Serums and Seethings (year 1)
On the day back to school, from the holidays Lily couldn’t find Sev.
She had seemingly rushed from one end of the train to the next before finally giving up and thinking to herself that she would sit with Dorcas and Marlene instead. The only issue was that Dorcas and Marlene weren’t sitting alone.
“Hey Lily,” Peter said well mannered and sweet as always, (though lily still didn’t trust him.)
“Hey.”
Sirius groaned, “don’t you have anywhere else to sit Evans?”
Lily tried to act as though this didn’t faze her but it didn’t feel very pleasant either.
“No.” She said truthfully. She sat down next to Marlene and Dorcas who were sitting on the left side of the compartment and she ended up facing Peter who was on the other side near the door. How the four boys all managed to cram on one compartment bench was a mystery to her. Near the window Remus was asleep with his head resting on Sirius’ shoulder who despite his mean comment earlier looked more deflated and tired than usual and leaned his head against Remus’.
“You alright Black?” Lily asked quietly.
Sirius didn’t meet her eyes, “fine.”
James looked uncomfortable but didn’t say anything.
“How were your holidays Lily?” Marlene asked. Lily thought back to her troubles with Petunia. Her sister had ignored her the whole time she was there, except for during Christmas when her parents forced her to open the present Lily got for her, and she said that it was the worst gift she had ever received.
“Good,” Lily said, trying to sound cheerful. “Yours?”
“Also good. I got to visit this girl.” She elbowed Dorcas who smiled, “my parents were having a fancy dinner and they said I could invite some friends.” She explained.
“Well only one friend, right?” James cut in.
“Well, no... I mean I could’ve probably invited more. Not all of you though; maybe one or two more I just knew that Dorcas wouldn't really be able to through a huge dinner or anything so...”
Lily looked down. So the only two other girls in her year in Gryffindor didn’t want her around. That was good to know.
Lily wished Remus was awake and would talk to her and ask her about her holiday and her sister and her Christmas but he looked so pale and sickly that she decided to let him sleep instead. After awkward conversation for the first few hours and less awkward conversation that didn’t include her at all for the last few hours, the seven of them finally arrived at Hogwarts. James turned and woke up Sirius who then lightly patted Remus’ head waking him up too.
“Are you ok, Remus?” Lily asked on their way out. Remus yawned, nodding his head, “just tired.”
Lily didn’t miss the way he stumbled though. She watched silently as Sirius caught the smaller boy's arm and helped him up on one of the magical carriages.
Once again Lily felt like she was missing out on something. She didn't know what was going on, and somehow she felt like she would never know.
She really needed to find Severus.
_ _ _ _
After the holidays time seemed to speed up. Valentine's day came and went with Sirius sending himself a valentines card (and poem), Peter embarrassingly receiving a box of chocolates from his older sister who waved at them from the other end of the great hall, Remus finding a small chocolate heart addressed to him at breakfast, and James moodily picking at his eggs, for reasons he was not sharing with anyone. It was chaotic, to say the least, even with no one noticing Lily’s extreme blush as she watched Remus awkwardly fumble around with his chocolate gift at breakfast.
“It’s a friendship gift. You know...for Valentine's day.” She explained.
“Oh,” Remus said, looking overwhelmed. “...thanks.”
Sirius laughed, fanning himself with his card, watching them.
“At least I didn’t send myself something, Black.” Lily defended.
The black haired boy just grinned wickedly.
Classes went on as usual with March and April flying by in a warm and sunny almost dream like daze, and finally, summer approaching with May and June. The classrooms became stickier with sweat, the air thicker, and the nights shorter with more time in the mornings and evenings for the four boys to spend outside in the grass staring up at the sky.
“I’m obviously going to be a professional quidditch player,” James bragged one fresh morning while laying on his back, twirling a piece of grass in between his fingers. Remus flipped a page in his book and chuckled to himself.
“Oh shut up.” Sirius countered laughing. His hair had grown longer since the beginning of the year and he could now tie it in a tiny ponytail in the back of his neck, which still looked kind of stupid since it was at an awkward length (too long to keep it open on a hot day, but too short to put it in a bun) and none of the other boys ever passed a chance to remind him of it. “You’ve never even played quidditch yet.”
