[Chapter Fifty-Nine]
Playing matchmaker wasn't nearly as easy as Elspeth and Sirius thought it was going to be and it seemed with every attempt, they were only making matters worse. Elspeth was pretty sure that they were actually working better to drive Lily right into the arms of her soulmate as everything they did to make James look better was actually making him appear annoying. And while Elspeth knew how important the fate of the wizarding world depended on it, there was part of her that just wanted to pretend that she didn't have to do it. There were moments where her classes took priority over everything, even if she didn't find herself that interested in the subject.
Sure, it was important that Lily and James had sex to have their children, but Elspeth had her own goals of becoming a Hit Witch and she didn't want to jeopardise any of that by sacrificing her school work. It was complicated, scheduling her time to manage everything and it was just leaving her irritated. It didn't help that it was also just the start of term, she figured that the majority of the stress would come near the middle or closer to the end.
However, there did seem to be a glimmer of light with Sirius actually offering to help her get them together, but that also raised some suspicions in her mind. Sirius, Remus, and Peter had always encouraged James to let it go when it came to his strong fancy towards Lily, even they became visibly annoyed by James' pursuit sometimes. And yet, out of nowhere, it had suddenly become a priority in his life to make sure that James and Lily became a couple.
Elspeth had questions, some for Hades because she wasn't sure if she was going to get a true answer out of Sirius or at least, the answer she was looking for. But that was going to have to wait as she had a full day of classes ahead of her, one of them included Potions with Professor Slughorn.
They were going over the Volubilis Potion, a potion meant to alter the drinker's voice and also contained the properties to restore one's voice if they lost it to such things as the Silencing Charm. However, the potion itself looked absolutely foul when it came to anything that anyone wanted slithering down their throat.
Professor Slughorn had the group of students gathered around the cauldron, that had been a bogey green for a little while before turning yellow. He described it as a "pleasant" yellow to them, but all Elspeth could see was a cauldron full of old piss.
Of course, after they were shown what the potion was supposed to look like, they were instructed to pair up and get started with their brewing. However, Professor Slughorn wanted to keep them all on their toes with the pairings as he started pulling the names from a bag so that couldn't simply choose who they were going to work with. The sounds of groans echoed in the classroom as no one wanted to be forced with another person, but Elspeth actually found herself quite delighted when the first pairing was called.
"Lily Evans and James Potter," Slughorn called out, leaving Elspeth to silently clap her hands together. It was a task that the two needed, they were both brilliant at Potions, so it meant they could work together just fine and get the job done.
However, the next pairing left Elspeth with little to be pleased about.
"Elspeth Hayes and Severus Snape."
Oh fuck.
It was official, Slughorn was on Elspeth's shit-list again. After he practically assaulted her arm the year before with his bum, she was willing to let that go, but the fact that he had the audacity to pair her with Severus, he was just asking for her to lose it in his class. She obviously wasn't the only one caught off guard by the entire matter, everywhere she looked, whether it was in the direction of Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, and James, they all looked incredibly sympathetic.
Severus looked absolutely livid at the pairing, although Elspeth was probably certain that it was also due to the fact that Lily was working with James in the same classroom.
With no other option, Elspeth walked over to where Severus was sitting and plopped down next to him, not daring to utter a single word in his direction until it was absolutely necessary in order to get the task done. As the other students were paired up, Elspeth looked around the room, completely jealous of the pairings she witnessed. Sirius and Peter worked together, while Remus was paired with Penelope, even Elspeth would have agreed to work with her former friend.
But it wasn't an option either as Slughorn called for them to get started. Standing up, Elspeth went to collect some of the supplies, looking over her shoulder to see if Severus was going to help her but he remained in his seat.
"Aren't you going to get up and help me collect the supplies?" she asked him, trying to keep a neutral tone.
"Are you capable of doing anything on your own?" Severus questioned her in return. If it hadn't been for Professor Slughorn standing only a couple of lengths away, she would have proceeded to ram Severus' face into the side of the cauldron repeatedly. Instead, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly in order to keep her composure.
She said nothing else as she left to the supplies closet in order to collect what they needed. As soon as she reached the area, Sirius jogged over to where she was standing, a worried look on his face.
"Are you alright?" he asked her.
"Of course, don't I look thrilled to be working with Noseferatu?" she said, looking at him through of the corner of her eye. "I'm beside myself with joy."
"I know, El," he said with a frown, knowing that she didn't mean a word of what she said, " but let me know if he tries anything stupid, I'll-"
"You'll help Peter complete the task and I'll deal with him on my own," Elspeth smiled at him, " I can handle Severus. Don't worry about it."
