Amortentia

Juniper stared across the Great Hall during breakfast, her eyes fixed on a certain Slytherin boy. She had always thought he was cute, Sirius' kid brother who she always suspected may have had a little crush on her, but something must have happened to him over the break--maybe he had been working out or possibly gotten a haircut that complimented his face. Either way, as she watched him converse with his house mates, she found herself thinking, when did he get so bloody attractive?

It was a little alarming and she knew that if she voiced this thought to her friends, they would never let her live it down. She just felt it was so nice of him to come over to their table the previous night and offer them the beer. Could the Slytherins really want a truce? It would make her last year at Hogwarts a lot more peaceful, that was for sure.

Regulus looked up from his plate and seemed to sense that someone was staring at him. He locked eyes with Juniper, almost like he knew it was her, then showed what could only be considered a devilish smirk. Her heart fluttered.

What is going on?

Maybe she was feverish. She was feeling a little under the weather that morning, almost as if there was a fog over her brain, like she had never fully woken up.

Not breaking eye contact, Regulus leaned over to say something to Severus who also looked up and nodded at Juniper, though she couldn't tell if it was an acknowledgement to her or to whatever Regulus had just told him. Snape mumbled something back to the younger boy and he finally looked away to smile widely at the long-haired Slytherin.

Juniper barely even realized that she had stood up and was surprised when she kicked a leg over the bench and began making her way over to the snake-house table. She knew what she wanted to do, but what was she even going to say to him? Hello Reg, for some reason this morning, I'd really like to drag you to the nearest broom closet for a nice snog.

Nope. She probably needed to be a little more subtle than that.

Regulus, I've noticed that you've gotten extremely handsome over the break. Would you possibly want to go to Hogsmeade with me?

Better, but still a little too forward.

The table was getting closer and closer and Juniper could feel her palms start to sweat. It felt like her sudden crush had turned into a full infatuation in a matter of a single hour. She had to have been ill. Maybe it was best if she turned back. Every fiber of her being fought her and resisting was made even harder when the boy looked up at her again, eyebrow arching in what looked like amusement as he watched her. Juniper stopped dead in her tracks. In a brief moment of clarity, she whispered, "Stop. Stop right now Junie. What are you doing?"

She took a deep shaky breath and turned on her heel, rushing back to her table to gather her books. She fled from the Great Hall with a nervous lump in her throat. She would be early to Arithmancy if she left for it now, but she had a feeling that if she returned to her dormitory, she would throw herself on to her bed and pray for sleep. Class it was.

She climbed the staircases, having to pause at the top of one when it moved out of place. What was happening to her? The fog in her head thickened and all she could see were two piercing dark blue eyes.

***

Juniper’s classes that day were fairly uneventful except for Potions where one of her own housemates accidentally made a noxious gas and Slughorn had to evacuate everyone.

Still, she remained distracted which wasn’t like her. Usually, the Ravenclaw could focus perfectly on the task at hand, whether it be brewing a difficult Potion or doing homework. Her head was just so foggy, save for one thing: Regulus Black.

It was actually making her a little uncomfortable. She didn’t have crushes often. In fact, the last one she had was on Remus. They tried the couple thing, but it didn’t work out. They had just been too close of friends before, so the relationship bordered on awkward. After a couple of months, they both decided to just be mates, and since then, the two were even closer.

Of course, Juniper could recognize when a boy was attractive. It wasn’t as if she didn’t notice them at all. She just chose to focus on her studies. Graduating at the top of her class had been her goal for the last six years and she didn’t plan on wavering from it any time soon.

Maybe the best way to get over her newfound attraction to the younger boy was to talk about. Her friends could possibly talk her out of it, help her come to her senses even if it meant being ridiculed by them.

Juniper stayed so quiet at dinner that one of her dorm mates asked if there was anything wrong with her.

“I’m fine,” she lied. “Just a little tired.”

Every few minutes, her eyes gravitated to the Slytherin table and often times, Regulus was actually looking back at her. After poking her food around on her plate for over thirty minutes, she decided it was time to head to bed. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day. She did, however, fear what she might dream about.

As she exited the Great Hall, she felt her stomach flip when Regulus also stood and began making his way toward her. He had a napkin in his hand which seemed to be holding something. Should she slow down or keep walking? There was a chance that he was just leaving to retire for the night.

“Junie,” he called with a smile. “Wait up!”

She paused in her steps and turned to him, eyes wide. “H-hey, Reg, how’s it going?”

“Good, really good. How are your classes so far?” When did his voice get so silky? She could remember the days when it cracked from puberty.

“Um, they’re going well. I can already tell that it’s going to be a challenging year, though. I’ve already got loads of homework.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I do too,” he laughed. The corners of her mouth turned upward, but it faltered along with her heartbeat. “Anyway, I grabbed one of these for you.” He held out the napkin to display two chocolate cupcakes with coconut icing on top and her mouth started watering. “I remembered that you like coconut and, well, you can never go wrong with chocolate. They were the last two at our table, and I don’t know how it was looking over at yours.”

Juniper nearly melted. “I can’t believe you remembered that. That’s very sweet.” She could feel heat in her cheeks and nearly cursed out loud at it.

“Yeah, I think it was Potter’s birthday. Sirius dragged me to it to see if I would come around and like everyone—abandon my Slytherin heritage. Didn’t work very well.”

“No, she smirked. “It didn’t.”

“Well,” he offered her one of the cupcakes and she took it with a shaky hand.

“Thank you.”

He grinned and picked up the other one, taking a bite out of it and she followed, trying not to stare at the boy as she did.

That was so nice. When had he gotten so kind? It was only last year that he seemed cold and disinterested in just about everything.

She ate the remaining treat and was shocked when he lifted a hand and ran a thumb across the corner of her lips. “Icing,” he explained with a wink.

“Th-thanks.” Juniper’s insides felt like mush. Hot mush churning about her stomach out of nerves.

“Anyway, I’ll leave you to the rest of your evening.” His smiled was soft and it calmed her a bit. “Have a good night, Juniper.”

“You too.”

She watched him walk back into he Great Hall, feeling a little empty inside as he left her standing there. She felt exhausted, though. Sleep would be nice.

As she turned, she saw a red head sticking out from behind a pillar. Lily stepped out from behind it, eyes wide, and threw her hands up in the air. “What the hell was that all about?”

“Honestly, I don’t even know.”

“Well, it looks like you enjoyed it!”

Juniper made a face, ready to deny it, but she couldn’t lie to Lily. She had been her best girlfriend for six going on seven years and, at this point, she could read the Ravenclaw like a book.

“Maybe a little. But seriously, I have no idea. Do me a favor and don’t tell the boys, though. I can only imagine what they’ll say.”

The ginger scowled at her for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest. “Fine. But just so you know, I don’t approve.”

Juniper opened her mouth to argue. After all, why did she need anyone’s approval? They weren’t her parents. Lily marched back into the hall before she had a chance to say anything. It was probably for the best.

She was the first in the common room that evening, and though she was tempted to sit down and read by the fire, she opted for a hot shower followed by crawling into bed.