Martha’s friends giggled as he ran off with her and she threw her head back in utter enjoyment. After two flights though, Sirius was exhausted. He put Martha down and they both sat on the floor. Oblivious to the other students walking past them, he put a hand out and began stroking her hair. “Pleased to be back?” he asked. She nodded and smiled at him. Sirius leant into her and noticed, with wry amusement, that she had closed her eyes. He began to kiss her, very gently, on the lips and she responded almost shyly at first and then more intensely.
“Get a room!” yelled James, jabbing Sirius with his foot as he walked past.
Sirius broke away. “You’re just jealous, Prongs,” he replied. He stood up, bowed and then extended his hand to Martha. “Will you allow me to escort you to the common room, my lady? I thought we could grab our cloaks and take a walk in the grounds.”
Martha accepted his hand and together they walked up the stairs leaving James and Peter to watch. Behind them, Remus had his arm around Mary’s waist and they were laughing quietly together.
“Looks like it’s just you and me, Wormy,” James muttered. Peter had stopped and was looking back at two figures who were just starting to climb the stairs.
“How does he do it?” he asked James. “Padfoot, I mean. He’s only been back an evening and he’s got himself a girlfriend.”
James shrugged. “It’s not that sudden. Martha was in Godric’s Hollow with Mary and Li... err... Evans.” He smiled and his eyes lit up. “We had a fantastic game of Quidditch where Sirius and Martha lost comprehensively because he kept trying to protect her. Boy, I’m glad he’s not on the Quidditch team. It would be murder being his captain!”
Peter snorted. “He might try out this year; you never know your luck.”
“Merlin, I hope not. A distracted Seeker is all I need.” Together they leant over the banister, and James realised that Peter had been watching Sonia and Lily, who were taking their time on the stairs. He could see Sonia talking quickly, and every so often Lily would squeeze the other girl’s arm or say something to her. He looked at Peter; he was staring at both girls with a wistful look on his face.
“You still like her, don’t you?” said James after a while.
“Who, Sonia?” replied Peter and although he spoke casually, his face was turning pink. “Not really, I mean, what’s the point? She’s not going to look at me, is she? She was all over you on the train and you weren’t paying her any attention.”
“Tell me about it,” said James, shuddering. “I mean she’s a good looking girl and all that, but needs constant attention. Plus, I don’t think I could put up with Padfoot reminding me that he’d got there first.”
Peter goggled. “You mean they ... err ...” He blushed furiously.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” replied James, laughing at Peter’s discomfort. “I think if he’d shagged her, he’d have told us by now. But if I went out with her, he’d keep going on about what he had done.” He paused. “I thought you liked Alice Rowle better, anyway.”
Lily and Sonia were nearly on their flight now. Peter tore his gaze away and looked at his feet. “Yeah, well, I cocked that up as well, didn’t I?”
“You didn’t know she was going out with Frank, though,” replied James reasonably. “She might have said yes if she hadn’t been all loved-up with him.”
“Lost your friends, Potter?” said Lily as they walked past.
“Yeah, the Macdonald girls have worked their magic. It’s a good job there isn’t another one or I’d be a very lonely wizard,” he said, sighing plaintively. “Luckily, though, Peter is also footloose and fancy-free, so would you lovely ladies care to join us in the common room for a game of Exploding Snap?”
“Exploding Snap!” Lily exclaimed scathingly. “That doesn’t sound very Maraudery.”
“It is if you play with my cards,” replied James as Peter began to laugh. “I picked up a set in France last year and they have different ... erm... pictures and ‘explosions’.”
“France?” said Sonia. She was smiling for the first time that evening. “Sorry, James, from what Mary was saying on the train, Lily’s more interested in America.”
James woke early the next day. He tried to get back to sleep but he couldn’t stop brooding over Sonia’s remark. Lily had blushed slightly, giggled in a most un-Lily-ish way, and both girls had walked off to their dormitory declaring that they wanted an early night. He lay in his bed, trying to find a cool spot on his pillow whilst he thought about Lily. After she had saved him from the lake, he’d spent most of the summer telling himself that he’d leave her alone. But when she turned up in Godric’s Hollow, he’d sensed an almost imperceptible shift in her attitude towards him, and that gave him hope. He’d returned to Hogwarts with no plan, simply a desire to make her see that he was serious.
