Into Your Gravity ( Luna Lovegood & Tom Riddle )

Chapter nineteen: Valentine's day

"Dignity and love do not blend well, nor do they continue long together."
-Ovid
•

"I've been thinking about what you said." They were in potions class, so Tom was talking at Luna over his simmering cauldron. As it was Valentine's Day, Professor Slughorn had decided to get into the spirit of things and have his class make Amortentia potion.

"Really?" Luna said politely.

"Yes. You said there were wars where you came from. Were you talking about the muggle war?"

"No," she replied.

Tom narrowed his eyes at her. "Well, then what were you talking about? There aren't any wizard wars going on."

"Oh. I...yes, I meant the muggle war, Thomas," she said, never taking her eyes off the page of her book with the recipe on it.

"You did not. For someone who doesn't like dishonesty, you sure lie a lot, Luna," he snapped, dumping a spoonful of beetle's eyes into the potion.

Luna looked up at him. "You wouldn't like the truth if I told you."

"You wouldn't know, seeing as you've never tried it," he replied sulkily.

A slight smile crossed Luna's lips. "You're pouting."

"I am not!"

"Yes. Yes, you are," she said, taking a goat hoof and beginning to grind it into a powder.

Tom was silent for a moment, watching Luna struggle to grind the hoof. He smirked at her putting all her weight down to crush it and having nothing happen. Finally, she looked up at him. "I suppose you don't want to help?"

He sniggered, but took the hoof from her and quickly ground it up. He dumped the fine powder into their cauldron and the potion inside at once turned an intense fuchsia. Tom scowled.

"Um, Tom, isn't it supposed to have a 'mother-of-pearl sheen?'" Luna asked, stirring the potion questioningly with a ladle.

"Yes, so what did you do?"

Luna raised her eyebrows. "How do you know it was me? It may have been something you did."

"I always make my potions perfectly, Lovegood. It must have been you. Either way, it's too late to fix it now. We'll just have to take a lower grade."

A moment later, Professor Slughorn bumbled over to their cauldron. Normally, he only glanced inside to make sure that it was flawless as usual. He did the same, only the color of the potion inside caused him to double-take. "Er, Mr. Riddle, and Miss Lovegood...what's happened to your potion?" he stammered.

"I don't know, sir," Tom said earnestly.

Slughorn appeared to recover, and he cleared his throat before saying, "Ah, yes. Who was the one who put in the Ashwinder eggs?"

Tom slapped his forehead. "I was supposed to put the eggs in, sir. I forgot."

"Tom? Oh, well. Yes, well, that was the error in the potion."

"It was my fault?" Tom said, still in disbelief.

"Er, yes, it would seem so. Just add the eggs now; the potion will come out all right, just not as powerful. Then put some in a vial and bring it to my desk." Suddenly, Slughorn's eyes brightened and a smile played across his face. "No worries, my dear boy, little mistakes are common by young men when they have other things on their mind." Slughorn winked pointedly at Luna before bustling off to the next pair of students.