DISCLAIMER: As if you weren't already aware, I will remind you that I own no part of the Harry Potter world. I am merely an interloper putting my spin on things.

It was the first Monday in November, and Lily Evans was following her two best mates, Marlene McKinnon and Mary Macdonald (or "McOne" and "MacTwo" as she secretly thought of them) to their sixth year N.E.W.T. potions class.

McOne and MacTwo were arguing about boys, as usual.

"Ugh, Mary, you've got to be taking the piss," Marlene was exclaiming with apparent disgust. "How can you think Fowler is the most attractive bloke in Hufflepuff? He looks like he's taken a bludger to the face."

Mary squinted her eyes dangerously and scowled at Marlene. Lily was used to this, their seemingly twice weekly "rate the fittest blokes in each house" discussion. She usually tried not to get involved, though sometimes she liked to add play-by-play commentary to annoy her mates.

"Obviously, Diggory is the most attractive bloke in Hufflepuff," Marlene said with an air of finality. "Let's just look at the stats, shall we? Quidditch captain; tall, dark, and handsome; and his arse looks phenomenal in his trousers. Plus, he's a chaser, so you know he's got good hands."

Mary rolled her eyes. Lily grinned as she watched her gearing up for her rebuttal.

"Oooo, and there's a low blow to Fowler at the hands of McKinnon," Lily cut in, drawling the words out in her best Quidditch commentator voice. "How will the wily Macdonald respond to this latest attack?"

Mary shot her an amused look. Her mates were well used to Lily's particular brand of fun by now. Shifting her gaze to Marlene, Mary dropped a bombshell: "Clearly, McKinnon isn't paying attention to the fact that Fowler looks dead sexy without his shirt on and is a fantastic snog." With a wink and a smirk, Mary darted away from them and into the potions classroom.

Marlene had stopped dead in her tracks. "WHAT?" she exclaimed. "When did she snog Fowler? And why is she only revealing this now, mere minutes before class begins, when we have no time for discussion and analysis?" Marlene seemed personally offended by Mary's lack of concern.

Laughing, Lily grabbed her mate's hand and dragged her into the classroom. "Come on, you'll have plenty of time to interrogate her later," she said, walking over to the work table they shared with the Gryffindor boys.

Mary had already perched at one corner of the table. Marlene sat down directly across from her, immediately hurling whispered accusations of "treachery" and "secret snoggery" in her direction. Lily sat down to the right of Marlene and watched as Mary grew more and more smug with each passing moment, while Marlene tried various and sundry tactics to extract the information she wanted.

Shaking her head at her bickering friends, Lily dug her copy of Advanced potion making out of her bag and started absently flipping through the pages. She couldn't help but notice that James and his merry band of pranksters hadn't arrived yet. She felt herself wondering what was keeping them; none of them had made an appearance at breakfast either, and since when did teenage boys voluntarily skip meals? Knowing the Marauders, it probably meant that they were executing an elaborate maneuver of some kind. If that were the case, she'd hear about it soon enough. News of their pranks sped through Hogwarts faster than a seeker chasing down a snitch.

Before Lily could think on their absence any further, she saw Sirius and Remus slide into seats across the table and felt James plop down in the stool next to her. In no time at all, her brain had registered his faint aroma of woods and linen and citrus that she had recently begun to find so attractive. And it wasn't just the way he smelled that she was finding attractive-it was his messy hair, the way his lips twitched into a grin when he was about to say something witty, the way his hazel eyes would get that mischievous twinkle in them when he teased her…if she didn't get a grip soon, she was going to throw herself at him.

And where was the fun in that?

"Evans, maybe you can help me out a little," James' low voice interrupted her quiet reverie.

Dammit, why did he have to ruin it by talking to her? Couldn't he tell she was trying to daydream about him in peace? Without looking up from her potions text, she murmured, "Mmmm?"

