𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑 ❧ sirius black

XX - Parchment, Roses, and Ginger

Saying that Hermione's heart had dropped when she inhaled the love potion was an understatement. There was not a doubt in her mind that it was, in fact, Amortentia. All the smells were there, the same ones she had inhaled with James nearly two months ago.

The reasons why it smelled the way that it did Hermione would reevaluate later, but the most important thing was that this bottle contained the most powerful love potion in the world. One drop could give a person such a lust for someone else, in the same way that the imperious curse places a person under complete control. Using it was almost as unforgivable as the Unforgivable Curses themselves.

Her heart hurt for Emma. What else would Peter be using Amortentia for other than on Emma? The whole school was utterly shocked when he and Emma actually got together, this may explain it.

The bottle was half empty at the moment. How long has Peter been with Emma? A little over a month now? How long would the potion have effect on Emma?

Hermione set the bottles potion back down on the table alongside the notebook and the diadem, thinking about how she could get Emma out of this situation as soon as possible. Sure, she barely knew the girl, but she deserved to be helped. Anyone deserved to be helped out of a situation such as this.

She took a step back. In front of her, lay virtually everything she needed. Finding this was a huge step, but there was so much to unpack, so many different ways to go from here. How do they all connect? What value does each object hold? What kind of dark magic was being used in the diadem? Peter is obviously a spy, she knew that, but how would he be getting the Order's information to Voldemort? And lastly, why would he need to use Amortentia on Emma in the first place? What is her purpose?

What did it all mean?

It was all so much, but the alarm going off on her wristwatch took Hermione out of her deep waves of thought. She had five minutes before Peter's shift was up.

So, Hermione left. Everything she needed was in her head: she couldn't take anything, yet, at least. She needed Peter to believe that she wasn't in the know, not that he was suspicious of her in the first place. He needed to believe he was safe, so Hermione could piece everything together as it unfolded before her eyes.

With the invisibility cloak on, she departed from the triangular door and watched it disappear just as she did. Quietly, she progressed down the stairs and made her way to the common room, passing the hospital wing and seeing Lily anxiously waiting for Peter's shift to end and for her's to begin. Hermione smiled. Maybe, she would skip out on the visiting hours and leave Lily and James to themselves. It was the least she could do back in this time.

Removing the invisibility cloak in a nearby corridor and hiding it away, Hermione passed the hospital wing again, informing Lily that her homework would keep her from visiting hours today, and headed to the library.

Instead of actually getting her assignments done, however, Hermione got her hands on every dark magic book that she could without having access to the restricted section, and nothing. It was bone dry, and her hopes of figuring out the properties of the diadem began to shrink.

She left the library in a funk. And for the the next three days until the weekend finally came, Hermione's mind was once again crowded with her thoughts. One minute she would be thinking about the new situation or whatever that was going on with Lily and James, then Emma's dire problem, and the dark magic of the diadem, and...