Transfiguration class went by without much issue. Students were still supremely curious about Al's injury and how we had even survived a Reaper attack in the first place. I met some of Al's Ravenclaw friends that afternoon although they were all so busy with extracurriculars that they didn't have long to stay and chat with us.
"Lets take a broom ride over the lake. You can give me a potions lesson while i steer and we can just finish back at the dock by yours?" I offered hopefully. I liked taking him for broom rides. At least whenever he'd let me. He nodded timidly mounting my broom from behind. He grabbed onto my waist and i kicked us off from the ground to fly higher and higher again.
"So… if I go by your web theory the more nuanced potion making tactics can be navigated by property enhancement or negation right?" I inquired as we soared through the air.
"Basically. Again for now you can think of it like that. The way you extract an ingredient can affect the potency of certain characteristics. The type of cauldron can affect others. Length of brewing can completely negate some negative side effects if the right cauldron is used. I have accompanying material on each ingredient's charts with tips on how to manipulate their characteristics."
"Yeah I saw on some of your notes. You said if i couldn't invent my own potion in less than a month you win? You never said what i'd win?" I teased.
"Why? Its not like you've invented your own potion." He paused at my silence. "You have not! Its been like a week."
"HA! It's not hard when i have access to the inventors notes myself!" I teased "A week was all i needed."
"I don't believe it. What did you invent? Nothing complicated i'm certain."
"Why don't i tell you the ingredients and my theory for their preparation and you can guess what it does?"
"Ok shoot!" He yelled over a blast of wind.
"Essence of daffodil, three teaspoons of powdered saint's weed, a dozen white anjelica petals, six lambentfly wings, three whole morning glories to steep in the potion for twenty minutes. three dashes of cinnamon and a sprinkle of red pepper corn. Wave your wand over a brass cauldron and say 'Laxo totalum'" I offered seriously.
"Are you making fun of me? What is that supposed to do. You know there's more to potion making than just dumping ingredients randomly into a cauldron. What are you trying to achieve with such a potion even?" Al asked suspiciously.
"Think about it. I'm happy to brew it with you when we get back. Trust that i'm only making fun of you a little." I answered back over the rushing wind.
We got back to Al's room and i prepared a brass cauldron and the web charts Al had made for the ingredients i planned to use.
"Have any guesses yet?"
"Its mostly a floral and herb based potion… no animal parts… and only one type of rare insect… you mentioned two spices… which is unusual. They're all relatively harmless however you combine them. I still don't get what you're trying to achieve? Self knowledge… Openness… but none of these ingredients confers clairvoyance or reflection. You have some sensory amplifications in many of those ingredients but i haven't the faintest idea what the goal is. Are you sure you know what you're doing Scor?" He scrunched his nose at the ingredient list in his head. I knew this would confuse him. This would be a great experiment to test my growing understanding of the subject he was so familiar with. The web theory is the only way anyone should ever study potions.
"Well let's brew it first and once its done i can describe the color and texture and you can smell it to decide if you feel confident enough to drink it." I offered cheekily.
"Me?" Al asked surprised. "I'm not drinking anything you brew me Lion. No offense" He added as though i were trying to get him to take cough medicine.
"Start by simmering the essence of daffodil on low heat" I began, ignoring his protests. He rolled his eyes and felt the vials and ingredients along his potions counter. He moved so quickly even though he was blind. This was what he knew how to do best.
"Now drop in the lambent fly wings and stir counter clockwise for five minutes." He complied and waited patiently for the next set of instructions. "Add the three dashes of cinnamon and some red peppercorn."
"How much peppercorn?" He asked after tossing in a small handful of un ground pellets.
"Better double that for good measure." I chuckled to myself at that. He looked towards me skeptically. "Then stir again for a minute"
"What are you doing with the peppercorn?" Al asked as i tossed in an extra few pieces of the round red balls.
"Nothing Al! Just keep stirring." I offered grinning mischievously. "Ok now—"
"The three teaspoons of powdered saints weed yes yes." Al interrupted tossing the expensive powder in without waiting for confirmation. He was so gifted at this that even without knowing what i had intended to brew he knew the only next step for the remaining ingredients was to add a powder. "Then what do you want me to do with the anjelica petals?"
"Toss them in and raise the burner to medium high heat." He nodded at the command as though he understood my thinking. "Now you can steep those morning glories for the remaining twenrty minutes and stir counterclockwise if your notes are correct." He squinted at me not in an attempt to see but to convey exactly what he thought of this experiment. When he was done he turned the burner off without waiting for instruction. He then withdrew his wand and was about to issue the spell when i stopped him. "Allow me. LAXA TOTALUM (open completely)" I spoke the words loudly, waiving my wand above the cauldron. It immediately changed color. "Well that's interesting." I began, peering over the rim of the cauldron.
