Loverboy

hey, dumbfucks beloved

"And who can tell us what this is?" Professor Slughorn asked the class. As expected, red-haired Lily Evans raised her hand. The professor smiled - she was his favorite student. "Miss Evans?"

"Amortentia, sir," Lily responded. "Often dubbed a 'love potion,' it causes obsession and desire for another individual." To her friends, she whispered, "Wouldn't be shocking if that Potter boy's drinks were laced with it." Olivia giggled, knowing that James's infatuation with Lily was not at all fabricated.

"Correct!" Slughorn said gleefully. "It is impossible to magic love into existence, but this creates something very similar. Ten points to Gryffindor!" Lily smiled bashfully. 

"Now, as you lot are only in your fifth year, of course I will not ask you to attempt this in my class. Beware, as well, that use of this potion is illegal to be used on another person. Today, you will be making a simple Aging Potion. Instructions are on page two-hundred and sixty-one," the professor said, dismissing the class to their task. "Work in groups of up to three!"

"Ollie, is it all right if I work with Marlene and Josephine?" Lily pleaded to friend. "I'll buy you a butterbeer this weekend in the Three Broomsticks-"

"It's fine, I'll go work with Remus or Sirius or James or Peter or some combination thereof. Or with Mary," Olivia replied. She then walked away to ask Remus if he'd work with her, but he, Mary (much to Remus's dismay), and Peter had already formed a group.

"Hey, dumbfucks," she said teasingly to Sirius and James, "can I work with you two? Everyone else is taken."

"Yea, sure. We'll need it, that's for sure," James said, jesting. "Cause we're dumbfucks, as you tell us all the time." All three laughed, and they began brewing their potion.

"James, darling, cut up that root," Olivia instructed. Sirius tipped in a little bit of salamander blood, and a small amount of smoke swirled up from the cauldron. She stirred it faster, as the instructions directed. James asked if the root was good, and once he'd gotten affirmation, he dropped them in the potion.

The liquid turned silvery-grey and smelled like lavender. "It's ready," James said. Sirius and Ollie agreed, so they bottled it and brought it to the front.

"It's great!" Slughorn said, somewhat unconvincingly. He sniffed it, and swirled it in its vial. "A-minus. Good work, you three."

"I'll take it," Sirius shrugged. James agreed immediately, and Olivia tipped her head to left in an "I'd prefer better, but alright." gesture.

The trio sat down at the table where they'd worked, and James said, "The full moon is coming soon," and looked at Remus.

"Sucks," Olivia said, "that he has to deal with that. It's so... stupid."

"Yeah," Sirius said from Ollie's left. "I wish he didn't have to do it alone. You know?"

"Well..." James began. "We can't go with him; he'd kill us. Not on purpose, obviously, but still."

"Actually- you're wrong, James. We could actually go with him."

"We'd get mauled, Ollie."

"I read somewhere that people with that condition don't hurt animals. And we could become animals," Olivia said.

"Hey guys," Peter said. Ollie sat up from her position of leaning against James.

"Oh, hi, Peter," Olivia said. "You guys done, or did Mary send you off so she could try and snog Remus?"

Sirius snorted at this, and James laughed. Ollie grinned, clearly holding back a laugh. "No snogging, please," Remus threw in, sitting in Ollie's chair as she slid onto the table. 

"Well, I said try and snog you, Remus. I never specified any success."

"We finished. A-minus," Peter replied to his friend's question.

"We got an A-minus, too. When he hands out reports at the end of class, I swear, we'll have an 84 or higher. I'd bet on it," James responded. Olivia and Sirius nodded. 

...

That night, Sirius lay awake in the boy's dormitory. He'd gotten an 86 on the Aging Potion, and managed to not get detention in Transfiguration. But he couldn't stop thinking about what Ollie had said: "And we could become animals." He knew that it was possible, in fact, Professor McGonagall could turn into an animal.

But becoming an Animagus was hard. 

And illegal, as they were underage.

But why should that stop them?

They could probably do it, with Remus or Ollie's help. They were the smart ones in the group.

It couldn't be that hard, could it?

-

omg hiiii guysssss

so, more obvious foreshadowing for you all, hope you enjoy that, i'm writing like you're ten jesus christ-

for the grading in this story I'm using the british grading system, bc it's set in britain (shocking, ik) I am not british, so if this isn't right, my apologies, I'm a stupid american who uses the american grading system and doesn't understand how an 83 is an A, and i'm sticking with this grades system for the story

im in social studies class when i post this so good bye, dumbfucks beloved

-Cat <3

738 words