Amortentia and Pranks
On the Friday of that week, the boys had finally succeeded in their prank. They had single handedly turned every staff member, excluding the castle elves, into ducks using the Ducklifors spell.
Except Dumbledore. They were not about to mess with him.
So, when the boys snickered their way back to the Gryffindor common room after a night of casting the spell, and awoke to an announcement saying that classes would be delayed as the staff had fallen “mysteriously ill”, they didn’t say anything.
But everyone knew it was them, of course. They had pulled off the first prank of their sixth year flawlessly, and strutted through the halls with confidence. Of course, they received some looks from Snape and Regulus, but that was the usual.
Regulus.
James had almost entirely forgotten about their interaction on his run until he scoffed at him in the hallway. He wondered if he’d ever get the sight of his bruises out of his head.
As the students headed down to breakfast, a sea of black robes scurried through the hallways.
James thought about Regulus as he walked. His mind only came up with worse ideas about how he could’ve gotten those bruises.
But then again, why did James care so much? It’s not like he’d ever had a worthwhile conversation with the boy by any means. In fact, he doesn’t think he’d ever had a conversation with him that lasted more than 5 minutes, the exception being that time on the train.
He saw the Black sitting at the Slytherin table across the dining hall, and made brief eye contact with him. Even through all those people, Regulus’ daggers pierced him.
To be fair, his eyes were quite nice.
“Hello? Earth to James Potter?” A pale hand waved in his face from none other than Sirius Black.
James shook his head and chuckled.
“Sorry! I guess I’m sort of out of it this morning.”
“You idiots were up all night doing that stupid spell.” Mary rolled her eyes as she scooped up some eggs with her fork.
“Oh puh-lease. We’re the reason classes got delayed!” Sirius said, and was immediately shushed by everyone at the table the moment Dumbledore looked their way.
“You should be thanking them-“ started Marlene.
“-I don’t wanna hear it from you.” Mary shut her up quickly, putting a finger to her mouth to shush her.
The aura that had surrounded the two since they arrived was different than the one they left with. Sure, the girls had always been close, but something about this year felt different. They were much more.. touchy.
Or was that just how girls were?
* * *
An announcement came on shortly after breakfast saying that classes would return after lunch, receiving a collective groan from all of the students.
That meant James was to go to potions at 1:30.
Professor Slughorn had assigned reading to his students about Amortentia, so he could only assume that would be what they were doing in class today, or at least something of the sort.
“So much for canceling class..” James whispered to Remus as they walked towards the potions room.
“Well, to be fair it was a simple spell, so the cure was bound to be simple as well.” replied his friend with a know-it-all tone. James was sure he’d probably studied the spell during one of his sessions.
“Oh shut uppp.” The Potter rolled his eyes as they entered the potions room and headed for his station.
Just then, their professor walked into the classroom as he was coughing up what looked to be duck feathers. James couldn’t help but stifle a giggle and watch as he made his way to the front of the room.
“Good afternoon, class. I apologize for the delay. It seems some students thought it would be amusing to cast a spell on your teachers.” He looked directly at James. He only looked away. He was sure he’d get chewed out by McGonagall later.
“As I stated a couple of days ago, we are going to be making the potion known as Amortentia, or more commonly, The Love Potion.” He made his way down the aisle of stations with his hands behind his back.
“Grab your books and turn to page 234. That should be where the directions are. Before we begin, I simply cannot stress enough how dangerous this potion is! If you were to give it to someone, the result wouldn’t be very pretty. This is strictly for educational purposes.” He stopped in his tracks and turned to face everyone. “Now, you may begin!”
James began making his potion, making sure he prepped the ingredients correctly and set everything up right. He wouldn’t be the first person to admit that potions certainly wasn’t his strongest subject, but he still managed to pass.
Remus was at the station in front of him, so they made small talk while making their potions.
“So, who are you going to give it to, Moony?” The brunette jokingly asked, raising a brow.
“No one. How about you?” He replied, back still turned as he mixed his concoction.
“I think I’ll give it to the girl in our History of Magic class.”
“Oh please, Prongs, you can’t be serious.”
“I’m head over heels for her!” James feigned infatuation and batted his eyelashes.
“What’s her name?” Remus turned around.
“I’m just kidding.” James chuckled as he poured in an ingredient to his mix.
“I hate you.”
“I love you too, Moony!”
* * *
James stared at his finished potion. It had already gotten approved by Slughorn. How he managed to pass was beyond him, but hey, he did it! And that’s all that mattered.
The smell was what threw him off, though. It certainly wasn’t what he thought it would be.
It smelt like it had just rained, that earthy scent that only came around once in a while, but when it did, it was amazing. It smelt like cologne; more specifically an expensive one — definitely high end. And finally, it smelt of lavender, just plain and simple.
James wondered what these scents were, what they meant, who they belonged to. But he wouldn’t get his answer for a long time.
Remus eagerly turned around with a grin on his face.
“So? What’s it smell like? Lilies?” He teased James.
“Very funny, Moony. But no! It smells like.. well..” He took another whiff of the liquid in front of him. “Lavender and Rain.”
James left out the cologne part. What girl wears cologne?
“Hm. Interesting. Mine smells like- just really wealthy. Does that make sense?” Remus cocked his head to the side like a confused dog, which was ironic.
“Guess so. Does that mean you're gonna marry rich?” James asked.
“Very funny, Prongs.”
Just then, the bell rang for the next class. James and Remus quickly bottled their Amortentia and left the room, heading to their next lesson.
* * *
That night in the boys’ dorm room, they were telling each other what their Amortentia scent was if they had made it to their class that day. James shared his lavender and rain, leaving out the cologne once again. He’d have to figure that out.
Remus explained that his just smelt of wealth and a bit of cigarettes.
Sirius had said his smelt like book pages, ink and cigarettes as well.
Peter hadn’t made it to potions that day, so he had nothing to share with his friends.
“Surprised Prongs’ doesn’t smell like lilies.” Sirius teased.
“That’s exactly what I said!” Replied Remus, throwing his arms in the air.
“For the last time, Lily really is like a sister! That ship sailed long ago.” James argued. They boys were all sitting on their beds and he was currently hugging a pillow.
“If you don’t want her I’ll take her!” The black-haired teen piped up. Remus rolled his eyes with what felt like a tinge of jealousy- and Peter just laughed.
“Go right ahead.” James flopped back on his bed, getting under the blankets.
He heard his roommates shuffle around their beds as well. Curtains slid closed and James didn’t dare fall asleep, just in case Sirius wanted to drop by.
And that he did. James saw a dark figure with long hair peep into his curtains, and he gladly let him in.
James quickly cast Muffliato and sat up.
“So, books, ink, and cigarettes? You’re going to end up with a nerd, Sirius.” James chuckled, looking his friend up and down.
“At least that means financial stability!” Sirius said, laughing.
“If anyone, you won’t need it.” James replied
“Is that so, Potter?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Absolutely. I’m still trying to figure out who my scent could possibly belong to.” Prongs shook his head.
“Don’t rush it, man! It’ll happen when it does, and you’ll know.” His friend put a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
James smacked Sirius’ hand off and just pointed to his bed.
“Now get out of here. I actually would like to get some sleep tonight. I have to go on my-“
“On your run, yes, I know.” Sirius nodded his head as he got up from his friends’ bed, blowing him a kiss which James caught and dramatically smacked to his cheek.