INSTEAD, james potter [1]

Chapter Nineteen

Fifth year was passing too quickly for Lyra. O.W.L.s were closing in, and she felt very unprepared. The Easter holidays had already passed, and while she appreciated seeing her family again, she felt like she had lost precious time for studying. 

Still, the holidays had been pretty good. Sirius had stayed back at school, though, so she was sad she didn't get to spend more time with him. The best part was being able to see Narcissa, and her very pregnant belly. She couldn't wait to be an aunt. 

The stress was still giving her quite the headache and she appreciated being back at school. She really wanted to do well on her O.W.L.s so she could do well on her N.E.W.T.s and do well in life in general. 

So she got up bright and early to prepare for her first class after the break. She ate a good, healthy breakfast and made sure she was in dungeons for Potions five minutes early so she had time to prepare and get her things ready. 

As her fellow students started streaming in the door, she found herself searching for Rabastan, who was her partner in basically ever subject nowadays. She couldn't help but feel concerned when she didn't see him, especially as he wasn't at breakfast. She wondered if he was sick.

People sat in their usual seats, everyone having their usual partners. Lyra brightened up as she realized Rabastan's absence meant that she could work with her old partner, who she missed working with. 

The Slytherin girl was about to wave Remus over, but then another person plopped down next to her. She quickly turned to see who it was, only seeing the red signalizing Gryffindor robes first. 

James Potter grinned at her, messing up his hair as they made eye contact. He ignored the disappointed look on her face and kept up his happiness. "Hello there, love. Ready to do some potions?"

"Please don't be annoying, Potter," Lyra groaned, resting her chin in her hand. She glanced at Sirius, who didn't seem happy about now sitting alone. "And besides, you shouldn't leave Sirius alone. Who knows what he'll do when left unsupervised."

He raised an eyebrow. "You and I both know Sirius is actually pretty good at Potions. And I believe you and I could be a pretty good team. My dad has taught me so much, you may have heard of him. Fleamont Potter, the maker of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion."

"I know. You've only told everyone at school a million times. We get it." The blonde smiled tightly, hoping he would realize she didn't want to partner with him but he didn't take the hint. "Besides, I was hoping to work with Remus today since I haven't seen Rabastan anywhere."

He adjusted his glasses, watching as she looked at Remus, who looked like he was trying to explain something difficult to Peter. "And I gave you even more than you wanted. You're very welcome."

Lyra opened her mouth to argue even more, but he raised his finger over his mouth to tell her to be quiet. She then realized Slughorn had started his lecture, and the last thing she needed was for him to remove points from Slytherin for disrupting class. She leaned back in her chair, hoping to ignore James. 

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Unfortunately, this was a class when they had to work in pairs on a Potion instead of doing them individually. This meant Lyra and James were doomed to create a Draught of Peace, when Lyra just wanted to work with either Rabastan or Remus. 

She was instructing him on some things. He thought he knew a lot about Potions because of his father, but he didn't realize how much Lyra had already studied up on the potion, and was quite knowledgeable. 

For a while, she believed this teamwork would be alright, and she would be able to survive this one class with him deciding to sit next to her. He hadn't tried to woo her or ask her to be his girlfriend yet, at least.