A/N: I really had a ton of fun with this one. It was a Tumblr request. Enjoy!

-54

Night had fallen at Hogwarts and classes had long since ended for the day. Dinner had been served for the evening in the form of a huge feast in the Great Hall, which never failed to satisfy the hungry stomachs of the young witches and wizards of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

Afterwards, a majority of the students had decided to retire to their beds for the night, while a select few remained awake in the comfort of their common rooms.

Nico had been seated upon one of the black-leathered couches in the Slytherin Common Room for the last hour, feet propped up on the charcoal black coffee table as the fireplace crackled and popped just a few feet away from her. A small bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans that she had purchased at Honeydukes during the trip to Hogsmeade a few days back was in the hand that rested lazily in her lap while the other hand dug around in said bag, popping a random flavor into her mouth every now and then.

She had left dinner early on account of Nozomi's absence and had chosen to make her way back down to the dungeons to get herself comfortable in front of the warm fire away from all of the cold and snow before her fellow Slytherins would come through and hog the other remaining spaces in front of said fire.

Nico hadn't worried long, though. For as soon as dinner had let out, the other Slytherins made their presence known in the common room by the loud whooping and cheering about how they were going to annihilate that circus show of a Gryffindor Quidditch team and their ringmistress Ayase (which emitted an unseen eye roll from Nico), then one by one exited the common room into their dormitories to get rested up for the big game tomorrow.

At the recognition of being the only one in the room once again, the raven-haired girl's lips had raised slightly into a goofy little grin as she closed her eyes and snuggled the back of her head further into the leather, tossing another bean into her mouth and recoiling slightly at its horrid flavor.

Vomit.

Or maybe it had been a nice little flavor like toasted marshmallow that had mixed with the bile that had risen in the back of her throat after hearing her fellow Slytherins talk.

Either way, it was disgusting.

"Get a gross one, Nicocchi?" Nico had been too occupied with discerning the nasty flavor in her mouth to hear the source of the voice make her way into the room. However, the raven-haired girl didn't even need to open her eyes to address the undoubted presence of the Head Girl of Slytherin house herself.

"Well, let's just say it's not my favorite," Nico replied with her eyes still closed. She offered the bag of beans out to the purple-haired girl. "Want one?"

"I'll pass for now. I appreciate the offer, though." said Nozomi with a small grin as she took note of her oldest friend's seemingly relaxed state. She also took note of the robes that lay on the cushion next to Nico in a crumpled heap, a tie that had probably been slung carelessly upon the coffee table, and a pair of shoes in the floor on their sides that looked as if they'd been kicked off without a care in the world.

Nozomi made a small noise of amusement. "You look comfortable."

Nico only popped another bean into her mouth. Bubble Gum. "Missed you at dinner."

"Ah, I was," The purple-haired girl paused, clutching the vial hidden in the pocket of her robes. "A bit occupied."

Nico peeked open a crimson eye to suspiciously peer up at the prefect from her spot on the sofa. "With what?"

And without a word, Nozomi removed the object from her pocket and placed it on the coffee table. Nico watched her as she did so, eyes widening in realization as she eyed the pink, heart-shaped vial resting on the table next to her crossed feet.

"I-Is that what I think it is?" The shorter Slytherin stuttered out, her shocked gaze still remaining on the object.

Nozomi nodded. "It was a little tricky, Nicocchi. I had to skip a few chapters ahead in our Potions textbook to find the instructions, but I managed just fine."

Nico set her bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans to the side and planted her feet firmly on the ground, leaning forward to pick up the vial. She quickly looked the small bottle over and skimmed the glass with her thumb to check its authenticity.

"You know I was kidding about this, right?" Nico said once she came to the conclusion that this was a guaranteed, one-hundred percent authentic love potion. "Nozomi, you could get in trouble for this!"

"Oh, I'm very aware that it's against school rules, Nicocchi. I am a prefect after all."

The shorter Slytherin looked aghast. How could Nozomi carelessly dismiss something that could put her prefect status in jeopardy, or worse, her final year at Hogwarts?

"If word gets out to Professor Minami about this, she'll expel you, stupid!"

"Which is why I trust that you won't rat me out." The corners of Nozomi's mouth pulled up into another small grin as the mysterious glint in her green eyes twinkled. A look that Nico had been familiar with for years and immediately knew that it could only mean one thing:

Nozomi was up to something.

And as Nico looked between her best friend's face and the love potion still in her own hand, her brain finally processed what Nozomi was trying to convey, and it automatically clicked.

