Amorentia

"Alright class, today we shall be brewing a potion called Amortentia." said Professor Slughorn. "Now, can anyone tell me what this potion does?"

A lone hand appeared in the midst of the students.

"Yes Miss Evans?"

"The Amortentia potion is one of the strongest love potions known to our kind. When the potion is complete, it should be a light pink, like the colour of Droobles Best Chewing Gum, and you will smell your favorite scents, sometimes not even knowing what they are because they are the scents that surround the person you are in love with." explained Lily.

"Excellent explanation, Miss Evans, ten points to Gryffindor." awarded Slughorn. "Now, the instructions are on the board; please begin."

Once Lily's potion was complete, she scooped some into a vial, labeled it and got up to hand it in. As she rose from her seat, she caught a whiff of freshly cut grass, wind, and a heaven scent. Not thinking anything of it, she handed her vial in and made her way to the Great Hall for lunch with her best friend, Alice.

As they were eating, the Marauders walked by and Lily recognized the scent she smelled in her potion that morning.

"Alice, do you smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"That."

"You're going to have to be more specific Lils." said a confused Alice.

"It's like freshly cut grass, wind, and heaven." explained Lily.

"Well, the grass and wind smell is probably because James and Sirius just walked by and they were just at the Quidditch Pitch, but I don't know about the heaven smell. How do you know what heaven smells like anyway?"

"Well, I don't. Not really. I mean, I first smelled it in Transfiguration yesterday when the Marauders walked by, and then I smelled it in my Amortentia potion today, and just now again."

"So... you're saying that you're attracted to the way the Marauders smell?" laughed Alice.

"Shut up Alice! And no, just one of the marauders. I need your help. We have to sneak into the Marauders dormitory when they're not there and smell their cologne to see who it is that I'm supposedly in love with."

"Alright, I'll help, but you owe me big for this."

"Thanks Alice."

As Lily and Alice made their way to Charms, Lily was deciding when the best time to sneak into the marauders dormitory was.

"Okay, so our best bet is to do this when we have a free period and the Marauders have Defence Against the Dark Arts." explained Lily.

"We better not get caught for this." said Alice, "I have a date with Frank this afternoon and I don't want to be late."

"Don't worry Alice, everything will go without a hitch."

Oh, how wrong she was.

Lily and Alice were sitting on the couch by the fire in the Gryffindor common room putting on a charade of doing their homework (which they actually did on most days, but today is not most days) while waiting for the bell that signals the beginning of class.

BRRIIINNG!

"Good, that's our signal. Ready Alice?" Lily asked.

"How can I help you with this when I don't even know what 'heaven' smells like?"

Lily thought for a moment, and replied, "You can be my look out... just in case one of them decides to come up."

"Okay, how will I warn you?"

"How about a patronus?" Lily suggested.

"Alright, sounds good."

"See you soon Alice."

'Oh, Merlin. If it's any of the marauders, I hope its Remus. I can't see myself with Sirius or Peter... ugh. Hmm... I don't suppose James would be that bad, I mean he is Head Boy this year... mmm and those lips. Alright, so maybe James.' thought Lily as she made her way stealthily up to the boys' dormitories.

When she entered the room, she saw that it was almost identical to the girls' dormitory except for the fact that you couldn't see the floor for all the clothes, parchment, broken quills, and other miscellaneous items that were strewn around the room.

She decided that she would start at the farthest end of the room and make her way back to the door, so that if she had to escape quickly she would be able to make it down quicker. When she reached the fourth four-poster she found a half eaten sandwich on the nightstand along with a small bottle of cologne.

'Ugh. Must be Peter's bed.' she thought as she removed the lid to smell the cologne. 'Nope, definitely not that one.'

As she moved on to the bed on the left hand side she noticed that it was much cleaner around this space.

'Must be Remus.' When she found the cologne bottle beside a pile of books she knew her assumption was correct. She took a quick whiff. 'Not that one either.'

Lily continued on her way to the next bed on the right side of the room again. She managed to locate the cologne in the nightstand drawer where she found a brush and some muggle forms of protection. She carefully removed the bottle trying not to disturb anything and removed the lid.

'No, it's too sweet... oh Merlin... this can't be good.'

She moved to the last bed in the room. The one closest to the door. Just as she picked up the bottle, the door burst open. It was James, by a stroke of luck.

"Lily?! What are you doing in here?" asked a confused James. "And why are you holding my cologne?"

"Uh... well, you see... uh..." Lily stammered.

'Should I just tell him the truth?' she debated. 'He won't mind.'

"We brewed Amorentia in Potions today and I smelled this smell that I had smelled the day before in Transfiguration when you and your mates walked by and so I thought I'd figure out who's it was." explained a sheepish Lily.

"Isn't Amortentia that love potion? The one that tells you the scent of the person you love?" asked James with a hopeful expression on his face.

"Ye- yes, it is." stuttered Lily.

"And? Did you find the cologne yet?"

"No."

"Hmm... have you smelled that one yet?"

"No... What are you doing up here anyways? Don't you have class?" Lily asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, but I forgot my DADA notes."

"Oh. I see." said Lily. "James?"

"Yeah?"

Lily set the bottle back down onto James' nightstand and approached him. She leaned up and kissed him lightly, then wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest, breathing in his scent.

"Definitely the one." she voiced out loud. She then looked up at him and smiled.

James looked at her in amazement.

"So, you- you're in love with me?"

"That's the way it seems." teased Lily, smiling.

"Lily, uh, do you want to go out to Hogsmade with me this weekend?" James asked nervously.

"Yes." she answered with a smile and another kiss. When she broke away, she then added:

"Now, let's go see where Alice is, because she was supposed to warn me if one of you were to come up... not that I'm complaining."

When they reached the common room she didn't have to look far to find Alice. She was sitting on the couch snogging Frank. They broke apart when they had a feeling that someone was watching them.

"Oh, hi there Lily, James... wha- whats going on?" Alice asked, blushing.

"Well, Alice, because you failed to warn me," Lily said, raising her eyebrows. "James and I now have a date... so I suppose I should thank you for that... but-"

Before Lily could finish, James brought his lips to hers in a chaste kiss, but then deepened the kiss so that Lily wouldn't be able to resist. They separated, due to lack of oxygen.

"Wow, I know I shouldn't be surprised, but wow, that was amazing." Lily said grinning.

James just chuckled and grasped her in a hug.

If she told herself truthfully, she would have known that the smell was all James, so really, she knew it all along.

Authors Note: This is probably my longest story yet, so I'm elated over that. I'm sorry that I use the whole heaven smell over and over again, but really, if you smelled it, it would be your favourite smell too. Lol. Well, thanks for reading...reviews are awesome, so leave one please and tell me how I did. Thanks!

-Tasha27