Don’t rush it this time, Prongs, he’d thought on the train. Give her a chance to settle back in.
He looked across at the other beds in the room. Remus’ curtains were pulled right across; he rarely left any gaps, still ashamed, despite their necessary closeness, of them seeing scars on some parts of his body. He could hear Peter snuffling slightly in his sleep and, as he lifted his head up, he looked straight across at Sirius. His eyes were wide open. “Padfoot, you’re awake!” he said in a stage whisper.
Sirius looked across and grinned. “Yeah, mate. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Do you want to wake these two up?” James asked him mischievously.
Sirius sat up and shook his head. “Actually, no. Err... I’d rather just talk for a bit. Let’s go to the common room.”
Wordlessly, James agreed and, pulling out a dressing gown, he followed Sirius down the stairs.
“What’s up?” James asked, once they’d settled down into two armchairs. “Martha irritating you already?”
Sirius glared at him. “No, she isn’t! Martha’s sweet. I was thinking about Phyllida’s mum, actually, and then that led me back the Slytherins attacking you on the train.” He raised his eyes to the ceiling and sighed. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw Reg about to hex Moony. He didn’t seem to be my brother anymore.”
James stayed silent while he waited for Sirius to continue. “When my mum started attacking me after she found my O.W.L. results, Regulus tried to stop her. If he hadn’t grabbed her arm, I doubt I’d have got away unscathed.”
James raised his eyebrows. “Did you look at yourself in the mirror when you turned up at mine, Padfoot? I wouldn’t call that unscathed.”
“Compared to what she’s done before, that was a picnic,” Sirius muttered. There was another pause as he collected his thoughts. “He saved me that afternoon, and I left him in that bloody house.”
“Don’t tell me you’re feeling guilty about leaving!” exclaimed James, a slight note of impatience entering his voice. “For Merlin’s sake, Padfoot, it’s not your fault you have a maniac for a mum. And...” He waved away Sirius’ hand of protest and pulled down his pyjama top to reveal a scorch mark on his shoulder. “Regulus can make his own choices. He attacked me for having ‘no proper pride’. He’s a Slytherin; you’re a Gryffindor. What do you expect?”
Sirius swept his hair back off his face. “Are you saying that just ‘cause he’s a Slytherin, he’s automatically a dark wizard? That there’s nothing I can do to stop him making bad choices?”
James paused as he considered Sirius’ words. To be honest, that was what he was thinking but suddenly something floated through his mind. Lily sitting at his parents’ table asking about the House rivalries, with an imploring look at his mum. Then his dad answering her and chiding James’ feelings of hatred towards the Slytherins. James had never had any doubt he’d be a Gryffindor like his dad, so maybe Sirius had once thought he’d be a Slytherin like his father, too. “I was thinking that, yeah,” he admitted. Sirius glowered again but James continued. “Look, you told me something once about the Sorting Hat talking to you. What was it again?”
Sirius smiled slightly. “The Hat took its time, do you remember?” James nodded. “It said it would give me a choice and I assumed it meant Slytherin and Gryffindor, but actually it dismissed Slytherin and offered me Ravenclaw.”
“And why did it dismiss Slytherin?” persisted James.
Sirius stared at the Gryffindor notice board, empty apart from the lion crest at the top. “‘Not Slytherin’,” he quoted, “’you plainly don’t want to be there, Black, in spite, or maybe, because it will upset your family.’ The Hat said that wasn’t its concern and then offered me Ravenclaw, saying I had the brains to do well.”
“And how did it Sort you in the end?” James nudged at Sirius’ memory.
“I wanted Gryffindor,” replied Sirius simply.
“So, Regulus, the next year, approaches the Hat “ just like his brother “ and is offered a similar choice. Except for him it’s easier because his older brother has already defied tradition,” argued James.
“No,” interrupted Sirius, and he leant closer to James, staring into his eyes. “It was always going to be much harder for Regulus because he had my parents on at him continually about what a disappointment I was to them, plus ...” He paused and then began fiddling with the hem of his dressing gown. “Regulus saw what they did to me when I got back that summer. If you thought I looked bad when I turned up this summer, you should have seen me then. I made Moony’s scars look like a simple case of Dragon Pox.”
