"Goddamnit Blaise. Why do I let you drag me into shit like this?"

"Because you're my best mate."

Draco rolled his eyes, beyond irritated.

"This isn't gonna work you know."

"Thanks for the support, ass."

"I just don't understand what you're trying to do here Blaise. If you like Angela then just go talk to her."

"I have talked to her! But I need to know how she really feels."

"And you're doing this by giving her a love potion?"

Blaise smacked Draco upside the head. "It's modified! It's more veritaserum than anything else."

Draco shook his head. "Mate, you're crazy. This isn't going to work."

"That's why you're here. You're better at potions."

"I don't even know what you're trying to do!"

"The end goal is to have it be like a truth-telling potion. But the hint of amortentia will guide it so that what she reveals her deep feelings of love for me."

"Won't that just have her create a fake sense of love for you?"

Blaise shook his head fiercely, smiling. "No, that's the beauty of it. Veritaserum overpowers that 'fakeness' if you will, so the only thing confessed are truths about people closest to her, or people she has a deep regard for. In a word, me."

Draco eyed his friend suspiciously. "That's never gonna work."

Blaise grunted and stirred the potion, then poured it into an elegant teacup the Room of Requirement had graciously provided. "If you don't believe in it then you won't mind tasting it for me."

"Have you bloody lost your mind? I'm not drinking that shit!"

"Draco, please, I need to make sure it-"

They were interrupted by a large creak, announcing the arrival of an unexpected third party.

"Hide!"

"Grab the cup!"

"Forget the bloody potion!" Draco hissed, pulling Blaise behind a pile of knick-knacks.

Hermione yawned, stretching her arms out wide above her head and then rubbed her eyes. It had been a long day indeed. She flopped on the couch that had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and sighed deeply. She would kill for some tea right now.

That was when she noticed the perfect porcelain cup sitting on a faraway table. Bless you, Room of Requirement, she thought, making her way over to the teacup. She swirled it around, holding it with both hands, and took a long sip.

"Oh, fuck." Blaise breathed, watching from behind the pile of junk.

"What is it?"

"It's Granger. She drank it."

Draco laughed in disbelief and pushed his friend out from hiding. Blaise stumbled out loudly, appearing directly in front of Hermione.

Hermione felt very strange. Like sudden cloudiness in her head that was gone just as soon as it had started. She felt the need to go talk to Ginny. She had told her she liked her dress, but really she didn't. The flower print was awful. Why would anyone buy such an awful dress? She had to tell her. She would have, if not for Blaise appearing in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, somewhat surprised.

"Uh, just needed to relax. Draco's here too." He said, pointing in his general direction.

"Oh," Hermione said, not really caring, "Ok."

She turned to leave, but Blaise stopped her. "Hey Granger."

"Yes?"

"Would you say you feel any different? About me, maybe?"

She stared at him and blinked a few times. "I suppose you look a bit stressed. But maybe you look like that all the time. I don't really know you."

Draco stepped out from behind the various piles of things, clearing his throat. "Hello, Granger."

"Hello Draco." She said, nodding. As another burst of cloudy to clear wave flushed her mind, she rubbed her head. "That shirt looks a bit small on you Blaise. You really should get that fixed. It looks pretty wonky."

Draco laughed out loud. "Well I'll be."

Hermione looked from Blaise to Draco. "You have a nice laugh, Draco."

Blaise's eyes widened as he looked from Hermione to Draco. Draco too, looked shocked. Hermione smiled and bid the two boys goodbye, exiting the ROR.

Once she had gone, and the door was safely shut closed, Blaise turned to Draco. "Did she just say you had a nice laugh?" he said, laughing to himself. Draco punched him in the arm.

"That's a funky truth telling serum all right. Too bad none of the love made it through."

"What do you mean?"

"She hated your shirt. And when you asked her she said you looked stressed."

"I told you already it doesn't create love! It just enhances your ability to confess love. And," Blaise added teasingly, "She just loved your laugh."

"Eat a dick Blaise."

