INTERLUDE
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
"Doubt that the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love."
Shakespeare, Hamlet
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
An old leather-bound diary sits snug in the pocket of a dark green school bag. Its pages are yellowed beyond memory, the ink blurred, and doxy holes run a stampede across them. Yet, the diary is priceless for its owner, cherished like a rich secret that the winds carry between their breaths.
And there, between pages 419 and 420, between the dates of 30th January, 1935 and 31st January, 1935, a folded parchment can be found.
The parchment is soiled, tattered, worn-out, just like the diary safekeeping it.
Let us unfold it, let us spread out the parchment on the rickety wooden table, and let us bend down to read it, aloud, but barely in a whisper.
….
….
….
….
AMORTENTIA
Tired of waiting for your unrequited love to bear fruit?
Read on, learn how to make this most potent of potions, and you will find the solution to your aching heart.
….
….
Ingredients:
1. Frozen Ashwinder Eggs
These eggs, when boiled in starch water, help to ignite passion and release the drinker from his/her inhibitions.
2. Six fresh red rose petals
These are necessary to add fragrance and ecstasy to the enchantment.
3. Fluxweed picked at full noon
The weed must be plucked at low tide, at exact noon of the morrow, not a second earlier, and not a second later. This will ensure that the drinker may never waver in his/her love again.
4. Three apple seeds boiled in honey
The Forbidden Apples of the Enchanted Isle of Blest are the parent of apple seeds all over the wizarding world. The drinker will feel blissful because of them.
5. Twenty cups pure spring water
The water must be from a spring and must be pure, in order to keep the spirit of love sacrosanct.
6. One pinch of Rosemary
This will stir the drinker with a wish to impress the ladylove or dream-lover, and thrust the drinker to perform the characteristic lovelorn deeds for the same.
7. A spoonful of crushed mint leaves
These will counter any dangerous effects of the potion thus brewed.
8. Eighteen standard drops of Strawberry juice
These will create a powerful infatuation in the mind of the target for his ladylove/her dream-lover.
9. Raven's feather wrapped in sugar
This is needed in order to sweeten the potion and to give mental strength to drinker.
10. A twelve-inch long root of the Birch tree
It is added while chanting the Fraelic Charm of Isis (see Page 2136). This is the most important ingredient, for it makes the target your willing slave. That is what you want, isn't it?
11. Tears of a Firebird
These will give the drinker a lover's understanding and compassion, for they have powerful healing and restorative properties.
12. Nine Basil leaves
These subdue any impurities present in the ingredients being used.
…
…
The mentioned ingredients are to be boiled in the spring water on the ninth hour of the ninth day of the month, by the light of nine pink votive candles. The potion must be stirred no less and no more than nine times in a pewter cauldron above a purple flame.
Once the potion turns a deep red, remove the cauldron from the flame immediately, and allow the potion to cool.
The power of this potion has never failed. It shall surely win you the love of the drinker (if you be the first person he/she sees).
But beware, for you must be the drinker's first sight, or else he/she shall shower his/her love on someone else, and you will lose him/her forever. Do not allow anyone to come before his/her eyes before you do, or you will perish.
Do not allow anyone other than your beloved to look at, touch or drink the love potion, otherwise the consequences will be dire.
Remember also! The potion's power is wrought to the mightiest when drunk at midnight. If the drinker is not aware, he/she may be driven to maddening intensity, and may lose sanity and self-consciousness. No love must be this destructive or manipulative. A lover that loses his/her sense of identity and joy of life can have no worth, and has little to offer, even though he/she burns in unquenchable love.
So, do not let your beloved drink the potion at midnight, come what may.
….
….
….
….
Severus Snape stormed into the room, seized the parchment, and threw it into the crackling fire. He watched the flames devouring the last of his hopes, and shut his diary with a desperate groan.
His fingers traced the gold initials of his name upon the diary.
"The Half-Blood Prince," the letters spelt.
That's the only thing I'll ever be, Severus thought, shaking his head.
A/N: Oh, come on, now. Is this story a bummer? Why is it getting such few reviews? Tell me.