To Tutor Mary
SATURDAY. OCTOBER 30, 1971.
There are no clocks in the potions classroom. Normally, Lily is glad for that. It’s much harder to work with the face of a clock glaring at you. She’s found it’s quite easy to brew properly when she doesn’t second guess herself. However, at the moment, she’s rather peeved at the lack of clocks in the dungeon. She’s certain Severus is late, but there’s no way of knowing just how late he is.
Mary flips idly through another Witch Weekly borrowed from Alice as Lily paces.
“I’m sorry,” Lily repeats for the umpteenth time. “This isn’t like him, really.”
Mary shrugs, barely even looking up from her article.
“I’m sure he’ll show soon.”
“I’m more concerned about Slughorn.” Mary finally lowers the magazine. “Are you sure we’re allowed to be down here?”
Professor Slughorn is also mysteriously absent. Then again, when Lily asked Severus to help her get access to the potions classroom so she could tutor Mary, she’d never specified that she wanted the professor present. So, perhaps it could be chalked up to miscommunication.
“Sev said he got permission,” Lily says. She sighs and climbs up onto the stool across from her friend. Mary folds the copy of Witch Weekly and stuffs it into her bag. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why he’s so late. Do you want to start without him?”
“I wouldn’t mind finishing without him too.” Mary flashes Lily a pearly white smile.
Lily swats her hand. “He’s nice, Mary. And he’s good at Potions.”
“Not as good as you.” Mary insists. Lily flushes something awful. She ducks down and grabs the sack of ingredients to hide it. Mary chuckles as Lily dumps them out on the table. “I’m serious. You’re a natural.”
Lily shrugs, biting a nail. “I don’t know about that.”
“Undue modesty doesn’t suit you, Miss Evans.” Mary rolls her eyes. “Your Wiggenweld potion worked better than his.”
“And yours didn’t work at all.” Lily lights the cauldron. “Let’s focus on that.”
It’s Mary’s turn to blush. The bridge of her nose turns a warm pink that Lily can’t stand to look at for too long. She focuses on organizing the ingredients instead. Four vials of salamander blood, ten lionfish spines, flobberworm mucus, honey, and some boom berry juice. When she finally looks up, Mary’s dark eyes are studying her.
“I was thinking about joining the Gobstones club.” She says in a faux nonchalant voice. “One of Alice’s friends invited me. It might be fun.”
Lily knows an invitation when she hears one. And she knows perfectly well why Mary is actually inviting her to join. She shakes her head, smiling halfheartedly. “I don’t know how to play Gobstones.”
“Neither do I. How hard can it be?”
Lily sighs. “Mary-”
“Just think about it for a bit before saying no.” Mary grabs Lily’s hand. “Please? I think you’d like it.”
Lily disagrees. Mingling has never been her strong suit. Petunia had been her best friend for years… probably because Petunia couldn’t run away. Where would she go? They shared a room until last year. She’s fortunate enough to have two friends at Hogwarts. The idea of pushing her luck makes her feel a bit queasy. She chews her thumbnail.
“It doesn’t have to be Gobstones.” Mary continues. “Have any of the clubs caught your eye?”
Lily uncorks the first vial of salamander blood and remains suspiciously silent. Mary squeals.
“I knew it! Tell me. If you don’t tell me, I’ll just guess.”
Mary is wonderful, and she means well. Lily’s lips twitch with a fondness that softens her prickly exterior just a tad. She still can’t quite meet Mary’s bright gaze when she replies.
“Frog choir.”
Lily is saved from Mary’s response by the creaking of the door. Severus steps into the classroom, huffing and puffing. He looks terribly damp, and he’s all red in the face. It’s as if he sprinted here. Again . He’s got a bundle of parchment in his arms.
“Where were you?” Lily hops up off her stool to help him.
He smiles sheepishly as he hands her about half of the parchment. “Sorry.” He says. He pulls a third stool out from beneath the table and takes a seat. Mary eyes him curiously.
He didn’t answer the question, Lily notes. It’s strange. He’s typically rather forthcoming with her, but right now, he won’t quite meet her eyes. She returns to her seat between Sev and the other girl.
“Thanks for coming,” Mary says. She pulls out a quill and digs through her bag– presumably searching for ink.
Severus shrugs. “Lily asked me to.” His eyes flick back towards the door. Lily follows his gaze.
“Where’s Slughorn?” she asks, “I thought he might be with you.”
Sev shakes his head. “He won’t be coming.”
Mary holds her bag upside down. The copy of Witch Weekly tumbles out along with a few hair ties, two peppermint humbugs, and a tube of strawberry gloss. No inkwell. She frowns. “Why not?”
Lily pulls an inkpot from her own bag and hands it to Mary. Sev’s black eyes follow her hand. “Why should he?” He shrugs. “It’s not as if he knows we’re here.”
“Excuse me?” Lily’s brows furrow as her stomach swoops down to her feet. “We’re not allowed to be in here? Sev, I told you-”
Severus holds up a slender palm to silence her. Anger bubbles in her chest. He cuts her off. “I know. I know. That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you anything.”
“Sev!”
“You wanted to tutor Mary, yeah? I knew you wouldn’t go for it if you knew-”
“We could get in trouble!”
“We won’t.” He insists. “Slughorn loves us.”
That much is true. The Head of Slytherin does have an evident fondness for Severus… and for Lily. But that makes it all the more frustrating that he didn’t bother to ask the professor for permission! He probably would have been happy to help. Now her good reputation in her favorite class is at risk! She lifts her ring finger to her mouth and bites at her nail.
Severus reaches out to grab her hand. She whacks him away.
“Lily,” He tries again. “It isn’t a big deal. He would have said yes. I’m sorry. I just got busy.”
“Busy doing what?” Mary pipes up.
Severus jumps a bit as if he’d forgotten the other girl was present. His face contorts into a scowl. “Unimportant.”
Lily’s eyes flick between her two friends. Mary’s mouth is puckered in irritation. Severus’ eyes have turned cold in the way they do when he gets all defensive. Lily squeezes his arm.
“It’s fine,” Lily says. She looks pointedly at Mary. “Let’s just start, yeah?”
Mary rolls her eyes, but she plasters on a smile. She’s good at pretending. Lily might not be able to tell the smile was fake if she wasn’t keenly aware of Mary’s distaste for Lily’s best friend. She’d hoped they might learn to like each other if Lily could only convince them to work together. Now, she’s not so sure.
Lily pushes her Potions book towards the center of the workstation. Severus leans over it, his hair falling over his eyes. “What are we brewing, exactly?”
“Wiggenwald.” Lily flips to the page. Severus snorts.
“Right. Weren’t you the girl whose sample froze as soon as you took it off the fire?” He casts a sidelong glance at Mary.
Mary’s smile doesn’t falter. “Weren’t you the boy who knocked over all that forgetfulness potion?”
Severus’ eyes darken. Lily wants to stick her head in the cauldron. She slides her textbook across the table to Mary. “Why don’t you start? We’ll help you if you need it.”
The sharp edges of Mary’s smile go soft when she looks at Lily. She accepts the vial of Salamander’s blood from Lily without further complaint. Sev still looks all snarly. Lily raises a brow at him. Behave . She mouths. He flushes a bit and averts his eyes.
What’s gotten into him?
It feels as though she’s hardly seen him since the incident with the cauldrons. It’s not like him to make himself so scarce. Then again, it’s not like him to be so snippy, either. He can be so dramatic when his pride is bruised.
Perhaps the next time Mary needs some help, Lily ought to just help her alone. It doesn’t seem like her best friend and her new friend will be fond of each other any time soon.