‘My Merlin, Mr Black, this potion is brewed to perfection!’ Slughorn's stupid grin made Regulus feel rather smug as the rest of the class rolled their eyes, unsurprised.
‘Actually,’ Barty stepped forward, raising a hand and then pointing at the cauldron. ‘I helped too.’
Slughorn nodded, not bothering to look at him and hummed. ‘Yes, of course, Crow.’
At that, Barty raised his hands in exasperation, both at the neglect and the way the professor had clearly forgotten his name again. The class didn’t seem too surprised by this either.
‘Now, let’s see then. Mr Black, seeing as you put so much work into this beautiful potion-’
‘And me.’ Barty cut in again, getting dismissed by Slughorn immediately.
‘Yes, yes. Mr Black, could you please tell us what you smell?’
‘Of course, Professor.’ He looked around at the class, who were all staring expectantly, and closed his eyes, inhaling the delicate scent of the potion in front of him.
The first tones were fine. Opening his eyes and watching as the potion's shade shifted to fit what he was smelling, he listed them out as they came to him.
‘Well, there’s…vanilla, ink…I think that’s the smell of the forest…and…’
Then the second wave hit.
Cinnamon, smoke, fresh air, gingerbread, hot chocolate, wood and toast.
Oh fuck.
He didn’t even think he could pretend there was nothing else there. The smoke the cauldron was letting off had shifted to crimson, very clearly the specific shade of Gryffindor. Shit. Well, he would have to try anyway.
‘And…?’ Slughorn prompted and Regulus straightened his posture quickly, shaking his head. ‘Nothing, that’s all.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Perfectly.’
Slughorn looked at him for a few more minutes, before nodding and smiling coyly at Regulus, turning to Barty before he walked away. ‘You can smell it too if you like.’
‘Fuck yes!’ Barty stepped towards the cauldron. ‘Hmmm.’
Trying to act like there was nothing bothering him, he stepped closer to the potion and watched as it shifted from the usual pink to a deep blood red, then a washy yellow-white, finally taking on an emerald green tint.
‘Let me guess, roses, coconut shampoo and the Slytherin common room.’
Barty turned around and grinned. ‘You know me so well, Reggie.’
‘Yeah, well you do talk about him every waking minute so y’know, it wasn’t that surprising.’
‘You think I should…check something?’ Regulus looked over to where Barty had nodded and sighed, shaking his head.
‘Who am I to stop you?’
Barty grinned, leaning over the worktop and calling across the room. ‘Hey, Rosier! Come over here and tell me what this smells like!’
He was ridiculous.
-
‘We brewed amortentia today’
James turned his head slightly, smiling and putting his hand over Regulus’. ‘Oh, yeah?’
Regulus nodded and turned away, facing the sky outside the Astronomy tower. ‘Yup. Barty and I perfected it. Slughorn was ecstatic.’
‘Oh, I bet he was. Did you smell it?’
Regulus paused. Then he nodded. ‘Barty smelled Evan. I think Evan smelled Barty too but he didn’t want to admit it.’
James laughed at that. ‘Yeah, Moony and Pads were the same last year. What did you smell?’
‘Why do you want to know?’
‘Just pure curiosity. I bet it was world domination or something.’
‘World domination isn’t a smell.’
‘Yeah, well, I don’t know, I’ve learned not to underestimate you.’
Regulus thought for a minute, then decides it couldn’t hurt to be honest, could it?
‘Vanilla and ink.’
‘That it?’
‘Why would there be anything else?’
James shrugged. ‘I don’t know but there is, isn’t there? C’mon Reg, we’re friends now, yeah? You can tell me.’
We’re friends now, yeah? You can tell me.
Yeah, well, thanks James, that’s exactly the reason I can’t tell you.
‘There was…another thing, yes.’
‘What was it? Come on, it can't be that bad. Was it Dumbledore or something?’
Regulus fake-gagged and shoved James slightly. ‘Don’t be disgusting!’
‘Oh, come on, there’s nothing wrong with liking older me-’
‘Stop, stop, stop. Okay! You win. It was cinnamon.’
‘Yeah?’
He nodded, looking outside as if it would make James disappear so he was instead talking to himself. ‘Yes. And…other things.’
‘What “other things”?’
‘Just…y’know, the fresh air of the quidditch pitch in the morning. And smoke. And gingerbread. And wood and toast. And hot chocolate.’
‘Really? Those are all very…warm things Reg.’
‘I know.’
‘They’re certainly more Gryffindor than anything else.’
‘I know.’
Then, he stood up, grabbed his bag and walked towards the door to the astronomy tower, trying to beg his face to not blush. ‘Gotta go. Sorry, James, I’ll see you tomorrow at the same time as usual. Bye.’
Before James could reply, he was gone.
So he sat there for a few minutes, trying to piece everything together.
And then it all clicked.
‘Oh.’