Him - A Harry Potter Love Story

Chapter Thirty-Six

I walked into potions, feeling uneasy not to have Harry by my side. This was my first class in a long time I've had without him.

I smiled at Slughorn, just as I did to all the teachers; especially the new ones. As much as I hated to admit it, sucking up to professors definitely doesn't hurt when you're worried you won't do as well in a class.

"Good morning," he greeted, grinning as he stood from his seat. "You must be Miss Winters."

"Oh! Yes," I said shyly, walking up to his desk. "How did you know my name?"

"Oh, Harry told me a thing or two about you during his visit," he chuckled, stepping around the table and holding his hand out. "From what I've heard, you're a wonderful student!"

"Thank you, sir." I laughed a little, blushing. "I guess I'm fairly decent at magic...I'm definitely not the strongest in potions, though. I'd like to change that."

"Well, I'll make sure I pay some extra attention to you then!" He smiled, glancing at the door. "Now, I expect Harry will be joining us soon?"

"He's not taking this class, sir," I said, biting my lip a little. "He didn't get a good enough grade on his OWL for potions."

"Nonsense! I didn't require the same grade Professor Snape did, and he got Exceeds Expectations," he said with a frown. "Do tell him to stop by and talk to me about that, will you dear?"

"Of course!" I smiled, waving awkwardly as I walked over to sit next to Hermione.

A few minutes later, just a bit after Slughorn started the class, the door opened. I looked over, surprised to see Harry and Ron standing there.

"Harry! Come, come!" Slughorn exclaimed. "Glad to see you here, my boy. We were just about to start in the book."

"Sorry, sir, I don't have a book," Harry said, glancing over at me. "Neither does Ron."

"There should be extras in that cupboard over there."

Hermione started babbling on about the potions in front of us, but I was focused on one. One of the pots held a potion that smelled incredibly familiar...I couldn't place it, though. All I knew was that it was wonderful.

"And this one?" Slughorn saw me staring at it and chuckled a little. "Cassandra. Do you know what this is?"

I blushed a little. "It's...it's amortentia, isn't it?"

"Yes, my dear," he confirmed. "Can you explain to the class what it is?"

"It's the most powerful love potion in the world," I responded, seeing Harry eyeing me with a smirk. "The smell is different to each person, based on what they are attracted to."

"Right you are, Cassandra."

Harry sat down next to me, setting a tattered book down in front of him. As Ron sat across from us, I noticed he had a much newer copy. I let out a small snort as Slughorn continued to talk.

"Got stuck with the old one?" I snickered.

"Oh, shut it," he said, rolling his eyes playfully.

He gave us our assignment, and I quickly realized that this potion would be very difficult. And only one student had managed to successfully brew it...there was no way I'd get the vial of liquid luck, and I already was coming to terms with that.

Out of the corner of my eye, while I was struggling to cut the small creature, Harry was already dripping the substance into his pot.

"How'd you do that?" I asked, frowning.

"Crush it instead of cutting it," he told me without looking away from his pot. I bit my lip, glancing at the book again.

"It says cut."