Love in a Bottle

Love in a Bottle

Chapter 2

Minerva McGonagall, looking much younger than her seventy years, was laughing softly. Seated next to her, Professor Severus Snape eyed the Head of Gryffindor with suspicion. Seated a few seats away, Professor Sprout was giggling uncontrollably, along with Professors Vector and Sinistra.

Hannah was in a mix. How in the world did the potion get mixed with the éclairs? She stared across the High Table, her face apprehensive. The thought of Professor Snape yelling at her made her cringe. She could imagine Snape hollering loudly, "You stupid girl, you mixed love potion in the chocolate! A hundred points from Hufflepuff and detention for a month!"

"Hannah, what's wrong?"

She nearly jumped when a hand pressed to her shoulder. It was Susan Bones.

"Everyone's gone, why are you still seated?"

Hannah looked around. She didn't realized just how long she had been staring at the teachers. Almost all the students had gone, only she and Susan were left. Slowly, Hannah stood up, took a few steps, then stopped. "You go ahead," she told Susan. "I left my notes in the Runes classroom."

"See you later then," Susan smiled and went ahead.

Hannah went down a flight of stone steps into a broad, stone corridor, brightly lit with torches and decorated with cheerful food paintings. Remembering what she once overheard from the Weasley twins' conversation, she stopped next to a painting of a gigantic silver fruit-bowl. Using her forefinger, she tickled the huge green pear, which then squirmed and chuckled, turning into a large green door handle. Wide-eyed, Hannah opened the door and went inside. She was filled with awe when she caught sight of the enormous, high-ceilinged room.

"Wow...!" she said in amazement.

"What may you be needin', Miss?" A house-elf bowed at her.

"I'd like to look around the kitchen where you made those éclairs," Hannah blurted out nervously. The house-elf showed her the way. They walked to the tables overflowing with greasy pans, pots, spatulas, measuring cups, and other cooking utensils - all yet unwashed and covered with flour and chocolate, amongst other things.

"We is bakin' the éclairs here, Miss." The house-elf looked at her expectantly, waiting for any kind of instructions.

"H-have any of you saw a tiny vial with colorless liquid?" She looked at the elf with wide hopeful eyes. With bated breath, Hannah waited for the elf to answer. The elf went away and returned with several other house-elves.

"Jiggy is very sorry," the elf said, "we is not knowing the vial Miss is talking about." After seeing the crestfallen look on her face, the elf bowed humbly.

"Never mind." She consoled the sorry-looking elf, forcing a weak smile for the elves' benefit. "I'll just take a look around. If you don't mind?"

"We is not minding Miss at all." They all bowed then left her to do her inspection. She checked every brass pot and pan, checked all the corners and even the garbage can. Finally exhausted from searching every inch of the enormous kitchen, Hannah still didn't see any sign of the vial.

"Maybe it wasn't the potion at all." She went limp with relief. Feeling weak in the knees, she hunched down on the floor, leaned against the wall and stared at the opposite one as angry tears filled her eyes. "I should be feeling happy right now," she thought. "But how could I? I just missed out my opportunity to be noticed."

Out of frustration, she grasped some left-over peas and angrily threw them at the wall. The peas went bump, bump, bump on the floor. One of the them rolled next to a flowerpot under the preparation table, not far from where she was. For a while, she simply stared blankly, her mind filled with worries, when something caught her eye. Crawling next to pot, she peered closely at the object gleaming among the leaves, and gasped in shock. It was the tiny vial and it was empty. With shaking hands, she reached out for the vial. Staring at the now empty vial in her hand, she stood up and bumped her head on the kitchen table.

"Stupid table!"

Giving the table a slight kick, she rubbed her head and felt a small lump where it hit the table. "Great," she said with self-mockery. Knowing it would be no use asking the elves, since not one of them admitted ever seeing the vial, she took off and hurried up the stairs. Hannah didn't stop until she reached the main staircase in the entrance hall. Taking a deep breath, she turned right, where another staircase was and took two steps at a time. Huffing and puffing, she tackled another staircase, where the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room was located.

"Bubotuber Pus!"

The wall slid open, she dashed forward, breathing loudly, and realized with dismay that everyone sitting in the common room was staring at her.

"Hey, Abbott, you looked like you've been chased by a Dementor," said Sally-Ann Perks loudly.

Hannah ignored the smirking girl and hurried to her room. To her surprise, she found all three of her roommates already sound asleep.

'Now, that's weird, Susan's a late sleeper. And it's way too early to go to sleep.' She frowned as she stood watching her roommate's sleeping forms. "At least, the potion didn't seem to harm them at all. I don't have to feel guilty," she murmured to herself. "Well, except for Sally-Ann, who seemed to be nastier than ever."

She frowned, remembering Sally-Ann's taunts. "Just because I don't brush my hair every two seconds, she had the gall to say I looked like I've been chased by a Dementor?" Hannah grumbled as she stepped inside the bathroom. "Blimey!" she exclaimed, staring disgustedly at her reflection in the mirror. She had grease on her nose, cheeks and forehead, as well as some white powdery stuff in her hair. Wringing her hands, she spluttered, "I look like a mess!"

Grabbing a handful of tissue, she began wiping the smear off of her face. After fifteen minutes, she came out of the bathroom with her face squeaky clean. She plopped on her bed with a sigh.

