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After sending the letter, Lily wanted to smack herself for her foolishness; she was supposed to be trying to persuade him to be civil and polite, so that they might actually be able to get along, not aggravating the boy. She had probably guaranteed a truly awful 'relationship' for the time they were pen-pals together, and she had eight more letters to write, minimum!

She might not care much for the infuriating brat that her pen-pal was, but she didn't bloody want to send eight more letters forced to someone who hated her!

However, as worried as Lily was about her thrice-cursed temper, that didn't mean that she could afford to slack off in Potions class, especially after she considered her present circumstances...and Potions partners.

One of the things she hadn't counted on happening in her sixth year was the massive drop in the number of fellow classmates. Although Slughorn was a fairly lenient instructor and only required an 'Exceeds Expectations' to continue on into N.E.W.T.-level courses, a great many students either disliked the field or simply did not have the required proficiency. As such, her choices in Potions partners had been drastically limited by the fact that her former best friend had betrayed her, and the majority of her other friends just didn't have the skills or inclination to go on to the upper level.

This meant that her options were limited to the snooty Ravenclaw group, the Slytherin group containing a mix of traitorous best friends and pureblood-fanatics...or James Potter and Sirius Black. After a great deal of thought, Lily had had no choice but to accept the latter, as there were really no other options; the Ravenclaws had refused to admit her, preferring the class' solitary Hufflepuff...and she didn't want to talk to the Slytherins any more than necessary.

Surprisingly, it hadn't been that bad, as the two boys had seemed to restrain themselves in the presence of a prefect. Nonetheless, when the opportunity to get away and grab some ingredients from the cupboard presented itself, she took it gladly. She was currently scouring the student cupboard for the last batch of dried figs, a surprisingly normal ingredient in today's particular potion, Vials of Vanishing. 'OK, where is it...? Found it! Yes!'

A quiet cough from over her shoulder interrupted Lily's small moment of jubilation.

Turning around, she saw that Severus Snape was standing right behind her, thin and pale as he ever. He didn't look at her, only muttering in a neutral tone, as if speaking to someone he had only the barest of acquaintanceships with, "I need to get some dried figs; could you please move?"

Nodding, Lily walked past him, returning to her table. As Severus came back a few minutes later, he didn't even glance at her, instead turning and talking with the only Slytherin who had made it to the N.E.W.T.-level apart from him, Arcturus Mulciber. Turning away, Lily shook her head and sighed as she began to prepare the new ingredients. 'So much for friends forever...'

It was later that same day that Lily received Perseus' reply, and quite an interesting response it was. Apparently, Perseus didn't mind her insults nearly as much as she thought...

Medusa,

I shall respond to your civility (or lack thereof) in kind, worry not.

Very well, you have made your point. Clearly, you must be a genius simply because of passing a few simple tests, so you will not mind it if I give you a more complex one. On the back of this sheet of parchment, there is a recipe for a potion; your task is to figure out what potion it is, and what is wrong with the recipe.

If you are really as intelligent as you seem to think you are, then this shouldn't be TOO difficult of a task. If you aren't...then you are truly as big a dunderhead as I thought you were from the moment I laid eyes on your insipidly-perky essay. This, for the record, is where I base my judgment that you are an overly-pretentious, likely-witless, DEFINITELY-aggravating twit!

In regards to blood-purity...will my calling you a 'Mudblood' get you to leave me alone? If so, then I am most assuredly a blood-purity fanatic. If not however, I have no particular personal interest in purebloods and Muggleborns and whatever else my dormmates are obsessed with. After all, one of the biggest, most ANNOYING, most disgustingly arrogant wankers I have ever had the displeasure to provoke is a pureblood, as are all of his cronies! The idea of blood-purity equaling intelligence and superiority dies a most painful death at the sight of those moronic knuckle-draggers!

A little about me... I am intelligent (A claim that most cannot aspire to), well-read and a half-blood. I happen to enjoy both Defence Against the Dark Arts and the Dark Arts themselves, and I am a true prodigy in Potions. Additionally, I will admit to being quite the fan of Quidditch, even if the players are generally arrogant fools-a grave pity for the sport, one can be sure.

