𝙰 𝙳𝚘𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰 𝙳𝚘𝚟𝚎 - 𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘

Chapter 5

Advanced Potions was the first class on Aurelia's timetable, the only class which she did not share with Kira nor Wendy, as they could not loathe the subject more. They had instead picked Muggle Studies, something Aurelia could not fathom as she was quite literally muggle born.

The coldness of the dungeons could not darken the cheerfulness of Horace Slughorn, as he hummed a tune to himself whilst setting up his beloved classroom. As per usual, Aurelia was the first to arrive, and she greeted one of her favourite professors with a gentle smile, dumping her books onto her usual table.

"Good morning, Professor. Is that Amortentia I smell?" she asked inquisitively, walking over to his table to look at the bubbling cauldron. Horace looked up from the cauldron, already with a grin on his face and he nodded eagerly.

"That would be correct, Miss Hope. 10 points to Ravenclaw for that marvellous observation. If it is not too intrusive, may I ask what you smell?"

Aurelia pursed her lips, trying to pinpoint the scents. "Well, there's fresh parchment, a whisky of some kind – perhaps a muggle one – and... wet dog?"

She shook her head, taking another scent of the potion and crinkled her nose. "Yep, it's definitely wet dog."

Horace just laughed, patting Aurelia's shoulder. "Often Amortentia does not smell wonderful, Miss Hope. It may smell of something that another loves, but your love for that person may trick the potion. Quite often, I find that students who smell something odd smell it for a reason. Perhaps it is magic's way of telling you something, my dear," he explained.

Aurelia nodded, still with her nose crinkled, and took a seat, as Alice and Lily walked in, having had already ditched their robes. "Good morning, Lia! Did you sleep well?" Lily asked, coming around to Aurelia's table. She placed her books to the right of Aurelia, and Alice took her seat on Aurelia's left, both pulling out their wands to lay on the rectangular bench.

"As well as one can when the Head Girl decides to have her boyfriend over," Aurelia said with an eye roll, tucking her pencil behind her ear. Though she loved quills, she had found that muggle pens and pencils were a lot easier to write her notes with, much like Lily who always had a supply of blue pens on her.

"Ah, Miss Fortescue, Miss Evans, welcome back," Horace said warmly, offering smiles to them. Out of all his students, there was no doubt that the three girls were his favourites, as they completely understood all the course work and never failed a potion.

"Top of the morning, Sluggy!"

All three heads whipped us as Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter strolled into the quiet dungeon, followed by a small number of other students from each house who just looked at the three Marauders with weird looks.

"And to you, boys. I hope to see great results again this year Mister Black, as I was quite impressed with your O.W.L. scores last term," Horace admitted, walking to the back of the class to welcome more students. Sirius grinned wickedly as James was quick to spot Lily, and the three boys made their way to the table behind the girls.

"I wasn't aware you were taking this class this year, Potter. I thought you didn't like potions?"

James smiled at Lily with a glazed look in his eyes, as he thought endlessly about how beautiful she looked that morning with her hair up in a bun. "I want to be an Auror, my Lily-Flower. And to be an Auror, I must take this class, so I will deal with my endless hatred for it by thinking wonderful thoughts of how beautiful you look each day."

"That's quite stalkerish if you ask me," Aurelia muttered, and both Sirius and Remus choked back a laugh as James continued to stare at Lily, whilst Aurelia turned around. She had braided her hair back today to form a crown around the rest of her hair, and she found a pair of dark grey eyes looking at her with a soft grin.

"Finally, someone who understands it," Lily exclaimed, and James reached out a hand to touch her hair, leaving Lily to smack it away. Alice grinned at Lily's response, knowing that had any other boy acted like this around her, she would have already punched them or jinxed them.

But when it came to James, all she did was huff and hit his hand away, whilst a tinge of pink delicately coated her cheeks.

"Class, may I have your attention please. Welcome to sixth year Advanced Potions," Slughorn said, taking a seat on his desk. "In this class, I expect no more than your hardest effort in every aspect of work, and that if you fail, you try again, for failure is our greatest teacher."

He looked around the room, eyeing each student. By the back sat Severus Snape and the two other Slytherins in the class, in front of them the more daring Hufflepuffs who only sat up the back to smoke. The handful of Ravenclaws were closer to the front, all boys to which Aurelia had grimaced and muttered about sexism, and then the only Gryffindors in the room, the three Marauders plus Lily and Alice.

"For this year, I will set each of you into groups of two, just as it will be next year. Your grades shall be allocated individually, however every potion shall be brewed in partners. And no, Mister Black, you may not choose your partner," Horace said, barely blinking towards the boy.

Sirius had clutched his hands on both of his friends' sweaters, tugging them to him so that all their faces were smashed together. He pouted at Horace, not wishing to be partnered with any of the Slytherins in the corner, all of whom had said things about Lily, Remus, and James before.

"First up, James and Lily!" Lily's eyes widened with horror as James' widened with glee, and he bounced over to one of the brewing stations, leaving Lily to walk over in a defeated stance.

"Next, Alice and Remus!" Alice smiled shyly at Remus as he carefully placed his tattered books in his arms, allowing for Alice to choose their station. It left Aurelia picking absentmindedly at her nails, as more students were partnered.

"Severus and Jane!"

"Antonin and Ruby!"

A handful of students were left, and Aurelia looked up at Horace, her brows furrowed with anxiety. Some of the people who had had the most fun jeering at her were left, and she began to fumble with her hands, causing them to cramp.

"Aurelia and..."

The two second break as Horace read from a piece of parchment made Aurelia feel as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the dungeon.

"...Sirius."