Potions, Class 1

[Remus Lupin]

Remus gathered up the ingredients he would need for his potion. As he did so, he had a sudden flash of sadness, remembering last year in potions class. He had always worked with Sabrina, who had tried to help him with his potions. His potions had usually turned out OK... not perfect, but usually not terrible. But when she wasn't helping him, his potions were awful. But it wasn't even that; the thing that really hurt was just in knowing that she wouldn't be there anymore to help him. He wouldn't get to see her smile, her long blonde hair, hear her voice... He had to blink back tears.

[Lily Evans]

Lily glanced up and saw that Remus was looking a little depressed. Since she found him to be the nicest of all of his friends, she felt badly that he was upset. She remembered seeing him with Sabrina in Potions class last year, and wisely figured that he was thinking about her again. She reached over and patted his hand. "Hey, Remus, are you OK?" she asked quietly.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus glanced over at Lily and smiled gratefully. "Yeah... yeah, I'll be OK," he said. "I was just thinking about something." He shook his head and forced himself to concentrate on gathering the materials he needed for his potion.

[Severus Snape]

Severus's was half way giving Natalie a reply when Slughorn's Chair broke and his large bottom fell to the floor. He was caught with a half gasp half choked laugh in his throat, which he cleared. Potter and his pranks. He curled up his nose in the direction of the git. He leaned over to Natalie's ear and said "I'd love to help you. This book is sort of filled with rubbish directions anyway..." he trailed of smiling awkwardly at her, while trying to suppress it.

[Natalie St. Clare]

"I bet you could teach the class beter than the professor," Natalie whispered loyally. When the other boy made a comment about Severus's hair, she almost said something to him, but in order not to make a scene, she just shot him a dirty look instead. "Some people can be so immature," she said bitterly. This was one of the things she had always dreaded about school--the groups and the teasing. Why couldn't people just let other people be? She would never understand it.

[Lily Evans]

Lily gave him a smile. "Yeah, I know," she said, reaching over and patting his shoulder. "Hey, listen, if you want to talk later, just let me know, OK?"

[James Potter]

James watched Lily from the corner of his eye. Something inside him wanted to burst as she put a hand on Remus' shoulder. James accidentally hit his book and it fell off the desk. He reached down and picked it up. Of course she'd be there if Remus wanted to talk, but she wouldn't be there if he needed to talk. James rolled his eyes and turned back to his book, reading the amount of ingredients to add. He was starting to become annoyed with Lily Evans. Everything she did seemed to drive him nuts, and apparently she knew that.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus found himself blushing as Lily put her hand on his shoulder. Why was he doing that? What about Sabrina, he reminded himself. And James... he was crazy about Lily...

Remus took a breath. "Oh, no, I'm fine, really," he said. "But thanks."

[Lily Evans]

"OK," Lily said. She noticed as James knocked his book on the floor. Glancing at him, she could see he was annoyed. She found herself smiling. So, he was annoyed just because she was talking to Remus, was he?

"Hey, Remus," she said suddenly. "Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

[James Potter]

Hey, Remus. Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?

Those words hit James like a brick and he accidentally dropped all of the ingredient he was supposed to be only adding half of into his cauldron. His annoyance level was reaching an all time high. Why would she ask Remus to Hogsmeade? James thought about it for a second. The only thing he could come up with was Remus seemed to be the calmest out of the group. He wanted to say something, but bit his tongue instead. The next thing he knew, a poof, came from his cauldron, and his potion turned bright blue.

[Lily Evans]

Lily smothered a laugh as James dropped his potion ingredients into his cauldron. She wasn't sure why she asked Remus to Hogsmeade with her, but she was glad to see that it bothered James so much. Pressing her lips together to hide the smile that kept creeping onto her mouth, she looked at Remus and waited for his answer.

[Remus Lupin]

"Um..." Remus said, taken off guard. If he'd had anything in his hands at the time, he might have dropped it. He began to blush furiously and stared at his desk for a minute. Then he looked at James, who had just dropped his potion ingredients into his cauldron. He wasn't sure what he should do. He wasn't going to say yes if James wasn't OK with it, but James was already going with Robin. Lily had turned him down. He was starting to feel very confused.

[James Potter]

James started muttering to himself as he attempted to clean up a little. He would have to start anew. If it wasn't for Lily, none of this would ever happen. Why did he have to fall for her like he had? She didn't want him like he wanted her, in fact, she didn't really want anything to do with him. He shouldn't be annoyed like he was that she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with Remus. James should be glad that Remus was getting out again. He just should attempt to get over the fact that Lily didn't want him, and move on, but it was going to be just about impossible.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius heard all that was going on as he assembled his potion ingredients. He nearly burst out laughing when Lily asked Remus to Hogsmeade. This had to be driving James crazy. He turned around and looked at James, then Remus. "Well, come on, Remus, the lady asked you a question," he prompted, winking at Lily. "You wanna go with her or not?" He turned and looked back at James, smothering a laugh as he noticed how flustered his friend was. "Don't you think he should go, James?"

[James Potter]

James looked up and grinned towards Remus, as if he wasn't ever annoyed. "I think he should," said James. "It'll do him some good." He grinned again and returned to his work. "Come on Remus, you've got to answer her sometime. You need to let loose again and have fun."

[Kris Lupin]

Kris looked up from her book. "Stop pressuring my brother." She said glaring from James to Sirius. She hated that they were putting pressure on him, after a last glare at each of the two boys she went back to read what she needed for the potion.

[James Potter]

"Aw now Kris," said James looking up from his book. "We're not pressuring him into doing anything he doesn't want to do. We're just merely suggesting that he should say yes to Lily and go to Hogsmeade with her. Your dear brother needs to have some kind of fun. We wouldn't ever make Remus do anything he didn't want. Right Sirius?"

[Sirius Black]

"Aw, Kris," Sirius said, reaching over and touching her chin with his finger. "James is right, we're not trying to pressure Remus. We just want him to be happy. You know that, right?"

[Lily Evans]

"No, Kris is right," Lily said. "Remus should be allowed to make up his own mind. And if he doesn't want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend, that's OK. I understand."

[Remus Lupin]

Remus looked back and forth to each of them, feeling a little annoyed. Why were they talking about him like he wasn't sitting right there? He didn't quite understand why James was telling him it was OK to go with Lily, and he had a feeling Sirius was mostly just messing with James. Finally, after Lily spoke again, he took a breath and nodded slowly. "No, it's OK, Lily," he said at last. "I'll be happy to go to Hogsmeade with you this weekend."