"You see, the lads and I have a bet on when old Slughorn will eventually pop the question, and I was hoping you could give me the inside track…"

Lily slowly narrowed her eyes as she felt a blush spread through her cheeks. Brilliant, just ruddy brilliant. It seemed that Potter had somehow found out about Slughorn parading her around like his bloody prize unicorn at the Slug Club Halloween do last Saturday night. She knew James' sneakiness was approaching legendary status, and she didn't like it when he used his stealth powers against her. She turned towards him, planning to bite out a sarcastic remark, when she stopped herself.

Or, to be more accurate, the way he was looking at her made her stop herself.

She could see that damn twinkle in his eyes again behind those stupid specs he wore. He was looking so cocky and delectable-really Evans? Since when are we using the adjective "delectable" with him-in his uniform, shirt half-untucked and tie slightly crooked. And the smirk he was aiming in her direction could only be described as detention worthy.

She gazed back at him for a beat with an annoyed air, and then, in a split second, she chose a new tactic.

She allowed her eyes to soften before she quietly sighed, relaxing her shoulders and dropping her chin ever so slightly. She saw his expression shift from smug to surprised in an instant. Pleased with the reaction she was getting, she decided she may as well milk the thing for all it was worth. Peeping up at him through her lashes, she leaned towards him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She was working hard to project an aura of shy insecurity, when in reality, she felt quite bold, like Godric Gryffindor himself had come back from the beyond and was egging her on. She watched as James instinctually mirrored her movement and angled his body closer to hers, a look of concern mixed with amazement now playing over his features. She forced herself to swallow nervously and made her eyes dart around the room before speaking to him in an earnest whisper.

"Horace and I weren't going to say anything until after my seventeenth birthday. It was supposed to be a secret, but since you've worked it out already—"

"WHAT?" Potter yelped loudly, jumping in his seat as if a stinging hex had hit him.

Success! Lily was mentally congratulating herself as she took in his almost comically startled countenance and laughed out loud.

"Potter, you absolute prat! I'm teasing you," she said with a wide grin, shoving him lightly on his shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see their mates exchanging curious glances.

"Well…yeah…of course I know you're teasing," James spluttered, one hand now manically ruffling his hair. "It's just early in the morning. And I skipped breakfast. You're not seeing me at the top of my game, Evans," he continued, trying to regain some of his usual swagger.

Lily quirked an eyebrow at him and gave him a bemused stare. "Well, do us both a favor and pull yourself together, Potter. I can barely recognize you when you're this flustered." She shot him a cheeky smile before turning back to her potions text, feeling positively wicked. That had certainly got his attention. She channeled all of her energy into not grinning like an addle-pated idiot, biting her bottom lip and feigning interest in her book.

"Uh…you want to fill me in here, Lily?" Marlene hissed in her ear. "Do I need to accuse you of secret snoggery as well?"

Lily was about to reply when Professor Slughorn came waddling into the room wearing his favorite green and grey striped waistcoat. Oblivious to his own late arrival, he beamed around at the class before declaring excitedly, "Today, we will be studying Amortentia!"

A number of her classmates groaned, and she thought she heard James snort quietly to her right, but Lily felt a small bubble of excitement rising inside her. This was perfect. She loved learning to brew new potions; plus, what she needed right now was something to distract her thoughts from James "Delectable" Potter. This would do nicely-Amortentia was notoriously difficult. She readied her parchment and quill as Slughorn began to speak.

"A very curious potion, Amortentia. I'm sure you are all aware that the scent of this potion is unique to each individual. This scent manifests itself in the form, or should I say, 'aroma,' of what one consciously, or unconsciously, finds attractive." Slughorn paused as several quills scratched over parchment. "What is most remarkable, however, is that Amortentia is quite receptive and can detect not just the object of one's attraction, but the quality of that attraction as well." Looking immensely pleased, he flicked his wand and levitated a small cauldron from high atop a shelf in the corner of the class, letting it come to rest on his desk. Lily could see that the cauldron held a pale, shimmering potion with tell-tale spirals of steam-Amortentia.