“Well, I know how to ride a broom! And I'm great at it, thank you very much.” James popped a stolen strawberry into his mouth. Before coming outside Peter had snuck into the great hall and stolen three baskets worth of food for the four of them to enjoy outside.
“Remus, what was the potion with the spider legs and those yellow mushroom thingies?” Peter asked nervously, shuffling through his notes while sitting on his knees. Unlike the others, he didn't really seem to be enjoying the summer day very much.
“Trumpets Draught.” Remus, Sirius, and James all answered at the same time.
Peter turned pale and groaned loudly. James sighed, got up from his laying position, and ripped the notes from Peter’s hands.
“What are you doing studying on such a fine day?”
“Give him his notes back, Potter.” Remus set down his book and ripped the pages from James’s hands placing them in front of Peter.
“I’m going to fail!” Peter wailed.
“No, you’re not,” Remus said, leaning forward and grabbing a handful of blueberries from a bowl by Peter's feet.
“Who cares if you do?” Sirius shrugged and started squirting pancake syrup into his mouth. Remus winced and grabbed the sirup from Sirius's hands.
"Black..." He whispered grabbing a napkin and trying to scrub the outside of the bottle which was now sticky with syrup.
“I care!” Peter cried.
James turned to Remus and picked up his book flipping through it. “What do you want to do when you grow up, Lupin?"
Remus’s eyes darkened and he looked away from the others. He tried not to think about his future when he could help it but he knew the undeniable facts. When he grows up he would have to register himself to The Ministry of Magic at some point or another, and after that, no one would ever hire them. No one in their right mind.
“You know what? Maybe Pete is right. We should be studying.” He started rummaging through his bag, for a quill.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Sirius lunged forward and ripped Remus's bag away from him.
“Remu, come on! You study more than anyone!”
“Doesn’t mean it’s enough!” Remus shot back.
“But-” James frowned.
“Look, Dumbeldore gave me the opportunity to come here-”
“What do you mean?” Sirius interrupted. “He gives everyone the opportunity.”
There was a moment of silence and Remus sat completely still wishing he could turn back the time.
“I’m just glad to be here that’s all.”
James looked thoughtful. “Well, me too. You don't go to school to study, Lupin! You go to school to have fun!”
"I...don't think-"
"We need more pranks!" James interrupted.
“More pranks?” Sirius asked.
“More pranks!” James confirmed.
Remus sighed loudly and leaned back against the tree, "Didn't you just explode several cauldrons in Potions yesterday?"
"Well yes, but-"
"And replace all of the Professors' wands with gummy wands last week?"
"Yes but-"
“We don’t have time for pranks…" Peter mumbled in agreement to Remus.
“Oi, sure we do!” James said.
“Look, I’ll help you with your homework,” Remus assured Peter.
Peter sighed and leaned back against the trunk of the tree they were sitting beneath.
“Do you have any prank ideas, Lupin?” James asked excitedly.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you! You’re a great prankster!”
“I don’t know if that’s something to be proud of…” Remus muttered to himself but he was smiling.
Sirius laughed, and Remus felt a surge of pride.
"I have an idea, but...."
"Yes!" James jumped up.
"I mean....we have to study..."
"Fine! We'll study- what was that idea though?"
"Well, I've been thinking..." Remus let a small grin form on his face, as he explained one of his newest ideas.
Once the sun grew brighter, and they could hear the commotion inside of the school get louder the four of them started to pack up their food and make their way towards the castle hurrying down the cool dungeons for their potions lesson.
“I think we’re doing that Acid stuff today,” James said excitedly.
“It’s not acid. It’s the Red Screaming Serum.” Remus corrected him.
Peter rolled his eyes, “Why is it called the Red Screaming Serum? That just makes it sound lamer.”
“Well because there is the red one, but also the green one and the blue one and in rare cases even the yellow-”
Peter had already interrupted him with a loud snoring sound. James laughed and Sirius gave Peter a big high five. Remus rolled his eyes and walked past them over to his desk, “That’s right go ahead and make fun of me…I see how it is.”
