Chapter 2 - Chapter 2

With the first day gone, before Lily even knew that it was the second day now. She didn't even know that she fell asleep until the sun's gentle rays shined upon her face and woke her up before her classmates. She quietly got dressed and decided to go for a stroll. She starts wandering through the grounds, trying to get familiar with the humongous castle before her classes start. As she is walking through the school, it's a gorgeous, warm, and sunny day. It's so comfortable that the students could take a nap on the nice cool grass, have a lovely picnic, or just enjoy a really good book in the shade of a tree. As she is on her walk, she is humming a little tone to herself, but she was interrupted for two hands was placed on her shoulders which caused her to quickly turn around to see who it was before she could even make a sound. It was Fred and George that caught her off guard, "Hello Lily." They said in unison. "Oh, morning George. Morning Fred. What are you two doing out here so early in the morning?" Lily asked, able to maintain her rapid heart beating so violently from them, startling her so incredibly bad that she almost jumped out of her skin if that were possible. "Oh, just out adventuring and taking advantage of waking up super early." Fred said. " What about you Lily, are you out here adventuring as well?" George asked. "I mainly came out here to just enjoy myself. However, if you two wish to join me and that way we can enjoy this day together, I wouldn't mind having the company." Fred and George said nothing after hearing Lily say that. They just went to each of Lily's side, having her in between them and holding her hands as they were walking through the corridors. They walked around, just now passing Mr. Filch's office. Those rascals, Fred and George, were trying to come up with an idea of how to sneak into his office and take something. Lily looked at them and saw that they were looking at one another. Without them even saying a word, it was like they were telling a plan or having a conversation with only their minds. The two of them let go of Lily's hands and went back to Filch's office. They found a piece of parchment on the ground that looked like a flyer or something that had nothing written on it at all. So, they decided to just take that and quickly left the room as they left it and closed the door. Lily looked at them curiously, wondering just what in the world they took. For now, they had to get far away from the office before Mr. Filch suspects them of snooping around or anything of that sort. Once they were at a great distance and at a good hiding location, Fred and George opened up the parchment and saw that there was absolutely nothing on it, front or back. They closed it back up they way that they found it, "Why would he have a blank piece of parchment in his office?" Fred asked. "I'm not sure, Fred. What do you think about this, Lily?" George asked as he looked at Lily and saw that she was looking at it rather hard as if trying to figure out a puzzle or something similar to that. "It looked like it's a map the way that it's folded. Maybe we should try something on it." Lily said finally, after staring at it for a very long period of time. Fred and George said a bunch of words, but some words, the parchment was reacting to it, after some deep thinking, she gently touched the parchment with her wand and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." With those words writing started to become visible to read and it says, "Messrs Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present The Marauder's Map" Fred and George opened it up again and they are seeing everyone in Hogwarts. Dumbledore is in his study pacing, Filtch patrolling the castle, Professor Snape moving in the potions classroom, Professor McGonagall in the transfiguration classroom, Professor Flitwick in the charms classroom, and all of the other professors in their own classrooms. Lily, Fred, and George looked at the map in amazement, but their amazement had been cut short because Filtch was heading their way. Lily then whispered, "Mischief managed." The map and writing disappeared and it was blank once more, they could hear his footsteps getting louder, the three of them huddled and hugged each other so their shadows or parts of their shoulders couldn't be seen. Once the footsteps were faint, the three of them sighed of relief and got out of their hiding place. "That was pretty close." Lily said in a whisper in case Filtch was still close by. "Let's get out of here before he comes back." Fred whispered. They headed to their class, potions, and Lily has been looking forward to her classes forever, she could have been placed in Ravenclaw because she loves learning and is a huge bookworm, but she values loyalty more than anything, that's why she was placed in Hufflepuff. Anyways, they got to potions, no problem, thanks to the new map that they found, they were the first students there. "Take your seats." Professor