cold as you ||t. riddle||

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒙

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𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖉𝖆𝖞
┗━━━━•❅•°•❈•°•❅•━━━━┛

20 October 1942

Elena rolled up her parchments, putting them into her bag and going over the recipe in her mind. Her and Rin, over the past month had devised a potion that could hypothetically reverse Orion's Wilting Potion's effects. Today, they were going to test this potion with Slughorn and Orion. She was fairly confident that her and Rin had succeeded, however she did not trust herself enough to brew the potion correctly. The past month had also brought with it sleepless nights, where every two days she would find herself back in the cave and after that unable to sleep. She saw the effects in the mirror, her face had gotten paler and she had lost a lot of weight.

Tom had mostly stayed away from her, their only interaction was for group assignments. She was still wary of his sudden change in interest for her, seemingly abandoning his curiosities after the night in the Forbidden Forest. Elena's shock upon seeing him in Slughorn's office was therefore, only justified. He stood in a corner, brows knit and eyes on Rin. He was breathing slowly and there was a certain darkness surrounding him.

Elena rushed over to Orion, who was getting the ingredients ready. "What is he doing here?"

"Apparently he has a proposition as well. We are going to try both of your potions," said Orion. "Don't worry, I don't think his is going to work."

Tom still hadn't looked at Elena, it seemed he was purposefully avoiding her. She walked over to Rin and gave him the parchments. "I wrote all the instructions out last night. Use these, they look neater."

"Thank you," he took the parchments. "Are you okay? You look tired." He held her arm, looking in her eyes. "You're freezing too." He took off his sweater handing it to Elena. "Here, wear this."

"Thank you," Elena gave him a small smile and put on the navy sweater. She couldn't deny that over the past month they had gotten closer. Close enough that she could no longer be mad at Orion when she made joking remarks about the two of them. "Can I count on you to brew the potion?"

"Of course," he knit his brows. "Is there something wrong? You know you can talk to me."

"I know. Let's get today over with, I will tell you later." Elena wasn't lying, she wanted to tell someone. Sharing the pain could help dilute it. She knew that Rin wouldn't judge her upon hearing the name Grindelwald. Although he was careful not to go into those subjects when he was with her, she knew he still went to the rallies with his friends.

"Oh you're all here! How wonderful!" Slughorn came in carrying two cauldrons. His eyes lingered on Elena, "Mortem, dear, I do think green looks better on you." He laughed at his own remark and continued, "Malfoy, are the ingredients ready?"

"Yes, sir." Orion took the cauldrons from his hands and put them on the stations she had prepared for Tom and Rin.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Slughorn clapped his hands. "I have inspected your drafts and am so excited to see if they will work! Let's begin, Elena, Tom my boy."

"Sir, Rin will be making the potion in my place. We worked on it together," Elena said, finally causing Tom to look at her perplexed. She quickly looked away, taking a step back and letting Rin get ready.

"Alright." Slughorn seemed to be underwhelmed, hopefully the potion would fix that.

Elena brought two chairs for her and Orion, and they sat down watching the two boys get to work. Orion occasionally made comments about how bad Rin's stirring technique was, which made Elena upset but she didn't let it show. In fact, she was focused on what Tom was doing. The first few steps were what they had come up with together but the rest was a surprise even to Orion. After an hour, both potions were ready.