InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "where's the beef?"

Lily Evans (emerald_eyes) wrote in beyondthepages,
@ 2010-05-11 18:13:00

Entry tags:

!complete, 2023 10, faustus stirling, lily evans

RP: Tackling the Potions
Characters: Lily, Faustus
Time/Date: later afternoon/evening October 11, 2023
Location: Potions workshop, Hogwarts
Warnings/Rating: None
Summary: Lily attempts a potion or three
Status: Complete

She had her story all set up in the off-chance there were questions. It was a warm-up potion before she tackled anything more substantial for the evening. That was all. She certainly wasn't attempting to determine what Amortentia smelled like to her. Heavens, no.

Besides that, she had a feeling she already knew what at least one of the nuances of the scents was going to be. Why she was still skirting around the issue in her own mind, she wasn't completely sure.

James was a factor, but a very small one. He was sixteen, and he wouldn't grow up the same way as he had before. She loved him, he was the father of her son (even if he didn't recall), but she couldn't make it work. She wouldn't wait on a maybe. It was best to ... let him go and know he was happy enough with his mates. The fact that he didn't ever remember being with her to begin with was also comforting. He couldn't miss what he'd never had.

She was falling for Severus. Or had fallen. She was putting a ridiculous amount of energy into denying this fact to herself and finding any number of reasons to put off broaching the topic to him. She kept telling herself it was completely ridiculous, regardless of what Kevin had thought he remembered.

Though she hadn't ever asked Harry about it outright, nor would she. Lily told herself it was because she didn't want to put him on the spot like that, but she was in a very precarious position as far as her justifications went. If he even hinted that maybe there was something there, her resolve would crack and everything would tumble down.

She'd tell him.

Eventually.

Setting aside her stirring wand, Lily watched the fumes rising from the potion as they swirled before she closed her eyes and inhaled slowly.

No, no surprises there.

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emerald_eyes
2010-05-14 03:22 am UTC (link)

It was really very interesting listening to someone else sing Severus' praises, especially when she'd spent so much of her time in school defending him from everyone who attacked him or talked down about him. An impish smile tugged her lips as she regarded Faustus. "Well, if you ever do meet him, I'd strongly advise against calling him a hero to his face."

But then, as a fellow Slytherin, she was sure Faustus knew that. Especially if he'd ... studied Severus as thoroughly as he seemed to have. Which was a bit odd when she thought about it. That Severus and Harry were ... historical figures of a sort, and both of them were a large part of her life.

"No, I'm sure it does. I'm sure a lot of my friends would have been different sorts of people if they'd grown up in a time more like this rather than the one we did grow up in." She thought James and Sirius were a bit too young for the full impact of the war to have settled on them, and Remus likely had a better intellectual idea about it ... but he hadn't lived through it, either. "There's definitely a difference. Even in their eyes. Just the way they look at things, sometimes. People who've lived through it, and people who've only heard stories about it."

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secretson
2010-05-14 05:36 am UTC (link)

Faustus laughed then looked a bit sheepish. "Yeah, I know better than to do that. Slytherins are not heroes. Goes against the grain and all."

Not that he really wanted to think about meeting him anyway. Because that would be... worlds of awkward and he didn't think the man would miss the significance of name for an instant. Or what he looked like. Or anything else really. And that was a can of worms Faustus wanted to put off opening until he was ready to have half his hide flayed off.

"Yeah, I just missed out on it all," he said with a nod. "I was only two when it all ended but even so I was affected by it. My Mum was a pureblood who had to do a runner after her parents got killed by Voldemort for failing in something or other. She never really talked about it. I know most of what I know from my Aunt Eunice."

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emerald_eyes
2010-05-14 01:58 pm UTC (link)

She smiled softly. Slytherins weren't heroes. No, they left that for the brainless, brawny Gryffindors. Shaking her head slightly, she regarded him.

"I heard stories from Harry. He's been pretty good about answering most of my questions. I think he dodges some topics a bit, and I can't decide if they're too painful for him, or if he thinks they'd be too painful for me. He's a bit sketchy about some of the details of the last fight, but... I suppose I don't need to know every thought that ran through his head." She paused. "He did say he was there when Severus was killed." Her back tightened as a shudder rippled through her.

She couldn't even imagine. Didn't really want to think about him dying. Not while he was alive and well.

Shaking off the thoughts and the accompanying bad feelings, Lily flashed a little smile to Faustus.

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secretson
2010-05-15 08:30 am UTC (link)

Faustus smiled wryly. "Yeah, the official histories leave quite a bit out as well. Admittedly the authors probably didn't know much from the Death Eater side of things. Those few who managed to weasel their way out of Azkaban probably weren't big on the idea of talking about what they'd done or seen."

He shuddered as well at the thought of his father dying. He'd always wondered what might have happened had the man survived that battle and the truth of his allegiances been revealed as they had been. Would his mother have contacted him and told him? He'd spent many hours thinking about that until he'd finally decided to stop because it was doing his head in.

"Urgh," he said, affecting a melodramatic shudder. "How did we get onto such a gloomy subject?" He looked around. "Must be the dungeons. They do encourage gloomy brooding and all that."

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emerald_eyes
2010-05-15 03:13 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, I'm quite sure." It perturbed her slightly to think that any of the Death Eaters escaped, were still living out there. And with some of them possibly coming back ...

Well, she didn't think it would be another full scale war, but she didn't doubt there'd be some form of revenge on their minds. Some of the bolder (or crazier) ones might act on those thoughts.

Lily was accustomed to being careful though, and Severus' home was well warded ... she'd just have to continue to be careful.

She laughed softly at Faustus' guess for why they were all gloom and doom. "That must be it," she decided. "We certainly aren't gloomy people, so it can't be that." She wasn't, at any rate.

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secretson
2010-05-17 12:50 am UTC (link)

Faustus grinned. "Well, I can be gloomy but then I teach down here all the time. And live down here. And sort of haunt the place down here." His grin turned decidedly wicked. "Guess that explains me then. Must be an occupational hazard for a potions teacher."

For all that he knew he was far more personable than his father. But then he'd grown up in different times and in different ways to the man. Made sense they were different.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up on end a bit more. "I'd better get going, let you get on with your work and all that. I've got Third Year Essays to mark." He sighed and looked forlorn as he headed for the door. "Wish me luck."

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emerald_eyes
2010-05-17 12:55 am UTC (link)

"That would explain a fair bit of it," Lily declared with a grin. "You potions professors and your underground brewing," she said with a playful shake of her head.

When he said he should go, she nodded and glanced to her workspace. She had come here with the intention of actually trying a few new potions, so she supposed she should get on that.

"Best of luck, Faustus," she said with an impish gleam in her eyes. "Don't be a stranger, hm? It's nice to chat up people once in a while," she pointed out as she opened the book to double check her necessary ingredients list so she could get started.

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