Y/N's POV

The next day came quickly and after receiving our timetables at breakfast, the first day of lessons began. The content taught for the N.E.W.Ts were definitely a lot harder than the O.W.L courses but I was able to understand information from each lesson quite quickly. The subjects that I had decided to carry on with were: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology.

After an uneventful couple of lessons, it was time for Defence Against the Dark Arts with Snape. He was telling us about non-verbal spells and after a quick introduction, he set us a practical task.

"You will now divide," he said, "into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. The other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Carry on."

I was already quite proficient in non-verbal magic so when me and Draco were practicing on each other, I was easily able to block his spells and catch him off guard.

"Excellent Malfoys, ten points to Slytherin." Snape said to us after I non-verbally blocked Draco's spell.

He then made his way over to the Gryffindors and watched Harry and Ron. "Pathetic, Weasley, here, let me show you-"

He turned his wand on Harry so fast that Harry reacted instinctively. "Protego!"

Harry's Shield Charm was so strong Snape was knocked off-balance and hit a desk. The whole class had looked around and now watched as Snape recovered himself, scowling. "Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?"

"Yes," said Harry stiffly.

"Yes, sir."

"There's no need to call me 'sir,' Professor." Harry said cheekily.

Several people gasped, including Hermione. The Slytherins looked unimpressed and I had a small smirk on my face, there was still one constant in my life. Harry and Snape's dislike for each other.

"Detention, Saturday night, my office," said Snape. "I do not take cheek from anyone, Potter...not even 'the Chosen One.'"

The lesson ended and after a quick lunch, I found myself in Potions, sitting at the back with Draco. After a quick introduction, Slughorn's lesson began.

"Now then, I've prepared a few Potions for you to have a look at, just out of interest, you know. These are the kind of thing you ought to be able to make after completing your N.E.W.Ts. You ought to have heard of them, even if you haven't made them yet. Anyone tell me what this one is?"

He indicated the cauldron nearest the table I was sitting. To the ordinary eye it looked like plain water, but I recognised is as Veritaserum.

Hermione, naturally, had an answer. "It's Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the, drinker to tell the truth."

"Very good, very good!" said Slughorn happily. "Now," he continued, pointing at the cauldron nearest the Ravenclaw table, "this one here is pretty well known. Who can-"

"Polyjuice Potion." I replied lazily. I recognised it from my adventures from my second year. Thankfully, I never had to go through the pain of drinking it.

"Ah F/N! Correct. I see you are not just talented on the Quidditch field." Slughorn said, beaming at me.

Draco let out a small chuckle and I punched him lightly.

"Now what is this one?" asked Slughorn. Hermione hand raised in the air and Slughorn looked quite bemused as he pointed at her to say her answer.

"It's Amortentia!"

"It is indeed. It seems almost foolish to ask," said Slughorn, who was looking mightily impressed, "but I assume you know what it does?"

It's the most powerful Love Potion in the world!" said Hermione.

"Quite right! You recognised it, I suppose, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?"

"And the steam rising in characteristic spirals," said Hermione enthusiastically, "and it's supposed to smell differently to each of according to what attracts us, and I can smell new parchment, freshly mown grass and...oh."

She didn't finish her sentence and blushed a bright shade of pink

My ears perked up and listened intently, trying to link why she smelt those things. Parchment because of her love for academics, freshly mown grass...Quidditch? And finally, what was the last thing that she smelt? I couldn't identify what I was smelling because for some reason, Hermione must've decided to wear more perfume than usual because it was all I could smell during then, leaving me unable to decipher my Amortentia scents.

"May I ask your name, my dear?" said Slughorn.

"Hermione Granger, sir."

"Granger? Granger? Can you possibly be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?"

"No. I don't think so, sir. I'm Muggle-born, you see."

"Oho! 'One of my best friends is Muggle-born, and she's the best in our year!' I'm assuming this is the very friend of whom you spoke, Harry?"

"Yes, sir," said Harry.

"Well, well, take twenty well-earned points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger," said Slughorn genially.

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Amortentia doesn't really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. It is probably the most dangerous and powerful Potion in this room. When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love."

Me and Draco both let out a snicker.

"And now," said Slughorn, "it is time for us to start work."

"Sir, you haven't told us what's in this one," said Ernie Macmillan , pointing at a small black cauldron standing on Slughorn's desk.

"Of course Macmillan is being keen again." I whispered to Draco and he laughed lightly.

"Ah. That. Well, that one, ladies and gentlemen, is a most curious little Potion called Felix Felicis. I take it," he turned, smiling, to look at Hermione, who had let out an audible gasp, "that you know what Felix Felicis does, Miss Granger?"

"It's liquid luck," said Hermione excitedly. "It makes you lucky!"

"Well no shit." Draco murmured. He was watching Slughorn attentively, giving him more attention than he had given him since the lesson had started.

"Quite right, take another ten points for Gryffindor. Yes, it's a funny little potion, Felix Felicis," said Slughorn, "desperately tricky to make, and disastrous to get wrong. However, if brewed correctly, as this has been, you will find that all your endeavours tend to succeed...at least until the effects wear off."

