Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, there is sexist, racist, and transphobic beliefs along with plans to violate personal autonomy via nonconsensual drug (potion) use. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Severus Snape is a very gross kind of unreliable narrator. Please remember what kind of people become Nazis and take this kind of behavior as warning signs. If you are any kind of fan of Severus Snape, this fic is not for you.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Rainbow Focus; More than England; Potions Aren't Consent; Feast; Clowder; Fluent in Sarcasm; Love Language; Point of Know Return; Gryffindor MC (x4); Slytherin MC; Bow Before the Blacks; Sett to Destroy; Brush; Unaccompanied Minors; Seeds; Shipmas; Ways to the Heart; No Proof; Obstinate, Headstrong Girl; Minerva's Migraine; Interesting Times; Old Shoes (Y); Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; Gender? Who That?; Hold the Mayo; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; No Punny Business; Two Cakes!; Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 12 – Assignment 4
Subject (Task No.): Ancient Studies (Task#1: Write about unrequited love/infatuation.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [883] (Amortentia); 365 [195] (Love); Gwen's Candy Shop [Bowl 2](Synesthesia – Taste/Colors); Baking King Cakes [Step Three](Cream Cheese)(Powdered Sugar/Cocoa)
Other MC4A Challenges: Wi Bingo [1D] (Evergreen); Winter Medium 2 (Ceramic Mug)
Representation(s): James/Lily; the Marauders as family; unrequited Severus/Lily; Black Lily Evans with Synesthesia
Bonus Challenges: Fruit Fly; These Boots; Second Verse (Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Zucchini Bread; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Car in a Tutu; For the Vine; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Muck & Slime; Casper's House; Hot Apple; Under the Bridge; Lettuce Hold Hands; Over the Hills); Chorus (Pear-Shaped; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Turtle-Duck; Sitting Hummingbird; Soul-Like; Hot Stuff)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: T3 (Toad); SN (Rail; Intercept); FR (Liberation); O3 (Oust); TY (Enfant); SHoE (Brood); DP (Yearn)
Word Count: 1305

(^^)
Wasn't Me
(^^)

Severus Snape stirred the potion he was brewing carefully. It wouldn't do to ruin the brew and waste the precious ingredients that he had been pilfering from the student cupboard for the last three months. That was not even considering the few ingredients that he had to smuggle into the school. Ashwinder eggs were not cheap either, and it had taken a while to earn the galleons to purchase them. Unfortunately, the eggs were a vital part of all love potions, Amortentia most of all.

He did wish that it hadn't come to this.

Severus loved Lily. She was precious to him, a beautiful bright spot in his otherwise dreary life. She was his ebony goddess, his African queen. Of course, he loved her, even when she was trying his patience like she currently was. He had given her plenty of time to calm down about his little slip of the tongue after their OWLs. She was normally more willing to be reasonable about things like that. After all, it wasn't like he truly held her heritage against her. She couldn't help it any more than he could.

But this time, she didn't take back her cruel fit of temper. This time, she started associating more with those blasted Marauders, even if she kept Pettigrew at arms' length. Not that Lupin and Black were much better, of course. He had even heard a rumor about Black disgracing his family by going around in dresses and how that was the real reason that the Blacks had thrown him out. Yet Lily seemed to have befriended the defect. Why, she had even started dating Potter, as if she had not already punished Severus enough!

Glancing down at his cauldron, Severus saw that the potion had thickened to the correct amount. It had also taken on a uniformed color that was the exact shade of Lily's green eyes. The scent rising from the brew reminded him of the boxwood hedges that surrounded the park where he had met Lily. He smiled wanly at the memory of hiding among those evergreen bushes while he watched Lily argue with her much paler sister about showing just how powerful a witch Lily was.

No one appreciated Lily like he did. He was actually doing her a favor by giving her this nudge—and that was all he was doing here. He was slipping her the bit of Amortentia as a reminder of things, that was all. He knew that Lily loved him just like he loved her.

She just needed to be reminded of that.