Snape said slowly, the three of them took their seats, there were two seats per table. So, Fred sat at the table next to George and Lily but was next to George. Lily was writing in her notebook to get ready for taking some notes. She wrote the title of the pages, 'The Kind of Potions We Will be Discussing Today'. Professor Snape sees Lily writing in her notebook and slowly walks up to her, "Ms. Snow, I understand that you want to be in this class, but I must tell you that I have low standards with you. You three will not get special treatment or anything in this class or from me. Do I make myself clear?" Professor Snape said as he gently places his hands on the table and leans in close to Lily, but not so close where it's invading her personal space, but just to be intimidating so she knows how serious he is. "Yes, Professor Snape, I understand completely. That's perfectly fine with me anyway because I am not here to get any special treatment or anything like that. Besides, with you having low expectations of me makes me want to work that much harder on my part to get things right in this class. I appreciate you being so open with me, especially on my first day being here." Lily said with sheer serenity in her voice and doesn't stutter or becomes timid with Professor Snape's approach. Actually, it gave her complete motivation to do more than her share in the class. However, she doesn't want to seem like a down right know-it-all, but just enough to show that she is paying attention and actually learning in this class with no favors or strings attached, that's all. Once everyone arrived in the class, Professor Snape started teaching, and he was teaching them how to make the Forgetfulness Potion. Luckily for Lily, this is an easy potion for her because she read a lot of potion books back at home, so she memorized all of the steps she needed to do for this particular potion. Snape just said to make the potion from looking in their textbooks and remember the ingredients because it will be a final exam and that he won't be answering any of their questions regarding to this potion, for it's a beginners potion. However, the other potions he will be answering their questions because they are far more difficult to make if one is not careful. With that, Lily got straight into making the potion. She could feel Snape watching them all, just observing and making sure that they were following what he said about the textbook. Well, Lily had it open to the page of the potion, but hardly looked at it, for she was just making it look like she was reading it, but really, she wasn't. In her mind, she was going with the steps that are required in this potion. 'Add two drops of Lethe River Water to your cauldron. Gently heat for twenty seconds. Add two Valerian sprigs to your cauldron. Stir three times, clockwise. Wave your wand. Leave to brew and return in 45-60 minutes. Those were the first steps once she got back to making step two of the potion. She can only hear the others having difficulty making the potion for the first step. Step two of making this potion is to add two measures of standard ingredients (mixture of dried herbs) to the mortar. Add four mistletoe berries to the mortar. Crush into a medium-fine powder using the pestle. Add two pinches of the crushed mixture to your cauldron. Stir five times, anti-clockwise. Wave your wand to complete the potion.' Once Lily was finished making the potion, Professor Snape walked up to her to see her work. "Hm. Adequate job on your potion, Ms. Snow." He said before continuing, "Outstanding five points to Hufflepuff." He finished with that and went back to the front of the room. Lily jotted down that it was the forgetfulness potion in her notebook. Once the class was done, Lily gathered her things and started walking out of the room. Once she was out in the hallway, she leaned against the wall and patiently waited for Fred and George. But, before they left the classroom, three Slytherin students had her surrounded, which made her gulp hard. "How is it that you, a filthy little mudblood, glided through that potion like it was nothing? When we, us Slytherins, who are supposed to be better than everyone else, get bested by you." Scoffed one of the Slytherin students standing in front of Lily, female, with pale completion, and medium length of red hair. "I memorized the potion ingredients and the steps, that's all. I can jot down the steps if you'd like, or I could tell you them, and you can write them down yourself so I don't get your hands soiled with my dirty muggle-born germs." Lily remarked. "Oh look, a mudblood wants to help out her fellow classmates and is trying to put herself in her place, thinking that's going to save herself. How pathetic and dimwitted do you take us for?" Snared another Slytherin student, on Lily's left, male, a bit taller than Lily, tanned skin, and jet black hair. "What are you talking about? I really am just trying to help you three out. Please, I don't want any trouble." Lily