"James, would you help me out with this?"

Sat at the teacher's desk in her usual place during detention monitoring, Lily was leaning over a small portable cauldron emanating dark green fumes. James sprung out of his seat to approach the desk, delighted to have an excuse to get a break from the apology letters he had to write.

"Sure thing, ma'am. What seems to be the problem?"

Lily shot him a severe glance and James' knees weakened. He made a mental note to call her 'ma'am' more often, if only it would get him to see that look on her face again.

It was the first time he had been alone with her since the inexplicable scene in the infirmary. He still didn't know why she ran or why she had appeared so frazzled.

"This is Amortentia for Slughorn's assignment on love potions and antidotes," she explained. "Is it supposed to be this green at this stage? It looked shinier in the vial he showed us last week."

During their last Potion class, Slughorn had made them each pick a love potion to prepare so they could break down the ingredients and come up with a suitable antidote. One of Amortentia's particularity laid in the fact that its scent was multi-faced and varied from person to person, adopting the aroma of what each found most attractive. It was probably one of the hardest ones to replicate, which had to be the reason why Lily chose it. This year was her first without Snape as a partner, and James suspected she was determined to prove she was better than him. She was stubborn like that.

"The assignment is due in two weeks, why are you making this now?"

"It's due next Wednesday, James."

"Oh. I need to get on that."

"Indeed."

James looked inside the cauldron and grabbed the silver spoon from Lily's hand. He wondered for an instant about what it would smell like for him when it would be complete. The vial Slughorn had shown them was closed, and it was not something James could have smelled in his dad's office. Fleamont Potter was not one to dabble into something as controversial as love potions.

Thankfully, James had read his copy of Advanced Potion-Making so many times he might as well have known it by heart.

"Green is completely fine at this stage. The shine on the potion he showed us was mostly for aesthetics, it's not that important."

Without even thinking about it, he plunged the spoon inside the potion and turned several times counter-clockwise. The liquid bubbled a few seconds before turning a lovely pearl colour.

"The book doesn't mention that at all!" protested Lily, although she looked thoroughly impressed.

James shrugged. The time when he had trusted everything in his school manuals was long gone. When it came to potions, he found that working on instinct often led to better results that blindly following the instructions.

"You're good with the theory, I'm good with the practice," he said simply.

"You would make a great Potion Master," observed Lily.

"What, like teaching? Here at Hogwarts?"

Confused, James tried to decipher Lily's expression. She didn't look like she was mocking him. In fact, she looked rather sincere.

"Yeah, I mean, why not?" she shrugged.

"I've actually thought about this," said James slowly. "And I would probably love it, but only if I didn't have to teach in the dungeons. If they make me work in the dungeons I'm out."

"Too many spiders?" smiled Lily.

"You know it."

They shared a smile expressing a complicity James would have never dared to dream about. Lily's smile was everything and more. Subtle and beautiful, it lit up her whole face, and made her eyes, otherwise so intimidating, look incredibly young and kind.

"Keep an eye on this, don't let your Warming charm fade too much and it should be ready in a few minutes," said James as he got back to his seat.

"You should be a teacher," said Lily in a firm tone. "I've decided."

"Why, ma'am, I don't think what I should do in the future is for you to decide. Godric, I probably won't even get to make that choice myself."

Silence fell between them while they both thought about what James was too tactful to mention. The war. This dark cloud of uncertainty, hovering above their heads wherever they were, whatever they did.

James looked down and went back to his half-finished letter. Apologizing had been easier than he thought, past the initial shock of having to draft the first letter.

He had already made a lot of progress and his writing had become steadier and more genuine. He was on his third letter of the evening and he felt very confident he could finish it and start another one before Lily called time.

At the desk, she was still leaning over her cauldron, attentively watching the liquid bubble. A strand of red hair had escaped her bun and was brushing against her freckled cheek. It took a few long seconds for James to snap out of his contemplative trance.

It wasn't always easy for him to concentrate when she was around. Each of her movement drew his attention and he couldn't help it. There was magic in the way she pursed her lips and furrowed her brows.

"James, tell me," she started, without looking at him, her eyes still fixated on her potion.

"Yes?"

"Is there something between you and Marlene?"

She lifted her head and looked a him, and James' heart had skipped a beat. This was not a question he ever expected to answer, and he found himself uncommonly lost for words. Her breathtaking and imperturbable eyes were fixated on him, and, as it often happened, James felt like she could see right through him.

