𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗭𝗞𝗔𝗕𝗔𝗡 [𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍]

Chapter Fourty One: The Slug Club

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

The petals of the poppies oozed sickly sweet smelling white juice when the pestle crushed them. Remus spooned the crushed petals into his cauldron and and gave a satisfied nod when his potion turned the right shade of gold.

The fumes coming from the potion to induce euphoria that Slughorn had the fifth years brewing for today had the whole class in good spirits.

Even Snape's rather permanent scowl (which made him look like he had a broom handle stuck up his bum) was softer and Lily wasn't too harsh with James today. She only threatened to hex his nipples off and make them reappear somewhere else (most likely his forehead) if he continued talking to her.

Only Remus looked unhappy. He'd been complaining about pounding head aches this past few days. It's escalated so much that James had had to cover for him with the nighttime corridor patrols and other duties he had to do as a prefect. And the heat off the cauldron and the many scented fumes that fogged up the class' atmosphere didn't seem to be helping his headache either.

"Why don't you go see Madam Pomfrey, Moony?" Sirius offered tentatively.

"I will after I finish this." Remus said and went back to chopping ingredients.

"I can finish up alone." Sirius said, making a move to take the knife out of Remus's hands.

"I'm fine, Sirius." Remus mumbled, inching away from Sirius's hand. "And I need to do this. Slughorn said euphoria potions are bound to come up in our O.W.L's."

"Just go, Moony." Sirius begged while he tried prying the knife out of Remus's hands but Remus's grip on it was unbreakable. "If you're scared I'm going to screw this up for you, I can get Blake to help me finish up and I'll copy her notes for you."

"You don't have to." said Remus and elbowed Sirius in the guts. "I know you hate Potions."

"It's high time I actually did something educational in this class after five years of school." Sirius said, while he rubbed his aching ribs with one hand and held Remus with the other. "You can't deny me the chance to do that."

Remus tugged his forearm free of Sirius's grasp and went back to his cauldron. "Very funny. There are tears in my eyes."

"That's because the headache is making your brain melt slowly." Sirius said matter of factly.

Remus gave him a look that could be roughly translated to, Who gave birth to this idiot? "I can't just leave, Padfoot." he finally said. "I miss enough classes as it is."

"That's a lame excuse." Sirius said unimpressedly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You must think you're hilarious."

After a solid fifteen minutes of arguing and the exchange of a few childish insults, Sirius finally managed to convince Remus that he's not going to end up blowing up the castle along with a sizable chunk of the United Kingdom, and Remus finally left for the Hospital Wing.

Sirius was proud of himself by the end of the class for making an acceptable potion without too much help and his eyebrows not singed off like back in third year (don't ask).

After class ended, Sirius, James and Peter were noisily leaving for the Great Hall for a much needed lunch when the Potions master called them back.

"May I have a word, boys?" he said and gestured towards his desk where Lily, Blake, Marlene, Lestrange and a few other Slytherins were already gathered.

Slughorn sat himself at his large desk chair and leaned back till his very big and very round belly threatened to hide his face. He took to rummaging in a desk drawer and came up with a box of crystallized pineapple cubes. He offered the students each but they all politely declined.