“What are you saying about Remus and Dragon Pox?” said a voice behind them. Sirius and James turned around to see Mary standing by the staircase that led to the girls’ dormitories, wearing a pink, fluffy dressing gown and holding some empty goblets.
“We’re debating a prank,” replied James smoothly. “We thought Dragon Pox could only improve his looks.”
“You leave him alone,” Mary said mock-sternly. “Or I’ll tell my sister everything that Sonia told us about you, Sirius Black.”
James grinned as Sirius scowled. “Mary, this sounds interesting,” he said smirking. “Will you tell us anyway?”
Mary walked over to the large pitchers of Pumpkin Juice that were in the corner and began to fill the three goblets. “That’s nothing to what Phyllida told us about you, James. She reckoned your arms wandered more than the Giant Squids,” she said as she sauntered out of the room.
Picking up a cushion, James threw it at Sirius who was laughing so hard he fell off his armchair. Then James joined in too until soon they were lying in a heap on the hearthrug battering each other with cushions.
“She’ll be good for Moony, won’t she,” stated James as he paused for breath.
“Yeah, I reckon so,” replied Sirius as he looked towards the girls’ staircase. “When do you think he’ll tell her, though?”
James picked up his glasses which had fallen off onto the rug. “Well, considering he denied it to us for at least three months after we found out, it’ll be on their honeymoon, and she’ll have sussed it years before.”
The first day back was taken up with the distribution of timetables. This was more complicated for the students entering N.E.W.T. year as Professor McGonagall had to first check all their O.W.L. results.
“Potter, yes, that’s fine,” she said and cleared him to study Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, Defence against the Dark Arts, Charms and Arithmancy. “May I congratulate you, and you too, Black, on your ‘Outstandings’ in Transfiguration. The best in the year.” She smiled at them both and James felt a warm glow inside of him.
“Why on earth are you doing Arithmancy?” asked Sirius as they waited for the other two. “You always moan about how dull it is. Numbers and figures and stuff”
Professor McGonagall’s voice floated over to them. “Yes, Miss Evans, an E at O.W.L. level means you can take Transfiguration at N.E.W.T. level.” She paused. “You shouldn’t worry, Lily, you wrote an exceptionally good theory paper. Now as for the rest, Charms, Herbology, Defence against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy and Potions “ cleared for all.”
“Ah, say no more, Prongs. You want to study another sort of figure,” Sirius joked and dodged James’ punch.
James leant over and said, with a slight edge to his voice, “I like Arithmancy and I’m good at it. That is the only reason I’m taking it this year, jerk!”
Sirius carried on laughing all the way back to Gryffindor Tower and then proceeded to tell the Fat Lady all about James’ timetable. To James’ chagrin, she burst into laughter too.
Later that day James, Sirius, and Remus headed off for Potions, whilst Peter went with Mary to Care of Magical Creatures. As they entered the dungeon, James was hit by a smell so tantalizing to his senses he couldn’t stop smiling. He noticed Sirius taking deep breathfuls whereas Remus looked lazily content.
“What is it that Sluggy’s brewing?” muttered James as he looked round the room. Just behind them stood a gold cauldron “ the steam from the bubbling cauldron rose in spirals.
“Amortentia,” Remus replied suddenly. He backed away and moved quickly to a table in the far corner.
“What’s the matter, Moony?” Sirius muttered as they joined him. “I’d be happy to sit by that cauldron all lesson.”
Come on, boys, settle down, settle down,” ordered Professor Slughorn. He picked up his parchment register and began to mark off names. “Right, do we have everyone here?” His eyes flickered over the four Ravenclaws sat at one table, Snape and a Slytherin girl who sat by themselves. Two Hufflepuffs, who had come in after the Marauders, walked towards the empty seats at Snape’s table. On seeing him, they hesitated and then reversed sharply when he shook his head. “Hmmm, someone is missing,” continued Slughorn.
“Sorry, Professor,” said Lily as she rushed in. “I had to speak to Professor McGonagall.”
Professor Slughorn smiled indulgently at Lily. “Not a problem, m’dear. If you’ll just take a seat.”
Lily had stopped in front of the gold cauldron and James saw her look in puzzlement at the contents, then she smiled a giddy type of smile. She looked around the room, still smiling, as she tried to find a place to sit.