So what could he tell her really, but the truth? I thought I could love Marlene, I tried to love Marlene, but I can't love anyone the way I love you.

So what could he tell her, really?

"Nothing," he said. "We're friends. She's the captain of my Quidditch team and you know that."

Lily sat back on her chair and crossed her legs underneath her. Her subtle frown told James she wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"Is that why she keeps repeating that there is nothing going on between you two, over and over again, when I've told her countless times I don't care?"

"Probably."

"James?"

"Yes?"

"Tell me the truth."

Her tone was unequivocal. She wanted an answer. James took a deep inhale. What could he tell her, really, but the truth?

"We went on a date. A Saturday in Hogsmeade. It went well and she's a really wonderful person. But I can't see her as anything else than a great friend."

Lily went quiet for a few moments while her eyes drifted back to her cauldron. A lot more bubbles started bursting at the surface, and the spiraling steam grew considerably thicker for no apparent reason.

"I thought you liked me," she said, in an indecipherable tone. It was so quiet James might have missed it if he hadn't paid attention. But he had and he heard. And again, his heart skipped a beat.

"I do."

It was surprisingly easy for him to admit. Never words had been so effortless and true.

"So you get romantically involved with my best friend?!" said Lily, much less quiet now. Somehow, what James had said seemed to have troubled her and she looked agitated. Beside her, her pearly potion looked dangerously close to overflowing. "How is that liking me?"

Her perfect brows were furrowed, expressing a mix of confusion and something James interpreted as anger.

"I'm trying to move on from you, isn't that what you want?" he said, raising his voice maybe a little bit more than he should. He didn't understand her.

"Not with my best friend, no I don't!"

And suddenly James caught himself hoping. Hoping that maybe Lily wasn't angry about Marlene. Hoping the reason why she was reacting so strongly was that she didn't want him to move on. Because he didn't want to either.

A loud hissing sound suddenly filled the room, distracting the both of them from what was starting to become a full blown argument. The charm Lily had casted earlier, supposed to kept her potion warm, had tripled in intensity and the cauldron now looked boiling hot. Lily's raw passion translated too easily into power. She quickly drew her wand and directed it at her potion, stopping the Amortentia from boiling over at the last second.

"So you do care," James said quietly. His voice echoed in the empty room.

"I don't," replied Lily, and the lie was visible in her eyes.

James looked away. He didn't understand her. And given the way she was acting, and how her own magic escaped her control, there was a chance she might not understand herself either.

"Is it ruined?" she asked. "The potion, I mean?"

"No. It'll be more liquid, that's all. The only important thing was to not let it get cold, and I think you got that covered."

Lily chuckled and didn't try to counter James' dig at her magical outburst. She had an embarrassed smile on her face, and James could tell she regretted having lost control over a charm she usually excelled at, so he didn't mention it again.

The steam of the cauldron had filled the room, and the maddening perfume was everywhere. James put down his quill as he tried to pinpoint exactly what the scent reminded him of.

"What does it smell like to you?" said Lily suddenly. She was apparently desirous to move on from their argument and James couldn't blame her.

"It smells like... like the Forbidden Forest after it rains, the Quidditch locker room and... apples, maybe?"

"Intense."

"Yeah."

"Quidditch locker room?"

"Yeah, I don't know either."

Lily tried to hide her smile behind her hair she had untied but James knew her too well. Her lit up eyes gave her away every time.

"What's it smell like to you?" The question fell from James' lips before he even knew he wanted to ask.

Lily replied without a second of hesitation, as if she had been preparing her answer for a while.

"Hot chocolate."

"That's it?"

She nodded and transfigured an old quill into a vial, in which she poured a few ounces of her potion. James watched her attentively. She couldn't possibly be telling the whole truth, but there were dozens of reasons as to why she might not want to tell him, so he tried to put it behind him.

"I'm sorry about Marlene," he said.

He didn't want to talk about it again, nor did he mean to upset Lily once more, but somehow he felt like this conversation was necessary.

"Don't be," she answered, barely looking up from the vial she was twisting in her fingers. "She's a great girl. She'll make you really happy."

"Lily," said James firmly. "Marlene and I are friends. We're going to stay friends, I've told you this already. I don't want anything more with her."

Lily looked up, and she looked so grateful, so enchanting, that James fell in love with her all over again.

"Promise?"

"Promise."