"Love," Slughorn continued, speaking quite earnestly now, "is an exceedingly mysterious emotion. It has its own magic that even our brightest minds struggle to understand. As you mature as an individual, so do your feelings and desires—the quality of your love. For those of you with no strong attachment, that is to say, undeveloped love, the scent of Amortentia will be merely a pleasurable sensation, a vaguely familiar aroma that you will enjoy, but it will not connect to any deep-seated emotion. However, for those of you who do have a more…developed…attraction to an individual, the scent will be a powerful and specific reminder of them. In fact, the research of potions experts has shown that the stronger the individual's attraction, the more potent the effect of the Amortentia. Some brewers have even reported the potion triggering powerful images and memories of the object of their desires."

Lily's quill flew over her parchment as she took notes. She certainly hadn't heard that tidbit of information about Amortentia before. This was why she loved potions; they were more than just cauldrons of jumbled ingredients. Some of them could think and sense for you, and it seemed that Amortentia was one of those. Lily wondered what the potion would sense in her. She dared a sidelong glance at James, and noticed that he was sitting still in his seat, seemingly engrossed in the lecture, his eyes fixed on Slughorn. That was certainly a first. She cocked her head slightly and continued to watch him, wondering what was going on in his mind. Was it possible that he was truly invested in the lesson? Maybe her earlier teasing had broken his brain and stunned him into some kind of stupor…

She would've continued her musings, but a flurry of motion caught her eye. She looked over to see Sirius not-so-surreptitiously waving at her from across the table. When he realized he had her attention, he looked pointedly at James, then back at her, and started nodding his head and making rude gestures with his hands miming…well…you know. By this time, everyone at the table except James had noticed the exchange; Remus' shoulders were shaking silently, and both Mary and Marlene were quietly tittering in their seats. Lily shot Sirius her best overly dramatic "I'm scandalized" look as he struggled not to laugh, and she returned her attention to the lesson.

"Now, as we commence our brewing today, I would urge each of you to come and smell the Amortentia I have prepared." Slughorn clasped his hands behind his back and was looking at them with a gleam in his eye. "I daresay it might be a revelation for some in the class!" He let out a brief chuckle, quietly exclaiming, "Yes…yes, I daresay…" while rocking back and forth on his heels. "Now, where were we? Ah, the brewing!" He clapped his hands together excitedly. "Yes, Amortentia has a long brewing time. After the initial brewing today, we'll need to let the mixture steep for a period of three months. This means that by Valentine's Day, we'll be ready for the final preparations before we test your work!" Here he stopped and gazed at the class expectantly. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get to work, get to work!"

Lily and her tablemates flicked through their textbooks and found the brewing instructions: Ashwinder eggs, added to a mixture of honey water and pomegranate juice, then sprinkled with powdered moonstone and topped with a peppermint sprig to steep. Of course, it all had to be measured, stirred, and heated precisely… Lily sighed and rolled up her sleeves, getting down to the business of brewing. She only allowed James to infiltrate her thoughts once or twice, and felt proud that she hadn't succumbing to mooning over him nonstop. Yet.

Thirty minutes later, she thought the potion had progressed nicely. She had just finished stirring the Ashwinder eggs fifty times in a clockwise direction at low heat, and now all she had to do was wait for the potion to come to a boil before adding the moonstone and peppermint. Her mates were more or less on track as well, though the potion in Remus' cauldron seemed suspiciously lumpy, and Marlene's had turned a shocking shade of blue. Slughorn had just stopped to inspect James' potion; it seemed he hadn't given his Ashwinder eggs the proper amount of stirs.

"The lovely Miss Evans," Slughorn boomed from over her shoulder. "Yes, yes, that looks just perfect my dear. You put us all to shame with your prowess."

"Oh, there's nothing to be ashamed of Professor," Lily said with a dazzling smile. "I'm sure with enough practice you'll be able to brew this potion as well." Next to her, she saw James bite down on his lip to keep from laughing. Slughorn let out soft chuckle and smiled indulgently at his favorite pupil. "Cheeky girl, very cheeky indeed…have you been to smell the Amortentia yet?"

Lily looked at the shimmering cauldron at the front of the room with some amount of trepidation. Mary, Marlene, Remus, and Sirius had all made the trip to smell its contents, and all had come back with varying degrees of dazed expressions on their faces. As she had watched them, she had grown more and more nervous about what she might smell, or not smell, when it was her turn to face the potion.

