Warning: Includes HBP spoilers.
Pairing: Ron/Draco and mentions of Ron/Lavender
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Big thanks to viu, Midnight808, PeeJay1919, Yoko.S, Jux and those who read the previous chapter.

I'm planning this story to be four chapters long, but each chapter will not be directly connected with the others, maybe more like a series of one-shots.

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Draco was absent-mindedly poking his fried egg with his fork. He still didn't have a clue as to how to repair the Vanishing Cabinet. Borgin hadn't written him back, though Draco had been owling him countless times since theď˝™ last met at Borgin and Burkes, reminding him to keep the other half there and demanding for advice for bringing the broken one back to life. It was all that mattered to him now, or it was supposed to be. He was losing sleep. If he could just skip all the classes. But that would attract the others' attention too much.

Now twirling the contents of his pumpkin juice glass, Draco was faintly conscious of the lively chats and laughter of nearby students. He despised and envied them at the same time for their irrelevance and ignorance of what he alone was facing right now.

After letting out a small sigh, he lifted his head to notice familiar scent tickling his nostrils; a mingle of chocolate, perfumed bubbles in the Prefects' bath and sun-warmed hair. He hated himself for having to look around to see if he was standing anywhere near. But to his bewilderment and perhaps disappointment, Weasley was nowhere near him. Draco stole a glance at the Gryffindor table and saw him there, sitting with that Brown girl again. Lately, she was all over him, ignorant to the furtive looks Potter was throwing at her or to the giggling crowd at the Hufflepuff table. What a disgusting show. It really did make Draco lose his appetite.

When he turned his gaze back to his table, he noticed Pansy and Blaise exchanging mischievous glances at each other while looking at Goyle from time to time. It clicked in Draco's mind. Blaise had probably nicked some Amortentia from Slughorn's office and slipped it in Goyle's glass.

Blaise caught Draco's eyes and bent lower to whisper, "We might be witnessing something interesting here." Pansy suppressed a giggle. For a second, Draco pictured Goyle running after Slughorn, and lowered his eyebrows. "Disgusting," he murmured, and abruptly stood up to leave the table. Pansy half rose from her seat in an attempt to follow him, but Draco raised a hand to stop her.

"No, Pansy. You enjoy the rest of your meal."

She looked crestfallen, sinking back in her seat. Not that Draco cared. Everything around him felt distant and unimportant these days. He hated that he still had to put up with the mundane, trivial things when he had more important things to do. He hated Blaise for nicking that stupid potion and making him smell that scent again. Draco hated that potion. Hated the intoxicating scent he had smelled the instant he stepped inside Slughorn's Potions classroom. Above all, he hated himself for being disturbingly reminded of the one thing he had to give up to focus on the task he was given from the Dark Lord.