"Oh, no," Nico shook her head vigorously. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I know what you're trying to do, and the answer is no. I am not giving her this."

"Aw, come on, Nicocchi~," Nozomi fake pouted, placing her hands on Nico's shoulders before cracking an impish, toothy grin. "How else are you going to woo your darling Maki?"

Oh, that was cold. The smaller Slytherin's jaw automatically fell open, her eyes widening out of shock and offense. It didn't sting long, though, for Nico quickly recovered by glaring dangerously at Nozomi.

"Are you implying that the great Nico-Nii lacks the ability to charm a woman?" She accused, continuing to glare daggers at the taller girl.

"I'm suggesting nothing of the kind," The purple-haired prefect said with genuine innocence. Then she added, "I'm just trying to prove a point to Elicchi, and I need you to help me do it."

If looks could kill, Nozomi would've kicked the bucket right then and there. The last statement that came out of the taller Slytherin's mouth only served to offend Nico even further (No matter how impossible that may have seemed at the time).

"Oh my god," Nico's tone dripped with disgust as she eyeballed Nozomi with contempt, the situation finally clicking in her mind. "You guys bet on my love life?!"

Now, it was Nozomi's turn to be offended. With a slightly over the top gasp, she placed her hand over her heart. "Why, Elicchi and I would never! I am shocked by your accusation!"

"Nozomi." Nico was beyond exasperated.

"But now that I think about it," The prefect cupped her chin, looking to the side as if she were in deep thought. "There may or may not have been an...exchange in words between Elicchi and myself about your...interactions with a certain Ravenclaw if you want to put it that way, Nicocchi."

Nico growled, placing her hands over her face and falling back into the lukewarm leather of the sofa. She did have to give Nozomi credit, though. That girl could make any sneaky or underhanded situation seem perfectly harmless just by sugarcoating her words. Nico knew better, however. They'd known each other since their first year, after all.

"And instead of being a rational human being and telling me what all was said, you're going to choose to be cryptic about it like you usually are when it comes to these things, right?"

"Telling you would violate girlfriend-girlfriend confidentiality, Nicocchi.~"

Nico released an exasperated groan. Of course. She'd expected nothing less from Nozomi.

"Okay," She sighed. The great Nico-Nii might have lost, but she wasn't a sore loser. "Here's the deal. I'll give this love potion to Maki to help you prove whatever it is you're trying to prove to tall, blonde, and pale, but only if you let me cheat off you during Charms for the rest of the term."

Getting Nico to even open her Charms textbook to study was like pulling teeth for both Nozomi and Eli. For the last year, both of them had taken time out of their busy schedules just to sit down in the library and tutor her even though they were both fully aware that Nico's attention swayed elsewhere a majority of the time. Juggling these daily sessions, her own studies, her responsibilities as Head Girl, and her nightly prefect duties were taking their toll on Nozomi. And she knew for a fact that it was worse on Eli because not only did the blonde Gryffindor juggle the aforementioned duties of her own house, but she also held Quidditch captain responsibilities.

Nozomi often worried about her blonde-headed love, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't thinking of taking Nico up on her offer. It would certainly lift a huge weight off their shoulders.

Eli will probably later question why the tutoring sessions have stopped so abruptly and will probably scold Nozomi when she finds out the truth behind it all, but that would be okay. Nozomi would just sweet talk her way out it.

"In the morning during breakfast, slip two drops of that into her teacup." Nozomi finally relented.

"Sweet!" Nico raised her arms in victory. No more boring ass tutoring sessions! Then another thought entered her head, and she slowly lowered her arms before bringing the hand that still gripped the pink bottle down to rest in her lap. "This won't hurt her or anything, will it?"

"If my assumptions are correct, which they always are," Nozomi winked. "And if everything goes according to plan, she should be just fine."

That seemed to satisfy the raven-haired Slytherin as she silently placed the potion vial into a pocket of the crumpled up robes on the cushion next to her and reached for her long forgotten bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans on the other side, bringing it into her lap.

Practically everyone in Hogwarts knew that Nozomi was at the top of the seventh year Potions class (next to Eli of course), which proved that Nozomi was competent when it came to potion-making. And because of that, Nico trusted the purple-haired prefect's words when she said it wouldn't harm Maki. That was the last thing Nico wanted right now.

"Now, off to bed, Niccochi. I'd really hate to have to deduct house points just for a curfew violation." Nozomi winked at Nico over her shoulder with a teasing grin.

Nico tossed a bean into the air and caught it with her mouth. "Please don't. Because if you do, those idiots will never let me hear the end of it."

