"I told you. She hates me Sirius," said James, trying yet again to convince his best friend it was a hopeless plan.
Sirius grinned, "-And I told you, I could fix that…"
"I don't see how," grunted James.
"Patience my dear Prongs, patience. I have just the thing," said Sirius pulling out a gigantic book from underneath his bed. Flipping through the pages of the old volume and sending dust flying everywhere, he found what he was looking for and shifted it onto James's bed.
James wrinkled his nose as the strange smell that old books usually had reached his nostrils. Looking at the cover he dictated, "'The Wizard's Handbook of Complicated Potions.' Where'd you get that from?"
"Old Wizard's Second Hand Bookshop in Diagon Alley," Sirius replied, "mum got it, she thought it would help with my Potions grades," he grimaced.
"And what was it you wanted to show me?"
Sirius grinned and started reading the text on the page that was open. "The Amor-are Potion, also called the Liking Potion, is a milder form of the Love Potion. When brewed properly, the affects it has on the victim are likely to show a definite change in the person's behaviour towards others.
Many who have taken the potion have been noted to be more tolerable towards others, particularly their enemies, and have a definite fondness to the person they see soon after they take the potion.
The Amor-are Potion was used particularly in the Middle Ages to settle disputes among people and keep the Kingdom running peacefully. Although not as hard to concoct as the love potion, it is still a most complex potion to brew and should be performed with the utmost care. A step by step guide and explanation on how to make the Amor-are Potion can be found on Page 689."
"And you're planning to brew this potion?" asked James.
"Absolutely…" said Sirius.
"You're joking," replied James, shaking his head, as he turned to page 689. "This is going to be really hard to make, and what if something goes wrong? I don't know, sounds a bit risky…"
"Fret less James, we can do it…we learnt how to become animagi in fifth year…a little potion compared to that is nothing. Besides it'll make our revenge on Lily a whole lot easier! She'll be absolutely clueless on what's going on…"
"Ok then…" said James, resigned. This plan wasn't such a bad idea after all…
"Spiffing…lets get brewing. I think most of these ingredients can be found in the students potions supply cupboard. We can transfigure the rest of the stuff we can't get; you're the best person at transfiguration at this school! Bring your textbook would you? That's it, come on…I know the perfect place where we can make it!"
James ran to catch up with his friend as the two of them set out to get what was needed.
***
Lily was becoming extremely suspicious at the furtive glances James and Sirius kept giving her while they were in the Great Hall for dinner. It was clear they were up to something, she thought, as she caught James shiftily looking in her direction.
She stared at the James long and hard, he was sitting directly across from her, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. That confirmed it; something was going on… She sighed and took a sip of pumpkin juice.
Suddenly she felt a very gentle change come upon her, she smiled inwardly, looking around the hall and sighed, she caught sight of James. He was looking down. She had a very warm feeling come across her, she giggled slightly and blushed.
James edgily looked at Sirius; he didn't think that this was supposed to happen. He raised a questioning eyebrow at his friend and saw Sirius smirk in reply. He got up quickly and Lily followed suit smiling, this was too much for Sirius, and he started laughing.
Getting apprehensive, James grabbed Sirius by the ruff of his neck and marched with him out of the great hall.
"Sirius," James hissed, "what's going on? This isn't supposed to happen…"
Sirius shrugged, clearly still amused. "Your guess is as good as mine James…"
"You git," James said through gritted teeth, "I told you to go easy on the rose petals when we were putting the ingredients in! I knew you'd put too many in! You've made her take a Love Potion…not an Amor-are Potion! And you put that stuff in her goblet…and now she's going all giggly on me! You saw the way she was acting just then…I don't like this…"
"Well Jamsey…all I can say is…rather you than me!" Sirius said trying not to smirk more.
"James-" came a sweet female voice.
James stood transfixed and horrified on the spot as Sirius slipped away.
Oh no, he groaned, he was ruined!
Turning around he saw the pretty Head Girl come up to him and reach for him, he shut his eyes, willing for it all to be all a bad dream…this wasn't happening! He thought desperately. He felt a pair of arms go around his middle and flinched. Looking down he saw her beaming up at him, green eyes alight, slowly she leant her face over to his and planted a kiss on his cheek.
***
"Sirius give me that sodding book of yours!" snapped James irritably, later that night in the seventh year boys' dormitory.
"Say the magic word Jamesy…" replied Sirius.
"Don't play around, I need to find a way to try and fix up this mess I'm in, thanks to your over measurement of those bloody rose petals!"
Sirius shrugged and passed the book to James, as Remus enquired to what was going on.
James sighed. "You tell him," he told Sirius.
He flicked through the pages as Sirius gave an animated retelling of what had happened, finally he found the Love Potion, and skimmed through the text until he reached a paragraph that made his heart stop.
The Love Potion was declared illegal to brew, under ministry regulations in 1756. There is no known potion or spell that can reverse the Love Potion. The only proven way that is able to terminate the effects of the potion is if the person who the victim is in love with falls in love with the victim themselves. That is why the Love Potion is declared useless by many, because people who actually brew the potion themselves are in love with the victim, and as soon as the subject takes the potion, it wears off a few hours later. Only in accidental cases, is the potion truly effective and sometimes long term.
I'm going to kill Sirius, thought James whilst giving his friend a sinister look.
Without another word, he blew out his candle and pulled his hangings in. Huffily he lay down in bed, thinking that he would never play a bad joke on someone as long as he lived. Now the joke was on him…and he didn't like it at all.
***
Meanwhile Lily was humming softly into her pillow without a care on the world. Her thoughts were on James Potter, she didn't know why, but all of the sudden she was thinking of nothing else except the dark haired boy. Smiling to herself she closed her eyes and dreamt.
