I'm not wearing cologne | S.S

Part 1

The common room was as lively as ever. Some students were hanging around the window and trying to spot the legendary mermaids, while others were immersed in their textbooks and scribbling down on a scrap of parchment. You had an abundance of potions work to do compared to your other classes as Professor Sharp loved to assign essays rather than practical work. The stress of missing deadlines was threatening to crush you, there was simply too much to do. Poppy had offered to help with your load of herbology and beast work, but you politely declined to state that you could manage it on your own. Those were some of the easiest classes in your opinion, and definitely some of the more fun ones. Though, nothing can quite top defense against the dark arts, can it?

Your textbook lay flat on the table as you scanned through the readings. Amortentia, the love potion. It wasn't real love, that kind of stuff cannot be fabricated, but rather created a strong obsession and that is why it's considered one of the most dangerous potions. The most fascinating part of the brew is that the scent given off will be different for everyone. It was intriguing and you'd certainly looked forward to brewing the potion.

By the time you finished writing down summaries of all the readings Professor Sharp had assigned, your hand was cramping up. It was quieter now as all the Slytherins had departed to the great hall for dinner, all that remained was the crackling of the fireplace. You closed the musty textbook with the parchment inside and quickly dropped it off in your room before following your fellow housemates. There was space next to your friend and she greeted you as you sat down.

"I had started to believe you'd skip dinner for your assignments," Amanda says while gathering more mashed potatoes on her plate.

With a sigh, you explain how long the writing was: summaries for ten potions with an ingredient list. It was far too much to do on a Wednesday evening.

"I'm just glad I got it over with. We're actually brewing one of the dangerous potions tomorrow so I wanted to know what I'm dealing with,"

"Oooh, which one?"

"Amortentia," You grin, "I want to know what I'll smell, I've heard too many stories about it to not be intrigued,"

The boy sitting across from you interrupted your conversation with Amanda.

"That's hardly a useful potion, I wish we'd learn to brew things more...demanding,"

Sebastian Sallow. In your second year, you accidentally got on his bad side and he has never let it go. You had bested him in a dueling competition that he was super confident about. To you, he'll always be that arrogant fool.

"Did you not do the readings? Powerful obsession can be very dangerous, you can have someone do all your bidding,"

Amanda shook her head. Sebastian and you would always challenge each other-always wanting to prove the other was wrong. Unfortunately, she gets stuck in the middle of it quite often. At one point the two of you were so desperate to get higher exam scores than the other that you stayed up studying three nights in a row. You both ended up missing the exam as you had slept through it, which Amanda will never let you forget.

"I don't need a potion to do that," Sebastian leans forward and his voice lowers, "I'm very skilled with persuasion,"

Oh how badly you wanted to wipe that smirk off of his face. He grabbed an apple and left the table, pride gleaming in his eyes.

"What will it take for you two to stop bickering so much? You've been at this for years!"

You shrug, "I'll admit, it certainly is fun having an academic rival. Makes things so much more interesting,"

"Not when you're stuck in the middle of it,"

"I hate how he acts like he's better than us because he isn't afraid to delve into the dark arts,"