Where I Found You | Dramione

23. A Glimpse of Hope

Guys I think this is my longest chapter so far yayy
Hope you like it!!

Hermione didn't see Harry or anyone else from her friend group until the potions class. She had been reading in the library and practising non-verbal spells. The images of Viktor seeing her and showing off his skills flashed in front of her. She thought he was so cool back then and couldn't help but be mesmerized by him. Now that she was working hard and learning a lot, those skills didn't seem that grand to her anymore.

Harry and Ron were seated toward the back of the room when she arrived for the potions lesson. Despite the presence of her friends, she would never choose to sit in the back of the class. She always stood in the front. Hermione saw a bunch of students near the big table, trying to see what was in the cauldrons. Although she had no clue what they would be doing in class, she shared their enthusiasm.

"Alright, everyone, gather around me!" Slughorn appeared in front of her out of nowhere, waving his hand. "I want you to focus on here, thank you. Can anyone tell me the name of this potion?"

He lifted the lid of the cauldron, revealing the unmistakable pink colour of the love potion. Spirals of steam emerged from the potion.

"Amortentia, sir," Hermione replied in an instant. Slughorn wasn't like Snape, he didn't mind not raising a hand if the student was eager for the class. "It's a love potion."

Everyone in the classroom appeared to be interested in the latter statement. The professor approached her after noticing the class' excitement. "Ms. Granger, could you tell us more about it?"

Hermione looked over at her friends and saw their eager faces. "Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world, but it's also the most dangerous because no potion has the ability to create true love, it only creates an obsession," she saw the disappointed look on her friends' faces, they must've been expecting something more interesting. "Its scent is also different to everyone according to what attracts them."

"True, true!" Slughorn grinned with pure joy. "How does it smell, Ms. Granger?"

She froze. "M-me? Uh..."

He motioned for her to go on, and she leaned a little, taking a deep breath in. She hadn't smelled Amortentia before, so she didn't know what to expect. What she did expect was to feel some sort of deep sentiment from it, but all she felt was curiosity.

"I'm not really sure, the mixture is a bit confusing," she smelled the air, inhaling once again. It made her dizzy for a second; she was drawn into it like a moth to a flame. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. It was overwhelming, like it was pulling the air from her lungs and replacing it with its own intoxicating scent. Something about it made her want to consume more and more until her head started spinning.

"It almost smells like honey, but the freshness outweighs the sweetness. Like mint or maybe apple? I'm not really sure,"

"That's it?" Slughorn asked, disappointed. He must have thought it might be something much bigger, more meaningful, but she could tell this was not what he had been expecting.

"I think someone's perfume was blocking my nose, I couldn't smell anything else," she replied.

Pansy seemed to be opening her mouth when Slughorn raised his finger at her, silencing her. The disappointed look on his face was now replaced by amusement as he shook his head. "Well, thank you, Ms. Granger. 10 points for Gryffindor," he said, and the other Gryffindors smiled at her.

But she noticed the look on their faces when she spoke earlier and how they eyed each other strangely. While Slughorn continued to show the Amortentia to a few other students, Hermione moved closer to Harry and whispered into his ear. "What's going on?"