Turning Point

Unrequited Jily. Sirius tries to help James with his girl problems but somehow the joke ends up on him.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): Hopscotch

Prompts:

time turner (word)
Armotentia (potion)
red (word)

Word Count: 616

"Amortentia" Sirius said, pulling a small vial of silvery liquid from his robes. "It's the only sure way."

He uncapped the bottle and waved it under James' nose, laughing as the other boy groaned slightly at the scent.

"Sirius no! I am absolutely not letting either of you drug Lily Evans" Remus' exasperated voice, always the voice of reason, came from beside James. "It is totally unethical. Not to mention unreliable. The potion would only grant you a few hours."

"A few hours is all you need" muttered Sirius with a wink at James. He was lounging on the sofa while James paced in front of the hearth, his hair messy as the boy kept running his hands through it frustratedly. "No it's not! I want her to actually like me!"

Remus frowned suddenly, finally looking up from his book. "Where did you even get that Sirius? I thought it was banned outside of the potions classroom."

In reply Sirius simply tapped the side of hid nose knowingly. "I'm afraid I simply cannot reveal all of my secrets to you. Who knows what you'd do if you could get your hands on some of this."

Remus turned back to his book, ignoring the list of inane ideas Sirius continued to come up with.

"If you had enough firewhiskey-"

"Sirius stop!" Remus, finally irritated enough to do something, slammed his book shut and sat up. "James might as well try and get his hands on a time turner and go back three years, if he really wants to convince Lily he's not a complete idiot."

"Would that work?" James' voice, somewhere between hopeful and desperate rejoined the conversation. Remus huffed a sigh and stood up, briskly walking away.

"I'll leave you two to your idiocy. Some of us actually want to write that essay for Runes."

Once Remus had gone, James slumped down into the recently vacated seat. "It's hopeless. She's never going to like me."

"Come on mate!" Sirius looked concerned by his best friend's defeatist attitude. It was rare that James got so down in the dumps, Lily was the only one who could drag him down and even then he usually managed to plaster a grin on his face and shrug his shoulders at his defeat.

James only looked at him through hollow eyes. "I love her Padfoot"

"I can't stop thinking about her. Have you seen here eyes? I could drown in her eyes. And her hair. It's so red and beautiful and-" James gestured helplessly. "And I have to watch that stupid Ravenclaw put his hands all over her and stare into her eyes and he gets to run his hands through her hair. It's so bloody unfair!"

Sirius didn't really know how to console his friend. Sure, he knew what it was to be desperate for a girl, but there was always another one. It didn't make sense to be so hung up on one person, but Lily had always been special to James.

"C'mon Prongs. You gotta pick yourself up. Is Lily going to fall for you if you just sit around here moping? Or will she fall in love with the charming witty guy I know you are."

James sat up suddenly and grinned, his earlier worries melting away as he realised a new opportunity to rib his best friend had just dropped into his lap. "You think?"

"Sure." Sirius shrugged, a little uncomfortable with the sly smile on James' face.

"Aw Padfoot, I didn't know you were so sappy. You know, I will quote you on that until the day I die!"