The next morning started very slowly, as did every morning. Due to the fact that, while she was at Hogwarts, she tended to sleep beside Draco most nights, especially since they had a habit of staying up late and talking about goodness knows what, Eva ensured that most of her pyjama tops were long-sleeved, even if that involved trading clothing with Hermione and Ginny while staying at the Burrow.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly. Daylight, tinted blue from the water underneath the Black Lake, shone into the room through the windows, and the only sound she could hear in the silence was the regular ticking of Draco's clock on his desk. It was already past 9 o'clock, and class would start in less than 2 hours.

She glanced over to her right and found that Draco was somehow still fast asleep, despite usually being the first one to wake up. He was wearing one of his old Slytherin Quidditch team hoodies and pyjama bottoms, sprawled on his stomach with his hands under his head beneath his pillow.

Eva sat up straight with her legs crossed and lightly shook his shoulder. "Draco?" He didn't react at all. "Draco, get up, we have school." She shook him slightly harder, but again he didn't react.

Rolling her eyes, she picked up the pillow she'd been using, lifted it above her head, and whacked him with it as hard as possible. "Draco!"

He groaned and rolled onto his back, his eyes still closed. "Shut up and let me sleep, I don't want to go to class," he grumbled.

"Come on, no one does, you aren't special." In an attempt to get him to wake up properly, she shuffled over to sit directly on top of him, not that it did much since she was so lightweight to him in anyway. "Besides, I want my scrambled eggs on toast. I didn't get my chocolate fudge cake last night, so I'd better at least get this before Potions."

"Just go back to sleep," he mumbled tiredly, rolling her back off him and shuffling sideways to use her shoulder as a pillow with an arm around her. "No one will notice if you don't show up in anyway. This school's a pathetic waste of time."

She laughed as she tried and failed to shove him off. "Come on, you lazy bugger, get your arse up for goodness sake. You may get O grades by doing nothing, but some of us aren't born with natural talent."

"I hadn't noticed," he teased, earning an even sharper shove from her.


They stood around the front desk in the Potions classroom as Slughorn continued his welcome speech about the importance of NEWTs and correct potion brewing methods. Eva was barely paying attention, far too interested in a little spider she'd spotted scuttling along the floor by their feet. In contrast, her best friend Hermione was listening and absorbing every word he said with the utmost interest.

Just as Slughorn was about to continue, the door creaked open and everyone turned their heads. Harry and Ron were both standing in the doorway, Harry with an awkward forced smile and Ron already looking like he wanted to leave.

"Ah," Slughorn exclaimed, "Harry, my boy, I was beginning to worry. We've brought someone with us, I see."

"Ron barely passed Potions though," Eva whispered. "Actually, I think he might've failed."

Harry nudged Ron and the redhead nodded his head. "Ron Weasley, sir. I'm dead awful at Potions, a menace, actually, so, I'm gonna-" He began to take a step back when Harry stopped him.

"Nonsense," Slughorn assured, "we'll sort you out. Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine. Get your books out."

"Sorry, sir," Harry interrupted just as Slughorn opened his mouth to speak, "I haven't actually got my book yet, and nor has Ron."

"Not to worry, get what you want from the cupboard." Slughorn waved his hand idly over his shoulder and finally continued. "Now, as I was saying, I prepared some concoctions this morning. Any ideas what these might be?"

Eva opened her copy of Advanced Potion Making and read through the contents page. It almost made her head physically hurt every time she saw the endless list of content to cover over the next two years.

She raised her hand. "Polyjuice Potion?" Eva guessed.

Slughorn looked over at her in surprise. "Why yes, Miss. Infernum. However were you able to guess?"

"I can smell it from here, sir." Eva creased her nose as the scent of what could only be described as Troll piss but so much worse hit her nose.

"A valid point to make, yes." Slughorn nodded. "Anybody else?" Hermione's hand shot up so quickly that Eva barely caught the motion with her eyes. "Yes, Miss . . .?"

"Granger, sir," Hermione responded, walking towards the three cauldrons. "That one there is Veritaserum." She pointed to the first cauldron. "It's a truth-telling serum. And, as Eva said, that would be Polyjuice Potion." She stopped in front of the middle cauldron and grimaced. "It's terribly tricky to make. And this," she reached the final one, "is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumoured to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them." She inhaled the pink-tinted fumes. "For example, I smell freshly mown grass, and new parchment, and spearmint toothpaste."

Looking almost disturbed, Hermione quickly turned around and stood back. Eva was one of few people who knew that the exact scent Hermione had described was Ron's signature aroma.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Eva decided to quickly dart forward and breathe in the scent herself. The aroma hit her strong—a certain blonde ferret's cologne, combined with fresh pine wood and, strangely enough, green apples.

Eva shook her head quickly. "Whoa," she muttered, slowly backing up towards where she'd been standing previously.

Draco glanced down at her. "What was it then?" he asked disinterestedly.

She leaned against him slightly. "Zabini."

"What?!" both Draco and Blaise hissed in unison, their eyes widening in horror.

"I'm teasing," she laughed, nudging Draco slightly, "it was you, you idiot."

