Chapter 14: 3407

Having breakfast in the Great Hall that Thursday morning was interesting, to say the least. Tom was on one side of me, and Madrie on the other at the table. The whole school was watching us, as everyone knew by this point that I was dating Tom. Or perhaps the whole school was looking at the Slytherin table, not solely because of Tom and me, but in observance of how empty the Slytherin table was. Black family members were all gone, as well as Darmic Flint, who was sent to the Ministry for questioning, and many of my fellow classmates had slept in, as the fifth year Slytherins had Astronomy late last night and no class in first period that day.

Madrie and I had been too hungry to afford missing breakfast, so we got up in time for the morning escort. I suppose Tom had come because I had. Tom had his arm around my waist for most of breakfast. I suspect it was for appearances sake, cause it felt like a piece of rubber, no affection whatsoever. Tom's buddy, Lawrence, was also present. Poor Lawrence clearly did not want to be there, as he was sleeping in his plate. Annoyingly, Tareese had also come, probably because Tom had. Tareese kept him engaged in conversation as much as possible, along with a few of the cronies unrelated to the Black family. I, on the other hand, kept my conversation to Madrie, and Giselle, who only talked to us because there was no one else really. Her boyfriend and his buddy slept in, while Giselle was dragged awake by Tareese.

When Madrie and I finished breakfast, we agreed to go to the Library to study for our O.W.L.s during our free first period. So I turned to Tom, "Tom, I will be going to Library with Madrie, you can find me there when you finish." I hoped he did not seem inclined to come with me, for even as a boyfriend, his attachment to me was stifling. My assurance that he would find me there when he finished was hopefully enough to convey to him I was not up to anything.

"Of course, Naglia, I will find you there," he replied, his stern eyes conveying so much more than his words and the brush of his lips on the back of my hand. Tareese had an bigger intake of breath than anyone else that saw Tom kiss the back of my hand. People whispered, "… He kissed her hand… it is true…"

I left without further ado, Madrie following. When we were a few halls away from the Great Hall, Madrie commented, "You know, I still do not know if I understand this whole thing of you dating Riddle."

"NEITHER DO I!" a voice shouted from behind us. It belonged to Tareese, whom we turned to see with her wand out in threatening manner, pointed at me.

"Tareese, what are you doing? Did you want to get into another detent-" Madrie was cut off as a blithering girl had come around the corner and ran straight into us. She was squat student with dark lank hair and glasses pushed up into her fringe, as she had her hands over her crying eyes. She then gave a wail upon bumping into us and then scooted around us and went on her way crying right past Tareese as we watched her, dumbfounded.

In the direction of the hall the girl had originally come from, we hear a call, "Myrtle come back! Your pimples are not that bad…"

Next we hear a bang at the end of the hall, originating from around the corner the girl, Myrtle, had gone. It was hardly a surprise, I reckon she could run into a troll without noticing because of how, blubberingly, unaware she was, as she escaped her tormentor. Unlike Madrie and I, the unseen person around the corner received an apology from Myrtle. Around the corner came Tom, which explained why Myrtle apologized; his formidable presence must have demanded it. Lawrence was a pace behind him, seemingly like Tom's ball and chain.

Seeing Tom, Tareese backed off and lowered her wand. She immediately turned and cooed at Tom, "Did that ugly muggle-born run into you? Are you alright, Tom?"

"Yes, barely saw her coming…" Tom then turned to me, much to Tareese's annoyance, to ask, "When is your detention today?"

"After Defense against the Dark Arts," Tareese replied to Tom before I got the chance.

At this point the student harassing Myrtle showed up, Ravenclaw 4th year named Olive Hornby, and asked us, "Did you see where Myrtle went?" We all simply pointed to the hall Myrtle had turned. As Olive left, I heard her mutter under her breath, "Why did I get her for a buddy…"

"Tareese," Tom said, clearly getting irritated. Tareese's eyes widened with delight, for what I could only deduce as being due to the fact that he said her name. She was oblivious to the fact that Tom's patience for her was running thin. "Would you please take good care not to get my girlfriend in trouble again? I want to spend more time with her outside of detention room as opposed to in them."

Tareese's smile fell, and she blurted, "What do you mean in them?"

"I am a Prefect you see, I will just volunteer for detention duty with whichever Professor in charge," explained Tom, as Tareese paled. That was when I understood that Tareese was smart enough to get me in detention in attempt to limit my time with Tom, except her plan did not work. Even this instance, she had come to fight again in order to get me even more detention time, even if it meant that she did get time too. Who would have thought that Sly Sisters had such sacrificial devotees?

Tom shifted his gaze back to me, as he said, "Or in this case, the Ministry Official. Come Naglia, let us go to the library as a date. Also Tareese, Giselle is looking for you. You should stay with your buddy." Leaving a stunned Tareese behind, Madrie, Lawerence, Tom and I went to the library. And for the first time, Tom sat with me at one of the tables between the shelves. This date with Tom was in no sense romantic; rather it was a study session before the start of Potions in second period. Regardless, it was nice to be at the same table as him, my inner idiot was cheering. As I read up on Transfiguration, he read about Giants, either for Care of Magical Creatures or because of our run-in yesterday afternoon with the half-giant.