"Why don't people drink it all the time, sir?" asked Terry Boot eagerly.

"Because if taken in excess, it causes giddiness, recklessness, and dangerous overconfidence," said Slughorn, "too much of a good thing, you know...highly toxic in large quantities. But taken
sparingly, and very occasionally..."

"Have you ever taken it, sir?" asked Michael Corner with great interest.

"Twice in my life," said Slughorn, "once when I was twenty-four, once when I was fifty-seven. Two tablespoonfuls taken with breakfast. Two perfect days."

He gazed dreamily into the distance. "And that," said Slughorn, apparently coming back to earth, "is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson. One tiny bottle of Felix Felicis, enough for twelve hours of luck. From dawn till dusk, you will be lucky in everything you attempt."

Draco was watching Slughorn with more interest at the mention of a prize.

"Now, I must give you warning that Felix Felicis is a banned substance in organised competitions...sporting events, for instance, examinations, or elections. So the winner is to use it on an ordinary day only and watch how that ordinary day becomes extraordinary!"

Silence.

"So," said Slughorn, suddenly brisk, "how are you to win fabulous prize? Well, by turning to page ten of Advanced Potion Making. We have a little over an hour left to us, which should be time for you to make a decent attempt at the Draught of Living Death. I know it is more complex than anything you have attempted before, and I do not expect a perfect Potion from anybody. The person who does best, however, will win little Felix here. Off you go!"

"I need that." Draco told me as we prepared the ingredients we needed for the Potion.

"But you can't brew Potions to save your life." I said laughing at him.

"That's why you're going to win it for me F/N." Draco replied. "Slughorn loves you, it won't be too hard."

"Not with Harry in the room, Slughorn will make sure he wins." I said, almost jealously.

We began brewing the Potion and I followed all the steps in my book carefully, I had always had a knack for Potions, sometimes I just magically did something that made the Potion better. As Slughorn was walking past, he made what seemed to be a grunt of approval as he looked at my cauldron.

"Sir, I think you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?" Draco said to the Professor.

"Yes," said Slughorn, without looking at Draco, his eyes still on my Potion, "I was sorry to hear he had died, although of course it wasn't unexpected, dragon pox at his age..."

As he walked away I chuckled. "Jealous are we?"

"Of course his is," Blaise commented, "he's not used to not being favourtised in Potions."

Draco gave us both a glare and went back to his Potion, which seemed to be failing quite miserably. It seemed like Snape had really sheltered Draco, his Potion skills were not as great as Snape had made it seem.

As I was handling my sopophorous bean, I glanced over at Harry who was looking at his copy of Advanced Potion-Making quite eagerly and in awe. Surely the book wasn't that mindblowing?

Watching Harry carefully, I saw that he crushed his bean. Normally I'm not one to follow, but after placing the crushed bean into his cauldron, his eyes lit up meaning that he must've done something right.

Copying Harry, when I placed the crushed bean into my cauldron, the Potion turned to the exact shade of lilac described in the book. What was Harry doing? It wasn't even in the original instructions...

I watched as Harry carried on following a different set of instructions than the one in the book but it seemed like he was getting it right. What was in that magical book of his?

"I think Harry's cheating..." I whispered to Draco, "I'm going to see what's happening."

Ignoring the weird looks I got from the other students, I made my way over to where Harry was standing.

"Go away Malfoy." Ron said angrily.

"Piss off Weasley." I said before walking over to Harry and speaking in such a low voice that only he could hear me. "I'm sorry about the train, there was nothing else I could do. I hope we're still good."

Whilst doing this I glanced over at his book, there were annotations all over the page with different instructions. Quickly memorising as much as I could, I nodded at Harry before giving Hermione a small smile before returning to my cauldron and doing what I read in Harry's book since some Potions genius wrote it.

"And time's...up!" called Slughorn. "Stop stirring, please!"

Slughorn moved slowly among the tables, peering into cauldrons. He made no comment, but occasionally gave the Potions a stir or a sniff. When he reached my table, he barely looked at Draco's but was very impressed when he saw mine.

"F/N here is a strong contender for first place!"

At last he reached the table where Harry was, I was curious to see what Slughorn thought of his Potion. Delight spread over his face when he looked into Harry's cauldron.

"Excellent, excellent, Harry! Good lord, it's clear you've inherited your mother's talent. She was a dab hand at Potions, Lily was! We have a draw! Both you and F/N produced fantastic Potions!"

"Who's getting the Potion then?" I asked.

Slughorn smiled at me. "Well, you both are the winners so," he went back to his desk and pulled out an identical vial of Felix Felicis, "I brewed another one for myself but, you can both have a vial."

Taking it graciously, me and Draco left the class together and I chucked the vial at him. He looked delighted as he pocketed it. I didn't care, my main concern was what book Harry was using that made him into some Potion genius because he went from being subpar at Potions to being some Potion Progidy in the space of one lesson.

All thanks to that mysterious book he had.