Amortentia

    Charlie was walking down the hall of the upstairs floor in his house, whistling as he did. He walked past his brother’s room, looking inside for a moment before continuing on. A moment later, however, he stopped and walked backwards until he was standing in front of the open doorway, a grin on his face.

     “Hey, little bro, why ya gettin’ all dressed up?” he asked, entering his brother’s room.

     “Well, I…” Oliver began, looking over at his brother, but trailed off for a moment. “I have a date.”

     “Really?” his brother asked, clapping Oliver on the shoulder before plopping himself down onto his little brother’s bed. “That’s great! How’d it happened?”

     “It all started last Friday,” the younger sibling said as he then launched into story, calling upon Dumbledore to help him tell his story as clearly as a memory in the pensieve.    

~*~

     It was seven A.M. sharp on that Friday morning, the one right before Spring Break. Though it wasn't long (only a week), every student was looking forward to a time where they could relax and hang out without having to deal with the atrocity that is school and the work that comes along with it. There was a buzz in the air, infecting every student, but there was one such student who wasn't smiling only because of the inviting break.

     Oliver Barnes, a straight-A earning, cello-playing, Harry Potter-obssesed boy, stood in front of his locker, fumbling with the lock while trying to keep his gigantic instrument from falling over and smashing. As his lock finally clicked and opened, a breath of relief escaped his lips as he then unloaded his heavy backpack, shoving the heavy AP books into his locker. This was that student who was happy for a completely different reason, one completely, idiotically, teenager happiness.

     He was finally going to ask the girl of his dreams, Rose Myers, to go on a date with him.

     He'd been building up his courage since the semester had started. He'd done crazy things to build up to this moment, from asking his sister for relationship advice to running though what he'd do on their date with the household mop (he had a hard time explaining that one to his mom.) Today was the day, and he was absolutely certain that if he had to wait until after Spring Break he wouldn't be able to convince himself to do it.

     Before the hallways got too full he faced his locker, taking a deep breath before looking into the painted eyes of the Ron Weasley bobblehead sitting on the top shelf of his locker. Oliver tapped his finger against the figure's chin, making it nod its head back and forth.

     "So, what d'ya think, R? Today the day?" Oliver asked, staring intently at the inanimate object. He tapped Ron's chin again, continuing the nodding.

     "You got this, Oli," Oliver said, imitating a British accent so it was like Ron was speaking to him. "Remember the wise words of Headmaster Dumbledore: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

     Oliver rolled his eyes at this.

     "Oliver, you are a cool dude. You are as brave as Neville Longbottom. You are as interesting as Luna Lovegood. You are as clever as Hermione Granger. You are as loyal as Ginny Weasley. You are as important as Ronald Weasley. You are the Chosen One, and it's your time to shine."

     Though these talks seemed weird to people who saw him doing them, they always helped him feel like if Lord Voldy ever invaded their school, Oliver could take him on with nothing but a pen as a weapon. They made him feel confident, since most of the time he felt completely invisible, unnoticed throughout his entire high school career, like he was Peter Pan's lost shadow but Pan was too invested in Wendy to go looking for him.