It's almost impossible to miss.
A sweet and beautiful scent that would cause a smile to appear out of nowhere, followed by a sickly odour that made her wish that she had never smelt it in the first place. The former was never worth suffering through the latter.
Amortentia.
The potion was easy enough to spot, especially after some joker in her house had decided that they wanted her to taste the vile excuse for a love potion. The smell seemed to follow her everywhere; she assumed that the smell was fixed, and stayed the same for everyone. If not, well, it had always smelt the same to her. Hot chocolate that only grew sweeter, until you had a headache. Candyfloss that overflowed with sugar, until you felt nauseated from the smell alone. It was something entirely wonderful, with something lingering there, something wrong; the scent grew sicklier, more horrid, forcing her to eventually leave the room.
The most dangerous love potion that created the darkest of wizards. She was never even tempted to associate herself with such a thing.
'I may be a Slytherin, but I will never be like him.'
Emilie sighed and exited the cabin she and her friends were sitting in. They were exhausting her already, and it was the first day of term – they hadn't even made it back to Hogwarts yet!
"I'm going to see where the sweet trolley is," she had told them. "I've got a craving for a chocolate frog."
The blonde peered into every cabin as she passed, hoping for an empty one. Accepting defeat when she reached the last cabin, which had just one person in, the sigh escaped her lips again. It was the least crowded cabin on the train, even if she had to share it with a Gryffindor. 'I suppose it will do,' Emilie thought.
"There's no more empty cabins," the Slytherin announced as she entered. The Gryffindor who occupied the cabin looked up from his book momentarily, shrugged, and carried on reading.
"Do you mind if I just -?" She asked, making her way to the seat opposite him.
"Do I have a choice?" He didn't glance up, but something about his posture informed her that the last thing he wanted was guests. He was hostile.
"And I thought Slytherins were the cold ones," she joked. "You could at least show a little courtesy."
This time, the Gryffindor looked up. He closed his book with an audible snap, looking her up and down. "Why should I, exactly?"
The tone of his voice was as hostile as his posture; but his black hair reflected in the sunlight beautifully and perfectly contrasted with his dark skin, his eyes were the kind of chocolate brown that swallowed up whoever looked into them. She would be willing to bet that his smile was to die for – if and when he smiled. Still, she felt nothing towards him. Perhaps if he were a little nicer…
"I mean, you did just barge into my cabin, expecting me to be okay with it," he continued.
"I'll leave if you want." Emilie's voice was much quieter now and she shifted her gaze out of the window. The blonde stared out of it dreamily, enjoying the last bit of tranquillity before he told her that yes, she had to get out of his cabin.
Everything was silent for a while, longer than Emilie had assumed it would take him to make his decision. Finally, the Gryffindor sighed, breaking the silence.
"If you're quieter than your friends, you can stay."
"Why do you think I left them in the first place?" She asked playfully, and rolled her eyes. "I'm Emilie, by the way."
"Arun."
"It's nice to meet you. I'll let you get back to your book, though."
Arun smiled and gave her a small nod, before burying his face into the book once more. Emilie returned to looking out of the window, watching the beautiful scenery pass them by. Sure, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were probably surrounded by scenery which the locals would say surpassed that of the English countryside, but those sceneries were probably not so quaint. It was beautiful. It was home.
Glancing back to the Gryffindor sitting opposite her, Emilie noticed the book in his hand. This was the first time that she had noticed the title:
'Amortentia: The Theories of Nothingness.'
Emilie tilted her head, a lock of golden hair fell over her face and went unnoticed by her. This book had caught hold of her curiosity, and it didn't seem to be letting go.
The theories of nothingness. What was the nothingness?
Why was there more than one theory on this subject?
Would it be deemed rude to interrupt Arun to ask?
A loud, forced cough knocked her out of her reverie before she could even think about the answers to any of the questions filling her mind. Emilie's green eyes shifted upward to Arun's own, he was looking directly at her (and she couldn't help but admit that he was handsome). A blush started to creep onto the blonde's cheeks.
"Do you mind?" Arun asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Sorry, it's just, your book –" She shook her head. "Never mind."
He didn't question her further, moving his attention back to his book. It didn't remain there for long, and he glanced back up at the girl. She was looking out of the window again, possibly a 5th year, and a Slytherin. He was more intrigued by her mention of his book, though, and he watched her for a while. It appeared that she wasn't going to ask her question on his book.
Soon, she got up and exited the cabin. When she came back, she was dressed in her robes.
"You should probably change, too." She told him. "We'll be arriving soon."
