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—RIGEL WALKED INTO POTIONS CLASS, THE LAST CLASS OF THE DAY. Grabbing a potions book from the shelf, which had books for the students who didn't manage to buy one, he sat down.
He frowned when he realized that it was sort of old. Knowing he could just buy a new one soon, he shrugged it off.
Professor Slughorn walked in at that moment, smiling brightly at them all.
Draco and Blaise immediately groaned simultaneously, both of them wishing that Snape was their teacher, while Rigel rolled his eyes.
"Today, I've prepared some concoctions for you all." Slughorn beamed, looking at the Gryffindor and Slytherins. "Any ideas of what these might be? How about you, Mr. Potter-Black?"
Rigel glared at him, but stood up and walked over. "Black." He corrected, barely containing his sneer.
Pointing to the first one, Rigel said, "That one there is Veritaserum. It's a truth telling serum."
"Very good! And the second?"
"It's polyjuice potion. Terribly tricky to make. It turns you into somebody else for a few hours, depending on how you make it."
"And the third, Mr. Black?" Slughorn excitedly asked.
Rigel sighed and walked up to it. "It's Amortentia, sir. The most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumored to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them most."
Most of the girls stood up, trying to get nearer to the potion.
"Can you give us an example of what you smell?"
Rigel stilled, but nodded. Sniffing the potion, he frowned.
If Rigel was being honest, he expected not to smell anything. However, he smelled: Cigarettes, Sirius' cologne, another cologne he couldn't recognize, broomstick polish, his sister's shampoo, and Remus' cooking.
His face remaining emotionless, Rigel answered, "I'm sorry, sir. I must be having a cold. I cannot smell."
Professor Slughorn seemed taken aback for a moment, then smiled tentatively and nodded. "Of course, my dear boy, of course. Do take care of yourself, you wouldn't want to miss any classes because of a cold, would you?"
"Of course not, sir." Rigel mumbled and walked back to the table he was sharing with his friends.
"Feeling alright, Ri?" whispered Draco, earning a nod from his cousin.
"Now, Amortentia doesn't create actual love, no. However, it does create an unexplainable infatuation and desire—" Slughorn started explaining, but Rigel tuned him out.
What was the unexplainable cologne he smelled?
Rigel frowned in thought.
The cologne he had smelled was— smoky, expensive, and masculine—
Rigel's eyes widened.
Tom.
He smelled Tom in his Amortentia!
He was brought out of his thoughts when Draco elbowed him, pointing to a small vial as Slughorn was explaining it.
"—very good, Ms. Granger. Liquid Luck. Desperately tricky to make, disastrous shall you get it wrong." Professor Slughorn said. "This is your reward if you can brew a potion for me today: The draught of the living death. Now, get to it!"
There was a cluttering of the students rushing to their cauldrons.
Trying to forget what he had just found out a few minutes ago, Rigel opened his book, immediately frowning,
'This book is the property of the half-blood prince.'
Surprisingly, he immediately realized whose handwriting it was: Snape's.
Being the Slytherin he was, he didn't even bother giving the book back to Slughorn and started to do what the book instructed him to do for the potion, needing the Liquid Luck now more than ever for the cabinet.
••
"Merlin's beard!" Slughorn exclaimed when the leaf immediately died in Rigel's potion, who was remaining emotionless, as always. "It is perfect! One drop and it should kill us all!"
Draco's head snapped up to meet Rigel's eyes, who gave him a small wink, knowing what he was thinking.
"As promised: here is your liquid luck, Mr. Black." The Professor gave him the small vial. "Be careful. Use it wisely."
••
"We'll use it in turns, Draco." Rigel whispered to Draco as they walked out of the potions class, while Blaise walked over to some girl.
"I can't do that!" Draco immediately said. "You won it, Ri. I can't possibly—!"
"Draco. I won it for us." shot back his cousin. "Anyways, we'll start using it next week. Here, keep it safe."
Draco merely nodded, putting the vial away, too shocked to say anything.
••
That night, Rigel was on the astronomy tower, smoking a cigarette.
When he exhaled the remaining smoke, he crushed the cigarette under his feet and sat down by the edge of the tower, remembering what he had smelled in the Amortentia.
Suddenly, his heart started rapidly beating— Rigel was almost scared that others could hear it if they were near enough.
He started to feel his palms sweating, while breathing heavily.
Not knowing what was happening, Rigel tried his hardest to ignore it, but ignoring it just made it worse.
He conjured a glass and muttered, "Aguamenti." Drinking the water from it when it was filled with it.
He started to calm down a bit, making him let out a breath of relief.
