Harry Potter One Shots

Amortentia

I had to write a classic

"Honestly, Evans.  I thought you were good at Potions."  She could see his grin from the corner of her eye, but had chosen to ignore it.  Now was not the time for James Potter to be a prat.

She really had no idea what she'd done wrong.  Lily flicked through her textbook for the fifteenth time that lesson.  Carefully scanning the pages to make sure she had it right.  "I've followed the instructions perfectly!  It must be something you did!"  He acts shocked for a minute, before dissolving into an over dramatic rant.  'James Potter would never do such a thing!  To think!  The horror of such accusations!'

But Lily really wasn't in the mood and she was getting more annoyed by the second.  She had just re-read a line three times because Potter keeps running his hands through his hair.   And it was bloody distracting!  She ran her own hands through her already-tangled red hair, then rubbed her temples as she tried to focus.

"Potter, please do shut up for just a minute whilst I try to figure out what you did wrong."

"What I did wrong?  I did nothing wrong, look, the Potion is perfect!"  And looking at the pink, wispy surface, Lily couldn't deny that it certainly looked perfect.  But neither of them could smell anything, so it was obviously wrong.  Amortentia's aroma was the most interesting and individual element of the potion and with that missing, this was no Amortentia.  Potter couldn't seem to get that into his head and Lily was getting rather frustrated.

"Calm down, Lily Flower, I'm sure Ol' Sluggie will fix it" he winked.  Lily glared at him fiercely before turning back to pouring over the pages of her textbook, muttering under her breath "Don't call me that."

"Oh come on, Evans, maybe it's just not strong enough."  He added as he leaned casually against the desk with his back, ankles crossed, hands gripping the surface.  "I mean, it's your fault for wearing too much perfume, it's over powering it."  Lily turned to him then, outraged, just in time to catch the smirk on his stupid face.

"You hypocritical asswipe!  I think you'll find you're the one wearing too much cologne, thank you very much!  I can barely smell anything else.  Dirt, maybe? The pitch? You've been playing too much Quidditch, Potter."  Her voice was raised, she was frustrated and moody and Potter couldn't seem to get it into his head that he had messed up the potion somehow and this was all his fault!

"What are you talking about?  The last practice was cancelled!  And Padfoot stole my cologne this morning!  What did you do, spill the perfume over your head?  It's so sweet and flowery I'm going to be sick!  And you've obviously been shoving your nose in too many books, I can smell them from here!"  At James' comment a noise that sounded suspiciously like Sirius Black falling off his chair, was ignored by the two.
Lily was taken aback, he usually wasn't so cruel, they had been getting along much better recently.  They were both yelling at each other, then, in a continuous string of rather creative insults.

"Are you going mad, or are you just making this up to insult me?  I'm not even wearing any perfume this morning because Marlene didn't wake me up on time!"  A little Marlene-sounding squeal was heard from the back of the room and was also ignored as the two seethed.

"Fine, I guess there is only one way to solve this then.  Pads, come here!"  James yells without taking his eyes off Lily.  Noting how her eyes were a particularly bright green when she was angry, they seem to glow, he thought.  Sirius groaned and trudged over, ignoring the suspicious glances from his fellow classmates who have now gathered in a kind of circle around the arguing pair.

"What do you want, Prongs?"
"Smell the potion, my dear Padfoot, is it right?"
Sirius leans down to smell the potion and his cheeks tinge slightly pink as he squeaks out a yes in a fashion very unlike Sirius.  James just raises an eyebrow, letting Sirius know they'll be talking about that later, also not missing the other boys quick glance to Moony behind him.  Interesting...

"What do you mean yes?!"  Lily questions beside him, reminding James of her presence.  Sirius just looks slightly uncomfortable as he scratched the back of his neck, looking awkwardly between his two classmates.
"Well it's definitely right, it smells like my Amortentia, so yeah, it's right."  His sheepish smile turned into a smirk as he looked between the two, winking at James.
"Now isn't that interesting?"  He then slinks back to his position in the circle of onlookers.  Leaving behind a confused James and a worried-looking Lily.

Her next question coming out as less than a whisper "What?"  She looks up at the boy beside her, then quickly looks away, determined to hide her blush as she had just figured out the problem.  She can almost hear the cogs turning in Potter's head as he, too, tried to understand.

She is determined not to look at the knowing grins of her friends and classmates but she can tell they're there.  Sighing she turns back to the cauldron and takes one more smell.

James' cologne, the Quidditch pitch, maybe fur or something like that, and was that treacle tart?

Smiling in spite of herself and sighing she turns to face him, her eyes closed in exasperation, opening slowly.
"Fuck you, Potter" it comes out is a kind of exhale, a disbelieving sigh, barely audible.  James just grins back at her with his stupid face and his stupid hair.  His stupid hair that she can't help feeling like she wants to run her hands through. He opened his mouth to reply, but didn't really know what to say.  Lily Evans had actually rendered James Potter speechless.

They just stood there looking at each other, everyone around them with smirks on their faces.  Slughorn really does choose the worst moments to return to his classroom.
"Right everyone, I expect you'll all be finished by now, no dawdling, I'll come and inspect them now."  Everyone groaned and returns to their desk, hurriedly finishing the steps they missed and shooting glances at the two bewildered idiots.

Slughorn appears behind Lily, who is now trying to shield her blushing face from view of Potter.
"Well done, Lily, and Mr Potter, of course, a perfect Amortentia."  A few chuckles are heard around the room but Slughorn soon moves on and James and Lily are left alone.

"Hey, Evans?"

"Yes, Potter?"

"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

"Sure, why not?"

James couldn't stop the grin from seeping across his face, and it must have been contagious because neither could Lily.  In fact, for the rest of the lesson the two had constant smiles on their faces.  In fact, when they were eating in the Great Hall that evening neither could stop their grins since that one stolen glance over the carrots.  Even that weekend, in fact, throughout their entire time in Hogsmeade, they couldn't help the smile tugging at the side of their lips.  She still didn't know why she had to go back to their dorm to be interrogated by his fellow Marauders, though.  She still snuck secret smiles across the room, though.
Sirius immediately informed them that they were both saps.  Regretting the comment when he was bombarded with pillows.  But still, they were smiling like the fucking dorks they are.