Chapter 18: Tears, Tiffany's & A Cauldron of Amortentia
Thank you everyone who commented on the previous chapter. I haven't made a decision yet, but I will soon. And if anything materializes then you will be the first to know =)
What do you think of the new cover? I got tired of the old one =)
Who went to see the Hunger Games? I did! For those who haven't seen it yet, all I will say is that it exceeded my expectations.
Guess who has a new obsession? This witch right here. I have recently become obsessed with "One Direction" (THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!) which explains the song on the side =)
Enjoy!
**********************************************************************
Life is a maze, Love is a riddle.
-Unknown
It seemed that in no time at all, Friday flew by and Teddy’s last day neared. As a goodbye treat from Draco, the two spent the last day in Disney World.
Soon enough, they were home and Hermione was running after Teddy, trying to get him to eat one last meal before leaving, and Draco was positively howling with laughter at the sight.
“Teddy! Please finish you food! Please?” Hermione yelled running after Teddy.
“NO!!!” Teddy yelled, now jumping off of one sofa to the next.
Hermione turned around glaring at Draco, who was still laughing. “I’m glad that at least one of us finds this amusing, because I certainly don’t.”
Draco sobered up under Hermione’s deathly glare.
“I told you. I told you not to buy him all those sweets. And I specifically told you not to buy him all that ice cream after he ate all that cake. But did you listen? Nope. And now, here he is hyper and basically bouncing off the walls. And who has to deal with this?Me. Because what are you doing? Helping me? Nope. That’s right; you are laughing your arse off while I have to deal with this!”
“Relax, Hermione. If you wanted help, you could’ve just asked,” replied Draco with an innocent look, barely containing a smirk.
Draco walked over to Teddy who was now using the sofa as a trampoline. As Draco bent down to eye level with Teddy, a strange sensation ran from his head and down his face. Immediately, Teddy began laughing and soon Hermione joined after seeing Draco’s expression as he realized what had happened.
“I don’t like orange juice. You should have bought apple juice,” Draco replied wiping orange juice from his face that Teddy had magically (not figurative, I mean the real kind) spilled on him. “But on the plus side we won’t have to worry if Teddy is a squib or not.”
Just as he finished, the bell rang. When Hermione opened the door, Harry and Ginny walked in.
“Hey--,” began Harry.
“Why are you soaked in orange juice?” asked Ginny interrupting Harry.
“It’s good for your complexion. And it brings out the color of your hair. Did you not know?” Draco asked with a serious face.
“Haha. Very funny,” Ginny replied.
“So what did Teddy do?” asked Harry with a knowing smile.
“Not much. But he did demonstrate his first burst of magic,” replied Draco. “By dousing me in orange juice.”
“Who would’ve known that it takes about three pounds of sweets, double chocolate cake, and ice cream to make magical qualities emerge,” Hermione added glaring pointedly at Draco.
“I think someone should inform Mr. Filch,” Harry quipped, causing everyone but Teddy to burst into laughter.
After a few minutes of chatting (during which Teddy was still running around like crazy), the couple left with Teddy, leaving Hermione and Draco behind.
“I’m going to take a shower,” declared Draco, heading towards the bathroom.
“The extra towels are on the second shelf in the cupboard to the left,” called out Hermione, now starting to clean the mess Teddy had left behind.
After fifteen minutes of rigorous cleaning, the mess was almost unidentifiable. Just as Hermione cleaned the last traces of orange juice from the carpet with a simple siphoning charm, her doorbell rang.
“Maybe Teddy left something behind,” Hermione thought as she opened the door.
As she opened the door, she took an involuntary step back in shock. Because standing in front of her was no other than Ron Weasley.
“Um…Hey,” Ron stated breaking the awkward silence.
“Hello,” Hermione faintly replied. “What are you doing here?”
“’Mione, I just wanted to say that I am so--,”
“Hermione, where are my extra clothes that I left here the other day?” Draco called out, from the next room, interrupting Ron.
“They are in the cupboard in my room by the mirror,” Hermione replied before turning back to Ron.
“Now, what were you saying?” she asked.
“I wanted to say tha--,” this time Ron left off mid-sentence and a murderous glint shadowed his blue eyes, as he glared at a spot behind Hermione.
“Hermione, I can’t find my—What are you doing here?” Draco growled when he saw Ron.
“What are you doing here?” countered Ron.
“I think that much should be obvious even to someone as dim witted as you, Weasel,” Draco sneered as Ron looked at his towel clad figure and Hermione blushed furiously.
It would be an understatement to say that Ron looked absolutely murderous. But before either could do anything rash, Hermione intervened.
“Draco, how about you go and get dressed while Ron and I talk?”
Draco gave her a questioning look that asked if she was fine with it. When she faintly smiled in return, Draco walked up close to Ron and menacingly added, “If you hurt her in any way, you will regret it,” before walking away.
