Loyalties | Barty Crouch Jr

The Scent of Strawberry

November 15, 1978 - Wednesday

As the weather outside grew colder, so did the inside of Hogwarts. This wasn't ideal for Leonora, reason one being her hatred of the cold, and reason two, her double Potions classes in the dungeons twice a week, by far the coldest place in the castle. She often times wore two jumpers underneath her robes to keep herself somewhat warmer.

And today, it was freezing. She found herself standing between Thalia and Barty in the Potion's classroom as they waited for Slughorn to arrive, leaning slightly into the boy for some extra warmth. He had no objections to it, even boldly draping his arm around her shoulders.

There was one table set out in front of them, the rest had all already been temporarily pushed to the side of the room. On the table, sat a single cauldron with steam spiraling out of it.

"What do you think it is?" Barty asked the girl, trying to get a good look into the cauldron from where they stood. If he could see inside, he'd easily be able to tell, but they were too far away.

Leonora thought for a moment, staring at the spiraling steam as she racked her brain for what it could possibly be. The steam pattern appeared familiar, she had definitely seen something like that in a book before, but she was having a hard time remembering exactly what it was.

"I have no idea," was all she could settle on.

"I think," Barty began, inhaling deeply, "it has something to do with strawberries. That's all I've been able to smell since we've gotten here."

Leonora turned her head towards the boy, a confused look on her face. "Strawberries?" she questioned, before inhaling deeply herself. "I don't smell strawberries at all. And besides, what potion has strawberries in it?"

"None of them," Barty frowned, before inhaling again. "You really don't smell that? It seems like the scent is getting stronger and stronger."

Leonora shook her head 'no.' "I smell old books and-" the girl abruptly stopped speaking, her eyes growing wide as she finally realized what the potion was. Amortentia. Everyone smelled something different, based on who they were attracted to.

And Barty smelled strawberries. Did she smell like strawberries? None of her products were strawberry scented. The only thing relating her to strawberries was her love for strawberry muffins, something that Barty had always known about, making sure she always got one during breakfast before everyone else took them all.

"Old books and what else?" the boy asked, eyeing her curiously.

Leonora swallowed. "I... I can't put my finger on it." She could feel her face heating up, suddenly thankful for the coldness in the castle that had already painted her cheeks pink.

To her, the Amortentia most definitely smelled like Barty, which by now didn't surprise her. Though for some reason, she was nervous to admit what it smelled like to the boy. She had been convinced for months of the possibility that the boy fancied her, though what if for some reason her, Illyria, and Thalia were all wrong about it?

Abruptly, the door to the Potions classroom swung open as Slughorn entered, pulling the girl out of her thoughts. Barty removed his arm from around her shoulders, standing up straighter as class finally began. She instantly felt colder, missing the warmth the boy provided.

"Good morning, class!" Slughorn began excitedly as he made his way to the middle of the room where the steaming cauldron sat. He stood in front of it, facing the class. "I'm sure by now you've all noticed this cauldron very obviously sitting here. If everyone would like to please come forward and surround it, I'd love to take guesses as to what the potion inside of it is."