But she couldn't very well tell Slughorn that, so she settled on a quiet, "No sir, not yet."

"Well, step up, step up, my dear girl! Can't having you missing out now, can we, plenty of time to add the moonstone when you get back," he said, gently prodding her towards the front of the room before he moved off to inspect the work of the Ravenclaw table.

Lily took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before striding purposefully up to the cauldron. She tried to maintain a calm exterior, but inside, her heart was doing flips. "Come on, Evans," she mentally scolded herself. "Are you a Gryffindor are aren't you? It's just a potion." With one last steadying breath, she leaned over the cauldron, inhaled deeply, and smelled…

Nothing.

Not a thing.

She straightened back up with a puzzled expression. That was odd…decidedly odd. She'd never heard of a witch or wizard not having any reaction to Amortentia before.

She leaned over the potion and inhaled again. Nope, nothing different. All she could smell was…

And then her eyes widened in an expression that was both frightened and amazed, because she realized why she couldn't smell anything different.

All she could smell was a gentle aroma of woods and linen and citrus. The same aroma that had been sitting next to her for the entire class.

"Bloody fucking hell," she thought. She hadn't even entirely admitted it to herself yet, but the Amortentia knew. She fancied James.

She fancied James.

She straightened up and shuffled back to her seat (located conveniently beside the object of her affections) in a daze. She felt herself going through the motions of adding the moonstone and peppermint to her potion, vaguely registering that James was now approaching the cauldron of Amortentia.

"Are you alright, Lily?" Remus asked curiously.

That query snapped her out of her haze, and Lily forced herself back into the present. "Yes, Remus, I'm fine," she said with a kind expression. Remus nodded, but he was still aiming a mildly intrigued look in her direction. Lily focused on acting normally; sometimes, Remus could be too observant by half.

James had finished at the cauldron and was now sliding back into the seat next to her. He had been the last student to approach the Amortentia, and the period was nearly over. Around the room, students were transporting their cauldrons to the storeroom for the steeping period, and many were now packing up their bags.

"Lily," James asked, an unreadable expression on his face, "what…ah, what did you smell?"

Lily paused from packing up her things and looked at him properly. He seemed quite breathless, with overly bright eyes and a faint flush to his cheeks. She half wondered if he was getting ill. "That's a rather personal question, James," she said quietly, not daring to tell him about her trip to the cauldron. She was hardly prepared for that conversation; no, it would take at least five late night chats with McOne and MacTwo and roughly eight internal pep talks before she would be prepared for that conversation.

"Right, right…" he muttered, still gazing at her with a queer expression on his face.

She didn't know why she did it—if it was his eyes, or his gloriously flushed cheeks, or his hair that was even scruffier from an hour of potions brewing—but she heard herself blurt out, "It was unexpected." Shocked by her own admission, she nervously lowered her eyes the stone floor.

When she dared look back up at him, James was still pinning her with his unreadable stare. "What was?" he asked, an urgency in his voice.

"The Amortentia," Lily elaborated gently, giving him a timid smile. "What I smelled was…unexpected."

And with that, the class ended, and she quickly left the room with Mary and Marlene.

J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L J&L

"Oh come off it, Moony, you can't tell me that wasn't fun," James chided. He, Remus, and Sirius were sprinting towards the dungeons from the North Tower. Peter had been with them earlier, but had already peeled off to head back towards the common room; he wasn't doing a N.E.W.T. in potions.

"I don't know if 'fun' is quite the word I would use to describe it," Remus huffed out, panting slightly as they ran down yet another staircase. James responded by aiming a pouty stare in his direction. "Alright, alright, Prongs," Remus laughed, relenting, "I'll admit, it was one of our more clever ideas."

