NATALIA [Draco Malfoy Fanfiction]

Nineteen | Last Good Deed

School got weird after New Years.

Or, to be more specific, in the potions class after New Years.

The first class had been a review day, and I had been tasked with the rather uncomfortable task of sitting next to Draco in total silence.

"Hey, Nat," Theo whispered, tapping me on the shoulder, "did you actually get a cat for Christmas?"

I nodded; "I'll take him out when we get to the common rooms."

"My day has been made, I love you."

Draco stiffened from next to me, making me turn my attention to what we were meant to be looking at, nearly coughing at the smell I'm met with. "We're meant to replicate it," Draco told me.

"Did you douse yourself in cologne this morning?" I exclaimed quietly, "Merlin!"

Draco frowned, but just as I was about to press on, Slughorn explained that it was Amortentia, making me realize what I had just said. Our eyes locked, my stomach did something weird, and I excused myself to the washroom.

I tried to think back to the last time I had even smelt Amortentia, wondering if it was a mere coincidence that Malfoy smelt exactly like the cologne the stupid potion emanates. I realized I had just never made the connection before, but it was something that had been there since the start of the year, a fact I simply never thought twice about. Shit.

After that, I did my best to ignore Draco, and pretended it didn't bother me to give him exactly what he wanted: the easy way out.

What's worse, is that all of them seemed to have some idea as to what went down between us, whether they'd say anything or not. It had me feeling helpless, like a little girl who couldn't help but fall... fall for him. No matter what he did, no matter who he was.

"It's not like he doesn't like you back," Sirius supplied when I had run back to my dorm, "you don't know, maybe he smelt you too."

"But I never tried to kill him, I'm not supposed to fall first."

"Fair enough, but you had also never taken a potion that is meant to kill every powerful emotion in your system, Nat. Maybe, you're simply more human."

I thought about it for a moment, hating the fact that Sirius actually had a point, which he could tell as he wiggled his eyebrows when I casted a quick glance his way. "Fuck. Alright. I'm going to figure out exactly what that potion does," I said, determined now.

"The only place that information could be found would be in the restricted section."

I nodded; "and I have a lesson with Snape later today, I'll just tell him I wanted to do some extra reading. He'll understand." I glanced over at my cat Loki as he sprawled out lazily on my bed; "won't he?" I asked to fur-ball in the type of voice you use to talk to babies; "won't he sweetheart?"

"Please stop talking to your cat."

"Never."

I made my way over to Snape's office once I was sure I wasn't going to run into any of my friends, finding him sitting behind his desk; grading papers.

"Blackwell," he stated stiffly, "I hope you come prepared."

"Yes." Though, my mind was a little scattered, and I had some doubts as to whether or not I'd be able to preform to the best of my ability, it was like Snape said: the dark lord wasn't going to wait for me to be in a good mental place.

"Then, let us being." Snape had designed this lesson to last 3 hours, beginning with feeding small and irrelevant memories out for me to try and retrieve. Someone who was good at Occulamency, wasn't just able to guard their mind, but maintain a proper guard on the things that mattered. Someone who was good at Legilimency, could keep their guards up while penetrating someone else's mind, with extra points if they're able to do it without the recipient feeling anything.