Harry Potter Imagines

Remus Lupin 》Love Potion No. 9

Summary: Working on a prank, you brew some Amortentia, but before you pull it off, your friends take turns finding out what it smells like.

Words: 6k

A/N: Originally published in 4 parts.

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You dropped yourself into a seat amongst your friends with a grin, followed by Alice, who was giggling beside you. You were met with raised eyebrows and suspicious glances.

"Alright," said Lily finally, "I'll bite. What's up with you two?"

You grinned even wider as you held up a vial of iridescent liquid. "Amortentia."

"The love potion?" Sirius laughed.

You nodded enthusiastically. "We convinced Slughorn to teach us how to make it a year early."

"He always buys the whole 'curiosity voyage' thing," added Alice.

"And we are nothing if not dedicated students."

James rolled his eyes, though he couldn't keep the impressed smile off his face. If there was anyone who was better at pranks than him, it was you, and he was never sure whether to appreciate it or be envious.

Peter leaned forward in his seat, intrigued. "So who are you going to make fall in love with you?"

Alice laughed. "Oh Godric, no one. I've already got Frank and Y/N's got no use for it."

You nodded again, head held high. "We were thinking of making Avery and Mulciber fall in love, though. Can't be too hard to trick them into giving it to each other."

"Y/N, that's—" Lily began, a stern look on her face.

You put a hand up to stop her. "Fight hatred with love, Evans. I'm just defending Mary Macdonald. With a little bit of this, I reckon they'll be too distracted being obsessed with each other they won't have time to be—"

Interrupting you, Sirius leaned over James and plucked the vial out of your hand, releasing the cork with a pop. "While we have it, we might as well do an experiment, yes?" Looking around the table, trying to find recognition in someone's eyes, he sighed and added, "it's supposed to smell like what attracts you. Here, I'll go first." He lifted it to his nose, took a big whiff, and thoughtfully said, "firecracker smoke... peaches, and... fresh linen. There! Your turn, Lily."

Lily carefully took the bottle as if it were going to explode on her and make her fall madly in love with Sirius. She took a small sniff, blushed, and immediately handed it off to Peter without saying a word.

The bottle continued to be passed around — Peter smelled watermelon and saltwater, James smelled soil and strawberry shampoo, Marlene smelled lemongrass and new books, Alice smelled pumpkin pie, and you... well, you took a pass on sniffing it. You already had earlier while you and Alice were brewing it, and the look on her face when you said it told you that it was obvious enough that you should keep it to yourself.

Remus wasn't at dinner that night. You didn't have to ask why — you knew that it was the full moon and you knew all about his "furry little problem." You'd left some chocolate from Honeydukes on his pillow earlier.

It was a few days before you saw him, and you spent most of that time plotting with Alice (with a bit of input from James and Sirius) about how you were going to get Avery and Mulciber to feed each other the love potion.

Sirius joined you on your way to the dungeons as you were about to put your plan into action.

"—and then once Avery's obsessed, all we'll have to do is give him some and he'll be more than willing to feed it to Mulciber on his own."