Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is not my own, it is J.K. Rowling's.
Chapter 1- Might I have some gum?
"Today, we will be doing something a little different," said Professor Slughorn, looking at the seventh year Advanced Potions class.
"Yesterday, I completed the brewing of a very complex potion, its use is carefully monitored," he continued, motioning towards the cauldron sitting on the table in the middle of the room.
"Would anyone care to take a guess at which potion this is?" No one raised their hand.
It was clear that many students had been up late, either celebrating that Gryffindor had won the previous days Quidditch match or grumbling amongst their housemates at the misfortune of the Slytherin team. Lack of a volunteer did not dissuade Horace Slughorn, he simply picked a student, always the same way of deciding who to choose. He glanced down at his class list, and chose the first name that came into focus, today it was Sirius Black.
"Mr. Black, tell me young man, which potion is this?" Slughorn said, looking up to find Sirius was not sitting in his seat paying attention. Rather his head was propped on his hand, eyes closed, jaw slack. Lily Evans nudged Sirius, causing his arm to drop from under him.
"No mind," said Slughorn with a small smile. He did after all remember what it was like to have celebrated a glorious victory, and could only imagine how Sirius had partied, being one of the stars of the team.
"Amortentia," said Slughorn loudly, gaining the immediate attention of the entire class.
"Amortentia as you will all know is the most powerful of all love potions. Its smell is different to each person, depending on what attracts you. I, for example can smell, among other things, Rosmerta's mulled mead, and crystallized pineapple. What I would like for each of you to do as homework is, write about what you smell, and why, if you know. What you write will be kept in strictest confidence. All smells are not related to romantic love, contrary to popular belief. If I take a very deep breath of Amortentia, I catch a whiff of the way that my favorite grandmother's house smelled. I am giving you two weeks to complete this assignment, because it may take you some time to identify the smells, and to find their significance to you. Now, if each of you will come forward, pick up a cotton ball, and dip it briefly into the potion. This will allow you to smell the potion, but will not give you enough to give to another student in an attempt to create the feelings of love."
After everyone had returned to their seats, Professor Slughorn encouraged them to begin the assignment by taking notes about what smells they noticed.
Sirius Black
Sirius put the cotton ball to his nose, and breathed in deeply. The first smell he picked up on was a smell that he thought smelled very clean, a smell that was comforting to him. He knew that this smell was one that was quite familiar to him; he just couldn't place its origin. The next smell was not such a clean smell, far from it. It was the smell of roasted tires, a smell that lingers in one's nose, which you must either love or hate. That was because of his beloved motorbike, most prized of Sirius' possessions. There were other smells, but Sirius became so wrapped up in thoughts of his motorbike, and wondering at the first smell, he really didn't care to investigate them further.
James Potter
James did not want to do this homework, he was tired, exhausted even, he was glad that this was the last class of the day. James had somehow drug through all of his other classes. Sirius was already working on the assignment. James didn't know how. Sirius, always the life of the party whether there actually was a party or not, had sang, danced, imitated the Slytherin keeper falling off his broom to dodge a well aimed bludger no less than twelve times, drank almost a quart of butterbeer, and had downed several shots of firewhiskey at the celebration last night. James had been much calmer during the festivities for once not joining in Sirius' excessive merrymaking, and instead sat in a large chair near the fire, talking with Lily, Head Girl and object of his affections. They had stayed up quite late talking, each drinking their fair share of butterbeer. When they had finally gone to bed it was well past four. James noticed Professor Slughorn watching him, and decided to at least look like he was working on his assignment. Besides, he was Head Boy and should try to be a role model. Right? James smelled of the fluffy white ball. It smelled good. So he wrote that down. The person next to him snickered.
Remus Lupin
"It smells good? What an astute observation James," Remus said with a laugh.
Remus noticed James trying to look at his parchment. He moved his paper to hide it from view. Remus looked at what he had written. He had chocolate, lemonade, and had drawn a small question mark. Remus knew what the question mark stood for, but he wasn't going to write it down just yet, not when he knew James and Sirius were going to snoop to find out what he had written. There should be some fun in this after all.
Lily Evans
Lily had not been paying attention to the three boys sitting at the table with her. Her eyes were closed, a smile was on her lips, and she was reveling in the scent of the Amortentia. She could smell Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. The smell was so intense that she could taste the sweet blue gum in her mouth. `Funny, I've never really been that fond of chewing Drooble's,' Lily thought. In fact, she hadn't chewed Drooble's since early in sixth year. She suddenly found herself wishing she had a piece of gum. She opened her eyes and looked up. Class was over, and everyone was leaving.
"Coming Lily? Let's grab a bite in the Great Hall, and then head up to the tower and crash," said Remus stifling a yawn.
Lily didn't know why Remus was so tired. She had hardly seen him the night before. He hadn't been with she and James, and he most certainly hadn't been with Sirius chugging butterbeer and singing raucously. Lily quickly put her things in her bag as James, Sirius, and Remus waited on her. She trotted to the door that Sirius was holding open.
"Does anyone have a piece of gum?" Lily asked hopefully.
Remus shook his head. Sirius opened his school bag, while James reached into one of the pockets of his robes. Seconds later James pulled out a small drawstring bag of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.
"Here Lily," said James, offering her the bag, "I know it's not your favorite, but it is mine, so it's all I've got."
"Actually, I wanted Drooble's," she said as she took the pouch from him. Soon a trail of blue bubbles followed the group down the corridor.
Author's Note: This chapter is once more dedicated to power-of-the-lightning-bolt. Hope you enjoyed it!
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