The Older Potter // HP Older Sister

114

C H A P T E R 114

Samantha felt the familiar pounding of her head as she woke up Monday morning on April 2nd. To say the twins' birthday was fun would be an extreme understatement.

The group took an excursion to Hogsmeade and spent the majority of the day laughing, joking around, and being teenagers. Fred and George stocked up on some more candy from Honeydukes and get some for their party later that night. Everyone pitched in to help them pay as their seventeenth present.

Samantha had her own birthday present for them in mind. She was still very much involved in their joke shop ideas and calculated out how much more money they needed to get a jump start upon leaving school the following year. She told them she would give them a monthly amount so they could properly allocate their funds on what they wanted to create.

She had been planning this since they started their joke shop and wanted them to know that she supported them in every decision and that money should not be what is holding their creativity back.

The group got back for dinner and they ate quickly so they could start prepping for the party. In exchange for a future week of not being woke up in the night, The Fat Lady created a "temporary" password for people of other houses to use to enter.

Everyone was excited to have a night of dancing, eating, and partying as they had some time until the next Task and Quidditch match. It was almost Easter break so everyone was itching to let off some steam.

That next week brought a lot of work for the sixth years. They were practicing non verbal spells non stop and each night they had hours of work to complete or topics to revise.

Each day in Potions Snape would introduce something new and today was an anticipated day. Today they would be brewing Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in existence. Snape said they would brew their own batch, take a smell of it to see what is truly what attracts one's heart, and if their potion was up to par, then he would let them keep a small vial of it. Not enough to penetrate someone, but enough to keep the desirable scents alive.

And so Samantha and Viktor got to work.

"What do you think you'll smell?" Viktor asked as they were about halfway done.

Samantha stopped for a moment. "I don't really know. Maybe something having to do with Quidditch or candy from Honeydukes. What about you?"

Viktor smiled slightly. "Quidditch will definitely be there...maybe some of the books I've been reading at the library."

Samantha grinned. She loved that him and Hermione were still acting very friendly towards each other. Samantha turned to walk around the table to get the next ingredient and she saw Cedric working alone. Marcus was not in Potions class yet again, for almost a week straight.

She glanced at Viktor and debated asking him where he was but she went against it. This time Samantha had to put a stop to her curiosity in light of not wanting to get involved in whatever Marcus was doing.

Snape called time and told everyone who was finished to stand next to their potion and take turns smelling it. "Jot down whatever you smell. I require one roll of parchment on one of the scents and and why you think it attracts you."

Viktor leaned over first and closed his eyes, letting the fume of the potion envelope him. Samantha watched in awe as the corners of his lips tugged in satisfaction. He opened up his eyes and jotted down adamantly with his quill. He looked up at Samantha and then nodded at the cauldron.

Samantha took a breath and leaned in as well. Her eyes fluttered closed so she could truly focus on the potion. Her thoughts clouded as the waft entered her nostrils. A smile instantly formed on her face as she identified the first smell. It was indeed the Quidditch pitch. It was the smell of the fresh breeze she loved upon flying into the air and awaiting a match. The next smell brought a warm fuzzy feeling to her stomach. It was butterbeer, her absolutely favorite drink. The third smell was her favorite scent. It was lavender. Almost everything she owned that had a scent was lavender because it always brought a calming and stress relieving feeling to her. Her lotion, body wash, candles, were all lavender. The fourth and final smell Samantha did not recognize at first. Her eyebrows furrowed at its innate muskyness but then it calmed down to a more pine and evergreen scent. Samantha paused and opened her eyes at how she could not pinpoint the meaning to the last one.