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Broom polish and Vanilla
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James Potter loved Quidditch, so he was ecstatic when he was promoted to captain for the Gryffindor team. Evelyn always wanted to try quidditch, but then she realized she was not athletic in any shape or form, so she never did it.
It was the beginning of November, which meant that quidditch matches would soon begin to start. Both James and Sirius are sore losers. They are very competitive, which means they hate losing. James Potter was determined for Gryffindor to win the house cup. Sirius was the keeper for the Gryffindor team, before he made the team; James begged Sirius to try out and to his delight Sirius became keeper. James was originally a chaser but have been deciding to switch to seeker when he became captain. remus and peter were not on the team. Peter claimed that he was too scared of a blugder coming at him, so he never tried out, but he was the biggest Gryffindor supporter of all time. Remus just never really cared for quidditch, so you would often see him in the stands during the matches with a book; however recently Remus had been appointed the role of quidditch announcer.
"James no you cannot switch to seeker just because your captain," an annoyed Remus spoke.
"Why not," James whined as he angrily ate his eggs.
Sirius looked at him like he was dumb before James started talking: "I just think I should try it and maybe I'll be good at it,"
"What if your not, listen, we don't have time to try out new things, we have to put all of our energy into winning," Sirius spoke deeply, looking into James's eyes.
"I don't think you should be this level of passionate considering the only reason you got on the team was because of me," James spoke to Sirius.
"Merlin, no need to get cocky," Sirius rolled his eyes.
After giving it some thought, Sirius and Remus were right. The team should not be wasting time right now.
"Your right," James started the conversation again. "I need to focus on one thing,"
Interrupting their conversation, Evelyn sat next to them.
"What are you guys talking about?" Eva replied in a high voice, which only meant she was happy.
"Quidditch," Peter replied to Eva.
"Yikes! I cannot contribute to this conversation," Eva said while she pours some coffee into a cup.
"Wait why?" James asked.
"I don't know, I never played it and I don't really like it that much," Eva shrugged.
"How can you not like quidditch?" James shrieked in utter disbelief.
Eva shrugged her shoulders again; she didn't really have a reason; she just simply didn't like quidditch.
The conversation continued about how Eva didn't like quidditch until they all made their way to their classes.
♡ ♡ ♡
It was the last class of the day, potions; Evelyn was fortunate to share the class with the marauders, but not so fortunate to share it with Lucius. Luckily, at the beginning of the year, Slughorn had assigned seats, and put, he put Evelyn and James together. At that time, Evelyn thought it was confusing when Slughorn said: "We need to mix the two houses," but didn't put any of the rest of Slytherins with any Gryffindors.
James and Evelyn made their way to their assigned seats, and Professor Slughorn started the lesson right away. He wanted to start it as soon as possible just because he was really excited about this lesson. It was one of his favorites.
"I still can't believe you've never played quidditch," James nudged her.
"James leave it alone," Evelyn rolled her eyes. James Potter could not give it a rest; he kept talking about it in every class they had together today. In transfiguration and charms with the Ravenclaws and now in potions. He didn't exactly know why it bugged him that much. In fact, he didn't think it bugged him at all; maybe it was just an excuse to keep talking to her.
"I can't," James whined as he looked into her eyes.
"Fine, maybe you can teach me how to play one day, would that make you stop talking about it?" Evelyn replied as she stopped listening to whatever Slughorn was saying to look at James's giddy expression. They locked eyes and for a moment that made Evelyn forget where they were or what they were doing.
"Really?" James Potter asked.
"Yeah," Evelyn nodded as she watched James potters face light up.
Even when Evelyn met James for the first time, she was always trying to make the messy-haired boy happy. Evelyn has always been a people-pleaser. She felt the need to make people happy. When it came to James, it was different; she didn't feel the need to make him happy, but rather she desired to make him happy.
James and Evelyn kept eye contact for what felt like hours but in reality only a couple of seconds.
The sound of someone calling her name interrupted her thoughts and she looked away from James, breaking eye contact.
"Rosewood," Slughorn repeated.
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't catch that," Eva looked down.
"The potion," She saw him gesture to the cauldron before him, and she realized that everybody had already been standing and walking closer to the cauldron except for her and James. Embarrassed by being called out in front of the class, she stood and made her way over to the substance in the overused cauldron.
She then stared down at the cauldron; the content inside seemed to have a mother-of-pearl sheen and steam rising from the potion in spirals. The substance was a pinkish pearl color, and when she stared at it, she was in awe, almost like a trance.
"It's Amortentia, sir," she answered confidently. "It is the most powerful love potion in the world, and smells different to each person, according to what attracts them the most," She leaned closer to the cauldron, tucking her the strands of hair that had fallen behind her ear, and inhaled the potions through her nose. Her inside was filled with delight and she couldn't help the smile on her face. "For example, I smell new books, rainy forests, bonfires, and..." She stopped talking. This is so weird. she thought to herself. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not finishing her sentence.
"Very well, Evelyn you may go now," Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together as he moved to some other students. She walked back to where the group of misfits were, frowning to herself.
She couldn't help but think about the last thing she smelled. It made no sense. Broom polish. Evelyn didn't even play quidditch. How could she love the smell of broom polish?
"You good?" James questioned as the group looked at her. She looked like she zoned out.
"Wha-Yeah," she shook her head. "I'm fine," she lied. "Tell me what you guys smelled," she asked.
"I smelled cookies, parchment, and the lake," Peter smiled happily.
"We'll, I smelled Motorcycles, firewhiskey and dark chocolate," Sirius smiled. Remus looked up quickly at Sirius; they shared a smile, and then he looked back down. Remus was sure that nobody saw him, but he was mistaken. Evelyn had seen the entire thing and a small smile erupted on her face. She thought it was absolutely adorable that Remus and Sirius held a special connection. Obviously, Eva had noticed the smiles at each, the locking of eyes, and even the blushing. They were really bad at hiding whatever was going on between them.