"I'll let you know if i feel comfortable drinking it after you tell me what kind of sludge you've had me concoct." Al's skepticism pained me slightly. His reaction i knew would more than make up for the doubt he had in my ability to learn and adapt.
"Its changed to a vibrant royal purple with a translucent gold sheen reflecting on its surface. Its texture is that of silk." His head swiveled towards me for the millionth time in complete shock.
"What on earth are you trying to do to me?" he asked smelling the potion. His expression changed slightly when he smelled the brew. "No poison smells that good… ever… or looks like you've described. The odor is pleasant but its not overly strong like a love potion… and those ingredients don't have transformative properties in them…"
"Please Al as if i was trying to slip you a love potion or a poison." I shook my head in disbelief. "Besides am i correct in assuming we never would have achieved this color, texture or smell if we'd messed up the preparation?" I asked.
"Messed up the preparation? This is your experimental, never before tried potion! I can't even discern what silly effect you're trying to achieve! My worry is not misplaced, despite how successful your description sounds."
"I guess then it comes down to whether you trust me or not." I stated matter of factly. I poured the cauldron into four vials and stoppered three of them, placing them on a high shelf with his other finished potions. The last one i placed in his hand. I watched him pause momentarily before he raised the glass bottle to his lips and drank a few sips down. He licked his lips suddenly and made a face like it wasn't half bad. Suddenly the faint dancing lines of his aura began to thicken, their colors deepening. They rolled off of him in beautiful waves of cloudy mist. Higher and higher his aura began to roil.
"Ok… i drank it… now what? I don't feel any diff—" He gasped then, taking in a large whiff of the air. His eyes bulged then and his face turned the reddest i'd ever seen. His enormous blush sent a jolt of laughter through me. "WHAT IS THAT AMAZING SMELL SCORPIUS?" He burst out angrily. "THAT IS SO RUDE OF YOU! IS THAT MY… IS THAT MY AURA?" He squeaked in utter embarrassment covering his mouth with a hand.
"You said you'd never been able to smell it before. If you had use of your eyes you'd be able to see it rolling off of you like smoke. Its kind of cool actually. Why are you so mortified?" I asked breathing in the incredible smell of his magic.
"WHY? WHY?" Al huffed, shouting. "ARE YOU THAT BLOODY DENSE!"
"Boys what's all this commotion about?" Draco yelled barging through the door that connected his study and apartment to ours.
"I'll tel you what this is about! Draco! Your…. your…. son has—" Albus shot pointed a crooked finger accusingly at me, waving frantically.
"—Albus why is your magic manifesting like that? and what is that heavenly smell? Have you two been brewing something?" Draco asked in horror. Albus's face got even redder if that was possible.
"Your son." I continued for Albus. "Just had your star pupil try his first original potion. An invention which was—i might add—a roaring success."
"This was the result of a potion… that you made?" Draco asked incredulously. "What were you even trying to do?"
"This!" I shouted, waving at Al and his aura. "Obviously."
"Scorpius! Albus's aura is roaring like a smokestack." My father was trying to contain himself. I began giggling at that.
"Yeah… well… you know… i may have tossed in a couple times the amount of red peppercorn that i had calculated… you know for good measure!" At that i was howling. Albus and my father did not look amused.
"As funny as you find this Scorpius, i fail to see the point." i couldn't tell if my father looked more upset by the effects of the potion or if he was merely annoyed that our yelling had interrupted his work. Wait… he could hear our yelling down here? He could hear albus! The amplifying effects… i mused internally. They had bypassed the silencing charms of the stones. "Tell me how this happened before i decide to remove some points from Gryffindor."
"The other night Al asked me to describe his aura's scent to him. It smelled so incredible that i thought it was a shame he couldn't smell it himself. So an idea hit me as i went though his catalogue of web charts. To open his perception to his own aura and to amplify it slightly. I don't get the big deal Al, its mostly sensory. It's not like i did anything more to you."
"You could smell Albus's aura before you brewed this potion?" My father asked looking towards Al this time. The brunette looked even more embarassed if that was possible.
"Again… i'm sorry if i embarrassed you Al… that was not my intention… but what is the big deal?"
"Scorpius… most wizards cannot see or sense their own aura let alone that of another witch or wizard. Its very very personal stuff. You can get information on someone's very soul's from manifestations like these."
"But there's no vulnerability built in to that potion. I didn't add anything to that brew that would harm him or… oh…." I was so defensive about my first attempt at potion crafting that i hadn't stopped to really listen to what my dad had said. I had no idea that an aura was so personal. It was just something i remembered reading about vaguely in a textbook. That's how i'd recognized what it was that i sometimes saw around Al. "I understand now. I'm sorry Al." I offered to the brunette, retracting my argument. "I didn't know."