Medusa, once you have proven what a dunderhead you truly are, let me know.

Sincerely,

Perseus

As promised, there was a recipe written on the back of the parchment; it was a fairly simple boil-cure potion, one that Lily had made a half-dozen times before in class and easily recognized...and there wasn't the smallest error on it. Lily double-checked the book in which she had found the recipe, feeling sure that she must have missed something, but there wasn't the tiniest mistake in it. It was obvious that the list of ingredients was correct, and that was the problem.

Perseus was clearly engaging in a bit of trickery, something that she had a lot of experience in recognizing from her encounters with the Marauders and her former friendship with Severus; there had to be something that she was missing.

Suspecting that the recipe might be one that was actually a modified recipe for a different potion, Lily went to the one person who knew more than anyone in regards to how many different varieties of potions there were: Professor Horace Slughorn. After buttering him up a bit and making it clear that this had nothing to do with her coursework, she asked him.

Unfortunately, Slughorn's advice was of little help to her, as the only potion which had a reasonable combination including even most of the ingredients was the very potion they were a recipe for.

This left Lily rather stumped; while she could send the recipe back as is and tell Perseus it was correct without any changes, such a simple trick as sending her an already-correct recipe seemed...too basic for someone as brilliant and arrogant as her pen-pal.

There had to be a trick to it, one that she was missing.

Laying back on her four-poster, Lily mused aloud, glad for the fact that she was alone, "Alright, there's clearly no errors with the recipe, but his letter implies that there is something wrong with it... What am I not getting?"

Unfortunately, her head seemed filled of yesterday's porridge, with nothing she thought of making sense. Frowning, Lily muttered in a quiet whisper, glancing around guiltily as she did so, "OK, what would Severus have said about the recipe?"

Almost unbidden, an image of her prat of a former best friend appeared in her mind's eye: glaring angrily at their textbooks, the sardonic teen ranted loudly about their moronic teachers and whatever nutcases had come up with the recipes, as almost ALL of them were riddled with errors. A slight smile played across her face at the memory, but Lily soon shook her head to clear it. Thinking of the good memories would remind her of the not-so-good ones...

It was best to remember her friend as what he was rather than what he had become.

Still, it had given her the clue she needed; while the recipe would work, that didn't mean that there was nothing wrong with it. After going through her old Potions textbook, Lily found her upgraded recipe quickly enough. Severus wasn't the only one who improved recipes after all.

Lily frowned though as she looked over the letter again; she had been too focused on the test that Perseus had prepared for her to really pay much attention to some parts of his note. Her lip curled in distaste as she read about his interest in the Dark arts. 'Disgusting, how can anyone have any real interest in spells designed solely to hurt, maim and destroy?"

Still, she tried to keep her distaste of such things from coloring her response, writing:

Dear Perseus,

While the recipe you gave me is technically the one listed in our textbook for a boil-cure potion, the recipe is actually flawed; it should include an extra clockwise stir every five and the lentils should be sliced finely, not crushed into paste. That is the 'error' in the original recipe that you were referring to. Although the original recipe would make the potion, the changes I suggested would make the potion better.

Or, in all of your oh-so-great cleverness, did you miss these additions?

You know what? I think that I shall take great pride in proving myself the most aggravating girl that you will ever have the misfortune of encountering, Perseus. And for the record, my essay was NOT insipidly-perky; it was a NORMAL essay! And from what I have seen of your personality, you are a tremendously-huge PRAT, and someone that I will very much enjoy never having the displeasure of meeting!

Nonetheless...in spite of your impressively-AWFUL disposition, you seem to at least have some good qualities. I am glad to see that you know that the pureblood-superiority stuff is pure bunk, something which far too many of the people I know seem to not understand.

