The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

The Potion for All Potential

The Potion for All Potential

Sirius sat beside James as he was working on following the instructions that Professor Slughorn had written out on the blackboard. Sirius wasn't really doing any of the work - James was doing a good deal of it - Sirius was too busy watching Remus's back at the table in front of him. Remus kept his attention very closely on finely chopping the gotu kola leaves for the blue reversal potion, and being careful not to look in Sirius's direction at all.

Up front of the room, Slughorn was leaning back in a plush arm chair he'd conjured and smoking a pipe, puffing rings into the air and watching them float toward the ceiling. While wrapped in his green velvet smoking jacket he resembled something of an unripened watermelon hull. James had written this comparison on the margin of the parchment they'd copied the ingredients list onto for going to the storeroom and been most disappointed when Sirius had only paid it the slightest bit of attention.

"Back in my day," Slughorn droned, "We never would've dreamed of dyeing the entire school blue!" He'd been talking for the two hours they'd already spent in the potions classroom very nearly non-stop, telling some of the most fantastically boring stories about Hogwarts back in his day and how proper everything had been way back then.

"Bet back in his day Binns was still alive!" hissed James to Sirius.

"Yeah, ha..." Sirius sort of half-laughed.

James sighed. He grabbed a bit of parchment and scribbled the word HE'S SORRY ALREADY and folded it into a paper aeroplane. He bit his tongue, looking to be sure Slughorn was busy with his long-winded talk and not watching what the students were doing, and haucked the note across so that it hit Remus right in the ear.

Remus made a face, taking it out of his ear hole and glaring back at James in disapproval, then unfolded the note. He stared down at it for a long moment, glanced back at James and Sirius, who gave him a pleading look, then turned back around, balling up the parchment and dropping it on the floor.

Sirius's face crumpled and his shoulders sagged.

James sighed.

The door to the classroom opened and Severus Snape walked in, taking several strides across the room before spotting the four Gryffindors at the tables. He stopped dead in his tracks the moment he had. "I... sorry," he stammered, "I'll... I'll come back later."

"Nonsense!" called Slughorn, struggling against his bulbous belly to sit up. "This is our time! These boys won't mind... Will you, boys?"

James nudged Sirius to get his attention. "Not at all, Professor!" James chimed. He grinned wickedly at Severus. "Remedial Potions, 'ey, Sni-- Severus?" he caught himself just before using their little nickname for him.

"Quite the opposite, Severus is taking some advanced potion making lessons with me." Slughorn smiled and waddled to the table to James's left.

"Oh - advanced potion making," James said snarkily, "Aren't we clever?"

Severus stood quite still, trying to think of a way -- any way -- to get out of going any further into the classroom. He wondered if he could pull off a silent vomiting spell on himself that could possibly get him sent to the hospital wing - although, the way his stomach was churning, he might not need the spell to induce it.

Slughorn waved for Severus to come forward. "Come on, my boy, we haven't got all day!"

Numbly, feeling as though his feet had turned to lead, Severus walked forward slowly. "Sorry I'm... a bit late..." he murmured, careful to walk a wide path around James's table. He could feel James watching him from behind, his heart rate picked up quite a lot. He stepped up to the table, where Slughorn was organizing the ingredients he'd collected.