Potions Perfume and Apples - Dramione Fanfiction

Perfume

Hermione stood in the very front of the crowd of students, eager to learn and prove herself as always. Professor Slughorn had just instructed Harry and Ron to grab their textbooks from the cabinet behind him before continuing on with his lesson. "Now, as I was saying, I've prepared a few concoctions this morning. Any ideas what these might be? Yes, Miss...?"

"Granger, sir," she replied, stepping up from the crowd. "That one there is Veritaserum. And that would be Polyjuice Potion. And that...is Amortentia! The most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumored to smell differently to each person, according to what attracts them. For example, I smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and... apples. Green apples." Hermione shook her head, trying to get rid of her rising blush, and stepped back.

Slughorn continued to explain how amortentia worked and how they should be careful with potentially dangerous potions. Hermione, in a very un-Hermione-like fashion, couldn't fully focus on the words. She was busy trying to place the smells that she was supposedly attracted to. Freshly mowed grass: some of her favorite memories were from her childhood home and the summers where she would sit on the porch reading as her father mowed the lawn. Easy. New parchment: the feeling of taking out new parchment to write on or the new book smell whenever they arrived in the library. Easier. But apples? Green apples no less. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten a green apple. She preferred the taste of red ones by far.

Slughorn decided that it was best to work in pairs for this assignment, much to her dismay. Harry and Ron looked at each other then at Hermione in an unspoken battle of "who gets the good student?" Some students had begun to shift in the direction of their friends before Slughorn cleared his throat and said "sorry to disappoint you, but I've randomly selected the names from my roster before class started this morning." After an audible sigh, he started to read off names. Hermione zoned out slightly until she heard her name. "Granger and Malfoy." Slughorn looked around for a second before continuing, "looks like young Malfoy isn't here today Miss Granger so you will be working by yourself for this one." Hermione thanked Merlin as she moved to a clean work station and began setting up.

After she finished gathering her materials and the beginning of the potion base, a certain tall blonde walked into the room. A student pointed him out to Slughorn who turned to address him as he waited by the door. "Mr. Malfoy I presume. No worries about being late today but I wouldn't make it a habit in the future." Hermione snorted at this; she expects he will try to avoid this class as much as possible with the bubbly Professor Slughorn as the teacher. "You are partnered with Miss Granger at table four."

Malfoy reluctantly makes his way to the table, putting his messenger bag on the table between him and Hermione. She rolled her eyes at his childish behavior as she continued with the potion. She made no move to share the work and he had no complaints for the most part. He did, however, have a couple of comments on her techniques.

"Crush it," Draco commented offhandedly.

"What?"

"Crush the Sopophorous bean. It releases the juice better."

"But the instructions specifically say to cut it."

"I know what the instructions say, Granger. Crush it." Hermione reluctantly tried it his way, if only to shut him up, and found it much easier to use the side of the blade to crush it rather than attempting to cut it. Not that she would ever admit that to him.

After a couple more minutes of working in silence, Hermione turned to see Draco staring at her intensely. "What?" She asked 

"Does your hair always get that big when you're focused?" Draco asked not batting an eye. Hermione huffed in response as she tried to ignore him. She tried to nonchalantly pat her hair down in the feeble attempts to tame it but her actions only gave more fuel to the fire that was Draco Malfoy. Seeing how much it bothered her, he continued to tease her throughout the remainder of the time it took to make the potion.

"Finally, we're done. Now to make sure it works." She leaned closer to the cauldron and wafted the smell towards her. 'Apples. Yes, I guess it worked.'

Draco leaned forward to smell the cauldron as well but scrunched his nose in response.

"What?"

"I can't smell a thing. All I can smell is your perfume. What did you do, dump the whole bottle on yourself this morning?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Malfoy, the potion is perfect. I smell exactly what I smelled with the example batch: grass, parchment, and green apples." At this point, the class had gone quiet to hear the two of them squabble. "Besides, I was in such a rush this morning I didn't put on any perfume," she stated matter-of-factly, crossing her arms across her chest.

"You're lying. I can smell it from where I'm sitting."

She was about to argue further when a realization suddenly donned on Hermione. She froze in her spot, staring at the potion in front of her. The whole class started to whisper around them.

"What's the matter with you all of a sudden?" Draco spat.

Hermione refused to look up as her cheeks burned bright red. The class's voices rose as some of the girls giggled and Mr. Slughorn beamed. Hermione saw Harry and Ron frozen in shock from the corner of her eye.

"What is wrong with all of you. What's going on?" Draco demanded.

Blaise, Draco's best friend, came up behind him and placed his arm on his shoulders with the biggest grin on his face. "That's amortentia, mate. It smells like whatever you're attracted to. And you just told the whole class it smells like Granger." The class around them giggled as Draco's face somehow grew paler.

Slughorn took this moment to come to the front of the class and speak. Clapping his hands together in front of him he said "ah, yes. There is always at least one couple each year I've assigned this potion who find true love." The class laughed and glanced at the "lovely couple." Pansy gave a big huff in the corner while angrily continuing her potion.

Neither one of them moved from their spot for the rest of the class period. Harry had won the liquid luck for the best potion. As soon as the bell rang Draco and Hermione dashed out the door in opposite directions.