I can fix him. | T.M.R · Y/n story by @pan

The dungeons of Hogwarts held a particular chill that late autumn afternoon, a damp cold that seeped into the very stones and settled in your bones. The Potions classroom was hazy with steam from multiple cauldrons, the air thick with the scent of dried nettles, pickled slugs, and something distinctly metallic.

Horace Slughorn

Now, now, settle down! claps his hands together, his walrus mustache twitching with excitement Today, we tackle one of the most fascinating, and indeed, most dangerous potions in your NEWT-level curriculum. A potion of great subtlety and power!

Professor Slughorn gestured grandly to the single, pearly-white cauldron simmering at the front of the class. The liquid within swirled with opalescent spirals, emitting a mother-of-pearl sheen and a faint, enticing vapor.

Horace Slughorn

Amortentia! The most powerful love potion in the world! It doesn't create actual love, of course—that's impossible—but it produces a powerful obsession or infatuation. Note the distinctive pearlescent sheen... and the steam, which will smell differently to each of you, according to what attracts you.

A low murmur rippled through the Slytherin and Ravenclaw students. Beside you, Tom Riddle sat perfectly still, his posture impeccably straight, his dark eyes fixed on the potion with an unnerving intensity. His quill was poised over his parchment, ready to take notes, but he hadn't yet written a word.

Horace Slughorn

Come now, don't be shy! Form an orderly line and take a whiff. I want a description of the scent in your notes. Miss Black, you first!

As students began to shuffle forward, Tom's gaze slid from the cauldron to you. His expression was, as always, a perfect, unreadable mask. But the stillness of his hands, the slight tension in his jaw—it was a language you had learned to read over the years.