Potter and Evans

Tutoring Troubles

Mid January, James and Lily sat in the library together at 7pm after dinner.

This wasnt the first time they had met so that James could take Lily through the aspects of Transfiguration that she was struggling to grasp, and it clearly wouldn't be the last since she still couldn't get to grips with it.

'I'm just not good at this.' Lily sighed, dropping her wand helplessly. The cauldron cake she had been trying to change into a cabbage shuddered and the little green colouring Lily had managed turned back to brown.

'You're good at everything, Evans. You're just thinking about it too much. Here-'

Lily held her breath as James took her hand into his and guided the correct wand waving pattern. She couldn't even pay attention to what he was trying to explain to her because it was like her head had been submerged under water. The sound her ears took in was muffled and her vision became frantically blurred. All she could inhale was James' aftershave: the same scent that her amortentia had been infused with, which as a matter of fact still made absolutely no sense to Lily. Sure, it was a nice smell and she wouldn't mind constantly being near James just so she could take it in all day everyday but this was James she reminded herself.

James pulled his hand away, his heart relentlessly pounding in his chest that Lily had let him this close to her. Though it was becoming a more common thing, he didn't think he'd ever get over it. Maybe he'd never get over her either.

Lily's hands shook as she tried to mimic the wand movements James had tried to show her, but her mind was still foggy and she helplessly dropped her wand on the table and put her head in her hands, rubbing her eyes.

Just don't think about it. Just don't think about why, or how, he smells so good.

'You okay?' James asked, eyebrows knitted together as he tried to figure out why Lily had been acting so strange during their times alone.

He couldn't help but notice he made Lily uncomfortable when it was just the two of them, yet she was unaffected by him when they were in a group. He deemed it extremely odd because he hadn't acted in a non-platonic way once towards her since they had become friends, so it was inconclusive to why she came across this way. He thought it impossible that it was him as a person making her act like this as she wouldn't agree to spend time with him if it was. Wasn't this whole tutoring thing her idea?

'I'm just a preoccupied is all.'

This wasn't necessarily a lie, since she was preoccupied with trying to figure out why she had smelt James in the amortentia. The more she thought about it (which she found now was becoming a daily occurrence), the more nervous and jumpy James made her when he got close or when they were alone...especially when they were alone...and they were both close and alone right now...

'With what? You're not worried about Freya or anything like that, are you?' James gently pushed.

Sirius, Remus and himself had been doing everything in their power to make sure Peter didn't have any spare time to spend with Freya. She hadn't been making much of an effort to speak to Peter, though, which made James more suspicious that whatever plan she had in place had already happened unbeknownst to them.

Lily lifted her head up from her hands to see James' soft hazel eyes slowly look between her two emerald. His gaze was comforting, and as much as Lily wanted to look away, the look on his face held her there. It wasn't information thirsty or eager, it was genuine concern and kindness: a side of James that Lily hadn't even known he possessed until the recent months.

'No, nothing like that. It's not important, you don't have to worry about it.'

James slowly nodded his head, but didn't look away from Lily's face. He could tell she was sincere in her answer, but this only made him more suspicious to what was bothering her. It didn't ease his worry. Was it something about him?