The Marauders had spent most of the night and early morning hours staging a stealthy incursion into the Divination classroom, where they had painstakingly confunded all of the crystal balls before charming them into showing the Gryffindor team soundly trouncing Slytherin in Quidditch-there was a big match coming up in less than two weeks. (Sirius had taken the extra step of charming several to reveal an image of Evan Rosier, the seventh year Slytherin captain, sobbing inconsolably on the pitch as a grinning James took a victory lap behind him.) The four of them had a bet going to see how long it would take Professor Velinsky to figure out how to remove the charm. And, since none of the Marauders actually took Divination, they also had a side bet on how long it would take for them to hear about the fact that all the crystal balls were amazingly "unfogged" and uniform in their predictions. Peter reckoned that word would start trickling back to the common room as the three of them were still sat in potions, and Peter was typically right about such things.

"I just wish we would've put more thought into the logistics," Remus continued as they hurtled their way through the corridors. "We've already missed breakfast, and we're definitely going to be late to class."

"Who cares, Moony?" Sirius replied breezily as he trotted alongside him. "You know Slughorn is never on time on Monday mornings. Especially Monday mornings after a weekend Slug Club do. You need to relax, mate."

"Yeah Moony, relax," James scolded. "Maybe you could get that fit Ravenclaw bird who always makes eyes at you in Charms to give you a massage," he added, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Remus as Sirius let out a bark-like laugh. Muttering something under his breath that had nothing to do with relaxation, Remus gave up his argument.

A few minutes later, the three of them arrived at the potions classroom, all slightly out of breath and looking somewhat disheveled. They ducked through the door and quickly ascertained that class had not yet started.

"See Moony? I told you Slughorn wouldn't be here yet," Sirius said with an expression that was all manner of smug. Remus gave him a disgruntled look, but didn't say anything further as they entered the classroom and moved to take their seats with the Gryffindor girls.

James managed to snag the seat next to Lily. In his opinion, lessons were always better when he could sit next to her. Even if they didn't talk to each other that much, he could still allow himself to quietly revel in her proximity and enjoy her cheeky comments. She seemed to be purposely ignoring him this morning, her head bent over her potions text and her thick, auburn hair hanging loose over her shoulders. He wondered, not for the first time, how she always smelled so good, a mix of new parchment and warm vanilla and something sweet and flowery without being cloying…maybe roses?

The longer James sat in silence, the more restless he became, and soon he started to fidget nervously with his hair and his tie, anything to keep his hands occupied. He wanted so badly for her to notice him; it was like an itch inside him that needed to be scratched, and this year the itch had grown particularly strong. Demanding, even. He cast his mind desperately for an angle from which to engage her, and decided to go with an old classic: provocation. He loved getting her riled up…the way her cheeks would flush and her green eyes would flash dangerously…that sounded like just the ticket to spice up a Monday morning double potions session.

Satisfied with his plan of attack, James halted his fidgeting, swiveled in his seat until he was facing her, and spoke to her in a low—and he hoped, debonair—tone.

"Evans, maybe you can help me out a little."

She remained motionless over her book. This was going to be harder than he thought…she had to give him something. He finally heard her mumbled "Mmmm?" and took it as an invitation to keep speaking to her.

"You see, the lads and I have a bet on when old Slughorn will eventually pop the question, and I was hoping you could give me the inside track…" he trailed off, hoping that his wild improvisation would do the trick. He knew she particularly hated teasing about Slughorn's fawning attentions. As he watched the red flush steal over her cheeks, he knew he had chosen wisely; he smirked impishly, bracing himself for the onslaught of her petulant, heated, and, let's face it, dead sexy, wrath.

He could feel his heart beating faster as she turned to face him with her beautiful, blushing cheeks and her angry, narrowed eyes. Any second now, she was going to let him have it-he was almost holding his breath in anticipation. But then she did something completely unexpected, throwing off James' inner equilibrium entirely. She let out a gentle sigh and took on a look so sad and helpless…fragile, even. James frantically wondered if he had done something really wrong this time. He was even about to apologize, but then her shining eyes caught his, and she slowly leaned closer to him. He felt his throat close as his body automatically pulled towards hers, his eyes drinking in the sight of her shy expression, as she nervously pushed a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. It seemed like she was gathering the courage to tell him something, and James felt an odd thrill of foreboding jolt through him.

