Amortentia

A/N: I'm alive! And I'll get to my other stories eventually, I promise. I've just been dealing with some depression stuff, so baby steps, right?

This story is my baby step.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise. (If I did, you can bet he wouldn't have been named Albus Severus… I mean, come on!)

As Lily Evans sat in potions class, she couldn't help but feel a bit sad that such a beautiful face had to belong to someone like James Potter. Some things in life just weren't fair.

Not, of course, that Lily Evans spent any time thinking about Jame—Potter's face. She rarely thought of it at all, she'd swear by it. Sometimes, it just… accidentally walks through her mind. And she definitely wasn't in love with him. The thought was more than bizarre, it was ludicrous! It was completely common knowledge that they hated each other, and despite that interesting feeling she got inside when they called out partners, she certainly wasn't relieved that they were partnered together for the rest of the month.

"Pass me those moonstones, will you?"

"Oh!" She was snapped out of her thoughts, "Of course, I'll just…"

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She was supposed to be the best student in potions, she was certainly Slughorn's favorite, so why did she keep making Ja—Potter do all the work?

And why was he being so bloody casual all the time? How can one person go from being completely and absolutely "in love" all the time, to completely and totally indifferent towards anything she says or does! And… well… okay, it's a little true that she's been telling him off and railing at him every time he so much as spoke to her over the past… hmm… five and a half years? But she never thought he'd really stop loving her… Did she get less attractive going into her sixth year? Or did he really take that giant squid thing to heart? He needed to get over it. She'd said worse, and it was 8 and a half months ago!

Not that she'd been counting of course.

She did think that they'd have a bit of a chance to talk during potions sometimes once they became partners, not that she'd like that of course, but so far he'd barely even looked at her.

"I think you're stirring it the wrong way." Lily stated, glancing over at the oddly colored liquid in the cauldron.

She mentally slapped herself. Yeah, of course, criticizing him is definitely the way to get noticed.

Not that she wanted to be noticed by James.

"No, it says to stir left."

"You're stirring right."

"Right."

"Right."

"Wrong."

"Right."

"Left."

"Stop." He finally said running his fingers through his hair like he always does when he's frustrated… or when he's nervous… or when he's feeling especially arrogant.

Basically all the time actually.

She fiddled her thumbs a bit, a nervous habit she'd developed just around James.

"If you really don't think I'm doing a good job, then you could always step up to help. You're the star student after all." He took a step back, gesturing towards the cauldron for me to finish.

Now if only I'd been paying attention…

Moonstones. He said something about moonstones.

"Well?" He asked, realizing she wasn't going to do anything.

"Why the hell are you so casual?!" Lily snapped at him, seemingly out of nowhere.

She quickly shut her mouth, and was now mentally beating herself to death. Why did she even care what he thought about her anyways?

"Lily, calm down, it's just a potion."

You know what? Screw it.

"I'm not talking about the bloody potion! I'm talking about you, James Middle-Name Potter."

"I'm not sure what you mean?" He looked pretty confused. Of course, he thought, Lily Evans had always been sort of an odd bird. That was why he used to like her, right?

Used too.

He was completely over her though… completely.

And when she crossed his mind, it was just a force of habit. He thought about her not because he liked her or anything. Yeah, he was totally over her. Everyone in the school knew it! Well… maybe not.

She never liked him though. She hates him actually, and so he gave up.

No, not gave up, moved on. Seriously. He'd even considered getting another girlfriend. Besides, maybe she had a right to blow him off. Maybe, and this could be a long shot, maybe James Potter wasn't perfect?

Giving up on Lily was something he needed, and had needed for a long time. It was part of New-James!

New James whose best friend is despised by his family, so much that they kicked him out and he started staying at James' place. New-James who realized that there were bigger problems in the world than what is happening in his little Hogwarts life. New-James who became increasingly aware everyday that there is a war going on out there. A war that claimed the lives of brave people around him everyday, and even though he used to think it was grown-up stuff that didn't apply to him, he was a few months short of being a legal adult.

That was terrifying.

Almost an adult, and still worried about who had a crush on him or not, and who still had an ego the size of a house, and who still thought that Quidditch was the most important thing in life. Not that deciding to be an auror instead of a pro player meant he loved it any less.

And New-James? New-James wasn't in love with Lily Evans.

He wasn't in love with her, even though she spoke her mind like no one else, and never backed down from her beliefs, and wanted to be an auror from the moment she found out about Voldemort and Dark Wizards and prejudice. Lily, who even though DADA wasn't her natural talent, still worked so hard in it that she was the second in the class.

And it just wasn't like her to not put her full mind on the potion while in class.

"You've been completely ignoring me all year!" Her voice was quiet, so as not to be overheard, but her tone was practically shouting.

"Well we've never exactly been friends, Evans."

"Oh, so I'm Evans now."

"That's your name."

"That's not the point!" She shouted, gaining several looks from her classmates.

"That's not the point," She repeated in a whisper. "The point is that…" What exactly was the point? "The point is that…" She sighed, "Never mind."

As frustrated as she'd gotten, in the end she didn't really want a confrontation about her innermost feelings with James.

He coughed awkwardly, pointing to the cauldron and saying "It's bubbling… I think we should add the rose thorns now."

"Oh. Yeah. Of course."

The potion making went on as usual from there.

"Alright!" Slughorn said, beginning to walk towards the first table to look at the potions the students had brewed. "I hope you're all finished. Don't worry if it didn't come out perfectly, I realize that Amortentia is a very ambitious potion, and chances are not all of you got it down perfectly."

As he started walking around, James and Lily both looked down at their pathetic potion. It look just like it should look, but it didn't smell right at all. Amortentia is supposed to smell like the things the person loves most of all, and currently neither James nor Lily smelt anything out of the ordinary.

"There goes our good grade…" James sighed, "Maybe we should have paid more attention to the potion."

As he began cleaning up the supplies, Slughorn walked over. "I'm sure you two had no problems, yours always seem to come out perfectly!"

A look of embarrassment crossed Lily's face. She wasn't used to not doing well in class, and she knew how to brew this potion!

"Incredible!" Cried Slughorn, and Lily and James exchanged confused looks. "This is one of the most perfect Amortentia potions I've ever seen brewed by a student."

"Are you sure?" Lily asked, looking at James again.

"Lily Evans! Always so modest."

"But isn't it supposed to smell like what you love most?"

Slughorn glanced from James, to Lily, back to James again.

Then he just walked away.

Lily gave James an odd look. "Do you… um… smell anything different?"

All Lily smelled was James smelling like he usually does, not that—

Merlin… All she smelled was James smelling how he usually does.

All she smelled was James?

"All I smell is that ridiculous perfume you always wear too much of."

Lily gaped at him. One minute he's ignoring her, then he's insulting her, and she just— Wait.

"James?"

"Yeah?" He replied, expecting her to chew him to pieces for his perfume comment. "I…"

"What?"

"I woke up late."

"And?"

"I'm not wearing any perfume."

"What?"

Then it seemed to hit him. He wasn't as "over Lily Evans" as he thought he was.

"Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you smell?"

She spent several seconds in silence, wondering whether she should tell the truth, because as much as she tried to pretend it wasn't happening, she knew exactly what that smell meant.

"You."

A/N: That's that! It may or may not have been my usual quality, but either way I hope you enjoyed it until I can go back to writing more regularly.

I love everyone who took the time to read this! Please let me know what you thought of it.

Thanks,

-Awesomegirl13