However, I fail to understand how someone who claims intelligence like you do could possibly have any interest in something so...brutal and vicious as the Dark Arts! Please explain to me what there is to gain by killing someone, torturing them or maiming them! It's almost always possible to end conflict without fighting, so why learn how to kill people? Why not learn how to defeat someone without killing, so at least no-one dies if fighting can be prevented? You're only causing MORE death, MORE destruction and MORE shattered lives by using Dark Magic!

It...it's just evil, and the world would be a better place if people didn't learn it. There would be fewer deaths and fewer killings...so explain to me something. Explain to me how, for someone who says they are so smart, you can be so incredibly STUPID!

No, never mind, I don't even know how you can justify this!

Best wishes,

Medusa

After glancing her letter over for mistakes once more, Lily tucked it into her blouse, then took another long walk up to the owlery...

It wasn't until two weeks later that Lily received Perseus' response, and looking back it proved the beginning of a change in their relationship. However, the night it arrived also marked another turning point for the girl, one that led to a change in how she felt about a certain James Potter...

Although they already spent about nine months out of the year cloistered together in the same dorm, that night Sabrina Percival decided to throw a sleepover for the Gryffindor sixth-year girls. Of course, given that there was only the three of them-Lily, Sabrina and Mary Macdonald-it was a rather small get-together.

They were all wearing their normal pajamas, although it wasn't quite time to turn in yet. At first, they chatted together about schoolwork and what each of them had done lately, gossiping a bit as well, but then they moved onto the most interesting topic: boys.

"Well, how has your love life been lately, Mah-rie-ah?" giggled Sabrina as she raised a mischievous eyebrow at her best friend. "I mean, last you spoke, you were thinking of getting together with one of the Marauders..."

Mary glared at her fellow Gryffindor, apparently not enjoying Sabrina's recent nickname for her, 'Maria'. Her voice icy, she replied, "Is it really be so hard to get my name right, Sah-brie-nah?" Tossing her long brown hair over her shoulders, Mary shook her head. "As for me and Remus...not going to happen; he talks a good game, but when it comes down to it, he chickens out. I just don't like hypocrites, not as boyfriends anyway..." She then smirked at the blond sitting across from her. "You're OK though, Sabrina."

"Why thank you...I think..." trailed off the particularly well-known gossip. Giggling, she stretched her arms, grinning as she spoke, "Well, that's a shame; between the two of us, that would have been half the Marauders...unless you're moving onto Sirius, of course-"

"I'd kill him first." said Mary matter-of-factly. "If I was 'moving on' to anyone, it would probably have to be that nice Ravenclaw, Broderick Bode. The men of our house are just too...Gryffindory for my tastes."

"Oh well," Sabrina shrugged. Mary's complete lack of interest in most Gryffindors had grown rather legendary amongst the males of their house, making her ironically one of the most frequently asked out, as many of the boys were interested in being the one to 'reclaim her'. Turning to Lily, she asked with another mischievous giggle, "So, I notice that you haven't been quite as resisting of the 'legendary Mr. Potter' of late. Should I be expecting to see you with him next Hogsmeade?"

Lily shuddered at the thought, shaking her head in order to clear it of any thoughts of the arrogant jerk, James Potter. "Ugh, no, not in a million years. He may be kinda cute, but he's sooo arrogant, and he's nothing more than a bully. When I said last year how I'd rather go out with the giant squid, I really meant it!"

Sabrina frowned in annoyance, likely because of her well-known crush on James. Crossing her arms, her face went slightly pink as she retorted, "At least he's far better than that Snape boy; I can't believe that you took so long to give him the ol' heave-ho! I mean, it was obvious what he was doing from third year!"

Lily's gaze turned positively frosty as she glared at the girl, who seemed to realize that she had overstepped her boundaries, to her credit. "What happened between me and Severus is none, absolutely NONE of your bloody business! So do make sure that you-"

The sound of something hard striking the window to their room interrupted the conversation. Rushing over to the window, Lily saw the tawny brown owl that she had grown to associate with Perseus flapping its wings outside, seeming to glare at her.