“So, what--,” Hermione began.
“What are you doing with him?” Ron blurted.
“Excuse me?”
“Why are you sleeping around with Malfoy?”
“EXCUSE ME?” Hermione screeched with a bewildered look on her face.
“I asked, ‘why are yo--,” Ron began.
“I perfectly understood what you said. I am not deaf,” Hermione replied in a deathly calm voice that hinted at the anger that lied underneath. “What I want to know is why you are asking me this. Why does it matter to you? Why do you care?”
“Because…because…because you are fraternizing with the--,” began Ron.
“Oh. Don’t you dare start on that again. You do this every time, you skirt around issues,” Hermione cut in with a bitter laugh. “And I don’t see how this is any of your business, who I ‘sleep around’ with. If I remember correctly, you cheated on me and broke up with me. So I don’t see why you are so interested in my life all of a sudden.”
“I was just looking out for you,” Ron replied through gritted teeth.
“Oh, really? Well you don’t have to trouble yourself with that anymore. Now, I have someone else to look out for me,” Hermione replied defiantly. “If you are done with what you came to talk to me about, I suggest that you leave.”
Ron was furious. “I…I…I want my apartment back.”
“I beg your pardon? I don’t think I heard you properly.”
“I want my apartment back and I want it cleared by tomorrow,” he replied coldly before turning around and disapparating.
_______________________________________
After Ron left, Hermione closed the door and leaned against it, slowly sinking to the floor. She just sat there, not moving, as if petrified, staring straight ahead. And she was still doing so when Draco walked in five minutes later to check whether Ron had left or not.
Draco walked in, stared at Hermione for a few moments before taking a seat next to her by the door.
“What did he do?” Draco asked quietly, with a hint of repressed anger in this deathly calm voice.
“He wants the apartment back,” Hermione replied quietly. “By tomorrow morning.”
“Don’t you own the apartment?” Draco asked.
“No. It was a birthday gift from him a few years ago. Though technically it’s mine, it’s actually his.”
After a few minutes of silence, Draco spoke up. “You can just move into my apartment until we find you another one.”
“Thank you. It’s very kind of you to offer,” Hermione replied quietly. After a few more minutes, she abruptly stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“There is a place I go whenever I’m sad. Come on, I’ll show you,” replied Hermione holding out a hand.
Draco hesitated only for a second before taking her extended hand. Soon, they were lifted off their feet and deposited in the middle of a street, where a routemaster almost ran them over.
“You come to the middle of random streets when you are sad?” Draco asked incredulously after pulling Hermione out of the way of the incoming double decker bus. “If you are planning on committing suicide, please let me know. I’m too beautiful to die.”
Hermione smiled faintly at Draco’s attempt to palliate the tension in the air.
“No, I don’t come to random streets. I just come to Old Bond Street,” replied Hermione. “Tiffany & Co. to be specific.”
“A jewelry shop makes you happy?” asked a very amused Draco.
Hermione was about to answer when she realized the innuendo in what Draco said. “You…you are incorrigible.”
“Hey! I did not say anything. You are the one with the dirty mind,” Draco replied barely containing his trademark smirk.
“Sure. You are the saint and I am the Lavender Brown,” Hermione said sarcastically.
“If you say so,” Draco replied unable to hide his smirk.
Hermione just gave him a look before continuing as they entered the store, “It’s not any jewelry store. It’s Tiffany’s. When I’m having a bad day or am really sad, I come here. Because everything is always perfect at Tiffany’s and for a brief fleeting moment, while you are here, life is perfect.”
“I have a very serious question. Don’t take it lightly and seriously answer this,” Draco began. “Are all females like this? Do all of you get this emotional over jewelry shops?”
Hermione gave Draco a look as if he had missed the whole morale of an entire story, which in a way he had.
“Okay, pick something out,” Draco declared after a few minutes of browsing in silence.
“I’m sorry?” Hermione asked breaking her gaze from an emerald necklace.
“I was being a douchebag. As a conciliation prize for that as well as the birthday gift that was taken away, I want to buy you something. So pick something.”
“No, you don’t ha--,” Hermione began.
Draco effectively ignored her and walked over to the jeweler. “I want that necklace over there,” he said pointing at the necklace Hermione was admiring prior to Draco’s interruption. It was a simple necklace that had one emerald surrounded by small glittering diamonds.
“Thank you,” Hermione replied as the jeweler handed her a bag with the necklace.
“You should try it on,” Draco declared as they walked out, swiftly taking the necklace out of the box and clasping it around Hermione’s neck in one fluent movement. “Green looks good on you,” he commented, making Hermione blush.
As they walked to the café across the street, Hermione shivered from the cool breeze. Draco immediately took off his coat and placed it around Hermione’s shoulder.
