"Is this another one of your projects?"
Severus turned around to see Evelyn suspiciously eyeing the small pink bottle on the coffee table. Damn it, he had forgotten to put that thing away before answering the door. He should be wiser by now...But instead of being more aware he had just allowed familiarity to make him careless, forgetting Evelyn Black was worst than a cat when it came to being curious. He had looked away for a second to light up a cigarette and she had already found something to catch her interest in his sitting room, and it was exactly one of the things she should not come near...It was like the bloody woman could smell magic.
"You could say that...an acquaintance asked me to isolate the components on this..." It wasn´t a lie. Severus had plenty acquaintances and suppliers in all the potion and ingredient stores along Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley... Almost everyone in the Wizarding community thought him dead, but a selected few of his former ingredient suppliers were privy to his current status. Severus would occasionally visit their stores, incognito evidently, to buy ingredients and get information about the newest trends in potions making. One of them had told him about that potion. At first glance it was good old Amortentia, but, in reality, it was a potent new form of it that was being sold illegally as of late. The very same potion as far as the general properties went, but with far more lasting and stable effects. It was more expensive, harder to achieve and so far nobody really knew which component was responsible for longer durability. Severus had asked a shopkeeper in Knockturn Alley to procure him a sample, so he could study it. A potion with a secret ingredient nobody could figure out was exactly what the doctor prescribed to kill Severus´ constant boredom.
"And what exactly is this? If I may ask..." She seemed truly interested. Well, Evelyn Black wasn´t all that different from himself...she too was easily interested on things she didn´t know. And Severus was willing to bet that, after an entire day working in a school full of brats, pretty much anything would excite her curiosity. Routine had that way of turning the silliest things into fascinating events.
"A perfume... The formula is being tested" He had no better lie to tell. The small, elegant bottle made of pale pink glass looked exactly like a muggle perfume bottle...to say anything else would be begging for her to suspect.
"Oh, really?" She smiled and Severus immediately regretted his lie. Women and cosmetics...Evelyn Black was even worse than could still remember the sea of makeup items and cosmetics she kept in her dressing table. It was enough to open a small shop. She had more lipsticks than he had potion vials; multiple shades and tones of the same colors, reds, dark pinks, nudes and plums. He saw nearly no difference among them, but to her each and every color was unique and essential to have. Not to mention those she kept in her purse at all times...It took a special kind of skill combined with sheer obsession to be able to put on full makeup inside a moving car, and yet he had seen her do that more than once. It was simply foolish of her, he thought. She didn´t need any of that...but you try and tell a woman she looks perfectly fine without makeup. Better yet, you try and tell Evelyn Black she looks perfectly fine without makeup, well tailored dresses and stiletto heels. Severus couldn´t quite decide whether it amused or aggravated him.
"Yes... But it´s being tested, so I´m afraid it´s not much of what one could call perfume, yet. But you were saying..." he tried to switch the conversation back to the mundane work-related problems she always discussed with him at the end of the day. But she wouldn´t stop eyeing the bottle. Indeed...curious like a cat. As women tend to be. Evelyn Black was too much of a woman for her own (and his) sake.
"You mind if I..."She tentatively picked up the bottle, looking at him with pleading golden-brown eyes.
"It´s not safe, I´m afraid."
"Then..can I at least check the fragrance? I promise I won´t try it on."
"You won´t leave me alone till you do, are you?"
"Probably not." she laughed softly
"Fine...But whatever you do, do not touch the liquid inside. I mean it." Severus couldn´t believe himself. Had he just given a muggle permission to take a whiff on Amortentia? To what purpose? Morbid curiosity, maybe...
He looked on as she opened the finely decorated lid and smelled the contents inside, eyes closed, inhaling deeply. It tooke her a few moments to open her eyes again...she seemed troubled, confused even.
"Is it supposed to smell like this?" She asked, almost timidly, a faint sheen of reddish-rose coloring her cheeks
"Like what?" what was he thinking?
"Like...old books, oak moss...and tobacco..."
He didn´t know why he felt a sudden urge to put out his cigarette.
"Does it?"
"Here, try it!" She handed him the bottle.
He hesitated before breathing in the scent
Paper...Lady Grey tea...
...lavender.