Natural Scent
By Eleanor Jane Farrell
James never gave any thought to what he bathed in, as long as it didn't make him smell horrible, he didn't care. This morning, James was asked what shower gel that he was using. He was quite shocked at the question as it was Sirius who asked him about it. James simply replied, "You know what shower gel I use Sirius, you borrow my bottle all of the time."
"No, this is a different one," Sirius insisted, "the one I borrow is pine." James was confused at that statement, he'd only used the pine shower gel… James would have forgotten about Sirius's question if he wasn't asked again by someone else. This time it was Alice, Lily's friend, wanting to know what it was so she could buy her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom, some for his birthday. She looked at him weirdly when he explained it was pine.
* * * *
Later that day, James was sitting in Transfiguration class, idly doodling on a spare piece of parchment while Professor McGonagall lectured the students on how to turn a table into a chair. Beside him, sat Lily Evans, his school crush ever since his first year at Hogwarts. Lily, however, didn't really pay much attention to him, instead, she was always hanging out with Severus Snape, the Slytherin; they used to be inseparable. Things had changed this year though, ever since Snape had called her a 'Mudblood' a couple of months ago, they hadn't been talking. James thought himself lucky as the only seat available, when she walked in, was next to him.
James looked up as McGonagall shouted at Peter, who was sitting in front of him, for not paying attention.
"Pettigrew, it's seems to me that you need a lesson on how to stay focused in class," her stern look made the rat-like boy dry swallow involuntary. "You can see me tonight for detention, maybe then you will learn to listen to what I'm teaching you." The strict woman raised her voice to address all the students in the room, "Take out your homework, anybody who hasn't completed theirs will join Mr Pettigrew for detention." There was a rustle of paper as everybody placed their homework in front of them for the Transfiguration professor to collect in. As she walked past Lily and James's desk, a slight breeze followed her, causing Lily to sniff the air.
"What soap or shampoo are you using, James?" she asked and the blushed a little at the random question. James frowned slightly and looked at Lily in confusion.
"Why does everybody keep asked me that today? First Sirius, then Alice and even Professor Slughorn!" Lily was taken aback at his answer.
"I was just interested…I mean, it smells really nice and I just got a whiff of it when McGonagall walked past," Lily closed her mouth before she could doing anymore rambling, and didn't notice when James rolled his eyes.
"I use pine, but apparently, it doesn't smell like pine." Now it was Lily's turn to frown, but in thought rather than annoyance.
"It smells a bit like musk to me, although, it does smell a little different. Are you sure you're not using musk?"
"I am sure. It says 'pine' on the label."
"Oookay," Lily looked sideways at him then suddenly turned her attention back to the front of the class when Professor McGonagall continued her lesson.
The rest of the lesson appeared to go by fast for James. Transfiguration was his favourite subject and it was what he was best at. However, James squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. Lily kept on sniffing the air around him, it was making him nervous. She had already edged her chair closer towards him, in the period of the lesson, and now James was feeling a bit squashed at the edge of the table. He would, on a normal day, like the attention and the closeness that he had gotten from Lily, however, she was acting rather strangely as she normally would be sitting furthest away possible from him. Lily once again moved closer to him, closing the tiny gap between them. It was a good thing the James was left-handed, otherwise he wouldn't be able to write, he didn't exactly know how Lily was still writing, she hadn't given herself enough space. Finally, the big hand on the clock indicated the end of the lesson and the beginning of lunch. James rushed out of his seat and went to find his friends to explain what had happened.
* * * *
In the Main Hall, James found Sirius and Remus helping themselves to food. Peter was nowhere in sight, James suspected that he was in the library researching animagi as he had yet to transform.
"James!" Sirius called out in greeting. He patted the bench beside him a grabbed a plate for James.
"Hey," James smiled at Sirius as he sat down next to him. "What's for lunch?"
"Sandwiches…or soup and bread," Remus answered.
"Oh, is that all?" James looked at the different flavoured sandwiches and settled with ham. "Is Peter in the library?"
"Yeah," Sirius lowered his voice, "he still needs to transform. Whereas we have our animagus forms…Prongs!" he smiled mischievously at his new nickname for James before turning back to his soup.
"Prongs?" James smiled weakly. "Should I call you flea or the grim? Paws…no Padfoot!"
Remus chuckled and laughed at his two friends in front of him and silently ate his sandwich.
"So, James is Prongs, I'm Padfoot…what about you Remus?"
"Oh, I know, I know! Moony!" James grinned at Remus who just rolled his eyes. "We just have to see what Peter is then we can make up a nickname for him too."
"Peter may not be able to transform," Remus replied seriously, "no offence to him but, he isn't the smartest in our year."
"Aw, he will transform, we'll help him," Sirius nudged James with his elbow, "won't we?"
"Yeah…" James nodded his head before speaking up again. "Remus? Do I smell differently to you?"
"I haven't noticed, why'd ask?"
"Everyone, including Sirius," James shot a smile in his direction, "has been asking me what shower gel I have been using. I've been using pine but according to everyone who's asked me - it isn't pine. Even Lily asked me today in Transfiguration, that was weird, she kept trying to sniff me."
"Lily Evans sniffed you?" Sirius asked before laughing but stopped when James glared at him.
"That is strange," Remus paused to think for a while, "you haven't been using anything different at all?"
"No," James finished his sandwich while he pondered over everything he had done over the last week, "I haven't been using anything new. The only thing that's happened over the last few days is that I transformed yesterday night."
"That's it!" Remus's shout startled the two boys and caused a few students to look at him curiously. "I'll need to look it up in the library to be sure but I think I know why you may smell different. Are you two finished? We can head over there now."
When the boys entered the library, Remus led them the Muggle animals section and began looking for d's.
"Aha!" Remus yanked the heavy book off the self and settled it on a nearby table. "Here we are."
"A book on deer?" Sirius asked with curiosity. "It's got something to do with his animagus form?"
"I think so," Remus's eyes scanned the page while his finger traced the words as he read them. "Here: 'Musk is the name originally given to a substance with a penetrating odour obtained from a gland of the male musk deer, which is situated between its stomach and genitals. The substance has been used as a popular perfume fixative since ancient times and is one of the most expensive animal products in the world.'"
"Oookay…so I get a musk-like scent from my animagus from? That's a little odd."
"Ha, you have a natural scent!" Sirius laughed. "Well, at least I don't smell like 'dog' in my human form!" All three boys found this funny and were glared at by the librarian when they laughed too loudly. Remus placed the book back on the shelf, trying to stifle his laughter.
"Wait 'til Peter hears this!" Sirius gasped. "I wonder if he'll smell too!"
"What are you talking about?" James asked with a sly look. "Peter already smells!"
A/N: This was a plot bunny that gnawed on me until I gave in. The definition of musk is from Wikipedia, I came across it when I was doing one of my random researches, then the idea just came to me. Well, I hope you enjoyed this fic. If you have any questions or criticism please don't hesitate to ask or tell me. :) Thank you for reading!