Opening the window, Lily allowed the bird to swoop in, and she swiftly removed the letter from its leg and allowed it to depart. As the other two girls looked at her curiously, she began to read:

Medusa,

I suppose that your mastery of Potions might be...passable.

Do not worry; you have no need to prove that you are the most aggravating chit I have ever had the displeasure of 'encountering'. YOU ALREADY ARE! And yes, your essay was so insipidly happy that it made me bloody nauseous; it would make the aged fleas on this owl's bum die from its sheer sugary-sweet inanity!

However, I will agree with you in one fact; I take vast pleasure in knowing that we shall never meet. Thank MERLIN!

In regards to your comments on my political beliefs, not being supportive of the blood-purity concept is not a popular opinion to announce among my peers. This is another reason I am appreciative of the fact that we shall never actually meet.

I am gleeful to point out though that you have just proven that I was half-right about you; while you are apparently not a dunderhead, you are clearly an overly-pretentious, goody-two-shoes of a little girl who enjoys burying her head in about an entire Quidditch pitch's worth of sand!

Even if you are so PERFECT that you never entertain the idea of making someone you hate suffer-something which I really doubt- you must at least consider this: how do you TRULY defend yourself from the Dark Arts without actually understanding them? DADA is nice and all, but how can one comprehend the more advanced Dark curses and hexes without understanding how they work? It would be comparable to crossing the Channel without a boat, and without the ability to swim!

I'll admit that I've used a few Dark spells on my enemies in my time here at my academic institution; even if you disagree with using them though, how can you ignore the simple fact that unless one knows what they are dealing with, it is frequently impossible to defend against non-standard Dark Magic!? I myself have crafted two spells of the Dark variety, and without knowledge of how they work, I doubt that those fools I mentioned in my previous letter could possibly undo them.

As for more deaths and killings... Please, there will ALWAYS be deaths and killings; it's human nature to be willing to kill if something is very important to us, whether it be for something as important as a worthy cause or something as simple as a grudge. People will kill each other again and again, Dark Magic or no. So I'd rather be the one with Dark Magic to defend myself!

Now, if you'll excuse me, my dorm-mates are attempting to beg assistance of me. Until next time, annoying chit!

Sincerely,

Perseus

Unmoving as she sat on her bed, Lily looked at the letter in silence. After all the work she had done to complete his little test, he had barely rated her work as 'passable'! Everything else had been his usual barrage of insults, only altered in focus! 'What a...PRAT! I mean-'

"Wow, I think Lily's finally found someone even more unpleasant than Snape," interrupted the mirthful voice of Sabrina. Turning, Lily saw that the two other Gryffindor girls had snuck up behind her and were reading over her shoulder. "I think that whatever dark spirit selected your name to be his pen-pal must truly hate you. What do you think, Maria?"

Mary didn't reply, her eyes busily roving over the letter, but then she gave a dark smile that gave Lily the chills to behold. Walking back over to her four-poster, Mary finally spoke, "Actually, I think that it's rather a shame that we won't get a chance to meet this boy; he seems...interesting." Chuckling, she then slipped under the covers, enjoying her friend's gobsmacked faces. "I'm going to bed now, so 'good night'. Make sure that you let me know if he ever asks you to meet him, Lily."

Mary turned away, a small smile still on her face. Meanwhile, Sabrina turned to Lily and shook her head. "Positively mental, that girl is. I still don't know why we're friends..."

Realizing that it was getting late, Lily got into bed as well, covering herself with the warm comforter her family had bought her over the summer. She'd deal with the letter in the morning.

She was getting ready to nod off when Sabrina spoke, her voice curious, "So, what are you going to do about Potter? He's really turned over a new leaf lately, you know. He's matured, I think, finally gotten a head on his shoulders for things other than just pranks and hexes."

Lily rolled her eyes, whispering in a voice only she could hear, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Soon, she drifted off to sleep, her thoughts untroubled by images of traitorous ex-best friends, immature yet handsome boys, or arrogant, maddening pen-pals...