Harry had just taken his seat next to Ron when Professor Snape swept through the door, his billowing black cloak bringing with it a cold wind that crept throughout the classroom. A shudder ran across the students, diminishing as it reached the Slytherins, who had grown adjusted to the piercing rush of the frigid air. Without a word, the greasy professor conjured a softly bubbling cauldron onto the surface of his desk.
“Today’s task,” he began in a slow drawl, “is to successfully brew the potion shown before you. I will not provide you with its name just yet, only the ingredients and instructions necessary to brew it.”
Just as those words left his mouth, pieces of parchment appeared in front of each student. Harry was a bit startled, as he had already begun to doze due to the sluggish pace of Snape’s speech. He adjusted his glasses and gave his hair a ruffle, leaning in to examine the page before him. After a bit of studying, he determined that it was a recipe of sorts, which was to be expected in a potions classroom. With a small sigh, he leaned back a bit on his stool and directed his attention back to the looming man before him.
“At the end of class, I will review your potions and reveal the name of the potion that you will have attempted to brew.” Harry let out another sigh at the professor’s emphasis on the word, “attempted,” which gave the impression that Snape didn’t really expect any properly brewed potions.
“Are there any questions?” the tall man finished. Immediately, Hermione, seated next to Pavarti, raised her hand, waving it about a bit in the air. Snape gave her a disdainful glance, and then proceeded to say, “Good. Now, begin brewing your potions.”
Hermione’s forehead wrinkled a bit in frustration, but she quickly shook it off, beginning to look over the parchment set before her. Just as the classroom began to spring back to life, Snape’s voice interrupted the commotion.
“Oh, I had almost forgotten.” he said with a sinister smile that made Harry grimace in disgust. “To add an element of challenge to your brewing, you will now be working with new partners.”
A collective groan echoed across the classroom. “Silence!” the slimy man demanded. “I will give you your partners now. Granger and Parkinson. Goldstein and Nott. Goyle and Brown. Weasley and Zabini. Longbottom and Crabbe. Potter and Malfoy-”
Harry immediately ceased listening after the dreaded words escaped Snape’s far-too-happy mouth. He dared a glance over at Malfoy, only to find the blond git glaring straight back at him. They engaged in a bit of a glare-off from across the room, until Harry was pulled out by a tap on his shoulder.
He looked up and was met with the chiseled face of Blaise Zabini. “Potter, if you don’t mind, I believe that I am Weasley’s new partner now.” the boy said with a slight smirk. Harry glanced over to Ron to find him positively green, and patted him on the shoulder with an unspoken “good luck” lingering in the air behind him as he regretfully made his way over to Malfoy’s table.
Harry kept his head down as he took his seat next to Malfoy, attempting to focus only on the parchment and not on the tall, pointy boy who seemed to be all angles next to him. Malfoy clearly wanted to ruin everything good in Harry’s life, taking it upon himself to break the tension-filled silence at their table.
“Potter, as much as I hate, and I mean absolutely despise, saying this, I think that we ought to work together, rather than fight over this.” At Harry’s incredulous look, he continued. “I would like a passing grade in this class, and I assume that you would as well. You’ve proven to have at least a bit of a brain hidden inside that abnormally large head of yours, so I think that if we… put aside our differences for the time begin, we will have a good chance of brewing this potion correctly.”
Harry continued to stare at Malfoy as if he had grown a third eye, and Malfoy, though tempted to now feel his forehead to ensure the absence of an abnormal growth, shoved down the urge and quickly continued. “Now, please do not let me lead you to believe that I doubt my own skills in potions brewing. No, quite the contrary, Potter. I do, however, doubt your ability to restrain yourself from wreaking havoc on my cauldron, so I think it would be best for us to work together, rather than against each other, for the time being.”
For a moment, Harry thought he saw a glimmer of hesitation in Malfoy’s eyes, but he quickly doubted himself as the grey eyes returned to normal. “Alright, Malfoy. Truce?” he said, with an extended hand.
Malfoy eyed the slightly calloused hand put before him, having a sense of déja-vu. “Truce.” he agreed, taking Harry’s hand and shaking it firmly. They both stared down at their hands between them for a moment, before quickly coming back to their senses and releasing their grasps, Malfoy clearing his throat and Harry rubbing the back of his neck.
“Well then, Potter,” Malfoy drawled, smirk returning to his pointed features. “Let’s get started.”
Harry took a deep breath and nodded, focusing his attention back to the parchment laid out in front of him. His eyes skimmed the words on the page, which might as well have been hieroglyphics, for he couldn’t understand the potions-language at all. Malfoy spared him an amused glance, and then decided to take pity on the other boy.
“Alright Potter, I’ll do the hard work, and you can be my second-in-command. Go ahead and fetch the ingredients on the list, will you?”
Harry didn’t bother arguing, and instead set off to the potions cupboard where various other students were gathering. Soon, he was walking back out with different jars and phials balanced in his arms and setting them on the table beside the cauldron Malfoy was currently heating with his wand.
The two boys worked in silence, with only the occasional request from Malfoy (Harry refused to refer to them as “commands,” since that made him sound like he was submitting to Malfoy). Soon enough, Harry was giving the potion a final stir, and Malfoy deemed it to be acceptable.
“Wow, Potter, I must admit that I’m surprised. We make quite the team when we aren’t talking to each other.” Harry responded with a lopsided grin, making Malfoy’s heartbeat speed up a bit, although he showed no sign of it on the outside.
“Yeah,” Harry replied. “Our potion smells great, too. Actually,” he continued, a small frown appearing on his face, “it kind of smells like… you.” Harry finished, looking up at Malfoy slightly, seeming almost embarrassed.
Malfoy wasn’t sure of how to react. “What do you mean, it smells like me?” Malfoy leaned down to the cauldron, lightly sniffing it. “What?” he murmured under is breath.
“What, what is it?” Harry inquired.
“Potter, this might be the oddest thing I’ve ever said to you before, so I apologize in advance. But, this potion sort of smells like you.”
Both boys looked at each other in confusion, and just as Harry drew in a breath to respond, Snape began speaking.
“Alright, that will be enough. It seems that most of you are finished, though you took quite a bit longer than I had expected.” The displeasure in Snape’s voice was clear. “We only have several minutes left in class, so I will study your potions afterwards. Now, though, I will tell you what potion you have all been brewing. It is known by the name of ‘Amortentia.’ Does anyone know what this potion’s purpose is?”
Hermione spoke up without being called upon. “Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world, Sir. It causes one to fall in love with whoever has dosed them with it. Its smell is unique to each person, smelling of what each person loves most, sometimes objects and sometimes the person with whom they are in love.”
Harry didn’t hear Snape’s response, he was too busy trying to slow his breathing back to a normal pace as Hermione’s last words clicked into place in his mind. The words “sometimes the person with whom they are in love” echoed in his mind, and he subconsciously turned to Malfoy, who was sitting at his side.
Malfoy had a somewhat horror-stricken expression, and a flush was rising up his neck and onto his cheeks. Both he and Harry were startled out of their thoughts with a brief, “Class dismissed.” from Snape. They eyed each other warily, unmoving in the crowd of students packing up.
“Huh.” Malfoy echoed. “'Huh’ indeed. Well, Potter, it seems to me like we have a lot to discuss.”
and that’s it! i’ve seen several amortentia prompts in my time on tumblr and i thought i’d provide y'all with my own take on it. i am by no means a writer, and this is the first thing i’ve ever written and released. so, here it is! feedback is appreciated :) btw, i’m posting this on mobile, so sorry in advance for any mistakes.