Elspeth wasn't prepared to swallow her words so soon as she returned back to the table with all the supplies and went to get started. Handling him was one thing, but Severus was practically refusing to do any of the work unless he was calling out Elspeth and telling her that what she was doing was wrong. He would sit there with his arms folded, not bothering to lift a finger, but if Elspeth was one her way to do something he didn't like, he would start telling her that she was wrong and that she had no skills in potion-making.
After he snatched the Hellebore from her hand and called her incompetent, Elspeth was gearing up to beat him senseless, doing everything to keep her temper, but the boy was being beyond insufferable at the time. Every so often, James and Lily would look up from their own work, noting Severus' behaviour and Elspeth's suffering. They were actually currently getting along within their own brew as no arguing was taking place, but that was because their attention wasn't mostly focused on each other at the time.
As Elspeth watched the potion turn blue, she pulled out her wand, knowing that the potion needed to be heated until it turned red. However, seconds later, Severus was attempting to push her hand down, moving to take out his own wand.
"I can manage the fire, thank you very much!" she snapped at him. "I can do something!"
She moved to make the fire first, starting off small to make sure that everything was heated evenly within the cauldron. But Severus appeared rather impatient or he figured as usual that he could do a better job than Elspeth. As Elspeth was attempting to feel the heat radiating off of the cauldron, she didn't realise that Severus was about to take matters into his own hands.
He proceeded to remove his wand and aimed to conjure up bigger flames, not bothering to tell her to get out of the way. The flames flared out at the bottom of the cauldron, licking up the sides, but at the same time, catching Elspeth's hands that had been close to begin with.
Immediately, as the burn marks took to her hands, Elspeth let out a painful cry that alerted everyone in the classroom to look over. Severus didn't appear the least bit apologetic as Elspeth tried to conceal the pain of her burnt hands.
The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of everyone in the class, but at the same time, it hurt so damn bad that Elspeth stopped caring as she let the tears flow. James was the first person to stop what he was doing and made his way over to see how bad the burns were on Elspeth's hands, while came around from his table, shoving Severus away before anyone could stop her.
"What the hell is your problem?! Burning her?!"
Remus and Peter moved quickly to stop Sirius from pursuing a fight as Slughorn made his way over.
"What is going on here?"
"It was an accident, Professor," Severus said, pushing himself up with a flustered look. "She wasn't paying attention to what she was doing-"
"That's a lie!" Elspeth called over to him. "That's a bold face lie!"
"No, it's not!"
"Yes, it is!" Lily suddenly interjected, bringing all the attention on her. "Yes, it is, Severus and you know it."
Even Slughorn looked somewhat puzzled, simply because the last time he had checked, Lily and Severus were good friends, she had gone to the ends of the Earth to protect him and his name. And while the two weren't on friendly terms, even Severus looked surprised by Lily interfering on the matter.
"He burned her on purpose," Lily stated, "he-"
"It doesn't matter at this moment if it was on purpose or not" James bellowed out, causing everyone to fall silent. "Elspeth is hurt right now, she needs to get to the Hospital Wing and we can sort those matters later!"
Lily fell silent, looking over at James with a bewildered expression as he didn't even wait for her response. Not that Elspeth needed it, but she found herself being escorted out of the Potions classroom by James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus.
Outside in the corridor, as she walked along, holding her hands out that were already raw with red skin and burning with every bit of air that passed over them, Elspeth had the boys distracting her to keep her from focusing on the pain.
"Don't worry, El," Sirius told her, " we're going to beat the hell out of him for this-"
"No, don't do that, Sirius," she said quickly, " that's probably what he wants. He wants a reaction out of all of you or me, at least so that we're the ones that get in trouble-"
"But he burned your hands!"
"I'm aware of that! I can smell them sizzling, Sirius, thank you! But don't worry I can just add some sauce to them and they should taste just fine!"
The corridor fell silent as all of them came to a halt and it was Peter who started laughing first at her comment. She was still in pain, still crying, but she couldn't help but laugh either.
"Here Elspeth is concerned with the taste of her hands," James began with a shake of his head, " while I was over here, mourning the loss of her chances of becoming a hand model."
They started walking along, leaving Elspeth to be thankful for the company but questioning it at the same time.
"You know, I only needed one of you to escort me to the Hospital Wing," she said, " not all four of you."
"Yeah, well, we figured we could all come in handy," Remus gave a shrug of his shoulders before he realised what he had said, allowing his eyes to go wide. Elspeth let out a playful gasp before turning to him with an offended look.
"Remus John Lupin!"