Rendezvous ⤖ Draco Malfoy

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

𝙷𝙾𝙿𝙴 𝙼𝙸𝙺𝙰𝙴𝙻𝚂𝙾𝙽

I BEGRUDGINGLY TRAILLED BEHIND THEODORE NOTT from Care of Magical Creatures all the way to the Potions classroom.

Our first lesson for Magical Creatures had been extremely fun, even though there were only five of us in the class. The downside to the class was that I am now partnered with Theo for the rest of the year. Lucky me.

"Are you obsessed with me, Marshall? It's the only explanation as to why you'd be following me." He called out from ahead.

I scoffed. "Only in your dreams, Nott."

We separated as he took a seat beside Malfoy, whilst I took the empty seat next to Hermione.

"Good morning, class!" Professor Slughorn announced, walking into the room. He stood at the front where some potions were already concocted on the table. "Gather round, gather round. As you can see, I have prepared a few—"

Harry and Ron chose that moment to enter the classroom loudly.

"Harry m'boy! I was beginning to worry! And I see we've brought someone with us..."

"Ron Weasley, sir. But I'm dead awful at potions, a menace actually, so I should probably just be going—" Ron turned to leave.

"Nonsense, we'll sort you out. Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine. Right then, books out—"

"Um, sorry sir. But I haven't got my book yet, nor's Ron. You see until this morning..." Harry said.

"Not to worry. You can get what you need from the cupboard." Slughorn pointed towards the cupboard and the two stragglers went towards it. "Now, as I was saying, I've prepared a few concoctions this morning. Any ideas what these might be? Yes, miss...?"

Hermione's hand shot up immediately. "Granger, sir. That one there is Veritaserum. And that would be Polyjuice Potion. And that is Amortentia! The most powerful love potion in the world." Hermione stepped forward, gravitating towards the love potion. "It's rumoured to smell differently to each person, according to what attracts them. For example, I smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and spearmint toothpaste—"

I leaned forward and caught a quick sniff at the love potion. I was struck with the strong scents of citrus, Firewhisky and vanilla.

"Now Amortentia doesn't create actual love, of course. That's impossible. But it does cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. For that reason, it is probably the most dangerous potion in this room." Slughorn put a lid on the potion, and the girls who had stepped forward in a daze from the potion were brought back to their senses.

I quietly laughed to myself, grateful that I wasn't one of them.

"Sir, you haven't told us what's in this one?" Ernie Macmillan asked, pointing at the small black cauldron.

"Ah yes." Slughorn picked up a ladle and poured some of the potion into a small vial. "What you see before ladies and gentlemen, is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis. But it is more commonly referred to as—"

"Liquid luck." Hermione finished for him.

"Yes, Miss Granger. Desperately tricky to make. Disastrous should you get it wrong. But brewed correctly, as this has been, it has remarkable powers. One sip and you will find that all your endeavours succeed...at least until the effects wear off."

"But then why don't people drink it all the time?" Lavender asked eagerly.

"Because taken in excess it causes giddiness, recklessness and dangerous overconfidence."

"Have you ever taken it, sir?" Blaise questioned.

"Twice. Once when I was twenty-four. Once when I was fifty-seven. Two tablespoons taken at breakfast. Two perfect days. So, this is what I offer each of you today. One tiny vial of liquid luck...to the student who, in the hour that remains, manages to brew an acceptable Draught of Living Death, the recipe for which can be found on page 10 of your textbook. You should know that in all the years of my previous tenure at Hogwarts, not once did a student brew a potion so sufficient quality to claim this prize. In any event – good luck!"

Without any more words needed, I rushed to my work bench and turned to the said page.

"Phasmatos Incendia." I muttered quietly and a fire started under my cauldron.

Hermione glanced over, clearly confused as to how I lit my cauldron so quick without a wand. Natural Magic came in handy sometimes, certainly much quicker than Wand Magic.

I was working the fastest along with Hermione, having already cut up our valerian roots. Our potions resembled the smooth black coloured liquid.

Cut up one Sopophorous bean.

I grabbed my silver knife and set to work on trying to cut it open, only to fail. Everyone seemed to be having the same problem. Ron's bean shot across the room and bounced off of Lavender's head.

Annoyed, I muttered a Natural spell and the bean cracked open. I smiled as I picked it up and squeezed the juice into the cauldron.

"How did you two do that?" Hermione asked, watching as Harry also crushed the juices into his cauldron.

"Crush it. Don't cut it." Harry answered.

"No. The instructions specifically say to cut."

"No really."

I nodded my head in agreement, encouraging Hermione to do the same. The class was becoming competitive, looking over at each other to see where they were up to, how they were doing it. Hermione's hair had gotten bushier due to all the steam in the room.

I followed the next set of instructions, stir counter clockwise until the potion turned clear as water. After countless stirring, my potion had indeed not turned clear.

"And time's up! Stop stirring please!" Professor Slughorn called. He moved among the tables, peering into everyone's cauldrons. He didn't speak as he looked at them, occasionally he would give it a sniff or a stir.

He gave me a nod, a job well done. But still not good enough.

Upon reaching Harry's cauldron, he took a leaf from his pocket and dropped it inside. The leaf immediately disintegrated. "Merlin's beard! But it's perfect. So perfect I daresay that one sip would kill us all. Your mother was a dab hand at potions, but this...My, my, what can't you do, m'boy? Perhaps you will save us all in the end..."

Everyone's eyes turned on Harry.

"Here you are then, as promised. One bottle of Felix Felicis. Use it well."

Harry pocketed the vial into his robes, a happy smile on his face.