Already Gone

Chapter 3

"Nonsense, we'll sort you out. Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine. Right then, books out-" Harry cut him off to tell him they didn't have books.

"Um, sorry, sir, but I haven't got my book yet -- nor's Ron. You see-"

"Not to worry. You can get what you need from the cupboard." As Harry and Ron stepped to the cupboard and Slughorn resumed. Gesturing to the cauldrons bubbling before him. "Now, as I was saying, I've prepared a few concoctions this morning. Any ideas what these might be? Yes, Miss?" He looked at Hermione.

"Granger, sir. That one there is Veritaserum. And that would be Polyjuice Potion. And that."

In the cupboard, Harry and Ron find two textbooks one new, one shabby and soiled. Both snatched for the new when a box, marked Bezoars, tipped. Harry made a grab for it and Ron wrested free the new textbook and went off grinning.

"Is Amortentia! The most powerful love potion in the world. It's rumored to smell differently to each person, according to what attracts them. For example, I smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and spearmint toothpaste-" Hermione blushed as she stopped herself. Slughorn regarded her.

Harry, settling into his seat with the soiled textbook and looked up just as Slughorn's eyes shift to him for confirmation. As Harry nodded his head and Hermione glanced curiously at him.

----

"I got your some toast and fruit." Draco said as he walking into Liv's dorm. Olivia turned to him as she put a shirt on.

"Thank you Draco." Olivia took the toast and took a bite out of it as she put her tie on. Draco handed her, her robes as she finished her toast.

"Ready?" Draco asked her as she put her robes on and grabbed the fruit. Olivia nodded her head and took Draco's hand.

---

"Now Amortentia doesn't create actual love, of course. That's impossible. But it does cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. For that reason, it is probably the most dangerous potion in this room." Slughorn turned and found a sea of dreamy faces leaning into the vapors.

Instantly, he shut a cover onto the cauldron and brought them round. As Ron blinked he found Lavender still staring dreamily at him. Noticing this Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Sir, you haven't told us what's in that one." Kate Bell pointed out as she pointed at the other cauldron.

"Ah yes." Slughorn stepped to a small black cauldron. He began to ladle a bit of golden liquid into a tiny vial.

"What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen, is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis. But it is more commonly referred to as-" Olivia cut the teacher off as her and Draco walked in.

"Liquid luck." A buzz ran through the class. Olivia and Draco took their seats in the middle of the room.

"Yes, Miss Snape. Desperately tricky to make. Disastrous should you get it wrong. But brewed correctly, as this has been, it has remarkable powers. One sip and you will find that all your endeavors succeed... at least until the effects wear off."

"But then why don't people drink it all the time?" Katie asked Slughorn, not understand that if it made you extremely lucky, why people weren't taking it.

"Because taken in excess it causes giddiness, recklessness and dangerous overconfidence." Olivia nodded from her seat next to Draco.

"Have you ever taken it, sir?" Blaise asked and Slughorn nodded his head.

"Twice. Once when I was twenty- four. Once when I was fifty- seven. Two tablespoons taken at breakfast. Two perfect days." Slughorn eyed the vial dreamily, adrift. Finally he blinked back to reality.