Don't own Harry Potter.

Irresistible
Summary: There's something in Lily's amortentia that she just can't identify.
Pairing: J/L
Word Count: 844
Rating: K+

As Lily filed out of the Potions classroom with the other sixth years, she was still staring over her shoulder at the cauldrons. Well, at the far cauldron, the smallest one, its fumes still swirling in the air. She was so preoccupied, she didn't know where she was going until she'd walked straight into someone's back.

He turned, and smirked. "Evans? You alright?"

"Fine, Sirius," she replied distractedly, her eyes wide as she finally dragged her eyes away from the cauldron. What was that? She knew that.

"You look a little stressed," he replied cheerfully. Remus, who was standing beside him, eyed her curiously.

"Something wrong, Lily?"

She shook her head, wrinkling her nose in frustration. "What did you smell in your Amortentia?" she asked them, hoping that their answers might jolt her brain a bit.

"Coffee," drawled Sirius. "And cigarettes. And petrol."

"Petrol?"

"Petrol."

She blinked at him for a second, and shrugged. She was mildly surprised that he knew what petrol was, before she realized he took Muggle Studies, and found all that sort of thing fascinating anyway. But it didn't help her.

She looked at Remus desperately. "Treacle tart," he told her, shrugging. "And fresh parchment. And cinnamon."

That made her smile - "Cinnamon?" "Yeah, my Mum smells like cinnamon." - but it doesn't help her.

Disgruntled and confused, she made her way up to lunch and took her seat beside her friends, and the boys sat opposite them. She didn't touch her lunch. Instead she stared into space, racking her brains. She knows what she smelled - but she doesn't know where she's smelled it before. It's a whole combination of things, and it had made her brain cloud over with a fuzzy warmth before she realized that she had a goofy smile on her face, like an idiot, in front of the class.

She thought hard, nearly wasting her entire lunch hour pondering over what she had smelled. It unsettled her, for some reason. Eventually she decided to shovel some food down her throat or she'd regret it later, but she was still deeply immersed in her thoughts. At least, she was, until James Potter came running into the Great Hall, skidded to a halt just beside them and leaned over her to pick up a sandwich.

He grinned at them all, said he had to dash, and ran off again. But that didn't matter. Lily had gone rigid, her eyes widening to an alarming extent. His scent - broom polish and coffee and whatever aftershave he used and that distinct boy smell - had hit her like a brick, for the second time this morning.

She gulped, frozen to her seat while her mind went spiralling. It was James Potter she had smelled in her Amortentia this morning. For a start, that was absurd, that was - that was … That made complete sense, and she wondered how she'd not recognized. It had made her feel a little weak, because the boy really did smell good, and for a few minutes she let her mind run away from her, half-formed fantasies springing to mind (all involving them alone, and close enough for her to catch that scent) before she'd even thought about it.

In a daze, she somehow managed to find her way to class.

It was much later in the day before it crossed Lily's mind again. It was late, definitely past midnight, and she was just tidying up her things before she went to bed, rubbing her stinging eyes and peering around in the dim, dying firelight.

It was only the seventh years left now, and she bade them all a weary goodnight before making her way to the staircase. She stopped on the way up the stairs, catching sight of something draped over the back of an armchair.

She picked it up, turning it over in her hands, and flushed when she saw the name 'Potter' emblazoned over the back. Before she could stop herself, she lifted it to her face and breathed in deeply - it smelled just like him, and she bit her lip, feeling her heart constrict in a way that she didn't realize was familiar to her before this moment. In fact, she'd felt it several times before.

The bubble burst after a few seconds, and she looked up to find her classmates - the ones that were left, anyway - peering at her with incredulous, confused expressions.

She flushed immediately, and though her brain was screaming at her not to, her eyes wouldn't listen and found him. He was watching her, one eyebrow quirked. But he didn't seem amused. In fact, the smile he threw her seemed quite genuine and warm, even as the others began to snigger.

"Yeah, it's comfy," he remarked conversationally, as if it was completely normal to find Lily smelling his clothing.He turned back to her and smiled again, and this time she wasn't so surprised to find her heart pounding madly, her stomach fluttering and jittery.

"You can keep it if you like, Evans."

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