Jily

Chapter 8

Lily's POV

"Hello, class. Today we will be learning how to brew Amortentia." Professor Slighorn announced to his students, impatient and eager to do magic, "Does anybody know what Amortentia is?"

The only people who knew the answer was me and James. Our arms shot up simultaneously and Professor Slughorn smiled at our cunning.

"Potter. What is the answer?" He asked

"Amortentia is the strongest love potion in the world. However, it does not create real love, only a strong infatuation."

"Correct, Mr. Potter! Good Job! Now, does anybody know what Amortentia smells like?" The professor questioned his class.

This time, only my arm shot up and Professor Slughorn instantly called on me, without hesitation.

"Amortentia smells like whatever the individual finds the most appealing." I recited verbatim from our Advanced Potions textbook.

"Very good, Miss Evans! 10 points for gryffindor!" The plump professor said, clapping jovially "Now, I want everybdoy to get with a partner and brew a vial of Amortentia. The first set of partners to successfully make this creation will get a prize. Go!"

And with that, students all around the room leapt up and quickly joined their friends, anxious to win the prize. James immediately jumped to me, bombarding me, begging me to be his partner, and leaving a surprised Remus to work with Peter. I hesitated before agreeing with the shaggy haired boy, after my James-Potter-related qualms from the two earlier days, I wasn't positive that it was smart to be working with him, but there weren't many other options and James was one of the smartest kids in the class. We got to work right away.

We crushed, stirred, and melted the ingredients for the potion, ashwinder eggs, rose thorns, peppermint, powedered moonstone, and other ingredients that were in the room. The two of us joked quietly the entire time, enjoying each other's company for once, a nice change.

As much as I resisted the thought and denied the truth, I really did like to be in James' company. He just seemed to be a very care-free, kind, entertaining person now, and it definitely helped that he was easy on the eyes... I really need to stop thinking these things...

There was very little pressure on us as we brewed the complex potion so we made it easily and were nearly done as class was coming to an end. Nobody had finished yet, but we were close. As I looked around the room at our competition, I noticed that Sev was almost finished with his potion, too. I frowned. We couldn't let him win.

I turned to James, a serious look plastered on my face, "Let's win this." Then I turned back to the instructions and coolly and efficently continued working on the potion, determined now.

James' SPOV

When Lily turned to me after examining the rest of the class's progress, her face was stoney and serious. I mean, deadly serious. She really wanted to win this contest. I was not completely sure why she was so serious and why she wanted to win so badly, but this was Lily we are talking about. I would and always will do anything for her. If she wants to win this contest, then I will do everything that I can to do so.

Lily turned to the Advance Potions Textbook that lay open on the table and quickly continued brewing the potion.

Lily's POV

I was grateful that James immediately got to work on the potion without asking questions on my change of attitude. Honestly, I just wanted to see Sev lose something. Or maybe I needed a win after the hellish few days I'd had. I had to win this.

The time left for class was coming to a close and the race for first to successfully complete the recipie was heating up. Many people had dropped out, accidentally ruining the potion, including Peter and Remus when peter accidentally dropped rose petals instead of rose thorns into their mixture. James and Lily and Severus amd his Slytherin partner were two of the last three groups left, along with a shy hufflepuff and unpopular ravenclaw that had teamed up.

There were moments left and Professor Slughorn paced back and forth, excited, between the three tables. At the last minute, the hufflepuff and ravenclaw messed up, crushing too much peppermint into their potion. Finally, I stirred the cauldron one last time and my partner euphorically announced that we had finished the potion.

Professor Slughorn waddled over to our table, bouncing excitedly from foot to foot. He examined our potion as we anxiously waited for him to tell us if we failed or not. He prodded it with a long, iron rod and stirred it with a thick, wooden spoon. He looked up at us.

"It looks good, Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter. Now for the real test to ascertain if it was successfully brewed or not." The professor paused dramatically "Why don't you tell us what you smell."

I looked at James and he looked at me, both of our cheeks flushing nervously with color. At last, he shrugged and turned toward our potion. He scooped up a spoonful with a ladel and held it up to his nose, sniffing it.

"I smell..." my partner started before trailing off

"What do you smell, boy?"

"I smell, um, Lillies of the Valley perfume, caramel, and hot chocolate." His face flushed even more red than before. A couple of girls in the back snickered and Remus rolled his eyes.

Now it was my turn to test the concoction.

Just as James had done, I scooped up a spoonfull of the potion and brought it up to my nose, sniffing it delicately. I thought for a moment before speaking.

"I smell peppermint, pumpkins, and ... freshly cut grass." I turned back toward our smiling professor.

"Congratulations, James and Lily! You win!" He told us "You get a prize!"

Then he happily introduced us to our prize.

He procured a small, thin, gold, sparkling bottle from deep within his pocket. He flashed it around to the class.

"This is a vial of Felix Felicis. The two of you must share this bottle and save it for a good occasion. The rules as to when and how you can use this, are outlined in your textbook. Congratulations, you two." He handed me the vial proudly, grinning emphatically.

I did not know how James would want to use our liquid luck, but I had a few ideas of my own.