"Goodnight." Nozomi bowed her head to her oldest friend before walking away.

"Watch out for Dementors and Gytrashes!" Nico hollered, a small little smirk on her face as she placed another bean in her mouth.

The purple-haired Slytherin playfully rolled her eyes. Oh, what would she do without her lovely Nicocchi?

"Slytherins Are Supreme." She recited the password to the gloomy grey wall in front of her. And just like that, the wall disappeared and Nozomi exited to begin her rounds.

The continuous repetition of water droplets dripping onto the cold, stone floors of the Hogwarts dungeons was a sound that was practically ingrained into Nozomi's brain at this point. She heard the constant drip drop every single night during her patrol, and it provided a somewhat calming effect to whatever mood she was in at that point in time.

And of course, some areas of the dungeon were poorly lit, but that didn't bother her in the slightest bit. However, within the silence of the dungeon, she could hear the faint sound of someone breathing.

As she got closer, the breathing was more distinct. Her ears also picked up the slight noise of shoes scraping nervously against the stone of the dungeon floors.

Nozomi carefully removed her wand from a pocket on her robes and once she was for certain she was right next to whatever was there with her, she pointed it accusingly to the darkest corner of the dungeon where it was hiding in the shadows.

"Lumos Maxima." A bright light was casted from the tip of her wand. What, or more accurately who was standing there was exactly who Nozomi had expected to be there.

"P-put that light out, Nozomi!" Maki Nishikino shielded her eyes with her hand.

At the recognition of her expected visitor, the Slytherin grinned. "Right. My apologies. Nox." The light abruptly disappeared and Nozomi pocketed her wand. "Now, what could a Ravenclaw possibly be doing down here in the dungeons at this hour? Last time I checked, Ravenclaw Tower was up on the fifth floor."

"You tell me," Maki crossed her arms. "Rin told me that you wanted me to meet you down here tonight."

"Ah, that's right," Nozomi says, acting as if she was just now remembering how she encountered Rin on the Grand Staircase, along with a distraught Honoka, who was too worried about the failing grade on her recent Transfiguration exam to listen in on their conversation. "I did tell her to pass it along to you, didn't I?"

The redhead grunted impatiently. "Listen, I don't mean to sound rude, but I don't have much time. Umi could catch me out of bed at any moment."

"Then I'll cut to the chase. I'm asking for a small favor from you, Maki."

"And that would be?"

Nozomi reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial similar to the one she had presented Nico with earlier and held it out in the fifth year Ravenclaw's direction.

Even in the dark, Maki recognized the outline of the heart that the vial was shaped into. She reached outward to accept the bottle from Nozomi's grasp and stared at it with slightly wide eyes.

"Do you know what type of potion this is?" prodded the seventh year Slytherin.

Despite knowing immediately what the identity of the liquid in the vile was, Maki still continued to stare at it in silence. She was a fifth year and hadn't even touched the subject of a love potion in class, but being the studious and intelligent student Maki was, she had come across it while reading ahead in old Potions textbooks she had borrowed from the library.

Maki scoffed. "Any idiot knows that this is a love potion."

"And what do you think I want you to do with it, Maki?" Some more prodding from Nozomi.

The redhead studied the bottle in her hand once again in silence. Nozomi stood across from her, hands clasped behind her back and patiently waiting.

Once it clicked, Maki exhaled harshly, the color of her face beginning to match her hair as she stared with a gaping jaw at her senior.

"No deal!" She stammered, attempting to return the potion back to its maker. "I'm not giving her this! It's too dangerous!"

Nozomi placed her hands upon the redhead's shoulders as a means to soothe her. "Just hear me out. Recently, I've had this theory, and Elicchi doesn't agree with me. I need you to give this to Nicocchi so I can prove that theory true. I'll give whatever you ask for in return just as long as you do this for me."

"I know the effects of a love potion! The person who receives it falls in love with the person who administers it! The only problem is it isn't love at all!" Maki finishes her rant with a small, defeated sigh, and in a smaller voice she says:

"It's obsession," She closes her eyes, bringing a hand up to twirl a strand of her hair. "Obsession and love are two completely different things. If she's going to fall in love with me, I want it to be genuinely and not because of some stupid potion."

Nozomi looked upon the young Ravenclaw with gentle, green eyes. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she nodded once.

"I understand completely, Maki," The Slytherin's eyes drifted from the fifth year and landed on a seemingly interesting spot within the grime and dampness of the dungeon wall. "I understand because as soon as Eli and I started dating, a rumor went around saying that the only reason Eli was with me was because I gave her a love potion."

