, clearing her throat loudly.
Lily looked up at her questioningly, and felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw the lanky figure of James Potter, who dropped his hand as she looked at him. “‘lo, Evans,” he said, almost shyly.
“Potter,” she said coolly, nodding at him.
“So, listen,” he said, and she felt a tremor of irritation she felt as he hoisted himself onto the table, sitting as if he belonged there, and shoving her Charms book to the side. She glanced at him as he continued, “You uh, may have noticed my little incident in Potions this morning,” he said wryly, and she couldn’t help herself”a small laugh escaped at the memory.
“I seem to remember something like that,” she said, smiling faintly.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Well,” he said, leaning towards her, “I’m about to tell you a big secret. You can’t spread it around, it’ll ruin my reputation. I need to know I can trust you.”
There was something so magnetic about that crooked grin; she felt herself leaning forward, but passed it off as a motion to grab her Charms book. She clutched it tightly to her chest and said, impassively, “Secret’s safe. Go on.”
“Well,” he said again, whispering now, “I really think you should know…I’m not very good at Potions.”
She was surprised into laughter again, but it was short-lived as he looked smugly pleased with himself. “Yes,” she conceded, “and?”
For a moment, he actually looked uncomfortable. “I was actually wondering if you could help me out with something,” he muttered, swinging his feet the way a scolded child might. “I know you’re one of the best in our year at Potions, and I thought maybe you could give me a few pointers? Before the O.W.Ls, you know.”
Taken aback by his sudden sincerity, she found herself agreeing. “I guess I could do that,” she said warily, not taking her eyes off him.
He jumped off the table, hazel eyes twinkling roguishly. “Thanks so much,” he said. “I really appreciate it. Gryffindor Common room at eight tonight?”
She turned away from him to collect her things from the table as the bell rang. “Better make it the library,” she called over her shoulder. If she was going to do this, it would be on her terms. He nodded in agreement and sprinted away, as Mary came up and squeezed her arm.
“You have a date with James Potter!” she squealed excitedly.
“It’s not a date!” Lily protested. “He may have been very polite just now, but years of observation have taught me that James Potter is an obnoxious megalomaniac. I don’t know why I agreed.”
“Well at least let me do your hair.”
“It’s to study, Mary, we’re not going out for an evening at Madame Puddifuts!”
“You’re going out! You admitted it!”
“I said we weren’t going out…”
Sniping lightheartedly, they left the Charms classroom together in a way that made Lily wonder if the evening would really be that bad after all.
---
Severus, unfortunately, was convinced it would be. They were standing together in the library, behind a bookshelf, a few moments before James was due to show, whispering furiously.
“I can’t believe you agreed to tutor James Potter. James Potter, Lily!”
“I know, Sev, but he really needed the help. You saw what happened in Potions today!”
“Yeah, I saw,” Severus sneered. “He poisoned himself because he was so busy looking at you. I’m sure this is whole thing is a ruse to spend more time with you!”
“Well, Sev,” said Lily severely, “it won’t work. Just because I had a polite conversation with the boy doesn’t mean I suddenly like him. But he was perfectly cordial, I had no reason to say no! Maybe he’s matured this year.”
Severus snorted. “Once a bully, always a bully,” he muttered. “You know all the pranks he’s pulled!”
“I know,” Lily sighed, “but this isn’t going to be a regular thing. The O.W.L.s are next week! He only needs me until then.”
Severus, whose lip had curled on the word “need,” only scowled more deeply. “Fine,” he hissed, “but I am waiting right here until you’re done.” He sat down, concealed behind the bookshelf, with a perfect view of the table where Lily had set out her Potions notes.
“Sev, this is ridiculous,” Lily protested. “I’m going to be perfectly fine. I don’t need your help with James Potter.”
“Loverboy’s here,” Severus said sullenly, pointing.
Lily glared at him. “I’m not speaking to you,” she said with dignity, “until you behave more reasonably.” Turning on her heel, she smacked directly into the bookcase. “Ow,” she whimpered quietly, putting a hand to her forehead as Severus snickered behind her. Not looking at him, she stepped out into the aisle, and strode towards the table where James Potter was waiting.