"Horace and I weren't going to say anything until after my seventeenth birthday. It was supposed to be a secret, but since you've worked it out already—"

"WHAT?" James burst out, much louder than he meant to, as a startled spasm rocketed through his lanky frame. A cacophony of thoughts clanged madly in his brain all at once. She couldn't be…Horace? She wasn't serious…HORACE?!

In an instant, her expression changed entirely, and she started laughing, the sound washing over him like a warm breeze in summer.

"Potter, you absolute prat! I'm teasing you," she exclaimed, beaming a brilliant grin in his direction and shoving him lightly on the shoulder.

This let off another emotional blitzkrieg in James' mind as several thoughts fought for supremacy: "She touched me," "She's not marrying Slughorn you great arse," "She's smiling at me," and finally, "Stop acting like a complete ponce and save some face for Merlin's sake!"

He decided to act on that last one.

He felt his hand automatically move to tousle his hair as he struggled to put his muddled thoughts into words. "Well…yeah…of course I know you're teasing," he managed to splutter out, and now "You're a babbling buffoon" joined the ever growing parade of thoughts rattling through his head. Deciding it couldn't get much worse, he pressed on. "It's just early in the morning. And I skipped breakfast. You're not seeing me at the top of my game, Evans." There, that sounded…not entirely prat-ish.

He was just congratulating himself on having escaped the situation with his dignity intact when Lily's green eyes pinned him with their gaze and she gave him possibly the sauciest look he had ever seen. "Well, do us both a favor and pull yourself together, Potter. I can barely recognize you when you're this flustered." And then she shot him a wicked little smirk before turning back to her textbook.

His congratulatory thoughts had clearly been premature, because James was now staring at her in a very undignified manner. He felt his mouth gape open, and the hand ruffling his hair abruptly arrested its motions and came to rest on the table. His mind, which had been working on absolute overdrive for the last few minutes, was wiped blissfully blank, save for one thought: "I want that girl." Then, this too was interrupted as a wad of parchment struck the side of his head. He turned and scowled at Remus and Sirius; Remus started batting his eyelashes provocatively while Sirius blew kisses in his direction.

James deepened his scowl and was about to do something rash, but he was saved by Slughorn's sudden appearance in the classroom. Making a mental note to pummel Remus and Sirius later, he turned to Slughorn and tried to pay attention to the day's lesson: Amortentia. He snorted quietly to himself. Even his classes didn't want him to focus on anything other than his raging hormones.

James straightened up in his seat and tried to keep his mind on the lecture, he really did, but he found that all his thoughts turned to Lily. She had teased him…and she had touched him. Voluntarily. That had to mean something, right? He chanced a glance in her direction and watched as she dutifully took notes in her small, neat handwriting. Her hands looked so lovely and delicate, they were probably soft and…

"Focus, man, focus!" James thought to himself, tearing his mind away from Lily and returning his attentions to Slughorn just in time to hear him explain about Amortentia's ability to detect the quality of a person's attraction.

"Love," Slughorn was pontificating in an earnest tone, "is an exceedingly mysterious emotion. It has its own magic that even our brightest minds struggle to understand. As you mature as an individual, so do your feelings and desires—the quality of your love. For those of you with no strong attachment, that is to say, undeveloped love, the scent of Amortentia will be merely a pleasurable sensation, a vaguely familiar aroma that you will enjoy, but it will not connect to any deep-seated emotion. However, for those of you who do have a more…developed…attraction to an individual, the scent will be a powerful and specific reminder of them. In fact, the research of potions experts has shown that the stronger the individual's attraction, the more potent the effect of the Amortentia. Some brewers have even reported the potion triggering powerful images and memories of the object of their desires."

James found himself staring off into the distance over Slughorn's shoulder as he pondered what this could mean. He had only smelled Amortentia once before; in his third year, a sixth year bloke named Geoffrey Crowley had nicked some and spirited it to the boys' dormitories. He remembered smelling something …girly…nice, and sweet, and warm, like walking into Honeydukes on a cold day, but there had been nothing particularly powerful about the sensation. Maybe that's what Slughorn was talking about when he had mentioned "undeveloped love." He found himself growing more and more curious as to what he would smell in the Amortentia now, what the Amortentia would sense inside of him.

