CAMERON STUMBLED INTO HER POTIONS CLASS just a couple seconds before class was supposed to start. Quickly, she found the closest empty seat and sat down, letting out a heavy sigh as she rested her head on the table. Having potions so early in the morning, it being her first class on Mondays, was proving to be quite the struggle for Cameron since she absolutely despised waking up early. Her potions class consisted of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs and, much to Cameron's distaste, she was currently sitting next to James Potter.
Yes, they were not about a week and a half into their fifth year at Hogwarts, but James Potter was excruciatingly more obnoxious early in the mornings before Cameron had any sort of caffeine in her system. She didn't dislike the taller boy, no she actually saw him as a friend just like she did the other marauders. What got on her nerves was his constant chatter of a red-headed Gryffindor girl in their year names Lily Evans, who he was absolutely smitten over. Cameron felt like if she had to hear James talk about his next plan to ask out his 'Lily Flower', she was going to shove her head into a cauldron and scream until she no longer had a voice.
"Hey, James," A voice from behind them spoke up and James turned to see Remus and Sirius, the one who had spoken being his closest friend, Sirius. "Switch with Remus."
"What, why?" James countered. "I was just about to have a lovely conversation with our little Cam here about my plan to ask out my Lily Flower to Hogsmeade. I'm sure this time she'll-"
"Ugh!" Cameron groaned from her spot with her head pressed against the wooden desk. "Please, no more Lily Flower and Hogsmeade! I think I'm gonna vomit."
"Fine," Jame stood up and grabbed his things, making lots of noise to emphasize his dramatics. "I'll go talk to Sirius then! Remus can have my seat!"
"W-What?" Remus asked, looking up from his shoes that he had seemed to find very interesting during the conversation. Without even getting a chance to speak up, James pushed Remus out of his chair and sat down, easily taking his seat. Remus grumbled to himself as he grabbed his things and sat next to Cameron, who looked much happier that she wasn't sitting next to James.
"Oh, Remus, here!" Cameron gasped as she reached in her bag that sat next to her chair and pulled out the muggle novel he had given her just a week ago. "I just finished it last night. Well, by last night I mean this morning. I sort of stayed up all night to finish it. But it was a fantastic story."
"Well," Remus smiled when he heard ho much Cameron liked the book. "I have other muggle novels if you want to read them."
Cameron's face lit up and she quickly nodded, their conversation cutting short as their professor, Horace Slughorn, walked in and began their lesson. He told the class to try and make the Draught of Peace potion, which was a highly advanced potion that he only wanted to assign so he could see who was the most advanced at potions. Cameron, who had zoned out the entirety of his speech, looked over at Remus in confusion as he walked over with an armful of ingredients.
"Here," Remus sent Cameron a smile as he put all of the ingredients between their two cauldrons. "You looked like you zoned out so I got you the ingredients. We're making a Draught of Peace potion."
Cameron sent him a thankful smile as she pulled her potions textbook out of her bag and flipped to the correct page. When she saw that the process of making the potion was a detailed, seventeen step process, she let out a heavy sigh and carefully begin the first step. She grabbed the powdered moonstone Remus grabbed and slowly began adding it, concentrating on the concoction for it to change to a green color. She then began to stir the potion until it turned a blue color, her arms sore for how long she had to mix the potion.
When Cameron looked over at Remus she saw that he was already halfway done, his potion a red color that contrasted to her blue potion. She began quickening her pace, her mind racing as she thought that she was behind everybody in the class and didn't want to hold everyone up. With her rushed pace, Cameron found herself missing a couple of steps and by the end of the potion making process, she had a murky greyish purple potion while Remus's was a light greyish white color. Not the bright white Professor Slughorn had wanted, but extremely close
Cameron let out a huff as she leaned back in her chair, her hands covering her face as she let out a frustrated groan. She had never been really good in potions class. The specificity of the steps and the idea that she had to do everything perfectly usually got in her head and she always rushed through the potion and it ended up incorrect. Throughout her years at Hogwarts she had a few potions explode in her face, bubble over the edge of the cauldron, or be so dangerous that Slughorn had to confiscate it immediately.
"Well done, Mr. Lupin," Slughorn complimented Remus as he walked by, his eyes then landing on Cameron's cauldron and he let out a sigh. "Close, but not quite, Ms. Flroes."
Cameron shyly nodded. Slughorn had always been nice to her. Even when her potions were absolutely horrendous, he always encouraged her or told her that she was close to the finished product when she was anything but. He could tell that the youngest Flores was trying extremely hard to do well in his class and she did wonderful on tests, memorizing the steps of potions to the very last detail, she just didn't do well in actually concocting the potions.
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"Potions is absolutely impossible!" Cameron complained as she walked with Remus since he was the only one out of the Marauders that shared her second class of the day with her. "I don't understand how you do it!"
Remus smiling down at the flustered Hufflepuff, who's cheeks were red from her long ongoing speech. She had been talking the entire walk from the dungeons to the Herbology greenhouse. Her chatter had switched topics so much in their just five minutes of walking that Remus almost had trouble keeping up with her. She went from talking about Herbology to the Hufflepuff common room, to what she had for breakfast that morning, to a memory of her and her brother Joshua that she found quite funny, and now she was going on about her dislike for potions.
"It's just following directions, Ronny," Remus shrugged. "I-I could always help you if you want? Like with studying and stuff."
"Really?" Cameron asked, her eyes lighting up as she looked up at him with a wide grin. "Y-You would do that?"
"Of course," Remus nodded, smiling softly down at the ecstatic brunette, whose hair was held in a messy bun by her wand. "What are friends for?"
Friends. Cameron still wasn't used to people actually being her friend, especially any of the Marauders. She felt her cheeks turn pink as she looking forwards, smiling to herself as a small skip in her step began, a soft song humming from her lips. Remus watched her, his smile turning to a small look of adoration.
The way pieces of her hair framed her face and how she would occasionally tuck the pieces out of her face only for them to fall back into place because of the skip in her step. The freckles that splashed on her cheeks that looked as if they had been painted on by the worlds greatest artist, contrasting to her pale complexion. Her green eyes were shining with the joy and kindness that seemed to radiate from her like the light from a lightbulb. Her short stature, which was five foot two and drastically different than his six foot two height. She was wearing a simple dark grey skirt that stared at her waist and ended a little under her mid-thigh, a white blouse tucked in and a black sweater vest undone and untucked. Dark grey socks went up just above her knees and she wore little black flats that made a soft tapping noise when she skipped. around her neck was a loose yellow and black tie that was a little too long for her so it ended at her bellybutton instead of just under her chest. Most would describe the way she dressed as unkept but Remus thought it fit her quite nicely.
"So," Cameron looked up at Remus, her smile still very evident. "Could we possibly start tomorrow? We have that potions exam at the end of the week and I'm not sure I can brew the Invigoration Draught without breaking another cauldron."
Remus nodded at the plan as the two of them walked into the greenhouse together and went to their assigned seat, which happened to be right next to each other.
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❛ You're quite comfy. ❜
started, june 29th, 2019
completed, ???