Hannah laid in bed, completing her homework as Adrian entered the bedroom. It had been a few hours since the potions lesson.
"Are you alright?" Adrian hesitated at the door, watching Hannah.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about earlier." Hannah lowered her book to look back at Adrian.
"There's nothing to be sorry about. For the record, my cauldron almost boiled over, too." Hannah smiled as Adrian sat down on the end of her bed. "And Fred holds nothing against you, by the way. If anything, he was impressed by your reflexes." Hannah moved to one side of the bed and patted the sheets on the other. Adrian shuffled up next to her, eyeing the homework on her lap. Spero jumped on the bed and curled up next to Adrian.
"Copying my homework, are you?" Hannah smirked up at Adrian.
"After you destroyed your potion today? No way. I'd rather pass." Hannah closed her book and playfully slapped Adrian over the arm with it. Adrian grabbed the book from Hannah and tossed it on the floor. "And assaulting me, too! You've really changed, haven't you?" Hannah laughed.
"I've heard enough of that from Snape today already." She looked up at Adrian, "But I have changed a bit."
"How so?"
"Well..." she lowered her gaze, "this is the first time in my life that I've wanted to be around another person." Adrian turned to face Hannah on the bed.
"Me too." Adrian placed his hand on Hannah's, sending sparks flying inside her. Hannah looked up at Adrian. Their eyes locked as Adrian's hand moved up Hannah's arm, up her shoulder, and cupped her face. Sparks turned to fireworks as Adrian lowered his lips to Hannah's.
Hannah and Adrian awoke the following day to banging on the door.
"Shit!" They had fallen asleep the night prior lying next to each other. "Get into your bed, quick" Hannah pushed Adrian from the bed as he stumbled back onto his side of the divider. Snape opened the door enough to speak through it.
"You're going to be late to first period", he drawled through the gap in the doorway. Hannah and Adrian rushed to get their robes on.
"What's first period?" Adrian asked Hannah through the divider.
"Charms, but you shouldn't bother going."
"Why's that?" Adrian stood at the door, waiting for Hannah to get ready.
"Because you're charming enough as it is." Hannah stared at Adrian with the straightest face she could muster. Adrian stared back before he burst out laughing.
"Don't say anything like that ever again," he said with a grin. Hannah and Adrian left the room and passed Snape, who gave Hannah a knowing look.
Later that day, Hannah redeemed herself in potions by crafting a Veritaserum antidote so perfect that she almost saw Snape smile. She and Adrian spent the day flirting and finding any excuse to touch each other, including sharing a kiss whenever they found themselves alone. They went to the Dumbledore's Army meeting that evening, where they learned the shield charm. Hannah partnered up with Shinayd, Dani partnered up with Fred, and Adrian partnered up with one of the Ravenclaw 7th-year students on the opposite side of the room.
"So, you and Adrian have been flirty today. What happened last night?" asked Dani, as she heartily defended jinxes from Fred. Hannah fought a smile as she recalled the previous night.
"Let's just say Fred being a tool might have accelerated things a bit." Hannah joked.
"You know, it wasn't even me who whistled." Fred yelled from across the room, "It was George." Hannah looked to her right to see George doubled over, laughing.
"A toenail growth hex, ingenious." George continued laughing as Fred flung hexes towards him along with Angelina. Hannah watched Adrian from across the room, wishing sincerely that Snape hadn't vowed to move Adrian back into the Slytherin dormitories. She wondered what kind of extracurricular books the restricted section held that could help her with some more intimate combat.
"Confringo!" Hannah couldn't tear her eyes from Adrian in time to conjure the shield charm as Shinayd threw the curse towards her. The curse scorched Hannah's hand as Shinayd smiled triumphantly.
"Err. Well, that's enough for today." Harry announced as he looked at Hannah's seared hand.
Hannah held her hand up to Snape as she walked in the door as a gesture to start their usual ritual. Snape summoned a potion from his store and began dabbing at the burn.
"You'll have to start making your own potions; this is getting ridiculous. What happened this time?" Hannah winced as the solution stung her hand.
"I had another 'cauldron boiling over' moment during our fake defence meeting," Hannah admitted.
"Well, you're going to have to get on top of that. Distraction won't serve you well in real combat." Hannah bit at her lips in thought. She had forgotten entirely about the Azkaban breakout amid her newfound infatuation with Adrian.
"There's no point stewing over it now," Snape said, as if reading Hannah's thoughts, "we will deal with it if it comes to it." Hannah nodded gravely. Hannah watched Snape intently as he moistened the swab again.
"What kind of stuff do you have to do as a death eater?" Snape paused for a moment as if deciding whether he should tell the truth.
"I mainly relay select information about Dumbledore and the Order." His eyes appeared unfocused as he spoke, "But the Dark Lord often makes us torture his victims to prove our loyalty." The words were barely audible when they came from his lips.
"Torture how?" Hannah swallowed deeply as she asked.
"Potions, the Cruciatus curse. We do precisely as the Dark Lord asks." Snape stoppered the bottle and placed it to the side. "And as you may know, an unforgiveable curse must be performed with intent to harm. Power over your emotions is essential." Hannah thought for a moment. Could she even cast the Cruciatus curse? She had seen it cast in her nightmares, but she wouldn't know how to begin to cast it in real life. Even if she knew how, would she be able to perform it? On Umbridge, maybe, but an innocent victim?
"Would you be able to show me how to perform it, should it come to it?" Hannah asked reluctantly.
"Yes," Snape said without hesitation. "Failing to cast it before the Dark Lord is a swift way to become a victim." Snape looked up at Hannah as if in regret. "I want to emphasise that I don't want you to become a death eater. Dumbledore and I will do everything in our power to prevent Suzanna getting to you."
"I know," Hannah whispered. "As I said earlier, I'm resigned to being a catalyst. I'll do what I must." Hannah pointed to the bottle on the desk, "Shall we make more? Perhaps we can come up with something more potent?" Snape looked relieved at the change of discussion before conjuring a cauldron to create more healing potion.