Chapter 6: What Do You Know About Love?

Rose Weasley was frazzled.

She had locked herself in the spare room of her apartment flat for the better part of two days, hovering over a bubbling cauldron, spell books and potion tomes spilled open around her.

Though she was close to finishing her apprenticeship, she wasn't a Potions Mistress – not yet, anyway. And what her mother had asked her to do on Teddy's behalf would require the skill of the most accomplished Potions Master of all time. Creating a potion that could permanently reverse the effects of lycanthropy…. Was such a thing possible? To create a potion more powerful than Wolfsbane, so powerful in fact that Wolfsbane itself could be rendered obsolete? If by any luck, she managed to succeed, it would be the biggest boon for her career.

Depositing some eye of newt into one cauldron, a plume of periwinkle smoke suddenly erupted directly in Rose's face, and she coughed. Sapphire eyes blinking, she chanced a look at herself in the grimy wall mirror. The filmy glass was not enough to explain away how her auburn locks were now a ruffled mess, sticking out every which way.

Though she was loath to admit it, an utterly exhausted Rose had to concede: she needed help.

At that moment, out in the hall, there was a knock at the door, causing her owl, Gideon, to hoot loudly and indignantly. Or at least a break; a break would do.

Trudging out of the spare room, Rose winced as the loud and annoyingly persistent knocking resumed. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" Throwing the bolt, she yanked the door open, entire face dimming even more once she realized who was on her stoop.

"Oh. It's you."

Scorpius Malfoy, her ex-fiancé, appeared truly sheepish as he flashed her an awkward smile. "Hello, Rosie. Get in a fight with a Pygmy Puff?"

"Don't call me that!" The pet name was all-too-familiar – far more than he deserved at the moment – and anyway, one of the reasons she had fallen for him in the first place was because Scorpius had always made a point to call her by her given name: Rose.

She sighed heavily. "Mum roped you into this, didn't she?"

At this, Scorpius's eyes darted askance even more than they already were. He looked really nervous. "Uh, yeah…. She…. she came by…" Rose's eyebrows nearly stitched together. That meddling…. She wasn't sure what her mother had said, but perhaps a few threats of hexing had been involved to behoove Scorpius to come and face her. Still, whether under coercion or not, she had to admit he was brave for even showing up at all. Besides, it wasn't like he had fallen to his knees and begged her to take him back…. yet.

Rose exhaled loudly again, before nudging the door open a little wider and standing aside. "Well, as long as you're here, I…. I could use some help with something." She bristled at the quiver in her voice that suddenly just decided to appear and she blushed as red as her hair.

"Thanks." Scorpius, now abjectly relieved, stepped into the tiny flat, while trying not to remember the last time he had been here, with Rose chucking most of his things into the foyer the day he moved out. "Your, um, your mum mentioned you're working on a project for her to help Teddy?"

"Yeah, she thinks we can brew a potion that will permanently reverse the effects of lycanthropy."

The accomplished Potions student in Scorpius – he had gotten 'Outstanding' in the subject, for both his OWLS and his NEWTS – wanted to balk and declare it couldn't be done (it probably couldn't be done) but one look at the weary slump to his…. Ex-fiancé's shoulders told him it wouldn't do to take such a defeatist attitude right out of the gates. Tentatively, he stole an arm across her lithe frame, smiling awkwardly.

"We were always in the mood for a challenge, eh? One almost-Potions Master probably couldn't get it done…. But with two….. The spare room is still your brewery?"

Rose wriggled out from under his friendly embrace, unable to look at him as she nodded. "Mm-hm."

Scorpius smiled, daring to hope as he strode past her. She may have shrugged him off, but it hadn't been in fury. One might even say she had done so half-heartedly. It was more than he could have hoped for. His thoughts briefly swayed back to a couple of nights ago, when he had ended up having a wild shag with this girl's mother. Could he ever tell Rose about that? Given he was on thin ice as it was, though this seemed to be thawing into a kind of cordial détente, Scorpius was inclined to doubt it. Hermione…. Mrs. Weasley had seemed to make it very clear they should never speak of their tryst again, and he had to agree. Maybe he wouldn't have to tell Rose about it; her mother certainly wouldn't.

