Author's Note: Hey there! I have a ton of other stories in progress so one more won't make much difference, right?

This has been sitting in my WIP folder for about a year and I decided that the beginning of #miraculous spooktober is a good time to start posting it.

This was losely inspired by a song "Black Magic" by Little Mix as you maybe will notice in the titles of the chapters.

Love Potion no. 2

Take a sip of my secret potion

It was raining cats and akuma that evening and Chat Noir had had enough. He was making his way home in the the darkness of the rooftops, not really thinking where he was going, when the cry for help reached his ears. Without hesitation the black clad hero adjusted his direction and headed for the source of the noise.

Soon he found it. An old woman was backed against a wall, while two muggers were going through the contents of her enormous bag.

Chat signaled the woman to be quiet and tiptoed to the two thugs.

'Well, well. What do we have here,' he drawled in a guttural growl.

'AH!' They both exclaimed and dropped the bag.

'Jeeeez, it's just Chat Noir,' the taller of them said, keeping his hand on his chest and breathing heavily. 'You scared the shit out of us, man. We're no Akuma, you know.'

'Pardonne moi,' the hero bowed. 'It's just boring old me. I wouldn't forgive myself if you'd come to any harm. Any. Harm. At. All.'

'Yeah, man, it wouldn't be good,' the shorter one replied.

'Indeed,' Chat faced him, deadpanned. His eyes flickered to the old woman hunched against the wall and then returned in a stone glare to the thugs. 'In that case may I suggest the two of you take off really, really quickly?'

'What for?'

'Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you said you didn't want to come to any harm?' Chat quirked a brow, but the gesture was wasted because of his mask. He settled on cracking his knuckles and narrowing his eyes.

The muggers seemed to get the message instantly.

'Right, right. It's getting late,' the taller one said conversationally.

'We should get going,' the shorter one supplied, nervously looking for a way out.

'Now would be a very good moment to do that,' Chat agreed. 'Booo!' he whispered and they fled.

The feline hero picked up the bag from the ground and handed it to the rightful owner. It was surprisingly heavy, even for such an oversized sack.

'Here, Madame, let me help you with that,' he offered, but the old lady shook her head and when she did, a cascade of jingles filled his ears. She was wearing a lot of loud jewelry.

The woman adjusted the shawls covering her neck and back and brushed of the dust from her ample skirt. Every piece of her attire screamed exotic.

'Thank you, young man,' she replied in faultless French. 'That was really brave of you.'

Chat frowned. 'I am a superhero, Ma'am. I eat akuma for breakfast. Those two wouldn't have stood a chance.'

'Really?' the woman looked him up and down thoughtfully. 'You're barely a teenager. Fifteen? Ah, almost sixteen, I see.'

'I'll be sixteen in a few days actually,' he mumbled, a bit confused. He wasn't used to this sort of treatment. 'How do you know?'

'A sibyl needs one look and she knows your soul,' she replied. 'And I have been a fortune-teller for many years. Just one look and I know not only your soul, but your past and future too.'

Oh great, Chat thought. Another weirdo. Just what he needed at this time of night.

The woman scowled at him as if she could hear him thinking. 'Never underestimate an old woman, my boy. There's more to us than meets the eye,' she scolded him, but there was a hint of warmth in her voice, as if she was scolding her own grandchild.

'Now let's see,' she murmured under her breath reaching out for Chat's gloved hand. He tried to pull it back, but the fortuneteller only grabbed it tighter. 'Easy there, young man. This is the only way I can thank you for saving me and all my belongings from those two thugs' greedy paws.'

She inspected his palm closely, running her calloused fingers over the magic material. What did she see in the darkness and with the blackness of the suit itself was beyond him, but she must have seen something because she was muttering to herself in a language Chat didn't recognize. At last she nodded with satisfaction and returned her eyes to his.

'You've been through a lot, I can see. Sudden loss, absence of something important in your life. But I see happiness too. And recent attachment,' she patted his hand gently smirking at the sight of surprise written all over his masked face.

'But… you do not feel complete,' the woman mused out loud. 'There's something missing, something you want but can't get.' She closely watched him squirm under her scrutinous gaze. 'But don't worry, my dear. Soon you'll earn that thing and the person you want will finally be yours. You just need to put a liiiiittle more effort, because what you want is closer than you think,' she concluded jabbing him in the chest with a crooked finger.

'Yeah, right,' the sarcastic remark rolled off his tongue before he could bite it back and the woman whipped her head at him in an instant.

'You don't believe me, I see,' she glared at him until he dropped his gaze to his feet and shuffled them nervously.

'It seems you need a little help with your quest,' the woman said after a while. 'And I've got just the thing for you.' After a quick search of her bag she fished out two tiny vials in a silver lacy bag. Chat wondered if he just imagined the edges glowing faintly in the darkness. Maybe he was tired.

'This,' she pointed to the red vial, 'is Love Potion no 2, the most powerful love potion in my possession.' She shook the container and he saw drops of pinkish-red sirup sloshing inside. 'There's not much of it left, but it will be more than enough for your young lady. The correct dose is one drop and the first person she sees after having that she'll fall in love with.'

The hero could only gape at her, rendered speechless and not quite following the current turn of events.

'This,' she took the second vial with the transparent liquid, 'is the antidote should you change your mind or want somebody to unlove you.' The woman deposited the bag with the vials in Chat's unresisting hand, and wrapped his fingers around it. 'Keep it safe and use it wise. And always remember that love is a gift.'

The boy finally regained his voice and enough of coherent thought to know it was time to leave.

'Thank you, Madame,' he bowed respectfully, carefully sliding the little bag into his pocket. 'I promise to treasure this gift.'