Before he could respond, Slughorn continued speaking. "Amortentia doesn't create actual love. That would be impossible. But, it does cause a powerful infatuation, or obsession. For that reason, it is probably the most dangerous potion in this room."

Before the approaching few girls, including Pansy, could reach it, he placed a metal lid over the top of the cauldron.

"Sir," Katie Bell nodded towards the desk, "you haven't told us what's in that one."

"Oh yes." Slughorn unscrewed a tiny vial of potion and held it up to show the class. "What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen, is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis, but it is more commonly referred to as-"

"Liquid luck," Hermione interrupted.

"Yes, Miss Granger," he responded, "Liquid luck. Desperately tricky to make, disastrous should you get it wrong. One sip and you will find that all of your endeavours succeed." Draco, who had been staring intently at the floor, glanced up in interest. "At least until the effects wear off. So, this is what I offer each of you today. One tiny vial of liquid luck to the student who, in the hour that remains, manages to brew an acceptable Draught of Living Death, the recipe for which can be found on page 10 of your books."


Standing at a place between Draco and Crabbe, Eva flipped open her book to the correct page and began to skim through the instructions. "I need this liquid luck. I think it's about the only chance I have of passing a single one of my NEWTs next year."

Draco scoffed. "You think you need the prize?" he asked as he cut up his Sopophorus bean.

Eva slid her bean over and began to attempt to cut it, although her knife would continuously slip and the ingredient would slide across the table. Just as she managed to position her knife and bean perfectly, her hand jolted and the blade caught on her finger.

"Ah shit," she cursed, holding up her index finger which now had a thin trickle of blood running down the side. "Do you have a—SEAMUS!" The bean Seamus had been trying to cut near the other side of the room had somehow collided with the side of her head. Seamus ducked his head down at her reaction. "See? I need this luck."

While those at her table who weren't so dim-witted preceded to the second step after having successfully gained some, if only a few drops of, juice from their Sopophorus beans, Eva was busy applying a Mickey Mouse plaster to her wounded finger.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "A cartoon mouse? What, are you 5?"

"Watch it, ferret boy, or I'll ruin your potion with my blood," she threatened, continuing to distractedly follow the recipe and add the next few ingredients.

As the lesson went on, the room began to heat up considerably due to the temperature of the cauldron. Both Draco and Eva were the only ones that hadn't removed their outer robes and rolled up their sleeves, Eva for obvious reasons.

By the end, her potion was looking okay, she supposed, but not quite as good as Draco's. To test it, Slughorn dropped a leaf into her cauldron, but rather than kill it, her potion simply allowed it to float around for a while before sinking to the bottom.

Slughorn sighed as he peered into the clear liquid. "It was a good attempt, Miss. Infernum. Pity it was brewed so poorly."

Without another word, he continued around the room, assessing some of the other potions. Draco, who'd been given similar feedback to her except not quite as harsh, looked completely crestfallen now that he knew he wouldn't be winning the liquid luck.

Eva patted him on the shoulder once they reached the end of the class and Harry was being handed the vial. "You tried, you did," she sighed.


A few weeks into the school year, the Quidditch pitch had been booked for Slytherin Quidditch trials since Flint and Warrington, the other two Chasers on the team, had already left school, as well as their previous Keeper, Bletchley. The other players were allowed to keep their positions, so at least Eva wouldn't have to go through the hellish process of tryouts again.

She yanked open Draco's wardrobe and began rummaging through his clothes. "Where's my Quidditch jumper?" she grumbled. "Did you steal it?"

"Why would I steal it if you're hundreds of sizes smaller than me?" he snarked with a slight distracted tone to his voice.

With a sigh, she unhooked his green and silver Quidditch jumper from its hanger and slid it over her head. It was a lot bigger than hers and the sleeves went well past her hands, but all she needed to do was roll up the ends of the sleeves a few times and tuck in part of the hem to her trousers to make it look decent.

"Are you sure you don't want to come too?" Eva asked as she grabbed a few hairclips she'd left on his dresser and clipped back the front few strands of her crimson curls. "I thought you love taking the piss of all of the cocky second years who think they're the shit at Quidditch. Crabbe and Goyle always go crazy at them with the Bludgers."

Draco was sat on his bed with a large book laid out in front of him, the pages looking old and worn. "Go ahead, I have some studying to catch up on," he responded without taking his eyes off his book.

"What could you be studying that's more interesting than Quidditch tryouts?" she asked as she tried to read the intricate font on the page for herself. "You've been acting really weird recently. Are you sure you're doing good? Because I'm not that great at any of that emotional feelings shit, but I have been known to give solid advice."

He slammed the book closed, startling her and sending up a cloud of dust particles into the air. "Don't waste your time worrying over me, seriously," he insisted, looking her dead in the eyes and placing his hand over hers. "Don't let me spoil your fun. You go, and give those second years my regards."

Just before she left the room, she attached her prefect badge to her jumper and jokingly saluted him. "I won't let you down."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: Okay, so this almost didn't go up today, and I know it's short, but to be honest there wasn't much really to write for this, like, section of the year. Trust me, things will get interesting soonnn I promiseeee

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!