"What about you Remus?" Evelyn added with a smirk.
"Uhm, I smelt books, tea, and... and that's it," Remus replied. Evelyn raised her eyebrows at the boy. She decided she wouldn't press him on it right now; however, she gave him a look that said that she wasn't done with the conversation.
Cough. That was all Remus could do as he avoided eye contact with Evelyn. He turned toward James and asked the same question.
"Well, I smelt quidditch equipment, lilies, and rose gardens," James looked at Eva, and before anybody had time to think about what he said, it was time to leave the class.
Evelyn's mind remained on what James Potter said he smelled. She knew that James would smell lilies considering that he was in love with her. She swallowed the thick feeling in her chest and worried about her amortentia problem instead.
James Potter had the same problem. He smelled a rose garden in the potion, which he thought was weird, but thought it was probably the rose garden at his family's home. He also smelled lilies, and he knew what that meant. Obviously, it was Lily Evans. However, there was something he didn't tell the group, the last thing he smelled was vanilla. James was at a loss; he didn't know who smelled like vanilla. Why would he smell vanilla?
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They sat in the Gryffindor common room, waiting for Sirius to finish putting on his robes for the quidditch match because after all, he had to be the best-dressed person in the room or field.
By her left, she had Remus, who as per usual was lost in his book. Peter sat in the armchair next to Remus, watching James pace up and down the common room with amusement. Lily had laid down next to Eva, Lily's head in Eva's lap while Eva played with her fiery hair.
"Guess who looks as beautiful as ever,"
Their head turned to look at the stairwell to see Sirius leaning against the wall with a smirk. He wore the red and gold quidditch robes and his hair was perfectly styled in a bun.
"Finally!" James groaned in annoyance. "What in Merlin's beard took you so long?"
"Beauty takes time," Sirius winked at the group. "Come on let's go,"
While James and Sirius got the team ready. Evelyn was sitting at the Gryffindor stands with the rest of the group. She had James's Gryffindor scarf wrapped around her neck. James and Sirius had convinced the girl to come to the match, so the girl showed up with the only red thing in her closet; however, the boys thought that she needed more, so James decided to give her his scarf to complete the look. She inhaled through the scarf, only to smell James Potter's cologne. The girl loved that smell; oddly enough, she felt safe and comforted.
"God it's so weird seeing you in that," Lily cringed.
"Yeah but she still looks hot," Marlene winked at Eva.
The games began as the Gryffindor team and Hufflepuff team began to make their way onto the field. Remus stated, introducing the players.
"Potter has the quaffle- oh wait no Diggory has just taken the quaffle- and it's back to Potter."
They spent an hour or so like that, Eva and the rest of the group cheering whenever James or the rest of the chasers scored through the golden hoops. Remus yelling "Fuck me!" or "You cheating scum," whenever the other team appeared to be in the lead and then having McGonagall tell him off.
"Oh, bloody hell!" Remus yelled. "Well fucking thank you to the little bitch who just hit Sirius with a bludger, now I'm gonna be hearing about that for the next week,"
"REMUS!" McGonagall yelled. "If you can't commentate without using such language-"
"I'm sorry professor," Remus replied. He wasn't actually sorry, considering he'd do it again five minutes later.
It felt like forever, but finally, Gryffindor caught the snitch, making them the winners. James Potter Landed on the ground alongside Sirius Black. He looked towards the stands to see the gang. He looked at Evelyn, her beautiful, pearl-like hair flowing in the wind; with a big smile cheering him on. James Potter was mesmerized by the sight of the Slytherin girl; he didn't even notice the red-haired girl next to him. A smile appeared on his face when the blond-haired girl looked at him. Wow sh- she's beautiful, he thought.
"WE BLOODY WON! OH MY GOD, THANK THE FUCK FOR THAT,"
"REMUS!"
"Sorry professor,"
The whole house roared, running down to the pitch to congratulate their team.
"You guys were awesome," Remus commented, and hugged both James and Sirius.
"What do you think?" A voice behind her spoke, making her whip her head around to face the person.
"You were truly amazing, I'm so happy for you!" She leaped into James's arms, holding him tightly. He wrapped his hand around her waist, pulling her in closer while her hands wrapped around his neck. They stayed like that for a moment relaxing in each other's company, before Evelyn inhaled something familiar. Broom polish. Oh god was all she thought. How could this be happening? James Potter. James "I'm in love with Lily Evans" Potter. It literally could've been any other guy but him.
Little did she know, James Potter was thinking the same thing. All he could smell was vanilla shampoo. The same vanilla he smelled in the amortentia potion. He was siriusly confused now. He had always loved his beloved Lily, but now he thinks he has feelings for Evelyn, Lily Evans's best friend, you got to be kidding.
They remained hugging for a good while before pulling away. Evelyn's strategy was to be as calm as possible, even though she was dying inside.
The group left the two boys to get cleaned up and relax. After meeting up in the Gryffindor common room and chilled out for a few hours before retiring to bed. Evelyn made her way back to the Slytherin common room and up to her dormitory. Her roommates were already asleep, so she quietly got herself ready for bed.
James Potter couldn't fall asleep. It could be from the excitement of winning the first quidditch game of the season, but he thinks it was because of Evelyn.
Little did he know, Evelyn was up all night having the same thoughts. They both lay restless in bed. Eventually falling asleep to their thoughts, each other.
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Authors Note: Hello cuties. I apologize for taking so long to write this chapter, but nonetheless, it's finished. I'm super excited about it and I would love to hear what you guys think. Mwah ily see you guys when I upload again :)
love always emily <3