A/N : I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter! It came out much longer than i expected and needed editing. It's still very long though. But i hope you enjoy it! :) And it's not that funny but hopefully still entertaining and interesting!

Thank yous to everyone who reviewed, put this story on your list of favourites or alerted it! And thank you FreeElfDobby for being my beta!

Disclaimer : I'm still not J K Rowling... if i was, and if these characters had belonged to me, I would have made James marry me.


The great hall was half-empty when the girls entered it the next morning. They knew they were late but it didn't matter much since none of them were hungry. Only Alice grabbed a piece of toast and soon they were on their way to their first class, Transfiguration. The day started and continued as usual with the teachers piling them with homework. Lily and her friends went from class to class, complaining about the work-load.

But Lily noticed something new that day. It seemed like every time she saw James between classes, he was with Olivia. She saw them walking together, with his friends joining sometimes or trailing behind them, and Lily couldn't help notice that James seemed to be enjoying her company. She didn't know they had become so close. As far as she knew, Olivia was always just a team mate. They hardly exchanged pleasantries except while talking about game strategies. But today, Lily thought, it's like they had always been close friends. Lily knew that there was a possibility that it might be nothing, that were probably discussing their match against Slytherin next week. But it bothered her and it was frustrating that she didn't know why.

Even during lunch, Olivia and her friends sat close enough to the Marauders so they could talk. Alice wanted to sit with her boyfriend Frank so they were sitting faraway. But Lily had a clear view of the Marauders, all of them laughing at the things Olivia and her friends said. Every time she saw them, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and she felt angry at Olivia. And it was frustrating her that she couldn't put a name or reason to that feeing. She hadn't exchanged a single word with James since morning and that added to her disgruntlement.

Things continued this way till the last class. They had Potions with Slytherins and Lily was grateful for the fact that Olivia was not in the NEWTs Potions class.

The dungeons were colder than usual and Lily tightened her Gryffindor scarf around her. She and her friends were the first ones in.

"Good morning, Ms Evans," Slughorn boomed, smiling at Lily as she passed him on her way to their usual seats in the front.

Lily smiled back at him and wished him good morning, taking her seat.

It didn't take long for the class to get filled up. Very few people had got the necessary marks to advance to NEWT level Potions. Lily, her friends, the Marauders minus Peter, and Frank Longbottom, Alice's boyfriend, were the only ones from Gryffindor. Snape and one of his friends Avery and two other Slytherin girls made up the rest of the class.

"Good morning!" Slughorn said, smiling genially at the entire class, "I think you will enjoy today's class very much. We will be brewing Amortentia today."

He paused to let it sink in. Sirius was smirking and James and Remus were trying hard not to burst out laughing. Lily, knowing how difficult it was to brew Amortentia, smiled at the challenge. Seeing Lily's confident smile, her friends quickly grew worried about that day's class.

"As you all know," Slughorn continued, "Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world and very difficult to brew. I hardly expect every single one of you would succeed today. But it is important to have attempted it once before your final exams. And maybe one of will succeed today."

Vera swore later that Slughorn stared for a very long time at Lily with pride shining in his face after saying that.

"You will be working in pairs today. So team up and start working. The instructions are on page 213 in your books. Use the next two hours you have to your advantage."

There was a scuffle of sudents pairing up and hurrying to get their ingredients. Lily turned to her friends but Mary and Vera had already decided to work together and were looking guiltily at Lily.

"Sorry," they mouthed.

Lily rolled her eyes at them. She turned and saw Alice already starting a fire with Frank. She certainly wasn't going to work with Snape. That left her with one of the Marauders. She turned to them only to realize James was facing the same problem as her. She saw Sirius grab Remus' hand and drag him to get the ingredients, James scowling at their backs. She approached James and placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned and, seeing her, smiled down at her.

"Looks like we are stuck together," she said, smiling.

"Your friends too huh?" James said, still smiling, and ran his hand through his hair, making it more messy.

Lily nodded. "Some friends we have huh? Abandoning us like this," Lily said as they went to gather the ingredients.

"I'm not surprised. Sirius has always been a pain and I don't expect he will ever change," James said, his tone teasingly light.

His tone warmed Lily's heart. Even before James matured and cleaned up his act, Lily had always grudgingly admitted that if James Potter had one redeeming quality, it was his intense sense of loyalty and friendship. In fact, all the Marauders had that. No one ever doubted that they would do anything for each other. Sirius was always supported when he was having trouble with his family. Lily knew all about how Sirius now lived in James' house after he ran away from his house, not being able to stand their prejudiced ways. Remus was never shunned away when his secret was discovered. Instead, the others had worked hard to become animagi just so they could accompany him on full moon nights. Lily had been both proud and angry at James the night she found out. It was not a surprise though. She already knew they would risk their lives for a friend. No one lost their patience with how slow Peter was unless they wanted the wrath of the Marauders raining down on them. And James could never have gotten over his uncle's death last year the beginning of the term if not for his friends.

"Would you want him to?" Lily asked, laughing lightly.

James just smiled in reply.

They placed all their ingredients on the table and started a fire underneath their cauldron. As they started cutting and mixing ingredients according to the instructions, they struck up a light conversation. Lily still couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to James. He made her laugh easily and she always forgot the world when he talked. It was like only they existed. His hazel eyes always twinkled brightly when he was telling a funny story and the corners of his mouth were always turned up. His hair fell messily on his forehead and he had the (now endearing) habit of constantly running his hand through them.