“Lily,” called Remus. “Come and join us.”
“Are you mad?” muttered Sirius. “We don’t need Miss Prefect sitting with us.”
Remus turned his head towards Sirius. “Leave it out, Padfoot. There’s no other Gryffindors here. Besides, I’m a prefect and you don’t object to sharing with me.”
Sirius snorted. “That’s because you know better than to sneak to Slughorn when we nick ingredients.”
“Thank you, Remus,” said Lily as she plonked her books down on the table and sat next to him. She eyed Sirius warily, catching his mutinous look. “You don’t mind do you?”
“Delighted,” interjected James before Sirius could object. “Padfoot needs all the help he can get.”
“Amortentia,” Slughorn declared. “Who can tell me what is so special about it?”
Lily raised her hand as did Snape. After a while, Remus raised his hand too. James and Sirius sat back and watched. “Bet you two Knuts he picks Lily,” whispered Sirius.
“No bet, Padfoot. He always picks her; that’s why we get so many House Points for Gryffindor.”
“Until you and I lose them,” Sirius replied.
Professor Slughorn looked around the room. His eyes rested on Lily. “Lily, will you tell the rest the rest of the class?”
“Amortentia is a powerful love potion that smells differently to each of us. We can smell the things that attract us,” she replied.
James closed his eyes and tried to recall the seductive scents. He smiled slightly, Quaffle wax, treacle tart and something intoxicatingly fresh yet spicy “ Lily’s scent. No great shocks.
“Ahh, was it Lily, Lily and Lily, for you, Prongs?” Sirius whispered just loud enough for her to hear but she wasn’t listening.
“What about you then?” asked James. “Eau de Pomfrey or Scent de Seeker?”
Sirius smirked. “Nah, Bouquet de Bike, more like.”
James burst out laughing.
“Is something the matter, Potter?” enquired Slughorn icily.
“No, sir, I was just wondering what Padf... err... Sirius smelt in the cauldron.”
“Perhaps you’d like to share with the class your experience, Potter, as you seem so interested in everyone else’s?” Slughorn replied.
James looked around the room. Sirius was grinning, Remus was trying not to laugh, Lily looked slightly embarrassed and Snape looked bitter. James took a deep breath. “That, sir, would be private, although I will tell you that Quaffle wax is one of them.”
Slughorn pursed his lips at James’ reply and turned back to the class. “Generally, you will find you smell three, possibly four things. This could be a food or, as Mr Potter has told us, a sporting hobby close to his heart. You look puzzled, Lily, m’dear. Is something wrong?”
Lily looked directly at the Potions Master and then at the cauldron. “I’m sure I could only smell one thing, sir. Is that unusual?”
Professor Slughorn stared. “Walk over to the cauldron and inhale again,” he instructed her.
James watched curiously, as Lily made her way to the cauldron. She leant over and inhaled deeply. He saw that giddy smile again and then she looked puzzled.
“Any better?” enquired Professor Slughorn. There was a worried edge to his voice.
“Well,” Lily replied. “I still have the first one and it’s,” she sniffed again, “very strong. But I can smell some other things, although they’re not distinct.”
“But they are there?” Slughorn’s voice had lost its edge, and he seemed calmer now as Lily nodded.
James was watching the professor. His shoulders which had been hunched up, visibly relaxed and he let out an almost inaudible sigh. Why is he so relieved? he thought, and then wondered what on earth Lily had smelt.
The rest of the lesson was spent in discussing Amortentia, and then Professor Slughorn set them the task of preparing a Euphoria Potion. As usual, James and Sirius became competitive “ trying to outdo the other, Remus settled down to his own cauldron and worked methodically but Lily simply stared at her book as she gathered her thoughts.
Half an hour later, Lily, alone of her table, had managed to produce a perfect Euphoria Potion. She giggled as she showed it to Professor Slughorn and he smiled down at her.
“Excellent, Lily,” he enthused to the rest of the class. He bent over her cauldron and began to inhale, ignoring Sirius, who had managed to brew a far too strong potion that resulted in him tweaking his nose in a violent manner.
They were dismissed a short while later with James still laughing at Sirius, and Remus swearing that he wasn’t laughing at him, it was simply that he’d brewed too successful a Potion and was feeling particularly euphoric.
