Chapter 7

Professor walked into the classroom with joy on his face, his walrus-like mustache trimmed neatly. "Good morning children, take out your scales, potion kits, and your textbooks," he began, "and turn to page 37. Today we will be brewing Amortentia."

Harry groaned audibly while the others on his table, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna looked excited. Hermione was quite curious to know how the poison will smell this time. Last time, she had smelled freshly mown grass, new parchment, and Ron's hair, but it was bound to be different now, wasn't it?

Harry, like always, was trying his best, but could just not make it perfect. Ginny and Luna, on the other hand, had done quite a job on their potions and were smiling brightly by the time they were done.

Draco was doing pretty good on his potion, for he had always been a natural in the art of potion-making. His friends were struggling but he refused to help them. After a long one and a half hours, they were done. But, the potion needed to brew for another 24 hours, which meant that they had to return the next day to pour their potions into vials.

Ron didn't come down for lunch or dinner. He spent half his day in the Hospital Wing, and then shut himself in his dorm to avoid being hexed to death by Harry, or worse, Ginny. Hermione didn't mind his absence, for she was sure that he would stir up another argument, and she was already slightly preoccupied with wondering about how her Amortentia potion would smell like.

Draco, on the other hand, was waiting for the Weasel to come out of his dorm so that he could punch him in the face. He didn't like Hermione and was certainly not looking forward to marrying her, but she was still his betrothed, and he was not going to stand by while Ron made her cry, and doubt herself, or her abilities.

The next day, the seventh and eighth years returned to the dungeons to submit their potions for grading. Hermione had been dreading this all day. At first, she had looked forward to it, but then she had begun to panic. What if she still smelt Ron's hair? It had taken her months to get over him, and if she still smelled him, then that meant that she was not completely over him. She could not bear to still be in love with him.

Ginny was the first one to rush to their table as she had never smelled Amortentia before. "Mmm. Mum's mince pies, Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, and," she began, and suddenly, blushing furiously, "Harry's perfume." Harry blushed with her, causing Hermione to giggle despite her anxiety.

Harry's smells hadn't changed, although Ginny's hair was stronger than the last time. Luna smelled what she claimed was the odor of wrackspurts, Gurdyroot tea, and printer ink. Hermione swallowed nervously before lifting her cauldron's lid and taking a whiff. "Grass, parchment, and teakwood cologne," she told her friends. She frowned slightly for she couldn't remember where she had smelled the cologne before. Harry didn't wear teakwood, and Ron never used cologne. But there would be many people who did, right?

Draco's best friends all smelled exactly what they had smelled 3 years ago. He, on the other hand, smelled something different. He smelled apples and petrichor like before, but this time, he smelled log fires instead of new books. He had never been one to like warmth. He always preferred cold. Wondering why he smelled fire, he filled a vial and handed it to Professor Slughorn.

"Ahem, Granger?" Draco called, disturbing Hermione in the middle of her reading. "Yes?" she asked, closing her Arthimancy textbook. "Can I go and take a shower?" he asked awkwardly.

"Why do you need my permission to take a shower?" she asked, perplexed? "Well, what if you walk in, an-" he began.

"I'm not going to walk in on you taking a shower. I'm not deaf, I'll be able to hear the water running. You can go," she interrupted her, blushing furiously. Nodding, he grabbed a towel and some clothes and headed into the showers. He closed the door behind him and turned. His eyes fell on a bottle of perfume and his face went white. His breath caught in his throat as he picked up a bottle of perfume belonging to Hermione.

"The Fireplace- Eau de Toilette," he read in a whisper.

Hermione looked up from her textbook as she saw Draco come out of the bath. "Are you done?" she asked him. He nodded while avoiding her eyes and rushed out into the common room. She looked stared at the door h slammed behind him and wondered aloud, "What is wrong with him?"

She shook her head and walked into the bath and saw that her cosmetics were all jumbled. She groaned in annoyance and started arranging them neatly. She pushed hers to one side of the cabinet and Draco's hair products to the other. As she moved his hair gels away, she noticed something that caused her eyes to pop out of their sockets. She picked up a bottle of cologne to make sure she was reading it right.

"Mahogany Teakwood Cologne."

People! I know the Dramione Amortentia storyline has been used a LOT of times, but trust me, this small aspect plays an important part in the story.

Henry's Opinion: Henry, I know. I understand what you are trying to say, but I'm trying to make a point here. Sometimes, people overreact. No matter how mature they are, or how mellow they are. Sometimes, stuff happens and you can't make sense of anything. But I am not villainizing him. I really do like his character, and I promise that I WILL NOT turn him into the antagonist of the story. I'm playing on something different here, and I am really hoping that you will stick around to see how Ron turns out to be. And, BTW, thank you. I appreciate constructive criticism, and it helps in improvement.

UPDATE: I won't exactly say that Hermione is falling for him. She's still warming up to the idea of being forcefully engaged to him.

Emmanouela96: Draco was forced to join the Death Eaters. He had to choose between saving his family, who would have been killed by Voldemort because of Lucius's Ministry Fiasco, or abandon them and hope that he would be able to convince the Order, containing every person who hates him to the core, that he is actually a good person. And even if he wouldn't have done all those things, Dumbledore still would have been dead. Dumbledore planned his own death. According to Harry Potter Wiki too, the Malfoys did not go to Azkaban because they had left the Death Eaters before the last part of the Battle. You can read about it, or you can tell me if you want to know more. I'll be happy to explain it in detail.

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Until Next Time,

Cheerio!