They hurried to the dungeons. Holding hands, as they ran. They reached the class and everyone was already brewing.
"Sorry, Professor Slughorn, we were, er, we didn't notice the time." Riddle explained.
Slughorn looked attheir hands and smiled. "No worries, just brew the potion." He smiled.
They went to their plac and started brewing. They are supposed to brew amortentia, but Tom hasn't done it before as he hates it, so their potion is not doing well.
"Tom, you're doing it wrong. Put this first." Said Hermione.
"But the book said," he started to argue,
"Trust me. Let's just copy what Harry's doing." She said.
Tom was jealous. But he did the right thing and followed Hermione's command. They worked well together.
The time run out and they finished it.
"Now, what do you smell, Tom?" asked Slughorn.
He never smelled anything in an amortentia before, but he tried to smell it and, "Ink, roses, parchment, and nothing." He smelled Hermione's perfume but he decided not to say it.
"How about you, Miss Granger?"
Hermione expected to smell freshly mowed grass, spearmint toothpaste and paper parchment but, "Professor I think our potion is wrong." She said. She smelled not Ron, but Tom.
"And why is that? I think it's right, right color and I smell it." Slughorn answered.
"Well, I don't smell the same thing as before." She answered.
"Miss Granger, that only means that you love someone different than before." Slughorn answered.
Hermione flushed red. Could she love Tom, instead of Ron?
After their classes, Hermione and Tom went to the great Hall. Since the potions class, Hermione started to be quiet.
"What's wrong?" Tom asked worried.
"Nothing." She said. Not wanting to tell him. Not wanting to be rejected.
"Please tell me. Is it about what you smelled in the potion?" he asked. "Please Hermione, tell me."
"Not here." She simply said.
Tom stood up and pulled her gently. They arrived at the Room of Requirement.
"Tell me."
Hermione sighed. "Before, I always smell freshly mowed grass, paper parchment and spearmint toothpaste. It was always Ron." She looked at him, but he didn't ask who Ron is, "But now, I smelled," she couldn't tell him. And he knew it. He knew that it changed. He just doesn't know who.
"I smelled someone for the very first time." He said. He held her and looked directly in her eyes, "And it was you."
Hermione's eyes widen. She couldn't believe it.
"Me? Why me?" she asked.
"I don't know." He said, "What I know is, I want to go out with you."
Harry heard it all. He watched them, he saw them in the grounds, and he was in the Room when they entered, hidden in a closet. He felt his heart broke. What was Hermione thinking? He misses the future. At least there, Hermione is with someone he can bear. Not like here, not with Tom.
He was walking around the castle when he decided to go out. He saw them. He pulled his invisibility cloak and went nearer. He heard them singing. Then Hermione stood up. He realized that he was also late so he ran faster. He looked back and saw that they were holding hands.
He reached the dungeons and he was on time. He was done getting the ingredients when they entered. He heard Hermione say that they will copy his work. He smiled to himself.
Slughorn went to them, he listened. He heard that Tom actually smelled something. And he knew it was Hermione. But, he was shocked. Hermione smelled someone different. This was getting out of hand.
He didn't return to the Great Hall. He went to the Room of Requirement. He opened a closet to find more fading pictures, and they entered. He hid inside and listened.
He can't take it anymore. He can't fight here. He wants to go back. But he needs a plan. And he's got the right tool.