Chapter I
It was a fine Saturday morning at Hogwarts and Hermione Granger sat alone in her dormitory in Gryffindor Tower reading up on the properties of moonstones for her Potions essay. She sat on her bed with piles of books towering around her. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through her hair, which had become a lot less bushy since she started using her Sleek Easy Hair Care Potion which her best friend, Ginny Weasley introduced her to. Just as she reached for her quill, a soft tap tap sounded from the dormitory window. To her surprise, she saw a tiny butterscotch owl bobbing up and down carrying a letter. She got up carefully, not wanting to dislodge any of her books and moved to open it. At once, the owl flew in with a low hoot and landed on her bed. The owl held out its little leg and Hermione unattached the letter tied to it. She opened it and recognized the familiar untidy scrawl at once. It read:
Dear Hermione,
I was wondering if you'd like to nip down to my hut for some tea this afternoon. I know you're busy with Prefect duties and schoolwork but I just thought with what's going on between you Harry and Ron, well, I thought we could just chat a bit.
Hagrid
Hermione sighed and sat down on her bed. She had been avoiding seeing Hagrid because of, well, "Won Won". She knew that Hagrid would know all about her falling out with Ron as Harry had told them that they had visited Hagrid recently.
She just didn't want to talk about the situation with anyone. Ever since that infernal Quidditch match against Slytherin, Ron and Lavender had become the most disgusting couple, practically shoving their relationship into her face every chance that they got. Well, she was done with pining over someone who obviously preferred Lavender Brown to her. She had planned to take Ron to Slughorn's Christmas party. She had thought that maybe then he could finally pluck up the courage to make a move with a couple of butterbeers down him. But as it turned out, she thought wrong. She sighed. I need to move on if I'm ever going to get over Ron and I'll need a plan.
With that thought, Hermione sprang out of bed and began to get dressed. This course of action gave her a rush of adrenaline which cleared her mind. She remembered a time before this when she had the same feeling; it had been when she had punched Draco Malfoy back in her third year. Smiling at the memory, she flipped her hair out of her face and decided that today, she would put special care into what she looked like; Ron needed to see what he was missing after all.
Hermione began by slipping on her new white lace underwear and bra set that Ginny had encouraged her to buy from Madame Malkin's Then she put on her usual Hogwarts skirt and blouse which she charmed so it was a couple of inches shorter than usual. Hermione looked at herself in the mirror. 'Nothing special… no wonder Ron likes Lavender' she thought and immediately scolded herself for thinking such a thing. Today she was going to show herself that Ron didn't matter.
She looked herself up and down in the mirror . While she had definitely improved over the last couple of years, there was still something about herself that she wasn't sure of. She knew she was an overachiever, a "know-it-all" as Professor Snape often told her. She knew that her thirst for knowledge was part of a deep insecurity to always be able to excel at everything. The fact that Ron had started dating Lavender stuck her as a failure on her part and she was not okay with it.
Sighing, she looked back at her open underwear drawer and spotted a small opalescent bottle. At first, she didn't know what it was, but as she picked it up she recognized it. Ginny had given it to her for Christmas the previous year. It was the bottle of magical perfume, with Madame Sultry's Alluring Aroma on the label. Hermione turned the bottle over in her hand and read: Just spray a bit of this magical perfume and you will discover who your secret admirers are! With a small smile, she sprayed quite more than a bit onto her neck and wrists. The scent was heavenly; it smelled like a bouquet of roses. Where she had applied the perfume, Hermione felt a strange soft tingly feeling, which slowly faded. She looked back at herself in the mirror and saw to her surprise that the perfume –for it must have been the perfume— seemed to have created a mysterious effervescent glow which radiated from her slightly freckled skin. The effect- Hermione rarely had vain thoughts such as these so she let herself continue- was quite attractive. The glow slowly faded, and with a smile, she reached to grab her book bag and wand and left the sixth year girls dormitory.
On the way down to the library from Gryffindor tower, she passed Ginny who immediately smelled the unique sent of Madame Sultry's Alluring Aroma. Ginny ducked out of the way so Hermione wouldn't see her as she passed and smirked; she knew what was in store for Hermione today even if Hermione didn't herself.
What Hermione didn't know was that there had been a warning note attached to the bottle, saying that it was a strong magical perfume which attracted all those who had pre-existing crushes on oneself. It also said that the perfume lasted for 12 hours, gaining strength all the while. In addition, the warning label cautioned that the perfume wearer would lose their inhibitions and gain a certain amount of sexual prowess. Ginny had removed this warning before she had given it to Hermione in the hopes that she would use it and not be afraid of the consequences. Ginny knew how Hermione felt about Ron; she thought it was fairly obvious, the entire school practically knew that Hermione fancied Ron. Though her original intention for the perfume was for Hermione and Ron to get together, now it was quite clear that if Ron, who undoubtedly had feelings for Hermione, got near her sometime today, Ron would get rid of Lavender and Hermione would stop moping about! Smiling at this realization, Ginny continued walking towards Gryffindor Tower; it was going to be a good day.