Hermione felt incredibly free walking down the hallways that evening. She spoke to everyone that passed her. Everything she thought she said out loud. It was wonderful, being this carefree.

Meanwhile, Draco was back in the Room of Requirement, grilling Blaise.

"When will it fade?"

"I don't know."

"Are there side effects?"

"Quite possibly."

"For fucks sake Blaise I don't bloody care for the witch but we can't have the Gryffindor Goddess running around spilling her guts to anyone and everyone. Pothead and the Weasel will shit bricks when they find out. And as soon as Granger realizes it she'll hex us to hell."

"Calm down, don't get your silk panties in a twist. It only works when she's posed with a question anyways."

Draco shook his head angrily. "No one asked her if she liked my laugh. She just said it."

"Shit."

"We gotta find her."

It wasn't a very difficult thing to do, as she had already drawn quite a bit of attention to herself.

"I just don't see why you put on so much eyeliner, Cho. It makes you look like a raccoon."

"Hermione!" Draco shouted. He immediately regretted it. That only seemed to cause more attention. Everyone in the crowd turned to look at him. Blaise fell in from behind. "You run way too fast, mate." He said, catching his breath, "What's everyone looking at?"

"Sorry, all, she's not feeling well." Draco said, pushing through the crowd and grabbing hold of her. She resisted. "I feel perfectly fine, Malfoy."

"Hey let her go!" Someone from the crowd shouted.

"You Slytherins are always causing trouble!" someone added.

"Bloody hell," Blaise muttered under his breath.

Draco turned to Hermione. "You feel different don't you? Something off you can't quite place? We can help. Just come with us." He looked right at her, his face hard.

She nodded slowly, not dropping her gaze from him. "You have beautiful eyes. I always thought they were blue, but," she shook her head, "they're grey." She breathed.

"Fuck."

"Great!" Blaise said, "You can stare at them all you want. Follow us," he said, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her along.

"See you all later!" Hermione shouted as she waved back. Though it seemed very strange, no one tried to stop the trio, since Hermione wasn't resisting and nothing too terribly suspicious had happened. Hermione's comment seemed to have been only heard by Draco and Blaise.

"Say Granger," Blaise began, as the three strolled down the hallway, "Do you have a crush on my boy here?"

"Not that I know of," she replied easily.

"But, he's attractive don't you think?"

"Shut it, Blaise."

"Yes, he has handsome features."

Blaise nudged Draco. Draco punched him in the arm once more. "Would you give it a rest Zabini? She's under the influence of your demonic potion."

"Potion?"

They turned to look at her. She stared at them with wide and innocent eyes.

"Um…well. See it's a funny story, when you think about it-"

"The tea you drank was actually a makeshift love potion. We're assuming the effects will wear off soon enough. But we don't know for sure." Draco explained.

"What would you two want with a love potion? Haven't you dated nearly the whole school? You don't exactly seem to be having trouble in that department."

"Well you see, Blaise was…forget it. We don't have to explain ourselves to the likes of you."

"The likes of me?" she reached for her wand, "I'm under a love spell, not a confundus charm you idiot. I can still hex you."

"It's not technically a love spell." Blaise intervened, trying to soothe the tension.

Hermione sighed deeply and rubbed her forehead. "Explain it to me then."

They sat at the bottom of some stairs and Blaise did his best to explain the type of potion he was going for.

"Ok," she said, "I think I understand now." She sat silent, saying nothing more.

"You're bloody scary when you don't speak Granger." Draco mumbled.

She laughed, "Sorry, force of habit. I'm just thinking."

"Maybe you should just call it an early night," Blaise suggested, "It could very well fade by tomorrow."

Hermione nodded. "I'll try to avoid people, considering I'll just blab out whatever comes to my head. Besides, being seen with you two would ruin my reputation."

"Being seen with you would ruin our reputation." Draco sneered.

She rolled her eyes and stood up, "You're such an asswipe, Malfoy. But I'll keep you two updated."

"Have a nice night, Granger!" Blaise shouted as she walked away.