Besides, he and Rose had a job to do.

"We'd best get cracking, then."

Scorpius frowned intently at the inky scrawl in the margins, tracing a finger over the text. He was amazed Rose was even using this text – like her mother before her, she usually considered the defacing of any book as sacrilege. "Where did you say you got this Advanced Potion Making copy?"

"Al lent it to me after we finished school," Rose explained, primly bustling past him to dump a failed potion attempt down the utilitarian sink. "He said his dad passed it down to him."

"This is your uncle's handwriting, then?" Scorpius gawped, open-mouthed. He had always known Mr. Potter was a brilliant Auror, but a Potions ace…. Was there anything the man couldn't do?

"No, Uncle Harry's handwriting is even worse than that – Mum always complains how we can never read his Christmas letters. That, at least, is legible." She pointed to the text Scorpius was pondering over. "Also, Uncle Harry isn't stuck up enough to give himself some fancy title like The Half-Blood Prince…"

"…. But he is half-blood," Scorpius blinked, confused.

"Through his mum's side, my great-aunt, yes," Rose shrugged. "Al says his dad used that text when our parents were in school. Just ignore the handwriting and follow the recipe."

Scorpius let out a breath as he turned to the Wolfsbane recipe again. "If we're trying to concoct something that will work even better than Wolfsbane…. Why are you having us brew the Wolfsbane potion?"

"As a baseline, prat," Rose nudged him out of the way, tipping some troll toenails into the brew. "I'm hoping that we can then strengthen it…."

"…. With what, a charm?"

"No, something with properties that are known to respond to the full moon."

"Such as….?"

"You know, sea water, from the tide. Or…."

"Or…." Scorpius lifted up the Half-Blood Prince's book, "…. we could just mix classic Wolfsbane with these ingredient suggestions in the margins."

"No, we can't," Rose got out tightly, trying to take the book from him, craning over his shoulder to read. "Now, we have to add the spike from a Hungarian horntail."

"The dragon heartstring would strengthen the potency quicker."

"It's also illegal," Rose cocked an eyebrow. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she turned away. The minute her back was turned, Scorpius seized some dragon heartstring and tossed it into the cauldron… along with the Hungarain horntail spike, just to appease her. From the look of horror Rose sent his way when she noted the color of the smoke coming up from the cauldron, however, Scorpius had a feeling that adding from both the old and the new recipe did little to ebb her dismay.

"Scorp! You were supposed to just add the spike…."

"Rose," Scorpius turned to look down at her patiently. "I'm not even going to ask how many times you've brewed Wolfsbane as a 'baseline,' because I probably don't want to know, but…. the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If we're going to brew something that's never been done before, we'll have to experiment…"

"I have been experimenting!" Rose snapped, outraged.

Scorpius lifted his hands in surrender. "I believe you. But we're going to have to take even greater risks. At least we have something to guide off of, rather than tossing things in the cauldron willy-nilly. Why don't we take the classic Wolfsbane recipe, and the suggestions from this…. Half-Blood Prince fellow…. and put them together?"

Rose frowned, worrying her bottom lip. Finally….. "OK. Let's try it."

Scorpius beamed. "That's my girl."

"I'm not your girl…." She mumbled, but it was weak. Scorpius was oddly heartened by it.

The pair of Potions apprentices went along, merging the two recipes together. As a final measure, Rose added some seawater.

"It won't dilute it, will it?" Scorpius asked in concern.

"No. At least, it shouldn't. The ocean follows Circadian rhythms brought on by the tide…. Which is controlled by the full moon. Having that as an element will hopefully…." Her voice trailed off as she took an experimental sniff. She smiled. "Yes! Mr. Malfoy: I've think we've got it."

