Draco's Hufflepuff | Emerging

Eighteen: Amortentia

**

Monday, 4th November, 1996

The weekend with my parents wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The new cottage in Cambridge was actually quite sweet, my bedroom was a lot bigger, I even had room for a double bed. I was mainly relieved that my parent's hadn't thrown out any of my reminders of Draco.

There's even a back garden, something I've never had before. I was slightly worried before seeing out new house that it wouldn't have Muggle electricity, but I'm glad that it does. In fact, we even have a bigger television set now.

As our new house is connected to the Floo Network, dad can still get to the Ministry of Magic in London easily, whereas mum had to leave her teaching position. I accidentally overheard my parents discussing the fact they've had to dip into a large chunk of their Muggle savings whilst mum finds a new job.

Mum and dad said to me that they'd give me a more thorough tour of the village over Christmas break. On Sunday morning, I was shown the post office, a little grocery store, a quaint tea shop, a tiny branch of Ollivanders, the local pub, and a clothes store.

I even got to see Draco for about twenty minutes last night when I returned back to the castle via Portkey. We were just speaking in the hallway at the spot he used to wait for me in the mornings during our eight weeks together, but it was better than nothing.

We were sat in Potions, Professor Slughorn was sorting out something in a cauldron and we were just sitting there, waiting for him to finish up whatever it was he was doing.

Everyone around us was chatting happily, Hannah was turned around and talking to Lavender and Seamus. I kept on glancing over at Draco, who looked like he was deep in thought about something serious. I made a mental note to talk to him about it later.

"Okay, everyone, if you could please gather round up here at the front!" Slughorn called out to us all.

We all hopped off from our stools and I tried to stand next to Draco, but there was too many people in between us to effortlessly to do, without barging people out of the way.

"Can anyone tell what it is in this cauldron right here?" Professor Slughorn asked us,

"That's Amortentia, sir," Hermione raised her hand, "It's the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumoured to smell differently according to what attracts you,"

"Yes, Miss. Granger," Slughorn bowed to Hermione, "Now, it doesn't cause actual love, that would be impossible, but it does cause intense infatuation and obsession. Because of that reason, it's also possibly one of the most dangerous brews we could ever produce,"

Isn't obsession the same as real love? Because I was in love with Draco and that felt dangerously close to being a full-blown obsession.

They're the only thing you can think about. The way your breath quickens any time you think you can just hear their voice. The way you can find a way to fit them into any conversation. The all-consuming need to be close to them. That irritating and niggly anticipation of when your next interaction will be. How you're constantly one edge when you're away from them, but instantly calm as soon as you're together again. Always begging for them to be brought up into conversation so you can talk about them some more. The way they're the centre of your very existence. How you're petrified that you'll lose that feeling, because you've never felt anything close to it before...

"What you're going to do is, one-by-one, come up and smell the concoction and tell the class what it is you smell," Professor Slughorn raised his hands, "How about we start with you, Mr. Longbottom?"