Chapter 3

On a breezy April afternoon, James and Lily found themselves paired in their Potions class. Professor Slughorn pranced around the class with a smug smile.

"I know many of you have been waiting for this particular lesson. Amortentia is a particularly powerful potion, not only for its transient effects on the drinker but also for the self-discovery it imposes on the preparer. Now, who can tell me the main ingredients of the potion?" Several hands shot up. "Miss Evans perhaps?"

Lily, who wasn't sitting anywhere near Slughorn's current field of vision, rolled her eyes. With a sweet tone, she answer, "But sir I didn't raise my hand. If I answer now it wouldn't be fair to those who so desperately seek to impart upon you how knowledgeable they are."

Half of the room erupted in laughter while the other half, the Slytherins who had raised their hands, grumbled and hissed.

"Oh, very well then," Slughorn did little to hide his disappointment, "Severus, the answer?"

While Severus Snape recited the ingredients from memory, Lily mentally cursed the day's lesson. If there was a potion she had no interest in, it was the love potion. Even James appeared more interested that she was. Each pair started working soon thereafter. The room filled with nauseating fumes, and beads of sweat starting dripping down Lily's neck, periodically distracting James. But Lily only scolded him once for almost swishing his wand clockwise instead of counterclockwise. In fact, since the Amos Diggory ordeal, Lily had been quite civil to him. She hadn't protested as she usually had before whenever they were paired up. And once in the library when he'd ask if the chair in front of hers was taken, she'd even moved her books to the side of the table so that he could sit there. They hadn't talked much, but when the alternative was screaming and fighting, he liked this happy medium.

At last Lily sighed in frustration, "We're not getting it. We should be finished by now. It's the proper color and consistency but the odor is off." She looked sourly at Severus's group, which had already finished cleaning up.

James raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean Evan? It smells wonderful."

"What? No it doesn't. What are you smelling?"

"I smell Quidditch and butterbeer and vanilla." His eyes darkened as he finished.

If he noticed the blush that crept on Lily's cheeks, he chose not to comment. She recovered quickly. "Well I don't smell anything different from what I've been smelling for the past hour since you sat down next to me!" She felt exasperated, but as she finished her sentence her eyes widened.

James was silent for a moment, shook his head as if emptying it of its current thoughts, and responded, "Well maybe you're becoming ill. Do you want me to take you to the Hospital Wing?"

"No that's quite alright Potter, but I think you're right, I'm feeling a little light headed. I think I'll ask to leave early." She started gathering her books without looking at James. Before she made her getaway, he gently grasped her elbow.

"Do you think you'll be feeling better by the Hogsmeade trip this weekend?" Technically he wasn't asking her out again.

She was cautious when she answer. "Yes, I told Marlene and Alice I'd go with them." She held her breath and then asked, "Are you going?"

"Last Hogsmeade trip of the year, I wouldn't miss it. So, maybe we'll run into each other?" It wasn't the question he wanted to ask, but considering how different things had been lately, he didn't want to push his luck. He could tell Lily looked relieved too.

"Yes, I'll probably see you there." She smiled brightly at him, one of those rare, earth-shattering smiles she'd too infrequently bestowed upon him. The first time had been on the Hogwarts Express going to Hogwarts for their second years, when he turned and found her looking at him before he'd seen her, but that smile had vanished rapidly. The second time had been when Sirius had pushed him into the lake in front of the entire Gryffindor fourth year class. He suspected that was why Lily tolerated Sirius. He'd emerged to see her laughing along with the rest of the students, but as his eyes held her gaze, she had stopped laughing and had just smiled at him, almost defiantly. That was the moments he knew he wanted to see that smile for the rest of his days. The third time he'd been so honored was in fifth year before O.W.L.s, when he'd been listening to Remus unload about the strains on his family due to his furry little problem. They'd been in a quiet corner in the library, where James thought they would be away from prying eyes and ears, but when he turned to head out he noticed that Lily had silently set camp on a nearby table. She was looking straight at him with a focused expression. When she saw that he saw her, she gave him that same smile for a brief second but promptly returned to her work. Seeing it again now was unsettling. The Amortentia sure as hell worked, James thought. Her scent had intoxicated him.

Meanwhile in the hallway of the dungeon, Lily cursed the wild beating of her heart. All she'd smelled was James.