Artificial Love (Dramione)

Chapter 1 - The Potion

"Hey, Draco, you're good at potions! What could make this stronger; jasmine leaves or owl down? I'm sure both should have the same effect what with the other ingredients but which one would work better...?" Blaise held up two vials, each of them full of their respective materials.

"What are you making it for again?" Draco flipped over on his bed, leaning over the side to get a good look at the cauldron burning in the center of their dormitory, suspended a few inches above the ground. Blaise was leaning over the top of it, his nose covered in soot from the fire. "You've got a little something." Draco motioned to his nose, and Blaise wiped his own, scrubbing the soot off his face.

"It's just recreational. You know that girl with the black hair in Hufflepuff?"

"There are about a billion girls with black hair, Blaise. Hell, Potter has black hair! Be more specific."

"The one in our year. I don't really remember her name; Julia or Jessica or something like that. Anyway, I'm sure she's part veela! And you know how I've always wanted a veela. So I'm gonna use this potion to get her to come to me. I don't want to be that pathetic guy who just trails her around all the time; you know what I'm saying."

"So it's a love potion?" Draco got up from his bed, then crouched overtop the cauldron, "This isn't amortentia."

"Nah, I don't like how amortentia works. Too fast, in my opinion. It's not at all natural, so people would probably be able to tell that what's-her-face had taken a potion before we even got anywhere. I got the recipe for a different one that works slower, and then I'm changing a few things to make it how I want it. Like morphing them together."

"Use the jasmine. And add some white chocolate shavings while you're at it. It's always a good idea to use some form of chocolate in any potion related to feelings." Draco jumped back into bed, picking up "Moste Potente Potions", which he had snagged from the Restricted Section earlier that day.

Blaise grumbled to himself, leaving the room to search for some form of chocolate to add to his potion. His potion began bubbling in his absence, but with a wave of his wand, Draco made it settle down before going back to his reading.

About half an hour later, Blaise was back. Draco nodded over to the potion, "It was bubbling up. Add some sugar." He didn't even look up at his friend as he spoke, still focusing on his book.

"Sugar? C'mon, I just left the kitchens!" Blaise went to leave again, but Draco's voice stopped him once again.

"Make it pure cane sugar, Zabini. Not the artificial crap you put in your tea."

With a huff, Blaise dropped the white chocolate and jasmine leaves next to the cauldron, where a couple chocolate shells were also hovering atop a couple silver wrappers.

The sound of pounding feet tore Draco's attention from his book. It was nearly time for supper to begin. Just as he was about to put his book down, Blaise himself came pounding into the room.

"If I just do the last few steps now, it'll be finished after dinner is over. Stick with me, Draco, okay? I'll probably need your help. You've always been better at potions than me." Usually, Draco would just leave, but he wasn't very hungry yet, and he was curious as to how this love potion would turn out. So he stuck around for a few more minutes as Blaise dumped in the cane sugar, grated in some white chocolate, and shredded in five jasmine leaves.

After a few minutes of stirring first clockwise, then counterclockwise, then clockwise once again, the two third-years left the cauldron to boil.

They made their way down the empty halls of Hogwarts in complete silence, the only sound being their feet treading along the polished floors.