'Good night, Chat Noir,' the fortuneteller nodded with satisfaction as Chat vaulted himself back to the rooftops and headed for home. Soon he was too far to hear her mutter under her breath. 'It would be much easier if you just looked around, you oblivious fool.'

Adrien knew he should already be sleeping or he'll be in trouble in the morning, but he couldn't help it. He was sitting on his sofa and staring at the two vials on the coffee table. While they had looked enthrallingly magical in the scarce light of the evening, now he couldn't notice any trace of that strange glow. Just two ordinary petite bottles, the kind you put homemade perfume in.

Adrien felt the cool of the ring on his right hand. Just an inconspicuous silver band, serving as a disguise for a powerful magical artifact. He tapped his lower lip with his fingers and frowned for a hundred time.

'Do you think these are for real?'

'How would I know?' Plagg's voice came from somewhere between the wraps of camembert.

'What do I do with them?'

'Nothing, if you're smart,' the kwami grumbled, flying out of the most recently opened camembert box. 'Listen kid, you're old enough to know there's no such thing as Santa Claus and magical potions, right?'

'Says a black flying creature that inhabits my ring from time to time and lets me cataclysm things with my clawed hands,' Adrien rebuffed not taking his eyes of the vials.

'Ooooh, I know what you're thinking,' Plagg growled and waved a paw at his Chosen. 'And you'd better stop right now before you come up with something stupid.'

'And what am I thinking about, pray?'

The black cat shot him with an unimpressed look. 'Kid, you can't seriously think that drugging Ladybug into loving you is a good idea.'

'You said yourself this isn't a magic potion!'

'Because it's not,' Plagg shouted back. 'And what if it's a hate potion and it'll make Ladybug hate you for the rest of your lives? You got that from a total stranger, a "sibyl" nonetheless,' he mocked. 'And you're really considering giving it to Ladybug?'

'Oh,' Adrien hadn't thought about it like that. But when he closed his eyes in frustration his mind instantly filled with visions of his beloved heroine looking at him with oceans of affection in her bluebell eyes. Of her gaze flickering to his lips. Of her hands tugging at his wild mane. Of the warmth of her body as she wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled coyly at him, batting her treacherously long lashes. You know, his standard Ladybug-is-about-to-kiss-you dream no. 2.

And now it seemed like he finally had the means to make it happen, if months of his flirtatious efforts and heroic deeds apparently weren't enough to get him there. But Plagg was right, that giving it to Ladybug straight away was risky. He needed to check, if it even worked.

'Okay, I think I'm up to a little experiment before I consider giving the potion to Ladybug,' Adrien said thoughtfully. 'Something that could prove if it works.'

'See, it didn't take long to come up with something stupid,' Plagg muttered. 'Kid, seriously, don't do that. You'll only regret it.'

'Even if my guinea pig is going to be Chloe?' the boy let that question hang in the air and watched the black cat's face, where his previous scowl was fighting with mischievous grin.

But soon the scowl won. 'Tempting,' Plagg admitted. 'But why would you make Miss Screech more in love with you? She's already unbearable as she is now.'

'I was rather thinking of throwing her of my tail and hooking her up with someone else.'

The kwami perked up at that. 'Like who?'

'Maybe Nath? If it works on those two it'll work on everyone,' Adrien suggested with a sly grin that soon turned into frown of disappointment when Plagg didn't back him up.

'As much as I'd love to see that,' the black cat mused, 'I'm gonna remind you of your famous luck, or lack of thereof. Knowing you, we'll probably end up with Chloe pursuing Alya and Nath proclaiming his undying love to Marinette again.'

Adrien suddenly felt uneasy at the thought of Nathaniel, or anyone for that matter proclaiming their love to Marinette, and the sensation surprised him. He shook that thought off. It was probably just an akuma thing. Yes. Definitely, akuma thing. Evillustrator had been rather rough on him, is all, plus he had been really worried for Marinette going out with a villain. Though he had to admit she did splendidly, for a civilian of course.

'I still think it's worth a try,' he decided. 'I already have a foolproof plan.'

'I'm sure you do,' Plagg rolled his eyes, feigning defeat. He immediately recognized there was no way of reasoning with Adrien in his current set of mind. Something would have to be done about it later, and the kwami reluctantly acknowledged that it would have to be done by him, if he wanted to avoid any catastrophes, or at least those more spectacular ones.

'Great. That's settled then,' the boy rubbed his hands together. 'Tomorrow we're going to test the potion, and if everything works - as I'm sure it will - Ladynoir will set sail next patrol night!' he announced with a dreamy smile.

Not even fifteen minutes passed and the boy was already snoring quietly, sprawled on his large bed. Judging by his mewls and whispers he was dreaming his standard Ladybug-said-she-loved-mew dream no. 4. Plagg listened for a while and when it became apparent that Adrien wasn't likely to wake up any time soon, the kwami sneaked his way to the top desk drawer.

'I'm getting too old for this shit,' he complained dragging the bag with the vials with him and phasing through the front of the drawer. Soon soft clanks of glass filled the large wooden desk, while Adrien dreamt of ladybugs and kisses under full moon.

AN: As always I ask you to share your thoughts. I don't have a schedule right now, I write when I find time and inspiration, but know that feedback plays a very important role in that. So if you're curious and want more, let me know!

A huge thank you goes to Remasa, who read it 100 years ago and to Freedom Shamrock for their useful suggestions.

Check out my tumblr blog: perditaalottachocolate-blog . tumblr . com . Useful tags: "perdita writes" for my fics and "perdita draws" for my art. My askbox is open too!