is trying her best to make peace with these students without getting into trouble from Snape and getting all of Hufflepuff low house points just because of her. "Aw, isn't that precious? This little mudblood doesn't want to cause any trouble. You should know by now that you are way beyond 'trouble' when you flew through that potion and didn't expect any consequences from those who deserve to get an 'Outstanding', which, by the way, is not you!" Snapped the Slytherin student on Lily's right, male, black skinned, and blonde frizzy hair. Hearing him suddenly yell and raise his voice, making poor Lily jolt pretty badly. Snape heard the male student who yelled and went out of the classroom to check out what all the commotion was. "What do you think you three Slytherins are doing causing a commotion near my classroom?" The four of them turned to see a very displeased Professor Snape. "Oh, we were just teaching this mudblood a lesson, sir." Said the girl with long red hair. "That gives you the right to cause such a riot outside of my classroom? I heard every word you three said to Ms. Snow here, and I didn't really have to eavesdrop because you three were basically shouting on top of your lungs, unlike Ms. Snow here. Ms. Snow, go into my classroom and wait for me inside." "Yes, sir." Lily said without hesitation and immediately went into the classroom without looking back and with her head down. Once she got inside, her legs quickly gave out, and Fred and George, who were still in the classroom, were able to catch her before her knees hit the ground. They gently took her to the nearest seat and were deeply concerned for she looked pale as a ghost and took each of her hands. "What was that all about out there, Lily?" Fred asked. "Three Slytherin students had me surrounded and were deeply displeased with me getting an 'Outstanding' on the potion we made. I did, really did try to make peace with them by offering them to write the notes of the steps or tell it to them while they write it down themselves, and, well, you two heard the rest." The twins let go of her hands and embraced her in unison. "We're so sorry, Lily. we should have packed our things faster and not left you there all alone." George said and gently kissed the top of her head like her aunt used to do to comfort her. "You two may wait for Ms. Snow outside, but I would like to speak to her alone." Snape remarked as he walked in, and the boys gave her a tight little squeeze and left the classroom and waited for her right where she was standing waiting for them. "Now, Ms. Snow, I know that you tried to calmly get out of that situation, but you caused them to raise their voices and cause a disturbance, for that, the five points I gave you today will be taken away and you will receive an extra assignment as your punishment, I expect your work tomorrow." Snape said calmly and didn't make her feel that all of it was entirely her fault, for he knew that it wasn't. He handed her a piece of paper for the extra assignment. It was to make another potion, Cure for Boils, which Lily also memorized back at home. "That potion is also tomorrow's assignment, you, Ms. Snow will demonstrate for us first thing tomorrow morning. Do I make myself clear?" He added. "Crystal clear, sir. Thank you, sir." Lily said, trying not to seem enthusiastic. "Good, you are dismissed." Snape left with that, and Lily took her leave and met up with Fred and George and embraced them one after the other. "So, what did he want?" Questioned George. "Well." Lily began. "He took away the five house points that I earned and gave me an extra assignment that's for tomorrow's lesson. He is actually going to allow me to demonstrate it!" She said that last bit with full excitement and joy. "Wait." Fred intervened. "You are going to show us how to make the potion? Aren't you nervous at all? What if you make a mistake?" Fred asked those questions as a worried big brother. "Oh, come on, Fred, you saw how she flew through that first potion, I'm sure she will do it again with this one. Have faith in our new little sister, will you. She's got this, just you watch." George said in full confidence in Lily. Then, after he made his statement, he looked at Lily, beaming with pride for her. She glistened, and her face was lit up with such confidence as she smiled at her new brothers. "By the way." George continued, "What is the assignment on?" George looked at her full of curiosity after asking that question. "It's for me, soon us, to make the potion, Cure For Boils. I memorized this one as well. On this paper, I have to write down the ingredients, which order they go into the cauldron, and write each of the steps of how to actually make the potion. To make sure that I did it correctly, I can only brew the potion in the classroom tomorrow. Don't worry, I got this, but we have to head to our next class before we are late." Lily said as she and the twins went on a dead run, using a shortcut, thanks to the map, to cut their distances to Charms.