Maki abruptly opened her eyes, turning her head slightly to catch the far away and somewhat melancholic look in the emeralds of Nozomi's eyes.

Narrowing her own amethyst ones, she almost snarls. "You can't be serious!"

"As a heart attack," Nozomi affirms, looking back at her junior with a sad, sideways smile. "Anyway, that's why I need you to just trust me. I'll make sure everything will be okay. I promise."

The Ravenclaw wasn't ignorant to Nozomi's subtle change of subject, but she had no choice but to go with it. She sighed.

"When do you want it done?"

"Put two drops of that in her teacup in the morning during breakfast. I'll handle the rest."

Maki seemed to contemplate it some more before sighing a second time. "Okay. I'll do it, but only on one condition."

"What's that?"

Maki turned away from Nozomi, cupping her hand around the potion vial and looking at it with intense, amethyst eyes as she addressed the Slytherin quietly. "I haven't the slightest idea as to what this theory of yours may be, but whatever you do, please make sure this doesn't hurt her. That's the last thing I want."

Despite Maki not being able to see her, Nozomi nodded. "I promised you everything would be okay, didn't I?"

"And I'll hold you to that promise," The redhead eyed the prefect over her shoulder with a small, elusive grin. "Goodnight, Nozomi."

"Goodnight, Maki. Sleep well." Nozomi returned the farewell.

The sounds of slippered feet against the frigid, stone floors dwindled away as Maki cut a paced trail to Ravenclaw Tower.

The next morning, everything went according to plan just as Nozomi said it would. Both Nico and Maki snuck away from the their own respective house dining tables in the Great Hall to spike each others cups with a couple drops of the forbiddened love potion Nozomi had created.

The prefect had witnessed Nico drink the contents of her teacup as she listened to her raven-haired friend chatter away about a dream she had last night that included several varieties of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans with human legs attached to them and how she was so overweight in the dream that she couldn't chase them as they ran away from her.

Nozomi had made a mental note to not let Nico inhale a bag of them before bed ever again.

And of course, she had snuck a few glimpses of Maki sipping from her teacup as she held a conversation with Umi and a few of the other Ravenclaw girls.

Afterwards, Nozomi and a couple of her "informants" (Honoka and Rin) kept close tabs on both Nico and Maki throughout the day, taking notes on various pieces of parchment as they monitored both girls' behavior. Once classes were over, all three met in the library to compare notes.

Once they had come to an unsurprising conclusion, Honoka and Rin exited the library in a hurry to paint each other up in the Gryffindor Common Room to prepare for the Quidditch match against Slytherin later that day.

Now, here was Nozomi - seated next to Eli at a table in the back of the library as she contently watched her blonde-haired love copy down notes from her Charms textbook. That, and she was debating in her head on how to approach to Eli that her theory was absolutely, bonafide, one-hundred percent true. Plus, she had witnesses in Eli's closest Gryffindor comrades to vouch for her.

"Elicchi~..." Nozomi began.

Eli's eyes were focused on her current task, but she had heard the Slytherin acknowledge her. "Hm? What is it?"

"My theory is correct," Nozomi propped her arm up on the table and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "Niccochi and Maki are head over heels for each other."

Eli abruptly stopped writing, unglued her icy blue eyes from the parchment on the table, and looked up at the purple-haired girl. "You actually gave them love potion?"

"Yes, but that's beside the point, Elicchi. They administered the love potion to each other, but it had no effect on either one of them. Why? Because you can't make someone fall in love if they already are in love. And since Nicocchi administered it to Maki and vice versa, that means they are in love with each other."

Eli hummed in thought, then smiled. "Valid point. I'm impressed, Nozomi. Well done."

"Now, you know, I'm not one to say I told you so, but I told you so!" If there were no authority figures around, and if Nozomi herself hadn't been an authority figure, she would've stood up on the table and let the world know that she was right all along.

"Love potions are overrated, anyway," The Gryffindor winked at her Slytherin girlfriend. "I prefer falling in love the good, old-fashioned way."

"You know," Nozomi grinned, placing her hands on either side of the blonde's head and pecking her on the lips. "So do I."

A/N: Nozomi's theory pretty much went like this:

"The effects of love potion are negated when two people who administer it to each other are already in love."

Example: The Unfair Magnetic Gays (in Harry Potter personas, mind you).

It will range from weeks to possibly months, but I will continue this AU as long as I possibly can. It's gotten too good to give up now. And you guys seem to love it too, so why the hell should I stop it?

Until next time!

- 54