ink - sirius black

amortentia and shampoo bottles

October 1, 1976
1:15 pm
Potion's Dungeon

As the Marauders made their way to Potions class, there was some very heated discussion going on between them regarding a few days ago's howler that the school had been gossiping about non stop.

"All he said was 'love Leo," James repeated to Sirius. "It's not that big of a deal, people sign letters like that to each other all the time."

"Friends don't," Sirius interjected, a sour expression on his face. "Maybe it's an American thing?"

"I doubt it," James scoffed, but was instantly elbowed by Remus and given a harsh glare. "I mean, yea, obviously it's an American thing."

"Why would you even mind if it was?"Peter asked with confusion. "You hate her, remember?"

These words held an obvious wrongness to Sirius, like they were no longer true if they had ever been in the first place. But he didn't feel like pointing that out at the moment.

"Yea, I do," he muttered, and Remus and James exchanged a disbelieving look as they stepped into the sweltering dungeons, where they were the last ones to arrive.

"Hurry in, boys," Slughorn called, waving a pudgy hand towards them. "Mr. Longbottom, be careful with that-"

Frank accidentally knocked over a bottle of beetle eyes with a loud crash against the stone floor, spilling them all over the class and making them titter with laughter. His cheeks turned dark red, and Alice leaned down to help him pick them up.

"Anyways, as I was saying, thank you Miss Fortescue, today we will be brewing-"

There was another smashing sound, and the class turned to see that Dorcas had tripped over Frank's hand and knocked over an identical bottle.

"Another one bites the dust," Anneliese and Sirius said in unison from across the dungeon.

The two of them instantly whipped their necks towards one another in surprise, met eyes, and quickly looked away before they held the contact for too long.

"Did she just make a Queen reference?" James whispered to Sirius as he set his bag down with a wide grin. "You've got some competition, Pads."

"Don't remind me," Sirius replied. "There should be a law only I can make Queen and ABBA references. She can keep her bloody American Pie."

"If you ask me, love is in the air," James said with a dramatic swoon. "By the way-"

"And today, we are brewing amortentia," Slughorn announced once the chaos of broken bottles had finally been amended.

James smirked and readjusted his glasses.

"Told you love was in the air."

"Shut it," Sirius said back, but he couldn't help a smile tugging up at the corners of his mouth as well.

"This potion is complete and utter bullshit," Anneliese muttered to Lily, but a little too loudly. "Last time-"

"What was that, Miss Callaway?" Slughorn asked with vague amusement.

Anneliese's freckled cheeks flushed at being called out, but she didn't change her answer as she replied.

"I said this potion is like a liar bottled," she said. "We brewed it last year at Ilvermorny, and I didn't know anyone who even remotely smelled like that."

"Perhaps you just hadn't met them yet," Slughorn said, a mischievous glint in his eyes before turning back to the class.

The answer caught Anneliese completely off guard as he began to separate them into groups, pairing her with Remus at a cauldron across from Lily and Peter's.