Of Foxes and Wolves

Chapter Three

"Guys, this is the evil mastermind that was behind last night's prank on Malfoy!" Raine said as way of introduction, making me blush.

"Oh, no no, you helped too!" I protested, shaking my head.

"Pfft, barely. You're the one who came up with practically the whole plan, all I did was make his clothes disappear!" She said, grinning at me. "Anyways, her real name is Lottie and she's shy, so don't crowd her, boys."

"Nice to meet you, I'm James, James Potter and this -" He was cut off rather quickly by Sirius.

"Is Sirius; Sirius Black at your service mademoiselle." He said with flourish and a quick bow, making me laugh lightly.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew." Peter squeaked in.

"And I believe you've already met Remus." James said with a sly grin.

"Believe?! Please. How could you not know. He hasn't shut up about her since he quite literally ran into her at the bookstore!" Sirius said, making both Remus and I blush.

"'Did you see what she was reading?' 'Did you see her eyes?' 'Do you know who she was?'" James imitated in a voice that was meant to resemble Remus's but was more on par with the voice of an eight year old little girl.

"I don't sound like that you twat." Remus muttered, smacking James with a copy of The Daily Prophet he had previously been reading.

James was about to reply when the warning bell for classes sounded out through the hall. The sound of benches scraping the ground and people picking up books and bags was heard soon after. Sirius and James exchanged a glance and simultaneously groaned out the word, "Transfiguration."

"At least you haven't got Double Potions with the Slytherins first hour." I said quietly, picking up my books. "I'll see you all later." I gave a small wave and made my way to the dungeons.

On the way down I thought about the possibility of having friends. I had never had friends before and now all of a sudden I possibly had five, how had that happened? I'd gone unnoticed by most all the other years, so why now? I suppose just luck that Raine had chosen to come into my compartment on the train.

"Lottie! Wonderful to see you again, my dear!" Professor Slughorn said at the entrance to the classroom.

"Hi Professor!" I said brightly, smiling at him. Professor Slughorn was one of my favorite professors. Partly because potions was my favorite subject, but mostly because he was nice and funny to be around.

"How was your Summer? Read any good books?" Professor Slughorn always asked if I had read anything good when I saw him again after Summer.

"Yes, of course I did! You've probably read them before, but I finally got around to reading the Tolkien books." I told him.

"Ah, yes I have. Good old Tolkien!" He had a bit of a distant look on his face. "Anywho, in you go! Make sure to get a good seat, this will not be an easy class."

I was taking Advanced Potions this year and had been looking forward to it all Summer. I did as I was told and made my way to the front of the class. My heart sank when I saw that the only available seat in the first two rows was next to Lucius. A quick glance around the room told me that this was planned, as all the first two rows were filled with Slytherins.

I had a quick internal battle with myself. Either sit next to Lucius all year and deal with his harassment, or sit in the back and not be able to hear Slughorn talk.

I squared my shoulders and held my head up high as I took my seat next to Lucius. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him smirk and cursed myself for choosing this seat. Before I could change my mind and get up to move to the back, the late bell rang, Slughorn entering the classroom and talking animatedly.

Slughorn talked for all of the first hour about the potion we would be making, Erumpent Potion, which is a highly explosive potion so you must be extremely cautious when making it.

When the bell rang for second hour there was the normal commotion of class switches in the hallways upstairs and Slughorn let us go retrieve the necessary items for the potion.

When I got back to the table, Lucius was already working on chopping up his items. I quickly got to work setting up my station and heating my cauldron.

I was making fast work of cutting up my Erumpent tail when Lucius said, "That stunt you pulled last night wasn't very funny, love." He sounded livid.

"What? I didn't have anything to do with that! Though I did think the hair was an improvement from your usual drab colors." I murmured, deciding to lie, as I was rather good at that.

"Very funny." Lucius sneered. "You won't do something like that again, or you'll dislike the consequences. Are we clear, love?"

"Don't call me that!" I snapped, glaring at him.

"I do as I please. Love." He smirked as if this was some great victory.

I did not reply to him, only furiously chopped my tail.

I waited until Lucius got up to wash his hands and then grabbed a handful of dried Gillyweed and tossed it into his potion, smirking at myself. Now that was a great victory.

I continued on as if nothing had happened for the rest of class. When Slughorn came around to check on each of our potions he was pleased with the looks of both mine and Lucius's potions.

"They look perfect, but let's see if they work." He took a dropper out of his pocket and got some of my potion. He proceeded to put a single drop onto the slab of marble in his hand. The potion reacted excitedly with the marble, exploding and sending sparks everywhere, making Slughorn grin. "Wonderful, wonderful, Lottie! Absolutely perfect!"

Slughorn moved on to Lucius's potion and got out a new dropper, dipping it into his potion and dropping some onto the marble. Unlike my potion which sparked immediately, his drop just sat there in a little bead on top of the marble. I had to stifle my grin at Slughorn's obvious displeasure. "I had expected more from you Lucius." He said, moving on to the next table.

If I thought Lucius was mad before, it was nothing compared to his anger now. I needed a getaway plan, fast.

"Sir!" I called to Slughorn.

"Yes, Lottie?" He said, looking to me.

"My station is already cleaned up and my next class is on the other side of the castle, could I be excused early, please?" I asked in my sweetest voice.

"Yes, yes! Of course, dear! See you Thursday." He said, turning back to the potion he was examining.

"Yes, sir, thank you." I grabbed my bag and books and calmly walked out of the classroom, but once the door was shut I booked it as fast as I could to the lake and whooped a victory yell. I laughed to myself and climbed the closest tree. Once I was comfortable on a high branch I took out a book and read, relishing the cool breeze on my face.

***** A/N *****

Hey guys! Long time no see, huh? Well I plan to come back and stay this time! Let me know what you think and if you think there are problems with grammar and such. Reviews help exponentially, so leave them!

This chapter was short but I'm trying to get back in the groove so it might be a few chapters before things start to pick up again.