𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑 | draco malfoy

20. amortentia

HOW TO BE A HEARTBREAKER

AMORTENTIA

( Friday 13th February 1998 )

Rowan could not get Blaise alone for the life of her. She really wanted to know what he was about to say about Theo on the Quidditch pitch. She contemplated asking to talk to him alone but she worried it would look suspicious.

They'd gotten to the point in their final year where all of the content had been learned, and now it was down to revising everything they had done in the past two years since their O.W.L exams, plus probably some of the basic theory stuff they'd forgotten along the way. It did also mean that homework was being amped up even further, though.

Rowan liked Potions, and she was fairly decent at it. It always helped that her Potions professors had always been Slytherin teachers — first Snape, now Slughorn. Rowan actually preferred Slughorn. Sometimes he could be a bit too merry too early in the mornings, but at least she didn't have to worry about the patronising, beady gaze of Professor Snape on her as she cut her ingredients, praying she wasn't letting him down and 'putting shame on the entirety of the Slytherin house.'

Rowan took her usual seat next to Pansy, her books out in front of her, her quill ready as Slughorn started the lesson, chattering on in his usual bubbly way.

"Does anybody know what day it is tomorrow?"

"Valentine's Day, sir," Hermione Granger spoke up quickly.

"Yes, Miss Granger, it certainly is. I thought it would be holiday-appropriate to go over the Amortentia potion today," Slughorn said, "We can practise making it, and if we have some time at the end of the lesson, I do have a few essay question examples you may get started on. If you don't finish that today, it will be set as your homework due for Monday."

There were some obvious and loud groans around the room, but Slughorn ignored them.

For a moment, Rowan was perfectly content as she followed her Potion professor's instruction of heading over to grab all the necessary ingredients, and then a single thought dawned on her.

She was probably going to smell Draco in her Amortentia.

She didn't know why it made her so uncomfortable. She supposed because she hadn't yet accepted that these feelings were terrifyingly real, and she wished that they weren't. Maybe because her friends might ask her later what she actually smelt, and she'd have to come up with some lie.

There was a part of her that hoped she wouldn't smell Draco in her potion. That maybe her magic would tell her that her brain had been tricking her this whole time — making her merely think she had a crush on Draco Malfoy because she felt so guilty for playing this elongated, elaborate, and awful prank on him.

Nevertheless, Rowan kept her head down and moved on with the potion making. Pansy yapped in her ear about a small argument that she'd had with her girlfriend, and Rowan nodded and hummed along, making comments every now and then as she half-heartedly concentrated on what the Slytherin girl was saying to her.

By the time she had finished her potion, her breath was held, and she didn't dare go near enough to smell it. She finished around the same time as quite a few other people, but Slughorn came over to hers first.

"Ah, Rowan has finished her Amortentia!" He announced it to the class. "Why don't we all gather around and exame it? Our Rowan has made what appears to be the perfect example."

People drifted over, a lot of the Gryffindors especially reluctant.

"Would anybody like to take a whiff? Tell us all what you smell?" Slughorn asked.