Hermione woke the next morning to the sunlight streaming through the dormitory window.

"Morning sleepy head." Lily called. She was fully dressed and perched on the end of her bed. "You looked so peaceful first thing, I didn't want to wake you. Here, I've brought you this."

She placed a plate of toast and a steaming hot cup of tea on Hermione's bedside table.

Hermione smiled at the gesture. "Thank you. That's really kind but I'm not that hungry." Her appetite still hadn't returned.

"Try and eat some of it."

Hermione took a small bite of her toast. She would never admit it, but it was quite a nice feeling to have someone taking care of her.

"Where are the others?" Hermione asked, gesturing towards their empty beds.

"They've headed to class already." Lily glanced at her watch. "Um, I don't mean to rush you but we do actually need to be in Potions in about twenty minutes."

"What?!"

Hermione wolfed down the rest of the toast, hurriedly got washed and dressed and together they raced towards the dungeons. They arrived with seconds to spare and joined the back of the line outside the classroom, gasping to catch their breath.

"Oho!" cried Professor Slughorn jovially, as he threw open the door and ushered them inside. "Jolly good to see you all again, excellent!" He clapped his hands. "Ogden m'boy, how is your uncle? I haven't heard from him since he got the promotion! Can't say I'm surprised, he's a very busy man, have you spoken to him at all?"

As Hermione entered the potions master's classroom, she couldn't help but find something oddly comforting about the dungeon's timeless gloom. Though she noted that the overall atmosphere seemed rather lighter, with Professor Slughorn at the helm.

He greeted the students as they filed passed him and paused when he reached Hermione.

"And you must be Miss Granger, our new addition."

"Yes, sir," Hermione proffered her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Professor Slughorn shook her hand somewhat passively. "And you, Miss Granger, I am sure. Very well, have a seat here by Miss Evans. She will look after you admirably, no doubt." He beamed at Lily, who warmly returned his smile.

"Excellent, excellent…" Professor Slughorn muttered as he drifted off to the front of the classroom. Dumbledore had forewarned her that Professor Slughorn had a habit of handpicking students he found to have promise, and it rather seemed that Lily was one of them. Hermione got the impression he was reserving judgement on her for the time being.

Professor Slughorn raised a hand for silence. "Settle down, settle now," he called. "Now, before we begin, I must-"

He paused and his eyes flitted to the back of the room. His expression turned sour. Hermione looked over her shoulder and saw, as no doubt Slughorn had, James Potter and Sirius Black having a silent but ferocious duel with a pair of trick wands.

There was a smattering of nervous giggling from their classmates as the two realised they were being watched. In that moment their trick wands transformed- James was left brandishing a feather boa, and Sirius a rubber chicken. The dungeon erupted with laughter.

"Oh, honestly!" Lily muttered. "How immature!"

Hermione shook her head in quiet disbelief. They really were the Fred and George Weasley of their day. Sirius caught her eye and winked. Hermione rolled her eyes in response but was surprised to find the dungeon had suddenly grown uncharacteristically warm. Her cheeks flushed.

"That is enough, gentleman." Professor Slughorn barked, as he fought to regain control of the class. "Five points from Gryffindor". The Slytherin tables jeered in response.

"Mr Black, kindly move to partner with Miss McKinnon. Mr Potter, you'll now be working with Mr Snape." He gestured to a bench at the front of the room.

James swore under his breath.

Hermione craned her neck and, sure enough, there was Severus Snape in the next row. His greasy, jet black hair was unmistakeable and his youthful, sallow face was pulled into a deep frown. Clearly, this new seating arrangement would be a punishment for him too.

"Bad luck, Prongs." Sirius patted him on the back sympathetically, but struggled to supress at smile at the dismayed expression on James' face. "Still, it was totally worth it!"

"S'alright for you," James groaned. "Your partner's normal…and washes their hair regularly."

James shuffled reluctantly to the front and threw himself down into his seat in a dramatic fashion. Next to her, Hermione heard Lily tut loudly. Snape stared straight ahead refusing to acknowledge him.

"As I was saying," Slughorn continued. "Before we begin today's practical, I must draw your attention to the cauldrons at the front of the room. Firstly, anyone tell me what this potion is?"

Hermione instinctively shot her hand in the air and out of the corner of her eye, saw Lily do the same.

"Yes, Miss Evans?"

"It's Veritaserum, sir."

"Excellent, excellent!" Slughorn beamed at her and slowly stirred the transparent liquid. "I brewed this particular batch last week at Professor Dumbledore's request. Now, can anyone tell me what it does?"

This time Hermione's hand was fastest. "Please sir, it forces the drinker to tell the truth."

"Good, very good Miss Granger!" He turned to gesture to the second cauldron, where molten gold droplets were leaping high above the surface of the potion. "And who can tell me what this is?"

"It's Felix Felicis!" Hermione and Lily exclaimed in unison. They turned to each other, surprised, then grinned.

"Very good, both of you." Professor Slughorn chuckled. "Take ten points each. Yes, it is indeed Felix Felicis or liquid luck as it is known colloquially. Drink it sparingly and you will find that all your endeavours tend to succeed…that is, until the effects wear off."