“My, aren’t you being a gentleman today? What happened? Who are you and what have you done to Draco Malfoy?” Hermione asked teasingly.
“Contrary to popular belief, I’m not always a heartless git,” replied Draco.
“Only about ninety-nine percent of the time,” added Hermione with a smile.
As they sat outside the café, sipping their coffees, another strong gust of wind blew causing Hermione to snuggle into the coat. As she did so, she caught the scent of spearmint she had smelled the night they went to the Malfoy manor. As she inhaled the minty scent, her mind was transported back to the memory that had evaded her mind the other day.
__________________________________
“Now then, now then, now then,” said Professor Horace Slughorn, whose massive outline was quivering though the many shimmering vapors that prevalent in the dungeon. “Scales out, everyone, and potion kits, and don’t forget you copies of Advanced Potions Making. Today you will be brewing Amortentia. Can anyone tell me what it does?”
Hermione’s well-practiced hand hit the air before anybody else’s, much to no one’s surprise.
“Yes, Miss Granger?” he asked with a smile.
“It’s the most powerful love potion in the world, sir,” Hermione answered enthusiastically, causing her potions partner Draco Malfoy to whisper ‘know it all’ under his breath. “It doesn’t really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. It simply creates a powerful infatuation or obsession. It is considered to be one of the most powerful and dangerous potions in our syllabus. It also smells differently to each of us according to what attracts us.”
“Well, well, a perfect answer. I couldn’t have described it better. Take fifteen well-earned points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger,” said Slughorn genially before continuing. “You have the entire hour and a half to brew this potion. After you complete it, pour it into a vial and set it on my desk. You may not keep or drink it. Now, you may begin.
Noises began issuing from each and every end of the dungeon as everyone began drawing their cauldrons toward themselves and adding weights to their scales.
“What do you do in your free time? Memorize textbooks?” Draco asked as they started dicing the sopophorus beans.
“No,” Hermione replied as she added the beans to the bubbling potion. “I just happen to enjoy reading textbooks. I find them fascinating.”
“Bookworm,” Draco coughed as he cut up the Valerian roots.
“Man-whore,” coughed Hermione as she added the roots and began stirring the potion.
“Just depends on how you look at it. I’m sure they would disagree,” Draco replied inclining his head towards a table of Hufflepuffs who were paying more attention to the blonde seeker than their own potion which had turned an ugly gray color and was boiling furiously.
“It doesn’t change much. Either way, we should focus more on the potion,” Hermione replied adding a sprinkle of pixie dust to the bubbling cauldron.
“If you say so,” replied Draco as he continued stirring the cauldron.
After thirty minutes of continuous stirring and adding more ingredients, a potion with a distinctive mother of pearl sheen was bubbling lightly in the cauldron with spirals of steam rising from it.
“What do you smell?” asked Hermione curiously as she saw Draco take a deep breath.
“What do you smell?” Draco countered.
“I asked you first, therefore you must answer first.”
“According to what? Hermione Granger’s Encyclopedia of How the World Works?” Draco asked sarcastically. “I asked you second, therefore you must answer first.”
“According to what? Draco Malfoy’s Skewed Booklet of How He Thinks the World Works?” Hermione countered defiantly.
“Aw, I don’t even get an Encyclopedia?”
“Nope, you have to make do with a Skewed Booklet.”
“That’s not fair. I was nice to you. I want an Encyclopedia,” Draco whined.
“Life’s not fair. Therefore you are stuck with a Skewed Booklet,” Hermione replied.
“According to what? Your Encyclopedia?”
“Precisely,” Hermione replied with a smile. “So, what did you smell?”
“You go first.”
“Fine. I smell…,” Hermione started, taking a deep breath. “I smell freshly mowed grass…new parchment…and…spearmint. What do you smell?”
“Not telling,” Draco replied with a smirk.
“You have to tell me. You said you’d tell me yours’ if I told you mine!” Hermione exclaimed.
“I never said that. You just assumed I did,” Draco replied.
“Come on! I told you three, you have to tell me at least one!”
“Fine. I smell green apples,” declared Draco.
“Out of all things, you smell green apples?” asked Hermione disbelievingly.
“Says the person who smells grass and parchment,” Draco sniggered.
“Touché.”
__________________________________________
“What did amortentia smell like to you?” Hermione asked abruptly.
“Well that wasn’t random,” Draco added sarcastically.
“Sorry, I just randomly thought about it,” Hermione apologized. “But do you remember what you smelled?”
“It’s getting late, we should probably head to your apartment and start sending the stuff over to my apartment,” Draco replied shifting in his seat
“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me. I didn’t realize how personal the question was,” Hermione frowned.
Just as they were about to leave, Draco spoke, “Someday, I will tell you. Not today. But someday.”
********************************************************
That's it! I hope you enjoyed that! Don't forget to comment, vote if you think think it deserved it, and fan if you want to!
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top