The Downfall (Theo Nott FF)

10. Amortentia

It was Tuesday and Professor Snape had droned on for 20 minutes about last weeks exam and why half of the class had failed it.

"Now that we've cleared that up, let's move on with the lesson. Today we will be making amortentia. Can anyone tell me what that is?" Snape asked the class.

Hermione raised her hand quickly.

"It's a powerful love potion. The most powerful in the world. Whoever drinks it falls into madness of lust from who they received it."

"Indeed Miss Granger. Although I do not recall calling on you. Maybe next time you will be able to contain that insufferable attitude." He spat.

"Is it true that it smells like whoever you're truly in love with?" Blaise asked from his table he shared with Neville.

"That's correct Zabini. If you are able to make the potion correctly, you will be able to smell whatever brings you the most love."

The classroom of students erupted with a few whispers and chatter.

Marilyn looked to Pansy, who she had partnered up with. Pansy was poking the inside of her cauldron. She looked over to where Theo and Draco were standing at their table. Theo was fiddling with his wand and Draco was staring off into the distance.

"Turn to page 189 in your textbooks, you have 30 minutes." Snape stated as he turned to go sit at his desk at the front of the classroom.

"I'm excited, I wonder who I'm going to smell"  Pansy said as the girls grabbed the ingredients for their potion.

The class spent the next 30 minutes creating their potions. It ran pretty smoothly, the classroom was buzzing with chatter from the students trying to figure out the potion with their partner. Aside from a few explosions from Seamus Finnigan, no one's potion had failed yet.

"Looks like time is up." Snape announced as he stood up. "Let's have you all smell the potions."

"You can go first Pans" Marilyn gestured. Pansy smiled and sniffed their cauldron.

"It smells like...roses, red wine and....nail polish" She whispered to Marilyn as she looked around the room. Marilyn watched as Pansy's eyes widened and she inhaled deeply.

"Who is it?" Marilyn asked.

"...Me"

"...What?"

"I smell myself" Pansy exclaimed. She looked over toward the Gryffindor table in awe. 

"Niceeee" Marilyn nodded and pat Pansy on the back. "Self love is the best love and you are a Leo after all"

"Shut up. It's your turn" Pansy sighed, taking her eyes away from the Gryffindors and focusing on their potion.

Marilyn nodded and took in a whiff of the potions.

"It smells like weed. It literally smells like weed." Marilyn frowned.

Pansy roared with laughter.

"WEED? THAT'S YOUR TRUE LOVE? AHHHAHAHAH" Pansy nearly fell to the floor with laughter.

"Pansy hush!!" Marilyn cried, embarrassed as heads were turning toward her. "Wait there's something else. It's weed and rain...oh my god. rain."

"No way"

"No"

"You totally-"

"Don't say it"

"You're-"

"Pansy do not."

"You're in love with Theo" Pansy whispered.

"I'm not!"

"Yeah, you're not...the future Mrs.Nott" Pansy chuckled.

Marilyn elbowed her in the gut. She couldn't believe she had smelled Theo. They hadn't even talked about their make-out session at the party or about Marilyn confessing how she felt about Theo. Both of them acted like it had never happened. She assumed he had forgotten about it, they were drunk, maybe it didn't count.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"It smells like smoke and perfume like amber or something" Theo muttered to Draco as they had just finished their potion.

"Oh my god" Draco chuckled.

"No"

"You totally"

"Don't say it"

"Mate I think you're smelling Lynnie"

"I know."

Theo sighed and rolled his eyes.

"This is actually so stupid."

"Not like anyone wasn't expecting this." Draco shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"Well it was kind of obvious, you guys tease eachother relentlessly and meet up in the middle of the night to smoke, I mean I'm surprised it hasn't happened already."

"WEED? THAT'S YOUR TRUE LOVE? AHHHAHAHAH" Pansy roared from the other side of the room. Draco gasped and Theo quickly whipped his head around to Marilyn.

"It did" Theo muttered as they watch Marilyn shush Pansy and they returned to their potion.

"What?"

"Well, kind of. Not really. We've kissed."

"When?"

"The first week of school was the first time, we had gone up to the astronomy tower to smoke, and then we kissed at the party" Theo explained in a hushed tone, careful not to let others overhear their conversation.

"So what does this mean?"

"I dunno. We haven't talked about it since really and when she asked me about it after the first time, I kind of blew her off cus we had just learned about the ball and the arrangement. We never talked about the party, I'm not even sure she remembers, we were drunk."

"Wouldn't this be good for the arrangement?"

"I guess but she doesn't know about the arrangement and her parents still won't tell her until she's a death eater." Draco didn't say anything. There was nothing else to say. "Who do you smell?"

"You don't want to know." Draco said simply and Theo chuckled, nodding.

Theo and Draco had been friends long before any of the other Slytherin group. Draco had known Theo's mother. Was there for him when she passed. His family took in Theo when his father was sent to Azkaban for a few months. Theo and Draco held each other with the most respect. Nothing had ever made them genuinely argue. They had suffered the same fate of being born into the wealthy, pure-blood circle with no choice but to work for the dark lord. 

Theo looked over to Marilyn who had her head on the table and was covering herself as of she was bracing for impact. He caught eyes with Pansy who gave him a wink and pointed to Marilyn. Theo chuckled. Marilyn raised her head and made eye contact with Theo. He gave her a small grin and her cheeks went bright pink. Marilyn turned to Pansy who was still pointing at Marilyn.

"Oh my god" Marilyn groaned as she resumed her previous position until Snape had dismissed the class.