Smoke | James Potter

。twenty-one 。

☆

astra pushed open the door to the potion's classroom, finding a table and dropping her books onto it, the rest of the class flooding in after her. harley and lily walked over, harley sitting opposite astra and lily beside harley. the stool beside astra scrapped along the tiles of the classroom causing her to glance up from her books to see snape sitting down. he was again making a desperate silent attempt to win lily back as a friend. it wasn't going to work, not with the red head ignoring him completely and both slytherin girls glaring at him.

"good morning!" slughorn beamed, walking in the room after everyone else. "sorry i was slightly late. i was in a meeting with the headmaster. anyway! today, and over the next few weeks, i will be pairing you all up and string you a task to create a potion you've never made on your own. you can of course have the help of books, but as soon as i give you those books and the ingredients, i can no longer help you. think of this as a mock test!"

a gryffindor's hand shot up and slughorn nodded for them to speak, "do we get to choose our partner?"

"i don't see why not." slughorn smiled. "in fact, find your partner now!" immediately, people began swapping seats.

snape looked to lily, "uh, lily—"

"don't even try it." lily muttered, her and harley already deciding to pair up.

astra went to find phoenix until slughorn waved her to his desk, where he was now seated, "yes, professor?"

"i was wondering if you would mind pairing with mr. potter? since you've been tutoring him, his expected results have heightened increasingly and i don't want that to change. no matter what he chooses to do for a job, potions will always be a useful skill to have, and he's only really acquired it with your help."

"yeah, that's fine, professor." astra nodded.

"oh, thank you, astra!" slughorn beamed, holding out a jar. "crystallised pineapple?"

"no, thank you. i'm not a massive fan." astra smiled and slughorn placed the jar down.

"that's alright. go and find a table with mr. potter and i'll begin handing around the potions!"

astra strode towards james, who was making paper aeroplanes to fly at people. he looked up at her, grinning, "hello?"

"you're my partner." astra stated bluntly.

"i already paired with peter." james said.

"and i was going to pair up with phoenix, but i have to be paired with you because i've been tutoring you." astra explained and he nodded, his grin unwavering. "come on, then."

"yeah, okay." james stumbled after her as she sauntered away, going back to her spot.

"piss off, snape." astra demanded and he opened his mouth to bite back at her but she glared fiercely at him, causing him to huff in annoyance and sulk away from lily's table.

"you've gotta tell me how to do that." james smiled, sitting beside her.

"just, i don't know, be intimidating." astra shrugged.

"like this?" james asked and pulled an odd face that made him anything but intimidating.

"you look like you're about to go and search for butterflies." astra replied.

"this?"

"you definitely help old ladies cross the road."

"how about this one?"

"you'd apologise to the person that tripped you up."

james scoffed making astra chuckle at him, "am i really not intimidating?"

"no. if you were to try and mug me, i would laugh in your face." astra replied bluntly.

"i could mug someone." james defended. she rose an eyebrow at him. "okay, maybe i couldn't."

"not maybe, you definitely couldn't." astra chuckled. "i don't think i've ever seen you angry. well, minus at sirius once. you must've been really mad, you looked slightly scary for the first time."

"yeah, sirius was a cunt then." james muttered.

"he's always a cunt." astra smiled. "and i say that with sisterly affection."

"such a kind bond you two share." james hummed, smiling at her.

the pair continued to chat between themselves, lily sharing a look with harley who was just sat smugly in her seat. slughorn came over and handed them their ingredients and which potion they'd be trying to create. lily and harley were challenged with skele-gro and james and astra were challenged with amortentia.

"that won't be too hard, right?" james asked a she and astra left the classroom.

"i don't think so. i mean, it's advanced potions, but if we follow the rules, maybe with some added tweaks, it'll work out." astra nodded.

"brilliant. where're we making it?" james questioned.

"you have to leave it to brew for over a week in a dark place so i'd suggest either the dungeons or the corner of the library." astra mused.

"library." james answered immediately. "i get cold in the dungeons."

"course you do." astra chuckled. "meet you there tomorrow after lessons?"

"i will." james agreed and she walked away from him, the ingredients for the potion in a large bag in her hand.

"hello!" a cheery voice beamed, running up to astra's side and she looked down to see aurora beside her.

"oh, hello." astra said, a little shocked at her sudden appearance.

"how was potions?" aurora asked.

"it was fine." astra replied. "what did you just have?"

"DADA." aurora replied.

"so why're you in the dungeons?" astra questioned.

"to meet you outside of your class." aurora answered as through it was an obvious thing.

"oh." astra nodded. "i'll see you later. i have to go to
my dorm to take back these ingredients."

"can't i come with you?" aurora asked.

"no. the slytherins will probably destroy your mental well-being." astra stated, turning down a corridor to the slytherin common room.

since kissing astra at the party, aurora had been a little full on when she was around astra. the hufflepuff seemed to pop out of nowhere, now having found out astra's timetable. it confused and concerned astra slightly so she kept trying to make it clear she had no romantic feelings towards aurora. however, the smaller girl apparently didn't get that. she couldn't break it off, because they weren't together. she decided she's just speak to aurora the next time they bumped into one another.

{1033}