"Eureka!" Scorpius whooped, throwing his arms around her. He was delighted when Rose clung to him just as tightly and they jumped up and down, cheering excitedly.

After several moments, the pair stilled, drawing back to gaze into each other's eyes. Scorpius could feel his heart racing under Rose's palm, which was resting lightly on his chest.

"You were brilliant…" he hissed fiercely.

She gulped, throat dry. "So were you…"

Eyes darting to each other's lips, Rose and Scorpius leaned in and kissed lightly. When they both pulled away, Rose with a shuddering gasp, it was only a moment before they plunged back in again, deepening the kiss and their arms stealing about each other. Her mouth petaling open into full bloom to greet his eager tongue, Rose gasped as she felt Scorpius's strong hand grip under her thigh, hoisting her leg up where, to her shock, it hooked almost instinctively about his knee, the motion causing her skirts to ride high up, pushed up towards her hips.

Leaping the rest of the way into his arms, Scorpius cleared away the contents from a smaller workbench with a sweep of his hand before laying Rose down upon it. Rose purred loudly, spreading her legs as Scorpius clambered on top of her. Clamping her knees tight around his middle, she rocked her core against him insistently, her cunt clenching when she felt Scorpius rut back, his excitement pressed against the inside of her thigh.

"Scorp….. Scorp…." Rose squirmed, writhing under him. "Help me…. help me get….."

He quickly deduced her meaning, and with a wave of his wand, both young people's clothes were completely charmed right off of them. Smiling wickedly, Rose seized Scorpius's cock in her fists and practically shoved it inside her, moaning and arching her back as the handsome man above her began to thrust wildly.

"Huh…. Uhhh….. Hmmm….. Mmmm….. Ugghh….. Yes, yes, Scorpius! Make love to me! Make love to meeeeeee!"

They came together, both so hard, they saw stars.

Rose and Scorpius were still flushed and smiling goofily at each other when gathered with Hermione, Ron, Harry and Teddy in Hermione's office a couple of nights later. The pair of young Potions apprentices held their creation out to Teddy proudly. With a full moon tonight, observing Teddy testing the potion (which Rose and Scorpius had yet to name) would be the only way to tell if it worked effectively.

Hopeful, and willing to try anything, Teddy bravely chugged the glass of the potion. When he was done, he sat back, anxiously checking the full moon rising in tandem with the setting of the evening sun.

Harry leaned forward curiously. "How do you feel?"

"I don't…. feel any different," Teddy frowned. "Do I look any different?"

"You still look like a right tosser to me," Scorpius offered up, smirking.

Rose whacked him. "Shut it, you." But her blue orbs were twinkling. Turning back to her friend, she stated, "Tonight will be the biggest test. If you don't transform, well, that's obviously a good sign. But the potion's real mettle will have to be observed over at least two or three lunar cycles. We'll know then if the effects of lycanthropy have been reversed permanently."

Rose and Scorpius were hopeful and thrilled when, the very next morning, Harry owled them to let them know that Teddy had not transformed the night before. The rest of that month's lunar cycle told a similar story.

Unfortunately, when Teddy again took the potion the next month, it had absolutely no effect during the lunar cycle. He still transformed – although, he was able to keep his human mind, just as he did under regular Wolfsbane potion. And, in an indication of its greater strength, Teddy was able to speak in Human English while still in his monstrous werewolf form.

For him, though, it wasn't enough. Rose and Scorpius's potion could work for only one lunar cycle, after which the werewolf might build up immunity to it. At least, that was Scorpius's theory.

If they wanted to permanently lift the lycanthropy curse hanging over Teddy like a cloud, however, it was back to the drawing board. Rose and Scorpius were disappointed, but it wasn't compared to how Hermione felt as she watched Teddy continue to sink further and further into despair.

Hermione was despondent. Teddy had to live. He had to be set free. He had to.