Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

Amortentia - 146

Draco

I was drifting through the day like a ghost, the revelation that the cabinet was gone haunting me. Desperately, I hoped that Aphry was right, and the cabinet was still in the school somewhere.

Of course, Snape was already trying to sink his teeth into me. And it didn't help that Aphry was supporting the offer of assistance.

A bright side is that there were several break periods. While Aphry was in class, I forsook my growing pile of homework to look around the castle, searching for a piece of furniture that I slowly lost hope of finding each minute that passed.

My mood had worsened by the time I ended up outside the classroom to attend double potions. Although previously one of my favorite subjects, the fact that the new professor had already written me off was not particularly motivating. As I walked up to Aphry, who was just outside the door chatting with Zabini and Knot, she only had to take one look at me to sum up my current mental state. Her eyes softened, and I found myself growing even harder at the look of pity she seemed to carry for me. Thankfully, she wasn't in a position to try and talk to me about it, because I honestly didn't want to.

When the doors to the class opened, I followed her inside as Slughorn directed us to gather on one side of a long table with an array of cauldrons filled with potions.

Aphry stood to the front of me at an angle, and I assumed there must have been some sort of draft, because the undeniable warm and subtly sweet scent of her perfume wafted straight toward me, enveloping my senses. It was nearly scary how the scent acted as stress relief, and my mood incrementally improved. 

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and she looked at me. I watched as she took a deep breath with her eyes closed, then smiled at me lightly before leaning into me slightly. Merlin, If there weren't cabinets and classes to worry about at that moment, I would have taken her to a broom cupboard or abandoned classroom to kiss her deeply on the mouth and allow myself to be drowned in the siren's song of her scent.

Slughorn started his lecture, but I honestly wasn't listening to him. However, everyone's attention was diverted when 'The Chosen One' and his ginger mate came in late. And, as per usual for the golden child, instead of the customary detention for his tardiness or lack of the proper supplies, the brown-nosing professor offers a spare book.

Then there was the mudblood, naming off the potions without taking a breath. Because god forbid someone else try to squeeze in an answer.

'...Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumored to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them...'

My focus narrowed in on the potion and its spiraling swirls of steam emitting from the cauldron. In that moment I realized it wasn't a draft, but rather the potion I was smelling. I was certainly smelling Aphry's perfume,  but it was also delicately blended with a mixture of other scents: wood burning in a fireplace, and cream cheese icing. 

At that moment, the truth that I had been avoiding for years had been thrust into my consciousness at the moment I least expected and the most inopportune time. I knew it was coming. New that if what I read of our connection was true, it was destined. But the truth I could no longer deny wrenched my gut painfully.

I watched Aphrodite. The cheeks under her freckles tinted the most delicate shade of pink. Was she thinking about me?

As Slughorn went into further detail about the Amortentia, several girls in the class inched closer, allured by the power of the potion. Aphry didn't follow their lead, though. Instead, she shift ever so slightly, molding herself closer to my side. I interpreted the action as confirmation she didn't need that potion, and I couldn't help the smirk that fell on my face.