Al's face softened at that although his face remained beet red. "Professor… i'm fine now… please if you wouldn't mind leaving me to your son?" He pleaded through his embarrassment. Were we really looking at reflections of Albus's soul? I thought to myself as my eyes darted above his head to observe the dancing shapes of the colored smoke. The smell was intoxicatingly complex and it was starting to fill the whole room.
"Oh… yes… well… of course Al… I won't linger… Scorpius… well done with regards to the potion… even if you should have given more thought to your desired outcome…" My father didn't wait for a reply, he merely exited our chamber as quickly as he could.
"If i could physically run out of the room right now without hitting a wall i would…" Al whispered. Now i understood why he'd gotten so embarrassed when i told him i could smell it last night.
"I can go Al? If you want?" I offered as gently as I could. He sighed.
"No you've seen and smelled it already. There's no point. Do you at least know how long it lasts?" He inquired as a side note.
"An hour probably. Not long. You know though… i've been able to see it and smell it already some of the time… i just did it for you to be able to smell too. I meant it when i said it was amazing." I couldn't tell if that statement caused him to blush even brighter than before. It was hard to tell.
"No wonder i had no clue what you were trying to brew. I guess the fact that you didn't know how serious it was probably helped you craft the potion in the first place. There weren't even super complicated ingredients there aside from Anjelica petals and saints weed… I'm kind of shocked."
"If its so serious and so embarrassing a subject i can always just go drink another dose of the stuff to make you less embarrassed? I wonder what i smell like." I mused to myself, ignoring his comment.
"You're such a Gryffindor! I didn't ask you to do that!" Albus shot getting embarrassed again.
"Right… I offered." It was hilarious to me this whole aura thing. "Are we divination masters Al? Do you think that pretty light-show coming off of you means anything to me? Or your incredible smell?" I asked a little annoyed. I began walking back to the potions equipment to stand on my toes. I grabbed another vial of the as of yet named draught from the top shelf and quickly unstoppered it. "You all need to calm down a touch."
"Scor? Scor? What are you doing over there?" He asked, his eyes going wide.
"I really do wonder what my soul smells like?" I chuckled, downing the potion.
"Don't you dare! I don't need to be privy to such private information…" Albus stopped as the sent exploded from my skin. I watched in the mirror as crackling sparks of white electricity discharged around me. It didn't interact with anything it touched, merely arced and danced prettily amidst shining blue stars.
"Thats neat" I offered walking over to him. As i drew closer to where Al stood I marveled in amazement as our auras bent like magnets towards each other in the open air. I described the sight to Al who looked less embarrassed and more intrigued the more details i recounted.
"This in and of itself would make for an amazing field of study." Al commented almost to himself.
"So then… i have a vague idea what this smells like… but would you care to describe it for me?" I asked from my position in front of the brunette. "Please" I added softly.
"Ok… The most overwhelming scent is oud… smoke… morning dew… musk… something like vetiver and burnt orange…" Al described, sniffing gently at the air in front of me. I stopped him before he continued.
"You know… i really only wanted to give you something non sight based to focus on… I had no idea about the nature of aura's…" I offered sheepishly… admitting again my mistake to him.
"Don't worry… I know that now… and it was still an excellent first potion… you even knew that adding extra peppercorn wouldn't interfere with the success rate… it just made the effects more powerful. Amazing result Scor…"
"If its that private a subject i could probably… lets see—"
"Take out the morning glory and pepper. So that the effects are only experienced by the drinker." Albus finished, identifying my concern immediately. "Then all you'll need is a name."
I hadn't thought about naming it. "Maybe i'll let you name it. Its your field after all."
He hummed then, looking like there was something else he wanted to ask.
"Go on then. What's on your mind?"
"Did you really like the smell of my aura so much that it inspired you to make this potion for me?" He asked curiously. I nodded stupidly, realizing again he couldn't see me.
"I think the better question is: Now that you've smelled it... do you like what you smell like?" I asked suggestively.
"How deep a thought… coming from a lion? Maybe i'm still delirious from those blast beetle bites." He quipped wittily. After a moment i saw his head nodding shyly in answer to my question. "Hey Scor… would you maybe like to…" He stopped himself then. Whatever he was going to say it had caused his aura to shift to a bright red. "Go get a butterbeer with me next weekend at Hogsmeade?" He finished shyly. Why was he embarrassed to ask that?
"Sure we can go. I don't mind taking you to Honeydukes for a round or two."
"No i don't mean lets go… I mean will you… never mind." Al corrected sheepishly. "We don't really have time for frivolous indulgences anyway." I failed to grasp exactly what he had meant before shooting the idea down. I did really have to focus on our project if we wanted to make any progress. Although i'd have loved to take him to Honeydukes if he wanted.
My brain clicked suddenly and for the faintest of moments I thought he might be asking me out on a date.
"Sure I'll take you. It'll be fun to take a break from the work and studying."
Al looked a little odd but i brushed my thoughts on the matter aside. We spent the next couple of hours reviewing the potion I'd made and ideas for the next project.