The Keeper

Chapter 28

While writing, I listened to Snakes by Bastille, The Ballad Of The Mighty I by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and In Your Pocket by Maroon 5.

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*

Amortentia, I wrote. I was careful to ensure every letter was written perfectly. It is the most powerful love potion known to wizardkind. The name of this powerful potion hints to its effects. Amor means love in Latin and tentia is Latin for held. As the Latin translation shows, amortentia causes the drinker to feel an extreme infatuation for whoever administered the potion. The potion does not cause love, as no potion can, for it is impossible to manufacture such a complex emotion. 

As I continued to write, a sense of unease started to wash over me. Something felt oddly familiar about amortentia. Although I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

One of the distinctive characteristics of amortentia is that it smells different to everyone. It smells like the three things one loves the most.

I wondered what amortentia would smell like to me now. Somehow, I didn't think I'd smell anything Oliver-related anymore. 

The potion must be administered regularly in order to maintain its powerful effect on the drinker. After the effects wear off, the drinker will remember all of the events that took place while under the potion's grasp.

I imagined the effects of amortentia wearing off of me and having to remember everything that had happened. I would most likely curl up and cry. I silently hoped nobody ever used amortentia on me.

Eventually, the hour passed. The end of the lesson was marked by Professor Snape suddenly snapping a book shut, jolting many of us. Someone behind me dropped their quill.

"If you have finished, hand in your essay to me now," he instructed, rising from his chair. "If not, finish it by next lesson."

We were dismissed by a grand wave of his arm. I kept my essay with me, wanting to edit it slightly before submitting it. I noticed only a few sheets of parchment on the professor's desk as I left the class.

"What potion did you choose?" Sasha asked as we walked to Herbology. She had her essay with her, too.

"Amortentia," I replied.

Louise, who was standing next to me, abruptly gasped. She moved so suddenly she nearly knocked my books from my hands. We stopped and waited for her to compose herself. Eyes wide, she grabbed my shoulder.

"We need to talk at break," she said finally, before disappearing to whatever lesson she had next.

*

Herbology crawled by. Time passed mockingly slowly and I caught myself looking at the time every few minutes. When Professor Sprout dismissed us (two minutes late), Sasha and I sprinted to find Louise. She was in the common room, sprawled across Aleeza's lap.

I was panting heavily by the time I collapsed next to her. Sasha joined me, red in the face.

"Tell us now," I said. My throat hurt.

Louise sat up, using Aleeza's thigh to help. "I forgot what this thing I'm meant to tell you is about. Remind me?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed. "We were talking about our essay before you nearly fainted and told us to meet you. Then you practically disappeared into thin air."

"Oh! I remember," she said. My heart pumped against my chest. "You wrote your essay on amortentia, right?"

I nodded vehemently.

"I think that's what Gillian's using on Oliver."

Silence followed her sentence as we let the weight of it sink in. Gillian had used amortentia, the dangerous, advanced, powerful amortentia, on Oliver.

"It makes sense," Aleeza said cautiously. I sensed she wanted to be careful regarding the sensitive subject. "It doesn't make you love someone - it makes you obsessed with them, like Oliver was this morning."

At first, the idea had seemed preposterous. But as Aleeza continued listing reasons why Louise could be correct, it made more and more sense.

"The only thing is she'd have to give him doses regularly," Sasha pointed out. "Once every 24 hours to make sure the effects are constant. Does she really see him that often?"

"Breakfast," Louise suggested. "It would be very easy for her to drop some amortentia in his drink or on his food before he ate some. I don't think it tastes very strongly at all. He wouldn't be able to tell anything was wrong. Besides, if he did, he's already too overpowered by his fake love for her to care."

"Then how did she give to him at Hogsmeade?" I wondered aloud. My interest in the conversation had quickly spiked. There was hope that Oliver didn't actually love Gillian at all. "Surely he must've noticed her meddling with his food, especially given he supposedly hated her back then."

We didn't speak for a few seconds, thinking.

"Wait!" Sasha cried. "What was it we were learning about before Snape introduced us to amortentia?"

I struggled to remember, but Aleeza piped up. "Charms, wasn't it? Oh, I've got it - the silencing charm!"

"Exactly," Sasha said, pointing at Aleeza proudly. "Picture it. Gillian used silencio on Oliver after she put the amortentia in his drink. He can't protest or make a scene. It's perfect!"

My mind went back to the damned day it had happened. I recalled Oliver and Gillian by the bar together. Didn't I look away? Damn, I had looked away! It would've been so simple for her.

Y/N isn't paying attention, which is stupid of her. Pour some amortentia into his drink.Quick and easy. Watch as he drinks it, cast silencio and drag him to the bathroom. There we go. All done. He's mine now.

I shared this with the others, who immediately agreed with me, their voices overlapping in a variety of insults thrown at Gillian.

"We need a plan," Louise said, interrupting the stream of hate. "Someway we can wean Oliver off the amortentia, so to speak."

Aleeza's eyes brightened. "We just need to keep them apart. Keep Gillian way from Oliver and keep Y/N with Oliver. That way, when the effects wear off, Y/N will be right there for Oliver to run back to."

I pondered her idea. I didn't like the sound of spending time with a Gillian-obsessed Oliver at all. Then again, I didn't like the thought of him with Gillian either. I'd have to endure one in order to stop the other. And having a normal Oliver back would be worth anything. So it was settled.

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

Sasha smirked. "Let's get your boyfriend back."

I liked the sound of that more than anything.