'If I didn't lose the potion, would I have the guts to use it on him?'

She sighed even more loudly. It had taken her a long while to save that amount of money. Biting her upper lip, she went back to her bedside and hugged Oompa, her favorite oversized blue turtle stuffed toy.

"It would be nice if he would like me not just because of some stupid potion," she said in a small voice, a wistful look on her face. Feeling very sleepy, Hannah quickly washed her face and changed into pajamas. 'I forgot to ask the witch, how long would the effects last?' That was the last thought in her mind before she drifted into deep sleep.

Someone was shaking her shoulder roughly. Hannah opened her eyes, blinking from the sudden contrast of light. A beautiful girl with long blond hair was sitting on the edge of her bed. Hannah suddenly sat up.

"Who are you?"

"It's not important who I am." The girl laughed, like musical bells, melodious and bewitching. "I just came here to thank you."

Hannah blinked hard. "Thank me for what?"

"Because of the love potion, the boy of my dreams is mine," she purred like a satisfied cat.

"H-how did you know about the love potion?" Hannah almost choked.

Not answering her question, the girl stood up and walked out of her room.

"Hey, where are you going?" Hannah followed the girl.

The staircase was enveloped with a thick mist, and she couldn't see anything. Hannah slowly went down the stairs, one step at a time. She saw the girl standing by the foot of the staircase, kissing someone. Hannah walked a few more steps and stopped when she realized who the boy was.

"No," she said, her voice all choked up.

The blonde looked at her haughtily, a mysterious gleam in her eye. With her arms wrapped around the boy's neck, she leaned her head in his chest and spoke directly at Hannah. "He's mine. He told me he loves me forever. And it's all because of the potion. Thank you Hannah."

Hannah tugged on the boy's left arm and tried to pull him away from the strange girl's tight embrace. "I'm sorry I bought the potion. I didn't really intended to use it," said Hannah brokenly as she blinked back the tears in her eyes.

The blonde laughed, this time, it sounded harsh, cold and eerie. To Hannah's horror, the girl raised her left arm, and aimed a pointed blade towards the boy's chest.

All the blood drained in Hannah's face as she cried out, "Please don't kill him!"

"Then you must die!" The blonde turned to face her. Instead of the beautiful face, it became a livid face with two red gleaming eyes, and blood trickled from the side of her mouth. Hannah stumbled and fell on the ground. The girl, or whatever it was, raised her hand to strike Hannah, who quickly covered her face and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Nooooooo!!!"

Nothing happened. She fearfully opened her eyes. Three extremely worried faces hovered above her.

"Hannah, are you okay?"

"You had a nasty nightmare, you were screaming bloody murder."

"A nightmare?" Hannah looked at her roommates' anxious faces. Shuddering with relief, she hugged Susan tightly, as tears of joy spilled down her face. "Thank goodness, it's just a nightmare!"

Susan handed her a glass of water. "Here, drink this."

With shaking hands, Hannah took the glass and emptied it in one gulp, while Susan, Sheryll and Marie looked at her with concern. She was about to stand up, but her knees felt strangely weak. She felt like curling up in bed with Oompa, instead, she stared at the open window and realized it was already morning. She felt like she hadn't slept a wink.

For a moment, no one said a word. Then Susan broke the silence. "Hannah, did you dream of Professor Snape?"

"No, of course not!" Hannah said in disgust. "What made you say that?"

"You were saying Snape's name over and over," Marie said gleefully.

"I did?" Disbelief crossed Hannah's face. "But I didn't dream of him, honest." She was about to launch on a detailed explanation of her dream when she caught the gleam on Susan's deadpanned face. "You're pulling my leg, right?"

The naughty grin on their faces told her the answer. The girls burst out laughing.

"You didn't say his name, we just wanted you to get over your nightmare," said Susan between laughter.

Sheryll still giggling added, "You should have seen how you look when Susan asked if you were dreaming about Professor Snape."

"You looked like you'd rather drown than dream of him," said Marie, a wide grin on her face.

In mock rage, Hannah threw her pillows at them, who quickly grabbed their own, ensuing in a pillow fight. Later, after much laughter, with feathers scattered around the the floor, Hannah's face turned serious as she spoke.

"Tell me... did any of you feel different after last night?"

"That's an understatement." Marie gave a loud snort. "For a person who supposedly hates chocolate, I ended up eating éclairs like I hadn't eaten for months!"

"You're not the only one." Susan shuddered. "Imagine me. Pigging out on chocolate? I must have gained three pounds!"

Sheryll and Marie shared a look. Susan Bones was reed-thin and she's the type of girl who could eat anything without even gaining weight.

Susan turned to Hannah. "You're the only one who didn't touch a single éclair. I wonder why?"

"Sally-Ann didn't touch hers either," Hannah argued. She was about to say more when Sheryll made a startled sound.

"Oh my goodness, we're going to be late!" Sheryll exclaimed.

All four girls shrieked out loud.

"Oh, no!"

They all scrambled to wash their face and change into their school robes. In record time, they were all dressed and dashing down the hall for breakfast. As they reached the double doors to the right which lead into the Great Hall, they realized something's not right. The Breakfast Hall was empty. And now that they noticed, the corridors were empty as well.

"Where did everybody go?"

All four of them stared at each other in confusion.

(To be continued)