Brew

Athena stared at the striking blue liquid bubbling away in her cauldron, she grimaced at the sight and sighed loudly, trying to figure out what she did wrong to make the potion so far off from its supposedly pale lilac shade.

She peered over the cauldron belonging to her seatmate. She frowned when the draught of living death brewing beautifully in Snape’s cauldron and she looked at him who was busy scrabbling his textbook.

“How did you get that shade?” Athena asked with jealousy.

Snape looked up from his book and stared at her cauldron, glowered in disgust and Athena suddenly felt like a first-year - stupid and incompetent - something that she often felt whenever she was in Potion. Snape has a talent for making people insecure, Athena had to admit.

Snape sighed before answering, “You’re supposed to crush the beans with a dagger, not cut it.”

“What? Why didn't you tell me before I spent half an hour wrestling with the wretched thing!” Athena sulked which made Snape roll his eyes before focusing on his potion. Athena gritted her teeth before giving up on her potion. There’s nothing that can salvage the potion anymore.

“Giving up, Thena?” Athena looked up and saw Maria by her table, her long locs were now tied together, her tie long gone.

“Yes, my potion could kill you just by looking at it.”

“Well, mine almost got caught on fire.” Maria waved her hand. “Don’t ask.” Athena chuckled.

“Merlin, we’ll fail N.E.W.T at this point.” Athena rubbed her tired eyes.

“Speaking of potions, guess what Madeline Parkinson told me about Slughorn planning to teach us in the next class?”

Athena frowned, “Since when you’re buddy buddy with Parkinson?”

“Since she told me that Slughorn is going to teach us about Amortentia next week. I wonder if we can brew it.”

“There’s no way he’s going to let us. Do you know how dangerous it is to be teaching that to a bunch of 16-year-olds?”

Maria rolled her eyes, “Thena, what’s the worst thing that can happen? It’s not like we’re masters of Potions. Well, maybe other than Snape.”

Maria waved at Snape who was pretending to be busy with his Potion. He grunted as a response which was received by a chuckle from Maria. “Exactly, Maria. If someone made a mistake with the potion and gave it to someone, who knows what’ll happen?”

“Could you imagine giving it to someone and they became weirdly obsessed with you? Following you around and making a scene?” Maria shuddered.

“That would be humiliating. Merlin, I hope Slughorn never introduces us to the potion.”

“Oi, Ericson, your potion is bubbling!” a voice catches Maria’s attention. “Shite, my potion. Later, Thena!” she laughed, seeing Maria waddling back to her table and she was about to turn her attention back to her cauldron when she felt a small tug on her head. She winced in pain and turned to Snape who was still nose-deep in his book. Athena stared at Snape for a while, trying to decipher what she just felt but he paid her no attention. Deciding that she must be imagining it, she shrugged it off just in time for Slughorn to start his assessment on the students’ potion.

……….

Athena fixed her scarf and pulled the jacket tighter as the Autumn wind was biting through her bones. Despite the cold, the cheers filled the Quidditch pitch, excited for the first Quidditch match of the year between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

“Blimey, I'm freezing my tits off. Potter better find the snitch early in the game or I'll get out of the match with one less tit.” Maria shivered, her teeth chattered loudly, louder than the cheer from Gryffindor supporters surrounding her.

Soon after, both teams entered the field and the whistle rang, signaling the beginning of the match. The cheer erupted and both showed immense support for the team. Athena follows the quaffle closely as it is being passed around between Slytherins and Gryffindors. Athena watched as Jacob Goyle elbowed Taylor Lauper in the rib as he swooped in for the quaffle before throwing it into the hoop. The crowd groaned in disappointment.

“Oi, what in Merlin’s name is Potter doing?” Maria nudged Athena and they watched James Potter hovering in the air, his eyes fixed on their stand, a smile on his face.

“Is Evans here?” Athena turned around, searching for the usual girl who consumed James Potter’s attention for the past years. Sure enough, Lily Evans was sitting with a confusing frown, a few seats behind her alongside her roommates.

Athena gasped in disbelief when Potter waved his hand, looking like a schoolboy, “Good god, he’s too far gone, is he? Poor Evans.”

His actions brought a lot of attention from the crowd, jeering can be heard, urging James to move around and look for the snitch, “Shite, if he keeps doing that, I'll lose my Galleons. COME ON, POTTER!”

James, instead of following the crowd, decided to move closer to the stand. His teammates were losing their focus, stuck between trying to get James back into the game and trying to win the game.

“Hi,” James spoke up, her voice was as sweet as candy and it took some time for Athena to realise that he wasn’t talking to Lily Evans and instead, he had his eyes fixed on her.

“Is he…” Maria whispered to her.

“I don’t know, Mari.”

“You think he's trying to get Evans jealous or he’s trying to woo you?” Athena looked at Maria, “That makes sense. He must be trying to make Evans jealous. Why would he try to woo me, we barely knew each other.”

“You looked very pretty today.” James grinned sheepishly and Athena exchanged glances with Maria, astonished by his behaviour.

Athena’s attention was diverted when she saw a pair of silver wings flutter just behind James. “Potter!” She exclaimed. It was enough for James to realise what was going on and the snitch flew away before he could catch it. He was hot on the snitch’s tail, his eyes never leaving it. He masterfully manoevering between the players, his fingers were inches away from the snitch. The crowd watched breathlessly as the Slytherin seeker was catching up to him before James dived skillfully into the air.

James stopped mid-air and raised his hand, showing the golden snitch to the crowd, screams and cheers filled the pitch. Another whistle was heard and the match ended with Gryffindor winning. The two captains shook hands before flying back to the ground with the rest of the players following suit. However, James seems to have another plan when he flies to the commentator box and reaches in for the microphone, catching Sirius Black by surprise.

“Prongs, mate, what are you doing?”

“Everyone, thank you for being here to witness this glorious day! It will be even more glorious when I finally profess my love to the love of my life!”

Maria gasped, “Do you reckon he’ll…”

“He’s going to do it. Oh, Mari, I can't see this.” Athena hides her face behind Maria. They weren’t strangers to James’ shenanigan when it comes to Lily Evans. His infatuation with the red-haired was public knowledge, having James confess to her openly several times these past years was normal. But not like this, not when the whole school was present and certainly not when the whole Hogwarts staff were around.

“Poor girl is going to have the worst day of her life.”

“To my love, my beloved, my sweet..” Sirius’ face paled, he was scrambling to reach out for James who was too far away from the stand. Athena turns to look at Lily to see her reaction. “Athena Lewis! Would you do the honour to be my girlfriend?” Athena whipped her head so fast that she almost sprained her neck, gasps and murmurs could be heard around her.

“WHAT?!”