The Farland Files

In The End

"Lena!" Severus's cry came across the hall during Breakfast and she looked up to see him waving a letter with a proud smile. "It got approved! Your potion passed the clinical testing! It's able to be sold in any apothecary without even age limits!" The man bounded over like an excitable puppy and she stood so he could pull her into a hug. "Wait until Perry hears, she'll want to storm the castle and throw a party herself! And all this during the Umbridge crisis too!"

Chuckling, she pulled away to read the letter with her excitement making her smile grow wider.

"A potion? What does it do?" Tom's voice was curious, looking at her with bright proud eyes.

Severus was more than happy to answer for her, as she was still staring at the letter in shock. "It's basically happiness in a potion and can help both with dementor exposure and depression without being addictive. It's amazing and entirely Lena's design, as she came up with the idea while healing from having been forced under a blood quill."

She broke into giddy laughter, hugging the paper to her chest and bouncing slightly like a child. "It's approved! They did it! Sev, they really approved Riddelium! I can't- This is huge! Think about how many academic journals I could write for with this qualification and- and now Perry and I can collaborate on that other potion we made!"

Theo chuckled brightly. "You're such a Ravenclaw, Lena-bean."

She stuck her tongue out at him before bounding over to the high table to show Dumbledore the letter proudly. "I did it! This- this is what Jack wanted, right?! I did something great!"

"And I'm sure you'll do many more great things in the future, my dear girl. Would you like me to have Fawkes take this to Nicolas and Perenelle?" Dumbledore held out his hand with a fond smile, chuckling when she immediately nodded and shoved it at him.

"Tell me again, as I seem to have misheard- What was the name of your potion, my dear?"

Tom's velvet voice had her pausing, having forgotten that she didn't plan on ever really admitting to Riddle that she'd named a potion after him. "I- um-" Flushing slightly as she wasn't able to pull up her mask of indifference in her excitement, she scowled at the man with less heat than she would have liked as she started back to her table. "Can't remember, sorry."

"She named it Riddelium~" Ginny's voice was sing-song, grinning from across the hall.

Hearing the delighted laugh he gave, she spun to glare at him, her flush creeping down her chest as her ears burned. "Yes, okay, I named my potion after you! Will you stop being so bloody important to every aspect of my life?!"

He just grinned slowly. "Now why would I want to do that, darling?"

"Ugh- you- you're insufferable!" Ignoring the way chuckled at that, she willed her bag to her hand and stalked out of the hall, struggling to keep her emotions in check.

Hiding in Dumbledore's office for a good while playing chess with herself, she finally made her way out and to the potions classroom when she thought it safe enough to leave and not be ambushed by her some ridiculous idiot.

However, when she walked into the potions classroom she was hit with the intoxicating combination of smells that brought a single description to mind: Tom. The smell of leather-bound books, pine, and black tea with lemon-honey undertones had her frayed edges softening slightly though she still looked at Severus lazily. "What, are you making cologne for Tom now?"

The man raised a pointed eyebrow at her, not speaking until she was sitting in his chair and folding her legs up under her. "Lena... It's amortentia."