Of Chocolate and Raindrops

Of Vanilla and Roses

Friday, October 7, 1977

Lily woke with a start, her heart racing. Where was she? She wasn't in her bed, in her common room. This room was smaller, with more than one bed, and– it was her old dorm room. She had forgotten that she had spent the night with Marlene, Alice, and Mary. She laid back against the pillow again, breathing hard.

As she calmed herself, her mind was still left with the recycled images of Death Eaters standing above her, a flash of green light, and then nothing. She wondered if she was going crazy. Four identical nightmares in four days was not something you would expect from a healthy teenager.

She heard a cough from the bed next to her. She whirled to her right, nearing leaping out of bed. Marlene rolled her eyes. "Lil, chill out. It's 6:30 in the morning. There's nothing to be scared of yet."

When she saw Lily grin weakly instead of laugh, she paused. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lily tried to put more effort into her smile. "Yeah, I'm just tired."

"Because that totally explains why you've been screaming in your sleep. It also explains why you have purple bags under your eyes that are almost bigger than your eyes."

Lily looked away.

Marlene slid out of bed and sat next to Lily on the bed, wrapping her arms tightly around her. "I can help, Lils. You just have to tell me what's going on," she spoke softly.

Lily dropped her head into Marlene's shoulder and shuddered. "It's really nothing. I promise."

Marlene sighed, and leaned her head on Lily's.

Lily just felt tired.

...

James walked into Potions with Sirius by his side (as usual).

"Okay but seriously, Prongs, what's the worst that could happen if we used permanent sticking charms on the Slytherins' chairs?"

James thought for a moment. "We'd get another detention, probably."

"Exactly!" Sirius smacked James' forehead. "It's the perfect plan!"

James shoved him. "Yeah, but we have to be more creative. Permanent sticking charms have been done before. People expect more from us. We have a reputation to uphold!"

Sirius groaned. "Why do you have to make sense? You're starting to sound like Moony."

James flicked him in the neck. "Let me live, Padfoot. One of us has to be smart, and it's obviously not going to be you,"

They took their seats near the back of the room, and James threw his bag onto the wooden table.

The two of them sat in silence for a few more moments as more students filtered into the room. James saw Marlene and Lily enter last, which was a bit uncharacteristic for both of them. He made a mental note to ask Marlene about it later. The two of them sat down in the only empty desk in the room, near the front.

Slughorn raised his eyebrows at the two of them. "Now that Miss McKinnon and Miss Evans have graced us with their presence, we can get started." He clapped his hands, smiling at the class. "Today, we will be making a tricky little potion that I'm sure a lot of you have heard. It bewitches the senses, putting the drinker in a captive state, where they won't even realize they've been taken. It is perhaps the most dangerous potion I have ever come across." He smirked at the class again, pleased with how he had caught their attention. "Today, we will be brewing amortentia."

The class was silent for a few moments. A few Slytherin boys towards the back snorted.

"Come on now, Jefferies, I think you'll enjoy this quite a bit," Slughorn winked. "I will also be choosing partners for this potion."

The class groaned in unison.

"Alright." He surveyed the class. "McKinnon and Lupin. Snape and Pettigrew. Potter and Evans. Black and Parkinson. Jeffries and Zabini..." he kept going until he had rattled off every name in the class. "Find your partner and gather your materials."

James stood up and looked down at Sirius, who was groaning in his seat. "Sorry, mate, but I think Lily is going to sit there."

"Screw you," Sirius muttered. "I have to work with a Slytherin."

James rolled his eyes. "Fine." he huffed good naturedly, picking up his bag and moving towards Lily's table.

"Hey," he smiled at her, taking Marlene's spot. Marlene stuck her tongue out at him and left.

She smiled wanly. "Hey."

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"Yeah. I'm just tired." she replied.

Tired was an understatement. Her face was almost translucent, with the only color a deep shade of green purple under her eyes that resembled a bruise. Her eyes unfocused every time there was a break in the conversation, or anything happened that didn't require her attention.

"You should take a nap after classes today," James suggested.

Lily yawned. "Maybe,"

"You have 90 minutes left!" Slughorn grinned.

"Should we start?" James asked.

"Yeah," Lily stood up, and started moving to the front of the room. James started to heat up their cauldron. He started boiling water in it, and when Lily came back, she began cutting up the ashwinder eggs.

James worked silently, sprinkling powdered moonstone into the cauldron. The next hour passed quickly, and soon their potion took on a shimmery lavender color. Slughorn passed their table and he grinned widely. "Excellent job, James and Lily. Let it simmer for a few more minutes and see if you can start to smell anything."

James grinned, and looked at Lily. "Can you smell anything yet?"

She laughed. "Let me see." She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. She frowned slightly. "I smell books, and my parents' house." she breathed in again. "I smell... something familiar. I don't know what it is, though. It smells of chocolate and raindrops. A mixture, though." She opened her eyes. "What smells like chocolate and raindrops?"

James didn't say anything.

...

Lily looked at James. "What did you smell?"

He looked down at the ground, unwilling to meet her eyes. "It smells like coffee, and my mom's gingerbread. And–" he looked up at her. "vanilla and roses."

Lily nodded. "Those all smell really nice." she yawned. Her brain felt muddled.

"Yeah," James responded, looking relieved. "They do," 

A/N: I feel like it's getting really repetitive  with me apologizing for how long it took me to update at the end of every chapter. I'm sorry about that. Anyways, there's some big stuff coming up here, so I hope you're prepared. This was sort of the beginning. Until next time, dear readers. I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)