true loves poison • james potter

18

A bit more than a week had passed since Potter, Lorelei, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had swam in the black lake.

Christmas was right around the corner for the students at Hogwarts with a bit less than a week left until the holiday.

Melissa stabbed a piece of broccoli, "Did you finish your potions homework?"

"Yeah. Who knew giving a first year Alihotsy Draught would be a bad idea." Liz shrugged.

Struggling to get a pea onto her fork, Lorelei asked, "Do you know what we're brewing today?"

A small smile spread on Melissa's face, "Beautification Potion."

"Slughorn is teaching a bunch of hormonal teenagers how to brew beautification potion?" Lorelei asked incredulously.

Liz rolled her eyes, "Yes because that's going to go swimmingly."

After the bell rang, Lorelei slowly walked with the girls toward potions. "First amortentia, then beautification potion. Next he'll have us making veritaserum."

All three sat down in their usual spot, "I suppose he's simply trying to teach us more advanced potions. We are all over sixteen."

"Still, it feels irresponsible. Your prefrontal cortex isn't even close to fully developed until age twenty five." Lorelei spouted as Professor Slughorn entered the class.

"Ah! Good morning class. I hope everyone has had a fine day. If you recall the syllabus, today we will be brewing Beautification Potion." He chuckled softly. "This potion has been around since the middle ages..." He read directly from the book.

"If Sirius Black took this potion," Melissa whispered to her friends, "Would he implode from being too attractive?"

Lorelei fought a laugh. Liz covered her mouth with her hands.

"In your books you'll find the instructions on page eighty four and eighty five. You and your partners have the rest of the hour to complete the potion." He said, clasping his hands in front of his stomach, "Good luck."

Lorelei, Liz, and Melissa had a system when it came to potions. Liz would collect and prep the ingredients, Lorelei was in charge of the cauldron, and Melissa was in charge of the instructions.

Together they acted like a well oiled machine.

"Three sets of fairy wings, freshly grinded." Liz added to the cauldron, "What next?"

Melissa ran her finger across the page, "Um, it says 'while slowly stirring, add morning dew'."

Working together to add the dew, Lorelei stirred and Liz poured. "Then?"

"Stir vigorously for one minute, then heat."

Working her arm hard, Lorelei felt like the one minute stretched. When Liz told her the time was up, her arm burned.

Turning on the burner before grabbing the rose, Liz started plucking the petals. "... four, five, six, and seven."

There were three minutes left in class by the time they were on the final step.

Quickly, Liz waved her wand over the potion. "Does that look about right?"

"It doesn't matter, we don't have time to fix it if it's wrong." Lorelei raised her arm, getting Slughorn's attention.

"Ah! Miss Byrd. Miss Turpin, Miss Brocklehurst." He nodded to each of them, "Let us see." He leaned over their cauldron, the surface of which was changing hue between red and green. "Ah! You've done it! Top marks for all of you." He gave a friendly smile.

High fiving each other, the girls' grins were wide. "We did it, we did it." Liz sing-songed.

Leaning over the potion, Lorelei asked, "I wonder what Slughorn does with all these potions when we leave."

"He probably takes samples of the correct ones and destroys the others." Melissa said, joining her friend by the cauldron.

Slughorn came back over by their desk, "I nearly forgot, I occasionally hold supper parties. I'm holding a Christmas party on the twentieth,  would you three be interested in attending?"

Smiling somewhat awkwardly, Lorelei answered, "Of course sir, I'd be delighted."

"Sure, I'd love to." Melissa said kindly.

"I suppose I could." Liz said reluctantly.

"Splendid"

<>

"You're going to join the Slug club?"

Shrugging, Lorelei responded, "I mean yeah, why not. Slughorn is a fine teacher and getting on his good side wouldn't be a bad idea."

Potter laughed, "Oh come on Byrd. Everyone knows he only invites prissy people to his club."

"Maybe that's because only prissy people accept the invitation. And besides, Lily is in it. And so is Regulus, Sirius' brother."

"Why do you call everyone but me by their first name? Including Regulus." He asked.

She shrugged, "If I've snogged them, or known them longer than a month, or if they ask me to, I call them by their first name."

"So everyone fits into one of those three categories?"

She nodded.

"Is that why you still call me Potter?"

"Yes, and you still call me Byrd." She challenged.

A thoughtful expression crossed his face, "So if I asked you to call me James?"

"I would," She said slowly, "If that's what you asked."

"We are practically on good terms now." He said, an almost confident smile crossed his face.

"Oh are we?" She asked, feigning innocence.

The fireplace was the only noise that filled the space for a moment as the two looked into each other's eyes.

Lorelei assessed Potter discreetly, watching as he sat on the ravenclaw common room couches. She thought idley how the dark blue of the seat was a nice complement to his eyes.

"Alright then," He said, breaking the silence, "Call me James then. Permanently."

"Alright then James. I insist you call me Lorelei." A question immediately filled his eyes, making her continue, "But most people call me Lori."

Smiling, James moved to a new topic. "Do you have any plans for hogsmeade this weekend?"

"I need to buy presents for Christmas next week." She answered automatically.

He hummed in response, "I need to do the same." Another bout of silence. "You don't suppose I could join you? To shop for presents that is."

She set her mug on the coffee table, "The James Potter asking someone who isn't Remus, Sirius, Peter, or Lily to go to Hogsmeade with him?" She gasped dramatically.

James threw one of the throw pillows at her. The two laughed, eventually she responded seriously, "I suppose I could let you tag along. Liz and Melissa already bought presents and have left me to go on my own anyway." She smiled.

"It's a date then."

She raised her eyebrows, and before she could even say anything, James amended, "A date like a calendar date!"

Still smiling she picked her mug up, "I wasn't going to say anything."

He gave her a flat look, "We both know that's a lie."