𝑬𝑼𝑷𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑨|| 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

~9~

Asteria sat at her desk in the Potions classroom, the seat beside her empty as usual. Professor Slughorn then stood at the front of the classroom and cleared his throat to catch the attention of the students.

"You have been given an assignment." He informed the class who let out a groan. "And I will pick your partner." He added which made the class groan again and slump in their chairs. The Professor then started to look around the class of unexcited students.

"Miss Evans with Mr Lupin." The redhead and tallboy looked over at each other and smiled before he turned and smirked at James. "Jealous?" He asked which made him scoff. "Mr Black and Mr Potter. I will let you pair up if you behave." He told the boys he nodded.

"Mr Pettigrew and Miss Parkinson." Asteria let out a small sigh as the boy got out of his chair to move to the chair beside her. "Don't let her boss you around Pete," James told the boy who nodded as he sat down.

"We couldn't be in a shitter pair," Peter said before glancing over at James and Sirius for reassurance which made her roll her eyes. "You will be studying how to make the perfect Polyjucie potion," Slughorn announced.

They were first ordered the find the ingredients for the potion and write a small paragraph so she flicked through a potion book. Suddenly, the boy seemed less arrogant and timider, flinching at every move she made. She let out a deep sigh, believing that he was flinching because of the threatening reputation she had earned through her years at Hogwarts.

"What's next on the list?" She asked as she focused on scribbling down the previous ingredient on a piece of parchment. "Knotgrass," Peter said in a shaky voice. "You know James is allergic to that?" He asked which made her look up and stare at him. "No, I didn't know that." She replied, putting on a slight smile to stop the boy from jumping every time she spoke.

-☘︎︎-

The four Marauders sat in the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table that evening for dinner. Peter was too focused on cutting up the sausage on his plate that he didn't see James looking at him.

"Are you scared of her?" He asked which made him furrow his eyebrows. "Who?" Peter asked as he wiped the sausage in a pile of beans and lifted it to his mouth. "Parkinson," James replied. "I noticed you jumping. Why?" The messy-haired boy told Peter.

"I wasn't scared of her because she was a pureblood..." He paused as he became awkward and his face went red. "Well, she's sorta, buts she's also..." He let out a small sigh. "Really pretty." He finished his sentence.

James and Sirius both pulled a look of disgust. "You think Parkinson is pretty?" James asked with a laugh which made him nod slowly. "Are we talking about that same person!" Sirius exclaimed.

But Remus rolled his eyes as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I agree with Peter." He said, not glancing up from the silver plate and instead of cutting up his slice of Shepard's pie.

"Oh, so you think she's pretty too?" Sirius asked with wide eyes of offense which made James' eyebrows furrow. The tall boy then leaned in so his mouth was by his ear and whispered something into it which made his face go bright crimson.

"Did you see that Pete!" James exclaimed which made the boy look around confused. "Are you serious!" James exclaimed to the short boy. "No, he's Sirius," Peter replied, pointing to the smirking dark-haired boy.

"Merlin, I hate that your parents named you that." James sighed as he moved his food around his plate.