Love? Or Hate? The untold story of James Potter and Lily Evans

Potions

Lily's POV:
I grin happily as I walk into the potions classroom, chatting to my friends; although I only met them yesterday, it already feels like I've known them for forever. I can't help but be glad that the cauldron I was advised to buy in my Hogwarts letter had already been sent to the potions classroom before I came in - for one thing, I don't think it would fit in my side bag, and for another, I can't imagine stumbling into the room red-faced and sweaty would make a very good first impression, if you get what I mean.

It's always been my opinion that first impressions are everything when you first meet a new teacher. You see, as soon as a teacher meets you, they'll make a judgement about you - trustworthy or untrustworthy, polite or rude, troublemaker or goody-two-shoes... good student or bad student. And I'm determined to be known as a trustworthy, polite, good student and all round goody-two-shoes. I may be a book worm, and maybe even a know-it-all, but I own it. I like being clever. I mean, who wouldn't?

James Potter is who. He waltzes into the classroom, ten minutes late, in the middle of Professor Slughorn's painfully long speech about the joys of brewing, his number one crony, Sirius Black, beside him.
"Potions is a very useful subject in the daily life of us wizards. They can help treat illnesses, from the mere common cold to the unbearable change a lycanthrope may go through when changing into a wolf," Slughorn is droning, and do my eyes deceive me or does Remus Lupin, who is sitting in front of me, flinch when he said the words lycanthrope and wolf?

Probably just squeamish or something, I decide, dismissing my observation. I think I've seen him around with Potter before, so I don't allow my eyes to linger for long, since he's probably as idiotic as the boy I hardly know but already despise. Potter and Black's late arrivals don't go unnoticed by our potions professor and he gives the two boys dirty look, but unfortunately carries on with his ridiculously long speech. I'm surprised he doesn't tell them off more, but I guess since it's the first day of school he allows a certain amount of leeway.

I am surprised at how easy potions is, but not everybody feels the same way, and I have to stifle a giggle as Marlene turns around to face me and holds up her potions book, pulling a funny face and mouthing the word 'help' dramatically. But she isn't the only one who is struggling, so since I finish early, along with Sev (I am trying to avoid looking at him though. I'm pretty sure he wants nothing to do with me now...) I go round the class, helping a few other people with their strange-looking concoctions which have gone very wrong, turning weird colours - muddy brown and murky grey are definitely not what Sluggy had in mind. But I can tell that he's impressed with me, and that means a lot. So far, so good! I hope all of the lessons today go this well!