"I hope you all have come with the lively spirit of your inner Potioneer, for today we will have the competition. I have reminded you about all semester, so I hope you all are mentally prepared. For the sake of fairness, I will have to put you all under a secrecy spell so you do not reveal to subsequent years the competition details. We can hardly afford the space to have years four to seven all brewing potions simultaneously, even if they all are of the age to compete. The seventh and sixth years have already completed their submissions. And today is the day for fifth years, with Slytherins and Hufflepuffs first. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw will be in this afternoon, and the fourths will perform tomorrow."

Professor Slughorn was rambling on excitedly about qualifiers competition for the Hogwarts representative for the 77th Wizarding Schools Potions Championship to take place the coming Christmas, two weeks away. Only people who genuinely liked Potions had any care for the national competition at an enchanted garden that takes place every seven years since its start in 1407. It was conducted in honour of memorable Potioneer Quintia McQuoid. Hogwarts had not won the competition in a while; the last 5 was won by Uagadou School of Magic, located in Africa. Thinking how I should at least attempt the potion, I tuned back in.

"-declare the winner at the Slug Club Christmas party, the date and location of which is still under much debate between Headmaster Dippet and I. However, I am sure you all are eager for something memorable to finish this calendar year at Hogwarts with, aside from… well… you all know. Anywho, get cracking on making Love Potion 3407, otherwise known as 'Upside Down Milk'. Can anyone give me a use for this?"

Merly Montague, a Hufflepuff reading the textbook answered, "Essentially, given what is written here, you give it to your lover if you are having a spat and they agree with whatever you say. Or if you want to break up with an overly complacent lover, you give them this to make them angry with you for whatever they usually agree with. I am not really sure about the second."

"Indeed, the second use is hardly used as there are easier ways to absolve an engagement with a lover. However, it does demonstrate the principle of the draft, which is to make the mood of your lover the opposite of what they are feeling. A surprising number of wizards are known to use this when their wives get their skirts in a bunch over the husbands flirting too long with another witch. Of course, the effect is temporary and should not be overused, as long term use can numb their lover's mind. Only known case of that was Patricia Ollivander, 30 years back, whose husband continually gave her the draught to assuage her suspicions that he was having affairs with the mothers of his clients."

"Was he, sir?" asked Dant Bott, another Hufflepuff.

"I hardly know Mr. Bott, neither do I think it appropriate to inform you," dismissed Professor Slughorn.

The class then began their preparations. While I was collecting ingredients, Tareese muttered, "Bet you will excel at this."

This then made me wonder if I should even try to do this, I hardly wanted to add fuel to Sly Sisters' fire by making a refined love potion. But who was I kidding? I did not become good at brewing potions till 5 years later when the Advanced Potion-Making book by Libatius Borage came out and Tom had gotten me access to the finest of ingredients. Anwyays, the point is that my potion did not look quite right by the end of the class. And surprising, neither did Tom's.

Or perhaps it was no surprise at all. Tom, at this time, had no love nor hatred toward love potions, he would only develop that next summer. So he did his potions work as per usual, not caring as to whether or not he did qualify. He only actively strove for things that would give him power, like being a prefect. A badge declaring him to be Wizarding School Potions Champion was hardly worth extra effort, if he got it, then so be it, as such was his attitude on the matter. So then you may ask, how did the impeccable Tom Riddle only produce a potion as good as feeble me? Let me enlighten you with the knowledge that Harry Potter was not the only one to live after insulting or tampering with Tom. Who is this great being that escaped Tom's wrath without injury?

None other than love-besotted Charld Hawking. Poppy Seamsworth had apparently not yet forgiven Charld. And in the potion classes between their apparent breakup and the start of my dating period with Tom, Poppy had been doe eyed while watching Tom, apparently taking note of his handsomeness once her eyes were off of Charld. Perchance I should have mentioned this earlier, however the Sly Sisters were more concerning, and Poppy only seemed to be so obsessed over Tom to piss off Charld.

Whatever her motive, pissed off was exactly what Charld was once he realized to whom Poppy's attention had been shifted to. Tom had a disgruntled Potions desk-mate for a few weeks now. Poppy, who had been as confused as the rest of the school with regards to my relation with Tom, had doled back a little, I suppose in respect for me. Luckily, she was sane enough to do so, but this did not prevent her from blushing when Tom unexpectedly picked up some Belch Berries that rolled off her desk. Probably, Tom did not want someone to step on them and make the area smell. Anyways, I was not the only one that noticed said interactions, but Charld did as well. And with no one noticing except me, Charld dunked one of the Belch Berries into Tom's concoction during a moment Tom stepped away from his cauldron to fetch a few more ingredients. Charld did not know that I saw, and to this day neither does Tom know of what had transpired.

.

Those of you who know why the spell is called 3407, awesome job!