The others just laughed though and Remus smiled to himself a little.
“Remus!” Lily flew to her seat next to Remus, once class had started, “Sev just told me we're starting the Red Screaming Serum today! Isn’t that exciting?”
Remus laughed, “yeah."
“I’ve been waiting so long for this lesson!”
“Me too.”
“Do you think it’ll be difficult?”
“No, probably not...”
It was difficult.
The next thirty minutes were spent hurrying around the room gathering supplies and trying to make out the vague instructions on the board and the even vaguer instructions on the pages of their books. All around the room different pairs of people were arguing with each other and spilling things on the ground and making things smoke and explode. The only people that seemed calm and collected were James, Lily, and Severus. James who was partnered up with Sirius kept confidentially explaining and deciphering the instructions to his friend ( “look now you have to crush those bean things into powder and sprinkle them in, no not like that--no, I said NO. Not--Sirius STOP.”), Lily who was fired up on the adrenaline rush she got from competing and Severus who stood still as a statue at his desk leaning over every few minutes to ask Lily if she’s sure she knows what she’s doing (she was) and if she wanted him to do something for her (she didn’t). This constant flow of chaotic energy was only interrupted when there was a loud sizzling sound, a crash, and a yelp from the back of the room followed by a Slytherin girl running out of the room crying, holding her burned hand delicately and red-faced Peter stammering apologies at no one in particular.
Sirius shook his head grimly and James whispered quietly, “mate your potion is yellow. It’s supposed to be red…”
Peter looked shaken. “Yeah, I know..”
“Everything all right back here?” Professor Slughorn came bumbling over, “Everyone stay calm, eh? ...I better follow Miss Rogers to make sure she’s not badly injured...nasty stuff that serum...nasty..”
A collective murmur coming from the students followed the professor as he left the room. Everyone stood watching each other and trying to get a look at the burned spot on the ground where the potion had fallen.
"Acid stuff," James said quietly and Sirius nodded curtly.
“Oi, Cody.” A short stocky Slytherin stepped forward and looked Peter up and down coldly, addressing a tall freckled boy behind him, “you were right. The stupid one did only take half an hour to mess it up.” He picked a coin out of his pocket and tossed it into the air backwards, where the freckled Slytherin caught it, smirking evilly. “A record. Even for him.” He drawled. Everyone stood quietly and watched as Peter's face grew redder and redder.
In the blink of an eye, Sirius stepped forward, grabbed the Slytherins shirt, and held his wand underneath the Slytherins chin.
“How about you shut your fat face, Ramos.”
The Slytherin, Remus now recognized as Tom Ramos, grinned. “And who are you?”
Sirius grit his teeth, “The last face you’ll ever see?”
James’s eyes widened as if he had just woken from a trance and he reached his arm forward gently but firmly pulling Sirius back. “Whoa, whoa, let’s all just calm down…”
Sirius's eyes glinted dangerously, as he stood protectively in front of Peter.
“Potter, am I right?” Ramos was still grinning.
James hesitated for a moment before giving a small smile. It wasn’t his usual grin though, instead, it was tight and unreadable.
“The one and only.”
“You know sometimes,” Ramos stepped forward once again. “Sometimes I just ask myself, I wonder why Potter, of all people, would choose to spend his time with such complete dimwits. The Black disappointment, the fat one, and the mudblood...”
James smiled again, more charmingly. “Well, it gladdens me to know that I occupy your mind.”
“I wouldn't be so-”
The door burst open once again. “There we are! I’m sure you will all be pleased to hear that Miss Rogers is doing absolutely fine.” Professor Slughorn, completely oblivious to the fight that was going on, marched to the front of the room rubbing his hands together and smiling.
“So!" He turned around and stared at the class, eyebrows lifted. "Who wants to show me their attempt at a Red Screaming Serum?” The class stayed silent, all eyes on James, Sirius and the Slytherin boy. Nobody dared utter a word.
Lily Evans raised her hand.