The sound of Slughorn clapping his hands knocked him out of his private musings, and he realized with a start that he had missed a good portion of the lecture. Slughorn was already telling them to set to work.

James started thumbing through his text, noticing from the corner of his eye that both Remus and Sirius were smirking at him from across the table. He shot them a questioning look, but Sirius merely shook his head with a sly grin. James groaned inwardly; he had clearly missed some joke, and Sirius was going to make him pay for it later.

As he and his table set down to the business of brewing their potions, James couldn't help but be drawn to Lily again and again. She was such a natural. She seemed so poised and confident with her technique, and she hardly ever consulted her text at all. James felt like a right screw-up in comparison; he was amazed he hadn't melted his cauldron or set fire to his robes.

After about thirty minutes, Slughorn checked in with the table to see how their work was progressing. "And what have you got for me today, Mr. Potter?" he asked, peering into James' cauldron. "Hmmm…are you sure you stirred the Ashwinder eggs fifty times?" Fifty…fifty? James was sure the text said forty. After a hasty consultation, he found his error and shook his head. "No sir, only forty." Damn…

Slughorn gave him a bracing smile. "Not to worry my boy, all is not lost! Give it another ten stirs now and you'll still be successful." James nodded his thanks and started counting out stirs.

Slughorn next moved on to Lily, and James blatantly listened in on his critique. "The lovely Miss Evans," Slughorn boomed from over her shoulder. "Yes, yes, that looks just perfect my dear. You put us all to shame with your prowess."

"Oh, there's nothing to be ashamed of Professor," Lily said with her dazzling smile. "I'm sure with enough practice you'll be able to brew this potion as well."

James nearly burst out laughing at that; he had to bite down quite hard on his bottom lip to keep his amusement inside. This was why he loved sitting next to her in class. She could be so feisty and cheeky…and she somehow got away with it, too. He felt a warm sensation spread through his chest as he remembered how sassy she had been with him earlier. That had been brilliant. He hoped it was a situation that would be repeated often.

He was still grinning to himself when he saw her move away from the table and walk slowly towards the cauldron of Amortentia at the front of the room. James was trying to be nonchalant, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. He desperately wanted to know what she would smell in the potion. He saw her lean over and take a deep breath…this was it…

Apparently, whatever she smelled wasn't causing that pleasurable a sensation, because now she was just standing there looking confused. James almost started to sweat; this was not good.

He saw her lean over again, and now her face looked…well, shocked. That was the only word for it. She remained bent over the cauldron for some minutes, a stunned expression on her face, before she slowly made her way back to the table, her eyes wide and unfocused, her breathing slightly rapid. If James didn't know better, he would've thought she had just taken a bludger to the head.

Not necessarily the expression one wants to see on the face of their crush after exposure to a love potion.

Quite nervous now, James took his chance and approached the cauldron himself. He had a good idea, a very good idea, of what he would smell. He just didn't know how powerful the pull would be.

Steeling his nerves, he bent over the cauldron and inhaled deeply. The parchment and vanilla and rose (yes, it was definitely rose) combination that he associated with Lily assaulted him immediately, and he nearly sighed aloud with happiness at the feeling. His brain was overcome with visions of her, grinning at him after she made a joke, smiling at him when she greeted him at breakfast, gazing at him gently with her beautiful green eyes. James felt his cheeks flood with color as the warmth in his chest magnified by a factor of ten and threatened to overcome his entire body.

It was only with great effort that he tore himself away from the cauldron. He could feel a foolish smile stretching across his face, and he was sure he looked a proper twat, but he didn't care. He was in a lovestruck haze and he wanted to remain there for as long as possible.

James hardly registered moving his cauldron to the storeroom, he hardly even remembered his own name to be honest, but then his eyes sought out the figure of Lily standing next to him, and he just had to know. He had to ask her.

"Lily," he breathed, trying desperately to control his emotions, "what…ah, what did you smell?"

He watched as she stopped packing her things and straightened up to look him full in the face. It was almost too much; he felt like he was being hit with another wave of Amortentia as she peered at him with a kind expression.