"... and then Mum found out Dad was helping us by teaching us some excellent spells. Our neighbour's cat was flashing different colours one second and had all his hair stand up straight like spikes on its back. Our neighbour, Mrs Mitchell, was cursing loudly but she didn't know it was us. And Sirius thought it would be funny to turn into a dog and start scaring the now neon blue cat. The cat went crazy and trampled all over her precious rhododendron bushes. "

Lily was giggling almost uncontrollably now. James was using the 15 minutes they had to watch the potion boil to recount stories of his summers with Sirius.

"Mum was livid when she found out of course," James continued, chuckling, "Started screaming at all of us. Started to say she would never feed us again. Ever. But we could hardly pay any attention because Dad was trying hard not to burst out laughing and we were trying hard not to look at Dad. And when my Mum started to say that she would starve us all, my dad got this sparkle in his eyes and he suddenly went forward and kissed her. We were shocked. Mum went completely red, as red as her hair, and started stuttering. My dad smiled smugly at us and put his hand around her shoulder and led her away, back into the house."

Lily laughed harder at this, leaning on the table to control herself.

"Well now I know where you get your mischievous streak from," Lily said, still giggling uncontrollably.

"What can I say Lily? Potters know how to have fun," he said, winking at her.

"Looks like it," Lily said, her laughter dying down into occasional chuckles. James beamed at her and glanced at their potion.

"Looks like our potion is ready. Now all we have to do is let it cool till it gets a Mother-of-pearl sheen?"

Lily nodded as she put out the fire.

"What do you think you will smell?" she asked, turning to James.

"I dunno.. Probably roses. Mum loves roses and she spends all her time amongst the roses by Dad planted for her."

"Your dad planted roses for her?"

James nodded. "Half our garden is filled the ones he planted. It was a welcome home gift when they first brought the house. Dad surprised her. She has been in love with them since."

"That is so romantic," Lily breathed.

And suddenly, Lily wondered whether James would also do something like that for the girl he loved. And she immediately knew he would. He was the kind who went in the middle of the night in search of treacle tarts and butterbeers if it makes the girl he loves happy. She didn't know why she felt so happy at that realization.

"I think it's done," James said, jerking her out of her thoughts. She looked at the potion and saw that he was right. Characteristic swirls were coming up from the surface of the potion and Lily was immediately drawn to the smell. James slowly tipped some into a flask and nodded at Lily.

"Professor Slughorn!" Lily called out to get the attention of their potions master. Slughorn turned around and, seeing Lily's hand up in the air, made his way towards their table.

"We finished brewing, Professor," Lily said.

Slughorn smiled at her and looked at their potion. He examined it, giving it a stir, and breathed in the scent deeply. His face split into a huge smile.

"Wonderful!" he boomed, beaming at the two of them once his careful inspection was over. "Excellent job, Ms Evans, Mr Potter. Of course, I didn't expect anything less than this. Especially you my dear," he said, referring to Lily, "you are the best in this class after all."

Lily felt her cheeks getting warmer. She smiled shyly and thanked him for the compliment.

"Why don't you announce to the class what you smell. So that the will have an idea what to expect," Slughorn said, still beaming at Lily.

Lily looked at James, meeting his eyes and pleading him to go first.

"I smell," James said, inhaling the fumes emanating from their cauldron, "roses, the smell of the pitch after the rain and... I dunno what the third smell is," he quickly finished, his neck turning pink.

Lily sniggered, wondering what he could smell that was so obviously embarrasing. She knew he was lying about not knowing what the third smell was but decided to ask him later. She leaned forward now and inhaled the fumes of the potion.

"I can smell my mom's cherry perfume, the smell of books and … I think …. oranges?"

The last smell puzzled her. She couldn't place it with anyone or anything she knew. Sure she liked how oranges smell but surely not enough to smell it now. She glanced at James and was surprised to note that he seemed slightly shocked. Lily raised her eyebrow in question. But James didn't seem to notice. She heard sniggering and turned to see Sirius giving her a knowing look. Remus also seemed to be trying very hard not to smile.

Slughorn gave her another smile. "Well done, Ms Evans," he said. Lily wondered what was well done about smelling a potion. "You are coming to the Christmas Party tomorrow in my office?"

Lily nodded, her polite smile suddenly forced. But Slughorn didn't seem to notice. He just smiled jovially and moved away to check on the progress of Snape's potion.

"Don't worry Lily," said James, who had immediately noticed her forced smile, "I'm going too. So you will have plenty of company. Slughorn apparently made sure that I was absolutely free before he set the date. And unfortunately, it had to be for a party for which I need a date. I was wondering who to ask."

Lily had also been thinking about this. She had been thinking of asking James but she kept getting scared. She decided that she would ask him now since they were already on that subject.

"Olivia then came to my rescue," continued James, "She asked me yesterday whether I would go with her. Said she was invited too. So I told her yes. I figured at least if I go with her, I wouldn't be bored. Now I don't have to worry about asking anyone."

"What? Olivia? Olivia Smith? You are going to Slughorn's Christmas party with her?" Lily asked, her tone suddenly a little high, shocked and enraged again for reasons she couldn't explain.

"Yes," James said. He looked at her in concern. "Lily are you alright?"

Before Lily could reply, the bell rang. And Lily suddenly didn't want to stay in the room any longer with James. She grabbed her books and made a run for the door, not even caring to acknowledge her friends calling out her name. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't even understand why her eyes suddenly felt moist or why she didn't want to talk to anyone. She just walked, confused and angry, till she reached the front doors. She opened them and walked out into the cool evening air. Her feet took her to the edge of the lake and she threw her bag on the ground and slumped down.


A/N : Oooh cliffhanger! Did you like it? Please leave a review to let me know what you thought. And to those Sirius fans out there, I can guarantee lots of Sirius and Lily friendship next chapter because I love it! :D (I'm not giving this tidbit to lure more readers. Nope. I'm not desperate)