(^^)

The first thing that Lily noticed as odd was the slightest bit of gold in the flavor of her coffee. She frowned but quickly dismissed it. It could be anything, even something as simple as a new house elf taking charge of brewing the coffee for the Gryffindor table. That had always been something she hated about her sensory cross. Tasting colors sounded fun and exciting until one realized just how annoyingly sensitive it can be.

Coffee, for example, should be a uniform royal purple. Adding cream lighted the shade just like it lightened the color of the coffee itself. Sweeteners had many different effects depending on what they were. Her favorite sweetener was honey, which made these tiny bursts of silver dance across her tongue. Coffee made with magic (or really, any food made with magic) tended to have traces of whatever color the creator would taste like if Lily was to lick their skin. So having her coffee suddenly taste a bit gold wasn't anything concerning.

"Good morning, O blossom of my heart," James said as he settled into a spot next to her. He immediately reached for the oatmeal to serve himself a portion, just like he did every morning. Out of habit, she passed him the serving bowl of mixed berries, just like she did every morning. Sitting down her mug, she turned to meet James in the same chaste kiss they shared every morning.

And promptly gagged.

"Oh, god," she muttered through clenched teeth as she battled the urge to vomit. The trace of gold from before felt like it was exploding through her. Her mind screamed in protest as the urge to grab onto James and never let go violently conflicted with the sudden desire to do the same with Severus Snape, despite how their friendship had been brutally murdered by his bigotry. The gold snarled as it fought within her. "Oh, gods, I can't—I'm going to—"

She barely twisted enough to spill the contents of her stomach onto the floor between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables instead of over the table or James. Tears streamed down her face from the force of it. She was barely aware of what was happening around her, sensing only a flurry of movement past the sickly yellow from the bile taste lingering in her mouth. As her stomach continued its attempt to turn itself inside out, the only thing that kept her from falling into the sick was a pair of strong arms and the soft scent of English ivy that could only belong to Sirius.

"Unhand my girlfriend right now, mutt," Severus snarled nearby. Lily shuddered at his words and pressed closer to Sirius. She just felt so sick and to make matters worse, having Severus so close made the gold thrash like a wild beast demanding its due. "She needs me."

"She's not your girlfriend, Snivellous," James responded hotly. "She's my girlfriend. And the only thing she needs is to see Madam Pomfrey. This is not natural."

"Maybe she's just finally realized who she loves more," Severus snapped. "Go on. Ask her. Lily, don't you love me?"

"She hates you—"

"I do," Lily choked out, fighting back a sob. She hiccupped instead. "God help me. I love him so much."

"See?" Severus gloated. Lily buried her face into Sirius' shoulder as Sirius' fingers played with the thick twists near the back of her head. "She loves me, Potter. Call off your mutts and give me my girlfriend."

"What did you do to her?" Remus growled from across the table. "What did you do?"

"I did nothing, mutt," Severus argued, putting enough stress on the insult for Lily to realize, even as sick as she still felt, that he had to know about Remus being a werewolf. "I would never hurt Lily. I love her." Lily felt like throwing up again. "Don't be a sore loser, Potter. The better man always wins in the end."

"Lily, I'm gonna hex your boyfriend until he agrees to break up. Hope you don't mind," James said. Just the sound of his voice in that tender tone made her shiver like she had decided to take a dip in the Black Lack during January. "Sirius, get her to the Hospital Wing. Remus—"

"I'm backing you up, Prongs," Remus interrupted in a dry tone. "Lily would have my head if I let you duel in the Great Hall in front of all and sundry by yourself, and frankly, she scares me more than you."

"Damn skippy," Lily confirmed weakly as Sirius scooped her up and stood in a single motion. She felt like a puppet that had had its strings cut. Through it all, the gold from before ripped into her.

"Did you know," Sirius said conversationally as he carried her towards the stairs, "that Amortentia can make someone sick if they're already completely in love with the one that Magic designed for them?"

"You don't say," Lily drawled. She just wanted the freaking colors to go away already. She could almost physically feel Sirius about to make some kind of pun that would be wildly inappropriate for their current situation.

"Guess that makes you love-sick, huh?"

God, she hated being right.