Truce

7

Gene-

Lily had somehow found new ways to destroy any progress made on the love potion. Some days she would give Gene to many herbs to cut, other days she would purposefully add an extra drop of butterfly blood or stir the potion counterclockwise one too many times or Lily would just purposefully forget to stir at all. The mistakes were consistently obvious and every time the potion failed, Gene would get blamed. It became apparent that Professor Slughorn had grown distasteful of Gene and wanted nothing more than to assign more projects for Gene to accomplish. Begrudgingly, Gene accepted every task and forced himself to smile through everything. His friends would help him once in a while. When he had to brew ten vials of Polyjuice Potion Pandora and Jacob stayed up late to make sure he was doing everything right. Regulus had troubles of his own that clouded the boy's mind. Bags had began to sprout under his eyes and the walls of the room he shared with Jacob had begun to grow littered with Death-eater sightings. The more violence there was, the more guilty Regulus became. Of course after seeing his brother in such a state, Sirius also cut a deal with Lily. If Lily could discover what was wrong with Regulus Sirius had promised her a James free month. Now, a week without being asked out was a miracle, a month without James was Heaven. So Gene was pestered with questions about his friends while Lily seemingly distracted Gene enough to allow her to mess with the potions. And every time Lily made Gene stay up until midnight, Gene's grade would steadily decline until finally even his friends were worried about his wellbeing. On the seventh night Gene decided that he would manage everything as Lily watched nervously.

"So, I saw Regulus looking rather tired. Is he doing okay?" She didn't get a response. Instead, Gene added in the correct amount of herbs and stirred the potion a correct number of times. "I think you put the heat on too high-," Gene swatted Lily's itching hands away from his cauldron.

"I've read through the recipe fifty times, I'm sure it's right." Lily didn't say anything. Instead, she pouted and crossed her arms in offense. After twenty minutes Gene put in four drops of butterfly blood before adding in a spoonful of rose pollen. Now they had to wait for at least two hours. Gene took note of the time before collapsing in his chair, his head rolling against the chair as he closed his eyes.

"You seem stressed, is everything okay with your friends?" Gene sighed. Lily really never knew when to give up.

"I feel terrible for your future children." Gene groaned, his mouth far ahead of any sense of reason. Lily's eyes widened, her scoff echoing through the classroom.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, excuse you." Gene rolled his eyes, glaring at Lily. "Oh don't act all shocked. You've done nothing but ruin every attempt at this bloody potion causing my grades to plummet. And I know you've cut a deal with both Glasses and Greasy to get information from me. And I know that you don't care about either of their brothers in the slightest and just want to get away from Glasses. And I know Glasses and Greasy are right here, right now." Lily let out an incredulous laugh.

"No they're not!" Gene gave a sarcastic smile before signaling towards the window. 

"They're right there. Greasy must have asthma because he's been breathing rather loudly. Must've ran all the way down ten flights of stairs or something like that." When Lily actually shut up and listened she could also hear the heavy breathing. She glared in James' direction.

"Potter!" She rushed towards the window and pulled of the invisibility cloak. If she hadn't been so embarrassed she would have commented about how incredible an invisibility cloak was but all she wanted to do now was cry. Partially out of guilt and partially because of what Gene had told her. James took no time to rush at Gene only to be held back by Sirius. Gene, who had been watching the action, slowly stirred the potion six time clockwise and then three times counterclockwise. Lily turned back to Gene. "I didn't know they were here, honest." Gene shrugged.

"You were still making deals with them, right?" Gene glanced up at the three Slytherins and sighed. "Honestly, Evans, you'd meet such better people if you branched out. Gryffindors are such drags." James and Sirius almost exploded, their faces turning bright red.

"You fucking-,"

"Not a Snake, I'm a Raven."

"A dumb one," James muttered. Lily slapped his chest. 

"So, what are you going to do now, Evans? Tell everyone I messed up the potion again?"

"I didn't-,"

"Or what if you tell everyone I called you a Mudblood?" Lily flinched at the word while James charged towards Gene.

"You bastard!" Gene grinned, his exhaustion getting the better of him.

"You assaulter! Going after a girl, forcing her to kiss you, and now betting with her to get information from your brother? Oh, that is wrong for such a brave lion like yourself." Gene tutted, forcing himself to act sympathetic. "She'll never love you, Potter. Lily will realize that she is miles ahead of you and she will turn and run further away. She will run faster once she realizes who you really are." James was now towering over Gene, his anger falling flat against Gene's cheek.

"Who am I?" Gene merely smiled, his eyes only holding a type of animosity that made James tremble.

"You're a fucking farce." With that, Gene turned off the fire and scooped up the potion which had already turned pink. He made five vials and placed them on the desk before flipping off the Gryffindors. "Fuck you and your houses you whores." 

And then the door slammed shut.