There was a tangible shift in the atmosphere. James had lifted his head from his hands and even Snape was now sitting up straight, craning to get a glimpse of the mysterious molten golden liquid.

"And this," Slughorn held up a small vial, "is exactly what I shall be giving out to one of you lucky lot as a prize at the end of the lesson. A day's supply of Felix. So, kindly turn to page ten in your textbooks and brew me up your best attempt at the Draught of Living Death. The potion I judge to be the best, will be the winner. Good luck!"

And with that, the class scrambled to open their textbooks and collect their ingredients from the store cupboards. Hermione couldn't remember a time when a potions class had been more enthusiastic. Felix Felicis was acting as a powerful incentive, no doubt as Slughorn had intended.

Over the course of the next hour, Hermione followed the recipe to the letter but was disappointed to find that her finished potion was not the pale pink that Advanced Potion Making had described, but a light shade of purple. This was frustrating and something of a first for Hermione. Still, it looked better than many of her classmates' attempts, including Sirius's, which had inexplicably turned bright yellow.

Once the hour was up, Slughorn began to move around the classroom inspecting their work, peering into cauldrons as he went.

Upon reaching Hermione and Lily's bench, he proclaimed "Excellent work, Miss Evans. A valiant effort as always, this far better than anything I would have expected on first attempt."

"Professor, that's not my cauldron." Lily replied somewhat awkwardly. "It's Hermione's."

"Is it, is it really?" Slughorn exclaimed, with some surprise. "Well, I must applaud you. Excellent work, Miss …"

He trailed off and stared at Hermione as though seeing her properly for the first time.

"Granger…Granger? No relation to Hector Dagworth-Granger, founder of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?"

"The very same, sir." Hermione replied without hesitation and much to Slughorn's delight. "He was my four-times-great-uncle." In reassigning her heritage to half-blood, Dumbledore had also taken the precaution of drafting out a fictional family tree for Hermione to revise as a cover story. It looked as though it was about to pay off.

"Well, well, well. What a find! I must discuss this with you further..." He seemed to remember himself. "But I digress. Perhaps we could talk about this at the end of the lesson?"

"I'd be delighted to, sir." Slughorn beamed at her, before moving on to inspect more cauldrons.

Lily squeezed Hermione's arm with a warm smile. "See? I told you that you'd be brilliant!"

"Thanks Lily." Hermione smiled. "But I-"

"Oho, a clear winner!" Slughorn cried. The rest of the class groaned. Hermione looked over to where Slughorn was standing and saw, with a small pang of annoyance, that Severus Snape's potion boasted the exact shade of pink that Advanced Potion Making had described.

"Lucky chance," muttered James.

Xxx

"Greasy git spent the whole time scribbling in his textbook, the weirdo." James hadn't stopped sulking since the end of the lesson.

"What was he writing?" Remus asked, humouring him.

"Dunno, I hate shampoo, probably…"

Sirius roared with laughter and even Remus couldn't help but chuckle. James raised a reluctant smile for the first time since leaving the potions classroom.

"…and the most annoying thing was he wasn't even following the recipe properly, I swear he kept making it up as he went along," James pondered. He ran a hand through his already messy hair. "So unfair. I could have really used some good luck."

"Mate, I'm only saying this because I care, but even with all the Felix in the world…Evans is still never going to go out with you."

"I don't know, maybe with the right-"

"Even if you were the last person in Hogwarts-"

"Shut up Padfoot-"

"Even if you serenaded her with the complete works of Celestina Warbeck or that weird muggle singer she loves so much."

"David Bowie?"

"I thought it was Ziggy something-or-other?"

"They're actually the same pers- look we're getting off topic." James admitted defeat with an exasperated sigh. "Anyway, why are we hanging around here?" He gestured at the empty corridor outside the potions classroom and shivered. "Let's go to the kitchens for a second breakfast, I'm starving."

"I have to wait for Hermione. Slughorn's still talking to her." Remus piped up. "I'm escorting her to her next class, Lily and I are taking it in turns, remember?"

"Ah, our favourite prefect doing us proud." James teased, playfully. "C'mon Padfoot, just me and you then."

"Er- actually mate, I think I'll wait too." Sirius nodded.

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why?"

"I mean, why are you being so…hang on." James faltered. "Padfoot, don't tell me-"

"I'm just doing my bit, aren't I? Helping the new student out, keeping our Moony company…"

"Are you seriously-"

"Mate, leave it out. There's plenty of me to go around." Sirius winked, running a hand through his hair. "Besides, I wouldn't want to-"

"Guys, look!" Remus interrupted.

Hermione had emerged from the potions classroom and was speaking to someone in the doorway.

They watched as Severus Snape leant in to mutter something to her, before turning swiftly on his heel and heading in the opposite direction, his robes billowing out behind him.

Sirius rushed over. The colour had drained from Hermione's face and she refused to meet his gaze.

"Are you alright? What did Snivellus want?"

Hermione watched Snape's retreating figure with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I-I have no idea."

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!