Chapter 22

The entire hall fell silent. No one was quite sure how to react. How had someone managed to smuggle Amortentia into the castle?

Harry tightened his grip on Hermione, who was slowly turning the colour of Harry's old owl, Hedwig. Meanwhile, Draco stood with Luna discussing the possible effects the potion could have on anyone who used too much. While Ronald sat cross-legged on the stone floor, growing more and more confused.

It didn't take long before a familiar face came bounding into the Great Hall, unaware of the current problem.

"Won-won? Won-won!"

The entire room erupted in gasps and whispers as Lavender Brown skipped merrily into the Hall.

"You!" Hermione hissed at the blonde girl, who simply waved in response.

"Hermione! Hi, I didn't see you..."

"Don't you dare pretend like noting is wrong, Lavender Brown! We all know what you've done."

Lavender let out a small chuckle. "What I've done? Oh please, I've done nothing!"

"Lavender." Harry spoke as calmly as possible. "We know about the Amortentia.?

The blonde girl looked as though she wanted the ground to swallow her up, there and then. A tense silence settled among the students and teachers as they anticipated Lavender's reply. But how she responded was not what anyone had expected.

She let out an amused chuckle. "If you're all going to accuse me of hurting my Won-won - then let me stop you right there; I'm not the one hurting him." The blonde girl pointed at Hermione, who was still caught up in Harry's arms. "She is!"

"Me!?" Hermione exclaimed. "I've done nothing wrong! You're the one that uses him like a barbie doll; you play with him when you want him, but once you get bored of him - you shove him back under your bed!"

"At least I don't date an ex-Death Eater!" Lavender retaliated too quickly for her own liking, causing the entire Hall to collectively gasp.

It took the brunette a moment to find her words. "Yes, Lavender. The big hint being 'ex', you daft bimbo!"

"Hermione, I think that's enough." Harry tried to calm the brunette, but was quickly overuled by other whispers in the room.

"Yes, 'Mione!" Blaise's familiar voice was heard over everyone else's. "You go girl! Defend my ship!"

"Dude." Theodore pulled on the sleeve of Blaise's cloak. "Seriously?"

"Hey, I'm just standing up for my beliefs."

"Yeah, well, stop - it's embarrassing." Theo warns, turning his attention back to the girls.

Most of the students were chuckling at the two Slytherin boys and their argument about Blaise's loyalty, but they too turned their heads to continue watching the girls.

"I don't even know what your problem is, Hermione." Lavender argued. "It's not as if I used an illegal substance."

"Lavender." Hermione said, her voice becoming calm once again. "Amortentia is illegal."

The blonde girl froze. "That's impossible! Seamus told me..."

The entire room fell into another lapse of silence as Lavender thought things over. What had Seamus said? Did he actually say legal? She didn't know.

"Mr. Finnegan, did you tell Miss. Brown that Amortentia is a legal substance?" Minvera McGonagall stepped in as Seamus shook his head.

"No, Professor. I simply told her that it would be impossible to smuggle into the castle without being caught."

Minvera paused for a moment. "Mr. Finnegan please take me through the scene."

The boy laughed nervously. "Well, actually I..."

"Mr. Finnegan, I will not ask you again."

"Okay, you see I was in the library and..."

"Woah! You were in the library?" Dean mocked.

"Mr. Thomas!" McGonagall snapped. "Please continue, Seamus."

"Where was I? Oh, right!"

I was looking for a book on advanced charms - you know, to find out how to actually turn water into rum! And that's when Lavender came bounding round the corner. She was grinning like crazy, I knew something was up. She started blabbering on about her day and then after an fifteen minutes of listening. I snapped. She began to talk faster until something she said caught my attention.

She said something along the lines of; "You see, me and Won-won, we're not exactly happy. Well, I say 'we', what I me is he isn't exactly happy."

I continued to listen until she eventually stopped. She kept saying that it wasn't necessary to know everything. She then told me that she wanted to make him feel better about himself, I presumed she meant sweets or something, but then she started listing a bunch of potions I'd never even heard of! Well, all but one.

"Amortentia?"

I didn't think I'd heard her correctly, but the moment I went to question her, she silenced me by beginning to talk again. She continued piling question after question about the only potion on the list I was actually familiar with.

I shook my head in response, before replying. "No, Lavender. That is a love potion, in fact it's so powerful you'd have to be a genius to break it."

But then she clapped her hands together gleefully as if I'd just given her the answer she wanted. She thanked me with a huge smile on her face and fled from the library, stopping in front of the door.

"So if you need a genius to break it, that means someone like Hermione won't be able to break it, right?"

All I could do was shrug, I mean, how was it supposed to answer that? I didn't know what she wanted it for.

"I don't know. And Lavender!"

"Yes, Seamus?"

"Just thought I'd tell you that the Amortentia it is an illegal potion. If you get caught with it you'd be in serious trouble."

But confusingly, her smile just grew wider as she ran out the door as fast as someone running from You Know Who.

"Thank you, Mr. Finnegan." Minvera McGonagall spoke sternly as she processed everything that Seamus had just said. "It would seem that Miss. Brown has had a bit of a misunderstanding."

"Professor." Ginny spoke up as she stepped forward to join the conversation.

"Yes, Miss. Weasley?"

"I'm not sure if this helps, but there's the strangest of smells coming from underneath Lavender's bed."

McGonagall's face strikened as Ginny continued to elaborate on her findings. The youngest Weasley mentioned that the smells are sometimes of certain things she likes.

"Thank you, Ginevera." The Headmistress said flatly before turning to face the doors. "You may enter!"

The doors to the Great Hall burst open, allowing three Aurors to enter and head straight for Lavender.

Two of them took hold of an arm each and hoisted the blonde haired girl up off the floor, ignoring her protests.

"Miss. Brown, you are sentenced to two years in Askaban for the smuggling of an illegal substance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." One of the Aurors said as he struggled to keep hold of the girl's  right arm.

"Once your sentence has expired, prior to your actions in the Wizarding World, your wand will be snapped and you will be forced to live among the Muggle Society as a Squib." A second Auror spoke as she maintained a steady grip on Lavender's left arm.

The third Auror, despite Lavender's cries for help, picked up the girl's legs and helped his co-workers carry her from the Great Hall.

"I love you, Won-won!" Was the last thing Lavender Brown said before the doors to the Hall slammed shut, leaving the entire school in a state of shock.