Consequences Of The Heart.

Chapter 07: Not a Laughable Matter.

The dungeons were as stingy and as slimy as ever. Professor Slughorn stood sluggishly at the front of the classroom, he wore his brown, tweed coat over his battered shirt and trousers: rather shabby for the first day of school. The potions behind him had been submitted as objects to fulfil his perfectionism. The bottles were lined up at the edge of the table as were his quills and parchment. There was a cauldron in the middle of the classroom with light blue bubbles and vapours coming out of it along with what sounded like faint echoes of human voices. 

"Semi-circle around the cauldron." It was only the Gryffindors this year for potions thankfully, unlike last year when we were paired with the Ravenclaws and I couldn't do with another year of dealing with those pompous braniacs who acted like they were above everyone. I mean a few of them were decent, but Amelia Roper, that girl got on my nerves.

We all did as we were told. As I walked closer, the voices became properly audible to the human ear and seemed to sound more and more like laughter. They were like echoes still, like spirits of another dimension. James stood on one side of me, and of course, Lily on the other. I had already identified the potion, I took it upon myself to learn the curriculum. Originally, I did it because I thought if I couldn't keep up with Lily I would lose her, my only great friend and soon it evolved into a rational fear but it just became a habit instead of a means of preventing my fear of rejection from coming to life.

"A Laughing Potion. Induces laughter for the drinker. Now, who knows what magical creature this potion is an effective defence against?" My hand was the first in the air along with Lily's. I could sense a few eye rolls from around the room but neither of us could give less of a shit. I knew the others hated us for always acting like know-it-alls but Muggle studies show that they're actually just jealous of our intellect. In any case, neither if us cared  what anyone else thought of us. I did notice that Professor Slughorn smiled however. 

"Mister Lupin, Miss Evans, how bland my classes have been without you." We were obviously his favourite students, and he never failed to make sure everyone knew it. He gestured at the two of us to answer the question.

"Banshees." We spoke in unison as usual. I missed school. 

"Excellent as usual. 20 points to Gryffindor each. Now, pair up and brew the potion. Ingredients are on the board. Miss Evans, you will not work with Mister Lupin." It came as no surprise, he liked to switch it up a little sometimes but still, I didn't think he would do it on the first day of school. Lily put her books on a desk next to Sirius' while I placed mine next to James'. The desk had another mini-cauldron in the middle with an 'Advanced Potion Making' textbook next to it. As soon as the other cauldrons started brewing, the atmosphere of the room changed. It somehow got thicker and the stone-sealed surroundings did absolutely nothing to aid in its viscosity. In addition, the foul smells erupting from each of the individual cauldrons blended and interacted with each other producing the foulest stenches ever. It reminded me the slightest bit of James' cooking which I had sat, smiled and swallowed through the entire time and I would take the fact that it was disgusting to my grave. I simply waited while James fetched the ingredients we required. James and I honestly don't seem like very good friends on the outside, and it's true I got off to a rocky start with him, I felt like an outsider to the Marauders but he, more so than anyone in fact, made me feel the most welcome. He was the first to figure out my secret and the one to propose becoming animagi. So, we grew to be quite the odd friendship but a great one nonetheless. He was also what kept me from breaking down in front of my friends every full moon, I basically owed my life to him.

"Here you go, Moony." He stumbled back to our table, his hands and robes pockets full of Billywig wings, Knarl quills, Horseradish powder and whatnot and I began the fire beneath the cauldron. We started later than everyone else but our potion would be amazing in spite. James never really took a liking to Potions, more of a DADA man so he preferred gathering ingredients and stirring and all the inferior work to put it simply which I was perfectly fine with. He sat down on the stool behind him, grabbing the book on the table and flipping through the pages. "Add the spring water to the cauldron." He read out loud before placing the open book down next to me. I also noticed a girl had entered to talk to Slughorn, clad in Hufflepuff robes. But I didn't have time to properly look at her.

"So Moonyyyyyy." My head jerked around to face him, he had gone from being completely indifferent to grinning widely, his eyebrows suggestive in the span of a second. I was surprised because he had never said my name like that, ever and it startled me. I muttered a small but dramatically dragged out 'yesssss' in response. "Noticed a small something yesterday, something I had never seen on you before." My face began to contort as I got nervous; what was he referring to and why couldn't he just spill.

"What are you talking about?"

He stood up, walked over to me and for a second, he looked like he was going to kiss me. I would say he was uncomfortably close but I have been in worse situations with him. I could feel his breath on my chin, it was warm but did nothing to break the tension. Then, he reached an arm out between us and settled it near the opening of my robes at my neck before pulling my shirt down about an inch and breathed 'This'. I obviously couldn't see what he was looking at so I stretched out my own arm to feel a small deformity: it was a hickey. I closed my eyes as soon as my fingers brushed over it before hurriedly pulling up my shirt. James was still beaming, obviously pleased with himself before sitting back down while I proceeded with the potion. "So Moony, which lucky girl have you nabbed." By now, he was so content that his voice managed to capture Lily's attention and she was looking straight at me. I showed her the hickey mouthing 'what do I do?' while James turned to look at her. But being the pain in my ass she was in these embarrassing situations, she just ignored my query. 

"Adam est-il devenu un peu possessif?" Yes, I had brought it unto myself to learn French a few years ago so Lily and I could speak in private. It came in handy very often. I rolled my eyes at her asking if Adam got possessive.

"Va te faire foutre." I cursed back. She was not helping! Meanwhile, the entire class had tuned into our conversation, hopefully none of them knew French. Even Slughorn was confused and was staring at us blankly yet in mild astonishment. We both glared at our respective sides of the room and carried on with our potions. Suddenly, the entire class had burst out into a fit of abrupt and uncontrollable laughter as it was one of the 'ingredients'. It couldn't come at a more perfect time for me to avoid the entire conversation with James about my love life. 

I had to be more careful.

Word Count:- 1325

Love, Kale.