The Stag and the Doe

Chapter 8

Lily POV

"Excited for DADA?" Mary asks me.

"Why?" I ask. "You know what we're doing?"

"We'll be doing the patronus charm." She said.

"This will be fun." James says as he sat down next to me for breakfast.

"Fun, I heard it's very hard to perform the patronus charm." I say.

"Just gotta think about a really happy thought." He says, almost nonchalantly.

"Can you perform it?" Mary asked, rather bluntly.

"We'll find out in class, won't we." James replies with a wink.

"Where's the rest of the guys?" I ask, noticing they haven't joined us yet.

"They're helping Remus this morning." James says. "Feeling a little off today. I'm grabbing a quick bite for myself, then bringing them food."

"Oh." I say.

"See you at potions." James says, getting up with three plates stacked on his arm.

"You don't think he knows how to do it, do you?" I ask Mary.

"He definitely seemed to be insinuating it." She says. "I guess he's right, we'll find out in class." She shrugs and we go back to eating.

About an hour later I'm walking into potions with Marlene and Mary. The four guys are sitting together, Remus looking a little pale.

"Good morning everyone." Professor Slughorn says as he walks in. We all greeted him as he continued to the front of class. "Can anyone guess what potion I have brewed up in this caldron here?" Slughorn lifts the lid off of a caldron and I breath in the smells. James lift's his hand, which he normally wouldn't do, especially in potions.

"Yes, Mr.Potter?"

"It's Amortentia, the most potent love potion." James says.

"Very good Mr.Potter. Ten points for Gryffindor." Slughorn said. "And how does one identify it? Yes, Ms.Evans" I put my hand down.

"It can be identified by its mother of pearl sheen." I say.

"Very good, another ten pointd for Gryffindor." Slughorn said. "And how does it smell? Yes, Mr.Potter."

"It smells different to every person. I smell flowers, and leather, and, and." James said, trailing off.

"That is good enough, Mr.Potter. Another ten points." Slughorn said. "What I want you to do is to pair off and, with the time we have remaining, is to make your own potion and place it in a small vial. And remember, as it is banned in Hogwarts, no one will take any amount with them out if this classroom. You may begin."

"Hey, Lily." James says, turning towards me. "Want to be partners? You're a lot better at potions than me."

"Sure." I said, chuckling. "Get a station ready and I'll go get the ingredients." I open my potions book, quickly reading what I need to grab.

"You two love birds working together." Mary whispers in my ear. I shoot her a look and she just laughs. I return to James with the ingredients and we get to work. Just over ninety minutes later we're finished, just staring down at our potion. It has the right color, but...

"I don't smell anything." I say, puzzled. We did everything right, why can't I smell... Oh, no. It dawns on me why I don't smell anything and I look at James. I can tell he already figured it out as he's blushing and won't make eye contact with me.

"Alright, everyone it is time." Slughorn says. "Poor a small amount in a vial, label it and bring it up. As soon as you do that and clean your station you may leave." I quickly poor the small amount into a vial while James cleans up. I place it on Slughorn's desk and return to our station.