"That's a rather personal question, James," she answered quietly, her eyes still locked onto to his.

"Right, right…" he heard himself muttering. What was he thinking? Of course it was a personal question. Why did he assume she would blab it out to him in the middle of the potions classroom? He really was a twat. He was so busy mentally berating himself he almost missed her next pronouncement.

"It was unexpected," he heard her say rapidly, and now she was looking at the floor, as though she was embarrassed by something. Why was she embarrassed?

When she looked back up at him, he saw an unreadable expression on her face. Why was she looking at him like that?

He couldn't stop himself from desperately blurting out, "What was?"

"The Amortentia," she replied, a beautiful, soft smile playing on her lips. "What I smelled was…unexpected."

And then she was gone, and he was left wondering what it all meant.

He didn't know how long he stood there, staring at the place where she had been, but suddenly he heard Remus clear his throat. James' head snapped up to find both Remus and Sirius staring at him with varying levels of smugness on their faces. "We should start walking to arithmancy if we want to get to class on time," Remus pointed out.

"Right…" James muttered, quickly shoving his things into his bag.

As the three of them left the classroom, James allowed his thoughts to wander freely back to Lily and her declaration.

"Prongs," Sirius said.

Unexpected, what did that mean? James' mind reeled as he tried to make sense of this new piece of information.

"Oi, Prongs!" Sirius repeated.

She had seemed a little nervous…but maybe a little excited too when she said it. Did that mean unexpected was a good thing?

"Prancer, you wanker, what has your antlers in an uproar," Sirius fairly yelled, punctuating his question with a smack upside the back of James' head.

"Oi!" James exclaimed, shooting a thunderous look in Sirius' direction. "What was that for?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes," Sirius replied easily. "I had to resort to physical violence to get your head out of your arse. Or out from between Evans' legs, more like," he said with a wide grin.

James was about to direct an angry retort at Sirius when Remus stepped in. "Shut it, Padfoot. Just go enjoy your free period," he said with a stern look in Sirius' direction. "Come on, Prongs, let's get to arithmancy." For once, Sirius listened and sloped off with his ever present smirk, whistling tunelessly as he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. James knew it wasn't over—Sirius was going to interrogate him later to within an inch of his bleeding life trying to ferret out his response to the Amortentia.

"Thanks," James muttered towards Remus. Sometimes he was shocked by the accuracy of Sirius' animagus form—the git really was like a dog with a bone. Though, he noticed Remus was also glancing at him with a curious expression; sometimes, his werewolf friend could be too observant by half. At least he wasn't pressing him to talk about it.

As the two of them ambled in amiable silence towards the arithmancy classroom, James found himself feeling oddly optimistic. He hardly dared to hope it previously, but maybe he could finally convince Lily that he was more than an immature troublemaker. Maybe she would return his affections at last.

He fervently wished that his reaction to the Amortentia would be ten times stronger on Valentine's Day than it had been today.

His wish would not come true.

His reaction would be one hundred times stronger by then. At least.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I posted this to my Tumblr earlier today, and I've already gotten questions about potential sequels. Yes, there will definitely be more after this episode, and more coming before this episode. I find it very difficult to write stories in a linear progression, so I'll be jumping all over the place. However, I do have a definite progression in mind, and all the stories that I've published on FF so far fit into the same over-arching theme. I might go back to the summaries and start numbering them so that people have an idea of the chronology...of course, the numbering will change frequently as I add in more bits and flesh things out...but that's the best I can do!

Thank you for the positive reaction! I think Lily is always a difficult character to capture, and I'm trying to write her the way I see her in my mind-a little unsure at times, but definitely trying to come into her own after shucking off her unhealthy relationship with Snape. I have a very low personal tolerance for angst in general, so I'm attempting to keep it to a minimum.

Do people like the telling/re-telling from both points of view? I often find myself wondering what James is thinking or what Lily is thinking, and I felt the need to express both here. Not sure if I'll do this every time, but I might.

I think my favorite bit of this is when I have Sirius refer to James as "Prancer." You know it happened.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Please review if you feel the inclination.