Reward of Desire
The bubbling substances rested in front of the students. Amortentia, Polyjuice, Veritaserum and, in one-dose format; Felix Felicis.
Lily recognized the three potions, Snape clutched his indispensable book full of notes and looked at her for a second, frowning. For the first time, in potions class, they were separated. They were only entwined with each other by a thin thread with fibers of memories.
“Are you all right, Lily?” Remus asked, noticing her friend's lack of concentration. Lily nodded slowly. “I hope that today, at last, someone will be able to get the Felix Felicis dosage.”
That potion had been the prize for all the students since class one. From the ambiguous explanations in his book, no one had managed to get the coveted reward that dazzled in front of the students, but Professor Slughorn was amazed at the rapid progress of his students.
“Good morning, class!” “It's good to see you again! Are you better with those burns, Potter?”
Sirius' raucous laughter echoed through the classroom, but no one else joined him. James's colors went to his head, and he whacked his own textbook at his friend's head.
“Yeah, it still hurts a bit, though.”
“Then you should ask Miss Evans for some healing ointment” the professor mentioned.
James, at the mention of Lily, forgot all about his embarrassing situation and winked at the girl,
“At least the mark will serve as a reminder to her not to use Billiwig's sting again without cutting.” The professor concluded
The class continued with the teacher's clear direction. If they wished to get Felix Felicis, they were to bring him a sample of madness essence by the end of the class, with the possibility of being able to do it individually, in pairs or trios.
The pairs were greedily formed, and despite Snape analyzing Lily for a second, she wrinkled her nose ignoring him, turning to Remus who was already waiting for her with the open text.
“Cut, with knife, into small pieces the frog brains and add the whole beetle eyes,” Lupin read, clearly, stir clockwise, wait five minutes and stir counterclockwise” he concluded, looking at Lily who had already started cutting the slippery frog brain. “It doesn't seem very complex, does it?”
“I feel that this text is wrong, the directions are too general…. Damn it, I can't cut this stupid brain!”
The ingredient, whenever it was crushed by the knife, softened but did not change shape. Lily looked at the organ and a vague idea occurred to her, pulling out a small scalpel.
“Lily! But it says here it must be with a knife.”
“Trust me, okay?”
It worked wonderfully, despite being slightly later, the frog brain was chopped into bits the size of breadcrumbs and the boys looked at each other victoriously. An exclamation could be heard in the background and when they turned around, James was trying to contain the viscous flow coming out of his cauldron, while Sirius was hysterically checking the book. Peter cast a spell that ended up making the problem worse, causing what was supposed to be the potion, to end up starting to burn the floor.
Professor Slughorn appeared and with a wave of his wand, emptied the cauldron of the three, exclaiming:
“Tough luck, youngsters! I guess none of you will get the prize today.”
Lily and Remus felt motivated, but the result of the potion was not what they expected, because when they added the full beetle eyes, they noticed that the color, instead of turning green, turned a deep red.
Slughorn passed by each desk at the end of class. He glanced at Lily and Remus’s but shook his head smiling; they had been so close. The Hufflepuff girls ended up creating something that seemed to want to melt the cauldron and Snape's friends, they had a foul-smelling black liquid.
Instead, Snape, who worked alone, came up with a perfect dose of the essence of madness.
“Wonderful, one drop of this stuff, and I'd make the worst decisions of my life!” sentenced Slughorn, grabbing Snape to hand him the Felix Felicis dose “for you, fully deserved.”
He smiled proudly, rubbing shoulders with his friends as they mocked James' reactions, who was fuming over his head. Slughorn left the classroom, a huge smile on his lips, accompanied by a group of students who were asking him for advice for their upcoming preparations.
“I told you it was in your best interest to leave with me, Evans!” Lily looked disappointed at the boy for his childish behavior “But you'd rather go with that Nerdy Loony Lupin.”
Remus furrowed his brow and became defensive. Lily, without even waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, confronted Snape boldly.
“You're a jerk, Quejicus! Enjoy your illusion of luck, maybe then you'll get some real friends and not minions.”
James was stunned to hear Lily, defending herself without cutting herself off. Sirius smirked and waited for Snape's reaction.
“Now, if you please, could you get the hell out of my sight? Because with my nerdy friend we have more important things to do, and you're not one of them.” Finished Lily
Lily didn't even look at Snape, she held Lupin's arm, who barely managed to gather his things before he dragged himself out of the classroom, followed by his friends.
“That's my girl!” James exclaimed, hurrying down the stairs.
“I'm not your girl!”
“Right! Do you want to become my wife?” He jumped in front of Lily, who was overcome with adrenaline, only to drop to his knees the next moment, “You were amazing!”
“I can't believe it… I insulted Snape!”
“And in the most unbelievable way ever” Sirius added, grabbing Remus by the shoulders, “Don't let it get to you, you nerd. Yes, you're a nerd, who sometimes acts like a loony, but at least you've got style.”
James, without warning, hugged Lily, though she pulled away and almost ran from the scene, leaving the group laughing uproariously.
Furious, Snape tucked the dose of Felix Felicis inside his bag, ready to use it when the right time came.
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