“What did you smell in Amortentia, Moony? Aromatic Mary?” asked Sirius in an attempt to change the subject.
Remus tried to straighten his face, but the sight of Sirius desperately trying not to pull at his nose, made him snort into his robes. “Err,” he began weakly as he tried to stop laughing, “haystacks, bacon and eggs frying in a pan and ...” He paused and looked confused. “Do you think Amortentia will change as we change? I mean does it only smell of true love?” Addressing the question to Lily, he spoke in a casual manner as if the answer weren’t really important, but James caught a slightly worried look on his face.
Lily frowned in concentration. “It’s not about true love,” she replied. “It’s more attraction, perhaps an initial attraction that could lead to love.” Lily smiled in a dreamy, secretive way, and James could contain himself no longer.
“What did you smell, Evans?”
“As you said to Professor Slughorn, that’s private. I will tell you one thing, though,” she stopped and turned to face him, “it had absolutely nothing to do with Quidditch.”
In the common room that evening, James watched as Lily began to regale Mary and Sonia with her Amortentia experience. Sonia, brighter than she’d been the night before, began to cackle, but Mary looked thoughtful. He moved closer on the pretext of fixing a Quidditch try-outs notice to the common room board.
“You’re quite sure, then?” he overheard Mary saying to Lily.
“Oh, it was definitely coffee. That was the only thing I could smell at first,” Lily replied. James saw her smiling as she tossed her long red hair over her shoulders. She seemed light-hearted and not at all like the serious prefect he was used to parrying words with.
And her happiness has nothing to do with me, he thought sadly.
“What’s up?”
James looked over his shoulder to see Remus just behind him. He shrugged. “Nothing much. Err... Moony, has Mary said anything about ... um ... America to you?”
Remus started shaking his head then stopped. “Not America, no, although she did mention some American bloke they met when they were hiking. Lily had hurt her foot, or something, and he helped them. Why?”
“No reason,” James replied, and turned his attention back to the notice board. “Hope I get some fresh blood trying out. I don’t think McLaggan’s particularly happy with me being captain.”
“Remus,” called Mary. “Lily has been telling us all about Amortentia. It sounds fascinating.”
She got up and walked over to them both. Linking her arm around his waist, she tilted her face up to his for a kiss. Remus obliged, and James noticed him sniffing lightly at her hair. James smothered a grin, but then Remus drew back.
“Sorry,” he muttered as he pulled away, “I’ve just remembered something... back later.”
James saw Mary’s puzzled expression and smiled kindly at her. “Moony’ll forget his own head one day. You’re too distracting, Mary.” Then he turned around and followed Remus through the portrait door.
“Which way did he go?” he asked the Fat Lady. She pointed behind the tapestry and James pulled it open. Remus was slouched against the wall.
“What’s up?” James repeated the question Remus had asked only minutes before.
“What did you smell in that cauldron today, Prongs?” If the question surprised James, he did not show it.
“Quaffle wax, treacle tart and,” he smiled ruefully, “Lily Evans.”
“That’s what I thought. I mean you’ve liked Lily for, what, over a year now and you still like her, yeah?”
James nodded. “What’s this about, Remus?”
Remus sat on the floor, looked down at his scuffed shoes and began cleaning them with the sleeve of his robe. “I don’t smell Mary,” he admitted at last. “You know what I’m like in the last days before I transform. My senses go into overdrive. I thought I’d be overpowered but it was just a hint of her, and then there was something else underlying it but that kept changing. Do you think it matters?”
“What, that it’s faint?” asked James. Remus looked directly into his eyes and nodded. James lowered himself to the ground and sat opposite his friend. “Do you like being with her?”
“We have fun and it’s good to be with a girl. I feel... normal... free... and I like that.”
“Then what’s the problem?” James asked. There was another long pause as Remus stared at the ceiling. James laughed. “You’re not seriously telling me that you’d split up with her because of some dodgy potion of Sluggy’s? For Merlin’s sake, I smelt Quaffle wax but I’m not about to go and snog a tin of it.”
Remus smiled slightly. “I suppose you’re right. I don’t know what to say if she asks me what I smelt, though.”
James stood up. Offering his hand to Remus, he pulled him up and then clasped him on the shoulder. “I know this is against everything you believe in,” he said slightly mockingly, “but you could always lie!”