Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter.

Amortentia

Chapter 1: The Mistake

Severus Snape had only received one gift from his father in his lifetime. It was a pocketwatch, a time-telling device used by muggles, old muggles and had little use for a young wizard like him. He kept it regardless.

As he walked through the halls of Hogwarts, Severus turned the pocketwatch in his hand. He felt the seconds tick by with much more speed than they ever did in a classroom.

Only one more class was left in the day. Just one short hour. Three thousand and six hundred seconds until he could hide away from everything and everyone.

Luckily, the final class was potions, Severus' favorite. Each student was usually told a potion to brew then left alone with their textbooks and cauldrons. Until today.

"Good afternoon," greeted the professor, a man called Horace Slughorn after everyone was seated. "Today, I've decided to give you all a break. Instead of working alone, you will be working with a partner."

The class instantly reacted. They chattered and yelled across the room to their friends, asking "partner?" until Slughorn silenced them. Severus sunk in his seat.

"I will be assigning each of you a partner," the professor eyed the loudest students.

The glass groaned in response. Slughorn ignored them and started calling out names.

Black was with McKinnon. Rosier with Pettigrew. And Lupin with Wilkes. Severus' pocketwatch ticked along with Slughorn's voice.

"Potter," Slughorn called out, "Your marks are starting to slip below acceptable. Perhaps, if I put you with my top student you will learn to work harder?"

A few snickered, including Severus. Potter just grinned over to a scowling girl, the very smart and beautiful Lily Evans.

"Snape, you're with Potter."

Potter's face fell and so did Severus'. Who knew that Severus, a mostly friendless, slimy git was the top student of Professor Slughorn's class? That was not something he aspired to be, especially when it meant doing the work Potter was too lazy to do.

Potter glared towards him as he stood. Potter's friends, Black and Pettigrew were laughing and Lupin, another friend of Potter's whispered something apologetic. He took a seat next to Severus.

Severus slid as far away from his partner as he could, feeling the pocketwatch tick in his pocket and listening to Slughorn call out more names.

"Alright," the professor clapped his hands together once everyone was partnered. "Today you will be brewing a very powerful potion called Amortentia."

Severus grabbed his pocketwatch, checking for the time. Class was nowhere near being over.

"Professor," someone, Lily Evans spoke up, "Isn't Amortentia a higher level potion? It is a very complex potion to brew and can be dangerous to work with."

Severus agreed. He would never trust anyone, especially Potter and his other classmates with a potion half as powerful as Amortentia.

"Yes, Lily, I understand your concern," Slughorn smiled at her, "Amortentia, for those of you who do not know, is a love potion."

"The most powerful love potion," Lily interrupted.

"Yes, Evans. Amortentia is the most powerful love potion," the professor gave her a warning look. "But you all are very advanced. Brewing a love potion should be no challenge to you."

"And no use to us," Severus muttered quietly, checking his pocketwatch for the time again.

"Questions, anyone?" Slughorn asked and when no one responded continued, "You will find the instructions in your textbooks. You may begin."

"Amortentia," Severus spoke as he flipped through his book, "The list of ingredients are here, Potter. Do you think you can manage finding them all in the supply cupboard?"

"Me?" Potter asked angrily. "And what will you be doing, Snivellus?"

"I will get the cauldron boiling, a task that may be a little too advanced for you," Severus explained.

Potter gripped his wand, but quickly let go when Slughorn caught his eye.

"Just wait until after class," Severus' partner hissed, standing up and bumping into his shoulder on the way to the supply cupboard.

Less than six hundred seconds into the assignment, Severus hit the first problem with Potter.

"What are you doing?" He asked Potter, who was about to dump the contents of a vial into the cauldron.

"I'm just putting the doxy eggs in," his partner answered with annoyance. "It says right there that the next step is to add the doxy eggs."

"That says doxy venom!" Severus roughly took the vial away from Potter before he messed everything up.

"Is everything okay here, Potter?" Professor Slughorn asked as he passed their table. "Oh dear! Doxy venom, Snape. Not doxy eggs." Slughorn grabbed the vial. "You almost never mess up an ingredient, Snape. What's gotten into you?"

"I told him it said venom, Professor," Potter pretended to sign, shaking his head.

"Next time, Snape, double check the ingredients. Some mistakes can be fatal," Slughorn warned, oblivious to Potter's smirk.

It only took three hundred seconds for Potter to slip up again. Severus tried to stay calm. He did not need Slughorn watching over them again.

"What did you just put into the cauldron?" Severus asked softly.

"Unicorn tail hair, Snivellus. Just as the book says," said Potter. "But some of your slimy hair may have fallen in with it. That will certainly make the potion useless."

Severus had learned to ignore the repetitive insults that escaped his partners mouth. He simply closed his textbook. There was no point in fixing the potion now when he would just have to fix it again after Potter's next mistake.

"The ingredient was unicorn fur. Not tail hair," he told Potter. "You made the potion useless."

"They're the same thing."

No. They were not. Unicorn tail hair and unicorn fur were two completely different things. But Severus could not tell his partner this because Professor Slughorn had returned, now focused on what their potion was doing.

Amortentia, if brewed correctly, should have started creating a spiraling steam and a pleasing aroma by now. Like Amortentia, their potion had a very pleasing scent, almost floral to Severus. Unlike Amortentia, their potion was not producing a spiraling steam. Instead, it had begun to bubble, almost like they were boiling it a second time.

The potion was bubbling up and up, nearly overflowing. Severus and his partner leaned over the cauldron, a big mistake. With a loud popping noise, a few ticks of Severus' pocketwatch, and a shout from Slughorn, the potion had exploded.

Potter and Severus were covered in their mystery potion.

"Lupin," yelled Slughorn instantly, "Go find Madam Pomfrey! Now!"

While Lupin rushed out, the other students started to gather around Severus and Potter.

"Back away," Slughorn ordered the class. "Everyone that is not Potter, Snape, or myself may leave the classroom. I will freeze your potions."

Severus could vaguely see the students reluctantly exiting and lingering in the doorway. But his vision started to blur. It was becoming difficult to see anything. Or almost anything. Potter stood clearly beside him.

"I think the stuff got on my classes," Potter was saying, rubbing them on his robes. "I can't see."

"Madam Pomfrey is on the way," said Slughorn calmly. "How are you feeling, Potter? Snape?"

Neither answered. Potter seemed to be distracted with his glasses and the professor was oblivious, but the room had started to fill with a pleasing scent. It smelled floral, like the potion was but something else was there. Though having spent little time on one, Severus recognized the scent as the smell of a broomstick. He had never realized how nice the aroma was.

"Potter? Snape?" Slughorn was waving a hand over each of their faces, trying to catch their attention.

But to Severus, nothing but Potter and the sweet aroma was clear.

Three hundred seconds later, Lupin returned with Pomfrey, who guided Severus and Potter to the Hospital Wing.

Thanks for reading!

Some things may not be correct in the universe of Harry Potter. Sorry, it's been a while since I've read the books.

Thanks again!